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Saturday,
June 21, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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HC nod to Haryana dental college degrees BJP accuses INLD of anti-people
policies Four highway patrol men suspended 17 BKU activists booked for sedition
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BKU stir: Home Secy’s charge for Chief Secy
Staff asked to submit anti-dowry pledge
Hafed wheat auctions hijacked Bring all drugs under Drug Control Act: expert Complainant
named suspect in embezzlement case Power meter that runs faster than a sprinter HIGH COURT DC orders probe against ‘absent’
employees Power station
idle, villagers hit Woman dies in roof collapse
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HC nod to Haryana dental college degrees New Delhi, June 20 Keeping the students’ interest in view, the Supreme Court had remanded the matter back to the High Court on March 6 with a direction that its Division Bench seized of a bunch of petitions in the case, would dispose these of within a time limit fixed by the apex court. The Division Bench comprising Mr Justice N. K. Sodhi and Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar, while disposing of nine writ petitions, eight filed by the students of Shri Baba Mast Nath Dental College and Hospital, Asthal Bohar, Rohtak District, also gave clearance for future admissions by the college if the shortage of faculty members was removed within three months. “...there were certain deficiencies in relation to staff etc. and if the college removed the deficiencies within three months, the college could be recommended for continuation of the course by the DCI”, the court in a recent judgement said. “The students who appeared for the final BDS professional examination under the interim orders of this court and have cleared the same after undergoing the capsule course of six months will be allowed to join internship in the college forthwith,” it ruled. The capsule course was suggested by the Principal of the Government College, Rohtak, while making his submission in the court on April 5, 2002. It was accepted by the judges. But the high court’s acceptance order was challenged in the apex court which had referred the matter back to it. The High Court further ruled that the students, who had appeared for the supplementary examinations and had been waiting for the practical to take place, would be allowed to have the practical examinations and the university would declare their results accordingly. “The management will fill all posts as pointed out by the representatives of the university and the state government,” the Court observed, while rejecting certain objections raised by the DCI over the report of its own experts. The dispute had arisen when the Vice-Chancellor of the Maharshi Dayanand University had issued an order for stopping admissions to the college in 1999 pointing out certain infrastructural deficiencies. |
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BJP accuses INLD of anti-people
policies Panchkula, June 20 He said that the implementation of value added tax (VAT) in the state, imposition of house and fire taxes, seeking of no-objection certificates for the smallest of things were alienating INLD from the people. Asked if the party would have a truck with the INLD in the next parliamentary elections, Mr Manchanda said this was for the high command to decide. Answering queries about the divide in the state unit of the party after Mr Ganeshi Lal was made officiating President, Mr Manchanda said Mr Lal had been appointed to assist Mr Rattan Lal Kataria in the membership drives launched in the state. Mr Manchanda said the meeting of the state executive would be held on June 28 and 29 here.  |
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Four highway patrol men suspended Ambala, June 20 Mr Saurabh Singh, Superintendent of Police, Haryana Highway Patrol and Road Safety, said today that on June 16, he placed two Head Constables and two constables under suspension for corrupt activities at Traffic Aid Centre, Gurgaon. He warned all officials and personnel of the highway patrol not to indulge in any corrupt activity. He said any officer or personnel found indulging in any corrupt practices would be dealt with severely and disciplinary action would be initiated against him. Mr Saurabh Singh said since January 2003 till date, he had recommended disciplinary action against 32 police personnel who were found indulging in corrupt practices, 17 officials had been repatriated to their parent district/units and nine officials had been placed under suspension. “The district magistrates of the jurisdiction concerned have also been requested to accord their concurrence so that departmental inquiry proceedings against the erring officials can be initiated,” he said. He said Haryana Highway Patrol and Road Safety had been established to reduce accidents on the highways and in case of accident to evacuate the accident victims to the nearest hospital without any loss of time. Mr Saurabh Singh said if any official or personnel of the highway police was found to be indulging in any corrupt activity, they could contact him directly on telephone number 0184-2283199. |
