 |
|
|
Finance panel presents interim report
Dharam Vir is new chief secretary
Union Budget
Opposition terms it misleading
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Recovery of House Tax Arrears
No MP linked with kidney scam: Jeevan
MD/MS entrance row
500 techies get offers at job mela
State to pilot smart card-based PDS
Bar council to implement RTI Act
Bijli nigam extends VDS
Award amount for litterateurs up
Energy-efficient lighting for industrial units: Panel
KU to get tough with ill-equipped BEd colleges
Plea to shift Ambala HPCL depot falls on deaf ears
Speaker adjourns disqualification case
High Court
Road blocked over burglary in cloth house
Murder accused surrenders
Cattle thieves create panic
|
|
Finance panel presents interim report
Chandigarh, February 29 This devolution would be over and above the funds already being transferred to these bodies through state excise, local area development tax (LADT) proceeds and grants of the 12th Finance Commission. This was disclosed by A.N. Mathur, IAS (retd), chairman, third state finance commission, Haryana, while presenting to the Governor here today the interim report of the commission for the period up to 2008-09. Mathur explained that the resource base of these bodies was very poor as compared to the vast responsibilities cast on them. As such these bodies needed larger funds for discharging their constitutional duties of providing minimum acceptable levels of civic amenities, he said. He said the state government had requested the commission to submit its interim report as larger funds were required to be transferred to the panchayats and the municipalities for strengthening the rural and urban infrastructure. The chairman said while framing its scheme of fiscal transfers, the commission overviewed the fiscal capacities and status of core civic services of the local bodies as also the financial position of the state. He was hopeful that this financial devolution would be sufficient to meet the expenditure needs of the local bodies on establishment and the operational costs of basic public services. He also cautioned that the local bodies would need to fully utilise their taxation powers and raising of internal resources through their own efforts in order to be able to work as viable and effective units of local governance. He said the approach of the commission had been guided by the constitutional objectives of empowerment of local bodies through the process of democratic decentralisation and the principles of equity and efficiency aiming at providing citizens a certain standard of services. However, the distribution criteria of the commission took into account issues like socio-economic backwardness, fiscal capacities and the financial needs of local bodies, he added. |
|
Dharam Vir is new chief secretary
Chandigarh, February 29 While Dharam Vir is slated to retire in October next year, all other serving Haryana IAS officers, who are Dharam Vir’s seniors, are posted in Delhi on central deputation. Dharam Vir’s additional charge will be general administration, personnel, training, vigilance, parliamentary affairs and administrative reforms departments. He will also look after plan coordination. The post of principal secretary, revenue and disaster management and rehabilitation and consolidation department, left vacant in the wake of Dharam Vir’s elevation, went to K.S. Bhoria, principal secretary, home. Bhoria was also given the charge of the forest and environment department in place of H.C. Disodia, who also retired from today. Feroza Mehrotra was made principal secretary, home, on her return from central deputation. |
|
Union Budget
Chandigarh, February 29 The Chief Minister was talking to mediapersons at the Congress office here where he had come to participate in the celebrations held to welcome the union budget. The Chief Minister said farmers from Haryana had earlier met Congress president Sonia Gandhi to press her to ensure that relief was given to them in the union budget. “Haryana has already achieved record productivity in wheat. With the good steps proposed in the budget, the farmers of the state will achieve many more milestones in the field of agriculture”, Hooda said. The state government headed by Hooda also earlier gave relief to farmers regarding loans taken from cooperative banks. While the Chief Minister refrained from playing up the advance step taken by him for reducing the loan burden of the farmers, party workers, who had assembled at the Congress office, garlanded Hooda as a token of their appreciation of the work done by him. The workers also exploded crackers, distributed sweets and rejoiced at the sops offered to the farmers in the budget. Chief parliamentary secretary Dharam Bir, MLA Nirmal Singh and Haryana Youth Congress chief Sanjay Chhokker were also present. In separate press notes, Congress spokepersons Pawan Jain and Ved Prakash Vidrohi also welcomed the budget. Fatehabad: Congress workers here have hailed the union budget and said it was the best budget presented so far by any government in the country. The Congress workers assembled in the local Shaheed Udham Singh park after the budget was presented by the Finance Minister in parliament and distributed sweets. Among those who turned up were Sunil Chaudhary, block president, Atam Parkash Mehta, district vice-president, M. S. Saddar, district secretary, Shammi Ratti, party spokesman, Usha Dahiya, Satya Vidyarthi, Sushil Bishnoi and Sita Ram Beniwal. The Congress leaders said it was for the first time that the loans of small farmers had been waived in such a big way by the central government. The party activists said the increase in the income limit for income tax was also a welcome step and would benefit the middle class in general and women and senior citizens in particular.
