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| Friday,
November 3, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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HC notice to Haryana on mining mafia ‘Koshish’ for the disabled Powermen’s strike on Dec 12 Cops prepare to fight hi-tech crime |
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CPM: Haryana still
backward Plan to set up
centre for special kids Hooda prepares to file poll
papers Free computer
training for SC school students Halwais refuse to
pay sales tax Rehabilitation
plan for J&K orphans Trauma centre at Civil Hospital soon Rajput Regiment’s cycle expedition Chautala to visit
Chennai Mazra urges early
payment of bills BJP denies rift
with INLD Newspapers urged
to shun obscenity
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HC notice to Haryana on mining mafia CHANDIGARH, Nov 2 — The Punjab and Haryana High Court today issued Notice of Motion to the state of Haryana and others for November 17, on a writ petition filed by a Faridabad-based journalist, Subhash Sharma, who had alleged that Mr Kartar Singh Bhadana was carrying on illegal mining operations in Anangpur and Ankhir villages of Faridabad district with the help of officers of the Mining Department and the local administration. The notice was issued by Mr Justice J.L. Gupta and Mr Justice K.S. Garewal. It may be recalled that The Tribune had highlighted the illegal activities of the “mining mafia” in the area, popularly known as Ishaq Mandi, last year. The activities of the mafia had come to a stop for some time, but were resumed after the Assembly elections. When the petition had come up for hearing before the Bench for the first time on October 19 last, the court had appointed a High Court advocate, Mr Rajvinder Singh Bains, as local commissioner to visit the area and report to the court after verifying the contents of the writ petition. Mr Bains submitted an extensive report of about 50 pages, including photographs and site plans, and indicted Mr Bhadana and Mr Ramkishan, a son-in-law of the elder brother of Mr Bhadana. “The illegal and unauthorised mining is being carried out by respondents Nos 8 and 9 (Mr Bhadana and Mr Ramkishan, respectively) and at a scale which is difficult to estimate accurately except that out of every five trucks which we saw, four of them had KTC written on them prominently.” (KTC stands for Kartar Transport Company, named after Mr Kartar Singh Bhadana). The report added: “As per the local people of Anangpur village, KTC is the licence for operating in that area and no authority checks the truck with this magic sign. KTC stamping on the trucks is an unwritten instruction and a clear indication to the police and other authorities not to stop and check such vehicles.” Mr Bains’ visit to the area was not a smooth fair. He mentions in his report that while obstructions were created on the first day of his visit, road blocks were erected on the second day. Though Mr Bains had left for Faridabad the same day the court had appointed him the local commissioner, the respondents seemed to have received information about the court orders. Mr Bains found that though heavy machinery was being hurriedly withdrawn from the area, signs of fresh mining were clearly visible. He found that khasra nos. 35, 36, 37, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50 and 55 within the revenue limits of Anangpur village known as Ishaq Mandi and khasra no. 14, 15 and 16 of Ankhir village were part of the area where illegal and unauthorised mining “is going on.” The report says: “Big machines were being hurriedly taken out of the area by the workforce, which had little hesitation in informing us that the mining work had been stopped under the instructions of Mr Bhadana since last (October 19) evening though otherwise it continues day and night. The local commissioner said in his report that a piece of land in Badkhal village comprising khasra nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 was being used as one of the sale and storage points of silica sand by Mr Bhadana. The sand “is brought to this point from mining pits in Ankhir and Anangpur. He has also noted that the “name of Mr Bhadana generates instant fear and silence in the area.” Mr Bains also found out how the illegal mining is affecting the ecology of the area. “Extra deep silica mining is the cause of lowering of watertable in the nearby areas. Huge and heavy duty pumps are continuously pumping out water from the artificial lakes (formed due to deep mining), in order to do even deeper mining. “The most strange part of the story is that though most of the area of Anangpur village has been given on lease to different groups or companies for mining, yet for the best mining area no lease has been granted. The area is kept reserved for men like Mr Bhadana, and others like him, for free exploitation of the natural resources of the village without any benefit to the village community, the state government or even without any protection for the