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Flood Threat
Khap mahapanchayat rallies behind Anna
Thanks to Anna, Tricolour selling like hot cakes
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Panchayats to help curb power theft
New software module to help cops arrest vehicle thieves
Notification draft discussed
Rohtak pensioners told to open bank accounts
Haryana to start e-payment of salary
Relief hiked for farm accidents
Sewer treatment plant for Kaithal
Call to improve literacy rate among women
Excise & Taxation staff hold dharna
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Flood Threat
Chandigarh, August 17 Though water has inundated fields and pockets of the abadi area in Yamunanagar, Karnal and Panipat, the Irrigation Department maintains that there is no reason for panic since the level of water is gradually receding. The Engineer-in-Chief, Irrigation, Harmail Singh, said the water levels in the Yamuna generally hover around 2 to 3 lakh cusecs. “However, yesterday, the water level rose to 6.41 lakh cusecs, which is nearly thrice more than the regular flow, prompting us to take notice,” he said. The department officials maintain that the present water level in the Yamuna cannot be taken lightly. “While we have taken extensive flood-control measures, the construction of stone-studs along embankments with money from the Central Government will stand us in good stead,” the E-I-C said. The level of water in the Yamuna at Hathnikund Barrage has reduced to 2.96 lakh cusecs and is constantly reducing. In Yamunanagar, the water entered fields in 21 villages while the abadi areas of two villages were also inundated. The district administration immediately moved the affected families to “safe” areas. Deputy Commissioner Ashok Sangwan said the water level in the fields was gradually receding. “A medical team and a veterinary team are out in the villages. We are monitoring the water flow hourly at our flood-control centre,” he added. While agricultural fields in six villages of Karnal have “suffered” due to flooding, two low-lying villages in Panipat have also been affected. The district administration rescued five shepherds and 200 sheep from the rising level of water in the Yamuna, in a night-long operation launched with the help of boats and motor boats. It is expected that the level of water in the Yamuna will start reducing by tonight. Red alert in
Panipat
Manish Sirhindi adds: The district administration today remained on a high alert throughout the day as threat of floods loomed large on the district with the water level in the Yamuna rising after the release of 6.5 lakh cusecs of water from the Hathnikund barrage yesterday. The water in the Yamuna that was below 3 lakh cusecs last evening rose to 6 lakh cusecs in the night. However, with no fresh rainfall in the region, it started to recede and by this evening, the river was flowing at below 5 lakh cusecs. Deputy Commissioner JS Ahlawat and district police chief Pankaj Nain visited some of the areas in the Sanoli segment of the district that had been affected the most by floods last year. Ahlawat said there were no reports of any loss of life or property in the district. He said at present the water was flowing below the danger level, but the administration had ordered a round-the-clock watch on the water level. Several measures were already in place to deal with any situation arising form the rising water level, he said. Meanwhile, an alert was sounded in Kalsora, Nabiyabad, Garhpur Tapu, Nagli and Chandrav villages of Karnal district and officials of the Irrigation Department were asked to remain on duty round the clock. |
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Khap mahapanchayat rallies behind Anna
