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Monday,
June 18, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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1,000
teachers may face retrenchment: Hooda HPCC
collects property details Birender not allowed to meet ailing
Dangi Rs 22.18 crore for
Yamuna Action Plan
Entrepreneurs resent demolition notice |
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Ahirwal
residents’ pledge to CM Sonepat, June 17 The Haryana police has decided to provide bulletproof jackets to police personnel deputed for nabbing dreaded criminals and antisocial elements for protecting their lives during encounters with them. Doctors
sore over stocking of medicines New scheme
for tubewell connections Killer
jeeps back sans insurance cover Six-day
week opposed
Kaithal to
have sports stadium HVPN
directed to pay service charges Haryana
YC district units by June 30 Tiff holds up train Nurses
threaten agitation RCP
favours alliance for UP poll Haryana
to review, IT implementation
Raid on auto store, owner arrested
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1,000 teachers may face retrenchment: Hooda Rohtak, June 17 Addressing a press conference here today, Mr Hooda said the government had made several whimsical changes in the education policy which would bear disastrous consequences. He said the Science stream would be abolished in the colleges located in rural areas and many urban areas as the college authorities were asked to abolish the subjects having a strength of less than 30 students as per the recent government directive. Similarly, he said the failed candidates and those who got compartment would not be allowed for readmission to the college in view of the another revision in the education policy. All these steps had been targeted to reduce the workload in the colleges and the subsequent retrenchment of teachers, he added. The Congress leader alleged that education, electricity and the health services had been out of reach of the people of financially weaker sections due to faulty government policies. He announced that a statewide mass contact programme, “Congress gaon ki chaupal mein,” would be launched from Samalkha constituency in Panipat district tomorrow to apprise the masses of the anti-people policies of the government and publicise the party policies. He said dharnas would be staged and demonstrations held at the district level from July 15 and a token strike be observed at the district level on October 2 as a part of the programme. Besides, he said the party leaders would give a call for Haryana bandh in December. Commenting on the “samman samaroh” to be organised by four “gotras” (khap) of the Jat community to honour the Chief Minister here on June 23 he said it was a stage-managed show. |
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HPCC collects
property details Gurgaon, June 17 According to
sources, the central leadership of the party has decided to switch over from the present nature of ownership of the party’s property in the states and at the Centre to that of a trust
ownership. Presently, the ownership of the party’s property in the states are in the name of the concerned Pradesh Congress
Committees (PCCs), and in the name of the AICC at the Centre. It is in this connection that the AICC is said to have asked for details of the property owned by the PCCs, in the country. The development is kept as a guarded secret in Congress circles. The move is said to be aimed at computing the collective worth of the property of the party in all the states and at the Centre for creation of a centralised trust. It could not be confirmed as to what would be the composition of the trustees. In Haryana the state unit of the Congress owns land having party offices at state headquarters in Chandigarh and some of the district headquarters like Ambala, Kurukshetra, Rohtak, Jind, Sirsa, Sonepat and Bhiwani. To add to it are shops created in the premises of some of the party offices which have been lent on rents.
Significantly, in some of the districts headquarters the ownership of party’s landed property is in litigation. The move to prepare the details of the party’s property in Haryana is bound to uncork a can of worms. There have been cases of alleged bungling and misappropriation of funds in some districts, in the past. The sources said the Congress high command’s move to create trust ownership stems from its efforts to streamline the budgetary administration of the
party, both at the Centre and the states. Already there are reports of the party’s decision at the Centre to create a corpus of Rs 50 crore for running and maintenance of the AICC and also for receiving election fund only through cheques. In pursuance of providing the details of the property to the
AICC, the HPCC has launched a drive. The issue is understood to have also cropped up when the HPCC chief Bhupinder Singh Hooda called on party president Sonia
Gandhi, a few days ago. |
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Birender not
allowed to meet ailing Dangi Ambala, June 17 Mr Dangi, who is an undertrial prisoner at the Central Jail, Ambala, in various cases of land allotment, was admitted to the Civil Hospital on June 12. He was referred to the hospital on the recommendation of the jail doctor.
