 |
|
Regional parties to play major role, claims Chautala CM’s second phase of poll campaign EC seeks compliance report on hoardings DGP should proceed on leave, says Cong Long campaign period hits offices, students |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
BJP’s claims on culture ridiculed Insurance company told
to pay claim, fined Life term for two for killing infant Senior advocates meet Chief Justice Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice B.K. Roy (left) releases a book on the history of Ambala in Ambala on Saturday.
— Photo by Neeraj Chopra Sikh bodies urged to come on one platform
|
||||||||
|
Regional parties to play major role, claims Chautala Karnal, March 20 He was addressing a public gathering today at Nissing, 22 km from here. He said that neither the Congress nor the BJP and its allies would get a majority in the elections. The regional parties would have to play a major role in forming the next Government, he said. In Haryana, the ruling INLD would win all 10 Lok Sabha seats in the upcoming elections, he claimed. He also said that with both major national parties not getting a majority, the country would see an inevitable re-grouping of regional parties. Regional parties, including the allies of the NDA, had a separate election manifesto for their respective states in accordance to the interest of the local people, he said. He reiterated that he had not done any injustice to the North Haryana region as being alleged by certain new political outfits and pleaded not to divide the state as north or south regions and listed some of his development programmes he had initiated in the past four years. Samalkhan (Panipat): The Chief Minister of Haryana, Mr Om Parkash Chautala, today called upon the people to vote for INLD because of the development work done by it in last four years. He was addressing a rally at Samalkhan, about 20 km from the city. Giving reasons for the supporting the BJP at the Center, Mr Chautala said he had trusted the BJP that it could uplift the farmers and poor persons of the state. But now he had realised that the BJP was no different from the Congress. Both the BJP and Congress had always ignored the interests of the state, he further added. Criticising Mr L.K. Advani for his remark against regional parties, Mr Chautala said. Mr Advani seemed to have forgot that the BJP had formed the government with the support of regional parties”. Mr Chautala said since the BJP did not want to give the share to the regional parties so the INLD had decided to contest the elections independently. |
|
CM’s second phase of poll campaign Chandigarh, March 20 The president of the Haryana INLD, Mr Sher Singh Badshami, said during the first phase, which commenced on March 11, Mr Chautala visited 43 assembly segments and addressed public meetings. Mr Chautala took time off from campaigning to visit Germany to see an IT fair. Mr Badshami said on March 28, Mr Chautala would address public meetings at Bahadurgarh, Gohana, Baroda, Kharra, Balsamand and Fatehabad. Next day he would visit Bhattu Kalan, Darba, Rania, Kalanwali and Sirsa. On March 30, the Chief Minister would address election meetings at Ratia, Bhuna, Garhi Sorkhi, Bawani and Bhiwani, while on March 31, he would visit Kadma, Satnali, Mahendragarh, Narnaul, Ateli and Rewari. Next day Mr Chautala would address public meetings at Jatusana, Bawal, Taoru, Sohna and Gurgaon. |
|
EC seeks compliance report on hoardings Chandigarh, March 20 According to informed sources, the commission has asked the government to send a compliance report of its directions issued on March 8. The commission had directed the Chief Secretary, Mr A.N. Mathur, to remove the hoardings immediately. Sources in the commission say a fax message was sent to Mr Mathur today asking him to send the compliance report immediately. While in certain districts steps have been initiated to remove the hoardings, in others like Panchkula, the hoardings are where they were. These can be seen outside the headquarters of several corporations and boards in Panchkula. It may be recalled that a delegation of the Haryana BJP led by its president, Prof Ganeshi Lal, had met the commission in Delhi a few days ago and complained to him that the state government was violating the code of conduct and had not removed the hoardings. The Congress had also levelled similar allegations. Interestingly, a day after the Haryana BJP delegation complained to the commission, the central BJP asked it to review its order on the hoardings. From the message received by Mr Mathur on the hoardings today, it is obvious that the commission will not review its order and would go ahead to enforce its directive. |
|
DGP should proceed on leave, says Cong Chandigarh, March 20 Ms Thakur said the propriety demanded that the DGP, Mr M.S. Malik, should proceed on leave immediately. Accusing the Chautala government of being the “ghotala government”, she cited illegal mining and JBT teachers recruitment scam, among other alleged scandals, to support her contention. She said the Vajpayee government too was a government of scandals. She also alleged that the INLD supremo was visiting foreign countries to invest his own funds. Terming the Chautala government as anti-farmer, Ms Thakur said first the INLD promised free power, then its government opened fire on the farmers agitating at Kandela to demand free power. She claimed that Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s roadshows had created a wave in favour of the Congress in Haryana where the party would win all the 10 Lok Sabha seats under the “leadership of Mr Bhajan Lal”. |
|
Long campaign period hits offices, students Karnal, March 20 Most of the work done at the administrative level by the government has been adversely affected due to the imposition of the Model Code of Conduct for the poll. The whole attention of the administrators has been diverted to implementing the code, thereby putting an extra burden of work on the bureaucrats. According to Dr Ranbir Singh, former Professor of political science at Kurukshetra University and at present working as consultant in the Haryana Institute of Rural Development
(HIRD), Nilokheri. “The imposition of the code of conduct right from the notification of the poll dates almost halts the normal functioning of the government even at the administrative level.” He said, “The long gap between the date of notification of the poll and the date of polling is unnecessary”. The long span might give the contestants enough time to plan their strategies and campaign, but such a long span for electioneering leads to wastage of money, manpower and time. It also causes anxiety to all sections, particularly the school students who are giving exams and college students who are preparing for the annual examinations, he added. Political observers also feel that the reduction of the campaign period was considered a big achievement during the tenure of Mr TN Seshan as Chief Election Commissioner, as it checked corruption, use of money and muscle power. His immediate successors also followed the same path, much to the relief of the public. However, the decision of the present Election Commission (EC) to hold elections on May 10 in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Chandigarh and many other states, giving more than eight weeks of time for campaigning from the date of issue of poll notification does not seem to be justified for a common man whose attention would possibly be diverted from his routine work. “Though the polling dates have been fixed taking into consideration the examination schedule in schools and colleges of the country, the purpose has almost been defeated as high-pitched campaigning has already been initiated by all political parties across the nation”, said Gurinder Singh
Babbi, educational consultant based at Karnal. He further said, “From the road show of Congress President Sonia Gandhi to the Bharat uday yatra of Deputy Prime Minister and senior BJP leader L.K. Advani, the massive exercise to garner support in their favour has disturbed the life of a common man.” |
|
|
BJP’s claims on culture ridiculed Kurukshetra, March 20 Majority of the development works, so far completed, were initiated during the Congress regime, he added. Dr Sharma also alleged that corruption was rampant in the state and nothing could be got done without bribe. Law and order situation had also deteriorated and incidents of robbery and thefts were on the increase, he alleged. |
|
Railway bridge propped up with wooden beams!
