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Power shortage cripples Panipat units
Relief for garment industry Haryana to have archaeological museum at last
DM to assess SPs performance
Excise staff threaten to intensify stir
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Power utility extends load disclosure scheme HC: Hostage release without ransom still an offence
2 killed in road accident
Solution soon, says minister
Innocence Murdered
CID to probe Gargi’s death
Golak looted from gurdwara
Students ‘beaten up’ for not paying for party
Prajapatis assure support to Janhit Cong
Former Haryana minister and state vice-president of the HJC Davender Sharma (extreme left) at a meeting of the Prajapati community in Kurukshetra on Saturday.
Official remanded in graft case
Fire at thermal plant
15 centres for fresh vegetables soon
Woman found dead; in-laws booked
Nurse commits suicide
HVP leader joins BJP
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Power shortage cripples Panipat units
Panipat, February 16 If the industrialists’ associations and the district authorities are to be believed, during his stint of about three years, state industries minister Lachhman Das Arora has not made even a single visit to this town to redress the grievances of industrial unit owners. Panipat is a major hub of the carpet, textile, handloom and related industries. Over the years, it has earned a name in the global market as well. According to industry sources, the local industry does an annual export of Rs 2,000 crore while for the domestic market it offers business of nearly Rs 3,000 crore. However, at present the industry is reeling under a severe power crisis. Industrialists complain that they have several other problems as well, but there is no one to listen to them. Chairman of the Panipat Small-Scale Industries Association Yashpal Malik flays the state authorities for ignoring the Panipat industry. He confirms that the industries minister has neither met nor invited entrepreneurs to listen to their grievances. Even the Chief Minister has failed to depute any responsible person for the job, he adds. Meanwhile, the local industrialists have decided to go on an indefinite strike from February 18 in protest against the poor power situation. “For the past three years, the local industry is going through testing times. Initially, there were labour-related problems to which the government hardly paid any heed. But for the past one year, the poor power supply has crippled the entire industry,” says Malik. Owing to unannounced power cuts and frequent tripping, “we are unable to complete orders in time”, say the entrepreneurs. Malik says exports have tumbled to Rs 1,300 crore while domestic business has come down by nearly 40 per cent. “It is pathetic that the minister has never spared time in the past three years to listen to the grievances of those who contribute crores of rupees as taxes. It shows the indifferent attitude of the state machinery,” says an industrialist. Another entrepreneur alleges that politicians visit them only to get “donations” for their political outfits. |
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Relief for garment industry
Chandigarh, February 16 The Chief Minister made this announcement in a meeting held with the representatives of the industry at Haryana Bhawan, New Delhi. Hooda asked them to give an undertaking for using the sites only for textile units for at least next 10 years. The meeting was convened by the Haryana Industries Department to discuss various problems being faced by the garments industry due to appreciation of rupee and other import related conditions. Haryana labour minister, A.C. Chaudhary, principal secretary to Chief Minister M.L. Tayal, financial commissioner and principal secretary abour Naresh Gulati, financial commissioner and principal secretary, industry and commerce P.K. Chaudhary, labour commissioner N.C. Wadhwa, managing director, HSIIDC, Rajiv Arora, director, town and country planning, S.S. Dhillon, director, industries, Des Raj Dhingra, excise and taxation commissioner Arun Kumar and additional labour commissioner G. Anupama also attended the meeting. It is pertinent to mention that the Apparel Export Promotion Council has invited the attention of the government towards difficulties being faced by the garments industry presently due to appreciation of rupee and sudden difficult time for the industry has resulted in scaling down their capacities.
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Haryana to have archaeological museum at last Panipat, February 16 J.P. Kaushik, commissioner, department of archaeology, archives and museums, said the state government had allotted two acres for the purpose. Kaushik said a high-level committee headed by chief secretary Promila Issar would meet a panel of architects on February 19. The architects would be asked to come up with themes for the museum and subsequently submit the detailed plans. Despite having a rich cultural past, Haryana has failed to build a state museum so far. Attempts to establish a well-equipped state archives by former chief minister Bansi Lal at Kurukshetra did not succeed due to bureaucratic hurdles, according to sources. In the absence of a state museum, historians and archaeologists have apprehended considerable loss to invaluable antiquities, which are gathering dust at various ill-equipped government establishments. At present, there are five museums in Haryana, one each in Panipat, Sirsa and Jind and two in Kurukshetra, most of them functioning from makeshift buildings. Barring the War Museum, Panipat, all these are either being run by district administrations or autonomous bodies. The War Museum, established by INTACH, is being run by the state
government.
