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| Wednesday, March 29, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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PM’s help sought on waters
issue Akademi announces literary awards Parliamentary panel allays
farmers’ fears Ajay dissolves Yuva Lok Dal
executive Man kills sister INLD should explain stand on
rebels: Cong |
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Two
arrested on murder charge Villagers burn two persons, car 3 foreigners robbed Mill worker murdered Baba arrested for murder One killed in road mishap
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Octroi abolition hits civic
bodies CHANDIGARH, March 28 — The abolition of octoroi has resulted in a severe resources crunch for the municipal committees of Haryana. A meeting was held here today, which was presided over by the Minister of State for Local Self Government, Mr Sushil Goyal, and attended by the joint commissioner of the Local Bodies department, the Director, and also a representative from the Chief Minister’s office, to discuss possible avenues for fund mobilisation. One of the tentative proposals formulated at the meeting was to rationalise the house tax structure and mobilise revenues to the tune of Rs 15 crore from house tax. At present Rs 7 crore is collected from house tax which is about the only revenue available to the Local Bodies department. Sources said there were gross anomalies in the method of imposition of the house tax. The new system, as envisaged by the department, would increase the burden of the affluent class, while people living below the poverty line would either be exempted or would be charged a very nominal amount. While traders have been exempted from paying octroi tax, they may be asked to pay a new tax in the model of some other states such as Gujarat, Maharastra, etc. The sources said in these states traders were subjected to a tax in addition to the octroi tax. The sources added that while Rs 14 crore expenditure of the department was saved following absorption of surplus employees of municipal committees in various other state government departments, the local bodies wing is slated to incur an additional expenditure of Rs 17 crore to adjust its pay as per the recommendations made by the Fifth Pay Commission. There was already a court order to implement the new scales and the Local Bodies departments would have to abide by the court directive. The decision to abolish octroi, which was one of the many populist sops announced by Mr Chautala in his run up to the Assembly elections, has resulted into a loss of Rs 62 crore annually for the local bodies. There was a further slash in its income by nearly Rs 12 crore annually as the revenue received by the municipal committees from the excise department for spirits sold in their respective areas was also done away with. The sources said at least Rs 85 crore is required by the department annually in the form of running expenditure. The Chautala government,
it may be mentioned, recently abolished 29 municipal
committees in the state, apparently to lessen the
pressure on the Local Bodies department. However, for the
53 remaining municipal committees also, the available
funds have become grossly inadequate. No budgetary
allocation has been made for the Local Bodies department
for the financial year starting from April 1. |
PM’s help sought on waters
issue ROHTAK, March 28 — Favouring a negotiated settlement for sharing the Ravi-Beas waters, the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, said yesterday that Haryana had urged the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee to intervene and help the state in getting its due share. Talking to newsmen at a meet-the- press programme here last night, Mr Chautala said that Haryana had been demanding implementation of the Eradi Tribunal recommendations for distribution of the Ravi-Beas waters between Punjab and Haryana. The state Vidhan Sabha had also adopted a unanimous resolution during the Chief Ministership of Mr Bansi Lal to this effect. Political issues were always solved across the table and not in courts, he said while referring to the writ petition filed by Haryana in the apex court seeking its intervention in demarcating its share in the Ravi-Beas waters. Mr Chautala regretted that while the Haryana farmers were suffering heavily due to non-availability of Ravi-Beas waters, the waters of these rivers were flowing to Pakistan, creating problems of waterlogging in Punjab’s territory. Pleading for handing over the construction of the SYL canal in Punjab to the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), he said that the construction work on the link canal was disrupted following the murder of a Chief Engineer and some labourers by terrorists a few years ago. He criticised the Congress for politicising the river water issue and charged it with complicating the problem instead of solving it. He said that his government was in the process of formulating a new education policy which would be job-oriented. Information Technology would also be introduced as a subject at the school level in Haryana. The ban imposed on fresh recruitments in government departments was temporary. It had been imposed to accommodate the employees rendered surplus after the abolition of octroi in Haryana and dissolution of 29 civic bodies. He ruled out immediate expansion of his Cabinet, saying that there was neither any additional work load nor political expendiency. Addressing a meeting of the Haryana Dhobi Mahasabha here today, Mr Chautala said that reservation on caste basis was no solution to the unemployment problem. The inclusion of any caste in a particular category was the prerogative of the Centre. The Chief Minister also laid the foundation stone of the rehabilitation centre for mentally retarded children to be constructed at a cost of Rs 5 lakh. He said similar centres would be constructed in every district of the state. He also inaugurated the
Red Cross Bhavan constructed at a cost of Rs 21.50 lakh.
