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Govt may grant time-scale jump to staff
Land fraud committed on fake kisan passbooks
Singhi Ram takes on his political mentor
Former Congress minister Singhi Ram addressing the mediapersons at Shimla on Friday. A Tribune photo
District reels under water crisis
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Man held for hatching conspiracy
Broker kidnapped under mysterious circumstances
Brothers drowned in septic tank
Kashang project gets environment clearance
Women seek action against PTI teacher
Docs resent contractual appointment
HC restrains auction of parking slot
Gadkari to visit state from May 7
3 sandalwood smugglers held
Ex-minister bereaved
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Govt may grant time-scale jump to staff
Shimla, April 23 Stating this while addressing the state-level meeting of the Joint Consultative Committee of the state non-gazetted services here today, Chief Secretary Asha Swaroop said financial benefits to the tune of Rs 2,682 crore were given to the employees in the shape of interim relief, dearness allowances and arrears of the 5th Pay Commission during the past two years. Referring to the demand to enhance superannuation age from 58 to 60 years she said, if required, the state government would consider raising the age of retirement at an appropriate time. She said out of every Re 1 being spent by the government, 65 paise went towards salary, pension, interest and debt repayment. The annual salary bill, which was Rs 3,315 crore in 2008-09, had shot up to Rs 4,454 crore in 2010-11. Likewise, pension liability had gone up from Rs 1,154 crore during 2008-09 had enhanced to Rs 1,850 crore in the current financial year. She said during the past two years, the state government had implemented recommendations of the 5th Punjab Pay Commission, released two instalments of dearness allowance, besides releasing part payment of arrears. The Chief Secretary said the state government had given employment and filled 12,549 vacancies in different departments. Similarly, 520 orphans and widows were appointed on compassionate ground during this period. Budget provision to the tune of Rs 53.50 crore was made under medical and TA bill heads during the year 2009-10. She assured to make adequate allocation under medical and travelling allowance to clear the backlog during the current financial year. She said demand regarding fixed medical allowance would be considered by the Cabinet. She asked the Public Works Department to ensure re-allocation of funds for maintenance of government quarters in the state. Additional Chief Secretary (Forests) Avay Shukla said 92 posts of guard and 18 of range officer were being filled. Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue) Harinder Hira said the process to fill 608 posts of different categories in the Revenue Department was on. |
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Land fraud committed on fake kisan passbooks
Solan, April 23 Deputy Commissioner AS Rathode has put on hold all transactions on these plots after the matter was reported to him and directed revenue officials to submit a report after conducting an inquiry. The matter was brought to his notice by one Kamraj Kaundal, a resident of Nalagarh tehsil, who after procuring revenue details from three districts of Solan, Shimla and Sirmaur had unearthed the scam. According to information, the woman had procured a fake kisan passbook dated March 7, 2007, where her mother had been shown as a resident of Mauja Dhai Pargana Karoli village of Junga sub-tehsil (Shimla district). This kisan passbook was used to buy land in Lanamacher patwar circle in Pacchad tehsil (Sirmaur district) measuring 2.6 bighas and it was got registered in the revenue records on June 2, 2007. On the basis of land bought in Pacchad tehsil the woman procured another kisan passbook and this formed the basis of making another kisan passbook from Abaad Shabbowal at the Nalagarh-based Revenue Department’s registration office. This in turn helped her buy land in Baddi tehsil which was also got registered with the revenue authorities. The complainants had not ruled out the possibility of official connivance as they rued that despite repeated requests to revenue officials in some of the areas the documents failed to be verified. Inquiries, however, revealed that neither did the mother of the said woman owned any land in Junga sub-tehsil nor any such person was residing in the concerned Piran panchayat and hence the very first kisan passbook which formed the basis of subsequent land deals was fake. This was certified by revenue officials of the Dhai patwar circle and also by the secretary of Piran panchayat. The fraud thus involved a total of nine land deals executed in Solan alone which were bought on fake kisan passbooks thus lending credence to the presence of a nexus dealing in such fake documents. The DC had put on hold all transactions on these nine plots, as there was a conspiracy to sell the plots at the earliest. The nine plots included 23 bighas at Shabbowal, 5.1 bighas at Shabbowal, 4.2 bighas at Maganpura, 2.9 bighas at Saned, 1.5 bighas at Gol Jmala, 5 biswa at Saned, 2 biswa at Gol Jmala, 10.4 bighas at Saned and 11.7 bighas at Doduwaal. |
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Singhi Ram takes on his political mentor
Shimla, April 23 The two leaders fell apart on the eve of the last assembly polls when Singhi Ram was denied the party ticket from Rampur, the home town of Virbhadra Singh. The denial of ticket despite an unblemished electoral record of winning all six elections since 1982, left Singhi Ram sulking. The developments turned the mentor and his protégé into political rivals. Sidelined by the party, Singhi Ram chose to lie low ever since even as Virbhadra Singh successfully contested the Lok Sabha poll to become minister in the Union Cabinet. However, he has now come out openly against the union minister and alleged that a conspiracy was being hatched to throw him out of the party. He pointed out the resolution passed by the Rampur unit of the party, demanding action against him for indulging in anti-party activities during the 2007 assembly poll. “If I had worked against party candidate Nand Lal, he would have complained immediately and not waited for more than two years,” he said. Not only that, a smear campaign had been launched against him and his family members to malign him and he was under severe stress, he added. The main reason for the latest move spearheaded by Nand Lal, Singhi Ram maintains, was the function held at Rampur to celebrate the birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar over which he presided. The large turnout of Dalits at the function upset Virbhadra Singh who considered Rampur as his pocket borrow. He said if the tirade against him was not stopped, he would knock on every door, right from the Prime Minister and party high command to Scheduled Caste Commission and Human Rights Commission for justice and protection. It is for the first time that a leader from Rampur has not only raised a banner of revolt, but also threatened to wage a war against Virbhadra Singh. The resolution seeking action against Singhi Ram has been refereed to the disciplinary committee of the party by Pradesh Congress Committee chief Kaul Singh.
