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Friday,
March 15, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Comply with SYL verdict, Haryana tells Punjab DEBATE ON BUDGET ESTIMATES QUESTION HOUR RS seats: five file poll papers Degrees conferred on 156 students |
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Man follows son
in death 
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Comply with SYL verdict, Haryana tells Punjab Chandigarh, March 14 Soon after question hour in the Assembly was over, Mr Chautala at first read out a resolution on the completion of the SYL canal in Punjab territory. Next, the Chief Minister moved another resolution for a separate high court for Haryana with territorial jurisdiction over Chandigarh. Both resolutions were duly passed by the House. The resolution on the SYL canal mentioned the Supreme Court order on January 15 regarding the completion of the canal and the dismissal of the Punjab Government’s appeal by the apex court on March 5 and said: “This House, therefore, resolves that the Government of Punjab should comply with the judgement of the Supreme Court and complete construction or repair work on the SYL canal falling within the state of Punjab within the prescribed period of one year”. Proposing the second resolution, Mr Chautala said that the framers of the Indian Constitution were firm and categorical on the point that there should be a separate high court for each state. Mr Chautala said the people of Haryana had suffered a great deal due to the common high court shared by the state with Punjab.There were only six judges at present from Haryana against the allotted quota of 16. Similarly, there was ineffective representation of Haryana on the Bar, Mr Chautala said. Quoting passages from the Shah Commission’s report relating to Hindi medium and Punjabi-medium students of Chandigarh and Kharar tehsil, the Chief Minister said that the commission had recommended the merger of Kharar tehsil and the Chandigarh capital project with the Hindi-speaking state. Mr Chautala, thereafter, proposed the bifurcation of the existing common high court for Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh. He also proposed the establishment of a separate high court for Haryana with territorial jurisdiction over Chandigarh. Next he proposed that the separate high court for Haryana should be established on existing premises in Chandigarh by allocating 40 per cent of the building, ministerial staff and administrative functionaries along with the judges appointed against the quota for Haryana. The resolution urged the Union Government to frame the appropriate Bill for carrying out suitable amendments to Part IV of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966 (from Sections 29 to 41 of the Act). It also urged Parliament to take up the amendment Bill and pass it unanimously. The suggestion by Mr Bhajan Lal, Leader of the Opposition, that the state government should take up the matter with the Centre if work on the construction of the canal was not started by the Punjab government in three months time provoked Mr Chautala to tell Mr Bhajan Lal that it was the Congress which was at the helm of affairs in Punjab now. “Why does Mr Bhajan Lal not take the initiative and persuade the Punjab government to abide by the Supreme Court verdict”, Mr Chautala sarcastically remarked. When Mr Bhajan Lal said that during the past five years it was Mr Parkash Singh Badal, a close friend of the Chautala clan, who had been the Chief Minister of Punjab, Mr Chautala retorted that at that time the issue was being fought in the court. Mr Bansi Lal, HVP leader and former Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, chief of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee, Mr Krishan Pal Gujjar of the BJP, Mr Anil Vij, Independent MLA, and others welcomed the resolution on the SYL canal. Mr Bhajan Lal as well as Mr Bansi Lal, suggested that the resolution should also incorporate the name of Kharar tehsil, along with Chandigarh, for being included in the territorial jurisdiction of the proposed high court. While supporting the resolution, Mr Bansi Lal said that the Centre would have no choice but to accept it. However, the exclusion of Kharar tehsil from the resolution would weaken Haryana’s claim to Hindi-speaking areas of Punjab, Mr Bansi Lal said. Mr Bhajan Lal also expressed similar apprehensions and said that a meeting of parties should be convened to draw up the proposals again. Mr Chautala turned down Mr Bhajan Lal’s suggestion and the resolution was passed unanimously by the House. |
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DEBATE ON BUDGET ESTIMATES Chandigarh, March 14 Mr Gujjar, whose party is an alliance partner of the INLD, attacked the Budget proposals from the very beginning, much to the glee of the Congress. The ruling party was not surprised by the diatribe of Mr Gujjar, who has always been offering “constructive opposition” in the Vidhan Sabha in the past also. The Treasury Benches were not shaken when Mr Gujjar said the Budget proposals had disappointed every section of society or the estimated deficit of over Rs 202 crore would further go up and the Government would either impose new taxes or increase the rate of the existing taxes. There were no protests from the ruling party even when Mr Gujjar highlighted how budgetary allocations had gone down this year for various key fields like power, irrigation or roads. However, things became too hot to be tolerated by the ruling party when Mr Gujjar started referring to the poor performance of the INLD in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. Prof Sampat Singh, who can be easily described as one of the best Parliamentary Affairs Ministers the state has every seen, quickly rose and pointed out that he had made no mention in his Budget speech of the Punjab or Uttranchal Assembly
elections (where the BJP faired badly). He had only referred to the Yamunanagar Assembly byelection held in Haryana. Therefore, Mr Gujjar should not deviate from the debate on the Budget. But Mr Gujjar was in his element today. Egged on by the Congress members, the BJP leader demanded that a House committee should inquire into the circumstances under which 20 per cent sales tax was first imposed on liquor and then withdrawn. “Log kehte hain laakhon ke len den hua hai,” Mr Gujjar cleverly alleged. He also highlighted various alleged corrupt deals of the INLD government. Finding Mr Gujjar unstoppable, Prof Sampat Singh urged the Speaker to ask the BJP leader to first clarify whether he was supporting the Budget or opposing it. “The member has the right to express whatever
