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Snow attracts New Year revellers
Advani arrives in Shimla today |
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Mandi, D’sala to get satellite townships
Board’s decision to destroy bulbs raises hackles
Police to get tough with traffic rule violators
Coal supplied by central PSU sent for lab test
Govt urged not to rush into acquiring land for projects
Death of HPSEB Lineman
27 villages not to get free CFLs
DM: Keep eye on anti-social elements
Bahujan Samaj panel formed
Delayed interview letter dashes hopes
Taxi driver goes missing
Stray dogs vaccinated
CJ stresses need for speedy justice
4 jails to have HIV testing centres
Cong: Patwaris being negleted
Advances in electrical engineering discussed
Cong leaders feeling frustrated: BJP
1 killed as car plunges into Beas
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Snow attracts New Year revellers
Mandi, December 28 Hoping to usher into a New Year of new hope and prosperity the revellers have started pouring in from all over the country. The occupancy rates have been pushed up to 75 to 80 per cent in Manali and more bookings are pouring in. Adding to the New Year mania is the recent snowfall. It has decked up the ski resort at Solang Nallah and snow points at Guluba in the lower Rohtang range, attracting the tourists for camp fires, snow sports, and Himachali cuisine. The tourist traffic from across the country has picked up leading from this gateway to Kullu-Manali, throwing up occupancy rates from 30 to 40 per cent around Christmas to 70 per cent in the higher segments hotels. The chairman, Manali Hoteliers Association, Gautamnath Thakur, said, “Snow has given us an advantage this time and occupancy rates are increasing everyday. There is 5 inches of snow at the ski resort of Solang Nallah where tourists have already started thronging for
snow sports. The occupancy will pick up around the New Year eve.” The manager, HPTDC Mandi-Kullu-Manali circuit, Yogesh Behl, said special attraction this time is the New Year package offered by the HPTDC, which includes Himachal cuisines and culture offering three nights and four days stay for Rs 10,500. It includes lodging and transportation from New Delhi in Volvo buses to Manali and back. The occupancy has hit 75 per cent in our hotels and will go house full by New Year eve,” he added. The clubhouse will showcase free exhibition for local artisans, who can sell their handloom and handicrafts to the tourists. The HPTDC will choose Manali prince and princess among the dancing couples for the New Year. The district administration in the region has sounded an high alert and each vehicle crossing the entry point at Ghora Morha in Bilaspur are being properly checked, filtering the anti-social elements, said police officials. DIG central ranger Anurag Garg said security arrangements have been reviewed and check points in the central range have been activated. “The police will check drunken driving around the New Year eve and hoteliers have been asked to record proper addresses and contact numbers of their guests to deal with any emergency,” he added. |
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Advani arrives in Shimla today
Shimla, December 28 The party intends to hold rallies in each of the four parliamentary constituencies soon thereafter. These rallies will be addressed by party’s national-level leaders like Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj and others. The schedule of these rallies will be decided after the three-day national executive meeting of the party scheduled to be held at Nagpur from January 23. State party chief Jai Ram Thakur said Advani would land at Annadale helipad at 4 pm tomorrow. He would stay at Peterhoff and meet senior
party leaders. He would address a rally at 11 am at the Ridge on December 30 and return to Delhi the same evening. “The rally is being held not just to mark the completion of one year of the government but also to launch the BJP Lok Sabha campaign,” Thakur said. The tempo would be kept up by holding similar rallies in all four Lok Sabha segments, he added. Meanwhile, arrangements are on for the rally at the Ridge. Barricades have been put up and the entire area sanitised as Advani has been placed in the Z-plus security category. More than 700 police personnel have been deployed to ensure that there is complete security. “We have divided the town into 13 sectors and put up four barriers at Tuti Kandi, Tawi Mod (near Totu), Maili and Dhalli so that every vehicle entering the town can be checked,” said district police chief R.M. Sharma. |
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Mandi, D’sala to get satellite townships
