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Friday,
June 21, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Cong rally against INLD govt today MC discusses ‘surplus staff’ issue Order on overloading tax Rs 51.37 cr to
modernise police VC inaugurates MCA block |
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Matriculation result Meter theft cases to be overlooked 
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Cong rally against INLD govt today Chandigarh, June 20 The aim of the INLD government had been to take steam off the June 21 Congress rally by striking a deal with the agitating Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) before the rally. The government achieved its objective when a government team led by Finance Minister, Sampat Singh, persuaded the BKU to remove the road blocks following a meeting between the two sides on Monday. Mr Ghasi Ram Nain, BKU chief, reportedly wanted to announce the lifting of blockades at a meeting scheduled to take place at Kandela village of Jind district on Wednesday (June 19). However, the state government team felt that the date was too close to the day of the Congress sponsored rally and it insisted that the announcement be made at once to which Mr Nain agreed. By next day, all roads in Haryana were cleared of barriers and the traffic was restored. Curiously, the Congress which otherwise is quick to issue press statements on any major development in the state, was silent on the pact between the state government and the BKU. When contacted in Delhi today, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, HPCC chief, who first organised a sit-in at Jind and then led a march from Jind to Delhi, which was to culminate in a rally tomorrow, said that the Congress too did not support the programme of blocking the roads as this was causing inconvenience to public. “The focus of the Congress-led stir has been to expose that the Chautala-led government has no credibility left. People of Haryana have completely lost faith in the government”, Mr Hooda said. The BKU’s stubborn denial regarding reaching any “agreement” with the government too has come handy for the Congress to justify the rally. “There had not been any formal agreement between the state government and the BKU”, Mr Hooda said. He said that earlier the state government did not adhere to a written agreement with the BKU which was signed by Mr Jaswinder Singh Sandhu, Haryana Agriculture Minister and Mr Ajay Chautala, MP, on behalf of the state government. Subsequently, the state government backtracked from the assurance given regarding the release of BKU leaders from prisons while securing release of seven persons including two DSPs taken hostages by BKU supporters at Kandela. “We shall present a memorandum to the President of India tomorrow asking for a CBI inquiry into all steps taken by the government regarding the BKU agitation since December”, Mr Hooda said. He added that the Congress memorandum would also demand the dismissal of the state government for having lost credibility. While there is no missing the fact that the BKU’s decision to remove the road blocks has taken some luster off the Congress rally to be held at the Ramlila ground in Delhi tomorrow, the initiative by the main opposition party of Haryana on the occasion of the BKU agitation and death of agitators in police firing had sent tremors in the ruling party and made the government functionaries see the ghost of the Congress in various activities associated with BKU movement. The Congress move to give Rs 1 lakh as compensation to the families of slain farmers is also believed to have been emulated by the INLD which has offered Rs 5 lakh each to such families from the party fund. Mr Sampat Singh had no clearcut answer when asked why the money was being given by the party and not the state government. On the INLD charge that the Congress was trying to take political mileage out of the deaths of farmers in police firing, Mr Hooda claimed that as the main Opposition party of Haryana, it was the duty of the Congress to fight “repressive policies of state government”. Besides, the farmers hit by police bullets and those who accompanied them to the PGIMS Rohtak, also requested him to take the state government to task for “police firing on peaceful assembly of farmers”, Mr Hooda said. The BKU meanwhile has set June 30 as the new deadline for the state government for meeting its demand of free electricity and writing off of arrears. At least, the Chief Minister, on his return from abroad must hold a dialogue with the BKU on these issues before the deadline, Mr Nain has threatened. Mr Sampat Singh told the Tribune that dialogue would take place between the two sides before June 30. Will the talks pave the way for an amicable solution it remains to the seen. |
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MC discusses ‘surplus staff’ issue Ambala, June 20 The BJP Municipal Council, Mr Kamal Kishore Jain, said the council was facing problems in giving pay to staff of certain departments that does not seem to be working. “ If the staff does not work, why should the council bear the expenditure on their pay,” he queried. He said there were about 40 daily wagers in the ME branch and about 40 gardeners of the council. “Look at the sorry state of parks which are supposed to be maintained by the council. I think there is a need to declare them ‘surplus’. It would perhaps be advisable to give the job on contract, which will prove cheaper in the long term,” he said. Councillors demanded that a fact sheet giving details about how much work was carried out by this particular staff and how much money was spent on them should be prepared. Mr Hira Lal Yadav, Leader of the Congress in the municipal council, questioned the authority by which a resolution passed by the municipal councillors regarding payment of Rs 1 lakh to each ward from the sum allotted by the Finance Commission was truncated to Rs 75,000 “After we have passed the resolution, I want to know by what authority the amount was reduced,” he said. “This is a direct attack not only on our powers but also on the Panchayati Raj institution,” he added. The Executive Officer, Mr K.K. Jain, said a sum of Rs 24.65 lakh was allotted by the Finance Commission . “A slaughter house was to be constructed and a JCB machine had to be bought. The remaining amount was equally distributed among all wards”, he said. On the issue of cleanliness, municipal councillors demanded that the Safai Daroga must regularly