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H A R Y A N A |  |
 Friday, October 15, 1999 |
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Power crisis grips Haryana dists KARNAL, Oct 14 — Districts of Haryana along the G.T. Road, particularly Karnal, Panipat and Kurukshetra, are in the grip of severe power crisis. EC hesitant to snap poll in Haryana GURGAON, Oct 14 — The Election Commission is understood to have expressed its reluctance to order a mid-term assembly poll in Haryana in December. |
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Cases
against Haryana staff, farmers dropped Board
member who has his cake and eats it too Stress
on improving buffalo stock
Divali
advance for class IV staff Diesel
price hike resented 10
postal officials awarded Cong
men responsible for defeat: Malik Teachers
unhappy with pension plan AIFUCTO
meeting from Oct 24 |
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Power crisis grips Haryana
dists KARNAL, Oct 14 — Districts of Haryana along the G.T. Road, particularly Karnal, Panipat and Kurukshetra, are in the grip of severe power crisis. Power cuts ranging from 5 to 7 hours are imposed daily in both urban and rural areas of these districts. Inquiries revealed that there is a shortage of power ranging between 3000 MW to 5000 MW per day from various generation sources in the state. The cuts are imposed directly from the Panipat controlling station. Sources said the situation had worsened because one unit each of the Faridabad power station and Panipat Thermal Power Station were off production. Engineers had expected the Faridabad unit to start production from yesterday but it had not happened so far. The sources said there was a possibility of further deterioration in power availability in the coming days. The Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala had addressed a meeting of power engineers at the thermal station in Panipat on October 12. Incidentally, the situation worsened the same evening when a power cut of more than five hours was imposed here. Earlier, there was a regular power cut of one hour in the evenings, but now even the authorities did not know when the power cut would be imposed from the Panipat transmission station. The power cuts have also affected the water supply. The sources said Karnal had been divided into sectors for the supply of power and the power cuts would continue for some more days. The situation has taken a turn for the worse as the Chief Minister has not agreed to the demands of power engineers to restore the earlier status of the HSEB. However, the Chief Minister is stated to have told the engineers that a final decision would be taken only after considering the merits and demerits of the bifurcation of the HSEB, its economic viability and the loan which had been guaranteed by the World Bank. The sources said a loan of Rs 84 crore had already been taken by the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam from the World Bank for various purposes. The engineers feel the old structure was more efficient and workable even though it incurred heavy losses. They say the old organisation of the HSEB could bring beneficial results provided the administration was toned up and the establishment expenditure decreased. Consumers face a lot of
difficulties whenever there is a power cut. There is
nobody to answer their queries even though the HVPN has
opened inquiry offices at all its substations. |
EC hesitant to snap poll in
Haryana GURGAON, Oct 14 — The Election Commission (EC) is understood to have expressed its reluctance to order a mid-term assembly poll in Haryana in December. Consequently, the government is planning to initiate moves for the dissolution of the House so that a snap poll can be held along with elections in certain other states early next year. Notwithstanding the public posture of the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, against the mid-term election, the state government approached the EC about six days ago to explore the possibility of a snap poll. A senior IAS officer of the state is a relative of the Chief Election Commissioner, Dr M S Gill. The government had used the channel to approach the commission to know its mind on the possibility of a snap poll, according to sources. However, when Tribune News Service contacted Dr Gill to confirm whether the government had approached him, he did not give a direct reply. The sources said the ruling INLD and its ally, the BJP, had already initiated an exercise for the allotment of seats for a possible mid-term poll. Although the issue has not been formally discussed between the two parties, the BJP has informally sounded its ally that it will like to contest 40 seats. The basis of the BJP seeking so many seats is its performance in the Lok Sabha poll. The BJP had contested five parliamentary seats and won all like the INLD, which won an equal number of seats. Also, the BJP won in the 41 assembly segments of the five Lok Sabha seats it contested. However, the INLD is apparently not in a mood to give more than 30 seats to the BJP. The issue relating to seat adjustment was said to have cropped up at the joint meeting of INLD and BJP legislators in Delhi yesterday. Views were also expressed in favour of a snap poll in the state to February next year. A senior state BJP leader Mr Sitaram Singla, said a Coordination Committee which was constituted at the joint meeting to ensure smooth functioning of the government, would also be involved in thrashing out the issue of allotment of seats between the two parties. The sources said the possible expansion of the Haryana Cabinet, tipped to take place soon, was not linked to the moves for early elections. However, Prof Ram Bilas Sharma, leader of the BJP legislative wing in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, said although no condition had been put for his party to join the government in Haryana, its leaders desired that the INLD should join the Atal Behari Vajpayee government at the Centre. Prof Sharma was here this morning in connection with a function. A dominant feeling in
