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H A R Y A N A |  |
 Sunday, August 15, 1999 |
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Triangular contests for 5
seats Complete SYL canal, says Chautala |
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Some
HVP(D) MLAs keen to join Cong Petty Officer Mahavir cremated HC assured of SHO's suspension R. S. Deswal joins Congress Life term for setting husband
ablaze 4 die in mishaps HVP receives setback Water scarcity in Sonepat as
reservoir bursts Ajay Chautala files nomination Speaker’s nephew cremated Civil Surgeon’s attitude
resented |
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Triangular contests for 5 seats CHANDIGARH, Aug 14 — Haryana is all set to have triangular contests in at least half of the 10 Lok Sabha seats. The remaining five will witness direct fights. Both the BJP and the INLD will contest five seats each. This new ruling coalition in Haryana which faced initial hiccups has sorted out the seat adjustment issue. The Chief Minister and the INLD President, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, has conceded Sonepat, a seat considered the party's stronghold to the BJP and instead the INLD would contest Rohtak, the bastion of Jat politics from where its candidates have lost three consecutive elections. Mr Chautala would not have accepted this position but to accommodate the BJP which has so far refused to join his ministry. This shows a degree of realism and adjustment. Mr Chautala knows that Lok Sabha members mean a real clout at not only at the national level, but also an advantage at the state level too. But he has conceded more than he wished. As the Congress is set to contest all the 10 seats, the Haryana Vikas Party and the Bahajun Samaj Party would seriously enter the fray from two seats each. In the rest of the six seats this would mean that this new political alliance would work to defeat the INLD and the BJP candidates. So four seats of Bhiwani, Ambala, Kurukshetra and Mahendergarh will witness triangular fights. From Bhiwani an HVP leader, Mr Surendra Singh, would meet the challenge from Mr Ajay Singh Chautala. In fact two future contestants for the Chief Ministership in some political reckoning would be there to test each other. Last time despite indirect support from the Congress leader, Mr Bhajan Lal to the INLD, Mr Surendra Singh had won this seat. Ambala would have the sitting member from the dissolved House, Mr Aman Kumar Nagra, to defend his seat with the help of the Haryana Vikas Party. The Congress is yet to decide its candidates from Bhiwani and Ambala and the BJP which has this seat in its share finds itself in a bind as the only senior leader who could fight well, Mr Suraj Bhan, is now the Governor of Uttar Pradesh. Last fortnight he had visited his old constituency twice to make an assessment in case he is chosen to contest. From Mahendergarh, the Congress had Rao Inderjit, the BJP has a new entrant to politics, Dr Sudha Yadav, widow of a BSF commandant who died recently in Kashmir fighting the militants, the BSP has an old politician, Mr Raghu Yadav, to fight this prestigious seat from Ahirwal. The BJP would depend heavily on the Kargil card to wrest this seat from Rao Inderjit Singh. Kurukshetra will see the INLD member of the dissolved House, Mrs Kailasho Saini, fight against both the Congress and the HVP. The renaming of Kurukshetra University to Guru Gobind Singh University before the elections by Mr Chautala with an eye on the Sikh votes has raised a storm. But he is unfazed as he has clearly worked the loss and the gain from such an announcement. The HVP may field Mr Ved Pal, a former Chairman of the Haryana Agriculture Marketing Board, instead of Kaka Jaswinder Singh Virk. The Congress has announced the candidature of a former minister, Mr Harpal Singh. For six other seats, the Congress will meet the challenge mainly from the INLD-BJP combine. These seats are Rohtak, Sonepat, Karnal, Sirsa, Hisar and Faridabad. Here how the HVP and the BSP voters behave would be interesting to watch. According to a strategy worked out jointly by a former Chief Minister and HVP leader, Mr Bansi Lal and the BSP President, Mr Kanshi Ram, the stress would be to defeat the BJP and the INLD. In fact a clear message to the BSP rank and file has already gone. But the HVP has as yet not clearly made up its mind as to see this become effective. The HVP would like to contest from two seats and not waste its energies elsewhere and see that the BJP and the INLD combination suffers. The idea is to concentrate on future state Assembly politics. Mr Chautala who is in
upbeat mood despite many tensions of the fledgling
government that he leads would answer back squarely all
his opponents and use his friends in other parties too.
