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H A R Y A N A |  |
 Friday, November 19, 1999 |
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‘Include’
corporate tax in pool of taxes |
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GJU status to be
restored: MP HISAR, Nov 18 — The Haryana Government will soon restore the status of Guru Jambeshwar University, a senior Indian National Lok Dal leader and the party MP from Bhiwani, Mr Ajay Chautala, said here yesterday. 60 lakh
donated for Goyal prizes Steps
to augment water supply Help
assured to Agrasen college Animals
saved from slaughter Release
promotion scheme: AIFUCTO |
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‘Include’
corporate
tax in pool of taxes CHANDIGARH, Nov 18 — The Haryana Government has urged the 11th Finance Commission to include corporate tax in the poll of taxes which can be divided between the States and the Centre. The demand was made by the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, at a meeting with the Chairman of the Commission, Dr A.M. Khusro, here today. Mr Chautala told the commission, that Haryana had to bear a one-time liability of about Rs 2119 crore and an annual recurring liability of Rs 700 crore following the acceptance of the Fifth Pay Commission recommendations. The liability, he said, would go on rising. The Chief Minister said the State should be suitably compensated for pay revision and the Finance Commission should award 50 per cent of this liability to the State by way of special grant-in-aid on annual basis. Dr Khusro said the commission was seized of this nationwide problem and it would like to examine its implications in detail. He also said agrarian States like Haryana and Punjab should diversify agriculture and promote horticulture, floriculture, fish-farming, forestry, dairy and animal breeding. Mr Chautala said Haryana had been investing heavily in power irrigation sectors to promote foodgrains production, which was the national goal. Keeping in view the contribution of Haryana to the Central pool of foodgrains, the Finance Commission should recommend that the Central loans to the State in the irrigation and power sectors should be written off. He said the Centre should implement the proposal of the 10th Finance Commission that the share of the State in the gross proceeds of the Central taxes should be 29 per cent. Mr Chautala demanded that the share of the States should be enhanced initially to 33.3 per and later on to 50 per cent. Mr Chautala said the delay in the completion of the SYL canal in Punjab was causing a great loss not only to Haryana, but to the entire nation. A sum of Rs 671 crore had already been spent on the canal which could provide massive irrigation facilities to boost agriculture production. Haryana demanded a special grant for implementing a Rs 50-crore project for the development of the Shivalik areas. A Rs 2278-crore master plan had been framed by an expert committee to check the problem of water logging because of which agricultural production worth Rs 700 crore was being lost annually. The Commission should recommend a special grant to meet at least the half of the cost. Dr Khusro pointed out that in Haryana the capital expenditure as a percentage of the total expenditure had slipped from 18.57 in 1987-88 to 16.89 in 1997-98. The plan expenditure too had shown a marked decline. The total plan expenditure as a percentage of the total expenditure had decreased from 36.06 in 1987-88 to 27.30 in 1997-98. He said the Centre had introduced a memorandum of understanding to enable the State to undertake certain reforms. The adoption of these reforms would go a long way to bring the State finances on an even keel. The States should reduce non-merit subsidies so that they could utilise the funds for other vital areas. Of course, the other essential subsidies could be enhanced. The Haryana Finance Minister, Prof Sampat Singh, apprised the commission of the steps taken by the present Government to put back the economy of the State on the rails. The Government agencies had procured six times more paddy this year as compared to the previous year. He said the FCI did not purchase sufficient quantity of paddy. Since the paddy contained high moisture. He said the network of
railway lines should be expanded in Haryana, which should
also be provided with an international airport. |
No
"patronising" big farmers GURGAON, Nov 18 — The Agriculture Department and related agencies will have to consciously avoid patronising big farmers for adoption of agriculture land with a view to popularising seeds and plants. Instead, this will have to be on the plots of small and marginal farmers. This is the direction of the Deputy Commissioner of Gurgaon. According to sources, this decision by administration brings to the fore the favours showered upon well-connected and influential farmers on account of the wide-ranging discretionary powers invested in the authorities concerned. The feeling in various quarters is that this practice has assumed the proportion of a racket. The government agencies adopt plots of agriculture land to demonstrate the utility of a particular seed. This is with the aim to popularise a product to upgrade the pattern of farming.The government bears the finances involved in the effort right from the process of sowing to harvesting of the crops. Also, the government machinery purchases the crop at a rate 25 per cent above the market price from the farmer whose land has been adopted. Inquiries reveal that such kind of patronage to influential farmers has become the order of the day throughout Haryana, although the justification given by the authorities is that small-time farmers do not allow their plots to be adopted due to their small holdings. The popular feeling is that proper homework is often deliberately avoided to find out deserving farmers in order to favour the chosen few. The administration has also taken serious view of the way soil testing is done. A grievances committee meeting headed by the Deputy Commissioner recently expressed wonder as to how the authorities fulfilled the target of the land to be tested even though a large number of laboratories did not have the sufficient infrastructure. The administration has urged the authorities to launch proactive measures to popularise horticulture in Mewat area, considered to be the backyard of this district. The administration has directed bringing at least 200 acres of land in Mewat in the ambit of horticulture cultivation. In what is considered a major step the administration has directed that beneficiaries of minimum wages for 180 days per year must be the local residents of Haryana. The scheme is implemented by the District Rural Development Agency in districts. There had been
