 |
H A R Y A N A |  |
 Saturday, March 6, 1999 |
|
CM's threat no deterrent GURGAON, March 5 — Businessmen and others in Gurgaon continue to receive the threatening calls on the telephone from anonymous callers for money, notwithstanding Chief Minister Bansi Lal’s warning. 24-hr power supply from June 30: CM BOUND-KALAN (Bhiwani), March 5 — The Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, has said there was no threat to the Vajpayee government and the proposed third front was not a viable alternative. |
 |
|
|
Waterlogging
lays waste 5 districts
Murder of lawyer condemned Industrial
safety ‘highest’ in Haryana Court
directive to police |
||||||||
 |
|||
CM's threat no deterrent GURGAON, March 5 — Businessmen and others in Gurgaon continue to receive the threatening calls on the telephone from anonymous callers for money, notwithstanding Chief Minister Bansi Lal’s warning. After Mr Bansi Lal cautioned the criminals publicly for making threatening calls to people, a number of businessmen have received such calls. The callers continue to identify themselves as agents of "D-company." Many see it as a network of the Dubai-based gangster, Dawood Ibrahim. In what is considered to be an answer of the miscreants to Mr Bansi Lal, the callers have now hiked the amount of "extortion" money from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh from each of their targets. With gangsters firing at a doctor and owner of a private hospital and owners of a jewellery shop — they were among those who received threat calls for money, fear prevails among business and trade circles. The fact that security has been provided to some who received the calls, has not helped remove fear among people. The reason being that the owners of the jewellery shop were fired at from close range in spite of security provided to them. The police continues to grope in the dark. A section in the police is credited with a view that notorious criminals in jail here should be segregated. The head of one of the dreaded gangs has the name which starts with the initial "D". A senior police officer, on condition of anonymity, said as the miscreants were operating through cellular telephones, it was difficult to get much clue about them. The cash-card system had complicated the case," he said. Another police officer commenting on the perceived threat to businessmen, said with the present strength of force it was difficult to spare personnel for the security duty. Meanwhile, applications
for arms licences have increased manifold in the last few
months. |
24-hr power supply from June 30: CM BOUND-KALAN (Bhiwani), March 5 — The Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, has said there was no threat to the Vajpayee government and the proposed third front was not a viable alternative. Talking to TNS at the local rest house, the Chief Minister said there were contradictions between the political parties aspiring to constitute the third front. Earlier, while addressing a gathering the Chief Minister ruled out the free supply of electricity and advised the consumers to pay bills on time. He warned the consumers, who failed to pay their bills, that their electricity connection would be disconnected. Mr Bansi Lal denied that the power sector was being privatised. He said the state electricity board had been split into four corporations to ensure better management. He said raids were being conducted to detect theft of power. He regretted that many industrialists were also indulging in power theft. The Chief Minister said Punjab had provided a relief of only Rs 150 crore per annum for free supply of power to the farmers, whereas the state had provided a subsidy of Rs 850 crore to the agriculture sector and next year the subsidy amount would be increased to Rs 950 crore, he added. He claimed that Haryana had become a trendsetter in power reforms not only in India but in South-Asian countries also. He said delegations from Pakistan and Bangladesh had visited the state recently to study the power reforms. He reiterated that uninterrupted supply of electricity would be provided to the consumers from June 30 onwards. Mr Bansi Lal said, he was holding rallies to make the people aware of the developmental activities being undertaken by the government, future plans and the real political situation in the state. He stated that the Hathni Kund barrage would be completed by June 30 and after that the state would get between 20000 to 25,000 cusecs of Yamuna water instead of only 12,000 cusecs at present. The capacity of the canal was also being increased. Mr Bansi Lal criticised the INLD supremo, Mr Om Parkash Chautala, and accused him of pursuing caste-based politics. He alleged that the INLD leader was misleading the people about the developmental projects being undertaken by the HVP-BJP government. Earlier, the Chief
Minister laid the foundation stone of Community Health
Centre at the village. It would be built at the cost of
about Rs 1.46 crore. |
80
structures
