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| Monday, July 10, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Haryana
not to reintroduce octroi Step on house tax blow to
municipalities DAV colleges above the law?
Criminal case filed against IYC
chief House demolition: Bhadana promises
compensation |
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Petro-chemical complex
for Panipat Roadways staff block highway
Ex-Finance Minister’s son
held for graft Licences of 19 depots cancelled Girls fare better than boys in
middle exam Haryana allocates 15 cr for
disabled Realising power bills, Haryana way Cops get a taste of their own
medicine 3 vehicle thieves arrested Multipurpose hall to come up at
Ambala 10 injured in two mishaps
|
Haryana not to reintroduce
octroi FATEHABAD, July 9 — The Haryana government has no immediate plans to re-introduce octroi in the state. This was stated by Haryana Finance Minister Sampat Singh while talking to reporters here today. Mr Sampat Singh said that at a meeting of the presidents and vice-presidents of the Municipal Committees in Haryana called by Chief Minister Om Parkash Chautala, most of the elected representatives of the committees had requested the Chief Minister to re-introduce octroi as fiscal health of the Municipal Committees had worsened after the abolition of the octroi. But the Chief Minister had told them that he would go by the people’s wish only. The Chief Minister, he said, had asked the presidents and vice-presidents of the Municipal Committees to ascertain the opinion of the people in this regard but he had not committed to re-introduce octroi in the state even if the Municipal Committees passed resolutions requesting the government to re-introduce the octroi which was earlier abolished by the state government. To a question regarding the introduction of Trade Tax in Haryana which had attracted criticism from the traders, the Finance Minister said that for the proper development of the state, the government had to generate resources. He, however, said that a deputation of traders had met Chief Minister Om Parkash Chautala in this regard and submitted a resolution. He said that the government would look into the matter but at the same time added that the government had to improve its fiscal health which was left in bad shape by the previous government. On the deteriorating power situation in the state, Minister said that the current crisis was due to some snags in the Faridabad and Panipat power plants. But on the whole he said that failure of rains had also added to the power crisis. Though the power production this year has increased in comparison with the last year, but as the demand is more than supply and the load was much more than the actual capacity, the people had to face power crisis. Mr Sampat Singh said
that the Haryana government had requested the Centre to
confer the powers of Supreme Court judges on the
Inter-State Water Dispute Tribunals, as it would avoid
unnecessary delays in the implementations of the awards
of the tribunals. The minister who represented the Chief
Minister at a meeting of the Water Resources Council
chaired by the Prime Minister on Friday, said the state
government had appreciated the National Water Policy
revised draft, but at the same time had given some
suggestions to the Centre in this regard. The state
government, he said had suggested that the Inter Water
Dispute Tribunals should be asked to give their awards
within a time-frame of three years and its award should
be implemented within a period of two years. The
government, he said had also requested the Centre to take
the construction work of the SYL in its own hands and
ensure its completion. The state government has also
asked the Centre to nationalise all rivers in the country
and distribution of power from the hydel projects should
also be on the same lines on which water was distributed. |
Step on house tax blow to
municipalities CHANDIGARH, July 9 — The Haryana Government’s decision to put its new house tax policy on hold has come as a blow to the state’s municipal committees. The urban local bodies are already experiencing a massive fund crunch due to the Om Prakash Chautala-led government’s step to abolish octroi. Highly placed sources said the abolition had led to an annual loss of Rs 80 crore to the civic bodies. The sources said all 53 urban local bodies in Haryana, except the Faridabad Nagar Nigam, were facing severe financial problems. The new house tax policy, which caused popular resentment in urban areas, fuelled suitably by the ruling INLD’s political rivals, could have partially improved the financial health of the civic bodies, the sources said. Soon after the scrapping of octroi, the government had also abolished 29 municipal committees, saying these were not financially viable. However, the remaining committees are also apparently in no better condition as the salaries of the personnel and the establishment charges are being met by grants received from the state government. While the government decided at a meeting yesterday that the existing system of house tax assessment would remain in force for this year, the sources said the annual collections from the present system came to about Rs 20 crore. The other sources of income of the municipal committees were, collections from the recently introduced motor vehicle tax, sanitation tax and the registration fee for property, which was enhanced from 3 per cent to 4 per cent by the INLD government. But the collections from all these do not amount to the Rs 120 crore annual requirement of the urban local bodies on account of the staff’s salaries and establishment charges, making them dependent on government support. The local area development tax, which the government maintained would be spent on the development of town areas, would go to the kitty of the Excise and Taxation Department and the urban local bodies would have nothing to do with it. The government was also yet to give the staff of municipal committees the fifth pay commission scales, which could not be held up for a long time in view of a court directive in this regard. Moreover, the urban local bodies would also like to have some additional funds for carrying out development work. The sources said the new house tax policy, under which residents had been asked to fill a proforma relating to self-assessment, would have rationalised the tax structure and plugged the loopholes in the collection procedures. The sources also indicated that although a committee had been constituted to go through the new house tax policy, the resistance shown to the policy might force the government to reintroduce octroi. At a recent meeting Chief Minister Chautala had told the representatives of municipal committees to ask their voters if they wanted the reimposition of octroi, and if the response was in the affirmative, they should pass a resolution to this effect. The sources said the
fire-fighting tax was also in the pipeline for
introduction by the Urban Local Bodies Department, but
the popular resistance to the house tax policy had made
the department hesitant about going ahead with its plan.
