Jhajjar, November 24
Union Health and Family Welfare Minister, Gulam Nabi Azad, today announced that the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and National Cardio Care Centre (NCCC) would be set up on the second campus of the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS-2) at Badhsa village in this district.

Accompanied by Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Azad was talking to mediapersons after inaugurating the Outreach OPD (OOPD) of AIIMS at Badhsa village. The minister also announced that AIIMS-2 would be developed as a world class international-level institution and expression of interest had already been invited for drafting its master plan through international bidding.

The AIIMS-2 campus is being setup over an area of 300 acres, which has been provided free of cost by the Haryana government. A committee headed by the union health secretary would finalise the selection of the world class master plan for AIIMS-2.

Azad also launched the free medicine facility at AIIMS-2, as per which generic medicines would be provided free of cost to all the patients getting treatment at the OOPD.

The health minister said the AIIMS OPD not only serve the state of Haryana, but also the whole country. The waiting period of OPD at the Delhi AIIMS would be decreased considerably and the people of Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala would also happily come to Badhsa as the waiting period is very long in AIIMS.

He said that this is the first OPD where medicines would be provided free of cost. The Outreach OPD comprises the departments of general medicine, orthopaedics, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, ophthalmology, ENT, anesthesia and general surgery. It would also have diagnostic and laboratory facilities, he added.

He maintained that the pharmacy and the laboratory would be operated by HLL Lifecare Limited, a public sector undertaking of the Union Ministry of Health. This is being done for the first time in the history of AIIMS and the entire OPD operations will be computerised -- from registration to prescriptions. All patient records will be kept in electronic format, he further added.

Azad said that heart and cancer diseases were increasing in modern day lifestyle. The need was felt for national-level institutes. The NCI would have 600 beds, whereas the total number of beds would be more than 2100 in AIIMS-2.

The National Cardiac Care Centre is also proposed to be established at Badhsa. The All-India Institute of Medical Sciences has plans to establish several super-speciality and world-class research facilities at Badhsa, he added.

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda announced that Badhsa would be connected through four-lane road to New Delhi. He also announced that Gurgaon-Badli road, on which AIIMS-2 is situated, would be four-laned with an investment of about Rs 250 crore. The KMP Expressway is also near the AIIMS-2, he added.

The CM said AIIMS-2 would benefit not only Haryana but also the adjoining states.

Rohtak MP Deepender Singh Hooda described AIIMS-2 as a big gift to the state of Haryana and said it would increase the pace of development in the area. Haryana health minister Rao Narender, education minister Geeta Bhukkal, and AIIMS Director Prof R.C. Deka were also present on the occasion.

Fatehabad, November 24
Timely action by the authorities saved two minor sisters from wedlock at Bhirdana village in Fatehabad.

The authorities had received a complaint that three minor girls from a family — two sisters and a cousin — were being married by their families today.

Rekha Agarwal, child marriage prohibition officer, accompanied a police party from the Sadar police station to the village to verify the facts and take action.

The team went to Jela Ram’s house. His daughters Suman and Seema were to be married today.

Upon inquiry, it was found that Seema was hardly 14 years of age while her sister Suman had attained the age of 18 on November 1.

Even the boy who was to marry Seema is 17 and a student of class XI at a government school in Indachhui in Fatehabad.

The third girl Sunita, daughter of Luna Ram, was also found to be 16 years of age. Sunita is a cousin of the two sisters.

The police has stopped the marriages of Seema and Sunita and allowed the family to marry Suman, who is a major.

On November 20, the prohibition officer had stopped the marriage of a minor girl in Ashok Nagar of Fatehabad.

The girl’s father had approached the police with a complaint that his wife wanted to marry their minor daughter. The medical tests which confirmed that she was a minor. 

Chandigarh, November 24
In a rare joint police-public exercise, Hansi businessman Sadhu Ram Goyal’s five-year-old granddaughter was “recovered” within 12 hours after she was reported missing last evening.

