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H A R Y A N A |  |
 Sunday, August 29, 1999 |
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Sonia’s copter lands
at wrong place |
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CM
garners support for Sudha Yadav
Levy exemption for
‘Satthi’ variety of paddy Family robbed of cash, jewellery BKU seeks Rs 5,000 relief for
farmers Residents sore over power shortage |
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Sonia’s copter lands at wrong
place KURUKSHETRA, Aug 28 — The Intelligence agencies of Haryana and state police today committed blunder regarding the landing of the Congress President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s helicopter in Kurukshetra today who had come to address an election rally. Highly placed sources told TNS that the district administration had prepared a helipad for the helicopters landing in the Kurukshetra Police Lines. But both the security helicopter of Mrs Sonia Gandhi and another which was carrying her and Rahul Gandhi landed in the University Sports Grounds at 10.40 a.m. Interestingly and to the utter surprise of Mrs Sonia Gandhi there was none from the district administration to receive her there. Not even a constable of the Haryana police was present what to talk of the Deputy Commissioner or the district police chief was near the landing site. There was no Congressman to greet her as all were waiting for her in the police lines. Though there was a police post near the youth hostel which is at a stones throw from the landing site but there were no cops there as all were away on security duty. When Mrs Gandhi's helicopter landed along with the security helicopter students of the university gathered there to have a closer look at her and she waived at them. Mrs Gandhi was non-plussed and she inquired about a toilet. She was taken to the office of the Director of Sports where she rested for about 10 minutes. It was then that the message was flashed that Mrs Gandhi's helicopter was to land at the Police Lines helipad. The two helicopters took of again and landed at the Police Lines helipad. This serious security
lapse reportedly occurred because the SPG security had no
prior information about the landing. Even the
Vice-Chancellor and other senior officers were unaware
that she had landed at the varsity grounds and was
resting there. Congressmen here expressed strong
resentment over the lapse and maintained that
"anything could have happened to her if some
undesirable elements had been around." How come that
such a serious lapse has happened especially when there
are reports of human bombs in Haryana?. Only yesterday
the Haryana DGP, Mr A.S. Bhatotia, had claimed that human
bombs planning to kill Mrs Gandhi had been identified by
the Haryana police. |
BJP capitalising on Kargil
martyr GURGAON, Aug 28 — To garner sympathetic response from the electorate, the BJP-INLD combine has come out with posters depicting its nominee, for the Mahendergarh parliamentary constituency, Mrs Sudha Yadav, with her husband, a war hero, Mr Sukhvir Singh Yadav, in the background. Mr Sukhvir Singh Yadav, a Deputy Commandant with the Border Security Force, had lost his life in the Kargil conflict. The BJP, contesting the Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the INLD, chose to field a relative of the Kargil martyr in a parliamentary constituency in the country. The choice naturally was Mahendergarh, which has large chunk of ex-servicemen and those serving in the Indian force. Significantly, the poster portrays the war hero in his uniform, including his name plate. Also, the posters portraying Mr Sukhvir Singh Yadav has pictures of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal besides Mrs Sudha Yadav. The posters have invited frowns from the Congress circles in the midst of clarification by the Election Commission that the armed force should not be dragged in the political debates. Meanwhile, the BJP-INLD and the Congress have stepped up their campaigning. While the Chief Minister of Haryana, is the star campaigner for the BJP nominee, former Chief Minister of the State, Rao Birender Singh, is on door to door visits, apart from addressing meetings in villages to canvass support for his son and Congress nominee, Rao Inderjit Singh. As part of a strategy,
the Congress is maintaining that the BJP nominee was no
match to its candidate. On the other hand, the BJP-INLD
are trying to sell the idea that the contest was between
feudalism and proletariatism as Rao Inderjit Singh has
royal lineage. |
