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Rahul Gandhi to visit Panchkula on May
8
Private builders with SEZs set to get
bonanza
LS elections: Ambala Cong leaders in ‘patch-up’ mode
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Mumbai resident seeks action against in-laws
Yamunanagar Administration swings into action, starts repairing roads
Repair of damaged roads under way in Yamunanagar on Wednesday. A Tribune photo
3 brothers, driver nabbed for raping two Dalits
Four get 10-year jail for raping Dalit girl
State told to give one-room tenements to bonded labour
Minister assures farmers on wheat bonus
MP: State giving highest wages to labourers
Lahore bus makes brief halt at Ambala as passenger falls sick
Husband dies of burns
BJP to launch door-to-door campaign on May 15
Factory supplying RO water raided
Sirsa teacher hurt as part
of ceiling caves in
A view of the government school buliding at Alika in Sirsa on Wednesday.
Photo: Sushil Manav
INLD forms panel for MC poll
Hooda assures to look into employees’ demands
Demonstration against Chinese incursion
Power dept staffer killed in
mishap
Manager caught accepting bribe
KU extends date of BEd forms
INLD: State govt anti-labour
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Rahul Gandhi to visit Panchkula on May
8
Chandigarh, May 1 In fact, Gandhi’s interaction with the party MPs, MLAs, former legislators and office-bearers assumes importance as it is being held at a time when Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is under renewed attack on the issue of regional bias in development from the Opposition and his detractors within the party. While upbeat on the first visit of the Congress vice-president to the state this year, the party leadership is also apprehensive at the prospects of detractors striking a discordant note at the meeting designed to put up a united front before him ahead of the parliamentary and state assembly elections next year. If party in charge BK Hariparsad’s meeting with district and block presidents on March 21 this year is any indication, the meeting may not be a smooth affair. Alleging bias in development, several leaders had alleged “inaccessibility” of senior party leaders and bureaucracy at the meeting. Detractors within the Congress are giving a tough time to Hooda for quite some time now. Though he had been able to buy truce with his erstwhile detractors, including ministers Kiran Choudhry, Ajay Yadav and Mahendra Pratap, yet several senior leaders such as Union Minister Kumari Selja, Gurgaon MP Rao Inderjit and Rajya Sabha member Birender Singh have aired their differences with the Chief Minister, particularly on the regional bias in development, at public meetings many times. Against the backdrop of factionalism in the state unit, Hooda has not been able to effect a Cabinet reshuffle for several months now though two vacancies have arisen following the exit of former ministers Om Prakash Jain and Gopal Kanda. Sources said gearing up the party for the next year’s poll was the main agenda of the meeting. However, Congress working president Phool Chand Mullana said since Rahul Gandhi was their leader he himself would set the agenda for the meeting. Gandhi had already held a couple of meetings with state party MPs and senior functionaries, including Hooda, recently. At these meetings, he had reportedly asked the different party leaders not to air their grievances outside the party forum though his advice had a little effect on the warring factions within the state Congress. |
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Private builders with SEZs set to get
bonanza
Chandigarh, May 1 While those in the industrial and residential zones will automatically benefit from this move, the real largesse will go to private builders with SEZs in the “non-conforming zones”. Sources said of the over 24 notified SEZs, nearly two-thirds of these, most of them located in Gurgaon, could be beneficiaries of this “generosity” once the Haryana Cabinet gives its nod to the agenda item at its meeting tomorrow. Besides allowing the SEZ developers to avail themselves of this benefit, the government intends to further relax the norms for an industrial colony licence by allowing them 15 per cent plotting for a residential area instead of the existing 10 per cent. This relaxation, however, comes with the rider that 3 per cent of the houses in the residential colony will be for the labour. This will be in addition to the nearly 2 per cent reservation for the economically weaker sections (EWS). Sources said this one-time benefit was being given since the progress on development of SEZs had not been as envisaged owing to mid-course policy changes by the Centre, including the introduction of the minimum alternate tax in 2010-11 which made them “economically unviable”. Though Haryana had originally received an expression of interest for 100 SEZs, only 37 SEZs were eventually notified by the Centre. Of these, four SEZs were established, work is in progress in two others while the rest failed to take off. A couple of others have even moved de-notification proceedings. Sources