 |
Wednesday,
April 23, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
|
No Bhajan kin to contest Women to get 33 pc of party
posts: Chautala Truckers’ strike hits cloth business in Ambala
Inferior bags cause loss worth crores |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Fire services far from satisfactory HIGH COURT Objections, claims invited for SGPC
voters’ list Cong leader injured Bid on life of sarpanch Drug stores’ functioning under scanner No headway in woman’s murder case Cop-admn team pelted with stones Youth dies in car-bus collision Two booked for
murdering woman 
|
|
No Bhajan kin to contest Chandigarh, April 22 Mr Bhajan Lal has been under tremendous pressure from his supporters as well as senior Haryana Congress leaders to field either Mr Kuldeep Singh Bishnoi or his nephew, Mr Dura Ram, from Fatehabad. According to informed sources, at a meeting of senior party leaders held in Delhi yesterday in the presence of the AICC General Secretary in charge of Haryana, Mrs Mohsina Kidwai, Mr Bhajan Lal was told by the participants to put up a heavyweight candidate so that the party could put up a good show. One of the senior leaders is believed to have gone to the extent of telling Mr Bhajan Lal to quit the post of party President if he was unable to find a meaningful candidate for the Fatehabad byelection. The sources say in the wake of pressure by senior leaders, Mr Bhajan Lal sought time to consult members of his family. He promised to come back to Mrs Kidwai after one hour. However, the sources say Mr Bhajan Lal today conveyed to Mrs Kidwai that no one from his family was interested in contesting the byelection. Mr Bhajan Lal told TNS on the phone that the party would finalise its candidate only after ascertaining the views of its workers at a meeting in Fatehabad tomorrow. The candidate’s name would be announced on April 25 after approval by the high command. The sources say the possibility of a number of senior party leaders participating in tomorrow’s meeting is remote though the PCC office-bearers, former party Presidents and MLAs have been specifically asked to attend it. Meanwhile, a general secretary of the Haryana Congress, Mr Mange Ram Gupta, said in a statement issued here today that if any party leader did not sincerely campaign in the byelection, his future in the party would come under a cloud. He said the purpose of tomorrow’s meeting was to unanimously select a suitable candidate, who could defeat the ruling party nominee. The INLD’s supporting party, the BJP, too, is flexing its muscles to test its strength in the Fatehabad byelection. According to party sources, certain leaders of the Haryana unit of the party, led by its President, Mr Rattan Lal Kataria, met BJP chief, Venkaiah Naidu in Delhi today and sought his permission to contest the byelection. Earlier the core committee of the Haryana BJP had met at the residence of the Union Minister of State for Home, Mr I.D. Swami, and prepared a panel of likely candidates. It is believed that Mr Naidu told the Haryana leaders that he would convey their sentiments to the Parliamentary Board. However, he told them to complete the process of selecting the candidate. The election committee of the Haryana BJP will meet on April 24 to select the candidate. Meanwhile, the Lok Janshakti Party of Mr Ram Bilas Paswan has extended its support to CPM candidate Krishan Swaroop in Fatehabad, according to the General Secretary of the Haryana unit of the party, Mr Surinder Hooda. Mr Hooda said this decision was taken at a meeting between the party President, Capt Shamsher Singh Malik, and the Haryana CPM Secretary, Mr Inderjit Singh. The Haryana CPI Secretary, Mr Raghbir Singh, was also present at the meeting held in Rohtak last evening. FATEHABAD: INLD nominee Swatantra Chowdhary, opened her campaign from Akanwali village on Tuesday. She was accompanied, among others, by Mr Nishan Singh and Mr Jarnail Singh, both MLAs. She sought votes in the name of her late father-in-law, Mr Leela Krishan, whose death has caused the byelection. The Haryana Vikas Party (HVP), which completed its four-day tour of 84 villages of the constituency, on Tuesday appealed for votes in the town. Its leaders, including Secretary-General Surender Singh; HVP nominee Prahlad Singh Gillankhera, former minister Kanwal Singh; and Ms Dayawanti Verma, President of the women’s wing of the party, went from door-to-door to seek votes. In another development, the Bahujan Samaj Morcha, a breakaway group of the BSP, on Tuesday announced its decision to contest the byelection. The chief coordinator of the morcha, Mr Narsingh Selwal, said here that a workers’ meeting would be held on April 27 to finalise the candidate. FARIDABAD: The Haryana unit of the Janata Dal(U) has decided not to contest the byelection. Its President, Mr Ved Prakash Vidrohi, said the party would soon decide whom to support in the election. |
|
