 |
|
|
Hassanpur MLA withdraws support to Chautala govt No ‘feel good’ for Haryana BJP Congress launches ‘Vijay abhiyan’ Regional parties have done nothing: Nehra Armed forces men can vote by proxy |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
RSS to seek amendment to Constitution Villagers agree to resolve issue NWC demands action in disfigurement of woman case Protesting school teachers block traffic
Meritorious students
honoured College honours its sportsmen Lawyers to meet District and
Sessions Judge
|
|
Hassanpur MLA withdraws support to Chautala govt Faridabad, March 5 Mr Udaybhan, who took the decision after holding a panchayat of his supporters at Hodal town yesterday told the TNS here today that it was a collective decision of the people of the area, who, he claimed, had been fed up with the “misrule” of the present government and its failure to deliver the goods. He said the panchayat saw the participation of over 32 villages of his constituency and all communities were represented in it. Describing the present government as a show of “father and sons” he alleged that Mr Chautala and his sons were behaving like dictators and all ministers and MLAs had been reduced to being their yes men. No one was allowed to speak or function on his own. Lambasting the INLD government for promoting a kind of “lootraj”, he alleged that it was also anti-Dalit in its functioning. Stating that the state government had failed to implement the reservation policy in the promotion structure so far, he claimed that almost 18 states in the country had implemented it already. He alleged that that nearly every community and every section of society was feeling suffocated. The introduction of VAT in the state had not only resulted in harming the trading community, it had also adversely affected the interests of the farmers and producers as they were not getting adequate prices. Disputing the claims of the Chautala government of having given employment to a large number of youth in the state over the past four years, Mr Udaybhan said by dismissing or removing about 25,000 employees and abolishing their posts, it had proved that the Chautala government was also “anti-employee” and had no solution to do the problem of growing unemployment. He said the “misrule” and “failure” of the government on various fronts had forced him to withdraw his support. About the chances of his joining the Congress, he said he was yet to take a final decision, though the Congress was high on his priority list. |
|
No ‘feel good’ for Haryana BJP Chandigarh, March 5 Mr Ranjit Singh, in fact, was left with no alternative after having burnt his bridges with all factions of the Haryana Congress. He had also lost his godfather in the party in the death of Mr Madhavrao Scindia. The party did contact various leaders like Mr Karan Singh Dalal, Rao Narbir Singh, Mr Jai Prakash Barwala and Mr Anil Vij, independent MLA from Ambala cantonment. However, no headway could be made after initial talks. While Mr Dalal and Rao wanted the party’s nomination for the parliamentary elections from Faridabad and Narbir Singh Mahendragarh, respectively, the BJP was not in a mood to yield to their demand as it had sitting MPs from these seats. Mr Barwala, a sitting Congress MLA, is aspiring to contest the Hisar Lok Sabha seat. Sources close to him say that he would think of joining the BJP only if he is denied the Congress ticket from Hisar. Another big fish, Mr Navin Jindal, whom the BJP was eyeing, joined the Congress after the talks between him and the BJP reached an advanced stage. Scion of a prominent industrial family of Haryana, Mr Jindal shot into prominence after he successfully secured the right to fly the Tricolour for every citizen from the Supreme Court. He wants to contest from Kurukshetra. He dropped the idea of joining the BJP after his supporters told him that Kurukshetra would not be safe for him on the BJP ticket. Now he is expected to get the Congress ticket for that seat. Navin, whose father, Mr O.P. Jindal, is the Congress MLA from Hisar, says he decided to join his father’s party because of the communal colours of the BJP. He claims that he is also impressed by the sacrifices made by the Gandhi family. Confirming that the BJP has contacted him, Mr Vij said he was contacted by several parties in the past but he politely declined their offer. However, since he had spent several years in the BJP, he took its offer seriously. But before he rejoins his parent party, he says he has to consider several things, including his principle of supporting a party as an Independent MLA for the full term. When all independent MLAs had deserted Mr Bansi Lal, he continued to support the former Chief Minister till the House was dissolved. Mr Vij supports the Chautala Government which has still a year to complete its term. Mr Vij wants a guarantee that the BJP would not ditch him again. He has bitter experiences with the party. The party went back on a written agreement with Mr Vij about the presidentship of the Ambala Cantonment Municipal Committee. The two had agreed to share the post for two and a half years each so that the Congress could be kept away from controlling the civic body. Sources in the BJP are hopeful that once the major parties announce their candidates, many leaders would make a beeline for the party. |
