Yamunanagar, March 2
In a bizarre incident, a man in his early thirties was spotted hanging like a bat from a eucalyptus tree, at a height of 60 ft in Sarojani Colony located on the NH-73 here this morning.

The police and fire brigade in a combined rescue operation brought him down, but he later died at a private hospital.

The identity of the deceased could not be established and the postmortem examination was due.

It was not yet clear why he had climbed the tree and how he got himself stuck in the branches. He was wearing only a trouser.

The news of a man hanging upside down from a tree spread like wildfire and hundreds of people gathered at the spot. As a result traffic remained obstructed for more than two hours.

Narayan and Shrava, both local residents, first spotted the man. They reported the matter to the police and fire brigade.

Curious onlookers were heard making wild guesses as to what led the person to climb so high.

After an effort of about three hours, a team of the police and fire brigade brought him down. He was later admitted to a private hospital where he died.

Dr R. Masi, who attended him, said his pulse was very weak when he was brought to the hospital. He was given artificial respiration but he could not be saved, he added.

DSP Ram Chander said efforts were on to establish the identity of the deceased.

Fatehabad, March 2
It was a journey down memory lane for Banarsi Lal Chawla, father of Kalpana Chawla, the Indian-born American astronaut, who perished in the skies on February 1, 2003, when the space shuttle, Columbia, crashed while coming back to the earth.

Chawla was here to attend the annual function of a school as chief guest at Bhattu Kalan near here and was talking to mediapersons at the model town residence of his cousin, Usha Batra, and her husband Chander Parkash Batra here today.

Reminiscing the school and college days of his daughter, who is now an icon for girls throughout the country, Chawla said Kalpana was an average student during her school days and he could never fathom she had big dreams in mind.

But there was something extraordinary in her, which separated her from other girls of her surroundings.

She opted for aeronautical engineering while taking admission in Punjab Engineering College (PEC) in 1979, despite her teachers dissuading her to go for it because of lesser career opportunities.

He said Kalpana had her own views on conservation of water resources since her college days and evolved methods to use as minimum water as she could for washing her clothes. Later, she delivered lectures on the issue in several institutes in the USA.

Kalpana had almost missed the opportunity to join her master’s degree course in Texas University in USA in 1982, when Banarsi Lal Chawla could not return from abroad in time.

Kalpana was to join the US university on August 31, 1982, but Chawla, who was an industrialist, returned from a business tour from abroad on August 27.

But as if the destiny was beckoning Kalpana Chawla to the USA, her father succeeded in completing all formalities in two days.

She was profound to the extent that she had been calling two students from Karnal to NASA every year for studies, but he came to know about the fact only after her death. Chawla said he was a proud father today.

He said he wanted school and college students all over the country to know what Kalpana stood for and how she shaped her life so that they could take a cue from her life.

“With this in my mind, I have visited over 150 schools and colleges on their invitation and distributed CDs and literature pertaining to the life and philosophy of Kalpana Chawla,” he added.

Chandigarh, March 2
Yellow, colour of the season, can be seen everywhere - flowers in mustard fields, suspended Congress MP Kuldeep Bishnoi’s party and the carpet that now adorns the renovated House of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha.

The new-look Vidhan Sabha, which will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda tomorrow, has been refurbished at a cost of over Rs 6 crore.

While the “do over” has earned applause from MLAs, who have visited the building when the work was in progress, the yellow carpet in the House has become the moot point at rap sessions of legislators as also the colour of politics in political circles.

Though neutral observers, those working on the project, feel that the yellow colour of the carpet stands out “glaringly” in the House, a few members of the Cabinet, too, have already expressed their “disapproval” for the colour in no uncertain terms.

Maintaining that it is too “flashy” and “sticks out from just about everywhere”, they suggested replacing it with a beige, green or a red carpet or any other pastel shade that would gel with the ambience of the House.

When nothing worked, they even pointed out that the carpet was of the same colour as that of Kuldeep Bishnoi’s Haryana Janhit Congress, but to no avail.

Aides of the Speaker chose to shrug off the suggestions that came while the work was in full swing. In fact, they went to the extent of maintaining that if the colour of the carpet was really that of Bishnoi’s party, it was best way to show the Janhit Congress had been grounded even before take off. “This augurs well for us then,” an aide remarked.

