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H A R Y A N A |  |
 Thursday, July 29, 1999 |
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BSP men against pact with HVP GURGAON, July 28 — The BSP Supremo Kanshi Ram is inclined to go ahead with his party’s alliance with the Haryana Vikas Party for the coming parliamentary elections in Haryana, notwithstanding stiff opposition to the idea from a section of his partymen. Vishnu
Bhagwan CM’s Principal Secy |
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CBI
told to produce Meham record today Mastnath
Institute loses affiliation KU
council okays govt notification Subway project in Faridabad
delayed UGC
scales: KUTA stages protest MDU
staff decry Bansi’s policies Cong
seeks early completion of SYL canal |
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| Mobile phone shop looted | |
Anti-encroachment drive halted |
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BSP men against pact with
HVP GURGAON, July 28 — The BSP Supremo Kanshi Ram is inclined to go ahead with his party’s alliance with the Haryana Vikas Party (HVP) for the coming parliamentary elections in Haryana, notwithstanding stiff opposition to the idea from a section of his partymen. Addressing a conference of BSP workers’ from Mahendergarh parliamentary constituency here today, Mr Kanshi Ram made it clear that his party would not align with the ruling Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) or the BJP. He would not have an open alliance with the Congress. Mr Kanshi Ram admitted that after Mr Bansi Lal’s government won the motion of confidence on June 25, the Chief Minister had offered his party’s alliance with the BSP. The offer to the BSP was five Lok Sabha seats and 30 Assembly seats in case there was a mid-term election for the Vidhan Sabha. Mr Kanshi Ram disclosed that the General Secretary of the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) and in charge of Haryana affairs, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, had approached him for Congress-BSP alliance in Haryana for the parliamentary elections. I told Mr Mukherjee that the BSP will not have alliance with the Congress in a direct way. The Congress should have an electoral understanding with the HVP with which his party was thinking in terms of an alliance. If there was understanding between the proposed HVP-BSP alliance, his party would be able to achieve its goal of winning the Ambala (reserved) and Mahendergarh parliamentary constituencies where it had high stakes. In such a formulation, Mr Bansi Lal would be able to ensure the victory of his son, Mr Surendra Singh, from Bhiwani and the Congress would be able to increase its chances of winning the remaining seven seats, he added. The BSP chief said that there was pressure on him from his party leaders not to align with the HVP as former Chief Minister Bansi Lal had become "unpopular for the misdeeds", of his government. "But I am trying to reason with them that Mr Om Prakash Chautala, who took over as Chief Minister after the resignation of Mr Bansi Lal was "prone to more misdeeds". To butteress his argument he charged that the day after Mr Chautala took over as Chief Minister he allowed the Union Minister of State, Mr Sukhvir Singh Badal, to "grab" 17 acres of prime land near Udyog Vihar in Gurgaon. The Secretary General of the BSP, Mr Raghu Yadav, who was present on the occasion, alleged that Mr Sukhvir Singh had come along with his security personnel and took possession of the disputed land which was in the custody of the Haryana government. According to him, the land was allotted to Mr Badal’s family for construction of a five star hotel, was taken over by the government. The land was given to the Badal family at the rate of Rs 3 crore per acre during Devi Lal’s regime. The succeeding Congress government cancelled the allotment as the hotel was not constructed within the time frame. The government took over the land and the matter was taken to court, Mr Yadav added. He further said that the disputed land has a market value of Rs 1352 crore. In response to a question, Mr Kansi Ram said that the Congress was desperately trying to forge an alliance with the BSP in Haryana as it felt threatened by the possible INLD-BJP alliance. In response to another question, he said that his party would contest 350 Lok Sabha seats in the country. Out of it 150 would be in Uttar Pradesh and the areas bordering it. His party’s aim was to win 150 seats and defeat the BJP and Congress nominees on 200 seats. He asserted that his target was to weaken both the BJP and the Congress. His party was preparing for elections to both the 13th and 14th Lok Sabhas. He predicted that 13th Lok Sabha would not last its full term and there would be another snap poll after about a year of its formation. Mr Kanshi Ram asserted
