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Medicos prepare for Himachal bandh today
OBC bodies support quota proposals
Sale of power to net Rs 150 cr more
Truckers continue strike
No private schools near government ones
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WASH project to cover three districts
Nurpur, May 24 A workshop-cum-orientation camp was organised under the water availability through self help (WASH) project at Jassur, near here, today in which field workers, junior engineers of the Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department, Nurpur division took part.
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Medicos prepare for Himachal bandh today
Shimla, May 24 With the Himachal Medical Officers Association (HMOA) already extending support to the strike, medical services all over the state will remain paralysed tomorrow. Even the clinics and hospitals of private practitioners will remain closed from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in support of the ongoing agitation against reservation. The Medical College Teachers Association of the IGMC, Tanda, and Dental College will also join the strike. A large number of organisations like the local Beopar Mandal, Sood Sabha, Bar Council, Senior Citizens and others have extended their support to the strike by resident doctors and medical students. All the organisations will join the rally being organised by the Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) Resident Doctors Association (RDA), the Junior Doctors Association, students of the IGMC and HP Government Dental College. The representatives of these organisations will also seek an audience with Railways Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav who will be visiting the town tomorrow. The president of the Resident Doctors Association, Dr Rajesh Sood, said it was after the meeting tomorrow that future strategy would be chalked out. “We are running parallel OPDs in which over 400 patients were examined, besides attending emergency duties from 4 p.m. to 9 a.m. to save the patients from any inconvenience,” he said. He said the fight of the doctors was against the system and not with the patients, and the medical services would be completely paralysed if the government did not relent, he added. Meanwhile, the Coordination Committee of the HP Anti-Reservation Cell has sent a memorandum to the Prime Minister, condemning the reservation policy. They sought the intervention of the Prime Minister in the matter. |
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OBC bodies support quota proposals
Kangra, May 24 The OBC rally did not evoke much response but the members of the different communities coming under the purview of the reservation participated in it and expressed support to the proposed 27 per cent quota proposals. Mr Prakash Chand Saniyal, BSP state secretary, supported the reservation on the economic basis. He said students of the weaker sections should be provided free and qualitative education, besides providing them with free coaching so that they could compete with the other students. The pro-reservation representatives appreciated the Central Government's decision of 27 per cent reservation for the OBC communities in institutions of higher education and extended their support to the government on the issue. They expressed gratitude to Mr Arjun Singh for his contribution in providing an opportunity to the OBCs in the institutions of higher education. Col Shakti Chand, OBC leader of the BJP, and Mr Roshan Lal Tharu, Nagrota Bagwan block president, were prominent among those present. Mr Pawan Kumar, state president of the HP OBC Youth Organisation, said a memorandum was faxed to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, demanding speedy implementation of the decision of the Central Government. Regarding the poor response to the rally here today, Mr Pawan Kumar said it was not a rally of a political party but that of a social organisation and this much response too was encouraging. |
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Sale of power to net Rs 150 cr more
Shimla, May 24 As per the agreement arrived at between the board and the corporation the latter will purchase power at an all-time high rate of Rs 5.77 per unit. The Corporation in turn will sell it to the power-starved states of Delhi, Punjab and Haryana in equal share. In case any of these foregoes its share the Corporation will be free to sell it to anyone. Last year the board sold power to states like Delhi at the rate of Rs 2.92 per unit under a bilateral arrangement. In all the board will sell about 450 to 550 million units from May 22 to September 30 depending on the generation level, during the period. This will, to an extent, help the board offset the loss of revenue due to the decision of the government to sell its share of free power in various projects through the Power Trading Corporation instead of the board. While the Himachal government is taking full advantage of the opening of power market to earn additional revenue, the board is not in position to do so due so as it has very little surplus power to sell. In fact, the performance of the board had been dismal on the generation front. There had been hardly any addition in the installed generation capacity whereas the domestic consumption has been increasing at the rate of 25 per cent. The board had been purchasing power from outside during winter when the generation in various hydroelectric projects falls due to reduction in discharge of rivers. The board had only 329 MW of installed capacity to date . The situation is likely to improve towards the middle of this year when the 126 MW Larji and 12 MW Khauli project will start generation. Hitherto, the board had been selling power to the northern states through bilateral agreements or banking arrangements. |
