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Monday,
February 10, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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MITC closure hits staff Abandoned irrigation schemes hit farmers Municipal corporations for six cities Shahbad gets Rs 2.2 cr for development
Second phase of polio drive ends |
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Undertrial killed 5 get life term for murder
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MITC closure hits staff Chandigarh, February 9 Mr Prem Prashant, Labour Secretary in the state government, said apart from the losses incurred by the corporation worth crores of rupees, the management also argued that the objective of setting up the corporation had become redundant. Stating that the MITC was entrusted with two works — setting up tubewells and laying channels for irrigation — the government side argued that while boring minor tubewells was not possible any more because of the plummeting groundwater level, the job of digging and maintenance of channels had been already handed over to the panchayats. Government sources here said that 41 writ petitions filed by retrenched employees came up in the court which ordered the Labour Department to treat these as review petitions and conduct hearing. The employees and public would be notified about the BOD's decision through newspaper advertisements next week. Over 3,900 employees of the corporation, most of whom are in their forties and fifties, have
been affected by the state government's decision to close it. Mr Dharampal Sethi, a Karnal based employee, is a typical example of what these retrenched employees are going through. Mr Sethi, 55, has his wife and son to support. A mechanical supervisor, he had approached some private factories for work, but none of them was ready to offer him more than Rs 1000 as monthly pay. As a last resort he has now started helping in the business of a relative even though he does not expect decent remuneration here either. The Rs 1.6 lakh he got from the state government as settlement package has come handy for avoiding only an immediate financial crisis. |
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Abandoned irrigation schemes hit farmers Karnal, February 9 Dr Devender Sharma, a former Irrigation and Power Minister of the state, here yesterday said if speedy steps were not taken to revive and execute these schemes, large chunks of land in these districts would become barren. He apprehended that the yield per acre of grain would also drastically go down in these districts. With the speedy depletion of ground water in the area, the farmers would be hard put to find out alternative sources of irrigation. While a hue and cry is being raised on the SYL canal issue, farmers in the above-mentioned districts are dejected as the SYL additional waters to Haryana would not mitigate their difficulties in any way. Mr Sharma said that in the early eighties, three irrigation schemes were formulated to augment irrigation facilities in the area. The schemes included Dadupur-Nalvi scheme, which aimed at providing irrigation to fields in 88 villages by harnessing and controlling the flood waters. The second was the Markanda river scheme. Markanda is a seasonal river and during the rainy season, it floods large chunks of land in Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra and Kaithal districts. A scheme called “Dharmura barrage” was formulated through which flood waters of the seasonal river were to be controlled and stored. The aim was artificial recharging of water and irrigation during the dry season. Similarly, it was proposed to construct “Jaspur barrage” on Tangri river near Naraingarh. Enquiries made by this reporter show that technical as well as administrative approval was accorded to these schemes. Even financial approval was given in the eighties. But the schemes are lying abandoned. On the other hand, farmers in these areas are resorting to deep boring of tubewells because of the lowering of the water-table at a fast rate. This has also resulted in deaths of farmers during boring operations. Mr Sharma pointed out that the year 2003 has been declared as “Fresh water year” by the UNO. The Union Government has also accepted it. Besides, additional Rs 1000 crore have been earmarked for irrigation purposes. It is high time that the Haryana Government, which called itself a pro-farmer government, revived the three abandoned schemes. Mr Sharma further said that the farmers of this north-eastern part of the state not only paid maximum market fees in the state, but the area produced 80 per cent of the total agricultural produce of the state. This area has, however, always remained neglected as far as irrigation is concerned, he added. |
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Municipal corporations for six cities Yamunanagar, February 9 He disclosed that the six Municipal Corporations would be Yamunanagar, Hisar, Gurgaon, Panipat, Rohtak and Ambala. He said that the cabinet had already given the green light. For a city to have a municipal corporation population of the city should be three lakh against five lakhs earlier. Mr Goel added that a team had visited Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab to understand the process required for the formation of corporation. The minister said with the formation of corporations in the cities central aid would become available for development work. He said at present there were 21 Municipal councils, 41 Municipal Committees and one corporation. He clarified that there would be no retrenchment of staff. He added that under the new House Tax