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Chautala on stone-laying spree INLD undecided on support to Vajpayee Bhajan Lal not to contest from Karnal Suspended Congress MLAs hold protest |
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Bansi Lal defends Hooda BJP not to have alliance in Haryana 4435 constables recruited Polytechnic students continue strike High Court Concern over dilution of livestock’s breed Board to scan admit card photographs Police given ultimatum to nab murder suspects Taxi driver held for NRI’s murder 3 killed in road accidents
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Chautala on stone-laying spree Kurukshetra, February 12 He lauded the role of Transport Minister Ashok Arora in making Haryana Roadways the best in the country. Earlier, the Chief Minister inaugurated water works at Buhavi village, constructed at a cost of Rs 45 lakh. He also laid the foundation stone for a 66KV power substation at Jalkheri village to be constructed at a cost of over Rs 4.2 crore. He also inaugurated water works at Machroli village, constructed at a cost of Rs 33.22 lakh. He also planted a sapling of moulsari on the premises. Mr Chautala also inaugurated water works at Phalsanda Rangran village, constructed at a cost of Rs 37.44 lakh. He also laid the foundation stone for a primary health centre at Amin village, which will be built at a cost of Rs 72.18 lakh. He also laid the foundation stone for a primary school in Sector 2, to be constructed at a cost of Rs 21.30 lakh. He laid the foundation stone for a modern police station, to be built at a cost of Rs 75 lakh in Sector 13. KARNAL: A medical college would be set up here, the Chief Minister of Haryana Mr Om Prakash Chautala, said here on Wednesday. Earlier, the CM laid the foundation stone of a record room in the mini-secretariat here. The CM directed the Deputy Commissioner, Mr R.S. Doon, to sort out the matter of constructing chambers for the lawyers. He also announced a grant of Rs 5 lakh for the construction of chambers. He also laid the foundation stone for the Karnal–Kachhwa-Pehowa road at Karnal. This work would be completed within 15 months at a cost of Rs 12.76 crore. The CM also laid the foundation stone of two 33-KV substations at Sector-6 and Sector-12 at Karnal. The substation of Sector-6 would be constructed at a cost of Rs 99.13 lakh while the substation of Sector-12 would be constructed at a cost of Rs 91.50 lakh. |
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INLD undecided on support to Vajpayee Gurgaon, February 12 The INLD again sent out a signal that it would not be averse to joining a possible third front coalition minus the Congress at the Centre. “Politics is fully of all kinds of possibilities”, said Mr Ajay Singh Chautala,son of Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and national president of the youth wing of the
INLD. He disclosed that his party would be contesting in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Bihar, besides Haryana, in the Lok Sabha elections. Mr Ajay Singh, praised Mr Vajpayee as a “seasoned politician and statesman”. According to him, Mr Om Prakash Chautala also held Mr Vajpayee in high esteem. To a specific query whether his party would support the NDA for forming a government under the leadership of Mr Vajpayee after the Lok Sabha election, he smiled and, added that every thing was possible in politics. He reiterated that the NDA government worked against the farmers. He only singled out BJP leaders and said only they were ‘feeling good’ about the ‘Feel Good’ factor. The NDA government neglected the interests of Haryana, he added. To another question why his party MPs did not become ministers in the NDA government for more development in Haryana, he shot back saying if that was the case no ally of the NDA would have left it. “There must have been something wrong”, he said without elaborating the issue. A crucial meeting of the state Executive Committee of the INLD has been convened on February 18 in Bhiwani to take stock of political situation and to formulate strategies. Mr Ajay Singh said
Principal Opposition in the Haryana Assembly, the Congress, is the INLD’s arch rival in Haryana, in the coming Lok Sabha election. |
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Bhajan Lal not to contest from Karnal Panipat, February 12 He said only a Brahmin candidate would be given ticket to contest the elections from Karnal. About the candidate from Bhiwani, Mr Bhajan Lal said the state Congress had suggested the name of Mr
Dharmvir. He also informed that All-India Congress President Sonia Gandhi was likely to visit Hisar in the last week of February to address a state-level rally. Mr Bhajan Lal said the state Congress had sent a proposal to the party high command in this regard. |