said this “disillusionment” with the SEZs not only locked up precious land but defeated the very purpose of economic development it was supposed to usher in. Given the growing clamour from developers to explore alternative options, the need for a “one-time option” to denotify the SEZ and issue an industrial colony licence was arrived at. In consultation with the Town and Country Planning Department, the Industries Department finalised this option, giving the builders the facility of setting up an industrial estate with attendant facilities of housing and commercial areas within its precincts. This pattern of a composite licence is also followed by the Haryana State Integrated Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC). Sources maintained that in a 100 acre plot, 35 acres is left as open space while 65 acres is earmarked for plotting. Of the 65 acres, 45 per cent will be reserved for the industrial estate while 15 per cent will be left for residential purposes. The idea behind this move is to generate economic activity though the SEZ developers will be encouraged to continue with their plans. Sources said that while those whose SEZs fall in the “conforming zones” of industrial and residential areas would have got licences for the same, the real pressure came from developers with plots in the “non-conforming zones” which include agriculture and transport and communication. Ideally, after de-notification of the SEZ, the land should have been used for the original purpose earmarked in the development plan of the area, according to sources in the TCP Department.
Windfall in the offing
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LS elections: Ambala Cong leaders in ‘patch-up’ mode
Ambala, May 1 The lobby supporting Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, which comprises Venod Sharma and Phool Chand Mullana, has started warming up to local Member of Parliament and Union Minister Kumari Selja. These leaders were recently spotted participating in a social programme and even held a joint political meeting, a development which has not taken placed in the past several years. Differences between Selja and Hooda cropped up after supporters of the MP started claiming that she was a strong contender for the post of Chief Minister. The differences kept on widening every time Hooda faced political. The differences between the two even took a toll on development projects brought in by the MP as these were never completed. Allegations flew high that the administration under the influence of the state government had deliberately got these projects stalled. Even the projects announced by the state government for Ambala and Yamunanagar met the same fate due to differences of the MP with the authorities. It has been an open secret that the lobby supporting Hooda had deliberately ignored Selja and her supporters and never invited them to any party functions. Political observers said supporters of the Chief Minister and the MP were never seen together at any function organised in the Ambala parliamentary constituency in the past several years. However, seeing Selja, Sharma and Mullana on the same stage during the anniversary of Venod Sharma’s father recently and later their participation in a meeting of the District Congress Committee under leadership of former minister Nirmal Singh for the first time in the past many years shocked many in the constituency. However, the observers said these leaders were now trying to sort out their differences to ensure that the political prospects of the party did not suffer in the forthcoming elections due to their personal agendas. Sources in the Congress said it was under the pressure from the party high command that the two lobbies had started efforts to make a patch-up. |
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Mumbai resident seeks action against in-laws
Karnal, May
1 “Apart from my husband, his parents and friends are instrumental in forcing me to commit suicide. I was ignored by all and received no help from any quarter,” she alleged, adding that she even approached the Inspector General of Police, Rohtak Range, SPs of Rohtak and Karnal and the women cell but to no avail as they said the matter was sub
judice. “I left everything for Jatin, but he betrayed me and left me in the lurch,” she said. Demanding action against her in-laws, Manisha said while her husband had been remanded to judicial custody, no action had been taken against her in-laws and others, including
Rahul, Suman, Dr Vinay Gaur (who aborted her foetus) and police
officials. Jatin brought Manisha to Rohtak in October 2010, on a promise of marrying her after he would get a job. She stayed at Mansi Hostel in Durga Colony in Rohtak for a month and started working. She alleged that Jatin asked her for Rs 50,000 for treatment of his father and she deposited Rs 35,000 in his bank account, while Rs 15,000 was given in cash. “After a month, we shifted in a house in the same colony and I brought my daughter along to
Rohtak,” she said adding that Jatin was jobless at that time and she was working and taking care of all the expenses. “My pregnancy was medically terminated thrice and in August 2011, I was forced to abort my three-month-old foetus in a private clinic in
