Category Archives: Chandigarh

Chandigarh, Punjab

Regular liver transplant surgery OPD launched at Max

Leave a comment

IEP CHANDIGARH JULY 17, 2022

A regular liver transplant OPD was launched at Max Hospital, Mohali on Saturday. The hospital is also going to establish a comprehensive liver care unit which will cater to the patients from HP, Haryana and J&K.

Speaking during launch, Dr. Abhideep Chaudhary, senior director of liver transplantation  said that this specialized OPD will also benefit patients with hepato, pancreatico and biliary (HPB) diseases which refers to any condition that affects the liver, pancreas, gallbladder, and the bile ducts.

Chandigarh, Punjab

CM gives nod for constituting SDMF to effectively cope up with any unforeseen natural disaster

Leave a comment

IEP CHANDIGARH JULY 17, 2022

In order to tackle any unforeseen natural disaster effectively, the Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has given nod to constitute State Disaster Mitigation Fund

(SDMF).

Giving the details, the Chief Minister said that the SDMF has been constituted under Section 48 1(c) of the Disaster Management Act 2005. He said that with the formation of this Fund, projects related to mitigation measures will be launched in the state. Bhagwant Mann expressed hope that these measures will help the state in coping with and mitigating natural calamities.

The Chief Minister said that the fund has been constituted on the recommendations of the Fifteenth Finance Commission. He said that the state share in the SDMF from 2021 to 2026 will be 25% while the Central Share will be 75%. Bhagwant Mann said that a total sum of Rs. 729.60 Crore will be available in the SDMF from 2021 to 2026, which will be instrumental in further augmenting the preparedness of the state for any sort of natural disaster.

The Chief Minister said that state government is fully seized of the gravity of situation and need for effective preparedness to cope up with any sort of unforeseen natural disaster. He said that the state government accords top priority to safety and security of people and no stone will be left unturned for this noble cause. Bhagwant Mann reiterated the commitment of the state government for progress of the state and prosperity of its people.

Chandigarh, Punjab

Mayor lays foundation stone of Veterinary Hospital at Gaushala Raipurkalan

Leave a comment

IEP CHANDIGARH JULY 17, 2022

Sarbjit Kaur Dhillon, Mayor, Chandigarh today laid the foundation stone of Veterinary Hospital at Gaushala, Raipur Kalan, here today in the presence of Ms. Anindita Mitra, IAS, Commissioner, Sh. Dalip Sharma, Senior Deputy Mayor, Sh. Anup Gupta, Deputy Mayor, Sh. Harjeet Singh, area councilor, other councilors and officers of MCC.

While speaking on the occasion, the Mayor said that with the provision of arrangements of nearly 1000 cows in the coming Gaushala at Raipur Kalan, the MCC has taken an initiative to extend the specialized veterinary services through establishment of Veterinary Hospital at this Gaushala.

She said that the cost effective veterinary hospital would come up at the cost of Rs. 3.32 crores within 9 months time period. She said that this state of art building would have covered area 4298 Sq.ft. having doctor rooms, operation theatre, ultra sound room, X-ray room, gents & ladies toilet blocks at ground floor, while room with kitchen, laboratory, staff offices and toilet blocks for ladies and gents would be at the first floor. In addition to that separate building for sick animal having covered area 6450 Sq.ft. including control room cum sale counter, recovery room, examination hall, animal pen, attendant room and washroom facilities.

After performing bhoomi poojan for the veterinary hospital building the Mayor start the work with spade. She said that the project would work as model by guiding those engaged in Gaushala management works and would help to improve the sick animal besides the Gaushala would give a viable solution to the stray cattle menace in the city.

While speaking on the occasion, Ms. Anindita Mitra, IAS, Commissioner said that the aim of this Gaushala at Raipur Kalan would be managing the stray cattle in self reliant basis on scientific lines with available inexpensive techniques involving low cost comfortable housing, feeding and healthcare facilities.

Chandigarh, Punjab

AROUND 51 LAKH HOUSEHOLDS TO GET ZERO POWER BILL IN MONTH OF SEPTEMBER: SAYS CM

Leave a comment

IEP CHANDIGARH JULY 17, 2022

In a major relief to residents of the state, the Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday announced that as per decision of the state government to provide 600 units of free power, per billing cycle to people, around 51 lakh households will get zero electricity bill from September.

          Divulging the details, the Chief Minister said that fulfilling its major guarantee, the state government has decided to provide 600 units of free power to every household per billing cycle in the state with effect from July 1, 2022. He said that all the domestic consumers in the state will be eligible to get zero bills if their consumption is upto 600 units in every billing cycle. Bhagwant Mann said that this decision has been implemented from July 1, so the households who will consume less than 600 units of power in billing cycle of July and August will not have to pay even a single penny for their electricity consumption.

