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| Saturday, September 16, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Dalit woman, youth
paraded by panchayat ‘Partiality’ in drive against
encroachers No internal conflict in Cong: Bhajan
Lal Bajrang
Dal's promise to Pak Hindus Encroachers make hay, govt looks other
way Ramji Lal heads Human Rights Cell |
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Villagers to look after projects Accidental death rate
‘falling’ in factories MC chief’s orders draw flak Sampat Singh appears in court One
teacher for 400 students
Top tax payers honoured 70
teams for ambulance competition Norms
‘flouted’ to get MCI approval 2
martyrs cremated
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‘Partiality’ in drive against
encroachers CHANDIGARH, Sept 15 — The drive stated to have been started by the Haryana Government to recover village common land from encroachers has already triggered off a political controversy with the HPCC chief, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, alleging that ruling party supporters are being spared from this drive. The government has, of course, denied the allegation. Sources here, meanwhile, said that if the drive was carried out impartially and taken to its logical end, it could substantially improve the financial health of panchayats. Out of a total area of about 8 lakh acres of village common land in the state, at least 28,000 acres of cultivable land is under illegal occupation,the sources said. The problem reportedly is most acute in Kurukshetra, Karnal, Kaithal and Hisar districts. At Kurukshetra 6,000 acres of land is estimated to be under illegal occupation. The related figures are 4,157 acres for Kaithal, 3,251 acres for Karnal and 2,981 acres for Hisar. More than 4,000 court cases are reportedly pending in these four districts for the recovery of land. Given the fact that the money realised from village common land is the main source of income of panchayats, the need for deterrent action was reportedly strongly felt because otherwise less and less area would be available to the panchayats for leasing. On an average the total yearly income of the panchayats from cultivable common land is upwards of Rs 31 crore, which is the highest internal revenue mobilised by the panchayats. It is estimated that if the panchayats are able to recover the encroached areas, their income may increase by about Rs 6 crore annually. The government also got a study conducted by the Haryana Institute of Rural Development on the problem of illegal encroachment. It was found in the course of the study that there were adequate provisions in the existing laws to deal with the problem. It was apathy shown by officials which created the real hindrance to the recovery of encroached areas. The study accused panchayat and law officers of not taking real interest in completing court cases regarding the illegal occupation of village land. Also, according to the study, when a court orders the ejection of an encroacher, the warrant of possession of land by the panchayat is not simultaneously moved by officials which causes a delay of four to five months. The study identified the non-existence of maps of village common land as posing a major problem for taking legal action relating to encroachment. The case of a panchayat reportedly often fails because of the lack of proof to show that the disputed land really belongs to it. To effectively enforce
its drive for recovering the encroached land, the
government needs to take note of the points made in the
study, sources here said. No internal conflict in Cong: Bhajan Lal SIRSA, Sept 15 — People of the state and INLD MLAs are dissatisfied with Mr Om Prakash Chautala and are waiting for an opportunity to bring him down. This was stated by former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal while talking to mediapersons during a function organised at the local Bishnoi Mandir. Mr Bhajan Lal said there was no need to make efforts to topple the Chautala government as the MLAs involved in internal clashes would themselves bring it down. Regarding the walkout by the Congress during the recent Vidhan Sabha session, Mr Bhajan Lal said the ruling party itself had “left the field”. Denying any internal
conflict within the Congress, Mr Bhajan Lal said the
Congress was united. He said he had no intention to head
the party in the state and was not going to stake his
claim for that. |
Encroachers make hay, govt looks other
