SPECIAL COVERAGE
CHANDIGARH

LUDHIANA

DELHI



THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS
50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS
H A R Y A N A   E D I T I O N

Move to Demolish Houses
Panchayat of 360 villages warns govt
Kho (Gurgaon), November 23
Representatives of as many as 360 villages of Manesar region held a joint panchayat here today to register their protest against the state government’s move of demolishing nearly 2,000 houses to acquire more land for the industrial modern township (IMT) in Manesar.

A panchayat in progress at Kho village in Gurgaon on Sunday. Tribune photo: Rajesh Kumar Yadav

Ginners to join nationwide stir
Global crisis hits cotton industry
Sirsa, November 23
Bogged down by the global slowdown and unable to get any relief from the union government, the cotton ginning industry of Haryana has decided to join the nationwide strike of the cotton industry on November 25 and November 26.



YOUR TOWN
Chandigarh
Panipat


EARLIER STORIES

Price of PUSA-1121 crashes
Chandigarh, November 23
The price of the PUSA-1121 variety of paddy has crashed. This variety of paddy was selling at about Rs 3,600 a quintal till a few days ago in the mandis of Haryana. Now it has come down to Rs 2,800 per quintal.

BJP, INLD for cut in petro prices
Chandigarh, November 23
The Haryana BJP and the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has demanded immediate reduction in the prices of petrol and diesel.

Road repair info made online
Gurgaon, November 23
Are you a resident of some HUDA sector and fed up with the tardy progress of road construction in your locality? Well, help is just a click away.

Kidwai lays stone of digital Mahabharata gallery
Kurukshetra, November 23
Haryana Governor A.R. Kidwai laid the foundation stone of digital multimedia Mahabharata and Gita gallery on the premises of Sri Krishna Museum here today.

Unveils statue of former Governor
Karnal, November 23
More than 22 years after Karna Lake was renamed as B.N. Chakravarty Lake after the name of the former Haryana Governor, A.R. Kidwai, Governor, unveiled his statue here today.


Haryana Governor A.R. Kidwai inaugurates a statue of former Governor of the state B.N. Chakravarty at Karna Lake in Karnal on Sunday. A Tribune photograph

Rich Sirsa farmer in Delhi poll fray
Sirsa, November 23
Among various candidates trying their luck in the assembly elections in the national capital, is a young rich farmer hailing from Bajekan village on the outskirts of Sirsa town.

CM harps on development
Karnal, November 23
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today claimed that the Congress would win all 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana and said he did not consider any party to be a “competitor” in the coming elections.

Fatehabad district courts to go online
Fatehabad, November 23
The district courts in Fatehabad will soon have the distinction of being the first high-tech courts in Haryana. All records of the courts will be soon available online.

Fighting foeticide by ringing wedding bells
Panipat, November 23
For the parents of 22-year-old Seema of Kasido village, life has been no less than a burden, as they had to marry their daughter with the limited resources that they had.

Women help a bride dress up at a mass wedding ceremony in Panipat on Sunday. Tribune photo: Ravi Kumar

Lieutenant cremated with honours
Safipur (Jhajjar), November 23
The mortal remains of Lieutenant Amit Kumar were consigned to the flames this morning in Safipur village here with full military and civil honours amid slogans of “Shaheed Amit Kumar amar rahe” and “Bharat mata ki jai” by a large numbers of villagers who had gathered to pay their last respects to this valiant soldier.

Shortage of vitamin-C tablets
Sonepat, November 23
The district is reportedly facing a shortage of vitamin-C tablets for the past two months. The shortage has been caused due to disruption in supplies by manufacturing companies.

29 held with contraband
Sirsa, November 23
The police today arrested 29 passengers of a private bus for allegedly carrying varying quantities of contraband with them.

CPM to hold protest from today
Rohtak, November 23
The Haryana unit of the CPM has announced to resort to a weeklong statewide agitation from tomorrow to demand a suitable reduction in the prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas in view of the drastic fall of crude prices in the international market.

