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| Monday, January 17, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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Congress defeat main aim: Chautala 20 teachers hurt in lathi charge Pay arrears by Jan 31, warn
teachers Old-age pension in Haryana doubled Cong's claims of popularity
‘exposed’
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8 seek Cong ticket from
Bhattu Kalan HVP nominees for two seats named 4 of family hurt in attack Petrol station looted Robbers make off with Rs 2 lakh SDM's son attempts suicide?
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Cong
defeat main aim: Chautala HISAR, Jan 16 — Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala today said the INLD and the BJP had a one-point programme — of ensuring the Congress defeat. Without specifying the number of seats his party was prepared to leave for the BJP, Mr Chautala said both parties were keen on an alliance. When his attention was drawn towards Mr Devi Lal's statement that the BJP should not be given more than 20 seats, Mr Chautala said: "It is his personal opinion and not of the party although Mr Devi Lal's opinion is respected by all". Mr Chautala appeared guarded in his comments on his relationship with the BJP and on the statements made by some BJP leaders. "The INLD and the BJP are a part and parcel of the National Democratic Alliance and Mr Vajpayee is the common leader," he said. However, both parties would contest on separate manifestos and election symbols, he explained. The INLD supremo said his party would release its election manifesto on February 1. A committee headed by the Finance Minister, Prof Sampat Singh, had been constituted for the same. Other members on the committee were Prof Teja Singh and Mr Amichand Saharwal. The INLD leader
clarified that he was yet to finalise the list of
candidates for the forthcoming poll. "Once it is
announced it will not be changed," he declared. He
refused to reply whether he was waiting for a settlement
on seats with the BJP. |
20
teachers hurt in lathi charge HISAR, Jan 16 — About 20 teachers were injured when the police resorted to a lathi charge to prevent them from storming into the venue of INLD workers' training camp. The teachers wanted to meet the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, who was present at the camp. According to Mr Ved Singh Boora, about 500 teachers on contract from all over the state had arrived here to meet the Chief Minister for seeking cancellation of an advertisement for the posts of teacher. Fresh recruitments would directly affect about 10,000 teachers all over the state, who were working on contract. Mr Boora said about 30 per cent of the teachers had become ineligible after the May, 1997 amendment to the eligibility rules of teachers. About 30 per cent of them were already overage. The teachers said they wanted to remind Mr Chautala and Prof Sampat Singh about the promise they made in 1998, when the teachers had staged a dharna and indefinite fast. The teachers were assured that they would be absorbed on regular basis if he (Mr Chautala) came to power. About 10,000 teachers in
Haryana are working on a contractual basis for the past
three to six years. The process of fresh recruitment
initiated by the Chautala government is bound to
adversely effect the teachers on contract. |
Pay
arrears by Jan 31, warn teachers KARNAL, Jan 16 —The joint action committee of the managements of Non-Government Colleges, the Principals Association and the Haryana College Teachers Association today served an ultimatum on the Haryana Government that if the teachers were not paid their arrears by January 31, the bodies would hold a joint demonstration in Chandigarh on February 11. The decision was taken at a meeting of the three bodies here today held under the chairmanship of Mr Ram Kishen Gupta, a former MP. The meeting wanted the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr O.P. Chautala, to call a meeting of representatives of the three bodies to resolve the issue. Dr Romesh Kumar, a spokesman for the teachers, said the state government had acceded to one of the demands of the joint action committee following district-level demonstrations on January 11. This related to revocation of ban on recruitment imposed during the regime of Mr Bansi Lal. As a result of the ban, 400 posts of Lecturer, Principal and non-teaching staff was lying vacant. According to Prof Devinder Singh Dhaliwal, president of the Haryana College Teachers Union, the government had released the grants-in-aid only till October. This had enabled the managements to pay salaries to staff for two months. But the payment for November and December was yet to be paid. The meeting decided to defer its demonstration scheduled to be held in Chandigarh on January 21. YAMUNANAGAR: Retired college lecturers in Haryana are seeking pension benefits with effect from April 1,1955. Prof K.C. Thakur, president, Haryana Retired College Teachers Association, said here on Sunday that Haryana had announced a number of times to grant pension benefits to university and college teachers from April, 1995. The Governor and the Finance Minister had announced on the floor of the Assembly in March 1995 that such a decision had been made in this regard. He said affiliated private colleges were directed to send financial estimates to be incurred by the government to allow pension benefits from April 1,1995. But all of a sudden, the Bansi Lal government announced that benefits to college teachers would be from May 11, 1998. He, however, allowed university teachers to have these benefits from April 1,1995. He said Haryana had created a wedge between college and university lecturers. Prof Thakur said gross injustice had been done to college teachers by Mr Bansi Lal. He said there had always been parity between college and university lecturers on such matters grades and emoluments. Prof Thakur asked Mr
O.P. Chautala, Chief Minister, to look into the matter. |
Let me
choose nominees, Chautala pleads with workers PANIPAT, Jan 16 — Urging his party workers not to put pressure on him in selecting candidates for the Vidhan Sabha elections, the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, yesterday said the workers should rather let him select nominees of his choice. Addressing a training camp of party workers from Panipat, Sonepat, Karnal and Jind districts, Mr Chautala said his personal rapport with the party workers would help him choose suitable candidates for the coming poll. The party workers suggested to the Chief Minister that the party should share 10 to 20 assembly seats with the BJP. Criticising the Congress and the HVP, Mr Chautala said whenever his government announced development schemes for the people, these parties called it political gimmickry and when his government implemented these, they started questioning the financial implications. Mr Chautala said he had been often accused of playing the Jat card by the opposition parties. "However, this time when I have tried to take care of every section of the society, I am being blamed for neglecting the Jats," he added. He urged the partymen to maintain discipline and restraint during the assembly elections, saying that the harmony and discipline shown by the workers during the Lok Sabha elections had helped the INLD perform extremely well. Former Deputy Prime
