Kurukshetra, December 9
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today said the government would strive to get the world heritage city status for Kurukshetra.

He was speaking after performing “deepdaan” at the Brahmsarovar to mark the closing ceremony of the Gita Jayanti Samaroh organised by the Kurukshetra Development Board in collaboration with various organisations.

The Chief Minister said efforts were being made by the government to develop Kurukshetra as an international tourist hub.

Speaker of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha Raghubir Singh Kadiyan, MP Ram Prakash, Thanesar MLA Ramesh Gupta and Pundri MLA Dinesh Kaushik were among those who performed “deepdaan”.

A cultural programme was presented on the occasion, which was inaugurated by the Chief Minister by lighting the traditional lamp. Singer Dev Dildar performed Sufiana kalaam.

Artistes of the Sri Krishna Kala Kendra presented “Draupadi cheerharan” while dancer Anu K. Sinha presented a unique dance based on Hindustani music which had the audience spellbound. Earlier, a shobha yatra was taken out through the city.

Sirsa, December 9
Congress politics seems to have hot up in the district after the announcement of December 14 Rania rally of the party to be addressed by Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Deputy chairman of the Planning Board, Haryana, Ranjit Singh, who is organising the rally, has named the rally as Kisan Rally and has announced that senior party leaders like Moti Lal Vohra, Dr Karan Singh, Phool Chand Mullana and Kuldeep Sharma will address the rally.

Jagdish Nehra, a former Haryana minister and Ranjit Singh’s bete noire, yesterday termed the December 14 rally as the rally of an individual and not of the Congress.

Talking to mediapersons at his residence here yesterday, Nehra said it was wrong to name the rally as Kisan Rally as the sole aim of Ranjit Singh behind the rally was to present his claim for the Congress ticket from the newly carved out Rania assembly constituency.

Claiming that he has the actual right over the party ticket from Rania as many villages of his earlier constituency Rori have come under the new constituency, he said Ranjit Singh should contest from Adampur from where he contested the last bypoll, if at all he was interested to contest assembly elections.

Nehra said Ranjit Singh had been boasting of the votes that he had polled in the Adampur bypoll, but the votes polled by him were not due to his individual popularity but due to the development works by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Nehra said he would not be attending the Rania rally, as he was preoccupied on that day.

Thanking Hooda for giving a number of development schemes to Sirsa district, Nehra said the Congress would win the next parliamentary elections from here. Ranjit Singh, however, refused to comment on the verbal diatribe of Jagdish Nehra.

Talking to The Tribune, Ranjit Singh said his primary aim was to welcome Moti Lal Vohra, who had been appointed AICC in charge for Haryana by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and also to thank Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda for his pro-farmer policies.

“Farmers have been getting the best price for their produce, their loans have been waived and prices of their landholdings have skyrocketed during the Hooda regime,” Ranjit Singh said justifying the name - Kisan Rally.

“At the moment, I am not thinking of the assembly elections. My aim is to work for the party when parliamentary elections are drawing near,” he added. “The Rania rally will be one of the biggest rallies organised in the district,” Ranjit Singh claimed.

Kurukshetra, December 9
Addressing a state-level convention and “abhinandan samaroh”, organised by the Haryana Federation of University and College Teachers Organisations at the Kurukshetra University auditorium here today, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda called upon the teaching community to lay special emphasis on “character building” of students so that they could face the challenges in the age of globalisation.

Hooda said the government was giving special thrust to the promotion of higher and technical education and a sum of Rs 431 crore had been earmarked during the current financial year for the purpose. He said the government had decided to provide financial power to principals of government colleges to incur a sum of up to Rs 20 lakh for the construction and maintenance of colleges.

The seats in technical education institutions had been increased from 23,000 to 81,000 and would be increased to one lakh by 2010.

Referring to the demand for increasing the retirement age of lecturers and professors in universities and colleges, he said a decision in this regard was yet to be taken.

