 |
Wednesday,
July 16, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
|
‘Manthan Shivir’ spills into House Nominated members of civic body removed BJP seeks probe into
lathicharge No-trust vote fails against samiti chief Jail staff may be shifted |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
22 diarrhoea cases in Kangra village Last chance for compartment students HPSSSB’s suspended chief leaves Hamirpur Leopard skin seized, 1 held Contractor murdered
|
|
‘Manthan Shivir’ spills into House Shimla, July 15 Members of the Opposition and the Treasury Benches traded charges and speakers were repeatedly interrupted during the debate. The Speaker, Mr Gangu Ram Musafir, had to intervene on several occasions to restore order in the House. While the Opposition alleged that state machinery was misused for the “shivir”, which was a party affair, Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, outrightly rejected the charge and categorically said that the entire expenditure of the conference was met by the party and not a penny was spent from the state exchequer. Replying to the debate, he said the issue was being raised by the BJP, which was completely demoralised following its defeat in the Assembly poll, to keep itself afloat on the political scene. He said it was shocking that the party had not hesitated to use fabricated documents to level baseless charges against the government. The Chief Minister maintained that the government only extended the normal courtesy as per protocol to the 14 Chief Ministers and two Deputy Chief Ministers, besides providing requisite security to the VVIPs. While Ms Sonia Gandhi was a SPG (Special Protection Group) protectee, there were 43 other VVIPs, who were in the high security category. The government provided pilot and escort vehicles to the Chief Ministers. Since the Chief Ministers had come for a party programme, the charges for the government cars provided to them were being paid by the party. The General Administration Department had raised a bill of Rs 30,000. Further, a personal security officer and a liaison officer were also deputed to look after each chief Minister. Mr Virbhadra Singh justified the action of the government in inserting an advertisement in newspapers to welcome Ms Sonia Gandhi and said it had the right to do so. The advertisement had nothing to do with the “shivir”, it was only meant to welcome the national leader under whose guidance the government had been functioning. It was a normal practice on the part of the states to issue such advertisements whenever Central leaders visited. He emphatically announced that the government would issue such advertisements everytime Ms Gandhi visited the state. Mr Virbhadra Singh said it was amazing that the charge of misuse of state machinery was being levelled by none other than Mr P.K. Dhumal, who as Chief Minister carried out two major political campaigns — “vikas yatra” and “vishwas yatra” virtually as government programmes. Mr Dhumal making such charges was like the proverbial pot calling the kettle black. He also reminded BJP leaders that their party had not paid the charges to the state road transport corporation for the buses used for party rallies and it also owed money to the state tourism development corporation. He said he would issue directions for the recovery of the arrears. Earlier during the debate, Mr Dhumal said the government had deputed officers for making all arrangements. Vehicles and officers from all over the state were requisitioned for the party event. He named more than a dozen officers who were deployed at various hotels, railway stations and rest houses for the purpose. He asked the government to explain whether these officers were on official duty or they were missing from their respective offices for the week. He said the log books of their vehicles should be checked to know the truth. Mr Mohinder Singh placed in the House a letter circulated by the General Administration Department for requisitioning vehicles for the “shivir”. However, he was prevented from placing another document as the Treasury Benches raised an objection on the grounds that it was not signed and its authenticity could not be verified. It lead to uproarious scenes as Mr Virbhadra Singh urged the Speaker to expunge whatever the member had spoken on the basis of the disputed document. Mr Dhumal said that instead of disputing the authenticity of the document, the government should come clean on the issue and explain why officers were deputed at hotels and railway stations.
