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| Tuesday, September 5, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Move on salt iodisation opposed Haryana Assembly meets today Give security to all
judicial officers Project launched for
street children HARSAC to
implement 3 programmes |
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Infrastructure fund for
Haryana Parmanand meets
SC MLAs Plant tissue culture
centre for Hisar Action against
suppliers of spurious seeds Kalka’s chaotic chowk DSP Mehar Singh dead 16 delegates attend
workshop on libraries
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Move on salt iodisation opposed CHANDIGARH, Sept 4 — The Haryana Government has opposed a proposed central notification regarding the withdrawal of the compulsory iodisation of salt. The proposed notification, allegedly a fallout of pressure mounted by the salt manufacturing lobby of Gujarat, was challenged by Mr M.L. Ranga, Health Minister of Haryana, at the Health Ministers’ conference convened by the Union Health Ministry in Delhi on August 31. According to Health Department sources here, iodine deficiency — which may cause goitre, miscarriage and still-births besides, mutism and deafness in children and adolescents and impair mental and physical development — is an important public health problem in Haryana. A survey conducted in the eighties showed that eight of nine districts were endemic to iodine deficiency disorders (IDDs). In the course of the survey, the goitre prevalence rate at Ambala was found to be 26.01 per cent. It was 20.8 per cent at Faridabad, 20.3 per cent in Hisar, 18.5 per cent at Kurukshetra, 24.5 per cent at Sonepat, 12.9 per cent at Panipat, 17.67 per cent at Jind and 6.5 per cent at Gurgaon. A complete ban on the sale of non-iodised salt was imposed in Haryana in 1987. Subsequently, in 1998, when a resurvey was conducted in Ambala district, which recorded the highest rate of goitre in the previous survey, there was a remarkable decline in the goitre rate to 11 per cent. According to state government sources, the ethical issue of allowing freedom of choice regarding salt should not be raised at the cost of proven medical benefits. The sources said that the iodisation of salt was the cheapest and most cost-effective method of fighting IDDs. An individual’s daily requirement of 150 microgram of iodine every day was met by the daily intake of 10 gm of iodised salt. Scientific studies had reportedly shown that there was no proven harm to health with the consumption of up to 500 microgram of iodine as excess of iodine taken was released by the body through the urine. While stating that no area of Haryana was found to be free from the effects of IDDs, sources said that the latest survey had shown that about 10 per cent of the salt samples contained no iodine — which might be contributing to the prevalence of goitre and other disorders in the state. The sources said that tests carried out this year (up to June) had shown that 216 out of 2,171 salt samples contained no iodine. The percentage of salt samples with no iodine was 10.14 in 1999 and 12.48 in 1998, the sources added. |
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Haryana Assembly meets today CHANDIGARH, Sept 4 — The ruling INLD may face some tough moments in the four-day brief monsoon session of the Haryana Assembly, beginning tomorrow, when the Opposition will try to corner it on several issues. The 21-member Haryana Congress Legislature Party met here this evening to finalise floor strategy. The meeting was presided over by the former Chief Minister, Mr Bhajan Lal. The Haryana Congress President, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, said his party MLAs would raise the issues of the fast deteriorating law and order situation in the state along with other public interest issues like hike in electricity irrigation and bus charges and imposition of several new taxes. Through various motions the party would also highlight the political victimisation being carried out by the ruling party by registering false cases against its political opponents. The Congress would also protest against the introduction of sales tax form No. 38 and certain other measures which were being resented to by the trading community in the state. The Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, also held a meeting with his party MLAs in the evening. The MLAs were advised on how to highlight various achievements of the government and how to counter any Opposition
onslaught. According to the tentative schedule of the session, the House will make obituary references to prominent persons who died during the inter-session period on the opening day tomorrow afternoon. The House is scheduled to conduct legislative business on September 6 and September 8. Non-official business will be conducted on September 7. So far the government plans to introduce four Bills—the Haryana Panchayati Raj (Second Amendment) Bill, 2000; the Haryana General Sales Tax (Second Amendment) Bill, 2000; the Haryana Local Area Development Tax Bill, 2000; and the Haryana Municipal Corporation (Second Amendment) Bill, 2000. Eight Ordinances, 13 notifications of various departments and three reports will also be laid on the table of the House. |
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Give security to all
