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| Saturday, September 2, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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22 improvement trusts revived CHANDIGARH, Sept 1— The Haryana Government today revived 22 improvement trusts for the development of towns in the state. A decision to this effect was taken at a Cabinet meeting held here today under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala. Police to set up special cells Exercise to impress Abhey HVPN told to change
transformers, poles Plan for subway
in Faridabad |
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National Award
for 7 teachers Rs 10 lakh looted
from office Held for
murdering woman, child Govt college for
Badli Conditions for cotton
crop ‘good’ REC teachers to resume stir |
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22 improvement
trusts revived CHANDIGARH, Sept 1— The Haryana Government today revived 22 improvement trusts for the development of towns in the state. A decision to this effect was taken at a Cabinet meeting held here today under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala. The trusts will be revived at Ambala City, Yamunanagar, Jagadhri, Karnal, Panipat, Jind, Kaithal, Rohtak, Hisar, Bhiwani, Mandi Dabwali, Gurgaon, Sonepat, Sirsa, Hansi, Fatehabad, Charki Dadri, Palwal, Rewari, Thanesar, Narnaul and Narwana. The trusts will have seven members each out of which the state government will nominate five, including the Chairman, the District Town Planner and three members from the public. The Cabinet also approved the proposal of the Local Government Department to regularise 13 unauthorised colonies inhabited by members of the weaker section at Ambala Sadar. It was also decided by the Cabinet to exempt those importers from the levy of local area tax who make payment in lumpsum in lieu of sales tax under the provisions of the Haryana General Sales Tax Act, with effect from May 5, 2000. The Cabinet also decided to provide proportional relief to importers who sell goods manufactured by them by direct export from India. This decision, which would replace the earlier provision of the exemption given to export-oriented units selling 75 per cent of their produce abroad, would also be effective from May 5, 2000. The Cabinet rejected the proposal of the Excise and Taxation Department to impose sales tax on paddy at the hands of arhtiyas. The proposal was to come into effect from today. Following its rejection, paddy would be taxed as per the existing provision. The Cabinet approved the draft of the Haryana Panchayati Raj (Second Amendment) Bill, 2000. According to the amendment, every gram sabha will hold two general meetings of one-month duration each, commencing on May 15 and November 15, respectively. The date and time of the meetings would be fixed by the Block Development Officer and the Panchayat Officer. The Cabinet also approved the proposal of the Revenue Department to exempt the private placement of bonds amounting to Rs 200 crore in favour of the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam from the levy of stamp duty. A sum of Rs 2 crore raised on this account so far would be used to meet the requirement of the HVPN. The Cabinet also declared as surplus the land of the old Primary Health Centre, Mullana, Ambala district, to facilitate the construction of the office building of the Sub-Tehsil, Mullana, free of cost. The land measures 9 kanals and 2 marlas. |
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Police to set up special cells GURGAON, Sept 1 — Peeved over the reported attitude of the public prosecutors in not making themselves accountable to the police authorities in matters relating to legal proceedings in criminal
cases, the police authorities are contemplating setting up of special cells consisting of personnel who will follow the prosecutions. The police is also planning to approach the government to work out a way for better coordination between the two sides, especially when the prosecutors are its employees and the police is working as its agency. The
plan, if put in place, has the potential to be replicated in the entire state as the police authorities are reported to be feeling the pinch in all districts on account of the changed equation between police-public prosecutors after the 1973 amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code (Cr PC). The Inspector-General of Police, Gurgaon range, Mr Ranjeev Dalal, in charge of Gurgaon, Faridabad, Rewari and Mahendergarh and considered to have piloted a number of reforms in police administration, said the move to set up special cells had been necessitated on account of the district attorneys and their juniors not keeping the authorities posted of details of the trials in the courts.This was proving to be a major impediment in the functioning of the police while dealing with criminals. To start with the special cells in the Gurgaon range may be set up in Gurgaon and Faridabad. Mr Dalal expressed anguish over the low rate of convictions of criminals. He further said in a number of cases there was inordinate delays in starting of the court proceedings against the
criminals. This had sometime led to a law and order problem. A case in point was a recent broad days light murder of Manoj Malik, a local property dealer. Malik was pursuing a court case with regard to murder of his
