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Thursday,
May 17, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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BJP move raises Chautala’s
hackles NDA govt’s days numbered:
Selja 90 pc wheat procured in
Ambala 3 held for murder of Cong leader’s brother Internet dhabas in 7
blocks Chattha’s bail plea
dismissed |
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Councillor apologises
for assault on XEn
Health services politicised, says Hooda Train derailed, 24 injured Centre’s nod sought for power scheme KU admissions till Oct
30 Boy lynched for travelling
without ticket DGP’s directive to SPs Drive against liquor
smuggling: 3 held Dalal’s interrogation
begins 24 Haryana officials may face criminal cases
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BJP move raises Chautala’s
hackles Gurgaon, May 16 The development has the potential of blowing into a crisis. The Haryana Chief Minister and INLD chief, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, is reported to have expressed his sentiments in some quarters in the state that his party could change tack from extending “unconditional support” to the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre to “conditional” one if Mr Ajit Singh, son of former Prime Minister Charan Singh was inducted in the Council of Ministers. The INLD has decided to intensify its programmatic action in Uttar Pradesh to carve out a niche for itself, especially in the western part of the state, considered to be the stronghold of Mr Ajit Singh. It also plans to put up its nominees in some assembly segments in the next assembly elections in the state. In a series of public meetings organised by the party in western Uttar Pradesh it is making efforts to put up another good show for the meeting slated for May 20 in Kosi Kalan. The INLD camp is in deep anguish over the reported move to rope in Mr Ajit Singh despite the protest lodged by Mr Chautala to Mr Vajpayee. Reports have it that Mr Chautala has also expressed his anguish in the Shiromani Akal Dal circles. According to sources, Mr Chautala at his 30-minute meeting with Mr Vajpayee on May 8, raised the issue and spelt his party’s serious reservations against it. Mr Vajpayee is said to have made no comments on the subject. In the meeting Mr Chautala is understood to have named Mr Advani, saying that he was interested in projecting Mr Ajit Singh as a Jat leader. He made it known that his political image would be affected due to the projection of Mr Ajit Singh. It is reliably learnt that Mr Ajit Singh called on Mr Advani last Monday and had a meeting with him. According to observers, there is a backdrop to Mr Chautala’s sharp reaction on the development. After the demise of former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal, he would like to step into his shoes at the earliest. He wants to emerge as the tallest leader in the Jat community and all those related to the peasantry class. Also, he would like to keep intact the halo of the arguably superior status of his family, sedulously cultivated by “Tau” Devi Lal especially among the farming community. These may be seriously jeopardised if Mr Ajit Singh, who also has a lineage of a charismatic leader in Charan Singh, is given a further boost. Besides, there is a personal angle, which is said to be weighing heavily on the INLD leadership. The incident relates to the turbulent period in Indian politics at the time when Mr V.P.Singh was the Prime Minister and Mr Devi Lal the Deputy Prime Minister. This period coincided with the period when Mr Chautala had assumed charge as Chief Minister of Haryana for the first time. During this period Meham incidents erupted, which forced Mr Chautala to step down from the post of Chief
Minister. The INLD circles are of the firm view that Mr Ajit Singh was among those leaders who fished in troubles waters and created problems for the then embattled Chautala government in Haryana and for Mr Devi Lal at the Centre. The political relationship between the two stalwarts, Mr Charan Singh and Mr Devi Lal, was also pockmarked with acrimony and
one upmanship to corner space in the Indian political system. There are many who feel the INLD leadership has reasons to be on its guard in the eventuality of Mr Ajit Singh becoming Union Minister, especially when the party has a government in the state. Also, Mr Charan Singh’s clan is considered to be having pockets of influence in Haryana. Mr Ajit Singh, on and off, indulges in political activities in the state and never misses to be critical of the INLD leadership. As it is, there have been reports of heartburn and injured egos among a section of MLAs of the INLD. It is in this context that INLD attempts to make forays in western Uttar Pradesh assume added political significance. |
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NDA govt’s days numbered:
