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H A R Y A N A |  |
 Tuesday, April 6, 1999 |
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Cong to launch agitation against BJP
Govt CHANDIGARH, April 5 — The Haryana Congress has decided to launch an agitation in the state to "expose the failures of the BJP-led Central Government" and to highlight corruption charges levelled by former Navy chief against the Defence Minister. Traffic jams common in Rohtak ROHTAK, April 5 — While the general public has to face a lot of inconvenience and hardships in view of no regulation of the traffic or its rules on the road, in the town. |
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A White Revolution SIRSA: With the rise of milk production by 40,000 litres a day within three years and opening of the Sirsa Milk Plant the district is having a White Revolution. Surjewala
alleges distress sale of wheat Haryana
hiring meter readers on contract Vajpayee
Govt must go: Chautala MDU's
non-teaching staff threaten stir Woman
booked for fraud in court 4 get
burns in LPG cylinder fire HGP
leader to join Congress Five
dacoits arrested Plan
to improve scavengers' lot Fake
currency notes seized |
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Haryana Cong to launch agitation
against CHANDIGARH, April 5 — The Haryana Congress has decided to launch an agitation in the state to "expose the failures of the BJP-led Central Government" and to highlight corruption charges levelled by former Navy chief against the Defence Minister, Mr George Fernandes, and corruption charges levelled by Mr Mohan Guruswamy, former Advisor to the Union Finance Minister. Announcing this here today the party chief, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, said a day-long agitation would be organised on April 12, when the District Congress Committee would hold dharnas, rallies and demonstrations in support of the demand of the Congress for an inquiry into the allegations by a Joint Parliamentary Committee. Mr Hooda said the government's refusal to concede the demand for a JPC showed that it had something to hide. He said the party would
also protest against the change in the nomenclature of
two public welfare schemes started during the tenures of
the Congress governments and named after Jawaharlal
Nehru, Indira Gandhi viz., Jawahar Rozgar Yojana and the
Indira Awas Yojana. |
Traffic jams common in Rohtak ROHTAK, April 5 — While the general public has to face a lot of inconvenience and hardships in view of no regulation of the traffic or its rules on the road, in the town. An incident took place here a couple of days ago in which a person driving a Tata Sumo landed in jail and his vehicle impounded by the police after he had parked his vehicle ahead of a VIP's car while waiting at a railway crossing on Hisar bypass road here on Saturday. The vehicle had been reportedly carrying printing plates of an English daily published from Haryana. The driver who was later released on bail said he had given way to the VIP car, when the gunman of the car asked him to do so. But he alleged that despite this the VIP, who was perhaps an IAS officer made him stop his vehicle (Tata Sumo) near a police naka and handed him over to the police to got a case registered against him. He said while he was put in the jail and a case under Section 283 of the IPC registered against him. Such incidents although not new expose the system itself an the failure of the district authorities to implement traffic rules and regulations properly. Policemen are posted at various points only when a VIP or VVIP passes from there. These policemen disappear soon after the official requirement is over. There are five railway crossings and 12 roundabouts or places where the traffic is quite heavy at peak hours. But there is no traffic police in the town to control its movement. As a result traffic jams have become a common feature. The situation becomes grim at the double railway crossings on Circular Road here in absence of any policeman there. As soon as the wooden barriers of the two railway crossings situated at 200 feet come down, vehicle owners start parking their vehicles indiscriminately on both sides. This leaves no space for the vehicles coming from opposite direction. However, there is no such problem on VIP routes. The gunman accompanying a VIP comes handy in traffic jams. A voluntary organisation
Manav Seva Sangh, however, do the work of controlling the
traffic at one of the railway crossings here. |
Haryana's progress leaves women
behind CHANDIGARH: Haryana appears to have achieved the dubious distinction of giving the lowest status to its women in the country. Two-thirds of state's women are illiterate. In spite of the fact that Haryana has done financially much better than most other states in the country, it has not been able to make proper use of its rich resources to augment human development. No doubt, the state has the highest per capita income of Rs 15,244 per annum, next only to Punjab's Rs 15,504 per annum. Despite such good performance in the economic field, the state deserves top priority over other states for special programmes, says Dr K. Srinivasan, Executive Director of the Population Foundation of India, due to its high infant mortality rate, high mother mortality rate, low female literacy rate, declining female sex ratio and poor status of women in the midst of economic prosperity. The reason? The state's decision-takers have not spent the resources judiciously. The Foundation, he said, had recently done a survey from the viewpoint of human development and related indicators. With a population of 1.94 crore (as per mid-1998 reports) the