Chandigarh, August 23
In a clear indication of his final break from the Congress, rebel Gurgaon MP Rao Inderjit Singh has moved a step closer to forming a political outfit, which may prove crucial in government formation after the Assembly elections next year.

Rao Inderjit Singh's supporters have approached the Election Commission of India (ECI) to register the new political outfit, the Haryana Insaaf Congress. This will replace the non-political Haryana Insaaf Manch, and is likely to be announced on September 23 at a rally in Rewari to mark the anniversary of Rao Tula Ram, the MP's grandfather and a hero of the 1857 War of Independence.

Sources said Inderjit's younger daughter Bharti Singh Rao will be the president while Dalip Singh will be the secretary and Surender Kumar the treasurer of the proposed party. The head office will be located at a farmhouse near Bhagwat Bhakti Ashram at Rampura in Rewari district, according to papers filed with the ECI.

Even as the government gained the largest revenue from change of land use from areas like Gurgaon, Mewat, Faridabad, Palwal, Rewari, Mahendragarh and Bhiwani, the development of the area was the last on its agenda, a close associate alleged. The area was being discriminated against even in government jobs, he alleged.

Along with Union minister Selja and CWC member Birender Singh, Rao Inderjit does not see Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda eye to eye on many issues, including regional bias in development and jobs.

The Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, Rao Inderjit Singh is a prominent Ahirwal leader, who has been lambasting the Hooda-led Congress government in Haryana for alleged discrimination in jobs and development, especially against south Haryana.

He had formed a public forum, the Haryana Insaaf Manch, at a public rally organised at Pataudi in Gurgaon district in March this year. A four-time legislator since 1977, Rao Inderjit Singh was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1998 and re-elected in 2004 and 2009.

— With inputs from Sunit Dhawan and Sumedha Sharma in Gurgaon

Sirsa, August 23
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has lodged first information reports (FIRs) against 33 quacks practising medicine without degree. The action began on Wednesday.

Enforcement officials with the FDA recovered large quantities of allopathic medicines from their clinics after raiding nearly 40 hospitals being run by quacks.

"Cases under Sections 419 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 15(2) and 15(3) of the Medical Council of Indian Act have been registered against 33 quacks in the last two days," said GL Singal, State Drug Controller-cum-Joint Commissioner, FDA.

Thirteen quacks were booked in Mewat, nine in Faridabad, three in Gurgaon, two each in Kurukshetra, Jhajjar and Rohtak and one each in Jagadhri, Panchkula, Palwal and Sonepat. The police had arrested two quacks in Gurgaon, said Karan Singh Godara, Senior Drug Control Officer.

"Geeta Bhukkal had ordered stern action against quacks in Rohtak after she received complaints regarding their activities while hearing public grievances," the State Drug Controller said.

The problem of quacks was acute in the state, particularly in rural areas. They had reportedly been responsible for spreading infections through syringes, needles and other equipment due to unprofessional techniques.

Quacks were considered responsible for spreading hepatitis C after a number of persons were detected to be suffering from the disease at Ratia in Fatehabad in a recent survey ordered by state government.

New Delhi, August 23
The Delhi High Court today extended till August 30 the interim bail granted to former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, sentenced to 10-year imprisonment for committing irregularities in the appointment of 3,032 JBT teachers in 1999-2000.

Justice Siddharth Mridul let Chautala remain outside for one more week as the medical board formed by the AIIMS at the instance of the high court did not file its report on the INLD chief’s health condition.

Chautala has been on bail since May 21 when he was allowed by the high court to undergo surgery for getting a pacemaker implanted on his heart. The court today asked the Tihar jail authorities to ensure the safety of IAS officer and co-accused Sanjiv Kumar who alleged that he was assaulted inside the prison on August 7. The court directed the medical superintendent at the jail to have Kumar examined at the AIIMS and file a report by August 30.

A CBI court here sentenced Chautala and his son, Ajay, to 10-year imprisonment in the case on January 22 following which they were lodged in Tihar jail. Chautala has challenged the verdict in the high court, contending that the false and fictitious case had political overtones and his continued incarceration would be against the interest of justice.

In all, the CBI court had convicted and sentenced 55 accused in the case. Among the main accused sentenced to 10-year jail are Vidya Dhar, the then OSD to Chautala, and Sher Singh Badshami, the then political adviser to the CM and a sitting MLA at present.

Chandigarh, August 23
The seven districts of Hisar, Jind, Panipat, Palwal, Mewat, Bhiwani and Mahendragarh have been identified as high-priority districts (HPDs) to bring down the infant mortality rate (IMR) and the maternal mortality rate (MMR) in Haryana.

Anuradha Gupta, Additional Secretary-cum-Mission Director, National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), Government of India, gave this information at a workshop organised by the NRHM-Haryana in participation with United States Agency for International Development (USAID), WHO, UNICEF and other department partners here today.

She said that a nation-wide campaign had been started by the NRHM under which such districts had been identified where the number of IMR and MMR cases was high.

She said the NRHM would run special programme in these HPDs for vaccination, nutritional needs and to provide more healthcare facilities to mothers and children to improve their health. The NRHM would provide 30 per cent reservation to these identified HPDs. Apart from this, incentives would be given to specialists, nurses and other staff members in these HPDs so that there would be no shortage of specialists, nurses and other staff. USAID, WHO, UNICEF and other agencies would provide technical assistance in programmes being run in these HPDs.

Navraj Sandhu, Principal Secretary, Health, laid emphasis on the need for a holistic approach to end preventable child deaths.