Minister, Devi Lal, who inaugurated the day’s
proceedings, said he was impressed with the performance
of Mr Chautala as the Chief Minister. The octogenarian
leader, who despite his ailing health had come to attend
the camp, watched the proceedings till afternoon before
leaving for Delhi. Finance Minister Sampat Singh also
spoke on the occasion. |
Old-age
pension in Haryana doubled CHANDIGARH, Jan 16 (UNI) — Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala has, true to its commitment, not only doubled the old age pension from Rs 100 to Rs 200 a month, but also the widow as well as handicapped pension from November 1 last. Stating this here today, the Additional Political Secretary to Chief Minister, Mr Vineet Punia, said the old age pension as well as the widow and handicapped pensions were being disbursed on the revised rate of Rs 200 a month. The Chief Minister had directed that the arrears for the month of November should also be paid to the beneficiaries. The revolutionary scheme of old age pension was initially introduced by ‘Jan nayak’ Mr Devi Lal in 1987, but the subsequent governments hardened their norms to reduce the number of beneficiaries, Mr Punia said. The present government had also relaxed the norms of the old-age pension scheme so as to be benefit a large number of people and got a fresh survey conducted to include more people within the relaxed norms. Mr Punia said earlier there were 6.50 lakh beneficiaries under the old-age pension scheme who were being given pension at the rate of Rs 100 a month, but as a result of the fresh survey conducted by the Haryana Government, their number had shot up to 10.05 lakh. As many as 2.56 lakh new beneficiaries had been identified in a survey conducted recently. Earlier 98,946 eligible persons were identified under the scheme in February and March 1999. A sum of Rs 130.80 crore would be paid to the beneficiaries under the old-age pension scheme in this financial year, he added. Mr Punia said in the existing scheme the criterion was different for the beneficiaries in rural as well as urban areas regarding land holding and income of the applicant, his spouse and dependent children from all sources. Now the eligible beneficiary should be aged 60 or more, a domicile of Haryana and not receiving pension of Rs 100 or more. These restrictions had been eliminated keeping in view the hardships being faced by the beneficiaries in getting the certificates of their land holdings and income. These were also breeding corruption, he added. The government, however, retained the earlier clauses to keep the creamy layer out of the purview of the old-age pension scheme. Under the existing scheme, those who themselves or their children are tax assesses would not be eligible for old-age pension scheme. Similarly, those whose children are Class I or Class II gazetted officers in the service of the government or hold an equivalent post in a public sector undertaking or are employed under a private employer and draw a salary equivalent to that of a Class II gazetted officer (minimum of Rs 4000 a month) will not be considered for the scheme. Those whose children are professionals like doctor, lawyer, chartered accountant, income tax consultant, financial or management consultant, dental surgeon and engineer, architect and contractor or are professional of a similar nature would also be excluded for the grant of pension. Those whose children are IT assesses and those who themselves or their children are existing member of Parliament or MLAs or chairman of boards or corporations would also be not entitled for the benefit. Mr Punia
added that at present 2.62 lakh widows and destitute
women and 49,000 handicapped were getting pensions under
the two different schemes. |
Cong's
claims of popularity ‘exposed’ FATEHABAD, Jan 16 — Mr Vineet Poonia, Additional Political Secretary to the Chief Minister, today said the failure of the Ambala rally had exposed the fall claims of popularity being made by Congress leaders in Haryana and proved that people of the state had totally rejected the Congress. Talking to mediapersons here, Mr Poonia said the Congress leaders could not arrange a gathering of more than 500 persons despite a wide publicity that senior state and national-level leaders were coming to the rally. This proved that the party had lost its support among the people. He described the coming together of the various factional leaders of the Congress on a single stage as a "drama" enacted out of fear on seeing the increasing popularity of Mr Chautala. Mr Poonia alleged that the Congress leaders were in the habit of trying to grab votes by enacting such "dramas" whenever the elections were declared. He said various Congress leaders who were now showing respect for each other did not hesitate to stab each other in the back when it came to personal interests. He termed the much-hyped unity of the Congress leaders as a farce and added that the leaders were enacting this "drama" for mere survival. They might not be able to save even their security deposits in at least 50 assembly constituencies. He described the five-month tenure of the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, as a golden era for the state. Mr Chautala had provided a new pace to the development activities in the state. The Congress leaders should first compare the development works done during their tenure with those done during the tenure of Mr Chautala. Mr Poonia cited the
construction of 1,100 km of new roads, repair of damaged
roads, increasing the relief given to Kargil martyrs'
families, giving grants to Agroha Medical College,
doubling the old age pension and abolishing octroi by the
Chautala government as some of the examples. |
8 seek
Cong ticket from Bhattu Kalan FATEHABAD, Jan 16 — Two women candidates and a former legislator have applied for the Congress ticket from the Bhattu Kalan Assembly constituency in this district for the forthcoming assembly polls. The constituency was represented in the state assembly by the former Haryana Home Minister, Mr Mani Ram Godara, who recently joined the INLD after deserting the HVP supremo, Mr Bansi Lal. Mr Godara has again indicated his keenness to contest from the constituency on the INLD ticket. In all, eight persons
have applied for the Congress ticket from Bhattu Kalan.
