H I M A C H A L   P R A D E S H

Man kills wife, self; children orphaned
Solan, July 7
Jeetram shot his wife Vidya and later killed himself leaving his three minor children to battle with life at Sainj village, near here. With no one ready to shoulder their responsibility the three children Vikram (12), Chain Singh (10) and Bunty (9) are a dejected lot.

Silt dumping in Suketi khud killing fish Sundernagar, July 7 Hundreds of fish are dying daily in the 24-km-long stretch of the Suketi khud due to the dumping of silt by the BBMB from its balancing reservoir, Sundernagar, into the khud. Many persons can be spotted collecting the dead fish ranging in size from four inches to one-and-a-half feet which have died as a result.
Boys gather the fish that have died due to the dumping of silt into the Suketi khud by the BBMB. — A Tribune photograph

Minister rules out bus fare hike
Shimla, July 7
Mr G.S. Bali, Transport minister, today categorically stated that the Himachal Government would not revise bus fares despite the hike effected in neighbouring Punjab.

Making media, PR dept more effective discussed
Dharamsala, July 7
The significance of the credibility of the media and public relations departments was highlighted at the state-level seminar organised by the HP Public Relations Department here today.

Govt initiates schemes to help needy children
Shimla, July 7
Excise and Taxation Minister Rangila Ram Rao today directed officers of the Social Justice and Empowerment Department to ensure effective implementation of the Mukhya Mantri Bal Uddhar Yojana and Mukhya Mantri Kanya Dan Yojana, which are the first of the kind in the country.

SDM office employee chargesheeted
Reckong Peo, July 7
The district administration of Kinnaur has issued a charge sheet against an employee of the office of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Kalpa based at Reckong Peo on charges of ‘official procedure lapse’ in the case of issuing fake inner line work permits to Nepali migrants by fraudulent means.

NABBDA constituted
Solan, July 7
The state government has constituted the Nalagarh-Baddi-Barotiwala-Development Authority (NABBDA) for planned development of the industrial area. Its organization has been facilitated following an ordinance in the existing Town and Country planning Act. The ordinance which has been sent to the Governor for consent received the approval yesterday.

‘No land allotted to Hero Honda’
Shimla, July 7
The Himachal Government has so far not allotted any land to the Hero Honda company which proposed to set up a manufacturing facility in the state.

Sutlej water level rising
Reckong Peo, July 7
With the rise in the temperature amid dry conditions in the tribal belts of Kinnaur and the Spiti valley during the past few days, the water level in the Sutlej has begun to rise considerably.

More funds refused for TB research centre
Parwanoo, July 7
Uncertainty looms large on the future of state’s first TB Training, Research and Demonstration Centre (STDC) at TB sanatorium, Dharampur. The state TB authorities have refused to allocate more funds for the setting up of required infrastructure for training centre. A Rs 18 lakh budget was earmarked for the setting up of infrastructure for training centre.

Hamirpur DC’s office to get ISO certification
Mandi, July 7
The Deputy Commissioner’s office in Hamirpur district is all set to become the country’s first office to acquire the “prestigious ISO 9001: 2000 certification for its e-governance centre” this month for a slew of services to the general public.

Date for removing encroachments extended
Shimla, July 7
The H.P. High Court has extended the date for removing encroachments on forest land under the Municipal Corporation up to July 31.

Official vehicle of AETC challaned
Dharamsala, July 7
The district police here yesterday challaned the official Gypsy of the Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner (AETC), Mr T.R. Thakur, for using the red light without permission. He was driving the vehicle himself when the challan was issued.

Civil Judge interview results
Shimla, July 7
The Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission has declared the results of the interviews held for the post of Civil Judge (Junior Division) in the Department of Home.

Reduction in subsidy on apple carton flayed
Reckong Peo, July 7
The decision of the state government to reduce subsidy of Rs 6 to Rs 4 on a 20-kg carton used for packing apples has been criticised by apple growers in Kinnaur district.

