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Local Bodies Poll
Una’s SEZ project abandoned
Soon, NPS for Hamirpur
Police to set up anti-theft cell
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CPM opposes pvt varsities
Hoteliers to cash in on long Xmas weekend
State horticulture gets a boost with new bio lab
Fresh bids for two bridges invited
Govt committed to promises: Kaundal
Protest against driver’s suspension
Skiing championship from Feb 7
‘90 per cent girls anaemic in India’
‘Road mishaps major cause of death in India’
Felling of Trees
ICU set up to combat swine flu
An honest gesture
Red Cross fair held
Indoria gets IPS cadre
3.5 kg of charas seized
Garbage goes up in smoke
Talent hunt
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Local Bodies Poll
Dharamsala, December 20 Dhumal said such an Act should also be brought for Assembly and parliamentary elections. People who willingly do not exercise their franchise should be stripped of various citizen benefits they are getting. In Himachal, we would consider bringing such an Act on experimental basis in elections for local bodies. He alleged that the Union government was responsible for the unprecedented price rise of essential commodities in the country. “The Centre should have anticipated the low production of sugarcane in the country and made arrangement for importing it.” He said it could have also increased the minimum support price for sugarcane and pulses to encourage farmers to grow more. This would have increased the area under cultivation and increased production. However, he declared, that Union ministers were “encouraging price rise in the country”. “They are issuing statements that prices cannot be controlled and will continue to rise. Such statements are causing further hoarding of essential commodities and that is hurting the common man the most.” The Chief Minister said, “The role of the states is limited to checking of hoarding and strengthening the public distribution system. Himachal is a consumer state so there is hardly any hoarding in the state. The state government is also providing essential commodities like rice, wheat, pulses, cooking oil and salt to people to cushion them against price rise. “However, the Union government has reduced the food grains the state was getting under the PDS. It has offered the state food grains at procurement prices. For a state like Himachal that has limited resources, it is very difficult to subsidise food items under the PDS,” the CM said. The Chief Minister said besides banning plastic carry bags, the state was making another endeavour to get rid of plastic waste being generated from other sources. The state would start using plastic in construction of roads. Studies have indicated that plastic in roads increases their life. Certain cement industries have also shown keen interest in using plastic waste as fuel in their kilns. He, however, added that the decision on plastic waste would not be finalised till there was a national consensus on the matter. Dhumal also congratulated the new national president of the BJP, Nitin Gadkari. He said Gadkari had made revolutionary changes during his stint as PWD minister in Maharashtra. “I am sure that he would display the same acumen in running the party,” he said.
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Una’s SEZ project abandoned
Dharamsala, December 20 Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal who was here today admitted that Skil Infrastructure Ltd Company has withdrawn from the project. He alleged that the company has withdrawn due to opposition from Congress leaders and recession. He was speaking on the occasion of felicitation ceremony organised by District Kangra NGOs Federation in his honour at Dharamsala last evening. He said the project was brought to the state by the previous Congress government. However, strangely after the BJP government was voted to power, the Congress leaders started opposing the project, he said. “They started organising rallies against the project despite government assurance that most of land for the project was government land.” The government had also declined to intervene in sale of land of farmers. It had asked the company to negotiate directly with the farmers. He also ruled out the possibility of setting up a sugar mill in Una district. He said a corporate had proposed to raise a sugar mill in Una district when the Congress was in power. However, consistent opposition by the Congress to the project discouraged the investors. The present government had asked many investors to set up a sugar mill in the state. However, none of them has come forward. They are stating that the area under which sugarcane can be sown in the state is not commercially viable. He, however, added that the surplus power in the state would act as strong point of Himachal in future and industry would naturally be drawn into the state irrespective of the fact that there was an industrial package or not. Dhumal also gave a clarion call to the employees to implement policies and programmes of the state government. Later, he laid the foundation stone of the resort of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA). The resort was a mandatory condition for organising IPL matches in the forthcoming season at Dharamsala.