state has 19 districts, 111 blocks, 6,759 villages , and 5770 gram panchayats. A total number of 60,117 panchayat members, 2,528 samiti members and 339 zila parishad members have been elected. Dr Srinivasan says the active women participation as panchayat members is marginalised due to gender insensitivity of the male members. A large number of women members are either illiterate or neo-literate. Lack of decision making power and overwhelming dominance by men makes it all the more difficult for women members to actually participate in the Panchayati Raj institutions effectively. In this context, it is important to make the women members aware of their role and responsibilities in the Panchayati Raj institutions as elected representatives of the people. It is equally important to make men gender sensitive so as to ensure greater participation of women in these institutions. The role of Panchayati Raj institutions has to be strengthened to improve the status of women and to fulfil the rights of children. If the planners and decision-makers of Haryana had utilised fruits of prosperity positively, the state would have done better in educational and given the people, particularly women, a proper status in society. The Haryana men have enjoyed better health and longer life as compared to the national average. The average life span of a Haryanavi man is 64 years and that of a woman 63.4 years as compared to the national average age of 60 years for both men and women. In spite of massive development of the state reflected in the form of good individual income from within and outside the state, complete electrification of villages, pucca roads to all villages, the worst thing that has happened to this otherwise prosperous state, says Dr Srinivasan, is that its women have the lowest status in the country. While the literacy rate among 15-year-old plus men is 67.2 per cent, among the 15-year-old plus women is merely 36.8 per cent. Thus two-thirds of state's women are illiterate. The population sex ratio is 825 women per 1,000 men as compared to 865 at the beginning of the decade. Also, the infant mortality rate 69 per 1,000 for boys and 74 per 1000 for girls. With per capita income almost half as that of Haryana, Kerala has achieved, the highest literacy rate in the country — 95.3 per cent among adult males and 89.3 per cent among adult females. Also, infant mortality rate in Kerala is merely 15 per 1000 births both for boys and girls, less than one-fourth as that of Haryana. Obviously, Kerala's biggest assets constitute the gender equality, basic education among both men and women — the fields which Haryana has so far woefully neglected. However, Haryana has a bright patch in Kurukshetra — the district was given the Tata award for best reproductive health and family planning last year among the small-sized districts in the country. Surprisingly, Kurukshetra district has managed to achieve a healthy infant mortality rate, give good primary education to people of all sections and achieve low fertility rate (number of children per woman). The success of Kurukshetra has obviously not come about without serious efforts and certainly not without the active involvement of the local people, particularly the panchayats. Haryana has by and large
ignored this aspect. The real question is the need for
the authorities concerned to awaken to the
responsibilities that lie on their shoulders and the need
to realise that if one district can do it, the other 18
districts too can, says Dr Srinivasan. |
A White Revolution SIRSA: With the rise of milk production by 40,000 litres a day within three years and opening of the Sirsa Milk Plant the district is having a White Revolution. It is the only milk plant in Haryana which started earning profit from the very beginning, claims Mr A.K. Kaushal, General Manager of the plant. It has a capacity of one lakh litres and Anand like three-tier structure — primary milk cooperative societies at the village level, milk producer's union at the district level, whose chairmen are members of the state-level federation. There are 450 primary milk cooperative societies having nearly 17,000 families as their members. Approximately 75,000 litres of milk is collected daily. The Sirsa Cooperative Milk Producer's Union not only purchases milk at doorstep of farmers but also provides them 'Vita' cattle feed, fodder seed, ghee and artificial insemination facilities. The plant in the year 1998-99 purchased milk worth Rs 14.75 crore against previous year's Rs 9.66 crore. By offering the highest price of Rs 16 per kg for 10 per cent fat milk, the farmers are being encouraged to take up dairy farming in a big way. The union also pays commissions between 2 and 3 per cent of the value of milk and on the sale of cattle feed and ghee etc to the societies. The societies in purchasing milk from the farmers and selling it to the plant make 8 to 9 per cent profit which after meeting overhead expenses goes to the farmers as bonus. Each society has earned a net profit of Rs 30 lakh. The Sirsa Milk Plant also generates employment. Each of the 450 societies engages one or two persons depending on the workload. Besides it gives business to transporters. Nearly 100 to 200 hands are employed in addition to the regular staff of 115 for packing ghee, powder milk on monthly wages, varying from Rs 1800 to Rs 4000. This milk plant has an
employment programme for women. There are 10 all women
societies associated with the plant. Under the woman
dairy project Rs 56 lakh would be disbursed to women's
dairy societies in the district. |
Surjewala alleges distress sale of
