Rohtak, November 17
The Pt Bhagwat Dayal Sharma University of Health Sciences here, which runs the local Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), is all set for a giant leap in the coming days.

Several new facilities like an operation theatre, a lecture theatre, an auditorium, a trauma centre, a centre of excellence in psychiatry and a mother and child health centre are expected to be commissioned at the institute in the near future.

Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, state Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, state Rajya Sabha MP Shadi Lal Batra and other prominent leaders are slated to inaugurate some of the said facilities on November 19. A scheme to provide medicines free of cost to patients visiting the PGIMS for treatment will also be launched on the same day, though it would be operational from January 1 next year.

Under the scheme titled “Mukhyamantri Muft Ilaj Yojana”, as many as 231 therapeutic drugs would be given to patients free of cost across 32 counters being set up for the purpose at different OPDs.

The city residents said this was an old wine in new bottle as free-medicine facility was already being provided. The health university authorities maintained that under the new scheme, more types of medicines would be provided in sufficient quantity to all categories of patients.

Talking to The Tribune here today, UHS Vice-Chancellor Prof SS Sangwan said the Union Government had sanctioned a multidisciplinary research lab and a virology lab for the university, which would incur an estimated expenditure of Rs 11 crore. An amount of Rs 1.5 crore had already been received, he said, adding that the process of taking over the requisite infrastructure for the purpose was in progress.

PGIMS director, Dr CS Dhull, lamented that having 200 MBBS seats was a big liability for the institute, especially considering the fact that AIIMS (New Delhi) admitted only 72 MBBS students annually, while the PGIMER (Chandigarh) did not run the MBBS course at all.

Dr Dhara B Dhaulakhandi, Head of the Department of Biotechnology and Molecular Medicine at the UHS, said several crucial research projects, including some sponsored by the ICMR, were in progress at the institute. Research was being conducted on combination therapy for cancer treatment, molecular profiling of tumours, he added.

He said, “These include molecular profiling of brain and spinal tumours to ascertain their stage, radiation-induced combination therapy for treatment of cancer, besides a few other research projects of the Departments of Pharmacy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and Pathology.”

Kapro (Hisar), November 17
Long queues of women carrying metal and earthen pots on their heads, going to fetch water. Separate wells for scheduled castes and upper castes. A lower caste man extracting water in exchange for a bowl full of grain.

A visit to this village gives the impression that the time clock has reversed to some years back.

In fact, the prevailing water problem in the village has led people to return to the traditional sources of getting water, by de-silting and renovating old dried-up wells.

The local residents had recently pooled in funds to renovate the wells which had been abandoned about a decade ago.

Manjit Kumar, a youth of the village, informed The Tribune that they had collected Rs 2.60 lakh to de-silt the wells to get potable water as the government-run water supply system is “inadequate and faulty”.

“We have five-six wells in separate localities. Two wells are in Bhoot pana, one for scheduled caste and one for the upper castes. Women from separate communities fetch water from their respective wells”, he said.

Kalawati Devi, 55, said they extracted water from around 40-50 deep well on their own. “It takes around one hour to fetch one pitcher of water as there is a heavy rush of women in the mornings and evenings.”

She recalled that they used to bring water in this fashion almost a decade ago, before the water supply scheme was introduced. But gradually the pipelines developed defects, resulting in the water becoming unfit for consumption, she added.

Similar is the situation in adjoining Koth Kalan village, where one well is still functional and fulfils the needs of many families. These families have deputed a lower caste man at the well to extract water.

“Each woman gives the man one bowl of grain in exchange for one pitcher of water. This way, we need not bring our own ropes and bucket to extract water and also escape the hard work of extracting water”, said a woman on the well.

Sarpanch of Koth Kalan Anil Kumar Sindhu however maintained that a network of pipelines had been laid to transport potable water from the fields and thus there was no water problem in the village. Admitting that the public health water supply was still inadequate, he said the panchayat had bored pumps and submersibles to facilitate people to get enough water.

The executive engineer, Public Health Department (PHD), Krishan Kumar Gill, however, denied any laxity on behalf of the government. He said the water supply schemes were efficiently fulfilling the needs of the people in the region.

When informed about the renovation of wells in some villages, he expressed surprise while stating, “There must be some other reason of renovating the wells as villagers usually have inhibitions about water supplied from the waterworks and this could be the reason behind reusing the wells too”.

He said the work to construct boosting stations in these villages was underway and likely to be completed soon, after which there would be no shortage of water.

