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Over 7,700 BPL families found ineligible in Sirsa
Two burnt alive in fire at Nilokheri solvent plant
Fire brigade staff try to control fire at a solvent plant in Nilokheri (Karnal district) on Monday night. A Tribune photograph
Ex-MP Mani Ram Bagri dead
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Ex-vigilance inspector booked
Sonepat Jailbreak
CPM plans stir against ‘anti-people’ policies
NAAC team to inspect GJU college
Farmers take to yellow rust-resistant wheat varieties
Banned mangoor fish on sale in Yamunanagar
Ex-Speaker cremated
Schools take exception to stiff bus norms
Panel to issue bus-fitness certificates
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Over 7,700 BPL families found ineligible in Sirsa
Sirsa, January 31 The survey was conducted recently pursuant to the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in a civil writ petition Pradeep Kumar verses State of Haryana. During the survey, it was found that as many as 5,052 families living in the rural areas and 2,682 in the urban areas have been enjoying benefits of subsidised ration on the public distribution chain and other schemes run by the central and the state governments, though they were not eligible for these due to their better economic status. In the urban areas of the district, the survey detected 701 families in Sirsa, 500 families in Dabwali, 494 families in Rania, 588 families in Ellenabad and 399 families in Kalanwali, who have been enjoying the BPL status though they did not fit in the parameters fixed by the government for this purpose. Similarly, in the rural areas, the number of
BPL families found ineligible for the benefits is Sirsa block (184), Rania (611), Ellenabad (458), Chopta (632), Baragura (868), Odhan (830) and Dabwali (1471). The Deputy Commissioner, J Ganeshan, said an opportunity would be accorded to them before taking action against them. If these families were not in agreement with the report of the survey, they could explain their position in writing to the municipal council or municipal committee in case of urban areas and block and panchayat offices in case of rural
areas within seven days and if they failed to do so within the stipulated
period, it would be deemed that they had nothing to say and action would be
taken according to rules, the Deputy Commissioner added. Under the government schemes, the BPL cardholders get several monetary benefits, including subsidised foodgrains. The poorest of the poor under the Antodaya Ann Yojna (AAY) have been given pink cards. Those having pink cards get foodgrains at Rs 2 per kilogram while other BPL families with yellow cards are provided it at Rs 5 per kilogram. Besides these, the BPL cardholders get several benefits under the social schemes of the central and the state governments. Due to these benefits, several well-off families get their names included in the BPL list in connivance with the officials and sources maintain that political “sifarish” plays a major role in it. |
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Two burnt alive in fire at Nilokheri solvent plant
Karnal, January 31 The diseased were caught in the flames and by the time the local residents and fire brigade men rescued them, they were suffocated to death. Relatives of the deceased alleged that the fire broke out due to “negligence” on the part of the management of the plant and even after being warned by the fire brigade officials, who doused the fire that broke out on Monday evening, the owner did not take any precautionary or preventive measures and there were just two workers to take care of the plant. Realising the gravity of the situation, the cops took the owner to a safer place and later a panchayat was called and the owner announced a relief of Rs 8 lakh each to the families of the deceased to defuse the situation. It took several hours for half a dozen fire-brigade tenders, rushed from Traveri, Nilokheri and Karnal, to douse the fire as the ‘purali’ was dry and kept on burning. Fire brigade officer Ram Pal said “we got the news that fire broke out last evening. We rushed to the spot and doused the fire but it again erupted in the wee hours, resulting in two causalities”. The deceased were identified as Pyare Lal, a resident of Bhutana, and Rampal, a resident of Sandher, both workers at the plant. SHO Ahmed Jamal Khan said both the bodies had been recovered and handed over to the families after the postmortem. Preliminary investigations indicate that the duo might have died of suffocation as the bodies did not bear marks of grievous burn injuries.
