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Manchanda quits as state BJP chief
Task force to remove encroachments
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Prisoners meeting kin in other jails
Farmer installs electric fencing
Maoists in Haryana-V
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Manchanda quits as state BJP chief
Chandigarh, July 4 The party had won one seat in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections; this time none, though it had contested the elections in alliance with the INLD. In 2004 the party had contested alone. According to sources, the party high command had been asking Manchanda to submit his resignation for the past few days so that the organisational set-up in the Haryana BJP could be refurbished, well in time before the Assembly elections, which are due in February next. However, there are indications that the Assembly elections in the state may be advanced, to be held along with those in Maharashtra. In that case, the elections can be held at the end of September or early October because after that the festival season will start. The sources say Manchanda today met Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and senior BJP leader LK Advani in Delhi and submitted his resignation to him. Advani is believed to have handed over Manchanda’s resignation to co-convener of the Haryana BJP, HS Garewal, for onward transmission to party president Raj Nath Singh, who was not in Delhi today. There are many in the party who believe that the party high command has made Manchanda a scapegoat. They say in 2004 the party could win one seat despite having contested the elections on its own. Obviously, this time its alliance with the INLD had not gone down well either with the rank and file of the party or its voters. They say the party high command should also take action against those central leaders who were responsible for forcing the state unit to agree to the alliance. Barring a few leaders, all state leaders had opposed the alliance. Some of those who had been bitter critics of INLD president Om Prakash Chautala earlier, maintained a studied silence on the issue of alliance after they were told to do so by certain national leaders of the party. After the defeat, though Garewal had offered his resignation owning moral responsibility for the debacle, Manchanda did not make any such gesture. Garewal’s offer was turned down. The successor to Manchanda will be named only after the return of Raj Nath Singh from Ranchi, the sources say. Among those believed to be in the race for the post of president are former minister and senior leader Ram Bilas Sharma; former leader of the BJP Legislature Party Kishan Pal Gurjar; former MLA Kailash Sharma and the general secretary of the state unit, Capt
Abhimanyu. |
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Sarabjit’s sister seeks divine help
Karnal, July 4 Dalbir Kaur specially came here today with her two daughters - Poonam and Swapandeep - to offer ardas at a gurdwara on the parkash utsav of Sixth Guru Hargobind. She came to the gurdwara because it is believed that Guru Hargobind had got released 52 rajas languishing in a prison in Jahangir, Gwalior, said Preet Pal Singh Punna, president, NIFAA, who was accompanying Dalbir Kaur. She accused the Government of India of not making sincere efforts for the release of Sarabjit and said the rejection of the appeal for revoking the death sentence was the result of half-hearted efforts of the Indian Government. “My brother has already undergone torture and punishment in a Pakistan jail for the past 19 years and he should at least given the benefit of the doubt and released from jail,” she added. Dalbir, who had gone to Delhi to meet Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, said the meeting could not be arranged as they were busy with the Parliament
session. She said they had not lost all hope and would seek the support of various organisations to build a mass movement of building pressure on the Pakistan government and planned to meet yoga guru Ram Dev for his support and
blessings. She also appealed to the government to step up diplomatic initiative for warding of the death sentence to Sarabjit. |
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Task force to remove encroachments
Gurgaon, July 4 The task force will constitute officers of the municipal corporation and HUDA, and the District Town Planner and the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic). Additional Deputy Commissioner Parveen Kumar has been appointed the nodal officer for the purpose. Birender Singh passed these orders while presiding over the monthly meeting of the District Grievances Committee here. As many as 17 of the 19 grievances of the local residents were redressed by the minister on the spot. The minister also directed the officials concerned to get the massive encroachments videographed before removing these. The matter of encroachments came up while the minister was reviewing the action taken report of the last monthly meeting. The Deputy Commissioner revealed at the meeting that he was shocked to see a cluster of hutments which had come up near Sushant Lok. The area comes under the municipal corporation. DTP (Enforcement) BK Saini said about 60 per cent of the encroachments in the Sushant Lok area had been removed after the orders of the Deputy Commissioner. The nominated members of the committee, Bhimsen Vasudev, Ravinder Jain and Sube Singh Yadav, highlighted the problem of rampant temporary encroachments in the busy Sadar Bazar area in Gurgaon. They alleged that shopkeepers charged rent from street vendors for keeping the sale items on the footpath in front of their shops. The members urged the minister to take effective steps for the removal of the encroachments. On this, the minister directed the local municipal authorities to confiscate the sale items so exhibited and put them on auction. He asked them to first get the encroachment scene videographed. He also directed that the police should also conduct regular patrolling on a daily basis in Sadar Bazar. The officers of the Labour Department were asked to ensure that the shops and establishments observed a weekly holiday for labourers. The minister referred the case of alleged irregularities in mid-day meal by the school principal of Teekli village to the local Police Commissioner for inquiry. The matter was pending with the ADC for a long time. |
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Prisoners meeting kin in other jails
Chandigarh, July 4 The directions were issued after the court was informed there was no provision in the rules to allow the prisoners to go to other prisons to meet their relatives. The use of parole facility was suggested for the purpose. The issue was brought to the fore after Justice Mahesh Grover took suo motu cognisance of the problem during an inspection. In his note, Justice Grover wrote: “I inspected the borstal jail, Hisar. Some of the inmates, who were undergoing imprisonment, submitted an application for allowing them to meet their relatives lodged in other jails.” “The jail superintendent told although there was no provision in the jail manual for arranging such meetings, earlier this practice was being followed”. Justice Grover asserted: “There can be a situation where all other members of a family stand convicted and are undergoing imprisonment, and there may not be anyone else with a convict may like to meet; and depriving him or her of such interaction for all times to come may be extremely harsh.
