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| Saturday,
January 13, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Facelift of Sirsa, Hansi “smacks of favouritism” Call to give lenses to blind Life term for raping minor
MC head blamed for illegal construction Ayurveda practitioners feel
harassed Spurned youth embraces
death |
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Devotees to hold protest rally today Recruitment to armed forces from Jan 17 5 types
of papers to curb copying Warning against
power theft Security beefed up in Sonepat
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Facelift of Sirsa, Hansi “smacks of favouritism” CHANDIGARH, Jan 12 — A proposal submitted by the Haryana Government’s Local Bodies Department to the Union Government for beautification of Sirsa and Hansi towns may trigger off a controversy. The state government has sought assistance of over Rs 4 crore each for these two towns under the Integrated Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns of the Union Government. The beautification plans include creation of parks and green areas as well as construction of shopping malls which would be put out for hiring by traders. The construction of shopping malls are being cited by the Local Bodies Department as revenue earning projects as the money collected from the takers of these shops would be used for reimbursing the Central aid. Interestingly, while Hansi town falls in the constituency of Mr Subhash Goyal, Haryana Minister of State for Local Bodies, Sirsa is the headquarters of Chief Minister, Om Prakash Chautala’s home district, which is also called Sirsa. The proposal evidently was an attempt by Mr Goyal to please his voters as well as the Chief Minister. At least one opposition MLA has already raised his voice against the alleged favouritism shown to Sirsa district by the state government. Mr Dharam Vir, Congress MLA from Tosham, also has a grand plan for mobilising people against the alleged privileges enjoyed by Sirsa because of its being the home district of Mr Chautala. Talking to TNS, the Congress MLA alleged that the majority of the irrigation water received by Haryana from two major canals were diverted to Sirsa and its neighbouring districts even as the areas in the southern districts are perpetually short of water. He also alleged that more than 80 per cent of Rs 90 crore aid received by Haryana State Minor Irrigation and Tubewells Corporation Limited from the World Bank was being spent on Sirsa. |
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Call to give lenses to blind KARNAL, Jan 12 — The Indian Ophthalmological Society has given a call to provide intra-ocular lens (IOL) to all deserving blind by 2010. The call was given by Dr J.K. Pasricha, noted eye surgeon, who took over as the President of the All-India Ophthalmological Society on January 4. Dr Pasricha is the only eye surgeon to have been elected to this prestigious post from Haryana so far. The society comprises over 10,000 eye surgeons. The eye surgeon, who belongs to this town and is the Director of the Karnal Eye Institute, told TNS in an interview today that it was the ethical duty of eye surgeons to provide every cataract patient with excellent and unaided quality vision. This was only possible through lens implantation. He regretted that unfortunately a large number of cataract patients had to remain content with simple aphakia. He said that instead of aphakia these patients should be given pseudophakia. Several constraints were being faced by eye surgeons in providing IOL to all. These included the high cost of the lens, surgical items and medicines, the shortage of ophthalmologists trained in IOL surgery and the shortage of necessary hi-tech equipment. The Indian Ophthalmological Society would also take steps to end the shortage of ophthalmologists. He wanted that the teaching and training of surgeons should be improved. Dr Pasricha urged the Chairman of the scientific committee of the All-India Ophthalmological Society to introduce more and more instructional courses for beginners in IOL and micro-surgery. He urged the society to involve itself in the formulation of national plans for the control of blindness. Although there were more than 5000 cataract doctors but only 25 per cent were involved in large-scale blind relief work. More than 25 lakh persons, who needed corneal transplantation, were suffering due to negligible availability of donors. At present, eye surgeons got only 10,000 corneas per year. He called upon all state ophthalmic associations to organise at least one eye donation camp every year. |
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Life term for raping minor PANIPAT, Jan 12 — The court of Dr Neelima Shangla, Additional Sessions Judge, Panipat, today awarded life imprisonment to Gurmeet Singh who raped a minor girl of 15 years and fined him Rs 50,000. It has been further ordered in the judgement that the amount of Rs 50,000 shall be paid as compensation to the minor girl. The minor girl, a resident of Shera village, was a schoolgoing student and used to learn sewing and stitching during her
