Kaithal/ Chandigarh, February 1
The INLD has decided to launch an agitation in the state from February 5 in protest against, what it calls, deteriorating law and order situation, rising prices, and growing land mafia under government patronage. This decision was taken at a working committee meeting of the party in Kaithal today.

Ashok Arora, state INLD president, presided while Ajay Chautala, Abhey Chautala, vice-president Sher Singh Badsami, MLAs, state and district-level office-bearers and heads of party cells attended the meeting at Shagun Palace.

Though a large number of party workers had turned out on the occasion, only the invitees were allowed inside. After the meeting, president Ashok Arora and Ajay Chautala, addressing mediapersons said they had discussed issues concerning the common people.

They alleged that the Centre as well as state government had failed to curtail the rise in prices of essential items.

The leaders said whenever the Congress came to power, the country saw an artificial shortage of essential commodities.

They expressed concern over the shortage of urea and LPG. The INLD leaders alleged that the Congress had misused government machinery in Ellenabad and tried to purchase votes. A party deputation would soon meet the Election Commission and submit about 1,000 affidavits in support of the charges. The leaders alleged that elected representatives were not given enough opportunity to raise issues concerning the common man on the floor of the House. The assembly sessions in the previous term and the last session were for a very short duration.This proved beyond doubt that the state government had no respect for democratic values.

The leaders alleged that the Chief minister had inaugurated some projects, such as Khedar Power Thermal Plant and the Rohtak Sugar Mill, which were yet to be completed. Ajay alleged that the power plant had been inaugurated but no power was being generated. He said all this had been done to save the Reliance company from the penalty clause.

He said the sugar mill had been inaugurated but sugar production had yet not started. He alleged that the Meham sugar mill had been shut down and crores of rupees spent on the mill would go waste .

The leaders also said the Speaker had been playing a partisan role by allowing MLAs elected on the HJC ticket to join the Congress.

Rewari: Senior BJP leader Randhir Singh Kapriwas has demanded a white paper from the Chief Minister on the appointment of teachers in the state. Addressing party workers here, he alleged that only a few aspiring candidates from Rewari and Mahendragarh districts of South Haryana had been given jobs while 60 per cent had gone to candidates from Rohtak region.

Manesar, February 1
As many as 180 students from 15 schools across India and Pakistan participated in the Asian Regional Space Settlement Design Competition which concluded late last evening.

A senior functionary from Boeing Shuttle Division, USA, was among the judges. The four-day event was organised at Brahma Kumaris’ Om Shanti Retreat Centre.

The competition, which was first organised in the USA by senior professionals from NASA and Boeing, gradually spread to other parts of the globe. The competition here was organised by Atlantis Frontiers Edutainment, a Gurgaon-based company.

Twelve teams from around the world, including two from Asia, will be selected to compete in a live competition at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Grumbo Aerospace, which comprised 36 members from Amity International School, Saket, New Delhi, Lahore Grammar School, 55 Main, Lahore, and Little Flowers School, Hyderabad, was declared winner for the best proposal and out-of-the-box thinking.

The trophy awarded to the winning team was a rare meteorite found in Argentina in 1576. Excellence awards were given to one participant from each team. Sanniah Jabeen of Lahore Grammar School and president of Grumbo Aerospace, said: “I liked the venue a lot. I am participating in this competition for the second time.

“Now, I like reading about space even more. I have made a lot of friends in India and one of my best friends is in Amritsar.” Sana Ali from Lahore said though it was a little stressful initially, later they had a lot of fun together.

Pakistan coordinator Majid Ahmed said apart from building team spirit, the contest rekindled the spirit of togetherness in the minds of children from India and Pakistan.

Arjun Hans from Delhi and Rohit from Hyderabad maintained that it was a thoroughly enjoyable learning experience. Creativity and concentration were the key winning factors.

Aditi Raman from Noida said the group from Pakistan was very friendly. “It felt like I was meeting an old friend after a long time.”

The judges included Anita Gale, senior engineer, Boeing Shuttle Division, USA; R.Vasan, vice-president, Hero Honda Motors; and Brig Iqbal, Defence Attaché, Pakistan High Commission.

“It’s a challenge to work in a big team having people from diverse backgrounds and different sets of skills. It was wonderful to see such a magnificent output within 24 hours,” the judges said, adding that it was a great learning experience for them as well.

Addressing the participants, the ORC director, Sister Asha, said: “Always be open to learning and make yourself worthy enough to command respect from others.”

Hisar, February 1
A marriage solemnised last night has run into a gotra row with residents of the groom’s village raising a ruckus.

