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In the saddle in MC, CPM eyes Assembly poll
Consensus is CPM’s mantra for Shimla MC
Their emphatic win took everyone by surprise
Organic fair in June
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School water samples fail test
Baddi varsity holds conference on cyber crime
Delegates at a cyber crime conference in Baddi on Tuesday.
50% Quota for Women in MC Poll
Govt to enhance grant for restoring shrines
Heated exchanges mark
Cong meeting
Steps to improve efficiency of police
Three members of woman’s in-laws taken into custody
Thieves decamp with
Rs 1.40 lakh, gold jewellery
BJYM protests against
petrol price hike
GVK institute gets
527 emergency calls in a day
Kalta is Director,
power board
Children’s summer
camp begins at Manali
Prabha Devi gets Stokes
Memorial Award
BJP to hold protests
tomorrow
Samiti distributes
study material among students
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In the saddle in MC, CPM eyes Assembly poll
Shimla, May 29 Buoyant over its historic win in the Shimla MC poll, the party is already chalking out its strategy for the Assembly poll to be held anytime after October this year. Enthused with the MC victory, the CPM cadres are on a high, raring to go as they are already trying to build their base in these identified 19 Assembly segments. Though the CPI and the CPM have in the past had one or two legislators in the Assembly, they have not been able to emerge as a political force to reckon with all over the state. “We have decided to field candidates in at least 19 Assembly segments as we feel the electorate is desperately looking for an alternative to both the BJP and the Congress, and we will try to fill the gap,” says Rakesh Singha, state secretary of the CPM and former MLA from Shimla. While open to the idea of a third front, the CPM leader says it is slightly premature to say anything about that right now. Rather than fielding candidates from all 68 Assembly segments, the CPM is being realistic as it is aware of its limited pockets of influence. The CPM is building its base in the four Assembly segments of Shimla, Kasumpti, Shimla (Rural) and Theog, Ani and Banjar in Kullu, Jogindernagar and Balh in Mandi, Banikhet and Bhattiyat in Chamba, Dharamshala in Kangra, Arki in Solan and Renuka and Nahan in Sirmaur. There are some more identified constituencies in other districts as well. Tara Chand was elected as the first CPI MLA from Balh in Mandi in 1962. In the next Assembly poll in 1967, the CPI’s tally went up to two as comrade Paras Ram won from Jaswan and Bansi Ram from Baijnath, both in Kangra. In 1972, Tulsi Ram won on the CPM ticket from Balh. Later in 1985, KK Kaushal won from Kot Kehloor in Bilapsur. The last CPM leader who made it to the Assembly was Rakesh Singha, who was elected in 1993. However, he could not complete his tenure as he was unseated when he was convicted in a case lodged against him while he was in Himachal Pradesh University. |
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Consensus is CPM’s mantra for Shimla MC
Shimla, May 29 “There are a lot of limitations and challenges and we know it is certainly not a bed of roses. But we will do everything needed to live up to the expectations of the people,” said Rakesh Singha, state secretary of the CPM, at a press conference held here today. He, along with Mayor Sanjay Chauhan and Deputy Mayor Tikender Panwar, thanked the electorate of Shimla for giving them a chance to serve. “We want to run the MC through a consensus for which we will seek the support of the BJP, the Congress and others so that the cash-strapped body can render better services to the people,” he said. Singha added that they would seek help from the Chief Minister so that the MC could come out of the financial crisis. He hoped that the state government would bail out the MC by giving a special grant-in-aid without being guided by political thought. “We promise that we will run the MC most judiciously, rising above political considerations though at times our priority could be pro-poor schemes to which I am confident nobody would be opposed,” he said. However, some of the most controversial projects like the high-end Bemloe housing complex, acquisition of the Bantony, a heritage building, and the land mafia’s activeness around the Annandale ground could come under the close scrutiny of the MC for irregularities. “We are all for a consensus, but there will be no compromise on such glaring cases of violation of norms that amount to defeating the very purpose for which people supported us,” he clarified. Singha did not hesitate to say that the manner in which the BJP regime used its authority only indicated misuse of power and its desperation to make a back-door entry into the MC. “Deletion of names from electoral rolls was done under the personal supervision of ministers and they crossed all limits when 108 ambulances were used to distribute liquor,” he stated. He said the so-called land mafia and some big real estate agents had offered election funding to the CPM also, which the party declined. |
