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HRTC
floats scheme to cut losses Hospital
guard thrashes attendant Hill
states plan joint tourism strategy Dharamsala
fails to draw tourists Buddha
function at Tibetan temple today |
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Magistrates,
SPs to answer for illegal mining, says HC Three
HP polytechnics to be computerised Contract
doctors seek regular service benefits HPU
staff resume work ONGC
officials not allowed to lift machines Varsity
students call off strike Measures
to check water-borne diseases 
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HRTC floats scheme to cut losses Shimla, June 2 Already suffering monthly losses of about Rs 8 crore, the HRTC, at present, is plying seven such private buses on long routes. The number of attached buses is likely to go up to 27 by the end of this month. In order to encourage more private bus owners to give their vehicle to the HRTC for plying, fresh advertisements will be issued shortly. The scheme has been started only on long routes of about 250 km. It will now be extended to routes ranging from 150 to 200 km. At present, the attached buses are being run on the Pathankot-Shimla, Dharamsala-Kullu and the Dharamshala-Shimla routes. The objective of the scheme is to avoid making huge investment on purchase of buses. A new bus costs over Rs 10 lakh. Moreover, there is a need to replace its fleet of 1,780 buses with new vehicles. “Under the new scheme, both private bus owner and the HRTC stand to gain,” said Mr Diljeet Singh, Managing Director, HRTC. Under the agreement, the HRTC, while assuring at least 250 km per day to the private bus owner, will pay Rs 13.25 per km to him. “At this rate while the bus owner will earn about Rs 90,000 every month, we will have to pay only the salary of the conductor as the driver would be engaged by the owner,” he said. In case of attachment of buses on shorter routes, the rate would be higher than Rs 13.25 per km, he added. While working out the logistics of the scheme, it was felt that it would help reduce losses as normally the cost of running a bus works out to be about Rs 18 per km for the HRTC. As such, by running the bus at Rs 13.25 per km, the HRTC will reduce its losses, especially on uneconomical routes. On the other hand, the bus owner will neither have to pay any tax, nor seek route permit, and he would recover the cost of the bus within 10 years. The HRTC has to bear losses on account of allowing free and concessional travel facility to pass holders like students, employees, freedom fighters, war widows, physically challenged, press correspondents, police personnel and MPs and MLAs. Another major cause of losses is plying of vehicles on uneconomical routes, mostly in remote rural areas. |
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Hospital guard thrashes attendant Mandi, June 2 According to eyewitnesses, the incident occurred when Uday tried to enter the hospital around 10.30 am to get his son, Jhoba Ram, admitted. “The guard thrashed the attendant when he entered the hospital to take care of his ailing son”, they said. Pointing out the highhandedness of security guards, who are employed from the ranks of the Home Guards, attendants complained that guards had acted in similar manner in the past as well. Uday told mediapersons that he was beaten up by the guard on duty without provocation. “No case was registered as hospital staff and Home Guard officials, including Assistant Divisional Magistrate
R.S. Gupta, who happened to be there, helped reach a compromise.” When contacted, the Senior Medical Superintendent, Dr Turi Devi, said “Attendants are not allowed during the doctors’ round and we have fixed visiting hours in the morning and evening for the benefit of patients. But in this case, the provocation was from both sides. A compromise has been reached between them.” When asked about the
highhandedness of securitymen, Dr Devi said the guards had been told to deal with attendants politely. “But it is the patients who face hygiene problems and five to six attendants per patient almost crowd the ward. So, we have to check their entry”. Though the attendants complained that security guards misbehaved with them, the Commandant, Home Guards, Mandi, Mr Himanshu Mishra, denied the allegation, saying that today’s incident was an isolated case of its kind. “During my one and half years of service here, I have never received a complaint in this regard”, said Mr Mishra. “In today’s case, the attendant provoked the guard, abused him when he tried to enter the ward during restricted hours. But the man in ‘khaki’ should not have reacted the way he did”. |
