Jind, July 24
Irked over poor power supply, villagers protested at three different places here today. While the vehicular traffic was blocked for over four hours near Narwana town here, protesters at Singhana village pelted the local substation with stones, which led to the damage of windowpanes and certain items there. They were reportedly upset over long power cuts and failure of the department concerned to resume the supply after a long cut last night.

In another incident, villagers locked the substation located near Dhamtan village. They said as there was no supply, there was no need of any substation. The lock was removed after they were persuaded by the officials concerned after about an hour.

No one was reportedly injured in the incidents. Officials concerned lodged a complaint with the police.

The traffic movement near Narwana town was restored after the intervention of senior officials of the power and police departments.

YAMUNANAGAR: Residents of 10 villages blocked the state highway at two places in protest against power cuts on Thursday. Villagers jammed the traffic at Balachaur and Khurdwand in Chhachhroli block for over four hours complaining that they had been facing almost black outs for the past 15 days.

A large number of villagers gathered outside the office of the electricity department and pelted it with stones damaging windowpanes. They alleged that they had been getting power supply for only two hours a day.

The villagers lifted their protest after superintendent engineer K.G. Nandan assured them of normal power supply.

KAITHAL: A large number of residents of Mundri and other villages on the Kaithal-Karnal road resorted to road blockade to protest against the erratic power supply on Thursday. The protesters raised slogans against the government for its failure to maintain proper power supply in their area.

The agitated villagers said they had been facing hardships due to irregular power supply. It had become difficult to run their tubewells and they were passing sleepless nights due to power failure.

The blockade was lifted after Kaithal SDM Hawa Singh assured villagers of regular power supply. Following this assurance.

REWARI: Residents of Qutubpur, Rampura and several other colonies of the town resorted to a blockade and held violent demonstrations at Naiwali Chowk as well as at Rampura Turn on July 22 to register their protest against the persistently erratic power supply in their respective areas.

The irate mob at Rampura Turn threw stones at the police, damaged a police vehicle and injured several policemen. Some of the protesters, too, sustained injuries when the police reportedly lathicharged the protesters.

The police has registered separate cases of rioting, causing hurt to public servants, assault on the policemen and wrongful restraint under Sections 148, 149, 353, 332, 341 and 186 of the IPC as well as under various sections of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984, against “identified” protesters.

The police has arrested some residents.

They were on Wednesday produced in the respective courts of the Chief Judicial Magistrate and the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, who remanded them to judicial custody for 14 days.

Sirsa, July 24
Irked over erratic supply of potable water to Shahpuria village, residents of the village today staged a demonstration and locked the waterworks of the public health department.

Villagers alleged that they had not received proper supply of potable water for the past 15 days.

“Taps have gone dry for the past four days,” alleged Satbir Godara, a villager.

Other villagers, Chhotu Ram, Mahinder Kuleria and Rajinder Sinwar, also echoed the complaint of Godara.

Villagers alleged that they had been facing an acute shortage of water but the authorities had not been looking into their repeated complaints.

The lock was opened after SDO of the public health department Har Lal Bishnoi reached the village from Sirsa and assured them of better supply from tomorrow.

Dabwali (Sirsa), July 24
Life appears to have returned to normal in this town bordering Punjab and Rajasthan.

For the first time after curfew was clamped in the town following the July 18 incident of death of a Sikh and subsequent incidents of rioting, the authorities relaxed it from dawn to dusk today.

"The authorities have decided to give relaxation in the curfew from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. from today," said V. Umashankar, deputy commissioner, Sirsa, while talking to The Tribune.

"We are watching developments closely and taking decisions accordingly. As of now, we have no plan to lift the curfew before July 27," he added when asked as to when the authorities plan to lift the curfew.

It was business as usual in the markets of Dabwali today, but beneath this normalcy, an undercurrent of tension and uncertainty was visible.

All eyes are fixed on July 27 now, when the bhog ceremony of Harminder Singh, the Sikh youth killed during an altercation between Sikhs and Dera followers on July 18, will be held.

Several prominent Sikh leaders from Punjab and Haryana are expected to participate in the ceremony.

But, it is not only the bhog ceremony which is giving sleepless nights to the authorities.

The announcement by the Dera Sacha Sauda to organise “satsang” on the same day at its headquarters in Sirsa has got the administration worried.

"We have been organising such “satsang” on the last Sunday of every month, in which 3 to 4 lakh devotees come to Sirsa from all over Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and other neighbouring states," informed the Dera spokesperson Pawan Insan.

Local residents are apprehensive of trouble on this day, as a large number of vehicles of Dera followers are to pass through Dabwali before reaching Sirsa.

Meanwhile, the Dera followers are also waiting for the bhog ceremony to be over before they could press for their demand of action against those responsible for torching of houses and business establishments in Dabwali and ransacking and setting on fire a traditional Dera at Dhukianwali village.

Chandigarh, July 24
Adversity makes strange bedfellows. So does politics. This is probably the only explanation for two rival parties, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), sharing a platform even if it was only to defeat the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in the trust vote.

Post-July 22, the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA), where the INLD has become the dominant partner with the exit of the Samajwadi Party, is exploring the option of taking its “new-found friends” on board for presenting a more forceful Third Front option.

However, a final decision on this will be taken only after INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala returns from his trip abroad. Stating that the INLD was not averse to the idea of arch-rival Ajeet Singh joining the UNPA bandwagon, MP and INLD general secretary, Ajay Chautala, said, “At yesterday’s meeting, we decided that parties from the same state must work out their issues among themselves. As of now, the UNPA remains unchanged. The TDP, the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha, the Assom Gana Parishad and we will sit together to consider other inclusions in the UNPA after our leader returns.”

