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Saturday,
June 28, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Days of soft budgets over in
Himachal Vajpayee hailed for taking up Tibet
issue Water on priority for areas with SC
population Girls outshine boys in Class VIII
exams Lawyer seeks probe into brother’s
death Kishen Parmar new
SP chief in HP Consumer forum orders return of truck |
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Kangra has
heavy rain Award for Shimla
doctor 6 held for trade
union leader’s death HPTDC suspends 2 area managers
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Days of soft budgets over in
Himachal Shimla, June 27 With the borrowings to which the government had been resorting to bridge the Budget deficit year after year having reached an unsustainable level, the government had been left with no option but to take corrective steps to reverse the trend of fiscal deterioration. Aware of the harsh ground realities Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, has not only imposed some taxes to raise resources but also indicated the willingness of the government to sign an MoU with the Centre to carry out fiscal reforms in a time-bound manner. The road to fiscal restructuring and reforms is a bumpy one and the people will feel the pinch as and when the government initiates steps to downsize the administration and compress expenditure as laid down in the MoU. The liberal financial assistance given by the Vajpayee government notwithstanding the financial position of the state had gone from bad to worse over the past five years due to the inability of the Dhumal government to raise resources and exercise any kind of control over the ever-increasing expenditure. How alarming the situation has been can be judged from the fact that the outstanding loans had shot up from Rs 4967 crore in 1997-98 to over Rs 15,000 crore in 2002-03. The interest liability also increased from Rs 465 crore to Rs 1,669 crore over the period. There will be no improvement in the finances as the government will have to raise loans to the tune of Rs 2,200 crore even though a deficit of Rs 1320 crore has been left uncovered. The Planning Commission has fixed the limit of non-SLR borrowing at Rs 1,084 crore which will be about half of the total loans. Consequently, the interest liability will increase to Rs 1,875 crore. The proposal to open new educational institutions, particularly the seven colleges, veterinary dispensaries and other institutions are contrary to the objective of the reforms. It will only add to the salary burden that already accounts for 30 per cent of the budget. The announcement of a training programme to improve the skills of daily-wage workers and the surplus staff indicates that the employees rendered surplus after restructuring and downsizing will be redeployed. The proposed voluntary retirement scheme is also aimed at downsizing of the government machinery. Reforms are also proposed in the power sector to make the state electricity board competitive and efficient. The step had become inevitable following the recent enactment of the electricity Bill, 2003. The unbundling of the board would not be delayed any more as with the new law coming into force most of the functions of the government relating to the power sector have been transferred to the state electricity regulatory commission. Mr Virbhadra Singh will face the real test next year when elections to the Lok Sabha will be held. Will he be able to pursue the reform process he has initiated this year? Mr
P.K. Dhumal, his predecessor, had also started reforms in 2000-01, when he suspended
LTC, announced the introduction of a contributory pension scheme, set up the electricity regulatory commission and took some other steps. However, he rolled back most of the decisions over the past two years. How far the compulsions of vote politics will influence Mr Virbhadra Singh’s decisions only time will tell.
