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Brick-kiln owners stop production
Chautala praises his govt to the skies
Haryana selects RITES Ltd
to prepare highway DPR
Unrecognised schools can seek recognition
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Probe sought into phone bill
Current meter reading service soon: Telecom GM
Bishnoi ready to resign
over SYL issue
Sadbhavna yatra to Pak flagged off
Rly Week celebrations in Ambala
Army recruitment merit based, says Brigadier
Valmiki conference from Sept 16
From Schools & Colleges
High Court
Counselling session begins on Sept 16
Stolen property worth
Rs 1.73 cr recovered
Residents block highway against power cuts
Suicide by woman
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Brick-kiln owners stop production
Hisar, September 9 Brick-kiln owners as well as workers staged a dharna in support of their demands here today. They submitted two memorandums to the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Balbir Singh Malik, one to be forwarded to the Prime Minister and the other to the Haryana Chief Minister. There are nearly 2,200 brick-kilns in the state, around 150 of which are situated in the district. Thousands of workers are employed in these brick-kilns. While owners see a conspiracy of multi-national companies behind the move, workers fear it would cause health problems. Talking to The Tribune, the president of the district Brick-Kiln Owners Association, Mr Karan Singh, said the order on using fly ash in the production of bricks was highly impractical. He said there were numerous difficulties in transporting fly ash from thermal power plants to the kilns. It would also affect the quality of bricks, he added. Kiln owners also claim that it would lead to escalation in the price of bricks. The use of fly ash is being opposed by the workers as it is suspected to cause health problems, especially respiratory diseases like TB and asthma. However, the state government has been pressurising the brick-kiln owners to initiate the use of fly ash. It has issued notices to the owners and refused to renew their licences till they follow the orders. Meanwhile, local residents are already facing difficulties as the owners have stopped the supply of bricks for two days. The owners maintain that the production would begin only after the government cancels the order. PANIPAT: The district Brick-kiln Owners’ Association staged a dharna outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office here today and submitted a memorandum listing their demands. The president of the association, Mr Jai Bhagwan Mittal, said it was not viable for the brick-kiln owners to use fly ash as it was not only dangerous for the health of the workers but would also make bricks costly. He said the state government should put pressure on the Central government to withdraw its notification of 1999 directing the brick-kiln owners to use fly ash. He also demanded a reduction in the lump-sum sales tax. He said it had been increased by 51 per cent during the past four years and it should be brought on a par with that in Punjab.
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Chautala praises his govt to the skies
Jhajjar, September 9 Addressing a gathering here today after inaugurating the newly-constructed mini secretariat building, Mr Chautala launched an offensive on the Congress stating that while the present government had been increasing the minimum support prices (MSP) of the agro-products, including wheat, paddy and bajra, the Congress government introduced policies, which led to hike in the support prices of commodities other than the farm products, unemployment and corruption. “The Congress government weakened the farmers by pursuing anti-farmers policies. They also find fault with the old age pension scheme introduced by late Devi Lal on one pretext or the other. The Bhajan Lal government had levied compound interest on the farmer loans, which was brought down to simple interest by his late father”, said the Chief Minister. Mr Chautala said that he was putting in place a system, which would benefit the farmers for next 50 years irrespective of which party is in power. He promised an MSP of Rs 515 for bajra. The Chief Minister said that in the changing scenario when the landholdings were shrinking, his government was stressing on the modern farming, including farming of flowers, fruits and medical plants, which gives more profit than the traditional crops. Reiterating his promise of providing uninterrupted power supply from the first day of the next year, Mr Chautala said that by the festival of Raksha Bandhan next year every village would be in the ambit of 70 litre per capita water supply. On the question of when the session of Assembly would be convened for the passage of the draft Bill for paving the way for premature panchayat elections, he said that whenever the Congress proposed to call. The Chief Minister also inaugurated the augmented water supply scheme in Beri town. He earlier inaugurated Tao Devi Lal Sports Complex, comprising outdoor and indoor stadiums, in the PDM College of Engineering at Sarai Orangabad near Bahadurgarh. He also inaugurated a water supply scheme for two Bahadurgarh villages. The Country and Town Planning Minister, Mr Dhir Pal Singh, Bahadurgarh MLA and INLD district chief Nafe Singh Rathee and other party leaders and district officials accompanied him to inauguration sites. However, the District Bar Association boycotted the inauguration of the mini secretariat to register their protest over the non-construction of the judicial complex.
