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Selja dares CM to file suit against Congress
Probe charges against both of us, Hooda dares Chautala
Get our water share released, Ganeshi
Crucial Haryana BJP meeting in Delhi today
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Suspended for singing at Bhajan’s rally
Board fails to fix cane price
Trader-rice sheller owner nexus causes revenue loss
Two sons of former minister booked for attempt to murder
2 more die of suspected encephalitis
BKU men violate
prohibitory orders
Foundation stone of Dadupur-Nalwi canal laid
Bid to snatch Rs 4.95
lakh
Agent involved in fraud still at large
Dowry death case takes new turn
SSP urges media to show right path to youth
MP moves court over voting
Man gets life term for murder
Double-lane road on ring
bundh sought
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Selja dares CM to file suit against Congress
Fatehabad, November 16 Talking to the mediapersons here, Ms Selja said the charge sheet prepared by the Congress was only the tip of the iceberg and many more skeletons would come out of the cupboard once the matter went to court. She said the Congress had prepared the charge sheet in a hurry and many vital allegations against Mr Chautala and his clan had been left out. She said the Congress had performed its duty of exposing the ‘misdeeds’ of the government, being an opposition party, and the onus now rested on Mr Chautala to prove the allegations false. The Union minister alleged that the people of Haryana were fed up with the ‘misrule’ of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and had made up their mind to bring the Congress back to power. She claimed that the Congress would win the Assembly elections by an overwhelming majority and added that the INLD would be limited to a single digit number of seats. Reacting to the reported demands by a section of Congressmen that the Assembly poll in Haryana be conducted under President’s rule, Ms Selja said it would make no difference. The people of Haryana had exhibited their resolve to oust the Chautala government during the parliamentary elections, she stated. Answering a question, Ms Selja said the Congress would contest the Assembly poll unitedly under the leadership of Ms Sonia Gandhi. She said there was no rift over the issue of chief ministership in the Congress and the issue would be decided by the party high command only after election results. She clarified that she was not in the race for the post of Chief Minister and was happy with the role assigned to her by the high command. Reacting to a question regarding the hike in prices of fuel after the Congress coming to power at the Centre, Ms Selja said it was due to the legacy handed over to the Congress government by the NDA government. She clarified that the prices of fuel depended on fluctuation in their prices in the international market and it was only due to this that the prices of petrol went down. |
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Probe charges against both of us, Hooda
Chandigarh, November 16 Mr Hooda, was reacting to the allegation levelled by Mr Chautala, at a press conference here yesterday that Mr Hooda, collected about Rs 65 lakh during his padyatra from Kandela to Delhi and did not deposit it with the Congress. Mr Hooda, said if Mr Chautala, had any moral courage, he should set up a commission under the Commission of Inquiry Act. The commission should be asked to inquire into the allegations about the disproportionate assets levelled in the Congress chargesheet submitted to the Governor against, Mr Chautala, as well as into the allegation levelled against him(Mr Hooda) by the Chief Minister. The Congress leader further said while, Mr Chautala, should resign from the post of Chief Minister, he would quit the Lok Sabha till the commission submitted its report. He said if he was indicted by the commission he would quit politics. Mr Hooda, also challenged, Mr Chautala, to register a case against him if he was convinced about the veracity of the allegations levelled against him. He said history was a witness that, Mr Chautala, and his family had always launched agitations in the name of farmers at a time of crop harvesting so that the Chautalas could collect money from the farmers. He said the moment huge donations were collected, the Chautalas would end the agitations.