Mr Birender Singh, who was here to address a workers’ meeting at Congress
Bhavan, went to see Mr Dangi in the hospital but the police did not permit him to meet him due to security reasons. The police officer looking after the security arrangements of Mr Dangi in the hospital told Mr Birender Singh that no one was allowed to meet Mr Dangi without prior permission of the court. The party workers came along with Mr Birender Singh insisted but the police officer did not budge. Counsel for Mr
Dangi, Mr C.M. Sehgal, was also accompanying Mr Birender Singh. A few days back several Congress leaders, including a former minister, Mr Raghubir Singh
Kadiyan, HPCC, chief, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, and a former minister, Mr Nirmal Singh, had met Mr Dangi in the jail after obtaining permission from the court. However, the family members of Mr Dangi are allowed to meet him in the hospital and provide him food. The court has issued a direction to the authorities in this regard. Sources said Mr Dangi was diagnosed of stone problem in his kidney and he has been suffering from fever too. |
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Rs 22.18 crore for
Yamuna Action Plan Chandigarh, June 17 Giving this information here today, an official spokesman said Rs 22.18 crore had been approved by the Union Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs under the Yamuna Action Plan, Phase-I. The amount would be spent for making provision of additional interception and diversion sewers, additional low-cost sanitation units, additional sludge drying beds and pilot projects for reduction of faecal coliforms, etc in Yamunanagar, Jagadhari, Karnal, Panipat, Sonepat, Gurgaon and Faridabad. He said a pre-feasibility report regarding the Yamuna Action Plan, Phase-II, costing Rs 349.35 crore, had been prepared for the augmentation of sewage treatment facilities and provision of treated effluent channels in six towns in the state and for providing sewerage facilities in 18 towns and villages namely, Samalkha, Hassanpur, Kundli, Khewra, Murthal, Rai, Hodel, Bhalgarh, Jathlana, Nilokheri, Kurukshetra, Taraori, Ganaur, Jhajjar, Bahadurgarh, Ladwa, Rohtak and Shahabad and a common effluent treatment plant for industrial effluents at Panipat. This report was under the active consideration of the Union Government. He
said a scheme for the holy city of Kurukshetra costing Rs 49.63 crore
for providing interception and diversion sewers, sewage treatment
plants, proper drainage, low-cost sanitation toilets and improved
wood-based crematoria had been forwarded to the National River
Conservation Directorate, Ministry of Environment and Forests,
Government of India, for approval under the National River
Conservation Plan. This project would also include the augmentation of
water supply and drainage facilities in 52 villages within 8 km radius
of the holy city. |
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Entrepreneurs resent demolition notice Ambala, June 17 The president of Ambala Small-Scale Industries Welfare Association, Mr S.C. Malik, said that their units were set up at Mandhour around 10 to 15 years back and during this period no such notice was served to any industry. He said that most of the units were sponsored by the District Industries centre, Haryana Khadi Board and other financial institutions. The units were also registered under small-scale industry by the district administration. Before the approval of the projects, the financing agencies of the government had inspected the legality of the land and even the availability of power, water and transportation before issuing them the
NOCs. Mr Malik said the existing units were not only generating revenue to the government, but also providing employment to hundred of youths of the nearby villages. He said it is unfortunate that the entrepreneurs were being harassed in Haryana in such a way while in
Lalru, Dera Bassi, Zirakpur and Mubarakpur, the Punjab government had been providing maximum facilities to the industry. He said that since the adoption of the 1963 Act of Punjab by the Haryana Government the Town and Country Planning Department has not framed any plan for the development of the area but restricting the development and industrial growth. Around Ambala city, this village is the most suitable area where there was vital scope for the industrial growth, he added. According to Town and Country Department sources, the land of village falls under the controlled area and any construction cannot be raised without the prior approval of the department. The association said if it was a controlled area, then why the government had registered their sales deed of land. Moreover, there has been no indication or signboard fixed by the authorities that the specific area is a controlled area. Mr Malik said that the future of hundred of labours and dozens of entrepreneurs were at stake. The notices of demolition had put them under fear and terror as the bulldozer squad is expected any day there to ruin them. He said that they would meet the Deputy Commissioner in this regard. In spite of it if the department did not review its decision the association would move to high court for their survival. |