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Haryana selects RITES Ltd
to prepare highway DPR
Chandigarh, September 9 While the government had already started acquiring land for this purpose, yesterday it also selected a consultant for preparing a detailed project report (DPR) for constructing the highway. It was learnt that a government committee today decided to hire RITES Ltd, a Government of India enterprise, for preparing the DPR. The Haryana State Industrial Development
Corporation (HSIDC), the nodal organisation of the state government for construction of the state of art road, had earlier initiated a process for shortlisting of consultants for preparing the DPR. In its eagerness to start the work of the road at the earliest, the state government apparently has jettisoned that exercise. A source said that on July 1, the HSIDC issued advertisements in daily papers inviting application from interested parties for preparing the DPR for the road. The DPR would project the total cost for construction of the road as well as specify the technical aspects, thus becoming a basis for
negotiation with a partner interested in joining hands with the HSIDC for construction of the expressway. A pre-bid meeting of representatives of companies, who had applied to the HSIDC for the work, was also held at the corporation's office in Gurgaon. The source said that 19 companies had applied for working as consultants, out of which eight were shortlisted by the HSIDC. The shortlisted companies are MSV International, CES Ltd, Cratts, Sheladia, L&T and Ramboll, Holtec, ICT and RITES Ltd. The shortlisting was done on the basis of experience of these companies in execution of similar works and quality of personnel proposed to be deputed by them for carrying out the work. The next step was to ask the companies to give financial proposals (proposal regarding fee to be charged by companies for preparing the report) and then take a final decision regarding engaging one of them for the work. However, this procedure was abandoned as RITES Ltd was chosen for the job. The company would get Rs 90 lakh from the Haryana Government for doing the job. If the source is to be believed, the state government had in fact made up its mind about engaging RITES Ltd for the job back on August 31 during a meeting in Delhi which was attended by a key government functionary. " It is not clear how and why RITE Ltd has been decided upon because it will not be possible to assess their financial proposal in the absence of similar proposals from other shortlisted companies", the source said. While the state government can deny any accusation about favouritism by citing that the RITES Ltd was a Government of India undertaking, the source said that in that case the process of inviting competitive bids from interested parties should not have been initiated at all. "Moreover, awarding contract to a consultant, even if it was a public sector company, is against the spirit of existing rules and regulations of the state government", the source added. |
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Unrecognised schools can seek recognition
Chandigarh, September 9 While stating this here today, a spokesman of the department said that this condition would be mandatory for all non-government schools except those having permanent recognition or which were issued No Objection Certificate before April 30, 2003. He said that those schools, which had already sought permission to run schools or start classes under Rule 29, could also apply for seeking recognition up to the same date. He made it clear that the District Education Officer would be the competent authority for classes first to fifth and first to eighth, and the Joint Director as well as the Director, Secondary Education, would be the competent authority for classes first to 10th and first to 12th. He said there was a provision in the Haryana School Education Rules, 2003, that no school could be set up or function or run classes without the permission of the Director. Also, the Director was competent to close those schools which were set up by violating the existing rules.
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Probe sought into phone bill
Sonepat, September 9 The subscriber has a landline connection 2256120 and a Cell-One connection 94160-14120. However, he was issued a bill against a Cell-One connection 9416015120 amounting to Rs 2,484. He informed the local BSNL authorities through a letter on September 22, 2003, that he had taken only 94160-14120 Cell-One connection and the connection 94160-15120 was a fake one. After coming to know about the fake number, the authorities issued yet another bill for Rs 56,532 to him against 9416015120. The BSNL recently issued a legal notice to the subscriber stating that an amount of Rs 1,18,264 against bills of 9416015120 was outstanding towards you. On the other hand, the authorities, in a letter to the AO (TRA), have admitted that the Cell-One connection 9416015120 was released to an unknown person and the subscriber of the landline number 2256120 had already had a Cell-One connection 94160-14120 in his own name. The AO has also been informed that an SDE has been asked to inquire into the matter.
