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Poll in mind, Chautala showers largesse
SYL canal crisis man-made, says HVP leader
Bill ensures parity in payment
to farmers
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No basic facilities in this historic township
Hafed to set up modern
rice mill at Taraori
Seven new varieties
of wheat identified
Haryana opposes
levy rice rates
HSIDC cancels
allotment of land to builder
Home science experts
attend refresher course
NCC cadets shown Army’s weapons
Quiz contest on
wildlife conservation held
Close shave for depot as buses catch fire
Shravan to start course on mental retardation
Traders stage dharna
Docs’ negligence alleged in JE’s death
Congress leader found murdered
Haryana reduces charges for drinking water
Man dies under mysterious circumstances
Two women running flesh trade held
One arrested in murder case
Accident victims — a clarification
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Poll in mind, Chautala showers largesse
Gurgaon, October 6 The Rs 10-crore mini-secretariat building had, inter alia, an air-conditioned section for the purpose of “Single Window Service”. Addressing a public meeting here, Mr Chautala said the proposed international convention centre would be set up on 70 acre of land owned by the Haryana Tourism Corporation. He further announced that the foundation stone for setting up a 600 MW thermal power station in Yamunanagar would be laid on October 14. The project would be developed by the Reliance group. The power generated from this plant would be in addition to the 500 MW that would be generated from the VII and VIII units of the plant at Panipat. The two units would be operational by the year-end. He said the supply of canal-based water system for Gurgaon city would be increased from the present 100 cusecs to 290 cusecs. He lambasted his critics, especially the Congress, for raking up the SYL issue only when the elections are round the corner. They were not interested in completion of the project, he added. He said his government had inherited an exchequer which was financially in the red. His government set the pace for development works with meagre income. The resources were generated, among others, by reducing the administrative costs of the government and other fiscal discipline, he added. He further said the entire state was making strides on the industrial front and noted top 600 multinational companies of the world had set up their base in the state. Mr Chautala also inaugurated a sports hostel in Chaudhary Devi Lal Sports Complex in Sector 38.The hostel set up by HUDA costs Rs 78 lakh. He also laid the foundation stone for the “main Cricket Pavilion” in the complex. He further proceeded to lay the foundation stone for the first phase of a sewage- treatment plant in Sector 48.This project would be set up at an estimated cost of Rs 21 crore. Responding to the demands of the district bar association, he announced setting up of a canteen for the lawyers and offered to lease them land at subsidised rates for setting up chambers.
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Chautala bribing electorate: Cong
Karnal, October 6 While alleging this, the local MP, Mr Arvind Sharma, said that the CM was announcing various sops to the people so that they could be attracted towards the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD). Bribing the electorate would not help them to regain power after the coming elections as the voter was aware of Mr Chautala’s political gimmick. He criticised Mr Chautala and his sons for trying to woo the youth by promising them jobs and issuing contradictory statements on this issue. He said Mr Chautala had promised to give 35,000 jobs before the assembly elections, his son Ajay Singh was talking about 20,000 jobs and his brother Abhey had announced one lakh jobs. |
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Cong should project a
united
picture: Malik Ambala, October 6 In a letter addressed to Mr Janardhan Dwivedi, in charge of the Haryana Congress affairs, Mr Malik said no leader should be allowed to criticise any Congress leader as at present such incidents were common and there should be check upon such activities. Mr Malik said the Assembly poll would be held shortly and the Congress should present a united picture to the masses who were fed up with the present Chautala regime.