demolished GURGAON, March 5 — In a major crackdown, the Haryana Government demolished nearly 80 permanent structures in Gurgaon and Sukhrali and removed encroachments in the adjoining Sector 17 in the past two days. However, the official figure puts the demolished structures at 68. The massive operation is linked by many to the sensational murder of a couple in Sector 17 recently and the subsequent visit of Chief Minister Bansi Lal to the house of the victims. The demolition squad of the District Town Planner, Enforcement, conducted the operation in the two villages yesterday amid tight security. As many as 400 police personnel led by the SDM, Gurgaon, Mr R.C. Pawaria, were present on the occasion. The encroachments on the green belt in Sector 17 were removed by a team from the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) this morning in the presence of large number of police personnel. Although the authorities in the district were apparently straining themselves to justify the demolitions, the issue has kicked up a controversy which has the potential to embarrass the government no end. The District Town Planner, Enforcement, Mr B.B.L. Kaushik told TNS the structures were illegal. Punitive action was taken under the Controlled Area Act, 1963. According to him, as per the Act no constructions could be made within a radius of 8 km from the outer limit of the municipal area without prior sanction from the government. However, there are many who feel the government and the local administration were under pressure for the demolitions following the murders in Sector 17. The structures demolished were a cluster of houses inhabited by labourers and employees in local factories. A majority of them were from outside Haryana. A number of them had bought small pieces of land to construct the houses. Rajbali Yadav, Ram Narain and D.L. Yadav, whose houses were demolished alleged the demolitions were done without serving any notice to them. It is learnt certain residents also moved court yesterday against the operation and got temporary relief. A senior officer of the Town and Country Planning Department, who did not wish to be quoted, said certain residents of Sector 17 were of the view that the culprits of the double murder case were from the illegal cluster of houses in the two villages. A number of residents of the posh sector were also apprehensive that they were being gradually swamped by slum areas. Several dignitaries stay in Sector 17. Significantly, houses of close relatives of Mr Bansi Lal were also under construction in the sector. They are HVP MP Surender Singh, and Mrs Saroj Siwatch, Deputy Commissioner, Panchkula. While Mr Surender Singh is Mr Bansi Lal's son, Mrs Siwatch is his daughter. Two houses were being constructed by Mr Somveer Singh, HVP MLA and son-in-law of the Chief Minister. Although, the District Town Planner, Enforcement, denied this but an allegation is that the government had not touched a large number of unauthorised constructions around the area which also fell in the controlled area as per the Act. It is alleged there are umpteen number of benami shops constructed by top political leaders, including serving ministers and police personnel. Illegal construction work
for a number of shops, near Atul Chowk near Sector 14 and
at a stone's throw from the offices of HUDA and the
District Town Planner, Enforcement, were still on, it is
alleged. |
Waterlogging lays waste 5 districts ROHTAK: Thousands of hectares of fertile agricultural land in Haryana has been turning waste, thanks to the problem of acute waterlogging and the failure of the authorities to implement any concrete plan so far to tackle it. While the problem has affected several parts throughout the state, there are at least five districts where waterlogging has become a menace and many farming families have reached the brink of starvation. Rohtak district is one of the most severely affected parts of the state where over 2500 hectares of land has become waterlogged and as a result the crop has been left unsown due to stagnant water in the fields. According to agricultural experts, the problem is basically of two types. One is due to continuous seepage from the canals, a large tract of land adjacent to canals and drains has been adversely affected. The other is the salinity if the soil which has affected about 71 per cent of the land in this district. This factor has been responsible for low consumption of surface water by the soil. Of late, low-lying areas of this belt comprising Rohtak, Jind, Hisar, Sirsa and some parts of Jhajjar, Bhiwani and Sonepat came under the impact of waterlogging as salinity and above average rainfall in the past three years in this otherwise semi-arid area led to a big rise in the water table. Now a small amount of rainfall is enough to flood these areas. As per the Agricultural Department records, about 2,000 hectares of land in this district has been left unsown due to this reason. But the figure of affected land has been more as per the survey of the revenue authorities. Some of the prominently affected villages include Madina (200 hectares), Bahu Akbarpur (700), Nindana (350), Girawar (300), Mokhra (110), Nidana (100), Basana (100), Kanhi (80), Bohar (60), Rithal (50), Bhalaut (50), Kalanaur (40), Bharan (20), and Balamba (20). Besides, these official figures hundreds of hectares of land in Samar Gopalpur, Lahli and Ajaib and some other villages have also been affected by the problem. In neighbouring Jhajjar district about 500 hectares of land in Deeghal, Baghpur, Jhajgarh, Wazirpur, Madana, Seria, Gangtan has been a victim of this problem. The sarpanch of Deeghal village, which has a population of about 32000, claimed that the situation has become so grave that even the residential areas were badly affected by waterlogging and if it persisted and no remedial measures were taken then the residents might have to shift to another place. One of the affected farmers is Joginder Pal of Samar Gopalpur whose 54 acres of land out of the total 60 has been under water for about two years. Despite being a big farmer, he says his family was on the verge of starvation. He says while his agricultural production had reduced drastically, he had come under heavy debt. The loan of Rs 80,000 taken from a bank about three years ago for agricultural implements has doubled and he is in no position to return even the interest. He fears that if no steps were taken to drain out the water from his fields then his entire land would turn waste within a few months. He says a permanent pump house and deep boring tubewells were the only way left to save such a land. According to some farmers, the Meham-Lakhanmajra drain which ought to fall in the drain No. 8, near Rohtak, has been left incomplete due to a controversy near Bahu Akbarpur village and as result the stagnant water has been causing acute waterlogging in the area. The Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture, Mr K. Yerra Naidu, who visited Hisar recently, reportedly commented that the problem of waterlogging in Haryana was of such a magnitude that the state government would not be able to handle it on its own, and said he was pained to see that a huge area was turning waste. He said he would take up the matter with Union Agriculture Minister and apprise him of the acuteness of the problem. Meanwhile, it is learnt
