Ambala Chandigarh Panipat Rohtak Hisar Kaithal Kurukshetra

Recurring problem at MDU
ROHTAK, July 18 — Inordinate delay in the disbursement of salary among staff members appears to have become a regular feature of Maharshi Dayanand University.

Petition filed against HVPN
HISAR, July 18 — Five prominent lawyers of the city yesterday filed a petition in the court of Mr Virender Malik, against the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam for its failure to provide round-the-clock-power supply.

Teachers to go on strike today
HISAR, July 18 — Teachers of HAU here will be on strike tomorrow to protest against the non-implementation of the revised pay scales as per the recommendations of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research.

Cong aggressive on Kargil issue
KAITHAL, July 18 — Former Foreign Minister and senior Congress leader Natwar Singh said here today that his party was ready to accept the BJP challenge of making the Kargil conflict an election issue.

25 hurt in bus accident
KURUKSHETRA, July 18 — Twentyfive persons were injured, two of them seriously, when a Haryana Roadways bus of Chandigarh depot coming from Ambala and D.T.C. bus coming from the opposite direction collided on G.T. Road near village Ramgarh, 8 km from here today.

Congress may bail out Bansi: Chautala
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 18 — The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has welcomed the Haryana Governor's directive to the Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal to prove his majority on the floor of the House on July 21.

In a statement issued here today the party president, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, said the Governor had taken a very mature and wise decision which was in accordance with the highest constitutional and democratic traditions.

Talking to TNS on the telephone yesterday, Mr Chautala, said there was every possibility of the Congress again bailing out the government in the eventuality of trial strength by the government.The withdrawal of support by the Congress to the government was merely a facade to mislead the people, he added.

On June 25 the Congress had supported the motion of confidence moved by the Bansi Lal government after the BJP withdrew support to it.However, later the Congress withdrew the support from the government on the charge that the Chief Minister did not abide by the suggestion of its president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi to dissolve the assembly. Consequently the government came into minority.

To bolster his argument of a possible patch up between Mr Bansi Lal and the Congress, Mr Chautala referred to the letter submitted by the president of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC), Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, to the Governor regarding his party’s withdrawal of support to the government. Mr Chautala pointed out that the Congress had specified in the letter that it would review its stand in case if any government was imposed on the people of the state.

According to observers,the bogey of coming together of the Congress and Mr Bansi Lal raised by Mr Chautala was a shrewd move to keep alive the bitterness between them even in the eventuality of the INLD and the BJP attempting to form a government in case it did not survive the trial of strength. Mr Chautala was convinced that the government could survive only with the support of the Congress.

Launching a attack on the Congress, Mr Chautala singled out Mrs Sonia Gandhi and Mr Hooda for his vitriolics. He alleged that Mr Hooda was instrumental in forcing the Congress to support the motion of confidence of the government in spite of the wishes of his party MLAs. "Mr Hooda has shown his gratitude to Mr Bansi Lal for the government machinery playing a pro-active role to get him elected from the Rohtak Lok Sabha seat in the last parliamentary elections."

He further said: "The fact that the court declared my party nominee elected from Gharonda assembly constituency confirms the charge that the Bansi Lal government had tampered with the electoral process to the detriment of my party."

He added that his party was ready to face any eventuality.

Recurring problem at MDU
From Vipin Sharma

ROHTAK, July 18 — Inordinate delay in the disbursement of salary among staff members appears to have become a regular feature of Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU).

The problem started in the last financial year when the government withheld the grant amounting to Rs 3.5 crore of the last quarter (January, February and March '99) of the financial year. This grant was due to be released latest by March 31, otherwise it would be lapsed. The university authorities and the staff desperately waited till midnight on the stipulated date for the release of the grant. Consequently, the university administration had to raise a bank loan to pay salary to its employees for the month of March paid in April.

The grant was not released in May also and the university authorities were made to depend on the sale of admission forms for B.Ed, MBA etc to disburse salaries.