complaints from various quarters in the past that in a
number of cases migrant labourers from other states
benefited from the scheme. |
GJU status to be restored:
MP HISAR, Nov 18 — The Haryana Government will soon restore the status of Guru Jambeshwar University, a senior Indian National Lok Dal leader and the party MP from Bhiwani, Mr Ajay Chautala, said here yesterday. Speaking at the foundation day celebrations of the university, the INLD leader regretted that the prestigious university had fallen victim to political rivalry. He assured that all necessary grants would be made available to the university to enable it to become one of the best academic institutions in the country. Lauding the contribution of founder Vice-Chancellor K.L. Johar in taking the university to great academic heights, he said the standard of the university would not be allowed to come down. The UGC had declared the GJU as a model university only three years after its establishment. Mr Chautala hoped that the new Vice-Chancellor, Dr K.C. Banghar, would be able to steer the university towards greater achievements, given his scientific background and worldwide exposure. The MP from Hisar, Mr Surinder Singh Barwala, assuring all cooperation and help to the university contributed Rs 11 lakh from his constituency fund. Dr Banghar said the university would maintain its standard of excellence. Prof K.L. Johar urged the government to provide the adjacent land measuring 200 acres to the university. The adjacent engineering college should be made one of the constituent colleges of the university. Prof Johar underlined the need for providing the full grant of about Rs 10 crore annually to the university for its overall development. He lamented that the previous government had allocated only about Rs 4 crore to the university. Earlier, students of the
university presented a colourful cultural programme. |
Ajay Chautala’s election
challenged CHANDIGARH, Nov 18 — An Election petition challenging the election of Mr Ajay Singh Chautala, son of Haryana Chief Minister O.P. Chautala, to the Lok Sabha from the Bhiwani parliamentary constituency was filed today in the Punjab and Haryana High Court by Mr Surender Singh, son of former Chief Minister Bansi Lal, who was defeated in the poll held on September 5, 1999. Through another election petition, the election of Mr Ram Chander Bainda from the Faridabad constituency has been challenged. The returned candidate, Mr Chautala, was the nominee of the Indian National Lok Dal. The petitioner came third by polling 1,51,686 votes while Congress candidate Dharambir polled more votes than Mr Surender Singh, who was the nominee of the Haryana Vikas Party. The petitioner alleged that the father of the returned candidate, who became Chief Minister, conducted the election cmpaign completely ignoring the model Code of Conduct. He addressed a sammelan of the Aggarwal community announcing release of grant in aid of Rs 7 crore for Agroha Medical College, a private institution. He also transferred officials on large scale. He also allegedly attended and addressed public meetings during the prohibited period before the poll in violation of Section 26 of the Representation of People Act. He and the returned candidate also alleged to have made several declarations for alluring the voters for support by promising free water and electricity power. It was also alleged that the returned candidate had not given a true and correct account of expenditure envisaged under the rules and that actual expenditure incurred had not been shown as expenses on vehicles used in the election campaign. According to the petitioner the returned candidate was guilty of committing many corrupt practices as envisaged under Section 123 of the Act. He also got printed posters, and hand bills etc promising free water and electricity and did not show expenditure on them in his return submitted to the District Election Officer. Scrutiny of the election petition will take place before the Addl Registrar of the High Court. In the election petition challenging the election of Mr Ram Chander Bainda, the returned candidate of the BJP from the Faridabad constituency, has been filed by Mr Rattan Lal, a voter, on the ground that the returned candidate was disqualified to be a candidate for election under Section 9A of the R.P. Act who had a subsisting contract with the respondent government. According to the petitioner there was a subsisting contract w.e.f. August 5, 1993, for 10 years for extraction of Ceilica sand over an area of 296 hectares in a village near Faridabad. The scrutiny will take
place on December 7, 1999. |
60 lakh donated for Goyal prizes KURUKSHETRA, Nov 18 — Kurukshetra University has instituted of four prizes of Rs 1 lakh each and five prizes of Rs 50,000 each to be awarded annually to distinguished Indian Scientists. This has been possible because of the donations made available by Mr Ram S. Goyal, an American philanthropist of Indian origin. Dr M.L. Ranga, Vice-Chancellor of Kurukshetra University stated here today that Mr Goyal had donated Rs 60 lakh to the university for awarding these prizes. He announced that four prizes of Rs 1 lakh each would be named as Goyal Prizes, while five others of Rs 50,000 each would be named as Rajiv Goyal Prizes. The draft of the donated sum was accepted by Dr Ranga at a simple ceremony yesterday. Thanking the donor, Dr. Ranga stated that the Goyal Prizes would contribute to the promotion of scientific research and encourage scientists to dedicate themselves for the cause of science in national development. He urged the Indians settled abroad to follow the example shown by Mr Goyal. Mr Ram S. Goyal stated that the progress of India depended on development of science and technology and effort should be made to provide encouragement to young scientists. He described his gesture as "a small token of appreciation for the work of Indian scientists". The Goyal Prizes were
instituted in Kurukshetra University in 1992. So far, 31
eminent scientists of the country has been awarded these
prizes. Prominent among them are Dr K. Kasturirangan,
Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Dr
R.A. Mashelkar, Director-General, C.S.I.R., Dr C.N.R.
