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Cong wants poll under
President’s rule
Days of Chautala govt
numbered: Cong
Anil Vij announces candidature from cantonment
BKU leader Nain’s claim denied
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Kalam to address Indian Science Congress
Gita Jayanti Samaroh inaugurated
Power cuts becoming routine
Two held in kidnapping case
Centre claims no death of vultures
Sultanpur park fails to attract migratory birds
Medical camp for Dalit women held
Cable operators unite against Star move
Jalandhar dazzles at Cantonment board schools meet
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Hooda absent from Cong rally
Sirsa, December 19 Alleging that the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala was corrupt, Mr Surjewala called the party workers to motivate the public to vote out the INLD government in the forthcoming assembly poll. He charged the state government with indulging in corrupt practices like offering government jobs to favourites and ignoring the deserving ones. Addressing an impressive gathering, he said the state government was “anti-farmers”. Citing the Dulina murder case, he blamed the Chautala regime of using force. He also alleged that the family members of the CM had tried to take over the land of a religious dera belonging to the Kamboj community in the district. Senior party member, Bhupinder Singh Hooda was absent from the rally indicating increased factionalism in the party. Former state Congress president, Mr Dharam Pal Malik, said Mr Bhajan Lal would become the CM if the Congress came to power in the state. Mr Janardadhan Dwivedi, party general secretary urged the party workers to strengthen the party for the coming elections. He said the party would soon release its manifesto and announce the names of the candidates. The trading community and industrialists were the worst-affected during the Chautala regime due to rampant corruption in the government. On the absence of certain senior party leaders from the rally, Mr Bhajan Lal said they were busy in other assignments and urged the voters to uproot the “corrupt” INLD. Former state Irrigation Minister, Mr Jagdish Nehra, the sitting MLA and Mr Lachhman Das Arora were among those who addressed the rally. |
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Cong wants poll under
President’s rule
Hisar, December 19 In a press release here yesterday, Mr Bishnoi alleged that seeing power slipping from his hands, Mr Chautala could resort to unfair practices during the Assembly poll. He asserted that the court ruling to stay the panchayat and municipal elections had come as a big blow to the INLD government in the state. The Congress leader alleged that the Chief Minister was defying the model code of conduct by making a number of fresh appointments. The government was trying to show that these appointments were made before the announcement of the poll to hoodwink the Election Commission, he added. Mr Bishnoi alleged that Mr Chautala was allotting plots to his supporters at Manesar and other places. He cautioned government officers who were facilitating the implementation of the unlawful decisions taken by the Chief Minister. |
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Days of Chautala govt
numbered: Cong
Kaithal, December 19 Mr Bansal said people of Haryana were fed up with the autocratic style of functioning of Mr Om Parkash Chautala and now his days as Chief Minister were numbered as people had made up their mind to install a Congress government in the state. Mr Bansal cautioned people not to be misled by the promises being made by Mr Chautala in view of the coming elections and asked them to give a crushing defeat to the INLD. Mr Tejinder Mann, state President, Haryana Kisan-Khet Mazdoor Congress, addressing the meeting lashed out at the Chief Minister for letting loose a reign of terror against leaders and workers of the Congress. He said Mr Chautala had been running the affairs of the state like a dictator. |
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Anil Vij announces candidature from cantonment
Ambala, December 19 He will be seeking a fourth term as an MLA. He has been MLA thrice. On two occasions, he had contested and won as an Independent candidate. For the first time he won on the BJP ticket in the 1990 by-election. In 1996 and the 2000 Assembly elections, he won as an Independent candidate. Mr Vij told Chandigarh Tribune that his team of Vikas Parishad activists was ready for the electoral battle. “We are going to go to the people with our slogan of ‘Kaam kiya
