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Thursday,
December 26, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Bonus may elude Haryana transport employees Plywood industry in shock Cabinet to discuss drought aid
today NCP to contest Himachal poll SAD supporter
granted bail |
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All-India group song contest ends 2 get life term for murder Man held for rape, murder Three killed in accident Drive on to nab robbers New Year greeting cards
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Bonus may elude Haryana transport employees Chandigarh, December 25 A Cabinet committee on the privatisation of the transport sector, is slated to meet here on December 30, to review the blueprint prepared by the Transport Department for the privatisation of routes earmarked for the exclusive use of Haryana Roadways buses. Sources said the five-member Cabinet committee was being headed by the Transport Minister, Mr Ashok Arora, while Mr Bahadur Singh, Education Minister, Mr M L Ranga, Health Minister, Mr Kartar Singh Badhana, Cooperation Minister and Mr Mohammed Illyas, Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development Department Minister were the members. Incidentally, the first meeting of the Cabinet committee, which took place here on December 18, failed to arrive at any conclusion as Mr Bahadur Singh and Mr M L Ranga failed to appear in the discussion. Earlier, in October, Transport Department officials had a meeting with the Chief Secretary, Mr A N Mathur on the issue and they agreed on the opening up of routes in Hisar, Bhiwani, Sirsa, Mahendragarh and Rewari districts on an experimental basis. The Cabinet committee meeting on December 30 will take up the proposal regarding the opening up of routes in these districts, it was learnt. The state government's move to aggressively push for the privatisation of the transport sector has come as a setback to the employees who are vehemently opposing the step. Meanwhile, the employees are all set to suffer another blow as the state government, according to sources here, has declined to offer them any bonus in the current year. Employee union leaders had a meeting with high ups of the Transport Department here in October on the issue and had received an assurance from the latter about having 'ex gratia as bonus' sanctioned for them. The decision appears bizzare in the light of the state government's own admission that Haryana Roadways is the most profitable roadways in the entire country now. The profit (before tax) of the Haryana Roadways also went up to an all-time high of over Rs 105 crore during 2001-2002. When contacted, Mr Ashok Arora, Transport Minister however, claimed that a final decision on giving bonus to the Class III and Class IV employees was yet to be taken. |
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Plywood industry in shock Chandigarh, December 25 With over 150 plywood units, Yamunanagar-Jagadhari, earlier famous for metal industry, has now come to be known as the”home of ply”. Along with the Ballarpur Paper Industries, these plywood units are a boon for farmers of the area growing eucalyptus and poplar trees as part of agro-forestry. The local police seized three trucks and two light commercial vehicles(LCVs) carrying ply “patta” and plyboard on December 20. The drivers of these vehicles were also arrested. The next day an FIR was registered under various sections of the IPC. The allegation was that the units, which had sent their goods in these vehicles, had been evading sales tax “in connivance” with the staff of the Excise and Taxation Department and the owners had not issues the mandatory sales tax form No. 38 with the goods. The President of the Yamunanagar Plywood Industry Association, Mr Devinder Chawla, and other office-bearers deny the allegations. They allege that the three trucks were carrying form 38. But the police allegedly deliberately did not show the sales tax forms in the record recovered from the drivers. About the LCVs, the plywood owners say, there was no requirement of the form 38 because they were carrying the consignments belonging to different parties and the value of each consignment was less than Rs 10,000. Form 38 is required only when the value of the consignment is Rs 10,000 or more. While the drivers have been bailed out, the proceedings for the release of the vehicles and the goods are pending in a court. Mr G.S. Reen, counsel for the truck owners, says even if the allegations levelled by the police are true, at best it is a case of sales tax evasion, for which the Excise and Taxation Department has a provision to compound the offence by levying a penalty. In such matters, he says, the police intervention is unwanted. Sources in the plywood industry say the industry often comes under official pressure and it is “squeezed” by the powers that be on one pretext or the other. Earlier, market fee was imposed on wood, which had made the industry unviable. The sources apprehend that the latest incident is also an attempt to “squeeze” the industry. However, official sources deny the allegation. Owners of the plywood units in Yamunanagar and Jagadhari held a long meeting in the local club today. It is not known what decision was taken at the meeting because the participants were tightlipped because of the fear of official retribution. However, after the meeting a delegation met the local MLA, Dr M.C. Gambhir, who belongs to the ruling INLD. Dr Gambhir told TNS on the phone that he had urged the Deputy Commissioner and the SP to sort out the matter. He was confident that the dispute would be resolved to the satisfaction of all concerned. However, the industry is keeping its fingers crossed. |
