Yamunanagar, February 14
The police impounded five vehicles and fined 25 youths for violating orders on the Valentine’s Day here today. Besides, to avoid any untoward incident, the police had deployed police teams outside colleges, including Guru Nanak Girls College, Guru Nanak Khalsa College and DAV Girls College, Fountain Chowk, railway station and other places.

Many girls did not turn up to attend the college, revealed a lecturer of Mukand Lal National College.

The sale of roses witnessed a rise since yesterday. One rose costed between Rs 20 and Rs 50.

However, the day turned out special for a resident of Professor Colony, Chandan, who got married to his beloved, Neela of Chinese origin. Chandan met Neela in China and decided to get marry on Valentine’s Day.

SP Vikas Arora said the department had deployed police personnel in colleges, markets and other important places. So for, no untoward incident was reported, he added.

Chandigarh, February 14
Haryana Labour and Employment Minister AC Choudhary today announced that nine new schemes had been introduced by the state Labour Welfare Board and the state Building and other Construction Workers Welfare Board. These included the provision of interest-free loans of up to Rs 1 lakh to workers for the construction or purchase of a house and Rs 21,000 instead of Rs 10,000 on the marriage of two daughters of industrial workers.

Choudhary announced these schemes after presiding over a meeting of the two boards. He said the schemes had been introduced keeping in view the welfare of the industrial workers. He said the state government had decided to observe 2009 as Kisan-Mazdoor Year.

He said the ex gratia amount to be given to the widows of deceased workers had also been raised from Rs 20,000 to Rs 50,000. A new scheme had been introduced by the board under which Rs 1,000 would be given for the purchase of a bicycle. Similarly, financial aid ranging from Rs 2,000 to Rs 9,000 would be given to the children of workers for getting computer training from an institute recognised by Hartron.

It had also been decided to provide maternity benefit of Rs 5,000 to a woman worker and the wives of workers. Apart from this, funeral aid of Rs 500 would also be given on the death of a worker. Financial assistance of Rs 2,000 each up to three girls of workers studying in classes 5 to 8 would be given for the purchase of school uniforms, books and copies. Similarly, financial help of Rs 1,200 for dental care, financial help for the purchase of artificial limbs and tricycles as per the rates prescribed by Saket Hospital, Chandimandir, would also be given. Now industrial workers or their families could also avail themselves of the facility of excursion-cum-study tour to any part of the country, including religious and heritage places.

Chaudhary said the Building and other Construction Workers Welfare Board had decided to give financial assistance for the education of the children of the beneficiaries.They would be given Rs 2,000 to Rs 12,000 per year as scholarship starting from class 8 to graduation and postgraduation courses. 

New Delhi, February 14
The Centre has sanctioned a Rs 493.49 crore project for augmenting the drinking water supply in Faridabad.

The Urban Development Ministry today said the project, whose 50 per cent cost would be borne by the Central Government, would be implemented in 13 months under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

If completed in time, it would help share tourist load on Delhi during the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

With over half (240) of the existing 423 tube wells having turned saline and unfit for consumption, the present water transmission network covers only around 35 per cent of the town.

The per capita availability of water in Faridabad is just 87 litres a day, with its poor residents getting a meagre 40 litres.

The project envisages the augmentation of service reservoirs by constructing reverse osmosis plants, radial collecting well, tube wells and buffer storage reservoirs. — UNI

Kurukshetra, February 14
The Haryana Government Headmasters and BEOs Association in its meeting held under the chairmanship of state president Mohinder Singh Chauhan here today expressed resentment over the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission.

Chauhan said a hike of Rs 2,000, Rs 1,950, Rs 1,000 and Rs 2,000 had been given in the basic pay to JBT teachers, masters, school lecturers and principals, respectively, but headmasters had been given a hike of Rs 500 only.

He said the post of headmaster was of administrative, instructional and supervisory nature and one generally gets this post after a service span of 27 to 30 years. It showed that the post required more maturity level and was directly controlling nearly 50,000 teaching personnel and 6 lakh students in Haryana. Headmasters had to discharge the same duties, which were performed by principals in senior secondary schools.

He alleged that the basic principles of pay fixation had been set aside by the Haryana government. Thus, the pay scale given to the headmasters was unscientific, Chauhan added.

He demanded that pay scale of Rs 15,600 to Rs 39,100, pay band 3, grade pay of Rs 6,600 should be given in order to maintain the control and command ladder intact.

The headmasters were being given lower pay scales in comparison to their counterparts (vice-principals) at the Centre, where the post of vice-principal was equivalent to that of a headmaster in Haryana.

The promotional posts and feeder posts were being given nearly the same pay scales but the headmasters were been ignored, he alleged.

