Fatehabad, November 17
Haryana Janhit Congress supremo Kuldeep Bishnoi kicked off campaign for his December 2 rally to be organised at Jind addressing workers of the Sirsa parliamentary constituency here today.

Bishnoi flagged off five “prachar raths” from the local PWD Rest House. Addressing mediaperson, the HJC chief said the “mahasangram rally” was aimed at launching a crusade against the Haryana government and its “anti-people” policies.

It was ironical that the recent rallies organised by two other political parties on November 1 had nothing to do with people, he alleged.

“While the Sonepat rally by the Congress was limited to sports, the one organised by the INLD at Gurgaon was merely a drama enacted under the pretext of birth anniversary of Chaudhary Devi Lal, which actually fell on September 25,” Bishnoi maintained.

The HJC leader claimed that his rally at Jind would be much bigger than the rallies by the two other parties and would focus on issues concerning the common people.

He said law and order in the state was in a shambles and there was unprecedented corruption in the state as well as at the Centre.

“If an honest Prime Minister like Manmohan Singh is helpless to act against persons like A Raja, it shows that someone mightier than him in the government wants such people to be untouched,” Bishnoi alleged.

The HJC leader saluted Ratan Tata for his revelation that he had abandoned his plan to run an airlines after he was asked to pay Rs 15 crore as bribe.

“If our industrialists inculcate the same values as Ratan Tata, then corruption can be easily wiped out of the country,” Bishnoi added. 

Jhajjar, November 17
Irked over the alleged lackluster attitude of the state government towards their demands, Multi-Purpose Health Workers (MPHW) have decided to stage a four-day dharna under the aegis of the Multi-Purpose Health Workers’ Association in front of the local residence of Haryana Education and Health Minister Geeta Bhukkal here. The dharna would be staged from November 19 to 23.

State president of the association Asha Sharma and secretary Sadhu Ram said they had met minister Bhukkal several times, but to no avail.

“The health workers have not got anything except hollow assurance by the state government. Therefore, we have decided to stage a dharna in front of the residence of the health minister to mount pressure on the government,” said the leaders, adding that the association had been demanding regularisation of those health workers, who had been working on contractual basis, and removal of salary discrepancies.

They said health workers from four districts would sit on dharna everyday. The workers from Jhajjar, Rohtak, Sonepat and Bhiwani districts would participate in the dharna on November 19, workers from Faridabad, Palwal, Mewat and Gurgaon districts on November 20, workers from Jind, Panipat, Sirsa and Panchkula districts on November 21, workers from Kaithal, Ambala, Hisar and Yamunanagar districts on November 22 and workers from Karnal, Kurukshetra, Rewari and Mahendragarh districts would sit on dharna on November 23, the leaders added.

The association has also warned the state government that their agitation would continue until the demands were met. 

Karnal, November 17
Call it a miracle or sheer providence, a 40-year-old woman who had lost all hope of becoming a mother, was blessed with a baby girl after a rare feat by gynaecologists at Guru Nanak Dev Hospital here today.

Nirmala, wife of Karam Bir of Bhader village in Panipat, suffered from thin endometrium with a thickness of 3mm to 4 mm against 7.5 mm required for conceiving. Each time she would conceive, the basal layer of the endometrium would be ruptured .She came for treatment to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital three years ago where she was treated by Dr Prabjot Kaur.“It was almost impossible to regenerate the baser layer and increase

the endometrial thickness, but we succeeded in doing so,” explained the doctor. “We treated her for nearly three years and used the IVF technique to enable Nirmala to conceive.We took extreme care to provide optimum environment for the implantation and normal growth of the embryo.

There were no complications during pregnancy, Dr Prabhjot Kaur explained. “We only treated her and the Almighty performed the miracle,”she added.

Gurgaon, November 17
Taking cognisance of a complaint regarding the wrongful registration of a flat’s conveyance deed, a local SDM’s court has ordered the sub-registrar concerned to examine all conveyance deeds of the society and realise the difference from the society.

Hearing the matter, the court of Naresh Narwal, collector-cum-SDO (civil), Gurgaon-South, found that one KK Verma had purchased a flat in the BSF Cooperative Housing Society, Gwal Pahari, from MS Yadav for Rs 17 lakh.

However, the flat’s cost in the conveyance deed has been showed as Rs 2,65,248 only, thus paying much less stamp duty to the government than due.

Interestingly, while Verma has maintained that of the Rs 17 lakh, he had paid Rs 4,51,300 for the flat and Rs 12,48,700 for its furnishings, Yadav asserts that the society had got the flat’s sale deed registered in a wrong way, defrauding the exchequer.

Stating that this was not an isolated case of stamp duty evasion, Yadav pointed out that the society had got nearly 200 conveyance deeds registered wrongfully, thus cheating the government exchequer to the tune of crores.

