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Cong demands White Paper on Central funds
State on fiscal correction path
Raise e-tendering limit to Rs 10 lakh: Contractors
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Central Varsity in Kangra
Youth Congress to protest on March 17
CPM supports trainee dentists
Naina Devi temple goes online
Border Area Plan
Bharmour road opened to heavy vehicles
Beopar Mandal hails budget
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Cong demands White Paper on Central funds
Shimla, March 13 Addressing a press conference here today, general secretary of the party Kuldeep Rathore said the surplus budget presented by Chief Minister PK Dhumal exposed the BJP as the year would start with a surplus of Rs 334 crore and close with a surplus of Rs 345 crore. The state had not taken any steps to raise resources and if the Centre had not been providing adequate funds, the fund-starved state could not have a surplus. The government was not doing anything except misleading people by renaming schemes funded by the Centre after its leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He cited the example of the Atal Swasthya Sewa, which was part of the National Rural Health Mission, and the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government Institute of Engineering and Technology at Pragati Nagar that was funded by the Sutlej Jal Vdyut Nigam. The fact was that the government was not in a position to spend the money being provided under various schemes. For instance, under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme over Rs 900 crore were sanctioned out of which the state could utilise less that Rs 600 crore. Similar was the case with many other schemes. He said if the government had failed to come out with the White Paper on the issue, the Congress would bring out one to exposé the BJP, he said. The Chief Minister had admitted that Bahra university had violated environmental norms but why he was not taking any action in the matter? It was not a solitary case. The BJP government had played havoc with the environment by allowing such private university to open shops and the scars on the hills were visible all along the Shimal-Kalka highway. Rathore alleged that the government was undermining the interests of fruit growers as evident from its decision to sell the apple carton factory and start an engineering college in its place. The growers had given land for horticulture activities and it was patently wrong to set up an engineering college which could be started elsewhere. He supported the demand of dental doctors for starting dental wings at community health centres and primary health cantres. If the government could not generate employments, it had no business to open dental colleges in the state. |
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State on fiscal correction path
Shimla, March 13 Prudent fiscal management has no place in the scheme of elected governments but the recommendations the 13th Finance Commission has left the state with no option. By capping the loans at 3 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) and limiting salaries at 35 per cent of the total expenditure, the commission has made it imperative for the state either to compress expenditure or mobilise additional resources. The failure to raise resources will certainly hurt the pace of development and harsh measures will have to be taken sooner or later. The tax revenue as percentage of the GSDP is as low as 6.7 per cent and it only confirms that there is potential for revenue generation. As per the fiscal correction path chalked out by the World Bank while granting the Rs 900 crore development policy loan to pull it out of the debt-trap, the ratio of fiscal deficit to the GSDP was to be reduced from 3.4 per cent in 2007-08 to 2.2 per cent in 2011-12 by implementing the approved “policy matrix”. However, the figure shot up to 5.42 per cent in 2009-10. While some increase was expected on account of economic slowdown and pay revision, the increase of almost 2 per cent was too high and unsustainable for a state with a small tax base. However, the figure has come down from the projected 5.08 per cent to 3.47 per cent for the current year and as per the latest budget proposal, it will further come down to 2.7 per cent in the next fiscal. Given the increasing outgo on account of dearness allowance due to inflation and the burden of arrears of the pay revision, it will be a big achievement if the government manages to keep the deficit at the projected level. Much will depend on the report of the committee set up by the Planning Commission to find a solution to the financial crisis created by the recommendation of the 13th Finance Commission. The state is demanding Rs 2,500 crore to clear the arrears of pay revision. The budget also promises improvement on the debt front and the total outstanding amount is projected at Rs 24,735 crore at the end of 2011-12. The outstanding debt as percentage of the GSDP has come down from 47.17 last year to 43.74 in the current year and it is projected to come down further to 41.03 in the next fiscal. It provides a definite indication that the state is coming out of the debt trap. |
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Raise e-tendering limit to Rs 10 lakh: Contractors
