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Workers’ stir to continue: Gupta
12-hour power cut for industry
Power waiver scheme extended
Govt blamed for delaying creation of separate Sikh gurdwara panel
Teachers demand DA on pension
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MoU goes missing from PGIMS
Kanwarias block traffic
Second phase of CEET counselling begins
high court
Six criminals arrested
Murder case solved
Training for parents of challenged kids
10,000 students await re-evaluation results
Need to improve quality of education in govt schools: minister
Gokalgarh to be model village
Traders fax memo to CM on power cuts
Martyrs’ families given relief
Youth stabbed, dies
2 killed, four hurt in mishaps
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Workers’ stir to continue: Gupta
Gurgaon, August 1 Addressing a meeting of industrial workers of Gurgaon, Mr Gupta said the agreement between Honda Motorcycles and Scooters Ltd and its agitating workers was only a “partial” success and the struggle of the workers would continue. Some of the points which the trade unions and workers will press for are withdrawal of criminal cases against the workers and their release from jail and suitable monetary compensation to the injured workers. He also questioned the credibility of the judicial probe headed by a retired judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and demanded that it should be handed over to a judge of the Supreme Court. The declaration that the struggle would continue in Gurgaon and utterances of some union leaders in the meeting hinted at some kind of chinks in the workers unity. The day the agreement between the workers and the management of Honda Motorcycles and Scooters Ltd was announced, the leaders of the firms’s employees’ union had praised Congress President Sonia Gandhi and the Haryana Chief
Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda. They had also expressed satisfaction over the
agreement. Although the Chief Minister had said law would take its own course in connection with criminal cases against the workers, the leaders of the employees union said they had been assured of the withdrawal of the cases and release of workers from the jail. Differences between the leaders of the employees union and the national trade unions became apparent when the national Secretary of the AITUC, Mr D. L. Sachdev, while addressing the workers here, lamented that the pro-management, pro-Haryana government slogans were raised by the workers on the factory premises before they resumed their duties. However, Mr Gupta, in response to a question from mediapersons denied any differences between the workers union of the firm and the trade unions. The meeting which was attended by workers of various industrial units, was addressed by leaders of other trade union bodies, including CITU and HMS. Apart from holding the meeting, there was no visible effect of the call for observance of protest day. The industrial units did business as usual. Mr Gupta alleged that workers could not attend the meeting on account of the police turning the Devi Lal stadium, into a fortress. In a significant move, he made union leader not related to the Honda Motorcycles and Scooters Workers Union head the joint struggle of the trade unions in Gurgaon in connection with rights of the firm’s workers. Incidentally, Mr Suresh Gaur, is the president of the workers union of the firm. Although it was not directly related to the development in Gurgaon, he announced that the trade unions had decided to give a call for nation-wide strike by the workers on September 29. He further announced that a local office would be set up to carry on the struggle of the workers and money would be raised for the medical treatment of the workers injured in the lathi-charge. He also announced the setting up of a legal help committee to be headed by a retired judge of Delhi High Court, Justice Rajinder Sachchar. While condemning the police lathi-charge on the workers, Mr Gupta said he had met the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, once and the Chief Minister of Haryana twice about the issue. He said he would be meeting the Chief Minister again. Later, while talking to mediapersons, Mr Gupta asserted that the Left would not allow amendment in the labour law at the Centre. When asked whether he was issuing a threat to the Congress that the UPA Government was surviving on the support of the Left, he quipped:”It must be seen in proper light”, and added, “do not cross examine me”. In another development the Haryana government has suspended five personnel, including an Assistant Superintendent, two head wardens and two wardens of Bhondsi Jail here, for allowing Mr Gupta and those who accompanied him to enter the jail last Thursday. The injured workers who have been booked in criminal cases in connection with the police lathi-charge preceding the beating up of DSP and other police personnel and burning of SDM’s jeep and a police rider have been kept in judical custody in the jail. Mr Gupta had gone to the jail last Thursday to meet the workers. |
