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| Tuesday, February 8, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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Encroachments shrink roads Teachers to continue stir
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Hav Bhim
Singh cremated Salaries sought for college
employees Parallel rail catering service
alleged Probe sought into death of Dalit
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Poll sans concrete issues HISAR, Feb 7 — While the Kargil issue had come handy for the political parties, particularly those belonging to the National Democratic Alliance, (NDA) during the last Lok Sabha elections, this time most of the parties are finding it difficult to beat a convincing trumpet to appeal the voters. As an example in the election manifesto of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), there is nothing new. The people do not expect anything new either. During the 1996 election, the Haryana Vikas Party of Mr Bansi Lal won on the prohibition issue, which saw Mr Bansi Lal in power. It is different matter that the popularity did not last long, as the prohibition proved to be a complete failure. In the bargain, Mr Bansi Lal also lost his image of "builder of Haryana", as his tenure did not usher any development. Rather the State went backwards, with worst roads and poor power supply. Probably having learnt a lesson from the miserable failure of Mr Bansi Lal no political party seems to be prepared to risk such promises, which it may not be able to fulfil. Even the INLD has backed off from the promise of free water and electricity to farmers. The BJP which is contesting from 29 constituencies also finds it difficult to pick up an issue that could be as appealing as the Kargil issue, which led the party to a dreamlike performance. Since the assembly election is being fought purely on different issues, the BJP appears to be in a fix. Nor there is the issue of Ms Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin. According to party sources the BJP is likely to make the Sutlej Yamuna Link canal, its main political issue during the elections. This will be substantiated with the Cauvery Water dispute settlement which the BJP claims could be solved only by Mr Vajpayee. And the same will be done here also, they claim. For the Congress, the things are no better, either. The party, before searching for an issue has to project a united face to the electorate. The unity moves got a severe drubbing during the ticket distribution process, where factionalism within the PCC came to the fore. Moreover, like other parties, it is plagued with the rebel candidates. Each candidate is campaigning in his own way touching only local issues, with a common theme that "there is a Congress wave in Haryana." While the INLD is
trumpeting the theme of its "achievements"
during the last six months, the Congress has picked up a
similar thread, "exposing the failures of the
Chautala government" during the period. Instead of
any positive issues, the election is being fought on
negative issues, with mud slinging at its worst. Except
for criticising and condemning others randomly, the
parties have nothing else to tell the people, while
pleading for votes. A tune that appeals not many. |
Fierce contest likely ROHTAK, Feb 7 — Following the withdrawal of nomination papers by many contenders, the Kiloi, Meham and Kalanaur constituencies in this district may witness fierce contest between the Congress and INLD-BJP alliance candidates. The Rohtak and Hassangarh constituencies are likely to have triangular contests as former minister Subhash Batra and liquor baron Naresh Malik are also in the fray as independent candidates in these constituencies, respectively. Both have pockets of influence in their respective constituencies and may pose challenge to the Congress and INLD-BJP alliance candidates. The number of contestants in the five Assembly segments that form part of the district has drastically come down from 118 in 1996 to only 52 in the current elections. This decline in the number of contestants is attributed to the steep hike in the security deposit amount (Rs 5000 from Rs 250 in 1996) and preference given to the candidates of the registered parties by the voters. Although 13 candidates are in the fray in the prestigious Kiloi constituency, the battle royal will be fought between the Pradesh Congress chief and Congress nominee, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, and the INLD nominee, Mr Dharam Pal, Chairman Zila Parishad. The INLD has changed its
candidate from this constituency, which it considers
prestigious for the party supremo and Chief Minister, Om
Prakash Chautala. Similarly, the Congress too, has
changed its nominee and fielded its state president in a
bid to capture the seat from the INLD. In the 1996
Assembly elections, both the INLD (then Samta Party) and
the Congress had fielded Mr Sri Kishan Hooda and Mr
Krishna Murti Hooda. |
42 left in Ambala electoral
