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H A R Y A N A |  |
 Sunday, March 14, 1999 |
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Race for 'capturing' party Water
supply: board, residents lock horns |
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Bansi Lal's
aide returns to Cong 2
die as boiler explodes Pay
panel scales for civic staff Governor
appeals for cooperation Polio
vaccination drive on March 14 |
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Congress elections in Haryana ROHTAK, March 13 — As the process for holding organisational elections has been set in motion, senior Pradesh Congress leaders appear to be vying with one another to "capture" the party in Haryana. The central elections committee set up by the party high command to oversee the elections is likely to constitute a pradesh election committee (PEC) in a few days, the PCC chief will be an ex-officio member of the panel. Contenders for the post of president of the (PEC) are spending considerable time in Delhi canvassing for their candidature. The PEC, according to informed sources, is likely to comprise at the most five members. The returning officer will in turn appoint district and block returning officers ensure 'fair' elections at the grassroots level. The Congress President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, has reportedly decided against holding organisational elections in those states where elections are due in November and December. Many Congressmen, who were disillusioned with the organisational elections held under the leadership of Mr Sitaram Kesri, feel that the future of the Congress in Haryana depends much on the fairness of the organisational elections. They say many persons who have no commitment to the Congress ideology have been promoted systematically at various levels. Such operators", they say need to be weeded out. The infighting in the state Congress has intensified after the rally organised by the PCC Chief, Mr Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, at Jind on February 13. The factional leaders are keen to meet the party president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi to 'apprise' her about the political situation in Haryana. Mr Subhash Batra, a former minister, met Mrs Gandhi on March 6 and reportedly told her that "persons in the party derive power and legitimacy from you, but many of them start glorifying themselves and are busy in carving out political fiefdoms at the cost of the party". Mr Batra is reportedly planning a meeting of the rank and file disillusioned with factionalism in the party so as to impress upon Mrs Gandhi to set the affairs of the state Congress in order. The former Chief Minister, Mr Bhajan Lal, who felt ignored at the Jind rally, has reportedly decided to organise rallies to boost the morale of his supporters. A former PCC Chief, Mr Birender Singh, too, has decided to hold meetings of his supporters. Another former PCC
president, Mr Shamsher Singh Surjewala, has activated
"Krishak Samaj" and is planning to demonstrate
his strength by gheraoing Parliament House during the
current session. |
Water supply: board, residents
lock horns AMBALA, March 13 — Bungalow owners in the cantonment and the authorities of the Cantonment Board have locked horns over water supply with both justifying their viewpoints. The issue cropped up after the Military Engineering Services (MES) told the Cantonment Board last year that it was not possible to supply water to the civil population in cantonment area and, therefore, the board should make its own arrangement to supply water to them. The board installed two tubewells to supply water to the bungalow owners and issued notices to them to get proper connections. The notices asked them to pay water charges to get water connection. The bungalow owners contested the amount of water dues on the ground that these were excessive and had been calculated without any rational basis. The president of the Bungalow Owners' Association, Mr S.S. Dass, who is a former Vice-President of the Cantonment Board, claimed that the charges had been levied without taking into consideration the actual consumption of water as water meters were not working. Mr Dass said the board had also added 20 per cent administrative charges to the bills issued by the MES which was unreasonable. He said that the tariff demanded was far in excess of what was charged by municipal councils. The General Secretary of the association, Mr Raj Kumar, said the residents would not pay the undue charges and in case the harassment continued, they would seek the redressal of their grievances at a higher level. On the other hand, Mr J.S. Dhadwad, Cantonment Executive Officer, said that the amount of the bills had been calculated on the basis of a rational formula by the MES and the board had to pay a lumpsum amount as charges. Mr Dhadwad said MES
officials would disconnect water supply if residents
failed to get water connection from the board by March
15. |
Hooda's call on Badal's stand on
