Rewari, August 27
A day after BJP workers took out a protest march and burnt an effigy of MP Ashwani Chopra, the absence of two senior party leaders of the Ahirwal region — Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh and newly appointed party’s national secretary Sudha Yadav — from the Vijay Sankalp Yatra has brought out the rift among party leaders in south Haryana.

Though the yatra reached Rewari last evening and proceeded ahead this morning, neither Rao Inderjit nor Sudha Yadav and their supporters attended the yatra .

Before the yatra, the party had declared that Rao Inderjit Singh and state BJP chief Ram Bilas Sharma would jointly lead the Mahendragarh yatra which would pass through 24 Assembly segments of Mahendragarh, Rewari, Gurgaon, Mewat, Faridabad and Palwal .

Rao Inderjit, who joined the saffron party seven months ago, and state BJP chief Ram Bilas Sharma are strong contenders for the post of Chief Minister if the BJP assumes power in the Assembly poll.

Since both belong to the Ahirwal region and are close to the party leadership, their supporters raise slogans hailing their respective leaders as the CM whenever they attend the party programmes together.

BJP chief Amit Shah had to intervene when supporters of both leaders raised slogans during the yatra in Mahendragarh on August 14.

Shah asked these leaders not to allow their supporters to do so in future as such action tarnished the party’s image.

Sharma clarified that Rao Inderjit was busy with a Chinese delegation in Delhi, while Yadav would join the yatra in Gurgaon. 

faridabad, august 27
Known as the face of this industrial township that was once famed as the “Manchester of Northern India”, this city is struggling to regain its old glory with various new development projects such as the the Metro.

While the Metro is likely to change its landscape, the city is grappling with various chronic problems such as inefficient public transport network, traffic congestion, pollution, shortage of drinking water and a poor drainage system.

Residents’ woes

Sector 7 resident RD Sharma said the problem of drinking water remains to be addressed in the constituency as a large number of households are forced to buy water from the market as the civic water supply is brackish. The condition of roads and civic amenities are a cause for concern.

Amarjeet Singh, a resident of Sector 17, said the development visible to a newcomer is the construction of cemented roads, but this area gets flooded in the absence of storm water outlets during the monsoon.

Pankaj Pujan of Sector 16 and Sanjay Kumar of Daultabad village differ as they claim considerable improvement in form of cemented roads, amenities and good parks.

This segment is one of the newer seats that was carved out in 2009 after delimitation.

Polling pattern

The polling percentage in last two polls has been less than 60 percent. While the winner got 33,847 votes in the last assembly polls (2009), his main rival bagged 22,000 votes. The BSP and the INLD could only manage 4,400 and 4,000 votes, respectively.

MLA’s development claims

Sitting MLA Anand Kaushik, who is from Rohtak, has over the years shed the outsider tag. The Congress MLA Kaushik said he had got cemented roads constructed in nearly all sectors and 90 percent of the streets are in his area were now cemented, he claimed. Work on six booster pumps to supply water to various sectors out of which two were functional.

Rohtak, August 27
A number of senior Congress leaders from the state wish to join the BJP, but the party’s doors are closed for the corrupt leaders. The BJP will induct only those leaders who have a clean image. This was stated by BJP Kisan Morcha president Om Prakash Dhankar while addressing a public meeting during a stopover of the ‘vijay sankalp yatra’ at Mokhra village in the district today.

He also said state minister Kiran Choudhry had also expressed desire to join the BJP. “There is a scramble in the Congress. Many Congress leaders have applied for BJP membership and those who could not make it to the BJP have joined the BSP or other parties,” he said.

The BJP leader, who had unsuccessfully contested for the Rohtak Lok Sabha seat in the recent LS election, maintained that the installation of the Modi government at the Centre had put an end to nepotism and dynastic politics.

Chandigarh, August 27
Even though the state unit of the BJP may be facing a problem of plenty, courtesy the exodus of leaders from other parties, yet the saffron party is set to release its first list of 45 candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections by August 31.

