Fatehabad, December 7
Teachers, particularly women, of this district have resented the Education Department’s move to send them for training to far off place like Gurgaon, while the government-run educational training institutes were in the nearby districts.

They had been asked to report at the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), Gurgaon, for in-service training, aimed at updating their knowledge. First batch of Social Studies teachers’ training concluded yesterday. The next batch will leave for the SCERT on Monday. Besides, teachers from this district, those from Mewat and Jhajjar districts also attended the camp.

They were of the view that the department was forcing them to attend the training at the SCERT, Gurgaon, while the training facilities were also available in neighbouring districts like Sirsa and Hisar. They maintained that teachers from Hisar district were asked to report at the District Institute for Educational Training (DIET) at Matarshyam in the district, which was very convenient for women teachers. They said that one such institute was situated at Dariyapur in Sirsa district too, which was merely 20 km from Fatehabad.

Women teachers, who attended the training, alleged that they had to undergo great hardship while attending the camp. One such teacher told this correspondent on the condition of anonymity that the environment at the SCERT was far from being conducive for educational training of teachers. She revealed that majority of male teachers, attending the training, start consuming liquor with impunity inside the SCERT campus hostels in the evening. They find it impossible to go to canteens in such an atmosphere. The facilities in the hostels, she alleged, were abysmal and they had to do without warm blankets or water in the winter season.

The department, they alleged, did not even bothered to exclude such women teachers, who had small children to look after. One such teacher, who had a lactating child, had to leave the child with some relative to attend the training. The poor child had to remain without mother for four days, they alleged. However, they added that they were not against such in-service trainings, meant for updating their expertise.

Chandigarh, December 7
The Haryana Government is gearing up to implement the central Act on domestic violence against women.

It is learnt that a proposal prepared by the state’s Women and Child Welfare Department (WCWD) regarding the implementation of the Act has already got the approval of the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda. The proposal is now awaiting formal clearance by the Finance Department.

According to the WCWD proposal, Women Protection Officers (WPOs) will be posted in all 47 subdivisions in the state for helping women facing domestic violence. The WPOs would be women who would have to be law graduates having experience in the field of social work.

The WPOs would be hired on a contract basis for a period of three years and be paid Rs 15,000 per month. They would be also provided with a peon and an assistant. The necessary qualifications for the assistant would include knowledge of the use of the computer. A state-level committee headed by the Secretary, WCWD, would recruit the WPOs. It has been proposed that the Deputy Commissioners would recruit the assistants and the peons for the subdivisions falling in their districts.

It has been also proposed that the WPOs must belong to the area where they are posted “ The whole system will be in place by the beginning of next year,” an WCWD official said.

Bhiwani, December 7
Two youths were killed in a collision between a tempo and a motor cycle at Bawari Gate here last night. The bodies of the victims were sent to hospital for a post-mortem examination. The youths were returning to their homes after distributing of wedding cards.

According to a report, Deepak, a son of Pradeep of Faridabad, had come with his friend, Ravi Mathur, a son of Satish, on his motor cycle to distribute invitation cards of his marriage. A rashly driven tempo rammed into the motor cycle.

The report said Ravi Mathur died on the spot, while Deepak succumbed to his injuries on the way to hospital. Ravi was the only son of Satish Mathur who is an employee with the Haryana School Education Board in Bhiwani.

In another incident, Ajay of Satrod and Ajit of Sarangpur villages sustained injuries in a road accident. They have been admitted to civil hospital.

Meanwhile, one person was killed when the tractor in which he was travelling overturned at Tallu village today. The police handed over the body to the relatives after a post-mortem examination. The deceased has been identified as Bholu a son of Pyare Lal.

In another incident, a motor cycle-borne student was killed and two others sustained injuries when their motor cycle collided with an unidentified vehicle near Ghasola village on the Dadri-Mahendergarh road yesterday. The deceased has been identified as Jitender, a son of Sumer Singh of Bihali village. Rakesh, a son of Lal Singh of Nasibpur village, and Praveen of Palwas, who sustained injuries, were admitted to the Civil Hospital but the doctors referred Rakesh to the medical college, Rohtak.