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Suspended Congress MLAs hold protest Chandigarh, February 12 Raising slogans against the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala-led INLD government, the MLAs termed their suspension as a “murder of democracy and an attempt to curb the Opposition’s right to speak”. They said that the sit-in would continue till the suspension was revoked by the Speaker. The Congress MLAs were suspended for rushing to the well of the house to protest against discussion on the dowry case registered against Leader of Opposition, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his family members. Mr Hooda today urged the Speaker to revoke the suspension of the MLAs. The Speaker, however, ignored his request. After the session was adjourned today, other Congress legislators also joined their suspended colleagues and raised slogans. The Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, also had a brief encounter with the suspended MLAs when he cracked jokes at the protesting Opposition legislators. Bansi Lal defends Hooda Chandigarh, February 12 The Haryana Vikas Party President, Mr Bansi Lal, today defended the Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, and the Leader of the Opposition in the Haryana Assembly, Mr Bhupinder Hooda. Describing the dowry case registered against the family of Mr Hooda as “unbelievable”, Mr Bansi Lal said he had known Mr Hooda’s father, Mr Ranbir Singh, for more than half a century and he could say with conviction that the family had been known for not demanding dowry. The HVP leader said the case against Mr Hooda seemed to be the handiwork of his political rivals. Mr Bansi Lal said the Congress could not win the elections because of its President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, whom he accused to working against her own party. Instead of strengthening her party, Mrs Gandhi was encouraging infighting in the Congress. In Punjab, he said, Mrs Gandhi was encouraging the Deputy Chief Minister, Mrs Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, in pursuing dissident activities. Mrs Bhattal, he said, was weakening the Congress in Punjab by toeing the line of the Akalis. Instead of punishing her, Mrs Gandhi had rewarded her with the post of Deputy Chief Minister. Mr Bansi Lal said given the sorry state of affairs in the Congress, the people of the country had stopped looking towards it as a viable alternative to the BJP. |
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BJP not to have alliance in Haryana Panchkula, February 12 Talking to reporters he claimed that the party would win all seats. He, however, was guarded in his criticism of the Om Prakash Chautala-led
INLD, the BJP’s former ally. A former Haryana BJP president and Ambala MP, Mr Rattan Lal Kataria, informed that a state-level rally would be organised at Ambala on February 29. The national
general secretary of the BJP, Mr Parmod Mahajan, and senior party
leaders, Mr Satya Narain Jatiya and Mr Sahib Singh Verma, will be
prominent speakers. |
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4435 constables recruited Chandigarh, February 12 Time and again allegation from the Opposition quarters have been made regarding “largescale recruitment” of Rajasthan and UP youths by the Haryana Government to bolster the Indian National Lok Dal’s (INLD) electoral prospects in these two states. The figures submitted in the House today showed that while youths from Rajasthan and UP did get jobs in the Haryana Police, there was no large-scale recruitment from these states. Constables recruited from outside the state also included 11 from Chandigarh, 13 from Punjab and eight from Delhi. The break up of the number of constables recruited from various districts of Haryana showed Bhiwani topping the list with 554 followed by 468 from Jind. In Sirsa, 289, were recruited lower than the figures for Hisar (317) and Sonepat (290). Another unstarred question by Mr Dalal, which came up during question hour, was whether the government was considering increasing the amount of old age pension. The question apparently was asked by the Opposition MLA in anticipation of an imminent hike in the pension in view of the coming Lok Sabha elections. Mr Risal Singh, Minister of State for Social Welfare, however, replied that there was no such proposal. Replying to a starred question asked by Mr Dev Raj Dewan, Independent MLA, Mr M L Ranga, Minister of State for Health, said four people had died last year in the state from Dengue fever while there was one death in Japanese encephalitis. He added that for controlling these diseases, an action plan had been prepared. He also claimed that all the District Malaria Officers and biologists had been asked to prepare district level micro plans to ensure that surveillance to check the disease was intensified. Replying to a starred question asked by Independent MLA, Mr Rajinder Singh Bisla, Mr Chautala said the state government had no plan to enact any law to check the damage of the roads in the state. Mr Chautala added, while responding to a supplementary question asked by Mr Sher Singh of Congress, that if any complaint was made regarding use of sub-standard material for constructing a road, the matter would be looked into. When Mr Puran Singh Dabra, a ruling party MLA, talked about the preponderance of speed breakers on Haryana roads, Mr Ram Pal Majra, Chief Parliamentary Secretary, claimed that roads of Haryana had been made so smooth by the current regime that villagers were demanding setting up of speed breakers to keep a check on speeding vehicles. |
