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Himachal Day celebrated
Mankotia to continue fight against corruption |
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Protest against illicit mining
Himuda to set up housing colonies
Delay in completion of vet hospital irks villagers
No water supply for 5 days
Shift BMO office, demand residents
Woman commits suicide
3 held under Forest Act
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Himachal Day celebrated
Kangra April 15 Mr Virbhadra Singh was addressing a gathering at the state-level function on the 59th Himachal Day at Dehra in this district today. He unfurled the national flag, inspected the parade and took the salute from contingents of the Himachal Pradesh Home Guards and the N.C.C. on the occasion. The day was celebrated with much fanfare by people from all walks of life, who had thronged the venue in traditional costumes. He said the current financial year Budget had been dedicated to women empowerment and their socio-economic upliftment. The state government would provide an annual grant of Rs 1000 to children and widows up to the age of 14. The scheme had been named as “Mother Teresa Ashaya Matri Sambal Yojna”. He said the “Mukhya Mantri Kanayadaan Yojna” was aimed at providing a marriage grant of Rs 11,001 to marriageable daughters of eligible destitute women. He said 10 gram panchayats with higher birth rate of girls compared would be eligible for an additional development grant of Rs 5 lakh each. The “Indira Gandhi Balika Surbhi Yojna” aimed at providing a grant of Rs 25,000 to parents adopting permanent family planning modes after the birth of a girlchild. A family with two girls would be eligible for a grant of Rs 20,000. Mr Virbhadra Singh said the state had over 15,500 educational institutions compared to 331 in 1948, 27,000 km long roads compared to 228 km in 1948, all census villages electrified way back in 1987-88 compared to only six villages in 1948, network of 3,766 health institutions, which were only 88 at the time of formation of the state, and the per capita income had emerged first amongst the special category states. The Chief Minister said the people of the state were grateful to the country’s first Prime Minister for recognising Himachal Pradesh as a separate political unit of the country. He thanked Ms Sonia Gandhi, UPA chairperson, and Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister, for their continuous support to the state. Dharamsala had been developed the second-most government offices concentrated place after the state Capital. The aim behind such a move was to strengthen the emotional bond among all areas and people of the state. He was committed to emotional integration not only of the state, but of the nation too. The state had emerged as a model of development and its endeavours had been appreciated by Nobel Prize winner Amritya Sen and the Planning Commission. He said the state government had enhanced the honorarium of all representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions substantially, which would facilitate the public representatives immensely. The honorarium to freedom fighters and their dependants have been enhanced from Rs 1500 to Rs 2000 per month. The Chief Minister said the state government has decided to provide a one-time grant to gallantry award winners. The government had decided to pay Rs 25 lakh to Param Vir Chakra and Ashoka Chakra winners while Rs 10 lakh would be given as one-time grant to Vir Chakra and Shourya Chakra winners. The Chief Minister said Himachal had witnessed a revolution in the field of health. Indira Gandhi Medical College, Shimla and Dr Rajender Prasad Medical College, Tanda, had been strengthened and were emerging centres of excellence The Chief Minister said the employees of the state had contributed significantly towards the development of the State. His government had been considerate towards the genuine demands of its employees and provided them all benefits due from time to time. Cultural programmes were presented by folk artistes from all over the state. Mr Sat Mahajan, Revenue Minister, Mr Ram Lal Thakur, Forest Minister, Mr Kuldeep Kumar, Industries Minister, Mr Chander Kumar, Ms Pratibha Singh, Member of Parliament. Ms Viplove Thakur, M.P. and President H.P.C.C., Mr Sujan Singh Pathania, Mr Thakur Singh Bharmouri, Mr Jagjiwan Pal, Mr Sudhir Sharma, Ms Anita Verma, Mr Ajit Narain, senior officers, freedom fighters and a large number of people were present on the occasion. |
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Mankotia to continue fight against corruption
Kangra, April 15 Major Mankotia was talking to The Tribune here today. He said Mr Virbhadra Singh should know that the time had changed and alleged that his terror would in no way prevail upon the Himachal politics any more. Major Mankotia alleged that it was the old habit of the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, to play a proxy politics but this would not go further any more. Regarding the demand of the ministers seeking disciplinary action against him, the former Tourism Minister said that some of the ministers whose names appeared in a section of the Press yesterday with the demand, had conveyed to him that they were away from the state capital and the statement with their names had been carried without their consent. He said that some MLAs had also conveyed to him that they were allegedly under pressure from the Chief Minister to issue a statement demanding action against him. He described this all as most unfortunate. He said: “I have got inspiration from Sonia Gandhi who is asking every Congress person in every part of the country to put an end to the nexus between the corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and power brokers.” He said he would launch a cap for the people of lower Himachal at Dharamsala tomorrow. |
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Trigarth cap launched
