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Thursday,
June 6, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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IAS officer booked in textbook scam Cong for President’s
rule in Haryana Give Rs 10 lakh to kin of farmers killed: BJP Re 1 for assisting in post-mortem! Petrol price hike criticised |
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Save earth from degradation: DC
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IAS officer
booked in textbook scam Chandigarh, June 5 A textbook scam had surfaced in 1999 in the District Primary Education Project (DPEP) being run in several districts of Haryana. The UT police today registered a case of breach of trust by a public servant, forgery, falsification of accounts and criminal conspiracy under various sections of the IPC against the six persons. The case was registered after the Vigilance Bureau conducted an inquiry into the alleged scam and recommended the registration of a case. The accused reportedly approved tenders of printing and publishing books to three private agencies at a ‘‘much’’ higher cost than the government rates. Some of the firms to which the orders were given did not even have a printing press or the capability to carry out the order, the police said. As per police sources, Mr Sanjiv Kumar, the then Director of the DPEP, had ordered printing and publishing books worth Rs 98, 15,895 from private agencies, thus causing a huge loss to the state exchequer. The other officers of the DPEP who have been named in the FIR are the then Deputy Directors A.K Bhalla and Kiran Mishra, engineer S.P Mahrotra, accounts officer Dharam Singh and store purchase officer Sushant Kumar. It has been alleged that the accused had given orders to print and publish books of Rajkiya Pathya Pustak, Panchkula, to companies based in New Delhi, Panchkula and Chandigarh. The state government had ordered a vigilance enquiry into the matter after the issue was highlighted in the Press. The case has been registered under Sections 406, 409, 471, 477A and 120B of the IPC. |
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Cong for President’s rule in Haryana Chandigarh, June 5 In a memorandum submitted to the Governor, which was signed jointly by the party president, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, and the Leader of the Congress Legislature Party, Mr Bhajan Lal, the party alleged that the social, political and economic structure of the state had collapsed and the law and order situation was fast deteriorating. The party alleged that when the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, was in the Opposition, he instigated the farmers not to pay their electricity bills. Mr Chautala used to tell the farmers that when his party would come to power, it would waive their electricity arrears. However, after coming to power, it alleged, Mr Chautala backed out of his promise, forcing the farmers to start an agitation. The Congress alleged that the government had registered cases against about 1,600 farmers in connection with the current agitation and many had been arrested. This had led to widespread resentment among the farming community. |
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Give Rs 10 lakh to kin of farmers killed: BJP Chandigarh, June 5 The Leader of the BJP Legislature Party, Mr Krishan Pal Gujjar, said here today that along with the cash compensation, the government should also provide a job to one member of the family of each deceased. He said it amounted to adopting double standards by describing those who were killed in the “rasta roko” agitation of 1986 as martyrs and those killed at Kandela as “antisocial elements”. Mr Gujjar said no one should describe the agitating farmers as “antisocial” as it hurt the feelings of the entire farming community. He said the government should not hesitate to withdraw cases against the farmers as agreed to by its representatives under the Kandela agreement signed with BKU leaders, particularly so when it could release from jail several persons convicted by the courts. |
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Re 1
for assisting in post-mortem! Ambala, June 5 While it is Re 1 for the lower staff, the pharmacist is paid double that amount and is given Rs 2 for a post-mortem. That is not all. The government doctor is to be paid the ‘princely sum’ of Rs 4 for conducting a post-mortem. Conducting post-mortems is a regular feature in government hospitals and the scenario is no different in Ambala. However, the amount paid to the personnel conducting and assisting in post-mortem examinations has come in for criticism and even ridicule. About a decade ago the lower staff was paid 50 paisa for assisting in a post-mortem. The Civil Surgeon, Dr S.L. Kaushik, said, “These rates must have been fixed long ago. When these rates were introduced, these must have been reasonable in authorities opinion, but now hardly any doctor claims this amount”. A sweeper at the Civil Hospital said it was unfortunate they were paid a pittance for assisting in a post-mortem. “It is a tough task which we have to carry out and we are paid only Re 1 for that. In these days when practically nothing can be bought for Re 1, what does the government expects us to do with the amount”, he said. He added that they get the bill prepared after a number of post-mortems had been conducted so that they could get some reasonable amount. A senior government doctor said the payment system might have been introduced during the British era. “Paying Rs 4 to a doctor, in an age when prices of different products have gone through the roof, is nothing less than an insult. Anyway, I don’t think most doctors even claim this money,” he said. He said, “On an average about 300 to 350 post-mortems are conducted every year and every post-mortem takes about 2 to 3 hours. “I have come to know that even pharmacists generally distribute the money so earned among the lower staff. The rates should be increased,” he said. A government hospital employee said sometime back there had been a talk of a proposal for increasing the post-mortem money. “We were told that there was a proposal to increase payment for a post-mortem to Rs 10 for the lower staff, to Rs 20 for pharmacists and to Rs 40 for the doctors. However, till date nothing has
materialised and we are still getting the old ‘huge’ amount of Re 1,” he said. |
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Petrol price hike criticised Ambala, June 5 Members of the association said that increase in fuel prices would lead to an increase in prices of all products, which will adversely affect the trade and industry. “The price hike has come at a time when the industry is facing acute recession, production is going down, prices are uncompetitive, overhead expenses are increasing and industry is suffering losses,” Mr Jain, chairman of the association, said. “Recently, there was another blow to the industry and to the common man when the postal tariff was increased from June 1,” he said. “It is demanded that prices of petrol, diesel and postal tariff should be rolled back for general progress of industry and trade,” he added. Meanwhile, the Haryana Sangharsh Samiti has also criticised the hike in fuel prices. Mr Om Prakash Malik, convener of the samiti, said that this unprecedented and uncalled for increase in petroleum goods would result in all-round increase in all commodities making the life of a common man miserable.  |
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Save earth from degradation: DC Yamunanagar, June 5 In his inaugural address of the seminar on “Give earth a chance”, Mr Rajiv Sharma, Deputy Commissioner here emphasised the need to save the earth and its components from further degradation. Dr K.R. Bhardwaj, President, of the bio-research society cautioned that there would be a serious crisis of drinking water and reserved natural resources like coal, petrol, gases and mineral. He said the petroleum reserves would serve only for 20 more years. Similarly, coal reserves would last up to 150 more years. By the end of 2075 there would be an increase of the temperature up to 4.5°C due to green house effect. Prof J.S. Sodhi, head of the Environment Department said more than 20 to 25 species of different types were on the verge of the extinction.
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Twins clear DU CEE Ambala, June 5 While Aseem has stood 16th, Anuj has stood 59th in the DU CEE for engineering. They have also cleared the Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology exam. In the IIT, while Aseem has stood, 3,361, his brother was not so lucky. Talking to Chandigarh Tribune, Anuj, who had scored 92.2 per cent in class XII, said that they study together. “We even study from the same set of books. Whenever we have doubts, we consult each other,” he said. Aseem, who scored 90.8 per cent in class XII, said that they had planned their study schedule. Both of them are students of Army School, Ambala Cantonment. “We have studied together throughout the school days. Initially, we were given admission in the same class but in different sections. Later, we were brought into the same section and since then we have been together,” he said. Only three minutes is the age difference between both these brothers. “Even now, we are keen that we stay together in Delhi College of Engineering. Let us see if both of us can get into the same course. We had always wanted to take up engineering. Last night, we learnt the good news about clearing DU CEE and we are feeling elated,” Aseem said. “Our hardwork has paid off and now we want to relax for sometime,” Anuj added.
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