Kunjpura (Karnal), July 24
After making primary education compulsory and free, the Union Government is mulling universalisation of secondary education, President Pratibha Devisingh Patil said today.

“Primary education is now a fundamental right and free, and we hope to universalise secondary education as well,” she said while addressing a large gathering at the golden jubilee celebrations of Sainik School, Kunjpura, in Karnal.

Stating that education was the foundation for growth and development in the competitive and knowledge-based world, she stressed the need for inclusive education, aimed at all-round development and strengthening secularism, democracy and pluralism. “These are great values enshrined in our Constitution and traditionally developed by our civilisation. These give strength not only to our multi-cultural, multi-religious and multi-lingual society but also to the country,” she asserted.

The President said it was necessary to impart good education and make students understand the importance of discipline, integrity and dedication.

Referring to the role of teachers, she said the traditional guru was one who dispelled darkness but in the age of “information explosion”, due to books, electronic media and the Internet, it had become imperative for teachers to keep themselves abreast with the latest knowledge tools to guide students in a better manner.

Lauding the Sainik School for its achievements, the President said it had sent about 1,800 boys to the National Defence Academy during the past five decades and would continue to produce students who did not fail the motto of the school, “Siddhim Sannadhd”.

Describing the armed forces as the nation’s pride, she expressed confidence that all students would work for the creation of a new India and become instruments of change to bring prosperity, security and happiness in the community, the nation and the world.

Governor Jagannath Pahadia said Haryana had made tremendous progress and emerged as a trend-setter in various fields of development. Welcoming the President, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said the Central Government had sanctioned another Sainik School in Rewari district, which had already become functional. He said it was also the first state where a defence university was being set up.

A former Chief of Army Staff, Gen Deepak Kapur (retd), paid homage to his school mates who had sacrificed their lives for the sake of the country during the past 50 years.

The Principal of the school, Col Arun Datta, while welcoming the President and other dignitaries, disclosed that the Chief Minister had sanctioned Rs 10 crore for the construction of a new hostel in the school.

The President presented trophies of school houses to three old students of the school present on the occasion. The trophy for Chillianwala House was awarded to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, another trophy of the same house was awarded to Lt-Gen DDS Sandhu (retd) while the trophy of Panipat House was awarded to Gen Deepak Kapur (retd).

The Governor gave away prizes to outstanding students.

Chandigarh, July 24
Less than two years after suspended head warder of the Bhondsi district jail in Gurgaon allegedly committed suicide by taking poison, the state of Haryana has handed over the probe to the Additional Director-General of Police (Crime).

As a petition on the incident came up for hearing before Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice Ajay Tewari of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, state Director-General (Prison) Rakesh Malik referred to the May 27 report of the jail superintendent to say that on September 10, 2008, superintendent of jail Shamsher Singh Dhaiya shifted prisoners from one barrack to another resulting in violence in the jail by members of a gang. In the violence that ensued, two persons sustained injuries.

Head warder Hawa Singh, subsequently, went to meet the gang head without appropriate permission. His reply in the matter was not found to be satisfactory and on September 15, 2008, his services were placed under suspension. Just two days later, he ended his life, Malik said.

The cops had found two suicide notes from Hawa Singh (45). One was addressed to his wife Saroj Bala, while the other to Dhaiya. He had alleged in his suicide note that Dhaiya was responsible for his death. A case had been registered.

Sonepat, July 24
The President of the District Consumer Forum, Joginder Singh Nandal, has directed the New Insurance Company to pay an accident claim with nine per cent rate of interest to a consumer, Ram Phal of Pinana village. The forum has imposed a penalty of Rs 5,500 on the company for harassing the consumer. Ram Phal filed a complaint in the forum alleging that he got his Cruiser Jeep insured from the company from May 17, 2006, to May 16, 2007, and also obtained National Permit for the jeep from the Road Transport Authority (RTA).

The jeep met with an accident in Mathura on October 24, 2006, about which the company was informed following which the company estimated losses worth Rs 1,98,461. However, on August 31, 2007, the company refused to pay the claim on the plea that the owner had not obtained permission from the RTA, Mathura.

But the forum dismissed the plea ordered the company to pay the claim along with interest.