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17 BKU activists booked for sedition Fatehabad, June 20 The police has registered the case on the complaint of Mr Kailash Chander, a head constable, who said he saw the BKU activists instigating the farmers when he reached the Kanheri bus stand. The activists have been booked under Sections 124-A, 341, 148, 149, 506 and 120-B, IPC, and Section 3 of the PDP Act. HISAR: In a surprise move, the BKU activists lifted their dharna at Khanda Kheri village, about 60 km from here, on Thursday evening. According to reports, the agitators allowed traffic on the Hisar-Bhiwani road after a meeting with local officials who assured them that the power supply would be restored in the area soon. Residents of Khanda Kheri and adjoining villages also pressured them to end their agitation as they had been facing an acute shortage of power supply for the past three days. |
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BKU stir: Home Secy’s charge for Chief Secy Chandigarh, June 20 An official said here that one of the reasons for the government promptly giving Chief Secretary A.N. Mathur charge of the Home Department in the absence of Ms Promilla Issar was the agitation launched by the BKU on June 10, demanding the release of Nain. Ms Issar had taken one week’s leave (she is scheduled to join on June 23) and the state government’s unusual move to give the Home Department’s charge to the Chief Secretary for such a short period had, in fact, puzzled many in the bureaucracy. It was, however, learnt that in view of the road blockade being carried out by BKU supporters at Kandela village and elsewhere, the government felt that it would be imprudent to keep the Home Secretary’s chair vacant even for seven days. “Suppose an official has to be empowered with special powers to deal with a law and order situation arising from the BKU agitation — this could be done only by the Home Secretary”, a source here said. While stating that the Home Minister could also take such steps in the absence of a Home Secretary, the source said since the Home portfolio was with the Chief Minister in Haryana, it was considered better to have a temporary Home Secretary rather than bothering the Chief Minister with paperwork related to administrative decisions. Even though the ongoing BKU-led agitation has not flared up to the extent it did around the same time last year, the state government is keeping a close watch on the situation. Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, however, has not so far shown any inclination about releasing the BKU
supremo. |
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Staff asked to submit anti-dowry pledge Panchkula, June 20 This information was given by the Deputy Commissioner, Mrs Satwanti Ahlawat, in a press note issued today, she said the government proposed to effectively implement the Haryana Dowry Prohibition Rules, 2003. The Act has been there for past several years, but the state government has now framed the rules for implementation of this Act. The Deputy Commissioner said the employees would have to get this declaration of not having taken dowry, signed by both their fathers and fathers-in-law. Senior officials in the Women and Child Development Department, informed that the government also proposed to extend the anti-dowry programmes in universities and colleges, where students will be asked to pledge that they would not accept dowry at the time of marriage. Officials in the Women and Child Development Department said a nodal dowry prohibition officer, who will be the Woman Circle Supervisor or Programme Officer, Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), had also been appointed at district level, who will inquire into all complaints of dowry demands and will later seek police help. This officer would lodge the dowry complaints in a prescribed register and maintain records of all witnesses in the case. The officer concerned will have to complete his inquiry within the timeframe of one month. The Director, Women and Child Development, will be the Chief Dowry Prohibition Officer. The Act also says that records of gifts received from relatives and friends during the marriage will also be added in the record consolidated by the nodal officer. The display of gifts and jewellery to be given at the time of marriage has been banned and restriction has been imposed on the number of dishes that can be served at the time of marriage, under this Act. Officials in the Women and Child Development Department further said parents and relatives of the girl can give the complaint in written form, through a messenger or by post, to the Dowry Prohibition officer. |
