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Wednesday,
February 6, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Land facts
were twisted: Virbhadra BJP
dissidents hit out at high command Sales tax
on wood goes Resentment
over new scholarship scheme |
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Probe
ordered into vehicle tax bungling Security
beefed up in Chamba areas CPI
rallies against govt failures Credit
cards for kisan passbook holders Himachal state youth policy soon Resentment among daily wage workers Bus drivers issue ultimatum Italian national held, 5 kg charas seized 
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Land facts were twisted: Virbhadra Shimla, February 5 Mr Virbhadra Singh, who returned from his three-day tour last evening, convened a news conference here this afternoon and produced documentary evidence to “nail the lies”, which he alleged, were being spread by the Chief Minister, Prof P.K. Dhumal, and some officers to tarnish his image. He said not a single inch of nautor land was under his occupation and whatever land he was possessing was within the legal framework. The Dhumal government was trying to sensationalise the issue by twisting facts, he said. Mr Virbhadra Singh alleged that if Prof Dhumal could not digest the “clean chit” gave to him by the CBI and was now pressuring the senior officers, vigilance and enforcement departments to register cases against him. He alleged that the report sent by Mr P.C. Katoch, Deputy
Commissioner, Shimla, to the Financial Commissioner (Appeals) for the cancellation of his 1629 bighas granted between 1956 and 1973 was based on the selective use of record and facts were intentionally suppressed. He clarified the position pertaining to the five “illegal” mutations referred by the Deputy Commissioner and said although the land was granted to him by the Government of India under the merger agreement of the princely states, except about 205 bighas, the entire land had gone back to the government under the Land Ceiling Act. The Deputy Commissioner had suppressed these facts and mentioned only the mutations pertaining to the allotments. He produced the communications signed by Mr E.P. Moon, the then Chief Commissioner of Himachal Pradesh, to his mother Rajmata Shanti Devi, in June 1949, saying that the Government of India had decided to accept the area of about 1300 bighas of forest land consisting of compartments 59,61 and 62 as the minor raja’s private property. Mr Virbhadra Singh was a minor at that time. He also released a letter dated June 20, 1950, of Mr Moon, listing the 49 properties at Rampur, Shimla, Sarahan, Rohru, Kulu and other places which the Government of India had accepted as his private properties. A total allotment of 7805 bighas was made to him under the merger agreement, but now he was left with less than 205 bighas as the remaining had been vested in the government under the Land Ceiling Act. This included 1300 bighas of deodar forest. Referring to the report of the Deputy Commissioner, he said although 955.1 bighas of land at Sarahan was quoted on his name under mutation number 4283, 905.4 bighas of it had been vested in the government under the mutation number 4511, a fact which had been “suppressed”. |
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BJPYM campaign against Virbhadra Shimla, February 5 He said Mr Virbhadra Singh had been unnerved by his exposure in the land scam and the Kainthla Commission report and was making baseless charges and distorting facts to wriggle out of the situation. |
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BJP dissidents hit out at high command Hamirpur, February 5 Nearly 300 party workers opposed to the state and district-level leadership of the party expressed their views at the meeting. The presence of nearly 50 activists of the “Nadaunta bachao, Baldev Sharma hatao manch” was the main highlight of the meeting. The group also had 12 women led by Ms Anita Garg, former member of the Hamirpur zila parishad. Speakers blasted the party leaders “for ignoring them and terming them as outsiders”. They said the party had been captured by those who had no role in its past. They asked the leadership to try to accommodate all those who had been a part of the organisation since its inception. The speakers warned the leadership that they would go to masses and expose the real face of their leaders. Activists from Nadaunta blasted the district BJP chief, Mr Baldev Sharma, and demanded his removal from the party post. They said the manch would continue its stir until all of their demands were met. Mr Thakur, organiser of the rally, said there was no question of his leaving the party. He said if he was denied ticket again, he would listen to the people’s voice on contesting the election. Mr Thakur hit out at the Chief Minister. He said Mr P.K. Dhumal hardly knew grassroot party workers and that was the reason that the workers were being sidelined. He said he would try to unite the old and grassroot workers so that they would be able to fight the Congress in the next elections. |
