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Centre neglecting state’s hydropower interests: SC
BJP steps up campaign for zila parishad posts
Manages it in Hamirpur
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Cong, BJP resort to ‘lunch diplomacy’
Statehood Day function at Hamirpur
Cong may send Central observers to state
More snow predicted
State may ban use of plastic cups, plates
Kangra to have flyover
PWD for double-lane road to Kamand from Uhal-Beas confluence
Youth found hanging from tree in paramour’s village
Relatives mourn the youth’s death in Pathiar village on Wednesday. Photo: Kamaljeet
Swami Vivekananda remembered
Nalwadi fair from March 17
Student held for raping minor
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Centre neglecting state’s hydropower interests: SC
New Delhi, January 12
The power-sharing dispute “would have been settled in 1966 itself” if the Centre had been serious, a Bench comprising Justices RV Raveendran and AK Patnaik remarked while hearing the original suit of HP filed in 1996. The Centre “is a neutral party but has not behaved like a neutral party”, the Bench observed, pointing out that it did not have the “courtesy of holding even a single meeting” of substance with the disputing states of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Rajasthan since the court’s order on April 29, 2010. Arguing for HP, senior counsel JS Attri and Additional Advocate General NK Sharma said the Centre had “no conscience” as the state was not getting any share from Unit Two of the Beas project that was completed in 1983 with a generation capacity of 360 MW. From Unit One, which had an installed capacity of 990 MW, HP was getting a mere 15 MW against its demand of 12 per cent free power on the basis of its location within the state and 7.19 per cent on account of the population transferred under the 1966 Punjab State Reorganisation Act. In addition, HP was entitled to another 3 per cent share on account of submergence, Attri said. The Centre was giving to HP only 2.5 per cent of the power generated at the Bhakra Nangal Dam project functioning since 1963. Initially, HP had claimed a share of 50 per cent power generated from all hydel projects within the state, but agreed to bring down the demand to 12 per cent, respecting a Union Cabinet decision taken in 1985 which the Centre started enforcing from 1990, the senior counsel said. Additional Solicitor General Mohan Jain, appearing for the Centre, however, blamed the adamant stands of the disputing states for non-resolution of the issue. The hearing will be held on a daily basis from tomorrow and is expected to last two weeks.
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BJP steps up campaign for zila parishad posts
Shimla, January 12 Several ministers, legislators and senior party functionaries have discussed the political scenario in their respective districts with the Chief Minister so that the party is able to muster maximum possible support for its candidates for the post of chairperson of the zila parishads in the districts. Meanwhile, the BJP today managed to win the post of chairman and vice-chairman of the Hamirpur zila parishad where it had a clear majority. In some of the districts like Chamba and Una where both the BJP and the Congress have the support of almost equal number of zila parishad members, senior leaders of both parties are busy chalking out strategy to ensure the support of Independents and at the same time keeping their own members intact. “Being the party in power it is essential for us to capture the zila parishad of most of the districts even if it means wooing members from the Congress or Independents,” admitted a BJP MLA. State BJP chief Khimi Ram said the elected members would decide among themselves as to who would be fielded for the post of zila parishad chairperson in every district. “Barring two districts the BJP is confident of ensuring that the party gains control over zila parishad as we have support of majority members,” he said. He added that the senior leaders were keeping a close watch on the
political developments with regard to the zila parishad elections. Being the ruling party, the BJP has a clear edge as the Independents and the Congress rebels will prefer to align with the party as the state government still has a two-year tenure. “We will try and make the best of the infighting plaguing the Congress which is divided into camps so that even in places like Shimla district where they have a majority we take advantage,” a BJP leader said. The classic example is Kullu district where the BJP is in minority as it has only about four party members. Former MP and state party chief Maheshwar Singh has reportedly assured the Chief Minister that he will be able to make a BJP man the district chairperson with the help of BJP rebels who have won the election. As such the senior BJP leaders are mostly camping in their districts to ensure that the party gains control over zila parishads for which elections are to be held in the next few days.
