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Decide daily wagers’ cases as per latest ruling, SC told
Himachal to revise relief plan for oustees
Post-massacre, high alert in Chamba areas
NTPC, SJVN accused of flouting pact on job quota
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Medical students hold rally
Mild snowfall in higher reaches
Consumers free to buy any meter
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Decide daily wagers’ cases as per latest ruling, SC told
New Delhi, May 2 A submission to this effect was made by Himachal Pradesh’s Additional Advocate-General
(AAG) J S Attri before a Division Bench of Mr Justice S B Sinha and Mr Justice P K Balasubramanyan, while arguing in three contempt of court cases slapped against three top officials of the state government for allegedly not regularising three daily wagers as per the apex court’s 1994 judgement. The AAG was defending the State Chief Secretary, the Principal Secretary, Public Works Department (PWD), and the Director, Agriculture, against whom contempt cases were filed by three Nepalese nationals - Dil Bahadur, Man Singh and Ram Lal - engaged in the two departments on daily wages but not regularised after they had reportedly put in more than 10 years of “continued” service. Mr Attri during the resumed hearing yesterday submitted that after the five-Judge Constitution Bench of the apex court has laid down the law on legal status of daily wage workers, all matters involving the question of their regularisation by the state government had to be decided accordingly. While the court had earlier exempted the three officials of the state from personal appearance, the matter was adjourned by the court for a week to enable the parties to complete their pleadings. The Himachal Government has simultaneously filed an application for modification of the 1994 judgement in the case of Mool Raj, a daily wager from the state as per its renewed policy of 2000 on daily paid workers. Since the daily wage workers could not now claim regularisation as a legal right by enforcing it through the court of law, the fate of over 30,000 daily wagers engaged by
successive governments in the state looks uncertain with the state government forced to take such a stand in view of the latest judgement of the apex court. In the Mool Raj case judgement, the apex court had modified state government’s policy on
regularisation and it provided that a worker who had put in continuous service of 10 years with unbreakable engagement for 240 days a year, would be entitled for claiming permanency in job. But the state had came up with a revised policy in 2000 reducing the eligibility period for regularisation from 10 years to 8 years, subject to the condition that a worker would only be regularised if any post was vacant in that particular department where he was engaged. In view of the new policy, the state has sought modification of the judgement in Mool Raj case, but with the latest Constitution Bench ruling, new dimension has been given by the court to the issue of daily wagers. |
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Himachal to revise relief plan for oustees
Shimla, May 2 This was stated by Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, while presiding over the state-level Parbati Project Oustees Rehabilitation and Advisory Committee meeting here last evening. He said the Relief and Rehabilitation Plan-2002 had to be revised as a number of issues had surfaced during the relief and rehabilitation process which found no mention in the plan. He said under the plan only those persons who were left with up to two biswas of land after acquisition were eligible for employment and other benefits. The proposed modification would include oustees left with up to five bighas of land under the landless category. Mr Virbhadra Singh said many hydroelectric projects were under execution as a result of which a large number of people were being affected. A long list of problems followed the commissioning of the project. The Chief Minister said the committees consisting of representatives of affected people and the project authorities would be constituted to assess the loss of traditional water sources due to the tunneling. It would inspect the project sites and prepare a list of the affected water supply, irrigation schemes, village paths and other public utility services so that these could be reconstructed. He said that the committee would also identify the sites where the excavated muck was required to be dumped without any disturbance to the environment of the area. He said it had been made mandatory for every project to release at least 15 per cent of water discharge down the stream regularly. He said the government was also considering constitution of an ecological task force comprising ex-servicemen for rehabilitation of degraded hills. He said the Deputy Commissioners, in consultation with the committee, would prepare a list of all the affected unemployed persons and hand over the same to the project authorities so that they could get employment in the projects. It would also be the responsibility of the project authorities to train the local manpower as per their requirement. The Chief Minister said the affected people should be paid revised compensation which should be good enough to get them suitable alternate land elsewhere.
