HARCO Bank scam
I-G asked to file criminal case
CHANDIGARH, Feb 18 — The Haryana State Vigilance Commissioner has requested the Inspector-General of Chandigarh Police to slap a criminal case on those officials of the state-controlled Haryana State Cooperative Bank who have committed alleged irregularities in giving a deposit of a whopping sum of Rs 224.47 crore to the Bombay Mercantile Bank at a palpably lower rate of interest.

Congress to focus on minorities
GURGAON, Feb 18 — To consolidate its base in Haryana after its recent "Kranti padayatra", the Congress has decided to concentrate on minorities, Dalits and the OBCs.

Info-tech revolution on in CSIR
KURUKSHETRA: The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research has launched an ambitious programme of knowledge networking in its laboratories throughout the country.

Chamber wants IT exemption limit raised
CHANDIGARH, Feb 18 – An increase in the IT exemption limit from Rs 50,000 to Rs 70,000, lowering of capital gains tax from 20 per cent to 10 per cent and abolition of wealth tax are some o the demands made by the Haryana Chamber of Commerce and Industry in a memorandum submitted to the Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha.

Hooda's charges 'baseless'
CHANDIGARH, Feb 18 — The Haryana Government said today that the life and property of minority communities in the state were safe and it was committed to maintaining complete harmony at all costs.

Minister's surprise visit to offices
GURGAON, Feb 18 — Haryana Finance Minister Charan Dass Shorewala paid a surprise visit to various government offices here when he came to preside over the monthly meeting of the District Grievances and Redressal Committee.

HARCO Bank scam
I-G asked to file criminal case
By Rajendra Sharma
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 18 — The Haryana State Vigilance Commissioner has requested the Inspector-General of Chandigarh Police to slap a criminal case on those officials of the state-controlled Haryana State Cooperative Bank (HARCO Bank) who have committed alleged irregularities in giving a deposit of a whopping sum of Rs 224.47 crore to the Bombay Mercantile Bank at a palpably lower rate of interest.

A "confidential" letter that the State Vigilance Commissioner sent to the Inspector-General of Chandigarh Police on January 28 says as the incident took place in Chandigarh and the Commission does not have any police station in the city, the case should be registered by the local police where the bank office is situated.

The request for the registration of the case was made on the basis of detailed findings given by the Superintendent of Police, Cooperative Societies, who has conducted a sifting probe into the allegations levelled by none else but by an accountant of the HARCO Bank itself. The SP has recommended that all the suspects involved in the case should be booked under sections 406, 409, 420 and 120-B, by IPC apart from Section 13(1) (d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

In his complaint the accountant of the bank, Mr Devender Singh Yadav, alleged that senior officers of HARCO Bank entered into a criminal conspiracy and invested a sum of over Rs 224 crore in the Bombay Mercantile Cooperative Bank at its Daryaganj branch in New Delhi in violation of all norms and procedures. He alleged that it was a case of unsound investment as the financial position of the bank was not good and this money was likely to sink. However, what gave a curious twist to the allegation is the reference given to a case in 1991 when an embezzlement of Rs 4 lakh of the commission drawn on an investment of Rs 2 crore took place. Mr Yadav's allegation is that the guilty officer is being protected despite the clear orders of the Chief Minister for initiating criminal action in the matter.

The report of the SP Cooperative Societies, reveals that HARCO Bank have invested this amount after the approval of the Registrar, Cooperative Societies as per the provisions of Section 85 of the Haryana Cooperative Societies Act. Mr Yadav alleges that not only was the Registrar, Cooperative Societies, kept in the dark but the bank also did not take the approval of the Board of Directors for the massive investment.

In his findings the SP recorded that the HARCO Bank made the investment at a rate of 12.5 per cent interest even when a sister cooperative concern of Haryana, HAFED, was ready to borrow money from the bank at the rate of 14 per cent interest. Calculations on these comparisons lead to the revelation that a straight loss of Rs 60 lakh was suffered by the HARCO Bank. The investment was also in contravention of the instructions issued by the government through the Institutional Finance and Credit Control department. Guidelines circulated by the government to regulate the investment of deposits/surplus funds by state government departments/public enterprises which are applicable to cooperative institutions like the HARCO Bank in June and then in October, 1997, clearly stipulate that such investments should be made in either nationalised banks or in certain listed private banks identified on the basis of their strength and ratings. The Bombay Mercantile Bank is not one of the banks where such an investment has been permitted.