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Hill states plan joint tourism strategy Shimla, June 2 Stating this at a press conference here today, the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Minister, Maj Vijay Mankotia, said the joint strategy would be finalised during a “conclave” being organised in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industries in September here. The Chief Ministers of the three states would participate in the conclave at which a comprehensive document would be prepared. It would be submitted to the Centre for making the necessary policy changes. He said Central support was essential for the development of the tourism industry in the hills. With the change of the political set-up at the Centre, more funds could be expected. The state would urge the Centre to earmark funds for the development of tourism in the hills on the pattern of the “special component” plan for tribal areas. Referring to the steps being taken to improve the functioning of the state Tourism Development Corporation, he said it had been decided to offer the loss-making units and non-performing properties to the private sector. Initially, the government had planned to lease out the properties for a specific period but now it had decided to sell these. The government was also keen to see companies with big hotel chains entering the state. The government wanted to promote adventure sports and it was considering the offer of a US company to set up a proper ski resort close to Manali. The minister said since the town was already on the international tourism map, the government was more interested in the development of the Chanshal ski slopes in the Rohru area, which were among the longest slopes in Asia. |
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Dharamsala fails to
draw tourists Dharamsala, June 2 Mr Pawan Mahajan, Area Manager, Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation, said there had been 30 per cent to 35 per cent decline in the number of tourists to Dharamsala and McLeodganj this year. The markets in Dharamsala and McLeodganj are yet to witness the usual crowd of tourists. Sales have taken a dip as compared to previous years. Pushpinder Karan, Manager, Pong View Hotel, Dharamsala, says since most tourists from the region have already visited Dharamsala and McLeodganj at least once, this time they are preferring Srinagar. “The high temperatures recorded early this month have also proved to be a damper,” he says. Some believe that the increased accommodations in hotels were giving the impression that Dharamsala is losing its charm as a tourist retreat. Bipan Katoch, proprietor of Himachal Travels says that tourists are coming in large numbers, even though there was a slight dip during parliamentary elections. “Foreign tourists have been converging here in large numbers even in February and March,” he says. |
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Buddha function at Tibetan temple today Dharamsala, June 2 It is an
annual feature and the Tibetan Government-in-exile has declared an
official holiday tomorrow so that people could take part in the
programme. Monks and nuns from six local monasteries and three
nunneries would offer puja. Scores of tourists from abroad and
adjoining states could be seen making a beeline for buses and Sumos to
reach the main temple throughout the day today. The puja is expected
to start around 8 am tomorrow and the programme is likely to go on
till evening. Interestingly, Buddhpurnima has already been observed
on May 4 as per the Hindu calendar. The Tibetans, however, observe it
on the 15 the day of the fourth month of the Tibetan lunar Calendar.
This is the 2131st year as per the lunar calendar. “This happens
almost every year and the two dates seldom fall on the same day. But
we go by our own calendar,” said Masood Butt, press co-ordinator,
Department of Information and International Relations. Tomorrow’s
function will be open to general public and a crowd of nearly 5,000 is
expected to take part in it. The Dalai Lama who is in Scotland will
not be able to take part in the puja. |
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Magistrates, SPs to answer for illegal mining, says HC Shimla, June 2 A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Vinod Kumar Gupta and Mr Justice K.C Sood further directed that the policy formulated by the state under the directions of the High Court be implemented in letter and spirit .The order came on a petition filed by the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) for the management of silt and other environment-related issues . The court had earlier directed the Central Pollution Control Board to constitute a committee to suggest an action plan for the management of silt and other environment-related issues with respect to the hydel project of the BBMB. Following the directions, a committee was constituted, that submitted its interim report and sought time till October, 2004 to submit its final report .Taking serious view of unscientific mining the court observed that if any incidence of illegal mining, was brought to its notice, the aforesaid officers would be liable to be proceeded against for contempt of court . |
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Three HP polytechnics to be computerised Mandi, June 2 The multi-faculty Government Polytechnic Institute, Sundernagar, has been declared as the best polytechnic in North India in 2002 and awarded a national prize. A central team of the National Programme Implementation Unit visited three polytechnics last week and took stock of the existing infrastructure. The World Bank-aided project would be sponsored by the ministries of Labour and Employment and Human Resource Development. A Rs 73-crore project, forwarded to the Central Government earlier for the expansion of vocational training programme, is also awaiting the approval of the Ministry of Labour and Employment. At present there are seven polytechnics in the state, including one exclusively for women in addition to the network of 53 Industrial Training Institutes. Of these 16 are for women and one for physically handicapped. Besides this over 10 units are in the private sector. The main thrust is to generate employment or self-employment. A committee comprising entrepreneurs has been set up to decide the specific trades to be introduced in the ITIs which could ensure gainful employment for the trainees. ITIs had also been set up in the far-flung remote tribal areas like Reckong Peo in Kinnaur district. |
