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| Thursday, October 12, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Haryana Govt denies distress sale of paddy Rent-free phones for
BSNL employees BJP-VP alliance
strained Robbers land ‘victims’ in soup Rural lovers defy feudal taboos Maintain dignity of
alliance: Vij |
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‘Low impact’ of millers’ stir MC demolition drive sparks off row Bureau: register
criminal cases against 11 Prizes for small
savings investors Auction of 9 hotel
sites fetches 21 cr Arora Director of
grievances cell Two minor girls
raped Case registered
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Haryana Govt denies distress sale of paddy CHANDIGARH, Oct 11 — The Haryana Government today refuted allegations about the distress sale of paddy by farmers and claimed that paddy procured by the government agencies till yesterday had already exceeded the amount procured during the entire season last year. Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, chief of the Congress party in Haryana, and Mr Karan Singh Dalal, MLA and convener of the newly formed Haryana Nirman Manch, had held separate press conferences yesterday and attacked the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, for undertaking a foreign jaunt when paddy growers were resorting to the distress sale of their produce. In a statement issued here today, Haryana’s Town and Country Planning Minister, Mr Dhirpal Singh, claimed that Mr Chautala was fully aware of the procurement operations and had been “monitoring” the situation from abroad. According to the statement, 6.46 lakh tonnes of paddy had arrived in the mandis till yesterday, out of which 3.58 lakh tonnes were procured by the government agencies and 2.87 lakh tonnes by millers. Mr Dhirpal Singh claimed that government agencies had procured only 3.43 lakh tonnes of paddy during the entire season last year, and added that the figures showed that the Opposition leaders were misleading the people. The agencies had procured 58 per cent of the total leviable paddy arriving in the mandis till yesterday, Mr Dhirpal Singh said. He also claimed that there was no storage problem with the Food Corporation of India as it had created more covered space to store levy rice. Procurement in the mandis would begin from 10 a.m. tomorrow instead of 11 a.m., the statement said and added that this step was taken to help the farmers. The statement claimed that when the Congress was ruling the state, only 5 to 6 per cent of the paddy arriving in the mandis used to be procured by the government agencies. Similarly, when Mr Bansi Lal was the Chief Minister, only 8 per cent of the paddy was procured by the agencies. The minister asked the farmers not to get swayed by the “disinformation campaign” of the Opposition. He also assured the farmers that their entire produce would be procured by the agencies and the millers. |
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Rent-free phones for
BSNL employees ROHTAK, Oct 11 — The process for providing rent-free telephone facility to employees on deputation in Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited has been started in the state. The step will benefit Class III and Class IV employees. Although orders in this regard had been issued before the conversion of the Telecommunication Department into Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, the Telecom Circle Office, Ambala, sent the order to all district centres in the state on October 3. At present the employees of the previous department are on deputation with the nigam. According to official sources, the employees seeking rent-free telephone facility will have to submit an affidavit permitting the department to withdraw the facility at any moment. The sources revealed that a social organisation had filed a public interest litigation against the decision taken by the Ministry of Telecommunication to provide the facility to its employees in August. Later, the Department filed a writ petition (civil) in support of the decision in the Supreme Court. The sources clarified that affidavits were being sought from the employees to avoid any legal problems in withdrawing the facility if the department lost the case in the Supreme Court. In another incident, a youth, Satish Kumar, allegedly raped a six-year-old girl at Dhani Peeran village yesterday. the Hansi police has registered a case. No arrest has been made so far. |
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BJP-VP alliance
strained AMBALA, Oct 11— The alliance between the local unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Vikas Parishad in the Municipal Council of Ambala Sadar has run into trouble. Talking to newspersons here today, the President of the Municipal Council, Pandit Shankar Dass, made serious allegations against the Ambala Cantonment MLA, Mr Anil Vij, and claimed that the strain in relationship is due to lack of cooperation on the part of Mr Vij, who leads the Vikas Parishad. “We have honoured the alliance with them , but from the first day itself, the alliance was hurt by sloganeering against our then mandal president, Dr