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Polytechnic students continue strike Hisar, February 12 Students boycotted their classes and gathered in front of the administrative block of the college. They raised slogans against the university authorities and the state government. They forced students of an engineering college being run in a portion of the Polytechnic College by the GJU to return without attending their classes. Students went on strike yesterday when a rumour spread that the state government had decided to merge the polytechnic college with the university and all polytechnic students would be shifted to another polytechnic college at Loharu in Bhiwani district. This angered the students and they broke some windowpanes of the colleges and damaged vehicles parked in the college parking. They alleged that the university authorities wanted to grab the well-equipped college on the name of merger. The local authorities, along with university and polytechnic college officials, tried to pacify the students as MBA exams of the university were scheduled to be held in that portion of the polytechnic college this evening. The City Magistrate, Mr Yogesh Bardwaj, the DSP, Mr Pat Ram, reached the college in the afternoon along with a police force. Mr Bhardwaj and Mr N.K. Verma, Principal of the college, assured the students that even if the college was merged with the university, students would not be shifted to other college. According to sources, the problem started three years ago when the university decided to run an engineering college on its campus. Due to lack of building and other infrastructure, the university authorities took a portion of the polytechnic college on rent and started engineering classes in the college adjoining the university. After one year, the university authorities sent a proposal to the state government to merge the polytechnic college with the university and transfer the control of the college to the university from the State Technical Education Department as the institute had sufficient infrastructure. The college had 40 acres alongside the Delhi-Hisar National Highway here. There are two teaching blocks, an administrative block, two hostels, a well-equipped workshop, a canteen and about 75 residential flats for teaching and non-teaching staff. At present, the college is running five courses — instrumentation control, mechanical engineering, textile technology, textile designing and textile processing — with more than 500 students on its rolls. The students said the State Technical Education Department had sent a proposal to the All-India Council for Technical Education for sanctioning two more courses and raising the number of seats in every course in the institute from 40 to 60. Mr Vishnu Bhagwan, Vice-Chancellor of the GJU, said the state government had so far not taken any decision in this regard. However, he admitted that such a proposal was pending with the state government. |
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High Court Chandigarh, February 12 In their petitions taken up by the Bench, comprising Mr Justice G.S. Singhvi and Mr Justice A.K. Mittal, Ms Ramita Sardana and other petitioners had earlier contended that as per an advertisement, there were 24 seats under the management quota in Rohtak college. For the seats, Rs 25 lakh were to be paid and there was no condition of domicile. Arguing before the court, counsel for the petitioners had asserted that the institute at Rohtak was run by the government and as such seats could not be reserved under the management quota. Taking up the case, the court had initially directed the respondents against finalising the list of students in the management quota. Hooda case The high court on Thursday dismissed a petition filed by Dr Geeta Grewal — daughter-in-law of Haryana Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda. She was seeking directions for setting aside an order whereby the arrest of her in-laws was stayed in an alleged dowry demand case. Blaming the in-laws for levelling false allegations against her, the petitioner in an earlier petition had submitted that the two, after obtaining stay orders, were constantly threatening her and her father to withdraw the complaint. She had added that they were trying to cover up their own misdeeds by giving concocted versions. |
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Concern over dilution of livestock’s breed
