H I M A C H A L   P R A D E S H

Delimitation being done hastily: Shanta
Dharamsala, November 26
Union Rural Development Minister Shanta Kumar has questioned the hasty approach adopted by the Delimitation Commission in deciding the boundaries of Vidhan Sabha constituencies of the state.

MLA flays CM’s proposed yatra
Dharamsala, November 26
The HPCC General Secretary and MLA from Nagrota Bagwan, Mr G.S. Bali, has ridiculed the proposed vishwas yatra of the Chief Minister, Prof Prem Kumar Dhumal. Addressing mediapersons today, Mr Bali said there was nothing which could be termed as confidence or vishwas during the five year BJP misrule and only apt name for the yatra could be confidence less or vishwasghat yatra.

Probe fake arms licence case: BJP
Shimla, November 26
Mr Randhir Sharma, spokesperson for the state BJP, has accused Congress leaders of patronising illegal arms dealers in the state and demanded a probe by a central investigating agency into one such case, allegedly involving two former ministers, which was hushed up during the Congress regime.

‘Review’ appointment of ad hoc, contract lecturers
Shimla, November 26
The Himachal Pradesh Government College Teachers Association has urged the government to review its decision of regularising the services of ad hoc and contract college teachers in the light of the high court judgement which banned all such appointments.

HPTDC staff seek pension
Chamba, November 26
The Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation Employees Union has urged the state government to make a provision for pension to the employees of the corporation like other departments in the state.

Security stepped up  in Kangra
Kangra, November 26
Security has been tightened here and the police has been put on the maximum alert following the militant attack on the Raghunath Temple in Jammu, the police said yesterday.

PM to visit HP
Shimla, November 26
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee will be on two-day visit of Himachal from December 1.

Three-year jail for threatening woman
Hamirpur, November 26
Mr Dharam Chand Chaudhry, Session Judge, who is also the Special Judge under the Prevention of Atrocities Act today, convicted Mr Kamal Jeet of Saur village of the district to three years’ rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 under section 3 of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

IGMC to start 2 more courses
Shimla, November 26
The Medical Council of India has granted permission to the state for starting postgraduate course in two disciplines at Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) here from the next academic session.

Weavers honour govt employees
Kulu, November 26
Bhutti Weavers Cooperative Society Limited has honoured three government employees who got retirement from their service this year at a function at Shamshi about 5 km from here, yesterday.

HP Police transfers
Shimla, November 26
The Himachal Police Department transferred four Deputy Superintendents of police today. DSP Yashwant Negi has been called to the headquarter as leave reserve.

Delimitation being done hastily: Shanta
Our Correspondent

Dharamsala, November 26
Union Rural Development Minister Shanta Kumar has questioned the hasty approach adopted by the Delimitation Commission in deciding the boundaries of Vidhan Sabha constituencies of the state.

Talking to mediapersons today at Dhadh, about 16 km from here, Mr Shanta Kumar said Parliament had given a time schedule of two years to complete the exercise but it was being done in unnecessary haste.

He asked if elections could be held in Jammu and Kashmir and were soon to be held in Gujarat without delimitation, why not in Himachal Pradesh also. The minister said the Delimitation Commission had not even started the process in three north-eastern states where elections were due along with Himachal Pradesh.

Alleging violation of the spirit in which the Delimitation Act was passed by Parliament, Mr Shanta Kumar said Kangra was being punished for adopting the family planning policy while Kulu was being rewarded for ignoring the same.

He said it would be in the fitness of things if delimitation was done after taking Himachal Pradesh into consideration as a whole and not on the basis of districts, as was being done. The minister said he was confident that the commission would correct the imbalance reflected in the draft proposals. 

MLA flays CM’s proposed yatra
Our Correspondent

Dharamsala, November 26
The HPCC General Secretary and MLA from Nagrota Bagwan, Mr G.S. Bali, has ridiculed the proposed vishwas yatra of the Chief Minister, Prof Prem Kumar Dhumal. Addressing mediapersons today, Mr Bali said there was nothing which could be termed as confidence or vishwas during the five year BJP misrule and only apt name for the yatra could be confidence less or vishwasghat yatra.

Mr Bali said the BJP had duped the people with false promises. It had cheated Kangra by denying its due share in development. Ministers and MLAs had accused each other of all sorts of misdemeanour and even the ministerial colleagues of the Chief Minister had time and again shown their lack of faith in the leadership of Professor Dhumal. Under these circumstances, organising such yatra before elections is an attempt to mislead the people with false propaganda at the cost of state exchequer.

He said only non-Himachalis who pull strings of the Dhumal government sitting at Delhi or Punjab have benefited from the largesse of the BJP government. The Congress leader alleged that unemployment had touched an alarming level.

Mr Bali alleged that in the construction of the mini-Secretariat at Dharamsala and a bridge at Chamunda, safety factors were being ignored.

Probe fake arms licence case: BJP
Tribune News Service

Shimla, November 26
Mr Randhir Sharma, spokesperson for the state BJP, has accused Congress leaders of patronising illegal arms dealers in the state and demanded a probe by a central investigating agency into one such case, allegedly involving two former ministers, which was hushed up during the Congress regime.

Addressing a press conference here today, he said an FIR was registered at Karol Bagh police station in New Delhi against Rajpal Singh of Mandi in connection with a fake weapon licences case on March 18, 1988. An investigation conducted by the police led to the seizure of incriminating material, including fake seals of district magistrates of Gurdaspur, Ferozepore and other districts, besides fake licences. It was found that two ministers had procured weapon licences from him and paid him Rs 3,070 in connection with the purchase of a revolver.

