Kanina (Mahendragarh), May 4
Deshraj alias Rawan (35), brother of a local Municipal Councillor (MC), was battered to death with iron rods and bamboo sticks by three assailants on the Kanina-Ateli Road here last evening. The assailants managed to flee from the spot.

The reason behind the crime is yet to be ascertained. However, the Kanina police have started investigation after registering a case of murder against three youths on the complaint of the brother of the deceased, Mehar Chand, who is MC from Ward-5 here.

Seeking immediate arrest of the accused, residents of the village today disrupted vehicular traffic on the main road for over four hours. They also shouted slogans against the police authorities to protest the killing.

The protesters cleared the road following assurance by Satish Yadav, Mahendragarh SDM, that the police had began probe into the case and the accused would be nabbed soon.

In his complaint, Mehar Chand said Deshraj was sitting at his dhaba on Saturday evening when three men, armed with iron rods and bamboo sticks, came there in a white car and assaulted him without any provocation. Deshraj died on the spot due to multiple injuries on head and other parts of his body.

As soon as news of the killing spread in the area, villagers rushed to the spot and criticised the police for the worsening law and order situation. Simardeep Singh, Mahendragarh SP, along with other police officials reached the spot and pacified the villagers.

“The exact reason behind the murder will be ascertained after the preliminary investigation. A murder case has been lodged against Manjeet and Pawan of Unhani village and Jagga of Dadri village. Manjeet, an accused in some criminal cases, is on bail these days,” said the SP. 

Karnal, May 4
Despite tall claims of the state government to reduce mother mortality rate (MMR), Karnal has a higher MMR than the state average. Around 211 women died for every 1 lakh deliveries over the last one year in Karnal, higher than the state average of 186.

The efforts of the government to reduce MMR in Karnal proved futile. Health Department statistics said the infant mortality rate (IMR) was 42 per 1,000 births, which was less than the state average of 44. The target of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) is to reduce the IMR to 30 and the MMR to 100.

An NRHM team that visited various hospitals last year found many lapses, including the poor condition of delivery hut equipment. Around 75 per cent women were found anaemic. Lack of awareness about diet and health in families of pregnant women was another reason.

Vacant posts of lady doctor also contributed to increase in MMR. Health Department data said there should be one ANM per 5,000 people, one Asha worker per 1,000 people and a lady doctor per 30,000 to 50,000 people. The situation was worse. Karnal had 44 sanctioned posts of lady doctor, but many were lying vacant for years.

Dr Vandana Bhatia, Civil Surgeon, Karnal, said, "The department monitors the health of pregnant women. An awareness campaign has been started for family members of pregnant women and training is being given to health workers."

Hisar, May 4
There seems no let-up in incidents of crime in markets of the town even though traders have launched an agitation to pressure the police into action. A shop was burgled and extortion demanded from a café owner in the last 24 hours.

Two motorcycle-borne youths demanded Rs 1 lakh per month as protection money from a café owner in the Police Lines area. Hisar Beopar Sangh president Ramesh Lohia said the café owner informed him about the incident which took place last night. “I have asked him to lodge an FIR. The traders’ body will take up the matter with the authorities later,” he said.

There were incidents of burglary in shops and offices in the last three months. There were four incidents of theft in the Azad Nagar area last week. On Friday night, thieves decamped with articles worth over Rs 1 lakh from a shop in the Azad Nagar area.

Hisar Jan Sangharsh Samiti president Gautam Sardana said the criminals did not seem to be bothered about the police and continued to strike at will. “Despite a spate of theft, snatching and looting incidents in the last three months, the police have not solved a single case. Their failure in arresting criminals speaks volumes about their inefficiency,” he said.

He added that traders had observed a bandh in protest and nwere wearing black badges. “We are waiting for the outcome of the police assurance to crack the cases by May 10. After that, we will hold a meeting on our strategy and are likely to take strict steps to raise our voice,” he asserted.

Yamunanagar, May 4
A person of Urjani village today slashed the neck of a resident of Jarodi village with a cleaver. Later, a mob of Jarodi village lynched the murderer.

