Sirsa, June 19
As tension further increased in the district, instead of outdoor diplomacy, for the first time to sort out the conflict between Sikhs and dera followers, the district administration today formed a peace committee, comprising 32 members, including 28 members from the representative of various organisations.

The committee which was constituted in the evening by deputy commissioner V.Umashankar will also assist and advise the district magistrate and superintendent of the police to maintain law and order. Besides it, the committee was formed for the effective interaction and mediation between the two groups after interacting with representatives of both the sides.

However in view of the circumstances prevailing in the district, it’s no easy task to solve the conflict between the Sikhs and the dera followers without eliminating the root cause of the problem.

The tension has again enhanced after the dera announced that it would organise religious discourses in every village. On the other hand, Sikhs organisations move to give court arrest if the dera chief was not arrested for hurting the sentiments of Sikhs makes the situation further fluid. The dera has also asked its followers to make appropriate arrangements for their defence.

Under the Akal Takht edict, the Sikhs have already boycotted dera followers in every village. There are more incident of dispute between the Sikhs and dera followers in past few days.

Tension exists in areas like Dabwali and Kalanwali. Two incidents of conflict had already been witnessed in Dadu village. Besides it, there has been minor incidents of a tussle between the two groups every day at different places. Some of the dera followers yesterday embraced Sikhism at a gurdwara in Dadu village.

When contacted deputy commissioner Umashankar said that besides the two SDMs, and the DSP we took 28 public representatives of various groups to reduce tension.

None of the members belong to any particular group, therefore they would remain neutral in any situation. He said the situation was under control.

Earlier, only the administrative and police officials had been making efforts, he added.

Keeping in view the growing tension the security has been further tightened along the border areas of the district and also around the dera.

Karnal, June 19
A Haryana Roadways bus crushed a local resident to death near government school here this evening.

The deceased was identified as Sanjeev Kumar, a resident of Ramnagar locality of the town. The speeding bus overran the motorcycle, killing the victim on the spot.

The bus of Jind depot was on the way to Jind from Karnal. Police sources said the driver of the bus fled away from the spot after the accident. The police impounded the bus.

Fatehabad, June 19
Site for the proposed nuclear power plant at Kumaria village in the district is likely to be altered, as the previous piece of land that was selected during the 1984 survey has now become a fertile one with the passage of time and improvement in the modes of irrigation.

The team of senior officers from the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) that visited the area yesterday has identified an alternate piece of land situated in the revenue areas of three villages - Gorakhpur, Kajalheri and Kumaria.

Though the team comprising of executive director S.Thakur and member secretary of the NPCIL M.N. Ray would submit their report to the Central government and final decision regarding the selection of the site would be taken only after that, but the team had to look for an alternative site yesterday because it found that the site selected earlier might not be suitable for the project.

The survey team of NPCIL experts, according to deputy commissioner O.P. Sheoran, was looking for 2,100 acres of land for the nuclear power project, which could fit in certain conditions.

These conditions are contiguity of land, near rectangular shape of the land and uninterrupted supplies of at least 320 cusecs of water besides an alternate source of water supplies in case of failure of one source. Preference will be given to land that is not cultivable.

The government, according to the DC, has proposed to instal four reactors of a capacity of 700 MW each.

An additional 300 acres of land is needed for constructing a colony for employees working on the project.

The Bhakra’s main branch is very near to the identified site thereby addressing the problem of water supplies.

Sidhmukh and Kishangarh branch canal are also very near to the new site which can help the supply of water in case of emergency.

Meanwhile, the Haryana unit of the Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Sabha has demanded that only that land should be acquired for this purpose, which is not cultivable.

State vice-president of the Sabha Krishan Swaroop Gorakhpuria said their organisation would not allow the acquisition of a fertile land for the purpose of setting up of a nuclear power plant.

Chandigarh, June 19
Haryana agriculture minister H. S. Chatha today said he had requested Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to relieve him from the post of chairman of the High Power Purchase Committee (HPPC).

The agriculture minister said he made the request to the Chief Minister about ten days back at Chandigarh. He said being the agriculture minister, he was heading various related committees and boards and was finding the responsibility of chairman of the purchase committee an extra burden.

The state government, it is learnt, has decided to replace Chatha with state finance minister Birender Singh as the chairman of the HPPC.

Birender was earlier a member of the committee but did not attend any of the meetings presided over by Chatha since he considered himself senior to the agriculture minister. In the order of precedence of the state government also Birender Singh’s name figures ahead of the agriculture minister.

Chatha, who has been inducted as a member in the new committee headed by Birender Singh, said he had no problem with attending the meetings of the restructured committee. “I do not get driven by my ego in such matters,” Chatha said.

He, however, made light of Birender Singh’s claim to seniority and said the finance minister first became an MLA in 1977, five years after Chatha had become an MLA for the first time in 1972. The agriculture minister added that the order of precedence of the state government also should not be considered sacrosanct by those covered by the order.

Ambala, June 19
Residents of posh sectors of HUDA in Ambala City are irked due to the lack of basic amenities there.

This was highlighted by the welfare associations of these sectors.

There are five sectors of HUDA situated close to the old part of the city.

Sector 7, which is the oldest, was built three decades ago. Sectors 1, 8, 9 and 10 were developed later.

There are around 1,000 houses in these sectors.