that he would not contest in the coming Lok Sabha
elections. |
BSP plans to rope in
Congress CHANDIGARH, July 28 — The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is working to bring about what can be a political development of far-reaching consequences in Haryana and can pose a serious challenge to the ruling INLD-BJP-HVP(D) combine in the coming Lok Sabha poll. According to reliable Haryana BSP sources, the BSP supremo, Mr Kanshi Ram, who has already reached an electoral understanding with the HVP of Mr Bansi Lal, is now working to rope in the Congress in the three-party alliance. Mr Kanshi Ram, the sources say, has already met the AICC President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi and explored the possibility of such an alliance in Haryana. Though the BSP as a policy has decided to contest the Lok Sabha elections without entering into an alliance with a national party it is more than willing to make an exception in case of Haryana for personal reasons of Mr Kanshi Ram. The meeting between Mrs Gandhi and Mr Kanshi Ram was held a few days ago at an undisclosed place. The sources say Mr Kanshi Ram, who feels betrayed by Mr Om Prakash Chautala with whom the BSP had contested the 1998 Lok Sabha elections, is believed to have forsaken his party's claim on two seats. The BSP has offered to contest only the Ambala Lok Sabha constituency from where its Haryana President, Mr Aman Kumar Nagra, won in the 1998 elections. The BSP supremo wants that the remaining nine seats should be shared by the Congress and the HVP. It is widely known that the HVP is interested primarily in the Bhiwani Lok Sabha seat which the party considers to be traditionally its stronghold. Mr Surender Singh, a son of former Chief Minister Bansi Lal, won this seat by defeating Mr Ajay Chautala, elder son of the INLD supremo, in 1998 by a narrow margin. The BSP sources say that the Congress would stand to gain a lot in the state if it agrees to leave one seat each to the BSP and the HVP. They claim that the BSP has a considerable following in what is known as the Ambala-Yamunanagar-Kurukshetra-Kaithal belt. They say on an average the BSP has about 10,000 votes in each of the 90 Assembly segments in the state. Mr Kanshi Ram is
credited with the view that the BSP-HVP-Congress combine
would prove to be a hard nut to crack for the
INLD-BJP-HVP(D) combination. |
Mastnath Institute loses
affiliation ROHTAK, July 28 — Maharshi Dayanand University administration has directed Shri Baba Mastnath Educational Institute not to make fresh admissions to five professional courses being run by the institute, from the current academic year. These courses, include courses of BE, BDS, B.Pharmacy, MBA and Physiotherapy. According to university sources, the institute had got provisional affiliation for the continuation of these courses for the session 1998-99 subject to the fulfilment of various conditions laid by the university. However, the institute reportedly neither applied for a renewal of affiliation nor submitted the compliance report towards the fulfilment of conditions imposed by the university inspection committee. According to information, the university sent an inspection team to observe the required conditions at the institution. The team reportedly revealed that the specified criteria were not being followed by the institute. The team, in its report, recommended fulfilment of various conditions before the continuation of affiliation was granted to the institute. It is learnt that university authorities repeatedly directed the management of the institute to fulfil the specified conditions for affiliation. But the institute did not reply to any letter in this connection. The authority to conduct entrance tests for these courses rests with Kurukshetra University and a high-level committee comprising state government officials. The authority to conduct entrance test to BDS course lies with the committee, to MBA with the Kurukshetra University and to BE with Regional Engineering College, Kurukshetra. The university authorities have directed all these agencies not to make any admission till the affiliation is granted by the university. An engineering college,
a dental college, an ayurveda sanskrit teaching
institution, an institute of management and research and
an institute of pharmacy is being run by Baba Mastnath
Institution at present. CBI told to produce Meham