|
|
|
Opposition terms it misleading
Chandigarh, February 29 While Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda led the Congress brigade in hailing the budget by distributing “ladoos” in the party office here, his MP son Deepender led a large number of farmers on a tractor to AICC president Sonia Gandhi’s house to thank her for waiving of loans of small and marginal farmers. Chairman of the All-India Kisan-Khet Mazdoor Congress Shamsher Singh Surjewala, who had been consistently raising his voice against rural indebtedness, described the budget as “the most historical and path-breaking document in the post-independent India.” He said it was “in many ways, a story of the UPA’s government’s principal commitment to the growth, protection and long-term sustenance of the agriculture economy of the country.” Describing the budget as “Aam aadmi ka budget”, PWD minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav said it had something for all classes ranging from small and marginal farmers to the salaried class. He also welcomed a 10 per cent increase for the defence. This, he said, would boost the morale of the armed forces. Former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and a senior INLD leader Sampat Singh said the debt relief to the farmers in the budget was “incomplete and sadly inadequate”. They said the only long-term solution of the farmers’ problems was the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission report. Sampat Singh said the “conditional” debt relief would lead to corruption and the small farmers would be at the mercy of bank employees. He said even the increase in the income tax exemption limit was “meagre”. Haryana BJP president Atam Prakash Manchanda expressed disappointment with the conditional debt relief. He was also not happy with the increase in the income tax exemption limit, which he said, should have been raised further because of inflation and high cost of living. President of the Haryana Pradesh Beopar Mandal Bajrang Dass Garg, however, expressed satisfaction with the increase in the tax exemption limit.
|
|
|
Recovery of House Tax Arrears
Ballabgarh (Faridabad), February 29 Today it displayed the names of 10 defaulters whose individual arrears (backlog) were Rs 20 lakh on the premises of the MCF office. The MCF has also prepared lists of names of small-amount defaulters and is in the process of handing them to the concerned councillors and RWAs to motivate the defaulters to clear up their dues. According to the official version, the present arrears added up to about Rs 1 crore. The Ballabgarh zone of the MCF collected about Rs 4 crore as house tax every financial year. However, the present drive to recover the arrears was not only of the current financial year, but also of the previous years. Joint commissioner of the Ballabgarh unit of the MCF Pushpinder Singh Chauhan said the list had been given to the councillors and the RWAs to motivate the defaulters to pay up the arrears to avail of the government scheme of waiver of house tax on self occupied houses. The scheme could be availed only by those house owners who had cleared all their dues in terms of house tax by this March end. Chauhan said the MCF was trying to reach out to the defaulters only to make them conscious of the scheme, which would come into effect from the next financial year. He clarified that those who would continue as defaulters on house tax could not claim benefit of the scheme, even if they plead innocence or ignorance.
|
|
No MP linked with kidney scam: Jeevan
Ambala, February 29 Dr Jeevan was brought to Ambala by a CBI team to produce him in the CBI court, which remanded him to judicial custody till March 7. He was in the CBI custody for the past two weeks. Talking to mediapersons, he said whatever Dr Upender said to the Press a few days back was totally false. He said MP Jai Prakash had nothing to do with the scam and clarified that the involvement of an IAS officer from UP was also a bogus allegation. Claiming that he was totally innocent, he said the CBI had falsely implicated him in the case. He admitted that a number of kidneys were transplanted in the clinic of Dr Amit. He said Dr Amit was a highly skilled surgeon as all transplantation surgeries conducted by him were successful. S.D. Singh and Amit Gupta, counsels of Dr Amit, pleaded in the court that the CBI had not provided them the copy of the application in which they had requested the court to cease the accounts of Dr Amit, which were going on in Canada. The court directed the CBI to provide a certified copy of the same to the defence counsel.
