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| Sunday, June 4, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Scam
in relief, alleges Chautala’s brother Water supply scheme given go-ahead Lifeguard saves teenager Convene civic body meeting: BJP
Making of a barrage BKU rally on June 7 |
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KU exam centre at
Tirupati Two held for snatching bag University entrance test dates Cases of bank fraud solved Five robbers arrested Trader robbed of Rs 4.20 lakh Rly contractor violating rules? Power, telecom lines disrupted Forum: computer is a consumer item Concern over poor water supply Case registered against Principal Couple dies in accident Prisoners can become better
citizens: judge
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Scam in relief, alleges
Chautala’s brother CHANDIGARH, June 3 — Mr Pratap Singh, former MLA and younger brother of Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, today alleged that a "Bihar-type fodder scam" had taken place in the relief operation launched by the Haryana Government for the drought-affected states of Gujarat and Maharashtra. Mr Pratap Singh, who is now attached to the newly formed Haryana Nirman Manch, challenged the state government’s claim that all fodder sent to the drought-affected states for the livestock was procured through voluntary donations and sent free of cost. He said tenders were invited "secretly" by the Haryana State Cooperative Supply and Marketing Federation (Hafed) for the procurement of wheat chaff (turi). In a written statement, which was circulated by Mr Pratap Singh among reporters today, he highlighted the going-ons in Dabwali tehsil in Sirsa district. The statement alleged that on April 20 tenders in this connection were invited by Hafed and the indent number of the tender was 16. On May 15, Hafed accepted the tenders of four persons who were asked to send the chaff from the Dabwali railway station. The rate fixed for this purpose was Rs 305 per quintal, including the expenses for the gunny bags. Mr Pratap Singh’s statement also gave the names of the four parties who had received the Hafed order. They were Mr Anil Godara of Chautala village, Mr Malkiat Singh Sooch of Ganga village, Mr Virendra Sihag of Teja Khera village and Mr Vinod Kumar and his brother Mr Raj Kumar of Abushahar village. Mr Godara had received an order for 500 MT of chaff for which he had deposited Rs 1,25,000 as security money, the statement alleged. Mr Sooch received an order for 1000 MT chaff and the security money deposited by him was Rs 2,50,000. Mr Virendra Sihag was awarded a contract for 2500 MT and he deposited Rs 6,000,00 as security money, while Mr Vinod Kumar and Mr Raj Kumar also were awarded a contract for 2500 MT of chaff and they too deposited Rs 6 lakh. Mr Pratap Singh’s statement alleged that the rate offered to the contractors was a highly inflated one as the prevailing rate of chaff in Sirsa district was Rs 90 per quintal only. Moreover, a large quantity of chaff was acquired by the government through patwaris from farmers who had donated the chaffs for the drought-affected states. But the state government had used the chaff, purchased at cheap rates or collected through voluntary donations, for benefitting some contractors close to the powers-that-be. According to the statement, from the Dabwali railway station alone, 6500 MT of chaff was sent to Gujarat. From other parts of Haryana, a few lakh tonnes of chaff had been sent for drought relief indicating huge bungling, the statement said. Mr Pratap Singh demanded a white paper from the state government on the relief sent for the livestocks of Gujarat. He also demanded an inquiry by the CBI into the "scam". He also said since the relief sent to Gujarat from Haryana was no different from the usual trade activities, the Union Railway Minister, Ms Mamata Banerjee should clarify why she had exempted them from the freight charges. While relief sent to Rajasthan, a Congress ruled state, was free of cost, this was not the case for the BJP-led Gujarat because the state government in Gujarat would not create an issue out of the exorbitant rate, the former MLA alleged. Meanwhile, reacting to Mr Pratap Singh’s charges, an official statement said 17 trainloads, more than 400 truckloads and a 100 trolleys of relief material were contributed voluntarily by the people of Haryana for primarily Rajasthan and a limited area of Gujarat. The statement, however, admitted that, "in addition to this Herculean effort, the Gujarat Government had purchased an additional quantity of 4,320 metric tonnes of wheat chaff through Hafed". The statement claimed that open tenders were called and the Relief Commissioner of Gujarat, Mr G.K. Makwana and the Director, Relief, Gujarat , Mr B.R. Patel, had approved the rates finalised after the receipt of bids and negotiations. The statement added that initially the rate was Rs 4,000 per tonne. But later,
