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| Friday,
November 10, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Haryana staff withdraw stir Mother in search of
daughter Held for selling minor girl Website on legal services |
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Railway union’s memo to DRM Stay refused to MUL employees SCs ‘ignored’
in HPCC list A cultural contest for women Health Dept to register births Refresher course in physics begins MDUTA memo to Governor 12.26 lakh tonnes of paddy procured Draw for plots
on Nov 20 Delay in submitting
dissertations condoned DGPs’
meeting on Nov 15 Kapal Mochan Fair
inaugurated 
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Bhadana, Rathore must quit: CPM ROHTAK, Nov 9 — The state secretariat of the CPM has criticised the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, for not removing the Cooperation Minister, Mr Kartar Singh Bhadana, from the Cabinet despite a serious case of corruption in mining at Faridabad being adjudicated against him in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The party
regretted that the DGP, Haryana, Mr S.P.S. Rathore, has also not been removed from the post though the CBI was investigating a criminal case against him. The CPM demanded that both Mr Bhadana and Mr Rathore should quit their posts in the interest of a fair probe. The Left party has also expressed concern over the agitation by a section of state government employees on the reservation issue at Chandigarh and charged the Chautala government with allowing it to escalate on caste lines by not holding a dialogue to settle the dispute. The CPM said that imposition of ESMA and moratorium on strikes would only complicate the situation. The government should take all sections of employees into confidence and remove their fears and apprehension, the party said. The party has appealed to the employees to forge unity among themselves as that was the only way to defend their common interests in future. The CPM has castigated the government decision to once again disaffiliate colleges and technical institutes from Guru Jambheshwar University and described the action as another instance of the government’s ‘irresponsible’ education policy. Mr Inderjit Singh, Secretary of the CPM’s state unit, said that the party has also criticised the policy of employing qualified persons as lecturers on a paltry salary of Rs 3500 per month on contract basis and also for not filling the vacancies of professors and senior doctors in the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) despite the tremendous workload of the existing staff due to unprecedented increase in the number of patients. The CPM has termed the government decision to set up old-age homes at the village level as an “ill-thought idea” and demanded better equipped old-age homes at the block or subdivision level. The state secretariat has also condemned the Vajpayee government for opening the garment industry to the foreign players and said that it would further jeopardise the crisis-ridden textile sector and small-scale industry. Mr Inderjit Singh said that the party had condemned the police repression let loose on agitating workers of the Maruti Udyog at Gurgaon. In a strongly-worded resolution, the party secretariat has denounced last night’s police action on the workers. According to reports, the CPM said, the leaders of the agitating workers had been illegally taken into custody to terrorise the workers. The party has accused the government and its Labour Department of allowing the management to misuse the police force to browbeat the agitating workers. |
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Haryana staff withdraw stir CHANDIGARH, Nov 9 — Haryana employees belonging to general categories and backward classes based in Chandigarh and Panchkula, who had been on a pen-down strike for the past 24 days, today withdrew their agitation following a late-night meeting between their leaders and the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, yesterday. The employees had been demanding the implementation of the Supreme Court judgement in the Ajit Singh Janjua case on accelerated promotion to the Scheduled Castes employees and the reversion of seven Under Secretaries as ordered by the Haryana Government on October 6. The reversion orders were later held in abeyance by the government. The state government had invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act yesterday and had declared the strike illegal. Along with cracking the whip, the government re-established contact with the employees at the political level and informal parleys were held with their representatives. According to informed sources, the government was adamant that it would not implement the Supreme Court judgement before the apex court took a
