 |
|
|
A disappointing day for Haryana babus
Members suggest Adampur’s inclusion in Sirsa LS
seat
Govt justifies land deal with Reliance
Haryana appoints 7 more law officers
Power workers threaten nationwide stir
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
CITU launches agitation against spinning mill
Minor raped at knife point
CJM orders DNA test in rape case
5 members of Nishan Singh gang arrested
Youth with criminal background shot
Five killed, nine injured in
road accident
Tributes paid to Charan Singh
Gunshots fired at birthday party
A clarification
HIGH COURT
|
|
A disappointing day for Haryana babus
Chandigarh, May 30 Mr Chaturvedi was to demit office on superannuation in mid-June. Either of Mrs Nayyar and Mr Dhanendra Kumar, IAS officers of the 1968 batch, who are the two senior-most bureaucrats, after Mr Chaturvedi was expected to take over as the Cabinet Secretary. It was for the first time that any Haryana bureaucrat had reached so near the coveted post. A few days ago they were personally interviewed by the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, along with three other colleagues. But, today news came that the government had decided to give extension to Mr Chaturvedi. While Mrs Nayyar is the Secretary of the Women and Child Department in the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development, Mr Dhanendra Kumar is working as the Executive Director (ED) in the World Bank. Whereas the retirement of Mrs Nayyar is due on July 31, Mr Dhanendra Kumar reaches superannuation on June 30. As Cabinet Secretaries, they would have got a two-year term. Mr Dhanendra Kumar, however, has a three-year term as the World Bank ED. Sources in the bureaucracy say what has gone against the Haryana bureaucrats is their superannuation being round the corner. The government could not have picked up a 1969-batch officer for the post of Cabinet Secretary because the present Union Home Secretary, Mr V.K. Duggal, also belongs to the 1968 batch. Since the Cabinet Secretary presides over the meetings of the Secretaries, it would have been embarrassing for Mr Duggal to attend the meetings under the chairmanship of an officer junior to him because the Indian bureaucracy is too protocol conscious. Since Mr Duggal is on extension, he could not have been promoted as the Cabinet Secretary because rules prohibit promotion of an officer on extension. Under the circumstances, the Union Government seems to have opted for an extension to Mr Chaturvedi. The Haryana bureaucracy feels that the Union Government is adopting different yardsticks when it comes to giving extension to IAS officers. While the Fifth Pay Commission, which raised the retirement age from 58 years to 60, specifically ruled that no extension would be given after that, the Centre had been indulging in the “pick-and-choose” game in this regard. Last year it had issued a notification that the Chief Secretaries of states could be given extension for six months. However, when the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, sought six-month extension for the former Chief Secretary, Mrs Meenaxi Anand Chaudhry, it was turned down. Now, the Centre had cheated the Haryana bureaucracy of the post of Cabinet Secretary.
