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H A R Y A N A |  |
 Saturday, April 17, 1999 |
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Instalment deposit date
extended
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Board
censures 15 schools Small hydel projects get Cabinet
nod Amarinder's statement
'irresponsible' Govt to spend 556 cr on roads,
bridges: Bansi Girl denies kidnapping Another teacher assaulted Help consumers to 'form
organisations' Grant-in-aid: MDU may file writ
petition Measures to combat crime in
Gurgaon New water scheme for Faridabad |
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Surcharge waiving scheme HISAR, April 16 — Keeping in view the response as well as demand from farmers, the Haryana Government has decided to extend the date of deposit of first three quarterly instalments upto May 31 under the surcharge waiving off scheme. Mr Attar Singh Saini, Minister of State for Power and Public Relations, Haryana said this at a public meeting at nearby Ramayan village today. He said the date of fourth and last instalment of the arrears of the bills would, however, remain unchanged. The agricultural pumping supply consumers were allowed the facility to make payment of their outstanding electricity bills as on September 30, 1998 in four equal instalments along with their current bills. The first instalment was to be deposited upto October 31, 1998 followed by subsequent quarterly instalment by January 31, April 30 and July 31 this year. The date of deposit of first instalment was extended upto December 31,1998, and subsequently the dates of first two instalments were extended upto February 28 last. Mr Saini said Haryana was the only state which gave about 50 per cent of the available power to the farmers which was well comparable to 26 per cent national average. The per unit generation cost of power in the state works out to be Rs 2.87 while it was given to the farmers at very low rate of 50 paise per unit and hence subsidy to the farmers on that account likely to go this year upto Rs 850 crore. Appealing to the people to pay electricity bills in time, Mr Saini said, indifferent attitude of consumers towards payment of bills retarded speed of development works. Reacting to the Opposition promise of free power supply, he said that had it been possible Mr Bansi Lal would have been first to announce so. The people of Punjab were experiencing adverse effects of free power supply to farmers. They were ready to pay for power but wanted regular power supply. Mr Saini said Mr Surender Singh, MP would lay the foundation stone of a 33 kv substation nearby Umra village on April 18. The substation was to be constructed by the Haryana Vidyut Parsaran Nigam at a cost of Rs 1.20 crore. The augmentation work of 33 kv substation at Mundhal and Bhatla was likely to be completed this month at a cost of 1.40 crore. Additional transformers at these substations would benefit consumers of 30 villages of the area. Later, he addressed
public meetings at Dhanderi, Depal, Maman Pura, Prem
Nagar, Umra and Sultan Pur villages and invited the
people to the public meeting of the Chief Minister Mr
Bansi Lal to be held at Umra on April, 18. |
National water policy stressed HISAR, April 16 — The Haryana Agriculture Minister, Mr Jagan Nath, today sought a national water policy for the proper and equitable use of river water resources in the country. Speaking at the inaugural function of the 17th meeting of the ICAR regional committee, Mr Jagan Nath pointed out that in the absence of the water policy in the country, a large quantity of river water got wasted. However, the minister said nothing about the Satluj Yamuna link canal dispute between Punjab and Haryana. Referring to some pressing problems being faced by farmers in Haryana, Mr Jagan Nath expressed concern over the problem of waterlogging in the state. He pointed out that the agriculture sector was passing through a critical phase as investments were coming down. He exhorted the NGOs and the private sector to come forward and rescue the agriculture sector from decline. The minister called upon scientists, agriculture extension workers and farmers to work for the growing food demands. He said the rate at which the population was increasing in the country was alarming and steps should be initiated to boost agriculture production. In his presidential remarks, the Director General, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Dr R.S. Paroda, emphasised the need to develop a strategy for the proper and judicious use of land. He stressed the need for the establishment of an appropriate infrastructure for reaching out to farmers with modern and latest techniques. The ICAR Director General disclosed that the council had launched a World Bank-aided national agricultural technology project to provide