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Tuesday, January 8, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Foreign bonanza in offing for MLAs Police makes Bangladesh ‘wives’ flee WLL service evokes lukewarm
response Haryana Cong moves EC Youth festival from Jan 9 |
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AMBALA DIARY Jat college students take to streets Jawan cremated Seat belts must in Haryana
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Foreign bonanza in offing for MLAs Chandigarh, January 7 Foreign trips, a cherished dream of upwardly mobile Indians, are being arranged for the lawmakers of Haryana. Ministers go abroad but not many MLAs get a chance to do so. “We want MLAs also to visit foreign countries because the exposure will be useful for their intellectual development”, said the Haryana Assembly Speaker, Mr Satbir Singh Kadian. Mr Kadian said that it had been decided to use the forum of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) to send the MLAs of Haryana to foreign destinations. A proposal regarding arranging foreign trips for MLAs, irrespective of party affiliation, was passed at the last meeting of the state unit of the CPA held in Chandigarh last month, Mr Kadian, who is also the ex-officio chairperson of the unit, said. Interestingly, CPA membership forms are distributed among the MLAs every year and the annual membership fee is only Rs 100. However, not many MLAs are eager to become members of the CPA and till date the number of members in the Haryana unit of the CPA is less than 50 per cent of the total strength of the Assembly. It remains to be seen how those legislators, who are yet to become members of the CPA, respond once the plan of sending MLAs on foreign trips is formally announced. According to Mr Kadian, members of the current Uttar Pradesh Assembly have visited foreign countries by using the forum of the CPA. The Haryana Speaker said that he met the Speaker of the UP Assembly in Lucknow in November to find out the modalities for the trips. “Groups of 10 or 11 MLAs will go abroad. They will go around and have a look at the vital sectors of these countries and come back after about a fortnight”, Mr Kadian said. The first such trip would take place soon, Mr Kadian said, adding that it depended upon when the money needed for the passage of the MLAs could be arranged. The expenses, according to the Speaker, were to be met by asking private individuals (industrialists, etc) as well as state government-run corporations to make donations for this purpose. Though Bangladesh, Pakistan, etc, are also members of the Commonwealth, the Haryana legislators will go to countries such as Britain, Australia and the like. They might also go to countries which were not part of the Commonwealth, stated the Speaker. The Speaker had himself earlier visited foreign countries, including Britain, Australia and Canada, in connection with CPA conferences. On one of the trips, Mr Padam Singh Dahiya, MLA, accompanied him as an observer while during another trip, Mr Sita Ram, MLA from Dabwali, went with the Speaker. Mr Gopi Chand Gehlot, Deputy Speaker, visited Brazil and the UK for attending CPA workshops. Many of the ministers of the present regime went to foreign countries on “official work”, which triggered off protests by the Opposition. The ministers are, however, not covered under this plan of sending the legislators abroad by using the CPA. Will the Opposition object to this move as well ? |
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Police makes Bangladesh ‘wives’ flee Hisar, January 7 Most Haryanvis who had ‘bought’ and married Bangladeshi girls in the recent years have lost their alien spouses because they have simply fled out of fear while many others have deserted them fearing police action for harbouring aliens. Though on record, police officials do not admit that such an exercise is on, it is reliably learnt that the police are collecting the details of all such people from their places of work and their residences for verifying their antecedents. This has caused panic among Bangladeshis as well as Kashmiris resulting in their exodus. While Bangladeshis fear their deportment on the detection of their alien status. Kashmiris fled fearing that they may not be taken as terrorists. Most of the Bangladeshis in the state were skilled goldsmiths and tailors working with local firms which hired them because of their skill as well lower wages. The Kashmiris were working as wood cutters at wood stalls and with contractors of the Forest Department. Once word spread that the police were enquiring about their details and identification, they fled immediately. The campaign which began towards the end of the last year has resulted in an acute shortage of goldsmiths, tailors and woodcutters in the area. Even their employers and landlords are now denying they had ever employed or rented out their premises to Bangladeshis or Kashmiris. Inquiries reveal that Bangladeshi girls who had been ‘bought’ in large numbers in Hisar, Fatehabad, Sirsa and Gurgaon districts for marriage purposes by middle-aged widowers and eligible youth have also fled. In some cases they have been sent to neighbouring states to live with relatives till the campaign is over, many others who had not adjusted fully to their new environs simply vanished without a trace. The trend to marry Bangladeshi girls had caught on in the area over the past few years following a steep fall in the male-female ratio in Haryana. A senior police officer told The Tribune on the condition of anonymity that the panic was uncalled for. He said the police were only trying to identify all such people as a precautionary measure in view of security issues involved. There were no plans yet to deport any of them or initiate action against them so long as they did not breach the law. |
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WLL service evokes lukewarm
response Panipat, January 7 The authorities have also drawn up a plan for the redressal of grievances of telecom subscribers. An integrated call centre having the facility of changed number announcement, telephone billing, complaint booking and commercial information through interactive voice response system is likely to be commissioned by March. During last month, RSUs were commissioned at Arnauli, Harigarh, Bohral, Ballah Nissing and Aher villages of the Karnal Secondary Switching Area (SSA) comprising the districts of Karnal, Kaithal, Kurukshetra and Panipat, he said. The capacity has been increased by adding 5,252 lines in SSA and 3,231 connections, the highest in the SSAs of Haryana, have been provided during this month, he said. Talking about the telecom scene in Panipat city, the DGM, Mr B.M. Setia, said connections would be provided on demand by the end of January. He conceded that a number of telephones remained defective due to foggy weather. On the plight of STD/PCO booth owners after the proposed slashing of STD rates by the BSNL authorities, Mr Kataria hoped that the decrease in revenue could be made good by the increased number of calls. He said the customer centres at nine stations in the district were working satisfactory in the SSA. |
