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Friday,
June 6, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Chief Architect, 2 others suspended Man
decamps with FCI’s Rs 64 lakh Chautala’s Europe trip cancelled NEWS ANALYSIS
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Man saved
by youths unattended at hospital HPCC
meeting on June 9 Mystery shrouds death of
martyr’s widow 2
teenagers die in accident 2 held for
stealing railway property BSNL
plan to improve services Tehsildar
booked for corruption Union goes on relay strike HAU
teachers stage dharna Cash awards for farmers
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Chief Architect, 2 others suspended Chandigarh, June 5 The government decided to assign the duties of Chief Architect to Mr R.L. Goyal, Additional Chief Architect, in addition to his present duties till further
orders. It is perhaps for the first time that three senior architects of the government had been suspended in an alleged embezzlement case. The government after considering the preliminary inquiry committee report and other relevant documents, including the special audit report, placed under suspension Mr Thukral, Mr Sunil Kakkar (Senior Architect) and Mr P.K. Nanda (Architect). The suspended architects were accused of misappropriation and embezzlement of departmental contingency funds worth several lakhs. The initial inquiry had reportedly detected irregularities, embezzlement or withdrawal against duplicate bills contingency funds worth Rs 20 lakh. A preliminary inquiry by holding a special audit was held at the instance of the Commissioner and Secretary to the Government, Department of Urban Planning and Architecture, Mr Naresh Gulati, after which the three officials were chargesheeted. Subsequently an inquiry was entrusted to Mr S.S. Bishnoi, Principal, Accounts Training Institute, Haryana. Mr Bishnoi is the seniormost accounts officer of the state. Mr Bishnoi during his inquiry, held the Chief Architect and his two colleagues prima facie guilty of embezzlement of contingency funds of the department. One of the allegations made against the suspended officials has been withdrawal of money against duplicate bills. Another charge has been that they conspired together in the embezzlement. The government order said that during the suspension period, they would get subsistence allowance as per rules. Their headquarters for the suspension period would also be notified later, the order said. |
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Man decamps with FCI’s Rs 64
lakh Sirsa, June 5 According to the information received today, the man, Jaswant Singh, had opened two accounts in the local branch of the State Bank of India, one in the name of Jaswant Singh contractor and another in the name of Jaswant Singh & Co. Jaswant Singh allegedly managed to steal four cheques, (number 621929 to 621932) from a chequebook issued to the FCI by the bank. He deposited one of the four cheques, (number 621932) of Rs 3.95 lakh in the name of a company, M/s Sumer, doing business with the FCI. After the cheque was cleared, Jaswant Singh deposited two other cheques in different accounts opened by him in the bank. Cheque number 621929 for Rs 21.48 lakh was deposited in the account of Jaswant Singh Contractor and cheque number 621931 for Rs 38.85 lakh in the account of Jaswant & Co. Both these cheques were credited and later the money was withdrawn. FCI authorities could not be contacted for a comment on the issue. However, according to sources, the FCI had got 500 cheques, (number 621501 to 622000) issued on May 3. The chequebook, from which Jaswant Singh allegedly tore four cheques, started being used from June 2 and 11 cheques were issued from this chequebook to different companies. On June 3, while issuing two cheques, the dealing person noticed the missing cheques and intimated this to the SBI. However, when the account was checked, it was found that the damage had already been done and Jaswant Singh had already withdrawn Rs 69.29 lakh. The owner of the company, to which the first cheque was issued by Jaswant Singh to try the modus operandi, intimated the bank authorities that the amount credited in his account was not due to him and there had been an error. When contacted, the Manager of the bank said that a vigilance team of the bank had checked bank accounts and documents and there was no fault at their end. When asked how cheques from a chequebook which began to be used in June could be credited in May, he said that it was not mandatory for the bank to check the serial order when a customer was issued five to 10 chequebooks at a time. Investigations have begun, but no arrest has been made so far. According to the sources, Jaswant Singh was the driver of a private vehicle, frequently used by the FCI authorities. |
