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| Monday,
January 15, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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South Haryana denied due share of
water Haryanvis discard heating
rods Pen-down strike
withdrawn District diary Promotion rules flouted,
allege employees |
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Number of vehicles sans permits on
rise Water not reaching
tailends: farmers Chicken pox strikes Hathin Big turnout at BJYM rally 50 pc off on flights to ITBP
men Move to reduce support price of
wheat opposed Poor response to senior citizens’ home Make Haryana HC in UT: Swami
Cop attacked, hurt
Makar Sakranti celebrated
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South Haryana denied due share of
water JHAJJAR, Jan 14 — South Haryana has been reeling under severe water crisis, both for drinking and irrigation purposes. The water problem in the region is so serious that many villages of at least four districts have been facing an acute shortage of potable water and a large area under agriculture remained uncultivated due to unavailability of canal irrigation. Due to this situation, the issue of the Satluj-Yamuna link canal (SYL) has begun to spring up among the public here. The people hold the state governments responsible for the dry condition and alleged that the region has been denied its due share of canal water. The state’s Chief Minister, have been flushing the major chunk of canal water towards their home districts. They assert that if any government had honestly tried to resolve the SYL issue, the water problem would not have turned so serious. According to reports as much as 10,000 hectares of wheat sowing land in Jhajjar district along could not be cultivated due to lack of irrigation. Also, potable water has become a commodity in many villages. A resident of Barahi village said, our women have to fetch water from the Asaudha village around 4 km away in pot over their heads.” A similar situation prevails in Kulasi, Kanonda, and many villages in Matanhail, Salawas and Badli blocks of the district. Ground water is saline at most of the places in the region and that too has depleted sharply in recent years. The problem of potable water turned more critical in summer season. Pond and other water reservoirs dried up in June and the famine like situation started taking its toll, as the cattles became the main victim. A farmer and member of the block samiti of Hasangarh village, Mr Neeraj Sharma, maintained that an inappropriate distribution of canal water was the main cause of shortage in some parts of the state. “If the SYL canal had been tunnelled, there would have been no imbalance in water
distribution" he said. Meanwhile, the Arya Pratinidhi Sabha at its meeting recently decided to launch an agitation in south Haryana on the SYL issue. The sabha will hold dharnas and demonstrations in eight district headquarters of the region which will be followed by road and rail blocking agitations. Sources said that the agitation will begin from January 23 in Bhiwani led by the state president of the Rashtriya Lok Dal, Mr Balbir Singh Grewal. Mr Omprakash Beri, Mr Satyavir Shastri and Mr Ramdhari will lead the stir in Jhajjar, Rohtak and Jind districts, respectively. The coordinator of the Sangharsh Samiti of the sabha, Swami Indravesh, also expressed concern over the imbalance in the water distribution in Haryana. He said on the one hand south Haryana is in the grip of drought like situation while areas in Hisar and Sirsa districts have become waterlogged due to excess canal water. A former MLA, Mr Om Prakash Beri, demanded that 18 lakh cubic water should be given to south Haryana to meet the requirement of the region. Former Union Minister Sher Singh, former state minister Heera Nand Arya, Haryana Nirman Morcha leader Jagdish Rai Kaushik and former district councillor Kanta Kaushik were among those attended the meeting which was presided over by Swami Omanand Shastri. |
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Haryanvis discard heating
rods HISAR, Jan 14 — It’s a rod Haryanvis fear the most these days. Even the village schoolmaster’s cane and the policeman’s lathi are less fearsome than this new avatar of the rod. Yes, it’s the electrical heating rod, which has become an untouchable following the Haryana Power Utilities’ statewide campaign to check power thefts and unauthorised loads. No one wants to touch it even with a bargepole. Resultantly, the most widely used appliance for heating water has been shoved under the carpet in most households. Power officials say heating rods of 2000 W and above are used during winters for heating water in kitchens and bathrooms by stealing power from the cable connecting the house to the pole outside. The trick is to cut the cable and then rejoin it leaving the cable core without insulation. It is here that rods are attached to steal power. But this kind of power theft is fast becoming history. The Power Utilities has constituted special teams to raid houses in areas where line losses are exceptionally high. The teams have imposed heavy penalties on consumers suspected of stealing power. The fear of untimely raids by the power men has forced consumers to discard such appliances. These teams, which are escorted by a police posse, also count the number of switches installed in the house to determine the