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Presidential Poll Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder
Singh Hooda waves as he drives his own Honda City to the Vidhan Sabha
to cast his vote in the presidential poll in Chandigarh on Thursday.
— Tribune photo by Manoj Mahajan
Nigam to disconnect power supply of defaulters
Relief from power cuts soon
‘Sex a biological need, truckers need safe outlet’ |
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Four held for dera-Sikh clash
3 cops in the net for taking bribe
Missing students back, thanks to granthi
Hisar ready to tackle floods
BDPOs get magisterial powers
2 killed in road accident
Three car thieves held
Teacher suspended
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Game over in 70 minutes
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, July 19 Shiv Shanker Bhardwaj, MLA from Bhiwani Assembly constituency, was the first to cast his vote while Naresh Malik from Hassangarh was the last. While the timing of the polling was between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., voting was over in Haryana in less than 70 minutes from the start of the poll. Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda sprang a surprise by coming to the Assembly driving a Honda City car himself. The CM's example was followed by other ministers also who came to the Assembly in private cars to scuttle any accusation of using official machinery for the purpose of the election. H S Chatha, agriculture minister, walked down to Assembly from his office in the secretariat to cast his vote. Randeep Singh Surjewala, transport minister, came in a small car driven by his aide Bhupinder Singh Bhoora. Later, talking to reporters, Hooda criticised the INLD for staying away from the poll. He said by not casting their votes, the legislators had let down those who elected them. On the candidature of Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat for the President's post, Hooda said he should have quit his office before joining the race like the UPA candidate Pratibha Patil had done. Hooda described the outgoing President Dr A.P.J.Abdul Kalam as a gentleman. Hooda recalled accompanying Kalam to Pokhran for a trial of the indigenous Arjuna tank. Kuldeep Bishnoi, suspended Congress MP and son of disgruntled Congress leader Bhajan Lal, chose Haryana Assembly for casting his vote, instead of the Parliament House, to send home the message of his opposition to the party leadership. ''One should vote according to one's conscience,'' Bishnoi said while talking to reporters before casting his vote. While Pratibha Patil, nominee of the Congress and its partners in the UPA, has the balance tipped in her favour on the basis of numbers, it is the opposition-backed candidate Bhairon Singh Shekhawat who has been pleading for ''conscience vote". Bhajan Lal, who has also been critical of the party leadership after he resigned as Haryana Congress chief, was tightlipped about his preference. ''It's a secret vote.'' he remarked when asked to comment on his choice.
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Nigam to disconnect power supply of defaulters
Chandigarh, July 19 A spokesman said here today that the nigam had directed the field officers to ensure that the metering room was near the main entrance of the factory, but may have entry from inside the factory for security and safety of the metering equipment. A window of 3" x 3" fitted with glass and iron grill should be put on the roadside wall of the metering room at a proper height to have a clear view of the metering equipment by the checking party from the roadside at any time. Referring to the efforts being carried out by the nigam to minimise the losses, he said, it had been observed that there was no report of damage of transformers in nine villages and residential colonies of Rohtak operation circle comprising Rohtak and Jhajjar districts after making arrangements of power supply through High Voltage Distribution System (HVDS) during the month of June. There were negligible reports of system breakdown and interruptions. He said the HVDS work had been completed in Singpura Kalan, Singpura Khurd, Samar Gopalpur, Katwara, Jindran, Mukundpur and Dimana village, Shri Nagar Colony and Vivekanand Colony. During the billing cycle of two months for domestic category consumers, the percentage increase in electricity units sold in these areas varied from 11.43 per cent to 30 per cent. The increase in revenue realisation of these areas is between 9.47 per cent and 36.36 per cent. New connections have been released at all these places after these arrangements. Reduction in line losses had also been observed, he added.