K.D. Sharma. Incidentally, it’s their people who cross-voted and not ours,” he said. “We can’t force them to keep an alliance,” he added. Mr Dass questioned why the issue of auction of shops at the bus stand was raised now, after a gap of several days. “The shops were auctioned in the presence of the ADC and the allegations against me are baseless,” he said. He said that the charge of encouraging unauthorised construction against him was false. “I had taken all possible action in the case of the shops located near the post office in Sadar Bazaar. The senior district officials were intimated about the development. I am the president for the last three months, but Mr Vij is an MLA for the second time, so doubts are naturally raised against him,” he said. On the issue of construction of a community hall al Lal Kurti, Mr Dass claimed that Mr Vij had made it a prestige issue and was not allowing its construction. He alleged that Mr Vij is interfering in the day to day functioning of the Municipal Council. “In a week, there are two off days and on Monday and Friday, Mr Vij holds
darbar, so there are only three days left for the actual functioning of the Municipal Council,” he said. He also alleged that there was an ‘understanding’ between the MLA and staff. Demanding an enquiry into the money spent on developing Netaji Subhash Chandra Park, Mr Dass said that a sum of Rs 65 lakh had reportedly been spent there, but there were no tangible results. Among others who were present on the occasion included Mr Shish Pal
Bhola, Mr Kamal Kishore Jain, Mr Gyan Chand Aggarwal and Mr Dhir. |
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Robbers land ‘victims’ in soup KURUKSHETRA, Oct 11 — Mystery surrounds yesterday’s armed robbery incident. Two employees of a local commission agent were robbed of Rs two lakh at gun point when returning to their new grain market shop after withdrawing the amount from a local bank. They claimed to have been robbed by two pistol-yielding men in their forties. According to the two men, Subhash and Bachna Ram, they were returning after withdrawing the amount from the Oriental Bank of Commerce at 11 a.m. when they were accosted near the main entrance gate of the new grain market. One of their assailants was a Sikh while the other had his face muffled. Both robbers were armed and fired in the air to frighten their intended victims. Despite this Subhash and Bachna Ram bravely fought back and scuffled with them. What has given an interesting twist to the case is the fact that while the robbers succeeded in escaping with the money on an unnumbered Rajdoot motorcycle Subhash and Bachna Ram managed to snatch a loaded revolver from them before they fled. The police has however dismissed the two men’s story as
connected. Police sources said that when Subhash and Bachna Ram first approached the local SHO and the latter asked them to accompany him to the site of incident in the police jeep both men refused. Nor did they even ask the SHO to register a case. Investigations revealed that no one had heard any shots in the area or seen them scuffling with the desperados. Asked about the robbery weapon snatched by Subhash and Bachna Ram, the police said that the duo had probably arranged it themselves. The firm’s senior accountant, Ram Nath told this correspondent that the pistol and the live cartridges were carried away by the police during investigations yesterday and he knew nothing more about the case. Subhash and Bachna Ram were not available for comment at the commission agent’s shop here today. |
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Rural lovers defy feudal taboos HISAR, Oct 11 — The feudalistic rural Haryana is passing through difficult times with the younger generation determined to break social taboos governing affairs of the heart and the self-styled guardians of society equally intent on ostracising them for the slightest misdemeanour. With neither party willing to understand the other’s point of view, serious conflicts between youths and elders on the one hand and different communities on the other, are on the increase. Although there have been instances of young boys and girls hailing from the same or nearby villages falling in love in the past too, recently there has been an unusual increase in the number of such cases with disastrous results. Over the past few years, rural Haryana has been witness to innocent lovers being separated forcibly or worse still being hacked or burnt to death. However, in a recent development, young couples have begun to resist pressure from elders. A couple which was expelled from Jondhi village in Jhajjar district in August, along with their infant son, for tying the knot after defying gotra taboos, is making a determined bid to return to the village and restore the honour of the boy’s family. At his instance, a meeting of community leaders has been summoned at Najafgarh near Delhi on October 12 to review the expulsion. The boy belongs to the Dagar gotra and his wife of three years belongs to the Gehlawat gotra. Traditionally, marriages among persons belonging to these two gotras are taboo. In this particular case, the girl hailed from a nearby village and a panchayat ordered them to dissolve the marriage and become brother and sister. The boy and his family vehemently opposed the ruling describing it as unrealistic. Later, however, a mahapanchayat was held which reduced the punishment of expulsion of the couple from the village for life. The two have since been living with friends most of the time separately. The boy’s family has been ostracised by the villagers. Since