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Farmers
killed during Kandela stir remembered Haryana
Open School result today Governor,
govt head for row over MDU VC Two
martyrs cremated CPM
takes objection to CM’s remarks Sampat
defends Chautala |
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Show of
strength by Haryana leader Inside Babudom Buildings without
fire safety norms under scanner Karnal
MLA may part ways with Chautala HAIC to set up modern farm on 85 acres Telecom tower falls in hailstorm CM reviews plans to check floods Kit for safe view of Venus HIGH COURT Haryana Technical Education Board cuts rates Allikan panches resign
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Farmers killed during Kandela stir remembered Jind, June 1 Six farmers — Rajbir, Vijender Sharma and Naresh Kumar of — Gulkani village and Maha Singh, Dilbagh and Om Parkash of Rajpura Bhain village — lost their lives during farmers’ agitation known as Kandela Andolan of May and June 2002. Several Congress leaders, BKU leaders and residents of
Gulkani, Rajpura Bhain and its surrounding villages participated in the function. Presiding over the function, Mr Ghasi Ram Nain, state unit president of the BKU, said during the Kandela Andolan, an agreement was reached between BKU leaders and representatives of Haryana Government and certain demands of the BKU were accepted. He said it was agreed that the compensation to families of all nine farmers who were killed during the agitation would be given. Government job to one family member of deceased farmer would be provided and compensation of Rs 1 lakh would be given to the injured farmers. It was also agreed that cases registered against farmers in connection with the agitation would be withdrawn. He said the government gave compensation to only six families of deceased farmers. He alleged that remaining conditions of the agreement were not implemented. He said instead of withdrawing cases registered against the farmers, the government implicated certain BKU leaders in false cases and put them behind the bars. Referring to the criticism by certain BKU leaders on the issue of support to the Congress, Mr Ghasi Ram Nain said keeping in view the interests of the farmers, the BKU supported Congress in the recent Lok Sabha elections. |
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Haryana Open School result today Bhiwani, June 1 The Chairman of the Haryana School Education Board, Brig O.P. Chaudhary, informed here today that the result of secondary examination was 28.98 per cent, whereas it was 36.17 per cent last year. He said 7,822 candidates appeared in the examination and 2,267 candidates were declared pass. Girls fared better than boys with a pass percentage of 33.47 as compared to 27.09 of boys. He said the result of senior secondary was 36.86 per cent, whereas last year the pass percentage was 30.57. He informed that out of 6,876 candidates 2,535 were declared pass. Girls again took a lead by having a pass percentage of 40.29 as compared to 34.88 of boys. He said the results would be available at 11 am at the district level study centres of Haryana Open School. Besides, from 7 am onwards the results could be downloaded from websites
http://results.nic.in, http://haryana.nic.in and http://hbse.nic.in. |
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Governor, govt head for row over MDU VC Rohtak, June 1 The decision of the executive council of the university yesterday, which nullified its earlier decision of appointing two members of the search committee for selecting the new VC, despite strong opposition from government representatives, is unlikely to be viewed kindly by the government. Significantly, Babu Parmanand and Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala have not been seeing eye to eye after the latter complained to the President of India about former’s role during the Lok Sabha poll. The removal of two members of the search panel will only add fuel to the fire, since it will considerably dilute the government’s say in VC’s appointment. The two members nominated to the panel at the last meeting of the council were Mr Vishnu Bhagwan, Vice-Chancellor of Guru Jambheshwar University, and Mr M.K. Miglani, Vice-Chancellor of Haryana Agricultural University. Both superannuated bureaucrats are considered close to the Chief Minister. The duo was nominated ignoring protests of senior council members, who maintained that the appointment of a panel even before the then VC, Maj-Gen Bhim Singh Suhag (retd), had quit his post to contest the Lok Sabha poll was illegal. The issue was never on the agenda of the council. Later, teachers’ organisations had represented to the Chancellor demanding that the decision be nullified. The third member of the panel was to be nominated by the Chancellor. However, since the panel would have had two members to do government’s bidding, the Chancellor would have had practically no say in the appointment. Now that neither the acting VC, nor the Chancellor is favourably disposed towards the government, it is