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Monday,
October 21, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Dalit killings: CM turns heat on Oppn Jhajjar incident Sonia meets families of slain Dalits Dulina
killings: Cong announces grant State
CLP, DCC meetings convened |
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‘Media trivialising issues’ Water supply to become normal today 77 teams for KU youth festival One killed, two hurt in accident Chidambaram to deliver lecture CM remembers cops’ sacrifices Order to cut power usage
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Dalit killings: CM turns heat on Oppn Jhajjar, October 20 Mr Chautala, addressing the gathering at four different places in the district while attending official functions, hit out at the opposition, especially the Congress. He condemned the lynching of five innocent persons, describing it a heinous and inexcusable crime and stated that culprits would be punished in the severest possible way after the completion of a probe by the Commissioner. Referring to the burning of a mosque in Kaithal and attacks on houses of a minority community at Loharu in the recent past, he said some elements in the Opposition had been trying to disturb the communal harmony in the state. Without naming the BJP, Mr Chautala held that when the government took action against the perpetrators of the crime, these elements alleged discrimination and pleaded with folded hands to withdraw the cases against them. The Chief Minister promised that the water of the Satlej-Yamuna link canal (SYL) would start flowing in Haryana on January 15,2003, and the prime beneficiaries would be the farmers of south Haryana where 7.50 lakh acres of agriculture land could be irrigated. He pointed out that the current stand off between the Tamil Nadu and Karnataka governments would help resolve the SYL issue as the Congress government in Karnataka could be punished for violating the Supreme Court’s direction on releasing water to Tamil Nadu. He said government engineers had been directed to complete the work on all the canals, minors and distributaries by next year for smooth flow of SYL waters. Commenting on the Punjab Chief Minister’s statements that former Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal could be arrested on corruption charges, Mr Chautala said state Congress leaders were appreciating Capt Amarinder Singh’s anti-corruption drive, while when he registered cases of
corruption against politicians in Haryana, the same leaders termed it political vendetta. The Chief Minister also presided over a “Sarkar Apke Dwar” programme organised at Dulhera village in the evening. Earlier he inaugurated water supply schemes at Lagarpur, Badsa and Madana Kalan villages and stated that all villages of state would be provided with 70 litres of water per person by the end of next year. |
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Jhajjar incident Chandigarh, October 20 “It is unfortunate that the police in the state does not act till it gets directions from the top. As such it mostly remains a mute spectator to sordid episodes as witnessed at Jhajjar the other day. Rather, they should be charged with negligence causing death”. “What do you expect of these policemen who have been recruited by the INLD government headed by Mr Om Prakash Chautala. It is strange that the victims were taken out of the police station and lynched to death while no one else was injured in this reported case of mob fury,” said Mr Bhajan Lal. Holding the police squarely responsible for the tragic incident, he said nothing less than a judicial inquiry was acceptable. The police at Dulina should have acted firmly, investigated the charges made by the mob against the Dalits than allowing them to be taken away and lynched to
death. Even a Magistrate was a mute spectator to the gory incident. Even while the Dalits were tortured to death, the police turned its faces the other way, alleged Mr Bhajan Lal maintaining that the INLD government had proved to be the worst enemy of Dalits. Without realising the gravity of the crime, the government has ordered a second inquiry asking the Commissioner of Rohtak Division to bring out the truth. The earlier decision of constituting a special investigation team has been rescinded. Meanwhile, Mr R.S. Malik, spokesman of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee, said senior leaders of the party visited Jhajjar today for first hand information on the tragic incident. They would submit their report to the party President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi. The leaders included Mr R.K. Dhawan, Mr Bhajan Lal, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Ms Selja and a few others. “There is no law and order in Haryana. All policemen look for directions from the top without ever caring for the safety and security of the common man,” alleged Mr Malik. The Jhajjar incident is expected to figure prominently in the special Assembly session convened for October 30 and 31 to discuss paddy procurement. |
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Sonia meets families of slain Dalits Gurgaon, October 20 She also gave each of the bereaved families Rs 1 lakh from her party fund. Mrs Gandhi visited the Dalit families in Badshahpur, Teekli and Akleempur villages — all falling in the Sohna Assembly constituency represented by Rao Dharam Pal (Congress). The former Chief Minister of Haryana and president of the HPCC, Mr Bhajan Lal, the General Secretaries of the AICC, Ms Ambika Soni, Mrs Mohsina Kidwai and the Treasurers, Mr Moti Lal Vohra and Rao Dharam Pal, accompanied Mrs Gandhi to the villages. Mr Bhajan Lal told TNS that Mrs Gandhi had gone to the villages to express her condolences to the bereaved families. He said his party’s stand was for a CBI probe into the incident. He further said he would visit the bereaved families in Karnal on October 23. Rs 1 lakh would also be given to them. The surprise visit of Mrs Gandhi caught every-one napping, including the Haryana Police and leaders of the Congress. Mrs Gandhi first visited the two families in Badshahpur and later the