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H A R Y A N A |  |
 Thursday, March 25, 1999 |
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Rly project at Rohtak hanging fire |
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 A canal of contention HISAR, March 24 — The Satluj Yamuna Link Canal issue has once again hit the headlines with rhetoric exhibited by leaders of Punjab and Haryana. Although the issue has not been "emotionalised" as yet, it can assume alarming proportions if it is allowed to be politically exploited.
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CM lays stone for water
supply scheme FARIDABAD, March 24 —The work on the Rs 42.95 crore water-supply augmentation scheme began here today with the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, laying the foundation stone of rainy well in the Yamuna basin at Dadesia village. HARCO scheme for farmers Small
savings scheme draw held Vajpayee
govt criticised |
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| Villagers angry at felling of trees | |
Family health week from April 26 |
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Rly project at Rohtak hanging fire ROHTAK, March 24 — The inordinate delay in the setting up of the computerised reservation centre at the railway junction here has been hanging fire. The project, reported to be sanctioned about two years ago, has failed to take off, consequently causing inconvenience to a large number of people. According to sources, the authorities concerned have so far failed to finalise the site of the reservation centre. This is stated to be one of the main reasons behind the unusual delay. It is learnt that the railway officials had indicated that the foundation stone of the reservation commuters may be laid during the visit of the General Manager (Northern Railway) here. The visit concluded about a week ago. A large number of commuters and local residents were disappointed after they learnt there was no such proposal during this visit. They got surprised after having learnt that the site of the counter was still to be made final. It is reported there was lack of unanimity among the railway authorities, the local administration, the Rohtak-Delhi Daily Passenger Association and the Association of the Railway Employees here about the site. It is learnt while the railway authorities had initially proposed to construct a counter at Palika Bazaar here the district administration had reportedly opposed it. It has suggested a more spacious place near the Maharshi Dayanand University campus. The Daily Passenger Association opposed both the proposals and asked the authorities concerned to construct it at the place of the old reservation counter just outside the Railway station. Unluckily, this suggestion did not work out as the Railwaymen Association here said the proposed site was for the "baraatghar" of Railway employees. According to Mr Vijay Kumar Saini, President of the Daily Passengers Association, a senior officer who had visited the town about a month ago and who had talked to the association about certain problems had assured them the computerised reservation counter would be constructed just near the Railway station. The foundation stone of the project was to be laid by the (Northern Railway) during his visit. He said the official concerned had also assured that the work would be completed in three to four months. Expressing concern over the delay, he alleged the authorities concerned were taking the issue seriously enough. The dilly -dallying attitude had been causing resentment among commuters. He claimed such a facility had already been provided at Bahadurgarh station although the proposal for that was taken up later than this one. He said Rohtak had been an important junction and about 20,000 to 25,000 passengers were daily commuters from here. Alleging that the work on other proposed projects like taking up the construction of a railway line between Rohtak and Hisar were also being deliberately delayed by the authorities concerned. He claimed that no new train had been started in the past several years while the number of railway passengers had increased by four to five times during this period. He said the association would soon submit a memorandum of its demands again to senior officials of the Railways at Delhi to press them to take up the construction of the Computerised reservation counter here. The local railway
officials could not be contacted for their comments on
the issue despite several attempts. |
A canal of contention HISAR, March 24 — The Satluj Yamuna Link Canal (SYL) issue has once again hit the headlines with rhetoric exhibited by leaders of Punjab and Haryana. Although the issue has not been "emotionalised" as yet, it can assume alarming proportions if it is allowed to be politically exploited. The SYL Canal was originally planned to supply surplus water of the Ravi-Beas to Haryana under an agreement between the government of Punjab and Haryana. The total length of the canal is about 212 km. The maximum portion of the canal falls in Punjab, where its length is about 121 kilometres and the remaining 91 kilometres are in Haryana. The construction of the canal was approved in 1976 at an estimated cost of about Rs 66 crore. The construction work in Haryana was started in October 1976. About 75 km length was completed by June 1980 at a cost of about Rs 28 crore. However, the remaining 15 km length of the Western Yamuna Canal still remain incomplete. In Punjab, the construction of the SYL canal was started in 1977. The Haryana Government led by Mr Devi Lal, at that time provided Rs 1 crore to the Punjab Government. Mr Parkash Singh Badal was the Chief Minister of Punjab at that time. The Punjab Government had issued a public notice also for acquiring land for the purpose. However, due to politics further work on the construction of the canal was stopped. Both sides went to the apex court. The work was resumed in 1982. In 