Namdhari Guru prays for peace
JEEVAN NAGAR (Sirsa), March 6 — The leader of the Namdhari sect Guru Jagjit Singh, has exhorted the youth to preserve their cultural roots and not get swayed by westernisation. Talking to TNS during the Hola Mohalla function organised here between March 2 and 5, Guru Jagjit Singh cautioned against the evil influence of western culture on the youth of the country.

Youth shot dead by six persons
ROHTAK, March 6 — A youth was allegedly murdered at Bandela in Jhajjar district by some persons last night.

Nepali woman dies of AIDS
FARIDABAD, March 6 — A young Nepali woman married to a local truck driver died of AIDS in a private hospital here on Thursday night. Hospital sources identified her as Asha, wife of Sunny Arora, who had brought her from Nepal and married her. A few days earlier Asha gave birth to a girl who is believed to have also died due to AIDS.

Panch booked for fraud
FATEHABAD, March 6 — The police has booked a panchayat member and two others for fraudulently obtaining a court decree for the ownership of a piece of land.

2 truckloads of cows seized
SONEPAT, March 6 — The Rai police has seized two truckloads of cows being taken for slaughter to UP from Haryana following the arrests of five persons.

HVPN drive to boost revenue
SONEPAT, March 5 — The Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam has launched a special campaign to increase its revenue from 90 per cent to 98 per cent.

New bus service for Katra, Beas
KAITHAL, March 6 — The local depot of the Haryana Roadways has started new bus service for Katra and Beas.

Rathore appointed

Bansi announces sops for farmers
Tribune News Service

HISAR, March 6 — The panchayat sammelan organised by the Haryana Government here today proved disappointing for its organisers, as the participation was much below the expected target. While the organisers were expecting an attendance of no less than 15,000, the actual attendance could not cross five thousand.

The sammelan which was addressed by Chief Minister Bansi Lal and several of his ministerial colleagues was organised in the sprawling grounds of the New Police Lines. Hundreds of chairs kept at the site remained vacant, as the panches and sarpanches did not turn up in expected numbers.

The Chief Minister, who was here since last evening, came to address the sammelan about two hours behind schedule. It was a harrowing experience for the crowd to wait for about three hours under the open sky without any shelter.

Some sarpanches, who spoke after the arrival of the Chief Minister at the dais, complained about the high-handedness of government officials and the interference in day-to-day functioning of the panchayats.

Addressing the sammelan, the Chief Minister assured the panches and sarpanches that undue official interference would not be allowed. The Chief Minister, who appeared disappointed over the low attendance, concluded his speech in less than 15 minutes. During his brief speech, he advised farmers not to use excessive chemical fertilisers and suggested that they should seek the guidance from the experts of the Haryana Agricultural University. He did not make any political statement during his speech.

However, earlier in an informal conversation with reporters, Mr Bansi Lal criticised the Indian National Lok Dal leader, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, for his "opportunist" politics. He claimed, Mr Chautala was feeling directionless and desperate. He strongly denied that the state government had extended any support to the Congress rally at Jind on February 13.

Scores of buses of Haryana Roadways and hundreds of other vehicles had been pressed into service to ferry the people from various areas to Hisar. An exhibition was also organised on the occasion.

Among others, who addressed the sammelan included the Panchayat Minister, Mr Kanwal Singh, the Health Minister, Mr Om Prakash Mahajan, the Animal Husbandry Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh and Mr Sat Narain Lather and Mr Jagbir Singh Malik.

Earlier, the entire audience went into fits of laughter, while the Chief Minister and his ministerial colleagues and senior officials watched with embarrassed silence when stage secretary, while welcoming the Chief Minister pronounced the name of Mr Bhajan Lal as the Chief Minister instead of Mr Bansi Lal. He was followed by the Deputy Commissioner Mr P.C. Bidhan who committed with the same error. However, Mr Bidhan corrected himself instantly though he fumbled for a moment. The stage secretary later apologised for his mistake.

UNI adds: Mr Bansi Lal announced that the state government had chalked out an ambitious programme for the benefit of farmers under which they could get loan equivalent to 75 per cent of the cost of their crops deposited with the warehousing corporation at less interest rate.

He said the government had also decided to exempt loan taken for the purchase of agricultural implements from stamp duty and registration fees. In addition to this the government had also exempted loan up to Rs 60,000 from registration fees and stamp duty for pisciculture.

