H A R Y A N A

High command to discuss HCLP affairs
Chandigarh, July 28
Perturbed over the virtual failure of the Haryana Congress Legislature Party (HCLP) to project itself as a potent Opposition party within and without the Vidhan Sabha, the party high command has convened its meeting tomorrow.

Fake arms licence racket busted
Hisar, July 28
The Haryana police today claimed to have nabbed six persons involved in issuing fake arms licences to the members of notorious Dawood Ibrahim gang and others. The accused belonged to Abohar in Ferozepore district of Punjab from where a visiting team of the Haryana police arrested them. 

Army called in to assist in dewatering
Rohtak, July 28
Accumulation of rain water in the low-lying areas of the city due to its topographic configuration has created panic among the residents and the district administration.

Roof collapse kills three of family Ambala, July 28 Three members of a family, including two children, were killed in Ambala City when the roof of their house collapsed early this morning. They were rushed to the local civil hospital, where they were declared dead.

A man searches in the rubble which claimed three lives following a roof collapse in Ambala City on Saturday.

Mother awaits son’s return from Pak jail
Bhiwani, July 28
Whereas Pakistan President, Gen Pervez Musharraf, has announced the release of Indian PoWs, the mother of Capt Om Prakash Dalal is waiting for the release of her son who was captured by the Pakistani army during 1971 war.

Four-laning project to start soon: Kataria
Chandigarh, July 28
Mr Ratan Lal Kataria, chief of the Haryana BJP, has assured the Ambala Cantt Traders Federation (ACTF) that the four-laning of the Ambala-Jagadhari, Ambala-Hisar and Saha-Panchkula roads will start shortly.

Krishna’s statue unveiled in museum
Kurukshetra, July 28
During the tenth anniversary celebrations of Shri Krishna Museums here today, Haryana Governor and Kurukshetra Development Board (KDB) Chairman Babu Parmanand unveiled the bronze statue of Venugopal (Lord Krishna).

Urban development fund soon
Rohtak, July 28
The state government proposes to set up Haryana Urban Infrastructure Development Fund so as to ensure private participation in the development of residential areas in the towns and cities of the state.

100 pc placement for MBA students
Karnal, July 28
The Tilak Raj Chadha Institute of Management and Technology named after veteran freedom fighter late Tilak Raj Chadha, has achieved hundred per cent placement of its first MBA batch students.

Give compensation to residents: Cong
Rohtak, July 28
The Congress has demanded adequate compensation for residents of the town who recently suffered heavy losses on account of ‘improper’ drainage.

Idols stolen from temple
Jhajjar, July 28
Two antique idols of Radha and Kishan were stolen from a hundred year-old temple situated at Beri village about 20 km from here, yesterday.

Gurgaon unit of Bitta’s front opened
Gurgaon, July 28
Former Punjab Minister Maninderjit Singh Bitta today favoured an amendment to the Constitution and overhauling of the political system to tighten the security of the country.

Gang of thieves busted, 4 held
Sirsa, July 28
The district police claimed to have busted a gang of thieves with the arrest of four members of the gang and thereby solved at least six cases of theft in the district.

2 killed, 1 hurt as jeep hits train
Jind, July 28
Two persons were killed on the spot and one was injured when the jeep in which they were travelling collided with a train on the Jind-Panipat railway line near Ratta Khera village in this district yesterday. The jeep hit the train at an unmanned level crossing.

High command to discuss HCLP affairs
Yoginder Gupta
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 28
Perturbed over the virtual failure of the Haryana Congress Legislature Party (HCLP) to project itself as a potent Opposition party within and without the Vidhan Sabha, the party high command has convened its meeting tomorrow.

The party, which has a strength of 21 in the House of 90, failed to muster 18 MLAs required for securing the leave to move a no-confidence motion against the Chautala Government in the last session of the Haryana Assembly. The party’s failure was compounded by the fact that even two MLAs of the other parties had supported the motion. Naturally, the party became a laughing stock.