The grant of Rs 1.5 crore for paying salary to the staff for the month of May was released late in June by the government. In view of the "indifferent" attitude of the government regarding the release of the grant, the uncertainty about the payment of salary for the next month continued among the staff. Proving true to their apprehension, the grant was released very late in July. Besides, it was to take nearly one week more for the completion of all formalities before the disbursement of salaries. The university administration again decided to raise a bank loan of Rs 1.5 crore for the payment of salary for the month of June (paid in July) to avoid "excessive" delay. The staff received salary on July 13 last.

Besides affecting the payment of salary, the financial crunch has stopped various development projects. Different bills, including those for construction and examination duties, worth over several lakhs have been pending for long.

Seeking a solution to this recurring problem, Lt Gen (retd) O.P.Kaushik. Vice-Chancellor of the university, has decided to introduce some new courses from the current academic year with a view to raising its own sources of income.

The Directorate of Distance Education has started four new courses viz MA (Maths), M.Ed, Prabhakar, and Bachelor of Library and Information Science.

Prabhakar (Honours in Hindi) is the most popular and financially beneficial one-year course. Nearly 20,000 students appear in this examination every year. The university has imposed a ban on private appearing in this examination from the current academic year. Separate study centres have been created at different colleges affiliated to the university for this examination. The candidates are required to send their application forms through these study centres.

Classes will be held at these study centres on Sundays and Holidays. The teaching staff is supposed to complete the syllabus by taking at least 40 periods per subject.

A number of Hindi scholars in the region have welcomes the decision of the university administration of checking the private appearing in this examination. They feel it will go a long way in improving the standard of Hindi in the region. Earlier, some private coaching centres had been fleecing students in the name of imparting education.

The decision will also assist the university in solving its financial problem by earning an amount of nearly Rs 4 crore after taking out the expenses.

Haryana SYL cries for repair
From Suman Bhatnagar

AMBALA: The SYL lifeline of Haryana is crying for life. Built at a cost of Rs 61.76 crore, the 75.77 kilometre-long Haryana portion of the SYL canal is in such a dilapidated condition that even if Punjab completes its remaining portion and opens water for Haryana, it will take a year to repair it and to receive the water as hundreds of breaches have appeared in the canal since its completion. Official sources disclosed that the repair work would cost around Rs 4 crore.

Completed in 1982, the canal has been lying dry due to non-availability of water from Punjab. From Ismailpur, the zero point, to Karnal a major portion of the canal is badly destroyed. The breaches have appeared on either side of the banks which were made of bricks. At certain places bricks have been removed by the people as no one has been taking care of it. At some places the canal looks like a "kachcha nala".

The sources in the department said all this had happened due to the negligence of the authorities concerned, who ignored it as it was useless for them. Had the department kept proper maintenance and vigil the condition would not have worsened to such an extent. The sources said it was not repaired immediately it would lose its existence.

On the other hand one of the officers of Irrigation Department disclosed that the breaches in the canal had appeared only due to the shield pressure on the banks. If water would have flowed into the canal the breaches might not have appeared.

The SYL had been constructed in anticipation of the completion of the Punjab portion which is 121 km long from tail to end. The SYL canal is envisaged to irrigate 4.46 lakh hectare of additional area in Kurukshetra, Karnal, Rohtak, Ambala, Faridabad, Jind, Hisar, Sonepat, Gurgaon, Bhiwani and Mohindergarh districts with the Ravi-Beas water. The canal runs parallel to Narwana branch and Narwana branch Karnal link and outflow into the Western Yamuna Canal at RD 79400.

The SYL which always remains a major political issue in Haryana as well as in Punjab, especially during election days, has been facing untimely death. Nobody knows when the water dispute of this ill-fated SYL will be solved.

The people of Haryana feel that the self interests of political leaders have ruined the fate of the state along with the SYL.