decision on a contempt petition filed by a Scheduled Castes employee against the former Chief Secretary, Mr R.S. Varma, and certain other officers. The petition is scheduled to come up for hearing on November 13. After an influential INLD MLA had prepared the ground, the late-night meeting was held at the Chief Minister’s residence. From the government side the meeting was attended, besides Mr Chautala, by the Deputy Speaker, Mr Gopi Chand Gahlot; the INLD MP from Hisar, Mr Surinder Singh Barwala; Mr Abhey Singh Chautala, younger son of the Chief Minister and MLA from Rori; and Mr Rajinder Singh Bisla, independent MLA from Ballabhgarh. The employees were represented by Mr Des Raj Lamba, president of the newly formed General Category and Backward Classes Employees Welfare Organisation; Mr Pratap Singh Sangwan, Mr Prithvi Singh Layal, Mr Rajinder Sikka, Mr N.K. Sharma and Mr Jagdish Joon. The preparatory work for the meeting was done by Mr Sangwan and Mr Layal. Mr Lamba told TNS that Mr Chautala assured the employees that the government would implement the judgement immediately after the Supreme Court decided the contempt petition on November 13. It is believed that the employee leaders had told the Chief Minister that their strike would continue till lunch, when the decision to withdraw the agitation would be announced at a rally. The Chief Minister also gave an assurance that there would not be any “victimisation”. The government, which at one stage seemed to have been sandwiched between the two groups of the employees, had every reason to be happy today. By keeping the reversion orders of the Scheduled Castes employees in abeyance and cracking the whip on the striking employees, after giving them considerable latitude, the INLD leadership hopes that it has established its bona fides with the Scheduled Castes. As and when the government implements the apex court judgement, it can tell the Scheduled Castes lobby that it delayed the decision as much as it could but now its hands are tied. The other categories of employees are happy that the Chief Minister has assured them that there would be no delay in the implementation of the judgement once the court takes the final view on it. The government is also happy that while persuading the employees to withdraw their agitation, it had not to give anything more than the assurance to implement the judgement after November 13 — something the government had been saying from the day the controversy erupted. |
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Mother in search of
daughter FARIDABAD, Nov 9 — A-70-year-old widow has been running from pillar to post to trace her daughter who has been missing from her in-laws’ house since July 4 last. She now has approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court for help. In the application to the Chief Justice of the High Court the woman identified as Kasturi Devi, has stated that her daughter Bimla (28) had gone missing since July 4 this year. She has stated that Bimla had been married to Bhoodatt, son of Gullu of Sadpura village in Faridabad district nine years ago. Her husband is an employee of the Public Relations Department, Haryana, here. According to the widow, the police had not been taking adequate interest in tracing Bimla. Bhoodatt, the main suspect, has not been arrested. The applicant says that her appeals to district and state officials, including the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, had not yielded any result. Mr Karamvir, Bimla’s brother, stated that his brother-in law had informed his family after a week that his wife had left the house. Perhaps she had gone to one of her brother’s house at Chandigarh. He claimed that his sister had once confided in him that her husband wanted her to bring some cash so that he could construct a new house. He said Bimla had either been ‘murdered’ or confined in a secret place. The victim had not been seen in his office for the past over two months. Mr Karamvir has alleged that the police had booked only a case of missing while no action was being taken under the Dowry Act, as they had stated this reason to the police and district officials at many occasions. He said his family had not only suffering an acute tension and harassment, but he and his family had been in ‘danger’ due to culprits roaming free. The Speaker, Haryana Assembly, Mr S.S. Kadian, had also asked the SSP to look into the matter recently. An application was also sent to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on August 24 last, besides sending letter to Union Home Minister and the Chief Minister. |
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Held for selling minor girl ROHTAK, Nov 9 (UNI) — The Haryana Police has arrested Ram Chander under Sections 366-A and 342 of the IPC on the charge of selling a minor girl from Badwali village under Islampur police station in West Bengal to a resident of Bighar village in Fatehabad district. District police chief Hanif Mohammad Qureshi told mediapersons here today that a police party was being sent to West Bengal to nab Shabir and Sandeep, one of whom had brought the girl for marriage. The girl was later sold to a resident of Sabarwas village where she was allegedly beaten up and illegally confined. The girl, however, managed to escape and reached Dera Sacha Sauda here and narrated her tale of woes to the devotees. The devotees informed the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Anil Malik, who directed the police to investigate and register a case against four persons involved in the crime. Mr Qureshi said that the police was investigating whether more girls were brought from West