BSP ‘ignoring’ loyal workers
Kaithal, November 23
A large number of BSP workers have expressed resentment over the attitude of state president of the party Parkash Bharti and party observer for Haryana Mann Singh Manhera.

2 booked for illegal mining
Sonepat, November 23
Two persons, including the managing director of a construction company, have been booked by the police for illegal mining from land acquired by the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) for setting up Rajiv Gandhi Education City near Rai in the district.

Sarpanch, secy booked
Rewari, November 23
The Khol police has booked Sher Singh Yadav, sarpanch of Lisan village, and the secretary concerned of the panchayat on charges of cheating and criminal conspiracy.

Holiday today
Chandigarh, November 23
The Haryana government has declared a public holiday on November 24 (Monday) on account of Guru Teg Bahadur’s martyrdom day. All government offices and educational institutes will remain closed on this day. Earlier, there was a restricted holiday on this day. TNS







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Move to Demolish Houses
Panchayat of 360 villages warns govt
Sunit Dhawan
Tribune News Service

Kho (Gurgaon), November 23
Representatives of as many as 360 villages of Manesar region held a joint panchayat here today to register their protest against the state government’s move of demolishing nearly 2,000 houses to acquire more land for the industrial modern township (IMT) in Manesar.

The panchayat warned the state authorities against demolishing the houses constructed in the villages for acquiring land for the industrial township.

“We will be left with no alternative but to intensify our agitation if the HSIIDC and the state government do not drop their plan to demolish the houses,” said Kho sarpanch Rohtas while talking to The Tribune.

The joint panchayat, held under the headship of Anangpal Singh, categorically stated that the government officials would not be allowed to demolish the houses or acquire the land on which these are built “under any circumstances”.

A representative of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee, Khazan Singh, had also been invited to the panchayat to convey the concern of the villagers to the Congress regime in 
the state.

In 1997, the then state government had acquired nearly 1,500 acres of land of Manesar, Kho and Kasan villages to set up the IMT in Manesar.

At that time, a strip totaling to about 162 acres had been left unacquired to allow expansion of villages and cater to other requirements of the villagers. This strip was also supposed to provide some gap between the villages and the industial township.

“However, a few years later, the state authorities issued notices to acquire this land as well,” said Baldev, a resident of Kho village.

Meanwhile, many villagers had constructed their houses on the said chunk of land. According to villagers, a number of houses stood there even before the acquisition move was initiated. After the fresh acquisition notification came the notices to demolish houses, which infuriated the villagers. And thence began the confrontation.

“As of now, there are nearly 2,000 houses on the said chunk of 162 acres, maintained the Kho sarpanch, adding that the villagers would not allow the demolition of their houses at any cost and would do whatever it called for to save their land.

In the given circumstances, the situation seems to be volatile with the state authorities adamant on demolition/acquisition and the villagers up in arms against the move.

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Ginners to join nationwide stir
Global crisis hits cotton industry

Sushil Manav
Tribune News Service

Sirsa, November 23
Bogged down by the global slowdown and unable to get any relief from the union government, the cotton ginning industry of Haryana has decided to join the nationwide strike of the cotton industry on November 25 and November 26.

Cotton ginners of Haryana will not purchase raw cotton from the farmers on these two days.

A meeting of the state executive committee of the Haryana Cotton Ginning Association was held today in the local Aditya Agro Industries to discuss their course of action in this regard.

Talking to The Tribune after the meeting, Sumer Chand Garg, patron, and Sushil Mittal, president of the Haryana Cotton Ginning Association, said the unprecedented recession at the international level had rendered the running of their units economically unviable.

“The minimum support price of raw cotton was Rs 1,800 and Rs 1,900 per quintal last year depending upon the staple length but in view of the rates of yarn in the international market last year, the government hiked the MSP of raw cotton by 45 per cent this year bringing it to Rs 2,700 per quintal in Haryana and Rs 2,800 per quintal in Punjab. It was fine for the industry a month earlier as their cotton was selling for Rs 2,900 per mound of 37.32 kg but after the meltdown the selling rate of cotton has come down to Rs 2,150 per mound making it highly unprofitable for them to continue ginning,” said Garg.

