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| Tuesday, March 14, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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Poll disturbance: 2 cases
registered More than one person involved in
murder Power reforms: Hobson’s
choice for INLD NFL employees’ rally on March
16 Auction fetches Rs 35 crore Karamjit is lucky sarpanch BSP, INLD men clash Supplementary demands approved |
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Women’s
college to be set up in Panipat INLD names Faqir Chand for RS seat Haryana Jats seek reservation Three robbers arrested Workshop on remote sensing
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SYL issue to be resolved
‘soon’ CHANDIGARH, March 13 — The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, today assured the Vidhan Sabha that the contentious issue of the SYL canal would be resolved soon. Replying to the debate on the motion of thanks to the governor for his Address to the House, Mr Chautala said he had already written to the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, to use his good office to complete the construction of the SYL canal. Urging the Opposition to rise above party politics on the canal issue Mr Chautala said the stand taken by the Punjab Governor in his Address that the rivers water issue should be resolved on the principle of the Riparian states was not correct. He said since Haryana was a successor state, it had a share in the Punjab rivers. He announced that the option would be taken from the newly elected panchayats as to with which district or block or police station they wanted their villages to be attached. Such issues would be decided in future after taking people into confidence and as per their convenience. Asserting that he was the first to oppose the hike in the price of diesel immediately after the Lok Sabha elections last year, Mr Chautala said his party would oppose the increase in the prices of fertilisers even inside Parliament. He said the new industrial policy framed by his government had been widely appreciated and had already attracted investment worth Rs 1600 crore which would generate employment for about 55,000 persons. The government was also framing a new education policy which would be job-oriented. Mr Chautala announced that he had reversed a decision taken by the Bansi Lal government that the water courses would be repaired by the farmers. Mr Chautala fired several political innuendoes at his political adversaries like Mr Bhajan Lal, Mr Bansi Lal and Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda. He advised Mr Bhajan Lal and Mr Hooda not to contradict each other in the Press. He had a dig at Mr Bansi Lal when he announced that he had already allotted a house and a car for Mr Bhajan Lal as the leader of Opposition even through the Speaker was yet to recognise him as such. He said on the contrary Mr Bansi Lal had denied the facility of car to him which only showed his narrow thinking. He told Mr Bhajan Lal that he "like a joker in a pack of cards, can fit in any political dispensation". He said a Bill would be brought before the House during the current session which would debar the recovery of loans from the farmers in excess of double the principal amount. Earlier, the Finance Minister, Prof Sampat Singh, said the nexus which developed between criminals, police and politicians during the days of prohibition was responsible for the deterioration of the law and order situation in the state. He said the people had given the fresh mandate of the INLD even it had not promised free power or water. He said a World Bank team would visit Haryana at the end of this month to discuss the issue of loan for the power sector. He said the government’s first concern was to protect the interests of the consumer. The HVPN would energise 9850 tubewells this year, though the previous governments had not released power to even a single tubewell. Later the House passed the motion of thanks by a voice vote. Earlier, initiating the discussion in the House today, Congress MLA Bhupinder Singh Hooda said that the government’s claim that it had paid the highest price to sugarcane farmers for their produce was contrary to truth. Many cooperative sugar mills in Maharashtra had paid much better price to the farmers compared to Haryana, Mr Hooda said. Mr Hooda also said that no mention about the gap between total demand and supply of electricity in the state was made in the Governor’s Address. While stating that the SYL has become "the life-line for politicians rather than the farmers of Haryana", Mr Hooda said that in the Governor’s Address no time-frame was suggested for completion of this important project. Regional imbalances inside Haryana, social welfare policies of the government, law and order and local-self government, etc were the other issues which figured in Mr Hooda’s speech. On the issue of sugarcane price, Mr Hooda was, however, challenged by Town and Country Planning Minister Dhirpal Singh who said that in the north of India, it was Haryana which had paid the highest price to the sugarcane farmers. Mr M.L. Ranga, Minister of State for Health, also reacted to Mr Hooda’s appeal to the government to clear the SC/BC backlog, and told the Congress leader that 17 INLD MLAs were from the reserved seats. The lone Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA, Mr Jagjit Sangwan, who spoke after Mr Hooda, said there was no mention in the Governor’s Address about the Gurnam Singh Committee report on reservation for Jats. Mr Jaiprakash Sharma, Congress MLA form Yamunanagar, said that higher education facilities, including medical education, was missing in Yamunanagar. He also urged the Finance Minister to allocate a substantial amount for health services in the coming Budget. Legislators of the ruling alliance, including Ramesh Rana (INLD), Ranbir Singh (INLD), Kanwar Pal (BJP) and Ram Kumar Katwal (INLD) thanked the Chief Minister for the peaceful polling in Haryana. Mr Inderjit Singh of the Congress alleged that the government was not serious about completion of the SYL canal. He also pointed out that the government did not have any concrete plan to boost the morale of farmers who were worried due to the proposed hike in fertiliser prices. Mr Sher Singh, Congress MLA from Julana, said that there should not be any sub-quota in the quota for ex-servicemen in government jobs. Independent MLA Ranjit
Singh Sangwan said that there was no mention in the
Governor’s Address about a new capital for Haryana.