Bengal. |
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Website on legal services CHANDIGARH, Nov 9 — The biggest task before the Haryana State Legal Services Authority (HSLSA) is to create awareness among the people regarding existence of the various legal aid schemes, Mr R.S. Virk, Member Secretary of the HSLSA said here today. Today, November 9, it may be stated is observed as the Legal Services Day throughout the country because it was on this day in 1995 that the Legal Services Authority Act, 1987, was enforced in India. Mr Virk, who had earlier taken part at a function organised at the residence of Mr Justice V.K. Bali, Executive Chairman of the HSLSA, where a website (http://www.haryanaonline.com/haryanalegalservices) was launched, said even though four years had passed since the HSLSA was established, few people were found aware of it. Mr Virk, who had recently visited the prisons in Ambala, Karnal, Rohtak, Sonepat, Jagadhari, Panipat and Kurukshetra, said it was still better where the prisoners pass on the information to one another. However, in the rural areas people were totally ignorant about the availability of legal aid from the HSLSA. The HSLSA is running three schemes for providing the legal aid to people taken into custody. Under the first scheme, the legal aid is provided to arrested persons during the remand hours, the second scheme is related to setting up cells in the jails, while under the third scheme legal service is provided to people during trials. Mr Virk said since April, when the scheme to set up legal aid cells in prisons had become operational, 320 undertrial prisoners were given legal aid by the HSLSA in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The HSLSA also helped a large number of convicts, undergoing life imprisonment, obtain parole. Mr Virk said most of the prisoners, undergoing life terms, were not even aware that they were entitled for parole after spending five years in a prison. Mr Virk said the Lok Adalats, which were also being run by the legal services authority, were mainly attending to cases relating to matrimonial disputes and motor vehicle accident claims. The Permanent Lok Adalats functioning at the premises of the High Court here had decided 123 cases of matrimonial disputes since January 1999, he said.” In most of the cases of matrimonial disputes the Lok Adalats could persuade the couple for rapprochement”, Mr Virk said. He said Permanent and Continuous Lok Adalats have been established so far in six Haryana districts — Ambala, Panchkula, Faridabad, Bhiwani, Hisar and Gurgaon — by appointing six retired Judges as Presiding Judges. In the remaining districts, serving judicial officers were holding Permanent and Continuous Lok Adalats on rotational basis. The HSLSA was also keen to give accreditation to genuine non-governmental organisations and social action groups working in the field of legal literacy, legal awareness, legal aid programme, para legal activities etc. They had received applications from various NGOs in this regard but only one of them seemed a genuine organisation, Mr Virk said. |
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Railway union’s memo to DRM PANIPAT, Nov 9 — During the visit of the Delhi Divisional Railway Manager, Northern Railway, Mr Vinod Sharma, to Panipat Railway station the, “Uttariya Railway Mazdoor Union” Panipat branch, welcoming him submitted to him on Tuesday evening their representation demanding certain facilities for staff and for Railway commuters. The DRM promised sympathetic consideration of the demands. The president of the union, Mr Dharam Pal, said that their demands include conveyance facility for staff working at Baholi sidings in Panipat refinery and residing in Panipat as also for day to day requirement of their families, who had to visit Panipat, about 15 km for medical treatment and for other daily necessities. He further said that installation of an electric sub-station as power cuts of four to five hours a day hamper functioning of computers causing inconvenience to passengers, proportionate increase in staff quarters with increase in staff, particularly for essential category staff and pathway from platform no one to 2, 3, 4, and 5, absence of which is hazardous for staff, passengers and vendors, he added. The president added that arrangement for cleanliness of the colony is another demand of the union. Posting of another doctor to attend to increased staff and their families and provision for second entry gate from the Model Town side as around 50 per cent of passengers come there from as in absence of second entry gate they have to cross Railway lines, a flyover to reach booking windows, he added. The president further said that implementation of instructions from Railway Board and headquarters Baroda House to fill 10 per cent vacancies by promotion of junior engineers of various departments to section engineers and provision of more funds for the completion of construction of community hall which is held up for want of funds. |