load. In case the average of consumption bills does not match the load, penalties follow. This has created a big scare among consumers, including those who pay their bills honestly. Consequently, switch plates are being replaced speedily to disconnect the rarely used switches and plugs. Most consumers have hired electricians to close all but the most necessary of electrical points, especially the power plugs. Most households, therefore, now have outsized brand new laminated plates with very few switches or plugs on them adorning the walls. The discarded switches and plugs have been stashed away to be used as spares whenever necessary. This particular problem arises because at the time of the construction of the building, most electricians charge the owner for every electrical point provided. This is done in the garb of convenience for the owner so that he or she need not bother about future requirements. All this went on well till recently, when the power men began calculating load on the basis of the points provided. Power officials say honest consumers need not fear penalties since only 15 per cent of the load of the points provided is taken into consideration. However, owners find that even this exceeds their normal load since very few of the points are actually used. It is this fear that is driving owners to get the points closed. The sale of power switches in Haryana has nose dived during the past two weeks. However, electricians are in great demand to undo what they had done earlier. Likewise, the sales of geysers, blowers and heaters too have registered a sharp fall with electrical stores incurring heavy losses. Even the price cuts have not helped improve sales. |
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Pen-down strike
withdrawn CHANDIGARH, Jan 14 — The Haryana Government General and Backward Employees Welfare Organisation today withdrew its 84-day-old pen-down strike following a meeting between leaders of the organisation and the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, at his family farmhouse at Teja Khera in Sirsa district yesterday. It is for the third time that the strike has been called off unconditionally by the employees. The strike, which began on October 17 last year, was first “suspended” on November 9. It was resumed on November 16. After announcing the unconditional withdrawal of the strike on November 22 night, the employees resumed it the next day itself. The state government had invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act to declare the strike illegal and dismissed more than 60 employees for participating in it. It also invoked the principle of no work, no pay. The employees had gone on strike to press their demand for the implementation of the Supreme Court judgement in the Ajit Singh Janjua case-II regarding accelerated promotion to Scheduled Castes employees, which entailed the reversion of certain reserved category employees. In fact, the government had ordered the reversion of these employees in the first week of October last year. But the orders were withdrawn the same day. According to a statement issued by the president of the organisation, Mr Des Raj Lamba, he met Mr Chautala yesterday along with a delegation of nearly 30 employees. He said the talks with the Chief Minister were held in a cordial atmosphere, following which it was decided to withdraw the strike with immediate effect. He appealed to the employees to clear the work piled up due to the strike by working after office hours as well as on holidays. The delegation included Mr Prithvi Singh Layal, Mr Pratap Singh Sangwan, Mr N.K. Sharma, Mr Ram Narain Yadav and Mr Rameshwar Khasa. It is believed that another round of talks between the employees and Mr Chautala may be held here in the middle of next week. |
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District diary SONEPAT: A large number of government employees, including many heads of departments, have not only been cheating people but the state government also by claiming city compensatory allowance
(CCA) as well as house rent allowance (HRA) regularly despite the fact that they commute from Delhi, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Rohtak, Panipat and Karnal. The state government’s instructions to the heads of the departments not to leave headquarters without permission of the competent authorities have been flouted with impunity. The arrival and departure time of such officers in their offices is fixed as per the railway timetable. Trains normally run behind schedule and many a time they reach their offices two to three hours late. Some of the officers use buses and they never turn up for duty on time. For instance, a Superintending Engineer of the Irrigation Department is a commuter from Panipat and a departmental jeep waits for him at the PWD (B & R) rest-house in this city. Similarly, an Executive Engineer and an SDO of the same department also commutes daily between Sonepat and
