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Four more ministers in Hooda Cabinet
Fearing backlash, Mirchpur Dalits flee
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Promotions to Rathore
Clean Ghaggar, kisan sabha to govt
Eat meat at your own risk!
Sirsa to get ITI
Dera activists defy Sec 144
Student killed in accident
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Four more ministers in Hooda Cabinet
Chandigarh, January 28 HS Chatha, who earlier in the day resigned as Speaker, Kiran Choudhry, Rao Narinder Singh and Satpal Sangwan were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Jagannath Pahadia at the Raj Bhavan this evening. Later at a separate function in Haryana Niwas, Hooda administered the oath of office to Ram Kishan Gujjar, Vinod Bhyana and Zile Ram Sharma as Chief Parliamentary Secretaries. With today’s expansion, four of the five HJC legislators who had “merged” their party with the Congress, have been awarded with ministerial berths. They are Rao, Sangwan, Bhyana and Sharma. Dharam Singh Chhokar, it seems, will have to wait. Now the Hooda ministry has 11 Cabinet Ministers and three Ministers of State, besides 12 Chief Parliamentary Secretaries. It is not surprising that Ajay Singh Yadav has been demoted to the number three position. Chatha will be the seniormost Minister after the Chief Minister. Yadav had of late been raising certain issues which caused embarrassment to the government. However, there is no change in Yadav’s portfolios. Chatha will look after Cooperatives and Food and Supplies. Kiran Choudhry has been allotted the important portfolio of Excise and Taxation along with Public Health. Rao has been given Health and Medical Education along with Elections. Sangwan will supervise Revenue & Disaster Management, Consolidation and Rehabilitation. Interestingly, Choudhry, Rao and Sangwan all belong to the Bhiwani-Mahendragarh parliamentary constituency represented by Choudhry’s daughter Shruti, who was present at the swearing-in ceremony. Randeep Singh Surjewala, who had to let go of the Public Health portfolio, gets Industry and Commerce while retaining Parliamentary Affairs, Science and Technology and PWD (B&R). Three Ministers of State, Shiv Charan Lal Sharma, Gopal Kanda and Sukhbir Kataria, have been given independent charge. Sharma will have independent charge of Labour and Employment but for Public Relations and Cultural Affairs will be attached with Chief Minister. Kanda has been given independent charge of Urban Local Bodies. For Home, Industries and Home he will be attached with respective Ministers. |
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Fearing backlash, Mirchpur Dalits flee
Hisar, January 28 Satyavaan, who is living at the farmhouse with his family, alleged that the sarpanch of Mirchpur had told them that there was no work for them in the village under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGA). There was no point in remaining in the village when they could not earn a livelihood there, he said. He said despite the police providing them security, they continued to face threats by Jat residents. Another villager Bir Bhan said the Dalits did not want to live in Mirchpur and the government should resettle all Dalits of the village elsewhere so that they felt secure and were able to earn a living. Five Dalit families had shifted to the farmhouse last week during the Jat agitation. Thereafter, at least 90 more families have shifted there. Asked how long could they live in tents, most Dalits said they hoped to find work in nearby villages. Immediately after the violence against Dalits in April last year, the Dalits had agitated for weeks, seeking that they be rehabilitated outside Mirchpur. They had sought allotment of plots free of cost in some other village or city but the government refused to meet their demand, saying it would set a bad precedent. The Jat-Dalit row first erupted on April 21 last year when Jat villagers set Dalit houses afire, killing Tara Chand and his teenaged daughter Suman. As many as 103 Jat villagers are facing trial in the case. The Jat stir had brought life in several districts to a halt. The stir ended on January 26. |
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Promotions to Rathore
Chandigarh, January 28 The Bench also made it clear that it was for the trial court to deal with the issue of closure reports submitted by the CBI in two cases against Rathore. The Bench observed: “Under the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, it is the trial court which should deal with the matter and pass appropriate orders on the report of the investigation in accordance with provisions prescribed by the Code of Criminal Procedure. The Bench said there would be serious doubts as to whether in case of a PIL,the court would be justified in embarking up an action, which really belonged to the domain of the trial court under the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure. “We, therefore, are of the view that reports of the investigations by CBI in respect of cases number one and two should be filed before the trial court, if the same has not been done. Thereafter, the trial court should proceed in the matter. “Undoubtedly, the issues arising in the PIL, including the question of relief of promotion of SPS Rathore, will be gone into for which purpose the case will now be fixed for final arguments," the Bench added, fixing March 15 as the next date of hearing. The CBI has already submitted its closure report to an Ambala court. Another closure report on Ruchika’s brother Ashu Girhotra’s complaint says he was arrested by the CIA staff and was taken by the police, along with another accused, in handcuffs to their houses. “The shopkeepers of the Sector 6 market, Panchkula, have stated that they neither heard nor saw Ashu being paraded by the police, half naked and with handcuffs in December 1993”. The report says Ashu made a “disclosure statement dated October 25, 1993, in FIR number 147/93 and admitted to have stolen nine vehicles” and was arrested in cases only after Sandeep Verma (accused) disclosed his name as accomplice. |