Rohtak/Jind, August 17 The fast and agitation by veteran social activist Hazare on the issue of the Jan Lokpal Bill has elicited the support of several organisations to the demand raised by Hazare to curb corruption in public life. The relay fast and demonstrations entered the second day today. The mahapanchayat has announced to observe a 24-hour hunger strike on Thursday in support of the stir. The teaching at Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) in Rohtak remained suspended due to the faculty going on one day’s mass leave and the students holding demonstrations on the issue. An effigy of the Union Government was burnt by activists of the ABVP in Rohtak today. The relay fast started by local residents under the banner of Nagrik Samaj, Rohtak, continued for the second day today at the Sector 6 grounds. The residents claimed that the protest would continue till the demands raised by Hazare were accepted and the government agreed to accept the Jan Lokpal Bill prepared by the Team Anna. The students of the MDU came out on the road and held a procession in the city to register their protest and support for the movement launched by Hazare. While a candle march was held last night, the local residents and the students announced that they would be taking out a similar march this evening also. The ABVP activists announced to observe a college strike tomorrow. While a procession was taken out by industrial workers at Bahadurgarh town of Jhajjar district this noon, the members of the District Bar Association of Rohtak suspended their work and staged a
dharna. The association announced that it would not resume work on Thursday also besides holding a 24-hour long hunger strike by 11 members of the association tomorrow. Sirsa: Demonstrations in support of Anna Hazare continued for the second consecutive day in Sirsa and surrounding areas
on Wednesday. BJP activists assembled at Nehru Park here and raised slogans against the UPA government. Students organised demonstrations at Chaudhary Devi Lal University and Government National PG College and condemned the government action against Anna.The District Bar Association decided to strike work in support of Anna Hazare. Reports of demonstrations were also received from Rania and Kalanwali. Panipat: Protest marches and demonstrations were held in various parts of the district. A number of social organisations sat on dharnas at various places to express solidarity with Anna Hazare. Protests were held outside the mini-secretariat, Kila grounds and several other places. Students of SD College boycotted classes. Later, they took out a procession in the city raising slogans. The District Bar Association suspended work for the second consecutive day. In Karnal, local units of political parties, including the Samajwadi Party, announced support for Hazare. People assembled at Karan Park and raised slogans in support of Anna and his team. Sonepat: Coming in support of Anna Hazare, BJP activists led by MLA Kavita Jain and state media in charge Rajiv Jain today took out a protest march and burnt an effigy of the UPA government. They also extended their support to volunteers of the Sai Jan Seva Samiti and the Sarvjatiya Arakshan Manch who were on an indefinite fast on the second day in support of Anna Hazare. Hundreds of students of the local CRA College, Hindu College, GVM Girls College and the DCR University of Science and Technology, Murthal, staged demonstrations to extend their support to Anna Hazare’s agitation against corruption and condemned the UPA government for dealing with the agitation in an undemocratic way. Hisar: The city witnessed several protests today in favour of the Anna Hazare-led movement against corruption. While local lawyers took out a procession that marched through main markets, teachers of Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology went on mass leave on a call given by members of civil society. The lawyers also sent a memorandum to the President through the district administration. Several organisations staged protests at different places in the city and their activists later joined the main protest at the Old Government College grounds. |
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Thanks to Anna, Tricolour selling like hot cakes
Ambala, August 17 Expecting to cash in on the current agitation launched by Anna Hazare, another flag vendor said if the movement catches momentum in Haryana and Punjab, the sale of
flags would increase automatically. While the vendors are happy with the sudden spurt in their sales, social activists rue the hike in the prices of the Tricolour. “Manufactures and vendors have increased the rates of the flags following a huge demand,” a social activist pointed out.
