 |
| Sunday, May 28, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
|
More names on net likely: CVC Cong alleges rigging by INLD in
Rori DC, SDO granted bail in bar
association case Matrimonial disputes settled
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Haryana sets up panel on
IT Darkness stalks defaulting
consumers 3 held for spurious mineral water
sale HPCC plans dharna against price
hike Patton tank relocated in park Women block highway Power availability to improve
|
More names on net likely: CVC GURGAON, May 27 — Undeterred by the furore among bureaucratic circles in the country, the Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC), Mr N. Vittal, today broadly indicated that his office has not closed the option to continue publishing the names of the charged officers on the website. Speaking at a seminar here organised by the State Bank of Patiala at its Staff Training College (headquarters) on "Ethics in Business and Administration", Mr Vittal asserted that the "experience of publishing of the names of charged officers on the website has been encouraging." A majority of the people polled by several media organisations on the issue welcomed it as an anti-corruption measure. The positive fallout of publishing of the names was that the resultant public pressure would prevent the officers facing charges from being posted at sensitive posts. The website experience provided one method by which at least those who were corrupt and facing an inquiry did not flourish further, he added. Today’s public speech of Mr Vittal on the issue of corruption was reportedly the most exhaustive since he took charge of the office about 20 months ago. Incidentally, the seminar was organised as a follow-up to the directive of the CVC to the public sector units to introduce the topic of ethics in business and administration in the curriculum of their training colleges. In fact, the State Bank of Patiala launched the training camp on the subject for its top executives. Mr Vittal further said he was trying to see that as far as the Government of India was concerned, all departmental inquiries against the officers facing charges were completed within six months. Monthly reminders would be sent to all departmental authorities based on the website information as well as the computerised data with the CVC so that there would be no excuse given for not speeding up the inquiries. He lamented that politicians did not come under his jurisdiction. However, he did not spare the politicians when he said that it was an open secret that in our political system, financial adultery could flourish unless the corrupt elements in politics, business and bureaucracy colluded with each other. He said even though political corruption was not within his jurisdiction, he had made certain suggestions to the Election Commission. He felt that no political party must be permitted to contest elections unless it got the latest annual accounts duly audited by an auditor as may be prescribed by notified agency like the EC, the Supreme Court, CAG, etc. Emphasising that corruption was anti-poor, he said that 31 per cent of the foodgrains and 36 per cent of sugar in the Public Distribution Systems gets diverted to the black market. When we consider the fact that Rs 15,000 crore was the subsidy involved in the PDS and if 30 per cent of it leaked to the black market, Rs 5,000 crore were thus available for the corrupt officials associated with the PDS, corrupt shopkeepers and their protectors. The hawala scam had shown the linkage between anti-national elements like the Kashmiri militants and administrators. As many as 300 persons died in the Mumbai blast in 1993 and this was made possible because RDX could be smuggled by offering a bribe of Rs 20 lakh to certain Customs officials. He opined that to curb corruption it would be worthwhile to engage a series of traps. The CVC was also examining a proposal whether the 589 Central Vigilance officers in all government departments, banks etc, could also be authorised to organise traps in a much wider screen. Also, there were other legal remedies like the one provided under the Corrupt Public Servants Confiscation of Property Act, which has been sent by the Law Commission to the government and, under the Benami Transactions Prohibition Act. He lamented that the Benami Transactions Prohibition Act had not been implemented by the government for the past 12 years, even though it had been on the statute book. He made out a case for empowerment of the CVC under the Act so that benami properties of public servant under its purview could be confiscated. The CVC also strongly
advocated for sound business and professional ethics on
the part of individual professionals and businessmen. |
Cong alleges rigging by INLD
