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| Monday, March 5, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Hooda booed out of rally
PM to perform ‘bhoomi
poojan’ tomorrow Kataria demands
package |
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Plant saplings to check ecological
imbalance Phoolan: bring
dacoits into mainstream MDU painted
green to please INLD? Class IX students distributed class XI papers
Haryana to have 1,100 new buses Transporter found
murdered No breakthrough in Jain murder
case Ayurvedic doctor shot
dead Man stabs wife,
himself, dies Haryana to have
kisan clubs Scheme for power consumers
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Hooda booed out of rally Bhiwani, March 4 Mr Hooda’s eroding support was clearly reflected in the rally as almost the entire crowd supported Mr Bhajan Lal and the call for unity by AICC general secretary Mohsina Kidwai fell on deaf ears. While the jam-packed crowd at the Kirorimal grounds clapped and cheered Mr Bhajan Lal and his confidantes, Mr Hooda made a hasty exit after he was booed by spectators as he came forward to speak. Buoyed by the presence of the large crowd, the former Haryana Chief Minister said the Om Prakash Chautala government will be dethroned in just six months “if the party gets the support like the one shown by you today.” Making a scathing attack on the Chautala government, Mr Bhajan Lal blamed the INLD-BJP government for the plight of the farmers, the poor and the downtrodden. He accused the government of not ensuring adequate remuneration for farmers’ produce and also not making other inputs like diesel and power available to them at reasonable rates. The former Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition said, “If our party comes to power, we will revert the hike in power tariff and also all taxes levied by the Chautala government.” Accusing Mr Chautala of not fulfilling even single promise made by him in the past one year, he said people were fed up with the INLD-BJP government as it had failed in all fronts. “There is acute shortage of water, power and employment. The law and order situation is worsening day by day with many criminals
getting political asylum,” he said, urging the people to give their unflinching support to dethrone the Chautala government. There was high drama as Bhajan Lal supporters did not allow Mr Hooda to speak one of his staunch supporters and former MLA Chhattarpal was virtually heckled. Annoyed and humiliated, Mr Hooda made a hasty retreat from the rally while the party’s stalwarts remained a mute spectators. While the crowd did not wait for the speech of party treasurer Motilal Vora and former Union Minister P. Shiv Shankar, efforts of AICC general secretary in charge of Haryana Mohsina Kidwai to bring some order went in vain. Urging the partymen to remain united if they wanted to dethrone the Chautala Government, Ms Kidwai said “This rally is not that of an individual, but that of the Congress party as a whole.” It was a Bhajan show all the way. Hundreds of trucks, tractors and buses came into the district from the wee hours, carrying thousands of his supporters. While speaker after speaker hailed and supported Mr Bhajan Lal, Mr Hooda’s supporter and former MLA Chhattarpal, was virtually heckled by the crowd which surged forward like a mob on the stage. The predicament of Mr Hooda was apparent when his colleague and four-time MP from Karnal, Mr Chiranji Lal Sharma, bluntly asserted, “I have been with Mr Bhajan Lal for 25 long years...minor differences cannot be taken to mean that we oppose each other. We are in the same party.” Another embarrassment for Mr Hooda was that contrary to his directive that expelled members of the party should not be permitted to participate in the rally, at least three expelled party leaders — Mr Krishan Murti Hooda, Mr Ran Singh Mann and Mr Subhash Batra — were present right in front of the dias with a large number of their supporters. The rally also gave a good mileage to Dharamvir, a Bhajan Lal confidant and MLA from Tosham, as he stole the show by attacking apparently Hooda. “Had there been proper distribution of tickets in the State, the Congress would have won with a thumping majority” he said amid a thunderous applause and anti-Hooda slogans from the crowd. Highlighting the plight of the people, especially in south Haryana, he said while there was excess distribution of water in Sirsa, Narwana and Fatehabad, the other parts of the state had been thirsting for water. Among those who were present at the rally included, former state Congress President Birender Singh, MLAs Om Prakash Jindal, Balbir Pal Shah, Rao Narender Singh, Capt. Ajay Singh, Sher Singh, Rao Dhan Singh. Mr Hooda’s confidants and MLAs Raghubir Kadyan, Shadi Lal Batra and Jitender Malik were conspicuous by their absence. Former state Congress President Shamsher Singh Surjewala was also not present. |
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PM to perform ‘bhoomi
