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Friday,
October 12, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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No let-up in water crisis
in south Haryana 2,640 staff retrenched in
Haryana MDU asked not to evict retired
Professor Newspapers must help maintain peace:
CM Improvement
eludes Telecom Dept |
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CPM condemns air
strikes Rly electrification
by Jan next Sangh: govt adopting delaying
tactics IN FOCUS Demolition squad faces
resistance Nine of finance company booked for swindling
Cong opposes new house tax policy Doctor held for taking bribe Cash, jewellery looted from
two houses Man stabs wife Each Haryana town to have fire brigade
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No let-up in water crisis
in south Haryana Jhajjar, October 11 Reports from throughout the region, including Jhajjar, Mahendragarh, Gurgaon, Rewari, and some parts of Bhiwani district reveal that water table has depleted to an alarming extent here. Though the central ground water authority has banned the drilling for underground water in a major area comprising Gurgaon, Mahendragarh and some neighbouring parts declaring these as “dark zone”, groundwater is saline and unfit for human consumption in most of the remaining areas. Wells providing potable water have dried-up or had gone out of use a couple of years ago. Canals are the only source of water — both for drinking and irrigation purposes. Despite a well-spread network of canal, minors and distributaries, non-arrival of water is a constant problem. Inquiries by The Tribune reveal that water has not arrived for four months in almost half of the canals, and the areas situated at tail-ends remain as dry as ever. Executive engineers of the Public Health Departments here and Bahadurgarh complained that hardly 30 per cent of the required raw water was reaching in their water works reservoirs. The XEN, the local Public Health Department, said water had not been reaching for eight years in five of the total 38 water supply schemes, including Silani, Dhakala, Bhadani. In fact raw water supply was not satisfactory in almost all reservoirs and now due to canal water scarcity they had decided to sink tubewells at eight villages, including Salawas, Ghamri, Khudam, Dadanpur, Surajgarh and Babra, etc. Sources in the Public Health Department, Bahadurgarh, reveal that owing to non-arrival of water in the
Sample minor, for the past four months, water works at Jakhoda, Asaudha and Mandothi have dried up. Hari Mohan of Barahi village says the village has been reeling under the perpetual water scarcity despite repeated assurances by the successive governments. He said four persons of his village who owned a tractor-tanker and are supplying water at the charges of Rs 150 per tanker. Informed sources said water supply schemes constructed at the cost of crores of rupees had been serving water hardly to the 10 per cent of the targeted population here. The situation is even worse in bordering areas and sandy parts of Mahendragarh, Rewari, Bhiwani and Gurgaon districts where availability of canal water is virtually non-existent. A number of protests and incidents of blocking traffic by enraged residents of several villages including Jasaur Kheri, Silami, Machhorali and Chhapar, were reported in the recent past. People allege every time, district officials reach the scene and pacify the protesters by giving assurances, but there is no improvement in situation. Meanwhile, certain persons in the district have grabbed the opportunity to cash in on the government’s inability to provide potable water to the people. They have installed their own tubewells and laid pipelines and charge between Rs 2,000 and Rs 5,000 per connection, besides, a fixed monthly service charge. They dig newly built streets without the prior permission of the district administration and their constantly leaking water pipes have badly damaged the lanes and bylanes in villages. Mr J.P. Kaushik, the local ADC said water supply in villages was panchayat concerned issue and the district administration could interfere only when it brought the matter to its notice. He said administration had asked the Irrigation Department to release water when the water problem come to its notice earlier but denied having any information on non-arrival of canal water at present. However, many well-informed persons and observers trace the root of the existing problem to the non-completion of Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal. Reacting to the rigid stand being taken by the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, residents of this area said the water dispute was being solved on political consideration in spite of ground realities. Citing the case of the SYL issue they alleged that they were being denied due share of water. Mr Om Prakash Beri and the former Congress legislator from Beri constituency said 18 lakh acre feet waters flowing in Sirsa and Fatehabad, home districts of the Chief Minister, is exclusively meant for eight districts of south Haryana, including Sonepat, Rohtak, Jhajjar, Bhiwani, Rewari, Gurgaon, Faridabad and Mahendragarh. He alleged only politics decided the direction of flow of water in Haryana. |
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2,640 staff retrenched in
Haryana Chandigarh, October 11 While Opposition parties have often given astronomical figures relating to retrenchment, to underscore the Chautala-led government’s “anti-people policies”, official sources said that till date the government had retrenched 2,640 employees of loss-making public sector and cooperative sector units. Giving details of the exercise, the sources said that 1,018
