Sirsa, June 22
Sampling of food items has been slack throughout the state in the past mainly due to the shortage of government food inspectors (GFIs) and sometimes due to the reluctance of government doctors to perform the onerous duty of accompanying the GFIs to raids for collecting samples and then having to visit courts for evidence.

Six districts of the state have been doing without GFIs and the inspectors of other districts have been looking after these districts, along with their own districts.

With such large areas to inspect, the GFIs cannot be expected to collect samples of food items with an efficacy that could deter adulterators effectively.

A recent notification issued by the state government has tried to address the issue, although its effectiveness is yet to be seen.

In the exercise of powers conferred by Sub-section (1) of Section 9 of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954, (Act 37 of 1954), and in supersession of the government, Health Department, notification number 34/71/87-2 HBII, dated February 26, 1991, the state government has appointed some government doctors posted in the state headquarters or at district, sub-division or community health centre-level as food inspectors for the areas of their respective jurisdiction.

The director-general of health services, Haryana, will exercise powers of food inspector within the state except railway station and railway colonies. The Indian Railways have their own set of officers for the purpose.

According to the notification, civil surgeons and all deputy civil surgeons posted at district levels will exercise powers of food inspectors in the local areas comprised within the districts of their respective postings.

Similarly, the senior medical officers (SMOs) posted in the sub-divisional hospitals and community health centres (CHCs) will exercise these powers in the local areas comprised within respective jurisdiction of their CHC or sub-division, respectively.

Where SMOs are not posted at the CHCs or sub-divisional hospitals, the medical officers posted as in charge of such CHCs and hospitals will exercise powers of food inspectors, according to the notification.

However, a section in the Health Department is sceptical about the success of the move of the government as they maintain that the GFIs not only take samples, but also stand in the shoes of public prosecutors, when the cases of adulterators are taken to the courts.

“Senior government doctors are not expected of taking the trouble of following the cases in the courts for years,” said an official of the department.

Anuradha Gupta, financial commissioner and principal secretary, Haryana, however, said these were merely enabling provisions and the doctor so empowered should not be construed as substitute for the GFIs.

She said by vesting the powers of food inspectors in doctors, they would be in a position to take samples, where urgency demanded and the GFIs were not immediately available.

She added that powers of district health officers would be divided in many officers instead of the earlier practice of one officer.

Rewari, June 22
Ragini Dwivedi (18), daughter of Col Rakesh Kumar Dwivedi, a native of Rewari and presently settled at Bengaluru in Karnataka, has gained recognition in the Rewari region as well.

She was crowned as Miss Beautiful Hair in the Pantaloons Femina Miss India 2009 pageant held in Mumbai recently. Brought up in Bengaluru, Ragini holds a deep-rooted association with Rewari.

Her grandfather late Pyare Lal Dwivedi was a railway guard here, while her father Rakesh Dwivedi was born in Rewari and also got his school education here.

Her grandmother, uncle Chander Shekhar Dwivedi and his family are domiciled at Rewari. Thus Ragini, too, occasionally visits Rewari. Recently, when she paid a visit to Jaipur, she made a brief stopover here as well.

Ragini, who is presently doing graduation in journalism and mass communication from Indo Asian Academy, Bengaluru, has simultaneously modelled for Lakme fashion week, Sri Lanka fashion week as well as for designers like Rahit Bal, Tarun Tahillian, Manish Malhotra, Ritu Kumar and Sabya Sachi (Bangladesh) during past one year.

Besides, she also acted in a Kannada film “Veera Madhakri” with Sudeep. Due to such exposure in the tinsel world, she received a lot of calls from prominent actors as well. Presently, she is doing a Tamil film “Ariyaan” opposite Santosh, who is a popular figure in the Telugu film industry.

She said she was happy to work in regional films just to gain experience and maturity, but Bollywood was her ultimate destination for which she was contemplating to shift to Mumbai in due course.

Stating that Miss Universe Sushmita Sen was her icon, she participated in Femina Miss India South contest held at Hyderabad in December 2008.

To her delight, she was declared the first runner-up in the above pageant, which got her direct entry into the finals of the Pantaloons Femina Miss India 2009 contest held in Mumbai recently.

Hisar, June 22
Despite being one of the biggest district towns of Haryana, Hisar has only one fire engine which, too, was borrowed from a subdivisional town of Sirsa district.