judicial officers CHANDIGARH, Sept 4 — Directing Haryana’s Director-General of Police to provide security to judicial officers in Kaithal district, the Punjab and Haryana High Court, on its own motion, today issued notice to an advocate, Mr Ishwar Singh Mehla, asking him to show cause why proceedings under the Contempt of Court Act should not be initiated against him for allegedly attacking a woman Civil Judge. Asking Mr Mehla to appear in person on September 14, Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar observed that the “ethics and rudiments of highly respected legal profession were thrown to the winds when Mr Mehla ran up to the dais of the Judge and made an attempt on her life with a spring actuated knife. Fortunately for the Judge the blade did not open”. Mr Justice Kumar also observed: “The advocate made repeated attempts, tried to drag the Judge, pulled her clothes and it took some time and strength on the part of the court staff to remove the advocate from the dais. The advocate not only considered himself above the law of the land but ridiculed the administration of justice before the public at large”. In his nine-page order, Mr Justice Kumar observed that according to Kurukshetra District and Sessions Judge, Mehla had “the audacity to ring up the Additional District and Sessions Judge in the same division at night and threaten him with dire consequences including murder”. “The cumulative effect of the report and other documents placed on the record leave no doubt in my mind that Mr Mehla has committed criminal contempt and is liable to be proceeded against under the provisions of the Contempt of Court Act, 1971,” the Judge ruled. Also taking notice of the threat issued to judicial officers, Mr Justice Kumar directed the DGP to provide an armed personal security police officer for 24 hours to every judicial officer. The Judge also directed the DGP to issue appropriate directions to Kaithal’s Superintendent of Police for ensuring safety and security of judicial officers at the judicial complex |
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Project launched for
street children FATEHABAD, Sept 4 — In order to provide integrated community-based non-institutional basic services for the care, protection and development of streetchildren facing destitution, neglect, abuse and exploitation, the District Council for Child Welfare (DCCW) here today launched a streetchildren project in Ashok Nagar, one of the most backward localities in the town. The local MLA Leela Krishan Chowdhary formally inaugurated the project. The Deputy Commissioner, Fatehabad, the president of DCCW, Mr Anil Malik, and the council Chairperson, Mrs Neeraja Malik, were present. Mr Chowdhary, while terming children the assests of the nation, said it was our foremost duty to ensure their all-round development. He regretted that due to circumstances beyond their control, a large number of children suffer from neglect, abuse and exploitation. He said whereas there were schemes throughout the country which provided residential care to neglected and maladjusted children it was the Haryana Government which had come to the rescue of streetchildren and formulated the “streetchildren project” to cater to the special problems and specific needs of streetchildren. He said the state government provided grants for these programmes to non-government organisations (NGO’s who came forward for the welfare of children. Mr Malik said the project was aimed at the welfare of children living on street or pavements or those who lived in slums but spent most of their time on the streets engaged in various activities. The Deputy Commissioner said children working in street trades such as ragpicking, petty vending, shoe shining or doing manual jobs or employed at wayside tea stalls, restaurants, automobile garages, tyre and tube workshops,
etc., were selected as beneficiaries under this scheme. Children in the age group of six to 16 years had been selected for this project. Special attention and priority was given to girls. He said in the case of younger children the council endeavoured to rehabilitate them with their families and facilitated their participation in formal primary education while in the case of older children the efforts were directed at enhancing their education and providing vocational training for equipping them with productive skills for adult life. Mrs Malik said the council would provide preventive health services to these children besides providing them with nutritious support to maintain the requisite level of physical and mental efficiency. The council offered facilities for literacy, life education and efforts were made to make them a part of the formal education system. The council had the services of a vocational trainer and two street educationists. Mrs Malik said the council also provided material for their training and education as well as musical instruments for these programmes. The council aimed at reaching the deprived children. A pair each of shoes and socks, a school bag, copies, slates and fruits were distributed to each of the children by the chief guest. |
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HARSAC to
implement 3 programmes CHANDIGARH, Sept 4 — With a view to meeting the challenges of the new millennium, the Haryana State Remote Sensing Application Centre (HARSAC) will implement three new programmes, named KIRAN, KISAN and EXPERT. An official spokesman said KIRAN — Key Information about Resources and Networking — would enable districtwise natural resource data base preparation and networking of the same within the state. He added that Key Information through Satellite about Agriculture and Networking (KISAN) was aimed at generating and providing timely information about agriculture. Another project, EXPERT (Experimental Technology Development Project), would held in the development of a remove-sensing and GIS-based project towards demonstrating the usefulness of the technology. Under this programme, waterlogging mapping and monitoring, identification of malaria-prone areas and effects of mining on the environment would be taken up. He said HARSAC — situated on the Haryana Agriculture University campus at Hisar — had already completed 30 projects and was working on eight others. These included wasteland and digital land use, mapping of entire Haryana, delineation of watersheds of Hisar, Rohtak, Bhiwani and Mahendragarh districts, integrated natural resource study of seven blocks in six district, and flood mapping of 1988, 1993 and 1995. Besides, the mapping of urban land use in Sirsa, Narnaul and Rewari was in progress. The main objective of this centre was to use remote-sensing technology for better utilisation and management of natural resources. The centre used data for mapping natural resources relating to forestry, ecology, water resources, agriculture, soil, land use, geo-physics and geomorphology, the spokesman
concluded.
