Chandigarh, March 21
The Gurgaon district administration today issued a show-cause notice to actress Soha Ali Khan regarding the misuse of her licensed weapon by her father Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi in the black buck poaching case.

The administration has asked Soha Ali to explain why she concealed the fact that her rifle was in custody of the Jhajjar police when she applied for licence renewal on September 7, 2005.

The notice said the actress should have informed the district authorities about this fact as it was her moral duty.

Besides, the notice observed that when she was issued the arms licence in November 1996, her age was below 21 years whereas according to Section 9(1)(a) of the Arms Act 1959, the age of applicant should not be under 21 years.

She has been asked to file reply within a fortnight and submit her original arms licence with the district magistrate's office within 15 days.

The weapon was still in the custody of the Jhajjar Police, which was investigating the case.

District magistrate Rakesh Gupta said the Jhajjar police did not intimate the Gurgaon administration earlier about the misuse of rifle entered in Soha's arms licence. — UNI

Chandigarh, March 21
Flour millers in Haryana have asked the state government to bring the industry on par with neighbouring states by removing market fee, rural development fund and commission.

“The flour milling industry in Haryana has become sick due to the imposition of several types of charges on wheat procurement. We have to pay 11.5 per cent charges as compared to 1 per cent charges applicable in Punjab and Chandigarh on wheat lifting from markets,” Haryana Roller Flour Mills Association president C.P. Gupta said.

“Due to high tax structure we have lost our businesses to neighbouring states,” he added.

Because of different rates of charges applicable in Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh on wheat lifting, 40 out of 65 flour mills had shut down their business in Haryana in the past, he said, adding that the working units were utilising just 20 per cent of their total production capacity.

Haryana charges market fee and rural development fund of 2 per cent each, arthiya commission of 3.5 per cent and VAT of 4 per cent on wheat products compared to 1 per cent of tax each applicable in Punjab and Chandigarh. — PTI

Panipat, March 21
After more than one-and-a-half months of the attack on the chief of Sirsa-based Dera Sachha Sauda, the Karnal police finally showed its keenness for public support and released the sketches of the alleged mastermind behind the attack, Baksheesh Singh, here today.

The Tribune had first highlighted the issue regarding the reluctance of the police in seeking public assistance in nabbing the accused.

Sources cite various official hiccups, including the lack of confidence amongst officials over the resemblance of the sketches with the accused, as reasons for the delay.

According to the police, Baksheesh, a former Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) activist, had chopped his hair and beard to conceal his identity.

Though his four sketches were released today, the investigating officers are still awaiting the nod of the state authorities that had failed to grant the reward money giving information about the accused.

Baksheesh had allegedly plotted to eliminate the dera head to take “religious revenge” and had motivated several like-minded persons from Punjab and Haryana to carry out the attack.

Meanwhile, the Karnal police claimed that a Patiala-based man today surrendered before the local police for his “confessional” role in conspiring an attack on the convoy of the dera chief, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.

Gurinder Singh (23), a resident of Raghomajra locality in Patiala, had surrendered in the presence of certain Patiala residents, informed Karnal DSP Surinder Singh Bhoria.

He said the accused was tracking the movement of the dera head in Ambala and had allegedly intimated Baksheesh about it over mobile phone.

Bhoria claimed that other arrested accused, including Parveen and Mahender, had also named before the investigating officials about Gurinder's role in the attack.

The accused had also kept the explosive used in the attack in his possession. He would be produced in a local court tomorrow, the DSP added.

Rewari, March 21
In a bizarre incident, a woman delivered a baby near the main gate of the local civil hospital here yesterday.

Owing to the alleged indifferent attitude of the concerned medical staff, Paro, wife of Bhola Ram of Dharuhera, delivered a male child in the open space near the main gate of the hospital.

She was then abruptly picked up and taken to the labour room by the bewildered hospital staff.

Bhola Ram said he had brought his wife to the hospital hoping that she would be provided all possible assistance for a facile delivery.

But after a casual examination, the staff directed him to take Paro to the PGIMS, Rohtak, as she was anaemic, he added.

Just as he went out to hire a taxi for Rohtak, Paro delivered the child near the main gate of the hospital. This is the second such incident in the past five weeks.

On February 13, a young woman, Reshmi Devi of the Gadia Lohar tribe, too, was referred to the PGIMS, Rohtak, but she delivered a child in the open again near the main gate of the hospital.

Meanwhile, local residents have urged Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda as well as health minister Kartar Devi to ensure proper facilities in this 100-beded hospital to avoid recurrence of such incidents.

Rewari, March 21
The reported sale of 176 acres of Mukandpur Basai village of the district, 13 km from here, to some property dealers of Gurgaon district and other places by certain residents of Kakda Bedam village of Bharatpur district in Rajasthan has virtually pushed dozens of residents of Mukandpur Basai village to the wall.

Farmers, who have been cultivating this land as its virtual owners for over a century, as well as owners of 100 houses, which were built by them on this land long ago, are now a worried lot.

Elders of the village fail to understand that how land purchasers easily secured 25 registries of 176 acres in January from the concerned revenue officials of the Bawal tehsil office at the bidding of residents of Kakda Bedam village, whose proprietary rights of the land were quite dubious.

They said the case pertaining to the payment of compensation to the actual owners of land of Mukandpur Basai village acquired by the state government for Masani Barrage in 1980-81 was still pending in the Punjab and Haryana High Court owing to the disputed proprietary rights of such landowners.

