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McLeodganj hill under landslide threat
CM opens sub-tehsil Deha, upgrades Kupvi to tehsil
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HPTDC should ensure hygiene at hotels: CM
Five-day Inspire camp ends at agri varsity
Project to expand Dharamsala Circuit House in a limbo
Kinnaur admn composing caller tune to promote Swachh Bharat Abhiyan
Public information drive kickstarted
Children’s park in pitiable condition
300 buses to be inducted in HRTC fleet every year, says GS Bali
Kangra paintings artist dies at 76
Two die of snake bite in Nurpur
Guest house owner booked for sexual harassment
Promote TGTs as headmaster: Association
Swachh Bharat drive from October 2
Medicines worth Rs 11 lakh sent to J&K
‘Increase halt timing of train in Una’
Health services ailing, says Dhumal
‘Staff play vital role in development’
2 die in road accident near Chail
Girl dies of burns
Residents for more storeys of hospital
CII starts financing portal
Canadian cyclist leads in solo event
Clean India drive from October 2
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McLeodganj hill under landslide threat
Dharamsala, September 29 Environmental and geological experts are of the view that if remedial measures are not taken, the entire hill on which McLeodganj was located may meet same fate. “The whole land in McLeodganj is under threat of landslide,” said Dean, department of environmental studies in Central University, Himachal Pradesh, and a former geological expert from the Wadia institute of seismology, Professor AK Mahajan. He further said the land texture in the McLeodganj hill comprised sand stone at the base, clay stone in middle and loose soil at the top. The region receives very heavy rainfall. However, due to steep gradient, water does not percolate into the soil and drains down quickly. Since there was no sewerage system in McLeodganj, the people construct septic tanks. Septic tanks are most dangerous thing for soil strata. The water slowly percolates from septic tanks into the loose upper strata of soil in the hill. The upper soil has no water retaining capacity and becomes prone to landslide after water percolates slowly into it, he said. Professor AK Mahajan, who has done an extensive study on the geology of Dharamsala, said besides the septic tanks, the leaking pipes of the IPH Department were also contributing to creating landslide-type situation in which the whole upper layer of hill could move down. Mahajan had conducted a study and earmarked the areas in Dharamsala that were active sliding zones. Two such areas, Terra Lines and Chola village, have already witnessed massive landslides in the past one year. However, still unplanned and massive constructions are going on in the areas that fall in active landslide zones in Dharamsala. The state government and the district administration has not taken steps to regulate and check construction in active sliding zones. The Dharamsala region is also prone to receiving earthquakes. It falls in zone-5 in terms of receiving earthquakes. In case of earthquakes also, the active sliding zones are prone to the maximum damage. Experts are of the view that the state government should lay sewerage in McLeodganj and stop illegal constructions in active sliding zone to save the hill. |
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CM opens sub-tehsil Deha, upgrades Kupvi to tehsil
Shimla/Chopal, September 29 Chopal legislator Balbir Verma and Subhash Manglet, chairman, APMC, were present at Kupvi along with various pradhans and up-pradhans of 14 panchayats, besides officers. In a message to the people of the far-flung Kupvi tehsil, the Chief Minister said the government was committed to providing better services to people of the far-flung areas. During the last two years of the government, effective steps have been initiated for providing basic facilities to the people of the state. He said Kupvi tehsil would include 14 panchayats, one kanungo circle and seven patwar circles and similarly sub-tehsil Deha would include 10 panchayats, one kanungo circle and nine patwar circles. Balbir Verma thanked the Chief Minister for dedicating Kupvi tehsil and Deha sub-tehsil to the people. IPH Minister Vidya Stokes, Agriculture Minister Sujan Singh Pathania, Chief Secretary P. Mitra, Additional Chief Secretary VC Pharka, Principal Secretary, Revenue, Tarun Sridhar, Principal Secretary, IT, Ali Raza Rizavi, Deputy Commissioner, Shimla, Dinesh Malhotra and Director, IT, Priyanka Basu other senior officers of the IT Department were present on the occasion. |
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HPTDC should ensure hygiene at hotels: CM
Shimla, September 29 The Chief Minister congratulated the HPTDC for registering an increase of 16.12 per cent in its turnover, earning a net profit of Rs 715.78 lakh. Presiding over the board of directors meeting here today, he said the corporation should run on professional lines like any other commercial organization and the promotion of the employees henceforth should be linked with profitability and performance of the corporation. The Board of Directors raised concern of overstaffing in a few units of the corporation and mulled rationalisation of the staff by transferring the surplus staff of the HPTDC transport wing to the HRTC. The corporation should be slim and trim for better efficiency and output and a decision was taken to reduce the staff from the overcrowded units of the corporation and transfer these and no interference in this regard be tolerated. They also suggested to audit hotels of the corporation including house-keeping section. “The Chief Minister said the staff should ensure that all the linen and beddings be changed during every check-out and proper inspection be conducted and the staff should be kept as per the need of the units. It was decided to construct additional 10 rooms in Kiarighat in Solan district besides parking and other facilities. The Chief Minister also directed to take steps to ascertain that the availability of sufficient water at Kiarighat before taking up the project. The board decided to re-think over the property of the corporation at Manikaran and suggested to take up the matter in consultation with the Deputy Commissioner as the building was likely to sustain the flow of the river below. |
