Character verification of counting agents
ROHTAK, Oct 5 — In a significant move the Chief Election Commissioner has directed character verification of parties' counting agents probably for the first time in state.

Cops’ bail plea rejected
FARIDABAD, Oct 5 — Mr R.L. Sankhla, Additional District and Sessions Judge, yesterday rejected the application of three police officials — Balwant Singh, Dhan Singh, both ASIs and Naresh Kumar, a constable, for anticipatory bail. They are posted at the Hodal police station.

Suicide case: 7 rly employees detained
HISAR, Oct 5 — The suicide by a railway employee along with four of his family members appears to be leading to "caste polarisation" among railway employees. The situation became tense at the railway station here today after the police detained seven persons for questioning.

District computer network launched
FATEHABAD, Oct 5 — The Commissioner, Hisar division, Mr Dharamvir, today formally launched the first district computer network of the country by transferring a file from the district headquarters to a computer in a remote corner of the district.

Sangh: reinstate suspended teachers
FATEHABAD, Oct 5 — The Haryana Rajkiya Adhyapak Sangh, affiliated to the Sarva Karamchari Sangh, has demanded that the suspended and dismissed employees should be reinstated by considering their suspension period as duty period.

Decision on Bansi's bail plea today
BHIWANI, Oct 5 — The anticipatory bail application moved by the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, and his younger son Mr Surendra Singh, a former MP, in a case registered against them by Mr Suraj Pal on October 1 was taken up for hearing today by Mr Pritam Pal, Sessions Judge. The decision on the applications has been reserved for October 6.

In-laws drive out 2 women
ROHTAK, Oct 5 — A woman of the local Chinyot Colony was allegedly beaten up and driven out of the house by her in-laws when she asked them to return the amount the latter had borrowed from her parents.

Probe sought against VC
ROHTAK, Oct 5 — The Maharshi Dayanand University Teachers Association has asked the Governor of Haryana, who is also the Chancellor of the university, to order a probe into the alleged irregularities during the tenure of the present Vice-Chancellor (VC), Lieut-Gen (retd) O.P. Kaushik.

Boora reminds Chautala of promises
HISAR, Oct 5 — The Organising Secretary of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee, Mr Harpal Singh Boora, has criticised the Haryana Government for "ignoring the interests of the farmers".

Councillor shot dead
ROHTAK, Oct 5 — Mr Dalbir Singh Bangar, a municipal commissioner, was shot in broad daylight by three motor-cycle borne persons on the municipal committees premises here today.

Farmers not getting support price: CPI
PANIPAT, Oct 5 — The Communist Party of India has alleged that farmers are not being given the support price for their paddy crop by private traders. The crop is reportedly being purchased at lesser prices than the procurement prices announced by the government.

DCs told not to back truck unions
From Ravi S. Singh
Tribune News Service

GURGAON, Oct 5 — The Haryana Government has decided not to legitimise unionism by truck operators in the districts in continuation of the earlier decisions in this regard.

According to well-placed sources in the Haryana Government, the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, has personally instructed Deputy Commissioners and the district police chiefs against providing support to unionism among truck operators. The move has come as setback to the truck operators as they had intensified their lobbying with the present dispensation, immediately after the fall of the Bansi Lal government.

A member of the Haryana Cabinet said that the reason for the Chief Minister’s negative stand on the issue was on account of the feedback that the present trend of unionism, albeit unrecognised, was a major source of corrupt practices by truck operators in connivance with district officials.

Industrialists in the state have drawn the attention of the government to the "high-handedness", of truck operators and "unjustified" rates fixed for the transportation of goods. There had been reports of violence and registration of criminal cases against leaders of various truck operators’ unions.

Recently, a clash and incidents of high-handedness were reported near a beer malt factory here, according to a former President of the Gurgaon Industrial Association (GIA), Mr S.B. Aggarwal. There are reports that when the managements of industries rope in the services of truck operators from outside, the latter are thrashed by the leaders of the local ‘self-styled’ unions.

Truck operators’ unions are reported to be strong in Faridabad, Gurgaon, Hisar, Panipat, Karnal and Rohtak.

The union leaders have allegedly developed a parallel administration with regard to collection of taxes. Erring operators and the managements of industrial units were tried in a kind of ‘kangroo court’ of the unions. The union leaders allegedly enjoyed tacit political patronage.

The sources said that the Chief Minister had specifically pointed out to Deputy Commissioners and the district police chiefs that the unionism among the operators was a major source of corruption, besides creating law and order problems.

