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Celebrations in Joginder’s hometown
Rohtak, September 24
Councillors allege irregularities
High
Court
Mewat’s wait for water gets longer
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For the first time, MCI poll countermanded
Millers worried over delay in paddy policy
It’s time for rallies
Unwed mother, parents held for killing newborn girl
Surjewala’s brief to govt departments questioned
2 killed, 4 hurt in accident
Sardar Singh awaits aid
High
Court
Centre, state govt harming farmers, says Chautala
Lockout
at industrial unit
Now, photocopies of checked answersheets
5 die in road accidents
Villagers vow to protect Ram
Setu
Youth attacked; alleges kidnap bid
Forum to build old-age home
Vidhan Sabha prorogued
Ambala dist to mark Bhagat Singh birth centenary Quiz for HIV awareness
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Celebrations in Joginder’s hometown
Rohtak, September 24 Enthusiastic family and friends of Joginder Sharma as well as thousands of cricket lovers of the town were glued to the television sets throughout the town ever since the beginning of the match. “It’s really a great feeling to be part of such a big victory of the country,” said Joginder’s elated father Om Prakash Sharma. As the Rohtak cricketer sealed the fate of the match in favour of India, widespread celebrations broke out in the town. Groups of youths were seen celebrating the big Indian win in streets and on roads. Though Joginder did not get a chance to bat today, but the moment he came to show his skills with the ball, the enthusiasm of his family, friends and other residents of his town grew by leaps and bounds. As the match progressed, the excitement grew and their joy knew no bounds as Joginder took the last wicket and India won. |
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Hooda gives Rs 2 lakh to Sharma
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has congratulated the Indian cricket team on winning the Twenty-20 World Cup Cricket Championship by defeating Pakistan in the final match at Johnesburg in South Africa today.
He also announced a cash award of Rs 1 lakh for Joginder Sharma, who hails from Haryana, besides Rs 1 lakh for taking four wickets in the championship. Sharma took two wickets each in the semi-final and final matches of the tournament. It may be recalled that Hooda had announced on September 6 that any cricketer hailing from Haryana would be given Rs 25,000 for taking a wicket and Rs 1 lakh for making a century in any International cricket match. The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) also congratulated the cricket team on its world cup victory. Party secretary-general Ajay Singh Chautala said the INLD would also honour the players at a suitable occasion for their great feat. The Haryana Olympic Association president Abhay Singh Chautala said the Indian team had made the country proud. Haryana DGP R.S. Dalal said Joginder Sharma, who was recently appointed DSP, had lived up to the reputation of the state police. He said 24 years ago a Haryana lad, Kapil Dev, had played a crucial role in winning the World Cup. Now Joginder had done the state and the country proud. |
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Councillors allege irregularities
Ambala, September 24 Trees in different areas of Ambala Sadar were to be axed as they were reportedly causing hindrance in development work. However, a section of municipal councilors of Ambala Sadar stood against the cutting of trees alleging irregularities in tender allocation for tree cutting. Following the brouhaha over the cutting of trees, the deputy commissioner has directed the municipal council officials to put the matter on hold for the time being. Deputy commissioner Mohammad Shayin said the trees were ordered to be cut after assessment had been conducted by forest department officials. “I have been informed that the trees were posing a hindrance in the development work, so they had to be cut,” he said. He said the forest officials had put the value of the trees to be cut at about Rs 8.5 lakh while the tenders for tree cutting had been allocated for Rs 12.25 lakh. “The tendering process was carried out only after due permission was received from the forest department,” he said. Municipal councilor Kamal Kishore Jain said irregularities in cutting of trees was exposed two days back when scrap dealers had gathered for an auction at the municipal committee in Ambala Sadar. “When they asked about the tenders for cutting of trees, they were informed that the tendering process had been completed,” he said. He stated that the scrap dealers were taken aback since they had not read the notice in any newspaper. “But, municipal council officials informed them that the notice had indeed been published, albeit in a newspaper which hardly enjoys any sizeable readership,” he stated. Municipal councilor Gagan Dang said it was a serious matter. He said cutting of trees which number more than 1,000 should have required urgent deliberation. Executive officer Pratap Singh said the matter would now be discussed in the general House meeting to be held on September 28, he said. |