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Contract doctors seek regular service benefits Shimla, June 2 In a representation to the Chief Minister, the association demanded that they should be given Non-Practising Allowance (NPA) and other allowances admissible to regular and ad-hoc doctors. They also requested that they should be eligible for postgraduate courses, after three years, under the General Duty Officers (GDO) quota. The Association lamented that in the past five years no GDO had been taken as all appointments were being made by the government on contract. The Association thanked the government for taking serious note of doctors with fake degrees and those appointed through faulty procedures. They also appreciated government move of adopting a transparent appointment policy by making batch wise appointments. |
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HPU staff resume work Shimla, June 2 Following objection by the Local Audit Department of the university regarding secretarial allowance to non-teaching employees, all employees in the administrative wing abstained from work yesterday. They refused to accept their salaries and abstained from work. It was following talks with Prof Verma today, that the Coordination Committee of the Non-Teaching Employees, Association decided to call off their agitation. He assured them that he would personally take up the matter with the Local Audit Department to ensure that in future they do not face a similar problem. |
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ONGC officials not allowed to lift machines Mandi, June 2 While the workers are agitating against their retrenchment and demanding their absorption at another site of drilling, farmers are demanding adequate compensation for the land acquired by the ONGC. Meanwhile, a team of officials of the Agriculture, PWD, Soil Conservation and Revenue Departments have visited Dhaban to assess the quantum of damage and advised the ONGC authorities to compensate the affected farmers. The ONGC had started the process of shifting its machines to Hamirpur for carrying out exploration there, but the workers and farmers launched a round-the-clock dharna and told officials concerned that they would not allow removal of infrastructure before their demands were conceded. The CITU and other trade unions are supporting the workers. |
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Varsity students call off strike Solan, June 2 His entry was banned by the university authorities on Saturday. A press note issued by the SCA said the strike had cast a shadow over the academic career of the students. It expressed the hope that the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, would take a lenient view about the punishment given to the students. His decision, they said would be acceptable to all students. A few students had not missed the opportunity to draw a political mileage from the issue. |
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Measures to check water-borne diseases Mandi, June 2 He said all water sources in the district were chlorinated and cleaned. A coordination committee will monitor the measures taken by various departments. Mr Thakur said the areas where outbreak of water-borne diseases had been reported in the past had been identified and vigil maintained there.
Anti-diarrhoeal drugs, ORS packets, Chlorine tablets, IV sets, ringer lactate bottles and other drugs would be made available. |
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Examinations for staff Shimla, June 2 The Secretary, Board of Departmental examinations said here today that for the convenience of candidates appearing only for the financial administration paper, the board would conduct the examination at Dharamsala and Mandi, besides Shimla. The examination would be held as per the amended syllabus which was also available on the Website
http://himachal.nic.in/hipa. |
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Compensate apple growers, says BJP Shimla, June 2 In a statement issued here today, he said apple crop all over the state had suffered huge damage due to yesterday’s rain and hailstorm. “Two separate surveys should be done to assess damage to the crop and see how many apple trees had been uprooted,” he said.
— TNS |
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White Paper on Tibet condemned Dharamsala, June 2 Mr T.T. Karma Chophel, president of the party, said the autonomy of Tibet was only in name and the Tibetans were, subjugated and harassed people who had become a minority in their own native land. “The Chinese Communist Party cadres and the People’s Liberation Army are the real masters who control everything,’’ he said in a press note issued today. |
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Ban on polybags in Dharamsala Dharamsala, June 2 Sub-Divisional Magistrate Rakesh Sharma today said the ban had been imposed under the Recycled Plastic Manufacture and Usage clause of the Environment Act, 1986. Violators will be liable to pay a fine of Rs 1 lakh or imprisonment of five years or both. He made an appeal to shopkeepers and customers to stop the use of polythene bags. |
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