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20 hutments washed away
Rain damages crops in several villages
Seat reduction leads to hike in management quota rates
BSc (electronics) paper on July 15
30 teachers, ministerial staff to be chargesheeted
DM seeks ‘deeper probe’ into wheat scam
Training of
sarpanches, panches begins
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Cellphone companies flout rules on towers, fail to pay fee
Father kills son
2 more held for Mewat violence
Kidnappers of Hisar youth held, confess murder
Postmaster shot at
3 labourers die of food poisoning
The Finance Minister, Mr Birender Singh, takes out the draw for small savings prizes at Panchkula on Tuesday.
— A Tribune photograph
Last date for power VDS extended
High
Court
Elections to
Jat bodies postponed
Scientific goods manufacturers’ plea on VAT
Panel on villages constituted
Girl, paramour tracked down
Lohan’s remand extended
BJP fumes at attack on Ram Janmabhoomi
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20 hutments washed away
Ambala, July 5 The hutments had been constructed close to the Markanda river near Kala Amb. This morning, one by one, about twenty hutments were washed away. The belongings of the migrant labourers were lost in the incident. While the river water had begun to rise in the night, the river was in spate in the morning. The hutments could not stand the fury of the fast moving current. While six hutments apparently belonged to a local temple, five were owned by Ms Laxmi and nine hutments belonged to Harish Kumar. The migrant labourers who were affected belong to Orissa. The migrant labourers include Durga, Rajesh, Gagan, Sobha Ram, Chameli and Damodar. The Deputy
Commissioner, Ambala, Mr J.P. Kaushik, visited the area. He directed that the affected persons be given temporary shelter. Drainage Department officials and the Tehsildar, Naraingarh, Mr Mukesh Kaushik were also present. The SDM, Nahan also visited the spot. A power house in the Nahan area of Himachal Pradesh is also said to be affected due to the rising Markanda river water. Meanwhile, a number of areas in Ambala City and Ambala Cantt were water-logged following incessant rainfall throughout the day. In Ambala City, various place were waterlogged in different areas, including Nadi Mohalla, Old Civil Hospital Road, Nahan House, Jagadhri Gate, Kaziwara, low lying areas of Baldev Nagar, near Model Town and Ward No 4. In Ambala Cantt, a number of colonies in Mahesh Nagar, Lal Kurti, 12 Cross Road, Ram Nagar, Shastri Colony and Dayal Bagh became waterlogged during the day. The residents of the waterlogged colonies in Ambala Cantt strongly criticised the authorities concerned for not having taken adequate steps for proper drainage. “Every year, this problem takes place. Despite this fact, no suitable measures were taken. The tall claims made by the officials stand exposed today,” a resident complained.
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Rain damages crops in several villages
Yamunanagar, July 5 With heavy raining in catchments of the Yamuna river, the river has swollen with 38038 cusecs of discharge recorded at the Hathnikund barrage today. Panjeto village in the Bilaspur block here is one of the most affected villages with rainwaters flowing through the village. Residents were seen raising temporary walls and embankments to prevent entry of water in their houses. Residents complained that every year they face the same problem but the administration was indifferent. They are demanding construction of storm water drainage system. As per reports, water gushed into many houses in the Radha Swami Satsang Colony, Ram Dasia Colony and outer colonies situated along the road leading to Kapal Mochan gurdwara in the Bilaspur block. With the swelling of Markenda river crops in Rathali, Nizampur, Rajpur, Laharpur, Galodi and Beermajra of Sadhoura block have been damaged. The rising water level in Nakti riuvlet has rendered over 500 slum dwellers homeless. Crops in several villages including Khedapur, Ramgarh, Shapura and Gadhola in Mustfabad block too suffered damage. Situation in Yamunanagar and Jagadhri towns was no better with rainwater standing all over the towns. Khera Bazzar, Pathar Bazzar, Trimurti Chowk and Hanuman Gate areas of the Jagadhri have been severely hit by the rains. Meanwhile, residents of Mandoli, Gagar and Damopura villages here have demanded that more embankments along the Yamuna river should be raised to save the villages from flooding. Embankments were constructed in 1978 in the area but were allegedly never repaired again. As per reports, water from the Som river entered into Tihano, Lopo and Khanuwala villages in Chhachhrouli block. |
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Seat reduction leads to hike in management quota rates
