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Sunday,
August 3, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Trained graduate teachers’ selection scrapped Pathankot-Chamba highway blocked by landslide
Bus drivers to be employed on contract |
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Man posing as Director Tourism held Residents take to streets over doctor’s death
Students complain against teacher, probe initiated Shimla MC takes over Kwality Corner PWD records sealed
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Trained graduate teachers’ selection scrapped Shimla, August 2 The board had recommended the names of 514 candidates for their appointment as trained graduate teachers in December, last year. However, the candidates could not be appointed as the code of conduct for the Assembly election came into force. Of these 247 were non-medical and 267 medical trained graduate teachers. The Vigilance Department raided the office of the board at Hamirpur the very day Mr Virbhadra Singh took over as the Chief Minister. It also decided to hold in abeyance all selections made by the board and also stopped the ongoing selection process. Investigations carried out by the Vigilance Department over the past five months revealed gross irregularities in the selection procedure, including tampering with interview mark sheets and
answersheets. In some cases duplicate interview marks sheets were also seized. The department had registered a case on the basis of which Mr
S.M. Katwal, Chairman of the board, Mr Vijay Kumar, a candidate, and Mr Santosh Kumar, alleged middlemen, were arrested. The Vigilance Department had written to the government that the entire selection of non-medical teachers deserved to be scrapped in view of the serious irregularities that had come to light during investigations. The irregularities like tampering and overwriting were not confined to a few cases but had been committed on a large scale, it added. The government has quashed the recommendation for the appointment of 247 non-medical trained graduate teachers made by the
board. The selection in respect of medical trained graduate teachers, vidya
upasaks, stenos and clerks are also being investigated. |
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Pathankot-Chamba highway blocked by landslide Chandigarh, August 2 Heavy rain also triggered fresh landslides on link roads and blocked the 320 km-long Hindustan-Tibet highway at a couple of places, reports from Shimla said. The highway, which was blocked to vehicular traffic at Fagu, 25 km from Shimla, was reopened this afternoon. The highway was also blocked at Bhawanager, near Jhakri, police reports said. Daily supplies to Chamba such as newspapers and milk were disrupted, while hundreds of vehicles and tourists from all over the country were stranded on either side of the landslide near Kairrpahar, near the Doonuhatti checkpoint. Dalhousie, the famous tourist resort in the district, was receiving heavy rain since last night. The Public Works Department had pressed men and machines into service to lift the debris after the landslide. All rivers, including the Beas, the Sutlej, the Yamuna and their tributaries were flowing markedly above their normal levels, following heavy rain in their catchment areas during the past 48 hours. A huge landslide near Himland Hotel in Shimla blocked the circular road for over eight hours. The Public Works Department swung into action to pave the way for vehicular movement by the afternoon. About half a dozen trees also came down along with tonnes of debris. |
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Bus drivers to be employed on contract Shimla, August 2 The board of directors of the corporation, which met here today, also decided to release the arrears of the enhanced house rent for employees for the 1997-99 period which would entail a burden of Rs 2.50 crore on the corporation. The arrears would be paid in five instalments. Mr
G.S. Bali, Transport Minister, who presided over the meeting, said that the appointment of drivers and conductors on a contract basis would help reduce the burden of overtime by Rs 12 crore annually. He said while the drivers would be paid a fixed monthly wage of Rs 5000, the conductors would get a fixed amount of Rs 2,000, besides commission on the sale of tickets ranging between 1.5 and 2 per cent. He said the corporation had increased its revenue in the first four months of the current financial year by Rs 7.59 crore as compared to the corresponding period last year by improving efficiency and plugging leakages. It had been decided to set up two more flying squads, each headed by a regional transport officer, at Mandi and Dharamsala to effectively check tax evasion. Further, electronic registration certificates for vehicles and licences for drivers would be introduced soon. These would be like smart cards with electronic chips in which the relevant details, including the payment of taxes and renewal of the licence, would be stored. Mr Bali said that the corporation had decided to construct two interstate bus stands in Shimla, one at Tutikandi and the other at
Bhattakufer. It had already given Rs 6 crore for the Tutikandi project and acquired 9 bighas of land for the Bhattakufer project. The corporation had introduced non-stop buses between Shimla and the district headquarters of Mandi, Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Nahan and Dharamsala. |
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Man posing as Director Tourism held Dalhousie, August 2 Giving this information over the telephone, Mr Subhash Singh Rana, police investigating officer,
Dalhousie, said the imposter staying in a local hotel, had asked the hoteliers to show him their records for inspection as he had come here to conduct a comprehensive survey as to how better facilities could be provided to foreign tourists. The police investigating officer said the imposter had introduced himself as Vijay Sexana, alias Surinder Paul Director Tourism, Government of India. He said Vijay Sexana, alias Surinder Paul posing as a government officer was staying in a private hotel free of charge and negotiating for listing the name of the hotel for the stay of foreigners and authenticating his hotel licence for which he demanded Rs 2075. In the meantime, the hotel owner contacted the Tourism Officer Mr K.L. Mastana at Chamba who in turn informed the police. A police party headed by the police investigating officer Mr Rana reached the spot. Vijay Sexana tried to influence the police but later told the police that he had inspected hotels in hill station like Srinagar in Jammu & Kashmir, Kulu-Manali, Shimla, Kinnaur and
