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Tuesday,
May 27, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Ajit Singh, Chautala still at loggerheads Kurukshetra
to be linked with highway Haryana
Sikhs issue ultimatum to SGPC FATEHABAD BYPOLL Fatehabad:
Cong 'fared' better INLD membership campaign N. Railway to revive relic of the Raj
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Baba Piara Singh Bhaniarawala outside a court in Ambala on Monday.
— Photo Neeraj Chopra Dalal granted interim bail
Civil
Hospital sans ultrasound facility
13 held guilty 
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Ajit Singh, Chautala still at loggerheads Chandigarh, May 26 As a member of the Union Cabinet, Mr Ajit Singh had played the role of an irritant to the hilt and often used his clout as the Union Agriculture Minister to run down Mr Chautala. Naturally, his resignation is being seen as a welcome step by Mr Chautala’s
circle. “It has brought relief to the state government”, remarked a key Haryana bureaucrat about Mr Ajit Singh being eased out from the Vajpayee-led government. Rift between Mr Ajit Singh and Mr Chautala had led to Haryana farmers suffering during the drought last summer when the former denied receiving any formal proposal from the Haryana Government for arranging relief for the farmers. “We gave so many representations to the Union Agriculture Ministry for giving us relief. Mr Dhirpal Singh, Revenue Minister, had also attended a meeting convened by the Centre on the issue of drought. A Central team had also visited drought-affected areas of Haryana. But the minister kept saying that nothing had been given from the state government’s side towards drought relief “, a senior Haryana official said. Earlier, the Union Agriculture Ministry had shot a letter to the state government when the Deputy Commissioner and a Superintendent of Police of a Haryana district did not turn up at an official function which was attended by Mr Ajit Singh. The state government had to explain their absence by citing delay in receiving teleprinter messages regarding the minister’s arrival. “Mr Ajit Singh, as the Union Agriculture Minister, was in the habit of making official trips to Haryana and making explosive statements against the Chief Minister during those trips”, a source here said. The RLD leader will, however, by all accounts continue to exert his nuisance value vis-a-vis Mr Chautala in Haryana in politics. The Haryana Nirman Manch, set up by two Jat politicians, Mr Karan Singh Dalal, MLA and Mr Pratap Singh, younger brother of the Haryana Chief Minister, with Mr Ajit Singh as its patron has failed to make any headway. The RLD leader is now looking forward to have new allies in Haryana to topple the applecart of Mr Chautala. Like Mr Chautala had put up candidates in western UP, who allegedly led to a split in Jat votes and marred the chances of some of the RLD’s representatives, Mr Ajit Singh was also expected to continue fiddling in Haryana’s political scene even though the RLD was not having any base in the state. |
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Kurukshetra to be linked
with highway Kurukshetra, May 26 Mr Jagmohan said in order to attract non-resident Indians and foreign tourists to Kurukshetra, it would be linked with the national highway and a world-class hotel would be set up by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture for the convenience of tourists. Mr Jagmohan lauded the Haryana Government especially Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, for providing unstinted co-operation to his ministry in executing a number of projects and bringing Kurukshetra on the world tourist map. He said with the development of a tourist centre here, the state would be benefited economically as there would be expansion of tourism and transport. Earlier, he laid the foundation stone of Kalpana Chawla planetarium to be constructed at a cost of Rs 7 crore over four acres of land. It would be commissioned within two years. Welcoming the Union Minister, the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, said under Mr Jagmohan there would be no dearth of funds for development activities. Mr Jagmohan also inaugurated an exhibition near the railway station put up by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture. The main purpose of the exhibition is to acquaint pilgrims about the cultural, religious and historical importance of the city. The light and sound programme was conceptualised by Chandni Luthra from ITDC. The script was written by Manohar Shyam Joshi and the music was by Shaarang Dev. Others who were present on this occasion were Mrs Kailasho Saini, MP, Transport Minister Ashok Kumar Arora, Agriculture Minister, Jaswinder Singh Sandhu and Minister of State for Health. Meanwhile, artistes of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, North Zone Cultural Centre (NZCC), Patiala, would regale the audience with a three-day cultural bonanza from May 28 at Sector 17, HUDA Ground. This was stated here by the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Abhilaksh
