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| Thursday, January 20, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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BJP indecisive on Solan nominee Cong renominates Mohini from Solan All HP districts to have principal
markets Shift research from labs to field:
CM Demand for new revenue subdivision Blind man alleges land grab Decision to close down offices
opposed |
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Telecom engineers hold
dharna Clear Renuka Dam project: Dhumal
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BJP
indecisive on Solan nominee SHIMLA, Jan 19 — The Bharatiya Janata Party is having a tough time in deciding its nominee for the Solan seat due to serious differences between the Dhumal and Shanta Kumar factions. The State election committee had recommended the names of Mr Mohinder Sofat and Mr Rajeev Bindal and the central parliamentary board was expected to make the final choice yesterday. However, a decision was deferred in view of the sharp differences between the two groups. While the Dhumal faction is backing Mr Bindal, president of the Solan Municipal Committee, the rival faction is for renominating Mr Mohinder Sofat, who narrowly lost to Miss Mohini in the last Assembly election. The Dhumal group is advocating change of candidate on the plea that Mr Sofat has lost the election twice. The Shanta faction, however, underlines the fact that it was Mr Sofat who successfully challenged the election of Miss Mohini and in the court as a result of which the seat fell vacant. Moreover, he lost by a slender margin due to malpractices resorted to by the then ruling Congress. The court had given justice to Mr Sofat and it was now the turn of the party to do justice with him. According to party sources the high command wants the two factions to resolve the differences so that the matter could be decided amicably. However, despite several meetings between the leaders of the rival factions, who were camping in Delhi, the issue has remained unresolved. In the given situation the decision on the nominee may take two or three days. Mr Dhumal has already left for Kangra where he has a number of engagements. Mr Suresh Chandel, the party president, is proceeding to Nurpur tonight. Mr Shanta Kumar who is on tour to Bombay is likely to be back by Thursday. The rank and file of the party is concerned over the ongoing tussle over the party ticket which had brought the simmering differences between the two factions to the fore. The senior party leaders, they say, should realise the wider implications of these differences could blow up into a full-scale factional fight during the organisational elections over the next few months. The senior leaders should not stand on prestige and settle the issue in the larger interest of the party. The stakes are high for the party as it has to maintain its winning record which would not be easy in case the Himachal Vikas Congress, the coalition partner, also fields a candidate to make the contest triangular. Mr Sukh Ram, the HVC supremo, who is not pleased over the manner in which he has been sidelined by the government, has already indicated that if the BJP refuses to leave the seat for the HVC, it would not mind having a friendly contest. Right now the partymen
are not concerned over the allotment of the ticket, but
the fallout of the tussle over the party. |
Cong
renominates Mohini from Solan NEW DELHI, Jan 19 — The Congress today decided to renominate Major (Miss) Krishna Mohini for the Solan Assembly byelection to be held on February 17. Party sources said the name of Ms Mohini was cleared by the Congress President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, after a meeting with the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee President, Mr Sat Mahajan, and the CLP leader, Mr Virbhadra Singh. Both leaders were called by the party high command to finalise the name of the candidate for the byelection necessitated due to unseating of Ms Mohini by the Himachal Pradesh High Court on technical grounds. The court had declared that the rejection of nomination papers of a candidate during the 1998 Assembly elections was wrong. The Supreme Court had upheld the judgement. In a major departure, the Congress had cleared its candidate much ahead of the polls while the BJP was yet to declare its candidate as it faced some trouble from its electoral ally, the Himachal Vikas Party. Incidentally, both Mr Virbhadra Singh and Mr Mahajan, went together to meet the Congress President signalling the unity among the top leadership of the state. The HPCC General Secretary, Mrs Viplov Thakur, also accompanied the leaders. Ms Mohini is expected to file her nomination next week. She is a two-time MLA having won the 1993 election with a margin of 11,000-odd votes and the 1998 election by mere 26 votes. Solan Assembly constituency has 61,000 voters. Despite the fact that
there were 13 aspirants, party sources said the decision
to renominate Ms Mohini was as per convention in the
state. |
All HP
