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Vigilance Bureau yet to get copy
CBI telling distorted facts: Dalal
Chautala’s fear reigns in Teja Khera
Hooda’s son gets
bail
Fifteen injured in pre-poll violence
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Stories from Haryana towns falling in the
National Capital Region are put in
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Sarpanch’s ‘satyagraha’ gets his village two buses
ST on medicines under VAT scheme reduced
Preneet Kaur condoles Jindal’s death
HVPNL not to buy power for state
150 acres of crop destroyed in fire
Colleges may miss date with new courses
Posts of teacher to be filled, says Mullana
MDU to include honoris causa degrees in schedule
Lawyer convicted
Undertrial escapes from police custody
Sangwan seeks CBI probe into land scam
250 donate blood
Polling booth sought
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Vigilance Bureau yet to get copy
Chandigarh, April 8 A source in the SVB said the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee chief, Mr Bhajan Lal, did not respond to a request from the bureau to pass it a copy of the charge sheet. Even though the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda himself as well as three ministers of his Cabinet are signatories of the document, the government has so far not forwarded it to the SVB. The “charge sheet” finally found its way to an investigating agency yesterday when the CBI team picked it up from Congress MLA, Mr Karan Singh Dalal’s house along with other documents seized by the sleuths from the politician’s rented accommodation in the city. Mr Dalal, who is himself a signatory to the “charge sheet”, saw the seizure as a silver lining to a gruelling three-hour-long search operation taking place in his residence. “ I am happy that an investigating agency will finally have a look at the ‘charge sheet’ “, he said. The “charge sheet” in question was prepared by the Congress party and submitted to the Governor, Mr A R Kidwai before the last assembly elections. It contained details of property allegedly amassed by Mr Om Prakash Chautala and members of his family after Mr Chautala became the Chief Minister in 1999. While Mr Shamsher Singh Surjewala was the chairman of the committee that prepared the 123-page document, the members of the committee included Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Mr Birender Singh, Captain Ajay Singh Yadav and Mr Phool Chand Mullana. Mr Birender Singh, Capt Yadav and Mr Mullana are Cabinet Ministers now in the Hooda-led Council of Ministers. Apart from describing with the help of photographs various properties allegedly owned by the Chautalas, the charge sheet also covered subjects such as anomaly in recruitments, flouting of norms in government departments to benefit the Chautala family, donations collected in the name of the Devi Lal Trust, and so on. However, after the Congress Party formed the government in Haryana following its victory in the elections in February, there was no
initiative from the government side to initiate any probe on the basis of the “charge sheet”. Demands were raised from various quarters-including from ruling party MLA Mr Shamsher Singh Surjewala in the Assembly-to take the “charge sheet” to its logical conclusion. But this did not appear to be on the immediate agenda of the government. Interestingly, the Congress Party, when it submitted the “charge sheet” to the Governor, also simultaneously forwarded a copy of it to the Director of CBI in Delhi. However, the investigating agency has been giving the impression that it stumbled upon the document for the first time yesterday. |
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CBI telling distorted facts: Dalal Chandigarh, April 8 Mr Dalal’s houses here and in Palwal were raided by the CBI yesterday in connection with the controversial recruitment of JBT teachers made-by the Chautala Government. The CBI is investigating the scam on the orders of the Supreme Court, which was approached by an Haryana IAS officer, Mr Sanjiv Kumar, in this regard. Mr Dalal said after the raids the CBI had told him not to give any statement to the Press nor would its officials do so. However, he said, the CBI gave a “distorted” version to the Press about the things which the agency collected from his houses. He said he himself handed over Rs 12.5 lakh to the CBI. He said this money was accounted for and he had been paying income tax for the past several years. Similarly, he said, the lists of JBT teachers, HCS officers and sub-inspectors said to have been recovered from his houses, were those which he had been releasing to the Press from time to time during the past five years to highlight how various recruitments made by the Chautala Government were
tainted and marked by nepotism. Meanwhile, the CBI has denied that it was ever pulled up by the Supreme Court for raiding the houses of Mr Sanjiv Kumar, an IAS officer, on whose petition the inquiry was ordered by the Court. Mr G. Mohanti, spokesman of the CBI, told TNS on the phone from Delhi that the apex court had never pulled up the agency. He said the Apex Court transferred one department inquiry against Mr Sanjiv Kumar to the Chief Vigilance Commissioner, while the CBI was still investigating certain other cases against the officer. He also said that the CBI did not conduct the raids on the houses of Mr Sanjiv Kumar and his associates in connection with the JBT teachers recruitment case. The raids were in connection with another case regarding the alleged disproportionate assets.
