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Reply to Debate on Budget
Now, medicine scam in jail
Murder convict’s parole ‘ploy’ under scanner
Cops chase away protesting DEd holders
Cops chase away protesting DEd holders in Rohtak on Wednesday. A Tribune photograph |
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Expect a power(ful) summer ahead
Digitisation workshop at HAU
Provide security to disqualified MLA: HC
Question Hour
Pay Rs 25,000 to patient, doctor told
MLAs set to get more
‘Gagged’, INLD stages walkout
No move to raise bus fare: Minister
ACP’s murder uncovers cop-builder nexus
7 get life term for murder of 3
Sack law minister, PM urged
Says special salary for doctors likely
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In fiery mood, Birender spares
none
Yoginder Gupta Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 26 Starting, as has become a ritual with Congressmen, he appreciated the waiving of farmer loans by the centre, and went on to quote a Tribune editorial, which had said that unlike Punjab and Himachal, Haryana had managed its finances well. He said when Haryana came into existence in 1966, the total tax collection was to the tune of only Rs 16 crore, which had now gone up to Rs 10,000 crore. Taking objection to what Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal had said recently that if Gurgaon was excluded, Haryana was no better than Bihar, Birender Singh said first Badal should see where his state was going, before commenting on Haryana. Punjab, he said, was in bad shape because of its bureaucracy, which had a free run for about a decade during the days of militancy. On the contrary, he said, the Haryana bureaucracy was “responsive and responsible.” Punjab Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon was present in the Speaker’s gallery when Birender Singh was advising his Punjab counterpart. Among others present in the gallery to hear his reply were his wife Prem Lata, former finance minister Sampat Singh and the DC, Mohali, H.I.S Garewal. Having a dig at Chautala and Hooda, he said the Jat Chief Ministers of the state considered themselves to be bigger than Chhotu Ram, who had done a lot for helping the farming community. Describing Bishnoi as “a man in haste”, Birender Singh said he had described the Congress as a “liar” and its budget as “misleading”. These adjectives, he said, did not apply to “us or to Chautala”. Rather these were the attributes of Bishnoi’s father. Birender Singh took objection to Chautala and Bishnoi being described as Mahatma Gandhi. He said they should not compare themselves with Gandhi, who never accepted any political post. “Those who take up politics for personal gains can never serve the people. Those who had left the party(obvious reference was to Bhajan Lal and Bishnoi) because they themselves could not become the Chief Minister were driven by personal ambitions,” he remarked. Referring to the criticism of his budget by Sampat Singh, Birender Singh clarified various issues raised by him. Even Ram Kumar Gautam of the BJP was not spared. Birender Singh said Gautam took 70 minutes to speak on the budget, but spent 50 minutes on talking about irrelevant issues. He attributed the buoyancy in the revenue collection to his being given the charge of taxation department also by Hooda. Birender Singh said before that he was not a “full-fledged finance minister” and was only a minister for expenditure. A little-less-than-two-hour reply of Birender Singh was not without exchanges between INLD and Congress members. At one point Hooda lost his cool, when Chautala said : “Aap ko gyan nahin.” Reciting an Urdu couplet, Hooda said it did not behove of Chautala to teach him.
