Ambala, August 27
Passengers planning to travel by train between September 5 and September 16 should re-check their train schedule as many trains during this period have been cancelled, diverted or re-routed due to the closure of the New Delhi railway station for re-modelling.

Trains ending and stopping at the New Delhi railway station will be diverted to other stations in or around New Delhi while a few will be terminating at other stations.

Six trains in the region falling under Ambala railway division have been cancelled. These are Rajdhani Express (New Delhi-Jammu Tawi-New Delhi), Shan-E-Punjab (Nizamuddin-Amritsar-Nizamuddin), Intercity Express (New Delhi-Jalandhar Cantt-New Delhi), Jan Shatabdi Express (New Delhi-Nangal Dam-Delhi), Himachal Express (Delhi-Una-Delhi) and Dhauladhar Express (Delhi-Pathankot-Delhi).

As many as 26 trains from the region will terminate at stations near or around New Delhi. These include Himalyan Queen (Nizamuddin-Kalka-Nizamuddin) and Intercity Express (New Delhi-Amritsar-New Delhi), which will now terminate and start at Panipat; Kissan Express (Delhi-Bathinda-Delhi) and Intercity Express (Delhi-Sriganganagar-Delhi), which will now terminate and start at Shakur Basti; Shalimar Express (New Delhi-Jammu Tawi-New Delhi), which will terminate and start at Meerut City; Uttar Sampark Kranti (New Delhi-Udhampur-New Delhi), Shatabdi Express (New Delhi-Amritsar-New Delhi) and Shatabdi Express (New Delhi-Kalka-New Delhi), which will terminate and start at Sarairohilla; and Intercity Express (Delhi-Bathinda-Delhi), which will terminate and start from Adarsh Nagar.

The routes of 44 trains from this region have been changed. These trains will now not go via New Delhi.

Talking to The Tribune, H.K. Jaggi, divisional railway manager, said the station had been closed as the signalling system had to be disconnected to enable them to work.

“This period has been decided as it falls between the summer rush and the Durga puja rush. It was the leanest period we could find.”

To ensure minimum inconvenience to the passengers, the railways has stopped booking tickets for the mentioned time period for the past two months.

More than four lakh passengers travel from and to the New Delhi railway station every day. 

Karnal, August 27
Following the arrest of Parmod, a student who was nabbed with 950 gm of narcotics a few days ago by the Jind police, the district police has arrested two more youths and seized 1 kg of narcotic substance from them. The substance is believed to be cocaine.

The two have been identified as Amarjit Singh, son of Ram Kumar and resident of Jhanjkalan village in Jind district, and Mahesh, son of Ram Krishan Yadav, a resident of the Parkash Nagar tehsil camp in Panipat district. Both were arrested in the Gharounda segment of the district yesterday.

DSP (H) Surinder Singh said the two were arrested on a tip-off that they were in possession of the narcotics and had been moving around in the district for the past several days.

This is the second case after the arrest of Parmod by the Jind police. Parmod had confessed during police interrogation that he had procured 2 kg of narcotics from Pammi of Nilokheri in the district. The police had seized 1 kg of narcotics from his possession, while the remaining 1 kg was seized from Amarjit Singh and Mahesh yesterday.

The DSP said in the international market the narcotic substance recovered by the district police was worth Rs 1.5 crore. He said the two had been booked under section 21 of the NDPS Act and were today produced before a local court which remanded them in police custody till August 31.

The DSP said the two arrested youths were in their early twenties. He said Mahesh was a student of the same polytechnic in Nilokheri in which Parmod studied, while Amarjit had given up studies after getting into this trade.

The police is now on the lookout for Pammi of Nilokheri from whom Parmod had brought 2 kg narcotics.

Jind, August 27
After running from pillar to post for over two months, 65-year-old Mange Ram, a resident of Pillukhera Mandi here, has threatened to immolate himself at a public place if the police fails to recover his 16-year-old daughter, who has been missing since June 11.

He alleged that his daughter was allegedly abducted by his son-in-law Rajender, a resident of Gharonda of Karnal district. He alleged that the police department was hand in glove with the accused as no FIR had been registered so far despite several representations and complaints at various levels.

