Hisar, December 27
Khap panchayats in Haryana are not in favour of the death penalty for rapists as their representatives feel that if capital punishment was provided for this crime, it will be misused.

The khaps, however, advocated life term in gang rape cases and also suggested some social measures like ostracizing the rapists and divesting them of their right to ancestral property.

Speaking to mediapersons after a meeting of representatives of several khaps in Jat Dharamshala at Hansi, Sube Singh Samain, spokesman of the Sarv Khap Panchayat, said though the Delhi gang rape had shaken the conscience of the nation, there was no denying the fact that a majority of the cases reported to the police were fake.

“If the death penalty is to be provided in cases of rape, the provision would be misused to settle old scores by unscrupulous elements,” said Samain.

He alleged that various laws like the Schedule Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the Domestic Violence Act and those related to dowry under Sections 304-B and 498-A, IPC, were already being misused blatantly.

He said that if the government exhibited a will and society boycotted the rapists, such incidents could be minimised drastically.

The government, he said, should ensure that no parole should be granted to the rapists and society should ostracize them completely.

“If a family does not deprive its rapist boy of its property, society at large should boycott such families,” the Sarv Khap spokesman added.

Samain emphasized that a majority of the rape cases reported to the police were false as consensual relations in such cases were later given the shape of rape when caught by the girl’s kin. In some cases, he alleged, the allegations were levelled to extract money from those named in the complaints.

Nafe Singh Nain, president of Sarv Khap Panchayat, Tek Ram from Kandela Khap, Tulsi Grewal from Meham Chobisi, Munshi Ram fom Pabra Khap and several other khap leaders were present on this occasion.

Fatehabad, December 27
Owing to stiff opposition from farmers whose land has been acquired, officials of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) could not start pre-construction work for the proposed nuclear power plant at Gorakhpur today.

TR Arora, Project Director of the NPCIL for the Gorakhpur project, who had gone to the village with machinery and JCB machines, returned with his paraphernalia, as the farmers refused to let his men enter their land.

Arora, however, claimed that the work had been put off for a day only and it would be started after a meeting between the farmers and Deputy Commissioner ML Kaushik.

The NPCIL had earlier announced that the work for geo-technical surveys and fencing of the acquired land would begin from today.

Devender Bura, who has been leading the farmers for an increased compensation for their land, alleged that the authorities were trying to use force to take away their land.

He said the farmers wanted increased compensation and job for a member of each family before the work actually begins.

He said the DC had invited their representatives for a meeting tomorrow and they would reiterate their demands before him.

The authorities, however, maintain that they have already given enough compensation to the farmers, which is much more than the prevailing market rates in the area.

Almost all farmers have already accepted their cheques of compensation and many of them have even purchased alternative land elsewhere in the state.

Jind, December 27
Bibipur, a village on the Bhiwani road, seems to have earned a new recognition following a long list of students of higher studies visiting the village to study the work done at the village level in the field of female foeticide and gender ratio.

The village had hit the headlines in July this year when it became the first village in the state and the country to hold a panchayat of khaps and was selected for a pilot project for improving the gender ratio by the Union Government.

“Over 55 students from various colleges and universities visited the village in the past couple of months to conduct their field studies on these issues and the village is certain to find its name in research books shortly,” said Sunil Jaglan, sarpanch of the village.

He said residents of the village who had been actively involved in the campaign against female foeticide and education of women in the village and neighbouring areas, had been feeling motivated due to the visit of the students to the village. He said it was a new development and would help the people to put more efforts to achieve the target.

The sarpanch said the media exposure the village got following an intensive drive launched by the panchayat in the past couple of years had placed Bibipur on the national map though Jind was considered one of the backward districts in the state.

“I am pursuing MSc in Development Communication and Extension from Lady Irwin College, Delhi University. Since I have chosen a topic on declining child sex ratio and female foeticide which will be an investigative study and backdrop for my study is Haryana, I want to do it at Bibipur village because here a Mahila Mahapanchayat against female foeticide was held for the first time,” wrote Ayushi Singh, a final-year student, before she visited the village recently.