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SYL canal crisis man-made, says HVP leader
Rohtak, October 6 Addressing mediapersons here, he said the SYL Canal crisis was “man-made” and all hurdles in its completion could be removed if people put pressure on political parties in this regard. He accused the BJP of shedding crocodile tears over the SYL imbroglio, saying that it was as guilty of delaying the project as the Congress. He said when the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government was in power at the Centre it had filed an affidavit in the apex court on March 13, 2003, saying that the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) was in no position to build the canal as directed by the court as it had no time for additional projects till 2016. He said this affidavit was filed reportedly under pressure from Mr Parkash Singh Badal to delay the execution of the court’s directive. The BJP, he said, had supported the Congress government in Punjab when the Punjab Termination of Water Agreements Bill was presented in the Assembly. Even the central leadership of the party kept mum on the issue. This dual policy had exposed the BJP, he added. The HVP youth leader said the Congress had also been following a similar policy. Mr Nripender Singh said the SYL issue was not dead as many politicians would like Haryanvis to believe. The voter would definitely grill all political parties on this issue during the next Assembly polls due early next year, he added. He accused Chief Minister Om Parkash Chautala of following HVP supremo Bansi Lal’s footsteps. He said Mr Chautala had opposed the creation of power utilities in Haryana when Mr Bansi Lal was the Chief Minister. He had even promised to disband these and resurrect the state power board. Interestingly, Mr Chautala was now himself a great votary of power utilities. Likewise, doles for the jobless were first promised by Mr Bansi Lal and now Mr Chautala has announced a similar but much toned-down scheme for the jobless. Likewise, he also disbanded the village development councils although he had criticised the HVP when it had opposed the creation of these.
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Is Bhajan Lal 73, 74 or 75?
Chandigarh, October 6 According to informed sources, the 1968 edition of Haryana Assembly’s Who’s Who gives Mr Bhajan Lal’s date of birth as October 15, 1931. His birthplace has been shown as Kuranwali village in Bahawalpur state (now in Pakistan). However, according to the 2000 edition of Who’s Who, Mr Bhajan Lal was born on October 6, 1930. The two editions also differ on his educational qualifications. While the 1968 edition says the Haryana Congress president is matriculate, the 2000 edition describes his educational qualification as intermediate. Most of the advertisements published today are silent about Mr Bhajan Lal’s age. However, a couple of advertisements described today as his 75th birthday. |
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Bill ensures parity in payment
to farmers
Chandigarh, October 6 The Punjab Sugarcane (Regulation of Purchase and Supply), Haryana Amendment Bill, 2004, which is awaiting assent from the Haryana Governor to become an Act, will bring parity in cane prices being paid by cooperative mills and private mills. The private mills, which have been paying the farmers at the rate of statutory minimum price (SMP) of cane fixed by the Central Government, will have to pay the SAP (state advised price) fixed by the state government once the Act is notified in the official gazette. The SAP was Rs 104, Rs 106 and Rs 110 per quintal for different varieties of cane last year. The rates were fixed soon after the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) came to power in 1999 and had remained unchanged since then. The SMP was approximately Rs 69.50 per quintal last year. Though there was an increase in the SMP of about Rs 4 per quintal over the previous year's price, it still remained substantially lower than the SAP. The SAP of sugarcane is fixed in October end in early November by a committee headed by the Agriculture Minister. If there is an increase in the SAP this year, which is also an election year, it will heavily drain the pockets of the private mill owners. Official sources did not rule out the possibility of an increase and said sugar business had started to look up after a prolonged slump. According to the new Bill, the mill owners will have to pay SAP to the farmers with prospective effect. They need not pay the arrears for the previous years when the farmers attached to these mills were paid the SMP. A state government source said that a case was already going on in the High Court on the issue. If it was decided in favour of the state government, the mill owners would be asked to pay the farmers the balance (between SAP and SMP) that had accumulated over the years. The sources said the new Bill had been passed in the light of a Supreme Court order upholding the UP Government's right to fix cane price to be paid by the mills. The Haryana Government was also party to the case but the apex court reverted its petition back to the Punjab and Haryana High Court for a decision. Following the new rates of cane fixed by the Om Prakash Chautala-led Government in 1999, the private mills had objected to pay the farmers at the SAP and had approached the High Court. The High Court had put a stay on the state government's order and asked the private mills to pay the farmers the SMP of cane. There were also violent agitations by farmers of Ambala and Yamunanagar area to protest against the disparity in cane price paid by private and cooperative mills. |