Ravi Khanagwal of Khanda village was scheduled to be

married to Kavita of Nangthala yesterday. As the marriage party reached the bride’s place, a few residents from the groom’s village approached the Agroha police, asking it to stop the ceremony. They alleged that the girl was a minor.

The police verified the complaint and declared the girl an adult on the basis of the age mentioned in the ration card.

The complainants then went to the bride’s village and asked the two families not to go ahead with the marriage as the girl was from the Nagar gotra and the groom’s village housed several Nagar families.

The families refused to do so. The complainants then left the village threatening to oppose the marriage when the baraat returned to Khanda.

The Agroha police informed the SP who directed the SHO of Narnaund to ensure that no untoward incident occurred. Police pickets were set up in the village.

The newly married couple and the baraat went to the Narnaund police station in the evening, demanding security. From there, the couple was sent to Baroda village in Sonepat where the groom’s sister lives. The police has registered a case under Sections 49, 323, 506, 147 and 148 of the IPC on the complaint of the bride’s mother.

Rohtak, February 1
The Meham Chaubisi panchayat has been urged to intervene following directions of the Beniwal khap to dissolve the marriage of a youth from Kheri Meham village with a girl of Baghi village in Bhiwani on grounds of violation of gotra norms. The appeal has been made by the Sarva Jatiya Khap Yuva Panchayat whose delegation met the head of the Chaubisi Panchayat today.

The latter has reportedly assured to help resolve the dispute. A spokesperson of the Sarv Jatia Sarv Khap Yuva Panchayat said the incident was condemnable, especially as the couple had a 10-month-old son.

“The pradhan of the Chaubisi has assured us that the issue would be resolved at a meeting of the panchayat likely to be called on Sunday,” he said.

The Beniwal khap panchayat in Kheri village had issued a diktat, annulling the three-year-old marriage between Satish Berwal and Kavita.

The panchayat directed Kavita's father to take his daughter and her infant son back to Bhagi. The woman has moved to her parental village since. Azad Singh , husband of Satish, was allegedly insulted by the gathering, forcing a shoe in his mouth and ordering him to disown his son.Satish, too, has again appealed to the khap panchayat to revoke the decision. The police said it had contacted the affected family and offered security to both families. Meanwhile, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today took cognizance of the report on the annullment of marriage, directed issuance of notice for February 11.

Sirsa: A waiter was killed when a member of a marriage party fired shots from his licenced gun during celebration at Maujukhera village on Monday night.

The police has booked Sukhwinder Singh of Bighar village, who fled after the incident, for culpable homicide and under the Arms Act. The waiter, Dharma Singh, a resident of Mehmada near Ratia, was serving drinks when Sukhwinder fired several shots while on the dance floor.

Karnal, February 1
A blood donation camp planned on the seventh death anniversary of Indo-US astronaut Kalpana Chawla to protest over the delay in setting up a medical college in her memory, turned into a victory function today.

Kalpana was killed in the Columbia Space Shuttle explosion on February 1, 2003, minutes before landing.

As many as 65 social, educational, cultural and trade organisations had demanded that a medical college named after her be set up in the town as homage to the “local girl”.

The demand was accepted on this Republic Day.

As many as 125 persons donated blood for the cause of Kalpana Chawla Medical College at Nirman Dham.OP Kumar, his wife Rani Bala Kumar and Preet Pal Singh Punnu announced to donate their bodies for research.

All organisations that had extended support to Kalpana Chawla Medical College were honoured.

Maninderjit Singh Bitta, chairman, All-India Anti-Terrorist Front, presented “Karnal Gaurav Samman” to Pritpal Singh Pannu, convener of the committee spearheading the agitation on the medical college demand, and the president of NIFAA for their efforts.

He urged the Union Government to confer the Bharat Ratna on Kalpana Chawla.

The sanctity of awards by the government had been lost due to lack of transparency in the selection of awardees, and as such it would be appropriate to confer the highest honour on the city girl who had brought laurels to the country and the state, he said.

Bitta was critical of awards being given to “non-deserving persons” with “dubious record” on several occasions.Opposing the demand for a separate gurdwara parbandhak committee for Haryana, Bitta cautioned Haryana Sikh leaders against precipitating the issue.

The matter should be left to Akal Takht and HSGPC leaders should refrain from any act that created division among Sikhs, he added.

Lashing out at the Centre for not hanging Afzal Guru, convicted by the Supreme Court in the Parliament attack case and showering lavish hospitality on Kasab, the main accused in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, Bitta said the UPA government was sending disturbing signals that it was going soft on terrorism.

He said while gallant police personnel who sacrificed their lives to save Mumbai from the terrorist attack were “returning” the Ashok Chakra and other medals in disgust, the government was cooling its heels.

