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Sunday,
September 30, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Stokes’ workout shows in
rally 30,000 new phones for Kangra, Chamba
HP does away with service bond for docs MLA seeks nod
for water scheme Shimla, September 29 The Union Minister for Power, Mr Suresh Prabhu, has said a national-level conference of the NHPC, NTPL, state electricity board and various private power generating organisations would be held here within the next two months to explore the possibilities of harnessing 21,000 MW hydel potential of the state. He said over Rs 1 lakh crore investment would be needed for this. |
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A tradition from Brahmaputra shores Rape case: colonel remanded
till Oct 11 1 killed as truck falls into
khud
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Stokes’ workout shows in
rally Bilaspur, September 29 The rally, which was in fact a show of strength by the Stokes faction, was impressive. The Virbhadra loyalists, including Mr Ram Lal Thakur and Mr Kashmir Singh, both legislators, stayed away from the rally. Officially, a district-level rally against the policies of the BJP-HVC coalition, it turned out to be a state affair with partymen led by prominent leaders converging here in strength. Mr Virbhadra Singh, who was invited to the rally, was away to Kinnaur. The presence of Mr Anand Sharma, spokesman for the AICC, Mr Kewal Pathania, a former minister, and Mr Baldev Thakur, the state Sewa Dal chief, came as a shot in the arm for the Stokes camp. Adopting an aggressive posture Ms Vidya Stokes, the PCC chief, lambasted the government for rampant corruption, nepotism and failure to provide an effective administration. She expressed her dismay at the manner in which the multicrore health scam was being handled by the government and demanded a CBI inquiry. She warned that if the government failed to accede to the demand, her party would launch a mass agitation. Incidentally, Bilaspur is the constituency of Mr J.P. Nadda, Health Minister. She came down heavily on the government for imposing user charges on health services which had made medicare out of the reach of the poor. Expressing concern over the alleged irregularities in recruitment, she said appointments were not being made on merit. To substantiate her charge, she cited the recent recruitment of
dentists by the state public service commission in which not a single
pass out from Government College was selected. The Prime Minister’s Rozgar Yojna and food-for-work programme had remained on paper and people were reeling under poverty. She asserted that the party was united and there was no tussle for leadership. Mr Thakur, a former Chief Minister, said since the leadership issue would be decided by the high command, the partymen should rally behind Ms Stokes and work unitedly for the ouster of the Dhumal government. He blamed the wrong policies of the Centre for starvation deaths in the country at a time when foodgrain were rotting in stores. This was largely due to the alleged weakening of the public distribution system under the present regime. Mr Sharma said a strong leadership was needed to steer the country at a time when clouds of war were hanging over the region. Maj Vijay
Mankotia, a former minister and general secretary of the PCC, gave the slogan “Congress
zoro, Sarkar toro”, and urged the workers to mobilise support. Mr Rangila Ram Rao, party spokesperson, said the Congress would withdraw the user charges. Mr Sukhwinder Sukhu, president of the state Youth Congress, called for giving greater representation to youth at all levels in the party. Besides, five sitting legislators, including Mrs Viplove Thakur, Mr Lazza Ram and Mr Rangila Ram Rao, a large number of former legislators were present. These included Mr
O.P. Rattan, Mr Daulat Chaudhary, Mr Chiranji Lal, Mr M.R. Goma and Mr Ranjit Singh
Verma.
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30,000 new
phones for Kangra, Chamba Dharamsala, September 29 Addressing a press conference here yesterday, Mr O.P. Sikka, General Manager (Telecom), said the calls made through these satellite terminals would be charged at local call rate rather than at international rate, which is the normal procedure. “Apart from this, the remote area of Bara Bhangal in Baijnath will get telephone connections through the satellite terminal within this month, and villages of Kugti in Bharmour, Charori, Sauda and Deyola will get the facility within a few days,” he stated. “Though the telephone density in Himachal is 5.35 as compared to the national percentage of 3.45, but our efforts will be to reach the percentage of 10 so as to provide quality service,” he emphasised. He disclosed that during the next six months, the Telecom Department would provide 30,000 new telephone connections in the two districts of Kangra and Chamba. Mr Sikka said 1,400 villages in the area which do not have PCOs would benefit from the wireless in local loop (WILL) technology. He added that the work of providing lines on WILL technology (FWL) had already started at Kangra, Ashapuri, Mehmoor, Surani, Dalhousie and Tissa. Mr Sikka said at present the total number of telephones in Kangra and Chamba was 85,000. Efforts of the department was to achieve the target of 1.50 lakh at the earliest. He said that this would help in reducing the telephone exchange service area, which in turn would improve the quality of service provided to the consumers. He also informed that Cellular service at economical rates would be introduced within the next three months, with a capacity of 2,000 phones in the first phase and 3,200 in the second phase.