The urban local bodies also had some other plans, such as
the building of commercial complexes, to fill their
coffers, but these were yet to take concrete shape. |
DAV colleges above the law? HISAR, July 9 — Who is the governing authority of the 13 DAV colleges in Haryana? This has become the $ 64-billion question as the Delhi-based DAV Managing Committee continues to control these colleges despite the existence of separate statutory governing bodies for each of these colleges. While the question continues to be debated at different levels, the 1500-odd employees of the colleges, including about 400 teachers, are caught between the devil and the deep sea. The DAV Managing Committee, New Delhi, periodically transfers many of them. But they are denied their seniority each time they are transferred as the state government and the universities to which they are affiliated treat such transfers as fresh appointments on the ground that these colleges have separate, legally constituted, statutory governing bodies and no common cadre of employees as in the case of government colleges. The DAV College Managing Committee takes shelter behind a dubious 1996 amendment to Section 2 (e) of the Haryana Affiliated Colleges Security of Service Act. Through this amendment the definition of a managing committee (also called governing body) of an affiliated college was redefined to the effect that "managing committee means managing committee of an affiliated college or colleges." The DAV Colleges Managing Committee interpreted this minor change from the singular ‘college’ to its plural form ‘colleges’ as enough to usurp powers of the statutory governing bodies of each of the colleges. The committee, however, the only body which is controlling multiple institutions in the state. Similar societies running multiple institutions in Haryana have separate statutory governing bodies for each institution as legally desired under the statutes of different universities to which the institutions concerned are affiliated. These include the Jat Education Societies of Hisar and Rohtak, Vaish Education Society, Rohtak, Hindu Education Society, Sonepat, Gaur Brahmin Education Society, Rohtak and the S.D. Education Society, Ambala. Interestingly, even the Punjab and Haryana High Court had ruled last year (Ram Kishan Gupta vs MDU, Rohtak) that every affiliated Institution must have a legally constituted statutory governing body as defined in the calendar of the university concerned. The judgement was delivered three years after the amendment to the Act. The committee in a written statement submitted to the Punjab and Haryana High Court in CWP No. 3667 of 1998 (Hari Singh Saini vs State of Haryana and others) maintained that "DAV management manages the affairs of the Trust and Society and is distinct from the governing body of each DAV College constituted vide clause 6 of Kurukshetra University Calendar Vol. 1, 1997. The Haryana Government continues to be similarly ambiguous. It treats the transfers of employees from one DAV College to another as illegal as it denies benefit of seniority to the affected employees, but at the same time it also continues to pay grant-in-aid to these colleges and accords approval to the appointments made by the DAV College Managing Committee. As far back as 1992 the government had stated in the High Court (CWP No. 5851 of 1992, S.K. Singhal vs State of Haryana and others) that each DAV college is separate and is governed by its own separate governing body which is the appointing authority of its staff. Surprisingly it then went on to state that DAV College Managing Committee, which was an all-India body, would be competent to order transfers it there was a common seniority list which was not the case in so far as DAV colleges were concerned. It argued that this ground the petitioner was denied benefit of senior scale since he was deemed not to have put in 16 years of continuous service by virtue of his transfers to three DAV colleges in as many years. Not only that the state’s universities as well as the government it self continue to nominate their representatives to the separate statutory governing bodies of all these colleges. This legal position was reaffirmed by the Director of Higher Education, Haryana and the Executive Council of Kurukshetra University in separate communications last year. Neither the universities nor the government have initiated any action against the DAV Managing Committee for violating the rules governing affiliation. Interestingly, of the 13 DAV Colleges in Haryana, nine are affiliated to Kurukshetra University. Two colleges of education are separate entities in themselves as per rules and two colleges are affiliated to Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak. Thus all 13 are governed by the rules and statutes of the universities under which their governing bodies function. No such nominations have been made to the DAV College Managing Committee, New Delhi which is only an executive body of the non-statutory DAV Colleges Management and