The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	146 officers join CRPF ranks Sunit Dhawan Tribune News Service Kadarpur (Gurgaon), September 1 As many as 146 young officers, including a woman, joined the ranks of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) as Assistant Commandants after undergoing 55-week rigorous training at the CRPF Academy here recently. Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Jitender Singh, who was the chief guest on the occasion, took salute of the passing-out parade of the 42nd batch of the Direct-Entry Gazetted Officers (DEGOs). Addressing the gathering and the passing-out officers, the minister maintained that terrorism, communal strife, violent conflicts and crime continued to be the most serious concerns of the civil society. He asserted that the CRPF had a big responsibility of spearheading the nation’s response to such grave threats. The CRPF, since its raising in 1939, was the largest Central armed police force in the world. The minister presented awards of excellence to 21 officers of the passing-out batch. The all-round best trainee, Paramjeet Singh, was honoured with the Sword of Honour, while Director’s Baton for Parade Commander was awarded to Om Prakash Godara. Alok Panwar was adjudged the best outdoor trainee, Sanjeev Kumar the best indoor trainee and Baban Kumar Singh the best in endurance. Varinder Pal Singh was assessed the best in-field craft and tactics, Anadi Dayal best in essay writing, Jaskiran Kaur best in public speaking and Anjan Kumar Mandal best in shot (firing). CRPF Director-General K Vijay Kumar and Academy Director HR Singh were also present.
	CSD cardholders seek revision of purchase limit Raman Mohan Tribune News Service Hisar, September 1 Retired and serving defence personnel have started feeling the pinch of rising prices and suggested raising the ceiling on the purchases from Canteen Stores Department (CSD) outlets. The current monetary limits on their CSD smartcards stand between Rs 3,500 and Rs 7,500 a month for groceries and toiletries depending on the rank. The limits were fixed several years ago when the smartcards were issued to the defence personnel. Tek Chand Nain, a retired subedar, said the prices of toiletries and food articles available through CSD had risen by over 50 per cent during the past several years. “Toothpaste that cost around Rs 35 a few years ago, now costs Rs 50. The prices of other items have also risen proportionately,” he said. Another retired JCO said since the balance of a particular month’s limit was not carried forward to the next month, they had to visit the canteens every month. Thus those ex-servicemen living in villages had to spend on bus fare to reach the canteens. Earlier, he said they would travel to canteens once in three months and buy their requirements in one go to save on travelling expenses. The CSD issues both serving and retired defence person smartcards for their dependents. However, this does not mean a corresponding increase in the purchase limit. The monthly limit is divided by the number of dependent smartcards. Thus when an officer who obtains dependent smartcards for one parent and a child his monthly limit on the three cards will be Rs 2,500 each. This leads to several problems. As per CSD rules, any article that costs above Rs 500 cannot be purchased on dependent smartcards as it is categorised as AFD (after firm demand) item. A serving Colonel said his dependent parents could not buy a 5-lt pack of refined oil because of this condition. AFD items can be purchased only on the smartcard of the original cardholder. The limit varies from Rs 35,000 to Rs 90,000 annually depending on the rank. Thus dependent cardholders of serving and retired personnel living in different locations are unable to buy anything costing beyond Rs 500. Army personnel say with the rise in prices many daily use items now cost above Rs 500. This has adversely affected the purchases from the CSD canteens. For instance, a non-stick griddle costs about Rs 600 in the CSD. However, a dependent cardholder cannot buy it because of the Rs 500 limit. Even a 3-lt pressure cooker which costs Rs 800 is not within the reach of the dependents. They want the monthly limit for groceries to increase by 25 per cent and lifting of the Rs 500 ceiling on the purchase of AFD items. Army personnel say the AFD limit should also be raised proportionately and dependents should be allowed to purchase AFD items within the annual limit of the original smartcard holder.
	Labour Dept conducts 121 inspections Tribune News Service Chandigarh, September 1 The inspectorate staff of the Labour Department recently conducted 121 regular inspections of various industrial establishments and launched prosecutions in 219 cases under the Factories Act, 1948. An official spokesman said in the beginning of June 2011, as many as 607 industrial disputes were pending and 330 were raised by the workers or their unions. Out of these, 59 industrial disputes were settled by the conciliation officers and 25 disputes were withdrawn. The department conducted 3,189 inspections under various labour laws, detected 550 violations of various kinds and recovered over Rs 11.97 lakh as fine. As many as 981 prosecutions were launched and 843 convictions were obtained during the month. The spokesman said the department recovered Rs 183.45 lakh as unpaid contribution and donation of wages from employers and spent Rs 147.27 lakh on various labour welfare schemes run by the Welfare Board during the month under report. The department was running 10 whole-time labour welfare centres in important industrialtowns of the state. In these centres, workers were provided the facilities of reading room, library, knitting, training classes for women and other recreational activities, he added.
