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SJVN move to adjust amount of advances
Meeting mired in controversy
NHPC achieves milestone in Sewa project
Sobha Singh remembered
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Mystery shrouding unwed mother ends
Salooni-Salwan merely an election road
Councillor’s suspension revoked
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SJVN move to adjust amount of advances
Shimla, November 30 An exercise is on in the nigam to justify the claims of the companies and place the matter before the board of directors, which is scheduled to meet on December 2, to settle the issue. Sources in the nigam said that those responsible for the non-recovery of advances were now creating internal pressure to save their own skin. The move is on even though the contract, Law and Finance Departments had after an in-depth examination termed the recommendations of the ADRBs as “legally untenable” and “beyond the scope” of the contract. The opinion of the Law Department was that the dispute should be settled under the Arbitration Act but so far no step has The claims were first examined by a high-level review committee in 1998-99 and turned down. Subsequently, the board of management also issued directions more than once that the advances should be recovered but no follow-up action was taken. Intriguingly, all this while the nigam made no effort to impose liquidity damages on the companies for delay in completing works as per the terms and conditions of the Further, there are serious discrepancies in the recommendations of the two ADRBs and they have granted time extension claims at different rates. While one board which examined the time extension claims of the It recommended time extension claims to the company at the rate of Rs 1.40 crore per month for the delay of the nigam, but side-stepped the issue of imposing liquidity damages for the delay for which the company was responsible on the plea that it was not in its It, however, mentioned that there was no provision in the contract for such a claim, but recommended it to ensure a fairy deal to the company. Intriguingly, the second ADRB, which examined the similar claims of the Nathpa Jhakri-Joint Venture (NJJV), found the nigam responsible for the entire 50-month delay. It recommended claim at the rate of Rs 2.67 crore per month for the delay, which was almost double the rate recommended by the The engineers of the nigam maintain that the claim had not been worked out rationally and it could not be paid even if provided in the contract. The additional financial burden on the companies on account of delay due to idle manpower and equipment could not be uniform for the period of over 50 months. Manpower and equipment are deployed gradually as the work gets under way. The deployment reaches a peak when the work is in full swing and it is withdrawn gradually. They maintain that the nigam should work out the burden on the basis of actual deployment over It remains to be seen whether the management refers the dispute for arbitration as recommended by the Law and Finance Departments or succumbs to pressure from those responsible for the non-recovery of advances. |
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Meeting mired in controversy
Solan, November 30 A letter expressing utter negligence and irregularity on the part of the EO for having allowed such a meeting to be held on the committee premises was delivered to the EO by Ms Grover. Citing violations of Sections 305 para (h) and (5) of the XVIII Municipal Committee Act, 1994, and the CCS Rules, 1965, the letter states that the action of the Executive Officer tantamounted to indiscipline in attending a meeting convened unconstitutionally by the vice-chairperson despite the presence of the chairperson. The chairperson has also avowed to communicate the matter to the government to ensure initiation of disciplinary proceedings against the EO. While the Act clearly evinces the point that such a meeting could not be held without a prior 10-day notice, the Executive Officer had not only attended it but had recorded its proceedings. The five other councillors, including the chairperson, held a separate meeting in the committee's meeting hall to take stock of the situation. As many as eight of the nine councillors, who had earlier expressed no-confidence in the working of Ms Grover, had convened a meeting today to pressure her to vacate the post. These councillors, including four from the BJP and one Congress and other Independents, were now adopting pressure tactics to move the motion after their repeated requests to fix a date for moving a no-confidence motion had yielded little result. In a dramatic turn of events, the local BJP MLA, Dr Rajiv Bindal, spearheaded today's meeting by not only being present but leading the Executive Officer to attend the meeting. They later recorded the proceedings in a new register after the chairperson having declared the meeting unconstitutional refused to allow it to be held in the committee meeting hall. Ms Grover earlier handed over a letter to the executive declaring the meeting unconstitutional under Section 28 of the HP Municipal Committee Act. She also urged the EO not to record the minutes of the meeting in the proceeding register. The vice-chairman, Mr Shamsher Thakur, when contacted, however, maintained that a resolution to press the Deputy Commissioner to fix an early date for moving a no-confidence motion was passed and other business, including clearing building maps, was transacted in the one-and-a-half hour meeting. |
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NHPC achieves milestone in Sewa project