|
|
|
Members suggest Adampur’s inclusion in Sirsa LS
seat
Chandigarh, May 30 It was learnt that the associate members, affiliated with the ruling Congress in Haryana, suggested modification of the draft proposal prepared by the commission and exclusion of the Narwana Assembly segment from the proposed composition of the Sirsa Lok Sabha constituency and that replace Narwana with the Assembly segment of Adampur. The suggestion, if it becomes a reality, will be a massive blow for HPCC chief Bhajan Lal, whose son Kuldeep Bishnoi is the sitting MP from the Bhiwani Lok Sabha constituency, which now has the Adampur Assembly segment. In the last Lok Sabha elections, Mr Bishnoi had defeat the INLD heavyweight, Mr Ajay Chautala, and the HVP top gun, Mr Surender Singh, in a high voltage contest at Bhiwani, primarily because of the votes he bagged at Adampur. The Adampur segment is represented in the Assembly by Mr Bhajan Lal himself who has always won from the seat. The associate members’ suggestion to transfer Adampur to Sirsa, a parliamentary constituency reserved for SC candidates, is evidently an instance of the infighting within the state Congress casting its shadow on the exercise taken up by the Delimitation Commission. The Narwana Assembly segment, on the other hand, is represented by the Haryana Transport Minister, Mr Randeep Singh Surjewala. Transferring Narwana to Sirsa would not have helped any future attempt by Mr Surjewala to contest from the Lok Sabha seat of Hisar. They suggested that the Jind Assembly segment be included in the Sonepat Lok Sabha seat and Bahadurgarh excluded from Sonepat to be included in the Rohtak parliamentary seat. Mr Krishan Singh Sangwan, BJP MP from Sonepat, who is the only non-Congress associate member from Haryana, did not object to the suggestion. With today’s meeting the two-day session of the Delimitation Commission regarding restructuring Assembly and Lok Sabha seats of Haryana came to an end. Today’s session was attended by all associate members except the Karnal MP, Mr Arvind Sharma. |
|
|
Govt justifies land deal with Reliance
Chandigarh, May
30 A spokesman for the government claimed it was
wrong to say that the land having a market price of about Rs 8,150 crore
had been handed over to Reliance Industry at a very low rate. He said
the market price of the land in such allotments was totally irrelevant
as infrastructure development agencies like the Haryana Urban
Development Authority (HUDA) and the Haryana State Industrial
Development Corporation (HSIDC) were supposed to develop industrial,
residential, institutional and commercial land. They would allot the
same after putting infrastructure facilities like roads, sewerage,
electricity and storm-water drainage to the entrepreneurs on a
no-profit-no-loss basis. He said the total cost for which the land was
proposed to be transferred to the special purpose vehicle (SPV) included
the cost of land acquisition, interest capitalised as holding cost at
the rate of 9 per cent per annum and the administrative cost at the rate
of 10 per cent of the total cost of acquired land. This would also
benefit the HSIDC in the form of sweat equity in the joint venture SEZ.
The sweat equity would effectively mean that without investing any money
in the SPV, the HSIDC would be entitled to 7.5 per cent of the total
equity till the size of the SEZ is up to 10,000 acres. Going by the
track record of the different stocks of Reliance Group Companies, the
sweat equity is likely to translate into a big corpus for the HSIDC. In
addition to above, he said, the external development charges and other
government dues and enhanced compensation, if awarded by the court,
should be paid by the SPV. The proposed joint venture agreement,
therefore, was much more comprehensive and envisaged substantial
long-term returns to the corporation than a mere transfer of land on a
one-time premium. He also described as a bundle of lies the
allegations that the state government had allotted 25,000 acres to
Reliance Industries. He said the state government had formulated a
policy regarding acquisition of land for private developers and in
public-private partnership for setting up of SEZs, technology cities,
industrial parks and industrial model townships. The policy stipulated
that the land acquired for private developers in the NCR region and
Panchkula district would be restricted to 25 per cent of total project
area falling in the NCR region and Panchkula district and this limit
should be 50 per cent outside the NCR region or Panchkula district.
However, this restriction would not apply to joint ventures where the
HSIDC or the state government held 26 per cent or more share in equity.
While referring to the remarks of Mr Chautala about the development of
SEZs in other areas of the state, he said the Government of India had so
far granted approval to about 24 private developers for setting up SEZs
in Haryana. The location of the proposed SEZs covered industrially
backward areas like Mewat, Jhajjar and Rohtak within the NCR and Ambala
outside NCR. It was for the private developers and not the government
to select land which would be viable for the project, the spokesman
said. He said as per the new policy, the state government, while
acquiring land for private developers, would ensure that the developers
would undertake to provide essential services like roads, street lights,
drainage and sewerage, drinking water supply and build suitable medical
care and schools along with community centres in all such villages where
the village population was rehabilitated at a new place. The
developers would also be required to set up industrial and training
institutes and polytechnics in such areas to improve employment
opportunities for the local youth.
