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DRDA clerk embezzles Rs 2. 25
crore; suspended
1,200 quintals of cotton destroyed in mill fire
Fire services officials try to extinguish the
fire that broke out in a cotton factory at Sirsa on Sunday. A Tribune photograph
Convention on Quota |
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2 panels to pursue Jat quota issue
Kharkhoda Industrial Township in limbo
Public Health Land in Sohna
Register complaints to police authority online soon
Rs 9.40 lakh withdrawn fraudulently from SBI
Farmers raise ‘saathi’ paddy nurseries despite ban
Paddy to cover 60,000 hectares
in Sirsa
Eligible teachers threaten immolation
The damaged car after meeting with an accident with a parked truck on the GT Road near Bahalgarh on Saturday night. Photo by writer
Generic drugs cheaper, docs must prescribe them: Secy
Innovation fund mooted to improve public services
Veterinarians celebrate love for animals
World Veterinary
Day: Veterinarians take out a march in Hisar on Saturday.
Ellenabad girl makes it to IRS
Neeju Gupta being felicitated on behalf of local residents by the SP, Devender Yadav (centre), at Ellenabad in Sirsa on Sunday. A Tribune photograph
Babies abandoned
Expert favours use of solar energy
Wheat Procurement
Make boxer Manoj DSP, say residents
Foreigner pushed out of running train
2 students caught impersonating
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DRDA clerk embezzles Rs 2. 25
crore; suspended
Kaithal, April 29 Giving details about the misappropriation by a functionary of the DRDA office, ADC Yadav said at a press conference here today that a clerk Inder
Jeet, who was looking after rural development work in the Zila Parishad and the total sanitation programme in the DRDA here, used to change figures of cheques and withdraw the amount from banks. His lavish lifestyle created a doubt in the mind of his colleagues and local officials and he was under a scanner. When the accounts of branches under his charge were checked, huge discrepancies were found and further inquiries revealed that he had misappropriated huge funds. The Additional Deputy Commissioner showed a cheque in which the accused had changed the original figure of Rs 10,015 to Rs 1,00,150. Yadav said the employee was so sharp that if he found that the cheque could not be encashed due to insufficient balance, he would deposit some money from his pocket in the bank and encash the
cheque. Yadav said initially the clerk used to withdraw small amounts from banks by changing figures, but greed led him to encash cheques running into
lakhs of rupees by changing figures. Yadav constituted a committee of officials that examined the accounts and found huge discrepancies in the cash book and the amount withdrawn from the bank. It is learnt that the accused had purchased several properties in Kaithal and elsewhere on which he had spent a substantial amount. But the true picture will emerge after a police inquiry. Superintendent of Police Simardeep Singh said that on a complaint lodged by the Additional Deputy Commissioner, the police had registered a case. Keeping in view huge misappropriation of funds, a special investigation team (SIT), headed by Naripjit Singh, DSP
(AEC), had been constituted that would investigate this case. Appropriate action would be taken against all those who were found involved, the SP added. |
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1,200 quintals of cotton destroyed in mill fire
Sirsa, April 29 Initially, the labourers tried to douse the fire of their own efforts, but when they failed, fire tenders were summoned. “Over 1,200 quintals of cotton has been damaged by the fire,” claimed Rajinder Mittal, owner of the factory. The exact cause of the fire is not immediately known. However, it is believed that the fire may have originated from a matchstick or a ‘biri’ thrown by a worker after smoking as there were no electric wires near or above the place where the cotton was stored. Meanwhile, in another fire incident in Chakeria village near Kalanwali today, a man sustained burn injuries while his tractor was damaged in efforts to douse the blaze. Fire broke out in the dried residuals of cotton plants outside the house of a farmer Beekar Singh. He tried to douse the fire with the help of his tractor, but was trapped in the blaze. Later, a fire tender from Kalanwali extinguished
the fire. Beekar Singh was rushed to hospital with burn injuries while his tractor has also been badly damaged. |
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Consensus on no reservation to Jat community
Geetanjali Gayatri/TNS
Chandigarh, April 29
A convention on the “Caste-based reservation: A menace to society” by the Haryana Insaaf Society, here today, made a quiet beginning to drown this clamour for the OBC status to the Jat community by debating the very basis of reservation. Elsewhere, in Kaithal, a breakaway faction of the All-India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti met to plan the revival of the agitation for reservation to the “deprived” Jat community. A retired agricultural scientist from Jhajjar, Ram Kunwar, himself a Jat, couldn’t have put it more aptly when he said, “The government claims Haryana is number one but every community seems to be moving, the backward Jats included. That’s the only justification in demanding reservation.” Stating that he had spoken to many members of the “dominant and progressive Jat community”, Kunwar said they did not favour reservation. “A few Jat leaders, in search of a