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Thursday,
March 6, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Haryana firm on SYL canal Cong move may put Bhajan Lal in a fix Haryana to go tough
on defaulting farmers Walkout over BAC report CAG report highlights improper planning |
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Traffic chaos in Ambala City
Woman electrocuted
by in-laws CM listens to grievances MC sanitation staff go
on strike Career counselling
‘needed’ after 10th M.S. Ahlawat
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Haryana firm on SYL canal completion: Governor Chandigarh, March 5 Addressing legislators on the inaugural day of the Budget session of the Assembly here, Babu Parmanand said the solution to water scarcity in southern districts of the state, which were affected by drought this year, also lay in the completion of the canal. Terming it as the lifeline for Haryana which had a legitimate right over the canal, Babu Parmanand said the state government was in touch with the Centre and was leaving “no stone unturned” to get the work completed. He expressed confidence that the government efforts would certainly bear fruit. Lauding the “sarkar aapke dwar” programme of Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, the Governor said it had now entered its third phase. Under the first phase of the programme, 12687 development works had been completed at an approximate cost of Rs 920 crore. In the second phase, 9282 works were completed while 5855 works were in progress, the Governor said, claiming that the programme had given impetus to development. Babu Parmanand said on the agriculture front also the state had done well. The production of oilseed and sugarcane had increased. The price being offered by cooperative mills to sugarcane growers had resulted in a good crop. In view of the impact of the WTO agreement on agriculture, the farmers were being encouraged to go in for diversification of crops. Area under fruit and vegetable cultivation was being increased to face the WTO challenges area under flower cultivation was also expected to go up to 3600 hectares during 2002-03 from 3250 hectares last year. Haryana was the first state to start a new technique for sowing wheat crop known as ‘zero tillage drill’. In the current year, Rs 3000 per the ZTD machine had been given as subsidy to 2000 farmers. About of the Forest and Environment Department, he said 500 fabric dying units located in congested areas of Panipat town were being shifted to the outskirts of the city to prevent pollution. While plots at cheap rates were being made available in Sector 29 (part II), an effluent treatment plant would also be set up for these units. The Centre had made available Rs 20 crore for this project. The Governor said Hafed had undertaken work of construction for 11000 MT capacity cold storage capacity in Delhi at an estimated cost of Rs 7 crore. Export of 2.02 lakh MT of wheat and 0.70 Mt of rice by Hafed was also a splendid achievement. Listing the government’s achievements in the field of irrigation, the Governor said in order to cope up with drought in the summer, more supplies were arranged from the Bhakra reservoir. “Abiana” on the kharif crops amounting to Rs 11.5 crore was remitted and over Rs 241.34 crore was released from the Calamity Relief Fund to help the drought-hit farmers. Power supply during the current financial year was 43 per cent higher than that in 1998-99. Rural areas were being provided 48 per cent additional power. With a view to expanding higher education facilities in the state, the state government had decided to open a government college at Panchkula. A new university in the name of late Mr Devi Lal was coming up in Sirsa district while steps were also being taken to establish a navodaya vidyalaya at Dabwali in memory of Devi Lal. Babu Parmanand said the state government also proposed to start 10 ayurvedic hospitals during the next financial year. Provision would be made for giving grant to the Maharaja Agrasen Medical Research and Education Institute while it was also proposed to raise a nursing college, an auditorium and a lecture theatre at the PGI, Rohtak, during the next financial year. |
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Cong move may put Bhajan Lal in a fix Chandigarh, March 5 Ajay Singh
Yadav, Rao Inderjit Singh, Rao Daan Singh, Rao Dharam Pal, Rao Narender Singh, Raghubir Singh
Kadyan, Dharambir and Jai Parkash have sought discussion on the issue since the existing “distribution was discriminatory and requires rationalisation” The explanatory memorandum attached to the notice said the 25th report of the Estimates Committee of the Assembly had clearly mentioned that the Irrigation Department had informed the committee that at least 1