	On road to development State lines up crores for roads, bridges Tribune News Service Chandigarh, September 1 The state government has taken up the construction of 228 bridges at a cost of Rs 92 crore during the current financial year while 12 bridges costing Rs 50 crore are likely to be taken up under a NABARD scheme. According to a spokesman for the Public Works (Building and Roads) Department, the government has taken up the construction of road over bridges (ROBs) on a large scale. As part of the Master Plan, 24 ROBs have been opened to traffic till date at a cost of about Rs. 449.82 crore during the tenure of the present government. In addition, six ROBs at a cost of Rs 160.78 crore are under construction. As many as 770 km new roads have been constructed and 24,068 km roads have been improved or repaired at a cost of Rs 8,255 crore during this period. A sum of Rs 1,182 crore has been released by the Union Government under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana during this period. The state government has taken steps to attract public private partnership (PPP) in the road sector, which is necessary to accelerate the pace of infrastructure development. The first such road project, Gurgaon-Faridabad and Ballabgarh-Sohna road, has been awarded to Reliance Infrastructure Ltd. on negative grant of Rs 150.30 crore on the BOT basis for improvement and it is expected to be completed within the scheduled time. The four-laning project of the Rai Malikpur (Rajasthan border)-Narnaul-Mahendragarh-Dadri-Bhiwani-Kharak corridor has been approved on the design, build, finance, operate, transfer (DBFOT) basis by the Planning Commission for a grant of 20 per cent viability gap funding (VGF). It would cost about Rs 1,366.95 crore. The work of this project is likely to be awarded by the end of October. The project of four-laning of the Yamuna Nagar-Ladwa section of the state highway-06 and the Ladwa-Karnal section of the state highway No.07, including the Ladwa Bypass on the DBFOT basis with a length 54 km at an estimated cost of Rs 435 crore has been submitted to the Planning Commission for the grant of VGF. The spokesman said the Haryana government had taken up the work of about 150 new buildings of various departments during the current financial year and about 365 buildings were under construction at the start of this financial year. These buildings included judicial complexes, district administrative blocks, hospitals, polytechnics, ITIs, colleges, community health centres, primary health centres, sub-health centres. judicial or administrative blocks. The construction of houses has been taken up in the newly created districts of Palwal and Nuh under the economic stimulus package. Similarly, major works like new OPD block, trauma block, new dental block, mental hospital and mother and child care hospital and auditorium in Pt. Bhagwat Dyal Sharma Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak, costing Rs 150 crore have also been taken up. The official said 212 buildings had been completed during 2010-11. It was worth mentioning that Nirman Sadan, headquarter building of the Public Works Department (Building and Roads), and the Architecture Department at Chandigarh had been declared as the best building in institutional category in India by the Indian Buildings Congress and the department received a trophy and an award for the same from Jaipal Reddy, the then Union Minister for Urban Development.
	Pension disbursement system being streamlined Ravi S.Singh Tribune News Service Faridabad, September 1 The process of streamlining the disbursement of pension to beneficiaries of various social schemes in the state through banks will be completed by September 10. Stating this, Ashok Khemka, director-general, Social Justice and Empowerment, said the amount of pension for the period from March to August would be disbursed by September. A majority of the beneficiaries have been given the money, but a good number of them have not got the same on account of procedural delays due to the change in the system. This has even resulted in protests by the pensioners in various parts of the state. According to Khemka, pension under social welfare schemes in the state was given to nine categories of groups, including old aged and handicapped. The process includes building a digital databank of the beneficiaries and opening their bank accounts. As per a national scheme, the amount of pension under all schemes, which was earlier distributed manually by sarpanches in the villages and municipal staff in the urban pockets, will have to be disbursed through banks under the electronic benefit transfer (EBT) scheme. This aims at ensuring to stop bungling and also ensuring that genuine beneficiaries get the money. There have been instances of fake beneficiaries and other anomalies in the manual disbursement system, according to Khemka. Nine banks, including Axis Bank in Faridabad, have been enlisted by the government for the job. There are more than 19 lakh listed beneficiaries, out of which 16 lakh have been given the pension. The payment to others has been temporarily held up for some reasons, including verification about their genuineness.
