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| Saturday, July 15, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Expedite movement of wheat: Chautala CHANDIGARH, July 14 — The Haryana State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has directed the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) to pay Rs 2 lakh along with 12 per cent annual interest to Mrs Urmila Singh, wife of Kanwar Nirmal Singh, a Haryana cadre IPS officer in the rank of Director-General of Police, towards the insurance claim of her daughter, Miss Jyoti Thakur. Applications invited
for govt houses Plea of Bansi’s son in murder case rejected |
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| Steps to implement new education policy CHANDIGARH, July 14 — The Haryana Education Department has started implementing the new education policy in right earnest. Gang of cheats active
in Panipat GPO List of BJP panel
members announced Woman jailed, alleges
husband-cop nexus Rising protests against vends’
location Governor’s tip to officials Schools told to
follow HC orders Career guidance week from
July 24 Ban on filling posts
of principal goes July 27 declared
closed day
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Expedite movement of wheat: Chautala CHANDIGARH, July 14 — The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, today urged the Union Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Minister, Mr Shanta Kumar, to expedite the movement of wheat from the state as at present the state agencies and the Food Corporation of India had stocks of 61.53 lakh metric tonnes accumulated in Haryana. The Chief Minister said despite his request the movement of foodgrains from Haryana was tardy as only 1.41 lakh metric tonnes of wheat had been moved out of the state during May, whereas 2.40 lakh tonnes had been moved during April. It was disturbing that the movement during this month would be only 2.04 lakh tonnes, out of which the state agencies’ share had been kept at only 1.20 lakh tonnes. Besides, the way the movement had been planned by the FCI, hardly any stocks would be moved out of critical areas. He said during June there was no movement of wheat from Haryana. He said foodgrain stocks of 37.75 lakh tonnes were stored in the open. Out of this, 11.50 lakh tonnes of wheat had been stored on mandi “phars”, platforms and on the premises of the rice shellers. It was essential that all such stocks were moved immediately so that farmers could bring their produce to mandis and millers were able to process it during the ensuing kharif season. If the movement of wheat did not pick up, the Chief Minister cautioned, the storage problem would aggravate. The Chief Minister also requested the Union Minister to authorise the sale of wheat in Haryana under the open market sale system, as had been done in the case of Punjab. If this was not done, he feared, it would create a crisis for the state government during the forthcoming kharif season. With the decision of the Centre to authorise the FCI to dispose of wheat in Punjab under the open market sale system, the movement of stocks would be further slowed down from Haryana. Mr Chautala said Haryana had so far procured 44.81 lakh metric tonnes of wheat against the arrival of 46.28 lakh metric tonnes, while Punjab procured 93.76 lakh metric tonnes of wheat against the arrival of 96.23 lakh tonnes. Thus Haryana had procured almost half of the wheat procured by Punjab. The policy of the Union Government on the open market sale system should have been similar for surplus states like Punjab and Haryana. The Chief Minister also urged the Union Minister to intervene in the matter immediately and allocate at least seven lakh tonnes movement per month to the state with a view to clearing the mandis and moving stocks from the premises of the
shellers. |
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LIC told to
pay Rs 2 lakh, interest CHANDIGARH, July 14 — The Haryana State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has directed the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) to pay Rs 2 lakh along with 12 per cent annual interest to Mrs Urmila Singh, wife of Kanwar Nirmal Singh, a Haryana cadre IPS officer in the rank of Director-General of Police, towards the insurance claim of her daughter, Miss Jyoti Thakur. Jyoti, who was insured with the LIC for Rs 2 lakh on May 18, 1995, unfortunately died in the PGI on September 2, 1997, following burn injuries sustained by her while preparing a denture set at her Panchkula house. She was a student of the Mansa Dental Medical College. The LIC offered only Rs 23,538 to Mrs Urmila Singh, who was the nominee in the policy, taking the plea that under Clause 4(B) of the policy in case of death “as a result of intentional self-injury, suicide, or attempted suicide, insanity, accident other than an accident in a public place or murder at any time on or after the date on which the risk under the policy has commenced but before the expiry of three years from the date of this policy, the LIC’s liability shall be
