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Composition of 2 House panels a disappointment
Of Mercedes cars and politicians
INLD wins Sirsa ZP poll
Congress wave in civic poll
Colleges hit by ban on selection of staff
Jhuggi fire: no case registered
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Sweet news for diabetics
15 girls married at community
function
CA foils robbery bid
Farmer shot by nephew
Four-year-old boy run over by truck
1 killed, 3 hurt as car, tractor collide
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Composition of 2 House panels a disappointment
Chandigarh, April 13 During the Chautala regime, the COPU and the PAC were always headed by ruling party MLAs, which was considered an outrage on parliamentary traditions. The COPU reviews the functioning of commercial undertakings of the state government. The PAC’s job is to look into the working of the revenue-earning departments of the government. In most states as well as in the Lok Sabha, the COPU and the PAC are headed by Opposition members. A majority of the members of these bodies are also supposed to be from the Opposition. This, however, was not the case in Haryana during the tenure of the previous regime. The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who has been a member of the Lok Sabha on four occasions, had promised to restore the dignity of various institutions. The COPU and the PAC, too, fall in the category of important institutions and, ideally, Opposition MLAs should have been asked to chair both these bodies. But under the Congress regime, too, two ruling party MLAs, Mr Shamsher Singh Surjewala and Mr Shadi Lal Batra, have been made the Chairmen of the PAC and the COPU, respectively. Both committees have been also stuffed with a large number of members of the ruling party by the Speaker, Mr H.S. Chatha. It will be interesting to see how the two new committees handle the work assigned to them. The Comptroller and Auditor-General’s (CAG’s) reports relating to the civil and revenue departments and commercial undertakings for the period 2003-2004 were presented in the state Assembly session held in March. The period covered in the reports falls in Mr Om Prakash Chautala’s tenure as the Chief Minister and contain some startling revelations about alleged irregularities during the INLD regime. The COPU and the PAC of the last Assembly were particularly sloppy in holding their meetings. As a result there had been a huge backlog of discussion on CAG reports by the two bodies. Four reports on commercial undertakings from 1999-2000 onwards, four reports on revenue-earning departments for the same period and four reports on civil departments, also of the same period, await discussion by the members of the two Assembly committees. Most of these reports cover the period when Mr Chautala was the Chief Minister. There is a mass of information in these reports about instances of alleged financial mishandling by the previous regime. Had the Speaker followed the parliamentary convention of having most of the members of the two panels from the Opposition, it is possible that the lapses during the Chautala regime may have been ignored. But given the composition of PAC and the COPU constituted by Mr Chatha, the committees will do well to look into the observations by the CAG on the irregularities committed during the tenure of Mr Chautala. |
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Of Mercedes cars and politicians
Chandigarh, April 13 His successor, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, apparently has no such fixation. It is learnt that in deference to the office of Speaker of the Assembly, Mr Hooda has given one of the three official Mercedes cars meant for his use to the Speaker, Mr H.S. Chatha. The car has clocked only 70,000 km and is in good condition. Out of the two cars retained by the Chief Minister is being kept in Chandigarh and the other in Delhi. Mr Chautala, during his tenure as the Chief Minister, had launched a campaign for the use of fuel-efficient cars by the members of the Council of Ministers headed by him. The drive was allegedly undertaken by Mr Chautala simply to deprive Mr Sampat Singh of the Mercedes car earmarked for the Finance Minister. While Mr Sampat Singh lost his Mercedes and the other ministers their Cielos and Contessas and were provided with the trademark white Ambassadors, Mr Chautala continued using his official Mercedes. Soon the INLD ministers’ Ambassador cars were replaced by Maruti Balenos and then by Hyundai Sonatas, but none got a Mercedes. The state government also purchased a brand new Mercedes car which was kept in Delhi. The Mercedes already stationed in Delhi was brought to Chandigarh for use by members of Mr Chautala’s family. The Mercedes given to the Speaker by Mr Hooda is a 2003 model executive class car. The cars Mr Hooda has kept for his own use are both 1993 models. Mr Chatha is the third Haryana Assembly Speaker to use an imported car provided by the government. Mr Ran Singh and Rao Ram Singh were the other Speakers who were given imported cars. While Mr Ran Singh, too, used a Mercedes, Rao Ram Singh was given a Chevrolet car by the government. |
