Chandigarh, June 20, 2013: The Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, is closely monitoring the evacuation of pilgrims from Uttrakhand after a massive natural disaster there.

Badal has already deputed a team of official led by K.S. Pannu, IAS, Director General School Education and Khubi Ram, DIG to coordinate the relief operations in an orderly manner.

A chopper has already been pressed into service and more than 300 pilgrims were evacuated yesterday. According to Kahan Singh Pannu 500 Pilgrims are expected to be evacuated today, permitting weathers conditions. The Deputy Chief Minister has already spoken to Uttrakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, who has thanked the Deputy Chief Minister for coordinating relief operations and offered full support to Punjab teams in evacuation operations. 

Badal who is in constant touch with team, has also asked the Transport Department to press into service the buses of Punjab Roadways and PRTC to bring back the Pilgrims from the base station. According to initial estimate over 3,000 Pilgrims belonging to Punjab are struck there.

Chandigarh, June 20, 2013: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal asked the Punjab’s Official team monitoring the entire rescue operation in Uttrakhand to ensure safe return of each Sikh pilgrim stuck at Gobind Dham and other surrounding areas due to inclement weather and rain fury in the region.

Disclosing this here today a spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s Office informed that an official team of the Punjab Government had reached Gobind Dham yesterday and managed to evacuate 300 pilgrims by helicopter on the same day.

Special Secretary Kahan Singh Pannu, who is leading the team, informed telephonically from Gobind Dham that 500 more pilgrims would be airlifted today to the safe places. Pannu also informed that there were about 3,000 Sikh pilgrims and all of them were in high moral and safe. The local administration and army were fully cooperating to the Punjab’s team, added Pannu.

Regarding the arrangements for Langar (Community Kitchen) he said that to run the Langar activity in an organised and smooth manner a five-member Langer Committee has been constituted. The local Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee was also facilitating all the pilgrims, added Pannu.

It was also informed that the State Government would extend leave of those employees who had been trapped and grant exemption from the election duty till they return back safely. Pannu urged the public not to create any panic as the situation at Govind Dham was completely under control, evacuation operation was in full swing and his team would ensure the safety of each pilgrim.

Pannu is complied by DIG Khubi Ram, MD Punjab State Cooperative Bank Kamaldip Singh Sangha besides Amarjit Singh and Inderjit Singh from DGSE office.

Chandigarh, June 20, 2013: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal are constantly monitoring the evacuation of Pilgrims stranded at various places of Uttrakhand and other relief measures and are fully seized of  the gravity of situation arising out of massive natural disaster.
Till the last reports came in today, a total of 357 pilgrims including 355 belonging to Punjab were airlifted from Uttrakhand. While evacuating the stranded Pilgrims from Uttrakhand Old people, Children and Women were being air lifted on priority and they are being brought at Rishikesh.
The Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has thanked the Army Authorities and Uttrakhand Administration for extending their support for the rescue and relief operations.
The Chief Minister has already extended the leave of all those employees who have been struck in various places in Uttrakhand in this massive catastrophe and also exempted all such employees from election duty.
The Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal is also minutely monitoring the air-lifting and other relief operations and has already spoken to Chief Minister Uttrakhand Vijay Bahuguna and offered total support of the Punjab Government in this massive evacuation and relief operation.
The Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today pressed a fleet of buses from Punjab to Rishikesh to bring back Pilgrims to their native towns in Punjab at State cost.
Meanwhile, the Punjab Government has setup a 24X7 Control Room to address any query of the Public regarding pilgrims or other updates about the rescue operations. The general public can contact in-charge Control Room at phone number 0172-2740397 for their queries and updates.
The Punjab Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister have prayed for the safe return of all persons stranded at various places in Uttrakhand. They have also offered all assistance to Uttrakhand authorities in this massive relief operations.

Dharamsala, June 21, 2013: Urban Development and Town and Country Planning Minister Sudhir Sharma has announced to donate his one month salary to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund to help the flood affected people of the Kinnaur district in hour of distress.

Sharma has also announced to contribute one month salary towards PMRF for the flood affected people of Uttrakhand.

