tribuneindia... Haryana

H A R Y A N A

Monday, July 27, 1998

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Dalits pledge support
to Congress
GURGAON, JULY 26 — Campaign of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) to win back its traditional vote bank of the Scheduled Castes today got a boost with their prominent members pledging support to it.

Bandh threat results in confrontation
ROHTAK, July 26 — With the district administration toughening its stand and threats of "Rohtak bandh" and "chakka jam" given by the striking Auto-rickshaw Kalyan Sangh the confrontation between the two has been intensified.

HLD(R) to launch stir
ROHTAK, July 26 — The youth wing of the Haryana Lok Dal (Rashtriya) will launch a statewide campaign to seek the ouster of the HVP-BJP coalition government.

JE sentenced for taking bribe
SONEPAT, July 26 — Mr Virender Singh, Special Judge, Sonepat, yesterday held Chand Ram, a junior engineer of the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), Sonepat, guilty of accepting Rs 40,000 as bribe and sentanced him to undergo a rigorous imprisonment for four years with a fine of Rs 5,000.

Dalits pledge support to Congress
Tribune News Service
GURGAON, JULY 26 — Campaign of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) to win back its traditional vote bank of the Scheduled Castes today got a boost with their prominent members pledging support to it.
The HPCC has decided to organise a state-level rally of the Scheduled Castes at Rohtak — considered to be the Jat heartland of the state — on October 5. This was announced by the president of the HPCC Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
The support was extended by the dalit leaders at a meeting here of the Gurgaon zone of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes cell of the HPCC. The meeting, addressed by the president of the HPCC, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, was attended by a number of retired officers of the Haryana government belonging to the Scheduled Castes.Senior leaders of the Haryana Congress, including former ministers from the state,Rao Dharam Pal and Mrs Shakuntala Bhagwaria, and the party MLAs, Mr Khursheed Ahmed and Mr Dharamvir Gabba, along with former MLA, Mr Udai Bhan, attended the meeting.
To win back the support of the Scheduled Castes, the HPCC had created four zones in the state to give focus to its campaign. The meeting of the Gurgaon zone was held after that of the Karnal zone, held on July 5.The other two zones are Ambala and Hisar. The rally at Rohtak will take place,by which time the meeting of all remaining two zones would have been completed.

However, the members of the Scheduled Castes pledged their support to the Congress after taking the party leaders to task for ignoring their problems in the past few years. The participants also charged the HVP-BJP government with shielding the vested interests who were perpetrating atrocities on the members of the Scheduled Castes. The speakers focused on the alleged violence against the dalit recently in some villages of Rewari district.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Hooda urged the dalits to be on their guard as the non-Congress parties misled them with populist and casteist slogans at the time of the elections. Accepting the allegations levelled by the dalit leaders that the Congress had ignored the dalits in the past few years as a result of which they were forced to join hand with other parties, Mr Hooda said that their interests were best protected by his party. It was the leaders and supporters of non-Congress parties which "heaped" atrocities on the dalits, he added.
Mr Hooda criticised the Haryana Lok Dal (Rashtriya) for forging alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party for the last Lok Sabha elections describing it "opportunistic". He referred to a couple of incidents to point out that the leaders of the HLD(R) were not favourably disposed towards the dalits.
Meanwhile,the leaders of the state Congress have fanned out in their respective areas of influence to mobilise support for the proposed July 28 march to be led by the Congress president Sonia Gandhi. According to the vice president of the HPCC, Rao Dharma Pal, more than 50,000 persons from Haryana will join the march.

Bandh threat results in confrontation
From Our Correspondent
ROHTAK, July 26 — With the district administration toughening its stand and threats of "Rohtak bandh" and "chakka jam" given by the striking Auto-rickshaw Kalyan Sangh the confrontation between the two has been intensified.
The district administration a few days ago had launched a campaign against the auto-rickshaws plying illegally and without proper documents and had impounded about 500 auto-rickshaws. Heavy penalties were imposed. This caused panic among about 4000 auto-rickshaw drivers in the town. Now their vehicles have been off the road for the past three days.
It may be recalled that the district administration following several complaints from people had launched a campaign against the polluting and illegal auto-rickshaws last year also but it ended in a farce due to political interference.
The Haryana Pradesh Congress Commitee chief, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, in a statement here yesterday has criticised the action against the auto-rickshaw drivers and charged the authorities with robbing thousands of people of their employment.

HLD(R) youth wing to launch stir
From Our Correspondent
ROHTAK, July 26 — The youth wing of the Haryana Lok Dal (Rashtriya) will launch a statewide campaign to seek the ouster of the HVP-BJP coalition government for its alleged failure on various fronts.
Announcing this here at a press conference the chief of the Haryana Yuva Lok Dal (Rashtriya), Mr Ajay Chautala said the campaign proposed to be launched from Nagal Chaudhary in Mahendargarh district from August 9 would also coincide with the date on which Mahatma Gandhi launched the famous "Bharat Chhoro Andolan" in 1942. He said it would be known as the 'Bansi Lal Gaddi Chhoro' campaign. It would continue till the removal of the state government.
Alleging that the Bansi Lal government had flopped completely as none of the election promises had been fulfilled so far he said total lawlessness was prevailing in the state and no development work was in progress.
There was acute shortage of potable water in several parts of the state and people in the border areas had to fetch drinking water from the neighbouring states. He claimed that shortage of power had adversely affected the sowing of paddy in many districts. Demanding a probe into the alleged corruption in the recruitment of policemen he said merit was being ignored in other selections also.

JE sentenced for taking bribe
From Our Correspondent
SONEPAT, July 26 — Mr Virender Singh, Special Judge, Sonepat, yesterday held Chand Ram, a junior engineer of the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), Sonepat, guilty of accepting Rs 40,000 as bribe from Mr Mohan Lal Madan for issuing a completion certificate for a house in Sector 15 here in violation of Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and sentanced him to undergo a rigorous imprisonment for four years with a fine of Rs 5,000 or in default to undergo further six months rigorous imprisonment.
The Judge observed that the menace of corruption at all levels was eating into the fabric of our society. Moreover, it had become a routine to move a file only after some gratification was received. The employees at all levels were hand in glove with each other to fleece the poor people, the Judge added.
The Judge also observed that though the complainant had been actually won over by the accused and he had given false evidence in this case, yet the evidence of the raiding party officer could be relied on even without corroboration.
The Judge also held that it was necessary and expedient in the interest of justice that Mr Madan should be tried summarily under Section 344 of the Cr P.C. for giving false evidence. While taking the cognizance of the offence, the Judge issued a show-cause notice to Mr Madan asking him why he should not be punished for committing an offence punishable under Section 193 of the IPC and ordered the confiscation of Rs 40,000 the amount of the bribe.