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Thursday,
December 19, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Sampat’s non-inclusion in Cabinet panel sparks row Choice for
casino falls on Gurgaon district SYL: SC
order ‘will have to be implemented’ 3 Haryana
IAS officers shifted Student-industry
interaction proposed Haryana towns to get facelift |
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Hearing on Nain’s bail plea on Dec 21 Power connections to be restored Fog causes
breakdown in northern grid ‘Technologies can improve smile’
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Sampat’s non-inclusion in Cabinet panel sparks row Chandigarh, December 18 Mr Sampat Singh, however, tried to play down the omission and said that he could not become a member as the committee was being headed by Mr Ashok Arora, Transport Minister, who is junior to him. When it was pointed out that he could have been made the Chairman of the committee like it was done in case of a committee for reform in the Education sector, the Finance Minister said that the committee would function better if it was headed by the minister of the department concerned. The other members of the committee headed by Mr Arora are Mr Kartar Singh Badhana, Cooperative Minister, Mr M.L. Ranga, Health Minister, Mr Mohammad Ilyas, Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development Minister and Mr Bahadur Singh, Education Minister. A Transport Department official said the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala had himself chosen the members of the committee. While non-inclusion of the Finance Minister in the committee has generated some controversy, the first meeting of the committee, which took place in the Transport Minister, Mr Ashok Arora’s office at the Haryana Secretariat remained inconclusive as Mr Bahadur Singh and Mr M.L. Ranga failed to turn up for the meeting. Three members, who were present, and the representatives of the Transport Department waited for a while for Mr Ranga and Mr Bahadur Singh and then dispersed without discussing anything substantial. |
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Choice for casino falls on Gurgaon district Chandigarh, December 18 According to informed sources, Mr Bacon’s choice for setting up an “icon” project in entertainment, including a casino, has fallen on Gurgaon district. Even in that district, he has selected two sites. Of course, the final selection of the site will be made only if Mr Bacon’s company decides to take the plunge. The sources say the Haryana Government seems so keen on setting up the casino that it gave a red carpet welcome to Mr Bacon during his visit to the state. The Protocol Department presented a silver chariot carrying Lord Krishna and Arjuna (symbol of Kurukshetra), normally given to official VIPs, to Mr Bacon. The state government hosted a lunch for Mr Bacon and his colleagues at the Yadvindra Gardens, Pinjore, at which a high-level official team led by Chief Secretary A.N. Mathur had “frank” discussions with the South African entrepreneur. Mr Bacon, the hard-boiled businessman, was not taken in by hi-fi reception given to him by the state government. He had been thoroughly briefed by his consultants, Price Waterhouse-Cooper, on the legal position prevailing in India in regard to the casinos. He point blank told the Haryana team that unless a casino was set up as part of the entertainment project, it would not be viable. He wanted a categorical guarantee from the Haryana Government that there would be no hurdle, legal or otherwise, in setting up a casino. Mr Bacon pointed out to the Haryana team two major legal hitches in the way of setting up a casino. First, the Government of India does not allow foreign direct investment (FDI) to set up a casino. The rationale behind this ban is that the casinos do not generate wealth and a foreign investor will only take away the Indian wealth to his country. Second, the Haryana Casino Bill was still a “Bill” and had not become an “Act” in the absence of the Governor’s assent. It is not known on the basis of what information an officer posted in the Chief Minister’s Office told Mr Bacon that the Governor had given his assent to the Casino Bill. Reliable sources maintain that the Governor had not given his assent to the controversial Bill at least till last evening. It is believed that Mr Bacon’s consultants have advised him that while there was a bar on FDI in the casinos, there was no hitch in importing one-time equipment for the casinos by an Indian company. The Sun City MD, the sources say, has been told by his consultants that his company could construct the building for setting up the casino by an Indian company, which would pay him rent for the building. Thus the parent company, which would set up the amusement project, would be able to indirectly share the profits generated by the casino. |
