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Opium, dry fruits seized from convicts
Consumer panel member suspended
Petro Price Hike
Fuel price hike fuels protests
Cong lends its colour to BPL families
2 get interim bail in kidney case
Bid to Sell Foodgrains in Open Market |
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S. Africa to hand over 3 murder accused today
Bandh in support of Gujjars
INLD’s awareness campaign launched
Wagon catches fire
88 residents made security observers
Villagers block traffic
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Opium, dry fruits seized from convicts
Karnal, June 5 The team recovered 17 gm of opium, several kilograms of dry fruits, snacks and other eatables from the possession of different convicts lodged in the high-security jail. The sleuths also found that a former IAS officer of the UT cadre convicted in a murder case was enjoying undue privileges. Mann said investigations revealed that a jail inmate was forced to work as domestic help at the former IAS official’s place in violation of the jail manual. The convicted bureaucrat was not present in the jail at the time of raid as he was admitted in the CMCH, Sector 32, Chandigarh, for certain medical tests, clarified the jail official. Sources admitted that in the absence of any effective check, a parallel system worked inside jails of Haryana. Mann stressed the need to install CCTVs to monitor the activities of the staff and accused inside jails. “Since there is no such mechanism, there are no means to raid jails for the effective control of the jail administration,” said the official. He admitted that CCTVs, if installed at different strategic points, would certainly help in curbing several objectionable practices carried on campuses of jails. In the past few months, The Tribune had exclusively reported about large-scale irregularities allegedly committed by jail officials. Several FIRs had been registered against the jail staff, including jailors, deputy jailors and others. From recovery of mobile phones to scams pertaining to purchase of medicines and embezzlement of foodgrains meant for jail inmates, the jail staff remained in dark controversies. The prisons officials had also caught “trespassers” from the Kurukshetra jail. |
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Consumer panel member suspended
Chandigarh, June 5 The state government had asked Justice R.S. Madan, president of the commission, to conduct an inquiry into the allegations levelled by T.C. Gupta, IAS, against Yadav. In his inquiry report, Justice Madan said the charges against Yadav were proved. He said Yadav had advanced the hearing of several cases and then decided the cases alone, which is in contravention to the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986. Justice Madan said the “pre-ponement” of these cases left no manner of doubt that she wanted to decide these cases prior to the completion of her term on June 9. Yadav has been asked to explain her position on June 9 at 11 am. |
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Petro Price Hike
Chandigarh, June 5 An emergency meeting of the Cabinet has been convened by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda here tomorrow at 12 noon. The exact nature of relief is still to be worked out as finance and excise taxation minister Birender Singh is not in station. Even excise and taxation commissioner Arun Kumar, who is away to a pilgrimage, has been asked to reach Chandigarh before the Cabinet meeting. When the petroleum prices were raised drastically about a year ago, the state government had exempted the increase from VAT. When the centre had reduced the prices marginally, VAT was re-imposed. This time also the government may take a similar decision. However, after West Bengal reduced VAT on the petroleum products, the Congress as well as BJP-ruled states are under pressure to follow the suit. As a result of reduction in VAT, the quantum of increase in the petrol prices has been cut from Rs 5 per litre to Rs 3 per litre. Meanwhile, Haryana Janhit Congress spokesman Satpal Kaushik has demanded that the increase in the petroleum products should be rolled back as it has put unbearable burden on the common man, already suffering from inflation. He said the government should reduce taxes on petroleum products to save the oil companies instead of passing the burden to the common man. |
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Fuel price hike fuels protests
Sirsa, June 5 Passing through various streets of the city, the protesters raised slogans against the Congress-led UPA government. Jain claimed that the rise in the prices of petroleum products would benefit multi-national companies while people from economically weaker sections would “crumble” under the high prices of essential commodities. Activists of the BJP also held a protest at Chokta Block over the issue. FATEHABAD: Former Haryana minister Sampat Singh on Thursday led a demonstration by INLD workers against the hike in the prices of petrol, diesel and LPG here. The INLD workers assembled in front of the local mini-secretariat and raised slogans against the central and state governments. The agitating party activists handed over a memorandum, addressed to the President, to deputy commissioner O.P. Sheoran. Addressing mediapersons before the demonstration, Sampat Singh said the unprecedented hike in the prices of petrol, diesel and LPG had broken the backbone of the common man. He said ever since the present UPA government at the centre came to power, the prices of essential commodities had skyrocketed. He said the government had many other options like the central excise duty, VAT and the import duty, but it had chosen to hit the economy of the middle class. |
