Chandigarh, July 9
The union government has responded to Haryana’s request of additional deployment of security forces in the state to deal with the law and order situation that may arise out of the call by the Sikh clergy to hold a rally on July 11 at Ratia in Fatehabad district. Besides the additional force, Haryana is mobilising its own forces to deal with any untoward incident.

R.S Dalal, DGP, who was in Yamunanagar today reportedly instructed his officers to keep a tight vigil on the situation and ensure that those proceeding towards Fatehabad do not carry any arms or lethal weapons.

Dalal is personally monitoring the inputs and is said to be in touch with his Punjab counterparts.

“The intelligence and other inputs are being monitored and precautionary measures will be taken accordingly. Besides the nine companies of paramilitary forces, we have our own force in place. The atmosphere in the state will not be permitted to be vitiated,” additional director-general of police Dr John V. George said.

The police will be put on patrol duty and nakas to make the force respond to any situation.

Routes in and around Ratia would be changed to ensure smooth flow of 
traffic, senior police officials said.

The Haryana police is quite relived over the fact that the Sikh clergy has approved Ajeetsar Gurdwara as the venue of rally.

The earlier proposal was to hold the rally in the grain market inside the town. Since, the gurdwara is located outside the city; it will not hamper normal life.

Even though Sikh organisations have assured the Haryana government and Fatehabad administration of conducting the rally in a peaceful manner, but the administration is leaving nothing to chance, especially in wake of the Dera Sacha Sauda’s decision to hold “Naamcharcha” in the same area, which is likely to bring a lot of dera followers and followers of Sikh religious and political bodies face to face.

According to the Haryana police intelligence, so far Sikh organisations are only mobilising the locals from the area to attend the rally. Haryana intelligence is banking on their Punjab counterparts to provide inputs on the number of people that are likely to cross over into Haryana from Punjab. But as of now, senior officer said besides local Sikhs not many Sikhs from other districts of Haryana were likely to converge on Ratia.

“But this does not mean that we are concerned about the fall out. We hope everything will pass off peacefully. But at the same time the security arrangements have been beefed up. The situation is well under control, additional forces have been deployed in sensitive places throughout the state. We don’t expect much trouble, but we are watching the situation minutely,” a senior officer said.

Strict orders have been issued to all police throughout the state asking personnel to not allow any group to brandish their swords, lathis or any other weapon.

Fatehabad, July 9
Police personnel in civil clothes will mingle with the crowd to keep a close watch on the activities of troublemakers, if any, during the July 11 ‘Panthic conference’ of Sikh organisations at Ratia.

The call for the rally has been given by Sikh high priests to press for their demand to arrest Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in a blasphemy case.

Authorities have made elaborate arrangements for maintaining law and order during the conference.

A heavy police and paramilitary force, which include 4 IPS officers, 23 DSPs, 29 inspectors, 190 non-gazette officers, 280 head constables and 2,771 constables, have been deployed for various duties on the day of the rally. Saurabh Singh, SP, informed that in all 37 police barriers have been erected at various points to check vehicles coming to Ratia from all directions.

He said to regulate the traffic flow on Wednesday; a team of 5 DSPs, 39 NGOs, 97 HCs and 433 constables would be at work throughout the day. Twenty-four police parties on gypsies and 21 on motorbikes would be on patrolling duty in the vicinity of Ratia.

The authorities have decided to divide the rally pandal in different sectors and each such sector would be under the direct charge of a DSP.

About 100 cops will keep a watch on the activities of the participants.

The police have decided to video graph all programme in order to identify mischief-makers, if any, during the rally. The authorities have also made arrangements for parking vehicles at three different places near the rally venue, which is a large ground adjoining the Ajeetsar Gurdwara situated on the outskirts of Ratia.

The arrangements have been made in such a way that flow of traffic is not affected near the venue and vehicles coming from different directions can be parked much ahead of the venue. While the commoners will have to walk a distance of about 1-2 kilometers for reaching the venue after parking their vehicles, VVIP parking has been made very close to the rally venue.

The Fatehabad-Ratia road will be out of bounds for ordinary commuters on that day and normal vehicular traffic on the road will be diverted via Ayalki and Haroli.

The authorities have identified 10 deras of the area as sensitive and have deployed 2 DSPs, 3 inspectors, 10 NGOs and 170 constables for its security. Besides this, 20 gurdwaras in the vicinity of Ratia have also been identified as sensitive and extra police force has been deployed to safeguard these.

While the authorities have accorded permission to Sikh organisations for holding the conference, a similar application moved by the dera followers to organise ‘Naamcharcha’ was rejected.

Chandigarh, July 9
The resounding victory of the BSP in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections is having its shadow on the social fabric of Haryana. The state is witnessing a phenomenon which was unimaginable in Haryana till a couple of months ago.

Various Brahmin Sabhas are inviting BSP leaders to their platforms to express the community’s gratitude to BSP supremo Mayawati for giving their community a share in power in UP. The BSP leaders’ presence in the Bahmin Sabhas was unthinkable before Mayawati’s victory in UP.

The process started from Panchkula when president of the Haryana Yuva Brahmin Sabha Ashutosh Ranjan organised a function on July 7 at which BSP national general-secretary Maan Singh Manhera was the chief guest.

Leader after leader alleged that their community had been discriminated against by major political parties in the past. They expressed their gratitude to Mayawati for making the Brahmins her partner in power. Manhera did not mince words in expressing the BSP’s intention of repeating its experiment of, what it calls, ‘social engineering’ in Haryana also.

He said the experiment was undertaken in UP after a lot of thought and a widespread survey in that state. A similar survey had been conducted by the party in Haryana also.