limited to the sum equal to the total amount of premiums paid under the policy without interest.” The LIC offer was challenged before the commission by Mrs Urmila Singh who pleaded that Clause 4(B) was never agreed upon by Jyoti. Hence, the LIC could not derive any benefit from the clause for scaling down the claim. Her counsel said the clause was not mentioned in the proposal form. After going through the records, the commission concluded that the LIC had tampered with the original policy “which is at variance with the zerox copy placed on record, which tantamounts to playing a fraud upon the commission and the complainant by the LIC to deny the legitimate claim of the complainant”. The commission also held that the LIC had tried to circumvent the legitimate claim by adopting “foul means, which is gross negligence and deficiency in service”. It also directed the LIC to pay a compensation of Rs 10,000 to the complainant for harassment and mental agony besides Rs 5,000 as costs of litigation. |
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Applications
invited for govt houses CHANDIGARH, July 14 — The Haryana House Allotment Committee has invited applications from eligible state government employees posted in Chandigarh and Panchkula in the prescribed revised form for the allotment of houses by August 31. The Secretary of the committee said here today that as the government had revised the pay scales of its employees with effect form January 1, 1996, it was considered necessary to invite fresh applications from the employees for the allotment of government houses in Panchkula and Sector 39-B, Chandigarh. According to the new criteria fixed by the allotment committee, Class III and IV employees having a basic pay of up to Rs 4,999 as on January 1, 2000, are eligible to apply for Type I houses. Employees having a basic pay between Rs 5000, and Rs 6,499, as on the same date, are eligible to apply for Type II houses; those having a basic pay between Rs 6,500 and Rs 7,999 are eligible for Type III houses; those having a basic pay from Rs 8,000 to Rs 13,499 are eligible for Type IV houses; and those drawing a basic pay between Rs 13,500 and Rs 18,399, on the same date, are eligible to apply for Type V houses. |
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Plea of Bansi’s son in murder case rejected CHANDIGARH, July 14 — The Punjab and Haryana High Court today rejected the plea of Mr Surinder Singh, a son of former Chief Minister Bansi Lal, to set aside the order passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Bhiwani, on January 10 for reinvestigation of the case (FIR No. 324, dated Nov 12, 1997) registered at Civil Lines police station, Bhiwani, in connection with the alleged murder of Dr Raman Bhandari in which he was stated to be the accused. Mr Justice Amarbir Singh Gill, who disposed of Mr Surrinder Singh’s petition today, however, directed that Mr Liak Ram, S.P., Bhiwani, shall not be associated with further investigation of the case in view of his alleged proximity to the Chief Minister. On November 12, 1997, information was received at the Civil Lines police station, that Dr Bhandari, was lying on the road bleeding profusely. The police rushed to the scene as it was initially considered to be a road accident. However, on post-mortem, it was revealed that Dr Bhandari died of a gun shot injury and a bullet was removed from his body. A case under Section 302, IPC, was registered the next day. Dr Laj Bhandari, wife of the deceased, not satisfied with the investigation filed a criminal petition in the High Court in which the police was directed to complete the investigation within six months. The police sought more time. The widow not satisfied, approached the High Court again and sought a CBI inquiry. By that time the police had submitted a report under Section 173, Cr PC, and the trial in the case was started. The court declined the prayer. However, it observed that it was open for the investigation officer to initiate further investigation into the case. Mrs Bhandari then filed an application before the SHO, Civil Lines, Bhiwani, stating that she was not fully satisfied with the charge sheet and the case should be reinvestigated. The SHO moved an application before the Additional Sessions Judge seeking permission to reinvestigate the case. The judge, allowed the plea and stayed the trial. Mr Surrinder Singh challenged the Judge’s order in the High Court. He contended that he was being falsely involved in the case at the behest of Chief Minister, a political rival of his father. He further contended that in the earlier petition filed by Dr Bhandari, she had not named any person except saying that behind the crime a VVIP connected with high officer in Haryana Government was involved. She showed her suspicion against the petitioner in her affidavit dated May 18, 1999. He further said that Mr Liak Ram SP had been posted with oblique motive to involve the petitioner, because he was close to the Chief Minister. Notice to Haryana on
