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| Friday,
April 6, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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3 Shanta men inducted into party executive Rally aims to revive BJP image Govt ‘ensuring’ equal development Rampur flood victims await relief Stokes, Virbhadra at loggerheads again Hamirpur prepares to receive PM |
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NHPC to spend 100 crore on environment Tehelka probe ‘eyewash’ Row over ITBP
driver’s death Sabha opposes water tariff notification Illicit felling
racket unearthed Shamlat land for safai workers sought Toilets yet
to be constructed Gang busted
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3 Shanta men inducted into party executive Shimla, April 5 Besides, Mr Mohinder Sofat, a former minister, whose active membership was restored only yesterday, Dr Shiv Kumar and Mr Jagat Singh Negi have been included in the executive. The party leadership had agreed to induct the three leaders in the executive during the agreement arrived at with the mediation of the Sangh Parivar between the rebels and the Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal. The factional fight, which brought the party on the verge of a split, was triggerred off after Mr Sofat was denied the party ticket for the Solan Assembly byelection. The party seems to be serious in setting its house in order as evident from the prompt action taken by it to implement the accord. However, there are some more irritants still to be removed. The rebels had demanded transfer of Deputy Commissioner and Superintendent of Police of Kangra district in connection with the registration of an FIR against four of them. According to party sources, while the Deputy Commissioner may be shifted over the next few days the Superintendent of Police may continue till the completion of investigation into the charges levelled in the FIR. The rebels had also opposed the
appointment of Ms Indu Goswami as Chairperson of the State Social and Women Welfare Board. The state leadership had assured that she would be persuaded to give up the
post and take up her earlier assignment as chairperson of state’s women commission.  |
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Rally aims to revive BJP image Shimla, April 5 Normally Himachal does not figure anywhere in the party’s national campaigns. However, the rally this year, has assumed national significance. At the previous two party rallies in the state, Mr L.K. Advani was the main speaker. This year, the rally is being held in Hamirpur, the home district of Mr P.K. Dhumal, the Chief Minister. The rally is also being used by party to refurbish its image, which has taken a beating due to the revolt by four ministers and three legislators. It will enable the party to project a united image and send the right signals to the rank and file and people at large. The party machinery is working overtime to make the rally a grand success. Mr Ganesh Dutt, the party spokesman, claimed that another salient feature was that the Dhumal government was the first non-Congress government in the state to complete three years in office. This will be Mr Vajpayee’s sixth visit to the state as Prime Minister. He has a cottage in Manali. He has given a special assistance of Rs 700 crore to the state to tide over the financial crisis during the past three years, besides announcing construction of a tunnel under the Rohtang Pass at a cost of Rs 500 crore. Mr Narinder Modi, general secretary and in charge of party affairs in Himachal, Mr Shanta Kumar, the Union Minister for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution, and all BJP MPs would attend the rally. |
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Govt ‘ensuring’ equal development Mandi, April 5 Mr Dhumal, who was speaking at the closing of the five-day fair at Jogindernagar, said his government had accorded top priority to exploiting the hydel potential of the state. A sum of Rs 93 crore had been provided for the 126 MW Larji hydel project which was nearing completion. The Chief Minister said despite financial constraints, the government was trying to ensure equal development of all parts of the state, without discrimination. He said a Rs 4.91 crore Baijnath-Kanda Patan road had been sanctioned under Nabard. Work on it would be started soon. This road would prove a boon for the people. Mr Dhumal said his
government had taken several innovative steps during a short span of three years to make the government people-friendly. The Land Revenue Act, which had become obsolete, had been amended in the interests of the people. Mr Dhumal said fair and festivals played a major role in preserving cultural heritage. He said local talent should be encouraged at these fairs. Earlier, he inaugurated a Rs 1.91 crore Revenue Training Institute building and a hostel. Vidhan Sabha Speaker Thakur Gulab Singh, who represents the Jogindernagar constituency, thanked the Chief Minister for taking a keen interest in the development of Jogindernagar. He said the Herbal Garden in the city was being expanded by spending another Rs 1.68 crore on it. Forest Minister Thakur Roop Singh and Minister of State Prakash Chaudhary were also present. |