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Haryana Cong moves EC Gurgaon, January 7 The Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC), in a written complaint to the State Election Commission and the CEC, has alleged that although the revised roll was yet to be published, it shows an increase of 16,000 votes. However, with an ulterior motive the state has manipulated the exercise of preparation of the roll by deleting names of 38,0000 voters from the old list and included 54,000 new votes. The total number of votes in the roll is said to be 1.46 lakh. The names of genuine voters have been deleted and a large number of fictitious names included, the Congress has alleged in its complaint. The Congress has pointed out that the state agencies have worked to manipulate 92,000 votes in its favour (counting the names deleted and addition of new voters). According to sources, the revised roll is
likely to be published on January 12. The Congress has urged upon the CEC to conduct random sample test in 10 booths of its choice to
verify the authenticity of its charge of inclusion of fictitious names and bogus voters on a large scale in the revised voters’ list. A senior leader of the HPCC said that the state unit is also
likely to take up the issue with the All India Congress Committee (AICC). According to him, the HPCC is also contemplating other forms of agitation to get the alleged anomaly corrected. The issue is likely to crop up in the meeting of the Congress’ State Election Committee, scheduled to be held tomorrow. The byelection is taking place on account of the demise of its sitting MLA, J.P. Sharma. |
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Youth festival from Jan 9 Kurukshetra, January 7 The Vice-Chancellor said keeping in view the initiative taken by the state government to spread Haryanvi culture, the university took keen interest in organising cultural programmes on a large scale. These included three-day state level celebrations, talent show competition, north zone inter-university youth festival and youth festivals. He said the university would soon organise fine arts competition-cum-workshop, Kamlesh memorial poetic symposium, inter zonal youth festival, and trekking, among other things. According to the Director Youth and Cultural Affairs of the university, Mr Anoop Lather, the youth festival of Kurukshetra zone would be organised by University College, Kurukshetra, from January 9 to January 11. |
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AMBALA DIARY Ambala School Principal, Dr O.D. Sharma, said the first National Cyber Olympiad was organised at the all-India level by Science Olympiad Foundation. As many as 23 students of the Vidyalaya had appeared in the olympiad and as per result, four of them have been selected for the award of “Certificate of Successful Participation.” Abhishek Raheja of Class XI brought honours to the Vidyalaya by getting fifth rank in Haryana state. The other students who got awards are Aman Kaushik of Class IX, Aman Rath of Class X and Pankaj of Class XI who got 31st, 27th and 44th rank, respectively. *** Consumer awareness
A consumer awareness programme was organised at New Anaj Mandi, Mullana. The “Upbhokta Gyan Goshthi” was organised with the efforts of Mr Madan Lal Sharma and Mr Dayal Chand. Mr Uma Shankar Dwivedi of Akhand Bharatiya Upbhokta Parishad informed the audience regarding consumer law and protection of consumer rights by the efforts of the consumers. *** Police performance
The district police claims to have performed better in 2001 as compared to previous years in solving crime. SP Sandeep Khirwar, said in 2001. About 25 murder cases were registered out of which 22 cases had been solved. There has also been a reduction in rape cases. In 2001, three cases of convicts escaping from custody were registered while six such cases had been registered in 2000. *** Various local organisations, including the Citizens Council, Elders Forum and Ambala Cantt Traders Federation have expressed anguish over the fast deteriorating civic conditions in the area falling under Ambala Sadar Municipal Committee. The organisation members said the civic problems of the town cannot be solved unless all 29 elected members of the council, irrespective of their political affiliation, joined hands to sort out and settle civic problems. Dr Jain of Citizens Council said the outcome of the Municipal Committee meeting held on December 31 had disappointed the residents expecting some radical measures by the Municipal Committee to settle the long-pending issues of sanitation, garbage management, drainage and roads. |
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Jat college students take to streets Rohtak, January 7 They were demanding the restoration of the old pattern of setting question papers. The agitating students had a heated exchange with students of University College. They also hurled stones at one another. The agitating students moved to the Vice Chancellor’s office. The Registrar, Dr S.P. Dahiya, met the agitating students. The students did not present any memorandum. The Controller of Examination, Dr K.C. Bhardwaj, however, justified the introduction of multiple question paper system. |
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Jawan cremated Jind, January 7 Satish Kumar was killed while laying mines near the Indo-Pak border in the Laungewala sector on December 28 last. The 24-year-old youth was posted in 12 Jat Regiment and at present he was serving in the Laungewala sector of Rajasthan near the Indo-Pak border. Satish Kumar is survived by his wife, parents, sisters and brothers.
PTI |
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Seat belts must in Haryana Chandigarh, January 7 Anybody who violates this law is liable to be fined and punished under Section 177 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, an official release said here today. |
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New Director of HIPA Chandigarh, January 7 |
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