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| Tuesday, October 17, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Plan for elderly criticised Shanta assures Haryana on paddy Haryana farmers seek
relief package Festival loan for Haryana staff Motivating Mewat women for uplift |
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Congress holds out threat
on power supply Congress holds dharna in front of DC’s office Many bodies found on
tracks unidentified 2 jawans cremated Probe into
illegal construction ordered Dalit child’s body
recovered Martyr cremated with honours Rewari Utsav begins 
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Plan for elderly criticised CHANDIGARH, Oct 16 — The announcement made by Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, on the occasion of his father, Mr Devi Lal’s birthday some days ago that old age homes would be set up in every village of Haryana has come in for criticism from his political adversaries. More than 5 per cent of Haryana’s population is 60 or older as per the findings of 1991 census. While current figures are not available the percentage of elderly people to the total population is likely to have gone up as this has been the trend, the state’s Social Welfare Department officials say. Even though the 1991 figures for Haryana are slightly lower than the corresponding figures at the all-India level, the officials insist that the number of elderly people in Haryana is on the high side and something needs to be done about their welfare. It is particularly important for the state government to step in to support the elderly as the joint family structure is crumbling and children are increasingly unwilling to look after their old parents, say officials. However, Opposition politicians said that the proposed homes would not be socially acceptable and were undesirable. Mr Bhajan Lal, the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, said that move was an attack on the traditional practice of children taking care of their elderly parents. Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, Congress MLA who was a Social Welfare Minister in the Haryana Government, also expressed similar fears adding that the welfare measure would fail because of the social stigma attached to it. The stigma, fear is not unfounded if the only state government run old age home at Rewari is any indication. While, the Rewari home has a capacity of accommodating 100 persons it has only 33 inmates. All of them are from the poorest of the poor strata as those with even marginally higher incomes hesitate to send their elderly to old age home. Meanwhile, sources in the state’s Social Welfare Department said that what they were planning to set up in the villages, as a follow up measure to the CM’s announcement made at Sonepat last month, would be more in the nature of recreational centers for the elderly. Newspapers and tea would be provided to senior citizens in these centers free of cost but there would not be any provision in these centers for keeping inmates. “Basically they will be places where elderly people can chat among themselves, read the paper and while away the time”, an official said. Old age homes with residential facilities with health care and other paraphernalia may be set up in future by seeing the popular response to these recreational centers, the official said. |
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Shanta assures Haryana on paddy CHANDIGARH, Oct 16 — The Union Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Minister, Mr Shanta Kumar, today gave an assurance to the Haryana Government that its case to seek a relief package for farmers for damaged paddy would be considered on the same pattern as in the case of Punjab. Mr Shanta Kumar said the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, who was in Korea yesterday, spoke to him on the telephone to apprise him of the prevailing paddy problem in the state. After talks with the Haryana team comprising the Town and Country Planning Minister, Mr Dhir Pal Singh, and the Minister of State for Local Bodies, Mr Subhash Goyal, Mr Shanta Kumar said at Palampur that he would discuss the necessary modalities with the Union Finance Minister tomorrow in New Delhi. He said if he did not have to consult the Finance Minister, he would have taken a decision today itself. However, he said he had instructed his ministry to look into the case of Haryana thoroughly and provide relief. The Union Minister said the Haryana team pleaded that the state had the same agricultural problems and climatic variations as Punjab. Farmers in Haryana had also been affected as much as those in Punjab. It demanded that the Haryana farmers should be suitably compensated without any delay. Besides the ministers, the Haryana Food Secretary, Mr Dharamvir, and the Additional Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, Mr D.S. Dhesi, also participated in the discussions. The Union Minister said some vested elements had been “misleading” farmers. He said the Union Government had been giving a number of incentives to the industrial sector, but it would not like the agricultural sector to suffer. He said unlike Punjab farmers, Haryana farmers had not resorted to agitation as a result of effective management by the state government. He said out of the total arrivals of 9 lakh tonnes of paddy in the mandis of Haryana, 5 lakh tonnes had been procured by the government agencies. The state expected 20 lakh tonnes of paddy to arrive in the mandis which would be more than the quantity received last year. |
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Haryana farmers seek