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Outlay on social service sector welcomed Chandigarh, June 27 The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), northern region, has been advocating the consolidation of states’ fiscal health and improvement of physical and social infrastructure as two key prerequisites for attracting industrial investments in northern states. The state government would have to take immediate steps to check revenue deficit that has risen to Rs 1788.26 crore, according to the CII. The aggregate budgetary expenditure for 2003-04 is 21.86 per cent higher as compared to the last year, which is a cause for concern. Out of this, salaries alone account for Rs 2194 crore comprising 29.5 per cent as compared to Rs 1911 crore for 2002-03. Hailing the allocation of funds for the social services sector, the CII said the allocation of 45.93 per cent of the Rs 1335 crore plan outlay was a welcome step. On the other hand, the CII has warned that the government would not only have to keep expenditures under control, but efforts at raising tax and non-tax ratios to the GSDP would also have to be accelerated via the implementation of VAT and rationalisation of user charges, if long-term reductions in the fiscal deficit are to be achieved. However, by transferring the committed liabilities under plan to non-plan, the government is moving in the right direction. The CII, Northern Region, has also appreciated the state government’s will to forge ahead with the power reforms by targeting better services, and reducing commercial losses of the state electricity board via efficiency enhancements. Neighbouring states like Haryana and Punjab have already made much headway in this regard. |
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Vajpayee hailed for taking up Tibet
issue Kangra, June 27 Chairman of the Kashag (Tibetan Cabinet) Prime Minister Prof Samdhong Rinpoche said here that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was an expert on the Tibetan issue. He said that the Prime Minister of India would take appropriate action on the Tibetan issue at appropriate time with leadership of Peoples Republic of China. Prof. Rinpoche said that Tibetan spiritual leader and ‘Temporal’ Head Dalai Lama was eager to see the peaceful settlement of Tibetan issue and in this connection recently sent his emissaries to China twice. He said that Dalai Lama was pleased that Chinese leadership had positive assessment of his recent direct contact with China Government and described his mission would succeed. He said that Dalai Lama was encouraged by the development and reiterated the importance for Tibetan Government in Exile to continue to make efforts to advance this process further. Prof Rinpoche said that Dalai Lama and Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee were carrying mission of peace for the world so the Tibetan community was hopeful that Mr Vajpayee would create an atmosphere of peace and amicable solution of the Tibetan problem to come. Prof Samdhong Rinpoche, Chairman of Kashag (Tibetan Cabinet) demanded that Chinese authorities should release three Tibetans arrested by them in the Tibetan Capital of Lhasa on June 16, last and urged that they be given right to free and fair trial and that they be not mistreated while in custody. Head of the Tibetan Government in Exile Professor Rinpoche said here today that the three arrested Tibetans were Yeshi
Gyatso, a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference of Lhasa city and Tashi Dawa and
Buchung, a student of Tibetan University and were accused by the Chinese authorities of involvement in the activities to split the motherland. Prof Rinpoche said that they were accused of spreading rumours and instigating other Tibetans. He said their whereabouts were not known. He urged the international community to impress upon China to release the three Tibetans and ensure that they were given fair trial. Prof Rinpoche has urged the Royal Government of Nepal to release from the custody of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, the 19 Tibetans the Nepalese police detained on June 17 last in the Western district of Achham. Kalon Tripa urges the Nepalese authorities not to hand over these Tibetans to Chinese authorities as they have done in case of 18 Tibetans who were deported to Tibet on May 31, this year. |
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Water on priority for areas with SC
population Shimla, June 27 Stating this in the state assembly during question hour Mr Kaul Singh, Minister for Irrigation and Public Health, said that the department had been asked to prepare a plan to augment the existing water supply schemes so that partially covered villages could be supplied with piped water. He said new schemes would be formulated wherever required and the department also planned to tap new water sources wherever the existing sources were proving insufficient. He told Dr Biru Ram that Geharwin was a drought-prone area and 12 water supply schemes had been severely affected. The department had installed 50 handpumps so that people did not suffer for want of water. Six tankers had also been deployed for supplying water. In all, 254 handpumps had been installed but many of them had dried up due to a fall in the water table during the summer. He said he had directed the department not to give any connection from the pipeline from the water source to the storage tank as it affected the availability of water in the scheme. He said action would be taken against