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Order on PMT: SC declines to interfere
Rapid transit system for Shimla
Tension grips village after suicide by 63-yr-old
Illegal abortions: 3 arrested
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Four arrested for taxi driver’s murder
Sonia in Shimla
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Order on PMT: SC declines to interfere
New Delhi, August 11 A Bench of Mr Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Mr Justice D.K. Jain also refused to defer the date of the fresh entrance test scheduled for August 20 by the Himachal Pradesh University following the High Court's July 26 order. The court, however, restrained the state police from summoning for questioning those students against whom allegations were leveled of adopting foul means in the cancelled PMT as well as their parents till August 23. The restraint order was passed by the court after their counsel, senior advocate J.L. Gupta contended that frequent summoning by the police was putting pressure on them, which would effect their preparedness for fresh test. But the court declined Gupta's plea for interference in the High Court order observing "if malpractice is noticed, the better course is to have fresh examination. What is the difficulty in the fresh examination." Senior advocate Arun Jaitley, appearing for some students who had moved the High Court for cancellation of the PMT, after reports of leak by forming an Action Committee to fight it out jointly, alleged that there was large scale bungling and parents of some students had even gone to Dehra Dun to meet a tout. "Police have collected evidence to prove it, which include the calls made on the cell phone of the tout," he said. He said the three-member team set up by Himachal Police to probe the matter had found gross irregularities by some students toping the exam, as a group of them had attempted the paper in an identical manner, which was neither prudent, nor possible. As per the report of the police team at least 38 students out of the first 60 in the merit list had attempted the questions in the same manner indicating that they had prior knowledge of the question paper. Gupta while trying to defend the case of the students who had secured higher ranks due to alleged malpractice, contending that the High Court had overlooked the findings of the professors' committee on "rough work" by those students in their answer sheets. Jaitley said till fresh tests are held, the police could be asked not to summon any student for questioning but no tout should be let off. Agreeing with his contention, the court made it clear that the police has to investigate the matter so that the touts who had spoiled the purity of the examination were brought to book.
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Rapid transit system for Shimla
Shimla, August 11 Transport Minister G.S. Bali said here today that the IIT had been entrusted with the task of conducting a study to find the most-effective form of transportation for the town. “The funds for the proposed system would be sought under the Jwaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission
(JNNURM) once the IIT completes its study”, said Mr Bali. The transport system could be a rail line, more effective road lines with the help of tunnels or even aerial ropeways or a combination of these different forms of transportation. “The Centre has sanctioned Rs 1.17 crore for the construction of two jetties at Luhanoo and Jeori to boost water transportation”, he said. He said the task of constructing smaller jetties at nine locations, including Nakarna
Ghat, Challe Ghat, Pangwana Ghat, Malraun, Dhula, Sasota, Fulfill Ghat, Balghar and Behna Brahmna, along with construction of passenger sheds at these places, had been entrusted to the
HPPWD. He further informed that to curb the tendency of overloading and to safeguard roads, the department would install 11 weighing bridges at all entry points into the state. As many as 200 new buses would be added to the existing fleet of the Himachal Roadways Transportation Corporation (HRTC), including 30 buses with semi-deluxe facilities charging only 25 per cent higher fare than that of an ordinary bus. Mr Bali said a number of steps like starting electronic ticketing machines at Delhi, Chandigarh and Shimla, HRTC taxi service at Rs 10 per person from Bus Stand to the office of the Deputy Commissioner for the old and sick and a help line number in case of breakdown, accident or delay for the convenience of the passengers. “The revenue receipts of the department have increased from Rs 26.30 crore to Rs 30.76 crore during the first quarter of this financial year compared to the same period last year”, he said. Besides, revenue receipts from barriers at entry points had gone up from Rs 4.83 core to Rs 5.42 crore during the first quarter compared to last year, he added. The accumulative losses had touched about Rs 370 crore. Mr Bali said in future strict legal action would be taken against passengers travelling without tickets.
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Tension grips village after suicide by 63-yr-old
Baijnath, August 11 Irate villagers raised slogans against the police, alleging that the police had been harassing Shambhu in the name of investigation, and demanded suspension of the local SHO. Ahaliya Devi, wife of the deceased, said the SHO had met her last evening and summoned her husband to the police station today morning. Since he was away to attend a ceremony in Palampur, she conveyed this to him over the telephone. The villagers said today morning, when Shambhu reached his village, he jumped from a steep slope into the Binwa khud. In the a suicide note recovered from his bag, the deceased had reportedly written that he was scared of police interrogations and apprehended that he might be harassed. He, however, did not blame anybody for forcing him to take the extreme step. When the police came to take away the body for post-mortem, the deceased’s wife and villagers put up stiff resistance. They insisted that the body could be taken away only after his son arrived from Delhi. The police had a tough time controlling the crowd and an additional force had to be sent from Dharamsala, police sources said. Additional Superintendent of Police, Mr Santosh Patial, denied that the deceased had been repeatedly called to the police station. He said the SHO met his wife for the first time last evening only to seek some clues about the murder that took place close to their house. “The police does carry out such investigations to solve the case but that doesn’t mean everyone questioned is a suspect in the case,” he said. The deceased had retired as a Works Inspector from the Public Works Department. Police sources said Joginder Singh, an employee of the Irrigation and Public Health Department was found dead in a water stream near Shambhu Ram’s house on August 3 and a case under Section 302 of the IPC had been registered. Two persons have also been arrested in this case. Mr Patial said there was no move to suspend the SHO. Traffic on the Paprola-Utrala road was also blocked for some time due to the gathering of people at the site of the suicide. DIG P. L. Thakur also visited the village to take stock of the situation. The situation was under control when reports last came in.
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Illegal abortions: 3 arrested
Nurpur, August 11 According to the DSP, Mr Vimukat Ranjan, who led the raid, the Block Medical Officer, Dr Deepak Sharma, and the hospital in charge, Dr Dev Raj Rial, assisted the police which had registered a criminal case against the owner of the private hospital. The police has seized equipment, medicines used in medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) and certain documents from the premise of the hospital. The police has also took prescription slips of private nursing homes of Pathankot in its possession. The police has arrested Subash Sharma, a resident of Sihal (Fatehpur), owner of the so-called hospital, Usha Devi of Nagabari and Bandana of Bharmar village. A case under Section 316 of the IPC and Sections 3 and 4 of the MTP Act has been registered against the accused.
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Four arrested for taxi driver’s murder
Bilaspur, August 11 According to reports Lakhvinder and Amandeep were involved in the murder of Hardeep while Joginder and Jagmohan had later purchased the car from them in which they had escaped after murdering the driver. The accused were presented in a court here on Wednesday and were remanded in police custody for 15 days as they had been charged under Sections 302, 82,201 of the I.P.C. According to the police, on January 21, 2005 Hardeep Singh was coming to Anandpur Sahib in his vehicle from Chandigarh and he is said to have met Lakhvinder and Amandeep at Ropar and allowed them to accompany him. But later they killed Hardeep Singh near Galua village and fled with the car after dumping his body in the fields. Police sources said the accused had confessed to having committed the murder of eight persons in a similar manner and they used to sell the vehicles after dumping their bodies at suitable places.
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Sonia in Shimla
Shimla, August 11 Accompanied by her daughter Priyanka Gandhi and grandchildren, Mrs Gandhi arrived late last evening on a five-day private visit to the "queen of hills". Her son-in-law, Mr Robert Wadra, was expected to join them later. Mrs Gandhi has no official engagements and the security agencies and the hotel management have maintained complete secrecy about her visit. Last year too, she had come here on a private visit and stayed at the hotel for three days. |
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