Tuesday, June 22, 1999
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N E W S Tuesday, June 22, 1999 |
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Appointment
of PGI Dean today CHANDIGARH, June 21 — At least two issues during the PGI Governing Body meeting, scheduled for tomorrow, are likely to generate heated discussions among the members. The meeting will also ratify some major decisions taken by the Standing Finance Committee (SFC). The issue of appointment of Dean, PGI, and the tabling of the report of a committee formed two months ago to look into the long-drawn controversy about reservations against top faculty posts are on the agenda in tomorrow's governing body meeting. A meeting of the institute body of the PGI will be held next. The appointment of Dean, PGI, is expected to be controversial. A panel of five names — Prof R.J. Dash, Prof R.N. Kataria, Prof A.K. Banerjee, Prof Subhash Kumari Gupta and Prof S.K. Sharma — has been sent and one of the them will be selected. Usually the seniormost is selected. Professor Dash is the seniormost among these names. The recommendation of the Director of the PGI is based on seniority, suitability and other factors. A five-member high-powered committee headed by the Union Health Secretary, will table its report on reservations against top faculty posts at the PGI. The committee was formed following a meeting on April 6. This was done after the association of Scheduled Caste PGI employees petitioned the Union Health Ministry seeking modifications in the advertisement inviting applications to fill 140 vacant posts. The issue of reservations has rocked the PGI in the past several years and more than 140 posts are lying vacant while legal wrangling continues. A constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, in its judgement on April 17, 1998, had said that there will be no reservation against single-cadre posts. The PGI authorities referred the matter to the Union Ministry of Personnel for interpretation of the judgement. The ministry suggested a rotation system of reservation and allowed the advertisement. Sources said a compromise has been worked out between the two factions among the faculty. The meeting will also ratify the setting up of two new departments while allowing the post-graduation course in another stream. This was decided by the SFC. The SFC had also approved the cardiac centre, eye care centre, expansion of the operation theatres, new out patient departments (OPDs), additional posts of resident doctors in various departments, 72 houses for employees and a hostel for doctors, among several other employee benefit schemes. The new departments to be started are the one for tropical medicine and the other in hospital administration. The tropical medicine department will be run by the Tilok Tirath Vidyawati Chhuttani Charitable Trust, which has agreed to pay Rs 60 lakh annually. The department was a dream of the former PGI Director, the late Prof P.N. Chhuttani, who had donated Rs 3 crore to Panjab University. A committee was formed
and the PU authorities suggested that the department be
set up in the PGI where the basic infrastructure exists.
The department of hospital administration will be the
third of its kind in the country after AIIMS, New Delhi,
and Pune. The new course in post-graduation degree is in
blood transfusion. This is the only second such
post-graduation course. For the faculty, the SFC approved
one international conference every two years with an
allowance of Rs 1 lakh instead of Rs 40,000. The number
of national conferences has been increased from one to
two each year. |
Ezhilmalai,
Uma Bharti to visit city CHANDIGARH, June 21 — Two Union Ministers of State will visit the city during the next two days. Mr Dalit Ezhilmalai, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, will arrive here tomorrow morning to preside over the institute body and governing body meetings of the PGI and for inauguration of new OPD block of the Sector 32 Government Medical College and Hospital. It is after a long time that the meetings of both governing body and the institute body are being held in the city. In fact, these committees were reconstituted after a long gap. The Union Minister of
State, Human Resources Development, Mrs Uma Bharti, will
arrive in city on June 23, the day the BJP celebrates
“Kashmir Divas” throughout the country. The day
is being observed to commemorate the death anniversary of
Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, the founder President of the
Bharatiya Jana Sangh. Mrs Uma Bharti will participate in
the function to be held at the Sector 18 Tagore Theatre
on that day. The local BJP leadership, including member
of the dissolved Lok Sabha, Mr Satya Pal Jain, have been
organising rallies and meetings in various parts of the
city for the past few days to mobilise general public for
the “Kashmir Day” function. |
CJI: Let
