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Haryana
BJP for mid-term Assembly poll INLD
workers asked to gear up for poll HVP to
go it alone in elections Cong
ready for poll, says Kalyan Consumer
panel chief’s appointment delayed Jhajjar
to have bird sanctuary |
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Rs 12
cr for power network in two towns 2
youths commit suicide 10-year
term for smugglers Road
rage: woman opens fire Panipat’s
most wanted criminal Inter-college
poetry recitation competition Constables
booked for robbing passenger 380
students participate in knitting contest 
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Haryana BJP for mid-term Assembly poll Gurgaon,
January 22 The move by the Haryana BJP is considered to be a well thought out strategy in order to make things hot for the INLD so as to compel it opt out of the INLD-BJP alliance, should the Central leadership heed to its suggestion. Should the Central leadership see merit in the suggestion this would cause strain in its relationship with the INLD leadership. The state unit of the BJP is dead set against severance of the INLD-BJP alliance. Its worry is that the INLD leadership has direct rapport with the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee and, some other Central leaders of the BJP along with influential leaders of a section of the constituent members of the NDA. So much so that even the state unit of the RSS is against the alliance, but its voice has so far not been counted at the higher echelons of the BJP. However,
the official stand of the Haryana BJP following a two-day meeting of its executive committee, concluded on January 19, at Kurukshetra is against the party’s alliance with the INLD per se. Nonetheless, it created a safety valve by leaving the ultimate decision on the issue to its Central leadership. Its stand is that it should not ally with any party in order to expand its base. The Executive Committee held the view that the INLD government had failed on all fronts. Most of its leaders during the course of the speeches alleged that the INLD government was reduced to merely Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and his two sons. They further alleged that there was ample electricity was not there in the state. They expressed annoyance at the law and order situation and also criticised the government’s policy of levying taxes on several fronts. Senior leaders of the state BJP are also credited with the view that should the INLD leadership continue with the two-party alliance it will be forced to hold Assembly election in case the party makes it an issue. In this eventuality it would stand to gain as it would have better leverage with the INLD to strike a hard bargain in terms of agreement, including sharing of seats. This confidence in the BJP stems from its understanding that there is anti-incumbency factor against the government and the INLD sorely needs the image of Mr Vajpayee to shore up its campaign in the parliamentary election. There is a background to the tough posturing of the local unit of the BJP against the INLD leadership. A majority of its senior leaders attribute their defeats in the last Assembly election to the manipulations of the INLD against them and the party. Later, after coming to power in alliance with it, its leaders feel that the INLD has been trying to erode its (BJP) base. The INLD leadership, though has not made officially public, is reported to have given up its claim on the contentious Sonepat parliamentary seat. Now the INLD is content with repeating the formula of sharing of seats as worked out in the last parliamentary election. Earlier it had put forth a demand for six seats, including Sonepat, which is represented by Mr Kishan Singh Sangwan of the BJP. In the last parliamentary election the two parties had won five seats each when they had contested in alliance with each other. It is not without reason that the BJP has decided to kickstart its campaign for the parliamentary election from Gohana on February 8. Gohana is part of Sonepat parliamentary seat. Also, Gohana assembly seat is represented by the INLD. |
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INLD workers asked to gear up for poll Fatehabad, January 22 Mr Sultan Singh, Chairman of the Tau Devi Lal Memorial Trust, Mr Sher Singh Badshami, state president of the party, Mr Sampat Singh, Finance Minister, Dr Sushil Indora, MP, and Mr Nishan Singh, Ms Swatantra Bala Chowdhary and Mr Jarnail Singh, INLD MLAs, were also present at the meeting. Mr Chautala said the Parliamentary elections would be a rehearsal for the Assembly poll, due in February 2005. Speaking on achievements of the government during his tenure as the Chief Minister, Mr Chautala said when he took over, the state coffers were empty. He claimed he had proved the Opposition wrong and now the state coffers were full. He said the Sarkar Apke Dwar programme had resulted in over 40,000 development projects being completed in Haryana and he planned to visit all villages in the state to ensure that announcements made by him during these programmes were implemented. He claimed that his government had given employment to 50,000 youths in the state and 50,000 new posts would be announced in the current year. Mr Badshami said after the Parliamentary elections, the Congress would be completely wiped out. Later,
talking to media- persons, Mr Chautala said the Assembly elections in
the state would be held in February 2005 after the completion of his
term. He said the INLD would field its candidates in states where it
had contested Assembly poll. On the prospects of his party’s
alliance with the BJP or other party, he said it would be decided once
the elections were announced. |
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HVP to go it alone in elections Panipat, January 22 However, Mr Surinder Singh maintained that if the HVP was voted to power it could give issue-based support to the Vajpayee government at the Centre. He declined support to the Congress with its present leadership. Mr Surinder Singh was here to address local party leaders. Talking about the election
campaign with The Tribune, Mr Surinder Singh said to prove party support, the HVP had decided to organise a state rally at Jind on February 24. The party had also prepared CDs containing development work done by the HVP party when Mr Bansi Lal was the Chief Minister. |
