Chandigarh, March 7
Former Union minister and sitting Ambala legislator Venod Sharma has maintained a stoic silence about his future course of action after the BJP scuttled his plans to join the HJC. The BJP has forced HJC president Kuldeep Bishnoi to abandon the move to induct Sharma in the HJC and give him the party ticket from Karnal.

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today made a brief statement that he was not aware of Sharma's whereabouts and did not know what was on his mind. Hooda suggested that he was taken by surprise by Sharma's resignation. There had been indications that the two were falling apart after the Ambala legislator did not receive much support from Hooda on the issue of contesting from Karnal on Congress ticket.

Sources said Sharma was in touch with BSP supremo Mayawati and was considering joining the BSP. The BSP has strong presence in Karnal. BSP candidate Varinder Maratha was the runner-up in the last elections, won by Congress nominee Arvind Sharma. Maratha had since joined the BJP and the BSP was looking for a suitable candidate there.

State BSP president Naresh Saran said Sharma had not got in touch with him so far and he was not aware of any move on Sharma's part to join the BSP. State BSP in charge Rajbir said if Sharma approached him or the party, they would think about his induction into the party.

The BSP had secured the second largest vote share in the state in the last elections, with the Congress polling 15.73 per cent. If Sharma joins the BSP, it tends to gain as it will get a leader of some stature in the state. It will fit into the social engineering model of the BSP.

There is no word yet on the fate of Sharma's resignation. Efforts are on by Sharma, who is believed to be in Delhi, to persuade the BJP not to adopt a hard stand on his inclusion in the HJC. BJP leaders from Haryana have expressed opposition to Sharma and the party is unlikely to relent.

If he is unable to join either the HJC or the BSP, he will have to lie low and continue as Congress MLA without pressing for his resignation. There is speculation that he will launch his regional party or contest as an independent candidate.

Ambala, march 7
The political uncertainty that Venod Sharma has landed himself in was triggered by Selja's nomination to the Rajya Sabha. Sharma had been lobbying to go to the Upper House.

The theme park being prepared for the 'jan chetna mahayagya' in Kurukshetra. A Tribune photograph

Party sources said he decided to end his four-decade-old association with the party as his claims were ignored by the high command.

He was made the Union Minister of State for Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution in the Narasimha Rao government in 1995.

Sharma was later made the Power Minister in Haryana. He had to resign in 2006 after revelations of his attempts to influence witnesses in the Jessica Lal murder case, in which his son Manu Sharma was eventually convicted.

Following Selja's nomination to the Rajya Sabha, Sharma had launched a verbal attack on her during his 'jan chetna yatra'. He went all out claiming that she had failed on the development front.

He kept asserting that the electorate should be more careful while choosing representatives. After a snub from the Central leadership, he decided not to issue such statements anymore.

The sources said Sharma was subtly trying to mobilise non-Jat factions within the Congress of late, which had created friction between him and Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Following this, Sharma resigned from the election committee. He started feeling marginalised, which could have prompted his resignation from the Congress, the sources said.

Others were of the view that Sharma, sensing a change of government at the Centre and in the state, wanted to protect his business interests by changing political loyalties.

Those in the know of things revealed that his business association with a number of Congress leaders went beyond politics and it would be wrong to consider that it was one of the reasons for his quitting the party.

In talks with BSP

Kurukshetra: All eyes will be on Kurukshetra on March 9 when former Union minister Venod Sharma concludes his 'jan chetna yatra' here. He is the Ambala legislator and a confidant of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Sharma left the Congress on March 5 and was expected to join the Haryana Janhit Congress on March 6, but senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj expressed displeasure over his joining to HJC supremo Kuldeep Bishnoi.

The BJP and the HJC have been in a pre-poll alliance for the elections. After opposition by the BJP, Sharma is in talks with the BSP.

He had highlighted achievements of the Hooda government and sought people’s views to improve governance during the 'yatra'. There was no photograph on hoardings of any Congress leader except Sharma.

Hisar, March 7
District Congress committee chief and former Union minister Jai Prakash has said he will abide by the decision of the party regarding the fielding of a candidate from the Hisar Lok Sabha constituency.

Addressing a press conference here today, Prakash, who had lost the previous election from the Hisar LS set, said irrespective of any kind of differences with leaders in the party, the DCC would unanimously work for the official nominee. He had opted himself out of the contest.

