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Assembly not be dissolved before
Hooda in race for Chief Ministership
Congress to launch party market programme
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A virtual oasis on the National Highway
HC notice on encroached HUDA property
Ex-servicemen’s rally held
Leaf from History
BJP threatens dharna
Girl escapes from orphanage
Haryana Day celebrated
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Assembly not be dissolved before due date: CM
Gurgaon, November 1 The BJP on the other hand dismissed Mr Chautala’s suggestion on the electoral alliance. Mr Chautala said although the BJP was posturing of going all alone in the elections, it would not dare to do so. In what is seen as sending a mixed signal to the BJP, he emphasised that although the BJP was talking of facing the electoral battle alone, its state president, Prof Ganeshi Lal, would not win even in a panchayat election. With regard to a recent statement of the BJP President, Mr L.K. Advani, that the Ram mandir should be constructed at the disputed site in Ayodhya, Mr Chautala said it was not the job of a political leader to build religious shrines. “It does not behove a leader of Mr Advani’s stature to make such controversial statements”, he said. In a sharp reaction, a top leader of the Haryana BJP, Mr Sita Ram Singla, said his party was amused at Mr Chautala’s “hypothetical” statements, suggesting the possibility of the INLD-BJP alliance. He further said the INLD would be a “liability” as it had lost the confidence of the masses on account of its policies. Sources in the BJP say that a delegation of top party leaders from the state had called on Mr Advani a few days before he took over the reigns of the party to make it clear that the state unit would contest the elections alone. The state leaders told Mr Advani that with the merger of the HVP with the Congress, the INLD was the only regional party left in Haryana. With the anti-incumbency feeling “sweeping” across the state against the INLD, the BJP’s votes would shift towards the Congress in case of the BJP-INLD alliance. |
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Hooda in race for Chief Ministership
Bapoli (Panipat), November 1 Mr Hooda himself admitted that he was a claimant to the chief ministerial post while talking to mediapersons after addressing a rally at Bapoli in Panipat district this afternoon. In reply to a question, the Congress MP said he wanted to make the state corruption free. At the same time, he said the Congress MLAs would elect the Chief Minister. He said he would tour the entire state to aware the voters against the ills of corruption. He said like the Prime Minister, the next Chief Minster would be a honest man. Earlier while addressing the gathering, Mr Hooda lashed out at the Chautala government for its anti-farmer policies. He accused the government of not providing fixed paddy price of Rs 590 to the farmers. He criticised the INLD and the BJP for not getting river waters from Punjab. The Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Capt Ajay Yadav, said the next government would be formed by the Congress. |
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Congress to launch party market programme
Bhiwani, November 1 A spokesman for the party, Mr Ashok Buwaniwala, said here today that a seven-member committee had been constituted to monitor the programme in each district. The programme had been named as “party market programme”. Each member would hold equal number of districts and the district in charge member would send his report to the high command, he said, adding that an eight-member committee, besides this state-level committee, would also be formed at district level to keep an eye on the block level activities. He said that persons in charge would be appointed at the block and municipal committee level and the members would be authorised to form a seven-member committee in their respective areas. He said that each member of the committee would contribute Rs 100 as fee and that would be sent directly to the AICC headquarters. Public contact training camps would also be organised to energise the party activities, he said, adding that the office-bearers of the national cell of the Congress would deliver training speeches at this two-day camps. |
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Khap panchayats playing with innocent lives?
