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Taxes on autorickshaw operators cut
Disease-hit Basmati
State close to achieving total fertility rate
Shoppers foil robbery bid
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Protest against cancellation of interview
High Court
Dengue cases on rise in Karnal
Probe into jail tunnel incident begins
A view of the house whose roof collapsed in Gurgaon on Thursday.
Tribune photo: Sayeed Ahmed
Teenager held for murder of schoolboy
Now, inter-dist transfers of Red Cross secys
Woman beaten up, raped
Col Kaul is Sainik School principal
Book on Hooda’s family released
High Court
Youth Festival
Varsity hostels to be run on coop basis
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Taxes on autorickshaw operators cut
Chandigarh, October 23 Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is learnt to have approved the reduction of the tax from Rs 700 per seat per annum to Rs 500 per seat per annum. The relaxation of penalty in the face of incomplete papers for autorickshaw drivers in the state has further compounded the relief by the state government. Under the new policy, the fine of up to Rs 5,000 levied in such cases has been reduced to Rs 500 only. Also, a period of two months is now being given to the autorickshaw drivers to complete their papers and clear all pending dues. Sources said the Chief Minister, following a representation from the Haryana Pradesh Autorickshaw Kalyan Sangh, decided to reduce the tax. Against the existing system of levying Rs 600 per seat per annum as passenger tax and an additional Rs 100 per seat per annum as road tax, the government has decided to charge a consolidated special road tax of Rs 500 per seat per annum. This tax, deposited quarterly, would be levied by the state transport controller and this relief would cost the government a loss of over Rs 6 crore. Sources said against an income of Rs 21 crore, the new tax would generate an income of Rs 15 crore over and above the loss of income from the penalty. However, since income from this tax constituted only a small portion of the revenue from transportation of which bus operators and transport carriers are major contributors, it is not likely to make any significant dent in the exchequer. The state has over 95,000 autorickshaws of which nearly 15,000 are in Faridabad alone. According to a decision taken yesterday, the government would give a two-month period to autorickshaw drivers to clear all outstanding dues without any penalty till December 31. Only recently, the Haryana government had doled out “selective” tax relief to Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) and Faridabad-based JCB unit. While MSIL has got relief on Central Sales Tax (CST), the crane-manufacturing JCB unit had sought relaxation on VAT from 12.5 per cent to 4 per cent. This demand, too, had been acceded to by the government, though only partially. The government had decided to give relief only in sales made to the armed forces or to any government department or agency. While they would be required to pay 4 per cent VAT on all such sales, the rate of VAT on the remaining sales will continue to be 12.5 per cent. The government had reduced the CST from 2 to 1 per cent on inter-state sale of vehicles by MSIL while asking the manufacturers to pass on this benefit to consumers.
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35 pc subsidy on pesticides
Ruchika M. Khanna Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, October 23 The move follows a widespread incidence of the disease in large parts of the basmati growing belt in the state. Estimates prepared by the Agriculture Department reveal that almost 1.12 lakh hectares under basmati cultivation has been affected by this disease, which has led to the complete lodging of the crop. Officials say that it is after a gap of over a decade that the basmati crop in the state has been hit by the white-backed plant hopper and the grasshopper. With the disease having spread to fields in Panipat, Sonepat, Rohtak, Hisar and Jhajjar, the Agriculture Department is expecting a fall in basmati production. While an average 30 per cent of the crop in each field is affected by the disease, in certain cases farmers have reported that 90 per cent of their crop has been struck by these hoppers. As a result, farmers who had hoped to reap a rich harvest of basmati this year will not be able to get a good price in the mandis. Talking to TNS here today, Krishna Mohan, financial commissioner, Agriculture, said that they had now decided to offer this subsidy, under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana. “Farmers will be able to avail themselves of this subsidy even if they have purchased the pesticides to control the disease from private traders. The farmers will have to submit the bills at the field controlling office of the deputy director, agriculture, and collect the subsidy component. Also, cotton farmers who have suffered because of the mealy bug attack on their crop, too, can get 35 per cent subsidy on pesticides for controlling the disease,” he said. The Haryana government has also decided that next year onwards, HAFED will be asked to float a tender and procure pesticides at competitive rates. These will then be distributed among farmers at subsidised rates. The 2,500 mini banks across the state will also be revamped so that these can become the focal distribution points for gypsum, fertilisers, pesticides and seeds in the state.