He called upon the panches and sarpanches to solve problems impartially at panchayat level so that faith could be restored in the Panchayati Raj institutions and the people did not have to knock doors of court of law for petty issues.

He said that panchayats could solve even murder cases more amicably than any court. The panchayats were well aware of root cause of issues and factors involved in disputes.

Shekhar faces opposition
Tribune News Service

GURGAON, March 6 — Prominent leaders of the Haryana unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Indian National Lok Dal and the Congress are concerned over former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar’s activities in the state and are making efforts to scuttle his public meetings.

Among the BJP leaders making efforts to ensure that Mr Chandra Shekhar, who is also president of the Samajwadi Party (Rashtriya), do not consolidate himself politically in Haryana, are Mr Suraj Pal and Mr Krishan Pal — both ministers.

Mr Chandra Shekhar has launched a countrywide campaign since October 2, last year, to awaken the people on a wide-ranging issues. It is in this connection that he is addressing public meetings at various parts of the country. In this series, a meeting has been convened in Gurgaon tomorrow. Incidentally, this would be Mr Chandra Shekhar’s second meeting in Haryana. The first was held in Kaurali village in Ballabgarh assembly seat in Faridabad district.

Mr Dharamvir Gurjar, the All-India convener of the campaign, told TNS that besides the two ministers of the BJP, a prominent Congress leader of Haryana, Mr Rajinder Bisla had also opposed the meeting at Kaurali. According to him, it was on account of their interference that the venue of the meeting was shifted from Chaisa village to Kaurali only two days before the meeting.

According to sources, the BJP leaders are also piqued at Mr Nananji Deshmukh, a prominent RSS leader, attending a two day national convention of people from all sections of society organised at Mr Chandra Shekhar’s Bhondsi ashram. The convention, which started on October 31, was claimed to be attended by persons who supported the issues that Mr Chandra Shekhar had included in his campaign. Mr Nanaji Deshmukh is said to have eulogised Mr Chandra Shekhar in his speech.

Mr Dharamvir Gurjar alleged that now the middle rung leaders of the INLD have also joined the list of opponents to the proposed meeting in Gurgaon.

The leaders of Mr Chandra Shekhar’s campaign said that the BJP ministers have launched a disinformation campaign to dissuade the organisers of the meetings. The BJP ministers are alleged to be also using threats against the Sarpanches and the village panchayats concerned of facing dire consequences if they associate themselves with the meetings. It was on account of the threats that the members of the panchayat in Chaisa village pleaded with the leaders of Mr Chandra Shekhar’s campaign to change the venue.

According to observers, the move of the BJP leaders against Mr Chandra Shekhar was not unexpected. However, significance is being attached to the stand of the INLD leaders. The former Chief Minister of Haryana and leader of the INLD, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, was considered to be close to Mr Chandra Shekhar. He was considered to have personal equation with him even though both the leaders were on different wavelength in national politics. According to analysts, the opposition to Mr Chandra Shekhar’s moves from several quarters in Haryana has an angle. No political party, especially the INLD would be happy to allow the former Prime Minister to carve out an independent niche for himself in the northern state. Moreover, his ashram is situated in Bhondsi village in the district. Hence, there is possibility that Mr Chandra Shekhar could entrench himself politically in the state given the favourable situation.

Meanwhile, undeterred by the opposition, the leaders of Mr Chandra Shekhar’s campaign plan to hold a number of meetings in different parts of the state.

Breach in canal near Pauli
From Vipin Sharma

ROHTAK, March 6 — Hundreds of acres have been inundated following a nearly 75 ft-wide breach in the Bhiwani sub-branch passing through the district near Pauli village today.

According to information received here, the breach was noticed at 7 a.m. today. Officials of the Irrigation Department reached the site immediately and started the repair work. However, the breach could not be repaired till the time this report was filed.

The standing crops of wheat and mustard in the neighbouring fields were affected adversely due to waterlogging.

Although the actual cause for the breach would be known only after the investigation report by the department, the installation of permanent pumps for dewatering the rain water at Pauli village is suspected to be the cause. The leakage from the pipelines connected with these pumps might have created the breach.

It is learnt 740 cusecs of water was flowing in this 856 cusecs capacity canal at the time of the incident. The villagers expressed surprise as how a breach occurred in this cemented canal which was flowing below its capacity. They alleged they had suffered due to negligence of officials of the Irrigation Department.