the ruling INLD is that it will be better placed in the
event of an early election. There are apprehensions in
some quarters that the anti-incumbency factor might play
a role if the election in the state was held on schedule. |
Three new irrigation schemes
for Haryana CHANDIGARH, Oct 14 — The Haryana Government has decided to execute three new irrigation and drainage schemes involving an expenditure of nearly Rs 10 crore with the assistance of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) in Sirsa district. A spokesman of the Irrigation department said here today that the schemes, including construction of Bacher Minor, Ghaggar-Bani Sadewa Link Channel and Darba Ghaggar drain, would meet the long-standing demand of the people of the area. Giving details of the schemes he said the 16,095-feet-long Bacher Minor would have a pucca section with a discharge capacity of 6.54 cusecs. It would cover Mammer Khera, Bacher, Nathore, and Kaulana villages which were getting water from Mammer Khera distributory at present. It was a lengthy system and suffered frequently unavoidable fluctuations from its head located in neighbouring Punjab. It would be completed by the end of next year. The Ghaggar-Bani Sadewa Link Channel would function only during the monsoon and carry water from the Ghaggar upstream of Ottu. It would join Bani and Sadewa distributories. Additional water would be utilised in both the channels by increasing their capacity by 30 per cent without any remodelling. He said the Darba
Ghaggar drain would be constructed in Tarkanwali village
and the outflow in river Ghaggar downstream of Ottu weir.
The 32-km drain would cost Rs 7.18 crore. It would have a
discharge capacity of 51 cusecs and have the same
alignment as the Hisar-Ghaggar drain to be constructed
subsequently. |
Cases against Haryana staff,
farmers dropped CHANDIGARH, Oct 14 — Continuing its efforts to placate important sections of people, the Haryana Cabinet today decided to withdraw all the vindictive action taken by the previous government against employees and farmers during various agitations. The Cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of Mr Om Prakash Chautala, Chief Minister here today also withdrew the 21,740 cases of compoundable offence registered under the prohibition law. These small offences which were registered against those who were either found drunk or caught possessing four bottles of liquor or 12 bottles of beer, were putting additional burden on the courts. However, the cases of smuggling have not been withdrawn. Besides taking back all those employees who were terminated, dismissed or suspended during the 1998 strike, the Cabinet also decided to withdraw the criminal cases registered under ESMA and other sections of the IPC during the 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1998 agitations. The period of absence will be treated as duty period,with full pay and allowances. The charge sheets issued to employees in connection with these agitations will also be withdrawn and the disciplinary proceedings resulting out of them will be dropped. The period when the employees remained on 'dharnas' , rally, walkout and strike would also be treated as leave of the kind due. In yet another major decision, the Cabinet withdrew the cases registered against the farmers agitating for the redressal of their grievances. These cases include those registered during 'Rasta roko andolan', 'Kadma firing' and the related incidents. Those against whom cases were registered for damaging Central government property their cases would be withdrawn only after the approval of the Union government. The Cabinet decided to transfer a piece of land measuring 6.5 acres from the complex of the Industrial training, Panipat, to enable the union Labour ministry to set up a regional vocational training institute for women. The institute will benefit girl students of northern region including the states of Haryana, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, studying in the 'basic skill courses, advanced skill courses in the fields of dress making, hair and skin care, electronics, mechanic, preservation of fruit and vegetables and secretarial practice. The Cabinet decided to honour Mr M S Malik, IPS, the team manager of the Indian hockey team which won gold medal in the 13th Asian Games at Bangkok. He will be given a cash award of Rs 25,000. The Cabinet also gave its ex-post facto approval with regard to issuance of government guarantee in favour of Harco Bank on behalf of Confed for a loan of Rs 5 crore as working capital in the year 1999-2000. It also decided to offer even class I and class II posts for deserving dependants of war heroes and relax service rules to provide suitable employment to them. A committee has been constituted under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary to identify the candidates for providing class I and class II posts. The government has so
far provided employment opportunities to 52 such
dependants. The cases of five others will be decided
soon. |
Board member who has his cake