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12-hour power cut for industry
Panchkula, August 1 Because of the power shortage, Haryana today decided to close power supply to all steel arc and induction furnaces for the next 10 days. All other industry in the state will not get any power from 7 pm to 7 am for the next 10 days. Urban consumers will have to face five to eight hours of power cuts in Haryana, which would also be imposed for a duration of one to two hours in different slots, through the day and night. These restrictions, say officials of Haryana Power Utilities, have been imposed in order to ensure a regular eight hours of supply to agricultural consumers. The power situation in the region has remained dismal for over one week, ever since the generation at Singhrauli and Rihand in Uttar Pradesh, and at Nathpa Jhakri in Himachal has been closed. But the power crisis in north India hit an all time low today after generation at many power plants in Himachal, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan was closed. Other than four units of Nathpa-Jhakri having been closed, power generation at Singhrauli, Rihand, Anta - Dadri, Unchahar, Auriya, one unit of the Thermal plant at Bathinda, Anpara and Obra, Suratgarh and Kota, and RAPP remained closed, thus causing a loss of about 5000 MW of power. Haryana’s three thermal units at Panipat, too, were closed, though two units became operational in the evening. Now, engineers have been called in from Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) to repair the damage in the 250 MW unit at Panipat. Because of the shortage of power in the grid, Haryana lost 480 MW of its share from the grid. As against a total demand of 800 lakh units, the power availability in the state is 700 lakh units. The state also overdrew about 70 lakh units of power from the grid to tide away the crisis. These outage led to a shortage of about 100 lakh units in Haryana, which was met through load shedding and overdrawls through unscheduled interchange, from the northern grid. As the frequency at the grid declined beyond 49 cycles per second, Haryana was later unable to overdraw power. |
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Power waiver scheme extended
Hisar, August 1 An official spokesman for the DHBVN said here today that under the scheme, the domestic and agricultural consumers of the rural areas, who were defaulters as on June 16, 2005, could apply for reconnection by depositing an advance consumption deposit (ACD), meter cost and reconnection fee. They would not be charged the minimum monthly charges for the period of disconnection prior to June 16, he added. In case of tubewell connections, a fee of Rs 1,000 for disconnection of less than six months period and Rs 2,000 in case the period of disconnection was more than six months would be charged. Where high-tension or low-tension lines were required to be installed, the reconnection would be allowed by charging only 50 per cent of the cost involved. Similarly, the cost of augmentation of transformer or installation of new transformer would be borne by the DHBVN, the spokesman added. |
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Govt blamed for delaying creation of separate Sikh gurdwara panel
Karnal, August 1 Talking to The Tribune here yesterday, the president of the ad hoc HSGPC, Mr Jagdish Singh Jhinda, said the setting up of a one-member committee to know the sentiments of the Sikhs regarding the separate gurdwara panel was the first step of the government to delay the creation of the HSGPC. He and the vice-president of the HSGPC, Mr Joginder Singh Chawla, said there was no need to constitute the committee as the Congress had already included the demand of the Sikhs for creating separate panel in its election manifesto. They said they had no doubt in their mind about the intentions of Mr Harmohinder Singh Chatha, Chairman of the one-member committee, but they were of the view that the committee had been set up to cause unnecessarily delay in the creation of the separate committee. While Mr Jhinda demanded that the Chatha committee should submit its report by August 15 and a special session of the Vidhan Sabha should be called to pass the Bill regarding the creation of the committee, the general secretary of the HSGPC, Mr Didar Singh Nalwi, one of the 15 executive members of the SGPC, said the Chatha committee had no legal entity as the setting up of the committee had not been notified in the government gazette. Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Chief Minister, said here yesterday that as and when the Chatha committee would submit its report, appropriate action would be taken. However, he had not fixed any time frame for submitting the report. The representatives of the HSGPC blamed the SAD chief, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, and the SGPC President, Bibi Jagir Kaur, for misguiding Sikhs of Haryana on the issue. They claimed that the Sikh community was unanimous on the issue. Mr Jhinda said the SGPC was getting Rs 14 crore from 70 historic gurdwaras of the state per year but it was spending only Rs 20 lakh for the improvement of the gurdwaras and for the welfare of the Sikhs in Haryana. |
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Teachers demand DA on pension
Rohtak, August 1 In a statement issued here today, the HCTU president, Mr Jagatvir Sehrawat, and the general secretary, Mr Pawan Sharma, said the DA on pension to retired teachers had been approved by the government last year. However, the decision had not yet been implemented causing much financial loss to retired teachers of these colleges. They demanded payment of medical allowance to teachers of aided colleges. They said the same was being paid to teachers of aided schools in the state and the college teachers should not be discriminated against. The HCTU leaders also condemned the victimisation of teachers by principals on frivolous grounds. They said several cases of suspension, denial of leave for seminars and other intimidating measures had come to their notice. They warned erring principals not to victimise teachers to maintain cordial atmosphere in their institutions. The HCTU annual convention would be held later this month which was likely to be addressed by the Chief Minister, they added. |
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MoU goes missing from PGIMS
Rohtak, August 1 The laboratory had allegedly signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the then Chautala government in April, 2003, and began operations here some time in July that year. The company has since done business worth crores. According to sources, the then Director-General of Health Services sent a fax message to the Director of the PGIMS two years ago informing him that a US-based firm, Dahiya International Inc. had executed an MoU with the Haryana Government. It stated inter alia that the company would provide testing facilities to the patients of the PGIMS at rates specified by the government separately. Dr Rajvir Dahiya, Chief Executive Officer of the company and former student of the institute, had thereafter claimed that the testing methodology prevalent in the USA would be used to test the samples. As per the MoU, samples from the patients admitted to the PGIMS were to be collected and tested at a laboratory in Faridabad. The company was supposed to collect the samples and provide results within a week. The then government had claimed that the rates would be lower than the prevalent market rates and that the patients would also be given a rebate. The sources said all files pertaining to this case are now missing from the records of the PGIMS and the office of the Director-General of Health Services, Haryana. This fact came to light when the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) headed by the Kaithal MLA, Mr Shamsher Singh Surjewala, visited the PGIMS some time ago and wanted that the arrangement be discontinued and sought the relevant records. Thereafter, the PGIMS tried to locate the file in its record rooms. However, the authorities could not lay hands on a copy of the MoU or the permission granted to the laboratory to run a collection centre here. According to the sources, the authorities then wrote to the DGHS office to supply a copy of the MoU. However, the DGHS asked them to arrange for it at their own level meaning thereby that there was no copy available in that office too. The authorities fear that all the relevant papers were removed from the files by the officials concerned after they were shifted from their posts with the change in government. Significantly, amidst this entire ruckus the company’s collection centre is still functional. It has so far not paid any rent for the premises it has been using for two years. The centre has also not paid any power and water charges. The PGIMS authorities are now belatedly planning to slap penalties on the company. Meanwhile, officials are groping in the dark about how to terminate the MoU. |