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State close to achieving total fertility rate
Chandigarh, October 23 However, as far as Punjab is concerned, it has already achieved the target. It has met the ideal total fertility rate (TFR) ratio 2.1 against the national average of 2.8. According to the findings of the National Family Health Survey-III, which recently concluded, the fertility rates in Haryana declined from 3.99 in 1992-93 to 2.88 in 1998-99. Experts said the progress in the past one decade showed positive signs of becoming demographically progressive. Dr Almas Ali, senior advisor, Population Foundation of India, said there was a need to examine the rural-urban differential in fertility for Haryana as a majority of population still lived in the rural setup. In order to achieve replacement-level fertility, the unmet need for contraception was to be met in rural areas, which would have substantial impact on reducing the unwanted fertility in Haryana, he said. The total fertility rate (TFR) is defined as the average number of children per woman and is arrived at from a given sample size in the population. If the fertility rate reaches replacement level (two children per couple), the population growth is likely to stabilise over 40 to 50 years. “Fertility decline indicates that how people’s mindset is changing. This change is reflected not just within the educated class but also illiterate people,” said Aswini Kumar Nanda, director of Popular Research Centre at Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID). While declining TFR is an overall trend in the country, Punjab’s performance has a lot to do with better awareness and people’s preference for a better lifestyle, which restricts them to have fewer children, whom they can “afford” to raise well.
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Shoppers foil robbery bid
Sirsa, October 23 The residents not only saved an amount of Rs 5 lakh the miscreants were trying to rob, but also nabbed them and handed them over to the police. Khazan Chand, an accountant working on the business establishment of Prem Kumar, a trader of the Ellenabad grain market, had come out of the local SBI branch with a cash amount of Rs 5 lakh when two pistol-wielding youths waylaid him and threw red chilli powder in his eyes. The miscreants tried to snatch the bag containing the money from Khazan Chand, but the accountant did not loose his grip over the bag despite threats of being killed and he raised the alarm. When shopkeepers and customers, who were in present in large numbers due to the festival season, noticed the incident, they rushed to help the hapless accountant. Seeing a large number of people approaching them, the miscreants started running towards the Sirsa road with warning of opening fire if people tried to come near them. One of the miscreants “fired” a shot targeting a youth, Raj Kumar Saini, but the bullet did not come out of the country-made pistol. Saini lifted a brick and threw it, targeting the miscreant. The brick hit the miscreant on the head. People nabbed him before he could recover from the injury inflicted by the brick. In the meantime, the other miscreant, too, was nabbed by Ram Swaroop Saini and Asghar Khan, while he was trying to escape towards the auto market. The local people handed over the youths to the police. The miscreants have been identified as Babbaljit from Sardulgarh and Sunil from Bhaini Maharajpur near Meham. SP Amitabh Dhillon said the police was trying to find out the involvement of these accused in a similar incident in Sirsa sometime ago. |
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Protest against cancellation of interview
Chandigarh, October 23 These candidates hailed from far off places in Haryana, and were in city to appear for the interview for the post of ‘sevadar’ (peon) in the department, whose cancellation according to the authorities was notified in a daily newspaper. However, many of them were unaware of this and held the authorities responsible for their inconvenience and started raising slogans. The police had to be called to disperse them. “They take us to be fools. Even if the interview was cancelled, wasn’t it their duty to inform us through official letter? They published notification in just one newspaper and feel they had done the needful, asked an enraged candidate from Hisar. “They should be paying us compensation for this. How unprofessional and irresponsible are they that they perceived that their notification in one paper must have been read by all candidates,” another candidate said. However, the department officials are in no mood to owe up to the grievances. Director of the department Shashi Gulati said, “Even I am surprised that large number of candidates were unaware of the cancellation. We had notified it in the same paper as the advertisement of job. We also had displayed notice outside our office, but these people were looking for a chance to create havoc.” Meanwhile, no date has been announced as yet for this interview. |