Rohtak, July 5 While the rates for preferred colleges varies from Rs 3 lakh per seat, the rate for the same in the least preferred colleges too is between Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2 lakh. The management quota is presently pegged at 15 per cent. Another 15 per cent seats are reserved for All-India merit holders. Of the remaining 70 per cent seats, 30 per cent fall in the general category and 40 per cent are reserved for various categories, including NRIs, sportspersons, SCs and STs and army personnel and their children. Inquiries reveal that the managements have joined hands and decided that they would neither lower their rates nor indulge in poaching to rule out bargaining by candidates. Till last year Haryana had 37 engineering colleges, most of which came up after 1995. Till then Haryana had an engineering college at Murthal, a regional engineering college at Kurukshetra (since upgraded to a technological institute level), an advanced polytechnic at Faridabad, which was also later upgraded as an engineering college, a textile technology institute at Bhiwani and Haryana Agricultural University’s College of Agricultural Engineering at Hisar. For the past few years politically influential persons had branched out into technical education since the management quota seats provided them hefty profits. An obliging INLD government went on showering largesse indiscriminately without studying the job market for engineering graduates. The mushrooming of colleges created a problem of plenty and last year 2,000 seats remained vacant. This affected the financial health of these colleges and consequently the colleges reduced their intake. Yet, despite last year’s crisis the Directorate of Technical Education, Haryana, today issued a NOC to Maharshi Dayanand University here to start undergraduate-level B.Tech courses. These include electronics and communication engineering, computer science and engineering, mechanical engineering and bio-technology engineering. There will be 60 seats for each course. The university has not yet clarified whether it will launch these courses this year or from the next academic session. However, there are hardly any jobs for those passing out of these colleges. That about 100 engineering graduates applied for the post of ward boys and peons in the local Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences in July last is an indication of the job potential of the degrees awarded by these colleges. Meanwhile, students are facing another problem. The dates for counselling for Haryana engineering colleges clash with counselling for Chandigarh colleges. Guru Jambheshwar University, Hisar, which is conducting the counselling, announced last week that it would take place from July 14 to 24. This is despite the fact Chandigarh colleges had announced on June 9 that the counselling would be held from July 11 to15. Students seeking admission under the All-India merit scheme and Haryana domicile candidates from Chandigarh and Panchkula now have to choose between Haryana and Chandigarh colleges since they have to miss one opportunity because of clash of dates. |
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BSc (electronics) paper on July 15
Rohtak, July 5 The re-examination will be held at Vaish College. |
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30 teachers, ministerial staff to be chargesheeted
Chandigarh, July 5 The Delay Checking
Unit(DCU) of the Administrative Reforms Department took this action against the teachers and staff on account of “absenteeism” and accumulation of pending cases found during the course of surprise inspections of various schools and offices. Disclosing this here today Mr K.K.
Khandelwal, Director, Secondary Education, said the DCU had conducted checks at Faridabad, Hansi and Bamni Khera and found many teachers absent from duty and the clerical staff in the schools sitting over a large number of cases for a long time. He said with a view to ensuring punctuality and the expeditious disposal of cases, the department had decided to take disciplinary action against defaulters. Mr Khandelwal said during the checking at
GSSS/GPS, Bamni Khera, seven employees were absent. Similarly, during checking at
GGSSS, Old Faridabad, 18 employees and teachers were absent. He said the unit also conducted an inspection at the Block Education Officer’s office at Hansi and found 11 cases pending with one clerk and two similar cases with an assistant in the office of the Block Education Officer, Hansi-II. Similarly, 11 cases were found pending with one woman clerk in the office of the Deputy Divisional Education Officer, Hansi. |
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DM seeks ‘deeper probe’ into wheat scam
Karnal, July 5 The DM had sent the report of inquiry, conducted by Mr Sanjiv Verma who is the Additional Deputy Commissioner, to the Director of Food and Civil Supplies Department yesterday along with the recommendations of the inquiry officer to take legal action against those involved in the scam. When asked that the DM himself was competent to lodge an FIR against the guilty persons as per the recommendations of the inquiry officer, he said the request of inquiry had come to his office from the Food and Civil Supplies Department and thus it was mandatory to send the findings to the department for an action on the inquiry report. |
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Training of
sarpanches, panches begins
Nilokheri, July 5 The institute has claimed
that at least 20,000 participants from various panchayats would
participate. The training for representatives of zila parishads and
panchayat samitis would separately begin from July 12 in the institute’s
headquarters here. Dr Surat Singh Director of HIRD today said that under the programme, the training was being imparted to sarpanches and panches of Yamunanagar, Panipat, Karnal, Kithal, Rohtak, Hisar, Fatehabad, Mahendergarh and Gurgaon districts. He said the training teams comprised retired experts of various training institutes, former officials of the development and panchayat departments, activists of NGOs and academicians. The government had asked the District Magistrates of the respective districts to ensure the cooperation of the Additional Deputy Commissioners, District Development and Panchayat Officers, Block Development and Panchayat Officers and other related departments in this regard. Prof Ranbir Singh, consultant of the institute, said the District Magistrates had inaugurated the training programmes. After the completion of this training programme, the remaining 10 districts would be taken up. |
