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H A R Y A N A |  |
 Tuesday, July 28, 1998 |
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Bomb blast: Haryana sounds red alert ROHTAK, July 27 — Haryana has sounded red-alert following the explosion of a high-intensity improvised device in a Haryana Roadways bus at the inter-state bus terminal at Delhi on Sunday... Rs 2135 cr spent on development: CM CHANDIGARH, July 27 — In his 90-minute reply to the major criticism of the Budget proposals presented by Finance Minister, the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, told the Vidhan Sabha here this afternoon that contrary to criticism that no development had taken place in the state during the past two years, the state government had spent Rs 2135 crore on development works alone... |
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 Farmers court arrest CHANDIGARH, July 27 — The Haryana Krishak Samaj today rejected the committee set up by the Haryana Vidhan Sabha to go into the issue of suicide by farmers and farm labourers due to indebtedness... |
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HAU centre of excellence: VC HISAR, July 27 — The Vice-Chancellor, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Prof J.B. Chowdhury, has claimed that after having implemented innovative schemes for the welfare of the farming community as also to accelerate its own mandatory activities, the university has emerged as a centre of excellence in the field of teaching, research and extension... BJYM to blacken Coke hoardings BHIWANI, July 27 — Activists of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) will blacken the hoardings of Pepsi and Coke and burn effigies of US President Bill Clinton on the anniversary of the "Quit India" movement Councillors take civic chief to task FARIDABAD, July 27 — Mr B. Uma Shanker, new Commissioner of the Faridabad Municipal Corporation, was today taken to task at the general body meeting of the house for "ignoring" the councillors... 7789 vehicles impounded CHANDIGARH, July 27 — Over one lakh cases were registered and 7789 vehicles were impounded during the 21 months of prohibition in Haryana... Senior Haryana officer gets 10 years for rape AMBALA, July 27 — The Sessions Judge, Mr A.S. Garg, today convicted a senior Haryana government officer on the charge of raping a girl. Rs 50,000 robbed from petrol station Joint rally by 6 organisations Life term for Nine Civic staff stage dharna Varsity status for Kanya Gurukul likely Kidnapped boys recovered, 2 held   |
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| Bomb blast: Haryana sounds red
alert Tribune News Service ROHTAK, July 27 — Haryana has sounded red-alert following the explosion of a high-intensity improvised device in a Haryana Roadways bus at the inter-state bus terminal at Delhi on Sunday. Two persons had died in the blast and six were seriously injured. The ill-fated bus had originated from Safidon in Jind district and reached Delhi around 11.15 a.m. The police in Haryana has been ordered to launch intensive checking in the trains, buses and at public places like bus stands and railway stations to detect explosives and unlicensed weapons. The police in the districts has also been told to keep an eye on the suspects in their respective jurisdiction. The Union Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, has blamed the Pakistani's ISI for spate of bomb blasts in different parts of the country. Although the senior Delhi police officials believe that the crude bomb was planted in the bus at Safidon, the Superintendent of Police, Jind, Mr Ranbir Singh Sharma described it as mere "speculation". He argued that the bus takes over three and half hours to reach Delhi from Safidon and had the crude bomb planted at the place of origin, it could have exploded between Safidon and Panipat. The DIG, Hisar Range, Mr V.B. Singh refused to comment and said that he was still expecting a report from the Delhi Police, which was investigating the case. He also ruled out the possibilities that the bomb was planted at Safidon. The denials of the Haryana police officials notwithstanding, the ISI had been active in this state for the past couple of years. The bomb blasts in the Jhelum Express on December 3, 1996 at Ambala cantonment railway station and in the 4 KDM Delhi bound Passenger train at Panipat on March 31, 1998 were believed to be the handiwork of the ISI. The ISI was also involved in the series of bomb blasts that had rocked Rohtak, Sonepat and Panipat in January 1997. This came to light following the interrogation by the Delhi Police of the five agents of the ISI. Three