Kurukshetra, July 22
Kurukshetra, the land of the Mahabharata, turned into a sea of humanity as lakhs of devotees thronged the city to have a holy dip in Brahm Sarovar on the occasion of the longest solar eclipse of the century here today.

It was “a continuation of the night” as the eclipsed sun did not shine at the dawn and thousands of devout Hindus started converging on the holy pond in the wee hours. The ghats of Brahm Sarovar echoed with the chanting of mantras by devotees synchronised with the blowing of conch and chiming temple bells.

The eclipse began at 5.35 am and was over at 7.25 am with men, women, children and sadhus queueing up on the ghats waiting for their turn to take bath.

Taking a holy dip at Brahm Sarovar on the occasion of a solar eclipse is considered divine as Hindus believe that it absolves them of sins and helps them attain salvation.

According to a myth, Brahm Sarovar contains holy water from nine rivers and Mansarovar, and taking a holy dip here is considered equivalent to performing 10 “Ashwamedh yajnas”.

Devotees offered prayers in temples after the eclipse was over and pandas and beggars had a field day.

Contrary to tradition, the Naga sadhus were not the first ones to enter the sarovar and took a dip at the specified Yudhistar ghat only after the eclipse was over. “This is the proper time to take bath as a dip during sutak (forbidden time) is not auspicious,” said a Naga sadhu.

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, along with his wife Asha Hooda, Irrigation Minister Ajay Singh, Tourism Minister Kiran Choudhry, HPCC president Phool Chand Mullana, acting president of the HPCC Kuldeep Singh and local MP Navin Jindal were among those who took bath at the VIP ghat.

The district administration was expecting about 15 lakh pilgrims, but they were less than 12 lakh in number.

Jhajjar, July 22
Even as the Gehlout family has left Dharana village here after reportedly “bowing down” to the Kadyan Barah khap panchayat’s order for “violation of social norms” in solemnisation of marriage with Shilpa of Kadian gotra, hopes are still alive for change in the verdict of the khap panchayat.

Both the parties - the khap panchayat and the Gehlout family - resumed negotiations on the issue to find out an amicable solution to the controversy by holding a meeting in Dubaldhan village here today.

According to information, the Gehlout family requested the Kadian khap to soften its orders of “expulsion” as it was not possible for them to leave the village permanently due to inevitable reasons. During the meeting, Naseeb Singh, uncle of groom Ravinder Gehlout, submitted an application for apology with the khap.

Speaking to The Tribune, Naseeb Singh said: “We have urged the khap panchayat to change its stand on the issue and there is very much possibility of settling down the controversy soon as some members of the panchayat were also in favour of ending the row by finding out an amicable solution at the meeting.” He further said another vital meeting for almost final judgment had been convened in Dubaldhan village here tomorrow.

Meanwhile, terming the khap panchayat’s diktat directing their “eviction” from the village as “gross infringement of human rights”, Shilpa, wife of Ravinder, has approached the National Commission for Women (NCW) seeking prompt intervention on the issue to save the family from destruction.

Shilpa along with a delegation of the All-India Democratic Women’s Association led by its national leader Sudha Sunder Raman met Haryana in charge of the NCW Yasmin yesterday and apprised her of the developments in the gotra controversy.

Urging a ban on such self-styled panchayats, Shilpa demanded immediate arrest of all those members of the Kadyan Barah khap and villagers against whom criminal cases were registered by the police on the complaint of the Gehlout family some days ago. She also sought ample security for the entire Gehlout family.

A member of the delegation said the NCW had asked the Haryana government to submit an action-taken report in the matter.

The NCW issued a letter to the government to deal sternly with such khap panchayats, the member claimed.

Chandigarh, July 22
The gotra controversy over the three-month-old marriage of Ravinder and Shilpa Rani from Dharana village in Jhajjar district today reached the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The petition is listed for preliminary hearing on Thursday before Justice KC Puri.

In a petition jointly filed by Ravinder and his father Rohtash, directions to the state of Haryana and other respondents have been sought for protection of life and liberty. Directions have also been sought to the state authorities concerned to initiate immediate action against autocratic individuals interfering and issuing diktat to break the nuptial knot.

Sirsa, July 22
In a ghastly act, a 14-year-old orphan was branded with iron knives by two persons, who accused him of stealing their mobile phone.