fray AMBALA, Feb 7 — Only 42 candidates are left in fray for the five assembly segments of Ambala cantonment, Ambala City, Naraingarh, Mullana and Naggal after the withdrawal of nominations by 13 candidates on the last date of withdrawal of nominations today. According to an Election Department official, while there were no withdrawals from Ambala Cantonment, the maximum number of withdrawals took place in the Ambala City. From the Naraingarh Assembly segment, Mr Gulab Singh and Mr Praveen Kumar Nirankari, both Independents, withdrew their nominations. In the Mullana Assembly segment, three candidates opted out of the electoral fray. They are Mr Rajbir, Mr Satpal and Mr Suresh Pal, all Independent candidates. Five candidates from the Ambala City Assembly segment withdrew their nominations. They are Mr Dharampal Kalia, Mr Brij Lal, Mr Shiv Prasad, Mr Sukhdev Singh and Mr Amarjit. The Naggal Assembly segment saw the withdrawal of nominations by Mr Kuldip Singh, HVP, Mr Gursher Singh, NCP and Ms Naib Kaur, Independent. A total of 70 candidates
filed their nominations, out of which 15 candidates were
rejected after scrutiny of their nomination papers. With
the withdrawal of 13 candidates, the total number of
candidates in the five assembly segments of Ambala City,
Naggal, Ambala Cantonment, Naraingarh and Mullana has now
come down to 42. |
Dua banks on women voters AMBALA, Feb 7 — Ms Sudershna Dua, the Congress candidate for the Ambala Cantonment assembly segment, is banking upon women voters to help her win the election. Talking to newspersons here last night, Ms Dua said she was reaching out to the electorate of the area and claimed that she was receiving enthusiastic support from women voters. "There is widespread support for me and women voters have told me that they have faith in me," she added. Ms Dua skirted the issue of unhappiness expressed by some local Congressmen over her candidature. "The party high command believes that I can win the seat and so I have been given the ticket. I have got the support of all Congressmen of the area," she said. She said her contest was directly with the BJP candidate, Dr K.D. Sharma. "With the support of people from all walks of life, I am going to win," Ms Dua claimed. Ms Dua, who is President
of the Municipal Council of Ambala Cantonment, said her
experience as an administrator would go a long way in
ensuring development for the area. "I know the
problems of the people and I can redress their
grievances," she stated. |
BJP promises progress AMBALA, Feb 7 — Dr K.D. Sharma, the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate for the Ambala Cantonment assembly segment, addressed a meeting of the ex-servicemen association at Mahesh Nagar here today. The meeting was also addressed by Mr Risal Singh, according to a press note. Dr Sharma addressed about 8 meetings in and around the area. At the meeting organised by property dealers, Dr Sharma was told that they had been facing problems from the authorities. Dr Sharma assured them that he would look into the matter. At a public meeting
organised in Ward 7 of Mahesh Nagar, Dr Sharma and Mr
Ratan Lal Kataria, a BJP MP, assured the people that if
Dr Sharma comes to power, progress would be greater as
both the MLA and the MP would be from the same party. Mr
Kataria also addressed persons belonging to backward
classes in Ward 3 during campaigning. |
100 booths in Ambala
sensitive AMBALA, Feb 7 — As many as 100 polling booths in Ambala district have been declared sensitive and hyper-sensitive. The highest number of hyper-sensitive polling booths fall in the Naggal constituency where Congress leader Nirmal Singh and youth leader of the INLD Jaswir Malour are contesting the Assembly poll. According to the Superintendent of Police, Ambala, Mr Navdeep Singh Virk, in Naraingarh, there are 22 hyper-sensitive booths while in Mulana there are 24, in Ambala cantonment 13 and Ambala City 10 booths. Mr Virk said that
additional police force would be deployed at these
sensitive booths. |
Candidates go out canvassing PANCHKULA, Feb 7 — The Bharatiya Janata Party alleged that the Congress party was known for talking about development in the state and township when it was out of power, while during its regime it worked only to promote its own interests rather than carrying out any public works or addressing public grievances. The BJP candidate for the Kalka seat, Mr Sham Lal Bansal, said that the Congress had been harping on transforming the township into Paris of India but done little to fulfil it. He further alleged that it had failed to redress genuine public grievances. Also, there was an urgent need to provide roads, bridges, drinking water, electricity and employment to the villagers. Mr Bansal addressed public meetings at Madana and Morni and a joint meeting of the workers of the BJP and INLD was held at Kalka. Meanwhile, Mr Chander Mohan, Congress candidate from the seat, criticised the BJP for non-performance when it was in power as an ally of the Haryana Vikas Party and then the Indian National Lok Dal. He said that the main aim of the party was to remain in power, whoever the partner, and irrespective of the policies and programmes of the other. He stated that the problems of transport, unemployment of youth and the land problem of the Morni area would be resolved if the Congress came to power. He also addressed a meeting in Sector 15 where he stated that the Regional Centre of Kurukshetra University and other institutes of higher education would be opened in the township to promote education, a press note issued by his press secretary said here today. Earlier, he opened
