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Hooda announces bonanza for Narnaul
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Inside Babudom
Sampat Singh to head PAC
Rania traders allege fleecing by Hafed
Raid by SDM
Teachers to be re-employed
Protest outside minister’s house
Sex-Determination Tests
HC orders HUDA to allot plot
Villager killed over poll-related rivalry
Victims’ kin threaten stir
Jain muni stabbed
Police for joint efforts to nab criminals
Kin of two mishap victims offered jobs
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Hooda announces bonanza for Narnaul
Narnaul, May 1 Addressing a gathering during a “samman rally” organised at the ITI grounds here today, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda announced a host of plans for the district. Earlier, Hooda laid the foundation of 151-km-long four-lane Rai Malikpur (Rajasthan border)-Narnaul-Mahendragarh-Dadri-Bhiwani-Kharak North-South Corridor to come up in the state at an estimated cost of Rs 1,366 crore on design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) basis. The CM also inaugurated a grain-cum-vegetable market, a 132 kV substation at Seka village and a 33 kV substation at Shobhapur village, a new block of the local ITI and laid the foundation stone of a 33 kV substation in Sector 1 of Narnaul. He also laid the foundation stone of the housing board colony in Sector 1 to be developed on 3.4 hectares at a cost of Rs 25 crore. Congratulating local MLA and Haryana Minister for Health, Medical Education and Elections Rao Narender Singh for organising a massive rally despite heat wave and harvest season, Hooda accepted almost all demands put forward by him for the development of the area. The Health Minister also announced a grant of Rs 25 lakh for Gulawala village on behalf of the Chief Minister. As per the CM’s announcements, Sihma village will be made a block, the district general hospital upgraded into a multispeciality hospital and an ayurvedic medical college set up on 20 acres provided for the purpose by the panchayat of Patikara village in the district. The tourist complex will be developed as a public-private partnership project. Apart from the aforesaid projects, the Chief Minister also sanctioned the launch of science faculty at Government College for Women, extension and beautification of Subhash Park and construction of stadiums at villages and provision of rural link roads subject to the fulfillment of the requisite criteria. Hooda also approved the proposal to connect the Rewari road with the Narnaul-Mahendragarh bypass road, another demand put forward by Rao Narender as well as Bhiwani-Mahendragarh MP Shruti Choudhry. Hooda also announced a grant of Rs 5 crore for miscellaneous development works in villages of the district and Rs 2 crore for Narnaul town. HPCC president Phool Chand Mullana, local MP Shruti Choudhry, Revenue Minister Satpal Sangwan, Chief Parliamentary Secretaries Vinod Bhayana, Anita Yadav and Rao Dan Singh and Badshahpur MLA Rao Dharampal were also present.
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Inside Babudom
Chandigarh, May 1 Umesh Nanda was charged with appointing three clerks apparently with some ulterior motive as they did not fulfil the requisite eligibility criteria, besides unauthorisedly withdrawing a sum of Rs 1.89 lakh in 1998 from the funds of the Haryana Institute of Public Administration (HIPA) for making payment of house rent for a house in Delhi during her tenure as Managing Director of HIPA. Subsequently, she was compulsorily retired from service. Umesh Nanda, however, contested her retirement before the Principal Bench of the Central Admnistrative Tribunal, terming both charges of misconduct as baseless. “Judicial and administrative propriety demands that the order of the Principal Bench of the CAT be implemented by July 21 this year,” Umesh Nanda said in a letter sent to the Chief Secretary last week. She is also pinning hopes on the Prime Minister who holds the portfolio of Department of Personnel and Pensions that governs the Indian Administrative Service. Interestingly, she had made a representation against her compulsory retirement to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, who, in turn, had asked AICC treasurer Moti Lal Vora to write to the Prime Minister to intervene and provide justice to her. Umesh Nanda would have ordinarily retired by the end of July in 2009 on attaining superannuation. Her husband, Sarat K Nanda, belonged to the 1976 batch of the
