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Sunday,
June 1, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Bhajan for
action against dissidents Ganeshi Lal
is acting chief of Haryana BJP Two
drowned while taking dip Don’t
worry about VAT, Sampat tells traders IN FOCUS HIGH COURT |
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Kharian
village gets cash award 4 booked
for murder 4 armed
persons kill bank guard Dowry
case: ASI’s bail plea rejected 2
suicides in Ambala Women
get power supply restored
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Bhajan for action against dissidents Chandigarh, May 31 According to reliable sources, Mr Bhajan Lal has written a set of letters to the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, and the AICC General Secretary in charge of the party affairs in Haryana, Mr Nawal Kishore Sharma, explaining the reasons for the party’s defeat in Fatehabad as well as alleging how the party had to face internal sabotage. When contacted, Mr Bhajan Lal refused to confirm that he had complained to the high command against the dissidents. The sources say that soon after the election result was out, Mr Bhajan Lal wrote to Mr Sharma that certain prominent party leaders like the Leader of Opposition, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda; a former party President, Mr Birender Singh; the AICC Secretary, Ms Selja; and the President of the Jhajjar District Congress Committee (Rural), Dr Raghbir Singh Kadian, came to Fatehabad only on May 15. On that day Mr Sharma had addressed a public rally at Fatehabad in support of the party nominee, Mr Dura Ram. After that these leaders never visited the constituency nor did they campaign in favour of Mr Dura Ram. The sources say that Mr Bhajan Lal also pointed out to Mr Sharma that he had telephoned Ms Selja thrice to invite her to campaign in Fetehabad, but she did not turn up. The sources say Mr Bhajan Lal has sought the permission of the Congress high command to take disciplinary action against Mr Ranjit Singh, Vice-President of the Haryana Congress and a son of former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal; and Mr Jai Narain Verma, the party nominee in Fatehabad in the 2000 Assembly elections. Mr Bhajan Lal has accused Mr Verma of having worked against Mr Dura Ram in the byelection. Mr Bhajan Lal, the sources say, has informed the high command that Mr Ranjit Singh had refused to attend the public meeting addressed by Mr Sharma as well as to campaign for Mr Dura Ram. The sources say Mr Bhajan Lal has also sent photocopies of certain news reports quoting Mr Birender Singh and Rao Inderjit Singh, MLA, that the polling in Fatehabad was “by and large fair”. The former Chief Minister is believed to have pointed that the Congress candidate was defeated because of the gross misuse of the election process by the ruling party. Still these Congress leaders had harmed the party interest by giving a clean chit to the Chautala government. |
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Ganeshi Lal is acting
chief of Haryana BJP Chandigarh, May 31 The sources said Mr Kataria announced his
decision to quit the party president’s post during a meeting of the
core group of the party at Palwal on Tuesday (May 27). Mr Kataria
reportedly said he wanted to leave the post so that he could
concentrate on the Ambala Parliamentary constituency represented by
him. “I did not want the party to lose the constituency in the next
Lok Sabha elections”, he reportedly said. He also expressed anguish
saying that he was frequently made to change his statements. “I do
not want to become a laughing stock”, Mr Kataria reportedly said. He
proposed Mr Ganeshi Lal’s name to take over as the Acting President
which was accepted by the participants of the meeting. Mr Harsh
Vardhan from the BJP’s central leadership as well as senior BJP
leaders of Haryana were present in the meeting, it was learnt. A
party leader, who was present in the Palwal meeting, said he felt that
Mr Kataria’s resignation was stage managed. “The performance of
the party under his leadership was not good. He had also failed to
establish rapport with the workers of the party”, the BJP leader
said and added that it was likely that the party’s central
leadership had asked Mr Kataria to step down. Mr Kataria, who became
the party President in 2000, could not be contacted for his reaction.
