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Saturday,
November 23, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Dhumal inaugurates work on Kashang project NDA govt ‘ignoring defence forces’ Village to be rebuilt as model township HPSEB union strike from Nov 27 RTOs to register
commercial vehicles Station Master’s
office burgled |
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Sainik Schools’ admissions Notice to Pollution
Board official Drought conditions in Chamba
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Dhumal inaugurates work on Kashang project Shimla, November 22 Addressing the gathering Mr Dhumal said that Rs 856.35 crore would be spent on the development of tribal areas of the state in the 10th five year plan outlay for which was 73 per cent more than Rs 495 crore spent during the
ninth plan. He said that the government would gave priority to develop the neglected areas. He said the government had restored roads and bridges damaged by floods in Sutlej on priority to connect Kinnaur district with rest of the world. The Rs 1000 crore project will be executed by the state power board in three stages. In the first stage water of Kashang stream, a tributary of Sutlej will be harnessed to generate 66 MW of power. Later, discharge of the adjoining Kerang stream will be made use of by constructing a diversion barrage and underground water conductor system, comprising 4 km-long desilting chamber and a 600 metre pressure shaft to generate 60 MW of power. Second stage of the underground power house will be erected at Dollo Dogri. In the third stage the tail race water of the Stage-II will be conducted to the reservoir of Stage-I to increase its generation capacity from 66 MW to 198 MW. The project on completion generate 992 million units of power a year — earning Rs 250 crore revenue for the state. The Stage-I envisages construction of a trench weir across Kashang to divert water through a cut and cover type long power channel, a 62.5-metre-long desilting tank, a balancing reservoir with a storage capacity of 35190 cubic metres, a 1320-metre-long D shaped tunnel, five-metre diameter 31 metre-deep underground surge shaft and a 1260 metre long pressure shaft. The project is proposed to be executed on fast-track basis and a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) namely Himachal Pradesh Jal Vidyut Vikas Nigam is being constituted under the board. The first generating unit is scheduled to be commissioned in September 2006, the second in December, 2006. The project will be executed with debt equity ratio of 70:30 and the Power Finance Corporation has, in principle has agreed to provide loan and is also inclined to participate in the equity for this project. Funds have also been arranged through a local bank for the project. The Chief Minister also laid the foundation stone of 220/22 KV substation at Boktoo near Rekong Peo. It will ensure adequate power for upcoming projects and improve power supply in the tribal areas. He also inaugurated a 60-bed girls’ hostel at the local Degree College, an ITI hostel for girls, district treasury and Excise and Taxation Office building and a bus stand. He also laid the foundation stone of a Gramin Bhandar and a Tourist Information Centre to be constructed at a cost of Rs 28 lakh. |
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NDA govt ‘ignoring defence forces’ Kangra, November 22 Addressing a press conference here today, he said the defence forces were being ignored by the government because they were a disciplined lot and did not resort to strikes and agitations. He said the NDA government had betrayed the security forces by not accepting their genuine demand. He said Defence Minister George Fernandes had announced “one rank, one pension” scheme at Anandpur Sahib but had failed to implement it. He said Army personnel retired after rendering 17 years of service and were entitled to pension equal to 50 per cent of salary. He demanded that the retirement of Army personnel should depend on the physical fitness of the official and not on the 17-year serving period. He said Mr Ram Jethmalani, a former Union Minister, was the chief of the National Consumer Awareness Group, which was fighting for the defence forces. |
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Village
to be rebuilt as model township Shimla, November 22 This was announced by Mr P.K. Dhumal, Chief Minister, during his visit to the fire-ravaged village today. He said Rs 60 lakh would be provided to the affected families for rehabilitation and the provision of basic facilities. Mr Dhumal said Rs 35,000 would be provided to each affected family as per the relief manual and the 45 IRDP families would be given Rs 22,000 each in addition under the Indira Awas Yojna. Other families would also be provided with an equal amount under a special plan for the construction of houses. Every family would be provided with free rations for the next six months. Blankets and other necessary items would be made available to the affected families as per their requirements. He said students of the village would be provided with free study material while students of the village studying out side would get stipends and an additional amount of Rs 5000 per student from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. The IRDP families would be given an additional Rs 5000 from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. He said that timber would also be provided to help the victims construct their houses. The government would also consider supplying electricity free of cost to the villagers for six months. He said the village temple would also be reconstructed. |