their ‘hukka-panni’ was banned, no villager maintains any relation with the family. The family lives in isolation. But the family elders are silently and stealthily garnering support of caste and community leaders in a bid to get the expulsion revoked. They are now awaiting the outcome of the proposed meeting. The young couple Ashish and Darshana fell in love about four years ago. They were aware of the social consequences of their marriage but secretly took the plunge. However, the truth came out after a son was born to Darshana. A similar controversy is raging in a village near Hansi in this district where a young businessman and political activist reportedly married a girl from the same village secretly. In this case the problem was that the groom was already married and a father of two. However, the community leaders are taking strong exception only to the marriage within the village itself and not on the issue of bigamy. A panchayat was scheduled to be held on October 1, but the groom managed to get it postponed using his clout with the influential members of the community. The man denies the marriage, but it is learnt that he and the girl have fled the village and are living here ever since the controversy began. Inquiries by The Tribune reveal that there has been an alarming increase in the number of such love affairs and marriages in the past five years. This is despite the fact that many couples have met a gory end for defying the social taboos. In 1998, two lovers were burnt to death in Shimla village near Kalayat in Jind district in full view of villagers, including children. They hailed from neighbouring villages and one of them was a Dalit. In another case in Rohtak district five years ago, a couple was hacked to death by the girl’s brothers in a village near Bahadurgarh. There have been instances of lovers eloping from their village never to come back. At least two such instances have been reported from this district alone in the recent past. While the affected families are against such taboos, village elders are not prepared to brook any lenience. So strong is the social pressure that not many are prepared even to discuss the merits and demerits of such taboos. Marriages within certain gotras are taboo in rural Haryana. Likewise, boys and girls from neighbouring or the same village are not expected to have affairs since they must maintain a brother-sister relationship. |
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Maintain dignity of
alliance: Vij AMBALA, Oct 11 — The Ambala Cantonment MLA, Mr Anil Vij, today made it clear that the President of the Municipal Council, Ambala Sadar, Pandit Shankar Dass, and his BJP councillors should maintain the dignity of the alliance between the Vikas Parishad and the local unit of the BJP. Talking to Chandigarh Tribune, Mr Anil Vij, who leads the Vikas Parishad, said they did not want to break the alliance. “It is upto them and they should behave properly. They should maintain the healthy political tradition of honouring a commitment,” he said. Mr Vij said if Pandit Shankar Dass was saying there was corruption, he should have taken steps to check it. “However, he has not issued a single order,” he said. “Ours is an alliance of cooperation and matters should have been discussed, but no such effort was made on their part. Incidentally, only issues of development should have been discussed in Municipal Council meeting, but they politicised the forum, which is sad,” he added. Mr Vij pointed out that in the written agreement between the Vikas Parishad and the local unit of the BJP, a coordination committee should have been formed. “But, it has not be done. Section three of the agreement states that the vice-president will preside over the subcommittees. This was not done,” he
said. The Ambala Cantonment MLA said it was his duty to listen to the grievances of the people and refer the matter to the Municipal Council, whenever needed. “Under no circumstances, I am going to stop listening to the problems of the people. I must make it clear that I will hear the problems of the residents,” he said, while criticising the comments of the President, of the Municipal Council. |
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‘Low impact’ of millers’ stir FARIDABAD, Oct 11 — Timely intervention by the district authorities has reduced the impact of the strike of the rice shellers considerably here in the district as the work of procurement of paddy is reportedly going on uninterruptedly in all mandis here. The shellers in the state had on strike to protest against the authorities’ decisions and non-acceptance of their demands regarding the procurement. The authorities had convened meetings of arhtiyas (dealers) and several millers and had made them work as per plan. According to it, the millers may not directly purchase the paddy from the market due to the ongoing strike but the procurement could be done on behalf of the arhtiyas. The business done this way could be transferred later to the account of the millers after the end of the strike. Claiming that in this way the interests of both the farmers and the markets could served, while the strike was in its place, the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Anand Mohan Sharan, said there was hardly any impact of both the strike in the mandis of the district. He said that senior officials, including