|
Congress
launches ‘Vijay abhiyan’ Ambala, March 5 Talking to mediapersons here, the Congress media in charge for the Ambala Lok Sabha seat, Dr Pradeep Chauhan, said the rally had been inspired by the tremendous response to the Jan Sampark Abhiyan of Congress President Sonia Gandhi. The rally, which began at Ambala Cantonment today, will pass through various areas, including Ambala City,
Mullana, Naggal, Jagadhari, Sadhaura, Chachrauli and Naraingarh. Dr Chauhan criticised the rath yatra being started by Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani. “The BJP is on the defensive on seeing the success of the Jan Sampark Abhiyan. We have won the first round as the BJP has been forced to take out a rath yatra,” he said. He said during the Vijay Abhiyan rally, the failure of the BJP-led NDA government and the Chautala government would be highlighted. “We will take up six issues, including unemployment, farmers’ problems and poverty,” he said. “On all these issues, the present governments have failed miserably and they have not kept their poll promises,” he added. Citing data compiled by the Central Statistical Organisation, the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, AG office and the National Accounts Statistics, Dr Chauhan said investment worth crores had been made in infrastructure during the Congress rule. “The BJP is undertaking disinvestment. We want that only sick units should be privatised and not the profit-making
PSUs. There are questionable disinvestments, like Balco and Modern Foods. Incidentally, the money from disinvestment is not going to be used for development projects. Instead, it is going to be spent on voluntary retirement schemes and to pay back foreign loans,” he said.
|
|
|
Cong to finalise candidates by March 15 Ambala, March 5 Talking to mediapersons here today, he said the panel of candidates for these seats had already been sent to the party high command. While finalising the panel, he said, the committee had considered the panels recommended by various District Congress Committees
(DCCs). He said the loyalty toward the party, winning possibility and sentiments of party workers would be taken into consideration while finalising the list of candidates. He said one ticket would be allotted to a member of the Youth Congress. Women would also be given due representation, he added. After the road show of Ms Sonia Gandhi, the party had gained a lot of popularity among the common people in the state. The party would win all 10 seats in the state, he claimed. When asked who could be the possible Congress candidates from the Ambala Parliamentary constituency, he said former Minister Phool Chand Mulana and former president of the Haryana BSP Aman Kumar Nagra were the front runners. However, the final decision would be taken by the party high command, he added. The completion of the SYL canal had been delayed due to the political interests of Mr Om Prakash Chautala and Mr Parkash Singh Badal, he said. He alleged the matter was not taken up properly in the Supreme Court by the Haryana Government. |
|
|
HPCC chief welcomes Advani’s remarks Hisar, March 5 Talking to mediapersons here, he praised Mr Advani for criticising the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, and his party. He said: “Mr Advani is the Home Minister of the country and all misdeeds of the Chautala government are in his notice.” Mr Bhajan Lal claimed that five senior leaders, comprising three MLAs and two former ministers, would join the Congress on March 9 in New Delhi. He said the state unit had formed five teams for conducting survey of the all 10 Lok Sabha seats to assess the winning capacity of the contenders. |
|
Regional parties have done nothing: Nehra Fatehabad, March 5 He cited the example of Haryana and said while a former Deputy Prime Minister came to power in 1987 on the promise of waiver of loans, Mr Bansi Lal and Mr Om Parkash Chautala grabbed power through promises of prohibition and waiver of power bills respectively. Mr Nehra claimed the Congress would win all 10 seats in the state in the ensuing parliamentary poll and the BJP, the INLD and the HVP would draw a blank. He said a former union minister, Ms Selja would begin her campaign by addressing party workers at Sirsa on March 8. |
|
|
Armed forces men can vote by proxy Yamunanagar, March 5 She said that for the convenience of general public a Touch Screen Machine and a Helpline had been installed in the premises of Mini Secretariat, Yamunanagar. Electorate could find out the voting details from this facilities whether his/her name was mentioned in the voter list. She added that the software was developed by the national Informatics Centre Yamunanagar and was the result of the efforts of Election Department. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Vijayendra Kumar said the electorate could also enquire their detail vote data on touch screen system by giving first three digits of his/her name and the name of the constituency, village, and booth number. The location, age, sex, head of the family, voter identity card number and serial number of his/her vote would be flashed on the screen.
