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| Wednesday, June 21, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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CM’s clarification pips
minister at post Suggestions on speed post, Net
given Advocate-General issued notice |
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Cong protests against
govt failure Dental unit inaugurated Healthy station project launched Pickpockets’ gang busted SUCI stages demonstration Demand for shadow cabinet opposed Krishak Samaj reconstituted Proclaimed offender arrested Recruitment camp from July 4 Fake currency unit unearthed
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CM’s clarification pips
minister at post GURGAON, June 20 — The Haryana Chief Minister Mr Om Prakash Chautala’s, timely clarification thwarted moves by of a Cabinet colleague to use his name to mobilise support of stone crusher owners in his favour for the purpose of facilitating the supply of building materials worth Rs 100 crore for the ongoing construction works on the Metro railway in Delhi. The minister had recently convened a meeting of the owners of stone crushers from Gurgaon and Faridabad at Surajkund. One of the owners, who attended the meeting said the minister had convened the meeting to drill into the participants the wisdom of handing over the operations of their stone crushers to him. In lieu of it the minister had promised a payment of Rs 2.5 lakh per head each month. The minister, who is said to have powerful connections, allegedly wanted to supply building material for the construction works for Delhi’s Metro railway. He wanted to ensure that the logistics and infrastructure facilities were in place so that the entire operation was consummated without any glitch. The minister is said to have given broad indications at the meeting that Mr Chautala was also favoured his proposal. The participants, on cropping of the name of the Chief Minister, chose to remain silent and did not make any commitment to him. However, after the event some of the owners probed the veracity and bona fides of the statement and the proposal of the minister. To their surprise the Chief Minister was in no way involved in the move. The minister convened yet another meeting of the owners of stone crushers. This time few participants turned up and the move to form a sort of syndicate fizzled out. Incidentally, this same minister was also a member of the Bansi Lal Cabinet in the HVP-BJP government. He had played a pivotal role in splitting the HVP leading to the fall of the Bansi Lal government. The entrepreneurial skills of the minister has other shades too. Recently, he promised a doctor, Mrs Salila Tewari, related with naturopathy cure and yoga to donate her more than 4 acres for setting up a charitable hospital in Faridabad. He allegedly sold her a piece of land measuring more than 4 acres effecting bogus registry in her name. He charged about Rs 22 lakh from the doctor. After the registry he allegedly effected the possession of the land at Mewla Maharajpur, whose actual owner was the Municipal Corporation, Faridabad. The doctor, a resident of Delhi, got boundary walls constructed on the land thinking that she was the real owner. To her surprise she found that she was duped after the corporation took offence at the illegal possession of its land. She later found out that the land, which was registered in her name, had been sold several times over to different persons. The doctor, who had foregone the option to start a hospital in the USA, met the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, and submitted a memorandum to Mr Chautala alleging the misdeeds of his minister. Mr Vajpayee is
understood to have intervened on her behalf. At the
instance of Mr Chautala the amount she had given to the
minister was returned to her. |
Suggestions on speed post, Net given
AMBALA, June 20 — The state Senior Vice-President of the Haryana Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dr N. C. Jain and President, Rotary Club of Ambala, Mr Subhash Bansal, today presented points for discussion before the Parliamentary Committee attached to the Ministry of Communications. Several points, including EMS speed post, normal services being extended by the department, payment of telephone bills, saving schemes, telecom services and internet services were raised by them, a press note said. On EMS speed post, they pointed out that it is a laudable step by the government, "but the purpose of introducing the speed post is getting defeated because the department is still much behind the private courier services which are grabbing the larger market share because of their efficiency and updating." "It has been found that usually the staff working at small sub post offices do not have full information about the speed post. Many times they refuse the booking of speed post because of the extra work they may have to do. We suggest that the full information must be displayed on a notice board at every booking counter," the note said. The insured articles are not being delivered by postmen at the customer's premises. The customers are often asked to collect the article from the post office, which is very inconvenient. These articles fetch more revenue to the department and they must be delivered by the department at the customer's place, Dr Jain stated. The post offices are not accepting telephone bills more than Rs 2,000 in cash. They insist upon the payment being made by cheque. If a customer wants to make payment in cash, the department should not have any problem in accepting the payment in cash. Moreover, the department will save the money spent as collection charges, he said. "The internet
subscriber is doubly penalised, once he pays the internet
connection charges and afterwards he is to pay for the
local calls to access to internet connection. |