He also talked about the Gurnam Singh Committee report
and the proposed hike in fertiliser prices. |
Poll disturbance: 2 cases
registered ROHTAK, March 13 — The police has registered two cases of causing disturbance at some booths in Jhajjar district during the polling for panchayat elections held yesterday. Some miscreants had "stolen" and "snatched" ballot boxes at two places. According to police sources, some unidentified persons took away ballot boxes from polling booths 16, 17 and 18 at Bhadani village near Jhajjar town. In a similar case, Diwan, Nanke, Kanwar and Pratap took away ballot boxes and threw them in a nearby pond at Matan village located in Bahadurgarh subdivision. Meanwhile, the district administration has declared the results of the election held to elect sarpanches and panches in 37 villages of Kalanaur and Lakhan Majra blocks in Rohtak district. The elected sarpanches include 12 women. These seats were reserved for women. GURGAON: The first phase of elections to gram panchayats, block samitis and the zila parishad was marred by sporadic cases of violence. However, the elections passed off peacefully by and large. The district authorities averted a major incident in Sahsola in Taoru block samiti by timely intervention. Supporters of one group tried to rig the elections. This led to firing in the air by two persons. According to eyewitnesses, the DSP, Mr Subash Goyal, chased the two miscreants and nabbed them and seized the rifles used by them.The Deputy Commissioner, Gurgaon, Mr T.C. Gupta, reached the spot to defuse the tension. According to reports reaching here, supporters of candidates indulged in stone throwing and firing in the air in Chahalka in Taoru block. Miscreants snatched ballot boxes from two booths. In Chadla Durgawas in Panchgaon, miscreants damaged ballot papers at two polling booths. There were reports of polling being suspended at a number of places for a brief period. One such case was in Darbaripur in Sohan block. In Jasal and Daultabad, polling had to be temporarily suspended on account of protests from some voters who alleged that their names were missing from the voters' list. The elections were held in Taoru, Sohna, Farukh Nagar and Pataudi blocks. SHAHABAD: Following the withdrawal by 65 persons, 50 candidates were left in the fray on Monday to contest from 15 of the 17 wards of the Shahabad Municipal Committee. Two candidates, a former president of the civic body, Mr Harish Kwatra, and a former vice-president, Ms Nilam Sahni, have been elected unopposed from wards 15 and 10, respectively. The city BJP chief, Dr Narendra Bansal, and a former president of the local municipal committee, Dr Surendera Sharma, have withdrawn from the contest. Six former municipal
commissioners, Mr Tek Chand Sharma, Mr Gian Chand Kalra,
Ms Sneh Lata Sharma, Mr Ashok Kumar Mattu, Mr Rattan Lal
Bainuki and Mr Om Parkash are in the fray. There is a
straight contest in wards 2, 4, 7, 8, and 11. |
More than one person involved
in murder AMBALA, March 13 — More than one person is suspected to be involved in the gruesome murder of petrol station owner Anil Aggarwal here. A police official said that there is a strong likelihood of more than one person being involved in the murder of Anil Aggarwal. “There is a slim possibility of robbery being the motive of the assailants and one of the angles we are working on is the motive of enmity towards the deceased,” he said. The investigations in the petrol station owner murder case have been stepped up and the area police is working on several leads to track down the assailants. The fact that the body of Anil Aggarwal, bearing multiple stab injuries, was found lying on the roadside, indicates that the killers had not tried to go out of the way to hide the body after killing the petrol station owner, the official said. The police is still trying to ascertain the exact time of the death of Anil Aggarwal. It is, however, clear that Anil Aggarwal died immediately after he was stabbed several times by a sharp-edged weapon, the official said. The car of Anil Aggarwal did not bear any struggle marks and it indicates that the murder must have taken place outside Anil Aggarwal’s Maruti Zen, which was found parked nearby. Inspector General of Police, Ambala Range, Mr H.S. Ahlawat, told The Tribune: “Nothing can be ruled out at this stage. Investigations are in progress right now and we are sure of solving this case soon.” He said that patrolling had been intensified in the area. “We are going to crack the case soon and it is only a matter of time that the assailants are nabbed,” he assured. Meanwhile, traders in Ambala have already sought intensified police patrolling specially at night after the brutal murder of the petrol pump owner. At a meeting of the
