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Thursday,
July 24, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Teachers’ case embarrasses INLD Haryana ministers in for bonanza? Conflicting SC orders hit Haryana roads Air crashes: residents worried about their safety
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HMT in dire straits Last chance for schools to submit records Rain affects life Stay on
arrest refused Man decamps with Rs 1 lakh Miscreants involved in looting wine shop held Advocate kidnapped,
rescued Missing woman case takes
new turn HIGH COURT HPS to give 5 lakh to slain scribe’s family 
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Teachers’ case embarrasses INLD Chandigarh, July 23 Mr Sanjiv Kumar, who is under suspension, was the Director, Primary Education, when these teachers were appointed. In his writ petition Mr Kumar alleged that pressure was brought upon him to appoint favourites of the powers that be by ignoring merit. He also claimed to have in his possession a merit list sent to him by the Chief Minister’s Office. Mr Kumar named Mr Om Prakash Chautala as one of the three respondents in the case, the other being the Chief Secretary and the Director, Vigilance. Of course, in their counter-affidavits, Mr Chautala and Mr R.D. Sheokand, Special Secretary, Services and Political Department, who filed the affidavit on behalf of the Chief Secretary, denied the allegations and levelled counter-allegations against Mr Kumar. In his reply to the counter-affidavit filed by Mr Sheokand, Mr Kumar has further embarrassed the ruling party. With his reply he has attached certain “sifarshi” letters written to him by Mr Ajay Singh Chautala, MP, son of the Chief Minister. In one of the letters (written on his official letter pad, the INLD MP from Bhiwani tells Mr Kumar that the “applicant is a very loyal worker of the party. After providing him patient hearing you may adjust him on some appropriate post in the DPEP (District Primary Education Project, of which Mr Kumar was the State Project Director).” In another letter (Written in Hindi) Ajay, after recommending the names of five persons for “ adjusting” them on various posts like typist, Junior Engineer (Civil) and Project Coordinator, complained that only two persons, Mr A.L. Malhotra and Mr Katar Singh Sangwan, earlier recommended by him, had been accommodated. He asked Mr Kumar to honour all his recommendations. Mr Kumar has also attached a couple of letters written to him by Education Minister, making similar requests. It seems official respondents either did not do their homework properly or did not consult one another before filing the counter-affidavits. Mr Sheokand mentioned in his counter-affidavit that the Vigilance Department instituted enquiry no. 1 dated “16-12-99” against Mr Kumar on corruption charges “ namely misappropriation of government funds in getting printed textbooks from private agencies at higher rates.The officer did not mention the final outcome of the inquiry. It is learnt that this particular inquiry related to purchase of maps and charts through a state government agency, the Haryana Small Industries and Export Corporation. The Director, Vigilance, Mr Gurjot Singh Malhi, stated in his affidavit that enquiry no. 1 dated “16.2.99” was conducted by Mr Ravi Azad, the then DSP, Vigilance. The report was sent to the government, according to which the allegations were not proved. The recommendations made by the State Vigilance Bureau were accepted by the government on December 7, 2000. In his affidavit Mr Chautala said that Mr Kumar was charge-sheeted under Rule 8 of the All India Services (Discipline & Appeals) Rules, 1969, for allegedly committing gross irregularities in respect of panchayat elections when the officer was posted as the Deputy Commissioner, Hisar. However, Mr Chautala did not state that it was he who himself had filed the charge sheet against Mr Kumar after becoming the Chief Minister in July, 1999. |
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Haryana
ministers in for bonanza? Chandigarh, July 23 It may be recalled that when the Chautala Government took over in July, 1999, the ministers inherited Contessas from the previous government. However, Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and Finance Minister Sampat Singh were the only exceptions as they had Mercedes at their disposal. After a few months, the Contessas were replaced by new Ambassadors in the name of economy. Mr Chautala had also declared at that time that he would also travel in an Ambassador. The Contessas were given to the Presidents of the Zila Parishads and other lesser mortals. Since the ministers felt uncomfortable in the Ambassadors, they were soon provided with Balenos. Prof Sampat Singh, however, continued with his Ambassador. The Chief Minister continued using his Mercedes for security reasons. Rather a new Mercedes was purchased for the Chief Minister. Now, according to informed sources, the government has made inquiries about the quality and prices from dealers of Octavia and Toyota luxury cars. Official sources say the proposal is under consideration. They said the luxury cars like Octavia and Toyota were virtually maintenance-free. The initial high cost was compensated in the long run. They say the Balenos would not be condemned but used by other senior functionaries of the government. The Leader of the Opposition in the Haryana Assembly, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who enjoys the status of a Cabinet minister, is also likely to get a new car. It is, however, not known yet which car would be given to him in lieu of the Ambassador. He was not given a Baleno. Mr Hooda had recently written to the Chief Secretary asking for a new car. |
