H A R Y A N A

BJP uses religion to retain INLD support
Chandigarh, May 11
For BJP’s central leadership, usefulness of alliance with the ruling INLD of Haryana perhaps means much more than the support provided by five Lok Dal MPs to the Vajpayee-led Union Government.

Hooda slams Chautala govt on taxes
Kaithal, May 11
The Congress will introduce the old house tax policy if it comes to power in the state. This was stated by Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, president, Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee, while addressing mediapersons here today.

Cong charges Modi with abetting violence
Hisar, May 11
Workers of the District Congress Committee (Rural) staged a dharna at the Aggarsain Chowk here today demanding the removal of the Gujarat Chief Minister, Mr Narendra Modi. Mr Ramji Lal, former Rajya Sabha member and president of the DCC, led the dharna.

Pvt placement centres make hay
Chandigarh, May 11
While the Haryana Government’s plan to set up computerised placement centres is getting delayed, private placement agencies are reportedly doing brisk business in some areas of the state.

Outstanding dues of 33 crore paid
Ambala, May 11
The Haryana Finance Minister, Prof Sampat Singh, today said that outstanding dues of Rs 33 crore of the electricity bills had been paid by consumers till May 10.

VC for promoting sports, cultural activities
Kurukshetra, May 11
The Vice-Chancellor of Kurukshetra University, Mr R.S. Chaudhry, convened a meeting of principals of professional colleges and senior officials of the university to discuss steps for promoting sports and cultural activities in the professional institutions affiliated with the university here last evening.

BJP uses religion to retain INLD support
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 11
For BJP’s central leadership, usefulness of alliance with the ruling INLD of Haryana perhaps means much more than the support provided by five Lok Dal MPs to the Vajpayee-led Union Government.

While the Haryana state unit of the BJP is desperate to snap ties with the ruling INLD, Haryana apparently has beautifully fitted in the BJP’s scheme of things in the arena of culture. This is evident in the keen interest shown by the central government in developing Kurukshetra, where battle between Kauravas and Pandavas was fought according to the legend of the Mahabharata epic.

Earlier Sri Krishna Museum and an exhibition on Sri Krishna, one of the 10 incarnations of Lord Vishnu according to Hindu mythology and a leading character of the epic, was set up at Kurukshetra with liberal central support.

The latest plan of the union government reportedly is to organise five-day Mahabharata festival at Kurukshetra every year starting from this year. The festival will, predominantly, be a cultural affair with classical as well as folk artists and troupes from various regions giving performances based on Mahabharata theme. There will also be exhibitions, etc, on the theme of the epic.

The festival is being planned to be organised sometime around October when the Gita Jayanti festival is also organised at Kurukshetra. However, the Mahabharata Festival will be held in a scale much larger than that of Gita Jayanti.

“Every month about 30,000 tourists are descending at Kurukshetra since the setting up of the Sri Krishna Museum and the exhibition on Sri Krishna, religious tourism brings good money”, stated a Haryana Government official who took part in a meeting organised in this connection by the Northern Zonal Cultural Centre.

Curiously enough, not far from Kurukshetra is Panipat, where three historical battles were-fought — between Babur and Ibrahim Lodi, then between Akbar and Hemu and the last battle fought between Ahmad Shah Abdali and Marathas in which the latter were routed — all three battles were decisive towards shaping the history of the sub-continent. However, the authorities apparently are of the view that religion has more potential for attracting tourists than history.

Hooda slams Chautala govt on taxes
Our Correspondent

Kaithal, May 11
The Congress will introduce the old house tax policy if it comes to power in the state.

This was stated by Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, president, Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee, while addressing mediapersons here today. Mr Hooda said the present government had arbitrarily raised the house tax making the life of the people miserable. “They feel that they are, living in rented properties, he added.

Increase in power tariffs , imposition of a trade tax, generator tax, fire tax and many other taxes had added to the woes of the people and it was contrary to the promises made by Mr Om Prakash Chautala before the last Assembly elections, Mr Hooda said.

He was here to address a panchayati raj sammelan. The Chief Minister had centralised all powers in his hands. The democratically elected panches, sarpanches and even MLAs had been deprived of all powers by constituting gram vikas samitis and holding open darbars.

Criticising the waiver of power arrears announced for the consumers of rural areas, Mr Hooda said actually the consumers would not get much benefit as major part of the outstanding bills was of interests, penalties and surcharge.

Cong charges Modi with abetting violence
Our Correspondent

Hisar, May 11
Workers of the District Congress Committee (Rural) staged a dharna at the Aggarsain Chowk here today demanding the removal of the Gujarat Chief Minister, Mr Narendra Modi. Mr Ramji Lal, former Rajya Sabha member and president of the DCC, led the dharna.

Addressing party workers, he said Mr Modi was responsible for communal riots in Gujarat. Instead of checking it strictly he provided shelter to fascist forces in the state. People of the minority community were feeling insecure under the present regime.