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HP does away with service bond for docs Shimla, September 29 The condition to sign the bond had been waived in the prospectus for the current year and the students seeking admission to the medical college would be under no obligation to sign any bond to serve in the state or pay penalty of Rs 5 lakh in case of default. The condition was imposed at the time of inception of Indira Gandhi Medical College at Shimla in view of acute shortage of doctors in the state. For years, the medicos after completing the medical education had been jumping the bond and the government had initiated proceeding against several such doctors for the recovery of bond money while many doctors who had gone abroad were not traceable. Initially, the bond money was Rs 3 lakh but later it was increased to Rs 5 lakh to make the doctors serve in the state. At present the state was not facing shortage of doctors but the very few doctors were ready to serve in tribal and difficult areas, resulting in non-absorption of the bonded doctors in state health services. Further, several bonded doctors serving on contract or ad hoc basis had not been able to get their services regularised through the Himachal Pradesh Service Commission creating a paradoxical situation. PTI
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MLA seeks nod
for water scheme Solan, September 29 Dr
Bindal, who addressed a press conference here, said the Chief Minister, during one of his recent visits to this town, had accepted, in principle, his demand for improving this town’s water supplies. In view of the fact that the Ashni
khud, the present source of the town’s supplies, had of late become highly polluted by civic discharges from Shimla and that it also went almost dry during the peak demand time of the summers, it was decided to draw water from the
Giri. The MLA said a meeting of the Gramin Mandal of the constituency held here today had decided to launch a month-long Vikas Jyoti Yatra from October 2.
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Conference on hydel potential soon: minister Shimla, September 29 He said the hydel projects being taken in hand in Himachal Pradesh would give employment to thousands of people. Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal speaking on the occasion said though the investigation work of 800 MW Kol dam was started about four decades ago, work on it could be started only last year due to the keen interest shown by the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee. He said the present government had started work on the hydel projects having generation capacity of 7156 MW. Prof Dhumal said work on the Kol dam project was being done speedily and work on Rs 168-crore diversion tunnel had been initiated.
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A tradition from Brahmaputra shores Banikhet, September 29 This impact was evidenced during the Asia-Pacific Performing Arts Network conference, when a group of four artistes from Assam showcased a highly-stylized form of dance theatre called Sattriya. The visiting Sattriya expert from Assam, Dr Pradipto Mohanty, explained, “Sattriya’s history is traced to the 15th century, which saw renaissance in Assam. The evolution of this monastic tradition is associated with Shrimanta Deba, a saint, preacher and playwright, who was the fountainhead behind integrating art and bhakti. The themes revolve around Krishna.” The dance demonstration here reflected its spiritual leaning. The most striking feature of the presentation, which came from dancers Shirodhi Saikia, Anyasha Mohanta and drummer Niranjan Saikia, was the elaborate preliminary ritual called dhamali. Dr Mohanty said, “The dhamali is a prayer meant to seek benediction, purify the space of performance and overpower profanity. The idea is to bring in the sacred element for a performance inspired by God.” Interestingly the drummers who form a part of the troupe, too, have to dance. Though often the dancer is accompanied by about 50 drummers, here there was only one here. Pranam, the gesture of devotion, is all-important to the Sattriya dancer. The beauty of presentations here was furthered by strong percussion by drummers and a subtle vachika (voice element) sequence. The angika abhinaya piece by Shirodhi Saikia highlighted the significance of pranam. She enacted the sequence where Yashodha admonishes Krishna against stealing butter. Highly poignant was the portrayal of the scene where Yashodha asks Krishna to open his mouth and witnesses the entire universe therein. The mother’s realisation of the fact that her son was the Purnavataram was powerfully portrayed by Shirodhi. Interestingly, Sattriya dance has two streams: masculine and feminine. At the conference venue, the masculine was showcased by Niranjan Saikia and the feminine by Shirodhi. She also presented pure (shudh) dance on a Madhavadeba composition, set to raag lalita. The final presentation came from dancer Anaysha Mohanta, who embodied the spirit of Natwarkrishna, again on a Madhavadeba composition, wherein Krishna is described playing with a coconut shell.
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Rape case: colonel remanded
till Oct 11 Shimla, September 29 He was produced before the court today after the expiry of the police remand. The serving colonel was arrested on Wednesday when a Mumbai based girl alleged that he had raped her here. She had reportedly fled from her house in Mumbai a few days ago due to some family dispute and reached here on Sunday last after visiting Amritsar and Ambala.
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1 killed
as truck falls into
khud Solan, September 29 The deceased, identified as Ishwar Dutt Sharma, was a resident of Tikkar village, near Salogra, about nine km from here. The two injured, Rajendra Kumar and Nand Lal, the driver and cleaner of the truck, respectively, had been admitted to the local zonal hospital. The truck that rolled down into the khud was on its way from Parwanoo to Ani in Kulu district.
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The
terrorist attacks in the USA have had a far reaching effect on
the tourism industry in Himachal Pradesh, which is going
through a bad time.
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