record today CHANDIGARH, July 28 — The Punjab and Haryana High Court today directed the CBI to produce the entire record of the case relating to the death of Amir Singh in Meham constitutency. He was a candidate in the 1990 byelection. Mr Justice G.S. Singhvi and Mr Justice M.S. Gill, directed CBI’s standing counsel, Mr Rajan Gupta, to produce the investigation report and other relevant records the latest by tomorrow. The court declined the request for further adjournment by counsel and observed that even after directions to produce the record issued on December 8,1998, the CBI failed to do so. In the petition it was alleged by Mr Anand Singh Dangi that on night of May 16-17, the body of Amir Singh, an Independent candidate for the Meham constitutency was found lying in Mundahal village which fell under Bawanikhera police station of Bhiwani district. It was alleged that a consequence of his killing, the election was countermanded and Mr Om Parkash Chautala was elected. Thereafter an attempt was made by the Haryana police to kill Mr Dangi, the petitioner. The matter was investigated by the CBI and thereafter by a retired Judge of the Supreme Court, Justice K.N. Saikia. Milkfed chief’s plea against rejection A Division Bench comprising Mr Justice H.S. Brar and Mr Justice V.M. Jain, issued notice of motion on a writ petition filed by Mr G.S. Babehali, Chairman of Milkfed, who challenged the rejection of his nomination papers for election to the Board of Directors of the Gurdaspur Milk Union, allegedly to stall his election to the Milfed Board of Directors. He also alleged mala fides against Mr Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister, who wanted to remove him from Milkfed’s chairmanship. Election to the Gurdaspur Milk Union board of directors was announced on June 23, and nominations were to be filed by July 19. The elections were postponed allegedly at the instance of the Chief Minister. However, on a writ petition filed in the High Court, the election was odered to be held as per the schedule. Since the election was to be held on July 21, the nomination papers of the petitioner were rejected by the Returning Officer on July 20. It was alleged that the Returning Office did not even supply a copy of his order on the ground that the record could only be opened by the court. The Milkfed board of directors’ term expires in September. Scam suspect under suspension The Punjab Government today told the Punjab and Haryana High Court that its Director of Agriculture, Dr Mewa Singh Sonar, one of the suspects in the fertiliser scam, is on the run to evade his arrest. The Deputy Advocate-General informed a Divison Bench consisting of Mr Justice G.S. Singhvi and Mr Justice Mehtab Singh Gill that officials of the Vigilance Bureau raided Dr Sonar’s house as well as his office but could not find him. All efforts were being made to arrest Dr Sonar. He, however, assured the court that the government had decided to place Dr Sonar under suspension "because of his alleged involvement in the fertiliser scam and in view of his nomination in the FIR as one of the accused." After recording the statement of the Deputy Advocate-General the Bench adjourned the case to August 4. Speaking for the Bench, Mr Justice Singhvi assured Mr. B.K. Uppal, SP of the Punjab Vigilance Bureau, who was present in the courtroom and is investigating the case, of all protection from the court. In his affidavit filed in the court on the last date of hearing, Mr Uppal had stated that efforts are being made to arrest all accused but they are highly placed and are making every effort to avoid arrest. Besides they are not joining the investigation. Moreover, if any of them was to be declared a proclaimed offender, then the procedure under Cr. P.C. itself will take two to three months". He had also told the court that only two directors of the manufacturing company had so far been arrested. However, they were not cooperating in the investigation. Nor did they produce any record regardring raw material. Verification of supply of raw material was an important aspect of this case and this could be done only after obtaining the records and details from accused directors of the manufacturing company. The SP had stated that a total of 1008 vehicles were claimed to have been used in the supply of fertiliser. Out of these the registration number of 648 vehicles had been verified. Interestingly, out of these the registration numbers of 358 vehicles were found to be those of scooters, cars mopeds and tractors. The scandal of bogus
sale of fertiliser was highlighted by the Bharti Kisan
Union which alleged that some ill-reputed dealers of
Patiala district had cheated the government of the
subsidy given on fertiliser sale. |
KU council
okays
