Sonepat, August 16
At least 50 villages were on high alert for the third consecutive day today as the water level in the Yamuna crossed the danger mark following the release of 1.50 lakh cusecs from the Tajewala Headworks near Yamunanagar.

Many villagers spent the day shifting their household goods to safer places. The recent floods had damaged crops in many villages, official sources said.

The sources said water was flowing between various stone barriers at Baga, Mamapur and Garhi Asadpur, without causing any damage to the 48-km earthen “protective bundh” between Baga and Dahesra villages near Haryana-Delhi border.

Meanwhile, fields in many villages have been submerged and the authorities of the irrigation department and the district administration have failed take steps for pumping out the rainwater.

YAMUNANAGAR: The situation continued to be tense in low-lying areas of the district due to a rise in the water level of the Yamuna on Saturday.

The water level of the Yamuna was recorded at around 1 lakh cusecs at the Hathni Kund barrage in the afternoon.

The administration has already sounded an alert in the low-lying areas along the river in the district since Thursday when the water level of Yamuna had reached 1.40 lakh cusecs.

Yamunanagar, August 16
A man of Tarn Taran district in Punjab, Devinder Singh, was allegedly murdered at his in-law’s house by his wife in connivance with three other members of her family in Vishnu Nagar near Jagadhri here.

Gursharan Kaur, along with the others, allegedly murdered her husband by adding poison in his food, said police sources.

The police today registered case under sections 302, 328 and 34 of the IPC against Gursharan Kaur and three others - Harpal Singh, Harbhajan Kaur and Swarandeep Singh - following a complaint lodged by victim’s brother Harcharajit Singh.

The sources said Devinder Singh got married to Gursharan Kaur in February and since then he was not getting along well with his wife, who was staying with her parents for the past sometime.

Family members of the victim alleged that Gursharn Kaur had illicit relations with a youth and even after marriage she never wanted to stay with her husband.

After getting a call from his in-laws’ house, Devinder Singh had come here to take her back with him, but was murdered, they alleged.

Jind, August 16
Resorting to treatment by a “tantrik” to cure a pain in the neck prove deadly for a resident of Narwana town in the district.

He died on the spot after undergoing treatment at the hands of three unqualified persons yesterday.

The suspects fled away from the spot after the incident. A case has been registered. No arrest has been made.

The victim, Rakesh Kumar, hailing from Dhakal village but residing in the Choprapatti locality of Narwana town, had been suffering from a pain in his neck for past several days. It is learnt that he could not get any relief from the treatment he took from some physicians.

The victim, a vegetable vendor, then came in contact with Virender, who claimed to be a “tantrik” and offered an immediate treatment costing about Rs 12,000.

Rakesh agreed to pay Rs 10,000 for the treatment and he was asked to visit their place at 11 am on Friday.

The “tantrik”, assisted by two others, started the treatment and in the process twisted his neck in such a manner that it resulted in serious damage to the neck cord, leading to his death, it is claimed.

Virender and the two others, Rizak and Manish, fled when they realised that Rakesh had died.

Sirsa, August 16
Work on the construction of a boundary wall and repairs of inner rooms of a building of Dera Sacha Sauda in Ghunkawali was completed this afternoon amid tight security arrangements.

The work was started on August 12 and more than 100 dera followers, including masons, had been working since then.

Three companies of the police guarded the dera building during the period the construction work was on. The building is still under heavy security.

Some miscreants had ransacked the dera building on the night of July 18 after the death of a Sikh, Harminder Singh, in a clash with dera followers on the issue of “naam charcha” at Dabwali.

The miscreants had razed the outer boundary wall of the building and set the furniture in the rooms on fire.

The dera followers have been able to construct the 800-foot-long wall and also plastering and other interior works on the rooms in a little over three days.

Dera sources said the intermittent rain disrupted the construction work otherwise they could have completed the work in one day.

Sikh organisations had announced to disrupt the construction work on the dera building and had even tried to march towards Ghunkawali on August 12, but were arrested by the police. The police had not allowed the Sikhs to cross Odhan village.

Earlier, three Sikhs from the village had filed a suit in a Dabwali court seeking restraint on the construction work, but the court had declined to issue any injunction on this issue.

