|
|
|
|
|
Landslide fear haunts Dharamsala village
Relief for landslide victims sought
Buses not to ply in landslide zone in rains: Bali
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
SC asks govt to allow fit taxis on Kothi-Rohtang route
Growers worried as rain forces apple prices to fall in Delhi
CM lays stone of IGMC’s OPD block
Rs 3 crore for water preservation, afforestation in Bilaspur
22 injured as bus falls
into gorge
Defaulters’ basic amenities not to be withheld
MLA visits education block
office
Sangay completes two years in office
Guv, CM greet people on Eid
|
|
Landslide fear haunts Dharamsala village
Dharamsala, August 8 When a Tribune team visited the spot, people had shifted all their belonging to the temporary shed provided by the Army. Residents of Terra Lines village were sitting under sheds along with their belongings. The Army authorities were providing food to the displaced families. However, the real concern for all displaced families was resettlement as their houses were not safe for habitation. Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, Transport and Technical Education GS Bali today visited the families. He offered them temporary accommodation in the Chamunda Mata temple inns along with free food and medicines. However, they were reluctant to move as it would be difficult for them to send their children to school from the temple inns which are 20 km away. They instead demanded that land should be allotted to them at an alternative place and financial aid should be given so that they could start constructing their houses. They were in favour of land allotment in Garoh village near Dharamsala. The minister said district officials had been directed to find suitable area for providing land for construction of new houses to them. He also said as per the disaster management manual of the state government, affected people can be provided financial aid of Rs 75,000 for construction of new houses. The minister also said the matter of regulating constructions in active sliding zones around Dharamsala would be taken up with the Chief Minister. The government would have to take hard decisions in this matter, Bali said. |
|
Relief for landslide victims sought
Shimla, August 8 They urged the Chief Minister to provide financial assistance and land to victims in the nearby area for the construction of houses. They said the landslides also caused damage to Army houses and 16 houses in the area, besides loss to other property. The Chief Minister said the district administration had been directed to monitor relief works, besides the restoration of electricity, water supply and road connectivity in the affected area. He said people whose houses had been damaged due to the landslides would be compensated.
— TNS |
|
|
Buses not to ply in landslide zone in rains: Bali
Dharamsala, August 8 The minister said he had received reports from the HRTC staff that at certain places, the buses had a narrow escape due to landslides or slippery zones on roads. In the interest of passengers' safety, the buses had been stopped till the monsoons was over. The leave of Regional Managers and Works Managers of the HRTC had been cancelled. Bali further said the tender process of procuring sugar that was provided to residents at the subsidised rates through public distribution shops had now been completed. The previous three-month sugar supply would be provided to residents through PDS shops within the next few days. |
|
|
Rain damages farmland in Sahoo
Chamba, August 8 An environmentalist and former member of zila parishad Rattan Chand Sharma said here today that the debris had posed a threat to the Paryavarna Chetna Kendra building at Sahoo. The debris scattered on the agriculture land and the hamlets of Sahoo following heavy rain in the region, Sharma said, urging the state government to take deterrent measures to check soil-erosion. Meanwhile, SDM of Chamba Bachan Singh stated that revenue officials had rushed to the site and took stock of the situation. In another incident too, heavy rain triggered heavy landslides from the barren Raangdhar ranges near Trilochen Mahadev, posing a threat to the Chamba-Bharmour highway. |
|
Rohtang tunnel project may miss 2015 deadline
