 |
| Friday, June 23, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
|
Posting losses instead of raising
income Move to revise Prison Act 4 vehicle thieves arrested |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Case against Dangi’s son,
nephew registered Encroachments in Sonepat removed Jail to instal video camera Abhay Chautala ends tour HVPN proposal on surcharge Power station closure MDU B. Pharmacy test on June 24
|
CM going abroad to woo
investors CHANDIGARH, June 22 — If all goes as planned by the Haryana Government, the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, will lead a high-level delegation of officers to Singapore and neighbouring countries to woo foreign investors in the middle of July. According to informed sources, the primary stated objective of Mr Chautala’s foreign visit is to attract foreign investment mainly in the fields of information technology, pre-fabrication technology for building industry and other manufacturing processes. A high-level team comprising, among others, the Commissioner of Industries, Mr P.K. Chaudhary, and the Managing Director of the Haryana State Industries Development Corporation (HSIDC), Dr Harbaksh Singh, went on a probing mission to Singapore and Malaysia for a week from June 11. The sources say the team found a strong undercurrent among foreign investors to setup their ventures in India, but they had certain misgivings. They were not sure how real liberalised industrial scenario was in the northern States of the country. The Chief Minister, the sources say, will hold a series of meetings with representatives of industry with a view to convince them about the encouraging industrial climate in Haryana, which has the geographical advantage of being adjacent to the national capital. The Finance Minister, Prof Sampat Singh, too is likely to lead a high-level delegation to the countries like the USA and U.K. for a study tour of a financial management-oriented network and also to raise funds for the State, if possible. The delegation is also likely to study the possibilities of starting on-line lottery in Haryana on the pattern of the USA. It is not known as yet if the itinerary of the two delegations will coincide. The Director of Animal Husbandry, Dr K.S. Dangi, left the country yesterday for Canada, the USA and Australia to study how the breed of the Haryana cattle can be improved. He is likely to come back on July 9. The Commissioner, Animal Husbandry, Mrs Veena Eagleton, is already abroad. The Commissioner,
Health, Mr G. Madhavan, joined his duties on June 20
after a five-week advance training in Japan. He was the
only IAS officer from India to be selected for this
course. |
Link drain to bring respite
from flooding AMBALA, June 22 — There is hope in sight for the residents of Ambala, who have to face the annual problem of flooding during monsoon. The district administration is working on a plan to have a link drain, which will ensure that flooding is checked in the Ambala Cantonment area. Talking to The Tribune, the Deputy Commissioner of Ambala, Mr Ram Niwas, said a proposal for excavation of a link drain, which would tame the Mahesh Nagar drain, was being actively considered. “Since the drain has to pass through Army area, we are coordinating with them. The Army has accepted in principle to the proposal,” he said. Mr Ram Niwas said the proposal would take shape soon. “We are hoping that before the next monsoon, the link drain from the Mahesh Nagar drain will be ready and people will not face problem in the area. The Mahesh Nagar link drain will outfall into Tangri river,” he said. The link drain was going to be built at an estimated cost of Rs 39 lakh, he said. He said there were two main drains in Ambala Cantonment — Mahesh Nagar drain and Gurguria nallah. Mahesh Nagar drain, coming from Babyal area and passing through Ambala Cantonment, falls in Tangri river. “Due to a gradient and higher bed level of Tangri river, for the link canal we are going to provide a pump house, which will pump out the water,” he said. The Deputy Commissioner observed that during 1999, the Tangri river was in spate, due to which the Mahesh Nagar drain was ineffective and the Ambala Cantonment area was affected. “We are trying to ensure that such a scenario is not repeated and the link drain will be extremely beneficial,” he said. Regarding Gurguria nallah, Mr Ram Niwas said for the first time, a major desilting work was being undertaken. “There are four agencies involved in the effort. The agencies are the Cantonment Board, the Municipal Council, the Railways and the Drainage Department. The work has been on for the past four months and before the monsoons, the work will be finished,” he said. He pointed out that the Naggal area was also flood-prone and to tackle the problem, an SYL parallel drain was going to be the solution, which would also have an outfall in Tangri river. “Ambala is on the threshold of the Shivalik