According to sources, the matter could just be the tip of the proverbial iceberg and many such — and much bigger — cases could be detected if a thorough probe was conducted in this regard.

In his order, Narwal clarified that the registration of the first transaction between the coloniser/HUDA and the original allottee was to be done on the basis of the original sale price charged by the coloniser/HUDA and for subsequent transactions, the rates prescribed by the collector should be kept in mind.

“However, in case the original allottee is substituted by some nominee or any other person, then even for the first transaction by the coloniser/HUDA, the collector rate may be made applicable for the registration,” the order maintains.

Observing that the sale deed in question had not been registered as per the Indian Stamp Act and the government guidelines, the SDM asked Verma to pay the difference in the actual stamp duty due on the flat and that paid by him within a month.

The SDM also directed the sub-registrar, Sohna, to examine all conveyance deeds registered by the society and realise the balance amount within three months by issuing a notice to the society.

The sub-registrar has also been told to verify the facts before registering the documents presented before him. 

Chandigarh, November 17
Miffed at the “misbehaviour” of defected MLAs, Justice Permod Kohli of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today refused to further hear the petition filed by Haryana Janhit Congress president-cum-MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi.

He is seeking disqualification of MLAs defecting from his party.

As the case came up for hearing this afternoon, Justice Kohli made it amply clear that an attempt had been made to influence the administration of justice. At the very onset, Justice Kohli minced no words while telling the counsel for the MLAs: “Advise your clients not to behave like that”.

Justice Kohli did not elaborate on the nature of misbehaviour, but asserted: “I do not want to hear the matter. List it before some other Bench”.

Responding to the assertions, Bishnoi’s counsel Satya Pal Jain said the “misbehaviour” was “most unfortunate”, an assertion, which was not refuted by counsel for the Speaker Mohan Jain and counsel for the MLAs Harbhagwan Singh.

Earlier, the High Court had issued notice to the five MLAs -Satpal Sangwan, Vinod Bhyana, Narender Singh, Zileram and Dharam Singh. They had joined the Congress in November 2009 though elected on the HJC ticket.

Seeking their disqualification from the membership of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution of India, Bishnoi made Speaker Harmohinder Singh Chatha a respondent by name. He alleged that Chatha was trying to shield the “defector” MLAs.

But in November 2009, the five members submitted applications to the Speaker, saying the “legislators of the Haryana Janhit Congress have decided to merge the party with the Indian National Congress”. On the same day, the Speaker passed two orders accepting the “merger.”

Satya Pal Jain said the Speaker’s orders, accepting the merger “are unconstitutional because he did not give an opportunity of hearing to the HJC president before passing the order.

“Even otherwise, the legislative wing of any party is not competent to take a decision on merger.” 

Panipat, November 17
Reports of arrest of two persons by the CBI believed to be involved in the kidnapping of 10-year-old Tejas Gaba, son of a local industrialist, has rekindled the hopes of the family that they may get their son back soon.

The CBI produced two persons in an Ambala court, stating that they were believed to be involved in kidnapping Tejas. Anil Gaba, paternal uncle of the boy, said as of now the family had received no information on the matter and would be able to give a reaction only after getting details of the arrests.

The Gabas have been struggling to get their son back. Tejas was just eight when he was kidnapped while waiting for his school bus at the local Paruthi Chowk on the morning of December 12, 2008.The kidnappers fired a shot from their 9 mm pistol and fled with the boy in a luxury car with tinted glasses.

His mother, who was accompanying him, could do nothing to stop the kidnappers. Two days after the crime, the kidnappers sent the family a video in which Tejas was shown with a band on his eyes.The family received a number of calls and emails from the kidnappers that were intimidating. The criminals demanded ransom.

Both the Haryana Police and the Gaba family announced cash rewards of Rs 15 lakh and Rs 50 lakh, respectively, for anyone providing a clue to the whereabouts of Tejas.

After the district police failed to make a breakthrough in the case, it was handed over to the state crime branch. Even the crime branch could not make much headway and the case was, finally, handed over to the CBI in August this year.

The Gabas had told The Tribune that the ransom calls and emails had stopped since March last year.

“Even though it has been over 23 months, I strongly believe that one fine day he (Tejas) will come back home.

This year Raksha Bandhan was very disheartening as both his sisters with tears in their eyes tied rakhi to Lord Krishna. Then his birthday this year on October 27 was terrible for us.

“The fact that he (Tejas) would wait anxiously for his birthday the whole year only made us miss him more,” says Neena Gaba on her website.

Suman Bhatnagar adds from Ambala: The CBI has succeeded in arresting two suspects in the Tejas Gaba kidnapping case. It produced Daljeet and Kampal Singh, residents of Bhatinda, in the court of Duty Magistrate Vijay James here today and sought their remand for 10 days. The court remanded the accused for eight days.

The CBI argued that kidnapping was a serious crime and it had to go into the entire sequence of the incident. It also stated in its application that a few more persons could also be involved in the case.