Gohana. Many heads of the departments and other subordinate employees commute daily between Sonepat and their homes. Their number is increasing day by day in the absence of any checks by the higher authorities. The state government’s instructions to the heads of the departments to conduct periodic checks in their offices have also not been followed. Certain employees are believed to be running businesses in the name of their children or relatives. They are often absent from offices during duty hours. Besides, the Haryana Government rules banning the appointment of gazetted officers in their home districts seem to have had no effect as far as this district is concerned. Many officers belonging to this district are working as heads of the departments. The very purpose of the rules was to provide clean and unbiased officers so that they could deal with the public in an independent manner. But these considerations in appointments and transfers have lost their significance since these are solely made on the “wishes of the politicians” particularly ruling party bosses. *
* * Reports of mismanagement and bungling in the Irrigation Department are going on unchecked, thanks to the failure of the SDO (Vigilance) entrusted with the job by the state government. It is alleged that the SDO had never checked the projects of the department at various places in the district. Whenever, a letter of credit
(LoC) is received, he is supposed to be entitled to get his commission from the officials concerned. It is also alleged that theft of canal water by certain influential farmers is going on without fear. Most cases are overlooked or hushed up on the intervention of the political bosses. Many farmers have demanded a high-level probe into the “misuse” of funds by certain officials entrusted with the maintenance of channels, particularly in Gohana sub-division. It is further alleged that estimates prepared by the department are bifurcated to please contractors backed by ruling party MLAs and other bosses. The authorities are also diverting funds meant for one purpose to another in violation of the state government’s instructions. Moreover, tenders of specific works have become a subject of public criticism. *
* * Life for residents of Gohana and
Ganaur, both sub-divisional towns in this district, has become miserable due to the civic bodies’ indifference to sanitation. Heaps of garbage can be seen lying in almost all the localities of these towns. The authorities have also failed to pound stray animals and pigs. Sand and dust has accumulated on the state highways and other roads of these towns, particularly in commercial areas. Residents alleged that roads are cleaned only when a VIP passes through. The drains in these towns, which are rarely cleaned, have become a breeding ground for mosquitoes. It has been a long time since DDT and BHC has been sprayed. Most of the urinals built by the civic bodies are not being used by the public as these are dirty. Instead, they have been converted into garbage dumps and emit a stench which keeps residents away. Residents alleged that the Local Department does not bother to look into the working of these civic bodies. *
* * The Haryana Government has been suffering a huge financial loss owing to illegal felling of trees in this district, particularly in Ganaur and Gohana sub-divisions, thanks to the failure of the Forest Department authorities to check the menace. It is alleged that certain department officials in league with contractors and others involved in this racket. The Forest Department Workers Union has urged the state government to order a CBI probe into its repeated complaints about the illegal felling as well as the planting of saplings every year in the district. Such a probe is likely to expose the misdeeds of the authorities concerned, it added. *
* * Officials of the Rai Water Service Division have earned kudos from the representatives of various farmers’ organisations for making concerted efforts in ensuring canal water supply to fields near the Rajpura
distributary. Farmers of Bahalgarh, Liwaspur, Raipur, Rathdhanna and Garh Shahjahanpur got adequate quantity of canal water for the sowing rabi crops during the rotation period. |
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Promotion rules flouted,
allege employees FARIDABAD, Jan 14 — Members of the Association of Haryana Excise and Taxation Ministerial Staff have threatened to launch an agitation if anomalies in the promotion policy and other departmental matters were not removed soon. The president of the association, Mr Amar Singh Yadav, in a statement here today charged the taxation authorities with discriminating against the staff posted at Chandigarh and those at the district headquarters. Declaring that the association would launch an agitation if the authorities failed to accept its demands by January 21. He said a meeting of the state executive of the association would be held at Kaithal on January 20 to discuss the situation and to chalk out its strategy. Alleging gross violation of promotion rules, he said the authorities had promoted some of the employees working at Chandigarh while several senior employees at the district headquarters had not been promoted. Three employees working at Chandigarh had been promoted to the rank of inspector while employees working at the field station since 1973 had not been promoted so far. He claimed if a probe was conducted into promotions made since 1980, several irregularities would come to light. |
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Number of vehicles sans permits on
