Panipat, December 6
One of the key SIMI operatives in the country, Abdul Razzaq, who is believed to have helped in carrying out the Samjhauta Express blasts, was today brought to the city on a production warrant by the Government Railway Police (GRP) from Indore.

Razzaq was arrested by the police in Pune early this year and was later shifted to the Shahdol jail in Indore. The state GRP had registered a case against Abdul Razzaq under Sections 302, 307 and 124 of the IPC in connection with the Samjhauta blasts.

A team of the railway police had gone to Indore from where they secured Razzaq’s custody on a production warrant. On being brought here, he was produced in the court of JMIC Gagandeep Kaur, who sent him in police custody till December 10.

Two homemade bombs had ripped through the Samjhauta Express that was carrying around 527 passengers from New Delhi to Lahore on February 18, 2007.

Sixty-eight passengers had died when two bogies of the train caught fire near Deewana Railway Station, which is 10 km from here. Most of the victims were from Pakistan.

The Samjhauta rail link was restored in 1976, but was stopped after an attack on the Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001. It was restarted in 2004.

A special investigation team of the GRP had been looking into the possible involvement of all individuals whose names cropped up during the investigations of the Samjhauta blasts.

The name of Abdul Razzaq had figured in the investigations of the Samjhauta blasts during a narco analysis test conducted on SIMI chief Safdar Nagori by the Maharashtra ATS. The ATS had claimed that Nagori had admitted that he himself was not involved in the blasts, but key SIMI operative, Abdul Razzaq, was involved. The ATS had claimed that Razzaq had helped the culprits to carry out the blasts on the Samjhauta Express.

However, the investigations into the Samjhauta Express blasts have so far not produced anything conclusive. The GRP has also been looking into the alleged involvement of Colonel Purohit in these blasts.

Kurukshetra, December 6
Going a step further to implement its decision to take over the control of gurdwaras in the state, the ad hoc Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (HSGPC) has decided to set up its own “security force” to counter the “task force” deployed by the SGPC in the gurdwaras.

The process of recruiting members for the security force has already been set in motion and application forms have been printed for volunteers keen on joining it, Jagdish Singh Jinda, president of the HSGPC, told The Tribune.

Initially, 500 persons would be recruited in the first phase and preference would be given to ex-servicemen and Nihang Sikhs, he said, adding that the members of the security force would be appointed regular “sewadars” once a separate gurdwara parbandhak committee was constituted. He said the last date for submission of application forms was December 31 and recruitment would be made by January 15.

Later, recruitment for the security force would be made in all districts and all 72 gurdwaras in the state would be guarded and managed by the force.

Meanwhile, the HSGPC has decided to submit a memorandum to Governor A.R. Kidwai and Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and union home minister P. Chidambaram to direct the SGPC to withdraw the task force from the gurdwaras.

Kurukshetra, December 6
The four-day Gita Jayanti Samaroh got off to a spectacular start here this evening with Haryana Governor A.R. Kidwai inaugurating the festival by lighting the traditional lamp and fireworks sparkling the sky.

Kurukshetra, known for the epic battle of the Mahabharata, turned into a festive mood as Purshottampura Bagh, venue of cultural functions and exhibition, glittered with dazzling fireworks and the melody of folk songs and dances overwhelmed the audience.

The Governor also inaugurated an exhibition at Var Tat at the Brahm Sarovar, depicting the development made by Haryana in different fields, and went round the stalls.

An art and craft exhibition organised on the occasion afforded an opportunity to people to peep into the rich art and craft of various states and skills still surviving in rural India.

The venue of the exhibition was made more exhilarating by folk dances from different states performed under the open sky.

The cultural extravaganza started with a soothing shehnai recital by renowned artistes Sanjeev Shankar and Ashwani Shankar, who recited “raga vihag”.

“Unity in diversity” was in full display during the cultural evening as folk dancers from different states regaled the audience with their rhythmic step movement.

