HC seeks status report by next week

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday asked the Haryana government to file a status report by Monday on the Jat agitation, which has claimed 19 lives so far and caused extensive damage to public and private property.

A Division Bench, comprising Justices SK Mittal and HS Sidhu, gave directions to the state’s Advocate General BR Mahajan on a PIL filed by Bhiwani resident Murari Lal Gupta.The petitioner alleged that there is no law and order situation in the entire Haryana, particularly Rohtak, Bhiwani and Jind districts.

He submitted that the “whole of Rohtak has been converted into ashes” due to acts of arson, violence and vandalism.

The Bench hoped that the people of Haryana will understand the situation and keep calm. The court said all political parties and their leaders should think about the welfare of people. “Let Haryana remain Haryana as it is known. Otherwise it will go back by 50 years,” the Bench observed.

The petitioner submitted that there is an atmosphere of terror in Haryana and the ground reality as is being projected by the government is far from the truth. The Bench also asked the AG of Haryana to prepare an inventory of the causalities suffered and loss suffered by the innocent people.

Otherwise at a later stage even the insurance companies may deny the relief on the ground that the files are not available, the bench observed.

The AG pointed out that two petitions in this regard are also pending before the Supreme Court which are likely to be taken up tomorrow.

With day-to-day life limping back to normalcy after the Jat protests in Haryana, supply of fuel and cooking gas almost became normal in most cities, except Sonipat, Hissar and Bhiwani. In the 10-day stir, which saw arson and violence in several parts of the state, 26 petroleum outlets were vandalised by mobs. The supplies of fuel and LPG were severely hit in Rohtak, Bhiwnai, Jhajjar, Jind, Sonipat and Kaithal.

“The supplies of petrol, diesel and LPG are now turning normal in most parts of Haryana. Our supplies through trucks resumed, which got stuck in blockades put up by the protesters. We hope supplies in all districts will become normal by Thursday,” an official said. However, he added that as the situation was still tense in Jat-dominated areas of Sonipat, Hissar and Bhiwani, the supplies there were yet to be restored. “We sent 12 trucks each of fuel and LPG to Rohtak today,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Railways on Tuesday cancelled about 210 more trains due to the protest. Some of the trains that were cancelled included Kalka Shatabdi, Ludhiana Shatabdi and Himalayan Queen. A total of 1,152 trains have been cancelled or short-terminated due to the ongoing agitation in Haryana.

A senior Railway official said trains like Sarai Rohilla-Bikaner and Katra-Delhi also remained cancelled. He said the Delhi-Paniapt-Ambala and Delhi-Rohtak-Bhatinda routes are still closed for traffic affecting train movement in the section.

The Northern Railway and North Western Railway, and GCPA stir at New Cooch Behar over Northeast Frontier (NF) Railway, the latter has cancelled or diverted several trains to and from North India and other regions, a release issued by the NF Railway stated. 

The cancelled Up trains included Delhi-Dibrugarh Brahmaputra Mail from Delhi, Chandigarh-Dibrugarh Express from Chandigarh, Udaipur-New Jalpaiguri Express from Udaipur and Jammu Tawi-Guwahati Lohit Express, among others.