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Sunday,
January 6, 2002, Chandigarh, India   
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INLD keeps UP poll pact options open HVP begins poll campaign Probe into pension scam stepped up Haryana may have prawn project Faulty policies behind farmers’ woes: ex-minister |
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Steps to burn hospital waste
2 youths run over, killed by train Decision on refund of registration fee PCO body gives
strike call
Doc’s body donated for research
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INLD keeps UP poll pact options open Gurgaon, January 5 The Haryana Chief Minister and INLD supremo, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, who was here, said his party would ally with any “secular” political outfit, except the Congress. Responding to a question, he said the INLD was having talks with various political parties for an alliance for the Uttar Pradesh elections. In what is seen as a shrewd
move, he also held out an olive branch to the BJP by saying that its workers and leaders were “nationalists”. He said so while responding to a question whether he considered the BJP to be also secular. He also chose the occasion to say that India was prepared to give a fitting reply to Pakistan if it dared any misadventure and that his party was ready to strengthen the hands of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for the security and integrity of the country. He evaded a direct reply when asked of the number of seats he would contest. He, however, categorically said that his party would contest the elections on its own symbol. He said as the war clouds were hovering over the Indo-Pak border, there was an air of uncertainty about the Uttar Pradesh elections. Incidentally, he is the first NDA leader to publicly express uncertainty about the poll in view of the border tension. According to observers, the statements of Mr Chautala was a move aimed to send mixed signals to the NDA and to parties on the other side of the political spectrum. He remained silent on the subject of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), headed by his bitter critic, Mr Ajit
Singh, Union Agriculture Minister. But the fact that he said that his party was open to an alliance with any political party, including the BSP, is likely to send ripples in the NDA circles. Mr Chautala’s statements will be best appreciated if seen in context. This newspaper reported a few days ago that the BSP had asked the INLD to first snap ties with the NDA for an alliance with it. A senior bureaucrat in the Haryana Government had acted as an emissary of Mr Chautala to talk to the former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and BSP stalwart, Ms Mayawati. A few months back, the same bureaucrat had approached Ms Mayawati. In the first essay, the officer had met with a negative response. This newspaper had also reported a few months back that CPM General Secretary, Harkishan Singh Surjeet had met Mr Chautala in Chandigarh and that Mr Ajay Singh, INLD MP and son of Mr Chautala, was in touch with Mr Akhilesh Yadav and cine star Mr Raj Babbar, leaders of the Samata Party headed by Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav. Mr Ajay Singh is still said to be in touch with Mr Ahiklesh Yadav, Samata Party MP and son of Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav. The INLD is being opposed by Mr Ajit Singh with regard to its inclusion in the possible BJP-RLD tie-up in Uttar Pradesh. The BJP wants to have an alliance with the RLD and has much hope from it in western Uttar Pradesh, considered to be the stronghold of Mr Ajit Singh. In such a situation, the INLD is reportedly finding it difficult to get a “decent” number of seats. The word “decent” was used by the Punjab Chief Minister when he espoused the case of the INLD, a couple of months back, during his meeting with Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee. This newspaper had also reported that under pressure from Mr Ajit Singh and the duo of Union Home Minister L.K. Advani and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Rajnath Singh, the BJP was not in a mood to give more than six seats to the INLD. |
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HVP begins poll campaign Chandigarh, January 5 The byelection was caused by the death of the Congress MLA, Dr J.P. Sharma. According to HVP sources, the Secretary-General of the party, Mr Surender Singh, has started door-to-door campaigning in favour of the party nominee, Mr Sahib Singh, who is an advocate by profession and is the President of the Yamunanagar district unit of the HVP. In the last Assembly elections, when the popular sentiment was against the HVP, Mr Sahib Singh was still able to get about 14,000 votes. The sources say the HVP expects to put up a good fight in the constituency so that a message goes in the state that it is on the comeback trail. The poll managers of the party bank upon the factionalism in the Congress as well as on the fact that the BJP may be the victim of
anti-incumbency sentiment as it is an alliance partner of the ruling INLD, which is likely to leave the seat for its NDA partner. In case the BJP contests the Yamunanagar seat on behalf of the ruling alliance, the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, may not take as much interest in the byelection as he would take in the case of his party nominee. Moreover, if the INLD contests the U.P. Assembly elections in the right earnest as it is proclaiming so far, Mr Chautala’s energies will be concentrated more in that state than in the Yamunanagar byelection, the result of which will be immaterial to the stability of the government. Meanwhile, the Haryana Congress President, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, has convened a meeting of the Election Committee of his party here on January 8 to consider the names of the likely candidates for the byelection. According to informed sources, among the race for the Congress ticket are Mrs Krishna Pandit, wife of the late Dr Sharma, whose death caused the byelection; a former Minister, Mr Rajesh Sharma; a Secretary of the Haryana Congress, Mr Sat Pal Kaushik; and the President of the DCC, Mr Raj Kumar Tyagi. A similar meeting of the BJP election committee will be held on January 9. |