Dalhousie, November 30 Stating this here yesterday, Mr S.K. Dodeja, Execution Director (Region-II) of the NHPC, who is also the Chief Executive Director of the Narmada Hydroelectric Development Corporation (NHDC) in Madhya Pradesh, said that the work on the Sewa project had been speeded up and to complete the excavation of a 10-km-long headrace tunnel by next year, the corporation had set a target of excavating 36 metres of tunnel everyday so that the project could be commissioned by 2007. The project, on completion, would cost about Rs 665 crore. The project, which is a run-of-the-river scheme, is located in Basholi tehsil of Kathua district in Jammu and Kashmir, quite near to the 540-MW Chamera hydroelectric project (stage-I) in Dalhousie tehsil of Chamba district in Himachal Pradesh. The Sewa project envisages construction of a 48-metre high concrete gravity dam, a 10-km-long headrace tunnel, a steel-lined penstocks and underground power house with three generation units of 40-MW each at Maslika village. The project would generate around 535.63
million units of power annually in a 90 per cent dependable year with 95 per cent machine availability. Power generated from this project will be supplied to the northern grid in terms of central power-sharing formula for further distribution to the beneficiary states of Punjab, Uttaranchal, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and the Union Territory of Chandigarh. Besides, J&K will get 12 per cent free power from the project. |
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Sobha Singh remembered
Palampur, November 30 Dr Johl, a close associate of the late artist, said Sobha Singh was a portrait painter par excellence. He advised budding artists to emulate his ideals, ideas, deftness and technique. Dr S.K. Phull, a senior member of the Sobha Singh Memorial Art Society, detailed the life of the artist. Mr Hirday Paul Singh, secretary-general of the society, said a web page on the artist had been updated and students could now get valuable information about his life and works. He said there was a plan to renovate the Sobha Singh Art Gallery to make it more useful to visitors. Thirty drawing masters from schools in Kangra district and an equal number of students participated in two different art workshops organised by the society in collaboration with the Art, Language and Culture Academy, HP. Amit Sharma from Crescent Senior Secondary School, Banuri, Shikha Sabharwal from Jawahar Navodya Vidyalaya, Paprola, and Suridhi Sharma from Mount Carmel School, Baijnath, won the first, second and third prizes, respectively, in an essay competition. Two consolation prizes were also awarded to Avani Mehta and Shilpa Kapoor. Dr Johl gave away the prizes to the winners and distributed certificates to participants. Artists Om Sujanpuri, Ken Godshalk and Sharmila Sharma were also honoured on the occasion. A large number of artists, art lovers and connoisseurs, including Bibi Gurcharan Kaur, daughter of the legendary artist, participated in the function. |
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Mystery shrouding unwed mother ends
Dharamsala, November 30 The revelation was made in her statement to the police here. Acting on the information, the district police immediately arrested the boy, who also confessed to having sexual relations with the girl. Contrary to earlier reports that the girl was 18 years old, the police clarified that the girl was, in fact, one year younger to the minor boy. Both of them belong to the same village and the same community. Earlier the family members of the girl had alleged that a married middle-aged man had sexually abused the girl. Superintendent of Police S. Zahur Haider Zaidi said that the boy was arrested and both of them have confessed to having an affair. While the boy has been booked for rape under Section 376, IPC, the girl is facing charges of trying to kill her own child under Section 315, IPC. Today, the girl formally gave a statement to the police for the first time and this made things much clearer, he said. Meanwhile, the police had also arrested the middle-aged man accused to exploiting the girl. However, he being 65 years old, his involvement in the act seemed unlikely from the very beginning, said police sources. The teenaged girl, who is a student of Class VIII in Kareri village, near here, had come to the Dr Rajindra Prasad Medical College and Hospital on Saturday, complaining acute stomach-ache and difficulty in passing urine. Before the doctors could finish diagnosis, she went to the hospital toilet, locked herself, and delivered a baby there. When safai karamcharis managed to enter the toilet, they found that the girl was trying to kill the new-born by hitting her against the wall. However, she was unable to inflict any serious injuries on the child and both are now reported to be in a stable condition. The girl was shifted to a private ward yesterday on directions from the State Commission for Women. |
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Salooni-Salwan merely an election road
Chamba, November 30 The proposed Salooni-Salwan road is yet to be constructed, but the existing patch of 10 km, which was constructed more than 10 years ago, is in a state of neglect these days as it is blocked by landslips. The people of this belt usually describe this road as “an election road” because whenever elections come and the road gets some improvement, and thereafter nobody bothers. The belt comprises more than 50 villages having a population of around 14,000. |
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Councillor’s suspension revoked
Shimla, November 30 Mr Janartha was expelled from the Congress for six years when he contested the election against the official Congress candidates in April, 2002. He will be considered as an active member of the Congress. |
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Palampur, November 30