Trust. As per ordinance XVI (Appendix 1) of Kurukshetra University Calendar, Vol. 1, 1997, every college before applying for affiliation has to satisfy the executive council that "it has a regularly constituted governing body". The constitution of the governing body is defined in detail in the calendar which limits its term to three years and the number of its members as not less than 11 and not more than 21. The same statues describe this governing body as the appointing authority and the punishing authority of its employees. It also has been given the powers to write or review the ACRs. Its functions too are defined in detail therein. There is no mention in the university statutes that the DAV College Managing Committee, New Delhi is the governing body of its affiliated colleges since there is no such provision. However, the universities have failed to initiate action against the colleges claiming to be governed by the DAV Colleges Managing Committee, New Delhi. As per statutes the
universities can disaffiliate these colleges and the
government can withhold grant-in-aid which is to the
extent of 95 per cent of the deficit. |
Criminal case filed against IYC
chief CHANDIGARH, July 9 — The Narwana police today registered a criminal case against Mr Randeep Singh Surjewala, president of the Indian Youth Congress and former Congress MLA from Narwana, for allegedly assaulting a liquor contractor and taking away cases of liquor from his shop. Meanwhile, Mr Nitin Sharma, permanent secretary of the IYC, issued a press statement saying that Mr Babu Ram, a liquor contractor who was also a protege of Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, had filed a criminal case against Mr Surjewala when he tried to prevent his employees from selling liquor in the open in front of temples in Balmiki Saini Mohalla in Narwana city. The IYC statement, which was faxed to various newspaper offices in Chandigarh, said Mr Surjewala, who was in that area following complaints made by residents, including some women devotees, took away the cases of liquor and deposited these with the SHO of the Narwana city police station. The statement said Mr Surjewala also gave a written complaint to the police but the SHO refused to register any case. Subsequently, the police sought instructions from Mr Chautala and instead proceeded to register a non-bailable criminal case against Mr Surjewala, said the press release issued by Mr Sharma. Official sources in Chandigarh, meanwhile, said a liquor contractor had filed cases against Mr Surjewala and his associates under Sections 147, 149, 323, 506 and 392, IPC. He said Mr Surjewala, along with four others allegedly had gone to a liquor shop this morning and assaulted its proprietor and took away cases of liquor from the premises, following which the proprietor registered cases of assault and dacoity against the Youth Congress chief. Mr Surjewala had not been arrested yet, the sources said. The official added that Mr Chautala had nothing to do with the FIR ( no 85), which was lodged on a specific charge. The source said local residents might have given complaints about the liquor shop, but instead of taking the law into his own hands, Mr Surjewala could have approached the Excise Department. Mr Surjewala also issued
a press statement saying that the FIR lodged against him
showed Mr Chautala’s vindictive attitude towards his
political opponents and his patronage to the liquor
mafia. He said if the land and liquor mafia desecrated
religious places, the Congress would launch an agitation
against the government. |
House demolition: Bhadana
promises YAMUNANAGAR, July 9 — Haryana Cooperation Minister Kartar Singh Bhadana announced at a district grievances committee meeting here today that compensation would be given to those families whose houses were demolished without giving them notices. The issue came up at the meeting which was convened by Mr Bhadana. Mr Bhadana said compensation would also be given to those families who had taken a no-objection certificate from the Town and Country Planning Department. On July 7, 12 houses in Gobindpura, Ratoli and Kansepur gram panchayat areas were demolished. The issue was raised by the members of the committee and BJP district spokesman Rakesh Tyagi and followed by the MLA, Chhachrauli, Mr Kanwar Paul, and former district president of the BJP Rameshwar Chauhan. They alleged that the houses were demolished without giving notice. Mr Rajiv Sharma, Deputy Commissioner, Yamunanagar, said 30 to 40 notices had been issued but their houses would not be demolished. He said a survey of the area would be got done once again. He said the colonies which were constructed illegally had thick population, a special case would be sent to the government to authorise these. Later the aggrieved
people, including women whose houses were demolished, met
Mr Bhadana who assured them that justice would be given
to them. |
Petro-chemical complex for