of these five arrested militants were Pakistani nationals. According to highly informed police sources, the ISI agents have their hide-outs in the industrial estates around Delhi. They have reportedly formed a nexus with Punjab militants who have according to these sources, hide-outs in the Karnal, Kaithal, Kurukshetra and Sirsa districts of Haryana. The modus operandi of these ISI agents is to plant crude bombs at busy and congested places, in trains and buses to create panic among the people. These sources said that the kingpin of the ISI agents operating in Delhi, Haryana and UP was one Abdul Karim alias Hakim alias Tunda. Though he belonged to Pilkhau village, near Ghaziabad (UP), he mostly lived in Pakistan or Bangladesh. He is believed to be an expert in making crude bombs. Abdul Karim has reportedly formed a militant outfit "Ahle-Hadees" in India and allegedly trained youngsters in the handling of explosives. The "Ahle-Hadees" is said to be a branch of the Pakistan-based militant outfit called Lashkar-e-Toiba headed by Taki-ur-Rehman. |
| Rs 2135 cr spent on development: CM Tribune News Service CHANDIGARH, July 27 — In his 90-minute reply to the major criticism of the Budget proposals presented by Finance Minister, Mr Charan Dass Shorewala, the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, told the Vidhan Sabha here this afternoon that contrary to criticism that no development had taken place in the state during the past two years, the state government had spent Rs 2135 crore on development works alone. Leaders of the Opposition groups who had created noisy scenes during the debate days listened quietly to the Chief Minister's long speech which was documented with facts and figures. The Chief Minister read a long list of projects executed during this period all over the state. The works included the seven-storeyed mini-secretariat built in Sector 17 here in a record time of 16 months. A major portion of his speech was devoted to the power sector, Mr Bansi Lal said he was confident that his government would be able to ensure 24-hour power supply all over the state during the next one and a half years. He said the increase in the availability of power would extent from merely 863 MW at the time of creation of the state of 1523 MW. This would not only meet the existing demand of the state's six lakh consumers but also render some power surplus. It was unfortunate that even after a lapse of 28 years when he had done total electrification in the state, nothing had been done to meet the increase in demand for power and to improve transmission and distribution of power. Now he was trying to improve the plant load factor of various power plants in the State which had over the years declined considerably. By the end of next month 45 MW of additional power would be added to the system. The Chief Minister gave a long list of power projects, including the NTPC project at Faridabad and a number of liquid fuel-based plants all over the state under execution and those which would be taken up soon. It was because of the earlier government's inaction that the sixth unit of the thermal power plant at Panipat, which was started in 1989 and would have been completed at a cost of Rs 238.26 crore would now cost Rs 634 crore. He said a power purchase agreement had been reached with the oil refinery coming up at Panipat for making available 301 MW to the state by March 2001. The Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) would make available 30 MW of power to Haryana. Rebutting the criticism regarding excessive reliance on loans for power, the Chief Minister said that this was not a futile exercise. Loans were made available by the World Bank only to those institutions/states/countries which had credibility. Utilisation of the previous loan by Haryana had won the confidence of the World Bank which had declared that it was so very satisfied by the Haryana performance that it was quoting Haryana's example to other countries in power production. The Chief Minister also clarified that the State had to repay 70 per cent of the World Bank load received by it. The remaining 30 per cent would be paid by the Government of India. It was because of the satisfactory work done by Haryana that the next instalment of Rs 1000 crore would be coming soon. Replying to the specific criticism by Mr Virender Singh of the Congress, the Chief Minister assured the House that there would be no revision of power rates till the end of the year. The power cost in Haryana at present was Rs 3.06 per unit as compared Rs 2.99 in Punjab and Rs 3 in Delhi. Regarding criticism of poor growth of industry, the Chief Minister