Office-bearers of the district and the state body were present on the occasion.

Fatehabad, February 14
As many as 770 students, including 256 girls, of the commerce and humanities streams of the local Manohar Memorial College, received their graduation degrees from Dr Renu Batra, joint secretary in the University Grant Commission, at a convocation held today.

Noted philanthropist and president of the college management Dev Raj Batra, Principal DK Kaushik and director Subhash Sharma were present.

In her convocation address, Dr Renu Batra said despite considerable expansion in the field of higher education in the country, “we lag far behind many other countries in the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER)”.

“The number of universities has increased from 20 in 1950 to 431 in 2008, the number of colleges has gone from 500 to 20,667, the number of teachers from 15,000 to 5.05 lakh and the number of students from 1 lakh to 116.12 lakh during the corresponding period,” Batra said in her address.

This, she added, had increased the GER from 1 per cent in 1950 to 10 per cent in 2008, but it was still far behind the GER of 20 per cent in other developing nations and 60 per cent in countries like the USA and Canada.

The UGC officer said during the Eleventh Plan, a target had been set to increase the GER from 10 per cent to 15 per cent and to meet this target the Central Government had taken initiatives .

Sirsa, February 14
The long wait of teachers of Chaudhary Devi Lal Univeristy for its recognition by the University Grants Commission under section 12-B of the UGC Act seems to be finally over. The UGC took a decision to grant recognition to the local university at its meeting held recently.

Sources in the commission told The Tribune that a formal letter of recognition would be sent to the university soon.

A seven-member team of the UGC had visited the university campus and inspected the facilities there on January 19 and 20 and submitted its report to the commission.

The recognition is crucial for the university, which will soon have to implement new pay scales for its teachers as per the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission. If the recognition is not given in time, it will have to depend on its own resources for bearing the extra burden.

The university has an establishment expenditure of about Rs 6 crore per annum on the salaries of its teachers and other staff members. These expenses will almost double once the new pay scales are implemented.

The sources said the UGC paid for a period of five years for the increased salaries of the teachers of universities which were recognised by it under section 12-B of the UGC Act.

"Besides, we cannot apply for any project of the UGC, grants, chance of post-doctoral research overseas and grants for career advancement till the university gets recognised by the UGC," said a senior teacher of the university. 

Rewari, February 14
Surender Singh Yadav, a resident of Mamadia Ahir village, near Khol, allegedly committed suicide by consuming poison here yesterday.

Yadav was allegedly duped of over Rs 50,000 by proprietors of a company of Delhi, which had promised him a loan of over Rs 5 lakh.

He was admitted in the Civil Hospital here, where he died after a few hours.

The Khol police has registered a case of abetment to suicide under Sections 306 and 34 of the IPC against the company’s proprietors - Monika and Deepak of Delhi - and their two local agents - Satender and Satish - on a complaint filed by the victim’s brother, Anil Kumar Yadav.

The Model town police too has registered a case of cheating, criminal breach of trust, forgery and criminal conspiracy against Satender and Satish following a complaint filed by Neeraj Yadav, a resident of Vijay Nagar Colony here.

Neeraj alleged that the duo recently approached him with an assurance that their company would provide a loan of over Rs 6 lakh to him as soon as the relevant formalities were completed.

Thus, by way of accomplishment of the said formalities, he was allegedly cheated of over Rs 80,000 in the first week of February by the duo.

Ambala, February 14
The hearing in the Ranjeet Singh murder case got prolonged for six hours in the court of Special Judge of the CBI AK Verma here today. Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh had been charged in this case under Section 120-B while five other accused - Krishan Lal, Jasbir Singh, Sabdil, Indersen and Avtar Singh - were booked under Section 302.

Ranjeet, a follower of the dera, was murdered in his native village in Khanpur Koaulian on July 10, 2002.

The CBI recorded the statement of one of its prime witnesses, Balwant Singh, who belongs to Kurukshetra district, today. Balwant informed the court that he had received an anonymous letter in which certain allegations were levelled against the dera chief. He told the court that two of the accused in this case, Sabdil and Jasbir, had threatened him of dire consequences if he disclosed the letter.

Defence counsel Surya Prakash cross-examined the prosecution witness. He pleaded that the dera chief was falsely implicated in the case by the CBI. CBI counsel SP Ahulwalia and HPS Verma argued that the CBI had sufficient evidence and witnesses against the dera chief in this case. Later, the judge adjourned the hearing for March 21. On January 10, the CBI had recorded the statement of another witness Raja Ram in this court, who had made similar allegations against dera men.