Ramesh Kumar (42) of Jarodi village and Amit Kumar (24) of Urjani village, along with other persons, were playing cards near a bus stop outside the village.

While the game was on, Ramesh and Amit had an altercation on some issue. Amit allegedly took a knife kept in a meat shop nearby and attacked Ramesh. His neck was slashed and he died on the spot.

After committing the crime, the accused tried to run. However, he was chased by villagers and was caught. The police said he was beaten by the mob and died immediately.

The police lifted the bodies and brought them to the Jagadhri Civil Hospital.

The police said Amit’s sister was married in Jarodi village and he had gone there to meet her.

SP Shashank Anand said 15 persons were booked for lynching the murderer on the complaint of PCR in charge Kuldeep. He said the mob attacked the PCR which reached the spot. He said policemen sustained injuries in the attack.

Hisar, May 4
The Blood Bank Association of Haryana has revised the charges for blood and blood components from May 1, an office-bearer of the association informed here today.

The national blood transfusion council (NBTC) of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had set guidelines for recovery of processing charges for blood and blood components in January.

In a communiqué to the all the licenced blood banks in the state, the Haryana Drug Controller said the processing charges had been revised as per the recommendation of a 16-member committee.

The report of the committee had also been approved by the governing body of the NBTC in February this year, the letter stated.

As per the revised guidelines, nomenclature of service charges had been changed to processing charges for giving blood as the basic principle of non profitability would continue to be followed in blood banking and thus there would be no charges as such on blood.

It, however, stated that the public sector and non public sector (private) blood banks should follow differential cost recovery since processing charges would differ in private sector in view of the different rates of kits and consumables offered to the private blood banks by the vendors.

Kaithal, May 4
The Rashtriya Lok Swaraj Party (RLSP) wants to bring about a drastic change in the political system which has weakened the country and deprived the people of the right to an effective say in governance. This was stated by Ranbir Sharma, former IPS officer and founder-president of the RLSP, at a press conference.

He said his aim was to ensure a party with a difference in which people could have a say in decision making and implementation of schemes for welfare of the people. He said he aspired for people to have a say in selection of candidates for elections to representative bodies.

He said if candidates were selected in a democratic manner, people with a clean image would come forward, which would go a long way in having clean politics. He said people should be able to tell their representatives the framework within which they should work and those failing to perform should be recalled or told to resign.

He said the system in which the high command of a party took decisions was outdated and responsible for corruption and other ills in the political system. He said he had joined AAP as he felt that it could help usher in change, but soon realised that there was no democracy in it and decisions were taken by a few individuals or only Arvind Kejriwal.

Sharma announced that his party had started the groundwork to get recognition and district-level committees were being formed throughout the state. He said the party would contest on all 90 Assembly seats in the elections later this year.

He hit out at Gopal Kanda and Venod Sharma, saying they could not help bring any change. Sharma had recently taken voluntary retirement to join politics. Newly appointed district unit convener Rajinder Gokla, secretary Surinder Malkheri and legal cell convener Dinesh Pathak were present.

Sirsa, May 4
Scientists of Central Institute of Cotton Research (CICR) and its subsidiary Central Institute for Research on Cotton Technology (CIRCOT) in Sirsa have developed highly effective compost from cotton stalks.

The compost, according to the scientists, will be a substitute for farmyard manure, which is becoming rare these days owing to heavy pressure of crops on agriculture land.

The scientists said the compost would address issues pertaining to deterioration of soil health, enhance fertility and increase production of crops considerably.

Dr Dalip Monga, principal scientist and Head of the Sirsa-based centre of the CICR, and Dr Hamid Hassan, in charge of CIRCOT, said the compost was not only of a high quality and enriched with several micronutrients, but was also very cheaper to produce. It took the scientists almost two years of experiments to come out with this manure.

“In normal course, farmers will be able to produce this manure in 100 days. For preparation, cotton stalks are first chopped into small pieces,” they said.