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No basic facilities in this historic township
Jhajjar: The township has been lagging behind in terms of civic infrastructure and essential facilities even after seven years of its becoming a district headquarters. Several basic services, which could give a fillip to the existing backwardness here, like setting up industries, rail link and residential sectors being developed by Haryana Urban Development Authority, proper sewerage and potable water supply, still elude the residents of this historic township. Though politicians raised the issue of planned development of the town during the elections, they habitually buried their promises once the polls are over and the residents have to content with the verbal assurances made by them. The non-existence of minimal facilities like a well developed park, a district library, public toilets and sanitation also belied the promises of the local administration on putting the town on the path of progress. While a literally nonfunctional municipal committee has nothing to offer to the people pleading that it lacked the resources for generating funds, a few government grants and aids do come by. The functionaries of the civic body admitted the non-performing status as not even a single project could be taken up and completed by it for the last three consecutive years. However, the construction of a mini secretariat on the Gurgaon road and commissioning of a fire station are welcome developments, which the administration as well as the state government could boast of. But the conditions are still far from satisfactory, given the perennial negligence being faced by the residents on the development front. Mr M C Jain, a prominent businessman, here rued: “Though delay in availing bigger services like laying rail link through the town or developing an industrial area could be justified as these are large projects which need huge investment. But what about opening a library and resurrecting a park site which was lying abandoned for many years?” Even the minor facilities, which require paltry investment, are not being provided. He recalled that the Deputy Commissioner had assured to construct public toilets in the town about a year ago but nothing has happened yet. Similarly, he has promised to open a district library. The district officials, however, maintained that a town developed automatically with the population growth. “As the population figures of the town are stagnant for the last 10 years, no business activity could thrive here .There are little chances of getting profitable returns if anyone launches a commercial enterprise in the town. There are few takers for even a computer centre or a cyber café," said an enterprising person who had tried his luck in both the businesses but failed to click. The DC, Mr Mohinder Kumar, however, stated that they were doing their best to improve the civic conditions here.
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Hafed to set up modern
rice mill at Taraori
Karnal, October 6 A senior official of the Hafed told The Tribune that it was introducing a scheme of commercial warehousing on concessional storage charges under which farmers could store their produce and take loan from them at reasonable rate of interest. In order to meet the requirement of covered storage space, the Hafed has also initiated a massive campaign for the construction of godowns for storage of rice and other foodgrains. It has already constructed a 3.38 metric tonnes capacity godowns in the state. Besides this, the state government had fixed a target for construction of 3.25 metric tonne capacity godowns under the 7-year guarantee scheme of the Food Corporation of India. At present, the total covered storage capacity of Hafed is 10.15 lakh metric tonnes. Hafed has decided to construct warehouse complexes at Murthal, Gohana and Ghasola. The Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, will lay the foundation stone tomorrow 7 at Murthal, in Gohana on October 8 and Ghasola (Dadri) on October 9. The estimated cost of the Murthal complex having a capacity of 5,000 metric tonnes, Rs 90 lakh while the Gohana complex of 8,680 metric tonnes capacity will be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 80 lakh and the warehouse complex at Ghasola of 5,000 metric tonnes capacity, will be constructed at a cost of Rs 80 lakh. These three complexes would be completed within next six months and would help Hafed in bringing diversification of agriculture and provide more value addition to the farm produce. |
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Seven new varieties
of wheat identified
Karnal, October 6 The ‘varietal identification committee’ for wheat and barley of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) has recommended to the Central Sub-committee on Crop Standards, Union Ministry of Agriculture, to issue a notification in this regard so that these new superior varieties of wheat could be released to the farmers for commercial cultivation. Revealing this to The Tribune Dr Randhir Singh senior scientist (extension) of the DWR, said the new superior varieties of wheat identified were SKW-196, PDW 291 (durum), PBW 527, PBW 524, HD 2864, HI 8627(durum) and HW 5001. These varieties were superior to the presently cultivated varieties with regard to production, pest resistance and nutritional value. He said the SKW-196 variety was identified for the northern hills zone (NHW) comprising the western Himalayan regions of Jammu and Kashmir (except Jammu and Kathua districts), Himachal Pradesh (except Una district and Paonta Sahib area), hilly areas of Uttaranchal (except terai area), north-eastern states, Sikkim and hilly areas of West Bengal. “This variety is for rain-fed restricted irrigation for higher hills and has been found resistant to yellow rust,” he said. For the north western plains zone (NWPZ), comprising Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan (except Kota and Udaipur divisions), western Uttar Pradesh, Terai region of Uttaranchal and the plains of J&K and HP the DWR has come out with two new varieties-PDW 291 Durum and PBW 527. The PDW 291 Durum variety’s yield was more and was resistant to leaf and yellow rusts while the PBW 527 variety’s yield was found at par with the already cultivated varieties in this region. The fourth superior variety PBW 524 was identified for the north eastern plains zone (NEPZ) of eastern UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal, Assam and plains of the North East. It has Lr 24 and Sr 24 genes giving high protection against stem as well as well brown rusts, besides, an edge in production. “In view of creating genetic variability and varietal diversification, this new variety has been identified for release in the NEPZ region,” said Dr Randhir Singh. For the central zone (CZ) comprising Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Kota and Udaipur divisions of Rajasthan and Jhansi division of UP, the new late sown variety HD 2864 was identified for release. It also has Lr 24 and Sr 24 genes giving higher protection against brown and black rusts. Another variety, HI 8627 Durum has been identified for this agro-climatic region. The experimental trials had shown that it gave higher yield under both rainfed as well as limited irrigation systems. The HW 5001 variety for limited irrigation systems was identified for the hilly areas of Tamil Nadu and Kerala comprising the Nilgiri and Palni hills of southern plateau. It has the distinct advantage in having Sr 2, Lr 24 and Sr 24 genes while in the recently released variety HW 2044 in this region only Sr 2 gene was present, thus, giving broad resistance against various diseases. Meanwhile, Dr R.P.S. Verma, senior scientist in the plant breeding division of the DWR, said that three quintals of experimental seed of these varieties had been dispatched to the Central State Farm, Hisar for the multiplication of the newly identified superior varieties of wheat. However, he said it was not possible to propagate these newly identified superior varieties of wheat during the coming cropping season, this year, as the Central Sub-committee on Crop Standards, Union Ministry of Agriculture, was yet to issue a notification in this regard. “These can officially be released to the farmers for commercial cultivation only after the issuance of the notification,” added Dr Verma.
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Haryana opposes
levy rice rates Chandigarh, October 6 Last year the rate for this variety was Rs 1,053 per quintal, while this year the Centre has announced Rs 1,051.50 per quintal. Mr Disodia is believed to have written to the Centre that instead of taking into consideration the hike of Rs 10 per quintal in the minimum support price of paddy, the Union Food Ministry had reduced the price of levy rice. Strongly pleading for an increase in the rice price, Mr Disodia pointed out that last year the Centre had revised the rice price by Rs 1.50 per quintal making it to be Rs 1,053 per quintal. He said it seemed that while fixing this year's price the ministry inadvertently overlooked the revision in the price last year. He also demanded that the rice price should be hiked corresponding to the increase in the MSP of paddy. The Centre has announced the price of raw rice of common variety as Rs 1,003 per quintal and that of par-boiled rice of this variety as Rs 988.90 per quintal. The Centre would give Rs 1,051.50 per quintal of raw rice of "A" grade paddy and Rs 1,038.20 per quintal of par-boiled rice of this variety. |
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HSIDC cancels
allotment of land to builder
Chandigarh, October 6 The Congress MLA, Mr Karan Singh Dalal, had alleged in a memorandum to the Haryana Governor, Dr A.R. Kidwai, sent last week that the HSIDC had violated the policy for alienation of its land to favour Unitech. Later talking to newsmen, Mr Dalal said on September 28 that the Chautala government had favoured the builder in several cases. Mr Dalal, who is a member of the committee set up by the Congress to frame a charge-sheet against the INLD Government, said he was collecting details of the favours shown to Unitech, which he would highlight at appropriate time. He had alleged that the land was given to Unitech at a throw away price of Rs 2,340 per sq. mt. Sources in the HSIDC say the allotment of land to Unitech was cancelled not because of the allegations levelled by the Opposition MLA but because there was an error in the allotment. They say it was found that under the allotment policy land could be given to institutes of in-house training or those engaged in research and development. Since the Institute of Management and Technology to be promoted by Unitech did not fall in this category, the allotment was cancelled. They say since the Unitech institute will have admitted students from outside, it was more in the nature of an educational institution for which HUDA auctioned land. It may be recalled that the HSIDC had decided to follow the HUDA policy in this regard. The HSIDC sources also claim that the allotment to Unitech was cancelled on September 27, while Mr Dalal had raised the issue next day.
