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Free plots bring cheer
Panipat rally — A riot of colour
Mixed response to plot scheme in Rohtak |
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3 killed in rally-day mishaps
Protesting farmers block traffic
Bishnoi anointed HJC president
Paddy farmers block Jind-Rohtak road
Aggarwal Samaj to help poor, widows
Ban on sale of bajra from other states
Flesh trade racket busted, 5 held
Separate SGPC
Rs 24 lakh given to 17 schools
Guest lecturers seek better deal
Liquor seized on ‘dry day’
2 killed, 6 hurt in road mishap
Police seeks NGOs’ help in night vigil
2 students killed in accident
1 held on rape charge
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Free plots bring cheer
Garh Sarnai (Panipat), October 2 The village was chosen to launch the scheme as 80 per cent of the total population here belongs to the SCs, BCs and those living below poverty line. The scheme itself aims at providing land to those who cannot afford it. A large number of villagers here are engaged in menial jobs and are not in a position to support their families, leave alone the idea of constructing a house. Shimla, widow of Suraj Bhan, who was the first to receive the allotment letter for the free plot from UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, was at the loss of words to express her feelings. Presently, she lives in a hutment on the outskirts of the village with her three children. She said she could not construct a proper dwelling at the plot and even shifting of her hutment would be difficult. She only hoped that the government might provide her with money for the purpose. Dharmpal, who was the next to get the allotment letter, is a daily wager who earns Rs 150 a day with which he supports eight members of his family. He, however, appeared optimistic for his newfound possession. He said this had induced more enthusiasm in him and he would work harder to construct a house. Shahdin, an elderly villager who collected the allotment letter from Sonia Gandhi along with the other three, is a farm labourer, who lives in the farms of those for whom he works. “Finally I can own a house,” he said with moist eyes. However, even he was speculative about the future of his plot. REWARI:
Deputy commissioner Chander Prakash launched the Mahatma Gandhi Gramin Basti Yojna in Rewari district by handing over allotment letters of 100 square yards of plots to 36 persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Backward Classes in Musepur village near Jatusana on Thursday. KURUKSHETRA:
Deputy commissioner Pankaj Aggarwal launched the Mahatma Gandhi Gramin Basti Yojna here by distributing 28 free of cost residential plots to the Scheduled Castes and below poverty line (BPL) families in Khanpur Jattan village here on Thursday. |
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Panipat rally — A riot of colour
Panipat, October 2 Bedecked with flowers that not only adorned the dais but also the rally enclosure, the stage was aesthetically done up in Congress colours - saffron, white and green. To add to the splash, which spread right across the rally venue, Congress workers supporting pink turbans were all over the place chanting pro-government slogans while raginis kept the crowd entertained before UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi arrived. The sound of a hovering helicopter brought the crowd to its feet and repeated appeals to contain the excitement Sonia’s arrival generated met with no response. The rally, however, seemed without the usual humdrum associated with such functions due to the inclement weather. The real drama unfolded later as state leaders jostled for attention. MP Deepender Singh Hooda clearly proved to be the star in the crowd as he was besieged with supporters on arrival even though Gandhi came to the dais almost simultaneously. As the rally got rolling, the compere’s position changed hands as HPCC working president Kuldeep Sharma was forced to make way for HPCC president Phool Chand Mullana when Gandhi took top the mike. Interestingly, Karnal MP Arvind Sharma, who has been critical of the functioning of the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government, emerged as the staunchest supporter, praising the Chief Minister for his policies. When union minister for state Kumari Selja took to the mike, she emphasised Gandhi’s role in the realisation of the scheme of allotment of 100 sq yards of plots for the SC, BC and BPL families. She said on the directions of “madam”, the state government had taken the decision to implement the scheme. She was given a chance to address the rally since she is a prominent Dalit leader of state. With Gandhi’s speech over, the crowd did not care to hear out the local MLA and were on their feet, eager to leave. Despite all colour and hype, the rally seemed to be a lacklustre affair as no new commitments were made from the government and no reference was made regarding the Lok Sabha elections.