Jhajjar, December 7
The former Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, today visited the home of a maxi cab driver who was shot dead by the police near Bahadurgarh and extended a financial help of Rs 1 lakh to his family.

The INLD supremo express solidarity with the victim's family while pointing a finger towards highhandedness of the police. Addressing the reporters on the occasion, Mr Chautala said that it had been proved beyond doubt that Vikas was innocent. He was only trying to evade from being challaned when the police gypsy was chasing him.

The former Chief Minister said that the district administration's move to offer financial help to Vikas family was in itself a proof of his innocence. While criticising the statement issued by the DGP that a “criminal” had been shot dead, Mr Chautala said the state police was protecting the criminals while gunning down innocent persons like Vikas.

Meanwhile, the inquiry being conducted by the Bahadurgarh SDM, Mr Manoj Kumar, would be completed within a couple of days. The villagers are waiting for the outcome of the report before taking any further action. The sources, however, said the SDM while conducting the probe had found that the jeep, owned by Vikas was not stolen one as claimed by the police after the encounter. Furthermore, the SDM also recorded the statements of numerous people of Lowa village who were reportedly eyewitnesses to the encounter which was also contradicting the police version.

Karnal, December 7
Following complaints made by officials of various civic bodies of the state, the Chief Secretary, Mr Prem Prashant, today asked the Director, Urban Development, to ensure that the municipal tax charged by the state electricity agencies ‘shows up’ in the accounts of the respective bodies.

At a meeting comprising Executive Officers (EOs) and secretaries of the civic bodies from all districts held here today, the officials had complained that the tax of 5 paise per unit levied upon the power users was not credited to their accounts.

A number of representatives charged the UHBVN and the DHBVN for not complying by the orders to pay the said amount to the MC from whose jurisdiction the bills were collected.

Sources in the power sector admitted that that the power corporations did not give any cash benefit to the civic bodies but equal amount was settled against the bill of street lights and other electricity consumption by the bodies.

Taking a strong notice of the issue, the Chief Secretary had instructed the Director to take up matter with the HVPN soon.

Meanwhile, the Chief Secretary also instructed the civic bodies across the state to outsource the manpower to ensure speedy public works. He also directed the respective bodies to collect the pending amount of house tax to the tune of Rs 25 crore.

Mr Prashant directed the officials to make use of the public-private participation (PPP). He said the administrative departments had already been directed to work on PPP formula to meet the challenges in the changing scenario.

Citing the recent studies, he stated that by 2025 more then 50 per cent population is expected to shift to the urban areas, thus posing a great challenge.

The Chief Secretary also directed the civic bodies to take extra care on cleanliness in their respective areas. He further directed the officials to make the streets, surroundings of the bus stands and other public places filth-free.

Yamunanagar, December 7
The Employment Exchange here distributed unemployment allowance to about 70 “wrong beneficiaries”. Now the alowance is being recovered. Some “wrong beneficiaries” have threatened to move court against the recovery letters issued to them.

As per sources the exchange has recovered Rs 40,000 and another Rs 1 lakh is yet to be recovered. Last November the Congress government invited applications from unemployed youth of the state. A class XII passed unemployed was to get Rs 300 a month and a graduate Rs 500. The exchange was flooded with applications for allowance. In view of the large number of applications the exchange kept most of the applications and after sometime started distributing allowance.

Scrutiny of applications at a later stage revealed at least 70 applicants not entitled for the allowance were getting it, informed sources.

The department issued letters for the recovery to the ‘wrong beneficiaries’. It worked and at least 17 of them returned Rs 35,000. Sources said if all of them did not return the money legal action would be taken against them as they had given affidavits with the applications. As per affidavits they would have to return the amount with interest in case their applications were found wrong at any stage.

On the other hand, some ‘beneficiaries’ told The Tribune that the exchange was demanding the money back without assigning any reason and they might move court.