opinion he has. But he first must state whether he is opposed to the Budget or supports it,” the Parliamentary Affairs Minister demanded in a bid to stall Mr Gujjar. The cue was immediately taken by the Speaker and other members of the ruling party. But Mr Gujjar refused to walk into the trap. Though the Haryana BJP has requested the party high command to allow it to sever its ties with the INLD, it has not yet been granted permission to do so by the Central leaders. Under the circumstances, it would have been difficult for Mr Gujjar to take a categorical stand. He insisted that he would make his position clear only at the conclusion of his speech. He was vehemently supported by the Congress, leading to the allegation by the ruling party that Mr Gujjar and the Congress leaders were holding dinner meetings these days. Both the Congress and the BJP leader denied the allegation. In between Mr Gujjar continued with his diatribe. At one stage the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, who normally keeps his cool in the Vidhan Sabha, lost his temper. Taking note of Mr Chautala’s anger, Mr Gujjar said he did not know why the Chief Minister was angry with him. But he would never support the anti-people policies of the government. The Speaker, who repeatedly asked Mr Gujjar to make his stand clear, continued to extend the duration of the session by a few minutes. When almost 30 minutes of efforts of the Treasury Benches failed to trap Mr Gujjar, the Speaker adjourned the House for the day. Earlier, Mr Mange Ram
Gupta (Cong) described the Budget as a “carbon copy” of last year’s Budget. He said the power arrears were going up despite the assertion made by the government to the contrary. |
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QUESTION HOUR Chandigarh, March 14 Haryana MLAs such as Mr Jagjit Singh Sangwan (HVP), Ramkishan Fauji (HVP) and Mr Karan Singh Dalal (RPI) would certainly say “no”, as the three legislators, during question hour in the Assembly today, amply demonstrated what they would expect from a single man on the issue of population control. It was almost a fracas which broke out in the Assembly, when Mr Ram Bhagat, Independent MLA and bachelor who also sports a salt-and-pepper beard, stood up to ask a supplementary question on population control. The original question on the issue was asked by Mr Rajinder Singh Bisla and the Health Minister, Mr M.L. Ranga, gave a routine reply regarding the “steps” taken by the state government to arrest “the alarming growth in population”. However, the MLAs made their light-hearted approach to the issue of population control when Mr Bhagat stood up. It was started by Mr Fauji, first-time MLA, who was seen shouting, humorously, that how could a bachelor know anything about population control. Soon Mr Dalal and Mr Sangwan also joined in pulling up Mr Bhagat. Mr Dalal was also heard saying that many among the INLD members did not practice family planning themselves. When order was restored in the House, Mr Bisla articulated what probably he had thought while sending the question to the Assembly. “Why does the state government not send a team of legislators to China where population control is practised through effective policies?” Mr Bisla asked, which provoked another round of laughter in the House. The Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, answered Mr Bisla’s prayer saying that the latter would be certainly made a part of the entourage if the state government did send a team to China for this purpose. Mr Majra read out the names of 32 new substations, 178 existing substations and the names of places where transmission lines, of 658 km length, had been laid. Even the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr Sampat Singh, seemed getting fed up with the lengthy answer. He was about to tell something to Mr Majra when the Chief Minister motioned Mr Sampat Singh not to interrupt Mr Majra. The Speaker allowed this facade to contunue without looking embarrassed while Mr Majra played his role to the hilt with a mischievous smile on his face. Mr Fauji, MLA from the HVP, in fact walked out of the House in disgust and returned only after Mr Majra had sat down after finishing his reply. On a question asked by Mr Bhagi Ram on loans being disbursed by cooperative banks among farmers, Mr Chautala said that the recovery of loans from farmers would be suspended till May 15 in view of poblems being faced by them. |
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RS seats: five file poll papers Chandigarh, March 14 The ruling INLD fielded the president of its Uttar Pradesh unit, Mr Hirender Singh Malik, and Mrs Sumitra Mahajan, widow of former Haryana Minister Om Prakash Mahajan. A former bureaucrat, Mr J.P.S. Sangwan, filed his papers as an Independent candidate. He is being supported by the Opposition. He has taken premature retirement from the IAS to contest the Rajya Sabha elections. He is a cousin of the BJP MP from Sonepat, Mr Kishan Singh Sangwan. Mr Kanwal Singh and Mr Inder Singh of Bhiwani also filed their nomination papers. Their names were not proposed by any of the voters, while a minimum of nine MLAs are required to propose the name of a candidate. |
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Degrees conferred on 156 students Fatehabad, March 14 Addressing
the first convocation of the local Government College for Women here today, Mrs Nanda said if one had the determination to do something and was honest in the pursuit of one’s goals, nothing was impossible to achieve. Ms Nanda emphasised the need of women education. She distributed prizes among girls who had excelled in various curricular and extra-curricular activities. Earlier, the college Principal conferred degrees on 156 arts and commerce graduates of the college. |
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Man follows son
in death Hisar, March 14 The driver of the vehicle carrying the family of Ram Malik back from Hardwar also died in the mishap. A woman in the family was seriously injured and taken to the PGI, Chandigarh. Three other family members were also injured in the accident.
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Security beefed up, following train blast Ambala, March 14 A police official said that security had been tightened and patrolling intensified. The police is keeping watch at bus stands and places of worship. Clerk held in scam case Ambala, March 14 The Public Prosecutor requested the court to give police remand to the clerk as some information had to be obtained from him. He was paid a big amount to pass the refund vouchers by the accused of the scam, Joginder Pal, the Public Prosecutor added. |
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