way FATEHABAD: Due to the authorities lackadaisical approach, encroachments have become a regular feature here . Go to any part of the town, you will find people encroaching on government land with impunity. This puts local residents to a lot of hardship and the authorities have not shown any inclination to tackle this nagging problem. Most shopkeepers on the national highway, Bigher Road, Thana Road, DSP Road, Main Bazar, Jawahar Chowk and Shiv Chowk display their saleable commodities outside shops to woo customers. But in the process they encroach on roads and pavements meant for vehicles and pedestrians. This causes a lot of hardship to the general public. In the race to give a better salability to their goods shopkeepers usually go much beyond their own boundaries and leave very little space for vehicles to pass through those areas. Some shopkeepers have installed permanent or temporary sheds in front of their shops. Though the authorities launched a drive to remove encroachments two months earlier and the drive paid dividends, but they failed to capitalise on the situation. The drive did not sustain for long and things are back. The same is case with kiosks and rehris. During its drive to remove rehris and kiosks from the national highway and important markets the authorities removed rehris from the busy Hans Market, Jawahar Chowk and Thana Road bazars and kiosks from the sides of national highway. But in the absence of follow-up action, things have returned to square one. Kiosks are again a common sight on two sides of the national highway. Go to any market of the town, the rehris make it difficult for vehicular traffic to flow freely. At Hans Market and Jawahar Chowk, it is all the more difficult to cross the area on a vehicle. Stray animals roaming around these vegetable rehris make life all the more difficult for the people. When the administration took steps to remove these rehris, it had promised to provide an alternative place to them. But it failed to keep its word. As a result, the rehri owners have come back in bigger numbers with the authorities not putting any effort to remove them. The rehris aggravate road traffic and are a hindrance to pedestrians. Another kind of encroachment on both sides of the national or state highways here has been the mushrooming of shrines in recent years. Unemployed youth donning the garb of sadhus encroach on the sides of highways. Unscrupulous youth start collecting offerings by stopping vehicles. They generally stand at the side of the road with “parshad”. Religious-minded drivers stop their vehicle and give offerings as they pay obeisance to the idols. Out of the money collected, these people then build a temple and once the temple has come up they start acquiring land by erecting a wire or by planting saplings. Many such temples can be seen on the Hisar-Sirsa road, Rattia road and Bhuna road. Though many new such
places or worship have appeared in recent years, the
authorities have not been able to take action against any
of them. With the authorities not showing any firm
resolve, encroachers are thriving, adding to the problem
of common people, besides depriving the government of
precious land. |
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Ramji Lal heads
Human Rights Cell AMBALA, Sept 15 — Mr Ramji Lal, a former member of Parliament, has been appointed President of Human Rights Cell of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee. According to a press note issued here today, Lieut-Col Sunder Singh (retd) will be the Secretary of the cell. Mr Anand Swarup Bhardwaj and Mrs Shakuntla Malik have been made Co-ordinates. Those who were nominated as members of the state committee include Mr Tara Singh, Mr Jangbir Singh, Mr Mange Ram Gupta, MLA, Mrs Anita Yadav, MLA, Mani Ram Keharwal, and Satpal Singh Chauhan. Mr Viresh Sandilya has been nominated as President of the Ambala unit. The others who were nominated as District Presidents include Mr J.P. Nagar (Faridabad), Mr Dharm Pal Sangwan (Bhiwani), Mr Dhura Ram (Fatehbad), Mr R.L. Bhardwaj (Gurgaon), Mr Bachan Singh Arya (Jind), Mr Jai Singh Rana (Karnal), Mr Dilu Ram (Kaithal), Mr Om Prakash (Panchkula), Mr Dharm Pal Sarsana (Hisar), Mr Uday Singh Dalal (Jhajjar), Mr K.L. Sharma (Kurukshetra), Rao Narender Singh, (Mahendargarh), Mr Virender Shah (Panipat), Capt, Ajay Singh, (Rewari), Mr Rahul Setia (Sirsa), Mr Lahari Singh (Yamunangar), Mr Ram Bhaj Chaudhry (Rohtak) and Mr Ajad Singh Nehra
(Sonepat). |
Accidental death rate
‘falling’ in factories FARIDABAD, Sept 15 — With the improvement in industrial safety measures and overall working conditions, the rate of accidents and accidental deaths in factories in Haryana has gone down sharply in the past decade. Now the death rate is less than one per thousand as against 4.8 in 1991. According to statistics and information available from the department concerned, the accidental death rate in the state is very low in comparison to the national rate of 11 per 1000. The Labour and Industrial Safety Department of the state has found that the accident rate in factories has been declining every year in the past decade. In 1995, the total number of accidents was 715, of which 35 were fatal. The rate of such deaths came down to 1.2 per thousand in 1996 and 1.06 in 1997. In 1999, it came down to 0.90 per thousand. Haryana has about 8500 factories which are registered under the Factories Act. According to the Act, units which employ 10 or more workers at a time and use power come under this provision and have to follow the guidelines and rules given in the Act. Any factory which employs 20 or more workers and does not use power also comes under the Act. Such factories have to follow the rules regarding safety and welfare provisions and the Factory Inspectorate of the state Labour Department is authorised to