Gurgaon, August 11
In another mishap after the Manesar incident, two DAK kanwarias were killed in a road accident on NH-8 between IFFCO and Jahrsa chowks in wee hours on Saturday when a truck hit their motorcycle.

The deceased were identified as Ravi Kumar and Shamsheer, both residents of Fizalpur, near Gurgaon.

The truck driver fled after leaving his vehicle near Jawala petrol station. Some fellow pilgrims followed the truck driver and on seeing his vehicle at the petrol station thought that the employees of the station had given refuge to him. Incensed over the incident, they gave vent to their ire by damaging petrol station property.

Rakesh Kumar, owner of the petrol station, said as many as 250 kanwarias came to the station and threatened to set it on fire if the driver of the truck was not handed over to them. The irate mob injured three fuel station employees who tried to pacify them.

Kumar said most of the articles of the office, including computer system, credit card machine, air conditioner, telephones etc. were damaged by the mob. He said his employees tried to call the police in the morning but nobody attended the phone. The police came to the site of violence 30 minutes after the irate mob had dispersed, he said.

According to reports after the accident, fellow kanwarias lay the bodies in the middle of road blocking the national highway and disrupted traffic for more than an hour, till the time police was able pacify them. "We have arrested the driver of the truck and the vehicle has been seized," Gurgaon Commissioner of Police Mohinder Lal said.

He told The Tribune that the accident had taken place as the kanwarias were not using the lane earmarked for them.

The Deputy Commissioner of Police, East, Satinder Gupta said action would be taken against kanwarias who tried to set the fuel station on fire.

This is the fourth such incident of violent protests by kanwarias. The death of the two kanwarias today has raised the toll to 10 in a little over a week.

Rewari, August 11
With the arrest of six gangsters - Azruddin, Bashir, Jahul, Aslam, Rakesh and Vijender - the police claimed to have busted an inter-state gang of robbers. All six belonged to various villages of Uttar Pradesh.

They were arrested yesterday from a place near the Rewari-Bawal road near Suthana village, 8 km from here, while they were reportedly planning to loot passing vehicles.

The police seized a pistol and a pickup from them.

A case of planned robbery under Sections 399 and 402 of the IPC as well as the Arms Act has been registered against them.

They were yesterday produced in the court of the additional chief judicial magistrate, who remanded them to a 14-day judicial custody.

Using a ploy, station house officer of the Kasaula police station Azim Khan sent a canter driven by ASI Rohtash Singh in a civil dress, while a police vehicle followed it from a distance.

As soon as the gangsters intercepted the canter and made a looting bid at pistol point, the police nabbed the miscreants.

Sonepat, August 11
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today announced that a building material research and development centre would be opened at the Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram Science and Technology University at Murthal in order to ensure supply of cheap and high quality building material to the people.

He stated this while addressing the annual function of the Haryana Brick and Kiln Owners Association, here.

Reiterating his government commitment to develop Haryana into a number one state in the country, he sought cooperation from every section of the society to contribute in this commitment.

Speaker of Haryana Vidhan Sabha Raghubir Singh Kadian praised the Hooda government for accelerating the tempo of development and welfare activities in the state.

Earlier, the CM inaugurated a newly constructed building of Tehsil Bhawan at Kharkhoda.

Speaking on the occasion, the CM assured the people of the region that Kharkhoda would be developed into an Industrial Model Township (IMT) on the pattern of Gurgaon.

Chandigarh, August 11
The judgement in the Bhajan Lal attempt to assassination case is expected to be given by Additional Sessions Judge Ravi Kumar Sondhi on August 13.

Jagtar Singh Hawara, who was recently pronounced death sentence in the Beant Singh assassination case, is one of the prime accused in this case also.

Interestingly, Hawara has about 48 cases against him. According to police records, out of the 48 cases only a few have been solved.

Bhajan Lal was the Chief Minister of Haryana and had to go to Pheora to address a public gathering on December 16, 1995. The six main accused in the case -- Jagtar Singh Hawara, Balwant Singh, Paramjit Singh Bheora, Hakam Singh, Gurjit Singh and Purushotam Singh -- were coming from Ismailabad on a tractor-trailer on the intervening night of December 14 and 15, 1995 when two policemen on patrol stopped them. As constable Vijay Bhan moved toward the tractor-trailer he was allegedly shot by Hawara. Vijay Bhan died on the spot. Following this, ASI Mohinder Singh fired at them but the accused fled with Vijay Bhan’s carbine.

The ASI was hit in his right forearm. Mohinder Singh also heard them calling each other by name. Policemen from the nearby police station came to Mohinder’s rescue. He was taken to hospital and his statement was recorded.

About 16.5 kg of RDX was seized from the tractor-trailer, besides other material.

