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Now, reservation in liquor trade
Man stabs three daughters to death
Police personnel take Meena, who was stabbed along with her four daughters by her husband, to a hospital in Gurgaon on Monday. Tribune photo: Sayeed Ahmed
Mother kills 2 babies, ends her life
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Question Hour
Preferential Allotment of Plots
State Budget will hit growth, says INLD
Drug addict found dead
Missing doctor ‘found dead’ in Hardwar
Man’s reproductive organs chopped off
Panchayats get more financial powers
50 pc cut in bus fares for elderly women
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Now, reservation in liquor trade
Chandigarh, February 16 Announcing the policy in the Assembly here today Excise and Taxation Minister Birender Singh said 10 per cent of all vends of Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) and country liquor would be reserved for the Scheduled Castes and 5 per cent for the Backward Classes (A). Vends to be reserved would be decided by draw of lots districtwise. Birender Singh said the decision had been taken to ensure the participation of these communities in commercial activities. Earlier in the day, the policy was approved by the Cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Liquor is likely to cost more in the state in the next financial year for two reasons. One, the state has increased excise duty from Rs 7 (Rs 6 excise duty and Re 1 permit fee) per proof litre (PL) to Rs 10 PL of country liquor and from Rs 27 (Rs 25 excise duty and Rs 2 permit fee) to Rs 35 per PL of IMFL. Permit fee has been abolished. Those vends which would lift country liquor in excess of their quota would have to pay Rs 15 per PL as excise duty on the additional quota. Two, the government has decided to dispense with the allotment of vends through draw of lots, a policy it had been pursuing for the past three years “to put an end to monopoly, cartels and the unethical dominance of the liquor mafia and to broadbase the trade by facilitating the entry of new players of even modest means,” as Birender Singh put it. However, from the new year, sealed bids would be invited for each vend after fixing its reserve price. The vend would be allotted to the highest bidder. In other words, the government has reintroduced the auction of vends in an indirect manner. Instead of open auction, the bids would come in a sealed envelope. Of course, the highest bids would not be improved by the other bidders. Since the vends would be allotted at a higher price, the allottees would make liquor more costly to recover their investment. The government fixes only the minimum price at which liquor can be sold and not the maximum retail price. When suggested that the new system would lead to the revival of monopoly as a moneyed person or a group of persons would be able to corner at least a majority of the vends in a district by bidding high, Birender Singh did not agree. No liquor vends would be opened in those villages where Kanya Gurukuls were functioning. Kurukshetra would continue to have no vends as it was considered a holy city. Birender Singh said an increase of Rs 500 crore was expected in excise revenue. Though the number of vends had been reduced from 3,800 to 3,500, the quota of country liquor had been raised from 650 PL to 750 PL and that of IMFL from 350 PL to 430 PL. Licensees can get their vends renewed for 2010-11 on some conditions. The Excise Department would pay Rs 10 crore to the Agriculture Department for the promotion of barley cultivation in the state. For this a cess of Re 1 on each bottle of beer would be imposed. Single-state VAT of 4 per cent would be imposed on the whole-sellers. To promote the distillation of grain-based liquor, those Haryana-based distilleries which would shift to the grain-based technology would get an additional 10 per cent quota. The licence fee for bars would Rs 6 lakh in Panchkula, Faridabad, Gurgaon and Yamunanagar districts while it would be Rs 4 lakh in the remaining districts. For pubs in Hisar, Panipat, Sonepat, Yamunanagar, Faridabad and Gurgaon districts, the licence fee would be Rs 3 lakh and in other districts Rs 2 lakh.