certain that the three-member panel will include members who will act independently, if not under the Chancellor’s directions. In that case, the government will be unable to impose its will on the panel. The council also made the government’s task more difficult by amending the statute that governing the qualifications for appointment of a VC. The amendment will require the approval of the Chancellor, which is expected to be given without fuss. Notably, the Chancellor himself had sought the acting VC’s views on the issue sometime back. As per the amendment, the new VC can only be an academic of repute thus ruling out the appointment of bureaucrats or retired Army officers to the post. Interestingly, the Chautala government has in the past shown a marked preference for such persons while appointing Vice-Chancellors. But there is a hitch. After the nomination of two members to the panel in April, the Chancellor also nominated his representative to the panel. The nomination now stands technically scrapped. Babu Parmanand had nominated the VC of Bundelkhand University, Mr Ramesh Chandra. The government could exploit this loophole to the hilt. Whatever the outcome of the imbroglio be the new VC is unlikely to be appointed soon since the new members of the panel can only be nominated at the next meeting of the council, which is unlikely to be held in near future. Academic circles in the state are keenly awaiting the reaction of the government since it is expected to make every effort to have a final say in the appointment of the new VC and at the same time rebuffing the Chancellor. However, if the government capitulates, it will be a major victory for academics who have been demanding that the appointment should be from among them. |
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Two martyrs cremated Hisar, June 1 Shani Awtar Singh had suffered burns when a bus carrying BSF personnel was blown up at Lower Munde on the Jammu-Srinagar highway on August 23, killing 18 BSF personnel and equal number of their family members. He was admitted to Safdarjang Hospital Delhi in serious condition, where he died yesterday morning. Earlier, his body, wrapped in the Tricolour, was brought to his house. It was escorted by senior BSF officials and jawans. A large number of people, including leaders of various parties, civil and police officers and villagers, joined the funeral procession. Shani Awtar Singh (32) was commissioned into the BSF about seven years ago. He leaves behind father, mother, wife Kamlesh, daughters Minika (10), Sanina (8), Bhatori (6), Preeti (2) and son Ravi (4). A report from Bhiwani said Sepoy Kuldeep Tanwar of Sai village, who sacrificed his life while fighting terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir on May 28, was cremated at his village yesterday with state and military honours. Several civil and military officers and thousands of mourners were present on the occasion. He was serving in the 15 Rajput Grenade. Kuldeep had got married only seven months ago. — PTI |
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CPM takes objection to CM’s remarks Rohtak, June 1 In a statement issued here today at the end of a two-day meeting of the party’s state secretariat, party state secretary Inderjit Singh said the chief minister’s vindictive and insulting remarks against the communities had voted against his party in the Lok Sabha poll were unbecoming of the high office he was holding. He said this only reflected his frustrations. Instead of launching vendetta against these communities, he should review his own style of administration. The CPM leader said the Chautala government’s announcement about providing 50,000 government jobs in the coming months was nothing but a “cruel joke” on the jobless youths. Going by Mr Chautala’s track record all that became evident was that during his rule thousands of persons had lost their jobs in government departments. The youth should not be taken in by his promises, he added. Through a resolution the party welcomed the Common Minimum Programme of the government at the Centre. It asked all state governments, including the Chautala regime, to help implement the same. |
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Sampat
defends Chautala Chandigarh, June 1 The
General Secretary of the Haryana Congress, Mr Narinder Singh, MLA,
demanded in a statement issued here today that Mr Chautala should quit
on moral grounds. The raids, he said, indicated Mr Chautala’s
involvement in the JBT teachers recruitment scam. Prof Sampat
Singh, on the other hand, dared the Opposition parties to test their
might in the forthcoming session of the Vidhan Sabha instead of “issuing
irresponsible statements regarding the stability of the INLD
Government.” Claiming that opposition leaders were issuing
irresponsible statements only to remain in the news, Prof Sampat Singh
said the Vidhan Sabha was a constitutional platform where the
Opposition and the ruling party could express their views. Though the
Vidhan Sabha session was held less than four months ago, Mr Chautala
