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Thursday, January 17, 2002,
Chandigarh, India  
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Flag
flying: Naveen feels vindicated Repair work on SYL to begin soon War still
an option: Swami Mahajan
rules out troop pullout CPM: USA
exploiting Sept 11 attacks |
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Police put
on high alert Web-based train enquiry system
inaugurated Station
facilities ‘to be improved’ Haryana nets 524 cr in small savings Urologist
offers online consultancy One more chance to get I-cards 1 held
for selling obscene literature
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Flag flying: Naveen feels vindicated Hisar, January 16 In an interview here today he said when an Indian displayed the Tricolour, he rose above his religious and political affiliations and showed that he was proud to be an Indian and that he loved his country. Naveen, the youngest son of noted industrialist-turned-politician Om Parkash Jindal, said he first experienced these feelings while studying at the University of Texas in the USA. He was then the president of the Students Senate and the National Flag flew freely in his office which made him proud. On return to India he started flying the National Flag at his residence and factory at Raigarh in Madhya Pradesh. He recalled that the Bilaspur Commissioner ordered him not to fly the flag or face punishment under the Indian Flag Code. He then filed a writ in the Delhi High Court for permission to fly the flag as it was a part of his fundamental right of freedom of speech and expression. In 1995, the court ruled that the government could not deprive the citizens of their fundamental rights through an executive order and that the right to fly the National Flag was indeed a part of the fundamental rights. The Centre went in appeal against the decision and the apex court stayed the lower court’s decision. However, he continued to fly the flag in a respectful manner at his premises. Irked, the Centre filed a contempt petition against him. When the matter came up for hearing the judges observed that prima facie they saw no reason why there should be any restrictions on flying the National Flag respectfully. It was against this background that the Centre set up the P.D. Shenoy panel which recommended use of the flag by common citizens. Asked if the decision would not result in misuse of the National Flag, he said, “No, I don’t think so. There is law that provides stringent punishment for any wilful disrespect to the National Flag. Besides, we Indians are a patriotic people. The presence of the flag will only enhance that feeling.” He said he was pleased that his seven-year-long legal battle had resulted in such a momentous decision. “It’s a great feeling when your views are vindicated”, he concluded. |
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Repair work on SYL to begin soon Chandigarh, January 16 The state government today assigned Mr Chetan Singh, a Superintending Engineer in the Irrigation Department (Water Services Division), at Ambala, the work of doing a survey of the canal and filing a report regarding the cost of repairing the canal. “The report will be submitted within seven to eight days”, Chief Engineer, Irrigation Department, Haryana, told the
TNS. Mr Ram Pal Majra, Chief Parliamentary Secretary, who looks after the Irrigation Department, said once the report is made available to the state government, repair work would begin irrespective of the fate of the review petition which the Punjab Government had said that they would file in the Supreme Court to challenging Tuesday’s verdict by a two-Judge Bench of the SC. Functionaries of the Haryana Government, who are in a jubilant mood in the wake of the Supreme Court order, however, did not appear worried about the Punjab Government’s decision which could lead to yet another round of protracted litigation over the vexed issue. “Even if the review petition is accepted by the court, the order will again be in our
favour. I have great faith in the judiciary”, an ecstatic Mr Majra said. The CPS, however, tried to sidestep when asked why Mr Parkash Singh Badal, Punjab Chief Minister, and Mr Om Prakash
Chautala, his Haryana counterpart, could not settle the issue amicably even though they were the best of friends. “The court is the most acceptable forum for settling such disputes and it has given order in our favour”, Mr Majra said. According to the suit filed by the Haryana Government in the SC in 1996, regarding completion of the SYL canal in Punjab, the closest the two states came to a mutually agreed solution of the emotive issue was in 1978 when Mr Parkash Singh Badal was CM of Punjab and late Mr Devi
Lal, Mr Chautala’s father, was premier of Haryana. According to the petition, in 1978 the chief ministers of Punjab and Haryana agreed that construction of the SYL canal in Punjab would be inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Punjab, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, and the function of the inauguration would be presided over by Mr Devi
Lal, CM of Haryana. “This was confirmed by Ch Devi Lal to Shri Parkash Singh Badal in his
D.O. Letter dated April 18, 1978”, stated the petition while it added that the function never took place. The petition also says that besides irrigating three lakh hectares in Haryana, the SYL, as its
alignment has been designed by Punjab, will benefit Punjab too. The design of the SYL reportedly envisages irrigation of 1.2 lakh hectares of land in Ropar and Patiala. The project also envisages the construction of two hydel power houses in Punjab with a rated capacity of 50 MW of power. |
