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Pranab sees Obama as
pro-India External affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee flanked by Kiran Choudhry (right) and her daughter Shruti at a rally at Tosham on Saturday. Photo: Manoj Dhaka
Take action against Gautam: State BJP |
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Teachers, media key to eco-awareness: CM
No place for habitual boozers in forces: HC UT Legal Remembrancer Panipat to have child labour rehab centre BPL Issue Govt plans to set up exhibition complex Undertrial flees from police custody Digging leaves phones dead
People gather outside the house of Swati Tyagi (inset), whose body was found hanging in the building, in Gurgaon on Friday night even as the police carries out investigations. A Tribune photograph 5 of family kidnapped Doctor assaulted; traders hold protest Husband gets judicial remand Eloped couple ties knot
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Pranab sees Obama as
pro-India
Tosham (Bhiwani), November 15 Mukherjee was talking to the media on the sidelines of a rally organised here to commemorate the 62nd birth anniversary of a former Haryana agriculture minister, the late Surender Singh, son of a former state Chief Minister, the late Bansi Lal. Mukherjee said during the voting on the Indo-US nuclear deal in the Senate, Obama had voted in favour of the deal, reflecting a pro-India attitude. Earlier, addressing a big rally organised by Haryana minister of state for tourism and forests Kiran Choudhry and Shruti, Surender Singh’s widow and daughter, respectively, Mukherjee said the nuclear deal would go a long way in helping the country to tide over the electricity shortage. Mukherjee said the concessions offered by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to India were unique. No other country was offered such concessions. He said it was unfortunate that those who opposed the nuclear deal did not realise that no other country had been conferred the status of being a nuclear weapons state as well as a nuclear energy state. Realising that the commemoration rally was being organised when the Lok Sabha elections are due in a few months, Mukherjee urged the people of Haryana to “give” all 10 parliamentary seats in the state to the Congress, because “the state has developed only under Congress rule”. In the Congress, he said, there was no tussle for the post of Prime Minister, while in certain other parties, every leader wanted to occupy the top post. He said despite the wishes of all constituents of the UPA, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi refused to become the Prime Minister and preferred to strengthen the party organisation. Mukherjee earlier unveiled four statues of Surender Singh and inaugurated a herbal park dedicated to his memory. Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who presided over the rally, came to the venue about one hour after chief guest Mukherjee had left. Kiran Choudhry explained that because of his pre-engagements, Mukherjee had to advance his programme of Tosham, while Hooda had to participate in a function at Gurgaon. Referring to the intention of the INLD’s Ajay Chautala to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Bhiwani, Hooda said it was strange that those leaders who had no locus standi in the area were seeking votes from here. He said except for Surender Singh, no other MP from Bhiwani raised any demand of the area in the Lok Sabha. Bhiwani was earlier represented by Chautala and Kuldeep Bishnoi, younger son of former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal. He said when his government had announced the construction of the Hansi-Butana canal to ensure equitable distribution of canal water in the state, Chautala had threatened to launch a civil war. Hooda said what to talk of a civil war, he would not mind even a “maha yudh” if it would ensure due share of water to southern Haryana. He also accepted several demands raised by Kiran Choudhry for the development of the area. Among others who were present at the rally were finance minister Birender Singh, irrigation minister Ajay Yadav, Haryana Congress working president Kuldip Sharma and Radhey Shyam Sharma, Narpinder Singh, K.L. Sharma, Chattar Pal Singh, Ram Kishan Fauji, Shankar Bhardwaj and Amir Chand Makkar, all MLAs.