Somya Thakur, a student of the Mumbai University, who visited the village a couple of weeks ago in connection with her research work for PhD, told the village Sarpanch that she was fascinated by the involvement of the khaps panchayats in the improvement of gender ratio. Bibipur has a gender ratio of 850 females against 1000 males, one of the lowest in the state.

The visitors included from Allahabad University, MD University, Film and Television Institute, Rohtak.

A mahapanchayat of leaders and representatives of over 100 khaps from Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh on July 14 had demanded registration of a murder case against female foeticide.

Hisar, December 27
Ever since the Haryana Backwards Commission has recommended reservation for Jats and four other castes by including these in the OBC list, some other communities too have been clamouring for a quota in jobs and educational institutions. Members of the Punjabi community today met under the chairmanship of senior lawyer Charan Singh Mehta and planned a strategy to launch an agitation for seeking reservation.

“We have called a meeting in Punjabi Dharamshala on Sunday and will hold a mahapanchayat of the community on January 13. We will celebrate Lohri and also announce the future course of action on that day,” said OP Alawadhi, general secretary of the Punjabi Global Welfare Society, Hisar, after the meeting.

He said they had decided to hold a dharna at Madan Lal Dhingra Chowk on January 17 after which a memorandum addressed to the President, the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister would be handed over to the Deputy Commissioner. An adhoc committee comprising SS Khurana, PD Chaudhary, Yagya Dutt Setia, Gian Chand Gera, BK Bharti, Pankaj Mehta, CS Mehta, OP Alawadhi, Subhash Makkar, Som Nath Kukreja and Satish Arora was constituted for deciding the future course of action.

“Our population is 35 per cent in Haryana and a majority of the members of this community do not have their own houses or land. Many of them eke out their living by doing small-time jobs like plying rickshaws or selling commodities on rehris,” Alawadhi said.

Gurgaon, December 27
Haryana Director-General of Police (DGP) SN Vashisht has stated that Gurgaon would be provided as many as 400 additional police personnel, including nine ACP-rank officers and lady police personnel, for maintaining law and order on the New Year eve.

Vashisht, who was here today to review the law and order arrangements for the New Year, maintained that the provision for extra police personnel had been made in view of Gurgaon’s proximity to Delhi and its global importance.

“Our aim is not to disturb the people enjoying their New Year celebrations, but to curb hooliganism,” he said, adding that the police personnel on duty on the New Year eve should remain alert and act swiftly to prevent any untoward incident.

Sensitising the local police about women safety, the DGP said no laxity would be tolerated in this regard. He gave clear directions to his subordinates to respect the dignity of women and not to allow anybody to violate it.

“If anybody tries to create a fracas, he should be dealt with sternly and promptly,” he said. He pointed out that a woman helpline had been started by the Haryana Police and now, any woman aggrieved of eve-teasing or harassment could lodge her complaint on phone number 1091.

After reviewing the law and order situation in Gurgaon, the DGP opined that the police should try to minimise the response time, which would help in building confidence and faith of general public in the police. At the same time, he desired that the police personnel should be polite and courteous while dealing with public.

Chandigarh, December 27
Though Haryana endeavoured to create state-of-the-art infrastructure for the health and education sectors, poor health and education indicators continued to give sleepness nights to the Hooda Government in 2012.

For the state which boasts of a network of 54 general hospitals, 110 community health centres, 466 public health centres and 2,630 sub-health centres, it is a matter of shame to be bracketed with a backward state like Bihar as far as the infant mortality rate (IMR) is concerned. Both states had 48 deaths per 1,000 births and had the dubious distinction of sharing the 28th spot in India. Even in the case of the maternal mortality rate (MMR), Haryana was not very favourably placed as the rate was 153, higher than even West Bengal (145).

