Hisar, July 9
In a major breakthrough in the upper caste-Dalits standoff in Bhagana village, the village panchayat pulled down the wall around the disputed 300-sq yard common land on a chowk near a Dalit locality in the village here today.

The village panchayat, following a consensus among the upper caste community of the village, decided to demolish a 6-ft wall that was erected in May last year resulting in access to three Dalit houses situated across the land. The incident led to tension between the upper caste Jats and Dalits after which the village announced social boycott of all Dalits. Around 70 Dalit families then left the village and sat on a dharna at the district headquarters, alleging discrimination by the village panchayat.

District Congress Committee president Dharambir Goyat, who mediated to resolve the row, said village sarpanch Rakesh Panghal and other prominent people from different castes held a meeting today and decided to accede to the main demand of the Dalits of their village.

“We went to the village and demolished the wall restoring the earlier status of an open chowk. A delegation of the committee will meet the Chief Minister in Chandigarh to apprise him of the development,” said Goyat.

On the other hand, Dalits are still continuing with the dharna in the village, stating that many of their other demands are yet to be addressed. Satish Kumar, a Dalit youth of the village, said they had been demanding registration of a case under the SC/ST Act against those villagers who had issued the social boycott diktat against the Dalit community, besides awarding adequate compensation to the Dalit families who had suffered financial losses in the last one year.

He also demanded that the shamlat land of the village, which is encroached by the upper-caste jats, be evacuated and 100-sq yard plots be allotted to all BPL families under the Mahatma Gandhi Gramin Basti Yojana of the state government. He expressed satisfaction over the fulfilment of the prime demand. He, however, maintained that their dharna would continue till all their demands were accepted. “Even though the panchayat and other upper caste people have been denying this publicly, we are still boycotted. About 30 families that had left the village after the caste friction last year are yet to return to the village,” he maintained.

Fatehabad, July 9
Fatehabad Deputy Commissioner Saket Kumar today advised parents of schoolchildren not to panic from the side-effects of iron and folic acid (IFA) tablets being distributed in government schools.

Speaking in a press conference called to allay fears in the wake of recent incidents of children taking ill after consuming IFA tablets, Kumar said nausea, vomiting and pain in abdomen were some common side-effects associated with these tablets and these went away gradually. “Surveys have found that anaemia among children in India is 55 per cent to 95 per cent. This leads to several complications, particularly during pregnancy and delivery,” he added.

He said though the IFA tablets were more effective, these lead to side-effects too if taken on an empty stomach.

“To minimise the side- effects, we have told health workers as well officials of the Education Department to distribute these tablets after mid-day meals,” the DC said.

Kumar said the pills being supplied in schools were of the best quality and were found complying with all norms.

Over 200 children from different schools of Fatehabad had taken ill after consuming IFA tablets in May before the schools were closed for summer vacations.

Panipat, July 9
For 50-year-old Hassan Kunwar, the Panipat-Shamli bridge has virtually become the India-Pakistan border. For nearly a fortnight now, like many regular commuters, he gets off the tempo at the UP’s Shamli end of the “border”, walks down the bridge, into Haryana’s Panipat district, and drives back home to Sanauli in his own car parked at this end.

“My fields are in Moi village of UP while I stay in Sanauli Khurd village of Haryana. The downpour in mid-June not only rained trouble for us by inundating fields and homes but even washed away a part of the bridge. With traffic flow disrupted, we have faced very tough times,” he says.

As the bridge is closed to heavy traffic even after 20 days, no buses are plying between the two states. Consequently, the harassed commuters are being forced to shell out more on either side of the bridge with tempo operators making a quick buck.

“Realising that the people crossing over into UP or Haryana have no option but to avail themselves of the tempo services, the operators have doubled the rates. If we argue, we are told not to waste their time since there is no dearth of passengers,” explains Rani, a villager from UP’s Buchakheri, who is visiting relatives in Sanauli village with her two children.