He has urged the people of the state to come forward to contribute generously for the welfare of flood affected people, which would be true service to the suffering humanity.

Chandigarh, June 21, 2013: The Punjab IPS Officers Association has decided to contribute their one day salary for the victims of recent cloud burst and floods in Uttarakhand resulting in huge loss of lives and property there.

Jalandhar, June 21, 2013: The Central Bureau of Investigation arrested an accused who was absconding for last 10 years in a bank cheating case. The arrest was made near Delhi recently.

It was alleged that the absconding accused in conspiracy with other persons cheated Dena Bank to the tune of about Rs.3.06 crores. He opened a current account in Dena Bank, Shreenagar branch, Thane(Maharashtra) in the name of a private firm and fraudulently arranged to send remittance to Dena Bank, Shreenagar Branch, Thane through Telegraphic Transfer (TT) for Rs.14,45,500 to the account of his firm which was purportedly received from Dena Bank Medhasan Branch, Gujarat.  While in fact, no such TT was issued by Medhasan Branch. He had withdrawn an amount of Rs.5,50,000 in cash and had made a FDR of Rs.1,00,000. His last known address was of Mumbra, Mumbai.

According to a spokesman of the CBI,after meticulous efforts, the CBI sleuths traced Vinay Sabhajit Tripathi the alleged culprit and arrested. He said further investigation is continuing in the matter.

Chandigarh, June 21, 2013: The Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today received the pilgrims from Kedarnath, Badrinath and Sri Hemkunt Sahib who were rescued from Uttrakhand and brought back at ISBT, Sector-43 here in the Punjab State buses.

Badal described the scourge of floods in Uttarakhand as a National tragedy and assured full and immediate help from the state government to all those affected by nature’s fury regardless of their respective states or their destination of pilgrimage. He called upon the Centre to extend immediate and liberal assistance to affected states in the task of rehabilitation.

The official sources of Uttrakhand Government has informed the Chief Minister that bridge on the route between Gobindghat and Joshimath has been opened to bring back people to Joshimath from where they would further be brought to Rishikesh.

The State Government has pressed in 100 Mini Buses for the smooth plying of pilgrims from Joshimath to Rishikesh and 150 Big Buses have been deputed at Rishikesh for bringing these people back to Punjab.

While interacting with a large batch of pilgrims arrived at Chandigarh, Mr. Badal expressed concern over the hardships they faced in these days. The Chief Minister inquired about their well-being and also consoled them. He assured them that State government was in constant touch with the Uttarakhand government and providing all sort of assistance for rescue operations.   

He said that full and fearsome range and magnitude of the tragedy would be known only after relief operations are over. But relief is needed at an unprecedented scale for rescue and rehabilitation of thousands and thousands of beleaguered people said, Badal.

 Badal was talking to media persons after personally overseeing relief and travel arrangements today at ISBT, Sector 43 here, when he immediately rush there just after landing at Chandigarh Airport.

Badal further said that on his directions, the State Government had requested the Ministry of Defence to arrange for MI-17 helicopters on the state expense and put them on the disposal of Uttrakhand Government alongwith State's private helicopter already there with Uttrakhand Government to press into the rescue operations.

He hoped that all the pilgrims would soon be brought back to their homes safe and sound. He prayed the Almighty for the safety of all the people who were still stranded in Uttarakhand. However, he mentioned that the main objective of the Punjab government at this critical hour was to expedite the rescue operation so that all the pilgrims stuck at Gobind Dham and other nearby places must be airlifted to safe places and further be brought back to their homes safely.

It was also informed that another team of officers including two IAS officers had been sent to Rishikesh to coordinate travel arrangements of pilgrims from Rishikesh to various destinations in the State. A team has been deputed at ISBT, Sector-43 for all necessary arrangement to ensure each pilgrim's safe return to their native places through Taxis at Government expense.

