|
|
|
|
Deserters won’t make it to Assembly, claims Chautala
Cong adopting ‘cheap tactics’, says INLD leader
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Ranjit Singh hits out at Sampat
‘Pay Anomalies’
Public Health Dept contracts ‘smack of bias’
Unit caught packing made-in-US food items
Road blocked over youth’s murder
Rs 500 bet costs boy his life
Trader booked for abetment to suicide
Proposal to construct Mewat canal sent to Centre
Power corporation inks coal pact
|
|
Deserters won’t make it to Assembly, claims Chautala
Fatehabad, July 19 Talking to mediapersons here today, Chautala said he would quit politics if any of those leaders would “see the doors of the state assembly” during the rest of their lives. “People of the country can accept everything, but not treachery,” he said, adding that those, who have left the party in the hope of greener pastures in the Congress, would become political nonentities soon as people would teach them a lesson for stabbing him in the back. Chautala again asked his former party colleague, Sampat Singh, to desist from levelling false and malicious allegations against him and his family. He said he had no problem to Sampat Singh’s decision to “desert the party for his selfish ends” and rather he wished him the best for his future, but it was improper on his part to malign the party that raised him from a political nonentity to the place where he stood now. Chautala said his party would not suffer any losses due to the acts of desertion by some leaders as people vote for the ideologies of political parties and not for individuals. He said his party was ready to contest elections anytime as his workers were always in election mode and never “return to barracks”. Reiterating his stand on the functioning of EVMs, Chautala said his party would mobilise all opposition political parties on the issue and ask the election commission to hold elections voting through ballot papers as he was convinced that fair mandate of the people could not be get through EVMs. He said the issue of the seat distribution with the BJP would soon be mutually settled and his party would declare all tickets on Devi Lal’s birth anniversary on September 25. Earlier, addressing party workers in the Ram Sewa Samiti, Chautala asked them not to be misled by the false propaganda being made by certain vested interests. He called upon party workers to gear up for the elections, which could be held any moment now. He said he had already announced that he would expel those leaders, who did nothing for the party but showed their faces only at the time of meetings and by leaving the party they had made his work easier. Chautala assured his party workers that the candidates for the next Assembly elections would be announced after proper scrutiny and with their consent so that those elected did not ditch the party in future. |
|
Cong adopting ‘cheap tactics’, says INLD leader
Chandigarh, July 19 In a press note issued here today, Chaudhary said the whole INLD stands united behind its president Om Prakash Chautala and people of the state would teach a befitting lesson to the Congress and the defectors in the coming elections. “Even the Congress has realised its imminent defeat in the Assembly elections and it is stooping to corrupt and immoral politics of defections by offering enticements and other inducements,” he added. He called Prof Sampat Singh a “thankless person”. Chaudhary said corruption was rampant from top to the bottom, the criminals were fearless and the people were living life under fear of criminals. He said the state administration had proved to be totally ineffective and incompetent. |
|
Ranjit Singh hits out at Sampat
Sirsa, July 19 Sampat Singh is reported to have said while addressing his supporters at Hisar yesterday that Devi Lal used to confide in him that his sons were not loyal to him, while he (Sampat Singh) was Devi Lal’s most loyal follower. Talking to mediapersons at his residence here today, Ranjit Singh alleged that Sampat Singh was trying to harp on falsehood for his selfish ends and advised him to stop using the name of his late father and his family members. “Can Sampat Singh tell people if he ever visited Devi Lal when he was in jail from 1974 to 1976? Only my brothers Partap Singh, Jagdish Singh and I used to meet him in the jail, which is a matter of jail record,” Ranjit Singh said. He said Sampat Singh had never been a part of their family during celebrations or ceremonies. He said Devi Lal breathed his last, only he, his sister Shanti Devi and his nephew Ajay Singh were on his bedside, while when their mother Harki Devi was on the death bed, only he and his sister were on her bedside. “Sampat Singh was neither a member of our family nor a loyal follower of Devi Lal, but he was one among several leaders who used our father for their narrow selfish ends and then threw him away,” Ranjit Singh maintained. “Had Sampat Singh been loyal to Devi Lal or even enjoyed his confidence, the former Deputy Prime Minister would have nominated him as Chief Minister when he named Banarsi Dass Gupta and Hukam Singh after the Meham mayhem,” he added. Ranjit Singh also ridiculed Sampat Singh on his reported statement on the Meham episode and claimed that when he quit the Chautala government on this issue along with Virender Singh, Raghubir Singh Kadyan, Ran Singh Mann, Bhagwan Sehrawat and Mange Ram, he approached Sampat Singh too to resign on moral grounds, but he had refused. |
|
‘Pay Anomalies’