Mandi, March 13 No doubt, the e-tendering will cut down delays and eliminate back door manipulations in the awarding of tenders, but small contractors say the PWD should raise the limit for e-tendering as there are over 5,000 small contractors in the state. President, State Contractors’ Welfare Association, Dinesh Sharma says the small and medium contractors neither have computers nor training to bid for tenders online. “This will make them depend on class-A and class-B contractors to make bids through the Internet,” he claims. Sharma says the association welcomes the move of e-tendering to be started from April onwards, but they have requested the government to start e-tendering for bigger contracts, more than Rs 10 lakh or so. He says the PWD should train contractors in the e-tendering process. “It will bring about transparency and cut down on corruption and manipulation, but contractors should know how to do it,” he adds. On the other hand, principal secretary, PWD, Dr PC Kapur says the government is starting e-tendering in a phased manner in the state. “We have started this for the class-A and class-B contractors and will extend it to all categories of contractors,” he adds. He says they will train and sensitise contractors on e-tendering. “We have already been doing it for all roads being built under the PM Gramin Sarak Yojna and state highways for the last more than a year and results are good,” he adds. |
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Central Varsity in Kangra
Dharamsala, March 13 The sources said the decision that the state would bear the cost of converting forest land for the central university was taken at a meeting of state and university officials held recently. The Central university officials had maintained that as per the orders of the Union Ministry for HRD, the land was to be provided for the institute free of cost by the state government. So, the state had to bear the cost of clearing all hassles for the land being offered by the Central university. The sources said the university authorities had raised the demand of 7000 kanal land for the campus at Dehra and Dharamsala. Out of it, just 1000 kanal would be the constructed area while the remaining 6000 kanals is supposed to be the green area. The state authorities are of the view that in case the Central university officials do not scale down their demand for land it would be difficult for them to get the clearance from the special empowered committee of the Supreme Court. Most of the land being offered to the university by the state government is forest land. The land has more than 20,000 trees that might face axe due to construction of the university. The state officials are of the view that since the Central university will have just 1000 kanal constructed area, they should restrict their demand for land to just 3000 or at the most 4000 kanals. Though in Dharamsala, the Town and Country Planning rules restrict buildings to 4-storey level due to seismic concerns, in Dehra there are no such restrictions. The Central university authorities should plan their building vertically to save the land, especially in hills, state officials have maintained. The state government has been asked to transfer land at Dharamsala and Dehra simultaneously to the central university authorities. The Central university started its first session from new government college building in Shahpur area last year. Due to limited accommodation, the university has started management and humanities courses. |
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Youth Congress to protest on March 17
Nurpur, March 13 This was stated by Manmohan Katoch, state president of the Youth Congress (YC), presiding over a programme of YC workers of the local unit at Baranda village near here today. He pointed out that the YC was holding a demonstration against the Dhumal government on March 17 across the state to protest against its failure to ensure 70 per cent employment to locals. He said the YC workers would hold demonstrations and submit memorandum to the Governor demanding ensuring of employment condition and in protest against violation of environment norms in the state by private industries and universities. He rued that the Dhumal government had failed to frame any plan to tackle the problem of unemployment in the annual budget presented recently for the next fiscal year. “The government has virtually ignored the unemployed youth in this budget,” he added. The programme, organised under “Chalo Gaon ki Aur” of the national YC, was also addressed by central YC election committee member Manoj Pathania and Kangra district president Viney Sharma. |
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Cong leaders back protesting teachers
Dharamsala, March 13 Kewal Singh Pathania later, while talking to The Tribune, said: “We have talked to CLP leader in the Himachal Vidhan Sabha Vidya Stokes. We have asked her to take up the issue of the ETT teachers in the ongoing Vidhan Sabha session”. “The ETT teachers, who are sitting on a dharna at Dharamsala, have completed courses from Jammu and Kashmir. They are alleging that the Himachal government is not considering them eligible for appointment as ETT teachers in the state. We were forced to do courses from Jammu and Kashmir as there were not enough seats of ETT teachers in Himachal”, the protesting teachers said. Kewal Singh Pathania later said thousands of seats of the ETT teachers were lying vacant in government primary schools. The vacant seats were affecting the studies, especially in the remote areas of the state. The state government should consider the appointment of teachers as legally they are entitled to jobs here, he said. |
