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Man sees conspiracy behind son’s death
Plan to reduce sales tax on diesel, LPG
Govt move to boost mega projects
Rs 90 cr for development of Sirmaur, Chamba dists
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Residents decry closure of schools
Poor healthcare in Chamba
Two women killed in accident
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Man sees conspiracy behind son’s death
Shimla, May 5 Demanding a CBI inquiry into the matter, Mr
H.O.P. Gupta, a retired forest officer, says it is only with the intervention of the top authorities that the mystery behind the disappearance and death of his son can be unraveled. “Unfortunately, for me, three nations are involved in the case as he went missing from a ship in the UAE on March, 18 and his body was found in Oman four days later and I am a common man with no high-level connections here in India,” says a broken Mr Gupta. “The manner in which the people on the ship dealt with the matter and intentional delay in informing the family as well as the coastal guards, I can say with certainty that my son was murdered,” alleges Mr Gupta. Tarun, an engineer from Nagpur, leaves behind his 27-year-old wife,
Rashmi, and a one-year-old son, Tushaar. As per the sequence of events narrated by Mr Gupta, a scuffle reportedly took place between Tarun and the Chief Engineer of the Abdul Kalam Azad ship on March, 17, after which the former’s leave was sanctioned from the day the ship was to reach Mumbai. “The very fact that on December, 28, last year, Tarun had made a complaint about some illegal and unlawful activity taking place on the ship, involving some officers, is the basis enough for a thorough probe into the matter at the highest level,” says Mr Gupta. The DGM of Shipping Corporation of India, Mr R.S.
Peswani, when contacted at Mumbai, said an inquiry by the Shipping Master was being held into the case. He refused to divulge any further details to the media. Mr Gupta says despite being the father of the deceased, he has not been informed about the progress of the inquiry and has been told that he will be intimated once the inquiry is complete. After being informed about the disappearance of his son, Mr Gupta met officials of the Ministry of Shipping Transportation, the Ministry of External Affairs, and the Embassy of the UAE to help locate his son. “After being informed that an unidentified body had been found, I went to Oman on April, 5, and found it was my son’s body,” he says. Tarun went missing from the ship at 5.30 am on March 18 in the UAE and his body was found in the waters of Oman, at a distance of 120 km, on March, 22. |
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Plan to reduce sales tax on diesel, LPG
Shimla, May 5 Stating this at a press conference, here today, Mr Rangila Ram Rao, the Excise and Taxation Minister said at present the rate of sales tax on diesel was 4 per cent, which was on the higher side compared to the neighbouring states. It was 8.8 per cent in Punjab and 12 per cent in Haryana. He said the Cabinet would soon take a decision in this regard. He said the government would also find way to ensure that the prices of cooking gas were contained. He said the Centre had agreed to the state’s request to exempt chemical fertilisers, on which 4 per cent tax was being charged, from VAT. The Army canteens had also been kept out of the purview of VAT. With this 45 items had been exempted from VAT and as many as 78 had been placed in the 4 per cent tax bracket. He maintained that prices would come down after the traders start taking benefit of the input tax. There had been a slight increase in prices initially wherever VAT was introduced. He said there could be no increase in prices as VAT was not a new tax, it only replaced the sales tax. Regarding the tax imposed on the transportation of pharma products, he said the new levy had been put on hold. The government was planning to rationalise it.
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Govt move to boost mega projects
Shimla, May 5 The board will scrutinise proposals, study their viability and get project reports prepared. It will take care of project development and stage and then assign it to private parties for implementation. The government has informed all departments to put up proposals before the board to be pursued under the programme. The entire expenditure on the development of the project will initially be borne by the board. It will be recovered from the private party to which the project is assigned. The government has earmarked Rs 300 crore that will take shape of a revolving fund as the project gets under way. |
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Rs 90 cr for development of Sirmaur, Chamba dists
Nahan, May 5 This was stated by Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, after laying the foundation stone of a rest house at Bhawai in Sirmaur district today. He said the yojna was being implemented for the overall development of the districts. The Chief Minister said the government would consider cases of encroachments on government land on priority. He said the accelerated power development and reforms programme was being implemented all over the state to provide improved power supply. He said a vast network of transformers was being created to fulfil the demand of power. |
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Residents decry closure of schools
Nurpur, May 5 They locked the school building on Tuesday to prevent the authorities concerned from shifting school furniture and other material to any other school. They staged dharnas against the authorities. A woman ward member, who is spearheading the agitation, alleged that the government had adopted double standard while closing the schools. She claimed that the school was having 26 students. The government had spent Rs 4 lakh on the school building for which a villager had donated land. Similarly, residents of Sahora gram panchayat are also protesting against the closure of government primary schools at Sohara and Jumbh Khas, Fetehpur tehsil, where over thirty pupils were studying. They too locked the school rooms and staged a
dharna. They warned that they would resort to traffic blockade, if the government failed to revoke the decision. They termed the decision to close those schools that fulfilled the criterion of students’ strength as irriational and anti-education. The state government has ordered closure of schools having pupil strength below 20 and that are situated at a distance of 2 km from their nearest schools. Ten primary schools have been closed in Nurpur and Jawali subdivisions. There is a demand for a fresh survey in this connection. |
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Poor healthcare in Chamba
Chamba, May 5 The primary health centres in Bharmour, Pangi and Churah subdivisions are without physicians and specialists. The hospital at Killar, the sub-divisional headquarters of the Pangi valley needs a gynaecologist, anesthetist and surgeon. Most health centres have either been locked or are being run by pharmacists. In Chamba district, 18 posts of doctors, 26 posts of pharmacists, 41 posts of staff nurses, 12 laboratory technicians, three operation assistants, two radiographers, four female health supervisors, 12 assistants, 12 clerks, 17 midwives, four cleaners, nine drivers, 51 class-IV employees and 35 safai karamcharis are still vacant. |
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Two women killed in accident
Solan, May 5 The women, who had sustained grievous injuries in the accident, were rushed to the Regional Hospital where they died. The driver of the truck fled from the scene. A case for rash and negligent driving was registered under Sections 337, 279 and 304-A of the IPC by the police. |
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