 |
|
|
Over 50 pc faculty posts vacant at GJU
Probe ordered into overpayments to staff
Industrialists to set up waste disposal facility
Cop turns Peeping Tom, no FIR registered
Haryana law officers’ list soon
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dental College not to fill BDS seats from July
Board to display schools’ ranking
Scam in B.Ed college unearthed
Proposal to shift dairies hanging fire
BJP leader Ravi Sehgal assaulted
A magazine scandal
Four gangsters held for robbing jeweller
Wheat bags vanish, inspector suspended
No flouting of HC order, says SP
Six injured in group clash
Power situation better: Rathee
Highway closed for five days
Disciplinary cases to be reviewed
Harassment of journalist to be probed: Hooda
|
|
Over 50 pc faculty posts vacant at GJU
Hisar, April 28 The acute shortage of teaching staff has put extra burden on the GJU teachers and many of them have already left the university. Besides, a majority of the teachers are presently engaged in research projects of the UGC and other agencies. As on April 1, 2005, the university had only 11 Professors against the sanctioned strength of 35. Of these, three posts have been filled through the career advancement scheme (CAS). Similarly, there are 28 Readers as against the sanctioned number of 74, and these include four promoted through CAS. As against the 160 sanctioned posts of Lecturer, only 75 have been employed by the university. The university authorities manage to run the teaching departments by engaging teachers on ad hoc or part-time basis. The university is running various specialised and job-oriented technical courses, including those in environmental science and engineering, printing technology, biotechnology, bio-medical engineering, food technology and physiotherapy. However, the shortage of staff, besides the resentment among the university teachers due to the long delay in finalisation of their promotion cases, have had an adverse impact on the functioning of the university. The GJU Teachers Association has written to the Haryana Governor and university Chancellor, Dr A.R.Kidwai, drawing his attention to the acute shortage of faculty members at the university and seeking his intervention in the matter. Dr Narsi Ram Bishnoi, president of the GJU Teachers Association, maintains that all eyes are now on the crucial meeting of the Executive Council of the university, which is scheduled for April 30. GJU teachers, whose promotion cases are lying closed in sealed envelopes, are hopeful that these envelopes would be opened at the council meeting, paving the way for some fresh appointments and clearing their long-awaited dues. |
|
Probe ordered into overpayments to staff
Chandigarh, April 28 A maths teacher of Bhiwani has been made an overpayment of Rs 1.99 lakh while physical training instructor at Gurgaon was given Rs 1.26 lakh. A Block Education Officer's widow was sanctioned an overpayment of Rs 67,000 and another PTI in Gurgaon was paid over Rs 1.90 lakh. After studying these cases and more at length, the department has asked DDOs to take immediate action to effect the recovery. The department has also ordered that while making recoveries, the additional recovery of penal interest at the rate of 12 per cent per annum be imposed from April 1, 2003, till the date of full recovery. While a senior assistant of the AG office has been placed under suspension and disciplinary proceedings are being initiated against him, the department is also contemplating action against the defaulters. Also, suspecting a nexus between the beneficiaries and the AG office dealing hands, the Principal Secretary Education, Mr RS Gujral, has ordered a "detailed vigilance investigation" to expose the same, the Director , Secondary Education, Mr KK
Khandelwal, said. In a detailed report to the government, it has been pointed out that the overpayments were made by manipulating the records. It states that the beneficiaries, primarily teachers of secondary schools, some serving or retired or dead, availed themselves of non-refundable advances (NRA) from their GPF account with the sanction of the department authorities. These amounts of NRAs were originally posted in their GPF accounts maintained in the ledger cards of the AG office. However, it was noticed that the dealing Senior Accountant of the AG office subsequently substituted the original ledger cards of these subscribers with forged GPF ledger cards. In these, the amounts of the NRS had been omitted from their GPF accounts which, consequently, showed inflated balance. The report also points out that in case of retirees and deceased
employees, the apparent error resulting from the omission of debit, leading to overpayment, was not brought to the notice of the department. Under the rules there is a condition stating that "the whole or part of it can be withdrawn or withheld if the pensioner is found guilty of grave misconduct". |