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DM to assess SPs performance
Chandigarh, February 16 The applicant, Alok Mittal, posted as SP in the CBI, along with eight others, had appealed to the tribunal in 2004 seeking quashing of an order issued by the Haryana government on May 22, 1996. The order contained a policy decision regarding writing of confidential reports of SPs by district magistrates keeping three aspects in mind. One, reputation of the police officer for honesty, two, the officer’s dealings with the public and three, the overall personality and efficiency of the officer in maintaining law and order. The CAT observed: “The Haryana government had issued instructions that the district magistrate shall record the ACR of the SP. This is a policy decision that appears to be reasonable. The tribunal will not like to entrench upon the area of policy making which is exclusively within the purview of the government. We do not find the decision arbitrary or in violation of Articles 14 or 16 of the Constitution and as such it deserves to be upheld and the same is upheld.” The applicants stated that the career prospects of IPS officers primarily depended on the contents of the confidential reports and the same should not be recorded by someone who was not the immediate superior of the officer. The IPS officers further added that only an officer from the department who had worked on the said post and was now holding a superior post in the same department could objectively and professionally judge and comment upon the actual working. The eight applicants stated that all of them belonged to different batches. They averred that all of them were on deputation with the Government of India except Amitabh Dhillon, who was posted as SP in the city. |
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Excise staff threaten to intensify stir
Faridabad, February 16 The state president of the Excise and Taxation Ministerial Staff Association and also the chief convener of the Joint Action Committee, formed by the staff members in the field and at the headquarters, Amar Singh Yadav, served an ultimatum of the employees resorting to indefinite strike from February 23 if the move to abolish the quota system was not scrapped. As per the present practice, the department promotes members from the ministerial to the post of taxation and excise inspectors to fill up 50 per cent of the post. The remaining half is filled via direct recruitment. At a high-level departmental meeting in April last, a proposal was accepted to abolish the practice of filling up the posts of inspectors via quota and resorting to direct recruitment. There are presently 2,500 persons in the ministerial staff comprising of both in the field and at the state headquarters. The staff members, before starting agitation, had met the concerned minister and also lobbied with MLAs and MPs of the state by giving them memorandum on the issue. So far, they have not got any positive response. The staff members have staged dharnas at all district headquarters, which formed the first spell of the agitation, ending on February 13. Yadav said the employees would go on a mass casual leave on February 22 before resorting to indefinite strike from the next day. Presently, the employees are resorting to “work to rule” mode of agitation, which is being observed since Thursday. He said the abolition of the quota would dry up the source of promotion to the post, which was a kind of incentive and motivation for the ministerial staff. He lamented that even though the ministerial staff accounts for about 83 per cent of revenue collection for the department, it was now trying to adopt a ‘misguided’ policy. |
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Power utility extends load disclosure scheme
Chandigarh, February 16 The nigam has also decided to introduce the scheme for industrial category consumers. While stating this here today, a spokesman of the nigam said the willing applicants had been allowed to get their load voluntarily extended by submitting application and agreement form along with test report and deposit the requisite advance consumption security. The formalities for getting the extended load regularised had been minimised by the nigam for the convenience of the consumers. He said in case of AP tubewell and industrial category, the extension of load would be regularised with the existing system, if lines and transformers could take up the additional load. However, if the existing system could not take up the additional load, then the system would be upgraded and augmented by the nigam after observing required formalities. Furthermore, if the capacity was not available in the feeding substation, then the consumers would be asked to remove the unauthorised load. He stated that all industrial consumers would have to pay the service connection charges for the extension of load. In case, the extended load causes a change in the category of consumers from low tension to high tension, the consumer would be required to declare his contract demand and change to HT pressure of supply by completing all related formalities. If the extended load necessitates installation of metering equipment of higher rating, the consumer would provide the metering equipment in case the same was not available with the nigam. He maintained that the applications already pending with the nigam for extension of load would be regularised under the scheme without penalty. He urged the consumers to avail the benefit of the scheme and help utilities in strengthening the infrastructure to meet the load requirement. |