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Man stabs three daughters to death
Gurgaon, February 16 The injured woman, Meena (32), and her daughter, Alka (5), were undergoing treatment at a local hospital, while a hunt was on for the man at the time of filing this report. According to police sources and eyewitnesses, Dharmender (35), a resident of Bihar, had been putting up in Gali No.1 of the Bhawani Nagar locality here along with his wife Meena and daughters Sujata (14), Shalini (11), Alka (5) and Sonal (3). Dharmender as well as Meena used to work at factories in the city. However, Dharmender allegedly used to doubt the character of his wife and raised question on the fatherhood of their children. Last night, he took his family along in the name of paying obeisance at a temple. He took a secluded route to reach the temple, at which his wife grew suspicious. When she objected to this, Dharmender allegedly took out a knife and attacked her with it. Two of the couple’s daughters tried to save their mother and were also stabbed in the scuffle. Later, Dharmender allegedly stabbed the other daughters also and fled the scene. The matter came to light when some passersby saw four girls and a woman lying in an injured condition near Railway Track No. 59 passing through the outskirts of the city this morning. Following this, the police was informed and the injured rushed to hospital. While Sujata, Shalini and Sonal succumbed to their wounds, their five-year-old sister Alka and mother Meena were battling for their lives at the hospital. The police has registered a case and investigations are on. |
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Mother kills 2 babies, ends her life
Kaithal, February 16 The deceased has been identified as Saroj (24), and her two daughters - Anju (2) and Ritika (six months). Saroj got married to Ram Rattan in
2004. Satbir, brother of the deceased, alleged that Saroj was constantly harassed by her in-laws for dowry but his family expressed their inability to meet their demands owing to their weak financial condition. He further alleged that some panchayat meetings were also held to make Saroj’s in-laws change their attitude, but to no avail. Unable to bear the torture, she allegedly mixed some poisonous substance in the food last night and made her two daughters eat the same before consuming it herself. While Ritika died on the spot, Saroj and Anju were rushed to the Civil Hospital here, where they were declared brought dead. The police has registered a case under Section 304-B of the IPC against seven persons, including husband Ram Rattan, father-in-law
Harikishan, mother-in-law Om Pati and three brothers-in-law of Saroj and one more relative. |
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Education Dept helpless over increase in BEd colleges
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 16 He stated this during question hour in reply to a question on delay in the construction of a BEd college in Bhiwani. Members sought to know the policy under which such colleges were being opened and urged the department to take steps for their improvement. However, to this, too, the Minister said it was beyond their control. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala said the licence for operating a blood component separator, pending for the past eight years, was expected to come in 24 hours. He said this in reply to a question by Sumita Singh on why the machine, purchased in 2002 at a cost of Rs 25 lakh and lying at Government Hospital, Karnal, was still non-operational. The Minister said the licence had been delayed because the components of the machine had come from NACO in phases. He added that three new blood component separators were being installed at the PGIMS, Rohtak, and in hospitals in Hisar and Faridabad. He said that care had now been taken to ensure that the machine did not come in parts. In reply to Geeta Bhukal’s question pertaining to the development of the Saraswati River Project, the Irrigation Minister, Capt Ajay Yadav, said 50 per cent of the work up to NH 1 (near Pipli) for the revival of the Saraswati Nadi distributory had been completed so far. With the old creeks not existing at the site any more, more land was being acquired. However, the remaining part from Pipli to the SYL canal was yet to be taken up. He added that since it was believed that the sacred Saraswati river has its track from Pehowa to Kalayat, an NGO was also taking interest in the revival of the track of the ancient river. Matters relating to a number of delayed projects and damaged roads were also taken up during question hour.
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Preferential Allotment of Plots Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 16 The Cabinet decided to make such an allotment on 50 per cent of the current rates as applicable at the time of allotment and on usual terms and conditions with the prior approval of the Chief Minister. It was also decided that the difference in the cost of the plot would be borne by the Haryana Urban Development Authority out of its income of interest. It was decided to upgrade Fatehpur Pundri sub-tehsil to tehsil in Kaithal district. The proposal of the Agriculture Department to change the nomenclature of the Haryana Warehousing Corporation to that of the Haryana State Warehousing Corporation was also approved. The change has been made in order to bring uniformity in the nomenclature with other state warehousing corporations. The Cabinet decided to enhance the financial powers of various health authorities to meet the “extra-ordinary” demands of medicines in case of exceptional illness and natural calamities. It was decided to enhance the financial powers of the Director-General, Health Services, and the Director-Principal, Medical College, Rohtak, from Rs 20,000 for any one occasion to Rs 50,000. The financial powers of civil surgeons, principal medical officers and zonal malaria officers will be Rs 25,000 instead of Rs 10,000 for any one occasion. Similarly, the financial powers of senior medical officers and block medical officers will be Rs 10,000 instead of Rs 5,000 for any one occasion. Also, the financial powers of the medical officer in charge, Community Health Centre and Primary Health Centre, will now be Rs 5,000 instead of Rs 2,000 for any one occasion.
