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NREGA funds siphoned off, alleges BJP
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SEXUAL
Harassment
Give copy of probe report to student, says women’s panel
Fake Admit Cards
Baba’s bail
Chautala took up only Kanda issue, says MHA
Ensure safety of runaway couples, orders DGP
Bus catches fire; passengers safe
Drug addict batters father to death
4.5-ft cucumber!
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Plan panel okays Rs 18,260 cr outlay for state
New Delhi, May 11 In real terms, the state Budget will be 10 per cent higher. When the component of PSEs is added the hike works out to be 82 per cent. Officials in Haryana explained that the head of PSEs has been added this year and hence the huge increase. In comparison Punjab’s Annual Plan is expected to be in the range of Rs 8,200 crore and the Planning Commission is expected to grant its approval at the end of this month. The Plan outlay, proposed by the state government, was finalised at a meeting between Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, and Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Chief Minister of Haryana, here today. A spokesperson for the government claimed that the Planning Commission had appreciated the efforts made by Haryana in accelerating the pace of development. The Chief Minister said the state gross domestic product, when tabulated, was expected to reflect a growth at 8.1 per cent for the fiscal ending March 31 this year. The revenue receipts increased by 18 per cent in 2009-10 over last year. VAT collections jumped by 18.8 per cent. Fiscal deficit reduced from 5.13 per cent of the SGDP in 1998-99 to 3.59 per cent in 2010-11, the government said. Of the Rs 11,100 crore outlay among various sectors, the highest priority has been given to social sector comprising education, health, drinking water supply and sanitation; urban development, housing and promotion of social justice through pensions to the old, differently abled, widows and destitutes. An outlay of Rs 5,221.36 crore has been kept for these services which is 47.04 per cent of the net Plan outlay. Of this, an amount of Rs 1,400 crore has been kept for social welfare, mainly for pensions to the old, differently abled, widows and destitutes. A sum of Rs 1,448 crore has been earmarked for education, including technical and vocational education; Rs 312.76 crore for health services and medical education; and Rs 650 crore for drinking water supply and sewerage schemes. An amount of Rs. 849.76 crore has been allotted for housing and urban development. A sum of Rs 4,366 crore, or 39. 33 per cent of the outlay, has been earmarked for improvement of basic infrastructure in irrigation, power, roads and road transport. Of this, Rs 804.40 crore has been earmarked for irrigation; Rs 1,670.67 crore for power; Rs 1,177.36 crore for roads and road transport and Rs 713.79 crore for the HRDF and the UIDF. An outlay of Rs 1,172.66 crore has been allocated to agriculture, allied activities and rural development. Notably, when Hooda took over in his first term as Chief Minister in 2004-05 the size of the Plan was
Rs 2,236 crore. In these years the state has shifted from being an agricultural economy and its exports from the IT sector alone stood at Rs 21,000 crore and the manufacturing sector has a bigger share in the SGDP than agriculture. |
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NREGA funds siphoned off, alleges BJP
Chandigarh, May 11 Charges of corruption are being made widely, alleging that funds for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGA) were siphoned off unabashedly. It has been alleged in a memorandum submitted by the Haryana BJP to Governor Jagannath Pahadia here today that certain officials of the forest department siphoned off the NREGA funds by showing them as spent on plantation. The BJP alleged that the “scam” took place under the political patronage. The scam, according to the BJP, continued for three years and the funds siphoned off were to the tune of Rs 25 crore. The memorandum was submitted by a delegation led by party president Krishan Pal Gurjar and it included leader of the BJP legislature party Anil Vij and former party president Rattan Lal Kataria. Vij said though no cash payment could be made to workers employed under the scheme, the officials withdrew cash from a bank account operated under a single name, which was contrary to the government instructions. The forest officials allegedly made bogus muster rolls, showing employment of non-existent labourers. In a test check, the party found that many persons shown as residents of particular villages did not belong to those villages. Ironically, the scam was investigated by two ADCs. After the first officer submitted a tentative report, he was transferred. The other officer also met the same fate. Instead of taking action against the guilty, Vij alleged that the government was targeting the whistle blowers, who were petty officials. These officials had been issued notices though they had reported that no work had been done in their respective areas. The BJP demanded a judicial inquiry into the scam. |
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SEXUAL
Harassment