ranges, which are classified as young mountains. Out of the two subdivisions in Ambala, Naraingarh has got hilly terrain. Besides, there are three major river systems passing through Ambala, including Markanda, Tangri and Ghaggar, with each one having several tributaries like Begna, Omla, Roon etc,” he said. Mr Ram Niwas said, “The problem of floods in the district occurs whenever there is rain in Himachal Pradesh or in the catchment area of these rivers or rivulets. The contours of the district are such that it causes the water to flow out because of the slopes. So there is problem more of flash floods than of water logging.” In the Ambala subdivision, the problem of flood is due to flow of water from the hills with a high speed, causing considerable damage to the embankments in Ambala tehsil. This flood carries heavy silt load which is deposited in the river and the Jansui area, causing the river bed to rise every year. “Due to rising trend of the Tangri river bed, the drainage of the Naggal area is affected every year, resulting in the flood water accumulating in the whole area, when Tangri is in spate. In addition, there is another cause for flood in Naggal area due to water coming from the SYL canal in the Punjab portion from the breach site, which is just 300 feet upstream from the Punjab-Haryana border,” Mr Ram Niwas said. During 1999, large parts of Ambala were affected due to heavy rainfall. Ambala Cantonment and Ambala City area is sandwiched between two rivers — Tangri in the east and Ghaggar in the west. The drainage system of Ambala Cantonment and Ambala City depends upon the flood in these rivers during the monsoons. In 1978, there were
heavy floods, causing considerable damage to life and
property. In 1988, there were floods, but of less
magnitude. In 1991, the rainfall was below normal and
there no was major flood, except in some scattered
pockets in the years 1993 and 1994. In 1995, the damage
due to floods and heavy rains was comparatively more than
the previous floods of 1978 and 1988 in Ambala. |
Posting losses instead of
raising income HISAR, June 22 — Set up primarily to raise farmers’ income, the CCS Haryana Agricultural University here has been posting heavy losses from its own farming operations for the past five years. The university farm has accumulated losses to the tune of Rs 3.65 crore during the past five years, with the 1999-2000 fiscal year alone recording a loss of Rs 1.86 crore, it is learnt. The university farm has about 2,500 acres. To this, it will shortly add another 4,000 acres, which the Bansi Lal government had allotted to it two years ago. This area is being cleared of the forest cover and the kharif crop is likely to be sown in a nominal area in the coming months, according to the Vice-Chancellor, Mr Vinay Kumar. Figures available with The Tribune show that in 1993-94 and 1994-95 financial years the farm had earned profits of Rs 27 lakh and Rs 42 lakh, respectively. The farm’s income stood at Rs 1.46 crore in 1993-94 against an expenditure of Rs 1.19 crore. The next year the income rose to Rs 1.99 crore, while expenses went up by 38 lakh to Rs 1.57 crore. However, the slide began in 1995-96 when the farm posted a loss of Rs 17 lakh. That year, while its income fell sharply by Rs 30 lakh to Rs 1.69 crore, the expenses went up by Rs 29 lakh to Rs 1.86 crore. Since then, the farm’s losses have been rising steadily from Rs 25 lakh in 1996-97 to Rs 89 lakh in 1998-99. The figures reveal a sad story. Until 1993-94 the university was spending more on actual farming than on salaries — Rs 55 lakh on salaries and Rs 64 lakh on farming. However, the trend was reversed the following year. In 1994-95 the salary bill went up to Rs 88 lakh, an increase of Rs 33 lakh over the last year. However, actual farming operations accounted for only Rs 68 lakh. The next year (1995-96) there was an increase of Rs 19 lakh over last year’s figure for expenses on farming. However, salaries again accounted for Rs 98 lakh. In 1996-97 the amount spent on actual farming fell sharply to Rs 68 lakh but the farm’s salary will went up by Rs 16 lakh to Rs 1.14 crore. The next year both the salary bill and the farming expenses recorded an increase of Rs 7 lakh each. By 1997-98 salaries accounted for 61 per cent of the expenses. This figure went up to 70 per cent following the revision of pay scales, last year, though the exact figures for 1998-99 and 1999-2000 were not known. Farm officials give the excuse that the farm is primarily a research farm and not a commercial farm. They say a large area is earmarked for students’ fields and demonstration-cum-research fields. They also claim that the farm produces seed rather than commercial crops. However, they fail to explain why a once profit-making farm should accumulate such huge losses. The plea that it is a research farm too does not hold good because the funds for the research come mainly from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the