However, there is a feeling in certain quarters that considering the power of the existing unions, the present government will not be able to restrain them for long. The present government has adopted an anti-union stance out of political compulsion, keeping in view a possible mid-term assembly election in the state.

Drain issue hangs fire
From Our Correspondent

ROHTAK, Oct 5 — The ongoing confrontation between the Irrigation authorities and residents of nearby Bahuakbarpur village over the construction of a drain costing Rs 6 crore reached a new high when the villagers turned down the request of a high-powered committee headed by the Town and Country Planning Minister, Mr Dhirpal Singh on Sunday. The work on this drain which started in April, 1977, was suspended in June that year due to opposition by the villagers.

On directions of the Chief Minister Mr Om Prakash Chautala, the committee was set up under the chairmanship of Mr Dhirpal Singh. The committee consisted of Mr Balwant Mayna, Chairman, Agriculture and Marketing Board, MLA from Kiloi Assembly segment, Mr Srikishan Hooda, the Deputy Commissioner, the Superintending Engineer, Irrigation Department, and the SDM, among others.

The team visited the village and talked to villagers for about two hours. The villagers claimed that the design of the drain was faulty and they would not let the authorities to carry out the remaining construction work near the village. The construction work on this 23-km drain had to be given up in June 1997, while about 70 per cent of the work had been completed. Only six km of digging had been left. The drain starts from Dhanana village in Lakhanmajra sub-division and joins the Meham drain near Anwal village after passing through Nandal, Lakhanmajra, Kharenti, Girawar, Madina, Jindran, Nindana, Bahuakbarpur, Muradpurtekna, Mokhra Khas and Lahli.

The previous government had drawn up a plan to construct Meham and Lakhanmajra drains at a cost of about Rs 25 crore to save the low-lying areas of the district from flooding during the monsoon. While the construction of the Meham dram has already been completed the work on the Lakhanmajra drain got stuck following the opposition of the residents of Bahuakbarpur village. The villagers have been demanding the drain to go near Madina village. They fear if the present design was executed the drain would flood the village.

Where even drinking water is contaminated
From Rakesh Bhardwaj

PANIPAT: The people of this tehsil town are forced to drink contaminated water — courtesy public health service — due to which epidemics are likely to spread in the near future.

The Public Health Department is maintaining a tubewell near Hanuman Mandir from where drinking water is supplied to Ram Nagar, Subash Nagar and Parkash Nagar. The tubewell is adjacent to an open water tank in which litter is thrown.

When this reporter visited the site he saw a room being built instead of a protective boundary wall. Stray pigs are seen roaming around. It is alleged by residents of this area that on more than one occasion a small pig was seen swimming in the tubewell. Ultimately it died and this water was supplied to the residents, exposing them to epidemics.

A protective boundary wall for this tubewell has not been constructed by the department for the past several years even though the Deputy Commissioner, at the request of the local residents, sanctioned Rs 25,000 for the job. But instead of the wall the department constructed a room which has been pulled down by the people.

Resentment prevails amongst the residents as the boundary wall is not being constructed by the department in accordance with the plan provided by the Executive Engineer of the Municipal Council. The water tank is still open and exposed to atmospheric pollution and dust.

The area around the tubewell appears to be home for pigs. Even the tubewell room is used by them to rest. The main pipe of the tubewell is open and the machine used for chlorinating the water has been out of order since long.

A bag of bleaching powder is lying there and some of the powder has been scattered around and is not being used for purification of water. As the machine is out of order, the bleaching of water is done manually.

Mr Balwan Singh, a local resident, told this correspondent that after the use of contaminated water, the entire family had to undergo medical treatment for two to three months for water-borne diseases. As the department is not doing its work properly, they use the water only after boiling it.

The residents have also approached the Deputy Commissioner to help them get a boundary wall constructed and get clean drinking water supplied.

Bangar takes over as GJU VC
Tribune News Service

HISAR, Oct 5 — Dr Krishen Chander Bangar today took over the charge of the Vice-Chancellor (VC) of Guru Jambeshwar University (GJU) from Mr Dharamveer, who was holding the additional charge, for the past year.

Although, Dr Bangar has so far been assigned the ‘charge only’, yet his taking over as the VC has been welcomed in the university.

His appointment has brought to end a phase of uncertainty in the university, which had started after Mr Bansi Lal took over as the Chief Minister. Probably it was for the first time that an institution of high academic learning was left without a regular head for one full year.

