Chandigarh Panipat Rohtak Gurgaon Hisar

DC warns against harassing aged parents
SONEPAT, May 31 — The Deputy Commissioner, Mr P.K. Mahapatra, directed police officials to take stern action against those found harassing their aged parents by not giving them food and other facilities.

Dist admn fails to attend brave soldier's cremation
PANIPAT, May 31 — Rishi Pal Tyagi of Sano Khurd village in this district has sacrificed his life while fighting foreign mercenaries in Kargil sector. He was serving in Rajput Regiment of Indian Army.

Liquor seized
ROHTAK, May 31 — The police has seized liquor worth thousands of rupees from a vehicle here.

Tributes paid to Charan Singh

Withdraw support, say BJP men
Tribune News Service

BARWALA, (Hisar) May 31 — Hundreds of BJP workers demanded the withdrawal of support to the Bansi Lal government at a public rally here today.

A resolution to this effect was moved by state executive member Ram Kumar Gautam and it was seconded by hundreds of activists by raising of hands.

Earlier all speakers criticised the Bansi Lal government for ignoring the BJP's interest.

Mr Om Parkash Grover, state party president, told reporters here that the state leadership had already brought to the notice of the party high command the difficulties faced by party workers in the state.

Mr Grover remained vague on all issues and refused any direct reply. When asked whether he favoured immediate withdrawal of support to the government, he explained: "We have brought to the notice of the party high command the difficulties faced by our workers. Now it is up to the high command to take a decision in the interest of the party." He did not say what the party's interest was.

The BJP leader said the top priority for his party was to defeat the Congress.

He said it was premature to say at this stage whether his party would align with the INLD. He said the INLD leader, Mr Om Parkash Chautala, had kept his options open on an alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party of Mr Sharad Pawar.

The state BJP president said his party did not want simultaneous elections to the state assembly and the Lok Sabha.

Another senior party leader and Education Minister Mr Ram Bilas Sharma, who has come out against the Bansi Lal government, while addressing a workers' rally, preferred to ignore state politics. He only lauded the role of the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, in dealing with the situation along the Line of Actual Control in the Kargil sector.

He criticised the Congress for bringing down the Vajpayee government in connivance with some "foreign powers". He cautioned the people against "dangerous repercussions" in case Ms Sonia Gandhi became the Prime Minister.

Mr Ram Chander Baindha, a former MP questioned the role of the President during the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha and the subsequent attempts by Ms Sonia Gandhi to form the government.

This was the first rally by the BJP which virtually marked the beginning of its election campaign in the state. The party plans to organise similar rallies throughout the state to woo the rural masses.

Chautala cautions BJP
Tribune News Service

TAORU (GURGAON), May 31 — The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) yesterday cautioned the BJP that it would not be able to win any Lok Sabha seat in Haryana in the coming election without its support.

Launching the INLD’s campaign for the parliamentary elections at a public meeting here, its chief, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, came down heavily on the HVP-BJP combine as well as the Congress. Addressing the meeting, he alleged that the BJP and the HVP had worked against the interests of Haryana.

Mr Chautala virtually released his party manifesto for the election, promising supply of free power, employment to the youth and better law and order situation in the state.

He charged the BJP with complicity in the "misrule" of the Bansi Lal government as it was supporting it.

Referring to the intrusion by Pakistan-backed infiltrators in Kashmir, he said the "foreign" origin of Congress President Sonia Gandhi was responsible for it. "After the USA and the European powers failed to install her as Prime Minister of India, they conspired with Pakistan to breach the line of actual control (LoC) in Kashmir," he said.

He said the people of the country would not excuse the Congress for the "ugly developments in Kashmir."

The meeting mourned the death of Sqn Leader Ajay Ahuja, observing a two-minute silence.

The INLD leader, who was presented with a Tata Safari by the Gurgaon unit of the party on the occasion, praised Mr Sharad Pawar, Mr P.A. Sangma and Mr Tariq Anwar for raising the issue of foreign origin of Mrs Gandhi in the interests of the country.

Referring to the Bansi Lal government, he alleged there was no governance in Haryana. Corruption was rife in all layers of the government and the law and order situation had not improved. Bureaucrats too were not obeying the orders of the Chief Minister.

DC warns against harassing
aged parents
From Our Correspondent

SONEPAT, May 31 — The Deputy Commissioner, Mr P.K. Mahapatra, directed police officials to take stern action against those found harassing their aged parents by not giving them food and other facilities. He also asked them to launch criminal proceedings against such persons who failed to abide by the requests of the police and civil authorities.

Presiding over the one-day open darbar held at Ganaur, 16 km from here, on Saturday, Mr Mahapatra also took serious note of the complaints of several aged persons who throng the darbar to air their grievances regarding maltreatment and denial of food, and assured them that the police and civil authorities would take necessary action on their complaints.

Several residents of Ganaur complained about the thefts of manhole covers and demanded steps to check the menace. They also demanded immediate arrest of antisocial elements caught stealing manhole covers.