Sources said the state unit had already sent names of two to three candidates for each seat, out of which the names of 45 candidates would be announced soon. “The party will definitely announce 45 of the 90 names by August 31 for the October Assembly polls,” said BJP Legislative Party Leader Anil Vij, today.

With the BJP-HJC alliance on a sticky wicket, the BJP had prepared its panel for all 90 seats and sent it to the party high command in the eventuality of the alliance not working. In the original formula, the BJP and the HJC were to share seats 45:45 ratio with Bishnoi as the Chief Minister for the first two-and-a-half years.

However, impressive results by the BJP in the recent Lok Sabha elections where it won seven of the eight seats it contested and dismal performance by the HJC (it lost both the seats it contested), the clamour for the part to go it alone became louder.

In fact, with several senior leaders from the Congress and other parties, including former senior Congress leader Birender Singh, joining the BJP, the saffron party was faced with the problem of plenty with several defectors also eyeing tickets.

“With ticket aspirants making a beeline for the BJP, it will be difficult for the BJP leadership to spare even 25-30 seats not to talk of the originally-committed 45 seats for the HJC against the backdrop of Kuldeep Bishnoi losing the Hisar parliamentary seat,” a senior BJP leader said.

Riding on the Modi wave, the BJP led in 52 Assembly segments in the Lok Sabha polls prompting the party to go it alone in the Assembly elections. The joining of several senior leaders from other parties only added to its confidence of wresting power from the Congress government after the elections.

Creating a stir

* Senior Congress leader Ranjit Singh is considered close to CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda

* The CM has announced Ranjit’s candidature from Rania, but the ex-minister is not on good terms with Ashok Tanwar

* Ranjit said he had not displayed photos of senior leaders on hoardings as his name had not been officially announced yet

Chandigarh, August 27
Congress President Sonia Gandhi has nominated Haryana Speaker Kuldeep Sharma and Jai Pal Singh Lali (Ratia) as members of the election committee for the Vidhan Sabha elections.

The committee, headed by HPCC chief Ashok Tanwar Ashok Tanwar, earlier had 20 members, including Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Prominent members of the commmittee are Rajya Sabha MP Kumari Selja and Haryana minsters Kiran Chaudhry, HS Chattha, Capt Ajay Yadav Minister, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Geeta Bhukkal, Savitri Jindal and Aftab Ahmed. — TNS

Faridabad, August 27
Going by the pace with which leaders of the BJP and Congress have been laying foundation stones of road projects in this district of late, parties have set the agenda around which they will centre their campaign.

More than 10 foundation stones have been laid in the district in the recent past.

Local BJP MP and Union Minister of Roads and Surface Transport Krishan Pal Gurjar seems to be leading on this front. He held meetings with officials, including that of the NHAI, and directed them to speed up the work on the six-laning of the national highway 2 taken up last year.

The minister is reported to have played a key role in laying the foundation stone of a Rs 200-crore bridge over the Yamuna river to connect Faridabad with Noida on August 15. Besides, he had recently taken up the demand for a special package of Rs 1,000 crore for roads and civic infrastructure for the city.

The laying of foundation stone of the 166-km four-lane highway in Kaithal by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seen as a major development initiative, feel BJP supporters.

As for the Congress, its legislators, too, are busy laying foundation stones of recarpeting of roads. “In the past one year, I have got laid several RMC (ready mix concrete) roads worth around Rs 100 crore. Some of the projects are in progress,” claimed Anand Kaushik, Congress MLA from the Faridabad Assembly segment.

He said roads and civic facilities was his focus and these would be a main issue in the elections.

A district official said that around two dozen projects worth several lakhs of rupees, had been taken up in other Assembly segments, including Badkhal and Ballabgarh, in the past couple of month.

“Majority of the MLAs or ministers are on a foundation stone laying spree of road projects,” said Devender Singh a retired government official.

District BJP leaders accuse the local MLA of neglecting roads, while local Congress leader Hem Dagar said roads had been the focus of the government for the past 10 years.