Flyover on cards to ease Panipat PANIPAT, Aug 28 — The National Highway No. 1 which passes through the middle of Panipat town faces frequent traffic jams mainly in a 4-km stretch within the municipal limits of the town. Many reasons are attributed to this inconvenience. The first and foremost being the unplanned and irregular manning of the traffic crossings. The traffic lights on most of the traffic crossings are non-functional and these are manned by the traffic police with the help of home guard volunteers. But due to reported shortage of traffic police staff, these crossings are left unmanned leaving the traffic to the will of drivers. Another important reason is the growing tendency among residents to block the highway while registering their protest against the government authorities. Besides the service-lanes on both sides of the highway which are supposed to be used by three-wheelers, rickshaw-pullers, mule or pneumatic carts, cyclists have become unauthorised parking places for the vehicles. The service-lane in front of the local police station is also not spared from unauthorised parking. Many traffic crossing points and places in front of the local bus stand are being used by the roadways buses and unauthorised vehicles as stops for picking up passengers. The vehicles remain parked till the vehicle is full of passengers without caring for the highway traffic. The encroachments of service-lanes by shopkeepers and rehriwallas have also added to the traffic problems. For want of repairs, the service lanes are in a dilapidated condition and at many places unfit for use. On the instructions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the district administration has tried to remove illegal encroachments from these lanes, but this exercise has not proved successful as the people have again encroached upon the places from where these were removed. Worried about this growing menace of traffic-jams and increasing ratio of vehicular traffic, the government has formulated a plan to construct a 7-km flyover across the National Highway within the municipal limits of the town. It is learnt from
official sources that the flyover project has been
cleared by the National Capital Region (NCR) authorities
and work on this project is likely to commence soon. |
CM garners support for
Sudha Yadav NARNAUL, Aug 28 — The Haryana Chief Minister and President of the Indian National Lok Dal, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, today said the position of the 10 INLD-BJP combine candidates was strong enough in the State. Mr Chautala was addressing an election rally at Nangal Chaudhary in Mahendragarh district today. He said the BJP had honoured the martyrs by giving party ticket to Dr Sudha Yadav, widow of BSF Deputy Commandant, Sukhbir Singh Yadav. He said it was our duty to give full honour to the families of martyrs and appealed the people to strengthen the hands of experienced and true son of soil, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee by electing Dr Sudha Yadav. He said a large number of sons of Haryana had sacrificed their lives while defending frontiers of the country. He said arrangements had been made to ensure free and fair poll in the state and asked the people to exercise their franchise without any fear. He further said effective steps were being taken to improve the law and order situation in the State. He said he was fully aware of the problems of the people of the Ahirwal area and would make efforts to mitigate all these problems on priority basis. The state Revenue
Minister, Mr Kailash Chander Sharma, and the BJP-INLD
combine candidate Dr Sudha Yadav, also addressed the
rally. |
Cong will win 8 out of 10
seats: ex-MP SONEPAT, Aug 28 — Mr Chiranji Lal Sharma, Congress leader and former MP, predicted here today that the Congress would win eight out of 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state as people of the state had made up their minds to reject the Indian national Lok Dal-BJP alliance which, he said, had been forged with the sole aim of grabbing power. Talking to mediapersons, he also claimed that a strong pro-Congress wave was sweeping the region especially after the election rallies addressed by the AICC President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi. He also said he had toured over 200 villages and the voters had promised to vote in favour of the Congress as it was the only party that could provide a stable government at the Centre. Mr Sharma alleged that the official machinery was being misused by the ruling INLD-BJP alliance leaders particularly by the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, in the elections. Mr Dev Raj Diwan,
independent MLA and associate member of the Congress, who
also attended the press conference, announced that he
along with his supporter would support the Congress
candidate Mr Sharma in the elections. He accused the
INLD-BJP alliance of creating a rift among people on the
basis of caste and religion for political gains. |
BSP to support Cong
candidate HISAR, Aug 28 — The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has decided to support Mr Birender Singh, a Congress party candidate from the Hisar Parliamentary seat, in the forthcoming election. This was announced here today by Mr Sukh Dev Igrah, president of the Hisar Mandal of the party, at a press conference. He disclosed that in the
larger interest of the Dalits, the party high command had
decided to support Congress nominees in those
constituencies where the BSP was not in the fray.