Dr Monga said machines for chopping cotton stalks were already available. After this, the cotton stalks were mixed with cow dung, soil, caustic soda, DAP and urea fertiliser, alkali, fungus and some other material and put on the ground in shape of a heap.

After sprinkling water, the heap is covered with a black coloured tarpaulin.

As a result of all this, a temperature of 55 to 60 degree Celsius was automatically maintained inside the heap, he said.

"The heap is stirred upside down every seven days and the compost becomes ready for use in 100 days," he added.

“At a time when farmyard manure made of cow dung, wheat straw and other dairy material, which used to increase fertility of the soil by adding nutrients to it, is becoming scarce due to heavy pressure on soil with cropping density going up to 200 to 300 per cent (farmers taking two to three crops in a year), the compost produced from cotton stalks, which are rich in cellulose, lignin and hemicelluloses, can prove ideal to replenish the soil fertility,” said Dr Monga.

“Further, it is convenient for farmers to start its preparations in November - December, when the cotton is picked and the manure will be ready before the next crop of cotton is to be sown in April - May,” Dr Hassan added.

Faridabad, May 4
The Industrial Model Township (IMT) at Ballabgarh here has given another miss to the deadline of the April end for the completion of all infrastructure works. Though the process of allotting plots or providing possession in one of the largest industrial townships was almost over, the authorities are yet to ensure completion of basic amenities with over 10 per cent of the work still pending. The township was scheduled to be functional by December.

It is reported that while as many as 539 plot holders had already been given the possession of plots, the lack of facilities had started nagging the entrepreneurs who had either set up their units or were in the process. “The work of providing water, sewer and roads was incomplete and the entrepreneurs, who had been allotted plots, had to face problems due to the given conditions,” claimed Rajender, one of the allotees. He said while the department had already started recovering the financial dues and cost of the plots, the allottees were at the receiving end due to problems on both sides.

Rajiv Gupta, another allotee, said the authorities ought to ensure all facilities at the time of possession. The newly developed IMT here has over 850 plots.

The work on the IMT was started five years ago and was expected to be over by December. Work suffered due to farmers’ agitation.

Roads are yet to be constructed and power and water connections are still to be provided in many pockets. Though the sewer line had been laid, it was not functional in some of the areas.

Ramneek Prabhakar of the Manufacturers Association said the IMT could have served the purpose in a better manner had it provided plots of size ranging from 50 to 250 sq metres.

Sirsa, May 4
The Haryana Forest Department seems to have finally admitted what an inquiry conducted by an IAS officer in Sirsa had indicated and what an NGO that moved the National Green Tribunal (NGT) against the department’s move of felling trees through auction to private agencies has been contending.

The state government has finally submitted before the NGT that no further felling or logging of trees would be done through private agencies.

The NGT is hearing a plea filed by an NGO, Haryali Welfare Society, against the auction of trees in the Kalanwali range of Sirsa by the Forest Department.

During the last hearing of the case on January 29, the NGT had directed the state government and the Haryana Forest Development Corporation to maintain a status quo on felling of trees in the state.

However, after the department’s submission before the NGT on April 24 that “in no part of the state felling and logging of trees would be done through private agencies and it would be done through government departments/ government agencies,” the Tribunal has modified its earlier status quo to an extent that it would now be applicable in Sirsa alone.

On April 21, when The Tribune had carried a story “Probe report holds auction of trees in Sirsa division unlawful”, the department had justified felling through private agencies claiming that it fetched higher revenues to the government.

The report of an inquiry in to the allegations of irregularities and misappropriation of funds in the auction of trees by the Sirsa Forest Division in the Kalanwali range of the Haryana Forest Department had pointed towards the possibility of massive cover-up of illegal felling of green trees.

The report of the inquiry conducted by the then Ellenabad SDM Vijay Kumar Siddappa Bhav, an IAS officer, had held the auction unlawful and violation of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, National Working Plan Code, guidelines issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), National Forest Policy, 1988, State Forest Policy, 2006, as well as orders of the Supreme Court issued on writ petition CWP 171 of 1996.

