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INLD will dismantle
Gorakhpur N-plant if voted to power
Yamunanagar Thermal Plant |
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Karnal Improvement Trust violates Forest Act
Govt teachers made to redo child mapping survey
One IAS, 6 HCS officers shifted
Two dead, over 10 hurt in two accidents
Yamunanagar Thermal Plant
Shopkeepers block road for 7 hours
Power Theft
Woman’s body found
Woman murdered
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INLD will dismantle
Gorakhpur N-plant if voted to power
Gorakhpur, July 20 Chautala visited Kajalheri Head on the outskirts of Gorakhpur village, where the farmers have been staging a dharna to prevent government officials from entering their land, and assured his support to them. “Initially, we opposed this plant because highly fertile land was being taken away against farmers’ will. But after the Fukushima disaster, we are opposed to atomic power plants in principle because of the hazards involved,” Chautala said talking to mediapersons at Fatehabad. “When developed countries like the USA, Japan and Germany have said no to nuclear power projects, why Haryana government is so keen to set up one at Gorakhpur,” Chautala wondered. When The Tribune drew Chautala’s attention to a letter written by his father, Devi Lal, to the then Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, on November 23, 1987, requesting for his “urgent and benign” attention to the project, the former Chief Minister said the hazards involved with nuclear projects were not known to the world at that time. “When my father wrote this letter, his only intention was to provide more power to the people of Haryana. But after the Fukushima disaster, the entire world has seen what kind of havoc such projects can cause to humanity,” he maintained. The INLD supremo castigated the Haryana government on the issue of corruption and said even a senior officer has raised this issue in a meeting of DCs and SPs in the presence of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. He also pointed to the allegations of corruption in HARTRON made by a senior bureaucrat. Chautala said the INLD would organise demonstrations on the issue of corruption at the district level on July 23 and submit memorandums addressed to the Governor to the respective DCs, demanding ouster of the Hooda government. Hisar: INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala said here on Friday that the “non-functional and policy paralysis-stricken” UPA government had dented the country’s image as an emerging economic power at the international level. Addressing party workers, Chautala said corruption was one of the major reasons as ruling party politicians did not want any economic reforms because of vested interests. |
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Cong-INLD spat over Chinese machinery
Sushil Manav/TNS
Fatehabad, July 20 Ever since the thermal power plants at Yamunanagar, Jharli and Khedar were shut down, the INLD leaders have been attributing it to the inferior Chinese machinery purchased by the Hooda government. While Om Prakash Chautala himself was abroad for over a month, his sons, Ajay Singh and Abhay Singh, have been levelling charges of corruption for the purchase of Chinese machinery leading to the breakdown. Addressing a press conference at Hisar recently, Ran Singh Mann, a former Chief Parliamentary Secretary, defended the Congress by putting the ball in Chautala’s court by alleging that the Chinese machinery for Yamunanagar was purchased during the INLD’s regime. Today, Chautala said when he was in power, the government issued a letter of interest (LoI) to Reliance Energy Limited for setting up a thermal power plant at Yamunanagar after saving Rs 150 crore of the state exchequer through negotiations. “After getting the LoI, Reliance Energy Limited wanted me to allow them to use Chinese machines in the plant, which I declined. After my government went, they moved a similar application to the Congress government headed by Bhupinder Singh Hooda, which also declined the request initially. However, due to unknown reasons, the government accepted the request on another application moved by Reliance within 15 days,” Chautala alleged and said he wrote a letter to Hooda on this issue immediately, but the reply was not in a good taste.
