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Haryana, UP farmers fight for land
Separate district for
Mewat on Oct 2
Probe panel finds doc’s claims hollow
Rains bring relief to industry
Child welfare panels reconstituted
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New war doctrine by October:
J.J. Singh
Order to pay arrears in one month
Make agriculture safe and profitable: Kundu
ASI suspended following tiff with lawyers
Power connections for tubewells under Tatkal Yojana
Doctors demand arms licences
Encroachments removed in Ambala Sadar
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Haryana, UP farmers fight for land
Adami (Haryana-UP border), September 15 His case is not an isolated one. Roshan Lal, Manipal, J. Singh (all brothers), Khela Ram, Devi Singh, Suresh (all brothers), Satpal and Rampal (both brothers) and Shama and Bramh Pal have also faced the same problem. Farmers of Ghadi Ramkaur village took away their standing crop spread over 50 acres, claiming that the land belonged to them. Shama told The Tribune that about 150 farmers of Ghadi Ramkaur and their associates came to their fields near the Haryana-UP border in tractor-trailers on Monday and started cutting their standing crops. The farmers also fired shots at Shama and Manipal. Rampal’s wife and former chairman of the Bapoli Block Samiti Kitabo Devi said the UP farmers took away their crops, besides three engines and other agriculture equipment. The farmers of Adami had been cultivating the land for the past 25 years and there was no dispute over it till this year. Kitabo Devi blamed Bapoli police station SHO Bramh Singh for the present situation. She said the UP farmers had burnt their wheat crop on two acres in May this year, the SHO was informed, but he did not taken any action. This is not the only village where there is a land dispute between UP-Haryana farmers. According to information gathered by The Tribune, around 1,000 acres of several adjacent villages — Nanhera, Tamsabad, Goyla Khurd and Khojkipur in Panipat district are a bone of contention between farmers of the two states. Disputes over thousands of acres in border villages between Yamunanagar and Delhi have been going on among farmers of the two states for several decades, leading to violence at times. In fact, the Dixit Committee was set up in the seventies to sort out the problem once and for all. The committee demarcated the land taking the flow of the Yamuna at that time as the border between the two states. The demarcation was known as Dixit Award. However, the flow of the Yamuna keeps changing, causing confusion regarding the ownership of land. Panipat Deputy Commissioner Anurag Rastogi has spoken to Muzaffarnagar Deputy Commissioner to find a solution to the Adabi village problem. Mr Rastogi said Samalkha SDM Sat Prakash had gone to UP and the land would be measured tomorrow to find a solution. Meanwhile, Samar Singh Rawal, Sarpanch of Nanhera village, which has a land dispute with Sahpat, Kokor and Momor villages in UP, suggested that the dispute among thousands of farmers of the two states could be solved permanently if the land was re-demarcated as per the map of 1842. |
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Separate district for
Mewat on Oct 2
Chandigarh, September 15 Official sources said that the area in Haryana identified as the Mewat region was spread over 1874 sq km. There are 491 villages, five towns and six blocks in the area, the sources said, and added that the boundary of the proposed district, to be carved out from Faridabad and Gurgaon districts, would be the same as the existing area of the Mewat region. About 93 per cent of the over 11 lakh population of Mewat region live in villages, the sources said. The Meo tribe, which inhabits most of the rural area of Mewat region, is Muslim by religion. An official said that the new district was being created so that the area developed at a
faster pace. “Mewat has remained a region of backwardness even after independence. The area lags behind the rest of Haryana on almost every yardstick of development, even though the farthest point of Mewat is no farther than 145 km from the national capital”, the official said. There are only 9 hospitals per one lakh population in the Mewat region as against 18 hospitals for every one lakh population in the state of Haryana. The literacy rate of people living in Mewat region is also less than the state-wide figure, the official said. The state government had constituted the Mewat Development Board (MDB) in January, 1980, for development of the area. Headed by the Chief Minister of Haryana, the Mewat Development Agency, executive wing of the MDB, spent more than Rs 513 crore up to March, 2003, on development schemes for the region, added the
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Probe panel finds doc’s claims hollow
Rohtak, September 15 A senior doctor, now a professor in the department of orthopaedics, had in a letter sent to the Health Commissioner, Haryana, and the PGIMS Director about two years ago, claimed that he had been awarded dual honours at international and national levels and had received academic excellence awards from the World Orthopaedic Concern (WOC) at its session held at San Diego, USA, from August 23 to 30, 2002. He had further claimed that he figured at the second spot in the merit list of SICOT (a professional organisation of orthopaedic surgeons) fellowships at the same meet where he was treated as a guest and his registration was free. He also stated that he had been selected for the Silver Jubilee Oration for the year 2002 by the Indian Orthopaedic Association (IOA) which is a lifetime award for academic excellence and that he was only the second doctor in north India to get the honour. These claims also figured prominently in the media weeks before the interviews were to be held. However, the probe panel comprising three professors — Dr