brother. He had to pay the price as he would not relent in his pursuance against the criminals. He was getting threats before he was finally liquidated. The IG said the murder could have been avoided had the court proceedings been at a faster pace. He said it was not practically possible to provide security cover to a large number of people in such cases. According to the police
authorities, the amendment to the CrPC made the public prosecutors in the districts accountable to the district and sessions judge concerned. Another senior police officer said there had been occasions when the public prosecutors had made it bluntly known to the authorities that they were not accountable to them. There were occasions when lot of planning was involved for the success of the prosecution in sensitive cases. The hardened criminals resort to all kinds of tricks to give a slip to the prosecution
side. In such a situation a lot of coordination between the police and the prosecutors was called for. The anomalous situation has led to further
incongruities. With the public prosecutors not willing to subject themselves to the administrative authorities, the lower staff of the police visiting the courts have started showing signs of inertia and lacklustre approach to the prosecution. Here
again, the authorities on a number of occasions remain in the dark on the progress of the cases in the
courts. A number of times the lower-level staff are not adept to understand the nuances and the technical points in court cases. The special cell envisaged was with an aim to abridge the gap. The members of the cell were expected to gain expertise and prepare dossiers on the status of the cases pending in various
courts. The dossiers might also be used by the authorities to take up the matter with the quarters concerned to make the prosecution more effective. |
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Exercise to impress Abhey GURGAON,Sept 1 — Abhey Singh, INLD MLA from the Rori Assembly constituency and son of Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, today defended the government’s modalities of recruitment of constables in the state, saying that it was transparent. Mr Abhey Singh, who was here today to inaugurate an apartment complex of employees of Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) here, said the recruitment policy was such that there was no room for any irregularity. The policy was better than that of the earlier Congress and Haryana Vikas Party governments, he added. The striking feature of Mr Abhey Singh’s visit was that it had almost all trappings of a visit by the Chief Minister. A number of INLD MLAs and prominent party workers were seen straining to draw his attention or physically inch closer towards him. Even senior officers of the district were present on the occasion, making it obvious that Mr Abhey Singh was a very important visitor. The entire paraphernalia of the Public Relations Department went into overdrive. Although Mr Abhey Singh is only an MLA the security network woven around his visit was likely to make senior members of the Cabinet of Mr Chautala green with envy. According to observers, the red carpet welcome and the hype surrounding the visit of Mr Abhey Singh as a son of the Chief Minister was nothing new. This is also the case with his elder brother and MP, Mr Ajay Singh. This was also the case with Mr Surender Singh when his father, Mr Bansi Lal was the Chief Minister. The frills were equally ostentatious during the visits of the sons of Mr Bhajan Lal when he was the Chief Minister. According to observers, the only difference is that the trend is getting intensified with each passing visit of the sons of the incumbent Chief Minister. Talking to newspersons at a “press conference” fixed by the organisers of the visit, Mr Abhey Singh said Gurgaon would soon be one of the centres known for academic and vocational studies. He said the starting of the National Law Centre indicated the drift. He asserted that the number of projects that had been planned for Gurgaon during the short stint of power of the INLD was equal to all years of rule by the opponents of the INLD since Haryana was carved out from Punjab. Mr Abhey Singh, who is also the president of the Haryana unit of the Indian Olympic Association, said the government was sensitive to the standard of the games and need of the players in the state. The government’s new policy on sports was progressive and its beneficial impact would be discernible from next year. He alleged that so far sports activities in the villages were organised by the panchayats only on paper. The Deputy Speaker of the Haryana Assembly, Mr Gopi Chand Gehlot, hosted a sumptuous breakfast, which was served by personnel of the Haryana Tourism, for the dignitary. The only thing unpalatable was that the guest remained far from the madding crowd. While many had come with some grievances, a large number had simply come to register their attendance. An impressive sandalwood garland and token gift were presented to the dignitary on the occasion. |
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HVPN told to change