— TNS |
|
Nominated members of civic body removed Hamirpur, July 15 The Hamirpur civic body consists of 11 elected members and four other members, including three nominated members and the local
MLA. Sources in the state government said here today that the process for the nomination of new members was in progress and the names of new members would be notified next week. Meanwhile, there were reports that the Congress-led state government has decided to remove all such persons from the local bodies and nagar panchayats of the state, whose nominations were made during the BJP regime. This step was aimed at to destabilise the BJP-run bodies and to install the Congress-led bodies at all such places. |
|
BJP seeks probe into
lathicharge Shimla, July 15 The protesters also submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner urging the Governor to intervene and issue directions to the government to roll back various anti-people measures and function in a democratic manner. It demanded a judicial enquiry in the lathi- charge. It also alleged that the government had wasted Rs 5 crore on the “Vichar Manthan Shivir” of the party even though it was facing a severe financial crunch. The government had imposed taxes on farmers and other poor sections of society to raise resources but was misutilising the state’s resources for political activities. Mr Roop Das Kashyap, a former minister, Mr Ganesh Dut and Mr Kapil Sood, state office-bearers of the party, Ms Veena Thakur, chief of the state BJP Mahila Morcha and Mr Gian
Chandel, president of the Shimla district unit of the party, were among those who participated in the dharna. |
|
|
No-trust vote fails against samiti chief Nahan, July 15 When contacted, the District Panchayat Officer, Mr M.S. Negi, said as per the panchayati raj Act, if the voting on the no-confidence motion did not take place for the want of quorum, it would be declared as ‘motion failed’. |
|
Jail staff may be shifted Hamirpur, July 15 The jail was in news due to the escape of an undertrial prisoner and thereafter entry of the BJP leaders and the workers inside the jail complex on July 8 last. Highly placed sources told The Tribune here today that Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had issued strict instructions to the senior officers of the department of Jail and the Police to take strict action against those who errored while dealing with the BJP leaders on July 8. The Chief Minister has also asked the government agencies to pinpoint all those persons responsible for the jail crash episode and to initiate legal proceedings against them. The state government has also suspended Mr Bikram Chand Katoch, former Assistant Superintendent of Jail. He has been directed to report at Kanda Jail in Shimla district. Mr Katoch has since left charge at Hamirpur on way to Kanda Jail. A new person has also taken over as the new Assistant Jail Superintendent of Hamirpur jail. There are reports that the state government is also taking legal opinion about the action to be taken against four top BJP leaders of the state, including former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and former Education Minister, Ishwar Dass Dhiman into the jail crash episode. The legal experts are
examining the jail laws and bylaws, as it is the first case of this nature in the state since independence. The government has already identified others who had entered the jail along with their leaders. These persons are likely to be booked. |
|
|
22 diarrhoea cases in Kangra village Kangra, July 15 Dr C.S. Rathore, Chief Medical Officer, said here today that an 85-year-old woman died of gastroenteritis in Rajiana village last evening. He said that there was none to take care of her so she died at the house for want of proper look after. He said that 22 patients were reported suffering from acute diarrhoea and dysentery and six cases were confirmed gastroenteritis cases out of which three were still under treatment in Kangra subdivisional hospital. All 22 patients were reported from Rajiana village in this subdivision where as 19 were reported from Dhreene village near Shahpur the CMO said that six patients from Salli village were admitted in hospital at Shahpur, eight patients were reported from Dhreene five patients were searched out of the Salli village near Dhreene by the medical authorities during a visit to the village and six were treated. Dr Rathore said that the condition of all patients under treatment was under control. He said that fresh reports from the affected areas were not received by his office today. According to the unofficial reports the number of the patients during the past two days has gone up to 100. Dr Rathore said that steps were taken to control the spread of the disease. Contaminated water of the natural sources in the affected villages consumed by the residents was the cause of the break-out of the disease. The CMO claimed that all natural sources were chlorinated and awareness campaign was launched in the affected areas. When contacted Dr Ashok Sharma, SMO Kangra Subdivisional hospital said that at an average of 20 patients a day affected by the disease were visiting the out patient department and three were admitted and were under going treatment here. |
|
Last chance for compartment students Dharamsala, July 15 Disclosing this here today, Mr B.R. Rahi Chairman of Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education, said that representations from students and their parents to the Chief Minister and Education Minister had been received in this regard. At a high-level meeting it had been decided that all students who had failed to clear their compartment examinations should be given a chance. Mr Rahi clarified that this would be final and no more chances would be given to these students. He advised the students of middle, matric, plus one and plus two to benefit from the decision of the board and work hard to clear their papers. These students can submit their forms for examinations to be conducted in September 2003 without late fee till July 31 and with a late fee of Rs 500 till August 16. |
|
HPSSSB’s suspended chief leaves Hamirpur Hamirpur, July 15 Mr Katwal has served Hamirpur district in various capacities like the SDM, Deputy Commissioner and thereafter the Chairman of the HP State Service Selection Board. His wife who was also posted at Hamirpur as a school teacher also got herself transferred to a place near Una. |
|
|
Leopard skin seized, 1 held Chamba, July 15 According to Mr Ajay Yadav, Superintendent of Police, Chamba, the accused had been arrested under Section 51 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Further investigations were on. The SP, said on a tip-off, a police party of Kihar police station led by in-charge Crime Investigation Agency (CIA), Assistant Sub-Inspector, Mr Ranjeet Singh, intercepted Partein Singh. During a search the police found the skin of a leopard being carried by the accused in one bag and the bones of a lion in the other bag. |
|
Contractor murdered Palampur, July 15 Two days ago, Mr Surinder Rana, a local wine contractor, was also attacked by unidentified persons at Paror, 10 km from here. He received serious head injuries and was admitted to the local civil hospital. |
|
Subedar
cremated Palampur, July 15 The pyre was lit by his son. The SDM, Jainsinghpur, Mr Rakesh Sharma, and the SDM, Baijnath, Mr Prem Singh, also paid tributes on behalf of the Governor. |
|
|
Tenure in
difficult
areas reduced Shimla, July 15 Henceforth, the employees, on completion of four years of service in the difficult area, will be posted in non-difficult areas in any one of the three districts of their choice. |
|
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 123 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
