Chandigarh, July 25
Former Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities Tarlochan Singh has urged Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to "restrain and request" the Dera Sacha Sauda chief to "stop" his congregations in Haryana to avoid any provocation at this stage.

On the other hand, Chief Secretary Prem Prashant said here today that there was no ban on "Naam Charcha" in the state. He said the people belonging to all religions and communities were free to worship and to perform their prayers according to their own rituals, customs and conventions. The state government could not interfere in the religious affairs of the people.

In a letter written to Hooda Tarlochan Singh said while the Dera chief had every right to preach but the "timings are not congenial". Since the Sikhs’ psyche was hurt because of his "unfortunate actions", he should be prevailed upon to desist from undertaking tours for sometime.

Tarlochan Singh, who is also a Rajya Sabha member from Haryana, also urged the Chief Minister to release all the Sikhs, who were arrested for demonstrating against the dera chief, after a warning.

He reminded Hooda that after he met him(Hooda) at Rohtak a couple of months ago in connection with the dera issue, the Chief Minister acted promptly and mobilised the state machinery to defuse the situation. An apology by the dera chief, obtained with the efforts of Haryana officers, had the desired effect.

The former Minorities Commission chief said he had been playing his role to keep the state free from the agitations on the dera issue and was able to get the July 11 Ratia rally cancelled. 

Panipat July 25
Former MLA Partap Singh Chautala has urged Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to revise the names of certain Sirsa-based individuals who had been included in the peace committee to resolve the ongoing Dera Sachha Sauda-Sikh row.

Talking to the newsmen here today, the ex-MLA doubted the credentials of certain individuals involved in the peace process. Presenting a list to the Press, he said a number of them in the past had complained to the Governor about the alleged threats they received from the dera men.

He urged the Hooda government to look into the matter as the names were included by the district administration of Sirsa without checking the anecdotes of certain individuals.

“Persons who had demanded strict action against the dera and claimed threat to their lives from them after the murder of the journalist Chhatarpati are now spearheading the peace process,'' he said.

He said dera men were using pressure tactics to go slow on the investigations in the criminal cases filed against the dera head.

He alleged that as the CBI had to submit the final report of Chhatrpati murder case on July 31, Premis were indulging in violent activities to divert the attention.

He also urged Hooda to visit Sirsa and meet personally Sikhs who were attacked by dera followers.

He also charged the officials posted at Sirsa, the home district of former CM Om Prakash Chautala, with supporting the “disturbing'' activities of certain dera followers, including issuance of licences in issuing arms to Premis.

He also appealed to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to intervene in the dera-Sikh row where the peaceful atmosphere of Punjab and Haryana was at stake. He demanded that the state government should ask the dera head to shift his headquarters out of Haryana to maintain harmony. 

Panchkula, July 25
It was a win-win situation for Mahender Singh Yadav in the draw of lot held by the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) for allotment of plots here today.

Yadav was the only applicant for the single plot reserved for paramilitary force personnel in the four-marla category and he got his plot on a platter. However, others were not so lucky.

For the 24 four-marla plots available for general category aspirants, the number of applications received by HUDA was a whopping 27,000.

Sure enough, most aspirants for four-marla plots who had turned up to watch the draw returned home dejected.

The draw was held for 193 plots in Sector 31 here. There were 35 plots measuring one kanal, 45 plots of the 14-marla category, 41 plots of 10 marla, 24 plots of six marla and 48 of four-marla category.

The draw started around 10.45 am and came to an end around 3 pm.

The draw, carried out in a pandal on the premises of the HUDA office here, was telecast live by the local cable TV network to ensure transparency. District town planner Geeta Prakash supervised the proceedings, as administrator Neelam Kasni was herself among the aspirants for the plots.

Name of Kasni, however, did not figure among the winners.

The list of successful candidates has been made available on the website of HUDA and is also being circulated in the form of a public notice.

Karnal, July 25
Secretary, State Information Commission, Dr Abhey Singh Yadav has warned government officials to face strict action on the complaints of non-compliance to the Right to Information Act.

He was speaking on the concluding function of a two-day refresher course for rural development officials and panchayati raj functionaries at the Haryana Institute of Rural Development (HIRD), Nilokheri.

As many as 22 participants, including presidents/vice-presidents of zila parishads, chairman of panchayat samitis, DDPOs, BDPOs and officers of DRDAs of Hisar division took part in it.

Dr Yadav explained the implications of the RTI Act and emphasised the need for creating awareness among the rural masses.

He also advised the elected representatives and the official functionaries to have full knowledge of the provisions of the Act as well as the rules. It would not only result in more efficient implementation of rural development programmes but would also check the misuse of power and corruption.

