Official agencies not procuring paddy: BKU
SONEPAT, Oct 3 — The district unit of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) today expressed concern over the non-purchase of paddy by official procurement agencies.

Martyr cremated without honours
SONEPAT, Oct 3 — Sunil (23), an Army jawan, was cremated without military honour's at his native village, Baroda, in the district yesterday.

Woman duped by youths
FATEHABAD, Oct 3 — Two youths duped a woman of about 10 grams of gold in the local Professor Colony yesterday.

2 held for looting HVPN money
ROHTAK, Oct 3 — The Rewari police has busted an inter-state gang allegedly involved in several incidents of looting and murder in Rohtak, Jajjar, Gurgaon and Delhi.

Arrest of Bansi Lal stayed
CHANDIGARH, Oct 3 — The District and Sessions Judge, Bhiwani, Mr Pritam Pal, has stayed the arrest of a former Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, and his son, Mr Surender Singh, till October 5, according to information received here.

Additional police staff sanctioned
PANIPAT, Oct 3 — The Haryana Government has sanctioned 267 additional police personnel in the district which include two inspectors, six sub-inspectors, 16 assistant sub-inspectors 33, head constables and 192 sepoys. A proposal to set up two police stations at Bapoli and at Panipat Oil Refinery has also been sent for government approval.

Student stabbed to death
FARIDABAD, Oct 3 — Hemraj (17), a B A part I student of DAV College, was stabbed to death by a group of students outside the college campus on Friday.

Bansi: case against me politically motivated
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 3 — The HVP president and a former Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, has described a criminal case registered against him and his son, Mr Surender Singh, as "patently baseless, false and politically motivated."

Talking to TNS on the phone from Delhi, Mr Bansi Lal said the aim of the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, behind the registration of the case was to discourage him and to demoralise his political supporters and workers. He said he was not meeting such a situation for the first time. Rather he had faced more serious and false criminal cases in the past registered by Mr Devi Lal and Mr Chautala in 1977 when Mr Devi Lal was the Chief Minister.

Mr Bansi Lal said the first step of Mr Devi Lal was to initiate scores of criminal cases against him, members of his family and his political supporters. Mr Devi Lal transgressed all limits of decency by ordering police officers to handcuff him with the sole purpose of humiliating him and tarnishing his political image. The cases had no merit and they were subsequently found to be false and were cancelled.

The HVP chief said during the 1989 Lok Sabha elections when Mr Devi Lal was the Chief Minister, a very serious false murder case was registered against him, his two sons, Surender and Ranbir, and his other supporters. The case ultimately resulted in acquittal. He alleged that on the same lines Mr Chautala had started getting registered baseless and false cases against him and his supporters with the same aim of tarnishing him image and demoralising his party workers. "But Mr Chautala will not succeed in his mission," he added.

CM urged to declare Haryana drought-hit
From Our Correspondent

SONEPAT, Oct 3 — A former Haryana minister and a veteran Congress leader, Mr Krishan Murti Hooda, today urged the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, to take a serious view of the drought-like conditions prevailing in the region on account of scanty rainfall and erratic power and water supplies and declare the entire state of Haryana as drought-hit immediately.

In a signed press statement issued here, he said the problem of drought had not only caused an extensive damage to the standing crops, but the farmers too had suffered huge financial losses as they depended on canal water for irrigating fields in the absence of rains.

Mr Hooda also appealed to the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, to sent a central team of officials to Haryana for assessing the losses suffered by the farmers due to the drought conditions and providing grants to the affected farmers.

He, however, regretted that the previous Bansi Lal government as well as the present Chautala government, had utterly failed to provide any relief to the affected farmers and this had led to discontentment among them. He also alleged that Mr Chautala had become the 'announcement Chief Minister' as the people were disillusioned with him since none of their demands had been accepted so far.

Mr Hooda also urged the Chief Minsiter to take immediate and effective steps for ensuring a regular supply of power in all sectors and canal water in the agriculture sector. He also pointed out that the people, both in urban and rural areas, had been facing an acute shortage of drinking water and the state government should take a serious note of the problem and remove the grievances of the people.