|
|
Industrialists to set up waste disposal facility
Panchkula, April 28 This will be the first facility for disposal of hazardous waste in North India, and is likely to be operational by the beginning of 2006. The Society has been given about 31 acres of land on lease by the Faridabad Municipal Corporation, on an annual lease of Rs 27 lakh. The Haryana Pollution Control Board is acting as the facilitator for setting up the waste disposal facility, which will have provisions for scientific storage, treatment of waste, secure landfills and state -of-the-art incinerator for disposal of hazardous industrial waste. It is learnt that half the total area of the site will be used for making special landfills and for installation of an incinerator. The total cost of the project is Rs 20 crore, and this disposal facility will be established in a phased manner. Mr Rajesh
Baweja, Secretary of the Haryana Environment Management Society, told The Tribune that the techno-feasibility study had already been conducted by Senes — a Canada-based company. ‘‘Already about 800 industries all over Haryana have become members of the Society. Other than running the facility, we will also launch awareness and education programmes on how to reduce hazardous industrial waste and cleaner operations in industries, besides educating industries on segregation of waste and handling it, ’’ he says. The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests had ordered that all states set up hazardous waste management facilities, for safe disposal of such waste. About 40 different kinds of industrial and bio-medical wastes were identified, and classified under the Act, which require special treatment before their disposal. The different kinds of waste, after being transported to the facility, will be treated to neutralise their toxicity, before this is disposed off either in the landfills, or in the incinerator. Once the disposal facility in Faridabad becomes operational, the entire hazardous waste like flammable liquids and solids, waste which can be explosive by chemical reaction, organic peroxides and corrosives generated by
petro-chemical, electroplating, iron and steel industry, sludge from sewerage treatment plants, oil and gas production companies and sludge from textile and dyeing units etc, will be lifted from all over Haryana and disposed off here. It is estimated that about 20,000 metric tonnes of hazardous industrial waste is generated in the state each year. The Commissioner and Secretary, Environment, and Chairman of the Pollution Control Board, Haryana, Mr D S Dhesi, says that though the facility is located at a considerable distance from residential areas, adequate measures will be taken to check that toxins from these hazardous waste do not pollute the underground water. “We will frequently check that seepage from disposal site does not cause pollution of ground water,” he says. |
|
|
Cop turns Peeping Tom, no FIR registered
Rohtak, April 28 The teacher concerned, Ms Sumedha Dhani of the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism, had accompanied an examiner to the Faculty House after the practical examination. At 2.20 pm she went inside the ladies’ toilet. After sometime she noticed that a policeman had climbed the wall separating the adjacent toilet and was peeping at the toilet she was using. She immediately ran out and asked the constable to come out of the adjacent toilet. Initially the constable refused but suddenly opened the door and ran upstairs. Ms Dhani followed him. He went into hiding but Ms Dhani confronted the other members of the security and summoned the in charge of the unit. As she was arguing with them Ms Nirmal Yadav, Judge, Punjab and Haryana High Court, who was also staying there arrived. Ms Dhani narrated the entire incident to her. The judge immediately summoned the SSP and brought the incident to his notice. The teacher concerned also informed the Vice-Chancellor on telephone and sent a formal written complaint to his office for immediate action. She said ladies’ toilets in all-important buildings of the varsity were badly designed thus making it easy for people to peep. The Maharshi Dayanand University Teachers Association today urged the Vice-Chancellor to intervene and get the culprit arrested. In their communication Dr Vazir Nehra, President, and Dr Gulshan Taneja, Secretary of the union, said the university community was appalled by the incident. They also endorsed the demand for making ladies’ toilets in the university safe. So far the police has not taken any action against the constable whom Ms Dhani had identified as Rakesh Kumar from the nameplate on his uniform. The SSP, Mr Subhash Yadav, said the SHO concerned was inquiring into the matter. He said a formal complaint had been received but no FIR registered in this regard. |
