Chandigarh, October 3
Thirty-three confirmed cases of dengue have been reported from four districts of Haryana till date.

While stating this here today, a spokesman for the Health Department said there had been also one death of suspected dengue patient in Faridabad. Fifteen cases of dengue had been reported from Faridabad district followed by 11 in Gurgaon district, six cases from Panchkula and one from Sonepat district, he said.

He said a control room had been set up at the office of the Director, Health Services (Malaria), here at the state headquarters. Similar control rooms would work round the clock in the offices of Civil Surgeons in every district. The situation would be monitored daily at the district level as well as at the state level.

He said hospitals in the state had been directed to equip themselves with IV fluids and other material and medicine required for dengue cases. Separate beds had been reserved for dengue cases. Regular malathion fogging and anti-larval operations would be undertaken in and around institutions where people suffering from the disease had been admitted.

He said the district officers had been asked to intensify disease surveillance and health teams would visit areas affected by dengue, enquire about the suspected cases of dengue and educate the people on keeping their areas free from mosquitoes.

Fogging machines, material and equipment had been placed at the disposal of all District Medical Officers.

He said symptoms of common dengue fever included high fever, headache, muscles and joint pain, pain behind the eyes (retro-orbital pain), rashes over parts of body and hemorrhagic manifestation.

He said in case of such symptoms one must consult a doctor and should not take medicine on one’s own.

He said dengue spread by the bite of Aedes mosquito. The mosquitoes breed in water. He urged people to check the spread of dengue by emptying all wet containers in their houses at least once a week. People should avoid being bitten by mosquitoes and use repellent creams, mats or ointments, sleep under mosquito nets and fumigate houses with insecticides.

Yamunanagar: Two children from as many villages here died after suffering from high fever during the past 24-hours.

A five-year-old brother of one of the deceased too had died after a fit of high fever a week ago. The illness behind the two deaths is not known while the third child, according to a private doctor, is suffering from encephalitis. According to information collected from various private hospitals and pathological laboratories in the district, several persons have reported with symptoms of falling platelet counts, one of the several symptoms of dengue fever.

However, sources in the Health Department said till date no confirmed case of dengue had been reported. The Chief Medical Officer, Dr P.K. Jain, was not available.

As per sources, Veeru (7) of Mehmoodpur village here, who was suffering from high fever, was taken to a private hospital. Dr Arun Gupta said he was suffering from encephalitis and was advised to be taken to the PGI, Chandigarh. However, the parents of Veeru took him to another private doctor and he too advised that he be taken to the PGI.

On way to Chandigarh, Veeru reportedly died and his last rites were performed later in the evening. His five-year-old brother Parmod too had reportedly died after high fever about a week ago. Sources said that he died before he could be rushed to a hospital.

In another case, a one-and-a-half-year-old-boy of Kait village, died due to high fever. His uncle Hanif said he was suffering of high fever and died on Monday evening.

New Delhi, October 3
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today said the state government would begin the acquisition process of 25 per cent land for the Reliance Special Economic Zone(SEZ) in the Capital region only after developer Reliance Industries Limited(RIL) completed the process of acquiring 75 per cent land for the proposed SEZ.

He clarified that the government had not yet acquired any land near Garhi Harsau in Gurgaon.

“Maintaining the contiguity is important for any SEZ…otherwise it would lose its relevance,” he said in response to a question on whether farmers really had a choice on whether or not to sell their land.

In his “seedha samvad” with sarpanches, members of panchayat samities and zila parishads from Gurgaon district at his residence in the Capital, the Chief Minister explained the economic benefits of the project.

He reiterated that the government had fixed a floor rate and farmers could go in for the enhancement of compensation as well. “Promoters will have to pay higher amount too,” he said, stressing that the Rs 10,000 investment would generate Rs 2 lakh crore and 10,000 job opportunities in times to come.

He told reporters that the state Health Department had been geared up to deal with dengue in the adjoining Gurgaon and Faridabad districts following the outbreak of the disease in the Capital.

Yamunanagar, October 3
The controversy over the arrest of four persons of Sabapur village for allegedly beating up two Uttar Pradesh residents — Javed and Islam — near Barkarpur village snowballed into a showdown with 174 village panchayats of the district today threatening to resign if the FIR against the four was not cancelled.