— PTI |
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Villagers block road in Fatehabad
Fatehabad, August 17 The police later diverted the traffic through Dangra, Laloda, Nangla and Uklana. Earlier, the villagers had forcibly stopped construction work at the 220-KV power substation and held a dharna after locking the powerhouse on August 11. Sube Singh Samain, a leader of the agitating villagers, alleged that the government had promised 24-hour uninterrupted power supply to the village before taking away their land for the project. However, senior officials of the power utilities were reluctant to give any firm assurance on this issue, alleged the villagers. The agitating farmers have demanded a written assurance from the authorities about direct supply from the 220-KV campus to their village through an independent feeder. When no senior official approached them even after their dharna and lockout of the powerhouse, the villagers resorted to a roadblock today. The blockade was lifted at the intervention of Deputy Commissioner Vijay Singh Dahiya, who had a prolonged meeting with the villagers and senior HVPN officials . After consultation with technical officers of the power utilities, Dahiya agreed to provide power supply to Samain village through an independent feeder. |
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Panchayats to help curb power theft
Chandigarh, August 17 Yadav said here today that the panchayats would create awareness among electricity consumers and defaulters to pay their power bills regularly. They would persuade those residents who have kundi connections to get regular electricity connections to avoid any penalty. The panchayats would support special campaigns launched by the Power Department and also highlight these issues at regular meetings of gram sabhas to create mass awareness. In lieu the panchayats would get incentives on a monthly basis at the rate of 20 per cent of the increase in revenue over and above the benchmark, the average of last three years for the corresponding month. The benchmark so fixed would be valid for two years after which the average of the last two preceding years’ revenue realised would be set as the new benchmark. A one-time incentive of Rs 200 per connection on any additional new connection or regularisation of kundi connection would also be given to the panchayats. Yadav said incentives like giving additional hours of power supply would be given to the villages where gram panchayats would show good recovery. The Power Department would consider giving two hours of additional power supply to those villages in which the collection efficiency would be more than 90 per cent on a sustained basis. The scheme would be fine-tuned to include 100 per cent metering of connections by electronic meters and recovery of some arrears also, say in each billing cycle of two months. The recovery of 10 per cent of the arrears would make the village eligible for extra power supply for the subsequent month. |
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New software module to help cops arrest vehicle thieves
Gurgaon, August 17 “Earlier, the details of a given vehicle had to be obtained from the office of the SDM or the Secretary, RTA. The officials concerned could get information only during office hours and had to wait for a day or two during holidays,” maintained Alok Mittal, Joint Commissioner of Police. According to top police officials, the commissioning of this system will make the task of locating/identifying stolen vehicles, those involved in some accident as well as those bearing fake number plates much easier as details of vehicles will now just be a click away. The software has been uploaded on terminals at the police control room. Whenever a police official or an accident victim calls to inform/confirm about the details of a vehicle involved in an accident, the operator concerned will enter the registration number to get the required information. “There are times when we suspect that the documents of a vehicle are incorrect or the driver appears suspicious. With this new software, the official on duty can call the control room and confirm his doubts,” Mittal pointed out. The district police authorities have also written to the Delhi and Faridabad police authorities in this regard. “Out of every 10 vehicles in the city, seven are registered in Gurgaon while the rest are from outside. This makes it important to have a wider database of neighbouring areas. The new districts to be approached include Palwal, Rewari and Mewat,” he added. |
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Annual income ceiling up for free legal aid
Sirsa, August 17 The District and Sessions Judge, Sirsa, Subhash Goyal, said while addressing litigants after flagging off a legal literacy mobile van from the court premises here today, that more people would now be covered under the free legal aid. The judge said that the legal literacy mobile van would create awakening on the legal literacy programme by showing documentary films in the villages for a fortnight. Six advocates, empanelled by the Haryana State Legal Services Authority, would go to villages in this van to give information to the people about legal literacy. The people would be acquainted with the importance of Lok Adalats being organised by the District Legal Services Authority to provide justice to the people on their doorsteps. Naresh Singhal, secretary, District Legal Services Authority, said that 358 Lok Adalats had so far been organised in the district and over 46,000 cases had been settled, out of 84,688 cases taken up in these
Lok Adalats. |
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Notification draft discussed
Hisar, August 17 RS Jaglan, Registrar of Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, who presided over the meeting, said the panel members discussed the rough draft. The members referred to the guidelines provided in the notification issued by the UGC regading the new pay scales and the career advancement scheme. Others who attended the meeting were Ramesh Arora, Registrar of Sir Chhotu Ram University of Science and Technology, Murthal; Registrar of YMCA Science and Technology, Faridabad; and Rampal, Additional Director (Technical Education),
Haryana. |
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Rohtak pensioners told to open bank accounts
Rohtak, August 17 The district has around 1.2 lakh pensioners at present. However, a large number of the beneficiaries had complained of irregularities and unavailability of the pension benefit in the past few months, leading to protests on the issue. While the officials of the department could not reveal the exact amount of the funds disbursed as pension in the district, the Commissioner, Rohtak Range, in a press statement had called upon the pensioners in the district to get their account opened in a bank so that the process of disbursement of pension benefits could be streamlined. If the beneficiaries failed to get their account opened in the respective banks by August 25, they would be responsible for any delay and would not be able to blame the department or the administration, the statement said. The authorities have roped in Punjab National Bank and a private company for the purpose. Earlier, payment to several categories of pensioners was done manually with the beneficiaries receiving the amount in cash at various spots. It is claimed that 77,377 bank accounts had already been opened while 25,000 beneficiaries were still to get their bank accounts started for the purpose. According to an official, the work of opening new bank accounts had already been started at various pension disbursement centres and would continue till August 25. |
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Haryana to start e-payment of salary
Chandigarh, August 17 "A database of the employees pertaining to the pay bill, including pay scale, post, gazetted or non-gazetted, GPF account number, permanent rtirement account number (PRAN), bank account details, personal details, salary details would be created to implement this concept," HS Chattha, Finance Minister, said. The above information would be gathered by all drawing and disbursing officers (DDOs) from employees and from their own record files. A training programme for all DDOs and other officials for using e-salary software was being planned, he added.
