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H A R Y A N A |  |
 Tuesday, August 11, 1998 |
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Yadav changes course NARNAUL, Aug 10 — In a significant development, a sammelan, organised by Mr Raghu Yadav of the Bahujan Samaj Party here today, adopted a resolution urging for equitable distribution of canal-based waters for South Haryana, failing which the ongoing campaign for the same would be intensified. Killer truck, driver
untraced Plan
to ban opening of |
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 Inadequate rain hits crops ROHTAK, Aug 10 — The failure of monsoon, acute shortage of power and inadequate supply of canal water has resulted in damage to the standing crops of paddy, cotton, bajra, and sugarcane in Bhiwani and Rohtak districts of southern Haryana.
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Nurses may get charge
sheets Implement
Eradi report: Hooda HC
commutes death sentence |
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Yadav changes course NARNAUL, Aug 10 — In a significant development, a sammelan, organised by Mr Raghu Yadav of the Bahujan Samaj Party here today, adopted a resolution urging for equitable distribution of canal-based waters for South Haryana, failing which the ongoing campaign for the same would be intensified. It made no mention of the SYL canal project. The significance of the development lies in the fact that since the creation of Haryana in 1966, political and social organisations of various hues have been clamouring for early completion of the SYL project to bring the waters of the Ravi-Beas to the fields of Haryana. The state unit of the Shiv Sena, the Editor of Punjab Kesri, Mr Ashwani Kumar Chopra, and the BSP ratified the move, giving up claim on the SYL project. Mr Raghu Yadav, who had launched a similar agitation in South Haryana a few years ago for a just share of canal waters to the area, charged that all Chief Ministers of Haryana had raised the issue only to mislead the public. He said the government should first distribute the available canal waters in an equitable manner. The sammelan was organised as the fifth death anniversary of Surender Yadav and Raj Sharma who were allegedly killed when the police opened fire at a rally on August 10, 1993. The rally was to press for equitable distribution of canal waters, and was addressed by Mr Yadav. Mr Yadav alleged that the waters of the Ravi and the Beas meant for South Haryana and Rajasthan had been furtively diverted to areas of Hisar, Sirsa, Kaithal, Jind and Fatehabad districts. Consequently, the problem of waterlogging in those areas was perennial. On the other side, the fields of South Haryana remain parched. Speaking in the same vein, the president of the Haryana unit of the BSP and party MP from Ambala, Mr Aman Nagra, held Chief Minister Bansi Lal and his predecessors responsible for the plight of people of South Haryana. Both BSP leaders urged upon the people to discard the three Lals — Mr Bansi Lal, Mr Bhajan Lal and Mr Devi Lal. Mr Yadav alleged that Mr Devi Lal and his clan had always indulged in caste politics. He said Mr Devi Lal was successful in the electoral battles only when leaders of other castes supported him. He made a special reference to himself and Dr Kripa Ram Puniya — now with the Congress — and their support to Mr Devi Lal’s "Nyaya Yudh" which resulted in a landslide victory for his party in the assembly elections in 1986. Mr Ashwani Chopra said he agreed with Mr Yadav and expressed his support to the cause for the people of South Haryana. Without naming anybody, Mr Chopra lamented that the people, even though misled by the leaders of the state, had voted them to power. He made a fervent plea to the people of all castes to unite for social causes and on issues in the interest of the state to make the agitation more purposeful. Dr Arvind Sharma urged upon all sections of the people to rise over considerations of caste and creed The president of the Haryana Gana Parishad and Mr Jai Prakash, was absent. The organisers had claimed that Mr Jai Prakash would be one of the speakers. The gathering paid homage to Raj Sharma and Surender Yadav who were killed in the 1993 police firing. Among others present on
the occasion were BSP in charge of South Haryana, Mr
Rajinder Singh Yadav, general secretary of the youth wing
of the state unit of the BSP Mahesh Yadav and Mr Ashwani
Yadav, a leader of the BSP in the Ateli assembly