wheat CHANDIGARH, April 5 — The Haryana Krishak Samaj has regretted that despite the arrival of wheat in the mandis of the state for the past one week no government procurement agency had entered the market. In a statement issued here today, the president of the samaj, Mr Shamsher Singh Surjewala, said in the absence of the government procurement agencies farmers had been forced to sell their produce much below the support price announced by the Centre. He said last week wheat was sold at a price ranging between Rs 500 and Rs 525 per quintal in the Kaithal mandi. He said since the farmers were neither in position to store the produce nor in a position to wait till the time they got the appropriate price the government's indifference to their plight was "criminal". Mr Surjewala said the samaj had been repeatedly demanding that the price of wheat should be increased form Rs 550 per quintal to Rs 650 per quintal because of an increase in the prices of urea and diesel. What to talk of an increase in the procurement price of wheat, he said, the BJP government at the Centre and the HVP-BJP government in the state were not even capable of purchasing wheat at the price announced earlier. Urging the government
agencies to enter the market immediately, Mr Surjewala
said the samaj would launch an agitation to support its
demand for an increase of Rs 100 in the wheat price. The
samaj activists would also visit the mandis to help the
farmers in getting the minimum support price. |
Haryana hiring meter readers on
contract HISAR, April 5 — The Haryana Government is resorting to hiring people on contract basis for meter reading. The decision has been taken following a large number of complaints by consumers that their bills are inflated, well-placed sources in the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (HVPN) told TNS. Although the Minister of State for Power, Mr Attar Singh Saini, was not available for comment, the HVPN sources said it had been decided to hire people on contract for meter reading on an experimental basis. It would be a one-time affair only, the sources added. The sources said recruitments for the purpose had started today. The minimum qualification prescribed for the job was matriculation with electrical training diploma from an ITI. However, matriculates would be considered for the job if a sufficient number of ITI trained persons were not found. Each person would be paid at the rate of Re 1 per meter. The step had been taken on the directions of the Chief Minister, who is said to have taken serious note of the complaints made by the consumers about inflated electricity bills. The HVPN sources denied that the step was being taken to replace the regular meter reading staff permanently. They claimed that it was being undertaken on an experimental basis only. They also denied that it was due to the complaints about inflated electricity bills that such a step had become necessary. However, they admitted that due to shortage of staff, some consumers' complaints went unattended owing to which the possibility of errors could not be ruled out. There were about 1500 meter readers in Haryana at present. If the experiment was successful, all persons taken on contract were likely to be accommodated in the clerical cadre, the sources added. The Managing Director of the Southern Haryana Power Distribution Corporation, Mr HVN Prasad, recently visited Hisar in this connection. Although for the time being, the job of meter reading would be given on an experimental basis only, the sources did not rule out an extension of the contract period. This was not a step
towards privatisation, but only meant for improving work
efficiency, the sources pointed out and added that the
job of contract meter readers would only be complimentary
to that of regular meter readers. |
Vajpayee Govt must go: Chautala CHANDIGARH, April 5 (UNI) — Indian National Lok Dal Leader (INLD) and former Chief Minister of Haryana Om Parkash Chautala tonight declared that his party would like the BJP-led Atal Behari Vajpayee coalition government in the Centre to go. Mr Chautala told UNI on phone that his party which has four members in the Lok Sabha had already withdrawn his support from the Vajpayee government because of its anti-farmers and anti-people policies. "After the Prime Minister refused to roll back the hike in urea prices and essential commodities of the public distribution system we had no other alternative but to withdraw support," he added. When asked whether in the
context of AIADMK supremo J. Jayalalitha withdrawing her
two ministers from the Union Cabinet will his party
support any no confidence motion against the Vajpayee
government, Mr Chautala said, "This government must
go. We will see in what shape a no confidence motion is
brought about in the Lok Sabha. We have already withdrawn
our support and there is no question of revoking this
decision. |
MDU's non-teaching staff
threaten stir ROHTAK, April 5 — The non-teaching employees of Maharshi Dayanand University have decided to follow the principle of "no pay no work" and threatened to go on strike from April 7 if the government failed to release the grant-in-aid to the university. The university has failed to disburse salaries to its employees due to the non-release of grant-in-aid by the Haryana Government. The decision was taken at an emergency meeting held here today under the chairmanship of Mr Kartar Singh Dhankar. The employees expressed concern over the non-payment of their salaries for March, 1999. They criticised the state government for the financial crunch being faced by the university. Later Mr Tarachand Sharma, General Secretary of the MDU Non-Teaching Employees Union, said the decision had been taken by the executive committee. He threatened that they
