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Wednesday,
April 9, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Board bends rules to adjust ‘favourites’ Himachal to review uneconomical bus routes Review bus fare hike: Rana SP: Bawa given patronage Depletion of medicinal herbs causes concern |
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60 cr to be spent on irrigation schemes Govt to review MoUs on power projects HP recruitments put on hold EVMs for Kinnaur, Bharmour poll DC directed to stop illegal mining Bandh observed
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Board bends rules to adjust ‘favourites’ Solan, April 8 While the advertisement which appeared in a vernacular daily on March 15, 2001, had specifically mentioned that the applicants should have a three-year work experience in drug testing after completing postgraduation, all four appointments made by the board lacked the mandatory experience. It is learnt that as many as 80 applicants had applied for the posts which included one vacancy in the reserved category. Since no applicant applied for the reserved category the post fell vacant. As many as 30 candidates were then shortlisted on the basis of a written test conducted in August 2001 and further 13 appeared in the interview. Out of this, four were finally appointed on March 7 last year. The Director Health, Mr K.D. Verma, when quizzed about these appointments said he was ignorant about the selection procedure adopted since the appointments were made by the SSSB board. One of the appointees was the daughter of an official of the HP Public Service Commission, Mr Dev Raj Sharma, who had completed her postgraduation in 2000 and had only a year’s working experience and had no testing experience as required. Another appointee was Mr Arvind Sharma who was working in the Central Research Institute at Kasuali and possessed manufacturing experience that too partial and he too lacked the drug testing experience opined officials of CTL on condition of anonymity. The third appointee was Mr Ripu Daman who had produced an experience certificate from a Central Scientific Research Institute dealing in ayurveda. Both these candidates are learnt to be related to Baldev Sharma, a BJP MLA, from Naduanta in Hamirpur district. The fourth appointee was Mr Munish who produced experience certificate from a pharmaceutical firm but had been teaching in a senior secondary school at Chauntra in Mandi district for the past four years prior to joining the CTL. His appointment was learnt to be facilitated by the former BJP Forest Minister Mr Roop Singh Thakur. The fact that all four appointed candidates lacked the essential drug testing experience and were still selected on political consideration has created resentment among other aspirants. |
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Himachal to review uneconomical bus routes Shimla, April 8 It has constituted a sub-committee to review the uneconomical routes on which the corporation had been incurring heavy losses and suggest remedial measures. There are as many as 133 such routes on which it is losing about Rs 10 crore annually. However, Mr G.S. Bali, Transport Minister, assured that no loss-making route would be discontinued. Either the government would give subsidy on such routes on which the corporation was plying buses as an social obligation or alternative arrangements would be made. He said a passenger traffic survey had been conducted and the corporation proposed to ply smaller vehicles like Tata sumo on routes with less traffic instead of buses. There was no move to withdraw concessional travel facility for any category. The government had only rationalised the fare for the students of private schools. The students who have five-day week would have to pay for 40 single fares per month and those with six-day week would have to pay for 50 single fares per month. The corporation had decided to purchase the land of Nahan foundry in New Delhi to develop proper facilities for the stay of drivers and conductors and for parking the buses. He said the hike in bus fare was a compulsion and it was not the only step which the government was taking to improve the financial health of the corporation, left in a mess by the Dhumal regime. The hike would bring an additional revenue of Rs 45 crore and the corporation would give another Rs 10 crore to curtail the expenditure and improve efficiency. The workshops of the corporation would be made to function on a commercial basis and besides maintaining the fleet of 1635 buses they would also build bodies of private buses and undertake the repair work. |
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Review bus fare hike: Rana Hamirpur, April 8 Talking to mediapersons at Hamirpur today, Mr Rana said that in 1998 when the BJP came into power, the government honoured all announcements of the outgoing Congress government on the opening of senior secondary, high and primary schools in the state. All new schools announced by the Congress government at that time were made functional. However, the Virbhadra government has not been honouring the decisions of the outgoing Dhumal government regarding 115 schools and six colleges. The latest decision of the Virbhadra Singh government to raise the bus fares by 25 per cent would burden the man on the street because this mode of transport was used mostly by the poor sections of society. Mr Rana demanded that the 25 per cent hike was very high and should be reviewed in the interest of the lower strata of society. |
