 |
|
Pleasant change in CM’s orders on transfers
Yamuna waters to be harnessed: Chautala
No room for Bansi, son in Cong: Bhajan Lal
Uma’s yatra enters
Haryana today
10 more cases of jaundice detected
Villagers examined for jaundice
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
MLA’s relatives in excise net
KU students protest against rise in eve teasing
Haryana sitting on volcano: Birender
Boy’s kidnappers held within 24 hours
Crackdown on rice mill owners, 1 held
Head Constable held for torturing youth
3 held in dowry death case
2 seriously hurt in substation fire
Aid to kin of deceased labourers increased
Mother, son die in mishap
HIGH COURT
Federation plans rainwater harvesting
Priya wins inter-Army School debate
Talent search contest held
|
|
Pleasant change in CM’s orders on transfers
Chandigarh, September 21 Earlier, the CM’s directive for transfers reportedly used to be a terse one liner — the CM has ordered the following transfers and postings — addressed to the Administrative Secretary of the department concerned. But the language of the CM’s communication has undergone a change since last month. It now says that the CM has desired that so and so may be transferred to a certain place. The request may be “considered sympathetically” by the Secretary. A state government official explained that following the change of the language of the communication coming from the Chief Minister’s Office
(CMO), the Secretaries were now in a position to examine the request from the point of view of administrative requirement. Moreover, directives such as these coming from the CMO are now forwarded for processing through the routine procedure. As a result, the “desired” transfers are not taking place “with immediate effect” any more. It is taking at least a month for a “request” from the CMO to be implemented as all the formalities like finding out vacancy position in an office, etc, are now carried out before the transfer order is finally issued. Transfers and postings, it may be noted, have been a centralised affair in Haryana under the Chautala regime. While officially there is a ban on all transfers, it effectively means that a transfer can take place only if it is approved by the Chief Minister himself. There have been also instances of the CMO sending transfer orders straight to the heads of the departments superceding the Administrative Secretaries. The recent development related to the change in the language of directive regarding transfer, which is believed to have given the Administrative Secretaries a semblance of freedom to decide whether a particular transfer is required or not, is believed to be outcome of a case filed against the OSD to CM, Mr Vijay Singh, by a peon. The peon, Srikishan, who is 70 per cent handicapped, was transferred from Gurgaon to Rewari. Srikishan challenged in the Punjab and Haryana High Court his transfer outside the district. Eventually the state government had to cancel the transfer order and retain the peon in Gurgaon district only. The loss of face in the Srikishan case apparently has prompted the CM to modify the orders and offer opportunity to the Administrative Secretaries to at least formally have a say in transfer of an employee. |
|
|
Yamuna waters to be harnessed: Chautala
Panchkula, September 21 Mr Chautala was addressing a public meeting after inaugurating a high level bridge constructed at a cost of Rs 1.30 crore over the Tangri near Toka village here today. The bridge will benefit the residents of 15 villages of the area, including Kot, Khangesara,Toka, Shiamtoo, Alipur, Rattewali, Tibbi, Sabilpur, Sukhdarshanpur, Amrala, Manak Tabra, Batwal, Dhandroo, Khatauli and Raipur Rani. Mr Chautala said the flood waters of the Yamuna would also be harnessed and utilised for the areas around Ahirwal. He said during the tenure of the present government, 38 bridges had been constructed at a cost of Rs 33.61 crore and 25 other bridges were under construction at an estimated cost of Rs 27.44 crore. Earlier, the Chief Minister inaugurated a sports hostel constructed at a cost of Rs 88 lakh at Sports Complex, Panchkula. The hostel had dormitories to accommodate 50 boys and 30 girls. The Chief Minister also inaugurated a diagnostic centre equipped with the facilities of computerised radiography system, doppler ultrasound machine and fully automatic random access analyser at General Hospital, Sector 6. The Commissioner and Secretary, Health, Mr Krishna Mohan, apprised the Chief Minister of the functioning of these machines. A fully automatic random access analyser has also been installed at a cost of Rs 20 lakh. As many as 84 samples can be processed at a time and a single sample can be subjected to a large variety of tests. The tests to be conducted with the machine included blood sugar test, renal function test, liver function test, lipid profile, cardiac and liver enzymes.