workforce as no law enforcement is visible, given it is enforced.” Regretting that no legal protection was available to workers hired by the mafia engaged in illegal mining, Mr Bains said whatever little law enforcement was there it was for the authorised mining workforce and not for others. After talking to several residents of the area Mr Bains concluded that “not less than 300 trucks of KTC are taken out of the Ishaq Mandi area every day without paying any royalty or tax to the state. His (Mr Bhadana’s) daily turnover from this illegal activity alone is something like Rs 12 lakh (The sale price of a truck of silica sand is said to be Rs 4000 in Delhi). “The loss suffered by the government is royalty and taxes. The loss suffered by the people is to ecology, environment and water table of the area. “The name of the area is symbolic. It is truly Ishaq Mandi for those who are strong, bold and lawless,” the local commissioner added. |
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‘Koshish’ for the disabled YAMUNANAGAR: “Even retarded minds, trembling hands and silent faces can create miracles”, read the banner on a stall at the Diwali Mela. Groups of men, women and children gathered around made it virtually difficult if not impossible to solicit enquiries. Those mentally retarded and children with hearing and speech handicap manning the stall had a winning smile on their faces. Among the notable articles on display were beautiful designer candles, diyas, bed sheets, pillow covers, baby suits, clay items, greeting cards and file covers etc. Utthan’s “Koshish” has a qualified and skilled manpower and provides services like physiotherapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy, cognitive development and yoga. It provides vocational training to children in the trades of candle-making, block painting, pottery, preparation of greeting cards and embroidery etc. Last year, Utthan raised about Rs 2,50,000 from the sale of various items prepared by the handicapped children, said Dr Bajpai, President of Utthan, who plans to raise Rs 5 lakh this year through the sale of greeting cards, candles and other items prepared by the children. Utthan’s “Koshish”, the Institute for the Mentally Retarded, Hearing Impaired and Spastic Children, came as a unique children’s day gift to the people of Haryana in 1992 and in just eight years it has achieved heights in serving the handicapped children. It has served around 1000 mentally retarded, 30 spastic and 1110 children with speech and hearing problems and 14 cases of multiple handicap through indoor institutional services. Besides, it has covered about 1000 children with minor, moderate and major handicaps and disorders through its community based rehabilitation (CBR) programme as these children are scattered in far off villages and cannot attend the institutional programme every day, says Dr Bajpai. “We started “Koshish” with just five children. But today, we have about 100 children on the waiting list while we serve 50 through our indoor intervention programme. Due to paucity of resources space and other facilities we are unable to increase our intake capacity” says Dr Gurpreet Kaur, General Secretary of “Utthan”. “We have applied to the district Administration for some land for the purpose but to no avail. A number of children remain unattended as we cannot approach/admit them due to want of resources,” she lamented. “Koshish” children have participated in several district-level competitive stage programmes with normal public school children and have got the first prize three times. In 1998 Utthan organised the first-ever state-level Special Olympics for Mentally Handicapped Children. Community support to this programme of its kind has been encouraging, but only piece-meal despite an income tax exemption. Donors and moneyed people want to invest in political and administrative linkages where they can harvest power crop rather than a nobility which only soothes their conscience, says Dr Bajpai. Some of the parents do not like, to support their handicapped children, their favours are inclined towards the normal ones. Total rehabilitation of handicapped children is the ultimate goal of Koshish. The concept of sheltered workshops is outdated, says Dr
Bajpai and Utthan’s emphasis is on community placements. Two of the hearing and speech handicapped girls have been leading a successful married life and three boys have got employment in different settings. Two more are waiting placement shortly, informs Dr P.K. Bajpai, and says in scheduled talks with simple process mentally retarded children may prove better than normal ones. |
