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Forest rest houses to get facelift
Demand for Dhumal’s
resignation baseless: BJP
Gram panchayat members up in arms against school management
Panchayats to have supervisory powers over govt functionaries
Korean team visits Doon school
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Schedule H drugs being
sold without prescription
Baddi a haven for drug smugglers
One killed in road accident
1 killed, one injured in accident
Contempt proceedings dropped against
ex-minister
Employees threaten statewide agitation
Examination rescheduled
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Forest rest houses to get facelift
Shimla, January 3 The officials of the Tourism and Civil Aviation Department have held talks with the Forest Department so that forest rest houses and wildlife sanctuaries and national parks can be opened to visitors in a major way. An aggressive marketing strategy would be adopted so that activities related to eco-tourism can be promoted without disturbing the ecological balance of the area. It is felt that with states like Uttaranchal and Madhya Pradesh being able to sell their wildlife sanctuaries, Himachal should also venture into this area. The state has two national parks and 32 wildlife sanctuaries. Eco-tourism societies have been established to cover the Great Himalayan National Park (Kullu), Himalayan Nature Park (Shimla), Renuka Wildlife Sanctuary (Sirmaur) and Potter’s Hill Van Vihar (Shimla). The Tourism Department has got publicity material printed with attractive brochures on Pong Dam wetland, angling sites, the Naldehra Golf Club and adventure sports activities. To begin with, some forest rest houses will be given a facelift and modern amenities would be provided. The department received a sum of Rs 8.50 crore for infrastructure development of Mandi and Chamba sectors yesterday. The Union Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation has approved a sum of Rs 8 crore each for Chamba and Mandi sectors. “To begin with, we will select some forest rest houses and upgrade them with all latest facilities and more importantly train their staff in offering standardised services,” said Mr Tarun Shridhar, Director, Tourism. Besides, a mechanism will be developed wherein the Tourism Department will undertake bookings of the Forest rest houses through their website. Most forest rest houses have been built at vantage locations close to wild life areas and nature. The Tourism Department will extend financial support to the Forest Department to improve the facilities in the nature parks and wildlife sanctuaries. Budget will be provided for unexplored virgin areas like Bhandal, Kehar and Bharmaur in Chamba, which are becoming popular with the foreigners.
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Demand for Dhumal’s
resignation baseless: BJP
Kangra, January 3 BJP joint media in charge Rajinder Rana in a statement here today alleged that the Congress government in the state was knee-deep in corruption. He suggested to the Congress leaders that before throwing mud on others they should sweep under their carpet. He said the people could not forget the distribution of jobs on chits during the previous tenure of Mr Virbhadra Singh as Chief Minister. He said the Harsh Gupta and Abhey Shukla committees had clearly reported that there were large-scale irregularities in the appointments during the Chief Ministership of Mr Virbhadra Singh. Mr Rana alleged that allegations of government land grabbing were levelled against the Chief Minister. He said the HP education board had become a den of corruption. He further alleged the needle of suspicion was pointing towards one of the officers of the Chief Minister’s office in connection with the MoU of electricity projects. |
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Gram panchayat members up in arms against school management
Nurpur, January 3 According to Mr Keshav Dutt, pradhan of Chhattar Gram Panchayat, the panchayat had raised objections and had even filed a complaint a few years back with the revenue department but nothing had been done to stop the construction work being carried on the common land in Chachrer Mohal. Intriguingly, following public outcry the school management applied for the allotment of government land on lease after the contraction of the school building. Interestingly, the encroachment proceedings are still going on in the court of the Tehsildar, Nurpur, against the school authorities for “encroaching” upon government land. Sensing a land scam in its jurisdiction, the Chhatar Gram Panchayat, in a communique to the Deputy Commissioner Kangra, strongly objected to the move to allot village common land to a private educational institution which had already “grabbed” the land by raising a building on it. The panchayat has even warned to go to court if the authorities ignored its objections. Mr S.P. Jaswal, Tehsildar of Nurpur, admitted that encroachment proceedings under Section 163 of the Land Revenue Act had been initiated against the principal of the public school a few years ago. He also admitted that as per the rules the government owned land could not be allotted on lease to the “encroacher” whereas in normal cases no objection certificate issue by the gram panchayat concerned was also required before making any allotment to the applicant. “The application of the alleged encroacher for allotment of government land on lease had been submitted to the higher revenue authorities in routine office procedure,” he clarified. Mr Ajit Shekri, manager of the public school was contacted several times for his version but he evaded comment.
