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| Monday, January 10, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
|
Chautala-Garg
talks termed ‘cordial’ No
rift with INLD, says Swami Kids
involved in anti-polythene drive Teacher
selected on forged marks card ‘‘Burger’’
continues’ to haunt him |
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| Kadian, Saini join Congress CHANDIGARH, Jan 9 —Five former INLD MLAs, who were expelled from the party by Mr Om Prakash Chautala yesterday, are likely to join the Congress here tomorrow. Projects to support,
sustain kids Probe
into PWD's working sought Revision
of wages sought SP
to field more BC candidates HAUTA’s
plea on pay scales Appointment
of Registrar flayed Youth
Cong to burn Musharraf’s effigy
|
Chautala-Garg talks termed
‘cordial’ CHANDIGARH, Jan 9 — Much importance is being attached to an unscheduled meeting between the INLD President and Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, and the Prant Karyavaha of the Haryana unit of the RSS, Mr Bajrang Lal Garg, at Sonepat last evening. According to informed sources the Chief Minister, who was on his way to Delhi, came to know that the Election Commission had fixed the Haryana Assembly poll for February 22 when his motorcade was near Samalkha. He immediately decided to meet Mr Garg at his Sonepat residence. The two leaders spent nearly one hour together and presumably discussed, among other things, the issue of seat sharing between the INLD and the BJP in the coming Assembly elections. Though the Chief Minister had been repeatedly saying that there was no dispute over seat sharing between the two parties, the BJP leadership of the state had become apprehensive about the intentions of the INLD leaders in this regard after a statement attributed to Mr Devi Lal appeared in a section of the press. Mr Devi Lal had reportedly remarked that the BJP did not deserve to contest on more than 20 seats. He is also reported to have said that if more seats were left for the BJP, it would be to the advantage of the Congress. Mr Chautala's repeated assertion that the winnability of a candidate, belonging to either party, would be the criteria for the distribution of the ticket further strengthened the BJP apprehensions. Its leaders felt that Mr Chautala now wanted to wriggle out of his earlier commitment of giving 35 seats to the BJP. The RSS has also reportedly advised the state BJP to contest on its own if a respectable agreement is not reached with the INLD. Mr Chautala's meeting with Mr Garg assumes importance in view of the RSS advice to the Haryana BJP. Though Mr Garg confirmed his meeting with Mr Chautala, he refused to disclose what transpired between them. However, sources in the RSS say the meeting was held in a "cordial atmosphere", the results of which would be positive. A senior functionary of the RSS said much water had flown since the days when Mr Devi Lal used to call the shots in Haryana. In the past few years the BJP had increased its clout among all sections of society. It was the political compulsion of both the BJP and the INLD to contest the elections together because in an alliance they were "eleven"; divided no party could capture power in the state. The RSS functionary said Mr Devi Lal, because of his old age, might not understand this equation, but Mr Chautala was not a political novice. He fully understood the importance of an alliance with the BJP. Moreover, it was Mr Chautala's chief ministership which would be at stake in the coming elections. Meanwhile, a delegation of the Haryana BJP is to meet the party chief, Mr Kushabhau Thakre, in Delhi tomorrow. The delegation will discuss with Mr Thakre how many seats the party should contest in Haryana and why. It will also tell Mr Thakre the basis on which the party is making its claim. Mr Thakre had asked the
Haryana BJP to do this exercise when its leaders met him
on January 7 after a meeting with the Prime Minister. |
No rift with INLD, says
Swami YAMUNANAGAR, Jan 9 — After the Kargil defeat, the Pakistan government is encouraging terrorism in India. The Union Minister of State for Home, Mr I.D. Swami, while talking to newsmen here yesterday, said the government would take effective steps to control terrorism in India. He claimed that it was due to the government’s policy that terrorism was wiped out earlier and about 75 per cent of the people of Assam exercised their franchise in the previous election. Mr Swami said that there was no rift between the BJP and the Indian National Lok Dal in Haryana over seat-sharing. The issue would be amicably decided shortly, he said. He promised that no teacher would be retrenched in the state. For the employment of ad hoc teachers, 5 per cent additional posts would be provided. Later, addressing a gathering at the annual function of Virender Mohan Geeta Mandir School at Khizrabad, about 30 km from here, said that the RSS member were proud that their colleague, was the Prime Minister and was working for the integrity and unity of the nation. Mr Rattan Lal Kataria, the MP from Ambala constituency, said that even now 50 per cent people were illiterate in India, whereas in Japan there was 85 per cent literacy. The Union Government had decided to double the budget for education. The others who spoke