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Repair roads: CM to PWD, NHAI
Shimla, September 29 Presiding over a meeting regarding the pending issues of the four-lane project of Kiratpur-Manali and Parwanoo-Shimla national highways, the Chief Minister made it clear that till the new four-lane project of the Kiratpur-Manali highway was not completed, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) would maintain NH-21. It was obligatory on the part of the NHAI to maintain the old highway. The NHAI also demanded the short-term permits for setting up crushers as lots of material would be required for the construction of the road. Regarding the compensation of the land to be acquired, it was decided that the DCs of districts would be the arbitrators for solving the issues. He said the road width of the entire project should be same and the DCs should co-operate with the NHAI for giving certificates under the Forest Clearance Act. Both NHAI projects, which were to be completed under the Engineering, Procurement and Contract (EPC) basis, were to be expedited and all hindrances regarding the awards be solved soon, said the Chief Ministry. It was informed at the meeting that a bridge in Manali would be made double lane and the Ministry of Surface and Road Transport would soon be releasing the amount to the PWD for undertaking the work on the bridge soon. |
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Monkeys forcing villagers to abandon farming
Nurpur, September 29 According to a rough estimate, monkeys and wild pigs have damaged around 30 to 40 per cent crops so far. To save their crops, farmers are spending sleepless nights and are forced to work like watchmen at night to protect their crops. Those having joint families somehow manage to guard their fields, but it has become difficult for those having nuclear families. Reports of heavy loss to maize and paddy crops are being reported from Kopra, Rit, Dagla, Ondh, Kandwal, Khanni, Sadwan, Nagabari, Lagor, Kherian, Suliali, Hadal, Khel, Kotpalari and Bhadwar gram panchayats. The local Bharatiya Kisan Union has expressed concern over the unprecedented crop loss due to invasion of wild pigs and monkeys in the fields at nights. Suresh Pathania, vice president of the union, said farmers had no technique to save their crops except spending sleepless nights for guarding their fields against wild animals. He said efforts of the state government to check burgeoning population of simians had no impact in lower Kangra district. He asked state government to formulate an effective strategy to cope with this menace. “Owing to monkeys and other wild animal menace, a large number of farmers have left farming and abandoned their land,” he added. |
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Five-day Inspire camp ends at agri varsity
Palampur, September 29 He said the efforts of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, to popularise science among students so that they were motivated to adopt it as a career, were bearing fruit as almost 50 per cent of the participants at such camps took admission in the science stream after their school education. He also praised Dr SS Kanwar, Professor and Head, Department of Microbiology, for organising 11 such camps at the university, benefiting over 1,500 students of various districts of the state. Dr Kanwar, state coordinator of Inspire, said only the students who scored more than 84 per cent marks in matriculation examination were invited to the camp. Top scientists of the region from IIT Mandi, Panjab University, Chandigarh, IHBT and HPAU, Palampur, etc
were invited to deliver lectures on various themes and interact with the participants. The students were also exposed to the latest technology with visits to various laboratories. Dr Kamlesh Singh, Dean, College of Basic Sciences, also addressed the students. Dr Hirday Paul Singh, Joint Director (Information and Public Relations) and teachers also attended the veledictory ceremony. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan begins at CSK HPAU
The Vice-Chancellor flagged off a rally to initiate the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan at the university. He expressed hope that not only the NCC and NSS volunteers, but all members of the university community would actively spread the message of cleanliness. Dr SS Kanwar, Students’ Welfare Officer, said all NSS and NCC volunteers would take part to make hostels, colleges and other units neat and clean. He appealed to the staff to keep their offices and surroundings clean. A rally, comprising NSS and NCC volunteers from all the constituent colleges, raised slogans advocating the importance of cleanliness and traversed all corners of the university. |
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Students burn effigy of VC, continue protest