when free rail transportation was offered, "the
rates were reduced in consultation with the Gujarat
Government to Rs 3,050 per tonne". The statement
further said Gujarat Government had made advance payment
of Rs 50 lakh to Hafed for this purpose. |
Water supply scheme given
go-ahead KARNAL, June 3 — In order to provide potable drinking water in villages of Haryana the Union Government has selected Yamunanagar and Karnal districts under the rural water supply and sanitation scheme. The aim of the scheme is to provide additional drinking water facilities in the rural areas and that also through village panchayats. The first meeting of the governing body of the scheme for the two districts was held here yesterday. The meeting was attended by Mr I.D. Swami, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Mr Jai Prakash Gupta, Mr Krishan Panwar, Mr Dharampal (all MLAs from Karnal district), the Superintending Engineers of Yamunanagar and Karnal, Executive Engineer of the Public Health Department of both districts, Chief Medical Officers and some other officers of the districts. Explaining the main features of the scheme to TNS, Mr Swami said 90 per cent funds for the scheme would be given by the Centre while the village panchayat would have to raise only 10 per cent. The Centre would provide money directly to the panchayats. Committees at the local level of the village panchayat and senior citizens of the village would be formed in order to monitor the implementation of the scheme and the expenditure as well as to ensure proper functioning. The technical know how would be provided by the state Public Health Department at each village. Under the scheme the village committees were given the options to appoint water pump drivers of their own accord. The scheme is aimed at augmenting the insufficient potable water supply to the village. At present the Public Health Department supplies water to groups of villages from one tubewell. Under the new scheme each village would have its separate pumping system, pipelines and tubewells. The Department aims at supplying 40 litres of water per person per day. Under the new scheme its aims to raise the supply to 50 litres per person per day. Mr Swami stressed the need for creating awareness among the people at village level about the benefits of the scheme. For this purpose meetings at different villages should be convened and people be motivated. He stated that there would be an overall control of a district-level governing body over the village-level governing committees. It would be the responsibility of the gram panchayats to collect money at flat rates from the consumers. Mr Jai Prakash Gupta, an independent MLA, while commenting on the scheme said strict monitoring of funds and expenditure was needed to implement the scheme properly. Besides the technical know how, even the water pump drivers should be appointed by the Public Health Department. It may be added that despite the fine objectives of the scheme it may be a victim of numerous pitfalls. It could be recalled that over a decade-and-a-half back the Union Government launched a community gobar gas scheme for providing gobar gas connections in the villages. The scheme flopped after sometime wasting government funds. The new scheme to supply potable drinking water to the villagers should be kept above the village politics, opined the public representatives who participated in the meeting. Furthermore, the pilferage of funds during the laying of pipelines, the quality of the material and the proper digging of tubewells should be ensured by the district governing bodies if the scheme was to succeed, commented one senior officer. In order to end the menace of carrying night soil over heads the central government has sanctioned another scheme for the construction of latrines in the villages. The design of each latrine cost between Rs 650/- to Rs 1000. In the above selected
districts, the central government has provided a subsidy
of Rs 500 per latrine to those villagers who wanted to
get it constructed in their homes. The scheme if
successful is likely to be extended to other districts of
the state also. |