and eats it too HISAR, Oct 14 — In an unprecedented case in the history of CCS Haryana Agricultural University, a member of the Board of Management (BOM) of the University continues to enjoy all the privileges, despite having resigned. On February 12 last Mr Jaivir Singh Bhisla 'resigned' as member of the BoM of the university after levelling serious charges against the then Vice-Chancellor. Mr Bhisla had announced his 'resignation' at a press conference in a local restaurant here. However, he still continues to attend the meetings of the Board and attended the last two meetings held on July 29 and August 3 last after the resignation of Vice-Chancellor J.B. Chowdhury. The university authorities maintain that he had not in fact tendered his resignation. Procedurally he had to submit his resignation to the Registrar of the university, who is also the ex-officio secretary of the board. Mr J P S Sangwan the then Registrar said Mr Bhisla had not submitted his resignation to him. Mr Bhisla claimed that he had sent resignation to the Governor, who is also the Chancellor of the university. However, university sources clarified that Governor House too had clearly said that Mr Bhisla had not submitted his resignation to the Governor. Sources say, Mr Bhisla had misled the "people and the press" by claiming to have resigned only to malign the then vice-chancellor. Besides having resigned his Board membership, Mr Bhisla had at the time also resigned from the Haryana Vikas Party. He had been nominated to the board by Mr Bansi Lal. Subsequently Mr Bhisla joined the Congress. Mr Bhisla had 'resigned' following differences with the then VC over the appointment of the head of the Department of Extension Education. On his alleged intervention the university had unceremoniously removed Prof V K Verma from the post despite his having been appointed by a selection committee, after an interview. The university sources
explained its predicament in Mr Bhisla's attending BOM's
saying they were bound to send him the agenda and
invitations of the meetings as he had not formally
tendered his resignation to the BOM. However, they
expressed surprise that he had needed to announce his
'resignation' at a press conference. Specially as he
never meant to resign, which is obvious from his
attending the meetings of the Board. |
Stress on improving buffalo
stock KARNAL, Oct 14 — Dr O.S. Tomar, Director of National Dairy Research Institute, which is a deemed to be university, here today pleaded for adopting a two-pronged strategy for sustainable production of buffaloes. Addressing a National Seminar on 'Sustainable Development of Buffaloes for Milk, Meat and Draft' held at NDRI Auditorium here, Dr Tomar said there was need for "genetic improvement of buffaloes using selective breeding amongst the district breeds". These breeds should be further used to improve the breed of 'non-descript' buffaloes to develop buffaloes with average production of 1800 litres of milk per lactation. Dr Tomar called upon scientists to identify 'High Yielding Elite Buffalo' breeds so that their male progeny could be procured and raised optimally to meet the requirements of superior bulls. He was also for extensive use of multiple ovulation and embryo transfer for faster production of superior bulls which are in short supply. Dr Tomar was of the view that the high-yielding buffalo population should be stabilised at a sustainable 50 million. Talking about the utility of buffaloes as a milk, meat and draft animals, the Director stated that not much scientific attention has been paid to developing buffaloes for meat production. Although, buffalo meat exports had increased from 59.14 thousand tonnes to 157.57 thousand tonnes there was need to expand the trade further. He stressed the need to save male calves from early death for conserving germplasm. He was for systematic nutrition studies on fattening of animals saying the American Water Buffalo Association (AWBA) had stated that water buffalo meat had 40 per cent less cholesterol, 92 per cent less fat and 56 per cent fewer calories than beef. He said there was no religious taboo on slaughtering buffaloes for meat. About 86 per cent of the world buffalo meat comes from Asia, mostly from old and culled animals. According to an estimate about 10 million male buffalo calves are born annually, but mortality rates are high due to poor nutrition and care. He said India had a rich genetic resource of buffalo. Recent estimates have put buffalo population in India at 92.19 million, which contribute 35.32 million tonnes of milk, 1,403 million tonnes of meat and 0.9 million tonnes of hides. Dr S.K. Ranjan, eminent buffalo scientist said the buffalo population was growing at a rate of 2 per cent annually. Dr Ranjan maintained that the potential for milk production from buffaloes had only been partially tapped as 80-85 per cent of buffaloes were non-descript and yielded on average only 1.5 litres of milk a day. He was for intensive
research on various aspects of Embryo Transfer to salvage
superior genetic females. Also the proven buffalo bulls
were in short supply, he said. As against the requirement
of 3500 bulls in the Centre and state governments
annually produced around 400. |
Brute punishment HISAR, Oct 14 — In a brute method of punishment, a teacher of a local charitable school tore off the ear of a student here today. According to Mr Mehar Chand, an employee of Haryana Roadways, the ear of his son, Sudhir, was torn off when his teacher Vandna pulled it. The teacher wanted to punish Sudhir, a student of Sewa Bharti Charitable School in Mohalla Sainian here as he had been quarrelling with another classmate. Mehar Chand, quoting Sudhir's classmates, said he had a minor scuffle with another student Sandeep. The teacher pulled the ear of both students and Sudhir's ear came into her hand. The boy who fainted was referred to a private nursing home. Mehar Chand said the surgery cost him a lot. However, the management of the school was said to have decided to bear all expenses on the surgery and the treatment of Sudhir. It could not be confirmed whether the management had taken any action against the erring teacher. One of the members of
the management claimed that Sudhir's ear was already
damaged and was torn by a mere touch of the teacher.
