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| Friday, August 18, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Farmers suffer as truckers, rice millers fight SONEPAT, Aug 17 — Road accidents in this fast growing industrial city have increased considerably during the past few months. Similarly, reports of fatal accidents on the G.T. Road and other state highways come in every day. 10.25 cr for first phase of mini secretariat Fasting HVP leader “attacked”
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Foreigner dupes convent school sisters
Himalayan Queen
gets stuck for 40
minutes 2 killed, 21 injured in mishap Army Chief visits Ambala tomorrow Held for killing
brother, sister-in-law
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Farmers suffer as truckers, rice millers fight PEHOWA, Aug 17 — Paddy growers in the areas of Pehowa and Karnal are suffering because of the ongoing tussle between the truck operators unions and commission agents as well as rice shellers’ owners on the other. Due to tussle between the truck operators union and rice shellers owners in Pehowa, there has been no auction of ‘sathi paddy’ in the market for the past four days. Incensed over the situation, irate farmers of the Pehowa area yesterday blocked traffic on the national highway between Ambala and Pehowa. The farmers blamed the apathetic attitude of the district administration for not booking the truck operators union and resolving the matter. Mr Iqbal Singh, a farmer of Sainsa village, told The Tribune that his paddy had been lying unauctioned for the past four days in Pehowa mandi. Continuous drizzle in the area has also spoiled his heaps of paddy lying in the open. Scores of farmers like him have been suffering due to non-auction. The intervention of the SDM (Pehowa), Mr Gurmit Singh and the District Food Supply Officer in the dispute between the two parties did not bear any fruit till today morning. The traders and rice shellers owners are upset at the arbitrary rates of lifting fixed by the truck operators union. The union members on the other hand have taken exception to the efforts of the mill owners to lift their paddy on tractor traliers from the grain market to their mills. The president of the Rice Sheller Association, Pehowa, and the president of the Arhatis Association alleged that some members of the Truck Operators Union entered the grain market and allegedly misbehaved with rice sheller owners as well as the commission agents. The Truck Operators Union has fixed very high rates from Pehowa to Delhi, Rewari, Jaipur, Kandla, Ismailabad etc. The rice sheller owners and the commission agents find it difficult to pay these rates for lifting the luggage. It may be added that in every city of Haryana, the Truck Operators Union enjoy the patronage of the political powers that be for charging “excessive and arbitrary rates”. In Karnal where such a dispute existed, a meeting between the Truck Operators Union and the commission agents was able to amicably settle the issue last evening. It could be possible because of the effective stand taken by the police, the commission agents and the rice sheller owners. Inside sources in the Truck Operators Union told The Tribune that they were under pressure to charge high rates as they have to pay “under-table money”, to political activists of the ruling party in Haryana. Inquiries by this reporter show that both the INLD and the BJP had given indirect consent their political activists to collect “under-table money” from the truck operators unions. The collection runs into lakhs of rupees from each union in the state. For this, the political activists of the ruling party ensure that the truck operators unions were not unnecessarily harassed by the police and the RTO authorities. Instances of two workers, one each of the INLD and the BJP has come to the notice of this reporter who operate in the Karnal truck operators union for collections. The union members stated that this was the main reason that they had to charge high rates of loading because they had to pay hefty sums to political parties for getting protection. But they admitted that the indirect burden of such payment falls on customers who often are ordinary citizens. Such a situation also leads to frequent confrontations between the truck operators unions and the traders of each city. It has been noticed that the unions hire the services of goons for keeping their relations on even keel with the traders organisations. That was one reason that with the change of every government, the first effort of the political activists of the ruling party in each city, was to take control of the truck operators union by hook or by crook. The truck operators unions are considered to be prosperous grazing grounds of money collection by political activists in each city. This is also responsible for upward increase in fares of goods carriers very frequently in each city. The public is the main sufferer in this drama. |
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Road mishaps on rise in Sonepat SONEPAT, Aug 17 — Road accidents in this fast growing industrial city have increased considerably during the past few months. Similarly, reports of fatal accidents on the G.T. Road and other state highways come in every day. The reasons behind the rising number of accidents are the plying of unauthorised buses, jeeps and three-wheelers without permits, drunken driving, poor maintenance of roads, lack of traffic lights at busy intersections and poor maintenance of buses and trucks. Some of these vehicles don’t have properly working brakes and headlights. Moreover, fast speed of jeeps and three-wheelers is another cause for the accidents. Pedestrians say traffic constables, instead of doing their duty, are busy extorting money from truck drivers. Such scenes can be witnessed everyday at busy intersections. School buses do not observe the Supreme Court guidelines. Rickshaws, overloaded with schoolchildren, are a constant traffic hazard. There is no check on three-wheelers which release fumes beyond permissible limits. A committee of prominent citizens was constituted a few years ago by an SSP to suggest ways and means to control the traffic and check the hazards in Sonepat. Members