Rajya Sabha member Ram Prakash and Kurukshetra University vice-chancellor R.P. Bajpai also spoke on the occasion. 

Ambala, December 9
The Haryana Technical Education Board has decided to install jammers at all polytechnic institutes to neutralise the use of mobile phones for cheating during examinations.

The step has been taken to check the increasing number of incidents of cheating during examinations through mobile phones.

The orders passed by the government recently stated that every polytechnic institute had been asked to comply with the orders to install jammer machines to render incoming and outgoing mobile signals from examination centres ineffective.

The decision comes after a number of cases of cheating in this fashion was detected in polytechnic institutes in the last examinations. — UNI

Chandigarh, December 9
VIP numbers of vehicles will now cost more in Haryana. The government has now raised fee on No. 1 to Rs 5 lakh from Rs 1 lakh. Numbers seven and nine will now cost Rs 1.50 lakh and numbers from two to six and eight will cost Rs 75,000. Earlier, all numbers from two to 10 were available after paying Rs 50,000.

Numbers 10, 11, 22, 33, 44, 55, 66, 77, 88, 99, 100 and 786 will be sold for Rs 50,000 each against the earlier rate of Rs 25,000 each. The number 786 is considered auspicious by the Muslims.

111, 222, 333, 444, 555, 666, 777, 888, 999, 1111, 2222, 3333, 4444, 5555, 6666, 7777, 8888, 9999; 12 to 21, 23 to 32, 34 to 43, 45 to 54, 56 to 65, 67 to 76, 78 to 87 and 89 to 98, all these numbers will be sold for Rs 25,000 each. Earlier, these numbers were available for Rs 10,000 each.

If a person wants an out-of-turn number of the current series, he will have to pay Rs 10,000 against the previous rate of Rs 5,000.

The government has imposed a special fee for special numbers for commercial vehicles also. For such vehicles number 1 will be available for Rs 1 lakh, while numbers two to 11 and 786 will be sold for Rs 20,000 each. The transport authorities will charge Rs 10,000 from those who want any number from 12 to 21, 22, 33, 44, 55, 66, 77, 88, 99, 100, 111, 222, 333, 444, 555, 666, 777, 888 and 999 for their vehicles.

Owners of commercial vehicles will also have to pay Rs 10,000 if they want 1111, 2222, 3333, 4444, 5555, 6666, 7777, 8888 or 9999 or any out-of-turn number from the current series.

Chandigarh, December 9
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is out of the dock in a lecturer-selection matter.

A candidate, Ritika, had made Hooda a party in her petition against the selection after claiming that she had recorded conversation of her husband with the Chaudhary Devi Lal University vice-chancellor and another respondent. They had clearly admitted the petitioner was meritorious and deserving, but was ignored and others selected on the Chief Minister’s directions.

Taking up a petition for quashing the selection and appointment of these three lecturers on regular basis in the Department of Food Sciences and Technology, Justice Mehtab Singh Gill and Justice K. Kannan observed since there was no conversation with the Chief Minister and it was others taking his name, it was not necessary to keep him as a respondent. As such, his name was deleted from the array of parties.

Fatehabad, December 9
Is this a case of rape and illegal confinement or that of a bride procured for money? The police is investigating the matter.

In an interesting case, a young woman from the Paharganj area of Delhi has lodged a complaint of rape and illegal confinement against Santokh Singh, a physically challenged villager from Mohamadpur Rohi in this district.

The woman, who is married and has a child, has alleged in her complaint that a Delhi-based woman, whom she knew earlier, drugged her and when she opened her eyes, she found herself in the illegal confinement of Santokh Singh and alleged she was repeatedly raped in confinement.

Santokh Singh (46), who teaches in a private school, however, has told the police that he has been duped by one of the gangs, which sell brides for money and then engineers their escape.