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Panchayats to have supervisory powers over govt functionaries
Shimla, January 3 He was speaking at the oath taking ceremony of the newly elected Pradhans from Shimla, Solan, Sirmaur, Kinnaur districts and Spiti sub-division, here today. “We will empower the gram panchayats with supervisory powers over 15 village-level functionaries of the government departments,” he said. Mr Virbhadra Singh said that the panchayats would be empowered to undertake micro-level planning and public utility services like schools, anganwari, primary health centres and other institutions at the village level. “All government projects and schemes would be executed under the supervision of the gram panchayats so that the benefit reaches the target group,” he remarked. The panchayats would be vested with judicial powers so that justice was delivered to people for minor lapses at the panchayat level. “The pradhans should play a pivotal role by bridging the gap between the government and the public and bring all matters to the notice of the officials so that remedial steps can be taken,” he stressed. He exhorted the pradhans to rise above party politics and contribute towards the development of their area. He stressed the need for holding frequent meetings of the gram sabhas so that consensus can be obtained in the decisions of the panchayats. Pradhans will taking over from January, 23 when the term of the earlier panchayats expires.
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Korean team visits Doon school
Nalagarh, January 3 Students presented a cultural programme depicting the Himachali culture and tradition to their Korean counterparts. The Koreans also participated with enthusiasm in almost all programmes. Principal P.N. Ashok, welcoming the Korean delegates, stressed the need for such exchange programmes which strengthened friendship, goodwill and peace at the global level. Principal Jeong Jong Hyo invited students and teachers of the school to visit his country to have an insight into their educational system. Mr Rajeev Sharma, Director of the school, presented a vote of thanks to the delegation. |
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Action plan to save Rewalsar wetlands
Chandigarh: To check further decay of Rewalsar wetlands, the Himachal State Council for Science and Technology, Shimla, has prepared a five-year action plan. The plan, involving an amount of more than Rs 1 crore, was submitted to the Ministry of Environment and Forests last month for approval. Located 24 km from Mandi, the Rewalsar wetlands have religious and ecological importance. Last year, these were included in the list of wetlands of national importance by the ministry. At present, these wetlands are under strain due to pollution, siltation, encroachment and overgrowth of weeds. Over the years, the depth of the wetlands has reduced from 10m to 6m. Weeds cover more than one-sixth of the water body. Mr Prabodh Saxena, Member-Secretary of the council, says the plan was prepared with the participation of stakeholders and local people. He says earlier four streamlets were feeding the lake. Now there is a plan to relink these with the lake so that the water quality and quantity could be improved. Mr Deepak Sethi, Project Associate (Wetlands) of the council, says there is also a proposal to treat the catchment of the lake by increasing green cover and constructing silt-detention dams. The total catchment area of the lake is 170 hectares, out of which 53 per cent can be categorised as agricultural. There is also a proposal to set up a herbal garden to conserve biodiversity of the area with the participation of the local people. Seven lakes that exist in the upper part of Rewalsar will also be treated. Septic tanks, constructed around the water body, are also putting tremendous pressure on it. Most of the tanks don’t adhere to specific standards, resulting in the seepage of pollutants into the lake. For this, the council has asked the Rewalsar Notified Area Committee to replace leaky tanks. The council has also asked the committee to check rapid construction activity within 100m of the lake boundary. A religious tradition like feeding the fish is also a significant contributor to pollution. For this, the council has planned to construct a fish-feeding platform at a specific area. “A study will be conducted to know aquatic fauna, the carrying capacity of the lake, the impact of pollutants on the fish and hydrobiological conditions of the lake,” says Mr Sethi.