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Soon, NPS for Hamirpur
Hamirpur, December 20 The system, which had been introduced in the country for people working in the unorganised sector to provide old age pension, was already operational in Shimla. The NPS was introduced in the country after the passing of a Bill in Parliament to this effect and was monitored by the Pension Fund Regulatory Development Authority (PFRDA) and the State Economic and Statistical Department had been made nodal agency for Himachal Pradesh. Hamirpur district was one of the two districts in the entire country when survey for pilot project for the NPS was carried out; the other district being Mangalore in Karnataka. Through the pension system people working in unorganised sectors like artisans (cobblers, carpenters), daily paid labourers, petty traders and rehriwalas could join it to avail pension after 60 years of age. For becoming a member of the pension system any person from such categories between the age of 18 and 60 years could open an account in any of the prescribed banks and post offices by contributing minimum Rs 500 per month or Rs 6,000 annually; though there is no upper limit for the contribution. After attaining 60 years of the age, the members could withdraw 40 per cent of the savings through one withdrawal and would also start getting old age pension. The PFRDA had authorised 32 public sector and private banks, including post office branches, for opening the NPS accounts in different parts of the country. Private banks like Axis, City, and IDBI etc and several public sector banks have been authorised for opening accounts under the system. Before actual launching of the NPS in Hamirpur district, the PFRDA had conducted a survey and held several workshops during the past few months to implement the system effectively here. District economic and statistical officer PC Sharma said, “The system will be launched in the district by end of this month and large number of people working in the unorganised sector will be benefited.”
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Police to set up anti-theft cell
Shimla, December 20 District police chief RM Sharma said in view of increase in thefts in the town lately, two investigating officers and one head constable in each police station had been asked to exclusively focus on checking thefts. “Barring the very essential other cases they are dealing with, they have been directed to ensure that there are no anti-social elements in their area and there is proper patrolling and check,” he said. He said all, except one, thefts during the past few days took place in broad daylight. “Day time thefts clearly point to the fact that it is being done by some known persons who are visiting the house daily for work,” he said. “All police stations have been asked to check the antecedents of migrant labourers working or living under their areas so that there is complete checking,” he said. During winters, when a large number of people move out to warmer places for almost three months, the number of thefts generally go up. Many localities are inhabited by a very few people, giving an invitation to thefts. Most schools in the town remain close for three-months vacation during winters.
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CPM opposes pvt varsities
Shimla, December 20 Expressing concern over the matter, the state secretariat of the party has urged the income tax department to inquire into the antecedents of the promoters of these universities and keep a track of the money being invested. None of the university was being set up in the interiors districts where these were actually required and most of them were being set up around Solan district for the convenience of promoters. The CPM said decision will hit the local people, particularly the farmers, hard as the area has been facing water shortage. Even drinking water was being brought all the way from the Giri river. The party will launch a massive agitation in the state to oppose private universities and will also arouse public opinion against such universities and will also file a PIL in the high court seeking a ban on such institutions. The private institutions, the party said, would either draw water from the existing supply, which was not enough to meet the demand of the local people, or indulge in ruthless exploitation of groundwater. In fact, such a situation was confronted when the the Jaypee University wanted to dig deep bores in the Gambar riverbed, which was strongly opposed by the local population. The party maintained that these universities severely hit the livelihood of the people, majority of whom were peasants growing cash crops. The agriculture land in the district was being diverted and out of the total cultivated area 64,028 hectare, the net cultivated area had come down to just 38,389 hectare (59%), while 6474 hectare was under fruit. But the worst hit would be the off-season cash crops, primarily tomatoes and capsicum, which brought prosperity to farmers as these required a large quantity of water. Land was a scarce resource in the hill state and the government should have utilised it judiciously, mainly for generating employment. Moreover, there were no reputed or established names among the promoters and the party asked students to be wary of taking admission in such institutions as it could spell trouble for their careers.