in Rori SIRSA, May 27 — "The INLD has indulged in rigging by capturing booths and creating terror among the voters in Rori byelection which was held yesterday and the government officials too gave a helping hand in this", said Mr Baldev Dass Mahant, the Congress candidate in this byelection, here today. He was addressing a press conference at the residence of Mrs Pushpa Mahant, district president of the Mahila Congress. The senior vice-president of the HPCC and MLA from Sirsa, Mr Lachhman Dass Arora, former Irrigation Minister, Mr Jagdish Nehra and former MP, Mr Ranjeet Singh besides HPCC organising secretaries were also present at the conference. Mr Mahant demanded repoll in the byelection under the supervision of the CRPF so that government machinery could function fearlessly and the incidents of booth capturing were not repeated. He alleged that in many villages specially Rori booths were captured by the DSP and the SDM, Sirsa in the later hours of the polling. However, when contacted both the DSP and the SDM denied these allegations, and added that they were deputed to supervise and ensure peaceful polling in five villages, Rori was one of them. Keeping in view that Rori was the native village of the Congress candidate, they were there to maintain law and order situation. Mr Mahant also circulated copies of the complaints sent to the Deputy Commissioner, returning officer and the observers through fax and claimed that the administration had not taken any action on these complaints so far which only confirmed their being lenient to the INLD. On the other hand, president of Youth INLD and Member Parliament, Mr Ajay Singh Chautala rebutted these allegations and said that it was expected that the Congress would create a scene to save its skin for their indifferent attitude towards this byelection in front of Congress high command. He has stated that no political party or candidate could ever think of creating hindrance in the polling process when the election was totally one-sided going in his favour. He termed the allegations by the Congress leaders as politically motivated and baseless. He said the reporters from Chandigarh and Delhi visited the constituency during the polling and observed the polling process. No body has reported any incident of booth capturing. He had advised these
Congress leaders to learn a lesson from this byelection
where not only the voters but almost all the party
workers have deserted them because of their wrong
policies and apathy towards common people. |
DC, SDO granted bail in bar
association case ROHTAK, May 27 — A local court has given bail to Mr Arun Kumar an IAS officer and Mr R.K. Chauhan, an HCS officer, the then Deputy Commissioner and Sub-Divisional Officer (Civil) respectively of Rohtak in connection with a criminal complaint filed against them last year by the District Bar Association. Both the officers were present in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) in connection with the case today. The association had filed a private complaint in a local court after the District authorities got demolished a ‘structure’ built by the association, which has alleged that demolition was done without any prior notice in 1999. The court granted bail
to the officials on furnishing of bail bond of Rs 10,000
each. The then Secretary and the then Executive Officer
of the Rohtak Municipal Council have already got
anticipatory bail in this connection. The next date in
the case is August 24. |
Matrimonial disputes settled SONEPAT, May 27 — The District Legal Services Authority (DLSA), Sonepat, today achieved a landmark by settling the matrimonial disputes of two couples — two sisters whose husbands are also brothers — which was dragging for the past three years. Their marriage took place about eight years ago but after five years of the marriage the husbands and the wives started living separately. Even though the parties to the marriages had no inclination to perform marital obligations, yet the brothers moved the court under Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act for restitution of their conjugal rights. On the other hand the wives also filed petitions in the court under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act for the dissolution of their marriage. One woman has two children, while her sister has a child, all three of them aged below five years, but it did not deter the women from seeking dissolution of their marriage. The permanent Lok Adalat, held under the aegis of the DLSA, after duly considering all aspects of the cases, succeeded in making the parties agree for mutual divorce. As one of the most important objectives of the Lok Adalats is to provide additional forum to the litigants for conciliatory settlement of their disputes and relieve the local courts of some burden, the settlement of the sisters vs brothers case was considered an important stride towards its professed objective. The DLSA, which is a part of the State Legal Services Authority, organised 11 Lok Adalats in the District Courts complex at Sonepat today headed by Mr S.K. Sardana, District and Sessions Judge, who is also the Chairman of the DLSA. Mr Sudhir Rajpal, DC, Mr K.P. Singh, SP, and other officers of the district administration also participated in the proceedings of the Lok Adalats. Various categories of cases numbering about 926 were settled in the Lok Adalat held in the District Courts complex today. The DC and the SP said they would soon issue directions to the officers concerned to refer to all such disputes at the pre-litigative stage to the Secretary, DLSA, so as to avoid litigation expenses for filing and defending cases on