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Bhajan hints at early poll in Haryana Harappan township found
Centre bags order for MiG 27 laser window Labourer, 5 calves found dead in room Panipat, January 1 Even as thousands of migrants from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh make a beeline for Punjab and Haryana for greener pastures, scores of farmers from Panipat district are heading for Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to buy and cultivate cheaper land in these states. |
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3 HC judges to take oath on January 6 Kurukshetra, Fatehabad
DCs shifted
86 education centres for disabled persons mooted Haryana forms job panel HAU declared centre of excellence Ambala Diary
Power cuts hit life Husband fires at wife, attempts suicide
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Bhajan hints at early poll in Haryana Chandigarh, January 1 According to the former Chief Minister, if the Lok Sabha elections were advanced and held around April, the BJP-led Central Government would insist on a simultaneous polls in Haryana and Mr Chautala would have no option but to succumb to the Centre’s pressure. Asked why the BJP would like to hold a simultaneous poll in Haryana, Mr Bhajan Lal said it would enable the BJP to focus better on a development-oriented election agenda. In case the Lok Sabha elections were held in September as scheduled the Election Commission would exercise its special power for holding a simultaneous poll in the state. Since the Assembly elections in Haryana were due in February, 2004, the EC would dissolve the State Assembly and hold a fresh poll, Mr Bhajan Lal said. The HPCC chief was responding to Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala’s statement ruling out an early Assembly poll in the state. Mr Bhajan Lal remarked that if Mr Chautala had the power, the Assembly elections would be suspended at least till 2010. The PCC President got irritated when questions were asked about the January 7 rally being organised by his detractors at Kurukshetra. He said the organisers of the rally had no stature. He flared up while asked about infighting in the state Congress, saying a fight could take place only between equals. Mr Bhajan Lal said Mr Chautala did not deserve any praise for having a small Council of Ministers. “Mr Chautala has terrorised all MLAs and he can actually manage to have a one-member Cabinet headed by himself”, Mr Bhajan Lal said. The PCC chief said the Congress regime would order a probe into Mr Chautala’s assets if a complaint was made in this connection. There would however, be no witchhunt against any politician. |
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Harappan township found Fatehabad, January 1 Mr
L.S. Rao, Superintending Archaeologist of the ASI, who is leading the team of excavators here, informed that the team, comprising a Deputy Superintending Archaeologist, three Assistant Archaeologists and other officials like photographers, draftsmen, artists, and surveyors, was working on the excavation site spread across 62,500 square metres and situated on a mound. Fifteen students of Institute of Archaeology, New Delhi, have also been assisting the team. The excavations, being carried out under the ‘Saraswati Heritage Project’ of the Union Government, were part of a series of such excavations being made to unearth the old civilisations on the bank of the ancient Saraswati river. The Department of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Haryana, had protected the area of the present excavations, Mr Rao said. He said the area where the excavations were being carried out was the bank of the Saraswati. The whole riverbed had been converted in to agricultural lands with the passage of time, he added. He said the ASI based its findings on the antiquities collected during the excavations on the surface of the mound. Pottery, among the antiquities, is the main criteria for ascertaining the civilisation. The team has collected truckloads of pottery during the excavations. Besides, these some semi-precious stones have also been found. Structures made of Sun-dried bricks, a peculiar feature of the Indus Valley Civilisation, have been found. The excavators have also discovered a 2.4-metre-wide wall considered to be the fortification wall of the township on the excavation site. Ms Ankum, from Nagaland, a student of the Institute of Archaeology, who was manning the fortification area, said a clinching evidence of the township was that the earth outside the wall comprised of virgin soil while the one inside the fortification wall had all the evidence of structures. Mr Prabhash Sahu, Assistant Superintending Archaeologist, told this correspondent that it was a horizontal excavation and the whole mound had been divided into four parts for convenience. Mr Rao said the residents of the area were cooperative and were showing keen interest in the excavations. Ms Swatantra Bala Chowdhary, the local MLA, who was earlier a teacher in history, has visited the sites. |
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Centre bags order for MiG 27 laser window Ambala, January 1 The laser window has been upgraded by Mr Jai Kumar Singh Gangawar, Deputy Engineer (Optics), IDDC. The design breakthrough and technical ingenuity will result in saving foreign exchange worth more than Rs 1 crore. Mr
Gangawar, who was honoured with the Scientist of the Year Award-2003 by the Gian Chand Jain Memorial Foundation, said “The laser window developed by the IDDC is used in the Klen system of MiG 27 for Hindustan Aeronautics Limited under its technology upgrading programme. It is an improved product to substitute Russian laser window with added advantage to work in two laser wavelengths. It has integration with western technology of KLEN PM system which incorporates laser range finding, along with tracking of ground objects and in turn enhances striking capacity of MiG 27 aircraft.” The General Manager,