Gupta said Haryana had improved a lot in terms of health services. She said that Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram and free ambulance service and delivery services had yielded better results as the IMR and the MMR that were higher in the state during 2008 had decreased considerably.

Fatehabad, August 23
Girls from the Government PG College for Women, Bhodia Khera, blocked vehicular traffic outside their college here today to protest against the abysmally poor results, in which only seven out of the 420-students of the BA Part I (second semester) had been able to clear the English paper. Chaudhary Devi Lal University had announced results for BA (second semester) on August 14.

Angry girls deflated tyres of vehicles and threatened to continue their agitation till their result was rectified. Interestingly, students from Government Colleges at Bhattu Kalan and Ratia also held demonstrations after the announcement of result. These students, however, did not block vehicular traffic. The result of English subject was very poor in these colleges also. In MA (English) too, not a single girl from Bhodia Khera College was able to clear the exam.

Dr Praveen Aghamkar, Controller of the Examination, Chaudhary Devi Lal University, said the result had been fairly prepared and failed students had performed badly in exams. He said he had invited principals of these colleges to check answersheets in order to satisfy them.

Dr RK Sharma, principal of the Government PG College, Bhodia Khera, said he had already taken up the matter with the university authorities. He said he along with other teachers would visit the university to check answersheets of their students. 

Faridabad, August 23
The Faridabad Bar Association has called off its indefinite strike from tomorrow following adequate security arrangements on the premises of the district courts by the authorities in the wake of the murder yesterday.

The lawyers, who suspended work immediately after the shootout at the judicial complex, observed a strike today. Armed criminals shot dead a man who had come for appearance in court.

Association president NK Garg said the agitation was called off as the authorities acceded to lawyers’ demand for adequate security at the judicial complex. He warned that the lawyers would resort to an agitation if the arrangements were ad hoc.

The authorities decided to depute 30 constables under an inspector on the sprawling premises from the morning till 6 pm. Two PCRs were allotted exclusively for the premises. The height of the outer boundary wall of the complex would be increased and all unauthorised entry and exit points closed.

In a related incident, a group of lawyers burnt an effigy of the civil and police administration in protest against the lack of security. Garg clarified that the burning of an effigy had nothing to do with the association.

Deputy Commissioner Balraj Singh enforced with immediate effect Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, banning the carrying of weapons, including licensed firearms, on the premises of government office buildings in the district during working hours.

The police conducted several raids since yesterday to nab the murderers. Vijay Kumar, Station House Officer concerned, said raiding parties had gone to several places. He said some persons had been interrogated and the arrests would be made soon.

Chandigarh, August. 23
The Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam(UHBVN) and the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) have decided to online submission of applications for new connections, said Devender Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, UHBVN and DHBVN, here today.

As the state had adequate power, it was advisable to absorb electricity by creating additional load in industrial and non-domestic sectors.

The discoms would also reduce the period of demand notice for prompt release of connections.

The CMD said the facility of registration of complaints about non-acceptance of files by field offices had been made available to the applicants through a consumer grievances redressal system.

The applicants can also visit the offices of the Managing Directors of the Discoms to lodge such complaints, Mohinder Lal, ADGP, Haryana Power Utilities, said 81 erring consumers had been arrested for stealing power in the state so far Meanwhile, the Discoms have decided to launch an amnesty scheme for regularisation of tubewell connections.

Devender Singh said it had been observed by the Discoms that a number of tubewell connections under the self-execution scheme were running without billing due to pending formalities. Under the amnesty scheme, the connections would be regularised on the request of the consumers. The connection would be regularised after inspection of the site by the executive engineer concerned.

Fatehabad, August 23
The National Green Tribunal has disposed of an application filed by the Akhil Bharatiya Jeev Raksha Bishnoi Sabha to stop Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) from setting up fencing on 187 acres acquired for a residential colony of the Gorakhpur nuclear power plant at Badopal. The sabha had filed the application for saving blackbucks.

In its order passed today, the Principal Bench of the tribunal observed that the counsel for the NPCIL had given a statement that the fencing had been removed, status quo ante had been restored and no further action of raising any construction or putting any fencing at the place to segregate the land would be undertaken.

The counsel for the NPCIL stated that the application for environmental clearance was already pending before the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) and proceedings were likely to be finalised in a short period. The tribunal observed that since the main issue in the application was removal of fencing, nothing remained after the NPCIL statement.

The tribunal said the applicant would have the liberty to give a representation before the MoEF and participate in proceeding before it in person or through an agent before granting of or refusal of environment clearance to the nuclear power project.

The MoEF had got a survey conducted by scientists with the Wildlife Institute of India in Dehradun. The report of the scientists had recommended that the NPCIL should leave the site so that it could be set up as conservation reserve for blackbucks.

Rewari, August 23
The Gurgaon police arrested six persons following an encounter near Guraora village, 28 km from Rewari, on the Jhajjar-Rewari road yesterday.

These six criminals were Narbir Saini, a city youth and kingpin of the gang, Vimal Saini, Arun Yadav, Deepak, Pawan Yadav, residents of various parts of Rewari city, and Vinay Saini of Jhajjar district. The police seized a rifle, two pistols and two motorcycles from their possession. They were produced in a local court, which remanded them in judicial custody.

A police official said the gangsters were involved in cases of attempt to murder and other heinous crimes in Rewari and Gurgaon districts. They had been on the run for the past three months, he added. 

Fatehabad, August 23
The police has booked two persons of Rattangarh village of Fatehabad district after some officials of the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN), who had gone to the village to recover pending bills, were roughed up by villagers.

On receiving a complaint from the SDO of the DHBVN, the police booked Jhumpa and his brother Bhola for thrashing a junior engineer and five officials.