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| Wednesday,
July 24, 2002, Chandigarh, India
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Industry gives Chautala its ‘wish list’ Faridabad, July 23 The captains of industry briefed Mr Chautala on their problems and went into reasons for the industrial downslide. Leading industralists Shyam Khemka and K. C. Lakhani told the CM that the town needed better roads, proper sewerage, functional street lights and a smooth approach to Delhi. They claimed that several industries were shy of setting up units in Faridabad due to the traffic bottleneck at Badarpur border. On an average, a person lost half an hour while crossing this stretch. Mr Khemka demanded that a committee be set up at Chandigarh to co-ordinate with the industry. Also, the industrial units should be duly represented on this committee. Mr K. C. Lakhani, Chairman of the Lakhani group, said Faridabad, which was once a jewel in the crown of northern India, had suffered the most in the past decade. Asking the government to provide a booster dose to the town, Mr Lakhani said the government should set up a high-powered committee to conduct a survey of the problems afflicting the industry. He said efforts could be made to revive sick units and those facing closure due to division of ownership. He said the authorities should split the units in two categories and provide `change of land use’ facilities at the district level only. He disclosed that an amount of Rs 2.25 crore had been deposited in form of dues with the authorities in the last four months. Underscoring the need for setting up large units, Mr Lakhani said big industry could generate hundreds of jobs and give a fillip to ancillary and small units. The industry representatives submitted a joint memorandum to the CM which seeks, among other things, the construction of a flyover at Badarpur border. In response to this demand, the Chief Minister declared that the construction on the flyover was likely to start by the end of 2002. The industrialists also sought extension of the Metro train to Faridabad. It may be recalled that the Union Government has already agreed to extend this train to Gurgaon town. The other demands included uniform sales tax, withdrawal of local area development tax, single window clearance, subsidies on generating sets, incentives for rural industry, development of small plots in industrial sectors, preference to products of Haryana in purchases made by the state government, decrease in the transfer fee on industrial plots and setting up of an export zone and an agro-park in Faridabad. The CM promised that all the genuine demands would be met. He said the demand for removal of LADT and release of subsidy on diesel generating sets was not acceptable. |
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Traders jittery with arrest of excise men Panipat, July 23 Acting on a tip-off, a CBI team, led by the DSP, Mr H R Chopra, raided the office and caught Superintendent T.R. Prabhakar and Inspector B.S. Pawar red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 5,000 from an exporter for issuing him “duty drawback certificate”. In a closely-guarded operation that last several hours into the wee hours today, the CBI sleuths also raided the department office and residences of the officials and took into possession several “sensitive and incriminating” documents. Even the local police were caught unawares as they had no inkling of the raid. The duo were later taken to New Delhi for interrogation. The CBI sources were, however, tightlipped about the seizure, saying that it would take time till the investigations were completed. It may be recalled that the department staff were shuffled after large-scale complaints of evasion of the excise and customs duties by industrialists and exporters only last month. The reason for bringing the new staff was to reduce the evasion of taxes and net additional revenue. However, things came back to square one as there were allegations of large-scale irregularities in the department. Meanwhile, the evasion of duties continued unabated allegedly in connivance with the department staff. That was perhaps why the revenue of the department did not pick up despite galloping exports to the foreign countries and flourishing domestic trade. In the year ending March 31, 2002, Panipat had recorded exports worth over Rs 1,400 crore, an increase of over Rs 200 crore from the last financial year. The news of the raids spread in the meantime and several exporters and traders, who might have evaded the customs and excise duties, have allegedly gone underground. All kinds of rumours about the possible raids on the prominent exporters and industrialists are doing the rounds of the city. |
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Slaughterhouse-bound cows seized from Maruti Meerut, July 23 The Nauchand Station House Officer told the ‘NCR Tribune’ that two constables, Nareshpal Pawar and Vijay Pal, got a tip-off that a green Maruti van was ferrying four cows to a slaughterhouse. The constables located the van near Hapur crossing, where it was intercepted. The constables were shocked to see that the cows had been accommodated in the van by removing the rear seats. Two persons were found sitting on them, ostensibly to create an impression that the car was carrying passengers. Senior officials, media persons and local residents gathered at the Hapur crossing to get a glimpse of the van. The police have arrested the driver of the van, Harun, s/o Masoom Miyan, r/o Pakka Bagh Rampur, UP. Two of his accomplices made good their escape. The police brought them