H I M A C H A L   P R A D E S H

102 cr flood control plan cleared
DHARAMSALA, Jan 21 — The Rs 102 crore project to tame the Swan, the “river of sorrow” in Una district, has finally been cleared by the Central Water Commission. Announcing this here today, the Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal, said that with the clearance of this project, which had been awaiting the nod of the Central Water Commission for a long period, a lot of damage being caused by the Swan river would be checked.

Lower Bazar cleared of encroachments
SHIMLA, Jan 21 — Lower Bazar, where people found it difficult even to walk because of the encroachments, looks wider and cleaner now, thanks to the Shimla Municipal Corporation which has removed the encroachers.

HP University changes exam system
SHIMLA, Jan 21 — Himachal Pradesh University has decided to effect sweeping changes in the entire system of holding entrance examination for various courses to ensure timely declaration of results.

Kalaban killings: 1 gets life term
CHAMBA, Jan 21 — Mr J.L. Gupta, Sessions Judge, Chamba convicted Sharif Mohammad a resident of Kihar in the district yesterday and sentenced him to life imprisonment under Sections 302, 396 and 120-B of the IPC for conspiring with the terrorists responsible for the Kalaban-Satrundi carnage in August, 1998, in which 35 persons were killed.

• Congress charges "baseless"
• ABVP condemns school incident
  
  
  
  

102 cr flood control plan cleared
Tribune News Service

DHARAMSALA, Jan 21 — The Rs 102 crore project to tame the Swan, the “river of sorrow” in Una district, has finally been cleared by the Central Water Commission.

Announcing this here today, the Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal, said that with the clearance of this project, which had been awaiting the nod of the Central Water Commission for a long period, a lot of damage being caused by the Swan river would be checked. “The clearance of the project will prevent the extensive damage that is done to life and property, and the average damage assessed on account of the havoc created by the river is about Rs 15 crore annually,” he stated.

Mr Dhumal said that 10,000 hectares of agricultural land was getting affected by the floods in the Swan and the farmers were unable to till nearly 2,000 hectares of fertile land. After the clearance of the Swan River Flood Management and Integrated Land Development Project, phase-I, the approval from the Ministry of Forests and Environment and the Planning commission would soon be taken.

The detailed project report for providing embankments on both sides of a 16.67 km-along stretch, under phase-I, out of a total of 55 km, from the Jhalera to Santokhgarh bridge, had already been prepared. With the help of this project, 1000 hectares of fertile land would be reclaimed and 1260 hectares saved from being washed away by flash floods.

The Chief Minister informed that the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development had agreed to provide Rs 13.50 crore for the ambitious Saraswati Bal Vikas Sankalp Pariyojna. The government had decided to give Rs 2.50 crore for this project in Kangra district during the current financial year. “With the implementation of this project, all primary schools in the state shall have at least three rooms so that the small children have proper facilities in schools,” he said.

Mr Dhumal, while thanking the Centre and the Union Minister, Mr Shanta Kumar, for raising the sugar limit to 700 gm per head, said that the people living in the rural areas would greatly benefit from this decision.

By restoring the ownership of trees on private land to the people, a major problem had been solved. He added that this problem of ‘Khudre Drakhtan’, which had existed since 1948, was causing a great deal of inconvenience to the people and moreover with the decision, the farmers would now take better care of the trees.

To promote the Maharana Pratap Sagar Dam as a world tourist spot, a detailed report was being prepared by a consultant from the World Tourism Organisation. “We have ensured that there is no disturbance to the migratory birds at the Pong Dam on account of tourism promotion, as it is a major bird sanctuary, where birds come from as far off as Siberia,” he said.

Mr Dhumal said that work had been speeded up on all projects started during his tour in winter last year. “I have personally found out about the progress on all projects. So that we can check cost escalation on account of unnecessary delays,” he emphasised.

On the political front, Mr Dhumal denied that there were any differences between him and Mr Shanta Kumar, over the party candidate for the Solan byelection and said that the recommendations had been sent to party high command.

Lower Bazar cleared of encroachments
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Jan 21 — Lower Bazar, where people found it difficult even to walk because of the encroachments, looks wider and cleaner now, thanks to the Shimla Municipal Corporation which has removed the encroachers.

The initiative for getting these encroachments vacated was taken by Dr Ashok Khanna and Mr Ramesh Chujjar, president and general secretary, respectively, of the local Beopar Mandal.

The Municipal Corporation shall have to keep a strict watch in the area as some of the uprooted vendors are again trying to grab the roadsides at certain places.

Over the years, the Lower bazar, which is the hub of activity in the town, had got squeezed due to these encroachments. Some public-spirited residents of the town had sought intervention of the court in making the Municipal Corporation discharge its duties diligently so as restore the beauty of the town.

The fruit vendors, who had encroached upon almost half of the road towards the office of the Deputy Commissioner has become wider following the removal of the vendors. However, some vendors have returned near Ganj Bazar as the Municipal Corporation staff do not conduct regular checks.

The bazar had become so congested with encroachments on the road that ambulances or fire engines too could not move there speedily in the case of any emergency. It took almost an hour for a fire engine to cross Lower bazar from one end to the other during a routing drill recently.

However, certain shopkeepers and organisations were not in favour of removal of these vendors.

Dr Khanna says it had not only become difficult even to walk, particularly to Lower bazar and Ram Bazar but had also affected the business of shopkeepers as the roadside vendors used to sell their substandard products of cheaper rates. He said no fresh licence should be issued to the vendors and steps should be taken to provide civic amenities in the area.