Three contractors and the NGO had moved the Tribunal with the plea that trees did not exist at site as explained to them at the time of auction.

However, Vinod Kumar Jhanjharia, Conservator of Forests, Hisar Territorial Division, had justified the auction and said it fetched better revenues than the departmental felling.

In its counter-affidavit filed before the NBT, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has submitted that “despite having an approved working plan and orders of the Supreme Court, the Haryana Forest Department preferred to go for an open auction of dead and dry trees”.

Bucholi (Mahendragarh), May 4
Infuriated over police inaction in a minor girl kidnapping case, a panchayat of local villagers has served a 24-hour ultimatum on the Mahendargarh police to recover the girl and to arrest the accused or it would convene a mahapanchayat of 12 villages to decide the further course of action against the police and the state authorities.

The panchayat presided over by village sarpanch’s husband, Satbir Singh, has also resolved to dissolve century-old brotherhood with the kidnapper’s village Meganvaas here following the heinous crime. It has also threatened to socially boycott Bucholi residents who have any sort of relations with the people of Megnavaas village.

Mahendragarh Superintendent of Police (SP) Simardeep Singh, along with police force, also attended the panchayat and sought time for the recovery of the girl and arrest of the accused. He informed the panchayat that the police had got vital clues in the case and the accused would be nabbed soon.

Asked about the delay in the arrest of the accused, the SP clarified that raids were being carried out persistently at the possible hideouts of the accused.

The police had booked three youths- Praveen, Deepak and Sonu of Meganvaas village- on a complaint of the girl’s father, wherein he had stated that his minor daughter was alone in the house at Bucholi village on April 28 when the accused allegedly barged into the house and kidnapped her. When the police failed to trace the girl even after five days, enraged villagers blocked the Dadri-Narnaul state highway at the Tularam chowk here for two hours and locked the main gate of the Sadar police station on Friday. 

Rohtak, May 4
Three persons employed as security guards at a private school on the Rohtak-Sonepat road were crushed to death under a canter near Pakasma turn this morning.

Anil of Samchana village, Suresh of Asan and Manjit of Garhi Sisana village were going back after their night duty .

A canter ran over them near Pakasma turn. All three died on the spot.

Kurukshetra, May 4
Stating that if the government really wants to eradicate corruption, it should start organising moral education camps for its lawmakers, MLAs and ministers, Haryana Lokayukta Justice (retd) Pritam Pal, said “Corruption cannot be eliminated by just giving more powers to the Lokpal or Lokayuktas, but by raising the moral values.”

Pal was speaking at a function organised in Ladwa today. He said, “I feel that some corrupt people may get caught and they may also get punished as per the law, but we need a long term plan to eradicate corruption.”

He added, “I have submitted a 20-page report along with the annual report to the government through the Governor with recommendation of implementing moral education as a compulsory subject in schools. We should emphasise on value-based education because children who are morally sound would never indulge in corrupt practices.”

He alleged the state government was not paying attention over his recommendations and said it had been a year, but the government was yet to take a concrete step in this regard.

Pal said, “We have been witnessing a large number of scams every year. Even our Prime Minister has said that we need to change the mindset of our people, but have we taken any step in this regard? The answer is no. We should set up a character building department and alter our education system to increase the moral values of our elected representatives. Our ministers should have integrity and they should not succumb to corruption.”

The Lokayukta also said that investigating agencies should be made accountable to the Lokayukta and his report should be final for launching criminal proceedings.

Karnal, May 4
The inter-state bus terminus project in Karnal has been hanging fire for the last eight year. Even after taking possession of the land, the Haryana Roadways could not start work on the project.

A proposal was mooted to shift the present bus stand, which is located at the centre of the city and worst hit by traffic jams. The roadways had sent a proposal of an inter-state bus terminus to the state government in 2006. The Haryana Urban Development Authority also transferred nearly 9.67 acres of land to the Karnal Depot. After taking possession of the land, many teams visited the site and rejected the land for the bus stand. An official of the roadways said it was not the first attempt to shift the bus stand. Three other sites were selected by the district administration and these sites were also visited by a team of the department last year and once again the team selected the same site in Sector 12 which was finalised in 2006, he said.