Expressing concern over threats being hurled on North Indians by MNS supremo Raj Thackeray, Bitta said Raj was playing vote politics and making a fool of innocent people to serve his interests.

Yamunanagar, February 1
Eyebrows have been raised over the award given to the 600 MW Yamunanagar-based Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram Thermal Plant by the Union Ministry of Power for early completion of the project.

Despite the fact the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) had passed adverse remarks in its tariff order about the delayed commissioning of the thermal project, Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde honoured the thermal plant on January 29 at a function in New Delhi. Sources said the commissioning of a thermal unit was counted from the date of declaration of the commercial operation.

The power project was delayed due to non-completion of all tests required for the smooth functioning of its units in time. The two units of 300 MW each were projected as complete in 2008.

However, these were not completed till mid of 2009.

It’s an irony that the project, which took more time in completion than the stipulated period, has been awarded the national award for early completion of the project.

“The tariff order issued by the HREC on May 15, 2009, for 2009-10 mentioned that the thermal plant unit No. 1 and No. 2, as reported by the HPGCL, is yet to be taken over from the EPC contractor pending performance guarantee test,” sources said.

“The commission has taken a serious note of the fact that the earlier date of commercial operation was reported as April 1, 2008, and May 15, 2008, respectively, and prior to that the reported dates were December 1, 2007, and February 28, 2008. Now, in response to the objection raised by the HREC, the HPGCL has stated that these milestones are not the dates of commercial run (COD), but provisional take over and final take over,” sources added.

The HERC tariff order further passed an adverse comment that the commission was concerned about the poor performance and frequent breakdowns of 2X300 MW thermal projects, Yamunanagar units which were commissioned in 2007-2008.

The commissioning dates of thermal unit 1 and 2 have been given as April 14, 2008, and June 24, 2008, respectively, on completion of trial run operations.

However, there was an abnormal delay in completion of PG tests of these units due to which the units had not been taken over by the HPGCL so far, sources said.

A detailed report on the reasons for poor performance of these units and abnormal delay in taking over the units may have been submitted, sources added.

However, Chief Engineer of the thermal plant Sushil Bansal said the award was given to the plant as per the Central Electricity Authority norms and was justified.

Fatehabad, February 1
Dr Bhim Singh Dahiya, former Vice-Chancellor of Kurukshetra University, yesterday alleged that the semester system introduced by the government at the level of college education, was a farce as students were not left with any time to study.

The government has introduced semester system of examination in the science and commerce stream at the undergraduate level from this year, while the system had already been introduced last year at the postgraduate level.

Dr Dahiya, who was here in connection with a workshop on “New Methodology from Assessment and Accreditation of Educational Institutions by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council” at the Manohar Memorial College of Education here, alleged that the bureaucracy had been ruining the higher education in Haryana by its whimsical decisions. “Students have to spend a month on preparations, another on appearing in examinations and two months more on waiting for results,” said Dr Dahiya, who has authored a book on the state of higher education in India. He added that earlier, the students had to waste these four months once in a year but now they have to do this twice a year and are left with no time for studies. Accusing the government of being indifferent towards the higher education, Dr Dahiya alleged that new regular teachers were not being employed resulting in one teacher looking after classes of 100 or more students.

“The government has been washing its hands off from funding higher education by sanctioning all new courses under the self-financing schemes, where students are the real financiers,” he alleged.

“For courses, students earlier paid fees of Rs 20, they have to pay Rs 2,000 now due to the sham called self-financing,” Dr Dahiya added. He said it was not only the students, who were being fleeced in the name of self-financing courses, but also the teachers, who were being paid meagrely, were also at the receiving end.

“I wonder whether these bureaucrats, who have been adopting such a casual attitude towards the education sector, would relish the idea of employing deputy commissioners and district police chiefs, too, on contractual basis,” said the former Vice-Chancellor.

Panipat, February 1
Repeated disruptions in power generation at the Panipat Thermal Power Station (PTPS) due to technical snags have resulted in mounting losses for the power utilities.

The power utilities have already incurred losses of over Rs 100 crore due to various reasons. During the past three months, power generation at various units of the plant has remained suspended for one reason or the other.

Sources say the plant could not generate 3,820 mw of power as most of its units were under maintenance. Besides, the power utilities suffered a loss of over Rs 37 crore due to jamming of seven bearings of unit-3.

There have been several instances when some of the units of the plant tripped again and again because of foggy conditions.

This had lead to unscheduled power cuts across the state, causing much inconvenience to the public and also affected production in several industrial units.

Senior officials, pleading anonymity, say that considerable losses have been incurred on account of breaking down of unit-3. They say a departmental inquiry to look into the causes of the breakdown is underway to ascertain as to what went wrong despite regular maintenance.