Selja Fatehabad, May 16 Ms Selja was addressing party workers in the local Ram Seva Samiti Dharmshala yesterday. The meeting was organised in connection with the preparations for the proposed lalkar rally at Panipat on May 20, 2001. The member and a former Haryana minister Mr Jagdish Nehra, the HPCC vice-president Dr K.V. Singh, secretary Paramveer Singh and organising secretary Jai Pal Singh Lali and Haryana Mahila Congress secretary Uma Bishnoi were present. Ms Selja said the results of the recently concluded Assembly elections in five states had clearly shown that the people of this country have rejected the NDA government was totally oblivious of the people’s problems. She said that the seriousness of the government towards its people could be gauged from the fact that at a time when the NDA was being routed out from all the five states it had gone for polls, the Prime Minister had left for Malaysia. She also castigated the government for its response to the tehelka revelations. Former Haryana minister Jagdish Nehra said that the lalkar rally being organised at Panipat on May 20 was not a rally of a particular person but it was the rally of the Congress. The rally, he said, would serve the purpose of challenging the Om Parkash Chautala government in Haryana, which he alleged, has failed on all counts. Dr K.V. Singh, Mr Paramveer Singh and Ms Uma Bishnoi also spoke. |
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90 pc wheat procured in
Ambala
Ambala, May 16 The state government has deployed senior officers to ensure that the problems faced by the farmers earlier during the paddy procurement are not repeated this time. Several farmers and arhtiyas said this time the government was very particular that the farmers should not face any problem in getting the minimum support price for their produce. This time not only the Commissioner level IAS officers, even the Chief Minister himself visited a number of grain markets in the district to know about the actual position of the procurement. It was due to this pressure by the government that the procurement agencies had to liberalise their standards. Unfortunately, the weather did not oblige the farmers. There had been intermittent rainfall during the harvesting season. As a result the harvesting season was squeezed to a limited period. The adverse weather conditions also forced the farmers to bring their produce to the markets as soon as possible. Even the small farmers tried to harvest their crop through combines instead of the traditional manual way. In spite of it the untimely rain partially affected the crop in a few villages. The procurement agencies, however, did not refuse to purchase the partially rain affected wheat in the district. The sudden arrival of wheat, however, created some lifting problems in few grain markets of the district as the quantity of the arrival was almost two to three times more than the lifting arrangements. The poor and inadequate lifting arrangements had puzzled the farmers but the timely payment for their crop compensated the hardships. There was a shortage of bardana in a few grain markets which could be solved if it was managed in advance. This time a good number of farmers of Punjab villages adjoining Haryana also preferred to bring their crop to Ambala City grain market. A farmer of Tepla village said he had brought his crop to Haryana for the second time and he would do so in future also. He said last year the Chief Minister of Haryana, Mr Chautala, had offered them an invitation and promised that they would be paid better price and would get facilities. A local farmer, Mr Jasbir Singh, said this time they did not face any major problem in selling their produce. |
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6 commission agents’ licences
suspended Kurukshetra, May 16 According to the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Abhilaksh
Likhi, out of the six commission agents two each from Kurukshetra and Ismailabad grain markets while one each from Nalvi and Ladwa grain markets. Mr Likhi further said that another show cause-notice had been issued to a commission agent at Ismailabad after finding irregularities in wheat purchased by him and action had been initiated for the suspension of his licence. It had been alleged that his firm had sent some mixed wheat bags for storage without properly cleaning the wheat. In another case, the police had registered a case against Rajendra Kumar, a truck driver, for allegedly bungling two wheat bags while carrying these for storage, Mr Likhi added. Meanwhile with the arrival of 95,250 metric tonnes of wheat here till Monday, the Kurukshetra grain market had topped all grain markets in the
disttrict. Stating this Mr Likhi said that the Ladwa and Pehowa grain markets secured second and third positions by recording arrivals of 78,400 and 77,621 metric tonnes of wheat there respectively. |
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Cane growers seek release of
