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H A R Y A N A |  |
 Monday, January 4, 1999 |
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Bansi Lal survives toppling
bid
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Recruitment
of jawans from Jan 12 |
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RJD, SP
feudal: Selja Needy
students given woollens 500
MW power plant for Hisar: CM Sack
Gujarat govt: Lok Dal |
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Bansi Lal survives toppling bid CHANDIGARH, Jan 3 — The Bansi Lal government in Haryana has been able to survive what is described as the most serious attempt to dislodge it since it came to power in May, 1996. "Operation topple" was launched primarily by the former Chief Minister, Mr Bhajan Lal, with the help of the former Congress President, Mr Birender Singh. For a change the Leader of the Opposition and President of the Rashtriya Lok Dal, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, did not allow his personal ambition to come in the way of those who were engaged in the toppling game. Mr Chautala had agreed to extend his party's support from outside to any government formed by HVP rebels. The plans were executed by Mr Dharambir Singh, former Haryana Minister and Man Friday of Mr Bhajan Lal, and Mr Khurshid Ahmed, who identified and contacted possible HVP rebels. Informed sources say certain BJP MLAs too were contacted and their response was positive. The operation got a momentum in the last week of December reaching a crescendo last evening before it fizzled out suddenly. Both Mr Bhajan Lal and Mr Birender Singh celebrated New Year in town. While Mr Birender Singh left Chandigarh on January 1, Mr Bhajan Lal went to Delhi today. The sources say the entire operation was conducted mainly on cellular phones because it was feared that the government must be keeping the telephones of the "suspects" under surveillance. The sources say even the secrecy of cellular phones was broken into. But one thing is certain. There was panic in the ruling group yesterday. Mr Bansi Lal, who addressed a public meeting in Hisar district yesterday, was supposed to go to Bhiwani where he was scheduled to attend another public meeting today. But he returned to Chandigarh and had a long meeting with his crisis managers, who had been able to make contacts with certain rebels in the day. They were so busy in saving the government that they did not even put in an appearance at the wedding of a ward of a senior bureaucrat close to the powers that be. The sources say the "Operation topple" had not caught the government unawares. It was aware of the movements of the possible rebels. The possibility of a number of rebels maintaining bridges with both sides is not ruled out. One of the main reasons behind the fizzling out of the operation was that there were too many aspirants for the Chief Ministership. The rebels could not agree on one name. The HVP crisis managers were able to wean away some of the rebels by convincing them that any "misadventure" on their part at this stage would only lead to the dissolution of the Assembly and the mid-term poll. After the rebels fell just short of the magic number of 12 (so that the dissidents could save themselves from disqualification under the Anti-Defection Law), many of them returned to the Chief Minister's camp. The HVP, it may be recalled, has a strength of 34 in the Assembly. The Public Health
Minister, Mr Jagan Nath, informed the Chief Minister that
he would reach the Bhiwani rally directly and address it.
The PWD Minister, Mr Karan Singh Dalal, and the Labour
and Employment Minister, Mr Ramesh Chander Kaushik, went
to Bhiwani along with Mr Bansi Lal in the state plane
this morning. Mr Ram Bhaj held a workers' meeting in his
constituency of Kalayat in connection with the proposed
public meeting to be addressed by Mr Bansi Lal there on
January 17. |
Cong not to reinduct Bansi Lal YAMUNANAGAR, Jan 3 — The Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, would not be inducted in the Congress said Ms Meira Kumar, Congress general secretary, here today she stated that there was no place for Mr Bansi Lal in the Congress as we had already "battalion" of seasoned and capable Congress men in Haryana. Ms Meira Kumar who is in charge of Haryana Congress said that Mr Bansi Lal had failed to run the Administration. Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who was alongwith Ms Meira Kumar said that the Congress was ready to face elections in Haryana. On being asked she stated there was no rift in the Congress and it was united under the leadership of Mrs Sonia Gandhi, undisputed leader of the party. She ruled out the possibility of an alliance with any political party. She said that the Congress was in a position to give a fight to the BJP on any front. She also ruled out the possibility of the removal of the Haryana Congress President, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, as he was the elected President of the party. She criticised the for BJP government for the removal of Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat. She said that it was a national issue and no political party was consulted on it. She said that it was the first time in the history that such a hasty step had been taken by government. Ms Meira Kumar who toured Gujarat to find out facts on atrocities on the minorities, she stated that initially they had demanded the Prime Minister to revamp Gujarat administration because even today several cases of excesses had been reported. She questioned the Home Minister and others, that why they had come back from Ahmedabad without