On the flip side, Haryana became the first state in north India and third in the country to launch free pentavalent vaccine for children against five life-threatening diseases--diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, hepatitis B and haemophilus influenza type B (Hib). And to tackle anaemia, a weekly iron and folic acid supplement scheme was started from April 1, 2012, under which all schoolgoing girls from Class VI to XII will be provided free folic acid tablets every Monday.

Haryana also pioneered the launch of ‘urban health mission’on the pattern of the National Rural Health Mission. The reverse tracking of the anaemia patients (reporting in labour rooms for delivery) was also started. The Health Department also enrolled 13,800 accredited social health activists.

While the total OPD patients from April to October was reported to be 1.13 crore, only one case of polio has been reported since 2010. However, a shortage of doctors continued to dog the Health Department.

On the education front, the Haryana Government dilly-dallied on the implementation of the RTE Act. In fact, the Hooda government virtually took a U-turn on the 25 per cent quota for the poor under Rule 134-A of the Haryana School Education Rules which mandated free education to 25 per cent children belonging to BPL families in private schools.

Against the backdrop of opposition from over 9,000 privately-managed schools, the government mulled an amendment to the rules, scaling down the reservation to 10 per cent and restricting the quota to BPL families only.

Confusion reigned supreme on eligibility conditions for the recruitment of schoolteachers . It was after a couple of years that the Haryana Government organised the State Teachers Award function to felicitate schoolteachers for their outstanding work.

The Government statutorily banned the state-run and private universities from running off-campus and offshore study centres in a bid to check the commercialization of higher education. The state government also made academic audit mandatory for the private universities. Besides, the state got several institutions of higher and professional learning with Rajiv Gandhi Education City at Sonepat also getting some.

The stand-off between the AICTE and the Haryana Government over the mushrooming of technical institutions continued this year. While the government urged the AICTE that no-objection certificates (NOC) from the state must be a pre-requisite for the opening of technical institutes, the AICTE did not bother about this suggestion.

Gurgaon, December 27
From being referred to as Haryana's backwater town till the early 90s to the millennium city at present, Gurgaon has certainly come a long way in the past few years.

However, even as the city's metro character is getting more pronounced with every year, so is the medieval mindset of its residents. Year 2012 was no exception. In fact, it was a year most local residents would like to forget.

Gurgaon witnessed arson leading to a long lockout at Maruti-Suzuki's Manesar plant, former Haryana minister Gopal Kanda's dramatic run from the police after being named in the suicide case of his former woman employee, little Maahi’s unsuccessful rescue operation from an abandoned borewell, frequent experimentation at the Delhi-Gurgaon toll plaza and passing away of former Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral during the year.

Apart from incidents of crime in general and those against women in particular, a series of suicide cases baffled the police, sociologists and residents. An upsurge in crime targeting women made local residents hang their heads in shame.

Road accidents continued to claim human lives and limbs while the police authorities remained content with observing remembrance days for victims of traffic mishaps.

While the local police badly failed in performing its duty of traffic management and crime prevention, the civil administration also merely dragged its feet and passed the buck while the situation demanded concrete action.

Even the Army team called to rescue little Maahi could not save the poor girl's life. Ultimately, the officials in charge of the rescue operation had to climb down from their egoistic hilltops and seek the help of Sohrab Khan, a local well-digger from the Mewat area, to take the child out. However, they took several days to admit their incapability and the four-year-old child could not be saved.

Thanks to the intervention of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the tax barriers at the Delhi-Gurgaon toll plaza were removed and the commuters had a smooth-sailing experience, though only for a few days.

Increasing frequency and intensity of road rage and bar brawl instances indicated the power of the youth, though the intelligentsia wished for a more meaningful role for them.

Chandigarh, December 27
The Housing Board, Haryana, is set to complete the construction of nearly 11,000 dwelling units across the state at an estimated cost of about Rs 500 crore.

