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Third front fails
to emerge in HP Former VC grilled in paper scam 5 die as vehicle
falls into gorge Land donated for museum in heritage village Butail lauds muscular dystrophy panel’s role |
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Trees
worth lakhs destroyed in fire Steps to check forest fires Man succumbs to bee stings 
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Third front fails
to emerge in HP Shimla, May 15 The two main contenders, the Congress and the BJP, improved their percentage of votes over the 2003 Assembly elections as regional outfits like the Himachal Vikas Congress and the Him Lok Tantrik Morcha, which raised the hopes of a third political force in the state, vanished from the scene. The merger of the HVC into the Congress enabled the Congress to improve its vote share from 41 per cent in 2003 to 51.89. Similarly, the merger of the Him Lok Tantrik Morcha (HLTM) into the BJP helped the party and it polled 44.24 per cent votes as against 35.58 per cent in 2003. In the Assembly poll, the HVC had secured 5.57 per cent votes and the HLTM 2.17 per cent. The two main parties together polled 96.13 per cent votes and Independents and the BSP, which contested all four seats, managed to get only 3.19 per cent votes. Mr Sukh Ram had to an extent succeeded in raising a third political force in the state by floating the HVC. His party not only secured 9.65 per cent votes in the 1998 Assembly elections but also managed to win five seats. He played kingmaker in the wake of a hung Assembly by installing the Dhumal led BJP-HVC coalition. Subsequently, the two fought the 1999 Lok Sabha poll in an alliance to make a clean sweep of all four seats. The BJP polled 46.27 per cent votes and the HVC 12.38 per cent. The congress vote share was reduced to 39.52 per cent. However, the HVC contested the 2003 Assembly elections on its own and came to grief. Mr Mohinder Singh, who broke from the HVC and floated the HLTM, also ended up in wilderness after the Assembly poll. The two leaders were left with little option but to merge their parties in the national parties as unlike the Vidhan Sabha poll, the regional outfits have little scope in the General Elections. The BJP also gained with the return of about two dozen estranged leaders. Mostly Mr Shanta Kumar’s supporters, who were expelled during the factional was between rival camps headed by the former Union Minister, and Mr P.K. Dhumal, a former Chief Minister, Mr Navin Dhiman, rebel who won as an Independent, was made an associate member of the BJP Legislature Party. The Congress also took back a host of expelled leaders and inducted five Independents as associate members of its legislature party. Thus, the efforts to raise a third front in the state once again went in vain. |
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Former VC grilled in paper scam Shimla, May 15 According to police sources, Dr Sharma was asked to explain about the discrepancies in the expenditure of secrecy funds for printing question papers, which increased from a meagre Rs 21 lakh to over Rs 68 lakh in just 18 months during his tenure. He was also quizzed on the basis of the information extracted from Mr L.R. Jindal, one of the printers who had been arrested in the case. Mr Jindal is a relative of Dr Sharma. The team asked him why work was allotted to a printer who did not have the capacity or experience to do the job. The investigators also confronted him with the fact that while the payments made to the printer totalled over Rs 68 lakh, the units that actually carried out the job on a sub-contract basis were paid only half the amount. Dr Sharma did not give any satisfactory reply and maintained that it was the job of the secrecy officer. He also said he was not in good health and wanted his interrogation to be completed fast. |
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5 die as vehicle
falls into gorge Mandi, May 15 Those killed have been identified as Durga Dass of Jugahan village Dandoo Ram of Khudi village, Sarkaghat sub-division, Rajinder Kumar of Pipli village, tehsil
sadar, Romesh Kumar of Baldaj village, Sarkaghat sub-division and Devinder Kumar of Gharwar village, sub-tehsil
Nihri. |
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Land donated for museum in heritage village Shimla, May 15 A major stride towards the implementation of the museum concept, as envisioned by the National Museum Institute, was taken today when 75-year-old Mrs Durga Devi Kuthiala, a respected elder of the village, formally donated her ancestral haveli for the purpose. The deed for handing over the sprawling three-storeyed complex in the heritage courtyard to the local Nehar Committee was signed by her in presence of the Major Vijay Singh Mankotia, Tourism Minister, at a simple ceremony, here. The heritage complex was built by her forefathers who were among the early settlers and founders of the village. Major Mankotia lauded the initiative taken by Mrs Durga Devi, which would go a long way in bringing the village on the world heritage tourism map. He said Pragpur was the first village to be accorded the heritage village status in the country and this idea had given a new thrust to rural tourism. The best thing about the project was that the initiative came from the local residents. It was a unique project being executed by the community itself, the government was only a facilitator. He said that in a bid to make it a hub of tourism activity, the government had submitted a temple-tourist circuit scheme to the Centre. There were a number of important temples and places like Pong dam reservoir, which could be easily accessed from Pragpur. The project would help develop basic tourism infrastructure in the area. Mr Vijay Lal, the moving spirit behind the project, said that the initiative taken by Mrs Durga Devi would encourage other Pragpurians to follow suit. He said there were about 400 old havelis in the twin villages of Pragpur and Gurli, most of which were in a state of neglect as the owners had settled at various other places. He said the museum concept would not only help proper preservation of old heritage buildings but also boost tourism which, in turn, would bring prosperity to the local people. |
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Butail lauds muscular dystrophy panel’s role Dharamsala, May 15 Mr Butail said physical handicap was no more as traumatic as it used to be because now these people get help from the family and the society. Earlier, speaking on the occasion, the Kangra Deputy Commissioner, Dr Shrikant Baldi, said the district administration had undertaken many steps to help the physically challenged living in rural areas of Kangra. He said till date 14,000 physically challenged persons had been registered and financial help in the shape of pension, cash, instruments like wheel chair and hearing aids were being provided to them. He said more than 4,500 physically challenged persons were helped through “Prayas” an organisation being run by the District Red Cross Society. The president of the Indian Association of Muscular Dystrophy, Solan, Ms Sanjana Goyal and the Secretary, Mr Vipul Goyal, both suffering from muscular dystrophy urged the government to provide meaningful help to such afflicted people. |
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Trees worth
lakhs destroyed in fire Palampur, May 15 Mr Kewal Singh Walia, vice-president of Dehara Gopipur Municipal Council said that fire was first noticed on a part of vet land. Later it spread to the entire forest. He said since there was no fire fighting
arrangements here, so local residents helped in controlling the fire. Irrigation and Public Health officials immediately reached on the spot and released large quantity of water to control the fire. He said fodder collected by the local residents was also destroyed in the fire. However, no loss of life was reported. He said despite repeated requests no officials of the Forest Department reached the spot. Even next day no one bothered to make an estimate of loss caused by fire. |
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Steps to check forest fires Bilaspur, May 15 Divisional Forest Officer Pradeep Thakur said here that 100 fire-watchers were being appointed while no forest employee would be allowed to go on leave during the fire season this summer. He said the felling of trees had also been banned. He said the telephone numbers of various forest officials had been provided to the panchayat representatives and other people living around forest areas so that in the event of a fire, they could inform the official concerned. |
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Man succumbs to bee stings Bilaspur, May 15 Panchayat vice-president Roopali Verma said here today that Budhiram was grazing his cattle and was accompanied by his granddaughter when suddenly a large number of bees attacked him. — OC |
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Budget session likely from June 7 Shimla, May 15 The tentative schedule of the session was yet to be finalised but it would have 10 days’ break to enable the House committees to scrutinise the Budget allocations for different departments.
— PTI |
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