govt notification KURUKSHETRA, July 28 — The Executive Council of Kurukshetra University at a meeting today approved in toto the notification of the Haryana Government regarding the grant of UGC grades to university teachers. The meeting was presided over by Dr M.L. Ranga, Vice-Chancellor of the university. Dr Ranga later told The Tribune in an interview that the council however, referred for review the conditions put up by the government on the allowance of the UGC grades. It also referred for review the anomalies in the grades of the teachers. The Kurukshetra University Teachers Association (KUTA) has been demanding that the council should approve the notification of the Haryana Government only if the UGC recommendations regarding new pay-scales to the university teachers were approved in toto by the state government. The committee also made a plea to the state government to expedite the grades of certain categories of academic posts which had not been kept at par with the UGC grades so far. In another important decision, the committee referred the case of nominations of the Dean of Academic Affairs, Dean of Colleges and Director of Distance Education on the Executive Council and the Finance Committee for the Chancellor of the university for consideration. The case of the Director of Distance Education for nomination on the Academic Council and court has also been referred to the Chancellor. In order to provide facilities to its employees like the state government employees, the Executive Council approved the payment of bonus, TA and DA on government pattern. The council decided to provide DA to its employees as per the latest rates. It further decided to allow house building loan to its employees on Haryana Government pattern. By another decision, the Council also modified the essential qualifications for the appointment of Controller of Examinations. As a consequence, a number of internal candidates, who have applied for the post, will be weeded out. Now a candidate applying for the post should have secured at least 55 per cent marks in M.A. examinations and should have at least 8 years experience as Deputy Registrar in any university. The Executive Council
approved the inquiry report regarding two scandals in the
Department of Distance Education relating to the purchase
of papers and supply of paper to the printers. It decided
to recover the loss from the officials found guilty. |
Subway project in Faridabad
delayed FARIDABAD, July 28 — Conceived three years ago, the subway project across the Faridabad-Delhi national highway linking the railway station with Sector 16-A is yet to take off because it could not get the priority of the authorities. In 1997-98, the project was included in the annual plan but the funds were not released. In 1998-99, the estimates were sent to the Union Ministry of Surface Transport but nothing was done for several months. In January this year, a National Highway Authority of India was constituted and the project was transferred to it in April. The delay has been caused despite the fact that hundreds of people going and coming from the railway station daily cross the heavily congested highway from the wrong side, endangering life. Official sources told TNS that the engineers of the authority were soon expected to inspect the site of the subway before approving and releasing Rs 1.50 crore to the national highway division of the Haryana PWD which would be entrusted with the construction of the project. It is hoped that the work would begin during the current financial year. The subway would be 30 metres long with a breadth of 10 metres. It would have two lanes and footpaths on either side. Only light traffic would be allowed to move through the subway. It is learnt that the Faridabad Municipal Corporation is also considering a proposal to construct a subway across the railway level crossing to link old Faridabad with NIT and Sector 21. It is doubtful whether the proposal would see the light of the day as the civic body is facing a resource crunch. It is understood that the proposal to convert the four-lane Delhi-Mathura national highway into a six-lane and has been put into cold storage after the formation of the National Highway Authority. Instead, the authority is negotiating with the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) to take over the Badarpur (Delhi)-Kaili bypass, near Sikri (Faridabad), for movement of south and west-bound heavy traffic skirting Faridabad city. The Rs 200-crore proposal envisages construction of the road by a private company on the BOT (Build, Operate and Transfer) basis. Heavy traffic plying on the road would have to pay toll tax. The authority has
already engaged a team of consultants to examine the