Shimla, September 29 The call for burning the effigy of the VC was given by the Joint Action Committee of the SFI and the ABVP. JAC leaders lashed out at the authorities for starving the university of funds and alleged that the government had enough money for buying luxury vehicles for ministers and officers but no money for vital sectors such as education and health. Blaming the government for the financial crunch faced by the university, SFI state secretary Manish Sharma said HPU was a state-run university and meeting its financial and other requirements was the responsibility of the government. He also accused the Chief Minister of using the state helicopter for going to Delhi for the hearing of cases in the Delhi court. He said wasteful expenditure of crores of rupees was being incurred by the government, but the university was being starved of funds and hefty fees were being demanded from poor students coming from tribal and backward areas. Student leaders also asked the Chief Minister to refrain from giving illogical statements on fee hike and rejected the three-member committee constituted to review the fee issue as a “farce”. Accusing the university and the government of taking anti-student and anti-poor decisions, ABVP secretary Ashish Sikta said the state government which curtailed the budget of the university was fully responsible for present mess and turmoil. |
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Each panchayat to have its own bhavan: Minister
Kullu, September 29 He laid the foundation stone of the Uttam Chand Thakur memorial community hall and announced to provide Rs 5.41 lakh for its construction. During his address, he said all the 3,243 panchayats of the state will be provided with Rs 15 lakh each for a panchayat bhavan and construction of over 112 panchayat bhavans was already underway. He added that appointment of data entry operators for panchayats was also under consideration. Anil said the villagers will have to themselves determine as to which works were to be accomplished on priority under the Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). A cleanliness drive would be carried out throughout the country under Nirmal Bharat Abhiyaan on Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti on October 2. He said Rs 10,600 would be provided for the construction of toilets under the NBA, which included the amount provided under MGNREGA as well. |
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Project to expand Dharamsala Circuit House in a limbo
Dharamsala, September 29 Inquiries by The Tribune revealed that during the stint of the BJP government, a project was cleared to add 22 rooms to the Circuit House. The justification for the project was that the present accommodation was not sufficient, especially during winters, when the Chief Minister visits the town for winter sojourn or when the winter session of the Himachal Assembly is held. At present, the Circuit House has about 12 rooms, besides VIP rooms that are reserved just for the Chief Minister or visiting dignitaries. During the winter session of the Assembly, the Circuit House is occupied by the Chief Minister and his staff. The ministers and other officers who visit Dharamsala have to be accommodated in hotels around the city. The state government has spent lakhs on private hotels to house MLAs and officials. Often, the winter session at Dharamsala is criticised due to the expenditure incurred on it. In summers also, there is an acute shortage of accommodation in the circuit house due to the influx of VIPs in the area. Sources said the expansion project of the Circuit House had been halted due to the presence of an LPG godown in the area, where the expansion was planned. The godown is located so close to the building that it did not fall within the norms laid for storing explosive substances. The storage of LPG cylinders near the circuit house can pose threat to the life of VIPs who stay there. Officials of the district administration said
they were trying to resolve the problem. In case 22 rooms are added to the circuit house, it will largely solve the problem of non-availability of official accommodation. Besides the Circuit House, another rest house, which was sanctioned for Dharamsala during the previous BJP regime, is yet to take off. Another project that is hanging fire is the construction of 300 free houses for poor. The Union Government has sanctioned Rs 10 crore for constructing one-room
apartments that were to be given free of cost to the poor under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission. However, the project failed to take off due to non-availability of land. |
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Kinnaur admn composing caller tune to promote Swachh Bharat Abhiyan
Shimla, September 29 Deputy Commissioner DD Sharma said the caller tune on clean environment will have slogans and traditional folk music in the backdrop and religious leaders from local temples had been roped in to spread the message. Buoyed by the success of the Hindi caller tune appealing to voters to cast their vote in the last Lok Sabha polls to ensure 100 per cent voting, the district administration feels that the message given by the caller tunes spreads very fast as a large number of officials, motivators and general public had copied the tune earlier. DD Sharma said “We have decided to make a caller tune with clean environment slogans and traditional Kinnauri folk at the backdrop to create awareness, in addition to other traditional modes such as displaying posters and hoardings, taking our rallies, showing documentaries, organising meetings, functions and nukkar sabhas”. Students have been asked to act as messengers and identify and report open defecation, garbage heaps and stagnant water. The drive, that started on September 25 and will conclude on October 23, would focus on reducing diseases by keeping the environment clean. People would be exhorted to keep streets clean, maintain toilets, avoid stagnation of water, provide safe storage of drinking water, eliminate open defecation and instill a feeling of clean living among people. The DC said out of 65 panchayats in the district, all except Zabang panchayat, were already declared nirmal gram panchayats and the target was to ensure that people in rural areas use toilets and eliminate open defecation. |
