H A R Y A N A

Lalu promises Bhiwani-Loharu railway line
Bhiwani, February 20
The Union Railways Minister, Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav, today assured the construction of the long-awaited Bhiwani-Loharu railway line. He also accepted the proposal for starting a new express train connecting Bhiwani and New Delhi.

Ambala dental college to have research centre
Tie-up with Boston University
Mullana (Ambala), February 20
M. M. College of Dental Sciences and Research, Mullana, today became the first dental college in northern India to set up a clinical research centre in collaboration with Boston University, Boston, USA.

Another marriage at hospital!
Panipat, February 20
A class IV employee of Bhim Sain Sachhar Hospital organised the marriage party of his son on the hospital campus here today. The work of putting up shamianas outside the emergency ward of the hospital began in the morning.

Houses reserved for women
Hisar, February 20
The Haryana Government has decided to give 2 per cent concession to women in the registration fee of housing board houses. Besides, 33 per cent houses constructed by the board have been reserved for women.

Revenue records computerised
Rohtak, February 20
In a major leap towards e-governance, Rohtak today became the first district of Haryana whose revenue and land records are now available online.

BJP rally highlights govt “failures”
Ambala, February 20
Bharatiya Janata Party activists today held a demonstration in the city to highlight “failures” of the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government.

The BJP stages a dharna in protest against the government’s “failure” to provide common amenities in Ambala on Monday. — Tribune photo by Neeraj Chopra

Stories from Haryana towns falling in the National Capital Region are put in
 Delhi & neighbourhood.

REGIONAL BRIEFS

YOUR TOWN

Ambala Bhiwani Chandigarh Fatehabad Hisar Panipat Rohtak Sonepat

	Bird flu: Haryana sets up 3-member team February 20, 2006
	Opposition to canal due to political reasons: CM February 19, 2006
	New military station near Kurukshetra planned February 18, 2006
	Rohtak- Jhajjar- Rewari rail track approved February 17, 2006
	INLD observes warning day February 16, 2006
	12 villagers injured in clashes February 15, 2006
	Haryana’s Annual Plan up by 9.7 pc February 14, 2006
	Hooda expresses concern over Durjanpur incident February 13, 2006
	Haryana plugs water loss February 12, 2006
	IAF copter makes emergency landing February 11, 2006

Chalia takes over as Senior DCM, Ambala Division
Chandigarh, February 20
Mr M.S. Chalia, an Indian Railway Traffic Services officer of the 1987 batch, has taken over as Senior Divisional Commercial Manager of the Ambala Railway Division. He succeeds Mr Aneet Dullet who had been transferred on promotion.

Ex-sarpanch’s arrest sought
Fatehabad, February 20
The district unit of the All India Democratic Women’s Association today staged dharna outside the office of the Deputy Commissioner here to demand the arrest of former sarpanch Joginder Singh accused of raping a Dalit girl.

Sonu Nigam enthrals audience Ambala, February 20 Noted Bollywood playback singer Sonu Nigam performed at Gandhi Maidan, Ambala Cantonment, last night. Mr Sonu Nigam performed at Ambala as part of ‘Idea Rocks India’ programme. Sonu Nigam began his performance with ‘Sooraj Hua Madham’. His performance was well received. ‘Mera rang de basanti chola’ from “Bhagat Singh,” ‘Aane se uske mehka hai sara sama’, ‘sun zara soniye sun zara’ and ‘Dil mangta hai dildar soniye’ were some of the songs sung by him.

• Suicide bid
• Truck carrying cattle impounded

Lalu promises Bhiwani-Loharu railway line
Our Correspondent

Bhiwani, February 20
The Union Railways Minister, Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav, today assured the construction of the long-awaited Bhiwani-Loharu railway line. He also accepted the proposal for starting a new express train connecting Bhiwani and New Delhi.

The Union Minister today gave an assurance to this effect to the Haryana Minister of State for Tourism, Mrs Kiran Choudhary, who had called on him in Delhi along with the Union Minister for Company Affairs, Mr Prem Gupta, who hails from Bhiwani.

This was the eighth meeting of Mrs Choudhary with the Railways Minister during the past six months for advocating the demands of the people of Bhiwani district. Mrs Choudhary said that the construction of Bhiwani-Loharu railway line would connect Punjab and Haryana directly to Rajasthan, Gujarat and Mumbai.