Panchkula, July 19 It has decided to hold a meeting of the general body of the federation in Karnal on July 26, where all members of the federation from all engineering wings will discuss how to launch the agitation. Earlier, in January this year the engineers had gone on two-day mass leave following a call given by the federation rejecting the pay scales granted to the engineers by the government in the Sixth Pay Commission. According to Satbir Kadiyan, general secretary of the federation, following the agitation by engineers in January, they were invited by the government for negotiations and meetings were held between Chief Secretary, members of the anomaly committee and members of the federation. On March 1, the terms and conditions of an agreement were finalised and the federation had agreed to the condition of the government that 15 per cent of the SDEs be given the pay band-4 after a service of 17 years. Similarly, all executive engineers with a service of 17 years were also to be brought under the pay band-4 while superintending engineers were to be given a functional scale, said Kadiyan. Though the SDEs were not happy with the agreement, resenting that only 15 per cent of them were to be benefited and that also after a long tenure of 17 years, the federation was able to convince them to accept the decision that time, said Kadiyan Following the agreement, the federation members met the Chief Minister and he assured them that the agreement would be notified as soon as the code of conduct implemented due to parliamentary elections was over, claimed the general secretary. Now, two months had passed since the code of conduct was over, but the government had shown no willingness to notify the agreement, he said. A meeting of the co-ordination committee of the Haryana Engineers Federation was held here yesterday in which more than 35 delegates from all over the state participated. The meeting decided to call a general body meeting to discuss the modalities of the agitation. The delegates, flaying the approach adopted by the government, were now in no mood to accept the previous agreement also. They now wanted that all SDEs be given the pay band-4, that too after 14 years of regular service on the Punjab pattern and that all SDEs be declared class-1 as had been done in case of doctors and HCS officers in Haryana, he added. |
|
Public Health Dept contracts ‘smack of bias’
Panipat, July 19 A number of government contractors have claimed that a group of six contractors, based in Narwana, has been bagging a majority of the major contracts to carry out works worth several lakhs for the past three years, while other contractors at these places are being ignored. One of the contractors, on condition of anonymity, told The Tribune that this small group of contractors was well-connected with influential politicians. He said officials in the department did not even give them forms to fill tenders and whenever they somehow managed to fill the tenders, these were not awarded to them. Though some small works were given to local contractors, the major chunk of works, especially those in which a huge amount of money was involved, was always given to one of the six contractors from Narwana, said the contractor. Another contractor from Yamunanagar said only the group of these six contractors was allowed to file tenders at most places and ultimately the contract was bagged by one of them. Citing a recent example, he said one of the local contractors at Yamunanagar had even filed a written complaint with the Deputy Commissioner stating that he was quite certain that the contract of works being undertaken by the Public Health Department would be given to one particular contractor from Narwana. He had even named the contractor from Narwana in his complaint. Though the Deputy Commissioner ordered an inquiry into the allegations, finally the contract was granted to the one whose name had mentioned mentioned in the complaint. The contractor said they were facing a peculiar situation as they could not come out in the open to highlight the wrongdoings of the department at the behest of a senior minister in the state government for fear of losing whatever small work they were getting from the government. However, senior officials in the Public Health Department denied the charges. They said a number of works were being undertaken by the department at various places and utmost care was being taken to ensure that the proper procedure was followed in the grant of tenders. They said since all contractors could not be given the work, some disgruntled elements levelled such allegations. They stated all tenders floated by the department were properly advertised in leading newspapers and equal opportunities were given to all contractors to fill the tenders. |
|
Unit caught packing made-in-US food items
Fatehabad, July 19 When Dr Surender Bishnoi, medical officer from the local general hospital, and Sant Lal Bishnoi, Government Food Inspector (GFI), reached the unit situated on the local Majra road, they found workers filling pouches of “Chester’s Fries” purported to have been manufactured in the USA. Workers were also filling pouches of fried peanuts and other salty fries in wrappers bearing the label of “Lehar, Bikaner Ka Suprisidh Namkeen.” The factory was being run in a dingy area under unhygienic conditions. The factory had been running there for the past several years without the knowledge of the authorities, though the factory owners had been supplying their “products” in the town as well as in the surrounding areas. “We have taken the samples of the product and will send it for testing in the laboratory,” said Bishnoi. The authorities also found another unit functioning on the Majra road, where conditions of manufacturing as well as packing of food items were abysmally poor. Workers were seen cutting pieces of “burfee” made of milk mixed with unknown chemicals and other products by spreading the “burfee” cake on the unclean floor. This factory too was situated in the stinking area. The health authorities took samples of eight commodities in the town yesterday. These included samples of cheese, milk, namkeen and some other items. |
