Rathore to go if found guilty: CM
From Our Correspondent

SADHAURA (Yamunanagar), Nov 29 — The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, has said the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) had extended unconditional support to the Central Government headed by Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee and would continue to do so in the future. He asked the BJP party high command to discipline the Haryana unit of the party, as it was not working inconsistence with the norms of the alliance.

Mr Chautala was talking to mediapersons at Bhogpur village, near Sadhaura, 35 km from here, today.

To a question about the cases registered against BJP leader Krishan Pal Gujjar, he expressed his ignorance about it. He said he was committed to take action against any person against whom he would receive complaints of corruption. He said the BJP high command should clarify why Mr Gujjar voted against the Haryana Government during the Vidhan Sabha session.

The Chief Minister said the Haryana Government had decided to recruit 1,100 traffic police constables in December to streamline traffic and minimise accidents on national highways.

He said a traffic wing had also been constituted under the chairmanship of the SP (Traffic). New mobile vans would also be given to the traffic police, besides new uniforms. He said a trauma centre was also being set up at Karnal to provide prompt medical aid to accident victims.

Mr Chautala said the Union Minister of Power, Mr M. Prabhu, had conceded his request to hand over the construction work of 500 MW Yamunanagar thermal power plant to the NTPC.

Mr Chautala said six new judges in the Punjab and Haryana High Court would be from Haryana as per its quota in the ratio of 60:40. He said new teachers were being recruited and no school would remain without a teacher.

Referring to the demand of advocates for a separate high court for Haryana, he said this would undermine the claim of the state on Chandigarh and territorial issues.

When newspersons asked about the DGP Mr S.P.S. Rathore’s case, the Chief Minister stated that he had respect for judiciary and if the DGP was found guilty, he would be asked to step down.

Earlier, the Chief Minister laid the foundation stone of a bridge over Somb river at a cost of Rs 1.82 crore.

The Chief Minister, meanwhile, directed all private sugar mills to start crushing within the next two days. A delegation of farmers led by Mr Satpal Kaushik, state General Secretary, Haryana Krishak Samaj met Mr Chautala during “Sarkar aapke dwar” programme here.

World Bank team visits Shahabad
From Our Correspondent

SHAHABAD, Nov 29 — A World Bank team, comprising Mr Alastair Mckechnie and Mr Samir Shukla, visited the town yesterday to oversee the progress undertaken by the Haryana Power Utilities under the World Bank assistance programme.

The Shahabad 200 kv sub-station which was being fed earlier from the Panipat thermal power project through the 220 kv Narwana-Kaithal-Pehowa-Shahabad line, has been connected with a newly constructed 220 kv double circuit Abdulapur-Shahabad line since February. Prior to the commissioning of this line the minimum voltage during peak paddy season, had touched 145 kv whereas now this level had increased to 175 kv.

In addition, the voltage profile in the Shahabad area, Pehowa area, a part of Ambala district and Panchkula area, had got a big boost due to the commissioning of the line. Moreover, frequent load shedding which was being resorted to earlier on account of load restriction, has now been done away with. Due to the improved voltage profile, the rate of damaged distribution transformers as well as tubewell motors, had gone down drastically.

Giving this information, the Executive Engineer of the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (HVPN) Shahabad, Mr S.S. Panwar stated here today that the total cost of this line with a length of 46.8 km was Rs 11 crore which was funded by the World Bank scheme.

The team was also shown the work done at a pilot project for the remote control load management scheme undertaken on number 2, 11 kv feeders emanating from this sub station. With the commissioning of this scheme the load on the individual transformers on this feeder can be switched on and off from the sub-station.

The Executive Engineer said the team also visited the 66 kv sub-station of Nalvi village where a overloaded feeder with a load of 300 amperes had been split into four new feeders with a maximum load of 75 ampere each. The tailend voltage available to the tubewell owners has increased from a minimum of 290 volts to 380 volts during peak paddy season. The World Bank team was impressed with the improvement in the reliability of supply in the area.