Mr Sharma claimed that the investigation also revealed that Rajpal Singh had links with terrorists in Punjab and there was evidence to book him under TADA. However, since the Congress was in power both at the Centre and in the state, the case was hushed up, he alleged. He also claimed that the official car of one of the ministers frequently went to Punjab and was probably used for unlawful activities. One of the ministers reportedly admitted having paid Rs 5,000 to Rajpal Singh in connection with the purchase of a revolver but maintained that he did not receive any weapon. Mr Sharma urged the Centre to order a fresh investigation into the case so that the politician-criminal nexus could be exposed.

‘Review’ appointment of ad hoc, contract lecturers
Tribune News Service

Shimla, November 26
The Himachal Pradesh Government College Teachers Association has urged the government to review its decision of regularising the services of ad hoc and contract college teachers in the light of the high court judgement which banned all such appointments.

Dr R.K. Kaistha, general secretary of the association, said the judgement would have far reaching implications for the states higher education policy and also help maintain the sanctity of the state public service commission. The association had been opposing ad hoc and contract appointments, and demanding recruitment per rules.

He also urged the government to ensure that rules were followed in making appointments of teachers in private colleges also as government take over of these colleges led to violation of recruitment and promotion rules. The judgement should be made applicable to all government departments to stop “backdoor” entries in government jobs.

HPTDC staff seek pension
Our Correspondent

Chamba, November 26
The Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) Employees Union has urged the state government to make a provision for pension to the employees of the corporation like other departments in the state.

Briefing newspersons about the decisions taken at its state-level executive body meeting, held here last evening, Mr Bakhshi Ram, chairman, action committee of the union, and Mr Malkiyat Singh Pathania, president of the union, said the union had demanded the regularisation of corporation employees working for the past about eight years.

The union leaders demanded the scrapping of the contract system and the recruitment of employees on a permanent basis. They also demanded regular jobs for dependants of corporation employees.

They also demanded the removal of pay-scale anomalies and restoration of appropriate designations as per the nature of job of employees. They sought that the arrears of employees on the basis of enhanced salaries and wages with effect from January, 1994, should be released at the earliest.

The leaders pressed upon the state government for the release of gratuity and leave encashment to the retirement employees.

Taking exception to the attitude of the HPTDC management towards the union leaders, they sought the cancellation of transfer orders of union leaders like Mr Sunil Kaul, Mr J.D. Dadwal and Mr Jaswant.

The union has given a 15-day notice to the state government to accept its demands, failing which the action committee would work out its future plan of action.

Security stepped up in Kangra
Our Correspondent

Kangra, November 26
Security has been tightened here and the police has been put on the maximum alert following the militant attack on the Raghunath Temple in Jammu, the police said yesterday.

Kangra district police chief Rajender Mohan Sharma said patrolling had been intensified and vigil was being maintained at Bajjreshwari, Jawala Mukhi, Chamunda and the Damtal temples in view of the attack. He said a company had been deployed at Damtal Temple alone.

Meanwhile, All-India Hindu Mahasabha state president Nalinder Ghautam has condemned the Raghunath Temple attack and demanded the resignation of the Union Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani.

NSS students of MCM DAV College, Kangra, observed Communal Harmony Day and held a rally yesterday.

PM to visit HP
Tribune News Service

Shimla, November 26
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee will be on two-day visit of Himachal from December 1.

Besides, laying the foundation stone of a National Heritage Park at Hart in the Solan district, he will also address a press conference here in the evening on December 1.

Three-year jail for threatening woman
Our Correspondent

Hamirpur, November 26
Mr Dharam Chand Chaudhry, Session Judge, who is also the Special Judge under the Prevention of Atrocities Act today, convicted Mr Kamal Jeet of Saur village of the district to three years’ rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 under section 3 of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

The judge also ordered that in case of default in the payment of fine, the convict should further undergo rigorous imprisonment for another six months.

According to Mr Vinod Kumar Behl, public prosecutor, on February 3, 1998 Kamal Jeet intimidated a woman of the same village with the intention to outrage her modesty. The woman was working as an anganwari teacher in the village Panchayat School.

He said when the woman resisted the coming of Kamaljeet in the school during school hours, the convict tookout his shoe and gave four-five blows on her head. The mother-in-law of the woman was also beaten up and she was threatened that the woman would be forced to her house in in a naked condition.

The matter was reported to the Deputy Commissioner and the local gram panchayat and according, an FIR was registered and after investigations, a challan was put in the court for trial. 

IGMC to start 2 more courses
Tribune News Service

Shimla, November 26
The Medical Council of India has granted permission to the state for starting postgraduate course in two disciplines at Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) here from the next academic session.

Mr Vineet Chaudhary, Secretary, Health, said postgraduate courses would be introduced in radiotherapy and dermatology, venerology and leprosy. There would be two seats in each discipline, he added.

Weavers honour govt employees
Our Correspondent

Kulu, November 26
Bhutti Weavers Cooperative Society Limited has honoured three government employees who got retirement from their service this year at a function at Shamshi about 5 km from here, yesterday.

Mr Satya Prakash Thakur, Chairman of the society and a former minister of the state for Horticulture, lauded the services of Shyam Lal Awasthi, Assistant Registrar Cooperative societies, Mr Vijay Moudgil, Manager, District Industries Centre and Mr Shamsher Singh Guleria. 

HP Police transfers
Our Correspondent

Shimla, November 26
The Himachal Police Department transferred four Deputy Superintendents of police today. DSP Yashwant Negi has been called to the headquarter as leave reserve.

Mr Dalip Singh has been posted DSP, Traffic. Mr Ajay Singh, on return from Bosnia has been posted at IRB, Jungle Beri. And Mr Nihal Chand on return from Bosnia posted with 3rd Battalion, Pandoh.