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Wednesday,
September 12, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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HUDA to
develop urban estates SYL not discussed with
Advani: Chautala Tourism should be on state list:
Haryana White Paper sought on CM’s foreign visit No procurement of bajra crop |
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Move to recover power dues IN FOCUS Telecom’s concessions for gallantry
awardees Students end
chain fast Free
bus travel for Urdu writers Rs 1.5 lakh looted from cashier Doc nabbed for illegal sex test Man, son killed in road mishap Life term for two in murder case
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HUDA to develop urban estates Panchkula, September 11 HIGHLIGHTS * Construction of community building in urban estates. * Providing a community centre for all social and cultural activities. * Laying of town parks beginning with the urban estates of Kurukshetra, Rohtak, Bahadurgarh, Rewari and Sonepat. * Extending the hospitality of gymkhana clubs to urban estates of Karnal, Panipat, Hisar and Kurukshetra. The policy-change in the four zones, Hisar, Panchkula, Gurgaon and Faridabad, entails providing “essentials” in all sectors of the 27 urban estates. These include construction of community buildings like dispensaries and police posts on a priority basis. In addition, a conscious decision to provide a community centre in every sector has been taken in consonance with the public demand After a meeting of officers from different urban estates held here, the Chief Administrator, Mr N.C. Wadhwa, said today that the change in policy had been introduced to have a catalytic effect of inducing growth in these districts. Once each sector was self-sufficient with a community building of some kind along with a park, the demand for residential and commercial spaces would automatically come up. With one eye on hastening development and growth in districts, HUDA has kept up its commitment to aestheticism as well. Under the revised scheme of things, it will provide a town park, an artistically designed park spread over 15 to 25 acres, in all its urban estates where only three exist in Faridabad, Panchkula and Hisar. Going public with almost all it has to offer, HUDA has opened its doors wide to accommodate residents interested in memberships of the gymkhana clubs. “Earlier, these clubs were opened at selected urban estates but under the expansion plan, four more have been given the go-ahead to cover Karnal, Panipat, Hisar and Kurukshetra. We have begun by inviting membership to the clubs in these areas before going ahead with construction work,” he added. However, with the planning part behind them, HUDA authorities are faced with a very real problem of identifying space for the projects it proposes to implement especially with the sector plans having being drawn out long back. “This, of course, is an impediment but all District Town Planners have been instructed to identify spots in their respective areas and report to us. Also, we are dabbling with the possibility of ‘extracting’ chunks of land where it is in excess or constructing first floors to accommodate community buildings where a structure already exists. The viability of such a proposal is being assessed,” he stated. And, for a change, finances will not be a constraint with the department having adequate funds at its disposal, a sum of Rs 250 crore allocated for the purpose and an assurance of much more in case of need. |
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SYL not discussed with
Advani: Chautala Chandigarh, September 11 Mr Chautala described such reports as baseless and “written to serve vested interests.” He made it clear that the Haryana Government would honour the Supreme Court verdict regarding the SYL issue in letter and in spirit. He clarified that he had met Mr Advani yesterday but no inter-state issue, including the SYL, was discussed with him. Only matters like seeking financial assistance from the Centre of Rs 650 crore for tackling terrorism during the 1980s on the pattern of Punjab were discussed with Mr Advani. Mr Chautala expressed his concern over the high crime rate in Delhi as it had its fallout in the neighbouring districts of Haryana in the National Capital Region. He said he had told Mr Advani that Haryana required huge funds to strengthen and modernise its police force to tackle this problem. He also sought Central assistance. The Chief Minister said that he urged the Home Minister for allotting one more Indian Reserve Batallion to Haryana, besides absorbing more police officers from Haryana in the Central Government as the quota prescribed for the state was short by 12 officers. He also demanded the release of Rs 123.84 crore under the police modernisation scheme. |
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Tourism should be on state list:
Haryana Chandigarh, September 11 According to informed sources, the viewpoint of the Haryana Government will be put forth by Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala at a conference of the Tourism Ministers to be held in Delhi tomorrow. The conference, which will discuss the tourism policy, will be presided over by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. The sources say the Haryana Government feels that the tourism potential is different in
