Gupta report: govt to set up panel
SHIMLA, Dec 7 — The Himachal Government today decided to constitute a sub-committee to take action on the report of Harsh Gupta inquiry committee which probed the irregularities in recruitment to government jobs during the previous Congress regime from December 1993 to February 1998.

Cong to grill govt on graft, fiscal crisis
SHIMLA, Dec 7 — With the Opposition Congress raring to grill the government on the issue of corruption, saffronisation of administration and the financial crisis, the 12-day winter session of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly, beginning from December 9, is likely to be a stormy affair.

BJP rift ‘hits’ development works in Sirmaur
SHIMLA, Dec 7 — Mr Gangu Ram Musafir, general secretary of the Himachal Congress, has alleged that the development works in Sirmaur district had come to a standstill because of the internal dissensions in the ruling BJP.

Take up parent case Bill: Virbhadra
SHIMLA, Dec 7 — Mr Virbhadra Singh, Leader of the Congress legislature Party has accused the Dhumal Government of "deliberately" relegating to the background important legislations passed during the Congress Governments.

Services of 2 JEs terminated
JAWALAMUKHI, Dec 7 — In a bid to streamline the temple affairs, the Temple Trust of Jawalamukhi has adopted a policy of retrenchment of the surplus staff. As a sequel to it, services of the two Junior Engineers serving in the construction wing have been terminated with retrospective effect from November 30.

Govt flayed for pledging Nathpa-Jhakri income
DHARAMSALA, Dec 7 — The Pradesh Congress Committee chief, Mr Sat Mahajan, has alleged that the Dhumal Government has miserably failed to manage the finances of the state as it is pledging the income of the Nathpa-Jhakri project in advance to the NHPC, even before it has been commissioned.

Improve educational facilities: NSUI
DHARAMSALA, Dec 7 — The National Students Union of India has sought improvement in educational facilities and a probe into the irregularities committed at various institutions in Kangra district.

CBI probe sought into purchase scam
MANDI, Dec 7 — A newly constituted Himachal Forum Against Corruption has demanded a CBI enquiry into the alleged purchase scandal in the PWD in the central zone.

HAS officers' plea to government
SHIMLA, Dec 7 — The Himachal Administrative and Allied Services Confederation has urged the government to reconsider its decision to downsize the cadre strength of the state administrative services.

Woman convicted for possessing charas
CHAMBA, Dec 7 — Mr J.L. Gupta, Sessions Judge, Chamba, yesterday convicted Bimla Devi, a resident of Ajijpur in Pathankot tehsil, for an offence under Section 20 of the NDPS Act and sentenced her to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of ten years and a fine Rs 1 lakh.

Permit fee raised
SHIMLA, Dec 7 — In a resource raising exercise, the Himachal Pradesh Government has fixed a fee of Rs 150 for issuing permit for plying vehicles on each sealed road.

Plea to complete development works
NURPUR, Dec 7 — The Kangra District Congress Committee has demanded that the government should complete all development works in a time-bound period which were launched in the Rehan area of Nurpur subdivision at the instance of the Vice-Chairman, Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation, Mr Rakesh Pathania, on the eve of the byelection of Rohan ward of Zila Parishad held on November 30.

Gupta report: govt to set up panel
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Dec 7 — The Himachal Government today decided to constitute a sub-committee to take action on the report of Harsh Gupta inquiry committee which probed the irregularities in recruitment to government jobs during the previous Congress regime from December 1993 to February 1998.

The decision was taken at the Cabinet meeting which met here today under the chairmanship of Mr P.K. Dhumal, the Chief Minister. The one-man committee, which inquired into recruitment made on regular, daily-waged, contractual and work-charged basis, had pointed out several irregularities in appointments and recommended removal of errant officials.

The committee, to be headed by the Chief Secretary, will go into further details of the recommendations of the Harsh Gupta committee report.