However, Sudhir's parents denied it. |
Divali advance for class IV
staff CHANDIGARH, Oct 14 — The Haryana Government has decided to grant interest-free advance of Rs 750 to all its Class IV employees for Divali. The advance will be disbursed by November 7. Mr Sampat Singh, Finance Minister, Haryana, said here today that the advance would be recoverable in four equal monthly instalments. The entire amount would be recovered before the close of the financial year. He added that the
advance was admissible to permanent and temporary
employees and also to ad hoc employees who were
continuing in service for the past one year and were
likely to continue for another four months. For this they
would have to furnish a surety of a permanent government
employee. Where, both husband and wife were employed, the
advance would be allowed to one of them. |
Diesel price hike resented HISAR, Oct 14 — The president of the Haryana Pradesh Beopar Mandal, Mr Bajrang Dass Garg, has demanded the withdrawal of hike on the diesel prices. In a statement he said the hike would severely affect the common man. Mr Garg criticised the
Centre for increasing the price of diesel. He said the
price hike would lead to increase in the transportation
charges. He warned that the traders would be forced to
launch an agitation if the hike was not withdrawn. |
10 postal officials awarded AMBALA, Oct 14 — The Haryana Postal Department has awarded 10 officials for their services in different fields here today. Those who have been awarded include Mr Sukhbir Singh, Mr Mantri Lal, Mr Subhash Chander (all from Faridabad), Mr Jagdish Parshad, Mr Ram Karan, Mr Harbans Lal, Mr Surender Kumar (all from Ambala), Mr Hajoor Singh (Rohtak), Mr Jai Bhagwan (Bhiwani) and Mr Kashmiri Lal (Delhi). Mr N.K. Mangla, Chief
General Manager, Haryana Telecom circle was the chief
guest. |
Cong men responsible for
defeat: Malik AMBALA, Oct 14 — The Congress was defeated in Haryana by its own infighting according to former HPCC chief, Mr Dharampal Malik here today. Talking to mediapersons, he said that in 1996, when the Congress was defeated in the state, some senior leaders of the state Congress had demanded his resignation but now those same leaders keep mum on the issue. Without naming names he admitted that some leaders of the state Congress were responsible for the party's defeat. When asked if he would demand the resignation of the HPCC president, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, he said it was up to him to decide. He demanded that
construction of the remaining part of SYL be started at
the earliest as it was the life line of Haryana and if
Haryana and Punjab could not sink their differences on
the issue the Centre should hand it over to the Border
Roads Organisation. |
Teachers unhappy with pension
plan ROHTAK, Oct 14 — The teachers of the All-India Jat Heroes Memorial College have highlighted several anomalies in the pension scheme proposed for the employees working in aided non-government colleges. The teachers, at a meeting held here, have pointed out that the proposed pension scheme has no provision for commutation of pension characteristic in all pension schemes. Moreover, the commutation of qualifying service for pension has been fixed at 58 years whereas the age of superannuation is 60 years. The proposed rules, the
meeting said, provided no option for pension or otherwise
to employees who retired after May 31, 1999 and described
this as unfair and discriminatory. |
AIFUCTO meeting from Oct 24 YAMUNANAGAR, Oct 14 — The annual conference of All-India Federation of University and College Teachers Organisation (AIFUCTO) will be held at Bhopal from October 24 to 26. Mr Harbhajan Singh, former President Haryana College Teachers Union, said here today that in this conference a seminar on higher education would be held. The union, meanwhile,
thanked the Chief Minister for appointing Prof Teja
Singh, a veteran teacher, as chairman of the 20-point
programmes implementation in the state. Teachers hoped
that the government would release the salary for the
August and September soon. |
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