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Decision to withdraw BDO’s powers flayed
Melting glaciers worry Virbhadra
Global warming dangerous than
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Traders rue shortage of C forms
3 youths held roaming on highway
Occupancy in hotels up
Two dumped bodies found
Factory gutted at Kala Amb
Girl gangraped
Shopkeeper found dead at Kalka
Mill workers end strike
Poppy husk seized
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Decision to withdraw BDO’s powers flayed
Kangra, June 10 Addressing a joint press conference here today, Mr Subhash Garg and Jagmel Singh, both vice-presidents of the Congress committee, Jaswan, along with 60 village pradans and BDC members and Zila Parishad members alleged that Mr Yog Raj, a Congress leader and a close confidant of the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, had allegedly asked the Chief Minister to transfer the BDO, Pragpur, Dr Mahesh Sharma. They alleged that Dr Sharma was known for being scrupulously honest but he was victimised for no fault of his. They said the government had failed to transfer him as BDO and got a stay for his transfer from the court. They alleged that when the government failed to transfer him, his powers were snatched, thus bringing the development works in the block to a standstill. The powers were transferred to the SDM, Dehra. When the SDM went on a month’s leave, the powers were further passed on to the Tehsildar. Thus, the village pradans were forced to move from one office to another for the development works of their respective areas. The protesting Congress leaders and village pradhans said they called on the Chief Minister, today at Palampur and submitted a memorandum demanding that the powers be restored to the BDO, who is scheduled to get retired next year so that developmental works continue there. The protesting pradans and Congress leaders said the Chief Minister did not listen to them as Mr Yog Raj was present there at Palampur. They said they would meet Mr Sat Mahajan,
Panchayati Raj Minister, and request him that the Panchayati Raj system should not be crippled. They threatened that if the Chief Minister did not restore the powers to the BDO within a fortnight, 50 buses of the people of this block would meet Congress President Sonia Gandhi for her intervention on the issue. Ms Viplove Thakur, PCC chief who represents the Jaswan constituency, told the protesting pradans and Congress office-bearers, who called on her at her residence here later in the day, that she would meet the Chief Minister on June 13 to sort out the issue. They said that the sitting BJP MLA, Pragpur, Mr Navin Dihman, had also deplored the government decision and assured that the BJP workers were with the Congress party workers on this issue.
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Melting glaciers worry Virbhadra
Palampur, June 10 This was stated by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh while inaugurating the Eighth World Congress on Environment Management, which began here last night. He said the country needed immediate steps to maintain the eco-system, particularly in mountains, as the present scenario was quite alarming. Over 300 delegates from India and abroad are participating in the three-day congress. Mr Virbhadra Singh said the rain pattern in the state had completely changed. The impact of global warming could be easily gauged from the fact that the state had faced flash floods during monsoon and drought conditions in winter, which was not a healthy sign. Mr Virbhadra Singh said it was a matter of concern that five major glaciers in the Kinnaur and Lahual-Spiti areas were melting at a fast speed for the past five years. The overflowing of the Parechu lake in Tibet in June last year was also attributed to the melting of glaciers in Tibet, which had caused a huge loss to the state and adversely affected the power generation at the biggest power project in Asia at Nathpa Jhakri . He said the change in the rain pattern in mountains was an unhealthy sign and the state the Centre should take it seriously. The substantial increase or decrease in greenhouse gases had induced climate changes within a period of decades, with possibly devastating consequences for several countries. He said the world energy system was responsible for more than half the anthropogenic gas emissions. As such a majority of the emissions were due to fossil fuel use, representing about 75 per cent of the total energy use. He cautioned the Union Government over the future of the Bhakhra and Pong dams built at a very high cost since no steps had been taken in past for large-scale energy plantations in its catchment areas as recommended by the state government and environmental agencies from time to time. Their capacity to hold water was falling by the year because of heavy siltation caused by destruction of forests because of execution of power projects. He said the state alone could not do much and the Union Government should initiate projects to check environmental degradation in the Sutlej and Beas valleys.
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Global warming dangerous than terror: Dalai Lama
Kalpa (Kinnaur), June 10 He said global warming was more dangerous than terrorism and every individual should contribute to preserve the degrading environment. He said global warming could impact Tibet and also the water supply in South Asia. “We need to show people that this is the reality. We need certain precautions and certain efforts to protect both Tibet and South Asia,” he said. To a question on the dangerous formation of the Parechu lake in Tibet, the Dalai Lama attributed it to global warming. Earlier, he gave a discourse on the second day at the stadium grounds here.