The Cabinet also approved the draft of the Bill envisaging levying rent on the residential accommodation occupied by the Chief Minister, ministers, chief parliamentary secretary, and parliamentary secretaries. It will be introduced in the House during the winter session beginning December 9.

It also decided to do away with the system of submission of documents pertaining to educational qualifications with applications for posts to be filled through the Subordinate Service Selection Board. As per the decision self-declaration regarding qualifications in the application form itself will suffice.

However, with regard to the appointments of class-I and class-II posts, the documents pertaining to educational qualification and those certifying the Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribes status will have to be appended with the application.

Cong to grill govt on graft, fiscal crisis
From Rakesh Lohumi
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Dec 7 — With the Opposition Congress raring to grill the government on the issue of corruption, saffronisation of administration and the financial crisis, the 12-day winter session of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly, beginning from December 9, is likely to be a stormy affair.

Anxious to break its image of a ‘government-friendly opposition,’ the Congress party, which suffered a humiliating defeat in the previous assembly elections, has already given an indication of the things to come by attacking the government on these issues outside the House in the past fortnight. The party had been at the receiving end during previous sessions as the debate centered mostly on the failures of the previous Congress governments. Moreover, as the BJP-HVC government has been in power for a brief period to provide any real issues to the Opposition.

However, the situation has changed considerably since the previous session. The state is going through a severe financial crisis and the government had run into overdraft several times during the past three months. The BJP-HVC government has been forced to raise loans through public sector undertakings to meet the day-to-day expenditure, like the previous Virbhadra Singh government. The BJP and the HVC had made raising of loans and payment of commission by the Congress government a major issue during the 1998 assembly poll. The Congress, which has been accusing the Dhumal government of financial mismanagement, will use this issue to whip the government. It is also likely to focus on the ‘extravagant’ ways of the government.

Another important issue to come up is the saffronisation of educational institutions and administration, particularly the presence of government officers at R.S.S. functions and holding of ‘shakhas’ in schools.

The issue of corruption is likely to dominate proceedings and the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Virbhadra Singh, who recently alleged that Chief Minister’s office had become the fountainhead of corruption, is likely to launch an unsparing attack on the government.

Besides highlighting issues like discrimination in development and the alleged irregularities in appointments in the Kangra Central Cooperative Bank, the Health Department and the Ayurveda Department, the Congress is also likely to train its guns on the state Public Service Commission. Mr Virbhadra Singh had publicly criticised the functioning of the commission and raised doubts regarding its integrity and impartiality of selections.

The government, on its part, is already gearing up to face the Congress attack. It has already decided to bring out a white paper on financial irregularities committed during the Congress regime. The Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal, has even indicated that the white paper would be tabled in the House on December 9, the opening day of the session. Besides, embarrassing the Congress for paying commission to middlemen in raising loans at exhorbitant rates, the white paper will enable the government to blunt the Congress attack on fiscal mismanagement.

Similarly, the Harsh Gupta report into irregularities in recruitment for government jobs during the Congress regime, which had already been accepted by the state Cabinet, will come in handy for the government to whip the Opposition.

While the Congress will try to embarrass the ruling BJP-HVC combine by accusing it of following the same policies which it had been criticising while in Opposition, the combine will rebut the charge by terming its unprecedented victory in the Lok Sabha poll as an endorsement of its policies and programmes by the people. There will be eight sittings in all during the session. As many as two days have been set apart for private members' business. Vidhan Sabha reporters will use computers for the transcription of the House proceedings for the first time.

Take up parent case Bill: Virbhadra
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Dec 7 — Mr Virbhadra Singh, Leader of the Congress legistature Party has accused the Dhumal Government of "deliberately" relegating to the background important legislations passed during the Congress Governments.

In a statement here today he said legislations like the Himachal Pradesh Maintenance of Parents and Dependents Bill and the State Compulsory Primary Education Bill, which involved larger interest and welfare of the people, had been put in the cold storage on narrow political considerations.