Probe sought into Punjab Wakf Board
From Our Correspondent

PANIPAT, July 18 — A delegation of Maulvis and Muslim social workers submitted a memorandum to the Union Social Welfare Minister, against large-scale irregularities and misappropriation by the Administrator of the Punjab Wakf Board Mr Jafer Mehmood.

They alleged that the administrator had committed irregularities in spending board money, enrolment of his relative and harassment of other employees. The delegation demanded a probe into the case.

The memorandum highlighted specific instances including allotment of valuable Wakf land in Sarai Agha Abid Ali in Amritsar at throwaway prices to others, disparity in rates of allotted land at Abobal Kurd village in Ludhiana district of Punjab and illegal encroachment on a plot in Panipat.

It said a number of the Board’s employees who were removed after enquiries by IAS officers had been taken back.

It said the Administrator had misutilised funds meant for the widows and the destitute for renovation of his residence in Delhi.

Petition filed against HVPN
From Our Correspondent

HISAR, July 18 — Five prominent lawyers of the city yesterday filed a petition in the court of Mr Virender Malik, against the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (HVPN) for its failure to provide round-the-clock-power supply.

The petitioners Mr Sukhdev Aggrawal, Mr Jai Prasad Jain, Mr Shyam Sunder Thakural, Mr Kailash Chander Choudhary and Mr Latish Kumar Aggrawal sought a direction from the court to the HVPN for ensuing regular power supply in the walled city under the Specific Relief Act. The court fixed July 20 for the hearing.

In the petition, the plaintiffs alleged that though the Haryana Government had advertised about two months back that there would be 24-hour uninterrupted power supply in the state from June 30 onwards, the HVPN was resorting to unannounced power cuts in Nagori Gate, Jain Gali, Moti Bazar and Mohalla Rajgarh areas. They alleged that this was being done only to harass the residents. They further added that this was being done to provide electricity to areas like Vidyut Nagar where the the nigam officials reside, Eliot Club road and Green Park areas, where most of the top government officials stay. They submitted that the nigam was not authorised to resort to unannounced power cuts.

Teachers to go on strike today
From Our Correspondent

HISAR, July 18 — Teachers of HAU here will be on strike tomorrow to protest against the non-implementation of the revised pay scales as per the recommendations of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research.

A decision to this effect was taken by the Haryana Agricultural University Teachers Association at its general body meeting held today.

Dr Dalel Singh and Dr H.K. Verma, president and general secretary, respectively, of the association said in a joint statement that during the strike period faculty members would sit in dharna in front of the administrative block of the university from 7 a.m. to 1.30 p.m.

Cong aggressive on Kargil issue
From Our Correspondent

KAITHAL, July 18 — Former Foreign Minister and senior Congress leader Natwar Singh said here today that his party was ready to accept the BJP challenge of making the Kargil conflict an election issue.

Addressing a well-attended public meeting here today Mr Singh said that though his party was not interested in making Kargil an election issue the BJP had shown its inclination to politicise it and the Congress could not now remain silent.

He said the Congress will seek an explanation from the Vajpayee government on how so many intruders succeeded in crossing the LoC in the first place.

Mr Satyanarain Rao, former MP and observer for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in Haryana said he was touring the state to elicit the views of party workers on nomination of party candidates for all the Lok Sabha seats.

25 hurt in bus accident
From Our Correspondent

KURUKSHETRA, July 18 — Twentyfive persons were injured, two of them seriously, when a Haryana Roadways bus of Chandigarh depot coming from Ambala and D.T.C. bus coming from the opposite direction collided on G.T. Road near village Ramgarh, 8 km from here today.

The injured persons were immediately rushed to the local L.N.J.P. Hospital for medical treatment.

According to hospital sources, the D.T.C. bus driver Joginder Singh of Delhi, sustained serious injuries and was referred to the P.G.I., Chandigarh. Another seriously injured patient was shifted to Delhi by her relatives. Thirteen injured persons had so far been discharged after first aid.