HP employees reject HRA
SHIMLA, Dec 30 — The Himachal Employees Confederation has rejected the house rent allowance as notified by the government for various categories of employees.

One sentenced to life imprisonment
UNA, Dec 30 — Mr J.N. Barowalia, Sessions Judge, here today sentenced and convicted Harjinder Singh of Ludhiana to life imprisonment and fined him Rs 5,000 for murdering Neelam, wife of Raj Kapoor of Ludhiana.

Dharamsala jail overcrowded, says rights panel chief
KANGRA, Dec 30 — Himachal Pradesh Human Rights Commission Chairman and State Lokayukt Justice Om Prakash has said that the number of inmates in Dharamsala jail are three times more than its capacity which affects facilities being provided to them.

Traffic chaos in town
PALAMPUR: The district administration here is worried over the increase in the violation of traffic laws and noise pollution in the town.

Doctors flay govt move
SHIMLA, Dec 30 — The Resident Doctors Association of the local Indira Gandhi Medical College has condemned the decision of the government to appoint a state administrative service officer as Additional Director in the Health and Family Welfare Department.

Grievances committee flays govt depts
From Our Correspondent

HAMIRPUR, Dec 30 — The working of various government departments and corporations came under criticism at the meeting of the district-level grievances committee here today. The meeting lasted for four hours. Mr Ishwar Dass Dhiman, Education Minister, presided. Mrs. Anuradha Thakur, DC and Mr AP. Syddiqui, were also present.

Non-official members raised the issues of public interest and made the government officers reply to them. The working of the Department of Horticulture was the main issue which became the target of the members.

Mr Romesh Sharma, member, Zila Parishad, dubbed the working of the department as dismal. He said there was much difference in their sayings and doings. He alleged that the figures supplied by the department were highly concocted and framed while sitting in the office. He asked the officers of the department to do some field work.

Mr Ishwar Dass Dhiman, intervened and instructed the officers concerned to work properly as people of the district were not satisfied with their working.

Mr Deepak Sharma of the Himachal Vikas Congress raised the issue of the supply of charcoal in the government offices by private contractors on exorbitant rates. He alleged that the Himachal Pradesh Forest Corporation had failed in its duties by supplying charcoal to the departments. The absence of divisional manager of the corporation to reply to the questions was also felt at the meeting. Mr Dhiman instructed the DC, Hamirpur, to ensure that the regarding the absence of the officer as well as the supply of charcoal by the private parties was looked into.

Mr Romesh Thakur, Member Zila Parishad, demanded the digging of hand pumps between Sujanpur and Chauri as people of these areas were facing an acute water shortage.

In his address, Mr Dhiman expressed his concern over the absence of various officers at the meeting. He said it was an important one and the absence would be viewed seriously. He asked the DC, Hamirpur, to instruct all officers to remain present at such meetings failing which strict action would be initiated against them.

The minister advised officers to come fully prepared at these meetings and give full weightage to the suggestions put forward by the members.

Remand for bitumen scam accused
From Our Correspondent

SUNDERNAGAR, Dec 30 — Mr P.C. Sharma, Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mandi, remanded S.K. Sikand, Chief Engineer, PWD, Central Zone, Mandi, in police custody till January 3.

Sikand was arrested by the vigilance staff yesterday in connection with the bitumen scam worth Rs 3.65 crore. The Chief Engineer purchased items of worth crores in the past three months and was going to retire on December 31. When the matter was highlighted by the media the government ordered an inquiry into it and later on the Chief Engineer was suspended.

An FIR was registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The accused had applied for anticipatory bail on December 28. He had been arrested yesterday.

The vigilance staff produced the accused in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Mandi, and pleaded for five days in police remand. The counsel for the accused pleaded for the bail of the accused as all relevant records had been already taken in custody by the Vigilance Department. The CJM did not entertain the application as he was not having powers of the special judge and also rejected the plea of the defence counsel to remand the accused in judicial custody.

When the accused was produced in the court the court was jam-packed.

According to the vigilance staff the accused may be taken to various places for further investigations.

Rodents mutilated body, says govt
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Dec 30 — The body of a 23-year-old woman was mutilated in the mortuary of the Zonal Hospital, Dharamsala, early this month by rodents and cockroaches and not wild animals.

This has been stated in the reply filed by the government in response to the notice issued by the Himachal High Court, which took suo motu action in the case on the basis of a report published in The Tribune in this regard on December 13.

The government has asserted that no wild animal could enter the mortuary. It refers to the report of the Subdivisional Officer who inspected the mortuary along with two doctors.

The windowpanes of the mortuary were intact and the door could also be properly locked. As such there was no possibility of wild animals entering the mortuary, the report said.

An ear and some portion of the face was eaten by rodents and cockroaches.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice D. Raju and Mr Justice L.S. Panta, while taking suo motu cognisance of the matter in public interest, had observed that all religions advocated that human bodies be shown due respect until the last rites were performed and that such contemptible treatment amounted to sacrilege and had asked the Advocate-General, Mr Sanjay Karol, to submit his report on the incident by December 30.

The case will come up for hearing again after six weeks.

