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Surjewala criticises Badal on gurdwara panel issue
Poaching case: accused gets bail
Pataudi told to surrender by June 16
Consumers owe Rs 200
crore to UHBVN in Karnal circle
Haryana approaches BBMB for its share
of canal water
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Reconstitute HISF, says BJP
NOCs to petrol stations: Dalal seeks action
Police fails to arrest ex-MLA’s kin
Robbers’ gang busted
Missing paper case hushed up?
Man held for killing son
38,500 looted from two persons
Three towns upgraded to A-class cities
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Surjewala criticises Badal on gurdwara panel issue
Chandigarh, June 13 Talking to reporters at the press lounge of the Haryana Assembly here, Mr Surjewala said the use of religious issues for political purposes was a typical strategy adopted by the SAD. “We have promised in our election manifesto that we will examine the issue of a separate gurdwara management committee and we are going to do it”, Mr Surjewala said, adding that a panel was being set up under the Speaker of the Assembly, Mr H.S. Chatha, to look into this demand. He said the recommendations made by the panel would form the basis of the state government’s action on the matter. He denied that the state government had already drafted a Bill for setting up a separate gurdwara management committee. “A draft Bill has been prepared by the seven SGPC members from Haryana who want a separate committee. Proposals in this regard will also come from other organisations to the Chatha committee”, Mr Surjewala said. He dismissed reports of the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh’s reported opposition to the proposed separate committee. He said the Prime Minister had never made any statement on the issue. The Congress leader alleged that the former Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, intentionally created hurdles for the HSISF so that it failed to survive and the INLD could get some readymade volunteers after it was thrown out of power in Haryana. “The HSISF Act was not even notified by the INLD government”, Mr Surjewala said. “Why did Mr Chautala not recruit the boys as part of the regular police force. In that case, there would have been no threat to their jobs”, he said. Quoting various figures, the Transport Minister claimed that the law and order situation in the state had improved after the Congress came to power in the state. People were being allowed to register FIRs freely, which was showing in the increase in the number of cases, he said. Earlier, replying to a question asked by the INLD legislator, Mr Sita Ram, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Chief Minister, said in the Assembly that between March 3 and May 31, there had been 185 cases of murder in the state, 114 cases of rape, 160 cases of looting and 38 cases of arson. Mr Surjewala said while the accused in all 114 rape cases had been arrested, the police had also cracked 154 murder cases as well as most of the cases of looting and arson. |
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Poaching case: accused gets bail
Jhajjar, June 13 The accused, Madan Singh, who was arrested on June 5 had pleaded in his application that the police had not recovered from him anything that would connect him to the poaching case. The Chief Judicial Magistrate Sudheer Jiwan granted him bail on a bond of Rs 50,000. He had been produced in the court after his arrest and was remanded in judicial custody till today. Notably, Additional Sessions Judge Dharampal had last week dismissed the bail plea of another accused in the case, Shashi Singh, on the ground that his court had no jurisdiction over the case. He had stated in his order that the court had not gone into the merits of the plea and that the accused should approach the Special Environment Court at Faridabad. The prosecution had also pleaded during arguments that the ADJ’s court had no jurisdiction to hear the plea. Today’s decision by the CJM thus came as a surprise since the ADJ had rejected the bail plea earlier in this very case. Incidentally, the bail plea of the main accused Nawab Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi is to come up for hearing before a bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court at Chandigarh tomorrow. Legal experts say Madan Singh’s bail today will strengthen the Nawab’s plea. The issue of jurisdiction will also affect dozens of cases which are pending before local courts involving killing of peacocks and other wild birds and animals. |
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Pataudi told to surrender by June 16
Jhajjar, June 13 Meanwhile, three police teams were continuing their raids to nab Pataudi. Raids were being conducted on at all possible hideouts, the police said. |
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Consumers owe Rs 200
