Haryana battles coronavirus lockdown

No surcharge on power bills

Chandigarh: Haryana Power and Jails Minister Ranjit Singh said due to Covid, all cash counters of the department had been closed for one month and no surcharge would be levied on the electricity bill for a month. Apart from this, consumers paying their electricity bills digitally would be given a special discount of 2%. He said an amount of Rs 5 lakh would be contributed from his personal fund to the CM’s Covid Relief Fund. TNS

15 incident commanders Appointed

Panipat: The district administration has deputed 15 incident commanders to deal with the situation during the lockdown in the district while e-pass facility would be started for suppliers. The Health Department has collected total 29 samples of suspects of which three were found positive while 22 have been found negative. Deputy Commissioner Hema Sharma said block-wise sector officers had been appointed to avoid the gathering of people. OC

Union Minister gives Rs 75 lakh grant

Rewari: Union Minister Rao Inderjit has released a grant of Rs 75 lakh from his discretionary fund for extending medical facilities and testing for Covid in government hospitals located in Rewari, Gurugram and Mewat districts that fall under his parliamentary constituency. He has informed the Deputy Commissioners of the three districts about the grant by writing a letter to them. TNS

HSIIDC donates Rs 5 crore

Chandigarh: The Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) transferred Rs5 crore to the Haryana Covid Relief Fund. The fund is set up by the state government to assist various sections of society affected by the lockdown due to Covid. HSIIDC MD Anurag Agarwal appealed to all industrial houses in Haryana to wholeheartedly contribute to this fund set up for a noble cause. TNS

Minister gives Rs 60 lakh

Yamunanagar: Rattan Lal Kataria, Minister of State for Jal Shakti, Social Justice and Empowerment, has given a grant of Rs 60 lakh to combat Covid in his parliamentary constituency of Ambala. Sumeet Gupta, Yamunanagar district BJP media incharge, said of the total grant, Rs 25 lakh would be allocated for Ambala, Rs 20 lakh for Yamunanagar and Rs 15 lakh for Panchkula. “The minister has asked Panchkula DC to release Rs 60 lakh immediately from the MPLADS funds of 2019-2020 for purchasing consumables and medical equipment required for Covid management,” Gupta added. TNS

Publicity cell head donates Rs 1 lakh

Kaithal: Haryana Publicity Cell chairman Rocky Mittal on Friday deposited Rs 1 lakh in the corona relief fund set up by the Chief Minister. He said the virus was spreading in the country endangering human life and we must fight it together. He urged residents to come forward to donate for the noble cause. Meanwhile, another philanthropist Lala Amar Nath Bhagat also donated Rs 1 lakh for the fund. OC

School now quarantine ward

Karnal: In view of the threat of Covid spread, the district administration has set up a quarantine ward at Sainik School, Kunjpura village. Twelve patients have been placed in quarantine at the facility. As many as 200 persons can be kept under observation at this ward. The district has two isolation wards -one at Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College and the second at the Civil Hospital. “Although there is no positive case of Covid in the district so far, we are taking all measures to curtail the spread of the virus. Under the Epidemic Diseases Act-1897, we have developed a 200-bed quarantine ward at the school,” said Nishant Kumar Yadav, DC. TNS

Kurukshetra University postpones exams indefinitely

Kurukshetra: The Kurukshetra University has postponed all undergraduate and postgraduate examinations, which were scheduled to be held in April and May, till further orders. Controller of Examinations Hukam Singh, in his orders, said due to the ongoing threat of Covid spread, the exams have been postponed. The revised datesheets will be notified later. TNS

DC meets migrant workers

Kaithal: Deputy Commissioner Sujan Singh visited Pundri and Dhand areas of the district on Friday. He asked a group of migrant workers about their destination. When he was told that they wanted to go to back home in the absence of food and work, he told the MC staff to look after their needs and sent them back. He told officials to ensure that shops selling essential items remained open. He directed the industry to ensure that labourers engaged by it faced no difficulty in getting rations. He also visited Faral and Teek. OC

Kurukshetra University faculty begins online classes

Kurukshetra: The faculty of Kurukshetra University (KU) has started online classes to ensure there was no study loss due to the lockdown. Director, Public Relations, Prof Tejinder Sharma said teachers of several departments, including Institute of Instrumentation Engineering, Department of Electronics, Economics, Commerce, and Institute of Media Technology and Mass Communication were using platforms like Zoom and Webinar for holding online classes. By screen sharing and white boards, these platforms make the virtual class very interactive and live PPTs can be shown to the class. TNS