election offices at Pinjore, Morni and Barwala. |
Four withdraw names PANCHKULA, Feb 7—Four persons withdrew their names from the election fray on the day of withdrawal on nomination papers here today. Two persons named Mr Sham Lal Bansal and one by the name of Mr Chander Mohan, all independents, withdrew their names along with Mr Jagdish Kashyap, another independent. This leaves 10 candidates in the fray for the Kalka assembly seat. The Returning Officer also allotted election symbols to all the candidates today. In the category of
independents, Mr Bal Kishan Sarwan gets a chair as the
symbol, Mr Devender Singh gets maize. Mr Pritam Singh has
been allotted the symbol of a woman carrying a pot on her
head, Mr Satbir Singh gets a kettle. Mr Sadhu Singh has
been allotted a bus and Mr Harminder Singh has got a
basket. |
Encroachments shrink roads SONEPAT, Feb 7 — Roads are getting narrower with each passing day in this fast growing industrial city. Thanks to the failure of the district administration, particularly the PWD (B&R), Sonepat Municipal Council and the HUDA, to check the encroachment menace in the town. Both shopkeepers and residents are encroaching upon the public and municipal land in front of their shops and houses. Concrete structures, signboards and sprawling merchandise on pavements make walking difficult for pedestrians. In almost all residential areas, it is the hedges, barbed wires and concrete structures that hog the roads. On visiting these areas, one found that some residents had grabbed public and municipal land by landscaping the area, while others had planted saplings on the edges of the roads. The intrusion on pavements had often led to accidents in congested lanes. Motorists find it difficult to pass through the roads as many vehicles are parked on both sides of the road. The shopkeepers have a tough time passing through congested markets. One cannot even walk through these bazaars easily. Repeated anti-encroachment campaigns had proved futile because they were carried out either half-heartedly or were biased against certain traders and shopkeepers. During the last week, the authorities of the PWD (B&R) had shown their biased action while removing encroachments on the public land on the road between Gita Bhawan (city) and Purkhas Adda. They had removed almost all encroachments on both sides of the road but left some of them and their such action had become a subject of public criticism. Last year, the police department had set up a traffic suggestion committee comprising the senior police officials and prominent residents of the city to suggest ways and means for the easy flow of the traffic on the main roads passing through the city. Non-official members of the committee had suggested a number of steps to be taken for the smooth flow of traffic during the peak hours but these steps could not be taken in view of the shortage of traffic policemen. Owners of hotels, restaurants and banquet halls have also grabbed public land on the Atlas Road. The nuisance has become so acute that the wooden stalls have come on the roads. Residents alleged that
the land grab was done in a systematic manner with the
help of politicians and bureaucrats. The anti-social
elements too are involved in the land grab. |
Teachers to continue stir HISAR, Feb 7 — The Haryana Agricultural University Teachers Association (HAUTA) has decided to continue their indefinite dharna in front of the administrative block of the university to demand the implementation of revised pay scale to professors promoted on or after January 1, 1996. The dharna by the teachers continued on the 17th day today. The demand is still pending for want of cut off date from the ICAR. A delegation of HAUTA met the Director-General, ICAR, Dr R.S. Prode recently and impressed upon him to decide about the cut-off date immediately. The delegation also discussed with the Commissioner and Secretary Agriculture, Haryana, Mr Naseem Ahmad, and the HAU administration about the revision of pay scales to these professors. According to a spokesman of HAUTA, the Commissioner assured that he will try to get the issue resolved within a fortnight. The Vice-Chancellor, Mr Vinay Kumar also assured that all possible efforts will be made to persuade the ICAR for an early decision regarding cut-off date. The HAUTA delegation also discussed with Mr Ahmad other issues pertaining to pay scale revision and anomalies like, grant of two advance increments to Asst Professors (senior scale) when they move to Associate Professor scale of 12000-18300, benefit of two years service to in-service teachers as and when they acquire Ph.D degree; grant of four advance increments to Asst Professors joined before January 1, 1996 with Ph.D degree at the time of recruitment, inclusion of feeder cadre under career advancement scheme. HAUTA has threatened to
intensified their agitation if the demand were not
accepted within a weak. |
Surgery a rarity at this