payments Fatehabad, May 16 The agitated cane growers have threatened to launch an agitation in case the payments are not made by the mill authorities within 10 days. Sugarcane growers of the area told this correspondent that the mill management owed Rs 8.82 crore to them. They lamented that while on one hand, the state government had been claiming that it was making payments of the farmers’ sugarcane within 15 days of the receipt of supplies, on the other, the Bhuna Co-operative Sugar Mills was harassing them. The cane growers on Monday went to meet the Managing Director of the mills, Mr Inder Singh, but he was not available. They later met other officers of the mill and threatened to gherao them in case their payments were not made. According to the cane growers the cane manager of the mills has assured them that their payments would be cleared within 10 days. When this correspondent tried to contact Mr Inder Singh over telephone, he was informed that the MD was on a round of the mills. Chairman of the mills and Deputy Commissioner of the district, Mr O.P. Indora, said the payments had been delayed due to a financial crunch. He said he had sent a requisition of Rs 10 crore to the Finance Department and as soon as the money was received, they would make the payments to the cane growers. |
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3 held for murder of Cong leader’s brother Karnal, May 16 Mr Azad confessed his crime in the presence of both Deputy Commissioner, Mr Devender Singh and the district police chief, Mr
P.K. Aggarwal. He said he had 13-year-old enmity with him. The deceased had caused a loss of Rs. 12 to 13 lakhs to him. He admitted that he had hired Pawan and Mehboob of Jhinghana village of Uttar Pradesh. The deal was struck at Rs 50,000. He was to pay the amount to them today, but the police nabbed the two culprits at the Meerut Road, he said. However, relatives of the deceased had named an INLD leader and two others in the FIR. The detained INLD leader and two others have been freed. |
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Internet dhabas in 7
blocks Rohtak, May 16 Talking to mediapersons on the eve of the World Telecommunication Day, he said Call Nodes had been opened at the Rohtak, Bhiwani and Bhadurgarh telephone exchange centres. The International Telecommunication Union celebrates the telecommunication day every year on May 17 to commemorate its founding in Paris in 1865. This year’s theme highlights the challenges of the Internet. The Rohtak telecom district covers an area of 8,676 sq km. It comprises Rohtak, Bhiwani and Jhajjar districts having a population of 29.65 lakh. It has 880 panchayats divided in 19 block headquarters. Mr Jain said the telephone density per 1000 population in the district was 38 against the national 35.4 and state 48.7. The density was lower as the district did not have much industry. Mr Jain claimed the district had recorded more than 50 per cent increase in revenue collections in the past three years. The revenue had increased to Rs 47.76 crore from Rs 37.13 crore in 1999-2000. The gross revenue outstanding had declined in the past three years. The telecom district has 152 telephone exchanges with switching capacity of 1,21,582 and 100 per cent electronic capacity. The district has 91,889 working lines which means 75.58 per cent loading of exchanges. The General Manager said during the past one year 27,708 persons had applied for telephone connections of whom 22,280 had been provided the service till March 31 last. Nearly 17,721 applicants were still on the waiting list, he said. He said there had been nearly 300 per cent growth of PCOs during the past three years. Against 641 PCOs in March 1999, the member had risen to 1,888 upto March 31 this year. |
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Chattha’s bail plea
dismissed Kurukshetra, May 16 According to District Court sources, though two reports have been recorded in the Daily Diary Report (DDR) yet no criminal case has been made out from the same and as such, the anticipatory bail application, being not maintainable, has been dismissed. The District and Sessions Judge yesterday extended the stay of Mr Chattha’s arrest till today because the police could not produce the copy of the DDR registered against him. Mr Desraj Singh, SP, said the police had not registered any criminal case against Mr Chattha. He said only a DDR was registered against him, for allegedly warning a police official, who had arrested his grandson Ripu Daman and his accomplice Inderjeet Ahuja under Section 21 of the NDPS Act for allegedly possessing 3 gm and 20gm of smack, respectively, last week. Both of them were produced in the court and remanded in judicial custody for 14 days. Levelling allegations against the ruling INLD-led Haryana Government, Mr Chattha reiterated that his grandson had been implicated. |
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Councillor apologises
for assault on XEn
Ambala, May 16 In the afternoon, MC Rajiv Gupta and other senior local unit BJP leaders reached the XEn office, where the HSEB union members and the police had already gathered. MC Rajiv Gupta then apologised for the incident in which the XEn, Mr N.K. Jain, was assaulted at night. Mr Rajiv Gupta expressed his regrets for the incident. He had to apologise more than once since the HSEB union leaders wanted the apology to take place to their “satisfaction”. The assault on the XEn had snowballed into a major issue, with the local unit of the HSEB threatening pen-down and tool-down strike if the apology did not take place. They had maintained that the only way out of the imbroglio was an unqualified apology by MC Rajiv Gupta. It was believed that senior district administration officials had intervened so that the matter could be sorted out amicably. The BJP was not ready to the two conditions laid down by the power union. The union had stated that the apology should be written and it should be tendered in a public place. The BJP, on its part, was not ready to tender a written apology and was keen that the apology should take place behind closed doors. Although Mr Rajiv Gupta apologised in a public place, in front of the union, no written apology was tendered in this regard. The BJP leaders expressed satisfaction over the issue being resolved since the XEn assault issue had been given a political colour. The HSEB union leaders said that the matter had now been put to rest. “It was wrong to have assaulted a senior power official. We are satisfied that a compromise has been reached,” a union leader said. |