“Due to the high MSP, the export of yarn has almost ended because it is available at cheaper rates internationally. Last year, of the 300 lakh bales of cotton produced in the country some 90 lakh bales were exported - India being the second largest exporter of cotton yarn in the world after China - but this year not a single bale is being exported though the production is better than last year. The circumstances have led 4,000 cotton ginning industries of the country, of which 140-odd are located in Haryana, to the verge of closure,” added Sushil Mittal.

He said the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) that had been purchasing raw cotton of farmers on the MSP at present, will have to suffer losses, whenever the agency sold its produce.

Further, the CCI alone was not in a position to provide business to all ginning industries of the country and unless the ginners purchased their own raw cotton they would not be able to meet their running expenses.

“If the present situation continues, the industries, which have 350 to 400 employees on the pay roll in each industry, will have to retrench many of their employees, leading to unemployment and resultant unrest,” Garg added.

“The cotton industry of the country has demanded subsidy on yarn, besides providing incentive on its export so that there is no glut of cotton in the domestic market leading to further aggravating of the problem,” the Haryana Cotton Ginning Association said.

The association announced that all its members would participate in the proposed nationwide strike of the cotton industries on November 25 and November 26 during which no raw cotton will be purchased anywhere in the state.

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Price of PUSA-1121 crashes
Yoginder Gupta
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 23
The price of the PUSA-1121 variety of paddy has crashed. This variety of paddy was selling at about Rs 3,600 a quintal till a few days ago in the mandis of Haryana. Now it has come down to Rs 2,800 per quintal.

This year PUSA-1121 paddy has been fluctuating. When the paddy season started in mid-October, its price was around Rs 2,000 a quintal, considerably below its last year’s average price. The reason was the ban imposed on the export of all varieties of non-basmati rice by the union government earlier in the year to curb inflation. PUSA-1121 had always been considered as a non-basmati variety of paddy, though the physical characteristics of its grains are better than those of basmati. However, PUSA-1121 lacks aroma typically associated with basmati. Certain unscrupulous exporters would export PUSA-1121 as basmati or mix it with basmati.

Last year, since all varieties of rice could be exported, PUSA-1121 fetched an average price of Rs 2,500 per quintal.

The price of PUSA-1121 witnessed an increase of about Rs 200 a quintal towards the third week of October this year. The farmer lobby was naturally crying foul and demanding lifting of the ban on its export. Their cause was taken up by Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda with the Centre, which allowed its export. The price of PUSA-1121 immediately jumped to Rs 2,700 a quintal. It would have gone up much more but around the time the export of PUSA-1121 was allowed, the union government declared that it was not a basmati variety. The price was naturally subdued.

The exporters have to furnish a declaration with their consignments that what they are exporting is basmati. Without such declaration, the consignments are not accepted by the importing countries.

The farmer lobby was again active. The Centre declared that PUSA-1121 is a basmati variety. Towards the beginning of this month, its price shot up to Rs 3,600 a quintal, making the farmers happy. This price was about Rs 200 a quintal higher than even that of basmati.

This jump in the price of PUSA-1121 was due to a number of factors. Sources say the exporters were expecting a huge demand from Iran and the Gulf countries for PUSA-1121, where it is liked for the length of its grain as well as colour. Since in West Asia, a lot of spices and mutton is used in cooking the rice, the issue of aroma becomes insignificant. In Europe, on the other hand, basmati is in greater demand because of its aroma.

Moreover, at that time reports had come that the standing PUSA-1121 crop in large areas of Haryana and Punjab had suffered damage. The exporters became desperate to purchase as much quantity of this variety of paddy as possible.

Then came the reports of good PUSA-1121 crop in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, which led to a fall in the prices of this variety in Haryana and Punjab. Moreover, the demand for this variety of rice from Iran and the Gulf countries was not as much as the exporters had expected.

While 80 per cent and 70 per cent of the crop sown in Haryana and Punjab has already reached the mandis, in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, 50 per cent and 60 per cent of the PUSA-1121 crop is yet to reach the mandis. Hence, the exporters have diverted their attention to these states.