Sources said the construction of 10,918 houses was currently under progress in the state at different locations such as Panchkula, Yamuna Nagar, Karnal, Narwana, Kurukshetra, Panipat, Jind, Hisar, Fatehabad, Ratia, Hansi, Bahadurgarh, Sirsa, Sonepat. Gurgaon, Bawal, Dharuhera, Narnaul, Rewari, Faridabad, Palwal and Barhi.

Of these, 6,292 houses are for BPL families, 1,500 for the economically weaker sections(EWS), 90 for the lower income group(LIG), 90 for the middle income group(MIG) and 102 for the higher income group and 2,844 houses for other categories, including government employees.

In order to provide affordable houses to BPL families, the state government had formulated a policy under which 50% of the EWS plots in the licensed private colonies were transferred to the board at a subsidised rate of Rs 500 per square yard for construction of flats for BPL families. The state government recently decided to transfer 100% EWS plots instead of 50% to the board. An official said the board had already completed 1,580 houses of different categories out of which 2,88 houses were meant for BPL families at Kurukshetra, 278 flats at Gurgaon, 314 for the LIG category, 348 for the MIG category and 160 for the HIG category at Hissar. Meanwhile, 15 acres of land has already been transferred to the board by the Municipal Corporation, Rohtak, for the construction of flats for Haryana Government employees.

Gurgaon, December 27
Deputy Commissioner PC Meena has directed the officers concerned to constitute committees in every office where complaints of sexual harassment can be made and the guilty can be dealt with according to law.

Presiding over the monthly meeting of the district officers here today, Meena said two female and a male employee could be included in the committee and whenever any matter of sexual harassment or eve-teasing was reported by any woman employee, the committee should inquire into it and swift action be taken against those found guilty. He directed the officers concerned to send reports to him after constituting such committees.

The DC also directed the officers to get CCTV cameras installed around the Mini-Secretariat building to enable the police to keep a watch on the activities going around there.

Meena again attracted the attention of officers towards the open boreholes and nullahs and said the officers concerned should ensure that there was no borehole or manhole left open in the jurisdiction.

Meena also laid thrust on the registration of labourers engaged in the unorganised sector of construction and directed to organise a workshop for the contractors to apprise them about how they could get their labourers registered with the Labour Welfare Board.

He directed the Senior Town Planner to write a letter to the builders and contractors engaged in construction activities to attend the workshop.

Yamunanagar, December 27
A team of the State Vigilance Bureau today arrested Sanjeev Garg, a superintending engineer (SE) with the Irrigation Department, while accepting a bribe of Rs 1.72 lakh from a contractor.

Vigilance officials said the SE had sought the bribe in lieu of releasing bill payments of contractor Balram Singh. The contractor, instead of conceding to unjust demands of the SE, reported the matter to the vigilance bureau.

After receiving the complaint, the vigilance officials laid a trap and asked the contractor to strike a deal with the SE.

The SE agreed to take Rs 1.72 lakh and release the payment of the contractor for various works carried out by him to prevent floods in the district.

Accompanied by a team of vigilance officials, the complainant went to hand over the money to the SE and as soon as he pocketed the money, the vigilance officials nabbed him red-handed.

The vigilance team stated that a case under relevant sections of the law had been registered against the SE, who was also placed under arrest.

Karnal, December 27
Three miscreants looted electronic goods worth about Rs 22 lakh from a canter at knifepoint at the Karnal toll plaza early this morning.

The miscreants, who beat up the driver and held him hostage, drove the canter towards Karnal and fled after taking away the electronic goods. The stolen electronic goods included Videocon LCD and LED sets valuing about Rs 22 lakh.

The police has registered a case.

Canter driver Lakhvinder Singh had loaded 175 boxes of LCD and LED sets from Delhi last night and left for Zirakpur but the canter developed some snag near the Karnal toll plaza. He parked the canter on the roadside and went to sleep in the vehicle.

After some time a youth knocked at the vehicle. As soon as Lakhvinder he opened the window, three youths pounced on him, tied his hands on the back and looted the goods at knifepoint.They loaded the goods in another canter and fled.