R.K. Karwasra, Dr Sameer Dutta and Dr Uma Singh — has concluded in its report submitted last week that “all the papers submitted for presentation by various surgeons for this conference were accepted. This suggests that mere acceptance of the paper cannot be taken as appreciation of academic work”. It found that the papers submitted by the doctor concerned were “accepted for the lowest category of presentation
i. e. poster presentation which confirmed that it was not at all an appreciation of academic work but an opportunity for presentation”. Besides, it was found that though separate awards were given for paper and poster presentation, the doctor concerned had not been awarded in any of these categories. The report also dismissed his claim that he bagged the second spot in the SICOT fellowships merit list. The doctor had submitted a list of doctors who were given the fellowship in which his name figured at number two. He claimed that since the list sent by the WOC was neither in alphabetical order nor region wise, it meant that he stood at the second place in the order of merit. However, the probe panel concluded that none of the letters from WOC stated that the list was in order of merit. It specifically stated that had the list been in that order the entry at serial no. 15 should have been by name and not “doctor from Thailand”. Regarding claims of awards at the meet, the panel concluded that the fellowship “was not an award but only a scholarship in the form of free registration and stay during the meet. It added that “there is no document or letter from the WOC or SICOT” saying that the fellowship was an award. It noted that it was evident from official publications that only two doctors from India won awards at this meet and the doctor concerned was not one of them. The report also said that the doctor was not treated as a “guest” at the meet and that he had received financial assistance from government and other sources for the meet. As for the IOA oration, the committee concluded that the doctor had not only deleted the name of the principal investigator from a research paper but also presented a paper with a similar title at another meet which is also “an ethical misconduct”. It also stated that media reports favourable to the doctor were published close to the date of interview for the post of professor. Maj Gen (retd) Dr V.S. Poonia, Director, PGIMS, today confirmed that the report was unanimous and that it had been forwarded to the government for further action. |
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Rains bring relief to industry
Panchkula, September 15 Officials in the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (HVPN) inform that the power load crashed by 400 MW after the rains today. With decline in load, the authorities have announced relief for industrial consumers, having a load of 1 MW and above. Being forced to go without power for seven days so that the increased demand for running tubewells in farmers’ fields could be met, these industries will be allowed to operate from 12 midnight to 5 in the evening, beginning September 16. The Power Utilities have also decided not to impose two days compulsory holiday on the industry; rather restrict it to one day in a week. It is learnt that 256 industrial units in the state have a load of 1 MW watt and above. Cumulatively, these units have a connecting load (what they can draw maximum) of 860 MW of power, though the normal consumption varies from 120- 200 MW. The power available to the industrial sector in the state is 25 lakh units (LUs) a day, and over Rs 1 crore is generated as revenue for power supplied to this sector on one day. Since revenue earned by Power Utilities from the industrial sector acts as cross subsidy for the domestic, non- domestic and agricultural sector, the Power Utilities, too, has lost revenue worth crores of rupees by closing supply to industry. Various industrial organisations in the state had represented that the production had come down by 30 per cent, because of non- availability of power for seven days now, and for about 10 in July-August. They had claimed that this non-availability of power had multi directional effects — loss in production, especially in Faridabad and Gurgaon; revenue loss; and, labour unrest because of non- availability of work. Officials say that though the demand for power had come down today, the dry weather conditions, would again lead to an increase in demand. The state has availability for 639 LUs from its various thermal and hydel projects, though the demand is almost 700 LUs a day. The Power Utilities thus proposes to buy 100 MW of power from private power trading companies. Senior officials reveal that they have already received offers from two private companies for buying additional power to meet the increased demand. While one company has made an offer to supply 100 MW power round the clock, at Rs 3. 37 a unit (which will be available to Power Utilities at Rs 4 per unit, taking into consideration the transmission of power), the other company has proposed to supply power from 2. 30 am to 8 am at the rate of Rs 2. 15 per unit (this will be available at Rs 2. 75 a unit). Officials say that a final decision on buying power will be taken by the Utilities tomorrow.