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Woman alleges daughter detained in Dera
Warrant officer appointed to visit dera Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, September 24 The petitioner, Sukhjit Kaur, averred that her daughter, Suminder Kaur, who was a niece of Khatta Singh, a prime prosecution witness in the murder and rape cases against the Dera Sacha Sauda head, was being kept in illegal custody in the dera. Following the submissions, Justice Aggarwal also directed that the SHO concerned and other senior officials of the police should assist the warrant officer in locating the girl. Also, if the girl was found in the dera, her statement should be recorded after verifying her age. Also, the warrant officer should ask the girl if she was staying there on her own accord or not.The court’s directions came in the wake of a petition by Sukhjit Kaur, who sought directions for the production of her daughter while alleging that she was not being allowed to attend the ‘antim ardas’ of her father. Sukhjit Kaur further levelled serious allegations against district police officials, the dera head, and in charge of the dera.She averred that once their family was a follower of the dera as a result of which Suminder Kaur was allowed to stay there.Incidentally, Suminder Kaur’s father had expired on September 16 and his bhog ceremony was to be held on September 25. Sukhjit Kaur further averred that her relatives had gone to bring Suminder back home from the dera but were told that they would have to bring Khatta Singh to the dera first. Significantly, Khatta Singh is one of the prime prosecution witness and has allegedly given a statement against the dera head to the CBI. The petitioner said Khatta Singh was a real uncle (mama) of the detenue (Suminder). The petitioner also said the detenue had informed her younger sister over phone that she had been consistently asked to bring her uncle one way or the other to the
dera.The judge asked the warrant officer to submit a report and adjourned the hearing for October 5.
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Mewat’s wait for water gets longer
Mewat, September 24 In the first phase of the scheme, all 503 villages of the district are expected to get adequate water supply till March 2008. But the progress of the work is far behind schedule as projected earlier. C.R. Rana, deputy commissioner, Nuh, said the district administration was making all out efforts to complete the project on time. He said the shortage of staff was the main hurdle in picking up the pace of this project, but the administration was trying to bring staff from other departments for this project. A senior official of the administration said three posts of SDE, nine of JE and some clerical posts were lying vacant. He said there was a need for setting up one additional division in Mewat. The reason behind the staff shortage was that no official was willing to work in the district due to difficult working conditions, he said, adding that though the Chief Minister had ordered that no staff should be transferred from this project till its completion, his instructions were not being followed. The official said the work had also been held up as at a number of places land had not been acquired so far. He said another reason of the delay was that the forest department had not yet given clearance for utilising 30 acres of forestland, which falls in this project. Sources in the administration said another bottleneck was the delay in making payments to contractors. They said at present bills amounting to Rs 2 crore were pending with the department. The official said the target of completing this project was March 2008. For the completion of the project, pipes had to be laid from Rahimpur to Kondal (26 km) and from Maholi to Maryaki (32 km). This is the most critical portion of the project and till date the contractors had laid less than 2 km of pipes. He said the delay in payment to the contractor was affecting the work. The sources further informed that some portion of the work was yet to start, as the tenders had not been allocated to the contractors so far. |
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For the first time, MCI poll countermanded