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State Budget will hit growth, says INLD
Chandigarh, February 16 He was opening the debate on the Budget presented by Finance Minister Birender Singh on February 13 in the Assembly. When he rose to speak, Congress members, including Speaker Raghuvir Singh Kadian, had a dig at the INLD members by asking them to explain the whereabouts of their leader Om Prakash Chautala. The INLD president had come to the House during the Governor’s address and thereafter he had been abstaining from its sittings. The INLD members said it was not a must for Chautala to attend the session. Sita Ram said the rate of growth in the revenue receipts had decreased while that in the revenue expenditure had increased. This had left the Budget with an enormous deficit. He said when Birender Singh rose to present his Budget, frustration was writ large on his face because his day was spoiled by unexpected concessions, which he said were announced with an eye on the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda without taking his colleague into confidence. These concessions, he said, would further increase the budgetary deficit. He said the government had reduced allocation to the power sector. Congress MLAs KL Sharma and Sumita Singh appreciated the Budget proposals and the announcements made by Hooda. BSP member Arjun Singh criticised the Chautala government. Irked by his criticism, INLD members often interrupted him and told him to highlight the misdeeds of his leader Mayawati also.
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Drug addict found dead
Sirsa, February 16 The centre’s manager, Balwant Singh, his staff members and 60-odd addicts admitted in the centre were found absconding. Sirsa DSP Dheeraj Setia said the victim’s father, Bhim Singh Godara, had lodged a complaint with the police today. The complainant said Godara was admitted to the centre, “Nai Disha”, three months ago. The victim, according to the complaint, had run away from the centre yesterday morning but was recovered by the centre officials from the town in the evening and taken back to the centre. The victim’s father alleged that his son was severely beaten up by Balwant Singh and other members of the staff last evening that led to his death in the night. The accused ran away after they came to know about the death of the victim from other addicts. Later, other addicts admitted in the centre also escaped. Setia said a case under Section 302 of the IPC had been registered against Balwant Singh and the body had been sent for a postmortem. The incident has brought another fact to the fore that several drug de-addiction centres have been running illegally in the district with impunity for long. The centre owners, who are neither qualified in medicine nor in counselling, have been making hay as the number of addicts in this district is very high. Centres like “Nai Disha” keep addicts under subhuman conditions and mint money. As many as 60 addicts were admitted in “Nai Disha”, which is being run in a four-room tenement on the Sangaria road of the town. Civil Surgeon Dr SK Sharma said the drug de-addiction centres did not come under the preview of the health authorities. “I will write to the senior officials to know the status of these centres as several complaints against them have been received in the past,” Dr Sharma added. |
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Missing doctor ‘found dead’ in Hardwar
Panipat, February 16 According to family members of Dr Arvinder, who runs Arvinder Hospital in the Tehsil Camp area of the city, the doctor went out in the morning and did not return. The family members tried to contact him on his phone, but when he did not take the calls, they got apprehensive and approached the local police. The family members also launched a search for the doctor and called all his friends and relatives to know if he had visited them. However, all their efforts proved futile. They later reported the matter to the Tehsil Camp police post, which registered a missing report. In the meantime, someone from Hardwar called the family members and informed them that a body had been found there and papers recovered from the spot suggested that it was of Dr Arvinder. The family members immediately left for Hardwar. It is yet to be ascertained whether the body is that of Dr Arvinder or not. The police said it could proceed in the matter only after the family members identified the body. |
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Man’s reproductive organs chopped off
Sonepat, February 16 According to Hassan’s statement, he had been working as a “tabla vadak” with Reshma Guru at Ganaur. On February 13, when he was ready to go to his native place, Subhash and Sunny met him and asked him to join the team of Kajal Guru. He refused but was persuaded to accompany them. He alleged that on the way, they offered him tea, following which he fell unconscious. Today he found himself near the Ganaur railway station. He went to the PHC at Ganaur where doctors admitted him. |
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Panchayats get more financial powers
Chandigarh, February 16 Announcing this in the Assembly here today, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said the financial powers of the gram panchayats had been raised from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh, of the panchayat samitis from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh and the Zila Parishad from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh. The relative rules had been amended accordingly to give these institutions more financial powers. This is for the second time that the present government has raised the financial powers of these grassroots institutions. Earlier, it had increased the financial powers of these institutions on July 25, 2006. At that time the financial power of the gram panchayats was raised from Rs 1.25 lakh to Rs 3 lakh, of the panchayat samitis from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh and the Zila Parishad from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. |
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50 pc cut in bus fares for elderly women
Chandigarh, February 16 A letter to this effect issued by the Transport Department states that the concession will be given to elderly women after showing their Senior Citizen ID cards issued by the Social Welfare Department. If the ID cards had not been issued so far any other proof of age along with any photo ID card issued by the government or the district authorities (DC) would be permitted for use for the time being. |
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Another daughter, wife
injured