the staff concerned if such connections had been given. Replying to another question he said habitations with a Scheduled Castes population would be provided with piped water on priority. He assured Dr Biru Ram that an inquiry would be conducted to ascertain why the Rs 35 lakh lift irrigation scheme could not be made functional even four years after its inauguration. Mr B.B. Butail, Revenue Minister, informed Mr Rakesh Verma that the process for filling 399 posts of regular and casual patwari would begin as soon as the necessary approval was granted by the Finance Department. He said there were 435 trained patwaris who had not yet got a job. Answering another question Mr Butail informed the House that there was no proposal to regularise the services of revenue chowkidars or to convert their services from part-time workers into daily-wage workers. He said it was a dying cadre. He gave an assurance that the wages of all chowkidars of Shimla district would be disbursed up to June 30. They were being paid from the regular budget since 2001. In the absence of BJP members question hour was a tame affair. The discussion on the drought situation was also deleted from the list of business because of the suspension of all members who had given notices for it. |
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Girls outshine boys in Class VIII
exams Dharamsala, June 27 The Chairman of the HP Education Board, Mr B.R. Rahi, today said girls had beaten the boys with 10 girls appearing in the merit list while only four boys found their name in the merit. Srishti of Govt Middle School Tundkhari in Una district had secured the first position with 659 marks out of 700. Vivek Rana of Oberoi Lotus Public School Indora in Kangra district stood second with 644 marks while Suman Devi of Shivalik Senior Secondary School, Kharuni, in Solan district was third with 642 marks. According to Mr Rahi, as many as 1,13, 939 students appeared for the examination out of which 69,542 had been declared passed while 11,939 had been placed in the compartment category. The overall result was 60.67 per cent. In examinations to the compartment category, 4,402 students appeared out of which 3,666 had cleared the examination. According to board sources, the students placed in the compartment category could submit their forms for supplementary examination with late fee up to August 10. The following students have been placed in the merit: First — Srishti of Govt. Middle School, Tundkhari, Una with 659 marks; Second — Vivek Rana of Oberoi Lotus Public School, Indora, Kangra, got 644 marks; Third — Suman Devi of Shivalik Sr. S. School, Kharuni, Solan, secured 642 marks; Fourth — Sumit Kant of Surendra Public School, Nalagarh, Solan with 640 marks; Fifth — Nikita Sharma of Silver Bells Senior Secondary School, Hamirpur, with 639 marks; Sixth — Hem Lata of Government High School Nabahi, Mandi, with 638 marks; Seventh — Neema Sharma of Government Senior Secondary School, Gaarli, Hamirpur with 636 marks and Kanu Priya of Government Senior Secondary School, Nagrota Surian, Kangra, with 636 marks; Eighth — Aashita Sharma Dhauladhar NDM Senior Secondary School, Chalali Bharwain, Kangra with 635 marks and Archit Sharma of Blue Star Senior Secondary School Hamirpur with 635 marks; Ninth Asha Rani of Government Girls Middle School, Tukhani Hamirpur; along with Swati Mahajan of DAV Public School Chamba secured 634 marks; and Isha of Government Senior Secondary School, Bhoranj, Hamirpur, secured 633 marks. |
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Lawyer seeks probe into brother’s
death Solan, June 27 The police which had earlier described it as an accidental death has now begun investigations. Confirming this, the Superintendent of Police, Mr S.R. Sharma, said the police was verifying the facts but it was too early to describe it as a murder. The body of the deceased was recovered from a khud near Balang village and a post mortem report indicated death due to a grievous injury on a vital part of the skull. Mr Pandiyar while expressing doubts about the accidental death rued that the local police had not recorded the statement of his family even after three weeks and it was still working on the theory of accidental death. A visit to a nearby village, Ukkhu, revealed that there was a consensus that the deceased had been murdered. It was also learnt that neither were any blood spots found on the scene where the body was recovered nor were there any injury marks on the body. People also expressed doubts about the fact that the path used by the deceased was neither a thorough fare nor would any person without a torch use that path at night as had been projected in this case. Villagers said on condition of anonymity that since not a single person from the nearest Chalog village turned up at the scene after the news of Ram Lal’s body having been found there spread, there was suspicion about the matter. The SP when quizzed about the matter opined that though nothing concrete could be said, all possibilities were being explored. While not ruling out foul play, he said much would depend on the clinching evidence which would come forth in the investigation. |
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Kishen Parmar new