Chandigarh, September 24 In the history of the Medical Council of India (MCI), for the first time an election has been countermanded. Of course, the election was held for a seat from Haryana.The union health ministry has countermanded the election on the plea that malpractices were committed during the conduct of the election held on March 30, 2007. Even the returning officer (RO), Dr S.S. Sangwan, director of the PGI, Rohtak, has not escaped unscathed in the countermand order. The ministry has asked the Haryana health department to initiate disciplinary proceedings against Dr Sangwan because he “failed to discharge his duty with devotion and impartiality”. Haryana health secretary Navraj Sandhu said she was yet to receive the letter from the union ministry. The ministry has also debarred Dr Ram Chander Singh from contesting the MCI elections for five years for violating Section 28 of the IMC Act, 1956, which stipulates that a person registered in the Indian Medical Register will notify change in his place of residence or practice within 30 days of the change, failing which his right to participate in the elections can be forfeited by the central government, either permanently or for such period as may be specified. Six candidates had contested the election for one seat to the MCI from Haryana. There are three members from Haryana in the 121-member body. While two are nominated, the third is elected. After the elections, a number of candidates, including Dr Pankaj Mutneja of Panipat, complained to the ministry, highlighting various irregularities in the poll process, particularly regarding postal ballots. The ministry found truth in the complaints. It pointed out that signatures and initials of the RO did not tally with those on some of the ballot papers. “There seems to be three sets of the RO’s signatures, none of which resembles his signature found on the official correspondence as if these have been done by three different persons.” Moreover, these duplicate votes were not counted, which “defeated the very purpose of the issue of duplicate ballot papers and denies voting rights to the voters.” The ministry also found that the votes were not sent by registered post as required under rules.
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Millers worried over delay
in paddy policy
Chandigarh, September 24 Though the growers are not upset over the delay in the announcement of the policy unlike in the past, the millers are anxious because they do not know up to what price the paddy purchased by them would be profitable. The millers have to pay levy on the coarse and fine varieties of paddy purchased by them from the mandis. Since they are not aware at what rate the government would buy levy rice, they are apprehensive about buying paddy at very high prices. This year fine varieties of paddy like sharbati, duplicate basmati, PR-11 and RH-10 are fetching prices much higher than last year’s for growers. Sources say 90 per cent of the paddy of these varieties coming to the mandis of the state are being purchased by exporters. The millers who supply rice to the domestic market are wary of purchasing paddy at higher rates. Since the growers are getting highly remunerative prices, which are also much higher than the minimum support price of Rs 675 per quintal announced by the government, they are not worried about the delay in the announcement of the procurement policy. This year even parmal, which is usually supplied to the public distribution system, is selling at prices much higher than the MSP. Normally procurement by the government starts from October 1. Whenever there is pressure from the farmers’ lobby, the government enters the market earlier also. Last year official procurement had started from September 23. The millers argue that once their targets are met, exporters would withdraw from the market, leading to the lowering of the current prices, which have already started showing a declining trend. Unless the government announced the price of the levy rice, they (the millers) will not be able to frame their future strategy. They say they have to arrange money in advance for purchasing paddy. If the government rate for the levy rice was not remunerative, they would prefer to go in for custom milling. In custom milling, the paddy is purchased by the government and the millers do not have to make a heavy investment. The government-purchased paddy is milled by the millers. Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Chander Mohan, who looks after the food and supplies department, said here today that the six procurement agencies of the state were fully geared up and had made all arrangements for the procurement of paddy and bajra at the MSP. While paddy would be procured in all 176 mandis and purchase centres of the state, bajra would be procured in 43 mandis.