Women to get 33 pc of party posts: Chautala Chandigarh, April 22 Regarding the plight of women, in jails, Mr Chautala said, instead of sending women to jail, pregnant women and those with children below the age of seven should be kept under house arrest. He also said it would be better if convicted women were kept at home during daytime to look after their households and shifted back to prisons in the evening. Mr Chautala also urged voluntary organisations to make a judicious use of funds for the implementation of various schemes. He said the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, at a two-day meeting of partners in the NDA, has said that Rs 5,000 crore were being given to the NGOs to take up various welfare programmes. Ms Poornima Advani, chairperson of the National Commission for Women, said it was a high time for find ways to empower of women. She said the increase in the cases of female foeticide was a cause for concern. |
|
Truckers’ strike hits cloth business in Ambala Ambala, April 22 A large number of wholesalers and retailers from Haryana, Himachal, Punjab and Chandigarh come to this market and transactions worth crores are conducted everyday. All major textile mills have their wholesale dealers in this market. The market has around 750 wholesale cloth shops. According to the president of the market, Mr Harcharan Singh Bhatia, trucks carrying cloth from Surat, Mumbai, Bhilwara, Lucknow, Bangalore, Amritsar, Bareli, Delhi and Kolkata have not been reaching Ambala, resulting in a shortage in the market. Knowing that there is scarcity of the new variety due to the strike, the retailers are also not visiting the market. According to information, the number of customers have reduced to 35 to 45 per cent. The vice-president of the association, Mr Surender Kumar, said if the strike continued for a couple of weeks it would badly affect the trade. He said most of the shopkeepers in the market were doing no business these days. A few of the shopkeepers had started transporting the cloth from Delhi in their private vehicle. Mr Surender Kumar said the number of customers, who come here for buying expensive clothes for the weddings had also come down. Rural customers, busy transporting their wheat to grain markets, have also not been visiting the market. Mr Joginder Kumar, a wholesale cloth merchant, is of the view that the Union Government should make a move to solve the truckers dispute otherwise the cloth merchants will have to face a heavy financial losses. A leading wholesale sari dealer said the state government should pressurise the Union Government to resolve the trucks strike. |
|
Inferior bags cause loss worth crores Kaithal, April 22 According to information, the wheat bags received and used by some agencies are not according to specifications. The bags used by Hafed and the State Food Supply Department are much inferior in quality and under weight. When contacted on telephone the DM, Hafed, and the DFSC, Kaithal, said according to their information the bags were of good quality and were not under weight. At the same time they pointed that they had no role to play in the purchase of bags as the purchases were made through the Director, Supply and Disposal, Haryana. These officials also confirmed that a team from the Institute of Jute Technology, Delhi, along with the local staff of the government agencies inspected the quality of jute bags and only after that 80 per cent payment was released. When asked whether they had informed their superior officers about the poor quality of consignments, their reply was in negative. According to information available from local sources, this time the department concerned had placed direct orders with the manufacturers of jute bags in Kolkata whereas earlier the supply was routed through the Director, Supply and Disposal, West Bengal. |
|
Fire services far from satisfactory Panchkula, April 22 Though the Municipal Council has been collecting lakhs as fire tax for the past one year, the fire services remain as static as they were when the township came into existence, say residents. They say they were coerced to pay fire tax for the improvement of fire services here. Although the MC has started collecting the tax, the residents still have to rely on Chandigarh Fire Services for help. The firemen are less than required and there are only two fire-engines catering to the entire district. Sources say though the State Finance Department had sanctioned 47 new posts for the department six months ago (including 26 posts of firemen, nine each of leading firemen and driver/operators and one each of fire officer, assistant fire officer and peon), the process of filling 29 of these vacancies was started only recently. Applications were invited last month and it could take another couple of months before the vacancies were filled. As of now there is a sanctioned strength of just 16 personnel (three drivers, eight firemen and four leading firemen) in the department, though government guidelines say that there has to be one fire engine per 50,000 population and a leading fireman, four firemen and a driver have to be present in a single shift. The population of Panchkula is around 2 lakh and only one driver and three firemen are available at a given time. Though the MC had sought permission to buy a small fire engine for use in case of forest fires or fires in slum colonies almost two years ago, the same has not been granted by the state government. Mr O.P. Sihag, Executive Officer, Municipal Council, when contacted, said they had collected almost Rs 60 