mission, a ticket and gainful employment, are the ones leading the gullible population on. The common Jat does not want reservation. To avoid agitations and road blockades and sieges on rail tracks, let political parties adopt these five or 10 leaders and spare everybody the misery of an agitation. How can the Jats who have always been the face of Haryana claim backwardness?” he asked. A faculty member from Kurukshetra University, Subhash, defended reservation to the SCs and STs. He was of the view that caste lines for reservation could not be ignored for the simple reason that giving reservation on an economic basis would not serve any purpose. “The politically empowered community will manipulate the economic criterion to wrest reservation while those really deserving will be nowhere. Let the Jat community be tested on the parameters for reservation under the Mandal Commission and see if they fit the bill. If they do, they are more than welcome to be bracketed for reservation,” he said. A number of speakers, including advocates and social activists, were of the opinion that a review of the castes seeking reservation needs to be carried out to throw out communities, which have risen in status with time. While such communities should be excluded, other “deserving” communities should get a fair chance at reservation though economic or caste basis cannot be the sole criterion to grant the benefits of reservation. Most of the speakers were critical of the fact that the Jat agitation had further widened the divide between the Jats and the non-Jats and held that the leaders of the ruling and the opposition parties, playing politics of the vote bank, were fanning the fire. “The government gave agitators a long rope as it sat mum when the agitation happened and the opposition parties tried to take advantage by causing trouble. The government does not realise that this switch on and switch off button they use for agitations will have serious ramifications,” DR Chaudhry, general secretary of the society, claimed. He said two important recommendations of the Mandal Commission regarding land reforms and to strengthen the educational standard of OBC children still remain on the back seat.
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2 panels to pursue Jat quota issue
Kaithal: To pursue the case for Jat reservation vigorously, a decision was taken to constitute two separate committees at a meeting held in Jawahar Park here on Sunday. The meeting was presided over by Bhagat Singh Dalal, president, All-India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti. Comandant (retd) Hawa Singh Sangwan, samiti state president, said the matter regarding the delay in the submission of the report to Haryana by the State Backward Commission was discussed.
The members expressed concern over the delay and decided to constitute a committee headed by Sangwan himself. The committee will meet Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and members of the Backward Commission in the first week of May and pursue the case of reservation. Similarly, another committee headed by Bhagat Singh Dalal samiti’s national president will meet the members of the National Backward Classes Commission and central leaders like Sushma Swaraj and would urge them to support their cause.
— OC |
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Kharkhoda Industrial Township in limbo
Sonepat, April 29 When Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was questioned about the status of the project during his recent visit to Sonepat, he said “Abhi wahan kuchh nahin hai” (so far, there is nothing) and avoided further clarifications on the matter. Moreover, if the authorities of the HSIIDC and other sources are to be believed, the proceedings had come to a stand still and the project may be shifted to Bahadurgarh in Jhajjar district. The project was announced by the Chief Minister in 2005 in a public meeting at Kharkhoda after inaugurating the newly constructed bus stand. After the announcement, the government had issued notices under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act to acquire 3,300 acres of land in Saidpur Jatola, Kundal, Rampur, Firozpur, Sohati, Gopalpur, Barona, Pai and Kiroli villages. Section 6 of the Act was also notified last year in April by the land acquisition authorities. The acquisition process led to an indefinite dharna by a section of the farmers of these villages and it has been continuing for over a year. The other section of the farmers, however, supported the acquisition of their land. But the government has not taken any further action since last April due to one reason or the other, including the proposal of the Central government to frame a new land acquisition policy. An official of the HSIIDC said this project had been put in cold storage. Sources said this project was likely to be shifted to Bahadurgarh. Shamsher Singh Rana, who has been leading the indefinite dharna of farmers against the land acquisition, said the acquisition process was against the Industries Rules, 2005, and existing rules of the NCR Planning Board. The state government has not been able to get the NOC from the NCR authorities on environment, soil and pollution etc, he said and added that the time limit of one year for the execution of Section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act had also expired. He said a delegation of farmers had met the CM in Delhi in the first week of April and he had assured that the government would act according to the farmers’ wishes.