transformers, poles ROHTAK, Sept 1 — The “darbar” held by the Deputy Commissioner today in Kiloi village proved to be a blessing for HVPN consumers as on the spot orders were issued for the replacement of damaged transformers and electric poles. The HVPN officials had allegedly not been taking these demands seriously as nearly 93 per cent of the total 1,746 consumers in the village had not paid their electricity bills for the past several years. These defaulting consumers owed Rs 290 lakh to the HVPN and had been frustrating the efforts of the HVPN in recovering the outstanding bills. The darbar was held at Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Kiloi, 16 km from here. The 578 students were given a holiday today in order to provide space for setting up offices of various departments in the school building. The smartly-dressed scouts of the adjoining Boys Senior Secondary School were seen serving water and tea to the officials and guiding the people to various departments. The help rendered by these scouts was appreciated not only by the officials but also by the people who had visited the ‘darbar’ to seek redressal of their grievances. Interestingly, most of the villages visited the darbar to get their names included in the list of persons below the poverty line. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Rajesh Khullar, ordered the DRDA authorities to verify the claims of these applicants on the spot and issue “yellow ration cards” before winding up in the evening. Similarly, instructions were issued to the officials dealing with cases of old age pensions, pension for widows. Long queues of applicants and litigants could be seen outside the camp office of the Deputy Commissioner, the Chief Medical Officer and the Tehsildar. Applicants seeking driving licenses were also seen. Surprisingly, no senior police official, including the Senior Superintendent of Police or Deputy Superintendent of Police, was present in the ‘darbar’. The Police Department was represented by SHO, Sadar Police Station. As such the room earmarked for the office of the Senior Superintendent of Police presented a deserted look. The darbar, however, also proved to be a blessing for 25-year old widow, Darshna Devi, when the Deputy Commissioner ordered the Secretary, Red Cross Society to pay Rs 300 per month to the widow for the next six months. Darshna Devi, had lost her husband at a very young age and was living with her mother. Her father, an ex-serviceman had reportedly lost mental balance and the family had no other source of income. |
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Plan for subway
in Faridabad FARIDABAD, Sept 1 — The National Highway Authority is likely to take up the project of constructing a subway and an intensive improvement plan worth about Rs 6 crore in the near future to improve the safety conditions on the stretch of the highway passing from here. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Anand Mohan Sharan, told The Tribune here today the estimate and proposals with regard to the project had already been submitted to the authorities concerned. He said as the volume of traffic on the highway and the town roads crossing it had increased considerably it was important to construct a subway near the old Faridabad railway station crossing where the traffic was maximum. He said the subway would not only decongest the traffic but it would also reduce the chance of accidents. Mr Sharan said while the estimated cost of the subway had been about Rs 2.50 crore an amount of another Rs 2.5 crore had been proposed for putting up grills on both sides of the central verge of the highway passing through Faridabad and Ballabgarh town. He said the pedestrians, two-wheelers and animals crossing the central verge had become a major cause of accidents on the highway. He said another project of stonelaning the verge which was worth about Rs 80 lakh was also on the cards. He said a new overbridge connecting the new industrial township with the urban sectors was likely to be completed very soon. He said the construction of this flyover, which was done by a private company, was at least six months ahead of its schedule. The Deputy Commissioner refuted the claims recently made in a section of the Press that some prominent industrial groups had either decided or were contemplating moving out of the state in view of certain problems. He said there was not a single company which was facing any kind of harassment or problems regarding infrastructure or labour unrest here. He said the introduction of ST form 38 had also been taken in a smooth manner and no complaint had surfaced so far from traders in the district so far. Giving details about some other development work, he said Government Badshah Khan Hospital here would soon have the facility of a high-tech burns ward. He said the burns ward would have the latest state-of-art technology and the doctors would be able to treat the patients hare who earlier had go to Delhi or other places. He said the local Gymkhana Club had donated Rs 2.50 lakh for this ward. Besides this, he said the town would soon get two new hospitals for treatment of referred patients. Claiming 80 per cent success in the open darbars held every week in the district, he said the distance between the common man and the officials had lessened and officers had become more alert and active regarding their duties and responsibility. He said any person who did not get a satisfactory response regarding his problem could put up his case in the next open darbar. The Deputy Commissioner said the administration had been conducting such darbars in villages which were at a distance from the district