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Take action against Gautam: State BJP
Karnal, November 15 The state executive of the party, in a unanimous resolution, took exception to the statements made by Gautam criticising the BJP-INLD alliance and urged the party high command to remove him from the post of leader of the BJP legislative party and also initiate disciplinary action against him. President of state BJP Atam Prakash Manchanda said publicly criticising the INLD-BJP alliance after it had been approved by the high command amounted to gross indiscipline and created confusion among the cadres. He said workers of both parties were happy with the alliance and working in tandem. Former state education minister Ram Vilas Sharma lashed out at the UPA government for framing Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt-Col Purohit in the Malegaon bomb blasts case and alleged that there was a deep-rooted conspiracy to malign the “Sant samaj” and demoralise the Army. He said the ATS had failed to extract any information even after four narco tests were performed on Sadhvi Pragya and alleged that the ATS was torturing Colonel Purohit and had fractured his finger. The entire “Hindu samaj” was anguished over the partisan role of ATS and the Congress, which was “playing with the religious sentiments of the Hindus” would have to pay for it in the elections, he added. Ram Vilas Sharma said it was a matter of shame for the country that the UPA government had failed to muster courage to hang Afzal Guru even after the Supreme Court had upheld his death sentence, but it was “torturing and defaming saints and the Hindu samaj”. He demanded immediate release of Pragya and Colonel Purohit and asked the government to apologise for the “sin” committed by it. Lt-Gen Raghu Sherawat (retd), who was also present during the briefing, said the Army should have conducted its own inquiry against Colonel Purohit and other Army officers before handing them over to the ATS. The state executive decided to form booth-level committees in all 90 assembly segments by December-end and targeted to cover 40 assembly segments during November. It also decided to hold conferences of senior citizens, women and new voters in different parts of the state to reach out to the maximum number of voters.
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Teachers, media key to eco-awareness: CM
Gual Pahari (Gurgaon), November 15 This was stated by Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda while delivering the valedictory address at an educators’ conference on “Environment and Challenges of Climate Change” organised by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) on the campus of TERI Gram here today. “The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projects that by 2100, the global mean temperature may increase between 1.4° and 5.8°C,” the Chief Minister pointed out, adding that this unprecedented increase was expected to have a severe impact on the global hydrological system, ecosystems, the sea level, crop production and related processes. The impact would be particularly severe in tropical areas, which mainly consisted of developing countries, including India, he added. The Chief Minister noted that environment conservation had become a global concern and in this context, teachers and mediapersons were key educators who could help society in maintaining a healthy relationship with the environment by sensitising their students and readers about the crucial matter. Hooda expressed the hope that the teaching fraternity of Haryana would help generate awareness about environmental issues. He also exhorted the mediapersons to play a more meaningful role in spreading the message of environment conservation. “We must make concerted efforts to change the mindset of the people about their relationship with nature. Environment education is a process aimed at making the people aware and concerned about the sensitive issue,” he observed. The Chief Minister said there was a dire need to make the children understand the vital importance of environment conservation. “Therefore, it is important to enhance knowledge of the teaching community on issues related to environment and provide them with the required learning experience,” he maintained. Addressing the participants, the TERI director-general and IPCC chairman, Dr R.K.Pachauri, said the underlying idea behind the conference was to enable the teachers to play a proactive role in the process of disseminating knowledge on environmental issues with special focus on climate change. Pachauri put forward a proposal to assess the impact of climate change in Haryana, especially on the state’s agriculture. The Chief Minister accepted the proposal in principle and appreciated the TERI authorities for organising the conference as part of the institute’s drive to promote environment education. On this occasion, Hooda also released a set of non-fiction knowledge books on environment for children. I.H. Rehman, director (social transformation) at TERI, proposed a vote of thanks. Nearly 350 teachers from different parts of the country as well as abroad attended the three-day conference, which was the first-ever event of its kind.