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Schedule H drugs being
sold without prescription
Solan, January 3 The fact that 37 capsules were also found from the car of the deceased also corroborate easy availability of the drug in the town. The drug is prescribed for severe colic pain and is meant to be sold on the prescription of a doctor. It is also found in an injection form. The drug has sedative effect and it affects the central nervous system. An overdose in extreme situation can lead to depression of the respiratory system causing death, said a doctor at the regional hospital here. It is a derivative of opium and induces sleep. The post mortem examination report of the deceased is awaited but officials of the Drugs Department have taken steps to check its sale in the region. In the town today several chemist shops were checked. Drug inspecto — Manish Thakur, said spasmo proxyvon was available in the market to the youth but no chemist was found in possession of the drug. It is a legal drug prescribed by doctors. He did not rule out the possibility of non-chemists selling these on the sly and added that search was on to catch such dealers. In another case at Parwanoo a few months ago a man who had locked himself in a hotel room after an overdose of these capsules was arrested by the police. He had beaten up his wife and had later taken refuge in a hotel. A large number of proxyvon capsules had also been discovered from his room by the police. Concerned parents rue that easy availability of the drug had made the youth addicted to them. Empty bottles of cough syrup and capsule strips are found in public toilets, revealed a section of parents. |
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Baddi a haven for drug smugglers
Baddi, January 3 The bordering area of Punjab and Haryana has proved a major hurdle in checking the smuggling. Though the police has kept a tight vigil of the routes connecting the bordering area, certain routes are yet out of reach of the police to check the illegal activities. The belt is also used an alternate way to carry the smuggling goods to neighbouring states. A massive presence of labourers is another major factor promoting the smuggling. As per data collected for 2005, the police seized over 3,000 bottles of liquor. 90 kg of poppy husk was seized in five major cases. In addition to it, the police had also seized 3 kg charas, 1.20 kg opium and 1 kg ganja. A man from Makuri Kalan in Ropar has been booked under the NDPS Act. Poppy husk and opium were seized from his rented accommodation at Maganpura near Nalagarh. |
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One killed in road accident
Reckong Peo, January 3 According to reports from the district headquarters here, O.P. Negi, alias Deva, coming from Khab to Pooh, met with the accident near Dubling village. He died on the spot while his driver Raj Kumar was seriously injured. He was rushed to the Army hospital at Pooh where his condition was stated to be The condition of roads are bad in Kinnaur district. The flash floods in Sutlej that had struck the region in June last year had damaged them.
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1 killed, one injured in accident
Nahan, January 3 As per reports received here late this evening, a truck (HR-58-2490) loaded with limestone, which was on its way to Dadahu, rolled into a deep gorge. The driver of the ill-fated truck, Sunil (24), a resident of Ambon in Sangrah tehsil, succumbed to his injuries while on the way to Dadahu Hospital. The cleaner of the truck, Nand Ram, was admitted to Dadahu Hospital in a critical condition. |
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Contempt proceedings dropped against
ex-minister
Shimla, January 3 A Division Bench, comprising the Chief Justice, Mr Vinod Kumar Gupta, and Mr Justice Deepak Gupta, accepted her apology and disposed of a reference petition submitted by the Chamba Sessions Judge in the matter. The Sessions Judge had submitted in its reference that her behavior during appearance in this court during hearing of a criminal case was not proper and hence she had |
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Employees threaten statewide agitation
Kangra, January 3 Mr Suresh Thakur, state president of the association, in a statement here today denounced the decision of the Cabinet that the Sethi Commission recommendations would not be implemented in the state. He said the implementation of the recommendations would no way burden the state exchequer. Mr Thakur said by implementing these recommendations the disparity of the pay and allowances between the judicial employees and the other state government employees would be removed. |
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Examination rescheduled
Shimla, January 3 According to the Controller of Examination, the question paper of this course was by mistake opened today. This examination will now be held on January 9 at 9 am instead of January 5.
— TNS |
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