|
|
|
No room for Bansi, son in Cong: Bhajan Lal
Chandigarh, September 21 Talking to newsmen after a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party, Mr Bhajan Lal said since the HVP leader had been criticising the AICC president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, frequently, the doors of the Congress were closed for him and his son. The Congress and the HVP had joined hands at the time of the last Rajya Sabha elections from Haryana when the former had nominated Mrs Kiran Chaudhary as its candidate. The HVP had extended support to her. She is the wife of Mr Surender Singh. He asserted that many leaders were going to join the Congress in the coming days. “Our doors are open for good leaders and not for everyone.’’ Mr Bhajan Lal criticised the Chautala Government for “hurriedly” convening the Assembly session without giving opposition members adequate time to submit their questions. He said under the rules a clear 15-day notice was required to convene the session. The Cabinet recommended to the Governor on September 14 that the session should be convened on September 29. Since the Congress also wanted to move a no-confidence motion against the Speaker in view of his “partisan” attitude, it was unable to do so as the session had been convened at a short notice. Mr Bhajan Lal, who was accompanied by the officiating leader of the CLP, Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, said during the assembly session the Congress would raise the issues of the alleged corruption in the Chautala Government, vendetta against its political adversaries and the government’s alleged move to divide the rural masses by holding panchayat elections before the Assembly elections. He said the Congress would strongly oppose the proposed Panchayati Raj Amendment Bill. If the ruling party passed the controversial Bill on the strength of its majority, his party would urge the Governor not to give his approval. The Congress leader also accused the Chautala government of misusing official machinery and collecting huge funds to celebrate the birth anniversary of the former Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Devi Lal, on September 25. He also accused the Chief Minister of making false promises to the people of Haryana ahead of the Assembly elections. Capt Yadav criticised Mr Chautala for ‘’using religion for political purposes.’’ He said Mr Chautala went to Pakistan to fetch the sacred water from the native village of Bhai Kanhaiya and launched the “Sadbhavna yatra” just to take political mileage out of it. Mr Chautala, he said, was accompanied by Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal, son of the former Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Prakash Singh Badal, who was bitterly opposing the construction of the SYL canal, which would bring Haryana’s share of the river waters. |
|
|
Uma’s yatra enters
Haryana today Chandigarh, September 21 According to a spokesman of the Haryana BJP, the yatra will reach Faridabad at 2 p.m. after passing through
Palwal. In Faridabad Ms Bharati will address a public meeting. She will again address public meeting in Sonepat at 6 p.m. after touching Mewla
Maharajpur. The yatra will pass through Ganaur and Samalkha before reaching Panipat at 11-30 a.m. on September 23, where a public meeting will be held. Ms Bharati will address public meetings at Karnal, Kurukshetra and Ambala cantonment at 12-30 p.m., 3-15 p.m. and 6 p.m., respectively. On the way the yatra will touch
Gharaunda, Nilokheri and Shahabad. The BJP has planned public receptions at these places. The same evening the yatra will reach Ambala city. The yatra will enter Punjab from Ambala city in the morning of September 24.
|
|
|
10 more cases of jaundice detected
Ambala, September 21 Meanwhile, the Health Department organised a health check-up camp in the Baldevnagar area today, where as many a 415 people were examined by doctors. Clinical and pathological lests of some patients were also conducted. A resident of the area, Vickey (16), was referred to the Civil Hospital. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr
R.P. Gupta, visited the area. He assured the residents that officials of the Public Health Department had been directed to check the contamination of water. He said a special sanitation campaign would be launched in the area. Meanwhile, the Health Department distributed halogen tablets in the area. The
PMO, Civil Hospital, Ms Avinash Sharma, said that two patients with suspected jaundice had been admitted to the hospital so far.