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Relief from power cuts soon
Hisar, July 19 He said the DSM project had been conceptualised because the gap between the peak demand and lean demand in Haryana was high and due to increased load during peak demand hours, the power utilities were compelled to impose cuts. The key objective of the DSM was to manage the load in such a way that the load curve was flattened. The nigam had planned to introduce Time of Day (ToD) tariff and meters to all possible categories, whereby industrial High Tension (HT) and Low Tension (LT) consumers, large commercial and large residential consumers would be assessed on ToD basis over the next few years. The consumers had been allowed to use prepaid meters at their premises. The campaign for the replacement of traditional power-guzzling incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) had gained considerable momentum. The nigam had completely replaced the traditional yellow bulbs in 140 villages. Lohchab said the use of CFLs could save as much as 70 per cent of electricity used for lighting. Similarly, high efficiency fluorescent tubelights (FTLs) could reduce energy consumption by at least 36 per cent over conventional FTLs. About 25 per cent of the total power was being used for lighting in Haryana. The Rs 876 crore plan to strengthen and renovate power distribution system would help in bringing down technical line losses considerably and the new system would provide technical check on power pilferage also, he added. On the other hand, stringent provisions had been made in the Electricity Act for dealing with power thefts. The authorised officers of power utilities now had to compulsorily lodge complaint with the police within 24 hours of detection of theft of electricity. Under criminal liabilities, the erring consumer could be awarded imprisonment up to three years in first offence and up to five years for subsequent offence. He said there was scope for conserving more than 25 per cent electricity in Haryana. To generate this much power, the state government would have to set up a 1,200 MW thermal power generation unit.
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‘Sex a biological need, truckers need safe outlet’
Chandigarh, July 19 Waxing eloquent on the need for prostitution, the Haryana additional director-general of police’s reply on a PIL against prostitution goes: “Urge for sex is a biological need and everybody is not so fortunate to find a sex partner at all times. A large number of truckers, migrant workers and traders remain away from their homes for very long times at a stretch. Rightly or wrongly, society has to provide some scope in the system where such persons are provided with safe outlet to vent their sexual frustrations.” Not stopping at this, the reply throws up more nuggets of wisdom like “in larger interest of the society, it is desirable to accept small sins to prevent larger and wider perversions”. This is not all. The reply foresees a deluge of rapes, sodomies and abductions if the prostitution is eliminated all together. This unique reply may leave many sociologists and feminist organisations bewildered, as there is no hard scientific evidence relating prostitution to aforesaid crimes. It further states that the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act, 1956, does not prohibit prostitution as such, but seeks to “regulate” and prevent conditions which promote prostitution. The provisions are directed mainly against those who either organised prostitution rackets by running brothels or inducted women into flesh trade. Interestingly, the sociological and philosophical overtones of the reply also bring to fore its contradictions. While on one hand it rejects prostitution as an evil which offends elementary norms of decency and culture and involves debasement of human values, on the other, it justifies its existence. It even cites the presence of high-society call girls to buttress that poverty is not the reason behind flesh trade. Importantly, the reply will be taken up by the Punjab and Haryana High Court for consideration on July 30, the next date of hearing on the PIL filed by advocate H.C Arora.
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Four held for dera-Sikh clash
Sirsa, July 19 Earlier, the police had rounded up five Sikhs, out of which three were released. A large number of Sikhs staged a dharna outside Kalanwali police station demanding the release of the Sikhs, while others who were marching towards the police station were stopped by the police at the Rori Road. The police has sealed the entire Punjab-Haryana border in the district to avoid any untoward incident. R.S. Dalal, DGP, had yesterday directed all senior officials to deal strictly with the violators. Vikas Arora, SP, said four persons had been arrested after confirming their involvement from the video graph of the clash. Representatives of various Sikhs organisations too held a meeting at a gurdwara at Trilokiwala village. The head of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Gurdwara, Baba Baljit Singh Dadu, told the Press that if Sikhs were not released then they would resort to agitation to protect their
rights. |
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Sikhs take out procession
Sirsa, July 19 Besides it, they also demanded the withdrawal of cases registered against the Sikhs during the clash between Sikhs and dera followers in Ghukna Wali village. The delegation of
Sikhs headed by the president of the Guru Granth Satkar Sabha, Shivraj Singh, later submitted a memorandum in this regard to the SDM, Subhas Gabba.