They are a former MLA, Mr Ran Singh Beniwal, a former
Market Committee Chairman, Mr Laxmi Chand, a senior
Congress leader and member of the state Election Campaign
Committee, Mrs Uma Bishnoi, a local social activist, Mrs
Santosh Machra, Mr Kulbir Beniwal, Mr Balbir Sihad, Mr
Baldev Singh and Mr Balbir Singh. |
HVP nominees for two seats named GURGAON, Jan 16 (PTI) — The Haryana Vikas Party leader and former Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, today announced his party's candidates for two of the six assembly seats in this district of the state. While a former state minister and sitting MLA, Mr Narayan Singh, would be the HVP candidate from Pataudi (reserved) seat, Mr Mukesh Sharma would be fielded from Salokhra constituency in the district, a party press note here said. Candidates for the
remaining four seats in the district would be announced
later. |
4 of
family hurt in attack AMBALA, Jan 16 — Four persons including two women were injured when some miscreants attacked them with swords and knives at their residence at Nahan House, Ambala City, today. The injured include Talvinder, Tarlochan, Jeet Kaur and Bimla. According to Talvinder, yesterday too the miscreants had attacked their house in which Johar Singh was injured. He claimed that two of his family members were missing after the attack and alleged that they might have kidnapped by the miscreants. The reason of the incident could not be ascertained. Residents of the area protested at the police post against the incident.
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Petrol
station looted ROHTAK, Jan 16 — Jeep-borne youths allegedly looted a petrol station at gunpoint at nearby Bhalot village today. According to the FIR lodged by Jasbir, an employee at Kapoor Chand Fateh Chand petrol pump, four youths came to the petrol station in a jeep (HR 06 C-5035) around 8.30 pm and asked him to fill petrol for Rs 100. They demanded a receipt and followed him to the cabin. Suddenly one of them took out a pistol and the others searched for cash. They allegedly escaped with cash worth Rs 14,329, nine cans of mobil oil and a calculator. The police has
registered a case under Section 392/34 of the IPC and
Section 25 of the Arms Act. |
Robbers
make off with Rs 2 lakh ROHTAK, Jan 16 — In a spate of looting and theft incidents, robbers struck at several places and decamped with Rs 2 lakh in the past 36 hours. According to police sources, robbers broke into at least 15 shops in Shourie cloth market here, besides a shop in Mansarover Colony here. They reportedly made off with cash amounting to about Rs 2 lakh. Sniffer dogs and fingerprint experts were called to get a clue about the thieves. No arrests have been made so far. In another incident,
four armed youths looted Rs 14,000 from a petrol station
at Bhaluat village near here last night. The miscreants
reportedly came in a jeep and took away the money at
gunpoint from an employee, at about 8.30 p.m. A case has
been registered. |
SDM's son
attempts suicide? SONEPAT, Jan 16 — Kapil Kumar (19), son of Mr Dharampal, SDM of Sonepat, was wounded when he fired a shot from a revolver in his house here late last evening. According to the police,
the injured youth was immediately taken to Jaipur Golden
Hospital in Delhi. His condition is stated to be serious.
It is stated that the youth had made an attempt to commit
suicide. |
|
ROHTAK, Jan 16 — A quarrel over paise 50 led to the murder of a youth and injury to another in the industrial town of Bahadurgarh, 40 km from here, recently. According to reports, a pan stall-owner identified as Jhagru was killed and a shopkeeper, Mukesh, seriously injured when four youths stabbed them after a controversy over payment of paise 50. The youths came to the shop of Jhagru at 10 p.m. on Thursday night and bought a packet of cigarettes and "ghutka". They gave the shopkeeper a note of Rs 100. When the latter reportedly asked for a 50 paise coin, a confrontation occurred. The youths, who were reportedly in a drunken state, started threatening the shopkeeper. The accused stabbed the stall-owner with a knife. When his neighbouring shopkeeper, Mukesh, intervened, he also was stabbed. Jhagru was taken to a private clinic and then to the PGIMS, Rohtak, where he was declared dead. The incident sparked a
protest from local residents who blocked National Highway
No 10 passing about half an hour. They were led by a
former MLA, Mr Mange Ram. The blockade was lifted after
the district administration intervened. |
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