Govt employees will get dues once economy improves: CM

Govt employees will get dues once economy improves: CM

Shivraj Promises To Solve Promotion, Increment & Insurance Issues

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bhopal: 08.01.2021

Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday said that the issues regarding promotion of government employees will be addressed soon.

The state’s economy was hit due to coronavirus, but the situation is gradually improving, he said, adding that the as soon as the situation gets better, the employees will be given their dues.

The chief minister was speaking at the Mantralayin Karmachari Sangh New Year meet organised at the secretariat. “Employees are an integral part of the government machinery. The welfare schemes are implemented through the work of government employees,” said the chief minister. The CM assured the government employees that all their demands — of promotion, increment, health insurance benefits — will be fulfilled by the government. Talking about Atmanirbhar Madhya Pradesh he said, “The road map for Atmanirbhar MP is ready. Let us pledge in this New Year that we will implement the road map and make MP a leading state of the country.”

President of the Karmachari Sangh Sudhir Nayak said, “Administrative skills of CM Chouhan helped the state during the corona crisis. He worked round the clock to aid the state in the pandemic and he is constantly working for the welfare of people.” The CM also inaugurated the health centre set up by the employees union at the secretariat. The centre has facilities like oximeter, blood pressure monitor, glucometer, vaporiser and thermal scanner.

Poshan Vatikas to come up in every school, says CM:

Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday said, kitchen gardens (poshan vatikas) will be started in every government schools in the state by the convergence of MGNREGA funds. The gardens will be named ‘Maa Ki Bagiya’ and in case there is lack of space on the school premises, these vatikas can be started at some other place as well, he said. School students should be enlisted with the task of cleanliness of school and upkeep of kitchen garden, he said. The CM was addressing a virtual programme held at Mintol Hall after dedicated 2,500 kitchen sheds and 7,100 kitchen gardens — started during the pandemic — to public schools.

CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan inaugurates health centre at the secretariat

Nowhere to go, but BU asks students to vacate hostels

Nowhere to go, but BU asks students to vacate hostels

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bhopal: 08.01.2021

Around a dozen students who have been living in the hostels of Barkatullah University have been asked to vacate the accommodation. Students are in a fix as they are not able to get rooms in hostels outside the campus as they are closed. A BU official said that as per the government order, they can't allow students to stay in the hostels.

After the lockdown was imposed due to the pandemic, several students who had been staying in BU hostels, stocked up.

BU authorities then temporarily allowed these students to stay in the hostel. After the Unlock process begun, these students could not go back as they were attending online classes from the hostels. A students said, “We’ve been living in the hostel since March 25 when the lockdown was imposed. We have been following the Covid-19 norms. Now, the exams are to be organised and BU has asked us to vacate the hostel. We have searched for other hostels in the state capital, but due to Covid, they are closed. In such situation, where do we go?” said a student.

One of the students said that for the past 10 months, no one had tested positive in the hostel as the students were following all the norms. “I am not able to understand the reason of ask us to move out of the hostel when the situation is getting normal. The exam date could be announced on any given day and, if we go back, this will be an unnecessary exercise and a wastage of time. We have requested the university to consider our situation and allow us to continue in the hostels till the exams are over,” said another student who preferred to remain anonymous.

Most of the students living in the hostel belong to the other states. “We know that the state government has ask the university to close the hostel. We are only a few students living in the hostel and following the Covid-19 norms. At least for humanity, please do not throw us out of the hostel,” said another student.

When contacted BU's registrar Ajeet Shrivastava told TOI that they are only following the government orders. “These students had the opportunity to leave the hostel after the Unlock process started. However, they prefer to stay back. As the state government has asked the university to close down the hostel, we cannot allow the students to to continue their stay,” said Shrivastava.

He added that BU is bound to follow the government orders.

A BU hostel

CBI files chargesheet in Vyapam state-quota medical seat scam

CBI files chargesheet in Vyapam state-quota medical seat scam

P.Naveen@timesgroup.com

Bhopal: 08.01.2021

The CBI on Thursday submitted a chargesheet in a special trial court in Gwalior against 60 people, including 22 women and directors of medical colleges, a former director of medical education and some other influential individuals, in the Vyapam state quota seat allotment scam in PMT-2011.

The court accepted the chargesheet and issued notices to CBI on a complaint filed by Vyapam whistleblower Ashish Chaturvedi, seeking explanation. Chaturvedi has submitted his complaint in a closed envelope, said sources.

None of the accused were summoned by CBI for appearance following a high court order on Wednesday, asking the special court not to insist upon personal appearance of more than five accused on any particular date.

