Fatehabad, August 25
Dera Sacha Sauda followers from Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and other states have been told to reach the dera headquarters in Sirsa on August 30.

Dera chief Baba Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh is to appear before the CBI court in Ambala on August 31 in connection with the murder of journalists Ram Chander Chhatrapati and Ranjit Singh, besides a case pertaining to the alleged sexual exploitation of sadhvis in the dera.

A senior functionary of the dera said on the condition of anonymity that the dera management had set a target of summoning two lakh followers by August 30.

The motive behind calling such a huge gathering at the dera is not known. Normally, such gatherings are summoned on August 15 every year, which is the birth anniversary of the dera chief, according to a dera functionary.

Since, the timing coincide with the date on which the dera chief is required to appear before the court, people are watching the development with interest.

Meanwhile, police sources said they had no direction to curtail the movement of dera followers on August 30, though they had information about it.

At the same time they said arrangements were being made to stop the movement of dera followers towards Ambala on August 31.

Karnal, August 25
The deadline given to Godfrey Philips, a cigarette company, by the National Integrated Forum of Artistes and Activists (NIFAA) to apologise for using the photo of martyr Bhagat Singh in a cigarette advertisement expired today without the company tendering any apology.

President, NIFAA, Pritpal Singh Pannu said the company’s regional manager V.B. Singh and the local distributor had assured him that they would tender an apology at gurdwara Dera Kar Sewa, here, but they failed to turn up.

Pannu said NIFAA and other like-minded organisations would launch a social agitation against the tobacco company and also take a legal action.

They would burn the effigies of the chief managing director of Godfrey Philips on August 27 and later file a case against him and other officials of the company.

“The distributors of the company in the state will be asked not to sell the cigarettes here and demonstrations will be held outside shops stocking Red and White brand cigarettes,” Pannu said.

He added that cigarette smokers would be requested to give up smoking and the winners of the Red and White Bravery Awards would be requested to return their awards.

..“The distributors of the company in the state will be asked not to sell the cigarettes 

Rohtak, August 25
Remember the last time you popped in that ubiquitous capsule? Most of us do that, blissfully unaware that the shell is made of gelatin which is derived from the hide and bones of animals.

“As many as 99 per cent of the capsules available in the market have gelatin shells,” says biotechnologist Prof Basant Kumar Behera, who is also the director of the advanced centre for biotechnology at Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) here.

Dr Behera holds an international patent on cellulose-derivative capsules. Talking to The Tribune regarding his invention here today, he said, “Earlier, there was no alternative to the gelatin capsules. Besides, artificial colours were used to make these capsules look distinct and attractive.”

He took it as a challenge and dedicated himself towards making naturally coloured vegetarian capsules.

His efforts bore fruit and he was successful in inventing what he calls vegetarian capsules. While the shell of these capsules is made from a cellulose derivative, these are coloured using natural pigments like chlorophyll and beta-carotene.

After persistent efforts, he was successful in getting an international patent last year. The capsule is being manufactured by Bangalore-based Natural Capsules Ltd. Healthcare and pharmaceutical companies like Dabur, Himalayan Drugs, Hindustan Lever and Alchem are now using capsules made from this technology. Others like Ranbaxy have also expressed interest in using these.

The reason behind the growing demand for these capsules is not hard to understand. “The capsules made from gelatin may lead to certain complications as many a time, there is little quality check over the collection of animal material,” Dr Behera maintains.

On the other hand, the HPMC-based capsule shells have been derived from cellulose extracted from sugarcane and cotton residue. They are coloured using natural pigments derived from carrot, spinach and other such natural sources.

However, while the industry is upbeat over the invention, the government has not shown much enthusiasm. As of now, the high cost of these capsules is a major limiting factor in their large-scale manufacture and use. 

Yamunanagar, August 25
The Haryana Plywood Manufacturing Association and the Peeling and Veneer Association of Yamunanagar and Jagadhri have complained that the government has done injustice to farmers, wood based manufacturing units, including plywood, by upholding the market fee on poplar and eucalyptus.

The plywood industry is contributing Rs 25 crore to the exchequer in the form of revenue

The associations have formed a joint action committee to take up the matter with the government here today.

After an emergency meeting of the two associations, President of the Plywood Manufacturing Association Davinder Chawla said the government had recently abolished the market fee on all timber except poplar and eucalyptus.

Senior vice-president of the association Mangat Ram Tandon has been nominated as convener of the action committee.

Chawla said the association had met Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on August 22 to apprise him of the problems of the wood based industries and urged him to treat all timber alike.

Chairman of the association Sarwan Kumar Aggarwal said Yamunanagar had become hub of plywood manufacturing industry of the country with more than 1,000 wood based units, 500 ahartiyas and thousands of farmers engaged in poplar and eucalyptus plantation.

Aggarwal said the plywood industry was contributing Rs 25 crore to the exchequer in the form of revenue.

Chairman, advisory committee, Manoranjan Singh Sawhney said the central empowered committee (CEC) appointed by the Supreme Court had cleared the wood based industry by issuance of forest licenses and imposition of penalties amounting to about Rs 20 crore from Yamunanagar.

Secretary, HPCC, Satpal Kaushik too said the government should have removed the fee from the two types of timber to encourage agro-forestry. According to him the government’s decision was anti-farmer and anti- industry.

There was no such fee on the two types of timber in neighbouring states and Haryana too should do away with the fee. If the government did not remove the fee, the plywood industry may migrate to other states.

Kaithal, August 25
The Haryana government should take seriously the recent case filed in the Supreme Court by the Panjab government if it wanted to safeguard Haryana’s interest with regard to the water dispute. This was stated by Ram Pal Majra , a former chief parliamentary secretary, while talking to mediapersons here last night.

