 |
Tuesday,
May 28, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
|
BKU gearing up for May 29 meeting Oppn instigating farmers: CM 12 BKNKS members’
transfer irks union Plea to check noise pollution Order on bail plea
reserved |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
HIGH COURT Railwaymen sore over CBDT
decision ‘Declare loan defaulting criminal offence’ Haryana Sikhs for separate SGPC Advani to lay stone of police centre Employees stage dharna
|
|
BKU gearing up for May 29 meeting Kandela, May 27 The sturdy villagers found roaming about on the street with lathi, jelly and other such weapons in the initial phase of the agitation were not to be seen today. There were, however, groups of villagers who stood by at various points of the road but only an odd villager was carrying a lathi. A crowd had assembled in the school building the BKU has been holding the sit-in, but the size of the crowd was much smaller than what used to be two days ago. However, contrary to state government prediction that Mr Ghasiram Nain, President of the BKU in Haryana will leave Kandela following BKU’s alleged capitulation before the government on the issue of release of the hostages, the BKU chief is very much staying put in the village. “We have called for a condolence meeting at Kandela on May 29 to mourn the death of two of our comrades at the hand of the police on May 19. We will announces our next course of action during the meeting if the BKU members are not released by then”, Mr Nain said. Asked about the climbdown on Saturday, baffling in the context of his statements earlier in the day saying that the hostages would be released only in exchange of imprisoned BKU workers, Mr Nain said orders by the court asking for release of all the captives made the BKU review its stand. “We did not succumb to police pressure, we released the hostages following an assurance given to us by Mr Darshan Singh, DSP of Rohtak, who was mediating on behalf of the government, that the jailed BKU activists would be released in two days”, Mr Nain said. However, the agitation has not been withdrawn and the dharna is continuing to be held at Kandela to put pressure on the government so that it does not go back on its word, said Mr Nain. On the shortfall in the number of people taking part in the agitation, Mr Nain said people of Kandela and the adjacent villages had gone to their respective homes for attending to their daily chores. “Only those come from far off places are at the school now. There is going to be a massive gathering here on May 29”, he said. Villagers interviewed by TNS said that they were dejected by the BKU leadership’s decision to free the hostages after pledging that the detainees would not be freed unless the carcerated BKU members were released. “But they controlled their emotions as they had faith in the decision of the leadership, said Satpal Singh, BKU chief from Kaithal district. Mr Nain said Mr Dharamvir Hooda, Rohtak district chief of the BKU, had gone to Jind to have further negotiations with Mr Darshan Singh, the alleged mediator, to felicitate the release of BKU members lodged in jails. Asked about the state government stance that there had not been any agreement with the BKU to secure the release of the hostages and whether he really believed that the state government would release the imprisoned BKU members Mr Nain said he had no faith in Mr Chautala. “In that case we will launch an agitational programme on May 29”, said the BKU supremo. The concrete nature of the programme would be announced on Wednesday only, he said.
