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29 MLAs threaten motion of breach against Principal Secy
HPMC stores leased out
Govt to develop Kaza as model
village: CM
Pact with Japan on farm study
1 killed, one hurt in road accident
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HP to take up allotment of land
to Pong dam oustees
Directory on freedom fighters
Tourism board lying dormant
24 hostels for students planned
Engineer found dead
Factory worker drowned
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29 MLAs threaten motion of breach
Shimla, July 20 Joining hands on the issue, legislators of both ruling party and the Opposition came down heavily on the Principal Secretary who ,they alleged, had erred by placing members of Vidhan Sabha in the ‘D’ category. They maintained that being a senior functionary of the government he must be aware of the protocol and privileges being enjoyed by the legislators. He should have been cautious while placing them in the category, they added. His action amounted to breach of privilege of the members of the House and a motion in this regard would be brought before the Assembly, they resolved. They demanded that the notification issued on July 12, in which the legislators were placed in the ‘D’ category, be amended and a corrigendum issued forthwith. The court had passed the order on a public interest litigation, alleging that MLAs, ex-Speakers and Chairpersons of various boards and corporations had been allowed to use red lights on their vehicles in contravention of the
rules.
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HPMC stores leased out
Mandi, July 20 Besides, the corporation has sought a grant of Rs 7 crore to upgrade the Jadol processing unit in Mandi district from the Food and Processing Ministry. According to top sources, the HPMC had invited bids for lease this year for which the three companies — India Tobacco Corporation (ITC) Ltd, Container Corporation of India (CCI) and Adani Agri Fresh Ltd (AAFL) responded. The ITC’s sister concern, Snowman, has got the store-cum-packaging units at Jarol-Tikkar, near Kotgarh, on lease for 10 months and its store in Shimla. “The company will pay Rs 10 lakh to the corporation, pay salaries for the technical staff of the unit and upgrade the unit to maximise its capacity,” the sources said. Similarly, the corporation has leased out the Recongpeo store in Kinnaur to the AAFL, an agro-based company from Gujarat. It will pay a rent of Rs 51,000 per month. “The CCI has got the two store rooms in Shimla and will pay a rent of Rs 20000 per month for a period of 10 months this season”, the sources informed. These companies will directly buy apples from the growers. “The ITC got HPMC’s two cold stores —Jarol-Tikkar and Guma — on a lease of Rs 3 lakh last year and procured over 18,000 apple boxes. The AAL has already set its three controlled atmospheric stores (CAS) in the apple belt”. The overstaffed HPMC had been using just 15 per cent of its capacity of “outdated stores and other infrastructure and are main reasons for its losses”. “The corporation has an annual turnover of Rs 35 crore, but it has to pay Rs 12 crore as salaries and other expenditure every year”, said officials. The Jadol processing unit located on National Highway-21 in Mandi district has old machinery and has remained underutilised. The HPMC’s Managing Director, Mr CRB Lalit, said the companies would upgrade the existing facilities of the leased units. “The corporation has sought an assistance of Rs 7 crore to upgrade the Jadol unit. The project awaits clearance from the Food Processing Ministry”, he added.
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Govt to develop Kaza as model village: CM
Shimla, July 20 Stating this while addressing a public meeting at Kaza in Lahaul and Spiti district during his one-day tour to the Spiti valley, the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, said the detailed project had already been prepared and work from the Mudh side had commenced. The government had approached the Centre for clearance of the portion of the road to be laid through the forest area. The work would be carried out on a war footing to complete the same at the earliest. Mr Virbhadra Singh said that Kaza would be developed as a model village and basic infrastructure would be provided so that the town could also cater to the needs of visitors. He said a suitable plan would be formulated to achieve the objective in association with the local people. The Chief Minister announced upgradation of the government high schools at Losar and Kibbar to senior secondary schools, opening of a primary health centre for Rangrik, two spans at Khar and Kee, besides construction of Chomo Hostel at Pangmo. He said the government had increased the winter and tribal allowances of the employees serving in the tribal areas, thereby fulfilling their long-pending demand.
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Pact with Japan on farm study
Shimla, July 20 Giving details about the study programme, a spokesman of the Agriculture Department said the proposal was cleared by the Centre, the Planning Commission and the Ministry of Finance during 2005. The Japanese delegation led by Mr Tomoyuki Fujji held a detailed discussion with all stakeholder departments and carried out field visits before signing the “aide memoire”. The project is for two years. The scope of the work has been divided into two phases. In the first phase, the baseline survey, identification of potentials and constraints and conceptualisation of a master plan will be completed. In the second phase, activities like action plans, feasibility studies, pilot testing and finalising the master plan will be carried out. An action plan will be formulated for 10 years and a master plan for 15 years. On the basis of these two mega projects will formulated and posed to donors for funding.