visiting and meeting the affected families. On being asked about 33 per cent reservation for the women she stated that it was in the Congress manifesto but it had been introduced only now. When reporters pointed out on the 'phobia' of the Nehru-Gandhi family she said that they had made the best contribution in freedom struggle. She said that people were attracted to their charisma. Mr Hooda disclosed that from February 1 "Padayatra would be started" from Panchkula from where Ms Meira Kumar would flag off the yatra. He added that Ms Selja former Union Minister would start "Padayatra" from Chautala village in Sirsa district and Mr Inderjeet from Mohindergarh. Later on the leaders attended a public meeting at Jagadhri. FATEHABAD: The Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee, secretary, Mr Jai Pal Singh Lali, has said that thousands of Congress workers would join the "Kranti Yatra" to be undertaken by the party under the leadership of former Union Minister, Ms Selja on February 1, from Chautala village in Sirsa district. Mr Lali said here today that preparations had already been started for the proposed "yatra". The Congress leader alleged that the HVP-BJP government in the state had failed to live up to the expectations of the people. Be they the traders, employees, farmers, workers or the industrialists, all were fed up with the government. Mr Lali said that the proposed "Kranti Yatras" of the HPCC aimed at highlighting the problems being faced by the people. SONEPAT: Former Tripura Governor and senior Congress leader of Haryana Sultan Singh today condemned the attacks on Christians in Gujarat and scattered incidents of violence around the country. He said that the fundamentalists of the Bajrang Dal, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the RSS were behind all these attacks and had blessings of the ruling BJP. He warned that if such attacks were not stopped these could have major international repercussions. The BJP's Hindu orientation has always been of concern to the West. The Congress leader also criticised the VHP leader, Mr Ashok Singhal, for degrading the nation by passing uncharitable remarks against the Nobel laureate Amartya Sen and said that these remarks had tarnished India's secular image. He also condemned the
statement of Mr Singhal that the VHP would not obey the
orders of the Supreme Court on the Babri Masjid issue.
Comparing all these happenings with the way of Taliban in
Afghanistan, the Congress leader warned that if these
elements were not curbed with a strong hand, the Vajpayee
Government at the Centre would have to pay a heavy price
for it. |
Govt 'sheltering' anti-socials SONEPAT, Jan 3 — There is anarchy in Haryana and law and order situation had deteriorated and infrastructure in the state was crumbling. There were neither roads nor enough power and water. Not only the common people, workers, and traders, but the farmers were also unhappy with the HVP-BJP alliance government, led by the Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal. The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) chief and the leader of the Opposition in Haryana Vidhan Sabha, Mr Om Parkash Chautala stated this while addressing party workers at Kharkhauda, 12 km from here today. Braving cold, chilly winds and foggy weather conditions a large number of party workers hailing from the Rohtak Assembly constituency attended. He accused the leaders of the ruling party of giving protection to anti-social elements in the state and added that liquor mafia which remained active during prohibition, had again appeared, was having field day. This, he said, was the main cause of lawlessness in the state. Condemning the anti-employee attitude of the Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, Mr Chautala said that the HVP-BJP alliance Government was adopting repressive measures to crush government employees. The use of ESMA against employees, he said, was a proof that Mr Bansi Lal had no faith in democracy. He said that Mr Bansi Lal should have avoided confrontation with the employees by accepting their just and legitimate demands. There is still time that the Chief Minister should start negotiations with the leaders of the employee unions and end the on-going agitation of the employees by reinstating the sacked workers. Turning towards the Survjati Morcha, sponsored by Mr O.P. Jindal, the INLD leader termed it as a group of disgruntled politicians who had no roots in the rural areas. These politicians, he said, were supporting him to save their own interests at the cost of Mr Jindal. He also accused Mr Jindal of playing into the hands of those political leaders who had been rejected by the people. He also predicted that the morcha would disappear from political scene shortly. Mr Chautala announced that the party would enrol 10 lakh more members in Haryana during a campaign which had been started. To strengthen party-base he had already launched a mass contact campaign in the state. During the campaign, he had been addressing party workers' meetings and appealing them to go to the people and redress their grievances and other hardships. He also announced that
four training camps for the party workers would be held
at Gurgaon, Hisar, Kurukshetra and Panipat. He said that
the party workers would get assistance from party leaders
for exposing ‘misdeeds’ of the present
government and ruling party leaders. |