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SYL: SC order ‘will have to be implemented’ Yamunanagar, December 18 Replying to mediapersons, he said the state government had approached the Supreme Court by filing an interim application for non-completion of SYL canal by the Punjab Government scheduled to be completed by January 14, 2003. He said the apex court had already issued notices to the Punjab and the Central Governments. He said if the Punjab and Central Governments failed to comply with the orders, then Haryana would be forced to complete the portion in the Punjab territory in order to get its due share of the water. Regarding his recent foreign tour, the Chief Minister said he had convinced foreign entrepreneurs and NRIs to set up their units in Haryana. The Chief Minister was honoured by plywood industry captains here today. Meanwhile, as part of its campaign to review the functioning of the gram panchayat samitis constituted to undertake development works in villages, Mr Chautala, addressed a meeting of panches, sarpanches, chairmen and members of gram vikas samitis at Jagadhri today. Mr Chautala said his government had given ample powers to the panchayati raj system to improve the functioning of various departments in rural areas. These included enhancing the limit of expenditure of panchayats from Rs 25000 to Rs 1.25 lakh, of panchayat samitis from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 3 lakh and of zila parishads from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. Mr Sher Singh, state president of the INLD, Mr Balwant Singh, Mr Banta Ram, Dr Malik Chand Gambhir, Dr Bishan Lal Saini and Mr Kanwar Pal, all MLAs, Mr Rajesh Sharma, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Board, and Mr Akram Khan, Chairman of the Haryana Dairy Development Corporation, were present on the occasion. Earlier, the Chief Minister addressed a party workers’ meeting at Punjabi Dharamshala in
Jagadhri. |
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3 Haryana IAS officers shifted Chandigarh, December 18 Mr Ashok Khemka, awaiting posting orders, has been posted as Joint Secretary and Director, Information Technology and in charge, World Trade Organisation cell in the Directorate of Agriculture. Mr Rajbir Singh, Deputy Secretary, Secretariat Establishment, has been given additional charge as the Project Director, Haryana AIDS Control Society.
TNS |
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Student-industry
interaction proposed Karnal, December 18 Mr R.S. Chaudhary, Vice-Chancellor of Kurukshetra University, told this correspondent today that the purpose behind this move was to explore avenues of employment for students. The Vice-Chancellor
explained that under the scheme, senior management officers of leading industrial houses would be invited to the campus to interact with students. The Chairman of the Department of Management, Dr R.S. Diwedi, recently organised an alumni meet, after four years in which former students of the university now manning top positions in the corporate world were invited to share their experiences. Dr L.C. Gupta, Director of the Department of Correspondence Courses, told this reporter that the Directorate would collaborate with Jamia Millia Islamia University for teaching through correspondence. |
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Haryana towns to get facelift Chandigarh, December 18 Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, who reviewed the implementation of various schemes by the Urban Development Department at a meeting here last evening, directed that the projects for urban areas should be implemented on a priority basis and in a systematic manner. He had already directed that all roads be repaired by month-end. Mr Manik Sonawane, Commissioner and Secretary, Urban Development, said a Rs 56.56 crore project to manage solid waste on scientific lines so as to produce compost and repair of roads in 16 towns had been sanctioned by the National Capital Region Planning Board. |
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Hearing on Nain’s bail plea on Dec 21 Ambala, December 18 Earlier, on December 13, the court of Mr Sharma had granted bail to four of the BKU activists — Netra Pal, Rajinder Singh, Om Prakash and Mukandi Lal. Mr Ghasi Ram
Nain, along with 18 other BKU activists, were arrested by the Ambala police on November 25 for blocking the national highway near Shajadpur in protest against the non-payment of arrears of sugarcane producers by the Naraingarh Sugar Mill. |
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Power connections to be restored Chandigarh, December 18 A spokesman of the UHBVN said here today that the willing consumers would be allowed reconnection, irrespective of the period for which the premises had remained permanently disconnected. Such cases would be classified as “reconnection cases”. The applicants would be required to make a non-refundable deposit of Rs 20,000. An additional payment at the rate of Rs 7,000 per span of line was required to be made by the applicant. The advance consumption deposit (ACD) made by the consumer would form part of the one-time deposit of Rs 20,000. For this purpose, the ACD charges would be calculated at the existing rates of Rs 30 per KW. In case an applicant had made the ACD deposit at a rate lower than Rs 30 per KW, the deposit of Rs 20,000 would be inclusive of the ACD at a rate of Rs 30 per KW and no additional deposit would be made by the applicants. |
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Fog causes breakdown in northern grid Chandigarh, December 18 |
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‘Technologies can improve smile’ Karnal, December 18 Dr Khindria, who delivered an illustrative talk on the latest technology in crown and bridge prosthetics with the help of audio-visual aids, said fixed partial denture could provide better chewing and aesthetics with ceramics these days. He said implants were a better option than conventional partial dentures and bridges because no tooth cutting was involved in the implants. |
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