conduct frequent checks and raids to ensure implementation of the provisions of the Act. The factories are required to get their maps and machinery layouts cleared by the authorities concerned before the issuance of a licence for starting production and manufacturing. The authorities concerned have made it liable to employ a Safety Officer in factories where the strength of workers is 1,000 or more. The Department of Industrial Safety deals with organising and coordinating workshops, seminars and training programmes in the factories to create awareness regarding safety measures and give awards to those units which perform well. After a gap of about five years, the state government gave away prizes to over 40 units for ensuring proper safety and carrying out welfare programmes at a function here on September 11. It is learnt that the reason behind the majority of industrial accidents is carelessness on the part of workers. Some accidents take place due to short circuit or faulty electric connections. The Labour Welfare
Department provides a financial help of Rs 3,500 on the
death of a labourer and gives vocational training to the
kin of the deceased. |
MC chief’s orders draw flak FATEHABAD, Sept 15 — The local municipal council (MC) President, Mr Satya Paul Bansal, is in the eye of the storm. One of his recent orders has earned him the wrath of a majority of municipal commissioners. The dissident municipal commissioners led by the Vice-President of the MC, Mr Sushil Narang, are virtually at daggers drawn with Mr Bansal. Though Mr Bansal and Mr Narang do not see eye to eye eversince the municipal committee elections were held Mr Bansal and Mr Narang, both belonging to the INLD, were running for the MC presidentship. INLD leaders, however, supported Mr Bansal who was eventually elected president. Since then the two are at loggershead with each other. The recent controversy began earlier this week when Mr Bansal went to Chandigarh to attend a meeting of municipal presidents called by the Chief Minister. In his absence, Mr Narang, officiating as the municipal chief, signed the joining report of the new municipal secretary, Mr R.S. Nain, who had been transferred from Barwala in Hisar district. The next day, Mr Bansal issued orders that no one was authorised to sit in his chair in his absence, sparking a controversy. The dissident municipal commissioners led by Mr Narang convened a meeting here yesterday which was attended by 12 of the 19 municipal commissioners. They assailed the orders issued by Mr Bansal, terming them autocratic. They said there was a provision in the Haryana Minicpal Act that said the Vice-Prasident acted as president in the latter’s absence. Mr Narang said the commissioners had decided to bring the matter to the notice of the Chief Minister. He claimed that all commissioners were with him as not a single commissioner was present at a press conference called by Mr Bansal today. Mr Bansal, on the other hand claimed that some commissioners had been opposing him as they did not like the good work being done by him. Talking to mediapersons, he said Rs 13 lakh had already been spent on various development works in the town since he assumed power. He said four new tubewells for augmenting water supply would be set up soon. Mr Bansal alleged that
certain commissioners came to the committee office with
some outsiders and sat in his office for a long time. He
alleged that they had made the office a place for idle
sitting. He said when he came from Chandigarh, he found
his chair had been damaged. When he inquired from his
staff, he was told that Mr Narang along with some
outsiders had used his office a day before. Thereupon, he
had to issue the orders. He said the controversy was
unnecessary. |
Bajrang Dal’s promise to Pak Hindus ROHTAK, Sept 15 (UNI) — The Bajrang Dal will strive to get Indian citizenship for all Pakistani Hindus who have come to India and do not want to return to Pakistan. Announcing this here today at a Press conference, Bajrang Dal national convener Surender Kumar Jain claimed that about 450 Hindus from Pakistan had been residing in some states, including Haryana and Rajasthan, and they were unwilling to go back in view of the alleged atrocities on Hindus in Pakistan. He said Hindus were not allowed to perform religious ceremonies, Hindu women were harassed, students belonging to Hindu families were discriminated against in schools and people belonging to minority communities, including Christians, were considered second class citizens in Pakistan. Claiming that the Pakistani Hindus had come to India after getting proper visas from the Indian authorities, he said the Bajrang Dal would arrange employment for all such persons to help them earn their livelihood. He said Union Home
Ministry officials were approached by the Bajrang Dal to
get visas issued for 30 days extended to a year. |