IAS. He, too, is from the Haryana cadre. The Principal Bench of the CAT, comprising Justice VK Bali and LK Joshi, held that while the adverse comments made in the annual confidential report of Umesh Nanda in 1988-89 were expunged, those made in her ACRs of 1998-99 and 1999-2000 were recorded only because of drawing Rs 1.75 lakh from HIPA for payment of the rent of the house occupied by her. Arguments given by the government were “totally erroneous”. “We have already quashed and set aside the punishment awarded to her for this alleged misconduct,” the Bench ruled stating further in its final order that the “generalised statement that her integrity is clearly under a cloud recorded in the order of compulsory retirement has no basis. “Her overall record is generally good, barring few exceptions in her entire service, when she was graded average,” it said. Now, when the Principal Bench has quashed and set aside her compulsory retirement and penalties given to her earlier, she wants the Haryana Government to restore her honour and pride by implementing the orders. |
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SEZ Act unconstitutional: Ajay Chautala
Gurgaon, May 1 “The SEZs were conceptualised to utilise barren land and benefit the workers, but the Congress regime has acquired fertile land to serve certain vested interests,” Dr Chautala asserted while addressing a public meeting on the occasion of Labour Day here today. He said the INLD had legally challenged the Act and on coming to power, it would not only ensure that the labourers got their due rights, but also make adequate provision for making them partners in power and progress. Lambasting the Congress leadership for “misleading” the labourers to get their votes before coming to power and serving the interests of big industrialists and capitalists after forming the government, the INLD leader sought the support of the labourer community to ensure inclusive and all-round development. Dr Chautala maintained that the residents were fed up with the functioning of the state regime and would teach the Congress a lesson by voting against it in the forthcoming elections to the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon. INLD national vice-president Anantram Tanwar, MLA Ganga Ram, party’s district unit president Gopi Chand Gehlot and labour cell coordinator Durga Prasad Misra also addressed the
gathering. |
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Sampat Singh to head PAC
Chandigarh, May 1 The other members of the committee are Sumita Singh, Rajender Singh Joon, Bharat Bhushan Batra, Jai Tirath Dahiya, Krishan Lal Panwar and Parminder Singh Dhull. Another Congress MLA Dharam Pal will head the estimates committee, which will have Balbir Pal Singh, Savitri Jindal, Yadvender Singh, Ajay Singh Chautala, Naresh Sharma, Sher Singh Barshami, Kavita Jain and Narender Sangwan as its members. Kuldeep Sharma, Speaker, will be the ex-officio chairman of the rules committee. Leader of the Opposition Om Parkash Chautala, former Speaker Raghuvir Singh Kadian, Sampat Singh, Venod Sharma, Krishan Pal Gujjar, Kuldeep Bishnoi and Bharat Bhushan Batra will be its members. Deputy Speaker Akram Khan will be ex-officio chairman of the house committee with Jai Tirath Dahiya, Raghuvir Singh Tewatia, Anil Dhantori and Mamu Ram as its members. Anand Singh Dangi, Congress MLA will be the chairman of the committee on public undertakings and Venod Sharma, Krishan Pal Gurjar, Devender Kumar Bansal, Abhay Singh Chautala, Bishan Lal Saini, Aftab Ahmed, Hari Chand Middha and Anand Kaushik will be its members. Former Speaker Kadian will continue to head the privileges committee. Dangi, Joon, Dharam Pal, Sumita Singh, Anand Kaushik, Rajbir Singh Barara, Raghubir Singh Badhra, Phool Singh Kheri and Prithi Singh will be its members. Jagbir Singh will be the chairman of the committee on subordinate legislation with Shah, Srikrishan Hooda, Naresh Sharma, Gian Chand Oadh, Rameshwar Dayal Rajoria, Ghanshyam Saraf and the Advocate-General as its members. Rampal Majra will head the committee on government assurances. Jagbir Singh Malik, Ram Niwas Ghorela, Naresh Selwal, Raghuvir Singh Tewatia, Dharam Singh, Subhash Chaudhary, Saroj Mor and Krishan Lal Kamboj will be its members and Pardeep Chaudhary will be a special invitee. The committee on petitions will be headed by Bharat Bhushan Batra. Yadvendra Singh, Aftab Ahmed, Raj Pal Bhukhri, Ashok Kashyap, Dharam Pal Obra and Kali Ram Patwari will be its members. Rajinder Singh Joon will head the Library Committee and Devender Kumar Bansal, Srikrishan Hooda, Mohd. Ilyas, Bahadur Singh and Dilbag Singh will be its members. Anil Dhantori will be the chairman of the committee on the Welfare of SC, ST and BC. Jagdish Nayar, Raj Pal Bhukhri, Naresh Selwal, Shakuntala Khatak, Dharam Singh, Charanjeet Singh Rori, Naseem Ahmed and Ganga Ram will be its members. |
