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H A R Y A N A |  |
 Sunday, November 29, 1998 |
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Jindal’s charge ‘bunch of
lies’ CHANDIGARH, Nov 28 — The Haryana Vikas Party has termed the allegations levelled against it by Mr O.P. Jindal, a former MP, as a bunch of lies. 24-hour power supply given to consumers PANCHKULA, Nov 28 — The Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam has been able to supply 24 hours three-phase power to the whole State during the past three days on an experimental basis, said Mr Ranjit Issar, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of HVPN here today. |
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Rice industry on verge of
collapse KAITHAL, Nov 28 — The rice industry in this district is on the verge of collapse due to accumulation of huge stocks worth hundreds of crores of rupees as central government agencies have failed to procure stocks from this area during the current procurement season. Craftsmen
get recognition Crossbreeding
of milch animals stressed "Base
governance on Gita," says Seer Demolition
of houses, court orders status quo Move
to acquire fertile land opposed Bansi
Govt blamed for DAP shortage |
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Jindal’s charge ‘bunch
of lies’ CHANDIGARH, Nov 28 — The Haryana Vikas Party (HVP) has termed the allegations levelled against it by Mr O.P. Jindal, a former MP, as a bunch of lies. A spokesman of the HVP today said it was baseless to say that the HVP was not maintaining any account of party funds. He reiterated his earlier offer to Mr Jindal to get the account books of the HVP examined by his chartered accountant. He said the HVP had maintained its financial records which were being audited from time to time. He said Mr Jindal had himself misappropriated the party funds as the funds collected by the party in Hisar district during the rallies and visits of Mr Bansi Lal before the 1996 elections used to be handed over to him and he (Mr Jindal) himself used to maintain its accounts. Except on one occasion when Mr Jindal gave Rs 51,000 to the party office, Mr Jindal had never deposited any amount with the party, he claimed. He rejected the claim made by Mr Jindal that he was not against Jats by pointing out that none of the office-bearers of their morcha was a Jat. He said Mr Jindal was now against Mr Bansi Lal because he had neither been given ticket for contesting the Lok Sabha election from Bhiwani nor allowed a berth in the Rajya Sabha. He termed as a white lie
his assertion that the court had acquitted him in 30
cases registered during Mr Bhajan Lal’s regime. He
reminded Mr Jindal that the court had no power to
withdraw any case suo motu. It was the government which
had the right to withdraw a case from a court. |
24-hour power supply given to
consumers PANCHKULA, Nov 28 — The Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (HVPN) has been able to supply 24 hours three-phase power to the whole State during the past three days on an experimental basis, said Mr Ranjit Issar, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of HVPN here today. The Government of Haryana was committed to supplying 24-hour power to the whole State from July next except during peak load restrictions on industry in the evening. In order to fulfil this commitment, the HVPN had experimented on November 25 to 27 to give unrestricted three-phase supply to all its consumers. The main objective of this exercise was to check the capability of the system to take the load and also to assess the extra power required. In the past week, power
availability in the grid has been good. Keeping this in
view, the HVPN supplied 352 lakh units (LUS) on November
25 as against 285 LUs on the same day last year. On
November 26, HVPN was able to supply 375 LUs as compared
to 282 LUs in the previous year. It has been observed
that the lifting of restrictions had resulted in extra
consumption of about 40 LUs per day. The operation
circles where the consumption was on the higher side
during this period are Kurukshetra (7 LUs), Karnal (5
LUs) and Faridabad, Hisar and Rohtak (4 LUs each). |