research support to various institutions all over the country for augmenting agricultural production. The support would be provided to zonal research stations for conducting location-specific research in different production systems. The ICAR regional meeting is being attended by scientists and researchers from Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, Nagar Haveli, Dadar and Daman Diu, as they share common agro-climatic conditions. Referring to this particular region, Dr Paroda said, it produced about 27.6 million tonnes of foodgrain from an area of about 21.22 million hectares in 1997-98. The region with an average area of about 17.72 per cent under foodgrain crop cultivation had contributed about 16 per cent of the total foodgrain production in the country, Dr Paroda revealed. He however, added, that the average foodgrain productivity in the region was much below the national average. While the national average was 1577 kg per hectare, it was 1300 kg per hectare in the region but he pointed out, the average productivity of Haryana was much higher than the national average at 2700 km per hectare, while in Gujarat and Rajasthan it was 1365 and 995 kg per hectare, respectively. Dr Paroda called for immediate measures to check the problem of water logging, before it caused further damage. In his welcome address the Vice-Chancellor Choudhry Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Prof J.B. Chowdhury, deliberated upon various aspects of the meeting. He said the deliberations would have a long-term impact on the formulation of an agricultural policy in the region. Dr B.L. Jalali,
Director, Research HAU and Dr N.K. Tyagi, Director,
Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal, also
spoke. |
Board censures 15 schools ROHTAK, April 16 — The Education Department, Haryana, has recently withdrawn the affiliation of five of the 15 private senior secondary schools in the district. According to department sources, the step has been taken in view of non-fulfilment of the required conditions by the affected schools. The schools against whom action has been taken include Tagore Senior Secondary School, Vidya Bhavan Senior Secondary School, Mandip Senior Secondary School, P.T. Senior Secondary School, and Mahesh Bharti Senior Secondary School. While these schools have been brought the matric level, Manav Bharti High School has been brought to the middle standard. Meanwhile, it is learnt that 85 private schools (high and middle) in the district which had a temporary affiliation till March 31, 1999, will have to apply for the renewal of the same latest by April 30, 1999. These schools will have to fulfil all the required conditions in the stipulated period otherwise their affiliation would deemed to be withdrawn. The required conditions include adequate staff, proper buildings, laboratories, library, playground and government specified pay-scales to staff. There are government affiliated schools which are run only in a few rooms. Still more, there are four schools in the town which are affiliated to both the CBSE and the state board. Interestingly these schools are being run in two separate buildings. Meanwhile, Ms Meena Chaudhary, President of Meham Chaubisi Jan Sangathan and an INLD leader, has charged the government of discriminating against this district in the matter of upgradation of schools. She said the government had announced upgradation of 352 schools in the state last year. She alleged only seven schools were upgraded last year in Rohtak district as against 49 schools in Bhiwani. These 49 upgraded schools include 13 senior secondary schools, 24 high schools and 12 middle schools. The Lok Dal leader further alleged 31 schools were upgraded in Mahendragarh district. These upgraded schools include 11 senior secondary schools, nine high schools and 11 middle schools. Nearly 400 government schools have been upgraded to the senior secondary level in the past two years. These has led to scarcity of school lecturers. As many as 793 post-graduate teachers were selected by the Haryana Staff Selection Commission six months ago. It is learnt that their appointments have been withheld in view of the ban imposed on fresh recruitments by the state government. The government had advertised for 793 vacant posts of teachers for plus one and plus two classes in December. In response to which nearly 23,000 candidates applied. The commission started interviews in August 1998 and declared that list of selected candidates pertaining to physics, chemistry, mathematics and bio-science in November 98. However, the selection list of English teachers was declared in March last. Meanwhile, it is learnt
the posts of principals are lying vacant in 117 schools. |
Small hydel projects get