Launching a green wave in Haryana
From Ashwani Dutta

YAMUNANAGAR: “The woods are lovely dark and deep...” will be a dream for the generations to come if the process of denuding mother earth continues at the pace it is going on. Environmental degradation during the last quarter of the 20th century has proved that the so-called development in the form of mankind’s race to moon has been at the cost of the health, resulting in a threat to the very existence of life on this planet. Modern technology has not even spared the health of the outermost protection cover — the ozone layer — of our atmosphere. Those who are aware of the gravity of the situation are busy only in giving theoretical suggestions and are not ready to provide any practical remedy to tackle this burning problem.

When contacted, Dr S. L. Saini, a dedicated environmentalist said: “Please don’t ask or tell theories about the environment any more. There is hardly any time left to be wasted in discussions. If you have got any time to spare please come and join me. We can talk even while working with our hands together.” Dr Saini, a lecturer in Mathematics at MLN College, Yamunanagar, is a personality who deals with the environment — but through deed only. No one ever imagined five years ago when inspired by the personality of a freedom fighter and great educationist, Prof Tilak Raj Chadha, he started planting saplings in Yamunanagar by spending about Rs 15,000 from his pocket. Later people from his friends’ circle, those who had said earlier that he had gone mad, joined him and formed an environmental society, the first for Yamunanagar district, and then at the state level. It is called Haryana Environmental Society (HES) and the aims to create a “green and clean Haryana.”Dr Saini, who heads the Haryana Environmental Society, said it had so far planted more than 17,000 saplings of about 40 species in and around Yamunanagar and Jagadhri. All the work is being done with public participation. 

Mohalla-level environment committees had been set up to make the mission a great success. He said people were motivated by writing slogans at prominent places, through handbills, write-ups in the press, and organising awareness seminars. The success of the mission can be seen when one sees the greenery while moving around the twin towns of Yamunanagar and Jagadhri. The saplings include neem, arjun, peepal, behada, amala, aam, jamun, belpatar, mahua, amaltas, gulmohar, sheesham, kadamb, and kaner. Dr Saini said funds had come from citizens. The saplings were enclosed by steel tree-guards bearing the name of the donor. The plants were planted at a site of the donor’s choice at a public place. Each plant costs Rs 300 which includes the cost of steel tree-guard and care of the plant for four to five years. Out of the lakhs of rupees being spent by HES on this project, only Rs 1,61,000 has been contributed by Haryana Government in the form of matching grant , he said. He pointed out that in the beginning he had to face a lot of problem in motivating the people even for contributing to a single plant but now a “green wave” has taken place and thousands of plants have been sponsored by the public without much persuasion. People of the area have been made aware that they now have started sponsoring plantation to mark happy occasions.

Another lecturer, K.L. Batra, who instead of inviting a priest got two saplings planted in memory of his wife, Bimla Batra, on her “shradh”. One can imagine the success of the mission when he even finds plants sponsored at Jagadhri bus stand by outsiders like Dharam Singh of Rajpura , Zile Singh of Vardhman Spinning Mills, Ludhiana, and R.C. Saini of Chandigarh. Dr Saini stated that HES had opened branches in four more districts, namely Ambala, Kurukshetra, Karnal and Panchkula. It organised a state-level tree plantation mela at Yamunanagar city centre — the first of its kind in which hundreds of people came from all over the state and celebrated an auspicious occasion by planting at least one sapling of flowery, shady or medicinal type. A new dimension to the mission was added on November 22, when a newly wedded couple, Harman and Sukhraj, was motivated to plant a fruit tree just before entering the pandal of their marriage reception. This was done to motivate the newly wed couple to plant at least one sapling on the occasion of their marriage. Dr Saini stated that HES was actively involved with the district administration in Yamuna action plan. He disclosed that in all these projects all the religious and educational institutions, Rotary and Lion clubs, industrialists, and officers of the district administration were contributing a lot. The Forest Department has already recognised the contribution of HES in the field of forestry by giving a state-level award to Dr Saini this year. 

