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Cops gear up to man rally traffic
Rally a ‘cruel joke on farmers’
MD/MS Entrance Row
Patients await their turn at an OPD of the Rohtak PGIMS as services are hit due to a strike by resident doctors.
— A Tribune photograph
Speaker adjourns case against Bhajan
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Dera chief fails to appear in court
Media experts caution against bias
Guest teachers hold rally in Jind
1 killed, 16 hurt in train-bus collision
More needs to be done for SCs: Buta
Interest rate on education loans for girls lowered
Notification issued for RS poll
2 killed in accident
Kisan mela opens
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Cops gear up to man rally traffic
Panipat, March 8 Sources said a large number of vehicles ferrying Congress workers from Punjab and different parts of Haryana could cause traffic snarls. Anticipating that the maximum rush would enter the National Capital from Rohtak, a DSP had been deputed on the Rohtak-Delhi border along with a battery of subordinate staff to man traffic. The police had also planned alternative routes in case of a blockade on the way to Delhi. An IG-rank officer of the state is reportedly overseeing the traffic management with the ACP (traffic), New Delhi. Talking to The Tribune today, AIG (highways) Rajpal Singh said state police officials were working in liaison with the Delhi police to check traffic congestion. Elaborating on the traffic bandobast, the AIG said “50 riders have been deputed to reach roads in case of a traffic blockade. He said the public address system had been installed at various busy spots to divert traffic. He said SPs would monitor the areas under their jurisdiction. Policemen would be deployed in large numbers. The AIG said arrangements had been made for ambulances and cranes to meet any untoward incident. The AIG said a communique had been sent to the Bhiwani district administration to keep heavy vehicles moving from mining areas off the road.
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Rally a ‘cruel joke on farmers’
Chandigarh, March 8 In a statement issued here today, Kaushik said the union government’s announcement to waive off farmers’ loans would help banks more than the intended beneficiaries. The banks would get money against the funds which they had declared as non-performing assets (NPA) and were about to write them off. He said only defaulters would benefit from this scheme, while those who had been repaying their loans would feel discouraged. |
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PGIMS services hit as strike continues
Sunit Dhawan Tribune News Service
Rohtak, March 8 The RDA has gone on strike against the yesterday’s lathicharge on protesting medicos and in support of their allegations of irregularities in the MD/MS/MDS/PG diploma entrance examination conducted by Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) authorities on February 24. The patients coming from various parts of the region were put to great inconvenience as a result of the doctors’ strike. Due to the strike, the PGIMS faculty members provided medical care to the visiting and admitted patients. The MBBS students boycotted their classes and staged a protest demonstration along with resident doctors at Vijay Park located on the PGIMS premises. The protesters received support from various quarters, with representatives of the BJP, INLD, CPM, HJC, SFI and the ABVP approaching them or backing their cause. The HCMS Doctors’ Association has also given a 24-hour ultimatum to the state authorities in support of medicos’ demand. The protesting medicos have been demanding the cancellation of the PG entrance test and holding of a CBI inquiry into the matter. The medicos today met deputy commissioner R.S. Doon, who offered them a magisterial probe into the entire episode. The offer was, however, turned down. The medicos later took out a candlelight procession to press for the fulfillment of their demands.
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Speaker adjourns case against Bhajan
Chandigarh, March 8 However, two other MLAs, Dharam Pal Malik and Rakesh Kamboj, against whom also the disqualification proceedings are on, have been asked by the Speaker to appear before him on March 11. Today was the last opportunity for Bhajan Lal to present evidence in his support. However, his counsel, Satya Pal Jain, requested the Speaker to adjourn the hearing to March 17 because a grandson of the former Chief Minister had died on March 6. Kadian, after ascertaining the period of mourning, adjourned the hearing till March 24. Malik and Kamboj were to appear before the Speaker for cross-examination today. But their counsel also requested for an adjournment. Bhajan Lal and the other two MLAs have already moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court claiming that the disqualification proceedings pending before the Speaker were in violation of the principles of natural justice. They had submitted before the high court that they had raised 15 objections to the maintainability of the petition and the Speaker was bound to decide the issue before proceeding further in the matter. The bench headed by Chief Justice Vijendra Jain asked their counsel to place more documents before it and fixed the hearing in this case for March 18. The disqualification proceedings have been started by Kadian following the filing of three petitions, which alleged that Bhajan Lal and the other two MLAs had floated a new political party, the Haryana Janhit Congress (BL), late last year. |
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Dera chief fails to appear in court
Ambala, March 8 Earlier on February 23 too, the dera chief had not appeared in the court. The arguments on framing charges against the dera chief could not start even today. His counsel, Surya Prakash, filed an application, in which he informed the court that the dera chief was sick and unable to appear in the court. He also filed a medical certificate. He requested the court to grant exemption to the dera chief from personal appearance in the court for today. The court accepted the request. CBI counsels were also present in the court. They did not oppose the exemption application. Special judge of the CBI court R.K. Saini adjourned the hearing till March 29. The CBI had already filed three challans against the dera chief a few others in two murders and a sexual exploitation case in the court. The court had already granted regular bail to the dera chief on October 25 last year. The administration was not sure till today morning whether the dera chief was coming or not. However, the police had made tight security arrangements on the court premises. A large number of dera followers had gathered at HUDA grounds to have a look of their “guru”, but went disappointed.