Interestingly, the on-going hearing of the three suspended Congress MLAs, Bhajan Lal, Dharampal Malik and Rakesh Kamboj, has been fixed for tomorrow.

Though they may be barred from entering the House once the on-going disqualification proceedings are carried through, they can derive solace from the fact that their party colour is all over the place.

“The Chief Minister has realised that Kuldeep Bishnoi and his party has arrived in a big way in Haryana. By spreading out this carpet, they are only preparing ground for our arrival into the House. We couldn’t be more pleased with the developments and our progress,” Bishnoi quipped.

Well before the carpet became a point of debate, a couple of legislators claimed that they, too, had suggested “other soothing colours to replace yellow” while the renovation was still in its nascent stages.

However, with the yellow carpet having made it to the House, it seems all suggestions were brushed under the carpet much to their disappointment. And, now, everything seems yellow to the jaundiced eye!

Yamunanagar, March 2
Punjab National Bank will set up biometric automated teller machines (ATMs) in villages for the benefit of villagers, who are illiterate and cannot remember PIN codes required to operate ATM cards.

These ATMs will read thumb impressions instead of the PIN codes and the customers will be issued photo ATM cards.

The bank will compile a thumb impression database of its rural customers. The project of setting up such ATMs is being taken up on a pilot basis.

The bank has planned to set up two such ATMs in each district of the state.

To begin with, two such ATMs will be set up at Mauli Jagran and Dhanas villages of Chandigarh and are expected to be operational by next month. After that they will be set up in Bhagwangarh and Manakpur villages of Yamunanagar district.

Sources in the PNB said the cost of one ATM was about Rs 8 lakh and the Reserve Bank of India will be providing the ATMs to the bank.

In Yamunanagar, the two ATMs are expected to benefit about 5,000 rural customers of the bank.

Sources said a large number of villagers were facing problems in using their ATM cards as they could not remember the secret PIN codes or punch the card in the machine.

V.K. Sharma, lead manager, PNB, Yamunanagar, said the project was being taken up on a pilot basis.

During interrogation, the accused told the police that they had stolen the car on February 19 and took it to Kaithal, where they spent about Rs 5,000 on it.

Anil Kumar had lodged a complaint that some unknown persons had stolen his car, which was parked in Rezwood city.

He thanked the organisers for coming to Haryana and bringing world-class golfers here. Hooda congratulated the winners of the championship.

Jind, March 2
The annual exam mania has started taking its toll. A 15-year-old student of class IX committed suicide near Uchana town in the district today by jumping before a speeding train.

The deceased, who had been identified as Sonu, was a student of Shivania Public School in Uchana and was under tension and mental pressure due to annual exams, which had started recently, said his father Om Prakash, a resident of Kakrod village in the district.

He said Sonu had gone to school this morning but did not return. Sources said he lay on the railway track near railway station, Uchana, and was killed after a train ran over him.

It is stated that the victim had not been able to prepare fully for the exam and was depressed for the past few days.

The quake lasted for about 20 seconds.

Ambala, March 2
Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) working president Kuldeep Sharma has alleged that Haryana Janhit Congress supremo Kuldeep Bishnoi has a number of “benami” properties in Gurgaon and that is why he has been opposing setting up of an SEZ there.

Addressing a press conference here yesterday, he alleged that Bishnoi grabbed these properties during the tenure of Bhajan Lal as Chief Minister.

Asked to give details of the properties, he said: “I am ready for a debate on this issue. Let someone come forward , I will prove it.”

The conduct of a public figure should be transparent, he added.

Having a dig at Bhajan Lal, he said he always proved a liability for the Congress. He said the Congress had to pay a heavy price for offering him the leadership of Haryana.

He said the party had to suffer huge political loss due to his anti-farmer policies.

HPCC chief Phool Chand Mullana, while appreciating the general budget, said waiving loan of small and marginal farmers was a revolutionary step.

He said the opposition had nothing to say against it as it benefited all sections of society one way or the other.

He said the state Congress had played a major role in persuading the party high command to offer some big incentives to small farmers.

He said Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, several MPs and other senior leaders of the state had met Sonia Gandhi in this regard before the announcement of the budget. He said lakhs of farmers in Haryana would benefit from it.

Faridabad, March 2
The Haryana BJP plans to use its ongoing “vijay sankalp yatra”, launched from three places in the state on February 24, and its subsequent March 16 Jind rally to send a strong message to its central leadership about its growing strength in the state.

