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BJP a party of traders: Virbhadra
State left out as Centre fails to renew industrial package
Dhumal govt was anti-Mandi, alleges Kaul Singh
UPA most corrupt govt: Dhumal
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Ambuja, JP get notices for violating pollution norms
Parbati-III set to be commissioned
Hamirpur residents irked at supply of muddy drinking water
Four booked on cheating charge
Blood storage centre stops functioning
Nathpa Jhakri achieves 60,000 million units
Cong trying to mislead people: BJP
Two held in theft case Two bikers injured in road mishap
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BJP a party of traders: Virbhadra
Mandi/Nirmand, June 14 The government is seized of the matter and will
initiate appropriate step to do justice to the farmers investigating each case,
he added. Citing the examples of BJP's misdoings, Virbhadra termed it as the party of traders, who have nothing to do with the welfare of the state. Virbhadra further hit out at the Dhumal regime alleging that he sold the
Rs 100-crore carton factory at Pragtinaagar to a Nagpur trader and in turn, cheated the fruit growers in the state. The Congress government has set the carton factory so that the growers get cheap and ready supply of cartons for apple and other fruits during the season, but the BJP sold the factory like a scrap leaving the growers in the lurch, he charged. The BJP regime sold thousands bighas of land to private universities without fixing land criteria and charting a policy for them, but the present government will ensure that no university can close shop before 40 years, he asserted. |
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State left out as Centre fails to renew industrial package
Solan, June 14 In the notification issued today, the package period has been extended from June 15, 2013, to June 14, 2017, while the crucial capital investment subsidy has been enhanced from the Rs 15 lakh to Rs 30 lakh. An outlay of Rs 295 crore has been set aside for this incentive. With the state failing to get any extension of the Central industrial package which was untimely terminated on March 2010, the industry has been left high and dry. The investors were hopeful of getting at least the capital investment subsidy restored after it had ended in March. The end of the package had also dealt a severe blow to the pace of investment which had suffered a major decline. Arun Rawat, vice-president, CII’s Himachal chapter, said the industry would have benefited had the same extension been granted to the industry in Himachal. He said this has greatly upset the whole industry which was looking forward for some relief at a time when the industry was going through recession. He said it was a big disappointment as the state has a large chunk of educated youth which has to be channelled by providing meaningful employment. He said the state has paid for being a peaceful state and a strife-torn state like Jammu and Kashmir has been rewarded yet again. PK Dhumal, former Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition, terming it as a discriminatory step said the UPA government continues to discriminate against Himachal despite there being a Congress government in the state. He said the Congress had disappointed the industry and belied hopes of the people. |
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Dhumal govt was anti-Mandi, alleges Kaul Singh
Addressing mediapersons here today, Thakur said the Dhumal government always discriminated against Mandi district, while the successive Virbhadra Singh’s regime contributed to large-scale development in all fields in the district. The BJP was misleading the people by launching misinformation campaigns to woo voters, who have decided to vote for Congress candidate Pratibha Singh, he claimed. The UPA government opened the IIT-Mandi at Kamand, which was the decision of the Virbhadra government in 2006. The UPA opened ESIC Medical College at Ner Chowk, which was approved by then Labour and Employment Minister Oscar Fernadis, who was approached by the Congress leaders, Thakur claimed. He dismissed BJP’s claims that Pratibha did not use the MPLAD fund when she was an MP. A delegation under Pratibha approached UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, who approved Rs 1,345 crore and laid the foundation stone of the 8.82-km long Rohtang tunnel. Pratibha distributed funds in all constituencies and Darang got Rs 95 lakh for development from the MPLAD fund, he claimed. On the other hand, the BJP though claims that Atal Behari Vajpayee worked for the overall development of the country, but he did not bring any big project to Himachal when he was Prime Minister. Central University at Dharamsala, NIFT at Kangra, steel-processing plant in Kangra, the MNREGA and the RTI Act were UPA’s contribution, Thakur added. Thakur charged that Dhumal shifted the technical university to be opened at Sundernagar and attached several offices of the PWD and IPH department of the Mandi division to Hamirpur. Dhumal denotified the Mandi medical college and closed 22 senior secondary schools, including two schools in Darang during his last term, he claimed. The BJP had three ministers -- Gulab Singh Thakur, Jai Ram Thakur, Mahender Thakur — from Mandi but they did not raise their voice against the anti-Mandi stance of PK Dhumal. BJP’s son of soil slogan amounted to regionalism and will boomerang as the people of Mandi are aware of who has worked for Mandi, he claimed. Not even a single DPR was made during Dhumal’s last tenure in Mandi, Thakur claimed. No wonder BJP’s mission repeat was turned into mission defeat by the people and the Congress came to power, he added. |
