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H A R Y A N A |  |
 Thursday, August 26, 1999 |
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Resentment over water
shortage |
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Manch
advocates poll boycott Mahapanchayat
to boycott poll Open
school exam results out New
name of KU opposed HVP
MLA backs Bhajan Lal Canal
embankment gap plugged |
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Resentment over water shortage FATEHABAD, Aug 25 — Resentment prevails among the residents of the local Model Town area over the insufficient supply of potable water in the area. Residents are also sore at the poor supply of piped water being supplied in the town. According to reports, the supply of piped water in Model Town, Masit Wali Gali and Inderpura is not up to the mark. The problem is acute in Model Town, one of the posh colonies of the town. The residents have been making representation to the authorities concerned but to no avail. The residents woes have increased instead. There are a number of private hospitals in the area and in the absence of proper supply of water, they are faced with a lot of problems. The poor quality of the potable water is also worrying the residents. The water being supplied in some of the areas is not clean and has a bit of colour. It is also foul smelling. The fear of water-borne diseases haunts the local residents. Their are already reports of some cases of diarrhoea in the local Inderpura area. Mr Joginder Singh, presided, Mr Sarbat Singh Poonia, Vice-President of the state unit of the union said that the government employees who had been victimised by the Bansi Lal Government had heaved a sigh of relief at his ouster. The employees had also welcomed the announcement of the Chief Minister, Mr Om Parkash Chautala, to withdraw all police and ESMA cases against the employees. But now, they said, the government had tried to delay the matter by setting up a committee for the same. He said that had created a lot of resentment among the employees. They said the employees would discuss the issue in a workers convention called in the municipal park Sonepat on August 29. The convention was called by the Haryana Employees Joint Action Committee. Fatehabad, it may be recalled had earlier also been in news due to supply of highly contaminated water. No efforts have been made in the past two years to improve the quality of water. The water channel that brings the water from the Fatehabad distributory to the water works has not been so far covered. Residents fear that if the authorities fail to take remedial steps, the town may witness the outbreak of any water-borne disease in the near future. SONEPAT: The Public Health Department has curtailed the supply of water to this city without giving any reason. Hitherto, the residents had been getting the water supply both in the morning and evening for 30 minutes to 45 minutes in rotation. But for the last five days, they were getting the water supply in the morning only. The sudden stoppage of water supply in the evening has created resentment among residents and they are contemplating to launch an agitation against the department. Official sources revealed that the water supply depended on the power supply and since the power supply has been erratic the smooth functioning of the tubewells at Murthal waterworks, the only source of water supply to the city, was seriously affected. Residents, by and large,
have been facing an acute shortage of water owing to
non-repairing of electric motors, inadequate power
supply, low voltage and receding water table. |
Sonia inexperienced, says
Chautala KAITHAL, Aug 25 — The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Parkash Chautala, today said by announcing that the post of the Prime Minister of the country will be brought under the purview of the Lok Pal Bill, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has proved his strong conviction to eradicate corruption. Mr Chautala was addressing an election meeting at Pai village in this district today in support of the INLD candidate, Ms Kailasho Saini, who is seeking election from the Kurukshetra Lok Sabha constituency. Mr Chautala claimed that the INLD-BJP alliance will sweep all 10 Lok Sabha seats in the coming elections. Overwhelmed by the turnout, Mr Chautala said that the response of the people was an indicator that his party's candidate will win with a comfortable margin. But at the same time he cautioned the people not to be misled by the opposition propaganda and not to believe the stability plank of the Congress. He said he had full faith in the wisdom of the electorate and was optimistic that they would vote judiciously and hand over the reigns of the country to the son of the soil, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, ignoring Mrs Sonia Gandhi, whom he called an inexperienced leader. Criticising Congress leaders Mr Bhajan Lal, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Birender Singh, he said they never wanted him to come to power, because they knew that if he came to power, the farmers will benefit a lot when he would raise the sugarcane price to Rs 100 per quintal, and implement the recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission and reinstate dismissed employees. The local MLA, Mr Ram
Pal Majra, INLD state secretary, Mr Ashok Jain and the
party's district unit president, Mr Lila Ram, were also
present. |