constituency. |
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Inadequate rain hits crops ROHTAK, Aug 10 — The failure of monsoon, acute shortage of power and inadequate supply of canal water has resulted in damage to the standing crops of paddy, cotton, bajra, and sugarcane in Bhiwani and Rohtak districts of southern Haryana. The worst affected is drought-prone district of Bhiwani where the damage to the crops ranges between 50 to 70 per cent. The farmers in the area depend largely on rain as the terrain is mostly uneven with sandy soil. Though during the first tenure of Mr Bansi Lal as Chief Minister sprinkler irrigation was introduced in a big way in this district, insufficient water in the Loharu canal and shortage of power has turned these sprinkler sets idle. The availability of power in the Badhra, Loharu and Charkhi-Dadri region of the district has become very rare and whenever it is supplied the voltage is very low. Thus the farmers are unable to use their tubewells sprinklers. Mr Anil Kumar, a farmer of Bamla, said the use of diesel engines for irrigating paddy was a costly affair. The water in the Loharu canal is released for eight days after every 20 days in rotation. But the priority of the Irrigation Department is to fill village ponds and tanks for drinking water supply. The Supply to the agriculture sector appeared to have been given a low priority. The cotton has been sown
in approximately 50000 hectares in Bhiwani district and
nearly 50 per cent of the crop has been damaged due to
the failure of monsoon. The bajra crop, the main kharif
crop of the district, was sown over 1.80 lakh hectares
and approximately 70 per cent crop has withered away
under the dry spell. Similar is the fate of jawar crop
sown over 15000 hectares. |
Killer truck, driver still
untraced SONEPAT, Aug 10 — The Ganaur police has not achieved any breakthrough in tracing the truck and its driver allegedly involved in the road accident and causing the death of at least 12 labourers of a Rice Mill situated at the G.T. Road near Bhigan village in this district. According to official sources, eight victims belonged to Muslim community and four others to Hindu community of Bihar and West Bengal. All bodies of the victims were handed over to the relatives and their associates by the police after the post-mortem examinations. The bodies of Hindu victims were cremated last evening whereas the bodies of eight Muslim victims were lying in the Idgah compound for burial. Meanwhile, a large number of people belonging to Muslim community assembled at the Idgah compound last evening to protest against what they called ghastly murder of the labourers. Leaders of the Muslim community also called Mr Dev Raj Diwan, an Independent MLA and other leaders of Opposition parties besides reporters who arrived there. They condemned the murder of the labourers and demanded compensation for the families of the victims. Some leaders also blamed the owners of the factory and contractors for these killings and demanded registration of the criminal case and their arrests. The Muslim leaders also submitted a memorandum to Mr K. Selvraj, Superintendent of Police, demanding immediate payment of salary to members of the bereaved families which had been held up by the owners of the factory. The SP assured them that he had deputed the DSP Ganaur for making an inquiry into the entire episode. Mr P.K. Mahapatra, Deputy
Commissioner, also visited the Idgah and listened to the
complaints of the people who had demanded immediate
compensation for the members of the bereaved families. He
also assured them that he would provide all-out financial
assistance to the injured persons admitted to the
hospitals. Moreover, the District Red Cross Society will
bear all expenses of cremation of the victims. |
Plan to ban opening of shops