employees out of the total of 2,640 retrenched employees, were working at the Spinning Mill at Hansi. Set up in 1977, the mill kept on incurring losses and its accumulated losses up to 1999-2000 totalled Rs 17 crore. Eventually, the mill was sold to the Haryana Warehousing Corporation and all 1,018 employees of the mill were retrenched. The second largest number of employees retrenched was from Consumers Cooperative Wholesale Stores Limited (Confed). A total of 633 employees have been retrenched from Confed, which had accumulated losses of more than Rs 5 crore till 1999-2000. The government also closed down the Haryana State Handloom and Handicrafts Corporation and retrenched all employees (151) except a core group of five which was handling the winding up process of the corporation. The government also retrenched 159 out of 175 surplus employees of the Haryana State Small Industries and Export Corporation. While the company made a loss of Rs 1.35 crore during 1999-2000, the wage bill of the surplus employees was estimated to be Rs 2 crore per annum. Despite the retrenchment of the surplus employees, the corporation has not been able to make a turnaround, and it has been decided now to explore the possibility of transferring the management of the corporation to a cooperative society of employees. The government has also retrenched 678 out of 839 employees of Haryana Minerals Limited. HML, a wholly owned subsidiary of the HSIDC, has surrendered 17 mines for private operations. As a result of this decision, most of the employees of the company have become surplus. The committee constituted by the government under Mr A.N. Mathur, Finance Secretary, for downsizing the staff strength of government departments also reportedly met here last week. Sources said that reports about staff strength, submitted by various departments, showed a large number of employees retiring in two years’ time and it was decided at the meeting that the posts found surplus would not be filled.
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MDU asked not to evict retired
Professor Rohtak, October 11 The court has directed that the university will charge the usual rent/licence fee from Prof Gandhi sans any penal rent. The Additional District Judge has directed the trial court to dispose of the case as expeditiously as possible preferably within six months, by giving not more than three effective opportunities to the contestants for producing evidence. Prof Gandhi, the court said, was an intellectual, an eminent academician, an outstanding educationist, an acclaimed poet and a man of letters. In the evening of his life, he deserved that his case was decided on priority. Dr Gandhi, Dean, Faculty of Education, and Director, Centre for Third World Studies and Research, was retired by the university (MDU) when he attained the age of 60. Prof Gandhi challenged the orders of the university on the grounds that he had opted for the Panjab University Service and Conduct Rules when the Regional Centre here was transferred to Kurukshetra University with effect from June 30, 1974. In the meantime, Rohtak University (now MDU) came into existence and the staff of the said Regional Centre was absorbed in it on the terms and conditions and he would continue to be governed by the service rules applicable to employees of Panjab University, Chandigarh. He pleaded that the government of India had, vide notification dated July 27, 1998, enhanced the age of superannuation of teachers of Central university from 60 to 62 years and it became applicable to the Panjab University too. When MDU was in the process of retiring Prof Gandhi on his attaining the age of 60, he filed a civil suit on the premises that he was governed by the Panjab University Service Rules and in accordance therewith his age of retirement was 62. However, his arguments were contested by the university on the grounds that Prof Gandhi was selected as Lecturer by Panjab University, Chandigarh, and was posted at its Regional Centre at Rohtak and that the administrative charge of the Regional Centre was handed over to Kurukshetra University. Thereafter, he became an employee of MDU when it was born in 1976. The university further pleaded that the appellant was appointed Reader through open selection and that in his appointment letter it was specifically mentioned that his service conditions would be governed by the rules or MDU, Rohtak and that he had accepted his said appointment and submitted the joining report. Therefore, service rules of Panjab University were no longer applicable to him. After hearing the parties and appraisal of the material on record, the trial court dismissed the application vide order dated July 28, 2001, holding that Prof Gandhi had neither prima facie case nor balance of convenience in his favour. The Additional District Judge in the background of the facts, the controversy lay in whether the appellant was governed by the service rules as framed by Panjab University or by those applicable to the teaching staff of MDU. The order said the appointment letter issued to Prof Gandhi when he was appointed Reader or Professor suggested that there was nothing in the conditions to show that the terms and conditions amounted to or had the effect of undoing or repealing the Panjab University Service Rules or amending rules governing the service conditions of the appellant. Prof Gandhi was allotted residential accommodation while he was posted Lecturer and he continued to occupy the accommodation even after his appointment as Reader and then as Professor. This suggested that appointment of Prof Gandhi as Reader and Professor was not fresh but continuation of his original service.