poojan’ tomorrow Kurukshetra, March 4 The construction of the ghat will be undertaken under the supervision of the Kurukshetra Development Board. Mr Vajpayee during his last visit to the city on the centenary celebrations of Mr Gulzari Lal Nanda had sanctioned Rs 5 crore from his funds for the construction of the western ghat of the sarovar. Pandit Ashwini Bhardwaj, a Brahmin of Pehowa, will perform the duties of a purohit when Mr Vajpayee offers “pooran ahuti”. The twin towns of Thanesar and Kurukshetra are being beautified to receive the Prime Minister. Mr Vajpayee had earlier visited the city on a number of occasions as an opposition MP. At the western ghat of jhankis and episodes of the Majabharata will be on display. Flower decoration with shlokas from the Srimad Bhagwada Gita is being done in the area. Jhankis of Lord Krishna giving the celestial message to Arjuna will also be displayed. The welcome gate is being erected with typical Haryanavi motifs on it so that the welcome gets a Haryanavi touch. The administration has undertaken the carpeting of roads in the area from where the motorcade of the Prime Minister will pass an otherwise neglected roundabout near the theme park where the Prime Minister will address a rally is being given a total facelift. A team of gardeners is engaged in planting ornamental plants. Fresh grass is also being planted. Interestingly, all plants on the road leading from Pipli to the theme park have been watered. The railings have also been provided fresh coating. The administration had filled the pitches on either side of the double carriageway from Pipli to the site of the public meeting with sand and earth. Several sweepers have been deployed to clean area. SPG commandoes and police from other districts are already camping here. The Haryana DGP, Mr M.S. Malik, visited Kurukshetra yesterday to review the police bandobast. This reporter learnt the police was being extra cautions as far as the security of the Prime Minister during the rally was concerned. Searches have been made in villages to find out elements sympathetic to Punjab extremists. It is learnt a vigorous search has been launched to nab Pattan Deep Singh, a known terrorist of the Safidon area, who had been evading arrest for long. He is also trained as human bomb, according to some highly placed sources. Ministers of the Chautala government and the BJP leaders are touring the countryside to bring people to the PM’s rally. Even Mr Devi Lal visited Ladwa area yesterday to muster workers to take part in the rally. Both the BJP and the INLD are engaged in a war of nerves to get the credit for attendance in the rally. But the INLD workers seem to be more vocal and enthusiastic. PM to open science centre Kurukshetra, March 4 Talking to mediapersons here, the National Council of Science Museums, Director General, Mr I.K. Mukherjee, said that the project had come into being as a joint initiative of the National Council of Science Museums, Kolkata and autonomous organisation under the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Government of India and the Government of Haryana through the Kurukshetra Development Board.  Budget session
from today Chandigarh, March 4 According to the Assembly Secretariat schedule, Finance Minister Sampat Singh will present the Budget for 2001-2002 on March 12 while the supplementary estimates will be presented on March 9. The House will have no sittings on March 6, 10 and 11. |
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Kataria demands
package Ambala, March 4 The state unit of the BJP seems to have decided on a ceasefire for the time-being in the light of the March 6 rally to be addressed by the Prime Minister and is working with the INLD to make the rally a success. Haryana BJP President, Ratan Lal Kataria today said they had demanded a package for Haryana. “We have demanded a package from the Prime Minister which will help in the overall development of the state”, he
said. Mr Kataria said a delegation headed by him had met the Prime Minister in this regard. “We have requested that the SYL issue be solved. We have been raising this issue since the watertable has gone down in Haryana and water is flowing out. We told Mr Vajpayee that he should intervene in a manner similar to solving the Cauvery water dispute. Mr Vajpayee has expressed his readiness to solve the SYL issue”. He said BJP President Bangaru Laxman had assured help in solving the issue. “We informed Mr Vajpayee that the power scenario in the state needs to be considerably improved. Even if there is 18 hours of constant power, the state will witness economic growth. As a matter of fact, industries shifting out of Delhi did not prefer Haryana because of the dismal power scenario”, he
said. Mr Kataria said another major issue raised by them was regarding the minimum support price of wheat. “We told the PM that the Opposition is spreading wrong information regarding the MSP of wheat. Mr Vajpayee termed the wrong information as baseless”. The state BJP President said during the period of terrorism in Punjab, Haryana too had to face several problems. “A large amount of money had to spent on security. We have demanded an economic package similar to Punjab. Today, the state is reeling under a debt of crores of
rupees”. Mr Kataria supported the demand for power sharing made by Mr Om Prakash Chautala. “We should get our share of power from power-generating units located in neighbouring states,” he said. He said the state unit of the BJP was working towards making the PM’s rally a success. “The Kurukshetra rally is going to be a historic one. We are making all necessary preparations. Duties have already been assigned and we are expecting a large
turnout”. Mr Kataria skirted a query on the imposition of taxes by the Haryana Government before the Budget presentation. “On people-friendly issues, we support the state government and on anti-people matters, we will raise our voice. People have made us feel that the imposition of taxes is not correct”, he
said. Mr Kataria condemned the demolition of statues in Afghanistan. “We have requested the Prime Minister that concrete steps must be taken in this direction to ensure that fundamentalists don’t have a free reign. Indian sentiments have been deeply hurt”, he said. |