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Powermen’s strike on Dec 12 FARIDABAD, Nov 2 — The state power corporation employees have agreed to support the call for a nationwide strike on December 12 by the National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCEEE) in protest against the move to privatise or corporatise electricity boards. The All-Haryana Power Corporation Workers Union has convened a meeting of its central executive on November 5 in Rohtak to chalk out the further course of action. A spokesman for the union said here today that the Union Government was contemplating to bring a power Bill in Parliament to “legalise” privatisation. Claiming that the experience of privatisation or corporatisation had “failed” in states like Haryana, he said the Union Government’s proposal would not only harm the interests of the employees, but also not help in improving the power situation as “corruption” at higher levels had been the main cause behind the malfunctioning of such boards and corporations. He said though crores of rupees had already been spent in Haryana, the overall power
scenario had not changed. He alleged that privatisation was being done only to get loans from the World Bank and in turn it wanted the state governments to hike the power rate so that the interest and the principal amount could be recovered in time. Mr R.C. Jagga and Mr Subhash Lamba, general secretary and spokesman, respectively of the AHPCEU claimed that the management of the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam had not yet been able to sort out problems regarding meters. While a large number of meters were still defective, the problem of corruption was much the same and the consumer was being “harassed” and overcharged in several cases, they said. Claiming that the power production had not increased by a single megawatt in the past three years, they said the overall line losses and power theft had gone up. They said employees would observe a strike on December 12. |
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Cops prepare to fight hi-tech crime ROHTAK, Nov 2 — The Police Department is reportedly contemplating to provide in-service training for investigation and interrogation to its officials to cope with the changing style of crime in the region. According to a senior functionary of the department, the style of functioning of the police department needed a revamp with the advancement in techniques used by criminals and the rising awareness among the people towards human rights. Talking to this correspondent here today, the police official said charges of harassment had been levelled against the police many a time regarding interrogating procedures. He pleaded that the police had a limited time of 24 hours for interrogating a suspect before producing him in court. He said there was not enough time for sustained interrogation necessary to force the criminal to admit the offence. He suggested that a separate wing should be created for interrogating and special training be given in this connection. On being questioned why third-degree methods, were used for interrogation, he said scientific techniques for time-consuming. He said the department had a single lie detector in the state at Madhuban. He denied the use of third-degree methods in police stations and said these were prohibited. Admitting that the condition of police stations in the region was not satisfactory, he said the department was striving hard to make improvements. A survey of the police stations in the town revealed that out of the three police stations, the buildings housing two of these are over 100 years old. The staff is ill-equipped and finds difficulty in dealing with well-equipped hi-tech criminals. All the police stations are facing a staff shortage. Seventy five ASIs are deputed here against the sanctioned 85 posts. Similarly, 165 head constables and 884 constables are working against the sanctioned 173 and 1069 posts, respectively. Police officials pleading anonymity said their duty hours were very long and they had to work under strenuous conditions. The condition of several police chowkis in the district is deplorable. Most are being run in a single room. The tables and chairs are being replaced with mattresses for making sleeping arrangements at night. Some chowkis are even devoid of the telephone facility and vehicles and wireless sets provided to these chowkis often remain out of order. |
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CPM: Haryana still
backward ROHTAK, Nov 2 — The CPM has expressed dissatisfaction over still existing basic problems of the people of Haryana despite three and a half decades of its existence as a separate state. The Haryana State Committee of the CPM, in a statement issued in connection with the Haryana Day, has held the policies pursued by the successive governments responsible for the backwardness of the state. The state secretary, Mr Inderjit Singh, told The Tribune that the unemployment was a major problem which was resulting in widespread criminalisation. He further pointed towards deepening of crisis in the industrial, agricultural, educational, health and other socio-cultural sectors. The Marxist leader said the situation had been further aggravated due to implementation of policies of liberalisation and privatisation by the NDA government at the Centre. These policies, he said, were being pursued at