Jhajjar, July 24
The Gehlout family, facing “eviction” from its native village, Dharana, here since Monday following a verdict by the Kadyan Barha khap panchayat on the “forbidden” marriage with a girl of the Kadian gotra, is apparently unable to summon the courage to return to the village and ignore the khap panchayat’s diktat.

Notwithstanding the rejection of their amnesty plea by the khap panchayat yesterday, members of the Gehlout family are still in process of appeasing the panchayat for getting its verdict softened by keeping themselves in touch with those members of the panchayat, who are assuring them of resolving the controversy.

“We are in contact with some members of the panchayat who have assured us that they will find out an amicable solution to the controversy within two days. That is why we have decided not to go back to our native village as the situation will also be cleared till by then,” said Naseeb Singh, uncle of the groom, Ravinder Gehlout.

Even the Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the state government and the police for the continuation of the security cover to the family besides protection of their right to liberty.

Though, police personnel continued to be deployed at the village to thwart any untoward incident, no arrest have so far been made in two separate criminal cases registered against 18 co-villagers and certain members of the khap panchayat a week ago when Ravinder had attempted to commit suicide.

“We have been carrying out simultaneous raids to trace the whereabouts of the accused but could not succeed to make a single arrest so far,” said DSP Rajbir Deswal.

The Beri police had registered a case against 18 persons, including some members of the panchayat, on the basis of a complaint submitted to the Jhajjar SSP by Ravinder’s father Rohtash on July 14. 

Fatehabad, July 24
Former Haryana Minister Sampat Singh will be joining the Congress on Monday in Chandigarh.

Sampat Singh, who recently quit the INLD after differences with his old party’s leadership, will join the Congress in the presence of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, HPCC president Phool Chand Mulana and other senior leaders of the ruling party.

According to sources in the Congress, Sampat Singh met the Chief Minister in the national capital today after which the two met Union Minister and in charge of Haryana affairs in the Congress Prithvi Raj Chauhan in the Central Hall of Parliament.

The two later also met Ahmed Patel, political secretary to Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

The sources said the plan to meet Sonia Gandhi had to be shelved as the Congress President was busy with some assignments for the next few days.

When contacted, Sampat Singh confirmed that he had taken the decision to join the Congress as a large majority of his workers favoured it.

“All pro-poor and pro-farmer policies initiated by Ch Devi Lal have now been adopted by the Congress while the INLD leadership has drifted away from these policies,” Sampat Singh said. The top leadership of the INLD, he alleged, felt uneasy meeting common people and believed in remaining in the company of the rich.

Chandigarh, July 24
It’s not a drought-like situation anymore in Haryana but the worst is not yet over in this rain-deficient kharif season.

Though the Agriculture Department claims that nearly 75 per cent paddy transplantation is already over, officials are keeping their fingers crossed about meeting the kharif season’s plantation target.

However, 50 per cent deficient rainfall is weighing heavy on everybody’s mind since it is likely to adversely affect production in the state and the yield is likely to go down.

Even as agriculturists are worrying about the unpredictable weather and scattered rainfall, the increasing cost of cultivation and rising management costs along with the depleting water table is adding to their woes.

Sources in the Agriculture Department said of the target of 11.5 lakh hectares, sowing, so far, was incomplete, limited to about 9 lakh hectares this kharif season.

Though staggered rainfall has been reported in the past two days in Haryana, the uncertainty over the prevailing weather conditions over the next three weeks has further clouded the possibility of paddy meeting the target in the state.

The Agriculture Department, on its part, has issued advisories to farmers urging them to take up transplantation of late basmati varieties which still have a fortnight or so before time runs out.

“It’s not a drought anymore most certainly. However, the situation is not all that good given the unpredictable nature of the weather. Despite this, we are hoping to meet the target of having 11.5 lakh hectares under paddy cultivation. At this point, we cannot say if the yield will be affected since a lot will depend on meeting the plantation target,” Director, Agriculture, Anil Malik, said.

Agriculturists, however, maintain that given the situation, sowing may just be down by 1 lakh hectares leading to a shortfall and underground water, tubewell water and canal water may not be enough to cater to the requirement.

Sources said though the supply of power was satisfactory, water was not only required while sowing but also at a time when the crop was maturing which could prove troublesome for farmers.

Also while this has been a bad season for paddy, the going has not been too good for bajra, sugarcane and pulses.

Karnal, July 24
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit today lauded Kunjpura Sainik School here for producing dedicated soldiers and maintaining clean environment.

Dixit, who was the chief guest at the 49th founder’s day celebrations of the school, said: “I think if every city has one school like this, it will go a long way in creating a clean and disciplined environment.”

She said the country was proud of soldiers produced by the school and urged the students and staff to work with more vigour and strength for safeguarding the nation.