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Home science experts
attend refresher course
Hisar, October 6 Extension specialists from various districts of the state participated in the course which was organised by the Directorate of Extension Education of the university. Dr Savita Singal, Dean, College of Home Science, HAU, inaugurated the course. She said research projects in areas like sanitation, entrepreneurial units and solar energy were the need of the hour. Dr Asha Batra, course coordinator, gave a detailed account of the topics to be covered during the refresher course.
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NCC cadets shown Army’s weapons Ambala, October 6 NCC cadets participating in the National Integration Camp at Nilokheri were taken to the airbase this morning. A display of fighter aircraft had been put up. Cadets learnt about lethal capability of fighter aircraft. Thereafter, they were taken to an armoured unit where a variety of war equipment had been displayed. The cadets were enthused by tanks and asked about fire power of a tank in war. They also showed interest in guns and shells. Cadets were drawn from all over the country and they expressed eagerness to join the armed forces.
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Quiz contest on
wildlife conservation held
Ambala, October 6 School principal Dr Vikas Kohli said that teams from different schools participated in the contest. Objective of the quiz was to create awareness among masses for the conservation of wildlife. Additional Deputy Commissioner ML Kaushik was the chief guest. Team of Shail and Rohit from DAV Senior Secondary Public School, Ambala City stood first while the team of Aditya and Sushant from Police DAV Public School was second. Team of Disha and Neha from KPAK Maha Vidyalaya, Ambala City won third position. |
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Close shave for depot as buses catch fire
Jhajjar, October 6 The fire started due to a short circuit in the wiring of one of the buses early today. Both buses were gutted in the fire. A Jhajjar Depot bus (HR 63- 262), which plies on Jhajjar-Ludhiana route, caught fire due to sparks in its wiring at about 3 am this morning. Fire engulfed the entire bus and also spread to another bus (HR 63-375) parked alongside. However on noticing the fire, the guard at the workshop rang up fire brigade and awakened the sleeping staff members. The employees immediately swung into action and safely took the buses out of the workshop. The fire tender restrained the blaze from spreading towards the store and the diesel tank, which was filled with 30,000 litres of fuel. The flames could be extinguished after three hours of grueling efforts by the fire tender. One of the fireman received minor burns trying to douse the fire. However, the buses were reduced to ashes. The Roadways employees complained that the workshop was located in a congested place and the buses had to be parked side-by-side because many trucks, challaned by the DTO, were also crammed there. Deputy Commissioner Mohinder Kumar along with the SDM and the General Manager of the Roadways inspected the workshop.
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Shravan to start course on mental retardation
Rohtak, October 6 He said this would be the third institute in the country to run this course. Presently, the course is being run by the National Institute of Mental Health, Hyderabad (a Government of India-run institute), and the SNDT Women University, Mumbai. Mr Yadav said initially 20 seats would be filled by the MDU on October 8 and the admission process would be completed by the end of the month. The classes are slated to begin on November . There was an overwhelming response from candidates as employment after completing the course was guaranteed. The shortage of trained personnel was evident from the fact that the MDU had to relax qualifications for recruiting faculty for the institute. Since no M.Ed candidates were available, the institute had to recruit a reader and two lecturers by bringing down the qualifications to B.Ed.