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Rampur flood victims await relief Shimla A grant of Rs 35,000 for the loss of concrete houses and Rs 25,000 for wooden ones was announced by the Chief Minister, but the victims of the area complain that the disaster relief approved by the Chief Minister was not given to them. Many of them still wait for relief. They allege that they would not be given any relief as no one visited them after the tragedy. “My total loss was Rs 90,000 and Rs 25,000 announced as relief but I was given less than Rs 10,000. Now I realise that administration is turning a blind eye and not taking proper steps for the victims. We are even deprived of the amount which we deserve,” says Mr Tickam Ram, a resident of Brow village. The victims allege that during the floods, officials visited the flood-stricken areas many times and showed their sympathy. Now no one was taking proper interest in their rehabilitation, they alleged. “I was supposed to get Rs 35,000 for my total loss but got only Rs 15,000. It is not easy task to rehabilitate once again and recover the total loss. But the announced amount is not given properly by the administration” says Mr Tinu Ram, another victim. Brow village, near Rampur, was the worst to be affected by the flood as most of the land and houses were washed away at this village. The villagers are struggling to get basic facilities. Many of the victims stay with their relatives, as their property had been washed away. The victims allege that the disaster relief announced by the Chief Minister was not properly distributed. Victims’ complain that they had been denied disaster relief. Poor people faced many problems. Most of them went through a lot of agony and sacrifice, says Mr Ranvir Singh Rathore, a pradhan. “The village comes under the Town Planning Department but we are still deprived of the basic facilities like street lights, dustbins and sewers. The maximum loss was at this village, but no one is interested in rehabilitation, he adds. The population of the village comprises people mostly from other states due to low rents prevailing in the village. Locals allege that most of them return without relief. Whosoever asked for relief was not treated properly. “When I visited the administration for my relief, they asked me for proof of the damage suffered. When I was in distress how could I have produced proof or details of the destruction. The callous attitude of the local authorities added to my woes,” laments one victim. To top it all, the bridges destroyed during the flood are still waiting to be reconstructed. The local people face many hardships because of the apathy of the authorities. As many as four bridges were washed away in this area. The local people now have either to walk several kilometres or spend hours waiting for a bus. The number of passengers have doubled but the bus service is limited to just one or two buses in a day. The worst affected are the ones who earn their living by selling milk and vegetables but due to lack of transport they are not able to take their products to the main market at Rampur. The residents of backward areas of Kullu district, near Rampur, have been adversely affected. They have to come to Jagatkhana, near Rampur, to cross the Sutlej. Most vegetables and milk come to the market from these areas. But non-operation of bridge here, have hit the masses. It has been more than six months that work on the bridge has not started. The public is using the traditional trolley as a mode to cross the Sutlej river which is not only risky but dangerous as well. Local people complain that five to six people have been washed away in the river due to the trolley turning over while crossing the river. The trolley is over-crowded as students, employees have to go to their workplaces. They have to stand in a queue for as long as two hours for their turn. This trolley can carry up to four persons in a shift. On an average around 2000 people use this trolley daily. “We feel scared while crossing the river by the trolley. But what to do as this is the only option left. The bus service is bad and we have to travel 7 km to reach our destination, whereas it just takes only five to eight minutes by trolley to cross the river. The bridge also took almost the same time”, says Atul, a local resident. “I work at a private store and my duty starts at 10 a.m. But for the past six months in the absence of a bridge he has to wait up to two hours for a place in the trolley. The local people complain that the time needed for construction of the bridge was three months, but it had been more than six months and work on the bridge is half-done. As the government apathy, the victims say when the disaster occurred the government promised to provide two biswas of land of their choice to the victims who had lost the land along with their building in the floods. But now with the passage of time the victims complain that the Revenue Department was not giving any land to those who had more than five biswas of land. The people say that this was injustice. Some of the victims also complain that even the land provided to them is far away from the road and not accessible. |
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Stokes, Virbhadra at loggerheads again Solan, April 5 Parallel rallies are being organised by supporters of both leaders are in Solan district on April 6, when Mr Virbhadra Singh will address a public meeting in Solan town, while the other group will hold a rally at Nalagarh. Both factions are putting in a lot of efforts to make their respective rallies colourful than the other. Mrs Stokes is unlikely to participate in the Nalagarh rally, which is being organised by her supporters. But it is being alleged by the other faction that the rally was being held with a view to sabotaging the function of Mr Virbhadra Singh. On the other hand, the Stokes faction claims that Mr Vibhadra Singh should have given prior information of his rally to the District Congress Committee (DCC) of Solan so that they could have postponed