H A R Y A N A

HPSC: fresh charges by Dalal
Chandigarh, May 28
Opposition MLA and former Haryana Minister, Karan Singh Dalal today came up with fresh charges regarding bungling in selections for the Haryana Civil Service and allied services.

BKU to step up stir
Jind, May 28
The agitation by the Bharatiya Kisan Union at Kandela village in the district “will continue” as the arrested BKU leaders and workers could not get bail from a local court today.

Shifa incident generates insecurity
Fatehabad, May 28
Though people of the district have felt relieved at the safe return of Shifa, four-year-old daughter of the district police chief, Mr Hanif Qureshi, the manner in which Shifa had to be rescued from her abductors have really disturbed them.

Food science centre opened at HAU
Hisar, May 28
The Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries, Prof Chaman Lal Gupta, has said the Centre is taking steps to increase the output of food processing industry by eight per cent by 2010.

KU steps for student care
Karnal, May 28
Kurukshetra University has planned numerous projects in order to provide facilities to students who are desirous of seeking admission to its courses.

Minister to lay stone for ‘Tapovan’
Karnal, May 28
As part of a drive to protect the heritage of the twin towns of the Mahabharata age, Thanesar and Kurukshetra, the Union Ministry of Cultural Affairs and Tourism will develop a park known as Tapovan near the Seikh Chahli tomb at Thanesar.

HPSC: fresh charges by Dalal
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 28
Opposition MLA and former Haryana Minister, Karan Singh Dalal today came up with fresh charges regarding bungling in selections for the Haryana Civil Service and allied services.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr Dalal alleged that Mr Hardeep Singh, secretary of the HPSC, did not follow the prescribed procedure for getting the answersheets of the HCS examination evaluated.

According to the Opposition MLA, the HCS examination ended on January 7, 2001, and from January 9 onwards, Mr Hardeep Singh went on a tour which lasted till August. According to Mr Dalal, the purpose of the tour was to get the answersheets evaluated by examiners.

Mr Dalal said that this method of getting the answersheets evaluated was in itself a violation of the laid-down procedures. “As per the earlier procedure and the Punjab Civil Service Examination Rules, 1930, the answersheets are to be sent through a reliable system, ie the government postal authority and strict secrecy maintained in the examination process. But in the present case, Mr Hardeep Singh got the answersheets evaluated by the examiners by going to them personally”, alleged a written statement issued by Mr Dalal which was distributed among presspersons.

Mr Dalal said the HPSC secretary covered about 50,000 km for which he would have got reimbursement of about Rs 2 lakh as travelling allowance.

Mr Dalal also distributed photocopies, purported to be Mr Hardeep Singh’s tour bills, among reporters. The photocopies showed Mr Hardeep Singh being on tour from January 9 to August 20, 2001. He was found to have been travelling to places like Lucknow and Kanpur also by his car. Asked how, he could substantiate his charge that the touring by the HPSC secretary had some connection with the evaluation of examination sheets, Mr Dalal said that the records in the HPSC office would show that Mr Hardeep Singh was travelling with bundles of examination papers.

The photocopies had an entry relating to coverage of a distance of 499 km between Kanpur and Delhi in one hour’s time on January 28. Another entry shows him leaving Delhi at 4 a.m and reaching Lucknow, which is 502 km away, two hours later on February 3.

Mr Dalal claimed that tour bills submitted by the HPSC secretary were actually a “cover-up bid”. He also alleged that in reality all answer sheets were evaluated by unauthorised persons, who were friends of the HPSC Chairman, Mr K.C. Bangar, from the Hisar and Rohtak universities.

The former minister said that it would be his endeavour to have a petition filed in the high court by a candidate — who had not been recommended for the HCS or allied services — seeking a probe into the bungling. If no candidate came forward for this purpose, fearing reprisal by the state government, he would himself file a PIL on the issue in the court, Mr Dalal said.

BKU to step up stir
Our Correspondent

Jind, May 28
The agitation by the Bharatiya Kisan Union at Kandela village in the district “will continue” as the arrested BKU leaders and workers could not get bail from a local court today. The BKU leaders were expecting that the arrested BKU workers would be bailed out following an assurance by a police officer who mediated for the release of seven hostages.

According to reports, the bail application of the BKU leaders could not be considered today by the court as nobody from the government side appeared in the court. The next hearing in this case has been fixed for June 6.

Talking to mediapersons at Kandela village today Mr Ghasi Ram Nain state president of the BKU said the police officer who mediated for the release of the captives had assured that the BKU leaders would be released by today in exchange for the captives.

He said the BKU would intensify its agitation till the arrested BKU leaders were released.

He said the future course of the agitation would be decided at a condolence meeting of Ram Sarup, a farmer who was killed in a clash between the police and the agitating farmers at Naguran village on May 19 while he was coming to attend a BKU rally at Kandela village.

Shifa incident generates insecurity
Sushil Manav

Fatehabad, May 28
Though people of the district have felt relieved at the safe return of Shifa, four-year-old daughter of the district police chief, Mr Hanif Qureshi, the manner in which Shifa had to be rescued from her abductors have really disturbed them. Shifa was rescued from her abductors in the wee hours of May 26, but not before the police had to set free seven persons from Hisar jails and about 20 persons who were rounded up in connection with the incident.

Shifa was handed over to two mediators from Fatehabad by members of the Khema gang at about 3.15 a.m. on May 26 at Ferozepore cantonment.

