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Legislative business low on priority Bhajan
Lal not keen to contest LS poll INLD to
announce candidates on March 2 3 Lok
Sabha seats sought for BC candidates CPI (ML)
may contest Karnal seat |
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Computerisation
of libraries stillborn Nagaland
minister visits HAU UNDP
programmes on poverty alleviation Computerisation of libraries stillborn
10
years’ RI for opium smuggler Hooch death toll rises to
six Rail
traffic disrupted as train derails
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Legislative business low on priority Chandigarh, February 18 About 10 Bills were passed by the House in less than two hours on the concluding day of the seven-day session. Three days were devoted to the Governor’s address, the debate on the motion of thanks to His Excellency for his Address and the Chief Minister’s reply to the debate. Another three days were devoted to the Budget, the debate on it and the Finance Minister’s reply. The House found only about two hours for the legislative business on the concluding day before it was adjourned sine die. Both Treasury Benches and the Opposition heaved a sigh of relief as another constitutional formality had been completed. When Mr Om Prakash Chautala took over as the Chief Minister, one hoped that things would take a turn for the better. Mr Chautala, who takes pride in professing his love for democracy, made a good
beginning by making the Speaker, Mr Satbir Singh Kadian, to resign from the ruling party, a democratic convention not followed in Haryana at least in the past decade. But, subsequently Mr Kadian proved time and again that his body and soul remained in the Indian National Lok Dal. No one remembers if any Bill had been referred to a select committee or any other House committee for wider discussions on it, may it be the Casino Bill, the one on VAT or even the Lokayukta Bill. While the Opposition accused the Chief Minister and the Speaker of gagging it, Mr Chautala blames it for not being serious and for being ignorant about parliamentary procedures and rules. Mr Kadian defends himself by accusing the Opposition of not being serious about its duties. He told the House that only eight of the 20 Congress MLAs had put questions during this session. One Congress MLA was not present in the House when the question listed in his name was called. The Opposition says the Speaker plays favourites when its comes to listing the questions. After the Congress had walked out of the House on the concluding day in protest against the Chief Minister’s remarks against the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Mr Chautala said the main opposition party should have participated in the debate on the Bills. But when Mr Karan Singh Dalal(RPI) wanted to speak on a Bill, Mr Kadian just ignored him. Mr Chautala later defended Mr Kadian’s action by saying that the Speaker was not aware that Mr Dalal had come back to the House after a short walkout. This session was slightly different. The Chief Minister and the Speaker seemed more liberal towards the Opposition, which was given adequate time to speak on the Governor’s Address and the Budget. Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda had done his homework well this time. He found several shortcomings in the Budget estimates, particularly in health, debt service and agriculture. Similarly, the Congress President, Mr Bhajan Lal, had come prepared with facts and figures to prove his charge that the law and order situation in the state was fast deteriorating. The ruling party did not interrupt them much. The session also saw Mr Abhey Singh Chautala, younger son of the Chief Minister, holding fort in the absence of his father, who remained away from the House for considerable time to lay foundation stones and inaugurate schemes in various districts. However, Independent MLAs, who had been very vocal in the defence of the government in the past, seemed too supportive of the Treasury Benches in this session. |
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Bhajan Lal not keen
to contest LS poll Hisar, February 18 Mr Bhajan Lal, President of the Haryana Pardesh Congress Committee (HPCC) and former Chief Minister, said here today that the state unit had finalised her schedule. She would cover eight Lok Sabha seats Faridabad, Mahendragarh, Bhiwani, Hisar, Sirsa, Karnal, Rohtak and Sonepat during her two-day tour. She would start her visit from Faridabad and visit Palwal, Hodal,
Dharuhera, Dadri, Bhiwani and Hisar on that day. Mrs Gandhi would stay here for the night and cover
Agroha, Fatehabad, Narwana, Asandh, Rajaund, Gohana and Sonepat the next day, he informed. Mr Bhajan Lal said he was not interested in contesting the Lok Sabha election. He wanted to campaign for party candidates on all 10 Parliament seats in Haryana. Instead he wanted to field his younger son Mr Kuldeep Bishnoi, a former legislator, from Bhiwani or Faridabad if the party high command allowed him. He said that party workers from Bhiwani parliamentary seat had passed a resolution in favour of Mr Kuldeep Bishnoi at a party rally at Bond in Bhiwani district recently. |
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INLD to announce
candidates on March 2 Bhiwani, February 18 Chief Minister Om Parkash Chautala who is also president of the INLD announced this after a meeting of the state executive committee of the INLD here today. The meeting was attended also by all office-bearers of the party, all ministers and a large number of party activists. The executive committee of the party authorised Mr Chautala to finalise list of party nominees. Mr Chautala said besides contesting all 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana his party would also contest several seats in Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The list of nominees for all these states would be released at the Jhajjar rally. He said though the executive committee of the INLD had authorised him to finalise the list, he would consult other senior party leaders and party workers of different constituencies of all these states before deciding the party’s candidates. Mr Chautala said he would undertake a tour of all 90 Assembly constituencies in Haryana from March 2 to 13 to explain his party’s agenda for Lok Sabha polls and to redress peoples’ grievances, if any. Mr Chautala lashed out at the BJP saying that its state leaders had begun working against the INLD government from the day the government was formed. The INLD, he said, had joined hands with the BJP to keep the Congress away from power in Haryana. But, of late it had become impossible to move an inch with the BJP in Haryana, he added. |