|
|
|
RSS to seek amendment to Constitution Rohtak, March 5 Talking to newspersons here he said the RSS had a firm stand on the issue and it would continue to strive for amendment to the constitution. He said such a bar was nothing new as several countries in the West had made similar provisions in their constitutions. Asked whether the NDA government at the Centre had done as much for the Swadeshi movement as the RSS, he said, the Vajpayee government had resisted immense pressure from the World Trade Organisation. However, he said, the RSS was against disinvestment in the strategic sector, but the Centre had a different stand on the issue. Mr Vaidya said the RSS had never backed any particular party in the elections. “Our only aim during the elections is to strive for maximum polling as we believe every voter must exercise his or her franchise”, he said. Answering another question he said the RSS was “feeling good” on development work done by the Vajpayee government but he could not say the same about the Ram Mandir issue adding that the government could have done more. |
|
Villagers
agree to resolve issue Salwan (Karnal) March 5 The injured, Oma Ram (65), Chatra Ram (45), Mahendra (35) and Raago Devi (32), were admitted to the Assandh Civil Hospital. Complainants alleged that a few influential residents of the village had displaced them from their jhuggis constructed on a piece of land that was allotted to them by the panchayat in 1994. The exact number of jhuggis set ablaze could not be ascertained, as there were claims and counterclaims by both the parties. However, a visit to the site portrayed a little different picture. Most parts of the land on which the jhuggis were constructed falls under the village pond. Ranbir Singh, a villager said a few persons belonging to a particular community raised the jhuggis to justify their possession on the land. After viewing the site one could observe that there were not more than 10 jhuggis. Preliminary investigations conducted by the local administration and the police revealed that the panchayat allotted the plots in 1994 to 736 families belonging to economically backward class. The entry of at least 500 plots out of them had also been mentioned in khasra no 469 of the revenue record. However, the influential people approached the court in the late 90’s. The complainants claimed that they had won the case this year from a lower court, but the defendants said they had got a stay from the district and sessions court against the lower court’s decision. However, both the parties had failed to produce any document in their favour, said Mr Sibas Kaviraj SP, Karnal. The District Magistrate, Mr
R.S. Doon, said the situation at the village was under control. “Both the parties have assured in written that they will maintain peace and solve the issue themselves within the panchayat”, he said.
|
|
|
NWC demands action in disfigurement of woman case Sirsa, March 5 According to the information received today, the delegation members, Ms Nirmla Sitaraman and Baby Rani
Morya, visited Ms Nirmal Kaur’s house and during their five-hour stay there collected detailed information about the incident. They also held discussions with officials of the departments concerned at the local PWD rest house. Later, while talking to
mediapersons, they said such inhuman behaviour towards a woman was intolerable. Ms Sitaraman said she had asked the district police chief to book the culprits without delay and take action against them. The commission members have also instructed the doctor concerned to issue medico-legal report
(MLR) after a medical examination of the victim at her house. The MLR was not issued to the woman because she had no money to deposit the fee. They rejected the plea of the police that it did not register an FIR in the absence of a written complaint if this attitude prevailed, no legal aid could be provided to crores of illiterate people in the country, they said. Ms Sitaraman said she felt Ms Nirmal Kaur was under immense social pressure. It was understandable keeping in view that she was a leader of women in the formation of self-help groups in the rural area. The commission members took a serious note of the failure of the district Women and Child Welfare Department to visit Ms Nirmala Kaur after the heinous act. They said they would send a detailed report on the incident to the Haryana Government and recommend time-bound action to ensure justice to the victim. |
|
|
Protesting school teachers block traffic Panipat. March 5 Teachers hailing from Ambala, Rohtak and Panipat were protesting against the decision of the government about the implementation of Education guidelines — 2003, from the next academic session. The members of the association gathered in the morning at Dera Baba Jodha Sachiyar Gurdwara. Chaos prevailed on the National Highway and severed vehicles were stranded due to traffic jam as thousands of teachers started a march to go to the Deputy Commissioner’s office. The police personnel deployed there remained mute spectators. The associations which took part in the protest, include the Haryana United Schools Associations, Haryana Unaided United Schools, Sanjha Manch Association, Panipat Schools Association, and Haryana Private Vidalaya Association. Giving details of the problems being faced by the private teachers the convener of the associations, Mr R.D. Sharma, told The Tribune that it was impossible for any management to run a school guidelines. He added that under the new policy, in order to set up a private in the urban areas the management had to spend Rs 1.50 crore while in rural areas the expenditure was Rs 1.25 crore. Mr Sharma added that if the government did not withdraw the guidelines, then most of the schools would have to be closed down and thousands of school teachers would lose their jobs. |
|
240 students awarded degrees Naraingarh, March 5 Special prizes were given to the students who got merit positions in Kurukshetra University. Seventeen students of the college were also honoured by the Haryana Government and Kurukshetra University today at Kurukshetra for their merit positions in the university. Pooja Rani, a student of BA II who got third position in Kurukshetra University, was given a special prize. Dr P.K. Aggarwal, principal of the college, welcomed the chief guest, while Ms Archna Passi thanked the guests. Maheshwar Sharma, ex-SDM, Naraingarh, also addressed the graduates. The State Bank of India also honoured the meritorious students of the college. Mr Aggarwal, Chief Manager, SBI, also graced the function.
