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Hooda
group gives oust-Chautala call
5 keen
on ‘Jan Santushti’ survey Chautala has ‘ignored’ north Haryana’s interests Advani
to open forensic science conference BKU
keeps political options open |
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Power
station to upgrade units Haryana
Govt staff to hold rally on Jan 26 Four persons were killed in different mishaps in Jind district during the past 24 hours. According to reports received here today, two teenaged boys of a family, Shankar and Bhola, of Julani village in the district were run over by a train on the Jind-Jakhal railway section, near here, last evening. Both were killed on the spot. Chandigarh, January 7 A spokesman of the Haryana Public Service Commission today refuted the allegations levelled by Mr Karan Singh Dalal, MLA, Palwal, that irregularities had been committed in the Haryana Civil Services examinations. MDU
Executive Council meeting postponed The meeting of the Executive Council of Maharshi Dayanand University scheduled for January 9 has been postponed indefinitely. According to the Registrar, Dr Ajay K. Rajan, the Vice-Chancellor has issued these orders without citing any specific reasons. Rs
62-cr grant for civic bodies soon The Haryana Government will soon give a grant of Rs 62 crore to various municipal committees to complete development works announced under the “Sarkar Aapke Dwar” programme. Karnal, January 7 The Chief Judicial Magistrate of Karnal today granted regular bail to Mr RC Gupta, Director-cum-General Manager (commercial) and Mr Vinay Kaul, Chief Finance Manager of Ranbaxy Laboratory Limited and fixed the next hearing for March 6, 2004. 
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Hooda group gives oust-Chautala call Kurukshetra, January 7 In an impressive turnout, nine out of the 20 sitting MLAs of the Congress, and other senior leaders gathered here this afternoon on the call of a senior party leader, Chaudhary Nirmal Singh, under the banner of “hisab chukao rally”. The Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) president, Mr Bhajan Lal, and senior leaders from the party high command were not present. The speakers lashed out at Haryana CM Om Prakash Chautala for the deteriorating law and order situation, rising unemployment and corruption in the state. Mr Hooda appealed to the honest people of the state to join hands to root out the corrupt politicians in the coming Lok Sabha elections. Lashing out at Mr Chautala, he said that the decision to introduce value added tax (VAT) in the state was a blunder that had adversely affected the farming and business communities. “The loss to the farmers in the paddy season alone has been estimated to the tune of Rs 2000 crore,” he said. The rice mills of the state had migrated to the neighbouring states due to VAT, he added. He said that the party would contest the coming Lok Sabha elections unitedly under the leadership of Mrs Sonia Gandhi. A former union minister and spokesperson of the All-India Congress Committee (AICC), Ms Selja, criticised the state government for allegedly patronising police atrocities on Congress workers in the state. She also levelled charges against the government for misuse of the state exchequer for development in certain areas only. The government had “intentionally” neglected most of the Congress stronghold areas, she said. Mr Nirmal Singh said the people of Haryana were fed up with the traditional politicians of the state and were now in mood to teach them a lesson. Prof Chattarpal Singh, former Speaker of the Haryana Legislative Assembly, alleged that Mr Chautala and his family had amassed at least Rs 100,000 belonging to the people of the state during the past four years. He announced that if voted to power, the Congress would initiate an inquiry into this and put him and his family behind the bars. The rally was organised under the presidentship of senior Congress leader Harpal Singh.
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5 keen on ‘Jan Santushti’ survey Chandigarh, January 7 The agencies have demanded Rs 22 lakh to Rs 1.27 crore to conduct “Jan
Santushti”, as the survey has been named. The government, according to informed sources, has earmarked Rs 50 lakh for the survey. The money has been put at the disposal of the Public Relations Department, which will act as the coordinator. Earlier, the survey was to be completed within six months. However, with the talk of early Lok Sabha elections in the air, urgency has gripped the project, which is now to be completed within two months.