When asked about the desertion of Venod Sharma from the Congress, Prakash said it was unfortunate that leaders who had remained in power were now leaving the party. “It exposes the fact that these are opportunistic leaders who have nothing to do with the welfare of the people,” he added.

Chandigarh, March 7
State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Shrikant Walgad has said the law will not allow inclusion of names in the electoral roll after 3 pm on the last date of filling the nominations, which is March 22, till the electoral process is complete in the state.

He said the electors photo identity card was only an identity document and did not confer the right to vote on any person whose name was not in the electoral rolls.

He said people were advised to check that their names were in the electoral rolls on the website of Chief Electoral Officer, Haryana, www.ceoharyana.nic.in <http://www.ceoharyana.nic.in>.

A facility to check the names in the electoral rolls through an SMS has also been provided by typing SMS VOTEHRY <space>voter card number and sending it to 9215156503, said Walgad.

He said as per the direction of the Election Commission of India, a special camp would be organised at all polling stations in the state on March 9 between 9 am and 5 pm for this purpose.

If the name of any person eligible for enrolment is left out for some reason or has been wrongly deleted, he could immediately fill application Form-6 for the inclusion of name in the electoral roll and hand it over to the booth-level officer.

Hisar, March 7
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leadership has ruled out change in Lok Sabha candidates even though local units in Hisar, Kurukshetra, Sonepat, Rohtak and Gurgaon have been opposing them. State AAP convener Ashwant Gupta said the party had received complaints against some party candidates, but nothing substantial had came out in the inquiry conducted into the complaints.

"The party is open to changing nominees if evidence of any wrongdoing against them comes to light at any stage, but there has been no such need at this point," he stated.

The candidates who are facing protests are Yudhbir Singh Khyalia from Hisar, Balwinder Kaur from Kurukshetra, Naveen Jaihind from Rohtak, Jai Singh Thekedar from Sonepat and Yogendra Yadav from Gurgaon.

The AAP leader maintained that some persons had sent a complaint against certain decisions taken by Khyalia, a bureaucrat-turned-politician.

"The allegations against him are like opinion by complainants on administrative and quasi-judicial decisions. We have sought clarifications from him on the issues and there is no evidence of wrongdoing against him," he said.

AAP activists in Hisar had served an ultimatum on the party to replace the nominee by Saturday, after which they would launch a campaign against Khyalia if the party ignored their objections. Gupta stated that Kurukshetra nominee Balwinder had been an active leader of the BKU and had led agitations after her husband Gurnam Singh was arrested and jailed.

"How can anybody allege nepotism by her when she had been actively involved in agitations along with her husband," Gupta asked. Referring to allegations that the party had decided in advance to field Jaihind from Rohtak and Yadav from Gurgaon, Gupta said they had applied like other aspirants and gone through the party procedure in the selection of candidates.

Madhuban (Karnal), March 7
The police have chalked out a plan for elections and marked hyper-sensitive and sensitive booths in the state, said SN Vashisht, Director-General of Police (DGP) here today.

He said extra force would be deployed there to maintain law and order. He added that a special campaign would be launched to arrest proclaimed offenders so that the elections could be conducted peacefully.

Professional skills should be enhanced to curb criminal and terrorist activity, he said. He added that criminals were operating on a global scale.

Inaugurating the 57th All-India Police Duty Meet here, he said criminals had become a challenge and posed a grave threat to society. He appealed to police officials to be updated with the latest technology.

As many as 1,000 police officials representing various states, union territories and Central organisations were participating in the meet. The DGP took the salute at the march-past of participating teams.

He said the seven-day meet provided healthy competition and impetus to the body, mind and soul. He said the meet enhanced skills and buttressed the national effort against crime.

"Such meets are being organised annually since 1953 for sharing experience and develop profession skills among police officials of various states, union territories and Central organisations," he said.

Chandigarh, March 4
The Lok Sabha candidates would have to open separate bank accounts for elections and all transactions of election expenditure would have to be carried out through cheques using these accounts.

At a meeting with representatives of various political parties here today, Shrikant Walgad, Chief Electoral Officer, Haryana, said cash limit

in dealing with any person, firm or organization was up to Rs 20,000 for the candidates. Apart from this, the candidate would have to maintain a shadow register for each and every transaction.The Election Commission would also maintain such registers which would be matched with candidate’s register from time to time. Any irregularity found while matching the registers or bank account statements could lead to the disqualification of a candidature.

