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Cong-supported candidates sweep Jagadhri MC poll
One killed in Tohana
Kalka-Shimla rail route fascinates foreigners
Labour shortage hits wheat harvesting
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No check on sale of
cut fruit in Karnal
Wholesale dealers call off strike
Fraud by CA: CBI files charge sheet after 2 years
Crop in 40 acres
submerged
Survey of people below poverty line soon: Mulana
Free health check-up camp
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Cong-supported candidates sweep Jagadhri MC poll
Yamunanagar, April 17 All six BJP candidates in the Jagadhri MC lost the elections, while its two candidates won in Yamunanagar MC. There are 31 wards each in Jagadhri and Yamunanagar. The MLA from Jagadhri, Mr Subhash Chand, claimed that 22 candidates supported by the Congress have won in Jagadhri MC and the Chairman would be of the Congress. Sources said the newly elected councillors, Mr Mahinder Saini, Mr Harminder Bhatia, Mr Arun Pappu and Mr Darshan Lal, are strong contenders of the post of the chairman of the Jagadhri MC. In Yamunanagar, Ms Krishana Pandit, Congress MLA from here, said the post of chairperson (reserved for woman) would go to the party as 18 party supported candidates have won the elections. Mr Ghanshyam Dass, district president of the BJP, said 10 party supported candidates have been elected councillors in addition to the two party candidates. He said that four other Independent candidates have already pledged their support to the party. Similarly, Mr Suresh Sharma of the INLD claimed that 12 INLD-supported candidates have been elected and with the support of Independent councillors, the party would touch the magic number of 16. Interestingly, leaders of the Congress, BJP and INLD all are claiming that women councillors, Ms Seema Devi, Ms Vijaya Babbar and Ms Mohini Gupta, belong to them. |
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One killed in Tohana
Fatehabad, April 17 According to reports, supporters of two candidates clashed today when the winning candidate was leading his victory procession. A supporter, Anil Kumar, allegedly opened fire from his revolver. A bullet hit Naresh Kumar, a relative of former municipal councillor Rajinder Balli, who died on the spot. Another person, Tara Chand, also received bullet injuries. He has been rushed to the PGIMS, Rohtak, in serious condition. |
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Kalka-Shimla rail route fascinates foreigners
Kalka, April 17 With UK-based tour operators, especially those dealing with rail journeys in different countries, advertising the trip on this heritage section as one of the greatest rail journeys in the world, there is a renewed interest among foreign tourists. The fact that Indian Railways Tourism Corporation (IRTC), too, is advertising the journey through lofty pines and misty mountains on this heritage section on the Net, is also adding on to the popularity. Railway officials inform that for the past couple of months, at least 10 foreign tourists have been taking the rail trip each day. Other than this, the Deluxe Rail Motor cars have been chartered 12 times during the past two months by foreign tourists alone. “Though we get tourists from all over the world, a large number of these tourists are from the United Kingdom. Most of the people take this trip not just for the sheer engineering feat in laying the rail, but also because of sentimental reasons. Many of the tourists were here during the days of the British Raj, or their parents of grandparents were associated with laying down the rail line,” informs Station Superintendent, Kalka , Mr R. K. Datta. As is the case of Rosemarie Hall, who has come down from the UK and boarded the rail motor car for Shimla from here today. “I was born in Karachi, then a part of India. A few months back, I discovered that my birth certificate was registered at Shimla. I decided to visit Shimla, and since I knew that the rail track was laid by the British and had heard people talk about the breathtaking view of the Himalayas offered on the rail journey, I decided to have a go” she says. They were among 29 tourists from the UK brought here by the UK-Based Great Rail Journeys, who chartered two rail motor cars for Shimla from here today. Mr Andrew Summerhayes from Great Rail Journeys, informed TNS that after a documentary on the Himalayas was aired by the BBC in London, they started advertising the Kalka- Shimla rail journey as one of the best rail journeys in the world, along with rail routes in North America, Europe, Japan and