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Ex-MP Mani Ram Bagri dead
Hisar, January 31 He was elected thrice to the Lok Sabha in 1962, 1977 and and 1980. At the peak of his political career, Bagri was one of the most renowned leaders in Parliament. He was the subject of various folklores in Haryana, Rajasthan and UP. He was a close associate of socialist leaders Ram Manohar Lohia and Jayaprakash Narayan. Renowned as an orator par excellence Bagri was known for his wit and depth of understanding. Having risen from a very poor family he spent most of his life fighting for the underprivileged sections of Indian society. He remained in jail during Emergency along with his close friend, the late former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal. INLD Secretary-General Ajay Singh Chautala mourned the death of Bagri. In a statement he said Bagri devoted his entire life to the uplift of the downtrodden. The veteran parliamentarian led by example and lived an austere life, he added. The Hisar District Bar Association held a condolence meeting to mourn his death. Lawyers suspended work for the day. |
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Ex-vigilance inspector booked
Rohtak, January 31 A senior official of the department said here today that Daulat Ram, an inspector of the department posted in the sub office of the department at Jhajjar last year, went to the educational institute located at Dujana village on June 27, 2011, and got the building photographed after telling the functionaries of the institution that they had been running a school and a college under one roof , which was illegal and could invite a penality and imprisonment. The school manager was summoned to the Vigilance bureau office at Jhajjar on July 6 last year and was told again that the institute could be closed down for violations, besides resulting in jail for the aged mother of the owner of the institute as it had been named after her. The owners of the institute were asked to shell out Rs 7.50 lakh to escape any legal action. While Rs 3 lakh was given on July 6 last year, the remaining amount was given after a few days. The victim lodged a complaint with the DSP, Vigilance Bureau, here in this regard. On inquiry the complaint was found true and Daulat Ram, who retired from the service a few months ago, was booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act. No arrest has so far been made in this connection. |
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HC roots for e-surveillance
Saurabh Malik Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, January 31 Justice Mahesh Grover also recommended “immediate strict action” against all the wardens on duty when eight undertrials escaped from the Sonepat district jail on the night of January 17-18. “All these persons were involved in serious offences of murder and dacoity and related incidents of violence and were accused in multiple FIRs,” Justice Grover asserted, adding that even the district judge was not informed of the incident. Coming down heavily on the jail staff, Justice Grover asserted, “The inspection of the jail reveals a total breakdown or non-existence of the security arrangements within the jail premises. “Apart from the fact that the wardens on duty at the relevant time had completely abdicated their responsibility in ensuring the security of the barracks, the incident also indicates a collusion between the jail authorities and the criminals who managed to escape without a trace”. In the note placed before the Bench of Justice MM Kumar and Justice AK Mittal, Justice Grover asserted that inquiries also revealed the availability of eight to 10 iron cutters with the undertrials, which were used to cut the iron bars of the barracks. Justice Grover said the incident raised multiple questions, including the issue of smuggling of the cutters into the jail and their availability with the undertrials, especially when “these iron cutters, being lethal by themselves, are a great security threat to the other jail inmates”. Before parting with the note, Justice Grover said, “In my opinion, the matter deserves to be taken up on the judicial side so as to prompt the State to take effective measures such as e-surveillance, laser-locking and other such futuristic concepts of ensuring security rather than falling back on the age-old method of raising more walls and recruiting more manpower”. Taking up the note, the Bench this morning issued notice of motion to the State of Haryana for February 15.
