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Cong infighting has stifled growth: BJP
CM for all over industrialisation
BJP for direct recruitment in industries
Minister defends signing of MoU
Public funds used for
Sonia’s birthday: Rana
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Repair work in progress at the official residence of the Deputy Commissioner in Hamirpur on Tuesday.
— Photo by writer
Arrest Chamba’s decay,
plead citizens
Larji engineers clarify
Kalam to address House
Growers cold to kiwi, strawberry
Allow alternative route for Chamba Muslims
Galore hospital without any medical officer
SBI plans credit linkage to 1,000 SHGs
Questions raised on students’ tour
Five of family attempt suicide, one dies
Couple arrested for murder
Two arrested in connection with murder
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Cong infighting has stifled growth: BJP
Chamba, December 14 Blasting the ruling Congress government for its bickering and political apathy for the past 20 months of its rule, Mr Kishori Lal said that the progress of the state had come to a standstill. Quoting a recent instance, Mr Kishori Lal pointed out that a Rs 80 crore flagship project for the development and promotion of tourism in the state was put up by the Himachal Pradesh government before the Centre for seeking approval but it was outrightly rejected. This was a glaring example of the hostile relations between the state and the Centre. Reiterating the vision of the previous BJP-led government, Mr Kishori Lal claimed that the BJP was, is and would be for the development and prosperity of the state and that was why the BJP-led government had constituted several milestones in every field of development in the history of Himachal Pradesh, which the Congress could not do since Independence. Mr Kishori Lal also flayed the Congress government for its utter failure in getting any package from the Centre during the recent visit of Mrs Sonia Gandhi to Shimla while the former Prime Minister Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee had announced a package of Rs 573 crore to Himachal Pradesh last year. For the Congress, the proposed cement plant at Chamba had become merely an ‘election stunt’ as the Congress had always used this cement plant for winning the elections, alleged Mr Kishori Lal. He said all was set to launch the cement plant costing Rs 650 crore during the previous BJP-led NDA government but unfortunately when the Congress party assumed power at the Centre the hopes of about 15,000 persons, who were to benefit from the project, were dashed. |
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CM for all over industrialisation
Shimla, December 14 The Chief Minister said this while addressing a meeting of the Baddi, Barotiwala and Nalagarh Industrialists’ Association, last evening. “We are keen that the benefits of industrialisation and job opportunities must go to people all over the state, as such entrepreneurs should set up their units in new areas,” he stressed. He announced the government was contemplating having a new more liberal and entrepreneur friendly industrial policy, giving a boost to industrialisation. “The government will provide all possible assistance for setting up units in which local raw material is used so as to benefit locals,” he said. Mr Virbhadra Singh said the government had set up special industrial area development authorities, to ensure proper development and growth of the industrial townships. “The entrepreneurs should construct colonies and hutments for the workers in the industrial towns only, for which land would be provided. He added all such constructions could be undertaken by HIMUDA as workers should not be made to live in sub-human conditions. The Chief Minister, emphasised that the entrepreneurs would have to fulfil the condition of providing maximum employment to Hiamchalis, besides participating in the social and economic development of the state. |
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BJP for direct recruitment in industries
Shimla, December 14 Addressing a press conference here today, he said that when these industrial units were enjoying all concessions under the industrial package like the 10-year tax holiday then why should they not ensure employment to Himachalis. “It is surprising that those setting up their units in Himachal Pradesh are recruiting people through contractors and not directly and the government is not taking any action,” he quipped. He said that an industrial unit should recruit employees itself so that it was accountable and there was no exploitation at the hands of the contractors. Dr Bindal said that though the government talked of rooting out corruption but it was intriguing how some private concerns, whose MoUs for executing power projects were rejected by the previous BJP regime, were now being reconsidered by the government. “A Cabinet sub-committee had been constituted by the BJP regime to look into the delay in starting of work at three power projects and it was after due consideration that their MoUs were cancelled,” he stated. He said that one of the three companies had even misstated some facts while others were unable to start work on time. The three projects for which the government was renegotiating were 70 MW Damwari Sunda, 16 MW Neugal and 17 MW Sai Koli projects he said. “There is every reason for us to doubt the intentions of the government as concerns, which had been found to be unsuitable by us, were now being considered by the present regime,” he said. Dr Bindal also expressed surprise over the new policy in the Irrigation and Public Health Department where the private parties undertaking work on the scheme would be entrusted with the responsibility of monitoring and maintaining it. “This amounts to deceiving the unemployed youth as now they will be at the mercy of the private contractors rather than being employed by the government,” he said. |
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Minister defends signing of MoU