said first he had not invited industry to the state because power was not available to meet its needs adequately. In spite of this industry was coming. The reason was better law and order situation in the state as compared to many other states. The Chief Minister clarified that in spite of criticism of water not reaching the tailend in certain areas, six lakh acres of additional land had been brought under irrigation during the past two years. He said the Haryana Government had paid Rs 7.13 crore to the Punjab Government for repairs of the Bhakra canal to improve water supply to Haryana. He admitted that Haryana was receiving depleted supplies from Punjab. As against the excepted supply of 6772 cusecs from the Bhakra Main, Haryana was getting only 5700 cusecs. Similarly, the Narwana branch was supplying 3200 cusecs of water as against expected supply of 4022 cusecs. Replying to criticism of taxes imposed by his government to cover up the gap caused by prohibition soon after assumption of power, the Chief Minister said his government had received an additional revenue of Rs 177.41 crore during the past two years. This came by way of sales tax (Rs 102 crore), goods tax (Rs 5.64 crore), passenger tax (Rs 10.30 crore) royalty from mines (Rs 32 crore) and from other sources (Rs 27.38 crore). After a brief reply to the debate on the Budget estimates by the Finance Minister, Mr Charan Dass Shorewala, the House passed the Punjab Ayurvedic and Unani Practitioners (Haryana Amendment and Validation) Bill, 1998. Prof Sampat Singh (HLDR) and Mr Dharambir Gauba (Congress) opposed the Haryana Municipal (Amendment) Bill, 1998, introduced by the Local Government Minister, Dr Kamla Verma. The Opposition MLAs said the Bill would destroy the spirit of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment granting democracy to civic bodies. The Bill would vest in the bureaucracy the power to suspend elected representatives. Dr Verma said this power was being vested in the Director, Local Bodies, because there were serious charges against certain Presidents of civic bodies and the government was finding itself helpless. The House adopted the civic bodies Bill, the Haryana Rural Development (Amendment) Bill, 1998, and the Punjab Excise (Haryana Third Amendment) Bill, 1998, without any discussion and by voice vote. |
| HAU centre of excellence: VC Tribune News Service HISAR, July 27 — The Vice-Chancellor, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Prof J.B. Chowdhury, has claimed that after having implemented innovative schemes for the welfare of the farming community as also to accelerate its own mandatory activities, the university has emerged as a centre of excellence in the field of teaching, research and extension. The university has succeeded in reviving its past glory in academic and research spheres and the calm and harmonious atmosphere prevailing on the campus has inspired its teachers, scientists and other employees to devote themselves fully in their respective areas of work. Prof Chowdhury, who completed two years as Vice-Chancellor on July 25, said that recognition of this university at the national level as the best agricultural university was one of its most significant achievements. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) had bestowed it with the best institution award last year for its multi-faceted accomplishments. The academic and research pursuits had been provided a fresh impetus besides forging a close rapport with the faculty and student community of the university. As a result researches in agriculture and allied fields geared up in the areas of global concern. The emphasis, he said, had also been to meet the food requirement of the population that assumed the annual growth rate of 2 per cent. In the academic field, the measures introduced include admissions on the basis of entrance test in order to select talented students and the revision of course curricula in tune with the changed global scenario. Three new postgraduate courses, MBA (Agriculture Marketing), M.Sc. (Food Science and Technology) and M.Sc. (Fishery), were started recently to meet the needs of the future. Timely beginning of the academic calendar this year was significant. Priority had been given to device technology capable of containing the menace of waterlogging and soil salinity that the state had been reeling under for the last many years. Some success had been achieved in this direction and drives were being launched to educate the farmers about soil and water management. Developing hybrid and genetically engineered seeds of different crops as well as popularising integrated nutrient and insect-pest