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3 Lok Sabha seats sought for BC candidates Chandigarh, February 18 Addressing a press conference at the Chandigarh Press Club today, Mr Saini said since the BCs constituted 35 per cent of the population in the state, three seats should be given to BC candidates. The morcha had identified the constituencies of Kurukshetra, Mahendragarh and Bhiwani in Haryana for BC candidates. Mr Saini said as he was a Congress functionary, he would fervently request the party leadership to field BC candidates from the three seats. The morcha would make a representation to Congress President Sonia Gandhi to press this demand. Mr Saini added he himself was an aspirant for the Kurukshetra Lok Sabha ticket. Mr Saini said a 31-member team of the morcha met the Governor of Haryana, Babu Parmanand, here yesterday and presented a memorandum. They protested against the state government decision to merge three corporations. |
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CPI
(ML) may contest Karnal seat Ambala, February 18 CPI (ML) Haryana unit in charge Mr Prem Singh Gehlawat said today that there was also a likelihood of the party fielding candidates from two more Lok Sabha constituencies in Haryana. Mr Gehlawat said the decision of the BJP-led NDA government to suggest holding the election at this juncture was ill-timed. “There are examination of the students and the farmers have to carry out harvesting,” he said. The ‘feel good’ factor being hyped by the BJP is untrue. “There is nothing to feel good about. Mr Vajpayee had promised employment to one crore people but he has not kept his promise,” he said. |
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Computerisation of libraries stillborn Chandigarh, February 18 The district libraries at Bhiwani, Gurgaon, Jind, Karnal, Rohtak, Narnaul and Sirsa were computerised. According to the CAG report, the software installed in these libraries was not working properly except for Gurgaon and Bhiwani. Training imparted to the staff for handling the system was also inadequate, the report said, adding that even servers had not been installed at the Narnaul and Sirsa libraries. While computers and servers were supplied by HARTRON during July and December, 2001, these could not be put to use as the application software was not procured. This software was procured in March, 2003, and the staff were given requisite training by HARTRON next month. The government had placed Rs 74.47 lakh at the disposal of HARTRON for procuring hardware for these libraries and imparting training to the staff. The HARTRON spent Rs 53.89 lakh on computerisation of the libraries and retained the balance of over Rs 20 lakh, which had been lying with it when the CAG report was finalised in September 2003. Due to inordinate delay in the procurement of software, unsatisfactory performance of the software and inadequate training given to the staff, Rs 74.47 lakh stood blocked for over two years. The desired results also could not be achieved in five of the seven libraries, pointed out the report. |
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Nagaland minister
visits HAU Hisar, February 18 Mr Sumi along with Mr
Subongo, Director of Agriculture, Nagaland, and other higher officials met the HAU Vice-Chancellor, Mr
M.K. Miglani. During the meeting, Mr Sumi expressed his government’s wish to establish a farm university in Nagaland. He said that due to lack of scientific knowledge and techniques the state was backward in agriculture field. The Naga students wishing to pursue agriculture education were forced to go to Imphal. Mr Miglani assured the delegation that the HAU would extend all cooperation to Nagaland for the development of agriculture in that state. He told the delegation that the climatic conditions of Nagaland were suitable for cultivation of fruits, vegetables, orchids and bamboos. However, in view of the financial position of the state, Mr Miglani suggested them to go for an agricultural research institute, instead of setting up a farm university. |
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UNDP programmes on poverty alleviation Manesar, February 18 The Rs 25-crore programme on urban livelihood, “National Strategy for Urban Poor”, has already been signed between the Indian government and the UNDP, the world body’s representative in India, Maurice De Wulf, told reporters here yesterday at an international workshop on “urban renewal”. The implementation of the programme, to be completely funded by the UNDP, had also begun, Wulf said adding discussions were on for the second Rs 15-crore project on urban governance. The timeframe for the two projects was 2004-07. Wulf said that another UNDP programme with the government, the “mission for application of technology to urban renewal and engineering (MATURE)”, was about to end in March. MATURE had started in 2001 and was being implemented by the Department of Science and Technology. The programme was aimed at evolving a process of urban renewal by the use of appropriate technologies and knowledge for better environment and quality of life, he said. He said the UNDP’s agenda was poverty reduction and all its programmes in India were meant to support government efforts in this direction.