report to them. “Earlier, the Safai Darogas used to report to us and we could point out the areas that needed attention. Now, it is not so. The Safai Daroga must be in touch with us,” a councillor said. The issue of an altercation between a Municipal Councillor, Mr Rajiv Gupta, and some sanitation workers was also raised. Mr Rajiv Gupta claimed that the Executive Officer, Mr K.K. Jain, did not pay heed to him. Mr K.K. Jain, however, stated that he had told Mr Gupta that cleanliness would be taken care of and there was no need to ask for the transfer of sanitation workers. The President of the Municipal Council, Pandit Shankar Dass, said due to lack of adequate staff, cleanliness was being affected. “We had invited tenders for sanitation work, but tender amounts were high so these were rejected. Thereafter, we held an auction and sanitation work in some wards in the outer areas was given on contract for Rs 1.60 lakh.” he said. When a Municipal Councillor, Mr Bimal Prakash, pointed out that the staff on contract was also not carrying out the work properly, the Executive Officer said the work would be monitored for a few more days and then a decision would be taken. Mr Bimal Prakash said
MC officials should visit each ward so that the Councillors could point out the areas where cleanliness was lacking. |
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Order on overloading tax Chandigarh, June 20 It was only in May last that the Government increased the overloading tax, charged from transporters on quarterly basis. The increase in the tax was from Rs 1000 per quarter for a nine-tonne truck to Rs 4500 per quarter and for 17-tonne and 24-tonne trucks the increase was from Rs 2250 per quarter to Rs 10,000 per quarter. Now the Government has decided to reduce the overloading tax for a nine-tonne truck from Rs 4500 per quarter to Rs 3000 per quarter. However, this facility has been withdrawn from the owners of 17-tonne and 24-tonne trucks. Instead, they will have to pay Rs 150 per tonne of overload at the time of entry into Haryana. If they fail to deposit the overloading charges at the entry point, they will be liable to pay five times penalty in addition to Rs 150 per tonne of overload, if they are caught on the way or at the exit point. The decision has created
alarm among transporters and industrialists. A transporter, Mr Rajnish Singla, said the decision would hit the transporters hard at a time when the diesel prices were steadily going up. He said overloading to a certain extent helped the transporters in keeping the freight cost low, which ultimately helped the industrialists. Another transporter, Mr Harish Gulati, said the overloading within permissible limits helped the nation in preserving foreign exchange it had to spend on importing crude oil. The Haryana decision, he said, would increase not only the transportation cost but would also induce the transporters to resort to corrupt means. He said while the trucks belonging to the other States would now avoid Haryana territory for carrying the goods to the States other than Haryana, the transporters and industrialists of the State would suffer. A former Senior Vice-President of the Haryana Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dr N.C. Jain, said the decision would impose a heavy burden on the State’s industry, which already was suffering recession. He said it was unfortunate that the State Government had decided to withdraw the facility of lumpsum payment of overloading tax at a time when the Chief Minister was visiting foreign countries to invite the industrialists there to set up units in the State. |
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Rs 51.37 cr to
modernise police Chandigarh, June 20 Stating this here today, Mr C.P. Bansal, IGP, Modernisation and Welfare, said that the Haryana Police spent over Rs 55 crore on modernisation in 2000-2001. The Union Government approved plan of Rs 51.37 crore for 2001-2002. He said under the modernisation schemes emphasis was being laid on wide area networking of the state police, housing for the other ranks and purchase of equipments for forensic Science Laboratory, state Crime Record Bureau, State armed police, CID and district police. |
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VC inaugurates MCA block Yamunanagar, June 20 He said in the wake of a large number of technical institutions, the quality of infrastructure and faculty had become imperative. A little effort towards dissemination of quality education would be a great service to society. He lauded the contribution of Mukund Lal family in the field of education not only in Haryana but in the entire northern India. |
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Matriculation
result Chandigarh, June 20 Mr R.P. Gupta, Chairman of the Board, said that the girls did better than the boys in the examination. He said that pass percentage of girls was 56.51 while for boys it was 48.87. He said 51.99 per cent candidates of government schools were successful as compared to 68.02 per cent candidates of private schools. He said the results were being published in four Hindi dailies and could also be downloaded from Internet website:
http.haryana.nic.in. The results could also be seen at the offices of District Education Officers at Sirsa, Gurgaon, Panipat and Kurukshetra. |
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Meter theft cases to be overlooked Chandigarh, June 20 The Power Utilities has instructed field officials not to make theft case and not to impose any penalty on detection of theft cases in old meters. However, the relaxation would not apply on three-phase connections or industrial connections. Under the campaign for 100 per cent replacement of meters with electronic meters, no cost of meter would be charged from the consumers whose old meters were not faulty or burnt. Cost of meters would be charged only from those whose old meters had been burnt or faulty. This cost was charged for replacement of meters in normal course also. |
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DET results Chandigarh, June 20 Stating this here today, the Registrar of the board said the results could also be seen at the respective polytechnics at which the student had appeared for the test. |
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MLA seeks arrest
of club official Kalka, June 20 |
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Mohinder
Lal Chandigarh, June 20 |
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