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Chandigarh, May 18 The Haryana Government has decided to merge 50 per cent of the dearness allowance (DA) with the basic pay with effect from April 1. The government today also announced 2 per cent additional DA to its employees with effect from January 1.
INLD blames rout on tie-up with NDA
Dalal, Sangwan flay disqualification notices
BJP divided on future poll alliance
BJP does stock-taking
Women’s panel welcomes new govt
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HIGH COURT
Land not vacated even after a year of SC order
Engg students build
hovercraft Haryana SAD to be
reorganised
Nine get life term for
killing doctor
Stir threat on water shortage
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2 pc DA slab for Haryana employees
Chandigarh, May 18 Finance Minister Sampat Singh said the merger of the DA would be shown
as dearness pay which would be taken into account for payment of allowances, transfer
grant, retirement benefits, contribution to the GPF, licence fee and various advances. However, the leave travel allowance, travel allowance and daily allowance on tour and transfer and government accommodation would be continued to be governed on the basis of the basic pay alone. In the case of existing pensioners, 50 per cent of the dearness relief (DR) would be
merged with pension with effect from April 1. The arrears on account of additional DA from January 1 would be credited to the GPF accounts of government employees. However, the DA arrears from April 1 would be paid in cash this month only. |
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INLD blames rout on tie-up with NDA
Chandigarh, May 18 This was the macro reason identified by the party at a meeting of its office-bearers, legislators, district unit chiefs and independent MLAs supporting the Chautala Government, held at the official residence of the Chief Minister. The lone BSP MLA, Mr Bishan Lal Saini, was also present. The President of the Haryana unit of the INLD, Mr Sher Singh Badshami, and Finance Minister, Sampat Singh told newsmen after the meeting that the macro reason was primarily responsible for the party’s humiliating defeat. They did not, however, disclose any micro reasons which various members of the party might have identified at the meeting. They said Mr Om Prakash Chautala, party MLAs and office-bearers would hold district and Assembly segment-level meetings between May 20 and May 28 to identify specific issues that made people vote against the party. It is reliably learnt that Mr Chautala was today in a mood to listen. The defeated INLD candidate from Mahendragarh, Swami Dharamdev Shastri, set the ball rolling. The swami highlighted various problems being faced by the people under the state government. He is believed to have blamed the bureaucracy for not redressing the public grievances expeditiously. About 40 speakers spoke at the meeting which lasted about three hours. Almost all of them were critical of the bureaucracy. They also blamed the government’s policies on house tax, local area development tax, the poor law and order situation, rising crime graph, VAT, selective drive against encroachments and the growing gap between the people and the political leadership. Many candidates complained that workers were not active in certain constituencies. However, no speaker blamed Mr Chautala or his sons for being personally responsible for the party’s defeat. The meeting rather passed a resolution expressing confidence in the leadership of Mr Chautala. He was also authorised to select candidates for the forthcoming Rajya Sabha elections from the state. In July, two Rajya Sabha seats from the state would fall vacant. He was also authorised to make sweeping changes in the party setup. It was also decided at the meeting that new surveys should be done to identify more beneficiaries of the old-age pension and the people living below poverty line so that “yellow ration cards” could be issued to them. Prof Sampat Singh and Mr Badshami said it was felt at the meeting that if the BJP had walked out of its alliance with the INLD a year ago and not just before the Lok Sabha elections, the INLD would have been placed in a better position. The people blamed the INLD also for those policies of the NDA which resulted in a massive price rise, affecting the common man. They said since the Lok Sabha was dissolved before its term, the minimum support price for foodgrains could not be increased this year. The INLD suffered on this count also. |
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INLD sidelined, says Surinder Singh
Rohtak, May 18 Addressing a meeting of the state executive of the party, which discussed the party’s poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections, he said the people of Haryana voted for the Congress for two reasons — to oust the BJP-led NDA government and to teach Mr Om Parkash Chautala a lesson. Now that the BJP and the INLD had been sidelined, the Assembly poll would see a direct fight between the Congress and the HVP. He said his father, Mr Bansi Lal, would be the HVP’s candidate for chief ministership and the Assembly elections would be held under his leadership. The people were certain to support the HVP because Mr Bansi Lal alone could solve all problems of the state. The HVP leader, who lost from the Bhiwani Lok Sabha seat, said there was no need for party workers to despair. The party would bounce back within the next few weeks and emerge as a strong alternative to all other parties. |