Exhibition spotlights 'teerthas' KURUKSHETRA: The photo exhibition put up by the Kurukshetra Development Board to celebrate Geeta Jayanti throws light on the rich cultural heritage of the Kurukshetra region, also known "dharmakshetra" during the Mahabharata war. It transports one back to Vedic times and shows the modes of worship of the time. The exhibition, organised for the first time on this scale by the KDB, provides a peep into the architectural skill and beauty of buildings of the era. About 39 photographs of ancient "teerthas" of both the Mahabharata age and the Vedic period have been put up. Mr Ashok Yadav, executive officer of the KDB, states that 108 temples and holy teerthas spread over six revenue districts have been identified. These areas comprised the 48 kos situated in the districts of Karnal, Kurukshetra, Panipat, Jind, Kaithal and parts of Patiala (Punjab). Mr Yadav says the KDB proposes to erect four "yakshas" on all four corners of the periphery. These would be situated at Birpipli (Ratnuk Yaksha), Seenkh village in Panipat district (Machkruk Yaksha), Bahar village in Kaithal district (Baharyaksha or Aratnuk Yaksha) and Ramrai village in Jind (Katnil Yaksha). The four yakshas depict the guardian deities of the 48 kos area. Mr Rajesh Purohit, curator of the Shree Krishna Museum, asserts that there are 360 teerthas in the 48 kos area but due to the onslaught of time and weather, only 108 survive. Even these are not in proper shape. Some teerthas are located at inaccessible places which could be reached by kutchha footpaths. The deities of these teerthas are dilapidated. The land of some teerthas has been encroached upon and idols of gods and goddesses have been taken away. In some areas the temples are situated in homes. Mr Yadav points out that a Rs 12-lakh scheme has been approved by the KDB for demarcation of the geographical boundaries of greater Kurukshetra. This has been done for the first time since the KDB's formation in 1968, at the instance of the Haryana Governor, Mr Mahabir Prasad. The Governor has also expressed his desire to visit all the teerthas within three months. Mr Prasad is keen to see how facilities for the pilgrims could be provided at all the 108 places still existing and how these could be developed. Mr Yadav says a second attempt by the KDB is under way to collect evidence and update information as well as photographs of the sanctum sanctorum of these temples. The idea to hold the exhibition regarding the teerthas during the Geeta Jayanti was also mooted on the Governor's suggestion. Talking about the historic and cultural heritage and the architectural value of these teerthas, Mr Yadav says the temples are replete with mural paintings and old architectural designs. The temple at Salwan village in Karnal was rare from the point of view of exotic variety of architecture, which is in contrast to other temples in the area. Most of these temples were having plain sikhras or spires. Even temples which seem to have taken inspiration from Mughal architecture are also there. But most of these temples indicate the growth of Vedic culture, habits and traditions of the people in this area. A Buddha stupa at Assandh indicates the prevalence of Buddhism in the area during the Mahabharata war. The Behlolpur temple has very beautiful murals with the theme of Bhagwadgeeta and Ramayana. The KDB is engaged in the task of taking snaps of these rare murals. An effort would be made to restore them to the true original form. However, it is a gigantic task, admits Mr Yadav. Moreover, the restoration process would take a long time and would be very expensive. It is also for the first
time that the KDB has been able to procure blow-ups of
Kunal excavations. The exhibition of these excavations is
also the first of its type in Haryana which has been put
up on the second floor of Shree Krishna Museum. It would
last 10 days. The excavations have been taken from the
Archaeological Department. This was possible after the
Governor passed orders. |
Rice industry on verge of
collapse KAITHAL, Nov 28 — The rice industry in this district is on the verge of collapse due to accumulation of huge stocks worth hundreds of crores of rupees as central government agencies have failed to procure stocks from this area during the current procurement season. If the central and state governments failed to take quick decisions regarding relaxation in the specifications for the procurement of the rice and no relief is granted to the trade, it will not only adversely affect the traders but the central as well as the state government may lose revenue amounting to hundreds of crores of rupees due to accumulated stocks, the rice millers have not been able to pay to commission agents which has created a financial scarcity in the market as after receiving money from the rice millers on account of paddy supplied by the commission agents, arhtiyas meet the monetary demands of the farmers. The government agencies, including the FCI, have refused to procure rice from the millers as it cannot meet the specifications announced by the central government for the current procurement season. As the paddy suffered extensive damage due to untimely rains during the current harvesting season, it was bound to affect the quality of rice. When the government agencies, including the FCI, HAFED and Haryana Agro Industries refused to purchase the damage paddy, there was