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Cong lends its colour to BPL families
Chandigarh, June 5 Sources in the panchayat and development department said the change in the colour scheme on doors had recently been adopted over the earlier approved yellow colour. Now, a two by three feet portion of the main door of houses of the BPL families will be painted in the three colours with the white stripe in the centre bearing the “BPL Parivar” tag. After a controversy erupted over the fresh BPL lists prepared by the state in December last year, the government had announced a fresh survey to include left-out families. Subsequently, it was announced that a yellow strip, 12 inches long and six inches wide, would be painted at the BPL household and the words BPL would be written clearly in Hindi on it. It was mentioned that in case any BPL household had removed or repainted the said yellow strip and the words written thereon, the name of such household would be liable to be deleted from the BPL list and such a household would also be liable for legal action. These instructions were issued to the deputy commissioners of all districts for taking immediate necessary action. The department had justified that this would help identify the BPL families easily. Chief parliamentary secretary Dharambir Singh said the change of colour was necessitated because yellow was associated with sickness and had not gone down well with the public. Meanwhile, after the appeals, nearly 2 lakh more beneficiaries have made it to the final list which has been sent to the union government for approval and observation. |
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2 get interim bail in kidney case
Ambala, June 5 An anaesthetist, Dr Sarj, and a kidney agent, Jagdish, had filed applications for interim bail in the court of Special Judge A.K. Verma on the grounds that two of their family members were sick and needed their presence. The judge granted them interim bail for 10 days. Amit Gupta, counsel for Dr Sarj, said the court had ordered his client to furnish a bail bond of Rs 50,000. Jagdish was also directed to furnish a bail bond of a similar amount. The regular bail application of Manoj, a laboratory technician at Dr Amit’s hospital, was also heard today. The court adjourned the hearing for June 11 in this case. |
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Bid to Sell Foodgrains in Open Market
Jind, June 5 The foodgrains was to be paid as wages to labourers under the Sampooran Gramin Rozgar Yojna (SGRY). The block development and panchayat officer (BDPO) of Uchana block in the district, subdivisional officer (SDO) of the panchayati raj department, two junior engineers and two assistants of the same office have been booked under Section 420 of the IPC. The case followed the recovery of 50 quintals of wheat from the grain market in Narwana last evening, where the lot had been brought for sale in the market. The police also seized the canter truck in which it had been brought. No arrests have been made so far. The alleged racket surfaced after some elected members of the Panchayat Samiti kept a vigil and followed the developments regarding the attempt to divert the foodgrains brought under the SGRY scheme to the market. The wheat was meant to be given as wages to workers for a project of digging a pond in Badanpur village under the food-for-work scheme. Certain members got to know of the officials’ plan and decided to closely follow the development. The police, which was informed about the plan, followed the movement of the vehicle laden with foodgrains and conducted a raid as soon as it was brought to the grain market in Narwana last evening. Two persons, including the driver of the vehicle identified as Balwan and one Ravi, were nabbed by the police along with the stock. The police today registered a case against BDPO of Uchana block Balraj Malik, SDO (panchayati raj) Sandeep Kumar, Rajkumar and Anoop Singh, both JEs, Sheela Devi, Ravi and Balwan. |
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S. Africa to hand over 3 murder accused today
Sonepat, June 5 The team will reach the Indira Gandhi International Airport tomorrow morning to hand them over to the Haryana police. Stating this to mediapersons here today, SSP Navdeep Singh Virk said the criminals had shot dead a trader, Narender Arora, of Kaithal on March 17, 2006, when the trader did not pay extortion money of Rs 50 lakh to them and managed to escape to South Africa on fake passports. Surender was the first one to escape to South Africa in April 2006. Thereafter Baljeet Singh and Joginder Singh came in contact with Sushil Kumar, alias Tandon, son of Sunder Singh, a resident Model Town, Kaithal, who helped them flee the country. Both Baljeet Singh and Joginder Singh acquired passports in false names from the Regional Passport Office, Nagpur. Even after Baljeet Singh, alias Jeeta, Joginder and Surender Singh, alias Surender Pehalwan, fled to South Africa, they started making extortion calls to prominent doctors and businessmen from South Africa, demanding ransom. Ransom calls were also made by Baljeet Singh to businessmen in Kaithal, Karnal, Kurukshetra and Panipat districts. The state police got issued Interpol notices for the arrest of the three fugitives. They were arrested in South Africa on February 1, 2007. The state police moved for the extradition of these fugitives from South Africa, which was ordered on March 27, 2008. |