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Now, medicine scam in jail
Panipat, March 26 According to sources in the state prisons department, mere partial checking of faulty purchase procedure revealed bungling of more than Rs 11 lakh. Prisons sleuths had raided the jail campus in February and seized records pertaining to medicine purchases worth Rs 46.46 lakh from January 1 to December 31, 2007. Surprisingly, it was the first-ever checking into the purchase of medicines in state jails and the sources admitted that it could run into crores of rupees if the malpractice was thoroughly examined. After completing the departmental investigations, the department today lodged an FIR against officials who were posted there last year. The officials include medical officer, pharmacist, jail superintendent, deputy jailor and three chemists of Hisar district at Civil Lines police station. Other subordinate officials have also been named in the FIR. Cases have been registered for cheating, forgery of records, criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy. The sleuths had raided the central jail premises on February 9 and seized several records pertaining to the purchase of medicines. The officials alerted after they got suspicious of this high expenditure. In Sirsa jail, medical expenditure of per prisoner per day costs Rs 6.60 whereas it was recorded at a whopping Rs 56.02 per prisoner per day at Hisar Central Jail. The sources said the jail administration was authorisied to purchase medicine worth Rs 2,000 on any given day. But the officials had violated the rule and exceeded the limit without seeking mandatory prior permission from the headquarters. On an average, medicines worth Rs 9,453 were purchased on daily basis with each purchase costing
Rs 2,000. Similarly, it was detected that no quotations were invited for the purchase of more than 500 medicines and several bills were forged. It was also observed that though medicines worth Rs 3.61 lakh were purchased but its entry was not recorded in jail gate register. Getting suspicious of manipulation in the bills, the prisons officials had also summoned the records from the chemists. The investigation further revealed that the medicines were purchased at a price more than the MRP whereas it was approved to buy medicines at “lowest market rate”. The sources said the jail officials were purchasing medicines from a chemist shop located in Bhabbalpur, located 20 km from the jail premises. The prisons department alleged that the officials had favoured the chemist who was overcharging with the connivance of the certain insiders. |
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Murder convict’s parole ‘ploy’ under scanner
Hisar, March 26 This is the subject of a police inquiry as the convict has claimed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court that he was denied parole after the death of his child. It so happened that the convict, Avinash (60), who is serving a life term in the local jail, applied for parole in November last year, saying that a baby had been born to his wife on November 5 only to die three days later. He applied for parole after the death. He was released and meanwhile his application was sent for verification by the police. It is learnt that the police official who was deputed to verify the claim, recommended that the convict not be released on parole grounds of public security and order. However, he supported the claim that a child was born who later died. His application was rejected several weeks after he was sent on parole following which he approached the high court. It is now suspected that the police official did not verify the facts. For instance, the birth or the subsequent death was not reported to the office of the registrar of births and deaths. The convict’s neighbours and other respectable residents of the area have submitted affidavits denying that the convict’s wife delivered a baby as claimed. The councillor of ward 17, Shobha Nehru, where the convict’s family lives has stated in an affidavit that the convict’s wife Sulochana “never delivered a baby who died three days later”. Nehru also happens to be a eunuch. She has stated that normally she visits every household of the area whenever there is a birth or death in a family. Several other respectable residents, including former councillor Radha Kishen, have also submitted affidavits denying that a bay boy was born to the convict’s wife as claimed. The caretaker of the Dana Tibba Sher cremation grounds has stated that only three adults were cremated in the cremation grounds on the day the convict’s wife claimed her dead baby was buried there. The administration is now contemplating action against the erring police official. Incidentally, seeking parole on fictitious grounds has become a popular ploy with convicts. In the recent past, there have been several instances where convicts who sought parole on humanitarian grounds jumped the parole to take to crime again.