Fatehabad, November 1 Incidents of hegemony of self-styled khap leaders and honour killing of girls and boys who dare to defy the social norms set by such leaders has been quite common in this part of the country. In Fatehabad district alone, over four such incidents have happened in the past one year in which as many as five innocent lives have been lost. In two cases marriages could be saved by the efforts of some good hearted individuals, while the self-styled khap panchayats had left no stone unturned to break the marriages. The most tragic incident was reported from Meond Kalan village last year. Bir Pal and Manjit, two sisters aged 19 and 17 respectively, eloped with two boys of the same village. The boys — Ramnik and Hem Raj — belonged to a caste different from that of the girls. The police “recovered” the girls and their paramours after one day. The very next day beheaded bodies of the two girls were found in their house. A sharp-edged weapon smeared with blood matching the blood group of the two girls was also found in the house of the girls. One of the boys, Hem Raj, was also found dead in his shop. The police arrested Joginder Singh and Sarabjit Kaur, parents of the girls, for the killing of the girls. But they were acquitted by a local court as sufficient evidence was not found against them. The police never probed the case of the death of Hem Raj and it was termed as a case of suicide. Ramnik, the other boy, was tried for rape, but he was acquitted. Another incident of honour killing was reported from Bhattu Kalan, near here, earlier this year. Bala, a young girl of the village had eloped with her cousin Sanjay. The two were “recovered” by their parents from Rajgarh in Rajasthan. The same day the boy’s body was found hanging in the village fields and the girl faced the same fate five days later. But these deaths under mysterious circumstances were never probed. Kamla, of Gorakhpur village in this district, was lucky like Sonia of Asanda as she was able to save her four-year-long marriage to Dayanand, despite serious threat from the self-styled Siwach Gotra of the village. Kamala had married Dayanand of Beniwal Gotra of Gorakhpur village four years ago. Suddenly, in November last year, some villagers ‘discovered’ that the girl was “Bhanji” (daughter of daughter) of a Siwach gotra woman. As Gorakhpur village is dominated by Siwach gotra jats, it was ‘unpalatable’ to the leaders of the gotra that their daughter’s daughter should cover her face under a veil in front of them. Kamala had a three-year-old daughter and was pregnant second time at that time. The ‘Khap Panchayat’, which was never heard of earlier, came into existence in no time and served a 15-day notice to Dayanand to break the marriage or face excommunication. A sum of Rs 80000 was collected from as many as 800 houses of Siwach gotra of the village to execute the diktat of the panchayat. It was only due to resistance from some enlightened villagers led by Mr Krishan Swaroop and Mr Prithvi Singh Gorakhpuria, both belonging to the Siwach gotra and mobilisation of a group of villagers against the panchayat that Kamala’s marriage could be saved. An almost similar incident happened to a girl of Beniwal gotra from Mochi village in the district. The girl was married to a boy belonging to Sheokhand gotra in Kakrod village near Uchana. As there were 15 to 20 families of Beniwal gotra in the village, the Beniwal Khap issued a diktat to the parents of the boy to break marriage or face boycott from the society. Here also some progressive organisations like the All-India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) came forward and saved the marriage through their efforts. These are not the isolated cases of honour killings and Khap Panchayats issuing fatwas to break happy marriages. The incidents of such nature are quite common in Haryana, Western UP and parts of Rajasthan. |
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A virtual oasis on the National Highway
Karnal, November 1 Classical music presentations, poetry symposiums, dance festivals, art exhibitions and crafts melas were being regularly organised for the past few years,catching the attention of more and more people every time. Interestingly, the local people had gradually started warming up to the tunes of art and culture that was somehow missing in the past history of the region. Surprisingly, the historical and religious importance of the town also could not be transformed into a major tourist destination, perhaps due to the close proximity to Kurukshetra that has in the recent past turned out to be a major pilgrim centre of the North India, next only to Hardwar and Vaishno Devi. Anyhow, Karnal has developed its own importance—-being a major stopover to take a break for the people of Punjab, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir en-route to New Delhi. The state Tourism Department’s resort Oasis on the National Highway attracts as many as 5000 people on an average daily. Understanding the pulse of the people, the department had also established a crafts bazaar, an open-air theatre, a small park for children, a lake with boating facilities, a golf course, besides a restaurant, tourist lodge and a beer bar. One could flex one’s muscles, roam around in the children’s park, purchase the fine handiwork of craftspersons and buy the local world famous Basmati rice while having a cup of tea or a glass of beer. If you have some time, you could even take your family or friends to the lake for boating. |