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Mixed response to plot scheme in Rohtak
Rohtak, October 2 Villagers who got the allotment letters of the plots today were a happy lot. On the other hand, many others, who claimed that they had been allotted plots in 1994 but had not got the possession till date, raised slogans against the government. Earlier, a team comprising the top administrative officials of the district, including deputy commissioner R.S. Doon, additional deputy commissioner P.C. Meena, SDM Mukul Kumar and other government functionaries reached Kanheli village to kick off the scheme in the district. Kanheli sarpanch Surender Singh was also present. The officials distributed the allotment letters and possession certificates to the 41 families identified for the purpose. The mutation of the plots in the relevant land record was made in the names of the new allottees on the spot. On being questioned about the protest by the earlier allottees, Doon maintained that 89 persons had been allotted plots by the then sarpanch in 1994. “Of these, several sold their plots, while many others were found ineligible for the purpose as they were government/university servants or pensioners,” Doon said, adding that 18 of the earlier allottees were found eligible in the fresh survey and were allotted plots today. The deputy commissioner said the eligible persons who had failed to avail the benefit of the scheme could still apply for plot allotment at the BDPO office.
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Day 1: Ban goes up in smoke
Hisar, October 2 Most of the offenders were villagers or people from rural background living in towns. A large number of commuters and Haryana Roadways personnel were seen smoking openly at the local bus stand. Passengers were seen smoking inside overloaded buses. Policemen on traffic duty were also seen smoking at Sir Chhotu Ram Chowk. Likewise, government employees on duty at the PWD rest house were seen smoking both inside the rest house as well as on its lawns. Rural commuters at the bus stand feigned ignorance of the official ban on smoking at public places. Many were defiant and commented that this would never succeed and termed smoking as a social custom which government diktats could never challenge successfully. Government employees, however, said they were aware of the ban. “I know it can attract a fine, but I can’t be expected to retire to my room every time I have the urge to smoke,” said a watchman on duty at a government office. However, reputed restaurants and clubs have implemented the ban scrupulously. |
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3 killed in rally-day mishaps
Sonepat, October 2 According to information, a school bus hired for the Samajik Kranti Samaroh knocked down an autorickshaw near Chidana village on the Gohana-Panipat highway. In another incident, an unidentified rally vehicle knocked down a motorcyclist identified as Lokesh of Chhichhrana village on the Gohana-Meham road. He succumbed to his injuries on his way to a hospital. |
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Protesting farmers block traffic
Sirsa, October 2 The Sirsa Cotton Ginning Association, which went on strike in the morning today, alleged that Amar Singh Beniwal, a brother of Darba Kalan MLA Bharat Singh Beniwal, had illegally constituted a new truck union and fixed exorbitant fares for the transportation of cotton bales. SDM Harish Bhatia, SHO Ajay Sharma and other administrative and police officials reached there and lifted the blockade after giving an assurance that suitable action would be taken against the erring truck union. Members of the ginning association proceeded on strike alleging highhandedness on the part of the newly set up truck union in the town. "We have to hire trucks for Kandla Port, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Ankola and some cities in South India on a daily basis these days. Till yesterday, the truck fare for a South Indian city was Rs 40,000 but today it suddenly shot up to Rs 62,000," said Gurpreet Singh Nagpal, secretary of the ginning association. "The fare for transporting cotton seeds to Rewari was Rs 28 per quintal till yesterday, but now they are demanding Rs 42 per quintal," Nagpal added. He said truckers had formed a union under Amar Singh Beniwal and had been allegedly intimidating millers and traders against hiring trucks outside of their union. As the ginning mills refused to purchase cotton from the farmers, hundreds of tractor trailers of the farmers were lined up in front of the mills, most of which are situated on the local Dabwali road. As the number of tractor trailers grew considerably by the afternoon, farmers parked their vehicles in a zigzag manner and blocked vehicular traffic. Hundreds of vehicles were lined up on both sides of the road causing inconvenience to commuters. SDM Bhatia and other administrative officers had a series of meetings with the cotton ginners and persuaded them to start the purchase of cotton. The authorities assured them that no one would be allowed to use coercive methods to stop them from hiring vehicles from the place of their choice. Amar Singh Beniwal denied his hand in the formation of the union. He, however, admitted that he had been the president of the union earlier but now, he maintained, some transporters had themselves formed an association and constituted a 10-member committee to safeguard their interests. Beniwal said that truckers had been running into losses and the number of trucks in Sirsa had come down to around 400 from nearly 1,000, when he was the president.