Karnal, February 12 Animal scientists who gathered here at the two-day national symposium on “Livestock Biodiversity vis-ŕ-vis Resource Exploitation: An Introspection” held in the National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR) stated these views. The “Society for Conservation of Domestic Animal Biodiversity” and NBAGR organised it on Wednesday and Thursday. The symposium focused on present status of animal genetic resources of the country and their characterisation, conservation, improvement strategies through latest technologies. Chief Guest Dr A.S. Faroda, Chairman of Agriculture Scientist Recruitment Board (ASRB) said that Indian women could play an important role in the conservation of animal genetic resources as they were more emotionally and culturally associated with animals. The Director of NBAGR Dr S.P.S. Ahlawat said native breeds of livestock were getting diluted or displaced due to fast changing agricultural and economic scenario in the recent years. Dr R.M. Acharya, former Deputy Director General (animal science), Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) expressed concern over the dilution in the purity of breeds through uncontrolled intermixing within the indigenous native breeds and infusing of exotic
germplasm. “This has resulted in loss of elite germplasm and some of the important breeds like Bhadawari and Toda buffaloes;
Sahiwal, Red Sindhi, Punganur and Venchure cattle; Jamnapari goat; Kanah, Bhakarwal and Jaisalmeri sheep etc. that have come under critical status of endangered breed.” |
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Board to scan admit card photographs Fatehabad, February 12 Mr Gupta said the process of holding the examinations in a fair manner began last week with the Chief Minister administering oath to 1,900-odd centre superintendents selected by way of computerised data. He said the board had taken certain innovative steps to stop impersonation, including the scanning of photographs on admit cards and certificates. The board had also decided to improve the evaluation system and it would not be difficult for students to get through the examinations by putting in a reasonable amount of hard work. The (DC), Mr M.S. Sahrawat, and the SP, Mr Saurabh Singh, said the 50 examination centres in the district had been divided into five sectors. Fatehabad subdivision would have three sectors while Rattia and Tohana subdivisions would have a sector each. A flying squad headed by a district-level officer would be assigned the duty of manning each sector. Section 144, IPC, would be imposed around a 200-metres radius of the examination centres and defaulters would be booked under Section 188, IPC. The examination duty had been made mandatory for duty staff. |
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Police given ultimatum to nab murder suspects Panipat, February 12 Mr Bhajan Lal and Mr Sharma have also asked the police to withdraw the case registered against the widow of Vijay Sharma and 15 others for staging a protest against the police. Several organisations including political parties, have formed a sangarsh samiti for the purpose. The police had booked 16 persons for blocking the Panipat-Gohana road. Mr Sharma alleged that, the police had not only misbehaved with the victim’s family members but also booked them in a case. He said if the police failed to arrest the culprits in three days, the organisation would launch an agitation. Mr Bhajan Lal told The Tribune that he had discussed the matter on the phone with the city SP after hearing the grievances of the victim’s family and local leaders. Mr Bhajan Lal said he had asked the SP not to arrest the family members. Mr Sanjay Bhatia, Chairman,
Municipal Council, and a member of the sangarsh samiti, said if the police failed to arrest the culprits, the samiti would launch an agitation. Meanwhile, the Panipat Journalists Association has criticised the city SP for misbehaving with three journalists of national Hindi dailies. A senior leader of the district Congress, Mr Kuldeep Sharma, has also condemned the action of the police in the case. |
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Man run over by train Hisar, February 12 In another incident, the police today recovered the body of a woman from a minor near Harita village. The police has sent the body to the Rohtak Medical College for a post-mortem examination. The police has registered a case. The police also recovered the body of a new born from near the local railway station. A case has been registered in this regard. |
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Taxi driver held for NRI’s murder Karnal, February 12 A police official said that main accused in the case, taxi driver Joginder had been arrested and the passport and mobile phone of the deceased recovered from his possession. The NRI hired Joginder’s taxi from the international airport on the night of January 23 but was allegedly strangled on the way to his native village by the taxi driver. The police has also claimed to have recovered Indica car (No. PB-8A-6878) hired by the NRI. |
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3 killed in road accidents
Ambala, February 12 According to information, a scooterist, Vijay, was killed near Naraingarh when an unidentified vehicle hit his scooter. Vijay died on the spot. In another accident at Ambala cantonment, near Maheshnagar, Sanjeev was killed when he was hit by a vehicle. Charnjit, a resident of Ambala city, died on the GT Road, near Ambala city when his scooter collided with a tractor. |
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