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Centre
makes Haryana withdraw notification USAID
grant for Haryana project Badshami
re-elected INLD chief Farmer finds old shells buried in field Nehra
decries babus in shoes of academics In the absence of educationally-aware politicians, the post of Vice-Chancellor and Director in educational institutions are being filled up with bureaucrats instead of academicians. |
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Hearing on bail plea of docs
adjourned for today Admissions still on
at Pinjore college Ravindra Dhawan is Ambala
district BJP chief 
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Centre makes Haryana withdraw notification Chandigarh, October 28 Mr B.C. Khandoori, Minister for Road Transport and Highways, had recently written to Haryana to abolish its policy of regularising the operation of overloaded trucks in the state on the national highways by charging a special fee. The ministry had reportedly pointed out that while the Centre was spending thousands of crores of rupees on building and maintaining roads, the state government was collecting money by simply allowing the overloaded trucks in violation of the Motor Vehicles Act. The ministry had reportedly threatened the state government to withdraw the order, otherwise all the Central grants for road development would be stopped. The issue was also raised at a recent meeting of the state transport secretaries at Lucknow. Consequently, the Department of State Transport Regulatory Authority has issued a circular saying, “No quarterly passes would be issued to the truck operators by taking a fee for running overloaded trucks. The order will be effective from October 1. “However, officials disclosed that the state government had now decided to raise the minimum penalty from Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 for running overloaded trucks. Further, truck operators will have to pay Rs 1,000 as penalty per tonne for overloading their vehicles. According to truck operators, on an average the truck operators load 15 to 18 tonnes of goods against the nine tonnes allowed under the Motor Vehicles Act. So, by paying Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 after every three months they were allowed to run their trucks without any fear of challan. Most of the truck operators coming to Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and J&K were using that facility. Incidentally, the Government of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and even J&K had raised the issue with the Centre as a number of truck operators from these states had begun to transfer their registration to Haryana resulting in financial losses to them. In most of the states, said truck operators, they were challaned up to Rs 3,000 per tonne every time for overloading. Officials in the Transport Department disclosed that after the government notification to raise penalty for overloaded trucks, the collection of penalty under the Motor Vehicles Act would compensate loss in revenue. Currently Haryana is getting about Rs 1.37 crore per month as penalty. The DTOs will now be empowered to challan the overloaded trucks. |
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USAID grant for Haryana project Panchkula, October 28 A team of experts from the Centre for Development of Population Activities, (CEDPA), a US-based organisation led by its country head for India, Dr Bulbul Sood, will hold meetings with officials here tomorrow to give the final shape to the programme of maternal and child health, which will be launched in the state in 2004. Senior health department officials inform TNS that if awarded, the CEDPA will conduct this programme from October, 2004, to September, 2010. The goal of the proposed project is to decrease the number of maternal and infant deaths in select rural and urban areas and scale up NGO models for urban and tribal maternal and child healthcare. The project, “Adopting best practices for maternal and child survival”, will be funded by the USAID . Besides laying emphasis on maternal and newborn care, child spacing in the context of child survival and nutrition level will be promoted in an integrated package of health services for mothers and children. Under the programme, the local NGOs, experienced in maternal and child health, will be involved for providing extensive coverage of services to the poor. The CEDPA also proposes to strengthen such community based NGOs through capacity building and providing technical assistance, and document effective scaling up of the existing community based healthcare models. It may be mentioned that as in the rest of the country, the maternal and child mortality ratio is not very impressive. The national family and health survey revealed that the maternal mortality ratio in India has increased from 424 to 540 between 1992-93 and 1998-99. Though 77 per cent of the pregnant women in Haryana receive some kind of ante-natal care, only 24 per cent receive complete care. Almost 47 per cent of the pregnant women are anaemic, two out of three deliveries take place at home with only 42 per cent assisted by a skilled attendant. Figures collected from the Health Department reveal that though infant mortality rate decreased between 1992-93 and 1998-99 from 79 to 68 , the neo-natal (within 28 days of birth) remain high accounting for two-thirds of all infant deaths. Immediate causes of these deaths are directly linked to maternal health status and poor delivery practices. |
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Badshami re-elected INLD chief Chandigarh, October 28 The Returning Officer, Mr Babu Ram Goyal, said only one nomination paper of Mr Badshami was received for the post of President till yesterday, the last day for filing the nomination papers. Mr Badshami was authorised to nominate other office-bearers of the party. Congratulating Mr Badshami, the national President of the INLD and Chief Minister of Haryana, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, asked elected representatives to ensure that grassroot workers were given full respect as the party was in power only due to their cooperation. Later the Haryana unit of the INLD nominated nine delegates for participating in the election of the national President to be held here tomorrow. The delegates are Mr Jaswinder Singh Sandhu, Agriculture Minister; Mr Rampal Majra, Chief Parliamentary Secretary; Capt Inder Singh, MP; Mr Balbir Singh, Chairman of Confed; Ms Santosh Yadav, General Secretary of the Haryana unit of the INLD; and Dr M.C. Gambhi, Mr Ramesh Rana, Mr Ramesh Khatak and Mr Ram Kumar Saini, all MLAs. Mr R.S. Chaudhary is the Returning Officer of the INLD national organisational elections. |