Sirsa, August 16
Over 1,000 electricity consumers have so far filed their objections, suggestions and comments before the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission’s recent notice regarding the proposed hike in the power tariff of domestic, non-domestic and industrial consumers.

The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), which has managed these objections, suggestions and comments from its former ministers, former MPs, former MLAs, doctors, advocates, intellectuals and industry representatives, plans to produce all these persons before the HERC on August 18, the day of public hearing at Inderdhanush Auditorium, Panchkula.

Former Haryana minister and a senior INLD leader Sampat Singh, who has been spearheading the campaign to file affidavits of objections, suggestions and comments on behalf of the public, said it would be for the first time in the history of the HERC that such a large number of people had responded to its notice.

He said the INLD would see to it that the government does not go ahead with its plan to hike the power tariff, which was anti-people as well as illegal.

The HERC had given a notice in newspapers on July 18 inviting objections, suggestions and comments to its proposal to hike power tariff of the DHBVN and the UHBVN for the recovery of Rs 522 crore shown as deficit by the power utilities for the current year.

The objections, suggestions and comments were to be filed before August 14 and the public hearing on these claims and objections is scheduled for August 18.

The main objection raised by the INLD is that the public notice violates the Section 87 of the Electricity Act 2003.

The Electricity Act provides for the constitution of a state advisory committee, which shall advice the HERC on major questions of the policy.

However, the state advisory committee had not been set up so far, said Sampat Singh. The other main objection of the party is that the HERC now proposed to introduce non-telescopic pattern of slab system in billing instead of the previous telescopic system.

Under the telescopic system, consumer with high consumption of electricity paid lesser rate for the first 300 units, but after the introduction of the non-telescopic pattern, they would have to pay higher tariff from the very first unit, the INLD leader said.

The recovery of transmission and distribution losses from the agriculture side by the power utilities is another objection raised by the consumers, whose affidavits have been managed by the INLD.

Sampat Singh said honest agriculture consumers were being punished for the misdeeds of others.

Chandigarh, August 16
The Haryana government has adopted a comprehensive approach to upgrade facilities like streets, drains and other amenities in the villages of the state.

A sum of Rs 650 crore had been allocated for pavement of streets in villages of the state up to July, Haryana chief parliamentary secretary Dharambir Singh said today.

He said as many as 98 villages were being developed as model villages with an outlay of Rs 425 crore. In these villages, pucca streets, drains, sports stadia and other amenities would be provided.

He said during the current financial year, a special programme had been launched with an outlay of Rs 92.95 crore to upgrade the infrastructure facilities in villages having more than 50 per cent SC population.

With the objective to boost sports activities in rural areas, Dharambir said as many as 160 sports stadia with a cost of Rs 50 lakh each were being constructed.

He said facilities like athletic track, football/hockey ground, multi-purpose hall for indoor games and other facilities would be provided in these stadia. — UNI

Chandigarh, August 16
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today said all boxers of Haryana, who would win medal in their respective categories in the Olympic Games in Bejing, would be offered the post of deputy superintendent of police by the state government.

He said those boxers of Haryana, who would reach the quarterfinal event in their weights in the Olympic Games, would be given a cash reward of Rs 25 lakh each.

Today, a second boxer of Haryana, Jatinder Kumar, advanced to the quarterfinals of the boxing competitions in flyweight category, raising hopes for medal.

Akhil Kumar, hailing from Bhiwani, beat Russian world champion Sergey Vodopyanov yesterday to reach quarterfinal in 54 kg weight category in the Olympic Games.

The Chief Minister congratulated both the boxers and urged all participating players hailing from Haryana to concentrate on their performance and give their best to clinch medals.

He added that the government would appreciate their efforts and suitably reward their achievements.

The Haryana government has already announced to give Rs 2 crore as a reward to those players of Haryana who would win a gold medal in the Olympic Games.

Similarly, the winner of a silver medal would get Rs 1 crore and a bronze medal winner would get Rs 50 lakh.

Chandigarh, August 16
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda will honour literary persons and winners of Pustak Puraskaar at the “Annual Sahitayakaar Samman and Puraskaar Function” being organised by the Haryana Sahitya Akademi in Haryana Niwas on August 19.

Stating this here, a spokesman for the akademi said Haryana education minister Mange Ram Gupta would be the special guest and renowned critic Dr Naamwar Singh would preside over the function.

