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Students with reappear topping exams
Water, Air Acts
NHRC lauds govt’s concern on child labour
Efficient cops to be rewarded: DGP
Using dust-colours to portray nature |
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Cabinet expansion after byelections
Cabinet okays Gurgaon corporation limits
Allotment of 100 sq yd plots
Dera chief appears in CBI court
Arhtiyas threaten to stop unloading of wheat
Fires devour wheat crop
Farmer beaten to death
Staff lock up substation over suspension
‘Help revive Saraswati’
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Students with reappear topping exams Saurabh Malik Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 21 Taking a serious view, the court directed the state vigilance department to submit its final or preliminary report in the matter to the government in the matter on or before May 5. A high court Division Bench of Justice Ashutosh Mohunta and Justice Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia also asked the state government to take a fresh decision on the necessity of re-conducting the test within a week of receiving the vigilance department’s report. The state was also asked to consider the vice-chancellor’s order, along with the representations earlier received from both successful and unsuccessful candidates. “Since as per the mandate of the apex court, the admissions are to be conducted on or before May 31, we expect that the vigilance department and the government will act with all promptness,” the Bench added. The “postgraduate entrance examinations of medical colleges” in the state were conducted for admissions to MD/MS/postgraduate diploma and MDS courses in government medical and dental colleges in the state for 2008. After the declaration of results, doubts regarding the sanctity of the examinations were raised. Amid agitation and allegations regarding the leak and sale of question papers, the work in the university and medical colleges practically came to a standstill. The matter even drew the attention of the state Assembly. An inquiry committee of four experts was then constituted. As the petitions by successful candidates came up before the high court, Justice Ahluwalia, speaking for the Bench, observed: “We pose ourselves a question: Is judicial intervention required? And our answer is no. We ourselves are amazed. How come candidates who have secured very high marks, ranging from 77.5 to 80, out of 90, have performed miserably and have not been successful in other competitive examinations like entrance examination to the Chandigarh PGI, the Christian Medical College Entrance Test or the AIIMS Entrance Test, and like many other tests? How it has happened that when their academic record is not glorious and they have been getting reappears, yet their performance in the present examination has placed them on the top end, securing positions from one to 16? How come, out of 180 questions, answers right and wrong are similar in the case of successful candidates, which is a rarity, that too in case of many candidates?”
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Power corpn applies to board for consent
Nishikant Dwivedi Tribune News Service
Yamunanagar, April 21 The HPGCL had started commercial production from the first unit of 300 MW of Deenbandhu Chottu Ram thermal plant here with the mandatory consent from the board. Sources in the board said consent would be issued after verification of the documents filed by the HPGCL. On April 8, the board had issued notice under Sections 25 and 26 of the Water (prevention and control of pollution) Act 1974, and Sections 21 and 22 of the Air Act. Violation of the Water Act is punishable under Sections 33A, 43 and 44 of the Act and violation of the Air Act is punishable under Sections 37 and 38 of the Act. Violations of the provisions of the Acts is punishable with imprisonment for a term, which shall not be less than one year and six months, but which may be extended to six years with fine. As per the notice, running of the unit without prior consent of the board was a ‘gross violation’ of the two Acts. The board had asked the officials concerned of the plant to submit before it an application, complete in all respects for obtaining consent under the two Acts. Meanwhile, the HPGCL had taken the control and management of the first unit of the plant erected by the Reliance energy limited (REL), sources said. The first unit had started commercial production from April 1. Sources said the second unit of 300 MW had also started production. However, it would be put on a 14 -day trail and after successful trail, the HPGCL would take possession of the second unit also. The HPGCL has handed over the security of the plant to the elite central industrial security force (CISF). Senior officers of the CISF had inspected the plant and it would be deploying 102 personnel to guard the plant spread over more than 1,100 acres. Boundary wall around the plant had already been raised. Last year, a mob had ransacked the plant causing intensive damage to the plant’s property, after a villager died in a road accident. After the incident, the administration had announced to set up a special police post near the plant. However, the post was not set up, but the police had increased its patrolling. A senior official of the HPGCL said all formalities regarding the posting of the CISF had been completed and the force would soon take up the security.
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NHRC lauds govt’s concern on child labour
Chandigarh, April 21 Justice Rao was addressing a workshop on bonded labour and child labour organised by the NHRC in collaboration with the Haryana Labour Department here today. While pointing out that “human dignity is the spine of human rights”, Justice Rao said, “Unless bonded labour is eliminated, human dignity cannot be ensured.” He said the district magistrates had a fundamental role to play in the implementation of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, as they had statutory obligations and judicial powers under the Act. He called upon the DMs to utilise their experience, knowledge and authority and take all possible action to root out the menace of the bonded labour. While expressing concern on the social evils of bonded labour and child labour, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said as the contractors recruiting the inter-state migrant workers did not obtain licenses in their home sates, Haryana had asked the officers concerned to ensure that proper registration certificates were issued to the employers in the state. Since the state was deficit in labour and a large number of migrant labour was attracted to the state. He said the state government was aware of the fact that the migrant workers were vulnerable and needed to be protected against exploitation. The government was determined to ensure that proper working conditions were provided to these workers.
