Train services disrupted for 3 hours on Delhi-Ambala section

Sonepat :
Train services remained disrupted for nearly three hours on the Delhi-Ambala section today.

The railway employees blocked the railway tracks here in protest against the brutal attack on one of their colleagues.

According to information, railway trackman Kundan, who was posted at the railway check post near Safiabad village in the district, was attacked with sharp-edged weapons by three motorcycle-borne assailants on night. The assailants had almost chopped off his hands besides, inflicting injuries on other parts of his body.

Sources said an express train coming from Delhi stopped near Safiabad. When the driver did not get signal from the track man, he went to check the status for further journey. He saw the trackman and one more person lying unconscious in a seriously injured condition and informed the railway authorities.

A team from Sonepat immediately reached the spot and brought the victims to the Civil Hospital here. Kundan was immediately referred to Delhi for further treatment.

After receiving information about the incident, the railway employees blocked the tracks at the local railway junction around 10am. A number of Up and Down trains were stopped at different railway stations.

On getting information, Rajiv Dhankhar, Additional Divisional Railway Manager, and the SP, RPF, reached Sonepat and accepted their demands, including arrest of the accused, police security to the trackmen and every possible help to the families of the victims. The protesters lifted the blockade around 1.30 pm.

Preliminary investigations revealed that three motorcycle-borne youths wanted the level crossing gate near Safiabad village to be opened around midnight. When Kundan refused to open the gate as Mury Express was approaching, the youths attacked him as well as his friend Chandan. A case was registered at the GRP station in this regard.

After surgery of more than four hours at Saroj Hospital in Rohini, Delhi, doctors restored limbs of Kundan, a resident of Bishanpura village in Banka district of Bihar.

4 trains reach late

• Four trains reached late at the Ambala Cantonment railway station due to the traffic disruption on the Delhi-Ambala rail line in Sonepat
• Paschim Express (12925) got delayed by over two hours, Katihar-Amritsar Express (15707) by over 3 hours, Kerala Sampark Kranti Express (12217) by 34 minutes and Sachkhand Express (12715) by 70 minutes

Levy on actual, not ex-showroom, price

Chandigarh :
Thousands of vehicle owners in Haryana are set to pay lower one-time road tax.

With the state government set to charge road tax on the actual price and not ex-showroom price (which includes taxes such as CGST, SGST and cess) of the vehicles, substantial financial relief is in store for the vehicle buyers.

“The matter has been considered and a proposal for charging motor vehicle tax on actual price of the vehicles, excluding tax, has been approved by the government and will be finalised soon,” an undertaking filed by the Office of the Transport Commissioner before Chander Prakash, State Information Commissioner (SIC), said.

Prakash had earlier issued a show-cause notice to the Transport Department on an application filed by Punjab and Haryana High Court advocate Kanwar Yuvraj Singh. He had moved the SIC against the department’s failure to provide him information under the RTI Act.

The government decision to charge road tax on the actual price and not ex-showroom price would correct a major anomaly and provide relief to vehicle owners.

During his representations to the Transport Department, Kanwar had contended that under the predecessor Punjab Motor Vehicles Taxation Act, 1924, and the current Haryana Motor Vehicles Taxation Act, 2013, the road tax on motor vehicles could be charged on the actual cost of vehicles and not on the “ex-showroom” price.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court advocate had asserted that in neighbouring Punjab and Chandigarh, the authorities were charging road tax on the actual price of vehicles.

Rewari :
After committing the crime, the accused in the Rewari gangrape case came back to the crime spot, a tubewell in Naya Gaon village, on the night of September 13 and destroyed evidence before escaping, said one of the villagers close to the victim’s family.

“The tubewell is located in the fields outside the village. Some people residing near the fields noticed unusual movement at the tubewell that night. Deendayal is the tube well owner and friend of Nishu, one of the three accused. Since he has a criminal bent of mind, no villager dares to speak openly against him,” said a villager on the condition of anonymity.

Victim’s uncle Ram Avtar maintained the accused were seen roaming in the village around midnight on September 13 and hatched a plot of escaping together at the tubewell.
“The accused destroyed evidence after the crime as they had sufficient time. The room at the tubewell was clean and bedsheet missing when we and other villagers visited the spot on September 14,” he said. He claimed that the accused went missing on September 14 when the incident hit the headlines.

Another villager close to the victim’s father said a registered medical practitioner (RMP) in the village first learnt about the crime and informed him when they met by chance near his shop in the village.

“Nishu had called the RMP to the spot by pretending that his friend was vomiting and needed immediate medical aid. The RMP was shocked to spot the victim lying unconscious in a room at the tubewell. He is an acquaintance of the victim’s father,” said the villager.

He later informed the victim’s father, employed in a private school at Kanina town in Mahendragarh. He maintained that the victim’s father immediately rushed to the village, but the accused had taken her to another place by then.

He said the accused had reportedly contacted another RMP in Bahala village nearby, who refused to treat her in view of her critical condition. Thereafter, the accused reportedly took her to Kanina and one of them called up her father to inform him about her critical condition, the villager added.

Nuh SP Nazneen Bhasin, chief of the SIT formed to investigate the case, denied having any information about the destruction of evidence.

Rohtak :
A police team, accompanied by Fire Department officials, stopped the cremation of a Class XI girl at Bahalba village in Meham subdivision of the district following a complaint that she was killed for “honour”.

The mortal remains of the girl were sent to the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) here for the post-mortem examination. A case was been registered till the time of filing the news report, though Meham DSP Virender Singh said that an FIR was being lodged.

Police sources said that in the morning, the girl’s family went to the cremation ground for the last rites. In the meantime, someone informed the police that the girl’s death was a case of honour killing.

By the time the police reached the cremation ground, the body was half burnt. A minor scuffle broke out between villagers, and police and fire officials.

The girl’s parents told the police that she was not well since Saturday evening. They said her condition deteriorated in the night. They were taking her to the PGIMS, but she died on the way.

Girl’s body found in Sampla

The body of a six-year-old daughter of a labourer was found in a pit filled with water in Sampla on Sunday. The examination of the body indicated that she might have been raped before she was killed. A case was registered, while the body was sent for the postmortem.

Hisar :
The All India Jat Mahasabha has urged people of the Jat community to look for alternative occupations to their traditional occupation of farming to earn their livelihood.

The sabha, meanwhile, vowed to continue its struggle for reservation to Jats through political process.

The national spokesperson of the Mahasabha, Tara Chand Mor, said the meeting discussed the current socio-economic situation of the community at Jat Dharmashala today. “It’s evident that agriculture is no longer a remunerative occupation. The continuing losses due to rising input costs and comparatively less returns, coupled with unpredictable weather, have pushed people into a tight spot. We urge our people to opt for diverse occupations like business, trade or other jobs for improving their economic condition,” Mor said.

“As education is a thrust area, we will mobilise people to get a better and quality education to be fit for competition. Besides motivation and hard work, our youth have proven skills and are equally capable of carving a niche for themselves in education and sports,” he added.

Yudhvir Singh, national general secretary of the AIJM, stated that they had raised the issue of the inclusion of Jats in other backward category (OBC) and this struggle would continue until the demand is realised. “We don’t believe in violent ways to carry forward the struggle and would like to push the agenda through political process,” he said.

The newly appointed president of the Haryana unit of the Jat Mahasabha Rajender Sura, hailing from Hisar, said the Mahasabha would prepare a roadmap for the struggle for quota in the next three months. “Apart from the quota stir, the Mahasabha would carry out a campaign in the Jat community for a socio-economic awakening by diversifying our occupations,” he added.

The Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh is the president of the AIJM.