IDDC, Mr N.K. Jain, said they had bagged an order for the supply of 40 Klen Glass Laser Windows from HAL. “The upgraded laser window has been tested by HAL in various national and international laboratories and its air worthiness has been approved,” he said. “We have now initiated commercial production of laser optical windows,” he added. Mr Jain, said, “KLEN glass from Russia works at 1.06 micron whereas the KLEN glass designed by the IDDC works at 1.06 micron and 1.54 micron. This feature of the glass improves the striking capacity of MiG 27 aircraft. The IDDC-Hartron has also developed rearview prism for MiG 21 and MiG 27 and gun-sight reflector for MiG 21.” |
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Labourer, 5 calves found dead in room Ambala, January 1 Birbal, a resident of Bihar, had been working as a labourer in the dairy for the past several months. The dairy owner had allotted him a room to live on the dairy premises. There was no arrangement of ventilation in the room. Today morning at around 4.30 when another labourer of the dairy came to the place, he found smoke coming out from the room. He immediately informed the dairy owner Ranjit about the matter. When the door was opened, Birbal and five of the calves were found dead. The jute cot lying in the middle of the room was partially burnt. Some dairy workers were of the view that Birbal might have lit a cigarette in the room at night and thrown after use. Ropes of the jute cot might have caught fire and these might have started giving out smoke. The post-mortem of the labourer and the calves was conducted. The dairy owner does not have the address of the native place of the deceased, which caused problem for the police to inform his relatives. |
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Farmers heading for greener pastures Panipat, January 1 Farmers from Chhajpur Kalan, Bawail, Dimana and Bapoli have already shifted to other states and while many others are in the process of doing so. The decreasing landholding and meagre returns from the land here, insufficient to meet the needs of the family, have only hastened their decision to settle in other states. Moreover, land in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh is available for peanuts. After selling their smaller plots here they buy land in these states at a price 15 to 20 times cheaper. Besides, these farmers have been able to sink their tubewells as they are able to spend about Rs 50,000 to 60,000 on its installation, whereas many of the natives are not in a position to make this expenditure. Villagers said land in Gujarat cost about 20 times lesser as compared to Panipat due to the poor connectivity of villages and lack of natural sources of water. As a result, the farmers require tubewells for irrigation, but due to their poor financial condition, they are not able to realise their plans. Surender Singh Ahlawat, who hails from Bawail village, 10 km from Panipat, told The Tribune that initially, only a few villagers had migrated to the neighbouring states. “However, their new-found affluence is now attracting a lot many people and a couple of families recently left for these states,” he said. He said recently eight families of nearby villages had migrated to Hastinapure and Bareli as the rates of land were very cheap as compared to Panipat. He said there were two major reasons for the exodus of villagers to other states, one of them being the large size of joint families which are not able to survive on the small land that they have here. He said the other reason, was that the middle-class farmer of Panipat could easily spend Rs 50,000 to 60,000 on the installation of tubewells, something that the natives were unable to do. In Chhajpur Kalan village, about 14 km from Panipat alone, more than 20 families have migrated to Gujarat in the past two years, said Puran, a farmer from the village. There are many others planning to do so, he added. Puran said land in Panipat was priced at Rs 5 lakh to 15 lakh per acre. In Gujarat, the same piece of land was available for Rs 10,000 to 20,000 as the area was not connected by road and water resources were scarc. are poor. In the region where water is available, land is priced between Rs 30,000 and 40,000. Many farmers who could barely make ends meet with the land available here now have 20 to 50 acres in Gujarat, he said. Puran said his son, along with others, had gone to Gujarat to assess the situation, as they had also decided to purchase land there whenever they would get financial assistance. Janardhan, another villager said the farmers of his villager had purchased land in Bhuj district of Gujarat. Giving reasons for the lower land price, he said the farmers there were not financially sound, faced an acute shortage of water and were not in a position to install tubewells. |