districts to have principal markets KANGRA, Jan 19 — The Himachal Pradesh Marketing Board has decided to cover all 12 districts of the state under the principal marketing scheme with 10 such markets being set up in different districts. This was stated here last evening by the Chairman of the board, Mr Virender Kashap, while addressing a press conference. He said six principal markets had already been set up at Kulu, Kangra, Una, Chamba, Hamirpur and Shimla and four more were under construction. He said principal markets were under construction at Solan and Bilaspur and the land for such markets at Nahan and Mandi had been acquired. He said markets in Kangra district were proposed for Palampur, Raja Ka Talab, Badokhar, Jaisinghpur and Milva and the construction would start soon. Besides, collection centres would be set up at Sanehard and Kotkowala. The principal markets would help the farmers from getting exploited by the middlemen and these would have the facilities of the computerised banks. Mr Kashap stated that board had set up eight ropeways in Shimla, Kulu and Solan districts for the carriage of the fresh vegetables to save transportation expenditure. The Chairman said the board had an annual income of Rs 7 crore and the construction of cold storages was under the active consideration of the board. He said the board had
distributed 10,000 plastic crates among farmers and
15,000 more would be distributed on subsidised rates. He
said the National Horticulture Board was giving subsidy
to the farmers on these crates. Eash crate was being sold
at Rs 85 to farmers, while in open market the crates were
priced at Rs 225 to Rs 250 each. |
Shift
research from labs to field: CM DHARAMSALA, Jan 19 — The Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal, today exhorted the scientists to transfer research from the laboratories to the field to improve the economic lot of the farming community. Presiding over the high-level meeting of officers from the Agriculture, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Departments and Block Development Officers here today, he said that though a lot of research was being done on agriculture, it was of no use till it was transferred from the laboratories to the field. Mr Dhumal said that the officers should try to motivate the farmers to shift to horticulture and growing off-season vegetables. "A special column in the annual confidential report of the field officers shall be added, in which there will be mention of the number of farmers who have been motivated by the said officer to take to horticulture," he stated. The Chief Minister also announced the setting up of district irrigation committees in the state under the chairmanship of the Deputy Commissioners. "Since ours is an agrarian economy and 93 per cent of the population resides in the villages, it is essential that there should be irrigation facilities." he stated. He added that floriculture should be promoted in the state and proper marketing of the flowers should be ensured so that the growers can make profits. Mr Dhumal said that stress should be laid on animal husbandry and fisheries. He advised veterinary doctors to encourage farmers to go in for good quality livestock. Apart from this, under the "fish pond culture" scheme, Rs 6,000 were being provided to the poor. He informed that 1400 fishermen were engaged in fishing in the Pong Dam reservoir and had organised themselves under 14 cooperatives. The Chief Minister asked the officers to work with zeal for proper implementation of the government schemes. He said that the targets should be achieved within the fixed time-frame and to ensure this, the government had adopted the system of quarterly funding. Later, the Chief
Minister laid the foundation stone of a library, para
clinic and the academic block of Dr Rajendra Prasad
Medical College at Tanda, near Kangra. He inaugurated the
OPD block of the TB Hospital at Tanda. Mr Dhumal also
laid the foundation stone of a Krishi Vigyan Kendra at
Chheb village. |
Demand for
new revenue subdivision CHAMBA: There are persistent demands that a new revenue subdivision needs to be created with headquarters at Salooni, the tehsil headquarter, by bifurcating the wide-ranging Churah subdivision of Chamba district. It would not only help the public but also increase the pace of development of the area. At present, there is only one revenue subdivision at Bhanjraru, the headquarters of Churah tehsil. The subdivision comprises Churah and Salooni tehsils and Bhalayee subtehsil, having about 53 patwar circles and nearly 82 gram panchyats. Being situated in such an inaccessible interior terrain, residents of these areas find it difficult to go to Bhanjraru frequently for their routine official work. Since the people of the area are living in abject misery, they are even unable to approach the authorities based at the subdivisional headquarters to get work done by wasting time and money on bus fares. Therefore, a new subdivision is required to be created in this region. Simultaneously, the residents of Churah and Salooni tehsils, including Bhalayee subtehsil, have been repeatedly demanding the opening of a government degree college in this region. Though a few well-off families do manage send their wards to Chamba town and other parts of the state for higher education, yet the poor can't afford to do so. *** To provide arms and strengthen the communication network for the protection of forest wealth on the borderland of Chamba district adjacent to Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), a new strategy has been formulated by the state government which is expected to be put into operation in the near future, says Mr Mohinder Paul, Conservator of Forests, Chamba, while decorating the newly promoted forest guards to the rank of Deputy Ranger at Chamba a few days ago. As many as 178 forest guards in Himachal Pradesh have been given due promotion at one go to the rank of Deputy Ranger after over 30 years of their services. It is for the first time