Shimla, December 14 In a statement issued here, he said that it was the BJP regime which had signed the MoU on fiscal reforms in April, 1999. “It is surprising that people who had agreed to the very harsh conditions for reducing expenditure, including a ban on filling all posts and imposing fee in hospitals, were now crying hoarse on the government being anti-people,” he remarked. Mr Rao said the government had now renegotiated certain conditions of the MoU and got relaxation in the original draft to protect the interest of the state and its people. “This will help in ensuring fiscal stability and the government will take care that the interest of the employees and the public are not affected,” he assured. Mr Rao said several states in the country had signed such MoU’s as will help in getting additional assistance form the Central Government and external aid from agencies like the World Bank. “The signing of the MoU will pave the way for more assistance which had come to a standstill during the BJP regime and already a Rs 570-crore new Kandi project had been cleared by the World Bank,” he said. He said the MoU should be seen in the right perspective as it is not an end in itself but a means to restructure expenditure so that the interest of the poor and weaker sections were protected. |
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Public funds used for
Sonia’s birthday: Rana
Chandigarh, December 14 Public funds, Mr Rana said, should be spent on developmental work and the welfare of the state but the Virbhadra Government, which was already in a debt-trap, was busy polishing the image of the Congress President urged to the CAG to take note of this financial impropriety. |
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DC’s residence sinking
Hamirpur, December 14 Constructed in 1923 as the Forest Rest House, the house was occupied by the first Deputy Commissioner of Hamirpur on September 1, 1972, when Hamirpur was made a district by the then Congress government led by Dr Yashwant Singh Parmar. Since then it has remained the official residence of Deputy Commissioners of the district. At the time of its construction, it was a single-storeyed house. However, over the years more rooms were added to the old structure and even its first floor was constructed. At that time, no one knew that the expansion of the house would weaken the whole structure in future. The present occupant of the house, Devesh Kumar, is living there along with his wife Dr Pallavi Gupta. The couple is having sleepless nights these days as huge cracks appear in the house each day. Though the repair work of the house has been started on a war footing, the scars of cracks can still be seen. A visit to the house revealed that cracks had appeared in the ground floor bed rooms and toilet. No one dares to enter these rooms as they have been termed unsafe. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Devesh Kumar, however, refused to say anything more about the poor condition of the house. He, however, said he had not asked the state government to arrange for another suitable house for him. He said,‘‘I have not taken any decision to this effect yet as the repair work is on in the house’’. Mr B.S. Bhardwaj, Executive Engineer of the Public Works Department, admitted that the Deputy Commissioner’s house was unsafe. However, no official communication in this regard has been sent to the state government, he added. He, however, said the work on the construction of a retaining wall and repair of the house was on. Though the PWD is not supposed to repair houses of other departments yet the repair work was going on being deposit work. Mr Bhardwaj said the house was sinking because it was old, had weak muddy foundations and even the quality of soil under the house was poor. He said the repair work would be completed soon. Mr Jagdish Thakur, the government contractor who was personally supervising the construction work, was also upset over the poor condition of the house. He told The Tribune at the construction work site this afternoon that the condition of the house was pitiable. He said repair work was on and a sum of Rs 4.5 lakh was being spent on this project. Meanwhile, a search is on for providing an alternate house to the Deputy Commissioner in case he wants to move out of his present residence in view of the danger. Sources in the state government told The Tribune that in case Ekant (official residence of Hamirpur Deputy Commissioner) was declared unsafe, the Deputy Commissioner could move to the main bazaar rest house or to an under construction house of the Additional Deputy Commissioner, close to
Ekant. |
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Arrest Chamba’s decay,
plead citizens
CHAMBA: The decision of the Himachal Government declaring Chamba, the capital of the erstwhile Chamba state, as a “heritage town”, will go a long way in preserving its rich cultural heritage, including ancient temples and magnificent monumental buildings.
The town is fast becoming a concrete slum, with no check on unruly and unwarranted constructions springing up everywhere in the town. Such constructions are also coming up at precarious hillsides, thereby giving rise to soil erosion and landslips around Chamba town. The legendary town of Chamba has a rich heritage not only in terms of precious stone mass and valuable structural bulk but also in terms of environmental, aesthetical and urban design quality. After Independence, the indiscriminate exploitation of open land by public sector agencies either for allotment to private people or for unmindful constructions has resulted in total degradation of the town’s valuable assets. The state government and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) authorities are overlooking Chamba’s heritage. The edifice of Akhand Chandi Palace, which is a real focal point of historical background of the town, is facing an imminent danger of tumbling down due to the government’s neglect. It is being utilised as an ordinary, old structure for a government college. Every building proposal is being permitted without giving proper thought. This has given rise to unauthorised encroachments and squalid housing. There are encroachments galore and shabby, wooden structures (khokhas) all around in Sultanpur, Baloo, Hardaspura and Moogla are going unnoticed. In order to prevent further degradation of this heritage town, elderly citizens of the town have requested Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh to bring Chamba under the Himachal Pradesh Town and Country Planning Act as early as possible and strictly implement the heritage bylaws. |
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Larji engineers clarify
Mandi, December 14 Mr R.K. Kahol, vice-president, HPSEB, Project Engineers Association, said though the Larji project was small in size, its underground components such as de-sanding chambers and a head race tunnel were as big as that of the Nathpa-Jakhri project.” A sum of Rs 40 crore had been added to the cost of the Larji project as they had to construct a traffic tunnel extra to connect the Kulu-Mandi national highway.
