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NH stretch to be relaid for security reasons
CM launches poll meeting on Jan 22 State Cong leadership may change, says
Virender Singh Waterlogging destroys wheat crop |
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HVP warns bureaucracy Haryana to spend 410 cr on health Awardee scientist
guest ‘left in lurch’
Haryana SP names new office-bearers Steel unit fined Rs 1 cr for power theft HIGH COURT
Cong mahila wing
seeks reservation Cops told to trace missing woman Kin donate blood to remember patriarch Ex-minister of
Haryana
gets bail Former Tribune employee dead
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NH stretch to be relaid for security reasons Chandigarh, January 19 An announcement to this effect was made by the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, while delivering his inaugural address at the Civil Military Liaison Conference at the headquarters of the Western Command at Chandimandir Cantonment, near here today. A request to this effect had been made by the GOC-in-C, Western Command, Lt-Gen S.S Mehta, keeping in view the fact that the road was passing through the cantonment and lot of manpower had to be deployed for security reasons. Lt -Gen Mehta also urged the state government to get bypasses constructed for the cities of Rohtak, Kurukshetra and Jagadhri constructed to facilitate easy flow of military transport on the highways. He pointed out that rapid urbanisation was already causing congestion on the highways passing through these cities and vehicles got jammed up in cities near the borders marked by heavy deployment of armed forces. The Chief Minister announced that the state would have 13 poly clinics at non-military stations and a Defence Officers Advanced Study Institute at Sector 2 in Panchkula. He assured that suitable land, as chosen by the Army authorities, would be allotted for setting up these polyclinics in various towns. Besides this, the government had already made land available at Faridabad and Gurgaon for providing health and allied facilities to the serving as well as retired defence personnel. Mr Chautala also agreed to waive the penalty imposed on officers for non-construction of houses on plots allotted by HUDA for the period of Operation Parakram. The officers, who were deployed on duty then, had pleaded to HUDA that the penalty amount be waived since they were unable to construct houses as they were deployed on duty. Earlier, in his welcome address, General Mehta appreciated the continued support being given by the state government to the Army authorities in implementing the schemes for the welfare of the serving and retired Army personnel and their dependents. He said the conference would further help strengthen the goodwill and understanding between the two. Talking about India having enough infrastructure to curb cross-border terrorism, he cautioned that there were no internal threats from various forces, including fundamentalism. The Chief Minister lauded the role of the armed forces in the 1965 and 1971 wars and the Operation Vijay and reiterated the commitment of the government towards the welfare of the serving and retired soldiers. He said that in the past four years, 1,872 ex-servicemen and their dependents had been given jobs in various departments and 116 posts reserved for ex-servicemen in the police department were also filled last year. The conference was attended by top officials of the state government and officers from the Western Command. |
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CM launches poll meeting on Jan 22 Fatehabad, January 19 Mr Nishan Singh, INLD MLA from Tohana in this district and district president of the party, presided over a meeting of the party office-bearers here today. Dr Sushil
Indora, MP from Sirsa, Ms Swatantra Bala Chowdhary, MLA from Fatehabad, Mr Jarnail Singh, MLA from
Rattia, Mr Ram Raj Mehta, senior party leader, Ms Krishana Poonia, president of the women’s wing of the party, Mr Mohan Lal
Juneja, block president of the party, and Mr Ajit Singh Gillankhera, block president of the youth wing of the party, were present on this occasion. Mr Nishan Singh said that the January 22 meeting of the Chief Minister was the first of the series of such meetings that the party was organising in all district headquarters of the state to galvanise party workers for the elections. He said workers from all over the district would participate in the meeting. He also informed that Mr Ajay Singh Chautala, president of the youth wing of the Indian National Lok Dal, would address youth workers of the party on January 25. Dr Indora said the INLD would contest the parliamentary poll on the issue of development. He claimed that no other government had been able to do so much development of the state as the present INLD government during its four-year stay in power. |
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State Cong leadership may change, says Sirsa, January 19 He was talking to mediapersons during his visit to Chautala village to attend ‘antim shardhanjali sabha’ of the father of former spokesman of the Haryana State Congress, Dr
K.V. Singh. He said he had definite information that the Vidhan Sabha elections in the state would be held on the tune of Orissa. He said the Congress tally in the Lok Sabha elections would definitely increase because of their alliance with the National Congress Party. To a question regarding the alliance of the Congress with Bahujan Samaj Party, he said the same at the national level was not under discussion, but if it happened, the Haryana Congress would welcome it. Regarding, the rumours of change in the state Congress leadership, he said Ms Sonia Gandhi would reorganise the Congress at the national level by changing leadership in some states. Under such conditions, a change in Haryana couldn’t be overruled, he added. When asked if it would help the Haryana Congress, he answered in the affirmative. |