Villagers to look after projects HISAR, Sept 15 — The Haryana Government has decided to constitute village-level committee to execute development projects costing up to Rs 50 lakh, Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala said while addressing public meetings at Khari and Phara villages in this district today. He said each such panel having seven to 11 members would oversee construction of government buildings and roads in the villages. Mr Chautala said this would ensure use of good quality material at lower costs. The government expected that the cost of these projects would be cut by two thirds. The Chief Minister said he believed in empowering the people through their participation in the developmental activities and panchayati raj. Mr Chautala inaugurated a water works at Khaira village and a community centre at Pabra. He also inaugurated anothet community centre at Bichpedi village. FATEHABAD: Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala said here on Friday the state government would set in a new era of development in the state with the start of the second phase of “Government at your doorstep” programme from October 2 this year. He was speaking on the occasion of the inauguration of an Industrial Training Institute (ITI) at Bhodia Khera village in this district today. State Finance Minister Sampat Singh, former Haryana Minister Mani Ram Godara, INLD MP from Sirsa Sushil Indora and party legislators, Lila Krishan, Nishan Singh and Jarnail Singh were present on the occasion. Mr Chautala said first phase of the programme during a recent meeting of the deputy commissioners, he had asked them to complete all pending development works by October 2 failing which the government would initiate action against the erring officials. Talking about the new education policy he said the new policy laid emphasis on job-oriented education. He said he was in favour of providing vocational education to the students and with this objective in mind the government was setting up more and more vocational institutes. Earlier, Mrs Promilla
Issar, Commissioner and Secretary, Industrial Training
and Technical Educational, Haryana, said that the ITI had
been constructed at a cost of Rs 48.33 lakh in an area of
12 acres.
Top tax payers honoured YAMUNANAGAR, Sept 15 — Mr J.S. Ahluwalia, Chief Commissioner, Income Tax, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh (region Panchkula) has honoured top tax payers here today. Mr Aditya Puri of Saraswati Industrial Syndicate Ltd, Mr Anil Kumar of M/s Anil Kumar Sushil Kumar Timber Merchants, and Mr Subhash Garg, advocate, were honoured for declaring highest incomes under the categories of salary, business and profession, respectively, in the charge of Income Tax Commissioner, Panchkula. Mr S.K. Khurana of Saraswati Sugar Mills, Mr Raj Kumar of M/s Ishwar Dayal Raj Kumar, and Dr B.S. Gaba of Gaba Hospital, were also honoured. “Samman patras” were given to the awardees for declaring highest incomes for 1997-98. Mr Ahluwalia said the highest tax payers would be honoured at the level of the Chief Commissioner in every district. Earlier, at a meeting with officers and staff, Mr Ahluwalia apprised them of the cadre restructuring recently approved by the Cabinet which ensured that almost each employee would get atleast one promotion. He said the number of tax payers had increased form 70 lakh to 2.35 crore in the past two years. 
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Sampat Singh appears in court HISAR, Sept 15 — The Haryana Finance Minister, Mr Sampat Singh, today appeared in the court of the Additional District and Sessions Judge, Mr P.L. Ahuja, in connection with a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The judge fixed the next hearing on October 21. The hearing had to be put off in the absence of the complainant, Mr Partap Singh, son of former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal, and the investigating officer, Mr Swarn Singh. Mr Partap Singh had
filed a complaint under Section 13 (1) B of the PCA in
1993. |
70 teams for ambulance
competition FARIDABAD, Sept 15 — The 17th Haryana State Ambulance Competition will be held here from October 8 to 12. According to an official press note 70 teams representing various institutions and departments, including police, Home Guards, the Railways and schools were likely to take part in this four-day programme. The competition will
highlight latest techniques of providing first-aid. The
Governor Babu Parmanand will honour the winning teams on
the concluding day. |
One teacher for 400 students FARIDABAD, Sept 15 — While the state government is planning to introduce computers at the school level in Haryana, there are several schools which are facing acute shortage of the teaching staff and basic infrastructure. Ranala Khurd village in Hathin subdivision of the district is one such school. The primary school of the village has only one teacher for around 400 students. According to Mr Abdul Rajjak, a former Sarpanch of the village the teacher has been taking classes alone for the past several months. There are reportedly five posts of teachers in the school, but four of them have been lying vacant. The villagers have on several occasions drawn the attention of the authorities ot the problem to no avail. According to residents the school itself is in poor shape with a shortage of rooms. The school has library or other facility. The residents demanded