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BJP, INLD for cut in petro prices
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 23
The Haryana BJP and the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has demanded immediate reduction in the prices of petrol and diesel.

In separate statements issued here today, senior INLD leader Sampat Singh and media convener of the BJP Rajiv Jain criticised the UPA government of encouraging profiteering and neglecting the common man by refusing to reduce the oil prices even when the global prices had come down drastically.

They said taking the pretext of a rise in the global prices of crude oil, the UPA government had increased the petroleum prices in the country six times during its tenure. Now, when the crude price had come down by more than two-third, the government was still adamant about not reducing the domestic prices.

Sampat Singh said logically a government swearing in the name of “aam adami” should take advantage of this situation to mitigate the suffering of the people by reducing the domestic prices. He lamented that not only was taxation on the petroleum products to the detriment of the consumer but the UPA government had also been making lame excuses to avoid reducing the prices.

Accusing the government of deceiving the people in the name of financial health of the oil companies, Sampat Singh said the public sector oil companies had been making profit at the cost of the common man.

He said the Indian Oil had posted post-tax profit of Rs 8,550.56 crore during 2007-08; Bharat Petroleum Rs 1912 crore; Hindustan Petroleum Rs 1364 crore and ONGC Rs 19,872 crore during the same year.

Even the government had been reaping a bonanza through taxation on oil. Total tax collection from oil during 2007-08 was Rs 10,1504 crore, in 2006-07 Rs 93,000 crore, in 2005-06 Rs 83,000 crore and in 2004-05 Rs 77,000 crore.

The INLD leader pointed out that while the government and the public sector oil companies were making profits, the common man had been forced to groan under the weight of rising oil, diesel and cooking gas prices.

He said the USA had reduced the price of oil from $4 per gallon to $2.5 per gallon for its consumers. Even countries like Bangladesh and Pakistan had followed suit by reducing diesel and petrol prices considerably.

On the other hand, the UPA government continued to ignore the common man but displayed “unholy” concern for air companies. It reduced the price of air fuel first on August 1, 2008, by Rs 71 per litre, on November 4, 2008, by Rs 44 and then again on November 16, 2008, by Rs 39.

Sampat Singh warned the UPA that the patience of the people had been sorely tested and that if it did not reverse its anti-people policies then there was a danger of the country veering in the undesired direction.

BJP leader Jain warned that his party would be compelled to launch an agitation if the government did not reduce the petroleum prices immediately.

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Road repair info made online
Tribune News Service

Gurgaon, November 23
Are you a resident of some HUDA sector and fed up with the tardy progress of road construction in your locality? Well, help is just a click away.

In an attempt to expedite and streamline the work of road repair and reconstruction, the local HUDA authorities have fixed a time frame and put the names and contact numbers of the officials responsible for these works on the official HUDA website.

“The time schedule, along with cost of the special repair work on various roads under our jurisdiction and the names and contact numbers of the JEs and SDOs concerned, is now available on the HUDA website so that everybody can have access to the information about repair of roads in their area,” said HUDA administrator G. Anupama in a statement issued here.

It means that any aware resident can now get the latest and relevant information regarding the repair and reconstruction work of roads in his/her area and effectively pursue the matter with the official(s) concerned in the event of any lapse or laxity.

The local administrative authorities were recently under fire from various quarters, including residents’ bodies and the media, over the slackness in repair and construction of roads and the execution of other infrastructure developmental activities.

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had personally intervened in the matter and directed the authorities concerned to pull up their socks and expedite the execution of developmental projects.

Following this, the repair and reconstruction work of roads in the city seems to have gained some momentum and the departments concerned have started repairing the roads under their jurisdiction on a war footing.

According to Anupama, HUDA alone has spent more than Rs 11.6 crore on special repairs of the roads in its sectors recently.

“We have been able to carry out special repairs of 21 important roads during this month and work is in progress on other damaged roads,” asserted the HUDA administrator, adding that the dividing roads of sectors and other such more used roads have been taken on priority.