1999 be ‘Year of Action’ CHANDIGARH, June 21 — The Chief Justice of India, Dr Adarsh Sein Anand, has asked all Chief Justices of High Courts in the country to observe 1999 as the "Year of Action" towards the disposal of old cases. In identical letters he shot off to all Chief Justices, Mr Justice Anand said: "You will recall that after my assumption of the office of Chief Justice of India, through my letter of December 22, 1998, addressed to all Chief Justices, I had requested for initiation of steps for the early disposal of old matters, particularly those matters which were more than seven years' old as on December 31, 1998. I had suggested that the year 1999 be the ‘Year of Action’ towards the disposal of old matters." "In continuation of my above-referred letter," wrote Mr Justice Anand, "I would like to invite your attention towards the matters pending in various courts in which older persons are involved, more particularly those who are above the age of 65 years, who constitute almost 7 per cent of the population of this country." "1999 is being observed as the International Year of Older Persons," the Chief Justice of India wrote in his letter. "The National Policy for Older Persons has recently been adopted by the Government of India, since India has one of the largest population of older persons in the world." Expressing concern over the sufferings of old people, the Chief Justice of India said: "At present, a large number of older persons are passing through an era of difficulties and hardships because the family, which used to traditionally look after them, is no longer being able to do so. In India, there is a high incidence of litigation concerning property and inheritance, two of the most common issues in which elderly persons are generally involved, apart from landlord-tenant disputes. Besides property and inheritance matters, service matters such as pension and retiral benefits also concern older people. There are some older persons who are facing criminal charges and languishing in jails as undertrial prisoners. "The problem gets compounded by the inordinate delay in disposing of the matters of older persons in the courts," said the Chief Justice of India, and added, "In many matters, the litigant unfortunately dies even before the case is finally settled. You will appreciate that the elderely people deserve to be attended by the legal system of the country somewhat on a priority basis. Therefore, there is need to evolve a system which may ensure timely disposal of their matters pending in the courts." Dr Justice Anand said as far as the Supreme court was concerned, efforts were being made to identify the matters relating to older persons and get them disposed of on a priority basis. "I have already given necessary instructions in this behalf to the Registry of this court," he added. Dr Justice Anand requested the Chief Justices of the High Courts to examine the matter and consider the desirability of issuing necessary instructions to the Registry of the High Courts as well as to the courts subordinate to the High Court, in this regard. "If properly monitored," he observed, "I am sure this exercise can produce good results." Pursuant to this letter,
the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court
has directed the Registry of the High Court as also
courts subordinate to it to implement what Dr Justice
Anand has said. He also directed the Registry to put up
(before him) a list of such cases within two weeks. As
for subordinate courts, the Chief Justice desired that
Inspecting Judges monitor the disposal of cases of
elderly persons. |
National
award for CSIO acting chief CHANDIGARH, June 21 — Dr R.P. Bajpai, Acting Director, CSIO, Chandigarh, has been chosen for the Prestigious SICO-sponsored - National Academy of Sciences, India Award, 1998, for his contribution in the area of instrumentation. The award carries a medal, citation and Rs 10,000. This award is in
recognition of his contribution for the development of
sophisticated high technology capital equipments for
microelectronics and analytical applications. During the
past two decades Dr Bajpai and his team has developed a
number of state of the art instruments required for the
manufacture of semiconductor devices (VLSI/LSI/VHSIC),
micromachining, flat panel displays etc. These equipments
include, molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), optical stepper,
advanced dry etching equipments, electron beam
evaporators, RF/DC Sputtering, LSI/VLSI tester, X-ray
lithography machine and Surface characterization tools. |
Shorter