They maintain that despite the problems being faced by the plant authorities, it is still performing well as compared to other thermal power plants in the state.

Reliable sources informed that the breakdown of unit-3 had occurred because the officials concerned had not examined the oil pumps which had stopped supplying lubricants to the bearings.

This caused the jamming of all seven bearings, resulting in losses not only on account of repairs, but also in terms of power generation.

Sonepat, February 1
A 31-member delegation of the Jat Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti led by its national president Col OP Sandhu (Retd) recently met Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda at his residence demanding reservation for Jats in the OBC quota as per the recommendations of the Justice Gurnam Singh Commission.

In a press statement issued here, samiti’s national secretary Braham Singh Dahiya and national adviser Daya Nand Dalal said the CM had agreed to get a resolution passed in this regard.

It has been clarified in the statement that the CM not only agreed to give this benefit at the state level but also supported the demand of the OBC reservation for Jats at the national level.

Karnal, February 1
The Haryana Civil Pensioners Welfare Association has won half the battle with the implementation of revised pension, but the pensioners in the state are still awaiting payment of 60 per cent of the arrears on account of revised pension and have urged the government to immediately release the same.

After the implementation of revised pension, 40 per cent of the arrears were paid to pensioners, but the balance amount was yet to be disbursed and pensioners were upset over the inordinate delay, said HP Babbar, working president of the association.

Sonepat, February 1
An eight-member delegation of Australian judges, accompanied by the Director of the National Judicial Academy, Bhopal, Dr Mohan Gopal, today visited the judicial complex here to review the working of the courts and to interact with judicial officers.

The delegation members witnessed the trial in a murder case in the court of District and Sessions Judge Virender Singh. Virender Singh briefed the delegation about the working of the judiciary at the district and subdivision levels in Haryana. The Australian delegation also gave details about the judicial system in their country.

Chandigarh, February 1
Taking up a petition on police inaction in a murder case, allegedly involving a close aide of the Haryana CM, Justice Ajai Lamba today directed Panipat SP to file an affidavit on the investigation. The murder had taken place in 2008.

In his petition, 60-year-old Karan Singh alleged the police was not taking any action in the case of his son’s murder, as one of the accused happened to be a close aide of the Haryana chief minister. Karan Singh alleged that his 30-year-old son Mahipal Singh was last seen with the accused on August 2, 2008. The police was informed of the disappearance, but no action was taken. Two days later, his body was seen floating in a canal. Though there was a head injury and his arms, too, were found fractured, yet the police did not register a case.

Gurgaon, February 1
Savitri Devi, 65, was stabbed to death by three youths at her house in Sector 22 here today. The assailants were nabbed and handed over to the police by some neighbours of the woman.

One of the assailants, Rakesh, is said to be a nephew of the deceased. He, along with two other youths, reached her house on some pretext while she was alone. A little later, the youths reportedly attacked Savitri Devi.

According to police sources, the assailants wanted to loot cash and other valuables from the house. However, somebody rang the doorbell and they hurriedly escaped from the roof of the house.

The assailants, were, however, nabbed by some neighbours, who handed them over to the police. Meanwhile, the woman succumbed to her stab injuries.

The police has registered a case against the trio. The other youths have been identified as Sonu and Shyam. A knife has also been seized from the scene of the crime.

Ambala, February 1
Judicial Magistrate (First Class), Ambala, Taranjit Kaur today acquitted Harish Kumar, a resident of Patiala, and his three sisters in a dowry case here.

On a complaint of the parents of the victim, the police had registered a case under Sections 406, 498-A and 506 against the husband of the woman and his three sisters.

It was alleged that since her marriage, the victim was being taunted for bringing less dowry and her husband harassed and maltreated. Later, the woman went to her parents and started living there, leaving her four children with her in-laws.

The judicial magistrate observed in his order, “There has been a tendency nowadays to rope in all relatives of the husband in dowry cases and women are abusing the beneficial provisions of Section 498-A by implicating all family members of the husband.”

Hisar, February 1
Ajay Bansal, a local advocate who had been arrested on charges of threatening RC Gupta, a judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, through email was today remanded in police custody for a day.

He was produced in a local court today and the police sought his remand. The court granted the police request.

Bansal had also allegedly sent an email to a son of another local lawyer studying in London seeking ransom.

In his email to the judge, Bansal is alleged to have stated that he would be killed today between 8 am and 11 am.

The judge forwarded the email to District and Sessions Judge Vimal Kumar Bakshi who forwarded it to the local police.

The police found that Bansal had sent the emails under an assumed identity.