 |
|
Minister lambasts Dhumal on recruitment
issue CM flayed for denying MLA chance to speak Recruitment racket
unearthed, 1 held
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Council laments ban on
stone crushers Cong against poll tie-up Don’t divert funds, says Kokje Rs 40-crore scheme to
augment water supply Deaf and dumb
woman raped HPSEB body’s plea to govt Statue unveiled Labourer dies as tunnel caves in
|
|
Minister lambasts Dhumal on recruitment
issue Shimla, January 19 He said Mr Dhumal was making baseless allegations to divert the attention of the people from irregularities in recruitments during his rule. There was no truth in the allegation that 966 out of 980 persons were engaged as water carriers on the recommendation of Mr Virbhadra Singh, who was the Chief Minister at that time. The water carrier were selected by local-level committees set up for the purpose. Applications of only needy persons like widows and the handicapped who had met the Chief Minister, were forwarded for consideration. The recruitments in the police were made strictly according to rules. To allege that some police personnel were transferred from Shimla district to accommodate candidates from the district was wrong, he said. Only those who had made requests for transfer were shifted, he added. Regarding the reports of two committees set up by the previous government to inquire into the appointments, he said the matter was also raised in the Vidhan Sabha and the Congress had asked for the names of the candidates so appointed and the proof in support of allegations, but the then BJP government did not produce any evidence. The BJP remained in power from 1998 to March, 2003, but it did not take any action in that regard. It only showed that the appointments made were in order. He said such tactics would not cut much ice with the people of the state. He said the former chief minister had also exaggerated the figures regarding appointments made from Shimla district. |
|
CM flayed for denying MLA chance to speak Shimla, January 19 In a joint statement here today, Mr Suresh Bhardwaj, state party chief, and Mr P.K. Dhumal, former Chief Minister, said Mr Ravi had the right to speak at any government function held in his constituency. They maintained that the Congress claim that the public meeting was organised by the party was false as the advertisement published in various newspapers in this connection showed that it was a government show. HAMIRPUR: Mr Rajendra Rana, BJP media in charge, on Monday demanded the resignation of the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, on moral grounds in view of the statement of former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal that irregularities had been committed during the previous Congress regime while giving government jobs to the people. In a statement here, Mr Rana alleged that whenever Mr Virbhadra Singh gave Shimla district special treatment in jobs at the cost of the rest of the state. He criticised the manner in which the JOBT entrance examinations were cancelled. |
|
|
Recruitment racket
unearthed, 1 held Nurpur, January 19 The racket came to light when accused allegedly took Rs 90,000 from two brothers — Mukesh and Rajesh Singh — of Luthiani village and gave them appointment letters bearing stamps of the Army Recruitment Centre, Ambala cantonment. When they approached the Ambala centre, they were shocked to know that the appointment letters were forged. They lodged their complaint with the Jawali police but the police was helpless to nab the accused for want of concrete evidence. So, Ms Kiran Pathania of Badiala village and maternal aunt of the complaints planned to trap the accused red-handed along with the police. Ms Pathania arranged for the recruitment of her nephew in the Army for Rs 45,000 and gave Rs 50,000 as advance. The police recorded the serial numbers and denomination of advance money before giving the same to the accused. A team led by DSP Jaram Singh, a naib tehsildar and the local panchayat pradhan allegedly caught the accused red-handed while accepting advance money. The police has also taken into possession two forged appointment letters. The police has started investigations into the case. |
|
Council laments ban on
stone crushers Mandi, January 19 Addressing a news conference here today, Mr O.N. Hazri, chairman, Crushers Council of Himachal Pradesh, said the ban has badly affected the construction works of all types, including roads, bridges and projects. Describing the ban as “unjust and unfortunate”, he said the crushers had been set up after complying with all legal formalities and obtaining no objection certificates from forest, industry and pollution departments. He said only a few crushers had been allowed to operate temporarily till the committee constituted by the court submitted its report. Mr Hazri said crusher-owners had set up modern anti-pollution devices as required under the law. He argued that crushers were rather helping the environment by utilising boulders flowing down to rivers during floods in the rainy season. If not used, these could get deposited in dams and shorten their life. He maintained that crushers were playing a useful role to save dams by using material for the development of the country. The state government was also earning crores of rupees by leasing out rivers and unculturable land where nothing could be grown. He lamented the recent decision to describe the rivers and stony lands as forest lands in revenue records. Mr Hazri said that he had met the Chief Minister and the Industries Minister and requested them to seek the services of a team of the Ministry of Environment and Forests to examine the issue and accord permission under the Conservation Act, 1980, as had been done in Rajasthan to solve the problem of marble extraction there. |
|