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Traders stage dharna
Rohtak, October 6 They were led by Mr Vijay Gupta of the Haryana Beopar Mandal and Mr Jagdish Kapoor of the Rohtak Traders Association. They said the trading and business community in the town was terrorised by increasing incidents of looting during the past few months. The police not only failed to nab the miscreants but was also unable to check occurrence of such incidents. They said the trading and business community would observe a complete bandh on October 9 to highlight the deteriorating law and order situation in the town. |
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Docs’ negligence alleged in JE’s death
Kaithal, October 6 Bhoop Lal was injured in a road accident and admitted to the PGI, Chandigarh, on September 21. He was then sent to the Civil Hospital, here on September 29, after he showed signs of improvement following treatment at the PGI. The trouble arose when his condition deteriorated yesterday and one of his sons went to call a doctor, but the doctor, instead, sent a staff nurse. After some time the patient died and his family members and relatives became agitated and resorted to protest. Following the incident, a case was registered against the doctors under Section 304-A of the IPC. Two sons of the deceased among others were also booked under Sections 332,353,379,427,and 506 of the IPC, for obstructing the doctors from performing their official duty, manhandling and threatening them. Senior officers of the Irrigation Department today met the Deputy Commissioner, Mr H.S. Malik and the Superintendent of Police, Mr Ranbir Sharma, and demanded cancellation of the FIR registered against the sons of the deceased and others. The CMO, Dr N.K. Dhawan, has constituted a board of doctors to conduct a post-mortem examination to ascertain the cause of death.
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Congress leader found murdered
Yamunanagar, October 6 The victim, Dharmendara Singh (31), was president of the Khet Mazdoor Congress Committee, Ambala district, said police sources. His Maruti car was found abandoned near the field. The police got a clue about his identity from a rubber stamp lying in the car. The police traced his address and one of his relatives identified the body. The motive behind the murder was not yet known. The family members reportedly told the police that he had left the house at 11 am yesterday and since then there was no news of him. A case has been registered.
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Haryana reduces charges for drinking water
Chandigarh, October 6 An official spokesman said here today that the tariff for one tap ferrule connection up to 10 mm had been reduced from Rs 50 per month to Rs 35 per month. Similarly, in case of water connection having more than one tap and ferrule upto 10 mm, the revised rate of tariff would be Rs 60 per month instead of Rs 75 per month earlier. He said that the revised tariff would be effective from December 29, 2003, and excess payment, if any, by any consumer would be adjusted during the payment of charges leviable to respective consumers for the subsequent period. However, all other rates, terms and conditions would remain the same. |
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Man dies under mysterious circumstances
Karnal, October 6 Police sources said there were no injury marks on the body. His family members alleged that he was murdered. However, there were reports that the deceased was suffering from respiratory and heart disease. The cause of the death could not be ascertained from the post-mortem examination. His viscera sample was later sent to a government laboratory to determine the exact cause of his death.
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Two women running flesh trade held
Jhajjar, October 6 Both women were standing along the road and looking for
customers. Their Santro car was also parked nearby. On a tip-off, the police took them into custody and interrogated. During interrogation, they disclosed that they were residents of Prem Nagar in Delhi and members of a flesh trade racket, the police said today. The police said, that Bala (29), wife of Sallu was childless, while Jayanti (26) (both names changed), wife of Anand, was mother of two children. Their husbands, who forced them into the prostitution, were also indulged in the same racket. |
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One arrested in murder case
Sonepat, October 6 The police has arrested Dinesh, brother of the victim’s husband. His associate Mahabir is still absconding. Dinesh has reportedly told the police that his brother Rajesh had committed suicide after he came to know about the illicit relations of his wife with some persons. Dinesh was reported to have said he had made his mind to kill Urmila after the death of his brother. On September 21, he along with Mahabir went to Urmila’s house and asked her to accompany them as his wife had given birth to a child. |
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Accident victims — a clarification
Chandigarh, October 6 He said while Mr R.M. Sabharwal (74) was the Executive Director of the trust, Ms Reva Bhandari (57) was trustee. Ms Priti Madan (35) was the Marketing Executive with the trust. Mr Sumer Singh (34) was the driver of the ill-fated Sumo. All the four died on the spot. |
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