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Ahirwal residents’ pledge to CM Rewari, June 17 Recounting the valuable services rendered to the people of Ahirwal by his late father Mr Devi Lal, the Chief Minister asserted that they had always done full justice to the people and of Ahirwal. Mr Chautala was presented with a purse of Rs 11 lakh on behalf of the people of Ahirwal. The money was handed over by Mr Chautala to the INLD general secretary with the direction that it would be spent on a ‘Devi Lal Memorial’ to be erected in Rewari. Mr D. Nagendran, president of the All-India Yadav Mahasabha, presented a shawl to Mr Chautala and expressed the Yadav Mahasabha’s gratitude to him for sending Rao Man Singh, an activist of the Yadav community, to the Rajya Sabha. According to political observers the samaroh was a sequel to the HVP Chief Mr Bansi Lal’s, successful rally held at Kanina 35 km from Rewari, on June 9. Several Haryana ministers — Mr Dheer Pal, Mr Ashok Arora, Dr M.L. Ranga, Mr Bahadur Singh, Dy Speaker of the Vidhan Sabha, Mr Gopi Chand Gehlot, INLD MPs and legislators also attended the samaroh which was organised to felicitate Rao Man Singh and thank the Chief Minister, Mr
O.P. Chautala. |
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Policemen
to get bulletproof jackets Sonepat, June 17 This was stated by Mr Resham Singh, Inspector-General of Police, Rohtak range, while addressing a meeting of district police officials here last evening. Mr Paramjit Singh Ahlawat, Superintendent of Police, and Mr Hardeep Singh Doon, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Headquarters, were among those who were present in the meeting. He disclosed that such policemen would also be equipped with modern weapons and given special training before sending them to carry raids on the hideouts of the dreaded criminals and antisocial elements. |
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Doctors
sore over stocking of medicines Rohtak, June 17 According to sources, some selected drugs and equipment are regularly purchased in bulk by the Health Department, which are rarely used by the Health centres and hospitals. Expressing surprise, some senior doctors said, the government was curtailing the budget for medical facilities due to financial crunch, while lakhs of rupees were being wasted on the purchase of medicines and equipment, which were seldomly used. According to sources, an injection used for administering, anaesthesia, halothane, is not in common use for many years. But it is learnt that it has been purchased unnecessarily by the Health Department over the years. The unused stock of the drug is ultimately handed over to the PGIMS, Rohtak. Sources in the department state that bottles of halothane are lying unused in at least ten districts of the state. The civil surgeons in Jhajjar, Panipat, Ambala, Kaithal, etc. have reportedly informed the Director General, Health Services (DGHS) about the unused stock of the drug and requested him to utilise it somewhere else. Other such drugs are ketamine, pencurominum, dopamine, etc. Similarly, 6 lac disposable syringes of 5 ml capacity were acquired by the DGHS from PGIMS last year. These syringes were not fit for administering injection in view of the improper thickness of the needle. The DGHS is learnt to have purchased another 3.5 lakh disposable syringes out of which none matches the required thickness. |
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New scheme for tubewell connections Sirsa, June 17 Stating this here yesterday, the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Ankur Gupta, said the scheme would be available to those whose applications were received till April 30. They would serve notice to opt for the release of the connections under the scheme against each deposit in case their tubewell sites fall under the cable connections, single pole connection, HT connection for two poles and above categories. In case the tubewell connection was possible to be released with 20 metres length of cable from the nearest LT pole up to the tubewell bore, the applicant would be required to deposit a non-refundable amount of Rs 20,000. 50 per cent along with the consent for out of the turn connection under this category and a balance 50 per cent before the actual release of the connection, Mr Gupta added. He said similarly, in case the tubewell connections fell within 90 metres of the nearest LT line up to the tubewell bore, then connection would be released under
