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Dept moves to check doctors’ exodus
Dera men, Sikhs stop short of
confrontation Sikhs hold a protest against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in Fatehabad on Tuesday. Photo: Sushil Manav
Sikhs to block rail traffic today
Peace march on June 27
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Yamuna Accord
Nine-year-old Janu (left), who suffers from thalassaemia major, with his younger brother Sanyam, who will donate bone marrow to save his life, at their house in Karnal on Tuesday. Tribune photo: Ravi Kumar
Bhiwani MC chief cremated
Man dies in police custody; probe sought
4 of family held for murder
Sanskrit, Punjabi scholars get awards
NIT director opens summer school
Panipat flyover to open soon
Irregularities alleged in recruitment of principals
Admn gears up to tackle floods
ASI held on bribe charge
Langar leftovers leave 24 cows dead
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Dept moves to check doctors’ exodus
Chandigarh, June 24 The department has also advocated an additional grant of 25 per cent as the non-practicing allowance (NPA) for the government doctors. Sources said the department had suggested replacement of the existing three-tier scales for medical officers (MO) with four assured career progression (ACP) time scales though not much benefit had been given to the new entrant and pay scales would be the same as Rs 8,000-13,500 basic pay with an additional increment of Rs 275 every year. The scale of Rs 10,000-13,900 being given to doctors on completion of five years of service presently will now be given on completion of four years along with an increment of Rs 325 every year. The existing scale of Rs 12,000-16,500, given after 11 years of service, will be given after nine years with an increment of Rs 375. The department has introduced a fourth scale i.e. Rs 14,300-18,300 with an increment of Rs 400, which will be given on completion of 13 years. This is an improvement over the scale of Rs 14,300-18,150 in this category given by Punjab after 14 years of service. For the SMOs, medical superintendents, deputy directors and programme officers level, the department has proposed a pay scale of Rs 12,000-16,500 with an increment of Rs 375 on entry as direct SMO level instead of the existing Rs 10,000-13,900. Thought the proposal recommended that a scale of Rs 14,300-18,300 with an increment of Rs 400 be given on completion of four years, Punjab gives the same after 14 years of service. Under the present system, all officers in this category are given a scale of Rs 12,000 to 16,500. For civil surgeons, principal medical officers, state bacteriologists and directors, a scale of Rs 16,400-20,000 has been recommended in place of the existing two tier-system wherein the initial scale is that of Rs 13,500-17,250 and Rs 14,300-18,300 who have competed 13 years of service. The recommendations were drafted on the directions of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who had promised to raise the salaries of doctors on the floor of the House in the Vidhan Sabha session held in March. Flooded with complaints of shortage of staff in districts, the health minister had expressed her helplessness in view of the non-availability of doctors. Hooda had, at that time, said the salaries of doctors would be brought on par with those of Punjab though efforts would be made to improve upon their scales as well. While there is no post of joint director in Haryana, the scales of the director health services (DHS), the director health services (senior scale) and the director general health services have also been revised. While the DHS will have an improvement of nearly Rs 2,000 in the basic pay in addition to an increment of Rs 500, the DHS (SS) will get Rs 1,000 as special pay. In case of the DGHS, who draws Rs 22,400-24,500 subject to the fact that the pay and NPA do not exceed Rs 25,900, the revised pay scale is that of Rs 22,400-26,000 with an increment of Rs 600. Sources said the proposal has been finalised by the health department and sent to the Chief Minister for approval.