Owing to immense pressure mounted by intensive search operations, accused Sandeep of Pokhri Kheri village, who was arrested later in the day, “abandoned” the girl at a tea stall from where she was found around 5.30am.

The girl was playing outside her grandfather’s shop when she suddenly disappeared. Her cousins informed the family that an unidentified youth had taken her away. The family immediately informed the local police.

“Within no time the checkpoints had come up in the entire city. I sat with the family and other members of the Vyapar Mandal and urged them to co-operate with us and help in the search operations,” Hisar Superintendent of Police Satheesh Balan, who spearheaded the operation, said.

The police retrieved images of the accused taking away the girl from CCTV cameras installed at various points and released pictures of the accused to local television channels and newspapers.

Almost the entire police force of the district was called in and teams comprising police personnel and public constituted to fan out across the city. While there were as many as 350 police personnel deployed to comb the entire area, there were 250-odd people who participated in the exercise which continued throughout the night.

Ultimately, the operation yielded results when the kidnapped girl, abandoned by the accused, was found this morning, he said.

The police received a tip-off from Sisai village on Barwala road that a man similar to the photographs released by the police had been seen in the village last evening.

“We reached the village and arrested him. During interrogation, he not only confessed to kidnapping the child but even admitted to raping a minor in Jind after abducting her from the Ramlila ground in October this year,” the SP said.

Director-General of Police SN Vashisth said, “Without the cooperation of the public, it would have taken longer. This case only proves that public-police partnership can strengthen the police efforts.”

Faridabad, November 24
A building contractor and one labourer died today and three labourers were injured when a building under construction in Sarurpur village of this district collapsed.

Faridabad Deputy Commissioner Balraj Singh today said two dead bodies had been recovered from the debris.

Three labourers had been rescued from the debris. All have sustained injuries.

One of them has been referred to Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi.

The deceased have been identified as Ghanshyam Dass Khanna, contractor, and Sipahi, a labourer.

The rescue operation is still on.

The authorities are not sure how many labourers are still trapped in the debris.

The injured have been admitted to Badshah Khan Civil Hospital.

Rescue operations were on at the time of filing this report. A team from the National Defence Relief Force (NDRF) has also arrived for the rescue works.

After more than four hours of rescue operations, the two bodies of the contractor and the three injured labourers were taken out of the debris.

The authorities have pressed more than four JCBs in the operation.

A salient feature of the rescue exercise was participation by the public.

The rescue works had to be slowed as debris were of concrete and enmeshed in iron rods used in the construction works.

A member of the rescue team said cutters were being used with circumspect in view of the trapped labourers.

The ill-fated structure of size 1,000 sq yd, which is owned by Rajesh Gupta of Jawahar Nagar, was to house a factory.

The plot falls in the midst of a cluster of industrial units.

Inquiries reveal that the area where the structure was being constructed is a non-industrial zone. 

Rewari, November 24
The police has arrested a married man and father of two children on the charge of raping a 12-year-old girl at Khurrampur village in the district and also booked village sarpanch for wrongful confinement of the victim and her father.

The police said Manoj, a neighbour of the victim, raped the minor girl when she was alone in her house on November 14. The accused also threatened the victim with dire consequences if she opened her mouth in this regard. However, when her parents returned from fields, the victim revealed everything to them.

When the victim’s father along with his daughter approached village sarpanch Chokh Ram and sought his assistance for relief and justice, the sarpanch pressed him hard to keep mum in this regard.

However, when the victim’s father did not relent, the father and his daughter were allegedly kept in illegal confinement by the sarpanch at his farmhouse.

After over a week when both the father and the girl somehow managed to escape from the farmhouse, the victim’s mother filed a complaint with the Bawal police yesterday.

The police registered a case of rape, criminal trespass and criminal intimidation against Manoj as well as a case of wrongful confinement against village sarpanch Chokh Ram.

In the meantime, the police arrested Manoj, while Chokh Ram was absconding.