Manages it in Hamirpur
Hamirpur, January 12 While chairperson and vice-chairman of Hamirpur zila parishad and Bhoranj BDC were elected unanimously, but in a keenly contested Hamirpur BDC election BJP-supported candidate won the top posts by a single vote. For the election of the zila parishad chairperson also, the BJP leadership sprung a surprise by finally nominating Sarla Sharma at the eleventh hour instead of Sarla Dogra, who was considered a front runner till yesterday for this post. Sharma has been elected zila parishad chairperson and Chandu Lal vice-chairman, unanimously. For Bhoranj BDC also, BJP-supported candidates Satya Devi and Purshotam Lal have been unanimously elected as chairperson and vice-chairman. The election of chairman and vice-chairman of the Hamirpur BDC finished amidst high drama with a scuffle among BJP and Congress supporters. In a dramatic turn of events, the BJP supported BDC member and staunch BJP leader Jagdish Thakur changed sides during the election and filed his nomination for the post of chairman supported by the Congress against official BJP candidate Bir Singh. However, BJP-supported candidates Bir Singh and Bimla Sharma managed to grab the posts of chairman and vice-chairman, respectively, by a single vote. After the election, BJP and the Congress supporters raised slogans resulting into a scuffle outside the BDO office and it was after police intervention that workers and leaders were stopped from coming to blows. |
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Cong, BJP resort to ‘lunch diplomacy’
Dharamsala, January 12 At the oath ceremony, the Congress and the BJP leaders were seen huddling their members towards their respective camps. Chander Kumar, the Congress general secretary and AICC member who has been made in charge for elections to the post of zila parishad president and vice-president, chaired the meeting of the party for zila parishad members. Other senior Congress leaders and MLAs from the district, including Baijnath MLA Sudhir Sharma, Guler MLA Neeraj Bharti, former MLA Brij Behari Butail, general secretary of AICC Anil Mahajan, state president of the Youth Congress Manmohan Katoch and spokesperson of the Kangra Congress Kewal Pathania, were also present in the meeting. Congress MLA from Nagrota Bagwan GS Bali was, however, conspicuous by his absence. Bali said he did not come as it was not an official meeting of the party. Chander Kumar said 23 Congress zila parishad members were present in the meeting. We also have support of Independent members and would get our president elected. The BJP was trying to pressurise elected members through their government official kin and using other tactics. However, they will not succeed, he added. Meanwhile, the BJP meeting of its zila parishad members was attended by three Cabinet ministers from Kangra, including Sarween Chaudhary, Kishan Kapoor and Ravinder Ravi. Ravinder Ravi claimed that 33 elected zila parishad members had joined the lunch hosted by them. “We are confident that the BJP will win the elections for the post of president with two-third majority,” he added. Ravi claimed that the BJP had won majority seats in the zila parishad. He rejected the Congress charges that horse-trading was going on to woo zila parishad members. Though the elections to the zila parishad were not held on party symbol, sources said about 23 Congress leaders and about 27 BJP leaders had won the elections. The key to post of president would lie with the seven candidates who do not have any party affiliation. The post of president in the Kangra zila parishad has been reserved for OBC women candidate. There are eight OBC women candidates in the house of 56. One of them will be elected as president on January 21.
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Statehood Day function at Hamirpur
Hamirpur, January 12 He said sportsperson from the state who had won medals in the Commonwealth Games at New Delhi and for other achievements would also be honoured in the function.— TNS
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Cong may send Central observers to state
Shimla, January 12 Pradesh Congress Committee chief Kaul Singh, who was in Delhi to brief party president Sonia Gandhi about the party’s performance in the panchayat and urban local bodies’ poll, has already discussed the matter with Mohsina Kidwai, national general secretary and in charge of party affairs in Himachal. He impressed upon her that the party would repeat the performance of urban local bodies’ poll in the zila parishad if senior leaders buried their differences and asked their loyalists to support the party candidate. According to sources, Kidwai has indicated that observers will be send if required, particularly for the Shimla zila parishad poll where a number of staunch loyalists of the arch rivals --- Union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh and Leader of Opposition Vidya Stokes --- have emerged victorious. Kaul Singh also met Virbhadra Singh and urged him to play an active role in ensuring victory of the party which had the upper hand in six out of 11 districts where elections were held. They included Shimla, Kinnaur, Kullu, Chamba, Una and Kangra. He impressed upon him that his support was vital for ensuring victory. He said he was satisfied with the meeting and confident that Virbhadra would extend full support to ensure victory of the party in the zila parishad poll. Differences among top leaders apart from horse trading are a bigger concern for the party. The field is wide open for horse-trading as, unlike the urban local bodies’ poll, the zila parishad poll had not been held on party symbols. The ruling party invariably has an upper hand in such situation as it is in a better position to influence the members and persuade them to vote for its candidates for the chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of the zila parishads. General secretary of the party Kuldeep Rathore said the BJP was indulging in horse-trading and feared that the elections might be hijacked by money power as many Independents had won the zila parishad poll. Having suffered defeat in the urban local bodies, the ruling party would use all means to do well in the poll.