vacations after school examinations. On June 20, 1998, when she was going to the stitching centre, the accused Gurmeet Singh, a taxi driver, forcibly caught hold of her and took her inside a factory. The girl resisted but the accused overpowered her and raped her. On hearing her shouts, her mother came inside the factory. On seeing the girl’s mother, the accused Gurmeet Singh ran away. While hearing the sentence of life imprisonment today the accused pleaded for mercy in the court as he said he was a taxi driver and was a married man with two children. His plea was rejected on the ground that the accused raped a minor girl. The court observed, “Gurmeet Singh has not only violated the victim’s privacy and personal integrity, but inevitably caused serious psychological as well as physical harm in the process, because rape is not merely a physical assault. It is often destructive of the whole personality of the victim. It is further held by the court that a murderer destroys the physical body of his victim while the rapist degrades the very soul of the helpless female. Therefore, the court has to shoulder great responsibility while trying the accused of charges of rape and these cases have to be dealt with utmost sensitivity as crime against women in general and rape in particular is on the increase. Hence, the convict Gurmeet Singh has been held guilty under Section 376 of the IPC and the imposed fine of Rs 50,000 is ordered to be paid as compensation to the victim minor girl.” |
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MC head blamed for illegal construction AMBALA The probe was ordered by the then Deputy Commissioner, Mr Ram Niwas, in response to a letter written to him by the local MLA, Mr Anil Vij, demanding an inquiry into the illegal construction in the shops. The additional Deputy Commissioner was made the inquiry officer. The ADC in his report said through a resolution (No-17) of the council the shopkeepers had been granted permission to replace their old tinned roofs into new ones upto a height of 10 feet. In lieu of this the tenants had to pay a rent of Rs 2,000 per month to the council, while earlier they were paying only Rs 150. Later, on August 31, 2000, the chairman of the council, Mr Shankar Dass, in a fresh resolution reduced the rent from Rs 2,000 to Rs 300. The ADC further said in the report that when the Executive Officer of the council sought permission to demolish the illegal construction, the Chairman returned the file without signing the permission letter. The report said the Chairman had helped the shopkeepers to construct their shops upto a height of 16 feet. The ADC also held the four councillors of Finance Sub Committee, Mr Kamal Kishore Jain, Mr Raj Kumar, Mr Rajesh Kumar and Mr Ved Prakash and two other officials of the council Mr K.K. Veerma and Mr Naresh Kumar responsible. He also recommended action against them. Meanwhile, the Chairman, Mr Shankar Dass, stated that the report was ‘motivated’. He said the ADC was himself responsible for it and added that when this illegal construction was made Mr Mahender Kumar was holding the additional charge of Deputy Commissioner and Estate Officer. He demanded that a fresh probe should be conducted by some central agency or by any senior officer of the state. However, he said he had not received a copy of the probe report so far. |
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Ayurveda practitioners feel
harassed ROHTAK, Jan 12 — Members of the Haryana Ayurvedic Medicine Association are up in arms against the “undue harassment” to them in the name of an official survey of the practitioners registered and listed in other states. An emergency meeting of the district unit of the association was held here today under the presidentship of Vaid Ram Singh Sharma to discuss the issue. Later, a memorandum was submitted to the Deputy Commissioner. They said in the memorandum that nearly 1.5 lakh ayurvedic medicine practitioners were serving in the state who were registered in other states and a “rigid” step by the government could render their families helpless. He suggested the government that it could earn a handsome amount by permitting them to serve in the state. He said lakhs of such practitioners serving in Haryana had been paying nearly Rs 75 lakh to other states as renewal fee per annum and had deposited Rs 22.5 crore in the form of registration fee. He said the Haryana Ayurvedic and Yunani Board, which had been running in huge deficit for the past several years, could earn several crores in case the government allowed them registration in Haryana as a gesture of goodwill. |
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Spurned youth embraces
