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H A R Y A N A |  |
 Sunday, May 9, 1999 |
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Major who died a martyr 6.5 lakh not to get voting right |
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Water
scarcity makes them get up at 3 am Rift among GJU teachers Man relates harrowing experience
in Pak jails GJU admission process starts Educating teachers by satellite REC staff resume agitation Govt denies report on DGP leave INLD leader joins Congress |
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Major who died a martyr JIND, May 8 — Prof Zile Singh is proud of his son Major Vinay Chaudhary, who laid down his life while fighting insurgency in Kashmir. Deep in his heart, there is the grief of losing his only son, but he puts up a brave face, saying: "My son was an obsessively patriotic soldier. He lived for the country and died for the country". It was on April 29, when Major Chaudhary received a message from the headquarters in Pulwama in the insurgency-hit Kashmir, that the police had cornered a dreaded terrorist, Iqbal Gujjar. Major Chaudhary was feeding his four-year-old son at the time. "The moment he received the message, he rushed out", recalls his 27-year-old wife Pradima. And they parted never to meet again. Major Chaudhary had always been a daring and fearless officer and had resolved to eliminate Iqbal Gujjar after he had killed his friend Atul Kataria of Gurgaon, also an outstanding officer. He reportedly followed Gujjar in the jungles for 10 days to avenge his friend's death. Although he fulfilled his wish, he lost his life. According to his parents, he considered all terrorists to be his personal enemies. "Whoever is my country's enemy, is my enemy", recalls his mother Ms Santosh as her son having told her. His wife Pradima, who would receive threatening telephone calls from terrorists, used to plead with his parents to advise him to restrain himself. Instead, Major Chaudhary managed to convince his parents by saying: "Come what may, someone has to come forward". One of his colleagues, says when India conducted the nuclear tests on May 11,1998, he celebrated it by hosting a grand party. Major Chaudhary had earlier fought insurgency in Assam. After getting commission in 1990, he was posted to Assam, where he fought ULFA militants. Once during an encounter, he dived into a canal to nab two militants. He fought them in water and succeeded in killing them. He was presented with a commendation certificate by the then Chief of Army Staff. In Kashmir also he led several successful encounters and operations against the militants. In April,1998, the militants celebrated his presumed death in "Vitor force" encounter. After they came to know that he was still alive, they announced a cash reward for anyone who would kill him. Despite being on the hit list of the ISI, he never shied away from confronting the militants. On that fateful day of April 29, he voluntarily went to guide the encounter, although he had been transferred and was to join his duties at Hyderabad within 15 days. As friends and relatives
pour in at his house here to condole his death, his
father meets everyone with courage. And his sad eyes,
which keep looking at his daughter-in-law and his
grandson, are the only indication of his grief. |
6.5 lakh not to get voting
right ROHTAK, May 8 — Nearly 6.5 lakh adults in the state who have completed 18 years on January 2 last or afterwards would not be able to exercise their franchise for the 13th Lok Sabha poll scheduled for September. According to a report, nearly 2.82 lakh of these adults are students who appeared in the 10+2 examination conducted by the Board of School Education, Haryana, and the Central Board of Secondary Education this year. The Election Commission of India has decided to consider January 1, 1999, as the qualifying date for the eligible voters. After the decision, the respective district election officers have denied to bring the names of those who have not completed the required age till the stipulated date on the electoral rolls. Mr Ashok Sinha, state representative of the Society for Participatory Research in Asia said while a large number of adults could not enjoy their right to choose people's representatives a majority of parents in rural areas were least interested in getting their young unmarried daughters on electoral rolls. Such parents, he said, opined that their daughters would stay with their in-laws after marriage. He said after a survey of different villages he found that most of the adult unmarried girls had been deprived of their electoral rights. He said Ms Shagun Mehrotra, state in-charge of the society, also raised the issue at a state-level seminar on "Panchayati raj election" at Gurgaon on April 23. The seminar was attended by Mr J.K. Duggal, state Election Commissioner, along with some district election officials. Ms Mehrotra urged parents and the government to ensure bringing up of such young unmarried village girls on electoral rolls for a proper democratic set-up. Meanwhile, it is learnt nearly three lakh unmarried girls who have completed 18 years are not enlisted in the voters' list. Illiteracy and ignorance in filling of electoral forms reportedly have an adverse effect in enlisting fresh voters. The Election Commission has already launched a nationwide campaign for enrolment of new voters. The electoral forms for revision of voters' list were distributed at the respective polling centres all over the state on April 24 and 25. The forms would again be distributed on May 8 and 9 in the second phase. The claims and objections to these forms would be decided by June 21 next while the final publication of the voters' list would be released on July 21. According to official sources, there are 10,86,895 voters in the state. At present, nearly 4 per cent fresh voters are likely to be added in the voters' list after revision. Mr Vijendra Ahlawat,
