Chandigarh, November 24
In an endeavour to win over minorities on the eve of the Assembly elections in the state, the ruling Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) government in Haryana has decided to waive toll tax on motor vehicle owners during mela days.

The demand was raised by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee resenting the levying of toll tax as hundreds of thousands of Sikhs visit the historic Gurdwara Kapal Mochan every year on Kartika Purnima (November) for a dip in the holy sarovars of the village.

Toll tax was being levied from day one. Initially, the collection used to go to block samiti. And once the mela was included in the state list, the toll tax so collected used to go to the state exchequer.

At present autorickshaws were being charged Rs 5 while jeeps and motor cycles were charged Rs 50 each. Toll tax on trucks was Rs 100 and for buses and tempos it was Rs 130. Each year the government used to collect about Rs 6 to Rs 7 lakh as toll tax by putting up toll barriers on all entry points to Kapal Mochan village.

Mr Baldev Singh, member of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, raised the demand for abolition of toll tax, saying that nearly two-third of mela revellers were Sikhs who frequent the village from not only all over Haryana but also from neighbouring states of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

According to an estimate, nearly seven to eight lakh people visit the mela every year.

Supported by the Shiromani Akali Dal chief, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, and Rajya Sabha member Tarlochan Singh, the Chief Minister, Mr Om Parkash Chautala, announced waiving of the toll tax with immediate effect. Though the mela will conclude on November 26, toll tax collection was stopped from this morning.

“Abolition of toll tax will not only save the government some money but also help expand the mela,” says Mr Baldev Singh, holding that “many used to skip this historic event because of both toll tax and harassment undergone by them at the toll tax barriers. At times they had to wait in long queues to gain entry into the village after paying the tax.

“For a state government an amount of five to seven lakhs is insignificant. It must have been spending much more on collecting this toll tax,” he added, thanking the Chief Minister for his gesture towards the Sikh community in particular and others in general.

The toll tax abolition is being viewed as a sop to woo Sikh voters into INLD fold. A few of other long-standing demands of Sikhs, including reservation in jobs and representation in various committees, are also expected to be conceded by the state government.

Kapal Mochan (Yamunanagar), November 24
Pilgrims continued to throng the Kapal Mochan mela here today. According to an estimate, the number of visitors at the mela has crossed the 3.50 lakh mark. The mela will conclude on November 26.

Visitors have welcomed the waiver of toll tax on vehicles. The administration had withdrawn the tax yesterday.

Meanwhile, two unidentified persons died at mela site today. Police sources said a police party found a man in his mid-thirties dead near the Saheed Udham Singh Kamboj Dharmshala. He apparently died of cold. Another unidentified person, believed to be in his fifties, was rushed to a dispensary set up at the mela site after he complained of pain in his chest. Later, he died.

On November 22, the administration had announced that no show of vulgarity would be tolerated. Despite the claims, The Tribune team spotted several video parlours situated along the road leading to Kapal Mochan displaying ‘objectionable posters’ of movies.

Over a dozen community kitchens (langars) by various religious and non-government organisations have been set up for the pilgrims.

The administration has arranged various cultural shows for the entertainment of the pilgrims.

As the story goes, Pandavas, along with their wife Draupadi, had visited Kapal Mochan after the battle of Mahabharata to wash their weapons. Guru Gobind Singh had stayed here for 52 days after the Bangani war.

Hisar, November 24
While leaders of various parties were attending rallies and functions to further their political interests in the name of celebrating Sir Chhotu Ram’s birth anniversary, residents of a small village, near here, celebrated the occasion differently.

In Ladwa village, 13 km from here, the foundation stone of a temple and a museum-cum-library dedicated to Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram was laid at Shri Ladwa Gaushala today. The temple will be built with the help of donations from local residents.

Mr Balraj, caretaker of the gaushala, said the aim was to propagate the ideology and teachings of Sir Chhotu Ram. “We have been celebrating this day every year ever since the institution came into being in 1991,” he said.

Union Minister Akhilesh Prasad Singh and Kurukshetra MP Naveen Jindal were scheduled to attend the function but could not make it. Nonetheless, the villagers went ahead with the programme.