Sissu/Dhundi, August 8 It has completed benching work till 275 m from the north portal and 1,520 m from the south portal, said tunnel engineers. The speed of excavation at the north portal at Sissu has picked up pace since July as the engineers are excavating more than 5 metre every day. But the work will shutdown in December after the closing of the Rohtang Pass On the south portal from Solang side, the project faces a Himalayan task to fight the ingress of water from the Seri Nullah flowing at the rate of 30 ltr per second. But the engineers have yet to reach the actual Seri Nullah fault expected at about 2,660 m inside the tunnel. “It is like fighting against the wall,” said Keshav and George, work manager of Strabag-Afcon joint venture, contractor of the project, who is busy repairing faulty machines with his team. “We manage to resume work in May this year after the Rohtang Pass opened,” said tunnel manager Thomas Riedel. “We excavated 116 m in June and 146 m in July this year,” said Ambikesh Mishra, officer in charge of the north portal. The work on the north portal is smooth so far except that they have to stop the operation in winter because of closing of the Rohtang Pass every year, said Rohtang tunnel project chief engineer SP Sharma. In the south portal, we still fighting the ingress of water from the Seri Nullah fault and if the rocks improve, we expect work speed will improve at the south portal side as well, he said. The engineers bumped into the water ingress at 1,945 m inside the south portal in advance about one-and-half years ago. But the actual Seri Nullah fault as expected by the project authorities is to be encountered at about 2,660 m, sources said. “We have covered 600 m patch of the water ingress and still it is continuing at the same speed and is being drained out,” Sharma said. |
|
SC asks govt to allow fit taxis on Kothi-Rohtang route
New Delhi, August 8 The apex court passed the order on a petition filed by the Him-Aanchal Taxi Operators Union, Manali, challenging the HP High Court’s ban on commercial vehicles of more than four years’ old plying between Kothi and Rohtang. Appearing for the union, senior counsel KV Viswanathan pleaded that instead having the age of the vehicles as the norm, the state government should prescribe the level of pollutants emitted by the taxis as the criterion for allowing them to ply. In several cases, a four-year-old taxi would not have done even 50,000 km and as such it was not fair to ban it, he contended. The Bench said it would hear the case again after two weeks and asked the parties to file additional documents. It also asked the government to explore other options keeping in mind the interests of the taxi operators, commuters’ safety and environment. The SC had issued notice to the state government on July 30 on the union’s petition contending that more than 75 per cent of the taxies numbering about 1,400 would go off the roads under the HC order. The taxi owners had taken bank loans to buy the vehicles which they were still repaying and as such the HC decision would put them in a deep trouble, it was contended. The HC had issued the order on the recommendations of the National Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), pointing out the fragile ecology in the high-altitude Rohtang area. |
|
Growers worried as rain forces apple prices to fall in Delhi
The sharp fall in the rates is being attributed to widespread rain and floods which affected the movement of the fruit to various markets and as a result, there has been less transportation of the fruit from the Delhi market. Further, the festival of Eid also affected the market as a majority of the fruit vendors, who come from the Muslim community, have gone back to their villages to celebrate it with their families. “Rain and Eid apart, the main reason for the low price is that the market has been flooded with poor quality fruit, which is also affecting the rates of the superior grade of apple. The lower elevations, particularly the Karsog region, are having a bumper crop after several years, but it has not helped the growers much as the fruit lacked in both size and colour,” points out Rajeev Chauhan, Chairman, Himalayan Apple Growers Society. He expected the market to show improvement from next week. The growers in the middle elevations have delayed the harvesting in view of the downswing in the market and as a result the number of trucks leaving the state for various markets has come down from 800 to 600. Till yesterday, 61.59 lakh boxes of apples had been sent out as against 14 lakh last year. Besides, over 300 tonnes
of the fruit have been procured under the market intervention scheme. The arrivals in various markets located within the state ranged from 32,000 to 35,000 boxes per day as against 18,000 to 20,000 boxes last year. So far, over 11.5 lakh boxes have been sold through these markets, out of which the Bhatta Kufer market near here accounted for over six lakh boxes. The superior grade of the fruit fetched around Rs 1,200 per box and the low grades were selling at Rs 600 per box, which was 50 to 75 per cent less as compared to last year. The fresh fruit companies such as Adani Agrifresh and Dev Bhoomi have also decided to start its procurement after August 15 when good quality apple from middle elevations will be available. The companies plan to procure higher volumes in view of the bumper crop and have hired cold stores in the neighbouring states for the purpose. not so sweet
|
|
