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| Wednesday,
May 23, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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SSSB den of corruption: ex-CM Minister
accused of misusing power 1951 pact
was ‘forced’ on Tibetans Teachers
make fake LTC claims Suicide
‘not due to starvation’ |
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Karan
Singh favours ceasefire extension Totu residents forced
to live in stink Shimla
summer fest from May 28 Non-gazetted staff threaten agitation Stop
reckless blasting of hills: DYFI Monkeys
injure residents Entertainment tax waived in HP Water
supply improves in Shimla 3 shops
gutted
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SSSB den of corruption: ex-CM Mandi, May 22 Talking to mediapersons at the local Circuit House, the Congress leader said the board was functioning without notified rules of business following nepotism and favouritism. The leader said he had declared that when the Congress came to power, an inquiry would be held into the functioning of the Board which had been making selections not on the basis of merit, but on the directions of the Chief Minister’s Secretariat. He said it was distressing that the Board was destroying its record after every three months to escape possible action against officials who were dancing to the tune of their political patrons. He said transparency must be maintained. The former Chief Minister deplored the Dhumal government’s move to destroy the institutions of revenue and police. Demolishing offices of the Divisional Commissioners had dealt a fatal blow to the revenue system of the state without adding anything to the exchequer, he said. He regretted the Dhumal government’s decision to abolish the Ranges of DIGs of Mandi and Kangra. It appeared that such decisions were being taken in panic, he added. Mr Virbhadra Singh criticised the Chief Minister’s decision to close the first Himachal Police Battalion, Junga, for paving the way for the India Reserve Battalion in his area. He said crores had been spent on raising infrastructure for the first battalion over the years, which would be rendered waste. Huge amount would be required to raise the new battalion in the area of the Chief Minister. He said the 10th Finance Commission had recommended modernisation of the Himachal police. The reverse was being done in the state, he lamented. |
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Minister accused of misusing power Shimla, May 22 Mr Verma said that the place was identified and selected as police reporting room by the district and the M.C. administration and by the people of Sanjauli area. At the inaugural function the Beopar Mandal, local residents and elected member of the ward concerned local councillors were not present, Mr Verma said. He alleged that the dispensary did not have sufficient accommodation and patients will suffer. He alleged that the minister had been misusing his powers and authority through officers of the corporation. He alleged that the officers of the corporation were employees of the corporation and not as agents of a particular political party. He alleged that they had also violated the Himachal Pradesh Municipal Corporation (HPMC) Act, 1994 (Section 157). The minister stated that Rs 175 crore has been spent on the development activities in the town. But Mr Verma said that whatever development had taken place had been done by the corporation from its funds and money allotted by the previous government. Mr Verma alleged that not a single hand pump had been in that area. He said that many times he urged to install the hand pump but to no avail. He alleged that the priority work was still waiting for development. The sewage is the main demand of the people and they are suffering. |
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1951 pact was ‘forced’ on Tibetans Dharamsala, May 22 Talking to mediapersons here today, the Secretary, Information and International Relations, Ms Kesang Y. Takla, said this controversial document, the only one signed by China with a minority people, was used to legitimise its claim on the Tibetan land and China will use the anniversary to showcase its achievements in Tibet to justify its occupation of Tibet and to deepen economic development policies, designed to further integrate Tibet with China,” she said. Ms Takla, said the Tibetan government-in-exile would continue to struggle for a dialogue with China for resolving the issue of Tibet. “We have seen in the past that China is not sincere towards resolving the Tibetan issue as they have been coming up with new conditions for talk every year,” she regretted. She said it was time for China to re-examine and reconsider the two proposals of the Dalai Lama, announced by him in Washington in 1987 and at Strasbourg in 1988. She added that during the period of liberalisation, China had acknowledged the need to resolve the issue of Tibet through a process of negotiations. “With whatever fanfare China commemorates this infamous agreement, the fact is that the struggle of the Tibetan people to secure a better future for themselves has intensified over the last 50 years,” said Ms Takla. She added that the agreement cannot whitewash the factor of the atrocities committed on the Tibetan people in the name of “liberation”. She wondered that why China was making such a fuss over an agreement, terms of which were systematically violated by the Chinese authorities and which was strongly repudiated by the Dalai Lama in 1959. |
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Teachers