Panipat CHANDIGARH, July 9 — The Indian Oil Corporation in collaboration with other companies will set up a petro-chemical complex with an investment of Rs 4,228 crore on 750 acres adjacent to the Panipat refinery. This project will be based on Naphtha. Giving this information, an official spokesman said the Haryana Government also planned to develop an industrial park near this petro complex. The park would meet the ancillary needs of the refinery. Besides, with a view to developing a residential and commercial sector for the residents of the complex, the industrial park and the refinery area, a master plan would be prepared. A committee under the chairmanship of the Secretary, Industries, had been constituted for this purpose. The Secretary, Town and Country Planning, the Managing Director, Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation and the Director, Town and Country Planning-cum-Chief Administrator, HUDA, were the members of the committee. The Director, Industries, would act as its member-secretary. At a recent meeting of
the high-level state co-ordination committee presided
over by the Haryana Chief Secretary, Mr Ram S. Varma, at
Panipat, it was stated that the IOC would make an
additional investment of over Rs 9,500 crore in Panipat
to set up a joint venture power project of 300 MW and a
state-of-the-art petro-chemical complex besides doubling
the capacity of its Rs 3,868 crore oil refinery. |
Roadways staff block highway FATEHABAD, July 9 — The Haryana Roadways employees blocked the Hisar-Sirsa national highway here today, after a T.S.I and an inspector of the local depot of the roadways were beaten up by followers of the Dera Sacha Sauda here this afternoon. The altercation occurred after roadways officials stopped two vehicles carrying followers of Dera Sacha Sauda and challaned them as they could not produce the required documents. At this the followers of the sect got angry and stoned the two officials. The injured inspector had to be admitted to the local hospital. Agitated roadways
workers later blocked the national highway near the bus
stand by parking buses on the road. The ADC Mr Pradeep
Kasni arrived the scene and assured the roadways
employees that the culprits would soon be brought to
book. Negotiations to lift the blockage were still on at
the time of filing of this report. |
Ex-Finance Minister’s son held for graft KAITHAL, July 9 (PTI) — The Haryana Police has arrested Anil Shorewala, a son of former Haryana Finance Minister Charan Dass Shorewala, in connection with a criminal case registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act. He was booked on a
complaint of Ramesh Singh, a resident of Kheri Bullan, in
Jind district. Kaithal SP, P.R. Dev today said the
complainant had alleged that he had paid Rs 1.5 lakh to
the accused for his appointment as patwari in the Revenue
Department through the Staff Selection Commission, but he
was neither selected nor was his money returned. |
Licences of 19 depots cancelled SIRSA, July 9 — The Food and Supply Department has cancelled licences of 10 depots in the district for irregularities committed by their owners Disclosing this the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Amit Jha, said these cases were detected during an inspection conducted by a team of the Food and Supply Department. Mr Jha said as many as
2.29 lakh ration card holders are availing the facilities
from 491 fair price shops in the district. He also
informed that 345 metric tonnes of sugar was distributed
in the district every month. |
Girls fare better than boys in
middle exam BHIWANI, July 9 — Girls have fared better than boys in the Middle Standard Annual Examination, 2000 of the Board of School Education Haryana like they did in matriculation and Senior Secondary Examinations. Result of this Examination was declared today. The result has been made available on Internet at Web site http;//Haryana.nic.in. Disclosing this the Board Chairman Mr Sher Singh Rori told reporters here today that overall pass percentage of this Examination turned out to be 65.88 per cent. Girls outshone boys by getting a pass percentage of 68.46 and boys achieved 64.01 pass percentage. Giving details of the result, the Board Secretary Prof Jagdish K. Sihag said that in Middle standard Examination 361382 candidates appeared and 238082 candidates were declared successful and 33908 candidates placed in compartment. He said 209743 boys appeared in this Examination and 134264 boys got through it. On the other hand 151639 girls took this Examination and 103818 girls were declared pass. The secretary added that the pass percentage of regular candidates turned out to be 67.32 in comparison to 53.84 pass percentage of private candidates. The urban candidates outshone the rural candidates by getting a pass percentage of 70.89 whereas that of rural candidates turned out to be 64.24. Private schools excelled by achieving a pass percentage of 78.63 and government schools lagged behind by obtaining a pass percentage of 58.82. Prof Sihag said that the result of this Examination had been made available at the offices of District Education Officers, District Public Relations Officers, District level co-ordination centres of the Board and Board head office at Bhiwani. The result has been published in various Hindi dailies. Prof Sihag said that on