Cabinet nod CHANDIGARH, April 16 — The Haryana Government has decided to take up six small power generation hydel projects having a total generation capacity of 7025 kws on the build, operate and own basis. (BOO): The Haryana Cabinet which met here today under the chairmanship of Mr Bansi Lal, Chief Minister, approved the proposal of the Non-conventional Energy Sources department for allotting the sites of these hydel projects to private entrepreneurs whose proposals had been recommended by the Technical Appraisal Committee. These projects will be set up at Dadupur Western Yamuna Canal (Lower) (4000 kw), Baliyala Fall Tohana (BMB & BML) RD 538640 (1700 kw), Gogripur Fall (WJC), Karnal (1000 kw) and Jaidhary Distributory RD 900 (Tajewala) (100 kw). The power produced from these small hydel plants will be injected into the grid of the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (HVPN). The HVPN will purchase power at the rate of Rs 2.25 per unit with base year 1994-95 and an annual escalation of 5 per cent. The Haryana State Energy Development Agency will sign memoranda of understanding with select firms to facilitate getting clearances, monitor the project and channelise the incentives given by the Central Government. The promoter would be required to furnish performance security of Rs 5 lakh per MW to ensure that the promoter commissions the project within two years of signing the MoU. The Cabinet also decided
to merge the two wings of Haryana Secretariat functioning
under the Chief Secretary and Financial Commissioner,
Revenue, at present to improve the efficiency of the
Secretariat. This decision will result in creation of a
uniform structure under the control of the Chief
Secretary and all the four categories of employees that
is class I, II, III and IV will now have a common cadre.
It may be noted that the present Haryana Secretariat is
divided into two parts. As many as 2,153 posts of four
categories from Class I to IV of the Secretariat are
under control of the Chief Secretary while 732 posts of
all four categories are under the administrative control
of Financial Commissioner, Revenue. |
Amarinder's statement
'irresponsible' CHANDIGARH, April 16 — Mr Harsh Kumar, Haryana Minister of State for Irrigation, has termed as "highly irresponsible" the statement of the PPCC president, Capt Amarinder Singh, appearing in a section of the press today saying that money had been wasted on construction of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal for carrying Haryana's share of Ravi-Beas waters. Mr Harsh Kumar said Capt Amarinder Singh was "trying to befool the people" by making such highly irresponsible statements. He said leaders of Punjab were making statements against the interests of Haryana so frequently and carelessly that it appeared that they were doing so to see their name in print. He pointed out that Haryana needed 53.20 MAF of water annually to meet its agricultural requirements as against the present availability of 13.81 MAF. Therefore, the surplus Ravi-Beas waters should be released immediately after completion of the SYL canal in Punjab in larger national interest. While urging Capt Amarinder Singh to desist from making such irresponsible statements, which mislead the people, he said he should go through the chronology of events that led to the conception and construction of the SYL canal. He said the SYL canal was conceived as a result of the order of the Government of India of March, 1976, allocating 3.5 MAF surplus Ravi-Beas waters to Haryana. Later on an agreement for sharing the surplus Ravi-Beas waters was signed among the states of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan in the presence of the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, on December 31, 1981, allocating 3.5 MAF of waters of Haryana. This record also provided that the SYL canal would be completed within two years, i.e. by December 31, 1983. Mr Harsh Kumar said the construction of the SYL canal was in the larger interest of the nation and 95 per cent of its construction work had been completed in Punjab between March, 1982, and June, 1990 . Punjab had spent Rs 611.76 crore up to November, 1998, whereas Haryana had completed its portion of the SYL canal in June, 1980, at a cost of Rs 56 crore. The minister said it was on July 24, 1985, that the Punjab settlement, popularly known as the Rajiv-Longowal accord, was signed between the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, and President, the Shiromani Akali Dal, Mr Harchand Singh Longowal, which also provided for commitment of Punjab to continue the construction of the SYL canal and complete it by August 15, 1986. It was unfortunate that the construction of the canal was hampered due to the killing of senior engineers by terrorists. He said the Eradi Tribunal was constituted in 1986 as a result of the Rajiv-Longowal accord to adjudicate the surplus Ravi-Beas waters between partner states. Accordingly, experts of both states put their case and after prolonged hearing allocation of water was decided by the tribunal allocating 3.83 MAF surplus waters to Haryana during January 1987. Punjab had been a party to all these events. Mr Harsh Kumar described