way to station by Sept-end PANCHKULA, June 21 — A shorter link road between Panchkula and the Chandigarh railway station is expected to become operational by September this year. This alternative road will reduce the distance by more than 3 km, besides reducing congestion on the busy Chandigarh-Panchkula road. The length of the link road to pass between Sectors 17 and 18 would about 1.5 km as compared to a longer distance of about 3 km covered by people coming to the railway station from Panchkula. The proposal has been hanging fire for the past many years due to differences between the Haryana Government and the Railway authorities over the funding of the project. There were also differences on the execution of the work as a major portion of the road had to pass through land owned by Railways and the Chandigarh Administration, respectively. The project got an impetus after the Haryana Government sanctioned over Rs 62 lakh to Railways in 1997 for the construction of a road and other facilities to be set up on the land owned by the latter. Following this, the project was approved by the Railway Ministry. Sources in Railways disclosed that work on the road and the parking area on the Panchkula side of the railway station was in progress. The building to house a waiting lodge, a booking office and an information centre was also being constructed. To make way for the road, a number of eucalyptus trees on the railway land are being felled. A foot-over-bridge would also be constructed to allow people to cross over to the main side of the railway station. The alternative road, after passing between Sectors 17 and 18 will cross an over-bridge, over a dirty water nullah, which has already been completed by the Engineering Cell of the UT Administration after the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) despoiled cost of the project with the former. The portion of the road falling in Chandigarh, which had been left half way after laying of stone metal also stands to be completed. HUDA has written to the Chief Engineer of the Chandigarh to complete the road by September-end. An official of HUDA said though over Rs 50 lakh, as costs of the land to be acquired in its territory for construction of the road, had been deposited with the Chandigarh Administration in 1991, the works were inordinately delayed. Another proposal to
construct a road between Sectors 16 and 17 could not
materialise due to the coming up of Indira and Rajiv
colonies on the land. |
HUDA sells
10 sites PANCHKULA, June 21 — The Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) was able to sell six school sites and two sites each of nursing homes and clinics, in an open auction in the urban estate held here today. Revenue of over Rs 5.42 crore was earned at the auction. A total of 15 school sites which included nursery, primary, and a high schools sites were put under the hammer in Sectors 2, 8, 12, 14, 16, 20, 21, 25, 26, and Sectors 4 and 5 in Mansa Devi Complex here. HUDA was able to sell four of the five nursing homes and clinics sites in Mansa Devi Complex even as local branch of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) boycotted the auction. At the auction, which started two hours behind the schedule, most of the sites were purchased by persons already running educational institutions in the township or in Chandigarh. A nursery school site in Sector 8, which had a reserved price of about Rs 52.08 lakh was sold for Rs 52.17 lakh. A nursery school site in Sector 12 was sold for Rs 70.55 lakh against a reserved price of about Rs 70.44 lakh. Another nursery school site in Sector 20, which had a reserved price of over Rs 45.97 lakh, was sold for Rs 46.04 lakh. Rest of the five nursery school sites were withdrawn from the auction by HUDA. Among the primary school sites, a site in Sector 5 of Mansa Devi Complex was sold for over Rs 1.08 crore against a reserved price of Rs 98.79 lakh. Another site in Sector 20 was sold for Rs 94.74 lakh against a reserved price of Rs 93.09 lakh. Rest of the primary school sites were withdrawn from the auction as there were few takers. A high school site in Sector 21 and a college site in Sector 14 were also withdrawn from the auction. Among the nursing homes
and clinics sites, the highest bid was attracted by a
clinic site in Sector 5 of Mansa Devi Complex which was
sold for Rs 11 lakh against a reserved price of Rs 10.11
lakh. Another clinic site in Sector 4 of Mansa Devi
Complex was sold for Rs 96.54 lakh against a reserved
price of Rs 96.54 lakh. Besides, one nursing home site
each were sold in Sectors 4 and 5 of the complex. |
MCC
suspends Xen, SDO CHANDIGARH, June 21 — Taking a strong notice of the accumulation of water in the recently-shifted rehabilitation colony in Mauli Jagran for the past two days, the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh (MCC) has suspended two engineers besides, issuing a show-cause notice to a Superintending Engineer (SE) of the civic body. According to sources, the suspended officials, Mr Shyam Singh, Xen, and Mr H.S. Bedi, SDO, have primarily been charged with dereliction of duty. Mr Manmohanjit Singh has been asked to explain why action should not be taken against him. The action was
reportedly taken after a delegation met the UT
Administrator, Lieut-Gen BKN Chhibber (retd), and brought
to his notice that the colony was shifted to the
low-lying area without levelling the area. This coupled
with the lack of sewerage and drainage facilities had led
to the present situation with the result that the entire
area gave the appearance of an island. The indifferent
attitude of the civic body had resulted in damage to a
number of houses in the colony. A number of residents had
been rendered homeless due to the faulty policies of the
civic body, a press note of the councillors said.