1983 the estimated cost of the construction was put at Rs 173 crores. The construction costs went up further to about Rs 559 crore in 1990. The construction continued till July 1990, when it was stopped after the militants shot dead a Chief Engineer associated with the construction work at Chandigarh on July 23, 1990. The Haryana Government, has been consistently seeking centre's intervention on the issue for the past nine years. The last meeting on the issue was held on February 20, 1991 when Mr Chandra Shekhar was the Prime Minister. The meeting was convened by the then Prime Minister and was attended among others by representatives of the Governments of Haryana, Punjab, the Union Finance Minister, the Defence Minister and the Water Resources Management Minister. It was decided at the meeting that the construction work would be handed over to the Border Roads Organisation. The Haryana Government led by Mr Om Prakash Chautala and the Union Government fell and the construction work was stopped. The incomplete canal has brought twin problems for the farmers of Haryana. While on one hand it denies them water that could irrigate at least 10 lakh acres of land, on the other hand during floods farmers from Punjab divert excess water towards the SYL Canal which subsequently plays havoc in Haryana. The condition of the canal is so bad in Punjab that Mr Simranjit Singh Mann will not need much effort to damage it. There are about 300 breaches in the canal caused by floods. So far, all political parties in Haryana have expressed one voice in demanding "Haryana's rightful due". As on now, the Chief
Minister, Mr Bansi Lal appears to be in no mood to
"emotionalise the issue". He said recently,
that this might lead to a law and order problem in the
state. The Congress on the other hand has been saying
that it will raise the issue in Parliament. The Indian
National Lok Dal leader, Mr Sampat Singh, has sought the
meeting of National Integration Council. He said, the
issue might assume alarming proportions, as it means life
and death to lakhs of farmers in Haryana. He pointed out,
the Union Government must use its good office and
influence to prevail upon the Punjab Government to
concede the rightful and legitimate demand of Haryana as
it did in Cauvery waters dispute between Karnataka and
Tamil Nadu. |
CM lays
stone
for water supply scheme FARIDABAD, March 24 —The work on the Rs 42.95 crore water-supply augmentation scheme began here today with the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, laying the foundation stone of rainy well in the Yamuna basin at Dadesia village. Later the Chief Minister also laid the foundation stone of the underground reservoir at Dabua colony. The present number of tubewells functioning in the city are unable to meet the growth in demand. Under the scheme two rainy wells and 16 deep tubewells will be bored in the Yamuna. The cost of the project would be equally shared by the HUDA and the local Municipal Corporation. The HUDA will also execute the project. The civic body which is having a financial crisis has already secured a loan from the Housing and Urban Development Corporation. The city which has a population of more than a million is getting 34 million gallons of water daily against the demand of 50 million gallons. The city will still have a shortage of 6 million gallons in 2001 which will be met after the second phase of the canal-based scheme is taken up at a later stage. Water from the rainy wells at Dadesia village would be brought to the city by a 47-km-long pipeline and stored in underground tanks for pumping to various localities. The sectors which would benefit from the scheme are from 12 to 17, 19 to 21, 27 to 1 and 46 to 49. The NIT areas which would be covered are NH-1 to 5, Nehru Ground, Dabua colony, Jawahar colony, Fatehpur Chandela, Parvatia colony, Sanjay colony, NIT industrial area, Saran and Mujesar. The Chief Minister
inspected the ongoing work of desilting and strengthening
of the Gurgaon Canal and inaugurated the National
Surgical Update-99 at the Municipal auditorium. |
No pact with any party:BSP YAMUNANAGAR, March 24 — Mr Aman Kumar Nagra, President of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and an MP from Ambala, overruled the possibility of an alliance with any political party. Talking to newspersons here today, Mr Nagra clarified that the BSP had no alliance with the Haryana Sarvjatiya Party, headed by Mr O.P. Jindal. He said at present the BSP was working at grass-roots level so that there was no need for any alliance in the next elections, adding that the party would contest independently in all 90 seats in Haryana. Mr Nagra is touring the state to mobilise people for the April 3 rally to be held at Ambala. He lashed out at Chief Minister, Bansi Lal, saying that the law and order situation in the state had collapsed. He said the government should conduct a fresh survey of those living below the poverty line. He also sought
compensation for farmers whose crops had been damaged
because of unprecedented rains. |
HARCO scheme for farmers CHANDIGARH, March 24 — The Haryana State Cooperative Apex Bank (HARCO) has decided to launch a scheme, Revolving Cash Credit to enable farmers to get loan up to Rs 2 lakh for adopting hi-tech farming besides meeting their socio-economic needs soon. This was stated by the Haryana Cooperative Minister, Mr Narbir Singh, while presiding over the annual general body meeting of the officers’ association of the cooperative banks at Panchkula last evening. While recollecting that his father, Mr Mahabir Singh, was also the Cooperative Minister in Mr Bansi Lal's ministry during 1968-72, he said he too had had wide knowledge about cooperative sector and since then he had a cherished dream to make his contribution to improve the cooperative sector in Haryana Appreciating the efforts of the cooperative banks in ushering green revolution in the state, the minister said the banks had taken various