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Farmer installs electric fencing
Fatehabad, July 4 A new concept in the area, the fencing has been installed in such a manner that it gives an electric shock to intruders. Although the shock is mild and does not risk the life of intruders, it will be helpful in keeping trespassers and stray animals at bay. Deputy Commissioner CG Rajini Kaanthan inaugurated the fencing on Friday and ADC Ashok Kumar Meena was also present on the occasion. “The fencing gets electric current from a solar-charged battery. Anyone, who comes in contact with the fencing wires, gets an electric shock and an alarm starts ringing, sending a warning to the farmer,” said Ajay Tandon, a representative of the Crown Solar Power Fencing System, Noida. The fencing has been designed by this company. He said it was useful for farms and orchards as owners could keep stray animals and unauthorised intruders at a distance through this system. It costs Rs 80,000 for a length of 1 km besides Rs 50,000 towards the cost of other equipment. He claimed he was the first farmer of the area to have installed such system and earlier such systems had been installed in South India only.
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Maoists in
Haryana-V
Yamunanagar, July 4 However, these leaders did not concentrate on making the villagers aware about the Maoists’ ideology. Instead, they helped villagers get their land vacated from the clutches of influential landlords, taught them fish farming and raised a voice against the alleged exploitation of landless farmers, Dalits and labourers. Only top leaders of the suspected Maoists’ organisation, including its president Dr Pardeep, Sanjay, Mukesh, Samrat and Rajesh, were believed to be well-versed with the Maoists’ ideology while others were just following their directions. The suspected Maoist leaders have sympathisers among Dalits in several villages in the Chhachharoli area in the district, including Ishmyilpur, Jedhari, Jedhar, Manbarwara and Brahamankhera, as they had helped them get the possession of their land, allotted to them in 1976, but which was in the possession of influential landlords in Jedhar village. In 2005, they took this issue and won the battle for Dalits, who finally got their land back. Besides, they had helped villagers get compensation from the government when their houses were destroyed in a fire in Ishmyilpur village. Samrat was the in charge of the Chhachhroli area. They had also spread awareness among the villagers about their rights and raised a voice against poor wages given to landless farmers by landlords and also against the alleged exploitation of their womenfolk. Dr Pardeep and Sanjay, along with their associates, had started community fish farming in Ismylabad village and also helped landless farmers get land for survival. Dr Pardeep had been associated with community work since 1995. He had worked for villagers by providing them medicines free of cost when floods hit Narwana in 1995. He also supported the farmers’ agitation in Kandela village in Jind district and also the Dalits’ agitation in Duleena in Jhajjar district. While in the Narwana area, Rajesh, president of the Krantikari Kishan Morcha, had raised a voice against poor wages paid to labourers, Geeta, president of the Mahila Mukti Morcha, had been fighting for the rights of women. She had managed to win the support of Dalit women in villages by highlighting their plight. SP Vikas Arora said though the suspected Maoist leaders were working for villagers, they were also indulging in an arms struggle. “We have caught several leaders, including Dr Pardeep, Sanjay and Samrat, with arms. They were helping villagers settle old disputes by providing them with arms, which is the ultimate goal of the Maoists’ movement,” he said.
(Concluded) |
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Chandigarh, July 4