Kesari (Ambala), March
20 Putting a question mark on passengers’ safety, a railway bridge on the busy Ambala-Saharanpur main line has been propped up with narrow wooden beams. Bridge number 285 has developed fissures. Instead of undertaking repairs on priority basis, wooden beams have been used to prop up the bridge. The temporary wooden support shakes whenever any train passes over the bridge. The bridge is located between the Kesari and Tandwal railway stations. There are two culverts under the bridge. While one culvert has six wooden beams, the second has nearly double that number. To ensure that the wooden beams do not collapse, their base has been cemented. This exercise was undertaken a few weeks back. One can clearly see that portions of the bridge are falling off and it is in urgent need of repairs. The Divisional Railway Manager, Ambala, Mr Keshav Chandra, said they were aware of the need to strengthen the bridge. “Caution is being taken and drivers slow down trains while passing over the bridge,” he said. “There is no problem,” he added. He said preventive steps had been taken and the bridge was under observation. “The bridge is nearly 100-year-old. It needs to be rebuilt. We have forwarded the proposal of rebuilding the bridge and it is going to be taken up in 2004-05,” he said. The Chief Engineer and the Divisional Superintendent Engineer (Coordination) have also visited the site. According to sources, though the issue has been brought to the notice of senior officials of the Railways, emergency repair work has not been initiated. A bridge in this sorry state requires ‘reinforced cement concrete pipe’ support. “The task is simple and can be completed within a fortnight. This will take the complete load will be a lot more safe”, they maintain. |
||
|
Insurance company told
to pay claim, fined Fatehabad, March 20 Mr Prem Kumar, a resident of Bhuna in this district had complained to the forum that he had his motorcycle insured with the United Insurance Company for a year. The motorcycle meant with an accident and he spent Rs 5915 for its repairs. He applied for insurance claim to the company but the company paid him Rs 3206 only. Mr Prem Kumar approached the forum thereafter. Forum President P.C. Gupta, members Mr B.S. Dandiwal and Ms Seema Saraf found merit in the complaint and directed the company to make payment of the balance amount with cost of Rs 500 and a fine of Rs 1000. |
|
Life term for two for killing infant Kurukshetra, March 20 Both of them in the presence of village Panchayat, confessed to their crime said the police chief. Mr Nehra added that they also confessed that they put the body in a bag, loaded on to a bullock cart and carried it upto Heengaakheri village from where they took it on a scooter upto Udaarsi village and Anil Kumar threw the bag containing the body into the canal. |
|
Senior advocates meet Chief Justice Ambala, March 20 The deputation also briefed him about the non-functioning of lifts, problem of parking of vehicles, arrangement of water cooler and cleanliness in the new judicial complex. They also requested the Chief Justice to use his good offices for constructing lawyer chambers in the vicinity of new judicial complex. Mr Ajay Jain, spokesman of the action committee of the bar, said the Chief Justice gave a very patient hearing to the lawyers. He agreed that the grievances need to be redressed immediately. Mr Roy directed the Registrar General to request the inspecting judge of the Ambala Sessions Division, Mr Justice
N.K. Sud, to visit Ambala forth with to get the problems redressed. |
|
|
Book on Ambala’s history released Ambala, March 20 The book has been written by Mr Tejinder Singh Walia. The book release function, organised by Rahat International, was held at SA Jain College, Ambala City. A number of dignitaries, including Mr Justice R.N. Mittal, Mr Justice R.K. Nehru, Dr A.K. Chawla, Mr Mahinder Kumar, Mr H.S. Doon, Mr Ramendra Jakhu, Mr B.S. Sandhu, Mr Nawab Singh, Mr M.S. Sullar, Mr Bhullar, Dr Neelima Shangla, Mr Tarsem Garg and Mr Kirti Prasad Jain were present. The speakers opined that the book would enable people to learn about Ambala’s history, with particular reference to the freedom struggle. The book narrets various historical events that took place in Ambala. |
|
|
Sikh bodies urged to come on one platform Kurukshetra, March 20 Mr Virk said to highlight the problems of Haryana Sikhs the forum had decided to hold a joint meeting of all Sikh intellectuals, missionaries, including the political parties and organisations such as the Haryana Akali Dal, the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (HSGPC), the Haryana Sikh Sangat, the Sikh Sabha, sants and babas of Sikh Deras. |
|
Navratra shobha yatra taken out Kurukshetra, March 20 Before flagging off the yatra, Ms Sudesh Kumari participated in the main puja of the function and paid obeisance at the temple of Goddess Bhadrakali.
— OC |
| 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 | |
