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Send crop damage reports within given time: Jimpa to Officials

IEP Chandigarh, April 5      

     Punjab Revenue, Rehabilitation and Disaster Management Minister Bram Shanker Jimpa today directed the revenue officials to furnish the crop damage report within given time, which should be appropriate from all aspects.          The Minister was taking stock of crop damage assessment being carried out across the state here in a meeting with the senior officers of the Revenue Department. He pointed out that the State Government was fully committed to compensate the farmers against the loss of crops being faced by them due to unseasonal rains in Punjab during last couple of days. He instructed the officials to get the crop damage assessment (girdawari) accomplished expeditiously ordered by the Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. The State Government will disburse compensation near Baisakhi.          The Revenue Minister also stressed that the Girdawari should be conducted appropriately and fair reports should be sent to the authorities for disbursement of compensation as early as possible. Jimpa said that directions had already been issued to all Deputy Commissioners for getting the assessment done besides submitting reports in this regard.          Reviewing the functioning of Tehsils with the officials, the Revenue Minister categorically said that there should be far more efficacy in delivering revenue services to the people at all Tehsils & Sub-Tehsils. He said that inconvenience to common people should not be tolerated and strict action should be initiated against corrupt practices, if any. He said that on the lines of Water Supply and Sanitation Department, ‘Janta Darbar’ would also be held in the Revenue Department to address the problems of common people on the spot. He said that the people, who were being deliberately harassed, after hearing their complaints, the accountability of such officers would be fixed. New recruited Patwaris will soon join the Revenue Department thus paving a way to further streamline the work of department.          On this occasion, Revenue officials apprised Bram Shanker Jimpa about the ongoing works and other achievements of the department through a presentation. Jimpa, while reviewing the work of the revenue department, gave instructions to upgrade the record room besides apprising them the directives of Chief Minister. It has already been made it clear to ensure transparent and corruption-free administration to the people so as to accord priority to services to people.          Underlining the need to sort out the Adampur flyover issue as soon as possible, the Minister sought information from the officials about the land acquisition process besides issuing instructions to speed up the ongoing process in larger public interest.          On this occasion, Additional Chief Secretary Revenue K.A.P. Sinha, Secretary Dilraj Singh, Special Secretary Dr. Amarpal Singh and other officials of the revenue department were present.

Vigilance Bureau arrests CA for extorting bribe Rs 26 lakh

IEP Chandigarh April 5   

       The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) during its anti-corruption campaign, has arrested a chartered accountant (CA) Ankush Sareen, resident of Ludhiana, for taking a bribe of Rs 26 lakh in the name of income tax officers at Chandigarh.          Disclosing this here today, a spokesperson of the VB said this case has been registered against the above said CA, who is practising privately, after investigation of an online complaint lodged at the Chief Minister’s anti-corruption action line.          Giving details he added that the complainant Parminder Singh Sidhu, resident of village Malsian, district Ludhiana, has alleged that the above said CA had taken Rs 26 lakh in two instalments for giving a bribe to the income tax officers in lieu of settlement of a notice served to his relatives residing in USA regarding an income tax return.          The complainant further informed that he had handed over Rs 25 lakh cash to the CA at his residence on 15-01-2023 and also made a video. After this, CA Ankush Sareen had obtained Rs 1 lakh more for junior officers of income tax department from the complainant on 26-01-2023.          The spokesperson said during an enquiry from the IT department, the complainant came to know that said notice of IT department had not been filed and he realised that said CA had taken a bribe fraudulently in the name of income tax officers by making him fear of heavy penalty and had not given further to anyone. Then he called the said CA to return his money back as his work had not been done but he didn’t.          The spokesperson added that the VB unit of Ludhiana range has investigated the allegations levelled in the complaint and registered a corruption case at VB police station Ludhiana against the above mentioned CA after finding him guilty for extorting a bribe money by making him fear of heavy penalty. Further investigation in this case was under progress, he informed.

Punjab Government made books available to all government schools before the start of the academic session: Harjot Singh Bains