to the Nauchand police station and video-graphed the van. The driver is being interrogated. He is reported to be the gang leader and had been engaged in the business of cow slaughter for a long time in Rampur. His accomplices, Shadab and Idrif, are also from Rampur. They had collected the cows from Martya Panth near Sardhana in Meerut. A case under Sections 3,5,8 of Cow Slaughter Act and Prevention of Cruelty to the Animals Act has been registered. The cows could only be released after an hour with the help of locals. SHO Ashok Shisodiya and SSI Indar Singh have ordered the staff to look after them. Mercifully, the cows and the calf have been provided with fodder on the police station premises. The SHO said that he would file an application in the court to secure their release. The police have found that the gang has a network in Delhi also. |
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Villagers raze houses to pave way for road Jhajjar, July 23 However, the village is on tenterhooks with about 82 families living without a roof over their head for more than a week now. They had to raze their houses after receiving a demolition notice from the administration. According to the villagers, the administration had served notices of demolition on 82 houses constructed in a row on both sides of the street running through the village on July 11 with the warning that JCB would pull down the houses after the deadline and the rent of the machine would have to be paid by the villagers. The villagers were all ready to remove the illegal structures, but they objected to the process of measurement of street land and its demarcation as the width of the proposed 44-ft road at one place has gone beyond 55 feet while at another point it is reduced to much less. They alleged that some were more equal than others as the authorities were partial in marking out the encroached land by different residents. Subhash, a resident, alleged that while he was served with the notice of encroachment on 9-ft land in the street, his neighbour, who had constructed his house parallel to that of his own, was not served any notice. Some of them alleged that Narender Deswal, chairman of Zila Parisad, whose house falls in that street, wielded considerable clout and he managed to save his house from demolition. The villagers deplored that they had met the SDM at Bahadurgarh, requesting for re-measurement of the land, but he said that the time to appeal had expired now and that there was no way-out for them. The SDM said that encroachments would be removed to construct a road with a width of 44 feet in the village. He said that a grant of Rs 5 lakh would be available for the construction of the road. The road was proposed to be constructed within the Jasaur Kheri village only, he added. Meanwhile, tension prevails in the village as 82 families have been living in the open for more than a week. Besides, the villagers who want to reconstruct their houses, do not know about the area of their land holding. |
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UGC, teachers spat likely on appointments New Delhi, July 23 In a statement issued today, DUTA said that “the letter from the UGC to the colleges has created utter confusion with some principals reacting in panic, stalling appointments and demanding that teachers implement the 22 hours workload referred to as the UGC regulations”. The DUTA said that there is no mention of such a workload in the actual UGC regulation. The teachers’ association said that the restriction of 80 per cent on appointments against vacant posts and only for three months, threatens to jeopardise the teaching-learning process. “Apart from the teachers, the students admitted to the colleges will be the ultimate victims,” DUTA said in its statement. The Academics for Action and Development, an independent teachers’ body, also criticised the UGC directive. “On the basis of its three decades of unscientific norms of workload distribution for teachers, the UGC communication provocatively states that Delhi colleges have 35 per cent excess teaching staff. The UGC, which is indulging in financial arm-twisting of colleges, seems to be unconscious and unconcerned about inputs required for teaching-learning process and impractical about science practicals,” the Chairman of AAD, Dr S S Rathi, said. |
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Dacoits held after dramatic 4-km chase Gurgaon, July 23 When the news reached the police, a statewide red alert was sounded in Haryana. The Punhana police station received the message that the truck was heading in its area in the evening of the following day. However, the culprits got wind of the police alert and concealed themselves in a godown in Pinangwan in Punhana police station area. After a while, they tried to escape, but their truck got stuck in a traffic jam. In frustration, they bandied words with the public and also shouted at a police official passing by from Bilaspur Chowki. They abandoned the truck shortly and fled from the scene. The raiding police team had a chance encounter with the cop who then gave them some clues to the criminals’ whereabouts. After about 4-km chase, the police caught two of them. |
