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Written off, BJP back to ABC of politics
School Fee Hike
Licences of 5 ration depots cancelled
Good news for anaemic patients |
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New scheme for power consumers
Surge in number of patients in govt hospitals
ASI urged to stall evacuation of Polar village
Public, govt staff suffer as lifts don’t work
Leaders relax watching IPL in S Africa
Now, community policing in buses
Project on afforestation of pvt land
Site manager crushed to death
Jassaurkheri murders: 4 held
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Written off, BJP back to ABC of politics
Chandigarh, May 24 Sources said a five-member committee comprising Ram Vilas Sharma, OP Dhankar, Kishen Singh Sanghwan and party general secretaries Capt Abhimanyu and Kunwar Pal Gujjar had been constituted to give a blueprint of the party position in the Assembly seats of the state. A senior leader of the party said the committee had been asked to grade all 90 Assembly seats based on the party’s position. “While A grade will be given for the seat we can win, C grade will be allotted to seats where we don’t stand much of a chance. We should be ready with this grading of seats in a fortnight or so. Though the position is clear in most seats, we will get back to the district presidents and do a reality check in constituencies where there is any kind of ambiguity,” he said. This, sources said, would enable the party to finalise seats it wants to contest in the forthcoming Assembly elections. It will also help identify seats that can be offered to its alliance partner, the INLD, which is also jittery after the Congress performance in the Lok Sabha elections. At the meeting, the alliance with the INLD also came up for discussion. While two candidates who contested the Lok Sabha elections were absent, Karnal candidate ID Swami appreciated the role of the INLD. Sonepat candidate Kishen Singh Sanghwan was divided in his opinion about the support from the INLD while Ambala candidate Rattan Lal Kataria was neither too critical nor supportive. Sources said following the response from the candidates, party in charge Vijay Goel sought the opinion of the office-bearers and other senior leaders present at the meeting. While most of them favoured discontinuing the alliance, Goel, after hearing them out, said the alliance would stay. Sources, however, added that seat sharing could brew big trouble for the alliance between the INLD and the BJP since the latter was in no mood to relent on the number of seats it wanted. Analysing the reasons for the defeat of the party in the Lok Sabha elections, BJP leaders not only pointed out that the alliance had not gone down well with the workers but also said some candidates fielded by the party were “weak”. Besides, the BJP had no issue to take to the people against the government and the issues it did raise did not strike a chord with the youth. |
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School Fee Hike
Faridabad, May 24 The parents, who have been agitating against the private schools under the banner of the Haryana Abhibhavak Ekta Manch, are now gearing up to intensify their struggle. Many trade unions in the state as well as a large number of residents’ welfare associations and social organisations have extended support to the manch. General secretary of the manch KL Sharma alleged that the “apathy” on the part of the government with regard to the grievances of the parents was startling. The parents’ only demand was that the private schools must stop bending the rules and subject themselves to the rules before raising the fees. The manch alleged that the district administrations and district education officers in the state, especially in Faridabad and Gurgaon, appeared to be soft on the school managements.
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Licences of 5 ration depots cancelled
Panipat, May 24 The department stated that these raids had been carried out to ensure that good quality food items were provided to the masses through the public distribution system. According to Deputy Commissioner Vijay Singh Dahiya, at present there were 472 depots in the district from where the general public could get their monthly ration. He said around 940 tonnes of wheat and 636 litres of kerosene oil were provided to ration cardholders. The DC cautioned the depot holders to ensure that there were no irregularities in their functioning or else action would be initiated against them as per the law. |
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Good news for anaemic patients
Rohtak, May 24 Earlier, just complete haemogram (CH) test was available in the PGIMS to diagnose anaemia and other haemoglobin-related ailments. The CH test is useful only to find out the haemoglobin level of a person but it cannot detect the deficiency of iron, B12 and folic acid, which are the main causes of anaemia. The determination of B12 and folic acid level are very important in patients who are refractory to iron supplementation as they cannot be treated till B12 and folic acid are diagnosed properly. Hence, the facility to test B12 and folic acid was much needed in the PGIMS to diagnose anaemia in early stages. However, following the absence of these tests here, patients had to get these tests done in private labs, which are quite costly and a poor patient cannot afford it. The head of the Department of Biochemistry, Dr Veena Gehlot, said the tests had been started in the PGIMS keeping in mind the patients’ interest. “Anaemia is widely prevalent in our society especially in children, adolescent females and nursing mothers. Since nearly 60 per cent of our population is vegetarian, vitamin B12 and folic acid deficiency is very common, which leads to anaemia. Hence, determination of B12 and folic acid level is very essential to diagnose the ailment,” Dr Veena added. An anaemic patient has an abnormally low amount of haemoglobin, which carries oxygen around the body. Less oxygen to tissues can lead to many types of problems. Main causes of anaemia are deficiency of iron, B12 and folic acid, she informed.