|
|
|
Haryana appoints 7 more law officers
Chandigarh, May 30 With this the total number of law officers has gone up to 97, more than the number in neighbouring Punjab. According to sources, orders of appointment of the new law officers have been issued by the Home Department. Those appointed include Mr Deepak Kumar Kaushal (Additional AG), Mr Tarunvir Vashist (Additional AG), Mr Shamsher Singh Mor (Senior Deputy AG), Mr Tarun Aggarwal (Senior Deputy AG), Ms Anuradha Bali (Assistant AG), Mr Pawan Kumar (Assistant AG) and Mr Rajiv Prashad (Assistant AG). Having initially appointed 62 law officers, the Hooda government later added 18 more law officers to the already lengthy list. This did not include the Advocate- General (AG), Mr Hawa Singh Hooda, who had been appointed earlier. Commenting on the appointment of more law officers by the Haryana Government, a Punjab and Haryana High Court lawyer, who was a law officer during the previous regime headed by Mr Om Prakash Chautala, observed while Mr Chautala's government managed to fight the cases against the government with just 40-odd law officers, Mr Hooda had even surpassed Punjab when it came to appointing law officers. Sources said of the originally appointed 95 law officers, five did not join. With the latest addition to the tally, the office of Advocate- General now has one Senior Additional AG, 15 Additional AGs, 15 Senior Deputy AGs, 18 Deputy AGs and 47 Assistant AGs. "Where is the space to seat so many law officers? More importantly, what are all these law officers going to do? Already, many law officers don't even bother sitting in the office for the entire duration of the court functioning. This is sheer waste of public money," remarked a law officer, who naturally requested anonymity.
|
|
|
Power workers threaten nationwide stir
Faridabad, May 30 A spokesperson of the federation said here today that the stance of the union government on the issue of the privatisation of the power sector had forced the employees to adopt such a strategy. The UPA government had promised to review Electricity Bill of 2003 when it came to power two years ago as a part of the Common Minimum Programme (CMP). Alleging that the present government had not only violated the CMP provisions, but it had been carrying forward the policies of the previous NDA rule, which had introduced the controversial bill. The federation discussed the issue at the recent meeting of its national executive held at Ooty in Tamil Nadu about a week back and resolved that the federation and all of its affiliated state bodies would continue the stir as long as there was no concrete move by the government to resolve the tangle. Alleging the government of backtracking on its promise, the federation said that the Union Power Minister, Mr. Sushil Kumar Shinde, in a meeting held with it on March 10 had assured to submit a report regarding the improvement measures adopted in the power sector. He said despite reports and findings that the privatization had failed to improve the scenario in the sector, the government had approved a major plan of allowing foreign companies to set up mega power projects in at least five states on experimental basis. It is stated that MNCs from Japan, South Korea, the USA, Singapore and Hong Kong have been invited to set up mega plants in Orissa, Chhatishgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharastra and Karnataka. Charging the government with backstabbing the employees, the federation has stated that such a decision could not be taken without making the report of the review committee public. Claiming that the power generated and supplied by the private companies had been costly and could make the consumer suffer, it stated that such a move could be suicidal as it was not clear who would decide the tariff structure. Giving out details of the figures of the achievements of the target of power generation in the country in the past four years of the 10th Five- year Plan, the spokesperson claimed that the government had failed to achieve even 40 per cent of the target set by it. The government had been able to just add another about 10000 MW of power against a target of over 15000 MW in the period between 2002 and 2006. The total target set for the plan period had been around 41000 MW. The power sector employees have supported the proposed strike of the electricity employees of Punjab on June 8 next and have announced to stage protest demonstrations at circle level throughout the country on June 2. They have also announced to hold rallies and protest in all the states including one outside the Parliament in the month of November next.
|
|
|
CITU launches agitation against spinning mill
Panipat, May 30 As a mark of agitation scores of workers allegedly ransacked a few factories on the Kabri road late last night. Though the police had rounded up several workers and leaders associated allegedly with CITU on the charge but the workers had pledged to fasten their agitation. The trade union leaders had held a rally here on Sunday and announced to launch an agitation against the spinning mill owners. Lamenting the state government for ignoring the workers’ According to the police, factory owners had charged the workers with damaging property in their units. Factory owners alleged that the unions having political affiliation were severely affecting their business.