|
|
|
Villagers examined for jaundice
Sonepat, September 21 After repeated reports of cases of jaundice in the village, the Civil Surgeon, Sonepat, visited the affected village. Interestingly, the health teams that visited the village earlier had reported to the Civil Surgeon that though there were cases of malaria and viral fever, there was none of jaundice. The Civil Surgeon, Dr Veena Chug, said the cause of deaths would be probed and action taken if anyone was found guilty of neglect in duty. A team of the Public Health Department visited the village on Sunday and carried out inspection of the water pipelines laid for providing drinking water supply in the village. As reported by villagers, five patients —
Rajbala, wife of former sarpanch Ishwar Singh, Chenu Ram, son of Ram Singh,
Pawan, son of Kesho Ram, Usha
Devi, wife of Pawan Kumar, and Badan Singh — have died of jaundice during the past one month. Also, at least six more patients of jaundice are in various hospitals. Former sarpanch Ishwar Singh and other villagers say that had the authorities taken precautionary measures on time, the deaths could have been avoided. |
|
|
MLA’s relatives in excise net
Karnal, September 21 Meanwhile, the local police has also served a notice on the MLA’s brother Paras Ram Gupta to appear before the investigating officer in the much-publicised Rs 92-lakh paddy scam in which the MLA was the main accused. The MLA has, however, alleged that the state government was intentionally harassing him and his family members for parting ways with the ruling Indian National Lok Dal (INLD). The Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner (DETC) of Karnal, Mr J.S. Sindhu, while talking to The Tribune today confirmed that they had issued arrest warrants against the MLA’s son Mukesh Kumar and brother-in-law Ramesh Kumar for not paying the tax amount. He said, “We have asked the local police to arrest them so as to ensure the recovery of the pending purchase tax.” The police had already launched a hunt to nab them. Raids were conducted at various places during the past couple of days. A senior police official commented, “The MLA’s son is on the run”. The police had conducted raids at various possible hideouts in Ghaziabad, Yamunanagar, Radaur, Mansa, Chandigarh and Ludhiana. Earlier, the department had requested the district authorities of Yamunanagar to collect a detailed report of the property owned by the MLA’s brother-in-law Ramesh Kumar so that it could be attached for the easy recovery of purchase tax pending against “Makali Traders”, in which he is a partner along with Mukesh Kumar Gupta. |
|
|
KU students protest against rise in eve teasing
Kurukshetra, September 21 The agitators demanded stern action against students who were held for their involvement in an eve-teasing incident near girls’ hostels on the university campus on September 16. The demonstrators raised slogans and held a dharna. The dharna was addressed by leaders of various student organisations, Mahila Mukti Morcha, Ismailabad, Yamuna Nagar district, and the Karmchaari Union. While talking to mediapersons, state joint secretary of the Jaagrook Chhatra Morcha (JCM) Aarti alleged that the Indian National Students Organisation (INSO) had hired men from Pehowa, Ladwa, Kaithal and Narwana to curb the agitation. She alleged that the “hired” men had approached and threatened students against joining the strike today. She further alleged that the six girls who went to the Adarsh police station for registration of a case for eve-teasing on September 16, were made to stay there from 5.30 pm to 9.30 pm and no official of the university administration came to their help during that period. Instead, she said, hostel wardens telephoned parents of the girls to create panic. She pointed out that the cases of eve-teasing that had been referred to the Anti-Sexual Harassment Committee (ASHC) in the past had not been settled so far. Their demands included forwarding of the case to the ASHC, arrest and rustication of two culprits — Baljit and Moni — check on incidents of eve-teasing on the university campus, and preventing roguish elements from entering the campus. She also demanded a referendum on deciding the visiting hours to girls’ hostels and the stepping up of security for girls on the campus. She said if the university administration failed to take action within a week’s time, the organisation would intensify the agitation. State vice-president of the National Students Union of India (NSUI) Sanjay, state secretary Rohit Chowdhary and district