the SYL canal as the lifeline of the state and said three
lakh hectares of irrigation potential already created in
the state remained unutilised due to non-completion of
this significant canal in Punjab territory. He claimed
that Haryana was losing incremental agricultural
production of over eight lakh tonnes per annum of worth
crore and 4.9 MAF of water was simultaneously flowing
waste to Pakistan. |
Govt to spend 556 cr on
roads, bridges: Bansi CHANDIGARH, April 16 — Haryana needs Rs 5,000 crore to improve the entire infrastructure of the state highways, major district roads and other district roads. Stating this after inaugurating a one-day national seminar on "Build, operate and transfer (BOT) Projects for roads and bridges" here today, the Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, said keeping this in view the state government had identified several road over-bridges, bypasses and improvement of roads as possible BOT projects. The seminar was sponsored by the Haryana Public Works (Building and Roads) Department in collaboration with the TCI Infrastructure Finance Limited, Jaipur. Mr Bansi Lal said the government planned to spend Rs 556 crore on the development of roads and bridges, including Rs 156 crore on the national highways, in the current financial year. While pointing out that the concept of the BOT system was a recent phenomenon in the country, the Chief Minister hoped that the recommendations of the seminar would go a long way in generating acceptance of the BOT system in the country. He said the BOT projects recovered cost by collecting toll from only those who used this facility, without putting any burden on others. Mr Bansi Lal said in view of the fact that the pace of growth of traffic in Haryana which ranged from 8 per cent to 11 per cent per year, the state required Rs 130 crore per annum for maintenance of the existing road infrastructure. The PWD Minister, Mr Karan Singh Dalal, said the state was giving top priority to the development of road network in the state. The Chief Secretary, Mr Ram S. Varma, said the state had already set up the State Roads and Bridges Development Corporation to identify viable projects and mobilise resources. In his keynote address
the Chairman and Managing Director of HUDCO, Mr V.
Suresh, said the World Bank had projected a 9 per cent
growth in passenger traffic and 11 per cent increase in
the goods traffic in India. He said the BOT system was an
innovative approach to allow the private sector to
participate in the infrastructure development. He offered
HUDCO's complete cooperation to Haryana for the
development of roads and bridges. |
Girl denies kidnapping AMBALA, April 16 — The police has recovered Ms Shivani, whose alleged kidnapping had led to an agitation by the jewellers of cantonment last week. Ms Shivani was produced before the Duty Magistrate by the police who sent her to Nari Niketan, at Karnal. According to Mr M. S. Malik, S.P., she submitted before the Magistrate that she had gone with Shivraman Ghai, alias Mangi, suspect in the case on her own to Delhi on March 16. She said she married Mr Ghai on March 18 voluntarily. She said her age had been shown less in the matriculation certificate. She told the Magistrate that she wanted to go to her in-laws' house instead of her parents' house. The father of the girl,
Mr Anil Kumar, had earlier complained to the police that
she had allegedly been kidnapped by Shivraman on March
16. |
Another teacher assaulted HISAR, April 16 — Yet another teacher of Dayanand College was assaulted by four youths for not allowing copying at the Jat College examination centre here. The incident occurred today in the afternoon when the lecturer, Mr Ranvir Gupta, stopped some candidates from using unfair means in the exam. One of the examinees and three others assaulted him. This is the second time that a teacher has been assaulted for not allowing copying. On April 2, another teacher Mr Vikramjeet Singh, also from Dayanand College on duty in Jat College, was assaulted for similar reasons. Today, teachers of Dayanand College decided to abstain from examination duty at Jat College as they feel threatened. The teachers have brought the matter to the notice of the Vice-Chancellor, Kurukshetra University. A meeting of the principals of the two colleges was held here today. They have sought adequate security for the examiners. The Principal of Dayanand College, Mr Subash Sharma, the secretary of the Non-Teaching Employees Union of the college, Mr Sushil Rajpal, and Dayanand College Teachers Union president B.R. Bajaj have condemned the incident. The matter has been
