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March 12, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Crisis will be resolved today, says
Dhumal Resentment over HP Govt
decision Dalai Lama firm on ‘middle path’ Dhumal proposes HP
regiment |
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BRO to lay infrastructure for hydel
projects 4 question papers stolen, exams
rescheduled Trees on hospital site face axe
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Crisis will be resolved today, says
Dhumal Hamirpur, March 11 He claimed his government was solid as a rock and there was no threat to it despite dissidence. Mr Ishwar Das
Dhiman, Education Minister, Mr Ravinder Ravi, Minister of State for Technical Education, and Parliamentary Secretary, Urmila Thakur were present at the press conference. The Chief Minister said in a democratic set-up everybody had the right to express his or her views but party matters should not be made open. He said some persons had gone to the press and even to the party high command and it was for the party bosses to take a final decision in this respect. The Chief Minister stressed on the need for discipline in the party. He said talks with party dissidents were on and the matter would be decided before the start of Assembly session tomorrow . The Chief Minister denied any rift between the people of Hamirpur and Kangra on the issue of BJP leadership. He said since most seats were from the lower belt, dissension was bound to crop up from that area. “There is a bond of love and affection between the people of both areas and all efforts will be made to keep these in tact,” he declared. Prof Dhumal described the Budget as “people-oriented.” He said the real cause behind the deteriorating fiscal health of the state was the “wrong polices” of the previous Congress government led by Mr Virbhadra Singh. “Had the then Congress government presented a true picture of the Fiscal health of the state to the finance Commission, the present situation would not have been occurred. The Chief Minister justified taking loans to run the government as mentioned by him during his Budget speech in the Vidhan Sabha on March 9. He said loans were necessary, but efforts would also be made to repay these and the interest amount in a phased manner. He said when projects undertaken by the government started generating power, the fiscal health of the state would start improving and by the year 2010, the state would be the most prosper in India. Prof Dhumal said another rootcause of the poor fiscal health of the state was unproductive expenditure on the part of the government. The strength of employees on the basis of population was 5 per cent as against 1 per cent in Uttar Pradesh. He said his government would resort to cuts on such expenses. He ruled out the possibility of opening new revenue subdivisions in the state in view of the bad fiscal health of the state. He said though he was for decentralisation of powers, yet he was not for opening of new revenue subdivisions at this point of time. Palampur: Mr Shanta Kumar, Union Minister for Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs, has reacted sharply to the remarks of Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, alleging his involvement in the present political crisis being faced by the BJP government in the state. Addressing a press conference at his residence here on Sunday, he said the statement of the Chief Minister had hurt him as he had been unnecessarily “implicated” and dragged into the controversy. He said an interviews of the Chief Minister published in a magazine from Delhi had talked about “rejection” of one of his suggestions (Shanta Kumar) when he was sent to Shimla by the Prime Minister to sort out the crisis. He said whatever discussed between him and Mr Dhumal was of confidential nature and should not have been disclosed to the press, particularly “in this manner.” Terming the present political crisis in the state as “most unfortunate”, the Union Minister said he had advised all factions to sit together and resolve the issue. Mr Shanta Kumar said it was sad that irresponsible allegations were being levelled against him and a “sinister campaign” had been launched to tarnish his image through newspapers and magazines. He asserted that all allegations were baseless to a question, the Union Minister said he would not raise this issue with the BJP high command as “the high command is conversant with the situation.” He said the issues raised by the BJP dissidents were of serious nature and needed serious consideration. If any truth was found in the allegations, the matter needed to be corrected. |
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Resentment over HP Govt
decision Kangra, March 11 Disclosing this here today Mr Shiv Dutt Bhardwaj, president of the
H.P. Food and Supplies NGO’s Association in a statement said that 62 godowns of the Food and Supplies Department had been transferred to Civil Supplies Corporation and 28 new godowns under construction were to be transferred to the corporation and the employees of the department were victims of the govt decision. He said that if the procurement was to be transferred to the Civil Supplies Corporation, the entire staff created for handling the foodgrains trading in the department should also be transferred to the corporation instead of rendering the staff surplus. He said that the stagnant staff of the Food and Supplies Department would lose new avenues of promotion under the present circumstances. Mr Bhardwaj said that the Civil Supplies Corporation was initially constituted in 1981 to compete in 21 commodities other than the essential commodities in the open market to lower the prices for the benefit of the consumers but the Government gradually transferred the trade of sugar, edible oil, cement etc from the cooperative sector to the corporation in disregard to the memorandum and articles of the association of the corporation. This was followed up by the transfer of the rice trade and now the wheat trade from the Food and Supplies Department which evoked resentment among consumers and the 400 affected employees of the department. |
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Dalai Lama firm on ‘middle path’ Dharamsala, March 11 In his message on the occasion of the 42nd anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising Day, the Dalai Lama regretted that the Chinese Government had refused to allow his delegation, in spite of the fact that between 1979 and 1985, six delegations of the exiled Tibetan Government had visited China. “China is stalling the acceptance of a Tibetan delegation, which is a must for the solution of the Tibetan problem,” he stated. He said the visit of his delegation could lead to the opening of a “realistic” approach to the Tibetan issue. He had reasoned with the Chinese leadership that through face-to-face meetings, they could succeed in clarifying misunderstanding and overcoming distrust. The Dalai Lama admitted that he was facing criticism from his own people for his “middle way approach” as the Chinese authorities had refused to respond to it. “There is growing criticism that my position is causing division and confusion among our people, but I can understand this because China had refused to respond to my middle way approach,” he opined. He said