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Chautala’s fear reigns in Teja Khera
Taja Khera (Sirsa), April 8 Talking to The Tribune, a group of villagers requesting
anonymity, said though the end of Chautala’s rule in Haryana had
brought some respite to them, still they could not dare to speak up
against his family. They said a Congress sarpanch had been elected in
the village after over 25 years. The newly elected sarpanch, Mr Brij Lal
Nehra, had defeated his nearest rival Ramkishan Doodi by 324 votes.
The village has a total of 1,240 votes. The villagers said they had a
Congress sarpanch, Mr Sheo Nath Nehra, before 1977. In the name of
development only some road and water works had been carried out. They
rued that whenever some grants were sanctioned for poor people, Mr
Chautala returned them saying that there were no poor people in his
village. Sources said there had also been discrimination with lower
castes and their grievances and demands fell on deaf ears. Their demand
of construction of lanes in their area had remained unfulfilled during
the five-year INLD rule in the state. The sources said poor families
were not issued the below poverty line (BPL) cards. The fear of the
Chautalas is writ large on the villagers’ faces and its extent can be
gauged from what a villager said: “Even if villagers have to vote
against them they will pretend to be their voters in front of them.
Nobody here can dare to come out against them openly.” Mr
Chautala’s last visited the village for panchayat election campaign.
Interestingly, if villagers are to be believed then the former Haryana
Chief Minister didn’t seek votes for his works, but instead told them
to vote for his candidate or face “consequences”. Though people
here are happy with the exit of Mr Chautala from the state government
and his sarpanch from the village panchayat, their apprehensions will
take time to die down. Meanwhile, the village, which was abuzz with
activities during the INLD rule in Haryana, has fallen silent. It may
have given them some mental peace, but it has also hit a few
villagers’ earnings. A milkman was one of them. He used to supply 10
litres of milk daily to the farmhouse, as lots of people came calling Mr
Chautala. His supply has now reduced to a mere two litres. Another
thing visible apart from Mr Chautala’s fear in this village are
Chaudhary Devi Lal’s memorials. A huge gate is being erected at the
entry of the village. A number of boards on roadsides welcome the
visitors to the birthplace of Devi Lal. A big memorial has also been
raised in the heart of the village. While Mr Chautala is keeping alive
the memories of his father, the state’s people have made it clear
through their verdict that they don’t want to remember his five-year
rule in the state. |
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Hooda’s son gets
bail
Chandigarh, April 8 The case was filed by Deepender’s wife, Geeta Grewal, on January
19, 2004, in which she alleged that she was harassed by her husband and
in-laws for bringing insufficient dowry.
Granting the bail, Mr Chauhan ordered that Deepender Singh would be
released on bail on furnishing personal bonds and surety bonds to the
satisfaction of the arresting officer or investigating officer or the
SHO of the police station concerned.
The Judge also ordered that the petitioner would join the
investigation as and when required by the police and he would not try to
influence any witness.
Counsel for the petitioner, Mr Rajinder Singh Cheema and Mr Ashok
Mehta, had argued that Geeta had only levelled allegations of demand for
a car or the cash amount, but which were never given. They said the
jewellery belonging to the complainant along with other belongings were
returned to her on May 20, 2003.
They said her father had demanded another Rs 4.5 lakh for an amicable
settlement on May 24, 2003. They also pointed out that a true transcript
of audio recording of the telephonic conversation between Deepender’s
father and Geeta’s father had been placed on record. The conversation
indicated that after the demand of Rs 4.5 lakh was met by the boy’s
father, a further demand for Rs 60 lakh was made by the girl’s father.