their public meeting. Interestingly, the DCC of Solan is headed by Mr Lajja Ram, who is loyal to Mrs Stokes. Mr Virbhadra Singh will later hold a rally on April 8 at Una, where Mrs Stokes has already held a meeting. The state-level rally against Tehelka disclosures, at which both leaders were present at Shimla, had evoked a poor response. Their supporters did not lose the opportunity to raise counter slogans. The common people, who are feeling the pinch of the hike in the electricity and water tariff, criticise the Congress for allegedly not playing the role of an effective opposition because of their internal dissensions. The Congress ‘failed’ to corner the BJP government on these two issues, which have badly hit the common people. Some Congress leaders individually issued statements against these hikes. Mrs Stokes recently said that the party rallies were aimed against the Vajpayee government at the Centre and the Dhumal government in Himachal Pradesh. It would not be possible for her and Mr Virbhadra Singh to be present at all public meetings and various leaders had been made in charge of different districts. On the other hand, Mr Virbhadra Singh and his supporters have been complaining that they were not invited to the functions organised by the Stokes faction. The Virbhadra Singh faction had boycotted various party functions which were organised at the PCC headquarters by the Stokes group. It is expected that the two leaders might again come on the dais together in the last week of this month, when the AICC general secretary, Mrs Mohsina Kidwai, is likely to come to Kangra for addressing a rally. |
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Hamirpur prepares to receive PM Hamirpur, April 5 Lack of co-ordination among party persons is attributed to this. However, Mr Rasil Singh Mankotia, general secretary of the district unit of the party, said here today that preparations to spruce up the town would start by this evening and would be complete by tomorrow evening. He said that townsmen would light lamps tomorrow night and day after tomorrow to celebrate Mr Vajpayee’s visit and completion of the three years of the Dhumal government. The state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party is holding a state-level rally at Hamirpur on April 7 to celebrate completion of three years of the BJP-HVC government in the state, the Chief Minister, Prem Kumar Dhumal hails from Bamsan area of the Hamirpur district. Perhaps this is the reason to organise the rally at Hamirpur. Work is on in the local Engineering College campus at Game Da Galu and nearby Anu areas to receive the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister and his party will land at the Anu college ground. He will address people in the nearby REC ground. A rostrum is nearing completion for the VVIPs to address the audience. Seven hundred of policemen in uniforms and in plain clothes with weapons are camping in the town. The police would be deployed in and around the REC campus, the venue for the rally. Tight security is also being maintained in the Anu area of the town, where the helicopters of the Prime Minister and his team will land. A new but pucca road link between the degree college and REC campus has been constructed by the Department of Public Works in three days. Work is on to widen the curve at the entrance of the REC first gate. Mediapersons from Chandigarh, Shimla, New Delhi and other parts of the state, including Hamirpur town will cover the meeting of the Prime Minister. The town is facing shortage of persons visiting the town from other parts of country these days. Most of the private guest houses and official guest houses have already been occupied by the government agencies to house the persons on law and order and its related duties in connection with the PM’s function and this has created shortage of accommodation for the outsiders visiting the town. |
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NHPC to spend 100 crore on environment Dalhousie, April 5 Stating this here today, Mr S.K. Dodeja, Executive Director (Region-II) of the NHPC, said these funds were being provided to the state government in a phased manner. In order to cope with the environmental hazards, the NHPC had a competent cadre of professionals in the field of environment for diagnosing the weaknesses in the environmental systems, Mr Dodeja said, adding that these professionals were concerned with both aspects of the problem and adding programmes to meet the needs of upkeep of the environment. Mr Dodeja said the environmental problems oftenly arose from the process of development itself. Agricultural growth, for example, calls for construction of drainage systems, clearing forests and using fertilisers and chemicals, all of which could cause environmental damage. Similarly, the construction of hydroelectric projects resulted in various adverse effects related to the extraction of debris from the tunnelling activities on the ongoing projects, he observed. He said factors causing environmental degradation had exhibited the ravages of long years of mismanagement, such as slate quarrying, mining, overgrazing, erosion, deforestation, surface water pollution etc. Taking into account all these factors, the NHPC had taken broader conservation measures for the protection of environment in the state with proper management of natural resources using environmental engineering, thereby protecting the natural environment, Mr Dodeja claimed. Regarding a solution to tackle the environmental dangers, Mr Dodeja informed that Voluntary Environmental Coordination Committee (VECC) had already been constituted to function in this direction. |
