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| Monday, February 28, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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BJP
men blame INLD for defeat Chautala likely to vacate Rori seat Haryana
notification on panchayat poll Rs
1,500 crore sought for power sector Bus stand in
utter neglect CM
harassing my kin: ex-adviser Boy's
kidnapping: team meets SP ‘Sky
marshals’ at all airports Rail
line sanctioned between Sonepat, Jind |
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BJP men blame INLD for
defeat SIRSA, Feb 27 — While Mr Lachhman Dass Arora wrested the Sirsa seat from the BJP, the general perception here is that it was not Mr Arora who defeated Mr Jagdish Chopra of the BJP, but it was Mr Gopi Chand Kamboj, an independent who defeated Mr Chpora. The polling arithmetic substantiates this argument. While Mr Arora polled 40522 votes, Mr Chopra got 25431 and Mr Gopi Chand 24935 votes. Mr Gopi Chand, who contested as an Independent this time, was reportedly being supported by the INLD. It is felt in BJP circle that if the INLD had wholeheartedly supported Mr Chopra, he would have won the seat. Mr Gopi Chand was the Samata Party (INLD's previous incarnation) candidate in the 1996 Assembly elections and was keen on contesting on the party ticket this time too. At one stage the INLD had claimed this seat. Ultimately, Mr Gopi Chand, on the reported assurance from the INLD high command, decided to contest as an Independent. Not surprising, his performance, was outstanding in areas considered to be INLD strongholds. In fact, he had established a lead in the initial stages of the counting over the Congress and BJP candidates. It is difficult to explain how the alliance lost the Sirsa seat to the Congress, particularly when all surrounding constituencies in the district went to the INLD. In fact, the INLD candidates retained the seats with improved margins. Local BJP leaders are quiet on the subject. Although in private they blame their alliance partner for the defeat, they are not prepared to go on record. "Everything will come up for a discussion at tomorrow's meeting in Rohtak; a local BJP leader said. The state executive of the BJP is scheduled to meet at Rohtak tomorrow to review the party's poll performance. In the remaining four constituencies of Sirsa district the INLD not only managed to maintain its hold, but strengthen it further. In Rori, Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala improved his margin of victory over the 1996 elections. Mr Chautala, who won from Rori in 1996 against Mr Nehra by 8382 votes, almost tripled the margin of victory this time. He defeated his brother, Mr Ranjit Singh of the Congress by a margin of 22,606 votes. In Dharbha, Ms Vidya Beniwal defeated Dr K.V. Singh of the Congress with a whooping margin of 22043 votes. She had won the seat in 1996 by a slim margin of 194 votes. Mr Mani Ram had won from Dabwali in 1996, by a margin of 8937 votes. This time the INLD had fielded his son, Mr Sita Ram. The victory margin went up to 26993. In Elenabad also the party candidate, Mr Baghi Ram, improved his victory margin from 7198 in 1996 to 15054 this time. While the BJP leaders maintain a tactful silence, angry workers ask how it was possible that the swing did not held alliance candidate in Sirsa, given the performance of the same candidates in the surrounding assembly segments. Sirsa has not been an exception. There is a long list of assembly segments which the BJP feels it should have won but did not. Besides Sirsa, these include Narnaund, Jind, Jhajar and Hisar. While at some places, like Narnaund and Jhajar, the INLD supported Independents won, Sirsa, Jind and Hisar went to the Congress, which according to BJP workers, was only due to the INLD indifference towards BJP candidates.
