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Suresh Bhardwaj may be inducted into Cabinet
Tibetans plan protests on Nov 2
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Legislation to check illegal sale of land soon
Split routes for Raid-de-Himalaya this time
Police clueless about missing shopkeeper
3 killed in road mishaps
Kullu Dasehra fails to attract tourists, courtesy VVIPs
Industrial areas face power cuts
Speaker seeks White Paper from Virbhadra
Govt patronising land, forest, mining mafia: Kaul Singh
Govt ignoring farmers: Cong
Forest Act hampering development, says BJP
Power board employees oppose move
204 examined at medical camp
Seminar on ‘Orality’ from Oct 10
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Suresh Bhardwaj may be inducted into Cabinet
Shimla, October 9 According to sources, the matter was discussed by Dhumal with party president Nitin Gadkari during his visit to Delhi in connection with the release of the latter’s book, “Vikas ke Path Par”, yesterday. Apart from the fact that Suresh Bhardwaj is a Brahmin like Nadda, the main plea for pushing his candidature are the impending elections to the Shimla Municipal Corporation in which a direct poll will be held for electing the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor for the first time. More importantly, there is no Brahmin in the ministry since the exit of Nadda. Gadkari is likely to discuss the matter with national vice-president and party stalwart Shanta Kumar and other senior leaders shortly and if all goes well Bhardwaj may be inducted into the ministry around Diwali. The MLA from the Kotkehloor constituency in Bilaspur, Randhir Sharma, is also in line on the grounds that the vacancy should be filled by inducting a Brahmin from the same district. It is learnt that Dhumal has already discussed his plans to induct Bhardwaj with Shanta Kumar, who has not raised any objection to the proposal but he has insisted that Khimi Ram should be replaced as the state party chief by his loyalist Khushi Ram Balnatah. However, Dhumal is not in favour of Balnatah and wants Khimi Ram to continue as the party president till the next Assembly election. He earlier wanted Health Minister Rajeev Bindal to take over the reins of the party, but Shanta Kumar and other leaders shot down the move. Gadkari has been keen that Dhumal and Shanta Kumar should arrive at a consensus on the choice of the next party chief and has asked the rival camps to sit together, sort out the differences and come out with a candidate acceptable to all. However, with no unanimity on the issue, Gadkari may decide the next incumbent himself. He is learnt to have asked both leaders to submit their respective panels of candidates so that he could take the final call. Gadkari will have to carry out a balancing act as Shanta Kumar is reportedly unhappy with the way the party affairs are being managed and has not been attending party meetings for the past over six months. The meeting of senior leaders with Gadkari will be crucial in deciding the fate of Khimi Ram. There is no dispute over Suresh Bhardwaj as Shanta Kumar has already given a free hand to Dhumal as far the induction of a minister is concerned. |
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Tibetans plan protests on Nov 2
Dharamsala, October 9 The campaign is being carried out under the banner, “Enough! Global Intervention to Save Tibetan Lifes”. The sources in the Tibetan NGOs also expressed dissatisfaction at the responsive of Tibetan government-in-exile. NGO representatives here said their members were fed up with the unresponsiveness of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile to the self-immolations being carried out by monks of the Kirti Monastery in Tibet. So they had planned this action to attract international community attention to the human rights situation in Tibet. The International Tibet Network (ITN) is calling on its member networks, which has 180 organisations worldwide, to lobby and pressure their governments to make a joint statement, condemning China regarding the situation in Ngaba. They have also called for instituting a multi-lateral mechanism that can progress future strategy on Tibet. In an appeal letter, the ITN is urging Tibet support groups to take part in a step-by-step process to build political pressure on China, through lobbying with respective governments and increasing grassroots support as a buildup to the G20 Summit in France on November 3 and 4 where Chinese President Hu Jintao will be representing China at the G20 Summit. Reminding its member organisations that Tibet and Tibetans need support from the international community, the ITN warned that unless the international community intervened, such desperate acts might continue. Tenzin Dorjee, executive director of the Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) and one of the main organisers of the campaign, said China's systematic repression in Tibet was driving Tibetans to take extreme actions. “While these young men have decided to sacrifice their lives, it's not an escape from life's suffering they are seeking. It's freedom. Not only for themselves, but for their nation,” Dorjee said. Pushing for a coordinated international response to condemn China’s repressive measures in Tibet, Dorjee encouraged Tibetans and Tibet supporters to take part in the global campaign. “On November 3-4, President Hu Jintao will sit with world leaders in Cannes, France, at the G20 Summit. On November 2, we are calling for a mass mobilisation in Cannes and cities around the world to intensify the pressure on China,” he said. Yesterday, two Tibetans, Choephel and Khayang, both in their late teens, had torched themselves. While Choephel is feared dead, Khayang is reportedly in a serious condition. |