SYL canal CHANDIGARH, March 13 — The Haryana Congress President, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, today gave a call to all political parties of the state to join hands in order to counter the stand taken by the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, on the construction of the SYL canal. Mr Badal had announced at Ambala and later in the Vidhan Sabha that the SYL canal would not be completed because Punjab had no surplus water for Haryana. Talking to newsmen here Mr Hooda said the river waters issue should be kept above party politics. The Congress was willing to lend or accept support from any political party on this issue. He said Mr Devi Lal and Mr Om Prakash Chautala should put pressure on Mr Badal, with whom they had family ties, and the HVP-BJP combine should put pressure on the Centre for the implementation of the Eradi Tribunal award on the river waters issue. Mr Hooda said Mr Badal was the first Punjab Chief Minister who had raised a question mark on the construction of the canal itself. His predecessors had differed on the quantum of Haryana's share in the river waters, but they never challenged the construction of the canal. The Congress leader said Mr Badal should not forget that the land for the canal had been acquired by an Akali Government. Again it was an Akali Government which completed 95 per cent of the canal's construction work. He said Mr Badal's obstinate stand was unwarranted. He alleged Mr Badal had unnecessarily raked up the "thorny issue to gain foothold among disgruntled elements within the Akali Dal, endangering his leadership". The AICC General
Secretary, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, and the AICC Secretary,
Mr Mukul Wasnik, would honour all those who participated
in the "Kranti padyatra" at a state-level
function to be organised at Hisar on March 22. |
Bansi Lal's aide returns to Cong CHANDIGARH, March 13 — The ruling Haryana Vikas Party suffered a big setback in Karnal district today when Mr Raghbir Singh, advocate and the party's founder executive member, quit the party and joined the Congress. Mr Raghbir Singh, a longstanding trusted associate of the Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, joined the Congress at a press conference addressed by the party chief, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, here today. He said he had been with Mr Bansi Lal since 1968, but had now decided to part company with him in protest against humiliation of self-respecting party workers. He said before the HVP came to power in 1996, Mr Bansi Lal used to say that the party workers were like members of his family. However, the day he took over as the Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, stopped giving the respect to the workers. Describing his joining the Congress as "home coming", Mr Raghbir Singh said he had joined the Youth Congress in 1965 and held various positions in the party till he left the Congress along with Mr Bansi Lal. The others who joined the
Congress along with Mr Raghbir Singh were Mr Gurbaj Singh
Sandhu , former Vice-President of the Karnal District Bar
Association; Mr Kuldip Singh, General Secretary of the
Karnal unit of the HVP; Mr Subegh Singh, Chairman of the
Assandh Market Society; Mr Balkar Singh and Mr Nanha Ram
both members of the Assandh Block Samiti, Mr Mohinder
Singh, member, Nilokheri Block Samiti; and Mr Mann Singh,
Mr G.S. Pappu, Mr Amarjit Singh Amba and Mr Jeet Ahlawat,
all student leaders of Karnal. |
2 die as boiler explodes FARIDABAD, March 13 — Two workers died when an overheated boiler exploded in a textile factory here late last evening. Among the injured is the owner of the factory. According to reports, eight persons were working in the night shift in Neelkanth Dyeing Company in Sector 24. Suddenly, the boiler exploded killing two and injuring two others, including Pradeep Soni, owner of the factory. It is stated that the temperature of the boiler rose to 180 degrees Centigrade from 140 degrees when the blast occurred. The workers informed the owner but he did not take any action to reduce the temperature. The police has registered
a case under Section 304, IPC, against the owner. |
Pay panel scales for civic
staff CHANDIGARH, March 13 — Municipal employees of Haryana will get new pay scales on the pattern of the Fifth Pay Commission's recommendations with effect from April 1 next. Announcing this here today, Dr Kamla Verma, Minister for Local Government, said this would benefit about 26,775 employees of 82 municipalities in the state. There are 61 municipal committees, 20 municipal councils and one municipal corporation (Faridabad) in the state. Dr Verma said the municipalities in the state had made efforts to improve their resource position over the past years. There was 15 per cent increase in their income in 1997-98 as compared to 1996-97 and it was likely to further increase by about 20 per cent during the current financial year as compared to 1997-98. She said recently the government had released a grant of Rs 8 crore to the municipalities with a weak financial base to enable them to pay salaries to their staff in time. Dr Kamla Verma expressed
hope that the municipal employees would now work with
renewed vigour and improve the financial position of the
municipalities by checking tax evasion, recovering tax
and rent arrears so as to meet the additional financial
liabilities arising as a result of implementation of the
Fifth Pay Commission's recommendations. |
Governor appeals for cooperation CHANDIGARH, March 13 — The Haryana Governor, Mr Mahabir Prasad, has appealed to the elected representatives, panches and sarpanches, social and religious leaders, voluntary organisations, mahila mandals and State Government officials to extend their whole hearted cooperation for the success of the special pulse polio campaign tomorrow. In a message issued here today, the Governor urged them to focus on the children belonging to the weaker and backward sections of society. He said that polio vaccination would be administered to the children between the age group of 0-5 years in those areas where the Health Department had detected children suffering from polio. The campaign would cover a
