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INLD on collision course with Election Commission
EC seeks report on Haryana police recruitments
No Cong ticket for those losing two elections
Cong formula suits everyone
Cong MPs to take part in morcha rally
Youth Cong zeroes in on socio-economic issues
Jails protection shelter for criminals: Randeep
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Mulayam to kick start
poll campaign at rally in Ahirwal
Notice to BJP leaders for poll code violation
Political parties, candidates warned
DC appeals voluntary organisations
to help tsunami victims
Chautala seeks help for tsunami hit
Farmers up in arms against govt policies
Efficacy required in cancer treatment
Donations to parties may be scrutinised
2 new barley varieties
identified
Depositors for CBI inquiry into duping episode
Narcotic peddling goes unabated
3 held in dowry harassment case
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INLD on collision course with Election Commission
Gurgaon, December 28 Mr
Chautala, who was here to preside over a training camp for the INLD workers of five districts of south Haryana, said that his government would take up the issue with the EC today and expedite the process of appointment of officers for the new district. INLD workers from Gurgaon, Faridabad, Rewari, Mahendergarh and Satayamev Puram took part in the camp. The workers were given a pep talk on the election-related issues like appointment and functions of election and counting agents and spreading the works done by the government among the masses. He said that first the Delimitation Commission raised objections and stalled the process even after his government announced formation of the district. Now the function of the commission has been stalled.
Hence, in the usual run of events the appointment of officers should take place. A panel of names of officers has been sent to the EC in view of the Model Code of Conduct. His government would ask the EC to clear the names of officers in the panel. The EC may also allow officers of the adjoining districts to take charge, especially in view of the coming Assembly elections. “If the EC still continues to remain noncommittal his government will be free to take appropriate decision on the issue”, he said. There is palpable concern in government circles over the alleged “non-committal” approach of the EC. This is on account of the impending Assembly elections and the government, as of today does not exactly know how to tackle the situation, especially with regard to officers to be deputed for election duty. However, many feel that the ruling INLD was kicking up a ruckus on the issue to score political goal over its rival and to drive home the point of Mewat about its sincerity in providing a fullfledged functional
district for them. Mewat comprises four Assembly segments spanning over in Gurgaon and Faridabad districts. The new district comprises the areas of Mewat. The INLD had promised to the people a new district and its government is intent on completing the job before the polling day, naturally to reap rich political dividends. He said the INLD was keeping its options open for a possible electoral tie-up with the BJP and the BSP. |
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EC seeks report on Haryana police recruitments
Chandigarh, December 28 According to informed sources, the commission today wrote to Mr Ahuja to get a report on these appointments from the Director-General of Haryana Police, Mr M.S. Malik, and forward this report to the commission within three days. The Congress MLA from Palwal, Mr Karan Dalal, had alleged in a communication to the commission that 72 Sub-Inspectors were appointed in the Haryana Police on December 19, two days after the code came into force. He had also alleged that 819 constables were also recruited in the police after December 17. He had also attached copies of the appointment letter with his communication. The commission took a serious view of these allegations when Mr Dalal went to submit his letter to the Deputy Election Commissioner, Mr Noor Mohammed, in Delhi today. Mr Noor Mohammed is believed to have immediately written a letter to Mr Ahuja to seek a report from Mr Malik in this regard and forward it to the commission within three days. The commission had yesterday reiterated its instructions to the Chief Secretary that no recruiting agency, including the Haryana Public Service Commission and the Haryana Staff Selection Commission, should declare the results of any interviews conducted by it till the completion of the election process. It had also directed Mr Ahuja to ensure that no department made any appointments after the code came into force. It is not known what step the commission would take after receiving the report from the Chief Secretary. |
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No Cong ticket for those losing two elections