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UPA most corrupt govt: Dhumal
Mandi, June 14 But Congress leaders termed Dhumal as anti-Sarkaghat as he did not nothing for development of the area. Addressing public meetings at Rakhota and Sarkaghat today, Dhumal alleged that the UPA regime was on its way out in the coming 2014 Lok Sabha elections as it was mired in scams. The 2G Spectrum scam, Common Wealth Games scam, Adarsh Housing Society scam, coal block allotment scam, Devas Antriksh scam etc has made the UPA the most corrupt government, he alleged. Dhumal targeted the Virbhadra government saying that he has unleashed a regime of political vendetta by ordering transfers of thousands of employees in the state. The five colleges opened in Mandi have been denotified and all sections of employees are disappointed during his regime, he alleged. The Congress has failed to get industrial and financial packages from the Centre despite other non-Congress ruled states like Bihar having availed these packages, Dhumal claimed. The industrial package and dues awarded by the apex court are yet to be availed by the state government, he added. Meanwhile, addressing public meeting in support of Pratibha Singh, Congress leaders — 20-point programme chairman Ram Lal Thakur and former minister Rangila Ram Rao -- termed Dhumal as anti-Mandi, who did nothing for Sarkaghat during his last term. He had announced a medical college at Sarkaghat but never opened it. The roads were in a bad shape and there were no doctors at Baldwara and Sarkaghat, they claimed. |
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Ambuja, JP get notices for violating pollution norms
Solan, June 14 A copy of the notice is available with The Tribune. This is not the first instance of the notice being slapped on both units. People residing in the periphery of both units have repeatedly been complaining of significant levels of air pollution. The board has directed the units to continuously operate pollution control devices at the sites and at other locations and submit a time-bound action plan to improve the ambient air quality and other emissions within seven days. The plant managements have been directed to minimise pollution at the mining site by controlling blasting. Since violation of the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, is a cognisable offence, attracting a penalty of up to Rs 10,000 and an imprisonment for up to seven years, an offender may face tough action if the board adopts a tough posture. Within a few days of the receipt of the notice on May 28, the cement plants had filed their replies, stating that pollution mitigation devices like back filters were in place and the dust collected was being recycled. They had claimed that they had proper systems to comply with prescribed norms. While no action plan had been submitted, the units had stressed on re-sampling. Ambient air quality, which is measured in terms of suspended particulate matter, should be less than 100 micro-grams per cubic
metre. It was found to be varying between 100 micro-grams and 140 micro-grams per cubic metre in the latest report of the board. Another crucial parameter is particulate matter, the optimum limit for which is 50
milli-grams per cubic metre. It was found to be as high as 80 milli-grams per cubic
metre. Air sampling is usually avoided during the monsoon as the presence of moisture fails to depict actual air pollution levels. Sanjay
Sood, Member Secetary, State Pollution Control Board, confirmed that the board had issued a notice to the two units after the air samples did not conform to norms. He said they would conduct re-sampling as they had directed the units to rectify systems. Asked if any action would be taken on the basis of the failed samples, he said he had directed them to rectify systems to control air pollution. |
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Parbati-III set to be commissioned
Shimla, June 14 The mechanical spinning of turbines has been carried out and high voltage testing will be conducted next month after which the project will be ready for commercial operations. The Power Grid Corporation will complete the 6-km transmission line for emptying power from the generating station to the pooling station at Bhanala in August. A spokesperson of the National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC) said two generating units would be operational in August and the other two by December, more than three years behind schedule. The project will not be able to utilise the water of the Parbati river, which was to be diverted through a 30-km tunnel to Sainj under the Parbati-II project. As per the original plan, Parbati-II was to be competed first and Parbati-III later downstream, its power house taking advantage of the discharge of the Parbati diverted to Sainj. Parbati-II ran into problems when the tunnel boring machine for the construction of the tunnel got stuck. It will be completed by 2017 and there will not be enough discharge in the Sainj till then to operate at full capacity. Parbati-III is designed for 177 cumecs to generate 1,963.29 million units a year at 60 per cent plant load factor. It will not generate more than 1,000 million units as 90 cumecs of discharge from the Parbati will not be available till 2017. The project is a run-off-the-river scheme with a 43-metre-high rock-fill dam near Siund, about 800 metres downstream the confluence of the Jiwa nullah. A 7.98-km head-race tunnel on the left bank will divert water to the underground powerhouse, where four 130-MW turbines have been installed, to utilise the 326-metre head for generating power.