Advocate-General issued notice CHANDIGARH, June 20 — Issuing notice to the Haryana Advocate-General for August 25 on an application for anticipatory bail moved by long-standing rival of Chief Minister O.P. Chautala’s family — Om Parkash Hitler — in an alleged murder case, Mr Justice V.K. Bali of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today directed that the petitioner, if arrested, "shall be admitted to bail to the satisfaction of the arresting office". In his petition, Om Parkash Hitler of Chautala village in Sirsa district had earlier alleged that Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code was added in 1999 to an FIR registered in 1995 under Section 304-A of the IPC after Madan Lal, father of deceased Ajit Ram, was persuaded to make a statement "under political pressure". Madan Lal, the petitioner had claimed, had added in his statement the names of Dulli Chand and Bhajan Lal as witnesses even though no reason for a delay of four years and nine months was given. The two witnesses, he had further added, were "using the opportunity to settle scores" as Dulli Chand belonged to "rival political faction", while his father had deposed against Bhajan Lal in a case in 1961-62. Going into the background, the petitioner had stated that the police, after investigating the case, had "sent for the cancellation". The same, he had added, was cancelled by the Dabwali Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate in February 1996. Today, pronouncing the orders in the open court, Mr. Justice Bali directed the petitioner against leaving the country "without prior permission of the court", besides asking him to surrender his passport, if any, before a Judicial Magistrate. Mr Justice Bali also
directed that the petitioner "shall not tamper with
the evidence and shall not give threat, promise or
inducement to any of the witnesses". |
Cong protests against govt
failure ROHTAK, June 20 — Led by the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC), chief Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Congress activists staged a demonstration here today against the alleged ‘failure’ of Chautala government on various fronts. The party through a memorandum warned to intensify the agitation, if the state government failed to fulfil its demands. The demonstration was part of the statewide campaign launched by Congress in the first week of June. The last and state-level demonstration is proposed to be held at Jhajjar on July 3. The party workers and leaders assembled at Durga Bhavan and held a procession raising anti-government slogans. The procession ended at mini secretariat where Mr Hooda submitted the memorandum, addressed to the Governor, to the Deputy Commissioner. Mr Shadi Lal Batra, MLA, Rohtak town, Mr Raghbir Singh Kadian, MLA, from the Beri Assembly segment, Ms Kartar Devi, ex-minister and Prof Virender Singh, district president (rural) of the Congress were among those who took part in the demonstration. The memorandum demanded
the withdrawal of new taxes, issuing of a ‘white
paper’ on the collection of donations for Kargil
martyrs. It asked the government to give a relief of Rs
10 lakh each to jawan ‘killed’ in Kashmir or in
other parts of the country. The party expressed concern
over the hiking of sales tax on various products and hike
in bus fares in the state. It said while the state
government was ‘busy’ ‘hiking’
various charges and taxes, the authorities were
‘silent’ over indefinite stalling of various
development works, including the construction of roads
and provision of basic amenities like drinking water,
sewerage and proper supply of power. |
Dental unit inaugurated RAMGARH, June 20 — The two-day medical conference organised by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force (ITBP) concluded here today. A dental unit was also inaugurated by Dr R.N. Samantray, Director, Medical, ITBP, on the occasion. With the opening of the unit, the men and families of the force would benefit, in the absence of which they had to go to Kotbilla or the PGI in Chandigarh. The base hospital offers facilities like radiology, X-ray, ultrasound, TMT and ECG. Dr P.K. Goel, anaesthist of the base hospital, Delhi, delivered lecture on Asthma and anesthesia: current trend. Besides this, various clinical cases and administrative matters were discussed in this conference. Mr Gautam Kaul, DG, ITBP, emphasised that such conferences should be held regularly. He also lauded the maiden effort of the base hospital for bringing out a medical journal. He also stressed that
each member of the force should be immunised for
hepatitis and typhoid, funds for which would be provided
by the HQs. The conference ended with a vote of thanks by
Mr M. S. Bhurji, Commandant, 9 Battalion,
ITBP. |
Healthy station project launched
AMBALA, June 20 — To ensure that the railway station here is kept clean through awareness generated among people regarding civic consciousness, "Ambala healthy station project" was launched here today. Among others, the Divisional Railway Manager, Mr Vijay Kumar, the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Ram Niwas, and the Additional Divisional Railway Manager, Mr Ashwini Kapoor, were present. The project is being jointly undertaken by the Healthy City Foundation of India and the Ambala Division of Northern Railways and Bharat Scouts and Guides. Dr Pravin Singh, Divisional Personnel Manager, said that there was the need to undertake the project so that awareness regarding cleanliness and good health could be generated. "Our effort is to ensure that people become aware of their surroundings and how to maintain it cleanly. We also want that people should not buy recycled mineral water which is harmful for health," she said. She said that the campaign activities included walking and biking popularisation programme, crush used mineral water bottles campaign, AIDS awareness exhibition, usage of waste bins, poster competition and danger of using plastic bags campaign. The Healty City Foundation of India representative, Dr Jag Rawat, said the Indian railways moved over one million people every day. Each day thousands of passengers pass through Ambala railway station. "The HCFI and the Ambala Division of Northern Railway have taken the inititative of using this unique position to highlight some potential problems of travelling and living in the railway station and city environment," he said. Dr Rawat stated that from today together with the support and involvement of the Bharat Scouts and Guides, ''we have organised the healthy living spaces campaign", a week of demonstration education and activity based around Ambala station itself and the adjoining railway colony. "The HCFI has identified a number of harmful practices which passengers and other users do occasionally engage in while using the railway spaces," he said. He said that currently Dr Navjyot Chinna from Oxford University was participating in the programmes of the HCFI being organised in Haryana. Mr Ram Niwas said that