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HPSEB union strike from Nov 27 Shimla, November 22 Mr Dev Ram Sharma, president of the union, said they had given a month’s notice to the board to settle its demands, however, no action had been taken by the management in this regard, leaving the union with no option but to go ahead with its agitation. He alleged that the management had also failed to initiate any action in the purchase scandal brought to its notice by the union. In fact, it was trying to hush up the matter, which the union would not allow. He said most of the demands were actually the announcement made by Mr P.K. Dhumal, Chief Minister, and could be implemented straightaway. These included, hazard allowance, insurance cover of Rs 2 lakh for those engaged in hazardous jobs, upgradation of 50 posts in the generation wing and filling of 146 posts of Junior Engineer (electrical) and 100 posts of Junior Engineer (substation) after upgradation. The other demands were grant of bonus and creation of new posts to cope with the increased workload. |
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RTOs to
register commercial vehicles Shimla, November 22 An official spokesman said here today that the decision would benefit bus operators to the tune of Rs 1.50 crore per annum. It would also encourage them to pay Special Road Tax in time and take care of the problem of a large number of days required for the maintenance of vehicles in a hill state. According to an earlier decision, token tax on big buses had been brought on par with that of minibuses by reducing it from Rs 650 to Rs 500 per seat per annum. Besides this, the SRT on 24 State Highways, which were classified as Other District Roads in May, 2001, had been reduced from 4.79 paise to 3.84 paise per km per seat per day. Parking charges by the Himachal Road Transport Corporation in case of vehicles seized for default in payment of tax had been reduced from Rs 500 to Rs 200 per day in case of heavy transport vehicles and from Rs 400 to Rs 150 per day for medium transport vehicles. The state government had also decided to delegate the powers for the registration of all commercial vehicles to Regional Transport Officers. He said the government was considering rationalisation of penalty structure for delay in renewal of permits and deposit of token tax and
SRT.
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Station
Master’s office burgled Shimla, November 22 At the time of the incident, there was no staff member in the station, which is closed at 7.00 p.m. after the last train passes through it and reopens in the morning. Normally, a chowkidar is on duty at night. However, since the past few months the authorities have not been deploying anyone on night duty due to shortage of staff. The police has found some fingerprints and footprints but no one has been arrested so far. In a similar incident, a sum of Rs 1,200 was stolen from the office some time ago.
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Sainik Schools’ admissions Shimla, November 22 The admission schedule for Sainik School, Sujanpur Tira, notified yesterday that the test would be conducted at examination centres of Shimla, Dharamsala, Mandi and Sujanpur Tira. The school will offer 70 seats for admission to Class VI and 8 to Class IX. Boys born on and after July 2, 1992, and before July 1, 1993, are eligible for Class VI and those born on and after July 2, 1989, and up to July 1, 1990, for Class IX. In all, 25 per cent seats are reserved for wards of defence and ex-defence personnel, 15 per cent for Scheduled Castes and 7.5 per cent for Scheduled Tribes. The prospectus and application forms can be obtained from Sujanpur Tira school. The last date of receipt for applications is December 31, 2002. |
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Notice
to Pollution Board official Shimla, November 22 While treating this letter as a petition, a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice W.A. Shishak and Mr Justice L.S. Panta directed the respondents to file their replies within four weeks.
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Drought
conditions in Chamba Chamba, November 22 According to farmers of Bharmour, Salooni, Churah, Bhattiayt and Chamba, the imminent drought-like conditions may affect the rabi crops if it does not rain within this month. The official agencies like the Agriculture, Horticulture and Revenue Department have started sprucing up their network to cope with the drought-like situation. |
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ABVP rally in Delhi on Nov 26 Bilaspur, November 22 The secretary of the state unit of the ABVP, Mr Ravi Mehta, said here yesterday that the parishad would present a memorandum on problems of the youth to Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members. |
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Bilaspur
begins 6 digit telephone numbers Bilaspur, November 22 A telephone Department spokesman said here yesterday that the existing number had to be prefixed with the digit 2 to get the existing numbers throughout the district. |
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