Infrastructure fund for
Haryana CHANDIGARH, Sept 4 — The Haryana Government has established an economic development board under the chief minister to give policy directives for overall coordinated development of the agriculture, industry and service sectors. The government will prepare a long term “Economic Development Vision” for the integrated development of infrastructure in the state. An infrastructure development fund will be set up soon to mobilise and channel private resources. According to an official statement here today, the state government has set up a small and medium enterprises renewal fund for technical upgradation, creation of quality consciousness, adoption of improved management practices and capacity building. The fund will improve financial and managerial capability of small and medium enterprises, besides upgrading their technology. A high-powered committee, headed by the Chief Minister, has been constituted to provide customised package of incentives for prestigious projects. Honda Scooters Limited has already been granted a special package of incentives for its project being set up at Manesar with an investment of Rs 500 crore to manufacture two-wheelers. A few other projects are also under consideration for such a package. |
Parmanand meets
SC MLAs CHANDIGARH, Sept 4 — The Haryana Governor, Babu Parmanand, held a meeting with Scheduled Castes MLAs of the state here today. According to informed sources, Babu Parmanand wanted to have first-hand information from the representatives of the people about the implementation of various welfare schemes for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. He needed this information as a backgrounder for participation in the first meeting of the Committee of Governors constituted by the President, Mr K.R. Narayanan, to review the implementation of various welfare schemes for the Scheduled Castes. Babu Parmanand is a member of the seven-member high-profile committee which will meet in Mumbai on September 8 under the chairmanship of the Maharashtra Governor, Mr P.C. Alexander. He will leave for Mumbai on September 7. The sources said out of the 17 Scheduled Castes MLAs in the state, only about half of them were present at the meeting. Among the ministers who attended the meeting were Dr M.L. Ranga and Mr Risal Singh. The BJP was represented by Mrs Sarita Narayan. |
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Plant tissue culture
centre for Hisar CHANDIGARH, Sept 4 — The Haryana State Council for Science and Technology (HSCST) will set up a plant tissue culture centre at Hisar at a cost of Rs 4.97 crore, said the Chief Minister of Haryana, Mr Om Prakash Chautala. He said the project being set up by the HSCST, in tandem with the Department of Bio-Technology of the Centre, was aimed at using in-vitro techniques for mass multiplication of genotypes of economically important fruit and ornamental plants. The centre will develop the facility of plant tissue culture for producing domestic as well as export purposes, Mr Chautala said the low cost and mass production of these species would meet the increased demand of the state for good quality disease-free material. The centre would also provide training to scientists, entrepreneurs, farmers and corporates. The centre would take up species of fruit trees ornamentals, vegetables and spices on commercial scale. |
Action against
suppliers of spurious seeds CHANDIGARH, Sept 4 — The Haryana Agriculture Department today decided to come down heavily on those dealers and agencies which supplied substandard or spurious insecticides, fertilisers and seeds. The Agriculture Minister, Mr Jaswinder Singh Sandhu, said 430 samples of insecticides, 636 samples of fertilisers and 2,396 samples of seeds were taken and analysed at the State Testing Laboratories during the current kharif season. Out of these, 29 samples of insecticides, 33 samples of fertilisers and 220 samples of seeds were found substandard. The government’s endeavour was to provide quality farming inputs to farmers so that they could achieve maximum output, he added. |