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Get our water share released, Ganeshi tells Badal
Chandigarh, November 16 Mr Ganeshi Lal was responding to media queries on Mr Badal’s disclosure at Jalandhar yesterday that he was trying to play the role of a mediator to bring about an alliance between the INLD and BJP in Haryana for the ensuing Assembly polls in the state. Mr Ganeshi Lal, while talking to reporters outside Haryana Raj Bhavan here today, said it had already been decided at a high-level meeting of the party in Delhi on July 18 that the BJP would fight the Assembly elections in Haryana on its own strength. The BJP leader said there was no chance of reviewing the decision. “The issue of any alliance between the INLD and the BJP did not figure in the meeting of the NDA partners in Delhi yesterday. Otherwise, it would have found mention in media reports”, Mr Ganeshi Lal said. He claimed the BJP had already identified tentative candidates for a large number of assembly constituencies in the state. “ We are still not sure about a dozen seats. But by the time elections would be announced, we would be having the candidates for these seats as well”, the BJP leader said. Earlier, a BJP delegation led by Mr Ramnath Kovind, Rajya Sabha member and leader of the Scheduled Castes and Tribal Morcha, presented a memorandum to the Governor Mr A.R. Kidwai and demanded dismissal of the Om Prakash Chautala Government in Haryana for failing to give adequate security to Dalits. Mr Ganeshi Lal and Mr R.L. Kataria, former president of the BJP in Haryana, were part of the BJP team that met the Governor. Mr Kataria told reporters that Mr Chautala received unprecedented support from Dalits at the time of the last Assembly elections but once he won the elections Mr Chautala turned his back to the aspirations of the Dalit community. The BJP memorandum listed various incidents of atrocities on Dalits that had taken place during Mr Chautala’s tenure and demanded that a human rights commission and a Scheduled Castes commission must be set up in the state. It also demanded constitution of a commission for safai
karmacharis. |
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Crucial Haryana BJP meeting in Delhi today
Chandigarh, November 16 The meeting has assumed importance in view of the statement of the former Chief Minister of Punjab, Mr Prakash Singh Badal, that he was trying for a tie-up between the BJP and the Indian National Lok Dal of Mr Om Prakash Chautala, so that the Congress could be defeated in the Haryana Assembly elections. The two parties broke their alliance before the last Lok Sabha elections and contested all the 10 seats in the state independently. While the BJP was able to retain one seat, the go-alone experiment proved to be a disaster for the INLD, which failed to get even a single seat. The Congress won nine seats. There are reports that besides, Mr Badal’s, efforts to bring the two parties together, the INLD leadership has also made contacts with certain BJP leaders at the Centre as well as in the state for a
rapprochement. While the response of the Central BJP leadership is not known, the state leadership is adamant of having no truck with the INLD. According to informed sources, a meeting of 16 senior Haryana BJP leaders was held recently to discuss the issue. The leaders were unanimous that the party should go alone in the next Assembly elections in its long-term interests. The possibility of having a tie-up with the INLD was ruled out in unambiguous terms. A few days ago, a party spokesman had reiterated that the issue of having a tie up with the INLD was discussed in detail at a meeting of the senior leaders of party held in Delhi on July 18 last under the leadership of the former party chief, Mr Venkaiah Naidu. The sitting party chief, Mr L.K. Advani, was among those who participated in the four-hour-long meeting, at which all aspects of Haryana politics were discussed. The spokesman, who was referring to the reports that the former Delhi Chief Minister, Mr Madan Lal Khurana, who has a good equation with, Mr Chautala, might work for the restoration of ties between the two parties, said that after the Delhi meeting, Mr Naidu, categorically stated that the BJP would not enter into an alliance with any party in Haryana and would contest all the seats on its own. The Haryana BJP president, Prof Ganeshi Lal, today again ruled out the possibility of the INLD-BJP alliance in the Assembly elections. He rather criticised, Mr Badal, for “siding with” the Congress in Punjab on the issue of the SYL canal, which was the lifeline of Haryana. Political analysts in Haryana feel that any tie-up between the BJP and the INLD at this stage would only help the Congress. The BJP rank and file, which was virtually totally ignored by, Mr Chautala, in the past five years, the analysts feel, would prefer to vote for the Congress rather than the BJP. |
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Suspended for singing at Bhajan’s rally