The hearing on the application of the CBI in which it requested the court to cancel the bail of the dera chief could not be argued today as the defence side did not file its reply. The judge directed the defence counsel to file his reply in this matter by February 28.

Tight security arrangements were made in the Police Lines complex where the temporary court of the CBI was set up for today. The convoy of the dera chief consisting of around 50 vehicles was escorted by a large number of police Gypsies.

Gurgaon, February 14
In a joint operation, the state Crime Bureau, the state Drugs Control Authority and the police unearthed a fake drug-manufacturing unit in Udyog Vihar phase-II here today.

During the operation, which continued till the time of filing this report, nearly 2 lakh spurious Viagra tablets were seized. The owner of the unit, SC Bhardwaj, has been booked under Sections 63 of the Copyright Act and 420 of the IPC.

According to sources, some other sex-power-enhancing medicines were also found, which were being thoroughly examined.

Sources said the licence of the factory, located on plot no. 329 of Udyog Vihar, phase II, here, was cancelled in July 2008, following allegations of spurious drug making and packaging these in wrappers of popular brands.

However, a resident of Kalkaji in New Delhi recently complained to the state Crime Bureau that the factory was still operating. The allegation was found true after preliminary investigations, following which officials of the Crime Bureau, a drug department team headed by a senior drug controller and the local police conducted a joint raid on the premises here today. The spurious drugs were seized from the godown during the raid, which was continuing till the time of filing this report.

Sonepat, February 14
The police has arrested two gangsters - Sandeep of Duman village and his namesake Sandeep of Tewari village - and seized two country-made pistols, cartridges and a looted car from their possession.

According to SSP Navdeep Singh Virk, during interrogation, they confessed to their involvement in a dacoity at the residence of Jaipal in Gurgaon on October 12, looting of an Indica car from Pawan on the night intervening October 15 and 16 near Dodwal under the Rampur police station. They also allegedly looted a Scorpio from Sachin on January 19 and allegedly murdered him.

The Scorpio was hired from Sultanpur for going to Mussoorie.

They also confessed that by using the Scorpio, they looted cash from three truck drivers on January 30 between Ghanaur, Samalkha and Panipat on the GT Road.

They revealed the names of their accomplices - Neeraj of Pugthala, Praveen of Jadola, Anil of Lalheri and Sandeep of Gumar village - who were also allegedly involved in committing the crimes, the SSP added.

Kurukshetra, February 14
Additional Sessions Judge Neelima Shangla yesterday sentenced four persons to seven years of rigorous imprisonment for attempt to loot the house of an advocate, Tirath Singh, on January 21, 2004. The Judge also imposed a fine of Rs 60,000 each on them.

If the accused did not pay the fine, they will have to further undergo a three-year rigorous imprisonment.

The accused have been identified as Ajay Kumar, Sukhdev Singh, Urmanpreet Singh and Bachna Singh, a Pakistani national.

Ajay Kumar and Sukhdev Singh, pretending to be telephone mechanics, went to the house of Tirath Singh on January 21, 2004. Thereafter, they rang up Urmanpreet Singh and Bachna Singh and told them to come to the spot. Tirath Singh’s wife Rajinder Kaur was alone at home with her handicapped daughter.

Ajay Kumar tried to bolt the room from inside while Sukhdev Singh tried to throttle Rajinder Kaur, who cried for help, which attracted her neighbours on the spot.

The accused fled the spot alter scaling the boundary wall of the house. The matter was reported to the police.

Later, photographs of the accused, who were already in the police custody in a murder case, appeared in newspapers, following which Rajinder Kaur recognised the accused and informed the police.

Chandigarh, February 14
Various opposition parties in Haryana are claiming credit for the announcements made by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in the Assembly yesterday in which he declared several concessions to various sections of society, including senior citizens and pensioners.

INLD president Om Prakash Chautala said the INLD-BJP alliance had all ready announced that old age and other types of pensions would be raised to Rs 700 per month. He said it was the electoral compulsion of the Chief Minister to increase the pension. He said when their alliance would come to power, the old age pension would be raised to Rs 700 per month.

Criticising Hooda for making the announcements just prior to the presentation of the Budget by the Finance Minister, Chautala said this was quite unprecedented. However, this was part of the Congress culture, where partymen try to rundown each other publicly. This had lowered the sanctity of the Budget and the financial system, he added.

Haryana BJP president Atam Prakash Manchanda said Hooda was working like a clerk of the NDA, as he had implemented the announcements made by the alliance in its rallies.

President of the Haryana Janhit Congress Kuldeep Bishnoi said by making these announcements without obtaining the approval of the Cabinet, Hooda had expressed his frustration over his fast-eroding mass popularity.