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H A R Y A N A |  |
 Friday, May 7, 1999 |
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Move to topple Bansi Lal govt GURGAON, May 6 — The three-year-old Bansi Lal government faces a threat as about 17 dissident MLAs and ministers of the ruling Haryana Vikas Party are understood to have given tacit support to a move to topple it. KU amends admission rules KURUKSHETRA, May 6 — Kurukshetra University has amended its rules for admission to B.Sc (medical and non-medical) courses. |
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Pearl millet yield fall worries VC |
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Haryana farmers to
protest on May 31 YAMUNANAGAR, May 6 — The Haryana Krishak Samaj will hold a demonstration on May 31 in front of the Prime Minister's house to highlight the failure of the central and state government in implementing schemes like crop insurance, calamity fund, lowering of rate of interests on rural loans, abolition of "black" laws authorising detention of farmers and auction of their land in case of non-payment of loan.
Stay on Member-Secy's
appointment MDU
teachers resent govt inaction NGOs
to get grant for cultural shows Club marries off poor girls Haryana
college teachers to get UGC scales |
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| HAUTA flays extension | |
152 medicos affected |
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Move to topple Bansi Lal govt GURGAON, May 6 — The three-year-old Bansi Lal government faces a threat as about 17 dissident MLAs and ministers of the ruling Haryana Vikas Party are understood to have given tacit support to a move to topple it. The move is said to be masterminded by former Haryana Chief Minister Bhajan Lal and the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD). According to sources, the move to destabilise the government got momentum in the past 48 hours. Certain names doing the rounds for "operation topple Bansi Lal government" are that of Rao Narbir Singh, Mr Charan Das Shorewala, Mr Ramesh Kaushik, Ms Kanta Singh, Mr Jagannath, Mr Brij Mohan Singla, Mr Jagdish Nayar and Mr Vinod Kumar Mariya (all ministers) and Ms Krishna Gehlot, Mr Jaswant Singh Bawal, Mr Kartar Singh Badhana and Mr Ram Bhaj (all MLAs). The gameplan is that the dissidents would cause defection in the legislative wing of the HVP and reduce the government to a minority even if the 10-member BJP group in the Assembly continued with its support. The INLD, having 23 members in the Assembly, would give support to an alternative government. Mr Bhajan Lal has also assured the dissidents and the INLD of support of all 12 Congress MLAs. Mr Bhajan Lal is said to have assured the dissidents that for them he would manage to get the Congress ticket for a snap mid-term election in the state. The sources said Mr Bhajan Lal had to assure them to provide the Congress ticket as they were apprehensive of the motives of the INLD chief, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, after the possible fall of the Bansi Lal government. Many of the dissidents are credited with the view that the INLD would destabilise the alternative government to force a fresh assembly election in the state. It is reliably learnt that Mr Bhajan Lal had taken along Rao Narbir Singh and Ms Krishna Gehlot to 10, Janpath, the residence of president of the Congress, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, a couple of days ago. There, a person, whose identity is not known, assured them of the Congress ticket in the next Assembly election in the state. However, it is also reliably learnt, that the assurance for the Congress ticket to the HVP dissidents was not given by Mrs Sonia Gandhi. Mr Chautala is said to have assured the dissidents of his party’s letter of support to the alternative government even before the defectors staked claim to form a government before the Governor. The sources said Rao Narbir Singh and Mr Jagannath are in the race to head the possible alternative government. There are many in the Congress who are of the view that Mr Bhajan Lal had not got the green signal from Mrs Gandhi to topple the Bansi Lal government. Any further continuance of the present government was considered to be dangerous by the INLD and the lobby in the Congress opposed to the president of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda. They do not want to give any more time to the Bansi Lal government or Mr Hooda to increase their base. Mr Bhajan Lal and other detractors of Mr Hooda in the Congress are facing a do-or-die battle for supremacy in the party. Although Mr Hooda is also said to be in favour of a fresh election in the state, his detractors in the party feel that political turbulence would prevent him from further expanding his base. There are many who feel that with the BJP not making encouraging gestures to align with the INLD for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections, or withdrawing support to the Bansi Lal government, the INLD and the Bhajan Lal lobby in the Congress are feeling restive. This is said to be the compelling factor for Mr Bhajan Lal to make a last-ditch effort to topple the government. The news from the BJP quarters is that the Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, and former Chief Minister of Rajasthan and a senior BJP leader, Mr Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, will jointly address a public meeting of the BJP in Rohtak district on May 11. The message, therefore, is that the BJP preferred Mr Bansi Lal and his HVP more than the INLD. Incidentally, the public meeting is in connection with the impending Lok Sabha election. This move to topple the