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Poll: Haryana ‘freeing criminals’ to help SAD Chandigarh, October 11 "Close to 1,200 criminals have been released from Haryana prisons so far", the CLP leader alleged while addressing a press conference here jointly with arch rival Bhupinder Singh Hooda, chief of the HPCC. "The state government is releasing prisoners sentenced for long terms. They will also be used by the INLD whenever elections are held in the state", the former Congress Chief Minister said. The press conference followed a meeting of Congress legislators. The CLP also demanded the holding of a special Assembly session to discuss issues such as the deteriorating law and order situation in the state, the new house tax policy, the replacement of electricity meters with electronic ones, damage to standing cotton crops by the American bollworm and the release of hardened criminals from prisons. The Congress leaders said that the late Devi Lal, father of Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, was being projected out of proportion. He was not a leader of the stature of Mahatma Gandhi, they said. Mr Bhajan Lal, who did most of the talking, said that nothing short of the withdrawal of the house tax policy would be acceptable to the Congress. He also criticised the government for entering the market to procure bajra at the minimum support price of Rs 485 per quintal. |
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Newspapers must help maintain peace:
CM Hisar, October 11 Speaking after inaugurating a “small publications exhibition” at the local F. C. College for Women, he said newspapers should desist farm planting stories. This would go a long way in maintaining harmony in the country, he added. Lauding the role played by small publications in the country’s freedom struggle, he said two publications ‘Haryana Tilak’ and ‘Chand’ had played an important role in installing patriotism in the masses during the British rule. Whenever the nation faced hard times, these publications played a vital role in creating awareness in the country, he said. He asked students not to be influenced by western culture. Teachers could play an important role in this direction, he said, adding that only the traditional Indian values would stand the younger generation in good stead. He also released a quarterly magazine ‘Sampark’ of the college and a souvenir published on the occasion.
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Improvement eludes Telecom
Dept Faridabad, October 11 The district has over 1.10 lakh phones working at present. On any given day, at least 10 per cent phones remain out of order. A majority of consumers are not happy with the present system of the rectification of the fault. Many consumers said they had to rely on their ‘links’ in the department for the rectification of the fault. Many of them believe that, if a consumer rely only on his complaint number. Then it may not be possible for him to get his phone in order for at least a week or 10 days. The department has earned ‘reputation’ for not attending complaints in many cases for weeks together. Overbilling and the delayed submission of telephone bills are another main problems. According to district BSNL office sources, the department received about 82 complaints of overbilling between April 1 and September 30, 2001. Although BSNL officials claim that the percentage of inflated bills was only about 0.03 per cent of the total bills, consumers of many localities do not agree with them. A large number of phones of a particular region going out of order abruptly is also not uncommon. About 11,000 phones went out of order in the NIT area and Sector-24 here yesterday when an optical fibre caught fire near the Neelam overbridge. Not only this, over 3,000 phones went out of order for about a fortnight or even longer in the NIT area a few months ago, when underground cables were accidentally cut by a private company while laying its own cables. Business of several trading houses and offices is seriously hampered as the local BSNL department has failed to provide any relief. Situation in rural areas is no better than urban pockets. Recently a large number of phones went out of order due to a snag which hit an exchange at Tigaon village. The department had purchased two machines for preparing duplicate bills, but one of the machines, which was to be installed at the central telegraph office has been kept in a ‘packing’ for the past about a month. While the BSNL office has recently launched its own website on Internet, many of the consumers believe that it may not help much to improve the overall functioning of the department.