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Sales tax on wood goes Shimla, February 5 He said the government had levied a purchase tax in place of the sales tax at the rate of 8 per cent. With this, the tax liability would be of purchases, he added. He said the sales tax on roots, stumps and fuelwood other than khair, poplar and eucalyptus, had also been reduced from 30 per cent to 8 per cent. |
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Resentment
over new scholarship scheme Kangra, February 5 The parents told mediapersons here today that the scheme would deprive all students of the school of the scholarship from the current financial year. The parents said according to the new scheme children from below the poverty line families alone would get scholarship at the maximum rate of Rs 12,000 per annum and children from the families that earn 50 percent more than below poverty line income would get scholarship at the maximum rate of Rs 6000 per annum. They said not even a single student belonging to the IRDP family was studying in the school. As per the notification, the school would not be given any scholarship from the Central and the state government, the parents said. Earlier, the students coming under income group up to Rs 2,350 per month were entitled to an annual scholarship of Rs 11,300 those who had monthly income from Rs 2,351 to Rs 2,775 to Rs 8,550 annual scholarship and those with monthly income from Rs 2,776 to 3,100 to Rs 5,500 annual scholarship. The parents had submitted a proposal to the government to enhance the income slab, but the government announced the new scheme to add to their woes. The parents said students of class VI to Plus one had to pay a fee of Rs 26,150 this year which had been enhanced to Rs 48,150 now and would go up by 10 per cent next year. Sainik School, sources said out of a strength of 519, 260 students were entitled to scholarships. The sources said they had asked the students to submit their IRDP and income certificates immediately. However, the sources said, “None of the cadets will fall under the new category of scholarship”. The parents have received the direction from the school authorities to deposit back the amount of scholarship already availed during the current financial year in view of the new government decision. Meanwhile, the school authorities have taken up the case with the Himachal Government to revoke the decision and consider the proposal for the revision of the scholarship and income slab. There are five Sainik Schools in the northern region situated at Nagrota (Jammu), Kunjpur (Haryana), Kapurthala (Punjab), Gowdhakhal (Uttaranchal) and Sujanpur (HP), but only the HP government has introduced the scheme. |
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Probe ordered into vehicle tax bungling Dharamsala, February 5 This is the second case within a month involving financial irregularities worth several lakhs in Kangra district. It was only a few days ago that a fictitious driving licence racket was unearthed in the office of the Subdivisional Magistrate
(SDM), Palampur. Some of the staff members dealing with issuing driving licences were allegedly minting money by forging signatures of the SDM and using fictitious stamp. In the latest case a clerk in the Licensing branch of the SDM Office, Dharamsala, Sanjeev
Gautam, has been arrested and placed under suspension , after it was detected that Rs 12,62,270 pertaining to vehicle tax, had been misappropriated. A case has been registered against him under Sections 409, 420, 467, 468 and 471 of the
IPC. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Prabodh Saxena, said this amount pertained to vehicle tax collection during the year 2000. He said as soon as the matter came to his notice, steps were initiated to recover the amount from the dealing hand concerned. An amount of Rs 2,17,540 was deposited by the dealing hand and the case was registered after no further recovery could be made. He added that so far financial irregularity in 40 cases had been detected by the audit team and they were still in the process of checking the records for the year 2001. Mr
Saxena, said Mr S.N. Tiwari, Credit Planning Officer, would be conducting the fact-finding inquiry, which would look into the
misappropriation in licensing and registration branch in the office of the
SDM. It is surprising that the alleged misappropriation of funds to the tune of over Rs 12 lakh was never detected by the higher officials . “In case the receipt and expenditure figures are reconciled on a regular basis by the higher officials, the extent of financial irregularity can never be so huge”, commented a senior official. |
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Security
beefed up in
Chamba areas Chamba, February 5 He said the security forces had been instructed to continue day and night patrolling. He applauded the jawans for maintaining normalcy in the areas. The SP appealed to the public in the areas to be alert and assist the forces by supplying information about any stranger. |
