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HPCC rally to cut Bhajan Lal to size
Chautalas using Devi Lal’s name, says MP
BJP activists flay Hooda govt
Pro-farmer Budget, says Hooda
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Rallies to serve no purpose: Pratap Singh
Govt to auction 19.5 acres of controversial land
Haryana hikes grant for ’84 riot victims
Headmaster suspended for molesting students
Wife gets life term for killing husband
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HPCC rally to cut Bhajan Lal to size
Chandigarh, February 28 Ever since Mr Ram Prakash, a camp follower of Mr Hooda, has been appointed the working president of the HPCC, concerted efforts are being made to ignore Mr Bhajan Lal while formulating various action plans at the party level. It is Mr Ram Prakash, who is filling in on behalf of the party, in the run-up to the rally on Sunday. Mr Bhajan Lal, despite being the HPCC chief, is unlikely to participate in the function organised by the party unit, of which he is officially the numero uno. Mr Hooda, however, does not need to bother about the sanctity of the rally in his absence. The presence of Mr Janardhan Dwivedi, AICC general secretary and in charge of the Haryana unit of Congress, in the rally is enough to give legitimacy to the programme. The venue of the rally has also been chosen carefully. Not only will it serve the purpose of building up Mr Hooda’s image outside his home district of Rohtak, it will also be an onslaught against Mr Bhajan Lal in his own backyard. His MP son, Mr Kuldeep Bishnoi, who has taken upon himself to periodically issue statements against the Hooda-led government has also chosen Hisar district for his maverick activities. Similar rallies took place annually during the INLD regime. But those functions were organised by the state government. This time the function is organised by the party. The step will serve the dual purpose of cutting to size the HPCC chief and at the same time demonstrating that party high command’s directive about coordination between the organisation and the government has become a reality in Haryana. Critics of Mr Hooda point out that having failed to get a helping hand from Mr Bhajan Lal, Mr Hooda is losing out on the support of the considerable following of Mr Bhajan Lal. People from the Adampur constituency are also expected to show up at the rally. If this happens, it will certainly be a shot in the arm for the Chief Minister. |
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Chautalas using Devi Lal’s name, says MP
Hisar, February 28 “Not the Congress, but Chautalas themselves are bringing disgrace to the late leader by using his name and pictures for achieving their selfish interests,” Mr Jai Prakash said while addressing a news conference here today. The Hisar MP pointed out that since the Chautalas had no achievement of their own rule, they were trying to sell Devi Lal’s name to emotionally blackmail the people. “The Lok Dal has been reduced to a ‘loot dal’ by Chautala and his sons,” he remarked. Alleging that the Chautala family sheltered criminals and indulged in rampant corruption during its misrule, Mr Jai Prakash pointed out that they were now afraid of being exposed and issuing baseless statements. A booklet listing the achievements of the state government was also circulated among newsmen on this occasion. The booklet primarily contains a comparison chart of Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Mr Chautala. The booklet bears the signatures of Master Hari Singh, a former political adviser to the Chief Minister, who has appealed to the people to participate in the “Navnirman” rally to be held here on March 5. Mr Jai Prakash tried his best to evade specific questions regarding the stance adopted by state Congress President Bhajan Lal and his son Kuldeep Bishnoi regarding the rally. While Mr Bhajan Lal recently expressed his ignorance about the rally, Mr Bishnoi has openly questioned the very idea of organising the rally. Mr Jai Prakash, who has been made the convener of the rally, successfully parried pointed questions on the matter. On being cornered, he became defensive and conceded: “Ib akhbaar mein ke bataoon…tham saari boojh lyoge (Now what should I say on the record…you will make me reply to everything.)” |
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BJP activists flay Hooda govt