Also, the organisation plans to solve other political conundrums dogging it.

Although the BJP leaders in the state are diplomatic about it, their apprehensions are about the remote possibility of the central leadership taking a unilateral decision on the issue of an electoral alliance with any political party in the state.

The BJP leaders in the state are miffed over “apocryphal” theories of the BJP’s “strong” possibility of forging an electoral alliance with the INLD.

There are also loud whispers in several quarters of Kuldip Bishnoi’s Haryana Janhit Congress (BL) tilting in favour of the BJP.

The BJP leaders in Haryana are credited with the view that the ongoing yatra and the Jind rally must be used as an opportunity to demonstrate strength before the central leadership so that it does not underestimate the state unit with regard to any electoral alliance. A section of the party leaders feels that the party’s association with the INLD has cost the organisation dear in the last parliamentary and assembly elections.

The state BJP leaders are of the view that the first principle of the organisation as a whole is “no electoral alliance”.

However, in case of political compulsion, any understanding with other political parties must be acceptable to the sate unit and on the parameters set by it.

The BJP has its state general secretary, Capt Abhimanyu, to lead the yatra from Manjahwali village (Faridabad), which will cover six revenue districts, nine BJP’s organisation districts, three parliamentary constituencies and 27 assembly segments.

The yatra will terminate at the historic Meham Chaubisi in Rohtak district, the home district of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

The Manjahwali-Meham sector of the yatra is important as it covers the key districts of Gurgaon, Mewat, Faridabad, Jhajjar, Rewari and Rohtak.

The political importance of it is that these districts encompass areas dominated by non-Jats, including Yadav-dominated Ahirwal areas, at some places, Jats in others and Meo-Muslims (minorities) in Mewat.

Also, this section of the yatra will cover Jhajjar, which is considered to be one of the strongest points of the ruling Congress. The success of the yatra in this section is most sought after by the BJP.

The other two yatras, which have been launched from Kalawali in Sirsa district by senior BJP leader Ram Bilas Sharma and from Kalka in Panchkula district by party state president Atam Prakash Manchanda, will terminate on March 4 at different centres.

The party has chosen Jind as venue for the March 16 rally with a plan. Jind is the hinterland of the state and forms the nucleus of the Jat heartland, which traditionally sets the agenda for electoral politics in the state.

The BJP will try to prove a point to its central leadership as well as to others that it has grown out of the earlier urban-localised template.

Principal of the college S.C. Bhardwaj extended a warm welcome to the guests and presented the annual report of the college.

He appreciated the students and the staff for their outstanding contribution to the institute. Students were also given away roll of honours and college colours.

Chandigarh, March 2
The Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) will float new sectors at Jhajjar, Jind, Hisar, Sirsa, Kaithal, Rohtak, Rewari, Sonepat, Fatehabad, Guhla-Cheeka, Karnal and Pataudi.

An official spokesman said here today that land for the Ex-servicemen Contributory Health Scheme had been allotted at highly concessional rates by HUDA for the first time at Faridabad, Rewari, Jind, Narnaul, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Karnal, Sonepat, Rohtak, Panipat and Jhajjar.

He said during the current financial year, 1,998 plots had been offered in Sector 4 (part) in Rohtak and Sector 6, Jhajjar, by HUDA exclusively for defence personnel and paramilitary forces.

It had also been decided to float sectors exclusively for ex-servicemen and defence personnel at Bahadurgarh - Sector 10; Jind - Sector 6; Hisar - Sector 3; Rewari - Sector 18 and Narnaul (new sector).

He said to provide adequate infrastructure, 10 sites for hospitals and 23 sites for petrol stations had been floated by the present government, besides 169 institutional sites.

Similarly, 14,141 freehold residential plots of all sizes, 2,069 plots for EWS and 321 plots 0.5 acre category for group housing had been floated, he added.

HUDA had also invited applications for shifting of dyeing units in Sector 29
(part-II) Panipat.

As many as 90 industrial plots available at Rojka-Meo, Hathin, Bahadurgarh, Bhiwani and Hisar had also been advertised for allotment, he added.

He said under its new projects, an Ashiana Scheme would be launched at Faridabad, Rohtak, Bahadurgarh, Kaithal, Sirsa, Ambala and Gurgaon.