Voters of 15 villages to boycott poll AMBALA, Aug 25 (UNI) — Peeved about the ‘apathy’ of political parties towards development issues, 15 villages under the Ambala reserved parliamentary constituency in Haryana would boycott the Lok Sabha elections, their residents said today. Representatives of these villages, situated on the Barwala-Ambala road, told a press conference here that they were doing so to draw the attention the candidates of various political parties contesting the poll in the constituency, to their problems. Major grievance of the villagers was the condition of the Barwala-Ambala road which links their villages with these two main towns. The road, described as "deplorable" by them falls in the districts of Ambala and Panchkula. "Though the portion falling in Ambala is well maintained, a tract of 3 km from Barwala to Nayagaon in Panchkula district continues to be neglected. The road has developed big potholes making it unusable for vehicular traffic," they claimed. "We had filled up deep pits and potholes with stones after raising collective funds but these were washed away during the rains," they added. Residents of Raiwali,
Ghazipur, Nayagaon and other villages said Uttar Pradesh
Governor Suraj Bhan, who fought the November 1998 Lok
Sabha election as a BJP nominee, had promised repairing
the road, but nothing happened. "No leader from his
party ever visited our area. Even outgoing MP Aman Kumar
Nagra had never come to the villages during his
tenure," they added. |
Mahapanchayat to boycott poll SONEPAT, Aug 25 — The turnout at the mahapanchayat held at Mandora village about 20 km from here, yesterday, was unprecedented. Thousands of people hailing from nine villages — Mandora, Mandori, Kanwali, Turkpur, Nahra, Nahri, Chhatehra, Halalpur and Katlupur — participated in the mahapanchayat. Mr Dharam Singh, a former sarpanch of Mandora village presided. By a resolution, the mahapanchayat resolved to boycott the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in protest against the alleged indifferent attitude towards their long standing demands and problems by the political parties. The resolution also charged the MLAs and MPs of this region with ignoring the electorate after their victories in elections. Several members of the mahapanchayat alleged that the condition of the road leading from Kharkhauda town to Kanwali village had worsened and it had not been repaired for the past 15 years. This road had become unserviceable and during the rainy season the people cannot walk through the road because of potholes and slush everywhere. Similar is the condition of the link roads, and the officials agencies have ignored pleas to repair the road. The mahapanchayat also resolved that the construction of a bridge was started on the drain in 1977 but it had not been completed so far for want of funds. The farmers of the area have been facing great hardships for transporting their produce through this bridge. Many people also alleged
that their complaints made to the authorities concerned
in this regard have fallen on deaf ears. They defend the
call of boycotting the Lok Sabha elections and said that
there was no alternative for them to register their
protest on this issue. |
Manch advocates poll boycott MORNI, Aug 25 — While the poll wave sweeps the entire country and party workers dig themselves in their constituencies, Morni hills has a battle of a different kind on hand. Not only candidates of three political parties, the BJP, the Congress and the BSP are pitched against each other but the three are collectively pitted against a sole "candidate" — the Shivalik Vikas Manch — propagating the boycott of elections. The Manch, a local body formed to promote development work, has given the call to ensure that the government at the Centre sits up and takes notice of the people of these hills and steps in to resolve the issue of land which is being taken over by the Forest Department, which, they feel is unjustified, especially when cultivators have been tilling the same piece of land for generations which is their only means of subsistence. The general secretary of the organisation, Mr Ravi Sharma, says: "This is the easiest and most inexpensive way of putting across our disgust to the different political parties which have come to us with 'empty' promises. Election after election, these parties have betrayed our trust and forgotten us without a thought once the votes are cast. This time we will not fall into their trap. We will restrain people from voting in favour of anybody.'' Also, the organisation has made sub-committees of the locals to spread the word around and explain the reason behind the boycott call. These members have already started visiting houses of residents to convince them of the move. Dr Ramesh, a local practitioner, says: "There is nobody who can make me change my decision. I will not vote in favour of any candidate till I am heard and developmental works are carried out by the government.'' He is supported by, Mr Kesar Singh, a former sarpanch of a nearby village. He adds, "I will go by the consensus on the issue regardless of personal opinion. The community is strongly considering boycott and I am game for it if this can make a difference.'' There are others in Morni and the villages around who are not only opposing the boycott call vociferously but are also making no bones about their views on the Manch. This group is of the opinion that, a handful of people from the plains — 'neeche ke log' — are trying to control their lives and manoeuvring them for their own ends. With a tremor in his feeble voice, 85-year old, Mr Duni Chand, a former sarpanch says: "Whether the land issue is decided or not, I will go to vote and