that the state government has prepared a master plan of
about Rs 2,250 crore to tackle the problem on a long-term
basis. The master plan has been prepared with help of a
Dutch company. It is reported that under this plan big
pipes would be laid underground in the affected areas to
remove additional water from the drains. |
Women can help check
brain-drain: VC KURUKSHETRA, March 5 — Only women can help check brain drain in the country. If women as mothers, sisters and wives joined heads and persuaded the educated youth against shifting to foreign countries brain drain from India could be checked. These views were expressed by Dr M.L. Ranga, Vice-Chancellor, of Kurukshetra University in his convocation address to the students of Dayanand Mahila Mahavidyalaya, Kurukshetra, last evening. Dr Ranga maintained that many social evils which afflicted our society could also be checkmated. If women came forward. Dr Ranga said instead of reservation for women what was needed, was protection of their rights and protection to them in the society. He lamented that over the years women had come to face much danger at the hands of anti-social elements. The Vice-Chancellor dwelt on the need for creating more opportunities of education for women in the rural areas. He maintained that drop-out rate amongst girls in villages was much lighter as compared to the urban areas. He wanted women to realise that they were "a source of inspiration for the progress of individuals and society as the whole." Dr Ranga regretted the exploitation of women in the field of education. Educated young girls with postgraduate degrees were appointed at a paltry salary of less than Rs 2000 per month in schools and private colleges. Even Ph.D teachers were allowed a minimum of Rs 2500 per month in colleges by the UGC on part-time basis. He urged the society and the administrators to bring an end to the exploitation of women and students. Tracing the history of renaissance of women education, Dr Ranga revealed that during ancient times women enjoyed great status in society. But the fall in standards of women education and its reputation started with the Mughal period. Earlier, the Principal of the college conferred degrees on 129 graduates. Mrs Sneh Mahajan, Principal, M.C.M. DAV College, Chandigarh, distributed prizes. Dr Ram Prakash, former
Minister of Science and Technology, Haryana, detailed the
achievements of the college. |
Industrial safety ‘highest’
in Haryana CHANDIGARH, March 5 — Number of accidents in industry in Haryana is the lowest in the country and it has come down to 0.91 per 1,000 workers in 1998 against 11.5 per 1,000 workers per year in the year 1987. This was stated by Mr Hardeep Kumar, Labour Commissioner and President, Haryana Safety Council at a seminar on "Safety in Engineering Industries" organised the the Haryana Safely Council of mark the National Safety Day at Yamunanagar. Nearly 200 delegates from different units of Haryana participated in the seminar. He said accident rate in Haryana had decreased considerably in the successive years due to the efforts of the managements, workers and the Labour Department. He stressed that industry should take all possible measures to prevent accidents as human life was very precious. He said Labour Department would reward suitably those units, which show considerable improvement in safety measures. He emphasised that safety of workers played an important role in an industry and also helped increase productivity. Mr Rajiv Sharma, Deputy
Commissioner, Yamunanagar, appealed to all industries to
adopt latest safety measures on priority to avoid
accidents. Mr S.M. Madan, Additional Director, Industrial
Safety and Health, said the safety concept was not being
given due importance as safety was neither taught nor
training imparted at work places or in schools and
colleges. |
Industries urged to adopt safety
steps YAMUNANAGAR, March 5 — Mr Hardeep Kumar, Labour Commissioner and President of the Haryana Safety Council suggested that industrialists should use their skill and experience for adopting safety measures in industries to prevent accidents. He was speaking at a programme organised yesterday at Thapar Industrial Club Ballarpur Industries by Haryana Safety Council to mark the National Safety Day. He emphasised that safety of the workers play a very important role in the well being of an industry and also helped to increase the production rate. He said it had been observed that in most of the accidents casual and daily wage workers were involved, which reflects that these workers were not imparted proper training and technical education in safe operation of the machines. He said the management should ensure that contractor and casual workers were not put on machines without being made aware of the safe procedures. He further stated that
accident rate in the state had come down considerably
because of the efforts of the managements, workers and
the Labour Department. He appealed to all industries to
adopt safety measures to avoid accidents. |