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Legislation to check illegal sale of land soon
Palampur, October 9 This was stated by Ravinder Thakur, Irrigation and Public Health Minister, while addressing a press conference here today. He said the sale of land through the GPA had become a matter of concern for the government and it was seriously thinking of discontinuing such practices. Thakur said the state government was well conversant with the situation that hundreds of acres of land in the state were being sold through the GPA and no sale deeds were registered. It was causing a huge loss to the state exchequer on account of the non-payment of stamp duty and registration charges. The minister said the state government had received complaints in this regard that property dealers were buying huge chunks of land only on the power of attorney in the state and no sale deeds had been registered for years. In many cases, even buildings and other structures, had come up on such lands without genuine ownership. Thakur said recently the Palampur police had detected a fraud in the sale of land through the GPA, in which a doctor from Chandigarh was cheated of Rs 40 lakh. During investigations it was revealed that first the land was purchased through the GPA for Rs 55 lakh and later the sale deed was registered for Rs 6 lakh. There were hundreds of such land deals reported in the state daily. He said to check such practices, the state government had planned to stop the sale of land through the GPA. Once the law was enacted and passed in the state Assembly, no sale deed would be registered by presenting a GPA of the sellers, he said. He said the presence of sellers would be made mandatory under the proposed law. |
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Split routes for Raid-de-Himalaya this time
Shimla, October 9 Only 82 teams in the X-treme category will cross Rohtang and will follow the Keylong, Leh and Kargil route to end up in Srinagar on October 16. The road is full of potholes and with numerous landslides, long stretches between Marhi and Rohtang have been virtually reduced to a narrow single lane. The road is not fit for taking the heavy traffic of the entire rally comprising 250-odd vehicles, including support teams, and there was no option but to split routes for the two categories, says Manjiv Bhalla, vice-president of Himalayan Motorsport, which is organising the event. For the first time the rally will enforce the noise-pollution norms prescribed by the Association Internationale des Automobile (FIA). The maximum limit at 3,000 rpm (rotations per minute) is 98 decibels and for the highest 6,000 rpm is 103 decibels. The pollution levels will be checked during scrutiny and only the vehicles fulfilling the norms will be allowed to participate. The 1,950-km-long cross-country motor race combines transport and competitive sections and the competitive legs will add up to 842 km. The route on the first day and the third day will have several new stretches in competitive sections, mostly recently constructed kutcha roads. On the opening day, the rally will take the Matiana, Baragaon, Chamola, Luhri, Dalash, Behna Chhatri, Ghara Ghusaini route and instead of the Jalori Pass it will cross over to the Kullu valley over the Chhach Galu Pass. Similarly, in the Ladakh area it will have a different loop from Leh and traverse the 16,128 ft Warli Pass for the first time. During the entire rally, the participants will negotiate 11 high mountain passes of more than 10,000 ft elevation, the 18,300-ft Khardung La being the highest. The participants in the adventure trial category will enter Jammu and Kashmir through Bhaderwah and pass through Kishtwar, Kokernag and Anantnag to reach Srinagar on the third day. They will join the X-treme category counterparts at Randum in the Zanskar valley on the following day. Thereafter both categories will follow a common route till the conclusion of the rally in Srinagar. In all 162 teams are participating in the event. There are 44 four-wheelers and 38 two-wheelers in the X-treme category, including Team Contiger Austria comprising six motorbikes. Veteran five-time winner Suresh Rana from Thunderbolt, last year’s winner Major Arminder Brar and Sunny Sidhu, champion of the Moghul Rally, will be competing against each other yet again and Team Army Adventure Wing, Team Air Force and Team Maruti in the X-treme category. Rally Statistics
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Police clueless about missing shopkeeper
Aut (Mandi), October 9 What has raised the suspicion of the family members is that two digits - 8 and 5 - have been removed from his car (HP 58 A 5253) to make the number appear as (HP 5 A 253). The windscreen and the bonnet of the car have been damaged and there were some blood stains on one of the seats to “make it appear as an accident case”. The police and family members found the car papers, his passport, the stereo, a charger and the two bags missing from the car. Vinod had left Manali around 4.20 pm on October 5 all alone”, said his brother Deepak. The family members suspect foul play in his sudden disappearance as one of his two mobile phones received a call yesterday. The call receiver spoke in a “Bihari accent”, but he then switched it off, said Deepak. “Vinod appears to be kidnapped and has been either kept in confinement or has been killed,” says Depak and his relative Laxman Chauhan. Despite the family members having lodged complaints on October 5 at the Mandi Sadar and Aut police stations, the police continues to remain clueless even though his car has been spotted. Forensic experts are yet to collect evidence from the spot. Vinod used to run two shops in Manali for the past 10 years. There is a chance that gambling gangs active around Dasehra between Banala and Aut may be behind his disappearance, says the police. Mandi ASP HS Thakur, who inspected the spot today, told The Tribune that they had registered a case and were trying to solve the mystery surrounding Vinod’s disappearance. “We will collect forensic evidence tomorrow as today, being a Sunday, no forensic expert was available.” he added. |
