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Chautala may not
induct new ministers What if Haryana annuls Yamuna accord, asks Chautala BJP flays Punjab’s stand on river waters Punjab CM’s stand on SYL unfortunate,
says Naveen Jindal |
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Haryana amends EC service rules T.D. Jogpal relinquishes office Panels on parks make councillors see
red
HUDA to hold open darbars BJYM activists stop Punjab Roadways buses Mahila Cong workers urged
to take part in elections Upper age limit for women candidates removed Ex-professor presents book
to Kidwai Kidwai mourns death of
R.S. Mehrotra Farm hand’s wife raped,
police fails to file report Army jawans held for eve teasing
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Chautala may not
induct new ministers Chandigarh, July 14 The Chief Minister had initially announced that he would expand the Council of Ministers in conformity with the new law passed by Parliament. He, however, backed out subsequently and also did not give any clear answer to questions about the proposed expansion of the Ministry. The Chautala-led Council of Ministers has at present 10 members, including the CM himself. Mr Chautala can induct four more ministers, and it will not violate the guideline on the upper limit on the size of the Ministry (15 per cent of the total strength of the legislative assembly). On the other hand, there is also specification on the minimum strength of a Council of Ministers. Mr Chautala needs to induct two more ministers to conform with the guideline on the minimum number of ministers. However, there is a catch. The legislation on the size of the Council of Ministers specified July 7 as the deadline for reducing the number of members in the oversized Cabinets. It did not specify any such deadline for expansion of Ministries having less than 12 ministers. The Haryana Government was initially under the impression that the expansion of the Ministry too would have to be carried out within the July 7 deadline. As a result, the CM announced that he would expand his Cabinet. However, once it became clear that deadline of July 7 existed only for reducing the number of ministers, the CM put his expansion proposal in the backburner. “The law is flawed and the CM has taken advantage of it. The government has completed more than four years without a hitch. If now some MLAs are made ministers, it will disappoint the other party MLAs.
Naturally the CM will not like have any such problem in the fag end of the regime”, a senior official explained. The CM’s earlier announcement that the Ministry would be expanded did see the INLD legislators evincing keen interest in who could possibly be the ministers. Now, with Mr Chautala putting the idea in cold storage, these MLAs have cooled down. Official sources added that the CM would most possibly ignore the stipulation on the minimum number of members in his Ministry and would not induct new ministers till the end of his term. |
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What if Haryana annuls Yamuna accord, asks Chautala Ambala, July 14 Talking to mediapersons after a brief stop over at the PWD Rest House here on his way from Delhi to Chandigarh, he said the people of Haryana were unhappy with the step taken by the Punjab Government under the leadership of Capt Amarinder Singh. “This step by Punjab can lead to anarchy in the country. Even we can be forced to consider annulment of the Yamuna accord,” he said. “What will happen if the power output from Ranjit Sagar Dam is not shared. It will lead to a serious situation,” he said. Mr Chautala said the next course of action would be decided at the Cabinet meeting. “I have already met the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, and asked him to check the Punjab Government. He has assured me that he will look into the matter. We are keeping our options open, including going to court. We will not stop till we get SYL canal water. SYL is the lifeline of Haryana and we have fought a legal battle for 21 years. I am confident that the apex court will take note of this development,” Mr Chautala said. The Ambala Cantt MLA, Mr Anil Vij said action by the Punjab Assembly had posed a grave threat to the federal structure of the nation. “It is an extra constitutional act and I demand that the Punjab Government must be dismissed,” he said. Mr Vij said this would set a bad precedent. “The other parties must evolve a national consensus on this issue so that it can be resolved in the interest of the people of Haryana,” he said. Meanwhile, BJP youth wing activists burnt the effigy of Capt Amarinder Singh in Ambala City. Led by the BJP youth wing state vice-president, Mr Satish Mehta, the activists raised slogans against Capt Amarinder Singh and demanded that the SYL canal must be completed at the earliest. They said the SYL was necessary for Haryana farmers. The activists had a minor verbal altercation with police personnel on duty after they were told to hold the demonstration on the roadside. |