|
Haryana law officers’ list soon
Chandigarh, April 28 The present government has so far appointed only the Advocate-General and a Senior Additional Advocate-General so far. The first list is expected to have more than 50 names. The previous government had 40 law officers. Ever since it assumed office a few months ago, the Congress government in Haryana has been besieged with requests from powerful quarters, including Central leaders of the Congress and ministers, to include their nominees in the list of law officers. Initially, the government planned to release the list during the just-finished holidays in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. But, intense lobbying, coupled with the fact that the Chief Minister remained preoccupied with other matters, resulted in the failure to finalise the list. Immediately after it assumed office, the Hooda government also received resignations of more than 15 law officers, forcing the Advocate-General, Mr Hawa Singh Hooda, to fall back on outside lawyers to represent the government in cases in the high court. The sources say that the government has taken a decision to effect a marginal increase in the number of law officers. When contacted, Mr Hawa Singh Hooda said that efforts were on to finalise the list as soon as possible. |
|
Dental College not to fill BDS seats from July
Rohtak, April 28 According to sources, the Dental Council of India had in August 2004 allowed the college to admit 60 students instead of 20 on condition that the post of Principal and other teachers would be filled before the next academic session. The Union Health Ministry too had issued a warning in this regard. However, the post of Principal has been lying vacant for the past three years after Dr S.C. Anand retired. For sometime the government was able to retain him by changing his designation but the DCI refused to treat the post of Principal as filled. Seven posts of professor are lying vacant in the college. Likewise there are only six regular lecturers against a sanctioned strength of 16. Teachers engaged on contractual basis, which is not acceptable to the DCI, presently occupy seven of the 10 vacant posts. The PGI Director, Mr N.C. Wadhwa, said the government was seized of the matter and efforts were afoot to fill the posts at the earliest. |
|
Board to display schools’ ranking
Bhiwani, April 28 The secretary of the board, Mr Rajeev Ranjan, said here yesterday that a large number of complaints had been received by the board in this regard. Various public schools were giving exaggerated and bogus information to parents for getting their children admitted to the schools. He said that anybody looking for good schools could visit the board’s website http://hbse.nic.in for comparing the performance of different schools and make a correct judgement before admitting their children. Mr Ranjan said the board would display on its website the names of those students and schools who would come in top-100 rank besides pass percentage of schools and average percentage of marks secured by each student. He disclosed that ranking was being conducted according to NCERT criterion on average percentage marks secured by students. |
|
Scam in B.Ed college unearthed
Kurukshetra, April 28 Sources in the university disclosed that the Bharat
College of Education for Women, situated at Babbain in district Kurukshetra, had illegally given admissions to four candidates, Babita Rani, Lina Rani, Vandana and Pooja Rani, without the permission from the university authorities. The universities authorities detected this scam when their roll numbers were being prepared. The KU authorities immediately asked the management of the college to cancel the illegal admissions. Before the college authorities could despatch the roll numbers among these candidates, the KU authorities reacted promptly and got them returned from the college. A senior official of the KU, while talking to The Tribune, revealed that an inquiry had been marked into the admission scam. “We will take action against the college authorities as well as the staff of the university as per the findings of the inquiry“. This correspondent also tried to contact Mrs Rekha Jain, Principal of the college, but she could not be contacted. |
|
|
Proposal to shift dairies hanging fire
