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FALLOUT OF GOPAL KANDA EPISODE
Kanda’s ouster changes political equations in Sirsa
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Race for ministerial berth hots up
Geetika episode brings cheer to INLD camp
Old couple to donate bodies
SHOs told to provide receipt for every complaint
Parks in Ambala Cantonment cry for attention
Karnal gets ready for state-level I-Day function
Replica of Tirupati Balaji Temple in Kurukshetra
Scholarship for SC students
Kaithal officials spend night in village to meet people
Healing Drive
6,337 units donated in blood donation camp
Students apprised of college rules and regulations
Students develop software to boost national security
Musical tribute paid to Rafi on anniversary
Drive against foeticide has yielded results: Karnal DC
CM’s rally to have political ramifications for Rewari
Rural games expose poor sports facilities
Faulty levelling of water supply line
Initiate breastfeeding within 1 hour of birth: Experts
Sister donates kidney to brother
Timely payment of pensions demanded
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FALLOUT OF GOPAL KANDA EPISODE Raman Mohan Tribune News Service
Hisar district is the strongest claimant to at least one vacant berth if not both. The district has no representation in the Hooda Cabinet since 2009 Assembly elections. Prior to that, Savitri Jindal was a minister from Hisar. The district has just Vinod Bhayana as a chief parliamentary secretary who represents the Hansi constituency. He defected to the Congress after he was elected on the Haryana Janhit Congress ticket. He is far too inexperienced and has little political standing outside his constituency. Since 2005, Hisar was represented by the late Om Parkash Jindal who died within weeks of becoming a minister. Later, his widow, Savitri Jindal, won the byelection from Hisar and was inducted in the Cabinet. However, the 2009 Assembly elections resulted in a reversal for the Congress as it came to power on the strength of defectors and independents. That made Hooda’s task of shaping his Cabinet a very difficult one. Former Finance Minister Sampat Singh became a Congress legislator from Nalwa constituency of the district in 2009. He is one of the senior most politicians of Haryana and also has been a minister every time the INLD was in power since the days of Devi Lal. He has also been the Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly for several years. However, inducting Sampat Singh and ignoring Savitri Jindal was not what a reticent Hooda would have chosen after the 2009 Assembly results were out. So, he gave Hisar the go-by and did not induct either of them. The Congress had to pay a heavy price for this. Voters of Hisar, used to long years of basking in reflected glory with Bhajan Lal ruling the roost for most periods between 1979 and 1996 were outrightly indignant. The Congress lost the Hisar Lok Sabha twice in 2009 and 2011. Both defeats were extremely humiliating. Barring Sampat Singh and Jindal, no other Congress legislator can lay a claim to a ministerial berth being far too junior and inexperienced. The absence of a senior minister from this politically crucial district was also acutely felt during the sporadic agitations by the Jats seeking reservation in government jobs. The political damage could have been avoided to a large extent had a seasoned minister from the area been involved in the talks with the Jat leaders. As of now, Hooda depends on his close confidant Dharamvir who originally hails from Bhiwani but now represents Sohna in the Assembly to nurture Hisar. To be fair to Dharamvir Singh, he is a seasoned politician, but for all practical purposes he remains an outsider. With the Congress losing ground in the district steadily, Hooda will have to do a balancing act.