Sirsa, May 11 Commissioner, Hisar Division, Balbir Singh Malik, who is also looking after the charge of Vice-Chancellor of the university, today said the EC was the only competent body to take action in such matters and hence a special meeting of the council had been called to consider the report and take suitable action. Malik has also constituted a three-member committee comprising Dean, Academic Affairs, Sultan Singh, Dean, Faculty of Physical Sciences, Parveen Agamkar and Deputy Registrar (Establishment) NC Jain to look into the complaint of a woman Assistant Professor of the university. The woman teacher had lodged a complaint of harassment against her chairperson, a Professor in her department, on May 1, accusing him of “indecent behaviour” by calling her alone to his office. Interestingly, the university authorities have preferred to constitute a committee with all men as its members to look into the complaint of the woman Assistant Professor, while a women complaints committee to deal with such grievances of women at workplaces is in place in the university. Earlier, after receiving a complaint from the student of the JMC Department, the university authorities had constituted a three-member committee to probe the matter, but before the committee could begin its work, the complaint was handed over to the women complaints committee on the directions of the Haryana State Women Commission. The commission had directed the university authorities to get the complaint probed from a committee constituted as per the directions of the Supreme Court in the Vishakha judgment. Meanwhile, concerned over the two incidents of alleged “sexual harassment” of women in the university and piqued at the authorities’ “failure to take steps expected of them”, Haryana State Women Commission chairperson Sushila Sharma has sought the intervention of Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal in ensuring speedy action on the two complaints. In a letter to the minister, a copy of which has been sent to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the women panel chief has sought the minister’s intervention in making the environment conducive to education in the university so that girl students could study and women teachers could do their job with confidence. A copy of the letter is in the custody of The Tribune. |
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Give copy of probe report to student, says women’s panel
Sirsa, May 11 The commission has also asked the university authorities to provide the complainant a copy of the CD containing the videorecording of the inquiry conducted by the committee. In its letter written to the Deputy Commissioner, Sirsa, a copy of which has been sent to the Registrar of the university with a request to supply the report and the CD to the girl, the commission has also asked the DC to send to the commission a report of the case with his comments. A copy of the commission’s letter, bearing number 121-122, dated May 6, 2010, is in the custody of The Tribune. “The commission has received a fax from the complainant yesterday along with her letter dated May 5 written by her to the Registrar of the university. The girl has alleged that the Registrar has refused to provide her a copy of the report as well as the CD of the videorecording of the inquiry conducted by the committee, despite several requests by her,” the commission has said in its communication to the DC. “The complainant has also expressed apprehensions that she has no hope of getting justice from the women complaints committee as its members had been unduly pressuring her to withdraw her complaint even before conducting the inquiry,” said the communication of the commission. The commission added that the complainant felt that the authorities in the university were trying to save the teachers by whatever means. “The matter appears to be very serious and needs action accordingly,” said the letter of the commission. The commission added that to allay all kinds of apprehensions from the mind of the complainant, a copy of the report of the women complaints committee as well as the CD of the
video recording of the inquiry conducted by the committee must be supplied to her without delay. |
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Fake Admit Cards
Jhajjar, May 11 Dahiya, an assistant in the result branch-1 of the university was found “guilty” of committing the fraud and indulging in corrupt practices during investigation carried out by a two-member committee of senior professors. The suspension orders have been issued by VC RP Hooda, who has already directed the college branch of the university to get an FIR lodged with the police against an employee and principal of Sanskriti Institute of Education and Technology, Amarpur Jorasi, Narnaul, in this connection. During the probe, Jaidev had confessed to have issued the fabricated admit cards to five candidates at the behest of Ishwar Dahiya without obtaining the signature of the superintendent and confirming the matter with the registration branch. Later, Dahiya admitted before the inquiry committee that the examination forms submitted by the principal were neither brought to the notice of the higher authorities, nor an order obtained before issuing the letter of withdrawal of the first confidential list wherein the roll numbers of genuine candidates were mentioned. Confirming the suspension of Dahiya, VC