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Cops chase away protesting DEd holders
Rohtak, March 26 The protesters held a meeting at the grounds of the local Jat College and opposed the proposed move to allow private institutions to run the DEd course. They pointed out that when thousands of diploma-holders were sitting idle, there was no point in admitting more candidates to the course. The protesters demanded that the government should first employ the existing diploma-holders and then think of running the course any further. They threatened to intensify their agitation if their demands were not met. The protesters marched in protest from the Jat College grounds to Power House Chowk, where they were stopped by police and administrative officials deployed there. On their demand, Capt Chatar Singh, political secretary to the Chief Minister, arrived there and accepted their memorandum. “However, the protesting diploma-holders refused to disperse even after submitting their memorandum. Many of them tried to block traffic by sitting on the road,” said SDM Mukul Kumar. Following this, the policemen chased away the protesters from the scene. In the mild use of force employed in the process, several protesters suffered minor injuries. |
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Expect a power(ful) summer ahead
Chandigarh, March 26 Officials in the state power utilities informed that as against the norm for taking into account an 8 per cent increase in power demand, this year, they had decided to make arrangements by taking into account a 15 per cent increase in demand. In addition to making new power purchase agreements, the HPU will also have an additional 600 MW of power with the commissioning of the thermal power plant in Yamunanagar in May. It may be noted that people in the state have had a tough winter because of severe power regulations. In some parts of the state, power cuts are still being imposed, with industrial consumers bearing the maximum brunt. Power cuts ranging from 10-16 hours have been imposed on industrial consumers. But the government now promises a much easy and power(ful) summer. Talking to TNS here today, Ashok Lavasa, financial commissioner, power, said total power available to the state was 4,051 MW, while another 600 MW will be added with the commissioning of the Yamunanagar plant. “This year, we did a factual study of the year-on-year growth in demand, and found that the average growth is 14 per cent. In certain pockets in the National Capital Region, the growth is almost 20 per cent on account of massive industrialisation. Based on this study, we will be making arrangements for an additional 15 per cent power from June onwards, as compared to last year,” he said. Even in agriculture sector, the demand has grown phenomenally because of less rain in winter months. As compared to 57 crore units of power supplied to the rural and agriculture consumers till March 24, 2007, the supply to these consumers increased to 85.5 crore units till the same date this year. “The total power consumption has gone up from 159 crore units in February 2007, to 186 crore units in February this year,” said Lavasa, while adding that this was the main reason for imposing severe power regulatory measures.
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Digitisation workshop at HAU
Hisar, March 26 Dr Mruthyunjaya, national director, National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP) of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), while inaugurating the workshop yesterday, appealed to the participants to promote digitisation of knowledge, including books, e-journals, e-courses and e-thesis, besides ushering in e-governance. He said HAU’s library had taken a lead amongst libraries of agricultural universities of the nation by launching agricultural doctoral thesis repository in its digital library. It would go a long way in promoting innovations. It would also help in value addition to the thesis and dissertations besides checking repetitions. Dr Mruthyunjaya asked HAU librarian Prem Singh to bring out a journal on thesis repository in which abstracts, reviews and priorities of the university and governments were included. The journal, once online, would be of great help to researchers and academicians. HAU vice-chancellor J.C. Katyal said this was a project in which all agricultural universities and central research institutes would be involved. He thanked the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) for awarding the project on digitisation of doctoral dissertations to Haryana Agricultural University, adding that the project would have a great bearing on research. Digitisation of thesis and dissertations and their availability on the Internet would give research scholars and their guides recognition for good research.
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Provide security to disqualified MLA: HC
Chandigarh, March 26 Taking up his petition, Justice R.S. Madan of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today directed the DGP to provide adequate security to him in accordance with the threat
perception. In his petition placed before Justice Madan, Kamboj had earlier claimed danger to his life and liberty due to
political differences with the ruling party. Kamboj had claimed he was pulled out of a vehicle and beaten up on December 1 while he was moving along with people of his constituency from Karnal to Rohtak for attending ‘Jan Hit’ rally convened y former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal and son Kuldeep Bishnoi. SGPC assets
The High Court today fixed March 28 as the next date of hearing on the issue of alleged illegal transfer of multi-crore assets of Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) run Miri Piri Institute of Medical Sciences and Research at Shahabad-Markanda (Kurukshetra). A PIL seeks directions to restrain the SGPC from transferring the assets to a 12-member trust. It among others includes Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar, ex SGPC chief Bibi Jagir Kaur MLA. Status quo ordered
