Chandigarh, November 1
When suspended Congress MP Kuldeep Bishnoi appointed 18 district-level observers for his proposed Rohtak rally on December 2, he did not realise that it would lead to dissensions in his yet-to-be born party.

The appointment of the observers, many of whom are former MLAs and ministers, has not gone down well with the rank and file of his supporters, who feel that those who had been “rejected” by the people in the past have once again gained prominence at their cost. These supporters feel that the anti-incumbency factor against these former MLAs and ministers would harm even Bishnoi in the long run.

Perhaps, Bishnoi forgot that his followers are basically from the Congress, which is known for infighting and groupism, and old habits die hard.

The observers were appointed to oversee the preparations for the Rohtak rally and to give them the necessary impetus wherever necessary. But if the meetings held by these observers in many districts a couple of days ago are an indication, one can safely say that the scheme has not clicked.

According to reports received here from various districts, several prominent local leaders, who had aligned with Bishnoi in the hope that they would receive more importance in the new set-up than what they were getting in the Haryana Congress, abstained from the meetings.

A few months ago, Bishnoi had constituted campaign committees in each district, which were not headed by anyone. These committees worked like a presidium. Bishnoi’s experiment was widely appreciated by his followers because they felt that everyone had been given equal importance. But they have been put off by the latest move of Bishnoi.

Meanwhile, it is believed that Bishnoi and his father Bhajan Lal are likely to announce the formation of a front at Rohtak instead of a political party. By forming a front, they would not have to quit the Congress and face a byelection, which they would have to do if they form a separate political party.

Though no specific information is available about the name of the new outfit, it is widely believed that the name would have the word “Janhit”. The premise is based on the fact that even the Rohtak rally has been named the “janhit rally” and supporters of Bhajan Lal had celebrated his birthday as “janhit divas”. . 

Hisar, November 1
There seems to be no end to the row between teachers of the Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology and a leader of the National Students Union of India, Sandeep Chaudhry.

While the NSUI leader has been on fast at Fountain Chowk here for the past 10 days demanding admission to the MBA course in the GJU’s Haryana School of Business, the GJU Teachers Association has been seeking action against him for having damaged university property and assaulting a teacher.

Chaudhry was admitted to MBA last year but he was not allowed to appear in the examination because of shortage of attendance. He represented to the authorities for condoning the shortage but the attendance was far too short to be condoned.

Angered over the rejection of his plea, Chaudhry allegedly came to the campus on October 19 with some armed supporters and they damaged windowpanes and created a ruckus in the library building. Later, they also allegedly assaulted a teacher. Chaudhry on the other hand alleged that the teacher hit him with a paper weight, injuring his forehead.

The GJUTA has raised the issue of discipline at the highest level, including the Chief Minister and the Governor. The teachers say that stern action against Chaudhry was necessary to prevent recurrence of similar incidents which could seriously impact student placements.

Reports say a Congress legislator from the district is behind Chaudhry’s antics.

Bhiwani, November 1
INLD president and former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala today called upon people of the Backward Classes to get united and root out the Congress.

Addressing a state-level sammelan of the Backward Classes cell of his party at the local HUDA park, he said the party did not require any coalition and would come to power on its own in the coming elections.

Lashing out at the Congress, he said ruling party leaders were implementing its old policy of “divide and rule”.

Stating that the nuclear issue was sensitive, the INLD chief said the matter should be placed for open discussion and not resolved through the cabinet. He said apprehensions of the public regarding the issue must be removed.

INLD secretary-general and Rajya Sabha MP Ajay Singh Chautala said the Congress was favouring capitalism and the working and Backward Classes should get united to  face it.

Convener of the sammelan and state president of Backward Classes cell of the INLD Telu Ram Jogi presented a silver throne to the former Chief  Minister.

YAMUNANAGAR: Chautala said the “bijli utsav diwas” was a flop show as the turnout was low. He alleged that the government had misused the official machinery to bring people for the function and despite this, it failed.

Talking on the phone,  he said the turnout  at the function was not more than 15,000. He alleged that the  organisers had arranged food packets for 75,000 people and the entire money was spent from the state exchequer.

Bhiwani, November 1
“As an administrator I don’t want that people should feel that their difficulties have been solved for a while, but these should be settled forever”, deputy commissioner T.L. Satyaprakash said while addressing his maiden press conference here today.

Mentioning the prolonged sewerage problem, he said he had called the executive engineer of the department concerned to get a permanent solution.

He claimed that the city would get rid off the sewerage choking problem forever within next 15 days as an extensive scheme had been formulated for repair and expansion of sewerage lines.

He said civil hospital authorities had been directed to renovate the emergency and maternity wards besides adding latest surgery equipments.

He also said though Bhiwani was famous for nursing best players in boxing, wrestling and gymnastics at national and international level, but the stadium, where these players were nursed still lacked modern facilities as compared to other states.

He said estimates were being prepared for setting up an astro-turf at hockey ground, construction of badminton hall and gymnasium hall.

Sports minister Kiran Chaudhary had given a positive response to these projects, he said, adding that every effort would be done to make Bhiwani a sports city.

He said MDR (multi drug resistance) was a serious problem and about 75 such cases had been detected in the city. Fifty per cent of the medical expenditure of these patients would be borne by the administration and in case of BPL families, all medical expenses would be borne by the administration.

Panipat, November 1
The Prince of Orange, Netherlands, Willem Alexander, who is also the chairman of the United Nations secretary-general’s advisory board on water and sanitation, today said 2008 would be observed as World Sanitation Year.

The Prince was here to see the excellent work done by the Bilaspur village community in sanitation under UN supervision.

The village had received Nirmal Gram Purskar (NGP) from the President last year.

In this village, all households have access to individual toilets and no person, whether adult or child, goes for defecation in the open.