IEP Ferozepur/Chandigarh, April 5

The Punjab government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has sent books to all government schools in the state before the start of the new academic session so that the education of the students is not suffered.  The Minister of School Education of Punjab Mr Harjot Singh Bains made an official visit to the border areas of district Ferozepur today to know the condition of education facilities in the government schools of the state.           He said that during the previous governments, the students never got the books on time.           The cabinet minister said that government schools are being improved a lot by the government led by Bhagwant Mann and seeing this improvement, enrollment in government schools has also increased.            He said that during the admission campaign, many government officials/teachers have also admitted their children to government schools.           He appealed to the parents of the children to enrol their children in government schools because now there has been a lot of change in the government schools and a complete improvement has been brought in education and infrastructure.  He said that soon such government schools will be prepared in Punjab where there will be full staff, there will be coaches for various activities/sports, principals will bring training from abroad,  business blaster scheme launched in the Government schools.  He said that the Punjab government had promised to provide a high standard of education to the people of Punjab which they would leave no stone unturned to fulfil.          During the visit, Education Minister Mr Harjot Singh Bains arrived at the school by boat to find out about the state of the government school in Kaluwala, a border village located on the Sutlej River.  He said that he had come to know some time ago that two girl students of village Kaluwala go to school by boat every day and the people of this village also take the help of this boat to go to the city or other villages.  Due to this today, they have come here to understand this situation.  He said that the students here have to face many difficulties daily to get an education.          He said that the demand to build a bridge on this river is justified.  He said that he has asked the district officer to estimate this bridge and will take it with him and make a request to Chief Minister Punjab Mr Bhagwant Maan to build this bridge. He said that he is fully confident that this demand will be fulfilled by the Chief Minister.           In the meantime, he visited government schools of border village Tendi Wala, Gatti Rahime K, Gatti Rajo K and Jhughe Hazara Singh Wala, Government Senior Secondary School (Girls) Ferozepur City, Government School Satiye Wala, Government Primary School Mudki,  Government School for Girls Mudki also visited.          During the visit, he interacted with the students of the school and took feedback about the school and also interacted with the school staff.  Meanwhile, he gave instructions to the BDPO to quickly use the funds received for installing interlock tiles in the government school of Gatti Rahime K.  He praised the teachers for providing good educational facilities at Government School Gatti Rajo K and the staff and social workers for the work done in the school for their contribution to the school.  He announced a grant of Rs 2 lakh to the government school of village Tendiwala for a new room and about Rs 50 lakh to the government school girls Mudki.  Apart from this, wherever there is a need to build new rooms in government schools, install interlocking tiles, provide funds for that, he also assured to provide funds.          During the visit, he also had a taste of mid-day with the school students.           Meanwhile, MLA Ferozepur Urban Sr. Ranbir Singh Bhullar thanked Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains for his visit to the schools of the Ferozepur district.

Vigilance Bureau arrests absconder accused of embezzlement worth crores in cooperative society

IEP Chandigarh April 5    

      The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) during its campaign against corruption, has arrested a former cashier Harpreet Singh of village Karnana, tehsil Banga, who was absconding in a multi-crore misappropriation case amounting to Rs. 7,14,07,596 in the Karnana multipurpose cooperative society limited, village Karnana, district SBS Nagar. He was absconding since seven months and arrested by the VB when he surrendered before the competent court at SBS Nagar on the directions of Punjab and Haryana High Court.          Disclosing this here today, a spokesperson of the VB said there are about 1000 account holders/members besides six paid employees in the said cooperative society. It owns one petrol pump, one tractors besides agricultural machinery for cultivation of land on rental basis. Apart from this, the said society also sells insecticides and pesticides to its members/farmers. Various members of this society and NRIs of this village had deposited FDRs worth crores of rupees in the society.          During the surprise checking by the technical team of the VB, it was found that the FDRs deposited and loans taken by the society members from 01-04-2018 to 31-03-2020 were embezzled to the tune of the Rs. 7,14,07,596. Besides this, it was also found that the accused had made discrepancies of Rs 36,36,71,952.          During the investigation, it was also found that the secretary Inderjit Dhir had installed 2 computers in the society, in one of which he used to prepare record to cheat the members by showing the deposited entries to the members as genuine but on digging the data of the other computer, it has came to light that the above said secretary along with cashier and others used to feed the data according to the amount of fraud and presented it to the audit officers and other officials of the department.          He informed that in this regard, the VB has registered an embezzlement case against 7 employees/members of the said society under FIR 15 dated 29-08-2022 under sections 406, 409, 420, 465, 468, 471, 477-A, 120-B of IPC and sections 13(1)A, 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act at VB Police Station, Jalandhar.          In this case accused former secretary Inderjit Dhir, cashier Harpreet Singh, Randhir Singh, Sukhwinder Singh, Ravinder Singh and Kamalit Singh (all members and residents of village Karnana) have been booked in this case and arrested five of them. Among the accused persons, the absconding former cashier Harpreet Singh has also been arrested. He said that raids were being conducted to arrest the remaining absconding secretary Inderjit Dhir and would be arrested soon.