Africa." We offered a trip on this rail section in September last year, and within 10 days we were all booked for the entire year 2005,” he says. The Railways on its part is also offering all possible help to make the journey a pleasure for these foreign tourists. The chartered rail motor car is allowed to halt at any place enroute Shimla, in order to allow the tourists for taking pictures, or having a small lunch - either at Dharampur or Barog. The chartered rail motor car journey is available for Rs 10, 283 from Kalka- Shimla and back. For the high end foreign tourist, the steam engine service on the Kalka - Shimla section is available from Shimla to Katleeghat and back (a distance of 18 km one way). Though the journey was earlier available for over Rs 1 lakh, the Railway Board notified the new rates from April 1, and the same distance will now cost Rs 58,808. The single way journey from Shimla to Katleeghat will cost Rs 27, 848. For a chartered service with a diesel engine, the one way journey on the entire stretch of this 100 year old rail section costs Rs 34,580 and both ways the journey would cost Rs 73,998. Mr R. K. Datta, Station Superintendent at Kalka, says that even the domestic tourists have been taking a lot of interest in the rail journey. “There is an unusual rush of tourists and all trains on this route are running to packed capacity. Almost 800 persons are taking the rail trip daily. From April 17-20, we are running two holiday special trains,” he informs. |
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Labour shortage hits wheat harvesting
Fatehabad, April 17 The reason behind their reluctance to adopt mechanical methods is that they do not want to lose the ‘toori’ (wheat straw), which they use as fodder. Farmers in this belt do not have much green fodder to feed their cattle. With the use of combine harvesters, the wheat straw is wasted and later burnt on the fields. Farmers of villages bordering Rajasthan, mostly falling under the Bhattu Kalan block of the district, depend on farm labourers coming from Rajasthan in this part of the year. But this year the wheat crop has ripened before the arrival of these migratory labourers. Farmers say the sudden rise in the temperature over the past few days is the reason for the early ripening of the crop. Rajbir, a farmer from Chuli Bagrian village, told this correspondent that he was finding it difficult to arrange labour for harvesting his wheat crop. He said the local labourers had increased their rates. Earlier, farm labourers reaped their crop in exchange for three ‘muns’ (120 kg) of wheat per acre but this time they were demanding much more, he said. Balbir, another farmer from Banawali village told this correspondent that groups of migratory labourers used to arrive in their villages around April 15 but this time there was no sign of their arrival. |
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No check on sale of
cut fruit in Karnal
Karnal, April 17 The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Karnal had recommended a ban to the District Magistrate, Mr Shyamal Mishra, two weeks back but the file is still gathering dust in the office of the DM. The dilly-dallying attitude of the DM has put in danger the health of lakhs of people particularly those belonging to the lower strata of society staying in unauthorized colonies and slums. Though it is also the duty of the Municipal Council and the Public Health Department to prevent the open sale of cut-fruit, sugarcane juice and food articles, hundreds of hawkers and vendors can be seen selling these items at the district headquarters and in adjoining semi-urban areas. These food items and drinks are being sold at a very low price which attracts customers from the lower strata of society. Such unauthorised vendors do flourishing business near bus stops, railway stations, cinema houses and market places. When contacted, Dr. OP Mittal, CMO of Karnal told The Tribune that the food products being sold were of poor quality which were a health hazard. The Civil Hospital, primary health centres and private hospitals have started receiving a large number of complaints pertaining to stomach ache and infections due to the consumption of such food items. Sources close to the DM revealed that he had not issued ban orders under the influence of the local political leadership fearing that such stern action would affect the electoral prospects of the candidates who were supporters of the ruling party, as elections to local bodies were scheduled to be held yesterday. |
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Wholesale dealers call off strike
Gurgaon, April 17 According to a member of the local Fruit Wholesale Dealers Association, Mr Sanjay Sapra, the issue was resolved at a meeting with the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Sudhir Rajpal, today. The formula put forth in the meeting was that they would deposit a revolving security of Rs 30 lakh with the government and the administration would review the situation on quarterly basis. The Deputy Commissioner said the government had set a target of 35 per cent increase in the revenue after last year’s successful bid of Rs 1.39 crore. This year’s target was Rs 1.88 crore. The wholesalers would have to deposit a minimum Rs 30 lakh as security deposit. The quarterly target of collecting market fees from the wholesalers had been officially pegged to Rs 47 lakh. In case the collection falls short of the target, the dues would be recovered from the security amount deposited by the wholesalers. formula, he added. The government has decided to stick to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s offer to the wholesalers of the local mandi. In it the market fee would be collected by staff of the local Market Committee if they ensured the government’s revenue. The wholesalers who had taken negative stand yesterday on the issue of bank guarantee were praising the Chief Minister today. |