According to villagers, incidences of diarrhoea and jaundice have drastically reduced in the village owing to better sanitation.

The Prince of Orange expressed happiness over the good work done by the village community.

In this district, 18 villages got the NGP last year. This year, the district administration is planning to send 136 nominations for the NGP.

Meena Mandal, minister of state, presented a memento while DC Mohinder Kumar, on behalf of the village community, offered a “pagri” and “patka” to the Prince of Orange on the occasion. — UNI 

Fatehabad, November 1
Tension over the Dera Sacha Sauda-Sikh controversy has resurfaced in Chandpura village in this district after followers of the dera allegedly attacked a Sikh youth for running a religious audio cassette last evening. The police has arrested six dera followers in this connection.

The village was in the news in June this year after followers of the Dera Sacha Sauda had stoned the village gurdwara.

According to reports, Sukhbir Singh, a Sikh youth, was coming to the village from his fields on his tractor last evening.

An audio cassette of Gurbani was being played on a tape recorder attached to his tractor.

Seven Dera Sacha Sauda followers, identified as Bhola Singh, Tarsem Singh, Pali Singh, Manjit Singh, Shira Singh, Jagdish and Balraj Singh, allegedly stopped him and objected to his playing the Gurbani cassette.

They allegedly beat him up and threatened him with dire consequences if he played the cassette again.

Tension gripped the village immediately after the news of beating up of the youth spread.

The police arrested the six dera followers and booked them under Sections 147, 149, 341, 323 and 506 of the IPC last night while Shira Singh is at large.

Sikhs from surrounding villages and the neighbouring Punjab started pouring into the village since this morning. Jathedar Balwant Singh Nandgarh of Takht Damdama Sahib rushed to Chandpura village and addressed a gathering of Sikhs in the gurdwara.

A heavy police force has been deployed in the village to avoid any confrontation.

Talking to The Tribune, Jathedar Nandgarh expressed satisfaction over the police action.

He said Sikhs were against the peaceful atmosphere in Punjab and Haryana being vitiated and appealed to the district authorities to deal with the miscreants with a firm hand. 

Fatehabad, November 1
The police today arrested four persons for fraudulently transferring agriculture land of a mentally challenged person, Mohinder Singh, in their names.

The accused also made the victim’s wife sign, at gunpoint, an agreement to sell the other portion of land which was in her name.

Sarla Devi, a resident of Kharaiti Khera village, lodged a complaint with the police against these persons.

Sarla’s daughter Geeta had eloped with a village youth Ram Awtar and later married him.

She alleged that the accused, pretending to help the family, duped them of all their agricultural land.

She said the family had 44 acres of land out of which 11 acres was in her husband’s name, while the other 33 acres was in  her name.

She alleged that Rajesh and Rakesh along with their father Chanan Singh and two others, Hoshiar Singh and Ram Pal, managed to get the 11 acres of land transferred in their name on October 17.

Later, they allegedly kidnapped Sarla Devi and made her sign an agreement to sell the rest of the land.

The police has registered a case under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471, 384, 365 and 506 of the IPC and Sections 25/54 and 27/59 of the Arms Act against the five accused.

Kaur Singh, a former sarpanch, was also booked by the police under Section 120-B for helping the accused.

The police today arrested Rajesh, Rakesh, Chanan Singh and Hoshiar Singh and produced them before Judicial Magistrate Sudeep Goyal, who sent the accused to a day’s police custody.

The other two accused are still absconding. 

Kaithal, November 1
The police has arrested five armed persons who had made an attempt to take forcible possession of a plot yesterday afternoon and later fired shots at a police party at night. The police has seized a foreign-made pistol, a .315-bore pistol, a 12-bore gun, cartridges and a “gandasi”, besides impounding a Scorpio jeep. One of the accused, Satbir Jhabbal, is a life convict and was on bail.

Giving details of the case, SSP Anil Kumar said here today that Karamveer, a resident of Narar village, had lodged a complaint with the police that heavily-armed Narinder, a resident of Bahu Akbarpur, and Satbir Jhabbal of Kithana, along with their accomplices, had dismantled the boundary wall of his plot on the Karnal road here. They injured him and threatened to kill him. The police has registered a case under Sections 442, 148, 149 and 506 of the IPC.

On a tip-off that members of same group had again reached the same plot, the police reached the spot. When challenged, they opened fire on the police, which returned the fire.

Following this encounter, the police arrested Krishan Kumar of Patti Afgan, Satbir Jhabbal of Kithana, Daya Nanad of Kithana, Rajesh Chandalana and Narinder of Bahu Akbarpur. However, one of their accomplices, Sandeep of Kithana, fled the scene. The police seized Rs 93,000 from them.

The SSP said on a statement of sub-inspector Pritpal Singh, the police had registered one more case under Sections 307, 332, 353, 148, 149 and 386 of the IPC and 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act against the accused on charges of a murderous attempt and preventing the police from performing its duty. 

Rewari, November 1
Three persons , including two women, died, while five others got injured, three of them seriously, when the jeep they were travelling in reportedly rammed into the rear wheel of a truck coming from the opposite direction on the Kanina-Rewari road, near Bharaf village, 28 km from here, today.

Two of the deceased have been identified as Sushma (16), daughter of Hanuman Singh of Dahina village and Bijender (20), son of Ramesh Chand of Mahendergarh. The third deceased is yet to be identified.

The three seriously injured persons, Rajesh, Dinesh and Bir Singh, all residents of Dahina village, 24 km from here, were referred to the PGIMS, Rohtak. The two others injured, Hanuman of Dahina village and Siria Devi of Motla Kalan village, 16 km from here, were admitted in the Civil Hospital here.

The incident occurred when the jeep was on its way to Kanina while the truck was coming towards Rewari. — OC