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Joginder Sharma, Mamta Kharab’s selection challenged
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, October 23 The action has been challenged by Arjuna award winner Inder Pal Singh of Shahpur village in Yamunanagar district. He has secured gold, silver and bronze medals in national and international championships. The petition came up for preliminary consideration before the Division Bench of Justice Mehtab Singh Gill and Justice Augustine George Masih. After going through the contents, the Bench deferred till Friday the hearing of the case. Seeking quashing the “illegal and arbitrary” appointment of respondent Sharma and Kharab, he has also sought directions for restraining them from joining the posts. Reply filed in HCS matter
In a reply to petitions against reversion of 16 officers promoted as Haryana Civil Service (HCS) officers, Haryana has sought dismissal of the writs. Haryana, in a reply placed before the Division Bench of Justice Mehtab Singh Gill and Justice Augustine George Masih, has stated there was no ground or justification to retain them in HCS after the reduction in the cadre strength from 300 to 240 posts. The 36-page reply has been filed by Dhan Singh, deputy secretary, personnel, Haryana. A total of 19 state government employees from departments, including panchayat and rural development, Vidhan Sabha, have been selected and appointed to HCS from Register-A-I,A-II and Register-C. |
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Dengue cases on rise in Karnal
Karnal, October 23 Doctors at the hospital had confirmed that the deceased was suffering from dengue, but had added that she had other complications like malaria and fever also. While the officially confirmed figures of dengue, malaria and fever are 18, 5138 and 587, respectively, till October 22, the actual number is much higher as most of the cases of patients admitted to private hospitals are not counted. Ranjeet Saini, a resident of Chand Serai Colony, claimed that there were at least 20 dengue cases in the colony, including his mother and son. The dairy located in the area was the main cause of the spread of disease, he alleged. Hospitals in the town are regularly receiving suspected dengue and malaria cases, but these are not being reported to the district authorities. In several cases, private hospitals were treating normal fever cases as dengue cases and keeping patients admitted for two to three days to make money, said relatives of a patient, who was discharged after three days. “There is a spurt in dengue and malaria cases, but the situation is under control and there is no fear of an outbreak of disease in an epidemic form,” says district malaria officer Charanjit Singh. |
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Probe into jail tunnel incident begins
Ambala, October 23 He appreciated the alertness of the jail staff in unearthing the plot before it was too late. He, however, was quick to warn that the matter was being taken seriously and action would be taken if any jail staff was found to be negligent in duty. Officials said it was also being investigated that how did the incident happened in the first place. It was for the first time that an attempt to escape had been made in this jail. “There has been some negligence as how did the prisoners manage to take the khurpi,” stated a senior official. Taking serious note of the jailbreak attempt, authorities are leaving nothing to chance and are investigating every aspect of the case. Jail authorities are also probing if four prisoners, Sanjeev Kumar, Dharam Pal Anand, Mansood Akhtar and Mohamad Salim, who had hatched a conspiracy to flee from the jail through a tunnel, were helped by anyone from outside or inside. “Possible negligence and connivance of the jail staff is also being probed. The role of Sanjeev’s wife Sonia, who is also facing death penalty with him, is also being looked into,” they said. Sanjeev Kumar is being said to be the main conspirator. He is undergoing death penalty along with his wife Sonia for murdering former MLA Relu Ram Poonia and six other family members. His mercy petition is still pending before the President.