He maintains that he had “purchased” the woman for Rs 28,000 as he had already crossed the “marriageable age” and was physically challenged. The police has registered a case and is investigating the matter. The woman, in her early twenties, has alleged in her complaint lodged with the police that a woman named Rajni lived in her neighbourhood in the Paharganj area of Delhi.

She said she had slept in the residence of Rajni a few days ago when Rajni offered her a glass of milk at night.

When she woke up in the morning, she found herself in Mohamadpur Rohi village, where she was locked up in a room. She alleged that Santokh Singh used to beat her up and not allow her out of his residence.

She alleged that she was drugged and raped daily by Santokh. She said she somehow reached the police station to inform the police.

She also called her husband from Delhi, who reached here with the couple’s three-month-old daughter.

On the other hand, Santokh has denied all allegations and maintained that he had married the woman in a gurdwara.

He maintained that as he had crossed the marriageable age and was physically challenged, one of his relatives in Delhi had procured the woman for him for Rs 28,000.

He maintained that only two days ago the woman had gone to a village fair with his brother on her own will. The police said a case under sections 328, 343, 376 and 511 of the IPC had been registered against Santokh Singh on charges of rape and illegal confinement.

The police said no arrest had been made so far in this case and the police was investigating the matter.

Sirsa, December 9
A man was shot at after a dispute over a commercial plot in the MC market of the local circular road here today. The victim identified as Ashok Kumar, who got seriously injured, was shifted to a private hospital in Hisar for treatment.

The police has registered a case of attempt to murder and sent a team to Hisar to record the statement of the victim.

According to the police, Ashok had a dispute with another party over the ownership of a plot situated in the local MC market and the matter was pending in the court.

Ashok went to the site after he learnt that the other party had started construction over the plot. He had an altercation with the other group, following which a person from the other group opened fire at Ashok.

SHO Ajay Sharma said the victim had not revealed the name of the accused so far, as he was immediately rushed to Hisar.

Faridabad, December 9
The police today arrested a person in connection with the murder of a woman from Madhya Pradesh, whose beheaded body was found in the jungles of Dadasia village, 20 km from here, a few days ago.

The police said two persons were allegedly involved in the murder. One of the accused, Rajesh, had already been arrested. The other accused, Rajola, had been absconding.

He was arrested while he was on his way to surrender before a court. The accused belong to Madhya Pradesh.

Sources said the victim had allegedly gone to Rajesh’s residence in Suraya Vihar Colony with her elder sister. The sister returned but she stayed back. The next day her body was recovered from the jungles of Dadasia.

After investigations, the police arrested Rajesh, who confessed to have committed the crime. He also disclosed that his friend, Rajola, helped in disposing of the body.

He told the police that he murdered the woman with a knife over some money dispute. Rajola beheaded the body and disposed it of in the jungles to evade arrest.

Karnal, December 9
Local journalists today submitted a memorandum to the SSP, Karnal, the IG, Rohtak range, and the DGP demanding action against an SHO for allegedly misbehaving with a TV cameraman and calling him a “terrorist”.

The journalists expressed anguish over the delay in action against the policeman and regretted that in spite of the assurance given by the SSP to take action against the SHO, nothing had been done so far.

Kamal Khan, a cameramen of MH1, who was on his way back to Karnal from Nilokheri on December 6, was allegedly stopped at Liberty Chowk by SHO Aman Kumar and constables of the Civil Lines. The cameramen was carrying all papers of the motorcycle except the driving licence and after issuing a challan, the SHO allegedly misbehaved with him, broke the lights of his bike and called him a terrorist. He was also directed not to use the “Press” sticker on his vehicle.

Later in the day, journalists met the SSP at his residence and reported the matter to him. The SSP apologised on behalf of the SHO and assured immediate action against the erring cop. However, no action was taken against the SHO even after three days, following which scribes of the electronic and print media today submitted a memorandum at the SP’s residence seeking immediate action against the erring policemen.