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CPM condemns air
strikes Rohtak, October 11 The party has stressed using international forums to bring the guilty to book and punish them according to established laws. The party said Afghan people first became victims of USA-sponsored Taliban’s tyranny and were again being subjected to inhuman sufferings as a result of war against terrorism launched by the USA. The state secretariat of the party at a meeting here yesterday condemned the terrorism as well as the war by the USA. The secretariat passed resolutions against the imposition of irrational house-tax policy and demanded inquiry into the public complaints of new electronic meters running fast. The party, through another resolution, demanded regularisation of unauthorised colonies, improvement in law and order situation and an end to the exploitation of students and their parents by educational institutions, besides stopping undeclared power cuts. The CPM expressed concern over the near total damage to the cotton crop because of American ballworm attack. The party underlined the difficulties farmers would have to face in sowing of the rabi crop as they were left with no resources to buy seed and fertilisers. The party supported farmers’ agitation for compensation of the ruined cotton crop and urged the Chautala government to ask the Central Government for relief.
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Rly electrification
by Jan next
Ambala, October 11 A Railway official said work on the Ludhiana-Jalandhar-Amritsar section was in progress. It involved not only construction of electrical overhead equipment above the track on route, but also creation of traction substations, upgrading of signalling and telecom systems and modification to girder bridges. A steel girder bridge existed over the Satluj river on the Ludhiana-Phillaur section which required modification because of scanty head room and inadequate clearance for erection of overhead lines. “The re-designing and modification of the bridge over the Satluj was a challenging task as it was a major hindrance in railway electrification. Railway Engineers and the Bridge Engineering Department of the Northern Railway accepted the challenging task and with round-the-clock work have by now completed the modification of the down line of the bridge”, he said. At least 80 technicians and six senior supervisors, under the supervision of bridge engineers, were working at the site. “A similar steel girder bridge exists near Chiheru railway station over the Byein. Although comparatively smaller to the bridge over the Satluj, the work on the bridge is of a complicated nature. This bridge is also scheduled to be modified by January, 2002”, he said. The official pointed out that the modification of these two bridges would be a major contributing factor to facilitate the execution of railway electrification works on the section from Ludhiana to Jalandhar.
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Sangh: govt adopting delaying
tactics Sonepat, October 11 Talking to mediapersons here, they said the leaders of the sangh had submitted a six-point charter of demands to the state government which had so far failed to implement the agreement reached between the leaders of the sangh and the state government. The main demands of the sangh include the revision of pay scales of employees working in various boards and corporations and the DRDA, payment of bonus for the past three years, revision in payment of various allowances, regularisation of adhoc employees, contract-base employees and daily wage employees, the formulation of a permanent policy for their regularisation and removal of anomalies in the pay scales. They pointed out that the government had constituted a committee for the removal of anomalies in the pay scales of the employees, but had failed to remove these for the last four years or so. |
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IN FOCUS Ambala In the cantonment area, there are several round-abouts which again are not maintained properly. Recently, some private organisations constructed some small round-abouts on the Ambala-Jagadhari road. In the Sadar area, about half a dozen round-abouts can be built. Besides adding to the beauty of the area, these will also smoothen the flow of traffic. Agarsen Chowk is located on the Ambala-Hisar road in Ambala City, close to the railway station and the bus stand. A statue of Maharaja Agarsen stands in the middle of the round-about. This biggest roundabout of the city needs to be maintained better. The round-about at Manav Chowk used to be well maintained but for some time now nobody is taking care of it. Another round-about near the polytechnic deserves the attention of the municipal authorities. The crossing near the Mission Hospital compound also needs a round-about. Traffic from Chandigarh and Punjab to Hisar and Sirsa pass through this crossing which creates a traffic problem. Hundreds of school children from Baldevnagar and other colonies use this road and the heavy vehicular traffic is a risk for the pedestrians and cyclists. There are about half a dozen educational institutions including SA Jain College, SA Jain Public School, GRSD School, and MDSD Girls College on Jain College Road. The Circular Road also passes through this area. A roundabout on this road near the Gurudwara is urgently needed.