|
|
MD/MS entrance row
Rohtak, February 29 The committee comprises Prof Surinder Kumar, dean (academics), MDU, as convener; Prof V.K.Jain, dean, PGIMS; Prof R.K.Srivastava, deputy dean, PGIMS; and Prof C.P.Sheoran, head, department of law, MDU. Earlier today, PGIMS director S.S.Sangwan forwarded a representation signed by 47 medicos to the MDU vice-chancellor for necessary action. In the cover note, the director requested the vice-chancellor to constitute a committee to inquire into the matter. The Resident Doctors Association and several students of the PGIMS had also demanded a thorough inquiry into the matter in separate representations submitted to the university authorities. Taking note of these representations (and in view of the ongoing protests over the issue), MDU controller of examinations Sukhbir Singh proposed that a committee should be constituted by the vice-chancellor to go into the allegations. Following this, MDU vice-chancellor R.P.Hooda approved the formation of a committee to look into the matter. “The committee may invite representatives of the agitating students to put up their points of view in person and provide any evidence that they may have in support of their claims/allegations,” the vice-chancellor said in his orders issued this evening. The orders specifically mention that the proceedings must finish by March 15. Meanwhile, protests by medicos against the alleged irregularities in the MD/MS entrance examination continued for the fifth day today. |
|
500 techies get offers at job mela
Hisar, February 29 The mela was organised by the department of technical education, Haryana. The passouts and recruiters from private companies had been invited here by the department for on-the-spot interviews and selections. Presiding over the concluding session, technical education minister A.C. Chaudhry said the Haryana government had increased the number of seats in technical training institutes and the budget had been raised from a mere Rs 29 crore to Rs 150 crore. The government was planning to set up more such institutes to train jobless youth in various technical trades. He said these could be set up in partnership with private companies if a company so desired. Chaudhry said American employers had sent in a demand for 500 nurses from Haryana alone. This was the result of concerted efforts by the government to find job opportunities for the youth. |
|
State to pilot smart card-based PDS
New Delhi, February 29 “The idea is to deliver subsidies to the target group through smart cards. Finally, I have found two willing partners - Haryana and Chandigarh. I thank the Chief Minister of Haryana and the administrator of Chandigarh,” finance minister P. Chidambaram said while presenting the union budget in Parliament today. He promised them full support and cooperation in making a success of the pilot scheme. A sum of Rs 32,667 crore would be provided next year for food subsidy under the PDS and other welfare programmes, he said, adding that strengthening the PDS would mean adequate supplies, reasonable subsidies and efficient delivery of the subsidised food. |
|
Bar council to implement RTI Act
Rohtak, February 29 He said it sounded strange that the council, which was the biggest licensing and regulating body of lawyers in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh, had not implemented the RTI Act. “Our team has now decided to enforce the act to bring about transparency in the council’s functioning,” he maintained. Dr Ahlawat further said that their next priority would be to make the enrolment fee for council membership affordable, especially for new lawyers. “Efforts will be made to cut the expenditure of the council and use the saved amount for the welfare of lawyers,” he said. |
|
Bijli nigam extends VDS
Hisar, February 29 The VDS is meant for all categories of consumers. A spokesman for the DHBVN said here today that domestic and non-domestic consumers willing to declare their load would be required to make the advance consumption deposit and complete the usual formalities to get their load regularised. There would be no need to submit a test report if the total load did not exceed 20 KW. The applicant would certify that the wiring for the extended load had been done by an authorised contractor and the same had been tested. For extension beyond 20 KW of load, the applicant would be required to submit a test report. The extended load would be considered regularised with immediate effect after completing of the formalities. The nigam would not charge any penalty from the applicants for the regularisation of their unauthorised load. He said tubewell consumers could declare their extended load by submitting an application and an agreement form. |
|
Award amount for litterateurs up
Chandigarh, February 29 The minister, who presided over a meeting of the governing council here, said it had also been decided to institute the Haryana Sahitya Ratan Samman under which a cash award of Rs 2 lakh would be given for the lifetime achievement of a litterateur hailing from Haryana. He said apart from this, a new award of Rs 21,000 had been instituted to be given for outstanding translation of a book. Gupta said while reviewing the cash awards of Rs 3,000, Rs 2,500 and Rs 2,000 to be awarded for an outstanding story or poem to students at the college level, it was decided to introduce three separate awards for girls for the same purpose. These three awards for girls would be of Rs 5,000, Rs 4,000 and Rs 3,000, respectively. It had also been decided to establish a pathak manch at the district level to promote literary and cultural activities in the rural areas. Gupta said it was also decided to introduce two research fellowships for intensive research in folk literature and cultural heritage. Also, for the first time, a directory of writers would be brought out. On the suggestion of Surinder Sharma, deputy chairman of the akademi, it was decided to install statues of prominent litterateurs at various places in the state. |
|
Energy-efficient lighting for industrial units: Panel
Chandigarh, February 29 This recommendation was made at its meeting which was held under the chairpersonship of chief secretary Promilla Issar. Chairing the meeting, Issar said in the present scenario of energy crisis, energy conservation was one of the most cost effective modes to meet the shortage of electricity. She said during the past two years, Haryana had been able to save 103.2 million units of electricity translating into a saving of Rs 42 crore in electricity bills.
