The Tribune...Haryana

H A R Y A N A

Sunday, July 5, 1998

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today's calendar

Coach murder
suspects held
ROHTAK, July 4 — The suspects in the murder of Devender Coach, a zila parishad member and prominent student leader, have been arrested under dramatic circumstances here today.

Trader-govt standoff continues
KARNAL, July 4 — The confrontation between the local Grain Market traders and the state government intensified today when the Sangarsh Samiti of the traders decided to boycott the auction of plots in New Grain Market to be held on July 10...

Action sought against erring officials
From Our Correspondent
ROHTAK, July 4 — The members of the Pehrawar Kand Sangharsh Samiti have appealed to the National Women Commission secretary, Ms Padma Seth, to to....

Nanda remembered
KURUKSHETRA, July 4 — The 101st birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Gulzari Lal Nanda was celebrated as Sadachaar Divas at a state-level function organised by Kurukshetra Development Board on the eastern bank of the sacred Brahma Sarovar here today...

DSGMC floats tenders for school
FATEHABAD, July 4 — The long-awaited prestigioius project of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), for building a public school at Bighar, near here, has finally taken off....

Coach murder suspects held
Tribune News Service
ROHTAK, July 4 — The suspects in the murder of Devender Coach, a zila parishad member and prominent student leader, have been arrested under dramatic circumstances here today.
Coach was shot dead in board daylight inside the Law Department building of M.D. University on May 26. A student of the department, he had gone there to take his annual examination. The assailants, allegedly five in number, had escaped immediately after the incident.
The alleged assailants, Rajesh, Pawan, Yash Pal and Rajeev, who have escaped arrest since then, today went to the court of the Additional Sessions Judge, Dr S.K. Kapoor, to surrender. They were accompanied by their advocate, Mr R.C. Dalal. They pleaded in the surrender-cum-bail application that they were being falsely implicated in the case as the police has failed to apprehend the real culprits.

They said that their names also did not appear in the FIR and the police was unnecessarily harassing the parents and relatives of petitioners. "But being law-abiding citizens we surrender before this court and pray that bail be granted."
The judge, in his order, directed them to make their submissions and prayer of surrender to the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, the Ilaga Magistrate or the Duty Magistrate, who would proceed in accordance with the law in the matter. Such and application did not lie in his court and as such the same was dismissed, the judge ordered.
However, before the alleged assailants could reach the court of the CJM, they were arrested by the police.

Trader-govt standoff continues
Tribune News Service
KARNAL, July 4 — The confrontation between the local Grain Market traders and the state government intensified today when the Sangarsh Samiti of the traders decided to boycott the auction of plots in New Grain Market to be held on July 10.
A group of 51 traders from Gurgaon came here to participate in the protest fast which entered its 27th day today. Earlier, traders from Yamunanagar and Ambala had participated in the fast and dharna on a call given by the Haryana Pradesh Beopar Mandal.
Mr Parmod Kumar Gupta, secretary of the Haryana Beopar Mandal stated in a statement that it was surprising that the Haryana Marketing Board had fixed July 10 for the auction of shops in New Grain Market, while the Punjab and Haryana High Court had fixed July 31 for hearing of a writ petition filed by traders against the auction of shops on June 4.
Mr O.P. Arora, chairman of Sangarsh Samiti stated that the panchayat of Grain Market had decided to "socially boycott" Mr Ved Pal, chairman of the Agricultural Marketing Board.

In the ongoing tussle between government and traders, the BJP is facing a piquant situation. Mr Laxmi Chand Gupta, president of the Haryana Beopar Mandal, owes allegiance to the BJP. The chairman of the Sangarsh Samiti is also an activist of the BJP. Traders owing allegiance to the BJP are finding it difficult to digest the decision of the government to auction the plots in the open. The auction was decided at a joint meeting of the BJP and HVP MLAs.
The BJP leadership here is under intense pressure from the traders of the state. The core committee of the party held a meeting here last night which was attended among others by Mr Sashi Pal Mehta, Minister for Industries. The meeting is reported to have decided to approach the Central leadership for putting pressure on Haryana Chief Minister Bansi Lal to scrap the open auction of June 4 and also to stop further open auction of shops on July 10.
Members of the core committee are reported to have decided to send and emissary to BJP President Kushabhu Thakre to apprise him that the party was fast losing ground and support amongst the traders because of the policies of the Bansi Lal government.
Sources of the BJP maintained that the core committee also decided to persuade Mr Ram Bilas Sharma, Education Minister, to use his good offices to end confrontation between the traders and the government.
While the government does not seem to be in mood to relent in its attitude, the traders are also insisting that preference should be given to those for allotment of plots who were already licencees in Grain Market.

Nanda remembered
From Our Correspondent
KURUKSHETRA, July 4 — The 101st birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Gulzari Lal Nanda was celebrated as Sadachaar Divas at a state-level function organised by Kurukshetra Development Board on the eastern bank of the sacred Brahma Sarovar here today.
Dr Kamla Verma, Minister for Social Welfare and Local Bodies, Haryana, in her presidential address, called upon the people in general and the youth in particular to follow the path shown by Nanda by imbibing and inculcating the principles and ideals dear to him their lives.
Paying rich tributes to the late Prime Minister, she described him a leading personality who always advocated high moral values in his personal life. She said Nanda was a staunch supporter of democratic values and secularism. He was a great freedom fighter and a true follower of Mahatma Gandhi, she added.