They said Mr Hooda lodged a complaint with the Lajpat Nagar police
station in Delhi on November 22, 2003 in this regard. Deepender filed a
divorce petition in a Rohtak court on December 4, 2003. The girl filed
the complaint against the boy and his relatives after that. The Rohtak
court passed a decree of divorce in favour of Deepender on October 18,
2004. They also pointed out that the co-accused of Deepender had been
granted anticipatory bail. They said nothing was to be recovered from
the petitioner or his relatives.
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Fifteen injured in pre-poll violence
Panipat, April 8 According to information, two groups of supporters of two candidates for the post of panch of Matloda village, clashed during campaigning. Lathis and sharpedged weapons were freely used during the clash. As many as 15 persons were injured in the clash. While 10 of them belong to one group, five belong to the other group. The injured have been admitted to Bhim Sen Sachar Hospital. The police has recorded their statements. BAHADURGARH: The police has arrested three persons in connection with violence at Nayagaon in Jhajjar district after polling for the election of the panchayat on Sunday last. They have been identified as Krishan, Sunil and Dilbagh, who is a son of the sarpanch-elect Roop Chand Saini. The trio were produced in a court today and were remanded in judicial custody for 14 days. A case was registered on April 5 against 50-odd persons, all of them belonging to a particular faction of the residents of the village. Meanwhile, Mr Virender Singh Hooda, SDM, Bahadurgarh, began the magisterial probe into the incidents ordered by the government. |
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Sarpanch’s ‘satyagraha’ gets his village two buses
Yamunanagar, April 8 The buses would benefit over 3,000 commuters in 35 villages. It all started when a child in the village fell ill. He was to be brought to a hospital in Yamunanagar but his mother could not find conveyance. She approached the Sarpanch. The sarpanch, Mr Suresh Khurana, along with a group of villagers, reached the bus stand to meet the General Manager, Haryana Roadways, Yamunanagar depot, but in vain. Hence, Mr Khurana sat on an indefinite fast in the middle of the bus stand. “I will return home only in a government bus”, he announced. When officials of the Haryana Roadways realised that Mr Khurana was unrelenting in his demand, the General Manger, Mr Narinder Singh, was informed. He rushed to the bus stand and sanctioned two buses on the route. A roadways employee offered Mr Khurna a glass of fruit juice and he broke his fast. Mr Khurana along with the villagers left for the village in a Haryana Roadways bus at around 4.30 pm. As per the orders issued yesterday afternoon, two buses would henceforth ply on the road everyday. |
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ST on medicines under VAT scheme reduced
Sonepat, April 8 A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting between the Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and representatives of the Haryana State Chemists and Druggists Association in New Delhi yesterday. Mr Hooda was apprised of the loss being suffered by the state government on account of the non-purchase of the medicines by the chemists and druggists all over the state. They pointed out that the sales tax on medicines was being charged at the rate of 4 per cent in other parts of the country but it was 10 per cent in Haryana, and this was the main reason that the medicines were costlier in Haryana than in other states. The Chief Minister agreed to the demand of the association. |
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Preneet Kaur condoles Jindal’s death
Hisar, April 8 Ms Preneet Kaur described Jindal as an eminent social activist and good statesman. She said his death was a big blow and had created a vacuum in the country. Haryana Home Secretary Dharamvir, Tourism Department Managing Director Dr
R. Dhingra, Tohana MLA Paramjeet, Maharshi Dayanand University Vice-Chancellor R.S. Dhankar, Inspectors-General of Police Resham Singh and Mahender Lal were among the other dignitaries who visited the Jindals to offer their condolences. |
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HVPNL not to buy power for state Panchkula, April 8 Sources in the Power Department informed that the state government was yet to decide on the manner in which bulk supply (trading) in electricity from power generators — be it other power trading companies or electricity boards — will be handled. HVPNL will cease to act as a bulk supply company from June this year, in pursuance of the Electricity Act, 2003. The government is yet to decide if a new company to act as a trading company for buying electricity is to be set up, or if the power distribution companies — UHBVN and DHBVN — are to be allowed to purchase power from power generators on their own. The Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission
(HERC), while reviewing the annual revenue report for the year 2004-05, has made observations in this regard. The Commission had earlier rejected the Annual Revenue Report
(ARR) for transmission and bulk supply business, citing the reason of uncertainty