The SP Cooperative Societies, recorded in his findings that the culprits in the earlier case of investment of Rs 2 crore made in HDFC series in which the commission of Rs 4 lakh was embezzled have been let off by the bank in spite of a clear order by the Chief Minister written by his Deputy Principal Secretary dated February 27, 1998, never went to the Cooperation minister or the Secretary, Cooperation. Instead, the file was marked directly to the HARCO Bank Managing Director, who initiated a civil suit for recovery filed in a local court. So far no criminal action has been initiated against the firms concerned, allegedly managed by the father of a senior IAS officer looking after a crucial assignment.

Cases against Bajrang Dal "false"
Tribune News Service

HISAR, Feb 18 — The Bajrang Dal today criticised the Haryana government and the local administration for registering "false cases" against some of its activists. The Dal warned the Haryana government to desist from being a part of the nationwide conspiracy to defame and intimidate nationalistic organisations.

Addressing a press conference here today, the national convener of the Bajrang Dal, Dr Surinder Jain, alleged that some of its activists including the district convener Ravinder Goel were arrested on a "fabricated case". He denied that Bajrang Dal activists raised anti-Christian slogans or threatened anyone.

Referring to the distribution of pamphlets by the Bajrang Dal activists in front of a church here, Dr Jain disclosed that this was part of a nationwide "democratic campaign" launched by the Dal to inform the general public about the true picture of the recent attacks on Christians and the activities of the Christian missionaries.

The Bajrang Dal convener claimed that a section of the media across the country had distorted facts and tried to malign the image of a nationalistic organisation like the Bajrang Dal. To rectify this wrong, he informed, the Bajrang Dal decided to distribute 50 lakh pamphlets across the country, so that people got real picture.

Congress to focus on minorities
From Ravi S. Singh
Tribune News Service

GURGAON, Feb 18 — To consolidate its base in Haryana after its recent "Kranti padayatra", the Congress has decided to concentrate on minorities, Dalits and the OBCs.

According to Dr Kirpa Ram Puniya, a member of the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) and a former minister from the state, the president of the party, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, will shortly convene a meeting of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) to finetune the party’s strategy on the issue.

The party has also decided to organise a convention of minorities. Details of the convention will be finalised at the proposed meeting of the HPCC. The members of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), Mr Arjun Singh and Mr Manmohan Singh are expected to attend the convention.

The Congress leaders are of the firm view that the party’s efforts to win over the Scheduled Castes, the OBCs and the minorities for the past one year had paid rich dividends. They cite the case of the large chunk of members from these sections in the party’s Kranti rally at Jind on February 13 to bolster the view point.

The HPCC’s decision to focus more on the minorities and the downtrodden is understood to be at the behest of the Central leadership. Mr Hooda had called on Mrs Sonia Gandhi after the Jind rally. Mrs Gandhi is said to have expressed satisfaction over the turn-out at the rally which was a culmination of the Kranti padayatra in the state.

The state leadership has also decided to organise meetings in big villages in all Assembly constituencies.

Notwithstanding the defiance of the leadership of the Congress in the state by Mr Bhajan Lal and Mr Birender Singh, the state president has decided to prepare the party for the next assembly elections in the state. The party leaders feel that the Bansi Lal government would not be able to complete its full term.

The Hooda lobby is in an upbeat mood after the Jind rally. Mr Suresh Gupta, a spokesperson of the HPCC said that prominent Congress leaders from all communities took part in the Kranti padayatra and attended the rally.

Referring to a statement made by Mr Bhajan Lal recently in which he had described the rally as an insignificant affair, Mr Gupta said that the former Chief Minister was a bit worried over the growing popularity of the Congress under the leadership of Mr Hooda.

Mr Arjun Singh, Mr Ahmed Patel, national leaders of the party and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, whom Mr Bhajan Lal does not consider to be important leaders, left Jind with a good impression about the rally, he added.

Mr Gupta further said that Mr Bhajan Lal was playing the role of an opponent of the Congress. Such "antics" by Mr Bhajan Lal would not affect the party’s resurgence, he added.