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District reels under water crisis
Mandi, April 23 Villagers of the Bari-Gumanu area in Mandi Sadar are protesting over the acute shortage of drinking water and so is the case in the Rewalsar area, where most of the IPH water sources have almost dried up. The story is no different in the Ladbharol area in
Jogindernagar, Sarkaghat, parts of Gohar, Sundernagar and Karsog. About 80 per cent of the IPH schemes in
Ladbharol, Rewlasar and Mandi Sadar, Karsog, Panarsa and Snor valley have been reduced to a trickle, giving sleepless nights to the villagers. According to information gathered by The Tribune, many sources of the IPH schemes are being endangered due to illegal mining in small
khuds. The recharging of the IPH schemes depends on the amount of rain in the region, IPH engineers said. The district administration and the IPH have pressed into service over 75 water tankers rationing water to the residents in water-deficient villagers in different parts of the district. However, the situation has been turning from bad to worse each day, the villagers said. Private water-carrying vehicles of 1,000 litres or more capacity are making a kill as water is costing Rs 15 per kilolitres. The funds are coming from district calamity funds, the officials said. DC Amandeep Garg said they had pressed into service about 75 tankers in the water deficient areas after getting demand from the IPH Department. As many as 41 tankers are supplying water in Mandi
Sadar, 14 tankers in Sarkaghat, three in Jogindernagar and a few others in other areas in the district procuring funds from the calamity, he
added. Garg said they were now procuring bigger tankers where roads were wider and smaller vehicles for areas with narrower roads. Chief engineer SK Vats said the IPH Department had decided to dig up 35 hand pumps in the water-deficient villages on priority basis. “We are lifting water from the IPH tubewells in Balh valley then supplying in tankers to different areas,” he added. |
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Man held for hatching conspiracy
Solan, April 23 It was a conversation between the three where they had plotted to kill a Pathankot resident that terrified Raju and he decided to return back after leaving his passengers in Jalandhar the same day. Raju paid bus fares to the three and returned back on the pretext of some urgent work. According to the conspiracy,
Hussain, who worked in an ice cream manufacturing unit, was contacted by Bunty and Kalu and asked to assist in murdering one Pathankot resident. He was told that he would be paid Rs 50,000 while a total of Rs 2.5 lakh had been paid to them for the supari killing. According to the plan, Hussain was supposed ride a bike and Kalu was suppose to sit pillion and shoot at the victim while the others were supposed to conduct a reiki of the area. A conspiracy was allegedly hatched at some dhaba owned by one Viju in Jalandhar.
Raju came back and informed the police who was then on the look out for these miscreants. The police finally managed to arrest Zakir
Hussain, a resident of Kotlu area of Bilaspur district who was residing in the Kripalpur area of
Nalagarh. He returned back to Nalagarh today by a bus. Further inquiries were underway and the police was yet to finalise the registration of a case. Search was on to nab the others involved in the conspiracy. |
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Broker kidnapped under mysterious circumstances
Mandi, April 23 According to Vinay’s wife Hari Priya, who is in a state of shock, he had left the house at around 1.30 pm yesterday for the PNB branch nearby. However, there was no contact after that till he rang her up at around 10 pm saying that he was kidnapped. The family members approached the police and lodged a complaint. However, there was no information about his whereabouts, they rued. Vinay got premature retirement from the bank and was running his online trading business as a broker in the town. Though the police has booked a case of kidnapping under Sections 364 A, 34 of the IPC, it is clueless about his whereabouts. Mandi SP SM Agnihotri told The Tribune that the police was investigating different angles after getting inputs from the victim’s family members. The kidnappers had demanded a ransom of Rs 10 lakh as per his wife’s statement, however, the motive could not be ascertained as Vinay was a small time trader, he added.