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Fraud by CA: CBI files charge sheet after 2 years
Chandigarh, April 17 The alleged fraud has been exposed in the chargesheet filed recently in a special CBI court at Ambala in a case that was registered in January, 2003. According to the chargesheet, the CA Naresh Gupta and others allegedly forged TDS vouchers of fictitious companies to get refunds of Rs 43.38 lakh. The fraud, the CBI claimed, has been detected after handwriting experts confirmed that the writing on the TDS vouchers was of the accused, including Naresh Gupta. The CBI also claimed that the CA allegedly converted Delhi addresses into those of Bhiwani in Haryana. The alleged racket involved Naresh Gupta, Shyam Lal, Satyanarain, Vinod Kumar, S. P. Tanwar, Vir Singh, Vijender Singh, Ram Chander and Raj Kumar. The sources in the CBI said delay in the filing of the chargesheet was caused as the Income Tax Department took considerable time to inquire if any TDS was deposited in the department or not in the names of the companies which claimed to have employed several persons. According to the CBI, even rickshaw-pullers had been shown as employees or contractual workers, or suppliers in the fictitious companies, and their TDS was deducted to claim refund later. The CBI, during the investigation, found out that the "fictitious" companies were not producing anything nor was there any bank transaction in the companies' accounts to show that the companies actually existed. The CBI found out that no deductions of the companies that claimed refund had been made by the Income Tax Department while the vouchers showed a hefty deposit of the tax to the department. The Income Tax Department had to provide these details to establish the fraud of the accused. The chargesheet also points out that the fraud was meant to benefit from a tax benefit scheme on the timely deposit of the TDS. |
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Crop in 40 acres
submerged
Sonepat, April 17 According to a report, the farmers of these villages rushed to the site and plugged the breach by working for several hours. The farmers affected by the breach include Mr Manjit, Mr Jaipal, Mr Dharamvir, Mr Naresh, Mr Rajpal, Mr Dinesh and Mr Iqbal. Meanwhile, representatives of various farmers’ organisations today demanded immediate payment of compensation to the affected farmers of Nangal Kalan and Qumashpur villages whose fields had been submerged following breaches. |
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Survey of people below poverty line soon: Mulana
Ambala, April 17 Addressing a public meeting after inaugurating a tube-well in Kesri village here today, he said the constituency had been ignored by the previous government. He assured people of making efforts for the all-round development of the constituency. He said Congress president Sonia Gandhi had during election rallies assured people of making Haryana a corruption-free state. Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was making efforts to end corruption, he added. He said liquor auctioning had been made transparent from this year. He announced that a job-oriented education policy would soon be introduced in the state in which schools located in the rural areas would be given additional incentives. Mr Mulana also heard grievances of people in nearby villages. District Education Officer Ajit Singh Dalal, Zila Parishad member Brahm Pal Rana and Balkar Singh also accompanied the minister. On April 19, the minister will visit around 10 villages of the constituency to listen to grievances of people. |
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Free health check-up camp
Ambala, April 17 Social activist Piyare Lal Sharma inaugurated the camp. Around 125 patients were diagnosed during the camp. Director of the hospital Raj Kumar Sharma said heart-related diseases were on the rise in the country. Thousands of people had to lose their lives due to heart ailments. He encouraged people to go for regular health check-up. He suggested people to shun smoking and avoid stress to get rid of heart diseases. He said angiography and angioplasty facilities had been provided in the hospital. Piyare Lal Sharma said private hospitals should organise regular free health check-up camps so that poor people could avail of better medical facilities. |
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