Dr Bangar is the only academician at present to head a university in Haryana. The other three universities — Kurukshetra University, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, and the CCS Haryana Agricultural University — are being headed by non-academicians.

Besides holding the additional charge of the VC, Mr Dharamveer was the Commissioner Hisar division and state Secretary, Science and Technology.

The Guru Jambeshwar University Teachers Association has welcomed the decision of the Governor, Mr Mahabir Prasad, to give the charge of the VC to Dr Bangar.

Within three years of its foundation, GJU had been declared as a "role model" university by the University Grants Commission. However, things started to deteriorate as the government’s attitude towards the university became casual". The university reportedly did not even get 50 per cent of the budget it needed during the time of Mr Bansi Lal.

Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala has expressed his desire to revive GJU and has assured the new VC of cooperation.

Talking to reporters after taking over the charge, Dr Bangar said he would ensure that the university moved in the desired direction.

Character verification of counting agents
From Vipin Sharma

ROHTAK, Oct 5 — In a significant move the Chief Election Commissioner has directed character verification of parties' counting agents probably for the first time in state.

After the directions, the persons against whom criminal cases are pending in various courts will not be able to perform the duties of counting agents.

The counting of votes for the Lok Sabha poll will begin tomorrow.

According to sources, the district electoral officer, Mr Arun Kumar, has directed all Lok Sabha contestants to submit the lists of counting agents along with their photographs. The SSP, Mr P.K. Agrawal, has asked for a detailed report of enlisted persons from the police stations concerned.

It is learnt that Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Capt Inder Singh, nominees of the Congress and the Indian National Lok Dal, respectively, for the Rohtak Lok Sabha seat have submitted their lists to the district election office. According to sources, criminal cases are pending against nearly 12 persons named in the lists.

The election office has apprised both leaders of the cancellation of forms of these agents.

The sources revealed that the persons whose forms were cancelled belonged to Jassia, Kiloi, Aanwal, Mandaudi, Kalanaur, Sanghi, Baniani and Ram Nagar villages.

Meanwhile, the election office has prohibited people, including the Lok Sabha candidates and their agents, to carry mobile phones, pagers watches, cigarettes, matchstickes etc inside counting centres.

At a meeting of the candidates of the Rohtak parliamentary constituency and their agents held here yesterday, the office apprised them of the rules and regulations and various arrangements regarding the counting process.

Cops’ bail plea rejected
Tribune News Service

FARIDABAD, Oct 5 — Mr R.L. Sankhla, Additional District and Sessions Judge, yesterday rejected the application of three police officials — Balwant Singh, Dhan Singh, both ASIs and Naresh Kumar, a constable, for anticipatory bail. They are posted at the Hodal police station.

Rajbir, a resident of the Officers’ Colony, had complained in a Palwal court that he was going to Hodal in a Sumo jeep which was required for election duty on Sept 3 along with his brother Satbir. On the way, Naresh Kumar asked them to drop him at Hodal Chowk. On reaching there, he asked them to drop him at the police station. This led to an altercation between Naresh Kumar and Satbir.

In the meantime, a police control room mobile patrol van arrived on the scene and forcibly took them to the police station. Despite showing them the order of the Subdivisional Magistrate that the vehicle was required for election duty, they did not allow them to go. Instead, the policemen allegedly started beating Satbir for refusing to drop Naresh at the police station.

When Rajbir intervened, he was allegedly stripped and beaten with sticks. The brother duo also alleged that the police officials threatened to kill them if the matter was reported to the higher authorities.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the judge observed that the offence, said to have been committed by the policemen, was of a serious nature. Therefore, their application for anticipatory bail was rejected.

Suicide case: 7 rly employees detained
Tribune News Service

HISAR, Oct 5 — The suicide by a railway employee along with four of his family members appears to be leading to "caste polarisation" among railway employees. The situation became tense at the railway station here today after the police detained seven persons for questioning.

Rail traffic was disrupted for several hours, as hundreds of employees gathered at the station and demanded the immediate release of all detained employees.

About 50 employees of the Carriage and Wagon Department issued a press note, alleging that some persons were trying to implicate the employees.

Madal Lal Jadia, who committed suicide along with his wife and three children on October 1, had named several people as responsible for his suicide.

Interestingly, the employees implicated by Madan Lal in his suicide note belong to the upper caste. Madan Lal was the cashier of the local unit of the All-India Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Railway Employees Association.