hai, kaam karenge’,” he said. A meeting of the central committee of the parishad was held here in which a decision was taken to form a 31-member election committee. “Election-related issues were discussed in the meeting. It was decided that the main plank for the election would be the number of development projects undertaken by us in Ambala Cantonment,” Mr Vij said. A parishad member said a general body meeting had been called on December 26 and the election office of Mr Anil Vij would be opened on January 2 in the Nicholson road area. The member said Mr Vij had fulfilled several demands of the people. “The first major work was the opening of a postgraduate college and the starting of a modern bus stand built at a cost of Rs 7 crore. A canal water system was also approved by Mr Vij for Ambala Cantonment,” he said. He also listed a number of other development projects. |
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BKU leader Nain’s claim denied
Rohtak, December 19 Mr Gopi Ram and Mr Ram Mehar, president and secretary, respectively, of the district unit of the Dharam Singh-led BKU said here yesterday that they had no plans to back Mr Nain. They alleged that Mr Nain was dragging the union into politics whereas they wanted to keep it a non-political organisation. They said Mr Nain wanted to contest the Hisar Lok Sabha seat in May last on the Bharatiya Janata Party ticket, even though the union leadership was against this. That was why Mr Nain was removed from the post of BKU president. They claimed Mr Nain was no longer the president of the Haryana unit of the BKU and the function to honour him at Kiloi a few days ago was a farce enacted at the “behest” of politicians. |
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Kalam to address Indian Science Congress
Kurukshetra, December 19 He also stated that for the first time, Milinda and Bill Gates Foundation of USA was sending a delegation led by its Chairman to attend the annual session of the
ISCA, which would be inaugurated by the Prime Minister of India, Mr Manmohan Singh on January 3. The foundation, established by Bill Gates, is planning to interact with eminent Indian scientists and young persons so as to establish mutually beneficial partnership, he added. A 40-member delegation of American scientists is also arriving separately to attend the annual session, besides a large number of delegations from Canada, France, Germany, China, Thailand and Pakistan. The five-day session will be attended by more than 6000 Indian and foreign delegates and will be addressed by eminent persons such as Dr M. S.
Swaminathan, who brought Green Revolution in India and Sam Pitroda, who brought telecom revolution nearer to Indian people during Rajiv Gandhi era. Elaborating about the focal theme of 92nd session of the
ISCA, Dr Singh said with the changing demographic pattern and life style of a billion people, the entire spectrum of the healthcare issues faced new challenges and required extensive discussion. There would be about 14 plenary in the Congress where the Indian scientists would make presentation along with an equal number of foreign speakers. The deliberation of these sessions and recommendations would have impact on the science policy formulation by the government, Dr Singh added. A special feature of the congress will be the participation of the school children in the session. Many selected students would receive grant for travel and maintenance through Infosys
Foundation-ISCA travel award scheme, which has been launched from this year. The selection of the students for these awards will be made on the basis of a write-up "What development in the science during the past two years have influenced you and why ?"
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Gita Jayanti Samaroh inaugurated
Kurukshetra, December 19 The Governor, who is also the Chancellor of the university, was inaugurating the four-day Kurukshetra Utsav-Gita Jayanti Samaroh on the banks of the sacred Brahamsarovar here this evening. While recalling the role played by former Prime Minister, Gulzari Lal Nanda in setting up the Kurukshetra Development Board for the development of Kurukshetra, the Governor pointed out that Kurukshetra had been developed to propagate the message of ‘Karma Yoga’. He said the Mahabharta period was the most important chapter in the annals of Indian history as Lord Krishna had delivered the celestial message of the Gita, which had been inspiring humanity all over the world. He reminded that leaders like Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Raja Ram Mohan Roy and the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi had taken inspiration from the Gita to strive hard for ushering in social reforms and overcome their problems. He urged the people to visit Sri Krishna Museum and Kurukshetra Science Panaroma here to get inspiration from the Gita and learn from the episodes of the Mahabharta. He lauded the contribution of the Tourism Department as well as the Cultural Department in promoting the cultural heritage of the nation. Earlier the Governor lighted the traditional lamp to inaugurate the festival. He also released four publications brought out by Srikrishna Museum, Kurukshetra Development Board. These