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Media experts caution against bias
Kurukshetra, March 8 The keynote speaker of the session, Subhash C. Sood, media consultant, New Delhi, said the market forces forced the media “not to speak the truth, specially absolute truth”. The objectives of Indian media, he said, had changed rapidly and “therefore people tend to speak only relative truth”. Ashok Malik, Assistant Editor, Dainik Tribune, Chandigarh, spoke about sensationalising of news. He exhorted professionals in the industry to look out for more relevant and reliable information. Debu Chatterjee, an eminent personality from the public broadcaster, Doordarshan, shared the view that the media was one of the strongest pillars of the nation built on the foundation of truth. Prof Sushma Gandhi of Guru Jambheshwar University, Hisar, said absolute truth could not be found by pure logic; it could only be experienced. She said there was a lot of bias in the media which lead to distortion of truth. Puja Mahesh, lecturer, Apeejay Institute, Delhi, spoke about bias in media, highlighting examples of national dailies missing out stories from the North-East and tribal areas. The next technical session was chaired by Prof M.R. Dua, former head, department of journalism, Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi, on the topic of objectivity, balance, bias and fairness. He said it was very difficult in the profession to be objective, fair as well as balanced, but encouraged the audience not to be discouraged by this. Rajbir Jaiswal, DIG of the criminal investigation department, ridiculed the concept of advertorials. Dr H.P.S Walia, head, department of mass communication, Punjabi University, Patiala, said to speak the truth was very difficult. He said truth “lies in the component of time and time gives you different situations wherein you have to compromise”. Vikram Dutt, a renowned film producer, spoke about the diversity and plurality of media and invited the audience to search for the truth. Manoj Dayal, dean, faculty of media studies, Guru Jambheshwar University, Hisar, was among the speakers. |
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Guest teachers hold rally in Jind
Jind, March 8 The teachers asked the government not only to regularise their services but also keep them at par with regular teaching staff in terms of various benefits and facilities. More than half of 20,000 guest teachers turned up for the rally, claimed one of the organisers. About one-fourth of them were women. The rally, which was organised under the banner of the Guest Teachers Association of Haryana (Athithi Adhyapak Sangh), was the first state-level independent rally. Earlier, a large number of guest teachers had taken part in the state-level rally, which was organised by the Haryana Rajkiya Ahdyapak Sangh (No 70) on February 9. Speakers at the rally claimed that the overall result and performance of the government schools had improved after the appointment of the guest faculty and perhaps it was due to that the number of students in such schools, which had been decreasing sharply over the years, was put on check. They said instead of giving any credit, the authorities concerned had started considering them as a burden and looking forward to dispose them unceremoniously. Serving a kind of ultimatum against any move to retrench them, the association warned to launch an agitation on the issue if the genuine demands were not met. They demanded that the government should provide the basic minimum benefits, including provision of casual leave, maternity leave and allowances payable to the regular staff. The guest faculty is mainly appointed locally and paid on basis of the classes taken in a day .The resolutions adopted at the meeting included regularisation of service in a timely and phased manner and extension of all facilities depending upon the service tenure. Certain leaders of the employees’ organisations, including the left-oriented Sarva Karamchari Sangh, Haryana, also attended it and addressed the participants. |
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1 killed, 16 hurt in train-bus collision
Jhajjar, March 8 According to information, the traffic was diverted towards Barahi after the national highway jammed due to some accident in the morning. Heavy traffic, which was lined up at the level crossing near Barahi village, also caused congestion on the approach road. Meanwhile, the bus driver got engaged in a spat with a truck driver on passing across the level crossing at the Delhi-Rohtak section. After a few minutes of tussle, the truck driver managed to cross over and the bus driver too followed him without noticing the fast approaching train, Awad Express, from Rohtak. The train rammed into the rear part of the bus. About 20 passengers, who were travelling in the bus, and some others had a lucky escape as they had got down during the heated exchange between the two drivers. The bus was damaged badly and the injured were immediately taken to hospitals. Sources said seven persons were rushed to the PGIMS, Rohtak, where one of them, Rajender, succumbed to his injuries. The other injured have been identified as Anand, Satish, Pankaj, Ramesh, Ashok, Tanuj, Anna, Kalavati, Mohini, Amarjeet, Mohammad, Kanta, Karm Chopra, Azad, Joginder and Lalchand. Three of the injured were taken to a hospital in Delhi while others were admitted to the Civil Hospital in Bahadurgarh. |