Sonepat, August 27
Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda said today that the people residing within the radius of 35 km from a toll plaza would be issued monthly passes of Rs 10 to 20. “It is negligible keeping in view the availability of upgraded roads,” he said.

He was addressing a meeting at Murlana village. He said the Panipat rally had generated a wave in favour of the Congress and every section of society was feeling satisfied with the functioning of the state government. He said he wondered how the BJP would form government with the help of the deserters who were already a rejected lot.

He said steps would be taken to open a sub-tehsil in Murlana village. He also inaugurated and laid the foundation stones of number of projects worth Rs 40 crore. MLAs Jagbir Malik and Sri Krishan Hooda also addressed the meeting.

Earlier, he addressed a public meeting in Barona village and urged the villagers to ensure the victory of the Congress candidate in the elections. — OC

Sonepat, August 27
INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala today reached out to farmers and promised to return forcibly acquired land and set up a ‘Krishak Ayog’ (farmers’ commission) to redress their grievances if the party comes to power.

“The farmers have been at the receiving end for nearly nine years of the Congress rule. We will change this. We will return their land that has been forcibly acquired and release tubewell connections free of cost,” he said during meetings with party workers at Kharkhoda, Gohana and Sonepat.

He slammed the state government for its anti-farmer and pro-rich policies and alleged the state had come under a debt of more than Rs 90,000 crore. — OC

Gurgaon, August 27
After the rape of a six-year-old schoolkid in Bangalore recently, the Gurgaon Police today issued guidelines to city schools to prevent child abuse and to ensure their safety.

The guidelines were issued in a special workshop held at power grid today spearheaded by police commissioner. These include installing CCTV cameras, verification of employees, dos and don’ts, verification of school vans and drivers.

Terming the school’s role as vital in dealing with the abuse, Gurgaon Police Commissioner Alok Mittal said, “We want every child of the Millennium City to be taught the simple response of ‘Yell, Run and Tell’ if they sense danger or unsafe touch. A child spends his maximum waking hours in school and at times is more comfortable with teachers. They can be the biggest tool to sensitise children about abuse and encourage them to speak up.”

According to the guidelines that will soon be put up on the police and school websites, every school will have a School Safety Committee (SSC) comprising school staff and parent representatives. “Parent representatives will be chosen by the parent body not the school management to ensure complete fairness. They will ensure all safety concerns are met,” Mittal said.

Schools will be mandated to appoint a Vigilance Officer, who will ensure a checklist of measures is followed. Staff verification has been made compulsory, particularly of support staff. Police verification will have to be done where specified.

“Schools will be responsible for the safety of children during school hours, for any scheduled earlier classes or stay-back special classes, and school trips. If the children travel by school bus or go on a school trip, the institution is responsible for their safety and cannot sign off responsibility by getting parents to sign a form,” Mittal said.

The guidelines include simple security measures such as securing premises and controlling access to entry/exit points and installation of CCTVs. Schools will have qualified counsellors who will play a key role in educating children, staff and parents. Schools must hold awareness and training sessions with age-appropriate inputs to make children aware of the various dangers and ways to deal with them. “In addition, every school will set up a helpline that will allow anonymous reports,” said Mittal.

How schools must deal with abuse

* Each school to set up a School Safety Committee and appoint a Vigilance Officer who will ensure guidelines are followed

* Staff verification to be done in all cases, particularly for support staff

* School premises to be secured and access to entry/exit points to be controlled; CCTVs to be installed at crucial points

* Schools to be responsible for children's safety during school hours, early and stay-back special classes, and school trips

* Every school to set up helpline that will accept anonymous complaints

Unsafe Gurgaon

* May 2013: Eight-year-old allegedly molested for two years by helpers at an upmarket private school in Gurgaon; both women booked, arrested

* April 2013: A Class 2 student tells her teacher she was being raped by her father, a renowned businessman; accused arrested, but victim later took a U-turn 

Faridabad, August 27
The Chief Judicial Magistrate awarded a compensation of Rs 1.25 lakh to a widow, who was raped by a Haryana Police constable. Though the cop was convicted and sentenced to seven years of rigorous imprisonment, the victim got help under the Haryana Victim Compensation Scheme. This is the fourth such case where compensation has been awarded this year.