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Megha loses bout to
cancer
Sirsa, November 15 Megha’s father Dinesh Bhardwaj gave this information on the telephone from Hisar. Megha was admitted to Jindal Hospital, Hisar, on November 13 after her father failed to procure admission for her in Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute, New Delhi, despite concerted efforts for 10 days. “We rushed Megha to the premier institute in the national capital after she developed complications on November 3, but could not procure admission for her. She was eventually shifted to Hisar, where she breathed her last at 2.51 pm today,” Dinesh Bhardwaj said. Megha was a young promising boxer, who had played at the national level. Full of life and promise, Megha suddenly got afflicted with cancer about one and a half years ago. Despite the pain and suffering of the affliction and torturous treatment like frequent chemotherapies and radiotherapies, Megha never lost hope of recovery and often said she would come back to the ring once treated. Even when her parents felt gloomy fearing the inevitable, she would provide courage to them by showing some newspaper cuttings of persons who had braved cancer and lived normal life for years despite the disease. She had a big collection of several such cuttings. Megha’s father Dinesh Bhardwaj and mother Meenu faced a tough time arranging the wherewithal for her treatment. Bhardwaj had to resign from his job and sell his plot, while Meenu sold her jewellery, besides procuring loans from friends and relatives. However, several social organisations and individuals came forward and made contributions for the family after Megha’s plight was highlighted by The Tribune in these columns. Priyanka Chaudhary, a schoolmate of the young boxer, who once played with Megha and has won gold medal in the national boxing championship for three consecutive years in her weight category, contributed her scholarship amount for the treatment of Megha. However, all these efforts proved insufficient to save Megha and she breathed her last this afternoon. |
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No place for habitual boozers in forces: HC Chandigarh, November 15 A Division Bench of the High Court has ruled: “If an employee is found repeatedly in a state of intoxication in a disciplined force, he can claim no right to be retained in service.” Dismissing a petition filed by ex-rifleman Kuldeep Singh after finding no merit in it, the Bench of Justices Ashutosh Mohunta and Rajan Gupta ruled: “From the record, it is clear that the petitioner was warned by his Commanding Officer to improve his conduct as he had been found in the state of intoxication while on QRT duty and even while on duty in out of bound area. He was also found intoxicated while on PT parade. This is clear from a perusal of the warning issued to the petitioner. However, when it was found that the petitioner was incorrigible, it was decided to discharge him from service.” The petitioner had joined the Assam Rifle on August 19, 2000, and had served for almost eight years. He was discharged from service vide order dated June 19. Aggrieved by the order, the petitioner had sought the quashing of the same. His counsel had contended that the petitioner was awarded Police Duty Medal, 50th Independence Anniversary Medal and Samanaya Seva Medal for the services rendered by him. Besides this, the petitioner had also passed certificate course for the National Security Guard Training Centre at Manesar in Haryana. The counsel had added the petitioner's service record was not been kept in mind by the authority while discharging him from service. The arguments, however, failed to impress the Bench to take a contrary view. Speaking for the Bench, Justice Rajan Gupta said: “We have perused the record. It shows that the petitioner was found in a state of intoxication while on duty on number of occasions for which he was punished with rigorous imprisonment for varying periods. A decision was taken to discharge him from service being an incorrigible offender. We, thus, find no merit in this writ petition and the same is hereby dismissed.” |
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Dhonchak's name yet to be notified Saurabh Malik Tribune News Service Chandigarh, November 15 Dhonchak is currently posted at Ambala as the Additional District and Sessions Judge (fast track). His name for appointment as the legal remembrancer was cleared during the full court meeting of the high court held on Thursday last. Available information suggests integrity beyond doubt, and straight forwardness, were among the factors that weighed on the mind of the full court, while approving his name forthe appointment. Significantly, high court Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur had only recently observed in the open court that his integrity could not be doubted. Sources in the administration assert some senior functionaries of the UT administration are, however, not in favour of putting into force the high court’s recommendation, and have taken exception to Dhonchak’s name. The sources add the top brass of the administration does not find it suitable to have Dhonchak as the legal remembrancer. The post is considered highly sensitive as the incumbent is in a position to examine and comment on the legality or otherwise of matters requiring legal opinion. The matter regarding Dhonchak’s appointment is currently pending before the UT administrator. If his name is not cleared by the administrator, the file is expected to be sent back to the high court for recommending the name of some other officer. Such a situation may result in a stalemate as the high court may not recommend any other name on the ground that no other officer can be spared for the task. As of now, Dhonchak is facing an inquiry and a chargesheet was issued to him by the full court some four years ago, on the allegations pertaining to 1997-98. One of the allegations against Dhonchak is that he acted tough with the SSP and the DC, when he was the Additional-Chief Judicial Magistrate at Rewari. His petition for quashing the chargesheet was placed before the Bench of Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur and Justice Jasbir Singh, but was dismissed as withdrawn at the asking of the Bench on Friday.
