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| Friday, March 24, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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ITO
restrained in Bhajan Lal case Haryana’s IT policy within 15
days House panel to visit farm varsity
on March 28 Indira Park losing sheen Assist
voluntary bodies: Governor Anti-poor step, says Hooda Haryana Cong, BJP call it
‘barbaric act’ |
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HUDA fails to fulfil
promises to Police Dept Rally against killings
|
ITO restrained in Bhajan Lal
case CHANDIGARH, March 23 — The Punjab and Haryana High Court today restrained the Income Tax Officer, Panchkula, from conducting proceedings against Mr Bhajan Lal, former Chief Minister of Haryana, pursuant to the notice issued to him (Mr Bhajan Lal) to explain why Rs 3.57 crore he allegedly paid to Mr Ajit Singh, Janata Dal (A) chief for bribing Janata Dal MPs and on the stay of Haji Gulam Mohammed Khan in hotels. Mr Justice N.K. Sodhi and Mr Justice N.K. Sud, before whom the petition came up for hearing, also issued notice to the Commissioner of Income Tax for April 23. Mr Bhajan Lal, who appeared before the Bench in person because of the HC lawyers’ strike explained that the case filed by the CBI against him before the Additional Special Judge, Delhi, was fixed for March 29 and 30. The notice was issued by the income tax department on the basis of this chargesheet. The petition preferred by Mr Bhajan Lal stated that the chargesheet was filed against various persons, including former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, former Union Petroleum Minister, Satish Sharma, Mr Suraj Mandal and Mr Shibu Soran, (JMM members) including the petitioner, under Section 120-B, read with Section 173, IPC and Sections 7, 12, 13 (2) and 13(1) (d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. There were a number of accused persons in this case. A supplementary chargesheet was also filed by the CBI. After hearing arguments on March 29 and 30, the Judge would pronounce the judgement. All witnesses for the prosecution had been examined, the petition added. No witness has made any statement supporting the CBI case against the petitioner. None of these witnesses said the petitioner gave any money to Mr Ajit Singh or spent any amount as mentioned in the letter. The ITO was not
competent to proceed, the petition said, on the basis of
the CBI investigation. The investigation result was the
subject matter of decision before the judicial court.
Only when the verdict went against him, would the
allegations made by the CBI be said to have been proved. |
Haryana’s IT policy within 15 days CHANDIGARH, March 23 — The Haryana Government will come out with its information technology policy within a fortnight. Announcing this at a meeting of Divisional Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners and senior police officers here today, the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, said the new industrial policy of the state had proved a boon for the entrepreneurs. Haryana had emerged as an "ultimate choice" for the entrepreneurs, especially the foreign investors and non-resident Indians, because of its proximity to the national capital, industrial-friendly climate, effective communication and transportation systems and well-controlled law and order situation. He directed the DCs and the SPs to visit those villages along with officials of the power corporations where a large number of arrears of the power consumers were pending. The consumers should be impressed upon to clear their dues by April 30. The Chief Minister took serious note of laxity on the part of certain officials of the power utilities in collecting the dues from consumers. He said the state was now not buying power from Punjab to meet its requirements. The availability of power in the state had increased by 17.5 per cent since July last. The state’s power generation had gone up by 7 per cent. The third unit of the gas-based NTPC power plant at Faridabad was likely to be commissioned in June which would further improve the supply of power. Assuring adequate power to the farmers during kharif, he directed that theft of power should be checked with a firm hand. Survey should be conducted to detect illegal connections. While a campaign was on to replace defective meters, the damaged seals of the meters would be reinstalled by June. Mr Chautala said he would seek the cooperation of the panchayats in the recovery of all kinds of government arrears. The meetings of the gram sabhas would be held between May 15 and 25 instead of April 13. A state-level function would be held soon where the newly elected panchs and sarpanchs would be administered the oath of office. He said committees of users would be constituted for implementation and monitoring of projects. The functioning of the committees would be supervised by the Additional Deputy Commissioners who would exclusively look after the developmental works. Complimenting the administration on undertaking developmental works on a large scale in the past six months as a result of which the people gave their massive mandate to the INLD-BJP alliance, Mr Chautala said he had always favoured decentralisation of power. It was because of this reason that the people would be involved in the developmental works and the engineers would monitor the quality of work. Though he was satisfied with the pace of work on the projects undertaking under the programme "Sarkar Aapke Dwar," he directed the officers to evolve ways and means to curtail administrative delays in the implementation of developmental works. Corruption would not be tolerated and the erring officials would be dealt with sternly, he said. Fresh surveys would be conducted to identify the beneficiaries under the old-age pension scheme, widow and handicapped pension schemes besides those living below the poverty line. These surveys would be conducted along with the census operation in May. He directed that fresh surveys should also be conducted to identify government land. Phirnis of villages should be measured by June 30 to free them from encroachments. The concluding function of tercentenary of the birth of Khalsa would be organised in a befitting manner by the Haryana Government. The Chief Minister suggested that 400 acres earmarked for a modern fruit and vegetable market complex at Rai should be developed as a food technology park. The funds lying unutilised under "Pashu mela fund" should be utilised to set up veterinary dispensaries. The meeting was informed