the basis of the result of Middle Annual
Examination-2000, the candidates who wanted to appear for
compartment/re-appear in supplementary examination,
September, 2000 could send their forms with a prescribed
fee of Rs 180/- up to July 25, 2000. After this date late
fee of Rs 200 would be payable up to August 9, 2000. A
late fee of Rs 300 would be payable if the forms were
deposited one month before the commencement of
examinations. |
Haryana allocates 15 cr for
disabled PANIPAT, July 9 — A disabled persons is an integral part of our society and he too has a right to lead a respectable life. If disabled persons are offered appropriate opportunity in any sphere they will not lag behind others in any manner. The Haryana Government is implementing various schemes for benefit of such persons. In a survey conducted by the State Government, 2.21 lakh disabled persons have been identified in Haryana. A sum of Rs 15 crore has been allocated for them. The amount will be spent on providing food, clothes and dwellings. The Haryana Social Welfare Department has implemented many schemes for disabled persons such as Rs 200 per month pension to 46,000 disabled with effect from November, 1999. It was Rs 50 per month in 1987 which was increased to Rs 100 in 1991 and to Rs 200 when the present government came to power. The pension is paid to those disabled men and women who have been declared 70 per cent handicapped by a Civil Surgeon and have an income of less than Rs 10,000 per annum. Educated handicapped persons who are registered with the employment exchange are paid unemployment stipend, in addition to scholarship of Rs 100 to Rs 500 for education from primary to post- graduate level. If a beneficiary happens to be a minor and is 40 per cent handicapped and studies in a government school, he , according to his class in which he studies , gets scholarship of Rs 100 per month up to class IV , Rs 120 per month from Class IV to VIII and Rs 150 per month from Class VIII to higher secondary. According to the Deputy Commissioner, Mr M.R. Anand, a sum of Rs 3.63 lakh is disbursed every month to 1,814 handicapped persons at the rate of Rs 200 per month as pension. In 1999-2000, 607 disabled students were disbursed Rs 4.80 lakh as scholarship. The Deputy Commissioner said for the rehabilitation of disabled persons scientifically manufactured hearing aids, artificial limbs, shoes and tricycles are procured from the NGOs. The Red Cross Society
has so far distributed 200 wheel chairs at the rate of Rs
3,300 per chair, 1,000 tricycles at the rate of Rs 3,800
per tricycle, 400 hearing aids at the rate of Rs 900 per
piece and artificial limbs worth Rs 5 lakh . Disabled
women were supplied sewing machines to enable them to
earn their livelihood. |
Realising power bills, Haryana way SONEPAT, July 9 — The Haryana Government has adopted a new way to recover arrears of electricity bills from the farmers in the state. According to official sources, it has directed the managements of the cooperative sugar mills to get information from the Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam on the defaulters of the electricity bills prior to the release of the payment to the sugarcane growers. On this directive, the nigam authorities have sought list of sugarcane growers who are to be paid for the sugarcane supplied to the mills during the crushing season. The management of the Sonepat Cooperative Sugar mill has also submitted this list to the nigam and stated that Rs 1.46 crore was outstanding against the mill which is to be paid to the sugarcane growers of this region. The state government, it may be recalled, has already adopted this way in the case of government employees who are supposed to get a certificate from the heads of their departments about the payment of the electricity bills before getting their salary for the month of June this year. The state government
decision has caused resentment among the government
employees as well as the sugarcane growers in the state
and they are planning to launch an agitation against it. |
Cops get a taste of their own
medicine FATEHABAD, July 9 — Three plain clothed policemen who had gone to Kirdhan village yesterday night allegedly to intimidate a person who had a property dispute with his brother, were beaten up by the villagers who took them to be thieves. According to reports, a villager who had a property dispute with his brother constructing a structure on disputed land, took three policemen in mufti to his village after treating them to whisky. The cops beat up the labourers at the construction site. This led to the brothers coming to blows, at which stage the cops fled the scene. Villagers on "theekri" pehra in the village took them for thieves and asked them to identify themselves. At this the policeman started running. The villagers gave chase, captured and thrashed them. One of the constables