Ambala, April 28 An effort had been made for the shifting of dairies so that the town would remain clean. After several rounds of talks, the dairy owners had reluctantly assented to shift out to the dairy complex. The district administration had earlier earmarked land for dairies in Gada Bada village. The dairy owners had objected to the land location on two counts. Firstly, they said the earmarked land was far away from Ambala Sadar and secondly, the road to Gada Bada passed through Army area where thorough checking used to be carried out. Thereafter, land in Kardhan village was earmarked for the project. Mr Hira Lal Yadav, who is the president of the dairy owners association, stated that the previous government was in a tearing hurry to shift out the dairies. “The shifting out was taking place on the basis of incorrect survey. Even the 26 acre land earmarked in Kardhan village is insufficient for all the dairy owners of Ambala Sadar,” he said. Mr Yadav said there were better alternatives to the proposal of shifting out the dairies. “We have suggested biogas plant should be set up which would not only provide gas but would also help keep the area clean,” he said. He said the dairies could be shifted out to the open land where at present ‘diggis’ are located. “Gwala mandis in Ambala Sadar were set up outside the area when Sadar came up.” |
|
BJP leader Ravi Sehgal assaulted
Ambala, April 28 The incident took place when Mr Ravi Sehgal alongwith his son reached his transport company shop in Indra market, which is located behind Rai market. As soon as he alighted from his car, both of them were assaulted by a group of persons. They were beaten up with iron rods. A BJP leader said Rs 6,000 and Mr Sehgal’s mobile phone was taken away by the assailants. Mr Sehgal’s Santro car was also damaged. They said the attack on Mr Ravi Sehgal had caused fear and insecurity among the shopkeepers in the area. |
|
A magazine scandal
Yamunanagar, April 28 As per reports, teaching and non-teaching staff of government schools and some private schools was also ‘forced’ to subscribe the magazine and they too did not get all the editions. An annual subscription charge of the magazines was Rs 300. As per information available, 622 primary schools had made payments of Rs 300 each, 109 middle and high schools of Rs 600 each (for two copies) and Rs 900 each were paid for three copies of the magazines by the senior secondary schools. The magazines reached the schools in April and May last year only, sources said. The payment receipts allegedly did not bear the signature of the recipient of the amount. The Editor of the Kurukshetra-based magazine, when contacted, claimed that he was yet to receive payments for all the editions and yet he supplied 10 issues of the magazine to the subscribers. The Editor, Mr J.C. Kaushik said, “I had personally delivered the first six editions to all the block offices and by post the other four”. According to him, the two remaining editions are lying with the printers but he could not get the magazines as he had no money to do so. On the other hand, an official in the District Education Department said the schools had purchased the magazines on their own. The District Education Officer, Mr Sishpal Chaudhary, when contacted, said he was not aware of the subscriptions of the magazine by the schools. Mr Pardeep Sareen, district president, Haryana Government Teachers Association, said the payments were made but the schools did not get all the editions and demanded that either the money should be refunded or an enquiry be conducted into the matter. Meanwhile, over 14,500 books of Classes VI, VII and VIII sent to the district under the Sarv Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) for distribution among the children during the last academic session are gathering dust at a seminar hall of the Block Resource Office (BRO), here as the books could not be distributed. Except for the English grammar books the rest have become useless as the syllabus has changed. The sources said 33,000 books were sent to the district in November last year. It is to be mentioned here that almost half of the academic session was over by than. The books kept lying at a government school in Jagadhri. The books were later shifted to the seminar hall. The books were supposed to be distributed by the District Education Department. However, only 18,600 books could be disturbed. It is to be noted here that the consignment of the books contained about 1,200 books on ‘agriculture’. There is no optional subject of agriculture in the schools of the district. When contacted, Mr Parmod Kumar, District Coordinator, SSA, said the consignment of the books came too late and the department did its level best to distribute all the books. |
|
Four gangsters held for robbing jeweller