and subjectivity of bulk supply business by HVPNL. A revised ARR was again filed, which has now been accepted by the Commission, with the condition that the approved report be followed by the next company formed/ authorised by the government for bulk power supply. Interestingly, the HERC has pulled up HVPNL for purchasing power through Unscheduled Interchanges (UI). The company had submitted that in the year 2004-05, 1199.70 MUs of power was purchased through Unscheduled Interchanges, and another 528.52 MUs was purchased from Power Trading Corporations (PTCs) as and when required. Because of buying power through UI's, HVPNL had indulged in grid indiscipline as power was purchased, often at low frequency and had to pay penal rates for buying power, thus spending crores of rupees. Similarly, power purchased from other PTCs — without a prior agreement was expensive and HVPNL was forced to shell out tariff as demanded by these
PTCs. Now, the HERC has declined to approve these power purchases. The HERC has also pulled up HVPNL for increase in transmission losses, inspite of the fact that HVPNL had been adding new transmission lines and sub-stations, while augmenting the existing sub- stations. The Commission has observed that 12 new sub-stations were added and capacity of 22 sub- stations was augmented at a cost of Rs 64.40 crore. The HERC has said that the impact of adding on to the existing system was not visible as transmission losses which should have decreased with augmentation, however, increased from 4.62 per cent in year 2003-04 to 5.35 per cent in year 2004-05.
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150 acres of crop destroyed in fire
Karnal, April 8 On Friday 90 acres of standing wheat crop, belonging to Mr Pritam Singh, son of Hukam Singh, and Mr Chandan Kumar, son of Gania Lal, was destroyed at Dadupur village, near Jundla. At least 40 acres of wheat crop was destroyed due to fire at Samalka village. Reports of such incidents were also received from the villages of
Assandh, Narukheri and Bhujalli where farmers Mahinder Singh (five acres), Kashmiri Lal (seven acres) and Billu (three
acres) suffered losses. Preliminary investigations revealed that the cause of the fire was sparking in loose electricity wires passing over the fields. Meanwhile, the Haryana Power Utilities directed all its field officials concerned to fix loose electricity wires passing over the fields on a priority basis. A senior official of the department said huge losses to the crops due to fire could have been averted to a great extent by observing certain precautions. He urged the farmers that they should keep their harvested crops at least 50 feet away from the power line. He asked the farmers not to run thrashers through kundi connections.
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Colleges may miss date with new courses
Rohtak, April 8 Thus far the department has not issued any letter of intent and no objection certificate. The affected institutions fear that they will not be able to launch new courses from the next academic session as it is not possible for them to seek affiliation from universities concerned for these courses after clearance from the department. Principals say that even if the universities cleared their cases expeditiously, the recruitment of qualified staff and creation of infrastructure will take its own time. The new courses will have to be included in the prospectuses which have to be printed at least 10 days before the admissions commence early July. The department had invited proposals last year. It was planned to issue letters of intent and NOCs to colleges so that they could seek affiliation for these courses. The department charged Rs 100 for a copy of the guidelines. Any institution desiring to run more than one course had to buy one copy for each course as the department had stated in its public notice that photocopying or reproduction of the guidelines will entail legal action. The department planned to charge Rs 10,000 as inspection fee for each course. In addition, the colleges had to deposit Rs 2 lakh as endowment fund for each course. This amount had to be forfeited in case the college concerned was unable to run or sustain the course. The justification given is that the money would be used to continue the studies of the enrolled students and pay salary to the staff. In case this amount is not sufficient and additional expenses are involved then the department will recover the balance from the managing body “as per the law of the state”. This condition has been imposed even though the department is seeking proof of the availability of adequate working capital in addition to the endowment fund. Significantly, the department had made it clear that the institution concerned will “have to bear all recurring and non-recurring expenditure for all times to come”. The government at any stage will give no financial assistance or grant. Stringent conditions were imposed for buildings from were the courses had to be run. Besides new courses, the department had planned to allow setting up of new private self-financed colleges such as colleges imparting general education (usually undergraduate and postgraduate courses), colleges of education (B. Ed and M. Ed) and law colleges. Interestingly, the letters of intent and no objection certificates mean nothing at all since these institutions have to seek affiliation from universities concerned for running these courses. |