government is the third in as many years since Mr Bansi
Lal took oath as Chief Minister. |
KU amends admission rules KURUKSHETRA, May 6 — Kurukshetra University has amended its rules for admission to B.Sc (medical and non-medical) courses. The admission committee of the university which met here yesterday under the chairmanship of Vice-Chancellor M.L. Ranga decided that clause 4 (1) of the Ordinance for BA/B.Sc (general and honours) Examinations should be amended to attract students to science courses of the university and its affiliated colleges. Dr Ranga told TNS in an exclusive interview that the admission committee had agreed to reduce aggregate marks for admission to B.Sc (medical and non-medical) courses to its affiliated colleges from 45% per cent to 40 per cent. This would bring the admission courses on a par with B.Com admissions. The Vice-Chancellor stated that the step had been taken following a demand made by a number of principals of affiliated colleges that the percentage of marks to these courses should be reduced. The principals of some of the colleges, including Arya College and S.D. College (both at Panipat), had stated in their petitions to the university that they had observed that the number of admission-seekers to these courses was declining. This tendency had been witnessed during the past few years. It was because bright students preferred to join B. Tech. courses also a large number of engineering colleges had mushroomed in the state. Over 20 such colleges were offering the B. Tech courses. Furthermore those students who secured high marks preferred to join computer science electronics, bio-technology and other vocational courses. Consequently, very few students opted for conventional course like zoology, botany, chemistry, physics and mathematics. It was also observed that because of the declining numbers in some colleges, the number of teachers was more than the taught. In some of them, less than six students opted for some of these courses. Therefore, the university decided to amend its rules. The admission committee also approved the schedule for admission in the local Regional Engineering College and other affiliated colleges. The Vice-Chancellor said the normal admission without late fee to B. Tech and BE degree courses would be made up to September 6 and with late fee of Rs 100 upto September 13. The committee also
considered to fix the number of seats for various
courses. It reduced the number of seats in M.Sc
(Chemistry) from 70 to 60. On the other hand, it also
reduced the number of paid seats in M.Sc (home science)
in food and nutrition from 10 to 5. While the number of
general seats in this discipline was raised from 10 to
15. The admission committee also raised the number of
seats in earth sciences from 15 to 30. Similarly, it
raised the number of seats in LL.B (professional 3 years)
from 60 to 70. For LL.M the number of seats were reduced
from a 45 to 25. It also decided to raise the number of
seats in Bachelor of Journalism to 30. Five seats were
reserved for working journalists who would be deputed by
their respective establishments for training in the
course. |
Pearl millet yield fall
worries VC HISAR, May 6 — The Vice-Chancellor of CCS Haryana Agriculture University today expressed concern about the fall in pearl millet yield despite much research. Speaking at the inaugural function of the 34th group meeting of the All-India Pearl Millet Improvement project. The Vice-Chancellor underlined the need for improving the production as millions of people living in environmentally-hostile conditions were largely dependent on this crop for their dietary requirements. The ADG, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Dr B.S. Dhillon, pointed out that despite a huge increase in the production of pearl millet, there was a great scope for improving the production. Dr Dhillon mooted the idea of integrating the biotechnology and plant breeding disciplines for a speedy development of new varieties. Dr B.L. Jalali, Director, Research, HAU, revealed that the pearl millet production had increased over the years despite the decline of about 30 per cent cultivated area. Meanwhile, a month-long training course on faculty development in education technology began in the university here today. The course was
inaugurated by Dr V.N. Pathak, Director, Academic Staff
College, Rajasthan Agriculture University, Bikaner. |
Haryana farmers to protest on
May 31 YAMUNANAGAR, May 6 — The Haryana Krishak Samaj will hold a demonstration on May 31 in front of the Prime Minister's house to highlight the failure of the central and state government in implementing schemes like crop insurance, calamity fund, lowering of rate of interests on rural loans, abolition of "black" laws authorising detention of farmers and auction of their land in case of non-payment of loan. Mr Sat Pal Kaushik, Yamunanagar district president of the Haryana Krishak Samaj, said here today that a meeting of the state executive was held at Delhi yesterday which was presided over by Mr Shamsher Singh Surjewala, former member of Parliament. Mr Tajinder Pal Mann and Mr Jagdish Nehra, former ministers were present. The meeting reviewed the political situation in the country and the plight of farmers, farm labourers and village youth. It expressed anguish and concern at the policies and performance of the HVP-BJP government in Haryana and the Vajpayee government at the Centre. Mr Kaushik said dharnas