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SC verdict on canal hailed Faridabad, January 16 In a statement here today, the state JD (U) chief, Mr Ved Prakash Vidrohi, said present attitude and past record of the Punjab Government indicated that it would delay the work as much as it has possible for it. Mr Vidrohi appealed to the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, to immediately convene an all-party meeting on the issue so that a common strategy could be chalked out and pressure could be build on the Union Government to give top priority to the completion of the canal. FATEHABAD: The Haryana Kisan Sabha on Wednesday welcomed the directions issued by the Supreme Court through which it has asked the Punjab Government to complete the portion of Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal under its territory within a period of one year. Talking to mediapersons here on Wednesday, the state general secretary of the
sabha, Mr Krishan Swaroop, expressed happiness at the apex court’s orders. YAMUNANAGAR: People of Yamunanagar District congratulated one another, distributed sweets and danced to express joy on the Supreme Court’s Decision to implement Eradi Commission award. Government buildings and a few private residences were lit with electric lamps to celebrate the occasion. REWARI: Mr Praveen
Chaudhary, Chairman of Rewari Zila Parishad, Mr Harish Arora, Chairman of Rewari Municipal Council, prominent INLD leaders and municipal councillors at a special meeting held here on Wednesday, hailed the verdict of the Supreme Court on the construction of the
S.Y.L. Canal. They also took out a procession through the main markets of the town where they distributed ‘laddoos.’ ROHTAK: The orders of the apex court directing the Punjab Government to construct the SYL Canal in its territory within a year, has been welcomed by the INLD and the Haryana unit of the BJP and the Lok Janshakti Party. The activists of the INLD’s youth wing on Wednesday burst crackers in the town to hail the Supreme Court’s decision. The Deputy Commissioner,
Jhajjar, illuminated his official residence as soon as he learnt about the court’s orders on Tuesday. KURUKSHETRA: The HVP general secretary, Mr Surinder Singh, welcomed the Supreme Court’s directive to Punjab Government on the SYL Canal at a press conference held at the Parakeet restaurant,
Pipli, 5 km from here on Wednesday. The state unit of the BJP has welcomed the decision of the Supreme Court on the SYL Canal. The city president of the Congress, Mr Dina Nath
Arora, in a press note, issued here on Wednesday said the Supreme Court’s decision on the SYL Canal had been welcomed by all Congress activists of the region. |
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War still an option: Swami Panipat, January 16 “The Indian Government was adopting a wait-and-see policy and decision to wage war on cross-border terrorism by Pakistan will be guided by various inputs the government received and for that matter the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) was meeting almost everyday,” Mr Swami said while talking to The Tribune at the residence of Mr Lekh Raj Narang, BJP president of Ward No 18, here today. The Prime Minister had gone on record saying that this time the fight against terrorism would be fight to the finish and the diplomatic offensive
launched by the government against Pakistan had paid rich dividends. The government was not lowering its guard and would soon launch a massive diplomatic offensive against Pakistan in the Middle East Muslim nations. Answering a query on steps taken by the Pakistan President, Gen Pervez Musharraf, to put down the terrorists and fundamental elements in Pakistan, the minister pointed out that by and large General Musharraf had addressed domestic constituency in a bid to modernise the theocratic state. However, his sincerety would be judged when his words were translated into actions, he said adding that no time frame could be set for the General to come clean on issue of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in the border state of Jammu and Kashmir. The massive build-up of the Indian troops would be there till they were required, he added. Saying that the building of Ram Temple in Ayodhya was not on the BJP agenda in run-up to the Uttar Pradesh elections, Mr Swami disagreed that the BJP was creating “war hysteria” with a view to take political mileage in the Assembly elections next month. He, however, conceded that the VHP, which had asked the government to remove hurdles in the construction of the temple by March this year, could have been making it an election issue. However, no illegal activity would be allowed in Ayodhya, he added. To another question, Mr Swami replied that so far 25 organisations had been banned under the controversial Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO). Mr Swami refused to comment on the ammunition depot fire in Rajasthan saying that an inquiry had already been ordered into the incident. |
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Mahajan