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Probe into pension scam stepped up Rohtak, January 5 The scam runs into several crores. The SSP on Thursday constituted a team of police officials to conduct the investigation thoroughly. The scam was unearthed when an anonymous caller informed the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Resham Singh, in October that many persons involved in the disbursement of the old-age pension in the town were pocketing the money by making forged entries. Mr Resham Singh then directed Rapid Action Force (RAF) to inquire into the complaint. During preliminary investigations, it found that pension was being ‘disbursed’ even to the persons who had died several months ago. The Senior Superintendent of Police, Mr Atar Singh Ahlawat, told The Tribune that three municipal employees involved in the disbursement of the pension had been taken into custody for interrogation. The police has taken into its possession some of the records pertaining to the disbursement of the pension. The screening of the records has revealed that many ineligible persons of 45 to 50 years of age were also getting the pension, he added. Mr Ahlawat said the relevant records and forms had not been signed by the employees after disbursement of the amount to the beneficiaries. It was mandatory that the in charge of the pension disbursement team and its members must sign the roaster and the forms after disbursement of the pension amount, he added. In the investigation so far, it has been pointed out that in a particular month, an amount of Rs 4 lakh was misappropriated by the employees engaged in the pension disbursement. |
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Haryana may have prawn project Chandigarh, January 5 The cultivation of fresh water prawn would not only be economically viable, but would also open a new area of diversification for farmers as prawns have ample potential for export. The Union Government has approved Rs 49 lakh as subsidy to take up prawn farming in saline soil water as a pilot project in the state. The government has also approved Rs 36.78 lakh as subsidy to start fish farming in water-logged areas on pilot basis. The department had submitted a project to the Planning Commission for financial assistance to use water-logged areas for fish farming. There is a critically water-logged stretch of 250 sq km having one metre depth of water throughout the year. Also, the Haryana State Minor Irrigation and Tubewells Corporation has identified 3500 sq km of low-lying areas where water gets accumulated in the post-monsoon period. The department has initiated a collaborative research with CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, for the development of technologies to utilise brackish and saline water for fish farming as most in the area in the state has saline and brackish water.
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Faulty policies behind farmers’ woes: ex-minister Kaithal, January 5 He said increase in the prices of diesel, fertilisers, pesticides and other inputs had increased considerably and the farmers were not getting remunerative prices for their produce. Mr Mann said inadequate power and canal water supply had added to the woes of the farmers. He alleged that government agencies had failed to safeguard the interests of the farmers. Mr Mann charged Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala with implicating Opposition leaders and workers in false cases. |
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Steps to burn hospital waste Karnal, January 5 This was stated by Dr M.L. Ranga, Minister of State for Health (Haryana). Dr Ranga stated that monetary help worth Rs 1.25 crore was being sought from the Union Government for this purpose. Haryana Chief Minister, O.P. Chautala and he (Dr Ranga) were meeting the Union Minister for Environment to press for early release of the money. Dr Ranga said that to keep the cities pollution free, installation of such plants had become essential. Private contractors would be hired to collect hospital waste in each city and to burn it in incerinators. The minister added that hospital waste of even private clinics would also be collected. The private doctors would have to pay a fee for collecting the waste of their clinics and burning it. It is learnt that such a scheme has already been launched in Bihar and UP on the directions of the Supreme Court. |
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Local bodies keen on developing roundabouts Ambala, January 5 The Ambala cantonment MLA, Mr Anil Vij, said that the chowks enable beautification. “The chowks are constructed only on the condition that the organisation which is constructing the chowk, regularly maintains it. Permission has to be taken from the PWD, B&R before undertaking construction of a chowk on the Jagadhri road, which is a state highway,” he said. Mr Vij said that the permission includes taking approval for height and design of the roundabout. “Personally, I am in favour that social organisations should be given an opportunity to construct and maintain chowks instead of handing them over to commercial organisations. This allows a number of people who are part of the social organisation to contribute their bit towards improvement of Ambala,” he said. He said that a number of organisations are coming forward to undertake the construction of roundabouts in Ambala Sadar. “The fact that people are coming forward for construction of more such roundabouts shows the interest local people have in bringing about change for the positive,” he said. Deputy Commissioner, Ambala, Mr DD Gautam, said that Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, has given directions regarding beautification of cities. “I would like to stress that the no roundabouts should pose a traffic hazard,” he said. The Chairman of the Citizens Council, Ambala Cantonment Dr NC Jain, opined that a chowk should be constructed only after its utility is fully established. “Jagadhri road is a state highway and I believe that smooth flow of traffic must be maintained on this road since it is also frequented by heavy military vehicles,” he said. “I feel that the roundabouts should have been constructed only after completion of four-laning of Jagadhri road. A roundabout on a wide road enables smoother movement of traffic unlike a roundabout on a comparatively narrow read,” he said. Dr Jain said: “For instance, the roundabouts in neighbouring Chandigarh are green and low in height. That looks beautiful because of the landscaping. Something similar should have been carried out on Jagadhri road.”