affected families in Akleempur and Teekli. She stayed with each of the families for about 15 minutes. Mrs Mohsina Kidwai told TNS that Mrs Gandhi was touched by the killings of the Dalits. Significantly, Mrs Gandhi visited the villages immediately after a “Mahapanchayat” of 100 villages of the Gurgaon Subdivision in Badshahpur was over. The Mahapanchayat was organised in connection with the Duleena incident. The Mahapanchayat, presided over by Rao Dharam Pal, adopted separate resolutions demanding a CBI probe into the incident, compensation of Rs 10 lakh to each of the bereaved families, pension of Rs 200 to wives of the deceased and the withdrawal of the FIR alleging of cow slaughter against the deceased and action against all those, including government officials, in connection with the incident. The Mahapanchayat also set a 15-day deadline to the Haryana Government to fulfil the demand failing which a statewide agitation would be launched. The Mahapanchayat also constituted an “action committee” under the leadership of Rao Dharam Pal to monitor the situation. Representatives of almost all political parties, except that of the ruling INLD, participated in the Mahapanchayat. Prominent among those who attended the meeting were Capt. Ajay Singh and Ms Anita Yadav, Congress MLAs, former minister from the state and President of the Janhit Seva Sangathan, Dr Kripa Ram Punia, a former Congress
Minister, Mr Dharamveer Gauba, the state leaders of the CPM and the CPI, Mr Inderjeet Singh and Mr Raghvir Singh Hooda, an HVP leader, Mr Ram Chander, and an MP of the Lok Jan Shakti and president of the Dalit Sena, Mr Ram Chander Paswan. Speakers condemned the incident and alleged that the police was to be blamed for the incident as the five Dalits were in their custody when the mob took them away and lynched them to death. They said the police had detained them for questioning and when they could not satisfy the police, it started torturing them. When the crowd saw them being tortured by the police, it alleged that they (the Dalits) had slaughtered a cow the speakers added. |
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Dulina
killings: Cong announces grant Ambala, October 20 The deputy spokesperson of the Haryana Congress, Mr Viresh Shandilya, said Mr Bhajan Lal would meet the families of the victims to hand over the amount. He said the Congress had taken up the matter seriously and the state Congress president, Mr Bhajan Lal, had reported the incident to the party president, Ms Sonia Gandhi. Mr Shandilay said the Congress would provide government jobs to one of the family members of every deceased whenever it came to power in Haryana. He said Mr Bhajan Lal had also demanded a CBI probe into the incident.
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State
CLP, DCC meetings convened Chandigarh, October 20 The meeting will discuss, among other things, the issues the party should raise in the session. Meanwhile, the Haryana Congress President, Mr Bhajan Lal, has also convened a meeting of the Presidents of the District Congress Committees(DCC) here tomorrow. The AICC Secretary in charge of the party affairs in Haryana, Mr Hanumantha Rao, will come as a Central observer for the meeting. According to party sources, this is the first meeting of the DCC Presidents convened by Mr Bhajan Lal after he issued notices and “removed” 10 DCC Presidents for “not participating in the party programmes”. Incidentally all of them owed allegiance to the factions opposed to Mr Bhajan Lal in the party. The DCC Presidents who were “removed” from their posts were Mr Azad Mohd
(Mewat), Mr Prem Sachdeva (Panipat), Mr Vijay Chaudhary (Sonepat-Urban), Mr Ishwar Singh (Kaithal), Mr Jatinder Malik (Sonepat-Rural), Mr Raghbir Singh Tawetia (Faridabad-Rural), Mr Sandip Singh (Bhiwani-Rural), Mr Suresh Gupta (Karnal-Urban). Mr Sumedh Singh
(Mahendragarh) and Mr Param Vir Singh (Fatehabad). However, the AICC had stayed their removal on the ground that under the party constitution, a state party President has no power to remove the DCC Presidents. |
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‘Media trivialising issues’ Kurukshetra, October 20 Mr Sanjay Wadwalkar, Head of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, Panjab University, Chandigarh, pointed out that media was trivialising even serious issues. The corporate culture was making use of television as an instrument of advertising. TV had trivialised the Indian culture. In such an environment one wondered whether discussion on areas like accountability of mass media to its audience and to the public at large might not have great relevance. In her paper on Women in Advertisements, Prof Uma Joshi, Department of Home Science and Communication Exten. Education, M.S. University, Baroda, pointed out that adolescents had favourable and changing perception regarding women images in advertisements. They thought that along with the traditional, modern images were also portrayed. She concluded that there was an urgent need for media education and environment of women in media production. Dr Renuka Nayyar of Dainik Tribune, Chandigarh, in her paper on Media and Issues Related to Women, said newspapers were not giving proper coverage to women issues even then the role played by the Press could not be ignored because newspapers still enjoyed credibility and were used for the purposes of record. In his paper on Indian Development Landscape, Prof V.S. Gupta, former country representative, Asian Media, Information and Communication Centre, Singapore, referred to the paradigm shift in the contemporary thinking on development issues. Today development was associated with enhancement of human well-being rather than increase in gross national product. Development equipped an individual with elementary capabilities like education, health and empowerment. He regretted that in terms of indices of world competitiveness, India enjoyed 59th place as against first place enjoyed by Singapore. He said corruption, criminalisation of public life and recourse to competitive populism were major factors against good governance. Among others who presented papers were Dr Baldev Raj Gupta, Dr Ravi Dhar, Department of Journalism, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, and Dr Veer Bala Aggarwal, Department of Journalism, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla. The seminar attracted 23 papers on media education from 12 universities and senior journalists. |
