Meham (Rohtak), October 4
In a pioneering initiative, which can be an example for other states, the Haryana government has launched a pension scheme for the families of martyrs, who had so far been considered a responsibility only of the Armed Forces they served.

With a view to providing some solace to the widows of armed forces’ personnel, the state government has decided to give them a pension of Rs 1,000 per month. The pension scheme will also cover those widows of soldiers belonging to the Army, Navy, Air Force, CRPF, BSF and other armed forces who had not been getting any pension till date.

This announcement was made by Rohtak MP Deepender Singh Hooda on behalf of his father and Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda while addressing a Veer Naari Sammelan here today. The MP further disclosed that the state government had also increased the pension of the war widows from Rs 600 to Rs 1,000 per month.

“Besides, the widows of the Second World War martyrs would now get a monthly pension of Rs 1,500 in place of the existing Rs 1,000,” Deepender Hooda said, adding that as per the new policy adopted by the Haryana government with effect from today, an amount of Rs 21,000 would be provided at the time of marriage of daughters of martyrs. Similarly, the amount provided at the time of the marriage of widows of ex-servicemen had been increased from Rs 5,100 to Rs 11,000.

Earlier, chairperson of the Army Wives Welfare Association (AWWA) and Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor’s wife Kirti Kapoor and chairperson of the Haryana Children Welfare Council Asha Hooda handed over cheques to 35 war widows as part of financial assistance from the association. As many as 1,600 war widows of the district were presented with shawls and sewing machines by Asha Hooda and Deepender.

Addressing the gathering on the occasion, Asha asserted that no sacrifice was greater than that made by the martyrs for their nation and it was the moral duty of society to take care of their families.

Kapoor and other dignitaries inspected the 38 stalls set up at the venue of the ceremony and the other facilities. She appreciated the efforts of the organisers and reiterated AWWA’s commitment towards the betterment of the war widows and other kin of martyrs.

Later, talking to mediapersons, Deepender Hooda observed that the families of martyrs had remained a neglected lot. He maintained that such camps would be organised more frequently. He attributed the success of the programme to the persistent and painstaking efforts put in by Kirti Kapoor.

Deepender said the Haryana government was also initiating various other measures to ensure the welfare and well being of the widows and other kin of martyrs.

A host of senior Army officials, apart from the senior government functionaries, were present on the occasion. Various facilities like registration counters, specialised health check-up and medical camps were available for the visiting family members of martyrs and ex-servicemen, who were brought to the venue in specially-arranged buses from their homes.

Ambala, October 4
The arguments on framing charges against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the Ranjeet Singh murder case were concluded here today.

Special Judge of the CBI court A.K. Verma will pass the orders on the charges framed on November 8. The charges against the other five accused - Krishan Lal, Sabdil Singh, Jasbir Singh, Inder Sain and Avtar Singh - have already been framed.

The dera chief did not appear in the court today. His counsel had filed an application in the court for his exemption. It is the sixth time when the dera chief did not appear in the court.

Three cases, including sexual exploitation of dera sadhvis and two murder cases, have been pending against the dera chief in the CBI court. The high court has already granted bail to the dera chief in theses cases.

The prosecution counsel argued in Ranjeet Singh murder case in detail today. The prosecution counsel pleaded that the CBI had sufficient witnesses and evidences against the dera chief in this case while on the other hand the dera chief counsel said the CBI had falsely implicated his client. The defense had concluded its argument during the last hearing.

Ranjeet Singh was an active supporter of the Dera Sacha Sauda. He was murdered on July 10, 2003, in his native village that falls in Kurukshetra district. The police had registered a case against the dera chief and few others on the complaint of the father of the deceased.

The prosecution produced a witness, Ramesh Kumar, a clerk of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, in the sexual exploitation case in the court. Kumar said he had received a unanimous letter on May 15, 2002, in which several allegations were made against the dera chief. He said he had handed over the letter to the authority concerned of the court. Two of the main witnesses of the prosecution, Sarjeevan and Sapna, dera sadhvis, have not yet appeared in the witness box.

