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It’s time for Jats to pay Maya back
LS elections: Battlelines drawn in Sirsa
Faridabad
New Counting System for LS Poll |
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Cong will form a vendetta free govt: Deepender
Paswan loyalist joins Cong
BSP leader accuses officials of bias
VAT Trouble
Avoiding Rural Posting
More doctors face the music
Students sore over semester system
Girl stabs man to death
Two killed, five hurt in
mishap
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It’s time for Jats to pay Maya back
Karnal, April 12 The Jat community did not overreact to her remarks at that time but now they are up in arms against Mayawati and consolidating the community members to oppose the BSP candidates. A meeting of the Jat Maha Sangh was held here today to decide support in the Lok Sabha polls, but it reached consensus only on one point that the Jats would not support the BSP candidates and give her a befitting reply for the humiliating remarks made by her against the Jats. President of the Jat Maha Sabha Tara Singh Sandhu said the powerful Jat community held the sway in several Lok Sabha seats, including the Karnal seat and its support would be instrumental in tilting the scales in fovour or against any candidate. The sabha had launched a statewide campaign for “reservation” for the Jats and coined the slogan “give reservation, get votes”, but the campaign had dampened on the eve of elections. The Jat community is in a quandary on this issue as both the major contenders in the elections, the Congress and the INLD-BJP alliance, are led by Jat leaders BS Hooda and Om Prakash Chautala. The Jats would not be losers if either of the party won the elections but taking a clear-cut decision regarding extending support to any party would be a difficult task for the Jat Maha Sabha. The tragedy of the community is that with the exception of Bhagwat Dayal Sharma and Bhajan Lal, all state Chief Ministers since 1967 were Jats and in spite of powerful Jat Chief Ministers like Bansi Lal, Devi Lal, Om Prakash Chautala and
BS Hooda at the helm of affairs their grievances had not be redressed. |
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LS elections: Battlelines drawn in Sirsa
Sirsa, April 12
Some Independents may also try their luck, although there are little chances of any formidable leader contesting as Independent candidate. Congress nominee Ashok Tanwar (33), who is also heading the Indian Youth Congress, has a long experience of students’ politics as general secretary and then president of the NSUI, but will be contesting the first big election of his life. Son-in-law of former MP Lalit Maken, the Congress nominee, is an alumnus of the JNU and has just submitted his thesis for PhD in Indian History. The INLD candidate Sita Ram (41) is dental doctor by education. He did his BDS from Belgaun (Karnataka). He has an experience of representing the Dabwali assembly constituency in the state assembly twice and is a sitting member of the sate Vidhan Sabha. His father Mani Ram, too, has represented the constituency on two occasions. Rajesh Vaid (35) is a university don and was a teacher in physical education in the Chaudhary Devi Lal University, Sirsa, before Mayawati found him suitable for contesting the Sirsa (reserve) seat. He has a post graduate degree in physical education and an honours degree in Hindi literature, from Punjabi University, Patiala. HJC nominee Rajinder Dhanak (44) hails from a political family. His father Amar Singh Dhanak has been MLA on three occasions and has also served as minister for the PWD and Transport in the Bhajan Lal government during 1991 to 1996. Rajinder Dhanak, who has a degree in law and a post graduate diploma in journalism and mass communication, has served the Public Relations Department of the state government for 20 years before resigning from the post of Assistant Public Relations Officer in 2004 on the death of his father. CPM candidate Ram Kumar is a diploma holder in agriculture engineering and has been in the Left politics for the past over 20 years. With young and educated candidates joining the poll fray, the voters of Sirsa are likely to witness an interesting contest this time. |
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Faridabad
Chandigarh, April 12 While Congress nominee and sitting MP from the Faridabad seat, Avtar Singh Badhana, is upbeat about his election campaign, some local MLAs have “ganged up” against him and are still furthering their individual causes. Unnerved by this attitude of the MLAs against the party candidate, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is learnt to have called a meeting in Delhi to placate them and call a truce. This is also to convince them to “give up their claim”, end their rhetoric, back the party candidate and stand by him this election unconditionally. As if the resignation of the Urban Local Bodies minister AC Chaudhary, fuelled by the non-allotment of ticket to a Punjabi, was not enough, sources said that local MLAs Karan Singh Dalal of Palwal and Mahender Pratap Singh from Melwa Maharajpur, have joined hands with him. All three have been “invited” for tomorrow’s meeting. Sources maintained that Dalal, in the race for a ticket from Faridabad, too, is still pushing his candidature while staunchly supporting Chaudhary, the Punjabi community’s hero since his resignation, in his claim that a ticket should be given to a Punjabi also. Together, they are rallying to keep Badhana out despite ticket allocation. Reasoning with the party high command over Badhana’s candidature, they have put forward the contention that they want a new candidate if their performance is to be judged on the basis of this election. Further, they claim that they have decided also to stay away from the campaigning and seeking no votes for the party candidate since “he has done very little in his constituency”. Not one to be easily bothered, Badhana, meanwhile, is going ahead with his campaigning. “I won the last election by two lakh votes. I am the party candidate and all MLAs should campaign in my support. However, if they don’t want to, I am confident of a win on my own and on the basis of the initiatives of Congress president Sonia Gandhi. All of them became MLAs after I became MP. So, there is no reason to worry. They were not even MLAs when I won the last election,” he emphasised. |