Chandigarh, December 28 This was decided at the first meeting of the party’s State Election Committee which met here under the chairmanship of the party President, Mr Bhajan Lal, today. Briefing newsmen after the meeting the Working President of the party, Mr Randeep Surjewala, said a person desirous of the party ticket must have been a primary member of the Congress at least two years prior to his application and should have been actively participating in various party programmes. However, he said this condition would not be applicable on those members who had come to the Congress after the merger of any recognised political party, meaning the HVP, the NCP and the RPI. He was evasive when asked if those Independent MLAs who had expressed their faith in the Congress ideology before the last Rajya Sabha elections in the state would be given the party ticket. Mr Surjewala said the committee had decided to give preference to certain sections of society like the youth, women, Backward Classes, minorities and the Scheduled Castes while nominating its candidates for the next Assembly elections. He said the candidate’s loyalty to the party, his commitment to the party ideology and his capacity to win the elections would be the other considerations on which the ticket would be given. The party had received over 3100 applications for the ticket. The highest number of applicants was in Gharaunda from where 73 candidates applied for the party ticket. There were 78 Assembly segments from where more than 10 applications had been received. While he refused to commit himself on the issue of ticket to the sitting MLAs, he said usually preference was given to such candidates. The next meeting of the committee would be held in Delhi on December 30. He said the committee would submit its recommendations to the Central Screening Committee by January 3. The Congress office in Sector 9 here witnessed huge rush of the ticket seekers today. |
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Cong formula suits everyone
Chandigarh, December 28 The committee decided that it would not recommend the name of any candidate who was defeated in two consecutive elections and must have lost his security deposit on one occasion. No prominent leader is affected by the formula. In the 1996 Assembly elections, the Congress had won just nine out of the 90 seats. Its 35 candidates had lost their security deposits. Out of these 35 candidates, only two candidates, Mr Ram Rattan from Hassanpur and Ms
Chandrawati, former Governor, were renominated by the party in the 2000 Assembly elections. Mr Ram Rattan has not applied for the party ticket this time. Ms Chandrawati has also escaped the disqualification clause because she contested the 1996 and 2000 elections from different constituencies. While in 1996, she contested from
Loharu, the next elections she contested from Badhra. Now how the committee would shortlist over 3,100 applicants, it will have to decide at its next meeting to be held in Delhi on December 30. |
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Cong MPs to take part in morcha rally
Rohtak, December 28 Talking to mediapersons here, he said Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, MP, Rohtak, would be the chief guest. The other MPs who had confirmed their participation were Mr Inderjit Singh, Mr Jai Parkash, Mr Arvind Sharma, Mr Avtar Singh Bhadana, Mr Atma Singh Gill, Mr Naveen Jindal and Ms
Shelja, he said. Former HPCC chief, Mr Harpal Singh, and the Congress MLA from Hisar, Mr Om Parkash Jindal, would also address the rally, he said and added that most of the Congress MLAs would also be present. The manch chief claimed the rally would give a new direction to Haryana’s politics.
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Youth Cong zeroes in on socio-economic issues
Ambala, December 28 Talking to mediapersons here today, Dr Angrez Singh said the intellectual cell of the Youth Congress had made certain proposals for the Congress manifesto keeping in mind the ground realities in the state. Dr Angrez Singh said there was an urgent need to change the definition of the poverty line. "Also, expenditure on the non-productive activities like installing statues and setting up parks must stop. We will also scrutinise the budget implementation by the Chautala government since we have been informed that provisions meant for one area were utilised in another area," he said. He said the unemployment was a major issue and the Congress would strive to encourage self-employment. "Vocational training is the need of the hour and jobs will be given only on merit. Also, the appointment of Vice-Chancellors and other senior university officials will not be politicised," he said. Dr Angrez Singh asserted that the Chautala government had sidelined the public-sector industry. "We feel that there is a need to encourage the tiny and small-scale industry. Attention needs to be paid to local artisans so that they can market their handicrafts in the major markets of Delhi and Chandigarh. Easy credit facility can be paid to the artisans," he said. District Congress Committee president Mr Ashok Jain said people were unhappy with the Chautala government. "We are going to accord top priority to the requirements of the people," he said. Mr Ashok Jain said in Ambala Cantt Assembly segment, there were a number of peculiar problems. "For instance, the state government claims ownership of land in Ambala Sadar and the occupant is said to have only rights over the structure. But, on the other hand, for house tax calculation, the whole area is taken into consideration," he said. “Also, Mahesh Nagar colonies were regularised recently. The regularisation of colonies have been turned into a mockery. “While the unauthorised colonies were first regularised, they were again de-regularised. Thereafter, the government has again regularised these colonies. We wonder whether the Chautala government has any fixed policy or not," he said. |
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Jails protection shelter for criminals: Randeep