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Stay refused to MUL employees GURGAON, Nov 9 — A district court today declined to give interim injunction for restraining the Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL) from executing the good conduct undertaking for its employees. In his order, the Additional Civil Judge, Senior Division, Mr L.N. Jindal, observed, “In my opinion, the defendant (MUL) is prima facie, doing no wrong in asking for such an undertaking, which is in conformity with law. In view of the foregoing reasons, the contentions of the learned counsel for the plaintiff (union) prima facie do not hold water and thus cannot be sustained either in law or on facts.” He mentioned that prima facie it appeared that is absolutely necessary in the interest of the smooth functioning of the company that all workmen give the good conduct undertaking and join duty. He noted that about 1000 workmen had already executed the undertaking. In a press note, Managing Director of MUL, Mr Jagdish Khattar, said that the order would further hasten the return to normalcy as more and more workers might see reason and resume work. The employees refused to sign the undertaking, which the management imposed on October 12 and dubbed it as ‘unconstitutional’. Most of the employees of the factory did not join duty and went on strike. The undertaking for the employees states, “I shall neither indulge in go-slow nor resort to tool-down or stay-in strike or otherwise indulge in any other activities in breach of the Certified Standing Orders which has the effect of adversely affecting production and discipline. I further undertake to give normal output and work in a disciplined manner”. However, the union general secretary said that the employees would appeal to the District Sessions Court against this order. The Maruti Udyog Employees Union, through its general secretary Mathew Abraham, had filed a suit for permanent injunction in the court of Mr Jindal, to restrain the MUL management from forcing its workers to sign the good conduct undertaking. |
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SCs ‘ignored’
in HPCC list ROHTAK, Nov 9 — The Haryana Guru Ravidas Samaj Mahasabha has alleged that Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes have been ignored while preparing the list of delegates of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee. Mr Ram Mehar, president of the Mahasabha, in a letter to AICC President Sonia Gandhi, has alleged that the representation given to SCs and BCs is not commensurate with their strength in the state. He has said the discrimination has generated an “aversion” among these communities towards the party. He has said the votes of Jats, SCs and BCs in the state totalled 25 lakh, 22 lakh and 15 lakh, respectively. However, the names of only two BC delegates figured in the HPCC list. |
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A cultural contest for women FATEHABAD: To link people with the age-old Haryanvi culture and traditions, the district Public Relations and Cultural Activities Department organised a ‘‘Sanjhi” competition for women here recently. Mrs Neerja Malik, wife of Deputy Commissioner Anil Malik, was the chief guest. Ms Babli Rani. Ms Krishana Kamboj and Mrs Madhu Walia won the first three prizes of Rs 1500, Rs 1000 and Rs 750 respectively. ‘‘Sanjhi’’ (combination) is revered as a deity in Haryana and is considered one of nine popularly known deities in Hindu mythology. The Haryanvi people, particularly in the southern belt, worship ‘Sanjhi’ during Navratras and immerse its idols on the last day of the nine-day festival. It has been the tradition of Haryanvi women since times immemorial to make ‘Sanjhi’ by a mixture of clay and cattle dung. It is a folk art of Haryana that has been facing extinction owing to the impact of modernity on the rural people. But the Public Relations and Cultural Affairs Department has been striving to keep the folk art alive by organising such competitions. Women and girls, most of them from the rural areas, come with their creations and participate in the competition. Addressing the participants, Mrs Malik said though folk arts and traditions of Haryana were diminishing with the passage of time, Sanjhi organised by the department was, indeed, a good step in the direction of keeping those folk arts alive. |
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Health Dept to register births HISAR, Nov 9 — The Haryana Government has decided to entrust the registration of births and deaths in the rural areas to the Health Department. This was announced by the Director, Census Operations, Mr Sunil Gulati, here today. He said a notification in this regard would be issued shortly after which ANMs posted in the village would be responsible for getting the deaths and births registered with the appropriate authority. Presently the village chowkidar reported the births and deaths to the police station, which in turn get these registered. Mr Gulati said new computer software would be deployed to compile and process data. |