Anti-drug drive sees 1746 arrests, 1005 NDPS cases in Sirsa alone

IEP Chandigarh, April 5

The Haryana Police, as part of a special anti-drug drive, have seized a huge quantity of narcotic substances in the past about 21 months in Sirsa district alone. Sharing the information here today, a Haryana Police spokesperson informed that in the past about 21 months, 1005 cases were registered and 1746 accused were arrested on the charge of possessing and peddling drugs in the Sirsa district.Giving details of the drug seizure, the spokesperson said that a large quantity of narcotics, including 10 kg 255 grams of heroin, 67 kg 692 gram opium, over 6202 kg of poppy husk, 84 kg 942 gram of ganja and about 65000 restricted pharma pills and capsules were seized from the possession of the arrested accused. He said that following the directives of DGP Sh. P.K. Agrawal, the police tightened the noose on drug peddlers and other offenders to curb the smuggling of drugs in the district, especially in areas bordering Rajasthan and Punjab.                    The spokesperson also urged people to come forward fearlessly and share information about the sale, consumption and use of narcotics at mobile phone number 7087089947, toll free number 1800-180-1314 and landline phone number 01733-253023. Apart from this, people can share any sort of information related to drug peddling at the anti-drug helpline number 8814022600 and 1800-120-2048 of the Sirsa Police. In addition to taking stern action against drug peddlers, the police are constantly making people aware of the ill effects of drug abuse, he added.

Haryana accords approval for listing of CRID as independent department

IEP Chandigarh

Haryana Cabinet which met under the Chairmanship of Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal here today accorded approval for listing of Citizen Resources Information Department (CRID) as the independent department under the Business of the Haryana Government (Allocation) Rules, 1974.CRID implemented PPP across the state, and at the same time has brought about integration of e-Governance principles across different schemes/portable of various departments and agencies of Government of Haryana (GoH). CRID has worked on data collection, data verification and integration of PPP data with data of other schemes and services. Nearly 73 lakh families have updated their data on PPP, which includes 2.89 crore individual members. More than 80 percent of the data for the various fields in the PPP database have been verified, either electronically or via physical verification through customized SOPs.After establishment of CRID, Haryana Space Applications Centre (HARSAC) was moved from department of Science & Technology to CRID. Further, as per recent cabinet approval, some functions and units of the erstwhile department of Information Technology (DITECH) have been merged into CRID (the balance functions and units have gone to department of Industries). In view of this, it was necessary to establish CRID as an independent department rather than the present status of it being under the GAD.

Haryana Police seizes 4-kg opium, over 1-kg charas, four held

IEP Chandigarh, April 5

Foiling two major drug smuggling bids, Haryana Police, in separate incidents, have seized 4-kg opium and 1-kg 50 grams of charas in Ambala district. The police have also arrested four persons in this connection.                    Sharing the information here today, a Haryana Police spokesperson informed that in the first case, a team of Crime Investigation Agency had got a tip-off that two persons were attempting to smuggle drugs from Champaran, Jharkhand. After getting the information, police set up a barricade near the Shahpur railway phatak on NH-44 overbridge and intercepted a car bearing Punjab registration number. When searched, police team recovered 4 kg opium from the possession of two accused inside the vehicle. Arrested accused were identified as Baljinder Singh alias Lucky and Raghubir Singh alias Ramu, both native of Barnala in Punjab.                    “In the second incident, the Anti-Narcotic Cell team had received information that the two persons were involved in drug smuggling in Nariangarh area. They used to bring Charas from Himachal Pradesh for supply in local area. Acting swiftly, police team established a naka near village Dhanora T-point and intercepted a vehicle. When searched, 1 kg 50 grams of charas was recovered from their possession. The arrested accused has been identified as Sanjeev Kumar and Vinod Kumar, both residents of Nariangarh” the spokesperson said.                    A case of drug peddling has already been registered against the accused Vinod Kumar in Kullu, Himachal Pradesh.                    “Cases under the provisions of the NDPS Act were registered against them in different Police Stations. Further investigation is on,” the spokesperson added.

Haryana Chief Minister issues postage stamp in name of Lord Parshuram

IEP Chandigarh, April 5

With the aim of spreading the message and teachings of saints and great men to the masses and to inspire the youth, the Sant Mahapurush Samman Evam Vichar Prasar Yojana; started by Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal is visible on the ground in true sense.        An initiative has been taken to promptly fulfill the announcements made by the Chief Minister on the birth anniversaries of great men. In this regard, the announcement to issue a special commemorative postage stamp in the name of Lord Parshuram, during the Lord Parshuram Mahakumbh organized in Karnal on December 11, 2022; has been duly completed by the Chief Minister by issuing a postage stamp today.        Notably, on the request of the Chief Minister, the Union Ministry of Posts and Communications issued a postage stamp in the name of Lord Parshuram on March 19, 2023. The Chief Minister had written a letter to Union Minister for Railways and Communications, Electronics and Information Technology, Sh. Ashwini Vaishnaw in January this year, to issue appropriate directions in this regard.        The Chief Minister is determined to make successful the programmes organized in honour of all the saints of the society. The Department of Information, Public Relations, Languages and Culture has taken the initiative to honour all the great saints of the society under the ‘Sant Mahapurush Samman Evam Vichar Prasar Yojana’. Till now, various programmes have been organized by the government across the state.