Madhu had attended a rally of Haryana Congress president and former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal a few days ago, after which she got the suspension orders. Interestingly, Madhu claims that she did not even get a formal letter in this regard. “I was merely told by the Superintending Engineer that I had been suspended without assigning any reason whatsoever,” she maintains. The DHBVN authorities remained tightlipped over the issue. Many senior officers of the department, when contacted, expressed their inability to give any official statement in this regard. Meanwhile, Mr Arun Kumar Gupta, MD, DHBVN, said according to service rules no government employee can take part in a political rally. Talking to The Tribune at her residence here today, Madhu alleged that she had been suspended at the instance of the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, for singing at Mr Bhajan Lal’s rally. “When I was singing for the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), it was okay. But now when I sang at Mr Bhajan Lal’s rally, I have been suspended,” she said. Madhu maintains that she does her duty regularly and does not let her work suffer because of her singing engagements. She said the rally at which she sang was organised on Sunday and hence it did not affect her official duty. “I am primarily an artiste and have been singing much before I joined the service. I have no regrets and will continue to sing,” she asserted. Madhu, whose nearly 550 music albums have been released and who has been honoured and awarded at state-level functions, feels dejected over the entire episode. “I have been awarded by Mr Mahabir Prasad when he was the Governor of Haryana. Mr Bhairon Singh Shekhawat also awarded me as Rajasthan Governor. But now, everything seems to have lost its meaning,” she said. |
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Board fails to fix cane price
Yamunanagar, November 16 Sources in the Haryana Government said the delay in the announcement of the price was because of the delay in a notification regarding the amendments to the Haryana Sugarcane Control and Regulation Act. When contacted Mr Rajiv Arora, Director, Agriculture (Cane Commissioner), said two items — price, of cane for the current year and assignment of the cane area (which were on agenda of the today’s meeting) — would be taken up at the next meeting. According to him, the price, was likely to be announced on November 23. He said that various sugar mills had submitted tentative dates of crushing season. The mills at Yamunanagar and Naraingarh had given a tentative date of November 23, while the one at Karnal may launch the crushing season on November 28. The delay in the announcement of price of cane means that lakhs of sugarcane farmers of Haryana would have to wait to harvest their crop till the price is fixed and mills start crushing cane. There were eight items on the agenda for the meeting chaired by Agriculture Minister Jaswinder Singh Sandhu. There are 15 sugar mills in Haryana. Normally the mills start functioning in the first week of November. The Congress, meanwhile, has submitted a memorandum to the Governor through the Deputy Commissioner, Yamunanagar, demanding immediate start of the crushing season. “The price of cane has not been increased during the past five years. The Congress demands a price of Rs 125 per quintal,” said Mr Satpal Kaushik, secretary, Haryana Pardesh Congress Committee, who led the delegation to the Deputy Commissioner. |
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Trader-rice sheller owner nexus causes revenue loss
Sonepat, November 16 According to a report, the racket has been going on with the alleged collusion between the officials of the procurement agencies and unscrupulous traders and owners of rice shellers. The growers are thus forced to sell their produce at throwaway prices and they have failed to get even the minimum support price of paddy fixed by the government. During the current paddy season, most of the traders had made direct purchases of paddy from the growers and sold to the owners of rice shellers without entering it in their stock registers, thereby evading the market fee and the sales tax. Some officials of the procurement agencies are said to be involved in this racket. It is alleged that the officials of some procurement agencies had reportedly allowed the traders to purchase the paddy marketed by growers without showing it in their stock registers. Sources also said that some unscrupulous arhtiyas also adopted a new strategy to dupe the officials by showing less weight of the paddy marketed by the growers. Official sources revealed that as many as 45,664 tonnes of paddy had arrived in the markets of this district by November 15 and these include 23 tonnes of common variety 9,132 tonnes of ‘A’ grade quality, and 7,197 tonnes of basmati variety. The bulk quantity of paddy stock had been purchased by the traders and owners of rice