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Water supply to become normal today Ambala, October 20 The Irrigation Department is busy in repairing the siphon. One of the senior officials of the Public Health Department said an alternative arrangement, a ‘kachha’ bypass, had been made to connect the Bhakhra Canal to the Kanwla
Distributary. He said 20 cusec water was released in the distributary today noon. It would provide relief to some extent. He said the distributary would continue to get water through this alternative till the siphon got repaired. He said water from the Panjokhra and Mandore tubewells had been released for the Jagadhri gate water supply centre. Similarly, water from the Singhawala village tubewell had been put in the distributary to enhance its water supply. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr D.D. Gautam, along with some senior officials of the Public Health and Irrigation Department, visited the site and inspected the repair work of the siphon. He expressed hope that water supply in most of the area of the city would become normal by tomorrow. He said four tankers and one vehicle of the fire brigade supplied water in various areas to provide relief to the people today. The canal-based scheme project has a storage capacity of 5.5 crore gallons which is sufficient for 15-day supply to the city area. Besides, there are around six tubewells in the city area for supplying water. The city also get water from the adjoining Punjab area. Some of the areas of the city which get water supply from the canal-based scheme projects are the worst affected. Residents of
Khatrwara, Nadi Mohalla, Premnagar, Nahan house and Talkis road and several other wards are not getting water even sufficient for drinking. Residents of Premnagar area are getting water from a hand pump installed in a ‘dharmshala’. |
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77 teams for KU youth festival Kaithal, October 20 In his message the chief guest expressed concern over the loss of interest among the students regarding their culture and their increasing inclination towards western culture, which he said was responsible for certain prevailing ills in the society. He said India had a rich cultural heritage and we should try our best to save it from the onslaught of western culture which did not suit our way of life. He said “the people in western countries were fed up with their own culture and were rushing towards India for adopting the Indian way of life, mental peace and satisfaction”. He highlighted various steps taken by the present state government for the promotion of sports and cultural activities in the state. He praised the players from the state who had won a number of prizes in national and international games in the past and exorted the youth to work hard with dedication, devotion and bring good name to their state and motherland . Renowned Haryanvi guest artist, Mr Daryao Singh Malik, entertained the audience by his impressive items. Select teams from various zones of Kurukshetra University presented their items of group song (Haryanvi) choreography, group song (general), orchestra (Haryanvi), solo dance (Haryanvi), folk instrumental Haryanvi (solo), classical vocal (solo), classical dance (solo), classical instrumental solo (percussion) and orchestra Indian. |
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One killed, two hurt in accident Ambala, October 20 The incident took place around 12 noon when a Haryana Roadways bus going from Ambala to Naraingarh collided with a Santro car in which the family was travelling. The family was coming from Yamunanagar towards Ambala. While the man died on the spot, his wife and son were rushed to the Civil Hospital, Ambala Cantonment. They were later referred to the PGI, Chandigarh. The accident lead to traffic chaos on the busy Jagadhari road. Traffic flow became normal only after the vehicles were removed from the accident spot. |
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Chidambaram to deliver lecture Chandigarh, October 20 After having qualified as a chartered accountant from the London Chamber of Commerce, Mr Gian Chand Jain established his own business of manufacturing and marketing scientific instruments at Ambala Cantonment in 1946. After his death on September 15, 1989, a foundation was set up in his memory which organises a memorial lecture as well as confers “Scientist of the Year” award on prominent scientists of the region every year. The Chairman of the foundation, Dr N.C. Jain, said here today that this year two scientists working in the Central Scientific Instruments Organisation(CSIO), Chandigarh, Mr V.M.L. Narasimham and Dr M.S.N. Srinivas, had been chosen by a panel of judges for the awards. |
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CM remembers cops’ sacrifices Chandigarh, October 20 In a message issued on the eve of Police Commemoration Day, Mr Chautala said the whole world was facing the growing menace of terrorism and expressed concern that along with the common man even the police personnel were being targeted by such anti-social elements. The day is observed to remember the 10 brave CRPF jawans who had laid down their lives guarding the Sino-Indian borders in Ladakh on this day in 1959. |
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Order to cut power usage Chandigarh, October 20 A spokesman of the Non-Conventional Energy Sources Department said here today that all departments had been directed to install circuit switches to cut off electricity as soon as the offices were closed. They had also been asked to introduce the system of switching off lights and fans during lunch time. The departments had been told to reduce their power bills by 15 per cent this year. |
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