after 8 pm GURGAON, Aug 10 — The district administration plans to initiate measures to enforce a ban on opening shops and workplaces after 8 p.m to conserve power. The proposed measure is intended to tide over the present crisis of acute power shortage. A senior officer told TNS medical stores, hotels, restaurants and others places providing essential services to the public would be exempted from the measure. The administration is credited with the view that the power shortage here was related to the overall problem in the state. The problem is attributed to the long spell of dry season this monsoon. A major chunk of power available in the state’s kitty had been diverted to the agriculture sector, aggravating the crisis in almost all circles of the Haryana State Electricity Board (HSEB) in the process. The diversion of power to the agriculture sector, especially to the burgeoning paddy growing belts in the state, are cited in this connection. Growing of paddy crop needs comparatively more water for which supply of power to the tubewells was imperative. The problem in the Gurgaon circle has deepened on another account. Earlier, the circle’s quota of power of 25 lakh units per day provided by the HSEB was in addition to the amount of about five lakh units of power it got from the grid of Maruti Udyog Ltd based here. At present, the HSEB has disallowed the practice. The calculations of the authorities of the Gurgaon circle to augment its power availability have gone haywire. The authorities were banking heavily on power to be supplied by Magnum Power Plant, a private firm. The Haryana Government had taken a policy decision to allow private firms to produce power and sell it to the HSEB. As per the government’s plans, Magnum Power Plant with an installed capacity to generate 25 lakh units per day here was scheduled to be the first private firm to go on stream in the state. The transaction should have been started by June. A senior HSEB official said although the plant had become functional it was not coming forward to enter into an agreement with the board for purchase of the power for reasons best known to it. The shortage of supply resulting in imposition of cuts by the board to effect proper rationing of power resource and the unscheduled cuts have affected everyone alike. A visit to some of the government offices revealed the officials were reluctant to sit at their workplaces on account of the heat and humidity at the time of power cuts. As for the common people, the shortage in the supply of power seems to have affected the water supply system the most. A majority of sectors and areas controlled by the municipal council have been hit hard due to paucity of potable water. Although the authorities hold the present crisis is not as serious as the one compared to the corresponding period last year and that it will soon blow over, they are at the end of their tether to explain how the situation would be brought under control. If the mood of the people is any indication, officials are likely to face tough postures from the public if the present crisis continues any longer. Already, industrialists based here have taken to the streets on the dismal power situation. Even while the authorities
of the Gurgaon circle are indulging in permutations and
combinations to ration the available power, they have
been pulled up by the mandarins of the board headquarters
at Chandigarh.The authorities here have reportedly been
supplying more power than the quota allotted to it by the
board. |
Nurses may get charge sheets ROHTAK, Aug 10 — Encouraged by the recent judgement of the High Court against the agitating nurses of Haryana the state government is contemplating action against nurses who were jailed for more than 48 hours during the agitation. According to highly placed sources, the Health Directorate has asked the Civil Surgeons to submit reports on these nurses. Most of the Civil Surgeons have submitted their reports and formalities for issuing charge sheets are almost complete, according to the sources. At least 214 nurses serving in various districts were detained in jail on the charge of taking part in the strike. According to government sources, there is a provision in the civil services rules that an employee can be suspended if he or she remains in jail for more than 48 hours. Dr P.L. Jindal, Director-General, Health Services, Haryana, talking to The Tribune, however, said no charge sheet had been issued so far to any nurse. He said the government nursed no ill intention against the striking nurses. Meanwhile, the nursing Association of the local Pt B.D. Sharma Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences will observe August 15 as "black day" to lodge their protest against the non-acceptance of their long-standing "genuine" demands. According to Ms Durga Yadav and Ms Santosh Hooda, president and general secretary of the association, respectively, the nurses would wear black badges during duty hours. The Haryana Nurses
Association, with a view to organising the nurses of the
state, has decided to hold district level conventions.