behalf of the state government. Mr Sardana also announced that specific arrangement for entertaining all those persons, who were eligible to receive legal aid or legal services but were illiterate and not even capable of filing their petitions, would be provided counselling free of cost. A meditation-cum-counselling centre was also set up today for the benefit of the litigants. While Mr Sardana had headed the first Lok Adalat, the other Lok Adalats were presided over by Mr P.K. Bishnoi, Mr A.K. Raghav, Mr Inderjit Mehta, all District and Sessions Judges, Mr O P Verma, Civil Judge (Senior Division), Mr S. K. Kaushik, Chief Judicial Magistrate, and other subordinate judges of the district. Mr B.K. Kaushik, President of the Bar Association of Sonepat, Dr P.N. Gaur, member, permanent Lok Adalat, were also associated in the disposal of the cases like the ones related to matrimonial disputes. The DC had also held a
separate Lok Adalat where about 100 cases of different
categories were settled. |
Preparing for the rains YAMUNANAGAR: The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Rajiv Sharma, said flood in Jagadhri tehsil is caused when the Yamuna is in spate or there is heavy rain in the catchment areas of the Yamuna, Chautang, Somb and Pathrala. The water spills over the fields along the Yamuna stream and causes danger to abadi and standing crops. The district administration has made arrangements for the rainy season. The Sub Divisional Magistrate, Jagadhri has been directed to make preliminary inspections of the bundhs in the district. A district-level flood committee under the chairmanship of the Deputy Commissioner has been set up. Its members include: Superintending Engineers, Yamunanagar, Water Services Circle, Karnal, Public Health, Ambala, B&R Ambala, Deputy Conservator of forests ,Yamunanagar, representative of the Municipal Committee, District Town Planner and District Development and Panchayat officer. The committee will examine flood protection measures ,including embankment. Mr Rajiv Sharma, said flood report and warning about Yamuna and Somb Nadi will be issued by the Executive Engineer, Water Services, Dadupur. The Superintendent of Police has been directed to install 11 wireless sets at Tajewala and Kala Amb to send information regarding flood water discharge in the Yamuna river. The Executive Engineer, water services ,mechanical division, Karnal, will also keep sufficient number of diesel pumps at Yamunanagar for dewatering. In case of necessity the district food and supply controller will keep a stock of at least 20,000 bags of foodgrains for emergency purposes. The Divisional Forest officer will keep a stock of 1,000 eucalyptus and will also allow X.En, water services Division, Jagadhari, and Yamunanagar to cut trees for flood protection. He said control rooms would be set up in the office of Deputy Commissioner, Tehsildar, Jagadhri, Tehsildar, Chhachhrauli, Xen water services, Yamunanagar and Xen water services, Jagadhri for latest information regarding floods. The District Revenue officer will be the overall in charge of the control room at district headquarters. A sufficient number of staff will be deputed at the control rooms. The persons deployed will be acquainted with the area. Two aluminium boats will be kept at district headquarters under the direct charge of district revenue officer. The staff trained for flood relief works will stay at headquarters so that they would be available during emergency. The Sub-divisional Magistrate and Tehsildars would ensure that all the Patwaris remain their headquarters during the rains. The voluntary organisation would be contacted for their assistance during the floods, he added. The Deputy Commissioner
said that before the start of rainy season, the civil
surgeon would ensure bleaching of walls and distribution
of anti-malaria drugs and ensure spray of DDT and other
pesticides. He would make specific arrangements to supply
suitable number of medical and para medical staff in case
of need. Similarly the Deputy Director, Animal Husbandry
would visit the affected areas to provide medical
assistance to animal population so as to prevent epidemic
and other diseases. |
Haryana sets up panel on IT CHANDIGARH, May 27 — The Haryana Government today constituted a state-level Steering Committee IT PRISM (planning, re-engineering, implementation, steering and monitoring) under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary to oversee the computerisation and application of information technology. The other members of the committee include the Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Secretaries of Finance, Planning, Commercial Taxation, Agriculture, Revenue, Power, Cooperation, Transport, Health, Food and Supply, Local Bodies, Administrative Reforms, Panchayat and Rural Development, Electronics and Information Technology, Technical Education and Education Departments and Director-General, National Informatics Centre or his nominee. Three experts in information technology will be nominated by the State Government. The Managing Director of Hartron will act as its member-Secretary. The committee will set priorities of sectors to be taken up for carisation and review the progress of implementation of IT Action Plan of various government departments, boards and corporations. The committee will also