management among the farmers were another areas to which importance was being given. The university had so far evolved over 130 high-yielding and disease and pest-resistant crop varieties out of which over two dozen varieties had been developed and identified for release during the last two years alone. Talking about the commitment of the university to provide quality seed to the farmers, he said that the state government had provided 4,000 hectares of land to the university for seed. production. Earlier, the university had been producing nearly 1,000 quintals of breeders seed and 10,000 foundation seed besides supplying 50,000 disease-free seed of sugarcane to the farmers. Steps had been initiated for mobilisation of its resources to reduce its dependence on state funds. To bring efficiency in administrative matters, powers had been decentralised and transparency was being observed in all administrative affairs, the Vice-Chancellor said. |
| Farmers court arrest Tribune News Service CHANDIGARH, July 27 — The Haryana Krishak Samaj today rejected the committee set up by the Haryana Vidhan Sabha to go into the issue of suicide by farmers and farm labourers due to indebtedness. This was announced by the President of the samaj, Mr Shamsher Singh Surjewala, while addressing a large gathering of farmers who had come to stage a dharna outside the Vidhan Sabha here today. Mr Surjewala said the committee had been constituted to keep the issue lingering. He said a survey should be conducted by experts of Haryana Agriculture University to find out the exact number of farmers who had committed suicide following crop failure for successive three years. Claiming that about 20,000 farmers had committed suicide in the State, Mr Surjewala demanded a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to families of each such farmer. Demanding a reduction in interest rate on loans for agriculture sector to 6 per cent, Mr Surjewala said cooperative sector banks should not have the power to detain a defaulting farmer for 40 days. Similarly, nationalised banks should not have the authority to auction land holdings of defaulting farmers. The State Government should pay a compensation of Rs 5000 per acre for damaged crops. Those who sold spurious pesticides should be imprisoned for 10 years. Claiming that today's agitation had the blessings of Mrs Sonia Gandhi, Mr Surjewala appealed to the farmers to reach Delhi tomorrow in a large number to participate in an anti-government rally there. The samaj workers, who had gathered outside the Haryana Congress office in Sector 9, later proceeded towards the Vidhan Sabha. However, they were stopped by the police near the Punjab MLAs hostel, where they courted arrest. Among those who were arrested were Mr Surjewala, Mr Jagdish Nehra, Mr Tejinder Pal Mann, Mr Ran Singh Mann, all former Ministers; Mrs Kartar Devi, Deputy Leader of the Haryana Congress Legislature Party; Mr Dillu Ram and Mr Randeep Singh Surjewala, both MLAs; and Mr Bhalle Ram and Mr Ran Singh Beniwal, both former MLAs. |
| BJYM to blacken Coke hoardings BHIWANI, July 27 — Activists of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) will blacken the hoardings of Pepsi and Coke and burn effigies of US President Bill Clinton on the anniversary of the "Quit India" movement on August 9 against the US action of disallowing visa to nuclear scientist Chidambram and the ousting of 85 other Indian scientists from the USA. A resolution regarding this was passed unanimously at a meeting of the party's state working committee here yesterday. The meeting was presided over by Mr O.P. Grover, state BJP chief. The meeting was also attended by former state president of the BJYM Pradeep Jain and BJP state general secretary O.P. Dhankhad among others. Later, addressing a press conference at the local PWD Rest House, BJYM chief Dev Kumar Sharma and general secretary Sanjay Bhatia said the blackening the hoardings and burning of effigies would continue till August 15. Mr Bhatia said the meeting passed two more resolutions. The state and the Central Governments would be apprised of the unemployment issue. A resolution in this regard would be sent to the government to fill vacant posts in the state. He said student unions' elections should be held in the state so that problems of the students could be brought before the government effectively. The morcha would organise a training camp at Sohna in Gurgaon district in the first week of October. The press conference was attended by BJP district general secretary Rishi Prakash Sharma and vice-president Shambhu Dayal also. |