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Waterlogging destroys wheat crop Fatehabad, January 19 Talking to this correspondent, the farmers said the government had earlier installed pumps on both sides of the Fatehabad branch which helped in pumping out stagnant water from these fields. However, the pumps became non-functional due to lack of maintenance. The farmers said that though they had been facing the problem since 1977 it aggravated during the rainy season. The problem again arose during November rains. In the absence of water lifting pumps, water has been standing on their fields since then. They alleged that the repeated requests to flush out water have fallen on deaf ears. They said if urgent steps were not taken to pump out water from their fields, the crops would also be destroyed. Mr Hoshiar Singh, a farmer from Gorakhpur village, said that he had sown wheat crop on five acres of land but it had been totally ruined by waterlogging. Mr Inder Singh of the same village and other farmers echoed the same sentiments. Mr Krishan Swaroop Gorakhpuria, general secretary of the state unit of the Haryana Kisan Sabha, demanded immediate lifting of water from the waterlogged fields, round-the-clock power supply to these areas and a grant of Rs 5,000 per acre as compensation to the farmers whose wheat crop had been totally damaged. He alleged that the much-hyped crop insurance schemes of the government had proved hollow. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Mehtab Singh Sehrawat, said that he had been apprised of the problem today only and he had asked the Water Services Department to look into the matter and submit a report immediately. He said that the administration would take suitable action once the report from the department was received. |
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HVP warns bureaucracy Panchkula, January 19 Answering a question on poll alliance with other parties, the son of the former Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, asserted that as of now the HVP would go all alone in the ensuing Lok Sabha and Haryana Assembly elections. Claiming that the INLD-BJP alliance was on the rocks, the HVP leader claimed that the alliance would only continue if the Lok Sabha and assembly elections were held simultaneously this year. Later, addressing party workers, Mr Surinder Singh informed that the party had prepared a VCD to highlight the achievements of Mr Bansi Lal during his 12-year tenure as Chief Minister. On the other hand, the VCD highlighted the “failures” of the Chautala Government. Coming down heavily on the unfulfilled promises by Mr Om Prakash Chautala, he alleged that the Chief Minister had came back on his promises to provide free water and electricity after coming to power. He claimed that the HVP had never promised free water and power and if voted to power it would be the endeavour of the party to improved water and power supply. He said with the law and order situation deteriorating with the each passing day, the lives of the residents were not safe. Later, a dharna was held at the Mini Secretariat against the ‘apathetic’ attitude of the authorities towards the genuine problems of the residents.  |
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Haryana to spend 410 cr on health Panchkula, January 19 Mr Chautala also sought to put the INLD in the election mode by addressing two party workers’ meetings.However, he reiteriated the party’s stand that the Assembly elections would only be held in February, 2005, although the NDA was in favour of early Lok Sabha poll. The Chief Minister laid the foundation stones for two projects, besides inaugurating a dispensary to be built at a cost of Rs 27 lakh. The Haryana Government is spending Rs 207 per person every year to provide health services, he said, adding that Rs 410 crore would be spent during the current financial year to improve health services. Laying the foundation stone for the Rs 46-lakh Vridh Vishram Greh” in Sector 15, the Chief Minister said medicines were being provided free of cost and those above the age of 60 were being provided with spectatcles. Later, Mr Chautala laid the foundation stone for the Chaudhary Roshan Lal Memorial Deep Manav Seva Ashram and Charitable Trust, Devi Nagar, near here. Despite criticism from various quarters over retrenchment of thousands of government employees, Mr Chautala claimed that 50,000 jobs had been provided during the past four years and an equal number of vacancies would be filled this year. The government has constituted a committee to suggest ways and means to generate maximum employment opportunities, he said. The party newspaper, Jan Sandesh, will soon be turned into a weekly to propagate the party’s policies, he added. |
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Awardee scientist
guest ‘left in lurch’ Karnal, January 19 A senior scientist, Mr
R.K. Jain, who was awarded the Home Minister’s award yesterday for his eminent services in the field of forensic science was not provided any board/lodging facility. He was specially called to receive the award from
Hyderabad. Mr Jain, Government Examiner of Questioned Documents,
Hyderabad, was invited at the conference along with his family members. But, he was left in ‘lurch’ as soon as he reached Karnal on Saturday afternoon. When inquiries on accommodation yielded no result till the evening, he did not even find place at any local hotel. In the late night, he went to one of his relatives at Kurukshetra and stayed there. On Sunday morning, he came back from Kurukshetra to receive the award from Mr Advani. Mr Jain said “I feel disheartened over the poor and mismanaged hospitality arrangements”. “This is an insult of a guest”, commented his wife. Mr Jain has helped fight terrorism. He was the main scientist who de-coded the computer messages of terrorists who attacked the Indian Parliament House on December 13, 2001. Due to his efforts that the Indian investigating agencies were able to trap the remaining terrorists involved in the attack. Mr Jain also solved the mystery of two letters received from the terrorists who attacked ‘Akshardhaam’ in Gujarat and massacred many innocent persons. He determined that the local people were also involved in the massacre. At present, he is busy helping the Maharashtra police in investigations in the Telgi stamp paper scam. Even the mediapersons were left to fend for themselves on the first and second days of the conference. They were not even provided the list of speakers and the papers that were presented by eminent forensic experts from across the globe. Mediapersons were not even allowed to enter the seminar hall on the second day to cover the function. Dr Vijendra Singh, Director of Forensic Science Laboratory,