president Sumit Chowdhary told mediapersons that some outsiders had threatened students against participating in today’s agitation. Similarly, state president of the Student Federation of India (SFI) Rajvinder Chandi and state general secretary Jai Bhagwan urged the university authorities to take steps to curb incidents of eve-teasing. Former state president of the INSO Krishan Sheokand, while addressing the rally, said outsiders were politicising the academic atmosphere of the campus. He sought a ban on the entry of outsiders to the university campus. Later, talking to mediapersons, the Kurukshetra University Registrar, Dr J.S. Kadian, claimed that the case of eve-teasing had been sent to a board for inquiry and the security on the road leading to girls’ hostels had been tightened. He said although checking of identity cards to regulate the entry to the campus was a problem, security personnel would be instructed to prevent groups of persons on private vehicles from entering without permission. On why the university officials had failed to turn up at the Adarsh police station when girls had gone to get a case registered, Mr Kadian said the girls got the FIR lodged late in the night without informing the university authorities. On the demand of referring the case to the ASHC, Dr Kadian said: “We have not received any such demand. However, the case would be referred to the committee only after clearance from the inquiry board and the police.” |
|
Haryana sitting on volcano: Birender Chandigarh, September 21 Mr Birender Singh regretted that no study had been carried out to ascertain the extent of rural indebtedness in Haryana. In Punjab, he said, due to the intervention of the government two studies by noted economists had been carried out to find out the factors responsible for rural indebtedness and to suggest remedial measures. He said unless this problem was sorted out there could not be any modernisation or diversification of agriculture in the state. Hence, there would not be any increase in the rural income and employment potential. The Congress would soon organise meetings and rallies at various places to highlight the problem so that better awareness about it could be created among all concerned. Mr Birender Singh said his party would also take socio-economic aspects and conditions of agriculture workers, who constituted about 67 per cent of the total work force in Haryana. Since they did not possess any land and were uneducated, new avenues of employment would have to be created for them through a multi-pronged strategy to provide them gainful employment.
|
|
|
Boy’s kidnappers held within 24 hours
Kurukshetra, September 21 Claiming this at a press conference here yesterday, the district police chief, Mrs Bharati Arora, said the arrested persons had been identified as Shashi, Akash, alias Bittoo, and Ajit. Narrating the incident, Mrs Arora said Abhimanyu’s father, Mr Devi Dayal, lodged a complaint with the police that his son had not returned home from school till 2 p.m. on September 18. He received a call on his cell phone from Muzaffar Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, that his son was in the custody of the caller and a ransom of Rs 5 lakh was demanded for his release. The caller instructed that the ransom money should be paid near Shamli railway station the following morning or else the boy would be killed. Mrs Arora said the police traced the call, which was made from a PCO booth near Shamli. It laid a trap and deployed police in mufti near Shamli railway station. A Deegh resident, accompanying the police, recognised one of the kidnappers, Shashi, who had worked in the fields of Devi Dayal at Deegh earlier. Both Shashi and Ajit were nabbed. Mrs Arora said during interrogation, the nabbed persons told the police that Abhimanyu was in the custody of a third man, Akash, alias Bittoo, in a park near Shamli railway station. |
|
Crackdown on rice mill owners, 1 held