The victim whose husband died in 2008 had approached the local court in 2013 after she failed to get to get a case registered against the cop. Though the victim lodged a complaint at various levels, the accused managed to evade action due to his influence among higher ups. He also threatened the victim and her son with dire consequences and continued with the sexual exploitation till she managed to get her complaint lodged at a local court.

A case was finally booked on May 15, 2013. Roshan Lal, the accused cop, was held guilty and was sentenced to seven years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 25,000 was levied by the court of Additional and District Sessions Judge Ritu YK Behl, on March 13, this year.

The matter was then passed on to the court of CJM-cum-Secretary, District Legal Service Authority, Jasmine Sharma, for the compensation, as the victim hails from a poor family. As per Jasmine Sharma, the court decided to award the compensation to the victim, who fends for her family by working as a maid at Ballabgarh.

The victim got in touch with the cop in 2011, when she applied for documents related to her husband’s death. It is reported that the accused used pressure tactics to stop her from lodging a complaint and had even offered to marry her before physically abusing her in March 2012.

Claiming that it was the fourth case of awarding compensation this year, Jasmine Sharma said the scheme was laudable and had been framed for granting compensation to victims of rape, human trafficking, kidnapping, molestation, and those who had lost a limb or body part due to acid attack. The maximum limit of compensation in such cases is up to Rs 3 lakh in each case.

Three booked for raping woman

Panipat: A 25-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a Karnal youth and his two friends. In her complaint to the police on Wednesday, the girl, a resident of 8 marla area, alleged Parveen of Pundri and his two friends Dimple and Sandeep raped her several times at a private hospital, and also threatened to kill her. An FIR under section 376 and 506 of IPC was registered at Chandni Bagh police station. No accused has been arrested so far, said Kishan Pura police post in charge SI Narendra Kumar. — TNS

Kurukshetra August 27
A fire broke out at the Shrimad Bahagwat Geeta Sadan University Auditorium at Kurukshetra University in the wee hours and damaged about one fourth of the auditorium today.

The smoke was first noticed at around 3am by the security guards, who raised the alarm and called the fire engines and the university officials. Three fire engines were pressed into service to douse the flames and it took four hours to bring the inferno under control. No casualty and injuries were reported.

Maha Singh Punia, director, Department of Youth and Cultural Affairs, said, “About one fourth section of the auditorium was damaged in the fire. A committee will be formed to ascertain the total loss and the cause of the fire. It was the VIP section, and about 500 chairs, the false ceiling, carpets and electrical fittings of the section were destroyed.” According to varsity sources, the auditorium’s fire alarm didn’t work and there were no fire sprinklers in the auditorium.

Karnal, August 27
Irked over the sale of illicit liquor in their village, women of Malikpur Gadiyan village, around 25 km from the district headquarters, launched a drive by dumping liquor on the road. They also raised slogans against the police and the administration.

The protesting women initiated a step to curb consumption of liquor in their village and constituted a team, which would keep a vigil on the sale of illegal liquor in their village.

The women said the trade of illegal liquor was flourishing in their village, creating a negative impact on their social life. — TNS

Rohtak, August 27
Farmers and agricultural scientists are worried about the deficient rainfall, damaging several crops and dashing the hopes of a good yield.

A meeting of agricultural scientists and officials was held here today to take stock of the situation and chalk out a contingency plan for the farmers.

The meeting was chaired by SS Siwach, Director (Research), Haryana Agricultural University (HAU), Hisar, and attended by scientists and officials from the Agriculture Department.

SB Phogat, Regional Director, HAU regional research station here, said the Rohtak zone had 72 per cent less rainfall than normal this year, while the Jhajjar zone had 62 per cent less rainfall. Rainfall in Sonepat, Faridabad and Palwal zones fell short by 60 per cent. He, however, said the metrological department officials had forecast light to heavy rainfall in the area on September 1 and 2.

