IEP Chandigarh, April 6

Haryana Police has once again set an example of humanity by reuniting 8 missing persons including a deaf and dumb child with their families.Sharing the information here today, a Haryana Police spokesperson informed that Anti Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) of State Crime Branch had traced these missing persons and children. They checked missing person records with the available police data of missing adults and kids, developed information and also spoke to the people residing there.AHTU teams are in touch with children’s homes in all states. As and when police learn about the missing person or children, they are counseled and put in special efforts to get positive results. Efforts are on to trace the missing children not only in the state but also across the country, he added. In the first case, police had reunited a woman and her two kids (9 and 7 years old), who went missing from Pinjore, Panchkula since December 2018 and were traced in Nalagarh, Himachal Pradesh. Based on some information provided by the family, AHTU team put in special efforts that finally led to the restoration of the missing woman and two children to their family.In another case, three missing persons including a woman and two children, who were reported missing from Mahendergarh district in March 2022 were reunited with their family. While the woman and her one child were traced from a shelter home in Bhiwani, the other child (deaf and dumb) was traced to a children’s home in Madhya Pradesh. The photo of the deaf and dumb child was shared by the AHTU team with shelter homes in other states. Meanwhile, information about the said child was received from Vivekananda Children’s Home, Morena, Madhya Pradesh. During the counseling of the child, it was learned that he had reached Madhya Pradesh on a train from Delhi, from where the child was rescued and kept in a children’s home in Morena. After completing all the formalities, the woman and her two children were safely handed over to the family. In a separate case, the Anti Human Trafficking Unit team traced the family of a 17-year-old missing minor girl in West Bengal.  Apart from this, in another case, the team found the family of a missing girl from a nomadic family in Uttar Pradesh. The girl was currently living in a private ashram in Gurugram.All the units of the State Crime Branch have been instructed to go to all the shelter homes under their jurisdiction and counsel the children there so that they can be traced and reunited with their families. 

IEP Chandigarh April 6

Haryana Government has increased about 72 percent budget to provide mid day meal to the students of 14,409 primary schools under Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PMPOSHAN). During the current year a sum of Rs. 661 crore has been earmarked against the previous year budget of Rs. 384 crore to provide mid day meal to the students.While presiding over the meeting of the State Level Steering Committee for Mid-day Meal Scheme here today, the Chief Secretary, Mr. Sanjeev Kaushal directed the officers to conduct a study in different blocks regarding adding nutritional value to the meal. He asked the officers to ensure the quality and meet the nutritional standards of food besides cooking it in hygienic conditions.Mr. Kaushal directed the officers to fix the time schedule for providing meals to students so that an inspection can be done to check and ensure the quality of meal. He said meals provided under the scheme include a variety of food items based on fortified flour, rice and bajra.It was apprised in the meeting that 200ml five flavoured fortified milk is also provided to the students of Class I to VIII at least 3 days in a week along with mid day meal. Sh. Kaushal directed the officers to plan more food items containing proteins in the mid day meal.Among those present in the meeting include Additional chief Secretary, Finance, Mr. Anurag Rastogi, Principal Secretary, Higher Education, Mr. Vijayendra Kumar and other senior officers.

