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A haven for
encroachers
Rajinder Katoch is Director, Personnel, SJVN
People ‘forced’ to consume unhygienic mutton
Fresh probe into Baspa flash floods begins
Butail is Kangra DCC
chief, Balak Ram of Hamirpur DCC
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Mystery shrouds recovery of 2 bodies
Gang of thieves busted; 9 held
Villager run over by car, dies
HC pulls up Chief Secy
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A haven for
encroachers
Dharamsala, July 5 The government had allocated 12.21 hectares for the construction of a new building of the centre, which is at present running next to Government College, Dharamsala. However, a large chunk of this land was encroached upon and the college authorities referred the matter to the Secretary, Revenue. Later, an area of 11.96 hectares was allocated for the regional centre after making corrections. Mr Narender Awasthi, college Principal, said : “Even after corrections, encroachments still exist on the allocated land and at some places even concrete structures have come
up. Though we have made a case for demolition of the encroachments, the clear land has been demarcated and the map would be fit in there. Expansion would be done as and when the encroachments are razed.” The Regional Centre offers nine postgraduate courses and students from the adjoining districts of Hamirpur and Chamba also come here to study. The students’ organisations have been demanding that work on the new building should start at the earliest and it was being unnecessarily delayed. Meanwhile, locals of the Shapur area here yesterday donated around 70 kanals of land for the government college proposed to come up shortly. A total of 13 families have donated the land and the donations vary from 15 kanals to a single kanal. The land deed was signed at the site and the demarcation of the land was also done. Till the time the building of the college comes up, it would be run in seven rooms of the Senior Secondry School, Seoa, and the college is expected to become functional before July 15.
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Rajinder Katoch is Director, Personnel, SJVN
Shimla, July 5 The state, which has 25 per cent equity in the joint venture, has been insisting that it should have at least two representatives on the board. It had also forwarded names of about six officers for the post. However, the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB),which conducted interviews three months ago , recommended the name of Mr Katoch for the post. According to sources the Cabinet Committee on Appointments last week put its seal of approval on the recommendation of the PESB, clearing the decks for his appointment. It is learnt that Mr Sushil Kumar Shinde, Union Power Minister, has discussed the issue with Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, and urged him not to insist on having an officer from the state cadre as the director, personnel, as the PSEB had already selected the next incumbent. He has also written a letter indicating that to serve the interests of the state the post of executive director could be given to an officer from the state. Incidentally, Mr Katoch hails from the politically sensitive Kangra district and had obtained his MBA degree from the Himachal Pradesh University. But the government has been pressing that an officer from state cadre who is accountable to the state should man the post. The fact that Mr Katoch happens to be a “son of the soil” may lead to softening of the state’s stand on the matter. The last incumbent Mr Tarun Kapoor was an IAS officer from the state cadre. The Centre had made an exception in his case and he was allowed to take up the assignment without resigning from the IAS as a special case. It remains to be seen whether or not the government accepts the post of executive director as a compromise.
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People ‘forced’ to consume unhygienic mutton
Nurpur, July 5 The Municipal Council (MC) has built a slaughterhouse in the Chogan locality of the town for slaughtering animals but it has been locked. Meat sellers have been slaughtering cattle in houses in populated areas and no health checking of cattle is done despite the Municipal Council releasing honorarium to the inspecting authority of the Department of Animal Husbandry. As per rules within the MC area the Animal Husbandry Department’s veterinary doctor has to examine health of the cattle before slaughter and after the slaughter meat is to be inspected and stamped for fitness for consumption before sale in the market. But rules have been thrown to the winds due to apathy of the authorities. Moreover, sheep and goats are being slaughtered in the residential areas. Mr R. S. Verma, executive officer, MC Nurpur revealed that the MC had been paying Rs 1800 per annum as honorarium to the Animal Husbandry department inspecting
authorities and it was their duty to examine health of the animal and ensure meat’s purity for human consumption. He admitted there was a slaughter house built for meat sellers in Chogan locality of the town and added the MC would convene a meeting and ensure that meat animals were slaughtered in this house.