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Kiran Choudhry seeks removal of encroachments
Geetanjali Gayatri Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 29 Based on a report and photographs submitted by PH Financial Commissioner PK Gupta, and the Engineer-in-Chief (EIC) after visiting the site, Choudhry has contended that the encroachments is allegedly happening at the behest of Chief Parliamentary Secretary Dharambir Singh, who is also the local MLA. Stating that prime land of the department, encroached by various NGOs and societies, be cleared of all encroachments, she has cited the construction of a boosting station and office and residences for officials of the PH Engineering Department (PHED) for seeking immediate action. Sources said the file had been forwarded to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda . In their report, Gupta and the EIC said the 19 kanal 19 marla plot was acquired by the PH Department in 1960 and the government and the PHED became the custodians of this land. A sewage disposal plant was constructed at the site. While sewage disposal was being handled by the Municipal Committee till 1993, this charge was handed over to the PHED. Due to the construction of a new plant, this became non-functional in September, 2011. The case for transfer of 1600 sq yards was sent to the Director, Urban Local Bodies, by the Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner. This move came under fire after Choudhry raised objections and sought to know how land belonging to her department was recommended for transfer without verifying its title/ ownership and obtaining consent for transfer from the PHED in a letter to the Gurgaon DC. Holding that this was "neither correct nor justified", she claimed that some other societies had encroached upon the rest of the land while stating that the Municipal Committee, Sohna, had unauthorisedly passed a resolution to allot this land to 12 societies which further encouraged illegal encroachments. Meanwhile, in his report, Gupta also mentions that five sabhas of different communities and clubs have illegally encroached upon the land in question while the MC, Sohna, has even constructed a boundary wall, a fire station and one room up to the door level. In photographs clicked at the site, Choudhry has mentioned in her noting banners thanking Dharambir Singh for his support to underline his role, a fact denied by the latter. "I have no clue to any photographs or any such report. Besides, anybody can write anything. That certainly does not mean I am involved ," Dharambir Singh said.
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Register complaints to police authority online soon
Chandigarh, April 29 He said the Authority would also investigate cases referred by the state government and the Director-General of Police. The office of the Authority has been set up in the old office building of the Public Works (Building and Roads) Department, Sector 19, Chandigarh. Complaints can be submitted in the office on all working days from 9 am to 5 p.m. Complaints can also be registered on telephone number of the Authority - 0172-2772244. Rana added that the Authority has received 88 complaints related to the police so far. Of these, 19 complaints had been disposed of. Action on the remaining complaints was in progress. The Authority has started a special awareness campaign in the state so that the people could be educated about the system of the Authority. Two hoardings having detailed information about the working of the Authority and the process of registering complaint would be erected on two significant points in each district. The non-government organisations (NGOs) have also been asked to generate awareness in this regard. He said Police Complaint Authorities had been constituted in six states and two union territories.