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CPM supports trainee dentists
Shimla, March 13 Condemning insensitive attitude of the government towards their problems, the party said the gravity of the situation could be judged from the fact that no doctor from the last four batches who passed out from the government medical colleges had got employment in the state. The pass outs from the private medical colleges too faced the same fate. The policy of the successive governments to privatise and commercialise the medical services through its own apparatus like the Rogi Kalyan Samitis (RKSs) had created a precarious situation in the state. The formation of the RKSs in government hospitals was one of the severest attacks on the health services in the state. The government had virtually abdicated its responsibility. The health services were being outsourced and even the appointments of doctors and other staff was being done through the RKSs, at the cost of the common people. The party had asked the government to at least install one dental chair in all PHCs in the state. It was a worrisome fact that the government had announced that it would provide free denture to senor citizens but it was not even providing basic dental services in the countryside. It further asked the government to take up the issue of postgraduate seats in the dental college so that the state benefited from the services of specialists. |
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Naina Devi temple goes online
Shimla, March 13 He said the devotees could even make online offerings. “For this, the temple trust has tied up with the HDFC Bank,” he added. People can also participate in the daily ‘arti’ - both in the morning and evening. “The temple website (www.srinainadevi.com) has a collection of photographs and history of the temple. It also includes forthcoming religious events and festivals. One can literally have a ‘parikrama’ of the temple,” the official said. Naina Devi, some 175 km from the state capital, in Bilaspur district attracted around 23 lakh devotees in 2009 and the number went up to 25 lakh last year. One of the busiest shrines in north India, a majority of the pilgrims comes from Punjab and Haryana. The shrine of Naina Devi saw record offerings of over Rs 11 crore in 2010 apart from gold and silver. “There was an increase of Rs 2.03 crore in cash offerings at the shrine last year as compared to 2009. It broke the earlier (2009) record of Rs 9.29 crore,” temple trust chairman Vinay Singh Thakur said. He said the temple got offerings worth Rs 11.32 crore, 5.4 kg of gold and 3.38 quintals of silver in 2010.
— IANS |
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1 killed, 2 hurt as Sumo falls into gorge
Dharamsala, March 13 According to eye witnesses, it seemed that the driver lost control as soon as he started the vehicle and it skid into the gorge. Police sources later told that driver of the vehicle Sunil Kumar died on the spot. His wife and child who accompanied Sunil were injured and admitted to the Tanda medical college. The police has registered a case against the deceased
driver. KANGRA (OC): Ritu (32), a resident of Ghumala village, succumbed to her injuries at Dr RP Government Medical College at Tanda today. She had met with an accident at Galian village. The district additional police chief said a motorcycle skidded on the road at Galian village yesterday leaving
Ritu, who was travelling on the motorcycle, injured. She was rushed to the Tanda hospital where she died. The police has arrested Ashok Kumar, a resident of Ghumala village and driver of the motorcycle, after registering a case against him under Sections 279, 337 and 304 A of the
IPC. |
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Border Area Plan
Shimla, March 13 Headed by the Chief Secretary, the committee has representatives from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, the Department of Border Management and the Planning Commission of India. It also has secretaries of Home, Finance, Rural Development, PWD, secretary, I and PH, MPP and Power from the state government. The DIG, ITBP, Tara Devi, Shimla, the DC, Kinnaur, the ADC, Spiti, are also on the committee having commissioner-cum-principal secretary, Tribal Development, as member secretary. It will approve the schemes to be implemented under the programme and have complete freedom to execute the schemes through any of the four agencies, the state government, the Central Government, the Central Paramilitary Organisation located in the state and voluntary organisations. |
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Bharmour road opened to heavy vehicles
Chamba, March 13 However, the Chamba-Bharmour road had been opened to heavy vehicles. Officials revealed that workforce of the Public Works Department was on the job to remove boulders and mud from the roads so that vehicular traffic could be resumed. The work to clear snow from the roads in the snow-bound areas, including the link roads between the hill resorts like Khajjiar, Jot and other distant tribal areas of the district, was underway, the officials said; adding that the Chamba-Bharmour road had been opened to heavy vehicles. |
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Beopar Mandal hails budget
Bilaspur, March 13 The meeting was attended by mandal senior vice-president Janak Raj (Kullu), Somesh Sharma (Una), Sardar Kamaljit Singh (Shimla), Raj Sankhyayan (Bilaspur) and Mulk Raj Mehta (Kangra-Baijnath) among others. |
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Shimla, March 13