Ambala Cantonment Traders Federation, under the
chairmanship of Dr N.C. Jain, the traders decided to meet
the Inspector General of Police, Ambala Range to request
for intensified police patrolling. |
Power reforms: Hobson’s
choice for INLD HISAR, March 13 — The power reforms initiated by the Bansi Lal government in 1997 are likely to face a setback given the conditions laid down by the World Bank (WB) and inability on part of the incumbent Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, to implement them, resulting in the WB reportedly stopping the payment of the due instalment of the promised loan. Mr Chautala has limited options, given his party's avowed stand of being pro-farmer, which goes contrary to the WB conditions. If Mr Chautala decides to implement the provisions of the agreement, the power tariff for the agriculture sector alone will need to be increased by a whooping 141 per cent in next three years and only 44 per cent in other sectors. According to the agreement, a copy of which was procured by The Tribune, about 'Haryana Power Sector Restructuring Project' signed between the Indian delegation and World Bank in November, 1997, in Washington, the state government is bound to reduce the subsidy on power tariff not only in the agricultural sector but in domestic, industrial and other sectors also. The signatories to the agreement included, Mr J. Khosla, Director, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Mr P.I. Suvrathan, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Power, for the Government of India, Mr A.N. Mathur, Financial Commissioner and Secretary, Government of Haryana, Mr S.Y. Quraishi, Commissioner and Secretary, Government of Haryana and Mr R. Issar, Chairman, Haryana State Electricity Board for the Government of Haryana and Mr D. Mostefai, Syed Ahmad, Cecil Perera, K.J. Nyman and T. Storm van Leeuwan for the World Bank. The agreement, which mainly revolves round the theme of "tariff adjustments" clearly outlines the "schedule for tariff increase" till 2007. And the agriculture sector appears to be the prime target with maximum liabilities. The proposed schedule for increasing the tariff in accordance with the agreement for the agriculture sector appears to be massive when compared to the domestic, industrial and other sectors. On the basis of the said schedule there was no provision for increasing the power tariff in 1999 in the agriculture sector. However, the tariff had to be increased by 37 per cent this year, 33 per cent 2001, 25 per cent in 2002, by 41 per cent in 2003. This makes the cumulative increase in power tariff to 141 per cent by 2003 and 150 per cent by 2007. While for the domestic, industrial and institutional and commercial services had to be increased by 15 per cent in 1999, by 10 per cent each in 2000 and 2001, by 8 per cent in 2002, by 1 per cent in 2003 by 3 per cent in 2004 and by 1 per cent in 2005. Given the circumstances
the Indian National Lok Dal government will have to make
a hard choice, between continuing with the power reforms
or antagonising the farmers, a class whose interests it
claims to safeguard. |
NFL employees’ rally on
March 16 PANIPAT, March 13 — Employees of the National Fertilizer Limited (NFL) will hold a demonstration on March 16 at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi in protest against the Centre’s decision to privatise this public sector undertaking by divesting 51 per cent of its equity to a strategic buyer along with the transfer of management control. The chairman of the Federations Officers’ Association, Mr M.N. Ansari, told TNS that as many as 1,200 employees from the NFL units at Panipat, Bathinda, Nangal and Vijaipur (MP), besides its corporate and marketing office will participate in the rally. A delegation of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) will also meet the Prime Minister. Mr Ansari said the employees would sit on a relay hunger strike at each unit from March 21 to March 25. The JAC of the NFL employees has been trying to