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Cellphone companies flout rules on towers, fail to pay fee
Sirsa, July 5 Inquiries revealed that all cellular companies, including Airtel, BSNL, Reliance
Infocom, Tata Indicom, Hutch and Escotel, have installed 26 communication towers without prior approval from the MC. The civic body too has not initiated action and asked them to deposit the fee running into lakhs. The area is strategically important for the Indian Air Force and approval is required, say the IAF officials. Sources said unauthorised towers might hinder communication signals of the security forces and affect flights in case of any emergency. The sources said in the past five years, the MC lost lakhs as cellular companies did not deposit the fee. According to the MC sources, there are strict rules that a cellular company has to follow before installing towers. A company has to obtain an NOC from the Air Force station, deposit one-time fee of Rs 80,000 with drawing of the structure where a tower has to be set up and also its safety features. Besides, they were also required to insure the place of tower against if any harm caused by the tower and also pay annual renewal fee of Rs 10,000. But here the cellular companies flout rules and the MC also ignores the matter. So far, say the sources, only Airtel has deposited the fee for seven of its eight towers in the municipal limits, but the remaining companies have failed to do so. When contacted, the Executive Officer
(EO) of the MC, Mr Nekiram Bishnoi, admitted the omission and termed that it as an unauthorised practice. He confirmed that none of the cellular companies had taken the prior approval from the MC and nor did they submit the drawings of the structure. He added that the MC would initiate action against the defaulting companies to collect outstanding fee with fine. |
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BSNL laxity hits rural cell users
Sonepat, July 5 The officials of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) have informed the higher authorities of the Nigam at Delhi and Ambala but they have failed to send the technicians to remove the fault. This has caused resentment among the subscribers of three villages. According to another report, hundreds of telephones in Farmana and its five adjoining villages have gone dead following a major fault in the telephone exchange at Farmana village a few days ago. The telephone subscribers have alleged that the BSNL authorities were indifferent to their complaints and they had utterly failed to remove the fault in the telephone exchange despite repeated complaints. The subscribers have threatened to gherao the telephone exchange if the fault was not removed immediately. |
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Father kills son
Karnal, July 5 The police after recovering the body had sent it for post-mortem examination in the local civil hospital. Meanwhile, a case under Section 302 of the IPC was registered at Assandh police station and a hunt had been launched to nab the killer. The father identified as Ujjwal Singh had three sons. His 20-year old elder son Simranjit Singh used to object to his father taking drugs and wasting money. Today, when he objected to taking drugs and wasting money, his father quarrelled with him. Later, when Simranjit Singh went to the fields for agriculture work, Ujjwal Singh followed him. They again quarreled with each other. Losing his temper, Ujjwal Singh loaded his illegal fire weapon and fired at his son’s chest. The son died on the spot. Suddenly, the news about this incident reached to the villagers who rushed towards the spot. However, Ujjwal Singh fled from the spot. After the post-mortem examination the body was handed over to the family members for cremation. |
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2 more held for Mewat violence
Pipaka (Mewat), July 5 The development in the case took a critical turn this afternoon with one of the accused, Rakesh Yadav, brother of the main accused, Naresh Yadav, surrendering to the police and also narrating the sequence of events that culminated in the violence. He said his group (so far alleged to be aggressor party in the case) fired on the villagers in self-defence. Rakesh, admitted to Civil Hospital, stated that a day before the violence the manager/domestic kept by his family at the farmhouse as well as his uncle were beaten up by residents of the village for raising objections to trespassing by them on the land. Rakesh further said the next morning his family members were called by the residents for a Panchayat to find permanent solution to the recurring squabbles relating to the property. However, no sooner had they reached the site, the villagers started deflating the tyres of their vehicles. They also attacked and assaulted the group members. Sensing alarm and the only way to save themselves, the group members opened fire on the mob, he added. The villagers, however, have alleged that the Naresh group opened indiscriminate firing and escaped after burning their vehicles to tamper with the evidence. According to