that an economic offence wing would be set up in the
Haryana Police besides providing water canons at range
level. |
House panel to visit farm
varsity on March 28 HISAR, March 23 — The Joint Select Committee of the Parliament on the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Bill will visit the CCS Haryana Agriculture University on March 28. The Vice-Chancellor, Mr Vinay Kumar said, here today during the visit the committee would hold discussions with representatives of various associations, individuals, organisations including the scientists of the university and seek their views on the proposed legislation on the protection of plant varieties and Farmers’ Rights Bill. The Vice-Chancellor said, the Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 14 last year. It was referred to a 30-member Joint committee headed by Mr Sahib Singh Verma, MP and former Chief Minister of Delhi. The committee comprises 20 Lok Sabha and 10 Rajya Sabha members, he said. The Bill seeks to provide for the establishment of an authority to give an effective system for the protection of rights of plant breeders and farmers, besides encouraging the development of new varieties of plants. It also includes provision for compulsory licensing of protected varieties if the right holder does not arrange for production and sale of the seeds to ensure that protected seeds are available to the farmers. The Vice-Chancellor revealed that the copies of the Bill along with its Hindi version had already been made available for reference at all the Krishi Gyan and Vigyan Kendras of the university in various parts of the state. However, on the main campus, the document can be referred to the university library, he added. Vice-Chancellor, CCS Haryana Agriculture University, Mr Vinay Kumar has expressed concern over the rapid rise in paddy cultivation in the state. He said the farmers, unaware of the consequences have started paddy cultivation even in areas which have either brackish ground water or the water table at the critical level. He said if timely steps to halt this practice were not initiated more land would become unproductive due to water-logging and salinity. The Vice-Chancellor was addressing farm scientists and officers of the Agriculture Department at a workshop on kharif crops at the university here. He drew the attention of the farm experts on the increasing expenditure on agriculture. He said cotton and paddy were the major kharif crops on which 80 per cent of the chemicals and insecticides were being used to contain insect-pests and the diseases. For this, he urged the scientists to develop more disease and pest resistant varieties apart from popularising among the farmers integrated nutrients and pests management practices. He called upon the state Agriculture Department officials to check the supply of spurious fertilisers and insecticides to unsuspecting farmers. On this occasion, he also released a bulletin on "sprinkler irrigation" authored by two senior professors of Agricultural Engineering, Dr M.C. Aggarwal and Dr R.K. Malik. Presiding over the function, Mr Naseem Ahmad, Commissioner and Secretary, Agriculture, Haryana described the reckless paddy cultivation as suicidal. He said it was not in the interest of the farmers and they should immediately opt for alternative summer crops. Highlighting foodgrain situation in the state, Mr Ahmad said, besides gram and mustard, the production of rest of the crops was above satisfaction. He said if weather continued to be calm for another 15 days, the state would record all time increase in foodgrain production this year. Director Research, Dr Jalali said that the new paddy variety HKR-46 had given an average yield of 62 quintal per hectare but possessed the potential of 90 quintal per hectare. Based on the performance, the desi cotton hybrid AAH-I had been recommended for release at the national level. Its mean seed cotton yield was 2506 kg per hectare. Likewise, desi cotton variety HD 123 yielded 2291 kg of seed cotton and was suitable for cotton-wheat and cotton-raya rotation. He said attempts were being made to develop still early maturing and productive varieties of pigeonpea. Mr Sarban Singh,
Director Agriculture, Haryana, underlined the need to
grow area specific and need based crops. |
Indira Park losing sheen AMBALA, March 23 — There is a children’s library. But there are neither children nor books. Indira Park in Ambala cantonment, where this library is located, is steadily losing its sheen. Indra Park, which is frequented by people from all walks of life, is today facing a host of problems. A library without books is just one of the several factors which is contributing to the decline in the park being a popular area for local residents to relax and unwind. The flower beds have become dry, the benches are broken, several lights are non-functional and various games for children are lying in a disarray after they broke. A visit to Indira Park by The Tribune, showed that the flower beds are drying up as there is inadequate water supply. Saplings which need to be nurtured were becoming shrivelled and even before the onset of summer, it looked as if the plants would not make it through to the next season. The sad state of affairs in the park is more than evident from the fact that games for children like roundalls have broken down and no effort seems to have been made to repair them. The broken games are lying at one corner of the park and the parts have begun to rust. Only the stumps of the games are evident in the places where the games must have been. Some benches in the park have met the same fate as the games. Morning walkers who wish to take a rest have few places to sit. The broken cement benches are a testimony to the lack of care and maintenance of a park which acts as a green lung of the area. Although a few lights in the park are working, most are not and localities say that during the dark it is not advisable to venture out into those areas where there is no illumination. Even the fountains do not work. Old-timers say that earlier when the park had been spruced up, provision had been made for music in the park. Speakers were strategically placed and music like bhajan used to be played in the morning hours. There are no speakers today to play soothing music during morning hours which people say