steps for ameliorating the lot of the farmers in the past three years. The rate of interest on agriculture loan had been reduced from 16 per cent to 14 per cent. The cooperative banks had also raised the crop loan limit from Rs 40,000 to Rs 60,000. He disclosed that the cooperative banks would advance over Rs 2000 crore during the next financial year as against Rs 1850 crore in 1998-99. Referring to the demands of the bank officers regarding pension scheme, appointment of bankers as managing director in central cooperative banks, opening of regional offices at Gurgaon and Hisar, he assured them that he would place their demands before the Cabinet soon. Earlier the chairman of HARCO bank, Mr Om Parkash Jain, said the bank had been awarded prizes by the National Federation of State Cooperative Banks for its overall best performance at the national level since last three years continuously. Detailing the achievement
of the cooperative banks, the Managing Director of the
HARCO bank, Mr R.R.Banswal, said the deposits had been
doubled in the past two and a half years. |
Small savings scheme draw held KAITHAL, March 24 — The second draw of the golden jubilee savings prize scheme was drawn in the local Panchayat Bhavan here today by the Haryana Finance Minister, Mr Charandass Shorewala, who also presided over the function. The 6500 prizes were drawn by the department machine. The prize of half a kilogram of gold was won by an investor of Sonepat district. The two second prizes of a Maruti Car were won by investors of Karnal and Narnaul. The two third prizes of a tractor were won by investors of Karnal and Bhiwani districts. Mr Shorewala said Small savings played a vital role in mobilising the financial resources of the state. He said the central government sanctioned 75 per cent as loan against the money collected under the Small Savings Scheme. Besides, the loans were interest free in the initial five years, he said. He further disclosed the state was to receive Rs 580 crore as loan from the Centre under the scheme in 1998-99 but had received 714.62 crore till December 1998, which was more than the targeted loan amount. The minister further disclosed there was a target to collect Rs 840 crore under the Small Savings Scheme during the current year and against this Rs 809 crore had been collected till February end. The Director, Small
savings, Haryana, Mr Piyush Pandarvani, said the winners
of the prizes of this draw could claim prize money by
submitting original coupons and other relevant documents
in the offices of the Deputy Commissioner concerned. |
Vajpayee govt criticised PANIPAT, March 24 — Mr Suresh Pachori, MP and President, All-India Congress Seva Dal, said the Vajpayee government had failed to fulfil its promises. He was speaking at a meeting of the Haryana State Congress Seva Dal today. It was organised by Mr Rajiv Gugnani, President, Haryana Congress Seva Dal. Mr Pachori criticised the current Budget in which prices of diesel, urea and tractor had been increased and said the Budget was anti-farmer and anti-poor. He further added that the Congress under the presidentship of Ms Sonia Gandhi was progressing. Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda,
MP and President, Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee,
said the law and order situation in the state had
deteriorated. He said the Chief Minister had failed in
maintaining law and order in the state. He also condemned
the action of Mr Simranjit Singh Mann, President of the
Akali Dal (Amritsar) in damaging the Sutlej-Yamuna Link
Canal. Two
held for
accepting bribe REWARI, March 24 — Mr Sube Singh, Subdivisional Engineer, and Mr Narain Singh, laboratory assistant of the Maintenance and Production unit of the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (HVPN) caught red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 1000 from the Manager of the Yadav Samaroh Sthal here yesterday. A case has been registered under Sections 7, 49 and 88 of the Prevention of Corruption Act. When the two HVPN officers demanded the bribe, the manager informed Dr Ishwar Singh Yadav, owner of the banquet hall, who approached Ms Kala Ram Chandran, SP. A trap was laid and the
manager handed over the currency notes which were signed
by the tehsildar and coated with a chemical powder, to
the two officials. |
Family health week from April 26 ROHTAK, March 24 — The National AIDS Control Organisation will launch a family health awareness week from April 26 in selected districts of Haryana and the country with the objective of reducing the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). The centre is launching this massive awareness campaign on HIV/AIDS with emphasis on detection and screening of cases having reproductive tract infection, including (STDs). The efforts are intended for the early detection and treatment of these cases in order to reduce the transmission of STDs and HIV infection. The Deputy Commissioner, Jhajjar, Mr Arun Kumar, said Jhajjar, Faridabad, Gurgaon and Ambala districts in Haryana had been selected for this intensive programme. This awareness campaign has already begun in Jhajjar district. The strategy for the family health awareness campaign is to scale up the level of awareness on HIV/AIDS in rural areas and other vulnerable groups, and to identify the high-risk groups for the targeted intervention programme. The preliminary activities involve training of health workers, procurement of drug, house-to-house contact for identification of target population, constitution of village-level teams and contact with community opinion leaders. Workshop at the block-level are also proposed to involve teachers, aanganwaris and panchayat members, besides, opinion leaders and field functionaries. In the second phase the identification of camp sites and house-to-house contact would be completed. Finally, the target population would be treated and provided medicines during the awareness week, Mr Arun Kumar added.
