IEP Chandigarh, November 14

          Senior and decorated IAS officer of 1997 batch Mrs. Rakhee Gupta Bhandari today joined as Principal Secretary to Punjab Governor Mr. Banwari Lal Purohit.

          Mrs. Rakhee Gupta Bhandari assumed the charge of her office here at Punjab Raj Bhawan this morning.

          A recipient of the prestigious “Stree Shakti Puruskar” award in 2011 under the Category of Rani Rudramma Devi Award for administrative skills, leadership quality and commendable work for the overall development of women by President of India on International Women’s Day, Mrs. Rakhee Gupta Bhandari has a wide administrative experience. Apart from serving as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, she has rendered service in key Ministries like Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga, Rejuvenation, Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation, Ministry of Power and Ministry of Textiles, Director NIFT and others. She was also bestowed the President of India’s Silver Medal for Census Operation in 2001, and was also deputed by the Government of India to Bhutan for overseeing the first Parliamentary elections as a National Observer.

          Mrs. Rakhee Gupta Bhandari also had the privilege of representing India at the 29th & 30th Annual Human Rights Council in Geneva in 2015. She had also participated in International delegations as a member in Qatar, Pakistan, China, Syria and Dubai. A graduate from Lady Shri Ram College New Delhi, Postgraduate from Delhi School of Economics and an M. Phil in Defence and Strategic Studies from the National Defence College (NDC), New Delhi/University of Madras, Mrs. Rakhee Gupta Bhandari is an avid writer and singer, who has also published many articles and poems in leading newspapers and magazines.

500 screened in Diabetes Health Mela

IEP Chandigarh , November 14

As many as 500 patients were screened during a Diabetes Health Mela at Max Hospital, Bathinda on Monday. 

Shaukat Ahmed Parray DC inaugurated the mela which was organized in association with C-DOT Forum to mark World Diabetes Day. Dr. Tejwant Singh Dhillon civil surgeon was also present during the occasion. 

Dr. Sushil Kotru head endocrine diabetes and obesity care center said that during mela the tests including HbA1C, blood sugar, diabetes foot checkup, obesity checkup and TSH were offered free of cost.The free insulin cards were also distributed to 30 type 1 diabetic children.

IEP Chandigarh October 14

Aiming to eradicate corruption in the state on the directive issued by Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann, the Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) during its ongoing campaign on Monday arrested a police Sub-Inspector Bisman Singh, who was earlier posted as SHO, sadar police station Nakodar, Jalandhar, Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Resham Singh posted at CIA Jalandhar and a private person Surjit Singh for taking a bribe of Rs 1, 00,000.          Disclosing this here today a spokesperson of the VB said that all the above-mentioned accused have been arrested on the complaint of Harjinder Kumar resident of village Rampur Thoda, Rupnagar district. He further informed that the complainant has approached the VB and alleged that the above-mentioned sub-inspector had arrested his brother from Hoshiarpur along with his truck in a false case by showing recovery of poppy husk in the vehicle when he was SHO at Nakodar.          The complainant further informed that the sub-inspector Bisman Singh through a private person Surjit Singh and ASI Resham Singh had already received Rs 11,00,000 in installments to release his brother and the truck loaded from Srinagar. He further alleged that the though the accused police sub-inspector has been transferred to police lines Jalandhar but he was demanding more money through his two other middlemen to help him in this police case.          After verification of the facts in the complaint and the material evidence, a VB team have arrested the above-mentioned sub-inspector Bisman Singh, ASI Rehsam Singh and private person Surjit Singh for accepting a bribe of Rs 1,00,000 from the complainant in the presence of two official witnesses.          The spokesperson informed that in this regard a case under section 7, 7-A of Prevention of Corruption Act and 120-B of IPC has been registered against all the accused at VB police station, flying squad-1, SAS Nagar, Punjab and further investigation was under progress.

IEP Chandigarh, November 14

Haryana Right to Service Commission imposed a penalty of Rs. 5,000 on District Welfare Officer (DWO), Sonipat for delay in delivering the notified service to an applicant. The commission took prompt cognizance of the matter and issued a suo-moto notice to DWO on the complaint of Smt. Pooja who applied for Legal Aid Scheme through Antyodaya SARAL portal.

        Giving information in this regard an official spokesperson from the commission said that a report was sought from Sh. Rajbir Sharma, District Welfare Officer (DWO), Sonipat and in the enquiry it was found due to issues regarding the Public Finance Management System (PFMS) and required budget for the said scheme was not allocated on time. Prima facie, the payment of the appellant could not be done, due to the inability to generate vouchers for the Legal Aid Scheme.   

He further informed that as per the Haryana Right to Service Act, 2014, there are two appellate authorities as the first grievance redressal authority (FGRA) and the second grievance redressal authority (SGRA) in the appellate mechanism. If an eligible person does not receive a notified service within the notified timeline from the Designated Officer, he/she can file an appeal with the First Grievance Redressal Authority (FGRA). FGRA has a timeline of 30 working days to resolve the appeal. In case the appeal is not resolved within this timeline or the eligible person is unsatisfied with the resolution he/she can file an appeal with the Second Grievance Redressal Authority (SGRA). The SGRA has 30 working days to resolve the appeal. In case, the appeal is not resolved within this timeline or the eligible person is unsatisfied with the resolution he can file an appeal with the Commission. 

