Faridabad :
Launching a drive against the play (pre-primary) schools operating illegally at various localities here, Municipal Corporation Faridabad (MCF) has sealed five schools in the past couple of days. Notices have also been issued to 30 more schools.

The move comes after the order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which has sought an action-taken report from the authorities concerned in response to a petition filed by the Innovative Pre-primary Schools Association, a body of playschools here.

The petitioner had alleged operation of several illegal schools in the city and that no action had been taken to check the menace.

Revealing that while a total of 35 such schools have been identified, Ashutosh Rajan, Joint Commissioner, MCF (Old Faridabad Zone), said that five of the schools, which failed to respond to the show-cause notice, have been sealed.

He said 30 schools are under the scanner and have been issued notices already.

The officials concerned said that while 27 schools are located in Old Faridabad Zone, five are in the NIT zone and two in Ballabgarh zone. One school has been operating outside all the three zones of the MCF.

The schools sealed by the officials are located in Sectors 28, 86 and 89 and Kheri Pul area. The next date of hearing is October 8.

Earlier, the petitioner had claimed that while the members of the association had been running playschools on the sites allotted by the government at high premium, a large number of schools had mushroomed in the city. Those had been running without authorisation as their premises were not earmarked for schools in the master plan of the city.

New Delhi: 
Delhi CM and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal will venture into Haryana for the next year’s parliamentary and Assembly elections by striking a chord with government employees with a rally in Kaithal on October 7. He will follow this up by holding meetings outside schools and dispensaries across the state. Kejriwal announced this in a chat with Chandigarh-based journalists on Wednesday. The AAP plans to take up matters of cheaper and regular supply of power and water, besides problems of farmers.

Kurukshetra :
A strike call given by employees of Haryana Roadways fizzled out on Wednesday as the police detained protesting workers in pre-dawn action at several depots.

Officials claimed the bus services across the state remained normal.

Union leaders had halted bus services at a few depots night, but they were restored in the morning, officials said.

Leaders blamed divided unions for the “failure” of the strike.

The Fatehabad police arrested 45 union leaders under the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA). Protesting employees clashed with the police as the former tried to stop buses.

In Hisar, a case under the ESMA was registered against 37 union leaders. Haryana Roadways Employees Union president Dalbir Kirmara was among those detained by the Hisar police.

They have also been booked on the charge of assaulting and obstructing government officials from performing their duty. They allegedly damaged a video camera of a videographer who was filming the protesters. A case was filed under Sections 147, 148, 186, 323, 325, 341 and 427 of the IPC.

Union leaders claimed some workers suffered minor injuries in the police action.

In Jind, the police resorted to a mild lathicharge in the wee hours when a group of union activists tried to stop buses from leaving the depot. Deputy Commissioner Amit Khatri said several protesting union activists were taken into preventive custody and all of them were released before noon.

Prohibitory orders were issued in various districts; protests were not allowed within a 100-m radius of bus stands. A heavy posse of the police was deployed to prevent Roadways workers from protesting.

Haryana Roadways Workers Joint Action Committee (HRWJAC) general secretary Balwan Singh Dodwa told The Tribune the strike failed as unions associated with the Sarv Karamchari Sangh (SKS) and Bharatiya Mazdoor Mahasangh supported the state government.

“A meeting has been called in Jind to decide the future course of action against the state government which is adamant on introducing 700 private buses on several routes,” he said.

Sarbat Punia, president of the SKS-affiliated Haryana Roadways Workers Union, condemned thrashing of employees and announced a protest at district headquarters on Thursday.

In Rohtak, buses plied under police protection. Rohtak depot General Manager Rahul Jain said the bus service was smooth.

In Karnal, around 95 per cent of buses plied. The district administration deployed 50 additional private buses, and 70 tempo-travellers and Jeeps in case of emergency situation.

In Hisar, the bus service remained suspended for a couple of hours, but it was resumed soon after union leaders were detained.

In Faridabad, all 185 buses of the depot plied, as none of the employees joined the strike.

In Rewari, more than 25 employees were apprehended in the morning when they were staging a dharna in the bus stand.

43 held in Ambala
Ambala: In all, 43 Haryana Roadways employees from here were arrested under Sections 5, 6 and 7 of the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA), 1981, and Sections 353, 186 and 188 of the IPC. They were sent to judicial custody. The employees were booked for allegedly obstructing the movement of buses in the local depot. Rohit Jain, one of the advocates for employees, said, “A bail application has been filed in court. A notice has been issued for Thursday.”

Role of faculty member under scanner | VC nod to CCTV cameras

Kurukshetra :
The Kurukshetra University (KU) Vice-Chancellor has marked an inquiry into allegations of manipulation of marks awarded to students of ancient Indian history, culture and archaeology.

Prof Sukhdev Saini, recently appointed chairperson of the department, had noticed irregularities in the marks for MA and MPhil courses.

The role of a senior faculty member in the department was under scrutiny. Professor Saini had reportedly approached the VC, KC Sharma, with a complaint and submitted some documents.

 The VC said a committee under Prof Sham Kumar, Dean, Academics, had been instituted. Professor Kumar on Tuesday said the matter was being looked into.

Information gathered by The Tribune revealed that there were 14 MPhil scholars in 2017-18 and internal assessment of five students was allegedly manipulated.

In the staff council meeting held on July 25, it was recorded in the minutes that marks awarded to MPhil students by the seminar committee were changed fraudulently by a faculty member.

The committee also recorded its concern over the incident and decided to rectify the detailed marks cards of five students whose marks were found changed in the manipulated list.

In one case, the seminar committee had given 51 marks, but the marks were changed to 71. Another student had secured 40 marks whereas it was changed to 60 in the fraudulently prepared second list.

Similarly, there were 24 students in the MA (first year) in the 2017-18 academic session and all of them got equal marks in test seminar, internal test and attendance.

Sources said prima facie, it was a case of negligence wherein the entire class of 24 students secured 17 marks out of 20 in a subject of the first semester.

Following a complaint from Professor Saini of threat from his colleagues at the department, the VC had sanctioned installation of CCTVcameras.

Professor Saini said he was attacked by a few research scholars allegedly at the behest of the erring teacher. He said a frivolous sexual harassment complaint was filed after he exposed wrongdoing.

Gurugram :
State Congress president Ashok Tanwar, whose differences with former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda are no secret, said that Hooda was being witch-hunted as part of the BJP’s political vendetta.

“We have a difference of opinion, but are committed to ideology of the party. As we have highlighted the Rafale deal or real purpose behind demonetisation, they stooped to cheap politics. It is an attempt to divert attention and we stand united against it,” said Tanwar on FIR against Hooda in Gurugram land deal.

Similarly, senior Congress leader and former minister Captain Ajay Singh Yadav said that the complaint actually brought to fore the state BJP government’s inefficiency. “The BJP government is itself an epitome of corruption and they use it as tool to divert attention. For four years, they had nothing to say and today, foreseeing their defeat, they go ahead and defame Congress leaders. The truth will soon be out. The entire party is against this attack,” he said.

Former minister and Congress leader from Mewat Aftab Ahmed has questioned the credibility of the complainant and demanded an explanation on same.