She pointed out that all damaged roads in HUDA sectors had been identified and special repair of these was being taken up in a phased manner.

As per the plan, first those roads have been repaired which are used by the maximum number of commuters and other roads would be repaired subsequently.

Anupama maintained that funds were no constraint and the state government had released the amount demanded.

“Not only this, senior state officers, including financial commissioner-cum-principal secretary (urban development) D.S. Dhesi and HUDA chief administrator T.C. Gupta are constantly monitoring the progress of works in Gurgaon,” she said and added that Dhesi had recently visited the city and inspected certain sites. The quality of work was also being checked from time to time, the administrator asserted.

Giving details of the roads on which special repair has been completed recently, Anupama said HUDA circle II had repaired 16 roads by incurring an expenditure of about Rs 7 crore while circle I had repaired five important roads at a cost of Rs 4.60 crore.

She maintained that special repairs on other damaged roads was in progress and would be completed in the stipulated time.

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Kidwai lays stone of digital Mahabharata gallery
Our Correspondent

Kurukshetra, November 23
Haryana Governor A.R. Kidwai laid the foundation stone of digital multimedia Mahabharata and Gita gallery on the premises of Sri Krishna Museum here today.

The gallery will be constructed at a cost of Rs 5 crore and the work on this project will be executed by the tourism department of Haryana with the collaboration of the union ministry of culture and tourism.

Kidwai said the gallery would be the first of its kind in the country. He directed the authorities of the Kurukshetra Development Board (KDB) to set up the gallery as early as possible. He said Kalpana Chawla Planetarium had also been constructed to tap the scientific temperament of students. The Haryana government had been making efforts to develop Kurukshetra, which was known for its religious, cultural and historical importance throughout the world.

Minister of state for tourism Kiran Choudhry said the Government of India had sanctioned a sum of Rs 4.50 crore for the construction of digital gallery under Kurukshetra, Panipat and Pinjore circuit of tourism project.

Chief executive officer of the KDB Hema Sharma apprised the Governor that in the gallery, murals, films, dioramas, spatial multimedia and lighting techniques would be integrated with a narrative style to bring alive the story in a way that no book or television programme could do.

The Governor also unveiled a life-size statue of former Governor of Haryana B.N. Chakravarty on the premises of Kurukshetra University. He said Chakravarty was a great visionary who had worked tirelessly for the progress of the state and remained the Governor of Haryana from 1967 to 1976.

Kidwai also visited the art gallery where an exhibition was put up by students of the fine art department on the achievements of Chakravarty and about the social human values. In the exhibition, a number of problems, including water, global warming, use of plastic and drug addiction, were depicted in an artistic manner.

Vice-chancellor R.P. Bajpai apprised the Governor that the art gallery was being extended to accommodate more artifacts created by students of the department.

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Unveils statue of former Governor
Tribune News Service

Karnal, November 23
More than 22 years after Karna Lake was renamed as B.N. Chakravarty Lake after the name of the former Haryana Governor, A.R. Kidwai, Governor, unveiled his statue here today.

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, state tourism minister Kiran Choudhry, cooperation minister Meena Mandal, Karnal MP Arvind Sharma and family members of Chakravarty were present on the occasion.

Chakravarty was the second Governor of Haryana and played a crucial role in guiding the state on the path of progress and development during his seven-year tenure.

Chakravarty died while he was on his way to Kolkata and was cremated in Kurukshetra as per his last wish with full state honours.

A West Bengal cadre officer of the Indian Civil Services (ICS), Chakravarty served as counsellor at the Indian Embassy in China and also served as the Indian Ambassador in Netherlands and High Commissioner in Sri Lanka and Canada.

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Rich Sirsa farmer in Delhi poll fray
Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Sirsa, November 23
Among various candidates trying their luck in the assembly elections in the national capital, is a young rich farmer hailing from Bajekan village on the outskirts of Sirsa town.

One of the youngest candidates in the fray, 35-year-old Manjinder Singh, a candidate of the BJP-Akali Dal combine from Jangpura assembly constituency, writes Sirsa as his sobriquet.

