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EC notices to 12 legislators
BJP resents cases against party MLAs
Control room to keep watch on avian flu
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Students to travel 20 km to take exam
2 arrested for kidnapping taxi driver
Farmers not keen on growing stone fruits
Nod to Draft Bill on private
varsities
BJP seeks probe into cops’ recruitment
Plea to rename Chamba town
Bill to check fee in private colleges
CM presents demands for grants
Irregularities in written test alleged
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EC notices to 12 legislators
Shimla, February 22 The petition was filed by Mr Ravinder Ravi, chief whip of the BJP, with the Governor, who in turn made a reference to the commission to seek its opinion in accordance with the procedure laid down under Article 192 of the Constitution, on November 5. The legislators to whom notices have been issued are Mr Mukesh Agnihotri, Ms Anita Verma, Mr Tek Chand, Mr Lajja Ram, Mr Jagat Singh Negi, Mr Sudhir Sharma, Mr Thakur Singh Bharmouri, Dr Prem Singh, Mr Harsh Wardhan, Mr Harbhajan Singh, Mr Surinder Kumar and Mr Raghubir Singh. They have been asked to file replies, along with supporting documents, by March 16 failing which the commission will assume that they have nothing to say in the matter. The petitioner has pleaded that since the high court had held the appointment of chief parliamentary and parliamentary secretaries as “void ab initio” they should be deemed to have held an “office of profit” during their tenure in office, which attracted disqualification. The legislators have challenged the verdict in the Supreme Court, but the judgement has not been stayed so far. The BJP had earlier asked the government to recover the amount paid as salaries and allowances to these persons, but the demand was rejected. Thereafter, the party filed the petition seeing their disqualification for holding office of profit. Under the law, only ministers could draw salaries and perks. While Mr Mukesh Agnihotri was made the Chief Parliamentary Secretary the day Mr Virbhadra Singh was sworn in in April, 2003, the remaining 11 were inducted on April 18, 2005. They resigned on August 18, 2005, in the wake of the high court verdict. |
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BJP resents cases against party MLAs
Shimla, February 22 The matter came up for discussion at the meeting of the BJP legislature party, here on Monday night. The BJP legislature party in the presence of former Chief Minister, P.K. Dhumal, passed a resolution, criticising the manner in which the Congress government had failed to respect and follow democratic norms. The BJP legislators regretted that using force and registering false police cases against BJP leaders had become a regular feature during the Congress regime. “The government cane-charged BJP legislators on The Ridge in full public gaze on June, 25, 2003 while the Chief Minister denied that there had been any such incident,” the resolution read. The BJP legislators said that the government continued with its tactics even during the panchayati raj and other local body elections. They pointed out that false cases had been registered against MLAs, Mr Ramesh Chaudhary, Mr Jai Ram Thakur and former minister, Dile Ram. |
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Control room to keep watch on avian flu
Shimla, February 22 The Animal Husbandry Minister, Mr Harsh Mahajan, on Monday chaired a meeting to review the preparedness of the state in case avian flu makes its presence felt in the state. Fresh samples are being sent by the department to the Bhopal laboratory to ensure there is no outbreak of bird flu in the state. The Health Department constituted a control room, which will work in close coordination with the Animal Husbandry Department. “Though there has been no case of bird flu in the state so far ever since the previous alert we have sent almost 1,400 blood samples collected from poultry farms to laboratories, which have tested negative,” informed Mr Mahajan. Meanwhile, the district administration today constituted a rapid-response team of cullers and vaccinators in case of an outbreak of bird flu. A meeting of the district-level monitoring committee for avian flu was held here today under the chairmanship of the ADC, Mr Sharabh Negi. The committee reviewed the collective measures being taken by the Health, Animal husbandry and forest departments. Reckong Peo:
The tribal district of Kinnaur in Himachal Pradesh, sharing its border with China, is gearing up to ward off any possibility of bird flu and raids were on to check the condition of chicken as a precautionary measure in wake of the nation-wide alert. The Civil Surgeon of Kinnaur, Dr M.L. Gupta, along with his team of health inspectors has raided as many as 25 chicken shops during the past 24 hours throughout the district and the operation was still going on when the news report was being written. |
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Fight, a byword for Kinkri Devi