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HC: Hostage release without ransom still an offence Chandigarh, February 16 Virtually laying guidelines for the prosecution, the court has also held that before a person is convicted, it must prove the accused has kidnapped, abducted or detained a person; he has kept such person under custody or detention; and kidnapping, abduction or detention is for ransom. Dismissing criminal appeals filed by Baljit and five others challenging life sentence awarded to them by the trial court, Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice S.D. Anand, also ruled: “A reference to the provision (Section 364-A) shows that once a person has been kidnapped and kept in detention, and either threat is given, or the conduct of such accused gives rise to reasonable apprehension that the person kidnapped may be put to death, or hurt to compel any other person to pay ransom, the offence is complete. Release of kidnapped person without receiving ransom does not wipe out the offence”. The appellants were initially booked on the allegations of kidnapping for ransom, Harsh, 14-year-old son of Kurukshetra-based Dr H.K. Sobti, when he was going to school. Dr Sobti lodged an FIR in the matter on February 15, 2000. He alleged that his son Harsh, studying in Class VII, did not each school. The family was later told that two boys with muffled faces pushed Harsh in a Maruti car without number, but with black windows. On the same afternoon, Dr Sobti received a call demanding Rs15 lakh ransom. At about 2.45 am, he received another call asking him to come with money at the Ambala Railway Station. When he crossed Shahbad, he received a message on the telephone that his son has been traced and recovered. Subsequently, on March 9, 2000, Dr Sobti received a letter by post stating his son has been set free; and though it may be difficult to keep him, it will be easy to shoot him and the amount of Rs 15 lakh should be arranged. The culprits were apprehended on the basis of calls made to Dr Sobti. Accused Baljit, Raman, Ravi and Parvej were arrested on March 17, 2000. After going through the evidence, the Judges added: In the present case, not only demand for ransom was made when the kidnapped child was in custody of the kidnappers, subsequent conduct of the accused in sending a letter for ransom and making telephonic calls for ransom also shows that kidnapping and detention was for ransom. The child could be put to death or hurt and the object was to compel the father of the child to pay ransom.
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2 killed in road accident
Jind, February 16 According to information, the accident took place when the car was trying to overtake another vehicle near Hariyal Chowk. It had been carrying four persons hailing from Taalu village of Bhiwani district. The victims were on their way to join a marriage function at Narwana town. While Mandeep and Prem died on the spot, others identified as Virender and Ashok, the driver of the car, received serious injuries. The injured were shifted to Rohtak later. The truck driver reportedly fled after the mishap. A case has been booked against the truck driver. In another incident, an inmate of a local prison died under mysterious circumstances inside the jail premises yesterday. The deceased identified as Jora Singh (55) had been undergoing life imprisonment for the past three years. He was found dead inside the cell. A fellow inmate informed the authorities. While the cause of the death is still to be ascertained, the police has sent the viscera for medical examination. Hailing from Baddaipur village, the deceased had been convicted for a murder.
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Solution soon, says minister
Bhiwani, February 16 She laid the foundation stone of a 33-kV substation at village Alampur and one at Hassan village in Bhiwani district today. Choudhry said the DHBVN and the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (HVPN) plan to spend Rs 460 crore to strengthen power transmission and distribution system in the district. Under the plan, power utility would construct 19 substations and augment capacity of 12 existing ones. The substations, to be constructed, include a 220-KV substation at Isharwal at a cost of Rs 87 core and a 132-KV substation at Haluwas. Chaudhary stated that the Hansi-Butana link canal would prove to be lifeline for the farmers. She added that it was a judicious step of the government for providing water to all regions of the state. The canal would be ready by the end of the year. Vijayendra Kumar, managing director, DHBVN, said to strengthen power distribution system in the district, the DHBVN is planning to renovate complete distribution system in villages by erecting high voltage distribution system. |
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Accused confesses another killing
Our Correspondent
Jhajjar, February 16 The body was sent to the PGIMS, Rohtak, for postmortem examination to determine whether she was sexually assaulted. The police had yesterday arrested a 15-year-old youth, Monu, on the charges of raping and then killing another girl, Pooja (6), two days ago. He had dumped Pooja’s body in a well at Ismaila village. During interrogation, he revealed that he had killed another girl and dumped her in a well. Monica’s father, Jaipal, too had expressed apprehensions that her daughter might have been the victim of the accused as her body was also found from a well. They had buried her body believing that she had fell into the well on her own. The body was exhumed in the presence of a duty magistrate and a deputy superintendent of police. SP Shrikant Jadhav told mediapersons that two cases had been registered against the minor accused, who was produced in the local court today. He had been remanded to a two-day police custody. The accused used to work as a labourer with the father of Pooja, one of his victims.