death JHAJJAR, Jan 12 — A man enraged at his proposal being spurned committed suicide by consuming celphos at Subhash Nagar in Bahadurgarh town. According to information, the deceased, Pawan Kumar, loved a schoolgoing girl in his neighbourhood. He proposed to her a few days ago when she was on her way to school. He also threatened to kill her and her two brothers if she rejected his offer. The fear-stricken girl next day attempted suicide. The girl’s father then went to the boy’s house. On Monday last the deceased gave some pills and a letter to the girl in which he inscribed the time when he would swallow the pills. He also urged the girl to do the same. But only the boy consumed the pills. He was rushed to the local community health centre. Later, doctors referred him to PGI, Rohtak, where he died yesterday. Later, infuriated family members of the boy clashed with the girl’s parents, holding them responsible for their son’s death. No case has been registered so far. |
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Devotees to hold protest rally today FARIDABAD, Jan 12 — ‘Presentation of bangles’ by women devotees of the Siddhata Ashram Temple complex here to their male counterparts has forced the latter to hold an ‘agitation’ against the demolition of some ‘unauthorised’ constructions by the HUDA authorities. A member of the temple trust admitted that although the trust members had earlier decided not to launch an agitation in this connection but yesterday the management reversed its earlier decision. It would now hold a procession and stage a demonstration tomorrow outside the office of the Deputy Commissioner to protest against the demolition of some of the buildings of the complex. It will be followed by a public rally on January 21 here in which a large number of devotees and of this temple Ashram, would take part, stated the general secretary of the trust. One of the member of the trust committee said this decision followed the incident in which several women devotees of the temple came to the management officials of the trust and presented ‘bangles’ saying that they were not capable of even protesting against the hurting of devotees sentiments. Claiming that the incident led to change in the decision and they had now decided to intensify the agitation and its demand of ‘handover’ of land to the trust on which the demolition was done by the authorities. |
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Recruitment to armed forces from Jan 17 FATEHABAD, Jan 12 — Recruitment of the youths belonging to Fatehabad, Jind, Kaithal, Hisar and Sirsa districts to the armed forces will be held at Hisar cantonment from January 17 to January 20. This was stated by the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Anil Malik, here today. He said the recruitment of the wards of the ex-servicemen and martyrs would be held on these dates. He said, according to the specifications prescribed by the armed forces, the candidates should have completed 16 years of age and should not be above 21 years of age as on April 1, 2001. The candidates who are below 18 years of age are required to bring a declaration from their guardian and the village sarpanch that they were sending their wards to the armed forces through their own will. |
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5 types
of papers to curb copying CHANDIGARH, Jan 12 — The Board of School Education Haryana today decided to give five type of question papers to candidates of middle, matric and senior secondary annual examination from March this year. The Chairman of the board, Mr Sher Singh Rori, said this decision had been taken to curb copying and use of other unfair means. He said all the question papers would be printed in white. However, the questions would be different. No change had been made in
the style, blueprint and design of the question papers. He said since
the style of the question papers would be the same, there should not be
any doubt in the mind of teachers, candidates and their guardians. Warning against
power theft KAITHAL, Jan 12 — Mr Ram Pal Mazra Haryana Chief Parliamentary Secretary has said that ‘honest’ officers would be rewarded suitably and at the same time corrupt ones dealt with strictly. Mr Mazra stated this while talking to reporters here yesterday. He said that the employees found conniving in the theft of power and canal water would be suspended and cases registered against such officials and employees. |
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Security beefed up in Sonepat SONEPAT, Jan 12 — The district and police administration have tightened security measures in the city and other parts of the district in view of the activities of militants in the Capital. According to official sources, the step has been taken on instructions of the state government following an apprehension of militant activities on Republic Day. |
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