Chandigarh/Rohtak May 23
The BJP core committee that met in Rohtak today has decided to ask the party high command to rework its alliance with the HJC suggesting that the HJC could prove to be a liability rather than an asset. Held under the leadership of state party president Ram Bilas Sharma, all seven recently elected BJP MPs from Haryana and OP Dhankar, who lost from Rohtak, were present in the meeting.

The core committee wants no truck with the INLD, besides scrapping the alliance with the HJC. In case the central party leadership is against scrapping the alliance, the core committee wants to limit the alliance only to a few Assembly segments where the HJC has performed well in the recent parliamentary elections.

Ambala legislator Anil Vij and Karnal MP Ashwani Chopra were the most vocal in saying that the BJP did not need the HJC in the changed circumstances with the BJP sweeping the parliamentary poll in the state. "The HJC could not win either of the two seats of Sirsa and Hisar that it contested, what kind of help would it be for the BJP", a BJP leader questioned in the meeting.

At the same time BJP's Haryana in charge Jagdish Mukhi and co-in charge Anil Jain, who were also present, were told by all state BJP leaders that the central party leadership should be informed that the state unit was against any alliance with the INLD either.

All newly elected MPs were unanimous in saying that in wake of the BJP's outstanding performance in the recent Lok Sabha elections in Haryana, the party needed to review the terms and conditions governing the alliance with the HJC if not completely scrap the alliance. The BJP and the HJC are in an alliance to contest 45 seats each in a 90-member House .

Party sources said the main point of discussion at the meeting was the need to review the prevailing alliance arrangement in view of the ground realities. The party leaders wanted the high command to name the party's chief ministerial candidate well in advance so that the preparations for the elections could be conducted under that person's command.

While some leaders wanted that the party should go it alone in the state Assembly poll, others advocated maintaining the alliance to send a positive message to the electors. Another opinion was that a situation should be created to make the HJC scrap the agreement and escape the blame.

Panipat, May 23
The contest will be between the Congress and the BJP in the coming Assembly elections in Haryana not for the first place but the second, said INLD leader Abhay Chautala here today.

Abhay was responding to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s statement that there would be a contest between the Congress and BJP in the coming Assembly elections scheduled in October and the INLD would be nowhere.

Abhay Chautala, accompanied by state INLD president Ashok Arora, MLA Krishan Lal Panwar and former Speaker Satbir Singh Kadian, claimed that the INLD would be voted to power in Haryana and the Congress would be wiped out .

The INLD leader said: “Hooda should resign as CM on moral grounds after the worst-ever performance of the Congress in the recent parliamentary elections. The vote percentage of Congress has witnessed 12 per cent reduction whereas that of the INLD has seen a 4.5 per cent increase. Even Deepender managed to win from Rohtak on the basis of false promises of providing more jobs to residents of that area during the remaining period of Hooda government.”

Ruling out any possibility of an alliance with the BJP in coming elections, he stated that the INLD would contest coming Assembly elections on its own.

Karnal: Speaking at a function held here by the district unit to honour newly elected MPs of the INLD, Abhay said people of the state had rejected the Congress and supported the INLD in the Lok Sabha elections. The Ellenabad MLA said: “There are many ministers and MLAs in the Congress who are in touch with me. But we will prefer leaders with a clean image.”

Taking a dig at HJC chief Kuldeep Bishnoi, he said people would reject the HJC in the coming Assembly elections and force Bishnoi to quit politics. In spite of the Modi wave, the INLD won two seats in the Lok Sabha elections in Haryana.

New Delhi, May 23
Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) chief Kuldeep Bishnoi has met senior BJP leaders in Delhi and urged them to restraint a section of the state party unit from questioning the utility of their alliance after the Lok Sabha elections.

Sources said Bishnoi met former BJP president Nitin Gadkari and senior leader Arun Jaitley in Delhi yesterday. Sources said the BJP leaders assured the HJC chief to look into the matter. The alliance between the two parties was sealed when Gadkari was the BJP president and Jaitley played an important role in the matter.

Sources said the two leaders had assured Bishnoi that the BJP would not like to ditch its ally, especially when it was facing the rough patch.

Senior BJP leaders, including national secretary Capt Abhimanyu, Om Prakash Dhankar, Rao Inderjit Singh and Dharambir Singh, have openly talked about severing ties with the HJC after the Lok Sabha elections. State BJP affairs co-in charge Anil Jain admitted differences of opinion among the state leaders over alliance with the HJC. He said: “The final call will be taken by the central leadership.”

