Sirsa, June 29
The Dera Sacha Sauda followers today decided to continue their indefinite fast even after the Punjab and Haryana High Court granted interim bail to dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh till August 6 in a case registered against him in Bathinda under Section 295-A.

The dera said the protest would continue as there was no let up in atrocities being committed against dera followers in Punjab.

Dera’s chief spokesman Aditya Arora, while reacting on the High Court orders at a press conference here this evening, said “the matter is sub judice and our legal team is handling the matter so we will not comment on it.

However, the dera followers will continue their fast unto death staged in front of DC office as the atrocities against the dera followers continue in Punjab”.

He said “we have not closed the option to sort out the conflict with Sikhs

But we are hurt about the way in which our three apology letters have been rejected by the Sikh high priests.

We have great respect for 10th Guru Gobind Singh and Sikh Sangat. The dera had tendered a apology to the supreme Guru Gobind Singh and had sent the signed third letter to Sikh high priests.

“Now we will open dialogue only when the Sikh high priests will clarify who is supreme and to whom we can tender a fresh apology which is acceptable to them” he added.

Meanwhile, the decision of the High Court came as a relief for the dera followers who were eagerly waiting for the court orders.

Even before the religious discourse of the dera chief, many of the speakers expressed relief over the court orders while addressing dera followers at Majlis ground.

Meanwhile, a team of Haryana Police personnel, carrying security equipment- a part of Z plus security to be provided to dera chief, reached the dera today.

As many as 36 police personnel, including commandos and bulletproof vehicle, will be provided to the dera chief under Z-plus security cover.

Fatehabad, June 29
The police and civil authorities in the district have been put on alert after the announcement of ‘Sikh Sammelan’ at Rattia in this district on July 11.

The Sikh high priests had given a call for the sammelan to pressurise Haryana government to arrest Sant Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh of the Dera Sacha Sauda in the blasphemy case.

The Sikh sangat today moved a formal application before the Deputy Commissioner O.P Sheoran seeking permission for the rally as well as for the use of loudspeakers in the rally.

The application moved by Sukhwinder Singh, state president of the Shri Guru Granth Satkaar Sabha, Haryana, said over 25,000 Sikhs were expected to attend the rally and sought permission to hold the rally in the grain market in Rattia town.

Sheoran, while confirming the application, said he was yet to take a decision on it.

Shri Guru Granth Satkaar Sabha, Haryana, is a religious body of Sikhs in Haryana.

Sukhwinder Singh told mediapersons today that the proposed July 11 rally would be a purely religious rally and the organisers would not allow it to take political colour.

He said the five Sikh high priests would preside over the proceedings of the rally.

Meanwhile, the IG, Hisar Range, Y.P. Singhal today addressed a meeting of senior officers of the district on this issue.

DC Sheoran, SP Saurabh Singh and the SP, Sirsa, Vikas Arora attended the meeting.

The administration, it is learnt, has decided to wait and watch till the Sikh community finalises its venue.

The authorities, it is learnt, are not sure whether Sukhwinder Singh or his Shri Guru Granth Satkaar Sabha is authorised by the Sikh high priests to move application on their behalf.

The reason behind the predicament of the authorities, according to sources, is that the local Sikh leaders, whom the authorities contacted for information, were unaware of the exact venue of the meeting or the number of persons expected to take part in the rally.

Kaithal, June 29
Jagdish Singh Jhinda, president of the Haryana Sikh Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee, said here that the Sikhs of Haryana fully supported the decision taken by Akal Takht rejecting the ‘mafinama’ tendered by the Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda chief.

Jhinda stated this while addressing a press conference today. He said the language and the way mafinama had been sent to the Akal Takht showed that the chief had not written it with a clean heart.

He said: “Baba should offer himself for arrest in view of the warrants issued by a Punjab court as no one is above law.”

Jhinda also took the strong exception to the decision of calling a ‘Sarbat Khalsa’ at Ratia town of Haryana on July 11.

He said it seemed that this decision had been taken under political pressure and he appealed to review this decision. Sarbat Khalsa should be called at any Takht and it should not be called at a town like Ratia, which was neither a historical town nor had any connection with the Sikh history, he added.

On the formation of separate HSGPC, Jhinda said a committee constituted by the Haryana government headed by Haryana minister H.S. Chatha has submitted its report to the government.