Criticising the BJP, he said it represented the communal
forces and the BSP had decided to support the Congress
only for defeating such forces. |
Haryana Cong men seek apology CHANDIGARH, Aug 28 — Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Mr Harpal Singh, President and Working President, respectively of the Haryana Pradesh Congress (I) Committee, and Mr Kartar Devi, acting leader of the Haryana Congress Legislature Party, have flayed the Information and Broadcasting Minister, Mr Pramod Mahajan for equating the Congress chief, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, with Ms Monica Lewinsky of the USA. The Haryana Congress leaders in a statement, said the outburst of Mr Mahajan against the President of the Indian National Congress showed the depth of irresponsibility and hatred Mr Mahajan had got for womanhood. Before making such serious unsavoury remarks against Mrs Gandhi, Mr Mahajan should have thought about the honour Indians, attached to the womenfolk. The Haryana Congress leaders demanded an unconditional apology from Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee for the "most unbecoming outburst" of the minister against the Congress president, and Mr Mahajan’s sack. The Haryana PCC has
directed all party units in the state to lodge a protest
against the "uncalled for" outburst of Mr
Mahajan and organise rallies and burn his effigies to
register the party's unflinching faith and confidence in
Mrs Gandhi’s leadership. |
‘Shotgun’ fires salvo at Cong HISAR, Aug 28 — Cine star and Rajya Sabha MP Shatrughan Sinha today appealed to the people to thwart the designs of the Congress, which he alleged, was trying to grab power in the name of stable and clean government. He cautioned the people not to be misled this time and appealed them to vote for the INLD-BJP combine candidate Mr Surender Singh Barwala from Hisar Lok Sabha constituency. Addressing an election rally Sinha made scathing attack on the political parties, especially the Congress, for bringing down the BJP-lead coalition government at the Centre without bringing forward any alternative. Speaking in Bihari, he described Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav as "Apan Lalua" and lambasted him for bringing down the democratically elected government led by Mr Vajpayee. Flaying the party for "begging" votes in the name of stability, the star-turned-politician questioned Congress’ achievements during its over four-decade-long rule in the country". Clad in a cream-coloured kurta pyjama, "Bihari Babu" as he is fondly known, Sinha read out a couplet in his filmi style, attracting cheers from the crowd. For once, it was
free-for-all as soon as the Bollywood veteran alighted
from the car. The policemen, on duty had a hard time
trying to control the crowd. Finally, he had to cut short
his 15-minute speech with "Bharat Mata ki jai, Jai
Bharat, Jai Haryana and Jai Bihar." |
Rajesh Khanna to address rally
today ROHTAK, Aug 28 — Cine star and former MP, Rajesh Khanna will address a public meeting at Rohtak, tomorrow morning, in support of the Congress candidate, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Party sources said the star would be addressing an election meeting for the first time in favour of a Congress candidate in the State. The public meeting will
be held at Gandhi Nagar (camp) at 9.30 a.m. |
21 to be punished for
abstaining from HISAR, Aug 28 — The district administration has decided to take action against 21 officers and employees under Section 134 of the Election Code for abstaining from election duty. According to the Deputy Commissioner and Returning Officer (RO) for the Hisar Parliamentary seat, Mr Aproov Kumar Singh, here today the officials and employees were absent at the time of election rehearsal which was conducted on August 24 in the auditorium of Haryana Agricultural University here. Mr Singh also warned the officials and employees connected with election duty that strict action would be taken if they failed to report on election duty. Keeping in view of the shortage of water, the Deputy Commissioner promulgated prohibitory orders under Section 144 around canals and mines with immediate effect. According to the order, no person or vehicle will be allowed to use the way along the canal. He also ordered that all
wine shops in the district would remained closed from
September 3 to 5 and from October 5 to 7 in view of the
conducting and counting in the election peacefully. |
Shatrughan fails to turn up SONEPAT, Aug 28 — The BJP candidate, Mr Kishan Singh Sangwan, had to cancel an election meeting at Tajpur village, about 15 km from here, yesterday following the failure of the noted cine star Shatrughan Sinha and the leader of the BJP Legislature Party in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, Prof Ram Bilas Sharma, to turn up there. According to party
sources, a helicopter carrying both of them developed a
fault because of which they could not reach the venue on
time. |
Levy exemption for
‘Satthi’ variety of paddy CHANDIGARH, Aug 28 — The Union Food Secretary, Mr M.D. Asthana, told newsmen here this morning after a meeting with the Haryana officers, that the early varieties of paddy called "Satthi" would be exempted from the provision of levy. Millers, he said, were free to produce rice of this quality and sell it anywhere in the country. The condition of 75 per cent obligation applicable to the millers would not be made applicable. Mr Asthana said that the Haryana procurement agencies that had purchased paddy at the minimum support price last year and the stocks had been damaged due to untimely rain and the millers who could not produce rice as per the specifications set by the Government of India had now been allowed to dispose of these stocks in the open market at their cost. The price of levy rice and the price of custom-milled rice would certainly be announced by September 15, he added. The minimum support