The society has now got its own tractor and water tanker which has been purchased through public contributions. The plants are regularly taken care resulting in a survival rate of 95 per cent. The society has got its own nursery and workshop for preparing steel tree-guards at the MLN College Boys’ Hostel. Dr Saini resides there in the capacity of warden.

Thousands of plants are distributed free to the people belonging to rural and urban areas every year. Dr Saini wants the state government to implement Tree Protection Act in the urban areas of Haryana on the pattern of Delhi and Chandigarh so that tens of thousands of trees grown by HES may be protected from destruction by anti-social elements.

Computer training for MLAs from Dec 5
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 29 — Come December 5, and ministers and other MLAs of Haryana will queue up in front of the e-governance centre on the 9th floor of the Secretariat here to get their first lessons in information technology (IT).

Initially, it was decided that the training of the MLAs would start from October 2, which also happens to be the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. However, that date had to be cancelled because the Chief Minister was not available. It was also the paddy procurement season and the ministers and other MLAs were also found to be engaged in related work and the date was consequently changed.

However, as the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, insisted that the ministers and other MLAs must be imparted training in IT, the search for a new date began, and the month of December was considered most suitable as the legislators were found to be relatively free at that time.

Accordingly, the e-governance centre contacted the Speaker of the Haryana Assembly, Mr Satbir Singh Kadiyan, and the latter got in touch with the legislators, seeking their consent to the training programme. The Speaker and the Deputy Speaker held a meeting with e-governance centre officials yesterday and the date of December 5 was decided. Mr Chautala will inaugurate the training programme on that day at 10 a.m.

Mr Gopichand Gehlot, Deputy Speaker, said that 75 to 80 legislators, including the Chief Minister and his Cabinet colleagues, out of the total of 90 MLAs, had so far given their consent for attending the programme.

The legislators have been divided into four groups of equal strength, each under a coordinator.

Mr Chautala, who rejected the offer of being given the training at home, will be the coordinator of one group of learners. The coordinators of the remaining groups will be the Finance Minister, Mr Sampat Singh, Mr Kadiyan and Mr Gehlot.

The training will be imparted on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and continue for six weeks. On each of these days, all four groups will be given training at a different time. Each training session will be of 90 minutes.

The legislators, who will be trained by personnel from the National Informatics Centre, will be taught how to use the Internet and how to receive and send e-mail, besides the basics of the computer. The medium of instruction will be Hindi.

Once the training is over, the government will implement its scheme of installation of computers for the legislators.

Khanpur gurukul chief ends dharna
From K.G. Dutt
Tribune News Service

GOHANA (Sonepat), Nov 29 — Ms Subashini, 88-year-old freedom fighter and president of the Khanpur gurukul yesterday ended her 17-day-old dharna following the judgement of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Ms Subashini whose father Bhagat Phool Singh was the founder president of the Khanpur and Baniswal gurukuls had started dharna in the Khanpur gurukul yagshala to protest against the arbitrary method of unanimous election of Mr Baljit Malik as the new president of the gurukul management. Ms Subashini ended her dharna on an appeal made by Swami Indervesh, a former MP and a product of the gurukul, Mr Kitab Singh Malik, a former MLA, and Dada Baljit Singh of the Ghetwala Khap. 

The small group of 50 persons — most of them members of the management decided that a deputation of the Gurukul Mahapanchayat should soon meet the president, Mr K.R. Narayanan, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and other senior central leaders to apprise them of the “dictatorial methods” adopted by the Om Prakash Chautala administration towards to control educational institutes of repute such as Khanpur gurukul and appoint his political henchmen on top management post. The newly elected president, Mr Baljit Malik is the president of the youth wing of the INLD of Sonepat district. Ms Subashini, however, told reporters that before approaching the Centre, a deputation of the Mahapanchayat would meet the Chief Minister so that the latter might not give an excuse that he was not approached by the Mahapanchayat. She also said she would not hand over the charge to Mr Baljit Singh on November 30 when her present term ends: She justified her stand that the Punjab and Haryana High Court had provided her a breather till December 18 and had not directed her to hand over the charge. She also offered that Mr Chautala was welcome to appoint any elderly person as the president if he was very keen to appoint his own men in such sacred institutions and politicise the atmosphere there. Although Section 144 Cr PC is enforced in the gurukul premises till November 30, yet supporters of the old woman gathered in the yagshala in the presence of the SDM (Civil), Gohana, and the police force on duty.

