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Assembly
4 of family pushed out of train
Aman (1), who was thrown out of a running train along with members of his family by some miscreants near Hodal railway station, is taken to hospital in Faridabad on Tuesday. Tribune photo: Sayeed Ahmed
Kidney Scam
Question Hour: Grace marks under fire
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Bansi Lal’s widow dead
Obituary References
Mewat to have AIIMS branch, medical college
SC to vet charges against HPSC members
High Court
Rly police sets house in order
Student assaulted
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Assembly
Chandigarh, February 10 Former excise and taxation minister Venod Sharma, who moved the motion, said there was still “akrosh (anger)” against the INLD government and not against the Hooda regime. He said the people had not forgotten the misrule of the INLD government and were not responsive to Ajay Singh’s yatra. Sharma’s assertion was challenged by deputy leader of the INLD legislature party Sushil Indora, who said the Congress was not aware of the public’s anger at grass root-level. The people would teach the ruling party a bitter lesson during the elections, he asserted. Sharma, who has been recently appointed chairman of the Congress campaign committee for Haryana by AICC president Sonia Gandhi, said elections were still a year away. He said he was willing to quit his seat and face immediate elections provided INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala agreed to contest against him from his constituency of Ambala. Indora said the Congress could test its popularity during the Lok Sabha elections to be held in near future. Earlier, Sharma highlighted various achievements of the Hooda government. He urged Education Minister Mange Ram Gupta to raise the standard of education in the state instead of granting grace marks to students in examinations. He also pleaded with the government to increase the monetary help of Rs 1,000 being given per month to Kashmiri migrants. Seconding the motion, Udey Bhan of the Congress said the INLD-BJP alliance was “illicit” and the fate of such a relationship would be like that of Chand Mohd and Fiza’s. Indora said the government should have taken all necessary permissions, including that to puncture the Bhakra Main Line, before spending huge money on the construction of the Hansi-Butana link canal. He also accused the Hooda government of not being sincere towards the construction of the SYL canal. He highlighted various shortcomings of the government, including failure to maintain law and order. Arjun Singh of the BSP criticised the previous INLD government on various counts. However, he urged the government to check overloading of trucks that was responsible for bad condition of roads. Ramphal Chidana of the INLD said the government should give more jobs to the Scheduled Castes instead of water tanks under one of its schemes. |
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4 of family pushed out of train
Faridabad, February 10 Murari, his wife Shashi, their daughter Shivani (5) and son Aman (1) were pushed out from the running train as it slowed near the station. All of them, who were first admitted to Palwal Civil Hospital yesterday night, were today referred to Badshah Khan Hospital here and are stated to be out of danger. Murari and his wife are migrant labourers in Rohini in Delhi and had boarded the train from Nizamuddin railway station in the national capital yesterday evening. According to Murari, the moment he purchased the tickets for their journey, four persons started following them. They also sat beside them in the coach. Murari further alleged that they soon picked up conversation with him and his family members and also offered him tobacco, which he accepted. After chewing the tobacco, he felt dizzy. He said he soon figured out that the miscreants were eyeing the jewellery that his wife was wearing. Shashi alleged that the miscreants also tried to molest her. He said when he started feeling dizzy after eating tobacco, he informed the GRP personnel about the ill intentions of the miscreants. However, the personnel laughed off the matter. According to him, he and his family members changed the coaches several times, but the miscreants kept on following and harassing them. The miscreants pushed the four out of the train when they were standing near the door of the coach as the train had slowed down while approaching the Hodal railway station. According to Murari, he and his family members lost consciousness. Later, the villagers of the nearby area spotted them at the railway track and reported the matter to the police. Shashi alleged that a sum of Rs 16,000 and the jewellery that his wife was wearing was taken away by the miscreants. The police has registered a case. |
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Kidney Scam
Ambala, February 10 Dr Amit, Dr Jeevan and Dr Upender were not present in the court. Dr Amit and Dr Jeevan have been taken to Jaipur by the Rajasthan police in connection with a case related to the kidney scam while Dr Upender is in the custody of the Andhra Pradesh police, where a similar case was registered against him a few years ago. The CBI has already filed a chalan against the kidney scam accused in the CBI court. One of the accused, nurse Linda, has been granted bail by the court while the remaining eight accused are in judicial custody. |
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Question Hour: Grace marks under fire