The body would be able to manage Sikh shrines in the state independently.

Rohtak, June 29
A large number of members and followers of the Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, Haryana, today marched in protest and submitted a memorandum, seeking action against Satlok Ashram (Karontha) preacher Sant Rampal.

The protesters, led by sabha president Acharya Baldev, submitted the memorandum to the Chief Minister through the local deputy commissioner. In the memorandum, the Arya Samajis have demanded action against Sant Rampal for allegedly running anti-social activities and anti-Arya Samaj propaganda from jail. — TNS

Ambala, June 29
Haryana ad hoc SGPC chief Jagdish Singh Jhinda has asked Akal Takht to cancel the proposed Sarbat Khalsa conference to be organised at Ratia on July 11 as it will create a law and order problem in the state.

He alleged that it was a conspiracy to provoke the Sikhs of the state and it would be opposed by his organisation at every level.

Talking to mediapersons here today, he said the conference should have been held somewhere in Punjab.

He said the organising of the conference at a place like Ratia had a definite political undertone to it.

He said Dera Sacha Sauda chief should surrender before the Punjab police on moral ground. More so, when non-bailable warrants have already issued against him by a court.

Replying to a question, he said Haryana SGPC had welcomed the decision of Akal Takht in which it rejected the “mafinama” of the dera chief.

He said the dera chief should personally appear before Akal Takht to seek apology as he had hurt the religious sentiments of the Sikhs.

He said the Haryana government should provide all assistance to the Punjab police in arresting the dera chief.

He said a meeting of the action committee to deal with the dera issue had been convened at Fatehgarh Sahib in the evening where the matter would be discussed.

He said he would raise the issue of Ratia conference at the meeting.aReferring the granting of recognition to Haryana SGPC by the state government, he said recently he had held a meeting with the chief minister, who had assured of making an announcement in this regard soon to honour the sentiments of Sikhs of Haryana.

Ambala, June 29
Upset with the decision taken by INLD municipal council leader Hira Lal Yadav to abstain from the special meeting for the no-confidence motion against MC Ambala Sadar president Neelam Sharma, two INLD councillors today tendered their resignation from the party's primary membership.

Councillors Gagan Dang and Naveen Yadav tendered their resignation to INLD district president Surjeet Sondha as well as state president Ashok Arora.

Gagan Dang said he had resigned due to “political circumstances.”

The decision taken by Hira Lal Yadav to abstain from the meeting tantamounted to extending support to the Congress. It was against the party's directions, he said.

He said even though they were ready to attend the meeting, Hira Lal Yadav decided otherwise. “Yadav's decision is not in consonance with the party high command's directive to attend the meeting,” he said.

Naveen Yadav stated that the decision to abstain from the meeting went in favour of the Congress. “Undoubtedly, it was a wrong decision and we are of the strong opinion that we should have been allowed to attend the meeting. In protest against this, I have decided to quit from the primary membership of the INLD,” he said.

During the meeting for the no-confidence motion, 17 councillors were present while INLD councillors were conspicous by their absence. If the INLD councillors had turned up for the meeting, the quorum for the meeting would have been completed.

Their absence was unexpected since all five councillors had signed the application seeking no-confidence motion against Neelam Sharma.

Yamunanagar, June 29
Dr Reddy’s Foundation, Hyderabad, will be upgrading skills of 15,000 unemployed educated rural youth from Haryana, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh for sustainable income generation through Gramin Livelihood Advancement Business School (LABS). By this, the foundation will be helping trained youth in finding jobs and placements.

The training programme will start next month and will be implemented in phases. As many as 5,000 youth would be selected from each of the three states.

The programme will be implemented in 30 districts (10 in each state) and 500 youth will be selected from each of the selected districts. The ministry of rural development is financing the scheme under the Swaran Jayanti Gramin Swarojgar Yojna (SGSY).

The selection process for the youth was underway in Haryana and had been completed in Himachal Pradesh. Selection of 5,000 youth in Punjab, in the age group of 18 to 35 years, was likely to be started in August. A sum of Rs 2.5 crore would be spent in each of the three states for the projects, the sources said.

“Youth in the age group of 18-35 years will be jointly selected by the faculty members (from the foundation) and additional deputy commissioners concerned. Special emphasis is being given to select at least 80 per cent of the beneficiaries from among the educated (10th class) and upward youth from the BPL list and the remaining from the needy group.