proceeds from the crop are given to the farm. Even the Vice-Chancellor, who has been with the university in various capacities for close to 25 years, does not agree with these excuses. Talking to The Tribune here today he said the same excuses had been put before him at a recent meeting he had with the farm officials. He pointed out that the seeds were being sold at much higher rates and even after making adjustments for farming by students the farm should be earning profits. Although it is apparent that the farm is making losses primarily because of the unusually heavy salary bill, "inquiries reveal that there are other factors too. It is learnt that though the area under cultivation has come down due to water-logging, the number of employees has not been reduced accordingly. The expensive to operate farm machinery too has not been disposed of. Besides, a hefty amount is spent on security in spite of which the farm produce is pilfered, sources said. The VC said he had told the farm officials to prepare an action plan for reducing losses in time and making the farm profitable. He said the services of the existing employees would be utilised for work on the new farm of 4000 acres, which would boost the farm income. He said he was planning a number of steps to reduce losses. Explaining the huge loss
of Rs 1.86 crore suffered in the last financial year, he
said it was because arrears on account of pay revision
had been paid to the staff. |
Move to revise Prison Act ROHTAK, June 22 — The Union Home Ministry is contemplating on revising the outdated Prison Act and Jail Manual for states. This was stated by the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Mr I.D. Swami, during an interview with this correspondent last evening. Mr Swami, bureaucrat-turned-politician and MP from Karnal, said several provisions of the Act were not applicable under the present circumstances. Therefore, the Home Ministry was keen to prepare a model prison act and modify the Jail Manual. Expressing determination on issuing a White Paper on terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, he said he could not specify a time frame for it. He said the government had started preparations for rehabilitation of thousands of refugees who had been living in areas of Jammu and Kashmir adjacent to Pakistan for the past five decades. Pieces of land have been distributed among refugees in other states while those in Jammu and Kashmir are still to get such a facility. Mr Swami said a
high-power committee had recently been constituted by the
Language Department in the Home Ministry for the spread
of Hindi language. He said along with language experts,
delegates from industries and experts in different
scientific subjects had also been included in the
committee this time. Working under the chairmanship of
the Prime Minister, the committee could not be
constituted after 1993. |
4 vehicle thieves arrested KAITHAL, June 22 — The district police arrested four members of an international gang of vehicle thieves, along with a stolen Commander jeep from here, from the Nepal border yesterday. Giving this information to mediapersons here today, the Superintendent of Police, Mr Prabhat Ranjan Deo, said while four members of the gang had been arrested, the kingpin of the gang, Nahim of Meerut, now settled in Delhi, was still at large. Disclosing the modus operandi of the gang, the SP said the members of the gang used to hire jeeps from different parts of Haryana, for Delhi and Hardwar. They would stay in hotels and mix intoxicants in the food or drinks served to the driver and then fled along with the stolen vehicles to Nepal. They used to sell the vehicles there. In the latest incident, the SP said, five members of the gang hired a Commander jeep on June 15 from the Kaithal taxi stand for Delhi. They stayed at a hotel in Paharganj and mixed intoxicants into the food served to the driver. Leaving him unconscious they left for Nepal in the night. The personnel at Banbasa police post in Champawat district on the Indian side of the Indo-Nepal border got suspicious while checking the papers of the vehicle. They detained the occupants of the vehicle and informed the police here. A team headed by Sub-Inspector Banwari Lal of the CIA staff here left for the Nepal border and arrested four members of the gang, including Rai Sahib of Pillukhera, Rajesh of Bila village, Jai Bhagwan of Ghrolli and Satish of Bhusana from Jind district and brought them here. The kingpin of the gang, Nahim, had instructed his accomplices to reach a particular destination in Nepal to dispose the stolen vehicle, but as he did not accompany the members of his gang, he could not be arrested, the SP added. Rai Sahib told mediapersons that earlier he used to cheat the public by promising to double their money. He said the gang used to target only new Commander jeeps as they could find ready customers for these. The gang members also