Chandigarh, February 10 To a question raised by Palwal MLA Karan Singh Dalal on grace marks awarded by the Haryana Board of School Education to students of class VIII and X in 2007-08, Gupta said 50 marks spread over four subjects and 27 marks in three subjects had been given as grace, respectively. He added that in addition to this the general grace had been 2.5 per cent and 2 per cent, respectively. He cited the paucity of qualified teachers available to teach students in government schools as a reason for the poor performance. He added that the decision to grant grace marks had been taken to check dropouts in the school system. “Most of the children come from poor families and failure would have made dropouts out of them. With this in mind, we were compelled to take this decision and promote the students to the next class. Another reason has been the delayed availability of books, which were not given to the students at the beginning of the session. Now, we have streamlined the availability of books and the result will improve,” he contended. Dissatisfied, Dalal said this move had achieved little since a poor foundation had only been carried forward. He urged the minister to take action against teachers who were responsible for poor results. Terming the standard of education as “shamefully low” in Haryana, Shamsher Singh Surjewala sought a raise in the pass marks and the first division. He added that Haryana was at its lowest ebb in English and Science, which needed to be improved. To this, the minister replied that students were not even able to meet the present level of pass marks and any raise would only worsen the situation. INLD MLA Sita Ram wanted to know if the grace had been extended to private schools as well while Chattarpal Singh sought information on how many times and how much grace had been given to students from time to time. Congress MLA Sumita Singh asked the minister if the Education Department would resort to giving so many grace marks in future too on account of a poor result. The minister said grace marks in 2007-08 were an exception and the results were likely to improve following their initiatives. PWD Minister Capt Ajay Yadav, too, was at the receiving end for the poor quality of road works and projects hanging fire after announcements. Members from different parts of the state raised questions on pending projects, wanting to know their status. Congress MLA Mahender Kumar even suggested that a committee of the House be formed to look into complaints of poor quality works. However, while Yadav was on the defensive, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala came to his rescue, stating that the government had made 591 km of road and another 734 roads were to be made. Speaker Raghubir Singh Kadian added that the department, instead of adding new roads, should focus on maintenance now. He said the department should seek a report about poor quality of works from deputy commissioners over the next two months and action taken against erring contractors.
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Bansi Lal’s widow dead Chandigarh, February 10 She is survived by a son and four daughters. She had been admitted to the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, for the past several days. According to family sources, when she breathed her last at 9.30 pm, her son Ranbir Singh Mahendra and two daughters Savita Sheoran and Sunita Chahar were among those who were at her bedside. Her body will be kept at the residence of Mahendra in Bhiwani tomorrow upto 3 pm. The funeral will take place at 4 pm at Golagarh, Bansi Lal’s native village, in Bhiwani district.
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Obituary References
Chandigarh, February 10 This, however, was withdrawn after the deputy leader of the INLD, Dr Sushil Indora, said the absence of their members was “unintentional and pure coincidence”. Making his point during the Zero Hour, Dalal said he and some of his colleagues were pained by the fact that the INLD members had left the House when the obituary references to former President R Venkataraman, former Prime Minister VP Singh, Ranbir Singh and others were adopted. The House during the discussion on the resolution saw some heated exchanges between Dalal and others from the ruling benches and the opposition members. Maintaining that they had “disgraced” the House, he said the matter should be referred to the Privileges Committee. To this, Indora replied that he was happy to see that Chaudhary Ranbir Singh Hooda’s demise found mention in the Governor’s address while the death of other leaders of the country had gone unnoticed, putting the Congressmen on the backfoot. He added that their absence was “unintentional”. Holding to this, Finance Minister Birender Singh quickly stepped in and told Indora that all Dalal wanted to know was whether the absence of the INLD was intentional or not to which Indora clarified again that it was coincidence and the members had not missed the proceedings intentionally. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala suggested that in view of Indora’s admission, the proposal be withdrawn. This was agreed upon and the matter ended. The Haryana budget for 2009-10 will be presented in the state assembly on February 13 by Finance Minister Birender Singh. A decision to this effect was taken by the state assembly here this afternoon which passed the report of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC). There will be a discussion on the budget proposals from February 16 at the end of which, Singh will reply on February 18. The House decided to have a holiday tomorrow to enable the members to take part in the prayer meeting in the memory of veteran freedom fighter Ranbir Singh Hooda to be held in Rohtak. A non-official business day in the House, February 12, too, has been made official business day to enable members to speak on the Governor’s address in view of tomorrow’s holiday and reduced time-availability. |