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3 HC judges to take oath on January 6 Chandigarh, January 1 The oath-taking ceremony is expected to be held on January 6 in the courtroom of the Chief Justice, Mr Justice B.K. Roy. According to sources in the High Court, the three were medically examined at the Sector 16 General Hospital today. The examination, assert sources, is mandatory before the oath-taking ceremony. Mr Sharma, sources in the Haryana Government confirm, submitted papers for leaving the post of Advocate-General. Just 41, Mr Sharma will, perhaps, be the youngest among the serving High Court judges in the country. The number of the High Court judges, with their appointment, will rise to 28 against the sanctioned strength of 40 and recommended strength of 53. Even after their appointment, the shortage will increase as another judge is retiring this month after attaining the age of superannuation. The problem of shortage is not just limited to the Punjab and Haryana High Court. At present, there are just 13,000 judicial officers in the country, including the Chief Justice of India. At an average, there are 10 to 12 officers per one million citizens. In the USA, the number is 125 per million and in the UK, it is 100 per million. The result of the shortage is there for all to see. The demand on judges is growing faster than their number. Already, the problem is straining the legal system and the judges. They are forced to work till late in the evening. Still, the pendency of cases is increasing. Even though the judges here are now taking up "old cases" on Wednesdays, High Court sources claim that nearly two lakh cases are pending. Over 20,000 civil writ petitions are filed in the High Court every year. In an attempt to solve the problem of shortage of judges and the pendency, the Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs had written a letter to the states of Punjab, Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh asking them to initiate the process of appointing judges at least six months before the retirement of the sitting ones. This, the High Court authorities insist, is done regularly. The High Court is also considering the feasibility of cutting down the number of Division Benches. Sources say that the high court is planning to have just two, at the most three, Division Benches to take up constitutional matters, public interest litigations, cases involving vital legal issues, besides certain other matters. At present, there are nine to 10 Division Benches taking up civil writ petitions, including cases involving service law, tax matters, besides criminal appeals. Once the number is reduced, at least seven to eighth judges will be free to take up these cases. |
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Kurukshetra, Fatehabad
DCs shifted
Chandigarh, January 1 Dr R.B. Langyan, D.C., Fatehabad, goes as such to Kurukshetra vice Mr Abhilaksh Likhi. Dr Langyan will also be the Director and Joint Secretary, Archaeology and Museum Department. Mr Likhi comes to Chandigarh as the Registrar, Cooperative Societies. Mr M.S. Sehrawat, ADC-cum-CEO, DRDA, Gurgaon, will go to Fatehabad as the Deputy Commissioner.
The Government has also promoted Mr V.N. Rai, DIG, as an Inspector-General of Police. |
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Netraheen Sangh to protest at CM’s
public meetings Chandigarh, January 1 They had already held demonstrations at at least two places where the Chief Minister was present. Last month, some visually challenged youths raised slogans at a function organised by the state government at Rohtak on the occasion of World Handicapped Day. Mr Surinder Singh Lamba, president of the sangh, said they had decided to hold a demonstration in front of the Haryana Raj Bhavan on January 5 to press for their demand of filling the posts reserved for the visually challenged. Mr Bhajan Lal, president of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee, said he had full sympathy with the agitationists. Their demands would be fulfilled when the Congress came to power in the state, he said. Members of the sangh have been agitating for more than three months now to press for their demand. They were initially holding a sit-in near the 30 Bays Building here from where the site of the demonstration was shifted to the space opposite the Haryana Social Justice and Empowerment Department’s office. There the volunteers have been spending nights in the open in the freezing cold. Meanwhile, eight members of sangh were arrested while holding a protest in support of their demand for a quota in jobs in front of the Haryana Nivas here yesterday. The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, was holding a press conference there at that time. The protestors were allegedly manhandled by the security personnel of the Chief Minister before being handed over to the Chandigarh Police. They were later released in the evening after being presented before the area magistrate. They threatened to resort to self-immolation or start fast unto death on the Republic Day if their demands were not accepted |
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86 education centres for disabled persons mooted Chandigarh, January 1 A senior functionary of the department said here today that 38 such centres were already functional. The department would also implement the national programme for education of girls at the elementary level in 38 identified educationally backward blocks of 10 districts. Under the scheme, a school in a group of about 10 schools would serve as cluster model school, which would provide resource support in the form of equipment and academic inputs to the teachers working in the other schools. A Rs 2.42-crore plan had been submitted to the Centre for approval in this connection. |
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Narnaul, January 1 This was stated by the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, while talking to mediapersons after inaugurating a waterworks project at Akoda village in Mahendragarh district today. The Chief Minister said besides creating more job opportunities by promoting the sectors of information technology and industry, as many as 50,000 unemployed youths would be recruited in government jobs. He also disclosed that the state government would spend Rs 319.46 crore for the construction and repair of minor water courses in the state so as to ensure the supply of water at the tail-ends and check the problem of seepage. He said with the measures taken by the government in the power sector, Haryana would not only become self-sufficient in electricity, but also be able to supply it to the deficit states.