Governor lauds Red Cross, Jain Milan
From Our Correspondent

SONEPAT, Nov 29 — The Haryana Governor, Babu Parmanand has commended the District Red Cross Society and the Jain Milan for providing artificial limbs and aids worth about Rs 50 lakh to the disabled persons in the ongoing 11-day camp. Speaking at a function on the premises of the Shree Digamber Jain temple here last evening, the Governor expressed the hope that Haryana would emerge as a trend-setter in providing artificial limbs and other equipment to the disabled in the country. 

The camp will inspire other districts to help the needy, he hoped. Upadhayay Gupti Sagar Maharaj, a Digamber Jain saint, said the person who help others was truly great. Blessing the Governor and his wife, the Jain muni said that Babu Parmanand deserves all praise as he had devotion towards saints and reverence towards culture. Mr H.C. Jain organising secretary of the camp, while welcoming the Governor, informed that aids equipment worth Rs 35.87 lakh from the B.M. 

Viklang Kalyan Samiti, Delhi and Jaipur including 2,000 polio calipers worth Rs 20 lakh, 500 Jaipur feet of worth Rs 6 lakh, 1,500 pairs of crutches worth Rs 5.25 lakh, 200 tricycles worth Rs 5 lakh and 25 wheel chairs worth Rs 62,500, 300 artificial hands from Alimco, Kanpur, worth Rs 9 Lakh and 500 hearing aids worth Rs 5 lakh from Ali Yavar Jung, NIHH, Mumbai, were available in this camp which would be distributed to the disabled. He disclosed that over 2,500 disabled have so far been benefited from this camp.

Mr Sudhir Rajpal, Deputy Commissioner, lauded the organisers of this camp particularly Mr H.C. Jain, General Manager Haryana Roadways and said the disabled persons would be given artificial limbs and aids to make them self-dependent.

Later, the Governor distributed hearing aids, tri-cycles, wheel-chairs and artificial limbs among the disabled. The Governor and his wife Mrs Sudesh Kumari also honoured those persons who helped in organising the camp by presenting them mementos.

Supplementary exam results declared
From Our Correspondent

BHIWANI, Nov 29 — The Haryana School Education Board today declared the results of the middle supplementary examination, held in September, with a pass percentage of 81.49.The pass percentage of boys is 81.87 while that of girls is 80.89.Declaring the results, the Board Chairman, Mr Sher Singh Rori, said here today that 31,125 candidates appeared in the examination, of which 25,363 were declared successful and 5,676 were placed under compartment.

He informed that 19,097 boys took the examination and of them 15,634 got through and 3,395 were placed under compartment. He added that 12,028 girls appeared in the examination, of them 9,729 were declared pass and 2281 placed under compartment. According to the board Secretary, Mr R.P. Gupta, the results are being made available at the website http: // haryana. nic.in. 

Besides, they are being published in three Hindi dailies. The results are also being made available at the offices of District Education Officers, District Public Relations Officers, board headquarters and Bhiwani and district level co-ordination centres of the board.

Mr Gupta said the fail/compartment/re-appear cards of the candidates would be sent after one week of the declaration of the results and pass certificates would be sent within 15 days. 

The Secretary said the candidates who wanted to appear in the annual examinations, March-2001 for compartment and re-appear, could send their forms with the prescribed fee of Rs 180 up to December 15. After this a late fee of Rs 200 would be charged up to January 1, 2001. A late fee of Rs 300 would be charged after that till one month before the commencement of examinations, he added.

NPA for docs: Cong flays CM
From Our Correspondent

ROHTAK, Nov 29 — Doctors at the PGIMS here are sore over the non-payment of non-practising allowance (NPA) to them despite the announcement made by the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, in this connection last year.