However, Saroj Mor, INLD MLA from Nar assembly segment, said she had raised the issue several times in the assembly after the people complained to her about the water crisis.

Kaithal, November 17
The students of the Government Primary School, Mundri village, have not been served midday meal since October 9.

Though the matter was brought to the notice of the local Education Department officials by the school long back, no one has cared to ensure that the students, numbering 247, get the meals as the per government policy.

Ravi, the school head teacher, said they had ration but the articles required for cooking were out of stock. Milk, refined ghee, salt, sugar and other articles had not been made available to the school for the past three months but they had been serving the midday meal to the children students using their own funds, he said.

It also came to light that the teachers had been paying from their own pockets since July.

District Education Officer Satish Rana said he was not aware of the problem and the BEO could throw light on this matter. Block Education Officer (BEO) Shamsher Singh Sirohi said the problem arose due to some procedural delay and they were looking into the matter. The BEO said the Principal of the senior secondary school, Mundri, had DD powers and was authorised to make payments, but many sellers did not have bank accounts, hence payments could not be transferred to their accounts. It aggravated the situation, he said.

“Steps are being taken to restore the supply of midday meals,” he added.

Karnal, November 17
The Haryana Mahila Congress will stake claim to 33 per cent party tickets to women candidates in the Assembly elections due next year. A large number of women have come forward to join politics and even in backward areas like Mewat, women are shedding their inhibitions and joining mainstream politics and have a strong claim to 30 tickets in their 90-member Assembly, president of the Haryana Mahila Congress, Sumita Singh, told The Tribune here.

Maintaining that the mahila wing was working actively to check atrocities against women, she said all district and block presidents and secretaries had been told to raise their voice against crime against women like rape and dowry and help the dropout girls to get back to school.

Block-level committees of the women wing constituted in the state are going from door to door to inform and educate the masses about the welfare programmes launched by the government and achievements on the development front, especially in education, health and industrial sectors which would boost Congress campaign in the elections.

Sumita Singh, who is also the chairperson of State Warehousing Committee, stated that 15 new warehouses were coming up in small towns, work was under progress in seven warehouses with a capacity of 58,780 Mt while it would soon commence in eight warehouses with the capacity of 136290 Mt.

Karnal, November 17
Haryana BJP chief Ram Vilas Sharma today questioned the rationale behind sanctioning Change of Land Use (CLU) on a very large scale by the state government and termed it as a ‘scam’ which required a thorough probe.

Accusing the government of ‘victimising’ senior IAS officer Ashok Khemka, Sharma said “Hooda government is a government of property dealers and the only crime of Ashok Khemka is that he exposed and cancelled the mutation of the alleged land deal between Sky Light Hospitality, allegedly owned by Robert Vadra and DLF”.

Addressing mediapersons here today, he also raised questions regarding the ownership of Omkareshwar Properties and said the “bigwigs” running the company should be exposed.

Sharma alleged that there were about 40,000 cases of alleged irregularities in grant of CLU.

Blaming the government for the deteriorating law and order situation in the state, he said more than 200 persons had been killed for ransom. Also, atrocities on Dalits were continuing unabated and the government had become a mute spectator, he added.

Pointing finger towards the Bihar government and the Centre for the bomb blasts in Bihar, Sharma said the revelation of Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde that the Centre had cautioned the state government about the blast threat gave credence to the “conspiracy theory”.

Ridiculing the Hooda Government for organising ‘Shakti Rally’ at Gohana on November 10 to show its strength, he said it was a “Bapu-Beta limited affair” and a vulgar show of “brazen misuse of power and official machinery”.

Hooda was forced to hold the rally as he was unnerved by the increasing support for BJP-HJC alliance and had resorted to the ‘Shakti Rally’ to boost the morale of his own party men, he quipped.

Underplaying the “rubber shoe” remark of Haryana assembly speaker Kuldeep Sharma against the BJP, Sharma said “We will maintain the dignity and not stoop to that level”. He added that a complaint had been made to the Governor in that regard.

Ambala, November 17
The Haryana BJP will launch an agitation against Speaker Kuldeep Sharma for his 'politically motivated' statement about the BJP and take up the matter with the Governor.

Talking to mediapersons here today, BJP spokesman Rattan Lal Kataria said the post of Assembly Speaker was a constitutional post and he should not directly involve himself in party politics. He said he had insulted democratic ethics by uttering unparliamentary language about a national political party. He said Kuldeep Sharma had lost the moral right to continue as the Speaker. He requested the Governor to direct the Speaker to tender his resignation.