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Bandh in support of Gujjars
Hisar, June 5 Teams of youths on motor cycles went around the main markets early in the morning to enforce the bandh call. They forced shopkeepers in streets also to put up the shutters. Government offices, banks and other such establishments, however, functioned normally. There was no disruption of traffic anywhere in the town. However, the call evoked no response in Hansi, a subdivisional town 25 km from here. No untoward incident was reported. Panipat: Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Thursday visited family members of the two persons who were killed in the recent police firing in Pattikalyana village during the Gujjar protest. Expressing his condolences, the Chief Minister said he had sympathies with the families of Kuldip and Papan, who were killed on May 29. He said the firing incident was unfortunate. He said the probe ordered into the circumstances that led to the incident was likely to be completed soon and appropriate action would be taken against those found guilty. He made an appeal for peace. Some villagers demanded that the state government should support the cause of the Gujjars. The Chief Minister said he had always backed the Gujjar community and would continue to do so in future. He said if the BJP government in Rajasthan had promised reservation for the state’s Gujjar community, it should fulfil its promise. |
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INLD’s awareness campaign launched
Rewari, June 5 Without naming the BJP, Chautala firmly scotched all speculative talks regarding INLD’s prospective electoral alliance with the “BJP”, which, he said, had almost touched its nadir in the recent byelections for the three constituencies - Adampur, Indri and Gohana - of Haryana. Later, INLD activists took out a procession through main markets of the town. |
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Wagon catches fire
Panipat, June 5 The fire was first spotted by the gateman of the Kabri railway crossing. He immediately signalled the train to stop. The driver, after halting the train, detached the wagon on fire from the rest of the train and used a fire extinguisher to douse the flames. As the fire had not attained alarming proportions, he managed to douse the flames with the fire-fighting equipment that was available on the spot. The railway authorities reported the matter to the refinery top brass, who sent a team of engineers to assess the damage to the wagon. The engineers replaced the seal of the wagon after which it was re-attached to the train and it was allowed to go. Sources said had the fire not been brought under control by the timely action of the gateman and the driver of the goods train, it could have turned into a major incident as there were 50 wagons attached to the train. |
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88 residents made security observers
Gurgaon, June 5 Gurgaon Commissioner of Police Mahender Lal formally issued identity cards to them at a function organised at the mini-secretariat here. These volunteers, coming from different age groups, were appointed in consultation with prominent citizens. Besides lending a helping hand to the police, the move is aimed at facilitating closer interaction between the police and the public. Lal told them that each one of them was expected to work as a police official and to provide a constructive feedback of the police working in their respective areas. This way the policing in a rapidly growing city like Gurgaon could become more effective. They would be educated in detail about the police working and PCR routes in areas of their functioning. Besides providing inputs to the police about how to make the prevailing chowkidari system more effective, they would be expected to keep an eye on whether complaints were registered in police stations without any harassment to the public. Though these observers are also expected to help in traffic management, but on its part, the police has decided to install close circuit cameras at prominent roundabouts in the city for the purpose. Joint Commissioner of Police M.S. Ahlawat today informed that 15 roundabouts had been identified where cameras would be installed soon. Besides traffic control, this could help minimise accidents.
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Villagers block traffic
Jind, June 5 The village is located in Narwana subdivision on the Jind-Patiala highway. The residents had been complaining of irregular power supply in the village for the past few weeks. They alleged that various complaints to the authorities concerned failed to yield the desired result. The villagers also alleged that state transport buses did not halt in the village. Besides, in the absence of speedbreakers, accidents were on the rise. |
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