lot of hue and cry and the stocks started piling up in mandis. There was resentment among farmers too and the government had to relax the specifications and reportedly allowed the purchase of 8 per cent damaged paddy. The government also fixed the procurement price of the rice at Rs 829 per quintal and allowed 20 per cent broken rice, 3 per cent discoloured and 2 per cent damaged rice. A spokesman of the Rice Millers Association said here yesterday when the government provided relaxation in the purchase of damage paddy why it was hesitant to provide the same relaxation for procurement rice by the government agencies. The non-procurement of rice by the FCI in this district has caused widespread resentment among the rice millers of this district. The rice millers also allege that they had to face substantial monetary loss as in the absence of procurement by the government, they had to sell the rice to the exporters and in the open market at comparatively much lesser rate. While the rice millers
have been crying for the relaxation, the central
government seems to have awakened belatedly and sent a
team of senior officers of the central and state
governments to have first-hand information about the
claims and grievances of the rice industry. These senior
officials reportedly got husked 200 bags of paddy of
Hafed and 150 bags belonging to a private trader and they
were surprised to find that there was 28 per cent broken
rice, 3.5 discoloured and 4 per cent damaged rice,
manufactured out of this paddy. It is reported that this
team has sent the report to the Central Food and Supplies
Ministry to take suitable decision to provide further
relaxation in the specifications in the procurement of
rice by the FCI and other agencies. This team arrived
last fortnight and the rice millers have a grudge against
the central government as to why it has taken so much of
time to take a decision and provide relief to the
industry. The spokesman of the rice millers said if the
government did not take immediate steps to solve this
problem, the already sick rice industry will collapse.
The rice millers feel that due to accumulated rice stocks
their financial liabilities have risen manifold, they
were unable to make payment to the commission agents in
time and the latter were not in a position to pay to the
farmers the cost of their paddy. All this was creating
financial crisis in the market. The banking sector will
also have to face disastrous economic crisis as the rice
millers will find it difficult to return their loans and
interest to the financial institutions in the present
circumstances. |
Craftsmen get recognition NEW DELHI: The Haryana Government has given recognition to nearly half a dozen highly talented/craftsmen/artists who have done the state proud at the national and state levels by giving them the pride of place at the Haryana pavilion in the India International Trade Fair held at Pragati Maidan here. Mahabir Parshad Bondwal, settled at Bahadurgarh, belongs to a family which has won three national awards. Members of the family had to shift their medium of operation to sandalwood because of the ban on the trade in ivory powder all over the world, excluding China and South Africa the family had been engaged in ivory work for the past more than 60 years and in woodwork for centuries. Mahabir Parshad got the national award for his ivory work in 1979 — the year in which he took part in the Trade Fair for the first time. He is assisted in this work by four other members of the family. His brother, Rajendra Prashad, was given the national award for sandalwood work in 1984. Mahabir Parshad finds his participation in the International Trade Fair quite rewarding. It was because of his presence at the Trade Fair that he was able to bag a handsome German order for his works a few years ago. The highest price he has got so far for one of his works which was completed in 180 mandays spread over two years was Rs 33,000 for an item which was purchased by the Trade Fair Authority of India for exhibitions abroad. Budhi Ram Prajapati of Banchari village in Hodel tehsil in Faridabad district who is engaged in terra-cotta pottery, won the national award in 1996. He is one of the few artisans who make hukkas for the discriminating customers in the state. The price of his hukkas range from Rs 60 to Rs 5,000. It is not the cost of raw materials used in making hukkas that pushes up the prices of hukkas but the labour. As Budhi Ram is not able to attend the trade fair enquiries daily, he is represented by his son Vijayendra. Twentysix-year-old Krishan Chander of Dhaka Dhani in Fatehabad had staggered education up to matriculation but his beautiful fibreglass statues have found a prominent place in the state’s pavilion. As his father, Mehar Chand, was a bonded