SP chief in HP Kangra, June 27 Mr Ram Aasray Sharma, in charge for the party in Himachal Pradesh, disclosed that a 37-membered party executive for the state has been announced. He said the state was in need of a third front and the Samajwadi Party was reorganising the cadre at the grassroot level for that. He alleged that the Congress government had deviated from the main issues and was now involved in a political confrontation with the BJP. These actions by the government had not only affected the development of the state but had also organised the common people. He said the state was facing a financial crunch but the state government was not planning any steps to tackle the situation. The leader criticised the state government for indulging in mass transfers of employees during the past three months. He said the party supported action against corrupt officials but did not support political victimisation. He said the BJP rule in the state was condemnable and the BJP leaders were afraid of being exposed in corruption cases. During the Assembly session the agitations on the roads was against the basic ethics of the democracy and would prove disastrous for it, he said. The BJP legislators should have tabled the issues on the floor of the Assembly and sought a reply from the government, he added. The following have been elected office-bearers of the Samajwadi Party in Himachal Pradesh: president — Mr Kishen Parmar; vice-president — Mr Ram Swroop Shandel; general secretary — Col Manik Dev Katoch; secretaries — Ms Shukun Chowhan, Joginder Singh Pathania, Mr Ram Dev Panjla; and treasurer — Mr Trilok Chand. |
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Consumer forum orders return of truck Sundernagar, June 27 Het Ram had filed a complaint before the consumer forum alleging that he had purchased the truck from Hans Raj for Rs 1,35000. He had paid Rs 60,000 and the remaining Rs 75,000 was financed through company. He further alleged that he had paid all installments of the loan but the opposite party had forcibly taken away the truck on August 2, 2001. The complainant had claimed a business loss of Rs 2,000 per day and asked for 20,000 as compensation for the harassment suffered by him. The opposite party had alleged that the truck was financed by the company under a hire purchase agreement and the complainant had not paid the installments, so he had parked the truck in the premises of the company. The forum, in its order, held that the agreement was simply a loan transaction and not a hire-purchase agreement, so the company had no authority to take away the truck. The company had a right to recover the loan but had no jurisdiction to take the possession of the truck. The forum held that this act of the finance company was a deficiency in service as provided under the Consumer Protection Act. |
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Kangra has
heavy rain Shimla, June 27 All rivers and nullahs in lower areas in Kangra district were in spate but water started receding as rain stopped in the evening, reports here said. Thick fog engulfed the region during the day as rain continued to lash mid and lower hills and visibility was reduced. Reports of rains have also been received from Bilaspur, Sundernagar, Palampur, Solan, Sirmour and parts of Hamirpur and Una districts. —
PTI |
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Award for Shimla
doctor Chandigarh, June 27 He has been invited to receive this award at World Conference on Lung Cancer to be held at Vancouver, Canada, from August 10 to 14 this year. He is the first doctor from Himachal Pradesh to receive this award. He has also been invited to present his research work entitled, “Pattern of primary lung cancer among smokers in north-western Himalayan region of India”. Dr Kashyap is fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians, Fellow of the National College of Chest Physicians (India), Fellow of the Indian College of Physicians and member of the Association of UICC Fellows (Geneva) |
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6 held for trade
union leader’s death Shimla, June 27 The Superintendent of Police, Kulu, Mr A.P. Singh, said the arrested persons were identified as Moti Ram, Surinder Kumar, Panna Lal, Yashpal, Om Prakash and Mahesh Sharma, belonging to Kulu and Mandi districts, all the accused have confessed to their involvement. The police did not rule out the possibility of involvement of some other persons at whose behest Ashok Kumar was beaten, police sources said. Ashok Kumar’s death also echoed in the Vidhan Sabha and the Chief Minister had announced that a special eight-member investigation team headed by the ASP had been constituted to identify and nab the culprits. The investigation team headed by the ASP, Mr Devinder Thakur, interrogated more than 100 persons in connection with the case and finally identified and arrested the culprits. The police has registered a case under Sections 341, 323, 506 and 34 of the IPC on June 20 when Ashok Kumar lodged the FIR and was discharged from the hospital. A case under Section 302 was registered after Ashok Kumar, who was taken to the CMC, Chandigarh, and later shifted to the PGI, died in the hospital. —
PTI |
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HPTDC suspends 2 area managers Dharamsala, June 27 According to sources, Mr G.C. Bhanwal, area manager of Hotel Tea Bud in Palampur and Mr G. Bhardwaj, area manager of Hotel Jwalaji were placed under suspension after an inquiry conducted by the HPTDC general manager, Mr Romesh Kapoor. When contacted, the managing director of the HPTDC, Mr V. C. Pharka, confirmed the suspension of the two officials and said that while one was found absent from duty the other was guilty of misusing corporation property. |
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