included the state Convener of the RSS, Mr Darshan Lal
Jain, and Mahant Karam Jeet Singh of Dera Santpura
Yamunanagar. |
Kids involved in
anti-polythene drive ROHTAK: The fight against polythene bags has taken a novel form in this ancient city. Neither is there any invoking of the penal provisions of the statutes by the administration, nor is there any financial involvement on the collection of used polythene bags. Instead thousands of school-going children are showing how each one can help in checking the menace. The genesis of the project lay in the numerous complaints that the district administration has been receiving daily about the choking of sewers. While clearing choked sewers, the administration encountered thousands of polythene bags. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Rajesh Khullar, felt that the solution to the problem lay in ensuring that polythene bags were not mixed with garbage in homes so that these non-biodegradable bags do not find their way into drains and sewers. For creating awareness among the citizens against the mixing of polythene bags with garbage in homes, the Deputy Commissioner sought the help of school-going children. These children ensure that polythene bags do not get mixed in their homes with the rest of the garbage. They act in a very responsible manner and stop their family members from acting in a childish manner when it comes to throwing polythene bags in dustbins. These children collect all the polythene bags discarded by their family members during the week and bring these to school every Saturday. The school have provided space for keeping these bags till the municipal authorities lift it and dump it separately. Over 60,000 children studying in the city's 60 odd schools are participating in this programme launched eight weeks ago. The beauty of the programme is that while it covers a large number of schools scattered all over the town, not a single written communication has been issued by the district authorities in this regard. Nor is there any stereotyped reporting system with built-in financial incentive for any child or school. The principals of all schools view it as a programme which offers an opportunity to prove that they and their teaching faculty are the architects of a new generation. For them it is a fight against bad habits. For a change they are trying to inculcate a good habit amongst elders through their students. The Deputy Commissioner holds weekly meetings with principals of all schools to evolve future strategies for the programme. "Seeds of a revolution have been sown. We are trying to make sure that it grows", says a principal, a member of the core group formed two weeks ago to ensure that the programme does not die down during the vacations. Children are happy to
prove their ability of doing useful social work. Already
approximately 10 quintals of polythene bags have been
collected by the municipal council and dumped in two
separate rooms at Mansarover Park. The Deputy
Commissioner says that the principals' core group will
ensure that the programme picks up after the winter
vacations. |
Teacher selected on forged marks
card ROHTAK, Jan 9 — Maharshi Dayanand University authorities have found that Parveen Kumar, who was selected as a postgraduate teacher in English in Government Senior Secondary School at Gignau (Bhiwani), produced a fake detailed marks card of MA (Eng) The university received a complaint that Praveen Kumar of Pohkarwas village in Bhiwani was selected on the basis of a forged detailed marks card of the university and was serving as a PGT in the village. In an affidavit the complainant alleged that Praveen Kumar in his second chance, got 33,40,41, and 40 marks in the four papers, respectively, in MA (previous) under roll number 59412 in May 1995 and could not secure the minimum passing marks (40 per cent). He further stated that the candidate scored 38,35,39 and 55 marks in the four papers, respectively, in MA (final)under roll number 62099 simultaneously (in May 95). He complained that the candidate could not pass MA (previous) and, therefore, the university did not issue him the marks card for MA (final). However, the candidate allegedly forged the marks card, for seeking a government job. When contacted Dr K C Bharadwaj, Controller of Examinations, said the complaint had been verified. However, he said the university was not at fault as the candidate had forged the detailed marks and the forged the DMC card on his own. The Vice-Chancellor, Lt
Gen O P Kaushik (retd) said a complaint in this
connection had been sent to the government as the
candidate was a government employee. |
‘‘Burger’’