Chandigarh, June 21, 2013: To supplement the Punjab State Government relief efforts for evacuation of pilgrims stranded in Uttrakhand, Punjab Police has dispatched 105 Punjab Police buses have been dispatched to Rishikesh for transportation of the Yatris. These include 64 mini buses which will ferry the stranded persons from the upper reaches to Rishikesh. Each vehicle has two drivers and two policemen for assistance. The State Transport Buses which have been dispatched to Rishikesh have also been provided with two policemen per bus. Close to a thousand Punjab Police men have been sent to Rishikesh.

A Recovery Van, two Ambulances and a Support Vehicle having mechanics, Public Address System and spare diesel has also been dispatched. A round-the-clock working Control Room has been set-up under the supervision of Senior Superintendent of Police,Mohali at the ISBT, Sector 43, Chandigarh for assisting the evacuated Yatris and sending them to their places of residence in Punjab, transportation arrangement for which have been made by the State Government. DIG Sh. Khubi Ram and Commandant Sh. Rakesh Kaushal who have been camping at Rishikesh for the last 3 days, are coordinating the evacuation of Yatris from upper reaches to Rishikesh and their onwards transportation to Punjab.

As a small token, IPS and PPS officers of Punjab Police have contributed their one day’s salary for the relief operations.

Chandigarh, June 21, 2013: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal received the pilgrims rescued from the various places in Uttrakhand and brought back through state buses at ISBT Sector 43 Chandigarh on Friday.

These pilgrims included elderly persons, children and women.

The pilgrims thanked the chief minister for helping in their rescue and bringing back to their home. They also shared their experiences with the chief minister. 

The pictures being published with this report itself narrate the whole story.

Chandigarh, June 21, 2013: The Punjab government today reiterated its instructions to all Chief Vigilance Officers of all the departments of the state to expedite their drive against corrupt and tainted officials in their respective departments and ensure prompt and effective action against such officials.

A spokesman of the Punjab Government today said that Vigilance department has issued instructions to all Chief Vigilance Officers posted in different departments to keep an eye on such elements and reduce their scope of corruption.

They have been told to corrupt officers in their respective departments, also ensuring effective supervision on them and to so regulate their posting that they do not have scope to indulge in corruption. He said that the main aim behind the designation of CVOs. CVOs who have also been authorized to pass on the information to the secretary Vigilance regarding the corrupt officials, was to keep an eye over them, besides ensuring prompt and effective departmental action/prosecution in court of corrupt officers when evidence were available, he added.

The spokesman said that to remove the corrupt officers from services, Punjab Government has also made arrangements in law for the compulsory retirement of them and to implement this law all CVOs has been asked to scrutinise the cases in this regard. He said that it was the duty of CVO to scrutinise such cases and compulsory retire corrupt officers at the age of 55 years.

The CVOs have been told to scrutinise the property returns of government servants in their departments to detect corruption or unreasonable accumulation of property by any employee. They have been also told to scrutinise the repots which appear to involve element of corruption.

Expressing concern over slow progress of action in corruption cases, they have been told to monitor progress with regard to grant of prosecution sanction in the cases referred to the department under advise to Secretary Vigilance. The CVOs have also been told to assist Vigilance department in complicated cases or regarding departmental rules and procedures.

They have been told to check and review procedures adopted in the department, if necessary with the assistance of Vigilance department to plug loop holes wherever existing, which facilitate corruption.

He added that to speed up the investigation in corruption cases, CVOs were to act as a liaison officer between their own department and Vigilance Department including Vigilance Bureau besides ensuring that any information, date, advice record asked by Vigilance should be made available without any lose of time.  

The Spokesman also said that Punjab Government has asked the all CVOs to perform their duties with utmost sincerity, otherwise they would invite strict action.

Amritsar, June 21, 2013: For the second day today, the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee (SGPC) teams have been providing relief and rescue operations in the Garhwal region of Uttrakhand ,where the pilgrims and other residents, commuters have been trapped at places, Badrinath, Kedarnath and Hemkund Sahib.

In a communique forwarding to the chief Avtar Singh Makkar, the SGPC Additional Secretary, Daljit Singh Bedi, who is supervising the relief operations, said that SGPC medical team had set up a camp at Srinagar in Garhwal hills and the injured people are being shifted to Rishekesh, supplying free medicines and treatment.