|
|
|
Oppn instigating farmers: CM Hisar, May 27 He was addressing a public gathering after inaugurating an exhibition organised by the Haryana Khadi and Gram Udyog Board at Government College Ground here today. Commenting on the Kandela issue, he said it was no farmers’ agitation and some anti-social elements were creating a law and order problem in the name of farmers. He alleged some Opposition leaders were backing such elements. The government would deal with them strictly as it was capable of tackling such situations. No one would be allowed to disturb peace in the state. The government would maintain law and order at every cost, he added. Mr Chautala said the Opposition was feeling uneasy on the power dues waiver scheme. These parties could not recover dues when they were in power. Several innocent farmers were killed in police firings at Mandiali, Narnaund and Kaithal in the recent years when farmers were agitating on the power dues issue. He claimed that more than 2 lakh power consumers had paid arrears of Rs 901 crore till April 1. He asked people to derive maximum benefit the scheme. He said the government would develop a cyber city at Gurgaon. This would help the government generate five lakh jobs for the unemployed every year. He called upon unemployed youths to benefit from different self-employment schemes of the Haryana Khadi Gram Udyog Board instead of running after government jobs. The government would prefer to purchase khadi products for the government departments. The government would also provide help to such units in marketing their products at the national and international levels. The Chief Minister also gave away cheques worth Rs 52 lakh as subsidy to various khadi unit owners. Mr Sampat Singh, Finance Minister, Mr Subhash Goyal, Local Bodies Minister, Mr Puran Singh Dabra and Mr Ram Bhagat Sharma, legislators, and Mr Desraj, Chairman, Haryana Khadi Board, were also present on the occasion. Later, Mr Chautala inaugurated a school building and a water supply project at Sisai and Sainipura villages, respectively. He also laid the foundation stones of a girls’ school building and a primary health centre at Dhana Kalan and Sorkhi villages respectively. |
|
12 BKNKS members’
transfer irks union Kurukshetra, May 27 Stating this to mediapersons here today the additional general secretary of the BKNKS, Mr Varender Walia, said this vindictive action could not curb the agitation, but on the contrary, it would flare up the anguish among the agitating employees of the FCI, Haryana. Mr Walia said the BKNKS had appealed to the higher officers of the FCI, including its Chairman and Union Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, to direct the Senior Regional Manager, FCI, Haryana, not to spoil the atmosphere in the FCI and resolve the matter through dialogue with the BKNKS. He said the BKNKS had appealed to the Haryana Government not to be misled on the basis of “prejudiced” and “baseless” report submitted by Mr T.C. Gupta, Senior Regional Manager, FCI, Haryana, and urged to lift the Section 144 of the Cr PC proclaimed in and around all depots and offices of the FCI in Haryana. Mr Walia said the BKNKS was spreading its agitational programme to curbs victimisation, including the
cancellation of transfer orders of its leaders and active workers, besides acceptance of its 20 demands. But the Senior Regional Manager had started further victimisation and got the imposition of the Section 144 of the Cr PC and the deployment of the police in and around FCI offices and depots instead of dialogue with the union leadership, he alleged. Meanwhile, Mr Walia alleged that by
transferring the employees at such a juncture, the Senior Regional Manager, had violated the Industrial Dispute Act, 1947 and the BKNKS would challenge this violation before the Assistant Labour Commissioner (Central). |
|
Plea to check noise pollution Kurukshetra, May 27 The residents say that due to the loudspeakers put at high volume at religious places students cannot concentrate their studies and aged persons and patients suffer a lot. Quoting the Supreme Court decision of August 30, 2001, they say that a bench comprising Mr Justice M.B. Shah and Mr Justice S.N. Fukan quashing the appeal of the Church of God (Full Gospel) at India announced that none of the community had the right to breach others’ peace by propagating its religious preachings and prayers through microphones or loudspeakers. The residents have also despatched the
Photostat copies of the application to the Haryana Governor, the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the Superintendent of Police, Kurukshetra, and the Subdivisional Magistrate,
Thanesar. |
|
|
Order on bail plea
reserved Ambala, May 27 During the argument on bail application, the counsel of Mr Lal stated that his client was falsely implicated in the case. The amount of Rs 1 lakh was not recovered from his possession. It was found below the sofa set where the complainant was sitting. The counsel stated that the commissioner did not deal with the assessment of the tax. Therefore, there is no justification to offer him bribe for this purpose. He said that his client had got neat and clean record in the service and he had successfully conducted raids on several big industrial houses. The counsel of the CBI opposed the bail application strongly. He stated that the amount was recovered from the residence of Mr Lal. One of the shadow witnesses has confirmed that Mr Lal demanded bribe for this purpose. He requested the court not to grant bail to Mr Lal. It may be recalled that on the complaint of an income tax consultant of a firm at Karnal, the CBI raided the residence of Mr Lal on May 9 and recovered Rs 1 lakh from there. The consultant had alleged in his complaint that Mr Lal demanded Rs 1 lakh to finalise the assessment order of the firm which was lying pending with an ITO of the office.