The programme was organised on the directions of the Estimates Committee of Haryana Vidhan Sabha and on the recommendations of the Academic Committee of the HIRD.

The objective behind this exercise, based on participatory methodology, was to update the knowledge of the participants regarding various development schemes and programmes of the Centre and the state government.

Chandigarh, July 25
The Haryana police has arrested 12 persons at Ambala and Karnal for stealing electricity during the past 10 days. The accused are still under arrest and have not been able to get bail from the court.

The vigilance wing of power utilities had set a target to lodge 1,000 First Information Reports (FIRs) with the police against persons found involved in pilferage of power during the remaining period of the current financial year

While stating this here yesterday, a spokesman for the Haryana power utilities said enforcement wing detected 11 cases of power theft in Ambala, 10 in Karnal, one in Kundli, nine in Faridabad and Ballabgarh and 10 in Gurgaon.

He said most of the cases were of meter bypass, direct tapping of lines, use of magnate on meters, tampering of meter seals and tampering of meter bodies.

He said the vigilance wing of power utilities had set a target to lodge 1,000 First Information Reports (FIRs) with the police against persons found involved in pilferage of power during the remaining period of the current financial year. The checking teams of operation and maintenance and protection wing would also conduct surprise checking to curb theft of electricity and FIRs.

Laik Ram Dabas, IG, said the utilities would ask for police custody or police remand for persons directly or indirectly involved in theft of electricity. This would frighten private electricians who generally carried out meter tampering by taking money from consumers. He said a simple proforma for lodging FIRs had been sent to power utilities to ensure lodging of FIRs without loss of time.

Kaithal, July 25
A two-member team of the National Commission for Women (NCW) today visited Karora village of the district to gather facts about the alleged murder of two young lovers -Manoj and Babli - last month.

The members of the team - Malini Bhattacharya and Yasmin Abrar - met Manoj’s mother Chanderpati, who complained that the villagers had boycotted their family to punish them for the acts of their deceased son.

The villagers were not selling even daily household requirements like milk and fodder to them, she added.

The team members assured security to the family and later visited the family members of Babli.

Sarpanch Karamveer met the commission members and claimed that Manoj’s family was not being boycotted. The villagers had full sympathy with Manoj’s family.

Babli’s relatives and many villagers, however, expressed the view that whatever the boy and the girl did was improper as they were from the same gotra and, therefore, their relationship was that of brother and sister according to prevailing traditions in the society.

Manoj and Babli were allegedly done to death in Karnal district by the relatives of the girl.

The district administration today had made elaborate security arrangements at Karora to avoid any untoward incident.

The team members, DC Rajinder Kataria and SP Rajendra Singh, appealed to the villagers to maintain peace and harmony in the village.

Yamunanagar, July 25
Iqbal Singh (45) of Mukherjee Park, Jagadhri, allegedly ended his life in the wee hours today.

He took the extreme step as he was perturbed over an extra-marital affair of his wife Pritam Kaur with a city resident.

The body has been sent for the viscera examination.

Harwinder Singh, son of the deceased, reported to the police that his mother was having an extra-marital affair with Narinder.

Acting on the complaint, the police booked Pritam Kaur, her alleged lover Narinder and one Bitu.

Family members and relatives of the deceased held a protest at the Jagadhri police station in the morning to demand the arrest of the accused.

Harwinder said he was aware of the illicit relationship of his mother but kept quite as his mother had threatened to commit suicide if he opened his mouth.

Harwinder alleged that Narinder and his friend threatened his father last evening. Later, the family found Iqbal lying on the floor.

The matter was reported to the police. A case under Sections 306 and 34 of the IPC has been registered.

On the other hand, Pritam said she had a talk with her husband last evening and Iqbal had slept before her. Later, she found him lying on the floor.

Ambala, July 25
Pradeep Jain took over the charge as president of the Rotary Club of Ambala today. Jain had yesterday said that the cancer detection centre would be developed into an advanced facility to treat the disease.

He said a project outlay of Rs 3 crore had been set for the centre and Rs 14 lakh had already been spent on the building. “Pathology lab equipment and utility equipment worth Rs 7 lakh was being installed. The construction of a new wing with an operating theatre and 20-bed indoor patients facility will start soon,” he said.

Jain said: “We have approached the international Rotary community to assist in the project and provide equipment worth Rs 1 crore to build the centre. It will be launched this year and run on no-profit, no-loss basis to provide quality medical services at affordable price.”

The office-bearers are: secretary — Anuradha Bakshi and treasurer — Ravinder Gupta; inner wheel president — Suddresh Jain, and secretary — Raman Kanta Sharma; rotaract president — Amit Yadav, and secretary — Sunil Manocha. — TNS