relief package AMBALA, Oct 16 — The announcement of the Rs 350 crore relief package for Punjab farmers may well have opened a Pandora’s box. The farmers here are keen that such a relief package must also be announced for Haryana. The farmers, The Tribune spoke to, stressed that they too were facing similar problems to farmers in Punjab. “The Centre should announce a relief package for us. The hardwork and labour which goes into the fields is no different than those put in by the Punjab farmers,“ a local farmer said. At the anaj mandi, the farmers who had come to sell their produce, said the conditions prevailing in Haryana and Punjab were similar. “If procurement agencies are unwilling to lift paddy there, the scenario is the same here. Several farmers have not got good price for the paddy here. A relief package for farmers here will help them tide over this difficult time,” a farmer said. The president of the arhtiya association of anaj mandi, Mr Dhuni Chand, said a Punjab pattern relief package for Haryana should be soon implemented. “Only 30 to 35 per cent of the paddy is being picked by the procurement agencies here. The package should ensure that all paddy be lifted so that the farmers get a good price for their labour,” he said. Mr Dhuni Chand suggested that paddy procurement be streamlined. “The effort should be to ensure that the farmers do not have to return disappointed,” he said. Statistics show that the arrival in the mandis of Ambala this year is higher compared to last year. While 58,346 tonnes of paddy arrived in the mandis last year. This year the figure till October 15 was 60,057 tonnes. The Deputy Commissioner of Ambala, Mr Ram Niwas said the paddy at the mandis was brought by different procurement agencies and millers. Out of this, millers bought 17272 tonnes, dealers 5909, HAFED 19066, Department of Food and Supplies 2727, Haryana Agro 5753, Haryana Warehouse Corporation 3126 and Confed bought 7204 tonnes. He said elaborate arrangements had been made for the procurement of paddy in the mandis of the district. Officials had been directed to the mandis to ensure smooth functioning. The paddy which has come to the mandis includes 8881 tonnes of standard variety, 51173 tonnes of grade A and three tonnes of Basmati. |
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Festival loan for Haryana staff CHANDIGARH, Oct 16 — The Haryana Government today decided to grant an interest-free festival loan of Rs 750 to all its Class IV employees in the state. An official spokesman said the festival advance would be admissible to permanent, temporary and ad hoc employees who had been in service for the past one year and were likely to continue for another four months after furnishing surety of a permanent government employee. He added that the advance would not be given to the work charged and contingent paid staff and daily wager. It would not be granted to those Class IV employees who were on deputation. If both husband and wife were employed, the advance would be allowed to one of them. The loan would be recovered in four equal monthly instalments before the close of the financial year 2000-2001. The loan would be disbursed before October 26. |
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Motivating Mewat women for uplift PINGWA (MEWAT), Oct 16 — Maseedan, an elected member of village Nasirpur (Mudeta) gram panchayat in Punhana block of the Mewat area is happy that the government has, for once, taken care to organise for her health check up and making her feel special at a day-long medical camp in this village in the process. Eversince Raseedan was elected to the local self -governing body under the arrangements of the 73rd amendment to the Constitution relating to the Pachayati Raj institution giving pride of place to the women, the sight of a senior functionary of the state government in Chairman of the Mewat Development Agency, Mr S.A. Khan and the Chief Executive Officer (an IAS officer), Mr M.K. Midha along with a battery of specialist doctors led by the District Medical Chief, Dr N.K. Jain, personally involved in the camp for elected female representatives of the local self governing bodies in Punhanan block, was something she had not bargained for. Batudi, another elected member panch of village Jalika, feels that this first ever such camp for the elected female representatives reflected the growing consciousness in several quarters in favour of the overall development of the females. Like her and Raseedan, the consciousness of many of the 100 odd participants is further tickled over the way the authorities made them feel important. They were apparently in a festive mood, judging by the kaleidoscopic view of their colourful attire. Living in the villages in the interiormost parts of Mewat, which is generally considered to be the backyard of the state on account of rampant poverty and illiteracy, the occasion had telltale signs of they enjoying in groups, far away from their hearth and households. The presence of the president of the of women wing of the district unit of the ruling INLD, Ms Shantra Devi, on the occasion along with the authorities, was an icing on the cake. According to discernible observers, the women enthusiastically taking part in an apparently innocuous occasion has wider ramications and is loaded with contextual significance with regard to the patriarchal society of the Mew Muslims. The elected members, coming out of their houses, from distant places, reflected their growing dynamism as well as willingness to come out of the crutches of the menfolk. A woman panch, who does not wish to be identified, said that she attended the camp despite remonstrations against it from the male members of her family and the neighbourhood. There is another social dimension to the females’ participation in the camp. Superstitious beliefs are still strong and imminent in Meo society. They set less store by the modern medicine as majority of its members have unflagging faith in talisma and supernatural therapy preserved by the Mullahs and the Maulvis. The religious leaders