Though for record sake, the meeting has been convened by the Leader of the HCLP, Mr Bhajan Lal, informed sources say that the former Chief Minister acted on the directions of the AICC General Secretary, Mrs Mohsina Kidwai, who is in charge of the party affairs in Haryana. Mrs Kidwai will be present at the meeting to be held in Delhi. She will review the functioning of the HCLP.

Several Congress MLAs were upset over the lackluster performance of the party as a whole. As many as 11 MLAs met over dinner at the UT Guest house here during the Assembly session held in June last and decided to urge the high command to intervene and save the situation from worsening. These MLAs, the sources say, again met in Delhi, Jind and Kaithal to discuss measures to improve the functioning of the HCLP. Their main grievance was that there was no coordination in the party and the MLAs, particularly those who had been elected for the first time, did not get proper guidance on how to raise various issues in the House. No one was leading them to embarrass the government, despite there being several issues of public importance.

These MLAs met the AICC President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, also and gave her a written representation airing their grievances and views about the functioning of the HCLP. Mrs Gandhi, the sources say, asked Mrs Kidwai to look into the grievances of the Haryana MLAs.

Taking a cue from the high command, Mr Bhajan Lal, in his capacity as the Leader of the HCLP, also issued notices to four MLAs Mr Jai Prakash Barwala, Mr Balbir Pal Shah, Mr Zakir Husain and Mr Jatinder Malik, asking them to explain why action should not be taken against them for not being present in the House when the leave to move the no-confidence motion was sought.

Mr Bhajan Lal, was, however, satisfied with the explanation, whatever it was, given by the absentee MLAs.

Fake arms licence racket busted

Hisar, July 28
The Haryana police today claimed to have nabbed six persons involved in issuing fake arms licences to the members of notorious Dawood Ibrahim gang and others.

The accused belonged to Abohar in Ferozepore district of Punjab from where a visiting team of the Haryana police arrested them. They were operating in Abohar and other bordering towns of both Haryana and Punjab in the region allegedly in connivance with a local councillor of Abohar and some officials of the Arms Registration branch.

The accused councillor, Joginder Singh, and a nambardar, Baldev Singh, were nabbed on a charge of verifying wrong addresses and fake applicants.

Earlier, four employees of the Arms Registration branch of Ferozepore, identified as Yashpal, Om Prakash, Babu Ram and Rajendra were also nabbed by the Haryana police on charges of being involved in this racket.

The clue to the scandal was found during the investigations of a murder at Bahardurgarh, which was result of a gang war. The licenses of the arms used in the killing were reported to be fictitious. After this, the police started to unearth the underworld network involved in it.

In Abohar town alone, the police found about 35 fake arm licences, the sources said, adding that the number of fake licences in the region could cross over 1,000.

Meanwhile, all SHOs have been directed to check all the arms licences, especially those issued in Punjab in the recent past. UNI

Army called in to assist in dewatering
Jatinder Sharma

Rohtak, July 28
Accumulation of rain water in the low-lying areas of the city due to its topographic configuration has created panic among the residents and the district administration.

The panic-stricken administration yesterday called the Army to assist it in managing the dewatering of the Civil Road area opposite the Naraina complex. Army men, after visiting the town, assured the administration that they would step in when the situation warranted. The Rohtak district is attached to the Hisar sub-area of the Army for the purpose of assistance in the event of floods.

Rohtak has received 394 mm rainfall till July 27 since May as against 364 mm in the whole last year. It received nearly 90 mm rainfall on Thursday and Friday which resulted in accumulation of rain water in the low-lying areas of the town.

The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Anil Malik, said the residents and the civic body were to be blamed for the flood-like situation. The citizens had not learnt any lesson from the devastating floods in 1995 and they continued to use plastic products instead of bio-degradable ones, Mr Malik said.

