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Chief Secretary not amused by crucial Delhi meeting
Gurgaon village roots for Kerry
Doles scheme runs into trouble
MLA’s nephew booked in cable war
Kidwai seeks AG’s views on Bills in writing
Railways fined for harassing employee
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Preparations for Haryana Day in full swing
Bodies of two youths recovered from pond Probe sought into cutting
of trees
Warrants against former SDM
Fire causes panic
High Court
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Chief Secretary not amused
Chandigarh, October 29 The agenda items of the meeting include improving service delivery for effective use of resources and strengthening accountability. Improving service delivery, it is understood, entails introducing information technology (IT) to streamline and quicken the pace of various services provided by the government. In Haryana’s case, IT in government, which was launched by Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala with much fanfare, has lost the momentum. So much so that a proposal to start IT-based projects in districts of Haryana to provide all the services provided by the Deputy Commissioner’s office (driving license, ration card, etc) through a “single window” reportedly was returned by the CM without making any remark. Other ambitious IT-based projects like computerisation of land records and setting up “single window” delivery system in two blocks with funding of Rs 3 crore by the UNDP too have been practically given a burial. Agenda item number two, which is regarding evolving model code of good governance, too, may give the Haryana Government the creeps. Various departments of the state are yet to formulate comprehensive citizens’ charters to intimate the public about the services that these departments are supposed to
provide in a definite timeframe. One item in the agenda, however, will certainly please the top brass of the Haryana regime. It is about restoring the role of the district administration. Effectively, this
suggests undermining the panchayati raj institutions and concentrating power in the hands of the DC
and the SP. The agenda of the meeting also includes considering measures to stop harassment of honest civil servants. With the Ashok Khemka episode — in which a civil servant was transferred to an insignificant post from his office in the Education Department for opposing transfer of teachers in the middle of academic session — taking place only last month, the Haryana Government cannot claim to have a decent track record on this account. Efficient performance management and appraisal, too, figure in the agenda of the meeting and Haryana is far from comfortably placed on these issues. The ACRs (annual confidential reports) of government servants are almost always delayed and two to three years delay in preparing ACRs is rather the norm than an exception. It was learnt that the Chief Secretary had on Wednesday held a meeting with secretaries and commissioners of various departments to discuss the issues which would come up in the November 2 meeting. Mr Piyush Pandarwani, Secretary, Administrative Reform Department, who took part in the meeting, said the meeting was of “preliminary nature” and refused to divulge further. |
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Gurgaon village roots for Kerry
Carterpuri
(Gurgaon), October 29 For the 400 odd families of this sleepy hamlet of Carterpuri, the association with the USA goes back more than two decades. The then US President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat like Kerry, had paid a visit to this place in January 1978. Mr Carter was so fascinated by the trip to the village where his mother had once lived and worked in the 1960s that he had requested the Government of India to rename the village as Carterpuri. “The Panchayat readily agreed to this,” recalls Atar Singh (50), a former village panch. Mr Carter has not returned to the village since then nor is John Kerry a familiar name but Atar Singh hopes the Democrats (“Mr Carter’s party,” he says), win. “Woh hamare gaon ke pratinidhi hain ... unki party jeetey” (He represents our village, his party should win), he says. Atar Singh’s brother Kartar, also a shopkeeper, is the proud owner of a photo album and letters written by Mr Carter, his wife and mother. “The letters were written by Mr Carter to the then Sarpanch Bhoop Singh Yadav,” he recalls. The Sarpanch, Dilawar Singh, too has fond memories to share like how a meeting of the Panchayat was called to decide upon Mr Carter’s request to rename the village and how a resolution in this regard was passed, which was later approved by the Haryana Government. A student of Class X in the lone Government High School in the village, Sandeep Yadav, was not born when Mr Carter visited Carterpuri but he is familiar with the stories about the village’s unique history as told by his teachers and elders. Another student, Dinesh Kumar, however, rues the fact that little or no development has taken place in the village over the decades in spite of its US connection. “There is no other school in the village. I will have to travel to a school located at some distance to finish my class XII,” he tells this correspondent. The anomaly is striking. One has to get off the metalled road to reach the village. Roads are in a state of disrepair. The Tau Devi Lal Smriti Udyan and the Institute of Technology and Management in the vicinity of the village are the only images of development visible in the area. Meanwhile, a US Embassy official in New Delhi says several hundreds of applications have been received from US nationals living in or travelling to India for registering them as voters for the November 2 poll. The ACS Unit at the US Consulate General in Mumbai has assisted more than 700 US citizens in western India alone in applying for absentee ballots and casting their votes, Ms Elise Mellinger told The Tribune from Mumbai. |