His mobile phone was switched off and there was no response in his
phone numbers at Ambala and New Delhi. Mr Ganeshi Lal too could not be
contacted as he was away to Rajasthan. |
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Two drowned while taking dip Kurukshetra, May 31 In another incident, two men who were coming here this morning to take the dip died when the van in which they were travelling collided with a truck at a place near here. One of the victims has been identified as Vinod Pandey of Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, while another victim Arvind hailed from Orissa. Three of the seven injured have been referred to the
PGI, Chandigarh, while the others admitted to a local hospital. PTI |
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Don’t worry about VAT, Sampat tells traders Panchkula, May 31 Mr Sampat Singh was addressing mediapersons after presiding over the monthly district grievance committee meeting at the Mini Secretariat today. The Finance Minister said that though state Congress chief, Mr Bhajan Lal and Haryana Vikas Party chief, Mr Bansi
Lal, had claimed that the results of this election would have a directly bearing on the state politics and determine who would be the next Chief Minister, INLD’s win showed a clean sweep for the party in the next Assembly elections. Answering querries about promoting industry in the state, Mr Sampat Singh said that the industrial growth in the state had gone up. He said that the ‘inspector raj and external development charges had been done away with. Clarifying the implementation of value added tax (VAT) in the state, he said that this was already implemented at the
manufacturing stage, and that other states would have to follow suit by the end of this year. This had helped reduce sales tax evasion to a large content, he added. While presiding over the district grievance committee meeting earlier, he asked the district administration to ensure proper water supply and drinking water facility in the district. He also said that steps should be taken to prevent the incidence of water borne diseases. As many as 20 complaints were put up in this meeting and 14 were solved on the spot. The Finance Minister gave directions to other officers for solving the remaining complaints. AMBALA: Haryana finance minister Prof Sampat Singh on Saturday said that the trading community need not worry about value added tax (VAT) since it was with deviation in the state. Talking to mediapersons here Prof Sampat Singh said that 16 states had made a commitment of introducing VAT. “We have introduced VAT with certain deviations. We have put a slab in between so that trade is not affected,” he said. He said that VAT should not be looked at in isolation. “There has been improvement in financial health of the country since 1994. Thereafter, Mr Vajpayee called a meeting in which all union ministers and Chief Ministers were present. It was decided to set up an all-State Finance Ministers Empowered Committee”, he said. Prof Sampat Singh said that the issues which were decided upon were that there should be uniform floor-rate tax, stop practice of industrial incentives and uniform tax structure &
introduce VAT. “West Bengal Finance Minister Deep Dasgupta was the convener. There was a common consensus for VAT. It is a state subject. A state is to implement VAT,” he said. He said that VAT required time and it would not be a good idea to retreat at this juncture. “VAT was to be introduced earlier on April 1, 2002. We were ready then but the new date was set at April 1, 2003. We have introduced VAT. Haryana already has VAT at the manufacturing sector now it is in trading,” he said. Prof Sampat Singh said that they were ready to hear the grievances of any association. “Any grievance of the tax payers will be addressed,” he said.
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IN FOCUS Kalka, May 31 This town, which is the gateway to the pristine beauty of Himachal Pradesh, presents a picture of neglect. Though an elected Municipal Committee was established here almost 70 years ago, little has been done to improve the civic amenities here. The MC's annual budget (of about Rs 82 lakh) is mostly spent on paying the salaries of its employees, and upkeep of its existing infrastructure. The remaining money is spent on relaying the CC flooring of the roads/constructing new roads and the yearly construction/renovation of a retaining wall along Sukhna river to avoid floods. Even these CC roads have been constructed in five kms. of a total of 16 sq. kms. length of roads. During the past three years, the only development work carried out by the MC is construction of CC floor of roads at the cost of Rs 1.069 crore, said an official of the MC. Of this money spent, a sum of Rs. 52 lakh has been spent from MP Local Area Development Fund. As a result, insanitary conditions prevail in most areas and street lights in most of the 15 wards remain out of order. The MC has no funds to provide any recreational facilities to the residents- be it improving the Rabindra Nath Tagore Palika Udyan or the Gandhi Municipal Library- which are the least of its priorities. Even the four parks in Housing Board Colony here are being maintained by the residents themselves. The MC's budget has increased since 2001, when house tax, fire tax and professional tax was imposed and 3 per cent of stamp duty was given to MC. Earlier, the only source of income to the MC was rental income from shops, shop licences, development charges, token tax and municipal tax, totalling to about Rs 55. 71 lakh. Though no vacancies in the MC are now being filled, the bulging salary of the employees have reportedly eaten up the MC's coffers. As of now, the four vacant posts of clerk and a few posts of safai karamcharis have not been filled, says the President of Kalka Municipal Committee, Mr. Sushil Kumar
Garg. “There are no grants forthcoming from the state government. Even the realisation of taxes from the residents is difficult. With no funds available, how can the development of the town take place?" he says. He hoped that with house tax, fire tax and professional tax being imposed in the state, the MC's fiscal health should improve. |
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HIGH COURT Chandigarh, May 31 Three other accused, booked in the same case, were also granted bail as the complainants failed to specify the community to which they belonged. Pronouncing orders on the petition filed by Ram Dhari and others, Mr Justice Amar Dutt ruled: “According to the petitioners, the complaint filed against them under the Act was not valid because of the failure of the complainants to specify the caste to which they belonged, and the fact that the petitioners themselves were members of the Scheduled Caste....” Mr Justice Dutt added: “The case was earlier heard by me and the judgement was reserved. Since on going through the record, I was not able to find any document in support of the petitioners’ submission that some of them were members of the Scheduled Castes, the matter was re-listed for hearing. Today, it was pointed out in an application to place on record the scheduled caste certificates of Ram Dhari and Moola Ram that the same had been misplaced at the time when the petition came up for hearing”. In his detailed order, the Judge asserted: “Counsel for the respondents is in no position to controvert the validity of the certificates and, therefore, Ram Dhari and Moola Ram would, prima facie, be entitled to anticipatory bail. Even with regard to the remaining accused, the first ground on which the anticipatory bail is sought would be available as there is no averment in the complaint regarding the community to which complainants
belong”. |
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Lok Adalat settles MACT cases Fatehabad, May 31 Four cases of MACT were settled by the Additional District and Sessions Judge, Mr Darshan Singh. The Additional District and Sessions Judge, Mr O.P. Varma, awarded claims worth Rs 6.04 lakh in 7 MACT cases. Only one case of marital discord was decided. However, in the court of Mr R.N. Bharti, Chief Judicial Magistrate, 10 cases of civil nature were withdrawn after the parties reached a compromise. |
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Kharian
village gets cash award Sirsa, May 31 However, the sarpanch received a cash award of Rs 5 lakh at a function at the local Panchayat Bhavan yesterday evening on behalf of the Panchayat.