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Dera men, Sikhs stop short of
confrontation
Fatehabad, June 24 Followers of the Dera Sacha Sauda, who had warned the authorities of retaliation in case an effigy of their guru was burnt or any derogatory remarks made against him by Sikhs, had also assembled in the “naam charcha ghar” of the dera, situated at a short distance from the mini-secretariat, where the Sikhs culminated their procession. An imminent confrontation between Sikhs and the followers of the Dera Sacha Sauda was averted by the authorities by asking both parties to exercise restraint. Sikh organisations, led by Sukhwinder Singh, state president of the Guru Granth Sahib Satkar Sabha, Haryana, G.S. Monga, general secretary of the Guru Singh Sabha, Fatehabad, Paramjit Singh Aherwan, general secretary of the SAD (Amritsar), Baba Avtar Singh, vice-president of the SAD (Amritsar), M.S. Wadhwa, general secretary of the SAD, Haryana, Harmit Singh Grover and Giani Didar Singh had already announced their programme to organise a protest against the dera chief today. The Sikh protesters had announced that they would start from the Gurdwara Singh Sabha and proceed towards the mini-secretariat to present a memorandum to the deputy commissioner. After the announcement by the Sikhs, the followers of the Dera Sacha Sauda also announced to organise “naam charcha” today in their “naam charcha ghar” situated at a short distance from the mini-secretariat. The demonstration, however, passed of peacefully. Thought Sikh youths, brandishing naked swords, raised inflammatory slogans against the dera chief, the authorities succeeded in persuading them to desist from burning his effigy. A large number of policemen had been deployed in the mini-secretariat, on the route of the procession and also outside the “naam charcha ghar” of the dera. Talking to mediapersons, Sukhwinder Singh demanded that the dera chief should be immediately arrested for the murder of Balkar Singh at Mulund in Mumbai. He said the dera chief should be arrested under section 120-B of the IPC as a conspirator with his gunmen.
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Sikhs to block rail traffic today
Sirsa, June 24 The blockade will be led by jathedar, Damdama Sahib, Balwant Singh Nandgarh. President of the Guru Granth Sahib Satkar Committee, Haryana, Sukhwinder Singh Khalsa said the members would gather at Gurdwara Daswi Patshahi here, from where they would proceed towards the railway station. In all probability, they would stop Rewari-Bathinda train. He alleged that at the behest of the centre, the Maharashtra government was not taking any action against the dera chief. Meanwhile, commissioner P.C. Vidhan and IG, Hisar range, A.K. Dhul while addressing a joint press conference here today said no person would be allowed to take law into his hand. For efficiently maintaining law and order, the district had been divided into 11 zones and each zone would be monitored by two duty magistrates, Vidhan added. He said besides powers of magistrate had been extended to all SDMs, tehsildars and naib tehsildars of the district. According to him, duty magistrates would take requisite steps after observing the situation with the assistance of the police and paramilitary forces. Dhul said apart from the local police, two companies of the Rapid Action Force (RAF) and a company each of the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Haryana Armed Police (HAP) had been deployed. Besides, 37 villages had been identified as sensitive falling under Ding, Badagudda, Sadar Dabwali, Sadar Sirsa, Odhan, City Dabwali, Kalawali and Rori police stations. As many as 18 nakas across the district had been laid to beef up the security. The area around the headquarters of the Dera Sacha Sauda has been turned into a cantonment since the arrival of the dera chief. A makeshift police chowki has been set up a few km away from the entrance of the dera. Each vehicle approaching the dera road is scanned and even minute details of them are being noted. Commuters are being frisked to avoid any untoward incident.
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Peace march on June 27
Sirsa, June 24 Hira Lal Sharma, president, Haryana Pradesh Beopar Mandal, said the goal of the peace march was to urge people to maintain peace and harmony and let the law to take its own course. The peace march would begin from Gandhi Par at 9 am and after passing through various markets of the city, it will culminate at Lal Batti Chowk. |
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Hooda playing politics, says HJC
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, June 24 It may be recalled that a Vidhan Sabha committee is examining that under what circumstances the then Cabinet was kept in dark by Bhajan Lal about the Yamuna accord. Spokesperson for the HJC Satpal Kaushik said had the three dams envisaged in the “historic” accord of 1994 been constructed, the canals of Haryana would not have been dry as they were these days. These dams would have provided round-the-year water to farmers for irrigation. But no government in the state, after the Bhajan Lal government tried to get these dams constructed. Even now, he said, the Congress government was playing politics on the issue instead of working for the completion of the dams. He alleged that in spite of spending hundreds of crores on the Hansi-Butana canal, its fate was uncertain. He demanded that a Vidhan Sabha committee should be constituted to inquire why necessary clearances were not obtained before starting the construction of the canal. Kaushik said the government was misleading the public on the issue of the state’s share in the Yamuna waters having been reduced in the 1994 accord as compared to that in the 1954 agreement. The comparison between the 1954 and 1994 accords, he said, was baseless as the former was merely a statement signed by two state engineers, which mentioned that the ultimate settlement would be according to the prevailing conditions after 50 years. In these five decades, the conditions had been changed and it was held by the Supreme Court that preference would be given to drinking water over irrigation. He said nobody had stopped the Hooda government from cancelling the Yamuna accord if it was convinced that it was not in the interest of the state just as the Amarinder Singh government had terminated all river water agreements in Punjab.