Cong against poll tie-up Shimla, January 19 The general house of the party which met under the chairmanship of Mrs Vidya Stokes, the state party chief, here today was of unanimous opinion that the party was in a strong position in the state and it should not look for alliances. Mr Kuldeep Rathore, general secretary of the party, said the issue of alliances was also discussed during the assembly and the party decided to go it alone. It swept the polls with two-third majority. The position of party had further improved and there was no need for any electoral alliance now. The general house passed a resolution urging the high command not to take back the expelled leaders who contested the assembly poll against the officials party candidates. More than 20 party leaders belonging to the rival groups headed by Mr Virbhadra Singh, the Chief Minister, and Mrs Stokes, who entered the electoral fray as rebels. The meeting reviewed the membership drive which will continue despite the forthcoming Lok Sabha poll. The party directed the district and block units to scrutinise the electoral rolls and ensure that the names of bogus voters enlisted during the BJP regime were detected and those left out included in the list. The party decided to have combined booth level committees in which activists of all its front organisations the NSUI, Youth Congress, Mahila Congress and Sewa Dal will be included. Mr Rathore said that the party would hold a two-day session in the second week of February to finalise its electoral strategy. It would also be attended by Mr Gulam Nabi Azad, the central leader incharge of party affairs in the state. |
|
Don’t divert funds, says Kokje Solan, January 19 Speaking on the occasion, the Governor stressed the need for regular meetings of the Senate of the university. He said these meetings were meant for reviewing the working of the university and added that delay of two years in holding this meeting is a matter of concern. He said funds earmarked for different schemes should not be diverted for other purposes. He expressed deep concern over the tendency to divert funds earmarked for schemes received from different agencies for other purposes which, he added, was not in the interest of the university. Referring to resource mobilisation for the university, the Governor suggested that there should be assessment of the expenditure incurred on every student in each course so that expenditure being incurred by the university on students could be made known. He said this expenditure could not be met through fees and suggested rationalisation of fee structure. Responsibility of providing better education to poor and meritorious students lies with the government and it was not proper to burden the university with this responsibility. Mr Kokje said the lack of facilities affects the education of students, especially research work, adding that autonomy was necessary for the existence of the university. Earlier, Dr S.S. Negi, Vice-Chancellor, apprised the Governor of the reasons for not convening Senate meeting for two years. He said priority was being given to need-based research work through diversification in research activities. The Governor was also honoured by presenting a shawl and a cap on the occasion. He also planted sapling of apple on the campus and interacted with scientists and students. — UNI |
|
Rs 40-crore scheme to
augment water supply Shimla, January 19 The scheme envisages the lifting of water from the Giri river from Bakhelti near Theog in two stages. The project has been submitted to Hudco for funding. It will take about two years to complete the project once funds are made available. Meanwhile, the department has decided to sink two more tubewells at Gummah and Ashwini Khad to meet the shortage of water during the summer. On an average about 62 lakh gallons of water is supplied to the city. However, during peak summer the supply dwindles to around 55 lakh gallons per day whereas the demand goes up to about 70 lakh gallons per day. The tubewells being sunk at Gummah and Ashwini Khad will provide an additional 5 lakh gallons of water every day. Besides, one more stage had been added to lift water from Nauti Khad to pump another 5 lakh gallons. In all the department hopes to augment the supply by 10 lakh gallons per day before the onset of the summer. |
|
Deaf and dumb
woman raped Kangra, January 19 The Kangra District Additional Police Chief, Mr Santosh Patial, today said that the woman was alone in the house when the incident took place. Her husband was away for job at the time. Pupi, a resident of Samakar Damaita village, entered the house at 4 p.m. and allegedly raped her. Due to the woman’s disability, she could not raise an alarm. It was only when her seven-year-old son who raised a hue and cry, Mr Patial said. He said that yesterday when the husband of the victim returned from his job, he was told about the incident. He informed the police and a case under Sections 376, 452 and 506 of the IPC was registered. The police chief said that Pupi had threatened the boy and his mother with dire consequences if they told anyone about the incident. |
|
HPSEB body’s plea to govt Mandi, January 19 Talking to newspersons, Mr Naresh Chaudhary, president of the association, said that the engineers of the Board were confident to execute the project within the scheduled period as it had engineers with vast experience in planning designing and construction of such projects. He said it was surprising that the construction work of small and mini-hydro-electric projects assigned for execution to private parties had not been started even after five to 10 years of signing of the memoranda of understanding (MoUs) and added that due to the long delay, their MoU should be cancelled and the HPSEB should be awarded these projects. |
|
|
Statue unveiled Shimla, January 19 Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister lauded the role played by Maharana Pratap, who never succumbed to pressure and maintained his honour and dignity of the country. —
PTI |
|
|
Labourer dies as tunnel caves in Kulu, January 19 According to official reports here today, Dorje Sherpa was injured seriously when a portion of the tunnel caved in. He was taken to a hospital here where he succumbed to his injuries. The body after a post mortem examination was handed over to his relatives. —
UNI |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | National Capital | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
