AIIMS Rishikesh Director forced to withdraw discriminatory order
AIIMS, Rishikesh has withdrawn a clarificatory order from the office of Prof. Ravi Kant, Director, which was a clearly discriminatory move towards disabled hospital employees. The order stated, “Any employee (including faculty), if unable to perform duties, due to physical or mental disability, which interferes with the efficient discharge of duties, will be compulsory retired, as per CCS rules.” MHFW and MSJE took cognizance of the matter after various organizations, registering their protest, wrote to the Health Minister, Dr Harsh Vardhan.
Construction of STPs unaffected by Covid-19
Project on construction of 30 sewage treatment plants (STPs) in Uttarakhand under Centre’s Namami Gange project has been completed, officials said. The construction was not affected by the lockdown as almost all the STPs were completed before February, months ahead of schedule. In all 30 STPs of total 131.75 MLD capacity were to be constructed in the state. These included 2 (0f 82 MLD) in Haridwar and 3 (of 38.5 MLD) in Rishikesh. While a 14 MLD STP at Sarai village and 68 MLD STP at Jagjitpur village became operational in December 2019 and January 2020 respectively, the three STPs of 5 MLD, 26 MLD and 7.5 MLD in Rishikesh started functioning in September 2019, February and March respectively, this year.
‘Vehicular emission reason for pollution’
Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal Central University (HNBGU), Government Post Graduate College in Gopeshwar, and Aerosol Air Quality and Climate Research Society jointly hosted a webinar on effects of Covid-19 on environment and economy. The webinar saw participation of speakers from various universities and colleges who spoke on the impact of Covid-19 on air quality, climate change, and environment. Ranjit Kumar, assistant professor at Dayalbagh Educational Institute of Agra, on air quality said that vehicular emission was the major reason for pollution in India.
IIT-R hosts online internship programme
In view of the Covid-19 situation, IIT Roorkee is hosting the SPARK summer internship program online with interns working remotely. Over 65 interns have joined the internships offered under the SPARK program and are working remotely. Now in its third year, SPARK program has gained in popularity with over 15,000 online applications. Selected interns are from prestigious institutes of country, with a large majority from IITs and NITs. Interns are being offered fellowship of `2,500/week. Many other interns were also supported by the DIC.
vineet upadhyay
Our correspondent in Dehradun
vineet.upadhyay@newindianexpress.com