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INLD wins Sirsa ZP poll
Sirsa, April 13 The younger son of the former CM, Mr Om Prakash Chautala and the MLA from Rori, Mr Abhay Singh and Mr Surinder Singh Nehra, a senior Youth Congress leader, are among the prominent winners in the district. With the INLD managed to sweep the local body poll, the way for Abhay as the Chairman of Zila Parishad is clear. Panipat: Some of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party (SP)-supported candidates have won panchayat elections in Panipat district. This was claimed by state general secretary of the Haryana unit of the SP, Mr Taushif Khan, while talking to mediapersons here on Wednesday. Mr Khan said while the SP supported candidate, Ms Savitri Devi, won elections for the post of sarpanch in Rasalu village, three SP- supported candidates Ritu Rani, Qyamudin and Shihpal were elected as panches of different wards of Noorwala village. |
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Congress wave in civic poll
Ambala, April 13 Talking to mediapersons here today, Mr Bansal said “the Congress municipal councillors will be at par with me. I will consult the Congress municipal councillors while chalking out programmes for the general welfare of Ambala cantonment. Mr Bansal said he had already raised the issues like NOC, floods, roads and cleanliness in the Assembly. “For us, politics is not a business. I am trying to get flood-affected nomenclature for Ambala cantonment. Also, the losses of the people need to be assessed. I will soon be meeting officials concerned to the discuss the flood issue,” he said. He said he was keen on the shifting of Ambala cantonment courts to Ambala Sadar. “A piece of land opposite Phoenix Club is appropriate for the shifting back of Ambala cantonment courts,” he said. Mr Bansal said a 11-member committee would be set up soon which would look into the parking woes in Ambala Sadar. “A representative from the traders community will form a part of the committee. The committee will look into modalities for easing traffic problem in busy markets of Ambala Sadar,” he said.
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Colleges hit by ban on selection of staff
Rohtak, April 13 With a ban on filling posts of lecturer in these colleges already in place for several years, the latest move will bring the functioning of these colleges to a virtual halt in the next academic session commencing in July. To top it all, as many as 50 of the 61 government colleges in Haryana have been functioning without regular Principals. A similar situation prevails in aided colleges where more than 20 posts of principals are vacant. Strangely, no reasons have been given by the Higher Education Department for the ban. Haryana is largely dependent on these colleges for education facilities at this level. It has about 120 privately managed affiliated colleges against 61 government colleges. The ban on appointment of lecturers whether by creating new posts or filling up vacancies was imposed in 1998. Since then more than 1200 posts of lecturer have fallen vacant due to retirements. Several hundred vacancies further arose as colleges introduced new vocational and job-oriented courses. However, none of these were allowed to be filled. For instance in a renowned girls’ college of Sonepat about 40 teachers have retired since the ban came into force. As the state government pays these colleges only 95 per cent of the deficit in their budgets due to payment of salaries, the managements have to pay the salaries to any replacements from their own resources. Since all these colleges are run by charitable institutions not many of the management committees have the resources to pay salaries from their own funds. To keep the classes going, the managements were forced to hire teachers on contract basis. Most of the lecturers working under this system are drawing anything between Rs 1500 to Rs 5000 a month against a monthly salary of about Rs 15,000 which they would have drawn had they been recruited as regular lecturers. Interestingly, they are relieved as soon as classes are wound up before the examinations which usually means March 31. They look for other avenues and the unlucky who do not find a better job return to work when the new academic session commences in July. Thus on an average one such teacher draws this pittance for just nine months a year. As a result the standards of teaching have taken a nosedive. No wonder these institutions are not showing any improvement in results. As per government rules, an Officiating Principal performs the duties of the Principal in addition to his or her own teaching responsibilities. But, because of their workload none of them is able to meet the requirement of taking at least four periods a day. This further aggravates the acute shortage of teachers in the colleges. Principals say while the government and the universities have been goading them to start vocational and other job oriented courses, no attempt is being made to keep the colleges going by first ensuring the existing basic courses run smoothly. |