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Conflicting
SC orders hit Haryana roads Chandigarh, July 23 In the latter case, the state government had got a shock when no private party responded to its invitation to the renovation of the 30-km stretch on build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis. The private organisation would have been allowed to collect toll tax from the vehicles plying on the road. Explaining, the reason, an official of the Public Works Department (Buildings and Roads) said following a Supreme Court order banning mining in the Faridabad area, there had been a perceptible drop in the number of trucks plying on the road. The state government had now decided to repair the road on its own. Sources said it had been estimated that the renovation would cost Rs 28 crore and the state government had decided to mobilise the money by taking a loan from HUDCO. It had been proposed to recover the cost by collecting toll tax from vehicles. Another Supreme Court order, banning the entry of trucks to Delhi which were not headed for the national capital, had resulted in a huge number of trucks heading for Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, crowding the Haryana roads. A large number of trucks from Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat, which earlier used to go to Delhi and then ply on the GT Road for reaching Punjab and beyond, were now entering Haryana and plying through the state to reach Punjab. Trucks coming from areas in Uttar Pradesh bordering Haryana and trucks coming from Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, going to Rajasthan and beyond, had started using Haryana roads more. The inner roads of Haryana were not designed to take the pressure of so much traffic and their condition was fast deteriorating. The state government had asked the Centre for Rs 287 crore as relief for strengthening the five roads which had been affected by the diversion of inter-state traffic. |
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Air crashes: residents worried about their safety Ambala, July 23 The fighter aircraft crashes have already claimed more than 12 lives with the worst incident taking place in November last year when a Jaguar crashed in
Dilipgarh. Yesterday’s Jaguar crash has once again brought into focus the dangers faced by the people who reside close to the air base. The air crash took place a short distance away from the airfield boundary wall. Dhankaur village is adjoining the airfield. The Jaguar crash which took place in May last year was also close to the boundary wall of the air base towards Baldev Nagar side. Many houses in Baldev Nagar are near the air base boundary wall. After the Jaguar crash last year, local residents had demanded that either the flights should be re-scheduled or the air base should be shifted. Although shifting of an air base is easier said than done, the demand for re-examining the fighter aircraft flights had gained momentum in November last year after a Jaguar crashed in a populated area claiming about a 12 lives. The contonment MLA Mr Anil Vij said the Union Government must look into causes behind the air crashes. “As out of the five air crashes, three of them have been Jaguars, I feel that the Jaguar air craft should be seriously re-examined,” he said. “I don’t think shifting of the airbase is a feasible plan” he added. After the Jaguar crash in November last year, the then Information and Broadcasting Minister, Ms Sushma Swaraj, had said that she had received a message from the Air Chief Marshal through the Defence PRO on the IAF plan to re-examine the flight exercises. “In order to reduce danger to the civilian population near the airfield, the IAF is keen to re-phase flight exercises,” she had said. Mrs Swaraj said the IAF had stressed that Jaguar was one of the safest aircraft and even MiG aircraft based at Ambala were of the latest technology. Incidentally, the air base here was established in 1932. “The Ambala Air Force station has given extensive support to the war operations against Pakistan. It is an old base but now population has settled down close to the air field,” a retired official said. A Jaguar, which crashed in Dilipgarh claiming 13 lives in November last year, was being piloted by Flt Lt
Rehani, who managed to bail out in time. Earlier in April this year, a MiG-21 crashed near Vita Milk Plant in Ambala City. In the Jaguar crash which took place on May 9 last year, the pilot Flying Officer Pallarwal was killed. A MiG 21 crashed in Chor Mastpur village in the Naggal area on September 9 last year. No lives were lost in the incident as the aircraft crashed in the paddy field. The pilot of the fighter aircraft Sqn Ldr Rajat Nagia ejected out of the aircraft. The Air Force personnel later managed to carry off the air plane from the crash site to the Air Force station by using a helicopter.