Likhi. |
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Haryana
Sikhs issue ultimatum to SGPC Karnal, May 26 The resolution also urges the Union Government to recognise the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (Ad hoc) for managing the shrines. It further urges the Centre to get an Act passed by Parliament to this effect. These demands were raised at the first Haryana Sikhs Vishal Conference held at Dera Kar Sewa here last evening. The conference was presided over by Mr Jagdish Singh
Jhinda. The conference resolved to approach the Haryana Government and the Union Government to get an Act passed in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha and Parliament for a separate body for management of gurdwaras in Haryana. The conference also sought second-language status for Punjabi in Haryana and creation of posts for a sufficient number of Punjabi teachers in schools, colleges and universities. The conference pointed out that a perusal of the proposed All-India Sikh Gurdwara Act showed that there were no provision for a separate state board for Haryana Sikhs. They had been clubbed with Punjab with only eight seats. It brought to the notice of the Union Government that there were separate boards for management of Sikh gurdwaras for Rajasthan, Delhi, UP, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra in the proposed
Act. |
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FATEHABAD BYPOLL Panchkula, May 26 The Chief Minister, while talking to mediapersons shortly after laying the foundation stone of the office complex of the Haryana Public Service Commission (HSPC) at Sector 4 this morning, said Mr Bhajan Lal had assured Mrs Gandhi that he would dethrone the Chautala government within a few months. However, the dream of Mr Bhajan Lal had not been realised and the Congress had suffered a defeat at the hustings, he added. Mr Chautala said it was heartening that efforts made by the President of the Haryana unit of INLD, Mr Sher Singh Badshami, had emerged victorious in his first show of strength after assuming the office of party President. Mr Chautala said the Fatehabad byelection was a referendum on the performance of all other political parties
vis-a vis the INLD. He said this election was fought by two former Chief Ministers — Mr Bhajan Lal and Mr Bansi Lal — by projecting themselves as future Chief Minister. Therefore, the outcome of the election was not merely for the legislator from Fatehabad, but for the next Chief Minister, he added. The Chief Minister had earlier laid the foundation stone of the office complex of the HPSC. This office complex would be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 4 crore. The building would have a basement and three floors and its construction would be completed within a period of 24 months. Mr Chautala said that the new complex would facilitate students who come here from different parts of the state. Talking about various development works in the state, he said the sixth unit of the Panipat Thermal Plant had been set up at a cost of Rs 939 crore. This project was launched by Devi Lal and was to cost Rs 238 crore. But it was not taken up by the Congress government and it kept hanging fire for years together, thus raising its cost of construction, he added. The Chairman of the
HPSC, Dr K.C. Bangar said the commission had an opportunity to have its own building after 26 years. The Deputy Commissioner, Mrs Satwanti
Ahlawat, who presented a vote of thanks, said a sum of Rs 400 crore had been spent on various developmental works in Panchkula during the past three years. |
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Fatehabad: Cong
'fared' better Chandigarh, May 26 Mr Hooda said despite being injured Chief Minister, Om Prakash Chautala, had to visit the Fatehabad constituency during the last phase of the campaigning and work hard to ensure the victory of the INLD nominee. He said notwithstanding the hectic campaigning by the Chief Minister and his two sons, misuse of official machinery, intimidation of voters and bogus voting, the INLD-dominated areas the victory margin of the ruling party came down from about 21,000 in 2,000 to about 7,500 now. Saying that the Fatehabad byelection was the first test of Mr Bhajan Lal after he became the Haryana Congress President, Mr Hooda said the HPCC chief had been successful in galvanising the party in the short duration of about 10 months sending a message that the party was able to play the role of a strong opposition party under his leadership. |
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INLD membership campaign Chandigarh, May 26 Stating this here today, the president of the Haryana unit of the INLD, Mr Sher Singh Badshami, said office-bearers of the party had been entrusted with the task of distribution of membership forms and collection of filled forms in various districts of the state. He said 1000 forms would be given to an office-bearer at one time. The membership fee is Rs 10. |