Lifeguard saves teenager AMBALA, June 3 — A teenager nearly drowned in the swimming pool of War Heroes Memorial Stadium, today. The incident took place when Ankur, 15, who has yet to learn swimming, went to the pool this morning. He was in the shallow end of the pool, when the lifeguard on duty noticed that the teenager was lying in the water. Taking prompt action, the lifeguard along with three other coaches present there, took out the teenager from the pool. Ankur had by that time swallowed a lot of water. When the lifeguard and the coaches were rushing the teenager to the hospital, a private practitioner, Dr Mittal, saw them and offered to help them. He immediately tried to resuscitate the teenager. Ankur was then rushed to the Civil Hospital in Ambala Cantonment from there he was referred to the PGI, Chandigarh, after the intervention of the Deputy Commissioner of Ambala, Mr Ram Niwas, who visited the hospital on learning about the incident. Mr Niwas said that a doctor, Dr Vinod Gupta, was asked to come to the hospital for the assistance of the child. “Even I reached the hospital from Ambala City and Dr Vinod Gupta failed to turn up despite the need for his expertise,” he said. “A serious note has been taken of the failure of Dr Gupta to come to the hospital despite being called. Disciplinary action is likely to be initiated against him,” he said. Mr Niwas said that an ambulance was arranged through the Red Cross for taking the teenager to the PGI. “He is now stated to be in a stable condition,” he said. The Deputy Commissioner said that the timely action of the lifeguard, Mr Ram Pal, has saved the life of the teenager. “We are going to suitably reward him,” he said. A sports official said that besides the lifeguard, the coaches who assisted the teenager for taking him to the hospital included Mr Joginder Singh, Mr Virender and Mr Sehgal. Incidentally, a few
years back, a youth had drowned in the pool. At that
time, the pool was not yet functional and tube well
testing was going on. A few youth apparently jumped over
the boundary wall and entered the pool. The water was
murky and a youth drowned in the water. |
Convene civic body meeting: BJP AMBALA, June 3—The local unit of the BJP has sought that the meeting to elect the President and Vice-President of the Municipal Council, Ambala Sadar should be held without any further delay. A delegation of the BJP councillors and leaders today met the Deputy Commissioner and submitted a memorandum in this regard. The memorandum states "the meeting was held at 11 a.m. in the committee hall which was presided over by the SDM. Unfortunately, the councillors belonging to non-BJP parties and some Independents abstained from the meeting. Thus only 13 councillors were present at the meeting." As quorum was not
present in the House, the presiding officer adjourned the
meeting without fixing the next date of the meeting. Now
12 days have passed since the adjournment of the meeting
but no date has been fixed as yet. We request to convene
the meeting for the elections of the President and the
Vice- President without any further delay to avoid
uncertainty, it adds. |
BKU rally on June 7 SONEPAT, June 3 — The Haryana unit of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) has decided to hold a state-level rally of farmers on June 7 at Bibipur Lake in Peowah tehsil of Kurukshetra in protest against the raising of a bundh on it by the state government. Announcing this, Mr Hari Singh Khokhar, President of the state unit of the union, told mediapersons here today that the union would not allow the government to raise the bundh as it would ruin farmers of the area. He said the residents of some villages were shifted to safer places when the bundh was constructed in 1962. Thereafter, the state government started collecting water in the lake and the area was declared as a one-season cropped area. But the government failed to give any compensation to the farmers whose land was acquired for the purpose. Even the tubewells of the farmers were not given power connections and this led to a strong resentment among them. Mr Khokhar said the
union had already started an indefinite dharna at the
site of Bibipur Lake since May 27 to press the demand for
stopping the raising of the bundh at the site as they
apprehend that the entire area would be washed away by
flood waters. |
Making of a barrage YAMUNANAGAR: The prestigious 220-crore Hathnikund Barrage project was dedicated to the people of Haryana last year. With the completion of this barrage, the State would be getting additional 8,000 cusecs of water for irrigation during the monsoon season. The work on the 4-km-long Western Yamuna Link Channel, for connecting it to the existing hydel and western Yamuna Canal has also been completed. The length of the channel (3890 metres) will be lined using a vibratory concrete paver at a cost of Rs 32 crore. Now it has a carrying capacity of 25000 cusecs, including that of the silt ejector, which is designed for 5000 cusecs. The channel in addition to meeting the irrigation needs of Haryana and Rajasthan will also fulfil the drinking water needs of Delhi. The concrete lining has been completed with the help of mechanical pavers. The work on the hydel channel is likely to be taken up very shortly by the HPGCL. The Irrigation Department is in the process of providing gates and gearing. The channel is likely to be completed in next monsoon. The Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, last year directed the Larsen and Toubro (L&T Co.) and the Irrigation Department to complete the job ahead of schedule. According to Mr K.B.