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Fresh probe into Baspa flash floods begins
Reckong Peo, July 5 Earlier, just after the flood, in July last year, the then Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Kalpa Sumit Khimta had conducted a probe to find out the causes and reasons of devastation in the Sangla valley during flash floods in Baspa. The state government had, at one time, also toyed with the idea of constituting a high-level committee to probe into the matter but then asked Mr R.L Chauhan, former member of the state electricity board , in the first week of February this year to technically investigate the causes and reasons of devastation during flash floods in Baspa within 15 days. Not satisfied with the technical findings of Mr Chauhan and the earlier magisterial probe, the state government has, in a fresh order issued last week, asked Capt Raman Sharma , Additional District Magistrate of Pooh-cum- Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Kalpa, to reinvestigate the matter and ‘‘assess the danger caused upstream and downstream during flash floods in Baspa’’. Talking to The Tribune on telephone from Sangla valley, Captain Sharma said he had begun the probe into the matter from today onwards. He said, “I will interact with the flood affected people and the authorities concerned besides visiting the upstream and downstream areas of the rivulet to find out the reasons that caused damage to the public as well as private property”. The local people had alleged negligence on the part of Jaypee Group of Industries which is running a 300 MW hydel power project and had established a run through reservoir at the entrance of the valley. They say that the Jaypees, in order to save the gates of power plant, had intentionally released water into Baspa in July last year without sounding any alarm to alert the local people and the district administration and this had caused havoc in the region. On the other hand, the Jaypees are firm on their stand that there was no negligence on their part in releasing the water from their reservoir. “If we had not released the extra water in a phased manner, all gates and other infrastructure of the power plant would have been washed away causing damage not only to the company but also to the nation in terms of loss of generation of power”, remarked a senior official of the Jaypee group.
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Butail is Kangra DCC
chief, Balak Ram of Hamirpur DCC
Dharamsala, July 5 While Mr Butail is a loyalist of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, Mr Balak Ram owes allegiance to Power Minister Ms Vidya Strokes. Party insiders say infighting between the two factions was one reason why the posts of the DCC chiefs were kept vacant. Mr Butail had been removed from the Cabinet during downsizing, along with Major Vijai Singh Makotia and Ms Chandresh Kumari but was rehabilitated later as the political adviser to the Chief Minister.
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Mystery shrouds recovery of 2 bodies
Mandi, July 5 Police investigations and postmortem reports of the bodies of a middle-aged woman and a three-year-old girl revealed that the woman was strangled before her body was dumped while the neck of the girl was twisted brutally before her body was thrown. "The police should step up vigilance on criminal elements coming from outside and solve the The police has released the photographs of the victims and contacted the neighbouring Punjab police as the local police suspects that the woman and the girl did not belong to the state. The Station House Officer, Naina Devi, Mr Shiv Chaudhary, who is investigating the case said that the police had sent photos of the victims to Punjab and other places, but nobody had come forward to identify the bodies. They had no clue so The police has registered a case of murder under Sections 302 and 201, IPC, and has sent viscera and blood samples to the Junga lab for forensic and DNA examination.
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Gang of thieves busted; 9 held
Baddi, July 5 During interrogation the arrested youth have admitted to stealing raw material from Shirshthi Technology, a ceiling fans manufacturing unit, on Saturday night. The youth had allegedly stolen spars parts, including manufactured ceiling fans. A local-made pistol has also been recovered from gang leader, Anil Panwar. He hails from The Tehri area in Uttaranchal. The other members of gang are Suresh from Assam, Ajai from UP, Prakash Bahadur from Nepal, Rakesh, Kiran Singh, Bhupinder, Dadu, Sukhdev and Ganesh Sahi, all from Shimla district. Meanwhile, the Nalagarh police today arrested a man for allegedly smuggling 36 bottles of officers’ choice liquor. Himmat Singh from Khera village has booked under the Excise Act.
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Villager run over by car, dies
Kulu, July 5 The driver of the car brought him to the zonal hospital here where a doctor declared him “brought dead” and the driver left the car in the hospital parking and later surrendered at the police station here. The car was impounded by the police. The police said the driver was arrested and did not surrender. Body of the victim was handed over to the relatives today after a post-mortem.
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HC pulls up Chief Secy
Shimla, July 5 Earlier, the court had issued a contempt notice to the Chief Secretary for not complying with its March 2006, order in this regard. A Division Bench of the court directed the Chief Secretary to file another affidavit. — UNI
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