Rewari, July 24
Pintoo, a 12-year-old boy of Anand Nagar Colony here and a native of the Chhapra district of Bihar, was allegedly hacked to death by his 16-year-old friend Tinkoo on Thursday evening.

Tinkoo, a native of Patna district of Bihar, lives in Pintoo’s vicinity.

Sources said when Pintoo foiled Tinkoo’s bid to snatch his mobile phone from him, Tinkoo slit Pintoo’s head with a sharp-edged weapon and dumped his body in a vacant plot, near the Truck Union’s office, at the circular road here.

On the other hand, when family members of Pintoo failed to trace his whereabouts even after a nightlong search, his father filed a report yesterday following which the police registered a case of disappearance of the boy.

However, when Pintoo’s body was spotted by some shopkeepers later yesterday, they informed the police.The police called up Pintoo’s father who instantly identified the corpse as that of his son.

On a complaint filed by Kanhaiya Lal, father of the deceased, the police has now registered a case of murder against the accused.

Sirsa, July 24
Rendered roofless by floods, a 23-year old woman was raped by two sons of a landlord who offered shelter to her and her husband at his house in Shergarh village.

Medical examination of the woman confirmed rape following which Hardeep (24) and Sonu (22), sons of landowner Pirthi Singh, were booked.

The victim had been living with her husband and a two-year old daughter in a dhani near Sirsa for the last two years where they worked as farm labourers. They were rendered roofless after the recent floods. They basically hail from Sibbian village of Punjab.

On a reference given by an acquaintance, the couple was going to Lakhuwana village in Dabwali sub division of the district yesterday for searching work when Pirthi Singh, who was travelling in the same bus, offered them shelter and a job.

After leaving the victim at his residence, Pirthi took her husband to the fields. Finding her alone, accused Hardeep and Sonu allegedly dragged her in a room, raped her and fled.

The victim narrated the incident to her husband, who took her to the police station at Dabwali to file a complaint.

Chandigarh, July 24
The Haryana Government today asked the Centre to bring about a five-fold increase in the relief norms to compensate farmers for crop loss; sanction a special grant of Rs 1,370 crore for relief to the flood-hit areas and restore infrastructure and bring the damage to crops due to frost under the ambit of the Natural Calamity Relief Fund.

This was demanded at the National Development Council meeting convened in New Delhi today to consider the Mid-Term Appraisal (MTA) of the 11th Five Year Plan. Haryana Finance Minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav read out Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s speech since he was occupied with the visit of President Pratibha Patil.

The state requested the Centre to make available adequate quantity of hybrid and high-yielding varieties of seeds for paddy, bajra and BT cotton at reasonable rates.

Hooda demanded that all districts of Haryana should be covered under the National Food Security Mission (Wheat) against the seven covered at present. Allocation for the creation of storage capacity for foodgrains under the Gramin Bhandaran Yojana should be enhanced and more silos constructed in the state while seeking a special grant of Rs 100 crore to give a leg-up to the research facilities at Haryana Agriculture University (HAU) in Hisar.

Haryana urged the Centre to address the issue of denial of Haryana’s share of the Ravi-Beas waters through the SYL Canal. Stating that Punjab was refusing to complete the SYL canal in its territory and had been using Haryana’s 1.9 MAF Ravi-Beas waters for the last 30 years, Haryana said Punjab was using the SYL to flush out floodwaters that was responsible for the recent floods in Haryana and that the Centre should play a pro-active role.

Hooda pointed out that repeated interaction with Delhi to check the discharge of untreated effluents into the Yamuna through 22 drains in the capital had not yielded any result so far.

Jind, July 24
The failure of the Haryana police to solve the triple murder case of Khokri village even after over two months has left the victims’ kin upset. The Brahmin community has announced to hold a panchayat on August 1 to announce its next move. The community held a demonstration here on June 1 and had threatened to intensify the stir in case no arrests were made.

A spokesperson of the community said here today that a meeting has been convened here on August 1 to discuss the progress done by the police hitherto.

The culprits have not been arrested even after the case had been handed over to the Crime Branch led by an official of the Additional Director General of Police.