Shimla, December 28 An official spokesperson said here today that 439 bighas of government and 828 bighas of private land had been identified near the Gaggal airport (near Dharamsala) for the purpose. Similarly, 602 bigha government land and 1,722 private land had been identified at Nasloh village (near Mandi) for setting up a satellite township. There is also a proposal to set up new housing colonies at Theog and Pateog in Shimla district, Batolikhurd and Sansiwala in Solan district, Una and Rakkar in Una district, Dhaundi in Mandi district, Katya and Palampur in Kangra district, Tikkalohatrda in Hamirpur district and Bhatyat in Bilaspur district. “HIMUDA has acquired 670 bighas of land near Baddi for setting up an educational hub at a cost of Rs 28.26 crore,” said an official spokesperson. A sum of Rs 14 crore would be spent on providing housing to the urban poor. “HIMUDA has approved colonies to cater to the needs of the urban poor at Shimla, Hamirpur, Dharamsala and Solan,” he added. HIMUDA has also acquired 108 bighas of land at Moginand in Sirmaur district. Development work has already begun there. The project cost is estimated to be around Rs 5.05 crore. |
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Board’s decision to destroy bulbs raises hackles
Solan, December 28 The state government had decided to distribute four CFL bulbs to each of the 17,500 families in the state and each consumer was supposed to return four bulbs back to the board. While the board had decided to take back only bulbs that found in order, it is surprising that these bulbs will now be destroyed. The waste so generated will then be transported from each station to the Baddi-based Shiwalik Soild Waste Management Limited Society (SSWMLS) where it will
be disposed off. The society is further supposed to charge a fee for the disposal of this waste. This arrangement is, however, fraught with problems and questions about the decision to
destroy bulbs. Foremost, as per an estimate, bulbs worth Rs 7 crore will be collected in the exercise and whether a fund-starved state like Himachal can afford to simply destroy the bulbs. Why options like auction of the bulbs has not been considered when it is clear that lead, copper and glass can be readily bought by units using such material as raw material? Even if the option fetches some lakhs, it could add some funds to the board. Under the present arrangement, the board will not only engage its manpower to break the bulbs but also hire vehicles to transport the waste to Baddi. It is learnt that the state electricity regulatory commission has not given its approval for such an exercise. Moreover, the bulb contains hazardous waste like lead, mercury, tungsten and glass particles which will not only contaminate the soil, but can also enter the food chain and play havoc
with the health. Though the board has written to the State Pollution Control Board to provide them the guidelines about how to dispose of this waste, it is understood that the understaffed board would fail to monitor the safe destruction and transportation of this waste throughout the state. Under such circumstances how prudent was it to simply allow a workable item to go waste belied all logic and that too for the state which is trying to generate additional resources to bear the ever-increasing expenditures. Instead of simply destroying the bulbs, options like sending them to poor states like Bihar, which faced massive devastation due to floods, could have been explored. Inquires from the SSWMLS, however, revealed that the board was yet to approach the society and it was only after the receipt of some proposal that they could think about its disposal. |
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Police to get tough with traffic rule violators
Shimla, December 28 An analysis of road accidents by the tourism, traffic and railways (TTR) wing of the police has indicated that 90 per cent of the mishaps were the result of human failure. Last year, 979 persons lost their lives in
2,955 accidents. The TTR has identified and outlined 13 new causative factors and directed all district police chiefs in the state to direct police personnel to have zero tolerance towards these factors. To ensure strict implementation of these directives, the SPs have been asked to send the action taken report by the 10th of every month. DIG, Tourism Traffic and Railways (TTR), J.R. Thakur said a document listing the 13 causative factors had been sent to the district police officials. “Seeing a sharp increase in the number of accidents, we decided to identify causative factors for accidents for which people should be penalised so that there are fewer mishaps,” he said. The list also indicates various sections of the Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC) that are to be used while penalising offenders. This has been done to make the task of the traffic and other police personnel easy. The district police chiefs have been asked to not only direct their force to be
particular about the new directions but also coordinate with other departments and officials like magistrates, regional transport officers and transport authorities to take corrective measures to reduce accident cases. The enlisted causative factors include driving without licence and proper training, rash and negligent driving, over-speeding, drunken driving, lack of road discipline, driving when mentally or physically unfit, use of mobile phones, music players and smoking while driving. Police personnel have also been asked to check overloading of passenger vehicles. |