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Clean Ghaggar, kisan sabha to govt
Sirsa, January 28 The sabha also alleged that the river pollution was proving detrimental to animal and plant lives. The Tribune had recently highlighted the damage being caused due to the pollution of river and had also reported large-scale deaths of fish in Ottu Lake due to pollution. A meeting of the district unit of the HKS was held here today under district president Hardev Singh
Sandhu. The sabha expressed concern over the increase in the number of cases of infective hepatitis in villages along the Ghaggar and claimed that industrial and sewage waste that enter into the river from Himachal
Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana was responsible for that. Swaran Singh Virk, state vice-president of the
HKS, alleged that both the Central Pollution Control Board as well as the State Pollution Control Board had shut their eyes to the problem of pollution in the
Ghaggar. He alleged that untreated chemical and sewage waste had been causing problems to the human health as well as damaging the flora and fauna in the area. He said there had been a spurt in the incidents of jaundice in
Dhautad, Maujkhera and some others villages located near the Ghaggar as the subsoil water was being infected from the polluted river. The sabha also laid stress on the need to expedite the digging work of the main creek of the Ghaggar and work on strengthening of the banks to avoid floods this year. The sabha alleged that the authorities seemed to have taken no lesson from the experiences of the last year’s floods and were yet to take any step for its prevention this year. The HKS also demanded reduction in the power tariff for domestic consumers, terming the rates as prohibitive. |
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Eat meat at your own risk!
Ambala, January 28 Civil Surgeon Dr Satish Aggarwal said he was not aware where the animals were being slaughtered. He referred this reporter to the District Health Officer. District Health Officer BB Lalla said the food inspector was responsible for keeping a control on the quality of food items being sold in the market. But the inspector said he kept a check on the quality of cooked food items only. Secretary of the municipal corporation BR Dhiman, when contacted, said the corporation did not have a slaughter house and the right people to speak to in this regard would be officials of the veterinary department. He said a sanitary inspector, perhaps, checked the quality of meat being sold in the market, but the latter said he had not been assigned such a task. Deputy Director of Veterinary Department Dr Prem Singh said his subordinate staff could be monitoring the quality of animals being slaughtered, but he had no specific information. The Deputy Commissioner said he was not aware that there was no slaughter house in the district. He said he would without any delay appoint the district health officer as the nodal officer for keeping a check on the health of animals slaughtered and the conditions under which they were slaughtered. Conservative estimates say there are at least 100 meat shops in the town and the meat sellers slaughter animals at their shops. |
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Sirsa to get ITI
Sirsa, January 28 Sirsa is among the 90 minority concentrated districts of the country selected for the purpose of the multi-sectoral plan due to the Sikh population in the district. Two districts from the state have been selected under the scheme - the other being Mewat due to its Muslim population. The DC, CG Rajini Kaanthan said a sum of Rs 10.75 crore had been received under the plan this year, out of which Rs 9.90 crore had already been spent on various development projects. The scheme, the DC said, had proved a boon for the district, as funds received under it had been used on education and welfare activities. A s many as 65 new anganwadi centres had been constructed under the scheme in minority-concentrated areas of the district. |
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Dera activists defy Sec 144
Sirsa, January 28 The court, according to
sources, completed the evidence of head constable Dharam Chand, who had
deposed before the court in the scribe Ram Chander Chhatarpati murder
case yesterday. The defence counsels cross-examined the witness today.
Dharam Chand was posted in the Khairpur police post located near
Chhatarpati’s residence and had, according to his assertions, arrested
an accused Kuldeep from the spot and another accused Nirmal later, after
they allegedly shot at the scribe. Chhatarpati’s son Anshul, a
witness in the case, and another witness Lekh Raj Dhot also attended the
court. However, their evidences could not be held today and the court
has now summoned them for February 2, sources said. Meanwhile, the dera
chief arrived in the court complex amidst heavy security little before
the start of the court proceedings at 2 pm. A large number of followers
had assembled outside the court well before his arrival. |
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Student killed in accident
Rewari, January 28 The deceased was identified as Laxmi (20), a resident of Nagaland.The injured, Rizvi from Ladakh, Surender from Jaipur and Vibhor, Timsi and Sukriti from Delhi, all students of Jagananth Institute of Mass Communication, Basant Kunj, Delhi, were admitted to the Community Health Centre at Bawal where the doctors referred them
to Delhi. The students had gone to visit the historical fort of Neemrana town ib Alwar district of Rajasthan on January 26. The mishap took place when they were returning to Delhi The Bawal police has registered a case against the errant driver, who absconded. after the accident, for rash and negligent driving. |
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