contribute my mite in bringing the candidate of my choice to power. The Manch is nobody to take away this right.'' Ganga Ram, a shopkeeper, opines. "Though some people have decided to boycott elections, the call is unlikely to be successful, especially as most of the office-bearers of the Manch are outsiders, and supporters of all candidates are trying to put up a united front in opposing them.'' A retired school teacher running a shop near the village square, Mr Ram Sharan, vehemently resists the move to boycott elections. He adds; "We have won freedom after giving our blood for the country. The right to exercise franchise has come with that. In spite of land-acquisition being our major issue, we will vote or else are bound to be thrown 10 years back for inviting the wrath of whoever forms the new government.'' Mrs Rekha Kanak, a member of the Zila Parishad, explains: "We have been demanding that the land be given to us but have not met any government in this regard. I have suggested to the people to cast vote to give themselves a platform to approach the party that comes to power or else we will be left all alone.'' Most youngsters, Pramod Kumar, Devinder Kumar, Rajinder Singh along with their "gang'' will all go to cast votes on September 5. "This problem has been there for over 40 years now and we have heard of people organising themselves to launch a protest and make a statement but it has all fallen on deaf ears. Not much will be achieved by the boycott but this is sure to alienate us. We are only a small fragment of a big Ambala constituency and our votes will hardly make a difference. So we may as well go and vote and prepare ourselves to approach the government to solve the land dispute with the Forest department soon after the elections.'' Morni hills has over
13,000 votes and is part of the Ambala constituency which
will witness a contest between Mr Aman Kumar Nagra,
(BSP), Mr Phool Chand Maulana, Congress, and Mr Rattan
Lal Kataria, BJP-INLD. |
Open school exam results out BHIWANI, Aug 25 — The result of secondary and senior secondary examination, June, 1999, of the Haryana Open School has been declared today. The Board Secretary, Mr Mansa Ram Sharma, told media persons here today that the result of secondary examination turned out to be 26.64 per cent. He informed that 7819 candidates appeared in this examination and 2083 candidates were declared successful. As many as 6089 male candidates appeared in the examination and 1564 were declared pass whereas 1730 female candidates appeared, 519 were declared pass. The result of the senior secondary examination turned out to be 13.04 per cent. He said 6403 candidates appeared in the examination and 835 candidates got through it. At least 4235 male candidates appeared in the examination and 490 were declared pass, on the other hand 2168 female candidates took the examination and 345 were successful. The Secretary said the
candidates who want to appear in December 1999
examinations, could send their forms by September 30,
without late fee. After this a late fee of Rs 200 would
be payable upto October 15. If forms were deposited one
month before the commencement of examinations, a late fee
of Rs 300 would be payable. He said candidates could know
about their results at the district level co-ordination
centres of the board. |
New name of KU opposed KURUKSHETRA, Aug 25 — Reacting against the renaming of Kurukshetra University as Shri Guru Gobind Singh Kurukshetra University, All India Aggarwal Sabha, President and former Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Banarsi Das Gupta said that the name of Kurukshetra University should not be changed. He said had Guru Gobind Singh's name attached to a new institution, it would have gained more respect and it was better than attaching it with the old name. Mr Gupta said Mr Bansi
Lal invited criticism from a particular community by
stopping the grant to the medical college at Agroha. On
the other hand he thanked Mr Om Parkash Chautala, Chief
Minister, for releasing the grant to the college. He said
according to the Medical Council of India norms, there
should have been four medical colleges in Haryana.
Demanding another medical college in Haryana, Mr Gupta
said that if the Chautala government opened a new medical
college in Haryana, that college could be named as Guru
Gobind Singh Medical College. |
HVP MLA backs Bhajan Lal PANIPAT, Aug 25 — The Haryana Vikas Party MLA from the Naultha assembly constituency, Mr Bijender Singh Kadian, who had been a minister in the Bansi Lal Cabinet, today announced his full support to the Congress candidate from the Karnal Lok Sabha seat, Mr Bhajan Lal. Mr Bijender Singh had convened a meeting of his supporters today at Israna before announcing his support to Mr Bhajan Lal and he sought their consent. At least 1000 workers present in the meeting raised their hands, in support of Mr Bhajan Lal. However, Mr Kadian made it clear that he was not joining the Congress. The support of Mr Kadian to the Congress will boost the election campaign of Bhajan Lal in Panipat district in general. The BJP-INLD candidate is likely to be affected. So far, Mr Satbir Malik, a former minister was the only prominent Congress leaders who has been campaigning in favour of Mr Bhajan Lal from this assembly segment. Similarly the general secretary of the Lok Dal (Ajit) Mr Hari Singh, and former director of Panipat Cooperative Sugar Mill, Maha Singh Kadian, have also joined the Congress and announced their support to Mr Bhajan Lal. Hundreds of workers of the Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha from the Naultha assembly segment along with district unit general secretary Mukesh Jaglan has joined the Congress. On the other hand, Mr