Such plastic waste had choked the city drains and made the flow of the rain water impossible, he said. The civic committee had failed to cleanse the drains before the onset of rainy season. Mr Malik yesterday ordered cleansing of drains on war footing.

The Deputy Commissioner said people had not even spared the ponds which had been serving as natural drains in the past. With the establishment of unauthorised colonies over the years, these ponds had been filled or were being filled, he said.

With a view to minimise the possibilities of floods in the town, the then Deputy Commissioner, Mr Rajesh Khullar had, in December last year, launched a campaign through school children to take the plastic out of the system. He had held meetings with school teachers to conduct awareness programmes to make the city plastic-free zone. But the campaign had failed to evoke positive response from the residents. Meanwhile, Mr Khullar was transferred to Chandigarh and with him the campaign against the use of plastic products ended.

The then Deputy Commissioner had advocated the participation of local residents in reducing the risk of floods in the city. The improvement in the city environment could take place through a useful partnership between the local authority and the residents, he had told newspersons on the day he left charge.

Roof collapse kills three of family
Our Correspondent

Ambala, July 28
Three members of a family, including two children, were killed in Ambala City when the roof of their house collapsed early this morning. They were rushed to the local civil hospital, where they were declared dead.

The deceased were identified as Daljit Kaur and her minor daughters Meenu and Gagan. Mr Davender Singh, husband of Daljit Kaur, and his son escaped unhurt as they were sleeping outside the room. The incident occurred around 12.30 a.m. when the entire family was sleeping.

In another incident, three persons, including one girl, were injured in Lal Kurti area of Ambala Cantonment last late night when a wall of their house collapsed.

Mr Gafoor, his wife, Ms Shahida, and his daughter Sahira sustained injuries in the incident. All of them were admitted to the local civil hospital.

Mr Gafoor was discharged from the hospital this evening, while Ms Shahida and her daughter were still in hospital. Three sons of Mr Gafoor escaped unhurt as they were sleeping on the other side of the house.

Mother awaits son’s return from Pak jail
Our Correspondent

Bhiwani, July 28
Whereas Pakistan President, Gen Pervez Musharraf, has announced the release of Indian PoWs, the mother of Capt Om Prakash Dalal is waiting for the release of her son who was captured by the Pakistani army during 1971 war. Kesar Devi, mother of Captain Dalal is not ready to accept her son’s death despite the declaration of his death by the Indian Government soon after the war was over. Kesar Devi is still longing for the release of her son, who according to her presumption is in a Pakistani prison. She says “none has seen his body, nor his cremation has been conducted, so how can I accept that he is dead”. The same expressions can be seen on the face of Krishna Dalal, wife of Capt Om Prakash.

Captain Prakash was born on February 28,1944, at Ghuskani village, 15 km from here. His father, Neki Ram Dalal, inspired him to join the Army when he completed his B.Ed from a college at Bhiwani. Captain Prakash was commissioned on June 16,1969, as Lieutenant in the Grenadier Regiment.

He got the opportunity to show his bravery in 1971 Indo-Pak war. He and his fellow soldiers succeeded in capturing a large area in Pakistan. Maj Mir Singh, Company Commander, who was commanding 14 Grenadiers had been surrounded by the Pakistan army.

The Major was captured and later released but Captain Dalal was included in the missing persons list and declared dead by the Indian Army after several days. However, relatives believe that Captain Dalal is still in a Pakistani jail along with 53 other prisoners. According to them the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had released a list in 1988 which included Capt Dalal’s name too. This lit a ray of hope among them and they are hoping that Captain Dalal would surely come back.

Four-laning project to start soon: Kataria
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 28
Mr Ratan Lal Kataria, chief of the Haryana BJP, has assured the Ambala Cantt Traders Federation (ACTF) that the four-laning of the Ambala-Jagadhari, Ambala-Hisar and Saha-Panchkula roads will start shortly.