price of the common variety of paddy had been fixed at Rs
490 a quintal and that of grade A variety at Rs 520 a
quintal. |
Family robbed of cash,
jewellery PANIPAT, Aug 28 — Three robbers struck at the residence of Ishwar Jain of Indira Vihar Colony and looted Rs 12,000 and seven tola gold ornaments. Before decamping with looted property, they shot at him and injuring him seriously. According to information, they entered into the house of Ishwar Jain in local Indira Vihar Colony around 2 am today. They tried to remove ear rings from ears of a daughter of Ishwar Lal. When Ishwar Jain challenged them they shot at him. After committing the robbery, they escaped. He was admitted to the local civil hospital and then shifted to the Rohtak institute. The police has
registered a case. Meantime, the police claims to have
succeeded in arresting two suspects — Ramnik and
Ramesh who were reportedly involved in criminal assault
on the owner of a gym club, Naresh Malik, resident of the
local HUDA colony. |
BKU seeks Rs 5,000 relief
for farmers SONEPAT, Aug 28 — The Haryana unit of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) today expressed concern over the huge losses to the standing kharif crops, particularly paddy, on account of the scanty rainfall during the monsoon and erratic power supply for running the tubewells in the state and urged the state government to grant a compensation of Rs 5,000 per acre to the effected farmers. In a signed press statement, Mr Braham Singh Dahiya, Vice-President of the BKU, Haryana unit, also demanded that the entire district should be declared "drought hit" and a fresh survey should be conducted to assess the losses suffered by the farmers on account of the drought conditions prevailing in the state. He said the lack of
monsoon rains this year had resulted in the loss of 50
per cent in the production of paddy. Crops of jowar,
fodder and sugarcane had been damaged to some extent, he
added. |
Residents sore over power shortage SONEPAT, Aug 28 — Resentment prevails among residents of Ganaur and Gohana over the failure of the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam to maintain regular power supply to these towns. They alleged that the authorities concerned had failed to take steps for ensuring a regular power supply. Representatives of
various political parties, social, religious and
voluntary organisations and trade unions held a joint
meeting here today to register their protest against the
erratic power supply and unscheduled power cuts in the
city. They decided to apprise the Chief Minister, Mr Om
Prakash Chautala, about the deteriorating power and water
supply situation on his scheduled visit to the city on
September 2. |
DEO passes away YAMUNANAGAR, Aug 28---The District Education Officer (DEO), Mr Sriniwas Sharma, died following a cardiac arrest here today. Mr Sharma, who was to retire on August 31 this year had gone to Mustafabad in the district on election duty. His body was sent to his native village after a post-mortem. Mr Sharma, who belongs to Rohtak, was posted at Yamunanagar as DEO on December 30, 1997. He had joined the profession as a teacher in 1964. He has left behind his wife and five daughters. A 'shardhanjli samaroh'
was held at a school in Govindpuri, which was largely
attended by officers, teachers and senior citizens of the
district. |
Race in Haryana is ‘for
margin’ CHANDIGARH, Aug 28 — The Haryana Chief Minister and President of the Indian National Lok Dal, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, said today the position of all 10 INLD and Bharatiya Janata Party candidates was strong in Haryana and the only race within the party candidates was for the margin of winning votes. Mr Chautala was addressing a public meeting at Nangal Chaudhary in Mahendragarh district today. He said the BJP had honoured the martyrs by giving the party ticket to Dr Sudha Yadav, widow of martyr BSF, Deputy Commandant, the late Sukhbir Singh Yadav. "It was our duty to give full honour to the families of martyrs who laid down their lives while defending frontiers of the country and appealed to the people to strengthen the hands of experienced and a true son of soil the Prime Minister, Mr Vajpayee, by electing Dr Sudha Yadav with a thumping majority. A large number of war
heroes of Haryana, Mr Chautala said had sacrificed their
lives for attaining Independence and defending its
frontiers. The number of martyrs from Haryana in
Operation Vijay was the highest as compared to other
states and the martyrs of southern Haryana called
'Ahirwal' played a vital role in the 'Kargil victory'. |
Lawyers' stir continues FATEHABAD, Aug 28 — The agitation by members of the District Bar Association for setting up of district courts here entered its 39th day today. Five lawyers — Mr H.S. Bishnoi, Mr Rajinder Goyal, Mr Prem Singh Sokhal, Mr Madan Lal Garg and Mr Surinder Sharma — sat on the dharna today. A number of
organisations have expressed their support for the
agitating lawyers. The lawyers said their agitation would
continue till their demand was accepted. |
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