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| Monday, May 15, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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CM
cautions people against ISI Improve mortuaries: NHRC Boy’s ‘wish’
fulfilled
Restoring sanctuary’s glory |
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Directive on flood
protection works Sampat flags off relief train Need to bring new areas under
wheat
Service charge on khadi units
flayed Cancellation of JBT exam
criticised
|
CM cautions people against
ISI CHANDIGARH, May 14 — The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, today cautioned people against the designs of Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the ISI, which was trying to disturb peace and harmony in the country. Addressing a meeting of Deputy Commissioners, Divisional Commissioners and SPs here, Mr Chautala said nobody would be allowed to take the law into his own hands and the prevailing peaceful atmosphere in the state would be maintained. Quoting instances, he alleged that certain vested interests had launched a disinformation campaign regarding the law and order situation to bring a bad name to the state administration. Appreciating the role of the state police, Mr Chautala said about 100 gangs had been smashed and property worth about Rs 1.45 crore recovered in the first four months of the year. He said henceforth the permission to transfer vehicles would be granted only after obtaining a no-objection certificate from the National Crime Records Bureau to check the theft of vehicles. The DCs were directed to ensure that school children were carried only in vehicles having valid permits in view of the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Such vehicles must have annual fitness certificates. Expressing concern about the unauthorised plying of maxi-cabs, Mr Chautala said a special wing had been created to challan such vehicles. Assuring the officers that there would not be any political interference in the functioning of the administration, the Chief Minister said the system to redress the grievances of the people at the doorstep would be revamped. He asked them to redress the grievances in the forums of the district public relations and grievances committees in the presence of the complainant and the respondent to provide them quick justice. More powers would be given to the Panchayati Raj institutions in addition to certain powers given to them recently. He stressed the need for checking corruption with a stern hand and said that law would take its own course, irrespective of the stature of a person involved. Taking strong exception to reports in a section of the press that beneficiaries of the old-age pension scheme were being harassed by the administration on the pretext of verifying their age, Mr Chautala said the disinformation campaign should be countered effectively by the administration. However, he also asked the DCs to ensure speedy verification of age. The government was disbursing Rs 325 crore per annum as old-age pension. The verification of the age of the beneficiaries was aimed at weeding out underage bogus beneficiaries. He said HUDCO had sanctioned a loan of Rs 173.66 crore to improve 1155 km of the state highways. It had been decided that these funds would be kept in the joint account of the Deputy Commissioner and the Executive Engineer of the area concerned. Payment would be made after checking the quality of the work. The Chairperson of the Haryana Power Utilities, Mrs Meenaxi Anand Chaudhary, said Rs 90 crore had been recovered as arrears of the power bills within the past two months. While Rs 40 crore had been recovered from the public, the remaining was due from various state government departments. She said the fifth unit of 210 MW of the Panipat thermal plant would be commissioned by the year-end. The Public Health Department, which arranged drinking water in the state, would be connected with hot lines so that regular supply power was ensured. Earlier, the Governor,
Mr Mahabir Prasad, who also addressed the meeting, and Mr
Chautala stressed the need for harnessing rain water in a
systematic manner to not only check floods, but also
recharge the ground water. |
Improve mortuaries: NHRC PANIPAT, May 14 (PTI) — The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has instructed Haryana Government to frame appropriate rules and guidelines for proper maintenance of mortuaries after the body of a 14-year-old boy had reportedly "disappeared" from Panipat mortuary. Preservation and due identification of the bodies kept in the mortuaries was also required to be done in a way so that recurrence of such incidents could be avoided, the NHRC said. The commission has also directed the Superintendent of Police, Panipat, to initiate disciplinary action against those found guilty of negligence and dereliction in of duty in this case. The commission has sought for compliance report of these instructions within two months. A complaint was filed to the commission by Mr Surinder Singh Hooda, Chief Coordinator of the Berozgari Hatao Kshetra Bachao Samiti, alleging that on August 13, 