Bedi said the SGPC have been organising 'Langers' at Rishikesh, Sirinagar, Paonta Sahib (Himachal Pradesh) and near Rani Pokhri airport.

He said the SGPC team is preparing food packets at Rani Pokhri and the same are being flown with the help of army helicopters and Uttrakhand Government to drop in the affected areas where the pilgrims are stranded. However the Langar arrangements are being contributed with the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) and the Gurdwara Hemkund Sahib Trust to facilitate the stranded pilgrims.

Daljit Singh said that the SGPC has also arranged for vehicular service for evacuating people from Joshi Math and Srinagar to Rishikesh.

It was also communicated to Makkar that by now over 3,000 pilgrims are still stranded at Gobind Dham, waiting for air-lift.

Pathankot, June 22, 2013: Rashtriya Sawem Sewak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat while addressing the RSS volunteers has said that it is duty of the Centre to protect the international boundaries.

He made this statement in view of the China’s attempt to infiltrate into the India territory. He added is the right time to strengthen the nation’s international borders

Further, he said the country needs an “Administrator” who should have a visionary approach for creating new model of development that can pave way for creating more job opportunities in the future.

He called upon people to uproot the UPA from power in coming elections to the parliament. He condemned the Centre for its failures to tackle the recent flash floods in Uttrakhand.

He added the RSS was committed for peace, prosperity.

New Delhi/Jalandhar, June 22, 2013: Haryana Chief Minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda has cancelled his programme of  Jind and Sonipat and has proceeded to Uttarakhand. There he will make an aerial survey of flood affected areas of Haridwar and Dehradun in Uttarakhand. After making the survey, he will leave the helicopter there for the relief and rescue operations and will return to Delhi by road.

Talking to mediapersons before leaving for Uttarakhand in New Delhi, Hooda said that Haryana Government has offered all necessary help to Uttarakhand Government, in view of the devastation due to heavy rain and flood. Haryana has already given grant of Rs 10 crore to Uttarakhand Government for relief and rescue operations.

Hooda said that services of a helicopter and a plane are being made available to Uttarakhand Government. The State plane of Haryana Government has already reached there. Haryana Government is providing all help in relief and rescue operations. Blankets, tents, clothes, medicines and food packets and other relief material are being sent to Uttarakhand and this help is continuing. Haryana Pradesh Congress has also sent a Falcon Jet to Uttarakhand for help in rescue work.

Haryana Chief Secretary  P.K. Chaudhery has also spoken to the Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand Subhash Kumar and assured him of all possible help from Haryana Government.

To help the flood trapped people of Haryana in Uttarakhand, a team of civil and police officers of Haryana has been sent to Dehradun. Haryana Principal Secretary, Animal Husbandry and Dairy, P.K. Dass (09814213797) and DIG Telecom  Subhash Yadav (09888086900) are the main officers coordinating the rescue and relief work of Haryana teams at Dehradun and Rishikesh.  This team will be in contact with control room at Chandigarh. All these arrangements are being looked after by the Financial Commissioner, Revenue, Krishan Mohan.

Three teams from Haryana have been sent for help in relief/ rescue work at Dehradun and Rishikesh. Team in-charge at Jaulli Grand Airport Dehradun is DSP Adrash Deep (08814011502) and at Sahasradhara helipad, Dehardun is DSP Khushi Pal (09729990500). Third team at Jairam Ashram, Rishikesh is headed by DSP Jitender Gehlawat (08398000608).

New Delhi/Jalandhar, June 22, 201: Haryana   Pradesh Youth Congress will send relief material to help the flood affected people of Uttarakhand.

Haryana Government has already sent a grant of Rs 10 crore to Uttarakhand for helping flood effected people of the state.

The president of Haryana Pradesh Youth Congress, Amit Sihag told the meeting of office bearers of Youth Congress in New Delhi that atleast one truck of relief material will be collected from each Lok Sabha Constituency of Haryana. For this, centers will be opened in whole of the state. Whatever the amount collected, will be sent to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund. Congress President Sonia Gandhi will flag off the trucks with relief material on Monday, June 24, from AICC Headquarters, New Delhi.