Manjinder Singh Sirsa is among the richest of all candidates in the fray. He has assets worth Rs 100 crore as per the statement submitted by him. This MCD councillor owns luxurious cars as per his statement. He had declared that he owned a Mercedes worth Rs 40 lakh and a luxury model of Volkswagen costing Rs 29.25 lakh while filing his nomination papers. A Honda City worth Rs 8.25 lakh is also a part of his car stable.

Manjinder Singh Sirsa is also a rich farmer. He has large tracts of agricultural land worth crores in Sirsa and Delhi.

The statement said of the five agricultural plots declared by him, his farm in Bajakan village in this district costed Rs 4.5 crore.

Manjinder Singh Sirsa also owns five residential and commercial properties. He has a house worth Rs 16 crore in Punjabi Bagh, where he lives with his family. He has a flat in Patel Nagar costing Rs 1.5 crore. A plot in Inderpuri is priced at Rs 4 crore and a shop in Dev Nagar in Karol Bagh is worth Rs 20 lakh.

He owns an industrial patch for Rs 6.59 crore in Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area on the Badarpur road. He also owns land worth Rs 60 lakh in Baddi in Himachal Pradesh.

Manjinder Singh Sirsa has also investments in banks, financial institutions, bonds and shares and debentures. His wife owns jewellery worth over Rs 10 lakh while he owns ornaments worth Rs 5,85,000.

Local residents feel proud that a Sirsa resident is among the richest candidates in the national capital.

Exuding confidence of victory, Manjinder Singh said the party had chosen him because he had the potential to win the elections.

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CM harps on development
Tribune News Service

Karnal, November 23
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today claimed that the Congress would win all 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana and said he did not consider any party to be a “competitor” in the coming elections.

Talking to mediapersons on the occasion of the unveiling of a statue of former Haryana Governor B.N. Chakravarty at Karna Lake here today, Hooda claimed that his government had won the confidence of people by its “outstanding performance” and “development and confidence” would be the main election plank of the party. People have reposed faith in the policies and programmes of the government during the byelections and the same trend would continue.

Asked whether any new faces would be given party tickets for the Lok Sabha polls, the Chief Minister said it was up to the party high command to give or deny ticket to any candidate. “The party gave me the ticket in the last Lok Sabha elections from Rohtak and I abided by the directive of the high command and contested the polls,” he added.

When his attention was drawn towards the alleged corruption in the social welfare department, Hooda said investigations were in progress and no guilty person would be spared.

To a question regarding the continuing power shortage in the state, the Chief Minister said two units of the 600 MW Deenbandhu power plant had been commissioned and work on the Rajiv Gandhi Thermal Power Plant, Khedar, and the Indira Gandhi Super Thermal Power Plant, Jhadli, was going on in full swing. He expressed the confidence that about 5,000 MW additional power would be generated during the next two years to meet the growing demand. 

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Fatehabad district courts to go online
Tribune News Service

Fatehabad, November 23
The district courts in Fatehabad will soon have the distinction of being the first high-tech courts in Haryana. All records of the courts will be soon available online.

The court administration has been waiting for the computers to arrive from the Supreme Court and once these arrive, all courts in the district will go online.

“We have already set up a server room for the purpose and the cable work has also been completed. Now, it is only the matter of installing computers and as soon as we receive the computers, litigants will have online courts in the district,” said District and Sessions Judge, Fatehabad, R.S. Virk.

“Once the courts go online, no photocopies of the documents will be required. The advocates applying for certified copies of judgments will get certified printouts instead of the photocopies and there will be no delays. The copies of judgment will be available to advocates as well as litigants, as soon as the decision is pronounced,” the judge explained.

The district courts here have already scored a first by becoming the only courts in the state to have close circuit television (CCTV) cameras in the complex. The CCTV cameras have become functional last week only.

The authorities have installed 19 CCTV cameras in the district courts complex in Fatehabad, three cameras in subdivisional court in Ratia and three others in Tohana. All corridors of the courts have been covered by these cameras and the activities in the corridors are monitored in a control room as well as in the office of the District and Sessions Judge.