Dalhousie in Himachal Pradesh as an imposter The police has registered a case under Sections 419, 420, 170, 468 and 471 of the India Penal Code. |
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Residents take to streets over doctor’s death Kulu, August 2 The mob gheraoed the house of the suspects and stoned it, breaking windowpanes, at Dhalpur here. It also damaged two cars parked near the house. The mob took out the procession from Akhara Bazar to Dhalpur, raising slogans against the police and the suspects. Later, they went to the Deputy Commissioner’s office and submitted a memorandum. They demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident and change of the inquiry officer. They alleged that the suspects were being given special facilities inside the lock-up and the father-in-law of the victim had been admitted to a hospital on the pretext of not being well. Mr Ram Singh, President, Municipal Council, who was among the protesters, alleged that the police was helping the suspects. It had started the inquiry after six hours of the matter being reported to it, giving them enough time to get rid of the evidence. The protesters demanded the arrest of the mother-in-law of Monika, stating that her involvement in the harassment of the victim was evident from the latter’s diary. Meanwhile, a complete bandh was observed here today. All markets in the town remained closed in protest against the mysterious death of Monika Sood on July 30. She was married to Vineet Sood, a dental surgeon practising at Dhalpur, in November, 2000, and, according to her brother, she had been tortured by her in-laws since then. The police had registered a case under Section 304-B and arrested her husband and father-in-law Banarasi Das Sood, who were remanded in police custody till tomorrow. Meanwhile, a delegation from Rajiv Gandhi Government Postgraduate Ayurvedic College, Paprola, also submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner and the Superintendent of Police here, demanding a fair inquiry into the case. Monika had studied in this college. The memorandum, copies of which were also forwarded to the Chief Minister among others, stated that Monika was a cultured and intelligent woman and could not have committed suicide. |
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Skeleton of soldier killed in 1968 plane
crash found Shimla, August 2 The members of the team informed about the skeleton, which had only arms, jaw and upper parts of the body, to the Director of the institute, Col
H.S. Chauhan, yesterday. The team also spotted some parts of machinery which were believed to be wreckage of the aircraft, which crashed over the glacier sometime in 1968 while carrying supplies, Colonel Chauhan said. The documents recovered from the overcoat revealed that the deceased was Beli Ram, son of Hari Chand of the Palanwala post,
Akhnoor, Jammu and Kashmir. The service book found in the documents has record up to November, 1968. A railway warrant for return journey, valid up to March 31, 1968, was also recovered. A letter dated January 27, 1968, was also found which indicates that the incident took place after January, 1968. —
PTI |
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Students complain against teacher, probe initiated Solan, August 2 As many as 50 girl students had in a complaint to the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Bharat Khera, stated that their chemistry teacher Kusum Sharma was pressurising them to take tuitions from her or else they would suffer. The girls alleged that the teacher made them do their personal work like fetching her children from a local private school, making them wash her
utensils in school, collecting money from them to purchase items of her personal utility and making them pay the fare of a three wheeler. Mrs Advani summoned the Principal, Ms Sahni, late in the evening in this regard. |
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Shimla MC takes over Kwality Corner Shimla, August 2 The Assistant Commissioner of the corporation had ordered eviction of the lessee on the grounds that he had raised illegal construction to increase the area of the allotted vend from 6.38 sq metres to about 27 sq metres. He had also failed to get his lease renewed since 1992. The appeal filed by the lessee against the order of the Assistant Commissioner was rejected by the high court which said the corporation could go ahead with the eviction. Certain municipal councillors tried to help out the lessee but their efforts did not succeed. The corporation sealed the vend in the afternoon. |
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PWD records sealed Mandi, August 2 |
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No trace of flood victims Dharamsala, August 2 |
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Palampur, August 2 The deceased were identified as Kuldeep (35) and his 6-year-old daughter
Neha. Two other persons, who were injured in the accident, were admitted to a hospital at
Palampur, police sources said. — PTI |
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Malik appointed commission member Shimla, August 2 Mr Malik, an IPS officer of 1966 batch of Himachal cadre, had retired as Director of SSB in May this year. Mr Malik held several important posts during his police career, spanning 37 years. —
PTI |
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Sundernagar, August 2 Mr Thakur said this year saplings would be planted on 18,000 hectares at a cost of Rs 165 crore. He sanctioned Rs 3 lakh for the construction of a community centre at Ropi village and sanctioned Rs 5,000 for the Forest Development Committee, Ropi. —
OC |
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Holiday in Shimla on
August 12 Shimla, August 2 All government offices, boards, corporations and educational institutions within the jurisdiction of the local Municipal Corporation will remain closed on these days. |
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