m.a.f. water of Ravi and Beas rivers, meant for the southern districts of Haryana, was flowing to areas of Sirsa, Hisar and Fatehabad districts for the last 15 years. Majority of these legislators are from the southern districts of Rewari, Mahendragarh and Bhiwani. The memorandum further said that according to the present arrangement of distribution of water, Sirsa, Fatehabad and part of Hisar were getting 46 per cent of the total available canal water while the remaining 16 districts were getting 54 per cent. It added that when the new canal system linked with Bhakra was constructed, the main aim was to provide water for the parched areas of southern Haryana. But justice has not been done with these areas so far. “At that time plea was taken that canal system had not been developed in southern Haryana to carry the share of water of these areas. Therefore water meant for southern districts was diverted to Fatehabad, Sirsa and part of Hisar”, stated the memorandum. The memorandum gave hint of Sirsa district enjoying the privilege because it was “home district of the present Chief Minister” while it was conspicuously silent about why Fatehabad and Hisar were also getting the excess water at the cost of the southern districts. Hisar and Fatehabad, carved out of Hisar, were getting the preferential treatment allegedly because of the initiative taken by Mr Bhajan Lal in this regard during his tenures as Chief Minister of Haryana. Even though it is not mentioned in the memorandum, if a debate takes place in the House on the notice, Mr Bhajan Lal’s role in the alleged discrimination in water distribution in the state is bound to come up which may put Mr Bhajan Lal on the
backfoot. The Congress has also given a notice for adjournment for discussion on the issue of
Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal’s completion and another notice for adjournment of the House for discussing the “failure of the state government to adequately compensate the farmers” affected by the drought. These notices, however, threaten only Mr Chautala while Mr Bhajan
Lal, who is one of the signatories of the notice regarding the SYL, has nothing to worry from them. |
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Haryana to go tough
on defaulting farmers Fatehabad, March 5 The Chief Minister said his government had been striving to provide the best facilities to its people. But this, he said, was not possible if the people did not cooperate with the government. He said he had asked officers of the Power Utility Department to change the power lines wherever it was needed, lay new lines if needed and install bigger transformers in place of smaller ones. He told the farmers in no uncertain terms that the government would sanction development projects to the villages in proportion to the arrears of power bills remitted by the villagers. Mr Chautala claimed that more than 33,000 development works had been completed in the state during three phases of the Sarkar Aapke Dwar programme. He cautioned village sarpanches and members of the village development committees to ensure that the funds coming their way for the development activities in their villages were being used properly. The Chief Minister listened to the grievances of different panchayats of Tohana Assembly segment. Mr Nishan Singh, INLD MLA from the Tohana Assembly segment, Mr Leela Krishan and Mr Jarnail Singh, both MLAs, the Deputy-Commissioner, Dr. R.B. Langyaan and the Superintendent of Police, Mr K.K. Rao, were present on the occasion. |
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Walkout over BAC report Chandigarh, March 5 As per the BAC's decision, the House will meet for nine sittings, including two sittings, on Monday (March 10). The Budget will be presented on March 10 while the last sitting of the session will be on the morning of March 14. The BAC's report was tabled after the obituary references and it was the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who first objected to the proposal, saying that the session was being held for too short a period. Mr Hooda, a member of the BAC, said in the BAC meeting also he had insisted that the session should have been longer but his suggestion was turned down by the ruling party members. The Budget session should have a minimum of 30 single sittings while 10 days must be given for discussion on the Governor's Address and 15 days for discussion on the Budget. The remaining five sittings should be used for other businesses, he said. After Mr Hooda sat down, HPCC chief Bhajan Lal said there should be at least 15 single sittings of the House. Mr Raghubir Singh Kadyan (Cong), Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, Deputy Leader of the Congress; Mr Karan Singh Dalal of the Republican Party of India and Mr Jagjit Singh Sangwan of the Nationalist Congress Party also followed suit and started pleading with the Speaker for an extension of the session. The Speaker, however, refused to consider their demand. These MLAs then trooped out of the House following which the BAC's report was passed by voice vote. Earlier, the Assembly mourned the deaths of astronaut Kalpana Chawla, poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan, former minister Shiv Lal, former MLAs B.D. Sehgal and R.D. Dhamija, Rajaram Shastri, scholar, freedom fighters and martyrs of Haryana, victims of the terrorist attack at Raghunath temple in Jammu and the victims of the air crash at Ambala. While Mr Om Prakash Chautala first read out the obituary references, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda (Cong) and Mr Krishan Pal Gujjar (BJP) did the same for their respective parties. |
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CAG report highlights improper planning Chandigarh, March 5 The report found that the revenue deficit increased from Rs 607 crore to Rs 1,056 crore and the fiscal deficit from Rs 2,265 crore to Rs 2,739 crore during 2001-02. The revenue expenditure increased by 21 per cent from Rs 7,181 crore to Rs 8,656 crore during the year, mainly due to the release of increased assistance (Rs 764 crore) to the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam for rural electrification. The net addition to public debt during the year was over Rs 3068 crore. During 1997-2002, internal debt of the state government grew by 357 per cent, loans and advances from the Union Government by 29 per cent and other liabilities by 111 per cent. Implementation of the Liberation and Rehabilitation of Scavengers Scheme was largely ineffective as against the target of rehabilitating 15,500 beneficiaries, only 6,327 were rehabilitated during 1997-2002. Of the 32,227 untrained scavengers, only 1,589 were imparted training. No training in piggery and dairy farming was imparted even though 6,483 of the 12,279 beneficiaries had shown aptitude in these trades, the report said. The report added that undue financial aid of Rs 4 crore was extended to an agency for the construction of an overbridge at Faridabad on the built-operate-transfer basis, resulting in a loss totalling interest totalling Rs 90 lakh. |