Info-tech revolution on in CSIR
From K.G. Dutt
Tribune News Service

KURUKSHETRA: The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (C.S.I.R.) has launched an ambitious programme of knowledge networking in its laboratories throughout the country.

There are about 40 C.S.I.R. laboratories, employing 25,000 people. This is the largest chain in the world.

The programme has been undertaken to bring "unity in diversity" as Dr R.A. Mashelkar, Director-General of C.S.I.R., put it to this correspondent in an interview.

Dr Mashelkar, who was here to honour top scientists, said this programme was being undertaken in cyber space" connecting the C.S.I.R. network through "transponder space". Already 15 laboratories have been linked under the programme while the remaining 25 would be linked within this year. In fact, all of them had already been connected for holding dialogues.

Dr Mashelkar maintained that this step would revolutionise information technology in the C.S.I.R. He stated that the effort was to link informal knowledge with formal. This was being done by bringing laboratories together. Already 20 laboratories in the field of chemical, biological and engineering have been connected.

The programme is known as "a new bio-active molecules" programme. Under this 120 plants and 20 diseases, based on the Indian traditional knowledge contained in Vedas and Indian medicinal texts, have been identified to chalk out a programme to determine a "new molecule for therapeutic drugs". This would have far-reaching impact on the health programme and new drugs would be available.

Dr Mashelkar disclosed that last year Rs 5 crore was spent on this programme while this year the government would spend double that sum.

In order to provide incentives to the C.S.I.R. laboratories the Union Government granted Rs 100 crore this year for purchase of equipment. Besides, it also approved the "incentive of incremental commercial rupee" scheme for scientists and laboratories. Under this programme, the Union Government would provide a matching grant for each rupee earned by the C.S.I.R. laboratories by providing services to the industries in the private sector.

Dr Mashelkar pointed out that under this scheme, C.S.I.R. laboratories earned Rs 223 crore this year. Last year it had earned Rs 203 crore and previous to that Rs 167 crore. This achievement was impressive as there was allround recession and slump in the industry.

Dr Mashelkar stated that the C.S.I.R. was looking forward for forging a "technology partnership" with private industries and corporate giants. As a first step of recognition of the contribution by C.S.I.R. laboratories, he had been conferred the J.R.D. Tata Corporate Leadership Award by the private industry. This award would be given to him by the Vice-President on February 21. This was for the first time that a scientist from the public sector had been conferred the award.

Talking about the defence security, Dr Mashelkar maintained that the space defence and atomic energy programme had achieved excellent results. Similarly, the country had excelled in integrated missile programme. This had been done without foreign aid, which was laudable.

Talking about economic security, Dr Mashelkar wanted that Indian industries should become "innovative". The country should undertake "forward engineering" and should not go after "imitative research". He maintained that unless and until Indian goods became superior in cost and quality, it would be difficult to compete in the international market. The only way to innovate the Indian industry was to create Indian knowledge network. This needed an "all-Indian" programme in which Indians residing abroad should be persuaded to participate. This was essential, particularly in software and computers.

Delving on food security, Dr Mashelkar stated that danger signals could already be seen here. This was so as the country had already made optimum use of land and water. The only way to increase food production was to adopt new bio-technological methods and create disease-resistant plants by using bio-technology. He sound a note of caution on misinformation campaign about patent laws and patents. In this field India must become an enlightened society as far as numerous innovations were concerned. He said India had 30 patents only, while China had 300. Similarly, China has 5000 patents training institutes while India had none. Likewise China had filed 15,000 patents this year for recognition while India had filed only 5000. Therefore, we were far behind both "qualitatively and quantitatively" in this field. He maintained that the country should launch a "revolution of grey matter", as it had fantastic infrastructure in this field.

He was of the view that the next century was going to be a "century of the mind" and Indians were far ahead here. The country should, therefore, avail of the "think-tank" which was available here. This would bring economic security to the country and innovation in Indians' living standards.

Chamber wants IT exemption limit raised
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 18 – An increase in the IT exemption limit from Rs 50,000 to Rs 70,000, lowering of capital gains tax from 20 per cent to 10 per cent and abolition of wealth tax are some o the demands made by the Haryana Chamber of Commerce and Industry in a memorandum submitted to the Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha.

