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April 17, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Jalandhar connection to malign me:
Dhumal HP looking for private parties YC chief’s remark on
Bill withdrawal flayed Tibetans embark on
pilgrimage Fresh snowfall, rain in
Himachal |
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CITU rally tomorrow Probe ordered into boat
mishap Medical students asked to report
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Jalandhar connection to malign me:
Dhumal Shimla, April 16 Intervening during discussion on the illegal and unauthorised construction work being carried out in the urban areas, raised by Mrs Asha Kumari, the Chief Minister said a sinister campaign had been launched against him by certain leaders who repeatedly said that the government was being run from Punjab by remote control and that the Chief Minister was on deputation to Himachal. He said the area from which he hailed was indeed part of Punjab before the reorganisation of states. People of the merged areas had the same rights as those of the old areas and as such using the Punjab connection to damage them politically was patently wrong and unfair. He challenged the Opposition to come out with any specific instance of undue favour to a Punjabi or raw deal handed out to any Himachali during the past three years. He said he would take immediate action if any such case was brought to his notice. He lamented that false and baseless charges of favouring outsiders were being repeated with unfailing regularity even though he had placed full facts and figures before the house regarding jobs and contracts. Comparative figures revealed that more jobs were given to outsiders during the Congress regime. The Opposition, he said, was welcome to criticise government policies and point out specific cases of irregularities or corruption but making such personal attacks as using “Punjab connection” would not be tolerated. Mr Ram Lal, and Mr Virbhadra Singh, both former Chief Ministers, lost no time to assuage the hurt feelings of Mr Dhumal and said that the hill areas of Punjab were merged in view of their cultural unity. Once the merger had taken place there was no old or new Himachal. There was no need for taking a certificate from anyone to prove the Himachal credentials. The bogey of new and old areas should be buried for ever. Regarding the issue of illegal construction Mr Dhumal said the government would do whatever was required to check unauthorised construction and in case certain municipal bodies were found wanting in this respect, it would intervene to the extent legally possible to ensure that building laws were not violated. He said henceforth, Assistant Engineers and Junior Engineers would be held responsible for encroachments and unauthorised constructions taking place along the roads, particularly, the national highways. They would also be responsible for checking indiscriminate dumping of building material which caused damage to roads. Earlier, Mrs Asha Kumari alleged that illegal construction was continuing unabated in major tourist resorts. |
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HP looking for private parties Shimla, April 16 This was stated by Industries Minister Kishori Lal in the Vidhan Sabha today. He was replying to a question by Mr Kaul Singh (Cong). The minister said the Central Government-owned Hindustan Salt was planning to set up a unit to extract the salt in the area at a cost of Rs 48 crore. It would manufacture one lakh tonnes of salt per annum. However, the government was also looking for private participation for setting up the unit. He said there was a potential for setting up a unit which could also manufacture table salt, chemicals and bleaching powder. The minister said he had received a letter from Hindustan Salt on March 23 on its intention of setting up a project in the joint sector. A survey conducted by the Industries Department and the Mining Bureau had indicated that there were reserves of about 58 million tonnes of salt in the area. Mr Kaul Singh said there were more rock salt reserves in the neighbouring area of Gumma where the survey had not yet been done. So far the salt was being utilised only for cattlefeed. Replying to a question by Mr Rakesh Pathania (BJP), the Revenue Minister, Mr Rajan Sushant, said 85,606 pass books had been issued to farmers by the government so far. He agreed with Mr Pathania that the work of issuing these pass books was slow because of various reasons, including shortage of staff. Vacant posts required to be filled soon. |
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YC chief’s remark on
Bill withdrawal flayed Shimla, April 16 He said that before giving such a statement, Mr Sukhu should have kept in mind the “facts” behind the withdrawal of the Bill. He said such a “misleading” statement, was unwarranted. In a statement, Mr Nadda said the BJP was committed to transparency in public life and had brought out a Bill in this respect soon after taking over office. He said that when the Bill was being passed in the Vidhan Sabha, senior leaders of the Congress had expressed the view that the Bill should not be passed in a haste, as a result of which it was referred to the select committee of the Vidhan Sabha. He said he was the chairman of the committee and other senior leaders, including, Mr J.B.L. Khachi, Mr Babu Ram Mandyal, Mr Ram Lal Thakur and Mrs Asha Kumari, were its members. The Bill was discussed
thoroughly by the committee. Thereafter, the committee also had discussions with the ethics committees of the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha headed by former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar and former Home Minister S.B. Chavan, respectively. Mr Nadda said these committees lauded the initiative of the state government and informed that the matter was also being considered at the level of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. |
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Tibetans embark on
pilgrimage Dharamsala, April 16 The pilgrims starting with a message of spreading truth and peace, will pass through Gaziabad, Hapur, Moradabad, Rampur, Bilaspur, Rudrapur, Haldwani, Nainital, Almora, Pithoragarh, Darchula and Lipu La and will cover a distance of 900 km. The pilgrimage will be concluded with prayers and rituals at Mt Kailash and Mansarovar. The 60 Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) members, from all over the country, have all been born in India and never visited Tibet. There are 10 Tibetan women who are taking part in the pilgrimage. The TYC members said that the pilgrimage was in no way a protest march it was merely an exercise to inform the Indian people about the fragile and critical environmental situation in Tibet and its impact on the Indian subcontinent. They added that it was also to thank the people and the Indian Government for their unending kindness and generosity at this critical juncture. |
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Fresh snowfall, rain in Himachal Shimla, April 16 According to reports, the higher reaches of Lahaul-Spiti district had fresh snowfall this afternoon. The 13,050-ft-high Rohtang Pass, the gateway to Lahaul-Spiti district and Sishu, had snow today. The Dhauladhar mountains, facing Kangra valley, also had snowfall during the past 24 hours, and Kangra valley experienced light showers this morning, a report from Kangra said. Shimla and its surrounding areas were lashed by rain today, which brought a fall in the temperature in the capital town. The upper areas of the district, including tourist spots like Wildflower Hall, Kufri, and Naldehra also received showers.
UNI |
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CITU rally tomorrow Shimla, April 16 The CITU alleged the government’s policies were causing trouble to the common man. The multinational companies would increase unemployment among the poor, it opined. Industry of Parwanoo, Paonta Sahib, Baddi had suffered due to invasion of multinational companies. About 60 per cent of the industrial units in these areas had been closed and the rest were on the verge of closure, it alleged. |
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Probe ordered into boat
mishap Jaisinghpur, April 16 The inquiry is to be conducted by the SDM, Jaisinghpur, who is to submit his report within 15 days. The bodies of six victims have been handed over to their families. Divers called from Bilaspur to trace any bodies have not found any more bodies. |
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Medical students asked to report Shimla, April 16 A spokesman of HPU said here today that following the orders of the Supreme Court, candidates with the following roll numbers had been recommended for admission in Ist professional MBBS course: 4557, 4215, 4660, 4618, 4540, 4516, 4911, 5008, 4780, 5188, 5758, 5823, 5987, 6065, 2820, 1931, 2637, 3309, 1496, 3725, 2023, 3137, 1200, 2517, 3062, 1744, 2925, 1029. 2662, 2982, 1810, 1423, 5543, 1725, 3141, 3076, 6116, 1543. |
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