continues’ to haunt him ROHTAK Jan 9 — Burger comes in my dreams and my sleep often gets disturbed". This is what Rajnish Vohra (35), a local resident, has to say about his experiences during seven-day hijack drama at Kandhar. Rajnish employed as a Development Officer in the LIC office here, had gone to Kathmandu along with his wife and three-year old son Aditya, on a holiday. He was coming back to Delhi on the fateful day when the incident took place. While his wife and son were released along with some other passengers at the Dubai airport, Rajnish underwent the trauma of remaining a hostage till December 31. He said the passengers tried to win the hearts of the hijackers and cooperated with them at every step. He said the passengers collected an amount of Rs 73000 within minutes when the hijackers asked them to contribute towards the Afghanistan Government which had been doing its best to secure their release. He said when they came to know about the death of their fellow passenger, Rupin Katyal, on their day of release, they decided to give away the amount collected to his widow. He demanded the
government must take measures to improve security at
airport to prevent such an incident in future. He
welcomed the decision of deploying commandos on all
flights. |
Kadian, Saini join Congress CHANDIGARH, Jan 9 —Five former INLD MLAs, who were expelled from the party by Mr Om Prakash Chautala yesterday, are likely to join the Congress here tomorrow. These leaders are Mrs Krishna Gahlawat, a former Social Welfare minister, Mr Narbir Singh, Mr Brij Mohan Singla, Mr Ramesh Kaushik and Mr Sat Narain Lather. All of them were elected on the HVP ticket in 1996 but they revolted against the former Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, and formed the HVP(D) along with their other 12 colleagues. Later the 14 HVP(D) MLAs joined the INLD after Mr Chautala had taken over as Chief Minister. Meanwhile, Mr Bijender
Singh Kadian, former MLA from Naultha, and Mr Sahib Singh
Saini, former MLA from Kurukshetra, today joined the
Congress. |
Projects to support, sustain kids AMBALA, Jan 9 — As children are the nation’s wealth, it is the moral and legal obligation of society as a whole to protect and develop them so that they can play an important role in building a strong and united nation. A large number of children of the country have remained deprived of basic nutrition, elementary shelter, minimum medical attention and primary education. There is no dearth of starvation, malnutrition, disease and exploitation of street children. The District Child Welfare Council, Ambala, has established a few projects to support, sustain and take care of street children in Kunchband basti , Nahan house and Basti Ram Nagar. These projects are working for the socio-economic uplift of the children dwelling on lanes, pavements and slums, doing manual jobs like shoe polishing, rag-picking, work in hotels, garages and workshops. According to Mr Ram Niwas, Deputy Commissioner, these projects are devoted to improve the lot of the destitute children. As many as 280 such children were identified in a survey conducted prior to establishing these projects. The parents and guardians living below the poverty line compelled these children to work to supplement the family income. These projects provided services to these children consisting of supplementary nutrition, education, health check-ups, non-formal pre-school education, refreshment and recreation. These centres were launched for the care, protection and rehabilitation of the street children under the welfare of street children scheme in the year, 1998. The children are provided elementary education and they have already completed the syllabus of up to second standard. In the next session almost 50 per cent of the children would be admitted to government schools so that they can continue their studies further. Besides, education games and recreational activities are an essential part of the curriculum. Children are provided sports facilities, music instruments to learn music and given dance classes. A team of doctors, including dentists and eye specialists, conduct health camps for the children after every three months. The prescribed medicines are made available to them by the council. As a part of their education and for their enjoyable experience children were out on a one-day tour to Chandigarh and Mahabir Park, Ambala city, recently. The children are also imparted many vocational training in various trades, namely candles making, book covers, artificial flowers and clay toys. In the art and craft field girls are taught sewing and embroidery. The training is
conducted under the auspices of the District Child
Welfare Council, which is affiliated to the Haryana Child
Welfare Council. |
Probe into PWD's working