Sirsa, May 23
The Haryana Lokhit Party (HLP) of former minister Gopal Kanda will field women candidates on at least 30 of the 90 seats in the state in the forthcoming Assembly elections.

Speaking to mediapersons after addressing a meeting of his party workers here today, Kanda said empowerment of women and youths were his top priorities.

Answering a question on the Geetika Sharma suicide case for which he had to remain in jail for over 16 months, Kanda said he had moved the Supreme Court seeking temporary ban on reporting in the case because great prejudice was being caused to him due to publication of stories which, he said, were far from truth.

He said since the case was sub judice, he was not in a position to speak before the media.

Ambala, May 23
The state government has decided to replace the first four 110-MW units at the Panipat Thermal Power Plant with a single 660-MW super critical thermal unit.

The decision was taken due to a higher cost of generation at these units, which were commissioned in between 1979 and 1987.

Sources in the Haryana Power Generation Corporation said earlier, it had been decided that two units of 250 and 300 MW capacity each would be set up at Panipat in place of the existing four units. However, one of the technical directors mooted to add an efficient unit with an aim to enhance generation and reduce coal consumption. Following this, the government shelved the earlier plan and decided to commission the 660-MW unit.

The new unit is proposed to come up on the same premises by way of phasing out the existing ones in next four to five years (2018-19). The coal requirement for the new unit has been assessed at 2.85 million tonnes per annum with a 85 per cent plant load factor. The balance requirement will be met by importing coal and purchasing it through e-procurement.

The sources said the plan to renovate the unit number 3 and 4 had been cancelled following the decision. The scrapping of unit 1 and 2 is likely to take more time due to financial liabilities as these have already been renovated, they said.

The process to scrap these units is expected to begin next year.

The Haryana Government has already taken up the issue of transferring the existing coal linkage of the four units to the proposed unit with the Coal Ministry.

The sources said last year, the Haryana discoms asked the power corporation to scrap the four units as these became financially unviable. Now, the cost of generation at these units is over Rs 5 per unit, even as the present variable cost varies between Rs 3.94 to Rs 4.44 per unit.

These four units have not been operating since September, 2013.

Meanwhile, the engineers’ body says with the immediate phasing out of the units 3 and 4, middle-level engineers fear that the posts of Superintending Engineer and Executive Engineers will be surrendered and this will block their chances of promotion.

Hisar, May 23
Showing scant regard for ethics, staff at the Hisar Civil Hospital today turned away a woman with serious burn injuries. They directed the family to “follow procedure”.

Kailaso Devi of Siwani in Bhiwani district, who was allegedly set ablaze by her neighbours following an argument, was rushed to the Hisar Civil Hospital with 90 per cent burns. Doctors maintained that since it was a police case and the victim belonged to Bhiwani district, they could not admit her. They advised her family to take her to the Bhiwani hospital. She kept writhing for over an hour as there was no ambulance to shift her.

Victim’s brother Bhim Singh said after observing her condition, the doctor asked them for their address. On being told that she belonged to Siwani town and had suffered injuries after being assaulted by some neighbours, the doctors refused to attend to her.

The Hisar Civil Hospital is 30 km from the town of the victim’s family. The next nearest hospital is in Bhiwani, over 60 km away.

“We were shocked to see the attitude of the doctors. They did not have an ambulance to shift her. After 40 minutes of constantly requesting the staff, we took her to a private hospital, wher she was admitted,” said Bhim Singh.

Dr Dayanand, principal medical officer at the Civil Hospital, said he had inquired from the doctors and they had merely asked the family to take her to the PGIMS, Rohtak, since they did not have the facilities to treat patients with such serious burn injuries.

The Siwani police said an investigating officer had been sent to the hospital to take statements of the victim and her family.

New Delhi, May 23
The National Human Rights Commission today issued notice to the Haryana government,seeking details of a woman delivering a baby in a park of the Civil Hospital in Panipat, as she was allegedly not provided treatment by the institute.

The Commission took suo motu cognisance of the report of the incident, which had occurred last month. The notice has been issued to the state government vide the Secretary, Health Department, which has been directed to furnish reports in the matter within two weeks. Reportedly, the victim was taken to Primary Health Centre concerned. But on account of non-availablity of the doctor, she was brought to the Civil Hospital. The reports said, according to the doctors, the woman was anaemic and needed blood transfusion. However, the institute did not have any blood unit. Therefore, she was referred to PGI, Khanpur. But she delivered the baby at the park of the Civil Hospital.