Demanding a CBI probe into the whole issue, the
councillors alleged that despite repeated representations
to the civic body no attention was paid to the problems
of the colony residents. |
Row over
MC meeting SAS NAGAR, June 21 — Controversy arose today over a Municipal Council meeting called here in connection with the moving of a no-confidence motion against the civic body president. While the council chief claimed that the motion against him had “failed” municipal councillors belonging to the opposition group said the holding of the meeting was “illegal”. However, Mr O.P. Popli, SDM, appointed the observer for the meeting by the Ropar Deputy Commissioner, said the meeting “ended in confusion”. As many as 19 municipal councillors, including the President, of the body were present in the meeting hall but only three of them signed the attendance register. Some councillors said they did not mark their attendance because they had merely come to express their resentment before the SDM over the holding of the meeting. Opposition councillors said the meeting was “illegal” because the civic body President, Mr Harinder Pal Singh Billa, was not authorised to call it after the expiry of 14 days from the date of the receipt of the requisition notice on the no-confidence motion, as per Section 25 of the Punjab Municipal Act, 1911. Mr N.K. Marwaha, a councillor, said the requisition letter was given on May 28. Mr Billa, however, said he had called the meeting after getting a letter from the Department of Local Government that he could take such a step. After receiving the letter on June 18, he asked the Executive Officer to make arrangements for the meeting. Letters to this effect were circulated the same evening among the councillors and the Executive Officer also wrote to the Deputy Commissioner to appoint an observer. The council president said he could not call the meeting earlier because the state high court had fixed August 30 as the date of hearing of a case relating to an earlier no-confidence motion. He had sought a clarification from the Department of Local Government, which, according to its letter dated June 8, restrained him from calling a fresh meeting till legal advice was tendered by the government. He later received a letter from the department on June 18 stating that a fresh meeting could be called. Mrs Indu Sehgal, a
councillor, said the opposition councillors had dubbed
the meeting “illegal” after they failed to get
the support of the required number of members for ousting
the president. |
Computer
snag hits train bookings CHANDIGARH, June 21 — Computerised reservation terminals installed at the railway station here have not been functioning since Saturday, causing harassment to those wanting to book tickets during this peak travelling time of year. According to sources, the link between the computers here and main terminals located at Central Booking Office (CBO) in Sector 17 has snapped. Railway officials said that work to rectify the defect was going on. A large number of
defence personnel and residents of Panchkula usually come
to the railway station to book their tickets. Bookings
were, however, being done at the CBO.
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Merit
lists displayed CHANDIGARH, June 21 — The merit lists of students who have qualified for admissions to the plus one classes of medical and non-medical streams of DAV College, Sector 10, were displayed on the notice boards here today. The cut-off percentages for the non-medical stream this year is 80, while for the medical stream it is 60. The merit lists displayed contained the names of 384 candidates in the non-medical group and 190 candidates in the medical group in the general category. The cut-off percentages for both these streams last year were 74.8 and 63, respectively. The percentages of students who are placed first on the merit list this year are 95.83 in non-medical and 94.17 in the medical group. The response of the students generally has been rather lukewarm to the seats in the medical stream, with the number of applicants being lesser than the seats available. A total of 190 candidates applied for 240 seats. Contrary to this, the rush has been more for the seats in the non-medical stream. Interestingly, the number of applicants from both Punjab and Haryana have been negligible this year. According to the figures available, there were nearly 1,300 applicants for a total of 720 seats in both streams. The admissions to the reserved category seats in both these streams and the excess, if any, in the general quota will be made on June 26. The interviews for admissions to these classes will be held from June 22 to 26. As per the schedule, the first 75 students in the non-medical group and 75 in the medical group will be interviewed tomorrow. Meanwhile, students who
are applying for admissions in various government senior