Kangra, April 15 The cap was launched by placing on the head of M. Vikas
Lagwal, Block Youth Congress president of Shahpur, by 90-year-old freedom fighter and associate of Netaji, Mr Rattan Chand. Major Mankotia said yellow colour of the cap depicted the presence Lord Shiva in this valley, and the red and black were symbols of Goddess Shakti and Kali. The badge with Omkar represented dharma while the torch symbolised youth power. The cap was a tribute to the martyrs who represented the Trigarth valley. |
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Protest against illicit mining
Palampur, April 15 The protesters said some persons, backed by politicians, were involved in the illicit mining in the village and destroying the ecology of the area. The mining had also posed serious threat to the road leading to their village. They alleged that over one dozen pine trees were axed in the past six month by the mining mafia. Later, the protesters submitted a memorandum to the SDM, Mr Abhishek Jain. Mr Jain assured the protesters that no one would be allowed to indulge in the illicit mining and strict action would be taken against the defaulters. Meanwhile, the Executive Engineer, PWD, told mediapersons that he had received reports of illicit mining near the PWD road in Chandpur village and had directed his staff to stop the mining immediately. He said private contractors were involved in the illicit mining on the forest land. |
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Himuda to set up housing colonies
Chamba, April 15 Disclosing this here today, the Himachal Urban Development Minister, Mr Harsh Mahajan, said construction work of housing colonies at Chamba, Sanjauli, BCS Phase-III Shimla, Basal (Solan), Kandaghat, Baddi, Una, Palampur, Hamirpur, Dhaundi (Mandi), Bajaura (Kulu) and development of plots in housing colonies at Rampur, Daruhi (Hamirpur) and Lohna (Palampur) was in progress. In order to achieve aims of housing development of land, HIMUDA had successfully established housing colonies at various places in the state where 9744 houses and flats had been constructed while 2648 plots had been developed for raising new well-designed structures. Mr Mahajan informed that HIMUDA was established by an Act of Legislation to plan and develop land and create infrastructure to meet mounting needs of housing for different groups and to provide for development schemes for mobilising public and private resources for promotion and expansion of housing colonies and related infrastructure and to provide for the creation of appropriate authority and mechanism for planned growth of housing colonies. |
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Delay in completion of vet hospital irks villagers Parwanoo, April 15 Though no cattle deaths were reported in the past month, the disease is still a riddle for the villagers. Diseased cattle would discard fodder and become lazy. The villagers had to trudge long distances for treatment either at Dharampur or Jabli. The delay in completion of construction work of the veterinary hospital at Banasar is proving costly to the villagers here. The veterinary dispensary at Banasar has failed to serve its purpose due to a shortage of staff. Since its opening, no permanent staff has been appointed. A Class IV employee visits the dispensary twice a week to distribute medicines. The doctor at the Dharampur vet hospital visits the dispensary only when his service is required. As per the norm, the vet dispensary should have at least one permanent pharmacist and a Class IV employee. A vet hospital was planned to replace the dispensary in 1997. The construction work of the hospital is not complete due to the tardiness of the PWD despite getting funds from the Animal and Husbandry Department.
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No water supply for 5 days
Kumarhatti, April 15 With natural water sources drying up, the residents are finding it hard to even meet their drinking water requirement. It is all due to the fault of the IPH Department to find a long-term solution to technical drawbacks in the three-stage water-lifting scheme meant to supply water to 25 upstream villages. The snag in water-lifting pumps and motors is a routine affair. The condition of pump and motors are pathetic. These have become outdated but the IPH Department is continuing to rely on them. Hence quite often the water supply remains affected for days altogether.
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Shift BMO office, demand residents
Nurpur, April 15 The BMO, Nurpur, at Gangath runs the administration of two community health centres, a civil dispensary, 13 primary health centres and 61 health sub-centres of Nurpur subdivision. Intriguingly, the state government had opened its office at Gangath away from the sub divisional headquarters. According to Mr R.K. Mahajan, chairman Town Welfare Committee and president of the local Municipal Council, the shifting of the BMO office was a long-standing demand of the residents. |
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Woman commits suicide
Kangra April 15 According to the police Parmeela Devi was found hanging in her room by her husband Ashok Kumar yesterday when he returned home from his work. He broke open the door and took Parmeela Devi to a local doctor, where she was declared dead. The police said the parents of the deceased woman did not suspect any foul play in the death of Parmeela. |
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3 held under Forest Act
Kangra, April 15 The Forest and Police Departments headed by Range Forest Officer Jagdesh Chand during a naka late last night 20 logs of peepal were seized from a truck. The truck driver, Rajender Kumar, alias Mishu, and two others involved in the smuggling, Surender Kumar of Graohmati and Mohinder Singh of Sadhu, were arrested under the Forest Act and 379, IPC. The truck was impounded. |
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