Rohtak,” she said, adding that they got married in a temple in Karnal on July 29, 2012, after Jatin got a job in a bank in Karnal. After getting a job, Jatin was flooded with marriage proposals with dowry and the family started torturing her and threw her out of their house, she said. Manisha then approached the police and a compromise was reached twice which did not last and the situation turned from bad to worse. She said Jatin filed a case to get the marriage annulled on the pretext that she had concealed the fact that she was already married and had a baby girl. “But the truth is that my daughter was living with us in
Rohtak,” she said. Meanwhile, Fight for Justice Club of India president Harish
Arya, who is fighting her case, said all those who were instrumental in forcing her to attempt suicide should be booked under Sections 107 and 306/511 of
IPC. bail as the accused was not informed by the police that her crime was bailable and put behind bars for eight days,” he said. |
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Yamunanagar Administration swings into action, starts repairing roads
Yamunanagar, May 1 An official statement issued here today stated that the work to repair and re-lay the damaged roads in the district had been started on a war footing. The statement said the PWD department had been asked to repair all the important roads in the district on which a sum of Rs 47.27 crore was likely to be spent. Deputy Commissioner KM Pandurang said the PWD department had identified 787.58-km length of roads in the district, out of which 219-km length of roads were found to be in a good shape. He said the state government had given a go ahead to repair 198.5-km long roads in the district on which a sum of Rs 136.10 crore would be spent. He said the repair work had been initiated on a stretch of 49.83 km, while the rest of the roads would be put back into shape soon. Besides, the department concerned had been asked to undertake patch work on a stretch of 192.68-km of roads in the district. The department is also in the process of floating tenders for repair of as many as 34 additional roads, stretching 53-km in the district on which a total sum of Rs 1,295 lakh would be spent. The Deputy Commissioner said the work on repairing the state highway connecting the district to Kurukshetra had also been started and a sum of Rs 956.55 lakh would be spent on this project. Besides, repair works on roads connecting Jagadhri with Bari Pabani village, Chhachhrauli with Kot Darpur, Damal to Kunjl Jataan were also undertaken. |
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3 brothers, driver nabbed for raping two Dalits
Bhiwani, May 1 The women, aged 33 and 22, had approached the Delhi Police with the help of an NGO, Bandhua Mukti
Morcha, and accused the brick kiln owners of raping them and parading them naked at their workplace. The women, who were being kept as bonded labour in the brick kiln, had earlier approached the Bhiwani police last Saturday with a request for their release, but the police allegedly ignored their complaint. A cop allegedly told the women that they deserved this treatment and "something bigger could happen to them by the evening." On the same night, they were allegedly gangraped by the brick kiln owners and another. The Delhi Police registered a case on the complaint of the women and intimated it to the Bhiwani police. The accused have, however, denied all allegations, maintaining that the labourers were implicating them in false cases to avoid repayment of advance payments made to them. Minor gang-raped in hotel Bhiwani: A minor girl was allegedly gang-raped by three youths at Durjanpur village in Bhiwani. The 17-year-old victim has alleged in her complaint to the police that Pawan took her to a hotel near Milakpur village, where two other youths, Kalia and Monu, were already present. She alleged that the three accused raped her in the hotel. The victim alleged that the accused had threatened her of dire consequences when she resisted their action. The police took the girl to hospital here for medical examination and booked the three accused for rape. Bid to rape minor, man held Gurgaon: A 62-year-old man was arrested for allegedly attempting to rape a 5-year-old girl at Haria Hedi village in the district today. The accused, identified as Aas Mohammad, had come to the village to collect donation for a madarsa board of Nuh. He was going from door to door this afternoon when he reportedly found a 5-year-old girl alone at her house. He entered the house and allegedly tried to sexually assault her, but she raised the alarm. On hearing the girl's voice, her mother, who was at a neighbour's house, rushed to her house and caught hold of Aas Mohammad. Other villagers thrashed him and handed him over to the police. A case has been registered. — TNS
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Four get 10-year jail for raping Dalit girl