signal pole category and the applicants would be required to deposit a non-refundable amount of Rs 30,000. Out of this, 50 per cent of the amount was required to be deposited with the consent letter and balance 50 per cent before the release of the actual connection. The total length of LT line from the transformer should not exceed 1,200 feet, including the extension in both these cases, he added. The Deputy Commissioner said in case the existing distribution transformer was fully loaded and not in a position to feed the load of these applicants, the augmentation of the transformer, either by installing a transformer of a high capacity or by an additional 25 mv transformer would be carried out by the DHBVN at its cost. |
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Killer jeeps back sans insurance cover Hisar, June 17 The situation has forced at least two of the three main general insurance companies to refuse insurance cover of any kind to jeeps in the state creating problems for jeep owners who use this vehicle as genuine personal transport. The companies hold that providing insurance cover to these vehicles had caused considerable losses to them because of the inordinately high number of accidents these jeeps were involved in because of rash driving. It was in May last year that The Tribune had exposed the racket involving illegal plying of jeeps for ferrying passengers by a mafia under the patronage of influential political figures. After this the state government launched a campaign against these vehicles and almost all of these were forced off the roads in a month-long campaign. At the conclusion of the successful campaign what remained on the roads were authorised maxi-cabs only but their entry to the municipal limits was barred and special police checkposts were established on entry points to all towns of the state to keep these out of harm’s way. However, even then the operations of the duly authorised maxi-cabs too remained illegal since these are only supposed to be booked for travel from one town to another and not to pick up passengers on the way like buses. Early this year, the government decided not to renew their permits but under pressure it decided to renew old permits and not issue any new permits. Gradually after that, the jeeps slowly but surely started registering their dominant presence on the highways which began reflecting in the rise in the number of road mishaps. Insurance companies maintain that providing even third party cover to these vehicles was a losing proposition since these vehicles accounted for an unreasonably high proportion of road accidents. They point out that before these were forced off the roads, illegally plying jeeps accounted for 3,000 of the 3,800 accidents that took place in the state in 1999-2000. The road accident graph had begun to rise after April this year again. Most of these vehicles are plied by a mafia operating under the patronage of influential politicians who get a cut out of the earnings. The racket had humble origins in the late eighties when upcoming politicians started operating a parallel transport system to make a quick buck. Over the years it became a highly organised racket run by a mafia. The parallel transport not only caused severe losses to Haryana Roadways but these vehicles virtually turned highways into death traps. The transport mafiosi became so bold due to political patronage and corrupt officials that they roughed up senior officers checking their licences on the highways. This led to a public outrage forcing the government to act. However, the laxity has emboldened the operators to take over the highways once again. However, the ban on insurance has led to a piquant situation. Jeeps are a popular mode of personal transport in this desert belt of the state and the adjoining areas of Rajasthan because of the nature of the terrain. Those owning jeeps are finding it hard to get their insurance policies renewed. The buyers of new vehicles too are finding it hard to get the vehicle registered in the absence of proper insurance cover. |
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Six-day week opposed
Hisar, June 17 The office-bearers of the federation, an umbrella organisation of non-teaching employees’ associations of four universities of Haryana, submitted a memorandum to the Governor and Chancellor Babu Paramanand through Mr Vinay Kumar, Vice Chancellor, Haryana Agricultural University after their meeting here yesterday. It may be recalled that the state government recently decided to implement a six-day week in all universities of the state from July 1. Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra and Maharishi Dayanand Universities have a five-day week while the employees of Guru Jambheshwar University and HAU work for six days a week. They have been demanding five-day week for the past couple of years. They also demanded the restoration of autonomy to all universities and the lifting of ban on recruitments in the universities. They said work had been adversely affected due to the ban. They said the government should ensure timely grants and aid to universities to avoid financial crunch. They also demanded that the government should ensure proper representation of the non-teaching employees in university bodies. They appealed to the Governor to direct the state government to remove anomalies in their pay scales. |
