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EC says no to hike in old-age pension
Memorial to Kalpana Chawla
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6 pilgrims killed in mishap
Rohtak, March 31 Six pilgrims, including five women, were killed and three others injured when the jeep they were travelling in collided head-on with a tractor-trailer near Balhamba village on the Meham-Beri road in the district, about 25 km from here, in the wee hours today.
Exam centres for distance education courses
UPA govt a failure: Chautala
Surjewala hits out at BJP
Ex-servicemen to contest Faridabad, Karnal seats
Pvt practice by govt doctors rampant
Private bus operators go on strike
Tremors in Jind
MDU to introduce semester system
Dr Ravinder Chadha retires
Second chargesheet filed in Sarita case
Rs 80,000 looted
Varsity to have Academic Staff College
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EC says no to hike in old-age pension
Chandigarh, March 31 With this over 10 lakh elder citizens in the state will have to wait for their enhanced old-age pension for more than two months. The Social Welfare Department, which disburses the pension not only to the elder citizens, but also to widows, physically challenged persons and destitute children, among others, was preparing to disburse the pension when the commission’s dictate came this evening. A few days ago the department had informed the commission that it would disburse the revised pension from April 1. Sources in the government say the pension scheme is not new. It has been there since the late 1980s. The state government has only revised it from Rs 300 per month to Rs 500 per month and to Rs 700 per month for those who have been getting pension for the past 10 years. They say the model code of conduct comes in the way of only new schemes launched by the government after the announcement of the elections. The commission cannot stop the disbursal of pensions, which is a regular feature every month. Moreover, the pension was revised in February and duly approved by the Assembly. When Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had informed the House about the revision of the pension, he had made it clear that the revised pension would be paid on April 1. Still the sources say to maintain propriety, the state government informed the commission about its plan to disburse the revised pension from next month. However, the commission has not agreed with the contention of the government and has asked it to disburse the pension at the pre-revised rates. The government has also sought the approval of the commission for its other scheme. The government had announced that it would give one turban and one “doga (walking stick)” to elder men and a shawl to elder women along with this month’s pension. The permission is unlikely to come.
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Memorial to Kalpana Chawla
Karnal, March 31 The police had erected barricades to stop the crowd from reaching the railway station in view of the threat given by the samiti yesterday to “halt” the train in protest against the “failure” of the government to set up a medical college in memory of astronaut Kalpana Chawla. The administration took extra care to thwart the attempt to disrupt rail traffic and the police was deployed in strength in the vicinity of the railway station to prevent any untoward incident. The arrested persons, including president of the samiti Tarlochan Singh and Narinder Arora, were taken to Kunjpura, Gharaunda and Indri and booked under Sections 107 and 151 of the IPC and later released on bail. Later, the activists reiterated their resolve to continue their agitation in support of their demand for setting up a medical college in memory of Kalpana Chawla and said they would stage “black flag demonstrations” whenever any VVIP visited Karnal. Tarlochan Singh rued the apathetic attitude of successive governments on this issue and said it was both painful and insulting that the government chose to open a medical college in Jhajjar, ignoring Karnal. He said the issue would also be raised during the elections and leaders who had promised to set up the medical college during earlier elections would be answerable in the people’s court. |
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6 pilgrims killed in mishap
Rohtak, March 31 The injured were shifted to the PGIMS. The accident took place in the wee hours when the visibility was poor. Those killed have been identified as Jamuna and Suman, both residents of Araila village in Rajasthan, and Rekha, Kammo, Supari and Susheel, all residents of Dayyar village in Fatehabad district. The victims were on the way to pay obeisance at the Sheetla Mata temple in Gurgaon. The three injured, including the driver of the jeep, were taken to the PGIMS. The police has registered case in this connection. The mishap occurred when the driver of the speeding jeep lost control over the vehicle, resulting in a head-on collision with the tractor-trailer, said one of the injured. While five occupants died on the spot, another one succumbed to her injuries on the way to a hospital. The police sent the bodies for post-mortem and registered a case against the the tractor driver, who fled the spot. |
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Dowry Case
Bhiwani, March 31 They alleged that the police had brought five persons, including two women, living at Jagat colony on March 29 in a case of dowry demand. They said the police,however, later left two male members of the family. According to information, three persons, including Mahender Agarwal, son of Chirag Agarwal, his mother and three other persons from Patel Nagar, Gurgaon, had come to Bhiwani for the ring ceremony of Poonam, daughter of Sajjan Singh Singla, a resident of Bijli board colony here on March 29. The bridegroom party allegedly demanded dowry from the girl’s parents but when they showed unwillingness to pay the same, they allegedly refused to marry the girl with their son. However, the girl’s family confined the bridegroom party to a room and handed them over to the police. Later, the police let off two members. Irked over this, social organisations staged a dharna outside the city police station for about four hours yesterday, demanding the arrest of the accused. The police reportedly told the demonstrators that the prime accused were arrested and remaining two members were let off as they were not involved. Taking a serious note of the police inaction, social organisations again staged a dharna today and demanded immediate arrests in the case. They also submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner. Meanwhile, DSP Ashok Kumar assured them of proper action against the accused. |