British gone, not their tradition
From Suman Bhatnagar

AMBALA: It may be ignorance or sheer casual approach of the Railway authorities, but signs of the pre-Independence era still exist at the Ambala Cantonment railway station.

Though it is almost 50 years since the British left India, yet institutions set up during their stay in the country to keep Indians at a distance and keep a distinction between a "gora" and a "kala" continue to remain at the railway station. Now instead of a "gora" and a "kala" distinction, it has assumed the shape of a gap between the rich and the common people.

Before Independence, Ambala Cantonment had been housing the headquarters of Ambala Commissionary. Since the cantonment was the most strategic military base of the British army, a large number of British officers and connected officials used to reside here. As road transport had not developed much at that time, they used to travel by train. Otherwise too, they refrained from travelling by road.

The British officers used to travel by upper class (first class these days) and at the main entrance of Ambala Cantonment station there used to be a separate booking window for them. Indians were not allowed to travel by upper class, barring a few elite. They used to travel by lower class (now second class). They would have to collect their tickets from a booking window almost 200 metre away from the main entrance at a corner of the station. The passengers had to walk quite a distance to board a train.

Today, too, the Railway authorities maintain the same gap between passengers who prefer to travel by first or AC classes and those who travel by second class. Still second class passengers have to walk 200 m from the main entrance to collect tickets. They feel like second class citizens.

Local residents have been demanding that booking windows for both first and second classes be made available at the main entrance.

Mr Nem Chand Jain, a senior citizen, recalling the pre-Independence days, said at that time no Indian was allowed to enter the platform through the main entrance. It was the exclusive entry gate for the British.

Mr Vishwa Prakash Walia, who had been an eminent football player of the town, said it was a matter of shame that even after 50 years of Independence, we were maintaining the British tradition.

Brij Goel, a cloth merchant, urged that without any delay the Railway authorities should amend the error. A young advocate, Ajay Jain, said it was a violation of human rights and a fit case for a public interest litigation.

Panchayats discuss budget proposals

PANIPAT, Oct 3 (PTI) — The budget meetings of all 169 gram panchayats were held in their respective villages yesterday.

The income and expenditure statements of the past six months and the budget proposals for 2000-2001 were presented before the villagers and panches.

To ensure smooth and proper conduct of the meetings, the district administration had appointed one observer for two village panchayats each.

The Director of Panchayats, Mr S.K. Monga, and the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Anurag Rastogi, participated in the meeting at Ajijullapur village.

Addressing the villagers, Mr Monga said the main purpose of implementing the new panchayati raj Act was to make the gram panchayats answerable to the villagers and to work according to the expectations of the villagers.

The decision to hold half-yearly meetings was also taken keeping in view that the panches could submit their demands and suggestions at the meeting.

At the meetings, the action report of the gram panchayat meeting held on April 13, 1999, was read out and approved by the panches and villagers.

It was followed by the presentation of income and expenditure statements for the past six months.

New budgetary proposals for 2000-2001 were prepared for being presented to the higher authorities for and development grants.

Official agencies not procuring paddy: BKU
From Our Correspondent

SONEPAT, Oct 3 — The district unit of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) today expressed concern over the non-purchase of paddy by official procurement agencies.

The BKU unit alleged that paddy growers were being exploited by the owners of rice shellers and traders. They were forcing the growers to sell their produce at throwaway prices. The state government, it said, had been suffering a huge loss of revenue as many private traders and certain owners of rice shellers were evading sales tax as well as market fee by purchasing paddy direct from the growers. Officials of various agencies were also not showing paddy arrivals in the records.

It demanded a high-level inquiry into the racket and action against the officials concerned.

The union said most of the paddy growers had started taking their produce to the nearby markets of Delhi where they were getting remunerative prices.

Earlier, leaders of the BKU called on the Deputy Commissioner and submitted a memorandum to him listing their demands.

Martyr cremated without honours
From Our Correspondent

SONEPAT, Oct 3 — Sunil (23), an Army jawan, was cremated without military honour's at his native village, Baroda, in the district yesterday.

According to a report reaching here, none of the officers from the district administration and the Army was present on the occasion. This has caused widespread resentment among inhabitants of the village.