Karnal, September 21 Revealing this exclusively to The Tribune, the Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner (DETC) of Karnal, Mr. JS Sindhu said a special campaign was initiated by the department to recover the pending purchase tax from rice millers of the district. Under this special campaign, Mr Sat Pal, son of MrBabu Ram owner of Sachin and Company, market committee road, Karnal was arrested on Tuesday for non-payment of Rs 1,71,889 pending against him in lieu of the purchase tax. He was sent to the revenue lock-up for 10 days, said the official. He further said that the department had sealed the machinery and plants of two rice mills —Guru Nanak Rice Mill, Tarawari and Monga Rice Mill, Tarawari, for non-payment of purchase tax, today. They were both given chances during the past eight months to deposit the purchase tax but they did not respond to any of the several notices that were on them. Mr Sindhu said as many as 11 arrest warrants were earlier issued against the defaulters during the past few days. Besides, notices were also served on at least 150 existing rice mills during the past couple of months to recover the pending amount. More than Rs 18 crore was still pending against at least 150 rice mills in lieu of the purchase tax that the mill owners had collectively been evading for the past 14 years, since the assessment year 1996-97, he said. It may be mentioned that 87 mills had already shut down their business in Karnal district during the past few years but quite a sizeable amount of purchase tax running into crores was still pending against them. The DETC said, during, August 2004, a sum of Rs 4.5 crore was recovered from the defaulting rice mills. Apart from this, with the continuous efforts launched by the department a sum of Rs. 2.75 crore was recovered from the rice mills from September 1 to 20 this year. Meanwhile, Mr Sindhu has warned the defaulting rice mills to deposit the purchase tax immediately otherwise the process to attach their properties for recovery would be initiated as per the legal norms under the Land Revenue Act. |
|
Head Constable held for torturing youth
Rewari, September 21 He was yesterday produced in the court of Mrs Alka Malik, Judicial Magistrate (first class), who remanded him to judicial custody. The arrests of Zile Singh, ASI and several other police personnel, who were also accused in the above case, were expected to follow soon. A medical report of the PGIMS, Rohtak, had confirmed that the victim Manish Kumar had been grievously hurt during the “inhuman treatment” meted out to him at the police station here in March, 2003. Following the report, Sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 331 (causing grievous hurt to extort confession) were recently added to the FIR. The above action against the erring police personnel came in the wake of a directive issued by the Punjab and Haryana High Court which recently ordered IG (Crime Branch),
Haryana, to conduct a fresh investigation into the matter. Interestingly, the FIR registered under Sections 330, 342 of the IPC had been cancelled by the Rewari district police administration following an investigation held by DSP, Rewari. The DSP, Rewari, had found the FIR untenable in the absence of “substantial proofs”. Manish Kumar, son of Shiv Charan and a resident of Uttam Nagar here, had been brought to the city police station on 24th March, 2003 in connection with an alleged abduction of a teenaged girl. |
|
3 held in dowry death case
Rewari, September 21 The arrested were husband and brothers-in-law of the deceased respectively. The police was yet to arrest the fourth accused Bimla Devi, sister-in-law of the deceased. Following a complaint lodged by Mr Mange Ram, father of the deceased, the police earlier registered a case of dowry death under sections 304-B, 34 of the IPC. He alleged that his daughter Santosh
Devi, who recently went to her husband’s house soon after the consummation ceremony of the wedding, had been subjected to severe harassment by her in-laws to fetch enhanced dowry. After the post-mortem examination conducted at the Community Health Centre, Bawal, the body of Santosh Devi was cremated at her native Patuhera village near Bawal yesterday. |
|
|
2 seriously hurt in substation fire
Fatehabad, September 21 According to nigam sources, an oil circuit breaker (OCB) exploded at about 9.15 p.m. yesterday due to some snag in power lines. The oil contained in the OCB spilled over into the switchboard room and fire and smoke engulfed the entire room. Mr Ishwar Mukhija, assistant substation attendant and Mr Rajinder Prasad, assistant lineman, who were working at the substation got trapped in the fire. Some other officials of the nigam, who were standing nearby, rushed to the rescue of their trapped colleagues. Mr Ajit Singh, a junior engineer of the nigam, also received burns while trying to save his colleagues. Fire tenders were called and fire was be extinguished after a few hours. The two seriously injured employees have shifted to a private hospital at Hisar. Meanwhile, the supply was restored in some areas early today while others were still without power. Mr