Every tempo is packed to capacity with some even sitting on its top. “It is the same story on both sides of the border. I had to go to Rambra Par village in UP, a stone’s throw from the bridge at night and paid Rs 50. As evening sets in, these operators hike their rates further,” explains Sanauli sarpanch Sandeep Kumar.

Repair work is already in progress at the site even as chaos caused by tempos, blaring horns and haphazardly parked vehicles reign supreme on both "borders".

Haryana PWD Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala said that the department was working to carpet the approach road to the bridge from the Haryana side. “The department began repairs after the water level in Sanauli receded. We have opened the bridge for the convenience of the people. For now, traffic flow has resumed. Repair of the bridge, however, is the responsibility of the UP government,” he said.

“UP officials claim that an estimate of Rs 1.10 crore has been sent but sanction will take time. Temporary repairs were carried out after the UP PWD erected a vertical beam to support the bridge. However, the bridge can be risky in times of heavy water flow. The carpeting of the approach road to the bridge will take place on priority once the earth filling settles down,” explains KB Narang, SE, PWD, Karnal.

Karnal, July 9
While the poor results of class X examinations of the Haryana School Board, especially of government schools, has put the Education Department in the dock, a scary fact that has come to light is that 29,650 posts of teachers in various categories are lying vacant in government schools.

As per the data of the Education Department procured by the Haryana Adhayapak Sangh, out of the total 1,08,591 sanctioned posts, only 78,941 have been filled by regular teachers, while guest teachers are working against 15,685 posts and 13,955 posts are lying vacant.

There are 15,037 government schools in the state and 13,69,109 students have been enrolled in 9,424 primary schools, 6,77,892 students in 2,456 middle schools, 3,77,419 in 1,531 high schools and 3,09,330 students in 1,616 senior secondary schools. An acute shortage of teachers, especially those of English, is affecting the quality of education and resulting in poor results.

After the implementation of the Right to Education Act, 1:30 teacher-student ratio was prescribed for primary classes and 1:35 in upper primary. To meet this ideal ratio, 30,000 new teachers are required to be recruited.

“Interestingly, there is not even a single designated English teacher in the primary and upper primary sections and the government has recently sanctioned 1,000 posts of teacher, which reflects the casual approach of the government towards the education sector,” said former spokesperson of the Haryana Adhyapak Sangh KK Nirman.

Nirman said JBT teachers were teaching English at many primary schools, while in middle schools, the task had been entrusted to social sciences teachers. The government was unconcerned about the quality of education. Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal did not respond to any of the queries made in this regard, he added.

Jhajjar, July 9
A woman was allegedly shot dead by her husband’s friend at her house in Shakti Nagar here last night. The deceased has been identified as Bimla, wife of Vijay Singh of Bhaiswal Khurd village.

The police has started investigation after registering a case of murder against Ajay of Mandothi village on the complaint of Vijay. The exact reason behind the murder is yet to be ascertained.

Police reports said Ajay had come to Vijay’s house with liquor last evening. Both of them consumed liquor and after that Ajay left the house. He then came back to the house with a revolver and engaged in a scuffle over some issue with Vijay and his wife. He then allegedly shot at Bimla. She reportedly died on the spot while Ajay managed to escape.

On getting information, the police rushed to the spot and sent the body to the civil hospital for postmortem after taking stock of the situation.

“We are investigating the case from various angles to find out the exact reason behind the murder. Efforts are on to nab Ajay, who is absconding ever since the crime,” said the police.

In another incident, a 35-year-old woman, Rani, died under mysterious circumstance at her house in the New Patel Nagar locality in Bahadurgarh town here today. Her kin said Rani was ailing for several days and mistakenly consumed some poisonous substance instead of her medicines.

Hisar, July 9
A woman has levelled allegations of rape against her husband, a Hisar cop, and six other persons here today.

The woman, who is two-month pregnant, alleged that yesterday, she was alone at her parental house when her husband barged into the house and raped her. He also thrashed her and her father before leaving the house.