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Efficient cops to be rewarded: DGP
Kurukshetra, April 21 Stating this today at a seminar organised by the Haryana Patrkar Sangh at Kurukshetra University, DGP Ranjeev Singh Dalal said officials who made speedy investigations with conclusive results would be given out-of-turn promotions. “Instead of frightening people, let’s help them,” said the DGP at the seminar attended by representatives of the media, the police and the public. He said under a modernisation plan, the state had sanctioned a sum of Rs 1.50 crore for a high-tech media laboratory to be established at the Haryana Police Academy, Madhuban. He said special emphasis would be laid on training police officials in maintaining liaison with the media to shun the “age-old” mentality of hiding actions. Meanwhile, top leaders of various parties spoke on the topic “Press, police and public”. The speakers emphasised the need for implementing police reforms. Dalal asked the police to be sensitive towards the public and maintain transparency in its work. Editor of Dainik Tribune Naresh Kaushal observed that Indian journalism was going through the worst phase. Calling for introspection, he asked journalists to be adhere to the highest professional standards. Terming the “police outlook” colonial, working president of the state Congress Kuldeep Sharma appealed for an overhaul of the system. However, he lauded the role of the police in successfully combating militancy. Interestingly, he said the police worked as a tool in the hands of the ruling parties and favoured measures to bring it closer to the public. Vice-president of the Haryana Janhit Congress Devinder Sharma called for a more humane face of the force. BJP leader Ram Bilas Sharma lauded the role of the DGP. Capt Abhimanyu, BJP leader, cautioned against any nexus between the media, the police and politicians.
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Using dust-colours to portray nature
Rohtak, April 21 Going by the famous quote that “the medium is the message”, artist Bhup Gulia, a senior faculty member of the department of fine arts at the MDU, uses dust-colours to convey his feelings. One sees a mesmeric use of vibrant colours to portray diverse moods of nature in Gulia’s creations. And as the villages are more close to nature, his creations revolve around the rural scene. Aptly titled “Symphony with Dust-Colours”, the art exhibition commenced on April 17 and is on till April 25. A recipient of several prestigious national and state-level awards, Gulia also has four research publications and two books on art and craft of Haryana to his credit. The artist deftly uses the powder colours to bring out many subtle facet of the nature. In fact, use of dust-colours itself is an art perfected by Gulia, who is a pioneer in the field. “Handling and fixing dust colours to express one’s thoughts is not an easy job…it requires a great deal of patience as well as perseverance,” said Gulia, who was inspired by the Rock Garden in Chandigarh to make full use of waste colours.
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Cabinet expansion after byelections
Chandigarh, April 21 While stating this at a press conference here today, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said that Haryana had registered an increase of 14.76 per cent in per capita income during the past three years whereas Goa had achieved an increase at the rate of 6 per cent during the same period. He said the state cabinet would be expanded after the byelections to three assembly seats. Hooda said the process for the nomination of candidates for the byelections would begin from April 28 and the candidates would be nominated by the Congress high command. The Chief Minister said all three seats would be won by the Congress, adding that development in the past three years and the policies of the party would see the Congress through in the byelections. |
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Cabinet okays Gurgaon corporation limits
Chandigarh, April 21
The boundaries of the proposed Municipal Corporation, Gurgaon, were approved at the meeting along with amended various sections of the Punjab Minor Mineral Concession Rules-1964 to make the rules more clear and transparent. The provisions relating to the settlement of compensation with land owners has been suitably amended to ensure that the land owners get their compensation from the leaseholders. The provisions relating to fee for grant and transfer of mining lease and appeal has been increased. The application fee for grant of mining lease has been increased from Rs 5,000 to Rs 20,000 whereas the fee for application for the transfer of mining lease has been increased from Rs 100 to Rs 20,000. Apart from this, the fee relating to grant of short-term permits and mining lease registers has also been increased. The cabinet also approved the proposal of the public works (water supply and sanitation) department to transfer 0.5 acres of the department in lieu of the transfer of four acres of the fisheries department for the construction of second waterworks at Tohana. The Haryana government has also exempted renewable energy power projects from levying of change of land use charges, external development charges, scrutiny fee and infrastructure development charges. The town and country planning department would permit these projects without levying the charges. The cabinet allowed the Haryana Power Generation Corporation to borrow Rs 3489.03 crore from the NCR Planning Board, the Power Finance Corporation of India and the Rural Electrification Corporation of India for the construction of the 2x600 MW Rajiv Gandhi Thermal Power Project, Khedar, in Hisar district. The cabinet also approved to allow the Haryana Power Generation Corporation to create charge or provide security for availing these loans, as per terms and conditions of these leading Institutions.