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Kanwarias block traffic
Panipat, August 1 A large number of vehicles were stranded in the blockage and long queues were seen on both sides of the road. Thana level police personnel tried to persuade them to lift the blockage but kanwarias demanded public apology from the driver and the conductor of the bus for injuring the kanwaria, Balwan Singh of Kaimla village in Gharaunda of Karnal district, and for not stopping the bus even after hitting him. The city DSP, Mr Ashok Saini, and the roadways officials reached on the spot and appealed to the kanwarias to lift the blockage but they stuck to their stand. However, after their repeated appeals and assurance that strict action would be taken acting against erring employees, they lift the blockage after one hour. The injured kanwaria was sent to Bhim Sen Sachar civil hospital here for treatment. Earlier, the kanwaria was hit near Vashisth Vaishno Dhaba in Sanauli Khurd village on the Sanauli-Haridwar road. However, instead of stopping the bus, the driver tried to flee. The kanwarias chased him and pelted stones on the bus. The driver had to stop the bus on a roadways checking booth situated on the Haryana-UP border. The agitated kanwarias reached there but the driver and the conductor succeeded in fleeing from the spot. Thousands of kanwarias in different parts of the country are bringing holy water of sacred Ganga river on foot for immersion of Shivling on Mahashivratri. |
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Second phase of CEET counselling begins
Hisar, August 1 The varsity Vice-Chancellor, Mr R.R.Fuliya, said here today that the first phase of counselling for engineering, MBA and MCA courses had concluded smoothly and successfully. He said during the first phase of CEET counselling, 8,584 students had took admission to different engineering colleges in the state. The first day of second counselling was kept for the students of reserved categories. Mr Fuliya said there would be no counselling on August 2, due to clash of date with other universities. On August 3 and August 4, second phase of counselling for the all-India category candidates would be organised, while on August 5, 6 and 7, candidates of the state quota of CEET would be called. The acting Vice-Chancellor said the reserved seats remaining unfilled after the second counselling would be converted into general category seats. He said the second phase of counselling for MBA admissions would be held on August 8 and for MCA on August 9. Mr Fuliya informed that 234 candidates had withdrawn their admission fee, thereby increasing the number of seats available. The students were free to change their trade or college in the second counselling, he added. The varsity Registrar, Mr Y.P.Goswami, maintained that the authorities of several colleges had surrendered their management quota seats. |
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Suspension record summoned in DGP Malik case
Our High Court Correspondent
Chandigarh, August 1 Mr Malik was suspended sometime back for his alleged involvement in the irregular recruitment of personnel for the now-disbanded Haryana State Industrial Security Force (HSISF). The Haryana Government has challenged the CAT order on the plea that the record is confidential and cannot be shown to any private person. The hearing will now resume tomorrow. DC called The High Court on Monday summoned the District Magistrate of Kaithal to the court on August 4 to explain under what authority and rule the no-objection certificate (NOC) of a Reliance petrol outlet had been suspended. During hearing of a petition filed by Reliance Petrochemicals, challenging the legality of the order passed by the DC, suspending the NOC given to one of its petroleum outlets in the district, the Bench of Mr Justice N.K. Sud and Mr Justice Virender Singh was informed by counsel for the petitioner that the company had completed all formalities but the NOC was suspended. Two acquitted
A Bench of the High Court comprising Mr Justice J.S. Narang and Mr Justice Baldev Singh has acquitted two persons of the charge of having murdered the wife and a son of one of them. Gopi Chand and his brother-in-law Bhupender had been convicted and sentenced to death by Additional Sessions Judge, Faridabad, on April 2, 2004, for allegedly murdering Gopi Chand’s wife Ramwati and son Rahul on May 23, 2003. Agreeing with the contention of the appellants’ counsel that the motive for the crime had not been proved beyond doubt, the Bench set aside the sentence.