state general secretary of the youth wing of the Indian
National Lok Dal, has appealed to the Chief Election
Commissioner, Mr M.S. Gill, for enrolment of adults in
the voters' list who have completed their 18 years before
the announcement of the schedule of Lok Sabha poll. |
Doomsday that was not HISAR, May 8 — All predictions about doomsday proved wrong and today proved like any other day. But the day did not pass without the expected comments made by people while discussing the "doomsday and it was the politicians who were made the target and equated with the inauspicious 'grahas' (the planets). As the day dawned alike any other day, the concern fizzled out to curiosity and the curiosity too remained unsatisfied. A wind storm last night invited the comments that might be the indication of the doom notwithstanding the fact, that sandy storms were a routine matter during this time of the year. While only a few days back, the doomsday was not being discussed too much, today it remained a point of discussion through out. The TNS tried to talk to the same persons, who had been contacted on May 6. Although not all of them were available today but most of them claimed that they were sure about the day being like any other day. However, at Mangali village, a group of middleaged and elderly people made crude pun of the politicians. Rambhaj, who equated country's politicians with the inauspicious planets, remarked, "At least our country would have resisted everything inauspicious that could have resulted from the 'ashtang grahi yog', because there are so many bad 'grahas' in our country, who come together and almost spell doom". His target were some of the senior opposition leaders, who took active part in ousting the Vajpayee government. But Dhura Ram of the same group, argued, "May be it was because of the 'ashtang grahi yog' (the coming together of eight planets) that country had been pushed to a phase of uncertainty unnecessarily and unexpectedly". But Rambhaj retorted with typical rustic wit, "It is like egg and hen story, as who came first. Who knows whether celestial 'grahas' caused our 'grahas' to push us to other elections, or we are trying to seek explanation in celestial position is difficult to say". One teacher, to whom TNS talked today once again, appeared convinced that something unforeseen was definitely going to happen again. "It is not necessary that it happened today only, it can happen later on", he claimed. He cited the example of Indo-China war. He claimed, a similar planetary position had taken place at that time and it had been followed by Indo-China war. It was a coincidence that the Haryana Government had declared May 8 as a holiday, but for entirely different reasons. Today's holiday was declared to enable the people to confirm their names in the electoral rolls. The commonman appeared
unconcerned. The life went on as usual. Because of the
holiday and the excessive heat not many people came out
during the day time. And same was true about today. |
Water scarcity makes them get
up at 3 am ROHTAK, May 8 — For hundreds of women in the town the day begins at 3 a.m. The reason is that they have to get drinking water for their households. Any tardiness on their part may result in their going without water for the whole day. The potable water supply in several parts of the town, including the colonies located in the north, usually begins very early in the morning, be it summer or winter.Women in colonies like Kripal Nagar, Chunnipura, Saini Anandpura, Guru Nanakpura, the Gohana road area, Prem Nagar and some other nearby colonies have to get up in the wee hours if they want to have fresh water for their houses daily. The situation becomes more acute when the water supply becomes scarce during the summer season every year. While several women get water from public taps, most of them have to walk several furlongs at about 3 a.m. when it is quite dark to get drinking water. It is reported that for the past several days the women of some of the colonies have been forced to go to a public tap in a nearby school as taps near their houses and supply line to their houses have gone dry. Complaints of water shortage have poured in from several other areas of the town also in the past few days as the heat wave has intensified. Women have to move in groups as it is not possible for them to move out alone at 3 a.m. Residents of Mahavir Colony and Krishna Colony said they had been undergoing drinking water scarcity