the cost of national interests and for the benefit of a few. The agriculture sector, Mr Inderjit Singh said, was becoming a casuality in Haryana as a result of the policies of the Vajpayee government of which the INLD was an important component. Though, the CPM leader said, the gap between the male and female ratio was worst in the world, the state government and the administration remained indifferent to this problem. The CPM has further castigated the increasing centralisation of administration which has been accentuating more with the “sarkar apke dwar” programme launched by Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala. The party has stressed the need of a pro-people alternative in state politics and called upon all secular, democratic and progressive forces to actively initiate mass mobilisation for evolving a radical alternative in the interest of overall progress. |
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Plan to set up
centre for special kids ROHTAK, Nov 2 — The National Federation of Parent Associations (for the mentally handicap) has decided to establish an adult centre for the mentally handicapped with a view to providing place where such persons could stay for the life. A two-day national parents meet began here today to make parents of such children aware of issues effecting them. The meet was organised by the Arpan Institute and the Red Cross Parents Association for the welfare of such children here. Representatives of various parents associations in the country are participating. The Deputy Commissioner-cum-President, District Red Cross, Mr Rajesh Khullar, said the Red Cross Parents Association had been working in collaboration with the Arpan Institute and had started six vocational training projects for the development and training of mentally challenged children. The meeting is also likely to discuss the Rehabilitation Council of India (Amendment) Bill, 2000, which was passed by the Lok Sabha on August 10 without discussing it with voluntary organisations and NGOs. Before these organisations could take any action, the Bill was also passed by the Rajya
Sabha. |
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Hooda prepares to file poll
papers CHANDIGARH, Nov 2 — After having secured approval from the Congress high command of the list of PCC members from Haryana, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, chief of the party unit in the state, is preparing to file his nomination papers for retaining his office for a second term. Mr Hooda’s rivals — Mr Bhajan Lal, Mr Birender Singh and others — are apparently making a last-ditch attempt to avoid an election to the PCC chief’s post and have Mr Hooda replaced by a “consensus candidate” chosen by the party high command. If the PCC chief is to be chosen through election, Mr Hooda’s victory appears certain since he has more supporters than others among the PCC members. As many as 179 members in Haryana, comprising PCC members and DCC presidents, constitute the electoral college. While the names of 150 PCC members — 135 elected and eight MLAs and seven former PCC chiefs inducted as special category members — were announced on Saturday, the names of the 29 DCC presidents are still awaited. While Hooda supporters claimed that the party high command had already indicated that the PCC chief would be chosen through election, the other factions maintained that the scene would be clear only on November 12, the day of the election. “The prevalent practice is that the contenders file their papers on the morning of the election day. If Mr Hooda is asked to file his papers by Ms Sukhbans Kaur Bhinder, returning officer for Haryana, it will indicate that he has got the green light from the party high command”, a senior Congress leader said. The list of PCC members, though, has created ripples among some Congress members who feel that they have not been given “fair representation”. Rao Inderjit Singh, Congress MLA, reportedly got a “better share” of PCC members from the Mahendragarh Lok Sabha constituency than Mr Ajay Singh Yadav, deputy leader of the party in the assembly. Similarly, Dr J.P. Sharma, Congress MLA from Yamunanagar, Ms Anita Yadav, MLA from Sahlawas and chief of the Mahila Congress in Haryana, and Mr Sher Singh, MLA from Julana, were reportedly of the view that they were not given a fair share while choosing PCC members from their respective areas. Sources close to these MLAs said they were refraining from creating a ruckus on the issue because it would amount to an open admission of factionalism. Given the fact that Mr Jitender Prasad had already challenged Ms Sonia Gandhi, this was not the appropriate time to bring to the fore factionalism within the state unit, the source said. He said that even though it would be too late, the MLAs would meet Ms Gandhi after her expected re-election as the AICC chief and apprise her of their feelings. |
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Free computer