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More needs to be done for SCs: Buta
Chandigarh, March 8 Talking to mediapersons here today, chairman of the commission Buta Singh said the commission would summon Punjab chief secretary and the DGP to know the state government’s stand in the suspension case. Contending that the suspension of the officer was within the preview of the commission, he said the suspended officer belonged to the SC category. Buta Singh described the Haryana government’s decision to allocate 21 per cent of the total plan budget of the state for 2008-09 for the Scheduled Castes Sub Plan (SCSP), as “exemplary for the other states in the country”. This percentage, he said, was 2 per cent more than even the total population of the SCs in the state. Buta Singh, who had earlier met the state chief secretary Dharamvir and other senior civil and police officers, appreciated that the state government had mentioned this allocation in the Governor’s address delivered yesterday in the Assembly. He said Dharamvir had assured him that these funds would neither be diverted nor allowed to be lapsed. He had also been assured that a system to monitor the utilisation of these funds would be evolved. He said former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was of the view that the allocation of funds for the welfare of the SCs should be in proportion to their population. In reply to a question on the performance of the Haryana government regarding implementation of welfare schemes for the Scheduled Castes, Buta Singh said the commission had no doubt about the intentions of the state government. However, more efforts should be made in this direction. He suggested that the number of special courts to try the cases of atrocities against the SCs should be increased in the state, which at present had such courts in eight districts. The investigating officer should not be below the rank of DSP. He said while reviewing the cases of atrocities against the SCs, it was observed that the number of compromises was more than the convictions. |
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Interest rate on education loans for girls lowered
Chandigarh, March 8 Congratulating the women on the occasion of the International Women’s Day today, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said the government was committed to uplift the socio-economic status of women and a number of new schemes had been launched during the last three years for their empowerment and development. Other initiatives for women included constitution of village-level committees of women panches, sarpanches and other representatives to facilitate implementation of programmes relating to women and children. The Haryana Urban Development Authority would give 90 per cent rebate on payment of extension fee on properties exclusively owned by women. This rebate would be 100 per cent for properties exclusively owned by widows. Women having power meter connections in their name were also being given rebate of 10 paise per unit in power bills. A rebate of 2 per cent on stamp duty on transfer of property in the name of women was also been given.
— UNI |
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Notification issued for RS poll
Chandigarh, March 8 The notice to fill the two seats, which will fall vacant on the retirement of two members from Haryana on April 9, was issued by state assembly secretary Sumit Kumar, who is also the returning officer for the elections. The poll shall, if necessary, be held on March 26. The nomination papers may be delivered by a candidate or any of his proposers to the returning officer or to additional secretary and assistant returning officer Kuldip Singh at their offices in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha not later than March 15. The date of scrutiny of nominations is March 17 and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is March 19. — UNI
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2 killed in accident
Rewari, March 8 The deceased were later identified as Sunder Lal (driver), a resident of Sehrawan village of Gurgaon district, and Munna Lal (conductor) of Hardoi district in Uttar Pradesh. The seriously injured bus driver, Kamaljit, and a woman worker, Savita Devi, were referred to a Delhi hospital. Smoggy weather reportedly caused the mishap when the bus was going from Rewari to the Oswal Spinning Mill, Matila, and the Canter, laden with iron bars, was on the way to Rewari. |
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Kisan mela opens
Hisar, March 8 The minister, who was deputising for Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, said hybrid seeds of various crops held the key to boosting farm production in the years to come. The minister honoured Sukhdev Singh of Jandla village as the best paddy cultivator and Sushi Sabharwal as the best female farmer. He also visited the research farms and evinced interest in the new varieties being developed by HAU breeders. |
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Rohtak, March 8