Bansi Lal’s bill In a writ petition filed by Mr Bansi Lal former Chief Minister and now a member of the Haryana Assembly, a Division Bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice A.B. Sahariya and Mr Justice V.K. Bali today issued notice of motion to the Haryana Government for August 21, in which the petitioner sought the re-imbursement of his medical bill. Mr Bansi Lal was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, for a bypass surgery. He submitted a bill of Rs 1,24,246/- to the Speaker of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha but the Speaker declined to permit the reimbursement on the ground that he was a former MP and could get free treatment in that capacity. Notice to Chander
Mohan on poll plea Ms Justice Bakhshish Kaur of the High Court today issued notice to Mr Chander Mohan Congress MLA, for September 15 on an election petition filed by Mr Sham Lal Bansal, the defeated BJP candidate, who had challenged his election on various grounds, including corrupt practices in the election. Mr Chander Mohan, a son of former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal, was declared elected to the Vidhan Sabha in February from the Kalka
constituency. Mr Bansal has sought that the election of Mr Chander Mohan be set aside and he be declared elected. |
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Steps to implement new education policy CHANDIGARH, July 14 — The Haryana Education Department has started implementing the new education policy in right earnest. Effective steps have already been initiated by the department to introduce the English language in class I in the current academic year. The English language textbook for class I has already been prepared by the SCERT, Gurgaon, in consultation with academicians and leading experts. Stating this here today, the Minister of State for Education, Mr Bahadur Singh, said that about 15,000 JBT teachers had been trained to teach English by the SCERT and the District Institute of Education and Training. There were over 10,000 primary schools in the state. A detailed plan had been drawn up for the training of the remaining teachers at the district and block levels. He said the department had also taken the initiative to introduce IT education in schools in the current academic year itself. In the
beginning, IT education would be introduced in the high schools and senior secondary schools. He said about 1,800 schools, 55 colleges and nine lakh students would be benefited. The educational institutions would provide free space to the service providers. |
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Gang of
cheats active in Panipat GPO PANIPAT, July 14 — A gang of cheats is active on the premises of the head post office and is allegedly targeting innocent labourers by filling their money orders wrongly. The postal authorities allege that they daily receive complaints of the non-receipt of money orders at destination. Prabhu Sahni working in a local textile unit, went to the head post office on Tuesday to remit money home in Bihar through a money order. He was grabbed by an alleged cheat, Santu Kumar, who also hails from Bihar. He promised Prabhu Sahni that he would help him fill the money order form. Shantu Kumar instead of filling the money order form in the name of Prabhu Sahni’s kin sent it to his own father and put his name as the sender of money. He then handed over the receipt to Prabhu Sahni. When Prabhu Sahni showed the receipt to his supervisor, he was told that it was not in his name. Prabhu Sahni inquired from the postal authorities and was told that the receipt did not relate to his money order. Prabhu Sahni found out Shantu Kumar had been cheating other workers by filling money order forms wrongly. He caught Shantu Kumar near the post office and handed him over to the police. |
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List of BJP panel
members announced ROHTAK, July 14 — Mr Rattan Lal Kataria, newly elected president of the Haryana BJP, yesterday announced names of members of the state working committee.
