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December 11, 2002, Chandigarh, India |
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Only electronic
meters will drive govt to talks New Delhi, December 10 Autorickshaw operators are demanding an upward revision of fares and an end to the drive of impounding the vehicles of errant autorickshaw drivers and operators. The autorickshaw operators claim that the fares in the Capital are the lowest compared to other metropolitan cities in the country. Impounding the vehicles just deprives the daily-wagers of their livelihood. Officials in the Department of Transport are firm that commuters cannot be fleeced on the pretext of ‘faulty’ meters or ‘disproportionately low’ fares. “Start using electronic meters as the drive to impound autorickshaws will continue. Nine hundred vehicles have already been impounded; more will follow,” said an official. Another official said that the revision of fares could be considered but only after electronic meters have been installed and commuters not made to cough up exorbitant fares. Officials asserted that the challan of errant autorickshaw drivers would continue and it would be independent of the campaign to impound vehicles not having electronic meters. The Department of Transport, they said, was issuing challans to drivers against whom complaints had been registered on the Helpline Number 9604-400-400. The stand-off between autorickshaw operators and the government is expected to finish after the Council of Ministers meets later this week or early next week. The Chief Minister and four of her cabinet colleagues are touring Gujarat. Negotiations on the revision of fares are expected to begin only after their return. |
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Getting
a building map no mean task in Faridabad Faridabad, December 10 Although hundreds of applications are received by the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) and the office of the Municipal Corporation, Faridabad (MCF), the authorities approve only a few dozen applications each week. The three zones of the MCF have set up committees to deal with the work. It is learnt these committees meet each week to dispose of the applications received. While the MCF deals with the work in all three zones, namely, NIT, Ballabgarh and Old Faridabad, the HUDA offices approves the applications of the residents of those sectors which are still under its supervision. There are some of the sectors which have not been handed over to the MCF by HUDA for maintenance and supervision. The MCF has also been collecting extension fee and other kinds of penalties imposed in the sectors already handed over to it. But it is reported that there are several residential colonies in approved or unapproved areas and a majority of such colonies don’t bother to get their building plans passed before proceeding with construction or in case of extension of the present building. This trend has abetted a mafia consisting of public representatives, officials and persons connected with bodies like the MCF and HUDA. In most of the cases, the middlemen or some employees of the authorities concerned collect their ‘dues’ from the owner of the house in the name of ‘building plan’ fees and give the guarantee that their construction would be safe as they had paid the ‘fee’. “If any person approaches the authorities concerned to get the building plan passed in private colonies he is harassed for not complying with necessary formalities. The result is people have to contact the middleman or grease the palms of the officials concerned,” claims a resident of Sector 15-A here. He said he had to pay extra fee (bribe) when he had to get the plan passed a couple of years ago. While the condition of getting a building map passed is very important in all urban areas as the banks and other financial institutes release loans only after one furnishes the proof of having had the building map passed. The MCF and HUDA office collects crores of rupees as building map fee in the district each year, but it is reported that the amount of money that goes to grease the corrupt network is also in crores. The ‘corruption’ was recently exposed when an assistant engineer of the MCF relinquished the additional charge of AE (Buildings) at one of the zonal offices here, stating that his subordinates had been openly involved in promoting encroachments and unauthorised constructions. Some of the voluntary organisations, including Punarjagran Sanstha, here have sought an end to the formality of getting building plan passed in the present manner.