IMRB International of the Hindustan Thomson group has demanded Rs 22.45 lakh. Its charges are the minimum of the five. The highest price of Rs 1.27 crore has been demanded by MARCH Market Research. The Development and Research Services, Delhi, has asked for Rs 58.67 lakh, whereas AC Nichlson ORG MARG, Gurgaon, is willing to undertake the survey for Rs 73.44 lakh. The National Productivity Council, Chandigarh, is the second highest with a demand of Rs 1.02 crore. Officially, the “Jan
Santushti” survey has a number of objectives like “to assess concern of the public about different projects; to gauge public perception of the prevailing socio-economic conditions; to elicit public perception on the state government, its policies and reforms and implementation of different development programmes.” The development programmes would include the “Sarkar Aapke Dwar” scheme, poverty alleviation schemes, drinking water, roads, health, procurement of foodgrains, empowerment of women and law and order. The sample size has been fixed at 42,000 persons in the rural areas and about 12,000 persons in the urban areas. The move has invited criticism from opposition leaders. The Secretary-General of the Haryana Vikas Party, Mr Surender Singh, alleged that the Chief Minister would use state resources for conducting the pre-poll survey, meant to assess the INLD prospects. He said the expenses of the survey should be borne by the INLD. |
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Chautala has ‘ignored’ north Haryana’s interests Panchkula, January 7 |
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Advani to open forensic science conference Chandigarh, January 7 Official sources told TNS that all IPS officers working as Additional Superintendents of Police (ASP), HPS officers posted as DSPs and newly recruited Sub-Inspectors had been asked to take part in the conference. All graduate investigating officers
(IOs) of various police stations too would attend the conference. The conference will be inaugurated by Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani on January 18. Mr Om Prakash Chautala, Chief Minister of Haryana, will be the chief guest at the closing ceremony. Around 200 delegates from forensic laboratories all over the country would take part in the conference being held in Haryana for the first time. The sources said the Haryana police was giving a lot of importance to forensic methods for solving crimes. Forensic teams had been attached to all four range headquarters in Haryana. Two more forensic laboratories had been proposed at Bhondsi and Hisar. Experts would read papers on various aspects related to four branches of forensic science — chemical, physical, biological and ballistic. Forensic experts attached to the CBI and the Chief Forensic Scientist of the Union Government would also take part in the conference. |
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BKU keeps political options open Rohtak, January 7 This was evident at yesterday’s rally at Danoda village, where the Indian National Youth Congress president Mr Randeep Singh Surjewala was honoured by the Binain khap for his support to Mr Nain during his year-long incarceration in a sedition case registered against the latter following the Kandela farmers’ stir, which claimed nine lives. Though Mr Nain himself could not attend the rally due to the restrictions imposed on him by court, his son Mr Jagdish Nain, who was present on the stage, did not address the rally. When he arrived at the venue, he was not recognised by the audience. However, the stage secretary noticed the commotion and announced that he be brought to stage as he was carrying a message from his father which would be read out to the audience later. This never happened. Though several groups of BKU activists were present at the rally, they maintained their political distance. Every time a speaker raised a slogan, they did not respond. They did not join the Congressmen in clapping whenever a speaker ridiculed other political parties and their leaders. One BKU activist sitting in the front said “all politicians are the same and you people are no different”. This happened just as Mr Balram Jakhar began his speech. The Youth Congress workers immediately whisked him away. A senior BKU leader told The Tribune today that the BKU leadership would keep its cards close to its chest till the “appropriate moment”. He said there had been no decision yet on whether the organisation would support the Congress or any other political party in the next parliamentary or Assembly elections. He said the presentation of “pagri” to Mr Surjewala had no political angle, as this was the decision of the Binain khap which was a purely social organisation with no role in politics. Mr Surjewala’s help to the BKU chief had been duly recognised and the khap had merely expressed its gratitude to him, he added. The BKU leader said the organisation would take a decision on extending support to any party keeping in view the interests of farmers. The farmers, he said, were fighting for their survival and there was no occasion for them to play party politics. “We will do what benefits us and not the parties”, he added. |
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Power station to upgrade units Panipat, January 7 The authorities said the power station had not been able to achieve targets due to the non-functioning of old units. The Haryana Government was recently informed in this regard by officials of the TDLTPS. The power station, which is a unit of the Haryana Power Generation Corporation, is situated about 8 km from Panipat. It has six power generating units. Two units have a rated capacity of 210 MW, while four units are of 110 MW capacity. The unit-1 was installed in 1979, unit-2 in 1980, unit-3 in 1985 and unit-4 in 1987. These units have 110 MW capacity. The other two units were installed in 1989 and 2001. These have a capacity of 210 MW each. The TDLTPS authorities have mentioned in their report submitted to the government that instrumentation system of unit-1, based on old Russian technology, has become obsolete. Most of its auto-loops and controls are not in working condition, they have said. Moreover, spareparts of the main equipment are not easily available. They have mentioned that the four units are very old and the unit-1 has almost outlived its life and there is need to upgrade these units. |
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Haryana Govt staff to hold rally on Jan 26 Sirsa, January 7 District president O.P. Anthony of the National Front of various employees unions today alleged that the unemployment was on the rise in Haryana following a retrenchment drive by the Central and the Haryana governments, which had resulted in rampant incidents of looting and snatching, he said. These retrenchments were done under pressure of the IMF and the World Bank, he said, while talking to reporters and earlier addressing a joint meeting of the union leaders. He said corruption had increased manifold because of the contract system initiated by different government departments. The meeting unanimously resolved to hold an employees rally on January 26 and a strike on February 11. Addressing the union leaders, Sirsa Karamchari Sangathan President J.P. Pandey alleged that the Chautala government had already retrenched about 20,000 employees. Sarv Karamchari Sangh district president Sohan Singh Randhawa and Karamchari Mahasangh president Partap Singh Jakhu charged the Chautala government with backtracking on its promises. They said the government had neither absorbed the retrenched employees of the Haryana Small Minor Irrigation Tubewell Corporation nor it had regularised the adhoc employees. These promises were made during an agreement with the Karamchari Sanyukt Sangharash Samiti in October 2002 and July 2003, they claimed. Mr Raj Kumar Shekhupuria of the Janvadi Nojawan Sabha expressed concern over privatisation of education and hike in tuition fee, which had made education costly and almost inaccessible to the common man, he said.