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Power crisis: villagers block road
Jhajjar, September 15 According to information, hundreds of villagers came out on the road about 8 a.m. and raised anti-government and anti-administration slogans. They put up a blockade, stranding the vehicles. Later, officials, including the SDM, reached the spot to pacify the villagers. |
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Child welfare panels reconstituted
Chandigarh, September 15 While stating this here today, a spokesman of the Social Welfare Department said that the Deputy Commissioner of the district concerned would be the chairman of the respective committee. The Superintendent of Police and the District Attorney of the district concerned would be the members of the committees. The District Social Welfare Officer of the concerned district would be the member-secretary of the committees. Similarly, Civil Surgeon and Programme Officer (ICDS) of the district concerned would be the special invitees to the respective committees. Apart from these, Mrs Kamlesh Sharma of Tamnauli village would also be the Member of the child welfare committee, Ambala; Mrs Bupinder Kaur of village Ishlamnagar of Panchkula; Mrs Bala Devi of Kurukshetra, Mrs Shakuntala Devi of village Wazir Nagar of the Kaithal committee, Mrs Harsh Puri of Jagadhari of the Yamunanagar committee; Mrs Parkash Kaur of village Bala of the Karnal committee; Mrs Krishna Gahalyan of the Panipat committee; Mrs Mohini
Devi (Sonepat); Mrs Sahab Kaur (Jhajjar); Dr Sudesh Dhull (Rohtak); Mrs Santro Devi (Jind); Mrs Sunita Gangwani (Hisar); Ms Rozi Mehtani (Fatehabad); Mrs Sarla Sangwan (Bhiwani); Mrs Krishna Phogat (Sirsa); Mrs Salochana Dhillon (Mahendragarh); Mrs Sunita Katariya (Gurgaon); Mrs Aneeta Goswami (Faridabad); and Mrs Kamla Sharma (Rewari). |
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New war doctrine by October:
J.J. Singh
Chandigarh, September 15 Speaking to media persons on the occasion of the Command’s 57th Raising Day at Chandimandir today, General J.J. Singh said that the new doctrine was based upon the concept of Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) and took into account advancements in the field of technology. The doctrine envisioned use of relatively smaller, highly potent and flexible integrated battle groups to strike strategic targets behind enemy lines in the least possible time. This is a marked shift from mobilising cumbersome corps-level strike formation, which took weeks to get into place. “We need to exploit technology to the maximum,” the Army Commander said. Stating that technology and firepower available to the forces today has come a long way since the 1971 war, he added that precision guided munitions, for example, pay high dividends as they can be used with devastating effect to neutralise high value targets like command and control centers and formation headquarters. “The cold-start doctrine is based upon the use of maximum firepower to neutralise the enemy completely before going in for an attack,” he said. “The belief is that the side which can adapt itself better to high technology would be victorious,” he added. He said that a doctrine for joint inter-service operations is also being evolved by the Integrated Defence Staff, which would be in place shortly. On the issue of de-mining operations along the western border, General Singh said that 98 per cent of the work was complete and just clearance of just one minefield in Kasowala had been held up due to heavy growth of sarkanda grass. The de-mining is expected to be complete by October 15, he added. He said that compensation civilians killed or injured in mine blasts as well as to those whose fields were taken over for mining had been paid except in a few cases where doubts existed. |
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High Court
Chandigarh, September 15 In their petitions, filed when they were Members of the HPSC, Mr Ram Phal Singh and others had sought directions to the Haryana Government to put an end to the discrimination being meted out to official Members like them qua non-official members. Saying that classification of members in two categories - official and non-official - is arbitrary and illegal, the petitioners had prayed that deduction of pension equal to gratuity from their pay as Member of the HPSC be stopped. They also sought directions to the respondents to allow them to draw their pay and allowances at par with non-official Members. In his order, Mr Justice Khehar, while allowing the writs, also allowed all other connected writs. Directing the government to re-determine the remuneration payable to the petitioners, the court also directed that the issue be settled within three months of the passage of order. The Judge also directed that the arrears of the petitioners be disbursed within one month thereafter. As for the issue of discrimination, the Bench said that the same had already been adjudicated to the satisfaction of all concerned in the writ Chander Bhan versus State of Haryana decided on July 28, 1997. Hearing adjourned
A Division Bench of the High Court on Wednesday adjourned till September 29 the hearing in a petition seeking handing over investigation into the murder of Sirsa-based journalist Ram Chander Chhattarpati to the Central Bureau of Investigation. The court had ordered the CBI to investigate the matter and submit the report within six months. However the CBI has sought six more months' time to finish its investigation. During hearing, the Bench was told that some of the accused in the case have moved the Supreme Court and their pleas could be decided on September 24.
