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Deepender for ‘choudhar’, Abhimanyu for ‘chowkidar’
Money converts ‘murder’ into accident
Mayawati declares herself a living deity
Call centres told not
to engage women in night shifts
Demonstration by dera devotees
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Rohtak poll: INLD for ban on entry of Cong MLAs
KVS award for arts teacher
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Deepender for ‘choudhar’, Abhimanyu for ‘chowkidar’
Rohtak, September 27 If Mr Deepender Singh Hooda, Congress candidate and son of CM is seeking votes to maintain “Choudhar” of Rohtak in Haryana, BJP nominee Capt Abhimanyu, appeals voters to elect him so that he can act as their “Chowkidar”, to keep watch on the Hooda government. For the younger Hooda it is his first election. Capt Abhimanyu contested the Rohtak Lok Sabha seat for the first time in 2004, when he was defeated by Deepender’s father by about 1.5 lakh votes. This, however, did not dishearten him. He virtually continued to campaign and maintained contacts with non traditional BJP votes in the countryside of Rohtak. This has placed him ahead of Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) nominee, Balwan Singh Sohag. Congress supporters tell voters that Deepender’s victory will further strengthen “Choudhar” of Rohtak in Haryana politics. They caution voters that Rohtak deserved “Choudhar” immediately after Haryana came into existence in 1966, but was denied for 40 years. It is Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda who brought glory to the area. Now the voters, Congress men say, must ensure that “Choudhar” was not lost by their wrong choice. Deepender himself prefers to raise the issue of the development of the area. He tells the voters that his victory would facilitate speedy development of Rohtak as he would act as a link between the Centre and the state administration, both ruled by the Congress. To the voters of Rohtak, particularly in the rural side, a highly egoist lot, the argument appeals. Capt Abhimanyu and BJP campaigners criticise the Hooda Government for being “ineffective and inefficient” and for having failed to initiate any development work in the area. Under the circumstances, they say, the victory of the BJP nominee would serve as a warning to the Hooda Government and would force it to change its style of functioning. Capt Abhimanyu tells the voters that his victory would enable him to act as a “Chowkidar” of their interests. The INLD finds itself in an unenviable situation. In the past Mr Hooda’s mainstay had been the non-Jat voters of the constituency. The Jat voter of the area was a die-hard supporter of the INLD. Whatever Jat votes Mr Hooda used to get was a bonus for him. However, now the situation has taken a worse turn for the INLD. While Mr Hooda’s support base among the non-Jat voters remains more or less intact, the Jats have deserted the INLD in a big way. A senior INLD leader admitted that the Jats of Rohtak “have been Bhupised”. (Mr Hooda is called “Bhupi” by his supporters and friends). Many a Jat voter of the INLD, who did not want to vote for the Congress, has shifted loyalty towards Capt Abhimanyu, also a Jat. Meanwhile, in a joint statement issued here today the president and the senior vice-president of the Haryana Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr S.P. Gupta and Dr N.C. Jain, respectively, have appealed to the business community to support the Congress. The patron of the Haryana Rice Millers Association, Mr Bharat Bhushan Jain, has also extended support to the ruling party. Over 10 lakh voters will exercise their right to vote tomorrow from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. About 4500 security personnel, including nine companies of the para-military forces, will maintain law and order. According to S.P., Rohtak, Subhash Yadav, there would be no restriction on the movement of vehicles on the national highways passing through the Rohtak Lok Sabha constituency. These highways are the Delhi-Hisar road (NH 10), the Jind-Rewari road (NH 71) and the Panipat-Rohtak road (NH 71-A). On other roads, only the public transport, ambulances, funeral vans or personal vehicles driven to the polling booths would be allowed. The Election Commission has made it mandatory that no voter would be allowed to caste his vote in the byelection without first establishing his identity. Besides the voter identity card, a voter can satisfy the polling officer about his identity through either of a passport, driving licence, service identity card issued to employees of the public sector undertakings and Central and state governments, Kisan Post office passbook, student identity card, ration card, ST, SC or BC certificate, ex-serviceman pension book, pension payment order, old-age pension order, widow pension order, arms licence, freedom fighter identity card, ex-serviceman widow dependent certificate and disabled certificate. The commission has asked the returning officer to post a list of these documents outside every polling booth. |
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Money converts ‘murder’ into accident
Hisar, September 27 Ms Nirmal of Dhani Teliwara, who had got the case pertaining to the murder of her husband registered, approached Mr Mohinder Lal, Inspector-General of Police, Hisar range, and apprised him of the situation. Sensing the gravity of the matter, the IGP transferred the case to the Hisar police on June 6, 2005. Following this, a CIA Inspector was appointed the investigating officer. After re-examining the case and going through the evidences available, the investigating officer found that the case was of murder and not of death due to accident. Since the complaint was found true, the case was again changed to that of murder and proceedings initiated against the accused, Kanwaljit alias Kala, Swaran Singh and Amrik of Teliwara. During the inquiry, another startling revelation was made. As per the case record, a case regarding murder of Balwinder Sharma was registered under Sections 302 and 201 of the IPC vide FIR No. 137 at Ratia police station on a complaint of Ms Nirmal, widow of the deceased, on April 26, 2005. It was found that while the investigation of the case was in progress, the accused mortgaged nearly three acres of their land with M/s Pal and Gurpal, Ratia-based arhtiyas (commission agents), for about Rs 7 lakh per acre. According to informed sources, further investigations revealed that the money had allegedly been paid to certain police officials, following which the section was changed. While the DSP (Headquarters), Fatehabad, approved the changing of the said section, the involvement of other senior police officials cannot be ruled out. Another questionable fact in the case was that while Balwinder was killed on October 15, 2004, the FIR was formally registered months later, on April 26, 2005. On being contacted, Mr Mohinder Lal maintained that he had transferred the case to the Hisar police as it had been alleged that the investigations were not being carried out properly and it was a sensitive matter. As of now, the police has obtained arrest warrants against the accused, but they have not been arrested so far. Meanwhile, the accused applied for bail at a Fatehabad court and their plea is due to be heard tomorrow.