many, the only impartial witnesses were the five police personnel alleged to be at the scene of the violence. But they have also been implicated by the villagers as a result the authorites were compelled to recall them to the barrack. The police on its part was continuing with its security arrangement in and around the village to prevent any untoward incident. The Additional Director-General of Police, Haryana, Dr John V. George, visited the site of violence yesterday. |
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Kidnappers of Hisar youth held, confess murder
Hisar, July 5 After killing Sahil, the kidnappers burnt his body in nearby Gorchi village. The body was found by the local police, but it could not be identified. The district police chief, Mr Arshinder Singh Chawla, said here today that the accused, Surender of Rawat Khera, and Bhal Singh of Khara Kheri, were arrested in Delhi last evening. He said the kidnappers were known to Sahil, son of Onkar Chaudhary, a local trader. Mr Chawla said after kidnapping him, they recorded his voice at gunpoint and then killed him. On the basis of the recorded voice, the kidnappers sought money from Sahil’s father for releasing him. Mr Chawla said besides the kidnap and murder, the accused persons had also admitted having looted Rs 13.5 lakh from an owner of the Nokia phone company in Delhi and killing his subordinate. |
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Postmaster shot at
Sonepat, July 5 He was rushed to the Community Health Centre at Gohana town for treatment where he was stated to be out of danger. The police has registered a case in this connection and further investigations were in progress. The police has also launched a massive hunt to apprehend the culprit. Mr Ashok was asleep at his house when an intruder forced his way into the house and fired at him around midnight. On hearing the fire shots, other family members woke up but the alleged assailant managed to escape. Meanwhile, Mr J.S. Jangra, Additional Sessions Judge, yesterday convicted an accused, Mahavir, of Barwasni village under the NDPS Act and sentenced him to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs 1 lakh and in default of payment of fine to undergo further six months’ rigorous imprisonment. According to the prosecution, the accused was arrested on January 16 last year following the recovery of 1 kg of ‘charas’ from his possession. |
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3 labourers die of food poisoning
Kurukshetra, July 5 Another labourer is serious and admitted in a local hospital. The police recovered the dead bodies, and their post-mortem examination was conducted at the local civil hospital. As per the police, the deceased persons hailed from Sugrol village of Sehrsa district in Bihar. The deceased migrant labourers had been identified as Shankar son of Kankir Paswan, Bhanu son of Kameshi and Sohan son of Khushi Ram. Another person identified as Damodar son of Kanki is serious and admitted in the Civil Hospital. Bhanu was the youngest of them whose age is said to be just 13 years. It may be mentioned that at least 30 migrant labourers had come from Sugrol village in Hathira a couple of weeks back to work in the fields, particularly to transplant the seedlings of paddy. The SHO of local police station, Mr Des Raj, said samples of the food had been collected from the site and sent for scientific tests in the state laboratory at Madhuban. Meanwhile, the police had begun investigations into the incident. However, no arrests had so far been made in this regard. |
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Small savings scheme prizes declared
Panchkula, July 5 The draw of second five prizes of Rs. 2 lakh each was taken out by Mrs Prem Lata, wife of the Finance Minister. Coupon numbers 1531391 (Sonepat), 5731146 (Ambala), 5045474 (Faridabad), 1300158 (Yamunanagar) and 3544698 (Kaithal) were declared the prize winners. The draw of third prize (10 prizes of Rs 1 lakh each) was taken out by Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Finance, Mr N. Bala Bhaskar. The prize winners are coupon numbers 2581565 (Panchkula), 2377757 (Panipat), 1470084 (Sonepat), 2149772 (Rewari), 4597468 (Gurgaon), 4169406 (Hisar), 2683316 (Panchkula), 3994182 (Hisar), 3568269 (Kaithal) and 2146308 (Rewari). The draw of fourth prize (100 prizes of Rs 10,000 each) which were taken out by Special Secretary, Finance, Mrs Dheera Khandelwal and were won by those whose coupons had the following last five and six digits - 53379, 65345, 891047, 821479 and 192179. Earlier, Mrs Dheera Khandelwal said that Rs 2335 crore were collected through small savings in the State last year. She hoped that the agents and officers of the small savings scheme would device new ways to make this scheme more popular among people. |
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Last date for power VDS extended
Hisar, July 5 A spokesman for the DHBVN said here today that the VDS was initially launched for May, 2005, and later extended to June 30. It would now remain operative till July 31, he added. The regular consumers could avail the benefit of the scheme during July. The scheme was meant for domestic, non-domestic and tubewell consumers for declaring their unauthorised load voluntarily so as to get it regularised without paying any penalty. The spokesperson said the DHBVN authorities had simplified the procedure for getting the unauthorised load regularised. He said now the consumer was just required to fill a simple one-page form for the purpose. |