exert pressure on the Union Government through the Chief Ministers of Haryana and Punjab. A delegation of the employees had met the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal and the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, besides the newly appointed Speaker of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, Mr Satbir Singh Kadiyan. The NFL’s Panipat unit is located in the Naultha Assembly seat which is represented by Mr Kadiyan. Mr Ansari said the employees apprehended 50 to 60 per cent retrenchment once the PSU was handed over to a private buyer. Indications to this effect were already evident as the government was asking for 20 per cent cut in manpower before finalising the new wages. He added that the Panipat plant was running at a production capacity of 115 per cent but the government was forcing it to run below capacity. The JAC members said
since the NFL units were situated in prime locations, the
government’s intentions to sell them at throw-away
prices to private buyers suggested that something was
fishy in the entire deal. Mr Ansari questioned that when
equities of all loss-making PSUs, which were referred to
the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction
(BIFR) by the Centre for revival had not been
disinvested, why the profitmaking NFL was being made a
scape goat? |
Auction fetches Rs 35 crore AMBALA, March 13 — The auction of liquor shops located in Ambala and Yamunanagar took place today. The auction of liquor vends located in Panchkula was postponed after the bids failed to reach the minimum bid set by the government. In Ambala district, for the year 2000-2001, the government stands to get Rs 35.09 crore as revenue. The revenue was Rs 34.29 crore last year for the district. Yamunanagar stands to get Rs 30.19 crore as revenue, a release said. The auction for the liquor shops took place at Staff Road in Ambala cantonment. The group of 71 country liquor shops and 35 English wine shops went to Surinder Kumar and Company for Rs 24.51 crore. A sum of Rs 10.58 crore will have to be paid as licence fee for L-2 (English wine) and this sum is 15 per cent higher than last year's licence fee of Rs 9.20 crore. In Yamunanagar district,
the group of 43 country liquor shops and 19 English wine
shops went to Ashok Wadia and Company for a sum of Rs
21.60 crore. This sum is almost Rs 3 crore higher
compared to last year's Rs 18.61 crore. A sum of Rs 8.59
crore will have to be paid as licence fee for L-2
licence. |
Karamjit is lucky sarpanch AMBALA, March 13 — Luck played a vital role in the election of the sarpanch in Mukandpur village of Shahzadpur block here. After the two main contenders for the post of Sarpanch, Mr Karamjit and Mr Gyan chand, were tied at 268 votes each, a draw of lots was done. Mr Karamjit became the new Sarpanch after the slip bearing his name was drawn, the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Mr S. S. Saini, said. According to the Deputy Commissioner of Ambala, Mr Ram Niwas, re-poll has been ordered at the Jaitpur polling booth where an attempt had been made to snatch the ballot box. "Repoll has also been ordered at Kakkar Majra village in Shahzadpur block of ward no.9 where there was an instance of wrong printing of ballot paper," he said. Mr Ram Niwas said that at Dalipgarh, an incident of stone throwing had taken place and there had been an attempt to restrain the polling party. The polling party was ushered out under police escort, he said. He pointed out that
besides Mukandpur, the number of votes had also tied in
Lohgarh. |
BSP, INLD men clash SIRSA, March 13 — One person was injured as workers of the INLD and the BSP clashed with each other at Mehboobshahr village of the district. According to the information received today, during the polling for the zila parishad election at the village tension between the workers of the INLD and the BSP led to the clash. A BSP supporter Kalu Ram was injured. A BSP leader accused INLD workers of abducting one of their supporters. Meanwhile, the election results were declared. At Sukera Khera village Mr Pawan Mehta defeated Bjajan Singh, at Rajpuramajra village Mr Sunil Kumar defeated Mr Tara Singh and at Mauzgarh village Mr Jaswant Singh defeated Mr Gurjant Singh for the posts of sarpanch. In Baraguda block
samiti, Kurangawali village, Mr Iqbal Singh defeated Mr
Ram Singh, at Baraguda village Mr Mander Singh Mandri, Mr
