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Saturday,
June 22, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Mahajan plays down Cong factionalism 14 Panchayati
Raj representatives sacked Probe sought
into exam scam Declare assets, NSUI to Dhumal Veterinary
teachers to intensify stir |
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HVC
against creating more districts Tibetans’
body to invite MLAs to meet Dalai Lama Probe sexual
abuse case, NHRC asks SP Shoolini
fair inaugurated MCI decision
raises eyebrows Contempt
notice to selection board chief Summer festival begins today Exemption
sought for ex-servicemen 
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Mahajan
plays down Cong factionalism Dharamsala, June 21 Addressing a press conference here today, he said due to the rampant corruption and poor performance of the NDA government on the economic front, the Congress was all set to form the next government at the Centre. “With a Sonia wave sweeping the country, the Congress is all set to form the next government in Himachal Pradesh, which is one of the few states where the BJP is in power,” he stated. Opposing the proposed move of the state government to carve out new districts, Mr Mahajan said this would further burden the cash-strapped economy of the hill state. “The BJP’s hope of getting political mileage by creating new districts will turn out to be mere wishful thinking as the people of the state have made up their mind to oust it,” he remarked. He added that sensing the public mood in favour of the Congress, the party would definitely get over 50 Assembly seats. Mr Mahajan said like any other political party, there were factions within the Himachal Congress also, but these were too minor to affect the party’s electoral prospects. He added that after the visit of the AICC chief, Ms Sonia Gandhi, to Kangra, the two factions had buried the hatchet in the interest of the party. Asked if he was in the electoral fray, Mr Mahajan said having contested the Lok Sabha elections earlier, he was open to the idea as per the wishes of the party. “The people are fed up with the NDA government as it has failed to check corruption, with a new scam being unearthed practically everyday, along with the dismal performance on the economic front and rising unemployment,” said Mr Mahajan. He said the government must make it mandatory for everybody, including bureaucrats to disclose property and income, as this could prove to be a deterrent to those indulging in corruption. He said the economy of the country was in a bad shape. Multinational companies were fed up with the cumbersome process of investment, which involved a number of checks and controls by different agencies, he added. |
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14 Panchayati Raj representatives sacked Nahan, June 21 The law has created a fear among the Panchayati Raj representatives. It is learnt that due to fear of dismissal from the elected post, many of the representatives have made their wives to undergo abortions while some have sent their expecting wives to the villages of their relatives residing in other states. Political opponents of the elected Panchayati Raj representatives have been making complaints in this regard to the district administration and the Panchayati Raj Department, which has so far received more than 40 complaints of this nature. After finding evidence that an additional child (more than two) was born to a Panchayati Raj representative after June 2001, the Deputy Commissioner, Sirmaur, has dismissed 14 Panchayati Raj representatives, including Ms Sumitra Devi, president, gram panchayat, Surla Janot, Mr Nand member, Block Development Committee (BDC) from the Surla Janot ward of Pacchad Development Block, Ms Kiran Rana, president, gram panchayat Bhawai, Ms Sumoti Devi, president, gram Panchayat, Sainj of Sangrah development block, Mr Suresh Kumar , vice president gram panchayat Satiwala of Nahan development block Mr Prem Chand, BDC member from Kando Kansar ward, Mr Sirmour Singh vice president, gram panchayat Majra, Mr Jagar Singh, Mr Tulsi Ram and Gita Ram, members of the gram panchayat Tatiana, Mr Ranjit Singh, member, gram panchayat Gorkhuwala, Ms Susheela Devi, member, gram panchayat, Shilla and Mr Ranjeet Singh, member, gram panchayat at Muglawala Kartarpur of Paonta development block. It is learnt that most of such complaints have been found to be correct. More than 24 complaints of a
similar nature are at present under investigation, sources said. The complaints under investigation pertain to all categories of Panchayati Raj institutions except the Zila Parishad. People here are surprised as to why such complaints from other districts are not being highlighted. In Sirmaur district political opponents of dismissed representatives are preparing for by-elections. A case of under age panchayat president was brought to the notice of the district administration from Sangrah block. It was reported that Ms Reena was under age even as she was elected to the post of
president gram panchayat. Chokar. Investigation proved the charge that Ms Reena was about 20 years of age at the time of election. The Deputy Commissioner, Sirmaur, dismissed her and declared her post vacant. A Panchayati Raj representative having five children told this correspondent that Panchayati Raj representative would be compelled to adopt family planning methods to retain their positions. He termed this law unpracticable, unnatural and against the democratic rights of an elected representative. |