crore to
Karnal, June 13 The terms and conditions of supply of energy envisage that if a large-supply consumer fails to pay the bill in full within seven days after the date of its presentation, he shall be liable to have energy to his premises disconnected without prejudice to utility’s right to recover the amount of the bill as arrears of land revenue. The Sales Manual Instructions
(SMI) further provides that where a consumer is billed for some of the dues relating to previous months/years, which were not included in the bills for the relevant period, the benefit of payment in instalments is to be allowed on the request of the consumer. The inefficiency of the UHBVN could be judged from the fact that as much as Rs 24.14 crore was pending against residential consumers in the urban areas, Rs 83.54 crore against residential consumers in rural areas, Rs 53.55 crore against irrigation use by farmers, Rs 24.75 crore against industries and more than Rs 20 crore against commercial consumers. The government departments and public sector undertakings were also not an exception to it. As per the details Rs 1.15 crore was pending against woundup public sector undertaking MITC, Rs 26 lakh against various panchayats, Rs 1.06 crore against various market committees, Rs 1.69 crore against Public Works Department and Rs 1.86 crore against various other departments. Most of electricity bills not recovered from the industries were pending for the past many years. Three large-supply consumers of Vardhman group at Panipat in the name of Vardhman Solvex (Account No. SM5-2), Vardhman Oil and Allied Industries (Account No. SM5-24) and Vardhman Overseas Private Limited (Account No. SM5-21) were getting power supply from the UHBVN. All these consumers defaulted in the payment of regular electricity bills from December 1997, February 1998 and June 1999, respectively. The UHBVN instead of disconnecting supply of power to their premises allowed accumulating the out-standings by accepting part payments relating to normal monthly consumption of energy in disregard to the SMI of the UHBVN. As against total electricity bills of Rs 61.07 lakh and Rs 17. 68 lakh, the Subdivisional Officers
(SDO’s) from time to time accepted part payments of Rs 47 lakh (between December 1997 and February 1999) and Rs 11.90 lakh (between February 1998 and February 1999) in respect of Account No. SM5-2 and SM5-24, respectively. These two connections were permanently disconnected in April 1999. The outstanding of Rs 20.29 lakh and Rs 7.97 lakh (including surcharge) relating to these consumers were transferred to the third connection (SM5-21) in June 2000 which was already in default since June 1999. The SDO also accepted part payments of Rs 53.54 lakh against electricity bills of Rs 99.67 lakh (including Rs 28.26 lakh transferred from SM5-2 and SM5-24) in this account during July 1999 to October 2001. The connection of the consumer was permanently disconnected in October 2001 when the out-standing amount rose to Rs 45.41 lakh after adjusting security available with the UHBVN. The UHBVN had so far not taken action against the SDO for accepting part payments and not disconnecting supply of power to the premises of consumers after the first default. Thus, failure of the UHBVN to enforce the penal measures coupled with acceptance of part payments in disregard to the SMI had facilitated the consumers to accumulate outstanding dues of more than Rs 200 crore. |
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Haryana approaches BBMB for
Panchkula, June 13 The state government has also asked the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) to play a more proactive role to ensure that Haryana gets its share of water for irrigation. This comes in wake of the state getting about 900 cusecs water short of its daily quota of 10,794 cusecs. Sources say that a few weeks ago, it was only 8200 cusecs. Haryana depends on the Narwana branch and the Bhakhra Mainline branch for getting its share of surplus water of Satlej, the Ravi and the Beas. These two canals bring water to every part of the state. The Narwana branch caters to South Haryana, besides, Ambala, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Panipat, Sonepat, Rohtak and Jind. The Bhakhra Mainline caters to mainly Sirsa, Fatehebad, Hisar and parts of Jind. While the shortfall in the Narwana branch is of 222 cusecs, in Bhakhra Mainline, the shortfall is of 650 cusecs. As a result, there is shortage of water in Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Bhiwani, Rewari and Mahendragarh districts. Says the Secretary, Irrigation, Mr Anil Razdan, “There is water shortage in South Haryana, and we are working hard to ensure that the farmers do not suffer, by releasing water in separate groups so that water is available in all areas. Though the state has a designed capacity for carrying 3.83 