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MDU stops payment of bills ROHTAK, March 24 — The Maharshi Dayanand University administration has stopped the payment of various bills as it was reportedly been facing a financial crunch due to the non-release of the grant-in-aid amounting Rs 6.15 crore by the state government so far. According to university sources, the amount was to be released in January last, but it has been withheld by the government without assigning any specific reason to the university. The sources disclosed that the university administration would not be able to pay the salaries to its teaching and non-teaching employees for the month of March if the situation continued for another few days. It is learnt that the university had submitted a budget of Rs 42 crore, but the government sanctioned only an amount of Rs 9.40 crore. A meeting to discuss the
budget was scheduled for Monday, but later it was
postponed. A meeting of the executive council of the
university will be convened later to approve the budget. |
College convocation function held HISAR, March 24 — Mr Surinder Singh Barwala, local MP, has exhorted students to stand by the values of nationalism, patriotism, honesty and sincerity. Delivering the convocation address at the Chhotu Ram College of Education here, he said the youth must not forget their culture and tradition. The Registrar of CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Mr J.P.S. Sangwan, asked the youth to follow in the footsteps of Sir Chhotu Ram, who donated most of his earnings for setting up educational institutions in the state. Mr Barwala gave away the
prizes while the Principal, Mr R.S. Malik read out the
annual report. Case of fraud against 3 FATEHABAD, March 24 — The police today registered a case of fraud following a complaint by Mr V.K. Aggarwal Manager of the State Bank of Patiala branch at Saniana village in this district. Mr Aggarwal, in a complaint lodged with the police, said three persons of Tharbi village had obtained a loan totally Rs 1.7 lakh from the branch against a document. He alleged that they had already got another loan worth Rs 1.1 lakh from a cooperative bank at Tohana against the same document. He said certain officials of the State Revenue Department were also involved in the fraud. A case under Sections 420, 467, 468, 470 and 120-B, IPC, has been registered. In another case, the police has registered a case of power theft against four persons following a complaint by the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Limited. The police has booked them under Sections 379 of the IPC and 39 of the Power Act.
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Governor, CM greet people CHANDIGARH, March 24 — The Haryana Governor, Mr Mahabir Prasad, and the Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, have greeted the people on the occasion of Ramanavami. In their messages, the described Lord Rama as a "symbol of high ideals and moral values of life". They said his life and deeds would continue to inspire the humanity for years to come. They urged the people to
celebrate such festivals with traditional fervour as
these help further enrich India's cultural heritage. Villagers angry at felling of trees BHIWANI, March 24 — Resentment prevails among residents of Hetampura village on the felling of trees. They alleged that the Forest Department and the police was taking no action against those involved. Hari Ram of Hetampura has appealed to Mr Justice H.S. Bedi of the Punjab and Haryana High Court for necessary action in this connection. He also said, the Forest Department had planted keekar trees in his field in 1988 and had handed over the possession of the trees after three years. He alleged that two persons of the same village, with the help of few others, fell the trees and took them away. He said a complaint was lodged with the Forest Department but no action was taken. Mr Justice Bedi has
directed the Superintendent of Police to take immediate
action against the accused. |
Animal, fowl exhibition from
March 28 BHIWANI, March 24 — The Animal Husbandry Department of Haryana will organise a state-level animal and fowl exhibition at the local municipal park on March 28 and 29. The Chief Minister, Mr
Bansi Lal, will give away the prizes on the concluding
day. Besides, ministers, administrative officers will
visit the exhibition. A spokesman said a large number of
animal breeders will participate in the exhibition. |
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