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Mewat to have AIIMS branch, medical college
Nuh (Mewat), February 10 Later, he distributed tricycles among 40 physically challenged persons and utensils and blankets among persons belonging to BPL families at a function organised on the premises of Yasin Meo Degree College here. The Minister of State for Defence Production, Rao Inderjit Singh, presided over these functions. Chief Executive Officer of the Mewat Development Agency Attar Singh Ahlawat, Gurgaon division Commissioner DPS Nagal and police Commissioner Mohinder Lal were also present. An awkward situation was created when a number of women tried to enter the pandal where the function was in progress. These women, many of whom were carrying their BPL and AAY ration cards, alleged that they had not been given utensils and blankets although they belonged to poor families. Noor Jahan, a widow of Ghaseda village; Rizwana, a 25-year-old mother of three daughters from Singar village; Shammo of Ghaseda, Akrooza of Singar, Bashiri and Islam (both widows) of Maroda and Khurshid of Akeda village alleged that they had been left out from the distribution of household articles. Habib, a resident of Ghaseda village, complained that his 18-year-old physically challenged son, Rizwan, had not been given a tricycle despite an assurance by the organisers. These persons, who alleged that they had been left out, scrambled for the gift packages as these were being distributed among the selected persons. The police personnel on duty had a tough time restraining the women. On the other hand, the organisers claimed that nearly 3,000 persons belonging to BPL families had been provided the packets. Addressing the gathering at the Mewat college, Kidwai said a medical college would soon be set up in Indri village of the district, adding that a branch of the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) would be established at Al-Aphia General Hospital, Mandi Khera. "Besides, seven more primary health centres will be set up in the district," he said. The Governor exhorted the people to get their children educated to improve their standard of living. |
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SC to vet charges against HPSC members
New Delhi, February 10 A three-judge Bench, headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan, is going into the Presidential reference on the proposed impeachment of the nine suspended HPSC members. Appearing for petitioner MS Saini, senior counsel Shanti Bhushan said the members, who were suspended on August 9, 2008, were yet to be charged and sought initiation of proceedings on the reference. Senior counsel Harish Salve, who argued for the state, however, maintained that the proceedings on the reference could begin only after the completion of all formalities. The Chautala government had appointed the HPSC members and the move to remove them has been initiated by the present Bhupinder Singh Hooda regime. |
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High Court
Chandigarh, February 10 After a deputy advocate-general informed Justice TPS Mann of the high court that time was required to file a rejoinder on a petition filed by Haryana District Food and Supplies Officer Dilawar Singh, the case was adjourned to May 29. The high court in August last year had issued a notice to Dharamvir, asking him to show cause why proceedings under the Contempt of Court Act be not initiated against him. A reply to the notice was filed on behalf of the respondent. After going through it, a rejoinder was filed by the petitioner nearly two months ago. But now the respondent apparently wants to file a rejoinder on rejoinder. Dilawar Singh is seeking directions for punishing the CS for “disobeying” a high court order by recommending the registration of criminal cases against him “without any rhyme or reason”. He has also alleged attempt at frame up following former Deputy Chief Minister’s annoyance with him. Dilawar Singh had earlier asserted Justice Ashutosh Mohunta and Justice Mann had on September 17, 2007, observed the Vigilance Bureau’s report clearly showed non-establishment of allegations against the petitioner. Security ordered
Justice Rajive Bhalla directed Haryana to provide a gunman for security to Sandeep Singla of Panchkula as an interim security measure. Singla has filed a petition against Harinder Pal Singh, Punjab police chief NPS Aulakh’s brother. Singla had entered into an agreement with Harinder Pal Singh for developing some land in Zirakpur-Dera Bassi area. The petitioner had alleged after he declined to withdraw from the agreement, threat to eliminate was held out by the respondent. |
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Rly police sets house in order
Ambala, February 10 Any official who has put in more than 25 years of service and has a blemished record can be asked to leave the force by the IG with the approval of the state government. According to the IG, 24 such cases have been submitted to the state government of which three have been given approval. |
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Student assaulted
Jind, February 10 The accused fled the spot after the incident and the police is yet to register a case in this connection. The incident took place when the victim, a BA-I student of CR College near Patiala Chowk, was sitting in a park located opposite to the college at 8.40 am. A group of 12 youths entered the park and attacked him. Sources said one of the assailants had also opened fire on him. The victim was attacked with sharp-edged weapons. Old enmity is said to be behind the incident. |
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Faridabad, February 10