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Kanda’s ouster changes political equations in Sirsa
Kanda’s meteoric rise in business, where he was able to accumulate huge wealth in less than two decades, had left people in awe. Equally awesome was Kanda’s success in politics, where he walked in as an Independent and snatched the Sirsa Assembly seat from both the Congress and the INLD in the 2009 Assembly elections. Kanda’s inclusion in the Bhupinder Singh Hooda Cabinet after his victory in the 2009 elections had brought new equations in Sirsa’s politics. During Hooda’s first regime, though the Congress had only two legislators out of five seats in Sirsa, LD Arora from Sirsa and Bharat Singh Beniwal from Darba, the district had a fairly good share in power. While Arora was a senior Cabinet minister in Hooda’s Cabinet despite being in poor health, Ranjit Singh and KV Singh had also a share in power as deputy chairman of the state planning board and OSD to the Chief Minister respectively. However, the Congress lost all five seats in the district. While Dabwali, Kalanwali, Rania and Ellenabad went to the INLD, Kanda drubbed both the Congress and the INLD to steal away the Sirsa seat. Since then, Kanda has tried to dominate Sirsa politics, though this has not gone down well with other senior Congress leaders from the district. Kanda has never enjoyed the best of relations with Ranjit Singh, KV Singh and others and his equation with Sirsa MP Ashok Tanwar has always been particularly sour. On at least two occasions, the spat between the two went public and on one of these occasions, Kanda went to the extent of returning his official car in protest against Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s reprimand on this issue. After former minister LD Arora’s death sometime back, his daughter Sunita Setia has been eyeing the Congress ticket from Sirsa in the coming elections. Besides Setia, some others like Bhupesh Mehta and Hoshiari Lal Sharma have also been waiting for their turn for a plunge into electoral politics. The day the news regarding Kanda’s involvement in the suicide case became known, Sunita Setia’s son, Gokul Setia, was the first to organise a demonstration to demand his exit from Hooda’s Cabinet. Now, with Kanda out of power and in the dock, these leaders see it an opportunity to pursue their political ambitions. Sirsa being the home district of former Chief Minister Om Parkash Chautala, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda will need some political leader to counter their effect in the district. Though the ruling party has a strong leader in MP Ashok Tanwar, who is also a secretary of the AICC, he is not in the state politics. It is to be seen who dominates Sirsa politics in the days to come, but it appears certain that people will witness come changes in the political equations in the district.
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Race for ministerial berth hots up
Jhajjar, August 9 Unperturbed over these alarming incidents which have put the Congress government in the dock, these aspirants have not only begun pondering over new strategies to meet their aspiration of getting a slot in the Cabinet but also started lobbying with the party high command to create a helpful atmosphere in their favour. This is the second ministerial berth that has fallen vacant in the 14-member Cabinet of Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Earlier, Haryana Tourism, Transport, Civil Aviation and Hospitality Minister Om Prakash Jain, an Independent MLA from the Panipat Assembly segment, was forced to tender his resignation after his name along with the then chief parliementary secretary, Zile Ram Sharma, was figured in the First Information Report (FIR) in connection with the murder of a village sarpanch in Karnal last year. Sharma had also to resign from his post to facilitate a fair investigation into the murder case. Kanda, Jain and Sharma were elevated to the posts after they extended their crucial unconditional support to the Congress which fell short of even a simple majority. After winning an impressive 67 of 90 Assembly seats in 2005, the Congress had to be content with only 40 seats in 2009. Though after the ouster of Jain from the Cabinet, the race for getting a ministerial berth had also hotted up following reports of expansion of Cabinet soon, but all efforts made by the aspirants went in vain when Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda did not show any interest and kept the slot vacant. But this time, the aspirants are quite confident about Cabinet expansion within a couple of months when the government will emerge from the crisis.
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Geetika episode brings cheer to INLD camp
Faridabad, August 9 INLD leaders say the “Geetika episode” has at one level brought Kanda, their bete noire, to his knees and, at another level, their party has got fresh ammunition against the Congress government in Haryana as he represented it. Several quarters in the INLD were having uneasy feelings on account of Kanda, who was once close to the family of former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and who hailed from their home district, Sirsa. He had later become their bitter critic after he became an MLA and, subsequently, Minster of State for Home.
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Old couple to donate bodies
Sonepat, August 9 Raghubir Singh and his wife Indira Wati from Tharu Uldepur village alongwith their advocate son Ravinder Kumar met the director of the college, Dr RC Siwach and expressed their wish to donate their bodies after death. The legal formalities for registration of their will were completed in the presence of Dr Siwach. Appreciating the aged couple and their family members, Dr Siwach said that this was the first case of its kind and the medical society would remain indebted to the couple for this great decision taken by them in the interest of society.