She said out of three major demands- to strengthen the power distribution system, infrastructure for indoor games and mathematical lab- placed by the school authorities, the government would pick one or two demands and definitely release grant to make the academic atmosphere better with the latest technology.

Earlier, she paid homage to the martyrs, inaugurated a new computer laboratory and planted a sapling of “Physuh” tree.

She also distributed prizes and trophies to toppers in academics, decorated 12 students with their respective ranks and administered an oath to these students.

MP and general secretary of the AICC Satyavrat Chaturvedi, who presided over the function, congratulated students for their achievements. Lt Gen Arun Nanda, director-general, Border Roads Organisation, also an alumnus of the school, presented the gold medal awarded to him at the NDA for being the best all rounder and the sword of honor at the Military Academy, Dehradun, for placement in the school archives.

Principal Colonel Arun Datta read out the annual report of the school on the occasion.

Hisar, July 24
The construction of the tallest natural draught cooling towers in the country at the 1,200 MW Rajiv Gandhi Thermal Power Project (RGTPP), Khedar, in this district has been completed according to schedule.

The first 600 MW unit of the project is all set for lighting up the boiler within a fortnight.

A spokesman of the Haryana Power Generation Corporation said here today that 78 per cent of the project had already been completed.

The first unit of this project would be commissioned before December next and the second by March next year. 

Karnal, July 24
Darshani Devi of Jaduli village, after premature death of 12 issues, is today mother of a 45-day-old child.

Her 13th child, prematurely delivered after six months, is lucky for her as he survived in spite of lung infection, weak brain signals and other complications due to efforts of Dr Manoj at a private baby care centre.

With very bleak chances of survival, the child, weighing just 700 gm at the time of birth, was kept in an incubator, given feed through parental drip, put on a ventilator and treated through phototherapy. The weight of the child also increased marginally to 810 gm and doctors handed him over to her mother.

Darshani Devi, married for 22 years, was issueless and this child was nothing less than a “divine” gift for her.

An attendant in the hospital said contrary to the general belief that 13 is an unlucky number, the child was a reminder that “13” was extremely lucky for some.

All her children were born prematurely with complications and died. She had lost all hopes when she was told that the condition of her newborn child was no better. But finally, luck smiled on her and today she has a baby in her lap to feed and bring up.

Chandigarh, July 24
Justice MMS Bedi of the High Court today directed the Haryana police not to go ahead with the investigation into the missing former Dera Sacha Sauda manager  Faqir Chand. 

The probe had already been handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The directions follow CBI’s application seeking directions against the parallel probe by the police into the case. 

In a report earlier submitted, the police had claimed that there was no evidence to show the missing persons who had been  murdered. 

Sirsa, July 24
Two teenagers died of poisoning under mysterious circumstances in Bajekan village near here.

While the girl died yesterday, the boy died in a local hospital today.

According to reports, the girl, a Class X student, had eloped with a village teenager a few days ago and they were later recovered by their parents from Sirsa town.

The girl died of poisoning yesterday and her family cremated her without informing the police. A little later, the boy was also rushed to a private hospital in Sirsa in a serious condition with symptoms of poisoning, where he died today.

His body was sent for a postmortem in the local general hospital after which it was handed over to his family.

SHO of the Sadar police station, Sirsa, Hans Raj said the police had completed formalities under Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code after the boy’s family stated that he consumed poison because he was under depression after his father’s death.

Mystery shrouds the two deaths as none of the victim could give a statement before their death and in case of the girl, even the postmortem could not be held. The SHO said the police had no information about the death of the girl.

In another incident, a married woman and her paramour committed suicide by jumping in front of a running train between Baragura and Bhangu village yesterday. The victims, Rani, wife of Gur Lal, and Surjeet were residents of Baragura.

The two jumped in front of the Hisar-Bathinda passenger train and were cut to pieces.

According to reports, the families of the two had an altercation over their relations recently.

Meanwhile, Pinki, a married woman, died in a dhani near Chautala village today, when she consumed some poisonous substance.

The kin have informed the police that she was not keeping well and took some poisonous substance presuming it to be a medicine. The police has handed over the body to the family after a postmortem.

Karnal, July 24
Clearing all “misconceptions” regarding the preparedness of the Delhi government to hold the Commonwealth Games in 2010, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit today asserted that all arrangements would be in place before the deadline and the event would be a great success.

Dixit, who was here to attend a function of Kunjpura Sainik School, told The Tribune that all work pertaining to the arrangements for the Commonwealth Games was progressing well and there was not even an iota of doubt about finishing the work on time.

She said fears that the national Capital might face water and power crises during the games and vehicular traffic might go haywire were misplaced as the government was fully geared up to cope with the situation.