Chandigarh, July 24
The maiden attempt at online counselling by the Technical Education Department, Haryana, today, ran into trouble when top rankers of various competitive examinations complained that their institute choices had been modified, barring them a seat in the top engineering institutes of the state.

Flooded with similar complaints from all over Haryana, the department decided to give three more days to candidates till July 27 to ‘correct’ their institute preferences despite closure of registration at midnight. After the matter was brought to the notice of department officials, the list of candidates along with various details, available on its official website, was blocked to check the misuse of information available.

A resident of Chandigarh whose brother was placed in the first 40s said he had filled in the form and given the choice list. However, this morning, after the registration ended last night, he found that his first choice for a seat at a college at Murthal had been deleted.

“I was shocked to see the form had been tampered with and modified. Once my brother gave up the seat, it would have been shown as available and another candidate would have replaced him. Now, despite the high ranking, we have no right over a seat in the college of our choice,” he rued.

The modus operandi of the culprits was simple since they only used the information on one site to modify the data on the other. The web site ‘onlinetesthry.nic.in/ ranklist.aspx’ makes available the application number of entrance test, roll number, rank, name, date of birth among other details. An applicant logging on to ‘tehadmissions.gov.in’ is asked the course he wants to enrol for, his roll number and the password.

Changes were incorporated by the user by first tying in a wrong password. When the login failed, a click on “forgot password?” did the trick. To recall the password, all a candidate needed to do was to fill in four areas of course name, roll number, application number, name and date of birth which were readily available on the other website. By typing this information, the password flashed on the screen.

With this password, the user had access to the form filled in by the candidate and could modify it to suit himself.

“This is a lesson learnt for us and we have rectified the problem. In case a candidate forgets his password, he can come and collect it from the head office personally,” additional director, D.K. Gupta, said.

Panchkula, July 24
The stage is set for the much-awaited Haryana Urban Development Authority’s (HUDA) draw of lot for plots in Sector 31 slated for tomorrow.

Last-minute details for the smooth conduct of the draw were finalised as officers and staff of HUDA spent the day preparing a blueprint for tomorrow.

The draw will get under way at the HUDA office in Sector 6 and the authorities have made adequate seating arrangements, including a separate enclosure for senior citizens.

HUDA has received around 88,000 applications for the 193 plots of different dimensions.

Two screens will be put up at the entry and the rear end of the building to enable public have a close view of the draws.

Two loudspeakers will also be installed for public convenience.

Also, HUDA has made arrangements with the local cable network to air of the draw live from the venue.

While there are 7,677 applicants for 35 plots in the one-kanal category, nearly 15,000 applicants have applied for the 45 14-marla plots in the sector.

The authority has received 24,321 applications for 41 plots in the 10-marla category, over 10,000 applications for six-marla plots and 30,509 applications for 48 four-marla plots.

Sources in HUDA said 742 applicants who failed to deposit the requisite earnest money or who applied for more than one plot had been disqualified. 

Kurukshetra, July 24
“I wish all my daughters in Haryana should follow the path shown by astronaught late Kalpana Chawla and if my wish is fulfilled, our nation will progress leaps and bounds”, said Chief Minister Bhupender Singh Hooda while inaugurating the Kalpana Chawla Memorial Planetarium (KCMP) near here today.

Mr Hooda said they were proud of Haryana’s daughter Kalpana Chawla, who studied at Karnal and started her career in National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the USA and went in space as the first woman from India.

Paying rich tributes to Kalpana Chawla, Hooda said that this was the emotional moment when the KCMP was being dedicated to the nation in memory of Kalpana Chawla.

The coming generations would definitely be benefited from this planetarium.

Hooda added that a Medical College in the name of Kalpana Chawla would be constructed at Karnal with the help of NASA.

He also paid tributes on behalf of Mrs Ambika Soni, Union Minister of Tourism and Culture, who could not make it.

MP Naveen Jindal said that the students’ anxiety regarding solar and astronomical systems would be satisfied and the scientific thinking of our coming generations would improve at this planetarium.

While addressing the gathering, I.K. Mukherjee, director-general of the National Council of Science Museums (NCSM), hoped that this planetarium would be a hub of scientific activities for students.

Father of late Kalpana Chawla, Banarsi Dass Chawla read out a letter written by late Kalpana Chawla to the director of Nehru Planetarium, New Delhi, expressing her wish to reach the far-off stars which are visible in the sky at night.

Piush Panderwani, Principal Secretary, Science and Technology, Haryana, said they were paying tributes to Kalpana Chawla who had inspired us to see good dreams. 

Rewari, July 24
With the Punjab and Haryana High Court setting aside PIL petitions filed against the on-going construction work of the Hansi-Butana Bhakra Main Line Link Canal, the decks have now been almost cleared for its undeterred completion.

This was stated by irrigation and revenue minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav at a press conference in Dharuhera yesterday.

In an outburst flaying the two former chief ministers and sworn detractors of the Hooda government - Bhajan Lal and Om Prakash Chautala - for their discriminatory treatment meted out to south Haryana, he alleged that south Haryana’s legitimate share of canal water was diverted to Hisar and Sirsa areas by Bhajan Lal and Chautala, respectively.