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Chautala’s Europe trip cancelled Chandigarh, June 5 Mr Chautala has an injured knee and doctors have advised him not to undertake a foreign trip at this juncture. Mr Chautala, along with the Agriculture Minister, Mr Jaswinder Singh Sandhu, MLAs Mr Nafe Singh Rathi and Mr Shashi Ranjan Parmar and INLD worker, Jai Kumar Panwar as well as some state government officials were to go to Germany, Austria and France on what was stated to be primarily an investment seeking tour. At Geneva he, however, was scheduled to take part in a conference of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Union Labour Minister, Mr Sahib Singh Verma had requested Mr Chautala to accompany him to the ILO as the Chief Minister of one of the Indian states where the problem of labour unrest was minimal. Meanwhile, it was learnt that a team of officials from the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) and the Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation (HSIDC) was likely to go to foreign countries this month to study entertainment parks for children existing in those countries. While describing the trip to be at a “tentative stage”, official sources said that the parks that had been developed by HUDA in various towns of the state were being proposed to be fitted with various kinds of rides, water sports facilities, etc to make them more attractive. |
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NEWS ANALYSIS Chandigarh, June 5 Mr Ganeshi Lal is a known detractor of the INLD President, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, and is considered to be close to the former Chief Minister and President of the Haryana Vikas Party(HVP), Mr Bansi Lal. Mr Ganeshi Lal along with Mr Bansi Lal, is facing an inquiry under the Commission of Inquiries Act set up by the Chautala government to go into various aspects of the prohibition imposed in the state. His elevation as the Working president, before he possibly takes over as the full-time party president in the next few months, is, hence, meaningful. Incidentally both Mr Ganeshi Lal and Mr Chautala belong to Sirsa district. It is a known fact that Mr Chautala had exerted his influence with the BJP high command to persuade it not to nominate Mr Ganeshi Lal from his traditional constituency of Sirsa in the 2000 Assembly elections. The party shifted him, as cannon fodder, to Adampur from where the victory of the former Chief Minister,Mr Bhajan Lal, was never in doubt. The other victim of Mr Chautala’s wrath at that time was Mr Karan Singh Dalal, who was denied the BJP ticket from Palwal. He contested the elections successfully on the RPI ticket. The other changes in the Haryana BJP are equally strong indicator of the high command’s desire to go with the HVP in the next elections. Another bitter critic of Mr Chautala, Mr Kishan Singh Sangwan, BJP MP from Sonepat, has been made the Chairman of the Agitation Committee of the party. It will be for him to identify the issues on which the Haryana BJP can launch agitations, so that it can embarrass the Chautala government in order to consolidate its already much-eroded mass base in the state. The relations between the BJP and the INLD, which have been far from smooth since the 2000 Assembly elections, touched the lowest level when the Faridabad police beat up the BJP legislatures. The high command to whom the state leaders had complained against the police action had told them to wait till November when the Assembly elections are due in four states. Sensing that the BJP had made up its mind to walk out of the alliance, the INLD supremo, Mr Chautala, has already gone on record that his party would not contest the next elections, whether the Lok Sabha or the Vidhan Sabha, with the BJP. How far the BJP, badly battered by the INLD even in its traditional strongholds in the urban areas, will be able to regain its mass base is a question only future can answer. |
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Man saved by youths
unattended at hospital Fatehabad, June 5 Vijay Khayal and Raj Kumar Saini, found a man lying unconscious at the local cremation grounds. They immediately took him to the local General Hospital. The hospital authorities allegedly refused to admit him at first. The youths were told that blood and costly medicines would be needed to treat the man. The patient was admitted only after the youths assured the authorities that they would meet all expenses incurred on the treatment of the man. Vijay Khayal, who is unemployed mortgaged his gold ring with the local jeweller and arranged for blood from the Blood Bank, Hisar. The two youths also approached the Deputy Commissioner, Dr R.B. Langyaan, who asked the hospital to treat the patient from the District Red Cross accounts. But the indifferent attitude of the hospital authorities appears to be undoing the good work done by the youths. The patient is in acute need of blood. But no blood has been administered to him save the one bottle arranged by Vijay Khayal. Efforts to contact the Civil Surgeon and the Senior Medical Officer did not bear fruit. The Civil Surgeon retired recently and the SMO, Dr D.L. Bansal, was neither available at his residence nor at his office. |