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SHOs told to provide receipt for every complaint
Hisar, August 9 Talking to mediapersons here today, he said the complainants should make sure that they asked for the receipt. In case any SHO refused to provide a receipt, the complainant should approach him directly. He said under a special drive to bring the guilty to justice, the police had arrested 150 persons during the past three days. They were wanted in 40 cases of physical assault. On joining duty here, he found that no arrests had been made in 67 such cases. The SHOs were asked to book the culprits. The accused in the remaining 27 cases would be detained soon, he said, adding that the SHOs would face action if they failed to do so within 24 hours. He said orders had been given to the SHOs to ascertain whether any physical assault had taken place.
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Parks in Ambala Cantonment cry for attention
Ambala, August 9 Developed by the local civic body, these parks have become the victims of official apathy after the maintenance of these was handed over to a private advertiser, who instead of abiding by the clauses in the contract signed with the civic body, chose to turn a blind eye towards the deteriorating condition of the same. Instead of well-manicured lawns, a shabbily maintained grass and dried up trees now welcome visitors. Naveen Sharma, a local resident, said around 2,000 persons from the nearby areas used to visit the Subhash Park regularly, which is visited mostly by stray animals nowadays. Bimal Prakash, another resident, said in 2008, the district administration handed over the maintenance of the Subhash Park to a private advertiser, who in lieu of advertising sites in the city promised to maintain the two parks for public. He said as per the contract papers, which he had signed with the local civic body, the advertiser was supposed to plant 2,000 plants in the park, besides installing benches, night lamps and provide other amenities, along with deploying 40 gardeners to look after the two parks. “But soon after he bagged the contract for advertisement sites in the district, he turned a blind eye towards the same,” he added. He said the advertiser was also supposed to deploy security guards at the parks. This prompted anti-social elements to vandalise these parks and take away whatever facilities the civic authorities had set up here, including the water tank, taps and other equipment. The boundary walls of the Subhash Park are also in a shambles as there is nobody to repair it. Rajinder Garg, another resident, said after the local residents raised the issue, the district administration had decided to terminate the seven-year contract with the advertiser. But he approached the court and got a stay order against the termination of the contract. Meanwhile, notwithstanding the tactic being used by the advertiser, the residents have now decided to organise a relay fast in protest against the deteriorating condition of the park and to mount pressure on the administration to initiate corrective measures to restore city parks. Bimal Prakash, who is also the chairman of the Manav Seva Dal, said their organisation had taken up the matter with the district authorities and pleaded with them that the advertiser be forced to ensure the upkeep of the parks on which no stay was ever ordered by the court.
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Karnal gets ready for state-level I-Day function
Karnal, August 9 The epic town named after the legendary hero ‘Karan’ of Mahabharat is getting ready for the occasion and Independence Day preparations are in full swing. Deputy Commissioner Renu S Phulia, who spelt the roadmap for preparations of I-Day function, said that 15 welcome arches would be erected throughout the distance from the air strip to the Mall Road, Rest House and Karan Stadium. "The town would be decorated and illuminated nicely. All sign boards would be given a new look, road crossings would be painted, statues of leaders would be cleaned and non-functional street lights would be made operational," Phulia said, while addressing a meeting of officials looking after I-Day celebrations. The Chief Minister would visit the war memorial to pay homage to warriors before hoisting the tricolour, she said.
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Replica of Tirupati Balaji Temple in Kurukshetra
Kurukshetra, August 9 Deputy Commissioner Mandeep Singh Brar said as per the MoU signed between Kurukshetra Development Board (KDB) and Trimoola Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) on January 20, 2012, a piece of land, measuring 5.52 acres, was earmarked opposite Multi Art Cultural Centre (MACC) and an eight member committee had inspected the site for the temple. Earlier, on February 25, 2010, the Chief Minister had made the announcement of allotting land for the temple. Brar said the land for the temple was leased out to the TTD for 99 years and the model of the temple was ready. TTD joint executive officer V Reddy said the construction of the temple would start soon and it would cost crores. Moreover, a special stone would be brought from South India for the construction of the temple, and after its completion Kurukshetra will be recognised on the world tourism map, he added.