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ASI impounds car, puts himself in the driver’s seat! Sonepat, December 10 According to a report, the ASI impounded the car about eight months ago whose owner had failed to show him the RC. After impounding the car, he used it for his own purpose. The owner of the car then lodged a complaint with the IG Police, Rohtak Range, Mr Resham Singh, who deputed the Welfare Inspector of the Police, Mr Jeet Ram, to inquire into the case. The inspector conducted an inquiry and found the allegations levelled by the car owner as correct. He also submitted his report to the IG Police, Rohtak Range, who ordered the registration of the case against the ASI. Meanwhile, the Rai police have registered a case against
The police are still investigating the case and have arrested Rattan Singh, one of the persons named in the FIR. The father of the woman, it may be recalled, had refused to get the case registered with the police at the time of the mishap. He has now lodged the FIR with the Rai police alleging that his daughter was forced to commit suicide by her husband and his brother. |
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350 LPG cylinders looted from godown Rewari, December 10 The Dharuhera police have registered a case of dacoity under Section 395 of the IPC. A dog squad was pressed into service yesterday shortly after the incident but it failed to get any lead. Fingerprints have been lifted from the site. According to information received from various sources, the gangsters barged into the premises of the godown by jumping over the boundary wall near the outer main gate. They asked the chowkidar to open the door of his room telling him that they were policemen and had come there to nab a fugitive. When the chowkidar opened the door, several of them, wearing khaki clothes, rushed in brandishing pistols. They tied the hands and legs of chowkidar Surender Singh and three other employees—Ajit Singh, Sanjay, Sunil—and dumped them in the corner of the room. In the meantime, some of the assailants smashed the lights, disconnected the telephone and tampered with the godown’s tractor as well as the tempo. The motorcycle of the godown was also taken away by one of the gangsters who abandoned it at a remote spot. After blocking all avenues to get external assistance by the employees, the dacoits comfortably loaded the cylinders in their truck and sped away. The chowkidar and others somehow managed to get out of the room with the assistance of the inmates of a neighbouring farmhouse and informed the owner, Ashok Yadav at Rewari on phone. The owner informed the police who swung into action but could not trace the dacoits. |
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Murderous
jailbird caught Noida, December 10 Biram Gujjar is a jailbird. He has been sent to jail for 12 times in cases of looting and dacoity. He was having a dispute with Harikishan, son of Suka of the same village over some land in which Khushi Ram Kumhar of Alauda village was a witness against Biram Gujjar. When the SI along with a police party went to arrest the criminals, Biram Gujjar fired at the cops. However, the police managed to nab him and his accomplice Manoj with a 12-bore countrymade revolver and a large number of cartridges. They also caught Jeetan with a ‘khukhri’ and Sanjay of Loni, Ghaziabad with a sword. The SSP said if the police had not acted promptly, Khushi Ram would have been killed. Biram Gujjar is a history-sheeter of police station, Kasna. He has been sentenced 12 times. Manoj has been to prison four times for vehicle thefts while Jeetan had been to jail five times. |
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Delhi-Panipat
train timings changed New Delhi, December 10 The timings of this train will be revised somewhat. The new timings will be as follows: Train No. 1DPM will depart from Delhi Junction at 12.50 pm to reach Panipat at 3.50 pm. On the way, it will stop at Subzi Mandi at 1.00 pm; Delhi Azadpur at 1.06 pm; Naya Azadpur at 1.11 pm; Badli at 1.17 pm; Khera Kalan at 1.21 pm; Holambi Kalan at 1.27 pm; Narela at 1.34 pm; Rathdhana at 1.40 pm; Harsana Kalan at 1.45 pm; Sonipat at 1.53 pm; Sahdal Kalan at 2.03 pm; Rajlu Garhi Halt at 2.26 pm; Ganaur at 2.32 pm; Bodhwal Majari at 2.39 pm; Samalakha at 2.52 pm and Diwana at 3.15 pm. In return direction, 4DPM Panipat-Delhi passenger will depart from Panipat at 5.30 pm to reach Delhi Junction at 7.50 pm. It will stop en route at Diwana at 5.38 pm; Samalkha at 5.46 pm; Bodhwal Majari at 5.53 pm; Ganaur at 5.59 pm; Rajlu Garhi at 6.05 pm; Sandal Kalan at 6.11 pm; Sonipat at 6.20 pm; Harsana Kalan at 6.28 pm; Rathdhana at 6.34 pm; Narela at 6.42 pm; Holambi Kalan at 6.50 pm; Khera Kalan at 6.55 pm; Badli at 7.00 pm; Naya Azadpur at 7.07 pm, Delhi Azadpur at 7.13 pm and Subzi Mandi at 7.20 pm. |