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Current meter reading service soon: Telecom GM Ambala, September 9 Talking to mediapersons, Mr Gokul Singh said the current meter-reading enquiry service would start within two months. “A person can call up this service before making a call and after the call or calls. The past and present meter-reading will help a customer to keep track of his calls”, he said. Mr Gokul Singh said the length of queues outside bill receipt centres was likely to shorten soon. “A customer, who makes payment through cheque, can hand over the cheque and the bill to the designated telecom chowkidar who will give him the counter foil as receipt. This will enable people to pay bills at any time and without any hassles,” he said. He said they were going to commission 1.28 lakh WLL and 5.2 lakh cellular mobile connections which would lead to tremendous outreach and higher tele-density in Haryana. “To ensure that there are fewer faults, we are already removing poles and replacing them with distribution points. Faults in underground cables will be repaired quickly,” he said. Mr Gokul Singh observed that the outstanding bill dues position had worsened ever since the number of telecom operators had entered the sector. “Nowadays, a defaulter moves on to other operators. Currently, Rs 30 crore are outstanding. However, we have speeded up the process for clearing outstanding bills by sending notices followed by legal notices. Ultimately, we are taking legal action,” he said. He said a number of services would be launched throughout the country on September 15. These included virtual card calling, account card calling, free phone, premium number, universal access number, universal personnel number, virtual private network, number portability and
televoting. |
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Bishnoi ready to resign
over SYL issue
Bhiwani, September 9 This was perhaps the first meeting of the newly-inducted MP where indiscipline was evident and all other leaders were competing with each other to be noticed by Mr Bishnoi. Several times Mr Bishnoi had to interrupt them for not creating chaos at the stage but to no avail. The rally was so chaotic that its convener and district Congress president Ramesh Masta could not complete even two sentences of his speech. Mr Bishnoi flayed Mr Om Prakash Chautala-led INLD government and the NDA government for not taking a strong stand for the completion of the SYL canal. He said during the rule of the government led by his father and HPCC President Bhajan Lal 105 km stretch of the canal was completed. He criticised the Punjab government for the termination of Waters Agreement Act. He said he took all MPs from Haryana to the Prime Minister, Mr Manmohan Singh, to register their protest against the Punjab Bill, He assured the gathering that he was ready to resign for the cause of the SYL canal issue. He said he was indebted to people for his victory from this constituency and would make himself easily accessible to them. He said that he had met the Prime Minister and the minister concerned for setting up of a technical university in Bhiwani. Providing jobs to the unemployed was his top priority. He had toured nearly 500 villages so far to thank people for his electoral victory, he added. A former Chief Election Commissioner, Mr T.D. Jogpal, and an HVP leader announced to join the party at the rally. DCC (Rural) president Jangbir Singh, Mahila Congress general secretary Kusum Sharma, DCC vice-president Ved Pujari, Dr Vijay Kaushik, Mr Ashok Buwaniwala, NSUI president Virender Kaushik and Ms Anju Bala Atri were among those present. |
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Sadbhavna yatra to Pak flagged off
Yamunanagar, September 9 The yatra is expected to enter Pakistan at 10 am tomorrow. The yatra would go to the birthplace of Bhai Kanhaiya Sahib at Sodhra village in Sultanpur district of Pakistan. The group would return on September 13. The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, will lead the yatra from the Wagha border onwards. Besides 46 delegates of Sewapanthi, journalists will also be part of the yatra. Hundreds of local residents and schoolchildren reached Bhai Kanhaiya Sahib Chowk on the Yamunanagar-Jagadhri road to see off the yatra. Before leaving for Wagha, the yatra passed through various parts of the district. Colourful flags and buntings dotted the route of the yatra in the district. Earlier in the day, Mr Tarlochan Singh, speaking at a seminar on the life and philosophy of Bhai Kanhaiya organised at Guru Nanak Girls College here, said he was an apostle of integrity, peace and mankind. “The yatra is being taken out to propagate the teachings of Guru Granth Sahib,” he said. Sant Karamjeet Singh (Sewapanthi), mahant of Thada Sahbi Joriana Gurdwara, and Mahant Paramjit Singh from Rohtak also spoke on Bhai Kanhaiya. Among others who spoke were Mr Jagtar Singh Dardi, Member of the Media Advisory Committee of the Press Council of India and Parliament, and Dr Jagjeet Kaur, a former principal of the college. A spokesperson of the Haryana Government said the yatris would bring holy water from the Chandrabhaga river flowing along the native village of Bhai Kanhaiya. A state-level function would be held at Sirsa on September 18, where a statute of Bhai Kanhaiya would be inaugurated. |
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Rly Week celebrations in Ambala Chandigarh, September 9 The Punjab Governor and UT Administrator, Justice O.P. Verma, inaugurated the celebrations. Today's programme consisted of a quiz on the Railways and its history. The invitees were asked to participate in the quiz and among those who showed interest were the UT Home Secretary, Mr Raminder Singh Gujral, and satirist Jaspal Bhatti, among others. Athlete Milkha Singh and his wife Nirmal, Divisional Railway Manager Keshav Chandra and his wife, Additional Divisional Railway Manager Dayal Dogra and his wife and Senior Divisional Commercial Manager Aneet Dulat were present. Earlier, the Governor suggested that the Railways should provide more facilities to passengers, especially for long-distance trains. |
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Army recruitment merit based, says Brigadier