Taking up a petition by Guru Granth Sahib Mission, Shahpur, Ambala, seeking directions against the move to acquire a land meant for religious purpose, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today directed the maintenance of status quo with regard to possession till further orders. A Bench, comprising Justice Surya Kant and Justice Sabinam issued the directions. The petitioner had sought directions to quash the notification of April 3, 2007, issued under provisions of the Land Acquisition Act ,1894, and a declaration issued in this regard later in February this year. The matter will be now be taken up on May 26. |
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Charges against coop bank officials to be probed
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 26 This was stated by agriculture and cooperation minister Harmohinder Singh Chatha in reply to a question by Shamsher Singh Surjewala during question hour. The latter maintained that the farmers seeking loans were being asked to open accounts in nationalised banks all over the state and he was certain about this practice in Kaithal. Though Chatha denied this, he said the department would especially look into these allegations in Kaithal. However, he later admitted that banks were taking one post-dated cheque for long-term loans stretching into 20 instalments. This, Surjewala said, was in violation of banking practices. A couple of other members also supported Surjewala and said this was happening in their areas as well. To a question about shortage of LPG in the state, also raised by Surjewala, it was stated that there was an acute shortage for the past three months but availability had improved considerably now. Besides regular reviews with representatives of oil companies, the food and supplies department was regularly checking commercial establishments and motor vehicles for unauthorised use of cylinders. Also, officers have been asked to carry out surveys to weed out bogus customers. On the issue of selling cylinders on the black market, the House was informed that cases had been registered against seven district food and supplies controllers, 10 LPG dealers had been fined by companies, six had been issued warnings and one dealership had been terminated also. Karan Dalal who raised the issue of irregular and illegal appointment of Class IV employees in schools was told by education minister Mange Ram Gupta that the department was taking action and the vigilance department was carrying out an inquiry. Dalal also sought to know if action was being taken against former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and his sons who, he said, were behind the irregular appointments. Gupta remained non-committal on the matter and said an inquiry was on.
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Pay Rs 25,000 to patient, doctor told
Jind, March 26 The judgment was delivered yesterday in response to a complaint lodged against the doctor by a resident who had paid Rs 14,000 for treatment of a disease which he did not suffer from. The doctor, who has been directed to pay the fine within two months, will have to shell out an interest at the rate 12 per cent if the payment is delayed. According to details of the case, the complainant - Ashok Kumar - hailing from Patram Nagar in Narwana town, had visited a private clinic run by Dr S. Lal in the town after he felt pain in his chest on December 12, 2004. He told the forum that he was admitted to the clinic for three days and was told that he was suffering from a heart problem and had an attack for which he had been given medicine and treatment. The patient felt a similar pain after being discharged from the clinic. However, this time he visited a well-known institute in Hisar where doctors told him that he was not suffering from any kind of heart ailment but only had a gastric disorder. The complainant told the forum that besides causing a financial loss, he and his family had been made a victim of unwanted shock and mental harassment by the doctor who had diagnosed and treated him for heart problem, which he did not have. Seeking action against the doctor, he demanded adequate compensation. Chairman of the forum R.L. Sharma and its members K.S. Gill and Vimla Sheokand heard both sides and pronounced the decision asking the doctor to pay a fine of Rs 25,000 to the complainant.
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MLAs set to get more
Chandigarh, March 26 This was more than indicated by parliamentary affairs minister Randeep Singh Surjewala as well as by finance minister Birender Singh in the assembly here today. The issue cropped up when Birender Singh was referring to the promise in the election manifesto of the Congress that the employees of the Haryana government would be among the best paid. He said the government would implement the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission for its employees also. Intervening, Independent MLA from Ateli Naresh Yadav said allowances of the MLAs should also be increased. Birender Singh asked him not to worry as the MLAs would also get the benefit of the pay commission’s report. Surjewala said the government would bring a legislation in this regard in next two days in deference to the sentiments of all members of the House. MLAs of all political parties had met Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in his chamber last week and had urged him to increase their allowances in view of the price rise. Hooda had assured them of a favourable consideration of their demand. Sources say a scheme is also under the consideration of the government to provide either residential plots or flats to the MLAs.