His most prestigious contest will be from Rohtak —
one of the most sensitive two seats. The other is
Bhiwani. The BJP has largely to depend upon the Kargil
card and the help from Mr Chautala. Its own strength, is
indeed, limited. |
Complete SYL canal, says Chautala ROHTAK, Aug 14 — The Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, has described the construction of the SYL canal as a national issue and said the Centre should get it completed so as to provide water to the parched land in Haryana. He demanded that the river waters in the country should be nationalised to ensure equitable distribution of the canal waters among different states and proper harnessing for development of agriculture sector and power etc. The states, he said, could not construct dams as they were short of funds. Mr Chautala said he would meet his Punjab counterpart Parkash Singh Badal after the Lok Sabha elections to find out a tangible solution to the problem which had been hanging fire for past 18 years. If the two Chief Ministers failed to resolve the SYL issue amicably, the matter would be referred to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, he said. The Chief Minister told newsmen that his government would examine the merits and demerits of the electricity reforms introduced during the Bansi Lal regime. If these reforms were found to be consumer-friendly, the government would not hesitate to continue these. Mr Chautala said a high-power committee has been set up under the chairmanship of Finance Minister Sampat Singh to review the direct and indirect taxes levied in the wake of prohibition. He said representatives of trade and industry and officers connected with these departments were also members of this committee. He reiterated that the government would reinstate those employees who had been victimised by the Bansi Lal government for raising their demands in a democratic manner. The cases registered under ESMA against the employees and their leaders were also being withdrawn, he pointed out. Similarly, he said, the cases registered against the people for violating prohibitory orders were also being withdrawn. He said the employees retrenched by distilleries following imposition of prohibition need to be re-employed and the government would do its best in this regard. The Chief Minister justified the dismissal of the PGIMS Director, Dr D.S. Dubey, saying he was selected in an improper manner. Mr Chautala charged that
during the Bansi Lal regime decisions were taken on the
whims of the Chief Minister and corruption was rampant
during those days. He announced to investigate all such
cases of corruption. Action would be taken against those
who were found guilty, he added. |
STD racket worth crores
unearthed ROHTAK, Aug 14 — A major scam involving the alleged misuse of STD and ISD calls by some persons with the connivance of telecom officials here, running into several crores, has been unearthed here. The police has registered a case against some senior officials of the Telecom Department here and is investigating the matter. The irregularities in the functioning of the department were revealed after a preliminary inquiry conducted by the Intelligence Bureau and the vigilance cell of the Telecom Department. The matter came to light for the first time in January last when the vigilance cell of the Telecom Department conducted a raid in the electronic exchange here and found that STD and ISD calls were being illegally, resulting in a loss of crore. The authorities recently found that four local members installed in a house in Vikas Nagar locality here were being used for making STD and even overseas calls with the help of a secret code number (66), provided allegedly by telecom officials here. These telephone numbers or connections had been given under the OYT (own your telephone) scheme of the department. But it was that these numbers were allotted to fictitious persons at fake addresses. According to sources in the Telecom Department, the irregularities had been going on since 1996, when the electronic exchange was installed here. It is alleged that several influential persons, including some industrialists, had been provided with the secret code number for availing of the facility. As the code number got leaked to several persons, the matter came to the knowledge of senior officials in Delhi and Ambala. The above mentioned four numbers were released in March this year under the OYT scheme and were installed in the Vikas Nagar house, which reportedly belongs to a police official. It is also suspected that these numbers were being misused by foreign nationals who might be agents of the ISI of Pakistan. While the inmates of this house have absconded, the police has identified them. Normally, the telephone department does not allow more than one phone to an STD or PCO owner. The SSP, Mr P.K.