Mr Gulshan Bhatia, state office secretary, said as many as 13 members had been made special invitees in the 64-member working committee. The presidents and general secretaries of the state units of morchas and district units and the presidents of different “prakoshthas” had been made permanent special invitees. Mr Kirti Prasad Jain, newly appointed president of Beopar Prakoshtha announced executive committee of the “prakoshtha”. As many as 17 members had been nominated to the committee while the names of the rest of them would be declared later. |
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Woman
jailed, alleges husband-cop nexus GURGAON, July 14 — The dream of Anita Sulhan to have a blissful married life was shattered just seven months after tying the knot with Pradeep Sulhan.
Instead, she and her younger brother were forced to stay in police lock-up here on account of alleged collusion of her husband and the police. She was arrested late on Wednesday evening on a complaint of her husband, an NRI staying in the USA. She was booked on the charges of trespassing into her matrimonial house in DLF Phase I and for threatening the life of her husband. Anita, who runs a garment export business, was granted bail last morning, but now she does not know where to go. She has written to the Deputy Commissioner, Gurgaon, the district police chief, the Inspector-General of Police, Gurgaon Range, the National Commission for Women and the Human Rights Commission, asking for protection and help to be reinstated in her home. She has stated in the letters that she faces a threat to her life from the police. Narrating the sequence of events leading to her arrest she said that after she returned home from work she discovered, to her shock, that it was occupied by over 15 policemen, some in uniform and others in civil clothes, breaking the locks and doors in the presence of her husband. Her husband was stated to have returned to India a few days ago. She further alleged that when she entered the house she found some of the policemen drinking liquor with her husband. When she tried to enter her bedroom some of the policemen allegedly pushed her violently. “One of the policemen dragged me to the gate and pulled my hair, jerked my neck back and another manhandled me in a vulgar manner. I struggled, cried and pleaded with them, tried to call out to my husband for justice, but to no avail,” she said. She further said that she was forced by the police to go alone with them around 8.30 p.m. The police took away her cellphone. She tried to show evidence of her marriage with Pradeep, but the cops refused to heed her, added. Incidentally, she has already filed a civil suit with regard to the house into which she is alleged to have trespassed. Since the police did not heed her version, she lodged a complaint against it and her husband in the police station concerned after she got bail from court. Armed with documents, she told newsmen in a choked voice that she was cheated into marrying Pradeep. She said her problems started a few months after the marriage when she went along with Pradeep to the USA and stayed with him for seven weeks. In the USA, she discovered that Pradeep had given a lot of false information. “I discovered that Pradeep, a chartered
accountant with a lot of wealth, simply wanted a maidservant. He tried to disown me when he realised that “I would not fit into his scheme of things”, she added. She returned to India on the understanding that she would rejoin Pradeep after settling her business. She lodged a complaint with the police in April alleging that she was receiving threatening calls from her husband’s side for forcible eviction from the house. The police allegedly did not register a case on her complaint. |
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Rising protests against vends’
location CHANDIGARH:The women of Meerpur village in Sirsa district demanded immediate closure of a recently opened liquor vend in their village on July 10. The panchayat says women going to fetch water fear tipplers and attract the attention of village children. *
* * After two days of protesting against a vend opened in front of a religious place in Narwana on July 9, the public decided to take the bull by the horns. As they made their way to the vend, the employees turned to their heels. Later, they confiscated liquor cases and deposited these at the police station.
