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Monday,
June 10, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Gaddis,
Gujjars thank Shanta Mandi to
have modern bus stand: Dhumal Tourist
kills wife, son Water
shortage plagues town 717
watersheds to be developed in HP |
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Imposition
of water cess sought Hailstorm
lashes Shimla Stokes
faction to hold rally on June 16 Entry tax at Parwanoo resented Computerised
railway counter
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Gaddis, Gujjars thank Shanta Dharamsala, June 9 Attired in their traditional gear, Gaddis and Gujjars not only from Kangra and Chamba but all parts of the state turned out in thousands to express their gratitude to Mr Shanta Kumar, Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, for securing Scheduled Tribe status for them. “The granting of ST status was approved by the Union Cabinet on May, 31,” said Mr Shanta Kumar. “After getting the Registrar, Anthropology , to agree for a fresh survey, I pursued the matter till it was granted approval,” he said. On the issue of another rally being organised by the BJP to cash in on the granting of ST status, he said there was no bar on the number of functions that could be held, adding that the party as a whole would benefit from it. Interestingly, barring Mr Rajan
Sushant, three ministers and three MLAs who had revolted against Chief Minister, Prem Kumar Dhumal were present at the function. Not even a single minister or MLA from the rival Dhumal faction was present. Mr Shanta Kumar should be given full credit for securing ST status for us and protecting our rights,”said Mr Dulo Ram, MLA. All other speakers, including IPH Minister, Ramesh
Chaudhary, Transport Minister, Kishan Kapoor, Mr Hari Narayan Singh and Mr Vipin
Parmar, did not even mention the name of Mr Dhumal. The Union Minister announced that a spinning and weaving mill at an estimated cost of Rs 30 lakh would be set up at Baijnath so that the Gaddis could get the right price for their wool and blankets. He said the National Consumer Cooperative Federation (NCCF) would provide money, technical assistance and designs for the blankets. Mr Shanta Kumar also announced a sum of Rs 10 lakh for the construction of a Gaddi-Gujjar bhavan at
Shahpur. He said he would also request the Ministry of Culture to give financial assistance to the Gaddis and Gujjars so that they could preserve their rich culture and tradition. |
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Mandi to have modern bus stand: Dhumal Mandi, June 9 The Chief Minister said adequate funds had been provided for the on going works in the town. The D-Block of Regional Hospital would be completed by the month of October. The construction work of Rs 4.82 lakh Suketi bridge had been awarded to a contractor while the tender of Sukodhi bridge had also been issued. A loan of Rs 2.38 crore had been sanctioned by HUDCO to complete the remaining work of the drinking water augmentation project of the town. The project would be completed by March, 2003, he added. Mr Dhumal said adequate funds would be provided to construct a modern bus stand at Mandi which was the gateway to the valleys of Kulu,
Lahul, Spiti and Leh. All efforts would be made to make Mandi an ideal heritage town. |
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Tourist
kills wife, son Shimla, June 9 The tourist who came along with his wife, a son and a daughter, checked into the hotel on Thursday under the name of Mr Mohinder Pailal Jain. He gave his residential address as 84, Ring Road, Surat (Gujarat). However, the police has so far failed to verify his identity. The name and the address appeared to be fake. While the bodies of the wife and the son were recovered from the room today, the fate of the daughter, who was younger than the son, was not known. The double murder came to light this morning when the hotel staff failed to set any response after repeatedly knocking at the door of the room. Finally, the police was called and the door was broken only to find the bodies covered with a quilt lying on the bed. There were no injury marks on the bodies, except a few scratches on the legs of the woman. The bodies had started decomposing and that of the child had swollen quite a bit. The culprit had taken away all the belongings and only a
jewellery box was found in the room. A telephone number printed on the box failed to give any further clue to the killer’s identity. The only significant information that the police was able to gather was that the alleged murderer had inquired from the hotel staff if he could get Gujarati food. The family had not taken even the bed tea on following morning and gone for sight seeing. Since food is not served in the hotel, its staff did not go to the room yesterday for serving morning tea. Consequently, the crime came to notice only today. The bodies have been sent for a post-mortem and the report will be available tomorrow. The police has flashed the description of the deceased and the accused across the country, as the crime appears to have been committed more than 24 hours ago and in all probability the culprit had escaped out of state. There have been several cases of mysterious murders in the city in the recent past. In a similar case a fortnight ago a youth from Delhi was murdered. A hotel owner and his mother were brutally murdered by two members of the hotel staff. The security guards of a VIP from Punjab shot a travel agent in a hotel near the bus stand last year, while the body of a young girl was recovered from another hotel which could not be identified. |
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Water shortage plagues town Hamirpur, June 9 The district administration is busy supplying water in the worst hit areas with the help of tankers. One tanker is made to supply water twice a day. The water is lifted from