Chandigarh, December 28 In a statement issued here today Mr Surjewala said complete anarchy prevailed in Haryana and organised gangs of criminals operated under the “active protection of the INLD Government”. He also alleged that the state jails had become the “protection shelter” for members of the organised crime syndicates. “What is most shocking is that the sons of the Chief Minister have visited the jails at Jind, Rohtak, Sonipat and Ambala to meet hardcore criminals on several occasions”. Cell phones, DVD players, liquor, outside food as also permission to receive innumerable visitors at unscheduled hours were among the facilities granted to the hardcore criminals lodged in jails. The law enforcing agencies of Delhi, UP, Rajasthan and Haryana had, on more than one occasion, intercepted extortion and death threats issued by the hardcore criminals from Haryana jails. Mr Surjewala alleged that the entire police machinery in the state had been “Lokdalised” to carry out personal agenda of Mr Chautala and his sons. He alleged that on the eve of the elections, numerous such criminals were released on parole so that their services could be used by the ruling party to browbeat its political rivals. He said the state of lawlessness could be gauged from the fact that 50 unclaimed bodies had been recovered between April, 2004, and November, 2004, in Sirsa, the Chief Minister’s home district. The police, he said, “unashamedly attributed” these bodies to a massive narcotics racket being run from Pakistan to India. Mr Surjewala said when the Congress would come to power, it would cleanse Haryana’s civil society by exposing and erasing the politico-criminal nexus and by punishing the guilty, howsoever high or well placed they might be. He warned the police officers to perform their duty, otherwise they would be held responsible for their actions. |
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Mulayam to kick start
poll campaign at rally in Ahirwal
Rewari, December 28 This was stated here today by Mr Raghu Yadav, senior leader and star campaigner of the party in Ahirwal. He informed that the Samajwadi party’s (SP) electoral strategy in Haryana was to contest the minimum number of seats with maximum efforts. As regards poll alliance with other like-minded parties, he clarified that options in this regard were open. Making a specific mention of the party’s performance during the previous Lok Sabha elections in the Mahendergarh Parliamentary constituency in which he had surpassed the BJP in several of the Assembly segments, Mr Yadav asserted that the Samajwadi Party was now well-entrenched in Ahirwal which comprised the ten Assembly constituencies of Narnaul, Mahendergarh, Ateli, Jatusana, Rewari, Bawal, Gurgaon, Sohna, Pataudi and Salhawas. He went on to say that the SP would now give a tough fight to the Congress in such constituencies in the coming Assembly elections. Recounting the specific measures which were initiated for the betterment of the defence personnel by Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav when he was the Defence Minister of the country, he claimed that the electioneering by Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav would now definitely brighten the prospects of the party in Ahirwal which had lakhs of ex-servicemen and serving soldiers .The region is also dominated by Yadavs. Asserting that this time he would be leading the party’s poll campaign from the front at Ahirwal, Mr Raghu Yadav further informed that he himself would also be contesting the Assembly elections either from Rewari or from Jatusana. |
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Notice to BJP leaders for poll code violation
Ambala, December 28 According to information, the notice was issued to the BJP leaders for distributing fruit to patients of the local Civil Hospital three days ago to celebrate the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. Meanwhile, Mr Sachdeva filed the reply on behalf of other BJP leaders before the district election officer today. He said no eatables were distributed among the patients. He said fruits were given to some patients. Mr Gupta said he would inquire into the matter and then take a decision on it. He said he had directed officials of government rest houses not to allow any political party or leader to hold political activities there, including press conferences. He said he had also directed the departments concerned to remove hoardings along roads. He said strict action would be taken against those who were found involved in defacing government or private properties by writing slogans. |
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Political parties, candidates warned
Kaithal, December 28 The order issued said that any person, defacing any public or private property without written permission of the owner of the building, shall be prosecuted . The Subdivisional Magistates have been appointed enforcement magistrates in their respective jurisdiction and the Superintendent of Police has been directed to constitute flying squads under the charge of respective SHOs to check defacement of properties as per guidelines of the Election Commission. This order shall remain in force till further orders. |
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DC appeals voluntary organisations
to help tsunami victims
Kaithal, December 28 Addressing representatives of these organisations here today, Mr Malik said thousands of lives had been lost in Tamil Nadu, Andeman and Nikobar islands, and Andhra Pradesh and many others rendered homeless Kerala due to calamity. The Indian Medical Association and District Chemists and Drugs Association have offered to send medicines and other relief material. Mr Malik said a committee would be being constituted for this purpose. The City Magistrate, Mr P.K. Sharma, Secretary, District Red Cross Society, Mr
R.S. Mor, representatives of the IMA, were among others who attended the meeting.
