CM mourns death of Sundri Devi
Chandigarh, May 27
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has expressed his deep shock and sorrow on the death of Sundri Devi, mother of former IAS officer of the Haryana cadre and Executive Director of the World Bank Dhanendra Kumar. The CM expressed his condolences to the bereaved family. The Haryana IAS Officers' Association has also mourned the death of Sundri Devi. — TNS

Fatehabad, May 27
A number of families associated with the Dera Sacha Sauda today snapped their ties with the sect and returned to their respective religion at Tohana town in this district.

The families were offered 'siropas' at Gurdwara Toor Nagar.

Dharam Singh and Pandit Mahadev, who led the families snapping their ties with the dera, said they were disillusioned with the dera after its management foiled the efforts by the Sarv Dharam Sabha to resolve the current impasse.

They alleged that the dera had of late become a forum for political activities and that it was no longer a pure religious sect.

Prominent among those who, along with their families, snapped ties with the dera included Satpal Singh, Lakha Singh, Leela Singh, Lakhbir Singh, Jeet Singh, Mithu Singh, Charan Singh, Amarjit Singh, Mahadev, Tarsem Singh, Raja Singh, Jagmel Singh, Roda Singh and Labh Singh.

Hisar, May 27
The Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) has revised its guidelines for relocation of meters to minimise theft of power by unscrupulous consumers by tampering meters.

A spokesman of the DHBVN has said here that the meters would now be fixed in metal boxes by Maintenance and Protection (M&P) laboratory of the DHBVN itself and the boxes would be welded shut between sealing studs in continuous manner before being handed over to the operations staff for relocation.

While relocating the meters outside the consumer premises the supervisory staff of the operation sub-division concerned would accompany the contractor and ensure that all meters were fixed under their direct supervision.

Only six meters would be fixed on one pole - two each of blue, black and orange colours.

In case, the number of connections near a pole are more, then an additional broken pole would be provided for hanging the meter boxes.

All the meters would now be relocated in metallic meter cup boards (MCBs) outside the consumer premises.

The meters would be sealed with numbered seals by the field operations officers immediately after the boxes are fixed on poles and proper record would be maintained by the field offices in a special register.

All the already relocated meters would be checked by the officials of the DHBVN. They would seal the meters and replace meters after checking accuracy to ensure that these are not tampered with.

If any meter is found defective at site the same will be changed within 48 hours. It would be ensured that there is no inconvenience to consumers during the process of relocation of meters.

The Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) has fixed the target of shifting 87,500 meters of domestic consumers in urban areas.

Along with this, another 3,300 non-domestic consumer meters having load more than 20 KW would also be moved out of premises during the current financial year.

This was stated by Technical I director P.S. Bhatia and Technical-II director S.S Gakhar at a meeting of senior officers of the Nigam.

The Nigam has erected and energised separate 11 KV level feeders to supply electricity to hospitals, community health centres and primary health centres, including government hospitals of Panchkula, Ambala City, etc.

Kaithal, May 27
The elected members of the local gurdwara committee have expressed their resentment against the non-formation of the gurdwara committee even though 18 months have passed since the elections and publication of the notification.

They called it a glaring example of discrimination against Sikhs in Haryana by the SGPC.

Talking to The Tribune today, Sarjit Singh, an advocate and former deputy district attorney, who was elected to the local gurdwara committee on December 11, 2005, showed a copy of the letter dated May 1 addressed to the Sikh Gurdwara Election Commission (SGEC) at Chandigarh, in which he and other elected members had expressed their displeasure over the non-formation of local gurdwara committee by the SGPC, Amritsar.

The members alleged that in the last elections, the Badal group could not get a majority and as SAD leader Parkash Singh Badal exercises influence over the SGPC, the authority did not take initiative to form the new gurdwara committee here.

In the letter, the members have pointed that some influential Sikh leaders close to Badal had prevailed upon SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar not to form new gurdwara committees in Kaithal district.

Interestingly, in response to the letter, commission secretary Gurdev Singh wrote a letter to SHPC secretary on May 8 in which he has urged the SGPC authorities to complete the process of formation of Kaithal and other gurdwara committees in Haryana, elections for which were held long ago.

The commission has also referred to its earlier letter addressed to the SGPC in which it had requested the authorities to take action under Section 101 of the Sikh Gurdwara ACT 1925 and complete the process to elect president and vice-president of each committee for management of gurdwaras within 60 days from the date of issue of notification under Section 88 (3) of the Act.

The commission said in response to its this letter, the SGPC authorities informed that action was being taken in respect of Punjab and in respect of Chandigarh, process had been completed but nothing had been mentioned about formation of local committees in the state of Haryana.

The commission had further pointed that it had sent a copy of the notification issued by this commission regarding constitution of local committees for management of gurdwaras in the state of Haryana.

The commission also pointed out that it had received similar complaints from many other places and urged the SGPC authorities to complete the process of election by forming local managing committees for various gurdwaras.

Sarjit Singh said if the SGPC authorities now failed to follow the directives issued by SGEC, he and his colleagues would be forced to knock at the doors of Punjab and Haryana High Court.

He also said SGPC should act as a watchdog of the interests of Sikhs and not indulge in politics.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that SGPC has not constituted gurdwara managing committees for Cheeka and Garhi Nazeer of this district, which has caused resentment among the elected members and other members of Sikh community.

Karnal, May 27
With the reported cases of malaria crossing 300 in the district, the health authorities have mooted a plan to check its further spread.

The district health department has surveyed the affected areas and started spraying. Fogging will soon be done.

Till the end of third week of May the figure of malaria patients available with the Civil Hospital was 317, with two or three patients reporting daily.

Each year the district ranks among the worst-hit by malaria. No case of Japanese encephalitis or dengue had been reported in the district so far, confirmed the district health officials.

According to CMO Dr D. P. Lochan maximum cases of malaria were reported from the Assandh and Balla blocks of the districts.

Meanwhile, he has urged the residents not to allow water getting stagnant near the residential areas.

He said that in case of anyone feeling showing symptoms the patients should approach government hospitals and dispensaries for blood sampling.

There is full treatment of five days available in government hospitals and dispensaries, he added.

On fogging sources said that past experience showed it was non-effective to check malaria. Against a common belief, doctors engaged in the anti-malaria drive said sprays should be used in the residential premises, but should be avoided in the cattle sheds.

An health official said malaria affected human beings and not animals. It is for this reason that spraying is not recommended for sheds etc.

Fatehabad, May 27
The police nabbed five persons while they were hatching a conspiracy to loot passing vehicles in Bahbalpur village last night.

The police also recovered a pistol, two live cartilages, an iron rod and some other sharp-edged weapons from their possession.

SP Saurabh Singh said a police party was on a routine patrol duty on Saturday, when it received a tip-off that Chanan Singh, Sukha Singh, Gurdev Singh, Ramesh and Sukhvinder, all residents of Banawali Sottar village, were hatching a conspiracy to loot vehicles.

The police party raided the building and nabbed the accused red-handed.

On the information of DSP Badri Parshad, the Siwan police registered a case under Sections 420, 467, 468,471 and 120-B of the IPC against Kuldip, Kishan and Baldev, all residents of Kakarala .

All accused were arrested by a police. Later they were produced in a local court and remanded to 14 days’ judicial custody.