He has also taken up the matter with the offices of the Chief Minister and the high court for their intervention on the issue.

Mange Ram, who has also submitted an affidavit regarding his complaint, has claimed that though there are several persons behind the abduction, the main accused is Rajender, who got married to his elder daughter, Sheela, on March 13, 2001.

He said Rajender left Sheela and his son after he abducted her younger sister. He alleged that all this was done after his elder daughter had lodged a complaint of dowry harassment against her in-laws after the marriage.

He claimed that Rajender had shifted to his place a few months back claiming that he had been ousted by his parents on the issue of dowry harassment.

He said he had submitted his complaint to the SP and the DC of the district, but to no avail.

According to him, the police officials had been claiming that the girl had gone with the accused voluntarily and no case could be registered in this regard.

However, Mange Ram has claimed that since the girl is a minor, she has been abducted and forced to live with a person, who is already married.

As per the complainant, as many as 13 persons were involved in the abduction and they include Rajender, Ramniwas, Sham Lal, Sita Devi, Bala Devi, Sunita, Santosh, 
Satpal, Chiman Singh and Sonu, all members of a family.

He said the police had been unnecessarily harassing and penalising him for no fault.

Yamunanagar, August 27
The home ministry has sent new guidelines to the state chief secretary, recommending proper implementation of the Religious Institutions (Prevention of Misuse) Act - 1988 which prevents the misuse of religious places for political, criminal, subversive and communal purposes in the state.

Besides, it also prohibits the storage of arms and ammunition inside any place of worship. It is the responsibility of the manager of a religious place to inform the police in the event of misuse of the place of worship.

Taking a serious view of the growing construction of unauthorised religious structures, the new rules state that any such construction should be made only after the approval of the district authorities and at the earmarked places.

Cases of construction of unauthorised religious structures should be dealt with sternly. Negligence on the part of the district administration in implementing these directions would be viewed seriously.

Union home secretary Madhukar Gupta has sent these guidelines to chief secretary Dharam Vir, who recently sent these to the all divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners of the state.

The new rules, a copy of which is available with The Tribune, state that a meeting of the state-level integration committee under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister held at least quarterly to review the communal situation.

The report regarding a communal incident should be sent to the ministry of home affairs immediately.

Chandigarh, August 27
Allegations of money being passed on to influence the course of justice seem to be getting common by the day.

After the Rs 15 lakh scam that has jolted the Bar and the Bench, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today found itself faced with another matter of similar nature. This time the allegations of corruption are against the presiding officer of the Rewari District Consumers Disputes Redressal Forum.

The matter came before the Punjab and Haryana High Court when the presiding officer, Om Parkash Chopra, filed an application for anticipatory bail, which has now been dismissed by Justice S.D. Anand.

The prosecution’s case was that Chopra had demanded money through one Ajay Kumar, who was acting as a conduit for him.

Elaborating, the prosecution had contended that the alleged conduit, Ajay Kumar, had demanded money from the complainant for getting a favourable order passed in his matter.

The complainant, instead of paying the money, informed the authorities concerned about the alleged demand. A trap was subsequently laid to nab Ajay Kumar and the money was recovered from him on the evening of June 21, 2007. Seeking the grant of anticipatory bail, the petitioner had contended that there was no nexus between him and Ajay Kumar.

After going through the documents and rival arguments in the matter, Justice Anand ruled: It can be safely culled out from the contentions of the parties and record shown to the court that the investigating agency would require the person of the petitioner for investigating the aspect of nexus, which assumes added importance in view of the fact that the decision ultimately went in favour of the first informant.

Before parting with the orders, Justice Anand added: I have no hesitation in holding that the present anticipatory bail plea is devoid of merit. It shall stand dismissed.

A case was registered in the matter under the provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act at a vigilance bureau police station in Gurgaon.

Chandigarh, August 27
In a major relief to Haryana’s former Cabinet minister Brij Mohan Singla, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has fixed a date in November for hearing his appeal against his conviction in a cheating case.