The CBI was handed over the case in September after which it raided several places, including Panchkula, Mohali and Delhi.

It also interrogated two inmates of the Bhatinda jail.

Daljeet and Kampal Singh were arrested by the Panchkula police in connection with the kidnapping of Nandan Nagpal, a resident of Malaut, who was kidnapped in June 2010.

Later, it was felt that the accused could have also been involved in kidnapping Tejas. 

Sirsa, November 17
Two cattle traders from Uttar Pradesh were allegedly robbed of cash and a mobile phone by three policemen at a barrier on the outskirts of Sirsa town late last night.

The incident camer to light with one Mehal Singh from Ghuriana in Ferozepore calling up the police officers here. Meanwhile, the terrified traders, who rushed back to their village in Meerut, will be reaching here tomorrow to lodge a formal complaint. Both DSP Puran Chand Panwar and SHO Krishna Yadav confirmed having received a complaint on the phone and said the police would investigate the matter after a formal written complaint was received.

“Meerut-based traders Lala and Bhura purchased 17 buffaloes from me. They left for their village on two trucks last night. I received a call from their family members past midnight that they were unable to make contact with them. When I contacted one of the drivers after getting his number from the Abohar Truck Union, he narrated the chilling episode of robbery by men in uniform,”Mehal Singh said.

Three traders were reportedly signalled to stop by three cops near a barricade. “As we stopped,one of them placeded a pistol on my temple and asked me to hand over whatever I had,” alleged Lala, speaking on the phone.

The men in uniform allegedly used foul language and threatened to pull the trigger. They took away Rs 15,000 in cash and a mobile phone from the shocked traders. The SP, Satinder Kumar Gupta, could not be contacted for comment. His phone was ‘not reachable.’ 

Kaithal, November 17
The administration has taken a tough stand against Kultaran villagers for blocking NH-65 two days ago and obstructing government officials from performing duty, registering two cases.

In the first case, sarpanch Suresh Kumar, five identified and 50 unidentified persons have been booked under various Sections. The case was registered on a complaint by ASI Ram Phal. The second case has reportedly been registered on a complaint by the Kaithal tehsildar in which it has alleged that sarpanch Suresh Kumar, Bira Ram, Baljeet, Dallu, Billa and Jaswant manhandled and threatened the area patwari and snatched the register from him when he went to the village to disburse compensation to villagers.

Meanwhile, the villagers have threatened to resort to an agitation if the cases are not withdrawn. The villagers had blocked the highway on Monday to protest against “inadequate” compensation by the government for the loss to crops and property in the recent floods. 

Yamunanagar, November 17
The Yamunanagar district administration has made elaborate arrangements for the Kapal Mochan fair, scheduled to begin from November 19.

The three-day mela draws lakhs of devotees from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Uttarakhand.

The devotees come to take a holy dip in the Kapal Mochan sarovar with the belief that they would attain salvation.

The other two sarovars which witness a rush of devotees are the Rin Mochan and Surajkund sarovars. Over six lakh pilgrims are expected to reach here on the second and third day of the fair on the special occasion of “Kartik Purnima”.

Talking to The Tribune, Deputy Commissioner Ashok Sangwan said here recently that all arrangements for the mela had been completed. About 500 temporary toilets had been set up and fire brigade had been arranged from Ambala, Naraingarh, Panchkula and Yamunanagar.

“The mela area, spread over 70 acres, has been divided into five sectors. Tents have been pitched on about 50 acres for the stay of pilgrims by private parties as well as the administration. Besides, gurdwaras and temples, langar is being served at around 200 places by religious organisations and individuals,” he added.

The place, known as Kapal Mochan, is a symbol of unity and integrity of people of different religions. This place is equally important for Hindus and Sikhs. According to Hindu mythology, Lord Shiva took a dip at the sarovar here. Lord Rama and Lord Krishna are also believed to have visited this place. For Sikhs, this place holds importance as Guru Nanak Dev visited this place. Guru Gobind Singh also stayed here for 52 days.

SS Kundu, General Manager, Haryana Roadways, Yamunanagar, said 60 buses had been pressed into service to ferry passengers during the mela. These included 20 from Ambala, 20 from Yamunanagar and Jagadhri, and 20 for Aad Badri from Kapal Mochan.

Yamunanagar SP Sandeep Khirewar said about 900 policemen had been deployed to maintain law and order.

Meanwhile, the administration has set up several fair price shops all over the mela venue. 

Sonepat, November 17
Rail traffic on the Delhi-Ambala track remained disrupted for around two hours this morning after an OHE electric line on the down track broke near Narela in Delhi around 6.30 am.

The line was later repaired.

Besides a number of goods trains, about a dozen passenger trains were delayed between 30 minutes and two hours.

Sources said a large number of panicky commuters between Sonepat and Delhi were seen boarding roadways buses and other private vehicles to reach their destination s on time.