HP University changes exam system
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Jan 21 — Himachal Pradesh University has decided to effect sweeping changes in the entire system of holding entrance examination for various courses to ensure timely declaration of results.

Besides computerisation of the process of holding entrance tests right from submission of application forms to evaluation of answer-sheets, the duration and number of papers hold for each examination has been reduced.

According to Dr S.K. Gupta, Vice-Chancellor and chairman of the high-level committee set up for the purpose, there will be only one paper for the combined premedical test instead of three from the ensuing academic session.

Instead of three separate papers of chemistry, biology and physics, each of two hours duration, there will be only one combined paper of three hours duration. It will have 150 multiple choice questions.

The examination fee will be included in the cost of the prospectus and candidates will not have to deposit fees separately. The entrance test for B.Ed. and other course will also be held as per the new system.

The main objective is to cut down the time period required for holding such tests so that more effective teaching days are available during the academic session.

Kalaban killings: 1 gets life term
From Our Correspondent

CHAMBA, Jan 21 — Mr J.L. Gupta, Sessions Judge, Chamba convicted Sharif Mohammad a resident of Kihar in the district yesterday and sentenced him to life imprisonment under Sections 302, 396 and 120-B of the IPC for conspiring with the terrorists responsible for the Kalaban-Satrundi carnage in August, 1998, in which 35 persons were killed.

Sharif was also sentenced to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment under Section 307 of the IPC, three years’ imprisonment under Section 364, IPC, one year imprisonment with a fine of 1,000 under Section 27 of the Indian Arms Act and four years’ rigorous imprisonment under the Explosive Substance Act. All sentences will run concurrently.

However, other accused — Waziru, Hussain Deen and Bali Mohammad were acquitted in the case.

PWD Minister misusing position: Cong
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Jan 21 — The issue of installing a stone-crusher by the son of the PWD Minister, Mr Mohinder Singh snowballed into a controversy today with the Congress accusing the minister of misusing his official position and indulging in nepotism.

Three sitting MLAs of the Congress, Mrs Viplove Thakur, Mr Tek Chand and Mr Kashmir Singh and a PCC member, Mr Kuldeep Singh Pathania, in a statement here today, alleged that instead of taking action against the minister, Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal was encouraging corruption and nepotism by "taking the line of Mr Mohinder Singh".

They said the Chief Minister should have and divested Mr Mohinder Singh of his portfolio in order to uphold probity in public life.

The leaders pointed out it was significant that the stone-crusher had been installed after Mr Mohinder Singh became minister.

"It was unethical and against all norms of propriety for the son of the PWD Minister to install the crusher in an area where the main purchasers of crushed stone would either be the PWD or contractors of the department", they said.

Khajjiar remains cut off
From Our Correspondent

DALHOUSIE, Jan 21 — Khajjiar, a famous hill resort in Chamba district, still remains cut off from Dalhousie and Chamba owing to snow-clad road which links Khajjiar from both sides of Dalhousie and Chamba for the past one week.

However, an official spokesman of the state PWD said the road from Banikhet to Dalhousie and its ambients had already been opened to traffic.

Meanwhile, hoteliers of Khajjiar, Chamba and Dalhousie have urged the Himachal Chief Minister, Prof P.K. Dhumal, to direct the authorities concerned for making arrangements to clear the snow on the roads leading to Khajjiar.

Degree holders oppose move to amend rules
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Jan 21 — The Himachal PWD Assistant Engineers Association has expressed concern over the government's move to amend the recruitment and promotion rules for Assistant Engineers which, it alleged, would be detrimental to the career prospects of degree holders.

Strongly opposing the move, the association pointed out that maintaining the ratio of diploma holder and graduate engineer at the level of Executive Engineer at 30:70 would create a cadre management problem. At present, most of the degree holders have to wait for 18 to 20 years for promotion whereas diploma holders get promotions within 10 to 12 years. If the proposal was implemented, diploma holders junior to graduate engineers would get promoted first.

It urged the government to drop the "unjust and irrational" move.

Congress charges "baseless"
From Our Correspondent

SOLAN, Jan 21 — The District Election Officer, Mr R.D. Dhiman, in a press note issued here today refuted the Himachal Congress Committee’s charges regarding irregularities committed by the district administration in the preparation of voters list for the ensuing Solan byelection.

He said the summary revision of electoral rolls undertaken in November 1999 as per the guidelines of the Election Commission of India. During this process 2409 of the 2679 voters were found to be entitled to be enrolled in the electoral rolls. He said the reports published in newspapers were "totally baseless".

HPSEB staff stage rally
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Jan 21 — Power engineers, project engineers and employees of the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board today held a rally in support of the striking employees of the Uttar Pradesh State Electricity Board.

The leaders of various employees union, who addressed the rally, condemned the repressive measures led loose by the UP Government on striking employees. They strongly opposed the move to trifurcate the board, which would pave way for the privatisation of the power sector.

They also warned the Himachal Pradesh not to go ahead with its plan for the restructuring of the board as it was not in the interest of the state.

ABVP condemns school incident
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Jan 21 — The state unit of the ABVP has demanded an inquiry into the bizarre incident in which teachers of Government Senior Secondary School, Ghumarwin, had cut the hair of some students.

Condemning the incident, the parishad demanded immediate action against the Principal of the school and the PTI to prevent the recurrence of such incidents.