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Saturday,
May 31, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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INLD
losing ground in Haryana: Bhajan Chautala’s
appeal on tobacco use in films Tax
collection may go to STC Panchayat’s
way of justice Trucks
carrying fodder flagged off HIGH COURT Falling ground water
level to hit farmers |
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Children’s park: admn kidding Team to
regulate safe blood transfusion Body found from holy
tank Recruitment
ban lifted: VC
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INLD losing ground in Haryana: Bhajan Chandigarh, May 30 Talking to newspersons here, Mr Bhajan Lal said despite gross misuse of official machinery and terror tactics adopted by the ruling party, the Congress was able to reduce the victory margin of the INLD nominee from about 21,000 in 2000 to a little over 7,000 votes in the byelection. In view of this Mr Chautala, instead of demanding his resignation from the Haryana Congress presidentship, should himself step down from both government and party posts, he said. Mr Bhajan Lal said the ruling party had been steadily losing ground in the state as was clear from the results of the three byelections. The INLD won the Rori byelection by over 86,000 votes. Its victory margin was reduced in the Yamunanagar byelection to about 15,000 votes over the Congress and in Fatehabad, the margin was reduced to less than half of the Yamunanagar margin. Against this, the Congress, which had slipped to the third position came second in the Fatehabad byelection. However, Mr Bhajan Lal conceded that the Haryana Vikas Party (HVP) had consolidated its position considerably after the 2000 elections. He said by securing more than the expected about 15,000 votes, the HVP damaged the chances of victory of the Congress in Fatehabad. He said the Congress was set to win the next assembly elections in which, he predicted, the INLD would not be able to get more than five seats. The HVP, he said, would be marginally better placed than the INLD. He ruled out any alliance with the HVP against the INLD. When asked about the demand made by the Leader of Opposition, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, regarding the need to convene a meeting of the HPCC to discuss why the party lost the Fatehabad byelection, Mr Bhajan Lal said there was no harm in convening such a meeting at which the party's performance “in all the three byelections should be discussed”. He said he had made an offer to Mr Hooda and Mr Birender Singh and Mr Harpal Singh, former party presidents; and Ms Selja, AICC secretary, to contest from Fatehabad. But these leaders declined the offer and urged him to field a member of his family who would be the most suitable party nominee. Mr Bhajan Lal refuted the allegation that he had transferred the votes of his community, the Bishnoi, to the INLD nominees in the 1998 byelection and the 2000 election in Fatehabad. He said he did not believe in caste politics. When asked about Mr Birender Singh's statement that the polling in Fatehabad was “by and large fair”, he said only those who were present in the constituency would know the reality. He said he was not aware of the “bhavishya pehchan” rally planned by certain Congress leaders opposed to him in Kaithal on June 7 as his permission had not been sought so far. However, he said the AICC general secretary, Mr Nawal Kishore Sharma, or a former Union minister, Mr Natwar Singh, would not participate in the rally as claimed by its organisers. He said he would consult his colleagues on the repeatedly postponed “jail-bharo andolan” the Congress proposed to launch to press the state and the central governments to complete the SYL canal expeditiously. He said a committee under the convenership of Rao Narinder Singh, MLA, had been constituted to supervise the implementation of decisions taken at a meeting of the block unit presidents held in Delhi a few months ago. The other members of the committee were Mr Mehar Singh Rathi and Mr Sat Pal Kaushik, both secretaries of the party; and Mr B.R. Ojha and Mr Pawan Garg, presidents of the DCCs of Faridabad and Kurukshetra, respectively. |
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Chautala’s appeal on tobacco use in films Chandigarh, May 30 In a message issued on the eve of World No-Tobacco Day here today, Mr Chautala said that use of tobacco should also be banned in fashion advertising. Quoting a study on Indian cinema conducted by the World Health Organisation, Mr Chautala's message said that glamourisation of smoking by movie stars on and off the screen encouraged young people to start smoking. |
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Tax collection may go to STC Chandigarh, May 30 The sources said that if the proposal was approved, it would formalise the STC's supervisory role in the collection of passenger tax and goods tax. Mr Yudhvir Singh, STC, is also Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner, while Mr Raj Kumar, his predecessor, who was also the first STC appointed by the Haryana Government, was holding the additional charge as Excise and Taxation Commissioner, the sources said. |
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Panchayat’s way of justice
Kaithal, May 30 The panchayat was convinced that the accused had committed the offence under some compulsion and was therefore, given mild punishment by it. According to reports received here, the youth had made a telephone call to the petrol station owner Balwinder Singh of Ramthali village on April 26 and asked him to pay Rs 5 lakh or face the elimination of his son. The caller had identified himself as a “known criminal” of Malerkotla and asked Balwinder to leave the money under a culvert. However, villagers and the police laid a trap and overpowered the youth . The panchayat decided to sort out the matter itself and held a meeting in this regard last evening . The village sarpanch, Mr Bhajan Singh, and other members found that the accused needed money for the operation of his wife, whose heart valve was damaged. He had been asked by doctors to arrange Rs 2 lakh for the treatment . The accused has only one acre and no other source of income. So he rang up the petrol station owner and threatened him. After taking into consideration the fact that the youth had no criminal history and only wanted to get his wife treated, the panchayat accepted his apology and gave him mild
punishment by beating with shoe at public place. |
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Trucks carrying fodder flagged off Jind, May 30 After flagging off the trucks, the Chief Minister told the press that keeping in view the scarcity of fodder in drought-hit Rajasthan, it was decided to send two rakes of fodder from each district of Haryana. Every district was asked to send fodder to a particular district of Rajasthan and almost all districts had completed the task assigned. Earlier, the Chief Minister presided over the