Sihag said that a list of the volunteers of Pradesh Youth Congress has been prepared. These volunteers will be sent to Uttarakhand on June 27 in different batches and they will help in relief and rescue operations there for 15 days.

Sihag said that a resolution was also passed in the meeting that a bank account should be opened in the name of Haryana Pradesh Youth Congress. Information about it will be made public shortly, so that people may be able to send money for the help of flood affected people of Uttarakhand.

Ferozepur, June 23, 2013: After fighting with all natural odds, four members of a family, who had gone to pay obeisance at the Hemkunt Sahib in Uttrakhand, returned home safely.  They were received by the deputy commissioner,  Ferozeur at the local bus stand.

Their relatives and friends heaved a sigh of relief on their return to home.

Telling the tales of massive rains and flood ravaged, Rajvinder Singh alongwith hisphot uncle Gurcharan Singh a constable in Punjab Police, aunty Sarabjit Kaur and six year old child Daljan Singh had gone to pay obeisance at Hemkunt Sahib and they remained stuck in this harrowing incident for ten days. It gives a jerk to us even now on remembering those ten days, they added.

Speaking on the occasion, Manjit Singh Narang, Deputy Commissioner, Ferozepur said, during these devastating floods, there had been loss of lives apart from damage to property and expressed his happiness on the return of four members of a family.

Dharamsala, June 22, 2013: Rajya Sabha Member and veteran BJP leader, Shanta Kumar has donated a sum of Rs 26 lakh from MP Fund (including Rs. 1 lakh from his own pocket ), to PM’s Relief Fund  as a help for Uttrakhand’s disaster.

In a letter to PM sent from Dharamsala on Saturday, Shanta, a former Himachal Pradesh CM said, “It is the most unfortunate happening of the era, and entire country is with you.”

He said that the country should take some tough decisions on the basic problems of the nation. He said, “it is true that responsibility of huge population, increasing greediness of the public and the non working nature of politicians and administration has highly disturbed the nature.”

Shanta said that the time has arrived when they must remember the words of Mahatma Gandhi ‘prakriti ke paas mnushya ki jaroorton ko poora karne ke liye sab kuchh hae-prantu mnushya ke laalch ko poora karne ke liye kuchh nahi’ (Nature has everything to fulfill needs of human beings but it has nothing to fulfill greed of human beings).

He said, on one hand there is problem of global warming and on the other hand disturbing the nature they were inviting huge disaster.

He asked if China could control the population, why could not India. He added they must move forward in this direction or their end was near.

Shanta appealed each and every Indian to help government to tackle the situation in Uttrakhand.

New Delhi, June22, 2013: Passport Seva Project (PSP), the mission mode programme of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), which runs in Public-Private-Partnership mode with Tata Consultancy Services as a service provider completed its first year of successful rollout last week. The project which was launched with an objective to deliver passport services to citizens of India in a timely, transparent, more accessible and reliable manner, has achieved a landmark figure of processing more than one crore passport applications since its inception in 2010.

A six year old boy from Kolkata, Master Adnan Raja became the lucky passport applicant, whose application was processed as the 1,00,00,000th  application in the Passport Seva System.

Muktesh Pardeshi, Joint Secretary, Passport Seva Project and Chief Passport Officer said, “Processing more than one crore applications for passports and related services is a noteworthy milestone. Our officials have been working relentlessly to provide hassle-free passport services to the fellow citizens. We have also taken assertive steps to streamline and simplify the process for passport applicants.”

As part of MEA’s e-Governance initiatives, the Passport Seva Project has transformed the passport issuance system across India. The Ministry is improving governance in Passport Offices by focusing on citizen-centricity, service orientation and transparency.

Other benefits of the Passport Seva Project include:

•        Longer working hours to benefit the citizens.