• 2 more thieves arrested

 

Man kills wife, self; children orphaned
Ambika Sharma

Three orphaned brothers with their grandmother.

Solan, July 7
Jeetram shot his wife Vidya and later killed himself leaving his three minor children to battle with life at Sainj village, near here. With no one ready to shoulder their responsibility the three children Vikram (12), Chain Singh (10) and Bunty (9) are a dejected lot.

Married after facing stiff opposition from their respective families the couple was ready to end their life if not allowed to tie the knot. In contrast to this undying love the couple shared at the beginning of their relationship it was mistrust, hatred and callousness which dominated them. The grief stricken mother of Jeet Ram while narrating her woes told The Tribune, “ I have no answer when the children cry for their mother and father. I manage to console them with great difficulty. With few sources of income we can barely manage to sustain ourselves” she quipped.

Trouble started when Jeet Ram who worked as a daily wager got operated for appendicitis and later stomach ulcer. Making him bedridden he could no longer fend for the family. It was then that Vidya picked up a job at Solan-based Aarti Finance.

Initially putting in day hours for the work Vidya started turning up as late as 10:00 p.m. from work revealed Sham Lal, Jeet Ram’s brother. The situation became grave when she started staying back at Solan to tend to domestic work of her employer. She would not return home for months but only visited her family clandestinely at night.

Her stay outside embittered their relationship. Attempts to reach a compromise through a panchayat met with no response as she refused to accept summons to attend village panchayat. Rather, she filed a case in the district courts against ill-treatment and dowry demand made by her family. This she did at the insistence of her employer alleged her in-laws. Their persistent efforts to get her back home yielded no result. Ignoring her kids and ailing husband she refused all chances of compromise. It was news of her eloping with a friend which finally angered Jeet Ram. In a fit of rage he first shot her on June 11 and then killed himself.

Unaware of what destiny had in store the three children now await being adopted by some charitable institution. The Superintendent of Police Mr Gianeshwar Singh said they would ensure that the kids were adopted by some institute and taken care of.

Silt dumping in Suketi khud killing fish
Our Correspondent

Sundernagar, July 7
Hundreds of fish are dying daily in the 24-km-long stretch of the Suketi khud due to the dumping of silt by the BBMB from its balancing reservoir, Sundernagar, into the khud. Many persons can be spotted collecting the dead fish ranging in size from four inches to one-and-a-half feet which have died as a result.

The process of throwing silt into the khud began on July 1 and will continue for whole of the monsoon season.

This is as per the Environment Management Plan according to which the process of throwing silt is done from July 1 to August 31.

While aquatic life blooms in the khud for 10 months, it is destroyed completely in these two months.

This year, the BBMB had started dredging out silt with one dredger as the other one was out of order but now it has also pressed the second one into service.

Both the dredgers which are working day and night are throwing 10 to 11 acre feet silt daily into the khud for the smooth operation of the 990-MW Beas Sutlej project.

According to Mr Mahesh Kumar, Assistant Director, Fisheries, Mandi, due to the throwing of silt, the dissolved oxygen level decreases, the eyes of the fish get damaged and their gills get choked resulting in their death.

He expressed his inability to deal with the problem and said that he would send a report to the government to take the necessary action against the BBMB.

The Chief Engineer, BBMB, Mr D.P. Goel, said that he had not received any information about the dying of fish. He stated that the silt was being thrown into the Suketi khud under the supervision of an expert committee.

He further stated that the BBMB is committed to the production of electricity and also to protect the environment of the area. It had deposited Rs 36 lakh with the Fisheries Department for the development of fisheries in the Balh valley from where the Suketi khud passes.

The Himachal Government has banned the killing of fish in July for the development of fisheries in the state.

The Director, Fisheries, Mr B.D. Sharma, said that he would ask the Assistant Director, Fisheries, Mandi, to send a report and after that the necessary action would be proposed.

The President of Himalayan Animal Care and Environmental Protection Organisation, Mr Rajesh Sharma, said that the organisation would launch legal action against the BBMB officials.