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BJP flays Punjab’s stand on river waters Rohtak, July 14 Addressing mediapersons here, he said the party had taken a stand on the issue and the details would be finalised during a meeting of the Haryana BJP leaders at Delhi in the evening. Mr Yadav said Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala should have called an all-party meeting to seek consensus after the Punjab Assembly had passed the resolution scrapping the agreements. He said none of the Congress MPs from Haryana had spoken a word on the issue. The lone BJP MP from Haryana had voiced his protest by sitting on dharna. He added that protest demonstrations had been staged in Hisar, Ambala and Jind this morning and party men had stopped buses and deflated
tyres. |
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Punjab Act black law: Cabinet Chandigarh, July 14 The Haryana Cabinet, which met here today under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister, Mr.Om Prakash Chautala, adopted a strongly-worded resolution describing the Punjab Act as “a black law marking the nadir of legislative impropriety”. The Cabinet urged the Union Government to ensure that “swift and firm executive, legislative and constitutional action was taken to prevent the recurrence of such maverick attempts to subvert the Constitution and the economic and social fabric of the country.” The resolution said: “It is a shameful move in utter contempt of the Supreme Court of India as well as canons of civil society and the rule of law. This move of the Punjab Government and the Legislature, having dangerous portends, undermines the unity and integrity of this country. Such sinister action should be nipped in the bud by the Union Government. “The State of Haryana has inalienable and well established legal and statutory rights over the waters of the Ravi and the Beas. Multi-state and inter-state agreements cannot be unilaterally annulled in such a crude manner... it was hoped that better counsel would have prevailed in the light of the recent historic judgement of the Supreme Court in the SYL canal case on June 4, 2004. Instead, Punjab has chosen to exhibit yet another attempt to evade its legal and constitutional obligation through a motivated abuse of the legislative process.” |
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Punjab CM’s stand on SYL unfortunate,
says Naveen Jindal Hisar, July 14 Mr
Jindal, who is also a national-level shooter, said the three major problems before the country were illiteracy, unemployment and increasing population and added that the Congress would perform well in the state Assembly elections. Regarding the SYL issue, he said the stance of the Capt Amarinder Singh-led Punjab Government on the issue was unfortunate. He lamented that the Punjab Government had made it a prestige issue. Meanwhile, local Congress MLA Om Prakash Jindal has demanded that the Punjab Government should willingly release the water for Haryana and Rajasthan. He also sought an all-party meeting on the issue. |
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Dadupur-Nalvi canal okayed Kurukshetra, July 14 Mr Chautala said Devi Lal had conceived the project, but it had been shelved by Mr Bansi Lal. He said 347 villages in Yamunanagar, Ambala and Kurukshetra districts would be benefited. The Chief Minister asserted that people would have to face acute shortage of water in the years to come if water was not used judiciously. He said the water table was going down day by day. He said the Haryana Government had decided to construct water channels and canals on a war footing to recharge water. He said a number of facilities were being given to farmers, including the highest sugarcane rate of Rs 110 per
quintal. |
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Haryana amends EC service rules
Chandigarh, July 14 So far, Haryana had two State Election Commissioners (SEC). Both were retired bureaucrats. The existing rules provided for the appointment of a sitting or a retired High Court judge or a senior bureaucrat for the post. However, according to the proposed amendment, a former Chairman of a State Public Service Commission or a Vice-Chancellor of a university could be appointed as the SEC. If this amendment is through then, the Chairman of the Haryana Public Service Commission, Dr K.C. Bangar, or the former Vice-Chancellor of Maharshi Dayanand University, Maj-Gen Bhim Singh Suhag, can be among the contenders for the post, which has a tenure of five years or till the incumbant reaches the age of 65, which ever is earlier. The Government may shift Dr Bangar from the Public Service Commission to the Election Commission so that it can appoint a new chairman of the Public Service Commission who would have a term of six years. Already it had appointed four members of the service commission. While two members had retired, two others, who were appointed by the INLD government, had resigned. Shops in Haryana will now remain open for 12 hours instead of 10 hours. The Cabinet today approved the Punjab Shops and Commercial Establishments (Haryana Amendment) Bill, 2004 to amend the Punjab Shops and Commercial Establishments Act,1958. |
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T.D. Jogpal relinquishes office
Chandigarh, July 14 Mr Jogpal, an IAS officer of the 1968 batch, belonged to Bhiwani district. After his retirement as Financial Commissioner, Industrial Training, he was appointed Election Commissioner by the Bansi Lal Government to supervise the panchayat and municipal elections on July 14, 1999, days before the HVP Government fell.