make fake LTC claims Dharamsala, May 22 With the latest case of these 18 primary schoolteachers, being termed as the tip of the iceberg, officials in the Education Department say that a big racket involving crores of rupees, has been going on in the state for the past few years. Recently Rs 4.34 lakh was recovered from 21 teachers of Lambagaon block, after it was detected that they had made false LTC claims. Highly placed sources in the department say that many such cases are under investigation in the 119 education blocks of Himachal. There have been instances in Panchrukhi block of Kangra and Naggar and Banjar blocks in Kullu district, where recoveries worth several lakh were made from teachers. The total money being pocketed through false claims could run in several crores. An amount of Rs 4.34 lakh was recovered from the teachers of Lambagaon along with 18 per cent interest. “Travel agencies operating outside the state provide the teachers with the tickets sitting at home. In return, they charge a hefty commission for the racket,” revealed a senior official. The audit report of the recoveries made from the teachers of the Lambagaon revealed that the journey had been undertaken in the buses owned by the Nagaland and Manipur Tourism Departments, arranged by the travel agents and sub-agents. As per the LTC rules, the journey is not admissible if undertaken in tourism or corporation buses, which have been hired by private operators. The audit report blamed the Block Primary Education Office,
Lambagaon, for acting in a negligent manner in granting LTC advances to the teachers. With the journey undertaken by the teachers not falling within the framework of the LTC rules, orders for immediate recoveries were issued. Senior officials said that despite so many fake claims coming to light and the amount recovered from the teachers, no disciplinary action has been taken so that it can act as a deterrent for those indulging in this illegal act.” What is even worse is the fact that all this is done with the knowledge of the senior officers in the district, who fail to check this racket taking place right under their nose,” confessed a teacher. As the cash-strapped state of Himachal struggles hard to pay its employees their salaries, several crores could be saved if there is a proper check in granting LTC claims to over 40,000 primary schoolteachers in the state. |
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Suicide
‘not due to starvation’ Dharamsala, May 22 Talking to mediapersons here today, he said district officials had recorded the statement of the wife and other family members of the deceased, and they had made no mention that the suicide had resulted due to starvation. The minister said that since it was being termed as a death due to starvation, a thorough inquiry would be held into the incident. “It is intriguing that the matter has been raked up one week after the death took place,” he said. Dr Sushant, who chaired a meeting of senior revenue officials of the district, said 2.86 lakh kisan pass-books had been printed and out of these, 33,703 had been distributed among farmers. Reviewing the drought situation in the district, he said 279 fodder trucks had been
dispatched, while there was a requirement of about 600 more trucks. He said revenue officials, right from the tehsil level, had been directed to send their report on the situation to the government through their high-ups. Dr Sushant said the worst-affected areas in the district were Dehra, Pragpur, Jaisingpur, Nurpur and Changer area of Thural. He said 21 water tankers had already been pressed into service, while 22 more would be required, keeping in view the grave situation. The government would install more handpumps and tubewells to cope with the shortage of drinking water, he added. |
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Karan Singh favours ceasefire extension Kangra, May 22 Dr Karan Singh was talking to mediapersons at the Kangra airport today on his arrival for his five-day private tour to the district. Dr Karan Singh, in reply to a question whether the ceasefire should be extended said, “In my view it should be extended because peace is a very long road and it has to be covered”. He confessed that the earlier ceasefire did not pay much dividend. “I am not much impressed with the progress made during the last three or four months but I think that we should give them some more time, particularly when the security forces and the state government, what I gathered from the media, favour the extension of the ceasefire,” he said. When asked as to why the Central Government was not taking the Kashmiri pandits, majority of whom have migrated out of the valley, people from Jammu and Ladakh into confidence on the peace process issue in the state, Dr Karan Singh replied that the Central Government should take all sections of society in the state into confidence in sorting out the issue. He refused to speak more saying that he was here on a private visit along with his wife and son. He was received at the airport by the former Tourism Minister Vijay Singh Mankotia and other Congress leaders, workers. |
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Totu residents forced