The employees alleged, that Madan Lal at the behest of the Station Superintendent Ram Nath Meena and Assistant Station Superintendent Jaipal Singh was spreading casteism.

They said, Madan Lal was placed under suspension after an inquiry. Several employees had recorded their statement before the inquiry officer.

Meanwhile, the police said it had not made any arrests so far.

District computer network launched
From Our Correspondent

FATEHABAD, Oct 5 — The Commissioner, Hisar division, Mr Dharamvir, today formally launched the first district computer network of the country by transferring a file from the district headquarters to a computer in a remote corner of the district.

Speaking on the occasion Mr Dharamvir said modern technology should be utilised for improving the living standards of people and computers would play a major role in future.

He said the computer network would open up channels for easy access and transfer of any kind of information thereby ensuring a transparent administration. He said the network should be utilised to its maximum potential by integrating services that would be useful to the common man.

Earlier, Mr S.M. Hussain, District Informatics Officer, National Informatics Centre (NIC), Fatehabad, gave a presentation on the evolution of data management. He explained the technologies involved in the district computer network such as communication backbone, e-mail, file and data transfer through modems and access of data from servers. The transfer of information on the network through dial up on modems was also demonstrated.

Mr V. Raja Sekhar, Deputy Commissioner, explained the utility of the network where communication from the state headquarters and district headquarters could reach the block, tehsil and the municipal committee level. He said apart from exchange of data and reports, the individual offices would use the computers also as stand alone PCs and utilise programmes for accounting and establishment.

He said development offices like blocks could create data banks of need based demands of the region and utilise it for planned and phased development of the area through the District Planning Board.

He said the Revenue Department was devising a software with the help of the NIC for computerising the age-old revenue accounts. He said various other departments would also be networked with the district computer network adding that the special feature of the network was the immediate satellite access through VSAT.

Sangh: reinstate suspended teachers
From Our Correspondent

FATEHABAD, Oct 5 — The Haryana Rajkiya Adhyapak Sangh, affiliated to the Sarva Karamchari Sangh, has demanded that the suspended and dismissed employees should be reinstated by considering their suspension period as duty period.

Talking to mediapersons here today, Mr C.N. Bharati, general secretary of the sangh, said that the sangh had come to know that the government was planning to take back all police cases except those of sabotage. He demanded that the government should adopt a liberal attitude towards the cases of sabotage too and should take back all cases of victimisation without any ‘its and buts’.

The sangh leader ridiculed the decision of the state government to regularise the services of those employees who had completed 15 years of service. He said that the government should regularise the services of all ad hoc employees and also of those teachers who were appointed on the 89-day basis.

Mr Bharti said that the sangh had written to the state Chief Minister and the Education Minister to give its leaders an appointment to discuss their demands. There were a lot of disparities in the pay scales of almost all categories of teachers and teachers, headmasters and principals had not yet been given the benefit of time scales. The union leader alleged that some teachers were being harassed on the charge of committing LTC fraud and that police cases were being registered against them while no action was being taken against the agents who provided fake tickets to these teachers.

The state executive committee of the sangh had passed a resolution through which it had demanded that the government should desist from transferring the teachers in mid-session.

The sangh executive also took note of the announcement of the state government through which it had said that 14,000 new teachers would be recruited in the state and demanded that the government must first regularise the services of the teachers who are working on ad hoc or temporary basis. The sangh also expressed concern over the incidents of snatching of salary bags from teachers in Haryana.

Decision on Bansi's bail plea today
From Our Correspondent

BHIWANI, Oct 5 — The anticipatory bail application moved by the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, and his younger son Mr Surendra Singh, a former MP, in a case registered against them by Mr Suraj Pal on October 1 was taken up for hearing today by Mr Pritam Pal, Sessions Judge. The decision on the applications has been reserved for October 6.

Hearing on the anticipatory bail applications of Sat Pal Paharia, reported to be a confidant of Mr Bansi Lal, Ghasi Ram, a mechanic in a workshop on the Tosham Road, Sanjay and Ranbir Singh, all accused in the case, has been put off to October 8.

In the FIR, Mr Suraj Pal, a Superintendent of Police in Haryana, has alleged that Mr Bansi Lal during his chief ministership got a shed constructed in his house at Handi Road, from the persons concerned without making any payment.

The FIR has also alleged that Mr Bansi Lal's official position was misused to get a loan of about Rs 95 lakh for the poultry farm of Ranbir Singh.