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Tubewell load can be disclosed by July 31
Fatehabad, July 5 The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Phateh Singh Dagar, told mediapersons here today that the consumers would not be required to submit test report in case the extension of load was up to 20 kilowatts. He warned that those who failed to do so would be liable for action and a fine of Rs 300 per kilowatts for the domestic connections and Rs 600 for the non-domestic connections would be imposed. Mr Dagar said the government had included in the power bill waiver scheme those consumers also whose connections had been permanently disconnected by the DHBVN. They would have to apply for this by July 31. He exhorted farmers to come forward and benefit from the scheme. |
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High
Court Our High Court Correspondent
Chandigarh, July 5 The SDOs had moved the High Court seeking directions to the government not to demote them as indicated in advertisements issued in newspapers by the previous Om Prakash Chautala government. Referring to the advertisement issued in newspapers on October 10, 2004 by the Chautala government vide which it had invited applications to fill 56 posts of SDO, the petitioners said they had been promoted as SDOs in October, 1998, and since no new posts of SDO existed, they feared that the government would demote them. Disposing of the petition, the Bench asked the Haryana Government to look into the matter. The Bench ordered that the stay would remain in force for a week in case the state wanted to revert the petitioners.
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Elections to
Jat bodies postponed
Rohtak, July 5 Additional Deputy Commissioner Vijay Dahiya who is the Returning Officer for these polls said he had received complaints of irregularities in electoral rolls. It had been found that parentage and addresses of more than 2200 voters had not been mentioned in the rolls. The ADC said the rolls would be rectified on priority and fresh date for elections be announced later. |
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Scientific goods manufacturers’ plea on VAT
Ambala, July 5 In a memorandum addressed to the Haryana Excise and Taxation minister, Mr Venod Sharma, the manufacturers have stated that while billing to end consumers, they have to charge 10 per cent VAT, whereas their competitors in Punjab and Delhi charge only 4 per cent VAT. “Under the new regime, the 10 per cent slab might be increased to 12.5 per cent. The tax difference of 8.5 per cent will be a big
hindrance in the growth of Ambala industry and almost equivalent to the total profit margin of the trade,” the memorandum states. They said the situation in the case of trading items being bought from outside Haryana is even more critical as we don’t get any tax adjustment against dealer purchase outside Haryana.
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Panel on villages constituted
Chandigarh, July 5 While stating this here today, a spokesman of the Revenue Department said the committee would invite proposals through the Commissioner of the division concerned and also consider the recommendations of the previous panel constituted for this purpose. |
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Girl, paramour tracked down
Sonepat, July 5 Daughter of Mr Phool Kanwar Khatri of Sector 15 who was eloped with mason Chandan Kumar (16) of Illah Aurahi Hingna village in Bihar. The couple had been living in Barsauni village of Purnia village in Bihar. SP Sukhdev Singh had contacted the SP of Purnia on telephone and gave the details of the couple. On the direction of the SP Purnia the police raided a house in Barsauni village and recovered the girl with her paramour. Paramour had been working in the house of Mr Khatri and had developed illegal relations with the girl. Thereafter, he married the girl in a court and eloped with her. |
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Lohan’s remand extended
Hisar, July 5 Lohan, Kuldip, Dharamvir, Amit and Satbir are accused of killing Kulbir Singh, driver of Congress MLA Randhir Singh
Dhira, on February 2, the day of Assembly poll, near Mirchpur village. TNS |
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BJP fumes at attack on Ram Janmabhoomi
Bhiwani, July 5 This was stated by the organising secretary of the district unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) reacting to the news of attack on Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya. He alleged that the terrorists had taken the courage of attacking the most reverend temple of the country just because of wrong policies of the Congress. He said with the removal of POTA, the sword of fear had been removed from the heads of the terrorists. He held the bus travelling without passport between Kashmir and PoK among other wrong policies of the party. He applauded the security forces who foiled the attempt. District president Tara Chand Agarwal, Om Prakash Maan, Ghanshyam, Col Mangal Singh Nangal and others condemned the attack. |
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Ayodhya attack condemned
Sonepat, July 5 The leaders also blamed the government lacking the security measures in and around Ayodhya and Faizabad districts that enable the terrorists Talking to mediapersons here, they demanded resignations of the Union Home Minister and the Home Minister of UP. They urged the Centre to take stringent measures for the safety of the |
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