Such conventions will be organised at Fatehabad,
Jhajjar,, Sirsa, Yamunanagar, Faridabad, Gurgaon and Jind
from August 11 to August 26. Ms Jasbir Kaur, president of
the association has sought the release of salaries of the
nurses during the strike period. |
Implement Eradi report: Hooda CHANDIGARH, Aug 10 — The Haryana Congress today demanded the implementation of the interim report of the Eradi Tribunal on the sharing of the Ravi-Beas waters among five northern states on the pattern of the interim report on the sharing of the Cauvery water among four southern states. Talking to newsmen here today the president of the Haryana Congress, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, said if the Centre could decide to implement the interim report of the Cauvery Tribunal why the former could not implement the interim report of the Eradi Tribunal which was submitted long ago. The Eradi Tribunal was set up under Clause 9.2 of the Rajiv-Longowal accord to adjudicate on the sharing of the Ravi-Beas waters. The tribunal in its interim report allocated 3.83 MAF to Haryana, 5 MAF to Punjab, 8.60 MAF to Rajasthan, 0.65 MAF to Jammu and Kashmir and 0.20 MAF to Delhi. Mr Hooda said since the tribunal had already apportioned the river waters among the five States and as the BJP was in power at the Centre and in four of the five states concerned, there should not be any problem in the implementation of its interim report. He said a delegation of his party would soon meet the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, in this regard and submit a memorandum to him. He said the leader of the Opposition in the Haryana Assembly, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, whose party supported the Vajpayee Government unconditionally, should follow the example set up by the AIADMK leader, Ms Jayalalitha, who put pressure on the Vajpayee Government to implement the interim report of the Cauvery Tribunal. He said Mr Chautala, who had four M.P.s, and Mr Bansi Lal, whose party had one M.P., should jointly put pressure on the Centre. If they did so, the Haryana Congress would support them. Mr Hooda said if the SYL
canal was constructed and Haryana got its share in the
river waters, the other clauses of the Rajiv-Longowal
accord, including the transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab,
could be settled through negotiations later. He appealed
to all parties of Haryana to extend support to the State
Congress on the issue. |
HC commutes death sentence CHANDIGARH, Aug 10 — The Punjab and Haryana High Court today commuted the death sentence awarded to Ravi Virmani in the sensational quadruple murder of a leading family of Faridabad into life imprisonment. According to Deepak Kumar, the main eyewitness in the case, their house was bolted from inside. He saw his father lying dead. Ravi Virmani held a hexablade in his hand. He lifted the small child and demanded a sum of Rs 5 lakh by way of ransom. He had threatened that if he was not given the ransom, he would kill the child also. Deepak Kumar grappled with Ravi Virmani, who had caused him multiple injuries. In the meantime, Sanjay Lakhani, Deepak's brother, also entered the house. He snatched the weapon from Ravi Virmani. On the basis of Sanjay's statement the police registered a case. While Ravi Virmani was arrested on the spot, his father, Hari Chand, was arrested later from outside the gate of the house. The Sessions Judge had sentenced Ravi Virmani to death but had acquitted his father, Hari Chand. The prosecution had contested Hari Chand's acquittal while Ravi Virmani had assailed the death sentence. Counsel for Ravi Virmani told the court that the four deceased had 130 to 140 injuries with different weapons. It could not be the handiwork of a single man. Therefore, the prosecution had failed to give the full story. The state counsel's argument, on the other hand, was that the suspect had procured the services of other people. Therefore, it was the rarest of the rare cases and warranted the death sentence. Mr Justice H.S. Brar and
Mr Justice K.S. Kumaran, before whom the cases had come
up for hearing, agreed with Virmani's counsel and
commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment. The
Bench also upheld Hari Chand's acquittal. |
Haryana Congress too promises BHIWANI, Aug 10 — The Haryana Congress, to woo rural voters has decided to hold public meetings and promise waiving outstanding electricity bills when voted to power. A public meeting held at Badhra village, 35 km from here on Sunday was well attended. Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, president, Haryana Congress Committee, presiding over the meeting promised to provide electricity free of cost to those who had three bulbs and three fans in domestic sector. Criticising the ruling HVP-BJP combine, Mr Hooda said that no promise out of 70 made in the manifesto had been fulfilled. Charging the HLD (R) now the Indian National Lok Dal with double standards at national and state level, Mr Hooda said that Mr Om Prakash Chautala had not tried to safeguard the state's interests. He added his party would have welcomed Mr Chautala had the latter resolved the SYL canal issue with Mr Parkash Singh Badal, Punjab Chief Minister who was brother-like with Mr Devi Lal. All-India Congress Committee General Secretary and in charge of Haryana affairs Ms Meira Kumar, pitied farmers in Haryana and said that the prime duty of a government was to provide them with regular power and water for irrigation. She expressed concern over the death of farmers in agitations in the past. Ms Kumar asserted that the Congress would safeguard the interests of kisans and support their agitation in future. Mr Hira Nand Arya, former Education Minister, who was admitted to the party today said that only the Congress could provide a stable government and could check rising inflation. He flayed Mr O.P. Chautala by saying that he deceived the public for getting his father Rajya Sabha seat and supported the BJP at the Centre unconditionally whereas opposing this party in state. Ms Chandrawati, former Lt-Governor Pondicherry, demanded upgradation of Badhra sub tehsil to tehsil, open a degree and polytechnic college here. Mr Vasudev Sharma, former Deputy Speaker Haryana, Vidhan Sabha, Rao Inderjeet, MP, Mr Chhatarpal, Ms Prassani Devi, Ms Kartari Devi, former legislators also addressed.