•        24*7 Call Center Support in 17 languages

•        Complete digitization and processing of application when applicant visits the PSK, reducing the overall time spent and eliminating multiple visits

•        Biometric data and photographs taken in highly secure environment

•        Granting decision taken in front of the applicant, therefore greater transparency

•        Citizens leave the PSK with certainty on the status of their application

•        Transparency in the process and online real-time availability of data for ease of monitoring and decision making

•        Availability of mobile application mPassportSeva for information and status tracking of a passport application

•        Newly introduced online payment based appointments to curb the problem of absenteeism and curb the role of touts

Chandigarh, June 22, 2013: It was informed by the Punjab Government’s official source from Uttrakhand late in the evening that  60 Mini Buses had been sent from Rishikesh to Joshimath for  evacuating the pilgrims and bringing them back to Rishikesh from where they would start their journey for their native places in Punjab through big Buses.

Till the last report came, it was informed that six Mini Buses had started their journey back to Rishikesh from Joshimath with pilgrims accompanied by state police officers deployed in each bus for the safety and security of every pilgrim.

Related copy:

IAS Officers contribute one day salary for Uttrakhand Relief Fund

New Delhi/Jalandhar, June 22, 2013: Haryana Chief Minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda has assured Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna of all necessary help in relief and rescue operations in the State.

Hooda today cancelled all his programmes of Jind and Sonipat and left for Dehradun in the afternoon. There he met  Bahuguna and offered all help for the flood effected people of Uttarakhand.  Hooda left his helicopter at the disposal of Uttarakhand Government for relief and rescue operation and returned from Dehradun by road.

Talking to media persons in Dehradun, Hooda said that Haryana Government will soon dispatch 50 thousand blankets and other relief material for the flood effected people of Uttarakhand. On behalf of the people of Haryana, the State Unit of Pradesh Congress is also providing one Falcon Jet aircraft for relief operations, he said.

Haryana Chief Secretary, P.K. Chaudhery, who accompanied Hooda to Dehradun, also met his counterpart in Uttarakhand  Subhash Kumar and discussed with him about the assistance, which could be extended to Uttarakhand by the Haryana Government in this hour of need.

 In view of the vast devastation in Uttarakhand due to heavy rains and flood, Haryana Government has already provided assistance of Rs 10 crore to Uttarakhand Government for relief and rescue operations.

To help the flood trapped people of Haryana in Uttarakhand, a team of civil and police officers of Haryana has been sent to Dehradun. Haryana Principal Secretary, Animal Husbandry and Dairy,  P.K. Dass (09814213797) and DIG Telecom,  Subhash Yadav (09888086900)are the main officers coordinating the rescue and relief work of Haryana teams at Dehradun and Rishikesh.  This team will be in contact with control room at Chandigarh. All these arrangements are being looked after by the Financial Commissioner, Revenue,  Krishna Mohan.

Three teams from Haryana have been sent for help in relief/ rescue work at Dehradun and Rishikesh. Team in-charge at Jaulli Grand Airport Dehradun is DSP Adrash Deep (08814011502) and at Sahasradhara helipad, Dehardun is DSP Khushi Pal (09729990500). Third team at Jairam Ashram, Rishikesh is headed by DSP Jitender Gehlawat (08398000608).

Related copy:

HARYANA CM Hooda leaves for Uttarakhand

New Delhi/Jalandhar, June 23, 2013:  First consignment of relief material has been sent to for flood effected people of Uttrakhand from Panipat.

MLA Balbir Pal Shah and Deputy Commissioner  Samir Pal Saro today flagged off 5 trucks carrying 25 thousand blankets from Mini Secretariat.

Balbir Pal Shah said that on the initiative of the Chief Minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, this relief material is being sent to Dehradun by the Panipat District administration and various social organisations. The relief material will be made available to the flood victims through the control room at Dehradun set up by Haryana Government. In second consignment, food items and dry milk will be sent. He appreciated cooperation given by the district administration and social organisations.

The DC, Saro thanked the social organisations for contributing relief material with open heart. He said that as soon as the relief material for second consignment is received, it will be sent to Uttrakhand. He informed that tehsildar of Panipat Suresh Kumar has been sent alongwith first consignment as nodal officer. One constable each has been put on duty on every truck.

On this occasion, ADC RS Verma, SDM  Ashwani Malik, Mukesh Tuteja and other officers were also present.