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Doles scheme runs into trouble
Rohtak, October 29 According to official estimates, over one lakh youths have got themselves registered at various employment exchanges in the state after the scheme was announced on September 25. In Rohtak, 49,296 youths were enrolled during the period. The figure stood at around 4,000 each in Jhajjar and Bhiwani. All 19 districts have reported approximately the same figures. This has provided employment offices a job to do after years of being rendered nearly redundant due to lack of jobs in the state. Now, suddenly these offices look grossly understaffed. Unable to manage the rush, many of these offices have sought police help in managing the long queues. An official of the local employment office said: “It takes about 20 minutes to complete the formalities of registration for one applicant. We are already understaffed since no new appointments have been made for years. There is no help available from other offices too. And on top of it, the young crowd tends to get restive. We are trying to cope with the situation as best as possible.” The problem has been compounded by complete lack of guidelines for registration and eligibility. Officials said the rush for registration began on September 27, the previous day being a Sunday. This caught them by surprise. “We tried to reason with the youths to wait till the guidelines were received, but they were not prepared for that”, they said. In the absence of guidelines, besides students, even self-employed and partly employed youths are registering themselves. “Where is the harm in receiving pocket money from the state exchequer even though I run an STD booth? I have got it transferred to my father’s name. The dole will bring in some extra bucks”, commented a youth waiting for registration at Jhajjar yesterday. Finance Ministry officials are a worried lot. A senior IAS officer of the department said there was no way all those registered could be given unemployment allowance as it was impossible to find resources on that scale. Already the old age pension was burning a hole in state’s pockets. More doles would further strain the exchequer. Officials now say that children of income tax payers will have to be the first to be eliminated. Then a ceiling can be imposed on the size of land holding for farmers’ wards. Besides, a mechanism had to be devised to eliminate those studying but who wanted dole on the basis of school leaving certificates. And, of course, self employed and partly employed will have to be weeded out. If this happens, the ruling Indian National Lok Dal could be losing more than it was hoping to gain from this scheme. Having spent days outside employment offices for registration, the youths will not accept a no for the dole.
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MLA’s nephew booked in cable war
Karnal, October 29 Other persons against whom an FIR has been registered include Mukesh Sharma, resident of Ramesh Nagar here, Baljit, employee of Yogesh Gupta, Deepak Sharma, resident of the local Sadar Bazar, Rajiv Singla, resident of the local Sector 14, Darshan Kaur, wife of Kulwant Singh, and Tinu, son of Kulwant Singh, both residents of Subash Colony here. Earlier, Arvind Chopra a local cable operator, in a complaint filed before the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate on October 26, alleged that Yogesh Gupta and the above-mentioned persons forcibly entered into the control room of his cable television relay centre on October 24, stopped the relay of satellite channels in the area and captured the office. They also took away some of the electronic equipment from the control room with them. Chopra also filed a complaint before the District Magistrate, Mr
R.S. Doon. An inquiry was marked to the Superintendent of Police. Chopra was earlier associated with Yogesh Gupta’s Siti Cable Network, but recently he switched his loyalties to New Balaji Cable Network. Anju Chopra, wife of Arvind Chopra, while talking to The Tribune has alleged that Yogesh Gupta had forcibly captured their office and the cable network system. Later he managed to get a stay from the court by allegedly producing fabricated documents of a partnership deed before the court, she said. My family is also getting regular threats for the past one week from Yogesh Gupta and his accomplices, she further alleged. She said her husband had been falsely implicated by the local police on the statement of Yogesh Gupta in yesterday’s attack on him. She demanded an independent inquiry into yesterday’s incident in which Yogesh Gupta was also allegedly injured. Further, inquiries made by this reporter revealed that a tangled tale of business and political rivalry revolves around the cable war between the two major players — Siti Cable Network and the New Balaji Cable Network in the city. Until recently, both players, Yogesh Gupta of Siti Cable Network and Brij Gupta of New Balaji Cable Network, were partners but Brij Gupta started his own network a few months ago. Meanwhile, the local police has booked Brij Gupta, Bhupinder Singh Ladi, Suresh Gujjar, Dinesh Chalkana and six others, most of whom are business partners of Brij Gupta, for attacking Yogesh Gupta and his associates last evening. Yogesh Gupta suffered a head injury in the attack. Deepak Sharma, his associate, was also injured.