secondary schools have started submitting their forms at
the allotted centres. A total of six counters have been
set up at each of the three centres, namely GGSSS-18,
GMSSS-22 and GMSSS-23, for the collection of forms. The
forms are still available with various schools and the
same can be submitted till June 30. |
Dera
Bassi gets tehsil complex DERA BASSI, June 21 — Solidarity was the need of the hour as the enemy had attacked Indian border, said Capt Kanwaljit Singh, Finance Minister of Punjab, while addressing the public in Dera Bassi after inaugurating Tehsil Complex, here on Sunday. He criticised the Congress for its futile "divide and rule" policy adopted to grab the "chair". He said that the Congress toppled the Vajpayee government but could not form its own government. He said the Congress had created an atmosphere of political and economic instability in the country, which encouraged the enemy to cross the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. He said the government had taken strict precautions to maintain law and order in the country. Pakistan betrayed us after we showed friendship towards it by opening the Wagah border for Inter-country bus service, he said. He also paid homage to soldiers killed in the Kargil sector and said that a relief fund of Rs 10 lakh would be created to help the aggrieved families in the Banur constituency. He said that Rs 1,000 crore would be spent for repairing roads and Rs 106 crore on bridges in the state. Work on the bridge over the Tangri, near Lalru, would be started soon. Tehsil Complex would be completed till March 31 at a cost of Rs 1 crore. It would have the SDM office, Tehsildar's office, treasury and chambers for lawyers in it. Earlier, the minister laid the foundation stone of a shopping complex which would be built at a cost Rs 30 lakh near Ram Lila Ground here. He also inaugurated a community center built at a cost of 30 lakh in the subdivision. He also distributed grant cheques to 16 panchayats for development purposes. Mr Jasbir Singh Bir,
Deputy Commissioner of Patiala, Mr S.S. Sidhu, SDM, Mr
H.S. Bhullar, DSP, Mr G.S. Dalli, President of MC, Mrs
Inderjit Kaur Kang, Tehsildar, and residents of the town
were also present. |
City STD
PCOs violate rules CHANDIGARH, June 21 —Tutored pulse rate, overcharging, charging of an additional service fee, non-renewable licences even after expiry of stipulated three-year period are the bane of the flourishing STD PCOs business in the Chandigarh Telecom District. Not only that. A majority of the STD PCO booth owners neither display their licences, which is mandatory for them, nor do they even display their telephone numbers, the pulse rate or tariff chargeable and the telephone numbers of senior functionaries of the department in case a customer wants to lodge a complaint. At present, there are nearly 2600 STD PCOs functioning in the Chandigarh Telecom District. Sources in the department confirm that not even a single franchise has been renewed in the district ever since the introduction of the scheme several years ago. Under the rules, each franchise has to be renewed at the expiry of the three-year contract. The department has to review circumstances before renewing the franchise. The licences, under the scheme, are given only to those who are unemployed and have no other means of sustenance. A survey conducted by the TNS reveals that there are STD PCOs where several lines are functioning in violation of the rules. For example, in one instance in Sector 21-D, there are four PCOs and five ordinary telephone lines are being used from the same premises. The STD PCO franchises have been in the name of the house owner, his wife, married daughters and others. The telephones are also found to be locally programmable in gross violation of the norms. In yet another case in the same sector, there are four STD PCO lines and two ordinary lines running from the same premises. Besides, there is a hostel for students being run from the same building. In a recent case in SAS Nagar, 22 telephone lines were functioning from the same premises before all lines were ordered to be disconnected. The department has a bill running into several lakhs pending against this STD PCO owner who has decided to take to legal recourse. Though the Department has information that the ownership of a majority of STD PCOs have changed hands more than once, no action has been initiated to stem this malpractice. According to a recent survey, a minimum of 40 per cent to 50 per cent of licences would be cancelled as the beneficiaries no more run these STD PCO franchises themselves. In certain cases, the original licencees have died, in some other cases the girls in whose names these licences were issued have already been married off and live elsewhere. In yet another substantial number of cases, licencees have grown up and taken up jobs, including those in the government, without surrendering the STD PCO franchise. Following a number of complaints against STD PCO owners of Mani Majra, the Divisional Engineer, Phones, Mr A.S. Hundal, admits that he has recommended cancellation of the licence of one such PCO besides suggesting to the department to immediately disconnect the number. In this case, the owner has not only been charging the consumers the old pulse rate as applicable before May 1, but also levying an additional charge other than the service charge of Rs 2 per successful call. For example, a consumer who made a call to Ambala was charged almost three times than what he should have been normally charged. The department officials