Minister rules out bus fare hike
Tribune News Service

Shimla, July 7
Mr G.S. Bali, Transport minister, today categorically stated that the Himachal Government would not revise bus fares despite the hike effected in neighbouring Punjab.

Talking to media persons, he said private transporters were pressing for an upward revision of fares but he was of the view that they were still in a position to absorb the impact of the latest hike in the prices of diesel. The very fact that they were still offering discount on ticket to commuters clearly indicated that plying buses was still profitable.

Referring to the plea of private operators that the government had bailed out the Himachal Road Transport Corporation by arranging a loan of Rs 60 crore, Mr Bali said the public sector undertaking needed support as it was plying buses on 571 loss-making rural routes as a social obligation. The private transporters were not willing to operate buses on such routes. Moreover, the corporation was offering free and concessional travel facility to most categories like freedom fighters, legislators, media persons, handicapped persons, students and employees.

Mr Bali, who also holds the Tourism portfolio, said that the state Tourism Development Corporation would privatise marketing to bring its loss-making units into profit. He said packages would be worked out in collaboration with travel agents to help increase the occupancy in the hotels of the corporation.

The government planned to promote rural tourism by encouraging local people to open guest houses where tourists could stay comfortably. The focus would be on highlighting the hill culture by organising programmes featuring local musicians and dancers and displaying local handicrafts. A Rs 5-crore rural tourism project had been submitted to the Centre for approval.

The government would soon come up with a policy to take care of the disinvestment issue. He said there would be no outright sale of properties of the corporation but the management could be privatised and some properties could be leased out.

Making media, PR dept more effective discussed
Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, July 7
The significance of the credibility of the media and public relations departments was highlighted at the state-level seminar organised by the HP Public Relations Department here today.

Delivering the keynote address on the topic of ‘Interdependence of media and public relations’, Naresh Kaushal, Editor of Dainik Tribune, said the readers today had numerous options to get information and if facts reported by one source were incorrect, the subscribers would shift their loyalties. He also highlighted the declining percentage of developmental reporting in most newspapers on the pretext that readers now wanted something spicier. If the PR department furnished developmental information with credibility and the print media was sincere, developmental stories could be made readable, he said.

Mr Kaushal said the credibility of the PR department would have been undoubted had it been an autonomous agency and not controlled by the ruling party.

Earlier, Anil Soni, Editor of Divya Himachal, said the strengthening of regional reporting had led to awareness by taking media to far-flung areas.

Prof R.S. Joshi, media expert from Delhi, emphasized on the need to evolve a new approach to print media in the background of growing domination of the electronic media. "The reach of the regional press at village levels has created new areas of influence and power. No political party can afford to ignore the importance of regional dailies," he said.

Govt initiates schemes to help needy children
Tribune News Service

Shimla, July 7
Excise and Taxation Minister Rangila Ram Rao today directed officers of the Social Justice and Empowerment Department to ensure effective implementation of the Mukhya Mantri Bal Uddhar Yojana and Mukhya Mantri Kanya Dan Yojana, which are the first of the kind in the country.

He said the Mukhya Mantri Bal Uddhar Yojana was an integrated scheme for children in need. He said till date, the government was bearing the expenditure of such children till their stay at Bal Ashrams, but under the new scheme it would provide them vocational training after passing out so that they could earn their livelihood. He said the state government would also help these children to pursue higher studies. The state government would now act as a guardian of such children.

Mr Rao said under the Mukhya Mantri Kanya Dan Yojana, Rs 11,001 would be provided as marriage grant to those girls whose fathers were no more or critically ill and the family income did not exceed Rs 7,500.

The government was paying maximum attention to social welfare and had brought all eligible beneficiaries under the old age pension, widow pension and pension for physically challenged persons under the social security cover. Over the last three years, more than 76,000 social security pensioners had been sanctioned, increasing the total number of beneficiaries in the state to 2, 12,250.

