 |
|
SC notice to HP power board on Larji project
Panchayat projects
to ease water scarcity
Fisheries Federation faces closure
Get ready for mid-term poll, says Naqvi
Virbhadra writing autobiography
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
BSNL celebrates foundation day
Boy slapped 70 times for “misbehaviour”
Municipal workers hold rally
|
|
SC notice to HP power board on Larji project
New Delhi, October 1 Taking cognisance of the ERC’s appeal in at least six cases in a joint Special Leave Petition (SLP), including the controversial Larji project, a Bench of Mr Justice S.N. Variava and Mr Justice Tarun Chatterjee issued notice to the HPSEB, seeking its reply on the issues raised by the regulator. Senior advocate Mukul Rohtagi, appearing for the ERC said the HPSEB was virtually on a confrontation course with the regulator on almost in every order passed by it by making it a practice to rush to the high court, which “strangely” had passed interim directions in all of them without taking into account that the Appellate Tribunal has been set up in Himachal Pradesh to hear appeals against the Commission’s order. The ERC said as per the “explicit reports” by expert bodies against the board submitted following an inquiry ordered by it a “large amount of compensation has been paid to the contractors on unfounded grounds and further allowed them interest-free advances and over-payment contrary to the terms and conditions of the contract agreement.” But the high court had “erred” in granting the stay on the face of such findings against the board officials, including its Chairman and members, the SLP contended. The regulator had issued notice to the power board on high cost escalation and excessive completion period in respect of Larji project. But this was challenged by the board in the high court, the SLP said, adding that a committee of experts set up by the ERC to look into the matter, had submitted its report on May 24, pointing out the lapses on the part of board’s Chairman and members for their decision on over-running the cost of the project with the recommendation of appropriate action against them. Even the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) had given an “adverse” report against the power board but the ERC “is deprived of taking any action pursuant to the said reports in view of the stay granted” by the high court, the SLP said. As regulator’s counsel sought stay of the high court, the Bench on Friday told him to wait for the HPSEB reply. Besides, the Larji project issue, the other five cases in which stay was granted by the high court include the commission’s order summoning the board’s Chairman and members, stay of direction on tariff order of June 29 for 2005-06, show-cause notice to the HPSEB on the contravention of the panel’s directions, stay on another tariff order for 2005-06 and 2004-05 passed on application of certain consumers and another show-cause notice to the board for taking contrary action to its directives. It said on the other hand when the commission filed a petition before the high court on September 27 seeking transfer of all HPSEB cases to the Appellate Tribunal after it was constituted, the high court rejected it on a “strange” ground that the cases were pending before it prior to the tribunal becoming functional. Raising several questions of law, the ERC counsel said it had to be examined whether the high court had not “erred in exercising its power without appreciating the pros and cons of the case… or not transferring them to the tribunal nor fixing a date of hearing in the matter for expeditious disposal in view of the tariff fixation every year by the ERC.” When the Appellate Tribunal had been put in place, there was an alternative remedy available to the power board under law to file appeals against the commission’s order, the intervention of the high court in these cases was “absolutely uncalled for”, he said. |
|
Panchayat projects
to ease water scarcity
Hamirpur, October 1 It all started six-months back with the panchayat sinking a hand-pump in Badera village, which eased the shortage in water supply by providing nine hours of continuous supply to 40 taps in the village. Inspired by its success, the panchayat following the same model in Majhili village. Nearing completion, the project would give interrupted potable water supply to 52 houses in the village. Lekh Raj Sharma, president of the Majhili panchayat, said this was for the first time in the state that a panchayat had set an example of self-help by finding a viable solution to scarcity of drinking water. Both the projects have been funded entirely by the panchayat by mobilising money out of the various schemes of the state and Central governments. The electricity bill for the submersible pumps is shared by the residents of the village. “In Badera village, where the scheme is functional, every household contributes Rs 10 towards the electricity bill. We did not take any financial help from any department to make it a success and it is all at people’s initiative,” he said. “The panchayat spent Rs 1.10 lakh for the installations in Badera and an amount of Rs 1.32 lakh in Manjhili. A sum of Rs 70,000 was contributed by the local MLA in Majhili,” he added. The panchayat has taken permission from the Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department for using their network of water pipes for the scheme. “Till 9:30 am, we get supply from the IPH and around 2 pm, we start our own supply to ensure that people do not face any problem,” said Mr Sharma. Savitri Devi, a resident of Badera village, said that earlier they had to carry water from far-off bowris but now there was nothing like shortage of potable water. “Besides, the water from the regular IPH supply was not clean as it comes from Kanju scheme, the source of which is no better than a drain,” she said. Hakam Singh, vice-president of the Manjhili panchayat, said before the project, they used to get supply only in the morning and water was not fit for drinking during rainy season as the source of the IPH supply used to get clogged with mud and slush. Many other villages in the area have expressed their interest to replicate the project to get rid of water crisis,” he said. “The fact that most of the traditional sources of water like wells and bowris are not covered or chlorinated during the rainy season, it was a major cause of spread of water-borne diseases in the area. But now this problem would be removed,” added Sharma. |
|
Fisheries Federation faces closure
Mandi, October 1 Insiders in the Fisheries Federation told The Tribune that the losses have been piling up since 1994 when the fishermen themselves started black marketing the fish during the lean season to maximise their profits. They sold the fish to the federation only during summer when they got no prices from the private contractors. The fishermen pleaded that they would pay 7 per cent commission to the federation, but would not sell the fish through it. The federation has to foot a monthly bill of Rs 1.75 lakh of its 22 employees which is a major reason for its losses. Another reason for the sad plight of the federation is that only six cooperatives near Bilaspur town were selling fish to the federation. All of its sale deports in Sundernagar, Hamirpur, Ghumarawin, Mehatpur in Una had been shut down in April. The six societies owe payment worth Rs 10 lakh to the federation. The societies in Jorhpatan, Bhakra and others downstream the Bhakra Dam have stopped selling fish to the federation. Instead, they have subcontracted the marketing to private contractors, revealed the fishermen. The Chairman, BoD of the federation, Mr Munshi Ram, said that he met the Chief Minister and requested him to absorb the 22 employees in the department as they have put in 20 to 26 years in service.