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Hafed wheat auctions hijacked Chandigarh, June 20 The FCI had rejected the wheat stock as it was found to be “unfit for human consumption”. To cut its losses, Hafed decided to sell the damaged wheat stocks, estimated to be about 16,000 tonnes, to cattlefeed manufacturers through public auction, which was held in many towns, including Karnal, Kurukshetra, Narwana, Gurgaon, Kaithal, Rewari, Ballabhgarh, Hodal and Palwal on June 16 and 17. According to information received here, at many places certain Punjab parties, with the support of goons enjoying political patronage, were able to “hijack” the auction. Free competition was not allowed. Anyone who dared to bid against the wishes of the goons, was beaten up. Even officials seemed mortally afraid of such elements. As a result of the terror created by the goons, Hafed could fetch even less than half the market price of wheat at many places. Trade sources say the market price of the Hafed wheat ranges between Rs 450 a quintal to Rs 500 a quintal, depending upon the extent of damage. At many places like Karnal the highest bid, naturally of the Punjab parties, was Rs 236 a quintal. At those places where traders were able to resist the goons, Hafed got much better offers than that at Karnal. In Palwal, the Punjab cartel had to get wheat at Rs 500 a quintal. Its efforts to “hijack” the auction were frustrated by Mr Narbir Singh Dalal, nephew of the firebrand RPI MLA, Mr Karan Singh Dalal. The younger Dalal was also one of the bidders. His last offer was Rs 470 a quintal. The Punjab parties had to offer Rs 500. Against the offer of Rs 500 per quintal at Palwal, Hafed could get about Rs 200 a quintal both at Ballabhgarh and Hodal, where there was no one to check the activities of the cartel. Interestingly, all the three stations are in Faridabad district and are not far away from each other. Similarly, at Narwana, the wheat stock was sold at prices ranging between Rs 300 and Rs 400 a quintal. At places like Kaithal where the Punjab cartel found the competition to be tough, the auction was cancelled for vague reasons. At Kaithal, the sources say, before representatives of the cartel could reach the auction venue, already about 35 bidders had deposited the mandatory security of Rs 25,000, which went against the grain of the standard modus operandi of the cartel, which included not allowing traders to deposit the security amount. Hence, they were unable to participate in the auction. Eyewitnesses at the Karnal auction, which was held in a conference hall adjascent to the Deputy Commissioner’s chamber, at least two traders, one belonging to Kaithal and another to Guhla-Cheeka, had a bitter experience at the hands of the goons. The traders, when they attempted to bid, were first given blows at their backs and then they were offered chairs and a glass of water each. No one dared to bid thereafter. Even a high-ranking officer of the district administration expressed his helplessness when he was approached by the two parties to intervene. No wonder the cartel’s offer of Rs 236 a quintal was the highest. The trade sources point out that the average price of similarly damaged wheat stocks received by the Haryana Agro-Industries Corporation recently was about Rs 350 a quintal. They say similar wheat stocks in Punjab were sold at an average price of Rs 500 a quintal. What has sent the shivers down the spines of the trade and the middle-rung bureaucracy in the State is the fact that the goons were led by two close family members of a ruling party MLA belonging to Sirsa district. They were accompanied not only by private gunmen by also by official security guards. However, there is a silver lining. The Managing Director of Hafed. Mr Devinder Singh, has shown the courage to frustrate the designs of the cartel and its goons. When TNS contacted him to know his version, Mr Devinder Singh said all those bids which were less than Rs 400 a quintal would not be confirmed. At places like Gurgaon, Rewari and Palwal, where the highest bids were Rs 445, Rs 468 and Rs 500, respectively, Hafed would accept the offers. He said in other cases, “where the bid were low as a result of colusion”, Hafed would conduct fresh auctions or invite sealed tenders at its headquarters. He evaded a reply when asked if the bids were low because of “colusion” or “coercion”. The former Chief Minister and Haryana Vikas Party President, Mr Bansi Lal, said already there was a talk that contracts in engineering departments were being cornered by influential persons using unfair means. Now this practice, he said, had been introduced by the ruling party men even in public auctions. |