Murder of lawyer condemned KURUKSHETRA, March 5 — The District Bar Association, Kurukshetra, in a resolution unanimously passed at an emergency meeting here yesterday, condemned the murder of Mr Parveen Sharma, an advocate of Karnal. He was murdered by unidentified persons on March 3. Mr Dina Nath Arora, the Association's Vice-President, said the meeting urged the state government to arrest the murderers at the earliest. The members observed a
two-minute silence in homage to the departed soul. Work
was suspended in all courts after the meeting. |
Court directive to police FARIDABAD, March 5 — Mr P.L. Goyal, Additional District and Session Judge, has directed the Superintendent of the Police to take action against Mr Ram Avtar, an ASI, for trying to mislead the court. The ASI had shown the recovery of a country-made pistol from Jeeta, on July 11, 1996. It was stated by the ASI that Jeeta had fired from the said pistol at Megh Shyam Mr Goyal said the same pistol was found to be already examined by forensic science laboratory in case FIR No 325 of 1989 under Section 395 of the IPC at Palwal Sadar police station. He said the attempt of ASI Ram Avtar to falsely plant the pistol could not be taken lightly. Mr Goyal awarded life term
to Chanderpal, Nepal, Om Prakash, Rakesh, Shiv Kumar,
Sunder Singh and Anangpal in the murder case and
acquitted Rajender, Jeeta Bhisham and Devinder accused by
giving them the benefit of the doubt. |
Erratic water supply resented SONEPAT, March 5 — Representatives of various farmers' organisations held a joint meeting here yesterday to register their protest against inadequate and erratic supply of canal water to villages under Sonepat water service division in the Irrigation Department. The meeting adopted a resolution demanding a high-level inquiry into farmers' complaints and punishment to officials responsible for the canal water crisis in the area. It alleged that canal water had not been reaching the tailend fields and the authorities concerned were indifferent to the complaints of the farmers. The meeting, by another resolution, threatened to start an agitation and gherao officials, if they failed to ensure the supply of canal water during the rotation period at the tailend villages immediately. The meeting urged the state government to order a high-level probe into the works done for the desilting and deweeding of Bagru and Badhana minors in this area. It alleged that the entire
work had been done by permanent employees (beldars) of
the department, but the officials had prepared bogus
muster rolls for it and misused public funds. |
Bad state of city roads FARIDABAD, March 5 — The condition of roads in the city has deteriorated due to the laying of cables by the telephone department. After laying the cables, the roads are reportedly not being repaired. Big mounds of mud have been left in the middle of the roads, making them unsafe. In the absence of streetlights on most of the roads motorists are unable to see the mounds. The municipal corporation, which has been paid the road cut charges in advance, seems to have done nothing in this regard. At several places gaps have been left unfilled after joining the cables. Rain will throw the telephone system out of gear due to the seepage of water into the cables as the cuts have not been filled up properly. Reliable sources claim that neither the trenches for laying the cables had been dug, nor the material used was according to specifications. People can be seen going
from one counter to another in the telephone department
for the redressal of their grievances. |
Gurgaon roads renamed GURGAON, March 5 — Various roads have been renamed after Army officials who laid down their lives while fighting terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir. Disclosing this here yesterday, the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Krishan Kumar, who is also chairman of the District Sainik Board, said that the old Khandsa Road had been renamed as 2nd Lt-Rajesh Khurana Road, the Sheetla Bypass Road as the Shaheed Lt-Atul Kataria Road while Sheetla Chowk had been renamed as Lt-Atul Kataria Chowk. Besides, approval had also been received to rename Old Railway Road after Major Vikrant Shastri. He informed that the construction of the war memorial, the foundation stone for which was laid by Chief Minister Bansi Lal on August 15, was being carried out on a war-footing. He said the Haryana Government was taking a number of steps to rehabilitate retired Army men. Under different welfare schemes, more than Rs 35 lakh had been distributed among 1860 ex-servicemen to help them start their own ventures. Mr Kumar announced that
Army Dental Centre, Delhi cantonment, in collaboration
with the District Sainik Board would organise a dental
check-up camp at Gurgaon on March 6 on the premises of
the District Sainik Board. |
CM's
warning
on "false" power bills CHANDIGARH, March 5 — The Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (HVPN) will punish the employees who would prepare false electricity bills and cases would also be registered against them. This was revealed by the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, at a meeting with a high-level delegation from Rajasthan led by the Energy Minister, Dr Chander Bhan, which visited Haryana to study its power sector reform programme. Mr Bansi Lal urged the
delegation to visit some of the ongoing projects in the
State for a glimpse of the improvement made there. He
said that Haryana was supplying power to the agriculture
sector at a subsidised rate of 50 paise per unit. The
agriculture sector was getting power keeping in view the
need of the crops, he added. |
 |
||
 |
| Nation
| Punjab | Himachal Pradesh | Jammu & Kashmir | Chandigarh | | Editorial | Business | Sport | | Mailbag | Spotlight | World | 50 years of Independence | Weather | | Search | Subscribe | Archive | Suggestion | Home | E-mail | |