A candidate could carry cash up to Rs 50,000 and election material valuing up to Rs 10,000. The cash or material exceeding these limits would be confiscated. Apart from the candidate, if any other person carried cash or expensive goods related to his business or trade, he should have the necessary documents to avoid their confiscation by the commission.

Media certification and monitoring committees had been constituted at the district and state levels to curb paid news. If any news is published or telecast in favour of a candidate, then expenditure of the same would be added in total expenditure limit of the candidate. The candidates would have to take permission from the District Election Officer before getting any advertisement published . He said that the name of publisher should be mentioned on material being used for publicity.

Walgad said if any prominent personality campaigns as star campaigner for any candidate, then the amount paid to him or her would also be included in the election expenditure of the candidate. If the star campaigner campaigned for a political party instead of the candidate, then the amount paid to him or her would be included in the election expenditure of the party.

The election expenditure of a candidate would be counted from March 15. Money spent on any election material or campaign before this date would also be included in the election expenditure of the candidate. On the day of election, camps of contesting candidates could be set up 100 meters away from polling stations in support of candidates. However, no advertisement related to candidates could be displayed in these camps. Any candidate or his supporter found guilty of violation of the model code of conduct would face action as per law.

Chandigarh, March 7
In a significant judgment, the Punjab and Haryana has upheld Rule 75 of the Haryana Municipal Corporation Election Rules, 1994, which prohibits the calling of a meeting for entertaining a no-confidence motion during the first year of a Mayor’s term.

The judgment is significant as the High Court has made it clear that an elected Mayor cannot be removed in Haryana by bringing in no confidence motion during the first year after the election.

The ruling by Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Arun Palli came on a petition filed by Panipat Municipal Corporation member Dushyant Kumar. No less than 24 elected members had elected the Mayor on July 3, 2013, but some elected members wanted to remove him just after six months. They moved a no-confidence motion with a request to the Commissioner to call a meeting for the purpose.

The meeting was, however, not called in view of Rule 75. Aggrieved, the petitioner then filed the present writ petition. The Bench asserted that two-thirds elected members were required to move a resolution for the removal of a Mayor from office.

Referring to Rule 75, the Bench observed that two restrictions had been provided for. The first was against entertaining a no-confidence motion for a year after the election. The second was “once such a motion is considered, the second motion will not be considered for six months thereafter”.

Dismissing the petition, the Bench asserted: “The legislature in its wisdom has considered a dual safeguard. The first part of the safeguard is neither in conflict with any other part of the rules nor violative of the provisions of the Act nor any part of the Constitution of India. This can, thus, hardly be declared ultra vires….

“The rule has withstood the test of time since it was brought in by an amendment in 2009 . It is only because the petitioner and such other members now find the rule as an obstruction that they seek to challenge the same as part of their last ditch effort”.

The judgement

* The High Court has made it clear that an elected Mayor cannot be removed in Haryana by bringing in no confidence motion during the first year after the election.

* Bench observed that two restrictions had been provided for. The first was against entertaining a no-confidence motion for a year after the election.

* The second was "once such a motion is considered, the second motion will not be considered for six months thereafter".

Sirsa, March 7
Students of the law department at Chaudhary Devi Lal University today boycotted their classes in protest against the refusal by the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana to enrol them as advocates due to lack of approval from the Bar Council of India (BCI). They also staged a dharna in front of their teaching block.

The students submitted a memorandum to Vice Chancellor Radhe Sham Sharma in this connection.

“We are worried about our future as the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana has refused to enrol students who passed their three-year LLB degree course from the university this year. Even those who are pursuing the five-year BALLB course fear the same,” alleged students.

The students said they would not attend their classes till the university ensured their enrolment with the council, so that they could practise law in courts or apply for posts in the government and private sectors.

The striking students alleged the university continued admissions to its three-year LLB course despite specific directions from the BCI in 2009 to stop further admission. An inspection team of the council had detected several deficiencies and had asked the law department to reply to its show-cause notice after complying with the conditions.

The Vice Chancellor, however, said the university was taking steps in this direction on a war footing.

“We have already advertised posts of faculty members in the law as well as some other departments. Similarly, a separate teaching block was being provided to the law department as per the BCI guidelines,” the Vice Chancellor added. 