rules out troop pullout Hisar, January 16 Speaking at the concluding function of the 7th national youth festival here he said India had decided to afford sufficient time to Pakistan to translate into action all that its President had enunciated in his latest address to the people of Pakistan. India traditionally had shown ample restraint and patience and in this case too the government would wait and see what Pakistan did about terrorism before considering pulling out its troops. Mr Mahajan said the Prime Minister had stated in the beginning that India had decided to wage a final and decisive war against terror and therefore there was no plan to give up the plan until the country had obtained its objectives. He said India was firm on its demand that the 20 odd terrorists figuring in the list of fugitives given to Pakistan be handed over. He said India would not provide any more evidence to Pakistan against these terrorists since enough incriminating evidence had already been provided. Accusing Pakistan of adopting double standards he said if Pakistan was prepared to hand over Osama bin Laden to the USA, there was no reason why it should refuse to handover the 20 terrorists to India. He said there would be no compromise on this issue. The minister said Pakistan President lacked credibility and India could not take his words at face value. The best it could do in the situation was to wait and watch and not to rush through any hard decision. The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, thanked the apex court for deciding the SYL Canal issue in favour of Haryana. He said the momentous decision would help realise Tau Devi Lal’s cherished dream. However, the exuberance of INLD leaders over the SYL decision created an ugly situation here when a large number of party workers led by Mr Puran Singh Dabra, MLA, were cane-charged by the police at the venue of the function. The legislator and party workers applied ‘gulal’ to each other’s face and tried to enter the Mahavir stadium alongwith drummers. The policemen on duty refused to let the legislator’s supporters in. This led to a clash and the police resorted to a mild cane charge. The matter was settled with the intervention of the SP, Mr Rajpal Singh. |
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CPM: USA exploiting Sept 11 attacks Fatehabad, January 16 The political resolution of the party, put forward by its state secretary, Mr Inderjit Singh, said the “over-interference” of the USA was fraught with many dangers. The resolution said that under the process of globalisation, thrust upon the world by imperialist countries, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation were imposing conditions on the developing countries that were tilted in favour of the developed world. The party delegates discussed the ill-effects of these developments in the fields of agriculture, industry, education, health and employment in the country as a whole and in Haryana in particular. The resolution criticised the NDA government at the Centre and the Chautala government in the state for implementing the policies of liberalisation blindly and thereby overlooking the interests of the farmers. A four-member committee comprising Mr. Shradhanand Solanki, Mr Sube Singh, Ms Jagmati Sangwan and Mr Ram Kumar Bahbalpuria are presiding over the proceedings of the convention. The party also passed a resolution welcoming the Supreme Court decision on the SYL Canal. The resolution was put forward by senior party leader and Kisan Sabha activist Krishan Swaroop. Earlier, CPM politburo member Sita Ram Yechuri inaugurated the three-day convention by unfurling the party flag yesterday. As many as 180 delegates from all over the state are participating in the convention, which will conclude tomorrow. |
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Police put on high alert Rohtak, January 16 The IG, Rohtak Range, Mr Resham Singh, told The Tribune that in view of the intelligence reports, there was threat from terrorist groups to create terror in the area. Since the Rohtak range, comprising districts of Sonepat, Panipat, Jhajjar, and Karnal fell in the NCR, the police in these districts had been alerted to take preventive measures. The SPs of NCR districts had been told to verify the antecedents of house owners and tenants. District police chiefs have been told to check hostels in universities and colleges and verify the antecedents of those visiting the inmates. Persons and companies dealing in the sale and purchase of second-hand cars and vehicles had been directed not to sell vehicles to unknown persons unless they give reference of a known person. The names and addresses of such persons should be recorded, along with photographs. There were orders to check all dharamshalas, serais, hotels and private guest houses. Special watch would be kept on woodcutters and sellers of shawls from Jammu and Kashmir. Special nakas would be set up on all roads leading towards the city area and the venue for the Republic Day celebrations. Every vehicle entering the city would be checked. Sonepat and Jhajjar SPs had been specifically asked to check vehicles and persons going to Delhi on January 25 and 26. Policemen on Republic Day duty would have to display their identity cards. |
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Web-based train enquiry system
inaugurated Ambala, January 16 Later talking to mediapersons, Divisional Railway Manager, Mr Deepak Krishan, said that a train from South may be extended up to Kalka from July 1. Also, the Shatabdi Express which leaves in the afternoon, is going to be rescheduled to an evening timing from January 26. Mr Deepak Krishan said that the system has been introduced for the first time in Indian Railways. The user will be able to get a host of information through the website and the enquiry system. Among many other things, a user will be able to know the trains available between two stations at a particular time, current status of a train at a station, current status of trains expected to reach at selected station and scheduled time-table for various sections. The web based train enquiry system is now being used for displaying information of train time at the Ambala Cantonment railway station and has been designed to suit display on a TV set. “At present the station PC is connected on dial up but we are planning for a leased line