Asserting that the two had always befooled and misled the farmers of south Haryana in this regard, he explained that it was for the first time that Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, whose government was committed to equitable distribution of available canal water, launched the Hansi-Butana link canal project for this purpose.

He asserted that the Rs 350-crore link canal would be functional by December when the parched fields of south Haryana would also start getting 2,000 cusecs of canal water additionally.

Again lashing out at both Bhajan Lal and Chautala for their apathy towards the post-graduate regional centre of Rewari, he said it was their gross self-centredness which led Bhajan Lal to establish Guru Jambeshwar University at Hisar while it goaded Chautala to set up Devi Lal University at Sirsa in utter disregard of Rewari’s PG Centre.

Chandigarh, July 24
Leader of the Haryana BJP Legislature Party Ram Kumar Gautam today lambasted suspended Congress MP Kuldeep Bishnoi for claiming that the two BJP MLAs did not vote for Bhairon Singh Shekhawat in the presidential poll. Shekhawat was being supported by the BJP.

Talking to mediapersons here Gautam said it did not behove Bishnoi to accuse the BJP MLAs of cross-voting when he had openly betrayed his party, which gave his family so much prominence.

If Bishnoi was so confident about his claim, Gautam said, then he should produce those seven Congress MLAs who cross-voted at his behest.

The BJP leader accused Bishnoi’s father Bhajan Lal of having ‘cheated’ all communities in the name of ‘non-Jat politics’.

He alleged that Bhajan Lal never gave any community its due share in jobs. For his political gains, he would pose to belong to the community, which he wanted to exploit.

He said the Hooda government had failed to curb corruption because the Chief Minister did not take any action against any corrupt politician or officer.

The law and order situation too had deteriorated.

Gautam said while it was true that Hooda was a better person as compared to his predecessors, but he had failed to send right signals to all communities in the state because he was surrounded by persons rejected by the Lok Dal of Om Prakash Chautala.

Chandigarh, July 24
Tea parties are passe. Assembly of disgruntled Congress leaders of Haryana and their supporters are now being called rallies as organisers of these meetings apparently no more care for any disciplinary action taken against them by the party high command for openly criticising the Congress government in the state.

The next rally of disgruntled Congressmen will be at Pehowa in Kurukshetra district on August 5. The speakers include Bhajan Lal, an ex-CM and Kuldeep Bishnoi, Bhajan Lal's MP son, who has been spearheading the attack against the state government. Two MLAs siding with Bhajan Lal, namely Dharam Pal Malik and Rakesh Kamboj, too, will be present at the rally.

Satpal Kaushik, a secretary of the HPCC, who has been slapped with a notice by the HPCC earlier for attending a meeting addressed by Bishnoi, will defy the PCC's diktat and address the gathering at Pehowa.

Coming shortly after the uproar created by the unaccounted votes secured by NDA-backed Bhairon Singh Shekhawat from Haryana MLAs in the recently concluded presidential election, the rally at Pehowa has assumed interest in terms of the effect it will have on the faction-ridden Congress party in the state.

Importantly, there has been no let-up on attack by the Cabinet colleagues of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda against Bhajan Lal loyalists on the issue of the unaccounted votes secured by the NDA nominee.

Agriculture minister H S Chatha and education minister Phool Chand Mullana are the latest in the series of MLAs and ministers to issue press statements to condemn "Congress MLAs in Haryana who indulged in cross-voting".

In separate statements issued here today, Chatha and Mullana said by having voted in favour of the NDA nominee, these MLAs had betrayed the party and demanded their resignation from the Assembly on moral ground. Dharam Pal Malik, Congress MLA and a Bhajan Lal loyalist, meanwhile, criticised PCC working president Ram Prakash for accusing him of casting his vote in favour of the NDA nominee. 

Panipat, July 24
Three labourers died after a truck carrying labourers working for a project undertaken by Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) fell into a canal near Panipat today morning.

While the two have been identified as Manoj Yadav and Roshan, the identity of the third person is yet to be established.

However, as many as 31 labourers had a miraculous escape after they rescued unhurt. The incident took place near the IOCL refinery.

But confusion dotted the accident scene after the IOCL, district administration and the state authorities gave different figures about those travelling in the truck.

An official spokesman of the IOCL said there were 23 labourers travelling in the truck hired by two different constructions firms.

SDM Shakti Singh claimed that at the time of the accident there were 35 persons whereas CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda informed the Press that there were 31 labourers.

The truck was carrying labourers for the Naptha Crackers Project when the driver lost his control over the vehicle and rolled down in the Delhi Parallel Canal.

The district authorities had directed the Irrigation Department to stop the canal water for smooth rescue operation.

Meanwhile, the police has registered a case against truck driver Rajinder Yadav, who escaped unhurt, for harsh and negligent driving.

Hooda said as per contractual agreement, compensation of Rs 3 lakh would be extended to the next of the kin of the deceased.