labourer, Krishan Chander had to struggle hard to get his father freed from bondage and win recognition for his works. He has worked both as a daily wager and even as a rickshaw-puller. Now he is ably assisted by his wife, Mahendra Kumari in creating beautiful statues of fibreglass. Jaibhagwan whose father Karan Singh Gahlawat won the national award for making beautiful “peedhis” now also runs a training centre at Farmana village in Sonepat district. The design of his peedhis costing up to Rs 1100 cannot be a easily copied by anyone, he challenges. Pradeep Kumar of Palwal in Faridabad district is known for making baskets with the help of leaves. Although his baskets have impressed the officials and visitors alike, these have yet to be given official recognition apart from participation in the pavilion. Rajinder of Aurangabad village in Faridabad district makes toys from glass. His artistic glass toys have engaged the attention of thousands of visitors to the pavilion. Yet another attraction at
the pavilion has been 26-year-old Kulbhushan Arora from
Samalkha in Panipat district. He makes pencil sketches
and draws a person’s sketch in merely five minutes
and prepares a full sketch within 15 minutes. |
Crossbreeding of milch animals stressed KARNAL, Nov 28 — India aims at producing 85 million tonnes of milk by the turn of the century. Not only that it needed to increase its milk production further to provide 450 grams of milk per person to its citizens. This was stated here today by Mr Som Pal Shastry, Union Minister of State for Agriculture, in his presidential address to the XXIX Dairy Industry Conference being held at the National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal. The minister claimed that the year 1998 had proved lucky for India in the history of world dairying. It has emerged as the highest milk producing country during the 50th year of its Independence. Its annual milk production has increased from 20 million tonnes in 1970 to around 74 million tonnes in 1998. Mr Shastry maintained that it was a success story of the India's dairy development despite many constraints and climatic vagaries. He admitted that this has been made possible with the contribution by the small holders. The per capita milk consumption in the country has risen to 210 gram per day despite the increase in population. Behind this success story were the small farmers, dairy scientists, developmental agencies and cooperative institutions. The minister stressed the need for improving the quality of dairy products for accelerating export from India. This would earn valuable foreign exchange for the country. Quality of milk and milk products demanding the attention of the scientists, he added. Dwelling on the usefulness of the crossbreeding programme, Mr Shastry expressed the view that due emphasis should be given to the choice of exotic breeding for crossbreeding with native cattle stock in different agro-climatic zones of the country keeping in view the resources available. He went on to say that productivity of dairy animals could also be enhanced by improving management of dairy funds. Besides, timely veterinary aid and vaccination could increase the sustainability of milk production by reducing losses due to clinical/sub-clinical injections. The minister regretted
that the adoption of technologies by the farmers in the
country was very low. The major reason for low rate of
adoption was that most of the technologies developed so
far had not kept in view the availability of resources
with the farmers. That was why only the small proportion
of progressive farmers had made some use of these
technologies. He asked the scientists that technology
should be developed keeping in view the socio-economic
status, needs and problems of the farmers. He lauded the
efforts of the NDRI for developing equipment for
manufacturing instant and ready-to-use milk products like
ice-cream mix powder, malted milk powder, khoa powder,
kulfi mix powder, gulabjamun mix, shreekhand powder and
gajerpak powder etc. The minister disclosed that these
innovations had attracted large number of dairy plants to
the NDRI. He further disclosed that NDRI has developed a
novel technique for magnetic treatment of milk to reduce
fouling of dairy equipment surfaces especially during
buffalo milk processing. The minister wanted that in view
of the marketing and production of indigenous milk
products priority to research and development work on
upgradation of technologies for the manufacture of
indigenous dairy products should be given. There was a
need to develop energy efficient equipment for continuous
manufacture of these products, the minister concluded. |
"Base governance on Gita,"