The roads in almost all these sectors are in bad condition and it gets worse during the rainy season, when they get water-logged.

The sewerage system of Sectors 8, 9 and 10 is also faulty. There is no proper disposal of sewerage in Sector 8 and 9, causing a great deal of trouble for the residents.

Stray cattle roam about freely and most of the parks are undeveloped.

Although the welfare associations of these sectors have taken up these issues with the estate officer several times, it has fallen on deaf ears.

Rewari, June 19
An inter-caste marriage between a Rajput youth and a 21-year-old Dalit girl, which was solemnised in a court here in March, has become a bed of thorns for the youth as well as the girl owing to offensive defiance put up by the girl’s relatives.

Despite his long and assiduous efforts the youth has not been able to get back his legally wedded wife, who was craftily whisked away from here by her relatives on May 13 and was now being kept in confinement somewhere in Uttar Pradesh.

The youth, Pramod, son of late Yogesh Kumar, resident of railway colony, here, and the girl, Pinki (21), daughter of railway guard Nanak Chand, went in for a court marriage here on March 22.

Soon after the wedding when Pinki was whisked away allegedly by her relatives, she made a representation to the district police chief, at whose intervention she was again allowed to live with her legally wedded husband here.

The girl’s uncle, Om Veer, came here on May 13 and reportedly persuaded Pinki to accompany him to Veerpura saying that her mother was seriously ill.

On May 16, when Pramod received a phone call from Pinki, he secured a search warrant from the city magistrate’s court following which he, along with two police officials, went to Veerpura. But they had to return empty-handed as neither Pinki nor Om Veer were found there.

Soon afterwards Pramod again received a telephonic call reportedly from Om Veer, who allegedly threatened him with dire consequences if he did not abandon his search for Pinki.

Under such circumstances he recently filed a petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which directed the district police here to initiate action against the offenders.

Consequently, the city police has now registered a case of abduction, criminal intimidation and criminal conspiracy under Sections 365, 366, 506, 120-B and 34 of the IPC against the girl’s father and her uncle Om Veer.

Rohtak, June 19
Apart from providing the much-needed relief from heat wave by bringing down the temperature, the recent spell of rain has brought cheer to the farmers of the region as well.

According to agriculture experts and officials of the department concerned, the early rain will prove to be a boon for the standing crops of sugarcane, cotton, “jowar” and “arhar”, besides the to-be-sown paddy and “bajra” crops.

“The rain will facilitate timely sowing of “bajra” and paddy crops by bringing down temperatures and providing the required water,” said Dr R.P.Sihag, deputy director, Agriculture, while talking to The Tribune here today.

The rain is also good for the already sown crops of cotton, sugarcane, “jowar” and “arhar,” he added.

It may be pertinent to mention here that all five blocks of the district, including Rohtak town, Meham, Kalanaur, Lakhanmajra and Sampla, have received good rain in the past three-four days.

There are reports of moderate to heavy rainfall from other parts of Haryana and neighbouring states as well.

According to experts, the early rain will be beneficial for the farmers in many ways as it would save electricity, water and diesel.

“Thus, it will reduce the cost of cultivation by preparing the fields for timely sowing of paddy without any irrigation,” says Sihag.

Kaithal, June 19
The police has arrested all the six accused who made an attempt on the life of a motorcyclist near Atela village of this district on June 9.

The police has also recovered a pistol and some live cartridges from them.

Giving this information to media persons here the S.P. said six youths on motorcycles had fired shots at Naresh Kumar of Atela village and injured him.

Following this incident the police had registered a case under Section 307, 148. 149. and 506 of the IPC and 25, 54, 59 of the Arms Act and arrested two youths Sewa Singh of Atela and Subhash of deoban village.

After interrogating them during the police remand, the police arrested their co-accused Naresh Kumar of Narwana, Pardeep resident of Matour, Babli alias Billu of Guhna and Dilawar resident of Sega village .

The police also recovered a pistol and cartridges from Babli alias Biloo and all the six accused have been sent to judicial custody, the S.P. added.

Kurukshetra, June 19
Deputy commissioner T. K. Sharma with a team of doctors conducted a raid at an ultrasound centre at Ladwa, 20 km from here, today.

After scrutinising the centre’s records, Sharma said an action should be initiated against the centre situated on the premises of a private nursing home there.

According to a district administration spokesperson, during the initial record inspection, it was found that the number of male children born at the nursing home was more than the number of female children.

Secondly, in abortion cases, majority of them were those who had come from outside. Following detection of other irregularities in the nursing home records, the deputy commissioner has ordered legal action against the nursing home in charge.

Sharma announced that the raids on such centres would continue and those found guilty would be punished under law. A special watch would also be kept on such ultrasound centres’ registration.

Earlier, a meeting of the committee constituted under the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Technique (PNDT) Act was held here today and it was attended by the civil surgeon and other doctors, who unanimously resolved that the raids on all 42 ultrasound centres in this district should continue every now and then.

Later, the deputy commissioner also inspected records of the Ladwa Community Health Centre and sought to know the kind of health services being provided to the patients at this centre.

No FIR has been registered in this regard.

Ambala, June 19
Thieves took away Rs 3,000 from a gurdwara located in village Tezi Mora, near Ambala City, last late evening.

According to information, the robbery came to light when the priest of the gurdwara found its gate open.

On entering the shrine, the priest found the locks of the cash box broken and money missing.