lakh as fire tax from Panchkula last year. An equal amount would be collected this year. “This money will now be utilised for upgrading the fire services here. In near future, one big fire engine and a hydraulic ladder will be bought,” he said. It may be noted that all proposals for upgrading the fire station here had been hanging fire with department’s functioning being transferred to Municipal Council last year. It was proposed to add a fleet of three fire-engines, including a small fire-engine, to the existing fleet of two fire-engines of the fire station here. It was also proposed to add a hydraulic platform (costing about Rs 2.75 crore), construct two garages and family quarters at the fire station. The Municipal Council insists that HUDA should buy the hydraulic platform since high-rise buildings in Sectors 5, 14 and 20 and Mansa Devi Complex have been constructed by it. The fire-engines presently available with the department are successful in case fire is at a height of up to 35 feet only. It may also be mentioned that there is a single fire station catering to the entire district, including Kalka, Pinjore, Raipur Rani, Chandi Mandir and Morni. The fire-engines from here are rushed to either of the above mentioned places in case of a fire. |
|
HIGH COURT Chandigarh, April 22 In his petition, councillor Daya Shankar Giri had contended that Ms Goswami could not be appointed Mayor as the post was reserved for a Backward Class candidate. Giving details, counsel for the petitioner had submitted that only a candidate whose caste was recognised as Backward by the state of Haryana could be appointed Mayor. In a related petition, 16 Faridabad Municipal Councillors had submitted that the government appointed Ms Goswami after ruling Indian National Lok Dal’s candidate Devinder Bhadana was removed from the post reserved for backward class following a no-confidence motion. Ms Goswami was appointed to the post despite the fact that her caste was not recognised as Backward by the Haryana Government. The High Court had stayed the operation of orders issued by the government on September 5 last dissolving the corporation. The petition is pending before the court. Notice of motion Issuing a notice of motion on a petition filed by a Yamunanagar-based Haryana distillery, a Division Bench of the High Court today stayed the operation of an order directing the petitioner to stop the discharge of any effluent in the western Yamuna canal. Fixing May 28 as the next date of hearing in the case, the Bench comprising Chief Justice Mr B.K. Roy and Mr Justice J.S. Khehar also directed that the Central Pollution Control Board was at liberty to inspect the unit. Seeking directions for quashing the orders issued on April 4 by the Central Pollution Control Board asking the unit to “suspend all effluent-generating operations till arrangements for “zero discharge” were made,” the distillery, in its petition had contended that the directions were issued without the issuance of a show-cause notice. Opportunity of hearing was also not granted. Terming the order as arbitrary, the petitioner had contended that the same amounted to the closure of the unit. Counsel for the petitioner had added that the Central and the State Pollution Control Boards had taken taking frequent samples, but none had failed till date. |
|
Objections, claims invited for SGPC
voters’ list Ambala, April 22 Mr Gautam said the voters could file their objections and claims with the executive officers of the Municipal Council in Ambala City and Cantonment and the Secretary of the Naraingarh Municipal Committee. Those residing in the rural areas can register their claims and objections with the Naib Tehsildars in Ambala City and Cantonment, Saha, Barara and
Naraingarh. |
|
Cong leader injured Hisar, April 22 Mr Makkar was returning to Hansi after addressing public meetings at nearby villages in his Indica car yesterday. As soon as he reached near the village, his car collided headon with a Honda City car, coming from the opposite direction. Mr Makkar, his driver Ashok Kumar and Mr Shish Ram, a resident of Sorkhi village, received serious injuries. Mr Rajender Kedia, a local industrialist, and his driver Vijay Kumar, travelling in the Honda City car, were also injured. |
|
|
Bid on life of sarpanch Kurukshetra, April 22 The sarpanch, a resident of Morthali village, who was admitted to hospital, told the police that five unidentified persons intercepted his Indica car while he was returning home. He said they attacked him with knives and set his car on fire, but escaped after seeing a truck coming from the Guhla-Cheeka side. The truck cleaner helped him and informed his relatives while firemen extinguished the fire. Old rivalry over a piece of 5-acre land is said to be the cause of the attack. |
|
Drug stores’ functioning under scanner Karnal, April 22 Mr Doon said he got the entire proceedings, involving salesman Vijay Katyal videotaped. His victims were villagers Ajmer Singh of Atail, Jaswinder of Raisin and Jai Singh of Jaisingh Pura in the district. Mr Doon said the sale proceeds of the stores were being shown just Rs 1.25 lakh per month whereas going by the number of customers buying medicines, it should have been more than Rs 20 lakh.