included “Stone Sculptures of Kurukshetra Region’’, ‘’Master Pieces from Srikrishna Museum Collection’’, ‘’Selected Art Treasurers of Srikrishna Museum’’ and a pamphlet on Srikrishna Museum. Shri Ram Bharatiya Kala Kendra, New Delhi, gave a colourful and inspiring presentation of a dance-drama entitled “Krishna”. It depicted various aspects of the life of Lord Krishna. The audience was spell-bound with the performance of the artistes. The Governor also honoured Mr Raj Kumar of Shri Ram Bharatiya Kala Kendra. Rangoli drawn by artists of Maharashtra is drawing large crowd. It depicts various episodes of the Mahabharta. Vandna Joshi, who has the credit of drawing world’s largest rangoli within the shortest possible time, is also part of the team. The other artists of Maharashtra Sarang Bijgre, Parshant Jhade and Ranjeet Vankar have drawn the portraits of Lord Krishna, Lord Ganesha, Bhisham Pitamaah, Arjuna, Dropadi, Kunti, Karan and the scene of Bheem-Bakasur vadh. A crafts mela projecting India’s rich cultural heritage has also been set up on the banks of Brahamsarovar. A number of artists have displayed their handicrafts reflecting the culture and heritage of different parts of the country. The visitors can taste delicacies of Punjab and Haryana. A number of artists from the North Zone Cultural Centre and the Department of Cultural Affairs, Haryana, were also seen entertaining visitors at the
Brahamsarovar. |
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Power cuts becoming routine
Panipat, December 19 According to the information gathered by The Tribune, unending power cuts have become a routine in most parts of almost every district of the state. However, the worst hit are Panipat, Sonepat, Rohtak, Kurukshetra, Jind, Hisar and Karnal. Interestingly, officers of the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (HVPN) give different versions on power cuts. While the HVPN Managing Director Ms Jyotika Arora, claimed that no part of the state was facing any power
cuts, the Suprintending Engineer (System Operations) Mr M.R. Murari, said power cuts were being imposed due to non-availability of required power. While initially Ms Arora claimed that no power cuts were being imposed, in reply to a counter question she said only 20 to 50 minutes cuts were being imposed — that too only during peak hours. If power cuts were being imposed for more than 50 minutes, that could have been because of some local problem of the particular area, she added. On the other hand, Mr Murari said power cuts were being imposed as they were not able to meet their power requirement. However, he declined to say whether they were facing power shortage from the thermal and hydro power units at Panipat, Faridabad and Yamunanagar within the state or from the units situated outside the state like the Bhakhra, Nathpa Jhakri hydro project, Indraprasth power house and National Thermal Power Corporation. He further said that 400 to 800 lakh units were required daily to meet the requirement for proper and uninteruppted power supply in the state. He said the requirement kept on changing due to certain reasons. Nowadays the requirement had increased due to the rabi season, he added. Whatever be the reason, regular power shutdowns have made the life for the general public difficult besides disrupting production in industrial units and affecting the business of commercial establishments. “Power cuts are so frequent and unscheduled that one can never rely on anything that works on electricity,” said Mr Amrik Singh, resident of Model Town, Panipat. “The cuts also affect proper supply of water.” Blaming HVPN employees for power cuts, the spokesman for Haryana Vayapar Mandal, Mr Roshan Lal Gupta, demanded that the work of distribution of power should be privatised for improvement as envisaged in the Haryana Electricity Reforms Act, 1997. The main cause of regular power cuts was that several of HVPN employees encouraged electricity consumers to indulge power theft for their vested interests. This resulted in an increase in the fixed load causing power breakdowns, he added. The industry in the state had to face losses of crores of rupees due to regular power cuts, he said, adding that the textile units of Panipat were the worst-hit due to their peculiar type of work. All the threads broke even if the power was disrupted for a minute and it took over two hours to gather full pace in humidification plants of textile units, he added.Long cuts have also resulted in losses for commercial establishments. Sanjay, an internet cafe owner, said his work had been affected badly due to regular power cuts. Generators, invertors and UPS systems work for a few hours only as the cuts being imposed nowadays were of two to eight hours’ duration, he added. |
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Two held in kidnapping case