Mr Rao said the state government was providing free education to the girl child and had introduced a new scheme called Indira Gandhi Balika Suraksha Yojana to prevent female foeticide in the state. He said an incentive of Rs 25,000 would be provided under the scheme to parents who adopt terminal family planning methods after the birth of the first girl child.

SDM office employee chargesheeted
Tribune News Service

Reckong Peo, July 7
The district administration of Kinnaur has issued a charge sheet against an employee of the office of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Kalpa based at Reckong Peo on charges of ‘official procedure lapse’ in the case of issuing fake inner line work permits to Nepali migrants by fraudulent means.

The case had first come to light in the last week of April this year with the arrest of Bhagwan Singh of Ropa village. The police had recovered blank inner-line work permits and stamps of the local SDM from the arrested person.

During the course of investigation the police arrested one more person, identified as Tarlochan Singh, who was running a photo studio in the main market here. Both of them were booked under Sections 420, 468, 471 and 120B of the IPC.

Talking to The Tribune, Dr Amandeep Garg, District Magistrate of Kinnaur, confirmed that the charge sheet had been issued to the ‘guilty’ employee and a reply had been sought from him in this regard.

However, the employee against whom prima facie charges of ‘official procedure lapse’ have been framed has not been suspended so far, said the DM, in reply to a question.

The DM further said if the district administration was not satisfied with the reply of the ‘guilty’ employee then he would definitely be placed under suspension and an inquiry officer would be deputed to further investigate his role in the case.

Meanwhile, the district administration has now computerised the record of issuing work permits to Nepali migrants in order to avoid such incidents in future.

NABBDA constituted
Our Correspondent

Solan, July 7
The state government has constituted the Nalagarh-Baddi-Barotiwala-Development Authority (NABBDA) for planned development of the industrial area. Its organization has been facilitated following an ordinance in the existing Town and Country planning Act. The ordinance which has been sent to the Governor for consent received the approval yesterday.

To enable the authority to coordinate working of various departments, including PWD, Electricity, Forest, Industries, Irrigation and Public Health, etc, a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) would be posted at Baddi. Officials of these departments would work in unison with the authority. Its objective would be to speed up development in the area.

Provision for a chairman and vice-chairman is also being created in the authority where the Minister Town and Country Planning and Secretary would occupy top posts.

Secretaries of various departments like finance, PWD, Forest, Industries and other allied departments would be the members of the authority.

Sources revealed the authority would be provided funds worth Rs 200 crore from the state government to initiate infrastructure development. A provision to generate income from various sources has also been laid down to enable the authority to take up development as per the need.

All civic works, including sanitation, drainage, etc, would be executed by it. Acquisition of land for expansion of housing or industrial purpose would also be taken up.

‘No land allotted to Hero Honda’
Tribune News Service

Shimla, July 7
The Himachal Government has so far not allotted any land to the Hero Honda company which proposed to set up a manufacturing facility in the state.

A government spokesperson while reacting to the demand of Mr P.K. Dhumal, a former chief minister, for cancellation of allotment of land, clarified that the proposal of the company was considered by the state level single window clearance and monitoring authority. After examining all the related aspects, initial permission was granted for setting up of the industrial unit in the state. However, no land had been allotted so far.

The state government was keen that the company set up its two- wheeler manufacturing unit involving an investment of Rs550 crore and a potential to provide 4,000 jobs. It had asked the company to identify suitable land in nearby locations for setting up of the unit.

Sutlej water level rising
Tribune News Service

Reckong Peo, July 7
With the rise in the temperature amid dry conditions in the tribal belts of Kinnaur and the Spiti valley during the past few days, the water level in the Sutlej has begun to rise considerably.

As per the reports available, the average water discharge in the Sutlej at various points was around 900 cubic metres per second today.

However, experts are of the view that there is no immediate threat of floods in the Sutlej but if the situation goes on like this it could be alarming in the next few weeks.

The minimum temperature in the tribal belts of Kinnaur and the Spiti valley has recorded an increase from two to five degrees and resulted in fast glacial melting, increasing the water discharge in the Sutlej and its tributaries.