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Cabinet to discuss drought aid
today Chandigarh, December 25 While the state government has given some relief to the affected farmers from the Calamity Relief Fund, no cash compensation for the farmers has so far been announced. The inability has drawn a lot of flaks from the Opposition quarters. The state Cabinet is expected to take up the issue of cash compensation in the tomorrow’s meeting. |
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NCP to contest Himachal poll Yamunanagar, December 25 He said the party might go in for an alliance with like-minded parties. He said the NCP would also put its candidates in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand. Talking about the recent visit of the Chief Minister abroad, he said there was nothing wrong in doing so if it was in the interest of the state. |
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SAD supporter
granted bail Ambala, December 25 It is notable that the situation became tense on the court premises yesterday when a number of SAD workers raised slogans against Baba Bhaniarawala, who had come to appear in a court in Ambala city in a case registered against him and his other 18 followers at Morinda which was later transferred to Ambala on the direction of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Meanwhile, senior leader of SAD Sukhdev Singh Gobindgarh and SHSAD leader Kartar Singh Takkar said here today that the supporters of Baba Bhaniarawala responsible for the incident. They said after the departure of Baba Bhaniarawala from the court premises Baba supporters passed derogatory remarks about Akali workers. They alleged that the situation deteriorated after one of the Baba’s supporter threw a chair on a SAD worker. |
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All-India group song contest ends Ambala, December 25 The Union Minister, Ms Sushma Swaraj, was the chief guest. About 29 teams from different parts of the country participated in the competition. In the national song category, West Bengal team from Haryana Vidya Mandir, Kolkata was adjudged the best. South Rajasthan team from Central Public Senior Secondary School, Udaipur, was second while Assam team from Darang College, Tezpur, was third. Motivation prize was bagged by South Delhi team of S.S. Mota Singh Senior Secondary School, Janakpuri, Delhi. In Sanskrit language category, Karnataka team from Shri Bhagwan Mahavir Jain College, Bangalore secured the first place. Orissa team from the Mother’s Institute of Integral Education, Bhubaneshwar, was second while East Punjab team from Rajkiya Girls Mahavidyalaya, Patiala, was third. Motivation prize was awarded to North Rajasthan team of Binani Kanya Mahavidyalaya, Bikaner. In regional language category, Karnataka team from Shri Bhagwan Mahaveer College, Jain Nagar, Bangalore, won the first prize. North Rajasthan team of Binani Kanya
Mahavidyalaya, Bikaner, was second, Haryana North team of Durga Mahila
Mahavidyalaya, Dyala, was third. Motivation prize was awarded to Jharkhand team of Delhi Public School,
Bokaro. |
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2 get life term for murder Hisar, December 25 According to the prosecution, Inder Gujjer, Shyam Lal, Wilson and Jagir Singh had murdered Mahender Goswami with sharp-edged weapons at Lahoria Chowk here. Goswami had lodged a complaint with the police against them. Meanwhile, a man was killed in a road accident at Gabipur village on the Hisar-Chandigarh road last evening. |
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Man held for rape, murder Yamunanagar, December 25 Poonam of Shivpuri Colony went missing on Sunday evening. On Tuesday, her body was found inside a polythene bag near her house. There were no visible injury marks on the body. Mr Surinder Malik, SHO, said the police had registered a case under section 174, CrPC, earlier. But now with the arrest of the accused, Jaswant, the case had been
converted into sections 302, 376, and 201, IPC. |
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Three killed in accident Yamunanagar, December 25 According to information received here today, all were residents of Ludhiana and were going to Hardwar in a Tata Sumo. The vehicle rammed into a truck around 2 am near Jagadhri. Sajjo Devi (27) died on the spot while the others were shifted to the Civil Hospital, Jagadhri, where 25-year-old Satpal and Yashap (55) died this morning. Bir Singh and Jagmal have been shifted to Ludhiana. The police has registered a case under sections 279, 337 and 304-A, IPC.
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Drive on to nab robbers Ambala, December 25 According to police sources, the Superintendent of Police, Mr Hardeep Singh
Doon, is monitoring the case. Eight police teams have been sent to Yamunanagar, Hisar, Kurukshetra, Panchkula, Patiala, Kaithal and Karnal under the supervision of two DSPs and six SHOs in this regard. |
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New Year greeting cards Ambala, December 25 She said the cards had pre-printed postage stamp on the envelopes. The stamp is a miniature replica of the design that appears on the card. The cards of medium and small size are priced at Rs 17 and Rs 14, respectively. The price is inclusive of postage. At
Abmala, the cards are available for sale at Ambala GPO, Ambala Sadar Bazaar and Ambala City post office. |
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