of this committee had met only once and thereafter no improvement had been seen in connection with the traffic. A police official told this correspondent here yesterday that it was the duty of the RTO to check vehicular pollution but no official had ever checked such vehicles and penalised the bus and other auto-drivers who stopped their buses and other vehicles in the middle of the road to pick up passengers. Meanwhile, district transport officials and the police have been turning a “blind eye” to curb overloading in private buses and jeeps which is posing a serious danger to the lives of thousands of users. Some commuters pointed out that operators of private buses and three-wheelers first pack their vehicles to capacity and then accommodate passengers on rooftops. Passengers going to their places of work during peak hours are often seen travelling on rooftops of private and roadways buses. “It is due to less frequency of buses of the Haryana Roadways available to rural commuters who visit the district headquarters for various reasons,” say many office-goers. The roadways buses are hardly seen on certain routes and the commuters are forced to travel in private buses, they say. The situation on the Sonepat-Gohana route is the worst as no roadways bus plies in accordance with the time-table affixed on the general bus stand in the city and Gohana town. In some cases, officials of the Transport Department are “hands in glove” with private operators as lucrative routes are allotted to them. Many commuters complain that private bus operators are the worst offenders as there is no guarantee whether the driver is trained or not and about the road worthiness of the buses. Moreover, in the absence of fixed duty hours, the drivers are also compelled to work for long hours causing fatigue which at time results in accidents. The poor maintenance of rural roads makes the situation worse, they say. Private buses and jeeps are normally parked on main roads as there is no parking space for them which hampers the free movement of traffic, say a number of shopkeepers of the city. |
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10.25 cr for first phase of mini secretariat CHANDIGARH, August 17 — The Haryana Government has approved Rs 10.25 crore for the first phase of a seven-storeyed mini secretariat building at Gurgaon to be constructed by the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA). While stating this here today, the Town and Country Planning Minister, Mr Dhirpal Singh, said the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, would lay the foundation stone of the building tomorrow. The minister said the need for an administrative block at Gurgaon was felt as the existing building of the judicial complex had no administrative block to accommodate various district-level offices. He said the proposed building had been designed by the Chief Architect of the state government. According to the layout plan, blocks A and C and Core-1 would be seven storeyed and would be covered in the first phase. The building would have a total plinth area of 3,85,970 sq ft. The plinth area covered in the first phase would be 1,28,914 sq ft, Mr Dhirpal Singh said. The minister said the cost approved by the government included provision for internal services in the usual rate. Four per cent of the building cost would be spent for construction of public health infrastructure inside the building, 8 per cent of the cost would be spent for electrict installations and 1 per cent would go for the purpose of land scaping, he said. The basement of the building would have stores and and a parking site for two-wheelers. The ground floor would have a lock-up room, a post office, a bank, a social welfare office, the deputy controller’s office, the civil defence office, the tehsil office, the District Development Officer’s office, the treasury office, the secretary office, a conference hall and the reception with a waiting area. The first floor would house the office and court of the DC as well as the office and court of the SDM. The City Magistrate, the District Revenue Officer, the District Excise and Taxation Commissioner and the Naib Tehsildar would also sit on the first floor. The second floor would house the office of the Tehsildar, the court of the District Revenue Officer, the District Labour Officer, the District Consumers Court and the Excise and Taxation Commissioner. The third floor would have the offices of District Welfare Officer, the Deputy Registrar and the Assistant Registrar of Cooperative Societies, the district development and panchayat office, the computer room and the district station officer. The fourth floor would have the offices of the district town planner, the CID, the SP, vigilance, soil conservation officer and district election officer. |
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Fasting HVP leader “attacked” REWARI, Aug 17 — Indefinite fast at the Moti Chowk here by Mr Vijay Saini, general secretary, of the youth wing of the Haryana Vikas Party and his two other associates Mr Gurcharan and Gopal Das took a serious turn last night when they were reportedly assaulted by anti-social elements armed with lethal weapons. At a crowded press conference at the Moti Chowk here today, the fasting HVP leader Saini informed that the gangsters were led by one Assu Gujjar who, at pistol point, allegedly threatened him that if they did not abandon their indefinite fast against senior officials (D.C. etc.), they would be wiped out. Before leaving the venue, they also removed their ‘anti-administration’ banners and posters. Mr Saini added that he had faxed his representation in this regard to the Governor of Haryana as well as the SP of Rewari seeking protection from such elements and also appropriate action against them. Meanwhile, Mr Ved Prakash Vidrohi, president of the Haryana Pradesh Janata Dal (U) and Mr Raghu Yadav, a former legislator and a prominent BSP leader, have strongly condemned the assault on the fasting persons and also demanded immediate arrest of the gangsters. On the other hand Mr Satya Prakash Ranga, SP, said that he had entrusted the complaint to the city SHO for verification etc and appropriate action would be taken after his report. Simultaneously the Deputy Commissioner-cum-Chairman of the District Red Cross Society Mrs Sunita Mishra has refuted the allegations levelled against the society asserting that they were false and baseless. She also decried that some persons, in their pursuit of cheap popularity, were trying to tarnish the fair name of the Red Cross without any cogent reasons. However the JD (U) leader Mr Ved Prakash Vidrohi challenged her saying that if she was clean and above board she should clarify her position in respect to her two stomestic helps (servants) Manohar and Lachhman who were being allegedly paid their monthly salaries out of the District Red Cross Fund which, he alleged, was a gross misuse of the Red Cross Fund. |