Sources revealed that Khema after kidnapping Shifa took her to his village, Kata Kheri, in the same jeep that was used for the crime. He abandoned the jeep there and took a car to cross over to Punjab through link roads. While the police had been searching for jeeps, Khema reached his hideouts in Punjab without being checked. Once there, he was able to dictate his terms to the police as he had Shifa with him. He made the police set free his seven relatives who were arrested by the police on May 14 in his village under Section 307 of the IPC when they allegedly attacked a police party that had gone to the village to arrest Khema. He also made the police set free all his relatives rounded up in connection with the case.

The local people do not have any reservations over the manner Shifa’s release was brought about. They believe that the police did not have many options in its hands. The way a criminal like Khema had been able to kidnap the child and then managed to carry her to his hideouts in Punjab amid heavy security, the people feel that it would have been foolish on the part of the police to take Khema’s threats lightly. What worries the people here is the emergence of criminals like Khema here. Fatehabad was considered to be the most peaceful district in Haryana.

Khema was a land labourer in Kata Kheri village merely 10 years ago. Later, he joined the illicit trade of liquor distillation. From a small-time criminal he has now assumed the figure of a big gang leader who is wanted by the police of three states in various heinous crimes.

The incident has also raised several questions relating to the security of the police and administrative officers. While most of the SPs and DCs prefer to avoid meeting the general public and like to operate from within the four walls of their security cover, Mr Hanif Qureshi is one of the very few police officers who liked to mingle with the common people. He has been heading “Paryaas”, a police public co-ordination forum aimed at eliminating the menace of drug abuse and drug trafficking from the district. During the functions organised by the “Paryaas”, he sits with drug addicts. Needless to say not all drug addicts are from peace-loving strata of the society. Most of them are in constant touch with criminals for the procurement of their daily dose of drugs. Not only this, the SP and his family members would often go for the morning and evening walks without any security and the SP himself would go to a yoga centre every morning all alone. This particular incident must have taught a lesson to all police officers that as they have to deal with criminals on daily basis, they must take care of the security aspect of their family members as well as of their own.

Food science centre opened at HAU
Our Correspondent

Hisar, May 28
The Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries, Prof Chaman Lal Gupta, has said the Centre is taking steps to increase the output of food processing industry by eight per cent by 2010.

He was speaking at the inauguration of the Centre of Food Science and Technology at Haryana Agricultural University here on Sunday. He said the Centre was likely to generate employment for nearly 75 lakh persons apart from ensuring better returns to the farmers for their produce. He also said Haryana had an immense potential for the growth of food processing industry and the Centre was keen to extend all support.

The minister said 80 per cent of population of Haryana was engaged in agriculture directly or indirectly and there was ample scope for the expansion of this industry. He sought increased participation of the state government in this regard and assured that a conducive environment for the growth of food industry would be created in the state.

He informed that food industry had been declared a priority area and under the plan his ministry was providing financial assistance for creating infrastructure, setting up and modernisation of industrial units, research and development in this field. The financial assistance would depend upon the nature of the institution or promoter and was subject to a maximum of Rs 50 lakh for general areas and Rs 75 lakh in difficult areas.

The Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, assured Mr Gupta that Haryana was ready to accept challenge in any field. He said during the green and white revolutions, Haryana was in the forefront in achieving the targets. He emphasised that the state was ready for the third revolution in agriculture diversification and food processing.

KU steps for student care
Our Correspondent

Karnal, May 28
Kurukshetra University has planned numerous projects in order to provide facilities to students who are desirous of seeking admission to its courses.

As a first step, a new sales counter is being opened from tomorrow at the newly constructed Sri Krishna Gate, Popularly known as the third gate of the university. Mr R.S. Chaudhary, Vice-Chancellor, said today that all prospectus and forms would be sold at the counter.

This was being done to mitigate the difficulties of students who visited the university for the first time.

Earlier, the forms and prospectus were sold only at the university press which is located inside the campus and away from the entrance to the university.

The counter will remain open during office hours.

Another step planned by Mr Chaudhary is to get a shelter constructed at Sri Krishna Gate. Although, the university started functioning over 46 years ago, yet there is no shelter for students or visitors to the university. The roadways authorities whose services to Pehowa, Kaithal, Hisar, Jind, Narwana and other towns pass by this gate have never thought of providing such a facility. The Vice-Chancellor has taken up the matter with the roadways authorities.

Yet another project relates to the beautification of the space along the road from the second gate up to the third gate. The plantation of silver oak trees is planned on a big scale along the boundary wall of the university.

Minister to lay stone for ‘Tapovan’
Our Correspondent

Karnal, May 28
As part of a drive to protect the heritage of the twin towns of the Mahabharata age, Thanesar and Kurukshetra, the Union Ministry of Cultural Affairs and Tourism will develop a park known as Tapovan near the Seikh Chahli tomb at Thanesar.

Mr Jagmohan, Union Minister for Cultural Affairs, will lay the foundation stone for the development of “Tapovan” on May 30, along with Mr Om Prakash Chautala, Chief Minister of Haryana. The ‘Tapovan’ which, at present, is a cesspool of stagnant water has the tomb on one side. Sthaneshwar Shiva Temple of the Puranic age on the other and the Goddess Bhadarkali Shakti Peetha on the third side.

It may be mentioned that the foundation stones for the development of this area had been laid twice. Once by MMSH Burney, a Governor of Haryana, and later by Mr Bhajan Lal during his chief ministership. But no development took place. Even the foundation stones laid by the two dignitaries are non-existent today. It is only after the second visit of Mr Jagmohan to the historic town that the CPWD started drainage works at the site. The formal development would start from May 30.

Over the years, some unscrupulous elements have encroached upon parts of this historic land. Government agencies might encounter some opposition from the encroachers. But given the track record of Mr Jagmohan in clearing encroachments whether it be Vaishno Devi shrine or New Delhi areas, the Tapovan project is likely to be executed.