|
|
|
Minor raped at knife point
Karnal, May 30 According to the victim, the youth, Sandeep, entered her house when her mother had gone to the fields to bring fodder on Saturday afternoon. The victim alleged that he raped her at knife point. When he was about to leave the house after committing the crime, her mother and an aunt came there but he managed to flee from the spot after pushing them aside. An FIR under Section 376 of the IPC was registered against the accused on the complaint of the victim at Madhuban police station. In yet another incident, Sona, a youth of Valmiki Basti, Ram Nagar, Karnal, was arrested for allegedly making a bid to molest a girl of the same basti yesterday. An FIR under Section 354 of the IPC was lodged against the accused on the victim’s complaint. |
|
CJM orders DNA test in rape case
Sonepat, May 30 The girl has alleged that before her kidnapping, she was raped a number of times by the accused. However, the acused has denied the allegation before the police. The girl was allegedly kidnapped four months back from her residence and despite protests by the family members, activists of the Bharatiya Kisan Union and the Akhil Bharatiya Janwadi Samiti, the police had failed to trace the girl. However, a week back, the girl reportedly escaped from the custody of the kidnappers and returned home. When the police got her medically examined in a local hospital, she was found eight-month pregnant. During questioning, the girl allged that she was raped a number of times by the accused.
|
|
|
5 members of Nishan Singh gang arrested
Ambala, May 30 Superintendent of Police, Ambala, Amitabh Dhillon, said a special team arrested five members of the gang when they were planning to commit a dacoity. The arrested persons were Harjinder Singh Fauji of Shahpur village, Vinay Kumar of Bihar, Salinder alias Sanju of Paplotha village , Hardeet alias Happy of Mahesh Nagar and Gurdeep Singh alias Manga of Goli village . However, Nishan Singh, Kuldeep and Sandeep managed to escape. Two country made revolvers, four live cartridges and two iron rods were recovered from them. SSP Dhillon said there was a reward of Rs 25000 on Harjinder Singh Fauji. With the help of Surender Geong gang, a businessman had been kidnapped in Kaithal and a demand for a ransom of Rs 50 lakh had been made. When the ransom was not paid, the businessman was shot. Mr Dhillon said Harjinder Singh Fauji had run away from the Army. His two brothers, Dalel and Kuldeep, were lodged in Ambala Central Jail for involvement in criminal activities. Harjinder had become involved in crime after he supplied a weapon to his brother Kuldeep alias Kallu, who shot dead Rajinder alias Bobby on June 19, 2004. Kuldeep was in contact with Nishan Singh who wanted to eliminate another gangster Rakesh alias Bobby. But in a case of mistaken identity, Rajinder alias Bobby was shot dead. On August 10, 2005, Nishan Singh and his accomplices had shot dead Rajkumar of Sarsehri village. Five persons were arrested but Nishan Singh managed to flee. Mr Dhillon said a special team was formed to track down the gangsters. The team kept track of their movements and also of their mobile phones. On January 15, 2006, Harjinder Singh Fauji alongwith accomplices shot
Ritu, the sister of gangster Bobby. He did not want Ritu to go to court and give a statement against his brother Kuldeep alias
Kallu, who was involved in Bobby's murder. While seven persons were arrested in the case, Harjinder managed to escape.