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Tehelka probe ‘eyewash’ Chamba, April 5 Demanding Mr Vajpayee’s resignation, Mr Mahajan alleged that the Union Government had taken the lead in graft as defence scams had been flourishing under its patronage. “After the Tehelka expose, the Vajpayee government should not have any moral right to remain in power,” Mr Mahajan remarked. He described the judicial probe into the Tehelka expose as mere ‘eyewash’. The offshoots of the BJP like the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) and Swadeshi Jagaran Manch (SJM) had already opposed the Vajpayee government on the Tehelka scam. He alleged that to remain in power, the Vajpayee government had been creating instability in the country. He demanded that the Kashmir dispute should be resolved bilaterally. |
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Row over ITBP
driver’s death Kangra, April 5 Mr Rinku Choudary (23), nephew of Mr Nehar Singh, whose body was brought in Kholi village yesterday by the ITBP men, expressed apprehension about the death of his uncle. He said that the ITBP did not provide them with the death certificate along with the body brought here yesterday and cremated with ITBP men reversing arms at the Kholi cremation ground. He alleged that as claimed by ITBP officials that Mehar Singh died in a road accident near Nandni near Jammu. But the body bore no injuries except minor ones on his face. He said that the ITBP men accompanying the body could not give satisfactory answer to family member’s querries about the cause of death. Mr Rinku Choudary serving in Chandigarh, said that no responsible officer accompanied the body to provide solace to his 27-year- old widow Asha Devi and his two minor daughters. The family members of Mehar Singh expressed shock that ITBP men reversed arms at the time of his cremation but no civil officers visited the family on the occasion. |
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Sabha opposes water tariff notification Nurpur, April 5 Mr Rakesh Mahajan, chairman of the sabha, while submitting memorandum in this connection to the Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, through the local SDM, on Tuesday said this notification was anti-people as the consumers had been
asked to install and maintain water meters. The rate per connection will be doubled for next four months if the consumers do not install water meters within stipulated period. According to this notification, thereafter, this amount will be doubled after every four months. The sabha demanded the Irrigation-cum-Public Health Department (IPH) be directed to install water meters. |
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Illicit felling
racket unearthed Dalhousie, April 5 The illicit felling is attributed to the lapses on the part of forest officials. It is reported that the forest mafia is flourishing under political patronage. According to official sources, the racket of illicit felling has surfaced under a systematic campaign waged against the felling in Chamba district for the past some months. Regarding the Chullah beat of the Lower Chamba Forest Range, the sources revealed that a team headed by Mr D.P. Chowdhury, Assistant Conservator of Forests, detected 687 trees of various species, mostly deodar, illicitly cut down in different forest beats. The sources said some timber had been recovered from timber smugglers in the area. A few months ago, a raiding party headed by Mr Chaman Lal, Range Officer, detected 38 stumps in the Kiri beat of the Lower Chamba Forest Range in the district and a case in this connection was lodged with the enforcement authorities, Dharamshala, the sources pointed out. |
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Shamlat land for safai workers sought Hamirpur, April 5 He said this while addressing a joint meeting of officers and members of Sujanpurtira Nagar Panchayat at Sujanpurtira on Tuesday. He said he would take up the issue with the Chief Minister and other Central Ministers. Mr Teja said in spite of various schemes launched by the Central and state governments, the economic condition of the Dalits and safai karamcharis, was not being improved. He said it was due to the lack of knowledge on the part of Dalits about these schemes. |
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Toilets yet
to be constructed Shimla, April 5 The corporation had passed Rs 4,36,000 for the construction of toilets in November, 1998, in the general house. The tender was opened in January, 1999, and again in January,2000, but the work has not been started yet. Mr D.S.
Verma, former deputy mayor, says that they have written many times to the municipal corporation, but in vain. |
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Gang busted Palampur, April 5 Disclosing this to newsmen here today, Mr Prithvi Raj, SP, Kangra, said that Mr Vijay Thakur a local resident reported last night that his car had been stolen from Neugal Cafe where his son Chander Sheikhar had gone to attend a function. Later, the police received a telephone call that a stolen car was spotted at Baijnath. When the police reached the Bhattu village near Baijnath, they saw three persons leaving the car behind. The police chased them and succeeded in arresting one member of the gang. He was later identified as Mehar Singh, a driver working in Delhi. Later the police also arrested two members of the gang. The police reached Aweri village and recovered another car belonging to General Manager of Pepsi Cold Drinks, which was stolen from Hotel Yamini last night. |
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