the District Food and Supply Controller, (DFSC), Mr Virender Dahiya, had been in constant touch with the process of procurement which is likely to hit pitch in the coming days. He said Faridabad was perhaps the only district in the state where a 10 per cent of the total procurement by the various agencies and the millers had been made so far. He said detailed meetings of officials and farmers were held yesterday at Hodal, Hassanpur, Ballabhgarh and Palwal, which were attended by the DFSC himself. The Deputy Commissioner claimed that about 10 lakh quintals of paddy had been purchased so far from various mandis in the district so far. The officials had been trying their best to get the maximum price for the produce of the farmers and had been ensuring that no heaps of the paddy were left in the mandi for more than two or three days, claimed a senior officer supervising the procurement operation. He, however, admitted that several of the heaps of the paddy which were below the specifications were not getting the minimum support price but added that they were trying to ensure that such a lot also got a reasonable rate. The rice shellers, who are on strike, were protesting against some of the norms of specifications, pollution control orders, including the fee charged from them and opposing the ‘forced milling’ of the paddy. There are about 30 mills in the district and nearby areas and there are several associations of the millers which are reportedly unanimous in their demands. |
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MC demolition drive sparks off row FATEHABAD, Oct 11 — A recent move by the local municipal committee to remove encroachments from the Palika Bazar here has sparked off a controversy here. The move has sharpened the differences between the municipal President, Mr Satya Paul Bansal, and other municipal councillors of the town. The municipal committee, under its anti-encroachment drive, has been demolishing unauthorised structures in the town since last few days. The committee, under the drive, had issued notices to the shopkeepers of the Palika Bazar to clear the corridors in front of their shops. The shopkeepers had encroached upon these corridors by erecting permanent walls. The municipal authorities had fixed October 9 for this purpose and asked the shopkeepers to clear the corridors by that date, or else the authorities would forcibly remove encroachments. The shopkeepers had been trying to save their structures since then and had met the state Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala in this regard, but could not get an assurance. The controversy deepened when the municipal authorities tried to demolish the unauthorised structures on October 9. As soon as the JBC excavator machine touched the first shop, that also of a municipal councillor, Mr Keshav Goswami, a group of shopkeepers stopped the demolishing squad. The angry shopkeepers threatened to lie down before the JBC machine. They offered to deposit a penalty for the wrongful construction. Only then it became known that many shopowners owed lakhs of rupees to the municipal committee for the past eight to 12 years and the interest accrued on this amount had accumulated to Rs 1.5 crore. The amount was sufficient to meet two years’ budget requirements of the municipal committee. The municipal authorities have now asked the shopkeepers to deposit their arrears first before offering to deposit the penalty for the wrongful construction. The municipal President, Mr Satya Paul Bansal, told this correspondent today the shopkeepers of the Palika Bazar collectively owed Rs 43,20,496 to the municipal committee. Interestingly, the interest accrued on this amount due to late payment had become Rs 1.40 crore. He said it was strange that the municipal authorities in the past had not tried to recover the dues. He said the shops of the Palika Bazar were sold to these shopkeepers in 1988 and 1992 during an auction. While the bidders deposited 23 per cent of the bid money at the time of the auction, they entered into an agreement with the municipal authorities through which they agreed to deposit another 15 per cent of the bid amount within 15 days of the auction. The balance 60 per cent of the money was to be paid in three equal
six-monthly instalments of 20 per cent each. The shopkeepers agreed to pay 13 per cent per annum simple interest on the balance amount and 18 per cent per annum interest in case an instalment was delayed. Mr Bansal said since the municipal committee faced a resource crunch, it was not possible for him to allow anyone take undue advantage at the expense of the committee. He said that the annual budget of the local municipal committee was not more than Rs 1.10 crore, but 68 shopkeepers of the Palika Bazar had been cornering over Rs 1.83 crore among themselves. He said that in case the erring parties deposited their dues with the municipal committee, he could carry out many pending development activities in the town. Regarding the removal of unauthorised structures, Mr Bansal said that the agreement between the municipal committee and the shopkeepers clearly said that the shopkeepers would leave the corridors open and would not construct any basement or second floor on their shops. The agreement gave the municipal authorities right to cancel the allotments in case they violated the terms of the agreement. The municipal