“Ever after one year, nothing concrete has been done,” he said. BJP vice-president Deepak Dhawan said, “The government is not serious about the development of Karnal. The bus terminus project is very old and people are still waiting for the new bus stand.”

Raj Kumar Juneja, a resident of the city, said, “There are six bus stops from Baldi bypass to Namastey chowk. There should be a bus stand near to the GT Road.”

Depot General Manager Joginder Singh said, “The proposal for the new bus stand has already been sent to the authorities. Work will start after we get approval from the authorities.”

Gurgaon, May 4
As one drives from Delhi to Gurgaon, the defunct Sirhaul toll plaza reminds one of the nightmarish serpentine queues that used to baffle motorists till about three months ago. The moment one crosses it, the situation earlier seems better than the current traffic chaos.

Thanks to increased vehicular density, lack of speed regulators, non-existent lane driving, non-compliance with traffic rules, poor condition of roads and staff-starved traffic police, commuting in Gurgaon is a nightmare. Hour-long traffic jams are routine on all roads, including the expressway, and get aggravated on weekends.

With hundreds of malls, multi-national companies and condominiums and lakhs of vehicles crossing the Delhi-Jaipur expressway, Gurgaon seems to have failed to do anything about traffic management. A recent survey of the Gurgaon police says major bottlenecks include Shankar Chowk, Rajiv Chowk, Iffco Chowk, Hero Honda Chowk, Udyog Vihar and Cyber City.

Many blame it on the removal of the Sirhaul toll plaza, which served as a speed-breaker. "Initially there were queues at the Sirhaul toll plaza, which was a speed regulator. Not only did it slow down vehicles, but ensured that vehicles entered Gurgaon in batches," says Ravneet Kumar, a traffic management expert.

"It is a free-for-all now. With thousands of vehicles at any given time, traffic jams have become an daily affair, especially during office hours. Things are worse at the Kherki Daula toll plaza as the load has been shifted there from Sirhaul," he adds. The police blame the chaos on the poor condition of roads and lack of separate lanes for pedestrians. "It is not about one toll plaza. Many important intersections are in a poor condition or under repairs. There is no separate side-lane for rickshaws and pedestrians," says Vinod Kaushik, DCP (Traffic).

"Repairs are yet to be completed. We have submitted a detailed survey report and an action required plan to the MC. With elections over, we hope for an early solution to traffic woes," he adds. The police had recently launched a lane-driving campaign to check violation of traffic rules.

Jind, May 4
Four BTech students of the mechanical engineering department of the Jind Institute of Engineering and Technology (JIET) have converted a petrol engine to compressed air engine by modifying the fuel supply line of the engine. Under the project named ‘Modification of petrol engine into compressed air engine’, they have also changed the camshaft of the engine in two strokes by setting the timing of valves.

“Since there would be no fire to burn the fuel in the air engine, it would purely run on air and cause zero pollution. It is cost effective also. If the government takes our project seriously, it can help the country not only reduce pollution, but also reduce our dependence on fossil fuels,” said Navin Malik, one of the students behind the innovation. The other members of the group include Vikram, Satpal, Shri Kant. The project was submitted to the college authorities yesterday. Students have worked hard for almost a month to invent the new engine at a cost of Rs 50,00.

“The high pressure air introduced to the chamber passes through the inlet passage and creates a downward thrust on the piston and the piston starts moving downward. It then starts running engines,” said Vikram. Naveen Redhu, the head of the mechanical department, congratulated the students for their invention.

Jind, May 4
Inefficiency and lack of adequate patrolling by Jind police has given a free hand to vehicle thieves in the district. Going by the number of cases registered since 2004, 1,483 vehicles were stolen, of which the cops were able to recover only 106 till date.

Despite tall claims made by Haryana government and senior police authorities to make the state police, efficient across the country, rising number of vehicle thefts tell a different story.