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More snow predicted
Shimla, January 12 As per the weather forecast by the local Meteorological Centre, snowfall is likely to take place at most of the popular tourist destinations, including Manali, Rohtang Pass and Kufri on January 14 and 15. The minimum temperatures in most part of the state were low. Surprisingly, Shimla recorded the highest night temperature of 6°C as compared to other towns in the state. |
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State may ban use of plastic cups, plates
Shimla, January 12 Stating this while interacting with the Central team currently visiting the state to ascertain the success of the ban on use of polythene bags, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said the hill state was the first to ban green felling and use of recycled and plastic carry bags. The campaign to make the state free of plastic waste had been a success and the hills were no longer littered with it. A number of non-government organisations had also been formed to supplement the endeavours of the government and they were playing an important role. He said the people of the state had rendered full cooperation in enforcing the ban on plastic carry bags. The ban on plastic cups, plates and glasses would be imposed after providing alternative paper products for disposable use. The government was considering transferring the amount realised by way of fines on account of environment-related offences in the State Environment Fund to be placed at the disposal of deputy commissioners for carrying out various environment protection programmes. Eco-clubs had been constituted in educational institutions and waste paper recycling units set up in different departments. The Tourism Department would soon come out with pamphlets on ‘Mindful Travel in Himachal Pradesh’ to create environmental awareness among tourists. Plastic waste was being purchased by the government at Rs 3 per kg and used for metalling of roads. Cement kilns had also been advised to process plastic waste for power generation. The Central team comprising Satish Kumar, director, Ministry of Administrative Reforms, and Dr A. Kasturirangan, expert in urban planning, appreciated the initiatives of the government, the impact of which was visible on the ground as no plastic litter had been noticed by them at the places they visited. Additional Chief Secretary Sarojini Ganju Thakur said the team would also be visiting the ACC Cement Plant at Barmana and would interact with schoolchildren at various educational institutions. It would also make field visit to the rural areas around Mandi for an overview of sustainable polythene waste management strategy in those areas.
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Kangra to have flyover
Kangra, January 12 Union Minister of state for Surface Transport and National Highways Mahadeo Singh Khandela yesterday principally agreed to have a 4-km flyover from the SDM court to Gurkhari. He was talking to mediapersons at Congress leader GS Bali’s residence. The Minister assured the former Transport Minister GS Bali that his ministry would look into the de-notification of the National Highway passing through the town. The people who are getting affected with the expansion of the Matour-Shimla National Highway also represented before the minister for its de-notification. He said steps would be taken to improve the condition of the Pathankot-Mandi National Highway as it was a strategically important national highway. The Pathankot-Mandi National Highway was being used by the Army to reach Leh via Manali. Khandela further said the Centre had already sanctioned nearly 500-km-long five national highways for the state. He said the work on the National Highway 20 A, between Mallan to Mubarakpur, would be expedited in order to provide better road facility to the people of this hill state. This highway would not only help people in the rural areas, but would also ease down the current transport pressure on this temple town. He added that there would be no financial deficiency in completing the work of different national highways in the state. Earlier, Khandela, who was accompanied by his wife, paid obeisance at the Bajjreshwari temple.
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PWD for double-lane road to Kamand from Uhal-Beas confluence
Mandi, January 12 The double-lane road connectivity to Kamand from the NH-21 and the Kullu-Manali airport has been in cold storage for the past three years. But now, the PWD has suggested that the confluence point of the Uhal and Beas rivers is a better alternative as it winds up gently to Kamand along the Uhal. BD Joshi, chief engineer, PWD, central range, told The Tribune here today that they have done a cursory survey and suggested to the NHAI that the 9-km-long road would provide a straight road connectivity to Kamand from the national highway. “It is shorter and involves no private land,” he added. The HRD Ministry, however, has asked the state government to expedite the construction of the double-lane road from the NH-21 and the Kullu-Manali airport to Kamand where the IIT campus is coming up. “The IIT needs road connectivity to ship its equipment and machineries to speed up the construction of the campus at Kamand,” it said. Director, IIT Mandi, Prof TA Gonsalves, said the HRD Ministry has taken up the matter with the state government. “We are getting state government’s cooperation on the pending issues,” he added. The first phase of the new campus is expected to come up at Kamand by 2012. “But the IIT needs the double-lane road connectivity to the airport, which is mandatory for IITs in the country as these institutes have been visited by faculties and scientists from across the world,” said IIT sources. On the other hand, the PWD claimed that Rs 2 crore has already been spent on tarring and repair of the Mandi-Katindi-Kataula road till Kamand. But the IIT could not transport heavy machineries and other equipment on this road as its gradient is steep. Joshi said they had also widened the 2-km-long stretch of the Katindi-Kataula road wherever it was possible. “We have tarred the entire road till Kamand, but its double-laning is not possible as it involves a great chunk of private and forest land,” he added. He said they had suggested to the NHAI to connect Kamand from the confluence point of the Beas and Uhal downstream from Pandoh. “So far no survey and estimate has been made,” he added.