devise ways means for the promotion of IT education in
the State. It will also approve the budget and sanction
posts and expenditure for the IT Department. |
Darkness stalks defaulting
consumers ROHTAK, May 27 — The government was reportedly considering to adopt tough measures if the defaulting consumers fail to pay the outstanding electricity bills to the HVPN by the May 31. Immediately after taking over as Chief Minister in March last, Mr Om Parkash Chautala has appealed to the defaulting consumers to clear the arrears of electricity bills, without surcharge by April 30. The date was, however, extended up to May 15 and till May 31 on the request of village panchayats and defaulting consumers. The government has now decided against extending the last late beyond May 31, the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Rajesh Khullar, told the defaulting consumers at Morkha, Muradpur-Tekna and Lahli yesterday. He advised the consumers to pay outstanding bills, without surcharge by May 31 to avoid harassment and inconvenience thereafter. The Deputy Commissioner has also directed the HVPN officials to hold Bijli Adalats at Mokhra and at Muradpur Tekna on Sunday for deciding cases of pending bills and rectifying them, if necessary, so that the defaulting consumers could avail themselves the last chance of clearing arrears of bills without surcharge. As the last date for paying the outstanding electricity bills without surcharge was coming closer, the activists of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) have also stepped up their campaign for persuading the defaulting consumers of the rural areas against making the payment of pending bills. Because of this campaign of the BKU, the recovery of the electricity bills in the areas covered by the Jassia sub-office of the HVPN was merely 14 per cent. The electricity bills outstanding against the rural consumers in Bhalaut sub-division alone were over Rs 14 crore. Out of 616 consumers in Dhamar village, only four were paying their electricity bills. There are over 42,000 consumers in the Rohtak suburban division who jointly owe nearly Rs 31 crore to the HVPN. Political observers here believe that a very strong will power was required if the government was sincere to recover the outstanding bills. Any lacklustre approach would harm the ruling party politically. Although the HVPN has threatened to disconnect the supply of the consumers who fail to pay the bills by May 31, the officials here feel that it would not be physically possible to execute these orders. Whenever any such effort was made to disconnect the power supply. The villagers unitedly opposed it and in certain villages attacked the HVPN officials and forced them to retreat. Some defaulting consumers at Kiloi village had allegedly threatened to kill the HVPN officials who had gone to the village to disconnect power supply of an erring consumer nearly 14 months ago. Since then no HVPN officials had dared visit the village to execute disconnection orders. The HVPN had approached the revenue authorities to initiate proceedings under the Land Revenue Act to recover the arrears of electricity bills pending against consumers of Kiloi village. Cases against 15 more such consumers of Kiloi have also been referred to the local Tehsildar for appropriate action under the Act. Meanwhile, the line losses have increased beyond imagination due to shortage of electricity meters. The department has no new meters to replace the damaged meters and on the other hand has stopped repair of the damaged meters. Because of the shortage of meters, the line losses were nearly 70 per cent in Bhalaut sub-division and up to 60 per cent in the Meham sub-division of Rohtak suburban division. It was above 50 per cent in Kalanaur sub-division. The HVPN has reportedly
decided that all new tube-well connections would be
metered. Hitherto, no meter has been installed on most of
the tube well connections and the consumers were charged
at flat rates. The HVPN, after conducting a survey, has
come to the conclusion that supply of power at flat rates
was losing proposition. |
3 held for spurious
mineral water sale ROHTAK, May 27 — The police has unearthed a racket of bottling and selling of ‘spurious’ mineral water in the district, with the arrest of three persons. About 600 bottles of mineral water of various brands and a machine have been seized. According to the SSP, Mr P.K. Aggarwal, the police on a tip-off raided a house near Asan village and Khokrakot colony on Gohana byepass yesterday. He said it was found that some persons were engaged in illegal bottling and supply of mineral water of various brands to various places in an organised manner. He said Sanjay, hailing from Jind, and two workers — Sudhir and Dalip from Uttar Pradesh, were arrested from the factory premises. He said soda water had been used in bottling of water by these persons. The house used for packing of bottles reportedly belonged to one Sunil Thekedar of Bakheta village. It is learnt that a racket of makers of fake and spurious mineral water and cold drinks has been thriving in the state. The network is also reportedly supplying its products to Delhi and neighbouring states. The selling points for fake mineral water include bus stands, railway stations and roadside dhabas in Haryana. Meanwhile, the police
