At Dera’s Sirsa hospital, probe into ‘illegal abortions’ begins
and Haryana HC ordered sanitisation of the Dera headquarters, which is a township in its own right equipped with educational institutes, a cinema hall, a stadium, a “seven-star” hotel, shopping complexes and residential buildings. The hospital, too, is part of the sprawling campus.
A government official said a show-cause notice would be issued to the Dera, which has a sizable following in Haryana, Punjab and neighbouring states.
Deputy director (information) Satish Mehra said the health department found irregularities under the MTP Act in the hospital record. “It can’t be ruled out that the Dera carried medical termination of pregnancies in about six cases,” he said, adding the health department and civil administration had begun the probe.
Trains were finally back on track at the Sirsa railway station on Monday after a gap of 17 days.
The trains on the section were suspended in the wake of violence in the aftermath of Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim’s conviction for rape.
North-Western Railway suffered a loss of about ₹12 crore, senior divisional commercial manager CR Kumawat said on Monday. He said more than 20 goods and passenger trains were cancelled during this period.
As many as 3.53 lakh passengers faced great inconvenience due to cancellation of trains on the Bathinda-Sirsa-Hisar route. People could be seen thronging the Sirsa station for the first time after over a fortnight.
Meanwhile, the additional forces on standby during this period returned to their base in Sirsa.