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| Thursday, September 7, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Cong boycotts proceedings Cong MLAs raise slogans Taking education to madarsas Six unnatural deaths reported Additional charge for 3 IAS officers Kadian to attend Commonwealth meet Employees to get pay through banks |
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Villagers block traffic against
girl’s abduction Principal held for
taking bribe Dharna by
university non-teaching staff VC for transparency
in university work Awards to encourage safe units
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Cong boycotts proceedings CHANDIGARH, Sept 6 — One of the briefest monsoon sessions of the Haryana Assembly ended in a whimper here today following its boycott by the main Opposition party, the Congress, in protest against what it called “the violation of the well-established convention of giving the over-riding priority to a no-confidence motion against the government over all other business before the House.” The boycott came after question hour when the 21-member Congress Legislature Party moved a no-confidence motion against the Chautala government. The motion was admitted when 22 members stood up in its support against the minimum required strength of 18. The lone RPI member, Mr Karan Singh Dalal, was among those who supported the motion. However, the Speaker, Mr Satbir Singh Kadian, allotted two hours for a discussion on it but put a rider on it. He stipulated that the motion would be taken up for discussion after the House had completed the business already listed before it. This was not acceptable to the Congress which said the motion should be taken up immediately for discussion and voting as had been the convention in the Haryana Assembly and the Lok Sabha. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Bhajan Lal, said whenever the Opposition moved a no-confidence motion against him, he always gave priority to it. The Treasury Benches led by the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, stuck to their stand that it was for the Speaker to fix the time and schedule for discussion on the no-confidence motion. Mr Chautala said in the past also the House had taken up the no-confidence motion after completing other business listed before it. The Haryana Congress president, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who had been a member of the Lok Sabha thrice, said even in the Lok Sabha, a no-confidence motion took precedence over the other business. The Deputy Leader of the CLP, Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, and the former Finance Minister, Mr Mange Ram Gupta, said unless the House expressed its confidence in the government, how could the legislative business be carried out. The Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Prof Sampat Singh, said the Congress had moved the no-confidence motion to hide its failure to effectively raise public issues yesterday. He described the motion as a “cheap publicity gimmick.” After noisy scenes, during which the Congress members moved into the well a number of times, the Congress MLAs walked out of the House. Later in the press gallery, Mr Bhajan Lal announced that his party had decided to boycott the session in protest against what he described as “dictatorship and gundagardi and a cruel joke on democracy.” He also criticised the role of the Speaker, which he said was “ati nindniya (highly condemnable)”. Mr Hooda said the Congress stalled the proceedings of the House during question hour because the ruling INLD had strangled democracy. The Congress had moved seven adjournment motions on various issues, but the Speaker did not allow discussion on any. Captain Yadav said the Speaker was a “dummy” and “most inefficient”. Later talking to newsmen in his chamber, Mr Chautala said the Congress should have participated in the proceedings and stated it views. But it shied away from the session because its leaders had nothing to say against the government. He said Mr Bhajan Lal had set a record of sorts. It must be the first time that those who moved the no-confidence motion were absent from the House when it was taken up for discussion. Mr Chautala said the local area development tax affected only a few hundred big industrial houses and not the common man. He said there was no proposal to make Bahadurgarh a district. The state agencies would purchase paddy from September 16 at the new minimum support price even of the Centre did not agree to it. The state government would bear the loss itself though he would meet the Union Food Minister, Mr Shanta Kumar tomorrow in this connection. He was appreciative of the Centre for increasing the minimum support price of paddy by Rs 20 a quintal when rice was selling at a discount of Rs 400 a quintal as compared to last year. Once the Congress left the House, there was nothing for it to do but to complete the formalities. In quick succession the House passed five Bills — the Haryana Panchayati Raj (Second Amendment) Bill, the Haryana Municipal (Second Amendment) Bill, the Haryana Municipal Corporation (Second Amendment) Bill, the Haryana General Sales Tax (Second Amendment) Bill and the Haryana Local Area Development Tax Bill. Mr Kishan Pal Gujjar, Leader of the BJP Legislature Party, and Mr Bansi Lal of the HVP opposed the imposition of various taxes and the local area development tax. Mr Gujjar said the opposition of the BJP to these taxes should be