who managed to escape under the cover of darkness
informed to the Bhattu Kalan police station and a police
party lad by the DSP, Mr Ashok Sheoran was sent to rescue
the cops. |
3 vehicle thieves arrested GURGAON, July 9 — The police yesterday arrested three members of a gang of vehicle thieves and recovered more than six vehicles stolen by them. The gang operated in Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi. Acting on a tip off the police arrested Mastak, resident of Sablana village in Rajasthan, while he was trying to dispose of a stolen jeep to a mechanic in Ferozepur Jhirka in this district.After he gave details,the police teams raided various places to nab his associates who were making efforts to dispose of other stolen vehicles. The police arrested Hanif, a resident of Badkali Colony in Faridabad and recovered a Maruti car. Zakir, another resident of Ballabhgarh in Faridabad district was nabbed and a Maruti car recovered. Umar Mohammad, Zakir and Nazar were also arrested. A jeep, a Maruti car and two motorcycles were recovered from them. All these vehicles had been stolen from various places in this district. The Superintendent of
Police, Gurgaon, Mr Shatrujit Kapur, said that those
arrested have confessed that they had also stolen 12
vehicles from Rajasthan, two from Faridabad and three
cars from Delhi. |
An ugly relic of the Raj KALKA: In the compound of the government school here stand four round structures covered by corrugated iron sheets. Three of these structures, nicknamed “dhols” because of their round shape, are used as classrooms and one as a store for junk material. The “dhols” are the relics of the early years of the 20th century when the Kalka-Shimla narrow gauge railway line was being laid. Labour had to be brought from all over the country and these “dhols” were constructed to house the labourers. A number of them were huddled in each “dhol”. With the completion of the railway line, the labourers were dispersed and the authorities allotted these structures to railway employees who had to live in the unventilated, unelectrified make-shift rooms with no facility for water, toilet or even kitchen. The tin covering made them unbearably hot in summer and extremely cold in winter. It was in 1956, that the railway employees living in these “dhols” first raised their voice against the sub-human conditions in which they were made to live. The chairman of the Railway Board was making a brief halt at Kalka, on his way to Shimla. They brought their plight to his notice and appealed to him to get regular quarters built for them. Still for years nothing happened. Then in the 70s the Railway took a decision to replace the “dhols” with regular quarters. Most of them were demolished, but four of them had come within the boundary of the school. Till today they stand as reminders of the hellish conditions in which humans were made to live. But today the brunt is borne by school children who have to attend classes in them. Even otherwise time has taken a toll of these structures. The corrugated iron sheets that cover them from end to end to end have got corroded and are unable to stop rain water from dripping in. The presence of these uninviting relics give an ugly touch to the school environs. The school itself is housed in a building that used to be a rest house for British officers on their way to Shimla. If the railway
authorities and the Education Department of Haryana put
their heads together and remove these unpleasant
reminders of the Raj, suitable classrooms can be built
for the school. Till then, the children will have to
suffer these monsters. |
151 persons donate blood KALKA, July 9 — A second annual blood donation camp was organised here today by the Sant Nirankari Mandal, Kalka branch. The camp was inaugurated by the Financial Commissioner, Punjab. According to Parmukh
Baba Tara Singh, apart from him 150 persons donated
blood, including 30 women, the SDM, Kalka, Mr M.K. Ahuja. |
Multipurpose hall to come up at
Ambala AMBALA, July 9 — Businessmen of Sadar area in Ambala Cantonment keen to hold conferences will not have to look far now. A multipurpose hall is going to come up soon which will have a fully air-conditioned conference room besides a spacious banquet hall and shops on the ground floor. The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, was scheduled to inaugurate the construction of the multipurpose hall last Sunday. The inauguration was postponed at the last minute. The fresh date for the inauguration is yet to be announced. The multipurpose hall, located opposite, Gandhi Maidan on Jagadhari Road in Ambala Cantonment, is expected to cater to the needs of the local businessmen and other individuals who want to hire large indoor spaces for various activities. The large conference room having an area of 2833 sq ft, including services of waiting room, office, pantry and toilets, is expected to generate a revenue of Rs 5 lakh per annum for the Municipal Council, Ambala Sadar. The