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Farmer finds old shells buried in field Ambala, October 28 The shells used by the Army Mahmoodpur were found at village during digging late last week. The two dozen shells were found buried in a field. The recovery of these old shells has generated interest among the local villagers. The farmer, Mr Saini, who found the shells has told the police that it was a chance discovery. He said while digging, in the area he felt that there was something metallic buried in the field. A closer inspection revealed that it was a shell. The shells were buried about three feet under the ground. The exact age of the shells is not yet known. It is being surmised that the shells belong to the British era. The police was informed about the matter after the shells were found. Forensic experts from Karnal were asked to study and then defuse these if required. The report of the forensic experts is still awaited. During preliminary investigation the forensic experts found that the shells seemed to have been used but they observed that caution must be maintained. They have apparently suggested that ballistic experts from the army should deal with these accordingly. Army officials have also visited the spot. The Superintendent of Police, Mr Mohammad Akil, said the shells are very old. “The shells were recovered during digging by a farmer in Mahmoodpur village,” he said. “No untoward incident has taken place due to these,” he added. An eye witness said the shells had a thick covering of dirt and it seemed that these had rusted. “We are stunned to learn that shells have been recovered in the area,” he said. This is the second time in a little more than a year’s time that shells had been recovered from here. A couple of months ago, shells had been found during digging at Shahzadpur. The shells were detected during digging by a private telecom operator. The telecom workers had stumbled on to nearly four dozen shells. Experts from the Army had visited the spot and had opined that the shells were of the pre-Independence period. |
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Nehra decries babus in shoes of academics Sirsa, October 28 Mr Nehra said the increasing interference of politicians and bureaucrats in the functioning of educational institutes was responsible for the falling standards of education. The incidents of paper leak, piracy and copying were on the rise. It was very unfortunate as the future of the youth was at stake. He also expressed concern over the commercialisation of education. He held the apathy of the educated to politics as a major reason for such a situation. |
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Hearing on bail plea of docs
adjourned for today Ambala, October 28 Arguments on the bail application in the court of Mr
Arya could not be concluded today. The counsels of the doctor couple,
Mr CM Sehgal and Mr Mohit Aggarwal, stated during the argument that
the police had added Section 304 under the pressure of the public,
which was not applicable. He said the doctors had conducted the
abortion after the consent of the deceased, Amarjit Kaur. Amarjit Kaur
had been advised for the abortion as her foetus was malformed. The
counsels said the doctors had no intention of killing Amarjit
Kaur. The counsels said the police had added the Section of the PNDT
Act in the FIR, even though it was not competent to take cognizance of
this offence. He said only the Civil Surgeon could take the cognizance
of the offence. The public prosecutor would argue on this bail
application tomorrow. It may be mentioned that on October 24, Amarjit
had died in the ultrasound centre of the doctor couple, while her
four-month malformed foetus was being aborted. Relatives of the
deceased alleged that Amarjit Kaur had died due to the negligence of
the doctors. |
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Admissions still on
at Pinjore college Chandigarh, October 28 Kurukshetra University has said that one could get admitted to these courses by October 31 by paying a late fee of Rs 200 and till November 28 after paying a late fee of Rs 500. The Principal adds that hostel and transport facilities are available in the college and one can avail themselves of these on a first-come-first-serve basis. |
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Ravindra Dhawan is Ambala
district BJP chief Ambala, October 28 The elections were presided over by Mr Atma Prakash
Manchanda, vice- president of the state unit. Mr Kanwar Pal, MLA, was the returning officer. The media in charge, Mr Raj Singh, said Dr Sanjay Sharma proposed the name of Mr
Dhawan. He was supported by Mr Shankar Dass, Mr Vinod Sharma, Mr Shish Pal
Bhola, Mrs Neeta Khera, Mr Sushil Aggarwal, Mr Rajendra Guddu, Mr Mamraj and Pandit Purshottam Sharma. Since no other name was proposed for the post of president, Mr Dhawan was unanimously elected president. The new president will appoint the other office-bearers. Those who were elected to the pradesh parishad include Dr Bharat Bhushan
Jathwad, Mrs Neeta Khera, Mr Mange Ram, Dr Sanjay Sharma and Mr Rajkumar
Sonu. Mr Sandeep Sachdeva was appointed president of the Ambala City unit. |
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HIGH COURT Chandigarh, October 28 The Bench, comprising Mr Justice G.S. Singhvi and Mr Justice S.S. Saron, also issued notice of motion on the petition. The affiliation had been a matter of protest in the districts ever since it was notified on July 28. Challenging the notification, the students had asserted that their future had become uncertain with the creation of the new university. Their career interest, too, would be affected, counsel for the petitioners
added. |
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Bag taken away at gunpoint Ambala, October 28 The cloth merchant, Mr Tejendir Nagpal, was returning to his house in Durga Nagar on his motor cycle around 10.30 p.m. when he was stopped by three persons in a Maruti car. They told him to give his bag to them. |
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40 complaints redressed Fatehabad, October 28 The Deputy Commissioner, Dr R.B. Langyan, presided over the darbar. The City Magistrate Dr Munish Nagpal, the DSP Mr. Ram Kumar, the XEN, Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited, Mr V.K. Singla and the District Malaria Officer, Dr Naresh Goyal, were present at the function. The Deputy Commissioner exhorted officials of various departments to redress the grievances of people on a priority basis. |
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