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Novel way to make people donate eyes
Sirsa, September 15 After being influenced by the team of doctors at Kirtinagar, near here, a relative of a deceased person pledged to donate his body for medical purposes after his death. “It was a surprising gesture from somebody in an area like Sirsa but it will have a far-reaching effect,” say the people involved in the social cause. Taking a lead from the professional oath, they are serving the society by propagating “donation” in different areas. Villagers are coming ahead and making donations. Within a short interval of two and a half years, the bank has received “287 donations with 80 per cent success record”. The success story of Lions Eye Bank starts just two and a half years back when the parents of two-year-old Garima Joshi agreed to donate the eyes of their daughter after her death. She was suffering from a heart ailment. “A few years ago, after a function at a local eye hospital a team of doctors was discussing the need for an eye bank and thus it came into being on January 26, 2002,” informs Dr S.P. Sharma, the founder member of the bank. Soon after, a number of eye surgeons, physicians and other social organisations were roped in by the bank. Recalling their first “donation”, Dr Sharma said that it was after the death of the wife of Mr Radhey Krishan Bansal, a social activist. The donation was received at the local cremation ground. When the parents of Garima came ahead with the donation people started thinking about the movement. Thereafter there was no looking back as till the date we have not got any negative response,” says Dr Sharma, a renowned physician of the town and the former Chairman of the club. Out of the total donations, about half of them come from the Kalanwali area, about 40 km from here, where members of the Bharat Vikas Parishad have actively worked. Besides, the area has contributed to blood donation also. “We send our teams whenever we come to know about a death and try to influence the gathering about the importance of donation. It is definitely a tough time to influence near and dear ones at such a time and we tackle the situation wisely,” Dr Sharma said. “Once they agree to donate the eyes of the deceased, doctors approach the needy person waiting for his turn to get vision,” he said.
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Make agriculture safe and profitable: Kundu
Chandigarh, September 15 Primarily an agrarian state, Haryana has the basic structure already in place to take full advantage of the bio-technological revolution. Mr Kundu said though yield rates in the state were quite good compared to national and international averages, for a wide range of crops, agricultural productivity had approached a plateau in many areas with huge concerns of appropriate seeds / planting materials, deteriorating soil and water resources, imprudent crop cultivation, and product wastage. He pointed out that while field trials are going on for crops like maize and Bt cotton, no crop or seed has been released commercially in North India. Even in Haryana, trials are going on in Rewari and Gurgaon. Biotechnology could offer sustainable solution in all these areas, he said, describing various schemes already underway in the state. Mr Kundu said one such experiment of producing tissue culture materials at the Centre for Research and Application in Plant Tissue Culture (CRAPTC) at Hisar has already been a success. They were working on various other projects, including missions on bio-diesel plant, jatropha and bamboo. Jatropha mixed with diesel can be used as a fuel. It can be used as a combination of 25 per cent jatropha and 75 per cent diesel. The Haryana Government was also proposing to set up a state-of-the-art biotech park of international standard at Manesar (Gurgaon). The idea is not just to earn good revenue for the state but also produce export quality organic food free from pesticide. Dr T.M. Manjunath, consultant, Monsato India Pvt Ltd, gave a detailed assessment of bio-safety and environmental safety of genetically modified crops. Meanwhile, biotechnology applications in terms of transgenic corps, genetic engineering and food, ecological and livelihood security, development of transgenic plants as a source of pharmaceutical potential, and ethical and IPR challenges of agri-biotechnology were other issues discussed at the day-long conference as the focus was on ensuring that farmers undertaking agriculture should take it as a profit activity. |
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ASI suspended following tiff with lawyers
Jhajjar, September 14 The complainants, advocates Vikas Yadav, his brother Amit Yadav and advocate Sanjay Sharma, said that they were in conversation while standing near a shop on the Silani Gate at about 8 pm last night when a police jeep bearing registration number HR 14 A-0379 came to a halt near them. They alleged that the ASI Kishan Kumar and his driver came out of their vehicle and started slapping and cane-charging Mr Amit Yadav, brother of the lawyer without any provocation. As the two lawyers tried to intervene asking for the reason, the policemen also attacked them with sticks. They also threatened to frame them in false cases. When they introduced themselves as lawyers, the cops started abusing them. However, the victims got their injuries medically examined in Civil Hospital. They took up the matter with the District Bar Association. The association decided to complain about the incident to the SP following a meeting. A delegation of the lawyers led by Mr Naseeb Singh Kadian called on the SP, Mr Mohammad Akil. The SP placed the ASI Kishan Kumar under suspension and instituted a departmental inquiry against him. |