rise FARIDABAD, Jan 14 — Plying of “illegal” vehicles is reported to have become a menace in the district. It is not only causing a financial loss to the authorities, but has been responsible for increased risk on the road due to violation of traffic rules and regulations by the drivers of these vehicles. According to reports, while the total number of illegal passenger vehicles is not known, it is estimated that the number may well run into four figures. Due to rash driving and indiscriminate overtaking, the number of accidents have risen sharply over the past few years. According to information, the unavailability of Haryana Roadways buses on shorter routes and approach roads and the “failure” of buses of some cooperative societies to stick to their allotted route has resulted in the growth of a large number of private vehicles, including jeeps, matadors and three-wheelers. A large number of these vehicles have been plying without permits. The roadways authorities detected 187 illegal vehicles plying in the district during a recent checking campaign. These vehicles included 21 buses plying without permits. The poor condition of roads and unsafe driving have resulted in deaths and injuries to passengers. Statistics indicate that the number of victims of accidents in various parts of the district has increased. A few years ago, the state government had decided to allot smaller routes to buses of cooperative societies and had decided to operate roadways buses on the main routes. However, since several cooperative buses started operating on routes other than those allotted to these in order to earn more revenue, a large number of illegal vehicles started their operation. The General Manager of Haryana Roadways in Faridabad, Mr J.D. Arora, while admitting that complaints of some cooperative buses not sticking to their routes had come in, said action had been initiated to check the activity. He said the depot would buy 33 new buses soon. At present the depot has 217 buses. |
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Water not reaching
tailends: farmers SONEPAT, Jan 14 — Farmers of Gohana subdivision in this district are facing an acute shortage of canal water for the past few months due to erratic water supply and alleged theft of irrigation water by influential farmers. They also alleged that some officials of the Gohana Water Service Division were conniving with influential farmers and hushing up the cases of water theft. Expressing anguish over the inadequate supply of canal water, the farmer blamed the authorities of the water service division for not cleaning canals, distributaries and minors despite instructions from the state government. They alleged that the desilting operations carried out by officials were an eye wash and they had not seen slush which had been brought out from the canals. The farmers whose fields are situated on tail-end have demanded a high-level probe into the matter. Meanwhile, Mr Hari Singh Khokhar, President, Haryana unit of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, has also refuted the claim of the irrigation department authorities that the canal waters had reached the tailend villages during the rotation period between December 18 and 25. |
Chicken pox strikes Hathin FARIDABAD, Jan 14 — Chicken pox has affected several children in Hathin subdivision of this district. While the health authorities seem to be taking it lightly, villagers have become panicky. Over 100 children aged between six months and five years have been affected with chicken pox. The interesting thing is that most of the children had been immunised. District health officials say it is not a matter of concern as the outbreak of chicken pox is common among children. The Chief Medical Officer, Dr S.K. Puri, said the disease was of viral nature and the children would recover in a few days. Claiming that it was not contagious, he said he had received no information on the outbreak of chicken pox. Residents of Raniala Khurd village have said about 100 children have already been affected by the disease. They said they had approached the health officials at Hathin but no doctor had visited the village so far. A complaint in this regard has been lodged by Mr Abdul Razza, sarpanch of the village. The residents fear the disease may acquire the proportion of an epidemic if no steps were taken. |
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Big turnout at BJYM rally SONEPAT, Jan 14 — Emboldened by the heavy turnout of people in the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) rally at Gohana town in this district, Mr Kishan Singh Sangwan, declared here today that the BJP would not enter into alliance with any other political party for contesting the Vidhan Sabha elections in the state. Talking to mediapersons, he said that it appeared that the people were fed up with the INLD government, headed by Mr Om Prakash Chautala and lost faith in it on account of the anti-people, anti-farmer and anti-employee policies pursued by it. He predicted that the BJP would win the next elections in Haryana. He said that the alliance with Mr Chautala had proved harmful for the party as the Chief Minister had deliberately launched anti-BJP policies and harassed the party leaders. |
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50 pc off on flights to ITBP men SABOLI (HARYANA), Jan 14 (PTI) — As a goodwill gesture to ITBP personnel deployed in the inaccessible Leh belt in Jammu and Kashmir, Jet Airlines has decided to offer 50 per cent concession to them for to and fro travel from the far-flung sector, ITBP Director-General Gautam Kaul said here. “The offer will come into effect from September this year. I have already received a letter to this effect,” he said. The “benevolent gesture” would benefit the ITBP personnel of all ranks who were spread over four battalions in the Leh sector, he said. “Leh is the only rear station for our boys in the sector,” he said, adding that air route was the only means of travel left for the personnel as roads had to be frequently closed. |