The villagers also threatened to withdraw the thikri pehra from villages as directed by the district administration. They claimed it was a case of mistaken identity and hence the FIR should be cancelled.

The panchayats submitted a signed memorandum to the district administration in that regard. A delegation of the villagers was also planning to meet Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda during his visit here, sources said.

Deputy Commissioner J.P. Kaushik said the two parties involved in the issue would be once again called after the tomorrow’s visit of the Chief Minister so that the two could reach a compromise.

Chandigarh, October 3
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has sought a central grant of Rs 177 crore to strengthen internal security and implement measures that will check anti-national elements and terrorists from using the National Capital Region (NCR) for subversive activity. A proposal submitted to the Centre states that though there has been no terrorist incident in the state during the present Congress regime, Haryana needs to brace its intelligence network to prevent a spillover effect from the adjoining states.

Mr Hooda has told the Centre that besides other things, he needs the money for deploying more manpower in the form of India Reserve Battalions (IRB) in the NCR region. He has also told the Union Home Ministry that intelligence agencies feel illegal Bangladeshi nationals and overstaying Pakistani nationals can cause problems and indulge in espionage.

Detailing the steps taken by Haryana to prevent and counter any threat to internal security, the state has told the Centre that due emphasis has been laid on the socio-economic dimensions of internal security. The state has also implemented land reforms to rule out agrarian unrest. However, the state police is trying to ascertain the extent of penetration of Maoist groups from Nepal, whose activity in the state has caused some security concerns. “Maoist literature has been recovered from some areas”, the Chief Minister recently told journalists.

Asking for Rs 177 crore for the NCR as a one-time grant, Mr Hooda has told the Centre that there exists a wide gap in policing in Delhi and the surrounding areas of Delhi in Haryana. In Delhi the police-population ratio is 1:293 whereas in the NCR of Haryana it is 1:450 and that includes the state Armed Police and the IRBs. The Chief Minister has argued that a similar level of policing is required at both places.

At the recently held Congress Chief Ministers’ Conclave at Naini Tal, Mr Hooda made a presentation on “Internal Security in Haryana” where he apprised the party leadership of the law and order situation in the state. “Goondaraj and state-sponsored criminal activities have ended in the state after the killing of 23 dreaded criminals and the busting of 89 gangs of dacoits, infusing a sense of security among the general public”, he told fellow Chief Ministers.

Mr Hooda’s proposal to the Centre for financial grant lists, among other things, the need for filling vacancies in the Police Department, procuring satellite phones for disaster management and buying jammers for major jails such as those at Ambala, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Sonepat and Gurgaon. The state, he says, proposes to train two Haryana Armed Police battalions for disaster management and redesignate these as disaster management battalions after specialised training.

The Haryana Police admits that there is a potential threat from criminal and militant groups, which could use Haryana as a base and shelter for terrorist activities. Therefore, the state has also sought money for procuring mobile interceptors for dealing with terrorists and extortionists. 

Karnal, October 3
Senior citizens face the brunt of Haryana Housing Board (HHB) officials who had denied them no-objection certificate (NOC) to secure ownership papers of the houses allotted to them 31 years ago in Karnal.

Despite repeated representations by the HBC Welfare Association to the Chief Minister, the Housing Minister and others none bothered to redress problems of elderly citizens.

The allottees await NOC despite the their having cleared dues last year on the direction of the court.

Elderly allottees have expressed inability to contest court cases against the indifferent bureaucracy. They allege that a top official of the HHB was repeatedly asking to deposit the money with interest flouting court orders.

Senior citizens alleged the HHB was harassing them by not issuing the NOC.

Though the allottees cleared their dues last year as per the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court but the HHB officials had not issued NOC to them.

Dr R. K. Gupta, general secretary of the HBC Welfare Association said due to the apathetic attitude of certain top officials of the board they had even asked to pay interest on the enhanced fee against the orders of the court.

In 1975 the board had allotted 440 houses in Sector 13 out of which 50 per cent belonged to the weaker sections (EWS). Welfare association office-bearers said that after 10 years i.e. in 1985, the board demanded enhancement for the houses.

Terming it a violation of the Housing Board Act, the association filed a case against it that was settled by the Punjab and Haryana Court in 2005. In it’s order, the court had directed the house allottees to pay the enhanced payment without interest within one month.