Kosli (Rewari), March 7
After a 48-hour protest, residents of Kosli town today cremated the body of Mahavir (60) following the assurance made by Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) Rao Daan Singh.

The protesters had been staging a dharna by placing Mahavir’s body in the middle of the main road outside bus stand for the past 24 hours.

"CPS Daan Singh has assured us of fulfilling all our demands which include martyr's status for Mahavir, a government job to his kin and naming the Railway Overbridge (RoB) after the deceased. He also promised us to provide adequate monetary aid from the government," said Vijay Azad, vice-president of the Kosli Naam Bachao Sangharsh Samiti.

He added that the villagers then decided to clear the road and cremate the body.

A row over naming the development projects here has been going on between Kosli and Bhakli village since a long time. The row turned violent on Wednesday when a group of people from Bhakli village attacked Kosli residents who were taking out a protest march against the inscribing of name of Bhakli on the inauguration stones of the RoB and Farmer Rest House. Mahavir was killed and 14 others suffered multiple injuries in the attack.

"The authorities have also decided to remove the name of Bhakli from the inauguration stone of Farmer Rest House," Azad maintained.

Bahadurgarh (Jhajjar), March 7
Lack of equipment, no specialist doctor and acute shortage of other supportive staff to treat critical patients is the state of affairs of the local trauma centre, which has practically become a mere ‘referral centre’.

Significantly, the trauma centre is being run without any emergency facility for last three years.

The trauma centre became functional in 2011, but owing to the apathetic attitude of the government, it failed to provide basic facilities to the ailing patients.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and CT Scan like modern facilities are still a distant dream here as the centre does not even have an ultrasound machine.

As per the information, the general hospital puts its own medical, paramedical and other staff at the trauma centre. Doctors and other staff are put on duty on a rotation basis. “We have informed the headquarter about the problem of staff shortage and lack of other basic facilities here several times, but to no avail. The headquarter is also struggling to get the services of specialist doctors, who are not interested in joining the government sector,” said Dr Kashmir Singh Dalal, SMO, trauma centre.

The centre was established three years ago on National Highway No. 10, one of the busiest roads in the state, particularly to treat accident victims. The locals were then expecting that the centre would pave way for super-speciality medical services in the town, but it failed to live up to the expectations of the people due to acute shortage of doctors and lack of basic facilities.

Hospital sources said they somehow admit and treat patients with the help of the available specialists, but serious patients had to be referred elsewhere.

Rohtak, March 7
The Haryana Government spent a whopping Rs 2 crore for ‘honouring’ the candidates selected in the All-India Civil Services during the current financial year.

The candidates selected for the IAS/IFS/IPS were given cash rewards of Rs 1.5 lakh each while those selected in the group A and B services got Rs 75,000 per head.

As per an RTI reply furnished by the state authorities, nearly 190 candidates of Haryana who had been selected in the All-India Civil Services during the past four years (2009-2013) were awarded at the function held at Haryana Raj Bhawan in Chandigarh in August last year.

Governor Jagannath Pahadia, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal and Principal Secretary (Higher Education) SS Prasad presented the awards.

The expenses mounting to nearly Rs 2 crore were met by breaking the fixed deposit (FDR) of the Radha Krishnan Fund, which is raised with the contribution of college students and is meant for promoting academic activities.

Documents attached with the RTI reply indicate that many newly selected Civil Services officers scrambled for the honour and made all-out efforts to prove their association with Haryana.

The Directorate of Higher Education was flooded with applications and the authorities concerned tried to accommodate as many applicants as possible. This, despite the fact that the domicile certificates submitted by a number of candidates or their parents had been issued several years (even decades) ago.

In a bid to save their skin, the officials concerned took undertakings from the candidates and/or their parents stating that they would refund the prize money along with interest at the prevailing rates of nationalised banks in case their claims were not found authentic.

A perusal of the documents reveals that many candidates honoured at the ceremony had not got their education from Haryana.

Are only civil servants talented?

Subhash, convener of the Haryana Soochna Adhikar Manch, has questioned the propriety of the move. “Does talent only mean clearing the civil services examination ? For reasons known to the authorities concerned, the state government has not acknowledged the talent of the candidates who have cleared the state Civil Services exam, other competitive tests or got admitted to professional courses at reputed institutions, he maintained.

Kaithal, March 7
Safai karamcharis of the Kalayat municipal committee, who had been deprived of their temporary contact job by their contractor, carried on a cleanliness drive in Sita Nagar of ward no 1 of Kalayat town today.