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CPI rallies against govt failures Kangra, February 5 Informing this at a press conference here today, Mr Himat Chand, member of the National Council of the CPI, said revelations made by the Tehelka portal, UTI scam, coffin scam indicated rampant corruption in the country. A large number of people were deprived of jobs, he added. He criticised the BJP for hiking power and water tariff besides increasing the cost of the petroleum products. He said fruit industry in the state should be encouraged and irrigation projects implemented in the Changer area on a war-footing. Daily wage should be increased to Rs 100 and one member of each family in the state provided with a job, he added. CPI workers would hold rallies and go from door to door under the awareness programme, he added. |
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Credit cards for kisan passbook holders Nurpur, February 5 Talking on the problem of rehabilitation of Pong Dam oustees of Kangra district, Mr Sushant pointed out that the state government had after 1972, first taken the initiative in solving their teething problems. As a sequel, 1,559 oustees had been allotted land
(murrabas) in Rajasthan during the regime of the present government. He said that the oustees who had won court cases would also be allotted arable murrabas in Rajasthan. Mr Sushant claimed that the government had brought revolutionary changes in the old land revenue rules and framed an easy and explicit Revenue Act. |
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Himachal state youth policy soon Shimla, February 5 Mr Sharma said the policy initiative was broadly aimed at achieving conducive environment for youth empowerment and the creation of conditions in which youth would be able to harness their inherent potential the formulation of an integrated approach in the field of youth development efforts made by various departments/agencies of the state government and non-government organisations working in the state would also make an impact on the policy. He said the policy intended to provide guidelines to make coordinated efforts in the field of opportunities of training, employment and credit finance being offered by various government agencies. Mr Sharma said the state government would consider lowering the age of youth from the existing 15 to 35 to 13 to 35 on the Central pattern. |
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Resentment among daily wage workers Kumarhatti, February 5 The authorities concerned had been indifferent towards the workers as nothing had been done so far despite repeated requests in this regard, alleged the PWD Employees Union, Dharampur, which is affiliated to the All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC). The authorities expressed their inability on the pretext that the department had no vacant posts, said Mr Gurdev Singh, secretary of union. Similarly, 25 daily wage workers of Solan and Kandhaghat PWD subdivisions had also not been regularised, he said. This was a gross violation of the Supreme Court verdict according to which a daily worker in any government office should be regularised after the completion of 10 years of job, he maintained. The state government had not even released arrears worth Rs 25 lakh to the workers at the PWD division, Solan (NH), who had earlier been regularised, added Mr Gurdev Singh. |
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Bus drivers issue ultimatum Shimla, February 5 Mr Mahesh Sharma, spokesman for the sangh, said the staff had not been paid these allowances since the past four months. The workers who were facing financial hardships, had been left with no option but to launch an agitation. The Himachal Road Transport Corporation Drivers and
Conductors Union has also resented the non-payment of dues. It urged the management not to deduct income tax on the allowances which were not being paid. Their other demands are increase in grant-in-aid to corporation, change in timetable which favoured private bus operators and curbing unhealthy competition among bus operators which endangered the lives of passengers. |
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Italian national held, 5 kg charas seized Shimla, February 5 According to the Superintendent of Police, Mr N.V. Venugopal, the Italian national was travelling by a tourist bus from Manali to Delhi when the seizure was made during a surprise check. In another seizure of 600 gm of charas from a Nepali national, the police arrested Bahadur at Jari. Mr Venugopal said so far during the year 2002, 26 cases had been registered under the NDPS Act, and a total of 46.560 kg of hashish and 7 gm of drug powder was seized and 28 persons, including seven foreign nationals and six Nepalese persons had been arrested. |
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DIG
Rly, Traffic appointed Shimla, February 5 Mr A.S. Jaswal, Additional Superintendent of Police, Wireless, has been promoted as Superintendent of Police, Wireless. |
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Justice Kuldip Chand New Delhi, February 5 According to an official press note, Justice, Kuldip Chand’s appointment is for two years with effect from February 8.
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