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Chautala seeks help for tsunami hit
Chandigarh, December 28
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Farmers up in arms against govt policies
Kurukshetra, December 28 For the first time as many as 15 farmers’ organisations from various states gathered at Kurukshetra yesterday in an effort to form a united platform to deal with political parties and exert pressure on them to frame pro-farmer policies. The president of Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU), Mr Mahinder Singh Tikkait, who presided over the meeting, said India should keep away from the pressure of World Trade Organisation as its policies were not in the interest of the farming community of the developing countries. He said efforts were being made to put the demands and problems of farmers in the country before all major political parties. Such a move had become necessary because so far the political parties were not giving due significance to the problems of farmers and the agriculture sector, he added. He stressed upon the need to form a joint committee of all farmers’ organisations based for protecting rights of the farming community so as to boost the agriculture sector and rural economy. For this, he said another meeting of the farmers’ organisations had been convened on January 2 at Panipat. Mr Pala Ram Gaur, president of the Haryana unit of the BKU alleged that the state Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, had tried to suppress the agitations of farmers breaking all the democratic principles whenever they raised their voice against the anti-farmer policies of the government. Among others who were present in the meeting included, Mr Ashok Mathur from Kisan Morcha Bikaner, Mr Balkar Singh, general secretary of Punjab unit, Mr Rajpal Singh Punia, president of state unit of Rajasthan, Mr Devinder Gandhi, state president of Kisan Sangharash Samiti of Uttar Pradesh, Mr Rajesh Kumar, president of the Krantikari Kisan-Mazdoor Union of Haryana and many other farmers’ and labour organisations. The Kisan Union (Khokhar), a farmers’ organisation active in the GT Road belt of Karnal, Panipat and Sonepat had also initiated a separate similar attempt to bring all the farmers’ organisations on a single platform. Another powerful farmers’ body active in Jind and Rohtak belt under the leadership of Mr Ghasi Ram Nain had already declared to fight the elections on their own without supporting any political party. |
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Efficacy required in cancer treatment
Rohtak, December 28 It was found that what made the difference was that patients in Japan were given treatment at the early stages, whereas in Haryana the patients reported to oncologists much later. In advanced stages, experts say, the “three field dissections” surgery is not of much use. That was why this surgical technique was not yielding the desired results here. Dr R.K. Karwasra, Professor and Head, Department of Surgery, PGIMS, told The Tribune that the main cause of the problem was a major flaw in the admission procedure of patients to leading medical institutions. “The person manning the counter enquires about the symptoms from the patient. Since the first symptom of oesophageal cancer is difficulty in swallowing. Instead of being sent to the surgery department, the patients are referred to the Ear-Nose-Throat (ENT) Department where they are treated for several months before being referred to oncologists. By that time, the cancer has advanced to a stage where surgical treatment is not much effective”, he said. Dr Karwasra who also attended the World Congress of International Society for digestive surgery earlier this month and later took a short training course at Tokyo’s National Cancer Centre said ideally all patients must be first examined by junior doctors who could assess the symptoms and then send the patient to the proper department for treatment. Admitting that this would necessitate policy changes and recruitment of more doctors, he said, till this was done, para medical staff should be trained to assess the symptoms and send the patient to the doctors concerned. This would eliminate needless treatment of patients in departments which were not trained to handle cancer patients. Besides, timely treatment, this procedure would ensure that the patients were not made to take unnecessary medication at great financial and physical cost. Such medication complicated the problems of the patients concerned, he said. Another PGIMS surgeon Dr Sanjeev Parshad, who also presented a paper at the World Congress said they found that the local PGIMS had the know how to treat the rarest of cancers, including Insulinoma and Eosinophilic cholangiopathy a rare benign disorder. However, the efficacy of the treatment depended upon the stage at which the patients reported to the hospital. The two surgeons presented four papers at the meet in Japan which was attended by surgeons from all over the world. |
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Donations to parties may be scrutinised
Karnal, December 28 Sources in the district administration reveal that the District Magistrate of Karnal, Mr R.S. Doon, has sought legal opinion from the authorities concerned in this regard. It may be mentioned that donations/contributions received by the political parties, their office- bearers and the candidates on most of the occasions are usually not entered in their account books. In an amendment last year vide the Election and Other Related Laws (Amendment) Act, 2003, a provision had been made mandatory regarding ‘preparation of a report of contributions’ received by the political parties in excess of Rs 20,000 to ensure transparency in the financial management of political parties at the time of elections. As per the Act, ‘The political parties must be required to publish their accounts (at least abridged version) annually for information and scrutiny of general public and all concerned, for which purpose the maintenance of such accounts and their auditing to ensure their accuracy is a pre-requisite’. Further, it had been made mandatory that the auditing of these accounts should be done by a firm of auditors approved by the Comptroller and Auditor General. The audited accounts should be made available for information to public also. Mr Doon admitted that he was looking into the existing laws to issue such instructions so as to put a check on the ‘un-audited’ donations/contributions received by the political parties, their office- bearers and their candidates so that free and fair elections could be ensured in the district.