1999, Sanjiv (14), resident of Begumpur village in Panipat district was seriously injured in a motor vehicle accident. Sanjiv was taken to a private hospital first but was later shifted to the Government Hospital, Panipat, where he expired. His body was sent to the mortuary without conducting the post-mortem and it was found missing on the following morning. It was also alleged that in spite of a complaint to the Deputy Commissioner, Panipat, neither the culprits were arrested nor the body of the boy handed over to his relatives for last rites. Taking cognisance of the complaint, the commission called for a report from the Deputy Commissioner. The report of the Deputy Commissioner brought out that an inquiry by the SDM, Panipat, had found that the body of Sanjiv was not handed over to his relatives and was cremated through Jan Seva Dal deeming it an unclaimed body. The inquiry established that UGC 163 Lakshmi Narain in whose charge the body of a fully developed man aged 30-32 years was put, had negligently taken away the body of Sanjiv from the mortuary of the hospital and got it cremated through Jan Seva Dal as an unidentified body. Based on the inquiry report and recommendation made therein, the SP has taken action against the Lakshmi Narain. However, on
consideration of the matter, the commission was not
satisfied with the extent of action against the police
official concerned who was admitted guilty of serious
misconduct and dereliction in the discharge of his
duties. |
Boy’s ‘wish’
fulfilled ROHTAK, May 14 — Roobal (9) probably never imagined that his morbid premonition of being in the news would be fulfilled so quickly, and in such a dramatic manner. The boy, who went to bathe in Jawahar Lal Nehru Canal here on Thursday along with his father, younger brother and two friends was fated to never return to his Sector 3 home here. His sobbing father told this correspondent that Roobal slipped out of his hands after an unexpected surge in the water level of the canal. The swift current swept the boy out of reach before he could react. However, he managed to save the life of another boy who was with his son by pushing him towards the bank. Sarita, mother of the deceased said an elder sibling of Roobal, also name Roobal, had died several years ago. The bereaved family had decided to name their next son after him to keep alive his memory. But young Roobal disliked this and just three days before the tragedy had complaint about being named after a dead sibling. Then, in a perhaps an unusual premonition, he wondered allowed whether his name would be published in the newspapers if he drowned in the canal. No one realised at that time that his premonition would be fulfilled so soon, and so unexpectedly. The body of Roobal was fished out from the canal near Beri village and handed over to his family last evening. The event was covered by local newspapers. Several persons drown in
the swift Jawahar Lal Nehru canal each summer earning it
the epithet-killer canal. |
Restoring sanctuary’s glory PANCHKULA: The Sultanpur National Park in Gurgaon district is likely to twitter with the cacophony of migratory birds owing to an ambitious project to pump water into this parched birds’ paradise of Haryana, undertaken by the state’s Wildlife Preservation Department. As a result, water is likely to flow into the park next month. A stopover for migratory birds en route Bharatpur, the park has not had any winged visitors in the past two years owing to the fast-vanishing water bodies in the park and the drought-like situation which has affected its green cover. Spread over an area of 142.52 hectares, over Rs 43 lakh has been earmarked for work involving laying of pipes and water supply channels to be undertaken by the Public Health Department while an additional two acres was bought for Rs 8 lakh. The Haryana Urban Development Authority, department officials claim, has agreed to supply five cusecs of water for two months in a year, sufficient to meet the demands of migratory birds and to retain the greenery since the shortfall would be met by the monsoon. As soon as water flows into the three-km-long lake in the park, work will begin on related projects of putting fish seed and phytoplankton into the water and weeding out mesquite (kabli kikkar) plants which plague the lake bed. Besides, some more nesting trees for birds would be planted. Commenting on project, the Chief Wildlife Warden, Mr D.N. Taneja, says: ‘‘The park is a haven for birds travelling long distances to the Bharatpur sanctuary. However, there have been no visits during the past two years and overflying flocks have proceeded to Bharatpur without a break in their journey. Our intention is to revive the park and restore its glory.’’ He adds that Sultanpur is an ideal stopover because there is hardly any competition from the local birds which makes them feel at home in the park’s surroundings. Besides being marshy land with a ‘‘salt pan’’, the park has crustaceans, fish and insects during floods — a major attraction for the birds. The Sultanpur National
Park is situated on the Gurgaon-Farukhnagar road and was
spread over 359 acres when it was declared a bird