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SONEPAT Sonepat, December 10 In a signed press statement issued here today, he said the urban people were shocked to know the decision of the state government as they had deposited the development charges with the civic bodies concerned immediately after the issuance of the notification about the regularisation of their colonies. He condemned the demolition of houses in urban and rural areas by the government without issuance of prior notices. He said people had constructed houses in the unauthorised colonies as they could not afford to purchase the land in the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) developed sectors at higher rates. The HVP leader pointed out people had been living in these colonies for the past four to five decades and the state government as well as the civic bodies concerned had failed to provide any basic amenities to them. Mr Jain said on the one hand the Chief Minister claimed he would develop the villages on a par with the cities but on the other hand he was demolishing the houses of people living in the unauthorised residential colonies instead of regularising them. He warned that if the state government failed to regularise these colonies the people would come out in the streets to fight against the anti-urban people policies. The HVP, he said, would launch an agitation on the issue for safeguarding the interests of the people. |
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‘Temperamental’ Yamuna devours land Sonepat, December 10 According to a report, this has been in violation of the Dixit Committee Award given in 1974. The gram panchayat has been in the grip of financial crisis as its annual income has gone down considerably on account of the Yamuna changing course every year. The sarpanch and panches of Manoli village are in a quandary about how to get this land back from the UP people. They alleged that the administration had failed to take any action on the complaints of the farmers whose cultivable land had been illegally occupied by the UP farmers. The gram panchayat of this village had 250 acres of cultivable land, most of which had been eaten away by the Yamuna during the past few years. The farm land in the Khadar tract of Sonepat subdivision is being eaten away by the swollen Yamuna at several points. The erosion has become a nightmare for those living in the villages situated on the embankment of the river. Every year, a large number of them become homeless. Official sources have, however, revealed that several hundred acres of cultivable land near the Yamuna embankment are eaten away due to erosion. The annual loss is estimated to be around 100 acres. Since the 1964 floods, the state government had been implementing anti-erosion and anti-flood measures like constructing bundhs and stone spurs. It had so far spent several crores of rupees on the construction of stone spurs and covered almost all areas of the Khadar tract. But these ad hoc measures only push the problem next door. The Sonepat Water Service Division of the Irrigation Department had failed to construct stone studs on the river embankments at Memarpur and Bega complexes as the contractors entrusted with the job failed to execute the works even after the allotment. The new contractors started the work for dumping stones in the river very late. The stones, unfortunately, got washed away by the swirling waters of the Yamuna river. |
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SPECIAL FOCUS ON GURGAON Gurgaon, December 10 The environmentalists are resentful because the KVK, which has a sprawling campus of 46 acres, has thousands of trees and other plantations. The forest cover acts as the only green lung worth its salt to the residents of old Gurgaon city. The general impression that the government is likely to allow the setting up of a casino and a bus station of Haryana Roadway by denuding the green cover has only added fuel to the fire. The agitators are firm that the government must not tamper with the greenery on the campus in any contingency. Felling of some trees on the campus by officials of the Excise and Taxation (E&T) Department, whose office has been shifted to the campus and which has set up some structures in spite of a status-quo order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, has deepened the apprehension of the residents. Also, the authorities are alleged to have stopped supply of water after the office of the E&T Department shifted to the campus. Water from the tubewells on the campus was used to nourish the trees and plants. On account of the alleged negative developments in the past few days, the verdant green cover has started showing a brownish tinge. The reason for the protests from environmentalists is not far to seek. The campus is situated parallel to the Delhi-Jaipur national highway from the one side and the city road connecting the