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Sonia authorised to choose new
Connecting with masses, Hooda style
Prisoners allege torture by jail authorities
President gives assent to shrine Bill
Gymkhana Club bar violates Excise Act, |
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Hooch tragedy: 3 more held
1 dies in accident; residents block traffic
201 women selected for employment
Women cells set up in govt colleges
Theft accused commits suicide
One-way traffic system introduced
Zila Parishad poll: INLD gets top posts
49 villages declared flood prone
1 dead, 40 hurt as canter overturns
2 brothers killed as earth caves in
Haryana demands repatriation of
R.S. Dalal
Power position improves
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Sonia authorised to choose new HPCC president
Chandigarh, June 29 The meeting, held at Tagore Theatre here, was attended by, among others, the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Briefing newspersons later, Mr Hooda said two resolutions were passed at the meeting. The first authorised Ms Gandhi to choose the HPCC chief as well as the members of the executive committee of the PCC and the AICC delegates from Haryana. The second resolution expressed gratitude to the people of
Kiloi, Hisar and Tosham for voting overwhelmingly in favour of the Congress in the recent byelections. The resolution also lauded the government for its “good performance”. While a large number of Congress ministers, MLAs and three MPs took part in the meeting as delegates, the president of the
HPCC, Mr Bhajan Lal, and his two sons, the Deputy Chief Minister, Mr Chander Mohan, and the Congress MP from Bhiwani, Mr Kuldeep Bishnoi, were absent. Their absence is being seen here as an indication of the “marginalisation” of the Haryana Congress stalwart in the process under way in the state for choosing the new PCC chief. When Mr Hooda was asked why Mr Bhajan Lal did not come to the meeting, he said the PCC chief had sent a letter saying he would not be able to attend it as he was not well. Mr Hooda brushed aside further queries by reporters about the absence of Mr Bhajan Lal’s two sons in the meeting. Meanwhile, a press release issued by the PCC after the meeting said Mr Bhajan Lal had later endorsed the resolution authorising Ms Gandhi to choose the HPCC chief and other party functionaries. |
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Connecting with masses, Hooda style
Hisar, June 29 The unique feature of the campaign is that apart from highlighting the achievements and policies of the government, stress is laid on creating awareness among the masses on various social issues. For instance, through the means of Haryanavi songs, raagnis, plays and swangs, villagers are being told of the consequences of female foeticide, excessive liquor consumption and other social evils. The campaign, which involves an extensive use of folk media, including bhajan parties and drama units, besides video vans, documentary films, mobile exhibition and posters, has been undertaken by the Director, Public Relations. Under the programme, the field publicity staff of the government visits rural areas with folk artistes and publicity material. There, the government’s achievements are highlighted through
swangs, plays and raagnis. Seeing the intense hot conditions prevailing these days, the Public Relations teams usually hold such programmes late in the evenings. Several television and radio artistes have also been roped in for the campaign. Circulation of a general booklet “Nai
Dishayen, Naye Kadam” depicting the important policy announcements and decisions of the government also forms a part of the special publicity campaign. According to a letter written by the Deputy Director (Field) on behalf of the Director, Public Relations, to all district public relations officers in the state, the campaign began on June 13, soon after the Hooda regime completed 100 days in the office. |
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Prisoners allege torture by jail authorities
Kurukshetra, June 29 Four prisoners of the district jail of Kurukshetra complained about torture in the past few days. Yesterday, an inmate named Raju in a complaint to other court of Mr Amarjit Singh had alleged torture at the hands of jail authorities. After hearing the complaint, the court ordered medical check-up of the inmate report of which had been asked to be submitted to the court. Earlier, on June 21, two inmates Harsimranjit Singh and Sanjiv Kumar complained about torture in a local court here. They alleged that a deputy superintendent of jail and few other employees of jail had severely beaten them up. Similarly, Gagandip Singh another inmate had also alleged torture in jail. In addition to physical abuse, humiliation heaped on the detainees and prisoners in the high-risk cells has also been alleged by these inmates. Perturbed over increase in complaints, District Magistrate Kurukshetra TK Sharma and Superintendent of Police Satya Prakash Ranga inspected the jail on Tuesday. Details of inspection were not known. On the other hand, jail authorities maintained that all these inmates had a scuffle with each other on the night of June 21, which forced them to use force to disperse them. The jail authorities denied that they had tortured any of inmate. Investigations revealed that the clash between inmates on the night of June 21 was a struggle to impose supremacy over other prisoners. Apart from these four inmates, many others were also involved in the clash. Since, they were ‘powerful’; the jail authorities beat-up these four inmates leaving others. |
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President gives assent to shrine Bill