* * * Being a lucrative proposition, a liquor vend was opened on the Chandigarh-Shimla highway on June 14. However, the Excise department was forced to close it down after the public protested on account of its proximity to a dargah. *
* * The residents of Panchkula’s Sector 19 pulled down a liquor vend a couple of times and staged a protest for three nights against the opening of the vend in the area on May 9. They even blocked the level crossing nearby to lodge their protest. The police stepped in and forced them to disperse. Later, the department decided to shift the site. These are some of the many instances reported from all over Haryana where regularly auctioned liquor vends by the Excise department have had to shut shop or move to a new location following protests and agitations by residents of the area, primarily due to non-conformation to department guidelines. The excise policy of Haryana made during auction of licences for retail vends clearly states. “A licensee shall locate his vend in the market place in an urban area. No vend shall be located at a distance of less than 150 m from the main gate of recognised schools and colleges, places of worship and main bus stand.” In villages, the area of operation for a vends auctioned in groups shall be defined by the Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner posted in the district. The vends facing the wrath of the public are in complete violation of the agreement which came to light only after an outcry by affected residents. Interestingly, officials of the Excise Department are required to check the location of the vend once it comes up, which is not done in most cases, department sources contend. The violation gradually snowballs into a controversy once the public steps in and it is then that the department swings into action. The Prohibition, Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Mr Raj Kumar, says: “Whenever such a thing is brought to our notice, we order closure or shifting of the vend almost immediately.” The residents rue that it is this “lenient stand” of allowing temporary closure of the vend till the dust settles or shifting to a new site permitted by the department which has not helped in containing the problem. They opine that strict action should be initiated against the contractor found guilty of violating policy guidelines. However, in spite of availability of sterner measures against violators, rarely are these put to use. These measures include permanently closing the vend, penalising the contractor after a case for the same is sent by the district officials of the department and cancellation of the licence. An official admits, that there is politics in the allocation of these vends which are a major source of income for the government. “From a district like Panchkula, we net over Rs 20 crore while the income from vends in Faridabad totals about Rs 70 crore. If we begin cancelling licences or penalising contractors, the flow of finances is bound to be affected. So, we usually settle for a compromise and shift them to a new site in the specified area.” Moreover, taking a drastic step as closure of the vend is not possible since the state shares its borders with Punjab and Chandigarh where vends have mushroomed all along and continue to exist despite violations and present a challenge to their Haryana counterparts. Officials are of the opinion that a way out of the controversy lies in the department carrying out inspection of sites in the area chosen by the contractor for operation right after the auction is conducted which would ensure that vends conform to guidelines and do not lead to an outcry. |
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Governor’s tip
to officials FARIDABAD, July 14 — Babu Parmanand, Haryana Governor, today asked the officials to ensure transparency in their work so that the benefits of welfare schemes could reach all sections of society. The Governor was addressing district officials on his first visit to Faridabad. He also visited the Bharat Mata Kushtha Ashram and said that the lepers colony would be regularised. Babu Parmanand distributed school bags and sewing machines on behalf of the Red Cross to the inmates of the ashram. |
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Schools told
to follow HC orders FARIDABAD, July 14 — The district administration has warned the managements of public and private schools to strictly follow the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on plying of buses for students within the next 15 days. Stating this here yesterday, Mr Anand Mohan Sharan, Deputy Commissioner, said if they did not comply with the directions, strict action would be taken against them The directions include that the buses should be checked for road worthiness regularly, drivers should have a driving licence and at least five years’ experience and the speed of buses should not exceed 50 km an hour. The buses should display the route and timetable, have a first aid box and neither the driver nor the conductor should smoke . The drivers should undergo refresher course once in two years. |
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Career guidance week from
July 24 CHANDIGARH, July 14 — A career guidance week will be organised in all vocational guidance units in employment exchanges and university employment information and guidance bureaus in Haryana from July 24 to 28.
During this week school, college and university students will be apprised of the guidance facilities available in the employment exchanges. Besides, they will be given information to help them plan their careers. |
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Ban on
filling posts of principal goes CHANDIGARH, July 14 — The Haryana Government today lifted the ban imposed on the filling of vacant posts of college principal in the state. The Financial Commissioner and Secretary, Education, Mr Prem Parshant, said the process to fill all vacancies of principal and deputy director would be initiated soon to ensure the smooth functioning of the colleges. |
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July 27 declared
closed day CHANDIGARH, July 14 — The Haryana Government today declared July 27 as a closed day for shops and other commercial establishments in all areas under the Municipal Councils of Kaithal and Bhiwani to enable voters to exercise their franchise in the civic elections scheduled to be held on that day.
The government also decided that no adult worker would be required or allowed to work in factories in these areas on July 27 to enable him to exercise his franchise. |
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