shellers. The official figures about the purchase of paddy by various procurement agencies have not been made public so far. It is also alleged that some owners of rice shellers of the district had been exporting the commodity to other states and abroad without the permission of the authorities concerned. The owners who had been granted licences for setting up of rice shellers were required to seek prior permission from the department concerned for exporting the rice to other states and foreign countries and provide information about the quantity of the rice exported by them. The department authorities, on the other hand, seem to be mute spectators and have failed to check the violation of rules. Many paddy growers alleged that the officials of the procurement agencies were acting as “instruments” for creating a monopoly of the traders and owners of rice
shellers. They also pointed out that they had to wait for the auction of their stocks throughout the day in the mandis but the auction was always put off after the auction of some ‘dheris’ by the officials on some pretext or the other. Since the growers have no other alternative they have to sell their produce at throwaway price to the unscrupulous traders and owners of rice
shellers. An official of the Haryana State Agriculture Marketing Board told ‘this correspondent here today that the non-cooperative attitude of the traders and owners of rice shellers and undue haste on the part of paddy growers to sell their produce were mainly responsible for the whole mess. |
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Two sons of former minister booked for attempt to murder
Karnal, November 16 As per FIR lodged in the civil lines police station here, both accused along with Balwinder, alias Ballu of Dabar Thala village, Manga of Balla village and Suresh of Nandkaran Majra (Kaithal) village attacked Nippy when he along with his supporters was leaving his residence in his car to attend the Congress rally yesterday. The police sources said they had registered the FIR under Sections 148, 149, 307, 427, 294, 506 of the IPC and Sections 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act, after preliminary investigations. However, the assailants were yet to be arrested at the time of filing this report. The incident took place just outside his residence opposite to the Karnal Club. Nippy got multiple injuries in the attack. Mr Surinder Mann, brother of the former minister and his wife Ms Kamal Mann, alleged that the assailants also fired a shot at their son with a motive to assassinate him but fortunately he escaped. Ms Mann further said the police was not serious in arresting the assailants under political pressure. She alleged that the former minister was using his influence to evade his sons’ arrest. She said both accused and their supporters abused her when she tried to save her son from them and added that the assailants also threatened to eliminate her. |
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2 more die of suspected encephalitis
Karnal, November 16 As per the reports available, Satnam Singh (11) and his brother, Gurdeep Singh (6), sons of Om Singh, residents of Bilona village in Assandh subdivision in the district, died yesterday. They were being treated in a private clinic at Assandh. The health authorities of Karnal still claim that no one had died of Japanese encephalitis, but medical experts were of the view that the children, who had died in the recent past, were afflicted with symptoms that were similar to that of Japanese encephalitis. At least, 25 samples of blood were sent to various laboratories for clinical tests. However, none of them was confirmed positive, said the health officials. |
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BKU men violate
prohibitory orders
Sonepat, November 16 According to a report, senior district officials who were present there failed to take action against those leaders of the BKU and the farmers who violated the orders of the District Magistrate. The maha panchayat decided not to block the flow of canal water to Delhi till the BKU got the support of people in this regard. It was decided at the maha panchayat that the next maha panchayat would be held on November 30 to draw up the future strategy and course of action against the government. According to another report, Mr Ranbir Singh Malik, president of the district unit of the BKU, had a heart attack and was hospitalised. |
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Foundation stone of Dadupur-Nalwi canal laid