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Plant saplings to check ecological
imbalance Yamunanagar, March 4 Mr Oberoi said the farmers must adopt agroforestery and plant bamboos. He exhorted the participants to plant saplings on the birth anniversary of their near and dear ones or in the memory of a deceased family members. Earlier, Dr S.L. Saini, president of the Haryana Environmental Society (HES), highlighted the activities of the society in making Haryana “green and clean”. He said the society had so far planted about 20,000 saplings of 48 species in different parts of the state. The main species are neem, peeple, behda, amla, jamun, arjun, bel patra, mahua, guller, am, dhak simbal, kadamb, dehu, ashoka, kathal, sohanjna, kanak champa, shehtut, pilkhan, sheesham, tun, sagwan, safeda, poplar. He criticised the lack of proper implementation of forests laws to protect the green cover in the urban areas of state and urged the government to protect the trees in the state. Dr K.L. Johar, former Vice-Chancellor of G.J.U. Hisar, delivered a keynote address. He urged the government to introduce environment as a compulsory subject at school and university land.Mr Rajeev Sharma, Deputy Commissioner and chief patron of the HEC, welcomed the chief guest and delegates. The speakers, Mr Surender Singh Hera, Mr Daljit Singh Khera, Dr Rajpal Singh, Mr J.B. Verma, Mr R.B. Sagoo of NABARD, Chandigarh, Mr N.K. Chaudhary, Mr R.P. Sapra, Conservator Forest, Ambala, and Mr Sharma, Chief Conservator Forest (Central), Chandigarh, Dr Ramesh Kumar presented the research papers. Earlier in the morning Mr O.P. Oberoi launched a tree plantation drive in which more than 200 people both from rural and urban areas, including the Deputy Commissioner, Yamunanagar, judges of the local court, heads of various institutions/organisations punches and sarpanches planted various medicinal and first bearing trees at new grain market, Jagadhri. |
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Phoolan: bring
dacoits into mainstream Sonepat, March 4 Talking to mediapersons at Ahmadpur village, about 5 km from here, yesterday, she admitted that during the past few years the menace of dacoits in the Chambal valley had increased and it was necessary for the government to create conditions in which the dacoits could be brought into the mainstream of society. She alleged that the dacoits who had surrendered before the government had not been given justice by the government as well as the police. Following complaints by the Dalits Ms Phoolan Devi visited the village in the district where the construction of a water tank has led to bitterness among the people of two communities. She assured the group of Dalits present on the occasion that she would take up the issue with the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala and if he failed to redress their grievances she would raise the issue in the Lok Sabha. She regretted that a legislator of the area had exploited the situation instead of bringing about any compromise between the two communities on this issue. She asked the Dalits to remain united and wage a relentless war against the injustice. She appealed to the district authorities to provide security to the Dalits. If immediate action was not taken the Dalits would have no alternative but to launch a direct action by blocking the traffic on the GT Road passing through the district, she added. |
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MDU painted
green to please INLD? Rohtak, March 4 A huge amount was reportedly spent on painting the iron gates, park railings, electric poles, walls, flower pots etc green prior to the ninth university convocation, which was held yesterday. The carpets, chairs and invitation cards for the convocation were also in green. Interestingly, owners of certain unauthorised tea stalls and rehris were permitted to continue their business on the campus subject to the condition of colouring their khokas and rehris green. The “green campaign” has caused resentment among the university’s and non-teaching staff. A senior teacher, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the university management had set a wrong trend by colouring the entire campus green. He said the university was an autonomous body and it was wrong on its part to adopt such tactics for political patronage. |
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Class IX students distributed class XI papers Fatehabad, March 4 According to delayed reports received from Barsin, Bhodiakhera, Hinjrawan, Kumaharian, Dhingasaran Ayalki and some other villages of this district, when the invigilators distributed question papers of English to the class IX students appearing in the annual examination, most of the students were perplexed to find that none of the questions given in the question papers were from their syllabus. The non-plussed students complained about the matter to the supervisory staff, who were astonished to find that though question papers were meant for class XI but these were found sealed in envelops meant for class IX. In many villages, where there were two separate boys and girls schools, while question papers in one of the schools were for class IX only on the other school these were not in order. In some cases, the invigilators got the correct question papers