training for SC school students CHANDIGARH, Nov 2 — The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, today announced to give free computer education to students belonging to the Scheduled Castes in schools. The Chief Minister made this announcement at a meeting he held with the Chairman of the National Commission for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, Mr Dileep Singh Bhuria, here. He said the government had reserved seats for students belonging to the Scheduled Castes in its technical institutes and the workstations of Hartron. He said a fee concession of 50 per cent was also being provided to such students at the workstations. He said the state government had enhanced the age limit for candidates belonging to all categories for entry into government service and had retained the five-year concession for those belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Backward Classes. Mr Chautala said 24 per cent of the state Budget was being spent on the welfare of the Scheduled Castes and the Backward Classes under the special component plan. Mr Bhuria appreciated the steps being taken by the state government to raise the socio-economic status of the two sections. |
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Halwais refuse to
pay sales tax HISAR, Nov 2 — The local Halwais Association has decided not to pay sales tax imposed on them recently. The Taxation Department had issued notices to them. A delegation of the association met the Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner,
(DETC) Mr J.S. Ahlawat, in this regard today. Members of the delegation asked him to postpone the recovery for 15 days. The DETC declined the request, saying that the department had already postponed the recovery once on their request. The members of the association argued that the department should impose the tax on a lumpsum basis. Department officials said they were bound to recover 10 per cent tax on net sales as per government directions. The DETC said the Taxation Department would be forced to take strict action against them if they did not pay the tax in time. |
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Rehabilitation
plan for J&K orphans FARIDABAD, Nov 2 — The SoS children’s villages of India will prepare a comprehensive plan for adoption of children orphaned during terrorist violence in the Kashmir valley. This is in line with an initiative taken by the organisation in establishing special villages for rehabilitating orphaned children at Rajpura in Punjab and Jammu in Jammu and Kashmir. Announcing this, Princess Salimah Aga Khan, during her visit to an SoS village here today, told mediapersons that the organisation would pay more attention to its activities in states like J and K. She said SoS had been running projects at Hyderabad and Rourkela for children affected in the cyclone in Orissa last year. The Princess, separated since 1995 from Prince Karim Aga Khan, spiritual head of Ismaili Muslims, will visit Dharamsala and Gopalpur during her five-day visit to the state. At Gopalpur she will be declared the “official ambassador” of the SoS villages in India. She said she was pleased to be associated with the movement in
India. |
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Trauma centre at Civil Hospital soon AMBALA Ambala cantonment MLA Anil Vij, who inaugurated a blood donation camp organised by Rotary Club of Ambala, said the trauma centre is going to come up soon. ‘‘This will be a part of a project by the European Commission. The EC is going to be contribute about Rs 3 crore for various health projects in the Civil hospital, Ambala cantonment and the trauma centre is going to be a part of it,’’ he said. Mr Vij observed that as Ambala cantonment was sandwiched between the GT road and the Jagadhari road, there are a number of accident cases. ‘‘A trauma centre will go a long way in helping the accident victims,’’ he said. ‘‘It has been noticed that some accident victims die enroute to PGI or other hospitals. The trauma centre is
definitely needed here,’’ he added. Among others, the projects which are going to be taken up are a well-equipped nursery, orthopaedic equipment, ICU and new wards. President of Rotary Club of Ambala, Capt Baldev Singh (retd), said that the blood donation camp is part of the regular efforts made by the Rotary Club to undertake various activities for the welfare of the people. ‘‘Besides Rotarians, the members of the Innerwheel Club and the Rotoract club are also present,’’ he said. Students from SD College, GMN College and Government College also took part in the blood donation camp. |
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Rajput Regiment’s cycle expedition AMBALA The cycle expedition consists of 2 JCOs and 10 ORs drawn from 9 Rajput and 4 Rajput. The expedition, which had stopped over at Ambala cantonment, started on October 31 from Jalandhar and will culminate on November 7 at Fatehgarh, covering a distance of 765 km. A member of the team said the cycle expedition was keen to spread the message of peace and also motivate the younger generation to join Rajput Regiment, which was known for exemplary courage and bravery during wars. The Rajput Regimental Centre every year organises a sports festival in memory of all the martyrs of the regiment. There will be a two-day reunion celebration on November 8 and 9 at the Rajput Regiment Training Centre at Fatehgarh. |