She stated that this railway route would benefit a large section of the society who daily commuted between Rohtak, Bhiwani and New Delhi and would also boost commerce and trade on this route. She said that the Union Minister had assured that keeping in view the demands of the people of Bhiwani, a new express train would soon be started.

The Tourism Minister said that the Union Minister was positive about the various demands put forward by her and said that these would be considered. The demands included renovation and modernisation of railway station at Bhiwani at an estimated cost of Rs 8 to 10 crore and construction of railway overbridge at Bhiwani-Tosham railway crossing.

Mrs Choudhary said that her demand for running the Amritsar-Jaipur train for all seven days via Bhiwani and the starting of Ghorakhpur Dham Express train from Bhiwani would also be considered by the minister.

Ambala dental college to have research centre
Tie-up with Boston University
Tribune News Service

Mullana (Ambala), February 20
M. M. College of Dental Sciences and Research, Mullana, today became the first dental college in northern India to set up a clinical research centre in collaboration with Boston University, Boston, USA.

Dr Thomas Kilgore, Professor of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Associate Dean for Advanced Education at Boston University, who inaugurated the centre, said his university planned to set up three more such centres at Darshan Dental College, Udaipur; D.Y. Patil Dental College, Pune; and Karnavati School of Dentistry, Ahmedabad.

An MoU was also signed by Dr Thomas E. Van Dyke, Programme Director, Postdoctoral Periodontology, Boston University, and Mr Tarsem Kumar Garg, Chairman of the M. M. Education Trust, for post doctoral continuous education programme to upgrade the skills of practicing dentists. The trust is running 13 education institutions at the 150-acre M. M. Education Complex in one of the backward areas of Ambala district. The complex has proved to be a boon for the area’s economy.

It may be recalled that the Dental Council of India is planning to make it mandatory for dentists to undergo a 30-hour refresher course from time to time in their career so that they are acquainted with latest techniques in dental care.

Among the fields, which will be covered by the continuous education programme, will be dental implantology, orthodontics and dentofacial orthopaedics, prosthodontics and aesthetic dentistry, and preventive and community dentistry.

Later demonstrating the techniques of treatment planning and case management, Dr Dyke said for many years dental medicine had been empirical, the result of trial and error and expert experience rather than the result of systematic research. Many of the procedures were still chosen because of commericial advertising or expert opinion. Time had come to make scientific evidence as the basis of clinical decisions.

Dr Kilgore spoke on brush biopsy, a new method of early oral cancer detection. Among others who spoke were Dr Ashish Jain, Director, Share-Smile India; and Dr S.K. Khindaria, Principal of the college.

Another marriage at hospital!
Tribune News Service

Panipat, February 20
A class IV employee of Bhim Sain Sachhar Hospital organised the marriage party of his son on the hospital campus here today. The work of putting up shamianas outside the emergency ward of the hospital began in the morning.

Interestingly, the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and the Medical Superintendent (MS) are blaming each other for the irregularity.

The Tribune had highlighted the plight of patients on February 16 after they had to spend a sleepless night as a marriage function was held adjacent to the emergency ward of the hospital.

Though the CMO, Dr Neh Lata Singh, had regretted that such a function was held on the hospital campus, today’s function had once again raised a question over the functioning of the authorities.

Following the news report in The Tribune, Dr Singh sought written explanation from Dr H.S. Randhawa, Medical Superintendent.

The patients and the hospital staff criticised the authorities for “allowing” the use of campus for private functions. A senior doctor said the ongoing trend was highly objectionable and the authorities should take steps to check it. The hospital staff said a stern action should be taken against those creating nuisance on the hospital campus.

Houses reserved for women
Tribune News Service

Hisar, February 20
The Haryana Government has decided to give 2 per cent concession to women in the registration fee of housing board houses. Besides, 33 per cent houses constructed by the board have been reserved for women.

This was stated by the Haryana Minister of State for Urban Development and Housing, Ms Savitri Devi Jindal, here yesterday.

Talking to reporters prior to addressing a meeting of Congress workers here, Ms Jindal said a number of schemes on urban development and housing were in progress and the shortage of funds would not hinder development.

In response to a query, the newly appointed minister said the government would provide basic amenities to the residents of unauthorised colonies in which 50 per cent development had taken place. She, however, pointed out that the mushrooming of new unauthorised colonies within municipal limits would be curbed.

The minister said Rs 400 crore would be spent by the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) during 2005-06 on the development of new areas, maintenance of existing areas, repair of roads, construction of community buildings and development of government land.