	Sonepat MLA, residents seek mega park in Sec 16 BS Malik Sonepat, September 1 Office-bearers of HUDA’s sector 15 Welfare Association, led by the local BJP legislator Kavita Jain, met Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda here recently and demanded development of a mega park in the proposed residential sector 16 for the benefit of the residents of sectors 15, 14, 12 and other localities of the old Sonepat town. The MLA and the office-bearers, KS Sangwan, MS Manocha, HS Bhatia and DVS Tehlan, told Hooda that when the proposal for sector 16 was prepared, a provision to develop a mega park with facilities like swimming pool, cafeteria, etc, in 18 acres of land was made. But last year, HUDA rejected the proposal of the park and decided to use this piece of land for residential plots. They pointed out that because of the town’s proximity to Delhi, it had witnessed fast development of residential localities, but there was no facility of a park in or near these residential areas. Tau Devi Lal Park in sector 7 near the GT Road was very far away from the residential areas and even it was not safe for children and women in the late evening and early morning hours, they said. After listening to their demand, the Chief Minister, who was here to inaugurate Arogyadham Charitable Eye Hospital, assured them that their demand would be considered sympathetically.
	KU announces names of scientists for Goyal Awards Bhanu P. Lohumi Tribune News Service Kurukshetra, September 1 Renowned scientists Prof GD Yadav (applied sciences), Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, Prof Vinod Kumar Singh (chemistry), Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal, Dr Naraendra Tuteja (life sciences), International Centre of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi, and Prof Utpal Sarkar (physics), Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, will be the recipients of the prestigious Goyal Awards announced by Kurukshetra University recently. The Goyal Awards carry a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh each, besides a medal and a citation and the Rajib Goyal Awards carry a cash prize of Rs 50,000 each, along with a medal and a citation. The Goyal Awards are given in the disciplines of applied sciences, chemistry, life sciences and physics and the Rajib Goyal Awards for young scientists are given in the disciplines of chemical sciences, life sciences and physical sciences. The names of the recipients were announced by Lt. Gen. Dr DDS Sandhu, vice-chancellor of Kurukshetra University, who is also the chairman of the Organising Committee for the Goyal Awards. Prof GD Yadav has made a notable contribution in the area of chemical engineering, green chemistry and catalysis, while Prof Vinod Kumar Singh has done a significant work in the area of asymmetric synthesis of organic molecules. Dr Narendra Tuteja has earned a name for outstanding work in the field of plant molecular biology and plant biotechnology and Prof Utpal Sarkar has made a considerable contribution in the area of theoretical particle physics. Dr N. Jayaraman (chemical sciences) and Dr SK Satheesh (physical sciences), both from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and Dr S. Ganesh (life sciences) of the IIT, Kanpur, have been selected for the Rajib Goyal Awards. Prof SP Singh, co-chairman of the Organising Committee, who has been associated with the awards since 1991, said: “About 70 leading scientists of the country have received these awards in the past 20 years. In addition to four Goyal Awards for science, a Peace Prize will also be awarded from this year”. Prof Shyam Kumar, convener of the Organising Committee, all these awardees and the two awardees - Dr JN Goswamy and Dr AK Singhvi (both of Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad) who could not attend the award ceremony last year - will be honoured at a formal ceremony to be held in November this year.
	Industrialists present ‘proof’ of poor roads in Faridabad to CM Ravi S.Singh Tribune News Service Faridabad, September 1 Contrary to the repeated claims of the administrative establishment in the district and senior functionaries of the government regarding development works here, the local industry has complained to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda about the pitiable condition of infrastructure, especially roads and sewerage system. Armed with video and photographs of roads and sewerage condition in industrial estates and sectors falling in the jurisdiction of Municipal Corporation Faridabad (MCF) and HUDA, a delegation of Faridabad Industries Association (FIA) met the Chief Minister and Chief Secretary Urvashi Gulati. Giving details, the FIA expressed the view that the delegation consisting of office-bearers of the organisation and captains of industry felt after their meeting that the Chief Minister was not aware of the details of the deplorable conditions of roads in Faridabad. The delegation members also impressed upon the government in their meetings that the industrial city needed quality attention considering the fact that it contributed in a major way to the revenue of the state. SK Goel, president, FIA, and his immediate predecessor, Sajjan Kumar Jain, who were part of the delegation, said the Chief Minister was positive with regard to the grievances of the industry and assured them of solution shortly. The delegation also expressed gratitude to the Chief Minister for his personal initiative for the sanction of the extension of Delhi Metro to Faridabad. The FIA expressed the view that it had to go to the state capital to meet the Chief Minister and the Chief Secretary as a last resort as all their pleas and initiatives with the local authorities for corrective measures had failed. The industrialists alleged that in the past about six months, the authorities of the MCF had expressed helplessness saying that the civic body was facing financial crisis and it was in no position to undertake development works on a big scale. Dr Goel said in the meeting, the government had agreed to release a sum of Rs 13 crore for the repair of roads in HUDA’s industrial sectors 58 and 59. With regards to the development of roads and sewerage system in the industrial estates in sectors 4, 24 and 25 falling in the jurisdiction of the MCF, a decision was taken to raise Rs 65 crore through public-private-participation (PPP) model.