UNI |
|
No headway in woman’s murder case Ambala, April 22 The elderly woman was murdered by some unknown persons in broad daylight, when she was alone at the house of her elder son Rakesh Sharma. According to sources, a team of three doctors that conducted the post-mortem examination on the body has in its report stated that the death was caused by a head injury. Blood cots were found in the brain, which indicated that the death was caused due to shock haemorrhage. The victim was the sister-in-law of a former Deputy Speaker of Haryana Vidhan Sabha. She was cremated today afternoon. The SP, Mr Hardeep Singh Doon, said preliminary reports suggested that she was murdered by someone known to her, who entered the house in her presence. This further gets credence from the statement of her husband Bhup Chand Bhatt who told the police that she was not in the habit of opening the door to any stranger. The three glasses and a bottle that were found at the crime scene also indicated that she had offered the assailants something to drink before the incident. Gold earings and artificial bangles were also removed only after her collapse following the head injury. He said three teams had been sent to arrest the culprits. While the family of the deceased has not named any suspect, the police is working on the theory that the assailants had been known to the family of the deceased.
Body found A body was recovered from a pond of the Public Health Department, near Kalumajra village, here today. The police has sent the body to the local Civil Hospital for a post-mortem examination. The cause of death could not be ascertained. The police registered a case in this regard. |
|
Cop-admn team pelted with stones Sirsa, April 22 People were angry as the colony which had been there for about 40 years, was being vacated whereas the construction on the Wakf board land was being spared. The Deputy Superintendent of Police said three persons had been arrested and a case registered against 15-20 persons. |
|
Youth dies in car-bus collision Ambala, April 22 According to information available, the deceased, identified as
Rajindra, who hails from Dir Dona village in Fatehabad district, was on his way to Chandigarh when the car in which he was travelling had a head-on collision with the bus. The car was badly mangled and he was taken to the local Civil Hospital. He reportedly died on the way to the hospital. The driver of the bus, Bhag Singh, fled the scene. The deceased was 25 years old and had got married only two months back. A case has been registered. |
|
Two booked for
murdering woman Ambala, April 22 According to the S.P, Mr H.S Doon, Sulochana, a resident of Batrohan village of the Naggal constituency and wife of Amarjeet Singh, in her statement recorded before the Judicial Magistrate, Mr Jasbir Singh, at the Civil Hospital, Ambala City on Sunday, said she was sleeping in her room when her father-in-law and mother-in-law set her on fire after pouring kerosene on her. Mr Doon said both mother-in-law, Nachattro Devi, and father-in-law, Naseeb Singh, had been booked under Section 302 of the IPC.
Chain snatcher held The police arrested a chain snatcher and recovered the gold chain that he had snatched from a woman. Ms Naresh
Rani, a resident of Kajiwara, Ambala City, had complained to the police that a cyclist ran away after snatching a gold chain from her neck while she was returning from gurdwara at Swamian
mohalla. A police party nabbed the chain snatcher who was identified as Naresh Kumar, a resident of Baldev
Nagar. |
|
4 dacoits arrested Hisar, April 22 A police spokesman said here today that a police team, on a tip-off, raided an abandoned room near the village bus stand on the Hisar-Chandigarh road last night and arrested Narender Kumar, Purshotam, Satender Singh, all residents of Rohtak district, and Santosh Kumar, a resident of Aurngabad district in Bihar, while another, Manoj Kumar of Sonepat district, managed to escape. |
|
|
KU major exams from May 15 Kurukshetra, April 22 This was stated here yesterday by Kurukshetra University, Examination’ Controller, Dr J.S. Kadiyan. He said that date-sheets would be issued shortly. |
|
8,300 examined at 3-day mela Yamunanagar, April 22 |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 123 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