Haryanavi folk singer Madhu Sharma, who had been suspended for having sung at a Congress rally, enthralled the gathering on the occasion with her “ragnis”.

Mr Balraj said the plan was to have a temple with an idol of Sir Chhotu Ram. Adjoining the temple would be a museum-cum-library. It will have pictures depicting the life and times of Sir Chhotu Ram, apart from books containing his life history, thoughts, ideology and teachings.

Mr Balraj, who also heads the Vishva Bharati Kisan Jagriti Shikshan Sansthan, laments that the politicians were using the name of Deenbandhu for their vested interests. “They observe the formality of paying tributes to Chhotu Ram while their actual motive is to get votes. Since the Assembly elections are around the corner, they are engaged in such activities to lure the voters,” he maintained.

When questioned on the successor of Sir Chhotu Ram, he said the person who followed Deenbandhu’s ideals.

Fatehabad, November 24
A local court today remanded two bank officers in police custody in a case of fraud. The two officers are N.C. Bharati, branch manager of the local branch of United Commercial Bank, and R.C. Arora a former branch manager of the same branch. The two are accused of fraudulently altering the records to fleece a local woman of her lawful right over property.

Mrs Sushila Rani’s firm in the local grain market had filed a suit for recovery of Rs 6.08 lakh against another firm Bhushan Brothers. The partners of the firm had fled in 1998 leaving several of its debtors in the lurch. Mrs Sushila Rani won the suit and in execution of the court orders, the court ordered attachment and sales of 38 kanal and 13 marla land situated at Rattia and belonging to Bhushan Brothers.

But later, the women found to her dismay that the local branch of United Commercial Bank had sold that land for realisation of its own loan advanced to Bhushan Brothers. The bank claimed that the land had already been mortgaged in its favour.

The woman lodged a complaint with the police and alleged that the two bank officers in connivance with two other officials of the bank forged the mortgage documents to deprive her of her right over the property.

The police registered a case under sections 420, 468, 471 and 120B, IPC, against the officials.

The police today arrested the two officials and produced them before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mr J.R. Duggal.

The judge remanded N.C. Bharati to a day’s police remand and R.C. Arora to two day’s remand.

Yamunanagar, November 24
A Tehsildar, a Block Development and Panchyat Officer (BDPO) and the Sarpanch of Dhaurang village have been booked for selling a piece of land belonging to the panchyat at a rate lower than the market price. No prior permission from the competent authority for selling the land was taken.

According to information, some residents of Dhaurang village had complained to the Deputy Commissioner that Tehsildar Satish Bhardwaj, BDPO Hoshiar Singh and Sarpanch Rishi Pal had fraudulently sold a piece of panchayat land (about 2 kanal) to some residents of the village.

The Deputy Commissioner had marked an inquiry into the allegations. The inquiry officer, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Mr Supraveen Kumar, in his report found the allegations to be true, said sources. The matter was handed over to the police. A case under Sections 420 and 120B of the IPC has been registered.

Ambala, November 24
Union Minister and Ambala MP, Kumari Selja, today opined that there was a need for reservation in the private sector.

Talking to mediapersons after presiding over the SC/BC district-level Congress conference at Rukmani Devi hall today, Kumari Selja said there was a decline in jobs in the public sector. She suggested that the private sector must think about providing reservation.

Kumari Selja said the Congress party believed in implementing the reservation policy through dialogue with the private sector. She stated that the economic base should also be considered for providing reservation.

She said the Chautala government had politicised the Deen Bandhu Chotu Ram yatra. She observed that Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala had earlier tried to gain political mileage through former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal’s name but when that did not yield any result, he turned towards Deen Bandhu Chotu Ram.

“It is definitely a political stunt by Mr Chautala. Why did Mr Chautala not remember Deen Bandhu Chotu Ram earlier,” she said.

“Mr Chautala may indulge in any political stunt but, he will still not get votes in the Assembly election,” she added.

Kumari Selja said the general atmosphere in Haryana was clearly against Mr Chautala. She strongly criticised the district administration in Ambala. She said when her ministry had tried to implement a scheme for public toilets in Ambala, the ministry officials had not got any response from the district administration.

She said public work must always take top priority, irrespective of the party in power. She stated that the district administration working had to be considerably improved for the benefit of the people.