sought SONEPAT, Jan 9 — Residents of several villages, including sarpanches, panches, members of block and panchayat samitis and zila parishad today urged the state government to order a high-level probe into complaints about the unsatisfactory working of the PWD (B&R) in the district. In a memorandum sent to the state government, a copy of which was released to the Press here, they said this department, which was major agency for development in the district, had allegedly become a den of corruption and the funds meant for the development of the area, particularly those for repairing roads were being allegedly misappropriated by its officials. The memorandum also reiterated the demand for a high-level inquiry into the allotment of supply orders and the alleged irregularities committed while awarding these contracts. It also alleged that the quality of construction work undertaken by the department had gone down during the past few years and the contractors close to ministers as well as MLAs were getting huge supply orders. It was alleged in the memorandum that a huge quantity of coaltar meant for the maintenance of roads in the district, was being sold in the market by some contractors in connivance with some officials of the department. The coat of coaltar put on some roads, especially on the Sonepat-Bahalgarh and Sonepat-Murthal roads, had come off after a few days, thereby causing a huge loss of the state exchequer. It demanded a vigilance
inquiry and immediate transfer of all officials. |
Revision of wages sought SONEPAT, Jan 9 — The Haryana Committee of the Centre of Trade Unions (CITU) today urged the state government to take immediate steps for the revision of wages and fixing Rs 3,500 per month as the salary of a worker in industrial and other sectors in the state. In a press note issued here, it demanded amendments to the Payment of Wages Act for increasing the limits of minimum wages and granting 100 per cent dearness allowance to each worker. It also demanded the enforcement of all labour laws and the Factories Act strictly in each industrial unit and stern action against employers found violating the laws. The union also urged the state government to impose a complete ban on lockouts, layoffs and retrenchment of workers as well as the contract system to safeguard the interests of the working class. It also demanded withdrawal of criminal cases instituted against workers at the behest of employers. It also demanded
immediate preparation of ration cards and photo identity
cards for every worker employed in an industrial unit and
elsewhere. |
SP to field more BC
candidates NARNAUL, Jan 9 — Samajwadi Party will field more candidates from the backward classes in the Haryana assembly elections and will not make any adjustment for any other political party. This was stated by Mr Manohar Lal Saini, president of the Haryana unit of the Samajwadi Party here today. He denied any infighting in the party. He said the party had named only four candidates so far and the rest of the candidates will be declared by January 15 by Mr Surinder Singh, Haryana state general secretary. Mr Saini said his
party's manifesto would lay stress on providing water to
every field, unemployment money, law and order situation
and weed out casteism. He said the party would expose the
deeds of corrupt officials and politicians. |
HAUTA’s plea on pay
scales HISAR, Jan 9 — The Haryana Agricultural University Teachers Association (HAUTA) has expressed resentment against the non-implementation of revised pay scales for professors promoted on and after January 1,1996. The agenda item regarding the cut-off date placed before the Board of Management meeting held recently has been turned down and the matter has been referred to the Indian Council for Agriculture Research (ICAR ) and the state government for clarification and guidelines. HAITA, in a statement here today alleged that this was a delaying tactic on the part of the administration of HAU and the state government. It threatened to start
an agitation if the demand was not met immediately. |
Appointment of Registrar flayed HISAR, Jan 9 — The Haryana Agricultural University Non-Teaching Employees Association has opposed the appointment of a teacher as Registrar of the university. The association, at its emergency meeting here yesterday, said this was the first time in the history of the university that a teacher had been appointed Registrar. It alleged that there were several posts of non-teaching employees where teachers had been appointed by the university authorities. The association, in a resolution, alleged that the authorities were adopting an indifferent attitude towards the non-teaching employees. The association decided
to stage a dharna in front of the office of the
Vice-Chancellor on January 12. |
Youth Cong to burn
Musharraf’s effigy AMBALA, Jan 9 —The Youth Congress, Haryana, will burn the effigy of Gen Pervez Musharraf, Chief Executive of Pakistan, here on January 14, according to Mr Viresh Sandilaya, former Vice-President of the state unit. He said that now it was clear that the hijackers of the Indian Airlines plane from Kathmandu were connected to the ISI. He demanded that Pakistan should be declared a terrorist country. He urged the Prime
Minister to deal Pakistan with an iron hand. He said a
high-level inquiry should be conducted into the lapse
occurred at Amritsar airport on the part of the security
forces. |
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