Fatehabad, May 1 Jagdish, the then SHO of the Bhattu Kalan police station, and another policeman, who was entrusted with the complaint of the victim, did not register any FIR in the case for 12 days. Nor did the police got the victim and the accused medically examined in the clothes they were wearing at the time of the crime. A local court today sentenced four persons to imprisonment for 10-year each and sent a woman to jail for five years for helping the accused. ML
Sarwan, a former Haryana bureaucrat and secretary general of the
Mahasabha, said it was only at the intervention of Superintendent of Police (SP) Vikas Dhankhar that a case was registered on January 21, 2013. Welcoming the judgement that has come in a record time of almost three months from the registration of the FIR today, Sarwan said the police officials who willfully delayed the FIR and allowed the evidences to dilute in an effort to hush up the case, must have been prosecuted along with the accused. “The SHO and the other police official should not only be dismissed from services under Article 311 of the Constitution of India, but they should also have been prosecuted in special court,” said
Sarwan. He showed a letter from Dr Vivek Joshi, joint secretary in the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development, written to the Director General of Police, Haryana, in this regard. |
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State told to give one-room tenements to bonded labour
New Delhi, May 1 The state government should take up the construction of the tenements in right earnest and ensure “at least some of them are completed within two months,” a three-member Bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir said in an order passed on applications filed by some of the labourers seeking implementation of SC verdicts in a PIL case. Taking note of the long delays in the implementation of the SC verdicts in 1982 and 1991 in the Bandhua Mukti Morcha case for the rehabilitation of released bonded labour, the Bench said the intention of the court “must be given effect to without any further ado.” The cost of construction would be met either by the state government or the Faridabad Municipal Corporation, the Bench clarified. Appearing for the Centre, Additional Solicitor General Mohan Jain contended that the state government was responsible for implementing a 1982 Central scheme for the provision of housing sites and other facilities such as hospitals and schools. During the arguments, the Bench that included Justice AR Dave and Justice Vikramajit Sen said it was unfortunate that the SC verdicts passed years ago were yet to be implemented. The Bench also issued similar directives to UP yesterday for the rehabilitation of erstwhile bonded labourers. The SC pointed out that the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1976 was aimed at completely eradicating bonded labour and rehabilitating those released from such slavery. |
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Minister assures farmers on wheat bonus
Chandigarh, May 1 The delegation led by president, Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee Jagdish Singh Jhinda met the minister and submitted a charter of demand to provide bonus of Rs 375 per quintal on wheat in view of 25 per cent less wheat production due to weather disturbance this
year. Jhinda told the minister that the fixed price of Rs 1350 per quintal did not even cover the cost of production of wheat. He said the state government could help the farmers by providing bonus. He said wheat production cost more than Rs 1600 per quintal therefore Rs 1725 per quintal should be provided to the farmers for wheat. The minister said the Haryana Government is pro-farmer and several farmer-friendly decisions had been taken. Also, the Central Government had been urged to provide bonus on current price. This matter would also be considered in the Cabinet meeting held on May 2, he added. He said the state government had been providing information about new techniques of farming and also technique adopted by Israel to the farmers. The state government had set up a Centre of Excellence for vegetables based on farming technique of Israel in
Gharaunda, he added. |
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MP: State giving highest wages to labourers
Sonepat, May 1 Comparing it with other states, he said the daily wages under MGNREGA was Rs 214 in Haryana, whereas it was Rs 147 in Gujarat and Rs 201 in Delhi and Chandigarh. Similarly, the monthly old-age pension in Haryana was Rs 600 to 750; as compared to Rs 250 in Punjab and Rs 200 in Gujarat. Besides, the skilled and unskilled industrial workers were being paid monthly wages of Rs 5,700 and Rs 5,200 he said,adding that the financial assistance of Rs 31,000 was being given for the marriage of the daughter of an industrial worker. Around 33 years before 2005, no new railway line or project were sanctioned for the state. But after 2005,a number of new railway lines, including metro and a rail coach manufacturing project, had been sanctioned for Haryana, he claimed. He addressed public meetings at Barota, Kasanda, Kasandi villages and inaugurated a blood donation camp at Gohana.