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It’s time for rallies
Chandigarh, September 24 The organisers of both rallies are claiming that their respective rallies will be the biggest ever seen in the state so far. For the INLD, tomorrow’s rally is an annual feature. The party holds a rally in different corners of the state every year on the birth anniversary of its founder, former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal. For several weeks, senior leaders of the party have been touring the state to mobilise people to come to Ambala. One of the purposes of the annual feature has always been to keep the INLD cadre active. This year it assumes greater significance as the INLD would like to project itself as a viable alternative because of the expected mid-term Lok Sabha elections next year. The Congress held a meeting of its MPs and MLAs in Delhi today to prepare plans to mobilise people for the Jhajjar rally, which will be addressed by AICC president Sonia Gandhi. Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda claimed that the rally, christened the "bijli rally", would be the biggest ever in all respects in the state. On October 7, Sonia will lay the foundation stones of a mega power project in Jhajjar district, the railway line between Rewari and Rohtak and that of the national institute of food technology, entrepreneurship and management (NIFTEM) at Kundli in Sonepat district before addressing the rally. She will also unveil a statue of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in Rewari. While each MP and MLA was given a target of the number of persons to be mobilised from their constituencies for the rally, they were told not to use official machinery for it. President of the Haryana Congress Phool Chand Mullana urged the MLAs and MPs to do their best to make the rally a success. He also asked them to hold meetings of office-bearers and workers of the party in their respective districts before October 4. He also entrusted the task of supervision of the arrangements for the rally to the MPs and MLAs and apprised them of the routes to reach the venue. Former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal and his MP son Kuldeep Bishnoi also plan to organise a rally on December 2 in Rohtak. They also claim that their rally would be the biggest in the state. |
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Unwed mother, parents held for killing newborn girl
Sirsa, September 24 The incident came to light when a farmer, Amar Singh Bishnoi, of Dhani Chautala village spotted the body of a baby, floating in the canal, while he was watering his field. He informed the police about it. The police, after conducing a search in the nearby villages, has traced the accused. Police sources said a minor girl who belonged to Bihan Pura, Ganganagar, Rajasthan, had developed illicit relations with her brother-in-law, Amarjit Singh of Abubsehar village here. She was admitted to a private hospital on Saturday by her brother-in-law passing her off as his wife. Immediately after the delivery, the girl along with her parents took away the baby and drowned her in a canal. The police has arrested the minor girl, her mother Banto and father Roop Singh. The three accused were produced in a local court this afternoon and remanded in judicial custody for 14 days. The police has been conducting raids to arrest Amarjit Singh and others involved in the case. |
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Surjewala’s brief to govt departments questioned
Faridabad, September 24 Redressal Committee today, directed about half a dozen government departments to submit progress report of the works undertaken by them by the middle of every month. The directive of the minister has raised frowns on the ground that he was “exceeding” the governmental brief to him. This has also led to speculation that this was an internal struggle for supremacy among ministers. There are many who wonder if the Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has given his consent to such a situation. A minister is given charge of a district or a group of districts to preside over Grievances Redressal Committee meetings. In fact he is the Chairperson of the District Grievances Redressal Committees concenred. According to many, the mechanism requires the ministers concerned to redress the grievances of the public against departments and officers. The individual complainants and the departmental officers concerned are brought face to face with regard to the grievances.The ministers concerned, presiding over the Grievances Redressal Committee meeting, merely has the brief to resolve the particular grievances of the complainants.The buck, according to the popular perception, stops here. The general impression is that the minister’s directive was tantamount to supervising the internal working of the departments, which are part of the portfolios not related to Surjewala. Significantly, Surjewala presided over the Grievances Redressal Committee meeting for the first time. Earlier, minister for health Kartari Devi used to preside over the meetings in the district. The Grievances Committee here appears to be jinxed. Earlier, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda presided over the meetings as a minister.The Chief Minister was not regular in attending the meetings. Later, H.S.Chatha was given the charge. But he too was irregular in attending the meetings. |
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2 killed, 4 hurt in accident
Jind, September 24 The victims, all residents of Karsindhu village of the district, were on their way back to their village after attending a religious fair in Rajasthan. The injured have been admitted in the Civil Hospital. The police said the vehicle overturned near Dhamtan village. Perhaps the driver of the car was trying to avert a direct collision with a vehicle coming from the opposite direction. While two of the pilgrims identified as Bharta Singh and son of one Balbir died on the spot, their fellow passengers, including Virbhan, Babli, Mahender and a woman identified as Nirmala, got injured. — TNS |
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Sardar Singh awaits aid
Sirsa, September 24 Sardar Singh, who belongs to Santnagar village, here, has been honoured by prominent persons of the district. Besides, he also met the deputy commissioner in this regard.