headquarters. He reiterated that removal of encroachments had been going smoothly and claimed the allegations of some people about any bias were baseless. About the repair of roads in the town, he said he had asked the authorities concerned to take up the work speedily although the work of maintenance was with the municipal corporation. |
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National Award
for 7 teachers CHANDIGARH, Sept 1 — Seven teachers from Haryana have been selected by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development for the National Award for 1999. The Haryana Minister of State for Education, Mr Bahadur Singh, said the selected teachers would be honoured by the President of India at a function to be held in New Delhi on September 5 on the occasion of Teachers Days. The minister said the teachers were Mr Arjun Dev, Head Teacher, Government Girls Primary School, Tikri, Gurgaon district, Mrs Ishwar Devi, Head Teacher, GPS No 3, Thanesar, Kurukshetra district, Mr Tek Chand, GPS, Dhingtana, Hisar district, Mrs Shakuntala Devi, GPS, Police Lines, Rambha, Karnal district, Mrs Paramjeet Kaur, Principal, Guru Nanak Senior Secondary School, Kurukshetra, Mrs Asha Bhargava, lecturer in history, GGSS, Yamunanagar, and Mr Ram Phal Sharma, lecturer in economics, GGSSS, Gohana, Sonepat district. |
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14 teachers to get
State Award CHANDIGARH, Sept 1 — The Haryana Government today decided to confer the State Award on 14 teachers for their outstanding performance during the 1999-2000 academic session. The awards will be
conferred at a function to be held at Haryana Raj Bhavan on September 5 to mark Teachers Day. The awards will be given by the Governor, Babu Parmanand, to the teachers. The Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, will also attend the function. The State Award comprises Rs 5,000 in cash, a certificate of merit, a silver medal and a shawl. The awardees will also be entitled to two-year extension in service beyond the age of superannuation and two increments for a period of five years. The primary teacher selected for the State Award is Mrs Shashi Kumari, Head Teacher, NDRI, Primary School, Karnal. |
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Rs 10 lakh looted
from office PANIPAT, Sept 1 — Four armed men today looted the Panipat Water Services Division Office located at Binjol, about 4 km from here. The armed men came in a red car when the cashier was distributing salary to the employees at around 1 p.m. The cashier had brought Rs 18 lakh in cash from the State Bank of India to pay salary to the employees for the month August. The cashier had distributed about Rs 6 lakh to the employees when the armed men entered the office. They fired in the air and asked the cashier to handover the remaining amount to them and went safely out of the office after taking the money. The police guard who had accompanied the Irrigation Department van in which the money was brought to the office had left the scene before the salary could be distributed. The employees who were waiting in the line to get their salary also could not do anything. A sum of Rs 10.10 lakh was looted from the office. |
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Held for murdering woman,
child ROHTAK, Sept 1 — The Judicial Magistrate (First Class) today sent a suspect to judicial custody till September 15 on the charge of murdering a woman and her 8-month-old infant last evening. According to reports, Naresh of Baliana village lived with his wife, Manju (25), and son, Mohit (8 months) in a rented house in Hanuman colony here for the past four months. Naresh was a truck driver and was not in town at the time of incident. The suspect Mahendra, Naresh’s cousin, entered his house yesterday evening. The neighbours heard the screams of Manju at around 7.30 p.m. When a neighbour, Anita, rushed to the site she found the door locked from inside. She pushed the door and found that Mahendra was beating up Manju. She reported the incident to other people who approached the police post concerned. When the police reached the site, the assailant allegedly gave a severe blow of axe on the infant’s neck killing him on the spot. Then he reportedly turned to Manju and axed her to death in the presence of the police. Stained with blood, Mahendra fled the spot. However, residents of the locality chased and overpowered him. After beating him up they handed him over to the police. During interrogation by the police the accused reportedly said Manju had instigated him to kill several persons and now it had become necessary to eliminate her. |
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Govt college for
Badli CHANDIGARH, Sept 1 — The Haryana Government today decided to open a government college at Badli in Jhajjar district from the current academic session. The Town and Country Planning Minister, Mr Dhirpal Singh, who represents this constituency, said the opening of this college would meet a long-standing demand of the people of the area. The minister added that Rs 22.68 lakh had been earmarked during the current financial year to meet the expenditure on this college. Mr Dhirpal Singh said the Vice-Chancellor of Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, had been asked to extend the admission date in the case of this college up to September 20. |