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Scholarship for SC students
Karnal/ Kurukshetra, August 9 Under the scheme, SC students and students belonging to backward classes who have secured more than 70 per cent marks in urban areas and 65 per cent in rural areas in matriculation examination are eligible for grant of scholarship. The deadline for submitting applications through proper channel is December 31. The students studying in Class XI or pursuing diploma and certificate courses would get annual scholarship of Rs 8,000. The students passing the Class XII examination with 75 per cent marks in urban areas and 70 per cent marks in rural areas would get a scholarship of Rs 8,000 for diploma and certificate courses, Rs 9,000 for engineering and other technical courses and Rs 10,000 for Medical and allied courses, official spokesperson said. Similarly, the students securing 65 per cent and 60 per cent marks in urban and rural areas in graduation would be entitled to scholarship of Rs 9,000 for pursuing post graduate studies in Arts, Science and Commerce, Rs 11,000 for engineering and other technical courses and Rs 12,000 for medical and allied courses. Students can send applications through their institutions to the District Welfare Officer.
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Kaithal officials spend night in village to meet people
Kaithal, August 9 All officials of the district administration, led by Deputy Commissioner Chander Shekhar, spent a night at Aahun village in Guhla sub-division of Kaithal recently. The Deputy Commissioner said the main purpose of the stay in the village was to interact with people and to have the first-hand information about the implementation of various welfare schemes to bridge the gap between people and the administration.
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Maruti ropes in shrinks to counsel executives
Sunit Dhawan/TNS
Gurgaon, August 9 According to a statement issued by the company, an employee welfare team set up by the company management last week is assessing individual needs with the help of specialists on board. “The victims of the July 18 attack are recovering from their injuries at their homes. They are also under stress and trauma of surviving a near-death experience. Medical experts have referred to this as post-traumatic stress syndrome which can haunt survivors for a lifetime. Such experiences that occur at home or office affect the victims even harder as individuals usually feel safe there,” it stated. The company has maintained that the injured employees are still in a condition of shock, disbelief and confusion and are struggling to get over what they encountered. Psychologist and lifestyle expert Dr Rachna Singh, who is among the specialists entrusted with the job of counselling the traumatised executives, said the cases would have to be assessed individually, as the response to a life-threatening experience varies from person to person. “The families of the assault victims are also being involved in therapy sessions so as to provide them the right orientation to speed up the healing process,” Dr Rachna said while talking to The Tribune here today. Specialists concede that healing for such illnesses is a slow process. One of the immediate steps in the treatment for such victims is that they talk about their experiences to a professional or even close friends and family that will help them regain emotional balance. It can also be addressed by therapy of prescription medicines that help reduce anxiety. The arson which rocked the Manesar facility on July 18 left MSIL General Manager (HR) Awanish Kumar Dev dead and more than 90 managers and executives injured. Thereafter, the company management declared a lockout at its Manesar facility, which continues till date. Internal probe in progress
An internal inquiry by the MSIL management to identify the culprits of the Manesar violence is in progress. In the past few days, the company’s top management has also met the employees injured in the attack. In a statement issued here, MSIL said after the arrests of union members, the company expects more arrests of culprits who resorted to violence and arson at its Manesar plant. “Owing to its concern for the safety and security of its people, the company is not in a position to take a decision on resuming operations at the Manesar plant,” it added.