Balbir Singh from Subakjhera, Mr Mahinder Singh from
Raghuana were declared elected. At village Sahuwala-I Mr
Hans Raj was elected sarpanch. |
Supplementary demands approved CHANDIGARH, March 13 — The Haryana Vidhan Sabha today approved by a voice vote supplementary demands of over Rs 879.65 crore for the current financial year as moved by the Finance Minister, Prof Sampat Singh. The demands pertained to
various departments, including General Administration,
Home, Social Welfare and Rehabilitation, Irrigation,
Revenue, Excise and Taxation, Finance, Education,
Medical, Public Health, Labour and Employment, Food and
Supplies, Industries, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries,
Community Development and Transport Department besides
loans and advances by the state government. |
Women’s college to be set up in
Panipat PANIPAT, March 13 — The Speaker of the state legislature, Mr Satbir Singh Kadiyan, has announced that the government would set up a women’s college in Panipat soon. Speaking at the prize distribution ceremony of Arya College, Mr Kadiyan said the government would increase the strength of the teaching staff in schools and colleges and erect more buildings for educational institutions. Emphasising the need to
encourage vocational training programmes, Mr Kadiyan
called upon the students to learn computers and join
professional courses. The Speaker later honoured the
meritorious students of the college and blood donors. |
INLD names Faqir Chand for RS
seat CHANDIGARH, March 13 —Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala today announced that the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) would field Mr Faqir Chand of Majri village(Mullana), in Ambala district, for the Rajya Sabha seat from the state, an official press statement said. Mr Faqir Chand, 57, was earlier an official with the Excise and Taxation Department. The press statement,
quoting Mr Chautala, said that it was earlier decided in
a meeting of the INLD legislature party that the party
would field a ‘Dalit’ as its representative for
the Rajya Sabha seat. As it would go a long way in
fulfilling the aspirations of weaker sections and it
would also be a tribute to the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi. |
Haryana Jats seek reservation SONEPAT, March 13 — The Haryana Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti has urged the state government to take immediate steps for providing reservation to Jats in government jobs. The samiti at a meeting held here yesterday passed a resolution condemning the delaying tactics adopted by the Chautala Government in making a declaration on reservation in jobs to Jats. It pointed out that the Governments of UP, Delhi and Rajasthan had already given reservation in jobs to Jats. The meeting appealed to
all legislators and MPs of Haryana to pressure Chief
Minister Om Prakash Chautala to grant reservation in jobs
to Jats. |
Three robbers arrested FARIDABAD, March 13 — The police last night arrested three robbers and car thieves who were responsible for a number of crimes in the district. The arrested have been identified as Satbir, Hari Singh and Bansi. Their fourth accomplice Naresh escaped when the police raided their hide-out in Sector 21-A. A .12 bore pistol, cartridges, and spring knives were seized from then. During interrogation the arrested reportedly admitted that they had snatched Rs 5 lakh from employees of the electricity department on the Palwal-Hathin road, Rs 20,000 from a motorcyclist near Bata Chowk Petrol Pump. Rs 1.85 lakh from a scooterist on Agra Chowk in Palwal, and Rs 43,000 from a scooterist in Sector 6. They also forcibly took
away seven Maruti cars and a motorcycle in different
parts of the district and sold them in Kerala and Bihar. |
Workshop on remote sensing CHANDIGARH, March 13 — A two-day workshop on remote sensing will be organised by the Haryana State Remote Sensing Application Centre (HARSAC), Hisar, for government officials at the new Haryana Civil Secretariat here on March 14 and 15. The workshop would be inaugurated by Haryana Chief Secretary, Mr Ram S. Varma. Distinguished scientists
would deliver lectures on various topics ranging from
recent advances in remote sensing to integrated mission
for sustainable development and various thematic
applications of remote sensing. |
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