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Tankers to supply water Kalka, May 16 The SDM of Kalka yesterday called a meeting of officers of the public health and electricity departments in his office and directed them to perform their duties sincerely in the best interest of the citizens. The SDO Electricity said presently there was no power cut in the town and the problem of tripping of electricity supply had also been controlled. The
XEn Public Health told the SDM that the target to complete the work of laying of 10 inches of underground pipeline from Housing Board to Gandhi Chowk, to carry the surplus water, had been fixed May 31. He added that all efforts were being made to complete the work before this date and was nearing completion now. The SDM later said the government had provided Rs 2 lakh for making arrangements for supplying the water through tankers to the residents of this town. After the meeting held yesterday, supply of water improved in the town.
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Health services politicised, says Hooda Rohtak, May 16 Commenting on the recent removal of Dr S.B. Siwach from the post of the Director, PGIMS, without assigning any reason thereof by the government, Mr Hooda apprehended that the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, wanted to appoint his close relative to the post who was much junior to a number of doctors serving in the PGIMS. Mr Hooda said Dr Siwach had adopted several measures to streamline the functioning of the PGIMS but had lost favour with the government as he refused to bow before the political pressure. Prof Virender, president, District Congress Committee (Rural), said it was unfortunate that the government has handed over the charge of the PGIMS to the Commissioner, Rohtak division, ignoring 42 senior doctors of the Professor rank. |
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Train derailed, 24 injured Hisar, May 16 According to reports received here, the train was on its way from Bikaner to Bhiwani. Around 8 pm, its three coaches derailed as a tree had fallen across the railway track due to windstorm. The traffic on the track remained suspended for several hours and the passenger train bound from Hisar to Churu was also detained at the Siwani railway station. Railway officials reached the spot and supervised the cleaning operation. Traffic could be resumed only after midnight. |
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Centre’s nod sought for power scheme Chandigarh, May 16 Stating this here today, a spokesman for the nigam said under the scheme, six feeders of 11-kv each namely Ferozepur-Jhirka, City-I, Sohna, City-II, Sohna, Pataudi, Haily Mandi and Taoru town would be rehabilitated and renovated. The feeders would be divided into two or three parts and 372 additional distribution transformers, 350 low tension capacitors on transformers and 11 kv capacitors of 30,480 mvar capacity would be installed. He said the nigam spent Rs 26.66 crore on the power development works during the past financial year in Gurgaon district. As many as 4,359 cases of power theft were detected in the district by raiding premises of 46,472 consumers. Penalty of Rs 3.93 crore was imposed on the erring consumers. |
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KU admissions till Oct
30 Kurukshetra, May 16 The decision was taken at a meeting of the Academic Council here yesterday. The meeting was chaired by the Vice-Chancellor, Mr
R.S. Chaudhary, in which representatives from various colleges and departments of the university participated. The Vice-Chancellor later told The Tribune that the deadline had been fixed to streamline the admissions. Allowing admissions beyond October 30 is the prerogative of the Vice-Chancellor. In the past, Vice-Chancellors had been allowing admissions even till the first week of December. However, Mr Chaudhary offered to cede his powers in this matter. He said Vice-Chancellors had to face lot of political and other pressures when admissions lingered on till December. He had also taken steps to ensure the results of the examinations were declared in time, he said. The Vice-Chancellor said the meetings of the Academic Council and the Executive Council would be held after every two months to allow frequent discussions with members of both councils. He was of the opinion that if meetings were held frequently, there would be less items on the agenda. Mr Chaudhary said the university had decided to develop some colleges as centres of excellence in the field of science and commerce, but the colleges where such centres would operate were still to be identified. |