As Singla’s conviction has not been stayed in the matter, the former minister would have found himself ineligible to contest the Assembly elections due in 2010 in case of delay.

In fact, seeking stay on his conviction, Singla had alleged he was implicated “with a view to disabling him from contesting the elections, which were due in near future”.

As the matter came up for hearing before Justice S.D. Anand, his counsel said he would not press the plea for the suspension of conviction and would be content if the main appeal was fixed for actual hearing.

Taking on record his contention, Justice Anand directed the fixing of the appeal on November 7 for final hearing.

A case of cheating and corruption was registered against Singla and others on August 14, 2002, at the Hisar vigilance bureau after IPS officer Pirthi Singh Saini submitted an inquiry report.

The prosecution had claimed a panchayat was convened at Cabinet minister Singla’s house after co-accused in the case Nand Lal Garg failed to return loan he had earlier taken from 80-85 persons.

It was resolved during the panchayat meeting that 45 per cent of the amount would be disbursed to the creditors by selling Garg’s house, shop and godown. The property was sold, but Singla, Garg and another person embezzled and misappropriated Rs 50-60 lakh due to political influence, instead of returning the money to the creditors. As such, they cheated the creditors, it was further alleged.

As the matter came up before the Jind special judge, Singla claimed implication in the case. After going through the evidence and rival submissions, the special judge convicted Singla for cheating and sentenced him to three years of rigorous imprisonment, besides imposing fine, in April 2007.

Challenging the orders, Singla said he had been wrongly convicted and the orders were liable to be set aside.

Hisar, August 27
To minimise complaints regarding wrong billing and distribution of bills, the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam has decided to introduce the spot billing system in Gurgaon.

The spot billing system in areas of operation subdivision New Colony, Kadipur and DLF, serving Gurgaon town, will start from September 1. In areas of operation subdivision south city, Maruti and IDC, the facility of spot billing will start from September 15.

Under this scheme, meter readers will now generate energy bills on the spot in the presence of the consumer. For this purpose, the nigam will use electronic machines, in which the meter reader will feed the reading of the meter on the spot. The previous reading will already be available in the machine.

On giving command of printing, the machine will generate the electricity bill on the spot and it will be handed over to the consumer. The consumer can make the payment against his bill by cheque to the meter reader.

The work of meter reading, bill distribution and cash collection is being done by members of the Haryana Ex-Services League in the area of the DHBVN.

Though there has been a considerable reduction in the complaints relating to the billing service with the setting up of six customer care centres and a billing centre in Gurgaon, the introduction of the spot billing system is expected to bring more transparency in the service.

Nilokheri, August 27
The Haryana Institute of Rural Development, Nilokheri, organised a seminar on Empowerment of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) here today.

As many as 80 elected representatives of the PRIs, officers of the development and panchayat department and experts from various universities, training and research institutes participated in the seminar.

Inaugurating the seminar, chairman of the Third Finance Commission A.N. Mathur raised important issues regarding the augmentation of their own resources by the PRIs and augmentation of the resources of the PRIs through the share in the state revenue.

He emphasised the need for developing deprivation index as a base for the allocation of state resources among the PRIs and municipalities. He exhorted the elected representatives to make concrete suggestions in this context.

In her keynote address, financial commissioner and principal secretary, development and panchayat department, Urvashi Gulati gave a presentation on the present financial status of the PRIs in the state.

She made an appeal to the elected representatives of the PRIs to raise their own resources to convert the PRIs into local self-government institutions in the true sense of word. She also emphasised the need for gender budgeting.

Representatives of the PRIs impressed upon the commission to suggest to the Haryana government that 20 per cent of the net tax revenue of the state government should be given to the PRIs.

Panchkula, August 27
The pay of the employees retrenched during the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) regime and reinstated two years ago will be protected. A circular in this regard will be issued soon.

This was stated by Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda here today.

The Chief Minister, who was speaking at a felicitation function organised by the Haryana Karamchari Service Suraksha Sangh, also announced to exempt these employees for computer and departmental test.