Agrawal, said that a case under Sections 124-A, 409,
120-B, 467 and 468 of the IPC has been registered against
certain officials of the Telecom Department here. Some
senior officials of the Telecom Department also visited
the exchange a couple of days ago to conduct a prove at
their level. |
Some HVP(D) MLAs keen to join
Cong GURGAON, Aug 14 — A section of the HVP(D) legislators, supporting the INLD government in Haryana, are contemplating joining the Congress. The move by about half a dozen of HVP(D) MLAs to join the Congress started a couple of days ago, especially after the INLD started making efforts for the merger of the HVP(D) with it. According to sources, some of the HVP(D) MLAs keen to join the Congress have already met senior leaders of the party, including the President of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda. A couple of HVP(D) leaders, including Rao Narbir Singh, a minister from Haryana, who are in the forefront in the efforts for merger with the INLD, have launched a move to persuade their party MLAs not to join the Congress. According to reports, the section in the HVP(D) keen to join the Congress has laid down the condition that they would go ahead with their move to join the Congress if the other section of the MLAs of their party joined the INLD. In other words, they have advocated status quo in the HVP(D) until the parliamentary election. A majority of the HVP(D) MLAs are said to be unhappy as they have been ignored in the government headed by Mr Om Prakash Chautala. They were expecting ministerial berths. The reason given by the Chief Minister, for excluding them is that he could not include all HVP(D) MLAs in the Council of Ministers as he was also facing pressure from his own party MLAs, but this has not cut much ice with them. The pulls and opposing demands from within the HVP(D) and the INLD for ministerial berths has forced the Chief Minister twice to shelve a Cabinet expansion. According to sources, the crisis managers of the government now do not want to take any chance and are in favour of expanding the Cabinet only after the move for the HVP(D)’s merger with the INLD comes through. They want to include as many HVP(D) MLAs in the effort as was possible. This would put the government on a safer footing even if some of its MLAs turn dissidents if they are not included in the expanded Cabinet. The crisis managers of the government are also said to have approached some Independents to persuade them to join the INLD along with the HVP(D) MLAs. Mr Chautala wants to
expand the Cabinet before the electioneering for the
parliamentary elections picks up momentum. |
Petty Officer Mahavir cremated ROHTAK, Aug 14 — The town has lost another brave son in the anti-insurgency operations in Kashmir. Petty Officer, Mahavir Singh of the Indian Navy, was killed while keeping a vigil on the sensitive Dal Lake in Srinagar on Wednesday. The body of the martyr was cremated with full military honours near Kamla Nagar locality today. The body of Mahavir Singh reached here at about 1 p.m., accompanied by senior officers of the Indian Navy. It was received by his family along with local residents. He is the first naval soldier from Haryana who laid his life in anti-terrorist operation in Kashmir. He was killed along with another soldier when the terrorists blasted their camp site. The Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala and the Urban Development Minister, Mr Dhirpal Singh, were among others who paid tributes and laid wreaths on the body. The deceased is survived
by his wife and two sons. |
HC assured of SHO's
suspension CHANDIGARH, Aug 14 — The Advocate-General of Haryana has assured the Punjab and Haryana High Court that it would place Mr Azad Singh Rathi, former SHO of the Jakhal police station near Tohana, under suspension forthwith. Giving this statement before Mr Justice T.H.B. Chalapathi, who was hearing a petition filed by Kailo Devi, who was alleged tortured and raped, the Advocate-General also told the court that a case would be registered against the police officials concerned. Mr Justice Chalapathi directed the Advocate-General to place on record the order of suspension of Mr Azad Singh and also a copy of the FIR registered against the guilty police officials. Earlier, the High Court had directed Mr K.C Sharma, Commissioner of Hisar Division, to conduct a fact-finding inquiry into the allegations levelled by the petitioner regarding her illegal detention, torture and molestation at the Jakhal police station. Mr Justice T.H.B. Chalapathi directed the SSP of Sangrur to register an FIR under Sections 342,323, 324, 302,34, 467, 468, 420 and 471, I.P.C. on the basis of statements made in the petition filed by Mr Jagan Nath of Patiala district against Sub-Inspector Nirbhai Singh, Head Constable Balvinder Singh and Constables Mohan Lal and Karaj Singh. The petitioner alleged that his brother, S.P.O. Balvinder Singh, was murdered by the accused on June 13, 1999. He claimed that his