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Dalal, Sangwan flay disqualification notices
Chandigarh, May 18 Mr Jasbir Mallour, an INLD legislator, filed two petitions against Mr Karan Singh Dalal and Mr Jagjit Singh Sangwan on December 31 for their disqualification from the Assembly. According to a press note issued by the government today, Mr Dalal was sent a registered letter and later sent another letter through the SDO(Civil), Palwal, to clarify his position vis-a-vis the charges brought against him by Mr Mallour. Similarly, Mr Sangwan too was sent two registered letters asking him to file his reply. However, none of the two MLAs has responded. The two MLAs have been sent fresh letters, asking them to give their replies positively by June 4. Mr Dalal acknowledged having received a letter from the Speakers office about Mr Mallour’s charge. While the letter asked him to send reply on May 11, he received it on May 12. Mr Dalal, who won the election from Palwal on the Republican Party of India (RPI) ticket, alleged the Speaker was following instructions from Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala who was upset over his and Mr Sangwan’s joining the Congress. “I was the only RPI MLA in Haryana. I formed a separate party which merged with the Congress. The Election Commission of India had recognised the separate party. Therefore, the Speaker should not take exception to my joining the Congress,” Mr Dalal said. |
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BJP divided on future poll alliance
Rohtak, May 18 The meeting had been called to study the reasons for the party’s debacle in the recent elections. It was presided over by the state BJP chief, Mr Ganeshi Lal. According to sources, several leaders were of the view that the BJP should go it alone in the next assembly poll. To buttress their view, they pointed out that the party candidates had been placed second in several parliamentary constituencies which in turn pointed to a huge increase in the vote share in Haryana. Others including former Union Minister I. D. Swami were of the view that the party would have won several seats had the elections been fought in alliance with a regional party. They pointed to the party’s performance in the past and said the BJP had fared well whenever it had a strong political ally in Haryana. The leaders identified the assembly segments in which the party had fared well. It was decided to concentrate on the segments in which the party had won or was placed second. It was felt that the BJP candidates from these seats could hope to win the next assembly poll. There was a consensus that the alliance with the INLD and the treatment meted out to the party by the Chief Minister was a major cause of the party’s defeat. The leadership maintained that there was no pro-Congress wave in the state but the party had lost due to association with the INLD. The party also decided to observe “black day” tomorrow when Mrs Sonia Gandhi would be sworn in as the Prime Minister. The meeting endorsed the demand of the local party unit seeking the suspension of the SSP for allegedly threatening the BJP nominee on the night preceding the polling day. The leaders threatened to launch a stir if no action was taken against the SSP. The meeting set up five committees for managing the campaign during the assembly poll. The manifesto panel is headed by Mr I. D. Swami while Mr Kailash Chander Sharma has been appointed its convener. The newly elected MP from Sonepat, Mr K.S. Sangwan, has been appointed head of agitations panel. Mr Ranjit Singh is head of the campaign panel while Mr Om Parkash Dhanker will look after the polling booth management committee. |
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BJP does stock-taking Sirsa, May 18 The district BJP president, Mr Jaimal Singh, advocate, convener Sirsa parliamentary constituency, Mr Dev Kumar, district general secretary, Mr Gurdev Rahi, and Haryana Mahila Morcha Secretary, Ms Jaswinder Pal, were also present along with many other local leaders on this occasion. Prof Ganeshi Lal said the core group held a meeting at Rohtak in which 35 senior leaders discussed the outcome of recently concluded Lok Sabha poll. They felt that the mandate given by the people of Haryana was against the misrule of the Chautala government and the people had punished the BJP for extending support to this government. He said that the general trend of the voter was against the state governments as was evident from the election results in Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttaranchal and Punjab, all being ruled by Congress governments. The number of its seats in these states had gone down. The same trend was shown in Andhra Pardesh, Tamil Nadu and Haryana. It showed that local issues dominated over national issues, added BJP leader. Prof Ganeshi Lal claimed that the party stood first in five Assembly segments whereas in 34 others, it stood second. He said keeping in view the forthcoming Assembly elections the party had constituted five committees under senior party leaders. Former Union Minister of State for Home Affairs I.D. Swami would be the convener of the Manifesto committee. Mr Kailash Sharma would be the convener of the Election Management Committee. Mr Krishan Sanghwan of the Agitation Committee and Mr Om Parkash