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Demolition squad faces
resistance Gurgaon, October 11 In the violence, four police personnel were injured. In the retaliatory cane charge by the police, agitationists were injured. According to the government version, the Station House Officer of the city police was among those injured. The demolition squad, however, razed to the ground the targeted structures. The demolition squad reached Surya Vihar to demolish 17 structures, of residential and commercial, after a stay order on eviction proceedings were recently vacated by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. According to government sources, the agitationists resorted to brick batting on the police in the midst of demolition work. They allegedly fired two rounds in the air. The police said 10 persons had been rounded up in connection with the violence.
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Nine of finance company booked for swindling Rohtak, October 11 According to police sources, a Delhi-based finance company had set up its branch office at Jhajjar town, about 40 km from here, in 1996. About 150 persons had opened accounts with the finance company and deposited over Rs 1.5 lakh. The finance company one fine morning closed its Jhajjar branch. The police has registered a case under Section 420 and 406 of the IPC against nine officials, who had been managing the company affairs. Those booked included Dolly Banerjee, Madhu Sudan, Ajit, Rekha, Kaliash Chand, Usha Thapa, Nav Kumar, Jaswant and Nisha Gautam.
UNI
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Cong opposes new house tax policy Ambala, October 11 The activists, after ending their 24-hour symbolic fast, said that the people were unhappy with the new house tax policy as it had put a burden on them. They pointed out that there were several discrepancies and civic amenities were not being provided to the people. The memorandum stated that the District Public Relations office had failed in its duties. “It is sad that the District Public Relations office has turned into a while elephant. Information regarding government programmes is not being given to the people,” it states.
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Doctor held for taking bribe Panipat, October 11 The sister-in-law of Mr Lehna Singh of Dehra village was admitted to the Civil Hospital here for treatment. The orthopaedic doctor attending on her allegedly demanded Rs 3,000 from her relatives for performing the operation, the police said. Instead of paying the amount, Mr Lehna Singh informed the SDM, Panipat, Mr Satbeer Saini, about the doctor’s demand. The SDM along with the DSP (City), Mr Baljeet Singh, and the Tehsildar, Mr Rajender Gehlot, laid a trap and caught the doctor while taking currency notes signed by him from Mr Lehna Singh. The police said the doctor had been arrested and a case under various sections of the Corruption Act registered against him.
PTI
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Cash, jewellery looted from
two houses Hisar, October 11 According to the police, they first struck at the house of Ramswroop at midnight. They locked his family members in a room after depriving them of cash and jewellery. After this, the gang members entered a nearby house belonging to Balraj Singh. They forced women members of the family to hand over the jewellery to them. The culprits, who had brought a truck with them, loaded eight buffaloes of Balraj Singh on it. On the way, they looted Rs 15,000 from Pushpender Singh, a close relative of an INLD leader. He was returning to the village from Delhi after alighting from a bus on the national highway. The Sadar police has registered a case of dacoity but no arrest has been made so far.
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Man stabs wife Rohtak, October 11 Police sources said Komal Rani was admitted to Pt B.D. Sharma PGIMS. She was married to Rajesh in 1997 and the couple had a daughter. But the relation between the two could not remain cordial for long and a divorce petition was filed by the victim in a local court. She had started living in her parental home at the Gandhi Nagar Camp. The police said Rajesh visited his in-laws’ house yesterday and attacked his wife with a knife after a verbal duel. The police has registered a case against Rajesh, who has absconded. UNI
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Each Haryana town to have fire brigade Sonepat, October 11 This was stated by the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, while inaugurating a fire service station at Gohana town, 35 km from here last evening. The District Red Cross Society has donated Rs 9 lakh for the Fire Brigade station. Mr Chautala also listed the achievements of his government and claimed that he had fulfilled all promises made to people at the time of assembly elections. Later, he visited Ahulana village where work on the construction of a cooperative sugar mill was in progress.
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Interest
on advances to staff
cut Chandigarh, October 11 Announcing this here today the Finance Minister, Prof Sampat Singh, said that keeping in line with the decision of the Union Government, the interest rate on the general provident fund (GPF) had also been reduced to 9.5 per cent.
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HUDA to allot industrial plots Chandigarh, October 11 The plots will be allotted on a first come first served basis.
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Poll: holidays on Oct 28, Nov 4 Chandigarh, October 11
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HPSC results Chandigarh, October 11
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