Rewari, December 19 The accused, who were brought by the Model Town police from Mount Abu to Rewari yesterday, were then produced in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, who remanded them in police custody for five days. The impounded Qualis, too, was brought to Rewari. With the confessional revelation made by the accused during police interrogation here, the prima facie kidnapping of the Qualis driver has now abominably turned into a case of ghastly murder. The accused reportedly revealed that after killing Qualis driver Desh Raj they had thrown his body into a well near Laxmangarh town in Rajasthan. Following the above confessional disclosure, the police has now added Sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) to the case of abduction earlier registered under Sections 365, 34 of the IPC at the Model Town police station here. A police party, along with the accused, has now gone to Laxmangarh to trace and recover the body of the slain Qualis driver. Besides, the police has also launched an operation to nab the three other accomplices of the accused. Giving details of the case, a spokesman for the police disclosed that under a conspiracy the Qualis, which was earlier booked to carry some members of a marriage party from a neighbouring village to Bharatpur (Rajasthan), was picked up on December 8 from the Maharana Pratap chowk taxi stand here by the accused. They then took it to an isolated place when driver Desh Raj, a resident of Bithwana village, near here, was done to death and his body was thrown into a well near Laxmangarh. Later Anil, a resident of Jhajjar district, and Sanjay, a resident of Malahera village, in Rewari district, took the vehicle to Mount Abu where the Rajasthan police, apprehended them. |
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Centre claims no death of vultures
Panchkula, December 19 Dr Vibhu Prakash, Principal Scientist at the centre, said that the vultures caught by their vulture trapper, Mr Ali Hassan, used non-invasive trapping techniques to capture the birds from different parts of Haryana. He was reacting to a report prepared by the former Chief Wildlife Warden, Haryana, Mr
K.L. Manhas, against the centre, which was also submitted to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests. Dr Prakash said that the dead vultures found in the state only emphasised the risk that these birds were subjected to in the wild, and hence the need for captive breeding. He said that the centre was established in the year 2001, with full support of the Haryana Government, after taking due permission. He said that permission for the capture of 20 pairs of vultures, each of Long Billed, White backed and Slender Billed species, was given by the state government on September 6, 2001, and the Central Government was also intimated about the same. “The Central Government also gave the permission to capture 20 pairs each of the Gyps species of vultures, and other than the 20 white backed vultures captured by the centre, additional six vultures here were presented to the Chief Wildlife Warden, Haryana, by the Chief Wildlife Wardens of other states,” he said. |
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Sultanpur park fails to attract migratory birds
Panchkula, December 19 During a recent inspection of the Sultanpur National Park, senior officials of the Forest Department found that the digging operation in the lake in order to remove the silt in 15 acres of the lake, started after the monsoons, and water was released late in the lake. As a result, the dropping of fish seed in the lake was also delayed to November, hence affecting the number of birds visiting the sanctuary this year. Though the number of birds visiting the sanctuary are between 8000 to 10,000, but no migratory birds- Siberian cranes or painted storks- (which were earlier seen in plenty in the winter months)- have been spotted at the lake. Some rare birds like marsh harrier, black necked stork, imperial eagle black ebis and painted stork have been spotted at the sanctuary this year, but these are too few in number. Forest Department officials say that with extensive efforts made by the department during the past five years for revival of the lake, they were hopeful of finally attracting the migratory 'guests' from this winter season. Officials inform that about two decades ago, the Sultanpur lake used to be a lively abode of aquatic birds. But bird population in the lake started dwindling gradually as the water level in the 90 acres water body started receding over the years. The destruction of trees and flora in the area, surrounding the lake, combined with intensive agricultural practices in the adjoining fields, resulted in poor run off to the lake during rains and silt deposition too began in the water body. In order to augment the water supply to the lake, the Wildlife Department ( earlier Wildlife was a separate department from Forest Department) installed some tubewells and erected a