Jind, October 4
An SHO of the Government Railway Police and six others have been booked in connection with the alleged sale of a woman and illegal captivity of the victim by the accused. However, no arrests have been made so far.

This is the second case in the district in the past two weeks when a police official has been booked in a criminal case. Earlier, a DSP and a sub-inspector were booked in connection with a youth’s suicide.

The SHO identified as Ram Kishore had kept the woman aged about 25 years at his place for a day in an illegal manner. The woman was handed over to the Jind railway police by the stationmaster of the railway station in Pindara village a few days ago.

The victim had reached the station after fleeing from the custody of Satish of Sunderpur village, who had reportedly bought the woman from Satbir, a middleman. The woman was brought from Jalandhar in Punjab, where a couple had allegedly sold her for an undisclosed amount.

As per the investigations, it is revealed that railway officials in Pindara had sent her to the office of the SHO, GRP, where the woman was allegedly kept for about 24 hours without the presence of any woman constable. The woman was then handed over to Satbir and Satish against a payment of Rs 15,000, it is claimed in the report.

On the basis of the inquiry report into the incident, a case has been registered against the SHO, Satish, Satbir, Rajesh of Karnal district, Hoshiar, Balbir and his wife, residents of Jalandhar for trafficking, corruption and illegal confinement of the woman.

All accused have been absconding after the registration of the case. Interestingly, the complainant in the FIR has been shown as a resident of Model Town, Jind, while no such locality exists here.

Fatehabad, October 4
A stand-off between labourers and traders over the rates for loading, cleaning and unloading of paddy in the grain market turned violent today when the agitating labourers attacked Bihari labourers working in their place and farmers who were doing the work themselves.

The agitating labourers threw away weights and balances and when some farmers tried to stop them, they were beaten up.

Jaspal Singh, a farmer from Nakhatia village, and Mange Ram from Hasanga received minor injuries.

Irked over their action, the farmers and traders blocked traffic on the national highway outside the grain market and raised slogans against the district authorities.

SDM J.K. Abhir and the police reached there and persuaded the farmers and the traders to lift the blockade and assured them that the erring labourers would be arrested soon.

The SDM also gave an assurance that the labourers who were not willing to work would be made to leave the grain market so that they did not indulge in violence again.

However, the striking labourers once again tried to disrupt the weighing operations in the afternoon but were chased away by farmers and traders.

"Tension has been mounting in the grain market ever since the labourers went on strike four days ago, but the authorities have not woken up from their slumber," alleged a trader, Laxmi Narain.

Tek Chand Midha, president of the Beopar Mandal of the local grain market, said unscrupulous elements would not be allowed to disturb the procurement work in the market. 

Kaithal, October 4
The police has failed to arrest the accused, who had allegedly attacked ADC Ramesh Verma with an aluminium stick on September 23 in Kalayat. The accused identified as Pona is still absconding, which has caused resentment among the district officials and government employees here. The police is still clueless about the whereabouts of the accused.

The ADC was attacked when he had gone to Kalayat, where people had blocked NH 65 in protest against the delay in action to retrieve the body of a youth who had drowned in flood waters.

Pona, maternal uncle of the deceased, had hit the ADC with an aluminium stick. However, despite the presence of the DSP and other police personnel, the assailant could not be overpowered and he managed to escape.

Local officials claiming anonymity asked if such a senior officer of the district administration could be attacked in full public view, then how other officers could consider themselves safe while performing official duty.

Interestingly, no senior police officer has dared to pull up the erring staff for dereliction of duty and over the delay in bringing the accused to book.

Kaithal SP Sultan Singh said he had asked the Kalayat police to expedite action in the case. He said all possible hideouts of the accused were being raided.

Karnal, October 4
An encyclopedia of research, extension, marketing and other activities in agricultural sector in India will soon be in place to enable agricultural scientists, researchers, farmers, planners and students to have an access to information about institutes under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

For the first time in the history of the ICAR, a project has been launched to create a “common gateway” to the institutes to provide information about the national agricultural research and education systems in India.