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HPCC meeting on June 9 Kurukshetra, June 5 In a signed statement released to mediapersons here today, the District Congress Committee (DCC) spokesman, Mr Lakshmi Kant Sharma, said a decision to this effect was taken at a meeting held under the chairmanship of Mr Bhajan Lal in Delhi on June 3. The DCC president, Mr Pawan Garg, was also present. Mr Sharma said that the meeting, which was being organised by the DCC here, would consider organising block-level sammelans, district-level training camps, Panchayati Raj sammelans and a “kraanti jyoti yatra”. Mr Bhajan Lal, he said, had constituted a five-member committee under MLA Rao Narinder Singh. The other members were Mr Pawan Garg (Kurukshetra), Mr B.R. Ojha (Faridabad), Mr Mehar Singh Rathi (Sonipat) and Mr Satpal Kaushik (Yamunanagar). |
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Mystery shrouds death of
martyr’s widow Ambala, June 5 Mr Parmjit Singh, brother of the deceased, alleged that her sister was given poison by her in-laws that resulted in her death. The viscera of the deceased has been sent for a chemical examination. The deceased, Sukhwinder Kaur, was married to an Army personnel, Amarjit Singh, a resident of Chappar village, near Jagadhri. Amarjit was killed in the Kargil war in June 2001. The Union Government had given a compensation of Rs 15 lakh to Sukhwinder Kaur, and Rs 2 lakh to Amarjit’s parents. Sukhwinder did not want to share the amount with her in-laws. |
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2 teenagers die in accident Yamunanagar, June 5 They have been identified as 14-year-old Vijay Kumar and 13-year-old Shiv Kumar of Gopal Nagar, Jagadhri. Mr Ram Chander, father of Vijay Kumar is a rickshaw-puller. When he came back from his job. Vijay took his rickshaw along with his friend for riding and they met with an accident. After post-mortem examination at Civil Hospital, Jagadhri, the body of Vijay Kumar was handed over to his parents. On a complaint of Jaswinder Singh, a case has been registered at Jagadhri police station.
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2 held for stealing railway property
Kurukshetra, June 5 Ravinder Singh of Shahabad and Mohammad Vasi of Bihar were arrested and a large quantity of rail track material was seized from their possession which included 251 railway track pendrol clips, 26 keys, 12 hook bolts and two couple plates. They were produced in the local court which remanded Mohammad Vasi in the judicial custody till June 13 and granted bail to Ravinder Singh.
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BSNL plan to improve services Hisar, June 5 Addressing mediapersons here today, Mr R.K. Tyagi, GMTD, said that under this plan, the nigam would lay underground five pair cables in these towns. It would install a distribution point (DP) on every five connections at houses instead of telephone poles. This would help decrease telephone faults and improve telephone services in these towns. Later, this plan would be implemented in other towns of these districts. He said the nigam had also decided to provide the STD facility on Village Panchayat Telephone (VPT) connections in rural areas. The nigam had connected 90 rural exchanges of Hisar, Fatehabad and Sirsa districts with the Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) system. The subscribers of these areas could register their complaints on computer by dialing 198. |
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Tehsildar
booked for corruption Fatehabad, June 5 According to a complaint lodged by Mr Balbir Singh, a resident of Chemar Khera village. The tehsildar had demanded a hefty sum for registration of a sale deed. Mr Gurdial and Mr Dharampal from Rattakhera had alleged that the accused had demanded a sum of Rs. 2,000 when they went to him for mutation of their land record. When they refused to pay, the officer allegedly asked them to get out of his office. The matter was handed over to the Vigilance Bureau by the Chief Secretary, Haryana. |
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Union goes on relay strike Ambala, June 5 The strike call had been given by the All-India Federation of Medical and Sales Representatives Association of India to press for their eight-point charter of demands. A general body meeting of the Ambala unit was held yesterday in this regard. Unit secretary Sanjay Bhojgi said the relay strike will be observed in Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and J&K. |
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HAU teachers stage dharna Hisar, June 5 Dr Arjun Singh addressed the faculty and warned the authorities to solve the problems of the teachers or face indefinite agitation in the university.
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Cash awards for farmers Chandigarh, June 5 While stating this here today, the Haryana Agriculture Minister, Mr Jaswinder Singh Sandhu, said farmers would be awarded at the district as well as the state-level. District-level prizes of Rs 25,000 would be given on August 15 while the state-level award of Rs 1 lakh would be given on September 25 every year. |
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