informant had told him that Balvinder Singh was murdered
with police weapons after being tortured mentally and
physically in illegal confinement. |
R. S. Deswal joins Congress CHANDIGARH, Aug 14 — Mr Ranjit Singh Deswal, an activist of the Haryana Vikas Party and a resident of Dulehra in Jhajjar district, has resigned from the HVP and joined the Congress. Mr Ranjit Singh Deswal retired as Superintendent of Police from Kurukshetra in 1994 and had joined the Haryana Vikas Party. Mr Deswal met the
Haryana PCC Chief, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, today at his
Delhi residence and sought admission into the Congress. |
Life term for setting husband
ablaze SIRSA, Aug 14 — A woman who set her husband ablaze was sentenced to life imprisonment by the District and Sessions Judge, Ms Nirmala Yadav. According to the
information received today, Roshni, living at Gaushala
Road in the city, had set her sleeping husband, Gopi Ram,
ablaze on the night of April 27, 1998. He was burnt
seriously and died after 10 days. The reason behind this
incident was said to be Roshni's extra-marital
relationship. The Judge found her guilty and also imposed
a fine of Rs 500 on her or two months imprisonment in
lieu of it. |
4 die in mishaps HISAR, Aug 14 — Four persons, including a woman, were killed in different incidents in the district during the past 24 hours. One person was killed when a "peter rehra" collided with a Haryana Roadways bus in Mandi Adampur, 40 km from here, yesterday. The victim was identified as Sunil. Sunil, a student of the local Government College, was crushed to death by a bus near a bridge here yesterday when he slipped while boarding the bus. He died on the spot. Mamta, a housewife, died of burns at Indira Colony here. According to sources, she poured kerosene on her body and allegedly set herself on fire. In another incident,
Madan (40) died when he was hit by a train here
yesterday. |
HVP receives setback HISAR, Aug 14 — The Haryana Vikas Party (HVP) received a setback when several of its office-bearers announced their decision to resign from the party and joined the Congress along with their supporters. Those who joined the Congress included Mr Dharam Pal Siwach, in charge, HVP election office, Adampur, Mr Bal Krishan Bajan, spokesman district unit of the HVP, Mr Ramesh Dhull, President, HVP, Hansi constituency, Mr Ram Kishan Bhankhur, district President, Harijan cell, HVP, Ms Bimla Sharma, state women President of Samajwadi Labour Party, Dr Raj Kumar Dindia, state President of Haryana Yuva Saini Sabha, Mr Sewa Ram, member Saini Sabha, Mr Umed Namberdar, member state executive, HVP, Mr Rajesh Jain, member Beopar call. Ms Shalini Atri, member, state executive committee of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee, said in a statement issued here today that they joined the Congress at a public meeting held at Adampur. Mr Bhajan Lal, former
Chief Minister of Haryana, has welcomed their entry into
the Congress. |
Water scarcity in Sonepat as SONEPAT, Aug 14 — The entire town having a population of nearly two lakh remained waterless last evening following bursting of the main reservoir near the Murthal adda. A number of people, particularly women, were seen carrying pitchers on heads and fetching water from distant places. Since the onset of the summer season this year, residents of the town have been experiencing acute water scarcity. Residents pointed out that the local water reservoir was built at a time when the town had a population of 35,000. Mr K.K. Sharma, president of the local citizens Council, today blamed the Superintending Engineer of the Public Health Department for ignoring the public complaints about the inadequate and erratic water supply. In a press statement, he asked the authorities concerned to visit the interiors to know the truth. Meanwhile,
representatives of various political, social, religious
and voluntary organisations held a joint meeting here
today and adopted a resolution protesting against the
inadequate and erratic water supply demanded stern action
against the officials found responsible for the water
crisis. |
Ajay Chautala files
nomination CHANDIGARH, Aug 14 — Mr Ajay Singh Chautala, son of Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, was among three candidates who filed their nomination papers for the September 5 parliamentary poll in Haryana today, taking the nomination tally to 10. Mr Ajay Singh filed his papers as an Indian National Lok Dal nominee from the Bhiwani Lok Sabha constituency. Mr Hari Parkash