Puneet Choudhry, convener, Safai Abhiyan Samiti, led the drive. They were joined by local social workers, including Radhey Sham Parajapati, Sanjay Singla, Radhey Sham Bhatt, Bir Bhan Nirmal. They swept roads and cleaned choked drains.

After working for hours, they staged a dharna on the gates of municipal committee and demanded reemployment. They had submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner in support of their demand yesterday.

Choudhry said keeping in view the deterioration in sanitary conditions in different parts of the town, they resolved to start the drive. He said despite any assurance about their job, the relieved employees were carrying out the drive.

Meanwhile, the committee administration had employed other staff through the contractor, ignoring the claim of the relieved employees.

Karnal, January 27
The ancient Karan Taal by the name of Raja Karna, the philanthropic character in the Mahabharata, situated in the heart of city, is waiting for development for many years.

Despite Rs 40 lakh having been spent by the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) on the taal, no actual development is visible at the site. The taal is a shambles. The plaque was removed from the structure where the foundation stone was installed.

Once it was considered a landmark of the city with musical fountains and ponds. But after years of neglect, the situation of the park has deteriorated.

AR Kidwai, former Haryana Governor-cum-Chairman of the Kurukshetra Development Board (KDB), had sanctioned Rs 41 lakh for its maintenance.

"The Municipal Corporation (MC) had sent a resolution to the Union Tourism Ministry to know whether they would work on it or not, but the response are being waited," said Vikas Yadav, Deputy Commissioner, Karnal.

"We raised the issue of Karan Taal at our house meeting and passed a resolution for the revival of the park on priority. The delay in work put to waste Rs 40 lakh which was spent by HUDA," said Renu Gupta, Mayor, Karnal.

"HUDA had conducted work of Rs 40 lakh on the taal by making jogging path, sand pit for children, plantation, renovation of gate, steps, swings, rain shelter etc. Due to lack of budget, the tile work was not completed," said YM Mehra, XEN, HUDA.

Jind, March 7
After pensioners, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has a written letter to all nambardars of the state to solve their problems. The Revenue Department has directed its patwaris (revenue officials) to distribute the letter among the nambardars of their respective areas.

Many nambardars have termed it as a political stunt for votes, while other said better late than never. With the honorarium amount, officials have been handing over a postcard signed by the Chief Minister to the nambardars. In the postcard, the CM has claimed that his government was paying the highest amount of Rs 1,500 to them in the country.

“Writing a letter is not enough, the CM must act to contain corruption in the revenue and other departments,” said a nambardar sitting in the office of the local naib tehsildar. —TNS

Jind, March 7
The detection in a single test of 1,700 viruses damaging various crops and plants will soon be a reality. The Advanced Centre for Plant Virology in New Delhi has devised a new chip which will detect multiple viruses in a single test. This was disclosed by Dr C Chattopadhya, Director of the National Centre for Integrated Pest Management in New Delhi.

“The single chip with a single test will detect 1,700 viruses damaging crops and plants globally. We got information about this new chip last week from the authorities of the Advanced Centre for Plant Virology in New Delhi. It will prove to be a great help to all,” he said here after a seminar. He disclosed that no other chip could detect such a huge number of viruses in a single test at present.

Talking about the increasing threat of pests across the country, he said the problem of pests had been increasing, but latest research was helping contain this problem. Talking about the damage caused by pests, he said between 18 per cent and 19 per cent of total damage to crops had been caused by various pests as farmers did not know the exact treatment for these pests.

“There is a need to spread awareness not only about pests, but about exact treatment as well. Many farmers use pesticides without any need thereof while others do not use those when actually required,” he said. He confirmed that the use of pesticides had been causing deadly diseases in Punjab and Haryana while other states had not seen such a high number of cancer cases despite using pesticides.

“All states have been using pesticides, but Punjab has witnessed the maximum number of cancer cases because Punjab farmers have been using a large quantity of pesticides in small areas without taking the guidance of experts. Pesticide use is increasing in other states like Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal, but they are not facing such a large number of cancer cases,” he said.

Jind, March 7
If all goes as per plan, the anti-pesticide, also known as the insect literacy movement, launched by illiterate farmers of five villages of the district will spread in the entire state. Impressed with the technique of these farmers, Haryana Kisan Ayog (HKA) has decided to enrol these farmers as “star campaigners”.

