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Govt plans tough
steps to check power theft
CM seeks
exemption from service tax Rs 1200 cr for
development projects in Manesar, Gurgaon Haryana’s only
hangman Level of
education in state up, says NAAC |
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Devi Lal varsity
students allege harassment Evaluation system
to be student-friendly Swami criticises
Centre on Manipur HVP to have poll
pact with BJP Six-year-old
girl abducted President’s
Police Medal for ASI Nigam cash
centres to remain open on holidays Rs 5.50 lakh
missing from bank
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Govt plans tough steps to check power theft Panchkula, August 18 It is estimated that Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam is losing Rs 125 crore a year because of rampant power theft. Well placed sources say that almost 40 - 50 per cent of power is lost each year because of transmission losses and power theft, with the latter accounting for 50 per cent of the total losses. Over 50 per cent of agriculture and domestic consumers in the villages of Hisar, Rohtak, Bhiwani, Jind, pockets of Kaithal and in Mewat area, besides hundreds of slum dwellers in the illegal labour colonies at Faridabad, Gurgaon, Panipat, Yamunanagar and Panchkula, are stealing power through kundi connections. Several commercial consumers like education institutions and health institutions, besides the industrial consumers, also indulge in power theft. Senior officials in the Vigilance Cell of HVPN inform that in order to curb power theft they have constituted three additional vigilance teams each for the north and south regions of the state. The Utilities have six permanent vigilance centres at Ambala, Kaithal, Rohtak, Faridabad, Hisar and Gurgaon, and one additional team each will be deputed here for a month beginning September 1 to check power theft. It may be noted that inspite of HVPN having the most well organised vigilance system for power theft detection, comprising officials from power sector and police, over 1000 complaints are received each month. An average Rs 1.25 crore to Rs 1.50 crore is imposed as penalty on those found stealing power. Officials say that as many as 39,329 cases of power theft were detected last year (April 2003 - March 2004), a penalty of Rs 38. 57 crore was imposed and fine of Rs 16. 50 crore was realised. Till July this year, 4465 cases of power theft have been detected, a penalty of Rs 6.24 crore imposed, of which Rs 2.74 crore has been recovered. The Power Utilities also propose to assign responsibility to the staff for any unauthorised connections detected in their areas. Other than recovering the entire defaulting amount from the consumers, an additional 25 per cent of this amount will be recovered from the staff of the area for ignoring the theft and thus causing loss to the department. While 10 per cent of the amount will be recovered from meter readers, 10 per cent from the staff of the concerned complaint centre ( assistant foreman, lineman, assistant lineman), 3 percent from Junior Engineers, 1 per cent from SDOs and 0.5 percent from Executive Engineers. Departmental action will also be taken against these officials . |
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CM seeks exemption from service tax Chandigarh, August 18 In a demi-official letter addressed to Union Finance Minister P.Chidambaram, Mr Chautala said the state government had launched the scheme to provide an insurance cover to the families belonging to economically weaker sections of society. Compensation of up to Rs 1 lakh was being paid to the bereaved families following the death or permanent disablement of the bread-earner. The scheme did not cover the income tax payees as well as the government employees. As many as 675 bereaved families had been benefited so far. Mr. Chautala
urged the Finance Minister that a decision to exempt the scheme from service tax be taken expeditiously as the case sent by the state government was already under consideration of the Union Revenue Department, Tax Research Unit. In another letter addressed to the Union Finance Minister,
Mr. Chautala has drawn his attention towards the decision of the Union Ministry of Communication and Information Technology that the Department of Posts would charge in advance the commission on sale of revenue stamps. He wrote that according to an intimation sent to the state government by the Chief Post Master General, Haryana, the rate of commission on revenue stamps would be 6 per cent from October 1, 2004, and 10 per cent from October 1, 2005. He pointed out that in Haryana revenue stamps worth about Rs3.20 crore were being sold annually through post offices without any commission and judicial and non-judicial stamps were also being sold through licensed stamp venders who got 0.5 per cent and 3 per cent commission, respectively. The Postal Department had to invest less amount of money for stocking revenue stamps as compared to the vendors. In case the commission was allowed as per the decision of the Central Government, it would cause additional burden of about Rs.25 lakh to Rs.30 lakh on the state exchequer per annum, which would not be in public interest. Mr Chautala has also urged the Central Government to increase the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy, bajra, cotton and maize to the level proposed by the state government earlier so as to provide relief to the farmers as their crops had been damaged first due to drought in the entire state and later as a result of flash floods in five districts of Ambala, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Fatehabad and Sirsa. In a letter to the Union Agriculture, Food and Consumer Affairs Minister,