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Candlelight march against Sajjan's acquittal
Faridabad, May 1 The agitationists, who led the march under the aegis of Sikh Sangat in Faridabad, warned that they would continue their agitation till the culprits of the riots were brought to book. Members of all age group took part in the agitation. Ajay Juneja, who hails from a family which is the victim of the riot and who played a lead role in organising the protest march,
said the agitation was also to express solidarity with the community in general and the victims in
particular. The agitationists started the march from a gurdwara in Sector 15 and terminated at the camp office of Faridabad Deputy Commissioner Balraj Singh. |
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Lahore bus makes brief halt at Ambala as passenger falls sick
Ambala, May 1 When the bus reach near Ambala City, Humaira Islam (21) told to the bus conductor that she was not feeling well. The bus being escorted by a police gypsy was brought to the Baldev Nagar police station. SHO Pawan Kumar took the woman passenger to the civil hospital at Ambala City for treatment in his vehicle. Humaira, who basically belonged to Kanpur and got married in Lahore a few years ago, was going back to Lahore after meeting her parents at Kanpur. The bus was carrying 35 passengers. Dr H Majumdar, who attended the patient, said she was suffering from vomiting and loose motion. She was given medicines and after an hour she
was discharged from the hospital. The bus was kept in a tight security in the
police station. Even mediapersons were not allowed to go inside the police
station. No water or eatables was served to the passengers. However, passengers were
allowed to use the toilet of the police station. |
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Husband dies of burns
Fatehabad, May 1 The police has booked Sunil's father-in-law Jagdish and two others on the complaint of
Mohinder. Sunil was married to Jagdish's daughter Rani two years back. However, there were some petty quarrels between the couple and for this
Jagdish, along with two others, went to meet his daughter at 11 pm yesterday. After an exchange of hot words, Jagdish asked his daughter to accompany him to her parental home. It was during this that Sunil caught fire and in an effort to save him, his father and younger brother too received burn injuries. Sunil succumbed to his burns, while in his statement, Mohinder accused Jagdish of setting his son on fire. SP Vikas Dhankhar said a case had been registered on the complaint of
Mohinder. — TNS |
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BJP to launch door-to-door campaign on May 15
Faridabad, May 1 Former Haryana BJP president Krishanpal Gujjar said here today the BJP would undertake door-to-door campaign from May 15 in all the districts of the state on its own. When pointed out about its alliance with the HJC, he said it was firm and the two parties were working on a joint strategy to "root out" the ruling Congress from Haryana. Party’s national headquarters would provide the publicity material which would highlight the shortcomings of the UPA government at the Centre. The state BJP, however, would supplement the literature highlighting the alleged failure of the Congress government in the state. A senior BJP leader said the party would virtually blow the bugle of its campaign for the forthcoming Parliament elections in Haryana. |
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Factory supplying RO water raided
Sirsa, May 1 The team went to a unit situated on the Dabwali road in Sirsa along with a Duty Magistrate appointed by the Deputy Commissioner, Dr J
Ganesan, and Food Safety Officer Mahabir Singh. The factory owner decamped after noticing the team. The team noticed that the factory did not have a filter to clear the water of impurities. The factory had no reverse osmosis system to purify the water before its supply to the users. Instead, the factory owner had been supplying plain tap water to people. On testing, the total dissolved solids
(TDS) in the water supplied by the factory was found to be 400, while in the bottled mineral water purchased from the market, it was found to be 35. It was found that while the factory was supplying water to the shops and offices in Sirsa town, the owner had no licence to run his business. The Food Safety Officer has taken samples of drinking water. Mahabir Singh said the samples of water would be sent to laboratory. |
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Sirsa teacher hurt as part
of ceiling caves in
Sirsa, May 1 Shashi Bala was teaching Class XII students in the room when a portion of the ceiling fell on her around 8.45 am. While schoolchildren managed to run to safety, their teacher received injuries on her head and shoulders. School Management Committee (SMC) president Dhana Ram, Dr Bhola Ram and panchayat members Jarnail Singh and Jagdeep claimed that the school building was 25-30 years old and was in a rundown condition. Some of the rooms, they alleged, were in a bad condition, but the authorities had been turning a deaf ear to their repeated warnings. They said over 400 students were studying in this schoo. Efforts to contact District Education Officer Kumkum Grover proved futile as she did not take the calls made on her mobile.