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PM urged to meet teachers'
demands YAMUNANAGAR, Aug 10 — The Haryana College Teachers Union has urged the Prime Minister to intervene and settle outstanding demands of 3.50 lakh teachers working in Universities and colleges in the country. Mr DS Dhaliwal President Haryana College Teachers Union said here today, that the teachers had been victimised due to callous attitude of Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi: Mr Dhaliwal sent a telegram to Atal Behari Vajpayee Prime Minister informing him that teachers were going on indefinite strike on August 11. He said main demands were the acceptance and implementation of UGC recommendations. He informed that at a meeting yesterday by the Kurukshetra University Teachers Association (KUTA) also decided to join the stir. He added that the strike had been repeated after gap of 11 years because interests of teachers had been affected due to uncooperative attitude of the bureaucrats. He also appealed to all political parties to impress on the government to accept demands of teachers. Mr Dhaliwal who has been touring the state to mobilise 10,000 teachers of colleges and universities said that teachers were determined to continue the agitation. Mr Dhaliwal who attended
state-level meeting here today at Guru Nanak Khalsa
College informed that the teachers would not work till
the demands were met. He added that they would sit in
college campus from 10 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. and mark
themselves present and mobilise the public. |
385 farmers disclose excess
power load HISAR, Aug 10 — Responding to a call of the Haryana State Electricity Board (HSEB) 385 farmers disclosed the unauthorised extension of load on their tubewells in Fatehabad district. They deposited a fine of Rs 20.19 lakh with the board. Mr ZS Dahiya, Superintending Engineer, said here today that a team of three sub-divisional officers detected the unauthorised load in the district last month. They detected 49 such cases and imposed a penalty of Rs 16.30 lakh.
