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15 shepherds stranded
behind glacier
Shanta backs CM on power projects
CPMT leak: Dhumal seeks VC’s dismissal
6 centres to be set up for sterilisation of monkeys
PWD functioning under a cloud
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Canter Union holds protest against excessive toll charges
Centre urged to restore IT appellate
Bathu bridge to reopen on Aug 18
Hotels housefull this weekend
Media Centre opened
Rain restricts Sonia’s movement
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15 shepherds stranded
behind glacier
Reckong Peo, August 12 It may be mentioned that when these shepherds along with their animals crossed the glacier, it suddenly started melting due to sudden change in weather conditions raising the water level in the Bichina and Vishag nullahs and blocking the footpath leading to the pasture. The Kinnaur District Magistrate, Dr Amandeep Garg, had asked the local administration of Nichar subdivision to set up a ropeway so as to rescue the shepherds and animals but so far the ropeway has not been made operational by the authorities concerned of the Public Works Department. Villagers of Rupi fear that the stranded shepherds are running short of the food stock they carried along with them two weeks back. The Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Nichar, Mr Arun Sharma, who was at Reckong Peo, the district headquarters of Kinnaur, on Thursday evening, however, claimed that the shepherds had enough food for another 20 days. He said PWD engineers and the work force had so far not set up the ropeway on the nullahs to rescue them. Earlier,
a two-member team comprising Mr Gurdev Singh, a kanugo, and Mr Arjun
Kumar, a Junior Engineer, visited the spot a few days back and submitted
a report recommending the setting up of the ropeway but no one in the
administration seems to be serious about the lives of these shepherds
and the animals. The SDM also claimed that all the people and the herd
of goats and sheep were safe and there was no immediate threat to their
lives.
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Shanta backs CM on power projects
Palampur, August 12 Addressing a crowded press conference at his residence here this morning, Mr Shanta Kumar said in the past, the attitude of both the states remained non- cooperative and these two states had always opposed the development of this hill state. Therefore the Chief Minister had taken the right stand and it was in the interest of Himachal Pradesh to blacklist these states. He said despite a series of meetings held in the past 20 years with these states, a sum of Rs 40,000 crore due to Himachal Pradesh had not been released. Even today the share of
Himachal Pradesh in the Bhakra Dam, Beas -Sutlej link and Pong Dam power projects valued at Rs 1000 crore annually was being availed by these two states. These states had refused to follow the directions of the Union Government in this regard. He said the HP government had been forced to knock the door of the apex court to seek justice. The BJP leader said even after 40 years, the State Reorganisation Act, 1966, was yet to be implemented. He said the Shanan Power House situated at Joginder Nagar had so far not been handed over to Himachal Pradesh, although it was situated on the land of Himachal Pradesh. The former Chief Minister strongly criticized the Chief Ministers of Punjab and Haryana, Capt Amarinder Singh and Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, for opposing the extension of the industrial package given to Himachal Pradesh by the Union Government. Mr Shanta Kumar said because of the non-cooperative attitude of Punjab and Haryana, the 10 km stretch of the Chandigarh-Baddi road could not be completed in the past 25 years causing great inconvenience to the public, particularly to people commuting from Chandigarh to Baddi daily. He said if this road was completed, the distance between Baddi and Chandigarh would be reduced by 20 km. Mr Shanta Kumar said the BJP would continue to support Mr Virbhadara Singh on issues which safeguarded the interests of the state.
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CPMT leak: Dhumal seeks VC’s dismissal
Shimla, August 12 In a statement issued here, he said Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had been dismissing allegations of irregularities in PMT examinations right form the beginning which clearly indicated that the government was shielding the guilty. He regretted that despite the high court cancelling the papers and ordering fresh examination, the HPU authorities were denying any irregularity on their part. “The government tried to hush up the issue by holding a one-man inquiry into the allegations, which was nothing more than an eyewash,” he said. He said ever since the formation of the Congress government in the state, there had been a number of scams, including the appointment of conductors, patwaris and pharmacists etc.
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6 centres to be set up for sterilisation of monkeys
Shimla, August 12 The technique is being tried for the first time in the country to deal with growing monkey nuisance in the state. A team of surgeons headed by Dr Sushil Sood, operated on 10 female and nine male monkeys at the newly set up sterilisation centre here at Tutikandi. The objective of trial surgeries was to work out the optimum requirement of post-operative care. The operated animal were kept under observation for five days. However, it was observed that small (about 5 mm) incision in females healed in three days in case of males in 48 hours. The doctors procured specially designed small laparoscopic instruments to operate on the females. During trial surgeries 12 doctors will be trained to perform sterilisations. The department plans to set up six centres on the Parwanu-Shimla-Rampur highway and one each in Hamirpur and Palampur for large-scale sterilisation of simians. In all 50 monkeys will be operated on during trial sterilisations. In the first phase 5,000 monkeys will be sterilised covering Shimla, Rampur and selected places on the Shimla-Kalka highway the worst hit by monkey menace. As per latest census there are 3,17,115 monkeys in the state out of which 85,784 are male. The population of monkeys in urban areas is about 5,000, while another 9,500 are located near various temples in the state. Earlier, 3,407 simians were trapped from various locations and released in deep forests as a short-term measure. Sterilisation is part of the long-term strategy to check the menace.