He also criticised the NDA government for not taking strict steps against the Modi government. He alleged that the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, was allowing the government to destroy the secular fabric in the country.

The violence in the state had damaged the country’s secular image all over the world. He demanded that the Centre should dismiss the Modi government at the earliest.

Earlier, addressing mediapersons, Mr Jaiparkash, party legislator and former Union Minister, criticised the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, for his anti-people policies. Officers of different departments were harassing farmers, he said.

Mr Amir Chand Makkar, Mr Inder Singh Nain, Mr Jai Naryan Verma, former legislators, Mr Vijay Kaushik, General Secretary of the HPCC, Mr Randhir Singh Panihar, president of the district youth wing of the party, Mr Rahul Tayal, vice-president of the state youth wing of the party, Ms Shobha Nehru, Yashveer Goyal and Mr Anand Sharma, local municipal councillors, also addressed the protesters.

Pvt placement centres make hay
Shubhadeep Choudhury
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 11
While the Haryana Government’s plan to set up computerised placement centres is getting delayed, private placement agencies are reportedly doing brisk business in some areas of the state.

In fact reports of how the private agencies conduct their business has alarmed the authorities so much that the Employment Department of the government has mooted a proposal for setting up a regulatory body for monitoring the private placement agencies.

Mr H.P. Chaudhry, Director, confirming that such a proposal had indeed been submitted, said the step had been taken in view of reports that women job-seekers were subjected to sexual exploitation by some of these agencies. He said there were also reports about the agencies fleecing clients as aspirants were charged half-a-month’s salary in lieu of a job. “A regulatory body to check the credentials of the private agencies will enable the government to keep a tab on their activities”, Mr Chaudhry said.

The Haryana Government abolished 39 out of its 63 rural employment exchanges last year saying that these were not serving any purpose. Simultaneously, it announced a plan to start centres with online facilities for job-seekers. Consequently, the Employment Department sent a proposal in June last year. The proposal, however, was apparently ignored at the meeting of the IT Prism, the screening committee of proposals to the Information Technology(IT) Department, held subsequently.

While the number of jobs provided by the traditional exchanges, given the number of people registered in them, is abysmally low (2828 jobs provided in public and private sector last year against a total of 6.79 lakh persons registered with the employment exchanges in the state), the idea of computerised exchanges was mooted to provide effective service to a select clientele.

Mr Chaudhry, the Director, Employment, however, said the department had started looking for software for the exchanges. A software prepared for the Gujarat Government by a private company is being checked for this purpose.

Outstanding dues of 33 crore paid
Tribune News Service

Ambala, May 11
The Haryana Finance Minister, Prof Sampat Singh, today said that outstanding dues of Rs 33 crore of the electricity bills had been paid by consumers till May 10.

Talking to mediapersons after presiding over the District Grievances Committee meeting at Panchayat Bhavan, Prof Sampat Singh said that the state government had given relief to the consumers till May 15. He observed that the payment of outstanding dues by the consumers was likely to go up in the next fewdays.

Prof Sampat Singh said that the Planning Commission had approved Rs 2,034 crore for different programmes while the Haryana Government had made a presentation for Rs 1,922 crore, he said that this was perhaps the first time that the Planning Commission had approved higher sum than sought by he state government. He said that the Haryana Government was going to release the DA instalment soon.

He quashed rumours of privatisation of the Haryana Roadways. He said that about 1000 new buses had been included in the roadways fleet and by the end of this year, the number of new buses would go up to 2000. He stated that the body of the new buses was being prepared at the government workshop Gurgaon.

To a query, Prof Sampat Singh said that there had been encouraging response to the Chief Minister’s visit to different states. He said that the industrialists in different states had been informed about the various facilities, government policies and business opportunities in Haryana.

VC for promoting sports, cultural activities
Our Correspondent

Kurukshetra, May 11
The Vice-Chancellor of Kurukshetra University, Mr R.S. Chaudhry, convened a meeting of principals of professional colleges and senior officials of the university to discuss steps for promoting sports and cultural activities in the professional institutions affiliated with the university here last evening.

The important decisions taken at the meeting included those regarding the appointment of a physical education teacher in each professional college, suitable infrastructure, adequate arrangements for coaching and representation of professional colleges in the sports council of the university. The Vice-Chancellor assured the members of the assistance of the university.

Steps would be taken to encourage students of professional colleges to take part in cultural activities.

10-yr jail for three smugglers
Our Correspondent

Hisar, May 11
A local court has sentenced three persons, including two women, to 10-year’s imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1 lakh each on the charges of smuggling. The convicts are — Randhir Singh, Jasbir Kaur and Amarjeet Kaur, all residents of Punjab.

According to the prosecution, the Adampur police had received an information that some persons were carrying contraband from Bhadra in Rajasthan in a car on April 6, 1997. A police party erected a barrier on the Hisar-Bhadra road and intercepted the car near Modha Khera village. The police arrested them and seized 120 kg of poppy husk.