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CPM plans stir against ‘anti-people’ policies
Bhiwani, January 31 In a political resolution adopted today, it was alleged that non-Congress opposition parties had been availing of opportunities like alliance with the BJP just to polarise caste-based politics to grab power and the CPM would provide an alternative by launching a public agitation against the “anti-people” policies in the state. While inaugurating the three-day convention here on Sunday, the CPM Polit Bureau member and MP, Sita Ram Yechuri, said anti-capitalism protests sweeping the western world reflected the growing concern and anger over the direction of the globalisation process which had led to “widening economic inequalities’’ and a sharp increase in unemployment. “This globalisation has produced two phenomena. One is jobless growth and the other is widening of economic inequality. In India there are now 61 individual billionaires who have control of a third of India’s GDP and about 800 million Indians who, according to official statistics, are surviving on Rs 20 or less than 50 pence a day,’’ he said as the “Occupy the London Stock Exchange’’ protest spread to more British cities. |
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NAAC team to inspect GJU college
Hisar, January 31 The team is headed by BG. Mulimani, Vice-Chancellor, BLDE University, Bijapur. The other two members of the team are: Nissar Ali of University of Kashmir and JS. Sharma of Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla. Vice-Chancellor ML. Ranga told the team that that GJU was the second technical university in the country to establish Academic Staff College. He gave a detailed account of the infrastructure at the college. The team will grade the college depending on the infrastructure as per NAAC norms. |
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Farmers take to yellow rust-resistant wheat varieties
Chandigarh, January 31 Officials in the Haryana Agriculture Department informed The Tribune that major transformation had been seen in Panchkula, Ambala, Yamunanagar, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Kaithal and Panipat districts . With over 92,000 hectares area across these districts being affected by yellow rust last year, inflicting losses on growers, more and more farmers have adopted the new disease-resistant varieties of wheat. “Though so far this year, there are no symptoms of yellow rust, the Agriculture Department had been advocating new yellow rust-resistant varieties. Before the start of wheat sowing, our officials have been holding meetings with farmers, sensitising them about new varieties. We also ensured that the disease-resistant varieties like PBW-621 and HD-2967 were easily available to farmers,” said BS Duggal, Additional Director, Agriculture. Traditionally, farmers in Haryana have been sowing the PBW-343 variety. Such has been the popularity of this variety with almost 40 per cent of the area under this variety for the past few years. But the attack of yellow rust on wheat, especially when it rains in the winter when wheat matures, had become a cause of concern for farmers. Because of the attack of yellow rust (when yellow stripes appear on the crop), farmers lose almost 25 per cent of the crop yield. “Besides asking farmers to use disease resistant varieties, we also ensured availability of fungicides to contain the spread of disease,” added Duggal. It may be mentioned that the total area under wheat this year in Haryana is 25.15 lakh hectares, and the state government is expecting production of 118.30 lakh metric tonnes, with a productivity of 47.35 quintals per hectare. |
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Banned mangoor fish on sale in Yamunanagar
Yamunanagar, January 31 The variety is readily available in the fish markets dotting the peripheral colonies of different towns in the district. It can also be purchased from small towns in the district as well as the peripheral areas of Yamunanagar and Jagadhri towns. The district health authorities, the Fisheries Department and the civil administration have been ignoring the illegal sale of the mangoor fish. According to experts, the mangoor fish can survive in dirty ponds. Therefore, there are toxic substances in the meat of this fish. The fish causes cancer. The Supreme Court imposed a ban on its sale and cultivation. Waste water ponds are openly being used for the cultivation of these fish. A fish farmer said that returns from the cultivation of the mangoor fish were Environmentalists had moved the Supreme Court seeking a ban on the cultivation of the mangoor fish since this variety is known to destroy other varieties, too. |
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Ex-Speaker cremated
Rewari, January 31 While his son, Sanjay Rao, lit the pyre, a police contingent reversed its arms and gave a salute to the octogenarian leader. Thousands of his supporters from various parts of the region gave a tearful adieu to their leader. Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said Col Ram Singh was the pride and glory of the Ahirwal region. — OC |
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Schools take exception to stiff bus norms
Hisar, January 31 A spokesman for the Haryana Joint School Union said here today that they were opposed to the action taken by the police against schools whenever a bus was involved in an accident. He said the administration was equally responsible for the accidents as it had failed to keep stray animals from coming on to the roads. Besides, roads were not in a proper condition. All these factors led to road mishaps. He demanded that instead of pressing for implementing the stiff norms with immediate effect, the administration should allow them time till the beginning of the new academic session. — TNS |
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Panel to issue bus-fitness certificates
Panipat, January 31 He said the committee would ensure that 14 norms specified by the Punjab and Haryana High Court were fulfilled before issuing fitness certificates to school buses. The committee would secure affidavits that buses being used to ferry schoolchildren met all specifications. The schools buses had also been asked to carry the phone numbers of the control room. — TNS
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Two persons were burnt alive in a devastating fire that broke out at a solvent plant in Nilokheri in the wee hours today.
Hisar, January 31