Senior IPS officers’ promotion on hold to accommodate IAS men New Delhi, July 23 The DPC meeting was to be held last week in which a decision on the promotion of Joint Commissioner (Training), Ms Kiran Bedi and Joint Commissioner (Establishment), Seva Dass as Special Commissioner was expected to be taken. Both are IPS officers of 1974 batch and they were to be promoted as Special Commissioner after R.S. Gupta was elevated to the post of Commissioner of the Delhi Police. Before being elevated to the coveted post of the chief of the Delhi Police force, Mr Gupta worked as Special Commissioner (Administration), considered to be the second senior most post in the city police hierarchy. According to sources, Dr K.K. Paul (Special Commissioner, Intelligence) was to be given the post of Special Commissioner, Administration, as he is the senior most officer after the Police Commissioner. Since the promotion of Dr Kiran Bedi and Seva Dass have been deferred, the second senior most post of the city police is lying vacant. Moreover, now that there is little chance of holding the DPC meeting due to the departmental problems, source said that the present DGP, Arunachal Pradesh, Suresh Roy or DGP Goa, Gurcharan Singh may be asked to take over as Special Commissioner, Administration. Both the DGPs are senior to K.K. Paul. |
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Ponds being filled on war-footing Narnaul, July 23 Mr Garg has issued strict orders for filling all village ponds on priority basis. He lamented that till now the tank of the canal constructed at Bhankri village had not been filled. He said it would now be filled on top priority. The Deputy Commissioner said the department should arrange to send water tankers to villages where there was acute scarcity. Besides this, the department should formulate permanent schemes. The executive engineer of the Public Health Department disclosed that the department was supplying potable water to 55 villages. When this NCR Tribune correspondent travelled to villages, all he could see were parched fields as far as the eyes can travel. Starved animals can be seen moving about the barren land in search of water to quench their thirst due to failure of the monsoon. However, the frequent power cuts in the city and rural areas have also created an acute shortage of water. A visit to Nalwati revealed that the area has been in the grip of drought since years. The ground water retention capacity in this area is almost nil. “As a consequence of low ground water level bad fortune has become our constant companion. We are so unfortunate. The problem of erratic water supply has made our lives hell”, the peasants said. |
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Body of farmer activist fished out of canal Ghaziabad, July 23 Jaipal Singh was a Congress leader and father of Krishen Veer Chaudhari, national president of the Bharat Krishak Samaj. The police have arrested three persons, including Jaipal Singh’s partner, advocate Kirpal Singh, in this connection. The murder is believed to be a direct result of a dispute over money between the deceased and the advocate. According to SSP Chander Prakash, those arrested include advocate Kirpal Singh of Block A, Govind Puram, the advocate’s driver, Gul Mohammed, alias Gul, of Rafiquabad village in the Dasna area and a Hordoi resident, Anil Kumar. On their tip-off, the police have seized the car used in the kidnapping and murder, an iron rod and a wrist watch of the deceased. Jaipal Singh and Kirpal Singh were partners in some business. After differences with his sons, Jaipal Singh had given the power of attorney of his house in Malibara to Kirpal Singh. The advocate had also got a transfer agreement of a house belonging to a lady in his own name, by presenting another lady in the court. A dispute had later erupted between the two on account of money. When Jaipal Singh mounted pressure on Kirpal Singh to return the money the latter thought of a plan to eliminate him and included in the scheme his brother, his driver and another person, Gul Mohammed, the SSP said. On the morning of July 18 Kirpal Singh, talked to Jaipal Singh on his mobile phone and invited him to his house. He sent his brother and his own car and driver to fetch Jaipal Singh. Kirpal offered Jaipal breakfast in his Govindpuram house. He served him a cup of tea mixed with some intoxicant. Jaipal became unconscious. Then he was hit with an iron rod on his head and an attempt was also made to kill him by pressing the iron rod on his neck. Later, he was strangled with a rope. His body was packed in a gunny bag and thrown in Ganga canal the same night. When police interrogated the accused sternly, they blurted out everything. On their tip-off the police were able to fish out Jaipal Singh’s body from Ganga canal near Veerupura village under Jarcha police station in Gautam Budh Nagar yesterday. The police are now looking for Kirpal’s brother, who is absconding. |
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IN PARLIAMENT New Delhi, July 23 He also informed that the Supreme Court has directed the Commissioner of Police to formulate a scheme so that the non-destined goods vehicles plying on inter-state routes may not transit through the national Capital. The Delhi Police was in touch with the Government of NCT, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh for upgradation of infrastructure and logistical support. The problems that are being faced by the Deli Police in implementing the order is the lack of road worthiness of the alternative routes where the vehicular traffic can be diverted, inadequate junction geometric at entry points of the NCT among others. Mr Rao also informed the House that there are 1,1587 prisoners lodged in the Tihar Jail as on 16th July, 2002, out of which 2,433 are convicts, 70 detenues and 9,084 undertrials. He said the Chief Justice of India had addressed a letter to the Chief Justices of the High Courts suggesting that every Chief Metropolitan Magistrate or Chief Judicial Magistrate of the area, in which a