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Probe sought into exam scam Shimla, June 21 Addressing a press conference here today, Mr Kamal Nayan, General Secretary of the ABVP, said since the Vice-Chancellor’s office was directly involved in the matter, only a judicial probe could reveal the facts. The present Vice-Chancellor had, for reasons best known to him, taken over this responsibility of the Controller of Examinations. There had been printing errors, distribution of wrong question papers, incomplete question papers and mix up of question papers, which was unprecedented. In the chemistry paper of BSc (III), there were 54 mistakes. Similarly, in case of MSc (chemistry) final semester, question paper of course number 17 was given to students in place of course number 18. The university had not given any instructions for evaluation to undo the harm caused by such large-scale irregularities in the conduct of examination. He demanded that the affected students be given grace marks. The ABVP accused the Dhumal government of selling out the interests of the state by allowing a private company to set up an information technology institute at Vaknaghat on its own terms. Out of the total 120 seats, only six seats had been set apart for local students. He demanded that at least 75 per cent seats be reserved for bona fide Himachali students. |
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Declare
assets, NSUI to Dhumal Shimla, June 21 This has been demanded in a resolution which adopted at the two-day training camp of the NSUI at Nainadevi. The state president of the NSUI, Mr Kewal Singh Pathania, released copies of the resolutions adopted at the camp to mediapersons here yesterday. He said that the ruling BJP had, in its election manifesto promised to declare the assets of the ministers within six months of coming to power, but these had not been made public even after over four years. He said the general secretary of the AICC, Mr Mukul Wasnik, the AICC Secretary, Ms Sushila Triya, Mr Virbhadra Singh, CLP leader and Mrs Vidya Stokes, PCC chief, were among the leaders who addressed the participants at the camp. A resolution warned that the NSUI would oppose those leaders who had some time ago burnt the effigy of the former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi and participated in protest rallies against him. The NSUI declared that it supported the projection of Mrs Sonia Gandhi for the post of Prime Minister. Another resolution warned that the efforts of the ruling BJP to saffronise education by replacing the syllabus would not be tolerated. It demanded a high-level probe into all recruitments made by the subordinate services selection board during the past four years. It demanded the strengthening of the existing educational institutions rather than opening new ones. |
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Veterinary
teachers to intensify stir Palampur, June 21 Both leaders said their only demand was grant of non-practicing allowance with effect from August 1, 2001, as notified by the state government on the ICAR pattern. They said the Finance Committee of the university had already approved the grant of the NPA long ago but the decision of the committee was not implemented till today. Despite repeated reminders and a meeting with the Vice-Chancellor and state government in the past about one year, no steps were taken by the authorities to decide the issue. Their scales were revised with effect from January 1,1996. It was obligatory on the part of the government to grant them the NPA from the same date. Both leaders regretted that their colleagues in adjoining universities and states, including Himachal Pradesh, had been getting 25 per cent NPA on the basic pay but the same was denied to them since they were serving in a university. Even after entering into a compromise with VASTA for the grant of the NPA from August 1, 2001, state government backed out from its commitment and forced the entire faculty to come on the roads. Dr Gupta and Dr Sharma said if the government failed to implement its decision, they would resort to a hunger strike from the next week. Meanwhile, the research, teaching, disease investigation, emergency services and examination work came to a stand still on the veterinary college campus here. The teachers took out a procession on the campus and held a rally. Various speakers criticised the Vice-Chancellor for his failure to accept their demands. |
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HVC against
creating more districts Shimla, June 21 Addressing a press conference, here today, he said so far the Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, had not discussed the proposal with him but he was very clear that smaller districts were not desirable for a small hill state like Himachal with meager financial resources. The creation of new districts would further increase the expenditure on establishment at a time when the thrust was on downsizing the “unwieldy” administrative machinery. Increase in government expenditure would further reduce the availability of funds for development. He, however, said that reorganisation to remove imbalances could be possible but to carry out such an exercise in a rational manner was not easy. The HVC supremo pointed out that the root cause of the perennial financial crisis, plaguing the state was indiscriminate expansion of the administrative set up, particularly during the rule of Mr Virbhadra Singh. He cited the example of the Public Works Department in this regard. The combined department had only 82 divisions in 1985 whereas after bifurcation they together had about 250 divisions. He lamented that the present government had also made no serious efforts to pull the state out of the debt trap. The fiscal mess could not be cleared without taking harsh and bold decisions to raise resources and generate employment. He had submitted half-a-dozen reports to the government in this connection but no action had been taken on them so far. Mr Sukh Ram said his party was preparing to contest all 68 seats in the ensuing Assembly poll but it was keeping the option of entering into an electoral alliance with any of the two main parties, the BJP and the Congress, open. He said the HVC would continue to support the BJP for the five-year term, though its experience as a coalition partner had not been good. The party never supported any of the anti-people policies of the Dhumal government and as such it could not be blamed for these. State executive of the party which also met yesterday finalised the programme to celebrate the foundation day of the party on July 6. It will organise a rally at Ghumarwin as a show of strength. |