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BSNL to install 19 mobile towers
Hamirpur, September 29 The BSNL was installing 19 new mobile towers in the district and 10 of these towers had already been made operational. There was about 50 per cent decline in landline users in the SSA and only 55,689 landline phones were left, against more than 1 lakh users earlier, he said. Claiming that there was 10 per cent increase in mobile users whereas landline users were decreasing by 10-12 per cent per annum, Ajeet Kumar added that the Hamirpur SSA had over 2,50,000 BSNL users. BSNL was aiming at providing 100 per cent broadband connectivity to all 136 telephone exchanges in the SSA. At present, 106 exchanges had the facility and 7,500 customers were using it. Also, 3,360 out of the total 3,568 villages were given the Village Public Telephone (VPT) facility in the SSA, he added. He said BSNL had served notices to the defaulters for recovery of Rs 2.80 crore. There were 25 defaulters who had to pay more than Rs 25,000 to BSNL. Legal notices had been sent to them and if they would not deposit the payment, BSNL would move to court for recovery of pending bills of landline phones, mobiles and broadband, he added. |
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HRTC, MC in race to start taxi service on sealed routes
Shimla, September 29 The HRTC faces a dilemma whether or not to re-allot routes in the sealed and restricted routes to private players because the taxi service has received brickbats from residents, mainly senior citizens, in the city. It has also faced a ticklish situation as the high court has directed the HRTC to allow service only to senior citizens, disabled, women and children. The police have bailed themselves out from regulation of the HRTC taxi service, by putting the onus on the corporation. The HRTC fears the wrath of the high court as violations are rampant. The motive of its private operators, who have been awarded the tender, is to make money and board many passengers and make as many rounds as possible, revealed insiders. “Senior citizens get no seat in the taxis and young ones capture the seats,” resented Sarita Sood, a senior citizen who was left behind by an HRTC taxi on the Kusumpti-Chhota Shimla route today at 3.30 pm. “HRTC taxis violates the high court order daily and shows no concern for senior citizens,” she charged. Though the corporation seeks to start its services on 16 outer routes in the city, the fate of the taxi service on 16 sealed and restricted routes remains uncertain. The permits for 10 routes expired today and corporation had not renewed the tender so far, revealed HRTC sources. The second problem is that the HRTC office is bombarded with complaints from residents protesting that the taxis are old and drivers overload and overspeed to earn as much as they can. The fate of the service has even more uncertain as Transport Minister GS Bali and Urban Development Minister Sudhir Sharma are pulling it in different directions due to their political tussle. Bali wants to resume taxi service, but Sharma has rooted for starting golf carts and pink taxi service with the support from the MC, saying goodbye to the HRTC taxi service. Shimla Mayor Sanjay Chauhan said the MC would start pink taxis and golf carts on the key routes in the city. The HRTC taxi service has failed to provide quality transport service to residents. On the other hand, Managing Director, HRTC, and Director, Transport, RN Batta said they would file a reply in the high court and had mulled to run their own taxis. |
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Public information drive kickstarted
Solan, September 29 Addressing the gathering, Kashyap said to stop immoral practice of exploitation of poor by money lenders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced launching of Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojna on the occasion of Independence Day. He said though an account under the scheme could be opened with zero balance, after getting tremendous response from the public, Rs 1,500 crore had been deposited with record opening of Rs 4 crore new accounts in the country. He said all BJP MPs and MLAs would participate in the nation-wide Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan on October 2 and sweep the railway station at Solan. “Modi himself would participate in the programme at New Delhi Railway station,” he said. SG Negi, Deputy Director-cum-Project Officer of District Rural Development Agency, urged people to avail benefits of Aadhar Card. Under the Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana, 100 villages had been adopted after spending Rs 22 crore. Under Indira Awas Yojana, Rs 75,000 was being issued to BPL families for construction of a house, Negi added. Ramesh Madan, UCO Bank Manager, talked about the progress of Pradan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana and linkage of Aadhar Card with various state-run schemes. Resource persons from Jan Shikasha Sansthan, Chandigarh, threw light on skill development. Urvashi Garg, Deputy Divisional Manager of NABARD (National Agriculture Bank and Rural Development), also informed about various schemes run by the department. Thirty stalls depicting progress and information of various schemes have been set up for the public. The first day of the programme was dedicated to Rural Development, MGNREGA, Indira AwasYojana, Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sarak Yojana, Food Security, Aadhar and DBT. |