had convened the session early to give a befitting reply to the
opposition leaders for making irresponsible assertions outside the
House. Prof Sampat Singh said by winning nine of the 10 Lok Sabha
seats in the state, the Congress should not entertain a misconception
that the results of the next Vidhan Sabha elections would also be in
its favour. The INLD would not be disheartened by such a political
defeat because of the party’s support to the National Democratic
Alliance. He claimed that had the INLD dissociated itself from the NDA
a year ago, the results of the Lok Sabha elections would have been in
its favour. He said Mr Chautala was competent enough to overcome adverse circumstances with the help of his party. Prof Sampat Singh said the Congress, which was now talking of morality, should not forget that when the Allahabad High Court had unseated Mrs Indira Gandhi, she had imposed Emergency on the country instead of honouring the court verdict. |
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Show
of strength by Haryana leader New Delhi, June 1 The
first step in this direction was taken today by Congress leader
Birendra Singh, who is at present AICC In charge of Uttar Pradesh, but
whose political interests lie in Haryana. The former PCC chief and
archrival of Haryana stalwart Bhajan Lal, organised a mammoth rally
outside Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s residence. The
30,000-odd crowd had ostensibly gathered to thank Mrs Sonia Gandhi for
the favourable references to farmers and youth in the new government’s
Common Minimum Programme. However, it was basically a show of strength
by Mr Birendra Singh, who has set his eyes on the Chief Minister’s
post. Besides Mr Birendra Singh, the rally was addressed by host of
AICC leaders, including Motilal Vora, Salman Khursheed, Sanjay Singh
and R. P. N. Singh. Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ms Selja and Mr Subodh Kant
Sahay were among the Central ministers who put in a brief appearance
later to lend support to the rally. |
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Inside Babudom Chandigarh, June 1 The posting orders issued on Monday once again saw some of the officers being given additional charges. Mr Bhaskar Chatterjee, who is already heading two high -profile departments, namely, Town and Country Planning and Tourism, was given the additional charge of the exacting Finance Department. Mr K S Bhoria, Principal Secretary of the Agricultural Department, was given additional charge of Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development departments. The Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development departments were earlier with Mr Bhagwati Prasad who retired yesterday. Mr Chander Singh, who too retired yesterday, was Principal Secretary of Finance as well as Excise and Taxation Departments. Mr Chander Singh's latter charge was given to Mr LSM Sahlins, who, however, was not given it as an additional charge. Mr Bhaskar Chatterjee, who is now Principal Secretary and Financial Commissioner of three important departments following yesterday's reshuffle, had been given additional charges by the government as a stopgap arrangement on earlier occasions as well. When Ms Meenaxi Anand Chaudhary quit the Power Secretary's position following an acrimonious showdown with the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala in a meeting of the High Power Purchase Committee, Mr Chatterjee was made the Power Secretary as well as Chairman of the Power Generation Corporation. Even when he was relieved from the Power Secretary's job, he continued to remain the Chairman of the corporation from which office he was relieved only much later. Mr D S Dhesi is another officer who is being given a number of responsibilities. He is already Commissioner and Secretary of four departments, namely, Sports and Youth Welfare, Forests, Civil Aviation and Environment Departments. Yesterday he was given yet another responsibility. He was also made the Commissioner and Secretary of Social Justice and Empowerment and Welfare of SCs and BCs Department. Importantly Mr Dhesi's fresh assignment appears to be permanent in nature since it was not given to him as an additional charge. He was posted as Commissioner and Secretary of Social Justice and Empowerment and Welfare of SC and BC Department while he retained all his previous charges. The phenomenon of giving some of the officers too much
responsibility while giving other officers insignificant assignments is not going down well with the bureaucracy at large. Sometime back CAT also took exception to this practice while hearing a petition filed by Mr Anil Kumar, an IAS officer of Haryana, who had challenged his posting in a non- cadre post. |
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Buildings without