The $250 million World Bank aided project, “Agroweb Digital Dissemination Systems for Indian Agricultural Research”, is a part of National Agriculture Innovation Project (NAIP) to have strong and dynamic presence of the ICAR institutes on the world website.

This website will have features like search, blogs, vote, discussion forum to enable users seek online solutions to their problems and processing tools for the database management.

Member of the Agricultural Scientist Recruitment Board M.J. Modayil said with India signing the WTO agreement, it was necessary that the Indian farming community had been equipped with up-to-date information on technology and markets.

R.C. Aggarwal, Agroweb project in charge of the NAIP, said the access to sensitive information would be restricted through passwords, while other information would be open to all.

He further said a central management system would be in place to upload and update the sites and only authorised persons from departments concerned would be provided with passwords to operate the websites.

The project would cover 40 chapters like Animal Science, agro-forestry, fisheries and other disciplines and would be in both English and Hindi languages.

State Agriculture Universities would be fully involved in creating the database so that the users could have access to related researches on different subjects. The website targeting the scientists, farmers, research scholars, students, agro-based industries and markets would have a lot to offer to all segments.

At present, these institutes have informative and educational websites but these lack uniformity in terms of content, format and updating mechanism.

Karnal, October 4
Former ASI of the Railway Police Force Mangat Singh allegedly committed suicide by consuming some poisonous substance here today.

He was rushed to a hospital, where he was declared brought dead. Mangat (70), a resident of Ekta Colony, Prem Nagar, was reportedly under mental strain due to registration of a cheating case against him, his wife Vimal Kaur and two sons, Gurveer and Balwinder, on the complaint of Pradeep, who had alleged that Mangat Singh had duped him on the pretext of sending him to Italy.

Sources said Gurveer, a friend of Pradeep, took Pradeep to Vimal Sharma, a resident of Defence Colony, Delhi, to send him abroad. However, Sharma, who was paid Rs 5.80 lakh for the task, allegedly ditched him.

When Pradeep contacted Gurveer and his father Mangat Singh, who acted as conduits, they expressed helplessness and said Sharma had taken lakhs of money from them also and they were looking for him.

Not convinced by the explanation, Pradeep reportedly approached a senior Congress leader, who got a complaint registered with the police and Gurveer was arrested subsequently.

Mangat Singh left a suicide note naming 10 persons for the extreme step. The names included Pradeep, his family members — Sandeep, Chander, Kannti Lal — brokers, Vimal Sharma and Honey Sharma, along with two senior local politicians. He blamed a Congress leader for not helping him and the other for helping the opponents.

Mangat was deeply upset over Gurveer’s arrest and registration of a case against his family members. Sources alleged that Pradeep and his family members were also exerting pressure on him.

Karnal SSP A.S. Chawla said Mangat was dismissed from the railway police and a criminal case was already registered against him. However, a case had been registered and the matter would be investigated irrespective of his credentials to bring the guilty to book, he added.

Chandigarh, October 4
If it was the “unholy” period of the sharads that stood in the way of an announcement of the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP)-Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) election pact, it is now about building bridges between the rank and file of the two parties before inking an alliance.

Sources in the BJP and INLD said the two parties were using this as a “cooling off” period to mend ties at the grass-root level where the differences between workers had became far more pronounced over the past few years as compared to those between the top brass of the two parties.

Also, the time was being used to build-up an anti-Congress wave where both parties were harping on the need to join hands to oust the Congress.

Not wanting any voice of dissent once the alliance was open, the two parties were now busy creating an amiable environment and bury all past differences.

The sources said modalities had been worked out and seat-sharing in the Lok Sabha election had also been resolved on a four-six pattern with the BJP.

In the Jat heartland, while the Rohtak seat was with the INLD, the Sonepat seat had fallen into the BJP’s lap.

Under the arrangement, the BJP had fielded former INLD candidate Kishen Singh Sanghwan from its party. Subsequently, the differences between Sanghwan and the INLD grew to such an extent that he opposed the BJP-INLD alliance tooth and nail this time.

According to information available, this time, too, Sonepat had become a bone of contention between the two parties, while the seat-sharing issue was being worked out.

