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Kangra shifts to direct bank transfer for LPG today
Corrupt won’t be spared: CM
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh presiding over a Kangra Parliamentary Constituency meeting at the Congress office in Shimla on Saturday. Photo: Amit Kanwar |
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Vigilance to expedite probe into charges against Dhumal regime
Hold test, interviews of MSc (IT) candidates in 8 weeks: HC
Construction of new Hamirpur bus stand hangs fire
YPS, Patiala, wins declamation contest
The winning team of YPS, Patiala, with the declamation contest trophy at Pinegrove School, Subathu, on Saturday.
CM lays stone of housing project in Shimla
HLP flays hike in salary of legislators
2 fined for denying info under RTI Act
Protect trees, conservator tells trainees
Leopard attacks man in Bilaspur
Woman axed to death by brother-in-law
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Kangra shifts to direct bank transfer for LPG today
Dharamsala, August 31 Kamaljeet, a resident of Sakoh, said he had completed the formalities for receiving Aadhaar card about a year ago, but he had still not received it. “Now, since I do not have the Aadhaar card, I will not be entitled for subsidy on LPG cylinder for no fault of mine,” he said. Similarly, Naveen Kumar, another local resident, said his family had completed the entire formalities for receiving the Aadhaar cards about six months ago, but the cards had not been received. People are not clear if they would get LPG cylinders or not, in case they fail to submit the Aadhaar cards with the gas agencies. Kangra Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Rohan Chand Thakur said: “The government has given three months grace period from the date of launch, to consumers who have not enrolled themselves or submitted the information to the gas agencies or banks. Those failing to submit the required information within the period will be deprived of subsidy on LPG cylinders.” There are total 2,80,492 LGP consumers in the state, of whom 63,122 (22 per cent consumers) have submitted the Aadhaar-related documents to the gas agencies. Besides, just 39,000 have submitted their documents to the banks for DBT, which is just 14 per cent of the total consumers. At least 2, 17,370 consumers are yet to submit the documents. In a majority of the rural areas, people do not have bank accounts. The district administration has said it had appointed nodal officers at the sub-divisional level for Aadhaar enrolment and 40 machines had been deployed for the purpose. Besides, 25 mobile Aadhaar card machines have sent to areas where enrollment is below 90 per cent, they said. The ADC also said that the enrollment campaign would be intensified in the areas on priority bases. |
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Corrupt won’t be spared: CM
Shimla, August 31 As part of the preparations for the Lok Sabha elections, Virbhadra addressed presidents of the Block Congress Committees of all 17 Assembly segments which constitute the Kangra Lok Sabha seat here. State Congress chief Sukhwinder Singh
Sukhu, Power Minister Sujan Singh Pathania, Urban Development Minister Sudhir Sharma and former MP Chander Kumar also spoke on the occasion. “I could have had a difference of opinion with Shanta Kumar or some of his policies or other issues, but unlike Dhumal he was never vindictive,” he said, adding that he could forgive Dhumal for the personal vendetta unleashed against him, but not for harming the interest of the state and promoting outsiders. “It appears that Dhumal is gripped with Virbhadra phobia and he even dreams about me. But I want to make it clear that those who are innocent will not be harassed, but those who have committed irregularities will not be spared,” he stated, adding that the inquiry into various allegations was still underway and once it was complete the guilty would spend sleepless nights like some senior BJP leaders at the moment.