The Maintenance of Parents and Dependents Bill passed in 1996, was the first of its kind in the country and had been widely acclaimed. It provided compassionate and speedy remedy for the difficulties being faced by neglected wives, children, aged and infirm parents.

Unfortunately, it could not get presidential assent as the Union Government suggested some amendments to exclude the Muslim and Christian communities from the purview of the legistation on the ground that it might infringe on the personal law of these communities. Without going into the merit or demerit of the advice given by the Union Government, it would be in the interest of welfare of the people of the State that these amendments were carried out so that there was no difficulty in getting assent of the President of India. However, the present government slept over the matter. He urged the government to bring forward a Bill to amend the Act on the line suggested by the Union Government so that this important legislation could be enforced at the earliest.

Similarly, the Vidhan Sabha passed the HP Compulsory Primary Education Bill, which provided for compulsory primary education in the State in consonance with the Directive Principles of the State policy, in December 1997. Prior to that the government had opened over 9500 primary schools in the State and other facilities for making primary education available within a reasonable distance of all habitations in the State. Out of total number of primary schools nearly about 3500 primary schools were opened and made operational during the period from December, 1993, to March, 1998, by the previous Congress Governor. This Bill received the assent of the Government on February 3, 1998, and was to come into operation from April 1, 1998. It was indeed a matter of shame that this Act has not been but into operation. In fact, the government has so far not framed the rules under the Act.

The achievements of the state in the field of education, had been acclaimed by all. Even the Nobel laureate, Dr Amartya Sen, had lauded the steps taken by the government towards universalisation of primary education. Himachal Pradesh would be the second State in India after Kerala to have achieved this distinction. Obviously, the present State government did not want to give credit for this achievement to the previous Congress Government and had been deliberately delaying the implementation of the Act on one pretext or the other. He urged the government not to view the matter from a narrow political angle and take immediate steps to make the Act operational without further loss of time.

BJP rift ‘hits’ development works
in Sirmaur
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Dec 7 — Mr Gangu Ram Musafir, general secretary of the Himachal Congress, has alleged that the development works in Sirmaur district had come to a standstill because of the internal dissensions in the ruling BJP.

In a statement issued here yesterday he said the Congress would continue its agitation until its demand for opening a degree college at Rajgarh was conceded by the government and the work on various development projects was resumed. There was no truth in the BJP claim that Sirmaur was being developed on a par with Hamirpur, the home district of the Chief Minister. Whereas several projects, including the setting up of a PWD zone, a Rs 5-crore rest house, a Rs 42 lakh primary health centre at Jangal Bairi and a Rs 100-crore drinking water scheme for Bamsen had been undertaken in Hamirpur district, only a zonal hospital had been opened in Sirmaur. Even this hospital had been functioning without doctors and other facilities.

Mr Dhumal had forgotten all his promises made to Sirmaur voters during the elections, including the granting of tribal status to the trans-Giri area and the setting up of industrial units based on ginger and the opening of colleges at Sarahan and Sangdoh.

Waste management project launched
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Dec 7 — The local Municipal Corporation launched a Rs 7 crore-solid waste management project here today.

Under the project, funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development (NORAD) the bio-degradable and non-bio-degradable garbage will be segregated and disposed of in scientific manner. The biodegradable waste will be converted into compost through the process of aerobic composting for which a plant will be set up at Darni-ka-Bagicha at a cost of Rs 3.72 crore. Besides a fleet of six dumper placers and one tipper and 80 dumper containers have been acquired.

Mr P.K. Dhumal, the Chief Minister, while formally launching the project underlined the need to ensure proper collection and disposal of polythene bags and other non-biodegradable material. He said intensive drives should be launched to collect polythene bags by involving students and non-government organisations.

He thanked traders and citizens for cooperating in avoiding the use of recycled plastic bags. He said steps should be taken for the beautification of The Mall and the Ridge in particular.

Mr Dhumal said Rs 1 crore would be spent on the improvement of the drainage system in the town as present system was not adequate to cater to the needs of the growing population.