The Deputy Commissioner directed the authorities concerned to take effective steps to curb the menace. He also appealed to the people to cooperate with the administration in apprehending such persons and ensuring the safety of vital installations and other government property.

Many women also turned up in the open darbar with a complaint about the non-cleaning of a nullah between the office of the Block Development and Panchayat Officer and Namestey Chowk. They alleged that the nullah was proving to be a health hazard and there was also the likelihood of the outbreak of an epidemic.

Earlier, the Deputy Commissioner took up 75 complaints. Most of them were related to insanitation, non-repair of roads and streets and non-cleaning of drains and nullahs.

The Deputy Commissioner directed the authorities concerned to take steps and remove the grievances of the people on the priority basis.

Land reclamation proceeding apace
By U.K. Bhanot
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH: Nearly two lakh acres of land in Haryana has reached the critical stage of salinity with water-table having risen to root zone of the crops. The productivity in the area has fallen to an alarmingly low level and farmers are at a loss to find an alternative source of livelihood.

This being a major concern of the Haryana Government, a pilot project for reclamation of saline and water logged land has been taken up in Gohana in Sonepat district. In the first phase , says Mr Naseen Ahmad, Commissioner and Secretary, Agriculture and Horticulture, Haryana, work has been taken up in four villages to reclaim 1,000 hectares of land under a project sponsored by the Haryana Government and the Netherlands Government. Haryana will contribute merely 10 per cent of the total cost of Rs 21.8 crore.

Besides financial assistance, the Netherlands Government will also render technical assistance to the state government. The project was actually finalised in October 1994 and it took quite some time for the preparatory work which included import of heavy machinery. The actual implementation for the reclamation of land began in April 1997.

Underground pipelines have been laid over an area of 770 hectares. Work regarding laying of 170 collector drains has been completed over an area of 1,073 hectares — more than the target of 1,000 hectares set under the project. The entire work regarding reclamation under the project is likely to be completed in this subdivision by June-end. Efforts are being made to reclaim 300 hectares more so that farmers owning this land start getting better crops as early as possible. Officials reveal that productivity in the reclaimed land has gone up from merely 10 quintals a hectare to more than 25 quintals. Their crops are wheat, rice and millets in rotation.

In the Gohana area alone work worth Rs 7 crore has been completed. The cost also includes the import of heavy machinery like excavators, trenchers and bulldozers.

Also, 22 farmer drainage societies have been registered under this project in the area falling in Gohana for maintenance of works. These societies will also meet the cost of transferring water from wells to drains.

Mr Leen Molenaar, First Secretary (Land and Water), Netherlands embassy, who is taking personal interest in the project, last week visited the Gohana sub-division. He expressed satisfaction not only with the progress of the work but also with the active involvement of farmers in the whole exercise.

The Gohana experiment and the concept of the participatory approval of the farmers will now come in handy for the Haryana Government while implementing a similar project in the Kalayat area in Kaithal district. If the experiment yields encouraging results, similar projects will be taken in other areas identified as critical from the viewpoint of salinity as well as waterlogging.

While the Central Soil Salinity Research Institute at Karnal has been entrusted with the task of monitoring and evaluation of the Gohana part of the project, Haryana Agriculture University, Hisar, has been asked to do similar work in the Kalayat area.

As the concept of horizontal surface drainage has been accepted under the pilot project, the Haryana Government ought to explore the possibility of supplementing the efforts of the Netherlands Government by adopting vertical drainage system also. As the improvement of land resource is necessary,the Government of India has taken up a similar project in two other districts — Bhiwani and Jhahjjar — with an assistance of Rs 4.58 crore for each district.

Dist admn fails to attend brave soldier's cremation
From Our Correspondent

PANIPAT, May 31 — Rishi Pal Tyagi of Sano Khurd village in this district has sacrificed his life while fighting foreign mercenaries in Kargil sector. He was serving in Rajput Regiment of Indian Army.

His body was brought to his village by five jawans of his regiment where he was cremated with military honour. Thousands of the people from villages were present at the cremation. But no one was present from the district administration to pay homage to this brave jawan.

He is survived by wife and three children.

Liquor seized
From Our Correspondent

ROHTAK, May 31 — The police has seized liquor worth thousands of rupees from a vehicle here.

According to information the police during a routine check on Saturday recovered at least 60 bottles and 960 quarters of English wine from a Maruti car. The police has registered a case under the Excise Act against two persons identified as Malkhan and Vinod, residents of Indira Colony and Arya Nagar, respectively.

In another incident, the police booked Prakash, son of Hardwari Lal, a resident of Chamanpura village in Jhajjar district, on the charge of molesting a married woman of the same village. A case under Sections 354 and 452, IPC, has been registered on a complaint of the victim's husband.

Tributes paid to Charan Singh
Tribune News Service

HISAR, May 31 — Tributes were paid to late Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh on his 12th death anniversary.

A simple function was organised in the campus of Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University here, which was presided over by the Vice-Chancellor, Prof J.B. Chowdhary.