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HC notice on encroached HUDA property
Chandigarh, November 1 Taking up the petition filed by Mr Parmanand, a retired kanungo, who has also sought action against government officials responsible to allowing the land to be encroached by antisocial elements, the Bench of Chief Justice and Mr Justice Surya Kant issued notice for December 14. In his petition Mr Parmanand has stated that HUDA acquired 5 kanals of land in Majri village of Panchkula around 15 years back. However, over a period of time no further progress was made concerning the land and it was eventually encroached upon by some persons, allegedly with the connivance of HUDA officials. The petitioner has also stated that the present market value of the land is over Rs 20 crore. |
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Ex-servicemen’s rally held
Fatehabad, November 1 Brig C.P. Thapa, Officiating General Officer Commanding, 33 Armoured Division, who was the chief guest at the rally, said the main aim behind organising such rallies was to know and address the problems of ex-servicemen in coordination with the civil authorities. He said that the nation was indebted to the ex-servicemen who had given the best years of their lives for the country. He said that the armed forces were alive to the problems of ex-servicemen and every endeavour would be made to redress their grievances. Speaking on the occasion, Captain S.S. Rathi, Secretary, Zila Sainik Board, said there were around 3,000 ex-servicemen, eight war widows and 15,000 dependants of ex-servicemen in the district. Mr Nitin Kumar Yadav, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Fatehabad, presided over the rally. He assured ex-servicemen of all possible cooperation in the redress of their grievances. A medical and dental health camp was also organised on this occasion. Later, addressing mediapersons, Brigadier Thapa said that most of the problems of ex-servicemen pertained to land disputes, arms licences, administrative problems and welfare measures. He said that a pension adalat for ex-servicemen would be organised at Bhiwani on December 31. |
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Old Jama Masjid of Ambala Sadar Rahul Das Tribune News Service AMBALA: Jama Masjid of Ambala Sadar is one of the oldest mosques of the
region.
Jama Masjid is said to be more than 100-year-old. However, some estimate it to be about 150-year-old. There is, as yet, no documentary evidence to show the exact age of the
Masjid. It is located near the Timber market in Ambala Sadar. A large number of people offer their prayers at the masjid. Imam Abdul Mannan of Jama Masjid claimed that masjid was established when Ambala Sadar was being set up around 1840. The Imam said a ‘hamam’ (water tank) was constructed 70 years ago. The hamam was constructed in November, 1934, at a cost of Rs 284. He said original coloured glass adorned the mosque. “Even the construction is reminiscent of the bygone era. There are ‘aale’ in which big watches used to be kept. The old watches called ‘ghantal’ could be heard at a distance,” he said. Dr N.C. Jain, senior vice-president of the Haryana Chamber of Commerce and Industry, recalled that in 1930s, there was an acute shortage of coins. At that time, a contractor Mohammad Qasim, who used to reside close to the mosque, had issued his own coins. “The coins were of cardboard and they were valid for use in the Sadar area. There was no problem and it was utilised for different monetary transactions. The cardboard coins were equivalents of paise, adhanne and paiya,” he said.
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BJP threatens dharna
Bhiwani, November 1 He
said the department had enforced only one JCB machine for digging work and it was insufficient. Only two pumps had been installed to drain out water and that too to pacify the angry residents. |
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Girl escapes from orphanage
Yamunanagar, November 1 The staff of the orphanage knew about the escape later in the day. The police today registered a case. She had been at the orphanage for the past one month. An official of the district administration said the girl was mentally not sound. Three months ago, Chandu (14) had also scaled the walls of the orphanage to escape. Sources said last year too, two boys had ran away but were recovered after a few days. |
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Haryana Day celebrated
Ambala, November 1 Additional DC M.L. Kaushik said the besides development, Haryana had rich cultural heritage. |
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