Mr Roop Dass Kashyap, Minister of State for Urban Development and Housing, said the waste treatment plant would be able to handle 100 tonnes of garbage every day. The manure thus produced from the plant would be sold. There was a proposal to purchase two vehicles and 40 dumper containers, he added.

Mr Jaini Prem, Mayor, thanked the Chief Minister for helping the corporation in developing civic amenities in the city.

Services of 2 JEs terminated
From Our Correspondent

JAWALAMUKHI, Dec 7 — In a bid to streamline the tempe affairs, the Temple Trust of Jawalamukhi has adopted a policy of retrenchment of the surplus staff. As a sequel to it, services of the two Junior Engineers serving in the construction wing have been terminated with retrospective effect from November 30.

This action of the management has sent a wave of panic among the 100 odd employees of temple. Not only that the Sanskrit College of the town which was being run by the temple authority since 1905 was abruptly closed down and thereby future of the students on the roll was put on a hold, the staff of the college was also left in a lurch.

It is alleged that certain employees have been forced to leave on the pretext of streamlining of temple affairs. But, the action of the management in this regard has not yielded any tangible results so far. The temple employees, at large, have described it as an action to persecute and harass them without giving any reason.

Govt flayed for pledging Nathpa-Jhakri income
Tribune News Service

DHARAMSALA, Dec 7 — The Pradesh Congress Committee chief, Mr Sat Mahajan, has alleged that the Dhumal Government has miserably failed to manage the finances of the state as it is pledging the income of the Nathpa-Jhakri project in advance to the NHPC, even before it has been commissioned.

Addressing a press conference here today, Mr Mahajan accused the Dhumal Government of doing what no other government had done so far in the state. "Not only is there a delay in the commissioning of the 1500 MW Nathpa-Jhakri project, the government is planning to pledge its income even before it has started functioning," he said. The income that the state would have got after the completion of the project would have helped tide over all financial problems.

"Instead of expediting the work on the project, to avoid slippage, as has been the case in the past, the government is committing even a bigger blunder," he lamented. The present government had sold the interest of Himachal Pradesh in the Chamera-II and the Parbati projects, he alleged.

The PCC chief accused the government of confusing and misleading the people of the state with regard to the financial assistance from the Centre. "Out of the Rs 300 crore given by the Centre, Rs 100 crore was ways and means advance to be returned at an interest rate of 10.5 per cent, while the other Rs 200 crore was the usual step-up on account of price increase. The other Rs 200 crore that the government is talking about is nothing but the state's share in the Central pool, which has been given two months earlier," he disclosed.

Mr Mahajan claimed that the financial crunch in the state was so severe that the government had been compelled to raise loans through four corporations, a step for which it had criticised the Virbhadra Singh government. He stated that the government had raised a loan of Rs 350 crore from the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board and Rs 275 crore from the newly constituted Road Development Corporation. A total of Rs 1400 crore would be raised through these corporations.

Mr Mahajan said it was not only the government which was concerned about the financial health of the state, but it was a cause of concern for everyone. He demanded that the government should hold an all-party meet so that the financial position of the state could be discussed and ways worked out to tide over this problem. The gap between the expenditure and income of the state was increasing day by day, he claimed.

All developmental works in the state had come to a standstill. Even the salaries of daily-wage employees had not been given for the past two months, he added.

Improve educational facilities: NSUI
Tribune News Service

DHARAMSALA, Dec 7 — The National Students Union of India (NSUI) has sought improvement in educational facilities and a probe into the irregularities committed at various institutions in Kangra district.

The NSUI State President, Mr Kewal Pathania, along with other activists, submitted a memorandum in this regard to the Deputy Commissioner today. The memorandum highlighted the problems being faced by the students at the Regional Centre of the University here and at the other colleges.

Mr Pathania, regretted that despite opening a regional centre here, the government had failed to provide regular teaching staff for it. "Not only are the facilities inadequate, but even the teaching staff in some of the departments is unqualified," he alleged.