that these newly promoted Deputy Rangers have been
provided with the regular functional office in their
forest block by the government. *** The Centre has put into operation an ambitious project called the integrated watershed development project (IWDP) in the Bharmour tribal area of Chamba district with an outlay of Rs 1.90 crore. According to the Deputy Commissioner of Chamba, K. Sanjaymurthy, who is also the Resident Commissioner of Bharmour tribal subdivision, it is a project of its kind designed for the conservation of alpine hill slopes by way of undertaking works like soil conservation and the treatment of hillsides. The project would go a long way in improving wasteland for the economic benefit of the community. The project would also help prevent further degradation of forests and degeneration of agro-horticulture land, grasslands and grazing lands in the mountainous belts of Bharmour tribal subdivision. For effective
implementation of this project, 10 watershed committees
have been formed for each watershed scheme. These
committees would further constitute self-help groups
(SHGs) which would be advanced loans for economic
activities with a view to generating self-employment. |
Blind man
alleges land grab MANDI, Jan 19 — A blind person, Nokhu of Taraur village in Karsog sub-division of this district, has alleged that his elder brother has fraudulently got his entire land measuring about 10 bighas, tansferred in the name of his three sons — Naresh Kumar, Lila Dhar and Ashwani Kumar. Nokhu, who was brought to the Press Room today by his relations, told mediapersons that he was living with his sister in the nearby Batehra village as he was being ill-treated by his brother and family. "My brother, Lekh Raj, called me to get my pension and got a number of thumb impressions. In fact, he got a general power of attorney thumbed by me. He paid me Rs 450 as the amount of pension. I became suspicious when postmen told me that my pension had yet to come. I contacted mywell-wishers who probed the matter and told me taht my entire landed property had been transferred to the sons of my brother," Nokhu told mediapersons. Those accompanying Nokhu
said an FIR had also been lodged with the police. They
also took Nokhu to the SDM, Gohar, the Deputy
Commissioner and the SP, no action has been initiated so
far. |
Decision
to close down offices opposed DHARAMSALA, Jan 19 — The Himachal Administrative Services Officers' Association has decided to approach the state government and urge it to reconsider the decision of closing offices of the three divisional commissioners in the state. The association, which is taking up the matter with the Chief Minister, Mr. P.K. Dhumal, claims that the revenue work in the state will suffer with this decision. They contest that as the Deputy Commissioners have other important matters to attend to the disposal of revenue cases will be hampered if these were also assigned to them. In case of the Kangra
division, comprising Kangra, Una and Chamba districts,
there are at least 800 revenue cases every year. Due to
the quick disposal of cases over 700 cases are decided
each year. In the office of the Divisional Commissioner,
Kangra, almost all cases up to 1994, have been decided.
But with the closure of the divisional commissioner's
offices the cases will remain pending for a very long
time. The decision will also have no financial benefit as
the entire staff at the three offices of the divisional
commissioners is being absorbed in other departments. |
Telecom
engineers hold dharna SHIMLA, Jan 19 — Members of the state unit of the All-India Telecommunication Engineering Services Association today started a three-day dharna in front of the office of the Chief General Manager, Himachal Telecom Circle, in support of their demands. The agitating engineers raised slogans and submitted a memorandum to the Chief General Manager. The main demands include
removal of bottleneck in the promotional avenues of
engineering services group "B" officers,
holding of regular meeting of the departmental promotion
committee and creation of posts at higher levels. |
Clear
Renuka Dam project: Dhumal NEW DELHI,
Jan 19 (ANI) — The Himachal Pradesh Government has
urged the Centre to approve the Rs 1224 crore Renuka Dam
project so that work could be started on it at the
earliest.Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said the
proposal was discussed with Union Water Resource Minister
C.P. Thakur who was assured that after completion of the
project the state would supply 54,250 crore litres of
water annually to Delhi. |
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