Panipat, June 17
Poonam of Dhanana village of Sonepat district has been missing since June 9. On that day, she had gone to pay obeisance at a religious place at Gharaunda in Karnal district with her second husband, Vijender Singh.

Vijender Singh, a resident of Seinkh village in Panipat district, said Poonam and he went to pay obeisance at a “dargah” at Gharaunda on June 9 after their marriage on June 5.

“While returning home on a motor cycle, I stopped to answer the call of nature. I asked my wife to wait on the roadside and went away. When I came back, I found her missing,” said Vijender.

The family of the girl was informed the same day, but the police was informed only yesterday as the family expected that Poonam would return herself, added Vijender.

The controversy of Poonam’s marriage had hit the headlines when she was allegedly picked up by members of her community from Bhiwani. She and her first husband, Surinder of Kharkari village, had gone there to get their marriage registered. Surinder had filed a petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court in that regard.

In his petition, Surinder pleaded that he married Poonam at a ceremony held in the girl’s village in May. Both families were present on the occasion. Leaders of the Jat community in the area were making life difficult for him and his wife as he was from the cobbler community and his wife was from a Jat family.

A mahapanchayat was scheduled to be held at Kharkari village on June 11 to decide on the fate of their marriage, but it was banned by the high court following a petition by Surinder.

Subsequently, the girl was married off to Vijender, a boy of the Jat community, on June 5.

Mr Gorakhpal Rana, SHO of the Gharaunda police station, said he had received a complaint from Vijender and the mother of Poonam was being contacted. Father of the girl, Kishan Kumar, was in the Army.

Ambala, June 17
The Ambala-Hisar highway was blocked this morning by relatives and colleagues of a deceased Class IV employee of the Civil Hospital, Ambala City.

The body of Ram Krishan was placed on the highway near the Polytechnic chowk in Ambala City. The blockade lasted for about two hours. The relatives demanded that action should be taken against a doctor. They alleged that the doctor did not offer sympathy to the family members when Ram Krishan was brought dead to the hospital last night.

The issue was complicated by the fact that on May 29 relatives of a patient in the Civil Hospital had levelled allegation against Ram Krishan and two others of having taken away Rs 12,000 from the patient.

Joginder Singh, a resident of Niharsi village, was an accident victim who was brought to the Civil Hospital on May 29. His relatives claimed that there were Rs 12,000 in his pocket, which was allegedly picked by Ram Krishan, who is a Class IV employee, and two others.

Following the allegations, it was decided in a panchayat that the class IV employee will place Rs 12,000 in a temple on June 23.

However, Ram Krishan did not reach home in Babyal yesterday. His relatives found him near Bhur Mandi. He was taken to the Civil Hospital where he was declared brought dead.

Thereafter, his relatives alleged that the doctors did not offer sympathy and they also alleged that Ram Krishan’s death could be linked to the theft incident where they claimed that false charges were levelled against him.

Fatehabad, June 17
Members of the district unit of the Haryana Civil Medical Services (HCMS) Association and the Paramedical Staff Association yesterday held a demonstration to express their resentment over the action of the district administration in conducting a search at the residence of the Civil Surgeon, Dr Love Dutta.

Agitating doctors and paramedical staff submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner condemning the action of the administration.

The City Magistrate, Fatehabad, Mr Satbir Singh Kundu, had raided the official residence of the Civil Surgeon.

However, the raiding party did not find anything objectionable at his residence. The City Magistrate said he searched the residence of the Civil Surgeon following orders from his superiors.

The incident took a new turn yesterday when members of the HCMS Association and the Paramedical Staff Association came out in support of the Civil Surgeon. Doctors working at various government hospitals of the district and paramedical staff gathered at the mini secretariat and protested against the administration.

They deplored the alleged highhandedness of the administrative officials and said the raiding party was guilty of criminal trespass and should be punished accordingly.

They submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner, Mr O.P. Langayan, demanding action against the officials responsible for the “illegal raid”. They said the incident had lowered the reputation of doctors in public esteem and had also defamed a senior officer of the district.

The DC reportedly assured them that suitable investigation would be conducted into the matter.

Ransom sought from Cong leader
Tribune News Service

Ambala, June 17
A senior Congress leader in Ambala district, also an industrialist, has allegedly received a letter demanding ransom. The letter was purportedly sent by the Nishan Singh gang two days back. It bore signatures of Kuldeep Shahpuria. A demand of Rs 20 lakh has been made in the letter.

It has been demanded that the leader should meet a person in the Ambala Central Jail. The letter mentions that the gang had gunned down Raj Kumar of Sarsehri village and Narender Arora of Kaithal.

The leader has met SP Ambala Amitabh Dhillon and sought police protection.

Mr Dhillon said a case had been registered and the authenticity of the letter was being verified.

Chandigarh, June 17
Mr Deepinder Hooda, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s US-educated son, is not happy with the state of education in Haryana.

It is learnt that the young MP from Rohtak will launch an “education rath yatra” in two blocks of his constituency on August 15 to create awareness about the necessity of education.

Mr Deepinder Hooda, said sources close to him, would advocate the importance of learning English by students because of the edge the language gave to aspirants in the job market.

Asking people to put their heart into learning English may not be a very good idea politically. But Mr Deepinder Hooda is going to talk about this irrespective of its political fallout, said an aide of the MP.

It is learnt that the most important aspect of Mr Deepinder Hooda’s campaign will be to get school dropouts back to their classes. For this, he will contact various foundations supporting educational initiatives and also try to get the state government to help such students.

The campaign is expected to enlighten Mr Deepinder Hooda about various reasons why a boy or a girl drops out of school. The phenomenon apparently troubles the young MP.

The yatra, starting from August 15, will conclude on August 19. During the yatra, Mr Deepinder Hooda will cover Rohtak and Sapla blocks of Rohtak district. On August 20 and 21, a camp will be organised in Rohtak where students at the primary and secondary levels will interact with experts in various fields.

The campaign will have no political overtones, insist sources close to the Congress MP.

Hisar, June 17
A team of CBI officials nabbed an Income Tax inspector allegedly while accepting a bribe of Rs 25,000 during a raid on the Income Tax Office here yesterday. According to official sources, a Patiala-based firm had lodged a complaint in this regard, following which the raid was conducted as part of a trap.

The six-member CBI team from Chandigarh, led by DSP Karnail Singh, reached the local Income Tax Office around 12 noon and remained there till 4 p.m. During the raid, Inspector Suresh Thakral was caught allegedly while accepting the amount from a representative of the Patiala-based firm. The CBI team arrested the inspector and took him along.

Meanwhile, a team of the state Vigilance Bureau nabbed SDO (Public Health) Chander Mohan, posted at Sirsa, allegedly while accepting a bribe of Rs 5,000 from power contractor Buta Ram of Madho Singhana village for issuing duplicate bills.

In yet another instance, Haryana Roadways duty inspector Dhyan Singh was nabbed by a Vigilance Bureau team allegedly while accepting a bribe of Rs 1,000 from driver Ved Prakash in lieu of fixing his bus route.

Man drugged, cash stolen
Tribune News Service

Ambala, June 17
A man was drugged and some cash, which he was carrying, was stolen in Ambala Sadar this afternoon.

Nathi Ram, a resident of Bihta village was found in an unconscious state near Farookha Khalsa School. Police personnel took him to the Civil Hospital, Ambala Cantt. He had come to Ambala Cantt to withdraw Rs 20,000 from the bank.

Rewari, June 17
A function to provide assistance to poor women and meritorious students of the district was held under the auspices of the District Red Cross Society (DRCS ) and the District Welfare Department here yesterday.