He said if Kuldeep Sharma was interested in active politics, he should resign from the post of Speaker. He said BJP MPs would raise this matter in the winter session of Parliament.

The BJP leader said all Congress leaders were afraid of the popularity of Narendra Modi and they had hatched a baseless conspiracy against him.

He said the results of the upcoming Assembly elections in four states would highlight the anger of the people of the country against the UPA government. Replying a question, he said the political alliance between the BJP and the HJC was as strong as a rock. He ruled out the possibility of a 'mahagathbandhan'.

Sirsa, November 17
Speaker Kuldeep Sharma’s remark calling the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a “rubber shoe that fits in every foot” has triggered a debate over the language elected representatives are expected to use.

While leaders of the BJP, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) have all condemned Sharma’s remarks, leaders of his own party, Bhiwani MP Shruti Choudhry and Nalwa MLA Sampat Singh, have disapproved the use of “language lacking decorum” by the Speaker.

Kuldeep Sharma, on the other hand, has stuck to his stand. Referring to BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s “khooni panja”, “shehzada” and “pappu” remarks for the Congress and Rahul Gandhi, he said he had spoken about the saffron party in the language BJP leaders understood.

BJP activists across the state had been holding demonstrations and burning Kuldeep Sharma’s effigies ever since he said at Dabwali in Sirsa that the BJP was a “rubber shoe that fits in every foot”.

When his statement sparked protests by BJP workers across the state, Sharma said though he stood by his remark, he was ready to amend his statement and call the BJP a “universal sock that fits in every foot” if they had a problem in calling their party a shoe.

While BJP state president Ram Bilas Sharma, leader of BJP legislature party Anil Vij and HJC supremo Kuldeep Bishnoi decried Sharma’s “rubber shoe” comments and sought his apology, INLD leader Abhey Singh Chautala sought his resignation, accusing him of lowering the position of Speaker.

Sharma’s party colleagues have disapproved his remarks as well. “In public life, no one should use uncivilised language, no matter which party one belongs to. Political leaders are expected to maintain decorum in what they speak,” Bhiwani MP Shruti Choudhry said reacting to Sharma’s comments.

Congress MLA from Nalwa Sampat Singh said though the spirit behind Sharma’s statement was right, he did not choose proper words by equating the BJP with a rubber shoe.

“Before Sampat Singh joined the Congress, he had a long association with the BJP, which was an alliance partner of the Nalwa MLA’s former party, the INLD. He may still have a soft corner for the saffron party,” Kuldeep Sharma responded to his criticism.

“I am not in the habit of using such language in public life. But I know how to respond to a person in the language he understands,” Kuldeep Sharma said, referring to some recent remarks by Narendra Modi.

“I demand an apology from Narendra Modi for his “khooni panja” remark, for which he has been reprimanded by the Election Commission, and for calling Rahul Gandhi a “shehzada” in a sarcastic manner,” he said.

“Modi must remember that Rahul Gandhi is a “shaheedzada” as his father and grandmother laid down their lives for the sake of the country and not a “shehzada” as the BJP’s “PM in imagination” Narendra Modi has been saying,” Sharma said.

Hisar, November 17
The police has not been able to arrest the Sanskrit teacher of Government High School, Nidana Kalan village, Bhiwani, who has been accused of raping a class X girl.

The police had booked him following a complaint by the victim, who disclosed the matter to her family yesterday. The accused teacher, Shiv Charan, allegedly raped the girl on November 6, after he called her to a vacant room on the pretext of bringing water for him.

The victim stopped going to the school and did not reveal anything to her parents. Upon insistence, she confided in her mother yesterday.

The villagers and family members of the victim locked the school and thrashed the teacher yesterday, after which the police intervened and pacified the protesters by assuring them speedy action in the case.

Bhiwani civil surgeon Dr Ram Chandra said rape would be confirmed only after the forensic reports come in.

A Tosham police official said the accused teacher was still absconding.

Meanwhile, the accused in the gang rape case of Pataudi village, where an ITI student was raped, is also absconding.

Shahzadpur (Ambala), November 17
Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Selja today inaugurated the three-day Bharat Nirman public information campaign at Shahzadpur in Ambala district.

The campaign was organised by the Press Information Bureau, Chandigarh, a media unit of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, to provide detailed information on major public welfare programmes of the Government of India.

Inaugurating the campaign, the minister said the Centre had launched several development and welfare schemes and programmes for the masses in the last nine years under which huge sums were spent through the state governments.