reported to the police. Mr Gupta has reportedly
identified one of the culprits. |
Help consumers to 'form
organisations' CHANDIGARH, April 16 — Mr Ganeshi Lal, Food and Supplies Minister, Haryana, has appealed to all non-official members of the Haryana State Consumer Protection Council for helping the consumers in forming voluntary consumer organisations in their respective areas. He was presiding over a meeting of the Haryana State Consumer Protection Council here last evening. The meeting was held to create awareness among the consumers under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986. All 12 officials and 44 nominated non-official members from all districts attended the meeting. Non-official members of
the council discussed various problems of consumers in
the Food and Supplies, Transport, Agriculture and Power
departments. |
Haryana panel recast CHANDIGARH, April 16 — The Haryana Government has reconstituted the state-level committee for monitoring the progress in connection with the establishment of export promotion industrial park at Kundli in Sonepat district under the chairmanship of the Commissioner and Secretary, Industries department. The Director of Industries will act as its Member-Secretary. The committee will
review the implementaion of the export promotion
industrial park. |
Grant-in-aid: MDU may file
writ petition ROHTAK, April 16 — The Maharshi Dayanand University authorities are reportedly contemplating filing a writ petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court to get released the last instalment of grant-in-aid amounting Rs 3.15 crore and another Rs 3 crore for additional expenditure to be incurred on the implementation of the Fifth Pay Commission recommendations for the staff. Meanwhile, the university authorities today disbursed the salaries to its nearly 2,000 teaching and non-teaching employees by taking an overdraft of Rs 1.5 crore from the State Bank of India. The Executive Council of the university, at its meeting held here yesterday under the chairmanship of Lt-Gen (retd) O.P. Kaushik, Vice-Chancellor of the university, had approved the proposal of overdraft and the bank transferred the amount to the university account after the necessary formalities today. The teaching and non-teaching staff heaved a sigh of relief when they got their salaries after more than half a month. The non-teaching employees had been boycotting their duties in protest against non-payment of their salaries since April 8 last. However, they called off their strike yesterday following an assurance by the Vice-Chancellor in this connection. A serious discussion has
reportedly been going on with legal experts for filing a
petition praying for the release of Rs 6.15 crore by the
government for the last financial year. |
Measures to combat crime in
Gurgaon GURGAON, April 16 — The Deputy Commissioner, Gurgaon, Mr Krishan Kumar, today issued notifications prohibiting unidentified domestic helps from working in houses and hotels and restricted hotel and dhaba working hours up to 11 p.m. The two notifications have been issued under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). With regard to the domestic helps, the administration directed that their identification, including addresses with photographs, should be deposited with the police station concerned. The order for dhabas would be applicable to the ones located on the highways and Delhi link roads in the district. Talking to TNS, the
district police chief, Mr Navdip Singh Virk, said the
authorities have divided the urban belt of Gurgaon into
11 zones for patrolling and have deployed 100 police
personnel for this duty. |
New water scheme for
Faridabad FARIDABAD, April 16 — The Faridabad Municipal Corporation plans to implement a central government scheme to tap rain water for drinking purposes and recharge the ground water level which is falling rapidly, The scheme which has been sent to the Haryana Government for approval envisages the collection of rain water in deep pits through pipes to be connected to roofs of big buildings in the city. Corporation sources hope that after the commissioning of the scheme it will not only ease the water problem but will also prevent the wastage of rain water and damage to roads due to water-logging. Due to increasing urbanisation resulting in the construction of buildings and roads little ‘kutcha’ space is left in Faridabad. This prevents rain water from seeping to the ground level hindering the recharging of the underground water table. At present 310 tubewells
are working in Faridabad which are not sufficient to meet
the growing demand especially during summer. The civic
body has approved the boring of 49 more tubewells which
are likely to start functioning by the end of May.