          The Chief Minister said that the bill of this which will be payable in month of September will be zero for these consumers. He said that around 51 lakh households across the state will be benefitted from this pro-people initiative as they will not have to pay anything for their power usage. Bhagwant Mann said that it is huge relief to these domestic consumers who have to hitherto shell out huge money every month in form of power tariff.

          Asserting that we deliver, what we promise, the Chief Minister said that his government is committed for fulfilling every promise made to the people of Punjab. He said that the state government is making strenuous efforts to restore the pristine glory of Punjab by making it a front runner state in the country. Bhagwant Mann reiterated that no stone is a being left unturned for progress of state and prosperity of its people.

Chandigarh, Punjab

CABINET MINISTER AMAN ARORA LAUNCHES ‘SHAHEED-E-AZAM BHAGAT SINGH HARIAWAL LEHAR’

Leave a comment

IEP Jakhepal/Sunam Udham Singh Wala JULY 17, 2022

Punjab Cabinet Minister Mr. Aman Arora today launched ‘Shaheed-e-Azam S. Bhagat Singh Hariawal Lehar’ here from village Jakhepal Chauwas under which 50,000 saplings of traditional plants to be planted across Sunam assembly constituency.

          On this occasion, he also called upon the people to plant saplings and maintain them properly. He said that this campaign has been started by the Punjab government under the guidelines of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to safeguard the environment of the state.

          He said that this campaign would only become successful if the people will participate in making their surroundings green.

          Mr. Aman Arora said that there is a dire need to make sincere efforts to save the environment so that clean and green environment could be provided to future generations. 

On this occasion, apart from the officials of the Forest Department, prominent personalities Gram Panchayat, Param Kumar, Tehsildar Kuldeep Singh, Naib Tehsildar Amit Kumar were also present.

Chandigarh, Punjab

CABINET MINISTER AMAN ARORA LAYS FOUNDATION STONE OF DEVELOPMENT WORKS WORTH 50 LAKH AT JAKHEPAL CHAUWAS

Leave a comment

IEP CHANDIGARH JULY 17, 2022

Punjab Information and Public Relations, New & Renewable Energy and Housing & Urban Development Minister Mr. Aman Arora today laid the foundation stone of the development works worth Rs. 50 lakh at village Jakhepal Chauwas in Sunam assembly constituency. Addressing an impressive gathering on this occasion, Cabinet Minister Mr. Aman Arora said after assuming office as a cabinet minister, he has disbursed grants for the first time and now it becomes the duty of villagers to utilise the funds honestly.

The cabinet minister said that basic development plan has already been drafted to revamp entire constituency as it has been prepared as per the demands raised by the people of Sunam before assembly elections.

            The minister said that he will always be grateful for the gratitude received from the people and will resolve every problem of the people of Sunam Constituency taking these as his personal problems. He added that he would listen to the grievances  of the people at his Sunam residence on Saturdays and Sundays.

Mr. Aman Arora also thanked National Convener of Aam Aadmi Party and Delhi Chief Minister Mr. Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and said that he will fulfill his duty diligently towards the service of the people.

            On this occasion, he also remembered his father Shri Bhagwan Das Arora and said that he has been chosen as cabinet minister due to his father’s inspiration.

            Meanwhile, Mr. Arora was also honored by the management on this occasion.

Chandigarh, Haryana

Got place in National Institutional Ranking Framework released by the Union Ministry of Education

Leave a comment

IEP CHANDIGARH JULY, 2022

Another achievement has been added in the name of Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University. The Indira Chakraborty College of Home Science of the University has secured 42nd rank in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) released by the Union Ministry of Education across the country for the year 2022 while it stood first in Haryana. In the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) as many as 2270 colleges from across the country had participated.

The University Vice-Chancellor, Prof. B.R. Kamboj said that due to its achievements, this university has made a different identity at the national and international level. He congratulated the Dean, teachers, staff and students of Home Science College for this achievement. He said, “it is difficult task for any institute to achieve a high rank and even more difficult to stay in the same position.” He said that this college has been successful to be among the top 50 institutes of country for the last three years. “A work plan will be framed for the college to achieve more heights in future,” he added.

The NIRF ranking is finalized according to performance of the educational institutions on several parameters that include learning and resources, research and professional practice, outreach and inclusivity, graduation outcome and perception. The ranking is prepared based on the subject domain and the type of institute.