— TNS |
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Fresh directions to check furnishing of bogus sureties
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, September 24 For the purpose, the High Court has made necessary insertions between Rule 9 and 10 in volume three of the "Rules and orders of the Punjab High Court". It now says that in order to avoid the escape of accused in all cases under the NDPS Act, cases in which offence is serious and the sentences provided for are more than 10 years of imprisonment, or in cases under special enactments like POTA, the surety shall furnish two copies of his latest passport-size photographs. The photographs to be handed over should not be "older than six months from the date of submission". A copy of the photograph "shall be retained in the court record". Another copy will be retained by the police station concerned. Along with the photograph, the surety will have to deposit any one of the documents like passport, identity card issued by the Election Commission of India and permanent account number (PAN) card issued by the income-tax department. The list also includes: ATM, debit and credit cards issued by nationalised or private banks or having national-level standing and bearing the photograph of the holder. It also mentions identity card issued by the government authorities or public statutory corporations. The surety can also deposit any "document which is ordinarily issued by an authority after due verification of the identity of the person and his address, which the judge or the magistrate may think is just and proper, in the interest of justice, by recording specific reasons". A “correction slip”, issued in this regard by the order of the High Court Chief Justice and the judges, adds: If the surety is not in possession or is unable to produce any document referred to, or demanded by the judge or the magistrate, his identity and address will have to be verified from the police station within whose jurisdiction the surety resides or works.
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Plan to bring Kurukshetra on international map
Our Correspondent
Kurukshetra, September 24 Stating this at a press conference held here today, director, SAHSI, Yadvinder Singh said the project would be established in three phases. In the first phase, the projects of hot air ballooning, parasailing and bungee jumping would be under taken while in the second phase, mountaineering would be planned in which an artificial wall of an international standard would be established here enabling participants to enjoy wall climbing, rappelling and monkey climbing. In the third phase water sports would be planned, in which water surfing water, parasailing, scuba diving and kayaking would be planned. After launching of this project, Kurukshetra would be the first tourist place in India, where the highest number of national and international tourists would participate in adventurous sports. This project would mark the beginning of national and international adventurous sports festivals every year here, added Yadvinder Singh. He said the SAHSI had been operating its adventurous training camps at Dakpathar in Uttrakhand as well as at Kullu and Manali in Himachal Pradesh. The project would enable the poor youth of the country to participate in these activities. The SAHSI has an intention to set the world record at Kurukshetra by making the bungee jumping possible from the hot air ballooning instead of crane or helicopter.The project would be able to highlight Kurukshetra on the international map. The highlighting would definitely benefit the local business particularly the hotel industry. The governing body of the SAHSI would soon meet deputy commissioner Pankaj Aggarwal for disseminating the information and obtaining the necessary permission for launching of this project.
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Centre, state govt harming farmers, says Chautala
Rewari, September 24 Paying tributes to Rao Tula Ram and other heroes of the First War of Independence of 1857, INLD supremo and former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala said they had laid down their lives for the honour of the country. But it was reprehensible that after Independence, which came to us through their sacrifices, some politicians had brazenly misused that martyrdom just to seek ministerial offices. Launching an attack on the Congress-led UPA government as well as the Haryana government, Chautala alleged that both were bent upon harming the peasantry by pursuing anti-farmer policies. Recalling that only one East India Company had kept the country in its thraldom for several centuries, he said there were now 750 foreign companies in the country. As many as 49 such companies had entrenched themselves in Haryana. He alleged that the state government was patronising them at the cost of hapless farmers.