|
|
|
Youth with criminal background shot
Panipat, May 30 Sources in the police said the deceased was shot dead from a point blank range in the face near National Public School. The deceased had reportedly a criminal background and was allegedly involved in petty crimes. Though the shocked family members of Kishan had not blamed anyone, the police was investigating if the incident took place due to some rivalry. Residents of the locality had refused to identify him even though he had been residing along with his family for years, said a cop. A case had been registered but the police had made no arrest. |
|
|
Five killed, nine injured in
road accident
Hisar, May 30 Additional Superintendent of Police Rakesh Arya said the jeep was going from Hisar to Hansi. As it neared Mayyad village, it collided head-on with a container coming from the opposite direction. The employees of a petrol station located near the site of accident rushed to help the jeep passengers. Three persons killed in the accident have been identified as Baru Ram, a former sarpanch of Baas village, Narender of Bhiwani district and Ramdhari of Jind district. The injured persons, including the driver of the jeep, have been admitted to different hospitals at Hansi and Hisar. The container has been impounded by the police, while its driver is at large. A case has been registered in this regard. |
|
|
Tributes paid to Charan Singh
Hisar, May 30 Dr Kuhad described the late Prime Minister as a great thinker, economist and well-wisher of the peasantry. He said the reforms in agriculture policy introduced by him were relevant even today.
|
|
|
Gunshots fired at birthday party Ambala, May 30 The shots were fired when the birthday party was being held. Thereafter, a heated argument took place at around midnight between a few persons who had come to attend the party and staff of the club. However, the firing incident is not related to the fracas. It is a very serious matter. We have learnt that bout 8-10 shots were fired into the air, he said. Mr Bansal said the last night party of his son Vinayak was held at Phoenix Club. “I am not aware of any fracas having taken place in the club as I had left the club at around 10.30 pm,” he said. Mr Amitabh Dhillon, SP, said they were looking into the matter. TNS
|
|
|
A clarification
The Rohtak Revenue Division Tehsildars Association has clarified that
no employee of the revenue department posted in this division had his increments stopped or asked to foot any bills by the Commissioner.
In a statement issued here today, association president Ajit Singh said since the news item “Boss’s wife goes shopping, Tehsildars foot the bills” which appeared in The Tribune today originated from Rohtak, an erroneous impression had been created that it pertained to Rohtak Division. He said incidentally no IAS officer posted here had his family living with him. The wife of the Commissioner was also not staying with him nor had she ever accompanied him on official tours. TNS adds: The story does not pertain to the Rohtak Revenue Division. |
|
Murder of VC’s wife: HC dismisses appeal
Our High Court Correspondent
Chandigarh, May 30 Ms Usha Kundu, who was teaching at an engineering college under Kurukshetra University , Kurukshetra, was raped and then murdered by the two main accused - Vikram Singh and Surinder Singh - on February 20, 1996. She was putting up inside the Kurukshetra University campus. Incidentally, Vikram's father, Prof Hoshiar Singh, was head of a department in Kurukshetra University at the time of the incident. Later, he went on to become vice-chancellor of another university. A case had been registered against the two main accused and two of their accomplices in a related case of theft. After killing the lady, the accused had stolen some of her belongings and hid them in the house of Surinder's sister and her husband - at Police Station, Thanesar, on February 20, 1996. Both the main accused were around 19-20 years of age at the time of commission of the crime. After the trial, the Sessions Judge, Kurukshetra, on June 5, 1998, had convicted Vikram and Surinder for having raped and murdered Ms Usha Kundu and sentenced them to life imprisonment. The co-accused, Ms Manjir Kaur and Yadvinder Singh, had been sentenced to two-year prison term. In their appeal, the four accused had challenged the Sessions Court's judgement on various grounds. The State Government had also prayed for enhancement of the sentence awarded to them. However, in its order, the Division Bench comprising Mr Justice Mehtab Singh Gill and Mr Justice Uma Nath Singh, while dismissing the appeals of the accused as well as the revision petition filed by the State for enhancement of sentence, upheld the sentence awarded to the four. Delegation meets Hooda
A delegation of seven members of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association, including four senior advocates, yesterday met the Chief Minister, Haryana, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, seeking action against the DGP, Haryana, Mr Kanwar Nirmal Singh, for having allegedly issued threats to a lawyer, Mr Madan Dev. The delegation demanded the immediate suspension of the DGP and holding of an independent inquiry against him. After hearing the members of the delegation, the Chief Minister assured them that he would look into the matter. He also accepted the request that Mr Madan Dev be provided security. Today, Mr Madan Dev informed the Association that security guards had been provided to him. |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