| Councillors take civic chief to task Tribune News Service FARIDABAD, July 27 — Mr B. Uma Shanker, new Commissioner of the Faridabad Municipal Corporation, was today taken to task at the general body meeting of the house for "ignoring" the councillors. Subedar Suman, Mayor, presided over the meeting. As soon as the house assembled it was stated that Mr Uma Shanker had refused to meet Mrs Sunita Prashar, a councillor, when she went to meet him in his chamber in connection with an important work. The issue of Mr Vinay Singh Yadav, Joint Commissioner of Ballabhgarh zone, was also raised for his "not meeting" Mrs Meera Goyal and Mr Ram Kumar Tewatia, two councillors. While Mr Uma Shanker had asked Mrs Prashar to come during the time fixed for meeting the councillors Mr Yadav is reported to have told Mrs Goyal and Mr Tewatia to wait outside his room. At this Subedar Sumar intervened to say that Mr Uma Shanker should ensure proper respect to the councillors who were the representatives of the people. A councillor who did not want to be identified said Mr Uma Shanker was so upset at his criticism that he even asked the house to pass a resolution seeking his transfer. The house again saw unruly scenes when the Commissioner introduced a number of proposals seeking increase in various levies. The councillors said as no earlier notice had been given to them the proposals could not be taken for consideration. It was decided to take up the matter tomorrow. 7789 vehicles impounded Tribune News Service CHANDIGARH, July 27 — Over one lakh cases were registered and 7789 vehicles were impounded during the 21 months of prohibition in Haryana. Giving this information to Capt Ajay Singh (Cong), the Haryana Home Minister, Mr Mani Ram Godara, said in the Vidhan Sabha today that the maximum number of cases (8627) were registered in Karnal district while the minimum number of cases (2271) was in Jhajjar district. Faridabad district topped the list of vehicles impounded by apprehending 727 vehicles, followed by Sirsa (724 vehicles) and Hisar (719 vehicles). The minimum number of vehicles (157) were seized in Kaithal district. The Excise and Taxation Minister, Mr Siri Krishan Dass, told Prof Sampat Singh (HLDR) that during the current financial year 1130 liquor vends were auction for Rs 491 crore and the total revenue from excise was expected to touch Rs 775 crore. The Industries Minister, Mr Shashi Pal Mehta informed Mr Sampat Singh that the number of industries in the State went up to 1.43 lakh on June 30, 1998, as against 1.32 lakh on March 31, 1996. Of these only 65,598 industries were running. As many as 105 industries closed during the last financial year while the others were closed in the previous years. In response to another question of Prof Sampat Singh the Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, said in the last financial year the HSEB supplied 5108 lakh metered units and 31,662 lakh unmetered units of power to tubewells. |
| Rs 50,000 robbed from petrol station From Our Correspondent REWARI, July 27 — Three armed youths looted Rs 50,000 at pistol point from a petrol station on the Rewari-Jhajjar road near Lisana village, 4 km from here, last evening. They fired one shot at cashier Lala Ram alias Amar Chand when he offered resistance. Later they decamped with the cash on their motor cycle before being overpowered by other employees of the petrol station. Lala Ram, who was injured seriously by the bullet which hit him on the cheek, has been admitted to the Batra hospital Delhi where his condition was stated to be critical. The police has registered a case of robbery and one under the Arms Act. It has also taken into its possession one country-made pistol which fell off from the hands of one of the assailants. This is the fourth incident of robbery during the past 30 months at the above petrol station, according to its owner Mr Mahavir Singh Yadav. Joint rally by 6 organisations From Our Correspondent FATEHABAD, July 27 — Six Left organisations held demonstration and organised a rally here today against "anti-people policies of the government". Workers of the Haryana Kisan Sabha, the Khet Majdoor Union, the Democratic Youth Federation, the Democratic Women Federation, the CITU and the Student Federation of India participated in a well-attended demonstration which started from the local Ambedkar Park. Shouting slogans against the government, workers of these six organisations marched to the Deputy Commissioner's office and presented a charter of 15 demands to him, which included a check on the inflation, unemployment and corruption. Earlier a rally was organised in Ambedkar Park which was addressed, among others by Mr Kishan Swarup, general secretary of the Haryana Kisan Sabha, Mr Prithvi Singh Gorakhpuria, a member of the state committee of the CPM, Mr Prabhat Singh of the CITU, Ms Bimla Choudhary of the Democratic Women Federation of India, Mr Pradeep Singh of the DYFI and Mr Ram Kumar Behbalpuria of the Khet Majdoor Union. |