Haryana introduces Vivadon Ka Samadhan for Renewal of Licence

IEP Chandigarh, April 5

Giving a sigh of relief to the colonizers who have defaulted in depositing the outstanding license renewal fees as well as applicable interest on the same, Haryana has introduced yet another one of its kind one-time settlement scheme “Vivadon Ka Samadhan”. The scheme shall remain open for six months period from its notification.As on April 1, 2022, there are 756 cases where such licences are required to be renewed. Outstanding dues on account of renewal of licence in such cases are Rs. 3660 crores out of which principal amount of renewal fee is Rs. 1604 crores and interest component is 2056 crores. Therefore, in order to safeguard the interest of allottee, Vivadon Ka Samadhan has been introduced. This one-time relief policy that has been formulated on the pattern of EDC Relief Policy “Samadhan Se Vikas”,In case a colonizer opts for this scheme, then 100 percent deposit of principal amount on account of licence renewal fee shall be pre-requisite being a statutory charge.If a colonizer deposits 100 percent of the outstanding principal amount against renewal fees as well as 25 percent of the principal amount of licence renewal fee on account of interest, i.e. overall 125 percent of outstanding renewal fees, such licence shall be considered for renewal.If a colonizer deposits 100 percent of the outstanding principal amount against renewal fees as well as 10 percent of principal amount on account of interest, i.e. overall 110 percent of outstanding renewal fees, such licence shall also be considered for renewal.However, in order to promote easy adoption, it was decided that the developer should pay 1.5 percent of outstanding renewal fee progressively after every proceeding month till the currency of the scheme. 

Haryana drafts Ayush Medical Reimbursement Policy

IEP Chandigarh, April 5

In a big sigh of relief to the government employees, pensioners and their dependents, the Haryana Government has drafted the Ayush Medical Reimbursement Policy. The Policy also aims to uplift AYUSH System through its reach to all Haryana Government Beneficiaries.A decision in this regard was taken in the meeting of the Council of Ministers held here today under the Chairmanship of Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal.As the vast majority of these beneficiaries are getting themselves treated under the AYUSH System of Medicine but due to No empanelled AYUSH Hospitals they were facing difficulty in getting their bills reimbursed.  In view of the difficulties, AYUSH Medical Reimbursement Policy is drafted.As per the Policy, all Government AYUSH Institutions, Private AYUSH Hospitals having NABH certificates and Entry level NABH certificates will get empanelled under this policy. This will give a boost to AYUSH private Practitioners as they can get their hospitals empanelled.The Haryana Government employees, Pensioners and their dependents can avail the benefit of getting their illness treated through Indoor admission in AYUSH empanelled Hospitals under the State Government.Chronic disease Patients who were getting their outdoor charges reimbursed through Allopathy will now get an opportunity of getting themselves treated for the same disease through the AYUSH System and their charges reimbursed.Few Yoga and Naturopathy procedures will also be reimbursed during outdoor treatment of chronic disease patients since there are no medicines prescribed for outdoor patients while getting treatment in yoga and naturopathy hospitals.The Fixed Package rates have been defined in All streams of Ayush i.e Ayurveda (96 packages), Yoga (27 packages) and Naturopathy (30 packages), Unani (85 packages), and Sidha (49 packages). The Private Hospitals empanelled under this policy will charge the fixed package rates from Employees which later on will be reimbursed after the submission of bills to their concerned department.These fixed packages rates can be availed pre-diagnosed conditions/disease conditions which require hospitalization are mentioned in Ayurveda (20 diseases), Unani (50 diseases), Sidha (27 diseases), Naturopathy (8 diseases) and YOGA (8 diseases).The Room rent is also fixed as per the basic salary of the employee, which will be charged by the concerned Hospital as per entitlement and will be fully reimbursable.Non-Package treatment during Indoor admission through Ayurveda, Unani and Homeopathy in these empanelled Private Hospitals will also be reimbursed at par with room rent entitlement, Lab rates and Cost of medicines given during Admission.The Reimbursable list of Medicines is also drafted under this policy which will be fully reimbursable during indoor admission in Private AYUSH Empaneled Hospitals.