Sachdev Tyagi, the HVP leader and a former minister who
had represented the Samalkha assembly constituency in
1987 has joined the BJP. The District Unit general
secretary of the Haryana Vikas Party, Mr Sohan Lal Batla
has also joined the BJP. |
Canal embankment gap plugged SONEPAT, Aug 25 — Officials of the Rai Water Service Division of the Irrigation Department have plugged the gap in the embankment of the Delhi branch of the Western Yamuna Canal between Mehlana and Barwasni village near R.D. 215 and released the raw water to the biggest water treatment plant at Haidarpur in Delhi. According to official sources, the gap was the result of a cut made by the irate paddy growers who illegally diverted the canal water towards their fields for irrigation purposes. The fields of the paddy growers had started withering away due to scanty rainfall during the current monsoon season. The diversion of water had led to the scarcity of drinking water in many residential colonies of Delhi since this canal was the main water carrier to Delhi. Mr K.K. Lamba, Executive Engineer of the Department, who supervised the repair work at the site of the cut, told this correspondent here today that the department had already lodged an FIR with the police under the Canal Drainage Act against the farmers for illegally diverting the canal water. The police, has launched a manhunt to arrest farmers allegedly involved in illegal diversion of the canal water. Meanwhile, the farmers are agitated over the registration of the FIR against them by the authorities and said that there had been no rains and no irrigation facility so they had no alternative but to make a cut in the embankment. Leaders of various
farmers organisations today urged the state government to
order the withdrawal of the cases against the farmers and
sought compensation to those farmers whose crops had been
damaged by the canal water spread over in their fields.
They also threatened to launch an agitation if they were
not given compensation immediately. |
Kharga AWWA raising day AMBALA, Aug 25 — The raising day of Kharga AWWA was celebrated with gaiety at Kharga Auditorium on Aug 25. Lt-Gen G.S. Sihota, GOC, 2 Corps, was the chief guest. The president of the Kharga AWWA, Mrs Shivjot Sihota, presided over the function. The audience included civilians dignitaries of Ambala City who had responded to the Kargil cause by contributing generously in cash and kind. Mrs Sihota spoke about the progress made by ASHA, school for handicapped children being run under the aegis of Kharga AWWA. She also spoke about the contribution made by the Kharga AWWA to the Kargil cause and thanked all persons who had contributed in cash and kind. She also spoke about the progress made by ASHA, which was evident from the variety show put up by the children of ASHA. The GOC of 2 Corps while
acknowledging the strides made by the Kharga AWWA and
paid tributes to the excellent work done by Kharga AWWA,
particularly towards the cause of Kargil heroes. He also
presented a cheque of Rs 50,000 to ASHA. |
MDU staff seek action
against Tehsildar ROHTAK, Aug 25 — Non-teaching officers and employees of Maharshi Dayanand University today condemned the alleged manhandling of Mr N.K. Gautam, Assistant Registrar (General), by Mr Mahabir Singh, Tehsildar, on August 18. They alleged that the Tehsildar accompanied with some cops allegedly manhandled Mr Gautam and kept him in illegal confinement for more than one hour. The dispute is reported over room bookings in the faculty house. The agitated employees
demanded action against him. |
Akali Dal (Tohra) men receive
warning AMBALA, Aug 25 — Mr Kartar Singh Takkar, organising secretary of the All-India Shiromani Akali Dal (Tohra) said here today that disciplinary action would be taken against those activists who had been working for Congress and BJP candidates in Haryana. He said party president, Gurcharan Singh Tohra had taken a serious note of it that some workers of the party had been working for Congress candidate Bhajan Lal in Karnal. He said party workers
had been directed to support the BSP candidates
contesting from Ambala, Karnal and Mohindergarh
parliamentary constituency. Regarding the remaining
seats, the party would take the decision shortly, he
added. |
Revolt against council's chief KAITHAL, Aug 25 — As many as 19 members of the local Municipal Council have revolted against the council Chairman, Mr Amar Singh Shorewala. In a memorandum submitted to the Deputy Commissioner, Ms Jaiwant Sheokand, last evening the members said they had lost faith in Mr Shorewala. They demanded that a meeting should be called in order to elect a new chairman. The members also expressed resentment over the behaviour and working of Mr Shorewala. They claimed that they had the support of three other members. Meanwhile, the Deputy Commissioner has directed the City Magistrate, Mr Vivek Atrri, to look into the matter.
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Sonia to address two meetings CHANDIGARH, Aug 25 — The AICC President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, will address two public meetings at Kurukshetra and Faridabad in support of her party candidates on August 28. According to the Working
President of the Haryana Congress, Mr Harpal Singh, while
the Kurukshetra meeting will be held at 9.30 a.m. Mrs
Gandhi will address the Faridabad rally at 3.30 p.m. |
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