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N. Railway to revive relic of the Raj Kalka, May 26 These are the only one of its kind hydraulic buffers in the country. However, ever since team engines have been replaced by diesel engines, these buffers have become defunct. Years of neglect have played havoc with these buffers and the Railways is now carrying out an extensive exercise to find ways for reviving them for their historical importance. A team of experts from the Mechanical Division of the Railways, Kalka, had recently been sent to Kolkata, the only other place where similar hydraulic buffers were installed by the British to see how Eastern Railway was maintaining these at the Howrah terminal end. However, the team was told that the buffers at Howrah had long been removed. It is learnt that the rams of these buffers have corroded after they remained pressed in the cylinders for several years. In an effort to revive them, these rams were mechanically pulled out from the cylinders three months ago. “However, corrosion has caused several pits on these rams, which has rendered them defunct. It is only by grinding the rams and by chrome-plating that the outer surface can be smoothened,” informed Mr
S.S.Sonkla, Assistant Mechanical Engineer, Railways, Kalka. Railway officials say that no technical literature on these
buffers is available, which has also hampered their efforts to make these functional again. These buffers were installed at the broad-gauge terminal end here in 1927 by a British company, Ransome and Rapier. Working on the principle of water pressure, where rams of these buffers would be pushed in the water filled cylinders after the steam engines hit these rams. These engines would hit the rams at a speed of 8 kmph, and thus stop the steam engine, which had a poor brake facility. Talking to Chandigarh Tribune, Station Superintendent, Kalka, Mr Rajinder
Dutta, said they would now approach other divisions of the Railways to see if they had the required expertise to revive these buffers. |
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TRIBUNE SPECIAL Hisar, May 26 Reports received from neighbouring areas of Rajasthan say that due to the failure of rains consecutively for the past several years, farmers and camel breeders are unable to arrange fodder and water for the animals. Consequently, they are reluctantly abandoning their animals mostly camels to their fate. There has been another significant development this year. Shepherds and cattle breeders from Rajasthan who temporarily shift to Haryana along with hundreds of animals after the advent of summer are no longer a common sight along major roads in Haryana this year. The reason being the continuing drought in Rajasthan has caused such huge casualties of cattle that most shepherds and breeders do not have the numbers to keep their business viable. So, all one can see this year are families of poor shepherds struggling to survive on the banks of canals on the outskirts of villages in Haryana. For the past several decades the migration of cattle and their owners to Haryana had been an annual feature as they sought greener pastures here. The herds kept walking along major roads throughout the worst period of summer and began return journey at the first sign of rains. Haryana offered them food and fodder in return for milk and calves. But the chain has been broken this year. Camel breeders say the abandoned animals, by instinct, choose to go in a direction where they smell water and green fodder. Thus they are attracted towards Haryana rather than going southwards in Rajasthan where conditions are worse. However, most Haryana villages too have little to offer to them as these villages are also reeling under drought-like conditions. The only difference being fodder prices in Haryana are comparatively lower. Thus, while Haryana farmers are still able to feed their animals, abandoned camels from Rajasthan have to depend on kikar and other trees. But most of these trees are now bereft of foliage as a large number of camel have been feeding on these for quite some days. These abandoned animals have another disadvantage. While Haryana farmers are providing drinking water to their animals, abandoned camels are driven away from village ponds. The harsh wilderness of the desert outside the villages has no waterholes. Gaje Singh, a resident of a village near Churu in Rajasthan who has abandoned his herd and has himself migrated to Haryana told The Tribune that over the years only the poor farmers had retained camels for farming purposes as they could not afford tractors or other farm machinery. Since they had been affected most by the drought, they had little choice but to abandon their animals as dry or green fodder had gone out of their reach. He said Haryana farmers were generous towards migrating families for years, but since now they had themselves, been affected, there was little they could offer to the ill-fated Rajasthanis. There are hundreds of families like that of Gaje Singh. Every year for decades, they had a home to take their cattle back to. But this year, there are neither cattle nor a hearth back home. Where do they go from here then? “God alone knows”, says Gaje Singh. |