Kalka’s chaotic chowk KALKA: A resident of Kalka buys a car. But the street leading to his house is so narrow that he cannot drive up to his house and has to leave the car on the main road. Such vehicles parked on the road are only a part of the traffic problem in Kalka’s main bazar. Traffic jams, particularly in the morning and evening hours, have become routine in this town and a motorist on the highway to Shimla should thank his lucky stars if he is able to pass through the town without getting caught in the snarl. Sometimes it takes more than as hour to clear this bottleneck. In the absence of a proper bus stand, buses on way to Shimla or Chandigarh, stop in the main bazar known as Gandhi Chowk. Even if the bus stand has been shifted to a site about one kilometre away, buses continue to drop and pick up passengers at Gandhi Chowk. The passengers also prefer to wait for the buses here, avoiding the extra kilometre involved. On both sides of the road are seen scores of people waiting for the buses. Their condition becomes pitiable during the rains. Taxis and auto-rickshaws are parked in this area in the absence of a regular taxi or auto-rickshaw stand. These vehicles are often parked in front of shops which is resented by the shopkeepers. The narrow stretch of the highway which passes right through the town is made narrower by the shopkeepers who display their wares on the road in front of their shops. Haphazardly parked vehicles and buses dropping and picking up passengers add to the chaos. Traffic snarl is not the only problem that the residents of Kalka are forced to live with. Sanitation is in a state of total neglect. The residents of Upper Mohalla complain that rain washes down the dirt and filth from Tibbi Mohalla and deposits it in Upper Mohalla. It remains there for days emitting a foul smell. The auto-rickshaws, instead of being a convenience have become a source of annoyance. They observe no traffic rules or speed limits, and often cause accidents. There also are complaints that they charge the passengers at will. Unscheduled power cuts,
water shortage during summer and the absence of a fire
brigade are some other grievances of the residents. In
case of a fire, fire engines have to be called from
Parwanoo and HMT. |
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DSP Mehar Singh dead AMBALA,
Mehar Singh, an HPS officer,
had risen from ranks. Born on January 10, 1947, Mehar
Singh, was enrolled as a constable in composite Punjab at
Jalandhar on September 14, 1965. On re-organisation in
1966, he was given the Haryana cadre and was posted in
Karnal district. He was promoted Head Constable on
November 15, 1971 and thereafter promoted as ASI and SI
on April 9, 1979 and November 27, 1984 respectively. He
was promoted as Inspector on November 22, 1991. Mehar
Singh was given out of turn promotion as DSP on February
15, 1993 for showing bravery while dealing with
terrorists in Yamunanagar district. Among others, Mehar
Singh held important charges like SHO PS Nissing, Sadar Panipat,
Gharaunda, Indri, Urlana, Buttana, Bilaspur and
CIA units in the capacity of Sub Inspector. As Deputy
Superintendent of Police, Mehar Singh was posted as DSP
Ferozepur Jhirka, Mahindergarh, Bhiwani, Meham, CID and
the last posting at Naraingarh since May 20, 1999.
During his tenure, Mehar Singh earned 44 commendation
certificates including 2 CCs Class II with cash reward.
Besides, he was also given appreciation letters for his
good work in the maintenance of law and order. On
Independence Day, 2000, Mehar Singh was awarded the
President Police Medal for meritorious service. |
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16 delegates attend
workshop on libraries AMBALA, Sept 4 — A state-level workshop on open access system in polytechnic libraries was held at the Government Polytechnic College for Women here. The workshop, attended by 16 delegates from all over the state, was organised at the direction of the Director, Technical Education, Haryana, Mr M P Gupta. In the open access system, books are placed open for the consultation of the students. The maximum utilisation of the library books can be done only in open access system. It was concluded in the workshop that open access system was superior and better than closed access system. Prof Kamaljit Singh said a consolidated report
of this workshop on open access system would be sent to
the Director, Technical Education, Haryana soon. |
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