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Kidwai seeks AG’s views on Bills in writing
Chandigarh, October 29 According to informed sources, the Governor, Dr A.R. Kidwai, has still not made up his mind about the controversial Bills. He held a meeting with the Advocate-General, Mr Ashok Aggarwal; the Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, Mr
B.D. Dhalia, who is also the Commissioner, Panchayats; and the Commissioner, Urban Development Department, Dr Harbaksh Singh, on October 27 to seek certain clarifications about the objections raised by the Opposition. The Opposition has urged the Governor not to give his assent to the Bills, which, it alleges, are meant to further political interests of the ruling party. The Opposition alleges that by holding the panchayat and municipal elections before the Assembly elections, the ruling party wanted to divide the community, particularly in the rural areas, so that it could take advantage of group rivalries at the time of the Assembly elections. The Youth Congress president, Mr Randeep Surjewala, had submitted a detailed memorandum highlighting the legal position in this regard to Dr Kidwai. The sources say Raj Bhawan has now sought the opinion of the Advocate-General on the issues raised by the Opposition in general and Mr Surjewala in particular, in writing. It is not known why Raj Bhawan took this step after Mr Aggarwal rendered his verbal opinion at the meeting with the Governor. Perhaps, Raj Bhawan wants the Advocate-General’s opinion in black and white, for reasons best known to it. Dr Kidwai may make up his mind only after Mr Aggarwal sends his written comments. If he is not satisfied with the views of the Advocate-General, Dr Kidwai can seek the advice of the Attorney-General also. Legal experts point out that no time-frame has been laid down in the Constitution in which a Governor is supposed to decide the fate of a Bill either way. The Constitution only says that if the Governor returns a Bill and the Assembly again passes it, only then will it be binding on the Governor to give his assent to that Bill. But he is free to take his own time to study a Bill passed by the Assembly. |
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Railways fined for harassing employee
Jhajjar, October 29 The Forum also directed the bank to release the amount with 10 per cent interest from the day when the aggrieved employee deposited the cheque drawn from his General Provident Fund (GPF). According to information, Rajender, a resident of Jharli village, was an employee in the Railways. He got a cheque, amounting Rs 24,000, issued from the Uttar Railway Mandal, Bikaner, drawn from his GPF in the name of the State Bnak of India, Rewari. He deposited the cheque in the Punjab National Bank at Jharli branch in November, 2000. However, when he visited the bank for withdrawing the cash, the bank authorities told that the cheque had been dispatched to the SBI at Rewari and it had not been encashed so far. After some time, he got suspicious that the cheque might be misplaced in the bank and asked the Railway authorities to issue a duplicate cheque of the same GPF amount. When neither the Railway authorities nor the bank helped him getting him the money, he lodged a complaint with the District Consumer Forum here. The forum today directed the Railway Department to issue a duplicate cheque to the employee and imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 for causing mental harassment. The forum also directed the bank to pay Rs 1,100 as litigation charges to Rajender, besides releasing him the amount with 10 per cent interest from the day he deposited the cheque the first time. |
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Preparations for Haryana Day in full swing
Kaithal, October 29 People from all over the state are expected to participate in this function and keeping in view the coming Assembly elections the ruling INLD has used all
resources to mobilise a huge crowd. Mr Abhey Chautala MLA, younger son of the Chief Minister has addressed a number of public meetings and invited people to turn in large numbers to attend this function. Mr Ram Pal Mazra Chief Parliamentary Secretary who is the MLA from Pai, Mr Subhash Goel, Urban Development Minister, Haryana, Mr Amar Singh Dhandev, MLA, Guhla, Mr Leela Ram, MLA, from here, have also addressed public meetings to ensure participation by maximum number of people. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr H.S. Malik, Mr Pankaj Yadav, ADC, Mr Bhupinder Singh, SDM, and other officials of various departments are working over time to make arrangements for the function. Mr Ranbir Sharma SP, here is making fool proof security arrangements in view of the expected participation by large number of VIPs and heavy turn out of people. |
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Bodies of two youths recovered from pond Ambala, October 29 The youths were identified as Pardeep Kumar (18), student of 10+2 of the Local DAV Public School and resident of Sector 9, and Sandeep Kumar, resident of New Vijay Nagar, Ambala City. Mr Rati Ram, father of Pardeep, said his son had been missing from the house since Tuesday. He left the house on his bicycle early in the morning. When he did not return by evening, they searched for him at several places. His bicycle was found in the parking of the park. He said injury marks were found on the chest and mouth of his son’s body which indicated that he might have been murdered and later his body was thrown in the pond. Sandeep Kumar had also been missing from his house since Thursday. His parents had already informed the police about to.