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Bring all drugs under Drug Control Act: expert Ambala, June 20 Dr D.S. Jaspal said the government should formulate a drug policy and should bring all drugs under the Drug Price Control Act under which maximum retail price to the patient is fixed. The government has already brought Intravenous fluids under the Drug Control Act and disparity has been removed,” he said. He said if all the drugs are brought under the Drug Price Control Act, it would remove all difficulties for the patients and the rates all over would be same. Dr Jaspal said the orders to prescribe generic drugs to the patients in Haryana was not going to make medication available at affordable rates to the poor as claimed by the Health Department. He stated the government should have a clear-cut drug policy and the maximum retail price of the generic drugs should be much less than the branded ones only then it is going to benefit the poor. “It is possible only if the drugs are brought under the Drug Price Control Act,” he said. Dr Jaspal said for instance, cap lanzoparazole branded cap lancus per strip has maximum retail price Rs 41 whereas the generic maximum retail price printed is Rs 45 and it costs retailer only Rs 25 which is nearly 80 per cent profit to retailer. He said branded (ethical) drugs are expensive as there are marketing costs, including salary of medical representatives, promotion material, samples to the doctors and the added profit margin to the C&F agent, wholesale dealers, stockist and retailers. However, in generic drug, there is a rebate on excise duty, no marketing cost and no expenditure between the manufacturer and retailer. “The generic drugs are approximately 60 per cent cheaper,” he said. Dr Jaspal said the order to prescribe generic drugs would be a welcome step when the prices of all generic drugs are fixed at a lower price. |
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Complainant
named suspect in embezzlement case Chandigarh, June 20 In the two-year-old case, the police had already filed the challan at the local court in August, last year. On the request of the Haryana Government the city police has now registered a case of embezzlement of Rs 11.50 lakh against architects P.K.Nanda and Sunil Kakkar, ADO, S.K.Gupta and cashier Nathi Ram. Two years ago a case of embezzlement of Rs 7.80 lakh had been registered against Mr Nathi Ram on the complaint of Mr Nanda, who is now one of the suspects in the fresh case registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act. “There may be nothing wrong in the move of the Haryana Government to get a fresh case registered as a probe may have indicated the involvement of more persons. But our cause of worry is that the old case might get affected,” said a police official. An internal audit was sought by the Finance Department in May, 2002,on the complaint of Mr Nathi Ram. It was found in the audit that chief architects and the heads of the department had delegated their powers as drawing and disbursing officers( for the time period mentioned below) to the following officers: SK Gupta, ADO, retd, (1.4.95 to 31.3.98) — amount embezzled Rs 10,53,512; PK Nanda, architect, (1.4.98 to 16.8.2001) — amount embezzled Rs 96,881 and Sunil Kakkar, senior architect, (17.8.01 onwards) — amount embezzled Rs 495. After the fresh case was registered yesterday a team of officials of the Architecture Department today approached the city police in connection with the documents required for investigations. It
may be mentioned that Chief Architect S.C.Thukral has been placed
under suspension and charge sheeted in the same case. However, his
name had not been forwarded to the police by the government. |
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Power meter that runs faster than a sprinter Panchkula, June 20 This meter installed by the authorities at the Sector 7 residence of Dr B.S. Aggarwal last year is consuming 690 units a day. With the sanctioned load of 9.9 kv, this meter should not consume more than 35 units a day, with one airconditioner running. Even when the mains are switched off, the meter continues to run at the same speed. This has put a question mark on the efficiency of these electronic meters, which were replaced by the Electricity Department amidst widespread protests by residents last year. The harassed consumer has complained to the UHBVN authorities at least twice during the past ten days, but his complaint has fallen on deaf ears. “The speed at which this electronic meter has been consuming units, I am sure to end up with a bill worth a few lakhs from the time period between May 15 to July 15. Worse, the