recorded. The government was visibly embarrassed when Mr Gujjar raised the issue of the surrender of profit-making eight mines by Haryana Minerals Limited. Prof Sampat Singh immediately intervened and asked him to speak only on the local area development tax. But Mr Gujjar persisted and had his say. At one stage the Speaker, Mr Kadian, joined issue with Mr Bansi Lal when the latter was opposing the local area development tax. Ridiculing Mr Bansi Lal’s policy of auctioning industrial plots, Mr Kadian asked him if low investment would make an industry more viable or high investment. Mr Bansi Lal asked him if the 4 per cent local area development tax would make industry viable. Mr Kadian had no answer. Mr Anil Vij (Ind) strongly opposed the imposition of taxes in Ambala cantonment. He said since these taxes were being imposed to off-set the loss caused by the abolition of octroi, it was not justified in imposing these taxes in the cantonment where the Cantonment Board, which was not under the control of the state government, had decided to reintroduce octroi from October 1. Mr Chander Bhatia (BJP) was appreciative of the Chautala government, but he criticised the Bansi Lal government. Mr Karan Dalal’s repeated requests to the Speaker for permission to speak were ignored by the Chair. He had moved a motion under Rule 278 disapproving the conduct of the Speaker in participating an INLD rally. In his wrap-up speech Mr Chautala directed his fire at Mr Bansi Lal, who was not perturbed by it.
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Cong MLAs raise slogans CHANDIGARH, Sept 6 — Question hour on the concluding day of the two-day Haryana Assembly session today was marked by slogan-shouting and pandemonium by agitated Congress legislators demanding the Speaker’s ruling on the adjournment notices served by them yesterday and today. Mr Satbir Singh Kadyan, Speaker of the Haryana Assembly, did not give his ruling on as many as seven adjournment notices given by Congress legislators yesterday, including one notice under Rule 37 for continuation of the session for four days. This morning, the Congress gave a notice for moving a no-confidence motion against the Om Prakash Chautala government. As soon as the question hour began today, the Congress legislators trooped into the well of the House and demanded that the Speaker give his ruling on the adjournment notices. Mr Bhajan Lal, leader of the CLP, set the ball rolling and was joined by his party colleagues, who assembled in front of the Speaker and started protesting against his alleged reluctance to give his ruling on the adjournment notices. There was also intermittent shouting of slogans by the Congress legislators against the “dictatorial attitude” of the Speaker and the Chautala-led government. While almost all Congress legislators joined the protest, Mr Raghubir Singh Kadyan and Mr Jai Parkash Barwal appeared to be the most vociferous. The two-member HVP team remained quiet, though Mr Karan Singh Dalal, the lone RPI member in the house, joined hands with the Congress legislators and participated in the protest, which lasted for the entire one-hour period marked for question hour. The Speaker’s repeated request to the Congress MLAs fell on deaf years while his reply that adjournment notices given yesterday were turned down because they were delayed saw increase in slogan-shouting by the Congress legislators. The Speaker had already asked the minister concerned to reply to the questions marked for question hour but in the din, the minister’s replies could hardly be heard. Questions by Opposition MLAs, including Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Mr Raghuvir Singh Kadyan, Rao Narender Singh, Capt Ajay Singh Yadav and Ms Anita Yadav had figured in the question hour list but no supplementary question was asked after the questions were answered as the Congress legislators were engaged in protest. The protesting legislators stopped shouting only once when a former Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, had asked a supplementary question on withdrawal of cases against the agitating farmers of Kadam, Nissing, Tohana and Mandiali. Mr Bansi Lal’s question as to who had instigated the farmers for not to pay the electricity bills was answered by the Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Mr Ram Pal Majra, who said that the agitation was started by the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) and it was the Bansi Lal-led government which had ordered firing on the farmers. |
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Taking education to madarsas CHANDIGARH, Sept 6—In an attempt to take the edge off the harsh anti-establishment stance of the people of Mewat, comprising the districts of Faridabad and Gurgaon on the border of Rajasthan, the Haryana Education Department has roped in the Haryana Urdu Akademi for imparting education in the area. Education schemes initiated under the District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) at these places met with complete failure with the clergy opposing the concept of modernisation of learning and education. Only to make the people more amicable and the clergy more amenable to a change, the department undertook a special drive and held discussions and talks with them separately but to no avail. “We went to the extent of translating all the books prepared under the DPEP programme in Urdu to ensure they were accepted. However, all such efforts came to a naught with the maulvis and mullahs viewing it as an insiduous design to wean away the children from their religion,’’ says Mr Sanjiv Kumar, Director, Primary Education and DPEP The Secretary of the Haryana Urdu Akademi, Dr Mohammad Habib, informed,``The maulvis felt threatened with the move of the department to educate the people. Their unfounded fears revolved around apprehension of the closing down of madarsas and loosening of their grip over the people. We aim to settle this on a priority basis. Then, another segment comprising local politicians opposed the idea since only illiterate people can be expected to toe their line.’’ To break the ice between the "warring" factions, a scheme dove-tailing their concept of din and duniya, the spiritual and the temporal, has been devised. According to this, the the cluster resource co-ordinators of the area, belonging to the DPEP, will be trained by Islamic scholars invited by the academy from institutions like the Jamia Milia Islamia. This will be followed by a series of meetings and a conference of mullahs and maulvis likely to take place within the next fortnight. "The idea is to acquaint them with the importance of educating the people as also convincing them that their madarsas face no threat under modernisation. They will be given jobs and allowed to run alternative non-formal schools as well,’’ Mr Kumar contended. The Secretary claims the scholars will attempt to change the mind-set of the clergy. “Our effort will be to take them in our fold rather than hitting out at their interest. With the requisite infrastructure and boarding facilities, these madarsas will be used to educate the common man and the maulvis will be employed and trained for the purpose,’’ Dr Habib explained. Being from the same area, he says the problem of the people is more psychological than anything else since exposure to the outside world has been little and the maulvis have the last word on every issue. Both departments are hopeful the partnership will help make the DPEP a success in areas where conflict between progress and illusions is a reality and the chasm between the two widens. The Education Department is working on bridging the gap by supporting the scheme financially and with staff while the Urdu Akademi is banking on making a dent in the thinking of the maulvis to deliver the goods. |
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Six unnatural deaths reported HISAR, Sept 6 — Six unnatural deaths were reported in last 24 hours in the district. Two motor cyclists were crushed under a bus at Red Square Chowk on Monday evening. According to information Mr Vijender Singh of Payla village of the district and Mr Mahipal of Jhajhria village in Rajasthan were crossing the road when a Rajasthan Roadways bus, which was going to the bus-stand at a high speed, ran over them. Mr Vijender Singh (25) died on the spot while Mr Mahipal (28) succumbed his injuries on way to the hospital. Both were employees of the local Sewak Sabha Hospital. The bus driver fled the spot. The police has registered a case in this regard. In another incident a labourer Dev Narayan died in the industrial area here on Monday. He was repairing a telephone line in an industrial unit when he fell down from the pole and died on the spot. A middle-aged person reportedly committed suicide by throwing himself before a passenger train at nearby Dhansu village last night. The body has not yet been identified. The police recovered the unidentified body of 45-year old person inside the local bus-stand yesterday. The police also recovered another unidentified body from Balsamand canal here on Monday evening. According to the police the body was highly decomposed. Both bodies have been sent to the civil hospital for post-mortem examination. |
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Additional charge for 3 IAS officers CHANDIGARH, Sept 6 — The Haryana Government today made a minor shuffle in the departments of three IAS officers. Mrs Veena Eagleton, Financial Commissioner and Secretary, Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development, has been given the additional charge of Financial Commissioner and Secretary of Fisheries Department. Mr L.S.M. Salins, Commissioner, Gurgaon division and Special Commissioner, Health and Nutrition, Mewat area, Gurgaon will also look after the work of Administrator, Trade Fair Authority of Haryana in New Delhi. Mr K.S. Yadav, Additional Resident Commissioner, Haryana Bhavan, New Delhi, has also been given the additional charge of Resident Commissioner, Haryana Bhavan, New Delhi. |
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Kadian to attend Commonwealth meet CHANDIGARH, Sept 6 — The Haryana Vidhan Sabha Speaker, Mr Satbir Singh Kadian, will attend the 47th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference to be held in London and Edinburgh from September 20 to 29. More than 400 Parliamentarians will help chart the future of the commonwealth. The representatives from Commonwealth Parliaments and Legislatures will discuss the future of the 54-member international organisation when they meet under the auspices of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA). Their input will be channeled by the CPA into the high-level review of the Commonwealth Heads of Government at their 2001 meeting in Brisbane, Australia. The conference will feature major addresses by Queen Elizabeth II, Head of the Commonwealth and Patron of the CPA, and by Prime Minister Blair and UK Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary Robin Cook, MP. The new Commonwealth Secretary-General, Mr Don McKinnon, will address the conference on developments in the Commonwealth. |