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HMT in dire straits Pinjore, July 23 From a Rs 72.34-crore annual turnover in 1996-97, to a mere Rs 34-crore turnover in 2002- 03 in the machine tools unit and a drop in production from 60 tractors on an average daily to anything between five and 15 tractors now in the tractor business group now, the going has never been worse for this unit of HMT Limited. The unit registered losses of over Rs 40 crore in the last financial year (2002-2003). Production has remained closed for the past two months after certain ancillary units refused to supply raw material on credit. Though the management now says that they have arranged finances for procuring raw material and resuming production, employees complain that the unit does not even have funds to pay their salaries. It is learnt that almost 1000 employees of the machine tools unit of the HMT have not been paid their salaries for the month of June. “ We used to get our salaries on the third of each month. But things have come to such a pass that it is the end of the month, and we have not received our salaries. Since there is no money to buy raw material, there is almost nil production and we are sitting idle,” says the president of HMT Karmik Sangh, Mr Nirmal Singh. However, the management refutes these allegations and says that the delay in the payment of salaries was a result of no transaction with a bank, where some employees had their account. “ The employees have accounts in three banks – HDFC, Punjab National Bank and UCO Bank. Only those employees who had an account in UCO Bank have not received their salaries as their was no transaction with the bank for a long time. However, the problem will be resolved soon,” he assured. The unit owes Rs 200 crore from its dealers, and at the same time it has to pay over Rs 80 crore to its ancillary units in Panchkula, SAS Nagar, Dera Bassi, Baddi, Parwanoo and Barotiwala. Components like tyres, electrical panels, and other parts like nut, bolts, pins etc, were procured from the over 200 ancillary units spread over the region. Over the past three years, almost 50 odd ancillary units have closed down after they failed to get their payments from HMT. Senior officials in HMT, on condition of anonymity, informed TNS today that they had now come up with a three-pronged strategy to revive the unit. “We will now be marketing engines (used for pumping tubewells and power generations) as a major component. Other than four of our most popular models of tractors ( 2522 FX, 3522 FX, 4022 and the still under production 6522), other variants of tractors are being phased out. Thirdly, we propose to diversify into automobile industry. By the end of this financial year, we hope to break even, and get the unit back on the rails,” informed a senior official.
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Last chance for schools to submit records Chandigarh, July 23 Chairman of the board, Brig O.P. Chaudhary (retd), said here today that the students of these schools were issued temporary roll numbers and the schools were asked to submit the records of students regarding their eligibility between June 21 to 30. Thereafter, these schools were given one more chance to present the records between July 12 to 14, but still some schools did not produce their records in the office of the board on the stipulated dates. The board had decided to give another chance to the school authorities to produce their records between July 23 to 31. Brig. Chaudhary further said that the results of those students who had passed 10+1 would only be declared when they produce certificates relating to 75 per cent attendance as per the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court delivered on July 10. |
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Rain affects life Fatehabad, July 23 The area around the municipal committee (MC) was the worst affected. The water accumulated on the MC premises found its way into basement of some shops. At least 12 shops were flooded and the road opposite the main gates of the MC was also inundated with water. The owner of a book shop suffered heavy losses as the water entered in the shop, damaging books and stationary. The Dharamshala road was submerged under 3 ft water. Two buses of a private school were stuck and students had to walk through the water. Some schools, including DAV Centenary School, announced a holiday. The Bighar road, the Bhattu road, the DSP road, the Sanyans Ashram road and the Thakar Basti area were also submerged under knee-deep water. Lawyers too had a hard day as the entire court premises were flooded. The car parking and the way to the District Consumer Forum was submerged under water. |
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Stay on
arrest refused Ambala, July 23 Mr Ali had filed an anticipatory bail application and requested the court to grant stay on his arrest on the apprehension that the police might arrest and harass him. He said in the application that being a senior officer of the board he was not able to perform his duty due to the harassing attitude of the police towards him. Mr
Ali was summoned by the Maheshnagar police a few days for questioning
in connection with the disappearance of a newly married woman, Avedna,
a resident of Ambala Cantonment. She had disappeared in a mysterious
way while on the way to the Vaishno Devi shrine from the train from
Ludhiana. |
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Man decamps with Rs 1 lakh Kurukshetra, July 23 When he came out from the bank, a man approached him and tried to divert his attention to the clothes he was wearing, saying that they were dirty. He also tried to help him by dusting his clothes. When Mr Dalip Kumar also started dusting his clothes, the man snatched the suitcase and decamped with the money. Mr Dalip Kumar chased him, but could not catch him.