The victim further alleged that she was also raped by a police post in charge in the district when she had gone to her husband’s house last month. Alleging that her husband and in-laws used to force her in immoral activities, she said six other persons had also sexually assaulted her at behest of her in-laws in the past, whom she could identify by face.

The woman also reported that she was also turned away at the Civil Hospital by the authorities when she went there for her stomachache treatment today. She met IGP SS Kapur after which he referred her complaint to the women cell for investigation.

Kaithal, July 9
Overflowing sewer lines in various parts of the town for couple of days has added to the woes of residents. Due to choked sewer lines, many localities have flooded with stinking water and this has been causing great inconvenience to the people.

The Adarsh Nagar, Professor colony, Chirnajeev colony, Model Town, Bishangarh colony, Aggarsain Puram, Gobind Nagar, Amargarh colony, Guru Tegh Bahadur colony, railway gate and chandana gate areas are the worst-hit.

Interestingly, the government had spent crores on laying new sewer lines and people were promised a neat and clean environment supported by better sewer system. However, the people feel that all the claims had fallen flat, as frequent blockade of sewer lines had affected normal life here. The existing sewer infrastructure is under tremendous pressure and overloaded. This has aggravated the problem. Residents rue that though new lines had been laid, no serious effort was being made to improve the existing system.

Public Health and Engineering Department officials said main sewer line carrying sewer water to the town’s disposal system was choked with polythene and other material.

Manoj Bansal, SE, said he was aware of the problems being faced by the residents of different localities and officials were making all efforts to clean and desilt the choked lines and restore the system at the earliest.

Jhajjar, July 9
Five masked men robbed Rs 9 lakh at gunpoint from a branch of Haryana Agriculture Bank in Noona-Majra village on the Jhajjar-Bahadurgarh road here today. The robbers sped in a black SUV after perpetrating the crime.

Three armed men stormed into the bank around noon. Two of them held the bank manager and the cashier captive at gunpoint, while the third started filling the cash kept at the cash counter in a bag.

After collecting the entire cash, the trio managed to escape in an SUV in which there were two other accomplices. No security man was in the bank at the time of the crime.

Jhajjar Superintendent of Police Anil Dhawan along with other police officials rushed to the spot.

Though the police examined the footage of CCTV cameras installed in the bank, it failed to identify the robbers owing to their masked faces.

Kurukshetra, July 9
With the arrest of one person, the mystery shrouding the murder of a youth on the premises of the new bus stand here on Sunday has been solved.

District police chief Rakesh Kumar Arya said Satpal Sharma of Murtzapur had alleged that someone had stabbed his grandson Karan to death at the new bus stand here. After investigation, the police had arrested Ramphal of Rasina district in Kaithal. Ramphal told the police that he was a bus driver and he used to stay with Karan. On Sunday night, Ramphal stabbed Karan to death with a knife due to some old rivalry.

The accused was produced in a court today, which remanded him to one-day police custody.

Hisar, July 9
A committee, headed by SDM Amarjit Singh, formed to probe the functioning of a private coaching academy, has found many irregularities in the academy. Students are being kept in miserable condition and no basic facilities are being provided to them.

Deputy Commissioner Amit Agrawal had assigned the task of investigation to SDM Amarjit Singh following a written complaint from a resident of Dharba village in Sirsa district on July 3.

Sources said the SDM report indicated that an academy being run in a makeshift dharamshala in the Azad Nagar locality was not providing even the basic facilities to the children. The teachers and in-charge of the academy did not possess even the basic minimum educational qualification of a teacher. The report indicates that there are about 50 students enrolled in the academy that prepares them for entrance examinations for various schools.

The SDM said the report was ready and he would submit it soon.

Sonepat, July 9
Vijay of Sandal Khurd and Ashok of Ahir Majra were nabbed by the Gannaur police last evening when they were planning to loot passersby on the Gannaur-Bega road. One of them also planned to kill his brother-in-law.