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Exam centres for distance education courses
Jhajjar, March 31 On the basis of complaints of study centres, the Directorate of Distance Education (DDE) of the university has decided to create examination centres for practical and theoretical examinations at all those places from where the request in this regard has been received. Now, the examination centres have to bear all operating expenses set for conducting exams and the DDE will not be liable to incur any sort of expenses in this connection. A communication in this regard has recently been sent to all study centres situated in various states. Sources said some of the study centres had complained to the university authorities that their students had been facing difficulties while appearing in examinations, as their exam centres were far away from their study centres. The centres, in their complaints, had also warned that if the university authority failed to solve the problem, they would have to close the study centres. “The changed provision of creating exam centres at all those places from where the request is being received by the university will enhance the student base of the study centre as well as of the university,” said Prof Narender Kumar Garg, director of the DDE. He said the DDE had established more than 600 study centres spreading all over the country and the university created an examination/practical examination centre at a place where there was a minimum strength of 100 students. |
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UPA govt a failure: Chautala
Sirsa, March 31 Seated on the front seat of a Chevrolet Captiva sports utility vehicle (SUV) is Om Prakash Chautala, a former Haryana Chief Minister, who is campaigning for INLD candidate for the Sirsa parliamentary constituency Sita Ram. Jamal is the last village on the Sirsa-Nohar road and falls under the Ellenabad Assembly constituency. Neither Sita Ram, nor Sushil Indora, who represents Ellenabad in the state Assembly, is accompanying Chautala, who has been campaigning in the constituency for the past four days and will remain here till April 3. A worker informs that several teams of workers had been constituted under various MLAs, former MLAs, district president and other leaders to campaign in different Assembly segments of the Sirsa seat, while Sita Ram has been campaigning with Abhey Singh Chautala. Once in the village, Chautala is greeted by workers raising slogans in his favour. After addressing a rural meeting, which is more of an interaction with villagers rather than a speech, Chautala takes his lunch at the residence of Jai Narain Beniwal, who, party workers claim, has recently left the Congress to join the INLD. He has already addressed 16 of the 28 rural meetings he has to address today and during his meetings Chautala reminds villagers of the days of the “raj” of this area, when he was the Chief Minister and adds an opportunity has come to change the Congress government now. Talking to mediapersons, Chautala says, “People have made up their mind to root out the Congress from power and they are now waiting for May 7 to press the right button on the EVMs.” Terming the UPA government at the Centre as well as the Congress government in Haryana as a failure, he says all sections of society have been fed up with the present rule. He also criticised the Election Commission for overstepping its powers in directing the BJP not to field Varun Gandhi in the elections. |
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Surjewala hits out at BJP
Sonepat, March 31 “The new agenda of the BJP is against our ancient cultural practices,” he added. Talking to mediapersons, he said as the BJP had failed to communalise society, it had now stepped up its hidden agenda by pursuing the politics of confrontation to woo the majority section of society. The BJP was in search of a face for pursuing this agenda and it found Varun Gandhi for the purpose, he said, adding that the BJP had first distanced itself from Varun’s remarks, but later extended its full support to him. He chided INLD leaders for claiming to be the champion of farmers and said the MSP of wheat was increased only by Rs 50 during the five-year rule of the NDA and agriculture loans to farmers were given at the rate of 14 per cent by cooperative banks and at 18 per cent by nationalised banks. “The rate of interest on these loans has been reduced to 7 per cent and the MSP has been increased by Rs 480 per quintal during the UPA’s rule,” he claimed. “The INLD in Haryana and the Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab have lost the farmers’ agenda forever as these parties care for the interests of their families and not the farmers,” he said. AICC member Sumitra Chauhan and office-bearers of the district unit of the Kisan Khet Mazdoor Congress were present on the occasion. |
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Ex-servicemen to contest Faridabad, Karnal seats
Karnal, March 31 Party supremo Thakur Rajbir Singh Chauhan said the party would support candidates fielded by the Jawan Kissan Morcha for Gurgaon and Bhiwani seats. He claimed that nearly six organisations of ex-servicemen had extended their support to the new party and its allies and the party would also contest the state Assembly elections. He said Sargent Mukesh Kumar Joshi would be the party candidate from Faridabad, while the candidate from Karnal would be announced soon. Lashing out at the UPA and the NDA for taking the ex-servicemen for a ride on the issue of “one rank, one pension”, he said it was a pity that ex-servicemen were sitting on a dharna at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, since December 16 to press the genuine demand and over 13,000 ex-servicemen had so far returned their medals. Chauhan maintained that the National Executive Committee of the NDA government had decided to accept the demand and the then Defence Minister Jaswant Singh had even made an announcement to this effect at a Panchkula rally, but later the government dithered on the issue. |
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Pvt practice by govt doctors rampant