fire safety norms under scanner Chandigarh, June 1 The move comes in the wake of a major fire at a cold store in Panipat. The fire broke out in Mayank Cold Store last Thursday, on May 27, and has so far not been extinguished. As many as eight fire fighting teams from the nearby areas have been called in to help extinguish the fire. The fact that spices had been stored in some storage floors (wooden racks) in this cold store has made matters worse for the fire fighters. Sources say that had the cold store been installed with fire safety gadgets and fire hydrants, the fire could have been extinguished at an initial stage. Occurrence
of fire in buildings constructed outside the Municipal limits of various towns and cities, has been getting worse, especially with most industrial units now being set up outside the MC limits, especially in Gurgaon, Faridabad, Rewari, Sonepat, Panipat and Ambala. A number of Engineering, Medical and Management colleges have also come up outside the MC limits, and these too do not adhere to the fire safety norms. Since these units do not come under the purview of the Urban Development department, they are not required to take no objection certificate (NOC) for fire safety measures in the building plan. The approval for industrial units outside the MC limits is given by the Haryana Industries Department. Officials in Urban Development department inform that they will now write to all 67 Municipal bodies in the state and various district administrations, asking them to prepare a list of all such buildings. While the concerned local bodies will have to furnish a list of such buildings outside the MC limits, the district administration has been asked to check the provision of fire fighting systems (yard hydrants, fire safety exits, sprinkler system in basements, Vatrisers on each floors of a multi- storeyed building) included in the building layout plan before issuing an NOC. Meanwhile, the proposal to build Industrial Fire Stations in various parts of the state is still underway, though one industrial fire station has been built by the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) in Gurgaon, and two more by the Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation (HSIDC) in Gurgaon itself. However, the move to upgrade the 36 fire stations in the state is facing problems because of the weak financial health of most local bodies. Officials in the Urban Development department say that they have already made the supply orders for fire tenders for at least 18 more fire stations and soon a fire station will be available in all 67 municipal bodies in the
state. Rescue tenders (which have first-aid equipment, oxygen cylinder mask etc) are also being added to the existing fleet of 10 such tenders in the state. The department also proposes to buy the first hydraulic ladder for the fire station at Gurgaon. Though high- rise buildings have come up in Gurgaon, Faridabad and Panchkula, so far, no fire station in the state has a hydraulic ladder (which can be used for extinguishing fire in multi- storeyed buildings). |
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Karnal
MLA may part ways with Chautala Karnal, June 1 Sources close to him indicated that the Independent MLA is making all-out efforts to go back to the Congress through the local MP, Dr Arvind Sharma, who is a close confidante of Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) President, Mr Bhajan Lal. Moreover, Mr Gupta was also once considered as a close confidante of Mr Bhajan Lal and worked as a Minister of State in his government. During the last Lok Sabha elections, the INLD candidate could manage just over 5000 votes from the Karnal Assembly segment forcing the local MLA to rethink his political strategy for his very survival. During
the Lok Sabha elections there were rumours that Mr Gupta and Dr Sharma
held a secret meeting at the residence of a local veteran journalist
and they had reached an understanding. Although neither of them
confirmed the “agreement” but sources close to them have revealed
that Dr Sharma promised the local MLA to take him back to Congress and
get the party ticket for him in the Assembly elections that are due by
early next year. On the other hand, the Chief Minister after having confirmed through the local intelligence the meeting between the two leaders has clearly indicated to the bureaucracy, particularly the officials of the local administration, to stop doing his works. A senior official of the district administration confirmed this saying that the Chief Minister had almost parted ways from the local MLA. However, Mr Gupta while talking to TNS recently ruled out any understanding with the Congress or Dr Sharma in particular. He termed such news as baseless but did not say anything whether he would continue his relationship with the INLD even in the Assembly elections or not. Mr
Chautala, on the other hand, has plainly refused to comment on this
issue “Let the Assembly elections come, we will decide whether to
field our own candidate or support any one else”, he said. Interestingly,
Mr Chautala called on the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President, Mr
Parkash Singh Badal, for dinner at the residence of a local INLD
leader, Mr Brij Sharma on Saturday last week and discussed the issue.