The art and craft exhibition was a big draw with people making a beeline to see craftsmen work and make purchases of exclusive artifacts.

The international festival, which has become an annual feature, is being jointly organised by the Kurukshetra Development Board and the North Zone Cultural Centre.

Kurukshetra, December 6
“Hinduism is eternal and only humane religion and so is Bhagwadgita.” This was the crux of speeches delivered by scholars, saints and socio-religious leaders on the opening day of the three-day seminar on Bhagwadgita and universal brotherhood”, which commenced here today.

The first-ever international seminar on Bhagwadgita was unique in the sense that scholars and religious leaders from various parts of the world, including intellectuals from countries like Afghanistan, Korea, Italy, Israeli, Nepal, the US and the UK, participated in it.

Even Muslim scholars were of the unanimous view that the Hinduism, which is a way of life, is the only humane religion and Bhagwadgita preached brotherhood.

The seminar organised by Geeta Niketans focused on the relevance of Bhagwadgita in today’s context and drew a parallel between the atrocities committed by Ravana during the Ramayana period and by Kansa and Kauravs during the Mahabharata period. The seminar asserted that the growing terrorism would also meet the same end.

Predicting a resurgent India by 2020, RSS chief K. Sudarshan said the country would overcome all problems. He exhorted people to prepare themselves for peaceful struggle to weed out terrorism and other social evils and said the Hinduism was the only religion which shunned materialism, a root cause for evils. He said the rise of India would start from 2011 and nothing would be allowed to come its way.

Muslim scholar Mohammad Hamid Khan recited a number of Sanskrit shlokas and Urdu couplets, which sent a similar message. He said the word “Allah” had been derived from Sanskrit. Bhagwadgita preached brotherhood and enabled people to understand the true religion, he added.

Swami Chidanand, swami Radhagobind and other religious leaders said brotherhood, love and compassion was essence of Bhagwadgita, which motivated people to follow the path of dharma and karma (duty and struggle).

Senior RSS leader Indresh said according to the Indian system of “Kal Ganana” (time measurement), India was running in 5,146th year and to mark this occasion, 5,147 earthen lamps would be lighted on the concluding day of the seminar and one earthen lamp would continue to glow up to 2011.

As many as 5,146 copies of Bhagwadgita would be distributed to propagate the message of brotherhood and duty, he added.

Sirsa/Fatehabad, December 6
A plunge in the prices of cotton in the open market and the go-slow attitude of officials of the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) has led to a lot of hardship to cotton-producing farmers in Sirsa and Fatehabad.

The plight of the farmers is so bad that they have to wait for their turn for three or four days to dispose of their produce. For this they have to sit in the open with their produce during these cold nights.

Agitated farmers blocked traffic on the Fatehabad-Sirsa road in Fatehabad town on Friday evening alleging that the CCI authorities had adopted an indifferent attitude to their plight.

The situation was controlled after senior officers of the police and the CCI reached there and persuaded the irate farmers to lift the blockade, assuring them of speedy purchases.

"I have been sitting here for three days with my produce. Private ginners will pay a price much lower than the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 2,700 per quintal; so I am waiting for the CCI to purchase my crop. Today and tomorrow being holidays, I hope my produce is purchased by the central agency on Monday," said Balraj, a farmer from Panjuana village in Sirsa district, who has been camping in the town for three days waiting for his turn to come.

Similar is the plight of Satnam Singh from Begu village and Rameshwar from Darbi, who have been camping here for two days.

Although the government has fixed an MSP of Rs 2,700 per quintal for cotton in Haryana, private ginners have been refusing to buy the crop at this rate.

"We purchased raw cotton for a price as high as Rs 2,950 per quintal when the prices of cotton were good in the international market. Now, after the meltdown, it has become impossible for us to purchase raw cotton at Rs 2,700 per quintal. Today, we purchased cotton from farmers at Rs 2,650 per quintal. The rates vary on a daily basis as per the market trends," said Gurpreet Singh Nagpal, secretary of the Sirsa district unit of the Haryana Cotton Ginners Association, when contacted by The Tribune.