Rao, President, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advance
Scientific Research, and Prof Assis Datta,
Vice-Chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru University. |
Steps to augment water supply CHANDIGARH, Nov 18 — The Haryana Government has decided to augment water supply in 255 more villages by March 2000. Stating this here today, the Minister of State for Public Health, Mr Jaswant Singh Bawal, said the government fixed a target of augmenting the water supply in 560 deficient villages during the current financial year. Out of these, water supply in 400 villages would be augmented to a level of 40 litres per capita per day (lpcd) and in another 160 villages to a level of 55 LPCD. For achieving this target, the government would spend Rs 17 crore which would be made available by the Union Government under the Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme. Mr Bawal said after
providing safe potable water to all the villages in the
state, a survey was conducted in 1992-93 in which 3,623
villages were identified where the water allowance had
gone down below 40 LPCD either on account of depletion of
water sources or increase in population. Out of these
deficient villages, water allowance in 3,0347 villages
had already been augmented till 1999. The work of
augmentation of water supply in remaining villages was
being taken up in the current financial year. |
Help assured to Agrasen
college CHANDIGARH, Nov 18 — The Haryana Government is committed to provide all necessary help to upgrade the infrastructure of Maharaja Agrasen Medical College, Agroha, so as to enable it to meet the standards prescribed by the Medical Council of India for recognition by April, 2000. Regular admissions for various medical courses will begin from the coming academic session. While giving this information here today, Prof Sampat Singh, Finance Minister, Haryana, said the Government had now reflected Rs 7.02 crore in the Budget and passed a supplementary estimate to this effect during the recently concluded session of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha. As no grant-in-aid had been sanctioned to the college since 1997, therefore, the Government had taken this step for the restoration of the grant-in-aid to the college for the current financial year. Earlier, the State Government had sanctioned Rs 7.44 crore as grant-in-aid up to 1996-97 since the inception of the college. As part of this
financial aid, the first instalment of Rs 2 crore had
already been released out of which Rs 1 crore had been
earmarked for civil works, Rs 50 lakh for purchase of
equipment besides Rs 50 lakh for salary and recurring
expenditure on the staff, he added. |
Animals saved from slaughter KAITHAL, Nov 18 — A Team of the local police led by DSP Amir Singh Sabharwal recovered 22 bullocks being taken for slaughter in two separate vehicles yesterday. Thirteen persons — Tahir, Rahi Yusaf, Rohis, Hardas, Imran, Cagil, Jamil, Sagir, Mohammad, Zakir Israr and Jakir of Muradabad — in this connection. Mr K.K. Sharma, S.P. said here today that on a tip-off, the police reached the Karnal-Jind Bypass and stopped a canter and a truck for checking and recovered 22 animals which were being taken to Muradabad (UP) for slaughter. The driver and cleaners of the vehicles fled and took shelter in a nearby dhaba. Later, the accused disclosed that these animals were procured from different parts of the state and were being taken to Muradabad. The police recovered 66 bullocks from three nearby houses. The police has
registered a case under sections 7 and 8 of the Cow
Slaughter Act. The arrested persons were produced before
the Chief Judicial Magistrate Mr N.P. Dewet, and remanded
to judicial custody till December 2. |
Release promotion scheme: AIFUCTO YAMUNANAGAR, Nov 18 — The All-India Federation of University and College Teachers Organisation (AIFUCTO) has urged the Ministry of Human Resource Development to release the third promotion scheme for college teachers all over country as agreed upon in the settlement arrived at September 5, 1998. Prof Harbhajan Singh, zonal secretary of the organisation, said here yesterday that there was resentment among the teachers over the delay in announcement of the promotion scheme even one year after the agreement. Mr Harbhajan Singh, a former president of the Haryana College Teachers Union, felt sore over the delay in releasing the grant-in-aid to the colleges which had not been received for the past three months. Teachers are facing hardships due to the non-payment of salaries. He requested the Chief Minister, Mr O.P. Chautala, to personally intervene in the matter to release grants. The pension scheme for
