Nagaland Minister wants 100% Mid Day Meal grant from Center
Kohima: Nagaland School Education Minister C. M. Chang has expressed gratitude to the Centre for giving ‘special’ consideration to the region by way of implementing the Mid Day Meal (MDM) scheme on 90:10 basis with 10 per cent as the state share, however, expressed regret that most of the NE states were finding it difficult to even provide the 10 per cent state’s share. Addressing the valedictory function of the two-day regional workshop on MDM Scheme 2013, organised Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and hosted by Nagaland School Education Department at Kohima on Sunday, Chang requested the MHRD to enhance the honorariums for the cooks and helpers in the MDM scheme. He also requested that NE states should be provided fund for smokeless kitchens so as to avoid health hazards. MHRD MDM Director Gaya Prasad said an estimated Rs. 1300 crore has been earmarked for implementation of MDM scheme in the North East Region. He, however, regretted that MHRD was not getting proposals from the NE states while the utilization of funds made under MDM was also very poor in the region. He disclosed that MHRD has decided to launch Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) in the NE states in the next financial year to monitor proper implementation of the scheme. He said proposals have already been put for enhancement of the honorariums for cooks and helpers of MDM. (UNI)
Arunachal govt flayed on ‘Vikas Rally’
Itanagar: The People’s Party of Arunachal (PPA) today termed the ‘Vikas Rally’ organized by the Congress government as waste of public money and said it misled the people about development of the state. “No development has taken place in the state during the last two years,” PPA said in a statement on the rally held here on Saturday. “Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister M Verappa Moily and DoNER Minister Pawan Singh Ghatowar, who addressed the rally, have not announced any new schemes for development of the state. They have just reiterated about their already sanctioned projects which has reflected the Centre’s step-motherly treatment towards this frontier state,” it said. Stating that the rally was an unnecessary burden on the fund-crunched state, the party demanded that the Congress government declare the amount of money spent on organizing the rally. (PTI)
Physiotherapist remanded to two-week jail custody
Agartala: A local court here has remanded a Kolkata-based physiotherapist to 14 days of jail custody on charges of cheating an Agartala-based doctor. Dilip Bhaumik, a gynecologist and proprietor of a local nursing home, had lodged a complaint in East Agartala police station that accused Baichitra Sarkar, a physiotherapist working in ILS hospital at Salt lake in Kolkata, and Santanu Tathagata Pal, a radiologist who runs a clinic in Kolkata had allegedly taken Rs 40 lakh from him for admitting his son, Diptanu, to a MD course (Anesthesia) in a Bengaluru-based medical college six months ago. But when they went there, the college authorities refused to admit the student. When Dr Bhaumik returned to Kolkata and took up the matter with Pal and Sarkar, both of them reportedly assured him of returning the money if his son was not admitted in the medical college. But after he did not get his money back, Dr Bhaumik lodged the FIR on the basis of which Sarkar was arrested on Thursday last by Tripura police with the help of Kolkata police and then brought to Agartala on transit remand, police said. (PTI)