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Conditions for cotton
crop ‘good’ SIRSA, Sept 1 — “The technology mission which was launched in February this year by the Government of India aims at increasing the yield of cotton by maintaining the ecological balance”, said the Director of Cotton Development, Dr A.M. Narula, here today. He was talking to this correspondent on his first visit to his native state after assuming charge as Director. Dr Narula during his three-day tour of the state was here to take stock of the condition of the cotton crop. He said the conditions for the cotton crop were good and the long spell of dry weather had helped in reducing the number of insects. He said the technology mission was divided into four mini-missions. In the first, research and technology development was being taken up by the ICAR. The Ministry of Agriculture was looking after various aspects of cotton cultivation. The Central government was providing 75 per cent aid to the state for pest management to set labs for biocontrol and a seed delinting plant to improve the seed quality and germination. Under this mission the government was also helping in providing sprinkle system, drip irrigation, sprayers etc. In mini-missions three and four marketing and quality improvement, marketing of yarn and modernisation of zinning plants was being looked after by the Ministry of Textiles. Dr Narula and to get better yield the Directorate of Cotton Development had set up national-level monitoring, NALMOT, for Haryana. He said the government had decided to increase the cotton growing areas. Haryana, Rajasthan and Punjab, the traditional cotton growing states, would be closely looked after and a high-level review meeting was scheduled to be held at Sriganganagar on September 25. |
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REC teachers to resume stir KURUKSHETRA, Sept 1 — The Regional Engineering College Kurukshetra Teachers’ Association (RECKTA), at its meeting here yesterday, decided to continue its non-cooperation drive by tendering its refusal to perform any duties other than teaching. The RECKTA’s last agitation was conditionally postponed on June 7, following a resolution saying that the postponement was being done in the interests of the students and the college and in case the demands were not met by the end of the summer vacation, it would resume the non-cooperation campaign. A RECKTA spokesman said the association had been forced to take this step due to non-fulfilment of its demands, which included payment of arrears along with 9 per cent interest, removal of anomalies in pay fixation and provision of revised pay scales for professors, librarians and deputy librarians. |
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District
Diary FARIDABAD: The residents of Faridabad are resentful because of an unexpected break in the functioning of the District Consumer Forum. A large number of cases filed before the forum in the past few months have remained unheard. Things were normal till June last but then the work stopped abruptly because of an order of the state government suspending all work till September 15. The tenure of the last president of the forum expired on April 30 last, and it now needs a new president and also a member for the work to start again. Some consumer welfare organisations have demanded immediate appointment of a new president of the Forum so that the pending cases are decided soon. *
* * * * Two police officers of this district including the Senior
Superintendent of Police (SSP), have been awarded the President’s
Police Medal for their outstanding performance. The SSP, Mr Ranbir
Singh Sharma, took charge as the district police chief here on October
11 last year. He joined the Haryana Police as probationary Deputy
Superintendent of Police (DSP) on October 5, 1983, and was recommended
for the IPS on October 12, 1994. He served as SP at Jind (two stints)
and Yamunanagar before joining here last year. The other officer
who has been given this award is Inspector Badan Singh Rana. Badan
Singh (44) has been awarded 31 commendation certificates and a cash
award in his career of 17 years. * * * * * The
Shakti Eye bank, which is perhaps the first eye bank in Haryana, is
getting a good response from the residents. According to a
spokesperson of the bank, more than 100 persons have pledged their
eyes. The eye bank was inaugurated by the Chief Minister, Mr Om
Prakash Chautala, about a year ago at Chimnibai Dharmashala. Recently
four eyes donated to this bank were transplanted to four blind persons
at a hospital in Delhi. * * * * * A majority
of the roads in the city and its adjoining areas have been badly
damaged in the current monsoon season and are in need of urgent
repairs. Large potholes not only hinder traffic, but also cause
accidents. According to the residents, their complaints in this regard
were always disregarded. The officials concerned were either not
available or were not in a position to provide any satisfactory
answer. The road running parallel to the railway track has been left
incomplete for the past many months. The stone base has been laid but
the top coating of tarmac has not been given. The roads in the sectors
have become traffic hazards because of their damaged condition. The
recent downpour flooded the lanes, making movement difficult. |
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