Prof Virender, President, District Congress Committee (rural) said here today that during a visit to the institute, he found that resentment prevailed among doctors over the “breach of promise” made by the government.

During a function held on the PGI campus in December last year, the Chief Minister reportedly announced to provide non-practising allowance to the doctors to the tune of 25 per cent of their basic salary as being given in Delhi, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh with effect from January 1,2000. However, the doctors alleged the announcement made by the Chief Minister had not been implemented so far.

The Congress leader claimed that no proficient doctor was ready to join the Rohtak institute as his counterpart was drawing almost double salary than him elsewhere, he said no applicant turned up for the post recently advertised for radiology, paediatric medicine and paediatric surgery departments of the PGI.

Besides, he said the machine for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) had not been installed so far at the PGI despite the promise made by the Chief Minister.

Prof Virender alleged the “inordinate delay” in setting up of trauma centre here was also creating doubts among the doctors towards the intentions of the government as a sum of nearly Rs 2.5 crore had already been spent on the move.

Strike: no work, no pay rule to be enforced
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 29 — In a bid to contain ongoing the pen-down strike by employees, the Haryana Government today directed all administrative Secretaries and heads of departments and the Managing Directors and Chief Administrators of boards and corporations to strictly apply the no work, no pay rule to those who had not reported for work after the strike began.

Meanwhile, while addressing a rally of employees in front of 30 Bays building today, Mr Rameswar Khasa, vice-president of the Haryana General and Backward Classes Employees Welfare Organisation, which is spearheading the strike, appealed to state government employees all over Haryana to join the strike. Mr Khasa, who has been booked under the ESMA, also condemned the raids by the state police on the residences the agitators.

Mr Desraj Lamba, president of the General and Backward Classes Employees Organisation, Mr Dharambir Dandha and Mr Dharambir Malik also attended the rally. All three have been booked under ESMA and are wanted by the police.

No loans for power bill defaulters
From Jatinder Sharma

ROHTAK, Nov 29 — The state government appears to be following a carrot and stick policy to realise power bill arrears from defaulting consumers.

While Deputy Commissioners are touring villages to persuade the consumers to pay outstanding bills, the government has decided not to let them avail of facilities if they fail to clear the dues by tomorrow.

The government has reportedly decided that the defaulting consumers and their family members will not be entitled to avail facilities of cooperative loans, DRDA grants/loans, issue and renewal of ration cards, driving licences, arms licences, registration of vehicles, registration of property and mutation of land and sale of fertilisers and seeds through government and government-controlled agencies. The family members will include wife, husband, mother, father, son and dependent daughter.

Before availing these facilities, the applicant will be required to submit certificate of payment of power bill to the authority concerned. He would also be asked to attach his family member’s latest copies of bill and copy(s) of receipt, certifying that no arrears were outstanding against him or his family.

Meanwhile, the methods adopted by the Deputy Commissioners, too, have started showing results. The consumers have got a clear message that the outstanding bills will not be waived.

After the visit of Deputy Commissioner Rajesh Khullar to Dhamar village on November 23, the consumers have started paying the bills. Out of a total of 612 consumers, only two were paying the bills regularly and the remaining had not paid their bills since 1992.

At least six consumers had paid over Rs 78,000 till yesterday whereas 40 others got their bills rectified.

The Deputy Commissioner told The Tribune here today that he might take action against Nambardars and sarpanches who had not paid their bills on one pretext or the other. Government employees, too, had been advised to pay the arrears.

Nearly 25 consumers of Makrauli Kalan village had paid their outstanding bills after the visit of Mr Khullar on November 23. Out of 874 consumers, nearly 74.2 per cent (649) were defaulters in this village.

Tehsildar appointed land receiver
From Our Correspondent

ROHTAK, Nov 29 — The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Rajesh Khullar, today directed the SDM to appoint the tehsildar as receiver of more than 135 acres of “jumla mushtarka malkan” category in nearby Sanghi village under Section 145 of Cr PC.

According to sources, the SDM has issued orders in this regard, averting a dispute over a piece of land till a decision is reached by court.