Rs 1.65 cr earmarked for crop insurance plan
From Our Correspondent

KANGRA, Dec 30 — The government was giving subsidy to the tune of Rs 28.46 crore to farmers of this hill state on fertilisers, seeds, pesticides and other agricultural implements including Rs 14 crore given by the central government on fertilisers.

Addressing a press conference here yesterday, Himachal Agriculture Minister, Vidya Sagar said yesterday, that a subsidy of Rs 23 crore, including Rs 14 crore by the Central Government was given to farmers on the fertilisers, Rs 2 crore on seeds, Rs 1 crore on pesticides and Rs 1.46 crore on agricultural implements during the current financial year.

He said Rs 1.65 crore had been earmarked for the current financial year to be spent as subsidy on the crop insurance scheme. As many as 40 blocks in the state has been notified for coverage under the crop insurance scheme.

The World Bank-Aided National Agricultural Technological Project (NATP) was being introduced in four districts of the state, including Kangra, Bilaspur and Hamirpur. Shimla was brought under this scheme last year. In order to have better coordination between the agriculture university, agriculture research centres, regional research centres and government departments in each district would have an agricultural technological managing agency.

HP employees reject HRA
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Dec 30 — The Himachal Employees Confederation has rejected the house rent allowance as notified by the government for various categories of employees.

It pointed out that the slab system introduced by the government had in effect reduced the percentage of allowance. The loss to employees on this account ranged from Rs 100 to 500 a month.

The confederation held a protest rally in front of the Directorate of Horticulture at which the speakers charged the Ganga Singh faction of the state non-gazetted services federation with betraying the employees. The district units of the federation had also rejected the allowance as too meagre.

The confederation urged the government to grant all the allowances on the Punjab pattern in one go and warned it that employees would not accept any deviation from it.

One sentenced to life imprisonment
From Our Correspondent

UNA, Dec 30 — Mr J.N. Barowalia, Sessions Judge, here today sentenced and convicted Harjinder Singh of Ludhiana to life imprisonment and fined him Rs 5,000 for murdering Neelam, wife of Raj Kapoor of Ludhiana. The crime had taken place in room No. 202 of Bombay Picnic Spot, a place between Mubarakpur and Bharwai on August 23.

As per the prosecution the General Manager of the Bombay Picnic Spot on August 23 informed the police that a half naked body of a woman was lying in the bathroom of room No. 202 of the hotel. The body was not identified but was taken to the address given by the accused in the hotel register. Photographs of the dead women shown to various people at Ludhiana, helped in identifying the deceased as Neelam. After committing the murder of Neelam, the accused also murdered two daughters of Neelam in Ludhiana on August 25.

Harjinder allegedly had relations with Neelam and had come to the hotel. They stayed there for a night. In the morning he went away after allegedly giving poison to her.

The Sessions Judge in his findings stated that it had been proved beyond doubt that the accused had committed the murder intentionally.

The accused has also been booked for the double murder of the two daughters of Neelam.

Dharamsala jail overcrowded, says rights panel chief
From Our Correspondent

KANGRA, Dec 30 — Himachal Pradesh Human Rights Commission Chairman and State Lokayukt Justice Om Prakash has said that the number of inmates in Dharamsala jail are three times more than its capacity which affects facilities being provided to them.

Stating this to mediapersons here last evening, after inspecting the jail, he, however, said when a new jail block with capacity of 50 persons would be ready, the inmates would be shifted to it.

He said during his inspection he was told by jail employees that they should be given one day rest in a week or one month's additional pay during one year on the pattern of the Police Department. He said that this demand was just and he would recommend it to the Government for acceptance.

He said the jail employees sought immediate repairs of their residential quarters. He directed the PWD authorities to repair these quarters immediately.

Traffic chaos in town
From Ravinder Sood

PALAMPUR: The district administration here is worried over the increase in the violation of traffic laws and noise pollution in the town. The town has the highest number of vehicles in the district.

Cases of asthma and TB have increased in the town. Many affected persons have shifted from the town to villages .

Despite ban on pressure horns,many vehicles use it with impunity. Many vehicle drivers make it a point to honk at girls to attract their attention. There is no ban on the use of loudspeakers.

The most of two-wheelers are two to three years old. They run without number plates. Some of those flaunt press on their vehicles.Triple riding is a common sight. The traffic police don’t consider this as an offence.Vehicles don’t decrease speed in crowded bazaars and at blind curves. Trucks spill diesel and make certain patches accident prone.

The administration has earmarked certain roads for one-way traffic. This regulation is enforced by the traffic police only at the time of a VIP’s visit. The orders regarding the opening of a bypass have yet to be implemented.

Doctors flay govt move
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Dec 30 — The Resident Doctors Association of the local Indira Gandhi Medical College has condemned the decision of the government to appoint a state administrative service officer as Additional Director in the Health and Family Welfare Department.

The association said the move had come at a time when other states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh were appointing professionals as heads of departments to improve efficiency. Appointing a bureaucrat to a key post would be detrimental to the smooth working of the health services as he was totally ignorant of the technicalities of medical profession.