The order was issued following a writ petition by some of those named in CBI’s chargesheet, who voiced their apprehension about being called in a bunch to court in Covid times. The journey to court and gathering in closed confines will put them at risk of infection, they pleaded.

The counsel for the petitioners also submitted that they are Covid warriors, directly involved in the treatment of patients at the respective places of their work. “Calling all the petitioners at the same time will adversely affect the treatment of Covid-19 patients,” the counsel said.

Some of the petitioners said that since they are aged over 70 years, they would be highly vulnerable to infection and their lives would be at risk if they are told to appear in court.

VYAPAM SCAM

‘The dummy ‘solvers’ didn’t take admission’

After hearing their arguments, the court ruled that movement of large number of people, including petitioners from different places of their work to congregate at Gwalior district court, would give rise to the possibility of Covid-19 spread.

The PMT-2011 scam

The allegation is that after allotment of MBBS seats in state quota in four private medical colleges, the dummy ‘solver’ candidates did not actually take admission, but the college administration and admission committee gave false information to directorate of medical education that they had. This was allegedly done to block state quota seats so that those in the waiting list wouldn’t be able to join. The ‘solver’ students were paid through middlemen to vacate the seats, which the private medical colleges filled up with students of their own choice without following due process, says the probe agency. The majority of the students who were admitted had not even taken the PMT exam, says CBI. The DME, allegedly in connivance with these private medical colleges, did not cross-check the information and instead ‘aided and abetted them’ in legitimizing the illegal admissions against state quota. TNN

Retired joint secy accused of forging docus 30 yrs ago

Retired joint secy accused of forging docus 30 yrs ago

Kiran.Parashar@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru: 08.01.2021

Amid an evaluation scam — suspected to be about two years old — breaking out in Bangalore University, it has emerged that a former law student of the varsity had allegedly forged his marks card and degree certificate, joined the state government 30 years ago claiming to be a graduate and risen to the rank of a joint secretary before retiring in 2020.

The accused, Azaz Ahammed Khan, 60, worked as joint secretary in the assembly secretariat office. According to sources in the secretariat, Khan retired in June last year. Police say the fraud came to light after secretariat officials wrote to the university seeking to verify Khan’s marks card and graduation certificate as he was due for promotion as joint secretary from deputy secretary.

The varsity probe revealed he was a student of the nowclosed Islamia Law College and had joined the college in 1985-86. In 1986 and 1987, he consecutively failed in two subjects.

In 1991, Khan joined the secretariat claiming to be a law graduate. The same year he wrote exams in several subjects but could not pass them. The certificates he submitted to the government were also not printed from the university printing press. Probe revealed all the documents were forged and were submitted to the government to get a job.

Sources said Azaz had submitted only a few documents when he joined the job but when his promotion as joint secretary from deputy secretary was due last year, he furnished the forged documents to the deputy secretary (administration), stating he had completed graduation 35 years ago. His fraud was exposed when the government sent his documents for verification.

Police said they are yet to trace Khan and have no clue on his whereabouts. Sources at the secretariat office said that they have received information from both BU and Jnanabharathi police station and appropriate action is being initiated. However, the officials did not reveal much information when asked how he could work for 30 years in the government by providing fake documents.

BU files complaint

K Jyothi, registrar (administration) of Bangalore University, has filed a complaint against Azaz Ahammed Khan at Jnanabharathi police station. He’s been booked under IPC sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 465 (forgery) and 471 (forgery of documents).

Man poses as doc, govt official to dupe scores

Man poses as doc, govt official to dupe scores

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: 08.01.2021

Before being nabbed for swindling people while masquerading as a doctor or an important government official, Devender Mishra used to live an ordinary life in a small town in Rewa, Madhya Pradesh. A pathologist by profession, Mishra would collect blood samples by the day and then return home to his wife and two children.

However, Mishra soon got bored of this dull life and came to Delhi to make it big. In 2008, he opened a sample collection centre in east Delhi’s Laxmi Nagar, said additional commissioner (crime) Shibesh Singh. But his business failed and he had to shut shop. Refusing to accept the fact that he might have to go home, Mishra decided to take to crime.

Police said that his first target was a friend, who had approached him to help him acquire an arms licence. The accused claimed that he called up the office of district magistrate of Aligarh and got it done. He then took to duping people full time.

“He started off by posing as a doctor and opened a clinic at Lakhimpur Kheri, UP in 2016 in the name of ‘Shraddha Mother & Child’ where he posed as assistant professor, paediatrics, AIIMS,” said DCP (crime) Bhisham Singh.