Vashistha, Superintending Engineer, Hathnikund Barrage,
the Environment Monitoring Committee recently visited the
Hathnikund site. It appreciated the efforts made by the
Irrigation Department for abiding by the Environment
Ministry norms and directed the Forest Department to take
conservation measures to avoid silt erosion and
degradation in the critically- eroded catchment area. He
said that the channel was 3894.97 metres long with seven
structures were to be constructed on it. The first 900
metres to 3894.97 metres the sides of the channel were to
be stone pitched . |
KU exam centre at Tirupati KURUKSHETRA, June 3 — The Vice-Chancellor of Kurukshetra University, Prof Hoshiar Singh said here today that various post-graduate examinations of the University which commenced on May 23 are proceeding satisfactorily. A record number of over 55,000 students of post-graduate classes are taking the examinations, including about 11,000 students of the Distance Education Course and almost an equal number of private candidates and ex-students. While the university has created examination centres at 23 of its post-graduate affiliated colleges in different districts of Haryana, 29 examination centres have been set up in the university teaching departments on the university campus. For the first time examination centres have been set up for the distance education students in other states including at Hyderabad, Bangalore, Tirupati, Jammu, Jalandhar, Patna, Nellore, Indore and New Delhi. 13 flying squads have been deputed comprising of senior teachers of the university to check copying. 700 teachers and other staff are on examination duty. The Vice-Chancellor
further said that the re-evaluation process has been
modified to streamline the system so that only genuine,
and deserving cases apply. Since no decrease of marks was
admissible and re-evaluation fee was meagre re-evaluation
had become almost an examination and results of
re-evaluation could often not be declared even full one
year later. |
Two held for snatching bag AMBALA, June 3 — With the arrest of two youths, the police claims to have solved a case pertaining to snatching of a bag of a Uttar Pradesh-based jeweller. The bag contained gold and cash. During a nakabandi at Rangiya Mandi, a team headed by ASI Fateh Singh stopped two youths travelling on a Yamaha motor cycle. The police personnel became suspicious and questioning revealed that Udaypal and Raj Babu, both residents of Ambala, had snatched the jeweller’s bag. The duo has been arrested. The police recovered gold weighing about 450 gram from the duo. A motor cycle, HR-01-A-4288 and a pistol along with three bullets were also recovered from the duo. The incident had taken
place on the night of April 30 when Saharanpur-based
jeweller, Mr Datt, was travelling on a rickshaw towards
the bus stand. The duo intercepted the rickshaw when it
reached a dark and lonely stretch of road near Rukmini
Devi Hall and snatched the bag at gun point. |
University entrance test dates HISAR, June 3 — Dr K.C. Banger, Vice-Chancellor of the Guru Jambheshwar University, today announced the dates for the entrance examinations for the forthcoming session for various technical and job-oriented courses run by the university. Dr Banger said that the entrance test for Master of Information Technology M.Sc Mass Communication and PG Diploma in Advertising and Public Relations would be held on June 25. The test for M.Tech Computer Science and Engineering would be held on June 28. The entrance examination for M.Sc Food Processing and Technology, M. Tech Environment Science and Engineering and M.Sc Environment Sciences would be held on June 29. Entrance test for M.Sc. Applied Physics and M.Sc. Applied Mathematics would be held on June 30. He further said that the entrance examination for M.Sc Industrial Chemistry and M.Sc Applied Psychology would be held on July 1. For the undergraduate course of B.Tech. Printing Technology the entrance examination would be held on July 3 and for MBE and M.Sc Bio-Technology it would be held on July 4. Dr Banger added that the prospectus containing application form was available at the university counter and the last date for submission of application forms for all the courses was June 21. The application form is