different states, which have their own financial resources to develop tourism infrastructure. Therefore, it will not be proper to include tourism in the concurrent list. The proposed tourism policy lays stress on six points — reception, information, facilities, security, cooperation and infrastructure. Haryana wants that “cleanliness” should also be added in this list. Haryana wants that rural tourism should be promoted with the involvement of the Panchayati Raj institutions. The rural lifestyle of India will be an attraction for the foreign tourists. Haryana feels that time has come to change the image of India as a cultural tourist centre. To achieve this purpose, there is a need to build more lively tourist spots and holiday homes. The state government feels that the private sector should be involved in the promotion of tourism in view of resource crunch in the public sector. The national tourism policy should take care of all types of tourism like religious, cultural and historical tourism. |
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White Paper sought on CM’s foreign visit Chandigarh, September 11 Talking to newsmen here the president of the Haryana Congress, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, said the Chautala government had commercialised the health and education sectors. It had imposed a fee even on postmortem examinations not to speak of other medical facilities. He said out of the 27,000 applications received under the much-publicised Kanya Daan scheme, only 9,000 cases had been recommended for monetary help. However, actual disbursement was yet to take place. Mr Hooda said large-scale demolitions were taking place in the state, which had rendered thousands of persons homeless. He alleged that buildings were being demolished on political considerations. Journalists covering arbitrary demolitions had to face excesses at the hands of the police. Rohtak-based journalists had to even go on strike to protest against the police excesses. The editor of a Faridabad-based newspaper had been arrested. He demanded the publication of a White Paper on the last foreign visit of the Chief Minister, who had claimed that his visit would bring in foreign investment to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore. The Congress leader alleged that though a year had elapsed since the visit of Mr Chautala to foreign countries, no foreign investment had come to the state so far. Demanding Rs 600 per quintal as the minimum support price(MSP) for paddy, Mr Hooda said while the Centre had increased the MSP for paddy by a mere 20 paise per kg, the state government had imposed a tax of 36 paise on every litre of diesel. With the increase in the cost of various inputs, a paddy grower had been burdened with an additional over Rs 50 per quintal of paddy. Mr Hooda said Mr Chautala and Mr Parkash Singh Badal were interested in delaying a solution to the SYL canal issue. While the delay suited the Akalis in Punjab, it was suicidal for Haryana. He said Haryana should ask for an immediate court verdict on the issue. He said a token fast would be observed in Ghasera village in Nuh tehsil of the Mewat area on October 2 to press the demand for making Mewat a district, for which an assurance was given by Mr Chautala. He said though the INLD was dilly-dallying in making Mewat a district, the Congress had made the Muslim-dominated area a district for the purposes of its organisational set-up. In view of the proposed fast, the rally to be addressed by a former Haryana Congress president, Mr Birender Singh, at Yamunanagar on October 2 had been postponed. |
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No procurement of bajra crop Faridabad, September 11 The growers of the bumper crop this year are worried if they could recover the cost of production itself. The above average rainfall in the state has led to a very good crop production in districts like Rewari, Mahendergarh, Gurgaon, Jhajjar and parts of Bhiwani this season. While the bajra arrivals has started flooding some of the mandis in these districts, the growers are worried about the low rates at which the crop is being brought by the agents and traders. According to mandi sources, farmers are getting the rate between Rs 150 and 225 per quintal for the bajra crop while the minimum support price (MSP) for it has been fixed at Rs 485 per quintal, Rs 40 higher than that of the last year. According to farmers, they could not get the MSP in past two to three years as there was no one who could force the rates at mandis. It is reported that this year also mandi traders and agents have been buying bajra at the rates of past years and these are about 60 to 70 per cent lower than the official rates. The president of the state unit of the Janata Dal (U), Mr Ved Prakash Vidrohi, has demanded official procurement of bajra and guhar crops on the pattern of wheat and paddy. He said if the bajra growers were ignored, they would be ruined. |