Anurag under fire over 5-star hotel row
Shimla, August 8 Addressing a press conference here today, he said the justification of Anurag that the HPCA had to build a five-star hotel as it was needed for promoting cricket did not hold water. If it was really so, then the government should have invited bids from companies for setting up the project. Former Chief Minister PK Dhumal had opposed the Himalayan Ski Village project initiated by the Congress government for developing winter sports on the ground that tenders were not invited for assigning the project. Armed with documents obtained under RTI, he said Anurag virtually hijacked the HPCA, registered under the Socities Act, by replacing its constitution in which the president was made the sole proprietor and his decision was final. Earlier, there were 24 members of the association, two from each district, but he inducted another 26 life members, all nominated, with voting rights making a mockery of the sports body. He said the Congress government had promised to act against land mafia during the Assembly poll and it had the public mandate against all shady deals. If the HPCA was also found to be involved, it would have to face the music. He questioned Anurag how many sports associations in the country were running five-star hotels and that too on land allotted by the government? He pointed out that the HPCA was the only sports body which had been allotted huge chunks of land at five places by PK Dhumal and no other association had been given even an inch of land. MLA flays MP
Kangra: Sanjay Rattan, Jwalamukhi MLA, has ridiculed Anurag Thakur's statement in which he had termed the inquiry into the alleged misdeeds of the HPCA baseless and uncalled for. Rattan was addressing mediapersons at Jwalamukhi today. He said it was an attempt to divert the attention of people. He said the leaders of the BJP were levelling false allegations against Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and all these allegations had proved to be false. He said no illegal decision was taken during the tenure of Virbhadra Singh as Union Steel Minister. No steel company was given any undue advantage during his period. |
|
Dhumal questions 2nd FIR against HPCA
Hamirpur, August 8 Talking to mediapersons here today, Dhumal said, "An FIR regarding this matter had already been registered against the HPCA and the case is pending in a judicial court at Dharamsala and the court had sought an inquiry report from the VACB regarding the case." He questioned, "How can a second FIR be registered in the same matter which is sub-judice and under which rules has this FIR been registered?" Dhumal accused certain officers in the state government who had been trying to mislead the government by suggesting such actions to settle scores with their colleagues and a second FIR had been registered without the sanction of the state government. He said, "The state government should conduct an impartial inquiry in the matter and action should be taken against the erring officers." |
|
CM lays stone of IGMC’s OPD block
Shimla, August 8 The Chief Minister said the 11-storeyed OPD block would provide better facilities to people of the state. It would also house a trauma ward, casualty, CT scan, minor OT, emergency, X-ray, registration room, along with 49 special wards. There would be facilities of a waiting room and parking zone for patients and their attendants. The building would start from the Cart Road near Auckland Tunnel and would have an escalator facility. He said it was the priority of the government to create best medical infrastructure in the state. “The annual plan for the health sector has been increased to Rs 242 crore from Rs 195 crore with an increase of 24 per cent as compared to the last budget. The medical education budget had also been enhanced from Rs 7 crore to Rs 30
crore,” he said. Besides, funds for the annual plan under the National Rural Health Mission
(NHRM) had been increased to Rs 220 crore from Rs 158 crore. The Chief Minister said to decongest the IGMC and provide better health facilities, another campus would be constructed around Ghanahati near Shimla at a cost of Rs 150
crore. He said Rs 7.2 crore had been provided during the current fiscal for the purchase of machinery and equipment to provide specialty services in the Departments of
Anaesthesia, Paediatrics, Neurology, Cardiology, Biochemistry and Radiology. |
|
|
Rs 3 crore for water preservation, afforestation in Bilaspur