Hooda said no employee of the university would be spared if he/she was found indulging in the corrupt practices. “I have also ordered a charge sheet against Dahiya and a notice to the college management, asking why action should not be taken against its principal for fraud,” said the VC, adding that both erring persons would be punished as per the law. Meanwhile, efforts have begun to mount pressure on the university officers to “settle the matter.” “An influential political leader met me on behalf of the erring persons but was surprised when apprised of the fraud committed,” a senior officer of the university told The Tribune pleading anonymity. Five fabricated admit cards for the annual theoretical exams of BPEd were issued by the university employees to candidates not even enrolled for the course. On the basis of the fabricated cards, three of the five candidates, Rashida Jamal, Amit Joshi and Mukesh Chander, all students of the Sanskriti Institute of Education and Technology, sat for the exams. The institute principal had
submitted their exam forms to the university after duly attesting these. |
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Baba’s bail
Ambala, May 11 The hearing in the sexual exploitation case of dera sadhvis in which the dera chief is the main accused was conducted on the second day today through video-conferencing in the court of Special Judge AS Narang. The CBI produced a polygraph expert of Delhi, Paul Ramesh, as witness. He had conducted a polygraph test on two of the accused stated to be dera functionaries and accused in the Ranjit murder case. |
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Chautala took up only Kanda issue, says MHA
Chandigarh, May 11 The ministry today clarified that Chautala did not seek an amendment to the Hindu Marriage Act to ban same-gotra marriages when he met Home Minister P. Chidambaram yesterday. A news report had quoted Chautala, after a meeting with Chidambaram in Delhi, as having claimed that the INLD delegation led by him had demanded an amendment in law as demanded by
the khaps. A statement issued by the ministry today said other than an incident in Sirsa district involving Haryana's Minister of State for Home Affairs Gopal Kanda, "no subject was discussed during the meeting." The ministry said the delegation submitted a memorandum demanding that an FIR be registered against Kanda because his bodyguards had “assaulted” INLD activists during a shutdown in Sirsa district on April 3. The party had sought his removal from the Cabinet. Kanda, who is among the seven Independent MLAs supporting the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government in the state, has denied the
allegations. |
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Ensure safety of runaway couples, orders DGP
Yamunanagar, May 11 The DGP has cited High Court orders in this regard. “If a member of the Khap
Panchayat also happens to be member of the panchayat under the provisions of Haryana Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, misconducts and support illegal acts of Khap Panchayats, he will be proceeded against under the provisions of the Haryana Panchayati Raj Act,” says the order, a copy of which is with The Tribune. In order to ensure the life and liberty of a runaway couple, it has been further stated that if the girl is a major, she should not be taken away by the police to her parents against her consent. Nor should criminal force be used against the boy. “Whenever any intimation is received by the SSP/SP of the district regarding the marriage of a young couple facing threat to their life and liberty at the instance of family members of one of the spouses, the SP/SSP concerned will himself/herself look into the matter and issue necessary directions,” the orders say. The order mentions that according to the SC ruling in the Lata Singh versus State of UP case, it has been held that there is no bar on inter-caste marriages under the Hindu
Marriage Act or any other law. |
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Bus catches fire; passengers safe
Karnal, May 11 The passengers revealed that the tank of the bus got disjointed and started rubbing against the ground, spilling oil all around. The friction between the tank and the road created sparks due to which the bus caught fire. Showing exemplary courage, the driver, Kuldeep Singh, hurriedly parked the bus on the roadside and took out all passengers and their belongings with the help of the conductor, Kashmiri Lal.
— TNS |
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Drug addict batters father to death
Panipat, May 11 Today he confronted his father stating that how could he give all money to his younger son. He demanded that he should also be given his share of the property to which his father refused. Agitated by his father’s stance, Vishwavpriye got hold of an iron rod and started hitting his father that proved fatal for him. He died on the spot.
— TNS |
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4.5-ft cucumber!
Rewari, May 11 The farmers are wonderstruck at the huge growth of cucumbers, mostly measuring 2 to 3 feet in length, in Vikram’s fields. Vikram said he had purchased the seeds from a dealer of Kosli and had used organic fertilisers this time. |
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