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SP: Bawa given patronage Solan, April 8 Reacting to the statement of the Himachal Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, who has described the registration of a case by the Kalka police against the Himachal Pradesh police as a serious matter, he told The Tribune on telephone from Panchkula that it was a matter of concern that the Chief Minister had come out in defence of a person against whom 62 cases had been registered in Himachal Pradesh and Haryana. He questioned the rationale of the Himachal police in registering a case against their police officials whom, he said, had gone to Shimla to arrest Amarjeet who had been evading arrest since the past two years in a case relating to Section 307 for attempt to murder. Justifying the action of the Kalka police, he said if the accused had procured a bail from the court he should have appeared before the Kalka police where he would have been let off after the completion of the necessary formalities. A notice directing him to appear before the police in seven days had been pasted at his residence at Kalka but since there was still no compliance the police had to arrest him from Shimla, he stated. Lamenting the lack of support from the Himachal police in arresting a history-sheeter, he said they were being chased with wireless messages ever since the arrest was made. Not only this naaka was set up to nab them as if they had committed a crime. The SP stated that Mr Bawa was found to be involved in 61 cases in Pinjore, Kalka and Parwanoo for the last 25 years. According to the police, say his two other brothers and their sons have around 40 henchmen who work as a gang. However, Superintendent of Police, Solan, Mr S.R. Sharma, while refuting the allegations that the naaka set up by the Dharampur police on April 5 was aimed at stopping the Kalka police party who had arrested Amarjeet and said it was set up to nab some other criminals who were in the garb of policemen. But in the course of their questioning, they learnt that Amarjeet who was on bail was being frisked away forcibly. The police then directed the Kalka police to complete the formalities there itself and let go the accused whom he stated was innocent and was being illegally taken away. He expressed his ignorance about the allegations of the SP, Panchkula, that wireless messages were being in received continously from Shimla directing them to restrain the Kalka police party. |
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Depletion of medicinal herbs causes concern Chamba, April 8 Addressing a news conference here today, Dr Dinesh Kumar, state president of the Himachal unit of the AIIMGA, stressed that it was high time for the state government to embark on the development of medicinal biodiversity taking into account the competitive era of globalisation. Expressing concern over the menace of gradual depletion of medicinal herbs and patent rights all round, Dr Dinesh urged the Chief Minister to consider legal aspects about the patent of these herbs and launch new ambitious projects and programmes for the survival of medicinal biodiversity and the Indian systems of medicines. To give much-needed fillip to the ayurveda system of medicines, Dr Dinesh said it was imperative to avail of the benefits of the ayurveda to the masses at their doorstep for providing better healthcare and for this AIIMGA would extend wholehearted cooperation to the state government. Dr Dinesh requested the Chief Minister to draw up comprehensive plans with the help of experts of AIIMGA for the revival of medicinal herbs available in the hills of Himachal Pradesh and save these from further depletion. Dr Dinesh announced that the AIIMGA had decided to honour Mr Virbhadra Singh for his outstanding contribution to ayurveda. |
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60 cr to be spent on irrigation schemes Mandi, April 8 The minister, who was laying the foundation stone of the building of the IPH subdivision there, regretted that the Rs 70 lakh lift irrigation scheme had been inaugurated in haste by a BJP minister near the elections to get political mileage and therefore, it was non-functional. He assured that the same would be completed by the present government by spending an additional amount of Rs 25 lakh to boost the economy of the Sandhol area where almost every family had at least one member in the armed forces. He also inaugurated Rs 2.25 lakh chemistry laboratory building constructed by Dr Ramesh Thakur in memory of his father. |
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Govt to review MoUs on power projects Shimla, April 8 It has also deferred the signing of implementation agreements for the 26 projects under consideration. The decision is significant as the Congress has been alleging corruption and irregularities in the allotment of projects during the Dhumal regime. HIMURJA, the nodal agency for the execution of the projects, has been asked to prepare a status report so that a comprehensive review could be undertaken. The state Cabinet, which discussed the issue at its meeting yesterday, has sought detailed information. |
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HP recruitments put on hold Shimla, April 8 The Chief Secretary has directed all secretaries, heads of departments and managing directors of various boards and corporations not to go ahead with the interviews for any post. They had been asked to stop the ongoing selection process, including interviews, and in cases where results had not been declared, the result should be withheld. In cases where results had been declared appointment would not be made. |
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EVMs for Kinnaur, Bharmour poll Shimla, April 8 She said instructions had been issued about the rehearsal programme to train the returning officers in the use of electronic voting machines. |
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DC directed to stop illegal mining
Shimla, April 8 These directions were issued by a division bench comprising Chief Justice Vinod Kumar Gupta and Mr Justice Arun Kumar Goel on a public interest litigation filed where in the petitioner had alleged that illegal mining had destroyed the social fabric and disturbed the ecology and environment of the Manjher area in Baijnath.
Disposing of the petition the court further directed the District Magistrate to seek help from the officials of the Mining Department to stop illegal mining. |
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Bandh observed Mandi, April 8 A rally was also held which was addressed by local MLA Thakur Jai Ram. A memorandum was presented to Tehsildar. A delegation of the action committee would meet the Deputy Commissioner on April 22 in this connection. |
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