H A R Y A N A

Concessions to make rural power 
consumers pay bills
Chandigarh, April 25
In a last-ditch attempt to make electricity consumers in the rural areas pay their pending bills, the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, today announced a number of concessions for defaulters among agricultural, domestic and non-domestic consumers in the villages.

• Power complaints to be given numbers

HSGPC seeks separate identity
Kurukshetra, April 25
The executive committee of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (HSGPC) at its meeting held here yesterday decided that Sikhs from all over the state would demonstrate in front of the Parliament and submit a memorandum to the Lok Sabha Speaker on May 15 seeking his help on the formation of a separate Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee for Haryana.

Jeweller’s murder: residents stage dharna
Narnaul (Mahendergarh), April 25
The police continued to grapple for the third day today for a breakthrough in the sensational dacoity and murder of a prominent jeweller of the town, Mr Hem Chand Jain.

• 56 ultrasound centres registered

Concessions to make rural power 
consumers pay bills
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 25
In a last-ditch attempt to make electricity consumers in the rural areas pay their pending bills, the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, today announced a number of concessions for defaulters among agricultural, domestic and non-domestic consumers in the villages. The concessions include writing off 75 per cent of the payment provided the remaining 25 per cent of the arrears is paid by the consumers in one go.

An official spokesman said that the concessions were cleared after discussions held by the Chief Minister with the Deputy Commissioners and Superintendents of Police of six districts — Gurgaon, Rohtak, Bhiwani, Jind, Kaithal and Hisar — in which the recovery operations apparently have been showing poor results. Senior officers of the power utilities and other state government departments also attended the meeting held here today.

According to the announcement made by the Chief Minister, the arrears of electricity bills of defaulting consumers in the rural areas all over the state, as they would stand on April 30, 2002, would be frozen in the future for those opting to avail themselves of the concessions. The consumers choosing to settle their arrears in one go will have to pay only 25 per cent of the amount pending on April 30 while the remaining arrears would be written off provided the payment is made by May 15.

The arrears will be written off to the extent of 50 per cent in the case of consumers opting to pay the balance 50 per cent in monthly instalments of Rs 100. No surcharge or interest will be charged on the amount to be paid in instalments.

Moreover, the Chief Minister also announced that those agricultural consumers who were affected by the 1995 floods would not have to pay the bills for six months of that year.

The Chief Minister warned that strict action would be taken against the defaulters after the May 15 deadline. Mr Chautala further said that if there was 100 per cent compliance with the scheme in any village, all money received up to May 15 in the form of payments of power arrears would be spent on developmental work in that village.

Mr Chautala said panchayats and groups of consumers would have to meet the Deputy Commissioners to avail themselves of the concessions. He said that if the defaulting consumers were found to be government employees, disciplinary action would be taken against them if they did not clear their arrears by May 15.

Power complaints to be given numbers
Tribune News Service

Ambala, April 25
Haryana Public Accounts Committee members have directed that in electricity complaint centres, the complainant will be given a complaint number and the time when the problem was solved will be entered into a register.

The members gave this direction after inspecting the power scenario in Ambala. Among others, MLAs, Mr K.L. Pawar, Mr Anil Vij, Mr Chander Bhatia, Mr Mange Ram Gupta, Mr Puran Chand Dabra and Mr Devraj Dewan, visited the Dhulkot workshop.

HSGPC seeks separate identity
Our Correspondent

Kurukshetra, April 25
The executive committee of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (HSGPC) at its meeting held here yesterday decided that Sikhs from all over the state would demonstrate in front of the Parliament and submit a memorandum to the Lok Sabha Speaker on May 15 seeking his help on the formation of a separate Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee for Haryana.

In a signed statement released to the mediapersons here today the HSGPC co-convener, Mr Didar Singh Kamboj, said in the memorandum the meeting had sought amendment to the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925, for the bifurcation of the SGPC.

Mr Didar Singh claimed that the Act, became defunct and irrelevant for Haryana in November, 1966, itself when the state came into being. He alleged that since 1966 the SGPC had been collecting Rs 11 crore every year collected as offerings from 51 historic gurdwaras in Haryana. Against this, according to a news item which appeared in The Tribune on April 23, the SGPC released a grant of Rs 25 lakh for all gurdwaras in Haryana for 2002-2003 showing its callous attitude.

The meeting also demanded that the SGPC should refund the total unutilised amount received by it as offerings from gurdwaras of Haryana since 1966 after deducting the amount spent till date on the state gurdwaras.

Jeweller’s murder: residents stage dharna
Tribune News Service

Narnaul (Mahendergarh), April 25
The police continued to grapple for the third day today for a breakthrough in the sensational dacoity and murder of a prominent jeweller of the town, Mr Hem Chand Jain.

Prominent members of the town from various walks of life today began a five-day sit-in dharna at the residence of the Deputy Commissioner, Mahendergarh district, Dr Ram Bhagat Langian, to press for the immediate arrest of the culprits in the case. Leaders of various political parties sans those of the ruling INLD took part in the dharna.

The SSP Mahendergarh, Dr C. S. Rao, told TNS that several people had been rounded up in this regard. Also, members of several gangs have been interrogated. He said the police would eventually track down the culprits. However, he would not commit on the deadline or the possible arrests of the criminals involved in the incident.

Senior members of the officialdom of the district, including the Deputy Commissioner and the SSP had a marathon meeting this evening with regard to the progress of the investigation.

The decision for staging a dharna was taken at a meeting of prominent persons, especially the business community of the town, at a meeting here yesterday evening. The meeting was convened following an overwhelming response to a call for “bandh” of the town, given in protest against the murder of Mr Jain. At a meeting held at Ganesh Mahal dharamshala it was decided that the dharna should be staged for a period of five days.

The state president of the Haryana Vyapaar Mandal, Mr Bajrang Lal Garg, a former president of the local Municipal Council, Mr Mukat Vihari Sangh, the Councillor, Mr Krishan Soni, the former president of the District Bar Association, Mr O.P. Jain, the vice-president of the local Saraaf (Jewellers) Association, Mr Sri Ram Saraaf and Mr Bajrang Soni were among those who took part in the dharna.

56 ultrasound centres registered
Tribune News Service

Ambala, April 25
Under the PNDT Act, 56 ultrasound centres have been registered in Ambala. A district-level committee formed to stop female foeticide will soon start paying surprise visits to the ultrasound centres along with police personnel and if irregularities are detected, legal action will be taken against the centre operator.