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Rs 9.40 lakh withdrawn fraudulently from SBI
Sonepat, April 29 On the complaint of Rajinder Singh, bank manager Sarita Kumari assured him that an inquiry had been ordered and its report would be provided by Monday evening. In his complaint to the bank manager, Rajinder Singh submitted that his account had Rs 13.20 lakh on April 26 and the bank had provided him a pass book and a cheque book. He issued a cheque for over Rs 25,464 on April 25 to the LIC for payment of instalment of his insurance policy and the amount was deducted from his account. Using the option of a withdrawal form, somebody had withdrawn
Rs 4.50 lakh on April 26 and Rs 4.90 lakh on April 27 from Rajinder Singh’s account. Moreover, without verifying the outstanding amount in his account, the bank cashier paid to this person another amount of Rs 3.80 lakh
on April 28. However, during cross-checking of the last withdrawal, the bank authorities noticed that there were only Rs 3.59 lakh in Rajinder Singh’s account on April 28 but the cashier had paid Rs 3.80 lakh to the person on the same day. After noticing the irregularity in payment, the bank authorities contacted Rajinder Singh who said that he had not withdrawn any amount from his account. The cashier has also reportedly been asked to deposit the paid amount of Rs 3.80 lakh in the
bank. Rajinder Singh said he would wait till Monday for the inquiry report and if the amount of Rs 9.40 lakh was not deposited in his account by the bank authorities, he would lodge a complaint to the police. “I have not signed any withdrawal form and somebody has fraudulently withdrawn the amount from my account,” he said. This was not the only case of fraudulent withdrawal from this branch of the bank. There had been many a complaints of such withdrawals from the bank accounts opened in this branch by using the withdrawal forms as well as ATM cards during the past four or five years. |
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Farmers raise ‘saathi’ paddy nurseries despite ban
Karnal, April 29 Though the Haryana Government implemented the Haryana Preservation of Sub Soil Water Act two years ago and Agriculture Department officials had claimed that just two instances of “saathi” cultivation had come to their notice last year, ‘saathi’ nurseries raised on 100-acre area in Indri and some other places in Karnal district alone were destroyed recently. Subdivisional agriculture officer Wazir Singh said eight cases had been registered for raising ‘saathi’ nurseries on 100 acre of land and these nurseries had been destroyed by spray or by uprooting the plants by tractors. In all 20 to 25 cases had come to their notice but in 10 cases the farmers themselves offered to destroy the plants and gave an affidavit in this regard. ‘Saathi’ paddy was a high water-consuming variety of rice with big grains and fetches good returns but due to shortage of water, Haryana was encouraging those varieties of rice which had low-water requirement and high yield and cultivation of ‘saathi’ was banned. Some areas of Karnal along the Yamuna, including Indri, are inundated due to floods during the monsoon and the water table in this belt was much higher as compared to other areas, but the government has not accepted the demand of farmers of these villages to allow them to cultivate the ‘saathi’ paddy. Wazir Singh said in order to conserve water, sowing of paddy had been disallowed before May 15 while paddy transplantation would not take place before June 15. To wean away the farmers from cultivating ‘saathi’ paddy, the state Agriculture Department was propagating ‘moong’ as an alternative crop to supplement the income of farmers.
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Paddy to cover 60,000 hectares
in Sirsa
Sirsa, April 29 The preparation of nurseries for paddy will begin in the district on May 15 and its plantation from June 15 as there is complete ban on these activities before these dates. Farmers have been advised to plant the PUSA-1121 and PB No 1 muchhal varieties. The authorities have announced a subsidy of Rs 500 per quintal on the purchase of these varieties. The Agriculture Department will also set up demonstration plots of pulses on 500 acres of land in the district. Last year, these demonstration plots for pulses (summer moong) were set up on 300 acres. \ |
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Eligible teachers threaten immolation
Hisar, April 29 She said the eligible teachers were opposed to the Haryana Government’s decision to allow those with four years of teaching experience to be eligible for appointment without passing the HTET. She said this decision was aimed at helping guest teachers who the government had appointed purely on political considerations rather than merit. What was the need for the HTET if those who had not passed it were also to be eligible for appointment in government schools, she asked. Suhasini said even the high court and the apex court had termed appointment of regular teachers without clearing the HTET as unconstitutional but now the government was adamant on considering guest teachers with four years of experience. She alleged that the decision to allow guest teachers to be eligible for appointment was not taken at a regular meeting of the Cabinet. The proposal was approved through circulation among Cabinet members. She said this clearly demonstrated that Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda feared opposition to the decision in the Cabinet meeting. She said all eligible teachers had been asked to meet on May 1.