would be held at all district headquarters on June 28,
focussing on the need for adequate power and water for
paddy and other crops and to protest against the recovery
of "false, inflated" power bills from farmers. |
Stay on Member-Secy's
appointment CHANDIGARH, May 6 — The Punjab and Haryana High Court has stayed the appointment of Mr S.C. Mann as Member-Secretary of the Haryana Pollution Control Board. Mr Justice V.K. Bali and Mr Justice A.S. Garg, who handed down this order on a petition filed by Mr A.K. Rana, Environment Engineer, Haryana Pollution Control Board, observed that it had, inter alia, been pleaded in the application that there were serious allegations of corruption, fraud and misappropriation of government machinery against Mr Mann. So much so even an enquiry officer had been appointed by the board and even the Commissioner and the Secretary to the Haryana Government has issued directions to the board administrator that action should be taken against him for misusing the government vehicle. The Bench further observed that it had been further pleaded that Mr Mann was neither in the pay scale of Superintending Engineer nor possessed the requisite qualifications as laid down under Section 4 of the Act and as such was not eligible to be appointed as Member-Secretary. "We would like to mention here that in a connected petition Mr R.A. Goel vs Union of India and others the petitioner therein has challenged his ouster from the board," the Judges held and added: "He was chairman of the board for a fixed tenure. It is also the case of the petitioner therein that the board has been wound up with a view to ease him out. That petition was admitted to Division Bench and ordered to be heard for an actual date i.e. April 28, 1999. On that day a request was made for adjournment and the said case is now fixed for May 10". The Judges further held that the matter was listed for arguments for such an early date as it was clearly understood by all parties that the present arrangement "shall continue". A reading of this application would clearly reveal that the Haryana State Pollution Control Board had been reconstituted. Today the Additional Advocate-General sought time to file a reply. The High Court set aside the appointment of Mr Ram Kumar and 14 other persons as Secretaries in the Hisar District Central Cooperative Bank Ltd. Mr Justice V.K. Bali and Mr Justice A.S. Garg, who delivered this order on a petition filed by Mr Om Parkash, a resident of Hisar and three other persons, directed the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Haryana , and the Hisar District Central Cooperative Bank Ltd to issue a proper advertisement inviting applications for the posts of Secretary and by due selection process appoint those found eligible for the posts. The Bench held: "We are of the considered view that Mr Ram Kumar and others (respondents 3 to 18) have been appointed by way of sheer favouritism. Without making any advertisement, they were initially appointed for 89 days and thereafter regularised in service. By adopting this method all those who were eligible for the posts of Secretary Grade-B were denied an equal opportunity in the matter of appointment." The Judges observed that it was the case of the petitioners that before making the appointment no advertisement was issued nor persons similarly situated were ever considered. The appointment of the
respondents had been made with mala fide intentions to
oblige some bank directors and political leaders. To
illustrate favouritism it had been further pleaded that
Mr Ram Kumar is the son of the senior accountant of the
bank, Mr Sanjay a nephew of the bank's establishment
officer while Mr Hemant Kumar Bishnoi by caste had
relations with former Chief Minister company. |
MDU teachers resent ROHTAK, May 6 — The Maharshi Dayanand University Teaching Department Teachers' Association (MDUTDTA) has criticised the state government for the inordinate delay in implementing the revised pay scales. The executive committee of the MDUTDTA, at a meeting here yesterday, blamed the university authorities for creating the present crisis while overlooking general interests of the university. The association has decided to meet the Vice-Chancellor to know the fate of its demand charter submitted a couple of months ago. It favoured an amicable solution to the demands in view of the ongoing postgraduate examinations and academic interest of the students. The demands include
pay-fixation of teachers promoted under the merit
promotion scheme, the restoration of medical facilities
to university employees and students, the counting of
total service for promotional purposes and holding
meetings of the screening committees for disposal of
promotion cases. |
Khalsa Tercentenary College for