admitted they had stolen jeeps from Jind, Safidon,
Bhiwani, Kaithal and other towns. |
Jail to instal video camera JIND, June 22 — The Haryana Police will install a video camera in the District Jail here to know the identity of persons visiting inmates of the jail. Stating this here yesterday Mr Rajpal Singh, SP, said this decision was taken to check criminal activities in and around the jail. He said there had been criminal activities in the jail as the hardcore criminals lodged there were abetting crimes in connivance with the outside criminals and jail officials. He said R.K. Yadav, Deputy Superintendent of jail, and Sat Pal, a warden, were recently arrested for helping criminals. He said 26 criminals had been shifted from this jail to other jails. The SP. said criminals
visited the jail frequently and met criminals with the
help of officials. |
Abhay Chautala ends tour SIRSA, June 22 — The five-day long thanksgiving tour of the recently elected MLA from Rori and the younger son of the Haryana Chief Minister, Abhay Chautala, concluded yesterday. The INLD leader during his tour of the villages of the constituency cautioned the villagers to be vigilant against the use of substandard material in the development projects. He repeated his pledge to ensure development of the constituency. He addressed several
gatherings and spoke to villagers in a style similar to
that of Mr Devi Lal, his grandfather and a former Deputy
Prime Minister, to establish a personal rapport with
them. He also appreciated the unity of the farmers. |
HVPN proposal on surcharge CHANDIGARH, June 22 — While domestic and other categories of consumers will have to pay additional 13 paise and 21 paise per unit, the agriculture sector will be asked to pay only 3 paise per unit additional. This increase has been proposed by the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (HVPN) as fuel surcharge in its application filed before the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission. The HVPN has proposed to levy fuel surcharge at the rate of 5.28 per cent of the existing tariff for various categories of consumers. The Regulatory
Commission has sought comments from the public on the
HVPN’s application before June 30 next. |
Power station closure CHANDIGARH, June 22 —The second 143 MW unit of Faridabad gas-based power station, which contributes about 30 lakh units of electricity per day to the state grid, would remain closed on June 24 and June 25, causing some shortfall in daily power availability in the state. A spokesman for the
Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (HVPN) said today that the
shut down on its unit was allowed for carrying out the
performance guarantee test by the BHEL engineers under a
contractual obligation. This would improve the overall
performance of the plant. |
Case against Dangi’s
son, nephew registered ROHTAK, June 22 — The police has registered a case against the son and a nephew of a former Haryana minister and Congress leader, Mr Anand Singh Dangi, in connection with the alleged "fraud" committed in the examination roll number slip of Maharshi Dayanand University. According to police sources, a case has been registered against Balram and Dharam Raj, son and nephew of Mr Dangi, respectively. Both are students of third year of LLB. It is reported that the
accused had committed some irregularity in the roll
number slip issued by the university. However, Mrs Sona
Devi, wife of Mr Dangi, claimed that the case was
politically motivated. |
Encroachments in Sonepat removed SONEPAT, June 22 — The anti-encroachment campaign launched jointly by the Sonepat Municipal Council, the PWD (B&R) and the market committee took a new turn when a party of officials headed by Mr Sultan Singh, SDO (C), with the help of the police, took action against the owner of seven shops in the Subzi Mandi here yesterday. According to official sources, a group of masons was pressed into service and the officials succeeded in raising a wall in front of these shops, who built illegally by the owner. The owner of the shops reportedly resisted the move of the authorities, was pushed back after being warned. The officials then
reached the area of Ashok Nagar for the removal of encroachments made by shopkeeper on municipal land. The
shopkeepers promised to remove their unauthorised
structures voluntarily. |
MDU B. Pharmacy test on June
24 ROHTAK, June 22 — Maharshi Dayanand University will hold the joint-entrance examination for admission to Bachelor of Pharmacy course in the universities and institutions in the state on June 24. The entrance test will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and the university has established four centres the Faculty of Law and University College. Admit cards and roll
numbers to all eligible candidates have been despatched. |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 120 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