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Posts of teacher to be filled, says Mullana
Ambala, April 8 Mr Mullana was the chief guest at a prize distribution function held in Government College, here, yesterday. He said new programmes were being formulated to improve primary education. While in the previous government there was one teacher for 60 students, it had been decided to have now one teacher for 45 students. He said the vacant posts of teacher would be filled. Mr Mullana said private schools running in the HUDA areas had been closed down but private schools running in other areas had been given
one year’s time to meet the necessary requirements. The government would soon form a committee to look into the issue of private schools. He said the committee would include a representative from the private schools. |
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MDU to include honoris causa degrees in schedule
Rohtak, April 8 Today’s issue of The Tribune had carried a report pointing out that the university proposed to award an honoris causa D.Sc degree to eminent scientist Dr R.A. Mashelkar, Director-General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, even though the university had never issued an ordinance to create such a degree. Mr Dadwal said the university would specify for the future the honoris causa degrees it would award to eminent persons. He reiterated that there was nothing unusual in awarding this degree for two reasons. First, the university had completed all formalities for the award of the degree. Secondly, the university had been awarding different honoris causa degrees in the past also. Nevertheless, he said the MDU would take steps to specify honoris causa degrees and include these in its degree schedule. He said the university’s view was that since an honoris causa degree was awarded without an examination, there was no need for issuing a separate ordinance for it. In Dr Mashelkar’s case, the academic council, the executive council and the Chancellor had already approved the proposal in view of the services of the CSIR chief to the nation in the field of science, he added. Notably, most universities the world over maintain a schedule of degrees that it can award whether after qualifying for admission to these degrees or honoris causa in recognition of the individual’s eminence in any field. |
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Lawyer convicted
Sonepat, April 8 The magistrate also ordered the payment of Rs 3 lakh to the complainant of the case as compensation. Mr Radha Kishan, owner of Mukesh and Company and resident of Ghaziabad (UP) had riled a complaint on December 13, 1993, against Bansal, alleging withdrawal of Rs 21,76,650 from the account of the company without his consent. When the case came to the surface, the lawyer deposited Rs 14,28,820 in the account of the company.
— OC |
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Undertrial escapes from police custody
Gurgaon, April 8 The SHO, City police station, Mr Rameshwar Dayal, confirmed the escape. The police team had brought the undertrial prisoner, along with 12 others, to the hospital for medical treatment. The undertrial, Vijay, alias Boda, is a resident of Halalpur village in Sonepat district. According to police sources, he was involved in various criminal cases, including murder, in his village and in other parts of Haryana and Delhi. He was under trial in connection with a murder in Palwal last year. He was simultaneously booked under Arms Act. According to Bondsi Jail sources, Vijay was suffering from a skin disease and had also complaint to the jail authorities of abdominal pain. |
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Sangwan seeks CBI probe into land scam
Sonepat, April 8 Talking to mediapersons at Gohana, Mr Sangwan alleged that the builders had purchased land from farmers. Without completing the formalities of registration and other legalities they carved out plots and sold those to people for residential purposes. In order to cover up the lapses of these deals, the government approval was sought when it became clear after the Lok Sabha elections that Chautala’s party would be out of power after the Assembly elections. A senior IAS officer of the state government was suspended when he pointed out irregularities in the sale of land, he added. Mr Sangwan volunteered to provide relevant
information's about the scam. |
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250 donate blood
Ambala, April 8 The camp was inaugurated by Chief of Staff Kharga Corps. A team from the Armed Forces Transfusion Centre, New Delhi helped in blood collection. A number of donors from different walks of life donated blood. Mr Amar Singh Tiwana of Ali Mazra village in Patiala donated blood for the 75th time. Nearly 250 units of blood were collected. |
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Polling booth sought
Ambala, April 8 The society has threatened to boycott the poll if a polling booth was not set up in the colony. The society residents stated that no polling station had been set up for the casting of ballot in Shastri Colony and nearly 500 voters, all residents of A-block, would have to travel 3 km to cast their ballot in Rangiya Mandi. |
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Taja Khera (Sirsa), April 8