hospital FATEHABAD: The functioning of the local 60-bed general hospital is being adversely affected due to apathy of the authorities. Although the hospital has on its staff specialists from almost all faculties of medicine and surgery, it has failed to provide proper medicare facilities due to the indifferent attitude of the authorities. Despite being equipped with an operation theatre, patients are unable to undergo surgery and have to go to private clinics which are costly. The hospital has as many as 11 doctors, including seven specialists which include two general surgeons, two orthopaedic surgeons, an eye surgeon, a gynae surgeon and an anaesthetist. But due to lack of interest of the authorities, hardly is a surgical operation done there. Poor patients have to pay through the nose by going to private clinics for routine surgical operations. Interestingly, the authorities used to give the excuse that as there was no anaesthetist, surgical operation could not be done. But now after a year, an anaesthetist joined the hospital, but still surgical operations are not done on one pretext or the other. The hospital authorities used to give the alibi that Boyle’s apparatus was out of order. But now when the apparatus has been set right after delay, the reason given is that the circuit for the apparatus is not available. In the absence of proper facilities for anaesthesia, not much surgical work is done and hundreds of poor patients have to spend a lot of money on getting operated at private nursing homes. Sanitation is another
casualty. Not to speak of general wards, even private
wards of the hospital are in bad sanitary condition. The
toilets are stinking. The people fail to understand why
the administration has not taken effective steps to
improve the working of the hospital when the local people
have been complaining about since long. |
Hav Bhim Singh cremated JIND, Feb 7 — The body of Havildar Bhim Singh (38), who lost his life on January 31 in an encounter with Pakistan-backed militants in the Kashmir valley, was consigned to flames with state and military honours at his native Malvi village in Jind district yesterday. He was posted in the Armed Service Corps of Battalion No 5131 at Srinagar. According to Army sources, Havildar Bhim Singh was on patrol duty on the night of January 31 when he was attacked by militants. A bullet hit the havildar. He was taken to a military hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. A large number of
villagers attended his funeral. Mr Amar Nath,
Sub-Divisional Officer (Civil), and Mr Samay Singh, DSP
were present on behalf of state and district
administration. Other persons who attended the funeral
include Mr Satnarain Lathar, former Haryana minister, Mr
Sher Singh retired IGP and Mr Suraj Bhan Kajal, former
MLA. |
Salaries sought for college
employees AMBALA, Feb 7 — The Haryana Non-Government College Principals Association has demanded that the salaries of the employees of private colleges should be released at the earliest. Dr D.P. Asija, President of the association, has urged the Chief Minister, Mr O.P. Chautala, to release the salaries. He also said most of the employees of these colleges had not been paid their salaries for the past three months, according to a press note issued here. The government was also requested to release the arrears of salaries in the revised pay scales immediately. “These arrears are long overdue but there are not sufficient funds in the colleges for making these payments,” Dr Asija said. He urged the government
to implement the rules of leave encashment as applicable
in non-government aided schools of Haryana. He also
requested the Kurukshetra University to hold the meeting
of the screening committee at the earliest so that the
pending cases of senior scales and selection grade be
cleared, the note said. |
Parallel rail catering service
alleged PANIPAT, Feb 7 — A parallel rail catering service is being operated on the Panipat-Delhi sector allegedly with the blessing of the railway staff, RPF, GRP and others. Nearly 100 youth under the supervision of a group leader are operating on this sector allegedly with the moral support of railway officials. Commuters are being supplied unhygienic and semi-cooked food by these youth. These unauthorised vendors travel without ticket on various trains inflicting revenue loss of lakhs of rupees to the Northern Railway. These unauthorised
vendors are not in a position to sell unhygienic food
products without the group leader's blessings and in
return they have to pay Rs 30 to Rs 60 daily to the group
leader. |
Probe sought into death of
Dalit SONEPAT, Feb 7 — A large number of Dalits and backward classes people took out a procession here yesterday in protest against the death of Rajpal, a Dalit, of Baroli village on December 29 in the Rai police station of this district. Carrying placards and raising anti-police slogans the agitators marched through the main bazaars of the city and reached the mini secretariat where they submitted a memorandum to Mr Dharampal, SDM. The memorandum demanded a CBI inquiry and a compensation for the family of the victim. Earlier, the wife of the
victim had sent a memorandum to the Chief Minister. She
alleged that her husband was picked up from the village
in connection with a theft and taken to the Rai police
station where he was thrashed mercilessly. When his
condition became serious, the police had let him off in
the village by a jeep. Thereafter he died on December 29. |
briefs
She
is banking on women voters BJP candidate
denies rumours BJP workers
oppose party candidate HVP, INLD men
join Cong Election office
inaugurated Bhajan
Lal’s claim Rebel INLD man
withdraws |
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