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Panipat to have child labour rehab centre Panipat, November 15 The foundation stone of first such rehabilitation centre in Panipat had been laid down by local legislator Balbir Pal Shah. The project is likely to be executed with an estimated budget of Rs 43 lakh in this financial year. The centre, which is being set up in collaboration with the National Child Labour Project Society of Panipat and Aident, a voluntary organisation, will offer basic facilities to child labourers to help them lead a better life. The legislator said the main aim of setting up the centre was to ensure that children engaged in different menial jobs were provided with facilities that could make them self-dependent. In the past one year, the government agencies had detected over 400 cases of child labour in the state. Though these were the official figures, sources said the number could be much higher. The state government had launched a special campaign on November 14, 2007, to completely eradicate all forms of child labour in the state. It is learnt that the administrative heads of all districts of the state have been asked to form supervision teams to check child labour. Shah said the government would come up with a similar centre in Faridabad. Each rehabilitation centre would have a provision for 50 children, who would be allowed to stay there till they attained the age of 14 years. Deputy commissioner Vijay Singh Dahiya said children at the rehabilitation centre would be provided with free of cost food, lodging, clothes and training in vocational skills. He said under the National Child Labour Project, special schools were already being run in the district where daycare centres provided special facilities to poor children, including midday meals and education under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. |
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2 booked for suicide bid Tribune News Service Sirsa, November 15 The police has also booked Jarnail Singh Brar, president of the samiti, who is already under its custody for promoting enmity between classes, abetment to attempt to commit suicide and cheating. “The police has booked Bhim Sen and Ghukkan Singh under section 309 of the IPC and Brar under sections 153-A, 309, read with 109 and 417, of the IPC,” said Dheeraj Setia, DSP (Headquarters), Sirsa. Brar is already under police arrest and is now in judicial lock-up. “Some volunteers of the Manav Goraksha Sewa Samiti had informed the police after the incident that Brar had forged fake affidavits in their names in which it was written that they would commit mass suicide on the BPL issue on Children’s Day. Volunteers have said they had never made such declarations,” Setia said. Bhim Sen and Ghukkan Singh had consumed poison in full public glare near the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the main market of the Ellenabad town yesterday. The Manav Goraksha Sewa Samiti, that had been spearheading an agitation on the BPL issue, had given an ultimatum to the authorities that their members would commit mass suicide on November 14 in case their grievances were not addressed till then. The police had taken the two into custody the moment they consumed pesticide and were rushed to local general hospital and were later shifted to the Sirsa general hospital.
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Govt plans to set up exhibition complex New Delhi, November 15 State chief secretary Dharmvir said plans were afoot to set up an exhibition complex over an area of 250 to 300 acres near Delhi. A few sites had been identified, but final approval would be given by the Central government. The chief secretary said the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal expressway would be completed by June 2009. Economic hubs would be developed around the expressway, which would generate a large number of economic activities and employment. The expressway would pass through major towns from Kundli (Sonepat) on NH-1 to Palwal (Faridabad on NH-2) via Jhajjar, Bahadurgarh and Manesar. The
four-laned expressway would be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 1,200 crore. The state had also been seeking an extension of the metro rail uptil Manesar. At present, the Delhi Metro was being built till Gurgaon. The next target was to connect Faridabad-Bahadurgarh and Sonepat with this metro service. Projects worth Rs 90,000 crore were under implementation and projects with an investment of Rs 40,000 crore had already been implemented. Also, Haryana had received foreign direct investment of Rs 9,000 crore in the past three years. On being asked about Reliance SEZ, Dharamvir said the company had already spent Rs 4,000 crore on the project. |
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Undertrial flees from police custody Rewari, November 15 District police chief Ram Singh Bishnoi said Alim was involved in numerous cases of murder, dacoity and other heinous crimes which he had committed in various parts of Haryana and Rajasthan in the past few years. Sources said