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New scheme for power consumers
Hisar, May 24 A spokesman of the DHBVN said here recently that 100 per cent delayed payment surcharge amount would be waived on liquidation of outstanding principal amount in lump sum. In case of wrong billing, the same would be corrected as per the existing instructions. The scheme would also be applicable to theft cases. He said the benefit of the scheme would be given to those consumers only who were defaulters as on March 31. It would be applicable to those consumers also whose cases were pending in court. In case of disconnected consumers, reconnection would be made on the liquidation of principal amount in lump sum. |
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Surge in number of patients in govt hospitals
Sirsa, May 24 The number of new patients that visited the OPD of the general hospital here during the first four months of 2008 was 19,971, while as many as 24,990 new patients visited the same hospital from January 2009 to April 2009. Similarly, 23,170 old and new patients visited the district hospital during the first four months in the year 2008, while the figure has risen to 32,182 this year. The inpatient department (IPD) of the hospital has also witnessed increase in number of patients. Like Sirsa, most of other districts of the state have witnessed an increase in number of OPD as well as IPD patients after November 2008, when the government began recruiting specialist doctors in government hospitals and provided them facilities. Shortage of doctors, particularly specialists in various departments of medicine and surgery was the main reason behind the lesser numbers of people opting for treatment in government hospitals in the past. Anuradha Gupta, Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Health, Haryana, introduced a rolling system of recruitment for the doctors to overcome shortage, under which interviews are held for recruiting doctors on the 10th day of every month. Preference is given to postgraduates and if they are not available then PG diploma holders and plain graduates are appointed. “We started the process in November 2008 and so far 550 doctors, which include over 300 specialist doctors have been recruited,” Gupta said. She claims Haryana is the first state in the country to introduce such a system. “We ensure that specialist doctors appointed in the government hospitals are not wasted and hence accountability of such doctors have increased,” she said and added that every hospital at the district level has to send a daily report of surgical operations performed by specialist doctors to the headquarters through e-mail and the performance of specialist doctors is reviewed every week. She said from April onward, she started meetings of specialist doctors at the headquarters so that the problems faced by these doctors at the ground level could also be addressed . However, despite these steps, availability of most of the doctors on their seats continues to bother the patients. “I have been waiting for the past 30 minutes for the doctor to come and now I have found at least half of the OPD rooms are sans doctors,” said a patient waiting for a specialist doctor in the local general hospital.
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ASI urged to stall evacuation of Polar village
Kaithal, May 24 She said she had constituted a committee in which senior officers of the district and representatives of the ASI had been included. The committee would find a way to tackle the issue of causing minimum inconvenience to the villagers without defying the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Earlier, the village panchayat had met the DC and urged her to stop the evacuation process, which, they said, would render 5,000 residents of the village homeless. The ASI, on orders of the high court, had ordered the residents of the village to evacuate it by May 25. There were claims that the village had some evidence of the Mahabharata period and the ASI proposed to conduct a research. The ASI had proposed to build a boundary wall round the village after getting it evacuated and carry the research work. However, the villagers have been strongly protesting the move. Recently, the villagers had also organised a dharna to get the evacuation orders rescinded. They maintained that the village had been dug thrice in the past - 1888, 1933 and 1938 - but nothing belonging to the period of the Mahabharata was discovered.
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Public, govt staff suffer as lifts don’t work
Gurgaon, May 24 The problem: The lifts don’t work. Most of the six lifts installed in the six-storeyed building have been lying unmoved ever since their installation. The only “working” lift also developed some snag and has not been working since past several weeks. Thanks to the non-working lifts, the visitors as well as officials posted here are left with no alternative but to climb the umpteen stairs to reach their “official” destination. Especially the elderly and physically challenged persons find it quite difficult to climb the stairs to high floors. “We have to go to the ground floor several times during the office hours for various official works, which drains out the body’s energy…it becomes even more difficult in the hot weather,” says a government employee who works in an office on the fifth floor of the building. According to construction experts, there should also be a provision for some ramp for the convenience of the physically challenged persons, but the mini-secretariat building is devoid of any such provision. Inquiries made by this correspondent revealed that the mini-secretariat building was constructed by Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) and handed over to the PWD (B&R) for maintenance. However, the PWD wing refused to take the responsibility of the lifts, stating that these were not in proper working condition. It was around 2004. Since then, the departments have been trying to evade their responsibility by passing the buck at all occasions whenever some corrective action is required. Deputy Commissioner Deepti Umashankar told The Tribune that the PWD (B&R) had sought a certain amount from the HUDA authorities to assume charge of the lifts and the payment had been made recently. “The lifts will be got repaired soon and it will be ensured that these continue to work smoothly and efficiently. We are in the process of constituting a committee for the purpose,” she maintained.
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Leaders relax watching IPL in S Africa
Sirsa, May 24 Besides the politicians, a large number of film actors and actresses and captains of the Indian trade and industry are also in South Africa to watch the action there. Haryana too has its own share of politicians rubbing shoulders with the “who’s who” of the country watching cricket in South Africa. Deepender Hooda, the newly elected Rohtak MP, who defeated Nafe Singh Rathee of the INLD by a record margin, is in South Africa to relax from the tiredness of the recently concluded parliamentary elections by watching Twenty20 cricket in the IPL. Deepender is the son of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Also accompanying the younger Hooda is Kunal Bhadoo, son-in-law of the Chief Minister. Bhadoo, too toiled hard in the Indian Political League, when he held forte in the Kosli assembly segment of the Rohtak parliamentary constituency to campaign for his brother-in-law. Bhadoo was also active in campaigning in the Fatehabad Assembly segment of the Sirsa seat, where Indian Youth Congress president Ashok Tanwar was contesting.