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Truckers continue strike
Barmana, May 24 The Bilaspur District Truck Operators Cooperative Society (BDTOCS) and the HP Ex-servicemen Truckers Union held a protest in front of the premises of the ACC management from 11 am to 4 pm, raising anti-ACC management slogans, which, they said, was not interested in resolving the deadlock. The unions claimed that they had the support of truckers from Jamthal, Boat Kasol and Dhanotu, and over 4,000 trucks had been parked as part of the strike. They demanded an increase in freight and signing of a fresh agreement with them. The president of the BDTOCS, Mr R.D. Thakur, said the ACC management was not serious about resolving the deadlock by signing a fresh agreement with the truckers. The earlier agreement had expired on March 31 last. “All that we are asking for is that the freight should be revised as the diesel prices have rocketed from Rs 7.50 per litre in 1996, when the agreement was signed, to Rs 31.28 per litre today, which is likely to go up this week,” he added. Sources in the Industry Department said the ACC had to pay a royalty of Rs 12 crore per annum to the state government on limestone. The company had a capacity to produce 1,200 to 1,500 tonnes of “mined stone” per day. The government would not lose on the royalty as it was a fixed deposit, they added. The Deputy Commissioner, Bilaspur, Mr Manish Garg, said he had convened a meeting of the ACC management and the truckers to initiate a dialogue on the issue to end the deadlock, but none of the parties had come forward so far. “We have plied over 30 trucks of the Civil Supplies Corporation for the past two days to lift cement consignments,” he said. |
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No private schools near government ones
Shimla, May 24 Though being viewed as a move to check growth of education shops, old schools which are already located within this distance are in a quandary with the issuance of this directive by the Education Department and the HP Board of School Education. Since the new rules of the HP Private Educational Institutions (Regulation) Act, 1997 cover established as well as running schools, the distance criteria would apply to the already existing schools as well. The management of the already existing schools are considering moving court as they term this condition ‘absurd’ as some of them have been in existence for 25 years. The Education Department will ensure that this criteria of distance is adhered to as they issue the no-objection certificate (NOC) after inspecting the school for infrastructure. It is on the basis of this NOC that the board would consider the school for affiliation. The last date for filing the NOC before the board for getting affiliation has now been extended upto May 31. “Since the new rules cover running schools, we have written to the government seeking a clarification as the board has received several requests from managements of private schools which are located within 2 or 5 km of a government school,” said Mr B.R. Rahi, Chairman, Board of School Education. Mr Rahi, however, stated that such schools had been given relaxation and asked to attach a copy of last year’s NOC for renewal of their affiliation, which is given by the board annually. “The basic objective in imposing the distance criteria is to encourage private schools to open in areas which do not have a government school close by so that the facility is made available to all,” said an official. He said the sole objective of the private institution is to attract children from the adjoining government school. |
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WASH project to cover three districts
Nurpur, May 24 Mr Pradeep Kumar Singh, project adviser, said the project being implemented by the state government in collaboration with the Government of Germany. He said this Indo-German bilateral project had been envisged as an effort towards community participation in management of rural drinking water supply in the state. “The project is being implemented in the district of Shimla, Mandi and Kangra, he added. Mr Singh who was here to preside over the project’s workshop-cum-orientation camp, pointed out that the project launched in the state in February, 2005, had been aimed at enabling and empowering the Panchayti Raj institutions, water users’ association and other stakeholder to plan, implement and manage safe drinking water and minor irrigation system in a sustainable manner. |
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