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New Counting System for LS Poll
Yamunanagar, April 12 Besides, as per the directions issued by the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), counting centres will be established at the district headquarters to economise counting time instead of having these in each Assembly segment. Now, three Assembly segments will have one observer instead of one for each Assembly segment and counting of votes will not be held in each Assembly segment and will held at the district headquarters. A copy of the new directions issued by the state CEO has been sent to all deputy commissioners and returning officers for its implementation stating that “the conduct of election in a vast country like ours is a mammoth exercise.” An efficient human resource management forms an essential part of the election management planning and execution in view of the introductions of new counting system. Specifying the need for only one observer for three Assembly segments, the state CEO stated, “In view of the limited availability of observers, the practice of taking up Assembly segment-wise counting at different locations should be resorted to only in a rare case where that’s absolutely needed in view of certain limitations faced due to difficult terrain, long distance and difficult transport system.” In the CEO’s letter, a copy of which is available with The Tribune, the CEO stressed that it was desirable to have one large counting centre with ample storage space for electronic voting machines and having as many counting halls as the number of Assembly constituencies within the parliamentary constituency concerned. |
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Cong will form a vendetta free govt: Deepender
Rohtak, April 12 Addressing elections related meetings in the Bahadurgarh assembly segment today, the outgoing MP asked the people to decide whether they wanted to experience a vendetta free and equitable growth in their region or wanted to be a victim of suffocated political environment. He said the state government under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had changed the paradigm of politics in the state as it had been freed from the erstwhile regime of fear and corruption. A new era of progress had commenced and a culture of developmental politics had been established in the state, he added. The forthcoming Lok Sabha election is the right occasion to reinforce the developmental politics of the Congress. Alleging the opposition parties had been opposed important developmental works, including pension scheme for the elderly people, electricity bill waiver, major irrigation projects etc., he said the Opposition had been guided by narrow sectarian interests. He strongly decried the “negative politics” of the opposition parties, which exemplified their anti-people mindset. Time had come to think about the future beyond narrow and selfish political interests, he said. The developmental cake has been distributed equitably among all sections of the society under the present regime, he said. The Congress candidate promised that Bahadurgarh would be in top of the developmental agenda in future, as it would be developed on the pattern of Gurgaon and Faridabad. The township will emerge as a centre of economic growth with all modern amenities, he added. Exhorting the masses to vote decisively for the Congress, Deepender expressed his commitment to actively watch the interests of the Bahadurgarh assembly segment. He appealed to the people to strengthen the hands of the Congress to bolster its futuristic developmental vision. |
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Sirsa: Women’s body to back CPM
Fatehabad, April 12 Talking to mediapersons here today, Jagmati Sangwan and Shakuntala Jakhar, president and secretary of the state unit of the AIDWA, respectively, said their organisation has decided to extend its support to the CPM because the party has given its unqualified support to women organisations on their issues of 33 per cent reservation to women, strengthening of public distribution system, proper implementation of job guarantee scheme and the Domestic Violence Act. The CPM, they said, had supported the women’s charter for the 15th Lok Sabha elections sent to all political parties by 10 women organisations of the country for including it in their election manifestoes, they said. “The CPM-ruled states have enacted laws for the distribution of land and its registration in the name of both men and women,” Sangwan said. “On the contrary, the Congress and the BJP ruled states have pursued policies detrimental to women,” she added. Jakhar alleged that the recent recession has resulted in loss of jobs to a large number of women, sex ratio has gone from bad to worse, crime against women have increased and women were not safe even in police stations. |