Sangrah (Nahan), February 22 Saddled with the responsibility of maintaining herself and her family, wizened Kinkri Devi, 65, today feels exhausted and dejected. When this correspondent met her at her house in Sangrah tehsil, 60 km from Nahan, the environmental activist elaborated on her crusade against the mining mafia to protect flora and fauna, the ordeal she faced from them and, now, the disillusionment with the state government. “I have been going to various government offices and organisations with the hope of getting the old-age or widow pension. Forget pension, the government has failed to provide me even a free bus pass,” rues Stree Shakti awardee Kinkri Devi, who was widowed when she was just 22. She hogged the limelight when she took up cudgels against mindless mining in the area. She filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Himachal Pradesh High Court in 1987 seeking a ban on illegal quarrying in the Sangrah area. “Initially, we started agitations at the local level. When the government paid no heed, we decided to move the High Court. Backed by a local voluntary group, People’s Action for People in Need, we filed a PIL,” recalls Kinkri Devi. “I stayed in Shimla for 19 days for filing the petition. After two days, when the money got exhausted, I worked as a maid there. I even started a fast in front of the High Court to highlight the issue,” she adds. She faced threats from the mafia. Her poverty and illiteracy could never dampen her spirit to protect the area from degradation. In 1991, the court directed the government to close all the active mines in the area. The mining lobby moved the Supreme Court against the order. Kinkri Devi won the case in the apex court too. The feeble voice raised by this frail, short-statured woman of substance was heard when the Ministry of Human Resource Development felicitated her with the award of Jhansi Ki Rani Lakshmi Bai Stree Shakti Puraskar — 1999 for her valuable service. The award was given by the then Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in 2001. She was also honoured by various organisations for her service. In 1995, she was invited to attend the international women’s conference in Beijing. She was invited by Hillary Clinton, wife of former US President Bill Clinton, to light up the lamp at the inaugural function. Even today Kinkri Devi is determined to create awareness among the people about soil conservation, forest protection and water preservation. But poor health, coupled with poor financial condition, is now letting down this ageing widow. Her voice chokes when she asks: “Is this the way the government treats its
heroes?” |
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Students to travel 20 km to take exam
Nurpur, February 22 The villagers had demanded an examination centre at Salahan, 1.5 km from the school, but their demand was declined. Intriguingly, there are four examination centres within a radius of 2 to 10 km at the government high schools at Sukhar, Gangath, Ganoh and Raja Ka Talab. But the board authorities had forced the school students to appear in the examination centre 20 km away from their own village school. It is learnt that a deputation of the gram panchayat had also met the board chairman and apprised him of the difficulty of the students to take their examination at a far-off place. There is a demand to conduct the examination at Government High School at Sukhar where sufficient building is also available and having a distance of only 2 km from Dhaneti village. |
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2 arrested for kidnapping taxi driver
Kangra, February 22 Ms Rani Bindoo Sachdeva, a police officer from Dehra today told The Tribune that on February 19, Mohinder (25), a resident of Kanool Tikker village, who was professionally a taxi driver, was kidnapped by a group of four persons after he was made unconscious by mixing some sedative in his tea. She said that at 3 am on February 20, the alleged kidnappers asked for an ransom of Rs 50,000 from the maternal uncle of Mohinder and the call was made from the cell phone of the abducted youth. She said that on February 20, the Jawalamukhi police was informed about the kidnapping and demand for a ransom by the relatives of Mohinder. She said the police posing as relatives of Mohinder got in touch with the kidnappers through the mobile of Mohinder and told them that they would pay the ransom of Rs 50,000 and the venue of transaction was decided as Phagwara Road, Hoshiarpur. She said the police laid a trap and police persons, posing as relatives of Mohinder, met the abductors. She said two persons Shahnaz Khan of Dasua and Suresh Kumar of Model Town, Hoshiarpur, were nabbed on the spot and another kidnapper managed to escape from the scene. Meanwhile, the court today sent the two arrested accused to judicial custody. |
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Farmers not keen on growing stone fruits Parwanoo, February 22 The falling prices, unfriendly weather conditions and marketing hassles have altogether made stone fruits a loss-making venture for the farmers. All these problems in past had inclined farmers to grow cash crops like tomato and capsicum. Earlier, farmers after facing losses had decided to chop off fruit trees in orchards and use the land to grow off-season vegetable cash crops. The situation has reached such point that even plum, the king among stone fruits, has no buyers in the market. Most of the fruit crop has left to rot in orchards by farmers due to the lack of commercial viability. The plum, peach and apricot that generally fetched handsome earnings for farmers have now been proving loss-making affairs from them. The low income from stone fruits have forced the farmers to go for vegetables that fetch much higher returns. A comparatively observation of the past few years showed that the market price of stone fruits has witnessed a steep downward trend. A box having 7 or 8 kg peach that generally fetches anything between Rs 300 and 400 in the past is now available between Rs 50 and 100 for sale. The per kg rate of plum that usually remained over Rs 10 in the past now ranges below Rs 4.