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Chautala to visit
Chennai CHANDIGARH, Nov 2 — The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, is leading an official delegation to Chennai on November 4 to see for himself the development of the information technology sector in Tamil Nadu. He will also call on the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Mr M. Karunanidhi. Mr Chautala, who will be accompanied by his Principal Secretary, Mr S.Y. Quraishi, and the Commissioner and Secretary, Information Technology, Mr P.K. Chaudhery, will leave for Bangalore tomorrow to visit IT.Com 2000. |
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Mazra urges early
payment of bills KAITHAL, Nov 2 — The Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Haryana, Mr Ram Pal Mazra, has appealed to power consumers to pay their bills at the earliest so that sufficient funds were available for various ongoing power projects in the state. He was speaking at a function at Khurana village last evening. This village owes the HVPN arrears totalling Rs 2 crore. Mr Leela Ram, MLA Kaithal, speaking on the occasion said his party had not promised power free of cost to farmers during the elections. Rather, it had promised to make more power available to farmers. The government had fulfilled its promise. |
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BJP denies rift
with INLD YAMUNANAGAR, Nov 2 — The BJP is fully satisfied with the working of the present Haryana Government according to Mr I.D. Swami, Union Home Minister of State and a senior leader of the
BJP. Talking to newsmen here at Canal Rest House last evening he said there was no rift between the BJP and INLD and both were working in coordination. Mr Swami lauded Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala for taking the lead in development work as compared to other states. He claimed that no farmer had committed suicide in Haryana as far as procurement of paddy was concerned. All sugar mills in the state have paid the balance amount on sugarcane except for one, he added. |
| Newspapers urged
to shun obscenity FATEHABAD, Nov 2 — President of the DAV Colleges Management Committee and Padmashree Gian Parkash Chopra has expressed concern over the growing trend of showing obscene photographs in a section of print media. The trend, he said, was polluting the minds of the youth. He was speaking to mediapersons at the Papiha Tourist Complex here last night. Mr Chopra said it was a matter of deep concern that some widely circulated newspapers were vying with one another to portray nudity. This was being done in the name of fashion. He said the media should
exercise restraint in this regard. He said the DAV institutions had initiated a new process aimed at character building in youth. Schools and colleges run by the organisation had started organising “charitra nirman shivirs” in the institutions during vacation. |
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Teenager raped,
case registered ROHTAK, Nov 2 — Two youths reportedly raped a teenaged girl at nearby Jassia village last evening. According to police sources, the 16-year-old victim was collecting clothes at the rooftop of her house when Sunil and Raju of the same village climbed on to the rooftop and allegedly raped her. They fled after committing the crime. A case under Sections 376, 342, 323 and 34 of the IPC has been registered.
In a separate incident today the Sampla police arrested Krishan of Pakasma village and seized a pistol from his possession. |
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4 robbers held FARIDABAD, Nov 2 — The police claims to have arrested four robbers operating in the Hathin area of this district. A sum of Rs 1
lakh, three revolvers, a mobile phone and 42 cartridges were seized from their possession. According to police sources, those arrested have been identified as Babudeen and Aslam of Reedar village and Shiv Prasad and Surajbhan of Gandhi Colony. They were nabbed while they were reportedly planning a dacoity near Utawar village in Hathin subdivision. One of their accomplices identified as Dinesh of New Colony here managed to escape. |
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1 crushed to death FARIDABAD, Nov 2 — Rajesh of Mitrol village near Palwal was crushed to death by a speeding truck on the national highway here today. Angry residents of the village blocked traffic on the highway for about an hour. The driver, however, fled the scene leaving the vehicle behind. In another incident a girl Sundra (16) of Chhainsa village committed suicide at her house by consuming some poisonous substance. |
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