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Hisar rally turnout pleases Sonia
Govt to monitor 3 child labour districts
HUDA plots bring big business for banks
Hooda stresses on quality education
Population of girl child increases in Karnal villages
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Workshop on “women in governance”
Secy tells doctors to pull up socks
Loan facility for
women
5 charged for setting teenager on fire
Sikhs, Muslims reach consensus on mosque site
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Hisar rally turnout pleases Sonia
Rohtak, March 7 According to sources, at a dinner she hosted for Congress MPs at her house in New Delhi last night, she remarked that she was happy to learn that the rally was a success. She then reportedly said to Mr Deepender Hooda, local MP and a son of the Chief Minister, that the party’s graph in Haryana had been on the rise. Haryana Congress leaders rushed to the Chief Minister’s house in New Delhi till after midnight and celebrations continued till late in the night, though the Chief Minister was busy at Faridabad. Haryana Congress chief Bhajan Lal’s supporters were not ecstatic over the developments as the rally was held in his hometown in his absence. The Congress President’s gesture might marginalise his camp further, but it was not contemplating changes in the state Congress chief’s proposed tour of various districts, which was likely to begin by this month-end. The Indian National Lok Dal leadership was reportedly surprised at the turnout at the rally, which was upbeat after the rally at Panipat on March 3. The sources said the Chief Minister was planning to consolidate his gains by touring Hisar, Sirsa and Fatehabad districts in the next few weeks. |
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Govt to monitor 3 child labour districts
Panipat, March 7 Sources in the state government said three districts — Panipat, Faridabad and Gurgaon — had been selected for the assessing the magnitude of child labour in industrial and other units. Under the project that was funded by the Ministry of Labour the research work would be carried out by the respective district administration through NGOs having experience in the field, the sources said, adding that the NGOs would entrust the job to detect the cases of child labour by their extensive field job. The administration had planned to train the NGOs on the laws of child labour. Under the Child Labour (Regulating and Abolition) Act 1976, the law has classified the workstations as hazardous and non-hazardous and the NGOs would be imparted about the provisions. Each project would get finances to the National Child Labour Society, which would be headed by the deputy commissioners of the districts concerned. Against the general misconception, a senior Labour Officer said law allowed children to work at teashops, restaurants and other places falling under the non-hazardous category. Similarly, slaughterhouses, dyeing units, carpet weaving units, automobile workshops etc fall under the hazardous industry category. The sources said a similar survey was conducted in 1996, but without any convincing outcome. Officials said with a rapid industrial revolution, parents were more keen to get their children work with them. Once the survey gets completed, the authorities would take further action against accused employer. There is a provision of imposing fine on the accused and rehabilitate the deprived child. Depending upon the outcome of the survey, the state agencies would chalk out plan to send the children to schools. |
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HUDA plots bring big business for banks
Chandigarh, March 7 It is estimated that banks- public sector as well as private banks — have already financed Rs 1600 crore for this scheme, and hope to make a neat profit by charging anything between 8.5 to 9 per cent as rate of interest. Sources in the banking industry estimate that by the time the scheme closes, banks would have financed over Rs 1700 crore, and will earn crores as interest. UTI Bank, which is leading in providing a 100 per cent finance for these plots, alone is estimated to have financed over Rs 1100 crore till date, informed Ms Anu Joshi, Assistant Vice-President of UTI Bank, Panchkula. Last week, the Chairman and Managing Director of Punjab National Bank, Mr S C Gupta, had claimed that their branches had financed Rs 250 crore for this housing scheme. Already, over 16 lakh applications (worth over Rs 8 crore) have been sold out for the 5369 free hold residential plots in Panchkula, Panipat, Palwal, Rohtak, Karnal, Fatehabad, Naraingarh, Dharuhera, Narnaul, Jind, Bhiwani, Bahadurgarh, Hisar, Sonepat, Kaithal, Bawanikhera, Kalanwali, Ellenabad and Sirsa. In fact, HUDA has got 20 lakh application forms printed for this scheme, and they hope that most of the applications would be sold off when the scheme closes on March 22. Taken in by small investment for this government- sponsored "housing lottery", most of the people are not realising that the odds for being successful are high. Today, HUDA asked