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Spreading electoral message
Sirsa, April 12 Volunteers of the NGO went in a procession through main markets of the town carrying placards urging people to vote in the forthcoming parliamentary elections to give country a stable government. The placards called upon the people to vote for the educated and those who could rise above the petty politics of caste and community and think for the benefit of every citizen of the country. The volunteers also distributed pamphlets giving the message to the electorate. The rally started from near the city police station and marched towards Subhash Chowk, Sadar Bazar, Lal Batti Chowk, Bal Bhawan and concluded near the mini-secretariat. “We have been asking the voters to exercise their right to vote and also ensure before voting that the candidate they are voting does not have a criminal record, has not been involved in corrupt activities in the past, is educated, honest and hardworking and can raise their voice in the Parliament properly,” said Girish Kumar, convener of the NGO. Vijay Begu, Sushila Sisodia, Jagdish Singla, Vijay Makani, Roshan Lal, Dinesh Mehta, Yash Pal Sharma, Sanjiv, Surender Dogra and Ajay Rathore were among the volunteers of the NGO who participated in the rally. |
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Paswan loyalist joins Cong
New Delhi, April 12 Sharma, who had been associated with the LJP for more than a decade, said he had joined the Congress as it was truly a secular and a forward-looking party. He blamed Paswan for running the party like a private limited company. He alleged that Paswan was having a secret tie-up with the BJP also. He cited examples where Paswan had fielded candidates against the Congress just to benefit the BJP in north India. Sharma said Paswan’s was only goal was to ensure a ministerial berth for himself. Several other leaders of the LJP also joined Congress with Sharma. |
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BSP leader accuses officials of bias
Faridabad, April 12 Ammu alleged that he had come to know from the media that a case had been registered against him in the Hathin police station falling in this constituency for allegedly using defamatory language in his speech against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, a few days ago and for his alleged attempts to breach tranquillity in society. Ammu alleged that the authorities had bypassed the norms by not showing him the CD concerned and other evidence on the basis of which the case was registered against him. He asserted that he had done nothing to invite a criminal case against him. He alleged that the Hathin SDM and the DC, Faridabad, happened to sons of senior Congress leaders of the state. The DC is the son of the Finance Minister. Hence, they were acting with a bias against his party to promote the cause of Congress nominee from Faridabad Avtar Singh Bhadana. He urged the Election Commission to remove from election duties and key positions all such officers who were relatives of Congress leaders to maintain impartiality in the conduct of the elections and the campaign. |
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VAT Trouble
Chandigarh, April 12 Earlier, the traders were required to pay VAT on sold goods. The unsold goods remained in their stocks. As and when they were sold, VAT was deposited in the government treasury. However, now the government has made it mandatory for the traders to pay VAT even on unsold goods declared as “closing stock” at the end of the financial year. The traders say the new provision will mean additional financial burden on them, as more working capital will be required. So far, whatever VAT is collected from customers is deposited in the treasury. Now they would have to pay from their pocket VAT on unsold goods, which may not be sold for months, if not years. Describing the provision as anti-trader, media in charge of the state BJP Rajiv Jain said this provision had been introduced in Haryana alone. No other state had such a provision. He said even the VAT Act prepared by the Centre did not have this provision. Jain said the government had also increased penalty for late filing of VAT return. Earlier, the maximum penalty was Rs 2,000 for delayed filing of the return. Now, for the first 10 days of the delay, the penalty will be Rs 100 per day and thereafter Rs 200 per day. Besides, the traders would also have to pay 2 per cent interest per month on the amount not deposited with the government. The BJP leader alleged that the new provisions would lead to harassment of the traders at the hands of inspectors. He said if the new provisions were not stayed, the BJP would launch an agitation along with the traders. |
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Avoiding Rural Posting