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Rania traders allege fleecing by Hafed
Sirsa, May 1 The traders alleged that the manager of the storehouse provided no satisfactory answer and they had demanded action against the officials responsible for this. Jaswinder Singh, manager of the trading firm, Rania Commission Agents, alleged that he had been noticing for the past few days that the weight of the trolleys of bags of wheat sent to the Hafed storehouse was “declared less” than what he actually sent. “I got a trolley weight from a private ‘dharam kanta’ and got a slip of 144.65 quintals. When the same trolley was sent to the Hafed storehouse, they declared that the weight was 144.20 quintals. However, the weight of the empty trolley was declared 43 quintals by both,” alleged Jaswinder Singh and maintained that it was a daily routine. He said as per the norm, the weight of 200 bags of 50 kg each should be 101.40 quintals, including the weight of gunny bags, but the weight of his consignment was shown as 101.20 quintals instead of the actual 101.65 quintals he actually supplied. Mahesh Phutela, manager of the firm, Gurditta Mal Nathu Ram, alleged that a difference ranging from 50 to 70 kg was being witnessed in each consignment sent to Hafed and alleged that all this was intentional. He said Hafed officials did not ask them to make up for the “shortage” of wheat, but demanded cash in lieu of that at the time of releasing their payments. “This is over and above the routine bribe amount of 0.25 paisa per bag demanded by almost all government procurement agencies for the wheat procured by them,” said some traders requesting anonymity. The traders alleged that while traders were the loser when Hafed officials weighed their trolleys less than the actual weight, farmers were also being duped due to the difference in the weight of gunny bags coming to the grain market. Phutela alleged that the procurement agency counted the weight of each gunny bag as 665 gm, though it actually weighed 600 gm when received. Moreover, the gunny bags were very moist when their packs were opened and by the time wheat was packed and weighed, the actual weight remained nearly 500 gm, thereby causing a loss of 150 gm or more in each bag to the farmers. Hoshiar Singh, manager of the Rania storehouse of Hafed did not respond to several calls made on his mobile. However, Suresh Jawa, district manager of Hafed at Sirsa, admitted that there was some fault in the weighing machine at Rania, but claimed that it has since been rectified. He said the gunny bags were supplied by the Director-General, Supplies and Disposal, and Hafed counted these as 665 gm per bag as per the norms. |
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Raid by SDM
Fatehabad, May 1 Vinod Kumar, Kukku and Pawan Kumar, all employees of the gas agency, have alleged in a written complaint given to the district authorities demanding action against the SDM. Baljit Singh had raided the storehouse of the Balaji Gas Agencies yesterday after complaints of black marketeering of LPG and forcible sale of packets of “bhujia” to customers coming for getting their cylinders refilled. The SDM checked the stocks and, according to reports, found certain irregularities in the functioning of the agency. The SDM found some unaccounted cash and copies of LPG consumers in the storehouse. However, in their complaint addressed to the Deputy Commissioner, the workers of the gas agency have alleged that the officer came to their premises and snatched money and LPG issuance slips from them without introducing himself. They alleged that the SDM thrashed them and humiliated them publicly by using abusive language and garlanding them with chains of “bhujia”
packets. The SDM, however, denied the allegations and said these were being levelled because he had tried to stop the irregularities being committed in the
gas agency. The SDM said he had received several complaints that LPG was being sold on the black market, while genuine customers were being denied timely refilling. |
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Teachers to be re-employed