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Their emphatic win took everyone by surprise
Shimla, May 29 Sanjay Chauhan, Mayor
Sanjay Chauhan (45), along with his colleague and new Deputy Mayor Tikender Panwar, was able to garner support across party lines, leaving everyone surprised. In him people saw a person who they felt would deliver and make a difference in changing the face of the “Queen of Hills” for the better. Being a whole-time party member since 1986 while in college, he has been on the forefront fighting for people’s cause. He studied at St Edward’s School and it was later while studying at Government College, Sanjauli, that he joined the SFI. Even while in HP University, from where he did MCom and MA in political science, he remained active in SFI organisational matters. He won the election as a member of the block development committee from his village. Ever since there has been no looking back despite failures also. He made a place for himself when in the Assembly poll from Shimla in 2003 and 2008, he polled over 10,000 votes, remaining at the second position each time. “It is for the party to decide who will contest from Shimla; so I cannot say anything about that,” he says when prodded about preparing for the Assembly poll. The support extended by his better half, Falma Chauhan, has undoubtedly made the struggle easier. “She was the state SFI president and it was a senior party leader who suggested that marrying her would work to my advantage, a proposal which I too humbly accepted with no regrets,” he says giving full credit to his wife. The couple has two daughters, six-year-old Sucheta and four-month-old Samya. Sucheta has already been initiated into the Left politics as she shared a chair on the dais with CPM stalwart Sitaram Yechury during the run-up to the elections at a rally. Tikender
Panwar, Deputy Mayor
Panwar (41), a familiar face for people of Shimla as he has been on the forefront of public movements, did his schooling from the local St Edward’s School. It was while studying at Government College, Sanjauli, that he joined the SFI and won the post of vice-president with a till-date-unbroken record margin of 800 votes. While studying law and yoga in HP University, he was holding the post of state joint secretary of the SFI. He also remained active in the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and remained its state secretary and later national vice-president. “When I first joined the SFI, my family felt I had gone berserk as they had lost 72 villages and had fought the Communist movement against the feudal lords and their big holdings,” says Tikender remembering his initiation into the Left ideology. He admits that his marriage to Seema, a doctor who belongs to the reserved category, in 2001 made it even tougher for his family. “Our family was literally ostracised as except for my mother and brother, everyone felt I had done the unthinkable, which was simply unpardonable,” he says. Ten years down the lane, he feels having an understanding spouse has been his strength. His father-in-law too believed in the Communist ideology to which his wife was well exposed, making it easier for him to devote time to politics and taking up public causes. His eight-year-old daughter, Rosa, a student of Class III, is elated at her father’s victory as she scans his photographs splashed in all newspapers. “She too campaigned for me as she would carry pamphlets to school requesting teachers and her friends to ask their parents to vote for me,” says the doting father who did not miss the parent-teacher meeting at school, a day before the polling. |
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Organic fair in June
Shimla, May 29 The government had notified the organic policy last year and so far over 25,000 farmers had been registered for organic farming. Out of these, 2,040 farmers had obtained certification from authorised agencies. In all, 12,500 hectares had been brought under organic farming in the state and the government would consider declaring tribal areas as an exclusive organic zone. As many as 4,09,114
vermi-composting units were set up last year. The government would explore the possibilities of earmarking space for marketing of organic farm produce, besides ensuring availability of agricultural inputs to farmers. A modern air-cooled marketing yard project was coming up at
Parala, near Theog, at a cost of Rs 13 crore, where 40 per cent work had been completed and could be made available for partial use during the coming season. He said a similar marketing yard had been proposed to be constructed at
Karluhi, close to the broad gauge railway line in Una, for the convenience of farmers of lower
areas. Dhumal added that the Agriculture Insurance Scheme had been rationalised by raising insurance premium subsidy from 5 to 45 per cent. The Weather-Based Crop Insurance Scheme had been extended to tomato in Solan and Bilaspur districts and potato in Kangra and
Una. Besides bringing all major crops like maize, wheat, rice and barley, potato, ginger had also been covered under the National Agriculture Insurance Scheme. |
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School water samples fail test