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INLD forms panel for MC poll
Chandigarh, May 1 State party president Ashok Arora said in order to expose the Hooda government’s black deeds in front of the public, INLD leaders RS Chaudhary, Ashok Sherwal and Nishan Singh had been given the responsibilities of party’s
spokesmen. Arora said the 11-member committee included former agriculture minister Jaswinder Singh
Sandhu, Rajya Sabha MP Ranbir Singh Prajapati, Israna MLA Krishan Panwar, Kalka MLA Pradeep Chaudhary, Safidon MLA Kaliram
Patwari, Radaur MLA Bishan Lal Saini, former minister Mohammad Iliyas, former Fatehabad MLA Swatantar Bala Chaudhary, party general secretary Brij Sharma, INLD SC cell state president Baldev Balmiki and INLD treasurer Paras
Mittal. |
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Hooda assures to look into employees’ demands
Chandigarh, May 1 Two separate delegations of the ICDS Supervisors’ Welfare Association and Haryana Ministerial Staff Association called on Hooda here
today. Hooda said the policy of the state government had always been pro-employees and Haryana was the first state to implement the sixth pay commission. However, anomalies, if any, would be examined, assured
Hooda. The Chief Minister said education had always been the priority sector of the state government. He asked the ICDS supervisors to regularly visit anganwadi centres and devote maximum time at the
centres. |
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Student killed on college campus
Yamunanagar, May 1 The college authorities rushed Yogesh to a nearby hospital, where he breathed his last. The deceased's family members, who rushed to the spot, told the police that Yogesh had some personal enmity with certain persons, who had tried to eliminate him earlier also. Mitesh Jain, SP, said a case had been registered against 11 persons named by the deceased's family. The SP said special police teams had been constituted to track the accused. The police was yet to ascertain the exact motive for the killing. |
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Demonstration against Chinese incursion
Sonepat, May 1 The protesters demanded immediate withdrawal of the troops from the Indian territory and asked the Indian Government to take action against this evil designs of China. They also urged the people to boycott purchase of Chinese items. Addressing the protesters, Jain said the Congress-led UPA government was still adopting a soft attitude while dealing with China. “The government should give befitting reply to China to maintain the dignity and honour of the country,” he added. |
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Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s rendezvous with faction-ridden Haryana Congress will materialise on May 8 at Panchkula.
In fact, Gandhi’s interaction with the party MPs, MLAs, former legislators and office-bearers assumes importance as it is being held at a time when Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is under renewed attack on the issue of regional bias in development from the Opposition and his detractors within the party.
Just two days after The Tribune highlighted the poor conditions of roads, the administration swung into action and ordered repair of most of the roads in the district.
An official statement issued here today stated that the work to repair and re-lay the damaged roads in the district had been started on a war footing. The statement said the PWD department had been asked to repair all the important roads in the district on which a sum of Rs 47.27 crore was likely to be spent.
Shashi Bala, a Hindi teacher, sustained injuries while over 20 children had a narrow escape as a portion of the ceiling of a room caved in at Government Senior Secondary School, Alika
(Sirsa), today. The teacher was rushed to a private hospital. Shashi Bala was teaching Class XII students in the room when a portion of the ceiling fell on her around 8.45 am. While schoolchildren managed to run to safety, their teacher received injuries on her head and shoulders.