The paucity of fire tenders was acutely felt when a major fire broke out in the busy Red Square Market recently. The fire was brought under control within hours, but had it spread, it would have been impossible for the local firemen to control it.

The local fire station got a new fire engine in 1985. Since then, no vehicle has been provided while the old vehicles have been rendered useless.

Under the circumstances, a fire tender was recently borrowed from Ellenabad in Sirsa district, the only working fire-control vehicle with the fire station.

Fire stations in Haryana do not have standby power generators. In Hisar, fire engines cannot source water from the fire station tubewell in case of a power failure as it does not have a generator to run the tubewell. In such an eventuality, the engines are rushed to a nearby canal.

Inquiries also reveal that firemen, too, are ill-equipped to handle major fires. The local fire station has only one fire-axe for more than 35 firemen. Most firemen in the state have not been issued uniforms for two or more years.

Even gum boots are not provided. The local fire station has only four pairs. Helmets are also found in short supply everywhere.

Legally, all fire stations which have more than four fire-fighting vehicles are supposed to have their own workshops.

No fire station has its own workshop in the state. Their vehicles are serviced at private garages. In the absence of adequate funding, most fire engines have rusted beyond redemption.

It is found that firemen are being deployed for clerical duties. The local fire station was sanctioned three posts sometime ago.

Thus, three employees of the municipal corporation were promoted as firemen. However, they continue to function as clerks in the council office.

Even government buildings continue to be lacking in fire safety. For example, no fire-fighting equipment has been provided in the five-storey mini-secretariat here despite instructions of the fire authorities.

The building houses all major government departments and thousands of persons are crowded inside the building on working days.

Rohtak, June 22
Following the custom of joining the armed forces, youth of the state have been opting for defence services as a career.

Their bravery and courage in various battles have won them great laurels. Even today, with the onset of corporate career, a career in the armed forces still attracts the students of the state.

The Youth Centre for Skill Development for Defence Services, established by Mahrshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, after realising the significance of a career in the armed forces nearly 10 months ago, has started yielding productive results.

The centre is one of its kinds in the country and its three trainees - Meenakshi, Pawan and Satbir Malik - have so far also qualified for a career in the armed forces, while scores of other youths are also ready to face the challenges of SSB examination for combined defence services (CDS).

The training programme is being conducted under the aegis of the Department of Students’ Welfare (DSW) of the university.

Prof Rajbir Singh, dean of the DSW, said the students who had got their call letters from the SSB, those who were awaiting call letters, NCC entry scheme ‘C’ certificate holders, technical entry graduates and those who have qualified their CDS written examination are eligible to participate in the programme.

“The university provides free lodging and boarding to the participating students. During the month-long programme, a trainee’s day starts with physical training and exercise in the sports ground of the university. During the day time, there are theoretical classes on various aspects like developing communication skills, preparing for group discussions, interview preparations, etc.,” said Rajbir, adding, late in the afternoon and evening, it was current affairs time with the trainees browsing magazines and newspapers to sharpen their general knowledge and current contemporary awareness.

Dr RP Hooda, vice-chancellor, said the centre was established keeping in view the need of the students of this region who have keen interest in a career in the armed forces. He expressed the hope that in the future, the centre would be a nursery of sorts for a career in the armed forces.

Lt-Col DS Deswal, project director of the programme, said since its inception, eight batches of the students had received training under the programme.

Sunit Mukherjee, director, public relations, said the centre was a great tool for the empowerment of students of the state vis-à-vis career in the armed forces.

Jhajjar, June 22
After a long wait, Vijayant Tank, which refreshes the memories of bravery and sacrifice of valiant Indian soldiers during the 1971 war against Pakistan, has finally reached Jhajjar from the Army headquarters, New Delhi.

The tank would be placed on premises of the mini-secretariat with a view to keeping the memory of wars alive and to instilling patriotism among the youth as well.

However, the tank was earlier to be placed at the Shahidi Park here on the pattern of the Rohtak’s Mansarover Park and Shahid Samarak of Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU), but after contemplation for long, the district administration found mini-secretariat a suitable place for the display of the tank.

As per information, Jhajjar is one of the districts of the state where more than 30,000 ex-servicemen and their nearly 1.5 lakh dependents have been registered.

At least, 212 soldiers have sacrificed their lives for the motherland and are proud to have 13 victory crosses (pre and post-independence) and four Mahavir Chakra, nine Vir Chakra, two Kirti Chakra and 11 Shaurya Chakra that were won by the warriors of the district.

