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Wednesday,
October 2, 2002,
Chandigarh, India  
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MSP ‘cruel joke’
on farmers Move to encourage pvt bus services CBI probe into DTO’s office fire sought Check violation of wildlife Act: DC Robbery on court premises; 5 held |
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Traders observe bandh against ‘hafta vasooli’ Shifa, Babita top matric exam ‘Re-employ’
MITC workers
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MSP ‘cruel joke’
on farmers Chandigarh, October 1 In a statement issued here today the President of the Haryana Congress, Mr Bhajan Lal, said keeping in view the rise in the prices of agricultural inputs the increase in the MSP was “totally insufficient”. Demanding the MSP to be at least Rs 650 per quintal, Mr Bhajan Lal said the farmers of the state had suffered doubly, first due to drought and then untimely rain. He also demanded adequate relief for farmers for the loss suffered by them due to drought. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who demanded the MSP should be Rs 700 per quintal, said Akali Dal President Parkash Singh Badal and INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala had enacted a drama to befool the farmers. First, he alleged, these leaders persuaded the Prime Minister not to raise the MSP, and then they held a meeting with Mr Vajpayee on the issue so that they could
hoodwink the farmers by claiming that it was due to their efforts that the Centre had increased the MSP. RPI MLA, Karan Singh Dalal, said the increase of Rs 20 in the MSP on the pretext of giving drought relief to the farmers was a joke. He said the drought relief should have been at least Rs 100 a quintal. The Youth Congress President, Mr Randeep
Surjewala, has demanded that Mr Badal and Mr Chautala should immediately withdraw their support to the NDA Government for its anti-farmer policies. He said the MSP should be at least Rs 720 for “A” grade variety of paddy, besides a drought relief of Rs 100 per quintal. |
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Drought relief
meagre: Cong Faridabad, October 1 Its spokesman, Mr Krishan Murti Hooda, a former minister of Haryana, said here today that the package or relief of Rs 20 per quintal announced by the Union Government was a mere “face saving” formula in view of the large-scale resentment and protest by the farmers in the region. He alleged that the Centre and the state government had been “misleading” the paddy growers by saying that the drought relief was like an increase in the MSP, but he said the drought relief on paddy would benefit only 10 to 15 per cent of the growers and that too the big farmers only, who grew the variety that fetched the rates of Rs 530 and 560 per quintal in the market. He said majority of the paddy that had come in the market last year or likely to be procured this season would get only a rate between Rs 475 to Rs 525 per quintal. Moreover, he said the relief of Rs 20 per quintal would be applicable in the districts or the areas which had been declared drought-hit. He claimed that the “package” on the MSP would not benefit the majority of the growers and they would be at the mercy of the traders or rice mills who would procure paddy from the mandis or directly from the farmers at their terms only. He said the decision had been “hastily” taken to make the partners of the NDA happy and to give credit to them, although the Congress leader and the Chief Minister of Punjab, Capt Amarinder Singh was the first politician to stage a dharna outside Prime Minister’s house on the issue. He said the “package” was aimed at helping the parties like Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and Akali Dal (Badal), so that they could face the public after the Union Government’s “anti-farmer stand” had been exposed, on the MSP issue. He charged that the farmers of the drought-affected areas of Haryana had not been given even a single penny as the compensation sought by them. He said the “political enmity” between the Union Agriculture Minister and the Haryana Chief Minister was well-known and it was one of the reason that farmers were being denied their due. He charged the NDA government of playing petty politics by announcing a package, which he said was aimed at providing political mileage to its partners, rather than to give much-needed relief to the poor farmers. |
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Don’t delay dues of farmers, says Chautala Chandigarh, October 1 The Chief Minister said this while reviewing the procurement arrangements at a meeting here today, stated an official press note. Mr Chautala asked the ministers MLAs Chief Secretary and other senior officials to visit various mandis to ensure smooth procurement. Mr Chautala would visit certain mandis to supervise procurement. D. S. Disodia, Commissioner and Secretary, Food and Supplies, said 23 lakh tonnes of paddy was expected to arrive in the mandis this year. |