submitted his papers as a Socialists Unity Centre of
India (SCUI) candidate from Sonepat and Mr Suraj Mal
Hooda filed his papers as the BJP candidate from the
Rohtak constituency. |
Speaker’s nephew cremated KURUKSHETRA, Aug 14 — The Haryana Vidhan Sabha Speaker, Mr Ashok Kumar Arora’s nephew Sandeep (18) died at the PGI, Chandigarh, last midnight. He was brought here after he had consumed sulpha tablets. He was cremated at "Praachiaan" cremation ground here today. The moment the family members came to know about the incident, they rushed him to the local nursing home where he was given necessary treatment by senior doctors, Dr A C Nagpal and Dr H K Sobti. However, Sandeep was shifted to the PGI, Chandigarh, under doctors’ care. Although he got all necessary treatment, yet he could not be saved in spite of the best efforts of the doctors there. He breathed his last at around 2.30 a.m. today. Sandeep, the only son of his parents, is survived by a younger sister and widow mother. Sandeep’s father had died two years ago. A large number of people
hailing from different strata of society joined the
funeral procession which was among others attended by Mr
Bhim Sain Mehta, state Minister, Haryana, Mr Shashipal
Mehta, former Industries Minister, Haryana, Mr Mohinder
Singh Chattha, former minister, Mr Jaswinder Singh, Chief
Parliamentary Secretary, Haryana, Ms Kailasho Saini, MP
of the dissolved Parliament, Mr Gurdyal Singh Saini,
former MP, Dr M L Ranga, Vice-Chancellor, Kurukshetra
University and Mr Subhash Sudha, Chairman, Municipal
Council, Thanesar. |
Civil Surgeon’s attitude
resented FATEHABAD, Aug 14 — The Haryana State Fourth Class Government Employees Union has resented the alleged indifferent attitude of the Civil Surgeon towards the problems of the Class IV staff of the Health Department. A meeting of the district unit of the union was held here today. Mr Ramesh Sharma, President, and Mr Verender Singh Rawat, Secretary of the district unit of union, were present. Later talking to mediapersons, Mr Rawat alleged that the Civil Surgeon had not implemented the accord reached with the agitating Class IV employees on March 31, 1999. He added that the Civil Surgeon had been adopting delaying tactics because she was due to retire after sometime. Mr Rawat said the
employees might proceed on mass casual leave in case the
attitude of the authorities remained unchanged. |
One files papers for Sonepat
seat SONEPAT, Aug 14 — Mr Hari Parkash, a leader of the SUCI, today filed his nomination papers for contesting the Sonepat Lok Sabha seat. Today was the third day
for filing the nominations. |
'Kalandars' to hold demonstration FARIDABAD, Aug 14 — Hundreds of "kalandars" who earn their livelihood by making bears and monkeys dance will hold a demonstration outside the Prime Minister’s residence in Delhi on September 1 to protest against impounding of a bear at the instance of an organisation headed by the Union Minister Ms Maneka Gandhi. This decision was taken at a panchayat of "kalandars" drawn from various states at Runhera village near here yesterday. Mr Dhirendra Pratap, President of the panchayat, presided. It was called after a Munna bear, Munna, was forcibly taken away by the volunteers of the organisation and lodged at the Delhi Zoo on August 5. The panchayat also
decided to send volunteers to Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh
to campaign against Ms Gandhi from where she is seeking a
re-election to the Lok Sabha. |
Mujedi plant to start by Sept FARIDABAD, Aug 14 — Work on the second 140 MW unit of the gas based power plant coming up at Mujedi near here is going on a war footing. The engineers of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) who are executing the project in collaboration with German engineers are confident of commissioning the unit by the end of next month. The first gas unit of the project which was synchronised in June is generating between 140 MW and 142 MW of power daily which is being supplied to the Haryana grid through the Samaipur substation of the Power Grid Corporation of India. NTPC sources said the oil flushing of the pipeline of the second unit and the turbine insulation had been done. The bypass stack (chimney) had also been installed. The foundation of the
third 146 MW unit which will run on steam had been laid
and the erection of the boiler is in an advanced stage.
It will be commissioned by August next year. |
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