A total of 4,083 out of more than 11,000 employees retrenched during the INLD regime were reinstated by the Congress government after coming to power.

However, the appointment of these employees was considered afresh and they were denied the benefits of increment of period before they rejoined the service.

Expressing his satisfaction over the contribution of the employees in the development of the state, Hooda said the employees of Haryana delivered much better than those in other parts of country.

Further counting on the achievement of his government, the Chief Minister said with the contribution made by the employees in the development of the state, Haryana today ranked first in terms of per capita investment, whereas its position was 14 in March 2005, when the Congress party took over the reins of the government. The per capita income was the highest in the state and in terms of wheat productivity and milk production, the state stood first in the country, he said, adding that now the Olympians from the state had proved their mettle in sports as well.

A high-level committee under the chairmanship of the chief secretary had been constituted to consider and implement the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission, he added. Power minister Randeep Singh Surjewala and president of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee Phool Chand Mullana also spoke on the occasion.

Hisar, August 27
A piquant situation arose here today following the death of a sadhu near the old railway overbridge when the police allegedly sent the body to a medical college without the permission of the deputy commissioner.

According to Dr Deepak Nagpal, chief of an NGO, Aasra, which cremates unclaimed dead bodies, the GRP called him up last evening and requested that the body of the sadhu, who had died, be cremated by his organisation.

He said he told them that the needful would be done this morning, as it was too late to cremate the body at that time.

Aasra activists went to the police station this morning where the munshi informed them that the body had been sent to Uklana, about 30 km from here, for cremation. On further queries, the munshi changed his statement and claimed that some sadhus had taken the body for cremation.

Nagpal said when he inquired about the cremation grounds where the body had been taken, the munshi again changed the tack and said the body had been sent to Medical College at Agroha near here for research purposes.

Nagpal informed the police officials that they had no power to send the body there as this could only be done on orders of the DC.

As the controversy was going on, a number of sadhus living under the overbridge reached the police station and alleged that the sadhu had been murdered.

Fatehabad, August 27
Some Christian missionaries, who had come to Gullarwala village here to address a religious congregation, were allegedly beaten up and shooed away by some religious fundamentalists.

The incident is alleged to have happened on August 22, when a widow, Kallobai, a Christian, organised a religious meeting at her residence.

Pardeep Gulati, state president of the All-India Christian United Front, here today alleged that the police was not arresting the accused.

The police, however, said some mischievous elements were raking up the issue for cheap publicity.

SP Saurabh Singh said some elements had tried to stop Christians from holding the meeting but the police intervened and the matter was sorted out between the two sides. He said no one had ever met him with any complaint regarding the issue.

Gulati, however, alleged that more than 20 hooligans came to the village with lathis, beat up the missionaries and spoiled the food to be served to them.

He alleged that they had been sitting in the Tohana police station since today morning, but the police was not listening to their complaints.

Sirsa, August 27
Two friends, who had gone down a septic tank to bring out a mobile phone that had fallen in the tank, were killed due to inhalation of poisonous gas in Baragura village here today. Their bodies were brought out by fire brigade workers.

The incident took place when the mobile phone of Harjinder, a resident of the village, fell into the tank when he went to the washroom this morning.

He narrated the incident to his friend Jarnail, who offered to go down the tank to bring the instrument back.

The two friends removed the upper cover of the tank and Jarnail descended into the tank with the help of a rope.

When Jarnail stopped responding to his voice, Harjinder also descended into the tank, but soon he too stopped responding to the voice of family members standing outside the tank.

Munshi Ram, another villager, who eked out a living by digging wells, offered to bring the two friends out, but was stopped by the police.

Finally, fire brigades were summoned and firemen brought out the bodies.

Sirsa, August 27
Two teachers of Government Primary School in Dabwali have been suspended for allegedly supplying fungus-infested midday meal to children last week.

SDM Subhash Gaba said head teacher Leela Dhar Sharma and in charge of the midday meal Sukhpal Kaur had been suspended by the education department for their negligence in the supply of contaminated meal. Sixty schoolchildren were taken ill after consuming fungus-infested grams in Dabwali last week.