khads, where there is ample water available, according to Mr R.N. Sharma, Superintending Engineer, Irrigation-cum-Public Health Department. According to Mr Sharma, 15 tankers are supplying water in the district and this process will continue till the water supply position becomes normal on the arrival of monsoon. People of the town are still getting water after a day’s break. However, no water tankers have been put on water supply duty as had been directed by the Revenue Minister, Mr Rajan
Sushant, during a press conference here last week. Long queues of people with empty pitchers, buckets and other utensils can also be seen at various handpumps installed in the town. Heavy rush of people in search of water can be seen at the handpumps located near the Shiva temple and Housing Board colony. A visit to various parts of the district on Friday showed that almost all places are facing a severe water crisis. Worst affected are the people of upper
Bamsan, Mewa and interiors of the Bijheri area. People complained that the I&PH authorities and local politicians were to be blamed for the water crisis. They don’t take timely steps to deal with the water shortage. They wake up only when the summer season begins and there is an acute water shortage due to the prolonged drought conditions. According to them, there is a need for formulating timely schemes for water supply for drinking as well as irrigation purposes. They are optimistic that Prof Prem Kumar
Dhumal, Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, who belongs to the district, will do his best to ease the water crisis by sanctioning more funds for water supply projects. |
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717 watersheds to be developed in HP Shimla, June 9 So far, about Rs 65.72 crore have been spent under the integrated wasteland development, desert development and drought-prone area programmes to cover 96,879 hectares of land in the state. In all, 36 projects at a total cost of Rs 223.38 crore are being implemented under which 717 watersheds will be developed to treat 3.67 lakh hectares of land. The programme is also helping in promoting the overall economic development and improving the socio-economic conditions of the disadvantaged sections of society. The Integrated Wasteland Development Programme (IWDP) has been launched in all districts of the state, except Bilaspur, Una and Lahaul-Spiti. Several IWDP projects, at a total cost of Rs 121.88 crore are being implemented under which 365 watersheds, covering an area of 2,32,387 hectares, have been taken up. So far, five such projects, one each in Chamba, Hamirpur, Kangra, Sirmaur and Solan districts, have already been completed successfully, treating 21,925 hectares of land in 57 watersheds. Similarly, under the Drought-Prone Area Programme (DPAP), three projects involving an expenditure of Rs 13.30 crore to cover 17,667 hectares are being implemented by developing 48 watersheds. Two other projects have been completed and 9,360 hectares of land through 18 watersheds have been treated. In Solan and Una districts, five projects have been completed at a cost of Rs 25.20 crore. The Desert Development Programme (DDP) is also being implemented in Kinnaur and Lahaul-Spiti districts at a cost of Rs 63 crore. |
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Imposition
of water cess sought Manali, June 9 At the meeting, Mr Karan Singh, Minister of State for Environment and Primary Education, and Dr Rajeev
Bindal, MLA and Chairman of the Himachal Pradesh Pollution Control Board, also participated. According to sources, Mr Karan Singh urged the standing committee to recommend Himachal Pradesh case for the imposition of water cess on hydro power projects commissioned in the state as well as those which were coming up in Himachal Pradesh. According to sources, Mr Karan Singh sought the imposition of water cess under Schedule-1 of the Water Cess Act, 1977, urging the committee to include water cess in schedule one of the water cess Act 1977. |
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Hailstorm lashes Shimla
Shimla, June 9 |
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Stokes faction to hold rally on June 16 Hamirpur, June 9 The other group of the party, led by a former Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, has, however, organised three big rallies in the district during the past six months at
Lambloo, Hamirpur and Jahoo. Supporters of Mrs Stokes had not taken part in any of the rallies organised by the supporters of Mr Virbhadra Singh. Only Mr Suresh Kumar, a former DCC chief, was present at the Jahoo rally. He was, however, not allowed to address the rally. The party is vertically divided into two groups in the district and leaders and workers of both groups don’t see eye to eye with each other. Instead, they try to let down each other as a result of which the BJP benefits by default. |
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Entry tax at Parwanoo resented Parwanoo, June 9 The residents said that they had to visit the adjoining towns of Kalka, Pinjore and Chandigarh for their daily routine work, and while coming back from these places they have to pay Rs 30 for private car. They said that this tax was levied by the Himachal Pradesh Government in 2002, and at that time the rate was Rs 20 but now it has been enhanced to Rs 30. The residents have formed an action committee to protest against the levy of tax. |
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Computerised
railway counter Manali, June 9 According to official sources, this reservation counter will ensure online railway booking. |
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