for the past over a month. The problem had been highlighted before the district authorities on several occasions but no step had been taken to provide any relief in this regard. Reports of contaminated water supply have also been common in several parts of the town. It is learnt that while the colour of the water coming in the pipelines had been muddy and greenish on some occasions it had been smelly also. Doctors in hospitals and private clinics where patients have been coming in with complaints of water-borne diseases have advised drinking water should be boiled. The authorities concerned claim regular examination of the tapped water supply had been going on. Efforts were being made to augment the supply. It is learnt that while the demand of the potable water supply in the town is around 110 lakh gallons per day the supply is reported to be about 70 to 80 gallons per day.The demand per head daily is reported to be about 185 litres while supply had been about 105 litres. There are more than
2,000 public taps in the town but a lot of water gets
wasted due to removal of taps by people. The district
administration usually imposes power cuts for about half
an hour in the morning and evening daily so that
consumers do not use power meters and the water can reach
the end points. |
Rift among GJU teachers HISAR, May 8 — Fissures have started appearing in the Guru Jambeshwar University teachers Association, with a large section of teachers dissociating itself from its activities. Several teachers of the university today told TNS that they were "shocked" over some "irresponsible statements" made by some of the office-bearers of the association. They were referring to the claims of the association that the number of kidnap cases in the university was on the rise. Recently it expressed concern over the "incidents of kidnappings" in the university. However, the teachers said there was no case of kidnapping on the campus. They alleged that the rumour was deliberately floated by some vested interests to sabotage the admission process in the university. The teachers while strongly condemning the attitude of some "irresponsible" office-bearers said it should have consulted the executive before issuing such statements, which had damaging and discouraging repercussions for the university. They point out several officer-bearers were not taken into confidence on the issue. They urged the Vice-Chancellor to take strong action against those responsible for creating confusion in the university. Meanwhile, Vice-Chancellor Dharamvir, while clarifying the issue said there had been to case of kidnapping reported in the university so far. However, he said four persons had been arrested on a charge of manhandling a student. The Vice-Chancellor
expressed confidence that the response for fresh
admissions would be more encouraging than the previous
year. He disclosed that the university was starting on M.
Pharma course from this year. |
Man relates harrowing
experience in Pak jails SONEPAT, May 8 — "We have come back from hell" this was the first reactions of 45-year-old Ashok Kumar of Anandpur Jharot village in this district, who along with his three sons, had been set free after languishing in a Pakistani prison for three years. On reaching his native village, Mr Kumar gave the details of his harrowing experience in Pakistan jails and described the conditions there as appalling and no less than bell. He said Indian prisoners were treated as slaves by the jail authorities. He said he was mercilessly beaten up and forced to become a Muslim and act as an ISI agent to spread terrorism in India. Those who resisted were either killed or beaten up by the jail authorities. Mr Kumar said he never thought of killing himself as his children were with him. He said he had seen people being tortured to death. They either beat them to death or seriously cut them into pieces, he said with a shudder, He said he and his sons were illegally arrested on February 28, 1996, by Pakistani Rangers at the Turkhan border check post on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border for not having a valid visa from Pakistan to go to Afghanistan. They brought them to the Londikothal jail where they were kept for 15-20 days before being shifted to Peshawar jail. From Peshawar they were reportedly shifted from one jail to another with no end to their sufferings. The jail authorities threatened him with dire consequences saying his family members in India would be eliminated if he did not work for the ISI. Mr Kumar, who was working as a supervisor in the Delhi Development Authority, gave up his job in 1991. Following a quarrel with his family, he left the village with his sons for bright future. However upon reaching
Pakistan, they were arrested and put in jail. |