million acre feet (MAF), we are utilising only 1.62 MAF, till the time the SYL canal is constructed”. He adds that the need of the hour is to work out a system to utilise the carrying capacity of the canal system of the state to its full. Sources say that though this year they expect a bounty in snowfall, which means that more water trickls in the dams. It is estimated that about 4.9 MAF of water will be available from the snow this year, as compared to 2.4 MAF of water available last year from the melting of snow. “Even though 29,208 cusecs of water is available in Bhakra, and the water level is 72 feet higher than last year, Haryana is not getting its holding capcity of water,” remarked a senior official in the Irrigation Department. |
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Reconstitute HISF, says BJP
Rohtak, June 13 It said the Congress government was following in the footsteps of the Chautala government, which had sacked more than 20,000 employees during its tenure. The people of Haryana had voted against the Indian National Lok Dal because of this factor and consequently people were hoping the Congress would fulfil its promise to provide more jobs to the unemployed youth. The BJP pointed out that the fate of more than 2,000 employees of Chaudhry Devi Lal University, Sirsa, and the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences here was also hanging in balance. It held the Hooda government responsible for the death of a recruit, Mukesh Kumari of Jind district, who had committed suicide after the government issued the sack orders. It urged the Governor to intervene and ask the government to reconstitute the
HISF. The memorandum, which was sent through the Deputy Commissioner, was signed among others by Capt
Abhimanyu, Maneesh Grover, Pradeep Jain and Sarita Narayan. |
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NOCs to petrol stations: Dalal seeks action
Chandigarh, June 13 In reply Mr Hooda said the government would find out which petrol stations were running without the requisite permission and ask these to complete the formalities within a stipulated time. “ If anyone fails to obtain clearance in the given time-frame, action will be taken”, Mr Hooda said. Mr Dalal, who was asking supplementary questions during question hour in the state Assembly, alleged that during the tenure of the previous regime, unscrupulous businessmen managed to obtain NOCs from District Magistrates by making huge donations to the Devi Lal Trust run by the former Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala. Mr Dalal also urged Mr Hooda to take action against Mr Chautala for allegedly being instrumental in getting NOCs issued without proper verification. Earlier, in a written reply to Mr Dalal’s questions on NOCs to petrol stations, Mr Chander Mohan, Deputy Chief Minister (having the portfolio of Food and Supplies), said between January, 2000, and February, 2005, the then Chautala government had issued a total of 747 NOCs. Only five petrol stations out of the 747 had obtained prior permission from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests. Mr Shamsher Singh Surjewala, MLA from Kaithal, and Mr Ranbir Singh Mohindra, MLA from Mundhal Khurd, also participated in the question-answer session on the issue of NOCs. In reply to a question asked by Mr Dalal regarding the defunct Devi Lal Cooperative Sugar Mill at Panniwala Mota in Sirsa district, Mr Hooda said Rs 46.71 crore was spent by the state government on constructing the mill. It had been set up on 123 acres, Mr Hooda said. The Chief Minister said the mill could not function due to the unavailability of raw material. Therefore, the government had decided to absorb the employees (312) of the mill in other cooperative sugar mills. Mr Dalal urged the Chief Minister to take punitive steps against Mr Chautala and others who were responsible for this wastage of funds from the exchequer. In reply to a question asked by the Congress MLA from Bhiwani, Mr Shiv Shankar Bhardwaj, Ms Kartar Devi, Health Minister, said the state government had no plan of setting up a medical college in Bhiwani. This prompted Mr Ramkishan Fauji, Congress MLA from Bawani Khera, to also press for a medical college in Bhiwani district. Mr Naresh Yadav, Independent MLA from Ateli, said a medical college must be set up near Ateli as there was no proper medical facilities in the southern part of Haryana. Ms Kartar Devi replied that Rohtak was also a southern district and measures were being taken to upgrade the facilities at the PGIMS at Rohtak. In reply to a question asked by Congress MLA Sher Singh, Mr Phool Chand Mullana, Education Minister, said the salary of 3,606 JBT teachers appointed by zila parishads in July, 2004, had been paid. However, the salary of 2,856 teachers recruited by zila parishads in December, 2004, had not been paid so far for want of financial sanction. The issue would be resolved shortly, the minister said. |