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Labour dept gets inquiry report
Our Correspondent
Sonepat, September 24 The workers, with a strength of around 400, including more than 340 women, had gone on strike on September 14 in protest against the dismissal of 13 workers by the management and also in support of their demand to implement the Minimum Wages Act. The state convener of the Kisan Sabha and a former state president of CITU, Sharda Nand Solanki, today alleged that instead of resolving the dispute with the workers, the management had resorted to a lockout, which was illegal. He said a memorandum was submitted to the labour commissioner, Haryana, on September 15 against the “one-sided action” of the management and the commissioner had ordered an inquiry. The local authorities of the labour department also confirmed having sent a report.
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Now, photocopies of checked answersheets
Chandigarh, September 24 Technical education minister A.C. Chaudhry said here today that the decision was taken to bring about transparency in the evaluation of the performance of the students in their semester examinations. Chaudhry said that instead of only re-totalling of the marks, as was being done till now, the answersheets would be re-evaluated by another examiner on the request of the candidate on the payment of the scheduled fee. He said all information related to the students' examinations and their internal marks would be displayed on the notice board of the polytechnics and also on the website of the polytechnics.
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5 die in road accidents
Rewari, September 24 The bus was on its way from Delhi to Rajasthan.The Dharuhera police has registered a case of rash and negligent driving against the bus driver. In another incident, Suresh, a labourer from Allahabad, died on the spot while his colleague Ajay sustained injuries when a Tata 709 vehicle, in which they were travelling, abruptly overturned on the Rewari-Kanina road near Dahina village on Saturday evening. In another incident, Manoj Yadav of Mandola village, was fatally hit by an unknown vehicle yesterday morning. The police has booked the driver of the unknown vehicle for rash and negligent driving.
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Villagers vow to protect Ram Setu
Karnal, September 24 Khurana said the centre’s proposal to dredge a canal through Ram Setu would affect the livelihood of poor persons who traded in shells and other such material found on the beaches. He said 600 species of marine life would also face extinction which would sound the death knell for fishermen there. Khurana said the sand near Ram Setu was radioactive and 25 kg of it could yield 1 kg of thorium which was valued at Rs 5 crore in the international market. “If the government exploits the thorium reserves, it will meet the electricity requirements of the whole country for the next 350 years,” claimed Khurana.Later, a rally was held and an effigy of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi burnt near the grain market.
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Youth attacked; alleges kidnap bid
Fatehabad, September 24 When the victim tried to flee in his Tata Safari vehicle, the miscreants smashed the windowpanes of the vehicle and fired gunshots in the air. In his complaint to the police, the victim has alleged that the miscreants had been demanding ransom from him and had tried to kidnap him. The victim has named Goru, Sonu, Neki Ram and Inder Bishnoi as the accused in his complaint.
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Kurukshetra, September 24 A decision to this effect was taken by the forum at its annual general body meeting chaired by its president, Jagjit Singh Virk, here yesterday.Stating this here today, Virk said the site had been allotted by HUDA . He appealed to senior citizens and philanthropists to make contributions. — OC
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Vidhan Sabha prorogued
Chandigarh, September 24
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Ambala dist to mark Bhagat Singh birth centenary Ambala, September 24 He added that declamation contests will be held and in addition light will be thrown on the lives of partners of Shaheed Bhagat Singh. He added that the kin of martyrs would be honoured on this occasion.
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Quiz for HIV awareness Kalka, September 24 Geeta Bhardwaj and Neenu Sharma conducted the competition. Four teams participated. Team A comprising Vimal, Deepika and Bhaskar, all from BA-III, stood first, while Team C comprising Nidhi, Rupali and Sonia of BA-III stood second. Team B comprising Vaishali, Sukhbir and Nauri of BA-II stood third. Speaking on the occasion, Dr R.S. Mann, principal of the college, appreciated the efforts of the women’s cell convener, Khushila, in making the quiz contest successful. He urged students to spread awareness about HIV-AIDS. Dr R.S. Chauhan, SMO, Kalka, was the chief guest on the occasion, while Dr Balbir Chaudhary, a retired CMO, was the guest of honour. |
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