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Congress leader for Vasundhara’s removal
More join in chorus to remove Bishnoi
Trees along NH1 face death due to dehydration
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Credit to artisans: Most banks skeptical
Gujjars block traffic on NH
Chautala for reservation based on economic condition
Burnt scriptures cremated
DC urged to take possession
of ‘disputed’ property No-Confidence Motion
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Congress leader for Vasundhara’s removal
Chandigarh, June 3 In a statement issued here today Bhati said the Gujjar agitation on the issue of reservation was being conducted by the community as part of its fundamental rights because it was everyone's right to agitate peacefully in a democracy. He alleged that the BJP and the Rajasthan Government had conspired to suppress the peaceful Gujjars and had instigated the Meena community to come in conflict with the Gujjars. Alleging that the BJP and its earlier incarnation, Jana Sangh, had always been anti-Gujjar, Bhati called upon the BJP leaders and workers belonging to the Gujjar community to quit the party. The Haryana Congress leader appealed to the entire Gujjar community in the country to peacefully agitate against Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje to strengthen the community. He also demanded the immediate removal of Raje to save the situation from becoming "explosive".
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More join in chorus to remove Bishnoi
Chandigarh, June 3 Several party leaders in separate statements have dared Bishnoi to resign from the Lok Sabha and face byelection if he has lost faith in the leadership of AICC President Sonia Gandhi. Bishnoi had recently blamed Sonai for the defeat of the Congress in Uttar Pradesh and had demanded her resignation. Organinsing Secretary of the Haryana Congress Master Hari Singh said here today that before demanding the resignation of Sonia, Bishnoi should quit his Lok Sabha seat and test his popularity by facing byelection. Bishnoi should not forget, he said, that in the last Lok Sabha elections, he had won the Bhiwani seat only by a narrow margin because of the Congress wave sweeping the state at that time. He said only the Sonepat seat was given to a candidate recommended by Bishnoi's father Bhajan Lal and the Congress lost that seat. Hari Singh alleged that Bishnoi was giving a political colour to his aspiration of emerging as the inheritor of Bhajan Lal within his own family. Convener of the media department of the party Pawan Jain said Bishnoi should quit the Congress as well as his Lok Sabha seat on moral grounds since he claimed to have lost faith in the leadership of the party chie. He said Bishnoi had started speaking against the party, which gave his family so much, only after his father was not made the chief minister. General secretary of the media department Lakhwinder Singh Lakha too demanded the resignation of Bishnoi from the party and the Lok Sabha. He said Bishnoi really considered himself to be a leader of the masses he should prove his popularity by facing a byelection. Lakha said Bishnoi would never quit the party because he knew that without the Congress, he had no existence in the state's politics. Accusing Bishnoi of misleading his supporters, Lakha said the suspended MP had made many of his supporters to resign from the Congress while he himself was not doing so to save his membership of the Lok Sabha. He said it was another issue that the membership of those who claimed to have resigned from the party was a matter of serious doubt.
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Trees along NH1 face death due to dehydration
Karnal, June 3 Unchecked incidents of fire along the GT Road are also posing a serious threat to wild animals, particularly the reptiles and certain species of birds. A visit by this reporter along the GT Road in Karnal and Kuruskhetra districts revealed that a number of saplings planted along the highway in the recent years were severely affected due to the frequent burning incidents. It was observed that lower branches of the older trees had withered. Large burnt patches along the GT Road speak volumes of the losses caused to the green belt in the districts. The department had grown scores of medicinal plants, including neem, conventional tress like eucalyptus and others ornamental trees which are now drying up fast due to unchecked incidents of burnings. Inquiries revealed that the process of burning the wild shrubs and other vegetations on both sides of the highway had been on for the past several days. Villagers alleged that since the government departments did not have enough labour to clear the shrubs growing in abundance, they were resorting to an easier method by burning them. A sarpanch said that the authorities should deploy special teams to detect and control such incidents to protect the environment. In the absence of any patrolling the forest department remains in the dark about such fire incidents and fire spreads to other areas.
But the officials of the state forest department blame it on the residents. Navdeep Hooda, district forest officer (DFO), Karnal, admits losses to the department but blames the careless villagers. Besides, NH users also contribute to the fire incidents in the dried up green belts as they throw burning cigarettes and bidis. He further added that even soil health was affected due to burning as soil-friendly insects and microbes also died in the process. He claimed that the regular patrolling was conducted to take notice of fire incidents during summers. |
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School opening
Hisar, June 3 The entire colony reverberated to cacophony raised by thousands of residents blowing whistles, playing musical instruments and beating drums, canisters and utensils. Women and children also joined the protest. Initially, the residents staged the protest individually in their homes. Later, they gathered at the site for the proposed school and again raised a din.Narendra Sharma, convener of the residents committee, leading the protest said: “I hope that political parties will hear the collective voice of the residents of the area, who wanted to build a school at the controversial site instead of a fish and fodder market.” He said the area’s residents wanted a school on the piece of land as proposed by the Jindals. However, they would welcome any organisation - the municipal corporation, the state government or any educational society - which wanted to set up a school just in case anything wrong goes with the proposal of the Jindal family. Referring to the Indian National Lok Dal’s vehement opposition to the project, he said even the Chaudhary Devi Lal Trust run by the family of Om Parkash Chautala was welcomed to establish a school on the plot if it so desired. Jindals had bought the 20 acre plot in an open auction for Rs 4.05 crore in April. However, the deal ran into rough weather when INLD leader Sampat Singh termed the deal as the biggest land scam in Haryana. He alleged that the land worth Rs 500 crore was sold to the industrial conglomerate for a pittance. Originally, the government gave the land to the Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board at a reserve price for building a fodder, fish and vegetable market. The Board later declared 20 acres as surplus and proposed the plot to be auctioned for setting up a school.