district falls, might hold his court once or twice a month to take up the cases of those undertrials who have been involved in petty offences. Special courts to try cases of undertrials who confess their involvement in petty offences are held in the Central Jail complex regularly. The DDA has taken several steps to modernise its operation and improve its attitude towards clients and potential customers, the Minister of State for Urban Development, Mr O. Rajagopal, informed the House. The steps include revamping of the entire public interaction and grievance redressal system after identifying areas of distrust that give rise to corruption, posting of Counsellors, placing of suggestion book, introduction of guide books, an online counter and public access to senior officials including the Vice-Chairman, the Minister said. He added that the DDA had in the recent past organised ‘Housing Melas’ with an objective to reach the allottees in a time-bound and satisfactory manner. Other measures undertaken were computerised receipt and despatch system of flats and large-scale computerisation of all housing documents, he added. The Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr Santosh Kumar Gangwar, told the Rajya Sabha that no black marketing of CNG at the filling stations in the national Capital has been reported. However, in order to improve the availability of CNG, the Indraprastha Gas Limited has planned to increase the number of filling stations from 94 to 110 by March 2003. He added that the government has increased allocation of Natural gas to IGL from 0.98 million standard cubic meters per day to 2.00 million standard cubic meters per day from June. The Central Hindi Directorate (CHD) has issued a sum of Rs 13.48 lakh to the Capital for the year 2001-02. The CHD provides funds to different NGOs for the promotion and development of Hindi. The funds are utilised for organising Hindi classes, seminars, shorthand and typing classes apart from purchasing books for libraries. The Minister of State for Human Resources, Ms Rita Verma, stated this in a written reply to the Lok Sabha today. |
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THE ACHIEVERS New Delhi, July 23 Born in a poor kisan family in neighbouring Ghaziabad’s Dadri area, Prof S. Kumar has had first-hand experience of what deprivation means. It was at the time when his parents did not have enough money to spend on his education that the seeds of social work took root in his sub-conscience. “ It was like an obsession”, recalled Professor Kumar in a chat with NCR Tribune recently. He financed his college studies and later his M. Phil from Jawahar Lal Nehru University through tuition. Life was a struggle and the days stretched on and on but the zeal never dissipated. He joined the University of Delhi in 1989 and simultaneously enrolled in the Law College and got his LL.B as well. In 1993, when the Professor (as he is popularly known) thought that he was reasonably well-settled in life, he started the samiti, taking up cudgels on behalf of the deprived. His fame spread gradually as more and more needy sought his help and other like-minded persons joined in as members. Now the samiti has 2,000 members throughout the country. “ The samiti gets four to five cases on an average and we have been able to assist them adequately” says Professor Kumar with pride. Recently, a person with blood cancer and without a penny to his name came to him for help. The samiti members were activated and finally they were able to get Rs 25,000 from the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund for his treatment. The rest of his expenses are being borne by the samiti, most of it from the professor’s own salary. Married and with a daughter, who is now happily married, the Professor says that his and his spouse’s needs are few and they can manage very well on the little that is left after taking care of the demands of the deprived. As far as rewards are concerned, the satisfaction of having done something for someone is enough. “ Our effort is to bring a smile on the face of someone, even if it is for a minute. Towards this objective, every Rakshabandhan day, the professor and his colleagues look for some of the most deprived and tie rakhis on their wrists just to make them feel that they are still wanted and there are people out there who care for them. Professor Kumar has now started a primary school for the slum kids in the Swasthya Vihar area, giving “shiksha daan” to some of the most deprived. |
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Pedestrian subway opens near SC New Delhi, July 23 The Delhi Chief Minister, Ms Shiela Dikshit, was present on the occasion along with Mr Subhash Sharma, Chairman of the NDMC and Ms Tajdar
Babbar, MLA and member of the NDMC. This well-planned 7 meters wide and 17.40 meters long subway with 3 meters of head room has been planned as an underground pedestrian mall, linking the Supreme Court with the lawyer’s chambers and the Indian Law Institute. It has been constructed keeping in mind the safety of the pedestrians and special ramps will be provided for the mentally challenged people. Granite and kota stone have been used for the interiors. It has been decided to allocate four shops for court related activities. |
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NCR BRIEFS Faridabad, July 23 Cattle
recovered Thefts reported It is learnt that cables worth Rs 4,400 have been stolen from Kheri Kalan office of the Power Department. A computer set was reported to be stolen from the office of district authorities at Sector-21 here. Cases have been registered with the police.