Mr Badal assured the Chief Minister that he would ask the Sikhs who
have a large presence in the area to support the INLD. The local MLA
was not invited at the dinner. Political observers say that Mr
Chautala has indicated that Mr Brij Sharma may be the possible choice
of the INLD in the coming Assembly elections, giving a free hand to
the Independent MLA to go either way. |
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HAIC to set up modern farm on 85 acres Karnal, June 1 A spokesman of the HAIC informed that the inter-cropping pattern or the multi-tier agriculture system would be adopted to grow medicinal plants in the space available between the trees to ensure better returns. Sprinkler irrigation or micro irrigation systems would be installed in the farm for irrigation of crops. For healthy and disease-free seed, and planting material to the farmers, a tissue culture laboratory would also be established. Bee-keeping would also be started at the farm and the cross-pollination technique would be adopted to increase production of honey, as this technique could increase its production by 20 to 80 per cent, he added. HAIC stressed that the organic farming would be resorted to by using organic manures; bio-insecticides or bio-pesticides and latest agricultural machinery would be used for the cultivation of crops at the farm. Apart from this, a demonstration farm of medicinal plants would also be established to impart training for the cultivation of the medicinal plants at the Research and Development (R&D) Centre, Murthal. Soon, fish or prawn-culture farm will also set up at this centre for demonstration purposes. The corporation has also planned to go for the contract farming for different types of herbs. It has also decided to set up juice-dispensing machines at major public places such as courts, bus stands, hospitals and colleges in the state. |
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Telecom tower falls in hailstorm Ambala, June 1 The hailstorm caused damage to property here this afternoon. Power lines snapped, temporary structures were blown off, vehicles were damaged by falling trees and waterlogging took place in some areas. The fallen telecom tower in Nahan House damaged two houses. Local residents said there was a loud noise when the tower fell over the houses. This was the second incident of a telecom tower falling in Ambala. A few days ago, another telecom tower had fallen due to a storm in Ambala city. There were reports of trees falling from different parts of Ambala city and Ambala cantonment due to the hailstorm. Mall Road of Ambala cantonment went without power when two trees fell on the power lines, snapping these. An Army vehicle was damaged when a tree fell on it on the outskirts of the cantonment area. In the Mahesh Nagar area, an ice-cream cart banged into a car and damaged it. Two push-carts toppled over. In Sadar Bazar, temporary structures were blown off due to the hailstorm. Traders said the temporary structures were damaged in the storm a few days ago . In Ambala city, there were reports of telephone lines going dead and glow signboards being damaged. Besides, power supply was disrupted throughout Ambala city and Ambala cantonment. Several complaints of distribution of power supply were received. |
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CM reviews plans to check floods Chandigarh, June 1 Presiding over a meeting of the Flood Control Board here, the Chief Minister reviewed all on-going schemes in each district and directed the Deputy Commissioners concerned to monitor their progress for timely completion. |
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Kit for safe view of Venus Chandigarh, June 1 A spokesperson of the Council said here today that 10 such kits and a telescope would be handed over to the District Education Officers of the state at a function being organised tomorrow at DAV Senior Secondary School here in Sector 8. He said the activity kits would help the people in viewing the transit of Venus in various districts of the state. The spokesperson said the transit of Venus across the disc of the Sun was a rare planetary alignment and India would be an ideal location to observe the entire sequence of the transit. While the coming of Moon in between the Earth and the Sun was called a Solar Eclipse, the coming of a planet, either Mercury or Venus between the two, was known as a transit. The entire transit of Venus occurring on June 8 would be visible in Europe, Africa (except western part), the Middle East and most of Asia except its eastern parts. The spokesperson said only six transits of Venus had occurred since the invention of telescope. The last transit occurred on December 6, 1882. The next transit after June 8 would be on June 6, 2012. He said the first transit of Mercury in the 21st century occurred on May 7, 2003. It was visible in the entire country. According to the spokesperson, transit did not take place frequently because the orbits of both Mercury and Venus were tilted at small angles to the ecliptic, the average plane of Earth’s orbit around the Sun. The planets were always seen close to it. Therefore, they would usually be either above (North) and below (South) the ecliptic. This was also the reason that we did not have solar eclipse on every moon day or lunar eclipse on every full moon day. A transit would occur in case the inferior conjunction of the planet, Mercury or Venus, occurred within a day or two of the date on which the planet would cross the ecliptic. It would mean that the Sun and the Earth would be in the same line with the planet in between.