	Lok adalats for undertrials proving successful Bhanu P. Lohumi Tribune News Service Karnal, September 1 Holding of special lok adalats in jails and sub-jails for dealing with the cases of undertrials, whose period of detention has overshot the probable sentence, is making steady progress in the state. Special lok adalats are being held in 18 jails twice in a year with the State Legal Services Authority (SLSA) as facilitator and about 5,000 prisoners have been freed in the past four years. The initiative was also aimed at easing congestion in overcrowded jails and providing justice to the accused languishing in jails for petty offences. As per the figures of 2007, Haryana jails had a capacity to lodge 10,482 prisoners, but the number of inmates was 13,093, which was 24 per cent more than the capacity. As many as 36 special lok adalats were held in 2009 and 2010 and 16 lok adalats had been organised up to June 2011 in which 1,220 cases were taken up and 75 prisoners were freed. The state SLSA is providing legal aid to these undertrials. The holding of special lok adalats in the second phase is in the process. These adalats will be held at Karnal, Jind and Kurukshetra on September 3, Kaithal, Narnaul and Palwal on October 1, Rohtak, Rewari and Sirsa on November 5 and at Sonepat, Jagadhri and Panipat on December 4. It was observed during the inspection of jails that there were some instances of detention of undertrials in contravention of the provisions of Sections 436, 436-A and 167 of the CrPC. The amended provision of Section 436 of the CrPC mandates that a person accused of bailable offence and who is indigent and unable to furnish surety should be released by a court on executing a bond without sureties instead of taking bail from such person for his appearance at the trial. The explanation clarifies that if a person is unable to give bail within a week of the date of his arrest, it shall be a sufficient ground for the officer or the court to presume that he is an indigent person. Section 436-A mandates that undertrials, who have already undergone half of the maximum sentence, should be released on bail. Proviso to Section 436-A further mandates that the undertrials, who have already undergone more than the maximum period of imprisonment provided for the offence, should be released from custody.
	Camp on diabetes held Kurukshetra, September 1 A free camp on Diabetic Retinopathy was inaugurated by Dr SBS Mann, director, Miri-Piri Institute of Medical Sciences Research (MPIMSR), Shahabad Markanda, at its premises, 25 km from here, recently. While addressing the patients, Dr Mann said “Diabetes is a lifestyle disease present widely among the Indian population. Being a silent killer, it affects all parts of the body, especially eyes, heart, kidney, ENT and nervous system”. The main emphasis of the camp was to sensitise the patients about the complications of the disease, he added. Dr GS Narula, senior medical officer of the institute, informed that as many as 125 patients were medically examined by Dr Himanshu Bhatnagar of the institute in the Ophthalmology Department. Doctors, administrative officers and employees of the MPIMSR were also present on the occasion. — OC
	Rewari NCC cadets win laurels Our Correspondent Rewari, September 1 As many as 556 NCC cadets from 18 schools of Rewari, Gurgaon and Jhajjar districts participated in the annual training camp for the junior division held under the auspices of 8 Haryana BN (NCC) at Hari Mandir Ashram complex, Pataudi, recently. Besides physical training imparted to the cadets by senior NCC officials, competitions in sports and extracurricular activities were held during the 10-day camp. Girl cadets of Jain Public School, Rewari, bagged the first position in kho kho. Anshul, Muskan and Chanchal Yadav of the school also won five gold medals in poem recitation, declamation, essay writing contests and stage operation. Besides, Ankit Yadav of the school bagged a gold medal for showing exemplary honesty. Gopal Sharma, officer in charge of the school NCC, said two women NCC officers, Nisha Yadav and Rattan Yadav, in charge of the junior division units of the school, participated in the camp as supervisors of the participating school cadets. All outstanding cadets were awarded medals and trophies by the officiating principal, Sonal Chhabra, at a function held in the school here recently. DK Jain, president, Ramesh Jain, manager, Deepak Jain, secretary of the school managing committee and Jai Mala, administrator of the school, felicitated the cadets on their achievement and exhorted them to maintain the performance in future as well.