Residents of the district have lost their faith in the dismal performance of police and the rising number of thefts has compelled many to allege that Jind police does not bother about the problems of locals due to lack of state government’s interest, courtesy political reasons.

Mukandpal, a resident of the district alleged, “INLD has an upper hand here, which keeps the Congress government away from this district. Due to lack of strict supervision, officers in the area work as per their wish. Had the government taken the necessary steps to improve the working of Jind police, I would not have to sit here and wait for nine days to lodge my complaint, after my motorcycle was stolen.”

Details on the official website of Jind police from December 13, 2004 to April 21, 2014, show 1,483 vehicles including scooters, motorcycles, cars, trucks, safari and tractors missing from various parts of the district falling under various police stations including Jind city, Julana, Uchana and Narwana etc.

When The Tribune tried to contact Jind SP Balwan Singh Rana, he did not take the call, while head constable Raghuvir Singh said the SP was on leave and would join back on Monday.

An analysis of theft cases is enough to prove that vehicles not only from outer areas and villages are unsafe, but thieves have been lifting vehicles from places like Rani Talab, Batak Chowk and bus stand. Throwing caution to the wind, thieves have not even spared the local court complex situated right in front of the SP’s office where the cops are on duty round the clock. 

Karnal, May 4
In view of the Assembly elections later this year, former minister Venod Sharma today started his campaign from Karnal after opening three offices in Nilokehri, Asssandh and Indri under the banner of the Loksewa Panchayat.

“Eleven members will be elected on each booth and 101 members will be elected in every Assembly segment,” said Venod Sharma, adding that offices would be opened in every Assembly segment and a new party announced shortly.

Talking to The Tribune after opening an office in Assandh, he alleged: “Those running the Congress don’t know much about the constitution of the party. The fight for democracy has been started now.”

“We will go to people with issues like discrimination in development and jobs,” said Venod Sharma.The former Congress leader said he would cover all 90 Assembly segments in the state.

About his resignation as an MLA, Sharma said as he had already quit the Congress, he did not want to remain as an Independent candidate.

Sonepat, May 4
The semester system of examination in colleges has come in questions over its pros and cons for students as well as college teachers. Many educationists are of the opinion that the government and university authorities should have a relook at the working of this system of examination.

The system was introduced with the objective that if a student has not passed one or two papers of a semester, he is given admission in the next semester allowing him to reappear in the papers which he could not passed. In this way, he clears his reappear paper and his year is not wasted.

In many cases, students had completed all the semester examinations but could not clear the reappear papers and could not get the degrees. This kind of situation has been reported from many colleges.

Recent example was of the Government PG College, Gohana, where 181 students were given degrees in a convocation function held recently. Generally, 750 students take admission every year in the first semester of the degree classes in the college. Gohana college principal OD Sharma stated that the semester system of examination was not so successful as was thought while implementing it. “The pass percentage in annual examination used to two times more than the percentage of the semester examination,” he said.

Similar opinion was given by Tika Ram Girls College principal Dr Monika Verma. She said, “The reappears in the semester examinations add to the study burden of the student in the next semesters and the student generally fails to bear the additional burden of reappears.” Haryana Government College Teachers Association spokesman Pawan Lathwal, a senior lecturer at Gohana college, said conducting examinations twice a year was a wastage of time.

The Controller of Examination of DCR University of Science and Technology, Murthal, Dr MS Dhankhar said the semester system of examination was time-tested world over, however, its implementation in large sized universities was not satisfactory because of the affiliation of a large number of colleges and lack of infrastructure at the university-level to complete the examination process in time. Students are happy with the semester system. They categorically supported the system saying that the semester system had helped them in increasing their percentage of marks in the examination and reappear was hardly a problem for them.

Chandigarh, May 4
The state is likely to have the maximum number of newly launched political parties vying with each other to wrest a handful of seats. Former minister Gopal Kanda’s Haryana Lokhit Party and former IG Ranbir Sharma’s Rashtriya Lok Swaraj Party were launched last week.