Ambala, September 9 Brigadier Sharma, who visited the Army recruitment drive being carried out at Convoy ground at Ambala Cantonment, said that the selection process was merit based. “Boys should have confidence in their ability rather than to rely on touts. It shall be our endeavour to beat the nefarious activities of touts by constantly and
continuously reviewing and updating our drills and procedures,” he said. He emphasised the Army selected the best and touts and
unscrupulous elements could get anyone enrolled. “People must shun anti-social elements,” he said. Recruitment for religious teacher (Junior Commissioned Officer) and soldiers had begun yesterday and 240 youths had already been screened. An official said that applications from candidates were received at respective Headquarters Recruiting Zones. These were scrutinised and eligible candidates were called for screening. In all 700 applications were received and 450 candidates were found eligible. On September 10, screening would be carried out for the category of soldier general duty for Sikh and Sikh (Mazhabi or
Ramdasia) candidates. |
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Valmiki conference from Sept 16
Chandigarh, September 9 Addressing a press conference here today, the MLA said the main focus of the conference would be creating awareness among the Valmikis about their political, economic and social rights. Besides, prominent Valmiki authors, bureaucrats and intellectuals would be honoured during the conference, he said. Delegates from various Indian states would take part in the conference, he said. Mr Banta Ram said Mr Ajay Chautala, INLD Rajya Sabha member, would be the chief guest at the second day of the conference. On the inaugural day, the chief guest would be Mr Banta Ram himself, while Mr Banarasi Dass, former Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Haryana, who is now president of the Haryana unit of All-India Valmiki Sabha, would preside over the session. The MLA lauded the Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala for taking active interest in the uplift of Valmikis and claimed that an unprecedented number of members from the Valmiki community had been given government jobs by the Chautala regime. Replying to a question he said he was in favour of reservation of jobs for Scheduled Caste aspirants in private sector companies.
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From Schools & Colleges Ambala, September 9 In singing, Prabha was first and Ekta second. In speech, Ajay was first and Updesh second. In poetry, Pooja came first while Babita was second. In dance (solo), Prabha was first and Geeta second. In mimicry, Ashima came first while Manju was second. In mono-acting, Neha was adjudged first while Sapna came second. In quiz, the team comprising Preeti and Babita was first while the team comprising Neelam and Rimpy was second. In painting (landscape), Nisha was first and Shikha second while in poster-making Rosy was first and Sunena second. Competitions
A number of inter-school competitions were held during the Army Wives Welfare Association raising day celebrations in Ambala Cantonment. In the on-the-spot drawing and painting competitions, prize winners are Manoj Sharma, Surinder Kaur, Navneet Kaur, Preeti Yadav, Sadhana Rani, Sanjay Verma and Vikas. In cycle rally and poster placard competition (first category) Anu Nair was first and Sagar Bhandari second. In the second category, Harish and Nisha were first and in the third category, Poja Devi was first and Anita Sharma second. In health run (category I), Rajender Singh and Shilpa were first. In category II, Utsav and Meenakshi came first while category III, Virender Singh and Kalpana were first. In health quiz, Kendriya Vidyalaya No.1 was the winner while Army School was the runner-up. In the inter-school declamation contest, prize winners were Aniket, Prateek, Sumedha and
Gazal. |
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High Court Our High Court Correspondent
Chandigarh, September 9 The medical examination had been done after claims by the girl's parents that she was a minor while the person claiming to have married her said that she was a major. During hearing in a habeas corpus filed by the Yamunanagar-based man, who was booked by the police on the complaint of the father of the girl, the girl himself appeared before the court and stated that she had married of her own will and that she was a major. Today the Bench hearing the case adjourned its hearing to September 14.
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Counselling session begins on Sept 16
Chandigarh, September 9 While stating this today, a spokesman of the institute said that the counselling for the reserved category candidates would be held in the forenoon and of the general category candidates would be held in the afternoon. The candidates, who did not want any change, need not attend the second counselling. The candidates who were absent from the first counselling would not be entertained during the second counselling. No separate intimation would be given to the candidates, he added. |
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Stolen property worth
Rs 1.73 cr recovered
Chandigarh, September 9 While stating this here today, an official spokesman said 360 accused were got convicted and members of 15 gangs of criminals were nabbed during the same period. Also, 343 proclaimed offenders and bail jumpers were arrested. He said that the police also recovered Rs 3.65 lakh from gamblers and satta players as 388 cases were registered against them. Out of 239 cases registered regarding crime like murder, culpable homicide, hurt and kidnapping, 216 cases were worked out. |
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Residents block highway against power cuts
Ambala, September 9 A number of residents, including women, sat on a dharna on the highway outside the Saha power house. They raised slogans against the officials concerned for their failure to ensure uninterrupted power supply. Meanwhile, Congress activists today criticised the frequent power cuts. |
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Suicide by woman
Fatehabad, September 9 Lalita (35), mother of four children hung herself from the ceiling fan of her house. She was married to Narinder eight years ago . Laxmi (30), a resident of Kajalheri village near reportedly took tea in the cap of a pesticide bottle on September 3 .She fell ill and was admitted to the hospital. |
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