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Power connections for tubewells under Tatkal Yojana
Chandigarh, September 15 While stating this here today, the Chairman of the Power Utilities, Maj-Gen B.S. Rathee (retd.), said the damaged transformers would now be replaced by the nigams. The decision had been taken keeping in view the money spent by the consumers under the ‘Tatkal Yojana’. He said there had been an unprecedented increase in the demand of electricity by the agriculture sector due to less rainfall in many parts of the state. Despite this, the state government was giving top priority in providing power to the agriculture sector. |
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Doctors demand arms licences
Hisar, September 15 The doctors, including representatives of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), took out a silent march to register their protest. They also submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner to be forwarded to the Governor and the Chief Minister. The doctors warned the government that if it did not ensure their security, it would be responsible for the consequences. They also demanded arms licences on priority from the district administration. The doctors threatened to intensify their stir if their demands were not fulfilled. Earlier, the doctors held a meeting in the local Krantiman Park. They addressed a press conference in which they criticised the state government as well as the district administration for their failure in providing adequate security to the doctors. Meanwhile, the Haryana Civil Medical Services Association has condemned the attack on Dr Popli and demanded strict action against the persons responsible for the incident. |
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Encroachments removed in Ambala Sadar
Ambala, September 15 The drive against encroachments was headed by a team of police personnel and Municipal Council, Ambala Sadar, employees. The police team was led by Ambala Cantt SHO Randhir Singh. The shopkeepers had been given notice to remove the encroachments and even yesterday evening, the shopkeepers had been warned against encroaching upon the road which caused traffic bottlenecks. This morning, the team began clearing encroachment from DC Road. The team cleared encroachments in Sadar Bazar, Vijay Ratan Chowk, Rai market, Gandhi Market, Nicholson Road, Halwai Bazar, Bazaza Bazar, Subzi Mandi and other markets. After the encroachments were removed there was a marked improvement in movement of traffic in the area.
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Sadbhavna yatra reaches Kaithal
Kaithal, September 15 Mr Bhupinder Singh, SDM, garlanded the photos of Bhai Kanhaiya and also welcomed the saints and religious leaders accompanying the yatra. A large number of students were standing on road sides since early morning to welcome “sadbhawna yatra”. The yatra started from Gurdwara Nada Sahib, near Panchkula, and after passing through Ambala and Kurukshetra districts reached here today. It will reach Sirsa on September 18 where the Chief Minister Mr Om Prakash Chautala, will unveil a statute of Bhai Kanhaiya, according to an official press release. |
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Naidu, Mamata, Badal to attend INLD rally
Hisar, September 15 He was talking to mediapersons after addressing a meeting of the INLD office-bearers and workers late this evening. He accused the Congress of having double standards on the SYL issue. |
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Woman kills son, self
Hisar, September 15 Pataso and her 18-month-old son, Nikhil, died. A family dispute is cited to be the reason behind the act. The police has registered a case in this regard. Meanwhile, Rajender (30) of Jaidev Dhani locality, died after consuming some poisonous substance by mistake. |
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Students lathi-charged
Chandigarh, September 15 According to the police, a large number of students belonging to different factions, including Students Federation of India and the Haryana Janwadi Naujawan Sabha, staged a rally in support of their demands at the Parade Ground today. Later they started proceeding towards the Raj Bhavan and the police tried to prevent them from moving beyond Matka Chowk. Later a delegation of students met the Haryana Governor and handed him a memorandum containing their demands, which included a roll-back of medical and engineering courses fee, holding students elections in the state, jobs to unemployed and filling up 10,000 vacant posts of teacher in the state. |
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UPA govt against Haryana: Sampat
Rohtak, September 15 Addressing public meetings in the Kalanaur assembly segment of this district, he accused the Prime Minister of exploiting the judicial process to “sabotage” the SYL canal project even after the apex court directions to the Centre to hand over the construction to the Central Public Works Department. He said the Punjab Water Agreement Termination Act was passed with the connivance of the UPA government to provide it with a tool to delay execution of the apex court orders. |
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57 appear before Lok Manch
Fatehabad, September 15 The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Mahtab Singh Sehrawat presided over the camp while the SP, Mr. Saurabh Singh, the City Magistrate, Ms Sunita Verma, the SDM, Mr Subhash Sheoran, the General Manager, Haryana Roadways, Mr O. P. Varma, and senior officers of all government departments were present on this occasion. The Deputy Commissioner redressed most of the complaints on the spot and asked the authorities to take steps for the redressal immediately. |
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