also available on university website www.gju,ernet.in. |
Cases of bank fraud solved SONEPAT, June 3 — The CIA staff today claimed to have solved as many as four cases of fraud in various banks of the city and arrested all the prime accused involved in the cases. Senior Superintendent of Police Mr K.P. Singh told mediapersons here today that the police had arrested Jaipal of Halalpur village of the district who confessed that he had withdrawn the money twice from the State Bank of India, by producing photodrafts on March 15 last year. The police, had registered the case against him on the complaint of Mr S.K. Goel, Manager of the bank. The culprit was arrested consequently on the basis of his photograph. Giving the details of another fraud case, the SSP disclosed that Jasbir opened his account in the State Bank of India, in March 1997 and affixed his photograph on the papers of the bank. He had deposited a fake bank draft of Rs 45,000 on March 11, 1997, and withdraw the amount on the same day. Referring to another
case of fraud in the bank, the Mr Singh further disclosed
that a person Mr K.P. Sharma, had withdrawn Rs 5 lakh
from the bank account No 11282 on March 11 this year with
the alleged connivance of bank cashier Baldev Narang who
has been arrested by the police. |
Five robbers arrested FARIDABAD, June 3 — The police has arrested five highway robbers who were responsible for snatching 11 motor cycles in Karnal district during the past a few months. The robbers have been identified as Ravi, Rajendra, Asghar Khan, Satish Kumar and Sanjiv Kumar. A country made pistol with cartridges, two spring knives and two iron rods were recovered from their possession. A police spokesman said here yesterday that nine motor cycles worth Rs 3.60 lakh had already been recovered at the instance of the highway robbers. Meanwhile the police has
also arrested Anand, a labourer for allegedly killing
Shiv Kumar (9) in order to take revenge from the
boy’s father for the death of his brother. |
Trader robbed of Rs 4.20 lakh JIND, June 3 — An unidentified youth snatched Rs 4.20 lakh from Mr Jaiveer, a trader of Ludana village, near the local bus stand yesterday. Mr Jaiveer had withdrawn
the cash from the local branch of the State Bank of
Patiala. As soon as he stopped near the bus stand to
purchase vegetables a motor-cycle borne youth came and
snatched a bag containing Rs 4.20 lakh from him. A case
has been registered under Section 356 of the IPC. |
Rly contractor violating
rules? PANIPAT, June 3 — The catering division of the Northern Railway seems to be at the mercy of a rail contractor working at base kitchen here. A complaint against a vendor of the same contractor for ill behaviour with a passenger was lodged with the Catering Department on February 28, for supplying of cold and sub-standard coffee at 25 per cent extra price and that too in plastic mugs, which had been banned by the railway authorities. The service provided by the alleged contractor through his vendors is sub-standard and stuff supplied is of poor quality. Although complaints have been lodged against the contractor but no action has been taken so far. Vendors are not allowed
by the Railways to move in trains having pantry cars.