The Dean of the college, Dr. Manju Mahta said that with this ranking the teaching and research work of the college have got recognition at the national level. Efforts will continue to reach at first position, she said.

Chandigarh, Haryana

Haryana to adopt aggressive IEC activities to spread mass awareness about declining groundwater levels in State

Leave a comment

IEP CHANDIGARH JULY 17, 2022

In a bid to ensure community participation at large in the Atal Bhujal Yojana, Haryana Government has now planned to adopt aggressive and effective IEC strategies to spread mass awareness about declining groundwater levels in the State.

This was stated by Project Director, Atal Bhujal Yojana Sh. Satbir Singh Kadian while presiding over a review meeting regarding the progress of this ongoing project in Haryana held at Irrigation and Water Resources (I&WR) Department, Panchkula.

Sh. Satbir Singh Kadian said that the Atal Bhujal Yojana is a groundwater management scheme launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the 95th birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on 25 December 2019.

The purpose of the scheme is to improve groundwater management in seven states of India. Of the selected seven states, Haryana is one of them where Atal Bhujal Yojana is being implemented by the I&WR department. 14 districts (36 blocks covering 1669 Gram Panchayats) of Haryana have been identified for the planned intervention where the groundwater consumption and groundwater declining rate were higher, he added.

Sh. Satbir Singh Kadian  further shared that notably, Atal Bhujal Yojana(Atal Jal) is a Central Sector Scheme with an outlay of INR 6000 crore, out of which INR 3,000 crore is being provided as a loan from the World Bank and INR 3,000 crore as matching contribution from the Government of India (GoI). The funds under the scheme are being provided to the states as grants-in-aid. Funds under the scheme will be disbursed from the World Bank to the GoI based on the achievement of pre-agreed results, he added.

Sh. Satbir Singh Kadian shared that based on the same approach, a review meeting by the World Bank was called upon to check the progress and to discuss the way forward. For the effective implementation of the Atal Bhujal Yojana, it has been emphasized that relevant government departments executing schemes related to sustainable groundwater management must arrive at the same platform to bring in convergence.

Meanwhile, during the meeting, all the 14 selected districts under Atal Bhujal Yojana presented the progress report. Later in the meeting, the district-wise ranking was presented where Sirsa topped the list while Faridabad bagged the last spot.

Taking into consideration the learnings from previous schemes, Atal Bhujal Yojana has adopted Participatory Ground Water Management (PGWM) approach to engage the community in the planning and execution phase. This approach is important to inculcate ownership among the community members, shared Sh. Satbir Singh Kadian.

Task Team Leader, World Bank, Sh. Satya Priya and Sh. M.K Goel were present as a World Bank representative. During the meeting, XEN Atal Bhujal Yojana, representatives from the concerned departments, and SPMU and DPMU teams were also present.

Chandigarh, Haryana

All the main four roads of Narnaul city will be remodeled and widened: Dushyant Chautala

Leave a comment

IEP CHANDIGARH JULY 17, 2022

The Deputy Chief Minister, Sh. Dushyant Chautala said that local government plays an important role in local development. In the state, the State government does the work of policy making, while the local government implements them on the ground.

The Deputy Chief Minister said this while addressing at the swearing-in programme of city council Chairpersons and Municipal Councilors held in the Narnaul Mini Secretariat auditorium.

The Deputy Chief Minister said that all the four main roads of Narnaul city will be remodeled and widened. For this, the Government has kept a separate budget. He said that the second phase of the Amrut scheme is about to come. In this, the drinking water and sewerage system of all the cities of the state will be improved.

While extending best wishes to the newly appointed Chairperson, Sh. Kamlesh Saini, Deputy Chief Minister said that this family has been dedicated to the service of the people from the very beginning. He called upon all the councilors to contribute together in the development work of Narnaul city.

The Deputy Chief Minister said that the way Municipal Council Chairperson, Sh. Kamlesh Saini has put forth the road map of development as soon as he took oath, it shows his visionary thinking and dedication towards his goal. Every department of the government will work for the development of Narnaul city.

On Saturday, the newly elected Chairperson of Municipal Council Narnaul, Sh. Kamlesh Saini and its members administered the oath of office and integrity.

Sh. Kamlesh Saini said that the people of Narnaul have entrusted this responsibility. He added that he will assure to render his service with complete honesty and integrity. During the occasion he announced that he will spend his honorarium for the education of poor children.