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Traffic chaos in Ambala City
Ambala, March 5 Since there is no arrangement of parking near the market, which has around 800 wholesale shops, the customers have to park their vehicles in front of the shops. This creates traffic chaos. A few months ago, the police had placed same barricades on the road and a few constables were also deployed to regulate the traffic, but it did not go long. A similar situation prevails on the Shukalkund road and the Sarafa bazaar road. Some shopkeepers have encroached upon the space in front of their shops. Some of the ‘rehris’ have also occupied a part of the road, which has made the road more congested and narrow. The municipal council had launched an anti-encroachment drive in various markets a few months ago but the situation remains the same. Residents are of the view that the administration should ban the entry of heavy vehicles on these narrow roads during business hours and the provision of one-way traffic should be implemented. Proper parking lots should also be provided, they say. When asked about the traffic problems in the city, the Superintendent of Police, Mr Hardeep Singh Doon, said traffic constables would be deployed at various entry parts of the main roads to overcome the problem. |
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Woman electrocuted
by in-laws Kaithal, March 5 According to information received here, Rajinder Kaur of Chappar village of Jind district was married to Harinder, son of Shabeg Singh, of Dussain village, on February 10 recently. The parents of the girl had received a telephonic message from their daughter three-four days ago that her in-laws were demanding a car. In a complaint lodged with the police, the father of the victim alleged that today morning he received a telephonic message from one of his relatives residing at Dussain that their daughter had been killed by her in-laws by giving her electric shock. The father of the victim along with other relatives rushed to Dussain and found his daughter dead. On his complaint, the police registered a case under Section 304-B/34 of the IPC against the husband, father-in-law, mother-in-law and sister-in-law of the girl. In another incident, Pinki (21), a married woman of Amar Garh Colony, here allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling fan yesterday. However, the parents of the woman alleged that she was murdered by her in-laws. According to reports, the police has registered a case under Section 306 of the IPC against some members of her family. |
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CM listens to grievances Kaithal, March 5 Addressing a gathering, he said during the third round of the programme, the announcement for 2000 development works in the 46 assembly constituencies had been made and in the earlier two rounds a record, number of 33000 development works had been completed. On this occasion, Mr Chautala announced 500 development works in 93 villages and the Cheeka Municipal area of this constituency. He announced that all roads would be repaired and new electric lines installed at those places where there were no lines and iron electric poles would be replaced by concrete poles. Besides this, all schools fulfiling norms would be upgraded and his government would make arrangements to supply potable water to villages where panchayats deposited 10 per cent of the cost. The Chief Minister announced a new sewer system for Cheeka town and the construction of a bus stand for Siwan and immediate repair of the Tatiana Minor. |
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MC sanitation staff go
on strike Jind, March 5 The agitating employees have been demanding payment of salary, depositing of provident fund in their accounts and payment of arrears of dearness allowance. Mr Amar Nath Kangra, president of the union, said the sanitation staff had not received their salaries for the past three months. He said the union had requested the civic administration for the payment of salaries and several memorandums were served to the authorities in this regard but no action was taken. He said the employees would continue their strike till their demands were accepted. |
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Career counselling
‘needed’ after 10th Hisar, March 5 Addressing the annual convocation of Government College here yesterday, he said even educated parents were unable to guide their wards about future prospects. Colleges should bear this responsibility and set up special cell for career counselling so that students could choose job-oriented technical courses at an early stage. |
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M.S. Ahlawat Chandigarh, March 5 Mr Balwan Singh, DSP, Gurgaon, has been posted as DSP, Headquarters, Gurgaon, against a vacant post. |
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