Fatehabad, November 3
Haryana State Commission for Women (HSCW) chairperson Sushila Sharma today visited Khai village where a 13-year-old rape victim and her two sisters were shown the door by the government school and her father had alleged that he was under pressure to leave the village.

However, HSCW chairperson could not meet the victim, her father or other members of her family, as there was a lock on their house. Neighbours told her that they had no clue to where the family had gone after locking the house.

Villagers told the HSCW chairperson that the family had perhaps left the village in the morning today or last evening and they were not aware of where they had gone.

On Tuesday, the victim's father, who was at that time admitted in the community health centre at Ratia with severe depression, had alleged that he was under pressure to leave the village.

The victim's father had lodged a complaint against the sarpanch, six teachers of the Khai school and some others for his persecution, but the police has yet to taken any action on that complaint.

Sushila Sharma went to the Government High School in Khai, the school that is alleged to have removed the victim and her two teenaged sisters on October 6 after the rape came to the notice of teachers.

She also visited a government school in the nearby Bara village, where the education department admitted the girls on October 17.

The victim and her sisters are yet to start attending their new school.

"I have come here on a surprise visit to ascertain the truth and I wanted to meet the victim's family. However, no one has any clue of them here," the HSCW chairperson told The Tribune when contacted on her mobile.

Panchkula, November 3
A local court today sent Umed Singh, who made a threat call to IAS officer Ashok Khemka, in police custody till Tuesday. The Panchkula police yesterday arrested Umed (52) from Gurgaon for making the threat call to Haryana Seed Corporation Managing Director Khemka.

“Umed has been sent to three days police remand. We have to recover the mobile phone of the accused,” said Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Virender Singh.

Ashok Khemka had dismissed Umed Singh in 2006 when the former was an employee of the Haryana Housing Board.

The threat call was made to Khemka’s office on Tuesday and on Wednesday Khemka’s office filed a complaint with the Panchkula police following which an FIR was lodged.

Investigating Officer ACP Virender Singh said Singh was dismissed by Khemka in 2006 following a departmental inquiry and he nursed a grudge against Khemka.

On October 30, in an inebriated condition Umed lost his cool when he was watching Khemka on television and made the call to his office.

Umed, a resident of Gurgaon, was a draftsman with the Haryana Housing Board, based in Panchkula.

The police said in 1998, Singh was booked for picking up a fight with an executive officer of the board. He was arrested in the case, but in 2006, the court acquitted him. After finding him guilty in the departmental inquiry, Khemka, who was then Chief Administrator of the board, dismissed him.

In 2008, Umed challenged Khemka's order by writing to the then Principal Secretary of the department, who reinstated him. However, Haryana Housing Board challenged the order in the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the case is pending.

Gurgaon, November 3
The arrest of a Gurgaon resident for making a threat call to whistleblower IAS officer Ashok Khemka has left the Gurgoan police red-faced. The Panchkula police had failed to inform the Gurgaon police about the operation.

A team of the Panchkula police arrested 52-year-old Umed Singh from his residence in Gurgaon on Friday night after an FIR was registered in this regard in Panchkula on Thursday.

However, neither the area SHO nor the Deputy Commissioner of Police was informed about the operation, leaving the city police grumbling about violation of jurisdiction.

“It has been entirely an operation of the Panchkula police and the Gurgaon police was not a part of it to the best of my knowledge,” said Maheshwar Dayal, DCP (Crime).

“It’s a matter of protocol and jurisdiction. We are not defending any accused but the Panchkula police should have informed us about it. Had anything gone wrong, it would have been our responsibility. It’s shocking. We also got to know about the arrest through news channels,” said another police official.

Umed’s family refused to comment on the issue. However, a neighbour said the police barged into his house around 9.45 pm on Friday and stayed there for nearly half-an-hour and then took Umed along with them.

Chandigarh/hisar, Nov 3
With both the power utilities — Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) and Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) — in the red due to short-term liabilities to the tune of Rs 19,000 crore, the state government has initiated a process for financial restructuring plan (FRP) of the power distribution companies.

Under the FRP, the state government would take over half of the Rs 19,000 crore short-term liabilities of the power utilities and they would be converted into bonds to be issued to lenders, backed by the state government guarantees. The rest of the liabilities would be rescheduled and there would be a three-year moratorium on payment of the principal amount, said a source here today.

“The power utilities are committed to implement the Central Government’s FRP in letter and spirit and for that the consumers should be ready to face certain hard decisions, including payment of fuel surcharge adjustment (FSA) for a temporary period to save the power sector from financial collapse,” said Devender Singh, chairman of the UHBVN and DHBVN.