Madhuban, said he was not the responsible person to comment upon this. When asked about that he was the host of the function he said that senior officials of Haryana police could better answer the question. Senior officials of the Haryana police, however, refused to comment on the matter. |
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A planetarium steeped in history AMBALA: One of India’s first planetariums was set up in Ambala way back in the 1950s. While other planetariums, including the ones at Delhi and Kolkata, have grown from strength to strength, the one in Ambala has become a part of the history pages following the death of the planetarium’s designer Pandit Jagannath Sharma. However, a new planetarium has now been built in Ambala cantonment opposite Subhash Park. The planetarium designed by Pandit Jagannath Sharma was a unique achievement in those days, it had gained considerable popularity in North India. The dome of the planetarium still stands on the roof of the house where Pandit Jagannath Sharma lived. Incidentally, Pandit Sharma was a stalwart in the scientific instruments manufacturing industry. Pandit Sharma’s great grandson, Mr Vivek Sharma, said that Pandit Sharma was always trying to innovate new things for the betterment of the people. “The planetarium was designed by him and he had to put in considerable effort for execution of the project,” he said. Since there was no readily available reference for the exact location of stars, Pandit Jagannath Sharma had laboured for endless hours in the night. He managed to mark the placement of the stars on a globe. “Thereafter, the globe was illuminated from within and one could clearly spot the star’s placement on the wall. It was easy for the common man to understand,” Mr Vivek Sharma said. The planetarium was termed `Chitra’. The planetarium reproduced the appearance of sky throughout the northern zone from any particular latitude and at any time of the year with great clarity. Twelve signs of zodiac, 27 constellations along the zodiac line and various other stars and groups, altogether, about 400 stars including 20 bright stars of the first magnitude, 65 of second and 190 of third and remaining faint stars upto six magnitudes were projected with their exact location and magnitude. For the movement of the globe, the gear system was employed. The different parts and gears were made of steel, gun metal and aluminium alloy. Vivek Sharma said that the star gazers would come and meet his great grandfather. “He would give a lecture on the subject on the roof top and thereafter, take the group into the planetarium. All this was free of cost. Only prior appointment was required so that he could be available. Pandit Jagannath Sharma would simplify the subject so that nobody would have any problem in understanding,” he said. Pandit Jagannath Sharma had also built a telescope so that he could look at other planets with ease. “The telescope was useful for seeing moon craters, polar cap of mars and the moons of Jupiter,” he said. Narrating an interesting incident, Vivek Sharma said that once Pandit Jagannath Sharma spotted a satellite while gazing through the telescope. “When he reported it to other institutions in India, they did not bother to respond. However, he forwarded his observation to a foreign body, which immediately acknowledged the fact that a satellite had indeed been in that particular position on that day,” he said. Pandit Jagannath Sharma is also credited for developing a battery-powered vehicle which was later gifted to the then Prime Minister Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru. In his last years, Pandit Sharma was trying to develop a model of a train which would move through magnetic levitation. The project could not be completed. |
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Haryana SP names new office-bearers Rohtak, January 19 According to a press release here today, Mangat Ram and Mahboob Hassan have been appointed as new vice presidents, Maha Singh Yadav, Rohtash Saini and Surender Bhati as generals secretaries and Ved Prakash Garg as the treasurer of the Haryana unit of the party while Ramesh Verma and Ram Niwas Yadav have been removed from the posts of state vice president and general secretary, respectively. State presidents of Samajwadi Yuvjan Sabha, the youth wing of the Samajwadi Party, Mulayam Youth Brigade and Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha, the student wing of the party, have also been replaced. While Narender Chaudhary has been appointed as the new state president of the Samajwadi Yuvjan Sabha in place of Ravinder Yadav, Dharmender Yadav will be the new state president of the Mulayam Youth Brigade. He replaces Sant Lal Jangra. Pramod Singh has been appointed as the new president of the state Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha in place of Dr Surender Nagar, while Ajay Rana will be the state president of the Lohia Vahini, the SP press release said. —
PTI |
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Steel unit fined Rs 1 cr for power theft Hisar, January 19 According to sources, a team of nigam officials had noticed that the seal of the electricity meter installed at the unit was tampered with when they went there to replace the meter three days ago. They informed their senior officers in this regard. A team of DHBVN higher officials then reached the spot and found the seal tampered with. They imposed a fine of Rs 1,00,86,000 on the unit. Mr G.D. Gupta, Superintending Engineer (Operation), confirmed the incident but said that the details would be given by the Executive Engineer (Operation), Mr B.S. Boora, who was not available for comments. The Director of Janak Steel, Mr Kailash Sharma, told ‘The Tribune’ that all outer seals of their electricity meter were intact. One inner seal of the meter was broken. He said the fine was imposed on the spot without any inquiry. He said Ms Chandra Saini, Managing Director of the DHBVN, had assured them that the matter would be investigated. |
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HIGH
COURT Chandigarh, January 19 Taking up the case, Mr Justice Gupta directed former Administrator of Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) Vajinder Kumar, along with HUDA Administrator Shamal Mishra, to be present in court.