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Move to reduce support price of
wheat opposed SONEPAT, Jan 14 — The President of the Haryana Pradesh Janata Dal (U), Mr Ved Parkash Vidrohi, has opposed the recommendations of the Agricultural Prices Commission (APC) for the reduction of the support price of wheat from Rs 582 to Rs 520 per quintal and described it as an anti-farmer policy pursued by the Central Government. In a signed press statement issued here yesterday, he said since the installation of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre, the farmers were feeling let down as the remunerative prices for their crops had not been given to them. He warned that any move to reduce the procurement price of wheat would prove harmful for the Vajpayee government at the Centre. He also said the package awarded by the Central Government for paddy crop had remained unimplemented in Haryana. He demanded a high-level probe into Haryana BJP leaders’ allegations of bungling in payment to paddy growers by the Chautala government. Mr Vidrohi alleged that both the INLD and the BJP were working against each other and the people who had voted for the alliance were feeling betrayed. |
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Poor response to senior citizens’ home AMBALA The local administration has received only a handful of applicants for the Chaudhary Devi Lal Old-age Home located in Ambala city which is to start functioning tomorrow. The old-age home is open for any senior citizen, including retired officials of Ambala. The last date for the receipt of applications was January 13 and the applications were today scrutinised by a committee headed by the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Mr Mahinder Kumar. Only three applications have reportedly been received. About 40 senior citizens can stay in the old-age home which includes 10 places meant for those who are not in a position to pay any fee. An official said that the residents of the old-age home will be extended various facilities, including food, magazines, newspapers, television sets, chess and carrom board. He said that doctors will be paying regular visits to the home. A single room in the home is for Rs 300 a month, while a double room for couple is for Rs 500. While breakfast is going to cost Rs 5, lunch and dinner has been fixed at Rs 10 each. Even those who are residing free will have to pay the food cost. Besides the residents of the old-age home, other senior citizens can also avail of the facilities at the home for a nominal sum. The senior citizen home was inaugurated by the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, on August 27 last. A sum of Rs 65 lakh has been spent on this old-age home, out of which Rs 30 lakh has been contributed by the Centre, Rs 10 lakh by the state government, while the remaining amount was spent by social organisations. A member of the Elders Forum opined that although Ambala needed a senior citizens' home, a culture for such a concept has not yet developed here. "Since it is a small place, people know one another. I feel that it will take time before interest in such a welfare effort develops," he said. |
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Make Haryana HC in UT: Swami KURUKSHETRA, Jan 14 — The Bharatiya Janata Party is in favour of creating a separate high court for Haryana, said Mr I.D. Swami, Union Minister of State for Home, here yesterday. Mr Swami said the BJP also did not intend to weaken Haryana’s claim on Chandigarh, Abohar and Fazilka. The BJP favoured the creation of a separate high court for Haryana within the Union Territory of Chandigarh and establishing a separate Bench of the Delhi High Court there. He said he had
discussed this topic with Mr Arun Jaitly, Union Law Minister.
Cop attacked, hurt AMBALA, Jan 14 — A policeman was injured when he was attacked by few persons late last night. The incident took place when the policemen on duty had flagged down a scooter for checking. A few minutes later, a Maruti car had arrived. The persons sitting in the car attacked and injured the policemen. Meanwhile, the area police has recovered 4,200 country
liquor pouches from a truck in Ambala cantonment. The police intercepted the truck on the Jagadhri road late last night and seized the
liquor pouches. A case has been registered against Sahib Singh, Sunil, Sanjay, Rajesh and
Rakesh. |
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Makar Sakranti celebrated SONEPAT, Jan 14 — Thousands of men, women and children took a holy dip in the Yamuna near here today on the occasion of Makar Sakranti. Devotees started pouring in around 3 a.m., despite the cold. Later they visited religious places and offered prayers. The Haryana Roadways authorities, however, failed to ply additional buses for the commence of the devotees. Private vehicle owners charged high fares from the devotees in the absence of any checking by the authorities concerned. |
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