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Employees to get pay through banks CHANDIGARH, Sept 6 — The Haryana Government today decided to disburse the salaries of its employees through banks. A circular issued by the State Finance Department asked all heads of department to issue necessary instructions to Drawing and Disbursing Officers concerned to disburse salaries through bank rather than in cash. The government had observed that the salaries of a large number of employees continued to be paid in cash notwithstanding the development of efficient banking systems. Also, a large amount of cash was carried by the officials to their offices and all cash transactions took place on the pay day. |
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Villagers block traffic against
girl’s abduction KAITHAL, Sept 6 — Agitated villagers blocked the Chandigarh-Hisar national highway near Batta village of Kalanjot sub-tehsil in the district this morning. The protesters were demanding the arrest of Anil and his two accomplices allegedly involved in the abduction of Babita (14), a handicapped schoolgirl, yesterday at Batta village. However, the blockade was lifted on the intervention of the DSP, Mr Amir Singh, who rushed from Kaithal to the site and assured the villagers that appropriate action would be taken against the guilty. Earlier, yesterday when Babita did not reach home after attending school, her parents asked her classmates and were informed that Anil (30), a resident of the same village, along with two others had taken Babita in a Maruti car. Subsequently, a case under Sections 363 and 366-A of the IPC was registered against Anil and the others.
According to reports, some other schools also remained closed in protest against the incident.
The villagers have threatened to launch an agitation if the girl is not traced soon. |
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Principal held for
taking bribe FARIDABAD, Sept 6 — The Principal of Industrial Training Institute (ITI) in the new industrial township (NIT) here was caught while accepting a bribe of Rs 1000 from a student today in his office. He was arrested and a case under Section 7 and 13 of the IPC was booked against him. The accused Chiranjilal Kapoor had allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 1800 from a student, Lokesh Chhabra for getting him employed in a printing press here. It is learnt that Lokesh lodged a complaint with the Deputy Commissioner and the latter constituted a team of senior officials, including the city Magistrate, S.S. Dalal and Deputy Superintendent of Police. It is learnt that an “interview” was held for the job by the company on September 5 and the complainant was told that his work had been done. The team nabbed the Principal while accepting the marked currency notes. |
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Dharna by
university non-teaching staff ROHTAK, Sept 6 — Members of the All-Haryana Universities Non-Teaching Employees Federation staged a dharna in front of the administrative block of Maharshi Dayanand University and raised slogans against the state government for “turning a deaf ear” to their demands. Employees of all four universities in the state assembled on the campus and expressed their anguish over the “anti-employee” policies of the state government. Mr Joginder Singh Patter, chairman of the federation, said the federation had served an ultimatum to the government to accept their demands till August 16 last or to face an agitation. As a part of statewide agitation members of the federation would stage a dharna in Guru Jambheshwar University, Hisar on September 21. Dharnas would be staged in Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agriculture University in Hisar and in Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra. The federation leader demanded the restoration of autonomy in all four universities and the abolition of special provisions under Sections 9F, 12A and 8A. He sought that grants from the government should be released to the universities in time and arrears of the revised pay package be released without delay. |
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VC for transparency
in university work YAMUNANAGAR, Sept 6 — There would be transparency in education system in Haryana, Mr R.S. Chaudhry Vice-Chancellor, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra told reporters here yesterday. He added that the university assigned top priority to education in Haryana. He laid emphasis on technical education which was very relevant in today’s scenario. Answering the questions he informed that the Kurukshetra University was always open to courses beneficial to the students. He further stated that there was dearth of institutions starting such courses and the university was always positively inclined to quality education. When asked about students' unrest regarding the election of students union in colleges, he informed that their representative had already met the Chief Minister Haryana, Mr Om Parkash Chautala in respect of their demands and a decision in this regard would be taken very shortly. He stated that a nine-member committee has been set up which would suggest improvement of education system in Haryana and decide on the timing of examinations and announcement of results. He said that the committee has been directed to submit its report soon. He stated that the report of the committee would be implemented in