Balloti and Bunga as also adjoining villages of Berwali, Asrewali, Tibbi are all ‘medically unfit’ due to the lack of health services and their troubles are further compounded by lack of transport facility. ‘‘We need a health centre in one of our villages where a doctor is present to attend to an emergency. Private cabs charge as much as Rs 1,000 to take us to Panchkula but in emergency we don’t have a choice,’’ explains Kanta Devi of Tibbi village.

Santosh Bala, a multi-purpose worker and ANM, says,‘‘Most women in this belt are anaemic and their foetuses don’t grow well for want of nutrition. We give iron supplements and try and educate them to adhere to our instructions but it seems the doctor’s word is more convincing for them. However, we just keep telling them all this in the hope that it will have the desired impact someday.’’

With the hospital at Kot having the facility of a handful of tests and three doctors only, the villagers, today, got themselves thoroughly checked up with a number of specialities available at the camp. The dentist and the orthopaedician had the longest queues outside their rooms. The doctors conducted a bone density test for women and prescribed and distributed medicines to the villagers.

‘‘They have amazing machines. They gave me a detailed report in three minutes flat. I have never seen such a thing before,’’ exclaimed 40-year-old Mohan Singh whose wife took the bone density test at the camp. Most villagers were in complete awe of the machines and the reports that came out, whether it was an x-ray or ECG or bone density test.

The Health Secretary, Ms Urvashi Gulati, said the camp aimed at health check ups and free medicines to the people residing in these areas. She said the camp had been organised with public-private partnership by the Red Cross Society of Haryana, Haryana Health Department and the Haryana IAS Wives’ Association.

Chandigarh, December 7
The Central Government has released Rs 2.50 crore to set up a drug-testing laboratory of AYUSH (ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, Unani, siddha and homoeopathy) and a government ayurvedic pharmacy at Kurukshetra.

The Haryana Health Minister, Mrs Kartar Devi, said here today that with a view to integrating AYUSH services with the allopathic system of medicine, 21 community health centres had been identified in the state. This programme was being implemented under the National Rural Health Mission to provide comprehensive healthcare to the people under one roof.

She said there was a network of three ayurvedic hospitals, one Unani hospital, six Ayurvedic Prathmic Swasthya Kendras, 472 ayurvedic dispensaries, 19 Unani dispensaries and 20 homoeopathic dispensaries in the state.

Ambala, December 7
A section of municipal councillors yesterday claimed in the general house meeting of Ambala sadar that the MC president, Ms Neelam Sharma, was not carrying out work which was forwarded to her by the municipal councillors.

Ms Sharma said there was no merit to this claim since she had been fair in her dealings towards work being carried out in different wards.

Councillor Riya Ratra claimed that the MC chief carried out work in which people directly approached her. If the work was forwarded by the municipal councillor of the ward concerned, the work was not done. She opined that this affected the stature of the councillor in the eyes of the common people.

Mr Kamal Kishore Jain said the MC chief must not show favouritism in carrying out work. He said the MC president must carry out work which was brought to her by the municipal councillors.

Sirsa, December 7
Haryana will become the first state to have Inspectors to control domestic violence at sub-division level, Dr K.V. Singh, Officer on Special Duty to Haryana Chief-Minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda said today.

Dr K.V. Singh said women law graduates would be appointed on contract in 48 sub-divisions to oversee implementation of the Domestic Violence Act.

These officers under class II category will be given one assistant and a helper.

These appointments would be completed by the second week of January next, he added. — UNI

Chandigarh, December 7
To intensify its campaign against corruption, the Haryana State Vigilance Bureau yesterday launched its website, www.haryanavigilance.gov.in.

While launching the website, the Director-General of the Haryana Police, Mr Ranjeev Dalal, who is also the Director, Vigilance Bureau, said the launch of the website was not enough, but strenuous efforts needed to be made to achieve the objectives behind launching it. He said the website was designed by the bureau with guidance from the Haryana Information Centre.

He said any individual could contact the authorities through the website and complain against a corrupt officer. On the request of the complainant, his name would be kept secret.