In-laws drive out 2 women
From Our Correspondent

ROHTAK, Oct 5 — A woman of the local Chinyot Colony was allegedly beaten up and driven out of the house by her in-laws when she asked them to return the amount the latter had borrowed from her parents.

According to informed sources, the daughter of Mr Baldev Raj of Chinyot Colony was married to Rajender, son of Manohar Lal in Delhi. Her in-laws allegedly asked for Rs 80,000 from the bride who borrowed the amount from her brother. After some time when she asked her in-laws to return the money, they allegedly beat her and chucked her out of the house.

The police has registered a case under Sections 498-A and 406 of the IPC.

In a similar incident, Promila, in a complaint lodged with the police, has alleged that her in-laws had driven her away from the house for she had failed to fulfil their desires regarding dowry.
The police has registered a case under Sections 498-A, 323 and 34 of the IPC.

Probe sought against VC
From Our Correspondent

ROHTAK, Oct 5 — The Maharshi Dayanand University Teachers Association has asked the Governor of Haryana, who is also the Chancellor of the university, to order a probe into the alleged irregularities during the tenure of the present Vice-Chancellor (VC), Lieut-Gen (retd) O.P. Kaushik.

At a meeting of the executive committee of the association held here today, it resolved to appeal to the Chancellor to launch a detailed inquiry into all allegations of irregularities against the VC. It said all complaints regarding the alleged irregularities in appointments, financial matters, victimisation of teachers and employees and the problems concerning the teaching and research work should be considered through the probe and strict action should be taken if the VC was found guilty. The association sent a fax message to the Chancellor, Mr Mahabir Prasad, in this regard.

The association also welcomed the show cause notice issued to the VC by the Chancellor recently and hoped that the authorities concerned would follow the UGC guidelines and norms while appointing the Vice-Chancellor in future.

Boora reminds Chautala of promises
Tribune News Service

HISAR, Oct 5 — The Organising Secretary of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee, Mr Harpal Singh Boora, has criticised the Haryana Government for "ignoring the interests of the farmers".

In a statement here yesterday, Mr Boora said before coming to power, the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, had promised free power and water to small farmers. He claimed, the farmers had come to attend the rally on Mr Devi Lal's birthday with the expectations that power and water would be made free. But, he pointed out, their hopes were belied.

The Congress leader asked Mr Chautala to withdraw all the taxes imposed by the Bansi Lal government in the name of prohibition. He said Mr Chautala had promised to withdraw these taxes also.

Mr Boora also said the Chief Minister should take up with the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, the long-pending dispute of the Satluj-Yamuna link canal and resolve it.

Councillor shot dead
From Our Correspondent

ROHTAK, Oct 5 — Mr Dalbir Singh Bangar, a municipal commissioner, was shot in broad daylight by three motor-cycle borne persons on the municipal committees premises here today.

He sustained two bullet injuries and died on the spot. He was leader of the Congress municipal group and also its spokesman.

Mr Bangar, who represented ward no 8, had gone to the municipal committee office and as soon as he alighted from his car, the assailants fired at him from a close range with a country made pistol.

The Senior Superintendent of Police, Mr P.K. Aggarwal, said the police was investigating the incident but it appeared to be a case of personal rivalry. Mr Bangar was facing several criminal cases, including that of murder, he added.

The former Minister of State for Home, Mr Subhash Batra condemned the incident and demanded immediate arrest of the culprits.

Farmers not getting support price: CPI
From Our Correspondent

PANIPAT, Oct 5 — The Communist Party of India has alleged that farmers are not being given the support price for their paddy crop by private traders. The crop is reportedly being purchased at lesser prices than the procurement prices announced by the government.

Giving details of the decisions taken at a meeting of the state executive of the party here yesterday, the state Secretary, Mr Raghbir Singh, said the government agencies were making minimum purchases and the government had not announced the prices of the levy rice so far. He said because of this the rice millers were purchasing paddy at prices which were not remunerative to the farmers.

He said the party would organise farmers' meetings in the mandis and would also gherao officers concerned demanding full procurement prices for farmers.

Mr Raghbir Singh said the party had demanded that southern Haryana should be declared a draught-hit area and the farmers of this region should be given a compensation of Rs 5,000 per acre as most of the crop of jowar, bajra and paddy had been damaged due to lack of rain and irrigation facilities.

He said farmers in Rohtak, Bhiwani, Jhajhhar, Rewari, Mahendergarh, Gurgaon and Faridabad had suffered losses due to the draught like conditions. The party has demanded that the loan recovery from farmers be deferred and electricity bills waived off.