Recruitment of jawans from Jan 12 GURGAON, Jan 3 — The Secretary, Zila Sainik Board, has said that recruitment of Army jawans would start on January 12 at police lines here. The recruitment will be open for candidates of Gurgaon, Faridabad and Delhi. Major Sharma said in a press note that recruitment for the post of trademen for the Delhi and Gurgaon candidates will be on January 12 and for candidates from Faridabad on January 13. The recruitment of Delhi and Faridabad candidates for technical trades will be on January 14 while for Gurgaon candidates it will be on January 15. Recruitments for Ahir (GD)
candidates from Delhi and Gurgaon will be on January 16
and January 18, while for Faridabad candidates it will be
on January 17, Major Sharma said. For the Jat candidates
from Delhi and Gurgaon the recruitment will take place on
January 21 and for Faridabad on January 22. The Rajput
candidates from Delhi, Faridabad and Gurgaon will be
recruited on January 23 and candidates from Scheduled
Castes and from Brahmin community will be recruited on
January 25. Dogra, Kumaoni, Garhwali and Sikh candidates
will be recruited on January 27 and 28. The rest of the
candidates will be recruited on January 29 and 30,
according to Major Sharma. |
Oppn misleading people: Bansi
Lal FATEHABAD, Jan 3 — The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, criticised his political adversaries at a rally held in Tohana on Saturday. The rally had been organised by the local MLA and Minister for State for Medical Education, Mr Vinod Marya, and the district unit of the Haryana Vikas Party (HVP). Criticising the politics of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader and former Chief Minister, Mr Om Parkash Chautala, Mr Bansi Lal said that the INLD leader had tried to meddle in the politics of other states and tried his fortune in Delhi and Rajasthan. But the people of those states had rejected him. He said that after three generations of the former Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Devi Lal, had been defeated in the last Lok Sabha elections, Mr Chautala fielded his younger son from Sanghrian in Rajasthan in the hope of getting favour from the people of Rajasthan but there too he had to face a humiliating defeat. The Chief Minister said the Devi Lal clan was in the habit of changing their constituency after every election, only because they never tried to listen to the problems of the people. The Chautala clan, he alleged, tried to get votes by befooling people. Mr Bansi Lal also criticised the former Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bhajan Lal, and alleged that it was the latter who had stopped the grants to Agroha medical college. He read out the proceedings of a Cabinet meeting held on July 11, 1995, to prove his point and said he was being wrongly blamed for the stoppage of grants to the medical college. Terming Mr Bhajan Lal as anti-farmer, Mr Bansi Lal, said 1,700 farmers in the state had been arrested during the past two years due to the non-payment of agriculture loans, but not a single person had been arrested during his tenure. He repeated his claims that his government would be in a position to give uninterrupted power supply by June, next year. The Chief Minister also announced some new projects for Tohana Assembly constituency, which included a new children and maternity ward at the General Hospital and a grant of Rs 5 lakh for a government college at Bhuna. Mr Bansi Lal also announced a grant of Rs 20 lakh for improving the sewer system and repairs of roads in the town. He also announced that Rs 9 crore would be spent on the repair of the national highway at Fatehabad and another Rs 37.55 crore on improving the power situation in the district. Earlier, the Chief
Minister inaugurated a new 132 KV power substation at
Tohana. This had been built at an estimated cost of Rs
3.50 crore and would benefit 65,000 consumers from 187
villages. |
RJD, SP feudal: Selja HISAR, Jan 3 — The Joint Secretary of the All-India Congress Committee, Ms Selja, has been advocating reservation for women in all legislative bodies, including Parliament. Ms Selja, who has represented the Sirsa parliamentary constituency twice and also served as Minister of State for Human Resources Development told TNS in an interview, that this would help not only in empowering women, but also in ameliorating their plight. She said all political parties must come out with concrete plan to show their seriousness in providing 33 per cent reservation to women in Parliament. The Congress President, Ms Sonia Gandhi, had taken a lead by declaring 33 per cent reservation in all party posts for the women. "At least we have made a beginning" she said. She criticised Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal leaders for putting obstacles in the passage of the Bill. She said, it betrayed their feudal instincts and a narrow outlook. She sought other measures for uplifting the women. Though women have been given reservation in panchayats yet there were several instances where they were not able to exercise the power. She hoped that the new legislation will help in the overall development of the women. Ms Selja disagreed with the view that good people were not joining politics. There may be some people, who had brought bad name to politics, she said, but there were potentially good people also, who had helped in strengthening the roots of democracy. Ms Selja said the women should be encouraged to join politics. She pointed out that more educated women were joining politics. They will get encouraged when there will be reservation for women in Parliament, she said. The AICC Joint Secretary said the Congress would make appointments to the posts reserved for women in the party soon. Ms Selja refused to
comment whether there should be a separate provision for
the women belonging to the weaker sections of society.