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1 killed, one hurt in road accident
Kullu, July 20 It was learnt that the scooter, going from Bhuntar to Nagwain, was overtaking a bus while the car was coming from the opposite direction. The scooter hit the car and the victim fell down sliding under the bus where he died. The pillion rider had serious injuries and was admitted to Regional Hospital here. The deceased was identified as Nildhar, a son of Dhiri Singh of Parol village. The condition of the injured, Gagan, a son of Megh Singh of Nagwain village, was stated to be stable. The body of the deceased was handed over to the relatives after a post-mortem examination today.
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HP to take up allotment of land
to Pong dam oustees
Shimla, July 20 This was stated by Revenue Minister, Sat Mahajan at a high-level meeting on the demand and issues of Pong dam oustees, here today. Revenue Minister of Rajasthan, Ram Narayan Dudi, PWD Minister, Rajender Singh Rathore and Agriculture Minister, Surender Pal Singh discussed the problem of oustees with Himachal officials and the oustees. Mr Mahajan requested the Rajasthan delegation to develop infrastructure facilities in Jaisalmer for the oustees. “The Rajasthan government should expedite the cases of exchange of land pending before the Collector, Sri Ganganagar and Jaisalmer to provide relief to the oustees,” he said. Mr Mahajan said the outstanding demands and issues of Pong dam oustees need sympathetic treatment so that the oustees could lead peaceful and settled life.
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Shimla, July 20 Mr Prem Kumar, Director of the department, has urged the freedom fighters to send their photographs along with certificates of participation in the freedom movement, showing details of places of participation during the movement and the jails where they were imprisoned for publication in the directory. He said the directory was likely to be published within six months. — TNS
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Tourism board lying dormant
Shimla, July 20 Till date, only one meeting of the board has taken place in October 2003. The decisions taken in the meeting have, however, not been implemented. Constituted under the State Tourist Trade Act, the board was supposed to lay down guidelines for the development of tourism sector and take up various projects like construction of parking lots, beautification of important destinations, widening of roads, improvement of bus-stands and tourism-related infrastructure. Tourism councils were to be constituted for each tourist destination so that developmental works could be undertaken for the execution of such schemes by involving the private sector in a big way. The councils were required to facilitate implementation of private sector projects in the built-own-operate-and-transfer mode (BOOT). The board was to provide funds for such projects to the councils, which in return pay back a part of the revenue generated. However, so far only one council has been constituted for Manali where green tax has been imposed to generate revenue for improving the basic facilities. Such councils were to be set up for Kufri, Shimla, McLeod Ganj, Dalhousie, Chail, Kasuali and other tourist stations. Further, the government was to give a grant of Rs 14 lakh to the board annually but so far it has not released any. Consequently, the board could not become functional. The idea was to put an effective mechanism in place to take care of all tourism-related developmental activities but it has turned out to be another government agency, laments Mr Umesh Akre, vice-president of the Himachal Hotel Association, who is also a member of the board. Such bodies have been very effective in countries like Austria and Singapore which thrive on tourism. Experts feel that to make the board an effective instrument for boosting the state tourism, the government should reduce the number of official members and induct more non-official members from various segments of tourism industry who can take initiative and deliver goods. Otherwise, it will merely exist like many advisory bodies and would not be of any use to the tourism industry.
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24 hostels for students planned
Mandi, July 20 Addressing a public meeting after he laid the foundation stone for the Rs 1.65-lakh hotel complex at Government College, Sarkaghat, in the district, Mr Rao said girl students were getting free education up to the postgraduate level in Himachal Pradesh. He said IGNOU had opened its centre at the college which would offer professional and higher education courses for students in the subdivision. “The government has allocated Rs 17 lakh for the construction of the administrative block here”, he added. Mr Rao also gave a grant of Rs 5,100 each to three destitute girls for marriage at the function.
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Engineer found dead
Solan, July 20 The police said he was staying in a rented room at Padgyana village for the past two months. He had hired a room in the building of Sanjeev Kohli. According to the police, when Romi Malhotra went to meet him at his room yesterday morning, he found him lying dead. The deceased hails from Chennai. No external injury was found on the body. The police has sent the body for a post-mortem examination.
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Factory worker drowned
Nahan, July 20 The body was fished out of the tank and sent for a post-mortem.
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