Hamirpur, May 29 The report of the drinking water samples taken from the school is quite significant since health officials were suspecting drinking water or some wrong food taken by the students as the reason for the illness. On the other hand, the school Headmaster and some parents have been maintaining that iron supplements given to the children on May 24 under a health scheme were the possible reason for gastroenteritis. Confirming that the water samples taken from the Patnon school had failed the test, Medical Officer, Health, Hamirpur, PK Katwal said, “Three samples were taken from water tanks supplying drinking water to students - one from the primary school and two from the high school, which had been found highly susceptible in the laboratory.” “One sample has been found having a contamination level of 6.6 degrees and another with a contamination level over 4 degrees, which can lead to water-borne diseases,” he added. Health officials have vouched for the quality of iron supplements and said more then 50,000 schoolchildren had been given the supplements and no complaint had been received from anywhere. The report of the investigation team, consisting of an epidemiologist from the medical college, Tanda, which had visited the school on Monday, is likely to be available within two days. |
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Baddi varsity holds conference on cyber crime
Solan, May 29 He said since the increased use of automated systems had increased the vulnerability of sabotage of information, which disrupted business processes, there was an urgent need to invest in research and development in the field of cyber crime. Manhas was addressing a one-day conference on cyber crime for law enforcing agencies and the industry which was attended by over 50 police officials from across the state at Baddi University of Emerging Sciences and Technology (BUEST), Baddi, today. Aimed at creating awareness and the need for comprehensive and visionary legislation to deal with cyber crime, the conference provided a common platform to deliberate on the need to counter global challenges caused by information organisations. Prof Lovi Raj Gupta, Vice-Chancellor, Baddi university, while addressing delegates on the occasion announced that they would soon initiate courses on cyber law and cyber crime investigation in collaboration with Data 64 Techno Solutions (P) Limited, along with Asian Cyber Law School, Pune, as their knowledge partner from the current academic session. It would be a 12-hour certified course and candidates successfully passing the online test after completion of the course would get a certificate from the university. KN Gupta, founder, Controller of Certifying Authorities, GoI, gave an overview of cyber crimes prevalent in the country. Speaking on the occasion, he said the cyber crime had various threatening implications; hence, it was imperative to act before the situation worsened and the cost of inaction became massive. The conference-cum-workshop was well received by over 50 police officials across the state, including IG (CID) Ashok Sharma and Baddi SP Gurdev Chand Sharma, and university’s secretary Gaurav Jhunjhunwala among others. |
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50% Quota for Women in MC Poll Rakesh Lohumi Tribune News Service
Shimla, May 29 There were as many as 43,762 male and 36,194 female voters and as such the men accounted for almost 55 per cent of the total number of voters. However, 13 of the total 25 wards were reserved for women. Going by the gender ratio of the electorate, men should have had 14 wards to contest. In case of panchayati raj institutions too, the 50 per cent quota for women resulted in much higher representation for them. The actual percentage of seats reserved for women was 56.76 due to odd number of seats where the figure was rounded off on the higher side. Of the total 24,678 seats, right from the gram panchyat to the zila parishad level, as many as 14,006 were reserved. For instance, in case there were five wards in a panchayat, at least 3 had to be reserved to achieve 50 per cent quota, but it actually resulted in 60 per cent. Similar was the case with panchayats having seven, nine or 11 wards. With many women successfully contesting from open wards, their actual percentage increased to 58. The decision to conduct direct elections for the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor is also being viewed with scepticism. Unlike panchayati raj institutions, the elections to urban local bodies are conducted on party symbols. As such there can be problems in the smooth functioning of the House if the Mayor and Deputy Mayor are from a party which does not have a majority in the House as has happened in the Shimla Municipal Corporation. The system of direct elections will be put to test as the CPM, which won the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor, has only three members in the 25-member House. Problems are likely as the members mostly go by the policy of their parties. It would have been a different story if the elections had not been conducted on party symbols.