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Tibetans’ body to invite MLAs to meet Dalai Lama Dharamsala, June 21 The general secretary of the
manch, Mr Sunil Minocha, said the sitting and former MLAs from the states of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir would be invited for a meeting with the Dalai Lama. “We have already constituted committees in all four states, with both Tibetan and Indian representatives joining hands for the programme,” said Mr
Minocha. Mr Minocha informed that the national convener of the manch, Dr Kuldeep Chand Agnihotri , had a meeting with Tibetan parliamentarians on the issue at
McLeodganj. “While Tibet is still under Chinese occupation, we too have lost some major portions to China and as such it is important that the Indian policy makers hold dialogue with the Dalai Lama, who is spearheading the Tibetan freedom movement,” he said. Mr Minocha said there was a need for the Indian and Tibetan leaders to chalk out a joint strategy, so that the two nations could protect their interests as far as China was concerned. |
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Probe sexual abuse case, NHRC asks SP Shimla, June 21 The issue was brought to the notice of the commission by the Research and Welfare Organisation, which has been fighting for the cause of the hapless student ever since the scandal came to light in February last. Mr Sanjay Thakur, president of the organisation, said the “indifferent” attitude of the police, the college authorities and the state human rights commission forced it to knock the doors of the NHRC. He lamented that the authorities were insisting that eyewitnesses be produced before any action could be taken in the matter, which was ridiculous. Further, a case of such gravity could not be closed down on the plea that the relative of the victim had withdrawn the complaint. |
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Shoolini fair
inaugurated Solan, June 21 The ‘puja’ was followed by taking out the idol of the goddess, believed to be the presiding deity of this town, in a procession through the main bazars of the city. Even though it was lightly overcast, yet a light rain marked the opening of Solan Mela which believed to be a good omen. The highlights of the fair include a live show by Punjabi pop singer, Mikka Singh. Besides cultural programme of folk songs and dances would be presented by the North Zone Cultural Centre, Patiala. Singer Peenaz Masani would be the main attraction for pop enthusiasts on the second day. Indian Style Wrestling Tournament, in which wrestlers of national and international fame had been invited and
“Thodo’, a local martial game of archery, would be performed. The third and concluding day would open with a flower show. It would be followed by am baby show in the afternoon. Wrestling bouts would reach their conclusion towards the evening with chess and badminton championships being held simultaneously. Musical recitals by Richa Sharma, of “Taal” fame would mark the conclusion of the festivities. |
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MCI decision raises eyebrows Shimla, June 21 The MCI had recently notified that such doctors desirous of getting registration with the MCI or and state medical council shall have to qualify a screening test. The parents of such doctors and others who were still doing medical studies abroad are up in arms against the decision of the MCI. One of the parents expressed anguish over the decision and said he had spent a huge amount on the studies of his ward abroad and the MCI order had put a question mark on his son’s future. He lamented that the decision of the MCI was nothing short of de-recognising the medical qualification and the institutions abroad and the screening regulations should have been made applicable prospectively and not retrospectively. He said some parents were planning to move the court. |
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Contempt
notice to selection board chief Shimla, June 21 The petitioner had alleged in the petition that he had applied for the post of Scientific Assistant (Pharmacy) and the requirement for this post was graduation in pharmacy and at least five years experience from some reputed manufacturing firm. He alleged that a relative of the Health Minister had been appointed to the post. |
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Summer
festival begins today Manali, June 21 In a press note issued here today, the Director of the North Zone Cultural Centre, said the festival would play host to a number of folk dancers and singers from all parts of the country. The salient features of the festival would be local folk dances, folk songs, magic show, garba/dandia, sidhi dhamal (Gujarat), ghoomer (Haryana), Punjabi items baul folk singers from West Bengal, thamudiya, krishuna (Kerala), lavni (Maharashtra) and mohiniattam (Andhra Pradesh). Punjabi folk singer Dolly Guleria would be an added attraction. The Union Minister for Tourism and Culture, officers of the Government of India, directors of zonal cultural centres and Himachal Pradesh official would visit the festival. |
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Exemption
sought for ex-servicemen Dharamsala, June 21 “The ex-servicemen residing in the border areas of Himachal Pradesh like Kangra, Solan, Sirmaur and Una are the ones who are the real sufferers as practically every day they have to cross the state boundary to go for work and other tasks and as such paying toll tax everyday is difficult for them,” he stated. |
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2 labourers
die in road mishap Shimla, June 21 The mishap occurred when the tanker hit the car, overturned and fell on two labourers working on the road. Both of them died on spot. They have been identified as Ram Raji Paswan (28) and Darog Sahu (18), both of Samastipur (Bihar). The driver of the tanker, Balkar Singh of Ambala, who was injured, has been admitted to a hospital in Solan. |
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