Former Congress leader Venod Sharma is likely to launch a party. BJP candidate from Gurgaon Rao Inderjit Singh had launched the Haryana Insaaf Congress Party, registered in his daughter’s name. The Assembly elections will see the Aam Aadmi Party field candidates for the first time.

Observers feel that the Assembly elections will witness the maximum number of parties and candidates compared to the previous elections. In 2009, 39 parties contested the Assembly elections, which saw a total of 1,222 candidates for 90 Assembly seats, of whom 1,008 lost their security deposit.

In the 2005 Assembly elections, 14 national and state parties fielded candidates and candidates of 13 unregistered parties contested the elections. Data revealed that 293 candidates contested on the ticket of national parties and 143 candidates were fielded by state parties. Of the 105 candidates who contested on the ticket of unregistered political outfits, 102 lost their security deposit.

Though elections are usually fought on a Jat versus non-Jat agenda in Haryana, the divide seems more pronounced this time. Newly launched parties are hoping to encash this sentiment and project themselves as the non-Jat alternative.

While Jat votes are shared by the Congress and the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), the fight is among non-Jat parties, which seem to aim for a handful of seats and become king-makers in the eventuality of a hung Assembly, say observers.

Sources in the Congress and the BJP are not too worried about the launch of new parties. Any candidate with standing will first explore the option of getting the ticket of a prominent national party and then turn to state parties before considering newly formed outfits, unless he owes allegiance to the leader launching the party, say senior leaders.

They say they have nothing to lose in that situation, adding that the number of new parties can go up in the weeks to come. Sources in the BJP say that the result of the General Election on May 16 will attract a number of leaders from other established parties, giving them many options.

Gurgaon, May 4
The Gurgaon police today suspended an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) and a head constable in connection with a false case of molestation and extortion of Rs 1 lakh.

Uday Pal of Nathupur village had moved the Commissioner of Police, alleging that the police were hand in glove with his tenant, who had recently registered a case of molestation against him.

He said his tenant had admitted that the complaint was false, but demanded money to withdraw it in the presence of the police personnel.

He said his tenant had falsely implicated him and then taken Rs 1 lakh to arrive at a compromise and withdraw the complaint against him.

He submitted a video clip, in which she reportedly demanded an additional amount of Rs 20,000 for the police personnel. Commissioner of Police Alok Mittal marked an inquiry to ACP (DLF) Rao Dalbeer Singh.

The woman moved the police, admitting that she had taken the money, but complaining that Uday Pal had snatched that money after she withdrew her complaint.

After this, Uday Pal was booked. Taking a serious note of the compromise being mediated by ASI Rakesh Kumar and head constable Brahm Prakash, the police suspended them.

"We have lodged an FIR against the accused on the statement of the woman. We have suspended the two policemen and a departmental inquiry will be conducted. We are on the lookout for the accused," said Dalbeer.

Faridabad, May 4
Lack of cleanliness around the Yamuna seems to be making certain areas in the city and the district malaria sensitive.

Korali block, which consists of over five villages, is one of them. Nine out of the total 10 positive cases of malaria recorded by the Health Department this season are from this block. The district had reported 1,012 malaria cases last year officially.

Korali block is considered one of the most sensitive regions in terms of malaria outbreak. It had reported as many as 784 cases out of the total 1,012 cases of malaria last year, which suggests that the region is sensitive and the department needs to make efforts in order to deal with the problem this year, claimed department sources.

The block mainly consists of Korali, Chandpur, Fajjupur, Atali and Chhainsa villages lying in the belt of the Yamuna flowing in the eastern border of the district. The Health Department had carried out a special drive to contain the problem last year, in which teams of doctors and paramedical staff had visited some of the spots to provide anti-mosquito medicines to the people and make them aware of the measures required to combat the menace, said a doctor of the civil hospital here.

Four positive cases of malaria have surfaced in the past three days. The other parts of the city identified as sensitive in terms of the outbreak of the disease include residential areas of the NIT, Ballabgarh, Old Faridabad and several villages where the civic and sanitary conditions are poor, claimed a department official.