Dhankharh, former all-India secretary, would reorganise booth committees. |
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Women’s panel welcomes new govt
Fatehabad, May 18 The two AIDWA leaders were talking to mediapersons here today. They were here in connection with the preparations of the fifth state-level annual convention of AIDWA to be held here from June 5 to 6. Ms Brinda Karat, national general secretary of AIDWA, will address the convention. They alleged that violence, unemployment, organised crime and corruption had assumed alarming proportions and the public distribution system, which provided some relief to the people, had been paralysed by the outgoing NDA government, adversely hitting the poor. They said the prices of essential commodities like kerosene, LPG, wheat, flour, and pulses had skyrocketed during the term of the NDA government. |
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HIGH COURT
Chandigarh, May 18 Mr Dalal and some of his relatives are accused of having murdered Ms Chaudhary, a relative of Mr Dalal, for her property. Today, the Bench comprising Mr Justice V.M Jain and Mr Justice Virender Singh issued notice to the respondents, including Mr Dalal, for July 15. |
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Land not vacated even after a year of SC order
Karnal, May 18 An apex court in its orders dated March 15, 2003, had asked the encroachers to vacate the land and had directed the state government to ensure the transfer of land to the panchayat. However, even after a year, the land has not been transferred to the panchayat. The sarpanch claimed that the village was the only village in the sub division with such a large landholding in the name of the panchayat but some persons of the village, supported by powerful lobbies, had encroached upon the land. An official of the Rural Development and Panchayat Department said following orders of the apex court, the department had issued several notices to vacate the land but so far nothing had been done in this regard. “Our Block Development and Panchayat Officer, along with the help of the police, had visited the village in January to get the land vacated but following resistance, the move was withdrawn for the time being”, a senior official of the department said. The officials of the department admitted that there was strong resistance from the encroachers’ side and the use of force could have aggravated the situation. The District Magistrate, Mr R.S. Doon, said he was studying the case. “The administration did not vacate the land to avoid tension, keeping in view the Lok Sabha elections,” he said. The sarpanch said once the panchayat got the land, there would be no need for fund from the government or the administration for development works. |
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Engg students build
hovercraft Ambala, May 18 They said they had spent around Rs 40,000 on the fabrication of the craft. For lifting it, a centrifugal blower has been used powered by a 250cc-22bhp Yezdi engine. A thrust fan has been used also powered by a Yezdi engine. The craft is 8x4 ft in dimension and weighs around 350 kg. The craft can carry a load of around 100 kg and can lift itself up to 8 inches from the surface. The students said the Chairman of the college management, Mr Tarsem Kumar Garg, had provided the necessary equipment for its construction. Nagender and Rahul said they had a desire to do something new ever since they joined the institution and with the help of their knowledge they had finally realised their dream. |
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Haryana SAD to be
reorganised Ambala, May 18 This was decided at a meeting of the SAD unit, held today under the presidentship of Mr Sukhdev Singh Gobindgarh. It was also decided that a state-level meet would be held in Panipat on July 30 at which the SAD unit would be reorganised. Membership fee of Rs 10 has been fixed. Among others, Mr Kartar Singh Takkar, Mr Ranbir Singh Fauji, Mr Sant Singh Kandhari, Mr Harpal Singh Pali, Mr Rajendra Singh Bakala, Mr Bhupinder Singh Bindra, Mr Harbhajan Singh Josh, Mr Satwant Singh, Mr Bhopal Singh Bhanokheri, Mr Ranjit Singh and Mr Darshan Singh Badhola were present. |
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Nine get life term for
killing doctor
Karnal, May 18 Dr Girish of Gharaunda was kidnapped on December 31, 2000. The accused had come to him posing as patients. Even after receiving ransom money for him, they killed him. Later, his body was recovered from a well in Muzzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh. Twelve persons were booked in the case, three of whom have already let off by the court. Additional and District Sessions Judge Darshan Singh yesterday awarded life term to the convicts - Babu Ali, Badshah, Shakti Singh, Ram Prasad, Gulab, Mohisin, Rajesh, Shyam Raj and Kartar.
— UNI |
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Stir threat on water shortage
Fatehabad, May 18 In a press note issued here today, Mr Bharat Bhushan Midha, district unit vice-president of the BJP alleged that due to an indifferent attitude of the authorities, residents had been facing an acute shortage of the basic amenities. The leader threatened to launch an agitation in case the situation fail to improve.
— OC |
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