But due to lack of awareness and information about these policies and programmes, the common man was not in a position to derive due benefits from these schemes, she said. She further said officers must ensure that the benefits provided under the Right to Information, the Right to Education, the Right to Employment, the Food Security Act and other schemes reached the people.

She appreciated the Press Information Bureau’s effort in creating awareness among the masses about government schemes. She expressed the hope that the campaign would be of great help in creating awareness.

Rohtak, November 17
Scientific knowledge must be utilised to improve the quality of life of the masses. Advanced sciences like microbiology can play a key role to uplift healthcare and for the welfare of humankind. Developing a scientific temperament amongst students as well as peopleis the need of the day.

This was stated by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda while inaugurating the 54th annual Conference of the Association of Microbiologists of India and international symposium on “Frontier Discoveries and Innovations in Microbiology and its Interdisciplinary Relevance” on the MDU campus here today.

The four-day conference is being organised by the Department of Microbiology at MDU. A seminar souvenir and three books were also released during the inaugural session of the conference.

Earlier, delivering the welcome address, MDU Vice-Chancellor HS Chahal highlighted the useful aspects of microbiology. The keynote address was delivered by Prof Julio Polaina, an eminent scientist from Spain. Prof Julio delved on the utility of enzyme biotechnology food science technology.

Prof Victor Di Rita from the USA highlighted the importance of communicating science properly. DU Vice-Chancellor Dinesh Singh said India’s growth and development depended upon scientific and technological progress.

AMI president Prof Rup Lal, general secretary TK Adhya and organising committee chairperson RC Kuhad also spoke.

Dr Pratyush Shukla, Head, Department of Microbiology at MDU, threw light on the themes and realms of the conference. Prof SK Gakhar, Dean, Faculty of Life Sciences, proposed the vote of thanks.

As many as 21 technical sessions will be held during the conference. Eminent scientists from different parts of the country and abroad are participating in the event which will focus on various aspects of industrial microbiology, agricultural microbiology, enzyme technology, environmental microbiology, biodiversity, virology, bioinformatics and nano-biotechnology etc.

The Chief Minister also inaugurated the mathematics and psychology blocks on the MDU campus.

Karnal, November 17
Almost one year after Chief Minister BS Hooda laid the foundation stone of the ambitious Kalpana Chawla Medical College project on November 18 last year, the work has finally begun.

However, the announcement made by the Chief Minister at the time of the foundation laying ceremony of the Rs 650-crore project to make the college functional within 25 months may not materialise as the execution of works within one year did not seem feasible.

Tendering process for the first phase of the medical college had been completed and the government had released Rs 137 crore for the construction of the building, which would be completed within twenty months. The tenders for the second phase have also been finalised and work duties would be awarded soon, said Dr Surinder Kashyap, the Director of the medical college.

The 500-bed medical college, spread over an area of nearly 43 acres, will have 100 MBBS seats in the first session.

The college building, seminar hall and three residential blocks with 27 flats each for the employees would be constructed in the first phase. The construction work had commenced and the main entry for the college would be from the old jail area in front of National Dairy Research Institute. The office of the Civil Surgeon is being shifted in the Red Cross building.

Karnal residents got the medical college after a long struggle by various social, cultural, religious and non-government organisations under the banner of the Kalpana Chawla Medical College Nirman Sangharsh Committee campaign for nearly five years.

Rewari, November 17
The Khol police has arrested Suresh Kumar on the charge of sexually assaulting his wife and injuring her private parts at Cheemnawas, 12 km from here, on November 11.

The 40-year-old Dalit accused was today produced before the Duty Magistrate, who remanded him in 14-day day judicial custody.

Faridabad, November 17
The announcement of hike in minimum wages for labourers and workers in Haryana at the Shakti Rally at Gohana recently seems to have run into rough weather with over 12 associations of industrial and manufacturing units here opposing the move. The umbrella body of these associations will submit a memorandum to the state government in this regard.

The Manufacturers Association Faridabad (MAF) has set up a body to prepare a detailed draft regarding the issue. "A hike of around 60 per cent in the wages of industrial labourers and work force is not possible for us right now as it will entail additional financial burden on a majority of the industrial units already faced with a crisis," claimed Ramnik Prabhakar, general secretary of the association, here today.

Prabhakar said if forced by the authorities, it could result in an adverse fallout, which could be retrenchment of labour or workers. It could also entail closure of units or availing the option of shifting out of the state in view of the crisis already faced by small and medium units.