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Baba
Bhaniarawala acquitted Ambala,
May 26 After his acquittal, Baba Bhaniarawala said he and his supporters had complete respect for every religion. A large posse of policemen and supporters of Baba Bhaniarawala were present in the court complex since early morning. An FIR was lodged against Baba Bhaniarawala and two others, Balbir Singh and Ram Pal, in the Sirhind police station on September 30, 2001, under Sections 457, 436, 295A, 153A and 120B of the IPC. Incidentally, a few of the witnesses produced against Baba Bhaniarawala and two others had turned hostile. The chargesheet states that Balbir Singh and Rampal, on the intervening night of September 29 and 30, 2001, committed the mischief by setting a holy book and a place of worship on fire at Tarkhan Majra village and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 436 of the IPC and Baba Bhaniarawala committed an offence punishable under Section 436, read with Section 120B of the IPC. “At
the same time and place, you (Baba Bhaniarawala and two others)
insulted religious belief by setting on fire the holy book with
deliberate and malicious intention to outrage the religious feelings
of a class of citizens and thereby committed an offence punishable
under Section 295A of the IPC”, the chargesheet states. “At the
same time and place, in pursuance of the above said conspiracy, you
(Baba Bhaniarawala and two others) all attempted to promote a feeling
of enmity amongst different communities, which is prejudicial to the
maintenance of harmony between different communities and is likely to
disturb public tranquility. You thereby committed an offence
punishable under Section 153A of the IPC,” the chargesheet adds. |
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Dalal granted interim bail Fatehabad, May 26 Earlier, the arrest of a former Chief Minister, Mr Bhajan Lal, and his personal security officer, Makhan Lal, co-accused in the case, was stayed on Friday. Mr Jagdish
Chander, District Inspector, Sirsa, had lodged an FIR against Mr Bhajan Lal, Mr
Dalal, Mr Makhan Lal and some NSG commandos on security duty of the former Chief Minister. The FIR number 235 dated May 22, 2003, filed under Sections 304, 332, 353, 186, 188, 189, 506, 147 and 149 of the IPC and Section 134-B of the Representation of People’s Act, 1951, charged them with roaming in the constituency on the polling day of the Fatehabad byelection without permission and intimidating voters at Bighar village. |
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Civil
Hospital sans ultrasound facility
Ambala,
May 26 The patients who come in serious condition and require immediate ultrasound examination have to suffer due to lack of facility. The patients have no other option but to get the examination done in private ultrasound centres by paying huge amounts. According to hospital sources, the radiologist who had been operating the ultrasound machine got transferred a month back and since then the patients have been deprived of this facility in the hospital. Recently, a patient with suspected case of stone in gallbladder, was rushed to the emergency ward. When one of his relatives contacted the doctor on duty he was told that the operator of the ultrasound machine had got transferred and the hospital did not have alternative arrangements. At last the patient had to be taken to a private ultrasound centre. While the Civil Hospital charges Rs 70 for an ultrasound, private centres charge Rs 250 to 400 for it. |
13 held guilty Ambala,
May 26 According to information the incident occurred on December 1, 1995, when a group of armed people Bhim Singh, Pratap and Kusum with sharp edged weapons and gun shots. All three had died on spot the while five others also sustained bullet and weapon injuries in the attack. All seriously injured, including Rajpal Singh, were referred to the PGI, Chandigarh. The court held guilty all 13 persons, including Karam Singh, Ramji Lal, Prem Singh,
Saneep, Sanjeev, Dharam Singh, Zile Singh, Jai Singh, Sukhchan Randeep, Raj Singh, Satbir and Jasbir in the case. One of the accused had died during the period of trial. According to the FIR, a dispute over a piece of land was the reason behind the murders. |
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23 ADAs promoted Chandigarh, May 26 |
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Haryana
staff to get pay on May 30 Chandigarh, May 26 |
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3,006 students
face action Chandigarh, May 26 An official press note said here today that six committees had heard these candidates before deciding upon the action. |
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2 inhale gas, dead Hisar, May 26 |
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Blood donation camp Ambala, May 26 |
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