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Karnal Improvement Trust violates Forest Act
Karnal, July 20 The space for the market was carved out by remodelling Old Mughal Canal from "Ganda Nala" to covered underground sewage, but the Trust ignored the fact that the entire Mugal Canal passed through the forest land and permission was required to change its use for non-forest purposes. As per information procured by advocate Rajesh Sharma through an RTI, the Forest Department has written a number of letters to the Improvement Trust pointing out that the Market Complex has been constructed without statutory clearance under the Forest (Conservation) Act and was "illegal". The Haryana Forest Department had notified the land as "forest Land" vide its notification No. SC 41 C. A. 16/17 S. 29/72 dated March 3, 1972, and it was forest land under the Act which came into force in October 1980. The department officials said Section (2) of the Act was unambiguous on this issue and clearly stated that "No state government or other authority shall make, except with the prior approval of the Central Government, any order directing that any reserved forest shall cease to be reserved or any portion of it be used for any non-forest purpose." The Improvement Trust authorities maintained that the land under Old Mugal Canal, which was a sewer drain to discharge sullage, sewerage and dirty water of the city from one corner to another, and its ownership vested in Municipality as per Section 56 of the Punjab Municipal Act. Further, there was no tree on the land. However, the Forest (Conservation) Act restricts diversion of any land notified under the Act as forest land, irrespective of the fact whether there was any tree on the land or not as this land was required for regeneration of forests. Revenue records established that the land underneath the Mugal canal was transferred by the Municipal Committee to the Improvement Trust vide resolution No. 937 dated March 28, 1986, and the Trust was owner of the land. But the status of land was of "forest Land" in 1980 when the Act was implemented and there was no record to show that permission had been sought to use the land for construction of a market, which was essentially non-forest activity. A high-level meeting was held on May 11, 1992, under the chairmanship of the then Haryana Chief Secretary in which 21 officials participated but no forest officer was present in the meeting. The Forest Department again took up the issue in 2010 and finally the Improvement Trust, realising the lapse on its part, admitted that there has been deterioration of land and submitted its case to the Forest Department on June 25 last for de-facto sanction. |
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Govt teachers made to redo child mapping survey
Gurgaon, July 20 The teachers who had spent weeks covering thousands of homes had to pay for the confusion and rampant unawareness among high ups about the Act as they were initially posted in their “census duty” area to find eligible children for the Act but soon had to repeat the exercise when the officials concerned woke up to the different nature of the survey. “I have been on this survey duty for almost a month now. We were asked to revisit the areas allotted to us during census survey and do the RTE survey. We visited thousands of homes and after a while the department realised that it was going the wrong way so they changed our duties and made us to visit new area considered catchments of particular school,” said one of the teachers. District Elementary Education Officer Prem Lata Yadav refuted the claims saying that the resurvey was being conducted to ensure that no child had been left out. “There is nothing like unawareness. City is too big and there are hundreds of houses in each society. We made teachers to redo it just to ensure that no pocket is left out. The data collected by teachers earlier is also being used so there is no wastage of efforts,” said Yadav. The survey, which is an important step towards ensuring education to thousands is taking toll on the education of the already enrolled student. “We have not been able to have regular classes ever since the summer vacations because teachers have been on survey duty. In our school, we have a teacher student ratio of around 1:80 and when a majority of our teachers are on duty then how can we run school. Teachers have been made to sign affidavits so that they can’t refuse. In fact we are many a time forced to send back primary school students or club classes to manage things,” said a local principal. Yadav says things will
be fine soon. “We have completed work in Sohna, Farrukhnagar and Pataudi blocks. Gurgaon block is taking more time due to the population density,” she said. |
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One IAS, 6 HCS officers shifted