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Post-massacre, high alert in Chamba areas
Shimla, May 2 There had been several instances in the past when militants from Jammu and Kashmir infiltrated into Himachal Pradesh and killed people. The police had stepped up surveillance in the Tissa, Kehar and Pangi areas, where the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the state police were guarding the border against infiltration. With snow-covered high mountain passes along the 260-km boundary becoming surmountable in summer, the threat of a militant attack had increased. On August 2, 1998, militants shot 35 labourers who were constructing a road in the Kalaban-Satrundi area of Kehar. Meanwhile, the Union Home Ministry and the Army intelligence had asked the state police to maintain a high alert in the Chamba areas as militants could strike there. Intelligence agencies and the military had from time to time been sounding the police about the movement of militants in the border areas of Chamba. Whenever security forces had mounted pressure on militants in Jammu and Kashmir areas, they crossed into Himachal Pradesh as there was less security. Militants had in the past killed herb collectors who went to higher reaches to collect plants with medicinal value. Some police posts which had been shifted to lower areas due to the harsh winter had moved to summer locations. The police and the ITBP had been undertaking regular patrolling of the entire stretch. There had been occasions when militants used gujjar kothas for their stay as those remained abandoned once they moved along with their buffaloes. |
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NTPC, SJVN accused of flouting pact on job quota
Mandi, May 2 While the NTPC has absorbed just 14 per cent engineers from the state as executives in the project, the SJVN has absorbed over just 94 executives, though its quota came to around 182 executives in all projects, including the corporate house, claimed the HPPEA. The NTPC and the SJVN take them on deputation, but offer junior scales to them, blocking all promotional avenue for them, they complained. They have sent several representations to the state government to sort out the matter with the NTPC and the SJVN, but nothing has been done to remove their grievances, the engineers rued. The HPPEA said the NTPC and the SJVN were not honouring the 30 per cent job quota earmarked in the agreement for them. Both the NTPC and the SJVN are employing engineers on deputation at junior positions, while their juniors, who are absorbed in the corporations, hold senior positions, they complained. While the NTPC, official spokesperson Prashant Kumar said, the corporation had a strength of over 220 employees both in the executive and non-executive segments out which 32 are from Himachal Pradesh. On the other hand, the SJVN’s Chief Managing Director, Mr H.K. Sharma, said the problem was that the HP engineers wanted to enjoy the benefits of both the board and the corporation, which was not possible. “We need engineers at all levels, but we have surplus staff of JEs, draughtsmen and the like, and cannot absorb more than 20,” he added. The NTPC claimed the company had 172 executives working in the project, out of which 23 were from Himachal Pradesh. In the non-executive segment, the project has over 22 employees out of which nine were from the state,” he said. |
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Medical students hold rally
Dharamsala, May 2 The protesting students said the government did not believe in education on merit and the issue was being used with an eye on the vote bank. The fresh quota would lead to loss of professional compatibility in the medical fraternity. A memorandum was submitted to the district administration. The medical students have been on a token strike since May 11 and have threatened to go on an indefinite strike if the proposal was not taken back.
— TNS |
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Mild snowfall in higher reaches
Shimla, May 2 Shimla and its surrounding areas experienced light showers during the day, which brought down the temperature. Intermittent snowfall in higher reaches of Chamba district was also reported, with the Sachh pass in the district experiencing snow fall for the past three days. Due to snowfall the Chamba-Killar road, which was scheduled to open, could not be opened for vehicular traffic.
— UNI |
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Consumers free to buy any meter
Chandigarh, May 2 In a communication to The Tribune, the Executive Engineer has added that the State Government’s present policy permits the consumers to install any water meter of “good quality”. Describing the news report as “misleading”, he said some of the water meters had been functioning properly for years together. In any case, notice had not been issued to Mr Som Nath, who was quoted in the news report. The Tribune correspondent adds: The notices do not carry instructions regarding the installation of water meters of a particular make. The error is regretted. The notices were issued in the names of the original consumers, some of whom are now dead. |
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