Also they are restricted from entering super-fast and
express trains, but men of the aforesaid contractor move
about in such trains unchecked. |
Power, telecom lines disrupted KAITHAL, June 3 — Heavy storm in the past two days has disrupted the normal life in the different parts of the district. A number of uprooted trees have damaged the power and telecommunication lines. The high velocity wind on Thursday and Friday nights damaged 10 towers of 200 KV main power line near Harsola village, which supplies power from Panipat Thermal Power Station. The Deputy Commissioner, Dr Mahavir Singh, said the power supply to Kaithal was restored through Narwana. Mr S.K. Chawla, Xen, HVPN, said that according to preliminary estimates more than 150 electric poles had been damaged and power supply to five rural areas remained disrupted and his men are working round the clock to restore the supply. Many villages have lost
telecommunication links with the district headquarters
and hundreds of telephone remained out of order in the
town and other surrounding areas of the district. |
Forum: computer is a consumer
item SIRSA, June 3 — The District Consumer Grievances Redressal Forum has in a significant judgement accepted computer as a consumer item and not a commercial one. This was held in a judgement in which a Delhi-based computer company was penalised with a fine of Rs 5,000 by the forum for not supplying a computer irrespective of the advance deposit for it. According to information received, a local occulist, Dr O.P. Chaudhary, had lodged a complaint in December, 1997, alleging that he had deposited Rs 25,499 with PCL, Delhi, through its representative, Satyam Information, Sirsa, towards the price of a computer as advance in November, 1996. But the company failed to supply him the computer. On his complaint, the consumer forum under the chairmanship of Mr S.L. Jangra, found the company guilty under the Consumer Protection Act and imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 as compensation along with the advance money with 12 per cent interest on it till the date of payment. The company was also
instructed to pay Rs 1100 as litigation expenses. The
company had based its defence on the argument that
computer is a commercial item and hence does not come
under the preview of Consumer Protection Act. |
Concern over poor water supply ROHTAK, June 3 — The district unit of the Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) has expressed concern over the acute shortage of water and power supply in the state. The party has called for an agitation on the issue. In a statement, here
yesterday the secretary, Mr Anoop Singh, said that the
situation had gone from bad to worse in rural areas where
both human population as well cattle did not get adequate
drinking water. The condition of several water works had
become poor and needed repairs. At many places,
electrical equipment had got burnt and was not being
replaced despite reminders to officials concerned. He
said that the state government had failed to take proper
remedial measures. |
Case registered against
Principal SONEPAT, June 3 — The city police yesterday registered a case under Sections 409, 420, 467, 468 and 471, IPC, against Mr Rajinder Saroha, Principal of the local CRZ School, and started investigations into the allegations of misappropriation of school funds levelled against him. According to official
sources, teachers of the school made a series of
complaints against the principal about the
misappropriation of school funds to the Deputy Commission
who, in turn, deputed the Additional Deputy Commissioner,
Mr Ashok Yadav, to hold a thorough probe into the
allegations. The ADC found the allegations correct and
submitted his report to the DC for taking further action. |
Couple dies in accident SONEPAT, June 3 — A couple was killed when the scooter on which they were travelling, was hit by a truck near Rewli village, about 10 km from here, yesterday. According to report reaching here, the victims have been identified as Mr Ramesh Kumar and his wife, Seema. Mr Ramesh Kumar’s sister, sustained serious injuries and was hospitalised at Rohtak. The victims were returning to their home village Kohla after having a dip in the Yamuna. The police has
registered a case against the truck driver and further
investigations are in progress. |
Prisoners can become better
citizens: judge SIRSA, June 3 — "The Hindustan" of the prisoners is confined to the four walls of prison. "To provide basic amenities to them and to make them good citizens is my way of worship", said the District and Sessions Judge, Mr M.S. Sullar, while talking to The Tribune after inspecting the prison the other day. Mr Sullar said jails could be transformed into "sudhaar ghars" so that when prisoners come out they act as responsible citizens who contribute to the development of society. To enable this basic infrastructure was being provided in jails, which included yoga classes, time-bound visit by a doctor and provision of comforts like electric fans, he said. Mr Sullar said Sirsa
jail was one of the best in the state. He said a monthly
camp court was being organised in the jail premises so
that petty cases were disposed of at the earliest. Four
such courts had been held after he assumed charge in
which 59 cases were settled, he added. |
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