Kharian village has played a vital role in removing the lavish expenditure incurred on death ceremonies. In the village minor disputes are being settled by the panchayat without the intervention of the police or court. This has promoted amity in the village. According to the village
sarpanch, Mr Ram Kumar Nain, most of the encroachments in the village have been removed by the villagers without any administrative and police campaign. The gram panchayat managed to collect nearly 90 per cent house tax. As far as developmental works are concerned the village panchayat has shown outstanding performance. During the past few years, Rs 10 crore have been spent on developmental works, which include construction of community
centre, panchayat ghar, waterworks, public parks, etc. |
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4 booked for murder Yamunanagar, May 31 According to the complaint, Neelam, who was married to Mangeram of Sabepur village about one and a half years ago was brutally murdered on May 29, and her body was thrown in a well to show as if she had committed suicide. The next day the in-laws of Neelam took out the body from the well and cremated it before the parents of Neelam could reach the cremation ground. Shiv Kumar, father of Neelam, alleged Mangeram and three other members of his family had killed his daughter. The police seized the last remains of Neelam from the cremation ground yesterday evening and registered a case. |
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4 armed persons
kill bank guard Karnal, May 31 Bank officials said four youths approached the bank guard at 12.30 pm and asked him if they could deposit Rs 7 lakh in the bank. The guard told them to stay outside. Meanwhile, he approached the cashier to ask him if cash could be accepted. The cashier agreed to accept the deposit. Three of them entered the bank while the fourth one stood outside. He was carrying a pistol which was noticed by
Lakhpat. The bank guard did not allow him to enter the bank premises and a scuffle between the two took over it. Lakhpat caught hold of one of the robbers but as the people started collecting outside the bank, the armed youths shot dead Lakhpat and fled. |
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Dowry case: ASI’s bail plea rejected Kaithal, May 31 According to information Lakhwinder Singh son of Gurcharan Singh of Nagri in Ferozepore married Malkit Kaur alias Simran Kaur of Polar near here on April 19, 2001. She complained to the police that her in-laws demanded a car and later Rs 3.5 lakh from her parents. Her parents paid Rs 50,000 to her in-laws on January 28. But they were not satisfied. The said ASI had filed an application for pre-arrest bail pleading that he was innocent and his son and wife had been granted bail in this case. The prosecution opposed the bail saying that dowry items were to be recovered from the accused. |
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2 suicides in Ambala Ambala, May 31 An Army personnel reportedly committed suicide while he was on duty at Ambala Cantt today by hanging himself with a rope with a door. In another incident Shiv Dayal, a resident of New Partap Nagar at Ambala city, hanged himself with a rope.
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Women get power supply restored Ambala, May 31 Fed up over the delay in the restoration of power supply, the women of Topekhana Bazar this morning went to the power office at Babyal and managed to get a transformer installed Ms Kamini of Topekhana Bazar said they did not have power supply for the past two days. “We have repeatedly approached the officials concerned, but to no avail,” she said. “We made up our mind to get power supply restored. All of us went to the power office. Thereafter, the transportation for the transformer was arranged by power officials,” she said, adding that all of them rode back on the vehicle carrying the transformer. The Executive Engineer, Mr R.K. Gupta, said a 100 KVA transformer was installed there and power supply had resumed. |
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The cash-strapped Municipal Committee here, which is one of the oldest Municipal Committees (MC) in the state, has failed to develop this end of Haryana. As a result, defunct streetlights, insanitary conditions, poor water supply and dilapidated condition of the cement concrete (CC) roads is more of a norm than an exception.