connectivity,” he said. “An attractive feature of the programme is that as soon as some delay information is fed at a station for a train, it is automatically transferred to other stations in the route of that train,” he added. He said that at present only stations of the Ambala division and trains running in the Ambala division are fed in the system. Other divisions of the Northern Railway can also feed information about their trains using graphical user interface. This will make the system better since the scope of availability of information shall be more useful to the passengers on long-distance trains. “This system is capable to acting as train describer system at very low cost,” he said. Mr Krishan said that the Ambala division, through in-house effort, has developed the system at an approximate cost of Rs 1 lakh. For the rail user, the timings along with platforms for trains at any chosen time in the chosen period will be available and for contractors, the open tender notices of the Ambala division will be put up on the website. For the railway employees, the brief details with search feature of serial circulars, the information about progress made by various departments of the Ambala division and other salient features will be on the website. |
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Station
facilities ‘to be improved’ Panipat, January 16 Speaking to mediapersons after inaugurating the second booking counter at the local railway station here, Mr Kanwarjit Singh said new facilities such as interactive voice response system and public address system would be introduced. Earlier, accompanied by senior railway officials, including the DRM, Mr A.P. Mishra, he inspected the station. However, the inspection seemed to be a stage-managed affair as the GM was taken to the areas which had already been beautified. During the past few days, the work on sprucing up the station has been going round the clock. A new shed had been erected and all buildings spruced up. Even till the eleventh hour today, the railway staff were seen painting buildings. Extra benches had also provided on the platforms for the passengers. The General Manager assured that unscheduled visits by the senior officials would be organised to see that basic facilities were provided to the passengers. |
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Haryana nets 524 cr in small savings Chandigarh, January 16 He said the target of loan to be received by the state from the Union Government during the current financial year was Rs 978 crore against which loans worth Rs 751.71 crore had already been received upto October, 2001. To encourage investors to deposit in the small savings schemes, Prof Sampat Singh said the department had launched two special schemes from April 1, 2001, to September 30, 2001, and from October 3, 2001, to March 3, 2002. Under each scheme 8778 cash prizes worth Rs 1.05 crore would be given. |
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Urologist
offers online consultancy Panipat, January 16 The procedure will benefit surgeons and patients by providing cheap and latest treatment to the latter since the expert opinion of the specialist can be easily obtained by this method. Explaining the method used to The Tribune, Dr Gupta, a renowned urologist, who is also Director of R.P. Stone Clinic Private Limited, said surgeons from the region could easily scan the X-rays of patients and then e-mail them to him for his expert opinion. In fact, several surgeons at Karnal and Kurukshetra have already installed the equipment under Dr Gupta’s guidance. This will decrease the incidence of open surgery of kidney stone disease which involves massive cutting and is still being practiced in several towns in the country because of lack of expertise and equipment, said Dr Gupta, who has treated over 10,000 patients of stones either by medicines or by extra or intracorporeal lithotripsy over the past 15 years. He said he was planning to extend the facility directly to the patients in the near future and provide free consultation on the Internet so that the patients could have his preliminary opinion as regards the treatment of
their stones without visiting his clinic here. A pioneer of the closed telescopic surgery to remove prostate gland and stones from the urinary tract, Dr Gupta condemned the use of open surgery for the removal of urinary tract stones. Shockwave lithotripsy and ureterorenoscopy are the safest procedures for dealing with urinary tract stones, he added. Dr Gupta said he was not much in favour of percutaneous surgery, a keyhole surgery for the removal of kidney stones, since it had a higher complication rate. To reduce the complication rate, he was working on flexible ureterorenoscopy which he believed would replace the surgery in due course of time. It may be recalled that Dr Gupta one of the few urologists dedicated to flexible ureteroscopy in North India, had hit the headlines over two years back when he removed a fungal ball from the kidney of a patient with ureteroscopy. This was reported to be the first-of-its-kind case in the world because the conventional surgery for the removal of kidney fungal ball was percutaneous surgery. The case report was later published in the British Journal of Urology last year. |
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One more chance to get I-cards Fatehabad, January 16 According to the District Election Officer, Mr O.P. Indora, the work of photographing people would be done on January 20 and January 21. |
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1 held for selling obscene literature Fatehabad, January 16 |
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Hisar,
January 16