He also claimed to be a MD in Paediatrics and Cardiology and a visiting faculty at Army Hospital, Delhi Cantonment, the DCP added.

In the last four years, Mishra donned many roles,police say. When he was not playing a doctor, he was posing as an advisor at Niti Aayog or a joint secretary at the health ministry who helped his acquaintances by pretending to call government officials to get a job done.

With all his avatars, police said that the accused duped many but his life of crime ended after the Crime Branch got a tip-off about his activities. On January 5, the cops laid a trap in central Delhi and arrested Mishra after an informer spotted and identified him. His mobile phones and his collection of fake ID cards describing his various roles were seized.

Police raided his hideout in Dasna, Ghaziabad and also seized Rs 68,000 in cash. He was booked for impersonation and forgery, etc under the IPC and produced before the court.

DIFFERENT HUES: The accused, Devender Mishra, opened a clinic in Uttar Pradesh in 2016 posing as an assistant professor of paediatrics, AIIMS

6 8

THOUSAND RUPEES SEIZED FROM ACCUSED

Official nabbed while taking ₹1 lakh bribe

Official nabbed while taking ₹1 lakh bribe

Dindigul:  08.01.2021

Sleuths from the directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption (DVAC) arrested an assistant director in the town and country planning department after catching him red-handed while he was accepting a bribe of 1 lakh on Thursday. The action was taken following a complaint lodged by Naatrayan, 65, of Karur.

Naatrayan owned a piece of land at Eriyodu in Dindigul district and wanted to partition it. He approached A Muthukrishnan, 53, the assistant director. Since the plot was more than one lakh sqft, Muthukrishnan told Naatrayan that it has to be referred to the director of town and country planning in Chennai.

Muthukrishnan allegedly demanded 2 lakh as bribe for recommending the partition and writing to the director. Naatrayan refused and after negotiation it was agreed that he would give 1 lakh. Naatrayan approached the DVAC who gave him chemical-coated currencies to hand them over to Muthukrishnan.

On Thursday, Naatrayan went to the office on the Trichy Road to meet Muthukrishnan. When he came out of his office to receive the bribe, he was caught by the DVAC team led by deputy superintendent of police Nagarajan. TNN

EPS says bring it on, Stalin can pick spot

EPS says bring it on, Stalin can pick spot

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Erode:  08.01.2021

Hours after DMK president M K Stalin accepted the challenge for an open debate on corruption charges, chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami upped the ante, demanding that the opposition leader prove his allegations against the government “if he was man enough and the true leader of the DMK”.

Addressing cadres during his campaign at Gobichettipalayam assembly constituency in Erode district on Thursday, EPS said he was prepared to participate in the debate at any place of Stalin’s choice, but demanded that the DMK leader answer his questions without help of reference papers (thundu cheetu – pointing to Stalin reading out from a prepared text during his campaigns).

“You have to prove the charges you have levelled against me. I am ready to answer all your questions. At the same time, you should answer my questions,” EPS said.

Earlier at Arachalur in Perundurai assembly segment, EPS made a speech on a similar note, demanding that Stalin participate in the open debate if he had the ability and the guts. EPS said Stalin was actually not prepared for an open debate and wanted to avoid one and hence he was laying down conditions.

“What is the connection between the court stay on a CBI inquiry and an open debate?” EPS asked, noting that the debate could happen even without vacating the stay. EPS said the tenders called for by his government were e- tenders where there could not be any irregularities. “This would be revealed if Stalin came for the open debate,” he said. Seeking to turn the tables, EPS said it was Karunanidhi’s family that had amassed wealth across the state. “Stalin had presumed that since I was from a village, he could level false allegations at me. His dream of spreading falsehood about the government, confusing people and winning the elections will never happen,” EPS said.

PULLING OUT ALL STOPS:

Palaniswami campaigned in Erode on Thursday

Palaniswami adopts Jaya campaign style

Erode: Chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami’s campaign in Erode on Thursday raised several eyebrows as he interspersed his speech with questions resembling that of the campaign speeches of late chief minister J Jayalalithaa. It used to be Jayalalithaa’s signature in every campaign to pose the question ‘will you do it?’ twice (seiveergala, neengal seiveergala?). In a similar style, EPS posed a similar question twice to people. Alleging that the DMK regime in the past was marked by power cuts, EPS asked the public if they wanted the same situation to return. “Minsara vettu ungalukku meendum venduma… venduma?” he asked. Moments later, he once again asked if they wanted the dynastic rule to return. “DMK kudumba aatchi meendum venduma…venduma?” TNN