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Probe sought into cutting
of trees Ambala, October 29 However, an Army officer said the matter was being looked into and appropriate action has
already been initiated. In a letter forwarded to the Union Defence Minister, Mr Khanna has stated that some persons had cut trees in bungalow No. 105, Mall in August. “The persons had claimed that they were from the DEO office. I was later surprised to see a notice from the DEO office in the name of the landlord regarding the cutting of trees,” Mr Khanna said. “On October 24, we once again noticed illegal cutting of trees in bungalow No. 104, Mall, occupied by MES officials. We caught the culprits red-handed and took their photographs,” he said. Mr Khanna said today some people were taking away the cut trees. “They claimed that they had bought the trees in an auction. Surprisingly, the trees were cut even before any auction took place,” he rued. The Army officer stated that with regard to bungalow No. 105 information was received that trees had been illegally cut. “Upon investigation it was verified that trees had been cut without any sanction. Therefore, the DEO wrote to the police to register an FIR in this regard,” he said. The officer has filed his reply, standing that the trees were leaning
dangerously and it was posing a risk to the power lines,” he said.
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Warrants against former SDM
Kaithal, October 29 According to information, the official had got a stolen vehicle registered in the name of his son. The vehicle was used for some time and later sold to a businessman. When the businessman came to know about it he handed over the car to the police and filed a case against Mr Chahal and his son, Mukul, in Guhla court. The car was stolen form Delhi. The matter regarding the issuance of fake registration certificates by Mr Chahal came to light when the Jhajjar police nabbed a few members of vehicle thieves gang in 2001. During interrogation the vehicle thieves disclosed that they used to sell vehicles after getting them registered through Mr Chahal. |
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Fire causes panic
Sonepat, October 29 Shopkeepers and residents panicked and rushed out of their shops and houses, respectively. The fire brigade rushed to the site but failed to extinguish the fire because the power lines were entangled. But eventually they managed to bring the fire under control. No casualties were reported. Meanwhile, representatives of the shopkeepers association criticised the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam for putting people’s lives in danger and said if such an incident had happened during day time, many people would have lost their lives. |
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Notice to V-C
Our High Court Correspondent
Chandigarh, October 29 Taking up a petition field by Kurukshetra University Teachers Association (KUTA), the Bench of Mr Justice Virender Singh issued notice to the respondents for December 13. In the petition moved through its President, Mr O.P. Gehlot, KUTA has prayed for initiation of contempt proceedings against the officers for having willfully disobeyed court orders. The petition says that despite court orders a house in the university complex was allotted to Lecturer Pankaj Singh in a back-dated order. Mr Pankaj is the son of the VC of Bikaner University, who was earlier Pro-VC of KU. After hearing counsel for the petitioner, Mr Justice Virender Singh issued notice for December 13. Notice issued
The Division Bench of Mr Justice J.S. Khehar and Mr Justice Viney Mittal on Friday issued notice of motion for November 22 on a petition filed by Dr Bimla Malik of Bhiwani. The petitioner has sought quashing of the list of schoolteachers of Hindi subject recently released in Haryana on the plea that the selection panel granted marks in excess of the stipulated 15 per cent for interview. |
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College teachers’ rally on Nov 1
Kurukshetra, October 29 Stating this here today, the HCTU finance secretary, Dr Subhash Tanwar, said the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, would be the chief guest while Mr Ajay Singh Chautala, M.P., Rajya Sabha, would be the guest of honour.
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Insurance employees observe strike
Hisar, October 29 The protesting employees staged a demonstration in front of the LIC office in the Red Square market and raised slogans. Another dharna was staged by the employees in front of the divisional office of Oriental Insurance. |
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Sarpanch suspended
Yamunanagar, October 29 The Sarpanch, Jarnail Singh had committed the alleged irregularities and embezzlement during 2000-03. It has been alleged that he embezzled a sum of Rs 10 lakh. The suspension came after panchayat members and villagers brought the irregularities to the notice of the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Vijayender Kumar. |
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Medical camp
organised Ambala, October 29 Patients from Kaccha Bazar, C.B. Colony, Chhota Shivala, Mochi Mandi, Gujrati Basti and Sanjay Colony were examined. The project coordinator, Mr Ashok Pannu, informed the gathering about sexually-transmitted diseases. The patients were provided treatment free of cost.
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Man robbed of
Rs 2.5 lakh Ambala, October 29 According to information, Ram Kumar, muneem of Manjit Singh, trader, was going to shop after drawing Rs 2.5 lakh from the State Bank of Patiala on a scooter, driven by his friend Sahib Singh. The two motor cycle borne youths stopped their scooter, pointed a pistol at them asked them to hand over the cash to them. They took the cash and fled.
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