 |
Wednesday,
December 26, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
|
Will policy of auctioning mines work? Haryana signs
pacts on IT network BKU activists lift blockade 61 poor girls married off
AMBALA DIARY |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
KALKA DIARY
IN FOCUS Congress to hold Panchayati Raj sammelans Haryana move to cut admn expenditure
|
|
Will policy of auctioning mines work? Chandigarh, December 25 During the first phase the government has collected about Rs 60 crore from the auctioning of only 30 mines in Faridabad and Gurgaon districts while earlier it was not getting even a third of it. The Chief Minister saw to it that the reserve price of these mines was kept at a high of Rs 40 crore. Though initially the mining trade in the state was sceptical about the success of the policy in view of, what it described as, “unusually high” reserve price, once the auction started it responded enthusiastically and the public exchequer ended up richer by another Rs 20 crore in addition to the reserve price. However, sources in the trade say if the government does not take effective measures to check illegal mining or the practice of taking away precious natural resources without paying appropriate royalty to the state, it would be very difficult for those who have taken the mining leases through auction to sustain. If a majority of the successful bidders walked out of the contracts midway, the policy might collapse. Of course, in that case the government will forfeit the one-third amount of the auction bid deposited by the successful bidders. But in the long-run the policy will suffer a setback. Trade sources say illegal mining in Faridabad district has virtually come to a halt, primarily because of the presence of CBI sleuths in the area. The premier investigating agency of the country is currently conducting an inquiry into illegal mining in the district under the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. This has frightened even the highly placed defaulters. However, the sources say, in the neighbouring district of Gurgaon certain influential persons continue to evade the payment of full amount of royalty. If such practices are not stopped, the sources say, the Chief Minister’s policy of auctioning mines may flounder. |
|
|
Haryana signs
pacts on IT network Chandigarh, December 25 Official sources said after a marathon meeting held here last evening, agreements were signed with the representatives of the Reliance Cable Limited and the Bharti Telecom Limited allowing them to lay the communication backbone in the state. The Chief Secretary, Mr L. M. Goyal, and the Commissioner, IT Department, Mr Dharam Vir were among the officers who attended the meeting. As per the deal the state government will not charge anything from the two companies for giving them permission for RoW. In exchange the former will get free band-width from the two companies for setting up IT network linking administrative units all over the state. “The band-width agreed to be given by the two companies is, 8 MBPs (million byte per second) for the state headquarter, 4 MBPs for the district headquarters and 2 MBPs for the subdivisional headquarters”, official sources said. The state government reportedly also agreed to give another concession to the two companies. Initially, the state government had sought 5 per cent share on the revenue that would be mobilised by the two companies from other users of their cable network. However, at yesterday’s meeting, the state government reportedly withdrew the condition. The sources said the two companies were given permission as per the RoW policy. The policy says that RoW will be given on non-exclusive basis. “If there is more than one player, it will encourage competition between the companies which will benefit the state” the sources said. They said the Himachal Futuristic Ltd, had also applied for permission under the RoW policy, and added that the government was examining the proposal of the HFL.
|
|
BKU activists lift blockade Jind, December 25 The farmers had started dharna and blocked traffic on the Jind-Kaithal road on December 21 in protest against the imposition of power cuts in Kandela and Shahpur villages. They demanded immediate restoration of regular supply of electricity to the villager. Earlier, when the police had tried to lift the blockade the farmers clashed with it and about 40 persons, including several policemen, were injured. The traffic on the Jind-Kaithal road resumed today after four days. The traffic on the Jind-Bhiwani and the Jind-Hansi roads was also restored today which the farmers had blocked yesterday. According to Mr Ramphal Kandela, state general secretary of the BKU, Haryana, after the agreement the Haryana Vidyut Parsaran Nigam has started the process of restoring regular electricity supply. |
|
61 poor girls married off Kurukshetra, December 25 The Haryana Governor, Babu Parmanand, was the chief guest on this occasion. His wife, Ms Sudesh Kumari, also accompanied him. The mass marriages function was a welfare programme organised as part of the five-day Kurukshetra Utsav-Geeta Jayanti Mahotsava celebrations by the Kurukshetra Development Board and other social, religious and charitable bodies of the holy city. Blessing the newly-weds and wishing them a happy, healthy and prosperous married life, the Governor said this noble custom was a commendable step taken by the voluntary organisations and would contribute immensely towards promoting the spirit of love, sympathy, unity, communal harmony and secularism in the society. Babu Parmanand complimented Sri Jairam Vidyapeeth for rendering financial support to the weaker sections of society. Babu Parmanand observed that the Kurukshetra Utsav-Geeta Jayanti Samaroh should be celebrated for a period of 18 days as per the 18 chapters of the Gita. He assured of his active participation in such celebrations. Mr R.S. Chaudhary, Vice-Chancellor, Kurukshetra University, Mr Hari Singh Ahlawat, IG Police, Ambala Range, Mr Abhiliksh Likhi, Deputy Commissioner, were also present on the occasion. |
|
|
AMBALA DIARY Ambala Although both the grade separators as well as four-laning of the highway was to be dedicated to the nation by Union Minister of State (independent charge) for Road Transport and Highways, Major General (retd) B.C. Khanduri, the scheduled programme could not take place due to the terrorist attack on Parliament. However, the new developments on the National Highway are already being utilised by the vehicle owners for smooth motoring. A sum of Rs 35 crore has been spent on the construction of a bridge, and the bridge is part of the World Bank project for four-laning the Karnal-Ambala road. *
* * Revenue collections ‘satisfactory’
The Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam has realised 99.17 per cent revenue during the first seven months of the current financial year in operation circle Ambala. The Nigam’s revenue assessment was Rs 10044.85 lakh and it recovered Rs 9961.48 lakh from the private consumers during this period. Deputy Commissioner
D.D. Gautam said that the higher revenue realisation was possible due to the improvement in power supply, better management and consumer satisfaction.’ * * * Bhajan competition
A bhajan party competition was organised by the Public Relations Department at Bal Bhavan, Ambala city. The competition was inaugurated by Joint Director Som Nath. The bhajan party led by Prem Chand from Ambala district was first, the party of Kaithal district led by Bhag Chand was second, and the party of Kaithal district led by Prem Chand was third.