always look askance to the modern medicines and scientific analysis of a situation. To compound the problems large number of quacks are active in Mewat and they have vested interests to create a mental block among the residents against the modern medicines and diagnosis. It appears that the authorities are dealing with the issues pertaining to Mewat psychologically. The government created a separate office of the Chairman of the Mewat Development Agency and appointed a retired IPS officer to the post, a few months ago. This move has stultified the religious fanatics and leaders as they are unable to raise any bogey against the government measures as the Chairman of the MDA was from the same Muslim community. Also, the MDA has pressed into service dedicated and trained local female “animators”, 25 in all, to motivate the women in Mewat to participate in the special programmes designed for their development. The exercise will be gradually expanded in other parts of the state. A senior functionary of the MDA said that making the elected representatives was the first step towards educating the females towards health care. The government agency plans to use these elected representatives as agents and catalysts to further motivate the women towards progressive ideas in the long run. The success, would, possibly help the government to fulfil several constitutional mandates for overall development of the women and bring them into the national mainstream. |
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Congress holds out threat
on power supply REWARI, Oct 16 — Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, Deputy Leader of the Haryana Congress Legislature Party and legislator from Rewari has given an ultimatum to the Haryana Government that if it did not ensure within 10 days a 10-hour uninterrupted power supply daily to farmers of South Haryana the Congress party along with farmers would launch an agitation throughout south Haryana against the Government. He made this announcement addressing a rally of party workers here today. He said it was tragic that the farmers of Rewari district were selling their bajra at a much lower rate than the support price while government procurement agencies had not yet entered the markets here to save them from such exploitation. Later Congress workers led by Capt Yadav took out a procession raising slogans against the Haryana Government. They also submitted three memoranda. The first one was addressed to the President of India, while the second one was to be forwarded to the Haryana Government. Through the third memorandum they demanded an impartial enquiry into the death of Nisha Yadav, a journalist of the town and also president of the women’s wing of the Rashtriya Navchetna. He also flayed the Chief Minister for constituting village-level committees, comprising INLD workers, for monitoring the developmental works under the “Sarkar Aap ke Dwar” programme. He alleged that the constitution of these parallel committees was undemocratic and a direct threat to the existence of village panchayats and Zila Parishads. He flayed the government for its discrimination in the supply of canal water alleging that canals in Rewari and Mahendergarh districts had been running dry
whereas Sirsa and Hisar districts were suffering from water-logging.
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Congress holds dharna in front of DC’s office FATEHABAD, Oct 16 — The local unit of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee organised a dharna in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office here today. The dharna was organised to protest against alleged exploitation of farmers at the hands of government procurement agencies, the deteriorating law and order problem in the state and recent hikes in the rates of petroleum products. Dr K.V. Singh, senior vice-president of the HPCC, led the agitating Congressmen. The Block Congress Committee president, Mr Arvind Sharma, the HPCC member, Mr Krishan Taneja, and other local leaders of the party were present in the dharna. The agitating Congressmen gave a memorandum to the state Governor through the Deputy Commissioner in which they demanded a rollback in the prices of the petroleum products, better deal for the paddy growing farmers and curbing the law and order problems. Talking to mediapersons later, Dr K.V. Singh said the support price of Rs. 540 per quintal of paddy fixed by the government had proved meaningless for the farmers of Haryana as they were forced to sell their produce at much lower rates owing to the indifferent attitude of the government agencies. He alleged there was a large-scale scam in the procurement exercise and persons close to the INLD were making big fortunes by purchasing paddy at cheaper rates from the farmers and then selling it to the government agencies by hobnobbing with the corrupt officials. The Congress leader alleged the state government as well as the Central government were misleading the people in the matter of prices of oil products. He said the Central Government had been maintaining it was forced to increase the prices of petroleum products as OPEC had increased the rates and the oil pool deficit had crossed Rs. 23,600 crore. He said the CAG report had made it clear the wrong policies of the government. |
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Many bodies found on