Virbhadra emphasised the need for early declaration of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections. “The candidates must be decided early and the selection should be fair and there should be no pick-and-choose policy as winning ability of a candidate should be the single most important factor,” he said. He further said Anurag
Thakur, son of Dhumal, was not invincible. “He is busy with cricket affairs most of the time and is not available for his constituency. So there should be no problem in defeating him,” he said. He added that the last time, too, the Congress lost the seat due to its own shortcomings. All-India Congress Committee
(AICC) Secretary and in-charge for Himachal, Ram Pal Singh also addressed the leaders. He said the organisation could be strengthened only if the grass-root level workers were consulted and taken into confidence. Addressing the gathering, Sukhu said 10 party workers would be made in-charge of every booth so that the achievements and policies and programmes of the government could be publicised and taken to people. |
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Vigilance to expedite probe into charges against Dhumal regime
Shimla, August 31 The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Sudripta Roy here today. The meeting was attended by Principal Secretary (Home) P Mitra and Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Prithvi Raj. There are a total of 31 cases that have been pending with the Vigilance Bureau since 2011. “The investigation into the 16 charges that have been shortlisted from the Congress chargesheet will be expedited so that the inquiry is complete,” said an official. Though some cases have been prioritised for investigation, the Vigilance Bureau is holding inquiry into 46 cases, which find mention in the Congress chargesheet. Besides, some old cases in which FIRs were registered against BJP MLA Rajiv Bindal in 2006 and against IAS officer RS Gupta in 2003 and 2005 while he was Managing Director of Kangra Central Cooperative Bank are also being probed afresh. Prominent among the cases that have been shortlisted by the Vigilance Bureau include the probe into the overnight permission granted for a high-end housing project by Bemloe developers in Kanlog, purchase of land around Annandale by private individuals, the affairs of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA), dubious land deals by outsiders from the state and allegations against some ministers in the Dhumal regime. After the formation of the Congress regime, the Vigilance Bureau had registered FIR in two high-profile cases. This includes the case registered against officials of the police department on June 26 for the unlawful interception and alleged phone-tapping. A case was registered against the HPCA on August 1 at Dharamsala Vigilance office for criminal breach of trust, cheating and misconduct. The Vigilance Bureau also re-opened investigation into the case against BJP MLA and former minister, Rajeev Bindal, regarding appointments made in the Solan Municipal Committee (MC).The Bureau sought permission from the Principal Secretary, Urban Development, to prosecute Bindal as the case pertained to the tenure of the BJP leader as head of the MC Solan. After obtaining the sanction, a challan was filed in a Solan court on July, 17. Cases under scanner
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Hold test, interviews of MSc (IT) candidates in 8 weeks: HC
Shimla, August 31 The court also directed the respondents not to disturb the earlier selection process and issue limited advertisement, inviting applications from petitioners and other candidates possessing the qualification of MSc (IT) within a period of three weeks. A Division Bench, comprising Justices Dev Darshan Sud and Rajiv Sharma, passed the order on a petition filed by Manoj Kumar alleging that the State Subordinate Selection Board had invited applications for filling 767 posts of PGT (Informatics Practices) on contract basis on December 13, 2011. However, the candidature of the petitioner and other persons possessing MSc (IT) was rejected on July 7, 2012, on the ground that they did not have the required qualification. The petitioner moved court, which directed the state to place the issue before State Level Board of Equivalence Committee. Thereafter, the matter regarding equivalence of MSc (IT)/MCA with MSc (Computer Science) was placed before the committee on April 23 this year. After detailed deliberations, the committee opined that MSc (IT)/MCA was equivalent to MSc (computer science) for the purpose of employment in the state. The petitioner and other candidates made several representations to the respondents for permitting them to participate in the selection process after the recommendation of the committee, but they were not allowed by the Board on the ground that the written test had already been held on August 5, 2012, and the interviews were conducted from May 27, 2013, to August 2, 2013. Allowing the petition, the Bench observed that after the committee’s recommendation, the petitioners could not be discriminated against by the respondents by not permitting them to participate in the selection process. It said the petitioners could not apply due to the non-insertion of qualification of MSc (IT). They had the right to be considered for public employment under Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution. Many meritorious candidates would be left out if the petitioners were not permitted to participate in the selection process even though the process had already commenced,” the court said. |
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Construction of new Hamirpur bus stand hangs fire
Hamirpur, August 31 As many as 700 shrubs and large trees have already been felled to clear the land consisting of about 100 kanal, situated at Dahudi and the plot has been flattened. The work to construct the bus stand was awarded to a Mumbai-based company, MEP Toll Road Projects, with an estimated cost of Rs 65.9 crore and was to be built under Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) scheme. The drawing of the bus stand providing multipurpose facilities like shopping complex, parking facility and retiring rooms etc proposed at the new bus stand was approved by the Himachal Pradesh Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) authorities. Sources said, “The MEP Toll Road Company is not keen to pursue the project as they are not sure