The victim, Suraj, was found lying unconscious near the district transport office here yesterday, when volunteers of the Bhai Kanhaiya Sewa Samiti, a local NGO, brought him to the general hospital.

Suraj hails from Bihar and had been brought to Sirsa by some acquaintance to get him some employment.

“I eke out a living by pulling a rickshaw and spend the night at the place of a tent house owner, whose rickshaw I have hired on rent,” Suraj said, when The Tribune contacted him in the local hospital.

He said Bhola and another person, who work in the tent house, accused him of stealing their mobile phone yesterday.

He said he denied having stolen the gadget and offered the search of his belongings but they did not trust him and started beating him.

“They took me to their room and after tying my hands and feet with ropes, they branded my body with knives,” Suraj alleged.

“I cried for help but there was no one to help me. I became unconscious and found myself in an ambulance yesterday, which shifted me to the hospital,” he said.

Doctors attending on Suraj maintained that they had intimated the police through a written note yesterday, though the police was yet to record his statement.

Some social activists alleged that the police was hesitating in registering an FIR as the boy had no one to pursue his case.

They alleged that no cop has visited the hospital although more than 24 hours had elapsed since the hospital authorities intimated the police.

Krishan Kumar, in charge of the Khaipur police post, admitted that he received the intimation from the hospital last evening and could not record the boy’s statement as he was not in a position to speak.

Hisar, July 22
Putting aside their three-decade-old association, former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and former Finance Minister Sampat Singh indulged in a slanging match here today.

Talking to mediapersons separately, both spit venom on each other. While Chautala questioned the authenticity of his former Cabinet colleague’s academic degrees, Sampat Singh said the Chautala government lasted five years only because of the anti-defection law. Chautala said if his party was voted to power in the next Assembly elections, he would constitute a commission to probe the corruption charges against all those leaders who had quit the party recently. The import of this threat and who it was directed at was not lost on anyone.

He said all those who had left the party enjoyed positions of power when his party was in power. They had chosen to leave when the party was facing challenging times.

Commenting on Sampat Singh, he said he was a good Finance Minister but was never an intellectual. He went to the extent of even questioning the authenticity of his academic degrees.

Chautala rebutted Sampat Singh’s claims that party insiders were responsible for his defeat in the Lok Sabha poll. He said Sampat Singh had not spent even a penny on the election and that the entire bill was paid by the party.

On the other hand, Sampat Singh said Chautala was never popular among INLD legislators and that his government would not have lasted even six months but for the anti-defection law. He said Chautala and former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal were always hand in glove to ensure their own as well their progeny’s electoral wins. He said Ajay Chautala got 52,000 votes in Bhajan Lal’s Adampur Assembly segment in 1998. The younger Chautala could never repeat the feat.

He said the nine Assembly seats the INLD had won in 2005 were the result of the presence of Congress rebels in the fray. The party would have scored a naught had it not been for the rebels.

Sampat Singh said he would now join a national party soon. He said it could be either the Congress or the BJP.

Interestingly, this is the first time that he has hinted at joining the BJP. He went on to say that if he was unable to secure a respectable entry in a national party, he would prefer to take up social service.

Chandigarh, July 22
The Punjab and Haryana High Court believes “a large number of people” are still being compelled to move the court for distribution of ex gratia following the breadwinner’s death; and has called for some serious thinking at the government level for preventing unnecessary litigation.

The ruling came on a petition filed by Mohindergarh resident Raman Kumar against the state of Haryana and other respondents.

Justice Ranjit Singh observed: “Another case containing prayer for granting ex-gratia payment! The scheme is for ex-gratia assistance; and the rules framed govern the payment of ex-gratia assistance. Still, a large number of people are made to run to the courts for getting the necessary relief.

Some thoughts at the government level may be called for to avoid this unwarranted litigation. A proper application of the rules formulated is the need.”

In his petition, Raman Kumar had stated his father Ram Singh, working as Sub-Inspector in the Food and Supplies Department, expired on June 25, 1993, while he was in service, leaving behind a widow, two daughters and a son. His mother applied for a government job on compassionate grounds, but could not be appointed, as she was illiterate.