|
|
HIGH COURT Chandigarh, May
27 The premier investigation agency, in an application, had earlier stated that it was obligatory on the part of the state to bear the expenses as the matter pertained to the state government. A journalist, Subhash Sharma had sought directions to the authorities to stop the illegal extraction of minerals and action against the guilty. |
|
|
Railwaymen sore
over CBDT decision Ambala, May 27 Among others, members of the Northern Railway Promotee Officers Association, the Northern Railway Officers Association, the Northern Railway RPF Association, the Northern Railway Men’s Union and the Uttariya Railway Mazdoor Union were present at the meeting. The meeting was held in protest against the instructions of the Central Board of Direct Taxes for deduction of income tax at source from their salaries during 2002-03. According to the revised instructions, income tax will be deducted at source from the salaries of employees, adding the value of railway passes and PTOs and the order has come into force from April 1, 2002. The meeting drew attention to the fact that the railwaymen work round the clock in difficult terrains. “The railwaymen have been given the facility of free passes from day one and these facilities extended to the since inception of Indian Railway and have become inseparable part of their service conditions. The pay scales and remuneration of the railwaymen have been examined by five pay commissions and on each occasion, they had taken note of the fact that these facilities were available to all classes of
railwaymen, free from tax, while, deciding the pay scales,” the speaker said. The speakers said this issue had caused resentment among all sections of employees and officers and any attempt to either withdraw the facility or to levy income tax on the same will ‘jeopardise the peaceful industrial relations, enjoyed by the Railways for nearly three decades’. They appealed to the Union Railway Minister to intervene in the matter.
|
|
|
‘Declare loan defaulting criminal offence’ Ambala, May 27 Talking to mediapersons, the joint secretary of the association, Mr N.K. Gaur said despite campaign by banks authorities for the recovery of loans from corporate Sector, no step had been taken by the government. He said as per the Reserve Bank of India report, there were 12,090 defaulting companies under scheduled commercial banks and financial institutions in which Rs 80,246.46 crore had become bad. He said as per the RBI, there were 65 companies defaulting above Rs 1 crore in which Rs 349.46 crore of bank loan had become bad. He said Debt Recovery Tribunals established had failed miserably as on March 31, 2001 only Rs 1,542 crore were recovered.The OTS scheme announced by the RBI had also failed and only 1746.24 crore were recovered . Despite all measures non-performing assets of the banks were increasing. Mr Gaur said the association opposed the dilution of government’s stake from minimum 51 per cent in public sector banks as it would lead to
privatisation. If government try to pass the bill the association would go on an indefinite strike, he added. Delegates also expressed their concern over the proposed amendments to the Industrial Dispute Act for which legislation had been introduced in Parliament.
|
|
|
Haryana
Sikhs for separate SGPC Kaithal, May 27 Speakers said offering to the tune of Rs 15 to Rs 20 crore were annually remitted to the SGPC, which spent a meagre sum of Rs 15 to Rs 20 lakh on the maintenance of the gurdwaras in the state. There were only 11 members on the SGPC from the state. Mr Angrej Singh, convener of the meeting, said that an ad hoc committee had been constituted to motivate the Sikhs in favour of a separate body. |
|
Advani to lay stone of police centre Chandigarh, May 27 Mr Advani will also be the Chief guest at the passing-out parade of the 57th batch of newly recruited 1,740 constables. The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, will preside over the function. |
|
Employees
stage dharna Kaithal, May 27 The employees expressed their concern over the proposed closure of the HSMITC. In a separate statement issued here today Mr Bhanot Singh Beniwal, convener, Joint Action Committee, HSMITC, said the employees would resist any retrenchment move. |
|
Patwari
faces
graft case Chandigarh, May 27 A case under the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against the patwari. |
|
|
More constables to be recruited Chandigarh, May 27 Permission for the recruitment of 2,000 more constables has been sought from the government, a press note said today. |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 122 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