Since the local body and panchayat elections were due, Mr Jogpal soon came into a confrontation with the Chautala Government. The new government wanted to postpone the elections of the local bodies to be deferred till after the Assembly elections. |
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Panels on parks make councillors see
red Panchkula, July 14 The councillors showed their resentment against the decision taken by the MC president, Ms Seema Chaudhary, asking resident welfare associations (RWAs) to form committees for maintaining 215 parks that fall within the purview of the MC. The general house meeting of the council witnessed heated arguments by the councillors owing allegiance to the Congress, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and the Bharatiya Janta Party over this issue. They maintained that the councillors of each ward should have been invited to form committees, rather than the RWAs. The MC had called a meeting of representatives of the RWAs last week and offered them Re 1 per square metre for maintaining various parks. The MC, after developing these parks (installing lights, swings and creating walking tracks), has decided to hand over these to residents for maintenance. Earlier, the MC had invited residents to come up and form committees for the maintenance of the parks, but the council did not get a good response. Congress and BJP councillors, peeved at the general house meeting being called after a gap of four months, alleged that the recarpetting of roads being done by the MC contractor was of poor quality. Mr C.B. Goel of the BJP, and Mr S.S. Goel, Ms Manvir Gill and Mr Naresh Rawal of the Congress alleged that the newly laid roads in their wards had already developed potholes. They were assured by the president that the contractor had deposited the earnest money with the MC, and if the roads were destroyed in the monsoon, this money would be forfeited. Ms Chaudhary recommended that if the newly laid roads were found to have any depressions, the contractor would be asked to undertake patch work on these. The general house of the MC today approved the MC's decision to take land on lease at Naggal village for setting up a dairy complex. It was also agreed that the house tax and fire tax charged from ex-servicemen by the council be refunded (ex-servicemen are exempted from this tax). An agenda item pertaining to exemption of rent from tenants who had taken shops on rent at Majri Chowk was disapproved by the House. The council has 12 shops here, which have been given on rent. While eight of the tenants have paid their dues to the council, the others had sought exemption. As many as 154 development works, like construction of cement concrete roads, development of parks, beautification of roundabouts and beautification of road dividers between various sectors were also approved by the House. |
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HUDA to hold open darbars Panchkula, July 14 Mr Likhi said on top of his agenda was beautification and removal of encroachments. He said he would ensure that the single window system in the Estate Office was functioning properly, so that the allottees did not face any problem. He said he would carry on with the proposals set by his predecessor (Ms Sukriti Likhi, who is also his spouse), including installing of closed circuit television cameras to keep check on the staff. The Administrator said he would also initiate projects for the greening of the township, so that it is spruced up. Mr Likhi said he would also initiate steps to ensure that the auction of commercial sites in the township was held soon. There has been no auction of sites in the township for the past four months. He said the draw of lots for the residential plots in Sector 2 and 6 of Mansa Devi Complex would be held shortly. As many as 34,000 applications had been received by HUDA for the allotment of 166 plots in Sector 2 (part I) of MDC and 372 plots in Sector 6 of MDC. Meanwhile, sources in HUDA say that while the auction of sites will be held next month, the draw of lots for the plots will be held after three months. |
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BJYM activists stop Punjab Roadways buses
Jind, July 14 The BJYM activists were detained by the police when they deflated the tyres of two buses at the local Patiala Chowk where they had organised a “chakka jam”. One of these buses had come from Patiala while the other was going to Ludhiana. The activists reportedly manhandled the driver of one of the buses. The demonstrators earlier raised slogans like “pani nahin to sadak nahin’’ and said they would not allow buses from Punjab to pass through Haryana if Punjab would not release the due share of waters to Haryana. The traffic was restored in the area after the police detained these demonstrators. The detained BJYM activists were taken to the local police station and were released after some time. — UNI Hisar: Unidentified youths set a Punjab Roadways bus on fire near Guru Jambheshwar University here today. The bus passengers extinguished the fire. The youths approached the driver of the bus (PB-11P-7410), Gurcharan Singh, at the local bus stand and asked him to wait for some time as around 10 passengers were to board the bus. After waiting for a while, the driver started the bus and left the bus stand. When the bus reached near the university, the youths blocked its way by parking their cars in the middle of the road. The driver was forced to stop the bus, following which they asked the passengers to get down and set the bus on fire after sprinkling petrol on it. The youths fled while the passengers put out the fire. A police party reached the spot and took possession of the bus.