The Commission has observed that if the report of the incident was true, raise a serious issue of violation of the human rights.

Fatehabad, May 23
Despite a notice by the authorities not to violate the Child Marriage (Prohibition) Act, the kin of a minor girl went ahead to marry off the child at Bhattu in Fatehabad.

The Child Marriage Prohibition Officer Rekha Agarwal is now contemplating prosecution of the girl’s parents.

On May 20, Rekha Agarwal received a tip-off that a family in Bhattu Kalan had fixed the marriage of a minor girl for May 25.

The girl studied in 3rd standard and as per information, she was about 12 years of age, sources said.

The same day, the Prohibition Officer went to the family who informed that the girl was 15-year-old.

“I issued them a notice, warning them that marriage of a girl below the age was 18 was violation of laws and punishable. I asked the family to furnish proof of the girl’s age, if she is above 18, before her marriage,” she told The Tribune.

However, the family married the girl on May 20 itself instead of waiting for the scheduled date of May 25.

Even her bridegroom is 19, below the marriageable age of 21. The Prohibition Officer recovered the girl on Thursday.

Upon counselling, the girl informed her that she was forcibly married by her parents, though she wanted to study further.

She was produced before a magistrate in Fatehabad for her statement, but the court declined to record the girl’s statement unless an FIR was registered first.

“Now, I will be writing to the Superintendent of Police for registration of FIR against the parents of the girl,” Rekha Agarwal said.

Incidents of child marriage are common in Sirsa and Fatehabad, particularly in villages falling near Rajasthan, where marrying children at young age is a practice in rural hinterland. 

Gurgaon, May 23
There was high drama in Nathupur village in Gurgaon today when a team of municipal officials were attacked by residents for trying to bring down an illegal building. They threw stones on the team headed by Municipal Commissioner Praveen Kumar and burnt two official vehicles. Several 'jhuggis' were gutted yesterday.

A probe report had revealed that those had been illegally built on MC land and a local resident was charging rent. Kumar ordered an investigation.

He was given a long list of illegal constructions on MC land. He called for a JCB machine and a building under construction was razed.

The MC team moved to another building and asked residents to take out their belongings. The residents assembled and pleaded relaxation.

They protested and set two vehicles on fire. They threw stones on MC officials and firemen accompanying them. The police reached the spot.

The protesters fled after being warned by the police. A case was registered against over a dozen persons. The team had to retreat as well.

"We were doing our job. People know that the land belongs to the MC. Encroachment is illegal and protests cannot justify it," Kumar said.

"Where are they when construction starts? The 'jhuggis' have been here for a long time. We demanded removal, but no heed was paid to us. They come suddenly to break our houses," said a panchayat member.

Karnal, May 23
The police have failed to arrest any of the five accused even three days after the suspected honour killing of Manoj and Kiran of Bhaini Kalan village. A team of the Karnal police today visited a hospital in Kurukshetra, where Manoj had reportedly been taken for treatment after consuming some poisonous substance.

The police recorded the statement of the doctor concerned, said SP Abhishek Garg. The police were looking into the possibility of suicide, sources said.

They added that the police were investigating the possibility of the murders having been committed in Kurukshetra and the bodies being disposed of in Bhaini Kalan village.

The SP said the police had seized the record and CCTV footage of the hotel in which the victims stayed. He added that the statements of hotel employees were recorded.

He said the police were awaiting the report of the forensic team which collected samples from the cremation spot on Wednesday. He added that teams had been sent to arrest the accused.

The case 21-year-old Manoj Kumar and 19-year-old Kiran of Bhaini Kalan village in Karnal killed and cremated by families on Tuesday night Manoj wedded in 2012, but his wife was staying with her parents Kiran was a matriculate and unmarried Manoj and Kiran intended to wed, but their parents opposed it as they were from same community Tarori police booked Kiran's father Randhir Singh, Manoj's father Jawala Singh and Manoj's brothers Sandeep, Rajesh and Dharambir

Chandigarh, May 23
The Haryana Government has invited applications from the students belonging to minority communities, including Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians and Zoroastrians, and studying in recognised schools for a pre-matric scholarship by August 31.