The cameras are so designed that they can store the recordings up to a period of 10 days.

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Fighting foeticide by ringing wedding bells
Manish Sirhindi
Tribune News Service

Panipat, November 23
For the parents of 22-year-old Seema of Kasido village, life has been no less than a burden, as they had to marry their daughter with the limited resources that they had.

Till recently, they were probably cursing the God for having bestowed them with a girl child, but today, they stood in gratitude for the youth wing of DAV that reached out to them and solemnised Seema’s wedding at its own costs.

Seema was not the only one happy today. As many as 264 other girls tied the marital knot without their parents spending even a single rupee.

The Tulsi Vivah Samaroh that was organised by the youth wing of DAV in collaboration with the Ayan Yuva Samaj and Arya Pradeshik Pratinidhi Sabha proved to be a boon for these girls. It was perhaps the biggest mass marriage ceremony ever organised in the region, in which over 30,000 persons participated.

Dr D. Vidyarthi, who was the man behind the show, said in times when different organisations were trying to fight female feticide by generating awareness against this social evil, their organisation decided to take the burden of marrying daughters off parents’ shoulders so that they desist from killing their girl offspring.

The ceremony was held on the premises of DAV Public School, Thermal Colony, to commemorate the 125th nirvan diwas of Swami Dayanand Saraswati.

This mega event was presided over by G.P. Chopra, president of the managing committee of DAV College and the Arya Pradeshik Pratinidhi Sabha.

He said it was a high time to put an end to female feticide as it was endangering the social fabric itself. The endeavour was a step forwards towards fighting the social evil, he said.

In the ceremony, poor girls were gifted the necessary household items costing around Rs 20,000 each. All newly married couples pledged against female feticide.

The programme was inaugurated by Congress MP from Karnal Arvind Sharma while commissioner, Ambala division, Mohinder Kumar, commissioner, Rohtak division, S.P. Gupta, IG, Rohtak range, V. Kamraj and ADGP V.N. Ray participated in the ceremony and blessed the couples.

The weddings were solemnised as per the vedic traditions with 265 pandits performing the rituals. Participants from different walks of life termed the event as a symbol of social revolution and a movement against female foeticide.

Teachers of DAV School also played a significant role in holding the event by reaching out to poor girls and introducing them to the organisers who arranged their weddings.

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Lieutenant cremated with honours
Our Correspondent

Safipur (Jhajjar), November 23
The mortal remains of Lieutenant Amit Kumar were consigned to the flames this morning in Safipur village here with full military and civil honours amid slogans of “Shaheed Amit Kumar amar rahe” and “Bharat mata ki jai” by a large numbers of villagers who had gathered to pay their last respects to this valiant soldier.

Sumit Kumar, elder brother of the martyr, lit the pyre and broke down at the time of the cremation. Amit Kumar was posted at Army Ordnance associated with 8 Bihar Regiment in Jammu.

A contingent of the Army and the Haryana police reversed arms and fired a volley of shots into the air while bidding farewell to the departed Army man. SDM Satyender Duhan, City Magistrate Virender Sangwan and tehsildar Raj Singh laid wreaths on behalf of the state government. Member of Parliament from Rohtak Deepender Singh Hooda also mourned the death of Lieutenant Amit Kumar.

Earlier, the body of the martyr was taken to his village where women members of the family and surrounding areas bade a tearful adieu to him. Heart-rending scenes were witnessed as women wailed and cried before the start of the funeral procession.

Amit Kumar, along with seven other jawans, was trapped in snow that lashed the whole Gurej area of the Jammu region on November 17 while he was searching for three members of his unit who had gone missing in to snowfall on the way to their headquarters. When Amit Kumar did not return, Army personnel started looking for him and they found the body of Amit Kumar in the Gurej area on November 20 last.

Krishan Beniwal, father of the martyr, said his son was one of the many who had laid down their lives and he was proud of his son.