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Insanitation goes from bad to worse SONEPAT: Roads in this fast-growing industrial city, a district headquarter in Haryana, are in bad shape. Most of them are pot-holed and water-logged. Choked sewers throw up sullage, fouling the surroundings. Scavenging and lifting of heaps of garbage are irregular. The stink has become a serious health hazard. Contaminated water is causing water-borne diseases. Parks are in shambles. Street lights are few and most of these are out of order. This reflects the dwindling civic amenities in this city. What is worse is that the authorities continue to be unconcerned. And notwithstanding the well-meaning chairman of the Sonepat Municipal Council and the Divisional Town Planner, who are responsible for the development of the city, none at the lower rungs of the official hierarchy is answerable for the chaotic living conditions, particularly in the Sectors 14, 15, 12 and 23, developed by HUDA more than four decades ago. Residents of Sectors 14 and 15 have been clamouring for an improvement in civic amenities but the authorities invariably turned a blind eye to their plight. They complain that most of the roads are full of pot-holes and the people had to wade through water during rains. They say that a majority of the inner roads need repairs. Drains and sewers are permanently choked. And garbage was not lifted for days. Vacant plots had become a dumping ground for garbage. Almost all the sectors and residential colonies are victims of the multiplicity of authority. The residents complain that they were so dismayed with the living conditions that they feel like shifting out. Almost all residents in Sectors 14 and 15 and other areas have encroached on land around their houses, thanks to the failure of the authorities to check encroachments. * * * Ration shops in this city and other parts of the district have no fixed timings for their opening and closure. This causes great inconvenience to the ration card holders who have to visit them for drawing monthly ration, particularly sugar and kerosene. Many customers allege that the authorities have utterly failed to take any action against the erring owners of fair price shops. While the public distribution system is for the benefit of the poor, getting reasonably good quality rations every month remains a pipe-dream for them despite government claims. For instance, the quality of levy sugar, too, leaves a lot to be desired. The availability of kerosene is no better, with the depot owners tending to divert supplies instead of selling it to ration card holders. But the bane of the public distribution system remains bogus ration cards. * * * Sonepat has been in the headlines since 1951, when Atlas Cycles, the largest bicycle manufacturing concern in the country, was set up. Despite the publicity by successive governments in the state, the district remains neglected and one of the most backward. On paper, there are large-scale industries, medium and small industries and artisan-based cottage and handicrafts industries. But in real life, a majority of the people are landless and debt-ridden, live in penury gaping at the promises made by politicians. As one drives into the interior, one sees a large number of signboards proclaiming the existence of hundreds of small-scale industrial units. But most of them are abandoned and remain closed. The first cause given is that unscrupulous businessmen took bank loans and set up an infrastructure to avail of further loans for working capital and then decided to sit back. The second is because the persons who really wanted to run their units could not get working capital in time or as much as they needed. Many industrialists complain that the District Industries Centre (DIC) has been indifferent towards them and harassing them on one pretext or the other so as to make money. The single-window system introduced by the state government has utterly failed, they allege. Other industrialists complain that not only high government officers of the Industries Department but also local officials had seldom felt inclined to visit the industrial belt to know their difficulties and the problems. But they seldom forget to summon them for collecting various types of funds. A similar situation persists in the industrial belt on the G.T. Road as well as at the Kundli HSIDC complex. Several leading industrialists demanded immediate transfers of all officials of the Industries Department who have had a long stay here and utterly failed to redress their grievances. * * * The menace of monkeys has assumed alarming proportions, owing to the failure of the district authorities to take steps for catch them. The Sonepat Municipal Council and the Forest Department are indifferent to public complaints in this regard and this has caused widespread resentment. The Residents Welfare Association and the Sonepat Citizens Council have urged the state government to take serious note of the public complaints and direct the district authorities to take immediate and effective steps to rid the town of the simian menace.  |
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Foreigner dupes convent school sisters AMBALA Aug 17 — Taking advantage of the kindness and generosity of the Sisters of Convent of Jesus and Mary, Ambala, a foreigner duped them of thousands of rupees last month. The foreigner was nabbed at Shimla last week when he tried to take money from convent Sisters there after narrating them a similar story.