peripheral bund around the lake to stop its further siltation. However, these management strategies could not yield much results and by 1995, the lake had completely dried up. The state government's decision to elevate the status of the lake from a bird sanctuary to a National Park in July, 1991, spread over 342 acres, could not make much difference in improving the condition of the lake. It was in 1999 that an agreement was arrived at between the Irrigation Department, Haryana, and the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), that the lake was connected to the Gurgaon Water Supply Channel to have five cusecs water annually. Now the water body has water on around 15- 20 acres, whereas 20 acres of the water body where desiltation has been done, requires removal of mesquite weeds. The Forest Department has now come up with a proposal to start technological interventions and management strategies for restoring the pristine glory of the lake. It is proposed to elevate the peripheral bund to save the lake from further siltation, desilting of the entire 90 acres of water body to be complete by March, 2005, installation of four additional tubewells in the lake to maintain essential water presence throughout the year. In addition, it is proposed to have plantation of appropriate flora on mounds and bunds, strengthening of boundary fence and ensuring water flow in the lake throughout the year.
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Medical camp for Dalit women held
Raipur Rodhan (Karnal), December 19 Members of the self-help group (SHG), formed by the ESDI in the village, took active interest and motivated the poor Dalit women to get themselves medically examined at the camp. Mr Sanjay Kumar, supervisor of the Community Health Centre, Nilokheri, gave a brief description of the causes, control and remedies of tuberculosis disease. Later, in an interactive programme with the rural women, Dr. Mahi Pal Associate Professor at Haryana Institute of Rural Development (HIRD) appealed to the members of the SHG to discuss social issues such as the declining sex ratio, illiteracy, female foeticide and depleting health conditions with the poor rural women so that awareness could be created among them to raise their social standards. The Chief Manager of the SBI (SHG), Mr Mukesh Dubey suggested different kinds of income-generating activities for rural women like weaving carpets, making pickles, candles etc. at the household level to earn additional income. Mr P.S. Yadav, Assistant Professor at the HIRD, highlighted many success stories of the self-help group in the state that helped rural women up lift their socio-economic status to impart confidence to the poor Dalit women who are anxious to know the ways and means to generate income at the household level. Ms Manju Panwar state coordinator of the ESDI, who is working in the villages of Nilokheri for the past many years, said the rural women were keen to come out from their household routines and do something creative to earn more profits, besides, taking care of their health. |
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Cable operators unite against Star move
Hisar, December 19 The operators decried the Star TV’s bouquet system and demanded to end it at the earliest. They also condemned the television network’s pressure on them to broadcast its channels. A number of operators have stopped telecasting the Star channels. The cable operators alleged that the Star network package was unreasonable and the subscription fee was being increased every third month. Mr Devender Sharma, Mr Rajender Chaudhary, Mr Pawan and Mr Sanjeev Dhiman attended the meeting. |
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Jalandhar dazzles at Cantonment board schools meet Ambala, December 19 The overall trophy in the junior category (cultural) was won by Ambala while the overall trophy in senior category (cultural) was won by Jalandhar. The overall trophy in both junior and senior categories (sports) was won by Jalandhar. In the junior category (cultural), Ambala bagged the first position, Amritsar stood second and Jalandhar attained the third
postion. In declamation, Ferozepore came first while second prize was shared by Ambala and
Jatogh. Delhi bagged the third position. In the senior category (cultural), Jalandhar was number one in skits while Delhi stood second. In declamation (senior category), Jalandhar came first while Delhi stood second.
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8-year-old boy’s body found
Bhiwani, December 19 |
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Ancient silver coins found
Rewari, December 19 No sooner did the news about the appearance coins spread than the place was thronged by villagers who pocketed the coins. However, some one informed the Bawal police which recovered the coins from the villagers. |
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