Mr Kataria, who represents Ambala in the Lok Sabha, said this when a delegation of the ACTF led by its Chairman, Dr N. C. Jain, met Mr Kataria and submitted a memorandum to him. A fax message sent by the ACTF to The Tribune office here today said the traders’ organisation also demanded proper repair of the roads of the Ambala Sadar area to avoid frequent damage to these roads. The delegation demanded Central grant for the repair works. In reply Mr Kataria reportedly said the Central and the state governments had already accepted his demand for four-laning of roads connecting Ambala with Jagadhari, Hisar and Panchkula. He told the delegation that he would take up the issue of repair of the roads of Ambala Sadar with the Haryana Chief Minister.

On the delegation’s demand that the work for the Saha Growth Centre be started immediately so that the scientific instrument industry of Ambala could get a fillip, Mr Kataria said that he had already put up a question in Parliament asking whether more funds would be allocated for the project by the Union Government. Regarding the demand for declaring Ambala a “Science City”, the state BJP chief said that on this issue also he had put up question in Parliament.

The delegation also urged Mr Kataria to take steps for improvement of the working condition of tiny, cottage and small scale units of Ambala scientific instrument industry. The delegation demanded that a separate industrial area be earmarked where at least 200 tiny, cottage and small-scale units would be accommodated. The ACTF delegation also demanded that the nationalised banks should charge 5 per cent interest for granting finance to industrial units. Mr Kataria said he would take up the demand of reduction of interest rate with the Union Industry Minister. He added that he would initiate a discussion with the World Bank authorities for funding a project for creating adequate infrastructure for an area housing only small industries.

The ACTF also urged Mr Kataria to take steps for improving drainage and sanitary conditions of the Ambala Sadar area. Mr Kataria reportedly told the traders that he would apprise the Union Health Minister as well as the Haryana Chief Minister about the drainage and sanitary problems being faced by the people of Ambala sadar.

Krishna’s statue unveiled in museum
Our Correspondent

Kurukshetra, July 28
During the tenth anniversary celebrations of Shri Krishna Museums here today, Haryana Governor and Kurukshetra Development Board (KDB) Chairman Babu Parmanand unveiled the bronze statue of Venugopal (Lord Krishna).

The statue has been installed under the kadamba tree.

The bronze cast statue is 7-foot high and 6-foot wide and it weighs 980 kg. It has been fabricated and cast in the traditional ‘lost-wax’ process by Mr Swarn Singh Moti, Aakar, New Delhi, at an approximate cost of Rs 3 lakh. The lofty statue of Lord Krishna shows such iconographic features as the standing posture called ‘tribhanga mudra’, ‘Vanamala’, a long garland of flowers, a crown with peacock feathers, crocodile-shaped earrings called ‘makar kundal’, a jewel called ‘Kaustubha’ and a trapezoid shaped symbol named ‘Srivatsa’, on his chest.

Babu Parmanand also inaugurated an exhibition of stone sculptures and photographs of the heritage of ‘48 Kos Kurukshetra Bhoomi’ in the museum.

The main aim of the exhibition is to bring to light the glorious past of Kurukshetra and its cultural heritage available to us in the form of temples, sculptures and paintings. Photographs of temples and murals are displayed here along with a beautiful collection of stone sculptures of ‘48 Kos Kurukshetra Bhoomi’ ranging from the 4th century A.D. to 11th century A.D.

The whole range of exquisite stone sculptures include various statues of all four cults, viz Ganapatya (worship of Ganesha), Shakta (worship of mother goddess), Shaiva (worship of Shiva) and Vishnava (worship of Vishnu).

Most of these sculptures are found in their mutilated forms. Hence, these have been recreated or reconstructed in sketches.

The Haryana Governor also took a round of the ‘On the Spot Painting Competition} which, was organised on this occasion. He blessed the participating children.