— UNI |
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HAU declared centre of excellence Hisar, January 1 Stating this here today, Mr M.K.Miglani, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, said it was the third centre status after two in the fields of veterinary microbiology and entomology earlier granted to the university by the ICAR. He lauded the work being done by the university scientists on dry-land crops that had helped to achieve this prestigious recognition. The Dry-Land Agriculture Department of the university today organised a special function to celebrate this achievement at its research area on the campus. Dr D.S.Jatasara, Chief Scientist and head of the department, administered an oath to the scientists to work with more devotion. He revealed that patent-oriented researches, integrated nutrient management and organic farming for dry land, diversification of dry-land agriculture and registration of new varieties were among the priorities set for the new year. |
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Ambala Diary Ambala, January 1 The students of Army School, Ambala Cantonment recently visited the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun to witness the passing out parade of gentlemen cadets. The 70 students were escorted by four teachers. The young students were inspired by the splendour of the IMA and the impressive marchpast of the GCs. The students were motivated by the dignity and discipline of the gentlemen cadets who became officers of the best armed force in the world. The Army School students had the privilege of seeing the museum at the IMA comprising a unique display of weapons and photographs of martyrs who were decorated for their bravery posthumously.
A destination for
shoppers Ambala Sadar is fast becoming a favoured destination for shoppers. The shop ‘n’ win scheme launched by the Ambala Cantonment Shopkeepers Association is receiving favourable response from the people. Such an effort is being made for the first time in Ambala. The shopkeepers are hopeful that more and more people from neighbouring areas will also be attracted by the scheme and prefer to shop here. Ambala Cantonment Traders Federation president N.C. Jain said Ambala Cantonment was a consumers market. He said people come to Ambala for shopping from different parts of Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh. The federation has requested the police officials to make necessary arrangements so that there is free flow of traffic and consumers do not face any problem.
Quiz contest Mathematics can give nightmare to some but for the students of the Ramanujan Mathematics Society of the Sohan Lal DAV College of Education, Ambala city, it is easier done than said. The students of the society recently organised a quiz competition to mark the birth anniversary of the well-known mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan. Prof JN Joshi, Chairman of Northern Regional Committee, National Council of Teacher Education was the chief guest while Mrs Anjali of DAV senior secondary school was the quiz master. There were seven teams having two participants each. The quiz contest had eight rounds. The team comprising Sachin and Rajit was first followed by the team comprising Neetu and Arun. In third spot was the team comprising Ruchi and Sakshi. College principal Dr
D.P. Asija said organising of the quiz competition was a good effort on the part of the Ramanujan Mathematics Society. |
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Power cuts hit life Kaithal, January 1 Two public utility services of water supply and the sewerage were the worst-hit as continuous power supply is needed to maintain water supply and keep running the electric motors installed to keep sewer lines clean. Besides power cuts in day time the restricted supply in the morning, evening and at night aggravated the situation. Industries and small workshops were also adversely affected. The students preparing for the examinations found it difficult to continue with studies due to daily frequent interruptions in power. According to power board officials here they were forced to impose power cuts due to restrictions imposed by board authorities. Whenever the power frequency is down they get instructions from Panchkula to impose power cuts. Residents of the town lament that on the one hand the Chief Minister had been making claims to sell surplus power to other states in the near future, on the other hand daily cuts are being imposed on agricultural and the urban consumers. |
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Husband fires at wife, attempts suicide Sirsa, January 1 According to information here today, Pushpa was married to Rajender of Guriakhera village six years ago. However, for sometime tension had prevailed between the couple which flared up yesterday. Rajender shot Pushpa with a countrymade pistol before attempting suicide. The shot injured Pushpa in her back while he shot himself in his stomach. According to the doctors, Pushpa's condition is out of danger whereas Rajender is still serious. |
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R.S. Gujral Financial Commissioner Chandigarh, January 1 |
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