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2 youths run over, killed by train Panipat, January 5 According to their family members, they had gone early in the morning to answer nature call. The members did not suspect any foul play in the incident. The bodies had been handed to their parents after a post-mortem examination. In another incident, an industrial worker, Virender of Etta in Uttar Pradesh, died on the spot on GT Road, near the village, when he was reportedly hit by a vehicle at night. A sweet seller, Angrez of Busana village of Sonepat district and residing in the local Ward No 11 at present, injured when two youths allegedly attacked him with knives by two youths. |
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Decision on refund of registration fee Ambala, January 5 Talking to mediapersons here, Mr Jethwani said as per recent guidelines issued from the BSNL headquarters, it has been decided that refund of registration fee with interest accrued can be made to the subscriber in case it is not found possible to provide the telephone connection even after lapse of one year of its registration. He said that this can be undertaken if the applicants in the waiting list within 15 days of receipt of such demand. Mr Jethwani said the commission of STD PCO holders was proposed to be raised from 20 to 22 per cent. “The Haryana Telecom Circle has recently allowed concession to the bulk user subscribers announcing discounts subject to the condition that the combined bill amount is paid by due date,” he added. For corporate account holders high callers having combined monthly-billed amount between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 2 lakh, the discount is 2.5 per cent and for combined monthly-billed amount Rs 2 lakh and above, the discount is 5 per cent. The General Manager, SSA Ambala, Mr G.S. Daria, said there have been 5-6 instances of their cables being damaged during digging in the recent past. He said the private telecom operators are not maintaining liaison at the time of digging which was causing inconvenience.
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PCO body gives
strike call Chandigarh, January 5 From January 14, the reduced rates of STD calls will come into force. According to the president of the Ambala Cantonment STD PCO Holders Association, Mr Jatinder Singh, the call for the strike has been given in view of the “step-motherly” treatment meted out by the Union Communication Minister, Mr Pramod Mahajan, towards the PCO holders. In a statement issued here today, Mr Jatinder Singh said while announcing a reduction in the STD rates up to 50 per cent during peak hours, Mr Mahajan did not announce any compensation for the PCO holders. He said an emergency meeting of the executive committee of the association, which was attended among others by the general secretary of the State association, Mr Naresh Garg, today had endorsed the strike call. The demands of the PCO holders include increase in commission to 35 per cent, an increase in service charges to Rs 3 per STD call and Rs 5 per ISD call, late fee charge of Rs 2 per call made during the night on the pattern of the Central Telegraph Offices and withdrawal of ISD facility to Pakistan instead of closing ISD PCOs in certain states.
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Steps to counter PTV propaganda Ambala, January 5 Talking to mediapersons here, she said, “Doordarshan has started airing serials to counter the misinformation campaign by PTV. The serials include Pukhta Saboot and Sach Kya Hai.” She said there were plans to also show these serials on DD International. She said, “Our fight is against terrorism and national interest will be the top priority .”
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Doc’s body donated for research Kaithal, January 5 This was done in deference to the last wishes of the deceased, Dr Hukum Chand Aggarwal (85), who wanted that his body should not be cremated and instead used for research purposes by medical students. Dr Aggarwal had earlier written to the Principal of the medical college and the head of Anatomy Department expressing his desire that his body be used for medical purposes after his death. |
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DC for report on road cuts Ambala, January 5
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Alcoholic dead Yamunanagar, January 5 |
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