national highway and the new court on the other. Thousands of people come to attend the courts, whose premises are adjacent to the campus, each day. The office of the tehsildar, which is a beehive of activities, is also situated in the area. The important offices and residences of top executives and judicial officers of the district are located in the vicinity. With the fuel emission and air pollution on the increase, the area within at least five kilometres around the highway will be severely affected. The irony is that the office of the Forest Department, which is entrusted to provide green cover to this district, will also have to face the malevolent influence of the likely degradation of the forests. There are a large number of trees and plants like peepal, mulberry, strawberry, grapes, neem, amla and guava and umpteen number of precious medicinal and ornamental plants on the campus. The KVK did research works on crops, trees and plants for the benefit of farmers, apart from conducting research studies on subjects like animal husbandry and allied issues. Also, it disseminated information about the results of the research works done by HAU among farmers. Independent observers are also of the view that the government must think of providing alternative green cover if it had any plan to strip the campus of the existing greenery. |
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Govt plans to make Gurgaon first choice of MNCs Gurgaon, December 10 This was stated by the Chief Secretary, Mr A. N. Mathur, while inaugurating the Regional IT Industry Promotion Office at plot 1, Udyog Vihar, Phase 1, here recently. Mr Mathur said that e-governance in the state was aimed at providing better works at less cost and making each and every action of the decision-making machinery accountable to the people. He said that Gurgaon was already ahead of Hyderabad in software exports. It was a proud privilege of the state government that Gurgaon was amongst the four major cities in the country that had been developed as IT centres in India, said the CS. The IT-related activities of more than 30 departments with an estimated expenditure of more than Rs 50 crore had been approved by the state government and the work had started on all projects, revealed the officer. He further added that the local area networks had been established in the Haryana civil and new secretariats and 30 bays had been built where the state headquarters of 16 directorates were located. To promote the use of Hindi in IT projects, a Hindi laboratory had also been set up in the Centre for e-Governance, said Mr Mathur. The new regional IT Industry Promotion Office at Gurgaon has been opened to facilitate and encourage the existing as well as the upcoming IT-related units, said the officer. Mr Lalit Yagnik of IBM said that the growth rate of Gurgaon in the IT sector was phenomenal. During the last 4-5 years, the sector had grown eight times in Gurgaon while the growth in Chennai was only five times, Bangalore 3.5 times and Noida three times. Mr S. N. Jindal, the Director of Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), said that there were 37 such centres functioning throughout the country. The Gurgaon centre would be fully functional within nine months, said Mr Jindal. Mr Dharam Vir, Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Department of IT, said that the Haryana Government was offering a lot of incentives and encouragement to the IT-related units to set up their plants and offices here. There were more than 20 call centres of international level functioning in Gurgaon. |
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Place of worship gives DLF residents the jitters Gurgaon, December 10 The cause for their bewilderment is the overt approval of the DLF management and the apparent collusion of the law enforcing agencies in the anomalous act. Although the construction works have been stopped on account of the HUDA authorities, the persons are said to have made it known that they would finally construct it. On the T-15 road of Phase III near Mulsarai Avenue stands a partly constructed portion of this place of worship, acting as a source of discomfort to the nearby residents. According to information, a person bought a piece of land from a native of Nathupur village whose land was acquired to set up Phase III. This land stands in the midst of Phase III of DLF City. After having purchased the land, the new owner laid the foundation stone of the place of worship in October and subsequently erected pillars. A religious congregation was also organised at the site. The construction works were however stopped by HUDA after the residents living around the site took up the issue with the authorities. Although the residents have complimentary words for HUDA for finally stopping the construction, they are cut up over the fact that the government intervened