Meanwhile, the police has written to all government, semi-government and private educational institutions to provide details about their women employees who have stay at workplace after sunset.

Sirsa, December 27
The police has registered a case of kidnapping after a girl alleged that she was taken away by two youths to some unknown destination and later thrown outside her house in an unconscious state after two days.

The victim (21), who runs a beauty parlour shop in the town, alleged that she was approached by two girls for the make-up of a bride and was taken away from her parlour by two youths on December 24. She alleged that she was given some intoxicants and taken to some unknown destination.

The youths, according to the complaint, threw her near her house in an unconscious condition on December 26.

The victim alleged that she found herself in the hospital when she regained consciousness. Suresh Pal, SHO of the City police station, said a case under Sections 365 and 323 of the IPC had been registered. The SHO said the girl had been giving inconsistent statements.

Faridabad, December 27
A large number of activists of the INLD held a demonstration here today against alleged lack of development works in the NIT assembly constituency of the district.

The protesters, led by INLD district president Nagender Bhadana, also submitted a memorandum to Municipal Corporation Commissioner D Suresh and urged him speedy development of the NIT area.

Earlier, they held a demonstration near the MCF headquarters and raised anti-government slogans.

The NIT assembly constituency is presently represented by Haryana Labour Minister Shivcharan Sharma in the Vidhan Sabha. Bhadana had earlier contested unsuccessfully from the constituency.

Addressing the protesters, Bhadana alleged that the corporation also discriminated against various areas within the NIT segment with regard to development.

He said in 2002, the then INLD government had sanctioned Rs 18 crore for Dabua Colony to lay sewage pipes in it. But the subsequent Congress government tampered with the project and reduced the money, he added. — TNS

Chandigarh, December 27
The Haryana Government and the British Council would now work together in the field of higher education to further strengthen the education system in the state. The two already have collaboration at the school level.

This was disclosed by Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal, while talking to mediapersons here today after her return from London where she led a high-level delegation on a 10-day study tour to strengthen the collaboration between Haryana and the British Council.

Geeta said initially, collaboration with the council had been made for only eight schools in the state but now it had been extended to 100 more for which an MoU had been signed.— TNS

Chandigarh December 27
With a view to strengthening drinking water supply , the state government has sent Rs 268.78 crore projects to the Centre for approval.

Haryana Public Health and Engineering Minister Kiran Choudhary said this proposal included Rs 73.78 crore for expansion of water supply in rural areas of Morni, Bhiwani and Mewat and Rs 195 crore for urban areas, namely Jhajjar and Hisar.

The projects sent for approval included improvement of water supply in hamlets of the Morni area of in Panchkula district at a cost of Rs 6.02 crore, Rs 37-crore projects for augmentation of water supply in rural areas of Bhiwani district and Rs 30.76 crore projects for providing pipelines in uncovered streets of 258 villages in Mewat. Similarly, Rs 83 crore projects for augmentation of water supply in Jhajjar town and 17 adjoining villages and a Rs 112 crore project for augmentation of water supply in Hisar town had been included in the proposal.

The minister said drinking water supply had been augmented in 859 rural habitations during 2012 . As many as 57 new water works were set up in rural areas. As many as 296 new tubewells were installed and 45 boosting stations constructed for maintaining adequate pressure. Also, 2273-kilometer pipelines were laid for water supply.

Kaithal, December 27
Deputy Commissioner Chander Shekhar distributed cheques worth Rs 25 lakh as subsidy and loan to 12 self-help groups of the Kaithal block during a training programme under the Swaran Jyanti Gram Rojgar Yojna at Zila Parishad Bhawan here today.

The DC said, “In this age of women empowerment, they should shed hesitation and strive hard to get educated and make their valuable contribution to the society.”

He said by forming self-help groups, women had taken a positive step in the right direction and banks and the District Rural Development Agency had been extending every possible assistance to them achieve their targets.

He asked the women to raise their voice against harassment and victimisation in every sphere of life.