says Seer KURUKSHETRA, Nov 28 — Swami Madhava Ashram, Shankaracharya of Jyotish Peeth, has expressed his views that the country and society should be governed as per the message of the Bhagavadgita. Shankaracharya was presiding over a national seminar on "Scope of the Bhagavadgita in religion and science" at Senate Hall of Kurukshetra University last evening. The seminar was organised by the Kurukshetra Development Board as part of 10-day long Geeta Jayanti celebrations. The Swami said the message of the Bhagavadgita should be taken at the grass root of society. He was upset that the country today was in deep crisis and in such situation only intellectuals could show the light. That is why, the message of the Bhagavadgita should be made the basis for the governance of the country and society. The Shankaracharya claimed that the Bhagavadgita was "Brahamsutra" of Hindu religious texts. He said to live life successfully, the three aspects contained in the Bhagavadgita should be made the basis of it. Dr Vachaspati Upadhyaya, Vice-Chancellor of Sanskrit Vidyapeeth, Delhi, in his key note address maintained that Lord Krishna provided a scientific frame of mind to Arjuna through the message of the Bhagavadgita. His view was that it was difficult to understand the message of the Bhagavadgita if one did not understand the relationship between the man and God. Mr Ashok Yadav, Executive Officer of the Kurukshetra Development Board, disclosed that papers presented during the seminar would be published in the form of a book by the Geeta Kendra of the board. Dr M L Ranga,
Vice-Chancellor of Kurukshetra University, was also
present on the occasion. |
Demolition of houses, court orders
status quo ROHTAK, Nov 28 — Passing interim order the Civil Judge, Mr KK Bali, has ordered the district administraion to maintain status quo in connection with the demolition of houses in Sanjay Nagar locality here. Mr Bali deputed an advocate, Mr Pradeep to Visit the site and submit a report by today evening. As many as 19 Balmikis today filed a suit against the demolition of their houses. No one appeared from the side of district administration and the medical college and hospital. Meanwhile, the "affected" residents marched in procession and demonstrated in front of the Deputy Commissioner's residence. They demanded rehabilitation of the affected residents, action against the 'erring' officials and regularisation of unauthorised localities with immediate effect. The women's cell of the Haryana Lok Dal and the Balmiki Samaj have criticised the demolition of houses and alleged that the administration launched the campaign without giving any prior notice to the residents. Ms Saroj Kaur Saini and Ms Birmati, president and organising secretary of the women's cell of the Haryana Lok Dal respectively claimed that Harijan families had been living in the locality for the past nearly 50 years. They said the administration had issued ration cards on these house numbers, enrolled them as voters and provided them power connections. The SDM, Mr RK Chauhan
said the houses were built by encroaching upon the land
owned by the local medical college and hospital. The
residents had lost their case in a court of law. |
Marriage of 41 poor girls arranged KURUKSHETRA, Nov 28— ‘Kanyadan’ is ‘mahadan’ and the people were great souls who gave ‘kanyadan’ in spite of not being blessed with daughters. This view was expressed by the Governor of Haryana, Mr Mahabir Prasad, at a function of mass marriage of 41 poor girls here yesterday. The function was organised by the Sri Jai Ram Vidyapeetha, and the Kurukshetra Development Board. Speaking at the function, the Governor lauded the services of voluntary organisations and social workers for arranging mass marriages in accordance with immortal message of the Bhagavadgita which propounds selfless service to humanity. The Governor stressed on the need for adopting the philosophy of ‘karma’ as enshrined in the holy Bhagavadgita in its practical form to make a casteless society. The Governor, who is also the Chairman of the Kurukshetra Development Board, said Gita Jayanti would be made popular not only in India but all over the world. He said in future NRIs would be invited to participate in Gita Jayanti celebrations. He also participated at a
function organised by a voluntary organisation
‘Prerna’ at Purushotampura Bagh where 11 orphan
and poor children were adopted by the organisation
through foster parents who helped in providing education,
board and lodging facilities to them. So far 200 orphan
and poor children had been adopted by this organisation. |
Move to acquire fertile land