The Chief Minister also distributed artificial limbs and
sweets among the handicapped. |
Akademi announces literary
awards CHANDIGARH, March 28 — The Haryana Sahitya Akademi has declared literary awards for the year 1998-99. Stating this here today, a spokesman of the Akademi said five Hindi books and one each of Haryanvi and Sanskrit had been selected for the award of Rs 5000 each, out of 43 books received in these categories in 1998-99. The Hindi books selected for awards are "Bargad Jalte Hein", a poetry book written by Dr Rajendra Gautam of Delhi, "Anaagat," a short story written by Mrs Bharti Babbar of Karnal, "Gatha Aahat Sankalpon ki avam Angulimaal," a play by Kumar Ravinder of Hisar, "Anuprayukta Hindi Bhasha Chintan," a criticism by Dr Naresh Mishra of Rohtak and "Shri Lakhani Chand ka Kavya Vaibhava," a folklore by Dr Harish Chandra Bandhu of Jind. In Haryanvi "Sharma Ji Saurabh," a prose by Mr Ram Prakash Sharma of Delhi, and in Sanskrit "Shri Parashu Ram Vijay," a poetry book by Dr Jagdish Chander Shastri of Sirsa have been selected for the awards. The spokesman said in the Hindi short story competition, "Ek Tukara Sukh" written by Mr Ranjeet Verma of Faridabad secured the first prize of Rs 1000, "Chamak Atma Samman ki" by Mr, Vishnu Sexena of Pinjore got the second prize of Rs 750 and "Mitti ki Mehak" by Mr Anant Sharma ‘Anant’ of Chandigarh got the third prize of Rs 500. He said the Akademi provides financial assistance to local writers for the publication of their unpublished books. An amount of Rs 5000 or 50 per cent of the cost of publication, whichever is less, is provided to the author as grant-in-aid after the publication of the book. The Akademi has selected nine Hindi manuscripts under this scheme for providing grant-in-aid out of 27 manuscripts received under various categories. The poetry books are "Ek Baat Puchhoon" by Mr Rup Devgun of Sirsa, "Shikhar Sambhavana Ke" by Mr Madhav Kaushik of Chandigarh, "Katre Mein Samundra" by Mr Gulshan Madan of Kaithal and "Nasseem Hote Shabda" by Mr Ramesh Chander Sharma of Rewari. The short story books
selected are "Money Order" By Mr Surendra
Kamboj of Sirsa and "Akath" by Dr S.S. Moudgil
of Rohtak. "Sanskriti Tatva Mimansa", an essay
by Dr Nand Lal Mehta of Gurgaon and children literature
"Aao Papa Baat Karen" by Mr Ghamandi Lal
Agrawal of Gurgaon and "Aao Bachcho Khelen
Khel" by Mr Satyavir Manav of Mohindergarh have also
been selected under these categories. |
Ajay dissolves Yuva Lok Dal
executive CHANDIGARH, March 28 — The president of the youth wing of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), Mr Ajay Singh Chautala, has dissolved the executive body of the Indian National Yuva Lok Dal with immediate effect. Mr Chautala in a statement here today said the body had been dissolved following reports that certain members of the executive had worked against the party candidates and had also fought elections against them in the recent Assembly elections. He said strict disciplinary action would be taken against such member of the party. There was need for forming a new executive as some of the youth wing members had won in the recent Assembly poll. Mr Chautala said the new
executive would be constituted through elections to be
held in May. Only those who had worked dedicatedly and
with zeal for strengthening the party would be given
representation in the youth wing. |
Man kills sister HANSI (Hisar), March 28 — In a macabre incident a brother allegedly strangled his eight-year-old sister to death on suspicion of her having illicit relations and buried her body. The City Police has arrested Popal, the brother of the deceased, on a charge of murder. The police claims, Popal admitted to having killed his sister and said he was assisted by a friend in the act. Geeta, the eight year old daughter of Surjeet Singh of Kathmandi area here, went missing on March 8 last. Recently the police found her body, covered by earth. On the complaint of Surjeet, the police had earlier detained a person, Inder of Krishna Colony for questioning in the case. The police said Popal admitted to the crime after drinking. He claimed to have found his sister in a compromising position with a labourer. This infuriated him and he decided to kill her. Surjeet Singh himself intimated the police of the involvement of his son in the crime. A case has been registered against Popal and his associate Ashok, of village Kandapur. The latter is said to be absconding. The police has ordered