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Coal supplied by central PSU sent for lab test
Shimla, December 28 The decision follows complaints about supply of alleged poor quality coal from Eastern Coalfield India Ltd in West Bengal’s Raniganj for heating government offices in high altitude districts of the state, Civil Supplies Corporation MD Ajai Bhandari said today. The PSU officials were, however, not available for comment. Coal samples were sent to a laboratory in Delhi for tests. The report is awaited, he said. The fuel was supplied for use in the high altitude Lahaul-Spiti, Kinnaur and Pangi districts, where temperature dips between -20°C and -30°C. He said a total of 4,000 metric tonne of coal at a cost of Rs 60-70 lakh was purchased by the corporation. Though the order was placed in September while the roads were free from snow, it was delivered only in October-November. Bhandari alleged that though the order was for Grade-C coal, the PSU supplied Grade-D citing non-availability of the former variety. The payment was made for grade D. Lahaul-Spiti Deputy Commissioner C Paul Rasu said Keylong SDM Vinay Kumar had probed the complaints and it was found that many sacks of coal were in fact filled with stones and sand. About 16,000 quintal coal was supplied to the district. — PTI
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Govt urged not to rush into acquiring land for projects
Mandi, December 28 The HNA activists urged the government not to rush into the acquiring of the land for the proposed Sundernagar cement plant, the Himalayan Ski Village at Manali, the special economic zone (SEZ) at Una, and other development projects in view of the new Land Acquisition Act and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act being mulled by the Central Government. Talking to mediapersons here today, HNA activists Kulbhushan Upmnayu and Guman Singh said the state government should not rush into implementation of these projects as they would take a heavy toll on sensitive ecology and environment and render large number of farmers landless. They said they have launched the special campaign to bring about people and government awareness on these projects. The Sundernagar cement plant site should be shifted to Nalani as it would be out of the town and not involve the agricultural land and farmers’ compensation should be raised, Upmanyu added. He said SEZ Una should be either scrapped or its site should be selected to other barren land. The proposed 8,000-acre of land would render farmers landless and not more than 400 acre of land is needed, which can be identified at a different place, he claimed. They claimed that the ski village would play havoc with the ecology of the ecological sensitive region in Manali. This is not right kind of tourism model, as it would not benefit the locals as stakeholders in the projects, they added. They pleaded that the HNA had given its suggestion to the newly drafted Acts-Land Acquisition Act and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act- urging the government to include right-holders as stakeholders in the all development projects
and not producing the oustees. |
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Bali stages dharna in front of police station
Tribune News Service
Dharamsala, December 28 Former minister and MLA from Nagrota Bagwan constituency GS Bali today sat on a dharna in front of the local police station. He said the dharna would not be lifted till action was taken against the guilty policemen. Bali said lineman Ram Kishan was beaten in the police station. The accused in the case also took away Ram Kishan from the police station where he had gone to lodge his complaint. Officials at the local police station did not take any action against the accused for three days after the crime. I personally rang up the local police officials to register a case against beating up of the HPSEB employee. It was only after the local people resorted to traffic blockade on December 26 that the accused in the case was arrested, he alleged. He said the Congressmen would not lift dharna till action was taken against the accused police officials. We would also seek information under the Right to Information Act regarding the call received by the SHO at Nagrota. Calls were allegedly made by the ruling party leader to pressurise the police against taking action against the accused, he alleged. Bali also said the Congress would demand compensation for the family of deceased employee and a government job to one of his family member. The way a government employee had been killed it speaks volumes about the law and order situation in the state, Bali alleged. Though the Congress leader had stepped up protest to demand action against the accused cops, the higher authorities of the police have given a clean chit to their officers. Ram Kishan had died at the PGI yesterday. He was cremated today in his native village, near Nagrota Bagwan. Though the police had arrested accused Rahul and registered a case under Section 302 of IPC against him, the residents are also demanding action against the accused police officials.