The story of this tormenting episode began in the latter half of the 19th century when the then British government exempted members of the Sansanwal clan (gotra) of the Jat community from land revenue following which a huge tract of land owned by farmers of the non-Sansanwal clan was transferred to Kanhiya Lal and his brother Ram Swarup, both of the Sansanwal clan, just to save themselves from the payment of hefty land revenue to the British government. This was done in good faith before 1891.

Later, Kanhiya Lal and Ram Swarup left Mukandpur Basai village and settled permanently in Kakda Bedam village.

Now using those proprietary rights as a ploy, certain descendants of Kanhiya Lal and Ram Swarup sold 176 acres of that land at throwaway prices to property dealers.

Alleging that a nexus between land purchasers and the concerned revenue officials of the Bawal tehsil office had facilitated the hassle free registry of the land, the worried villagers have now decided to fight a legal battle to secure justice.

Yamunanagar, March 21
Women of Harijan Basti of Jathlana here thrashed an alleged liquor smuggler and locked him up in the Ravidass temple for more than four hours today.

The women also raised slogans against the local police alleging a nexus between it and liquor smugglers.

The women also claimed to have recovered two cases of country-made liquor and also took the motor cycle of the accused into possession.

The suspect, identified as Dharampal, used to allegedly sell liquor illegally in the basti. Today, when he arrived, the women got hold of him and gave him a sound beating before locking him up in the temple.

Rekha Rani, Asha, Kamla Devi and Raj Kumari, all residents of the basti, alleged that unauthorised sale of liquor in the area had corrupted the youths, but the police was not taking any action against the bootleggers.

The police later arrested the accused and booked him under various sections of the Excise Act.

Yamunanagar, March 21
A youth, who was booked yesterday on charges of assaulting a woman and her two sons, allegedly committed suicide by jumping before a train near the bridge on Yamuna river here today.

A suicide note, apparently written by him, was recovered from his pocket. It stated that he was ending his life on his own and no one was responsible for his death. As per the note, his name was Dinesh Dutta, a resident of Lal Dawara here.

The victim, Dutta (22), was booked along with Paramjeet and others under Section 323, 506 and 34 of the IPC for allegedly attacking Krishna Tiwari and her two sons, Pawan and Deepak, near Arjun Nagar gurdwara.

Pawan had sustained grievous injuries in the alleged attack and was referred to the PGI, Chandigarh. His condition was said to be stable. It is not known yet why Dinesh and others had allegedly attacked the Tiwari family.

Yamunanagar, March 21
The pensioners and senor citizens welfare association, Jagadhri, has demanded LTC facility equivalent to one month pension after every two years on the pattern of the Punjab government, besides an interim relief of 5 per cent.

The association has also demanded an old age allowance at the rate of 5 and 10 per cent on attaining the age of 65 years and 75 years, respectively.

Legal adviser and coordinator of the association C. Kathpalia said at a meeting of the association it was felt that medical allowance should be enhanced to Rs 500 from the present Rs 250 in view of the increase in the rates of medicines and medical facilities.

The association has also demanded 50 per cent concession in railway fares to the senior citizens along with a facility of an attendant.

The members said the state government on pattern of its Punjab counterpart should give 50 per cent concession in bus fare.

Meanwhile, officials of the State Bank of Patiala informed the association members about the schemes and incentives given by the bank to the senior citizens, informed R.S Khurana, general secretary of the association.

Sirsa, March 21
The estate officer of HUDA, Sirsa, and the executive engineer, HUDA, Mandal-II, Hisar, have been summoned under the Right to Information Act by the state information commission (SIC) to appear before it on April 3, 2008.

The summons have been issued on the complaint of a local resident Surender Bhatia made under Section 18 of the Act, who alleged that these officers, who are state public information officers of their respective departments, had concealed information while acting upon his application.

Bhatia's wife Sunita Bhatia, who owns a house in Sector 20 of HUDA in Sirsa, had been getting inflated bills for water used from the potable water supply of the authority.

According to the complaint, HUDA had been charging higher rates from them, which it charged before the issuance of completion certificates to the residents, although they had got the required certificate seven years back.

The estate officer wrote to the executive engineer, Mandal-II, on September 7, 2007, in this regard asking him to settle the matter.

When no action was taken by the authorities at Hisar, Bhatia sought some information from the two officers on January 7, 2008, posing several questions regarding the tariff policy of HUDA on potable water supply and its application to his house.

The officers, according to Bhatia, provided evasive replies to most of his questions and even concealed some information demanded by him, forcing him to move the state information commissioner.

While summoning the two officers, the state commission said in its notice that the commission was satisfied that there were reasonable grounds for holding an inquiry under Section 18 (2) of the RTI Act.

Fatehabad, March 21
The district authorities have identified 12,843 new poor families, who will be included in the list of families living below poverty line (BPL) in rural areas of the district.

With a list of 37,224 families already in place, the total number of BPL families has reached to 50,067, after the settlement of all appeals placed before the authorities in this regard.

The authorities faced a tough time convincing hundreds of applicants approaching them daily in this regard as a large number of welfare schemes of the government, including those funded by the central government, are meant exclusively for BPL families.

Deputy commissioner O.P. Sheoran said the government’s policy for BPL families was still awaited and it was not known how many families of those identified by the authorities would be actually given the BPL cards. Last year, only 25,642 families were included in the BPL list.

Sheoran said the authorities received 24,932 claims and objections when they had published the first draft list after survey by ex-servicemen appointed for the purpose.

Claims of 10,910 families were accepted at the time of first appeals, while 1,933 more families were found eligible during the second appeals.

The DC said 15,823 families had been included in the urban BPL list but there were several complaints about the non-inclusion of the eligible families in these lists.