|
Road blocked over youth’s murder
Rewari, July 19 They were protesting against the inept handling of the case by the Rewari Sadar police. The youth is survived by his wife and a 2-month-old son. Expressing resentment at the lackadaisical approach of the police, they demanded registration of a murder case, immediate arrest of the alleged killers of Rahul, investigation of the case by the CIA police and suspension of the SHO of the Sadar police station. Three village youths had allegedly beaten up Rahul with iron rods in his fields, near Gokalgarh village, on June 17. The youths were later identified as Ashok Yadav, Satish Yadav and Sandeep. Old enmity is said to be behind the incident. The Sadar police had then registered a case of causing hurt against the accused. Meanwhile, Rahul, who was seriously injured, was provided treatment for over a fortnight in the trauma centre here. However, when his condition worsened, he was admitted to a private hospital in Gurgaon from where he was shifted to Safdarjung Hospital, Delhi, on Friday, where he succumbed to his injuries. DSP Pooran Singh Pawar along with a heavy contingent of the police reached the spot and tried to pacify the agitators. However, the irate villagers refused to lift the blockade seeking personal presence of the SP and the DC at the site to hear their grievances as well as acceptance of their demands. Later, local minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav reached the village and assured the agitators that their legitimate demands would be addressed soon. The villagers lifted the blockade, which lasted for over two hours, and the body was then taken to the local Civil Hospital for a postmortem that was conducted by a board of doctors. Meanwhile, in response to the agitators’ demand, the police has registered a case of murder against the accused, who are reportedly absconding. Simultaneously, the investigation of the case has been entrusted to the CIA police. Besides, Inspector Ram Niwas, station house officer of the Sadar police station, has been transferred to the Police Lines. |
|
Rs 500 bet costs boy his life
Sirsa, July 19 Randhir and Ravi, both in their teens, were friends and entered into a bet today for swimming across the pool faster than the other. A third friend offered a reward of Rs 500 to the winner. Both Randhir and Ravi jumped into the pond, but while Ravi swam across the pond, Randhir could not come out of the water. Soon the news spread in the village and a large number of people gathered there. Divers were pressed into service to take out the body. The body could be taken out in the afternoon after hours of labour. DSP Balbir Singh said no complaint had been made by the kin of the victim in this regard against anyone so far. |
|
Trader booked for abetment to suicide
Sirsa, July 19 Partap Singh, SHO of the GRP, Sirsa, said a case under Section 306 of the IPC had been registered on a complaint of the victim’s father-in-law, Arjun Singh, a resident of Kukranwali village (Fatehabad), against the trader, who was alleged to have been denying the proceeds of five acres that the victim sold through him. The victim, a father of two, had been passing through tough times financially and alleged in a suicide note that the trader had refused to pay the proceeds of the land sold by him. The victim was under debt and was under great depression as he was not getting his money, said Arjun Singh. |
|
Proposal to construct Mewat canal sent to Centre
Mewat, July 19 Addressing a function after laying the foundation stone of a medical college and its related institutions at Nalhar village in the district, Hooda said the first phase of the medical college would be completed at a cost of Rs 389 crore. In the first phase, apart from constructing a 450-bedded hospital, a hostel for nurses and students and staff quarters would be constructed. Besides, Rs 70 crore would be spent to provide modern medical equipment. He said the area of Mewat was being developed on priority basis and in a systematic manner because when the present government assumed office, it was observed that this area had not been developed as much as it should have. He said that health services in the area had been expanded and strengthened. Residents of 503 villages of the area would get 55 litres of water per capita per day through Rajiv Gandhi Ranney Well Drinking Water Supply Scheme. The first phase of the scheme had been completed at a cost of Rs 206 crore.
— PTI |
|
Power corporation inks coal pact
Chandigarh, July 19 The signing of the FSA is a major step by HPGCL towards ensuring an assured and reliable supply of good quality and sufficient quantity of coal. Sanjeev Kaushal, MD, HPGCL, said here recently that the annual contracted quantity of coal from CCL was 50.90 lakh MT, from BCCL 18.5 lakh MT and from NCL 16 lakh MT. |
|
Shop raided, drugs seized
Chandigarh, July 19 Stating this here today, a spokesman for the Haryana police said the raid was conducted by teams of the organised crime cell of the state crime branch and the drugs were seized under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. He said a case had been registered against the accused under Section 22 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act at the Assandh police station.
— PTI |
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