The source said with banks wary of advancing loans to the distribution companies in the wake of heavy debts and accumulated losses pegged at over Rs 8,830 crore, the FRP would provide the last chance to the state to bring the power sector on the track. Currently, both the distribution companies were facing a gap of nearly Rs 2.5 per unit between average cost of supply (ACS) and average revenue realised (ARR), he said, adding that not only that, the distribution companies were also bearing 90 paise to Rs 1 a unit as interest burden on account of short-term liabilities.

Costly power purchases had bled the distribution companies white over the years. In the past 11 years, the cost of power purchase--which accounts for 80 per cent of the cost of supply--had surged 300 per cent while tariff had just gone up by 60-70 per cent, resulting into consistent increase in debt burden for working capital requirements and debt servicing.

Officials highlighted that taking over half of the short-term liabilities amounting to Rs 19,000 crore would result in a relief of about 40 paise per unit. To supplement power utilities’ efforts to come out of the red, the state government would also be required to clear the outstanding electricity dues of the government departments by November 30, 2012, besides clearing the outstanding subsidy towards the power utilities by March 31 next year.

“Already, the power distribution companies have started measures aimed at improving efficiency, reducing aggregate transmission and commercial (AT&C) losses and bring down the gap between the ACS and ARR,” the source added.

Chandigarh, November 3
To prevent the possibility of incidents of crackers catching fire in godowns, storage points or retail selling points, the Haryana police has decided to launch a drive to check the licences of manufacturers and ensure that adequate safety measures are taken as per law.

Stating this here today, a spokesman of the police said a written communication had been sent to all commissionerates of police in Gurgaon, Faridabad and Ambala-Panckhula, all district superintendents of police and superintendent of police (ralways), Ambala cantonment, asking them to launch the drive.

He said such shops and godowns would be inspected by the station house officers (SHOs) and gazetted officers for checking their licences.

He said in view of the ensuing Divali festival, the possibility of unscrupulous elements manufacturing fire-crackers without obtaining licence from the competent authority could not be ruled out.

Kaithal, November 3
Hundreds of visitors throng various stalls set up by artisans and self-help groups from several states everyday at the Saras Mela. The mela, which is sponsored by the Ministry of Rural Development and organised by the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), is being organised for the first time here. Additional Deputy Commissioner-cum-CEO, DRDA, Dinesh Singh Yadav is the overall in charge of the mela, which began on October 28 and continue up to November 7.

Stalls at the mela depict a picture of cultural heritage. Several items of domestic use, jewellery, readymade garments, and handicraft are available in the mela.

Stalls of eatable items, including famous jaleb of Gohana, kahwa of Kashmir and tikki-chaat of Delhi, continue to draw huge rush of visitors. Furniture stalls of artisans from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh and Tayron furniture stall of a self-help group have also evoked keen interest among buyers.

Chandigarh, November 3
Subdivisional magistrate Prerna Puri's report against Sacred Heart School in the Ruchika case has come under the judicial scanner.

The school has challenged the report before a civil court. The report has indicted Sacred Heart School for expelling Ruchika, allegedly molested by Haryana's former director-general of police SPS Rathore.

As the case came up for resumed hearing before the Punjab and Haryana High Court this morning, school counsel informed the Bench about the civil suit. He said the SDM and UT home secretary's role in the preparation of the report too had been challenged.

He also questioned the maintainability of the petition filed in public interest by city-based advocate Ranjan Lakhanpal. He had earlier sought directions for an independent probe right from the day she was molested till the final decision of the case. He also sought action against all officers siding with Rathore and enabling the trial to continue for 19 years.

Sirsa, November 3
All India Congress Committee secretary and Sirsa MP Ashok Tanwar today flagged off "Badhte Kadam", an awareness rally by special children to create awareness about the problems being faced by them.

Addressing a function organised on the occasion at Disha, a school for special children in Sirsa, Tanwar said the Central as well as the state government had been running several schemes to bring these children in the mainstream.

The MP said the government had issued instructions to the government offices to construct ramps and special toilets for differently abled persons in their establishments and special grants were being given for the purpose.

Geeta Kathuria, director, Disha, said under a campaign of the National Trust, a drive was being launched throughout the country.

Disha, being the state nodal agency for the institutes working for the welfare of special children, had been entrusted by the National Trust to hold awareness rallies in Sirsa, Fatehabad, Hisar and Jind, said Neha Juneja, coordinator of the "Badhte Kadam" in the area.

She said the rally would visit 15 administrative blocks of the four districts and create awareness by organising street plays, songs and other cultural programmes.