Tension was generated in the village when hundreds of people reached the land in more than 20 tractor trailers and destroyed wheat and sugarcane crops yesterday. Fodder was also set afire by villagers agitated over the unauthorised possession of a group of people over the land. It is learnt that there are nearly 500 partners of this land which had been under the possession of the panchayat for the past several years.

Doctors to seek arms licences
From Our Correspondent

BHIWANI, Nov 29 — Private doctors here at a meeting held yesterday under the auspices of the Indian Medical Association decided to obtain arm’s licence for self- defence. The meeting was organised following threatening calls received by doctors for ransom and hooligans in the premises of Bhardwaj Hospital. The member doctors condemned the act and criticised police failure.

They were agitated that even after naming the culprits, the police had failed to round them up whereas four of them themselves surrendered before the police. The doctors demanded immediate arrest of the main accused whose name had already been given to the police by the victim doctor.

They called upon the residents to oppose such incidents to maintain peace in the city. The meeting was presided over by Dr K.C. Kajal, president, IMA, Bhiwani.

Security around dist jail tightened
From Our Correspondent

SONEPAT, Nov 29 — The district and police administrations tightened the security measures in and around the district jail here today on the directive of the state government.

According to official sources, two armed commandos were put on duty outside the jail. This step has been taken after the escape of a dreaded criminal Rajesh from the jail a few months ago.

The Jail Superintendent, it may be recalled, has sent a letter to the state government demanding the tightening of security arrangements in and around the district jail.

Use of ESMA against striking staff flayed
From Our Correspondent

FARIDABAD, Nov 29 — The Bhartiya Gurjar Mission has condemned the use of ESMA against the agitating state government employees. It has sought the resignation of the state government for its alleged failure to solve the issues concerning the employees’ demands.

In a statement here yesterday the president of the Mission, Mr M.P. Nagar said the use of ESMA was a “violation” of the democratic right of the staff. He said the arrest and removal of employees from service had been most unfortunate and the government should immediately release all employees and start a dialogue.

Samiti files plea on stray animals
From Our Correspondent

SONEPAT, Nov 29 — Mr Vimal Kishore, president of the Jan Hit Samiti, filed a public interest petition in the court of the Civil Judge, Senior Division, here yesterday for getting the city free from stray animals.

In his petition, Mr Kishore stated that both the Sonepat Municipal Council and the Deputy Commissioner had failed to take any action in this regard in spite of repeated representations made by the samiti leaders from time to time.

The Civil Judge, after hearing the case, referred the petition to the court of Mr Vimal Kumar Sapra, Sub Judge, for further action in the case. The Sub Judge fixed December 7 as the next date of hearing in the case.

2 kids crushed under buses
From Our Correspondent

FARIDABAD, Nov 29 — Two children died and one was injured after they were run over by school buses in two separate incidents in this district in the past 24 hours.

Puran (10) son of Mr Hari Lal, a Nepalese, was killed in Sector 14 this morning when he was hit by a school bus. The victim was going on a cycle with his younger brother Neeraj (8) when the accident took place. Neeraj sustained injuries and has been admitted to hospital.

In another incident, Vikas (12), son of Mr Bhim Singh of nearby Kheri village died after he slipped while alighting his school bus and fell before the rear tyre. He died on the spot.

In yet another incident, an unidentified beggar died in Sector 11 when a vehicle hit him.

13 Rohtak students represent India
From Our Correspondent

ROHTAK, Nov 29 — As many as 13 local students represented India at the St John Ambulance Brigade International Cadet camp held in Malaysia from November 18 to 23.

This is probably for the first time that the national team has been represented by students of only this town.

Those who attended the camp are Isha Bharti, Prerma Ahlawat, Ankita Abrol and Neha Sharma of Model School and Aman Chhikara, Prerna, Monika Gahlaut, Manu Saini, Vidhi Bajaj, Anshul Pathania, Vikrant Malik, Raman Maggu and Rohit Jatain of Pathania Public School here.

As many as 627 students from 11 countries participated in the six-day camp. The participants were imparted training in first aid at the camp.