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Bishnoi anointed HJC president
Chandigarh, October 2 Though the HJC was formed on December 2 last, Bishnoi had refrained from becoming its president in view of his Lok Sabha membership on the Congress ticket. If he had taken over as the president of the newly formed party while he was an MP, he could have been disqualified from the Lok Sabha. So far he was calling himself as the “supremo” of the party with his cousin Devi Lal as its president. Following his disqualification from the membership of the Lok Sabha on the grounds of violating the party whip during voting on the trust vote moved by the Manmohan Singh government in July last, the decks had been cleared for his taking over as the president. The formality was completed today at a meeting of the general body of the party. However, for record sake, Devi Lal had quit the office on August 25 on “health grounds.” The resignation was accepted with “immediate effect” on the same day. The chairman of the party’s central election authority announced the election programme on September 20. The last date for filling the nomination papers was September 30 and the election, if necessary, was to take place today.
Bishnoi’s name was jointly proposed by 10 delegates, including Bhajan Lal, Ramji Lal and Janbir Singh, former MPs; Devender Sharma, Surender Madan and Hari Singh Saini, former ministers; and Rakesh Kamboj, former MLA. Since no other nomination was filed, Bishnoi was “elected” president of the party. |
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Paddy farmers block Jind-Rohtak road
Jind, October 2 However, later they lifted the blockade after the intervention of the officials concerned who assured them of proper action. While the government agencies have not started the official purchase of paddy, it is stated that the varieties that have arrived in the market so far do not come in the purview of the official purchase. The varieties that have come include Muchhal and Sarbati ones, which are normally purchased by private agencies and rice mills. However, it was reported that the farmers were offended by the dispute over the rates of transportation going on between traders and transporters. While the transporters were demanding a hike of 25 per cent, the traders were not ready to accept more than 16 per cent hike. “This standoff has resulted in the delay in purchase of these varieties, which fetch a rate ranging from Rs 1,200 to 1,800 per quintal,” said an official of the market committee. He said efforts were on to resolve the matter as soon as possible. |
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Aggarwal Samaj to help poor, widows
Sonepat, October 2 The newly formed Gohana unit of the Aggarwal sabha in its meeting at Gohana yesterday unanimously elected Jai Kishan Goyal as the president, Kishan Goyal as the secretary, Ram Niwas and Naresh Gupta as the vice-presidents, Satish Goyal as the patron, Narendra Bansal as the cocordinator, Satish Garg as the joint secretary, Sanjiv Goyal as the treasurer and Brij Lal as the Auditor of the sabha. Holding a meeting at Gohana today, the newly formed Gohana unit of the Aggarwal Sabha decided to supply 40 kg of wheat every month to poor families, to solemnise the marriage of the girls of poor and destitute families and to give kanyadaan of Rs 2100 , scholarships to the students getting first, second and third positions in the 8th, 10th and 12th class examinations in the Gohana region. The sabha also decided to celebrate Agrasen Jayanti on October 6 at Gohana, in which Haryana minister Savitri Jindal will be the chief guest. While celebrating Agrasen Jayanti, the Aggarwal Seva Samiti of Gohana unanimously decided to disburse a monthly pension of Rs 300 to the widows of the samaj. Senior samiti leader and municipal councillor Jai Narain Gupta said this pension would be other than the widow pension being given by the state government.
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Ban on sale of bajra from other states
Jhajjar, October 2 A special order issued in this regard will be enforced with immediate effect and remain in force till further orders. According to the order, the district authorities have regularly been receiving complaints that bajra brought from outside the state was being sold illegally in the district by traders following a higher rate of the commodity here as compared to that in other states. According to the order, action will be taken against persons found selling bajra illegally in the market. Besides, any vehicle found bringing bajra from other states will be impounded. Now the farmers of this district will be able to sell their bajra here but they have to produce a copy of their jamabandi and a verification certificate issued by the patwari concerned.Payments to the farmers will be made by account-payee cheques. "Apart from imposing the ban, we have asked the farmers to keep vigil on persons coming from other states to sell their produce in the local mandis so that the offenders can be detained and punished," said Nitin Yadav, deputy commissioner. |
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Flesh trade racket busted, 5 held
Yamunanagar, October 2 The girls, who were allegedly involved in flesh trade, belonged to Punjab, Haryana, Kolkata, and Mumbai. The racket came to light after a member of a Delhi-based NGO complained to the police about the gang running flesh trade from Mukherjee Nagar and Vikas Nagar here. After getting the information, the police raided the houses in Mukherjee Nagar and Vikas Nagar and arrested the kingpin of the
gang. Farakpur SHO Dhiraj Kumar said they had rescued the girls who were in the custody of the gang. The girls recovered belonged to Jalandhar, Khanna and Hoshiarpur. Two of them belonged to Yamunanagar and the minor girl belonged to Kolkata. One of the girls belonged to Mumbai. The five persons, including Rajni, Puja and Manmohan and their two agents Ravi and Vimal, were held under the Immoral Trafficking Act. He said they had been interrogating the kingpin of the racket - Rajni and Puja. They told the police that some of the girls had been staying for here for the past three years while some others had been brought here just a month ago. |
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Makkar’s appeal to state’s Sikhs
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, October 2 The Haryana Sikhs have threatened to launch an agitation from October 7 in support of their demand. In a statement issued here today, Makkar said at a time when the Sikhs were engaged in the “Guruta Gaddi” celebrations, any controversy which might hurt the sentiments of the Sikhs was uncalled for. Appealing to the Haryana Sikhs to cancel their proposed agitation, Makkar said there was no issue which could not be resolved through a dialogue. He promised that he would appreciate the feelings of the SGPC members from the Sikhs with an “open mind” and would sincerely try to find a solution acceptable to all.