The Principal of Convent Jesus and Mary, Ambala cantonment, Sister Tara, has informed the police that on July 2, at 12.30 she received a call on the phone. The caller stated that he was calling from Chicago and that one of his students was in trouble, injured and lodged with the SP, Ambala City. He asked her to contact the student on his mobile. When she spoke to him, he requested her to meet him at the SP's office but she replied that she could not reach Ambala City. Then the student asked the Sister to speak to the SP. The SP confirmed that he was a foreign student who was robbed while travelling. He was also injured, for which treatment was given to him. According to the student, he was robbed of all his belongings, including his passport, and assaulted while travelling in a truck. He stated that his name was Dens
Omario, a US citizen from Chicago, son of Richard Denzil with passport no. 101010 01 5320. He was sent to the convent with a constable from the SP's office. The sisters also received telephone calls from his Principal, Father Jarard requesting them to help him. Hearing his plight, the sisters arranged for his journey to Delhi with an escort. He was wearing blue pants with many pockets, which housed all his belongings (his mobile phone, adaptor, diary, pens etc) a printed light brownish long-sleeved shirt. He had long hair which was tied in a pony tail, with a multi-coloured hair band and huge sun-glasses. On reaching Delhi and the airport, he called again, asking for more money for his flight. They then requested a friend in Delhi to oblige, Sister Tara said. He had a mobile phone on which the sister spoke to him. In the long-distance call from his Principal, it was promised that the money would be sent immediately from Chicago via Calcutta within two days. "However, we did not receive any money. I am disheartened to say that the foreigner has taken undue advantage of our kindness and generosity," Sister Tara told The Tribune. On August 12, Sister Tara received a call from Shimla, informing that a youth was caught trying to cheat the Sisters in the same manner. "When I reached Shimla, I realised that the cheat had changed his appearance, but he was definitely the same person. Now, he claimed that he was Max from Ethiopia. He admitted that he had cheated us," Sister Tara said. Sister Tara stated that the only reason she was agreeing to talk to the The Tribune was to ensure that others are not duped like her. "I do not want others to be taken for a ride. People should be cautious," she said. According to the Inspector-General of Police, Ambala Range, Mr H. S. Ahlawat, people should be careful and not give money to strangers, until they are 100 per cent sure of the person's antecedents. "Our advise to the public is that to avoid falling prey to cheats, you must cross-check about the person. Also, if they have been cheated, they must come forward and inform the police so that the case against the cheat can be strengthened and others do not fall victim to them," he said. |
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Himalayan Queen
gets stuck for 40
minutes AMBALA Aug 17
— Traffic on the Ambala-Kalka railway section was affected for about
40 minutes as the Himalayan Queen Express train got stuck in a neutral
power section yesterday. The Himalayan Queen Express train (4095)
from New Delhi bound for Kalka got detained for 40 minutes between
Ambala cantonment and Dhulkot due to the train getting stuck in a
neutral section near the Jail bridge. The train had an electric
engine and near the Jail bridge there was a neutral section which was
an unenergised section maintained for separation of phases with the
single-phase supply given to overhead equipment (OHE) from the
three-phase distribution network, a railway official said. He
explained that there was a speed restriction due to construction work
of road overbridge at that location. The speed was very low while
approaching the neutral section and there was a cattle on the track.
The driver was forced to apply brakes which led to the electric engine
getting stuck in a neutral section. The railway official said that a
diesel engine was rushed to the spot for pushing the train and
clearing the neutral section. The Shatabdi train heading for
Chandigarh was delayed by about 20 minutes due to the Himalayan Queen
train getting stuck. The Shatabadi train on a routine run crosses
Ambala city at 10.10 a.m. but due to the delay it crossed Ambala city
at 10.30 a.m. Traffic was restored on the Ambala-Kalka section.