Hisar JD(U) merges with Janshakti
From Our Correspondent

HISAR, Nov 29 — The district unit of the Janata Dal (United) has merged with the Janshakti Party floated by the Union Communications Minister, Mr Ram Vilas Paswan.

In a press note issued here today, Mr Anil Sihag, president of the district unit, said all office-bearers and members of the executive had joined the new party. The decision was taken after a meeting of the office-bearers.

Mr Sihag blamed the JD chief, Mr Sharad Yadav, for the disintegration of the party, saying that his refusal to quit his post had led to the division.

He said all office-bearers had sent in their resignations from the JD(U) to the President of the Haryana unit of the party, Mr Ved Parkash Vidrohi.

Meanwhile, Mr Vijay Saini, district secretary, Dalit Sena, has welcomed the floating of the new party by Mr Paswan. He said the new party would get the support of all weaker sections of the society.

200 JTOs to be recruited
Tribune News Service

AMBALA, Nov 29 — Out of the 4000 graduate engineers (JTOs) to be recruited by BSNL through the All-India competitive exam likely to be held in February or March, 2001, about 200 JTOs will be recruited for Haryana Telecom Circle.

All details regarding eligibility proforma for application, syllabus, and scheme of examination has been given in newspaper advertisement and last date of receipt of application is January 1, 2001, a release said.The applications in respect of Haryana Telecom Circle are to be received by DGM (Admn), O/o Chief General Manager, Telecom, Haryana Circle, 107, The Mall, Ambala Cantonment.

Woman dies in accident
Tribune News Service

AMBALA, Nov 29 — A woman was killed and her husband, a doctor, was seriously injured when their motorcycle rammed into a Haryana roadways bus near Tepla today.

The incident took place when Dr S. Prakash and his wife Neelam, hailing from Yamuna Nagar, were going towards Jagadhari from Ambala. Near Tepla, the Haryana roadways bus collided with the motorcycle. While Neelam died on way to the hospital, Dr Satyaprakash has been referred to the PGI.

Sarpanch suspended
Tribune News Service

AMBALA, Nov 29 — The sarpanch of Kodwakhurd village has been suspended for disrupting meeting.

On November 26, a meeting of Kodwakhurd village sabha was called in which besides other matters the village development committee had to be formed. Out of the seven members, five members of the committee had been elected which was not approved by the sarpanch who snatched the meeting register and dismissed the meeting, according to a press note.

The Sub Divisional Magistrate Naraingarh, Mr Maheshwar Sharma, is going to look into the matter.

Cases against 11 farmers registered
From Our Correspondent

SONEPAT, Nov 29 — The Murthal police yesterday registered cases under Sections 379 and 430, IPC, against 11 farmers of Rajpur and Kurar villages on the charge of stealing canal water and unauthorised irrigation.

According to official sources, the action followed a report of a junior engineer of the Irrigation Department alleging the canal water theft and unauthorised irrigation.

8.14 cr for SCs
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 29 — The Haryana Scheduled Castes Finance Development Corporation today said the corporation assisted 4,166 Scheduled Castes beneficiaries by giving them financial assistance totalling Rs 8.14 crore till October during the current fiscal year.

The Minister of State for Social Welfare, Mr Risal Singh, said out of this an amount of Rs 227.58 lakh was provided as subsidy, Rs 127.33 lakh as margin money, Rs 13.84 lakh as direct loans and Rs 445.29 lakh as bank loans.

Target fixed for crushing sugarcane
From Our Correspondent

KAITHAL, Nov 30 — The Deputy Commissioner, Dr Mahavir Singh, said a target to crush 35 lakh quintals of sugarcane had been fixed. He was speaking after inaugurating the crushing season at the Cooperative Sugar Mill here on Monday.

Youth festival from Dec 11
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 29 — The Haryana Sports and Youth Welfare Department will organise the seventh state-level youth festival from December 11 to 13 at Panchkula. A spokesman of the department said the festival was earlier scheduled to be organised at Sirsa from November 24 to 26.