Commissioner and secretary, education, Rajan Gupta, who is also the vice-president of the akademi, would also be present.

He said Dr Sansar Chand would be awarded with Haryana Sahitya Ratan Samman. Similarly, Dr Manmohan would be awarded with Mahakavi Soordas Samman, Tara Panchal with Babu Balmukund Gupt Samman (Hindi literature), Rajkishan Nain with Babu Balmukund Gupt Samman (Hindi journalism), Kanwal Haryanvi and Shyam Sakha with Pt Lakhmichand Samman and Abhay Mourya with Haryana Gaurav Samman.

In books category, awards would be given to Hareram Sameep, Kamal Kapur, Ashok Kumar Sharma, Amrit Lal Madan, Ghamandi Lal Aggarwal, Madan Lal Kapur and Om Parkash Kadiyan.

Similarly, Rajbir Singh Dhankar and Mahender Pal Saarswat would be honoured in Haryanavi books category.

He has also served in the Intelligence Bureau. Vashist was also honoured with the Police Medal on Republic Day in 1999.

He was promoted to the post of IGP in 2003. Thereafter, he was posted as the director, Haryana Police Academy, Madhuban.

Rohtak, August 16
An expert committee of the University Grants Commission (UGC) visited Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) here recently to review the university’s performance during the 10th Plan period and assess its requirements for the 11th Plan.

After welcoming committee members, MDU vice-chancellor Ram Phal Hooda gave a presentation, highlighting progress made by the university since inception in 1976.

The convener of the UGC committee, Prof T.S. Papola, complimented the university authorities for educating students of the rural areas.

He said the MDU’s request for greater funding would be sympathetically considered. Committee members B.Hanumaiah and Prof D.K. Gautam also addressed the meeting.

Later, the committee visited different teaching departments and central facilities of the university and assessed their requirements.

The committee members also viewed the presentations made by the MDU departments of journalism and mass communication; computer applications; the university’s PG Regional Centre, Rewari; and the ILMS, Gurgaon.

MDU registrar S.P.Vats, dean (academic affairs) Surender Kumar and other university functionaries were also present at the presentation meeting.

Rohtak, August 16
Self-confidence, gained through the accumulation of knowledge and persistent efforts for self-development, is the key to achieving success in the defence services as well as life in general.

One may not be able to change one’s fate, but changing one’s attitude can make a big difference in life.

These views were expressed by Lt-Gen Prakash S. Chaudhary, director-general, NCC, while addressing a gathering at the inaugural ceremony of the Youth Centre for Skills Development in Defence Services at Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) here on Thursday.

General Chaudhary called upon the students and NCC cadets to improve their communication skills, enhance their reading, develop a positive attitude and build a personality which radiated enthusiasm. He also gave a presentation on “Youth empowerment for the future” during his address.

MDU vice-chancellor R.P. Hooda said confidence and communication skills were key components to achieving success in life.

Rewari, August 16
Over 400 children and youths from various villages of Ahirwal region participated in the 38th annual sports and cultural meet at Mayan village, 20 km from here, on the occasion of the Independence Day yesterday.

Hoisting the Tricolour, village sarpanch Brijesh Singh Chauhan inaugurated the sports meet, held under the auspices of the Yuvak Mandal, a voluntary organisation.

Brijesh Chauhan and Yudhvir Singh Chauhan, president of the Yuvak Mandal, gave away prizes to the winners.

Students of Government School, Mayan, and Nav Chetna High School, Balwari, bagged the first position in the junior level and senior level general knowledge competitions, respectively.

The first prize for calligraphy contest went to students of Government Primary
School, Balwari.

Similarly, Usman Khan of Government School, Mayan, and Hari Om of Swami Vivekananda High School, Batodi, bagged the first place in racing and long jump competitions, respectively.

Buroli village won the kabaddi tourney. As many as 32 teams participated in the tournament. The first and second positions in athletic competitions went to the following: 100 m race - first: Gajender (Mayan village), second: Pawan (Mandola); 400 m race - first: Virender (Dhawana), second: Hari Om (Aliawas); 5000 m race - first: Sandeep (Buroli), second: Pawan (Mamadia); long jump - first: Praveen Kumar (Mandola), second: Paramjit (Bas Dudha); shot put - first: Anil Kumar (Dhawana), second Vikas (Mandola).