only after more than one representation was made to the authorities. Had the officials acted on the first representation, no foundation stone and pillar would have come at the site, they argue. What has stumped the residents was the presence of local officials of the DLF management during the religious congregation at the site. One of the executives is also alleged to have made donations for the construction. They are also surprised that the former Director General of Police, Punjab, Mr K. P. S. Gill, was present on the occasion. This piece of land could not be purchased by the DLF management at the time of floating the colony. According to the residents, the rules say that in such a situation, the owner of the private land can only sell it to the builders, in this case the DLF Universal Ltd. In any case, if the land is not sold to the DLF management, the owner cannot raise any structure. Such a land is reserved as part of the green belt. The land in question is adjacent to a park of DLF. The residents allege that on the occasion of the religious congregation, the devotees in large numbers occupied the park and the organisers played the loudspeaker at a high pitch, much to their annoyance. |
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IN PARLIAMENT New Delhi, December 10 In a written reply, Minister of State for Home Vidyasagar Rao said proposals had been received from welfare organisations for regularisation of services of Home Guards but there was no force in such demands as their acceptance would alter the basic voluntary character of the organisation. Stating that since January 1, 1995, 17,505 Home Guard volunteers in Delhi were discharged, he said. The tenure allowed to a Home Guard was three years, on the expiry of which he is liable to be discharged. In reply to another question, he said that were 20,820 complaints pending with the Delhi Police and concerted efforts were being made to dispose them of on a priority basis. Answering another written question, Mr Rao said manpower requirements for Delhi Police was being fulfilled from all parts of the country as per the recommendation of the Police Research and Development. In reply to a separate question, Minister of State for Urban Development O. Rajagopal said 31,991 cases related to the DDA were pending from 1999-2002. Mr Rajagopal said the DDA had enlisted a number of standing counsels and panel lawyers separately for each department so that effective conduct and monitoring of court cases was ensured. Minister of Disinvestment and Commerce and Industry Arun Shourie told the Lok Sabha that the performance of Ashok Hotel had not been encouraging for the last three years. The steps taken recently towards improving its performance were reinforcement of sales and marketing, special packages for accommodation and F&B among others. As a result, the hotel had shown improvement in its turnover. |
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NCR BRIEFS Sonepat, December 10 Kisan Sammelan The Haryana Krishik Samaj and the Khet Mazdoor Congress are organising a Kisan Sammelan in the city on December 14. According to a report, Mr Balram Jakhar, former Speaker of the Lok Sabha, and other senior Congress leaders will address the sammelan. The sammelan was to be held here on December 9 but it was postponed to December 14, as Mr Balram Jakhar and Mr Samsher Singh Surjewala, president of the Haryana Kishan Samaj, were busy in the Gujarat assembly elections.
Car stolen Faridabad: A Maruti car has been stolen from the NIT area. The car belonging to one Swami Saran was parked outside his house. It was found missing yesterday. A case has been booked. Meanwhile, in another incident, six persons were nabbed by the police on the charges of gambling and running a satta racket. A sum of Rs 3,700 was recovered from them.
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International phone racket unearthed New Delhi, December 10 The suspects were identified as Gajraj Yadav, Hari Lal, Sujith T., Subhash Thomas, Abdul Basheer, Dixen Elias, Delhi Police constable Gopal Krishnan, Sajid and Mohammad Ashraf. Nine cell phones and forged documents were recovered from their possession. The racket came to light following a complaint lodged by Bharti Cellular Limited (Airtel) that a few subscribers had obtained mobile phone connections with the facilities of STD, ISD, conferencing and caller ID, after depositing Rs 7,500 on the basis of forged documents. By the time the racket was detected, the telephone bills ran up to lakhs of rupees. During interrogation, the suspects disclosed that they had involved three PCO owners in Saudi Arabia in the racket. A large number of people from Kerala are working in different cities of Saudi Arabia and the suspects had talked to them. The cost of a call from Riyadh to India is Rs 1,200 per minute. Further investigations are on, the police said.