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Chautala likely to vacate Rori
seat SIRSA, Feb 27 — INLD supremo and Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, who has been elected both from Rori and Narwana, is likely to vacate the Rori seat. According to sources at the Chautala house here, Mr Chautala will resign from the Rori Vidhan Sabha seat in the district paving way for his younger son Abhey Chautala keeping in view the family's influence and the huge margin of victory. Mr Abhey Chautala had single handedly campaigned for his father in the recently concluded Vidhan Sabha elections. The choice for the
Congress candidate is not yet known. Whether the party
will repeat Mr Ranjeet Singh or give ticket to Mr Jagdish
Nehra, who represented this constituency twice, is not
known. |
Haryana notification on
panchayat poll SONEPAT, Feb 27 — The Haryana Government has issued a notification for holding the elections to the gram panchayats, panchayat samitis and the zila parishads in two phases in the seven blocks of this district. Mr Sudhir Rajpal, Deputy Commissioner, told mediapersons here today that the panchayat elections in Sonepat, Mundlana, Kathura and Gohana blocks would be held on March 19 and on March 26 in the remaining blocks of Rai, Kharkhauda and Ganaur. He said that Sonepat district had 316 panchayats, 3,217 panches, 163 members of seven panchayat samitis and 21 members in the Sonepat Zila Parishad. The Sonepat block consists of 68 villages wherein 68 sarpanches, and 669 panches would be elected. There would be 36 sarpanches in general category (male), 18 sarpanches in general category (female), nine sarpanches in the Scheduled Castes category (male) and five others in the Schedule Castes (female). According to the Deputy Commissioner, the state government has appointed seven Returning Officers in various blocks of the district. Similarly seven Assistant Returning Officers have also been appointed. The Deputy Commissioner
said that the nomination papers would be filed uptill
February 28 between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. The candidates
were required to submit the relavent papers on March 1
for scrutiny. The last date of withdrawal of nomination
papers is March 3. The polling for the first phase will
be held on March 19 and the second phase on March 26. The
results will be declared on the same day. |
Rs 1,500 crore sought for
power sector CHANDIGARH, Feb 27 — Haryana has sought a minimum financial assistance of Rs 1500 crore out of the Accelerated Power Development Programme Fund set up by the Planning Commission for assisting the State in rehabilitation and expansion of the power transmission and distribution system. The assistance has been sought for the first phase of a comprehensive investment plan envisaging the rehabilitation and expansion of the power transmission and distribution system in Haryana. The request for the assistance was made by the Finance Commissioner, Power, Haryana, Mrs Meenaxi Anand Chaudhry, during the Conference of Power Ministers held in Delhi recently on behalf of the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, who could not attend the conference due to the elections. The power Utilities in Haryana have made a comprehensive plan of Rs 7000 crore to provide quality power to consumers which would be implemented over the next eight to 10 years. Mrs Chaudhry said the States which were already implementing power sector reforms should be given higher financial assistance to become a model for the other States. She also urged the Union Power Minister to allocate additional 200 MW of power from the existing Central sector projects to Haryana. She also pleaded for the
waiving the accumulated surcharge on the outstanding dues
of the Central power utilities in the case of those
States which were implementing reforms in the power
sector. This would ease the financial burden of such
States considerably during the transitory stage. |
Bus stand in utter neglect PANIPAT: The Haryana Roadways bus stand here appears to have been totally neglected by the roadways authorities as well as law enforcement agencies with the former having failed to provide basic amenities and the latter having failed in maintaining law and order. No proper space for waiting passengers, unplanned and haphazard parking of private buses, stinking toilets, misbehaviour of shopkeepers, loitering of drunkard and anti-social elements, after 8 p.m. — this in short is the description of this bus stand. There is no proper arrangement for clean drinking water with the exception of a sole water cooler. Single main lavatory is provided near the exit gate and a urinal near entrance which appears to have been rarely cleaned for want of adequate water supply. The main lavatory near the exit gate is being managed or mis-managed by Sulabh International now and can be seen full of water and slush due to choked lines. Roads are damaged with potholes and are congested due to parking of private buses inside the stand. Waiting hall for passengers is inadequate and is without proper lighting arrangement. The enquiry counter staff when asked for information about the arrival and departure of buses casually told me to catch the bus parked on the G.T. Road. Rehriwallas and other unauthorised vendors have blocked the entrance and exit gate. Besides dhabas around the bus stand sell food of poor quality. In the waiting hall authorised shopkeepers have extended their shops leaving inadequate space