District-level committees, headed by deputy commissioner or additional deputy commissioner, and consisting of block development officer and representative of Dr Reddy’s Foundation would be formed”.

Basic infrastructure (preferably at district headquarters) especially building having at least six big rooms with all basic facilities and support should be provided by district administration concerned. Efforts would be made to select trainers at local levels.

Selected youth would be provided four months’ training in the trades of marketing, computers, nursing, hotel management and automobiles. “After the training the foundation would be helping youth in finding jobs”, said Anil Kumar Bura, zonal head (north) of the foundation.

He added that the training of youth who had been selected from Rohtak, Jhajjar, Bhiwani, Jind and Sonepat districts of Haryana would be starting by the mid July. Similarly, selection process will start in Yamunanagar, Ambala, Panchkula, Karnal and Panipat in September.

Rohtak, June 29
The authorities of Mahrishi Dayanand University (MDU) here have signed MoUs with two leading Canadian universities-Lakehead University, Thunderbay (Ontario) and Brock University, St. Catherine (Ontario).

The MoUs, signed by the MDU Vice-Chancellor, Prof R.S Dhankar, during his official tour of Canada in April-May, were approved at the 146th meeting of the university’s Academic Council (AC) held here recently.

Talking to The Tribune here today, Professor Dhankar said faculty and students’ exchange, joint executive development programme and research and joint degree/twinning programme etc. would form part of the collaborative linkages with these foreign universities. “The objective of forging these international linkages is to improve the university’s academic standard, provide global academic exposure to its students and faculty and expand its academic horizons to emerge as a centre of academic excellence,” the Vice-Chancellor asserted.

Chandigarh, June 29
Haryana Tourism will set up Haryana Travel Mart with the involvement of private sector to boost tourism in the state. The Travel Mart will be formed on the pattern of the Kerala Travel Mart, a highly successful venture of the Kerala government. It will promote Haryana as an attractive tourist destination world-wide.

Disclosing this here today commissioner and secretary, tourism, Keshni Anand Arora said through this effort an attempt will also be made to generate employment and direct flow of taxes into the state, thereby alleviating poverty. She added that the need for setting up the mart had been felt in the wake of recent spurt in travel and tourism in the country.

Arora said the mart will have Haryana tourism minister, Ms Kiran Choudhary, as its patron-in-chief and Subhash Goyal, president of the International Tour Travel Association will be its chairman with hotelier Pradeep Jain as its president.

She also disclosed that Haryana Tourism’s annual Mango Mela will start tomorrow at Pinjore.

Raj Kumar, secretary, agriculture said Haryana was trying to replicate what was being done in the field of horticulture in the states like Maharashtra. He assured that best varieties of fruits and vegetable seeds would be made available in order to minimise the productivity gap in the state as compared to that at the national level. 

Yamunanagar, June 29
People living below poverty line (BPL) could not be benefited by the schemes run for them as others took advantage of those schemes during the rules of the previous governments. Congress-led UPA government was committed to provide all benefits of different schemes for BPL to the beneficiaries.

Union minister Kumari Seilja stated this while addressing rallies at Kot Mustka, Kot Basawa, Kotda Kanhan, Kadkoli, Kehilawala and Panjeto villages of Chhachhrouli Assembly constituency. — TNS

Chandigarh, June 29
The Haryana government has forwarded 12 irrigation schemes worth Rs 1,217 crore to the Centre for its approval under the Bharat Nirman programme.

Disclosing this the irrigation minister, Capt Ajay Sing, said under these schemes the irrigation potential of 2.38 lakh hectares of land would be augmented during the next four years.

He said besides the work on renovation of Mesani Bairaj reservoir had been started and a sum of Rs 6.7 crore would be spent on this scheme. A scheme worth Rs 200 crore had been chalked out to check the flood fury in Jind, Jhajjar, Rohtak, Bhiwani and Hisar districts.

The minister said work on 109-km-long BML Hansi Butana multipurpose canal of 2,000 cusec capacity was in progress. This would cost 354 crore. He said after the commissioning of the canal, West Yamuna Canal and Lift Irrigation system would get more water and 16 districts of the state would get benefit of this canal.