tracks unidentified FARIDABAD, Oct 16 — While the number of persons falling victims to the trains passing through this industrial town has been increasing, the problem of identifying them has become a problem for the railway police. Nearly 60 of the 150 persons whose bodies were recovered from railway tracks in the past one year have not been identified so far. According to railway police sources, of the 134 persons whose bodies were recovered from rail tracks in the corresponding period last year, 50 victims could not be identified. Police officials say the rising crime graph is one factor as criminals see rail tracks as a safe place to dump bodies of their victims. About 75 km length of the main railway line which joins the Capital with central and southern India, passes through this industrial town. The town has only three flyovers over the rail tracks while the population is burgeoning. Slums have emerged on both sides of the tracks in the district. A new overbridge, completed recently near the Neelam Bata road, is awaiting formal inauguration. According to the railway police, several accidents even take place on manned crossings. |
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2 jawans cremated FATEHABAD, Oct 16 — The bodies of sepoy Krishan Kumar and sepoy Sanjay Kumar who died fighting insurgency in Kashmir were cremated with full military honours at their respective villages today. Sepoy Krishan Kumar was a resident of Dhani Dulat village in one district and a jawan of 42 Armoured Regiment. He died fighting insurgents in the Kashmir valley on October 13. Sepoy Krishan Kumar is survived by his wife Kalawati, his two daughters, Kiran (10) and Neha (6), and a son Nishant (3). He served Army for 16 years. The martyr was cremated with full military honours. Jawans of 21 Mechanised Division and the Haryana Armed Police gave him gun salute by firing in the air. The Deputy Commissioner Mr Anil Malik, the SP, Mr Shrikant Jadhav, and the SDM, Mr R.K. Chauhan attended the cremation. FARIDABAD: Sepoy Sanjay Kumar of the 24 Rajput Regiment, who died fighting insurgents on Friday night in the Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir, was cremated with full military honours at his Bichpuri village in the district on Monday. He is the second jawan of district who laid down his life in the past four days. Sepoy Sanjay Kumar is survived by his wife, a daughter and parents. The ADC, Dr G. Anupama, the SDM, Rakesh Yadav, and a large number of people attended the funeral. |
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Probe into
illegal construction ordered AMBALA,
Oct 16 — The Ambala Cantonment MLA, Mr Anil Vij, today said an inquiry had been ordered into the location of four shops in Sadar Bazar, near the post office. Mr Vij said the inquiry was ordered following a letter written by him to the Deputy Commissioner of Ambala, giving details about the illegal construction. “The DC has ordered an inquiry into the illegal construction and the inquiry will be conducted by the Additional DC,” he said. He said the letter was written, acting on a representation from various people, including telegrams sent to him. “A telegram said encroachment of government land was taking place with the consent of the president, municipal council, Ambala Sadar, and another telegram said that illegal construction was taking place on municipal land by BJP leaders near the sadar post office,” he claimed. Mr Vij pointed out that at a municipal council meeting held on August 31, a decision in this regard was taken, wherein it was stated the rights of the roof would remain with the Municipal Council. However, shops had now been constructed there, he said. |
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Dalit child’s body
recovered JHAJJAR, Oct 16 — The Bahadurgarh police today recovered the body of an eight-year-old Dalit child in Chhara village of the district, 15 km from here. According to the reports, the deceased Bhola Singh had been missing from his house for last five weeks. The mystery was unfolded when a villager saw a human skull near a drain outside the village. The Superintendent of Police, Mr Mohammad Akil said that the suspect had been identified. However, no arrest had been made. The police has registered a case under Sections 302 and 201 of the IPC. |
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Martyr cremated with honours ROHTAK, Oct 16 — Body of Naik Kuldeep Singh Deswal of 18 Jat Regiment was cremated with full military honours at his native village, Ladhaut yesterday. He is survived by wife Sunita, a daughter (4) and a son (8 months). Subedar Prem Singh who accompanied the body said the vehicle carrying Naik Deswal was blasted when it ran across mines on October 12. Mr Sahib Singh, elder brother of the deceased performed the last rites. Mr Rajesh Khullar, Deputy Commissioner, Capt V.P. Dahiya, secretary, Zila Sainik Board, Mr B.S. Hooda, HPCC chief, Mr Krishan Murti Hooda, a former Minister and Mr Dharam Pal Makrauliwala, chairman, Zila Parishad, paid homage to the martyr. |
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Rewari Utsav begins NEW DELHI, Oct 16 — The Haryana Governor, Babu Parmanand, inaugurated the seven-day Rewari Utsav-2000 and Handicrafts Exhibition at Rewari last evening. According to a press note, the Governor went round the exhibition and took an interest in the items on display and the manufacturing systems. Talking to the participants, industrialists and craftsmen, the Governor said that such an exhibition could play a vital role in promoting the sense of competitiveness besides providing business opportunities to the participants. The Rewari Utsav will also prove a boon to the industrialists, artisans and the craftsmen, said the Governor. The Governor also watched the variety cultural programme performed by the artistes which projected the national spirit and the idea of ‘unity in diversity’. |
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Youth dies ROHTAK, Oct 16 — A youth of Dorad village died when he inhaled some poisonous gas emanating from a heap of dung yesterday. According to information, Karamvir Singh came to Kheri Sadh village for some work. He fell unconscious while loading a vehicle with dung. He was brought to the PGIMS where he died. |
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