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Cong ready for poll, says Kalyan Karnal, January 22 Lashing out at the INLD Chief, and the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, he said the people of the state were looking for a change. Alleging that the
crime-graph in the state had gone up many folds in the recent years, he said the state government was patronising criminals in the state. He said the nomination of Mr
R.K. Dhawan to look after the political affairs of the Congress in Haryana was an effort to unite the top leadership and to dispel the ‘myth’ that the party was suffering from factionalism. He claimed that the top brass of Congress in the state was united. |
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Consumer panel chief’s appointment delayed Chandigarh, January 22 In the absence of the President, who is a retired High Court Judge and who is the only person with judicial background, the other two members of the commission cannot effectively decide the cases. According to an estimate, the commission usually decides about 10 cases in a day. Earlier the President of a State commission used to be appointed by the state government concerned in consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court concerned. It seems that no President could be appointed soon after the exit of Justice Chaudhary because of a “difference of opinion” between the Haryana Government and the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Parliament amended the Consumer Protection Act in 2002. The amended Act came into force on March 15, 2003. Under the amended section 16, the Presidents as well as the members of the state commission and the district consumer forums are to be appointed on the recommendations of a three-member committee. Before the amendment, the appointments of the Presidents and members of the district forums and the state commissions used to be made on the recommendations of the three-member committee comprising the President of the state commission, the Secretary of Consumer Affairs and the Law Secretary. The amendment provided that even the name of the President of the state commission should be recommended by the committee. It further provided that if the post of President was vacant, the Chief Justice of the High Court would send one of his colleagues to head the committee. Now the issue of appointment of the President of the state commission has got bogged down in a legal battle. Sources say, a public interest petition was filed by an advocate, Mr Dharminder Singh Rawat, in the High Court seeking directions to the state government to make the appointment expeditiously in the interest of consumers. Another petition has been filed by Lieut-Col P.J.S. Mehta, Chairman of the National Consumer Awareness Group, urging the High Court to direct the state to follow the due procedure for appointment of the President of the state commission. Now the court is likely to take up the two petitions tomorrow for hearing. |
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Jhajjar to have bird sanctuary Chandigarh, January 22 This was decided at the first meeting of the State Wildlife Board held here yesterday. The meeting felt that Bhindawas provided a good habitat to visiting birds and water there was sweet. Mr O.P. Chautala, who presided over the meeting, said the resolution required to be passed by the panchayats for the control of blue bulls should be made more user-friendly. The legal provisions in this regard should be advertised for the awareness of farmers, who faced problems from blue bulls. Mr R.D. Jakati, Chief Wildlife Warden, said a dense forest spread over 166 acres and an open forest spread over 147 acres was being developed along with the plantation of herbal plants there. A lake in this area would be maintained by the Irrigation Department. A nature interpretation centre would also be set up here for wildlife study. |
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Rs 12 cr for power network in two towns Yamunanagar, January 22 Mr
A.K. Johar, Superintending Engineer of the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) of Yamunanagar circle, said here today that the Ministry of Power has sanctioned the amount under which three 11 KV switching sub-stations at Yamunanagar and Jagadhri and 1099 transformers shall be renovated and
modernised for improving the quality of power supply. Mr Johar said during 2003-2004, a total of 7135 connection had been released at an estimated cost of Rs 229.76 lakh. These connections include 6315 domestics and non-domestics, 680 tubewell, 114 industrial and 26 public water works connections. Mr Johar informed that during the present financial year an amount of Rs 34.11 lakh had been recovered in respect of permanently disconnected private consumers. He said the new 220 KV sub-station at Jorian with installed capacity of 200 Mega Volt Ampere (MVA) at a cost of Rs 17 crore had been commissioned. |
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2 youths commit suicide Gharaunda, (Karnal),
January 22 Sushil (22), son of Puran Singh and Bhola (23), son of Amar Singh, both residents of Kaimla village, allegedly hanged themselves to death late last night. The bodies were recovered early this morning. During preliminary investigations, it was found that Sushil and Bhola, both friends, committed suicide following the fear of the police as they were recently booked in a theft case and were absconding. They were booked for stealing a water pump. An FIR was registered against them at the Gharaunda police station on January 17. Residents said that Sushil and Bhola broke the lock of a local school and consumed liquor in one of the rooms and then hanged themselves
from ceiling fans. The watchman of the school was the first to see the bodies early in the morning. He informed local residents and later the police was called. The police also recovered bottles of liquor from the spot. The bodies were handed over to the family members of the deceased after post-mortem examination. |
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10-year term for smugglers Hisar, January 22 According to the prosecution, a police party, on a tip-off, arrested Ramesh Kumar and Charanjeet Singh, both residents of Ratia in Fatehabad district, near Chuli village on December 15, 2000, when they were carrying the contraband from Rajasthan in a truck. The police recovered 200 kg of poppy husk from the truck.