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Now, community policing in buses
Yamunanagar, May 24 He also gave away awards to 1,200 GRP rail wardens, who had helped the Railways to prevent serious crimes. The DGP said in order to prevent crime, a project was handed over to the SP Railways, Bharti Arora. Within six months, Arora managed to form the GRP Rail Warden Association, an NGO with 1,200 voluntaries from all over the state. The voluntaries helped the Railways to root out the number of gangs and crime. |
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Project on afforestation of pvt land
Sirsa, May 24 An official spokesman said the project proposal consisted of afforesting privately owned land situated in eight villages of Sirsa district. The total target area was 370 hectares, which was owned by 227 farmers. “The farmers have voluntarily agreed to the conditions of the project proposal and had got the plantation carried out in 300 hectares during 2008-09 and the rest of the target land would be afforested during 2009-10,” he added. Though the land that had been taken up as target was very small, it opens up prospective possibility of future projects that could come up as follow up to pioneering projects. All 227 farmers would continue to receive the benefits by harvesting short rotation tree species at the end of 10 years and long rotation tree species at the end of 20 years. He said the CDM pilot project preparation went through a highly rigorous exercise of mobilisation of public opinion leading to the constitution and registration of farmers’ society, namely Haryana CDM Variksh Kisan Samiti, Ellenabad, Sirsa, and ground field surveys by the Haryana Community Forestry Projects of Haryana Forest Department. “During the first phase, a project concept note (PNC) was prepared and got approved by the national designated authority,” he said. After this, another document called as project designed document (PDD) was prepared by incorporating basic field information and project concepts. In the third phase, the pilot project was got validated by subjecting the PDD through an international validating expert. During the fourth phase, the project was published on the website of UNFCCC for scrutiny and possible objections on the project. After lapsing the designed period, now the UNFCCC had registered the pilot project as fit for carbon trading under the clean development mechanism. The multistage preparation of PCN and PDD, approval by national designated authority, validation, publication on website and registration involved intricate technicalities and about Rs 2 million were spent during a period of two years by the European Union-Aided Haryana Community Forestry Project, the spokesman added.
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Site manager crushed to death
Ratia (Fatehabad), May 24 The deceased has been identified as Rajiv, a resident of Hanumangarh district of Rajasthan, and the injured as Ramdhari, a resident of Hisar. The victims were employees of the contractor, who had been assigned the job of strengthening the river walls near the bridge after two persons had died due to road collapse near the bridge last year. The incident took place when the victims were standing near the site where the work was in progress. Labourers working on the site alleged that big stones kept carelessly on the banks of the river suddenly started falling and the victims were crushed under the stones. They were immediately rushed to the Fatehabad General Hospital, where Rajiv succumbed to his injuries. Ramdhari, who was in a critical condition, was referred to Hisar. However, the authorities are trying to play down the incident as a mere accident. Executive engineer as well as the SDO of the PWD (B&R), who are responsible for the construction activities, did not respond to the calls on their mobiles despite repeated efforts. JE KC Gupta maintained that the two officials had slipped from the riverbank and were crushed under stones that fell on them. Sonu Garg, a local trader, and his four-year-old son Jatin had died on June 16, 2008, when a portion of the road adjacent to the bridge caved in due to erosion of the walls of the river. The then Additional Deputy Commissioner, CG Rajnikanthan, who conducted an inquiry into the incident, had held the contractor as well as officials of the PWD (B&R) responsible for the incident. A part of the bridge had again collapsed with a few days of its being declared fit for use. The authorities had blacklisted the contractor on that occasion. The walls of the river were being fortified with stones to avoid repetition of the incident that took two lives last year. The police said it was investigating the matter and action would be initiated against the guilty. |
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Jassaurkheri murders: 4 held
Jhajjar, May 24 They were produced before a court which sent them to police custody for six days. The police had registered a case against seven persons in connection with the killings. Three other accused in the case are still at large. Following old enmity, Hariom of Jassaurkheri village, his sister Krishna Devi and nephew Naresh, both residents of Dhighal village here, were gunned down by motorcycle-borne armed assailants at the bus stand in JassaurKheri village while they were returning home after getting a complaint of abduction of Shamsher, son of Krishna Devi, lodged with the Aasuda police post under the Bahadurgarh police station on May 20. A day after the incident, the mutilated body of Shamsher was also found near a pond in Matan village. |
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People visiting the Gurgaon mini-secretariat building housing various government offices are a harried lot. For a change, the government officials posted here are also at the receiving end.
The problem: The lifts don’t work. Most of the six lifts installed in the six-storeyed building have been lying unmoved ever since their installation. The only “working” lift also developed some snag and has not been working since past several weeks.