“Lack of proper disposal of garbage, open drains and stagnation of water near the water supply points in many areas contribute to the problem,” claimed KL Gera, a social activist.

Sonepat, May 4
A unique sports event — Wings for Life World Run, India — was kicked off today from the Motilal Nehru School of Sports, Rai near Sonepat, up to Karnal.

The run was organised under the aegis of Government of Haryana and the Haryana Olympics Association. President of Haryana Olympics Association, PV Rathi, flagged off the event, where around 1,200 men and women athletes participated.

Olympic medalist Yogeshwar Dutt, Inspector General of Rohtak Police Range, Anil Rao; chess champion Tania Sachdev and Indian Athlete Amit Saroha were also part of the event.

According to Rathi, the runners were chased by a car, which marked the end of the race for a runner as it passed him/her. The catcher car took off 30 minutes after the run began. Once it went past a runner, his/her race was over and he/she was given the final world rank.

“As the race progresses, the official catcher cars accelerate (at determined intervals), eliminating competitors as they pass them, until there is a single man and woman left running - who are then crowned as the global champions of the Wings for Life World Run,” Rathi said.

He added there would be location winners as well as country winners. Rathi said over 1,50,000 runners from 32 different locations across the world were taking part at the same time - 10am in London, 2am in Los Angeles, 6pm in Australia, and 3.30pm in India.

Moreover, all the funds gathered from the race would go towards the Wings for Life — a foundation that funds research into finding a cure for spinal cord injuries.

Jhajjar, May 4
Residents of Dhaud village in Beri subdivision today blocked the Jhajjar-Beri road for over three hours in protest against the non-supply of potable water for five days. The protesters lifted the blockade after the administration assured them of restoration of water supply from tomorrow.

The protesters gathered in the village this morning and decided to disrupt vehicular traffic. The villagers blocked the road to attract the attention of the administration to their plight.

"Potable water is not being supplied for five days. Women who have to fetch water from distant places to meet daily requirements," said Santosh, one of the protesters. She added that they had lodged a complaint with the Public Health Department, but no action had been taken.

The Jhajjar tehsildar rushed to the spot with public health and power officials. He tried to pacify the villagers. They criticised the functioning of the department, but later agreed to lift the blockade.

Yamunanagar, May 4
The Yamunanagar unit of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has decided not to participate in the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna for 2014-15. It submitted a memorandum in this regard to Deputy Commissioner Mandip Singh Brar.

District IMA president Dr Anil Aggarwal said the poor could get free treatment worth up to Rs 30,000 at hospitals of their choice under the scheme. He said the scheme was scheduled to be launched on April1, but was yet to be launched.

“The insurance company concerned delays the launch of the scheme by two or three months every year to reduce the budget,” he alleged. He said payment to doctors was pending for two years. He said TDS deducted from doctors’ payments had not been deposited in the account of the Income Tax Department.

“Rates have not been revised in six years. A caesarian is being conducted for only Rs 4,000,” he added. He alleged that the company depanelled many hospitals on the pretext of trivial issues, but its motive was to save money. He said doctors had decided to withdraw from the scheme under these circumstances.”

On the other hand, Dr NK Kalia, Civil Surgeon, ESI, and senior officer of Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna, Yamunanagar, said the scheme had been stopped due to the model code of conduct and was restarted.

Yamunanagar, May 4
Stone crushers of Yamunanagar district are expected to become functional soon as a delegation of Congress leaders met CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Saturday.

The delegation members, including Satpal Kaushik, Naresh Kamboj, Raj Kumar Khurdban, Rajpal Kharkali, Balinder Singh and Ravinder Kamboj, requested him to open ways leading to mining areas of UP so that crusher owners were able to bring raw material from there.— TNS

Chandigarh, May 4
The state government yesterday stated that 2,873 of the 3,449 liquor vends had been allotted during 2014-15 and an estimated revenue of Rs 2,210 crore collected. 

A spokesman said the remaining 626 liquor vends would be allotted as per directions of courts. The licence fee of these vend was nearly R. 561 crore, he added.