Hisar, May 23
Showing bravery and courage, 12-year-old Anshul Gill, who was abducted by four persons on Tuesday, managed to slip out of the clutches of his abductors and returned home to Hisar the same night.

The class VI student was abducted by four youths from Matka Chowk on Tuesday.

His father Naresh Gill, who is a head constable and posted at the Balsamand police post, told The Tribune today that when his son returned, he told him that a youth pulled him into a black van and covered his face with cloth. He became unconscious thereafter.

At around 9 pm, he regained consciousness and found himself with the four accused. He pretended to be unconscious and kept lying on the floor. When the four youths went off to sleep, he slipped out of the room and locked the four youths.

He approached an auto driver for help and called his father.

His father said the incident had left his son psychologically disturbed. He was also taken to a psychologist in Rohtak, he said.

A police spokesperson said the police had registered a case and a police team had been sent to search for the accused.

Sirsa, May 23
Thanks to the Child Line, an emergency telephone service for children, a 12-year-old boy who had strayed away to Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, was united with his parents in Sirsa.

Sandeep was found alone at the Ujjain railway station where someone called the Child Line to rescue him.

On questioning, he informed members of the Child Line service that he hailed from Sirsa.

He told them that his parents Ramesh and Bateri lived in Railway Colony in Sirsa from where he boarded a train two years ago. The Ujjain-based Child Line team contacted Sirsa members of the helpline service.

Upon inquiries from the Railway Colony, it came out that Sandeep was missing for the past two years.

Mamta Kathuria, coordinator of the Child Line in Sirsa, said she informed her counterpart in Ujjain that the boy’s parents had been located. The Child Line service arranged for journey of the boy’s parents to Ujjain, where they met the boy and brought him back.

The boy’s mother Bateri said she was grateful to the Child Line for finding her son. Child Line is a service of the Ministry of Women and Children for children in difficult situations and it has branches in all districts of the country with a common helpline number 1098, said Mamta Kathuria.

Rohtak, May 23
The Rohtak range police have constituted a team to probe the racket of pushing children into begging after amputating their limbs. After seeking a status report, Rohtak IGP Anil Kumar Rao formed a special team led by DSP (Crime) Uday Raj.

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and the state authorities have taken cognisance of the matter.

Rahul (12) of Rohtak, who had gone missing about a fortnight ago, was spotted by his neighbour, Pale Ram, at Jind railway station while four persons were taking him from Bathinda to Delhi by a train.

Pale Ram not only rescued the boy, but nabbed two men accompanying him with the help of others.

The Rohtak police swung into action after the boy revealed startling facts about a racket of forcing children into begging after amputating their limbs. The two nabbed youths were handed over to the police. The local police contacted the Punjab Police as the matter pertained to Bathinda. The investigators have started preparing a list of children who had gone missing during the recent past.

Meanwhile, investigators handling the case have confirmed that Sunny, another child, who had gone missing from Rohtak, had been spotted at Bathinda.

Rohtak, May 23
Two brothers allegedly raped a six-year-old girl in Kalanaur town of the district. Titu, a neighbour of the girl, allegedly took her to a room, where his brother Balraj also arrived. They allegedly raped the girl and threatened her with dire consequences in case she disclosed the incident.

The girl’s parents found her near their house. They informed the police about the crime and the accused were arrested

last evening. They have been sent to 14- day judicial custody.

In another incident, a woman of Garhi Mohalla in the town was allegedly kidnapped by four persons while she had gone to temple. The police have registered a case.

Six held for gang-rape

Sonepat: The police have arrested six youths, Aman, Sonu, Sumit, Mohit and two other minors, of Kabirpur village for their alleged involvement in a gang rape of a minor of the same village.

They were today produced in court which sent them to judicial custody.

The police said a minor girl of Kabirpur village lodged a complaint in the Mahila police station yesterday alleging that she was kidnapped and gang-raped by the alleged accused on May 21. She was also threatened with dire consequences if she disclosed the incident.

Chandigarh, May 23
The Haryana Government has lunched a new campaign to eliminate poverty in rural areas of the state in collaboration with the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) under the Haryana State Rural Livelihood Mission.

TK Sharma, Chief Executive Officer of the Haryana State Rural Livelihood Mission, said a memorandum of understanding (MoU) had also been signed between the government and the SERP in this regard. He said directions had been issued for linking poor families of Kalanaur and Lakhanmajra blocks in Rohtak district to the mission.