Chandigarh, Haryana

Haryana Water Resources Authority set up in 2020 for conservation and sustainable use of water resources in State

Leave a comment

IEP CHANDIGARH JULY 17, 2022

Haryana Government, under the leadership of Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal has established Haryana Water Resources Authority (HWRA) in the year 2020 for the conservation and sustainable use of water resources in the State. The bulk water tariff was earlier determined by the Government before the Authority came into being, now the mandate to decide the bulk water tariff is vested with the Authority.

The Tariff revision is a long drawn process and on prior occasion tariff has been revised in the year 2012 and lately in 2018 by the Government and latest revision of bulk rates has been done by the Authority vide recent notification dated 15.07.2022.

Chairperson, Haryana Water Resources Authority, Smt. Keshni Anand Arora, informed that earlier the mandate of the Authority was to recommend the Bulk Water Tariff and recently the Government has passed the Amendment Act, 2022 under which the Authority has been given the mandate to fix the Bulk Water Tariff. This signifies the commitment of the government for sustainable use of water resources in the state. The Government also mandates the Authority for the enforcement and implementation of the Treated Waste Water Policy of the Government. The tariff has been decided on the principles of economy, efficiency, equity and sustainability for bulk use of surface water and treated wastewater. The tariff is based on volumetric measurement of water consumption and will be designed suitably.

Smt. Keshni Anand Arora further informed that the Authority consulted with the Department of Irrigation and Water Resources (I&WRD) and Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) to decide the bulk water and treated wastewater tariff by the Authority. She added that the decision was taken so as to arrive at a more optimal and rational proposed tariff.

Chief Executive Officer, Haryana Water Resources Authority, Dr. Satbir Singh Kadian, while discussing the details of revised water rates said that rate revision is a normal procedure that must be amended over time while taking intervention elements such as availability, usage, and supply of water resources into consideration. First the rates were revised in the year 2012, then in 2018 and after the establishment of the authority in the year 2020 now the authority has the mandate to fix the tariff. A notification explaining the justification for the tariff increase has been made available. It is predicted that other industries, power plants, and bulk consumers would pay 2.35 times more in 2018 than they did in 2012, while the beverage and bottling sectors will pay roughly 5 times more. The fold was revised down to about 5 times for drinking water, 2.35 times for other industries and power plants and bulk users. Now, the department has proposed to increase the tariff by 2.5 times in case of bulk water supply to industries and 5.0 times for drinking water, as compared to the prevailing tariff of 2018.

He added that the Cost Inflation Index (CII) has increased by at least 45 points i.e. from 272 in FY 2017-2018 to 317 in FY 2021-2022 (base FY 2001-2002 with CII 100). He further stated that these rates are decided on the proposals submitted by the concerned departments i.e. Department of Irrigation and Public Health Engineering. He further added that these rates will be applicable from August 1, 2022. Any complaint relating to these rates may be made applicable to the Government under the provisions of the amended Act. These rates are applicable to users other than agriculture.

In this regard, it is important to note that the average revenue valuation for the last three years, 2019–20, 2020–21, and 2021–2022, is approximately Rs. 184.11 crore, which is approximately Rs. 1658.09 crore and only 11.10 percent of the expenditure. This is according to the 2018 tariff (currently in effect).

Further, as per the recommendations of the 13th Finance Commission, a State should set up a Water Regulatory Authority by 2011-12 for the purpose of entitlement and release of grants and should collect at least 50% of the water charges mandated by the Authority. In addition, about 30% of the water is lost during transit and about 57% of the water in the state is used for irrigation purposes. However, since due to the economic condition of the farmers and for food security in the nation, the revenue to be recovered from them cannot be increased, the Authority decided that the required amount will be cross-subsidised from other bulk users.

It is in the interest of efficient functioning of the department and stability in the long run that the water tariff is revised so that the targeted recovery is achieved by at least 50% of the cost. On one hand, IWRD does not have sufficient resources to operate and maintain its network. For such reasons, the matter of upward revision in bulk water tariff is the need of the hour.

While the official spokesperson of the authority shared that according to the data, 85 out of 141 blocks in Haryana have been overexploited groundwater. Clean water from open taps is being taken to fill the ponds, while some people are paying for water tankers due to paucity of water. Thus, there is a need to sensitize people, promote effective use of water and this can be achieved by bringing about behavioral change of users of bulk water.

He further added that the increase in bulk tariff will help in curbing uncontrolled water use and discourage wastage of water and encourage the use of treated waste water especially in industry and power sector. It will also provide adequate funds for operation, maintenance and repair of water resources projects as expenditure on irrigation management is more than recovery of water charges. This paradoxical situation is adversely affecting the performance of existing and new projects.