In this context, a revision appeal was filed by Smt. Pooja from Sonipat. She has applied online for the Legal Aid Scheme through Antyodaya SARAL portal. Since the scheme was not provided within a notified timeline, an automatic appeal was raised on the Auto appeal system (AAS) to the FGRA –cum- ADC, Sonipat, followed by a physical appeal by the appellant. The appeal was resolved without any opportunity for a hearing granted to her. She then filed an appeal before the SGRA-cum- Deputy Commissioner on April 18, 2022 which remained pending, and the appeal was escalated to the Commission.

He further said that the commission considered all the facts of the case carefully, it was evident that undue delay had been caused in the delivery of notified service/scheme due to budget allocation as well as major delinquency on the part of the Sh. Rajbir Sharma, DWO Sonipat was observed in the enquiry. He submitted the case of the applicant to the Deputy Commissioner, Sonipat for approval which was given in March 2021. Since March is the closing month of the financial year, due to a lack of adequate funds, the benefit could not be provided on time, however, the respondent was duty-bound to ask for additional funds from the HQs, but he kept quiet for more than 4 months and 14 days.

To defend his case DWO made a deliberate attempt to provide manufactured evidence for contesting the facts regarding inaction on the application by his office between March 7, 2022 and July 21, 2022. But it was evident the delay was made from his end. He could have informed the higher authorities regarding  shortage of funds in due time. The Commission expressed its displeasure towards Sh. Rajbir Sharma, DWO for showing irresponsible behavior towards the delivery of notified service. Thereby, imposed a penalty of Rs 5, 000/.

While following the mantra of Antyodaya, given by Haryana Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal, Haryana Right to Service Commission is making strenuous efforts to ensure that the benefits of the notified service reach the last person. Whenever complaints related to notified services come to the commission via email or post, the commission immediately takes prompt cognizance of the matter through a transparent investigation.

IEP Chandigarh, November 14

Haryana Government has directed to ensure complete procurement of paddy by November 15, 2022 in the grain markets of the state.

Giving information in this regard, an official spokesperson of the Food and Civil Supplies Department said that for the convenience of farmers of the state, adequate arrangements including drinking water, sheds for grain storage and uninterrupted electricity supply have been made in the grain markets for smooth procurement of paddy in the state. He further informed that till November 13, 2022, about 58.33 lakh metric tonnes of paddy have been procured in the grain markets across the state.

Notably, the Central Government had fixed a time period from October 1 to November 15, 2022 for paddy procurement.

IEP Chandigarh, November 14

Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala informed that fortified flour will bring positive change in the lives of the people.

The Deputy Chief Minister was reviewing the pilot scheme of providing fortified flour to the women of poor families in five districts by the Food and Supplies Department at his office here today. Minister of State for Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs, Sh. Anoop Dhanak was also present in the meeting.

While expressing happiness over the results obtained from the pilot scheme, Sh. Dushyant Chautala informed that this pilot programme was initially launched in Rajasthan, Gujarat, West Bengal, and Haryana. He added that due to the efforts of the Haryana Government; great outcomes have emerged that are well above expectations.

On this occasion, the officers informed the Deputy Chief Minister that there is a severe deficiency of micronutrients in people across the country including Haryana, due to which mainly iron deficiency anemia and folate deficiency are causing birth defects. To overcome the deficiency of these micronutrients, the pilot scheme of fortified flour was started by the central government in states like Haryana, Gujarat, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Haryana. He said that a survey was conducted in November 2017 under this scheme in five districts of Haryana and flour fortification programme was started in March 2018 in which fortified flour was distributed to women and children through mid-day-meals and Anganwadis. This programme was completed in the year 2021. He said that under the said programme, the women’s hemoglobin, ferritin, red blood cell folate, serum folate and vitamin B12 were tested.

While appreciating the success of the pilot scheme, Chautala suggested the possibilities of testing its effects and health status of women by taking more samples at different divisional levels in Haryana.

On this occasion, Commissioner and Secretary, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department, Sh. Pankaj Agarwal, OSD to Deputy Chief Minister, Sh. Kamlesh Bhadoo and other officers were also present.

IEP Chandigarh

Department of Community Medicine & School of Public Health, PGIMER, Chandigarh and Department of Social Welfare, Women and Child Development, Chandigarh, Administration jointly organised the “Care of Diabetes” event on World Diabetes Day on 14th November 2022, at Civil Dispensary, Sector-49, Chandigarh.The event was organized under the aegis of the recently launched “Chandigarh Millet Mission”. Dr. Poonam Khanna (Associate Professor of Nutrition, DCM & SPH, PGIMER) briefed about the importance of nutrition in diabetes prevention and management and how millets can improve diabetes management in day-to-day life, whereas Dr. Rimesh Pal (Assistant Professor, Department of Endocrinology, PGIMER) delivered a talk on diabetes care and management.He emphasized 150 minutes of weekly physical activity for better management of diabetes and addressed various myths associated with diabetes like insulin usage and inclusion of fruit in the diet. Mr. Uttam (General Manager, Verka) discussed the consumption of milk and milk products in diabetes, and how milk was an important component of our traditional diet.Dr. Abin (Junior Resident, DCM & SPH, PGIMER) briefed about the complications of diabetes. The event also included the millet recipe demonstration by Anganwadi workers, nutrition games and cost-free screening of diabetes for all attendees.At last, Dr. Poonam has acknowledged the organizers Dr. Rachana Srivastava (Program officer, DCM & SPH, PGIMER), Mr. Savitesh Kushwaha (PhD Scholar, DCM & SPH, PGIMER) and staff of the civil dispensary sector 49, Chandigarh. The event was sponsored by Verka.