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Sunday,
April 20, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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‘BJP
raising non-issues’ Over 400 sub-post offices face closure NSUI for probe into recruitment of docs Team probing links of selection board chief Events planned to boost tourism |
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Govt for pool of carriage vehicles CM exempted from personal appearance
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‘BJP raising
non-issues’ Dharamsala, April, 19 Referring to the recent statements of some
BJP leaders about the winter capital being at Dharamsala, Mr Bali said
the move of the Chief Minister’s winter stay had been started by Mr
Virbhadra Singh. He said Mr P.K. Dhumal had tried to mislead the
people by announcing that Dharamsala would be the winter capital of
the state and the next Vidhan Sabha session would be held here,
knowing that such promises could not be kept. Mr Bali demanded that BJP leaders should produce the notification about the winter capital. The
minister said various offices has been shifted here by Mr Virbhadra
Singh.He added that attempt to make fissures by raising the issue of
regionalism would not succeed. |
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Over 400 sub-post offices face closure Shimla, April 19 Mr M.L. Kalia, Director, Postal Services (Himachal Circle), said here today that the status of post offices opened under the scheme would be reviewed as per the norms of population and distance. He said for opening a post office in the hill region the area must have a minimum population of 500 and there should be no post office within the radius of three kilometres. Only those post offices, which fulfilled the norms, would be retained as part of the departmental network of post offices and the remaining would be closed. He said the decision to discontinue NRC scheme was taken because the states were not paying their contribution to make up the loss. The Himachal Government had not paid anything since 1994 and the total arrears amounted to over Rs 11 crore. The same was the case with some North East states which also owed crore of rupees to the department. Mr Kalia said the International Money Transfer Service started by the department in collaboration with the Western Union, which had a worldwide network of 95,000 agents spread across 150 countries, had been a great success in the state. The service was available at 45 post offices in the state so far. He said the number of transactions and the amount transferred through the service had more than doubled during the last financial year as compared to 2001-02. As many as 418 transactions were effected and the total amount involved was Rs 1,28,56,707.
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NSUI for probe into recruitment of docs Shimla, April 19 Mr Kewal Pathania, president of the union, said here today that candidates from outside were appointed ignoring meritorious candidates from the state and many of them did not have a degree recognised by the Medical Council of India. He said the post of pro-Vice- Chancellor of Himachal Pradesh University should be scrapped as it had failed to serve any “useful purpose”. Referring to the charge of the BJP that the Congress government was ignoring Kangra district, he said the party had no locus standi to raise the issue as it was the Dhumal government which ignored the region. He said the charge was politically-motivated as it was for the first time that there were six Cabinet ministers from Kangra. In contrast, the BJP even sacked Mr Shanta Kumar, the only minister from the state in the Union Cabinet, who could have done a lot for the state, particularly his home district Kangra. He said the Congress government was open to the issues raised by the NSUI over the past three years and a case had been registered in connection with the irregularities in recruitment committed by the State Subordinate Services Selection Board. Inquiry into recruitment scams in the three universities of the state would also begin shortly, he added.
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Team probing links of selection board chief Hamirpur, April 19 The team interrogated a number of persons in connection with the working of the board, especially evaluation of the papers. These persons were stated to be close to BJP leaders and had amassed huge amount of money during the BJP regime. However, no official information was given about the outcome of the interrogation. There were reports that the team was working on reports that a number of residents of Hamirpur had taken part in the evaluation process of the papers of the board. Prominent among those are owners of computer centres, who have the latest software at their disposal. The team is also likely to meet board officials and to seek more clarifications from them. The office of the board maintained silence today. There were reports that the Enforcement Department had served a 10-day notice to Chairman S.M. Katwal as per the orders of the Himachal Pradesh High Court. Mr Katwal was again moving the high court to get the latest FIRs against him quashed. Mr Katwal visited the board office today. However, he was not feeling well due to high blood pressure and contacted his doctor twice. Mr Katwal refused to say anything regarding the notice. He said he was watching the situation closely. Meanwhile, the state government is monitoring the situation closely. Most of the employees of the board have moved for repatriation to their old departments. |
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Events planned to boost tourism Shimla, April 19 The focus would be on Shimla of the British era and cultural activities would be organised. A cleanliness drive would also be launched. He said a cricket match, involving the World Cup team, would be held at Chail where the highest cricket ground in the world is located, to promote tourism. A memorial would be erected in the honour of
Bhalku, a labourer, he added.
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‘Use roster system to fill vacancies’ Hamirpur, April 19 Mr Onkar Chand Bhatia, state president of the federation, in a statement here today alleged that thousands of posts of teacher were lying vacant in the Department of Education but the government was doing nothing to fill them. He added that candidates belonging to the special categories had been denied their rights. He urged the Education Minister to ensure that the tansfers of teachers belonging to these categories should not be undertaken without taking the federation into confidence. He alleged that some of them were being harassed and sent to remote areas. |
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Govt for pool of carriage vehicles
Shimla, April 19 Regional Transport Officers were authorised to issue special permits for these vehicles for inter-state carriage of goods, especially perishable commodities like vegetables, fruits and milk products. The validity of the permits would be extended if the strike continued, Director Transport C.B.B. Lalit said. He said so far, there had hardly been any impact of the strike in the state. Reports from areas like Damtal and Banikhet had suggested that transporters had joined the strike. PTI
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CM exempted from personal appearance Shimla, April 19 Mr Virbhadra Singh and Mr
O.P. Yadav today appeared before the court along other two accused — Mr Gita Ram and Dinesh Kumar.
May 31 was fixed for further hearing of the case. |
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