Later, the board filed a SLP against the decision in the apex supreme court, which was dismissed in May 2006.

Mr K. L. Chawala, a retired Chief Engineer (irrigation) is one of the allottees and feels disturbed due to the indifference of top officials of the board.

Chandigarh, October 3
The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has criticised the Hooda government for contradictions in statements issued by its senior bureaucrats and political leaders on policy matters.

The president of the Haryana unit of the INLD, Mr Ashok Arora, said here today that it was a matter of shame that the Chief Secretary of the state made a statement on an important subject only to be contradicted by a Minister in the Hooda government.

He lamented that even on policy matters the Chief Secretary and the Minister did not see eye to eye and had to issue public contradictions.

Mr Arora said only the other day the Chief Secretary had announced during a meeting of officers of the Rohtak division that families living below the poverty line would be provided with free water connections at a cost of Rs 165 crore.

However, to the shock of everyone, the next day the Public Health Minister, Mr Randeep Singh Surjewala, categorically said the government had taken no such decision.

The INLD leader alleged that this was not the first time that the statement of the Chief Secretary had been contradicted by a Minister. Recently, the Chief Secretary had said that Haryana Roadways would run a special bus to compete with the Shatabdi Express.

He was promptly contradicted by the Transport Minister, who said there was no such proposal before the department.

He said the silence of the Chief Minister on such contradictions, which had a serious impact on the morale of the bureaucracy, was intriguing. Any further silence would only add to the already “haotic” administration of the state.

Hisar, October 3
Recent political developments in the state indicate that Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has decided to take the proverbial bull by its horns. With his change of stance, the political atmosphere in the state has turned hot and is all set to witness some high-voltage drama in the coming months.

Interestingly, the impending face-off is not between rival political parties, but between the Chief Minister’s camp and the group of former state Congress chief Bhajan Lal, which Mr Hooda has himself termed “in-house opposition”.

The Bhajan faction, led by his son and Bhiwani MP Kuldeep Bishnoi, has recently announced that they will hold a rally at Rohtak, which happens to be the Chief Minister’s hometown. The rally is likely to be held in January.

Mr Hooda, who had till now chosen to ignore Mr Bishnoi’s outbursts against the functioning of his government, has now decided to accept the challenge by announcing a rally at Balsamand village in the Adampur constituency, which has been a citadel of Mr Bhajan Lal.

During his recent visit to the city, the Chief Minister announced that he would hold a rally at Balsamand in November or December to know the feelings of the people there. This announcement came in the wake of Mr Bishnoi’s allegations of stepmother treatment to the Adampur constituency.

Earlier, addressing a rally organised by the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) at Lohchab village in Jind district, Mr Hooda had maintained that Mr Bishnoi’s claiming that INLD’s Meham rally was a big success indicated that he was hand in glove with Mr Chautala.

With both Mr Hooda and Mr Bishnoi announcing rallies in each other’s strongholds, battle lines have been drawn and the political observers and residents are eagerly waiting for the outcome of the political battle.

Jhajjar, October 3
Students of PDM Polytechnic College in Bahadurgarh today protested against the college authorities for increasing fee for the second semester. Students of various streams alleged that the college authorities were fleecing them in the matter of fee.

Students resorted to strike in the college and marched to the SDM’s office to hand over a memorandum of demands.

The affected students studying in Civil Engineering, Electronics, Mechanical, Computers, Information Technology and Electronics and Computer trades with a strength of 900 held that they were charged a fee of Rs 18,700 at the time of admission in first semester.

They alleged now the college authorities issued a notice that their fee had been increased to Rs 34000 and the students were directed to deposit remaining Rs 16000 by October 7.

As per the notice, the students would be charged Rs 100 per day in case they failed to deposit dues by that date. The students stated that they had confirmed from the Technical Education Department that no fee had been hiked by the government. The PRO of the PDM educational institution told the fee had been hiked as per government directives.

Chandigarh, October 3
The Haryana Government has fixed a target of record production of 96.34 lakh tonnes of wheat during the 2006-07 rabi season as against over 88 lakh tonnes last year.

This was stated by the Agriculture Minister, Mr Harmohinder Singh Chatha, while addressing a press conference here today.

While claiming that wheat production in the state had been going down during the past five years, Mr Chatha said a number of steps had been taken by the state government to increase production.