Jhajjar, April 13 Five inquiry committees, each headed by a senior medical officer (SMO), have been constituted in order to find out the factual position about the doctors’ claims. Every team will not only verify the addresses, but also go there for conducting a thorough inquiry whether the doctors have actually been staying in the houses mentioned in the records. A report of those found guilty of not staying there would be dispatched to the director-general, health services, Haryana, for further action. Likewise, salary of those doctors who have mentioned the correct addresses and have been staying there regularly, would be released after the permission of the higher authorities. Earlier, the authorities had withheld the salary of 67 government doctors, including three SMOs, nine dental surgeons and 55 medical officers, following the directives of the financial commissioner and principal secretary, health, Anuradha Gupta. These doctors had failed to maintain their headquarters and had been commuting daily to reach their places of posting while on the other hand, they were falsely claiming the house rent allowance and rural allowance. Interestingly, the state government had recently given substantial salary hike to the doctors as a special case on the grounds that they were rendering services in the rural areas. Anuradha had sent a communication to all civil surgeons of the state in which they were directed to take steps to ensure that all doctors working in PHCs, CHCs and general hospitals were advised to stay at the places of posting and maintain the headquarters. The communication also authorised the civil surgeons to release the salaries only after the condition of maintenance of the headquarters is fulfilled. Jhajjar civil surgeon RS Dalal said further action in this regard would be initiated after getting factual reports from the inquiry committees. The foremost aim behind the action was to make the much needed health services available to the general public by ensuring round-the-clock availability of the doctors in government hospitals, he added. |
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More doctors face the music
Sirsa/Fatehabad, April 12 The salary will now be released only after these doctors maintain their headquarters to the satisfaction of the authorities. In an effort to improve the health services in the state, Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Health, Haryana, Anuradha Gupta had issued orders making it mandatory for the doctors working in the government hospitals to maintain their headquarters. As per a report furnished by the Civil Surgeon, Sirsa, one senior medical officer, one woman medical officer, one dental doctor and eight medical officers have been found to have failed to maintain their headquarters. In Fatehabad district, the health authorities have found 29 doctors, who have not been living at the stations of their posting. |
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Students sore over semester system
Fatehabad, April 12 The results of the first semester examinations held in December are yet to be announced, while the examinations for the second semester are due to be held by the second week of May. “We are curious about our first semester results and unless we get the results we are not able to prepare well for the second semester,” said Tanuja, a student of the second semester of MA (English) in Manohar Memorial Postgraduate College, Fatehabad. Lovepreet Singh, another student, said the university should declare the results in time so that students were able to know their performance and prepare accordingly. Seep and Richa, two other students of the college, said the syllabus prescribed for the regular students after the introduction of the semester system was very tough and in some cases the study material was not available at bookshops. Mahesh Mehta, lecturer of English, said it was surprising that the university had not been able to declare the result of the first semester even though more than three months had elapsed. |
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Girl stabs man to death Panipat, April 12 However, the unwillingness on the part of residents to share any information with the police left the investigators high and dry who found themselves far from the clues that could have helped them crack the case. According to residents of Bishan Swarup Colony, Rohit, a resident of Babyal village in the district, was attacked by a girl and her accomplices. He was attacked by a sharp-edged weapon, believed to be a knife, by the group and they immediately fled from the spot, they added. The residents said Rohit was taken to a nearby hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. One of the shopkeepers, on the condition of anonymity, said some of the passersby had seen a girl, who was accompanied by at least four persons, stabbing the man and that was how they got to know that it was a girl who was involved in the crime. A team of the police officials reached the spot and started investigations. To their dismay, none of the residents came forward with any concrete information to help the investigators. SHO Ram Kumar said the residents were elusive and gave vague information about the incident. He said from whatever information the police could collect, it appeared to be a case of a love affair in which the girl killed her lover. District police chief MS Sheoran said the police was investigating into the matter.
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Two killed, five hurt in
mishap
Nuh (Mewat), April 12 Kuldeep Thakur and Jitu, sitting on the front seat, died on the spot. The injured - Meen Thakur, Deepak Saini, Danny Kohli, Kuldeep Pandit and Surjit - were referred to hospital, Safdarjung, in serious condition. All of them belonged to Uncha village near Balabgarh and have come here to attend a marriage. According to sources, few of them were drunken. When they reached near Salamba village two vehicles banged each other and the result was that the van caught fire as it had LPG gas kit in it. The police has registered a case of negligence against the driver, who fled away from the spot.
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