to get back good return after investing huge money in it.” Eyebrows were raised at the time of mooting the proposal as a huge
project was proposed requiring a very high investment, viability of which was quite uncertain. “Certain officers in their effort to please Dhumal had formulated an impressive proposal while the transport minister was not in favour of such a huge project as even new bus stand at Shimla had failed to fetch expected returns,” sources added. Ritesh Chauhan, Managing Director, Himachal Pradesh Road Transport Corporation, said, “Several rounds of discussions have been held with the MEP Toll Road Projects Company and we will call the company officials again so that the work on bus stand can begin.” |
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YPS, Patiala, wins declamation contest
Solan, August 31 Mansehaj Kaur Sandhu of St Stephen’s School, Chandigarh, bagged the gold medal in the English section, while Hitika Gupta of Army Public School, Dagshai, won the silver medal. Manya Rai of the host school, walked away with the bronze medal. The proficiency medals in the English section were bagged by Puneet Rathore of YPS, Patiala, Muskan Verma of Auckland House School, Shimla, and Manish of Rashtriya Military School, Chail. In the Hindi section, Aarushi Goyal of YPS stood first, while Hitakshi of St Kabir Public School, Chandigarh, and Devashish Raja of Army Public School, Dagshai, shared the second position jointly. Harmandeep Singh of Rashtriya Military School, Chail, got the third position. Proficiency medals in Hindi were bagged by Radhika Nayyar of Punjab Public School, Nabha, Kalyani Jaswal of Auckland House School, Shimla, and Yuvraj Singh Thakur of St Edward's School, Shimla. The overall trophy of the competition was lifted by Yadavindra Public School, Patiala. The topic, ‘Modern Women’s Trials and Tribulations’, was chosen by maximum speakers. Chief Guest Baljit Singh Gill, an officer of the Indian Accounts and Audit Services, Panchkula, Haryana, gave away the prizes to the winners. |
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CM lays stone of housing project in Shimla
Shimla, August 31 The construction of these houses will be undertaken at a cost of Rs 34 crore. A community centre, park, library, old-age home, dispensary and a de-addiction centre will also be constructed in the locality under the scheme. Virbhadra said all 87 earmarked slum habitations would be covered under the scheme to make Shimla a slum-free city. “This project will be completed in the next two years and 224 needy families will be allotted houses in the first phase whereas 76 houses will be given on a rental basis,” he stated, adding that three sites were identified for the construction of 300 houses in Krishnanagar. He said the government’s emphasis was on providing better facilities and services to local residents and tourists. He said a solid waste management project had been set up at Bhariyal on the Tara Devi-Tutu road which had a capacity of 100 metric tonnes per day. The construction of a sanitary landfill site at Bhariyal was also under consideration for the scientific management of solid waste. He said the Shimla Municipal Corporation would implement Rs 11.20-crore e-governance project, which aimed at providing 22 modules, including e-payment of taxes and other user charges. He said 176 residential houses were being constructed at a cost of Rs 14 crore under Ashiyana-II project in a phased manner. He said four parking slots were being developed in Shimla, which would provide the parking facility to 1,500 vehicles in Sanjauli, Chhota Shimla, Lift and Vikasnagar. |
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HLP flays hike in salary of legislators
Bilaspur, August 31 Talking to mediapersons here today, HLP parliamentary spokesperson Kesh Pathania said those wasting the precious time of the Assembly on petty issues had passed the legislation on salary hike within no time and without any discussion at all. He added people were deprived of knowing views of their leaders, who did not tire describing themselves as “jan sevaks”, on the issue. Pathania said all MLAs forgot that there was a financial crisis in the state and ever-increasing prices of all essentials had made life of the common man miserable. He flayed the argument of increase in the “cost of living” as justification for the salary increase by the MLAs and ministers. He said going by this argument, all other sections that served the state deserved better salaries. |
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2 fined for denying info under RTI Act
Hamirpur, August 31 Acting on a complaint, filed by Onkar Singh Chandel, a resident of Hamirpur, the CIO has directed Krishan Chaudhary, an assistant, working with the Divisional Manager Office of the Forest Corporation, Dharamsala, to pay a penalty of Rs 25,000 for not providing the information to the applicant. Chandel had sought information from the DM office regarding daily wage workers, but the office had declined to supply the information to him within 100 days, saying the relevant record was not available. The CIO held Chaudhary responsible for not providing the information and imposed the fine. |
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Protect trees, conservator tells trainees
Sundernagar, August 31 The institute has been functioning here for the past 20 years and last year it was accorded the status of 6th Rangers College in the country. KD Sharma, conservator, IFS, planted a jamun sapling while inaugurating the plantation drive. He apprised the trainees about the importance of plants and appealed to them to protect the trees to helpf save the environment. |
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Leopard attacks man in Bilaspur
Bilaspur, August 31 Rajesh said a leopard suddenly jumped on him from roadside bushes. As he struggled for his life, fortunately, a youth, Anurag, of nearby Salnoo village arrived there on his bike. Anurag shouted for help. Several villagers rushed to the spot. This scared the leopard and it fled into the jungle, leaving Rajesh severely injured. Villagers have urged the forest authorities to immediately take suitable steps to ensure safety of people in the area. |
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While heaping praises on Rajya Sabha MP and BJP leader Shanta Kumar, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today said those who were found guilty in the inquiries being conducted into the irregularities during the BJP regime would not be spared.
Solan, August 31