Working on the joint project of the civic body and
Haryana Urban Development Authority under which two
Rannywells will be bored in the Yamuna bed to supply
water to the sectors and the NIT area has also started.
It will be completed by December. |
Haryana directive CHANDIGARH, April 16 — The Haryana Government has directed all heads of department to ensure that adverse remarks, including average grading in ACR's, should be communicated positively to the officials concerned by the end of June each year and in case of the education department by the end of October each year. Any lapse in this regard
will be viewed seriously. |
Loan for fashion design
institute CHANDIGARH, April 16 — The Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation (HSIDC) has decided to provide financial assistance in shape of a term loan of Rs 3.28 crore for setting up a fashion design institute at Gurgaon on commercial lines. The institute is being set up in the private sector for manufacturing and export of readymade garments and leather footwear at HSIDC Udyog Vihar, Gurgaon. The promoters of the
company are running successfully a similar academy at
Okhla in Delhi. |
Officers asked to ensure use of
textbooks CHANDIGARH, April 16 — The Haryana Education Department has issued instructions to all District Education Officers, District Primary Education Officers and Subdivisional Education Officers in the state to ensure that teachers in all government schools as well as recognised schools use only the approved and prescribed textbooks for teaching purposes. A spokesman of the Education Department said it had come to the notice of the department that private publishers were selling the guides at cheaper rates to serve their interests. Such types of guides affected the study habit of the student. He said these steps have been taken to curb the use of guides. The spokesman said the
department had also directed the education officers that
they should check the teachers regularly in schools and
take strict action against those teachers who use guides
and also instigate the students to use such types of
books. |
Rs 4 cr for drinking water
plan AMBALA, April 16 — The Haryana Government has sanctioned a canal-based drinking water scheme for cantonment here and an amount of Rs 4 crore has already been allocated for the purpose. This was stated here today by the local MLA, Mr Anil Vij. He said the scheme had a special significance for the town as the water-level had gone down substantially during the past few years. Mr Vij said he had raised the issue in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha on a number of occasions and the government had assured to look into it. The MLA said after the Army authorities refused to transfer the required land near Topkhana, the government had modified the scheme and now the water would be carried through an 18 km pipeline from Jansue headworks to Rangia Mandi where three water tanks would be built for storage and filtration. He said that to meet the
drinking water requirement two more tubewells would be
dug this year which would supplement the supply made by
six deep-bore tubewells dug last year. |
Teachers to boycott evaluation
work YAMUNANAGAR, April 16 — Haryana college teachers have decided to boycott evaluation work from April 19 in protest against the "callous" attitude of the government towards their demands. This was stated here today by Prof D.S. Dhaliwal, president of the Haryana College Teachers Union (HCTU). Mr Dhaliwal said college teachers were the only employees who had been denied UGC grades. He said their demand for pension was also pending with the government. A deputation of office-bearers of the HCTU had met the Haryana Chief Minister, Education Minister, Finance Minister and all high officials of the Department of Education without any results. The teachers had not
been paid their salaries since January, 1999, he said. Mr
Dhaliwal said the HCTU had decided to hold a
demonstration in Chandigarh on April 27, to draw the
attention of the government towards their demands. |
Telecom staff's dharna ROHTAK, April 16 — The dharna of the employees of the local Telecom Department in support of their demands entered the fifth day today. Members of four employees unions are taking part in this indefinite dharna staged outside the office of the General Manager (Telecom) here. Those who sat on dharna
today included Mr Pramod Kumar Rai, Mr P.K. Nijhawan, Mr
Ram Singh Saini, Mr Dharamvir, Mr Vijay Kumar Mittal, Mr
O.P. Narula and Mr Rattan Lal Chaddha. |
Prasad advocates mass marriages AMBALA, April 16 — The Haryana Governor, Mr Mahabir Prasad, said here today that dowry was the biggest evil in society. He was addressing a gathering in the city on the occasion of marriages of 51 couples en masse. The Governor advocated marriages en masse as a solution to the dowry problem. He said these promoted cohesion among religions and castes. He urged the organisers to look after the couples after their marriage so that they could lead a "successful and happy" life. He said every groom and bride at these functions should not be less than 21 years and 18 years, respectively. The governor regretted