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2 new barley varieties
identified
Karnal, December 22 The Varietal Identification Committee for Wheat and Barley of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) has recently recommended to the Central Subcommittee on Crop Standards, Union Ministry of Agriculture, to issue a notification in this regard so that the new superior varieties could be released to farmers for commercial cultivation from the next season. Revealing this to The Tribune, Dr. R.P.S. Verma, senior scientist of the DWR, said the new superior varieties were DWR-46 for the northwestern plains zone and K-713 for the northeastern plains zone. These were superior to the presently cultivated varieties with regard to improved malting quality, production, pest resistance and nutritional value. The scientist said DWR-46 could be grown in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, (except Kota and Udaipur), western Uttar Pradesh (except Jhansi division), Jammu and Kathua districts of Jammu and Kashmir, Una and the Paonta valley of Himachal Pradesh and the Terai region of Uttaranchal. During the trials it was found that DWR-46 was on a par in yield with the already popular varieties but had the advantage of maturing five days earlier and disease reaction for yellow rust. Moreover, it had no dormancy as compared to the latest released variety DWR-28 that had the dormancy of two months. The other newly identified variety K-713 could be grown in eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal, Assam and plains of northeastern states. During the trials it was found that this variety was superior in yield with a high degree of resistance against yellow rust and brown rusts and moderate resistance to leaf blight. Dr. Verma said more and more farmers were being attracted to the cultivation of barley in the country as the demand for the malt barley from industry had been constantly on the rise during the past few years. It had been estimated at 25 per cent of the total barley production in the country. “However, even this amount is not available with the desired malting quality and the industry is facing a lot of difficulty in processing as well as economy of the Indian malt with the international standards”, he said. |
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Depositors for CBI inquiry into duping episode
Sonepat, December 28 According to a report, the depositors shouted slogans against the police and the post office authorities and sat on a dharna for the day. Later on, the depositors took out a procession and submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner for being forwarded to the Governor of Haryana so that action could be taken against the main culprit. Earlier, the effigy of Manohar Kumar was burnt by the depositors. Manohar Kumar, along with his family had fled from the town after collecting several crores of rupees from the people who had deposited the amount with him for investing into the small savings schemes launched by the government. Mr Zile Singh Verma, president of the action committee of the depositors said that if a CBI inquiry was not conducted into the scam the depositors would be forced to take drastic action. The district and police administration had made security arrangements to check any untoward incident. The demonstrators, however, dispersed peacefully after staging the protest demonstration and the dharna. Meanwhile, the employees of the Head Post Office wore black badges and turned up for duty in protest against the harassment and arrest of the employees by the police. They also announced that they would go on strike again if the police failed to stop the harassment and arrest of postal employees. |
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Narcotic peddling goes unabated
Sirsa, December 28 According to the investigations made by the reporter, narcotic syndicates have started stocking poppy husk in their areas, which could be used in the forthcoming Assembly polls to lure voters. In the past few decades, the areas around Sirsa, Fatehabad ,Bathinda, Mansa, Abohar and Fazilka in Punjab have become infamous due to usage of narcotics. According to sources, people of all age groups are addicted to the husk easily available in these areas. Usage of poppy husk by the addicts could be estimated from the fact that in the past the Sirsa police had officially recovered more than 21,000 kg of poppy husk. But owing to the political pressure, the district police did not nab the peddlers. Investigation revealed that the husk was being sold for Rs 250 per kg and prices were expected to roll down in the days to come due the polls, which would be consumed, mainly in the rural belts of the district. According to the police,
Darba, the district, is the main point from where the smugglers enter the district from Rajasthan with the consignment. The sources said the Jandwala Jatan and Rori areas, are the main centres from where the peddlers distribute poppy husk to the dealers. Poppy husk is available at local vends in the neighbouring Rajasthan and smuggled into the state without much resistance from the police to the big time smugglers. The sources said that due to the political patronage being provided to the peddlers here, the police preferred to remain a mute spectator. Though the SP, Mr
H.S. Doon admitted smuggling of the husk in the district but ruled out any political involvement and pressure in handling the cases. On the issue, he denied any presence of an organised criminal syndicate behind the smuggling. According to SP, the small time criminals are running the operations. |
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3 held in dowry harassment case
Bhiwani, December 28 They alleged that in the wake of unfulfilled demand of dowry, they were beaten and threatened with dire consequences and subsequently thrown of the house. The police has arrested Rajesh, Balwan and Dhanpati wife of Uday Singh.
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