— OC |
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Road rage: woman opens fire Hisar, January 22 According to the police, Ms Sangeeta, a resident of Sector 15 and a teacher in a local private school, was going to her school in her car when a resident of the local Housing Board Colony, Usha, who was coming from the opposite direction in a car, hit her vehicle. After this, she suddenly took out a revolver and allegedly opened fire at Ms Sangeeta. The latter received two bullet injuries in stomach and chest. Later, the accused reached the local Civil Lines police station and surrendered before the police. |
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Panipat’s
most wanted criminal Panipat, January 22 Purshotam Singh had reportedly offered himself as a human bomb to eliminate Mr Bhajan Lal, the then Haryana CM. He had met the two main accused in the Beant Singh assassination case — Jagtar Singh Hawara and Balwant Singh — at a meeting in Agra. The police sources informed that Purshotam had taken Amrit in Anandpur Sahib Gurdwara in 1991 and after that, he started participating regularly in Samagams of Akhand Kirtani Jatha. Operation “Bluestar” and “Black Thunder” put a feeling of revenge in the heart of Purshotam He was declared a proclaimed offender in the conspiracy to eliminate Bhajan Lal. |
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Inter-college poetry recitation competition Ambala, January 22 About 50 students from different colleges participated in the competition. Prof Lal Chand Gupt was the chief guest. Principal Jaswant Rai memorial trophy was won by MDSD Girls College, Ambala City. The poetry recitation by the students portrayed sensitivity towards social causes. The Principal of GMN College, Dr R.R. Malik, said it was important to remember the contribution made by freedom fighters and literatteurs. The results of the competition were as follows: In Hindi, Neeraj Chopra of MDSD College, Ambala city, stood first, Gaurav Sharma of SD College, Ambala Cantt, came second and Pradeep of Government College, Ambala Cantt, was third while the consolation prize was won by Pooja of Dev Samaj College, Ambala City. In Punjabi, Amandeep Singh of GMN College stood first, Kuldeep Pahuja of MN College Shahbad came second, Amanpreet Kaur was third and Harvinder Singh of SD College got the consolation prize. In Sanskrit, Chetan Sharma of Sanskrit College, Ambala, stood first, Anuradha of SD College came second and Sarandha of GMN College was third. In English, SD College student Swati Sharma stood first, Pallavi of MDSD Girls College was second while Shashi Kala of GMN College came third. Among others, Mr Ramesh Trehan, Mrs Shakuntla Trehan, Mr Vikesh Nijhawan, Dr KD Jha and Dr Gurdarpal Singh were present. |
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Constables booked for robbing passenger Ambala, January 22 According to information, Kashi Nath of Bihar, residing in Ambala City, was sitting on a bench at the station last night, when two constables of the railway police came there and started searching his luggage. They snatched the cash from his pocket and asked him to leave the station. Kashi Nath contacted a few officials at the station but no one helped him. Later, he met the SP (Railway), Mr Ravi Azad. He said he was going to Bihar to celebrate the marriage of his daughter and the cash was for that purpose. Mr Azad visited the railway station along with Kashi Nath and asked to identify the constables. A case has been registered against constables Pala Ram and Bahadur Singh. |
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380 students participate in knitting contest Ambala, January 22 The students were from NMMD Model School, Happy Public School, Hargolal Senior Secondary School, Jain Girls Senior Secondary School, Lord Mahavir Jain Public School, Tender Heart High School, AK Memorial Model School, DAV Public School, Dev Samaj Girls High School, SA Jain Senior Secondary School, Shivalik Hills Public School, DAV Public School Naraingarh, and NRM High School, Naraingarh. Students participated in five categories and 10 best patterns from each category have been shortlisted for the final evaluation. |
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PWD B&R employees hold demonstration Ambala, January 22 The employees were protesting against a decision taken by the government to reduce the staff numbers. The demonstration was presided over by Mr Rajesh Kumar. Mr L.C. Sharma and Mr Om Prakash Singhmar said 133 posts had been declared as surplus. They said that the Haryana Government was working on the direction of the World Bank, which had led to the implementation of anti-employees policies. |
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