Alim, who was an undertrial prisoner in the district jail at Narnaul, was taken by a police party, comprising ASI Jawahar Lal, head constable Ravinder Kumar and constable Sat Narayan, to Ferozepur Jhirka where he was produced in a court in a criminal case yesterday. Subsequently when the police party brought him back to the bus stand at Rewari, where they were to catch a bus for Narnaul, Alim reportedly removed his handcuffs after which he slipped out of the police custody. The city police, which registered a case of negligence under section 223 of the IPC against the police trio and a case of escape from lawful apprehension under section 224 of the IPC against the fugitive
Alim, arrested ASI Jawahar Lal, head constable Ravinder and constable Sat Narayan. They were today produced in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, who granted them bail. |
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Digging leaves phones dead Sonepat, November 15 According to the BSNL authorities, it will take at least a week’s time to restore the telephone connections. Disconnection of landline phones due to digging by JCB machines in Gohana town has become a routine affair and subscribers have to wait for weeks before the connections are restored. Work on laying sewer lines is in progress in Gohana town for the past around eight months and JCB machines are being used for digging. Machine operators do not take care of underground cables, resulting in inconvenience to subscribers. The BSNL authorities alleged that the administration had been repeatedly urged to give prior information of digging to the BSNL so that someone could be deputed to guide the machine operators about the exact location of underground cables. However, there requests were being ignored. |
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Woman found hanging from ceiling Gurgaon, November 15 The deceased identified as Swati Tyagi was a lecturer in Dronacharya Engineering College. Her husband, Derinder Tyagi, had filed a complaint in the police station that his wife had been missing since afternoon and he also told the same to Swati’s parents in Sonepat. The deceased’s father, Ram Singh, reader to the Session Judge, told the police that Derinder’s family used to torture Swati for money. He alleged that they wanted their property along with Rs 20 lakh. He said they also tortured his daughter as she had two daughters and no son. SHO Dhan Singh said Derinder informed them about the missing of his wife at 6:30 pm and they found her body hanging at 7:30 pm. The police suspected that Swati could have been murdered. The SHO said her in laws were also missing. |
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5 of family kidnapped Yamunanagar, November 15 Suresh, his wife and three children (two boys and a girl) were allegedly kidnapped over an old dispute over the possession of a plot where a family was residing. A case of kidnapping was registered after a visit of a team of forensic officials along with DSP Ashok Kumar to Suresh’s residence late this evening. “The police has registered a case of kidnapping against one person in the Jagadhri police station and investigation is on,” SP C.S. Rao said. Suresh’s brother Ved Parkash, in a complaint to the police, alleged that his brother, along with the latter’s wife Sushma and children Arun (15), Niraj (20) and Priyana (18) were found missing this morning. He alleged the kidnapping took place over an old rivalry. |
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Doctor assaulted; traders hold protest Karnal, November 15 The doctor, who runs a private clinic on the Hansi road here, was allegedly attacked with sticks and sharp-edged weapons by a group of people from Gogripur village at his clinic late last night. He was seriously injured and rushed to the trauma centre in the local civil hospital. His assistants, Manak and Rakesh, also received injuries in the incident. Madan said two persons from Gogripur village entered his clinic around 11 pm last night and had an altercation with him over the fee. They left the clinic, but returned with a group of villagers, who allegedly attacked him and his assistants. |
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Husband gets judicial remand Sirsa, November 15 Earlier, the police had arrested the accused, Kashmir Singh, last night. Kashmir Singh, a resident of Madh village in Fatehabad district, got married to Saroj of Mallekan village in Sirsa. Saroj had filed a suit for divorce against Kashmir Singh in the local courts and she had come to the courts with her parents yesterday, when Kashmir Singh suddenly attacked her with a sharp-edged weapon, fracturing her skull. Saroj had been taken to the PGIMS, Rohtak, for treatment. The police had booked Kashmir Singh under section 307 of the IPC.
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Eloped couple ties knot Rewari, November 15 The marriage was solemnised by an official concerned of the Arya Samaj in the presence of elders of the panchayat of Mastapur village and some relatives of the bridegroom. The reported plan of Yadav and Kavita of court marriage on Wednesday was thwarted by the abrupt appearance of the girl’s father, after which they ran away. |
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Union external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee said here today that the presidency of Barack Obama would be conducive to the further growth of relations between India and the USA because Obama’s attitude towards our country was positive.