has arrested two persons and seized about 500 bottles of
liquor being sold illegally. |
HPCC plans dharna against
price hike CHANDIGARH, May 27 — The Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee will convene on May 31 a meeting of its Block President and Chairmen of its frontal organisations and INTUC with a view to chalking out a detailed programme for holding dharnas at all block levels on June 5 against the hike in prices of essential commodities. A press note issued by
the party said all block and district Congress committees
had been directed to hold meetings of their respective
general bodies along with Presidents of BCCs and Chairmen
of all frontal organisation on June 2 for planning
dharnas on June 5. |
Patton tank relocated in park AMBALA, May 27 — A war trophy is considered to be a matter of pride, for it epitomises how bravely our soldiers fought to defend the nation’s territorial integrity. A Patton tank, which is a war trophy from the Indo-Pak war of 1965, has finally been shifted from its nondescript place in Bus stand of Ambala City to a prominent and respectable place in a HUDA park. The tank, which was used by the Pakistan army, was routed by the Indian Army during the battle in the Khemkaran sector. The Khemkaran sector is also considered to be the graveyard of the Patton tank. After the war was over, war trophies were distributed to various places and given to civil administration so that those could be displayed at proper places to enable the younger generation to feel proud of the deeds of the Indian armed forces under daunting conditions. Last week, the Patton tank was shifted from the Ambala city bus stand where it was kept to a HUDA park in sector 7, opposite Bal Bhavan. According to Vice-President of Zila Sainik Board Ambala, Lt-Col B.N. Bali (retd), the new place is more respectable. “The HUDA park is definitely a decent place to display a war trophy. The park is also well located, so a large number of people will become aware of the tank,” he said. The tank was shifted by the Army authorities. “A team headed by Maj Iyer of 6014 Armoured Brigade Workshop worked from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., using two cranes to shift the tank from Ambala City bus stand to the HUDA park,” Lt-Col Bali said. When the tank was located at Ambala City bus stand, a large hoarding displayed in front of the tank completely blocked the view of the tank. “Also, most of the small steel parts had been removed by unscrupulous persons and the tank area was stinking as people had urinated there,” Lt Col Bali said. A World War II veteran, Maj C.L. Malhotra (retd), told The Tribune that it is relevant to mention that “Patton tank” draws its name from an outstanding American General Patton who won several battles in Europe in the operation ‘Overlord’ during 1944-45. A tank expert said that
during 1965, the Patton tank was the latest acquisition
of the Pakistan army. “Patton tank was considered to
be a state-of-the-art tank then. It had a formidable
reputation at a time when we had Centurions and Shermans.
But we successfully tackled Patton tanks in large
numbers, especially in the Khemkaran sector, which is
considered to be the graveyard of the Patton tank.” |
Women block highway HISAR, May 27 — A number of women from Vakil Colony, Arya Nagar, Vikas Nagar and its adjoining areas today blocked the Hisar-Delhi National Highway in Hansi town, 26 km from here, to show their resentment against electric power supply and hostage of drinking water to their areas. The traffic on this route remained disrupted for about two hours. The women staged a dharna on the road and also raised anti government slogans. They broke the flower-pots place between the road. They lifted their
blocked following an assurance given by the SDM, Mr
Maheshwar Sharma, and the DSP, Mr Raj Kumar Sharma, that
water and power will be provided to the areas regularly.
The women has threatened to block the road again if the
water and power supply not restored to these areas by
tomorrow. |
Power availability to improve CHANDIGARH, May 27 — The availability of power in Haryana will improve by about 32 lakh units per day with the commissioning of the 146 MW third steam turbine unit at Faridabad gas power project from June 30. A press note issued by the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam said to ensure its early commission HVPN had agreed to allow shut down on the existing 143 MW-GT-I of the Faridabad gas power project from 8 a.m. on May 27 to 12 noon on May 29 for carrying out its inter-connection work with the third steam turbine unit. The press note added
that although HVPN was making all-out efforts to make
maximum power available, there might be some temporary
inconvenience to public during the period of shutdown. |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh Tribune | In Spotlight | 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 120 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