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Children’s park in pitiable condition
Chamba, September 29 Relating the background of the children park to the media here today, PC Oberoi, president of the forum, said the then Deputy Commissioner of Chamba GN Raina had inaugurated the park on November 14, 1949. “The children’s park is not only being used by the children but also the patients admitted to the regional hospital adjacent to the park and their attendants”, Oberoi stated. He said rubbish and weeds could be seen all over the park. Some tall trees were posing danger to the buildings of the hospital and the museum. The branches of some trees are touching electricity lines and occurrence of any mishap at any time cannot be ruled out, Oberoi pointed out. In order to save the splendour of the children park, he suggested that fresh grass be planted by trimming the trees and destroying unwanted grass. |
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300 buses to be inducted in HRTC fleet every year, says GS Bali
Addressing mediapersons at the Circuit House here, he said 300 new buses would be inducted in the existing field every year from the current financial year. Bali said due to the induction of new buses during the last two years, there had been an increase in the number of passengers travelling by HRTC buses. Consequently, an additional revenue of Rs 115 crore was generated this year, cutting down the losses being incurred. A new bus route between Haroli in Una district and Chandigarh would be launched during the next one week, he added. Referring to the increasing road accidents, Bali said directions had been issued to the district officers to implement road safety rules strictly. Devotees coming from the neighbouring states in trucks, tempos and tractor trolleys would be stopped at the inter-state barriers. They would have to travel in HRTC buses thereon, he said. Bali said a proposal to fit the HRTC buses with the Vehicle Tracking System was also being mooted. There were media reports that the driver of the bus that fell into the Gobind Sagar reservoir in Bilaspur district had a fake driving licence issued from Una district. He said directions had been issued to the officers here to investigate the prevalence of the licence mafia. Earlier, Una MLA and state BJP president Satpal Singh Satti met Bali and discussed the scope of various developmental activities in Una Sadar segment. Satti proposed the construction of a new bus stand and suggested land for setting up a composite technical training institute here. Austerity beckons
Transport Minster GS Bali (pic) said he would return his official vehicle after returning to Dharamsala this evening. The decision was taken since he was nominated as a member of the State Resource Mobilisation Committee, headed by Irrigation and Public Health Minister Vidya Stokes. |
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Kangra paintings artist dies at 76
Dharamsala, September 29 Tak was among a few artists who practised the art in its true form. He used colours created from local stones and vegetations. Some other materials, such as poison derived from natural sources available in Kangra district, were also used in his paintings. Even the paper he used was made from pine needles available locally. Tak had experimented with the Kangra painting style. Traditionally, the paintings depicted
Lord Krishna in his various forms. However, he depicted various Sikh gurus and Muslim history through these. Till his last day, Tak stayed in a rented accommodation on the first floor of a traditional wooden house in the Depot bazaar area of Dharamsala. In a conversation with this reporter, he had once regretted the fact that despite spending about 60 years of his life at Dharamsala, he was treated as an outsider by the locals. A simpleton, he used to stay confined to his accommodation that served as his workshop. He created about 5,000 Kangra paintings. He sold his paintings commercially mainly to fund his passion for the art. The district administration used to buy his paintings to gift them to visiting dignitaries. Tak did not have any students to pass on his art. Due to his contribution to art, Tak was conferred the Tulsi Award in 1999. Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, Transport and Technical Education GS Bali and Minister Housing and Urban Development, Sudhir Sharma, Kangra district administration and senior citizens have also expressed grief at the passing away of OP Tak. |
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Two die of snake bite in Nurpur
Nurpur September 29 In another case Guddo Devi, wife of Jainta Ram of nearby Baghni village, died at Tanda Medical College (TMC), Kangra, on Saturday after she was bitten by a snake six days ago. She was bitten by a poisonous snake when she was returning from fields after harvesting maize crop. She was rushed to the Civil Hospital, Nurpur, but when her condition deteriorated, she was referred to the TMC, Kangra, where she died on Saturday. Both the victims were from poor families. The gram panchayats of villages from where the victims hailed, have demanded financial assistance for the families of the deceased. |