Sirsa, March 31 The practice is direct as well as indirect and is being done by those serving in the Haryana Civil Medical Services (HCMS) or by dentists. It is quite rampant in government hospitals. Private practice by doctors working in the government hospitals is not only detrimental to the interests of patients visiting hospitals but it totally defeats the recent initiatives taken by the government to improve the condition of government hospitals. However, now the government has decided to end this menace and book doctors found indulging in private practice under the Prevention of Corruption Act and also under various provisions of the IPC. Anuradha Gupta, Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Health, has asked all civil surgeons working in Haryana to send a report of the doctors doing any kind of private practice to the Director-General of Health Services, Haryana, by April 10. The civil surgeons have also been directed to send a monthly report about the doctors working under his district with regard to the private practice by the 10th of every month. “It has come to the notice of the government that there are instances of doctors indulging in direct or indirect practice. The government pays a non-practising allowance to senior medical officers, medical officers and dentists which has now been raised to 25 per cent of the salary and the doctors are prohibited from doing any kind of private practice. Private practice by a serving doctor who is receiving the non-practising allowance tantamounts to corrupt practice and is punishable under the Prevention of Corruption Act and also under the IPC,” says a communication of Anuradha Gupta to all civil surgeons of the state. “Doctors working in the government hospitals have been found indulging in several kinds of private practice, including openly starting their nursing home after proceeding on leave or charging fees on the sly or receiving commissions in the prescription of medicines or diagnostic tests or by examining patients in some private hospitals of the area. All kinds of practice are covered under the recent government orders,” Dr Narveer Singh, DGHS, Haryana, told The Tribune. The government has told all civil surgeons to keep a strict vigil in this regard and inform the DGHS, Haryana, whenever any such case comes to their notice. |
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Private bus operators go on strike
Kaithal, March 31 They parked their buses on the road leading to the residence of the Kaithal Deputy Commissioner. Later, they met DC Amneet P. Kumar and submitted a memorandum of their demands. According to information, the private bus operators have withdrawn about 78 buses plying on different routes in this district following the challan of some private buses. The bus operators alleged that today at about 10.30 am, the traffic manager and station supervisor of the local Haryana Roadways Depot stopped some private buses on the pretext of checking and later took the buses to the old bus stand. The secretary, RTA, was called there and their vehicles were impounded. In the memorandum, they complained that while unauthorised vehicles plying on routes allotted to private buses were never challaned, private buses were challaned on flimsy grounds despite the production of relevant papers by them. They also alleged that there were no sitting arrangements for passengers on the counters of private buses at the local main bus stand. They also expressed their resentment that decisions taken during a meeting with the Ambala Divisional Commissioner a few months ago were not implemented despite repeated requests. The Deputy Commissioner assured the bus operators that their grievances would be brought to the notice of the higher authorities and also asked them to withdraw the strike. |
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Tremors in Jind
Jind, March 31 According to the department concerned and locals, the first tremors were felt around 7.30 this morning. Tremors were again felt at about 9.40 am. Quakes measuring between 3 and 3.5 on the Richter scale have been felt in Jind since 2003. Though no detailed study or analysis has been done by any government agency into these occurrences, it is believed that the main cause of the tremors, which have been limited to a few kilometres in the city and the surrounding areas, is the “disturbance and damage” to the underground water table and movement of rock beneath it due to heavy use of tube wells in the region in the past few decades, said an official, who did not want to be named. |
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MDU to introduce semester system
Rohtak, March 31 The decision was taken at a meeting held under the chairmanship of the Vice-Chancellor (VC) here yesterday, in which the council accorded its sanction to the semester system of teaching and examination at PG and UG levels. However, it authorised the VC to constitute a committee to monitor the implementation of the semester system. The council also decided to introduce ‘Computer Education’ in UG courses in the affiliated colleges from the academic session 2009-10 on the pattern of Kurukshetra University. It also approved the ordinances of MA/MCom/MSc (semester system) exams. Meanwhile, the council gave its sanction to the introduction of MTech (software engineering) course in the Department of Computer Science and Technology from the coming session. |
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Dr Ravinder Chadha retires
Chandigarh, March 31 The medical service in the HSEB was limited to only consultancy when he had joined. The credit of streamlining medical facilities vis-à-vis consultation, free medicines, laboratory facility and reimbursement goes to Dr Chadha. Dr Chadha was promoted as Chief Medical Officer. Later, he was elevated to the post of Director, Medical Services, catering to all four Haryana power corporations. |
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Second chargesheet filed in Sarita case
Ambala, March 31 The CBI said in the chargesheet that due to “inaction” on the part of these police officials, a humiliated and frustrated Sarita committed suicide. Last year, the CBI had filed a chargesheet against two police officials of the CIA staff of Rohtak - Balraj and Seelak Ram - for allegedly raping Sarita when she was called to Rohtak CIA staff regarding the “release her husband”. The CBI initiated the proceedings following a directive of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Sarita had committed suicide outside the Police Headquarters in Panchkula. |
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Rs 80,000 looted
Gurgaon, March 31 He said he was working for a banquet hall and the money belonged to his owner.
— TNS |
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Varsity to have Academic Staff College
Sonepat, March 31 |
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