However, she sought to clarify that her party had already
made its stand clear on the issue. She said that priority
should be to get the legislation passed. She said these
arguments were mere excuses put forth by the opponents of
the reservation. Ms Selja pointed out that such demands
were made by the parties who had hardly any
representation in their party for women. |
Needy students given woollens FATEHABAD, Jan 3 — The local MM College branch of the district Red Cross and the Rotary International organised a function in the college yesterday to distribute woollen clothes among poor and needy students of the college. Dr Vinod Batra, Vice-President of the college governing body, distributed the garments. Dr Batra lauded the role
of the college unit of the Red Cross and the Rotary
International in social service. He donated a sum of Rs
2100 for the project. Mr K.K. Arora, a college lecturer
and counseller of the college unit of the Red Cross said
college students had been organising blood donation
camps, first aid, nursing training camps and many other
projects for the benefit of the rural community. |
500 MW power plant for Hisar:
CM BHIWANI, Jan 3 — Chief Minister Bansi Lal announced here today that a new 500 MW thermal power plant would be set up at Hisar and the land for it had been identified. Addressing a well-attended rally, he said construction work on the thermal plant at Yamunanagar would start within six months. Global tenders invited for its construction were being examined and a decision would be taken in a few weeks. Incidentally today’s rally was the first of its kind held in Mr Bansi Lal’s home town after he took over as Chief Minister in May, 1996. The organisers explained that the meeting had been organised to take people into confidence about the achievements of his government. Political observers, however, believe that the rally was aimed at assessing the mass base of the Haryana Vikas Party and convey a message to dissidents and allies that he commanded mass following. People came from all seven Assembly segments, comprising Bhiwani district. Many came to the meeting dancing to the tunes of drums. Women, mostly from rural areas, also participated. Besides ministers and MLAs from the district, the meeting was also attended by Mr Karan Singh Dalal, Mr Om Parkash Mahajan, Mr Kanwal Singh, Mr Ramesh Kaushik, Mr Sat Narain Lather and Mr Harsh Kumar, all ministers. Mr Bansi Lal reiterated that electricity consumers in the state would get round-the-clock power supply after June 30. He said the first unit (143 MW) of the 432 MW gas-based power plant at Faridabad would start generation before April 10 and the second, also of 143 MW capacity, by June 30. The third unit of 146 MW would be ready by the end of the year. The sixth unit (210 MW) of
the Panipat thermal plant would start generation in
December. After the renovation of the existing four units
of 110 MW each, the state would get between 250 to 270 MW
supply by the end of the year. |
Sack Gujarat govt: Lok Dal ROHTAK, Jan 3 — The Lok Dal has demanded sack of the BJP government in Gujarat for recent attacks and violence against Christians by activists of some right wing organisations. Talking to reporters a spokesman for the party said that the government had failed to safeguard interests of the minority community and punish the culprits responsible for such anti-social activities, the BJP-led government had no right to stay in power there. Seeking total ban on the organisations like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the Hindu Jagran Manch and the Bajrang Dal, the Lok Dal leader said such organisations had been fanning communal tension under the garb of Hinduism or religion. He said the probe conducted by a two-member committee deputed by the Union Home Ministry had concluded that the authorities as well as some of such organisations had been chiefly responsible. He asked the Central government to get leaders of these organisations arrested under the National Security Act (NSA) so that dangers to national unity and democratic set up could be avoided. The Lok Dal also demanded a White Paper on the case of sacking of the Navy Chief, Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat by the Defence Ministry. Criticising the decision the party said it was most "immature" and improper decision and the government should tell now in detail about the background of the such a decision by issuing a White Paper. He also criticised the