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Miscreants
involved in looting wine shop held Kaithal, July 22 Giving this information to mediapersons here yesterday, Mr Yogender
Nehra, SP, said that the three miscreants came to the wine shop on the intervening night of July 15 and 16 in a car and demanded liquor and when the sales man refused to oblige them, they fired shots, destroyed wine bottles and looted wine at gun point. The miscreants have been identified as Jagir Singh and Dilbagh Singh sons of Dalbir Singh of Habri and Kabal Singh son of Vachiter Singh of Mehmal in Karnal District . The police has also seized one revolver and the car used in the crime. During interrogation Jagir Singh revealed that he had purchased the revolver from Kairana in
U.P. The accused have been sent to judicial custody till August 2, Mr Nehra added.
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Advocate
kidnapped, rescued Jind, July 23 Mr Gupta was allegedly kept hostage for about three hours and assaulted by kidnappers. Mr Gupta was admitted to the General Hospital, Narwana, with injuries on his face. Inter-caste marriage of Anurag, a son of Mr Gupta, was said to be the reason behind this incident. Some people were opposed to this marriage, which led to tension between the families of the couple. After marriage, the couple was sent to an unknown place and Mr Gupta started living in Delhi. The kidnappers wanted to know the whereabouts of the couple, which is why Mr Gupta was beaten up. A case has been registered.
— OC |
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Missing
woman case takes
new turn Ambala, July 23 The fax message states that the missing woman, Avedna Sharma, has changed her name to Aalia Husan by adopting Muslim religion. She has married junior engineer Zakir Hussain by nikah ceremony. An official said that the Punjab and Haryana High Court had directed that the police protection must be given to the petitioners. It may be recalled that
Avedna, daughter of a P&T architect, had gone missing from Ludhiana. She was married on July 13 to a Delhi boy and both of them were proceeding towards Vaishno Devi on July 15. Before the train reached Ludhiana, Avedna had told her husband that she was going to the toilet. She had been missing since then.
TNS |
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HIGH COURT Acting on a petition seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the murder of a Sirsa-based journalist, Ram Chander Chhatarpati, for allegedly writing against a religious organisation, a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today asked the petitioner to approach the Director-General of Police. In his petition for handing over the investigation of the first information report registered on October 24 last year under Sections 302, 120-B and 34 of the Indian Penal Code, the journalist’s son, Anshol Chhatarppati, had earlier submitted that the police was shielding the prime accused in the case, as evident from the facts and circumstances. Going into the background of the case, he had contended that his father, editor of Pura Sachh, besides being a correspondent of a national newspaper, was on the lookout for illegal acts being committed in the dera. Subsequently, on October 24, 2002, he was rushed to a hospital after being shot at. The High Court, while taking up a letter regarding the alleged sexual exploitation of female inmates by the head of the religious organisation, had directed the CBI to look into the matter. The court had also asked the agency to submit its findings within six months.
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HPS to give 5 lakh to slain scribe’s family
Chandigarh, July 23 Chhatrapati (45) was Editor of the Poora Sach, an eveninger published from Sirsa. He was killed after he dared to expose the alleged nefarious activities of the sect, the press note said. The sangh had so far disbursed Rs 24 lakh among the families of eight deceased journalists.— PTI
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