maintain that the machines used at most of these STD PCOs
are locally made. Unless their integrated circuits are
programmed, the pulse rates can be tutored. In case there
is no integrated circuit, the meter will give a pulse
rate of two seconds. There have been some STD PCOs where
consumers are charged this exorbitant two seconds pulse
rate irrespective of the area to which an STD call has
been made. |
Bee in
soft drink bottle CHANDIGARH, June 21 — Mr Madan Lal, a shopkeeper in Sector 19-D here, alleged that a bee was found in the bottle of a popular brand of soft drink. Mr Mohan Lal, who bought
a crate of the soft drink on Thursday last, complained
that despite promises by the office of the company that
the matter would be looked into, no representative of the
company had visited his shop. |
SNIPPETS Few visitors to city zoo CHANDIGARH, June 21 — The mini zoo here, which was once a favourite picnic spot for city residents, today presents a sad story due to lack of funds and wrong policies of the authorities. Situated at the back of the Punjab Raj Bhavan and near Sukhna lake, it is generally visited by a few visitors. The regulars include school kids on organised trips. The zoo has animals like sambars, hog deer, barking deer, monkeys, blue bulls, parrots, ducks and a few birds. The zoo in charge, Mr Ramesh Gujral, said some animal species were not mating due to the artificial environment created in their cages. The porcupine pair had not mated for the past two years due to the cemented floor of the cage. A female langoor faces extinction in captivity because her male counterpart was at the Delhi zoo and the authorities would not allow the transfer of animals. Mr Gujral, however, was pleased to inform that a pair of hog deer had delivered an offspring but feared its survival due to lack of shady trees and broken shed. He said the shed could not be repaired due to lack of funds. The funds provided for the zoo were part of the joint budget of the Chhat Bir zoo. The amount was not sufficient to even provide proper diet to the animals. The animals are mainly given a rich diet of fruits like apples, papaya and oranges. Mr Gujral said due to lack of funds, the cages could not be painted for the past eight years. There is also inadequate water supply in the zoo. A reason for few visitors to the zoo is bad condition of the approach road to it. Dharna by medical practitioners CHANDIGARH, June 21 — Intermittent showers notwithstanding, members of the Medical Practitioners Association of Punjab organised a dharna at Matka Chowk and courted arrest here yesterday. The speakers at the dharna criticised the Chandigarh police and the Punjab Government for their indifferent attitude towards agitators. They also criticised the police for misbehaving with newsmen outside the residence of the Chief Minister where nurses were holding an agitation. Dr Ramesh Kumar Bali, General Secretary of the Registered Medical Practitioners Association, urged the Punjab Chief Minister to concede the demands of the medical practitioners and give recognition to those who were already in the profession. Employees’ charge denied CHANDIGARH, June 21 — Mr K.S. Palne, Managing Director, Housefed, Punjab, in a written statement has refuted the the allegations levelled by Employees Union of Housefed. Mr Palne clarified that a meeting of the board of directors of Housefed was scheduled to be held at 12.30 p.m. on June 15. A large numbers of employees during office hours, at the cost of office work, had collected near the office room of the Chairman where the board membes were having preliminary discussion regarding agenda items. Apprehending disturbance at the board meeting, employees were simply advised not to gather there. Nobody misbehaved with them. It is further clarified that the employees had never met on that day regarding their demands, hence no question of misbehaving with them by any person. Two killed in mishaps KHARAR, June 21 — Two persons were killed in two separate road accidents here yesterday. Bhajan Singh was killed when he was knocked down by a truck (Pb-10-C-1315) near the local bus stand. The police has regsitered a case under