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6,337 units donated in blood donation camp
Dabwali (Sirsa), August 9 On the concluding day of the camp, villagers and NGOs from Lohgarh, Saktakhera, Jotanwali, Lakhuana, Sukhera Khera, Rajpura Majra and Gobindgarh participated in the camp. Dr Amandeep Kaur from Lifeline Blood Centre, Patiala, Dr Munish Kakkar from Adesh Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Bathinda, and Dr Gulshan Chauhan from Blood Centre, General Hospital, Sirsa, collected blood of donors. Shamim Sharma, managing director of JCD Vidyapeeth and Principal of Mata Harki Devi College for Women, Odhan, visited the camp with several girls from her college to donate blood. Subhash Sheoran, SDM, Dabwali, who organised the camp, said blood donation was a noble work as it saves lives of people. DSP Puran Chand Panwar, senior medical officer of Dabwali hospital Dr SK Bhadu and Ashwani Sharma from the District Red Cross Society were among those present.
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Students apprised of college rules and regulations
Kurukshetra, August 9 While addressing the new comers, the College Principal Dr Vinay Malhotra advised them to remain disciplined. He asked the students to give respect to their teachers and be obedient to them. The incharges of various college activities apprised the new students about time table, class tests, lecture requirements, internal assessment and assignments. Students were also told about talent shows, youth festivals and various other curricular activities. New comers were also told about the women cell’s role and activities in the college and significance of sports and athletics in students’ life. Dr Chuhar Singh pointed out the importance of voting in a democracy. He said it was mandatory for students to apply for voter card while getting admission in college. He asked the students to submit the required documents in time so that their application for voter card could be sent to the district election officer. The new students were also shown previous years’ photos and achievements. Dr Pawan Sharma conducted the proceedings of the assembly.
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Students develop software to boost national security
Sonepat, August 9 In the competition 237 teams of 80 universities and colleges of the country participated and the Murthal team was placed at the fourth position in the competition. According to the students, the software will analyse all the outgoing and incoming messages of any suspected person and the analysed information will automatically be sent to authorities concerned. This software would work around the clock and the messages sent by the software could not be corrupted, they said. “This software can be developed for use in java and i-phone and we will also try to make it usable for phone calls,” they said. The software would assist the security agencies to collect prior information concerning any suspected anti-national activity taking place, they added. Congratulating the students for their research work, vice-cancellor of the university HS Chahal said there would not be any dearth of facilities for students to carry out research projects. He asked the students to apply for patent of the software.
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Musical tribute paid to Rafi on anniversary
Kalka, August 9 In the programme, singers of Kalka and its adjoining areas paid tributes to Mohammad Rafi by singing old melodies of the 1960s and the 1970s. Mehbooba, who sang ‘Teri Tasveer’, started the programme. Nirmal Marwaha, the senior most singer of Kalka, sang ‘Kis Tarhan Mein Banaun’ and was followed by Rajeev Ahuja, who sang ‘Matlab Nikal Gaya Hai To Pehchantein Nahin’ song of the legendary singer. Other famous songs like ‘Raha Gardisho Mein Hardam Mere Ishq Ka Sitara’ ‘Badi Der Bhai Nand Lala’, ‘O Duniya Ke Rakhwale’,’Din Dhal Jaye’, ‘Nasib Mein Jiske Jo likha tha’, ‘Ehsan Tera Hoga Mujh Par’ were sung by various artistes. Evergreen old melodies of Mohammad Rafi moved the audience. The programme, which lasted for more than three hours, was wrapped up with ‘ Na to Karwan Ki Talash Hai’, a super hit qawali of the 1950s by Nirmal Marwaha. Anoop Messy on the harmonium, Purusharth on the guitar and Krishan accompanied Marwah on the tabla.
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Drive against foeticide has yielded results: Karnal DC
Karnal, August 9 Addressing the people at Nissing village, which was selected for the programme recently, Karnal Deputy Commissioner Renu S Phulia said sex ratio in semi-urban areas of Nissing had gone up to 918 while the ratio had improved to 877 in rural areas. “The message against female foeticide has gone well with the people in the 11 months after the launch of the programme. Administrative officers will visit 8-10 villages every day to further intensify the campaign,” she said. A noticeable feature of the meeting at Nissing was that more than 90 per cent of the audience was women, who pledged to join the campaign. The programme to administer oath to every individual against the inhuman practice of female foeticide was carried out on the 6th of every month. Pointing towards the demographic imbalance, the women said the situation was so dismal that brides who were being brought from other states of the country, failed to adjust to the local culture and traditions. The prisoners of Karnal jail also joined the campaign and presented a play, which sent a strong message against female foeticide and discrimination against girl child. A notable feature of the play was that the script was written by jail inmates and women characters were also performed by men.