— TNS |
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Mahila Cong workers urged
to take part in elections Panipat, July 14 Addressing Congress Mahila district presidents from Haryana, Ms Joshi said the law and order situation in the state had been deteriorating and crimes against women was on the rise. It was unfortunate that three cases of rape were being registered daily in the state and there were many which went unregistered. She said that for the uplift of weaker sections of society, all party workers in the state had to work actively so that the underprivileged could enjoy equal rights. She said the percentage of the women voters had increased. |
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Upper age limit for women candidates removed Chandigarh, July 14 While stating this here today, an official spokesman said a decision to this effect had been approved by the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala. He said that this decision would be effective from the academic session of 2004-2005. He said that all the 31 Industrial Training Institutes for women being run by the department were affiliated to the National Council for Vocational Training. |
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Ex-professor presents book
to Kidwai Chandigarh, July 14 The Governor complemented the author for consolidating important information about the state, which would be very useful for students, researchers and other readers who were interested in knowing about Haryana’s history, geography, culture and development. Dr Gupta, a renowned author of many books on economics, social sciences and other educational topics, has dealt with the descriptive study on the state of Haryana comprehensively consisting of 23 chapters such as historical background, natural resources, population, agriculture, green revolution, irrigation, development etc. |
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Kidwai mourns death of
R.S. Mehrotra Chandigarh, July 14 Prof Mehrotra died after a heart attack at a hospital in Mumbai on Sunday last. In a condolence message issued here, Dr Kidwai described Prof Mehrotra as a renowned scientist whose outstanding contribution in the field of Chemistry received international recognition. ‘’Even after his retirement, Prof Mehrotra continued to remain actively engaged in his research activities and was always in demand for scientific seminars and conferences,’’ Dr Kidwai said. Commending his remarkable contribution in the field of education, the Governor said Prof Mehrotra left an in indelible mark as an outstanding Vice-Chancellor of various universities in the country, including the prestigious Delhi University. |
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Farm hand’s wife raped,
police fails to file report Sonepat, July 14 The police has neither registered a case nor sent the victim for medical examination. Kuttan, a farm labourer in the Om Herbal Farm and Research Centre outside Rohna village, resides in a hut near the farm. Kuttan along with his wife and son was returning to the farm on Monday late night when they were intercepted by Amarjit, Nanha and Jagroop of Rohna village, after tying Kuttan and his son with rope. Jagroop allegedly raped his wife. Kuttan reported the incident to the police as well as to the farm owner, Anil Kumar. As alleged by the victim, when they went to the police in the night to report the incident, they were asked to come in the morning. Next day also the police remained reluctant to register the complaint. |
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2 held on rape charge Sonepat, July 14 The girl was produced before a Judicial Magistrate here today. She narrated the incident and told the names of the culprits in court. She stated that she was alone in the house as her parents, who had received injuries in a clash, were admitted to a hospital and her grandmother had gone out. |
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Army jawans held for eve teasing Ambala, July 14 The Government Railways Police made arrests when a woman passenger and her daughter raised an alarm after being harassed and beaten up by three on the platform. The harassed women alleged that the three had boarded Malwa Express from Indore from where they had started their journey for Nangal Dam via Ambala Cantonment. Both the mother and daughter complained that as soon as the train left Indore, the three youth travelling in the same compartment started teasing her daughter and continued harassing them despite intervention of the co-passengers in the coach. Later, they took liquor and again started teasing her daughter in an inebriated condition as the train was nearing Ambala. On reaching Ambala Cantonment, they didn’t allow them to alight from the train. However, when they succeeded in getting down with the help of passengers, they started beating them at the platform. On raising an alarm, GRP men reached the spot and caught hold of the two miscreants while the third managed to escape. Later, they were identified as Army jawans who were going to Gurdaspur district in Punjab. The GRP arrested Gurmit Singh and Harjit Singh, residents of Gurdaspur, after booking them under Section 354 IPC. The Army authorities have been informed of the incident. — UNI |
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Safai workers withdrawn from houses
Sonepat, July 14 According to a report the step has been taken to improve the sanitary condition of the city which had deteriorated on account of shortage of the sanitary staff. Though safai workers had been working at the houses of senior officers but they were getting their salary from the municipal council regularly.
While the population of the city has crossed the figure of 2.50 lakh but the council had a strength of mere 232 safai workers. There is approximately one safai worker engaged in removing the garbage and filth of 1,077 residents. |
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Chandigarh, July 14 |
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