— PTI |
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Computerisation of libraries stillborn Chandigarh, February 18 The district libraries at Bhiwani, Gurgaon, Jind, Karnal, Rohtak, Narnaul and Sirsa were computerised. According to the CAG report, the software installed in these libraries was not working properly except for Gurgaon and Bhiwani. Training imparted to the staff for handling the system was also inadequate, the report said, adding that even servers had not been installed at the Narnaul and Sirsa libraries. While computers and servers were supplied by HARTRON during July and December, 2001, these could not be put to use as the application software was not procured. This software was procured in March, 2003, and the staff were given requisite training by HARTRON next month. The government had placed Rs 74.47 lakh at the disposal of HARTRON for procuring hardware for these libraries and imparting training to the staff. The HARTRON spent Rs 53.89 lakh on computerisation of the libraries and retained the balance of over Rs 20 lakh, which had been lying with it when the CAG report was finalised in September 2003. Due to inordinate delay in the procurement of software, unsatisfactory performance of the software and inadequate training given to the staff, Rs 74.47 lakh stood blocked for over two years. The desired results also could not be achieved in five of the seven libraries, pointed out the report. |
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10
years’ RI for opium smuggler Hisar, February 18 The court also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on him in this connection. According to the prosecution, a police party, on a tip off, had nabbed Krishan Kumar, a resident of Adampur town near here, from his house and recovered 4 kg of opium from his possession on September 24, 1991. The Adampur police had registered a case against him under the NDPS Act. Meanwhile, the local police yesterday recovered a country made pistol and a live cartridge from Kirpal Singh of the local Ram Nagar Colony. A case has been registered against him under various Sections of the Arms Act. |
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Hooch death toll rises to
six Kurukshetra, February 18 The police has, however, denied that the deaths were due to spurious liquor and said one person was arrested for allegedly supplying the ‘thinner’ to victims. Two persons namely Jai Singh (35) and Jethu Ram (55), who were admitted to private hospitals, died today. Narsingh (40) and his wife Lakshmi (35) and Karam Singh died yesterday. |
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Rail traffic disrupted as train derails Rohtak, February 18 The engine and four coaches of the Rohtak-bound 2JPR passenger train derailed after a buffalo bullock suddenly appeared on the railway track near the Bhainswan Khurd railway station early yesterday, they said. However, no passenger was hurt in the mishap. All trains on the Rohtak-Panipat section were cancelled following the derailmnet.
— PTI |
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Two killed in road mishap Hisar, February 18 Their vehicle hit a tree alongside the road while trying to save a cyclist. Ashok died on the spot while Jai Parkash succumbed to his injuries on way to the hospital. |
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Programme
on crop diversification Karnal, February 18 Mr Dalip K. Gosain, senior scientist of the KVK, said that with the shrinking of jobs, the new generation needs to change its mindest and come forward to adopt scientifically viable agro-based professions that have immense potential to earn profits. |
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Shivratri peaceful Karnal, February 18 The situation was under control, claimed an official of the district administration. No untoward incident was reported in the city. The pilgrims made a beeline for the main Shiva Temple amid tight security arrangements. |
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The CPI (ML) is planning to field a candidate from Karnal in the coming Lok Sabha elections.
CPI (ML) Haryana unit in charge Mr Prem Singh Gehlawat said today that
there was also a likelihood of the party fielding candidates from two
more Lok Sabha constituencies in Haryana.