Efforts were made to contact Ramesh Bansal, branch manager of the CCI, Sirsa, but his mobile was switched off.

The anger of cotton-producing farmers went out of control at Fatehabad on Friday evening after the cotton of some of them could not be purchased for the fifth day in succession. The farmers blocked the Fatehabad-Sirsa National Highway no. 10 by parking their tractor-trailers in a haphazard manner on the Sirsa road.

Farmers Ramesh Kumar and Bhup Singh, both from Tamaspura village, alleged that it took the CCI at least four or five days to purchase cotton from farmers.

Rohtak, December 6
A large number of farmers of Madina village here today blocked traffic on the national highway passing from the village in protest against the alleged delay in the payment of compensation for the damage caused to their crops due to hailstorms two months ago.

The blockade was lifted after about an hour after the authorities concerned intervened.

The blockade led to severe inconvenience to motorists and vehicles got stranded due to the protest.

Protesters mainly from the farming community assembled on the highway after a meeting in the village, in which they resolved to take up such a measure to highlight their grievance.

According to locals, while some of the farmers and their families had been upset over the delay in the release of the payment, some of the farmers alleged that revenue officials and the team, which had come for a survey, had ignored their claim and thus they were left out from the relief announced by the state government. Madina is the native village of the present legislator from Meham assembly segment, Anand Singh Dangi.

Chandigarh, December 6
Justice Ranjit Singh observed the marriage of the parents was dissolved on August 7, 1995. Sahil, at that time, was just over four-year-old. The mother then had accepted Rs 60,000 as permanent alimony for settling maintenance claims in future, for herself and the child.

Sahil Sawhney’s father has lost a legal battle to him.

Matrimonial dispute between the parents had left the minor to fend for himself. And, when he asked for maintenance from his father, he had to take to legal recourse.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has, however, traversed the gap between law and justice to come to his aid.

In a distinctive order, Justice Ranjit Singh has exercised suo-motu power “to do substantial justice”. “To bring an end to the agony of the young child”, Justice Ranjit Singh has directed monthly payment of Rs 2,500 as maintenance till the time Sahil was entitled to receive it.

Justice Ranjit Singh has ruled: “Sahil Sawhney is in the corridors of the court to seek maintenance from his father.... It should have been a time for him to play, but he is in a midst of a legal bout to make his life and future.

“Vigorous persuasion by the court, with the petitioner father to see reason and to maintain his own child in need, would not have any effect on him.

Offer made by the petitioner for the child to come and stay with him got a reply, which was rather touching and moving.

“Anguished response from the young child, perhaps, left every one without any answer.

Said he, that his parents left him to have their independent lives, when he was to be reared and now he can not be ungrateful to his maternal grandparents who brought him up and would rather repay them back instead of looking for greener pasture for himself.

“The young child, despite being deprived of love and affection of his parents, has inculcated traditional Indian values, would go as tribute to his grandparents. This may be a solace, but still would not be a solution to problems of a child whose parents decide to fight and leave their off-springs on to their fate”.

Going into the background, Justice Ranjit Singh observed the marriage of the parents was dissolved on August 7, 1995. Sahil, at that time, was just over four-year-old. The mother, at that time, accepted Rs 60,000 as permanent alimony for settling maintenance claims in future, for herself and the child. The matter pertains to Jagadhri.

Before parting with the order, Justice Ranjit Singh observed: “What a father who is seen fighting the prayer of the child tooth and nail and has even dragged this young child to this court.

What a fortune which the petitioner claims to have paid to his wife and child for a life? A sum of Rs.60, 000 is what, the petitioner think would be enough for this young child to survive for life or at least till he attains his majority....”

Ambala, December 6
The Ambala police has arrested a servant of Dr Amit for allegedly supplying a mobile phone to him on the Ambala jail premises. Dr Amit has been lodged in this jail along with eight other accused in the kidney scam for the past nine months.