sanctuary in 1971 and upgraded to the status of a
National Park in 1991 by the Haryana Government. |
Directive on flood protection
works CHANDIGARH, May 14 — The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, today directed the Irrigation Department to complete all flood protection works before the end of next month. Mr Chautala, who was reviewing the arrangements being made to check floods at a meeting of the state’s Flood Control Board here today, cautioned engineers to maintain the quality of work. He asked them to pay special attention to the districts of Ambala, Kurukshetra and Yamunanagar as these were worst affected. Reiterating that the state would be kept free from the menace of recurring floods, he said funds would be provided liberally for timely completion of flood protection works. He also directed the animal husbandry and health departments to keep their relief measures in readiness to meet any eventuality. The Financial Commissioner (Revenue) Mr L.M. Goyal, asked the D.Cs to inspect the flood protection works along with the officers of the Irrigation Department. The Engineer-in-Chief, Irrigation, Mr M.G. Thukral, said Rs 24 crore would be spent on completing various flood protection works. Of a total of 155 flood protection schemes, work was going on 47 schemes which would be completed by the end of next month. Mr Thukral said the
issue of inflow of the flood waters from Punjab into
Ambala district had been taken up with the state. As many
as 1828 pumps having a capacity of 7654 cusecs had been
kept ready at various places to drain out flood waters. |
Sampat flags off relief train AMBALA, May 14 — Haryana Finance Minister, Sampat Singh, today flagged off a drought relief train for Gujarat. The train carrying wheat chaff weighing about 7,000 quintals was sent to Godra district in Panchmahal, Gujarat. This was the 16th train sent to drought-affected areas by Haryana. While nine trains have been sent to Rajasthan, seven trains have been sent to Gujarat. Later talking to newspersons, Mr Sampat Singh said the state was not facing any financial crisis. "The taxes which are being imposed are for the benefit of people as by increasing revenue, civic conditions can be improved," he said. To a query, he said despite erratic rainfall in certain parts of Haryana, these areas had not been affected by drought due to the power and irrigation facilities extended to the farmers by the government. "In these areas, there was a bumper kharif and rabi crop due to deft management," he said. He said people now want good quality services. "We have already said that we will not give free power. People now want improvement in power supply" he said, adding that "the new taxes are not in place of octroi duty. On the issue of uniform
sales tax, Mr Sampat Singh said the Union Finance
Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha had called a meeting on May
19 where a decision in this regard would be taken.
"We are for uniform sales tax. The anomalies, if
any, will be discussed in that meeting," he said. |
School kids assist traffic cops AMBALA, May 14 (PTI) — The district administration has launched a unique public awareness campaign under which groups of 25 school children have been asked to devote two hours at six heavy points of Ambala City and Cantonment. The students are being assisted by the local police and officials of the Transport Department, an official press note said here yesterday. Each school provides a group of 75 students by turn who are given half-an-hour training. Then they are subdivided into three groups and taken to the traffic roundabouts to educate the vehicle owners regarding various provisions of court orders as well as the Motor Vehicles Act. For this purpose, the District Red Cross Society, Ambala, has printed 20,000 leaflets giving salient features of traffic rules and also the punishments under various offences. This campaign will last
for 15 days during which emphasis will be on awareness
generation and not challaning the people. |
Protesters block highway SONEPAT, May 14 — Hundreds of irate residents came out of their houses and held up traffic on the Sonepat-Bahalgarh road near Sikka Colony here last evening. The residents were protesting against the non-supply of electricity for 16 hours at a stretch and erratic and inadequate supply of drinking water. On receiving information, the district and police authorities arrived at the spot and assured to provide regular power and water supply to them. Thereupon, the residents lifted the blockade and the movement of traffic was restored. Following complaints of erratic supply of drinking water and poor sewerage the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Sudhir Rajpal, today directed the Superintending Engineer of the Public Health Department to hold a ‘darbar’ on every Friday in his office for redressing grievances. Earlier, the Deputy Commissioner convened a meeting of officials of the Public Health Department, Municipal Council and the Uttar Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam. The Superintending
Engineer of the PHD, Mr Goel, stated that the water tank