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Thalassaemic boy needs your help
Karnal, June 24 Janu has to go through a painful exercise of blood transfusion after every 15 days. Unable to meet the expenditure, the Karnal-based humble family has to travel to a New Delhi Municipal Corporation hospital at Motibagh for easier and cheap transfusion. Now, when doctors at Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, have suggested a bone marrow transplant (BMT), the Khurana family is upset and finding it hard to bear the cost. The CMC, Vellore, has estimated the total cost at Rs 12 lakh for the transplant and added that the cost may go up in case of any unforeseen complications during or after the transplant. Janu’s father Pradeep Khurana is an accountant with a local firm with a meagre monthly salary of Rs 4,000. Experts say patients born with thalassaemia major lack the ability to produce normal adult haemoglobin (RBCs). The patients are chronically fatigued and do not grow normally. Left untreated, this disorder may cause bone deformities. A senior lecturer, department of haematology, CMC, Dr Auro Viswabandya, told The Tribune over the phone that human leukocyte antigen (HLA) of Sanyam, five-year-old brother of Janu, had matched with the patient. The bone marrow transplant for Janu was slated for March 2009 in which Sanyam would be the bone marrow donor, confirmed Dr Viswabandya. “As thalassaemic patients have to undergo regular blood transfusion throughout life and the risk factor always remains, the bone marrow transplant is a hopeful solution for such patients,” he said. Janu studies in class IV in a local school. With his limited financial resources, Pradeep Khurana and his family are worried whether their son will be able to lead a healthy life and are in dire need of your help. Donors may send demand draft/cheque drawn in favour of “The treasurer, Christian Medical College, Vellore”, indicating the patient’s name with the CMC hospital number (255126-D). |
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Bhiwani MC chief cremated
Bhiwani, June 24 He is survived by three sons - Praveen, Vinod and Devender - and a daughter. Haryana local bodies minister
A.C. Chaudhary, MLAs from Bhiwani, Buwani Khera, district rural Congress president Chhatar Singh, former minister Ram Bhajan Aggarwal, Kailash Chand Sharma, former MLAs Shashi Parmar, Balbir Singh Grewal and Satpal
Sangwan, the DC, SP and the SDM, general-secretary of the HPCC Sandeep Singh and municipal concillors attended the funeral. Chaudhary laid a wreath on Chawla’s body on behalf of the state government. Local markets remained closed as a mark of respect. Earlier, a heavy police force was deputed at each chowk of the city. A team led by DSP Samunder Singh patrolled the city to avoid any untoward incident. Meanwhile, relatives of Chawla have slated Thursday as the last day to arrest the culprits and warned to observe a bandh in Bhiwani if the police failed to do so. Later, talking to the Beopar Mandal delegation at the local rest house, Chaudhary said the police administration was putting its best efforts to arrest the culprits and they would soon be arrested. Terming the killing as a blot on humanity, Chaudhary said every lawful action would be taken against the accused. He said the state government was committed to provide fearless administration in the state at every cost. The minister also urged the people to cooperate with the police and civil administration. He urged the delegation to give a week’s time to the administration to solve the murder mystery. He said any kind of dharna, procession or market closure activity would adversely affect the investigation process and probe could
be delayed. |
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Man dies in police custody; probe sought
Hisar, June 24 According to the police, it picked up Uday, a resident of Panihar Chak village in the district, from his home. He was suspected to be in possession of an illicit country-made pistol. The police recovered the pistol also from his home. When policemen asked Uday to board the jeep, he said he wanted to urinate. The cops allowed him to do so. On the way, Uday began to vomit. When questioned by the police, he revealed that he had consumed a celphos tablet, a deadly insecticide. He was rushed to a local hospital where he died some time later. A team of doctors has been constituted to conduct the post-mortem. The deceased’s brother, Inder Singh, who is a retired SDM, however, alleged that the illicit weapon was actually recovered from some other person but his brother was implicated in the case by the police. Demanding a judicial inquiry into the custodial death, he said such a probe would reveal the truth. “My brother was not a criminal,” he added. Questioning the police version, he asked if the police had already searched Uday Singh and allegedly recovered the pistol and cartridge from him, how could the poison be left in his pocket. He alleged that his brother died due to police torture and the poison theory was conducted by the police to save their skin.