G. R. Mehta, Chief Engineer, HVPN, and Mr R. K. Panjeta, Chief Engineer, Operations, Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) have been camping here to monitor damage control and repair operations. Mr B. S. Pahuja, Executive Engineer, HVPN, told mediapersons that all transformers at the substations had been saved. He said only a few OCBs have been damaged, which were being replaced. He said the repairs and replacement work would take a day or two. Oil Circuit Breaker, according to sources, is primitive equipment and pose fire threat. The nigam has been phasing these out by replacing these with safer air circuit breakers and vacuum circuit breakers. The nigam has now decided to replace six of the 12 OCBs with ACBs, as these have been rendered useless after the fire. |
|
Aid to kin of deceased labourers increased
Hisar, September 21 Stating this here today, the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Balbir Singh Malik, said a decision in this regard had been taken by the state Labour Welfare Department. He said the board would pay the fees of the wards of the labourers for technical courses. |
|
|
Mother, son die in mishap
Ambala, September 21 The incident took place near IOC oil depot when Praveen and his mother were coming towards Ambala from
Karanal. They were on a motor cycle. An oil tanker was coming out of the oil depot when the accident took place. Praveen and his mother died on the spot. The tanker driver was held. |
|
|
HIGH COURT
The High Court on Tuesday stayed the arrest of Bhartiya Kisan Union leader Ghasi Ram Nain till September 24.
Mr Nain has filed a petition seeking bail in a case registered at Police Station, Narnaund, on August 31. Mr Nain was booked for sedition. He has also sought quashing of the FIR. In his petition, Mr Nain had sought bail on the grounds that the case is politically motivated. Today, Mr Justice Amar Dutt stayed his arrest till September 24 and asked the state to file objections to the case. |
|
Federation plans rainwater harvesting
Ambala, September 21 Secretary-General of the federation Mr N.D. Arora said the federation would invite experts from the Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi, to hold a demonstration and educate the residents about rain water harvesting. “After getting the expert opinion and technicalities, the office-bearers of the federation and its affiliates will implement the scheme first to
instill awareness among other residents,” a press note said. Mr Arora said they would hold a seminar on the issue of flood and an effort would be made to find a permanent solution. The federation was critical for not implementing the pending works of the outer colonies approved by the Chief Minister in its Sarkar Apke Dwar programme held in 2001 and October, 2002. |
|
|
Priya wins inter-Army School debate
Ambala, September 21 Col T.S. Kalra (retd), Deputy Director (AWES) HQ 2 Corps, was the chief guest. The judges were Prof A.S. Mahajan, Dr Asha Sharma and Ms Usha Dahiya. Seven team took part in the competition. The Principal, Ms Neena Khanna, said the two groups of speakers were ‘inters’ and ‘seniors’. Overall running trophy was bagged by Army School, Ambala Cantonment. The winners will represent the zone at the Command level in December, 2004. In inters, the first prize went to Priya Dass of Army School, Chandi Mandir, second prize winner was Akhil Monga of Army School, Ambala Cantonment, while the third position went to Supriya of Army School, Ambala Cantonmnet. Special prizes were given to Abhilasha of Army School, Chandi Mandir, and Aamani of Army School, Patiala. In seniors category, the first prize winner was Aniket Singh of Army School, Ambala Cantonment, Jayant of Army School, Ambala Cantonment, stood second while Shreya of Army School, Chandi Mandir was third.
|
|
|
Talent search contest held
Hisar, September 21 In the speech contest, the participants expressed their views on terrorism, female foeticide and corruption. Aparna, who spoke on terrorism, got the first prize, while Shalu and Anjana got the second and third positions, respectively. In the poetry recitation competition, Sarita, Pankaj and Manju captured the first three places. Sarita presented a thought-provoking and satirical poem on the political system. On the other hand, Manju recited a touching poem on the feelings of a girl. In the debate on the policy of economic liberalisation, Pradeep stood first, while Sandeep got the second slot. |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Panchkula, September 21
Chandigarh, September 21