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Labourer killed in roof collapse
Gurgaon, October 23 The other labourers and the contractor fled after the incident. It was around 1 pm when the roof collapsed. Jaidev Verma, owner of the house, had hired a labourer for repairing his house. Krishan Murari, ACP City, told reporters that construction work was going on when the incident happened. The labourer, Basir Khan, was seriously injured and taken to hospital where he was declared “brought dead”. Sonu, who runs a shop near the collapsed house, told The Tribune that he was sitting at his shop when he heard a sound like a blast. He reached the scene and saw that the roof had collapsed and the labourers who were working outside ran away. He said the police was able to take out the injured after about two hours. |
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Teenager held for murder of schoolboy
Faridabad, October 23 The deceased,
Sacchin, had gone missing last Monday evening after he went to a temple near the
village. Yesterday his body was found in a pit on the premises of the school where he studied. According to the police version, the
suspect, who is a neighbour of the deceased, has confessed that he forcibly committed sodomy on Sacchin and later murdered him as he had threatened to take up the matter with his parents. The police says the suspect took Sacchin to the village school on some pretext after the latter had taken prasad from the temple. In the village he committed sodomy. The suspect allegedly hit Sacchin on his head with a stone. Later he attacked him with a big needle on his neck. After he died, the alleged killer dragged the body and threw it into the pit which was full of water. |
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Now, inter-dist transfers of Red Cross secys
Chandigarh, October 23 Recruitment to these posts will be made by a committee headed by the vice-chairman (director-general, health services, Haryana) and honorary secretary of the Indian Red Cross Society, Haryana State Branch. A decision to this effect was taken at a managing body meeting of the Indian Red Cross Society, Haryana State Branch, chaired by Governor A.R. Kidwai in the presence of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who is also the vice-president and chairman of the Haryana Red Cross Society, at Haryana Raj Bhawan here today. |
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Woman beaten up, raped
Yamunanagar, October 23 The police arrested the suspect, Ashok Kumar, from Adarsh Colony in the town following a complaint by the victim. Police sources said the suspect was running his business from an office situated near the victim’s residence. He reportedly called the victim to his office in the afternoon on the pretext that her husband had called up on his office landline number and wanted to talk to her. The victim’s husband works in Nahan. The police said the victim was first allegedly beaten up by the suspect and then raped. She later managed to escape and narrated the incident to members of her family. |
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Col Kaul is Sainik School principal
Rewari, October 23 Rao said an entrance examination for admission to class VI (boys) of Sainik School, Rewari, would be conducted by the principal, Sainik School, Kunjpura (Karnal), and all admission formalities would be completed between January 4 and March 15, 2009. He said seven teachers and 15 employees for managerial purposes were also being deployed from other sainik schools to ensure that the academic session of the school at Rewari commenced with effect from April 1, 2009. |
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Book on Hooda’s family released
Chandigarh, October 23 This was stated by Haryana Governor Dr A.R. Kidwai after releasing a book entitled “Bhupinder Singh Hooda: Chaar Pidhiyan” written by a noted Sanskrit scholar and journalist, Partap Singh Shastri, in Hindi in the presence of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda at Haryana Raj Bhawan here today. The Governor congratulated the writer for highlighting the four generations of the Hooda clan. |
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High Court Chandigarh, October 23 The action has been challenged by Arjuna award winner Inder Pal Singh of Shahpur village in Yamunanagar district. He has secured gold, silver and bronze medals in national and international championships. The petition came up for preliminary consideration before the Division Bench of Justice Mehtab Singh Gill and Justice Augustine George Masih. After going through the contents, the Bench deferred till Friday the hearing of the case. Reply filed
In a reply to petitions against reversion of 16 officers promoted as Haryana Civil Service (HCS) officers, Haryana has sought dismissal of the writs. Haryana, in a reply placed before the Division Bench of Justice Mehtab Singh Gill and Justice Augustine George Masih, has stated there was no ground or justification to retain them in HCS after the reduction in the cadre strength from 300 to 240 posts. The 36-page reply has been filed by Dhan Singh, deputy secretary, personnel, Haryana. A total of 19 state government employees have been selected and appointed to HCS from Register-A-I,A-II and Register-C.
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CMK college wins trophy
Tribune News Service
Sirsa, October 23 The host college scored 264 points from their total recommended and commended cultural items. Manohar Memorial College, Fatehabad, won the runners up trophy scoring 242 points. Haryana finance minister Birender Singh gave away the prizes to the winners. President of the College Management Society Parveen Baghla, principal Vijaya Tomar and several prominent persons of the town were present.
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Varsity hostels to be run on coop basis
Sirsa, October 23 The meeting was presided over by R.K. Sehgal, registrar of the university. It was resolved to run the messes on a cooperative basis through representatives of the students. The necessary paraphernalia for the messes will be provided by the university. The university authorities also decided to purchase items like furniture, television sets and geysers demanded by the students. Confirming this, Sehgal said all demands of the students had been accepted and now the university expected them to exhibit the discipline necessary for the smooth functioning of the university. |
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Villagers block traffic
Yamunanagar, October 23 |
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Rs 3,500 incentive for roadways’ staff
Chandigarh, October 23 The Chief Minister said all eligible employees, numbering more than 17,000, would get the ex gratia. This incentive would involve a total expenditure of Rs 6 crore. |
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Ratnawali festival from Nov 3
Kurukshetra, October 23 |
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Chandigarh, October 23
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