Bansi Lal government in Haryana for its alleged failure
on various fronts. He said his party would soon launch a
campaign in the state to make people aware of the
injustice being done to them through the non-fulfilment
of election promises made by the Haryana Vikas Party and
the BJP. He appealed to the main opposition parties in
the state to get together on one platform for common
issues. |
Students cheated BHIWANI, Jan 3 — The Board of School Education, Haryana, is again in news for wrong reasons. An unidentified person, a few months back, had taken interviews for the appointment of typists and clerks at the local court premises. He had in his possession board's printed letters and other record. Recently two persons were caught while they were taking away old answer sheets from the store room in late hours. In the latest case, a daily-wager, Pawan Kumar, reportedly tore receipts from a receipt book and started receiving application forms for 12th class at his home. According to reports, he took the forms only from those who intended to deposit fee in cash. The fee for each form is Rs 510. Thus he reportedly caused a loss of thousands of rupees to the board. Not to speak of harassment caused to the student as these forms were not even deposited with the board. An inquiry into the matter is proceeding slowly as the offender is reported to be a nephew of a UMC mamber with the board. The improper supervision of printed material and record in the board add to such cases. A case of issuing wrong
receipts in the matric branch was also reported last year
and the former Secretary had ordered an inquiry. The
Secretary of the Board could not be contacted at his
residence for his reaction. |
BJP, Cong interest in MNC
decried FATEHABAD, Jan 3 — The BJP Government at the Centre is inviting the multinational companies much to the detriment of economic interests of the country and the Congress was supporting this action. Mr Hanan Molla, MP and a secretary of the Akhil Bharitya Khet Mazdoor Union, said this while addressing a rally of the union at the local grain market today. He was here to inaugurate a two-day state level convention of the union. Mr Molla alleged that public sector enterprises were being sold for a song by the BJP government. This, he alleged, has resulted in a large scale increase in the unemployment and corruption. Mr Molla called upon the people to see through the unprincipled hobnobbing of the BJP and the Congress as they were carrying the country towards an economic slavery. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Sunit Chopra, Joint Secretary of the union, said even after 50 years of Independence, the plight of farm labourers was pitiable. Mr Krishan Swaroop, General Secretary of the Haryana Kisan Sabha alleged that the government had failed to provide good seeds and fertilizers to the farmers and the latter had been forced to purchase adulterated items from the market. Mrs Jagmati Sangwan, General Secretary of the Janwadi Mahila Samiti, Haryana alleged that the Centre as well as the state governments had failed to provide security to women. Mr Harpal Singh, a former
MLA from Tohana and Mr Prithvi Singh Gorakhpuria also
spoke. |
Award for HAU Professor HISAR, Jan 3 — Prof Randhir Singh, coordinator, research and former Dean College of Basic Sciences and Humanities in CCS Haryana Agricultural University has been conferred with the Recognition Award by the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences for his outstanding contribution to the field of plant improvement. The award carries a citation and a cash prize of Rs 50,000. The award will be presented to him at the inaugural session of the fourth Agricultural Science congress on February 21 in Jaipur. Prof Randhir Singh has been earlier honoured by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research with the Hari Om Ashram Trust Award and the Rafi Ahmad Kidwai Memorial Award. Meanwhile, Dr R.S. Dalal, secretary to the Vice Chancellor HAU has been nominated as member of the Advisory Committee for Academic Staff College-cum-Distance Education Centre, Rajasthan Agricultural University, Bikaner for two years. The college provide
training and orientation to teachers and scientists of
the RAU Bikaner. |
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