banquet hall, having an indoor seating capacity of 1,000 persons, is meant for different functions, including seminars, exhibitions, training programmes and other similar activities. The spacious hall is having an area of 11827 sq ft. The Deputy Commissioner of Ambala, Mr Ram Niwas, said that the banquet hall was expected to earn a revenue of Rs 30 lakh per annum. “The project is expected to cost Rs 1.46 crore. We are going to recover a part of the cost of construction from the sale of four shops in the multipurpose hall. The sale will fetch approximately Rs 46 lakh,” he said. Mr Ram Niwas said that there was a need for a multipurpose hall which would be useful for local residents as well as businessmen. He pointed out that besides the construction of the multipurpose hall the construction work was already underway at the Old Age Home and another conference room was going to come up in Ambala City at Panchayat Bhavan. The Ambala Cantonment MLA, Mr Anil Vij, while welcoming the construction of the multipurpose hall, said that it would be useful for local people. “When a delegation, led by me, met the Chief Minister, we suggested that keeping in mind the Khalsa Panth tercentenary celebrations, the multi-purpose hall should be named after Guru Gobind Singh,” he said. “Mr Chautala also said that when he would start the second round of Sarkar Apke Dwar programme, he would first visit the Ambala Cantonment assembly constituency,” Mr Vij said. “Last time when the Sarkar Apke Dwar programme was held, it was held in 89 assembly segments and only the Ambala Cantonment assembly seat was left, so this time we requested that he should come here first,” he added. The proposed
multipurpose hall has come in for flak from certain
quarters. The convener of the Haryana Sangharsh Samiti,
Mr Om Prakash Malik, while lauding the efforts of the
district administration for construction of the
multipurpose hall, pointed out that it would have been
better if in the same site, the judicial courts complex
for housing the judicial courts have been built. |
10 injured in two mishaps AMBALA , July 9 — As many as 10 persons were injured seriously in two separate accidents on the GT Road near Ambala cantonment here today. Seven women were injured seriously when the van in which they were travelling collided with truck near Mohra village. Six of the injured have been shifted to the PGI, Chandigarh. The injured included Jaspal Kaur, Karnail Kaur, Amarjit Kaur, Richpal Kumar, Harbans Kaur, and Ramanjit Singh, the driver of the van. In another accident,
Mukesh, Vinod and Balbir sustained injuries when their
motor cycle collided with a scooter near DAV School. The
injured were admitted to the local Civil Hospital. The
police has registered two cases in this regard. |
Liquor stall evokes
villagers’ ire SIRSA: Resentment prevails among women in Meerpur village of district because of a liquor stall in the middle of the village. They are demanding closure of the stall. A panch of Meerpur panchayat, Maya Devi says women going to fetch water fear tipsy men. The liquor stall in the heart of the village attracts the attention of the village children. The women have demanded immediate closure of the liquor shop. « « « Complaints of poor supply of water pour in from all corners of the district. Similar complaints have also been made by the villagers. The Public Health Department pays little heed to the complaints of water scarcity. As per the information received from Rania subdivision of the district, people have to wander in search of water in tractor trolleys. Spurious cold drinks are sold unchecked. There are reports of polluted water supply from nearby Jasania village. A panch of the village, Mr Khayali Ram, says the only public water tank in the village has not been cleaned for the past two years. Therefore, women are forced to fetch hard water of tubewells. Almost similar situation prevails in Kalanwali and Ellenabad. According to a social worker in Kalanwali, erratic power supply has aggravated their problem. Water supply is given only for one to one and a half hours in fits and starts. « « « The Vice-President of Ved Prachar Mandal, Mr Shravan Kumar was here recently. He addressed a gathering at the local Arya Samaj Mandir. He said the Arya Samaj would fight for the due share of water for Haryana and delegation of its members will soon meet the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee. In Ellenabad subdivision
scarcity of teachers in schools is acute. According to
the residents, no school has requisite number of
teachers. Such is the gravity of the situation that the
students have to pool in money to get teachers on
contract. There are about 21 high schools in this area.
Out of which only three have the head master and other
posts have been lying vacant. Out of these three, two
will retire in August similarly several posts of teachers
and senior teachers are also lying unfilled. There are
only three teachers in the Senior Secondary School. |
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