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Hoteliers to cash in on long Xmas weekend
Shimla, December 20 With holidays from December 24 to December 28, hoteliers are expecting heavy rush during Christmas rather than the New Year’s Eve which falls on Thursday. Snow has been eluding the hill station year after year and the tourism industry has been thriving mainly on weekend rush of winter revellers. Until two decades ago, it was a regular feature to have snow towards the end of December and people from plains made a beeline to the hills to enjoy the thrill of snow from Christmas to New Year. However, snow is no longer the attraction and since it is a trend among people of the plains to ring in the New Year in hill stations, hordes of revellers arrive in Shimla. The season is of course becoming too short due to lack of snow and if holidays extend the weekend, more people throng the hill station. Hoteliers, tour operators, taxi operators and all others connected with the tourist trade are gearing up for the winter rush and major hotels have come up with packages of all kinds to attract tourists from various income groups. The packages for three to five days range from Rs 6,000 for ordinary hotels to over Rs 50,000 for resorts of reputed chain of hotels like the Oberois, which have three hotels in and around Shimla. The high-end hotels have arranged for live music and gala nites, while the state tourism development corporation has decided to organise cultural programmes in all complexes in which local artistes will be involved. Besides, the corporation will also serve Himachali delicacies to visitors and in all over 60 dishes, including Indian, Chinese and continental food, will be available. The reputed hotels are expecting full occupancy for at least five days and almost 60 to 70 per cent accommodation has already been booked. Many hotels are not making advance bookings in the hope that the extended weekend rush would ensure better returns through walk-in customers. The administration is making elaborate arrangements, particularly for the parking of vehicles, the number of which could range anywhere between 3000 and 4,000. Superintendent of police R.M.Sharma said the stretch of “restricted roads” in Chaura Maidan, Sanjauli, Lakkar Bajar and Chhota Shimla would be opened for parking. Over 250 policemen would be deployed to maintain law and order in the city and stress would be on preventing drunken driving, for which additional barriers would be set up. A large number of policemen would be deployed in plain clothes to keep an eye on anti-social elements.
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State horticulture gets a boost with new bio lab
Nurpur, December 20 “Apart from this, the co-ordination committee of university and department will also hold periodical meetings keeping in view the requirement of the fruit growers,” he added. He said the government had announced support price of citrus fruits and set up 52 procurement centres for collecting fruits. He said it was the first time in the history of Himachal Pradesh the government had launched weather-based crop insurance scheme for mango crop. He pointed out that government was planning to provide marketing facility at the doorsteps of the fruit growers. He called upon the growers and farmers of the region to take benefit of the bio laboratory as it would extend the facility of soil testing, weather information and measures to check crop diseases under one roof. On this occasion, he honoured best fruit and vegetable growers. The local MLA Rakesh Pathania who presided over the function underlined the need to provide marketing infrastructure to the farmers and fruit growers in Kanga district as marketing was a major problem for selling their product. The vice-chancellor of horticulture university KR Dhiman also spoke on the occasion.
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Fresh bids for two bridges invited
Hamirpur, December 20 The National Highway (NH), Hamirpur division, which had imposed heavy penalty on contractors for the delay, had sent a proposal to the ministry to invite fresh bids after reassigning these works. Since the construction work on Sukrala bridge on NH-70 and Bathu bridge on NH-88, was stuck for many years, the NH authorities had imposed heavy penalty on the contractors in June. These bridges were very important from the connectivity point of view. A penalty of about Rs 96 lakh was imposed by the authorities on the contractor building Bathu bridge in Kangra district for inordinate delay in the execution of the work. The Bathu bridge is vital since it links Kangra through NH-88 and its completion at the earliest was necessary since, at present, traffic is passing through an old bridge constructed way back in 1910. Similarly, execution of work on Sukrala bridge on NH-70 near Nadaun was also getting delayed for quite some time and the NH authorities had imposed a penalty of about Rs 25 lakh on the contractor. The NH authorities had then also decided to reassign both these works and sent the report to the ministry for inviting fresh bids as the contractors had failed to execute the works. Now the Ministry of Surface Transport has invited fresh bids--- Rs 652.34 lakh for the Bathu bridge and Rs 176.85 lakh for the Sukrala bridge. Confirming this Satish Nag, executive engineer, NH division, Hamirpur, said, “The ministry has invited fresh bids and work will soon start on these bridges.”