Ratia CHANDIGARH, May 6 — The Haryana Cabinet, which met here today under the chairmanship of Mr Bansi Lal, Chief Minister, decided to open Khalsa tercentenary Government College at Ratia in Fatehabad district. The government has provided Rs 75 lakh in the current financial year to provide necessary facilities, including staff quarters and building, so that the immediate functioning of the college could be possible. The Guru Nanak Education Society,Ratia, has transferred 10 acres to the Haryana Government for establishing the college. This decision meets the long-standing demand of the people of the area. The Cabinet also decided to provide export facto approval to exempt payment of motor vehicles tax on the vehicles which carried passengers going to attend tercentenary celebrations of the birth of Khalsa organised at Anandpur Sahib from April 7 to 21 last. The sanction of the government was issued on April 6 in anticipation of the approval of the Cabinet. The Cabinet decided to repeal the Haryana Cold Storage (Licensing and Regulation ) Order, 1979. The decision has been taken to provide a free hand to the cold storage owners to enable them to construct and install adequate storage capacity to meet growing demand. It was also decided to transfer seven villages of Beri tehsil— Gurha, Jondhi, Khatiwas, Birdhana, Mehrana, Fortpura and Tamaspura — to Jhajjar tehsil. The government has taken the decision keeping in view the demand of these villages as these are adjacent to Jhajjar town. People had to face difficulty in meeting their day-to-day needs. The Cabinet also decided to give guarantee of Rs 14 crore to the Haryana Roadways Engineering Corporation, Gurgaon, for 1998-1999 for the purchase of chassis for Haryana Roadways. The Cabinet also decided to amend the Government Employees' Conduct Rules, 1966, by inserting a provision in the rules prohibiting sexual harassment of working women by the government servants. It will be the duty of every government servant who is in charge of a work place to take appropriate steps to prevent sexual harassment of any woman at his work place. The Cabinet also decided
to offer an appointment as an inspector in the Police
Department to Mr Ajit Singh, son of the late Mr Laxman
Dass, Excise and Taxation Officer, who was killed on
November 1, 1998, while performing duties at Faridabad. |
NGOs to get grant for
cultural shows FARIDABAD, May 6 — The Central Social Welfare Board will provide grants to non-government organisations for holding cultural programmes for the benefit of children. This was stated by Mrs Mrindula Sinha, chairperson of the board after visiting mahila shakti mela — Umang — '99 here yesterday. Mrs Sinha said the board would also provide pre-marriage counselling to girls. Earlier, Mrs Lajwanti
Srivastava, chairperson of the Haryana Social Welfare
Advisory Board, said the board was running vocational
training scheme and awareness generation programme for
women and nutrition programme for children. A number of
balwadis had also been set up in various parts of the
state. |
HAUTA flays extension HISAR, May 6 — The Haryana Agricultural University Teachers’ Association (HAUTA) has expressed resentment over the reappointment of Mr Vinay Kumar as Registrar of the university. Mr Kumar, who had already got extension as the Officer on Special Duty in the University, was given the charge of the Registrar after Mr JPS Sangwan was transferred. HAUTA has been seeking a ban on all types of extensions in the university, as this results in nepotism and favouritism, it alleges. A HAUTA delegation met
the Vice Chancellor today and asked him to follow the
established precedent and handover the charge of the
Registrar to the senior most Deputy Registrar. 152 medicos affected ROHTAK, May 6 — The refusal to approve migration of students of Agroha Medical College to the local Medical College by the Medical Council of India (MCI) has sealed the fate of 152 medicos. It is learnt that 27 students appeared for examination in the 1994 batch.Out of them 18 passed their final examination on April 30. But they have allegedly been denied internship. The affected students
have pleaded that they were admitted to the Agroha
Medical College on the basis of merit and it is the duty
of the government to "adjust" them as the
college has been closed on financial grounds. |
Club marries off poor girls FATEHABAD: For Paramjeet Kaur (18), an orphaned girl of Marh village in this district, it was like divine help at the time of need. The poor girl is one of the eight sisters, six of whom are still unmarried. She has no brother. Her mother died last year due to cancer. Her father, who was a land-less farmer, died last month of tuberculosis. Before dying he had betrothed Paramjeet to Sukha Singh, a youth of Chhota Bhamba village in Punjab. With the death of her father, Paramjeet had lost all hopes of marriage. Chhinder (19) of Hinjrawan village and Rani (21) of Khan Mohammad village, both daughters of landless farm labourers, were waiting to get married. Though their parents had got them engaged, they did not have enough money to marry off their daughters. Gurnam Kaur (22) and Surjeet Kaur (20), sisters from Nadori village are among the 14 girls who were married off by the local Rotary Club at a mass marriage ceremony organised here at the local Arorabansh Dharamshala. The Additional Deputy Commissioner, Mr Vineet Garg, and Mrs Nisha Rathore, a former District Governor of the Inner Wheels Club, presided over the ceremonies. Prominent persons of the town participated and blessed the newly wedded couples. Dr H.C. Dahiya, Project Director of the club, said the idea of arranging a mass marriage ceremony was conceived after looking into the fact that many landless labourers had to wait for long to marry off their daughters. Whenever they married off their daughters, they had to borrow money from their landlords. Then they often were unable to repay it. Interest kept on mounting on the principal amount and the labourers were relegated to the status of bonded labourers. The club decided to come to the rescue of such families. He said this was the