Rewari, April 28 The miscreants had also fired several shots from a pistol. The gangsters were also involved in several other cases of looting and car stealing at various places in the district in recent times. Furnishing details in this regard Dr C.S. Rao, SP, told newspersons here yesterday that two other accomplices of the gangsters, Jorawar, resident of Bhalkhi Majra village, and Chetan, resident of Ahrod village of Rewari district, were still at large. He explained that on a tip-off, the CIA police raided a hideout of the gangsters in the vicinity of the Sahibi barrage, near Dharuhera, on Tuesday evening and succeeded in nabbing four of them while two managed to escape. They were reportedly planning to commit a robbery. The SP said during interrogation the four gangsters confessed to their involvement in several recent cases of looting and car stealing. They admitted that they had stolen a Hero Honda Splendor motor cycle (HR 36 D2175) from Manohar Ultrasound Centre here on April 23 while an Indica car (RJ 27 T 2666) was stolen by them from Baliar village, near here, on March 15, which they later abandoned at a place near Bharatpur in Rajasthan. Besides, three of them had also stolen a Maruti car (DL 4C G 1748) from Mohalla Khasapura here on April 8. |
|
Wheat bags vanish, inspector suspended
Sonepat, April 28 According to sources, Director of the Food and Supplies Department S.K. Monga has also directed Mr A.S. Mehta, Assistant Food and Supplies Officer, to furnish the details of the disappearance of wheat bags from the godown. The scandal about the disappearance of wheat bags had come to the light on May 25 last year but the inspector had succeeded in keeping 1,457 bags of wheat in the godown in a bid to hush up the case. Thereafter, Mr P.K. Sharma, District Food and Supplies Controller, started an inquiry into the case and found the inspector guilty of irregularities. Mr Sharma submitted his report to the then Director but the case was shelved on account of the inspector’s influence with the high-ups, said sources. After assuming office by Mr S.K. Monga as Director of the Food and Supplies Department, an order to suspend the inspector was issued. |
|
No flouting of HC order, says SP
Chandigarh, April 28 In a communication to The Tribune, she has stated, “There is specific permission with regard to the use of tinted glasses as well as red light on my official car HNK 9. The necessary paper in this regard may be seen in my office on any working day”. Describing the news item as “scandalous and defamatory”, she has claimed that the report had hurt her feelings and lowered her image in the general public. |
|
Six injured in group clash
Karnal, April 28 A senior official of the district police said Samey Singh, husband of Sarpanch of the village Sunita Rani, and his associates were attacked by certain persons on Wednesday night following difference of opinion among them over the eviction of shops built on panchayat land. The Sarpanch had promised at the time of elections that she would remove all encroachments from the common land in the village. The injured include Sonu, Surinder, Sanjay, Shiv Kumar, Anil Kumar and Satti. Sonu and Sanjay received gunshot injuries. Shiv Kumar was referred to the PGI, Chandigarh while two of the injured were admitted to the local Civil Hospital. |
|
|
Power situation better: Rathee
Chandigarh, April 28 In a statement issued here, he said the supply hours of power had been increased in rural areas following an announcement made by the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, in this regard. The availability of power during the summer was likely to be adequate as the water level in the reservoirs of hydroelectric projects was likely to improve due to sufficient snowfall. |
|
|
Highway closed for five days
Panchkula, April 28 A spokesman of National Highway division of the Haryana Public Works Department, said the road had been closed because of urgent repair work over Roon Nadi, near Chhoti Rasaur, on this highway. He said boards had also been displayed at various points regarding diversion of traffic. |
|
Disciplinary cases to be reviewed
Chandigarh, April 28 While stating this here today, an official spokesman said that in all cases in which officials had been placed under suspension or against whom disciplinary proceedings had been initiated, charge sheets should be served within one month. All such cases should be concluded by July 31. He said the state government would take a serious view where it found that these instructions had not been followed. |
|
Harassment of journalist to be probed: Hooda
Panipat, April 28 Journalists of Panipat had expressed resentment over the harassment of their colleague and demanded suspension of the SP and an inquiry into the matter during press conference addressed by Mr Hooda here yesterday. |
|
|
Rs 9 crore development
fund for Naraingarh
Ambala, April 28 He said five small bridges will be constructed on Ruun river and a sum of Rs 2.2 crore has been approved for the project. |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
