 |
|
|
BJP may welcome back expelled leaders
Expelled Cong men to be re-admitted, says Anita Verma Congress not sincere on welfare of
OBCs, says BJP Pratibha not to contest from Mandi, says CM |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Women’s panel for development of far-flung areas Concerned over the plight of women in the backward Transgiri area of Sirmaur district, the State Commission for Women wants the state and the Central Governments to launch special schemes for the socio-economic uplift of the poverty-stricken pockets. Housing corp to fund Solan water supply scheme VC to take up special grants issue with UGC
|
|
BJP may welcome back expelled leaders Shimla, February 6 Thus, the party has a huge ground to recover and with the HVC, an offshoot of the Congress, no more a force to reckon with it faces a daunting task of retaining the four seats in the ensuing elections. In the situation bringing the expelled leaders and their supporters back into the party fold will be more of a compulsion. As many as 18 leaders contested the last Assembly election against the official candidates. The prominent among these included Mr Mohinder Sofat, Mr Narinder Thakur, Mr Lakhwinder Rana, Jagat Singh Negi, Mr Rakesh Verma, Mr Ram Das Malanger, Mr Khub Ram, Mr Gobind
Thakur, Mr Vidya Sagar, Mr Kamal Padha and Mr Raghubir Singh. With the Dhumal camp calling the shots in the party, the supporters of Mr Shanta Kumar have been at the receiving end. Most of the expelled leaders were from his camp. The Dhumal camp had in the past thwarted all reconciliatory moves. However, the situation has changed with the change in party set up. The party will not have such strong reservations in taking back these leaders. Moreover, the new body is only expected to undo the mistakes of the past, which damaged the party fabric. Mr Suresh Bhardwaj, the new party president, is keen on enlisting the support of the estranged leaders during the Lok Sabha poll. He is likely to discuss the issue with the high command on his current visit to Delhi. While, refusing to spell out his plans to win back the leaders Mr Bhardwaj said he would soon make a move to ensure that the BJP men who were longer in the party for some reason supported the party candidates in all four Lok Sabha seats. Mr Shanta Kumar has already stated that talks should be initiated with the leaders who were expelled from the party. Some other senior leaders also feel that expelled leaders must be brought back to strengthen the party. The homecoming of Mr Kalyan Singh in Uttar Pradesh has only strengthened the hands of those in favour of reconciliatory approach. |
|
Expelled Cong men to be re-admitted, says Anita Verma Hamirpur, February 6 Talking to reporters, she said that Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh from time to time, had taken up the case of those expelled from the party. Their re-entry was the need of the hour, she added. To a question, Ms Verma who is party in charge for the states of Rajasthan, Punjab and Chandigarh, said that she was not an aspirant for the Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat. However, if Mrs Sonia Gandhi, Congress chief, wanted, she would contest the election and win the seat for the party. |
|
Congress not sincere on welfare of
OBCs, says BJP Shimla, February 6 In a statement here today, he alleged that the congress was never sincere about the welfare of the OBCs and it tried to woo the community only during elections. He said that it was the Shanta Kumar government which granted 5 per cent reservation to OBCs in the state way back in 1978. Mr Bhardwaj said that reservation to backward classes was raised by the Virbhadra government from 5 per cent to 10 on the eve of Sulah byelection, then to 15 per cent on the eve of the 1996 parliamentary poll and further to 18 per cent just before the 1998 elections. The BJP president said that it was not the congress but the Janata Party government, headed by Morarjee Desai, which had constituted the Mandal Commission and its recommendations gathered dust for 10 years during the Congress rule. Mr Bhardwaj hailed the Vajpayee government’s decision to raise the creamy layer limit from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh for the OBCs. He said the Dhumal government had already raised it to Rs 2 lakh in the state. The Virbhadra government should now raise it to Rs 2.5 lakh on the Central pattern. |
|
Pratibha not to contest from Mandi, says CM Sundernagar, February 6 Mr Virbhadra Singh said his wife was a social worker and would continue her activities in the field. He inaugurated a bridge on Sukodi khud and laid the foundation stone of Suhara mohalla ambulance road. He also announced a grant of Rs 5 lakh for development schemes for the mohalla. The Ravi Dass Panchayat Committee organised the function. Mr Kaul Singh, Minister for Irrigation and Public Health, Mr Rangila Ram, Excise and Taxation Minister and Mr D.D. Thakur, former MLA also addressed the gathering.
— OC |
|
Women’s panel for development of far-flung areas Shimla, February 6 Mrs Viplove Thakur, chairperson of the commission, said abject poverty was the root cause of evils like illegal marriage of underage girls and trafficking in women. These marriages were never registered and often involved monetary considerations. She said after an in-depth study of the problem, the commission had come to the conclusion that only speedy uplift of the far-flung areas could rid the local society of such disgraceful practices. The commission convened a meeting of the representatives of non-government organisations to discuss the matter along with other issues. It was decided that while the NGOs would step in to improve the lot of women in the area, the commission would pursue the case for introducing special schemes for the purpose with the state government and the Centre. The NGOs were advised against confining their activities to women and instead they should strive to involve men to ensure effective implementation of their programmes. They were asked to prepare projects after conducting a survey of the area and studying the local problems to help accelerate the process of social reforms. |
|
Housing corp to fund Solan water supply scheme Shimla, February 6 This was stated by Mr Kaul Singh, Minister for Irrigation and Public Health, while reviewing the working of his department last evening. He said water would be lifted from Giri river in the second phase to augment the supply to the town. NABARD had approved 419 schemes, out of which 239 schemes had been completed and added that six new schemes, involving an expenditure of Rs 25 crore, had been approved. He said that sewage scheme for Manali town would be commissioned during this year to help check environmental pollution. Referring to the water supply scheme for Shimla, the minister said that Rs 60 lakh had been released recently in addition to the Rs 115 lakh already provided to augment the supply to the town. Similarly, Rs 53 lakh had been released for the installation of tubewells in water scarce areas of Una district. The minister said that Rs 210 lakh had recently been released by the Centre to deal with the draught situation in the state and Rs 50.11 lakh had been sanctioned under the sector reform project for Sirmour district. He said a Rs-2.52 crore scheme had been approved for augmenting the water supply to the Theog town by the Union Ministry of Urban Development. He said that to check soil erosion in Paonta valley, a Rs-3.09 crore project for the channelisation of Bata river at vulnerable points had been approved by the Government of India. A Rs-2.30 crore project for a cluster of 12 minor irrigation schemes in the Rampur block of Shimla district had also been approved. |
|
VC to take up special grants issue with UGC Shimla, February 6 Prof Verma said the issue was discussed at a meeting of the Vice-Chancellors of north zone held at Chandigarh. He said the universities situated in the hill regions had peculiar geographical, social, cultural, political and topographical problems which required special consideration. |
| 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 | |