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3 killed as car hits parked
truck
Sonepat, April 29 The accident victims were coming to Gupti Sagar Dham, a Jain temple on the GT Road near Gannaur in an Alto car from Delhi. Around 11 pm, the
speeding car hit the rear of a truck parked in the third lane of the GT Road. On receiving information, the police reached the spot and brought the accident victims to the local Civil Hospital where doctors declared Ashish, Nidhish and Abhishek as
brought dead. The other seriously injured person, also named Abhishek, was referred to MAX hospital in Delhi. After preliminary investigation, the police registered a case against the unidentified truck driver who reportedly escaped from the spot after
the incident. Meanwhile, the bodies of the deceased were today handed over to family members after a post-mortem examination at the Civil Hospital. |
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Generic drugs cheaper, docs must prescribe them: Secy
Hisar, April 29 Addressing a workshop on ‘Modern Methods of Pharmaceutical Research’ organised by the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, here yesterday, he said it was the duty of doctors to prescribe generic drugs and tell patients that these were as effective in treating diseases as branded drugs. He said medicines constituted almost half the cost of treatment and it was necessary to cut this cost as much as possible by use of generic drugs. ML Ranga, Vice-Chancellor, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, said modern methods of research in the field of pharmaceuticals would help develop more effective drugs for various ailments. But he agreed that the cost of medicines should be brought down.
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Innovation fund mooted to improve public services
Gurgaon, April 29 The state high-level monitoring committee (HLMC) headed by the Haryana Chief Secretary has approved certain guidelines for the release and utilisation of the grant-in-aid for the District Innovation Fund. The Chief Secretary has directed the state Department of Science and Technology to ensure that the selected projects should be innovative enough to improve the
quality of service delivery, especially in the fields of health, education, water supply and energy. The guidelines sent to all DCs mandate that this grant is to be used to fill in vital gaps in public infrastructure (excluding physical infrastructure like roads and bridges etc) already available in the district, which is not being fully utilised for want of relatively small investment. The norms mandate that a district innovation committee (DIC) be constituted under the chairpersonship of the local DC to conceptualise, monitor and implement the project. |
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Veterinarians celebrate love for animals
Hisar, April 29 They were led by the Dean, Dr A.K.Pruthi, and the Director of Student Welfare, Dr R.K Yadav. The procession was led by horse riders of the Remount Veterinary Corps unit of NCC. A large number of girl students of the university also participated in it. They carried placards to create awareness among the residents for love for animals. A large number of retired veterinarians also joined the younger professionals in the march. Reputed pharmaceutical companies manufacturing veterinary medicines exhibited their products for pet animal owners and farm animal owners visiting the Veterinary College Hospital, here on the occasion of World Veterinary Day. These included Indovax Pvt Ltd, Pet Mankind, Intas and Mars International India Pvt. Ltd. Mars International India Pvt Ltd distributed pedigree food to pet owners free of cost and Pet Mankind Pharmaceutical distributed dewormers and multivitamins free of cost. The Livestock Products Technology Department displayed milk products and free testing of detection of urea in milk was conducted by the Department of Veterinary Public Health and Epidemiology.