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Govt committed to promises: Kaundal
Bilaspur, December 20 He stated that in order to fulfil the promises the government has allocated Rs 2,267 crore for development of educational infrastructure even in remote villages. He asserted that the present amount allocated was Rs 173 crore more than that of last year. Kaundal said BJP government had appointed 18,000 teachers, 534 college cadre lecturers and 771 school cadre lecturers and had promoted 696 headmasters during these 2 years. Deputy Speaker said the parents prefer private schools over government schools though government schools were better equipped. He asserted that this was a real challenge for the teachers in government schools and they should make efforts to ensure that the results were far better so that this wrong trend could be reversed. He said HP was proud that the government schools had given this state its top leaders and this should inspire teachers to encourage parents to send their wards to government schools. Kaundal announced grant of Rs 1 lakh for the school boundary wall and promised to ensure construction of two more classrooms at the earliest. The school principal, Som Dutt Sankhyan, gave details of the achievements of the school.
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Protest against driver’s suspension
Palampur, December 20 They shouted anti-management slogans and demanded reinstatement of the driver. They said before initiating action against the driver, the management failed to conduct proper inquiry and the driver was made a scapegoat just to cover up the matter. The employees threatened to resort to direct action if the management failed to withdrew its illegal orders by Monday.
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Skiing championship from Feb 7
Manali, December 20 President of the Himachal Pradesh Winter Games Association, RC Negi, said as many as 20 teams all over India, including Army, Navy, Air Force, BSF, ITBP and HAWS, were expected to participate in the skiing championship. Nearly 280 skiers drawn from different parts of the country would participate in the championship, he added. President of the HPWGA, thanked chief minister PK Dhumal for granting a quota of 3 per cent for Winter games for employment. |
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‘90 per cent girls anaemic in India’
Kullu, December 20 Chauhan said the Department of Health and Ayurveda would launch a statewide campaign from January 5, 2010, from Jari in the district. All districts will be covered under the programme in a phased manner, he added. District programme officer Dr Rakesh Pandit said anaemic patients usually suffer due to lack of balanced meals. Deputy Commissioner BM Nanta presided over the workshop and said more stress was required to observe women and children as the death rate due to anaemia was more among them. He called upon participants for initiating effective measures at the village-level.
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‘Road mishaps major cause of death in India’
Kullu, December 20 More than 100 orthopaedics from Delhi, Chandigarh, Jammu and Himachal Pradesh, participated in the conference. Johri said the discussion on latest medical research and techniques during such conference go a long way in providing quality medical services. He said road accidents were the major cause of deaths and disability in India. Quoting figures, he said on an average one person dies every half-an-hour in a road accident in India. Major factors involved in accidents were poor road conditions, poor maintenance of vehicles, rash and reckless driving and liberal motor driving licence policy. DC BM Nanta presided over the function. He said the slogan adopted by the association ‘Better Patient Care Through Education and Research’ was relevant to organise such conferences and workshops. |
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Felling of Trees
Banala (Mandi), December 20 Though the corporation has started the process to acquire land for the purpose, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has yet to give its permission for the pooling station and transmission line that has raised the ire of protesting villagers. Talking to The Tribune after convening the meeting, agitated villagers, including members of Bhuvneshwari mahila mandal, said they would not budge on the issue till the corporation and the state government assured them that the tress would be saved and local development was ensured. “Even we need trees as the cremation ground is located just nearby,” said Gulab Thakur and Charanddas, local residents. Thakur said the transmission lines would create magnetic fields and pose dangers to villagers and forest as these would pass right over their villages. “Each tower has encroached upon at least 50 sq m area of orchards,” complained Reuti Raman, a resident of Jori village. Meanwhile, SS Singh, general manager, Power Grid Corporation (northern region), said, “We are using the GIS technology imported from Siemens, Germany, to minimise the damage to forest. For this, we need three acre land and would cost more than 1,000 trees, big or small, as against earlier estimate of 4,000 trees.” He added that they would create 1 km long and 46 m wide corridor for the substation. The corporation had paid Rs 5.5 crore as land compensation for private land and Rs 55 lakh to the forest department for forest land and will assist local development, he added. Singh said the pooling station and the 237- km-long transmission line would be ready by December, 2010. It will cater to Parbati II and Parbati III, 800 mw Kol Dam and 100 mw Sainj project, he added.