Status report A Division Bench of the High Court on Monday asked counsel for the state of Haryana to submit a status report regarding the construction of judicial complex at Ellenabad subdivision in Sirsa district. The directions were issued in an open court by the Bench headed by Chief Justice, Mr Justice B.K. Roy, on a letter written in the matter by Ellenabad Bar Association. |
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Rs 5 lakh for newsman’s widow Chandigarh, January 19 While Mr I.D. Swami, Minister of State for Home Affairs, presided over the function, Mr A.J. Philip, Senior Associate Editor, The Tribune, was the chief guest. Prominent among those present were the president of the sangh, Mr K.B. Pandit, and president of the Chandigarh and Punjab Union of Journalists, Mr Vinod
Kohli. |
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Cong mahila wing
seeks reservation Panipat, January 19 Stressing on the need to give reservation to the women, Ms Sumita said that in order to provide equal opportunity to the women of Haryana it was necessary that they should get equal representation on the political front also. The mahila wing will soon urge the high command to reserve at least three seats out of 10 for the women in the Lok Sabha elections. Criticising the BJP for not implementing 33 per cent reservations for women, in political front, she said that the Congress would work for the implementation of 33 per cent reservation for women in various fields. About the difference in the state Congress, Ms Sumita said all disputes were over and the party would contest the next elections unitedly. |
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Cops told to trace missing woman Ambala, January 19 The woman’s husband, Mr Ashok Jain, had filed an application in the court of the CJM two days ago in which he said he suspected that his wife and daughter had either committed suicide or been kidnapped by Pardeep Kumar, a youth of Ambala, who had been blackmailing his wife for the past several months. Mr Jain said in the application that he had met Pardeep when one of his sons was suffering from blood cancer. Pardeep had provided financial assistance for the treatment of his son, who later died. He said Pardeep started visiting his house frequently, even in his absence. He mentioned in the application that his wife had told him a few months back that Pardeep had raped her after giving her a tranquiliser mixed in a liquid. He said his wife had told him that Pardeep had been blackmailing and threatening her. He said on January 10, he went to Ahmedabad for business work. When he returned on January 12, he found that his wife, daughter and son were not there. His mother told him that his wife and the children had left for Samana on January 11. Mr Jain stated that when he rushed to Samana he did not find his wife and daughter there. Meanwhile, the Samana police has registered an FIR on the statement of Tarun Jain, son of Mr Ashok
Jain. |
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Kin donate blood to remember patriarch Sirsa, January 19 After his death his family handed over his body to CMC Medical College. It is notable that Mr Kaur Singh is the second person in this area to have donated his body. On the occasion of his Antim Ardas 17 members of his family donated blood. Founder-president of the local Shiv Shakti Blood Bank here Dr Ved Beniwal paid tributes to Mr Kaur Singh for his contribution to the welfare of humanity even after his death. |
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Ex-minister of
Haryana
gets bail Chandigarh, January 19 Earlier, a chargesheet was filed by the Vigilance Bureau in the court. A case of disproportion assets was filed against the minister by the Bureau in 2001. He had earlier been granted a bail by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, source said. |
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Former Tribune employee dead Ambala, January 19 His son, Yash Pal Sharma is a senior proof reader with Dainik Tribune. Last rites will be performed on January 30 at 3 p.m. at his residence in Anaj Mandi here. —
TNS |
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Entrance test Chandigarh, January 19 |
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Salary on Jan 30 Chandigarh, January 19 |
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