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Move to encourage pvt bus services Chandigarh, October 1 According to a source, a meeting in this regard was held between the Chief Secretary, Mr A.N. Mathur, and senior officials of the Transport Department here yesterday. The state government was actively considering liberalising operations of private bus owners in the districts of Hisar, Bhiwani, Sirsa, Mahendragarh and Rewari. While private bus services were already available in the state, the authorities had specified routes for private and government bus services. The proposed new policy, it was learnt, would allow the private operators to ply buses on the routes specified exclusively for the Haryana Roadways buses. While justifying the move, the source said there were routes on which the Haryana Roadways only run a skeletal service and people had to use maxi cabs and other such small transports to commute from one place to another. Private operations on these routes would immensely benefit common people, the source added. Mr Ashok Arora, Transport Minister of Haryana, while confirming the move, claimed that it would not in any way affect operations of the Haryana Roadways buses. “ The existing services by the Roadways buses will not be disturbed. Nor it will lead to closure of any depots or retrenchment of employees”, Mr Arora said. The Haryana Roadways, it may be stated, had been running in huge losses even though attempts to encourage private sector participation in the transport sector had always attracted strong protest from the employees. In view of the employees’ resistance, the state government had handpicked five districts for experimenting with the proposed policy. If it produced good results in these district, the policy would be extended to other districts as well, the source stated. |
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CBI probe into DTO’s office fire sought Chandigarh, October 1 The MLA alleged while it was stated that the fire had broken out due to a short circuit, it was, in fact, engineered to destroy evidence of corrupt practices indulged in by the DTO. Addressing a press conference here today, Mr Dalal claimed that the DTO, an HCS officer, who is a son of Haryana Education Minister, Bahadur Singh, had “embezzled crores of rupees during his tenure as the DTO, Faridabad” with blessings from Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala. The opposition legislator alleged that the DTO used to collect money from light transport vehicles as fines while offering receipts for lower amounts. An inquiry into the fire incident was conducted first by the General Manager of Haryana Roadways and subsequently by Mr Arun Kumar when he was the Deputy Commissioner of Faridabad. While the inquiry reports could have nailed the DTO, the state government — transferred both these officials. “Mr Arun Kumar has been posted as Director, Primary Education, so that he has to work directly under Mr Bahadur Singh. He also alleged that the family of Bahadur Singh was constructing a hotel on the Dehra Dun-Mussoorie road and Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, too, was a shareholder in the project. |
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Check violation of wildlife Act: DC Fatehabad, October 1 The DC said the district administration had directed the police and the officials of the forest department to ensure that no one indulged in trafficking the dead or alive wild animals in contravention of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972. He said under Schedule 1 of the Act hunting of certain animals like peacocks, black deers, chinkaras, tigers, panthers, bears and leopards was strictly prohibited and trafficking the bone and skin of these animals was also prohibited. |
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Robbery on court premises; 5 held Bhiwani, October 1 Mr Rajender Singh, Superintendent of Police, said here today that six or seven persons had arrived in the courts here on Monday evening, snatched the bag containing Rs 4 lakh from Sanjeev Kumar of village Chitlang and managed to escape in a Tata Sumo vehicle parked on the Mini Secretariat road. Mr Rajender Singh said search operation had been launched and all borders sealed. The police parties nabbed Jagdish, Amarjit, Roshan, Jagdish and Vikas of Bamla. |
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Traders observe bandh against ‘hafta vasooli’ Bhiwani, October 1 The shopkeepers took out a protest march to the police station and demanded the arrest of the youths. The shopkeepers alleged that the youths came to Ashish Photo Studio at Gaushala Market and demanded cash and a scooter from the owner, Satish. They beat up Satish after their demand was rejected. After six hours of the incident, the youths went to Bichla Bazar and demanded money from the owner of the Bansal Saree Centre, Mr Matu Ram. When he refused, they started damaging costly goods in the shop. They also beat up Matu Ram. |
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Shifa, Babita top matric exam Bhiwani, October 1 They secured 548 marks (91.33 per cent) out of 600. Shelly Sharma of Swami Vivekanand Senior Secondary School, Yamunanagar, who stood second got 546 marks (91 per cent) whereas Karishma Sidhu of Holy Child Senior Secondary School, Hisar and Pramila of Vivekanand Girls Senior Secondary School, Sonepat were declared third who got 544 marks (90.67 per cent). The Secretary of the board said Shifa had stood first in the middle examination of the board. Shifa disclosed that she wanted to be a neuro-surgeon. A voracious reader, Shifa likes to play badminton and watching cricket. Babita wants to become an IAS officer and gives credit of success to her parents and teachers. Shelly who got second rank said she followed the guidelines of her teachers. Shelly wants to be an engineer. Karishma and Promila, both studied with deep concentration, wants to IAS officers in future. |
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‘Re-employ’
MITC workers Ambala,
October 1 The HSEB Employees Union organised a rally to
protest against the lock-out in the MITC. The meeting was presided
over by Mr Amrik Singh, joint secretary, Haryana Mahasangh. Employees
of the PWD Workers Union, Mechanical Workers Union, Excise and
Taxation Staff Association and Teachers Union took part in the rally.
Addressing the employees, union leader Devi Prashad Bhatt alleged that
even after the direction of the Supreme Court, state government was
not accommodating the employees of the MITC to other departments. |
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Mr S.P. Gupta Chandigarh, October 1 |
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