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CID to probe Gargi’s death
Yamunanagar, February 16 Her father had moved an application to the DGP requesting the transfer of probe to any other appropriate agency other than the district police. Sources said the DGP marked the case to the CID crime. Dr Gargi was a resident of Sharanpur and was unmarried. Though her body was hanging from the ceiling, her feet were touching the ground and a glass of a ventilation window was broken, said the sources. Cigarette stubs and tobacco were also found from the room. Dr Gargi’s family members had claimed that she was a non-smoker.
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Golak looted from gurdwara
Yamunanagar, February 16 Earlier, the thieves locked the room, in which the granthi, Joginder Singh, was sleeping, from outside. The theft was noticed when Joginder Singh woke in the morning to perform rituals. The weight of the golak was about 60 kg, said sources. Some unidentified miscreants also broke into the house of Charan Kamal Jeet Singh in Vishnu Garden here and took away batteries of generators. Ajaib Singh of Amadalpur village said some miscreants took away motor from his house on February 14. They also took away power cables from electricity poles in Amadalpur area. The police has registered a case on the complaint of a junior engineer of the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam.
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Students ‘beaten up’ for not paying for party
Sirsa, February 16 The students of Bharat Sainik School in M.C. Colony here met additional deputy commissioner Yudhvir Singh Khialia yesterday after the incident and sought action against the principal. The students alleged that principal Jagdish Kamboj beat them up after they refused to pay Rs 200 for the farewell party and when teacher Sandeep Kumar took their side, he, too, was
assaulted. Khialia assured them that action would be taken in the matter. Deputy commissioner V Umashankar had ordered that students who were unwilling to part with money for such activities should not be compelled.
— PTI |
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Prajapatis assure support to Janhit Cong
Kurukshetra, February 16 The organisers, including Rinku Prajapati, Ram Kishan and Dr Jaswant Prajapati, said they would support the HJC by participating in its programmes scheduled to be held in the run-up to the assembly elections. Besides, they criticised the alleged anti-people policies of the Congress government in the state. The Sain community and the Med Rajput community have already expressed their support to the HJC. Addressing the gathering, Dr Davender Sharma, state vice-president of the HJC, expressed his gratitude to the Prajapati community for its support. He assured that the HJC would stand by the community and work towards their betterment. |
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Official remanded in graft case
Fatehabad, February 16 According to reports, Sharvan Kumar of Bothan Kalan had applied for a loan for establishing a dairy farm. For that, he needed a certificate from VLDA Jawahar Lal, who demanded a bribe of Rs 2,000 for issuing the
certificate. Sharvan Kumar informed the state vigilance bureau about it. A team of vigilance officials was constituted which laid a trap to nab Jawahar Lal. As soon as Jawahar Lal accepted the bribe from Sharvan Kumar yesterday, the vigilance officials caught him on the spot. |
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Fire at thermal plant
Yamunanagar, February 16 Sources said five fire tenders were pressed into service. Flames were controlled, but smoke was bellowing from the coal heap. The sources added that it would take several hours before the fire could be controlled. An official of the Haryana Power Generation Corporation said the fire most likely started due to certain gases and it was not a matter of “grave concern”. The fire had not caused any disturbance at the thermal plant and work was going on as per schedule. |
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15 centres for fresh vegetables soon
Chandigarh, February 16 While stating this here today, a spokesman of the board said these centres would be set up at Faridabad, Abubshahar, Yamunanagar, Shahbad, Hisar, Jind, Pehowa, Gurgaon, Rohtak, Panipat, Panchkula, Jhajjar, Karnal These centres would be set up for sorting, grading, washing, waxing, packaging and shrink rapping for variety of vegetables and fruits. |
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Woman found dead; in-laws booked
Jind, February 16 The police recovered the body of Manita (23), daughter of Rajpal, a resident of Bharain village of Rohtak district, from the house of her in-laws in Julana this morning. She got married to Kuldeep two years back. While her in-laws claimed that she committed suicide by hanging herself last night, the father of the woman alleged that she was killed and later hanged by her in-laws. According to the complaint, Manita was being harassed for not bringing dowry. |
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Nurse commits suicide
Faridabad, February 16 The deceased was a resident of Parvatiya Colony here. Although Awadh Kishore, father of the deceased, who is security incharge of a private firm, said Pooja was not well for the past two days which may have led her to end her life, the police is not convinced.
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HVP leader joins BJP
Sonepat, February 16 Addressing the meeting, BJP leaders criticised the Congress government at the centre and state for working against the interests of the poor and common people. They claimed that the BJP was becoming stronger day by day and it would be in a position to form the government at the centre as well as the state. |
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Kurukshetra, February 16