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‘Gagged’, INLD stages walkout
Chandigarh, March 26 Right after question hour, Speaker Raghubir Singh Kadian rejected their demand to know how much time of the House had been spent on trivial issues and ridicule and how much time had been spent on serious debate on the Governor’s Address and the budget. Deputy leader of the INLD Sushil Indora and parliamentary affairs minister Randeep Singh Surjewala were engaged in a “war of words” with both trying to put across their point of view. The only difference was that the mikes on the side of the opposition benches were off while that of the minister was on. Later, addressing a press conference, Indora and Sita Ram said members of the ruling party wasted valuable time of the House in jibing the opposition without contributing anything substantial to the proceedings. He said they were in favour of making a committee of the House to know how much “substantial business” was transacted during the “long session” as is being repeatedly claimed by the ruling party. |
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No move to raise bus fare: Minister
Chandigarh, March 26 He was addressing mediapersons at the press lobby of the Vidhan Sabha here today. On plying of Volvo buses again in the state, Gupta said an agreement was reached between the Haryana Roadways and a private party which had later backtracked to ply Volvo buses. He said legal action was being taken against the party, adding that the department was considering plying Volvo buses on its own level. Refuting allegations made by Member of Parliament Ajay Chautala who had alleged that a relative of Gupta, Vikram Singla, would be selected as naib tehsildar, he said the only motive behind this information was to tarnish his image. Gupta said his four relatives had appeared in the written examination which was held by the Haryana Staff Selection Commission for the post of naib tehsildar. They included his real grandson, a nephew, his son-in-law and another relative. However, none of them cleared the test. |
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ACP’s murder uncovers cop-builder nexus
Gurgaon, March 26 Talking to mediapersons, Gurgaon joint commissioner Manjeet Singh Ahlawat said the police was verifying the facts stated by accused Vijay Bhardwaj during interrogation. He said the interrogation of the servant of Vijay was also going on. He said the call details of Singh and Vijay were also been looked into to know about the motive behind the murder. He said a police team had been sent to Kanpur to know about the make of the weapon. He said the weapon used by accused Vijay for murdering Rajbir Singh had been recovered by the police with two live cartridges and two bullets from the place of the incident. To a question, he said according to the postmortem report of Singh, there was no injury on the body of Singh except the two bullets which had been fired from the back on his head. He said according to the report, Singh had not consumed alcohol at that time. Ahlawat said during interrogation Vijay told the police that he had to pay Rs 95 lakh to Singh because of which hot words were exchanged between them and he could not control himself and killed Singh. |
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7 get life term for murder of 3
Sonepat, March 26 There was a dispute over land between the families of Charanjit and Jagbir of Rajpur village that resulted in a bloody clash on May 9, 2006. In this clash, Charanjit and his mother Prakasho and a family member Deepak were murdered while Charanjit’s wife Suman, Saroj and Dharambir were seriously injured. On the complaint of Suman, a case was registered at the Gannaur police station against the accused persons. |
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Sack law minister, PM urged
Rohtak, March 26 In a letter sent to the Prime Minister today, Ahlawat accused Bhardwaj of having made “shameful” remarks contemptuous of the judiciary. “After having admitted his interference in the crucial matter of judges’ appointment, Bhardwaj has lowered the dignity of the post held by him and should be sacked,” Ahlawat said. The bar-council deputy chief condemned the reported statement of the law minister as unconstitutional and stated that the latter had no right to remain in office after passing such irresponsible remarks. Ahlawat also criticised the Chief Minister for remaining “mysteriously” silent even as the minister made the said statement in his presence. |
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Says special salary for doctors likely
Chandigarh, March 26 Stating this here today, finance minister Birender Singh said during his reply to the debate on the budget proposals that after the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission were recommended, the government would consider giving special salary to the doctors. Intervening, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said Haryana doctors would get more than their Punjab counterparts. |
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A number of DEd (Diploma in Education) holders from different parts of the state assembled here today to press for their demand to stop further admissions to the course.