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Guest house owner booked for sexual harassment
Sundernagar, September 29 As per the report lodged with the police, the PG owner entered a room and tried to outrage the modesty of a girl. Other girls raised the alarm and saved her. The police registered a case under Sections 451 and 354-A, IPC. The SHO, BSL Colony police station, said the police would produce the girl in a court to record her statement before the Judicial Magistrate. As per the girls staying at the PG house, the police had not arrested the accused so far and trying to hush up the matter. However, the police denied the allegations. |
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Promote TGTs as headmaster: Association
Hamirpur, September 29 This was stated by Manoj Parihar, president, Himachal Pradesh Science Teachers’ Association. He said as high schools were being upgraded to SSS, there would be no post of headmaster as per the present rules. There were over 20,000 TGTs working in the state and their chances of getting promotion had been minimised with the upgrade of high schools to the senior secondary level. The creation of the posts of headmaster in senior secondary schools would also ease the burden on principals. He urged the government to increase the quota of promotion of TGTs by revoking the old pattern of 50:50 ratio that was reduced to 40:60 in favour of other cadres. |
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Swachh Bharat drive from October 2
Shimla, September 29 Union Minister for Minority Affairs Najma Heptulla, who arrived here today on a four-day visit, will launch the campaign and a scheme for providing increased pensions to pensioners tomorrow. The BJP has assigned the task of launching the drive to its leaders and all prominent leaders, MLAs, office-bearers from national to mandal-level leaders will join it. Preparations for the launch of the drive have already begun and a strategy has been chalked out to rope in students, PRIs, local bodies and voluntary organisations to achieve the goal of total sanitation by 2019. Meanwhile, state BJP spokesperson Ganesh Dutt today hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s yesterday speech addressed to NRIs living in the US. |
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ABVP activists end relay fast
Mandi, September 29 An ABVP activist said now they would change the strategy of their protest. He said on October 14 they would resort to a chakka jam and for October 17, they had given a call for jail bharo. He said they would burn an effigy of the Chief Minister on Wednesday. |
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Medicines worth Rs 11 lakh sent to J&K
Solan, September 29 The MLA said since the Baddi area housed about 400 pharmaceutical units, more help should be extended to the ailing people of Jammu and Kashmir. State president of the pharma wing of LUB Rajesh Gupta, general secretary Satish Singla and other members of the LUB were also present on the occasion. |
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‘Increase halt timing of train in Una’
Una, September 29 DD Dogra, president of All-India Himachal Social Bodies Federation, Kanwar Hari Singh, Himotkarsh president, Somesh Sharma, working-president of the Himachal State Beopar Parishad and Navdeep Kashyap, chairman of the Una Janhit Morcha, in a joint statement complained that many passengers, including children and senior citizens, get injured during the jostle almost everyday. Since Una had remained a terminal station for the train before the track was extended till Amb-Andaura about a year ago, there was inadequate time for passengers to alight and disembark. |
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PWD leaves Circuit House sans infrastructure
Hamirpur, September 29 The slow pace of work by the fund-starved PWD
has delayed the completion of the building by a year. Though the civil work had been completed by the contractor, neither the furnishing work
has been done, nor the lift to this five-storeyed building installed. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had inspected the building during his recent visit and had directed the PWD officials to expedite the work. He suggested that the new block must be connected to the VIP room of the old block of the circuit house. It was after the CM’s intervention that the department initiated the procedure for the installation of the lift and furnishing of the building, but the results are yet to be seen. The foundation of the new block of the Circuit House was laid on November 19, 2011, by then Chief Minister PK Dhumal and the building was to be completed in two years at a cost of Rs 238.42 lakh. The new block has five floors with parking facility in the basement and 15 rooms on three floors. The top floor has a conference hall, a room, a lobby and a pantry. NP Singh, Executive Engineer, PWD, said the civil work was completed, but estimates for furnishings were being prepared. Vinod Sharma, SDO, PWD, said an estimate of Rs 40 lakh had been sent to the office of the engineer-in-chief, PWD, for approval. The lift would be installed after the approval. |
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Kaul Singh opens lift irrigation project