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Move to recover power dues Rohtak, September 11 Rural consumers in the five Assembly segments of Rohtak district jointly owe Rs 5892.15 lakh to the UHBVN as they have not paid their electricity bills for the past many years. The consumers in the Kiloi Assembly constituency, represented by the HPCC chief, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, owe Rs 2374.35 lakh followed by Rs 1523.30 lakh and owed by consumers of Hassangarh, Rs 1327.64 lakh by consumers of Meham and Rs 666.86 lakh by consumers Kalanaur. The UHBVN officials here have reportedly conveyed to the government that if the surcharge-waiver scheme was reintroduced, some big defaulters of a couple of villages might clear the outstanding bills. They gathered this impression after talking to the defaulter of a couple of villages of the Kiloi Assembly constituency. The Deputy Commissioner said though the consumers in nearly 65 villages in the district were defaulters, the administration had so far not switched off the power supply to them. There is hundred per cent replacement of the damaged transformers in these villages and the UHBVN has assured villagers of 18 hours’ supply, including 10 hours of three-phase supply. Mr Malik said the UHBVN officials here had been told to regularise the illegal connections to create goodwill and minimise line losses. This would also help the UHBVN to raise the bills for the power consumed irrespective of whether the bills were paid or not. However, it is learnt that the scheme to regularise the ‘kundi’ connections has been initiated by the UHBVN only in villages where the consumers pay bills almost regularly. It is not known when this scheme will be implemented in the problematic villages. Mr Malik agreed that the scheme at present was being implemented in non-problematic villages only. Meanwhile, it is learnt that the UHBVN is also toying with the idea of disconnecting power supply to the defaulting consumers and provide it only to “good” consumers directly through insulated wires. This experiment is reportedly on in a couple of villages in Kurukshetra district. UHBVN officials here believe that the experiment may not succeed in this district at least. “How could you disconnect supply of 90 per cent residents of a problematic village and ensure it to 10 per cent only”, they asked. The Chief Minister has reportedly convened a meeting of the Deputy Commissioners and Superintendents of Police at Chandigarh on September 22. |
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IN FOCUS Ambala These old bungalows can be divided in two categories — old grant bungalows and leasehold bungalows. The lease bungalows were given to the owners for a specific period and purpose, and there are different lease schedules. Old grant bungalows are those that were given to the owners with the condition that the land could be resumed if required by the government. The bungalows have their own design which, of course conform to the building bylaws of the Cantonment Board. Some of these bungalows stand out for their architectural design. A bungalow near the Cantonment Board office is built in typical Mughal style. Today Rs 5,000 may not have great value, but in those days, it signified a fortune. A 165-year old government document in this regard says: “When it is proposed, with the consent of the General Officer, to transfer possession to a native, should the value of the house, buildings or property to be so transferred exceed Rs 5,000, the sale must not be effected, until the sanction of the Government has been obtained through His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief.” An owner of one of these bungalows says that with the change in lifestyle and growing families, some additions and alterations have to be made in these buildings. “Permission for repairs is rarely granted, the procedure is cumbersome and the authorities come down heavily on the owners even for minor alterations,” he says. He says that repairs, additions and alterations within the plinth area should be allowed. “Another sore point is the heavy tax burden on these bungalows which is 16.5 per cent with no rebate for repairs whereas in the adjoining Municipal Council area the tax is only 12.5 per cent with 20 per cent rebate for repairs,” he pointed out. The president of the Bungalow Owners Association, Mr Raj Kumar, says that for the last two years, successive the Station Commanders have been interacting with the bungalow owners and listening to their problems which, he says, is a step in the right direction. After 1836, old grant bungalows came up since these were given on grant and there was not rent. In 1905, the system of lease was introduced and initially, the bungalows were given on perpetual lease. Thereafter, different lease periods were fixed. In 1977, a Notified Area Committee, was constituted out of the limits of the Ambala Cantonment Board. Proprietary rights of the Government of India in the Ministry of Defence in all properties in the excised area were transferred to the Government of Haryana free of cost and the proprietary rights of the Cantonment Board in respect of the areas excised were transferred to the NAC free of cost. Mr Anil Vij, who represents Ambala Cantonment in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, said that the excision had led to a few of these bungalows coming under the Municipal Committee of Ambala Sadar. “These bungalows include grant bungalows as well as lease bungalows. The grant bungalows are situated on prime locations which are worth several crores in the open market,” he observed. |