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Six criminals arrested
Sonepat, August 1 Mr Anil Kumar Rao, SP, told mediapersons here today that the Sadar police had arrested Sundresh of Fatehpur village who was involved in a case of road accident in 1998. Similarly the police had arrested Raghbir of Kilorad village who was allegedly invilved in a case of theft in 1999. He said the police had arrested Kuldeep of Barwasni village in connection with the case of assault registered against him in 2001. Similarly, the police had arrested Suresh of Nirthan village against whom a case under the Excise Act was registered in 2001. All these persons, he said, had been bailed out by the courts but did not appear before the courts on the dates of hearing. The courts had declared them as ‘bail jumper’ and directed the police to re-arrest them. The SP said the police had arrested Intzar and Farook of a Idgah colony under Sections 109 of the Cr.P.C. while they were moving under suspicious circumstances near Bawa Cinema house last night. Similarly, the police had arrested Ranbir, Viney, Parveen, Shemsher and Arun under Sections 107/151 of the Cr.P.C. on the charge of apprehension of the break of peace. |
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Murder case solved
Rewari, August 1 The police seized two revolvers, two pistols and six cartridges from the gangsters, who were in police remand. On the expiry of their police remand here, the gangsters have been sent back and remanded in judicial custody at Delhi. The Dharuhera police had registered a case of murder and dacoity under Sections 302, 397 and 120-B of the IPC as well as the Arms Act against the gangsters. These gangsters were also reportedly involved in several cases of robbery committed in various parts of Delhi, Gurgaon and Rajasthan. |
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Training for parents of challenged kids
Hisar, August 1 The school is being run by the Society for Welfare of Mentally Handicapped Children here. Leading lawyers and social activists Sukhdev Aggarwal, president, and Pt Jagat Swaroop, general secretary of the society, were present on the occasion. During the camp, the parents of challenged children were given practical and effective tips by experts to tackle the problems in the day-do-day activities of their children. They were also provided professional guidance on creating social awareness among their wards. Specific difficulties faced by the parents regarding education as well as recreation of their children were discussed and solved at the camp. Besides, a session on behaviour therapy for the parents of grown-up children was also organised. Mr Hans Raj Dhall, Director of Arpan School, Rohtak, and Ms Geeta Khurana, a special educator, provided their services at the camp. |
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10,000 students await re-evaluation results Sirsa, August 1 Talking to this correspondent, a number of students blamed the university authorities for the delay in declaring results. The undergraduate students had applied for re-evaluation in April and are worried about their future. Though the Vice-Chancellor, Mr R.R. Fuliya and the Registrar, Mr Pankaj Yadav, were not available for comments but the sources said the results could not declared before September. Students of five districts, including Sirsa, Hisar, Fatehabad, Jind and Bhiwani, are awaiting their results but have a little hope in getting provisional admissions. The main problem, complain students is that they are not getting provisional admissions in the colleges affiliated to Kurukshetra University and Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, which were earlier affiliated to Chaudhary Devi Lal University. According to the sources, there was a serious problem in managing the answer sheets as theses were stacked without proper serial numbers and the officials were finding it difficult to locate these and put the system in order. Official sources cite the shortage of manpower as the main hindrance in the process. It is just impossible to carry on the massive workload with just 10 officials handling the office job. An insider blamed the varsity authorities for the delay as the charge of Controller of Examinations was lying vacant since February when the then
CoE, Mr S.S. Bhanbhu, was relieved of the charge. Dr M.C. Garg was given the additional charge of the CoE but left the same within a couple of days. Later, Dr R.C. Dalal was assigned the charge.