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Police fails to arrest ex-MLA’s kin
Karnal, June 13 The arrest warrants were issued against them for not paying the purchase tax of Rs 56.22 lakh pending against the firm Makali Traders allegedly owned by them. The department had also asked the police to arrest them and ensure recovery of the amount but nothing had, so far, been done in this regard. Mr B.S. Saroha, Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner (DETC) of Karnal, said the department had raided at the former MLA’s residence several times since the warrants were issued against his son who was said to be living with his father but could not be located there. The department also had information that Mukesh was running a casino in Himachal Pradesh. Raids were also made at two places in HP, but he was not found there. The officials of the department also visited the house of the former MLA posing as electricity meter readers and water meter readers but Mukesh was never found at home, he said. He said the department had also asked the police to arrest Mukesh and Ramesh to ensure the recovery of the pending purchase tax but the police had never shown interest in nabbing them. Earlier, the department had raided the house of Ramesh Kumar at Radaur in Yamunanagar district for a detailed report of the property owned by him that could be attached for the easy recovery of purchase tax pending against “Makali Traders”, in which he is a partner with Mukesh Kumar Gupta. But it was found that he owned just 1.5 acres of land that was too little as far its market value was concerned to recover the amount by attaching it, said the DETC. Mr Saroha said former MLA’s son had settled down at some undisclosed place to evade arrest. |
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Robbers’ gang busted
Sonepat, June 13 Superintendent of Police Sukh Dev Singh told mediapersons here today that the arrested were identified as Sunil and Sukhi Ram of Sardhana village and Sandeep of Polangi village in Rohtak district. The police also recovered two countrymade pistols, six live cartridges and a knife from their possession. Cases under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Arms Act were registered against the members of the gang. He said the police had solved eight cases of looting and theft after the interrogation of the gang members. He said the culprits had committed crimes in the areas of Delhi and Jind district in Haryana and added that investigations were in progress.
— PTI |
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Missing paper case hushed up?
Sirsa, June 13 The Tribune had highlighted on Monday how an unused question paper was reported to be missing when it was in the custody of the supervising authorities. The Vice-Chancellor, Mr R.R. Fuliya, who holds the top position
of the both the CDLU and GJU, had mentioned yesterday that an inquiry would be conducted. |
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Man held for killing son
Rewari, June 13 The postmortem examination revealed that the boy had been strangled to death. The Model Town police has registered a case of murder. Dr C.S. Rao, SP, said subsequently Harphool Singh had confessed before the panchayat of the village that he had committed the crime. At the instance of Harphool Singh, the police had also seized the deceased’s pair of chappals and trousers, which lay buried at a spot where his body had been recovered by the police. |
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38,500 looted from two persons
Sonepat, June 13 According to a report the miscreants snatched Rs 38,500 a mobile phone and other documents from Mr Rampal, alias Pala, of Gohana Road, Sonepat, and his associate, Mr Dalel Singh, and fled towards Mohana village. The Mohana police has registered a case in this connection and further investigations are in progress. |
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Three towns upgraded to A-class cities
Chandigarh, June 13 Mr Birender Singh, Finance Minister, Haryana, said that with the upgradation of these towns, the house rent allowance of the employees posted there would increase by Rs 100 per month. He said the population of Jind had become 1.35 lakh, of Kurukshetra 1.22 lakh, of Kaithal 1.17 lakh and of Safidon 27,541. |
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Three of family found dead
Hisar, June 13 |
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2 die in separate incidents
Panipat, June 13 |
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Prisoner re-arrested
Sonepat, June 13 |
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Body found
Ambala, June 13
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Additional charge of higher education
Chandigarh, June 13 |
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