various banks to send the money as Fixed Deposits. This will help HUDA earn more interest, while cutting into the interest of the banks. Inspite of the tremendous response received for the scheme, HUDA has extended the closing date for this housing scheme by 15 days. Though senior HUDA officials deny it, but the authority is being accused of extending the scheme to rake in additional moolah. Senior HUDA officials, requesting anonymity, however, contend that the scheme was extended because of public pressure as at many urban estates only 45 - 50 per cent of the applications sold, had been received back. " In a number of urban estates, there were minor clashes outside banks where forms were being accepted. So, we decided to extend the last date to facilitate our applicants," said a top official of the authority. |
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Hooda stresses on quality education
Rewari, March 7 The chief minister said that while a 50 per cent hike had been made in the budgetary allocation for education, the government was also going to set up a model school in each district of the state. He said owing to lack of quality education here about 1.5 lakh qualified youth had been commuting from Delhi to Gurgaon to do jobs, while “our own youths are almost languishing in idleness”. Emphasising the urgency of reversing this trend, he said only a big change in the quality of education could enable the youth to compete with their Delhi counterparts. The Education minister, Mr Phool Chand Mulana, also spoke. Later Mr Hooda laid the foundation stone of Rs 3.52-crore canal-based water supply scheme for Bawal town at Khera Murar village, near Bawal. Addressing a large gathering on the occasion, he mentioned about the Rs 260-crore Bhakra main line Hansi-Butana branch link canal, asserting that after its completion nobody would be able to prevent south Haryana from getting its legitimate share of the available canal. He disclosed that while a water supply scheme worth Rs 23 crore had been sanctioned for rural areas of the district, an allocation of Rs 18 crore had also been made for augmentation of drinking water supply in Rewari town. The chief minister also inaugurated an e-Disha centre at the district secretariat here. The centre comprising 10 service counters would provide effective and speedy services to the farmers and the general public at large. |
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Population of girl child increases in Karnal villages
Karnal, March 7 According to the data gathered by the Sakhashtra Uthan Samiti during its recent survey, the population of girls in eight villages has been recorded between 1100 and 1300 against 1000 boys of 0-6 years. These villages are Malikpur, Bharatpur, Sabarpur, Barsi Akbarpur, Faizlipur Mazra, Kolkhera, Thal and Bir Badoli. Earlier, the population of girls compared to boys was much below in these villages, an official spokesman told The Tribune. When contacted, DC Rakesh Gupta said that first credit went to the parents of these girls and the gram panchayats for the increase in the population of the girl children in these villages. Mr Gupta further said that the Sakhashtra Uthan Samiti under the National Literacy Mission also did a remarkable job of imparting awareness to the villagers about the ill-effects of female foeticide. While the Sakhashtra Uthan Samiti had been conducting these types of awareness campaigns in different villages of the district for over a year, it was intensified during the past three-four months, he added. Mr Gupta said these villages would be presented as an example for other villages in the fight against female foeticide. The village panchayats and women of 19 villages were already actively checking this menace. Mr Gupta said that "Mother Seminars" would be organised in all 434 villages of the district to mark the International Women's Day on March 8. Karnal is the first district in the state to organise these seminars to make women aware about their rights and duties. Mr Gupta said that the main motive of organising these seminars was to especially involve the underprivileged women of the villages to uplift their living standard. In order the check the quality of mid-day meal, district administration was going to introduce roster system for the mothers of those students who were studying in different government schools, he added. Further, the district administration was doing its best to make aware the villagers to have toilets in every home of their respective villages. As many as 200 villages had already achieved the target of cent per cent toilets.The remaining 134 villages would do so by April end, he added. |
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Workshop on “women in governance”
