Loharu (Bhiwani), December 17
Two panchayat meetings were held here simultaneously to resolve the land dispute between Dharamvir, a Dalit, and Om Prakash, brother of Somvir Singh, a son-in-law of the late Chief Minister Bansi Lal and a former Congress legislator.

Only one panchayat was scheduled to be held on the issue but a division in the local Dalit leadership overnight led to the main panchayat being organised by Dharamvir at Chungi Number 7 Mohalla’s Harijan Chaupal and the other at Lal Bahadur Shastri Park.

The main panchayat, attended by leaders of all Opposition parties, asked the district administration to resolve the dispute within two weeks failing which its representatives would stage a dharna at the Jantar Mantar in Delhi and meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi to seek her intervention in the dispute. The other panchayat merely said that since the matter was subjudiced, none should undermine the judicial process.

It termed the controversy as an attempt to tarnish the image of Somvir Singh. This meeting was attended, among others, by Dalit Samaj Kalyan Sabha chief Mahavir Amirwas and vice-president Dharampal Gignau. Addressing the main panchayat, Indian National Lok Dal MLA Dharampal Obra said it was unfortunate that atrocities on Dalits were on the rise. He said his party would not allow any further exploitation of the downtrodden. Bahadur Chand Sharma, president of the district unit of the Haryana Janhit Congress, alleged that Somvir Singh had used his political influence to get the land registered in the name of his brother’s wife. He also alleged that several revenue officials had colluded with him to fabricate documents to help him grab land at several places in the town. INLD’s KC Bangar alleged that Congress leaders had grabbed land at several places in the state by exploiting loopholes in the revenue records. He said his party would expose such leaders.

When Congress leader Brahmanand tried to put across Somvir Singh’s version, the crowd became restive. However, saner elements succeeded in restoring calm. Brahmanand, who belongs to the Dalit community, said the panchayat was a “political stunt” and that no wrong had been done to any Dalit. He claimed he had perused the land record and had found nothing amiss.

Meanwhile, tension continues to grip the town and heavy police force has been deployed to maintain peace.

A meeting of the Loharu assembly segment unit of the Congress was held after the panchayat.

It was chaired by its president Surinder Singh.The meeting alleged that certain anti-social elements were trying to disturb harmony in the town.

Panipat, December 17
Sikh representatives from various northern states, including Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, converged at the Model Town gurdwara here today to attend a meeting convened by president of the Haryana Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (ad hoc) Jagdish Singh Jhinda.

During the meeting, the Sikhs condemned the state government’s move of using force to prevent the Sikhs from reaching the gurdwara and hold a “path”.

Sikhs from the state were barred from reaching Gurdwara Chhevin Patshahi in Kurukshetra on December 4.

During the meeting, it was decided to constitute a 50-member committee of Sikhs from various states to take up the issue of separate SGPC with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Condemning the use of muscle power to prevent the Sikhs from offering prayers at their place of worship, Jhinda said the Sikh shrines in the state were being controlled by outsiders. The state Sikhs, who had been struggling to get their demand accepted for the past 10 years, were being subjected to step-motherly treatment by the state government.

“It is our fundamental right, which has also been endorsed by the Indian Constitution and none can deny this fact,” Jhinda said.

Meanwhile, members of the HSGPC stated that they would continue with the struggle till a separate body was not formed in the state. 

Jhajjar, December 17
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda announced a string of projects to further accelerate development in the Badli assembly segment at a rally here today. He laid the stone for the four-laning of the Jhajjar-Badli road, the new Badli bypass and a new building of Government College, Badli.

He announced 132 KV substations at Machhrauli and Badli, a state-level teacher training institute at Silani, a Kisan Model School at Subana, upgradation of the health sub-centre to community health centre at Badli, a vocational institute at Majri, a DIET at Machhrauli village and starting of science and commerce courses at Government College and Government Senior Secondary School, Badli.

He announced new water works at Machhrauli and Dadri Toye and said the drinking water supply to Jhajjar city would be increased and water courses levelled. Hooda said there was written evidence that the the INLD government had given gave a compensation of Rs 2.5 lakh per acre for the 135 km-long Kundli-Manesar-Palwal expressway. The total compensation amount came to Rs 160 crore.

But the Congress government had given a compensation of Rs 650 crore to the farmers for the same land as per its policy. The Congress government has initiated a new political culture providing honest governance.

Vijender Chahar, who had contested from Badli as an Independent, joined the Congress along with his thousands of supporters at the rally.

Working president of HPCC Kuldeep Sharma, PWD Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala, Education and Health Minister Geeta Bhukkal, Chief Whip of the Haryana Congress Legislature Party(CLP) Bharat Bhushan Batra, former Speaker Raghubir Singh Kadian and MLA Anand Singh Dangi were among those present.

Panipat, December 17
AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh said today that the BJP should distance itself from extremists who had made their way into the RSS.

The former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, who was here to participate in a function organised in Sanuli village in the memory of famous Urdu poet Altaf Hussain Hali, said: “He still stands by his statement that former ATS chief Hemant Karkare had spoken to him before the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, but the whole issue was blown out of proportion by the BJP. I never said Pakistan was not behind the Mumbai attacks. The BJP has combined two separate things to present a different picture before the masses.”

Refuting the statement of the Home Minister that no conversation ever took place between him and Karkare, Digvijay Singh said it was he who had spoken to the slain cop and not the minister.

Taking a potshot at the opposition parties for disrupting Parliament, he said they thwarted important parliamentary proceedings. He said the public accounts committee (PAC) and the CBI were already looking into the 2G scam and there was no need for a JPC.

Only HPCC chief PC Mullana accompanied the leader to the village. 

Gurgaon, December 17
As many as 30 persons were injured in a fire incident at Hotel Fortune Select Global located on the MG Road here today. The injured have been admitted to Artemis Hospital, while some have reportedly been referred to Delhi. The condition of some of the injured is stated to be critical.

However, the hotel staffers are tightlipped about the incident. Mediapersons were also not allowed to visit the hotel portion where the fire incident took place.

The exact cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained, though it is being attributed to leakage of cooking gas and/or a gas-cylinder blast.

Fire tenders were pressed into service to control the blaze and the injured, all of whom are said to be hotel employees, were rushed to Neelkanth Hospital here. However, later in the day, the injured were shifted to Artemis Hospital.

Although the reason behind the mishap is a matter of investigation, some lapse in the functioning of the hotel staff is evident.

Panipat, December 17
The district police has reviewed security arrangements at the Panipat refinery following intelligence reports of a possible terrorist strike.

District police chief Pankaj Nain visited the refinery yesterday and after detailed deliberations with officials, recommended a thorough verification of the credentials of all labourers working on the refinery projects.

From time to time, the refinery undertakes new projects for its expansion and construction of these projects is largely handled by contract labourers from outside.

The police chief directed the officials concerned to make certain that no one was allowed to work at the refinery projects without verification of credentials. — TNS