would call a meeting of the federation comprising
employees of three universities of the state to decide
the future course of action if the situation at the
university did not improve. |
Woman booked for fraud in court FATEHABAD, April 5 — The police yesterday arrested a woman for committing fraud in court and obtaining a fake decree by deposing in place of another witness. According to the SP, Mr Rajbir Deswal, the police registered a case after a complaint was made in the court. According to the complaint, Mori a widow, was co-owner of a piece of land. After her death, her interest was transferred to her daughters Guddi and Hardevi and sons Kurda Ram and Om Parkash. But Kurda Ram and his wife Prem fraudulently obtained a court decree for the land in favour of their sons Kamal, Krishan and Sajjan after Prem deposed in the court in place of Guddi, who had died by then. The police registered a case under Section 205, 419, 420, 468, 471 and 120 of IPC and arrested Prem in this connection yesterday. In another case the police booked a manager of JVG finance company for fraud. According to reports Sheela Devi, a widow and resident of Ahlisadar village in this district had lodged a complaint with the police against Vipin Suri, a manager with JVG finance company at Danjapur village, alleging that the accused had obtained a deposit of Rs 20,000 from her 21 months ago on an assurance that the amount would be doubled in three years. He had also assured her that the principal amount would be refunded in 18 months. But the company wound up
its office just two months later. The police has
registered a case under Section 420 against the accused. |
4 get burns in LPG cylinder
fire FARIDABAD, April 5 — Four persons received serious burns when a leaking LPG cylinder caught fire in a house in Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Nagar here last night. The injured who have been identified as Bhagat Ram, his wife Basant Kaur and sons Bobby and Om Prakash have been admitted to a private hospital. In another incident goods
and machinery worth lakhs of rupees were destroyed in a
fire in a cardboard box manufacturing factory in Sector
23. |
HGP leader to join Congress ROHTAK, April 5 — A former Union Minister and Haryana Gana Parishad (HGP) leader, Mr Jai Prakash, will join the Congress party this week. Mr Randhir Singh, a brother of Mr Jai Prakash, said today that the decision to join the Congress party was final. He said Mr Jai Prakash would formally join the party in New Delhi soon, which would be attended by some senior leaders of the Congress. Mr Jai Prakash will be the second main leader to join the Congress after disbanding his own political outfit, "Haryana Gana Parishad. Earlier,
industrialist-turned-politician, Mr Om Prakash Jindal, a
former MP, joined the Congress party after merging his
Sarvajatiya Party. |
Five dacoits arrested FARIDABAD, April 5 — The police has arrested five persons on a charge of committing dacoity in the telephone exchange at Nehru Ground here on January 29. A police spokesman identified the arrested persons as Kamal, Satish Kumar, Neeraj, Raj Kumar and Bishan Singh. Four hundred metres of cable and a Tata Sumo and Rs 20,000 in cash were recovered from their possession. Two other accomplices of the dacoits are at large. It is stated that the five dacoits entered the telephone exchange complex at night, tied the chowkidar with wires and administered an injection to him which made him unconscious. Then they broke open the
safe of the telephone exchange and escaped with Rs 28,282
in cash and 400 metres of cable lying in the exchange
complex. |
Plan to improve scavengers' lot CHANDIGARH, April 5 — The Haryana Government has provided financial assistance of Rs 19.04 crore to 12,336 scavengers and their dependants in the state to enable them to get rid of their existing occupation. Mr Ram S.Verma, Chief Secretary, Haryana, while presiding over a state-level Monitoring Committee meeting to review the progress of the national scheme for the liberation and rehabilitation of scavengers in the state, said it had also been decided that the Haryana Harijan Kalyan Nigam would provide financial assistance to 3,000 scavengers and their dependants during the current financial year after giving them suitable training for various trades to rehabilitate them. He said two more towns — Ellenabad and Rania — in Sirsa district had been declared as scavenging-free towns. In addition, three more towns namely Siwani (Bhiwani), Kanina (Mahendragarh) and Narnaund (Hisar) had already been declared scavenging-free. Mr Varma said a survey was
conducted by the Economic and Statistical Adviser, to
evaluate the implementation of law cost sanitation scheme
in the state and it was observed that 77 per cent of the
rural sanitation units were being used by the villagers. |
Fake currency notes seized ROHTAK, April 5 — The Sadar police seized fake currency notes worth Rs 2,500 from a youth here today. According to police sources, about 17 fake notes of the denomination of Rs 500 and 100 were seized from Surender, who had come to get petrol at a petrol pump at Bhalaut village for his two-wheeler. The accused got petrol filled in his vehicle worth Rs 200 and gave two notes of Rs 100. The petrol-pump owner got suspicious about the currency notes and asked him to sit down and wait for some time. Meanwhile, he informed the police which reached there and checked the notes. The police reportedly
seized 15 notes of Rs 100 and two notes of Rs 500. The
accused, a resident of Khanda village in Jind district,
was arrested. |
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