had been filled at Jat Joshi village and efforts were
being made to fill the tank at Liwaspur village. He also
said that 70 per cent area of Lehrara village had been
covered with potable water supply system. The industrial
areas of this city would be covered within 15 days. The
drinking water had been provided to the residents of
Mahipur village and the supply of drinking water would be
ensured to Pipli village after laying of the pipeline. |
Need to bring new areas under
wheat HISAR, May 14 — By the year 2020 India would need about 109 million tonnes of wheat to feed its population that would touch 1.3 billion mark by the time, this was stated by Dr S. Nagarajan, Director, Wheat Research Directorate, Karnal. He was delivering second Rao Bahadur Dr Ram Dhan Singh Memorial Lecture hosted by the CCS Haryana Agricultural University, here yesterday. He said though scientific interventions had been successful in raising average wheat productivity from 772 kg per hectare in 1960 to 2807 kg per hectare in 1999, yet this rate of increase would not be sufficient to achieve the targetted production figure. He said to sustain wheat revolution, apart from evolving the varieties with more yield potential and ensuring efficient farm machinery and timely supply of inputs to the farmers, there was a need to exploit the potential of central and eastern zones of the country. "The future production gains are expected to be from here, " he added. expressing satisfaction on the present pace of wheat research, he said nearly 10,000 cross combinations were being attempted every year by the wheat scientists in the country to evolve new varieties with increased productivity. But he cautioned them that their efforts would prove futile if they ignored to evolve heat and water stress tolerant varieties. He said due to global warming water could also become a scarce resource. So there was a need to develop varieties which could tolerate high temperature and yield better with less quantity of water. The lecture was held to mark the 110th birth anniversary of wheat breeder Rao Bahadur Dr Ram Dhan Singh. He had developed 25 improved varieties of wheat, besides other crops, during his life span. Dr Nagarajan paid rich tributes to this legendary wheat scientist and donated Rs 50,000 on behalf of the Wheat Directorate to the Ram Dhan Singh Trust for instituting an award to be given to the outstanding wheat scientists. Presiding over, Dr P.S. Lamba, former Vice-Chancellor of CCSHAU said the research contributions of Dr Ram Dhan Singh would always remain etched in golden letters in the history of Indian agriculture. He applauded the steps being initiated by CCSHAU to revive the memory of the pioneer wheat breeder. Speaking on the
occasion, Dr B.P.S. Lather, Secretary, Rao Bahadur Dr Ram
Dhan Singh Memorial Trust and Head of the Department of
Plant Breeding, underlined the activities being taken up
by the trust for the development of agriculture and rural
upliftment. |
Service charge on khadi units
flayed PANIPAT, May 14 — The decision to levy a one per cent service charge by the Haryana Khadi and Village Industries Board on khadi units is discriminatory, unconstitutional and unhealthy according to khadi unit owners. A number of entrepreneurs talking to mediapersons yesterday said the tax was being levied on those who set up projects with financial help from Khadi Village and Industries Board ( KVIB), Haryana for issuing a sales tax exemption certificate to them while units set up with the assistance of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) were not required to pay the service charges. Moreover KVIB, Haryana has limited sales tax exemption to an annual turnover of Rs 10 lakh, whereas in other states the limit was Rs 30 lakh. The entrepreneurs said that neither the Government nor the boards were authorised to impose such a charge under the Indian Parliament Act 61 of 1956 and the Punjab Vidhan Sabha Act 40 of 1956 which was accepted by Haryana in 1966 at the time of its formation. Interestingly, there is
a provision in Section 13 of Haryana General Sales Tax
Act, 1973 for sales tax exemption certificate under which
khadi and village industries are exempted from paying
sales tax. |
Cancellation of JBT exam criticised SONEPAT, May 14 — The Haryana Pradesh Janata Dal (U) has decided to launch a statewide campaign against the anti-people and anti-poor policies of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance government, headed by Mr Om Prakash Chautala, Chief Minister. This was announced by Mr Ved Parkash Vidrohi, president of the state unit of the party, at a press conference here today. He disclosed that a meeting of the party executive committee would be held on May 28 at Hansi to review the current political situation and chalk out its agitational strategy. The Janata Dal leader
also criticised the Chautala government for the
cancellation of the JBT entrance examination held last
year. Describing the decision of the state government as
unfortunate Mr Vidrohi said it made a mockery of the
thousands of candidates who had appeared in the
examination. |
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