Meanwhile, the Himachal government has sought a detailed report on the present situation of Parechu from the Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police through the Union Government.

More funds refused for TB research centre
Our Correspondent

Parwanoo, July 7
Uncertainty looms large on the future of state’s first TB Training, Research and Demonstration Centre (STDC) at TB sanatorium, Dharampur. The state TB authorities have refused to allocate more funds for the setting up of required infrastructure for training centre. A Rs 18 lakh budget was earmarked for the setting up of infrastructure for training centre. Besides this conversion of female patient ward into hostel, a lecture hall and a laboratory were also to be constructed. The work was handed over to housing board. The work on laboratory had been completed. However, the work on hostel could not be completed for want of funds. The construction of lecture hall was also pending.

The housing board was asking for Rs 7 lakh more so that the entire work, including construction of lecture hall, should to be completed. The sanatorium authorities had written to the state TB office at Shimla. However, as per a written communication from State TB officer no more funds could be granted now. The work was supposed to be completed with a grant of Rs 18 lakh only. As a result the training schedules have suffered a big blow. The work had been abandoned since the past six months and sanatorium management was virtually clueless about the future.

Hamirpur DC’s office to get ISO certification
Tribune News Service

Mandi, July 7
The Deputy Commissioner’s office in Hamirpur district is all set to become the country’s first office to acquire the “prestigious ISO 9001: 2000 certification for its e-governance centre” this month for a slew of services to the general public.

Talking to TNS the Divisional Commissioner, Central Mandi Zone, Mr KJBV Subramanyam, said the Det Norske Vertias (DNV), accredited as the institution for the ISO certification since 1864, had already inspected the e-governance centre and was likely to give the final ISO certification by the end of this month.

“It will become the first district in the country to do so. The Mandi DC’s office will get the ISO certification”, he added.

Date for removing encroachments extended
Legal Correspondent

Shimla, July 7
The H.P. High Court has extended the date for removing encroachments on forest land under the Municipal Corporation up to July 31.

While passing these interim directions, a Division Bench expressed apprehension about the efficacy of the campaign relating to the eviction of the unauthorised occupants as well as encroachers because of inadequate police personnel.

The court further directed the Principal Secretary (Forest), the Deputy Commissioner, Shimla and the Commissioner, Shimla Municipal Corporation, to request the DGP and the S.P., Shimla, to provide sufficient police personnel.

Official vehicle of AETC challaned
Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, July 7
The district police here yesterday challaned the official Gypsy of the Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner (AETC), Mr T.R. Thakur, for using the red light without permission. He was driving the vehicle himself when the challan was issued.

SHO R.P. Jaswal said more than 25 vehicles were challaned in the district as part of a special drive to check misuse of red lights and the National Flag.

It is after a long time that such a drive has been launched by the district police to check the misuse of red lights.

Civil Judge interview results
Tribune News Service

Shimla, July 7
The Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission has declared the results of the interviews held for the post of Civil Judge (Junior Division) in the Department of Home.

The selected candidates are Mr Ramnik Sharma (roll No 3240), Mr Dhiru Thakur (3567), Mr Vivek Sharma (3049), Mr Mandeep Mittal (3879), Mr Sidharth Sarpal (3764) and Mr Subhash Chand (3959).

Reduction in subsidy on apple carton flayed
Tribune News Service

Reckong Peo, July 7
The decision of the state government to reduce subsidy of Rs 6 to Rs 4 on a 20-kg carton used for packing apples has been criticised by apple growers in Kinnaur district.

“The reduction in subsidy has come as a shock to each tribal engaged in the apple cultivation in Kinnaur,” said Mr Tejwant Singh Negi, district president, BJP. He termed the decision as “anti-farmer” policy of the government.

2 more thieves arrested

Baddi, July 7
Two more members of a gang of robbers were arrested by the local police on Wednesday. Mr Iswar Chand, the Baddi-based junk dealer to whom the gang members used to sell stolen material, was arrested along with Dalip who hailed from Haripur near here. Nine members of the gang have already been arrested. OC