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Enteritis claims two lives JIND, Aug 10 — Two children had died of gastroenteritis at Karamgarh village of Narwana subdivision in this district, according to a report received here today. But according to unofficial reports, gastroenteritis has claimed four lives in the village. According to reports, about 20 persons of Karamgarh and Kanha Khera village suffering from diarrhoea and vomiting were admitted to different hospitals at Narwana. Later, 17 persons were discharged and the remaining are under treatment. The Health Department had
started chlorination of wells at Karamgarh, Kanha Khera,
Drodi Lone, Frain Kalan, Frain Khurd and Khanpur villages
to provide safe drinking water to the residents. The
department also organised a medical check-up camp at
Karamgarh village in which about 150 persons suffering
from various diseases were treated. |
Mining engineers' plea on royalty FARIDABAD, Aug 10 — A seminar of mining engineers held at Badkhal tourist resort recently has urged the Haryana government to spend 75 per cent of royalty collected from Faridabad-Gurgaon area on removing illiteracy and improvement of wages and standard of living of the workers. Mr J P Kaushik, Director of Mine Safety, Ghaziabad region, told The Tribune that the state government earned Rs 40 crore as royalty annually but was not spending anything for the welfare of the workers. The mine lease should also be allotted to the mining engineers which would help in better exploitation of the minerals. The seminar recommended that the state Geology Department should undertake research to prevent wastage of quartzite stone, efforts should be made so that silicon and ordinary sand could be used by the glass industry which at present was consumed entirely in the building activity. The seminar appealed to the central government to free gold, silver and uranium from restrictions and controls. Mining of these should be given to small entrepreneurs. A gold research centre be
set up for the prospecting of the yellow material as 300
more gold mines were expected during the next 10 years. |
Villagers fast to save cattle ROHTAK, Aug 10 — Saturday was a day of fasting for residents of Bhainsru village, about 35 km from here, as all villagers, including children and old persons, who remained cut off from the outside world for 24 hours. According to a report, the orthodox village elders and the village panchayat on August 7 decided to cut off the village and called for a 24-hour bandh on August 8 with a view to get rid of a disease which had infected their buffaloes and cows for the past few days. It is reported that at least 15 animals have been killed by the disease locally known as "galgonttu" (haemorrhagic septicaemia). Several other milch animals have been infected by the "killer"disease. As per the decision of the village elders, the village was sealed and nobody was allowed to leave or enter the village during the special "bandh". Even 50 women who had come from their in-laws’ houses to this village to tie rakhi to their brothers were not allowed to enter the village. These women and their children were made to stay in the school building situated on the outskirts of the village. It is learnt all residents
of the village having a population of about 5,500
observed a fast and did not take anything during this
period. The village priest conducted prayers and sprayed
holy water on the affected animals. |
Advisory board reconstituted CHANDIGARH, Aug 10 — The Haryana Government has reconstituted the Advisory Board under Section 9 of the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1998. According to an official notification, Mr Justice Amarjit Chaudhary of the Punjab and Haryana High Court will be the Chairman of the board while Mr R.P. Bhasin and Mr N.S. Ahlawat, District and Sessions Judges, Kurukshetra and Karnal, respectively, will be its members. Meanwhile, the Principal
Secretary to the Chief Minister and the Revenue Secretary
have been nominated as members of the State Motor Vehicle
Board with immediate effect. |
Haryana invokes ESMA CHANDIGARH, Aug 10 — The Haryana Government today invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act to prohibit strikes by teaching and non-teaching staff of schools, colleges (both government and private affiliated schools and colleges) and universities in the State for six months. A notification to this
effect was issued here today by the Secretary, Education,
Mr Vishnu Bhagwan. |
Clerk shot dead ROHTAK, Aug 10 — Four unidentified youths shot dead a person at Pharmana village, near here, today. According to information received here, four car-borne youths fired at Suresh Chandra Sharma, a clerk on the premises of a senior secondary school. The clerk died on the spot. The murder spread panic among the school staff and students. It is learnt that the assailants were also aged between 20 to 30 years. However motive behind the crime could not be ascertained. The police has registered
a case, but no arrest has been made so far. |
1 killed, 3 hurt in road
mishap HISAR, Aug 10 — One person was killed and three injured when a four-wheeler carrying them overturned near Kohli village in the district today. The victim was identified as Jagdish. The injured have been
admitted to a hospital in Adampur. |
Phone subscribers wait for bills SONEPAT, Aug 10— Telephone subscribers in this city are still waiting for their bills due for this month. According to official sources, the bills were to be received in the beginning of the month and deposited by August 21. Many telephone subscribers alleged that they often receive bills just one week before the last date of payment. This leads to rush on counters in post offices here. Many subscribers are unable to deposit their bills on the due date. Meanwhile, the Telephone Subscribers Welfare Association has demanded a high-level inquiry into the delay in despatching the telephone bills. The association has also
sent a memorandum to Mrs Sushma Swaraj, Minister of
Communications, demanding immediate steps to improve
telephone services. |
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