|
|
KU to get tough with ill-equipped BEd colleges
Kurukshetra, February 29 There are about 122 BEd colleges affiliated with KU and scores of them are allegedly running without appointing the minimum number of teachers. Many of them have also failed to provide the required infrastructure, including a proper library. It is reliably learnt that a committee, headed by the dean of academic affairs of KU, had proposed to constitute a panel to pay surprise visits to BEd colleges regularly to check whether these are meeting the required standards. However, the nod of the KU vice-chancellor is awaited. “Though in the past couple of years BEd colleges have mushroomed, yet no effective mechanism has been adopted by the affiliating universities to keep tabs on these,” said sources in the university. The KU committee had prepared a report card having 500 marks for various aspects like a regular principal, experienced faculty, building and library among others things for the affiliated colleges. As per rules, seven lecturers are required for every 100 students. KU officials admitted that scores of BEd colleges did not have a regular principal, reflecting the sorry state of affairs. A senior university functionary said due to their political connections, the strong lobby of “money-spinning” BEd colleges managed to evade any plan to check their academic activities.
|
|
Plea to shift Ambala HPCL depot falls on deaf ears
Ambala, February 29 According to HPCL officials, it had been more than a year since they had written to the concerned authorities at the district and state levels but the files, officials alleged, had got stuck in red-tapism. Yesterday’s blast at the plant, which occurred due to technical reasons, has once again brought into focus the safety of residents. Over the years, encroachments have grown around the HPCL depot, which is spread over 3 acres. Officials of the HPCL from New Delhi visited the depot today to ascertain the cause of the yesterday’s blast. The encroachments, officials said, had mushroomed over the past about five years only. However, with the encroachments spilling over the walls of the HPCL and no one to check them, officials are always on tenterhooks. “Any celebration that involves crackers during festivals or marriages makes us worried. Also, the fear of anyone carelessly throwing a cigarette butt is always at the back of our mind,” they said. HPCL is, however, prepared to deal with any eventuality that occurred at their current depot. But the big question is whether the administration is prepared to deal with a situation that may spill outside the walls of the HPCL. The HPCL depot has been here since 1950. It was, however, renovated in 1990 and ever since it has been supplying to depots in Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. At that time, even the Indian Oil Corporation depot was situated next to it. It has, however, since long shifted to a safer area, away from inhabitants, in Ambala itself and is spread on over 20 acres. Officials said HPCL was also now looking at shifting to an area next to the IOC depot, which was about 20 acres and away from inhabitants. The land comes under the municipal committee and they had also mentioned the same to the authorities concerned. However, a final nod was still awaited.