there was the need to make people conscious about health
and hygiene. "We have been educating people which is
an ongoing process. Besides, we hold programmes on
regular basis through which we tell people about the ways
to avoid disease," he said. |
Pickpockets’ gang busted KAITHAL, June 20 — The district police arrested four members of an inter-state gang of pickpockets here yesterday. With the arrest of these culprits, many cases of pickpocketing and stealing of cash by them from bags of passengers, travelling in buses, have been solved. Giving this information to mediapersons here today, the Superintendent of Police, Mr Prabhat Ranjan Dass said these gang members, Dliara, son of Kabula Ram, and Raj Kumar, son of Amar Singh, both residents of Panipat district, Mangal, son of Baljinder, and Pala, son of Ajaib Singh of Neorta village near Indri in Karnal, were arrested from the bus stand and Pehowa chowk, respectively. These culprits in the age group of 20-25 were looking out for a prospective victim when they were arrested by a leam of the CIA staff. The SP said these criminals had confessed during interrogation that they used to target their victims at bus stands, railway stations, melas and other congested places and used to pick their pockets or remove cash from the bags of passengers travelling in buses. Giving further details,
he said members of the gang had confessed that they
operated in groups of two. While one would pick the
pocket of a victim, the other would obstruct his
movement, so that he could not react immediately. |
SUCI stages demonstration ROHTAK, June 20 — Supporters of the Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) staged a demonstration here yesterday in protest against poor supply of potable water and improper sanitation facilities in several residential colonies in the town. The protesters staged a dharna outside the office of the Deputy Commissioner and submitted a memorandum regarding the problems. They claimed that while there had been acute shortage of drinking water in about one-fourth of the total colonies, a majority of these had no sewerage system and cleanliness. Some of these had got open manholes or stagnant water causing breeding of mosquitoes. These had no system of disposal of garbage and as a result it was thrown on the roads passing through them. The district unit of the
Congress Party had also organised a ‘break
pitchers’ programme on Saturday last in protest
against short supply of drinking water in several
colonies. |
Demand for shadow cabinet
opposed SONEPAT, June 20 — The President of the Haryana Pradesh Janata Dal (U), Mr Ved Parkash Vidrohi, today opposed the demand made by a former Chief Minister and the Opposition leader of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, Mr Bhajan Lal, for providing a secretariat for his shadow cabinet. He described it as an unjustified demand and said if it was accepted, it would put an additional burden on the state exchequer. In a press statement issued here, he claimed that the Congress had already lost ground in the state and the poor response to its state-level rally on June 5 was a clear indication that the people had lost faith in the Congress. Mr Vidrohi also called upon the Opposition parties to work for the welfare of the people of the state. The Janata Dal leader
alleged that Mr Om Prakash Chautala had backed out his
promise to supply free power and water to the farmers of
the state. |
Krishak Samaj reconstituted CHANDIGARH, June 20 — The President of the Haryana Krishak Samaj, Mr Shamsher Singh Surjewala, has reconstituted the state unit. Mr Tejinder Pal Singh Mann and Dr Kirpa Ram Punia, both former Haryana ministers, have been appointed Vice-Presidents of the organisation. Mr Nirmal Singh (Ambala), Prof Chattar Pal (Hisar), Dr Dharam Vir Yadav (Gurgaon) and Mr Satpal Kaushik (Yamunanagar) will be the new General Secretaries of the Samaj. While Mr R.D. Goyal of Kurukshetra will be the Treasurer, Prof S.P. Malik of Sonepat has been appointed Organising Secretary. Mr Surjewala said here
today that the other office-bearers of the state and
district units would be appointed soon. |
Proclaimed offender arrested BHIWANI, June 20 — The Superintendent of Police Dr Suman Manjari, while addressing a press conference told news persons that Jitender, who was involved in many murders, was arrested along with some other persons in a scuffle with the police. He was shot in the shoulder. The Police has recovered bullets, cartridges and other ammunition. During the initial inquiry he has confessed that he had committed crimes. Dr Manjari stated that
five murder cases had been lodged against him in Haryana
and Rajasthan. Twentytwo other criminal cases had been
registered against him. |
Recruitment camp from July 4 ROHTAK, June 20 — A recruitment camp for defence forces will be held from July 4 to 7 at the Chhotu Ram stadium here for those residing in Rohtak, Jhajjar, Panipat and Sonepat districts. According to the
recruiting officer, Col Hardip Singh, selection of youths
of Jhajjar district will be held on July 4 while for
those belonging to Rohtak, will be held on July 5. He
said July 6 had been fixed for the selection of
candidates from Panipat and Sonepat districts. |
Fake currency unit unearthed FARIDABAD, June 20 — The police today unearthed a factory engaged in manufacturing fake currency notes after arresting three persons in the Palwal subdivision. They are: Parusram, Harbir and Sher Singh. Fake currency notes of Rs 100 denomination worth Rs 19,000 were seized from their possession. Equipment for printing fake currency and notes worth Rs 10,000 was also seized from the factory. A police spokesman said
Parusram was a computer engineer and Sher Singh was a
medical practitioner. The factory was being run in a
rented house in Ballabhgarh. |
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