Mr. Sharad Pawar, Mr Chautala drew his attention towards his earlier letter of June 8, 2004, wherein he had urged him to consider the proposal of the
state government while fixing the MSP for main kharif crops of paddy, bajra, maize and cotton. The Haryana
Government sought the fixation of MSP for paddy at Rs.680 per quintal for common variety, Rs.700 per quintal for the fine variety and Rs.730 per quintal for the superfine variety, Rs 625 per quintal for bajra, Rs 2650 per quintal for cotton and Rs 625 per quintal for maize. |
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Rs 1200 cr for development projects Chandigarh, August 18 This was disclosed at a meeting presided over by Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala to review the functioning of the HSIDC here
today. The Managing Director of the HSIDC, Mr. P. K. Gupta, said Rs 108 crore had already been spent for the development of a food park in Rai, a Japanese hostel as well as a gems and jewellery park in
Gurgaon, a multi-level car parking place in Gurgaon and a 100-bed hospital in He said 852.57 acres was allotted during the last financial year by the corporation for industrial development, thus catalysing an investment of Rs 2611.87 crore and generating employment for 65,296 persons. He said 133.73 acres had been allotted till date during the current financial year catalysing an investment of Rs.459.19 crore and generating employment for 11,479 persons. The corporation had also taken up the task of upgradation of old industrial estates at Sonepat, Rohtak, Bahadurgarh, Ambala, Yamunanagar, Hisar, Panipat, Kundli, Gurgaon and Murthal, on which Rs.5.27 crore had already been spent. It had also launched a scheme for improvement of infrastructure in those villages where land had been acquired for development of industrial estates or parks. |
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Haryana’s only hangman Ambala, August 18 Haryana’s only hangman, Vijay Singh, has never got the opportunity to carry out his task. He, however, did assist in the hanging of Gulab Singh at Ambala Central Jail in 1989. Talking to Chandigarh Tribune, Vijay Singh said he was appointed as a hangman in 1987. “It was in 1989 that I got an opportunity to assist in the hanging of a person in Ambala Central Jail. Since then, no hanging has taken place here,” he said. “A retired Havildar was the hangman in Gulab Singh’s case,” he said. Vijay Singh said he had applied for the job of hangman and he had no qualms of becoming a hangman. “I was working as a labourer and I decided to become a hangman.” Dressed in a white kurta-pyjama, Vijay Singh said that hanging a person was a task like any other task. “In 1989, I assisted in hanging so that I could learn it. A job has to be done efficiently.” The hangman said a ‘system’ was followed for hanging. “A day before, practice runs are carried out with sandbags so that the Manila ropes can be tested. This ensures that there will be no problem when the person is hanged.” “On the day of the hanging, the person is walked up to the gallows and a black hood placed over him. Thereafter, the noose is placed around his neck and the lever pulled at the appointed time.” To a query, Vijay Singh said that he closely followed the reports of hanging of Dhananjoy Chatterjee in Kolkata. A jail official said the Manila rope was a special one since it could take a lot of weight without breaking. The rope was specially prepared in Aligarh. He said the hanging provision existed in Ambala, Hisar and Rohtak jails. “The gallow at Ambala Central Jail is a covered shed. It was prepared during the British period.” “There are three prisoners who have been awarded the death sentence — two men and one woman,” he said. The jail official turned down the request for taking Vijay Singh’s photograph on the ground that people may “socially ostracise” him if they learn that he is a hangman. |
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Level of education in state up, says NAAC Kurukshetra, August 18 Commissioner, Higher Education, Dhanpat Singh stated this while addressing a workshop on national-level assessment and accreditation report organised by NAAC, the Haryana Higher Education Department and Kurukshetra University on the university campus here, today. Principals of various government colleges of the state attended the workshop. Mr Dhanpat Singh said that in this era of globalisation and high-tech advancements, stress was being laid on modern and specialised techniques instead of the traditional methods. The Haryana Government had set up a cell for ensuring qualitative improvement of higher education in the department. The Director of the Council, Prof.