Chandigarh, May 1 Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal said here today that principals, headmasters, masters, C and V teachers, head teachers and JBT teachers would be eligible for re-employment. She said in case of principals, headmasters and lecturers, the cases of re-employment would be sent by the District Education Officer (DEO) concerned to the Director Secondary Education, who
would decide each case at his own level. The cases of masters and C and V teachers would be forwarded by heads of institutions (principal or headmaster) to the DEO concerned, who would decide each case at his own level under intimation
to the Director Secondary Education. Similarly, cases of JBT teachers or head teachers would be sent by the Block Education Officer concerned to the District Elementary Education Officer, who would decide each case at his own level and send information to
the Director Elementary Education. Only those teachers would be re-employed whose service record would be good. |
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Protest outside minister’s house
Jhajjar, May 1 The protesters also submitted a memorandum of demands to a representative of the minister, serving a 15-day ultimatum on the government to concede their demands Addressing the teachers on the occasion, Ramesh Malik, president of the association, said the government had been adopting indifferent attitude towards the school teachers. He maintained that the association would not tolerate such an anti-teachers policy at any cost. Later, they marched towards the local residence of the Education Minister where they held a demonstration and shouted anti-government slogans. |
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Sex-Determination Tests
Rohtak, May 1 This was observed by speakers at the ongoing free-of-cost yoga camp at Shahid Mahabir Park here. The camp has been organised by the Patanjali Yoga Samiti and Bharat Swabhiman Trust. Addressing the participants, Poonam Arya, head of the “Beti Bachao Andolan”, an NGO, said the skewed sex ratio in the state was a shame for all residents of the state as a large number of girls were not given birth due to the menace of female foeticide in the state. She said yoga and meditation should be made part of the daily routine of every person so that such actions were not thought or generated at the individual level. Claiming that while yoga provided a healthy body and mind, it also dissuaded people from doing any wrong action, including foeticide. Besides popularising yoga, the government should take strict measures to check the violation of the PNDT Act. The work and activity of each ultrasound centre should be checked as such centres promote the practice of foeticide, said another speaker. “The office of the civil surgeon, which sanctions the opening of the ultrasound facility in a district, should also be held accountable in case of any violation of the Act, but the government seems to be sleeping or unaware of the fact that there can be a strong nexus between the ultrasound centres and the Health Department,” claimed Yoginder Dahiya, a social activist based here. Stating that while a majority of the ultrasound centres had been minting money by diagnosing the sex of the unborn child, he said the government should hold the CMO responsible for any such violation. |
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HC orders HUDA to allot plot
Chandigarh, May 1 Look at the plight of the petitioner, who was successful in the draw of lots in 1986, and is still looking for allotment and for this purpose has been before one forum or the other”. Justice Ranjit Singh observed: “Plot number 84, which came to the lot of petitioner in draw, was found to be under litigation at the instance of original landowner….” Justice Ranjit Singh asserted: “HUDA was totally unjustified in putting a plot for draw which was under litigation. The petitioner struggled for getting possession of this plot for 10 years without result. “When an alternative plot was offered to him, it was found in an underdevelop pocket. Such has been generally the approach of HUDA. Is this the way to treat a consumer? The petitioner justifiably approached the Consumer Forum and was successful. “The order passed by the Consumer Forum was taken in challenge up to the National Commission and, thus, HUDA could stall the allotment till 2002. “Despite being unsuccessful before every forum, the respondents have failed to show reasonableness on their part. “They continued to insist on being unfair, which attitude deserves to be deprecated…. HUDA continued to be adamant