an enquiry into the case. |
INLD should explain stand on
rebels: Cong GURGAON, March 28 — A former minister and Congress heavy- weight, Mr Dharmaveer Gabba today asked the ruling INLD and its ally, the BJP, to clarify their respective stands on their relationship. He said a clarification had become imperative in the wake of Chief Minister and the INLD supremo, Mr Om Prakash Chautala making a party rebel, Mr Gopi Chand Gehlot, who contested from Gurgaon as an Independent, against the official BJP candidate. Deputy Speaker of the Haryana Assembly. The INLD chief has not taken action against party rebels who contested as Independents in the last assembly election against BJP nominees. Mr Gabba who contested
from the Gurgaon Assembly segment lost to Mr Gehlot. The
nominee of the BJP, which attached great significance to
the Gurgaon seat, stood a poor fourth. |
Parliamentary panel allays
farmers’ fears HISAR, March 28 — The joint select committee of Parliament today visited CCS Haryana Agricultural University. The committee, headed by Mr Sahib Singh Verma, MP and former Chief Minister of Delhi during a day’s study visit to the university sought views of the experts and farmers on the protection of plant varieties and the Farmers’ Right Bill. The committee met representatives of various associations, organisations and farmers to know their reactions on the proposed Bill. The Vice-Chancellor, Mr Vinay Kumar and senior official, including Registrar, Dr. M.S. Kuhad, Director of Research, Dr B.L. Jalali and other deans and directors assisted the committee members during their interaction session with the farmers. Earlier, the members were accorded a warm welcome on their arrival on the campus. The committee includes besides Mr Verma, Raghuveer Singh Kaushal, Mr Ram Prasad Singh, Mr Mahboob Zaidi, all members of the Lok Sabha and Dr Ranbir Singh and Mr Onkar Singh Lakhawat both members of the Rajya Sabha. During their interaction with the farmers and scientists the committee members sought varied views on the proposes legislation. There was general apprehension among the farmers that the Bill was being drafted at the instance of the World Trade Organisation and might harm the interests of farmers. However, Mr Verma allayed all such apprehensions. He said, the very purpose of the Bill was to safeguard the interests of the farmers. The Bill would be finalised only after thorough discussions with the farmers and other experts concerned across the country, he assured. The copies of the Bill along with its Hindi version were made available by the university at all its outstation centres. The copies were also provided to individuals and organisations on demand. Before holding meeting
with people, the committee visited the research farm of
the university. The committee members evinced keen
interest in wheat technology and water management
techniques developed by the varsity experts. Besides,
seed technology centre and medicinal plants section were
other spots of attraction for the parliamentary
delegation. |
Two arrested on murder
charge GURGOAN, March 28 — The Police claims to have solved the mysterious murder of Mahesh of Nakhdola village, near here, by arresting two persons, including the brother of the deceased. It is learnt that a dispute over agricultural land is reported to be the cause of the murder. According to Mr Shatrujit Kapoor, SP, the body was found near a nallah in Garhi Harsan village on March 16. The post-mortem report revealed that victim had died of strangulation. According to Mr Kapoor, during investigation it was found that members of the family of Mahesh were trying to misguide the investigating agencies and tried to hide the tussle between the two brothers over the distribution of 14 acres of ancestral land. The deceased, who used to run the S.T.D. booth of his uncle along with his younger brother in Dunda Hera village started his independent business after the difference with his brother arose. However, during the