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HIGH COURT Chandigarh, June 1 A Vacation Bench of Mr Justice Rajive Bhalla and Mr Justice Surya Kant ordered the stay on the operation of the state government communication of May 14, 2002, on the petition of Inder Raj and three others of Kalesar Forest Division. They had been served a month's notice under the Industrial Disputes Act. The petitioner's counsel argued that some of the employees had been daily wagers with the Forest Department since 1988 and the notices of retrenchment had come at a time when they were hoping to be regularised in line with the state government's policy to regularise the employees who had put in uninterrupted service for a specified period. After the preliminary hearing, the Division Bench also issued notices to the Haryana Government Forest Secretary, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Divisional Conservator of Forest, Yamunanagar and other respondents for August 3, 2004. |
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Haryana Technical Education Board cuts rates Chandigarh, June 1 A decision to this effect has been approved by the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, who is also Chairman of the board. The students will have to pay a fee of Rs 100 instead of Rs 200 to get their answer books rechecked. Also, a No Objection Certificate can be obtained by paying a fee of Rs 150 instead of the existing fee of Rs 300. Similarly, the fee for obtaining a duplicate marksheet will now be Rs 200 instead of Rs 300. In case of reappearing, the examination fee will be charged at the rate of Rs 50 per subject . However, the fee will be subject to a minimum of Rs 200. |
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Allikan panches resign Sirsa, June 1 According to information received today, five panches of Allikan village —
Narayandas, Balbir Singh, Khayali Ram, Chhoto and Shashi Sardana — submitted their resignation to the Deputy Commissioner levelling serious allegations against the sarpanch Punam Rani. In their resignation, they have stated that the sarpanch had misused the government grants and their complaints to the Secretary, Panchayat, the BDPO of Baragura and the Deputy Commissioner remain unredressed, which had forced them to take this step. The five panches have accused sarpanch Punam Rani of distributing free residential plots for landless farmers. In their complaint they have stated that a single family was allotted several plots and some plots were given to those persons who had no vote or ration card in the village. These people have also accused Punam Rani of committing irregularities in money matters. They alleged that she sold trees worth lakhs without prior sanction or permission at a throw away price. There was no record of the money received. The panches who have resigned have sent copies of their resignation to the Director, Panchayat, and the Chief Minister of Haryana demanding a probe into the matter. |
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Fire in Tau Devi Lal thermal plant Panipat, June 1 |
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RKSD College to start
B.Pharmacy course
Kaithal, June 1 |
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2 pc additional dearness relief for pensioners Chandigarh, June 1 Finance Minister, Sampat Singh said that 50 per cent of the dearness relief would be converted to dearness pension or dearness family pension with effect from April 1. Consequently, the DR would be payable at the rate of 11 per cent of the revised basic pension.  |
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Haryana session Chandigarh, June 1 |
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