and has made no effort to change the attitude. The petitioner has been deprived of his valuable right for over two decades.” In fact, this is not one isolated case, where the approach on the part of HUDA has been of this kind. “The writ deserves to be allowed. Direction is hereby issued to HUDA to allot Plot No. 682 in Sector 42, Gurgaon, as an alternative to the original plot allotted to the petitioner. This allotment would be on the same rate on which the original Plot No. 84, Sector 21, Gurgaon, was allotted to the petitioner. “In view of the unfair and adamant attitude adopted by HUDA, the writ petition deserves to be allowed with costs, which are assessed at Rs 25,000,” the court ruled. |
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Villager killed over poll-related rivalry
Sirsa, May 1 The victim’s brother, Jhinda Ram, said in his complaint to the police that his brother was going towards the bus stand in his car last night when the assailants, who came in two cars, opened fire on him. When the victim fell on the ground, the assailants attacked him with sharp-edged weapons. Relatives of the victim rushed to the site after getting the news and rushed a profusely bleeding Mukh Ram to a hospital. However, the victim died before reaching the hospital. Jhinda Ram alleged that Om Parkash Jhorar, husband of the village sarpanch, was nursing a grouse against his brother because he had supported his rival in the panchayat elections. He named Jhorar, Nasib Singh, Nachhatar Singh, Abhimanyu, Inderjit Singh and some others for
the murder. The police said a case has been registered and efforts were on to arrest the accused. Meanwhile, Dalit leaders assembled in the local general hospital and demanded the immediate arrest of
the killers. The Dalit leaders, led by BSP leader Mool Chand Rathi, demanded a compensation of Rs 20 lakh for the family of the victim. |
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Ship Hijack
Sonepat, May 1 The victims’ kin have been camping at Kasandi village here for the past over two months. Talking to The Tribune, Shampa Arya, wife of Ravinder Gulia; Amar Singh Chauhan, father of Prashant Chauhan; and Madhu Sharma, wife of NK Sharma, said they had moved from pillar to post and had even approached the Union Home Minister in this regard, but to no avail. They said they would stage a dharna at Jantar Mantar in Delhi to mobilise public opinion in support of their demand and even then if the government did not take any initiative, they would immolate themselves in front of the Prime Minister’s office.
— OC |
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Jain muni stabbed
Sonepat, May 1 A case has been registered at Gannaur police station. Sunder Muni was attacked with a knife several times. Though Sunder Muni was injured, he caught hold of the attacker. Before the attacker could escape, Sunder Muni managed to seize a purse from the attacker’s pocket. The police found a crossed photograph of Sunder Muni and a currency note of Rs 500 with a writing “Sunder Ka Kam Tamam Kar Ke, Sunderdham Pahunchana Hai” on it from the purse of the alleged accused. A railway ticket from Panipat to Dehradun purchased on Saturday evening was also recovered from the purse. |
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Police for joint efforts to nab criminals
Panipat, May 1 There have been a number of instances in which criminals managed to escape into adjoining states. In order to deal with this problem, the police of these states, including New Delhi and UP, has decided to appoint nodal officers, who would coordinate with each other and exchange information to deal with crime. District police chief Pankaj Nain said this would enable the police to work in tandem and bring about more efficiency in its working. He said this would go a long way in fighting crime. |
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Kin of two mishap victims offered jobs
Yamunanagar, May 1 The INLD leader, who is also the sitting legislator from Dabwali, yesterday visited the injured in the civil hospitals at Yamunanagar and Jagadhri. He also visited the bereaved families and offered his condolences. He said he and his party were with the bereaved families in this hour of grief. Ajay Chautala offered a job to the wife of Jitender, a faculty member who died in the bus-truck collision at Manakpur on Thursday morning. He also offered a job to the brother of a student, Deepika, who was also killed in the mishap.
— TNS |
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