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Need to improve quality of education in govt schools: minister
Ambala, August 1 He said it was a peculiar aspect that although government schools had qualified staff and the fee was less, parents preferred to send there children to public schools. He said the government, through the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan, was trying to ensure that children in the age group of 6 to 14 years went to school. He said every member of the Rotary Club should adopt one government school and regularly visit the school to find out the quality of education being imparted there. Prof
R.S. Dhillon became the president of the Rotary Club of Industrial Area, Mr Vishal Nalin became president of Rotaract Club, while Ms Rekha Chadha became president of the Innerwheel Club. Among others, Mr Manmohan Maini, Mr Sanjeev Gupta, Mr S.K. Aggarwal, Dr
D.N. Sharma, Dr K.C. Sharma, Mr Ashok Dua, Mr Ramesh Singla, Mr Tilak Raj Taneja, Mr S.K. Sharma, Mr Subhash Jaiswal and Mr Navin Gulati were also present. |
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Gokalgarh to be model village
Rewari, August 1 The Additional Deputy Commissioner -cum-Executive Officer of the District Rural Development Agency, Mr Nitin Kumar Yadav, said that a Rs 2.29 crore project had been dispatched to the Financial Commissioner-cum-Principal Secretary, Rural Development Department, for sanction as well as allocation of funds for development of Gokalgarh into a model village. He further said that the funds would mainly be spent on augumentation of the existing drinking water supply as well as provision of drainage system, cemented peripheral road, streetlights, public latrines for women ,community centre for members of the Balmiki Samaj, home for aged women and several other such things. |
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Traders fax memo to CM on power cuts
Ambala, August 1 Dr N.C. Jain, senior vice-president, Haryana Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr R.P. Gupta, president, Ambala Trader Federation, Mr Bharat Bhushan Jain, president Ambala Rice Millers Association and Mr G.G. Aggarwal, president, Scientific Instrument Organisation are signatories to the joint memorandum. Dr Jain has said in the memorandum that the industry and trade has paralysed in the region due to acute shortage of power and the industries had been suffering heavy losses. These were on the brink of closure. He said the scientific instruments industry of Ambala Cantt was worst affected with 30,000 of its workers sitting idle. |
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Martyrs’ families given relief
Sonepat, August 1 According to a report, the Deputy Commissioner also visited Rohna village in Kharkhauda tehsil and handed over a cheque for similar amount to the bereaved family of martyr Yashpal who was killed by militants near the Assam border last month. The DC also promised all assistance to the members of the bereaved families on behalf of the state government and the district administration. |
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Youth stabbed, dies Pinjore, August 1 The SP said that after 25 years of her marriage with Mehar Chand, a resident of Kallu Jhanda village, near Pinjore,
Lajwanti, a mother of six children, broke her relation with her husband and started living with Pritam Singh of the same village. She later got employment in an industrial unit at Baddi and shifted to Orian village. There she came in contact with Jagdish Kumar, an employee of the same unit, who hired a room in her house. Staying of Jagdish Kumar at her house was not acceptable to Pritam Singh. They had a scuffle after which Pritam Singh left for his home at Kallu Jhanda village. In her complaint to the police, Lajwanti alleged that Pritam Singh, along with his two accomplices, reached home late last night and attacked Jagdish with a sharp-edged weapon on the head. Serious head injuries claimed his life. “They also attacked me with batons,” she alleged. Hearing Lajwanti’s shrieks, her brother and other family members rushed in. The assailants fled from the spot leaving Jagdish Kumar and Lajwanti seriously injured. Jagdish succumbed to his injuries in the hospital. The body was today handed over to the family after a post-mortem at the Civil Hospital, Kalka. Lajwanti is still under treatment there. The police has registered a case of murder against Pritam Singh and his two accomplices. |
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2 killed, four hurt in mishaps
Panipat August 1 The injured were Rafiq Mohammad, Sikander Ali, Nazira and Salma. The victims were going to Ahmedgarh from Delhi. In another accident,a Haryana Roadways employee,Surendra, was crushed to death under a bus at the workshop. |
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14 arrested for damaging place of worship
Fatehabad, August 1 According to police sources, Mr Mastan Singh, husband of the village sarpanch, Ms Gurjeet Kaur, lodged a complaint with the police that Richhpal Singh, Ranvir Singh, Bhagwan Singh, Balraj Singh, Jaswinder Singh, Rajinder Singh, Harpal Singh, Surjit Singh, Sher Singh, Gurdashan Singh, Raghubir Singh, Kashmir Singh and Sukhwinder Singh had come to the village “Peer Ki Majaar” with hammers and other equipment and had caused damage to the “majaar”. He alleged that despite resistance from the villagers, the miscreants broke walls of the “majaar” with hammers. The police has registered a case under Sections 295, 427, 148 and 149, of the IPC against the accused and arrested them. |
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Ambala, August 1 |
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