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Hamirpur residents irked at supply of muddy drinking water
Hamirpur, June 14 The quality of drinking water supplied by the department is so poor that several complaints have been made in this regard. The IPH Department had been making claims of providing clean drinking water and had engaged a private company to deploy tube settlers in the Beas for cleaning water supply to Hamirpur, saying the tube-settler method would solve 80 per cent problem of the silt in drinking water. Kishan Chand, a local resident, said, “Water coming from taps is so muddy that you don’t even want to bathe with it as thick layers of mud get settled in the buckets. The department is playing with health of thousands of residents.” Chief Medical Officer Dr Katwal said, “Continuous supply of contaminated drinking water could result in several water- borne diseases, besides creating many health problems.” The Hamirpur district Consumer Forum had filed a complaint and the forum had directed the IPH Department to take steps to improve quality of water but the situation has not changed. Knowing that lot of silt gets mixed with the piped water during rains, the department has failed to follow steps for maintaining quality of water. Special sand used as filter media, costing about Rs 2 lakh, could not be procured by the department despite placing the order through a contractor in July 2012 from Jhansi. Residents are angry at the apathy of the department and have demanded strict action against the officials concerned. The alum used as water purifying agent has also been purchased with a delay after a public outcry. Vijay Datwalia, Executive Engineer, IPH, Hamirpur, said, “We have increased alum dosing for past few days to purify drinking water.” |
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Four booked on cheating charge
Solan, June 14 According to the FIR, agriculturist Devinder Kumar of Lana Bhalta in Pacchad tehsil of Sirmaur district complained that he owned 5 bighas of land which Kaushal Dutt of Chaknal village in Nahan, Ram Rattan from Khadla village in Pacchad tehsil, Virender Kumar of Solan and MP Singh grabbed by preparing a GPA in April 2009. He said he had been conveyed that he would be provided due compensation for his land and one member would be provided employment, but the four persons prepared a GPA in the name of Virender Kumar, bearing a fake address of Thare-ka-Thakurdwara at Dharampur on the basis of which his land was sold. He reported that he failed to get any compensation and he was cheated of his land which was fraudulently sold. It was learnt that Deep Ram, Inder Singh, Rina Devi and Surat Rana were among those whose land had been grabbed in a similar manner. The police registered a case and started investigations, said Superintendent of Police Ramesh Chajjta. |
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Blood storage centre stops functioning
Nurpur, June 14 The hospital caters to the needs of population of five Assembly segments. The refrigerator of the centre is out of order for the past two months. Recently, the state government transferred a trained laboratory technician, who was licence holder to operate the BSC, to a primary health centre at Rehan in the neighbouring Fatehpur Assembly constituency. He was relieved hurriedly in absentia. At present, the hospital is without any trained and authorised technician to run the BSC. Apart from the Centre-sponsored Janani Suraksha Yojana, Caesarian deliveries and general surgeries have been stopped at the hospital, forcing the patients to visit private hospitals in Pathankot for treatment. Dr Amodh Singh, the gynaecologist at the hospital, admitted that if any patient arranged blood units on his own, they cannot be preserved due to faulty refrigerator and no trained laboratory technician was available in the hospital for conducting clinical test of blood cross match of the patient. Hospital in charge Dr SK Mahajan said the BSC had stopped functioning for the past two months due to its faulty refrigerator and it is likely to be replaced by the company within a fortnight. |
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Nathpa Jhakri achieves 60,000 million units
Shimla, June 14 The project was commissioned in October 2003 and it has achieved the milestone in less than a decade. During the current year, the power station also achieved highest daily generation of 39.14 million units on May 29 against the installed capacity of 36 million units. The power station has also achieved the highest 108.30 per cent Plant Availability Factor with optimum and efficient management of the machines and water. The state of Himachal gets 12 per cent power free of cost from the project as royalty and 25 per cent power as equity share, while the remaining power is supplied to the northern grid, including Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi and Chandigarh. |
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Cong trying to mislead people: BJP
Shimla, June 14 “The contest is between Pratibha Singh and Jai Ram Thakur and issues pertaining to the Mandi seat should be discussed, but the Congress is trying to divert attention,” they said. The BJP leaders said while Thakur was a popular leader who had always been in close contact with the common man, Pratibha was more like a tourist for the people of Mandi. |
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Hamirpur, June 14
Mandi, June 14