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Youth found hanging from tree in paramour’s village
Dharamsala, January 12 They held a protest and alleged that Menu was killed by the kin of his paramour. Both villages are separated by a distance of 2.5 km. The parents of the deceased youth alleged that Menu, who was a mason, received a phone call from the girl last evening. He left the house and did not return. Today they received information that he was found hanging in the girl’s village. Villagers alleged that since the mobile phone of the deceased was also missing, it was highly likely that he was killed and hanged from a tree to create a case of suicide. Menu belonged to the OBC while the girl belonged to a Brahmin family. The residents of the youth’s village did not allow the police to take away the body for a post-mortem examination till late in the evening. It was only after the brother of the deceased arrived from Solan that the body could be taken away for a post-mortem examination. Local congress MLA GS Bali reached the spot and tried to pacify the agitators. Kangra SP Diljeet Thakur said the police was providing adequate security at the girl’s house. Thirty cops had been posted to guard the girl’s house due to the threat posed to them by villagers of the deceased boy. He said there was no apparent injury on the body of the youth. However, the exact cause of the death could only be ascertained after a post-mortem
examination. He said, “Though no case has been registered as yet, a case of murder can be registered after the statement of the kin of the deceased.” |
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Swami Vivekananda remembered
Mandi, January 12 Lawan Thakur, convener, IPTA, said Swami Vivekananda was a great sage, who took Indian culture and values across the world. There is a need to rededicate ourselves to the country, which is facing corruption in public life and degeneration of human character, he added. Participants sang cultural songs and remembered the contribution that Swami Vivekananda had made to society in the short span of his life. Freedom fighter honoured
KANGRA: The life and teachings of Swami Vivekananda is more relevant today when the nation needed more spiritual strength to combat adverse forces from within and outside. Sanjay Gupta, Divisional Commissioner, Kangra, said this while addressing a public function in the local polytechnic college auditorium here today. The function was organised by Vivekananda Kendra, a spiritually oriented service mission, in connection with the 148th birthday of Swami Vivekananda. He said the character of Swami Vivekananda was an inspiration to youths and his teachings were contemporary. Swami Gangeshananad, acharya of the Chinmayanad Mission, who presided over the function, stressed on youths to adhere to the teachings of Swami Vivekananda as these teachings were more relevant now in view of the present national and global scenario. Dr Anil Chauhan, Principal, Dr RP Government Medical College, Tanda, who was the guest of honour said Swami Vivekananda has contributed in generating awareness in the society. Amir Chand (96), an INA freedom fighter who had been in freedom struggle with Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, was honoured for his contribution in the freedom struggle. Amir Chand was accompanied by his son. He got emotional while sharing his experiences and gave a call to eradicate corruption from the country. Twelve meritorious students of various schools were given prizes in connection with Youth Day. |
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Nalwadi fair from March 17
Bilaspur, January 12 This was stated by Deputy Commissioner-cum-mela management committee chairperson Nandita Gupta while presiding over the meeting of district officers here last evening. Gupta said all government departments must prepare themselves for holding exhibition in this fair, which should give the exact picture of the achievements of the past three years and particularly during this one year in the state. — OC |
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Student held for raping minor
Nurpur, January 12 He had also allegedly made an obscene MMS of the girl and later circulated it through Internet. According to Rajiv Atri, SHO, the accused was also a minor and one-month-older to the victim. “Since the accused is a minor, therefore, he will be produced in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate at Dharamsala on Thursday,” he added. He said the accused had confessed his crime in the preliminary investigations of the police. The victim and accused had identified the room of the hotel, situated on the Pathankot-Mandi NH at Bodh, near here, where the crime was committed. The victim had yesterday visited the local police station, along with her father and villagers, to lodge her complaint against the accused. |
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Hamirpur, January 12
A major law and order problem was created in the Nagrota Bagwan area when a youth, Menu (25), was found hanging in his paramour’s village this morning.
The youth was found hanging in Pathiar village. As the news spread in the area, hundreds of residents of Hadhiar village, to which the deceased belonged, reached the spot.