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CM’s rally to have political ramifications for Rewari
Rewari, August 9 The rally, which will be held here on September 1 i.e. over 21 months after the CM’s previous rally that was held here on November 18, 2010, has its own political ramifications for the Rewari region. It is noteworthy that the local minister, Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, whose relations with the Chief Minister had evidently soured after he lost his prestigious finance portfolio during the then reshuffle and joined hands with the CM’s detractor and Ahirwal’s chieftain Rao Inderjit Singh, Congress MP from Gurgaon, is now again in the process of building bridges with the CM for obvious reasons. Thus Captain Yadav visited over three dozen villages in the past 10 days and urged the villagers to participate in heavy numbers in the CM’s rally here on September 1. Besides, he also exhorted members of the Vaish Samaj to participate in the rally in large numbers while addressing a district-level Vaish Samaj Sammelan here recently. He has been repeatedly telling the people that the Chief Minister’s ensuing visit will pay rich dividends by way of development projects worth crores of rupees. However, strongly countering Captain Yadav’s tall claims on the CM’s approaching visit at a press conference here recently, district INLD president Sunil Chaudhary, a former zila parishad chief Satish Yadav and others recalled that during his previous visit to Rewari on November 18, 2010, while the Chief Minister had laid the foundation stone of an ITI at Kharkhara village, near Dharuhera, he had also publicly announced that a 100-bedded multi-speciality hospital would be constructed in the Civil Hospital complex here. The INLD leaders deplored that even after 20 months, no land had been made available for the ITI at Kharkhara and not a single brick had been laid for the much-hyped 100-bedded multi-speciality hospital. They asked Captain Yadav why he was now befooling the people again by harping on various development projects which could meet the same fate.
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Rural games expose poor sports facilities
Ambala, August 9 Neither any preparations were made by the district Sports Department nor panchayats took any interest in the proper conduct of the games, leaving the participants high and dry. District sports officer Mani Ram, while admitting lack of facilities at the newly constructed Saha stadium and the Sarakpur village stadium, said the department had already taken up the matter with the higher authorities. The games were conducted under the Yuva Khel Pratiyogita Scheme of the Centre, which aims at promoting sports amongst rural youths. But the manner in which these were conducted said a lot about the disinterest of officials in organising these competitions. The Sports Department also failed to sent formal communiqués to a large number of villages about the games due to which out of the 46 villages in the Saha block, players from only 15 villages participated in these events. The sports arenas even lack facilities like drinking water which disappointed participants. The players also alleged that there were a large number of ditches across the playing fields causing a lot of problems for them as many even sustained sprains during the competitions. Even the toilets had not been properly maintained. Meanwhile, Suresh Kumar, sarpanch of the Saha village, said, the department had failed to inform them about the games and, as such, the panchayat failed to make proper arrangements for the event. While Mandeep Boparai, former INLD district youth president, said the government had been spending crores on sports activities in the state and even awarding sportspersons winning international tournaments whereas rural players were still waiting for basic facilities. He said instead of wasting funds the government should allocate more funds to rural games.