A country-made pistol, three cartridges and an iron rod, besides a Tata Indica car, were seized from them .

Vijay’s sister was married to Sahib Singh of Rohtak. As there was a land dispute between Vijay and Sahib Singh, the former intended to eliminate the latter. After receiving a tip-off that two armed youths were there in a car at the Roshanpur turning on the Gannaur-Bega road, the police nabbed them.

Sirsa, July 9
Dera Sacha Sauda Chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh today dispatched 10,000 kits of relief material in 35 trucks, a mobile hospital fitted with an operation theatre and 10 specialised doctors to the flood-hit Uttarakhand. Around 200 dera volunteers are also accompanying the relief material.

The dera plans to reach out to the victims from door to door. “Earlier, our survey teams went there and identified 35 villages between Guptakanshi to Sonparyag, which are in dire need of relief material,” said Dr Aditya Insan, a spokesperson of the dera. After the first phase of relief work, they plan to address the housing problem of those whose dwellings have been washed out, he added. Besides Dr Aditya, a physician Dr Gaurav Insan, a plastic surgeon Dr Swapnil Insan, an otolaryngologist Dr Sumit Insan, a gynecologist Dr Kirti Insan, a dental surgeon Dr Mohit Insan, some medical graduate and paramedics have also left for Uttarakhand today.

Kurukshetra, July 9
In response to the protest call given by the 61-member Kurukshetra Vikas and Sangharsh Samiti (KVSS), hundreds of its members, including the representatives of various political, social, religious and voluntary organisations, demonstrated in support of their demands in front of the mini-secretariat here today. The demonstration was led by KVSS president and Zila Parishad chairperson Praveen Chaudhary.

The protesters assembled on the premises of Panchayat Bhawan. Carrying placards, they took a march to the mini-secretariat and demanded in front of the building. They demanded immediate construction of an airport here.

A memorandum to this effect, addressed to the Prime Minister, was submitted to Deputy Commissioner Mandeep Singh Brar by the KVSS members.

Briefing the mediapersons, Chaudhary said the KVSS had demanded that an airport, on the pattern of Amritsar, be constructed here because Kurukshetra was a well-known religious town and tourist spot.

Five new international-level temples, including ISKCON, Akshar Dham and Tirupati Balaji, are under construction here, while about 10 to 15 lakh pilgrims visit the town on the occasion of solar eclipse to have a holy dip in the sacred Braham Sarovar and Sannihit Sarovar.

Fatehabad, July 9
The police has registered a case of rioting and kidnapping against 10 villagers after a man was kidnapped to stop his younger brother from marrying a girl belonging to the gotra considered dominant in the boy’s Dayyar village in Fatehabad.

Village Sarpanch Balwan Singh’s, elder son Bhup Singh, was allegedly kidnapped at gunpoint when he was returning home after drawing social security pension of villagers from a bank at Bhattu Kalan last evening. In his complaint, Balwan Singh has alleged that some villagers, who were against his younger son Anup’s proposed wedding to a girl from Peerkheri village, were behind the kidnapping. “Since our village is dominated by Jats from Kaswan gotra, those who were behind Bhup’s kidnapping want me to break my son Anup’s wedding with the girl belonging to Kaswan gotra,” said Balwan Singh, who himself belongs to Chahar gotra.

The opposition to the wedding stems from the belief that a girl from Kaswan gotra will be considered sister by a majority of villagers. “When Kaswan boys from this village have married to Chahar girls, how can they oppose Anup’s marriage to a Kaswan girl,” Balwan Singh argued. He said when he refused to follow the diktat of the gotra panchayat, they went to the girl’s parents and tried to cancel the wedding. Now, they have stooped so low that they had kidnapped his son and were demanding cancellation of the impending marriage, he alleged. The kidnappers stopped Bhup Singh’s motorcycle, dragged him in a Bolero and sped away last evening. According to the police, the kidnappers are possibly hiding in Rajasthan.— TNS