Chandigarh, June 29 The Om Prakash Chautala-led government is stated to have referred the Bill to the President because the subject matter fell under the Concurrent List of the Constitution. The Bill, after being examined and cleared by the Law Ministry as well as the Home Ministry in Delhi, was sent back to Haryana Raj Bhavan last week. The Bill will be now forwarded to the state government by the Governor for notification and further action. The Bill, which faced stiff opposition from the BJP and other Hindu Right-wing outfits as well as from priests of Kurukshetra, proposes the taking over of the administration and management by the state government of 75 temples of historical importance falling within a radius of 48 km of Kurukshetra. The state government will constitute a board which will control the administration, management and governance of the temples and also look after the funds collected there. The Chief Minister of Haryana will be the Chairman of the board, the Urban Development Minister, the Vice-Chairman and the Deputy Commissioner of Kurukshetra the member-secretary. The Bill contains specific proposals to abolish the rights of the priests on the temples. “All rights of pujaris (priests) shall stand extinguished from the date of commencement of the Act”, it says. The state government will appoint a tribunal which, after giving a hearing to the priests, will recommend compensation to be paid to them by the board in lieu of the income they have been deriving from the temples. If a priest surrenders his right to compensation and offers himself for employment to the board, it may offer him employment provided he gives an undertaking to abide by the administrative and disciplinary control of the board. |
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Gymkhana Club bar violates Excise Act, court rulings
Karnal, June 29 Since, the District Magistrate of Karnal is the ex-officio Chairman of the club, use of influence of the post in getting bar licence for the club could not be ruled out. Unfortunately, the Haryana Excise Department has also turned a blind eye to these gross violations. Another reason possibly be to please the top officials of various departments posted here who in large numbers are not only members of this club but they ‘officially’ run administrative affairs of the club. Moreover, the infrastructure of the club is owned by the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), an independent body managed and controlled by the state government. The catering of the club has been given on lease to a private party. Investigations revealed that Saint Kabir Public School, Vishnu mandir and another religious place the building of which is under construction are all situated opposite the Gymkhana Club on the other side of the road having width of 20-feet. The Gymkhana Club has fixed a sign-board of the club on the other side of the road adjoining the boundary wall of the school. Further, the inner entry of the bar room and the lobby is at an angle of 90 degree to the main gate of the school. Even the new excise policy of the state says that no liquor shop or liquor bar would be allowed within 150 metres of a school, a place of worship or even state and national highways to attract customers, these seem to be invisible to the authorities who are supposed to remove them. District Magistrate of Karnal Shyamal Mishra said that the sanction to run the bar was applied to the Excise Department by the predecessor Mr. Ranbir Singh Doon. However, he claimed that the Excise Department granted the sanction well within the framework of the Excise Act as told to him by the department officials. A senior official of the Excise Department revealed that there was pressure from the former DM Ranbir Singh Doon on them to grant the sanction even as the department had initially objected to it. Colonel Manbir Chaudhary President of the Hotel and Restaurant Association of North India (HRANI) claimed that the Gymkhana Club was violating the Excise Act of the state. He demanded that the state government and the local administration instead of turning a blind eye to the matter should take it seriously and let the students of the school study and hundreds of residents to offer prayers in a peaceful environment. |
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Hooch tragedy: 3 more held
Rewari, June 29 The police has also seized 1,100 litres of methylated spirit contained in 6 drums from their possession. Following their arrest, the district police now claimed to have busted the well-knit network of the bootleggers allegedly responsible for the hooch tragedy that took eight lives. Furnishing details about the modus operandi of the gang, Dr C.S. Rao, SP, said the accused, Gunpal, who runs a hotel at Sangtera near Kotputli on the Jaipur-Delhi highway, purchased methylated spirit from operators of MS Tankers coming from Gujarat which was then sold to Dinesh and Attar Singh who supplied the same at a profit of Rs. 10 per litre to Krishan Kumar Sharma of Malpura village near
Kotputli. |
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1 dies in accident; residents block traffic