Bilaspur, August 8 He said the project was launched in 2005 for the preservation of water so that not only the watertable rose, but it helped in the widespread afforestation and soil conservation in and outside villages for protecting environment and providing essentials for villagers. Dharmani said under this project, villagers were being provided facilities and subsidy for the construction of water tanks, check dams, crate wire structures, minor irrigation schemes and channels, plantation of saplings of forests and fruit trees, cattle feed structures and any other facility required by farmers for their uplift. He said the project had been launched in 602 gram panchayats of 10 districts of the state and in 56 panchayats of Bilaspur district with the help of departments like forests, agriculture, horticulture, fisheries and animal welfare. Amarpur panchayat had been included under this project only recently and Rs 32 lakh had been provided for it for this year. Dharmani distributed saplings of fruit and other plants to people and said they should protect the planted saplings. He assured that on-going construction works of the Primary Health Centre building and Vijaypur-Ghumarwin road would be completed very soon. |
|
Supply of Muddy Water
Hamirpur, August 8 Officials of the department have been promising to supply clean drinking water for the past some time. Reportedly, they have taken several steps to improve the quality of drinking water in the town. Earlier, the IPH Department had hired a Delhi-based company to install tube-settlers in the Beas from where drinking water is being drawn for Hamirpur. The department blamed the non-supply of special type of sand used for filtering water for the muddy water supply. Despite changing the
sand, the quality of water has not improved. Rajender Thakur, a local resident, said, “We have been receiving muddy water which is unfit for consumption.” Chief Medical Officer PK Katwal said, “Drinking muddy water for a long period can lead to several health problems and water-borne diseases.” Hamirpur Consumer Forum president Shushil Sharma said, “The district consumer court has directed the IPH Department to supply clean drinking water. As the department has failed to implement the court order, we are going to file a contempt case against the IPH Department.” Executive Engineer, IPH Hamirpur division, Vijay Datwalia, said, “The high silt content in the Beas is making filtration difficult. However, we are taking steps such as adding alum to the water to provide clean drinking water.” |
|
22 injured as bus falls
into gorge
Nurpur, August 8 While giving pass to another vehicle, the roadside portion suddenly sank and the bus rolled down into the gorge.
The bus driver and the conductor fled after the mishap and locals started rescue and relief work. As many as 40 passengers had boarded the bus. The injured were rushed to the Nurpur Civil Hospital by 108 ambulances and private vehicles. Their condition is stated to be out of danger. The victims are from nearby villages. The local police has registered a case under Sections 279 and 337, IPC. DSP Rajiv Atre visited the accident spot. SDM Ashwani Sood said interim relief had been disbursed among the victims and they were also given free medical treatment at the hospital. |
|
Defaulters’ basic amenities not to be withheld
Shimla, August 8 While dismissing this plea, the Bench comprising Chief Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice Kuldip Singh observed: “The law does not permit the corporation to withhold basic amenities in case of the non-recovery of amount of arrears of land revenue. In case of default in the payment of house tax, it is unfathomable as to how the court can permit the corporation to resort to that mechanism.” However, the court directed the MC to continue with the procedure for recovery of the outstanding dues not only by way of attachment, but also sale of the property concerned, if so required for recovering the outstanding amount from the defaulters. The court also said, “It will be done expeditiously on case-to-case basis as the outstanding dues are reportedly Rs 4.17 crore, out of which only Rs 65 lakh has been recovered so far.
|
|
|
MLA visits education block
office
Bilaspur, August 8 He also visited nearby Government Boys Senior Secondary School and oversaw the arrangements of the mid-day meal. Accompanied by Principal Madan Chandel, he found that the school hall had been converted into a dining hall where students were served food in stainless steel utensils. The Principal said the furniture and utensils were arranged by the staff from their own sources.
|
|
Sangay completes two years in office
Dharamsala, August 8 Sangay presided over a special prayer ceremony in Dharamsala marking the second anniversary of his taking over as democratic head of Tibetans after the Dalai Lama's devolution of political authority to the democratically-elected Tibetan leadership. He said, "We have organised a special prayer service to express solidarity with all those Tibetans who have self-immolated for the cause of Tibet. The service was presided over by the 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje."
|
|
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | E-mail | |
Shimla, August 8