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After Punjab and Haryana, HP too slips on liquor auctions
Maneesh Chhibber Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, June 10 However, this year Haryana and Himachal Pradesh have left Punjab behind when it comes to controversies and court cases over alleged irregularities in the conduct of the auction process for operating liquor vends. So much so that Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, both ruled by the Congress, have been directed to conduct fresh auctions or make fresh allotments of a large number of vends. Some days ago, the Himachal Pradesh High Court agreed with the contentions of a liquor contractor that vends of Chamba and Dalhousie were allotted to firms owned by one contractor in disregard of the norms and the excise policy announced by the state government. On May 25, a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice V.K. Gupta and Mr Justice Deepak Gupta ordered the re-allotment of the liquor vends of the two areas. At the auctions held on June 6, the state managed to increase its revenue by Rs 76 lakh. In Haryana, the alleged hush-hush allotment of nearly 1,000 vends to some firms was challenged on the ground that the allotment was bad in the eyes of the law. In fact, advocate Mohan Jain, counsel for the petitioner, had caused a flutter when he alleged in open court that the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Haryana Government had favoured a Sirsa-based liquor trader by allotting a large number of vends out of turn to him and firms controlled by his family. Mr Jain had alleged that the number of vends was almost doubled only to give undue benefit to the trader's family. The stand of the petitioner, who has been granted a licence to sell IMFL in Tohana town in Fatehabad district, was that while ordinary businessmen like him had paid hefty sums as fees to participate in the draw of lots and as licence fees, the government circumvented the rules to favour its favourites and granted them licences at throwaway prices. Finally, on May 11, a Punjab and Haryana High Court Division Bench of Mr Justice A.K. Goel and Mr Justice Rajesh Bindal held all such allotments void and directed the government to make a fresh allotment of these vends. When certain liquor contractors, whose allotment had been struck down by the High Court, approached the Supreme Court, the apex court upheld the High Court order. However, while doing so, it gave liberty to the state government to make a fresh allotment after taking corrective measures for the period from August 1, 2006, to March 31, 2007, instead of June 1, 2006, to March 31, 2007, as directed by the High Court. It also ordered that the persons to whom allotments were made on March 31, 2006, would continue to operate the vends till July 31. As for Punjab, the main legal tussle has been the challenging of its excise policy qua the fixing of the quota of each distillery proportionately. The policy does not have any such stipulation. A similar action of the Hooda government is also under challenge in the High Court and the petitions are fixed for hearing in the first week of July.
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Traders rue shortage of C forms
Kumarhatti, June 10 The situation was pathetic as according to October 2005 notification in the CST Act, traders and industrialists were supposed to submit the C form on quarterly basis and F form on monthly basis. But due to the scarcity of forms, the business community is facing a lot of hardships. In the wake of the notification, the Excise and Taxation Department should have given the order for adequate number of forms in advance, opined affected traders. Ironically the forms have gone disappeared thus landing traders in trouble. The deficit could cause delay in assessment of sales tax cases due to the non-receipt of forms from the purchaser of the goods. Moreover it could be a monetary loss also as one has to submit 10 per cent of releasable value of goods purchased in lieu of C form, pointed Mr Rakesh Bansal, general secretary of the
Parwanoo Industries Association. If purchaser fails to submit C form within the stipulated period to the seller, he or she has to surrender the 10 per cent amount, he said. This 10 per cent amount has to submit by the seller along with sales assessment to the government, he added.
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3 youths held roaming on highway
Parwanoo, June 10 The trio had allegedly not paid for petrol filled in their vehicle from a petrol station at Dharampur. The petrol station staff informed the police. After about half an hour, the police got another call from the owner of an eating point where the youths made a brief halt. The eating point owner got suspicious of the activities of the youths. The police party rushed towards Sanwara and arrested them. The police also called up the father of a youth, who told it that the vehicle belonged to his younger brother. The initial investigations suggested that the youths were roaming on the highway with an intention to commit some theft. However, they were produced before the Sub-Judge, Kasauli, who sent them to 14-day judicial remand.
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Occupancy in hotels up
Parwanoo, June 10 Pine Wood Hotel at Barog has full booking for the next two weeks. The hotel has recorded cent per cent occupancy for the past one month. Kasauli Resort at Kasauli is also fully booked. Though the occupancy started to go up in April but it picked well in June, pointed a resort official. To make the stay in resort pleasant, arrangements have been made for live performance of Himachali folk music and orchestra. Another reputed hotel at Kasauli has also witnessed huge rush of tourists. The hotel management has prepared a cricket pitch on the hotel premises to arrange cricket matches between tourists. Keeping in view the Soccer World Cup special arrangements have also been made. All good hotels at Chail, including the HPTDC- run Palace Hotel and Timber Trail Resort Heights, Parwanoo, were filled with tourists.
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Two dumped bodies found
Kangra, June 10 Additional District Police chief Santosh Patial said here last evening that the two financiers, Mangat Ram and Sandeep Sehgal, were kidnapped on June 5 by a couple identified as Pardeep Kumar and his wife Aneeta who murdered them in Jalandhar city. Both accused too belonged to Jalandhar. Pardeep and Aneeta were arrested by the Punjab police who, according to Mr Patial ,confessed their crime during investigation. The police team from Punjab arrived here today and with the help of the local police recovered one body from Dharkata in Dhera subdivision and the other from Drang in Palampur subdivision.
— OC
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Factory gutted at Kala Amb
Nahan, June 10 Fire tenders were rushed from Nahan immediately. Before the arrival of fire tenders on the spot, factory workers, showing exemplary courage, brought the fire under control. Fire tenders finally extinguished the fire. Although assessment of the actual damage caused to the factory by the fire was yet to begin. The factory management told this reporter that losses may cross Rs 3 lakh.
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Girl gangraped
Parwanoo, June 10 After day-long treatment, the girl gave statement to the police in evening after which she was medically examined. As per information available, the girl, hailing from Kupvi in Choppal, was employed in a factory here. She used to do up and down daily from Solan to here. Four persons, who were also employed with the unit, raped the girl at an isolated location along the Kalka-Shimla narrow gauge rail section. Out of four persons, three hailed from Kangra while one was from Kalka. The police has nabbed two persons suspected to be involved in the crime.
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Shopkeeper found dead at Kalka
Parwanoo, June 10 The neighbour shopkeepers got suspicious after they noticed foul smell coming from Surinder’s shop. The shutter of the shop was broken. The body had started to decay. The post-mortem examination was conducted. None had complained of a foul play in the case so far, the police pointed.
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Mill workers end strike
Nalagarh, June 10 The strike had begun on May 27. The compromise was struck at a meeting last night. The agitating workers led by the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) was demanding a hike of Rs 10 in wages. The unit was declared sick in 2000 following which the case was referred to the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction
(BIFR).
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Poppy husk seized
Nalagarh, June 10
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