that Haryana was way behind other state in the matter of
female illiteracy as only 40 out of 100 females were
literate in the state. |
Case against patwari FATEHABAD, April 16 — The police has booked a revenue official for the alleged misappropriation of government funds. According to the police the Tehsildar of Tohana had lodged a complaint that Dharmpal, a patwari, had not deposited Rs 12,771 which he had collected in 1996, through mutations etc, with the state treasury. The police has
registered a case under Section 409 of the IPC and
started investigations. |
B.Com III students seek re-exam FARIDABAD, April 16 — Students appearing for the B.Com (III) examination of Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, have demanded re-examination in the Management Accounting and Financial Accountancy paper held yesterday. It was claimed that some questions were out of the syllabus. The question paper was also not evenly balanced, as the students were allowed to attempt only two numericals against four as was done in the examinations conducted during the previous years. A commerce teacher also
agreed with the view of the students and said the
question paper was on the pattern of Kurukshetra
University and did not conform with the MDU pattern. |
| Diary |
'Train
masses to face disasters' GURGAON: Joint Assistance Centre, an all-India voluntary agency in disaster situation, has appealed to the Centre and State Government to train the masses to save themselves and properties in case there is a natural calamity like an earthquake, flood, drought or even fire. Mr N.K. Jain, Director of JAC, said in a round table discussion on "Media and Disasters" recently that as Gurgaon is prone to disasters, the district administration should teach the local citizens how to react if there is a natural calamity. He informed that as per the records of 1997, Asia suffered the largest number of natural catastrophes — 182 as against total of 538 worldwide. The number of deaths was 8,480 as against 12,636 in the world. Mr Jain informed that the United Nations Scientific Technical Committee meeting in Washington in 1998 confirmed that the frequency, intensity and number of disasters is on the increase and called for global efforts. Globally, earthquake accounted for 18 per cent of the natural disasters, 22 per cent of the deaths, 9 per cent in economic losses and only 2 per cent of insured losses. * * * * * There are a number of garbage-collecting points in the city where people throw garbage. But these points (centres) are made irrespective of the surroundings of the area. Two centres are situated just in the heart of the hub of the public activities. One garbage centre is surrounded by two schools, one temple, a dharamshala and a hoard of shops. Another garbage point is located just in the middle of the Old Railway Road. More than 50 shopkeepers are affected by these garbage centres as stray pigs, dogs and other animals remain there creating hindrance for the smooth flow of the traffic. When affected persons approached the authorities to change the site of the garbage points, they were informed that they had to find alternative places where garbage had to be collected if they wanted to change the existing garbage sites. The Governor of Haryana, Mr Mahavir Prasad, has constituted a citizens' monitoring committee, under the Yamuna Action Plan Project for the districts of Gurgaon, Yamunanagar, Karnal, Panipat, Sonepat and Faridabad. Leading educationists, social workers and advocates have been made members of the committee. Advocate Arun Sharma, who has been included in the committee, informed that besides other functions, the committee will promote awareness of the problem of the pollution of rivers and of the importance of clean rivers for human health and recreation. * * * * * The Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) demolished encroachments at Sector 17 recently. The authorities with the help of the police force used bulldozers to remove the illegal structures built by houseowners adjacent to their houses. Some of the owners had occupied the open space and constructed a concrete wall on the public land. Praising the actions of the authorities, Tejram Kaushik said the broad roads had turned into the narrow lanes due to the encroachments. More than a 100 encroachments had been removed, he added. * * * * * The Command Military Dental Centre (WC), Delhi Cantt, Delhi, has organised a three-day dental-care camp at the Zila Sainik Board, Gurgaon, for the welfare of retired Army personnel. There are more than 20,000 retired soldiers in the district. General Officer
Commanding (GOC), Delhi Area, S.K. Awasthy inaugurated
the camp recently. |
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