opposed SONEPAT, Nov 28 — Mr Jatinder Singh Malik, kisan cell convener of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee, has opposed the acquiring of valuable and fertile land in the villages of Bari, Balehri, Larsauli, Garhi Kesri and Ganaur by the state government for an industrial complex and alleged that a Haryana minister had managed to save the land of some industrialists and favourites from acquisition. In a signed press statement yesterday he pointed out that about 100 acres of 'banjar' land was available in front of the above-mentioned land which belonged to an industrialist but was not acquired by the government. Describing the rate of acquisition as lowest, Mr Malik said this had caused widespread resentment among farmers. The Congress leader also
expressed his grave concern over the persistent shortage
of DAP fertiliser as a result of which the farmers could
not sow the rabi crops on time. |
Bansi Govt blamed for DAP
shortage ROHTAK, Nov 28 — Dr Virender Pal, Indian National Lok Dal leader and MLA from the Beri constituency, has charged the Bansi Lal Government and bureaucracy with creating an "artificial" scarcity of DAP fertiliser in the state. In a statement issued here yesterday, Dr Pal said farmers in the region had suffered heavy losses to their crops due to unseasonal rain. And now farmers were unable to sow the rabi crop due to the non-availability of DAP fertiliser. Being an agricultural scientist Dr Pal claimed the DAP fertiliser was required before sowing the Rabi crop. The INLD leader alleged that government, instead of taking appropriate and timely action, was trying to save its face by repeatedly claiming that there was no DAP scarcity in the state. He sought a white paper on
the distribution of DAP fertiliser among the farmers. He
demanded better seeds at marginal rates to the farmers. |
Uklana traders observe bandh HISAR, Nov 28 — A complete bandh was observed by traders and shopkeepers in Uklana mandi, about 40 km from here, today in protest against the raids conducted by officials of the Excise and Taxation Department and the Market Committee. Most of the shops in the main bazaar and anaj mandi remained closed. The traders took out a procession in the city and raised anti government slogans. They alleged that the officials of the Taxation Department were harassing traders and shopkeepers for the last one week and imposing fines unnecessary. The call for the bandh was
after a meeting held under the chairmanship of Mr Bajrang
Dass Garg, state president of the Haryana Pradesh Veopar
Mandal, in Ukalana mandi last evening. The members of the
Mandal, the Cotton Factory Association, the Arhti
Association and others also took part in the bandh. |
Farmers hold dharna SIRSA, Nov 28 — A large number of farmers of Ellenabad and the adjoining areas protested and staged a dharna in front of the office of the SDM, Ellenabad, about 40 km from here, yesterday. Mr Bhagi Ram, MLA of Ellenabad and a former minister of Haryana, criticised the state government for adopting "anti-farmer" policies and alleged that farmers of this area were not being supplied DAP for sowing the rabi crops. He alleged henchmen of politicians in power were involved of the black-marketing of DAP. The shortage of DAP had affected the sowing of wheat in this area. The protesters raised
slogans against the state government also submitted a
charter of demands to the authorities concerned,
demanding a detailed inquiry into the black marketing of
DAP in the district. |
Baba Hemant Dass ROHTAK, Nov 28 — Baba Hemant Dass will be installed as head of "Tikana Sat Zeenda Kalyana," Kalanaur, which commands a vast following in Haryana, Punjab and Delhi. The "Tilak ceremony" will be performed on December 3. The present head, Mahant
Hari Das, has decided to abdicate the "Gaddi"
due to old age and failing health. |
Yamunanagar to have 5,000 new phones YAMUNANAGAR, Nov 28 —
As many as 5,000 new telephone connections will be given
in this district by March 31, 1999, Mr H.K. Makkar,
Divisional Engineer, Telecom, said here today. The
Telecommunications Department had decided to install 13
more rural exchanges and one urban exchange this year.
The villages where these exchanges would be installed
were Sarar, Gudana, Labana, Khurdi, Jagansi, Fatehgarh,
Telipura, Sarawan, Machrauli, Faquirmajra, Kotla,
Ranjitpura and Rampur Jat. |
ABVP yatra reaches Sirsa SIRSA, Nov. 28 — The ‘Chhatra Shakti, Rashtra Shakti yatra’ reached here yesterday. The yatra is being organised by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad on its golden jubilee year of its foundation. The yatra which started simultaneously from Srinagar, Patna, Manipur and Kerala on November 16 will conclude in Mumbai on December 25. About 15,000 students and teachers from across the country will attend the concluding celebrations. Speaking here on the
occasion, Mr Ramesh Pappa, Secretary, ABVP, said the main
purpose of the yatra was to imbibe spirit of nationalism
among the youth in the country . |
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