|
|
High Court Chandigarh, February 29 The ruling by a High Court Division Bench, comprising Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice S.D. Anand, comes on an appeal challenging the conviction and life sentence awarded in a murder case. Pronouncing the orders in an open court, the Bench elaborated, “It is almost impossible to find independent witnesses who may come forward and give evidence.” The appellant, Gulshan, was convicted under Section 302 of the IPC and awarded life term in a case alleging the murder of one Sanjay, working at Rohtak. Though the accused had denied the prosecution allegations, the trial court had relied mainly on eyewitness account before ruling that the case had been proved beyond reasonable doubt. Challenging the orders before the High Court, counsel for the appellant submitted the eyewitness account was not reliable and was in conflict with the medical evidence. Giving details, counsel said that according to the eyewitness account, the occurrence had taken place at 12.30 pm on the fateful day. But, as per the medical evidence, the occurrence must have taken place in the early hours of the day. It was also submitted that no independent witness was examined, though the spot of occurrence was a busy place, full of traffic and public. In an attempt to substantiate his contention, counsel also referred to the site plan to show the event took place was near a metalled road. He added the eyewitness had not accompanied the victim to the hospital. After going through the rival contentions and the case record, the judges held, “We do not find any merit in the contentions raised. The evidence of prosecution witness Ramesh alias Bitoo, brother of the deceased, who witnessed the occurrence, does not suffer from any discrepancy.” “The occurrence took place in broad daylight and there could be no question of mistake of identity. The testimony of a close relative cannot be rejected as partisan. The version given by Ramesh is corroborated by the version given by him in the FIR immediately after the occurrence.” “Merely because the investigating officer (IO) had reached the hospital on receiving the V.T. Message, it cannot be held there was any discrepancy casting doubt about the presence of Ramesh at the place of occurrence. “It cannot be held that only the person mentioned in the post-mortem report had accompanied the deceased. The doctor is not required to mention names of every person accompanying the body. Ramesh was very much present in the hospital when the IO reached there on receiving the message. Non-examination of independent witnesses is not a ground to reject the version of eyewitnesses,” the judges concluded.
|
|
|
Speaker adjourns disqualification case
Chandigarh, February 29 Former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal and his two loyalist MLAs, Dharampal Malik and Rakesh Kamboj, respondents in the case, were represented before the Speaker by their counsel. Congress MLAs Shadilal Batra, Jitender Malik and Ramesh Gupta, petitioners, were present during the hearing. |
|
Road blocked over burglary in cloth house
Jind, February 29 The blockade, which attracted the attention of the authorities concerned, was lifted after an assurance of stepped up security from now onwards. This is the second such case in the area in the past one month. Electronic goods worth Rs 8 lakh had been stolen in a similar manner from another showroom. There had been around 100 theft incidents in the district in the past about four months. According to information, a gang of thieves broke open the shutter of a shop, “Hardik Cloth House”, located near Patiala Chowk and stole cloth material worth Rs 8 lakh. The agitated owner and shopkeepers of the area assembled at the chowk and staged a dharna. The blockade was lifted after an hour on the intervention of local officials, including the SP and the SDM, who reached the spot to pacify the protesters. They were assured that the number of police personnel would be increased and patrol at sensitive place would be stepped up to check thefts and robberies.
|
|
|
Murder accused surrenders
Rewari, February 29 On an application moved by the police, the court then remanded him to the police custody till March 2. Navin, who had fled after committing the crime, was wanted by the police in connection with the murder of Praveen, who was done to death here on February 25. Sources said after an altercation over a piece of property, Navin allegedly killed his brother at his shop here. Consequently, on a complaint filed by Karan Singh, father of the deceased, the police had then registered a case of murder against the accused. |
|
|
Cattle thieves create panic
Yamunanagar, February 29 Nine oxen belonging to Rajkumar, Baljit and Vikram were stolen from near the telephone exchange in the Jathlana area last evening. A buffalo was stolen a day before. On January 26, eight oxen belonging to Mangat Ram and Rohtas and four buffaloes were reportedly stolen from near Devi Lal Park in Radaur. Reena Devi, sarpanch of Radaur, said “thikri pehra” would be started from March 1 in all 20 wards. She said watchmen would be provided with torch, identity cards and batons. Deputy commissioner Nitin Kumar Yadav had earlier ordered “thikri pehra”. Thieves are believed to come from UP. Four incidents of theft had taken place on Wednesday night. Sources said there were several slaughter houses in UP and stolen “unproductive cattle” were slaughtered. |
|
| 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 | |
Chandigarh, February 29
Chandigarh, February 29
Ambala, February 29