to live in stink Shimla, May 22 Heaps of garbage can often be seen in almost all localities here. Residents are forced to live in miserable condition. Dustbins provided by the corporation emit a foul smell as garbage is littered outside bins. Monkeys, stray dogs too, rummage through bins, scattering the contents. One has to cover nose to avoid foul smell while crossing the way. Dustbins have been provided by corporation. But they are rarely used by people. Corporation employees do not lift garbage regularly. They are concerned only with main areas, say the residents. The residents alleged that they themselves were cleaning their localities as no corporation employee visit old localities. They alleged that many times they had urged the councillor of Totu, but no avail. The garbage is not removed on regular basis, they alleged. The town is expanding in an unplanned manner. Although the locality now has become part of the main town yet the basic civic amenities are lacking. There is no sewerage in the area. Residents here are forced to live in miserable condition due to lack of proper sewerage. In many areas sewage spreads in vacant plots, making it difficult for residents, to have easy access to their homes. Drains also have added to the problem. Residents themselves clean the drains. All kinds of non-biodegradable waste remains struk up inside these drains, which may lead to outbreak of diseases like cholera, malaria etc. During monsoon season the situation becomes worse. Sewage tank here keep overflowing, polluting the environment with stink, complain residents. Water supply in the area is irregular and inadequate. No action has been taken, so far, inspite of repeated complaints. Mrs Nirmal Bhardwaj, councillor of the area said that safai karamchari attend to old localities and the absence of dustbins has been hampering door-to-door collection of waste. |
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Shimla summer fest from May 28 Shimla, May 22 The festival, organised every summer to regale the tourists, will open with the performance of Punjabi folk singer Harbhajan Mann on May 28. The Hijackers group will present a variety entertainment programme on the same day. It will be followed by a “qawali-ki-raat”, featuring Ehsan Bharati Ghunghruwala on May 29. Gurdas Mann a famous Punjabi folk singer, will entertain the audience on May 30. The festival will conclude with ghazal
recital by Penaaz Masani and Madhumila Bose. Besides, on every evening, folk parties and artistes from various districts will also perform. The festival, to be held at the ice-skating rink, will be inaugurated by Dr Suraj Bhan, the state Governor, while Mr P.K. Dhumal, the state Chief Minister, will preside over the concluding function. Mr P.C. Katoch, the Deputy Commissioner, said that in case of rain, the venue would be shifted to the Ritz cinema hall or the Kali Bari hall if the weather played truant. |
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Non-gazetted staff threaten agitation Shimla, May 22 Addressing a press conference here on Monday, he said the committee had already served a month’s notice to the government and if no steps were taken to settle the demand during the stipulated period the employees would have no option but to launch a statewide agitation. He alleged that Mr Ganga Singh, the president of the State
Non-Gazetted Service Federation, sold out the interests of employees to please the Dhumal government. He had conspired with government to delink the allowance from Punjab as a result of which the employees were deprived of financial benefits to the tune of Rs 50 crore annually. Instead of insisting on Punjab pattern, he came out with his own formula for house rent under which employees got a benefit of Rs 25 crore as against Rs 75 crore, they would have secured on the Punjab pattern. |
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Stop reckless blasting of hills: DYFI Shimla, May 22 The construction activity, the federation alleged, being carried out for big projects like the 1500 mw Nathpa Jhakri, 300 mw Baspa and 1000 mw Karcham projects in the district, would spell doom for the environment and the local tribesmen. The blasting of hills to bore tunnels had created serious problems like vanishing of natural water sources and developing of cracks in houses. The local tribesmen were not being employed in the projects. The government and the management of the projects had taken the unemployed youth for a ride and the assurance to give 80 per cent jobs to the local people had remained on paper. |
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Monkeys
injure residents Nurpur, May 22 The local Civil Hospital has reported several cases of monkey bites during the past few days. The municipal council has picked monkeys from localities and left these in forests in the past but these return after a few days. |
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Entertainment tax waived in HP Shimla, May 22 The notification would be effective from April 1. As a
result, no entertainment tax would be payable on cable cars, ropeways and cinema halls etc. The government is likely to lose about Rs 90 lakh annually which comes to the state exchequer because of entertainment tax.
PTI |
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Water supply improves in Shimla Shimla, May 22 He said the H.P. Hotel and Restaurant Association held a meeting with senior officials of the state government. Besides getting water from Municipal Corporation, the hotels were also getting water from handpumps and through tankers. |
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3 shops gutted Nurpur, May 22 In another incident, Sharvan Kumar (30), resident of Tattal village, was injured when he fell from a moving tractor-trailer at Khajjan, near here, last night. He succumbed to injuries later on. |
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