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Mayawati declares herself a living deity
Ambala, September 27 Ms Mayawati addressed a well-attended rally at Gandhi Maidan, Ambala cantonment, this afternoon. Ms Mayawati said that the Bahujan Samaj people spent money on superstition. “Instead of spending money on gods and goddesses whom you have not seen, you must give us money for our mission since I am your living goddess. I have not married and the Bahujan Samaj is my family,” she said. Ms Mayawati said that Manuvadi set-up had led to an unfair society. She said the Bahujan Samaj comprised the SC, the ST, the OBC and minorities. She said the Bahujan Samaj had been deprived of all the rights which had been given to the “Swaran Samaj.” She said Babasaheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar tried to bring about equality with the upper castes through special provisions in the Constitution. She said in Haryana, the Congress had come to power through the votes of the marginalised sections of society. “A few years back, there was reservation for the SC/ST in Haryana, but then categorisation of ‘A’ and ‘B’ was introduced. This categorisation was done so that the backward communities would fight among themselves. We are not at all in favour of categories.” Ms Mayawati said in Haryana, there was a backlog of 70,000 jobs which must be filled. The state-level commissions must give reports so that the marginalised sections of society could benefit. She said the Kelkar Commission report was ignored, while the Mandal Commission report was not implemented in all the states. Ms Mayawati said once the BSP formed the government at the Centre, not only reservation and job issue would be taken care of but other issues would also be solved.
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Call centres told not
to engage women in night shifts
Gurgaon, September 27 Mr M. R. Patlan, Deputy Labour Commissioner, Gurgaon, said: “The Section of the Act prohibits women from working whether as an employee or otherwise in any establishment during the night. The faltering establishments are liable to be hauled up under the law. However, there is a caveat to the strict prohibitory provision. The establishments can procure exemption from the provision, subject to satisfaction of the department after fulfilling certain guidelines. The guidelines are laid out in set proforma by the department inquiring about physical qualities of the concerned workplace like the safety and security of the females workers, transportation, etc are ascertained. They are to be filled by the concerned firms to be scrutinised by the department. According to Mr Patlan, the procurement of exemption by a firm has to be done annually. He said Convergys had not applied even though its exemption period ended on August 3, 2002. All this while it had been employing females for night shifts in an illegal way. In the same way Saffron’Global exemption period had elapsed on March, 2005. According to him, even after reminders from the department the two firms did not care to respond. After inspection conducted by the local unit of the department on order from Labour Commissioner, Haryana, the two firms were put on notice for not fulfilling the norms. The cancellation of the exemption, which they had been enjoying, was done by the office of the Labour Commissioner. The department alleged that while Convergys had not applied till the time the proceedings against it were on, the Saffron Global application was not complete leading to rejection of its application and the exemption. The department’s officials are at a loss as to why should there be such a ballyhoo when the exemptions can be got by completing simple formalities which include parting of information and adhering to rules in the book. The rules are to ensure safety of women, who are on night shifts. In any case, neither the department order, nor the rule prohibits the firms form doing their business. It was just prohibiting them from employing females till they ensured the safety and security of the females at their workplaces, the officers added. Mr G. S. Thakur, local Labour Officer-cum-Conciliation Officer, who has been quoted in the media report, said that he had been quoted out of context, and “apparently with an aim to build up a credible story out of nothing”. Producing evidence of correspondence from the department to the two firms before the orders, he said “misplaced contextualisation and half-truths” such as the present one and the recent labour unrest in Honda Motorcycle and Scooters India Ltd tarnished the image of the state and the country. Mr Thakur further said that now the two firms had applied for grant of exemptions after the department’s tough stand. According to the department, there are about 1600 female employees in Convergys and 80 per cent of them are put on night shifts. Comparatively it is the biggest employer of females in Gurgaon’s BPO circuit. The number of females employed in Saffron Global is about 150. Another officer of the department appeared to cut up with the mediapersons. The apparent pique of the department’s official has an angle. Even in the labour unrest pertaining to Honda Motorcycle and Scooter Ltd, which finally turned bloody, the Labour Department was at the centre of the controversy.
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Demonstration by dera devotees
Hisar, September 27 Prior to the protest march, a meeting of the dera disciples was held on the college ground, in which they pledged to oppose the CBI action against the dera tooth and nail. After reaching the min-secretariat, the protesters submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner to be forwarded to the Chief Minister. In the memorandum, it has been alleged that the dera management and sevadars were being implicated in false cases on the basis of an anonymous letter.
— TNS |
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Rohtak poll: INLD for ban on entry of Cong MLAs
Chandigarh, September 27 In a press release issued here today, Mr Ajay Chautala, MP and secretary-general of the INLD, said the Election Commission of India (ECI) had issued a directive on September 10 saying that political functionaries, having security provided by the state government, would not be allowed to remain in the assembly segments in which they were not electors after the period of campaigning was over. Mr Chautala quoted the ECI as having directed the District Election Officers and Superintendents of Police that on the day of the polling they must restrict the movement of political functionaries in the constituencies where these functionaries might be bona fide voters. |
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KVS award for arts teacher
Ambala, September 27 The School Principal, Mr RVS Shisodia, said that Mr Rajesh Kumar had been awarded for his outstanding contribution in the field of education. Mr Kumar was conferred with a certificate of ‘meritorious services’ along with a cash award of Rs 10,000 and a shawl at a ceremony held at New Delhi. |
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