monthly meeting of District Grievances Committee and redressed almost all grievances. He directed the officials of Irrigation Department to check water level in Ramkali minor and ensure that the farmers got water. He also directed the Public Health Department not to allow any private person to release unauthorised connections of drinking water in the rural areas. |
HIGH
COURT Chandigarh, May 30 He was earlier booked by the Haryana police in a case registered at a police station in Ambala district under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code, besides Prevention of
Damage of Public Property Act. Claiming to be innocent, Nain had earlier contended that he was being implicated in the case. |
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Falling ground water
level to hit farmers Sirsa, May 30 The ground water level is falling at such an alarming rate that the land may soon become barren. In some areas in the state the water level has gone down by 30 to 40 feet. One reason of falling ground water level is indiscreet use of water by farmers. Late and comparatively lesser monsoon has affected the ground water level too. In addition to these, longer scorching summers have made the conditions worse for the farmers. Some believe that plantation of poplar trees may also be one of the reasons of the speedy fall in the ground water level because the bark of these trees is too thin to stop speedy evaporation. Increasing cultivation cost of crops and comparatively low monetary returns have put the farmers under financial crunch. In order to survive and increase their shrinking profit margins desperate farmers heavily depend on pesticides and fertilizers besides borrowing for machines and diesel etc. Thus they get into a vicious circle, which they find difficult to break. Many grain merchants opine that meagre profit margin makes the farmer unable to clear their and more farmers to commit suicide. Under such conditions falling ground water level is going to be a catastrophe for the poor and small-scale cultivators. It is, therefore, the need of the hour for the farmers to look out for remedial measures. |
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Children’s park: admn kidding Kalka, May 30 But this is not all that ails the only municipal park, now rechristened Rabindranath Tagore Palika
Udyan. Other than being a victim of political one-upmanship over its name, the park is a perfect example of the administration’s callous attitude towards developing green cover in this township, considered the gateway to Himachal Pradesh. Spread over almost half an acre of land, the park repulses its visitors. Though officials in the local municipal committee say that they have spent almost Rs 1 lakh on the upkeep of the park and building a boundary wall last year, a visit to this park shows that it has not been tended to for months. With the MC having a meagre staff of two for the park, and in no position to either increase the staff or provide funds, things are bound to remain the way they are. Even the boundary wall erected by the MC last year has been breached by residents of a nearby colony for making a short cut to the main bazaar. Three-fourths of the total area of the park is rocky and is now misused by squatters each morning. Piles of garbage from nearby areas are dumped here and it has two defunct telephone poles. One part of this park has been converted into a vegetable garden by the gardener. “Because children would destroy his vegetable beds, he forbade them from playing in the garden. Also, the owner of the house adjacent to the garden fears that children would smash his window panes, so children are not allowed to play here,” said Mr Gurbachan, a resident of Tipra Colony. The remaining one-quarter has been turned into an experimental nursery for the administration’s afforestation drives launched before the onset of each monsoons. None of the ornamental plants has been grown here nor any flower beds prepared. Saplings of trees like eucalyptus,
jamun, amla and mango have been planted haphazardly in this part of the park. “It seems that the administration had fixed a target for afforestation and it decided to meet the target by planting the remaining saplings in this park,” said Mr Bharat
Bhushan, who has a shop near the park. Interestingly, the cement benches and seats, which were earlier put up in this park, have been removed and kept in a store here” for fear of being stolen.” The swings are at least 20 years old and rusted. The MC should try to make this park a better place for the residents,” said Mr Tilak Raj, a resident of Khatik Mohalla. What’s In a Name... The name of the only municipal park in Kalka is dogged by political one-upmanship. The foundation stone of the park, which was earlier a cattle pound, was laid by the Congress MLA from Kalka , Mr Chander Mohan, on March 12, 1996 and named Children’s Park. With the change of the government in the state, the park was re-inaugurated by the SDM, Mr Sandeep Singh and rechristened as Rabindranath Tagore Palika Udyan on May 7, 2001. |
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Team to regulate safe
blood transfusion Chandigarh, May 30 While the State Drug Controller and the Additional Project Director, European Commission, were permanent members of the team, two officers were being inducted into the team from the particular district in which the team wanted to carry out checks. Dr Dahiya revealed that Mr K.K. Maheswari and Dr R.K. Saini of the team carried out a raid on the Nirmal Institution of Medical Sciences, Karnal, today and found that donors were giving blood without undergoing the necessary medical tests. The team also found that no medical officer was present when blood was being donated. Dr Dahiya said that they had issued a show-cause notice to the Nirmal institution asking it to submit its reply within seven days. In the case of an unsatisfactory reply, the operation of the blood bank would be suspended, he said. Dr Dahiya added that members of the team were carrying out raids to ensure that transfusion of untested blood was not carried out. |
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Body found from holy
tank Ambala, May 30 According to the police, Krishan was missing from his house since last evening. His relatives searched for him throughout the night. In the morning when they came to know about the recovery of a body from the tank, they rushed to the spot and identified the body. One of the relatives of the deceased told the police that Krishan Kumar had been sick for the past few months and feeling depressed due to his illness. |
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Recruitment
ban lifted: VC Kurukshetra, May 30 The decision in this regard was taken at a meeting held between Dr Chawla and the Financial Secretary (Special) last evening. Dr Chawla also met the Commissioner, Higher Education, on the same day. |
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Kalayat
municipal elections Kaithal, May 30 |
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Cash collection
centres open today Chandigarh, May 30 |
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Shekhar
Dhawan Chandigarh, May 30 |
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