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Credit to artisans: Most banks skeptical Chandigarh, June 3 However, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India, State Bank of Patiala and Syndicate Bank, have done extremely well by extending credit to over 1100 artisans. Announced by the Centre on Independence Day in 2003, the maximum advance that can be made is the tune of Rs 2 lakh. The scheme was launched to facilitate artisans who were facing a major problem because of unavailability of credit to them. The lending agencies were skeptical of advancing loans as they were skeptical of their repayment capacity. But under the ACC, the Ministry of Textiles provides credit guarantee and helps cover up to 75 per cent of the loan amount in case of default in repayment. The objective is to alleviate the problems of collateral security or third party guarantees, and remove impediments in the flow of credit to the handicraft sector. Data available with TNS reveals that this year 1164 ACCs have been issued in the state with credit of Rs 5.88 crore being extended to the artisans. Ever since the scheme was launched, 2506 cards have been issued in Haryana and advances worth Rs 12.52 crore made. It is learnt that in order to popularise this scheme in the state, the development commissioner (handicrafts) has placed funds (guarantee fee and annual service fee) with some nodal banks and also with Punjab National Bank. The banks extending the ACC can claim the amount of guarantee fee and annual service charges, for credit guarantee cover from these banks, or directly from the office of development commissioner (handicrafts), who will ensure easy remittance of funds to the banks financing artisans. However, bankers say that another reason for their skepticism is that artisans tend to use to use the money to meet social obligations. “There is need to encourage them to further their returns and income by utilising it for productive purposes, as it will help meet their credit requirements for investment as well as working capital needs,” said a senior official of the Union Bank of India.
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Gujjars block traffic on NH
Hisar, June 3 The villagers gathered near the bus stand and blocked the traffic. Soon long queues of vehicles could be seen on both sides of the road. The protesters submitted a memorandum demanding ST status for Gujjars, registration of criminal cases against policemen involved in the firing on Gujjars in Daua and compensation for the deceased in Rajasthan stir. |
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Chautala for reservation based on
Fatehabad, June 3 The INLD leader, who is on a four-day tour to the district, was talking to mediapersons at Dharsul village today. He said both the Congress and the BJP had the history of making people fight with each other over caste or religion. Referring to the agitation by Gujjars in Rajasthan and some parts of Haryana, Chautala said before the last Assembly elections in Rajasthan, the BJP had assured the Gujjar community that they would be included in the scheduled caste category. But the party conveniently forgot the promise soon after coming to power. He said including a particular caste in the scheduled caste category was the job of the Central government and the state government could only send its recommendations to the Centre, but the BJP, in its greed for power misled the Gujjar community. Chautala strongly criticised the Congress government in Haryana, which he said, was a failure on all fronts. The leader alleged that the condition of farmers, labourers and small traders was miserable in Haryana and it was getting difficult for them to arrange two square meals for their family. He said it was pitiable that the government was purchasing wheat from the farmers for Rs 800 per quintal only and was importing it on much higher rates.
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Burnt scriptures cremated
Yamunanagar, June 3 The police suspect the hand of anti-social elements behind the fire as no short-circuits took place in the gurdwara. A case under Sections 436, 295 and 295-A of the IPC has been registered against unidentified persons. A team of forensic experts had collected samples from the fire site and the report is awaited. A large Sikh sangat took the burnt scriptures in form of kirtan jatha. A member of the SGPC, Baldev Singh, and vice-president of the HSGPC Joga Singh were also part of the jatha. Meanwhile, sources in the district administration said the Rajya Sabha MP Trilochan Singh urged the administration to carry out detail investigations into the incident. He appealed to the Sikh leaders to maintain peace.
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DC urged to take possession
of ‘disputed’ property Ambala, June 3 In a letter to the DC, Vij claimed that land mafia was active in Ambala for quite sometime and it was eyeing the 4.9 acres of prime land of the building which is worth crores of rupees. The building is referred to as employment exchange building as the Divisional Employment Exchange had operated from there for a couple of years. Vij demanded that a high-level enquiry should be carried out into how the sale deeds of the building were affected without government sanction. “It needs to be investigated if any further sale of the property has taken place and any mutation entries have been carried out clandestinely. Also, it may be enquired as to under what circumstances the DEE office was shifted from the building,” he stated. He stated that the resumption proceedings which were earlier initiated in respect of this building be speeded up and the land should be utilised for the construction of mini-secretariat so that all government offices are housed in one premises. Vij stated in the letter that the building was in possession of the AP Missionary Society, USA, since October 1986. “The society had given the building on rent to the Divisional Employment Exchange at a monthly rent of Rs 700 and the employment exchange continued to function from the building for several years until it was shifted out after flood in Ambala in 2003,” he said. In a court case filed in 1991, the employment exchange counsel had stated, “The property is in dispute and if there is a sale of the super structure from one party to another, necessary sanction from the central or state government is necessary”. But in the present case no sanction was obtained. |
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No-Confidence Motion Ambala, June 3 The application for the motion has been filed with the deputy commissioner by a group of councillors who have claimed that irregularities took place during Sharma’s tenure. The councillors are holding meetings amongst themselves to ensure Sharma’s ouster. The effort to postpone the May 31 general house meeting is being seen as an indicator of the councillors to come together against Sharma. A section of councillors have alleged that there have been irregularities in the use of emergency powers for carrying out work in different areas. The councillors are hopeful that this time they will succeed in getting the motion passed, as earlier when such an effort was initiated it had fallen flat as one of the councillors had stated that he was tricked into signing the move.
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