Later, Babu Parmanand went to Sarsa village, 20 km from here, where he inaugurated the newly renovated shaalihotra tirtha which is dedicated to the saint Shaalihotra who had established this tirtha at this place.

However, this tirtha is also associated with the event of Mahabharata’s exchange of dialogue between Yaksha and Yudhishtira when Yaksha asked five questions from Pandavas before quenching their thirst.

A tirtha of ‘48 Kos region’, it has been renovated by the KDB that looks after the restoration and upkeep of all religious places of the Kurukshetra region.

Urban development fund soon
Jatinder Sharma

Rohtak, July 28
The state government proposes to set up Haryana Urban Infrastructure Development Fund so as to ensure private participation in the development of residential areas in the towns and cities of the state.

The Director, Local Bodies, Mr Sanjeev Kaushal, told The Tribune that the modalities of the new urban development policy had been finalised and the Infrastructure Development Fund was likely to be established within a fortnight.

He stated that the government was feeling perturbed over the unplanned growth of towns and cities. Following increase in population and migration from rural areas to urban areas over the past 20 years, many unauthorised colonies have come up in almost every town in Haryana. There are at least 68 such unauthorised colonies here alone, he said.

The proposed new urban development policy is primarily aimed at catering to the housing needs of the low and the middle income groups of society. These sections do not fit into HUDA schemes, which hitherto has been solely developing new urban areas in the town.

Mr Kaushal said the idea was to built infrastructure in urban areas through various funds for urban infrastructure development. The government was also likely to contribute initially for the start of the fund.

The Minister of State for Local Government, Mr Subhsh Goyal, said the government had sanctioned Rs 13.36 crore for solid waste management, strengthening of fire services and shifting of dairies beyond municipal limits in Rohtak and Meham towns and Rs 9.2 crore for municipal committees in Jhajjar district for these projects. The government, he said, planned to produce composite fertiliser from solid waste.

Defending the new house tax policy, Mr Goyal said with enhancement in the exemption limit, nearly 25 per cent of the population would be exempted from the tax. All ex-servicemen who own only one residential house in any town would also get exemption from the tax.

Mr Kaushal said the schemes of solid waste management, strengthening of fire services and shifting of dairies had been launched in 46 municipal committees. These schemes would be completed in two-years and introduced in the remaining civic bodies soon.

Meanwhile, the district administration has registered criminal cases against 22 property dealers of the town on charges of violating the Haryana Development of Regulation Urban Area Act, 1975.

100 pc placement for MBA students
K.G. Dutt

Karnal, July 28
The Tilak Raj Chadha Institute of Management and Technology named after veteran freedom fighter late Tilak Raj Chadha, has achieved hundred per cent placement of its first MBA batch students.

Dr K.L. Johar, former Vice-Chancellor, who now is the vice-chairman of Mukand Lal National Education Society, which runs the Institute told the Correspondent here today that all MBA students of the first batch had been offered jobs by business houses of repute.

Enquiries made by the Correspondent showed that no other management institute in the region could boast of hundred per cent placement. Kurukshetra University, which also runs a management institute, has very little to boast about as hardly any of its students during the current year could get placement.

The institute has a placement cell with a teacher on temporary basis to manage it. But the teacher reportedly left the job after three months. Most of the students of the department who have got placement owe it to their efforts. Freshers seeking admission to MBA courses now prefer to join the information technology stream, which remains the “in thing” for all admission seekers in management courses in Kurkshetra University, MDU (Rohtak), GJU (Hisar) and at its affiliated institutes. But so far a number of management institutes lack equipment and trained teachers.

The craze for MBA has not decreased in anyway eventhough the state government has allowed the opening of more than 32 engineering colleges in the state. Almost all colleges have started courses in information technology. But interestingly, a number of newly opened institutes are still ill-equipped.

Dr Johar maintained that companies from as far as Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh and other parts of the country picked up students from the institute which is located in Yamunanagar.