Keeping in view their significant contribution in various wars, Zila Sainik Board had drawn a plan to place a Vijayant Tank at the park to recall the sacrifice of martyrs.

The board had sent a proposal in the regard to the secretary of the Rajya Sainik Board last year and demanded to arrange a Vijayant Tank pre-MK-IA free of cost from the Army as war trophy to be displayed at the Shahidi Park in the memory of the martyrs of the district.

Later, the Defence Ministry, on the request of the Rajya Sainik Board, had approved the proposal regarding arrangement of a tank for Jhajjar. Since then, the Zila Sainik Board had been waiting for the tank.

“After the display of the tank, the mini-secretariat will not only look more beautiful, but also make the youth proud of the martyrs of the district,” said president of the Zila Sainik Board and DC Nitin Yadav.

The tank would be made more beautiful by using coloured paint on it. A platform would also be constructed in the premises of the mini-secretariat where the tank would be placed, he maintained.

A panel of those running private diagnostic centres would also be formed who would be asked to assist the government in the said scheme.

Sirsa, June 22
Paintings and portraits do talk. Shankar Sharma, an artist from Sirsa town, has proved it right. After having started painting in his childhood as a hobby, 53-year-old Shankar has the ability to express the moments of ecstasy and distress, happiness and melancholy through his paintings.

He took to painting as a career in 1977 and there is no looking back since then. During all these years, he has been honoured and acclaimed by several prominent persons, including the then President Giani Zail Singh.

It was not an easy beginning for Shankar, who was born in a business family. Sitting in his father’s shop, Shankar would translate his imaginations on to the pieces of papers by making sketches.

Shankar has studied up to matriculation only, but the lack of formal education did not come in his way to scale heights in the avocation of his interest.

He learnt the finer nuances of painting from Kanhaya Lal of Nawalgarh in Rajasthan. However, he only made portraits. Gradually, Shankar dabbled with other genre of paintings and practiced to expertise.

Today, he can make paintings with water paints, oil paints, pencil sketches and portraits. He can even paint on small objects like a rice grain etc.

He has to his credit about 7,000 paintings and portraits and has trained about 2,500 students till now. Portraits have always been his specialty and of his 7,000 paintings, over 3,500 are portraits.

Rural surroundings have always interested Shankar, who has based most of his paintings on rural womenfolk engaged in daily chores.

The earthiness of the paintings is the unique feature of Shankar’s works. “God is the biggest painter and nature is his painting. I only believe in copying a little bit from the paintings of the Almighty,” says Shankar, who has been providing training to students in schools and colleges.

Shankar says painting demands a lot of concentration and hard work and there are no shortcuts to learning this art.

“No Guru can produce artists. He can only polish the talent of a person. As gold cannot be created and one can only polish it, similarly, artists are born and cannot be made,” he says.

Does he make a decent living from the profession? Shankar says he has limited his needs to the minimum and leads a simple life.

He has set up his own Shankar Chitrashala in the Noharia Bazar of Sirsa town, where he has put all his works on display.

Sirsa, June 22
The district planning committee (DPC) has decided to set up a career guidance cell in Sirsa for providing counselling to students aspiring to take admissions to various professional courses. This was decided at a meeting of the committee held here.

Presided over by deputy commissioner Yudhbir Singh, the meeting was attended by Dabwali MLA Sita Ram, Darba Kalan MLA Bharat Singh Beniwal and Zila Parishad chairman Abhey Singh Chautala.

“It has been decided to set up a cell for providing career counselling to youngsters where experts could be invited to provide guide the students in choosing a right type of career depending upon their aptitude,” said Dr J Ganeshan, additional deputy commissioner, Sirsa, and member secretary of the DPC.

Meanwhile, subcommittees have been constituted for taking up various tasks before the authorities and members of the panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) have been afforded participation in the matter of development.

The DPC constituted subcommittees on literacy and elementary education, primary education and sanitation, rural drinking water, rural roads management, housing management, women and child nutrition management, rural electrification management and youth energy management for smooth functioning of the projects.

“Subcommittees have been constituted in such a manner that these include officers of department concerned as well as members of PRIs,” informed Dr Ganeshan.

The subcommittees would meet independently and suggest measures for improvement in their respective fields to the authorities after which action would be taken by the authorities taking those suggestions into consideration.

The subcommittees would be empowered to hire services of experts, where needed, said the additional deputy commissioner.