policy recovery went up to 90 per cent against the 48 per cent during the previous regime. He said that the state government had decided to privatise street-lighting. Under the solid waste management dairies would be removed outside the cities and fire service strengthened. He said that for the National Capital Region (NCR) and HUDCO Rs 142 crore had been sanctioned to beautify 26 cities. Mr Goel added that under the Solid Waste Management scheme meeting at Rewari, Sonepat, Panipat, Karnal had been convened to approve Urban Development officials on the implementation of the scheme. On the financial health of the department after the abolition of octroi, the Minister pointed out that it was being done in the interest of the state. He admitted that though income was Rs 64 crore a year but administrative expenses were Rs 46 crore. He said that now all municipal committees/councils could take care of the interests of them employees and undertake beautification of the places as the recovery of house tax was satisfactory. Mr Goel said the Chief Minister, Haryana, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, had announced to beautify the cities on the pattern of cities abroad. He said that now the government had decided removal of piggeries outside the cities. Mr Vijayendra Kumar, Deputy Commissioner, said industrialists have here collected Rs 25 lakh for the beautification of Yamunanagar-Jagadhri. He added that Municipal Council, Yamunanagar, recently spent Rs 83 lakhs on the laying of roads. |
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Shahbad gets Rs 2.2 cr for development Shahbad, February 9 The Deputy Commissioner ordered the installation of a high committee at Barara chowk on the pattern of Pipli chowk to minimise accidents. He said traffic lights would also be installed on the national highway. Mr Likhi added that Rs 62 lakh had been sanctioned under the Yamuna Action Plan for laying sewerage in the town. He said a park would also be developed near the national highway at a cost of Rs 5 lakh. The Deputy Commissioner added that the land of the Irrigation Department adjoining the Shaheed Udham Singh Park had been transferred to the Shaheed Udham Singh Memorial Committee. On a complaint, he directed the Public Health Department to take samples of various water sources to ensure potable water for the local people. |
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27.5 lakh kids given vaccine in Haryana Chandigarh, February 9 Stating this here today, the Minister of State for Health, Dr M.L. Ranga, said that while the Governor, Babu Parmanand, administered polio drops to children at Karnal, the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, administered the drops to children at Ballabhgarh and Gurgaon. Dr Ranga said 15,000 immunisation camps were set up to administer the polio drops. Those children who could not get the drops today, would be given the vaccine tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. He said each immunisation camp was managed by a minimum of four persons, including health workers, anganwari workers, teachers and a member of the Mahila Swasthya Sangh. |
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Second phase of polio drive ends Karnal The Governor urged the people to fully cooperate in eradicating polio from the country and the state. He also urged people to donate blood liberally. He said blood donation served a great humanitarian cause. YAMUNANAGAR: Dr Naresh Sharma, Civil Surgeon, inaugurated the second phase of the pulse polio campaign in the district on Sunday. Dr Sharma said under the programme 1,55,848 children had been earmarked. Out of these 1,05,178 were of villages and remaining from towns. Reports of pulse polio campaign were also received from Abohar Phagwara,
Phillaur, Batala, Kumarhatti and many other places. |
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Undertrial killed Ambala, February 9 According to the police, Ramesh repeatedly hit on the head on Naveen with a brick. Some of the prisoners tried to rescue Naveen, but in vain. The jail doctors rushed in the jail but by that time, Naveen had succumbed to his injuries. According to the jail authorities, the cause of the scuffle has not been ascertained, but it seemed that they had some old rivalry since no reason for on immediate provocation could be seen. An Executive Magistrate later visited the jail and recorded the statements of several inmates of the barrack in this regard. The relatives of the deceased have been informed and the body has been shifted to the local Civil Hospital for a post-mortem examination. |
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5 get life term for murder Sirsa, February 9 According to information received here yesterday, the court of Mr M.P. Mehendiratta held 10 persons guilty of a group clash and murder and sentenced five of them to life imprisonment under Section 302 of the IPC. The remaining persons were given years of imprisonment seven each under Section 307 of the IPC. The accused were involved in a group clash about 30 years ago in which Kala Singh was murdered for giving witness against Sada Singh and some other residents of Mallekan village in the district in a murder case. Mr Mehendiratta also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 each on Balraj Singh, Sada Singh, Sukhvinder Singh, Jagraj Singh and Virsa Singh for the murder of Kala Singh or 1 year of additional imprisonment in lieu thereof. He imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 each on Balraj Singh, Niranjan Singh, Jagraj Singh, Nishan Singh and the son of Kala Singh. |
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