Give compensation to residents: Cong
Our Correspondent

Rohtak, July 28
The Congress has demanded adequate compensation for residents of the town who recently suffered heavy losses on account of ‘improper’ drainage.

Mr Shadi Lal Batra President, District Congress Committee (Urban), said today that the heavy rainfall since the last two days had immersed several localities in two-to-four feet deep water. He said the furniture and valuables placed in the houses and business establishments were damaged as the stagnant water could not be drained out for several hours.

Mr Batra said patients admitted to the local Civil Hospital were discharged as the wards and rooms of the hospital were inundated by the rainwater. The minister visited the Civil, railway, Jhajjar approach roads, Shourie Market, Bhagat Singh, Rajendra, Nehru, Janta, Sai Das, Kishna, Jagdish, Ekta, Ram Nagar and Mahavir Colonies, Balmiki, Garhi Mohallas, Preet Vihar, and found that a majority of people were standing outside their houses.

Idols stolen from temple
Our Correspondent

Jhajjar, July 28
Two antique idols of Radha and Kishan were stolen from a hundred year-old temple situated at Beri village about 20 km from here, yesterday.

According to villagers, the priest of the temple informed them in the morning that thieves had taken away the key of the inner door while he was asleep and decamped with the idols made of ‘asht dhatu’

Villagers said both the idols weighing 60 kg each were installed in the temple about a century ago by Kashi Ram, a resident of the village.

The Beri police has taken the priest into custody for interrogation.

Gurgaon unit of Bitta’s front opened
Tribune News Service

Gurgaon, July 28
Former Punjab Minister Maninderjit Singh Bitta today favoured an amendment to the Constitution and overhauling of the political system to tighten the security of the country.

Mr Bitta, head of the anti-terrorist front; said that the intelligence organisations — the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) — along with the subject of national security should be handed over to the active jurisdiction of the president of the country. He said that the post of the President should not be a mere rubber stamp.

Mr Bitta was here to announce the constitution of the district unit (Gurgaon) of the front. He appointed Mr Mohit Sharma as president of the unit. He said that it was high time an all-party meeting was held to meet the new challenges posed by disruptive forces.

Referring to the current Agra summit, he said Gen Pervez Musharraf should be made to realise that Kashmir, including Pakistan occupied Kashmir, are an integral parts of India. He said that Mr Vajpayee should not go for another summit till Pakistan returned the 54 prisoners of war.

He said that his front would organise camps regularly to train youth to deal with terrorism and raise them as a force to offer emergency services on the borders during contingencies.

Gang of thieves busted, 4 held
Our Correspondent

Sirsa, July 28
The district police claimed to have busted a gang of thieves with the arrest of four members of the gang and thereby solved at least six cases of theft in the district.

According to the district police chief here today, in a collaborative move between the Detective Staff Inspector and in charge Rania police station, four thieves were arrested and stolen articles worth lakhs of rupees were recovered, besides a Maruti-1000.

Those arrested have been identified as Rajinder, resident of Shahpur Begu, Narender of local Subhash Basti, Vinod Kumar of local Gaushala Mohalla, and Raju of Sirsa.

These thieves have accepted their involvement in the theft of motor winding wires from the shop of Bir Singh in Sant Nagar in Rania, motor cable and electric starter from the fields of Gurmukh Singh of Jagmalera village and a Maurti-1000 of Harpal Singh, resident of local Barnala road.

They have also confessed to their involvement in a few other theft cases in Sirsa city.

2 killed, 1 hurt as jeep hits train
Our Correspondent

Jind, July 28
Two persons were killed on the spot and one was injured when the jeep in which they were travelling collided with a train on the Jind-Panipat railway line near Ratta Khera village in this district yesterday. The jeep hit the train at an unmanned level crossing.

The dead have been identified as Anil and his mother Premo. Dheeraj, son of Anil, who was also in the jeep, received minor injuries.