GJU admission process starts HISAR, May 8 — The admissions process in Guru Jambheshwar University (GJU) has started for 20 professional and job-oriented courses for 1999-2000. Disclosing this here today, the Vice-Chancellor, Mr Dharmavir, told reporters the entrance test for admission to various management courses will be held on June 20. The last date for the receipt of application forms is June 5. The Vice-Chancellor informed that the entrance test will be held at six centres, including Hisar, Chandigarh, Delhi, Karnal, Rewari and Jaipur. He said the result of the entrance test would be notified on June 28. The interviews and group discussions would be held between July 8 and 12. The merit list would be displayed on July 15 and counselling for admissions would start from July 24. The entrance test for B Pharmacy would be held on June 23 at Hisar only. The last date for the receipt of admission forms is June 10. The results would be declared on July 5 while the list would be displayed on July 7. Counselling would start from July 9. The entrance test for the Master of Computer Application (MCA) and Master of Information Technology (MIT) would be held on June 25 at Hisar only. The merit list would be displayed on June 30 and counselling would start from July 10. The last date for the receipt of application forms is June 14. For other courses like M.Sc, postgraduate diploma in advertising, management and public relations, M Tech (Computer Sciences and Engineering), M Sc (biotechnology), M.Sc (food processing and technology) M Sc (environmental sciences), M Tech (environmental science and engineering), M Sc (applied psychology) M Sc (applied mathematics), M Sc (Industrial chemistry), M Sc (laser technology) and B Tech (printing technology) the entrance test would be held at Hisar. Admissions would start from June 29. The last date for the receipt of application forms would be June 14. Mr Dharmavir said the
response had been overwhelming by candidates from across
the country. The admissions were advertised in all
regions of the country, the Vice-Chancellor said. |
Educating teachers by satellite GURGAON, May 8 — The State Council of Educational Research and Training, Haryana, took a giant step forward and put education on the satellite track when it arranged an interactive training programme for educators of 40 teacher training institutes. A day-long training programme via satellite covered discussions on "competency-based and commitment-oriented teacher education". Welcoming the guests and the teachers, Mrs S Sandhir, Director, SCERT, said that the need was to adopt its new technology for the millennium. She thanked ISRO for its initial assistance to enable SCERT to provide the required infrastructure for the purpose. Mr Vishnu Bhagwan, Financial Commissioner and Secretary Education, Haryana, in his inagural address lauded the role of SCERT. He said the new methodology of teaching would help cope with the needs of the 21st century. Over 600 teachers from various institutes had assembled at the six centres where the technical facilities had been provided. Other distinguished
educationists included Prof B.K. Passi, Head UNESCO
Chair, Dr I. C. Singh, Dr Mohammed Mian, Dr Phalla
Chanderan and Mrs Sudesh Mukhopadhyay. |
Govt denies report on DGP
leave CHANDIGARH, May 8 — A spokesman of the Haryana Government today strongly refuted a report appearing in a section of the press that Mr S.K. Sethi, DGP, Haryana had proceeded on a 26-day leave in protest against the transfer of Mr S.K. Jadhav, SP, Kurukshetra. Mr Sethi never talked to the Chief Minister's office on the issue. He said the fact was that Mr Sethi applied for leave which was sanctioned by the government. The transfer of Mr
Jadhav from Kurukshetra was done purely on administrative
grounds and was a routine matter, the spokesman added. |
REC staff resume agitation KURUKSHETRA, May 8 — Members of the Regional Engineering College Karamchari Sangh (RECKS) here who yesterday withdrew their four-day-old agitation launched in protest against the non-receipt of wheat loan and their salaries for the month of April, 1999, have decided to resume the agitation. Stating this, Mr Bhim Chand Sharma, president and Mr Tulsi Dass Batra, general secretary of the sangh, in a joint statement released to the press here today, said a delegation led by its president, Mr Bhim Chand Sharma, called upon Mr Narayan Singh, Technical Education Minister, Haryana, at Chandigarh yesterday. The minister ordered the principal of the college to release the wheat loan as well as the salary for the month of April without further delay. Both leaders said this was discussed at the general body meeting of the sangh last evening. The general body unanimously decided to withdraw the agitation. But the principal Dr N.P. Mehta, called the RECKS president, Mr Bhim Chand Sharma, and told him that only Class IV employees would be paid the wheat loan. They said the RECKS general body then decided to continue its agitation until and unless both Class III and Class IV employees of the college were given the wheat loan. When contacted Mr Mehta said all teaching and non-teaching employees would get their salaries for the month of April on May 10 (Monday) as all relevant papers had been sent to the bank. The college would also give wheat loan to all Class IV employees on the Haryana pattern. Orders in this regard had already been issued. So far as providing
wheat loan to Class III was concerned, Dr Mehta said the
matter was discussed with the Commissioner, Technical
Education, Haryana. As per the Haryana Government rules,
this was not admissible to Class III employees. |