Mandi, September 29 Addressing a gathering on the occasion, the minister said the state government was committed to provide roads, education, health services and drinking water at the doorstep of the people. He said Rs 14.50 lakh would be spent on the Jhanad-Tharki drinking water scheme and Rs 5 lakh each on drinking water schemes at Nashdhara and Laagdhar villages. More such schemes for other villages were also under active consideration of the government, he added. About roads and bridges in the Drang area, he said a detailed project report had been prepared for construction of the Badagaon-Bah-Padvahan road and a bridge on Diogi khud in the area. |
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Health services ailing, says Dhumal
Hamirpur, September 29 In a press note issued here today, he said in the absence of proper health services at the district and zonal hospitals, poor patients were being referred to the IGMC, Shimla, DRPGMC, Tanda, and PGI, Chandigarh. He said the state government was helpless towards the inconvenience to the public in government hospitals. He said patients were being referred by giving lame excuses by the hospital administrations, such as unavailability of instruments and staff. Whereas the BJP had well-equipped hospitals with sophisticated machines and infrastructure during its tenure and had been awarded for best services by the Centre. These machines were lying unused as the Congress government had failed to appoint the technical staff in the Health Department to make the best use of infrastructure available with the department, he added. |
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‘Staff play vital role in development’
Mandi, September 29 The minister said the state government had always worked for the welfare of its employees and pensioners and had from time to time accepted their genuine demands and given them all financial benefits. He exhorted employees to play an important role in the development of the state with their hard work and dedication. On a charter of demands presented to him, he assured the employees that he would take up their demands with Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh. Talking about health services in the state, he said the government was committed to provide better facilities to people at their doorsteps. He said a 100-bed mother-child hospital was being constructed on the campus of the Zonal Hospital. |
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2 die in road accident near Chail
Solan, September 29 Kandaghat SHO Tapinder Kumar said the cause of the accident was yet to be ascertained and investigation was underway. A case of rash and negligent driving had been registered against driver Kuldeep who was injured in the accident. The deceased were identified as Devinder Kumar (30) and Anil Kumar(17) who hailed from
Kandaghat. |
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Girl dies of burns
Kangra, September 29 SHO Inderjeet said the victim was working in the kitchen when her clothes caught fire from a stove. Her mother Sunita tried to douse the flames and received burn injuries on her both hands and arms. The SHO said Mansi was rushed to the Tanda medical college where she
succumbed to her burn injuries. The body was sent for a postmortem which would be conducted tomorrow. The police have started investigation under Section 174 of the IPC. |
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Residents for more storeys of hospital
Chamba, September 29 Patients are experiencing difficulties while staying along with their attendants in the hospital. Spacious accommodation is required to resolve the problem, they say. They said the construction of the remaining storeys of the hospital would provide a lot of space in accommodating clinical offices and lodging facility for patients along with their attendants. They also met local MLA Hans
Raj. |
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CII starts financing portal
Solan, September 29 The centre will provide advisory and credit facilitation support to the SMEs and will operate as a one-stop shop, aggregating financing options from various major institutions. Rajender Singh, Directo of the Industries, started the centre at Baddi on Friday evening. Terming it an innovative step in facilitating SMEs, Arun Rawat, Chairman, Confederation of Indian Industries, Himachal, said since finance and credit for small enterprises was a big problem and the facilitation centre would assist small-sector entrepreneurs.
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Canadian cyclist leads in solo event
Shimla, September 29 The Jalori Climb is marked as one of the toughest sections of the race. The riders climb from Shwad all the way to Jalori and from Jalori section 2 till Jibhi. The total distance of the day was 73 km of which 68 was competitive. Riders were also given an optional 30-minute break at the top of the Jalori Pass. The category leads of the day till the filing of the report were Cory Wallace in the Open Men’s Solo, Sonia Lopes in Open Women Solo, Jack Funk in Open Master’s Solo and Aayman tamang and Roan tamang in Team of Two. — TNS
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Clean India drive from October 2
Shimla, September 29 A state government spokesperson today stated that staff members of all offices, boards, and corporations would take “sanitation pledge” on October 2 and launch the cleanliness campaign in the state.
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Una win football c’ship
Mandi, September 29 The stadium was packed to capacity and supporters of both teams were in an excited mood. Earlier in a semi-final match, Mandi had defeated Chamba by 4-0. A total of 13 teams from across the state had taken part in the four-day event.
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Una, September 29