Panipat Special cell Two killed Guidance week Process
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Man abducts neighbour to settle old scores New Delhi, July 23 Later, Inderjeet along with four of his associates abducted Prem in a Maruti car, and beat him up and released him after nearly five hours. The Timarpur police have registered a case of causing hurt, wrongful confinement, abduction and criminal intimidation against the accused. In another case, the North district police apprehended two persons, identified as Rajesh Sharma and his brother, Kishan Chand Sharma, resident of Haider Kuli, on charges of intimidating one Braham Dev Sharma. Police said both the accused had asked for a loan of Rs five lakh from Sharma in a parking area in Haider Tuli Market complex. Since he refused to accept their request, both the accused threatened him with serious consequences. The police have registered a case of criminal intimidation and wrongful confinement against the accused.
Impersonation case Four persons posing as CBI officials injured a person on his head when he refused to allow them to search his house in Naya Mohalla, Bara Hindu Rao. The police said that the accused entered the residence of Nooruddin (44) around midnight and demanded that they be allowed to conduct a search of his house. Since he resisted and did not allow them to search the house and foiled a possible the robbery bid, they hit him with a blunt object on his head and fled away from the place.
Man crushed One person today succumbed to his injuries when a bus ran over him near Neb Sarai, last night. The victim, identified as Jugal Kishor (32), resident of Agra, was rushed to AIIMS where the doctors declared him brought dead. The Mehrauli police have registered a case of causing death due to rash and negligent driving and arrested the erring driver.
Chain snatcher held The Central district police have apprehended a chain snatcher after he reportedly snatched a gold chain from Ms Sheetal Gulati near a red light stop, while she was travelling on a two-wheeler with her father. The police said that the accused, Vinod Tiwari (22), hailing from Gorakhpur, was fleeing after snatching the gold chain. On noticing this, Constables Rajender and Narender, who were on patrolling duty, chased him and nabbed him.
Woman robbed Two unidentified youths, armed with country made revolvers, robbed an official of the Super Bazar branch in Delhi Vidyut Board Colony in Shalimar Bagh in North-West district this evening. There was no sale proceed money in the branch. They got away with a gold chain, a ring and Rs 700 of Asha Sharma, in-charge of the Super Bazar branch. When the incident occurred, two of her colleagues, Ganesh and Virender, were also present there. A case of robbery has been registered in the Shalimar Bagh police station. |
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Illegal weapons factory unearthed in Ghaziabad Ghaziabad, July 23 According to the Additional SP (Rural), Mr M.D Krishndhar, the police on a tip off, had raided Fariyad’s house in Muradpur village where illegal arms were being manufactured. Fariyad was nabbed immediately and 12 revolvers, two rifles, cartridges and machines and appliances used for manufacture of weapons and ammunition and large quantity of semi-finished weapons were also seized by the police, the SP said. On interrogation, Fariyad confessed to the police that he had been supplying revolvers to a large number of criminals in districts of western UP for about a year. The police said they have arrested one Rabbani who was also involved in Fariyad’s illegal trade. A history-sheeter of Simbhawali police station, Rabbani wielded tremendous influence in the village. The villagers helped the police in nabbing Rabbani, but said he may not be directly involved in the illegal arms trade. The SSP, Chander Prakash, termed this as a “significant work of success which will drain the supply of arms and ammunitions to criminals”. Further interrogation is likely to yield vital information in this connection, the SSP said. |
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