— TNS |
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Kalam to address House
Shimla, December 14 It will be for the first time that the President of the country will address members of the Legislative Assembly in Himachal. During his two-day visit to the state, President Kalam will also visit Manali and Shimla. As per the programme, he will fly from Chandigarh to Manali on December 22 and then drive straight to Naggar to pay a visit to famous Roerich’s Art Gallery. He is likely to stop at a government school en route to Naggar. |
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Growers cold to kiwi, strawberry
Shimla, December 14 In a bid to encourage farmers to take to cultivation of these new fruits, the state Horticulture Department, under its Horticulture Technology Mission, is providing subsidy and other concessions for diversification of crops. Plans of the department and the HPMC to undertake processing of kiwi and strawberry at its units has not really taken off as their requirement of the fruit is not met as the area under its cultivation is small. Referred to as ‘fruit bowl’ of the country, it is only cultivation of apples, oranges, mangoes and stone fruits which has been undertaken by the fruit growers on a large scale in Himachal. New fruits like kiwi and strawberry, introduced a few years back, have not really caught the fancy of the growers as they are unable to get good returns. An area of 105 hectares is under kiwi cultivation with an annual production of 238 metric tonne. The main areas of cultivation are in Kullu, Shimla, Solan, Mandi and Sirmour districts. The area under strawberry in the entire state is a mere 27 hectares with production of only 122 metric tonne. The main areas of cultivation are concentrated at Poanta Sahib in Sirmour district, Solan, Kullu and Mandi. The government processing units have come out with kiwi drink and strawberry crush and jam but till their requirement of the fruit is not met they cannot undertake large scale production. “No doubt finding the right market for these fruits is still a problem but if there is emphasis on quality, size and grade, a grower can get excellent prices for his produce,” feels Mr R.P. Sharma, Director Horticulture. He says kiwi is such a heavy bearing crop that even if it fetches a price of Rs 20 per kg the grower stands to gain. If the crop is of a good quality, it can fetch anything upto Rs 100 per kg, he adds. Experts say kiwi is a fruit with a very long shelf life and as such there is no urgency of marketing. “The farmers are being imparted knowledge the right technique through training camps, advising them to undertake thinning so that they get a big sized fruit,” says Mr Sharma. On the other hand, the major problem with strawberry is that it has a shelf life of 48 to 72 hours and has to be marketed fast. Moreover, being a very delicate crop it grows well in poly-houses. |
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Allow alternative route for Chamba Muslims
Chamba, December 14 In his 12-point demand charter submitted to Mr Virbhadra Singh, Himachal Chief Minister, Mr Bharti said that the poor Muslims could not afford to travel from Chamba to Lahore via Delhi, adding that the existing route should be changed and permitted from Chamba to Lahore via Pathankot-Amritsar so that they could travel from Chamba to Lahore frequently and meet their relative in Pakistan easily. Mentioning about the woes of the Muslim Gujjars residing on the alpine border ranges of Chamba district in Himachal Pradesh adjoining Jammu and Kashmir, Mr Bharti requested the government to shift the checkpoints of security forces from the low-laying areas to the high altitude ranges, which was actually the borderline of two states, as it would facilitate the Gujjar families to extract medicinal herbs and graze their livestock, adding that these were the traditional avocations of Gujjar families since time immemorial. Presently, the Gujjar families were facing a problem to earn their livelihood owing to the checkpoints set up on the low-lying areas from where the security personnel did not allow them to move forward for extracting herbs and grazing their cattle, Mr Bharti disclosed, adding that this had badly affected the employment aspect of Gujjars. he requested the government to set up security checkpoints as per the prescribed standard norms. Mr Bharti also sought the status of “other backward classes” (OBCs) to the Muslim community on the basis of pitiable socio-economic conditions of the Gujjar community so that they could be able to derive benefits provided to OBCs by the government. |
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Galore hospital without any medical officer
Hamirpur: The Galore primary health centre in Hamirpur district is facing an acute shortage of medical officers. There are three posts of medical officer in the institution, including one of dental surgeon.