Since Kalka had the largest concentration of the Brahmins, the party would field a candidate from this community from here in the next Assembly elections.

A similar function was organised by another Brahmin organisation in Beri town of Jhajjar district yesterday, which attracted good response from the community.

The BSP has nominated seven representatives of the Brahmins as its office-bearers in Haryana. Sources in the party claimed that a large number of a grassroots level Congress leaders have sent their bio-data to the party.

Manhera said the BSP would not enter into alliance with any party in the state. Of course, he said, its doors were open for former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal. Like suspended Congress MP Kuldeep Bishnoi, Manhera also played the non-Jat card when he said his party’s Chief Minister would be a representative of ‘35 biradaris and look after all 36 biradaris’. Haryana is believed to be the home of 36 communities.

What Manhera hinted was that the BSP would project a non-Jat as its Chief Minister candidate, who would not discriminate against the Jats.

Many feel that it is too early to predict the fate of the BSP’s experiment. Though many small-time Brahmin leaders may find the prospects of joining the party tempting, it is difficult to say if the common Brahmins would be able to change their mindset so soon.

Chandigarh, July 9
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today issued notice to the State of Haryana on a public interest litigation seeking action against the panchayat of Karodan Padran Patti village of Kaithal district for alleged ostracisation of the family of a couple killed on June 15 after they married against the wishes of their parents. The deceased, Manoj and Babli, had reportedly faced opposition for their marriage as they had the same familial gotra.

Seeking an inquiry by the sub-divisional magistrate and action against the panchayat, along with other residents involved in the decision, petitioner HC Arora contended that such an action amounted to untouchability and was an offence under provisions of the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955.

Referring to news reports, the petitioner said a diktat by the gram panchayat threatened an imposition of Rs 25,000 fine on anyone found talking to the family. Also, anyone informing about violation of such diktat was promised reward of Rs 11,000.

The petitioner also submitted that the panchayat, which took the decision of social boycott, and villagers participating in the gram panchayat meeting, were liable to be imposed a "collective fine''.

Taking up the petition a Bench comprising the Chief Justice, Mr Justice Vijender Jain, and Mr Justice Mahesh Grover has issued notice of motion for September 5.

Rewari, July 9
The HPCC has taken strong exception to the allegations levelled against Congress President Sonia Gandhi and chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda by the suspended Congress MP Kuldeep Bishnoi at a rally here yesterday.

While rebutting the charges at a press conference today, HPCC spokesman Ved Prakash Vidrohi said Hooda, who was duly elected leader of the Congress legislature party, had become chief minister of the state in a democratic way.

Bhajan Lal had then boycotted the Congress legislature party meeting knowing fully well that he did not enjoy the majority support of the MLAs.

He went on to say that with such a master stroke the Congress President Sonia Gandhi became instrumental in shattering Kuldeep Bishnoi’s dream that power in Haryana would again be vested in the hands of his family which would then rule the roost in the state.

Ridiculing the charges of corruption levelled against the chief minister by Bishnoi, Vidrohi said that it was now common knowledge how the Bhajan family had amassed the huge assets which it owned today and thus it was virtually a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

Having a dig at Bishnoi for his reported utterances in regard to the assumption of chief ministership of the state in the coming times, he said for all intents and purposes it was nothing short of ‘Mungeri Lal ke sapne’.

Chandigarh, July 9
To ensure proper energy audit, the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) plans to install 86,757 meters and distribution transformers at a cost of Rs 205 crore.

A nigam spokesman said the scheme had been sent to the Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) for approval.

Referring to on-the-spot billing, bill distribution and collection, the variation in 20 per cent consumption of electricity would be analysed.

In order to expedite the release of new connections to the applicants, the nigam would evolve strategy to cut down time for the completion of formalities and the proforma would be simplified, he added.

The spokesman said the nigam would also conduct survey to examine the proper implementation of the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana under which 10 villages of each operation circle would be covered by the end of this month.

He said it had decided to release all pending connections to public water works before July 31 to ensure adequate water supply in rural and urban areas.

The nigam would also erect new 11-KV level feeders to ensure independent power supply to the government hospitals, community health centres and primary centres on priority for the convenience of indoor and outdoor patients. — UNI

Ambala, July 9
A local court has remanded a teacher of Government School of Holi village in judicial custody for 14 days for his alleged involvement in an abduction case.

The accused was arrested by the police on charge of abducting a girl student of the school.

The teacher, Gaurav Kumar, allegedly abducted the girl on July 6. When the girl did not return home till evening, her father filed a complaint in the police and expressed his suspicion that the teacher had abducted his daughter.

The Ambala police on a tip-off carried out a raid at Mathura (UP) and recovered the girl from the possession of the teacher.

The police arrested the teacher on charge of abducting the girl. The statement of the girl was also recorded in the court.

Ambala, July 9
Within days of theft from the local Civil Hospital, another case has been reported from the hospital. This time, a doctor’s scooter was stolen by thieves here today.

Three days ago, an air-conditioner was stolen from the chamber of a doctor.

The police has lodged a case on the complaint of Dr Surender Sharma. In his complaint, the doctor alleged that he had parked his scooter outside the emergency ward. When he came out after finishing his shift, he found his scooter missing.

Doctors and paramedical staff of the hospital have been feeling a sense of insecurity working at the hospital.

Two weeks ago, some youths had attacked two patients admitted to the emergency ward with swords and iron rods.

Three persons were seriously injured in the incident and had to be shifted to the PGI, Chandigarh. The doctors on duty had to take evasive action to save themselves from the assailants.

One of the doctors said a permanent police post should be set up on the hospital premises to keep a tab on growing crime there.