feasibility of the project. |
UGC scales: KUTA stages
protest KURUKSHETRA, July 28 — Members of the Kurukshetra University Teachers’ Association (KUTA), took out a procession on the university campus here today, in protest against the non-implementation of the UGC pay-scales and a university proposal to introduce a major amendment in the constitution of the university executive council (EC), the highest body of the university. The teachers were raising slogans such as "EC VC hosh mein aao" "Teachers unity zindabad" and "implement UGC package, take back Bansi’s wreckage". Later, the processionists assembled in front of the university auditorium’s main entrance gate where they were addressed by the KUTA President, Dr K L Tuteja, who demanded immediate implementation of the UGC scales and scraping of item number 39 which had been kept on the agenda of today's EC meeting. According to eye-witnesses, the Director, Higher Education, Haryana, and the Vice-Chancellor did not enter the meeting venue through the main entrance gate but through the eastern gate of the auditorium to avoid the agitating teachers. The teachers said they condemned the university authorities for calling the police on the campus despite their assurance of a peaceful demonstration. Dr Tuteja said resentment prevailed among teachers against item number 39 of the agenda, which proposed that the Dean, Academic Affairs, Dean, Colleges and Director, Correspondence Courses, be given representation in the EC and other bodies of the university. Meanwhile, the EC has decided to accept the Haryana Government’s notification regarding new pay scales for university and college teachers. It also resolved that all anomalies would be referred to the government for its reconsideration while the professors’ cases under PP (personal promotion) scheme would be decided at the earliest. Regarding item number
39, which was on the agenda of the meeting, the EC
reportedly resolved to send the case to the Governor, who
is also the Chancellor of the university, for his
consideration. |
Vishnu Bhagwan CM’s
Principal Secy CHANDIGARH, July 28 — The new Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, today reshuffled several top IAS officers and appointed the Education Secretary, Mr Vishnu Bhagwan, as his Principal Secretary and also as Secretary Public Relations and Civil Aviation departments. Mr Vishnu Bhagwan succeeds Mr L.M. Jain, who becomes Financial Commissioner and Secretary, Revenue department, Power and Non-Conventional Energy Sources departments, relieving Mr K.G. Verma of the charge of Revenue and Mr S.Y. Quraishi of the charge of Power and Non-Conventional Energy Sources department. Mr Sanjeev Kaushal, Project Director, Swaran Jayanti Rozgar Yojna, Local Government department, will be the new Director, Public Relations, relieving Mr R.K. Khullar of the charge. He will also be Additional Principal Secretary-II to the Chief Minister. Mr S.C. Chaudhary, Officer-on-Special Duty, Manpower, Planning, has been appointed Special Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister. He will also work as Commissioner and Secretary, Town and Country Planning and Urban Estates departments, relieving Mr Ajit M. Sharan of the said charge. Mr Depinder Singh Dhesi, Additional Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister and Special Secretary to the Public Relations departments will work as Additional Principal Secretary-I to the Chief Minister. Mr Vidya Dhar, HCS, Inquiry Officer, Transport department, has been posted as Officer of Special Duty to the Chief Minister, Haryana. The posting orders of Mr
R.D. Sheokand will be issued later. |
Martyr's family denied grant? AMBALA, July 28 — The family of Surjit Singh, who laid down his life fighting intruders in Jammu and Kashmir is being deprived of the announced grant of Rs 5 lakh (now 10 lakh) only because he was killed in operation "Rakashak" in Rajouri and not on the Kargil front. Mr Rawel Singh, father of Surjit Singh and a resident of Bahloly village near Ambala, has sent a memorandum to the Chief Minister, Haryana, in this regard. The memorandum says that his only son Surjit Singh, a sepoy in the Punjab Regiment, laid down his life while fighting intruders on February 5, in Rajouri this year. When he approached the District Sainik Board for the grant, he was told that he would be given only Rs 20,000, since the grant of Rs 5 lakh was only for the families of those jawans who were killed in Operation Vijay and Operation Meghdoot in the Kargil and Dras Sectors. Mr Rawel Singh said there should not be any discrimination between the martyrs as his son had also died while fighting Pakistani intruders. He said the Punjab Regiment had recommended a gallantry award for his son and despite that the government had not recognised him as a martyr. He demanded that each