|
|
|
KALKA DIARY Kalka Rumours regarding this water had spread far and wide and people from different areas had been gathering here to collect this water in bottles and cans. Long queues were seen from morning till evening. * * * The Lions Club of Kalka, at its annual function, honoural Mr Ram Nath, founder of Vivekanand Manav Kalyan Society, and Mr Ram Sarup Bansal, founder of the Civil Hospital Welfare Society, for their selfless service to society. The club installed Mr Harvinder Singh Sokhi as its new president. Mr M.R. Sharma, District Governor, performed the installation ceremony. Mr DR Chopra, the outgoing president, was honoured for recording 100 per cent presence at the club’s meetings. Mr Sharma, in his address, said that the Kalka club was one of the three clubs which had been honoured by Lions International for 100 per cent attendance. The Kalka club gave five sewing machines to the zonal chairman, Mr Kulbir Singh Rana, to be offered to needy and poor women. Mr Rana said that a seminar on youth personality development will be held at Kalka soon. He also said that a project would be started in the Raitan area to make 100 women literate. * * * More than 2500 persons attended a Manav Ekta Sammelan held here by the Sant Nirankari Mandal. Speaking on this occasion, Baba Hardev Singh, head of the Mandal, said that man had left his footprints on the moon but he had not learnt to walk on earth like a man. After the sammelan, a community dinner was served to the gathering. About 700 Sant Nirankari Sewa Dal volunteers worked round the clock to manage the lanagar, control the traffic, make parking arrangements, and provide medical aid to the participants. * * * The Senior Citizens’ Association, at its annual Pensioner’s Day, elected Mr Sangat Singh Nanda as president for the next year. Some senior citizens complained that they were not shown the consideration and respect they deserved. They had to wait in long queues to pay their electricity, water and telephone bills. They demanded that they should be given preference in this regard. Other officer-bearer of the association elected at the meeting were Vice Presidents- Mr Mohan Singh and Mr VP Sood, Secretary - Mr LC Bahal, Cashier - Mr Joginder Pal and Assistant Secretary - Mr ML Dhaiya. * * * Mr Vijay Bansal, General Secretary of the State Youth Congress, and Mr Naresh Sharma, District President of the NSUI, in a joint statement have criticised the state government for not giving a second chance to plus two students who are placed in compartment. They said that students who had failed to clear their compartment papers in September, had not been given a second chance. Consequently, their admission to BA-I, had been cancelled, resulting in a loss of one academic year. They have urged the government to give a second chance to scuh students.
|
|
|
IN FOCUS Ambala The Senior Post Master, Ambala GPO, Mr Vijay Kumar Malhotra, says that the bureau, started in 1976, was renovated in February, 2001. According to Mr Malhotra, although the head post offices have philately counters, cancellation of stamps of first day covers is done only at the bureau. “We will organise a district-level philately exhibition early next year,” he said. A philatelic deposit account scheme is also in operation. Under this scheme, every account holder gets fresh issue of stamps, first day covers and information sheets by post. This account can be opened with an initial deposit of Rs 200. “We have about 100 philately account holders,” he said. According to ‘A Primery of Philately’, the first stamp in the world “the Penny Black” was issued in the UK on May 6, 1841. The first stamps in India were issued on July 1, 1854 in Sind, now in Pakistan, in white, blue and red colours. India achieved another distinction on October, 15, 1954, when it issued the first bi-colour stamp in the British Commonwealth in the form of a 4-anna, octagonal, lithographed stamp bearing the Queen’s head in blue with a red frame. By accident, the head was printed inverted on a few sheets. This “inverted” stamp became one of India rarities.
|
|
Congress to hold Panchayati Raj sammelans Karnal, December 25 The HPCC chief alleged that by forming Gram Sudhar Samities, the INLD government had rendered the Panchayati Raj system redundant and violated even the mandatory provisions of the Panchayati Raj Act while spending the panchayat funds. He termed the formation of these samities as “unconstitutional”. Mr Hooda said the Congress would dissolve the samities set up by the INLD government when it came to power. The grant from the Centre would go directly to panchayats. The Congress would organise camps to train sarpanches about their powers and duties and ensure to keep intact the status of
Panchayati raj institutions and end bureaucratic interference, he added. |
|
Haryana move to cut admn expenditure Chandigarh, December 25 Stating this here today, an official release said one Managing Director had been posted for the two corporations for this purpose. It said in districts like Panipat, Ambala, Yamunanagar and Bhiwani, the staff of both the corporations had been put under the control one nodal officer each. It added that this formula of redeployment would be followed in other districts too also to ensure the effective implementation of various schemes. |
|
|
Come late to office, face action Fatehabad, December 25 In an administrative order issued here yesterday, Deputy
Commissioner O.P. Indora has instructed the heads of various government departments in the district in this regard and asked them to ensure that the attendance in their office was proper. They have also been directed to conduct special checks of the offices. The orders say that the administration will take a strict action against those who did not respect the office hours. |
|
INLD meeting
tomorrow Chandigarh, December
25 Stating this here today, an INLD spokesman said that all party MLAs, office-bearers, members of the state executive, district presidents, conveners and constituency presidents will participate in the
meeting.
|
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 121 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