On the other hand the officials concerned said the breach took place due to technical reasons. An officer told this correspondent certain farmers used to make holes in the canal to steal water for their crops. He further said these holes got widened because of the flow of water and resulted in the breach. The officer complained the villagers used to manhandle them if they tried to stop them from committing water theft.

Meanwhile, the affected farmers have demanded adequate compensation for the loss to their crops. They lamented that most of their land was already waterlogged since last year's rain.

The officials concerned have been striving hard to get the breach repaired as the Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, is scheduled to pay a visit here and stay at the canal rest house tonight.

Anti-encroachment drive ends
Tribune News Service

GURGAON, March 6 — The demolition squad of the HUDA today continued the demolition of unauthorised structures and encroachments in Sector 17 here.

The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Krishan Kumar, gave indications that similar exercises would be carried out in other parts of the town also.

According to the Estate Officer, HUDA, Mr S. Joon, the demolition operations in the three blocks in the sector were completed today.

The affected residents alleged partiality by government officials in the exercise. The Administrator, HUDA, Mr Ankur Gupta, however, denied the allegations.

Going by the mood in the local administration, the stern move seems to have strong support from the higher echelons of the government.

Mr Gupta also rebutted wide-ranging allegations that no notice was served before the demolition. He said the demolitions were carried out with utmost care and after following due procedures.

The officials argued that no notice was needed for removing the encroachments and for unauthorised constructions, several notices had been served on the Resident Welfare Association. The unauthorised constructions and encroachments had been there for more than 10 years, they added.

The demolition squad had to reportedly face opposition from some of the residents.

The residents of the sector have met the Chairman of the Haryana Bureau for Public Enterprises and a BJP leader Mr Sitaram Singla, alleging partiality by the demolition squad.

Namdhari Guru prays for peace
From Vimal Sumbly
Tribune News Service

JEEVAN NAGAR (Sirsa), March 6 — The leader of the Namdhari sect Guru Jagjit Singh, has exhorted the youth to preserve their cultural roots and not get swayed by westernisation. Talking to TNS during the Hola Mohalla function organised here between March 2 and 5, Guru Jagjit Singh cautioned against the evil influence of western culture on the youth of the country.

It was the fortieth Hola Mohalla function organised during the lifetime of Guru Jagjit Singh and for the fourth time it was held in this small village. At least 50,000 devotees from all over the country and abroad took part in the function. Guru Jagjit Singh delivered the concluding address today.

He prayed for peace, amity and brotherhood. He pointed out that the very purpose of organising the Hola Mohalla function was to strengthen brotherhood and amity among the people.

Guru Jagjit Singh said the Namdharis would also be celebrating tercentenary of the birth of the Khalsa. Special functions will be organised to mark the occasion. He disclosed that a Namdhari yatra would be organised from Bheni Sahib, near Ludhiana, to Anandpur Sahib on March 28. The 125-km yatra would be led by Guru Jagjit Singh himself. It would be received by the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, and his Cabinet colleagues at Anandpur Sahib.

The Guru refused to comment on the ongoing tussle within the Akali Dal. He said he only prayed and hoped that peace and goodwill would prevail among all sections. He hoped the tercentenary celebrations of the birth of the Khalsa would pass off peacefully and with traditional gaiety.

The Namdhari sect has been instrumental in setting up a chain of educational institutions in the northern region. At present, five colleges are being run by the sect, one each at mandi, Jeevan Nagar, Delhi, Bheni Sahib and Chandigarh. The sect also plans to start a school at Amritsar, which will impart religious education. The sect is also running a college in Thailand, where students from 30 countries are admitted.

The sect has also been hooked on the Internet for the past six months. According to Mr Dayal Singh, the mela in-charge, all information about the Namdhari sect is provided on the Internet. This has also helped in spreading the message of peace, love and brotherhood across the globe, he pointed out.

Former Rajya Sabha member H.S. Hanspal was also present on the occasion. People from the USA, Canada, the UK and Gulf countries also attended the five-day-long celebrations. As many as 40 religious jathas from across the country presented kirtan.

Several marriages were also solemnised on the occasion. These marriages were organised according to traditional Hindu rites, but without other formalities. Mr Dayal Singh said these marriages were organised to inspire other youth in going in for simple and dowryless marriages.