The Irrigation and Revenue Minister, Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, who was the chief guest at the function, distributed 300 sewing machines among poor women and widows’ daughters of marriageable age who had been selected from various wards of the town.

Simultaneously, he also presented bank drafts for Rs 10,000 each to 81 meritorious students, including 20 girls, under the Dr B.R. Ambedkar scholarship scheme for meritorious students, recently launched by the Welfare Department.

Capt Yadav exhorted the women to make good use of the sewing machines to eke out a living for their families.

Making a mention of the Rs 30-lakh financial assistance given to the poor and the needy by the DRCS in the past one year, the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Mahender Kumar, said in the coming 12 months as many as 50 centres would be set up where training in sewing would be given to poor women throughout the district. He also exhorted the affluent sections of society to come forward to help the underprivileged to prevent youths from taking to crime.

Rewari, June 17
The owners of as many as 33 saw mills (wood-based units), operating in the Rewari, Bawal and Nahar areas of the district have closed down their units, while the remaining 145 saw mills, whose documents were found in order, continue to function in the district.

The Divisional Forest Officer, Mr R.K. Sharma, said that the documents of the 33 saw mills were found insufficient and invalid in the face of an apex court order which stated that all such wood-based units, which came up after October 30, 2002, could not be permitted to remain in operation.

Mr Sharma said that a detailed list of the remaining 145 saw mills had been submitted to the high-powered state committee.

Yamunanagar, June 17
University Grants Commission has selected Guru Nanak Khalsa College as ‘centre with potential for excellence’. It is the only college to receive this scheme in the state this year.

The college, which was declared as the best college among non-government aided colleges of Kurukshetra University in 2004, was accredited at A + level by the National Assessment and Accredition Council last year. Among non professional colleges this is the only post graduate college in the state to receive this grading from NAAC on account to its outstanding achievements in academics, sport, NCC, NSS and cultural activities. — TNS

Ambala June 17
The Department of Technical Education, Haryana, will launch its ‘on line-off campus’ counselling for admission to degree and diploma level courses from June 18. The facility will be available on the department website i.e. techeduhry.nic.in

While talking to media persons here today, the director, Technical Education, Mr M.P. Gupta said that the department had decided to abolish the state-level entrance test for BE B.Tech and management courses. The admission to these courses would be based upon the National level test AIEEE-2006 conducted by the CBSE and the MAT conducted by the AIMA respectively.

He said that the admission for further technical courses like MCA, MBA, B. Pharmacy and Hotel Management would be based on State Entrance Tests because there was no National level test for these courses. Thus, in case of admission in Engineering and Management courses, the students shall not have to appear for multiple entrance tests. The new system of online counselling would replace the physical counselling.

Mr Gupta said that till last year, students and parents used to travel more than 100 kms on average to the designated place for physical counselling. 

Yamunanagar, June 17
Chaos prevailed at a sewing machine distribution function in Jagadhri here today and the beneficiaries, villagers with yellow cards, had to return without the machines.

The MLA, who had to distribute the machines, said she would take up the matter with the Chief Minister as members of the Jagadhri block demanded that the C and D-category people among the yellow card holders should also get the machines.

Hundreds of villagers gathered at the Block Samiti Office well ahead of the scheduled time.

The 30 samiti members had invited 175 villagers to receive the machines. The samiti had invited the Yamunanagar MLA and Health Secretary, Dr Krishna Pandit, to distribute the machines.

Later, the samiti members came to know that only A and B-category yellow card holders would be getting the machines and only 40 machines would be distributed. They objected to it and demanded that C and D-category villagers too should be given away the machines. The members and villagers said if the C and D-category villagers were not to be given the machines then why they were called at the function.

Mr Islam Gujjar, vice-chairman of the samiti said all yellow card holders should be given the machines.

It is to be mentioned here that 400 sewing machines, purchased from the funds meant for construction of toilets, are lying in a store of the samiti office for several months.