Among others, Mr Nirmal Singh, Mr KD Sultanpuri, Ms Kiran Bala Jain, Mr Ashok Jain, and Mr Balwant Gupta addressed the conference.

Fatehabad, November 24
The Students Federation of India (SFI) will organise a demonstration in front of Parliament House on December 2 in favour of its demand to bring about a bill in Parliament for “reining in” private educational institutions.

In a press release issued here today, Mr Sandip Sokhal, district secretary of the SFI, said that the United Progressive Alliance at the Centre had promised employment for all. It had also promised that no one would be forced to leave his education in the middle for want of funds.

He said that the government had increased fees for various courses from 10 to 30 times. He said that the Haryana Government was anti-student.

He alleged that there was an acute shortage of teachers in colleges. In private colleges, over 40 per cent of the college teachers were working on part time basis.

The student leader said that big industrial houses had taken control over the higher education in the country and these industrial houses owned most of the big medical, engineering and professional colleges.

He alleged that these colleges had been fleecing parents in the name of management and NRI quota seats. The poor students had been forced to leave their studies midway as their parents could not afford to pay the fees of the private colleges, he added.

He said that the SFI had decided to launch an agitation on the issue at the national level and the December 2 demonstration would be the first step in this direction. He said that the SFI wanted the UPA government to pass a bill in this regard in Parliament. He said that the SFI had already given a draft of the bill to the UPA government.

Chandigarh, November 24
In view of limited irrigable land, water and other natural resources in our country, the next phase of green revolution is possible only through the judicious application of biotechnology.

This was stated by the Director-General of the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) and Secretary, Department of Agriculture Research and Education, Dr Mangala Rai, while inaugurating the three-day 45th annual conference of the Association of Microbiologists of India(AMI) at Karnal yesterday.

About 575 delegates from all over the country are participating in the conference.

Dr Rai said microbiology had immense potential globally and scientists should look for new frontiers for generating technologies for the welfare of the mankind through bio-technology. He said microbial genes had been identified and inserted into crop seeds to produce high yielding insect resistance crops such as BT cotton.

He stressed the need for learning how to culture microbes hitherto considered to be unculturable and identifying the key ecological parameters that regulated important activities. He was of the view that through multi-disciplinary research in various areas of micro-biology it would be possible to make quantum leap in the development for the welfare of the mankind.

Dr V.K. Taneja, Deputy Director-General (Animal Science), ICAR, said the council was addressing various issues pertaining to the fields of microbial genetics, molecular biology, veterinary and human microbiology, agricultural microbiology, plant-microbe interaction, bio-informatics, food and dairy microbiology, ecology, microbial diversity, medical and pharmaceutical microbiology, which had vital potential for our future health and well-being.

The Director of the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Dr Nagendera Sharma, said the deliberations on the theme of the conference, “Microbes for Global Welfare”, would help in sharing scientific information amongst the delegates and suggesting new areas for reshaping the researchers in microbiology.

The President of the AMI, Dr Dalel Singh, said there was an urgent need for the microbiologists to work on problems in medicine, environmental protection, food production and preservation.

Ambala, November 24
The Honda City car which was stolen from a house in Mahesh Nagar was recovered from Kurukshetra today. According to the police, the car was found lying abandoned on the Kurukshetra-Radore road. The police got the information from some passer by who called up the police.

The police said the keys and the registration documents of the car were found missing. A portion of the front seat of the car was found burnt and the number plate of the car was also missing. The petrol tank of the car was found empty which might have forced the miscreants to leave the car on the way. The car would be handed over to its owner after the legal formalities.

According to information, thieves had entered in the house of Satish Rai near Bhagwati temple on Monday night. They used gas cylinder to break the doors. Satish Rai, his brother and other family members were sleeping in their rooms. The thieves entered the house from the roof and they managed to enter a room. They took the keys of the two cars which were parked in the lobby of the house. They also stole some clothes and other articles from there.

Mr Satish Rai said he heard some noise in the midnight but did not took it seriously. Next morning he found that the car was missing and the documents of another car were also taken away by the thieves.

It was not the first such incident in this area. Earlier too more than five theft cases had been reported in the Mahesh Nagar area in the past few months.

The residents have been demanding night patrolling in the area.