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4 of family held for murder
Rewari, June 24 The four arrested are Nembir, younger brother of Son Pal, Sunil, husband of Pal’s sister, Nirmala, another sister of Pal and her son Jitender. The four accused were today produced in the court of the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, who remanded them in judicial custody for 14 days. Pal was unmarried and the eldest son of a family of four brothers and six sisters. Dispute over the distribution of a piece of land is said to be behind the incident. The four allegedly strangled Pal to death and then threw the body near Bohka village on June 22. The four were arrested after Kartik Kumar (18) of Gujarat, who happened to be an eyewitness of the murder, spilled the beans before the police yesterday. Pal’s body, which had earlier been placed for identification at the mortuary of the local Civil Hospital, was subsequently identified by Desh Raj, another brother of the deceased, yesterday. A case of murder and destruction of evidence of the crime under Sections 302 and 201 of the IPC had been registered against the accused on a complaint filed by Desh Raj.
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Sanskrit, Punjabi scholars get awards
Chandigarh June 24 He said this after giving away the prizes to eminent scholars of Sanskrit and Punjabi here today. He said Maharishi Balmiki Award amounting to Rs 1 lakh and Ved Vyas and Ban Bhatt Puruskars amounting to Rs 51,000 each had been instituted to give encouragement to Sanskrit writers. Similarly, to promote Punjabi in the state, the amount of Bhai Santokh Singh Award had been increased from Rs 21,000 to Rs 1 lakh. A new award for ragis, dadis and folk singers amounting to Rs 21,000 had been started. The Rs 1 lakh Maharishi Balmiki Puruskar was given to Jai Narayan Shastri of Belerkhan village; Maharisi Ved Vyas and Ban Bhatt Puruskars were given to Bharat Bhushan Sanghi and Dr Virender Kumar Alankar of Gohana. He also gave away Bhai Santokh Singh Award to Dr Rajender Singh Bhatti. The Sheikh Farid Puruskar and the Saint Taran Singh Vehmi Award amounting to Rs 51,000 each were given to G.D. Chaudhary and Amrik Singh of Sirsa. The Folk Singer Puruskar was given to Vinod Sehgal of Ambala. Awards of Rs 21,000 each were given to Kulwant Chawla, Shahbad; Kabal Singh Virk, Karnal; Dr Narvinder Kaushal, Kurukshetra; Gurdas Singh Palna, Sirsa; Kesra Ram, Hisar; Dr Gurpal Singh, Ambala; and Jeevan Bakshi of Kurukshetra for book writing. For story writing, the first prize of Rs 3,500 was given to Ikbal Singh of Fatehabad; second prize of Rs 3,000 to Prem Singh Barnalvi and the third prize of Rs 2,500 went to Joginder Kaur of Sirsa.
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NIT director opens summer school
Kurukshetra, June 24 Dr
Bandyopadhyay, who was also the chief guest, said continuous development of technology was essential for the growth of society. Such training programmes enhance the knowledge of engineering faculty, which was the need of the hour for quality improvement in technical education, he added. Dr A.K.
Bandyopadhyay, a renowned professor in the field of “distributed systems and network” from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, said in order to improve the quality of technical education, the ministry of human resource and development
(MHRD) had taken a landmark initiative by providing funds to premier technical institutions to organise summer schools on contemporary topics. The department of computer engineering and information technology, NIT, Kurukshetra had taken action in this direction by organising this summer school, he added. Experienced faculty members from various premier institutions such as Indian Institute of Technologies
(IITs), Indian Institute of Information Technologies (IIITs), National Institute of Technologies
(NITs) and Jadavpur University, Kolkata, and experts from industries would deliver lectures in the summer school. Prof R.K. Bansal, dean (academic), Dr A.K. Singh, chairman of the computer engineering and information technology department, Dr Mayank Dave, former chairman of the computer engineering and information technology department and Dr Dixit Garg, professor of mechanical engineering and professor in charge, faculty affairs, were also present on the occasion. At least 50 participants from all over the country have registered for the school. |
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Panipat flyover to open soon
New Delhi, June 24 The Haryana PWD minister, Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, said union road transport minister T.R. Baalu, after a meeting here today, had assured that the elevated portion of the national highway would be opened within a few days. He said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would inaugurate the flyover. The Prime Minister had laid the foundation stone of the flyover in April 2006. Giving details of his meeting with Baalu, Yadav said the Badarpur flyover connecting Delhi with Faridabad would be constructed at a cost of Rs 400 crore and the work would be allotted within 15 days. The construction would start within three months. Yadav urged Baalu to declare the Jind-Bhiwani-Narnaul road (up to the NH-8), a new national highway. He also raised the issue of construction of foot overbridges for the safety of pedestrians and underpasses for slow-moving traffic on the expressways. Meanwhile, the National Highway Authority of India has assured that a detailed project report for the National Highway-71 A (Panipat-Rohtak section) and the NH-71 (Rohtak-Bawal section) has already been finalised and bids would be invited for construction by the end of December.