Describing Nanda as a good writer and an able administrator, Dr Verma had not only played a significant role in the freedom struggle of the country but also in the post-freedom era in building a modern India. "He was an embodiment of simplicity, secularism and dedication who always remained sincere to the social and political values. He strictly adhered to these principles not only in his personal life, but in politics also," she added.
The minister said being a socialist Nanda was a firm believer in egalitarianism. She said in 1922 when Mahatma Gandi was engaged in uniting the labour power, he found in Nanda the qualities of a true follower. Nanda served the nation through a number of social institutions, including the Bharat Sewak Samaj, the Bhoodan movement and Manav Dharma Mission under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and Acharya Vinoba Bhave.
Recalling the contribution made by Nanda in the development of the holy city of Kurukshetra, Dr Verma said Nanda had made strenuous efforts to develop, renovate, and beautify the religious places in and around Kurukshetra. These included Sannehit Sarovar, Brahma Sarovar, Phalgu Tirth and Narkatari.
Mr M.K. Miglani, Financial Commissioner and Secretary, Haryana Government, described Nanda as a man of principles who dedicated his life to spread the message of socialism to fulfil the cherished dreams of the Father of the Nation. He said the ideals and moral values espoused Nanda would always remain a source of inspiration for generations to come. Nanda always believed in self-change before bringing about a change in society. Thus, he adopted morality and honesty as well as simplicity in his life before he advocated the people to follow these principles.
Mr Vijay Sabharwal, local industrialist, after paying rich tributes to Nanda, thanked Chief Minister Bansi Lal for accepting the demand submitted by Nanda's associates and the residents of Kurukshetra that his birth anniversary should be celebrated by the Kurukshetra Development Board annually. He also thanked Mr Bansi Lal for being liberal regarding the development of Kurukshetra.

In his welcome address, the Deputy Commissioner of Kurukshetra, Mr T.V.S.N. Prasad, revealed that on July 2 he visited Ahmedabad and met Nanda's daughter, Mrs Pushpa Nayak, and his son, Dr Teja Nayak and on behalf of Haryana Government requested them to visit Kurukshetra for selecting where Nanda's memorial would be erected and a samadhi constructed as already announced by Mr Bansi Lal. Mr Prasad hoped that both these projects would be completed within a year. He also announced that under the guidence of Mr Mahabir Prasad, Haryana Governor, who is also Chairman of the Kurukshetra Development Board, a newsletter on "sadachaar" and morality would be released before commencement of the ensuing solar eclipse on August 22.
Dr Himmat Singh Sinha, former Chairman of the Department of Philosophy, Kurukshetra University, who had been an old associate of Nanda, also narrated various events from the life of Nanda.
Earlier, Dr Verma and Mr Miglani planted a sapling each on the eastern bank of Brahma Sarovar and offered floral tributes to the statue of Nanda.

Action sought against erring officials
From Our Correspondent
ROHTAK, July 4 — The members of the Pehrawar Kand Sangharsh Samiti have appealed to the National Women Commission secretary, Ms Padma Seth, to take action against the "erring" officials in the alleged abduction, rape and murder of a minor girl of Pehrawar village' near here.
A delegation of the samiti today met secretary, who reportedly assured them of immediate investigation into the matter.
Mohini, a 15-year old girl of Pehrawar village was allegedly abducted by two youths of the same village on May 9.
Later, she was reportedly raped and murdered. However, the police registered a case on June 8. Furthermore, the body of the girl is yet to be recovered.
Ms Seth said she would interrogate the officials concerned regarding the aforesaid issues and if necessary, a team of the commission would meet the officials personally.

DSGMC floats tenders for school
From Our Correspondent
FATEHABAD, July 4 — The long-awaited prestigioius project of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), for building a public school at Bighar, near here, has finally taken off. The project, which was hanging fire for the past two years owing to apathy and infighting within the DSGMC, has finally made some headway with the committee floating tenders for the construction of the school.
The idea of a good public school at Bighar in this district was first conceived by some Sikh residents of the town in October 1994. They constituted a society named Shri Guru Teg Bahadur Education Society (SGTBES) to further the cause of the school Prominent Sikh residents like Mr Amar Singh, Mr Sudarshan Singh Malhotra and Mr Harpal Singh were associated with the project. The society passed a resolution and requested the DSGMC to provide it a piece of its land at Bighar village for the construction of the school.

The DSGMC, which was at that time headed by Mr Paramjit Singh Sarna, had about 250 acres of land at Bighar village. It agreed to give a part of the land for the construction of a public school and an engineering college in February 1996. The DSGMC decided to build a public school and teachers' quarters over 13 acres of land. The proposed school was named Shri Guru Teg Bahadur International Public School. Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, president of the SGPC, laid the foundation stone of the school on July 12, 1996.
The DSGMC had announced at a function organised for the inauguration that the tenders for the construction of the school would be floated within a month's time and 10-member management committee for the school had also been named. The Haryana Home Minister, Mr Mani Ram Godara, who had presided over that function, had announced the road leading to the village would be named after Guru Teg Bahadur.