Revenue records computerised
Tribune News Service

Rohtak, February 20
In a major leap towards e-governance, Rohtak today became the first district of Haryana whose revenue and land records are now available online. Any person living in any part of the world can now check the entries of revenue record pertaining to any person belonging to any village of this district on the Internet.

The Commissioner of Rohtak division, Mr N.C. Wadhwa, inaugurated the computerised on-line land record system in Rohtak tehsil office today. Mr Yashpal Panwar of Kanheli village was the first person to receive a computerised copy of Jamabandi of his land from Mr Wadhwa.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Wadhwa said the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, had been emphasising the need for computerisation of jamabandi and mutations ever since he assumed office. He said though the entire state would be covered by this project, Mr Hooda’s home district had taken the lead by becoming the first district to make all land and revenue records available on the Internet.

He said computerisation of land records would greatly help the common man in as anyone could now procure copies of Jamabandi either from the tehsil office concerned or from district headquarters because the revenue record of whole of the district was available online at Kalanaur and Sampla sub-tehsils also in addition to Meham and Rohtak tehsil offices.

BJP rally highlights govt “failures”
Tribune News Service

Ambala, February 20
Bharatiya Janata Party activists today held a demonstration in the city to highlight “failures” of the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government.

The BJP activists were led by former Union Minister I.D. Swami and former MP Ratan Lal Kataria. Besides raising slogans against the government, the demonstrators demanded the resignation of Haryana Education Minister Phool Chand Mullana on moral grounds for the rape incidents of schoolgirls.

A BJP memorandum stated that the law and order situation was deteriorating every day. There were theft, dacoity, murder and rape incidents in the state. The common man was feeling insecure due to incidents like those at Gohana, Gurgaon and Mahmoodpur. Ambala had been a peaceful district but now there were gang war incidents there too.

Industries were facing a major crisis. Farmers were unable to look after their crops and students faced inconvenience too. Power failure was leading to industries shifting out of Haryana to other states.

The memorandum stated that the prices of essential commodities were steadily rising under the Congress government. There was a black market for LPG and kerosene. The rise in prices had adversely affected the common man.

The memorandum pointed out that retrenched employees were hoping that they would be taken back by the Congress government, but their hopes had been dashed to the ground. Whenever they raised their voice, they were lathicharged.

Crime against women was rising. There had been an increase in female foeticide incidents. There was lack of safety for women and rape incidents were becoming common. Even schoolgirls were not safe.

Chalia takes over as Senior DCM, Ambala Division
Tribune News Service

Ex-sarpanch’s arrest sought
Our Correspondent

Fatehabad, February 20
The district unit of the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) today staged dharna outside the office of the Deputy Commissioner here to demand the arrest of former sarpanch Joginder Singh accused of raping a Dalit girl. The AIDWA activists accused the police and the administration of being not serious in the case.

AIDWA activists from all over the district assembled in the mini-secretariat today and staged dharna there. Activists were led by Ms Jatinder Paul Kaur, president and Ms Anita Kranti, secretary of the district unit of the AIDWA.

Addressing the women, AIDWA leaders alleged that the police had not been serious towards the victim of the rape, a Dalit.

Sonu Nigam enthrals audience
Tribune News Service

Ambala, February 20
Noted Bollywood playback singer Sonu Nigam performed at Gandhi Maidan, Ambala Cantonment, last night.

Mr Sonu Nigam performed at Ambala as part of ‘Idea Rocks India’ programme. Sonu Nigam began his performance with ‘Sooraj Hua Madham’. His performance was well received.

‘Mera rang de basanti chola’ from “Bhagat Singh,” ‘Aane se uske mehka hai sara sama’, ‘sun zara soniye sun zara’ and ‘Dil mangta hai dildar soniye’ were some of the songs sung by him.

There was a heavy rush. All those who could not enter the venue climbed a boundary wall, road berms and trees to catch a glimpse of the singer. Sonu Nigam enthralled the audience with his singing.

Earlier, Sonu Nigam said he liked to perform in front of live audience. He explained that the worth of a singer could be gauged only by a live performance.

Suicide bid

Truck carrying cattle impounded

Ambala, February 20
A truck carrying cattle was impounded in Ambala Sadar early this morning. The truck was going from Punjab to Uttar Pradesh. Acting on a tip-off, a naka had been set up. The truck driver abandoned the truck, a short distance away from the naka, and he escaped. Eighteen cattles were found in the truck. TNS