first effort of the club in this direction and they
proposed to organise such ceremonies every year. |
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Cold store owner fined Rs 6
lakh AMBALA, May 6 — The Inspector-General of Police (Vigilance) Mr R.S. Dalal, said here today that a penalty of Rs 6.19 lakh had been imposed on the owner of a cold store at Thanesar for stealing power. Giving details, Mr Dalal said a raid was conducted on the premises of a cold store and ice factory on the night of May 4 by a team of the vigilance wing led by Mr I.D. Madan, Assistant Director. The cold storage was found stealing power through an underground cable. The cable was connected to a transformer located within the premises of the cold store. He said apart from the fine a criminal case had been registered against the owner. Proceedings would be started against junior engineer of the sub division concerned negligence, he added. Mr Dalal said strict
instructions had already had been issued to shift
transformers from the premises of factories as instances
of power thefts had been detected in such cases. A
similar theft was detected at a cold store at Naraingarh
recently. |
Case against 5 for abetting
suicide SIRSA, May 6 — Hari Parkash Maheriwala a "henchman" of Mr Ganeshi Lal, Minister for Food and Supplies, Haryana, newly nominated vice-chairman of the Market Committee Sirsa, his brother Pawan Kumar, Mahesh Cheekwan of the local Agarsain Colony, Pawan Kumar Kandoi and Pawan Kumar Mittal have been held responsible for the death of Ramesh Kumar Chawla, an ahartiya, who committed suicide by jumping before a train on Tuesday. A criminal case under Sections 306/34, IPS, was registered against the accused here yesterday on a complaint by Mr Rajinder Singh, partner of the deceased Chawla. The accused have gone underground. The Railway police
recovered a note from the pocket of the deceased alleging
that the accused had got his signatures for registration
of "bogus" films with the Sales Tax Department. Hafed clerk booked for bribery ROHTAK, May 6 — A head clerk of the local office of the Haryana Agricultural Marketing and Cooperative Federation ( Hafed) was caught accepting a bribe of Rs 1000 from an employee of the same department working at Hansi. According to sources, district officials laid a trap after an employee of Hafed Spinning Mills at Hansi lodged a complaint that the clerk posted there was demanding a bribe to clear a case regarding withdrawal of funds. The clerk, identified as Om Prakash, was caught red-handed accepting the money from the complainant in his office. A case under Sections, 7, 13 and 88 of the Prevention of Corruption Act was registered against him. In another incident, four identified persons looted Rs 2000 from a petrol station near Chuchhakwas village in Jhajjar district, 45 km from here, last night. The police yesterday
booked a case under Sections 325 and 34, IPC, against
three persons of Bhali Anandpur village in the district
for assaulting another resident with sticks and
sharp-edged weapons. |
Boys’
murder:
3 arrested FARIDABAD, May 5 — Three persons have been arrested on a charge of kidnapping and murdering two boys aged seven and five last month. The bodies of the boys, which were thrown into the Agra canal, are yet to be recovered. The arrested persons have been identified as Mukesh, Gulab and Shiv Kumar. Sudhir, another suspect, is still at large. The boys who had been murdered are Subhash (5) and Yogesh (7) sons of Mr Vijay Kumar and Mr Prem Chand, respectively. A police spokesman
alleged here today that the boys were first taken to the
house of Gulab where they were strangled. The bodies were
taken in two gunny bags to Tigaon road and thrown into
the Agra canal. ASI killed in accident KURUKSHETRA, May 6 — An assistant sub-inspector was killed while three more police personnel were injured when the jeep (HR 05 1958) in which they were travelling, collided with a truck (HR 38B 2667) near Khanpur Kohlian village, 12 km from here today. All injured persons were rushed to the local Lok Nayak Jai Parkash Narayan Hospital where ASI Harbhajan Singh succumbed to his injuries. The injured were identified as constable Ram Mehar, constable Dharam Singh and constable Baljeet Singh. The police has registered a case under Sections 279 and 304-A, IPC. The truck driver has been arrested and the truck impounded.
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Haryana college teachers to get CHANDIGARH, May 6 — The Haryana Government today gave a bonanza to the teachers of colleges and universities. The Cabinet, which met here today under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, decided to grant revised pay scales as recommended by the University Grants Commission and accepted by the Union Government to teachers of all universities and colleges, including government-aided private colleges, with effect from January 1, 1996. The Cabinet also
accepted a pension scheme for all employees of the 98
government-aided private colleges and over 400
government-aided private schools with effect from May 11,
1998. After the notification
of the scheme, the employees will get only the pensionary
benefits. |
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