Mr Pathania said it was strange that instead of taking action against those responsible for the irregularities in the Baijnath Goswami Ganesh Dutt Sanatan Dharam College, the government has handed over the college to the old management committee and removed the administrator appointed by it. He also pointed out that the issue of government take over of Maharaja Sansar Chand College at Thural had been hanging fire despite promises by the government.

The NSUI chief said the government was playing with the future of the students of Tanda Medical College, and post-graduate students at the Ayurveda College at Paprola. The government should clarify whether recognition has been obtained for it or not.

The NSUI chief demanded that the facilities at Palampur and Indora colleges should be improved and a college opened at Shahpur. He threatened that in case the government failed to fulfil these demands, the NSUI will be compelled to launch a statewide agitation after December 25.

CBI probe sought into purchase scam
From Our Correspondent

MANDI, Dec 7 — A newly constituted Himachal Forum Against Corruption has demanded a CBI enquiry into the alleged purchase scandal in the PWD in the central zone.

Mr Lavan Thakur, co-ordinator of the forum, told mediapersons this evening that purchases worth crores of rupees had been made by all the circles falling under Chief Engineer, central zone of items which were not required immediately.

The forum has drawn the attention of the Chief Minister towards the fact that these purchases had been made by the Chief Engineer who was retiring on December 31.

HAS officers' plea to government
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Dec 7 — The Himachal Administrative and Allied Services Confederation has urged the government to reconsider its decision to downsize the cadre strength of the state administrative services.

The decision, it pointed out, would not only affect the promotional avenues of the feeder categories but also deprive thousands of educated youth of job opportunities.

It also urged the government to rationalise the present of 26 per cent for non-tehsildar categories in view of the increasing strength and ensure that adequate promotional avenues were available to them.

It requested the government to review the decision to include managers of district industries centres in the feeder categories of the H.A.S.

Woman convicted for possessing charas
From Our Correspondent

CHAMBA, Dec 7 — Mr J.L. Gupta, Sessions Judge, Chamba, yesterday convicted Bimla Devi, a resident of Ajijpur in Pathankot tehsil, for an offence under Section 20 of the NDPS Act and sentenced her to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of ten years and a fine Rs 1 lakh.

In default of payment she has to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of six months.

According to a judgement delivered by the Sessions Judge, on November 28, 1998, she was held and taken before the Naib Tehsildar, Chamba, for search by the police. During search 540 gram charas was recovered from her possession.

Permit fee raised
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Dec 7 — In a resource raising exercise, the Himachal Pradesh Government has fixed a fee of Rs 150 for issuing permit for plying vehicles on each sealed road.

The fee for the permit earlier was Rs 60 per quarter for unspecified number of roads. But now it has been fixed at Rs 150 for each road applied for. The annual permit fee for two sealed roads will be Rs 1200.

Officials of the Centre and state governments, MLAs and state-accredited reporters will be charged the enhanced fee for issuing permits for sealed and restricted roads.

The fee for each restricted route has been fixed at Rs 60 per quarter.

Plea to complete development works
From Our Correspondent

NURPUR, Dec 7 — The Kangra District Congress Committee has demanded that the government should complete all development works in a time-bound period which were launched in the Rehan area of Nurpur subdivision at the instance of the Vice-Chairman, Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation, Mr Rakesh Pathania, on the eve of the byelection of Rohan ward of Zila Parishad held on November 30.

Mr Ajay Mahajan, general secretary, DCC, in statement alleged that these works were initiated to woo the voters and there was neither sanction nor budget allocation to run these projects. He said Mr Pathania should ensure the completion as he had made false promises with the rural electorate in his campaign.

Mr Mahajan while criticising the state government said during the Congress regime the government fixed a target to construct 200 houses for the poor under Gandhi Kutir Yojna in each assembly segment per year but the present government had reduced the target to 45. He also criticised the government for imposing a condition to deposit Rs 2,500 for an electricity connection.