|
|
Meritorious
students honoured Kurukshetra, March 5 Mr Tayal, who was addressing the function as a chief guest, congratulated the meritorious students, their parents and teachers, who had played a vital role for their success. The Chief Guest informed that the Haryana Government had taken many steps to recognise and encourage brilliant students of the state. However, the function was being organised to honour those students who had secured 80 per cent marks and above from urban colleges and 70 per cent and above from the rural colleges in the annual university examinations, he added. Quoting from the Bhagvad Gita Kurukshetra University, Vice-Chancellor, Dr
A.K. Chawla called upon the students to work hard without caring for reward. Dr Chawla, in his presidential address, congratulated the students and their parents Dr Chawla also informed that Kurukshetra University was planning to honour meritorious students by organising a function on the university campus. Earlier, Commissioner and Secretary, Higher Education, Mr Dhanpat Singh, welcomed the gathering. He also highlighted the education policy of the state government.
|
|
|
College honours its sportsmen Ambala, March 5 The Principal’s
Medal was won by Gunjan Jain. A medal each was bagged by Princekevi
Karamjeet and Surekha Rana for being declared the best sportsman and
sportswoman of the college. Silver medals were awarded to Anjali Sharma,
Pooja Gupta and Supriya for standing second in the university in their
respective subjects. Gunjan Jain and Amit Bhola were awarded college
colours for excellence in dance and music, Parul Yakhmi and Jyoti Batra
for debate and singing. Vikas Gupta was given college colours for being
the best NSS volunteer. Lieut Mukesh Anand Memorial Gold Medals were
awarded to Mahavir Singh and Amna Saini. College colours for sports were
awarded to Balwinder Kumar, Neena, Dinesh, Princekevi Karamjeet, Rajesh,
Pankaj, Rohit, Saurav, Satnam Kaur and Neha. Dr Desh Bandhu, Dr R.P. Vij,
Mr Ajay Krishan, Dr R.R. Malik, Mr Randhir Choudhary and Mr K.L. Nagpal
were also present on the occasion. |
|
|
Lawyers to meet District and Sessions Judge Ambala, March 5 The courts functioning on the second floor should be shifted to the courtrooms lying vacant on the on the ground floor and first floor, it was demanded. A parking lot was also demanded for lawyers near the entry point to the judicial complex. Some of the members also raised the issue of non-availability of drinking water and regarding the cleanliness of the complex. They decided to send a delegation, comprising Mr
F.C. Aggarwal, Mr Ajay jain, Mr Umrish Gandhi, Mr Amarjit Punia and Mr Rajinder Vig (all lawyers), and headed by the president of the District Bar Association, Mr
J.S. Kohli, to meet the District and Sessions Judge in this regard. If the steps were not taken to resolve these issues within seven days, the association would be constrained to take further necessary measures, they said. |
|
|
Power bill collection centres to be open on Saturdays Yamunanagar, March 5 The banks would also function on all these days. This facility has been provided in Panchkula, Ambala, Rohtak and Jhajjar districts by the Nigam. |
|
Youth killed in accident Hisar, march 5 Meanwhile, three persons including a woman were injured in a clash between two families at Pabra village near here. They were admitted to the local Civil Hospital. |
|
Major fire
in cotton factory Ambala, March 5
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | National Capital | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