Mazra said Haryana came into existence following the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966. Terming the demand of Punjab to set aside Articles 78 and 79 of the Act as unreasonable, he said Punjab wanted to delay the implementation of the SC order passed in 2004, directing it to complete the SYL canal.

Mazra said India had purchased the Ravi, Beas and Satluj waters to be used by joint Punjab and Rajasthan by paying Rs 110 crore to Pakistan. As Haryana was part of Punjab at that time, it had right to the waters.

He said it was strange that the present Haryana government was silent on the issue.

Majra said all water-related disputes pending between Punjab and Haryana in courts had been withdrawn on February 12, 1982, under an agreement of December 31, 1981.

Under the principle of res-judicata no case between the same parties having the same facts and circumstances could be raised again in the court.

He also took to task the state government for the construction of the Hansi-Butana link canal on the ground that the SC had stayed the puncturing of the main Bhakra canal.

He said the government owed an explanation to the people of the state over 
the issue. 

Karnal, August 25
A two-day programme for farmers on the warehousing (development and regulation) Bill concluded at the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), here today.

The programme was organised by the Central Warehouse Corporation and the NDRI under the aegis of the union ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution.

Dr Sushil Kumar, director, NDRI, said with the passing of the Bill, farmers would be in a position to get loan from different banks through pledged receipts and those keeping their produce with warehouses would be benefited.

He said the warehouse receipts would get a legal endorsement with the passing of the Bill, wherein service providing agencies would be bound to come to the aid of farmers.

A. K. Sharma, regional manager, CWC, Panchkula, stressed that more farmers should join and avail of the facility provided by the warehousing corporation so that they could get more profits by selling their produce at the appropriate time.

Dr Dalip K. Gosain, head, KVK, NDRI, spoke on the safe storage of produce.

A group of 35 farmers from Kurukshetra, Karnal, Panipat, Sonepat and Kaithal took part.

Tarun K. Day, assistant general manager (technical), said next week a similar programme would be held at the HAU, Hisar. 

Kaithal, August 25
The dstrict consumer forum here has directed a doctor to pay a compensation of Rs 20,000 for negligence in the treatment of a patient who was admitted to his nursing home.

Ruldu of Rewar Jagir village in Guhla subdivision was employed at a shop in Cheeka.

While returning home on August 4, 2004, he was hit by a vehicle and sustained serious injuries.

He was rushed to Mittal Nursing Home, Cheeka, at about 11 pm.

He was referred to the civil hospital in Kaithal at 7 am the next day, but he succumbed to his injuries.

His wife and sons filed a complaint before the consumer forum, alleging that the doctor did not treat him properly.

He did not advise any X-ray or ultrasound and after inordinate delay, referred him to the civil hospital.

The complainants demanded a compensation of Rs 2 lakh.

The forum concluded that the doctor was deficient in performing his duty.

They awarded a compensation of Rs 20,000 for the harassment and mental agony caused to the complainants. 

Rewari, August 25
With the arrest of Santosh Yadav and her accomplices Tejpal Yadav and Ankur Yadav, the police claims to have solved the murder case of a farmer, Ganpat Singh (82), who was axed to death at Saharanwas village, 5 km from here, on the night of July 17.

While Santosh, wife of Sunil Yadav, the younger son of Ganpat Singh, has been arrested on charges of criminal conspiracy to eliminate her father-in-law, the main accused, Tejpal Yadav, her nephew, has been arrested for allegedly killing Ganpat Singh.

Ankur Yadav, Tejpal’s neighbour, has also been arrested for connivance in the crime.

The police has recovered the axe used in the crime.

The three were produced in the court of the chief judicial magistrate yesterday and were remanded in judicial custody for 14 days.

District police chief Ram Singh Bishnoi said Santosh confessed to the crime and spilled the beans during interrogation. She alleged that when her father-in-law’s “sexual overtures” crossed the limit, she resolved to get him killed.

She paid Rs 20,000 to her sister’s son on July 10. Tejpal and Ankur came on a motorcycle and killed him with an axe while he was sleeping outside the house.

Ambala, August 25
A taxi driver and two of his accomplices drugged an Army personnel and looted him on the Ambala-Naraingarh road close to Ambala City here today. The Army personnel belonging to the 170 Regiment of Rajasthan was admitted to the Civil Hospital, Ambala City in an unconscious condition.

According to information, Jaswant Singh (22) was coming from Gujarat and was to travel to Chandigarh. He arrived at the Ambala Cantt railway station this morning. When he came out from the station a taxi driver offered him services for Chandigarh.

As they were crossing Ambala City the taxi driver offered him some cold drink. As soon as Jaswant took the drink he became unconscious. The driver seemed to have mixed some sedative in the drink. The driver and two of his accomplices then drove the taxi toward Naraingarh and looted soldier of his suitcase containing some valuables, cash and a mobile phone. Later they threw him out of the car near Panjokhra village and fled.

Some of the villagers brought him to the local Civil Hospital where he recovered by evening. He then narrated the whole incident. The police has registered a case in this regard.

Ambala, August 25
Water supply to Nurpur village was restored today.

Superintending engineer V.K. Handa said four water samples were collected by the public health department and out of which three samples passed the test.

The fourth sample was found to be having 23 per cent contamination. He said leakages in water supply pipes had been plugged and all the 98 water connections in the village had been checked.

Civil surgeon Dr V.K. Sharma said in the past four days 429 persons had complained of vomiting and diarrhoea. He said many of these persons had come to the primary health centre for the second time.

He said the old patients were those who had not followed directions for taking medicines for five days.

He stated that 43 patients were referred to the Civil Hospital, Ambala City, and out of which two patients had been referred to the PGI, Chandigarh.