Sarabjit's wife wants Pak to send him to India for treatment

April 28, 2013
sarabLahore, Apr 28: Sarabjit Singh, currently in coma in a hospital here following a brutal assault, should be sent to India for better treatment, his wife today said in an emotional appeal to Pakistani authorities.

"We have learnt that Sarabjit is not getting good treatment in (Jinnah) hospital. It will be better if my husband is allowed to go back for treatment," Sukhpreet Kaur said while talking to reporters after crossing over to Pakistan at the Wagah land border crossing.

Sarabjit, 49, was admitted to Jinnah Hospital on Friday after he was attacked by at least six other prisoners within his barrack at Kot Lakhpat Jail.

Sukhpreet arrived in Pakistan this afternoon along with her daughters, Swapandeep and Poonam and Sarabjit's sister Dalbir Kaur.

They were granted visas by the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi yesterday to visit Sarabjit.

Sarabjit's counsel, Awais Shiekh, and members of civil society groups received them at Wagah.

Sukhpreet said saving Sarbajit's life was the most important issue for her family.

She said the Pakistan government should take action against those who attacked her husband and give them exemplary punishment as the incident had defamed the country.

Dalbir Kaur, who has travelled to Pakistan in the past to lobby political leaders for the release of Sarabjit, said she and other members of her family were visiting the country in sad circumstances.

"I've come to visit my brother, who is seriously injured and not speaking. I've been told he is in a coma," she said.

She said she had come with the "love and prayers of crores of Indians" and brought "prashad" from the Golden Temple that she would give to her brother.

Fighting back tears, she said, "I kept telling myself: How can you fall into a coma, Sarabjit? You have a family and you have to come back to your country."

Dalbir Kaur thanked the people of Pakistan for their support.

She said Pakistani authorities had granted permission for one member of the family to remain in the hospital and she intended to stay beside Sarabjit.

Poonam said she had met her father only once in prison.

"I was happy to see my father when I met him for the first time. But today I am sad to see him in a hospital in this condition and I pray to God for the health of my father," she said.

Sarabjit's kin will remain in Pakistan for 15 days.

They will also visit Guru Nanak's birthplace of Nankana Sahib to offer special prayers for the recovery of Sarabjit.

Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai has asked Indian High Commission in Islamabad to make appropriate arrangements for their stay in Lahore.

A government official told PTI that a room had been arranged for Sarabjit's family at Jinnah Hospital.

Besides, arrangements for their accommodation have been made at Gurdwara Dera Sahib near Lahore Fort, he said.

Sources said, Sarabjit was hit on the head with bricks and his face and torso cut with weapons fashioned from spoons and pieces of ghee tins.

Sarabjit was convicted by a Pakistani court for alleged involvement in a string of bombings in Punjab that killed 14 people in 1990.

Sarabjit's family says he is the victim of mistaken identity and had inadvertently strayed across the border in an inebriated state.

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News Network
January 9,2020

Dubai, Jan 9: A roadshow promoting Gujarat as an education hub of India will be held here from January 17, officials said.

Representatives of 22 universities and four colleges from Gujarat will be part of the two-day event organised by the Indian Consulate in Dubai.

"The roadshow will provide a glimpse of the thriving education sector in Gujarat and enable the interested candidates to get a first-hand understanding of the rich resources of the state in order to pursue higher education," according to a statement released by the Indian Consulate here on Wednesday.

A delegation led by Gujarat's Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama will take part in the event under the 'Study in Gujarat' campaign, the statement said.

The Principal Secretary of the state's Higher and Technical Education, Anju Sharma, will participate in the roadshow, which will conclude on January 18.

The participating educational institutions include Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, Gujarat Forensic Science University, Nirma University, LD College of Engineering, Gujarat Arts and Science College, Vishwakarma Government College and SAL College.

"In the last decade and a half, Gujarat has been successful in establishing its identity as the leading educational hub of India. State of the art infrastructure, safe environment, curriculum at par with international standards and industry exposure gives students an edge during the course of their study," the statement said.

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News Network
February 29,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 29: Kerala Excise department has organized a Tik-Tok competition as part of its drug addiction-free mission.

The contest will be on the effects of drug addiction on people and society. The winner goes will go home with an I-Pad as a prize.

The competition is being organised as part of the Department's intensive campaign titled "Tomorrow's Kerala, Drug and Addiction-free Kerala".

"Those taking part should post the video from their profile with the hashtag #vimukthikerala. Each contestant can post more than one video. They can challenge friends with #vimukthichallenge. The last date of receiving them is March 5," said the spokesperson of the Excise Department.

The number of likes a video gets, its theme and presentation will be the criteria on which the video will be judged.

"As soon as a video is posted on Tik-Tok, it should also be sent on the WhatsApp number 9072588222," added the spokesperson of the Excise Department.

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Agencies
July 18,2020

New Delhi, Jul 18: National carrier Air India on Friday said that it is in a ‘very challenging financial’ situation and is taking recourse to several initiatives, with a view to ensuring the continuance of its operations.

The airline, in a statement, noted that it has introduced the partially voluntary 'Leave Without Pay' (LWP) scheme on July 14.

"The scheme primarily enables employees to avail the benefits of proceeding on leave without pay on a voluntary basis. The LWP scheme has been introduced for grant of leave without pay and allowances for permanent employees for a period of six months or two years, which is extendable upto 5 years," the statement said.

"Air India had brought out similar scheme earlier... Several hundred employees have, in the past, availed of the LWP Scheme."

As per the statement, in the wake of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, there may be employees who are unable to attend their office duties in person on account of personal reasons.

"The LWP scheme enables employees to take a break from their office responsibility for a defined period of time with the approval of the management, while retaining their employment with the company," the statement said.

"They will continue to avail facilities such as passage, medical and housing at specified rates."

Accordingly, the LWP scheme provides the opportunity to employees to take up alternative employment with the approval of the management during the period of the said leave, the airline said.

"The LWP scheme is a win-win situation for both the management as well as employees as it provides flexibility to employees and simultaneously reduces the wage bill for the company," the statement said.

"It is important to note here that the Covid-19 outbreak has very seriously impacted the airline sector and currently, the airline operations of the company are a small fraction of the prior Covid level operations."

The airline said that employees are encouraged to apply for availing the benefit of the scheme, in the prescribed format, by August 15.

"The only addition in this scheme as compared to the earlier LWP scheme is that the management can pass an order requiring the employees to go on leave for a period of six months or two years (extendable upto 5 years) compulsorily taking into consideration 'Suitability, Efficiency, Competence, Quality of performance, Health, Non-availability of employee and Redundancy'," the statement said.

Furthermore, the airline said that this provision has been introduced for use, "very sparingly", with a view to ensuring that the overall efficiency of the organisation, improves and the management will ensure that this will be implemented with complete fairness and transparency as per prescribed procedure.

Consequent to the announcement of the scheme, Air India unions are discussing their strategy against the move which might involve legal recourse.

An Air India union leader on Friday told IANS: "This is going to affect the livelihood of many. Why not every employee of AI take LWP a few days every month. This way the burden can be shared."

"The motive of the top management is to save their money by snatching money from lower employees."

According to Air India PIM document, as on November 1, 2019, the airline, on a standalone basis (without subsidiaries), had around 14,000 employees, including fixed term contract staff.

The development comes as the Centre has re-initiated the airline's divestment plan with new norms.

Interestingly, this time, it has sweetened the deal by substantially reducing the debt on the airline's account books and offered a 100 per cent stake in the loss-making airline.

The last date for bid submission to acquire Air India has also been extended to August 31.

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