IEP Chandigarh, April 6

Haryana Chief Secretary, Mr. Sanjeev Kaushal said that the state Government has been taking effective measures to break the backbone of drug peddlers.Following the directions of the Chief Minister, Mr. Manohar Lal, the property of the drug peddlers is being attached. So far, assets worth Rs. 37.29 crore of 41 accused drug peddlers have been attached. Besides this, the properties of 77 persons involved in crimes under NDPS Act have also been demolished.        While presiding over a meeting of Haryana State Narcotics Control Bureau here today, the Chief Secretary, Mr. Kaushal said that primarily, it is necessary to identify drug addicts to curb drug peddling in the state so as to bring drug addicts back into mainstream society.        Sh. Kaushal said that the supply and use of prescription medicines should also be monitored in the state. He directed the officials of the health department to prepare a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) related to the drug overdose deaths occurred within a month and share it with the Haryana State Narcotics Control Bureau. Further, drug overdose death cases should also be monitored at forensic science laboratories.        The Chief Secretary said that at present 90 drug de-addiction centers are running in the state. Of this, 21 are run by government and other private organizations and NGOs. Special emphasis should be given on the functioning of drug de-addiction centers. He directed the officers to regularly visit the drug de-addiction centers set up in the districts. Apart from this, the Sub Divisional Magistrates must also visit and inspect drug de-addiction centers once every month. He said that apart from regular visits, the officers concerned should also conduct surprise inspections. He further directed the Deputy Commissioner to hold a monthly meeting of the District Level Committee and review the situation of drug abuse. The decisions of these meetings should be updated on the Haryana State Narcotics Control Bureau portal.        The Chief Secretary said that for capacity building in Primary Health Center and Community Health Center, the process of appointment of clinical psychiatrist and other manpower should be expedited. De-addiction drugs should also be included in the essential medicines.Mr. Kaushal said that the Dhakad programme being run to spread drug abuse awareness among youth should also be conducted on a large scale. Dhadak teams should also be constituted in educational institutions, which will make students aware of the fatal consequences of drug abuse.        In the meeting, Additional Chief Secretary of Home Department Mr. TVSN Prasad said that the Advisory Board will be constituted soon for the effective use and implementation of the PIT- NDPS Act. As many as 21 workshops were also organized for imparting training regarding Dhakad program, Hawk software, Prayas app and Saathi app. Under the Dhakad initiative, awareness programs were also conducted at the school, college and university levels.        In the meeting, Additional Chief Secretary of Health and Family Welfare, Dr. G. Anupama, Principal Secretary, Higher Education, Mr. Mr. Vijayendra Kumar, Director General of Police Mr. PK Agarwal, Director General Prisons, Mr. Mohammad Akil, ADGP Crime , Panchkula, Mr. OP Singh, ADGP CID, Mr. Alok Mittal, IGP, Haryana State Narcotics Control Bureau, Mr. Amitabh Singh Dhillon, Commissioner, Food and Drug Administration, Mr. Ashok Meena and other senior officers were also present. 

IEP Chandigarh, April 6

Haryana Deputy Chief Minister, Sh. Dushyant Chautala remembering Chaudhary Devi Lal on his birth anniversary, said that we should all draw inspiration from the life of Chaudhary Devi Lal Ji who selflessly dedicated his life for the upliftment of society. He added that Ch. Devi Lal fought for the rights of villages and rural people. The Deputy Chief Minister said this while addressing a public meeting organized at Gangatehri in Karnal district on Thursday.       Deputy Chief Minister, Sh. Dushyant Chautala said that the present government has done many works for rural development. These include community centres, sports stadiums, gymnasiums, state-of-the-art libraries, paving of streets and drains, beautification of ponds, construction of roads and expansion of roads, as well as construction of sheds inside the cremation grounds and proper arrangement of portable water etc.       He said that the construction work of roads is being done in the Assandh area, in which the road from Assandh to Kheri Sarf Ali has been approved for four-laning at a cost of about Rs. 34 crores and the road from Assandh to Chochra at a cost of about Rs. 50 crores. He added that work will be completed in the next 6 months.       The Deputy Chief Minister said that an e-Kshatipurti portal has been set up to compensate farmers for crop losses due to unseasonal rains recently. Rs. 9,000 per acre for 25 per cent crop damage, Rs. 12,000 for 50 per cent crop damage and Rs. 15,000 for 75 per cent crop damage will be deposited directly into the farmers’ accounts. He said that within 48 hours of weighing the crops of the farmers, the money will be deposited in their accounts.       He further said that with a new change in the system, farmers can now directly get their copy of fard online. He added that the government has prepared the new software of Jamabandi for the convenience of farmers so that they do not require to visit government officers and Patwari to get the fard. He said that 50 percent reservation has been given to women in Panchayati Raj Institutions, which is a historic step and has empowered women. He said that in order to increase the income of the panchayats, two percent money of the electricity bill will be given in the account of the panchayat. Along with this, one percent money will be sent to the Gram Panchayat’s account on getting the registry done in the village.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.