Kaithal, June 29 The protesters, including women, said the accident took place near Patti Afghan around 9.30 pm yesterday and the police was informed immediately thereafter, but it arrived around 9 am today when it received information about the dharna and road blockade. The protesters left the dharna site around 11.30 am after assurance from the City Magistrate, Mr Dharam Veer Dhankar, and the DSP, Mr Ram Phal Singh. According to information, Shamsher Singh (40), a resident of Shiv Colony, near Kaithal drain, was hit by a car last night while he was going on his cycle. He died on the spot. As the residents of neighbouring colonies got the news about the accident, they rushed to the spot and some of them reportedly informed the police control room. But no police personnel reached the spot till morning. This led to the resentment among the people while the dead body kept lying on the roadside. The residents started a dharna around 7 am today and raised slogans against the police. As the police got information, Mr Ramphal Singh, DSP, Mr R.S. Bhoria, Tehsildar, and Ishwar Singh, SHO (City), reached the dharna site and asked them to vacate the road. Some persons sitting on dharna alleged that the SHO, rather than feeling sorry for being late in reaching the site, threatened to use force to get the road blockade lifted. The protesters demanded that the Deputy Commissioner should come and listen to their grievances. However, the City Magistrate, reached the site to resolve the matter. Mr Dhankar and Mr Ram Phal Singh talked to representatives of the protesters and assured them to look into their grievances. The protesters demanded suitable financial help to the family of the deceased, who was very poor and the bread earner of the family and had five unmarried daughters. After assurance from the officials, the protesters agreed to take the dead body to hospital for a post-mortem examination and the traffic was restored. Meanwhile the police has registered a case under Section 279 and 304-A of the IPC. |
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201 women selected for employment
Gurgaon, June 29 Today’s camp was exclusively for women. It aimed at helping them get jobs in the garment industry. The qualification prescribed for these jobs was ITI certificates. According to the General Manager, District Industry Centre (DIC), Mr K.S. Joshan, 201 of the interviewees were selected for jobs according to their qualifications. Some of the firms, many of these in large-scale units and into exports, that took part in the camp are Modlema Exports, Dhir Global, Pearl Global, Mona Designs, Gaurav International, Orient Crafts. Givo Ltd and V.K. International. The Orient Crafts selected 54 candidates, while Dhir Global selected 40 candidates for jobs. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Sudhir Rajpal, thanked industrialists for their enthusiastic response to the call of the administration. He said such camps would be made regular feature.
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Women cells set up in govt colleges
Chandigarh, June 29 An official spokesman said here today that the scheme aimed at creating awareness among the students about their empowerment. The women cells would coordinate in the implementation of the scheme. An honorarium would be paid to the coordinators, who would be lecturers of the same college, as an incentive. The implementation of the scheme would be monitored by the Directorate of Higher Education. Under the scheme, six students would be sponsored to attend national and international-level workshops organised by the UN, UNICEF, sports academies and other organisations. The selection of the students would be made on the basis of their abilities and achievements in the fields of academics, extra-curricular activities and sports. He said workshops, seminars, training programmes and lectures on matters pertaining to dowry, marriage, property rights, sexual harassment, female foeticide, health and hygiene, theatre, painting, music and crafts would be conducted with the help of experts. |
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Theft accused commits suicide
Kaithal, June 29 Mr Vijay Verghiya, college Principal, several teachers and a large number of students reached the Civil Hospital. Some students resorted to violence and damaged the college bus on the hospital premises, but the police controlled the situation before it could aggravate further. According to reports, the victim, Rohan Parbhakar, belonging to Lucknow, got depressed when a mobile phone belonging to a classmate that was stolen some time back was found from his almirah. His classmates allegedly blamed him for the theft of the mobile and some cash that was stolen some time back. Eyewitnesses said Rohan reached the top floor of the college building late night and sat on the wall of the roof and when some students noted his activity they asked him to get down. He, however, jumped from the roof and fell on the concrete floor suffering serious injuries. Mr Vijay said parents of the deceased had been informed by the college authorities and the body, after the post-mortem, had been handed over to their relatives who reached here from Chandigarh and Delhi. The principal said a suicide note had been found from the pocket of the deceased. The police has registered a case.
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One-way traffic system introduced
Ambala, June 29 The step is yet another effort to streamline the traffic flow in the busy market area. The traffic restriction is from 4 pm to 8 pm for four-wheelers. The one-way traffic system will be on a section of the Durga Charan road, which stretches from the Ambala Sadar chowk to the Bazaza Bazar chowk. Ambala Cantonment MLA Devender Bansal said the one-way traffic system was introduced since it was felt that it would help in easing the traffic congestion during peak hours. “Till now, we have received encouraging response to the system,” he said. Mr Bansal said there was a need to streamline the heavy traffic flow in Ambala Sadar during peak business hours in the evening. “After careful study, we thought it best to introduce the one-way traffic system at this particular section of road,” he said. Citizens’ Council Chairman Nem Chand Jain observed that the one-way traffic system was a good step. “I am of the view that any step which helps in easing traffic congestion should be followed,” he said. “However, I have observed that sometimes official vehicles are allowed entry from the wrong side and it again causes traffic blockade. If even a single vehicle is allowed through, then the purpose of the one-way traffic system is completely defeated,” he added.