Though he avoided making any direct reference to the INLD joining hands with Ajeet Singh as part of the Third Front, the junior Chautala did say that all parties opposed to the Congress and BJP were acceptable.

Both scions of prominent Jat leaders and seen as leaders within their respective areas of operation as well, Om Prakash Chautala and Ajeet Singh came face to face when the latter, as Chief Minister of Haryana, made his entry into Western Uttar Pradesh in the 2001 by launching his own party unit.

Subsequently, Chautala launched an offensive against the RLD and even fielded over a dozen candidates. In fact, the rivalry between them grew to a level where Chautala made scathing personal attacks on Ajeet Singh. He had even nominated Harinder Malik, a Jat leader from UP to the Rajya Sabha on a Haryana ticket in a bid to establish the INLD’s hold in UP.

Karnal, July 24
The “Save the Girl Child” campaign today got a tremendous fillip from the Indian Army. Chief of the Indian Army General Deepak Kapoor not only showed concern over the dwindling gender ratio in Haryana but also called for a massive social movement to change the mindset of people.

General Kapoor was speaking at the launch of “NCC - Save the Girl Child” campaign initiated by NCC cadets of Haryana on the campus of National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI).

A native of Haryana, Gen Kapoor said due to imbalanced gender ratio, local boys had been unable to find suitable brides within the state.

Addressing NCC cadets, he said society’s preference for a male child as well as dowry system had led to this social nuisance.

He said a majority of people consider the girl child as “praya dhan” and hence never give her due status in the family. Due to the increasing gap in the gender ratio, the state was fast losing its demographic balance, he observed.

The army chief said law alone was not sufficient to check the female foeticide and emphasised on a mass movement to bring a change in society’s mindset for better future.

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who was the chief guest on the occasion, also admitted that the declining sex ratio was a blot on the state.

He called for participation of masses to eradicate this evil practice.

He, however, claimed that with the launch of several state-sponsored welfare schemes, the sex ratio in the state had slightly improved.

“Earlier, sex ratio in the state was 819 females after every 1,000 males. The recent survey has revealed that the same had gone up as the number of females had gone up to 863,” he said. But, a lot had to be done, he added.

Earlier, Director-General, NCC, Lt General Prakash S. Chaudhary said NCC cadets across the state would organise rallies in their respective towns to spread a message against female foeticide.

Hooda and Gen Kapoor rode bicycles to launch the campaign.

Karnal, July 24
The Sainik School, Kunjpura, today celebrated its 48th founder’s day in the presence of the chief of the Indian Army. Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Chief of the Indian Army General Deepak Kapoor recalled the days spent in the Sainik School.

After inaugurating the newly constructed NDA block, Hooda lauded the activities of the school.

He said it was a matter of pride that 18 students of the school had gone on to become Generals in the Indian Army.

The school was established on July 24, 1961, with the primary aim of making it a feeder institution for the National Defence Academy (NDA).

Recalling Haryana’s contribution in the Indian defence services, Hooda said: “Every tenth soldier in the Indian Army is from Haryana.”

Reacting to the demand forwarded by principal of the school Arun Dutta, Hooda promised to do the needful for the proposed double storeyed dormitory on the school premises.

Hooda appealed to certain affluent former students to contribute for the renovation and development works required in the school.

Several former teachers and students were honoured on the occasion. The principal highlighted the activities and achievements of the school.

Bhiwani, July 24
The police today claimed to have busted a gang of idol thieves active in the state for the past several years. The gang had stolen idols worth crores from the Digambar Jain temple, Jhajjar.

Superintendent of police Sanjay Kumar said here that a special team of the CIA cell was working on a case at the local Halu Bazar today when it got information that two boys, having a big bag full of costly items, were moving in Sarafa Market in order to sell these.

The team, led by Inspector Ram Avtar, rounded up the boys on the basis of information and interrogated them.

The police recovered five idols of Padam Prabhu, Chanda Prabhu, Mahavir Swami and Chaubisi God belonging to the Jain sect from them.

During interrogation, they revealed that they had stolen these idols from Digambar Jain temple, Jhajjar, in January. A case is registered under Sections 457 and 380 of the Indian Penal Code at the Jhajjar police station and being investigated by the CID crime branch in this regard.

The accused have been identified as Sanjay of Naurangawas Jattan under the Charkhi Dadri police station and Sandeep of Mai Kalan under the Badhra police station in Bhiwani district. The accused further admitted that they had committed this theft with the aid of their leader Bijender of Nai Basti, Bhiwani.

The police registered a case under Sections 379, 411 of the IPC and seized the stolen idols.

The cost of the idols has been estimated over Rs 1 crore in the international market. The police arrested the duo and sent teams to arrest Bijender, the third accused in the case.

Gurgaon, July 24
It was on confession of a member of gang of car thieves arrested here yesterday that the Gurgaon police learnt about a new modus operandi of cars being towed away by these criminals posing as traffic police personnel.

This latest method of car lifting, detected to have been employed in some cases by one of the gangs active in the cyber city, showed the audacity of the criminals who targeted parking lots in up-market areas like Sushant Lok and DLF having major concentration of call centres. And this has happened despite special police teams in place at the police station, CIA and police district levels.

"We were on the lookout for this gang for the past five-six months. We met with success with the arrest of Kaviraj, one of the four members of the gang and resident of the Dharma Colony of the Palam Vihar area. We are now looking for his three accomplices," said DCP (crime) Satyendra Gupta.

Their modus operandi in which they even posed as traffic police was something new, he added. The accused confessed to their involvement in more than eight cases.

His arrest is a matter of relief for the car owners in Gurgaon, which has come to be known as hub of car thefts, especially as the number of new vehicles is almost doubled every year. There are several active gangs with professional expertise who, according to the police, come mainly from neighbouring, Dehli, UP and southern most area of Mewat area in Haryana.