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Telecom’s concessions for gallantry
awardees Ambala, September 11 Talking to mediapersons here, Mr Jethwani said BSNL had decided to extend various concessions in residential telephone facility to the awardees. The concessions included registration under N-OYT-special category, no registration fee, no installation fee and no rental charges. Regarding mobile telephony, Mr Jethwani said they were in the process of finalising the tenders. “Price negotiation is currently on. The tenders were called on zonal basis. We are handling the north zone comprising Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, UP East, UP West, Rajasthan and Uttaranchal,” he said. He said because of security reasons, mobile telephony was not going to be introduced soon in Jammu and Kashmir “The total project is for about 10 lakh connections and it is going to be a Rs 650 crore project”, he said. Mr Jethwani said rebate would be given for installation of internal wiring and instrument by the consumer. “If the subscriber at the time of provisioning a new telephone connection opts for his own instrument, the BSNL will give the rebate of Rs 500 in the installation charges” he added. BSNL had decided to give special care to its high paying subscribers. The subscribers making over 50,000 calls a month would be given upto 1 per cent discount on the billed amount or one ITC (IN) card free or free Internet connection. The subscribers whose average monthly bill was in excess of Rs 10,000 on two telephone lines taken together would be given one Integrated Services Digital Network Basic Rate Access connection free of cost, for which there would be no rental charges, but usage charges would be levied. CGMTs had been authorised to grant discount for corporate account holders. For bimonthly billed amount between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 2 lakh, five per cent discount and for more than Rs 2 lakh, 10 per cent discount would be given. |
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Students end
chain fast Karnal, September 11 The agitating students submitted memorandums to the Governor, the Chief Minister, the Education Minister and the Director, Higher Education, of the state listing their demands. The memorandum was also submitted to Kurukshetra University authorities. Both the students’ bodies have threatened to intensity their agitation if the demands were not met. Their main demands include withdrawal of increase in tuition fee, end to commercialisation of education. |
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Free
bus travel for Urdu writers Chandigarh, September 11 Mr
Chautala also released a book, ‘Urdu Ek Nazar Mein’, published by
the academy. He gave a cash prize of Rs 4,000 each to M.L. Chand and
Amarjit Singh Amar for their works in Urdu. He also gave assistance of
Rs 5,000 each to Mr R.P. Shokh’s wife and to Mr M.B. Malerkotalvi. |
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Rs 1.5 lakh looted from cashier Panipat, September 11 After committing the robbery, the miscreants sped away on a motor cycle. A case of robbery has been registered at Samalkha police station. According to information, cashier Vinod Tyagi had gone to deposit a cash collection of about Rs 1.50 lakh in the bank. The movement he reached the bank two armed miscreants reportedly waiting outside the bank, snatched the money bag from him and sped away on the motor cycle. |
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Doc nabbed for illegal sex test Chandigarh, September 11 According to an official release, the team, comprising Dr D.S. Dahiya, Civil Surgeon, Dr C. Paul, Senior Medical Officer, Ballabgarh, Dr Rekha Mishra, Medical Officer, and Mr G.L. Singla, ASDC, nabbed a private practitioner involved in conducting a sex determination test at Sukhram Hospital, Palwal, Faridabad district. The name of the erring doctor was not given in the release. Three women volunteers were used as decoy clients by the team for unearthing the racket. The doctor reportedly not only conducted the sex determination test but also advised abortion to one of the volunteers as she was carrying a female foetus. |
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Man, son killed in road mishap Hisar, September 11 Ram Karan Singla and his son, Vinod Kumar Singla, of Panipat were going in a car towards Hansi side. When their car reached near Rajpura village, a mini-truck coming from the opposite direction dashed into it killing Ram Karan Singla on the spot, the police said, adding that his son died on way to the hospital. The police has registered a case against the driver of the mini-truck.
PTI |
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Life term for two in murder case Hisar, September 11 According to the prosecution, Jasbir of Dhani Sham Lal village and Sandeep of Hari Nagar attacked Amit and Ambrish, both students, with knives outside a school in Sant Nagar here. Amit later died.
PTI |
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Verification of poll rolls Chandigarh, September 11 |
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