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Ellenabad girl makes it to IRS
Sirsa, April 29 Neeju, who completed her training on April 16, had come to meet her parents before joining her duties as Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax in Mumbai. The Superintendent of Police (SP), Devender Singh Yadav, who was the chief guest at the function organised to felicitate her in a local school, said Neeju had made her parents and local people proud by her feat. After getting her school education from a local private school run by his father KL Gupta, Neeju did her graduation in Economics Honours from Mehar Chand Mahajan DAV College for Women, Chandigarh, and then went straight to Delhi to join her coaching classes for civil services examinations. She opted for economics as her optional subject in her preliminary tests, added public administration as the second option during the mains, and made it to the IRS 2009 batch. Neeju said girls were considered a burden on their parents at one time, but now they have shown that they were not behind boys in any manner. “Hard work, dedication and commitment are all that are needed to clear the civil services or for that matter any other competitive test,” Neeju maintains. One has to keep one’s goal in mind all the time and put in the best of efforts accordingly, she adds. Malkiat Singh Khosa, district president of the Congress, Ravinder Singh, DSP, and several prominent persons of the area were present in the function. |
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3-day male child found in mosque
Our Correspondent
Ambala, April 29 The mother, presumed to be a Muslim, said in her letter that she was not able to bring up her child due to poverty. She said, “I am leaving my son in the mosque in the hope that any Muslim family of the village would adopt him and his future will be secure.” The Mullana police took the child in its possession and reported the matter to the Deputy Commissioner, Ambala, for further action. Newborn girl found in critical state Rohtak, April 29 The condition of the under-weight baby, who has been suffering from acute liver infection since her birth, is stated to be critical, officials said. It is learnt that a woman along with her husband had admitted the baby to the hospital on Thursday. The same night the parents of the baby abandoned her at the respiratory intensive care unit
(RICU). “We had to register an FIR on Friday when the parents did not come back even after several hours. She is undergoing treatment at the
RICU,” said a doctor. Earlier on April 18, a four-day-old baby girl was found abandoned near a dustbin at the Udyog Vihar in
Gurgaon. On April 13, a couple abandoned their one-and-half-year-old girl at the Civil Hospital in
Gurgaon. — PTI |
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Expert favours use of solar energy
Hisar, April 29 Addressing the concluding session of an international seminar on Renewable Energy for Institutes and Communities in Rural and Urban Settings here yesterday, he said the future belonged to biomass and solar energy and it should be first put to use at the institutional level, then taken to the village level and subsequently to the towns. Gadhia is a manufacturer of concentrators and steam cooking systems and parabolic cookers. He engineered and helped create large arrays of Scheffler concentrators for institutions, one of which is at Tirupati, where 30,000 meals are solar cooked daily. Delegates from a dozen countries, including Germany, Ethiopia, South Africa, Canada and Bangladesh, took part in the seminar. |
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State BJP takes up issue with NHRC
Tribune News Service
Jind, April 29 In the letter, RP Malhotra, state convener of the cell, has attached a clipping of The Tribune report titled “Farmers resent shortage of gunny bags, delay in lifting”. He said the “indifferent” and “callous” attitude of the various agencies and officials of the department concerned at both the state and centre levels was deplorable.
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Make boxer Manoj DSP, say residents
Kaithal, April 29 They submitted a memorandum to ADC Dinesh Singh Yadav, which was addressed to Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in which they had demanded that Manoj Kumar, a resident of Rajound village in Kaithal district, who had won a gold medal in boxing in Commonwealth Games — 2010 in Delhi, be appointed as DSP in the Haryana Police, according to government policy. It was also pointed out that Manoj had qualified for the 2012 London Olympics. The memorandum was signed by hundreds of persons. Prominent among those were: Surinder Singh, international kabaddi player, Sukhbir Barsana, judo player, JK boxer and Ashok boxer, national boxing players. |
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Foreigner pushed out of running train
Karnal, April 29 The commuters at the railway station reported the incident to the GRP personnel who took him to the Civil Hospital. The foreigner, who landed on his head on platform No 2, bore serious injuries on his head and face. Ravinder Jeet Singh, an eyewitness, said the foreigner landed on platform head on without anything. His passport, wallet or any other important document was not found. Probably somebody in the train pushed him after robbing him. Investigating officer of the GRP Om Prakash said they could not record the statement as the person was unconscious due to the head injury and was referred to the PGI.
— TNS |
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2 students caught impersonating
Rewari, April 29 On a complaint lodged by Abhey Singh, college principal, the police has registered a case of impersonation and cheating
against them. They were today produced before the Duty Magistrate who remanded them in judicial custody. |
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Kaithal, April 29
Over 1,200 quintals of cotton is reported to have been destroyed in a fire that broke out in a mill situated on the Rania road of Sirsa town today.
A large number of veterinarians and students of the Lal Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences participated in a 5-km walk on the university campus to mark World Veterinary Day yesterday. The day is celebrated throughout the world on the last Saturday of April every year.
Sirsa, April 29