Sunil had sustained multiple injuries while fighting Pakistan-backed intruders in Kargil sector of Jammu and Kashmir on September 18 last. He was admitted to the Army Hospital in New Delhi where he succumbed to his injuries around 5.35 p.m. on Friday. His body was taken to the village where it was received by his parents and other inhabitants of the village.

Martyr Sunil was serving as a Sepoy in the 17th Regiment of the Army and his number was 15661246. He leaves behind a son, a daughter and three sisters. His wife had died about three years ago.

The inhabitants of the village have urged the Chief Minister, Mr Om Parkash Chautala and the Chief of the Army Staff to grant compensation for the bereaved family and take a serious note of the indifferent attitude adopted towards the martyr.

Woman duped by youths
From Our Correspondent

FATEHABAD, Oct 3 — Two youths duped a woman of about 10 grams of gold in the local Professor Colony yesterday.

According to reports, the youth went to the colony posing as pedlar and told the woman, Mrs Kamla Devi, that they could polish the necklace worm by her. The unsuspecting woman agreed and gave her necklace to the youths, who put it into a chemical and returned it after some time, advising her to keep it in the refrigerator for some time for better result.

When the woman came out after keeping her necklace in the refregerator, she found the boys missing. She got suspicious and got the necklace weighed. Its weight was found to have been reduced by 10 grams. The police has been informed.

2 held for looting HVPN money
From Our Correspondent

ROHTAK, Oct 3 — The Rewari police has busted an inter-state gang allegedly involved in several incidents of looting and murder in Rohtak, Jajjar, Gurgaon and Delhi.

Announcing this today, Mr A.S. Chawla, SP, Rewari, said two persons had been rounded up in this connection. They had been identified as Manoj, alias Vikram Singh, of Deeghal village in Bahadurgarh subdivision and Ran Singh, of Asan village in Rohtak. An amount of Rs 3 lakh, one 9mm postal and one country-made pistol with live cartridges had been seized from their possession.

Jeep-borne youths had intercepted a matador of the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam and robbed the treasurer of Rs 4,71,682 at gunpoint in Rewari on October 1 last. The police had registered a case under Sections 394 and 397 of the IPC and Sections 25, 54, and 59 of the Arms Act.

The accused were arrested from NH-8 in Rewari. However, some of their accomplices escaped. During interrogation, the accused confessed that they had stolen a Jeep (HR-26 D-7121) belonging to the Secretary, Zila Sainik Board, Gurgaon, which was used in the crime. They also confessed to their involvement in other cases of looting and murder.

Arrest of Bansi Lal stayed
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 3 — The District and Sessions Judge, Bhiwani, Mr Pritam Pal, has stayed the arrest of a former Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, and his son, Mr Surender Singh, till October 5, according to information received here.

A bail application was moved before Mr Pritam Pal today, on behalf of Mr Bansi Lal and Mr Surender Singh at his residence.

The judge issued notice to the police for October 5 when the application for bail will come up for hearing.

Mr Pritam Pal said in his order that in view of the averments made in the bail application, he was of the view that it was the fittest case to stay the arrest of the accused-applicants till October 5.

Additional police staff sanctioned
From Our Correspondent

PANIPAT, Oct 3 — The Haryana Government has sanctioned 267 additional police personnel in the district which include two inspectors, six sub-inspectors, 16 assistant sub-inspectors 33, head constables and 192 sepoys. A proposal to set up two police stations at Bapoli and at Panipat Oil Refinery has also been sent for government approval.

According to sources, after formation of Panipat District, Bapoli was accorded a status of sub-tehsil. A police station was sanctioned for Bapoli but the notification could not be issued in this regard.

About two acres of land of the Market Committee has been made available to the police for the construction of the building of the police station.

Student stabbed to death
Tribune News Service

FARIDABAD, Oct 3 — Hemraj (17), a B A part I student of DAV College, was stabbed to death by a group of students outside the college campus on Friday.

According to reports, as soon as Hemraj came out of the college he was accosted by six students who first beat him up with fists and later stabbed him. He was rushed to hospital where he was declared dead.

On a complaint of Rajesh, brother of Hemraj, the police has registered a case, but made no arrest as yet.