He said while the associations were providing jobs to around 2.65 lakh persons at present, the announcement of hike in wages could put an additional financial burden to the tune of around 60 per cent. Hiking the minimum wages to Rs 8,100 per month could mean an actual salary of around Rs 9,000 per employee. This was a flat 60 per cent raise.

The state government, Prabhakar said, ought to have taken the industry and other stakeholders in confidence in advance. It should have provided a cushion in the form of reduction in taxes or power rates.

Ambala: The hike in the minimum wages of unskilled workers announced by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda at the Gohana rally has not gone down well with the Ambala industrialists. DC Gupta, president of the HSIDC Estate Industries Association, said the revision of the minimum wages would lead to shutting down of the small-scale units in the state that were already not doing well. Demanding that wage revision should be uniform across the country and not be state-specific, Gupta said this would place the state industry at a disadvantage vis-a-vis the neighbouring states.

Fatehabad, November 17
The Police has booked a Sarpanch, a Gram Sachiv and a factory owner for breach of trust, cheating and forgery. The said accused had fraudulently withdrew widow pension of three women who were already getting old-age pension and got a bill passed for higher value water pipes despite using cheaper ones during laying of pipes at Bothan Kalan village in Fatehabad.

The police has booked the Sarpanch Ram Prashad, Gram Sachiv Chander Bhan and Pawan Sardana, a factory owner, of Budhlada in Punjab under various sections of the IPC after an order was passed by a local court in this regard.

Rohtash Kumar, an RTI activist, from the village had filed a criminal case in a local court alleging a number of irregularities, including misappropriation of funds against the Sarpanch and others.

It was also alleged that the sarpanch showed money spent on some streets, which were never repaired.

Sonepat, November 17
The Yuva Chetna Yatra of the INSO, youth wing of the INLD led by its national president Digvijay Singh Chautala, today passed through more than 10 villages and was given a warm welcome by villagers.

While addressing the villagers at a meeting, Digvijay Singh said the time had come to change the Congress rule of at the Centre as well as in Haryana as the party had proved very harmful for the farmers. While working as property dealers for big houses and rich persons, the party rule had rendered farmers jobless, he alleged.

Charging the Hooda government of partiality in executing the development works in different areas of the state, he said Sonepat district had also remained neglected. “The CBI has become a tool in the hands of the Congress to harass the opposition leaders and to divert the attention of the people from the scams being done by leaders in power,” he said.

The leader further said the main aim of the Yuva Chetna Yatra was to acquaint the youth of the policies and programmes adopted by Devi Lal during his rule as the Chief Minister of Haryana and as the Deputy Prime Minister of India.

Today was the 12th day of the third phase of the yatra and it passed through Agwanpur, Panchi, Purkhas, Kailana, Sitawali, Juan, Mohana, Bidhal-Pinana, Lath-Joi and Gohana.

Ambala, November 17
Two motorcycle-borne youths snatched the purse of a woman near Panchayat Bhawan in Ambala City today.

Manju, a resident of sector 7, said she was passing from near the Panchayat Bhawan when two youths appeared on a motorbike. One the youths snatched her purse and the duofled away.

She raised an alarm for help but the youths managed to flee. Her purse contained Rs 3,000 cash and a mobile phone, she added.

The matter was reported to the police but there was no evidence against the youth till the filing of the report.

Hisar, November 17
Two prominent communities of the town, Punjabis and Sainis, today joined hands form a non-political front on the issue of development of the town.

Representatives of both communities held a meeting at Multani Chowk under the banner of the Punjabi Saini Sadhbhavna Manch and decided to raise issues concerning the town with the state government.

Hari Singh Saini, a former minister who was the chief guest in the meeting, stated that the two trader communities should leave their differences behind and work jointly, which would build pressure on the government to redress their common grievances.

He said they would meet local MLA and minister Savitri Jindal soon to apprise her of problems facing the people of the town and urge her to strengthen infrastructure in the town, which was in tatters due to prolonged neglect.

However, some members of both communities sought to project it a potent political force. Convener of the manch Subhash Mahlotra said jointly the communities could become an alternative political force as the people were fed up of the neglect of the town and corruption of capitalist forces.

Kurukshetra, November 17
Tributes were paid to those who had died in road accidents during the year by lighting candles and observing silence at a function organised jointly by the Kurukshetra Police and the Road Safety Organisation (RSO) at the Police Lines here today.

This function is organised as per directions of the UNO on the third Sunday of November every year. As many as 164 persons had died and 338 were injured in the district during the year. — OC