|
|
Get ready for mid-term poll, says Naqvi
Palampur, October 1 Therefore, people should be ready for a mid-term poll. Because of increasing political differences between the Congress and Left parties, there was a possibility that these parties would withdraw support before the Assembly elections in West Bengal and Kerala. Mr Naqvi, who was addressing a press conference here this afternoon, said the common man was fed up with the “anti-people” policies or the UPA region. The prices of essential commodities like LPG, mustard oil and foodgrains had touched new high. LPG prices had been revised five times. Likewise, the prices of petrol and diesel had registered a steep hike. He said the “wrong” policies and “faulty” planning of the government had brought the nation on the verge of bankruptcy. There was unrest among government and public undertaking employees. This was evident from the fact the strike on September 29 in the country on a call given by the Left parties had received an overwhelming response. Criticising the decision of the UPA government to allow Hurriyat leaders to visit Pakistan, he said it was highly uncalled for. These leaders had defied orders of the Union Government and visited those places prohibited by the Union Government. These leaders had launched an anti-India propaganda and met the hardcore militants in Pakistan. He said such steps of the government were an open threat to the security and integrity of the country. He said the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh had promised jobs to unemployed youths in the state, but it had imposed a complete ban on fresh recruitment and had also signed an MoU with the Union Government to reduce the strength of its employees by 30 per cent by introducing the golden shake hand scheme.
|
|
Virbhadra writing autobiography
Dalhousie, October 1 Delving into the past of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Mr Virbhadra Singh, described the BJP as a clone of Jan Singh, which had opposed the move of reorganisation of Himachal Pradesh on November 1, 1966 and the Land Reforms Act enacted by the Congress governments from time to time. “The graph of the BJP is declining with the dissensions and infight going on in the BJP in a big way”, Mr Virbhadra Singh felt. He described assumption of power by the previous BJP Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal on March 24, 1998, as a tragedy with the state. Mr Virbhadra Singh accused the BJP of playing a politics of casteism and regionalism and also working for its own vested interests. Mr Virbhadra Singh said that a sum of Rs 500 crore had been released out of Rs 4000 crore financial package approved by the Union Government for Himachal Pradesh for providing supply of drinking water to 6,000 villages in the state. |
|
BSNL celebrates foundation day
Solan, October 1 Ten new BTS towers had been installed in the Solan Secondary Switching Area comprising districts Solan and Sirmaur. The department had broadened its network by providing on demand broadband facilities. MANDI: The BSNL will start the broadband Internet service in Mandi and Sundernagar towns this month. Stating this here on the fifth anniversary of the BSNL today, BSNL GM Pradeep Kumar said the equipment for the broadband was being set up and the clients would access the Internet at the speed of the 2556 kbps. Sarkaghat, Jogindernagar, and Karsog would be covered in the next phase.
|
|
|
Boy slapped 70 times for “misbehaviour”
Solan, October 1 On Monday morning, the student managed to find a seat near his teacher in a crowded bus while coming from his native village near Yashwant Nagar to reach the school. On reaching the school, she reprimanded him and then asked the girl-students to slap him for “objectionable” behaviour on the bus. She did not report the matter to the Principal on that day. The matter had been resolved after the boy had given a written apology. The Principal, Ms Swarn Bassi, disapproved of the treatment meted out to the boy. According to her, the matter should have been reported to the four member disciplinary committee which could have taken suitable action against the boy. The teacher, too, had been warned not to repeat such instances in future. Members of the Parents-Teachers Association, however, opined that being Dalits, the boy and his parents were pressurised to write an apology. They termed the teacher’s mode of punishment as harsh and unfair. |
|
|
Municipal workers hold rally
Shimla, October 1 They threatened if action was taken against them they would “retaliate”. They raised slogans against the councillors and the MC authorities. It is owing to the stern stand taken by the councillors against absenteeism and poor performance of safai karamcharis that a situation of confrontation has arisen. It was during the monthly meeting of the MC that some councillors had pointed out that the safai karamcharis were found missing from duty and as such there were heaps of garbage and filth all around. Retaliating to these allegations, the Shimla Municipal Workers Federation levelled charges of corruption against the councillors. The federation alleged that the councillors were taking commission in awarding contracts. The Mayor, Mr Sohan Lal, refuted the allegation and demanded proof of the same. |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