The senior vice-president of the chamber, Mr N.C. Jain, who released copies of the memorandum to the press here today, said along with the increase in the income tax exemption limit, Mr Sinha should also introduce 10 per cent tax up to the income of Rs 1 lakh. Similarly with the lowering of the maximum rate of tax to 30 per cent, the tax rate in search cases should be brought down to 45 per cent from the present 60 per cent.

Mr Jain said the chamber had suggested that on loans or deposits accepted in contravention of Section 269 SS of the Income Tax Act, the maximum penalty imposed under Section 271D should be restricted to the maximum rate of tax applicable.

The chamber demanded that the administration of service tax should be shifted from the Central Excise department to the Income Tax department and it should be paid by the person providing service.

For the small-scale sector, the chamber demanded that the Central sales tax should be reduced from 4 per cent to 3 per cent. The excise exemption limit should be raised from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 80 lakh and rate of excise should be 2 per cent for the Rs 80 lakh – Rs 1 crore slab; 3 per cent for Rs 1 crore – Rs 1.5 crore slab and 5 per cent for the Rs 3 crore – Rs 5 crore slab.

A provision should also be made in the Industrial Disputes Act for the settlement of disputes in a Lok Adalat.

Hooda's charges 'baseless'
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 18 — The Haryana Government said today that the life and property of minority communities in the state were safe and it was committed to maintaining complete harmony at all costs.

Reacting sharply to a statement issued by the Haryana Congress President, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, an official spokesman said here that nobody would be allowed to take the law into his own hands.

Mr Hooda had demanded the resignation of the Bansi Lal Government for its failure to improve the law and order situation in the state, while referring to an alleged attack on a church in Hisar by activists of the Bajrang Dal on February 15.

Condemning the incident, Mr Hooda had demanded stern action against the culprits responsible for desecrating the place of worship. He had threatened that the Congress would stage demonstrations outside the office of the Deputy Commissioner, Hisar, if the government failed to nab the guilty.

The official spokesman accused Mr Hooda of being in the habit of issuing statements without verifying the facts and merely to gain political mileage.

Denying the attack on the church, the spokesman said certain antisocial elements had distributed leaflets on February 14. A case was registered on the same day under sections 147, 148, 149, 153A, 295, 452 and 506, IPC, against the culprits on a complaint lodged by the Father of the church.

Next day the police arrested three persons in this connection. The spokesman said there was no tension.

Minister's surprise visit to offices
From Our Correspondent

GURGAON, Feb 18 — Haryana Finance Minister Charan Dass Shorewala paid a surprise visit to various government offices here when he came to preside over the monthly meeting of the District Grievances and Redressal Committee.

He later told mediapersons that the attendance in offices of the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) and the Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation was complete. He expressed satisfaction with the work of the HUDA in developing Leisure Valley in Sector 29.

Disposing of a complaint made by Ram Kishan of Darbaripur village to the committee, Mr Shorewala directed the Superintendent of Police Khushi Ram Dahiya to arrest the accused who were evading arrest, immediately. The complainant had alleged that his daughter Rajesh, who was married to Girraj, son of Hari Chand of village Ghata four years back, was murdered by her in-laws and the accused had not yet been arrested.

On a complaint made by residents of Helly Mandi, Mr Shorewala directed the Additional Deputy Commissioner to remove encroachments on the road from the Inchapuri side which had narrowed down, disrupting the movement of traffic.

Mr Shorewala also directed the civil surgeon here to take a weekly sample of the ice factory and the Idrish milk plant and action against persons indulging in adulteration. The orders were made on the basis of a complaint that the Idrish milk was adulterated. He also ordered that a case be registered against the sarpanch of Dholavas village, forest guard Hajari Lal and the contractor of Neerpur for allegedly felling trees illegally.

Bid to loot PNB branch
From Our Correspondent

AMBALA, Feb 18 — A bid to commit theft in the Punjab National Bank branch at Durana village was made near here last night.

According to information available, the thieves broke open locks of the shutter and gate. They also tried to open the cash almirah. A villager raised an alarm but the thieves escaped.

Similar incidents of breaking open of locks of shops occurred in cantonment recently but the police failed to achieve any breakthrough.

In another incident, a bag containing passenger tickets worth Rs 13,000 was stolen from the scooter of Mr Rulia Ram near the cantonment bus stand on February 12. Mr Ram is a conductor in the Haryana Roadways depot of Yamunanagar.