Mukesh Kumari (29) and her nieces, Seema (16) and Tannu (10), were lynched while sleeping on the roof of their house on May 9. Mukesh’s son also got injured in this incident. Over 60 persons were detained and polygraph test was conducted on them but to no avail.

Yamunanagar, July 24
Now, satellite images point out threat of flood in the district during heavy rains triggered by illegal unscientific mining for sand and stone in Yamuna and agricultural land beyond control.

The mining mafia, with the help of JCB machines, has extracted sand and stone in hundreds of acres up to 20 metre depth and more than this in many places. The unscientific mining has done damages beyond control and it can lead to breach at number of places during heavy rains in the catchments area of the Yamuna and also in the district, revealed the satellite images.

The matter was came to light when Deputy Commissioner Ashok Sangwan today asked the Mining Department to provide the satellite images to find out how mining officials remain ignorant about the damages. The images revealed that many areas of the district had been facing potential threat of devastation during heavy rains as sand and stone had been taken out a major portion up to several metre depth in the river bed and also the nearby areas of the river as a result of rampant unscientific mining.

Besides it, the DC today held a meeting with senior officials of the administration and the police and directed them to conduct raids during night and early morning to prevent illegal mining. The officials, including all SDMs, tehsildars and DSPs, were told to conduct raids and also to prepare a list of places where they conducted raids and action taken.

The Tribune had carried a report in this regard on July 22: “Illegal miners prepare the ground for floods.”

The satellite images revealed that with the help of JCB machines the damages had been done beyond repair in the Yamuna and its nearby areas, including Khirabad, Mandewala, Koliwala, Chhachhrauli, Tajewala, Doiwala, Kalesar, Bibipur, Jatala, Khijrabad, Lal Chhappar, Sandahala and Gumthala, Ranjeetpura, Khirabad, Lapra, Odri, Bibipur, Bagpat, Begampur, Bhuttuwala, Ranipur, Jaidhari.

Talking with The Tribune, the DC said the satellite images had revealed a ‘horror’ story about the damages done to the Yamuna and other parts. Now matter would be thoroughly probed and those involved in illegal mining have to face action.

“We have alerted villagers living in the low-lying areas about the potential threat of flood during the monsoon and to observe night patrolling. We are also monitoring the water level of the Yamuna and seasonal rivulets round the clock,” he added.

Rewari, July 24
A wanted criminal, Krishan Kumar of Sikar district of Rajasthan, died after he was hit by a self-triggered gunshot at Khaleta village, near Khol police station of Rewari district on Thursday evening. However, his accomplice fled.

Krishan carried a reward of Rs 5,000 on his head. The two criminals who were wanted by the Rajasthan and the Mahendergarh district police (Haryana) in murder and robbery cases entered the Khol police station area following which the police chased them. However, the duo abandoned a Bolero at Khaleta village and reached an ex-serviceman Ranbir Singh Yadav’s house where they tried to flee on somebody’s motorcycle.

But Ranbir’s son Anil Yadav who is a Haryana police commando, tried to stop Krishan who then fired a shot from his pistol that accidentally hit himself. Meanwhile, the police brought him to the local trauma centre where the doctors referred him to the PGIMS at Rohtak where he died.

A case of an attempt to suicide has been registered against the deceased and a case of theft has been registered against his accomplice. — OC

Faridabad, July 24
The police here today procured two-day remand of a fake aide of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in connection with a cheating of a businessman here. The fake aide, whose name is also Manmohan Singh, was arrested in Jammu, a few days ago. A resident of Delhi, he has been booked in various cases by the Delhi police and had been sent to the Tihar Jail after his arrest.

The Faridabad police brought him here against a production warrant from Tihar Jail in connection with a cheating case, against which a criminal case was registered against him in November last. Ashok Mittal, a local businessman, was the complainant in the case.

He was produced in a local court, which granted the local police’s plea for his two-day remand. He will be presented before the court on Monday.

According to the complainant, he and Manmohan’s brother’s son-in-law were business partners. The relationship between the partners got estranged over some issue. Manmohan threatened Mittal of dire consequences. Later, they managed to patch up their differences.

The accused asked him for Rs 25 lakh. The complainant gave him Rs 5 lakh. It was alleged that when the complainant demanded back his money Manmohan refused to return it.