Rewari, February 28 Senior BJP leader Ram Bilas Sharma, state BJP general secretary Vir Kumar Yadav, former state BJP chief Om Prakash Grover, former minister Narbir Singh and several other prominent party leaders addressed the demonstrators who staged the dharna from 11 am to 4 pm. Flaying the Hooda government for its dismal performance during its one-year tenure, Mr Vir Kumar Yadav wanted to know from the Chief Minister about his government’s achievements. Enumerating the electoral promises made by the Congress brass, he said the government had failed on the power and employment. Describing the Bhakra Mainline-Hansi-Butana branch multipurpose link canal project as a ploy to hoodwink the farmers of south Haryana, Mr Yadav asserted that it was being used to divert the people’s attention from the state government’s failure to secure the completion of the SYL canal. Simultaneously launching a scathing attack on the Congress-led UPA government for its anti-people policies, he said the spiralling prices of kerosene, cooking gas, rice, sugar, wheat and other necessaries of life had made life miserable for the masses who were awaiting an opportunity to get rid of this misrule. Seeking dismissal of the government and imposition of President’s rule in Haryana, he assured the people that the BJP would stand by them. Later, they submitted to the district administration a memorandum which was addressed to the Governor of Haryana. |
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Pro-farmer Budget, says Hooda
Chandigarh, February 28 Mr Hooda described the Union Budget as pro-poor and pro-farmer. He said it would benefit the common man. He also appreciated the focus laid on rural employment, irrigation facilities, agriculture, health and education sectors, and rural electrification. |
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Rallies to serve no purpose: Pratap Singh
Chandigarh, February 28 Talking to newsmen, Mr Pratap Singh said the rallies would serve no purpose except to waste precious petroleum products and cause automobile pollution. He said the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, had unnecessarily given an issue to Mr Chautala by dropping the name of Mr Devi Lal from that of the Panipat Thermal Plant. Criticising his brother, Mr Pratap Singh said the INLD had already held protest rallies at all district headquarters on February 15. Therefore, now there was no logic in organising the Panipat rally. He said it was the game plan of Mr Chautala in naming so many institutions after Mr Devi Lal that when the next government would change them, he (Mr Chautala) would get an issue. Similarly, Mr Hooda would not achieve anything by organising the Hisar rally, except to show that he had a following in the areas considered strongholds of the Haryana Congress President, Mr Bhajan Lal, and Mr Chautala. Mr Pratap Singh alleged that Mr Hooda and Mr Chautala were in league with each other and the people were not happy with Mr Hooda's style of functioning. |
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Govt to auction 19.5 acres of controversial land
Chandigarh, February 28 This land was acquired by the Chautala government for Messrs DLF Universal Limited for the proposed cyber city for Rs 4 crore. However, the deal fell through when the Congress, which was in Opposition then, raised a hue and cry. When the Hooda government came to power, the DLF offered to pay Rs 40 crore for it. The Haryana Cabinet today decided to auction this land by inviting biddings. The reserve price was fixed at Rs 50 crore. Under the “Swiss challenge route” auction, the highest bid would be treated as the fair price of the land. Then the DLF would be given an option to purchase this land at the highest bid. If the DLF refused to buy the land, it would given to the highest bidder. The Cabinet decided to set up a State Academy of Research and Training by upgrading the Haryana PWD Research Laboratory at Hisar to cope with the emerging trends in the field of construction technology and quality assurance techniques. The Cabinet also authorised the Union Ministry of Company Affairs and its operators M/s Tata Consultancy for generating stamps for filing of paper by companies. It also decided to discontinue the Suraksha Sathi scheme launched by the previous government, as it failed to provide necessary assistance to the Police Department. It was felt that the scheme was an unnecessary burden on the state exchequer. As many as 3604 Surakshi Sathi were engaged by the previous government in 17 districts till December, 2004, and Rs 3.60 crore had been incurred in this scheme till July 31, 2005, out of the police budget. The Cabinet decided to reduce the minimum height for the recruitment of a constable from 5’-9” to 5’-7” in order to provide opportunity to a large number of youths and bring parity with the Indian Army and Central para-military forces. It also reduced the age of recruitment to 18-25 years from 18-27 years as recommended by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. |
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Haryana hikes grant for ’84 riot victims