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Shortage of vitamin-C tablets
B.S. Malik

Sonepat, November 23
The district is reportedly facing a shortage of vitamin-C tablets for the past two months. The shortage has been caused due to disruption in supplies by manufacturing companies.

Patients are being advised by doctors to make the maximum use of lemons and oranges to meet the requirement of vitamin-C. The patients are also being given B-complex tablets in lieu of vitamin-C tablets, said Dr J.S. Punia of the local civil hospital.

General secretary of the Haryana Medicine Suppliers Association Satish Vij and medicine supplier Sanjay Arora said the supply of these tablets from manufacturing companies was less. The supply had reduced by up to 90 per cent and only a small lot was received a month ago, they said.

According to Vij, the tablet, priced around 70 paise, is not in the category of life-saving drugs, but the disruption in supply is being taken up with the authorities concerned as the companies may increase the prices of the tablets in the near future.

It is being observed that because of a hike in the prices of raw material and government control over the prices of medicines, companies may not be getting the desired profits from manufacturing the tablets.

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29 held with contraband
Tribune News Service

Sirsa, November 23
The police today arrested 29 passengers of a private bus for allegedly carrying varying quantities of contraband with them.

The bus was stopped by the police near Shergarh village on the Hanumangarh-Dabwali road.

A police party, which was checking vehicles on the Hanumangarh-Dabwali road today, found that commuters were carrying packets of contraband with them.

The contraband was in small quantities ranging from 1 kg to 2 kg and they had apparently brought it from Rajasthan, where it is freely available for their own use.

Most of the accused were drug addicts in the age group of 45 years to 55 years.

“The police is completing the modalities of the arrests and further details will be known only after the papers are completed. Most of the accused are from Punjab,” said DSP Dheeraj Setia.

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CPM to hold protest from today
Tribune News Service

Rohtak, November 23
The Haryana unit of the CPM has announced to resort to a weeklong statewide agitation from tomorrow to demand a suitable reduction in the prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas in view of the drastic fall of crude prices in the international market.

State secretary of the party Inderjit Singh here today said it was high time that anti-people policies of the government be exposed and those in power should be made to realise the wrongdoings being done with the people in general.

Terming the failure of the Manmohan Singh government to reduce the prices of petroleum products as no less than official extortion, he said the government had no right to remain in power if it could not take decision in the general interest of the people.

He alleged that the government and the authorities concerned, including the petroleum ministry, had been giving misleading statements regarding the profit and loss statements of the oil companies.

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BSP ‘ignoring’ loyal workers
Our Correspondent

Kaithal, November 23
A large number of BSP workers have expressed resentment over the attitude of state president of the party Parkash Bharti and party observer for Haryana Mann Singh Manhera.

At a meeting presided over by former district president of the BSP Partap Singh Thekedar here yesterday, it was decided to bring to the notice of BSP supremo Mayawati that time-tested and loyal workers of the party were being ignored while new entrants were being given importance.

Former office-bearers of the party alleged that the two senior leaders had not presented the correct political position of the state before Mayawati.

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2 booked for illegal mining
Our Correspondent

Sonepat, November 23
Two persons, including the managing director of a construction company, have been booked by the police for illegal mining from land acquired by the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) for setting up Rajiv Gandhi Education City near Rai in the district.

According to a complaint lodged by estate officer, HUDA, Amarjit Singh Maan with the police, D.N. Taneja, MD of TDI Construction Company, and Dinesh Kataria, owner of two dumpers, have illegally mined from the HUDA land in the area of Patla village. The Kundli police has registered a case against them.

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Sarpanch, secy booked
Our Correspondent

Rewari, November 23
The Khol police has booked Sher Singh Yadav, sarpanch of Lisan village, and the secretary concerned of the panchayat on charges of cheating and criminal conspiracy.

A case has been registered against them on a directive of the court of JMIC Saurabh Gosain who has issued it on a petition earlier filed by Dalip Singh Yadav, a panch of the Lisan village panchayat, who alleged that the sarpanch, in connivance with the secretary of the panchayat, got his forged signatures on numerous resolutions adopted by the panchayat.

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