toto. |
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Awards to encourage safe units CHANDIGARH, Sept 6 — The Haryana Labour Department today announced the Haryana State Safety and Welfare Awards for the year 1999 to encourage industries in maintaining high standards of safety and welfare facilities in their plants. A spokesman of the department said the chief minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, would distribute awards at a function to be held on September 11 at Faridabad. The spokesman added that under the scheme of giving awards, the factories had been divided into large, medium and small-scale categories. Factories employing 500 or more workers have been included in the large scale, those employing between 100 and 500 workers in the medium scale and those employing up to 100 workers in the small scale. He said two types of awards, one for excellence in safety and other for providing best welfare facilities, had been proposed under this scheme. Under the Safety Awards, there are two schemes — one pertained to the lowest frequency rate and other longest accident free period. For the purpose of awards under these schemes, factories were divided into 20 groups, depending upon their manufacture process. He said there were five schemes for giving welfare awards, which included best working conditions, best first-aid arrangements, best canteen arrangements, best creche arrangements and best factory environments. These awards would be given to the winner and runner-up in each category of factory. |
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Residents seek arrest of
miscreants AMBALA, Sept 6 — The residents of Regiment Bazar today demanded the arrest of all those who were involved in the “unprovoked assault on people and vehicles” last night. A delegation met the IG Police, Mr HS Ahlawat in this regard. A delegation member said the IG has instructed the area police to take speedy action in the matter. Most of the shops in the Regiment Bazar remained closed today in protest against last night’s violence which left six injured. Three cars and two shops also bore the brunt of the attack. The clash between two
groups led to one group taking to the streets and
assaulting people who came in their way. Allegations and
counter-allegations were made by both the groups, with
each claiming that the other was responsible for the
rampage last night.
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Life term for 2 in murder case KURUKSHETRA, Sept 6 (UNI) — District and Sessions Judge C.R. Goyal today awarded life imprisonment to two persons in a murder case and fined them Rs 5000 each. The court judgement said if the fine was not paid, imprisonment would be extended by another six months. The Sessions Judge found Balwant Singh and Narsi Ram guilty of committing the murder of Kuldeep Singh on September 25, 1998, at Barwa village in the district. The deceased, who was hit hard by iron rods by the accused, had succumbed to his injuries on his way to the PGI, Chandigarh.
Meanwhile, the District Bar Association has withdrawn boycott of Chief Judicial Magistrate S.K. Sondi after the Bar Association and the Sessions Judge held a meeting here yesterday. |
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8 hurt in clash near factory FARIDABAD, Sept 6 — Eight persons, including seven workers, were injured in a clash that took place near a factory today. According to information, the clash took place over some demands and dispute with the factory management It is learnt that certain outsiders aggravated the situation. The injured have been identified as Jugal Kishore, Satydev, Pawan Kumar, Bhawani, Singh, Ram Bharose, Yograj and Ranni. Ranni’s condition is reported to be serious. |
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Man murdered, 3 booked PANIPAT, Sept 6 — Hakim Ali (40) was allegedly murdered by three persons of Rana Majra village of the district in the early hours of
today. According to the police, Hakim Ali was working in the fields when three persons of the same village beat him up severely. He was killed by a country-made revolver.
The police after conducting the post-mortem, handed over the body to his
relatives. A case has been registered. |
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Youth hit by
train, dies FARIDABAD, Sept 6 — Three persons, including a woman, lost their lives in various incidents in the district in the past 24 hours.
According to information, a youth Balwinder Singh died after he was hit by a train near Jawahar Colony at Ballabgarh town. His body was handed over to his kin after a post-mortem examination by the railway police. Two persons, including a woman committed “suicide” in separate incidents. While Sohanlal ended his life at Hodal town by hanging himself. One woman indentified as Sugant died after she took some poisonous substance. She was a resident of Gonchi village. |
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AWWA launches journal, cards AMBALA, Sept 6 — The president of AWWA Kharga, Mrs Shivjot
Sihota, today, launched the Asha
greeting cards and the AWWA journal at a function held at
the Kharga auditorium in Ambala cantonment. A colourful
programme was presented by the mentally and physically
challanged of Asha school. |
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