authorities will not listen to my pleas then and ask me to pay the bill first, before the matter is put up in their Lok Adalat,” he says. Dr Aggarwal says that he got suspicious when he received his electricity bill for two months from March 15 to May 15. He says that he was charged at the rate of Rs 4 per unit and the total bill was Rs 3588, which was higher than expected. “ It was then that I got suspicious and began monitoring the units consumed. After paying the bill till May 15, I observed that 1849 units had been consumed within a period of 25 days. Today, i.e. 35 days from the last date of previous billing , the number of units consumed is 7619 units and the meter seems to record the consumption of one unit per minute, “ he adds. The doctor says that he again complained to the UHBVN authorities today, but no one came to rectify the complaint. However, the Assistant Executive Engineer, Operations, Mr R.K. Bhardawaj, when contacted by TNS, assured? “We will check the meter and in case a problem, the meter will be replaced by the department free of cost.” He also clarified that the fault in Dr Aggarwal’s meter was an exception. It may be noted that the residents were up in arms against the UHBVN authorities for replacing their mechanical single-phase and three-phase meters last year. The residents had raised apprehensions that these meters run fast and record more units than actually consumed. It is learnt that as of now UHBVN authorities have replaced 17,000 single-phase meters and 10,000 three-phase meters with these electronic meters in the township. The non-availability of these electronic meters has, however, stalled the replacement and 15,000 meters (including 10,000 three-phase meters) still have to be replaced. |
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HIGH COURT Chandigarh, June 20 The petitioner — Sohan Lal of Mukarpur — was apprehending arrest in a first information report registered on June 6 at Sadar police station in Thanesar under Section 409 of the Indian Penal Code. According to the prosecution, the case pertained to panchayat funds. Claiming to be innocent, the petitioner had contended that he was being implicated in the case due to political reasons. Giving details, the petitioner had asserted that he belonged to the Congress party and as such his name was being dragged in the case. |
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DC orders probe against ‘absent’
employees Fatehabad, June 20 According to an official press note, the Deputy Commissioner found Mr Baldev Singh and Mr Sube Singh, both coaches in the sports department; Sube Singh, a safai karamchari in the Social Welfare Department; Mr Ran Singh, an accountant and Mr Rajesh Kumar, a steno in the panchayat department, Mr Dalbir Singh, a draughtsman and Mr Suresh Kumar, a steno in the town planner office, and Mr Naresh Batra, Mr Basant Lal, Mr Mohan Lal and Mr Akshay Kumar, all from the District Social Welfare Office, absent from duty during the office hours. |
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Power station
idle, villagers hit Kaithal, June 20 Mr Maan Singh, advocate and resident of the village, said it was strange that in spite of an expenditure of crores of rupees by the government to improve the power supply in the area, no steps were being taken by the authorities to operate power station. He said about a dozen villages were to benefit from the substation. But they were still suffering frequent power breakdowns and low voltage. It is learnt that the power board has no staff to run these substations as no new staff has been recruited on the pretext of
privatisation of the power board. |
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Woman dies in roof collapse Yamunanagar, June 20 Sri Ram, his mother, wife and children who are living in a rented house at Durga Garden, Jagadhri, were taking dinner around 10 pm when the roof of the room where they were sitting collapsed. Hearing their cries, the neighbours rushed to help. Seventy-year-old Samundari Devi, mother of Sri Ram, died on the spot whereas the other members of the family were shifted to a private nursing home where they are stated to be out of danger. The family was living in the house for the past three years and they had complained about the dilapidated condition of the roof, but the owner had never bothered to repair it. |
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School lecturer
suspended Yamunanagar, June 20 Mr Kumar said on receiving a complaint against Mr Ram Kumar regarding tuition, a team raided his residence and found him giving tuition to 35 candidates. |
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Flesh trade racket busted, 6 held Ambala, June 20 The police has also arrested three persons in this regard.
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