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Revised criteria cleared
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 21 According to the revised criteria, the income of a family belonging to castes other than the Scheduled Castes should not exceed Rs 45,000 and the income of the family should be certified by the head of the family himself. The condition that the family should not own a house or plot measuring 100 sq yd has been substituted with the condition that it should not own agricultural land exceeding 1 acre. The applications of the families eligible to get plots for houses will be scrutinised by a village-level committee comprising the sarpanch of the village concerned , patwari, gram sachiv, principal or headmaster or head teacher and lambardar belonging to the Scheduled Castes or backward classes within the next three months.
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Dera chief appears in CBI court
Ambala, April 21 The CBI had filed three chargesheets of murder and sexual exploitation against the chief in the court and the arguments on framed charges were yet to begun. Defence counsel Surya Prakash filed an application in the court today in which he said a petition was filed in the high court to quash the FIR registered against the dera chief. Later, the petition was withdrawn. Now, he wanted to place on record the plea taken in the petition. The court asked the defence counsel to submit certified copies of the petition and facts. CBI counsel J.P.S. Verma, while opposing the plea, said the defence counsel had been adopting legal delay tactics so that the arguments on framing charges could Later, he addressed a gathering of his followers at the Gandhi ground in Ambala Cantonment. He asked the devotees to have faith in the Almighty and help the needy. This time the venue was shifted to Ambala Cantonment in place of Ambala City. A large number of policemen were deployed there. |
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Arhtiyas threaten to stop unloading of wheat
Sonepat, April 21 “A final decision will be taken at a meeting of the association, but the authorities have already been informed about the problems being faced by us,” said president of the association Gopal Krishan. He alleged that hardly any space was left in the market for unloading of fresh arrivals as it was full of bags of wheat. Around 3,50,000 bags of wheat were lying in the market for want of lifting, he added. Secretary of the Gohana Market Committee Jit Singh Dahiya said the problem had been created by a contractor who failed to arrange labour and vehicles for lifting the stock. However, the authorities had cancelled the contract and had engaged two new contractors with an agreement that they would arrange the lifting of one lakh quintals of wheat daily. He said 4,45,356 quintals of wheat had arrived at the Gohana grain market by today and most of the stock had been purchased by government procurement agencies Hafed and Confed. |
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Fires devour wheat crop
Fatehabad, April 21 Farmers alleged that the fires occurred due to sparks in the overhead electricity wires. The worst incident of fire occurred in Mandvi village near Tohana town of this district, where crop on 25 acres straw on 200 acres were damaged. Five fire engines from Tohana, Jakhal, Sunam and Lehragaga worked for five hours to extinguish the fire, but not before it had caused extensive damage to the crops of farmers Balvinder Singh, Ram Singh and Gurdev Singh. Balvinder Singh alleged that a spark from the overhead electricity wires caused the fire in his fields, which later engulfed the fields of his neighbourers. Elsewhere in the district, fires broke out in Salemkhera, Razabad, Katakheri and Dhani Mian Khan villages, destroying wheat crop on 40 acres and straw on 15 acres. SONEPAT: Wheat crop on 30 acres of at least six farmers of Bidhlan village was destroyed in a fire that broke out on Monday reportedly due to sparks from LT power lines passing over their fields. It took more than two hours for fire engines and villagers to extinguish the fire. The farmers affected by the fire included Ramesh, Jagdish, Kartar, Anand, Rishal Singh, Gugan, Ranbir and Mahender. The farmers have sought compensation for the loss. |
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Farmer beaten to death
Rewari, April 21 Naurang Singh, unmarried son of the deceased, was also reportedly thrashed by them. On a complaint made by Naurang Singh, the police has registered a case of culpable homicide (not amounting to murder) and causing hurt against the deceased’s sons Ajay Kumar and Vijay Pal, Bimla Devi, wife of Vijay Pal, and Kamlesh Devi, widow of Surjan’s eldest son Mahender Singh. Naurang alleged that when he sold his own piece of land his brother Vijay pal and sisters-in-law kicked up a row. |
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Staff lock up substation over suspension
Sonepat, April 21 Executive engineer M.S. Dahiya promised that the suspended employees would be reinstated at the earliest. |
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‘Help revive Saraswati’
Yamunanagar, April 21 Darshan Lal Jain, president of the sansthan, said the river was sacred for the people of the state. He said the decision of the government of not referring the river as a ‘nallah’ (drain), was a good step. |
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Kurukshetra, April 21
Rohtak, April 21