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Two who robbed trader nabbed Noida, December 10 SSP Rajiv Kishan said the case had been worked out within 24 hours, despite the lack of reliable information about the number, age, dress etc of the criminals involved and the vehicle used. The police had been able to nab the criminals as they took this case as a challenge and on the basis its good network. SP (Rural) Pushap Jyoti, CO and SO respectively of Javar Rajiv Kumar and R. K. Paliwal, SO of Rabupura Room Singh and SO of Kakode Praveen Kumar had played important roles in solving the case, he said. Four teams were formed for the purpose. The SO of Jahangirpur, Mr Kuwar Lal, learned through his source around 7.30 pm yesterday that some criminals were planning to commit a crime near the first culvert of a canal on the Chanchali-Jahangirpur road. The criminals were soon surrounded by police teams. On being cornered, the criminals fired at the cops, but latter managed to arrest two of them. They were Subhash of Chanchali village, Javer, and Bharat Singh of Kalakhuri village, Jahangirpur. They confessed that they were planning a crime and that the December 8 loot was also committed by them. The police displayed the wads of currency notes bearing Syndicate Bank stamps, country-made revolvers of .315 bore and a stolen LML Scooter (ANU 679), which had been used in the Jahangirpur crime on December 8. The police team has been recommended for an award by the SSP and DIG of Meerut Zone. |
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Woman held for abetting rape in Delhi Cantt New Delhi, December 10 The 32-year-old victim used to stay in Kabul Lines in the Delhi Cantonment area with her two children, while her husband has been posted in Jammu and Kashmir. The victim used to receive phone calls from her husband from Jammu at her neighbour Nirmala’s house. She used to go to the neighbour’s house to attend the calls. On April 7, Nirmala called the victim to her on the pretext of having received a call from her husband. When the victim entered the house, Nirmala immediately bolted the door from outside. The stunned victim spotted two persons inside the house and the duo threatened her at knifepoint and raped her. The victim was later threatened by the woman and the two of dire consequences if she revealed the incident to anyone. Incidentally, the victim spotted one of the suspects on December 8 near her house. The victim, who got scared and to avoid the incident again, she gained courage and reported to the police about the incident. The police arrested Nirmala. The other suspects have been identified as Desraj (Nirmala’s nephew) and sepoy Chandrashekar, who was on duty in 153 medium regiment on the day of the incident Chandrashekar is now posted in Udhampur. Police are now taking efforts to arrest Chandrashekar and have launched a manhunt to nab Desraj who is absconding. Vehicle thieves caught
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Samsung to set up factory for fridges in Noida The other Samsung refrigerator facilities are located in Korea, China, Mexico and Thailand. Samsung India will be investing $ 25 million for setting up this facility at Noida, the construction work for which commences today. This state-of-the-art, modern facility will have an initial production capacity of 500,000 units per annum, which can be subsequently enhanced depending on the company’s requirements. Samsung India will be manufacturing both conventional as well as frost-free refrigerator models at this facility. The mass production of Samsung `Made in India’ refrigerators is scheduled to commence in August 2003. All refrigerators manufactured in India will be environment-friendly. They will be using CFC-free technology. “We will be adhering to very stringent quality guidelines set by Samsung Electronics to ensure world class quality products from the Samsung India refrigerator facility,” said Mr M. B. Lee, VP-Marketing, Samsung India. The setting up of the refrigerator facility will generate an additional employment for at least 200 persons in the Refrigerator Manufacturing Division. Stated Mr R. Zutshi, VP,_Sales, Samsung India, “Having a state-of the art, top quality production facility for refrigerators in the country will give us the flexibility and the range to consolidate our position in the market. Further, this will allow us to introduce new refrigerator models with shorter lead times as well as allow for greater customisation of the range. In fact, we will be boosting the Home Appliance R and D Function at Samsung India next year”. Samsung India initiated the R and D Function for Home Appliances at its Noida R and D Centre in the second half of 2002. |
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Strike
by truck operators
worries exporters New Delhi, December 10 The international market being sensitive, the exporters stood to lose out on the orders placed, resulting in the loss of precious foreign exchange, alleged Mr
Magu.
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New Delhi, December 10