The tractor belonged to Hakam Singh’s father who was arrested by the police. Hawara was arrested by the Punjab Police from Jalandhar bus stand while Balwant Singh was arrested in the same month from Rajpura.

There are 13 accused in the case.

Rohtak, August 11
Owners of shops and other commercial establishments located on both sides of the Bajrang Bhavan level crossing kept their establishments closed today to protest against the construction of a railway over-bridge there.

The traders are against the construction of the over-bridge as it would adversely affect their businesses.

A number of shopkeepers and other businessmen assembled at the Bajrang Bhavan temple and held a meeting to press for their demand. Then, the traders, under the aegis of the Delhi Road Traders Association, took out a protest march.

The traders submitted a memorandum, addressed to the Chief Minister, to the deputy commissioner. The traders maintain that the construction of a over-bridge would harm their business and render many of them jobless.

The issue of constructing this railway over-bridge is a sore point between the local traders and the state government.

The authorities concerned assert that the construction of the over-bridge would ease the flow of traffic on this busy stretch of Delhi Road.

On the other hand, the traders point out that it was not required as only four trains pass through this track in a day. “Moreover, the double-booming of the level crossing and widening of the road being carried out is sufficient to ensure smooth traffic movement,” they maintain.

The businessmen further state that in view of the larger interest of the trading community, an over-bridge should not be constructed at least on this crossing.

Later, the traders, along with the representatives of the Old Rohtak Traders Association, including Gulshan Dang, Ashok Khurana, Pankaj Wadhwa, Narender Pal and other trader leaders, met the Chief Minister, who was in the town today, and apprised him of their plight.

Taking a dig at Bhajan Lal, Chautala said Bhajan Lal would never launch any party as it would mean he would end up losing his MLA seat also. Balwant Singh and Ishwar Singh Palaka, the two INLD MLAs from the district, also accompanied Chautala today.

Kurukshetra, August 11
After taking over as president, HPCC, Phool Chand Mullana, while addressing his first meeting with Congress workers at Brahman Dharamshala, here, today, called upon them to be united because Congress would be strengthened only if they were united.

Mullana said he came here to launch a campaign to co-ordinate the workers and office-bearers of the Congress party as well as to reorganise the party by boosting the workers morale.

The party would have a strong hold under the guidance and directions of party president Sonia Gandhi, Haryana Congress in charge Janardhan Dwivedi and Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

He warned the government officials to not to misbehave with the party workers otherwise their misconduct would not be tolerated at any cost.

He advised the district Congress committee to organise party workers’ meetings at Congress Bhavan, here, regularly so that the Congress heritage could be maintained and all sections of the society could be developed.

Addressing the gathering, working president, HPCC, Kuldip Sharma said special attention would be paid to give respect to workers because Hooda had already clarified that any weakness in the party should be removed at the earliest possible. He also warned the officials to amend their working system and give respect to the party workers.

It is worth mentioning here that it was the first meeting where both the HPCC president and the working president were present but the attendance of party workers was allegedly thin.

The protesting councillors said they would be meeting the chief minister soon.

Chandigarh, August 11
The Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam has directed its superintending engineers (operation) to ensure that there are minimum breakdowns and interruptions in power supply in view of the ongoing paddy season.

The SEs have been directed to report with details and comments to the management the breakdowns and interruptions if power can not be supplied for a duration of five hours or more. They will also have to inform the consumers about the reasons of non-supply of electricity through print and electronic media.

The local officers have already been directed to give information of scheduled power regulations to the public through all available means, including city cable, vernacular papers, by beating of drums, and so on.

The nigam has also instructed field officers that all cables of cable TV network and Internet attached to power supply poles be removed immediately to prevent accidents.

Ambala, August 11
Haryana Bank Employees Federation is going to start a signature campaign to raise issues concerning its members. General secretary of the federation, N.P. Munjal, today demanded that the government must take immediate steps to redress their grievances.

The issues they want to highlight include dilution of government's capital in the public sector banks, attempts of mergers of public sector banks, inviting foreign direct investment for take over of private sector banks, amendment of Section 12 (2) of Banking Regulation Act, removing the ceiling on voting rights of Foreign investors, Tarapore Committee's recommendation to reduce government equity to 33 per cent in public sector banks and increasing non-performing assets of banking industry.

Munjal said that these are issues which concern common people of the country. "Our purpose is to focus on all these issues so that remedial measures are taken by the government," he said.

All India Bank Employees’ Association and All India Bank Officers’ Association have launched a national campaign on various factors affecting the banking industry and the campaign involves meeting the common people, political and trade union leaders, MPs, MLAs, farmers’ groups, social organisation and academicians.

A dharna will be staged before Parliament on August 31. Also, the signatures collected from the people will be submitted to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.