The police produced the servant, Lakshman, in the court of the Ilaka Magistrate today, which remanded him in police custody for three days. The police had arrested him from Delhi.

The Baldevnagar police had registered a case against Dr Amit and a few other accused in the kidney scam for using a mobile phone on the jail premises. One of the undertrial prisoners of this jail had produced a sim card in the local court around two months ago and had alleged that Dr Amit and a few other accused in the kidney scam had been using this sim card on the jail premises.

The court had handed over the sim card to the SHO of the Baldevnagar police station and directed him to find out the details of the calls made through this sim card. Later, the police had registered a case against the kidney scam accused in this regard.

The court had also arrested one of the accused in the kidney scam, Dr Serj Kobid, in this regard a few days ago. He was remanded in police custody for three days. He was also produced in the court today, which sent him to judicial custody.

The police had also registered another case against the accused in a jailbreak case for using a mobile phone on the jail premises. The police had arrested a youth of Chichroli for allegedly supplying a sim card to a prisoner, Sanjeev Kumar, who has been awarded the death sentence in the Relu Ram murder case along with his wife Sonia.

Sirsa, December 6
As many as 5,537 cases have been solved in lok adalats in the district courts in Sirsa and subdivision courts in Dabwali town under a drive launched in view of the mega lok adalat on December 20 and December 21.

Talking to mediapersons here yesterday, District and Sessions Judge H.P. Singh said he had set a target of solving at least 10,000 cases till December 21 as per the directions of the Haryana State Legal Service Authority and he was confident of meeting the target by then.

The mega lok adalat, named Samadhan-2008, is to be held in all district and subdivision courts coming under the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The judge said lok adalats were being organised on a regular basis in the district so that the target could be achieved.

“A special drive has been launched to organise lok adalats on different categories of cases from December 8 to December 13,” he said.

“Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) Alka Malik will settle cases pertaining to the Negotiable Instruments Act and ACJM Mahabir Singh will settle marital disputes and adoption matters on December 8,” he said.

The judge said he himself would settle civil matters on December 9 and December 10.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Gopal Krishan will settle cases pertaining to domestic violence and petty criminal offences on December 10.

Amarjit Singh, Additional Civil Judge (Senior Division) will settle road accidents and recovery matters on December 11.

Additional District and Sessions Judge S.P. Singh will solve disputes regarding motor accident claims tribunal on December 12 and December 13.

The judge said specific days had been assigned to specific categories of cases so that officials of various departments, who came to defend their cases, did not have to visit the courts daily.

Panchkula, December 6
In order to overcome problem of availability of land for erection of conventional towers, the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Limited (HVPNL) has decided to install electric monopole steel towers in the state. On an experimental basis, the HVPN has erected two towers at Panchkula in place of conventional towers for the first time in the country.

The poles, imported from China, are generally known as single pipe tower and are made of tubular steel and need merely 2.5 m base diameter against the requirement of a space around 324 sq m for conventional towers.

The use of technology is expected to enable the nigam to save costly land and avoid disturbing other services like roads and pipelines while installing towers.

Giving details, Ankur Gupta, managing director, HVPNL, said with the gradual increase in load of electricity, the state needed more substations and hence more length of transmission lines to meet the requirement. However, there was a dearth of land in most parts of the state for erecting the transmission line towers and condition in cities like Gurgaon, Faridabad and Panchkula was far grim due to urbanisation and high cost of land.

The base size of each conventional tower is 18x18 sq m whereas the base diameter of tubular tower is only 2.5 m.

He said two tubular towers had been erected at Panchkula on the front and the rear side of Tau Devi Lal stadium.

Sirsa, December 6
Rich tributes were paid to the architect of the Constitution of India, Dr B.R. Ambedkar, on his death anniversary here today. The occasion is widely observed as Mahaparinirwan Diwas.