Karnal, March 7 Fifty participants, including representatives of gram panchayats, block samitis and zila parishads and non-government organisations from Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, participated in the workshop. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Sunder Lal, Director, SCRIA, Rewari, stressed on the need for women to come out from the traditional mindset to acquire the capacity of at least addressing the issues of basic requirements such as health, education and water supply. Dr Mahi Pal, Associate Professor, Haryana Institute of Rural Development (HIRD), Nilokheri, laid stress on strengthening women’s network and advocacy, which would act as a pressure group. Ms Indu Chauhan, president of Gram Panchayat, Solan, spoke about capacity building of the elected women representatives and exposure visits to other states where successful gram panchayats were working. Ms Kiran Jyoti from a Delhi-based NGO Multiple Action Research Group emphasised on the need to impart training about gender sensitisation to male members towards elected women representatives. Expressing her views, Manju Panwar, State Coordinator, ESDI, said that decentralisation process provided representation but representation did not mean participation. Active participation was only possible through information, education and communication, she added. Mr Surendra Sharma, a Delhi-based environmentalist, said that women’s capacity should be enhanced to ensure their involvement in managing and taking decisions in the village. The main objective of the workshop was to discuss as to what extent women’s participation had been instrumental in inducting the basic elements of governance in the form of transparency, accountability and sustainability at the local level. |
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Secy tells doctors to pull up socks
Ambala, March 7 Dr Pandit carried out an inspection of the Civil Hospital. The doctors and paramedical staff were taken by surprise by her visit. The inspection began in the morning and lasted till afternoon. The inspection was carried out after Union Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Urban Employment and Ambala MP Kumari Selja had received a complaint about the functioning of the hospital. The complaint was forwarded to the Haryana Health Department. Dr Pandit was annoyed over the state of affairs at the hospital. She expressed her displeasure to the doctors, including Civil Surgeon D.P. Lochan and SMO P.S. Ahuja. She made it clear to the doctors and the staff that they would have to pull up their socks. Dr Pandit went to the gynaecological ward and she was taken aback on seeing a newborn, who had not been properly cleaned. She said there should be ultrasound facility and record of cases must be properly maintained. At the surgical ward, Dr Pandit said medicines must be provided at the hospital. She said no doctor should prescribe medicines from outside. In case, a medicine had to be bought from outside then the doctor concerned must certify the same on the medical slip. The doctors should not refer all and sundry cases to the PGI, Chandigarh. She noticed two bodies were lying in the mortuary and there was no ice kept on them. She immediately called up the SP, Ambala, and told him that the police procedure for post-mortem must be completed within two hours. She said ice should be provided at the mortuary. Dr Pandit was taken aback when she was informed that the blood group test cost is costlier in the hospital than in private hospitals. She expressed satisfaction with the stock of medicines kept in the stores. However, she stressed that the charges for medical tests should not be taken from the poor. Worker stitches wound of patient
Dr Krishan Pandit was furious when she noticed that a Class IV employee was stitching a wound of a patient in the operation theatre and doctor was not present. She was shocked to note that there was dust on sterilised equipment and even the gloves were not clean. |
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Loan facility for
women
Chandigarh, March 7 Mr Hooda said apart from declaring the year 2006 as the year of girl child, the State government had taken a number of other initiatives to enhance the socio-economic status of women. He said it had also been decided to confer best mother award to 2,367 women every year. Mr Hooda sought cooperation of panchayats and people in general for enhancing the socio-economic status of women. He said it was not possible for the government alone to change the prevailing situation. |
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5 charged for setting teenager on fire
Rewari, March 7 The victim was admitted to the local civil hospital where his condition was stated to be serious. It is stated the miscreants had an altercation after which he was whisked away from the shop from where he was making some purchases. The accused are Nishant, Raj Kumar, Sandeep, Satbir Saini and Akash. |
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Sikhs, Muslims reach consensus on mosque site
Ambala, March 7 Mr J.P. Kaushik, Deputy Commissioner, and SP Rajbir Deswal had gone to Barara this morning to interact with the representatives of both communities. Separate meetings had been held with the representatives. |
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Dangi is D-G
Chandigarh, March 7 |
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