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Rs 24 lakh given to 17 schools
Kaithal, October 2 This amount had been provided for the construction of classrooms in schools. Ramesh Verma ADC presided over this function, which was organised by the social welfare department Haryana. Mann said the state government, led by Bhupinder Singh Hooda, had launched various schemes for the social and economic upliftment of various sections of the society. ADC
Verma said the state government had fixed Rs 2.84 lakh for construction of each room in schools as against Rs 1.42 lakh fixed earlier. At another function at the ITI here Mann inaugurated a blood donation camp in which 59 persons donated blood. R.S.Mor secretary district Red Cross society, S.P.Gupta
district health officer, Bhupinder Pal Singh principal ITI were among those present on this occasion . |
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Guest lecturers seek better deal
Fatehabad, October 2 A deputation of the guest lecturers yesterday met Haryana education and transport minister Mange Ram Gupta in this regard. They said they got Rs 100 per period and got a maximum of four periods in a day. On the contrary, the guest lecturers working in the government schools got Rs 105 per period and got a maximum of five periods in a day. They said while regular lecturers got Rs 20,000 per month on their first appointment, the guest lecturers hardly got Rs 8,000 per month. They further said while the lecturers in the schools got casual leave and paid holidays on the national festivals, they were deprived of this benefit. They have demanded benefits provided to school lecturers and regularisation of their services. Gupta assured them to look into their demands. |
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Liquor seized on ‘dry day’
Karnal, October 2 According to the police, bottles of different brands were hidden in the fields allegedly by Praveen Kumar, who has been arrested under various sections of the Excise Act. In another incident, the police arrested Sourabh, son of Raj Kumar, near the ITI Chowk while he was selling a stolen motorcycle. Police sources said Balwinder Singh, owner of the bike , had lodged a complaint in the Civil Lines police station on September 20 that his motorcycle was stolen. |
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2 killed, 6 hurt in road mishap
Jhajjar, October 2 According to information, the accident took place when a car in which they were travelling collided with a tractor trolley coming from the opposite side near the village. The deceased have been identified as Rohit (10), son of Hariom and Mannu (7), son of Rishi pal. The injured have been identified as Vinod (44), his wife Pooja, son Rohan (6) and Hariom (40), his wife Poonam and daughter Deepa. The police has registered a case against unidentified tractor driver. |
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Police seeks NGOs’ help in night vigil
Sirsa, October 2 Khairpur is the area situated on the Hisar road of the town, where the activities of a sex maniac had come to light last week. The police and some able-bodied youths of the area had been performing night vigil of the area since then. Meanwhile, the city police today convened a meeting of the local NGOs in the office of Saugat, an NGO, and sought their cooperation in the vigil. The police urged 16 NGOs to provide services of 5 to 6 persons each, who would patrol with the police during the night to ensure that cops performed their duties properly and no innocent resident was harassed during the patrol. |
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2 students killed in accident
Hisar, October 2 Two students were killed at Dabra Chowk here when their scooty was hit by a dumper. The duo was going to a coaching centre for their tuitions. In another accident two persons died when a truck and a private bus coming from Rajasthan collided head-on near
Agroha, about 20 km from here, this morning. |
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1 held on rape charge
Rewari, October 2 |
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