helps in improving the environment of the park. A place had been built for holding cultural programmes in a corner of the park. People say that the place called Satyajit Ray Rangshala is not being fully utilised and there is a tremendous scope for hosting several cultural programmes at the Ranghsala. A group of local residents have formed an organisation called the Green Circle. The organisation is trying to save the park and they have planted saplings to ensure that the park becomes green and beautiful. According to the secretary of Green Circle, Mr RP Gupta, the tubewell of Indira Park is out of order since last six months and the motor is also not working. "We are concerned about the fact that the saplings planted by us may die due to lack of adequate water," he said. He pointed out that the outer area of the park specially near the Dhobi Ghat has been converted into dumping ground for garbage. "As there is no police presence at the park, unsocial elements can be seen and there have been incidents of eve-teasing," Mr Gupta said. Mr Gupta said that the members of Green Circle had planted 1200 saplings last July and recently, another 400 saplings were planted. "We seek the
cooperation of the people and the district administration
to help us financially and otherwise to improve the parks
here. We are trying to make a difference to the
environment by improving Indira Park, which acts as a
green lung and our organisation would definitely get a
boost with help from others," he said. |
Assist voluntary bodies:
Governor CHANDIGARH, March 23 — The Haryana Governor, Mr Mahabir Prasad, today urged senior officers of the state government to accelerate the activities of different social service institutions and non-governmental organisations so as to fulfil the aspirations of the people in the state and ameliorate the cause of the poor and the downtrodden. The Governor, who was addressing a meeting of senior civil and police officers at Haryana Raj Bhavan here, said the priority of his government was to make Haryana an ideal state where the benefits of the welfare schemes must percolate to the poorest of the poor. Hr urged the Deputy Commissioners to liberally assist the voluntary organisations as these were supplementing the efforts of the government in ameliorating the lot of the poor and the needy. Mr Prasad, who is also
Chairman of the Kurukshetra Development Board, said the
Panorama Project, said to be the third of its kind in the
world after Russia and Holland, was ready for
commissioning. He expressed his gratitude to Prime
Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee for providing an
assistance of Rs 5 crore for the development of
Kurukshetra. |
Anti-poor step, says Hooda CHANDIGARH, March 23 — The Haryana Congress has condemned the steep rise in the prices of LPG and kerosene and termed it as a "dictatorial and anti-poor step". The president of the party, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, in a statement here today said by increasing the prices at a time when Parliament was not in session showed that the BJP-led Central Government had no respect for the august House and the elected representatives of the people. The hike in the prices of LPG and kerosene was a severe blow to the common man after the hike in the prices of urea and essential commodities under the PDS. Mr Hooda called upon all the right-thinking persons and parties to rise above the party lines to protest against this unwarranted hike in the prices. They should launch an agitation to force the government to withdraw this undemocratic step. He also lambasted the
Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, for
continuing to give his unconditional support to the
Vajpayee Government even after it effected an
unprecedented hike in the prices of urea, PDS items, LPG
and kerosene, and asked him to clarify his party’s
stand. |
Haryana Cong, BJP call it
‘barbaric act’ CHANDIGARH, March 23 — The Haryana BJP and the Haryana Congress have condemned the massacre of 36 innocent Sikhs in Chatti Singhpora village in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir. A senior BJP leader, Mr Ram Bilas Sharma, who presided over a meeting of the Panchkula district unit of the party today, said the barbaric and inhuman massacre of the innocent persons during the visit of the US President, Mr Bill Clinton, to India smacked of a deep-rooted conspiracy. He said the world
community should declare Pakistan a terrorist-state. |
HUDA fails to fulfil promises
to Police Dept GURGAON, March 23 — The Police Department has conveyed to the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) its inability to fulfil the commitment to construct police stations and chowkis in sectors developed by it. The HUDA had promised last year that, it would construct four buildings in its sectors in Gurgaon with the External Development Charges (EDC) it charged from the buyers of its plots. The point of confrontation is the nature of constructions of two buildings, each in Sector 15 and 38 here, for city and sadar police stations. The Senior Superintendent of Police, Gurgaon, Mr Shatroojit Singh Kapoor, told TNS that the Police Department had transferred the ownerships of the land of the two police stations to HUDA, on the promise HUDA would construct the two buildings. The land of the two police stations is at prime locations and HUDA is contemplating setting up a commercial centres on those plots. The Police Department has also locked horns with the Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation (HSIDC). The HSIDC runs its
office in Udyog Vihar, which is meant for the police
station. As a make-shift arrangement the HSIDC built a
three-room accommodation in Udyog Vihar for the police
station, a few years ago. The police authorities say that
the HSIDC had assured to vacate the premises after its
own office near the site was ready. The HSIDC office is
ready, but it is toying with the idea of subletting the
premises, according to reports. |
Rally against killings AMBALA, March 23 — A silent rally was organised here today to protest against the killing of Sikhs in Anantnag district. A large number of people took out the rally wearing black badges and arm hands. The rally started from Gandhi Maidan through Rai Market and Sadar Bazar and terminated at Gurdwara Singh Sabha Hargolal road. The Central Gurpurab
Committee helped in organising the rally. |
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