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3 killed in road mishaps
Kangra, October 9 The Dehra police said the bus was on way from Gurdaspur, Punjab, to Jawalamukhi carrying 35 pilgrims. Sixteen of the injured were rushed to a private hospital and the Civil Hospital, Dehra. The police registered a case and arrested driver Kamwarjeet Singh of Gurdaspur. Meanwhile, SSP DS Thakur said drivers on the hilly roads of this state should avoid driving vehicles in a drunken condition or while using mobile phones. Thakur said there were 4,000 road accidents taking place in this hill state annually, killing at least 1,000 persons and leaving 6,000 injured. In an accident at Samloti, near Nagrota Bagwan, Pappu Kumar of Amtrahar died on the spot while Srobu Kumar was injured. Ashrad died on the spot when a Santro car (No.HP-66-2410) met with an accident at Rode yesterday. Jagat (95) died on the spot at Bhanai yesterday when he was hit by a motorcycle (HP-38-B-5766). The police has arrested driver Devender Kumar. Four persons were injured at Kiyari Chowk at Shahpur following a collision between a maxi cab and a car. One person was injured at Gummer when hit by a motorcycle and was admitted to TMC Hospital. A motorcyclist was injured when hit by an HRTC bus at Pathiar last night and admitted to Nagrota Bagwan hospital. The police registered cases in connection with all the accidents, SSP Thakur said. |
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Kullu Dasehra fails to attract tourists, courtesy VVIPs
Kullu/Manali, October 9 “We do not know much about Kullu Dasehra and it was just by chance that we were here due to the Durga Puja holidays,” said Sourav Roy and his wife Ankita. “Schools and other institutions are closed in West Bengal and most of us visit temples like the Hidimba temple in Manali and the Kali Bari in Shimla,” said Shubra Sanyal, a tourist from Kolkata who has come to Manali for three days. For tourists Kullu town is a mess. “We got struck as the traffic was halted for three hours as some VVIPs were coming for Dasehra. We could not find a place in Kullu as all guest houses and government rest houses were already booked by the mela committee and we had to move to Manali,” said some tourists. Besides, tourists and couples who have come on a honeymoon prefer the cool climes of Manali to the Dhalpur Maidan which is dusty, crowded and dirty. The Kullu Dasehra Committee had roped in Brazilian and Russian cultural tropes which gave Dasehra an international look for the first time in recent years. “However, apart from that it was a dull show as far as cultural performances are concerned,” said Rahul and his wife Gitu. Despite the fact that more than 200 “devis and devtas” had come to take part in the festivities, the mela committee remained focused on looking after VVIPs and their own guests throughout the festival, alleged “kardars” of the “devtas”. “We sit here throughout the day. The committee should come out with some innovative ways to make the Dasehra festival more attractive for visitors,” said Ranvir Thakur, a devotee of Balu Nag. “The Ladakh festival, the Pushkar fair and the Mysore fair are a big tourist draw, but Kullu Dasehra has failed to attract tourists,” said Harinder Thakur, a resident of Naggar. “The problem is that it has turned out to be a VVIP affair as the mela committee from day one has been concentrating on arrangements for the VVIPs and ministers who come in large numbers to the fair,” said a “kardar”. Meanwhile, the Durga Puja holidays came as a windfall for hoteliers in an otherwise slack tourist season in Manali. “The occupancy went up by 40 to 50 per cent during the past four days due to a large number of tourists arriving from West Bengal,” said Gajender Thakur, president of the Manali Hoteliers Association. |
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Industrial areas face power cuts
Solan, October 9 Cuts ranging from half an hour to 45 minutes have been slapped on various industrial areas in phases as of the required 140 lakh units (LU), there is a deficit of 3 to 4 per cent, said power controller Joginder Singh. He said domestic consumers had been excused from the power cuts. As against a total demand of about 235 LU to 240 LU, there was a shortfall of 6 LU to 7 LU. With the northern grid facing an abysmally low frequency of 49.2 hertz as against the optimum frequency of 49.7 hertz since the past few days, the power situation had become grim and power was available at a rate of Rs 17.46 per unit as against the normal cost of about Rs 3 per unit. Since the HP State Electricity Board was already facing huge losses, it could not purchase adequate power at this high rate, forcing the board to impose power cuts on the industry. Though the state was receiving 60 MW of power since October 1 as per its banking arrangement, this had failed to fill the deficit due to an abrupt fall in power generation following snowfall which had reduced the water discharge in various hydel power projects. He said the scenario would improve once they started receiving 50 MW from Delhi and 20 MW from Haryana from October 15 as per the banking arrangements. Another 80 MW would be received from Punjab by October 20. Industries were forced to operate diesel-run generator sets as these had to meet the orders in lieu of the festival season. |
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Development of Pangi Valley