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Zila Parishad poll: INLD gets top posts
Sirsa, June 29 Abhey Singh Chautala and Vinod Darbi, both INLD candidates, emerged winners of the chairman and vice-chairman of the parishad, respectively. Abhey won the seat by defeating the Congress-backed candidate, Suresh Mehta. The polls that conducted this morning at Panchayat Bhavan here ended peacefully. There were 21 members in the parishad and the INLD had emerged the winner. Though the main contest was between the Congress and the INLD, both parties did not contest polls on their respective party symbols. INLD-backed group had managed to secure 11 seats whereas Congress ended with nine seats while one candidate was elected independent. In today’s polls, only 20 members cast their franchisee as the independent candidate was barred to cast his vote.
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49 villages declared flood prone
Ambala, June 29 The Deputy Commissioner said a sum of Rs 4.60 crore had been spent on flood control measures while a sum of Rs 2.73 crore was being spent on different works currently underway. Mr Kaushik said three types of flood control rooms had been established. These were at the block level, the sub-division level and the district level. He said the flood control office at the subdivision level would be capable of carrying out necessary actions and all offices would be in constant touch with the district-level flood control office.
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1 dead, 40 hurt as canter overturns
Sonepat, June 29 According to a report, all injured were rushed to the community health centre at Kharkhauma town but no doctor was available. Then some private doctors treated them. At least 18 injured were sent to PGIMS at Rohtak for treatment. The deceased was identified as Tilak Raj of Hassangarh village. The police has sent the body for post mortem after registering the case. It is stated that a barat of Sukhbir was returning from Zainpur Tikola village in a canter. When they reached near Rohna village, the canter driver spotted two youths on their bicycle who were chasing the animals and he tried to save them by
applying the brakes but the canter over turned. The youths riding their bicycle also sustained injuries. |
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2 brothers killed as earth caves in
Hisar, June 29 At the same time, two brothers Raju (10) and Shyama (12), were killed after they got buried under earth. The tragedy occurred at Dhandoor village in the district this afternoon. The children, sons of Mr Om Prakash of
Dhandoor, were playing behind a government school building where rainwater had
accumulated. All of a sudden, a portion of the ground caved in and the children got buried under earth. Some local residents tried to save the children, but to no avail. They were rushed to a hospital where the doctors declared them brought dead. |
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Haryana demands repatriation of
R.S. Dalal
Chandigarh, June 29 Mr Dalal is currently on deputation with the Centre and is working at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration,
Mussourie. A 1974 batch officer, Mr Dalal is in the rank of Additional Director-General of Police. The Director-General of Police, Haryana, Mr A.S. Bhatotia, is retiring tomorrow and so is the Chief Secretary, Mr Sunil Ahuja, after which a reshuffle in the administration as well as the state police is expected. So far, the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, has not given his mind about the next incumbents.
— TNS
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Power position improves
Chandigarh, June 29 A
spokesman of the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam said here today
that the rural areas of the state had been given power for 17 to 21
hours. In many areas three-phase power was given for eight hours and
in some areas for 13 to 14 hours. The urban areas and the industrial
sector were given power for 23 to 24 hours. He said the maximum power
of 3,782 MW was given on June 9, which came down to 3,483 MW
yesterday. He said the seventh and eighth units of 250 MW each and
the fourth unit of 110 MW of the Panipat Thermal Power Plant started
generation today. The units had been closed due to technical faults.
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Head constable electrocuted
Sonepat, June 29 According to police sources, he was deputed out side a factory which was sealed by the authorities. He touched live wires and sustained burn injuries. He was rushed to a private hospital where from he was shifted to the Sonepat Civil Hospital where he was declared dead. The police has registered the case and sent the body for the postmortem examination. |
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Uncle arrested for raping, murdering minor niece
Panipat, June 29 The eight-year-old victim of Babarpur village had been raped and murdered on Saturday. Her body was found near the Babarpur nullah on Sunday. The police said that the father of the victims had gone to his in-laws’ house after asking his younger brother, Suresh, to look after his daughter. |
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Two killed in
accident
Rewari, June 29 The three were going from Asra Ka Majra village about 10 km from here, to Rewari. Manjit Singh was admitted to hospital where his condition was stated to be stable.
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Justice Kathuria heads consumer panel
Chandigarh, June 29 |
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