V.S. Prasad, said universities played a major role in improving the standard of education imparted in the colleges. He said the steps taken by the Haryana Government had brought good results in improving the education level in both colleges as well as universities. Earlier, the Vice-Chancellor of Kurukshetra University, Dr
A.K. Chawla, in his welcome address hoped that the workshop would provide a forum to the participants for framing policies and schemes for improving the standard of education in the state. |
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Devi Lal varsity students allege harassment Sirsa, August 18 Reaching here from far-flung areas, students are unhappy with university authorities, as their results awaited (RLA) have not been declared. Students told The Tribune blaming the university authorities for delaying results. Lack of centralised enquiry is the foremost problem faced by students. They have to wait long in queues to get answer to their queries. “I have come here third time from Charkhi Dadri to get the status of RLA but every time I am called to visit here after a few days,” says an agitated girl student. Another girl student from Jind complained of similar problems and said clerical staff did not bother to listen to her. She also complained of rude behaviour by administrative staff on the campus. Sources on the campus blame higher authorities for not taking timely action to solve results-related problems. The non-teaching staff at CDLU is on deputation from Kurukshetra University (KU), and after expiry of their one-year term the administrative staff was not keen on staying here say the official sources. Though CDLU has appointed faculty members, nothing has been done regarding the recruitment of the non-teaching staff which has led to overload of work affecting
the atmosphere on the campus. |
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Evaluation system to be student-friendly
Bhiwani, August 18 |
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Swami criticises Centre on Manipur Hisar, August 18 Addressing media persons here, the BJP leader said due to the pressure of the Communists, the Central Government was not being able to carry on the economic reforms initiated by the NDA regime. He remarked that there were three Prime Ministers in the country — Mr Harkrishen Singh Surjeet, Ms Sonia Gandhi and Dr Manmohan Singh. Lambasting the Centre’s move to scrap POTA, he said the Centre was silent on the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), which had even stricter provisions. Regarding the Assembly elections in Haryana, Mr Swami said the BJP would not have an alliance with any regional party. He however, maintained that if any party or politician, including Mr Bansi Lal, extended support to defeat the Congress, it would be
welcome. State BJP leader Ranjit Singh said the party would build up pressure on the Centre to get the Supreme Court’s verdict on the completion of the SYL canal implemented. To strengthen its base in the rural areas and get people’s support on the SYL issue, the BJP would organise public meetings in all 90 Assembly segments of the state,
he added. |
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HVP to have poll pact with BJP
Karnal, August 18 Talks in this regard have already been held with the BJP high command,” HVP general secretary Surender Singh told reporters here. The BJP recently announced that it would go it alone in the Assembly elections due in March next year. Their tie-up broke ahead of Lok Sabha election this year.
— UNI |
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Six-year-old girl abducted Jhajjar, August 18 The police sources said Pooja, daughter of Manoj, a Delhi-based industrialist, and a class I student was returning home by her school bus. She was dropped by the bus near her house. The sources said two youth, one of them wearing a helmet and another covering his face with handkerchief, kidnapped her. The alleged abductors changed their vehicles from bike to a Maruti Zen near Bupenia village. The police said the registration numbers of the car had been identified and the police parties were trying to track the abductors down. |
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President’s Police Medal for ASI Chandigarh, August 18 An official spokesman said here today that Mr Ram Kumar was leading a police party deputed to produce two undertrial prisoners, Anoop Singh and Vinod Kumar, in the district court, Rohtak. When the party reached the judicial complex, Mukesh of village Ghevra and his two accomplices opened fire on Anoop Singh and the police party. Mr Ram Kumar caught
Mukesh. The police swung into action and caught two more suspects, Kaptan Singh of village Rangruti
Khera, Karnal, and Joginder Singh of Ladpur, Delhi. He also ensured that his injured fellow policemen reached the hospital.
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Nigam cash centres to remain open on holidays Chandigarh, August 18 |
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Rs 5.50 lakh
missing from bank Yamunanagar, August 18 According to sources, the bank’s cashier, Mr Vaheguru Pal, raised an alarm at 11.30 am that the amount was missing from his cash box. Mr Vaheguru reportedly told the bank officials that he had left his cabin for five minutes but when he returned, the money was not there. A police official, who visited the spot, said it was not possible for an outsider to steal the money at that time, as other employees of the bank were present. Mr Jagmohan, a General Manager of the bank ordered an inquiry into the matter. |
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Police posting Chandigarh, August 18 |
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