— PTI |
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Relief hiked for farm accidents
Chandigarh, August 17 Minister of State for Agriculture Sukhbir Kataria said here today that compensation for the family of a deceased farmer or labourer had been increased from Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakh. Compensation to be paid to a farmer or labourer on amputation of one limb or a permanent serious injury had been increased from Rs 20,000 to Rs 50,000; on amputation of two limbs or a permanent serious injury from Rs 30,000 to Rs 75,000; on partial amputation of a finger from Rs 5,000 to Rs 15,000; on amputation of a full finger from Rs 12,000 to Rs 30,000 and on amputation of four fingers deemed as loss of one limb from Rs 20,000 to Rs 50,000. The compensation to be given to a farmer or labourer on breakage of backbone, if it is permanent disability, had been increased from Rs 40,000 to Rs 1 lakh. He said Rs 36.37 crore had so far been disbursed as compensation among 19, 900 such victims. |
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Sewer treatment plant for Kaithal
Kaithal, August 17 Talking to mediapersons, Surjewala said the accumulated waste after the treatment of sewer water would be given to the farmers free of cost, which they could use as fertilisers. He said another sewer treatment plant with 10 MLD capacity was under construction on the Jind road, which would be completed by November this year at the cost of Rs 12.32 crore. Surjewala said steps were under way to provide sewer facilities to about 165 localities, besides Kaithal town. The government had been making efforts to provide potable water to the residents of the town, he added. |
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Call to improve literacy rate among women
Sirsa, August 17 MP Ashok Tanwar, who was the chief guest, exhorted women to play a positive role in eliminating social evils like drug addition, dowry, female foeticide, and child marriage. Emphasising the need for improving the literacy rate, particularly among women, Tanwar said if the country was to compete with developed nations, education of women was of prime importance. The Haryana Youth Congress had invited several specialists to make women aware of issues of prime importance. Dr Manoj Siwach, registrar of Chaudhary Devi Lal University, spoke on self-help groups and their importance. Dr Vijaya Tomar, principal of CMK National PG College for Women, spoke on women’s issues. Dr Ved Beniwal and Dr Praveen Tomar and Dr Mebal Bishnoi spoke on female foeticide, breast cancer, nutritious food for women and children and several other health issues. |
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Excise & Taxation staff hold dharna
Kaithal, August 17 During the dharna, Ramesh Rathore, state secretary, and Roshan Lal Atela, district president of the Ministerial Staff Association, respectively, criticised the senior department officials, including the Financial Commissioner and Secretary, for not taking action on their pending demands despite submission of repeated memorandums. The “anti-employee” policies of the department had caused resentment among inspectors, clerical staff and Class IV employees, they said. Rathore said if the government failed to take an initiative, they would be forced to intensify their agitation and members of the Joint Action Committee would take two days’ casual leave on August 25 and 26, which will be followed by an indefinite dharna and a procession would be held outside the office of the Commissioner in Panchkula from Sept 6. |
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