Chandigarh, February 28 Ex-gratia amount in case of injuries will be paid at the rate of Rs 1.25 lakh minus the amount already paid. Ex-gratia for damaged residential properties, uninsured commercial or industrial properties would be paid at the rate of 10 times the amount originally paid after deducting the amount already paid. This decision was taken in view of the assurance given by the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister during discussion on the report of the Justice Nanavati Commission of Inquiry into the 1984 riots. In Haryana 106 persons were killed in the 1984 riots, out of which compensation at the rate of Rs 3.5 lakh has been given in 100 cases and six cases were under scrutiny. The State Government has already paid Rs 22.07 lakh for damages to residential buildings and Rs 14.09 lakh in case of damages to uninsured commercial and industrial properties. The Cabinet, on the advise of the State Governor, decided not to consider the mercy petitions of four life convicts, Brij Lal, Surinder Singh, Sukhbir and Shakti Singh. The Chautala Cabinet had, on July 18, 2003, resolved to recommend the remission of the unexpired period of sentence of these life convicts to the Governor on compassionate grounds. The then Governor, Babu Parmanand, advised, “I firmly believe that the powers under Article 161 should be used sparingly and with considerable restraint and not arbitrarily. They are not to be used to circumvent the due process of law or to short-circuit legal processes and give relief which was denied by courts justifiably. ’’ The Cabinet also transferred the work of collecting passenger tax, goods tax and road tax on commercial vehicles from the Transport Department to the Excise and Taxation Department. The Cabinet decided that the Budget session of the Assembly should open from March 17. |
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Headmaster suspended for molesting students
Meham (Rohtak), February 28 The headmaster, Raj Singh, was arrested today after a case under Section 294, IPC, was registered against him. He was also placed under suspension. Two other teachers of the school have been transferred from there. The incident came to light when one of the girls reportedly refused to go to school and persistent probing by the parents revealed that she was reluctant to attend school because the headmaster had been behaving indecently with her. The matter was brought to the notice of the sarpanch after which a group of villagers roughed up the headmaster and handed him over to the police late last evening. However, the case against him was registered today after which he was formally arrested and produced in a court, which released him on bail. The FIR has been lodged by the Sarpanch, Mr Sadhu Ram, on behalf of the village panchayat. The District Primary Education Officer (DPEO), Mr Dilbagh Singh, and the Block Education Officer, Meham, Ms Promilla Marya, visited the school today. They spoke to several girl students individually. The DPEO told The Tribune that a few girl students had complained that the headmaster had on several occasions “touched them” in the class in the presence of other students and had also “passed indecent remarks”. The two officials also met the villagers and the sarpanch. He said there were two groups of villagers — one supporting the headmaster and the other reiterating the allegations against him. He said he would forward his report to the Director by this evening. The villagers are clearly divided over the issue. The group supporting the headmaster alleges that he has been framed because of political and caste considerations. The other group, however, maintains that it believes the allegations levelled by the girls. |
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Wife gets life term for killing husband
Bhiwani, February 28 Mahender Singh of Dulheri village under Tosham police station reported on September 2, 2004,
that his cousin, Umed Singh, had some differences with his wife, Mahender reported that such a scuffle took place between the husband and the wife on May 11, 2004, when nephews of Umed, Jagdish of Shishwal village and Jaiveer
of Gorachhi village, were also present in the house. He said he and his neighbour, Satish, went to the house and pacified the duo but a scuffle took place between them at night. Next day, he did not find Umed anywhere and his wife informed that Umed had gone out of the house. He tried to locate Umed for several months and later reported the matter to the
police. The police interrogated the wife of Umed who revealed about the murder. She told that her husband had beaten her up that night and she had pushed him aside and throttled him with her dupatta to death. She woke her nephews up, dug up the floor and buried Umed with
their help. |
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