interrogation Radhe Shyam disclosed that he hatched a
plan to grab the 14 acres of the land by eliminating
Mahesh. For this he paid Rs 50,000 to Dinesh, of Bihar to
get his brother murdered. |
Villagers burn two persons, car REWARI, March 28 — Two persons were burnt along with their Maruti car (DL 8CF 1120) allegedly by some villagers near Usmapur village on Sunday night. It is suspected that they were first killed and then burnt. It is alleged that a girl belonging to a nearby village, who had been married to a man in Delhi, was being harassed by her in-laws. Due to this, she returned to her parental house. When these two persons came to the village to take her back to Delhi, they were allegedly killed. After getting information from a former sarpanch of Usmapur village, the Rewari police recovered the two bodies and the burnt Maruti car from the spot yesterday. Mr A.S. Chawla, S.P.,
said here today that with these recoveries the case had
been solved. |
3 foreigners robbed FARIDABAD, March 28 — Unidentified persons robbed three foreign tourists of their belongings near Banchari village on the Delhi-Mathura national highway last night. Reports said the tourists, belonging to France and Germany, were returning to Delhi in a taxi. The taxi was stopped by the criminals after the tyres of the vehicle were deflated by nails which they had put on the road. They escaped with
passports, visas travellers cheques, air tickets,
cameras, six gold chains, four wrist watches and cash of
the tourists. However, the tickets, passports visas and
cheques were later found abandoned a few metres away. |
Mill worker murdered YAMUNANAGAR, March 28 — Ashoke Kumar son of Gulzari Lal, who was working in a local paper mill, was murdered yesterday. According to information after finishing his duty at 12 last night he went to his room. At about 1 a.m. his neighbour Ram Sanjeevan heard noises from the adjoining room where Ashok was crying for help. He went to his room and found him seriously injured. He informed the security staff of the mill and others about incident. Ashok Kumar died before he could be shifted to hospital. The police has
registered a case under Section 302 of the IPC. |
Baba arrested for murder YAMUNANAGAR, March 28 — The police has solved a murder case with the arrest of a baba. According to police sources, the baba murdered a person and injured himself so that nobody could suspect him. Ram Parshad (65) of the local Shanti Colony, here was brutally murdered four days ago while he was sleeping. Baba Laxman Giri, who hailed from Hardwar gave a statement to the police today that three or four unidentified persons had murdered Ram Parshad and injured him with blunt weapons. The baba sustained
injuries on his arms and near the ears. On interrogation
the baba admitted that he was involved in the murder. He
said he had started the business of giving money on
interest basis recently. |
One killed in road mishap HISAR, March 28 — One person was killed and three others were injured in a head-on collision between a bus and a truck loaded with bricks near Adampur, about 40 km from here, today. The bus was overtaking
an oil-tanker when it hit against the truck killing its
driver Lal Chand on the spot. The injured Bhanwar Lal
Rajpal and Hoongtaram were admitted to the Civil
Hospital, Adampur. |
Mr S.C. Sinha CHANDIGARH, March 28
— The Haryana Government has placed the services of
Mr S.C. Sinha, IPS, posted as Inspector-General of
Police, Modernisation and Welfare, at the disposal of the
Government of India on deputation basis for appointment
as the Chief Vigilance Officer in Bharat Heavy
Electricals Ltd under the Department of Heavy Industries. |
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