for the commuters. After about 8 pm when the movement of buses gets restricted vendors are seen under the influence of liquor and quarrel with commuters. Shop owners are indifferent and rude. The misbehaviour of the vendors and the roadways staff is overlooked by the law enforcement agencies. Three STD/PCO booths are supposed to have been allotted to handicapped persons but sources revealed that actually they are sub-let by a person, having influence with the roadways authorities at Chandigarh, to whom these booths have been allotted. One of the persons working on booth is normally under the influence of liquor quarrelling with the customers asking for higher charges as compared to those officially fixed. The General Manager, Haryana Roadways, Mr L.P.S. Tomar when asked for his comments about all this unauthorised business said the renovation plan was submitted to the authorities but was returned with some technical flaws. It was resubmitted after rectification. Necessary sanction is awaited. With regard to the parking of private buses he said he could not challan them as they were helping the roadways by plying buses on the routes not officially covered by them. For congestion in the
waiting hall the General Manager explained that proper
conditions would be maintained when new tenders were
floated for allotment of shops by the end of this month. |
CM harassing my kin:
ex-adviser HISAR, Feb 27 — A former political adviser to Mr Om Prakash Chautala and Mr Bansi Lal during their chief ministership, Mr Hari Singh has sought the intervention of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in the alleged harassment of his family by the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala. In a representation to the Chairman of the NHRC, Mr Hari Singh alleged that one of his brothers, Mr Jai Singh, who was working as an Executive Engineer with the Haryana State Agriculture Marketing Board, was first demoted and then subsequently suspended on baseless charges. He further alleged that immediately after Mr Chautala took over, his brother was demoted and subsequently transferred to Nuh in Faridabad district, one of the remotest areas in the state. After Mr Jai Singh joined at Nuh, he had to rush back to Fatehabad to attend to his ailing wife. Mr Hari Singh alleged that though his brother had duly applied for casual leave, before the expiry of the leave period, he was placed under suspension for "not seeking prior permission". He urged the NHRC to intervene in the matter. Mr Hari Singh served as
Political Adviser to Mr Chautala during his earlier term,
but fell apart later. He had subsequently joined the HVP
and served as adviser to Mr Bansi Lal also. He has parted
ways with the latter also. |
Boy's kidnapping: team meets
SP KURUKSHETRA, Feb 27 — A deputation of local residents led by the dissolved Haryana Assembly Speaker, Mr Ashok Kumar Arora, called upon the district police chief, Mr Desraj Singh, in his office here today. The deputationists expressed their concern over the panic and tension which had gripped the residents of this town since Harsh Sobti (13), a son of Dr H.K. Sobti of this town, was kidnapped before reaching his school here on February 15 and was abandoned by the kidnappers after about 20 hours in captivity on the next day. They said that since the kidnappers had not so far been arrested by the police, a sense of insecurity prevailed among them and their children, who were being escorted to and back from school. The district police
chief, who refused to divulge the details of the
investigation, said the culprits would be nabbed soon. |
‘Sky marshals’ at all
airports AMBALA, Feb 27 — The government has decided to deploy ‘sky marshal’ commandos at all airports in the country to avoid any hijacking incident in future. This was stated by the Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Mr Chaman Lal Gupta, here today. Addressing mediapersons after the annual conference of the Bharat Vikas Parishad, Haryana unit, he said that the CISF had been deployed at 11 important airports, while at the remaining Central forces would be deployed within a year. As a precautionary measure some important steps had also been taken for the security of passengers. He said that airport authorities had been directed that no passengers would be allowed to carry more than one bag on the plane. A minimum of three commandos would be present in every plane during its flight. The number of commandos could be increased according to the strength of the passengers and the situation, he added. Replying to a question, he said that special training had been provided to the crew members to deal with any adverse situation. X-ray machines being installed at airports had been remechanised. The machines which were reported to be defective had been replaced with new ones. He refuted the charge of
opposition parties that some hardcore terrorists were
released in exchange for the passengers of the hijacked
plane recently. |
Rail line sanctioned between
Sonepat, Jind SONEPAT, Feb 27 — The Northern Railway has sanctioned a new railway line between here and Jind via Gohana, a subdivisional town in the district. According to official sources, the new railway line is likely to be laid during 2000-2001, a survey for which has already started. The proposal for the
construction of this railway line had been included in
the Railway Budget for 2000-2001 presented in the Lok
Sabha on Friday. |
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