Ambala, November 16 Mr Chautala said that a decision about the alliance would be taken only after the declaration of election. He said that the memorandum submitted by Congress leaders to the Governor contain allegations which were baseless. He said that he was consulting lawyers to decide on the course of action. He stated that whenever elections were near, Congress leaders start levelling allegations. “This happened during the Punjab elections when charges were levelled against Mr Parkash Singh Badal,” he said. He said that the property which is shown to belong to him had been assessed much more than the prevailing market rate. He said that even statues of Chaudhary Devi Lal have been shown to be his personal property. “We maintain complete account of the money collected for the party fund,” he said. Mr Chautala said that the efforts undertaken by the state government had led to considerable saving for the exchequer. “For instance, we have saved nearly Rs 170 crore through negotiations for the Yamunanagar thermal power plant,” he said. “While the Congress is criticising me for the foreign tours, I would like to state that it was due to my efforts renowned car maker BMW was going to invest in Haryana,” he said. To a query, Mr Chautala criticised the decision of the Centre for not granting him permission to gather belongings of Sir Chhottu Ram in Pakistan. Later, during the foundation stone laying ceremony of Dadupur-Nalwi canal, Mr Chautala said that the project will cost Rs 168 crore. “This will benefit the villages in Ambala, Kurukshetra and Yamunanagar. About 1.68 lakh hectare of agriculture land will benefit from the canal,” he said. |
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Bid to snatch Rs 4.95
lakh
Sonepat, November 16 According to a report, Mr Sharma came out of the bank for going to the Bank of Baroda on Railway Road to deposit the money. He saw three youths standing near a Fiat car. They pounched upon him and succeeded in snatching the cash bag from him. He raised the alarm and a number of employees rushed outside to save the manager. Employees also grappled with the miscreants and this led to the torning of the cash bag and currency notes fell on the road. When the miscreants tried to collect them, a large number of people assembled there. But they escaped with the currency notes amounting to Rs 35,000 only, leaving the remaining amount there. On receipt of information, the police arrived on the scene and the border was sealed. Some police officials also made an attempt to apprehend the miscreants. Representatives of various political parties, social and voluntary organisations and trade unions have expressed their concern over the deteriorating law and order situation. |
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Agent involved in fraud still at large
Sonepat, November 16 According to a report, a police party is being sent to Mumbai within a couple of days to locate the mobile (9821703042) through which Manohar Kumar had contacted Mr Gulati a few days ago. Manohar Kumar had fled along with his family members on November 8 and depositors came to know about it on November 10. Depositors have blamed the staff of the Head Post Office, Sonepat, for conniving with Manohar Kumar in withdrawing money without their signatures. |
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Dowry death case takes new turn
Rewari, November 16 The body of Deep Chand Yadav was found hanging from a tree in the cremation ground at Jaisinghpur Khera village on Saturday morning. A suicide note was also reportedly recovered from him. Earlier another accused, Vinod Yadav, elder brother of Deep Chand Yadav and brother-in-law of the deceased Sharmila Yadav, was arrested by the police on November 10. He was later remanded in judicial custody by a local court. The police is yet to arrest two other accused — Sharda Yadav, wife of Vinod Yadav, and Sarita Yadav, mother-in-law of the deceased Sharmila Yadav. The Bawal police had registered a case of murder and criminal conspiracy under Sections 302, 120-B of the IPC. |
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SSP urges media to show right path to youth
Kaithal, November 16 He said due to prevailing social circumstances, the youth of the country had forgotten that our freedom was earned through great sacrifices and a misguided and directionless youth, by indulging in irresponsible acts could cause immense harm to the nation. He said the new generation youth should get the message that society and country were above the self interest. Mr Ved Parkash, District Public Relations Officer, in his address said media fraternity should get united to eliminate social evils from the society. A number of mediapersons attended this programme. |
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MP moves court over voting
Hisar, November 16 The MP stated in the complaint that he had the right to vote in the no-confidence motion against council president Yashvir Goel, but he was not allowed to vote. The judge listened to the arguments from both sides and the judgment would be delivered tomorrow. |
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Man gets life term for murder
Hisar, November 16 The case pertains to the murder of a labourer, Krishan of Dhani Kishandat, on 12 Quarter Road here. Mr Satpal, a brother of the deceased, had lodged a complaint with the police in this regard. |
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Double-lane road on ring
bundh sought
Ambala, November 16 Council secretary Ajay Jain said the bundh would be constructed from Mahesh Nagar to the GT Road, near Shahpur. He said with the construction of a new double-lane road, pressure on the Jagadhari road would be reduced. The new road would act as a bye-pass, he added. |
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Hisar, November 16