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Govt to enhance grant for restoring shrines
Shimla, May 29 “There are a large number of temples and shrines of heritage importance, which are in dire need of restoration,” he opined. He said some of the prominent ancient temples in the state had been taken over by the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) for restoration and maintenance purposes out of which some were in a real dilapidated condition. He said the government would consider enhancing the grant-in-aid from the existing Rs 25,000 to Rs 3 lakh to local temple committees. He announced a grant of Rs 3 lakh for the restoration of Pashi temple in the Kullu valley and Rs 1 lakh for the Beas Rishi Nirman Mandir Samiti. He underlined the need for constitution of an effective trust to manage the affairs of all the deities in the Kullu valley by bringing together associations formed by kardars. He said the government had been considerate towards the demands of kardars and had been enhancing the “nazrana” from time to time. He said they were also being provided travelling and daily allowances for participating in the International Dasehra Festival.
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Heated exchanges mark
Cong meeting
Bilaspur, May 29 There were heated exchanges between those who had lost the Assembly election last time and those whom they openly held responsible for their defeat”. Two firebrand youth leaders Bambar Thakur and Rajendra Thakur had a wordy duel over the list of “inactive office-bearers” while another clash occurred between former MLA Tilak Raj Sharma and a couple of his detractors over the former’s last Assembly defeat. Another minority leader and Kaul Singh supporter Sabar Deen hurled serious charges against former Chief Minster Virbhadra Singh and his supporter former Forest Minister and now party state general secretary Ram Lal Thakur (who was present there), and demanded a CBI enquiry against them. Some leaders objected to these “highly offensive remarks” of Sabar Deen who was also sore that the former Chief Minister did not solve problem of graveyard for Muslims. District president Santosh Dhiman silenced Sabar Deen by saying that allegations were baseless and that Ram Lal Thakur was one of the few mass leaders of the state from whom the party was benefiting on every step here in the district. She, accompanied by Ram Lal Thakur and MLA Rajesh Dharmani, helped restore order and peace in the meeting. Thakur explained that the graveyard problem could not be solved here due to serious differences over its location between two groups of the Muslim community, one of which was led by Sabar Deen himself.
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Steps to improve efficiency of police
Shimla, May 29 Stating this while presiding over a review meeting of the Home Department, Chief Minister PK Dhumal said the police force had been equipped with latest facilities. As many as 122 vehicles had been fitted with the global positioning system and 68 Doppler radars and 121 alcohol sensors had been provided to field functionaries to prevent traffic violations. He said a 15-day time frame had been fixed to redress public complaints at the police station level, 21 days at the sub-division level and 30 days at the district level, while cases related to accidents had to be decided within a month, special cases in three months and other cases in six months. Dhumal said the state had taken a lead in the country in introducing the SMS service for registrating complaints and 70 cases had so far been registered through this facility. For taking advantage of the Information Technology, all the 100 police stations had been connected with Internet and web-based services, where Himachal had achieved the first ranking in the country and an online traffic service was also being launched. He said the services being rendered by police personnel were exemplary. The daily honorarium of Home Guards had been increased from Rs 130 to Rs 200, ration allowance of police personnel from Rs 100 to Rs 150 per month and 57 new vehicles were provided to strengthen the fire services network. He said efforts were being made to provide video conferencing facilities in jails by linking these with courts. He added that Home Guard volunteers had been provided 15 per cent reservation in the recruitment for the posts of police constable and jail warden.
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Three members of woman’s in-laws taken into custody
Bilaspur, May 29 Earlier the police, along with some people of the area, had recovered a dupatta, gold chain, chappals and a suicide note of Monika lying at the Kandraur bridge over the Sutlej near here. It is suspected that Monika had jumped into the Sutlej from the world’s second highest Kandraur bridge. Though Monika’s body has not yet been recovered and nobody had seen her jumping into the river, her suicide note said she was taking her life due to her in-laws who had been ill-treating her all the three years of her marriage to Vinod Kumar. Her mother Shakuntala claimed in her FIR that last midnight Monika had phoned her and said her in-laws were beating her. The police has registered a case under Section 498-A, IPC, and is investigating the matter. |
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Thieves decamp with
Rs 1.40 lakh, gold jewellery
Nurpur, May 29 The police said the thieves broke open a cupboard and steel boxes lying in the rooms and decamped with cash of Rs 1.40 lakh, 12 tolas of gold jewellery and same silver jewellery. They left two broken steel boxes in the fields before fleeing after the crime. The police has registered a case under Sections 457 and 380, IPC, and visited the spot today. In another theft case, the police today lodged a complaint of Devinder Mankotia of Hagwal village against Krishna of Salliculian (Pathankot) for stealing cables from the stone-crushing unit set up in Tipri khud last night.