“They have done a really good work. But it needs the approval of the government and we need to implement it in other districts also. We have decided to use these farmers as our star campaigners to control the use of pesticides,” said Dr RS Paroda, chairman, HKA, after a seminar jointly organised by the Agriculture Department and the HKA.

“Many farmers from 14 villages have not used pesticides on over 2,500 acres for long time. They got 10 per cent more crop and 25 per cent profit than those farmers who used pesticides,” said Shaveta from Nidani village.

“The Haryana Government has formed a society and sanctioned Rs 2 crore under the agriculture innovation fund to promote innovative farmers. We would get more funds if the need arises,” said Paroda.

Women in over five villages of the district, including Nidana, Nidani, Joura, Lalit Khera and Radana, with the help of male members of their families, are not only preventing the use of pesticides, but are also running ‘pathshalas’ in their adjoining villages to train other women on identifying insects.

Faridabad, March 7
The Municipal Corporation may have spent several hundred crores on the construction of ready mix concrete (RMC) roads, but it has failed to ensure a proper drainage system to tackle the problem of flooding during rain.

This turns the roads into cesspool of water even after a minor downpour in a majority of residential areas. The recent rains exposed the tall claims of the department concerned in this regard.

“Water stagnates in the lanes and bylanes of our sector even after these have been cemented by the authorities,” claims Ravi Kumar, a resident of the Housing Board Colony, Sector 10. “The recent downpour flooded the lanes in our sector and caused a lot of inconvenience. They lack storm drains that are a must for any road,” he said.

Akshay, a resident of Sector 7C, said the problem of waterlogging had been a major problem despite using latest technology in their construction.

Officials of the Municipal Corporation and Haryana Urban Development Authority claimed that storm water drains were constructed on many main roads in the city. They, however, admitted that some of the internal roads lacked such facilities. The civic body spends over Rs 50 crore each year on the RMC roads, it is revealed.

Kurukshetra, March 7
After the havoc in Uttarakhand, the 'purohits' (keepers of family trees) in Kurukshetra and Pehowa are concerned about the safety of records of their 'yajmans'.

“Age-old records have been destroyed in the Uttarakhand tragedy and we do not want the same thing to happen with these records. We have been maintaining the records for 450 years and it is our duty to keep the records safe for the future generation,” said Pandit Satish Kumar.

They started the initiative by pasting old records on new sheets. The 'purohit' said, “Earlier records were maintained on 'bhojpatras', but our forefathers failed to preserve records due to lack of technology and awareness.”

He said, “We have started the initiative, but these records may not last long like 'bhojpatras'. We plan to save the records on computers. This matter needs to be addressed on a larger scale and it is not possible with the limited resources that we have. The government should come forward.”

Pandit Pawan Kumar said, “We have the records of about 650 years, including some on 'bhojpatras'. A couple of rooms are being constructed at the Purohit Sadan and the records will be shifted there.”

There was a tradition in 'purohit' families that one child continued the practice, but a large number of families had left the practice as there was no social and financial security. There were about 250 families in Kurukshetra earlier, but 70 now, he said. There were around 100 such families in Pehowa.

Pawan said 'teerth purohits' from across the country met in December last. “We urged the government to set up a 'vanshavali academy' for 'teerth purohits' to preserve Indian culture and educate the youth about our ideology and practices. The government has done nothing in this regard so far,” he said.

Pawan said Indira Gandhi, Maharaja Ranjit Singh and kings of Nepal, Jammu, Jaipur, Himachal principalities and Basoli had came here to perform rituals for their members of their families.

Ambala, March 7
A student of class IV of a local school fell in a well while playing today. Officials of the district administration and fire brigade rushed to the site but the boy could not be saved even after efforts of three hours. Army divers were summoned later.

Shivam, a student of SA Jain Model School, Ambala City, was waiting for his bus along with his brother after school. They went to a well where Shivam slipped and fell. His brother and other students raised an alarm and the police and fire brigade was informed. But the fire brigade was unsuccessful as it did not have sufficient equipment for such an operation.

The relatives of the child were agitated and they blocked the Ambala-Rajpura National Highway. However, the ADC and SDM rushed to the spot and assured protesters that every effort would be made to rescue Shivam. The blockade was then lifted.

Later, Army divers succeeded in taking out Shivam’s dead body at around 5:30, after about five-and-half-hours of the incident.