— UNI |
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4 killed in mishaps Jind, January 7 The body of a youth was found near Taloda village on the Jind-Safidon road, about 10 km from here, today morning. The deceased had been identified as Hans Raj of Bibipur village of this district. The police has registered a case. In another incident, an unidentified person was run over and killed by train on the Jind-Panipat railway section, near here, today. |
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HPSC refutes Dalal’s charge Chandigarh, January 7 The spokesman made it clear that it was a rule to invite 15 times more candidates for the examinations than the posts to be filled. Also, those getting equal marks would be bracketed as passed candidates in all categories. It was because of this system of mathematical calculation that the number of passed candidates had increased in various categories. |
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MDU Executive Council meeting postponed Rohtak, January 7 According to the Registrar, Dr Ajay K. Rajan, the Vice-Chancellor has issued these orders without citing any specific reasons. The meeting was to discuss a proposal for initiating disciplinary action against the president of the MDU Teachers Association, Dr Vazir Singh Nehra. Dr Nehra had sent a representation to the Governor, who is also the Chancellor of the university, in this regard. It is learnt that the Governor, Babu Parmanand, took cognisance of the representation and his office wrote a letter to the Vice-Chancellor conveying the decision. |
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Rs 62-cr grant for civic bodies soon Chandigarh, January 7 This was announced by Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala at a meeting of the Chairmen of the civic bodies and Improvement Trusts here today. He urged them to ensure the completion of these development works before March 31. He said the Petroleum Ministry had sanctioned petrol pumps for various municipalities in the state, which would help the civic bodies in generating resources.
— tns |
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Karnal, January 7 It may be mentioned that a case of fraud under Sections 384, 420 and 506 of the IPC is pending against them in the CJM’s court. The anticipatory bail applications of the accused were rejected by a district court last month. The police had arrested Mr Gupta from his New Delhi residence following arrest warrants issued by the court of the CJM on December 19. However, he managed to secure an interim bail on the same day.
— TNS |
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Sarpanches quit Cong, BJP Yamunanagar, January 7 Mr Badshami addressed meetings at Kandrouly, Gumthala, Khajury and Silli Kalan villages here yesterday. Mr Surender Singh and Mr Ram Rattan, sarpanches of Kandrouly and Khajury villages left the Congress and joined the INLD. Mr Veerbhan, vice-president of the Radaur Mandal of the BJP, and Mr Rishi Pal, sarpanch of Silli Kalan village, left the BJP and joined the INLD with their supporters. These sarpanches said they felt ‘suffocated’ in the Congress and the BJP so they decided to join the INLD. |
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IEC computer education Ambala, January 7 The programme is being held in association with IEC Computer Education, Mahesh Nagar under self employment scheme. The programme was inaugurated by the SISI Director, Mr Suresh Yadvendra. He informed the participants regarding the latest developments in computers. Mr Yadvendra spoke about the latest operating systems available in computer. “Unix operating system is a powerful operating system widely used world wide. Based on this system, the one-month EDP programme on Unix and Computer Networking has been started at IEC computer education,” he said. The centre Director, Mr Lalit Sachdeva, said the participants were informed about different activities of SISI Karnal and various schemes of state government. Among others, Mr Subhash Chaudhary, Mr M.C. Haalu and Mr Trilok Gupta were present. |
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Red Cross building
inaugurated Ambala, January 7 The new building has office of the secretary of the Red Cross Society besides two additional rooms. The old building has also been repaired. The total cost of the project was Rs 7.55 lakh. The District Red Cross Society secretary, Mrs Alka Ghai, said last year, they had spent Rs 1.61 lakh for the treatment of the poor and additional Rs 2.80 lakh was spent through the help of different social organisations. The society had helped marry 83 poor girls and 25 blood donation camps were held, a release said. |
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