The state government, Dr Ganeshan informed, had sanctioned Rs 1,575 lakh for Sirsa under the DPC out of which Rs 1,117 lakh would be spent on various works, while Rs 458 lakh would be used for special schemes for the welfare of the Scheduled Castes.

Karnal, June 22
The racist attacks on Indians in Australia are mainly confined to cities like Melbourne and Sydney. Indians in other parts of the country are not even fully aware of the attacks due to complete blackout of such incidents by the Australian media, says Viplov Abrol, who arrived here recently on a holiday.

Abrol, a resident of Sector 8 here, has been staying in Australia for the past over three and a half years. After completing a course in hospitality management, he worked in Melbourne for about one year and later shifted to Brisbane.

“I came to know about the attacks after a family member rang me up to enquire about my well-being,” he told The Tribune here.

Australians were “unfriendly” not only to Indians, but all foreigners. But, as Indians are scattered all over the country and less in number, they become soft targets.

However, people of all other countries were with us, he said, adding that New Zealanders were the largest minority while Lebanese were stout and did not face such attacks.

Abrol said stray incidents of loot and assault during night by some anti-social elements was nothing new, but it was for the first time that a “racist” element had been added, making the Indians apprehensive about their safety and security.

When asked whether the Indians were planning to return, he said there was a feeling of unrest and insecurity among Indians in places like Melbourne and Sydney, but there was no such threat in Perth, Brisbane and other places.

“Obviously, the first choice of Indians facing attacks is to shift to some other place in Australia and returning to India is the last option. Some friends in Melbourne have enquired about job prospects in Brisbane and plan to move out,” he disclosed.

He said there was no discrimination in payment of wages between Australians and others, but people working without a valid work permit were at a disadvantage and paid fewer wage.

Abrol, who would be returning to Australia after holidays, looked unperturbed and hoped that the situation would improve in due course and the menace would not spread to other areas.

The meeting was also informed that special camps would be organised for the updating and rectification of the voters’ lists, adding that the local representatives of the political parties had been invited to play a proactive role in the process.

Ambala, June 22
The construction of a trauma centre on the Ambala City Civil Hospital premises was completed a month ago, but neither the appointment of specialised doctors has been made so far nor the necessary equipment like CT scan, X-ray and MRI have been made available there.

According to information, as per the norms, a level - II trauma centre should be well-equipped to provide comprehensive emergency medical services to patients.

This rank of a trauma centre is required to have a certain number of surgeons and anesthesiologists. There should be an arrangement for orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, plastic surgery, radiology and maxillofacial surgery.

The union government had provided funds for its construction. More than Rs 1.5 crore has been spent on its construction while a huge amount is further required to make it operational. The staff and other requirements have to be arranged by the Health Department.

One of the doctors of the hospital said the availability of specialised doctors would be a big problem for the centre as there was an acute shortage of super-specialist doctors in the state.

The post of radiologist had been lying vacant for the past five years and the ultrasound machine had been lying abandoned.

He said a radiologist could not be arranged, so, how would specialised doctors like neurosurgeon, neurophysician and psychologist be made available at the centre?

Initially, the department will engage specialised doctors on a contract basis, which would not be an easy task.

The doctors said the department should appoint permanent specialised doctors and other paramedical staff.

Rohtak, June 22
In view of growing security concerns in the corporate world owing to rising crime, the Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) administration has taken an initiative to provide professional education to retired army personnel for not only gaining job opportunities in the field of corporate security but also for handling any crisis tactfully during the employment.

The Directorate of Distance Education (DDE) of the university has come up with an appealing and novel vocational course named “Diploma in Corporate Security Management (DCSM)”, especially for those who have retired from the army and wish to join the corporate world.

As per the authorities’ claim, this is the sole course of its kind which is being introduced for the first time at the university level, especially for ex-servicemen.

The duration of the course will be six months and the enrolled candidates will be academically trained about the aspects of security, planning, information security and crisis management.

The course will also give the necessary knowledge for handling unclaimed objects/ bombs, action in case of unarmed intrusion, gas leakage and other accidents, industrial security law, organisation of industrial security, management of visitors, traffic control, unsafe situations at workplace, insecure practices by workers, responsibility of the management and duty and rights of security personnel.

Prof Narender Garg, director of the DDE, said the aim behind the introduction of the course was to provide valuable instructions and qualification in the field of corporate security as professional knowledge of security had become the need of the hour.