	Basic amenities elude peripheral colonies Manish Sirhindi Tribune News Service Panipat, September 1 A large number of colonies on the outskirts of Panipat that were brought under the jurisdiction of the civic authority after the formation of the municipal corporation here are struggling to get basic amenities like clean water, sewerage, paved streets etc. While announcing the formation of the municipal corporation for Panipat, the state government had included as many as 67 colonies that had come up on the outskirts of the city. The move had made the residents believe that a series of development works would be started. But much to their disbelief, these colonies have been denied proper roads and other infrastructure so far. The residents are also facing problems in getting residence certificates and ration cards as a final approval to legalise these colonies is awaited. According to sources in the MC, after these colonies were included in the corporation, the government had asked the local authorities to conduct a survey and submit a report. Though a survey was conducted and the report was also submitted, no further action was taken. Sanitation is a casualty in these localities. There is no proper arrangement for the lifting of garbage and cleaning the roads and heaps of garbage can be seen scattered all across the roads. The uneven topography of roads and the absence of sewerage lead to the accumulation of water during rain that result in the spread of water-borne diseases in the area. Naresh Yadav, a resident, said these colonies were earlier included in Nurwala and Ugrakheri villages and the panchayats used to take care of the cleanliness here with the grant received from the state government. But after the inclusion of these localities in the MC, the grant was stopped which thwarted whatever development was taking place. He said the panchayat had got 70 roads built with concrete, but ever since the colonies came under the MC, no development had taken place.
	Manpreet shines as PCA wins T-20 trophy Tribune News Service Sirsa, September 1 Some fine piece of bowling display by IPL star Manpreet Singh Gony helped the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) team defeat the host Shah Satnamji Cricket Academy (SSCA) by five wickets in the final match of the True Trophy Twenty-20 cricket tournament here yesterday. Batting first after winning the toss, the home team scored 153 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in their allotted quota of 20 over in a match played in the packed SSCA Stadium at the Dera Sacha Sauda. Maneel was the top scorer for the home team with well-made 64 off 51 balls. Rajesh Bishnoi (38 runs off 27 balls) and Puneet (20 runs of 11 balls) were the other good scorers for the SSCA team. Gony showed pavilion to four SSCA batsmen by conceding 20 runs in his 4 overs. Chasing, the PCA team surpassed the SSCA total in 18.2 overs with 69 runs from Mayank Sidana. He was declared the Man of the Match. Gony was declared the Player of the Tournament as well as the Best Bowler of yesterday’s match. Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and his son Jasmeet Singh, who is also the president of the SSCA, presented the trophy and a cheque of Rs 1 lakh to the winning team and a cheque of Rs 75,000 to the runner-up team. In all six teams, including the Haryana Cricket Association team, LIC, Chandigarh, ICL, Chandigarh and Malik Sports, Delhi, participated in the trophy that began on August 29.
	DAV principal authors book Our Correspondent Rewari, September 1 Dr Vikas Chawla, who recently joined the DAV College of Engineering and Technology (DAVCET) of Kanina as its principal, has authored a book titled “High Temperature Corrosion and Erosion”. The book was formally released at a samaroh held at the DAVCET in Kanina, 35 km from Rewari, recently. Briefing about the contents of his work, Dr Chawla said it was primarily based on coating components in fossil fuel energy process to protect them against surface degradation such as wear, oxidation, corrosion and erosion. He further said it was a compilation of meticulous experiments and research carried out by him at the IIT, Roorkee, during the preparation of his dissertation for Ph.D. He hoped that it would be instrumental in providing useful tips to researchers engaged in the domain of high temperature corrosion and erosion of materials. Besides, Chawla has also written research articles which have been published in scientific journals of national and international eminence. Dr Chawla was endowed with the Young Scientist Award - 2010 by the Indian Society for Technological Education for his meritorious work rendered as a teacher of an engineering college in Punjab.