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Jhuggi fire: no case registered
Gurgaon, April 13 According to the Deputy Commissioner, Gurgaon, Mr Sudhir
Rajpal, the district administration has decided to give an ex-gratia sum of Rs 10,000 to each next of kin of the victims in the incident. The problem that the administration is said to be facing is that the details of those who have died are not forthcoming. The reason being that the residents in the jhuggis were migratory
labourers, a large number of them being Bangladeshi. As the entire cluster was burnt, the residents have shifted to undisclosed places. Mr Rajpal said that the administration was trying to get in touch with the families. Although the official version pegs the number of death at three, including two children, unofficial sources say that seven persons were charred to death. Mr Rajpal further said that the Haryana Urban Development Authority
(HUDA) and the SDM, Gurgaon subdivision, had been assigned to conduct a survey of the number of clusters of jhuggis in the new Gurgaon city. The idea was to work out some kind of rehabilitation plan for the inmates after the jhuggis were removed, he added. The local chief of the DLF Management, Mr Praveen Kumar, along with representatives of the Residents Welfare Association met the Inspector-General of Police, Gurgaon Range, Mrs Deepa
Mehta, yesterday and asked for the removal of the jhuggis from the entire DLF City area. |
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Sweet news for diabetics
Hisar, April 13 he technique has been developed by Dr R.S.Dabur of the Department of Animal Products Technology of Haryana Agricultural University (HAU) and Ms Urvashi Nandal, who has been his student at the university. Ms Urvashi completed her MSc in food and nutrition from the HAU last year and has been engaged by a company manufacturing sweets and dairy products. She says while preparing these sweets, artificial sweeteners have been used in place of sugar. She maintains that though such sweeteners are readily available in the market, preparing sweets using these is a delicate job.
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15 girls married at community
function
Kaithal, April 13 The couples were married according to their religious ceremonies. Mahant Bansi Puri of Dakshin Kali Peeth Mandir, Pehowa, Mahant Harish Ji Shastri, Baba Kulwant Shah and Siyad Makbool Mohiunudin Gilani from Pakistan, Dr M.S. Shah and Mr Kailash Bhagatand Sewa Ram Narang were prominent among those present on the occasion. Articles of daily use, including clothes, utensils, beddings, and gold ornaments were given to the girls as dowry. Mr Verma said it was a matter of pleasure that in spite of their social, business and professional occupations, members of the Sewa Sangh spared their valueable time to organise social activities for the benefit of the poor and the needy. Mr Shiv Shanker Pahwa, secretary, Sewa Sangh highlighted the activities of the
organisation. |
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CA foils robbery bid
Ambala, April 13 The incident comes close on the heels of three armed robberies in Ambala Cantt and Ambala city yesterday. Mr Naresh Dhingra, resident of Gobind Nagar, has told the police that at about 3 am, he woke up on hearing a sound and spotted a man in the gallery of the house. When he challenged the robber, his accomplice fired at him. The shot missed Mr Dhingra. Then the robber fired once at Mr Dhingra. Both fled the scene soon after. Mr Dhingra informed the police and investigations are being carried out. Meanwhile, the police is yet to crack the case of the three armed robberies in Ambala Cantt and Ambala City yesterday. Ambala Cantt MLA Devender Bansal said he had asked the SP Rajinder Singh, to act. “I have told him to step up surveillance in different areas of Ambala Cantt. Foot patrolling by the police has also been suggested,” he said.
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Farmer shot by nephew
Jhajjar, April 13 According to information, Ranbir, son of Sheeshram,was working in the fields when his nephew, Satbir, son of Ransingh, who is a brother of the deceased reached there in a vehicle.Following an altercation,Satbir fired at his uncle,killing him on the spot. A land dispute is stated to be the cause of the crime.The police has registered a case. In another incident, two persons were injured in a group clash at the local Civil Hospital. |
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Four-year-old boy run over by truck
Bhiwani, April 13 The deceased, identified as Sachin, was returning home after attending a marriage ceremony in a neighbouring house and run over by a truck. In another incident, Kanta Devi (25), a resident of local Dabar Colony, died under mysterious circumstances today. Her body was handed over to relatives after a post-mortem examination. |
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1 killed, 3 hurt as car, tractor collide
Panipat, April 13 The deceased has been identified as Hari Charan of ITI Chowk, Karnal. Two of the injured have been identified as Hari Om and Sandeep. |
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