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Boy lynched for travelling
without ticket Rewari, May 16 Kailash Yadav, son of Dharam Pal Yadav, resident of Ladhuwas village, boarded the Rewari-bound Haryana Roadways bus at the village bus stop on Monday. Two brothers, employees of Haryana Roadways residents of Bohatwas village, were also going to Rewari in the same bus. It is stated that several students were travelling without a ticket but Kailash Yadav for reasons best known to the roadways staff was singled out and given a severe beating, resulting in a grievous injury on the forehead. Later, when his condition grew critical he was rushed to a local private hospital where the doctors referred him to
Delhi. Unfortunately, he succumbed to his injury at Delhi on Tuesday morning. The post-mortem examination was conducted at the civil hospital here yesterday after which his mortal remains were consigned to the flames. |
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DGP’s directive to SPs Yamunanagar, May 16 Mr Malik, who was addressing a meeting of district police chiefs of Ambala range here today, said that telephones would be provide at all police posts in the state to further improve the functioning of the police department. Exhorting them to maintain transparency in the on-going recruitment of constables in their respective districts, he said that they should themselves maintain the record of the recruitment. He asked the Inspector-General of Police, Ambala Range, to supervise the process of recruitment and promptly deal with any appeal received by him besides taking action in case he got any complaint.
PTI |
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Drive against liquor
smuggling: 3 held Sonepat, May 16 Superintendent of Police Paramjit Singh Ahlawat told mediapersons here today that cases under the Excise Act had been registered with the Kharkhauda and Gohana police stations, respectively, against them. He said the police had also arrested Sheikh Abdullah, a shopkeeper, on the charge of possessing an unlicenced pistol. The culprit, he said, belonged to Mustfabad in Siwan district (Bihar). A case under the Indian Arms Act had been registered against him. According to the SP, the police had arrested a youth Vijay of Bhatan Mohalla on the charge of satta gambling and recovered Rs 2,600. A case under the Gambling Act had been registered against him. The police had also arrested Rajesh of Baleoo village in Azamgarh district of UP and recovered 600 grams of ‘ganja’. A case under the NPDA had been registered against him. |
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Dalal’s interrogation
begins Rohtak, May 16 The Vigilance Bureau has charged Mr Dalal with misusing his power. It said he had ordered purchase of spurious and artificial fertiliser for different forest divisions when he was the Forest Minister of the state. Mr Dalal faces charges under Sections 406, 409, 418, 420, 468, 467, 471 and 120-B, IPC and also under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Mr Dalal said he had told the investigating officer that he was a Minister of the Forest Department for years 1996 and 1997 only and not upto 1999 as alleged by the Vigilance Bureau. He said Mr Jagdish Yadav and Mr Ram Bhaj had followed him as Forest Ministers. The Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, too, was a Minister of the Forest Department in 1999, Mr Dalal told the investigating officer. He had assured the investigating officer of cooperation, he added. |
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24 Haryana officials may face criminal cases Chandigarh, May 16 A spokesman of the bureau said in 21 other inquiries, departmental action under Rule 7 of the Punishment and Appeal Rules, 1987, had been recommended by the bureau against 75 officials, including 33 of gazetted rank, besides 12 others. He said in the cases which were proved, the recovery of over Rs 16.69 lakh had also been recommended besides the registration of cases and initiation of departmental action against the erring officials. |
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Two youths found dead Jhajjar, May 16 The body was sent to the PGI, Rohtak, for a postmortem examination.
Another body of an unidentified boy (18) was found near the residential colony of railway employees in Bahadurgarh yesterday. |
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3 youths held on rape charge Hisar, May 16 Later, the police arrested three of them while Sheru escaped. A case has been registered under Section 376, IPC. |
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Legal advisers
appointed Panipat, May 16 |
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Excise Dept to be computerised
Chandigarh, May 16 |
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Plot booking
date extended
Chandigarh, May 16
Students seek new date for computer exam Chandigarh, May 16 On the same day many students have to appear in the IAS (Preliminiary) examination. Since the IAS examination is held on an all-India basis, it cannot be postponed. |
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