population of one lakh in those areas where even a single
patient of polio had been identified. Adequate number of
pulse polio immunisation posts had been set up for the
success of the campaign, he added. |
Polio vaccination drive on March
14 NARNAUL, March 13 — To eradicate polio in Mahendragarh district, the district administration has set up 210 centres in 197 villages. The Deputy Commissioner said here yesterday that five children contracted polio, in spite of being given polio drops. He said Ateli area will be taken up on priority for administering polio drops. Besides Nangal Sirohi Primary Health Centre for 28 villages, 34 villages falling under Satnali, 22 villages under Sehlang and four villages under the Kanina area and Mahendragarh and Narnaul development blocks have also been included. Polio drops will be
provided at these centres on March 14 and the left-out
children will be given drops at their houses on March 15. |
Residents' plea on panchayat land SONEPAT, March 13 — Resentment prevails among residents of Tharu village against the alleged illegal occupation of panchayat land by some influential persons and which had blocked the way to the cremation ground. The residents alleged that a wall had been constructed on the panchayat land around a drinking water well and which has hampered the draining of water. They urged the authorities
to take action against those involved in the illegal
occupation of the land. |
Khalsa celebrations CHANDIGARH, March 13
— The Haryana Government has included Mr Anil Vij,
MLA, Ambala Cantt, and Sant Karmajit Singh, President of
the Sant Nischal Trust, Santpura, Yamunanagar, as members
of the state-level committee for celebrations of 300th
anniversary of the birth of Khalsa. |
Three killed in road mishap ROHTAK, March 13 — Three persons were killed and one was injured in a collision between a Maruti car and a truck on the Gohana road, 10 km from here, last night. According to police sources, the accident occurred at 8.30 p.m. when a car carrying four occupants collided with a truck coming from the opposite directions. The killed were identified as Davinder, son of Mukhtiyar Singh, a resident of DLF Colony here, Ajmer and Rakesh, both residents of Chamarian village. The fourth Ashwini Kumar who got injuries was admitted to the PGIMS hospital here. The police has registered
a case in this connection. The truck driver reportedly
fled away with his vehicle after the mishap. |
One killed in tank blast ROHTAK, March 13 — One employee was killed and two others were injured when an air tank was burst at a mechanical workshop of the PWE, near Jind bypass, here today. The deceased was identified as Narayan Singh of Bhainsru Kalan village. The injured Mr Om Prakash Verma, junior engineer and an Assistant Diesel Mechanic, Mr Ram Phal, was admitted to the PGIMS. The blast was so powerful that all doors windows and one wall of the workshop fell on the ground. The cause of the blast is
stated to be over pressure of air in the tank. A
departmental inquiry has been ordered in this connection. |
No bids for liquor shops'
auction FARIDABAD, March 13 — The auction of 135 liquor shops in Faridabad could not be completed as there were no bidders and it would now be held on March 17. Out of the five groups bids were received for only two. The reserve price of one of the groups was Rs 6.80 crore but it was auctioned for Rs 6.83 crore. The reserve price of the second group was Rs 8 crore but the bid stopped at Rs 8.01 crore. In the case of remaining three groups there were no bidders. Last year, the auction fetched Rs 84.58 crore and only one UP company took all the shops. But the company reportedly suffered heavy financial losses to the tune of Rs 20 crore. Therefore, the contractors did not show much interest in the auction. Arya Samaj workers also
demonstrated against the auction. |
Bail declined to Haryana
official CHANDIGARH, March 13, The Sessions Judge, Mr B.S. Bedi, today declined bail to Dalip Singh, Assistant Registrar-cum-Managing Officer in the Haryana's Rehabilitation Department. He was booked by the local police under Sections 419,420,467,468,471 and 120-B, I.P.C., on a complaint lodged by the Financial Commission er, Revenue and Rehabilitation, Haryana. The allegations against Dalip Singh were that he had allowed an application moved by one Kapur Singh for the allotment of 5x5 standards acres of land in lieu of alleged 50 per cent cut.The fact of the matter was no cut had been applied to his case. At the time of allotting land on October 1,1953. The cut had in fact come into being on October 20,1953, when the Revenue Minister had ordered that 50 per cent cut be imposed in the matter of land in Hijranwa Khurd village on or after October 20, 1953. The Judge ordered that the
case required a deep probe which was not possible
otherwise than by custodial interrogation of Dalip Singh. |
Book released CHANDIGARH, March 13 — The Haryana Education Minister, Mr Ram Bilas Sharma, will release a book "Ambva Ki Daar Pe Kuke Koyalya", written by a former Chairman of the Haryana School Education Board, Dr Jai Bhagwan Goel, at Kurukshetra tomorrow. The book will be released
at a function to be organised by the Kurukshetra
Educational Research Institute. Senior journalist Shyam
Khosla will deliver a talk on "Religious
Conversions: Constitutional and Social Contexts", on
the occasion. |
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