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Refresher course in physics begins KURUKSHETRA, Nov 9 — Dr K.N. Pathak, Vice-Chancellor, Punjab University, Chandigarh, inaugurated a three-week refresher course in physics titled “Current trends in physics” for college and university teachers being organised by the Department of Physics, Kurukshetra University. About 40 teachers from Haryana and other states are participating. Dr Pathak, an eminent physicist, said the job of physics teachers was a challenging one and the teachers could not face this challenge unless there was a continuous assimilation of fresh knowledge. “To teach is to learn first,” he said. He emphasised that refresher courses should be made more rigorous and a study be made to assess the efficacy of these courses. Mr R.S. Chaudhry, Vice-Chancellor of the Kurukshetra University, in his presidential address, said the importance of physics as a subject lied in the fact that important areas like electronics, computers and the information technology were based on the principles of physics. |
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MDUTA memo to Governor ROHTAK, Nov 9 (UNI) — The Maharshi Dayanand University Teachers Association (MDUTA) has criticised the reported move of the state government to promulgate an ordinance for constituting a separate commission for selection of teachers, lecturers, readers and professors, for appointment in state universities and government as well as aided colleges. In a memorandum submitted today to the Haryana Governor and MDU Chancellor Babu Parmanand, MDUTA president Somveer Rathee and secretary Inderjeet alleged that the proposed commission would further erode the “academic autonomy” of the universities and convert the seats of higher learning into an “extention of government departments.” |
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12.26 lakh tonnes of paddy procured CHANDIGARH, Nov 9 — The procurement agencies in Haryana today claimed to have so far procured 12.26 lakh tonnes of paddy as against 3.27 lakh tonnes during the corresponding period last year. A spokesman for the food and Supplies Department said till now 23.12 lakh tonnes of paddy had arrived in state mandis out of which 10.86 lakh tonnes had been purchased by private millers and the rest by government agencies. Draw for plots
on Nov 20 CHANDIGARH, Nov 9 — The Haryana Urban Development Authority will hold a draw for EWS residential plots in Sector 2 of Faridabad on November 20 in the Estate Office (HUDA complex) in that city. An official spokesman said HUDA would also auction commercial sites on a freehold basis in the Urban Estate of Panipat on November 30. |
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Delay in submitting
dissertations condoned KURUKSHETRA, Nov 9 — The Vice-Chancellor, Kurukshetra University, Mr R.S. Chaudhry, has condoned the delay in submission of dissertation project report and training report beyond two years of the prescribed and normal period where all theory and practical papers have been
cleared. The Controller of Examinations, Mr Ramesh Sharma, said this extension was allowed by the Vice-Chancellor up to November 30 with a late fee of Rs 6,000. He said no further extension would be granted. All the concerned departments had been informed for onward intimation to the concerned students accordingly, Mr Sharma
added. DGPs’
meeting on Nov 15 CHANDIGARH, Nov 9 — A conference of the DGPs of northern states will be held at Pinjore, near here, on November 15. The conference has been convened to draw up a joint strategy to tackle highway robberies, which are on the rise in the region. Meanwhile, the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, will address a joint meeting of the Deputy Commissioners and the SPs here on November 13. |
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Kapal Mochan Fair
inaugurated YAMUNANAGAR, Nov 9 — Mr Chander Singh, today inaugurated the famous Kapal Mochan Fair, 20 km from here. On the arrangements made by the administration, he said the mela area had been divided into eight sectors and 10 blocks. A duty Magistrate, an Inspector and 150 policemen had been deputed in each sector. Four DSPs, seven Inspectors, 50 NGOs, 125 Head Constables, 505 constables, 30 commandos, 300 Home Guards and eight mounted policemen had been deputed in the whole mela area. Haryana Roadways, Yamunanagar, was plying 35 buses especially for the pilgrims. KU festival begins KAITHAL, Nov 9 — The Kurukshetra University zonal youth festival started here at Indira Gandhi Mahila Mahavidyalaya, Kaithal. The local Deputy Commissioner, Dr Mahavir Singh inaugurated the three-day cultural meet. |
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