Hoshiari Lal Sharma, district president of the District Congress Committee, Balraj Chalia, Sanjay Chawaria, Raj Kumar Verma, Ram Singh and Sangeet Kumar offered floral tributes to Ambedkar in Congress Bhawan here.

Sharma said it was due to the efforts of Dr Ambedkar that poor and downtrodden Dalits had been able to come into the mainstream of society.

He said Dr Ambedkar’s contribution to the Indian polity was immense and could not be forgotten.

FATEHABAD: Members of the Balmiki Sewa Samiti garlanded the statue of Dr B.R. Ambedkar in the local Ambedkar Park on Saturday.

Some other local organisations working for the amelioration of Dalits also participated in the function. President of the samiti Shammi Ratti said Dalits were breathing in fresh air today due to the efforts of Dr Ambedkar.

Dr M.S. Saddar, secretary of the District Congress Committee, Dr Kuldeep Gauri, Ramesh Deegwal and Suraj Bhan Rathi were present on the occasion.

Later, a three-day yoga camp was started in the local Balmiki Dharamshala. The camp is being held under the aegis of the Balmiki Sewa Samiti.

Hisar, December 6
The Haryana unit of the Bahujan Samaj Party will launch its Lok Sabha poll campaign in January at a rally to be addressed by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati.

This was announced by party general secretary and in charge of Haryana affairs Mann Singh Manhera here today.

Addressing a function here to mark the death anniversary of Dr B.R. Ambedkar, he said the BSP would prove itself as a political force to reckon with in Haryana in the next Lok Sabha elections.

Manhera said the nine candidates announced by the party for the parliamentary polls from Haryana represented different sections of society. However, there was no applicant for the BSP ticket from among the Jat community.

The BSP leader lamented that the UPA government had taken no visible steps yet to prevent terror attacks even after so many innocent people lost their lives in the Mumbai attacks. He termed the resignations of Shivraj Patil, Vilasrao Deshmukh and R.R. Patil as a “political stunt”.

He said the Congress had always been anti-poor and only the BSP represented the interests of the downtrodden.

Party nominee for the Hisar Lok Sabha seat Ram Dayal Goyal said the country stood at the crossroads at present and it needed a “resolute leader” like Mayawati in these turbulent times. He said Mayawati was carrying all sections of society along.

Haryana BSP general secretary Suraj Pal Thakur said the BSP had gained much ground in Haryana and this would be evident after the next parliamentary poll.

Gurgaon, December 6
A block education officer, a junior engineer and a teacher have been suspended for allegedly using substandard material in the construction of a classroom under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan in Government Primary School in Kharonda village of Gurgaon district.

The decision to suspend them was taken at a meeting of the District Grievance Committee, which was presided over by Haryana finance minister Birender Singh here today.

The minister also suggested departmental action against the erring officials after conducting an inquiry.

The BEO, Sohna, along with the JE, Pancyhayati Raj, and a teacher of the SSA were found to have allegedly colluded in using substandard material in the construction of a classroom costing Rs 2 lakh.

In another complaint related to the education department, the ADC said students of government schools were not given the receipt for the annual charges taken from them and residents of Bohra-Kalan village alleged that more fees was taken from the students.

Rohtak, December 6
A man was murdered allegedly by two youths, both brothers, last night in Dairy Mohalla here. The victim, identified as Kanwal Singh, had protested against the alleged harassment of his daughters by the two youths, residing in his neighbourhood. The youths have been identified as Sunil and Sandeep.

The youths had been trying to woo Kanwal Singh’s daughters for quite some time and allegedly use to harass them. The matter was brought to the notice of the police and the family of the accused, but no action was taken.

The family of the girls received a grave shock when it was told that the body of their father had been found lying in a pool of blood. He had been killed by a sharp-edged weapon last night allegedly by the same youths who had been harassing them.

Aged 42, Kanwal Singh was self-employed. The police has arrested both youths after registering a murder case against them.