Hisar, Oct 11: Self-styled godman Rampal was on Thursday found guilty by a court in Hisar in two murder cases.
Additional District and Sessions Judge, Hisar, D R Chaliya, held Rampal and some of his followers guilty in these cases. The quantum of punishment will be pronounced on October 16 and 17.
Rampal and 27 of his followers were charged with murder and wrongful confinement after four women and a child were found dead in his Satlok Ashram in Barwala town in Hisar on November 19, 2014.
New Delhi, Apr 5: Joining efforts to fight COVID-19, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has designed a full-body disinfection chamber and a special face protection mask for healthcare professionals, officials said.
The special chamber called 'PSE' has been designed by Vehicle Research Development Establishment (VRDE), Ahmednagar, a DRDO Laboratory.
The walk through enclosure is designed for personnel decontamination, one person at a time. It is a portable system equipped with sanitiser and soap dispenser, officials said.
The decontamination is started using a foot pedal at the entry. On entering the chamber, electrically-operated pump creates a disinfectant mist of hypo sodium chloride for disinfecting, the DRDO said in a statement.
The mist spray is calibrated for an operation of 25 seconds and stops automatically indicating completion of operation. As per procedure, personnel undergoing disinfection will need to keep their eyes closed while inside the chamber, it said.
The system consists of roof mounted and bottom tanks with a total of 700 litres capacity. Approximately 650 personnel can pass through the chamber for disinfection until the refill is required, the DRDO said.
The system has see-through glass panels on side walls for monitoring purpose and is fitted with lights for illumination during night-time operations, it added.
This system can be used for disinfection of personnel at the areas of controlled ingress and egress such as entry and exit to hospitals, malls, office buildings and critical installations, officials said.
Also, Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad, and Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL), Chandigarh, have developed face protection mask for healthcare professionals handling COVID-19 patients, the DRDO added.
Its light weight construction makes it convenient for comfortable wear for long duration. This design uses commonly available A4 size Over-Head Projection (OHP) film for face protection, it said.
One thousand face shields are being produced daily in TBRL and provided to Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, it said.
Similarly, 100 are produced at RCI and these have been handed over to Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), Hyderabad. A demand of 10,000 shields has been received from PGIMER and ESIC hospitals based on successful user trials, the DRDO added.
New Delhi, Jul 15: Air India has started the process of identifying employees, based on various factors like efficiency, health and redundancy, who will be sent on compulsory leave without pay (LWP) for up to five years, according to an official order.
The airline's board of directors have authorised its Chairman and Managing Director Rajiv Bansal to send employees on LWP "for six months or for a period of two years extendable upto five years, depending upon the following factors - suitability, efficiency, competence, quality of performance, health of the employee, instance of non-availability of the employee for duty in the past as a result of ill health or otherwise and redundancy", the order said on Tuesday.
The departmental heads in the headquarter as well as regional directors are required to assess each employee "on the above mentioned factors and identify the cases where option of compulsory LWP can be exercised", stated the order dated July 14.
"Names of such employees need to be forwarded to the General Manager (Personnel) in headquarter for obtaining necessary approval of CMD," the order added.
In response to queries regarding this matter, Air India spokesperson said,"We would not like to make any comment on the issue."
Aviation sector has been significantly impacted due to the travel restrictions imposed in India and other countries due to the coronavirus pandemic. All airlines in India have taken cost-cutting measures such as pay cuts, LWP and firings of employees in order to conserve cash flow.
For example, GoAir has put most of its employees on compulsory LWP since April.
India resumed domestic passenger flights from May 25 after a gap of two months due to the coronavirus pandemic.
However, the airlines have been allowed to operate only a maximum of 45 per cent of their pre-COVID domestic flights. Occupancy rate in Indian domestic flights has been around 50-60 per cent since May 25.
Scheduled international passenger flights continue to remain suspended in India since March 23.
The passenger demand for air travel will contract by 49 per cent in 2020 for Indian carriers in comparison to 2019 due to COVID-19 crisis, said global airlines body IATA on Monday.
New Delhi, Jun 12: The Supreme Court on Friday slammed the Delhi government on news reports showing deplorable condition of medical wards in Delhi, where dead bodies were not only in wards, but were also found in lobby and waiting areas.
The apex court termed the situation in Delhi "horrendous, horrific and pathetic". It slammed the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government for its handling of dead bodies, terming it "very sorry state of affairs".
A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, SK Kaul and MR Shah took suo moto cognizance of the ill-treatment being meted out to Covid patients in hospitals and also the undignified way in which dead bodies of Covid patients were being handled.
Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, said there was a case in Delhi where dead bodies were found alongside patients, who were undergoing treatment.
Justice Shah questioned Mehta, "So what have you done?"
The bench termed the situation in Delhi "horrendous, horrific and pathetic", and reproached the government for patients being placed alongside stacks of dead bodies in the hospitals. The bench noted that patients' families aren't even informed about deaths and in some cases, families haven't been able to attend the last rites, too.
The bench noted that there is a problem with the way the pandemic was being fought in the national capital.
"The number of tests conducted are low in Delhi compared to Chennai and Mumbaia...Why are tests so less in Delhi?" the bench said.
"Nobody should be denied testing onn technical reasons...simplify procedure so more and more can test for Covid," said the bench.
The top court pointed out that it is the duty of the state to conduct testing so that more people know about their health status.
The top court also noted that the situation is grim even in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
Comments
Thank God. Hope that all criminals would go to jail.
Add new comment