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Brothers drowned in septic tank
Solan, April 23 The victims were sons of one Manoj Kumar who resided at Billanwali village, worked in Action Shoes unit and belonged to Mohammedpur village in Meerut district of Uttar
Pradesh. The children had left their home around 7.30 am this morning and had informed their father that they were going to meet their paternal uncle who resided near Housing Board colony at Baddi which was barely 100 m away. However, when the children did not return back nor reached their uncle’s place till 10 am, their parents started looking for them. They also lodged a complaint During their search, the parents found the slippers of the two children near a sanitation tank and on looking inside, they found one body floating on the top. They immediately informed the police who, after breaking the wall, managed to fish out Mohit’s body while search was still on to locate the other one till the filing of this report. It was an exposed sanitation tank which had led to this tragic incident. The tank was being looked after by the Baddi nagar
parishad. Officials of the nagar parishad were, however, not available for comments. The police was ascertaining the negligence in the case and further investigations were underway. |
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Kashang project gets environment clearance
Shimla, April 23 Giving this information here today, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said the Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation would be able to undertake construction work of the project expeditiously. Asian Development Bank (ADB) had already sanctioned Rs 297 crore for the first stage of the project. The state had taken up the matter with the bank for securing funds for the execution of the second and third stage with a combined capacity of 130 MW. He said a detailed project report had been prepared and submitted to the bank and funding to the tune of Rs 453 crore had been sought. He said having secured environment clearance it would be easy to obtain other mandatory clearances. Dhumal said the corporation was poised to emerge as a major entity in hydropower generation over the next few years. With the allotment of many big projects to the corporation, it would be playing a key role in expeditious exploitation of the state’s hydel potential. |
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Women seek action against PTI teacher
Bilaspur, April 23 These women, led by Mahila Mandal president Brahmi Devi, barged into the school premises and raised slogans demanding that the teacher, going to retire soon, should be arrested under non- bailable sections of the IPC and should be suspended immediately. The irate mob converged at Ghumarwin bazaar yesterday and staged a demonstration outside the office of the SDM. SP Kuldip Sharma said the police had recorded the statement of the girl and had registered a case. The accused has been absconding ever since. The Education Department has sought a report from the Deputy Director of Education who visited the school today and placed the teacher under immediate suspension. — OC
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Docs resent contractual appointment
Shimla, April 23 In a statement issued here today, general secretary of the HMOA Dr Jiwanand Chauhan said the government must make regular appointments through the HPPSC and not through the Rogi Kalyan Samitis (RKS). “It is so surprising that three different categories of doctors appointed on regular basis, contractual basis and through the RKS are being given different salaries for the same work,” he remarked. The contractual doctors, 350 appointed on contract by the RKS and 70 on government contract, have been wearing black badges as a mark of protest against such appointments since April 16. |
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HC restrains auction of parking slot
Shimla, April 23 The interim order was passed by a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice RB Misra on a petition filed by the High Court Bar Association wherein it mentioned that keeping in view the security of the high court complex it was necessary that the parking slot be handed over to the high court. While passing this order, the Bench observed that till further orders the MC would not hold the auction of the parking slot which was scheduled for tomorrow. The petitioner association further stated that the parking slot of the MC was just below the high court parking and advocates parking. The cars of tourists remained parked near this parking and it may cause threat to the security of the court complex. |
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Gadkari to visit state from May 7
Shimla, April 23 Party sources said he would stay here at the Peterhoff. Though the details of his programme are still being worked out but he would be addressing a public meeting at Shimla or surrounding areas. Being the first visit of Gadkari to Himachal, the state leadership is keen to have a state-level rally, which could be held at Chaura Maidan here or on the outskirts of the town. With forest minister J.P. Nadda being general secretary in his national team, Gadkari is likely to be given a rousing welcome. |
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3 sandalwood smugglers held
Kangra, April 23 Kangra District Police Chief Atul Fulzele said the accused were identified as Satinder Singh, alias Maddi, a resident of Amb Pathiar, Bhag Singh, alias Sanju, resident of Muhal and Vivek Siyal, alias Cheeku, resident of Darang Braiti. An Alto car (HP-22-T-9186), in which they were travelling, was also impounded. The accused were produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Dhera, and were remanded in police custody for five days. The police said two of the accused were allegedly involved in some other sandalwood smuggling cases too. |
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Mandi, April 23 Apart from her family members, PWD Minister Gulab Singh Thakur, various MLAs and former MLAs and leaders attended the funeral from various parties. Chief Minister PK Dhumal expressed grief and sorrow in his condolence message to the aggrieved family members, including Sukh Ram and his son Anil Sharma, the Congress MLA from Mandi. — TNS
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Chamba, April 23
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Lecture on Pahari paintings
Shimla, April 23 Ambassador of Switzerland Phillppe Welti will be the chief guest.
— TNS
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Comes out openly against Virbhadra