“Paddy has been affected due to deficient rainfall, while bajra and fodder are showing stunted growth. There is an increased incidence of white fly, thrips and other sucking insects in the cotton crop due to dry weather. Tomato plantation has also been affected adversely,” Phogat said.

The farmers have been advised not to sow potato before October 20 and consider cultivating legumes and oilseeds instead of cotton. Besides, they have asked to replace old seeds with new varieties of certified, breeder and foundation seeds.

Scientists have recommended farmers to conserve the moisture in soil for next crops. The farmers have also been suggested to adopt natural farming techniques to eradicate weeds and not to use chemical-based insecticides, pesticides and weedicides.

Advisory to farmers

* Do not sow potato before October 20 and consider cultivating legumes and oilseeds instead of cotton

* Replace old seeds with new varieties of certified seeds

* Conserve moisture in soil for next crops

* Adopt natural farming techniques to eradicate weeds

* Use brackish or saline water alternatively with canal water to save crops

* Adopt the sprinkler system and drip irrigation techniques.

Mangeana (Sirsa), August 27
After achieving food sufficiency through the Green Revolution, the country is now eyeing a second revolution to transition to sustainable agriculture and diversification of the food basket.

The Centre of Excellence for Fruits at Mangeana in Sirsa is one of the 20-odd Indo-Israeli agriculture projects in the country helping India achieve its goal.

Israel is way ahead of India in the use of technology in agriculture and horticulture and, resultantly, in productivity.

Itzhak Kosto, an Israeli expert from its Ministry of Agriculture, held a two-day ‘Pomegranate Seminar’ at the centre to update scientists and farmers on fertigation – supplying fertilizers to plants by mixing it in drip irrigation — pest and disease management, nursery knowhow and post-harvest practices

Kosto said farmers in Israel produced 35 metric tonne (MT) pomegranate per hectare as against 20-25 MT in India. Israel grows nearly 60,000 MT of the fruit and exports nearly half of it, making it one of the world’s biggest exporters.

India grows one-third of the world’s pomegranates and is the largest producer in the world, but merely 3 per cent of the fruit is exported.

This is primarily due to a larger domestic market and to some extent due to better quality of pomegranates grown in Israel. Maharashtra is the country’s largest producer of pomegranate and accounts for 80 per cent of India’s yield.

Scientists from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka and farmers from Sirsa and adjoining districts participated on the seminar that concluded today. Pawan Verma, project officer at the Centre of Excellence for Fruits, said they were working to develop four pomegranate varieties Ganesha 137, Bhagwa, Mridula and Wonderful.

Showing the way

* Israeli farmers produce 35 metric tonne (MT) pomegranate per hectare as against 20-25 MT in India

* Israel grows nearly 60,000 MT of the fruit and exports nearly half of it, making it one of the world’s biggest exporters

* India grows one-third of the world’s pomegranates and is the largest producer in the world, but merely 3 per cent of the fruit is exported

Chandigarh, August 27
The reported move by the Hooda Government to appoint two members of the Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC), including a former Finance Minister’s son, has kicked up a controversy.

Even as the file pertaining to the appointment of a former Finance Minister’s son and a former State Information Commissioner as the HPSC members is yet to be cleared by Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki, INLD general secretary RS Choudhary wrote a strongly worded letter to the Governor terming the appointments as ‘unconstitional and immoral’. In his letter, Choudhary questioned the credentials of the former minister’s son, who has been appointed an HPSC member. —TNS

Panipat, August 27
The district police have booked six persons on the charge of negligence which led to an industrial mishap yesterday that claimed three lives.

Factory owner Deepak Kumar, his two relatives Gopal and Amit, supervisor Amarnath Thakur, maintenance manager Manoj Tewari and account manager Kanhaiya Singh have been booked under the IPC.

The FIR was lodged by Akbar, a labourer. Three labourers were killed and one injured in a mishap that took at a home furnishing factory located in HUDA, Sector 25, part II, yesterday. The mishap occurred when a blast took place in a cabinet machine used for dyeing.