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27 villages not to get free CFLs
Chamba, December 28 Confirming these reports here today, an official of the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board (HPSEB) keeping anonymity revealed that residents of these villages were not HPSEB consumers as they were directly supplied free power from the Baira-Siul Power Station of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC). The Baira-Siul plant generates power at Surangani and these villages were located near the power station. The official further revealed that the HPSEB was providing CFL bulbs free of cost to 1,72,134 families living in the jurisdiction of Dalhousie operation circle of the HPSEB, comprising Chamba district and Nurpur and Jawali electrical divisions of Kangra district under the scheme. The CFL bulbs were being distributed through all cash collection centres where the consumers deposited their electricity bills, the official disclosed; adding that each domestic consumer was being provided with a free packet of four CFLs on production of the receipt of their last paid electricity bill along with returning of four traditional bulbs. The free CFLs would be replaced within a period of 18 months of their issue if any of these were found defective or get fused within this period, the official said; adding that the scheme had been launched by the state government to save maximum energy.
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DM: Keep eye on anti-social elements
Chamba, December 28 Promulgating these orders under Section 144 of the CrPC, the DM in his orders stated that many people were visiting the district to earn their livelihood by engaging in trade, services or running their business like shawl vendors, phariwalas, cobblers, repair of utensils etc or by offering contract labour services in hydroelectric projects and this had made prevention of crime more difficult. As such if the situation was allowed to continue, there was apprehension that public tranquility would be disturbed. Further, that there was grave danger to human life and safety and injury to public property on that account, the DM said. In his orders, the DM directed the law-enforcing agencies to see that no employer, contractor and traders could engage any migrant labourer visiting any part of the district in petty non-formal job or services or contract labour unless such migrant labourer had furnished his particulars along with a passport size photograph at the Station House Office concerned of the respective area for identification and verification of his antecedents.
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Bahujan Samaj panel formed
Bilaspur, December 28 The meeting unanimously elected Tulsi Dass Bansal, a local Dalit leader and also a former state president of the BSP, as its president. The meeting was attended by some 187 delegates from six districts of the state and it authorised its president to appoint office-bearers and members of the state committee from the unrepresented districts and also to hold elections of the district bodies at the earliest. A unanimous resolution adopted in the meeting said though all governments and political parties claim to be concerned about the welfare of the Dalits and verbally champion their cause, yet all of them are found wanting and take all precautions to protect their vote bank when it comes to taking cudgels at times of atrocities against the Dalits, mostly women who always become victim of excesses of some people in society. This organisation had been formed with an objective of fighting for such hapless and helpless Dalits, who are victimised and left without anybody to help them get justice. |
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Delayed interview letter dashes hopes
Nurpur, December 28 The frustrated candidate showed his interview letter to mediapersons here yesterday in which it was mentioned that his name was under consideration for engaging him on contract basis as a computer
operator in the Dharamsala region. He had been asked to appear before the screening committee on December 26 at 10 am in Dharamsala along with original requisite testimonials and
documents. Inquiries revealed that the interview letter was issued from the office of Regional Project Director, HPMHWDP, Dharamsala, on December 12 vide office order No 2229. But it was stamped at Dharamsala post office on December 17 and stamped at Suliali sub-post office on December 26. It was delivered to him on the same day in afternoon, but the interview had been conducted before noon. Superintendent of the post office at Dharamsala PD Singh Thakur said he would hold an inquiry into the incident after receiving a written complaint. |
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Taxi driver goes missing
Kangra, December 28 Kangra Sub-Divisional Police Officer OP Jamwal said today that Batan Kumar, owner of Tavera taxi (HP01 D-1242), today lodged a report with the Kangra police that the taxi driver, Satish Kumar, a resident of Rajol village, was allegedly kidnapped by three persons from the Tehsil Chowk of this town on December 25 at 5pm and his whereabouts were still not known. Jamwal said three persons, including a youth, hired the taxi for Pipli in Haryana, on Thursday evening and the driver did not return the next day. When Batan Kumar rang up the driver some unknown person responded and said he was out. He said after that his mobile and other mobile numbers, which the alleged kidnappers had given him, were switched off. The DSP said police parties have been rushed to Pipli and were checking the toll check posts in Himachal, Punjab and Haryana. He said the motive of kidnapping could not be established as yet and no ransom was asked by the kidnappers till now. He said it was yet to be ascertained whether some vehicle-lifting gang was behind the incident or they had some other motive. He said a case under Section 365 of the IPC has been
registered. |
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Stray dogs vaccinated
Palampur, December 28 The campaign was organised in collaboration with the Himachal Nature Society and the Palampur Welfare and Environment Protection Forum. The State Bank of India and the State Bank of Patiala extended financial support for the campaign. President of the Palampur Municipal Council Ajit Bagla supervised the operation. A team of veterinary experts from HPAU’s College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences vaccinated stray dogs. Tokens and collars were put around the neck of vaccinated animals to make their identification easier. People were motivated to adopt stray dogs. The campaign would be repeated after a month.