Section 279, 304-A of the IPC against Gurdeep Singh, driver of the truck. In the other incident, Dukha Singh, who was going on a cycle, was killed when it was hit by a Tata 407 Pb-12 C-0989 here. The police has regsitered a case under Section 279, 304 A against the driver of the vehicle who has absconded. Demand for panchayat CHANDIGARH, June 21 — Balongi and nearby villages in the periphery of Chandigarh have urged the Punjab Government to form a gram nagar panchayat. The demand for new nagar gram panchayats has been set in motion after the notification of the Zirakpur Nagar Gram Panchayat, which will include eight villages. Sarpanches, panches and senior citizens of a cluster of villages, including Balongi and nearby areas, met today under the chairmanship of Dr Gurnam Singh, General Secretary of the Kharar circle of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) and adopted a resolution. Dr Gurnam Singh was authorised to take up the issue with the local government. The meeting also expressed its concern that despite having fulfilled all formalities, the residents of these villages have been denied power connections. Benefits for war widows sought CHANDIGARH, June 21— The government and society should respond in a manner so that the family members of the martyrs, who sacrificed their lives while defending the borders of the nation, received continuous care and protection and did not feel neglected. This was the consensus at a meeting of the core group of the Jan Shakti, formed with a view to sensitising people so as to promote greater civil solidarity with the armed forces. The group decided to pursue the problems by asking the government to pay allowance money, job to a member of the family and land immediately on the bhog ceremony so that the kith and kin of the martyrs did not face hardships later on. The deputy commissioners concerned should be held accountable for non-payment of benefits to the families of the martyrs of the 1965 and 1971 wars, the meeting felt. It wanted that the war widows be paid full salary up to the date the Armymen, who sacrificed their lives, were to superannuate or when they remarried. Their children must be given admission in kendriya vidyalayas, Army schools and government schools at a place where the widows chose to settle. Jobs provided to war widows should be commensurate with their qualifications. The group urged the blood donors to enlist themselves with the Servants of the People Society, Sector 15, so that blood donation camps could be organised for the injured Armymen. INLD criticises HUDA policy PANCHKULA, June 21 — The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has criticised the policy of the state government to auction sites of nursing homes and clinics in urban estates of the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA). While charging the Bansi Lal government with having emptied its coffers due to wrong policies, the General Secretary of the INLD, Mr Pardeep Chaudhary, said the government's one-point agenda was to collect money. Instead of providing free medical services the auctioning of plots for nursing homes and clinics by HUDA would ultimately affect the common man. 3 remanded to judicial custody KHARAR, June 21 — Mrs Neelam Arora, Judicial Magistrate, today remanded three persons Surinder Kaur, Jagtar Singh and Bhupinder Singh — to judicial custody till July 1. The persons were arrested by the Sohana police in connection with the murder of Madan Lal of Bhawat village. According to the police, the accused Jagtar Singh was lessee of Madan Lal and he allegdly had illicit relations with Surinder Kaur, wife of Madan Lal. The police said Madan Lal was murdered on April 14 by the accused near Dera Bassi and buried there. The police said on April 15, Surinder Kaur lodged a report with the Zirakpur police that Madan Lal was missing. Mr J.P. Singh, SHO, Sohana, and Mr Baljeet Singh, Assistant Public Prosecuter, appeared on behalf of the state today in the court. New OPD block at GMCH CHANDIGARH, June 21 — A new block housing the most modern Outdoor Patients Department (OPD) of the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, is scheduled to be inaugurated at 4 p.m by the Union Health Minister, Mr Dalit Ezhilmalai, tomorrow. Police gesture CHANDIGARH, June 21 —The entire Chandigarh police force will donate a day's salary towards the Prime Minister's Relief Fund to assist the Kargil martyrs' families and those soldiers injured in the military operations. The donated sum will
work around to be Rs 6 lakh, the SSP, Headquarters, Mr
Ajay Kashyap, said. The police will also organise a blood
donation camp in the second week of next month to meet
the requirement of blood for the injured in the ongoing
action. The actual date will be finalised in consultation
with Army authorities. |
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