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Kaithal
to have sports stadium Kaithal, June 17 Later, Mr Ajay Chautala attended a mass marriage function at RK. SD College. The marriage were organised by District Red Cross Society. He blessed 41 couples. He also gave Rs 3.6 lakh as financial assistance to those who suffered injuries during agricultural operations. He also gave sewing machines to 80 poor women. Mr Ram Pal Mazra, Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Leela Ram, Tejvir Singh, Dina Ram, Amar Singh Dhandey all MLAs. Mr Phateh Singh Dagar, Deputy Commissioner and Mr A.S. Chawla, S.P. were also present on the occasion. |
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HVPN directed
to pay service charges Bhiwani, June 17 According to the complaint, Dharm Chand of Chang village to the forum that he ran a saw machine at the village and held a three-phase connection since 1983. He said since no other consumer had been provided electricity through that trasformer, the department had been charging Rs 233 per month as service charge. However, another connection was allotted to a poultry farm owner on July 7, 1993 and both were treated as commercial connections. Taking into consideration the HVPN rules, the complaintant alleged that the department should have stopped charging the service charge from July, 1993, but it continued doing the same till June, 1997. He wrote a letter to the Executive Engineer on July 16, 1999, demanding Rs 11,185, that had been charged from him illegally, but he got no response. The HVPN authority accepted that it would return Rs 11,185 before the court and informed through an affidavit that a sum of Rs 6,524 was deposited in the account of the complainant on August 25, 2000. The forum directed HVPN to pay Rs 11,185 at 12 per cent interest to the consumer within two months. |
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Haryana
YC district units by June 30 Yamunanagar, June 17 Mr Satvinder Singh Timmi, state Youth Congress president, stated this while talking to newspersons here today. Besides, the legal cell, kisan cell, beopar and students cell of the youth Congress would also be formed, he said. He said students’ organisation elections should be held at colleges and universities on a regular basis. He said demonstrations would be held at the subdivision-level against the state government following the formation of the units. |
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Tiff holds up train Ambala, June 17 Sources said that two young Army officers on board the Malwa Express had a tiff with a TTE yesterday. While the officers were in the AC compartment, a jawan who was also travelling with them, was in the second class compartment. The TTE reportedly asked the jawan for the ticket, who told him that the ticket was with the officers who were in the AC compartment. He then asked for his identity card, which he kept despite protestations by the
jawan. Later, the matter was brought to the notice of the officers. Although, the TTE was shown the ticket of the
jawan, the officers strongly objected to the identity card of the jawan being taken. This apparently led to a tiff between them and due to this train was delayed by about 30 minutes. |
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Nurses
threaten agitation Rohtak, June 17 Ms Santosh Hooda, president of the association, said the nurses would wear black badges from August 6 and hold gate meetings and dharnas from August 13. She added that the agitation would be intensified from August 20 and they would boycott duties in the evening shift. Ms Hooda said Mr Om Prakash Chautala had assured a delegation of the association here in December, 1999, that their demands had been accepted. She said the main demands of the nurses were allowances on Central pattern, implementation of promotion scheme and removal of pay anomalies. |
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RCP favours alliance for
UP poll Yamunanagar, June 17 However, he added, that the Bahujan Samaj Party was also interested in entering into an alliance with them. He made it clear that the RCP would enter into an alliance with the BJP and the Congress which had been totally exposed. He said farmers of Haryana were facing financial problems as they had not been paid for their sugarcane crop. He said if the payments were not made immediately then they would be forced to launch agitation. |
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Haryana
to review, IT implementation Chandigarh, June 17 Mr S.Y. Quraishi, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister and Chairman of the Society for IT Initiative Fund and the Centre for E-Governance, will inaugurate the conference. |
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Raid on auto store, owner arrested
Sirsa, June 17
Some complaints had been received against the auto store owner and certain officials who charged Rs 300 per vehicle for issuing a yellow card. |
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