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PWD functioning under a cloud
Palampur, August 12 Information gathered by The Tribune revealed that around 12 bridges in Kangra district on the national and state highways were unsafe and had already completed their life spans. These could collapse any time. Most of these had already been declared unsafe by the PWD itself. Despite the fact that the PWD was well aware of the situation, no efforts were made during the past 20 years to replace these with new ones. Out of the 12 bridges, five are situated on the Pathankot-Mandi- Manali-Leh national highway, an important link to the boarder areas of Leh and Ladakh. The road is under the National Highway Authority of India. At present, the state PWD is maintaining it. During the Kargil conflict, the entire heavy Army equipment was taken to Leh via this road as it did not come in the firing range of Pakistani
troops. Even today, most of the Army supplies to Leh and Ladakh are made through this road. Drivers of heavy vehicles also prefer this route to travel to Leh. A senior official of the HP PWD admitted that all five bridges on the Pathankot-Mandi-Manali national highway were in a bad shape and needed immediate replacement.
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Canter Union holds protest against excessive toll charges Parwanoo, August 12 The union members alleged that daily toll tariff for Canter had increased from Rs 40 to Rs 60 by the firm without any notification. The union members further alleged that the firm’s staff had been misbehaving with them over the toll collection. The agitating members accused the firm owners and their staff of violating the Himachal Pradesh Toll Tax Act 1975 (HPTTA, 1975). They said the firm’s staff used to issue two types of toll collection receipts. While on the backside of one of the receipts the rates of toll were given whereas the second receipt lacked this feature. The chakka jam had put hundred of commuters in great difficulty. The Parwanoo police led by its DSP rushed to the spot. The jam was lifted after the DSP held talks with both parties. The police claimed that the matter had been sorted out. The DSP reportedly instructed the management of the firm to display the toll charges board at the barrier. Meanwhile, the Parwanoo Industries Association (PIA) has supported the concerns of the union. Mr Rakesh Bansal, general secretary of the PIA alleged that the firm had been violating the HPTTA, 1975. He further said that the firm had refused to issue passes to trucks, jeeps and taxies plying regularly across the barrier. Col. D. R. Chandel, a partner of the firm, has denied all allegations. He said toll collection was wrongly charged by the new staff posted recently. Those who have charged wrongly would be refunded, he maintained.
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Centre urged to restore IT appellate
Palampur, August 12 Disclosing this here today, R.C. Sood, president of the association, said the request had already been forwarded to the Centre for an early decision on this issue. He said there was no justification for closing the office of the CIT (Appeals), as there was adequate workload with it and over 150 appeals were pending for disposal. Mr Sood said the office was looking after income tax appeals of eight districts of the state and the taxpayers were facing a lot of difficulties after it was closed down. Till date, the CBDT had failed to finalise the jurisdiction of the CIT (Appeals) for Palampur and no one in the department knew where the taxpayers should go to file their appeals. He said the association had also taken up the matter with the state government and Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had also written a letter to the Finance Minister for the restoration of this office to avoid inconvenience to the taxpayers.
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Bathu bridge to reopen on Aug 18
Kangra, August 12 Mr P.C. Palia, Executive Engineer, PWD, said here today that a decision to allow light vehicles on the bridge from August 18 and heavy vehicles from August 23 was taken following inspection of the site by PWD Engineer-in-Chief S.P. Negi along with Chief Engineer R.S. Kanwar and S.E. K.R. Singh.. Mr Palia said more than 100 persons were working round the clock for reconstruction of the bridge. He said the repair work would be completed on August 15, and it would take at least three days for curing the bridge. Mr Negi had directed the officers that on August 18, light vehicles should be allowed to ply on the bridge, he added.
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Hotels housefull this weekend Parwanoo, August
12 It is jampacked in hotels in the region. Hotels have recorded a healthy occupancy rate. Famous hotels at Parwanoo, Kasauli, Barog, Chail and Shimla have been booked to capacity. The booking has been made well in advance. Most hotels are booked till August 16. Popular eating joints are crowded. Kasauli has been swarmed with tourists. The Tibetan market at the Kasauli mall has been bubbling with tourist activity. The HPTDC-run Pine Wood Hotel at Barog is full to capacity, with a large number of tourists from New Delhi, and other parts of North India being there well in advance to enjoy the holiday. The Shillon Resort on the Chail — Kufri road and the Tarika Jungle Retreat and the Palace Hotel at Chail are housefull, with tourists finding it difficult to get good-quality reservation for stay in and around Chail. The rush was expected this weekened, pointed out Mr Sumit Sagar, a travel planner based at Chandigarh. “We had intimated our corporate clients and groups well in advance keeping in view the long weekend”, he asserted.
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Media Centre opened
Shimla, August 12 Mr Khosala inaugurated the Himachal Chapter of the Indian media Centre, here today. “It is very painful to see that the institution of the editor had been downgraded and market forces were directing the newspaper policies, making both print and electronic media nothing more than a product,” he lamented. Ajay Srivastav was appointed Convener of the Himachal Chapter for undertaking enrolment of members.
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Rain restricts Sonia’s movement
Shimla, August 12 Ms Gandhi, who arrived here with daughter Priyanka and grandchildren on Thursday night, spent time in the resort only. She had reportedly planned a trek with her family through the thickly wooded forests adjoining the hotel. Ms Gandhi, who spent three days here last year also, would be leaving for New Delhi on Monday morning. |
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