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Faulty levelling of water supply line Tribune News Service
Hisar, August 9 A deputation of the villagers had lodged a complaint with the panel that sub standard construction material had been used to lay the water pipeline. The level of the line was also faulty because of which they had not been getting water supply for the past one month. The CPS issued the directive for recovery of the money spent on laying the pipeline from the official concerned and rectification of all faults in the supply line. He said it was the responsibility of the Water Supply Department to ensure that all projects were executed properly and the people benefited from the project. He also directed that all plots in Krishna Nagar be demarcated afresh and their possession be given to the rightful owners by August 17 the latest. A local resident had complained that his plot had been occupied by another person illegally. On another complaint by a resident of Krishna nagar, Dharamvir Singh directed that the old faulty water pipeline near National Park in the colony be replaced immediately to ensure water supply to the area. Sanjay Kumar Kathuria complained that the builder of Silver Residency apartment complex in Model Town had not provided the facilities he had promised to the buyers. The builder, Deepak Chaudhry, who was present assured the panel that necessary infrastructure would be provided within two days.
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Initiate breastfeeding within 1 hour of birth: Experts
Gurgaon, August 9 This was extensively discussed at a national conference on the Infant and Young Child Feed (IYCF) organised in Delhi during the World Breastfeeding Week observed from August 1 to 7. IYCF coordinator Dr Balraj Singh Yadav, a Gurgaon-based paediatrician, who was also the organising secretary of the conference, observed that the lack of infant and child nutritional health education and improper feeding practices led to malnutrition and related health disorders in children, which was a major cause of concern in the entire South-Asian region. “Of the nearly 115 million children below the age of five in the country, nearly 60 million are malnourished. Malnutrition impairs intelligence, strength and productivity. It is also the major cause of mortality and morbidity,” he said. Dr Kajali Paintal, a nutrition specialist from UNICEF, laid stress on timely initiation of breastfeeding within one hour of child’s birth and exclusive breastfeeding for first six months of life. “For the first six months, the child should be fed only mother’s milk and should not be given any fluids, milk or foods, not even water,” she said. She added that improved food and nutrient intake for women, especially during pregnancy and lactation, was equally important. Dr Bhavana Dhingra asserted that exclusive breastfeeding had a number of advantages both for the mother as well as the child. These include lower risk of infections for the baby, protection against chronic diseases like type-2 diabetes mellitus, obesity, hypertension, inflammatory bowel disease, asthma, rapid maternal weight loss after birth and delayed fertility. “The WHO recommends mothers worldwide to exclusive breastfeed infants for the first six months to achieve optimal growth, development and health. Thereafter, they should be given nutritious complementary foods, while breastfeeding can be continued up to the age of two years or even beyond that. Dr Nishant Wadhwa noted that giving cow’s milk to infants had certain undesirable consequences. “Several characteristics of cow’s milk may combine to produce a strong propensity to cause iron deficiency. Moreover, unduly high-potential renal solute load of cow’s milk may increase the risk of dehydration, especially in the times of stress and infection. Prof BR Thapa from PGIMER, Chandigarh, pointed out that cow milk protein allergy (CMPA) affects two to six per cent of children during the first year of life worldwide. Prof Gadadhar Sarangi from Hi-Tech Medical College, Bhubaneswar (Orissa), opined that junk foods were edibles with high calories but low nutrients. They were appealing because of their flavour, but are of little or no real nutritional or health value.
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Sister donates kidney to brother
Faridabad, August 9 Asha (34) underwent a kidney transplant surgery along with her brother Srinivas (40), a local resident, at the Asian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS) here. Mother of two, she tied the auspicious rakhi knot on her ailing brother’s wrist before being taken to operation for the kidney transplant surgeries to be conducted on them. Srinivas was admitted to the hospital with reports of kidney damage and failure. He was battling for life.
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Timely payment of pensions demanded
Hisar, August 9 RP Sahni, president of the Hisar zone unit of the federation, said the government had issued a notification in October 2010 expressing its willingness to extend the benefit of revised pension and gratuity according to the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Panel. According to the notification, the arrears of enhanced pension and gratuity were to be paid in equal annual instalments. However, only one instalment had been released so far. As against this, teachers of universities and government colleges had already been paid all arrears.
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Ambala, August 9
Kurukshetra, August 9
Kurukshetra, August 9
Hisar, August 9
Sirsa, August 9