| Senior Haryana officer gets 10
years for rape From Our Correspondent AMBALA, July 27 — The Sessions Judge, Mr A.S. Garg, today convicted a senior Haryana government officer on the charge of raping a girl. According to the public prosecutor, Mr R.R. Gupta, the complainant, a girl of Chandigarh, had alleged that she was raped by Vijay Kumar Mahajan, Additional Chief Architect in the Architecture Department, at a house in Panchkula on February 13, 1997. According to the police the accused had taken the girl on the pretext of showing her his residence and raped her there. Some employees of a government department who heard the screams of the girl informed the police who caught him red-handed. A case of rape was registered against him and he was medically examined. The police said the accused had promised the victim a job and was carrying the appointment letter in his pocket at the time of the crime. The Judge sentenced the accused to 10 years' imprisonment and a fine of Rs 30,000 which is to be paid to the victim. Life term for Nine From Our Correspondent AMBALA, July 27 — The Additional Sessions Judge, Mr B.M. Baggage, today sentenced nine persons to life imprisonment for murdering Mr Hassan Singh, a resident of Shakarpura village in Naraingarh sub-division in the district, on the night of June 18, 1994. The accused have also been fined Rs 2000 each. The prosecution submitted before the court that the accused, Baldev, Michha, Pala, Gurdayal, Jiram, Arjun and Ram Kumar, came to the house of the deceased and hit him with lathis. He was rushed to Civil Hospital from where he was referred to the PGI. He succumbed to his injuries. |
| Civic staff stage dharna From Our Correspondent YAMUNANAGAR, July 27 — The Nagarpalika Karamchari Sangh of Yamunanagar district has staged a dharna in front of Deputy Commissioner's office here today in protest against the non-implementation of the Fifth Pay Commission report. Mr Surinder Sharma, state vice-president of the Sangh while addressing hundreds of employees said that those employees who have completed four or five years of services had not been regularised. He alleged that number of office-bearers of the Sangh had been dismissed and lakhs of rupees in their provident fund accounts had not been deposited. Mr Sharma urged that their demands should be accepted otherwise they would be forced to launch an agitation. From Our Correspondent Varsity status for Kanya Gurukul likely From our Correspondent SONEPAT, July 27 — Kanya Gurukul would soon get the status of a university. This assurance was given by Mr Sahib Singh Verma, Chief Minister of Delhi, while speaking at a function organised in connection with the Bhagat Phool Singh's martyrdom at Khanpur Kalan village, about 30 km from here, yesterday. He said he would take up the matter with Union Human Resources Minister Murli Manohar Joshi, Haryana Chief Minister Bansi Lal and Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma and plead for sending the recommendations to the University Grants Commission (UGC) and converting the institution into a full-fledged university. Paying tributes to the martyr Bhagat Phool Singh, he said the proposed university would be named after him. Mr Verma urged the people to serve society by educating the illiterates. Kidnapped boys recovered, 2 held From Our Correspondent SONEPAT, July 27 — With the arrest of two persons, the police today claimed to have solved a case of kidnapping and recovered two boys — Ankur (13) and Anuj (7), both brothers — from Ramesh Nagar, Delhi. The boys were later handed over to their parents in Model Town. Superintendent of Police K. Selvraj, told mediapersons that the arrested persons have been identified as Rajoo, alias Prashant, son of Prem Singh Chhabra of Model Town, and Samsher Singh, a taxi driver. A Maruti van (DAE 3855) used in the crime, was also impounded by the police. He said the boys were allegedly kidnapped on July 23 by the accused when they came out from the school. The parents of the boys lodged a report of kidnapping with the police. At night a telephone call was received by the parents in which a demand of Rs 7 lakh as ransom was made. According to the SP, the police contacted the Delhi police and telephone calls were intercepted at Delhi and Sonepat, resulting in the tracing the kidnapped boys. |
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