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Irregularities alleged in recruitment of principals
Kaithal, June 24 The government had allegedly resorted to back-door appointment in various departments ignoring the Supreme Court directives in which it had been made mandatory to make recruitment after issuing advertisements. This was alleged by INLD spokesperson Ram Pal Majra here yesterday. He alleged that though interview letters to 3,181 candidates had been sent for posts of principal, 3,619 candidates had been interviewed. He alleged that back-door appointments were being made in various government departments in violation of verdicts given by the Supreme Court and alleged that merit was being ignored and those having links with ruling party politicians were being appointed. Majra criticised the recent government announcement regarding making eligibility test for the posts of teacher mandatory and said all this had been done to manipulate recruitment. He said when the candidates for the posts of teacher had already passed BEd, MEd and JBT exams, why should they be forced to clear the eligibility test. He demanded that the government should immediately withdraw its orders. He also criticised the Centre for its failure to check the rising prices of essential commodities and said if the government could not control the situation, it had no moral right to remain in power. Majra alleged that the state government had failed to safeguard life and property of the people. It had “lost grip” over the bureaucracy. The law and order situation in the state was deteriorating and the government had become a mere spectator.
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Admn gears up to tackle floods
Karnal, June 24 Deputy commissioner Balbir Singh Malik informed The Tribune that flood-control measures had been put on priority. Normally, all flood-control arrangements were ready by the first week of July but due to early rain, repair work had been geared up accordingly. Malik informed that a sum of Rs 88 lakh had been earmarked for the construction, laying of stones and other mandatory restoration works along the Yamuna belt in the district. He said the work of laying of stone studding in Garhpur Tapu, Karajpur, Djaakwala, Lalupura and Mundogarhi villages would be completed by the end of the month. Similarly, to meet any flood situation, the administration has claimed to secure sufficient stock of life saving drugs, food items and pump sets. The administration has also mooted a plan to establish three new wireless stations at Garhpur Tapu, Mundigarhi and Jammukhala villages for constant monitoring of water level of the river. These stations would start functioning from July 1. A team headed by the district revenue officer has been constituted for monitoring of the water level of the river.
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ASI held on bribe charge
Yamunanagar, June 24 According to sources in the bureau, ASI Balbir Singh, posted at the Thhana Chhapar police station here, had allegedly demanded Rs 5,000 from Ashok Kumar for removing his daughter’s name from an FIR registered on June 13. Rajdulari of Kalwar village had lodged a complaint with the police that she was threatened and beaten up by Tara Rani, Krishna Rani and Shivani on June 12 and case was registered. ASI Balbir Singh was the investigation officer. Tara and Krishna were arrested while Shivani was at large. Ashok Kumar approached Balbir Singh and asked him to remove the name of Shivani from the FIR. Balbir Singh allegedly demanded Rs 5,000 from Ashok Kumar for removing the name. Ashok paid Rs 500 to him and the rest of the amount was to be paid today. |
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Declamation contest organised
Karnal, June 24 The participants spoke on different subjects, including environmental pollution, female foeticide and other issues. The event was organised by a local social organization, Saarthi. Speaking on the occasion, Karnal deputy commissioner B.S. Malik appealed to inculcate sensitivity amongst the students for a better society. He said only a disciplined fellow could lead a respectful life. Malik also gave away awards to students.
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Langar leftovers leave 24 cows dead
Fatehabad, June 24 A team of veterinarians rushed to the village to treat the seriously ill cows. According to reports, “trolley-loads” of leftover food from a langar, organised in the neighbouring Ahlopur village, was brought to the village, which was eaten by the cows. The cows started taking ill after eating the food and 24 died some time after eating the food. SDM Jai Kishan Abhir and tehsildar Gian Parkash reached the village with a team of veterinarians, who, after examining the cows, said they had died of “overeating”. |
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Fatehabad, June 24