Her request for the son’s absorption when he turned major was turned down. He withdrew a petition later filed with liberty to approach the respondents for ex-gratia assistance under the new policy, but the claim was rejected on May 26, 2006. It was stated the matter was not covered under the 2003 rules.

The Justice asserted: In equity, the stand of the respondents, which is a welfare state, would appear unjust, inequitable and unfair. The petitioner was 10 years old when his father died. The late government left behind an illiterate widow. She was not granted on that ground….

“She has lived with the hope of getting an employment for her son for all these years. With this hope, she could have struggled to make both ends meet, may be by incurring liability by borrowing from her relatives or other such sources. She and her family have been left in a lurch….

“The government is required to see as to which instructions were applicable prior to the coming into force of the 2003 rules, as the case of the petitioner was finalised prior to this and then grant him ex-gratia financial assistance on compassionate grounds in terms of the rules or instructions prevalent prior to the coming into force the 2003 rules”.

Panchkula, July 22
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said today that under the planned budget the state government had incurred a sum of Rs 1,398 crore for strengthening and repair works on roads and construction of bridges in the state during the last year only.

The Chief Minister after inaugurating a high-level bridge over the Balyali river crossing the Kakrali-Kahanpur-Brahmana road at a cost of Rs 4 crore said the planned budget allocation of the Public Works Department had increased substantially during the past one decade. While during the current financial year it was Rs 1,540 crore, in 1996 it was only Rs 45 lakh, he added.

While 10 railway overbridges had already been constructed at a cost of Rs 151 crore, seven others would be constructed by the end of this year and before the end of this fiscal in March, four more would be added to the list of railway overbridges in the state, he said.

Hooda also laid the foundation stone to upgrade 6.10 km Chandimandir-Jallah road to be constructed at a cost of Rs 32.51 crore.

Sirsa, July 22
Residents today blocked vehicular traffic and raised slogans against the local municipal authorities’ decision to build a permanent plinth for the dumping of garbage in the Rania Gate area.

Hoshiari Lal Sharma, president of the District Congress Committee, who was pleading the case of the local residents, had an altercation with the MC’s executive officer (EO), Neki Ram Bishnoi, when the latter remained adamant on constructing the garbage dumping plinth.

Later, the police intervened and persuaded the residents to open the road to traffic.

Residents and shopkeepers of the Rania Gate area, who are already up in arms against the municipal authorities over the dumping of garbage in their area on a daily basis, were agitated over the plans of the Municipal Council to construct a permanent dumping plinth.

Residents and shopkeepers of the area came out on the road to foil the plans of the council and blocked traffic demanding the immediate removal of heaps of garbage lying there.

“The municipal authorities have been dumping garbage of the surrounding areas in the Rania Gate area for a long time, causing a lot of inconvenience to the residents. Now, they want to construct a permanent structure for it,” alleged Gulab Rai Gujjar, who led the agitating residents.

Neki Ram Bishnoi, however, said the garbage was being dumped in the area for 40 years but now some persons were trying to instigate people for their narrow political ends.

Bishnoi admitted that some garbage might have accumulated at Rania Gate due to the negligence of the contractors who lifted it and transported it to the solid waste plant.

Karnal, July 22
Two students of Tagore Bal Niketan Senior Secondary School - Nivedita Mittal and Palak Aggarwal - have been invited by the NASA to represent India in Houstan, Texas. They will fly to NASA on July 24 from Delhi.

The duo will participate in a 15-day-long summer session of the International Summer Space School Foundation at NASA Johnson Space Centre and return to India on August 11.

The NASA invites students from all countries for a two-week astronauts’ camp every year and these two students will be the 23rd and the 24th students, respectively, to represent India.

Kamlika Chandla, a former student of the school, who went to NASA in the first batch in 1998, will be the coordinator of the programme this year.

As many as 40 students from 15 countries will participate in the summer programme and present their cultural heritage through dance or plays in the camp from July 26 to August 10.

Karnal, July 22
The movement for a separate gurdwara parbandhak committee for Haryana received support from KPS Gill, a former Punjab DGP.

Gill, accompanied by his wife, had a brief halt at Gurdwara Nanaksar on his way to Delhi. He said he supported the cause as he firmly believed that the people of the state had the right to demand a separate committee for maintaining and managing gurdwaras located in the state.