TOP STORIES

A CASE OF OVERZEALOUS PATWARI
Summoning the dead to answer land-grab charge
Noida, February 22
An over-enthusiastic patwari in Ramgarh village in Dadri has accomplished an impossible task. He has filed an FIR against two villagers who died over ten years ago for usurping a Dalit’s land.

RULE OF LAW
Sale of seized arms: No preference to MPs
New Delhi, February 22
The Delhi High Court has ruled out giving preference to MPs and other VIPs in the sale of confiscated weapons. The court said that any surplus firearms, after according priority to the demands from various government departments, should be publicly auctioned. A Division Bench said no preference should be given to MPs and VIPs in this matter, as the lives of ordinary citizens are equally important.

With VAT clock ticking away, traders announce stir
Noida, February 22
Youth Udyog Vyapar Mandal state chief Sandeep Bansal has warned the government that it will resort to a statewide agitation if VAT is imposed from April 1. Both the officials and business community have no clarity about the VAT, which the government is keen to enforce in the state.

After Metro, a tramcar named desire

New Delhi, February 22 After Metro, electric trolley bus and high capacity bus system, the Government of NCT of Delhi is toying with the idea of introducing tramcars. Trams in India are synonymous with Kolkata, where they are battling for life. However, the NCT of Delhi feels that the tramcar is a viable proposition to beat rush-hour traffic. The famed tramcar of Kolkata. — From the Net

Fire at CNG station engulfs auto, RTV
New Delhi, February 22
A fire broke out at the CNG filling station at Okhla Mod on Mathura Road this evening following a gas leak from an autorickshaw. The gas leaked when it was being filled in the auto.

Five executive engineers booked for irregularities
Jhajjar, February 22
The district police have registered a case of misappropriation of Rs 5 lakh against 36 persons, most of them employees of the Irrigation Department, including a senior engineer and five executive engineers.

• Husband beats asthmatic  wife to death

• Court asks Centre to enact law on kids of illegal immigrants

• Traffic education in schools soon

• Minister reviews work of drainage in rural areas

COMMUNITY

Land restored to Dalits after 10-year legal battle
Sonepat, February 22
Finally, after 10 years of legal battle Dalit families of Jakholi village were given possession of five acres of land which was originally allotted to them for residential plots way back in 1992.

HVP demands Rs 10 lakh aid for panchayat secy’s family
Sonepat, February 22
The Congress and Haryana Vikas Party have condemned the apathetic attitude of the government and the district administration in not announcing any kind of compensation to the bereaved family of Panchayat Secretary Suresh Saini, who was electrocuted while erecting flag poles just hours before the visit of the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, at Kharkhauda Rest House on February 19.

SPECIAL FOCUS ON REWARI
Haryana’s handling of SYL issue ‘inept’
Rewari, February 22
Veteran statesman Rao Birender Singh, who is also a former Union Irrigation Minister and former Chief Minister of Haryana, has expressed concern over the state government’s inept handling of the SYL issue in the wake of the apex court verdict.

SNAPSHOT

NCC cadets presenting an AIDS awareness roadshow at Okhla on Saturday during the concluding phase of the longest-ever AIDS rally.

JD(U) asks govt to give fodder at subsidised price
Rewari, February 22
The Haryana Janata Dal (U) president, Mr Ved Prakash Vidrohi, has flayed the apathy of the Chautala government towards the cattle-keepers of South Haryana who, he said, had been facing tremendous hardships on account of acute paucity as well as spiralling prices of fodder.

Left clamours against US threats
Rohtak, February 22
The state level convention organised jointly by the CPM and the CPI here today has called upon the people to understand the larger meaning of the war threat posed by the USA against Iraq and come out against the potential threat.

CRIME AGAINST WOMEN
Man makes amends; marriage saved
Sonepat, February 22
Mrs Neelam of Sonepat stated that she was married to Raghbir, son of Mr Deva Nand of Hathwala village. After a few months of the marriage, she was pressurised to bring a scooter from the parents’ house.

SEARCHWITHIN
Discover happiness within
HE does not leave you with a book or a well-tried formula for happiness or success. You are left to wonder to which religion or ideology he is close. Yet you are profoundly touched by all that he says because in his own words, the subject is “You”.

MOBILE SWAMI: A delegate at the ‘dharam sansad’ organised by the VHP at Ramlila Ground in the Capital on Saturday. — Tribune Photo Mukesh Aggarwal

DELHI DIGEST
Businessman robbed of Rs 3 lakh
New Delhi, February 22
Sarai Rohilla police have launched a massive hunt for three youths who had allegedly robbed Rs 3 lakh from a footwear businessman last night. The suspects robbed the victim, Banwari Lal, a resident of Inderlok when he was returning home from his factory. The suspects were on different scooters.

• Dharm Sansad

• Tributes to Swami Shradhanand

NCR BRIEFS
CITU to rally against govt’s ‘anti-worker’ policies
Sonepat, February 22
More than 10,000 workers affiliated to the Centre of Indian Trade Unions from all over Haryana will take part in the workers’ march towards the Lok Sabha on February 26 against the ‘anti-worker’ and ‘anti-people’ policies of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre.

• JE held for bribe

• Succumbs to injuries

• One held for petrol pump heist

CRIME

Illegal arms factory unearthed
Ghaziabad, February 22
The Hapur Police recovered two country-made revolvers from the dicky of a motorbike and unearthed an illegal arms manufacturing factory in Trilokpura, Hapur. They arrested four persons in this connection.

EDUCATION

MDU told to change seat category
Rohtak, February 22
Setting aside the orders passed by Civil Judge (Junior Division) Rajni Yadav, Additional District Judge Raghvinder Singh Bahmani has directed Maharshi Dayanand University to change the admission of Ms Sumedha, a student of MSc (Physics), from sponsored/payment seat to that of general category seat.

ALL SMILES: Students of Delhi University after receiving their degrees during the convocation ceremony in the Capital on Saturday. — Tribune Photo Mukesh Aggarwal

Corporates recognise the cornucopia of IT talent
New Delhi, February 22
The annual function of Young IT Professionals Awards 2003, organised by the Computer Society of India, culminated today with Mr Kapil Sibal, member of Parliament, giving away the awards to the winners.

Open varsities like Ignou trail-blazing: Unesco
New Delhi, February 22
Sir John Daniel, Assistant Director General, Unesco, today said that open universities like Ignou have created a revolution by combining the three essential features of quality, access and cost in providing the higher education all over the world.