president said that the erring shopkeepers had violated all terms and moreover they were not paying what was due towards them. On the other hand, the shopkeepers , who have the support of 18 out of 19 municipal councillors, alleged, Mr Bansal was only trying to settle scores with some dissident councillors some of whom or their relatives own shops in the bazar. The local INLD MLA, Mr Leela Krishan Chaudhary, had also been backing the shopkeepers obviously due to political compulsions. The shopkeepers rued that the municipal authorities had used the threat of demolition to recover their dues. They said that as the amount was quite high, it was not possible for anyone to deposit it in one go. The shopkeepers said if the municipal authorities had turned a blind eye to the outstanding amounts towards the shopkeepers all those years, it was not their fault. They said they were ready to deposit their arrears as well as penalty on the wrongful construction but the authorities should provide them some more time for this. |
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Bureau: register
criminal cases against 11 CHANDIGARH, Oct 11 — The Haryana State Vigilance Bureau today recommended the registration of criminal cases against 11 persons, including four gazetted officers. An official spokesman said the bureau had also recommended departmental action against 11 gazetted officers and 14 other officials under Rule 7 of the Civil Service Rules, apart from suggesting the recovery of over Rs 19.13 lakh from the erring persons. He added that the revenue wing of the bureau had detected two cases of leakage of revenue involving over Rs 1.15 lakh. He said four officials had been nabbed while taking illegal gratification. They included two officials of the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam posted at Kurukshetra. |
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Prizes for small
savings investors CHANDIGARH, Oct 11— The Haryana Government today claimed to have revitalised its small savings scheme and announced a number of prizes for investors and incentives for agents. A spokesman for the Small Savings Department said the first part of the Haryana Millennium Small Savings Scheme ended on September 30. As many as 7,979 prizes would be given to the investors of the first part in the near future. The second part of the six-month-long scheme commenced on October 1. Under this, a similar number of prizes would be given. He said the scheme would have a new focus with prizes being in cash now for investors. Earlier, the prizes were given in kind, which often did not prove useful to the winners. He said prizes amounting to Rs 87 lakh would be given to the winners. The first prize would carry an amount of Rs 3,66,111 which, after tax deduction at sources, would amount to Rs 2 lakh. Similarly, three second prizes of Rs 1,80,926 would amount to Rs 1 lakh each, five third prizes of Rs 85,357 would amount to Rs 50,000 each, 10 fourth prizes of Rs 49,642 would be worth Rs 30,000 each and 20 fifth prizes of Rs 31,786 would amount to Rs 20,000 each after tax deduction at source. The spokesman added that as an incentive to agents three top small savings agents would be given prizes amounting to Rs 21,000, Rs 11,000 and Rs 51,000, respectively. |
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Auction of 9 hotel
sites fetches 21 cr CHANDIGARH, Oct 11 — The auction of nine hotel sites at Gurgaon conducted this morning fetched Rs 21 crore to the Haryana Urban Development Authority. The Town and Country Planning Minister, Mr Dhirpal Singh, said a five-bay hotel site facing the Leisure Valley fetched Rs 3.60 crore. Five storeyed SCOs were auctioned for Rs 10.60 crore. A corner SCO fetched Rs 2.71 crore. Some booths were also auctioned which yielded HUDA eight times more than the official reserve price. The minister said the auction of commercial sites in the Sector-29 city centre at Gurgaon also took place. The city centre was being developed as a model commercial centre, he added. |
Arora Director of
grievances cell CHANDIGARH, Oct 11 — The Haryana Government today appointed Mr V.B. Arora, a former HCS officer, Director, Grievances and Complaints Monitoring Cell in the Chief Minister’s Secretariat, with immediate effect. The government also directed that the monthly meeting of the Yamunanagar District Public Relations and Grievances Committee would now be held on second Saturday of every month. The monthly meeting of the Panchkula District Public Relations and Grievances Committee would be held on the second Sunday of every month. |
Two minor girls
raped HISAR, Oct 11 — Two minor girls were raped in the district during past 24 hours. According to the police, Sunder Singh of Khara Barwala village allegedly raped a 14-year-old girl of the same village when she was alone in her house. A case has been registered at Adampur police station. However the accused has been absconding. |
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Case registered HISAR, Oct 11 — The police has registered a case against a local resident on the charge of selling stolen cars. Sub-Inspector Sohan Lal had lodged an FIR with the Civil Lines police station stating that Gulshan had sold a stolen car by forging documents. Gulshan was arrested by the Delhi police some days ago on similar charges. |
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