Unlike other seats of Faridabad, Karnal and Ambala where there is no ambiguity, the fate of Sonepat generated a lot of interest. The Sources said at one stage, there was even talk of Sangwan exploring other options if the Sonepat seat was given to the INLD.

While Chautala was not learnt to be keen on Rohtak since the INLD stood nowhere in the last election and Capt Abhimanyu of the BJP had garnered enough support to bag the second position, he was reluctant about giving up claim on Sonepat this time round too.

However, unfortunately for the INLD, the scales weighed heavily in favour of the BJP since Sanghwan had been a three-time sitting MP and the INLD was likely to concede to the BJP’s demand for Sonepat.

Ellenabad (Sirsa), October 4
Haryana minister for power and public health Randeep Singh Surjewala stormed the bastion of the Indian National Lok Dal, when he addressed a rally here today.

The rally- Kisan Pragati Rally-was organised under the aegis of the All-India Kisan Mazdoor Congress, which is headed by his father and MLA Shamsher Singh Surjewala.

Several prominent leaders of the district, including former state minister Jagdish Nehra, Bharat Singh Beniwal, MLA from Darba Kalan, ex-MLA Lal Chand Khod, state secretary of the HPCC Prahlad Singh Gillankhera, Anil Khod, Ishwar Singh Nain and Bhupesh Mehta , were present.

While the other speakers of the rally eulogized Surjewala as Rahul Gandhi’s cohort and Sonia Gandhi’s adviser, Surjewala himself launched a sharp diatribe against INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala and his clan. He said Chautala had done nothing for the welfare of farmers.

“The farmers got a meagre amount of Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 per acre for their agriculture land acquired by the government during Chautala’s regime, but now they get a minimum of Rs 20 lakh per acre besides recurring income of Rs 15,000 per acre per year as lease amount for a period of 15 years from the date of acquisition,” said Surjewala.

Anil Khod, son of former MLA Lal Chand Khod, who had organised the rally, presented a silver plough to Shamsher Singh Surjewala and a silver crown to Randeep Singh Surjewala.

Sonepat, October 4
The identification of BPL families in the district has become an unending problem for the district administration as around 18,000 more claims have been received in the office of the additional deputy commissioner.

The administration has also received about 1,500 objections over the inclusion of some families in the list prepared so far.

According to deputy commissioner Anita Yadav, about 400 officials would again be deputed for a re-survey and to finalise the families eligible for BPL category. The process of identification was likely to be completed by October 10, she added.

“ Some of the families, who have been listed in the category in earlier surveys may be taken out of the list while sorting out the objections received against such families," Yadav said.

After finalising the objections, the administration would take action against such officers, who had shown irregularities during the final survey.

Fatehabad, October 4
The police is still clueless about the murder of Vijay Sharma, secretary of the Barwala Municipal Committee, who was gunned downed by some unidentified assailant near the busy Ambedkar Park yesterday. Sharma was cremated here today.

The police had recovered a motorcycle from the scene of crime and it was presumed that the killers might had came by this bike and left on foot or some other vehicle after committing the crime. But, the police had found that the motorcycle was stolen earlier.

It was found locked and a helmet was seen hanging from its handle.

This had made the police to assume that the killers might not had used this motorcycle and it might had been parked by someone for purchases from the market just before the accident occurred.

The police is also working on the theory that the killer may have come from Barwala on the same bus by which Sharma came.

The killer, the police believe, may have followed Sharma from the bus stand and shot him dead when he found opportunity.

Chandigarh, October 4
The Haryana government has decided to give Best Mother awards to 2,472 women during the current financial year.

These awards are given to encourage the proper bringing up of children, especially the girl child,a spokesman for the Women and Child Development Department said today.

A sum of Rs 20.25 lakh had been made available in the budget this year to to give the awards.

Mothers having at least one girl child were selected for the first, second and third prizes of Rs 1,000, Rs 750 and Rs 500, respectively, at the block level and Rs 500, Rs 300 and Rs 200, respectively, at the circle level.

As per the eligibility criteria, the age of the mother should be 18 years at the time of her marriage and the births of all her children should be registered. — UNI