H I M A C H A L    P R A D E S H    E D I T I O N

HRTC to upgrade bus service
List of stoppages for meals will be displayed to check unauthorised halts
Hamirpur, July 23
The Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC), Hamirpur division, will start displaying a list of stoppages for meals in all its buses from August 1 to facilitate passengers. Interacting with mediapersons here today, Divisional Manager, Hamirpur, Pankaj Singhal promised to take several measures to improve facilities for the passengers.

BJP leaders rue delay in action against defiant Kangra MP
Shimla, July 23
Perturbed over the delay on the part of the state BJP in taking disciplinary action against defiant Kangra MP Rajan Sushant, office-bearers have demanded that the matter be expedited as the party reputation was being damaged by the malicious campaign launched by him.

State should be given income from proposed Renuka Dam: Minister
Shimla, July 23
Himachal Pradesh has demanded that the entire income from the proposed 40-MW Renuka Dam should be given to the state as the project would be located in the state and Delhi would get its due in the form of water supply.

Career aptitude test in state soon: CM
Shimla, July 23
The Himachal Pradesh Government is contemplating to introduce career aptitude test for matriculate students and career counselling test for plus two and college students to help them make the correct career choices, depending upon their aptitude and interest.

Man drowned in nullah
Paonta Sahib, July 23
An engineer, Ajit Singh, drowned in a seasonal nullah near Konthro village on the Rampur-Bharapur Road on the NH-72 today while he was on way to his unit from his house here.

HRTC to upgrade bus service
List of stoppages for meals will be displayed to check unauthorised halts
Tribune News Service

Hamirpur, July 23
The Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC), Hamirpur division, will start displaying a list of stoppages for meals in all its buses from August 1 to facilitate passengers. Interacting with mediapersons here today, Divisional Manager, Hamirpur, Pankaj Singhal promised to take several measures to improve facilities for the passengers.

He said, “Displaying a list of stoppages for meals will put a check on the buses stopping at unauthorised places. The HRTC will also provide complaint envelopes to the passengers against any violations in this regard”.

The HRTC would also be plying air-conditioned buses from Hamirpur to Shimla and other important cities, besides starting a Mudrika bus service in Hamirpur linking all important places in the town and giving training to LMV learners through its driving training school here.

Singhal said, “The HRTC is running 96 buses on 124 routes plying 25,000 km and earning about Rs 7 lakh daily from its operations. It has started five new bus services during the current year”.

“The HRTC has started yellow and smart cards to rope in regular bus passengers to meet the competition from private buses, and 4,000 smart cards and 5,000 yellow cards have been issued till now,” he added.

He said, “The HRTC is also fulfilling its social obligation by running bus services even in non-profitable rural bus routes to facilitate the public. It is providing concessional and free travel to 17 categories, leading to loss of about Rs 5 crore per annum in this division, out of which Rs 3 crore is being borne for giving free passes to students”.

BJP leaders rue delay in action against defiant Kangra MP
Pratibha Chauhan/TNS

Shimla, July 23
Perturbed over the delay on the part of the state BJP in taking disciplinary action against defiant Kangra MP Rajan Sushant, office-bearers have demanded that the matter be expedited as the party reputation was being damaged by the malicious campaign launched by him.

A majority of the state office-bearers conveyed their anguish to Kalraj Mishra, national party vice-president and in charge of the BJP affairs in Himachal, at a meeting here last night.

They said all the achievements of the BJP regime got negated when the MP was raising questions over the credibility and functioning of the government and senior leaders, including the Chief Minister. Mishra assuaged the disturbed party leaders by stating that he had conveyed their sentiments to the party high command and now it was for party chief Nitin Gadkari to take action.

Mishra also told them that the matter would be taken up at the meeting of the National Disciplinary Committee to be held shortly.

The party leaders, in the presence of Chief Minister PK Dhumal, conveyed their displeasure at the delay being caused by the party high command in reining in Sushant.

Some of the leaders pointed out that it had been over three months since the matter was brought to the notice of the high command, but still no action had been taken while Sushant was carrying on his tirade against the party government unchecked.

According to sources, the leaders stated that the government and party men were working towards carrying the achievements of the BJP to the people right up to the village level, but Sushant’s outbursts in the garb of corruption were sending wrong signals.

The leaders pointed out that the Congress was using Sushant’s statements to hit back at the BJP, for which the party did not have any reply.

State should be given income from proposed Renuka Dam: Minister
Tribune News Service

Shimla, July 23
Himachal Pradesh has demanded that the entire income from the proposed 40-MW Renuka Dam should be given to the state as the project would be located in the state and Delhi would get its due in the form of water supply.

The demand was made by Irrigation and Public Health Minister Ravinder Singh Ravi in a meeting with Union Minister for Water Resources Pawan Kumar Bansal and Union Minister for Drinking Water and Sanitation Jai Ram Ramesh in New Delhi recently. He also participated in the Upper Yamuna Board meeting.

He demanded that the Centre should bear the entire cost of the project, but the income accruing from it should be given to the state.

He added that about 2,000 persons to be displaced due to the construction of the dam should also be rehabilitated, besides appropriate compensation.

The minister also urged the Centre to meet the expenditure on account of construction of the 160-MW Kashu hydel project and the state should be given 12 per cent free power, besides preferential right on the remaining 88 per cent power.

Career aptitude test in state soon: CM
Tribune News Service

Shimla, July 23
The Himachal Pradesh Government is contemplating to introduce career aptitude test for matriculate students and career counselling test for plus two and college students to help them make the correct career choices, depending upon their aptitude and interest.

This was stated by Chief Minister PK Dhumal at the Pratibha Samman Samaroh-2011 organised by a Hindi daily to honour meritorious students in different academic disciplines here today.

He said the career aptitude and career counselling was the need of the hour keeping in view the vast career opportunities available to the young educated people.

He said that the students would be able to prepare the road map to be followed in their future endeavours after taking these tests. He said that such an endeavour would go a long way in development of entrepreneurship among the youth.

The Chief Minister gave certificates and mementoes to the meritorious students on the occasion.

MMS of delivery circulated
Pratibha Chauhan/TNS

Shimla, July 23
In a bizarre incident, a health personnel posted in the 108 Ambulance service, started under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), today made an MMS of a delivery which took place in the vehicle in the Laghghatti area in Kullu district today.

The incident came to the notice of the police from the woman’s family. The pare-medic and the driver hailing from Karsog and Kullu, respectively, have been arrested and a case registered against them at the Kullu police station.

Project Director, NRHM , Rakesh Kanwar said the GVK EMRI Company, running the ambulance service in the state, had been directed to terminate the services of the two employees. “We will issue guidelines to the company to ensure that no such incident happens in future,” he said.

The ambulance service, running 108 vehicles, has been a major success considering that availability of an ambulance is rather difficult far-flung areas. The smooth conduct of 259 deliveries in ambulances was being touted as a major success.

Man drowned in nullah
Ambika Sharma

Paonta Sahib, July 23
An engineer, Ajit Singh, drowned in a seasonal nullah near Konthro village on the Rampur-Bharapur Road on the NH-72 today while he was on way to his unit from his house here.

The incident took place when he was driving his Alto car and made an attempt to cross the road near the Konthro nullah which was in spate following heavy rains in the morning. The flow of the water threw open the car door, sweeping Ajit to a distance of almost 1 km. Villagers came forward to rescue him when they saw him being swept away. But by the time he could be pulled out, he had died.

His body was handed over to his relatives who later arrived from Ludhiana. He was working in the Valley Iron rolling steel unit at Dhollan Kuan.