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Nod to Draft Bill on private
varsities
Shimla, February 22 The state Cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh here yesterday, also approved the technical education policy so that the private sector could play a bigger role in imparting technical education. The Cabinet also approved the amendment to the Himachal Pradesh Passengers and Goods Taxation Act with the objective of simplifying tax collection procedure. This will now enable the tax payer to deposit tax in the government treasury and show the receipt to the tax collection authorities at the barriers. The Cabinet also decided that hydro-electric projects up to 5MW would only be given to Hiamchalis. HIMURJA has already identified 175 such projects. The Cabinet also approved the allotment of 402 MW Shongtong Karcham hydroelectric project in Kinnaur. Approval was also given for the setting up of one independent paediatric unit at Kamla Nehru Hospital here which was renamed as Kamla Nehru State Hospital for Mother and Child. |
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BJP seeks probe into cops’ recruitment
Shimla, February 22 The three-member committee constituted by the BJP to look into these irregularities in September last, has submitted its report to the BJP chief, Mr Suresh Bhardwaj, and leader of the Opposition, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal. The committee in its report pointed out that the government had selected its own people by ignoring the claim of OBCs and other deserving youths during the recruitment process in September last. |
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Plea to rename Chamba town
Chamba, February 22 In a letter to the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, today, the district president of the association, Mr P.C.
Oberoy, said on the occasion of millennium celebrations if befitting remembrance was to be revived in favour of Raja Sahil Varma and his daughter
Champavati, the government should rename the town as “Champavati Nagar”. It would be a good gesture to these dignitaries as the Chamba people had emotional attachment with Princess
Champavati, Mr Oberoy said. Mr Oberoy felt that younger generations had no knowledge of the history of Chamba town and if the town was christened as “Champavati Nagar”, it would go a long way in remembering the history of the town as Chamba (the then village) named after Champavati was made capital by Raja Sahila Varma. |
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Bill to check fee in private colleges
Shimla, February 22 He said the students had been admitted against merit seats opted for private colleges keeping in view the annual fees of Rs 20,000. Had they been aware that the fees would be fixed at Rs 63,000 to Rs 84,000 per annum they would not have opted for admission to these colleges. The fee for 50 per cent merit seats in private colleges for 2003-04 was fixed at Rs 20,000 per annum but the fee structure committee set up by high court on the direction of the apex court fixed a much higher fee on a uniform pattern for both merit and paid seats. This had caused much resentment among students and their parents. |
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CM presents demands for grants
Shimla, February 22 Out of this Rs 1079.73 crore pertained to the non-plan, Rs 150.05 crore to the Centrally sponsored schemes and Rs 201.61 crore to plan expenditure. Giving details, he said on the non-plan side Rs 476.10 crore had been provided for repayment of loans, Rs 105.18 crore for energy charges payment by Irrigation and Public Health to Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board, Rs 50 crore for power tariff roll back subsidy, Rs 59.28 crore for maintenance of irrigation and drinking water supply schemes and Rs 40 crore for interest
repayment. — TNS |
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Irregularities in written test alleged
Shimla, February 22 Talking to reporters here yesterday, he said the question paper was leaked to some select candidates, particularly in Nahan and Sarakaghat. Not only that, 22 candidates were made to sit in one room on instructions sent through a message fax from the head office at the Srakaghat Centre. The local tehsildar had sent a report to the bank in this regard but no action had been taken in the matter. |
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