Chandigarh, July 20 Mahavir Singh, Additional Director (Administration), Primary Education, has been given the additional charge of Secretary, office of Lokayukta, against a vacant post. Mahabir Parsad, Subdivisional Officer-cum-Additional Collector, Barwala, has been given the additional charge of Estate Officer, HUDA, Hisar, vice Sandeep Singh. Satish Kumar Jain, Subdivisional Officer and Estate Officer, HUDA, Panipat, has been posted as Secretary, Regional Transport Authority, Jind and Kaithal, vice Girish Arora. Ashwani Malik, City Magistrate, Panchkula, has been posted as Subdivisional Officer and Estate Officer, HUDA, Panipat, vice Satish Kumar Jain. The posting orders of Sandeep Singh will be issued later on. |
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Two dead, over 10 hurt in two accidents
Karnal, July 20 In another accident, over 10 passengers sustained minor injuries when a Haryana Roadways bus went out of control and rammed into a wall of the local Industrial Training Institute
(ITI) this afternoon. The ill-fated vehicle was on its way from Chandigarh to Safidon when the driver lost control over the bus while saving a biker. The bus banged against the ITI wall after breaking a high-tension wire. The injured persons were given first aid and shifted to another bus. Vehicular traffic on the national highway was disrupted as the high-tension wire fell on the road. Policemen assisted by employees of the Electricity Department got the bus detached from the wire with the help of a crane. Power supply also remained disrupted for quite some time. |
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Book six officers: Vigilance Bureau
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, July 20 While stating this here today, a spokesman said 11 officers were caught while accepting illegal gratification of Rs 4,000 to Rs 30,000 and criminal cases had been registered against them under the Prevention of Corruption Act. He said Mahender Vakil and Ram Chander, employees of Civil Hospital, Mahendergarh, were arrested for accepting Rs 10,000 each as bribe, SN Sharma, Range Officer, Forest Department, for accepting Rs 30,000, Jitender Chauhan, Assistant Sub-Inspector, In charge, Chowki Amapur, Palwal, for accepting Rs 4,000 as illegal gratification, Bijender Singh, Patwari, office of District Revenue Officer, Faridabad, for accepting Rs 5,000, Dr Rakesh Sikri, Vetrinary Hospital, Sonepat, for accepting Rs 5,000, Mahender Singh, Sub-Inspector, Police Station, Hisar, for accepting Rs 15,000, Dr Ishwar Sing, Veterinary Surgeon, Jhajjar, for accepting Rs 5,000, Geetu Ram, Subdivisional Officer, Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited (UHBVNL), Ambala, for accepting Rs 8,000, RP Chopra, cricket coach, Panchkula, for accepting Rs 10,000 and Inderjeet Singh, consumer clerk, Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Limited (HVPNL) office, Karnal, for accepting a bribe of Rs 20,000.
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Shopkeepers block road for 7 hours
Fatehabad, July 20 The shopkeepers and local residents sat on a dharna at 7 am and the authorities had tough time persuading them to lift the blockade. The road was finally opened for vehicular traffic at 3 pm, when SP Satinder Kumar Gupta assured them that the miscreants would be caught soon. “The law and order situation in our town is in complete shambles. Miscreants roamed fearlessly in the night and broke locks of shops, but the police was nowhere to be seen,” alleged angry residents, who demanded immediate shifting of the SHO. They alleged that this was not the first time that miscreants had broken locks of shops and committed thefts. Efforts by SDM Baljit Singh to pacify protesters failed to yield results. Later, the SP himself went to the shopkeepers and assured them that their thefts would be traced soon. |
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Rs 75-lakh penalty slapped on dairy
Tribune News Service
Hisar, July 20 A DHBVN spokesman said here that the connection was checked in the presence of the owner. The consumer was found drawing supply directly from a three-phase 11-KV line by using three aluminium core cable. One end of the cable was connected to the 11-KV line and the other end to a 100-KV transformer installed inside a room in the dairy illegally. The supply of this illegal additional transformer was being distributed and used via a change-over-switch. There was a 107-KW load of the unit against its sanctioned load of 99.266 KW. The XEN (Operations), Nuh, has imposed a penalty of `75,08,027 on the erring consumer.
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Woman’s body found
Sirsa, July 20 The house owner, Kundan
Lal, alleged that the vendor, Babloo, who hailed from Uttar Pradesh, lived in the room with a woman,
Phoolan, and his son. He said the room was locked for the past five days and he thought that the family had gone somewhere. However, he became suspicious when he noticed the foul smell emanating from the room last night. He and some neighbours called the police, who broke open the door only to find the body of Phoolan inside the room. The police said the woman had been strangulated and hit on the head. |
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Woman murdered
Faridabad, July 20 The police registered a case on the complaint of the victim’s husband, Sanjay Kumar Sinha.
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Karnal, July 20