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CJ stresses need for speedy justice
Shimla, December 28 “The District and Sub-Divisional Legal Services Authorities must hold awareness camps all over the state to make the masses aware about their legal rights,” he said. Even now, a large number of people were not aware about their legal rights and the options that they could exercise in different situations. Justice D.K. Sharma welcomed the Chief Justice at Rampur Bushair. President of the Ani Bar Association Lagnesh Verma thanked the Chief Justice for inaugurating the complex that would provide better facilities to both lawyers and litigants. |
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4 jails to have HIV testing centres
Shimla, December 28 The objective behind this move was to ensure that all people, especially those at high risk, were properly covered in the anti-AIDS campaign, state Health Director, Sulakshana Puri said here. She said in the initial phase, the scheme was being launched in the jails, having highest number of prisoners and it would be later set up in other jails. She said equipment and material had been sent to Model Centre Jail Kanda in Shimla district, Adharash Karagar Nahan in Sirmaur district, Sub Jail Bilaspur and Sub Jail Mandi to open ICTC centres. Puri said prisoners in ICTC Centre could avail the free facility of HIV testing, counselling and treatment of the HIV infected patients in jail. Besides, it would also cater to the needs of the treatment needs of the inmates suffering with sexually transmitted diseases. There are 44 ICTC centres in the state and four special centres are specially designed to target and to keep watch on HIV infection lodged in jail in the state. DIG Jail RL Sood said total number of undertrials and convicted prisoners lodged in these jails was about 700.
— UNI |
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Cong: Patwaris being negleted
Nurpur, December 28 He said as many as 375 patwaris were imparted 18-month training and the then government had even sanctioned Rs 18,000 per trained patwari as training allowance. “The present government has only appointed 100 patwaris on contract basis and even did not pay their training allowance,” he added. He rued that the rest of trained patwaris were still jobless. He also alleged that the government was adopting double standards in their appointments as a few trained patwaris in Kinnaur district were appointed on regular basis, but in other district they were appointed on contract basis. |
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Advances in electrical engineering discussed
Hamirpur, December 28 Former general manager of the Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam and chief engineer of the HPSEB K.D. Dogra was the chief guest at the valedictory function while officiating director of the institute presided over the function. Dogra lauded the participants for presenting recent advances in the field in a candid manner. He emphasised the need for more research in the field of hydro technology since Himachal had a vast potential for hydropower and such a research could benefit the state in a big way. Convener of the conference
Y.R. Sood summarised the proceedings of the conference. Delegates from the DRDO, various
IITs, NITs, , industrial units, technical universities and colleges presented papers during the conference. Co-convener of the conference R.K. Jarial said the conference provided a platform to faculty members of technical institutions, researchers, professionals and policy-makers to share modern advances in the field and include these in the curriculum of technical institutes. |
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Cong leaders feeling frustrated: BJP
Shimla, December 28 In a statement issued here today, party MLAs Satpal Satti, Virender Kanwar and other leaders, including Vikram Singh, Rakesh Jamwal and Lalit Kumar, said the BJP regime had taken several pro-people decisions over the past one year. This had been appreciated by the public, they claimed. They said several big projects like the carbon credit policy, the Pathankot-Manali-Leh rail line, central university at Kangra, IIT at Mandi and ESI hospital at Solan were some of the major achievements of the Dhumal regime within a short span of one year. |
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1 killed as car plunges into Beas
Mandi, December 28 The person killed in the accident was later identified as Anand Jha. He died while being taken to Mandi zonal hospital. Those injured were: Santosh Kumar, Pradip Kumar and Sanjiv Kumar. Their condition is said to be out of danger. The driver had reportedly lost control on the vehicle while negotiating a curve. The tourists were on their way back to Delhi after holidaying in Manali. |
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