However, people disembarked and were forced to catch buses from the GT
road which runs close to the point where the Himalayan Queen train had
come to a halt. The passengers who had alighted from the Himalayan
Queen train said that they were going to take buses. |
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2 killed,
21 injured in mishap KALKA Aug 17
— Two persons were killed and 21 injured when a bus and a truck
collided head-on near Datyiar village, 12 km from here, on Kalka-Shimla highway today. According to information, a Pepsu
Roadways bus (PB-11L-3714) was on its way from Patiala to Shimla when
it collided with the truck coming from the opposite direction. A woman
passenger Parveen died on the spot, while her four-year-old daughter
was injured, who was rushed to PGI, Chandigarh. On receiving the
information of the accident, the Assistant Commissioner of Parwanoo,
Mr Sanjay Sharma, and the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Mr Sanjeev
Lakhan Pal, rushed to the site. The injured were admitted to ESI
Hospital. Later, the SDM, Solan, Mr Rakesh Dhiman, provided financial
help of Rs 10,000 to the family of the deceased. A passenger, Mr
Subash, who had been sent to the PGI in serious condition, was given
Rs 5,000, while Rs 1,000 each was given to two passengers and Rs 500
each to the other injured passengers on the spot by the SDM. The
driver of the bus, Paramjit Singh, alias Pammi, who was trapped in
this seat, was taken out with great effort. He was rushed to the PGI,
Chandigarh, where he succumbed to his injuries. The conductor of the
bus, Mr Bhag Singh, said the truck (HR-37-0948) was speeding and was
on the wrong side. Consequently, it collided with the bus. The
conductor has also been admitted to ESI Hospital. Passengers who have
been referred to the PGI are Gurmukh Singh, Succha Singh, Hari Mohan,
Vikram Chopra and Neetu. The passengers who have been admitted in ESI
Hospital are S.M. Patel and his wife Heera Bai Patel (residents of
Ahmedabad), Anil Kumar, Ram Singh (Lathi Kumaharsain), Balbir Singh (Othi
Kumarsain) Sonu Pal (Balipur, U.P.), Bhag Singh, bus conductor, (Majri,
Kharar), Amko Devi (Nali, Kasauli), Kuldeep Lal (Batala), Sunil (Dev
Paryag, Garhwal), Devi Lal, Deep Dutt (Mangarh, Sirmour) and a
13-year-old child. The driver of the truck fled from the scene. The
police has registered a case under Sections 279, 337 and 304-A of the
IPC. The SDM and the CMO, Dr L.B. Purohit, visited the hospital and
met the injured. |
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Army Chief visits Ambala tomorrow AMBALA Aug 17 — The Chief of the Army Staff, Gen V.P. Malik, will arrive at Ambala cantonment on his farewell visit on August 19. General Malik will be accompanied by Mrs Ranjana
Malik, President of the AWWA. The Chief of the Army Staff will address all ranks of 2 Corps at a sainik sammelan at Kharga Stadium. He will also be taken round the station and shown various institutes and facilities created for the welfare of troops, a release
said. Mrs Malik will attend a family welfare meeting being organised in her honour where she will interact with families of officers, JCOs and other ranks. A special function is also being organised at Sirhind Club in honour of Mrs Ranjana
Malik. Meanwhile, security continued to be tight in the cantonment area. With Independence Day having passed off peacefully, security is back to normal in other areas. Checking of identity cards with photographs is on and mobile patrolling is being undertaken to ensure that there is no untoward incident during the visit of the Chief of the Army Staff. |
| Held for
killing brother, sister-in-law HISAR, Aug 17 — The police yesterday arrested Jai Pal, who had shot dead his younger brother Raj Parkash and his wife Usha at Agroha village on August 11. The Suprintendent of Police Mr Sandeep Khirwar, said that the rifle, used in the crime, was also recovered from him. He claimed that the police had recovered stolen property worth Rs one lakh. The police nabbed Rajesh Kumar from the Green Park here on August 14 while he was stealing a scooter. The police recovered a motorcycle which was taken away by two youths from one Deepak Chawla at gun-point on August 9. Mr Khirwar said that the police had found the scooter belonging to the accountant of a trading firm of
Hansi. The scooter was taken away at gun point by two youths. They also took away Rs 1.80 lakh lying in the scooter’s tool box. No money was found from the recovered scooter. |
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