Youth shot dead by six persons
From Our Correspondent

ROHTAK, March 6 — A youth was allegedly murdered at Bandela in Jhajjar district by some persons last night.

According to police sources the deceased, identified as Shiv Kumar was shot dead allegedly by six persons of Kukdola village in the district. An old property dispute was reportedly the cause of the attack. A case under Section 302 of the IPC and Sections 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act has been booked in this connection.

Meanwhile, in another incident at Beri town in Jhajjar district, an unmarried 19-year-old girl was allegedly abducted by a resident of the same town yesterday.

Nepali woman dies of AIDS
Tribune News Service

FARIDABAD, March 6 — A young Nepali woman married to a local truck driver died of AIDS in a private hospital here on Thursday night.

Hospital sources identified her as Asha (27), wife of Sunny Arora, who had brought her from Nepal and married her. A few days earlier Asha gave birth to a girl who is believed to have also died due to AIDS.

Asha was reportedly brought to the hospital by her husband in an unconscious state. She was having breathing trouble and passing blood in stool. After admitting her, Sunny escaped from the hospital never to return again.

Her body was claimed by the Nepali Association of Faridabad. It is learnt Sunny may also be suffering from AIDS.

HIV positive cases in Faridabad have shown an upward trend since 1996 when only five persons were found suffering from the disease. The figure rose to seven in 1997 and 27 last year. In 1996, two deaths were also reported.

The reason for the high incidence of HIV positive cases in Faridabad has been attributed to large-scale migration of labourers who indulge in unprotected sex.

Panch booked for fraud
From Our Correspondent

FATEHABAD, March 6 — The police has booked a panchayat member and two others for fraudulently obtaining a court decree for the ownership of a piece of land.

According to the police sources, Gobind Singh, a resident of Pilchhian village had lodged a complaint with the city police station, alleging that Mulakhi Ram, a village panchayat member, Sukhdev Singh and Satpal, both residents of the village, had through a conspiracy got a court decree by producing another person in his place in the court.

The police has registered a case under Sections 419, 468, 471 and 120-B of the IPC.

2 truckloads of cows seized
From Our Correspondent

SONEPAT, March 6 — The Rai police has seized two truckloads of cows being taken for slaughter to UP from Haryana following the arrests of five persons.

Mr K. Selvraj, SSP, said here today that the police intercepted these trucks on Jakhauli road near Aurangabad village along the Yamuna river on the night of March 4. These cows brought from Ganaur and other places were being taken to UP for slaughtering.

The arrested persons — Rafiq, Suresh, Braham Singh and Bhura Singh, all residents of UP, and Jaspal of Ganaur in Sonepat district — had confessed that they had purchased 23 cows for Rs 1.59 lakh from Jaspal, who had set up his office on the Ganaur-Gumar road in the name of "Indian Cooperative Livestock and Livestock Product Import and Export Society, Limited". The culprit, who poses himself as the secretary of the society, used to keep some healthy cows and purchase unhealthy cows from various "gaushalas" for sale to persons engaged in the business of cow slaughtering in UP.

HVPN drive to boost revenue
From Our Correspondent

SONEPAT, March 5 — The Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (HVPN) has launched a special campaign to increase its revenue from 90 per cent to 98 per cent.

According to official sources, the nigam was making strenuous efforts to recover arrears of electricity bills and prompt action was being taken against the defaulters.

Official sources also revealed that the Field Officers had been asked to collect arrears by launching a door to door campaign to identify the defaulters. The operational circle of the HVPN, Sonepat, had created a record in the recovery of arrears.

The campaign for prevention of power thefts had also been intensified. However power theft had been reported in the Kundli, Bahalgarh, Murthal, Ganaur, Kharkhauda and Gohana areas.

New bus service for Katra, Beas
From Our Correspondent

KAITHAL, March 6 — The local depot of the Haryana Roadways has started new bus service for Katra and Beas.

The General Manager, Mr B.S. Malik, has said that the bus for katra will leave at 7.25 a.m. and will reach its destination via Pehwa, Patiala, Khanna, and Ludhiana. The Kaithal-Beas bus will start at 11.50 a.m. and will go via Patiala.

Rathore appointed
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, March 6 — The Haryana Government has posted Mr S.P.S. Rathore, Additional Director-General of Police, as O.S.D. Police Reforms.

An order issued by the Financial Commissioner (Home), Mr K.G. Verma, said his office would be in C.P.O. Haryana.