jawan who died while fighting intruders in Jammu and
Kashmir should be given a grant of Rs 10 lakh as
announced by the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala,
recently. |
MDU staff decry Bansi’s
policies ROHTAK, July 28 — The Non-Teaching Employees Association of Maharshi Dayanand University has appealed to the newly formed state government to adopt a positive attitude towards their long-pending problems and take concrete steps to resolve the financial crunch being faced by the university. In a statement issued here yesterday, Mr Kartar Singh Dhankar, President of the association, said the university suffered financial crisis due to the alleged faulty policies of the previous government. He pointed out that it was for the first time in the history of the university that the teaching and non-teaching staff were not paid salaries in time and the administration was made to depend on the sale of admission forms for various courses to disburse salaries to the staff during the tenure of the Bansi Lal government. He sought timely
solution to various problems, including those relating to
pending arrears, bonus and wheat loan. |
Mobile phone shop looted GURGAON, July 28 — Three armed youngsters robbed a mobile phone outlet on the Delhi road here yesterday. According to the information available, the robbers came to Jain Communications at 3 p.m. and asked the owner of the shop, Mr Mohit Jain, to show some mobile phones. While he was showing them these phones the robbers took out revolvers and picked up 10 cellular phones, cash card, Rs 50,000 in cash, batteries, car chargers and some files and left in a Maruti car. In celluloid style, the
robbers disclosed their identities as being a members of
a ‘Fauji gang’. One of them said that his name
was Banjara. They did not harm anybody. The police
reached the spot within minutes of receiving information.
Mr Navdeep Singh Virk, SSP, himself visited the shop. |
Cong seeks early completion
of CHANDIGARH, July 28 — The Congress today demanded that the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala should take up the long-pending demand of the state farmers for the early completion of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal (SYL) in the Punjab territory. "As both Mr Chautala and the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, are close to each other, the former should compel the latter to let a small area of 5 km of the SYL canal in the Punjab territory completed at the earliest. The vice-president, Dr K.V. Singh, and the general secretary, Dr Ram Parkash, of the Haryana PCC in a joint statement said Mr Chautala should protect Haryana's interests. Flaying the
"silence" of Mr Chautala on the issue, both
leaders said the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) supremo
had always "exploited" the issue in his
election promises to the farmers of the state. |
Anti-encroachment drive
halted SONEPAT, July 28 — On the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) launched an anti-encroachment campaign in Sector 14 here yesterday. HUDA officials along with an executive magistrate and a large police contingent, arrived in the main market around 11 a.m. and started demolishing the unauthorised structures and pucca buildings from the HUDA land. Demolishing operation halted when residents pleaded with HUDA officials that they would of their own remove the encroachments. Many owners of houses in
Sector 14 had turned land in front of their houses into
mini-parks. |
SAS exam: roll numbers sent CHANDIGARH, July 28 — The Haryana Central Committee of Examination had despatched the roll numbers to all candidates who are to appear in the subordinate accounts service part-I and part-II examinations to be held for August 2 to 6, 1999. in Chandigarh. The Secretary of the
Central Committee of Examinations, Mr Dhan Singh, said
the candidates were required to come for the examination
with their specimen signatures and a photo duly attested
by the head of the office. |
Brar Press Adviser to
Chautala CHANDIGARH, July 28 — The Haryana Government today appointed Mr Ram Singh Brar, a correspondent of a local Hind newspaper, as Press Adviser to Chief Minister with immediate effect. Mr Sher Singh Badshami, a former member of the Haryana Public Service Commission, has been appointed Political Adviser to Chief Minister in honorary capacity. Dr Krishan Bangar will
be the Additional Political Adviser to the Chief
Minister. |
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