Chamba, October 9 Reacting to the recent statement of Virbhadra on the announcements of the MPLAD funds, the Speaker asked him to have an open debate on the issue of Pangi’s development so that reality could be made public. Earlier, development in the difficult terrains of the tribal valley had come to a halt during the Congress regime, the Speaker lamented. The Speaker said it were the previous BJP governments that brought a revolution of development in the tribal valley after Independence, adding that the credit went to the BJP regimes to connect the tribal valley by a motorable road via Saach Pass at an altitude of 4,413 m with the rest of Chamba district in particular and the state as a whole. The Speaker advised Congress leaders to desist from the misleading propaganda about the development of the Pangi tribal valley. He also suggested that local Congress leader Thakur Singh should abstain from spreading false propaganda about the development being made by the BJP government in the valley. The Speaker claimed that the BJP government was committed to link all the panchayats in the valley by road till next year as the construction of roads were in full swing. The Speaker, who will visit the Pangi valley, will review the activities of the ongoing development works. |
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Govt patronising land, forest, mining mafia: Kaul Singh
Kullu, October 9 He said the Congress party would organise a padayatra from Hamirpur to Dharamsala during the winter Assembly session and gherao the Vidhan Sabha against the present government’s protection to the corrupt. A rally would be organised at Dharamsala after the padayatris reached there. He claimed that their Baddi to Shimla padayatra was a big success. Kaul Singh lashed out at the BJP government in the state for commercialising education. He said a dozen private universities had been opened in the state. Solan district was the most affected as eight such universities had been established there. He alleged that hundreds of bighas land was being allocated to these universities. He further expressed apprehensions that the state government might amend Section 118 to sell the interests of Himachal Pradesh. The Congress would launch a campaign against any such move, he added. |
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Govt ignoring farmers: Cong
Nurpur, October 9 “The sowing of wheat will be started within the next few days, but wheat seeds are not available in the co-operative stores in the area. Farmers here are facing immense hardships in procuring seeds and fertilisers. The government has also added to the woes of the farmers by curtailing subsidy on fertilisers,” he said. He alleged that the promise made by the BJP to eliminate the menace of stray cattle and monkeys in the state had proved to be hollow as the menace had wreaked havoc on the fields and a few farmers had even left cultivation and left their fields abandoned. |
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Forest Act hampering development, says BJP
Sundernagar, October 9 He said due to the implementation of the Act, work of numerous roads, developmental schemes and projects could not be executed. Roop Singh said officials of the Forest Department were facing an embarrassing situation regarding the implementation of the Act. On the one hand, the public and the government pressurised them to execute work in violation of the Act, on the other hand, when the matter came to the limelight, forest officials were made the scapegoat. RK Gupta, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, welcoming the chief guest said the Forest Games were started in the state in 1993. He said about 500 sportspersons from 12 teams were participating in the three-day sports meet. He said the state Forest Department won six gold, five silver and four bronze medals in the National Forest Games last year. |
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Negi as consultant in HPPCL
Shimla, October 9 General secretary of the union Hira Lal Verma said there was no justification for the appointment of the favoured officer who had been receiving undue benefits since his superannuation two years ago. He was appointed on the top post of Executive Director in the HPPCL even though he did not possess any professional qualification. He had been given service extension three times on the post of Executive Director (Personnel) despite strong protest from employees and engineers. The union demanded an independent inquiry into the various service issues dealt by the said officer during his service as he had grossly violated the service jurisprudence and government rules to favour individuals. The move to appoint Negi as a consultant with a hefty pay of Rs 75,000 per month for developing the software. |
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204 examined at medical camp
Bilaspur, October 9 Officiating Chief Medical Officer Ashwini Sharma said here today that various types of tests of 25 patients were conducted on the spot, while all patients were given free medicines in the camp. He said Medical Specialist Ambudar Sharma, Ortho Specialist Ahmad, Gynae Specialist Anoop Sharma, surgeon Mukesh Sharma, ENT Specialist Supriya and District Medical Officer Jitender Saxena and Block Medical Officer Manohar Kaushal checked the patients.
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Seminar on ‘Orality’ from Oct 10
Shimla, October 9 Reputed scholars specialising in fields like religious studies, anthropology, folklore, history and literature will throw light on various aspects of ‘orality’ and the role of the oral in providing alternative frameworks of knowledge production and dissemination in the contexts of various cultures and societies.
The keynote address will be delivered by Prof Paula Richman, Prof of S Asian Religions at Oberlin College, Ohio, USA. — TNS
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