college teachers which was to be implemented from May,
1998, was yet to start. The arrears of new grades should
be given in cash from January 1, 1998, as in the case of
government employees. He also stressed the need for
revision of HRA on the pattern of the Central Government
classification of the cities in Haryana. |
Transfers and postings CHANDIGARH, Nov 18 — The Haryana Government has posted Mr Bhagwati Parshad, IAS, Commissioner, Gurgaon Division, and Special Commissioner, Health and Nutrition, Mewat area Gurgaon, as Commissioner, Hisar Division, Hisar vice Mr Dharamvir, IAS, who goes as Commissioner and Secretary, Electronics and Food and Supplies Department vice Mr H.C. Disodia, IAS. Mr H.C. Disodia has been posted as Commissioner and Secretary, Technical Education Department relieving Mr M.K. Miglani of this charge. Mrs Anita Chaudhary, IAS, Commissioner, Finance and Ex-officio Special Secretary, Finance Department, has been posted as Commissioner, Rohtak Division, Rohtak against a vacant post. Mr L.S.M. Salins, IAS,
awaiting posting orders, has been posted as Commissioner,
Gurgaon Division, Gurgaon, and Special Commissioner,
Health and Nutrition, Mewat area, Gurgaon. |
Steps to improve power supply FATEHABAD, Nov 18
— The Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam, Fatehabad
mandal, is setting up a 12.5 MVA transformer in the
132-KV Substation here to improve the functioning of
three 11 KV feeders of Khan Mohammad, Boswal and
Hinjrawan. Deputy Commissioner Anil Malik said here
yesterday. Over 12 villages like Daulatpur, Hinjrawan
Kalan, Boswal, Katakheri, Dhani Bikaner, Chugawati, Dhani
Chhatterian and Dhanu Chuhar will benefit from this
augmentation. The nigam would also install 6.3 MVA
transformers in the 33 KV sub station of Bothan,
Bahbalpur and Ayalki. A 11KV substation would be set up
at Aharwan at a cost of Rs 53 lakh. The project, funded
by the World Bank, involved the laying of a 15 km power
line. An 11 KV substation would be set up at Tohana at a
cost of Rs 66 lakh. |
Ensure cleanliness, DC tells
officers FATEHABAD, Nov 18 — Deputy Commissioner Anil Malik has directed all Executive Officers and Secretaries of Municipal Councils and Municipal Committees in this district to ensure cleanliness in their respective towns and take measure to collect outstanding house tax and other dues from residents so that the development activities did not suffer. Reviewing the progress of different departments at a meeting here yesterday, Mr Malik exhorted officers of various government departments to motivate people for investing their savings in small savings. This would directly help the state government as the central government provided 70 per cent of the amount so collected as a loan without interest. A target of Rs 30 crore for small savings deposits had been fixed for this district for the current financial year. Mr Malik asked power
board officials to take steps to check power theft and
ensure supply of power to farmers for rabi sowing. |
5 killed in mishaps FARIDABAD, Nov 18 — Five persons were killed in accidents and a woman allegedly committed suicide here during the past 24 hours. Two persons were run over by trains and killed while crossing the railway tracks at Old Faridabad station. Kunj Behari, an employee of the Telephone Department succumbed to his injuries in a private hospital, Jagdish, a car driver was killed when his vehicle hit a truck near Pali. Yogendra of Adarsh Nagar was killed due to burns. Sunita, wife of Surinder
Singh of Bhagat Singh Colony, allegedly committed suicide
by consuming poison. |
Youth murdered, 4 held AMBALA, Nov 18 — A youth was murdered at Sadar Bazaar here last night. According to a police report, Vishal Bhatnagar, a resident of the Punjabi Bagh area in Ambala Cantonment, was stabbed to death. The police has registered a case and arrested four persons. He was the only son of his parents. According to the report, the miscreants attacked Vishal with sharp-edged weapons killing him on the spot. Some of the shopkeepers took him to the local Civil Hospital but he succumbed to his injuries on the way to hospital. According to hospital
sources, the cause of the death is due to sharp injuries. |
Bitten to death by bees AMBALA, Nov 18 — A person died on the spot when he was stung by bees here last evening. According to information, Suresh Kumar was passing by the Model Town Club in the city when thousands of bees attacked him. He was rushed to the
local Civil Hospital. The hospital sources said Suresh
was brought dead. |
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