upgradation of the school and recruitment of an adequate
number of teachers. The District Education Officials
could not be contacted in this connection. |
Norms ‘flouted’ to get
MCI approval ROHTAK, Sept 15 — The Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) administration has appointed more than 20 teachers on contract and has appointed about 12 demonstrators on ad hoc without completing the formalities to get affiliation for 150 seats of MBBS from the Medical Council of India (MCI). According to sources, the applicants were interviewed and appointment letters were handed to them on the same day on the basis of the application forms received on September 13. Meanwhile, a three member committee of the MCI reached the PGIMS on September 13 for inspection. The PGIMS administration and the state government had asked for the inspection in compliance with the high court orders in the last week of August. A section of doctors at
the PGIMS alleged that the administration had acted in
gross violation of rules in the matter of the
appointments on the pretext of compliance of court’s
orders. |
2 martyrs cremated ROHTAK, Sept 15 — The bodies of Subedar Major Ranveer Hooda (46) of Khidwali village and Lance Naik Ram Dhari (30) of Bhalaut village were cremated with full military honours at their native villages today. Those who attended the
cremation include Mr Bhupender Singh Hooda, HPCC, Mr
Dharam Pal Makrauli, Chairman, Zila Parishad, Mr Sri
Kishan Hooda, a former minister, Mr Rajesh Khullar,
Deputy Commissioner and Capt Ved Prakash Dahiya,
Secretary, Zila Sainik Board. Committee on
joint ventures set up CHANDIGARH, Sept 15 — The Haryana Government today constituted a committee headed by the Town and Country Planning Minister, Mr Dhirpal Singh, to examine and recommend appropriate action on all proposals of joint ventures proposed to be entered into by various boards, authorities and corporations in the state. The other members of the committee are the Minister of State for Social Welfare, Mr Risal Singh and the Minister of State of Local Government, Mr Subhash Chand Goyal. The committee will formulate policy guidelines governing such cases and also scrutinise all memoranda of understanding pertaining to joint ventures before these are signed. |
Abandoned baby sent to
Bal Kunj FATEHABAD, Sept 15 — The district administration has sent Shivani — an abandoned newborn child — to Bal Kunj at Chhachhroli village in Yamunanagar district. The Bal Kunj is run by the Haryana Council for Child Welfare. The child was found abandoned in the fields near Badopal village last week. A villager took her to the village police post from where she was taken to the local general hospital and kept under the care of staff nurses. A number of issueless couples had approached the district administration for adopting the child. The administration, however preferred to send it to Bal Kunj at Chhachhroli, state-level institution for destitute children.
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Dalit woman, youth
paraded by panchayat FARIDABAD, sept 15 — A middle-aged woman and a 25 year-old-youth were paraded, with blackened faces in Pawasar village near Palwal on the suspicion of having an illicit relationship, according to information reaching here today. The woman, who is a widow denied the charges and said the boy was like her son. She said that she was humiliated by villagers of another caste as she did not vote in their favour in the Panchayat election and worked for the victory of a Dalit candidate. She said that police had
not taken any action against the culprits in spite of her
reporting the matter as she is from the Dalit community
while the accused is an upper caste.
Rise in collection of market fee CHANDIGARH, Sept 15 — The Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board today claimed to have collected Rs 62.28 crore by way of market fee on the transaction of agricultural produce at the state mandis from April 1 to August 31. The Agriculture Minister, Mr Jaswinder Singh Sandhu, said the market fee collections this year were higher by Rs 9.83 crore than the income of last year. Last year’s collections were Rs 52.45 crore. Mr Sandhu said the board achieved this despite the fact that the market fee on 21 agricultural items had been reduced from 2 per cent to 1 per cent since January this year. Vigilance panels
reconstituted CHANDIGARH, Sept 15 — The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, today approved the reconstitution of district and subdivisional-level vigilance committees in Rohtak district under the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976. An official spokesman said such panels would also be constituted in the remaining districts of the state. The Rohtak district vigilance committee will be headed by the District Magistrate. Nine other members of the committee have been nominated by the Deputy Commissioner. Similarly, the subdivisional vigilance committees of Rohtak and Meham subdivisions have also been reconstituted under the chairmanship of their respective SDMs, who have nominated other members of the
panels |
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