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BJYM protests against
petrol price hike
Nurpur, May 29 Later,
addressing morcha activists, Pathania said the UPA government had given
the petrol price hike gift to people on the completion of three years in
office and added that the Central government had only enhanced
corruption and prices during the past three years. |
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GVK institute gets
527 emergency calls in a day
Shimla, May 29 The earlier highest of 509 calls were
recorded on May 7. In all, the Emergency Response Centre received 2,979
calls out of which 527 were emergency calls. This is the highest
number of emergency calls received in a single day. Out of these, the
maximum number of emergency calls was received from Mandi district. Till
date almost 1.39 lakh patients have benefited from the service. Head
of Operations, GVK EMRI, Mehul Sukumaran said besides medical
emergencies, a lot of forest fire-related calls were also being
received. |
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Kalta is Director, power board
Shimla, May 29 An engineering graduate from Thapar University, Kalta has 30 years of experience in the power sector, mostly in the field of generation and distribution. He also had a stint as Executive Director in the State Electricity Regulatory Commission. He said his major concern would be to streamline billing and revenue collection to bring down the losses. Besides, focus would also be on improvement of infrastructure to ensure operational efficiency, loss reduction in high-loss areas, and recovery of arrears from the industry and government agencies. He would also make efforts to get Centre-funded projects implemented with full transparency. — TNS
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Children’s summer
camp begins at Manali
Chandigarh, May 29 Besides
getting a wholesome experience of outdoor living, these children will
take part in adventure, sports and cultural activities, which include
trekking, rock climbing, paragliding, river rafting, mountain biking,
karate and kung fu. The children will begin their day with yoga and
physical training. To inculcate a sense of patriotism among students,
they will be divided into four “houses” bearing the names of Kargil
War martyrs - Capt Manoj Kumar Pandey Capt Vikram Batra, Capt Anuj
Nayyar and Vijayant Thapar. They also compete in various inter-house
sports competitions during the camp. |
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Prabha Devi gets Stokes
Memorial Award
Shimla, May 29 She has been conferred upon
the award for her excellent performance in roller skating at the World Summer
Games 2011 (Special Olympics) held in Athens. The award carries a cash prize
of Rs 50,000, a certificate and a memento. The Trust has instituted the award
to honour sportspersons who excel in various fields. Vidya Stokes, the Leader
of the Opposition, and members of the Trust were present. Prabha Devi had won
two Gold Medals, a Silver Medal and a Bronze Medal in the World Summer Games. The
Governor appreciated the endeavours of Prabha for bringing laurels to the
country by winning medals at an international event. Prabha hails from Katrian
village in Kullu district and is a student of Prema Ashram, Una.
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BJP to hold protests
tomorrow
Shimla, May 29 “By making a hike of Rs 7.50 per litre,
the UPA regime has further burdened the common man who was already
reeling under the impact of price rise,” he said. He added that it
was surprising that while the prices of crude oil were going down across
the world, the prices had touched an all-time high in the country. |
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Samiti distributes
study material among students
Nurpur, May 29 KB Sharma,
president of the samiti, said this organisation had so far distributed
study material, footwear and woollen clothes to needy students of 54
government schools in the area. The samiti also used to distribute
fruits and milk to indoor patients of the local Civil Hospital on the
first Saturday of every month. |
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Dr DS Manhas, DGP, today stressed upon the need to attract experienced and specialised talent in the field of security systems from educational institutions and also tie up with the private sector for strengthening its cyber security
centres.
He may have lost the Assembly elections from the Shimla constituency twice, but his historic victory, usurping the Congress and making the BJP bite the dust, has left no one in doubt about his popularity.
Hailing from a feudal family, which ruled over the erstwhile state of Baghat in Solan district, joining the CPM and later marrying a girl from the reserved category literally resulted in the the family of Tikender Singh Panwar, the newly elected Deputy Mayor, being ostracised.