xeroxed and where it was not possible they dictated the whole question paper to the students. In the process, the examination was delayed by one to two hours. Besides this the question papers of class XI were also leaked. According to sources, negligence on the part of SCERT officials was responsible for the faux pas. Earlier the question papers of class IX were set at the local level. But only this year the SCERT had decided to publish the question papers at their level and then supply these to all schools in the state. |
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Haryana to have 1,100 new buses Kalka, March 4 The Chief Minister said the state government had decided to give small-route permits to the people, but the long-route buses would be managed by the Transport Department only. He also said that the time-table of the buses had been chalked out in such a manner that it was in consonance with the needs of the students, government employees and the people. Mr Chautala said the state government had decided to set up police posts on all the national highways at a distance of 20 kms. These posts would have quipped with medical facilities, mobile phones and phones for accident victims. The state government has also approached the Central Government for setting up a trauma centre on all national highways. Mr Chautala earlier inaugurated the three-day 23rd Inter-Zonal Youth Festival of the Kurukshetra University. More than 800 students of 11 districts from 104 colleges and 30 teaching departments of the university are participating in the festival. Transporter found
murdered Karnal, March 4 The mystery of his murder further deepened as all household goods were found intact. However, his cellular phone with all-India number is still missing. Mr Kamboj who had shifted here from Kartarpur city in Punjab was a bachelor and lived alone. Facts collected from his relations reveal that Mr Kamboj had talked to his sister at about 9.30 pm on March 2 as she also lived in the city. It is also reported that his munshi also talked to him at about 9.45 pm. It was after 11 pm that the chowkidar found that his car was not parked in front of the house. This created panic among his relatives when they came to know about it. They started searching for him. But the two day-long search yielded nothing. It was found today at about 10.30 am when some foul smell emanated from the box. On opening it the body was found wrapped in the bedsheets. Injuries were found at the back of his head. He seems to have been strangulated as marks of nylon cord were also visible on his neck. The police brought in a dog squad and various forensic experts. But it yielded no clue. |
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No breakthrough in Jain murder
case Sonepat, March 4 According to official sources, the police raided the hideouts of the culprits allegedly involved in the case but were unsuccessful. One of the culprits stated to be an old student of the local CRA College, is still at large. The police believes it to be a case of enmity as Mr Jain had given evidence against a suspect who was allegedly involved in a case of murderous assault on a girl student of the same class. |
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Ayurvedic doctor shot
dead Rohtak, March 4 The deceased has been identified as Maman Singh (27) who has practising as an Ayurvedic doctor at the Rajaram market on the Najafgarh road. According to police sources, two masked assailants reached the clinic of Maman Singh and opened fire on him. The victim tried to escape but slipped on the muddy road
and fell victim to bullets. Shopkeepers downed their shutters in panic. The assailants then drove away towards Najafgarh. The police got Maman Singh admitted to the Community Health Centre which referred him to the PGIMS, Rohtak, where he succumbed to injuries. It is learnt the police arrested the assailants from Balaur village last evening. However, the police has hot yet confirmed the arrests. |
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Man stabs wife,
himself, dies Faridabad, March 4 According to information, the victim, Chander Prakash (45), was unemployed for the past two-three years and got injured in an accident a few months back. It is learnt that as he could not bear the problems facing his family he took the extreme step of stabbing himself and his wife. The latter has been admitted to B.K. Hospital here is stated to be critical. The victim was a father of three children. |
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Haryana to have
kisan clubs Hisar, March 4 Addressing mediapersons here yesterday, Mr Rajeev Arora, Director of Agriculture, said the clubs would be headed by deputy commissioners. Agriculture scientists would also be included. Two clubs at Kurukshetra and Kaithal had already been constituted while the rest would be formed by March 20. Later, such clubs would also be formed at the subdivision level. Mr Arora said that the clubs would provide information about diversification and new technologies to maximise profits in the post WTO era. He said that the implementation of the WTO regime would not hurt farmers. |
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Scheme for power consumers Chandigarh, March 4 The scheme is meant for domestic and non-domestic consumers in these towns and will remain operative until March 15. A spokesman of the DHVBN said that VDS-2001 was different from the VDS for unauthorised extension of load launched all over the state on March 1. He said under VDS-2001, the consumers had been given a chance to declare theft of electricity and faults in meters. |
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