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3 cops in the net for taking bribe
Ambala, July 19 The truck was loaded with buffaloes, a few of which had died. The truck was going towards Uttar Pradesh. A Shiv Sena activist, who was going for a meeting, noticed that buffaloes in the truck had died. He stopped the truck driver who claimed that he had paid money to pass through Ambala. Thereafter, the police was informed and a team from the Parao police station reached the spot. The truck driver had allegedly paid money to the three constables on duty with PCR No.3. Superintendent of Police Ambala Sandeep Khirwar said the three constables had been arrested for taking bribe from the truck driver. "We have taken serious note of this incident and appropriate action will be taken against them. Such incidents will not be tolerated," he said. The three policemen are constables Rajkumar, Rajender and Ramesh. A case has been registered. The truck has been seized by the police.
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Missing students back, thanks to granthi
Ambala, July 19 She said the three students, Deepak, Vasu and Sumit, had gone to Patiala after leaving their school bags and cycle at the school. The students went to the gurdwara where they had stayed for the past two days. Swaran Kaur said the granthi noticed that the boys were wearing school uniforms and he asked them about the reason for being there. Thereafter, he took the mobile numbers from the boys and called up their parents. — TNS
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Hisar ready to tackle floods
Hisar, July 19 She said 24 teams headed by a senior officer had been constituted for each of these sectors. The teams would maintain a round the clock vigil to meet any eventuality. Flood control rooms had been set up in each sector and were also operational. Flood control rooms had also been established at the sub divisional and district headquarters. All control rooms, including sector control rooms, were equipped with wireless communication systems manned by police personnel. Sub divisional officers (Civil) would be responsible for flood control and rescue operations in their respective subdivisions. Additionally, the civil surgeon, deputy director of animal husbandry, XENs of public health, PWD and the public health departments would be in constant touch with the control rooms to meet any eventuality. High capacity pumps had been deployed in sensitive villages to drain flood waters and mobile pumpsets had been kept on hold for quick deployment wherever required. All pumpsets were connected to 24-hour power supply system, she added. |
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BDPOs get magisterial powers
Chandigarh, July 19 While stating this here today, Haryana chief parliamentary secretary Dharambir Singh said the BDPOs have also been empowered to coordinate the developmental activities of all concerned departments at block level. He said they would be promoted as deputy chief executive officers of zila parishads besides they would also write the annual confidential report of junior engineers in future. These decisions had become necessary as in the absence of the executive magisterial powers of the
BDPOs, certain developmental activities in villages were adversely affected. He said BDPOs were the most instrumental officers to look after the developmental activities of their respective blocks. These decisions of the Chief Minister would bring more promptness, transparency and effectiveness in the execution of development works in rural areas of the state.
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2 killed in road accident
Jhajjar, July 19 The deceased youths, both aged 24, were crossing the road when a land crusher ran over them. While Pradeep died on the spot, Naveen succumbed to his injuries at a hospital in Bahadurgarh. According to information, Pradeep and Naveen were returning from the fields. Driver of the vehicle Rajesh of the same village was reportedly under the influence of liquor at the time of incident. He managed to flee from the spot. The police has registered a case against him. |
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Three car thieves held
Rewari, July 19 Simultaneously efforts were on to trace and nab two other members of the gang-Asha Nand and Krishan Kumar, both residents of the Delhi area. Furnishing details at a press conference here today, Ram Singh Bishnoi, SP, said while Rakesh and Rajender had been procured on production warrants from Panipat and Ambala jails, respectively, Darshan Singh was arrested from Chandigarh. He further said the police had also seized five stolen cars- Scorpio and Indica, two each, and one Indigo from them. |
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Teacher suspended
Jhajjar, July 19 Father of the victim Dharampal had complained to the Block Education Office yesterday that a 55-year-old teacher, Mahavir, tried to molest his daughter. The accused reportedly beat him up when he went to the school to lodge a complaint, he said. Following this, he raised the issue with the villagers who went to the school and locked the gates. Later, they complained to BEO K.C. Sharma about the incident, following which the Education Department suspended the teacher. |
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Eightyone MLAs and one MP from Haryana exercised franchise to elect the President at the Vidhan Sabha here today.