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ICU set up to combat swine flu
Chamba, December 20 In an official communiqué issued here recently, the DC said trained paramedical staff, including doctors, had been deployed at the regional hospital to look after the patients of swine However, no case of swine flu had yet been reported in the district, the DC asserted. Meanwhile, the DC said 61,550 children would be covered under the pulse polio campaign scheduled in two phases - on January 10 and February 7 - in the district. To make pulse polio campaign a success, 542 polio booths, including 17 booths in urban areas, had been set up which would be manned by about 2,220 trained personnel in the district.
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An honest gesture
Mandi, December 20 According to the police, Narotam Singh said he found the amount
in Seri Bazar and reported about it. Singh stated that it was the duty of each citizen to act
responsibly in a such situation. |
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Red Cross fair held
Bilaspur, December 20 Nadda said we all should live up to the expectations of our cultural heritage and we should donate. Forests Minister also handed over an artificial leg to Santosh Kumari, resident of Neri village, a walking stick to Amar Singh of Barotta Luharwin village, crutches to Joginder Singh of Berri Dadollan village and hearing-aid to Joginder Singh of Badgaaon village, donated by the Sunder Nagar Institute and wheelchair to child Priyanka of Bamta village. The donations were made by social organisation Chetna here.
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Indoria gets IPS cadre
Kullu, December 20 The confirmation of the cadre was overdue and Himachal Pradesh
Police Services officers’ Association termed the confirmation a welcome
step. Indoria said, “Yes, it was overdue, but he got the recognition for his works. He said he was also due to have another promotion now. People from all quarters congratulated the police chief today.
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3.5 kg of charas seized
Chamba, December 20 SP Mudhu Sudan said Bali Raj, a resident of Mangla village in Chamba district, tried to flee on seeing along. On suspicion, police officials intercepted him and searched his luggage and recovered charas from his possession, the SP added. The accused was arrested and a case under Section 20 of the NDPS Act was registered against him.
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Garbage goes up in smoke
Shimla, December 20 A column of thick smoke rose from the dump and soon enveloped the city, completely obscuring the skyline. People complained of breathlessness as all kinds of waste, including biodegradable and non-biodegradable, was dumped at the site where the waste management plant was set up in 1998. The municipal authorities were unaware what caused the fire. It remains to be seen what action the pollution control board takes in the matter.
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Talent hunt
Hamirpur, December 20 Manager of the academy Pankaj Lakhanpal said a large number of students participated in the talent hunt today and many of them have also sought on the spot admission for coaching of AIEEE and PMT tests in the academy. — TNS
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The Himachal government is considering making voting mandatory in elections of local bodies, including panchayats and municipal councils.
In order to transfer horticulture technology to fields the government has envisaged to establish coordination between Dr YS Parmar horticulture university,
Nauni, and state horticulture department. This was disclosed by the horticulture and technical education minister Narinder Bragta while inaugurating a bio laboratory on the premises of Regional Horticulture Research Station
(RHRS) at Jachh here on Sunday.