INLD leader joins Congress CHANDIGARH, May 8 —The Indian National Lok Dalits today suffered a severe jolt when it prominent leader, Dr Om Parkash Sharma, a former minister, left the party and joined the Congress along with his supporters. Dr Sharma has represented the Jagadhri Assembly constituency four times. He met Mr Bhupinder
Singh Hooda, President, Haryana Pradesh Congress (I)
Committee, today at the Haryana PCC headquarters here and
expressed his full faith in the leadership, policies and
programmes of Mrs Sonia Gandhi, president, Indian
National Congress. |
Husband held for dowry death SIRSA, May 8 — Kulwant Singh, alias Pappu, a newly married young man of Titukhera village in the district, and his mother Guran Bai were arrested by the Sadar police yesterday in a criminal case registered against them under Section 304-B/34, IPC, on the charge of dowry death of Paramjit Kaur, wife of Kulwant Singh. Giving this information,
Mr B.S. Sandhu, SSP, said here today that in a complaint
to the police Rajinder Singh of Thirai village in the
district alleged that his sister Paramjeet Kaur was
married to Kulwant Singh about three months back. The
accused were allegedly not satisfied with the dowry
articles and demanding a motor cycle. He also alleged
that she was beaten and harassed several times by the
accused. He received a message on May 4 last that his
sister had died of heart attack, but after reaching at
her in-laws' house he found scratches on her neck. She
was apparently strangulated to death. The remaining three
accused were absconding. |
Showers bring respite CHANDIGARH, May 8 (UNI) — The four-week-long gruelling heat wave conditions abated in Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir following isolated rain that broke the two-month-long dry spell. However, the day temperature was one to three degrees above normal at many places in the region. Shimla saw the mercury dipping to 19.5°C today following a drizzle and overcast sky for most part of the day. The day temperature in and around Shimla had ruled around 28°C. Mandi reported the highest temperature at 30.5°C, three degrees below normal, following sharp showers. Chandigarh and its surrounding areas with traces of rain in the wee hours saw the temperature dipping to 39°C from yesterday's 41.5°C, four degrees above normal. Hisar in Haryana, which had been the hottest place in the region, and Ambala recorded .3 mm of rainfall till 8.30 this morning and the day temperature fell by two degrees to 43°C. Moderate easterly winds and scattered clouds brought down the day temperature today to 40.6°C in Amritsar. Weathermen here have forecast rain and thunderstorms at isolated places in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana over the next 24 hours. The tribal belt of
Bharmour in Chamba had heavy showers. |
Water shortage in Kalka KALKA, May 8 — With onset of summer, the town residents are facing acute water shortage. In some areas the water supply has been reduced from twice a day to once a day and pressure of the water is very low. There are two deep wells
located on Haryana-Himachal boarder from which the water
is supplied to the town by the Public Health Department.
Water level in these wells has gone down considerably.
Despite efforts, the department seems unable to solve
this problem. |
Aerial survey by World Bank
team HISAR, May 8 — A four-member World Bank team yesterday visited the city in connection with the execution of the Hisar-Ghaggar drain project. The project will cost Rs 775 crore and provide speedy disposal of flood waters as well as check rise in the watertable of the area. The team made an aerial
survey of the area to be benefited by this project and
held discussions with officers of the Irrigation
Department, the Agriculture Department geo-hydrologist
and experts of Haryana Agricultural University and the
Haryana State Minor Irrigation and Tubewell Corporation
HSMITC. |
Worker falls to death PANIPAT, May 8 — Surjeet Kumar (22), working with a contractor of the Haryana State Minor Irrigation Tubewell Corporation, died on the spot yesterday when he fell from a height of 30 metres at the Thermal Power Plant, Panipat. The incident accrued
around 11.30 a.m. A case has been registered. |
Red Cross Day observed PANIPAT, May 8 — The World Red Cross Day was observed here today. The Commissioner, Rohtak Division, Mr G. Parsanna Kumar, presided over a district-level function organised by the District Red Cross Society, here. The Commissioner distributed 80 tricycles to handicapped persons, 50 hearing aids, 14 artificial limbs to the disabled and 15 sewing machines to destitute women worth over Rs 4.91 lakh. He also awarded commendation certificates to the blood donors who have given blood more than 25 times. Others who were presented mementoes and commendation certificates included representatives of voluntary organisations and educational institutions for their plausible work done in promoting the activities of the society. He also announced a grant of Rs 11,000 for the welfare of the inmates of local blind school. Mr Fateh Chand Vij, a
former MLA, donated Rs 5100 to the District Red Cross
Society. |
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