a majority of the Tibetan people had little doubt in their minds that independence was their legitimate right. The Dalai Lama said three generations of Tibetans had lived through this “darkest period of our history, undergoing tremendous hardship and suffering. The Chinese Government continues to whitewash the situation in Tibet through propaganda. If conditions inside Tibet are as the Chinese authorities portray these to be, why do they not have the courage to allow visitors into Tibet,” he quipped. “I would whole-heartedly support the holding of a referendum in Tibet as ultimately it is the Tibetan people who must decide the future of Tibet,” the Dalai Lama said. He said the Tibetan struggle was not about his “personal position or well-being”, but about the freedom, basic rights and cultural preservation of six million people. “It was as early as 1969 that I made it clear that it is up to the people of Tibet to decide whether the institution of the Dalai Lama, which is over 300 years old, should continue or not. Apart from this in 1992, I had stated that when we return to Tibet, with a certain degree of freedom, I would not hold any position in the Tibetan Government,” he said. He emphasised that Tibet should follow a secular and democratic system of government. He said in spite of accusations and the worsening” situation in Tibet, he remained committed to the “middle way approach”. |
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Dhumal proposes HP
regiment Hamirpur, March 11 The Chief Minister was addressing jawans at a function organised by the Punjab Regiment here today. He honoured and gave monetary grants to the widows of jawans from the regiment, who were killed in operations from World War II till date. He praised Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for showing political firmness when army personnel were making sacrifices during the Kargil war. The Chief Minister said the state government was considering a proposal to start an Army School in the town. The government would provide land free of cost for the project but the project would be the Central Government. He said talks were on and the school would comeup in coming years. Prof Dhumal said the people of Himachal Pradesh were proud of the fact that its 172 brave sons, including 52 who lost their lives during Kargil operations, had made supreme sacrifices for the nation after Kargil war. He said monetary grant of Rs 5 lakh each had been given to the families of the martyrs of Kargil war and Rs 3 lakh each to those who lost their lives during other Army operations after it. He said the children of these armymen were being provided with free education and other facilities. He said the government would not spare any effort to help these families. The state government had set up a CM’s Sainik Welfare Fund with a contribution of Rs 2.50 crore, he said, adding that the people of the state had contributed generously to the fund and the money collected was being utilised for the welfare of the martyrs’ families. The Chief Minister assured ex-servicemen that the government would provide them with all sorts of help and if needed assistance would also be given for their rehabilitation. He said the state government was committed to alround and speedy development of the state to make it one of the pioneer states of India. The Cheif Minister gave away financial assistance of Rs 1 lakh each to widows of the armymen and disabled soldiers. Earlier, Major-Gen S.K. Awashty presented an emblem of the Punjab Regiment to the Chief Minister. While speaking on the occasion he thanked the Chief Minister and the state government for their sympathetic attitude towards the soldiers and the ex-servicemen. He said the Punjab Regiment had given financial assistance to the tune of Rs 2.50 crore to 520 war widows and Rs 60 lakh to disabled soldiers. Lieut.Gen R.S. Dyal, (Retd.) said for the first time in the history, the martyrs of any war had been given such liberal financial assistance and other help by the Central and the state governments. This, he said, would boost the morale of the armymen and their families. Brig R.M. Sharma, Commandant, Punjab Regiment, said their regiment was 250-year old and had earned name and fame for its exemplary services. Mrs Urmila Thakur, Parliamentary Secretary, gave away sewing machines to 10 war widows on the occasion. |
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BRO to lay infrastructure for hydel
projects Shimla, March 11 The Project Deepak of the BRO here has been assigned the job of laying infrastructure for its massive projects by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) and the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC). Besides, maintenance of several important highways and roads in Punjab is expected to be assigned to the project. Works amounting to over Rs 124 crore have been initially assigned to the Project Deepak for the Kol Dam (800mw), Baspa(300 mw), Tehri Dam and various other projects. The Director-General of the BRO, Lt-Gen. A.K. Puri, is learnt to have taken a keen interest in diversification of activities of his organisation. The Chief Engineer of the Project Deepak, Brig B.M. Bakshi, told TNS here today that besides roads, the project would construct 27 bridges for the Kol Dam and Tehri power projects in Himachal and Uttaranchal, respectively. The NHPC had allotted construction of a wide road for carrying heavy equipment for the Dhouliganga power project in Uttaranchal to the Project Deepak. It would also construct the approach road for the Pancheshwar Dam on the Indo-Nepal border from Lohaghat. The BRO is likely to take up several other hydroelectric projects in H.P., U.P, Uttaranchal and Jammu and Kashmir. |
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4 question papers stolen, exams
rescheduled Dharamsala, March 11 According to the secretary of the board, Mr Sunil Chaudhary, the board has taken the decision to cancel the four papers after receiving a detailed report from the SDM, Ghumarwin. He informed that the papers had been stolen due to the negligence of the principal, teacher and a Class IV employee of the school. He added that a case had been registered and efforts were being made to find out the cause of the papers being stolen. He said that the Hindi paper, which was to be held on March 17, would now be held on April 1. The remaining three papers, which were to be held on March 31, would now be held on April 2. He said that the dates of the rest of the papers remained unchanged. He requested all principals and teachers of various schools in the state to be cautious and perform their duties properly. |
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Trees on hospital site face axe Chamba, March 11 According to official sources, the land on which the hospital is proposed to be raised, pertains to the Revenue Department and the permission to remove the trees grown on this land has been received. But, on the other hand, officials of department of Environment and Forests claim that no such permission has yet been granted to axe these trees. |
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Medical officers’
threat Kangra, March 11 |
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Power supply back to
normal Shimla, March 11 |
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