However, the one of the medical officers has been shifted from here without any substitute, and the other is on long leave. The lady doctor on leave is unlikely to return as she was appointed on contract basis and is trying for her transfer to Una district, from where she belongs. A female medical officer has been deputed to visit the institution on alternate days from the Kashmir PHC. It is difficult for the doctor to work at two places. A pharmacist is running the institution in the absence of medical officers. As a result people are rushing from Galore to Hamirpur, Nalti and Kangoo to get themselves treated of various ailments. This hospital was frequented by nearly 70 to 80 patients every day but now their number has gone down to just 20. It is worth mentioning here that this hospital caters to the needs of 20,000 people of 10 gram panchayats of the area. Local people are upset and critical of the attitude of the state government for not sending any medical officer to this place. They alleged that the state government was not taking serious pains to solve their problems. BJP leaders and workers of the area blame the Congress Government in the state and the local Congress leaders and workers for their sufferings. They allege that these persons were mainly responsible for the shifting of the medical officers and other staff from here to other parts of the state. According to them, the lone staff nurse posted here has also been shifted from here to Hamirpur and in her absence the work is being looked after by a trained dai. When contacted, a senior district-level officer admitted that there was shortage of medical officers in the institutions of the area, including Galore hospital. The matter has been referred to the state government for action, he added. He was not sure when the regular man will take over at the Galore hospital. |
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SBI plans credit linkage to 1,000 SHGs
Chamba, December 14 This was stated by Mr S.N. Mahajan, Deputy General Manager, Shimla, zone of the SBI while presiding over an ‘awareness and credit linkage programme’ organised by the SBI here last evening. Mr Mahajan said that the SBI had so far extended credit linkage to 810 self-help groups in Himachal Pradesh during the current year. He said that the SHG concept was a credit innovation and had a special place in the alternative rural credit delivery system. It was based on the principal that poor people were bankable and they could also develop saving habit. Providing finance to the poor after organising them into homogenous groups, commonly known as SHGs, had given salutary results in India and abroad specially among the poor rural women, Mr Mahajan further said. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Jagdish Kumar, Assistant General Manager of the SBI, informed that the branches of the SBI were providing in bulk direct as well as indirect credit to the members of the SHGs. This was being done taking into account the extent of poverty in the area and the estimated credit absorption capacity, which in turn depended on the capacity to save, invest and repay. The SBI was also extending credit to the SHG member under the sahyog niwas yojna for construction, repair and purchase of plots to the extent of Rs 50,000 repayable in 15 years, he added. The SBI branch managers of the district, who did a commendable work in the field of SHGs during the current year, were also honoured on the occasion. |
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Questions raised on students’ tour
Kangra, December 14 Dr
A.K. Misra in a letter to the Principal of the college, has said that it is not in the interest of the college and its students that travel agents accommodates them in expensive hotels, where a glass of milk costs Rs 45 and a meal Rs 180. Dr Misra has said it is the right of both poor and rich students to participate in educational tour but as things stood, the poor students were being deprived of this right. He has also asked as to why no women staff member is accompanying the students, forcing the college authorities to allow wives of the male staff to be part of the tour. This year, 73 students are participating in the tour, including 43 girl students. According to sources, the college has seven woman lecturers and none has agreed to accompany the girl students. The DAV management has been a silent spectator to the situation. When contacted, Mr S.K. Sharma, Principal, said the college tour was not the responsibility of the college as it was being organised by the students’ elected body,
SCA, which had arranged for the travel agents. He said the college was only helping the students in arranging for rail tickets. Mr O.P. Sharma, Director of Education, said when the college was arranging for rail tickets for the students, tour management was the responsibility of the college and not the elected students’ group. |
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Five of family attempt suicide, one dies
Solan, December 14 The family members, Sohan Lal, his mother Navrati (60), wife Anita Devi (32), son Sanju and daughter Mamta were rushed to the Community Health Centre, Nalagarh for treatment where Mamta was declared brought dead, while the others were referred to the PGI, Chandigarh. A case under Section 309 of the IPC was registered against them by the Barotiwala police and further investigations were being conducted. A poisonous substance was later recovered from their residence. The matter was reported to the police by the landlord, Sita Ram, whose wife noticed the entire family lying unconscious at their second floor residence around 9 this morning. Sohan Lal was a small-time contractor. Poverty was stated to be the reason behind the suicide, revealed initial police investigations. |
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Couple arrested for murder
Hamirpur, December 14 The ASP said after registering a case under Section 302 of Indian Penal Code following the recovery of body of Jagdish, the police swung into action and finally recovered the washed clothes of the deceased from the shop of Hem Raj. He said during interrogation it was revealed that the deceased had gone to the shop of Hem Raj after taking liquor with two other persons. The motive behind the murder was still a mystery and the police was interrogating the couple. |
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Two arrested in connection with murder
Hamirpur, December 14 He said that during an inquiry it was revealed that Jagdish had gone to the shop of Hem Raj after taking liquor with two other persons. The motive behind the death of Jagdish was still a mystery and the police was interrogating the couple to dig out information regarding the motive of the murder. |
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