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| Wednesday, March 15, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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Don’t
truncate power board: Sukh Ram |
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| Cong, BJP nominees file papers SHIMLA, March 14 — The ruling BJP nominee, Mr Kirpal Parmar and the Congress candidate, Mr Thakur Singh Bharmourie, filed their nominations for the lone Rajya Sabha seat for which election will be held on March 29. Lawyers abstain from work MANDI, March 14 — The Mandi District Bar Association, which has been abstaining from work since March 10, today resolved to continue the strike till March 17 as a protest against the proposed amendment of the Code of Civil Procedure, which it alleged would betray the ends of justice. Remote sensing unit inaugurated SOLAN, March 14 — Mr N.S. Gill, Chief General Manager, Himachal circle of the Department of Telecommunications, inaugurated a 2000-line remote sensing unit linked with the Solan telephone exchange at Kasauli yesterday.
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Don’t
truncate
power board: Sukh Ram SHIMLA, March 14 — Mr Sukh Ram, President, HVC, opposed the proposed restructuring of the state electricity board under power sector reforms and cautioned the government that the move would prove counter-productive. Participating in a debate on the Budget, the HVC leader said although most state electricity boards were in the red, restructuring these would only make things worse. He said the truncation of the state board into three autonomous corporations to take care of generation, distribution and transmission of power would only increase non-productive expenditure as each of these would have a separate administrative set up. Since the expenditure incurred by autonomous corporations were not scrutinised by House committees, government control would further slacken on these. He said the need was to improve the functioning of the board and make proper utilisation of the vast manpower. The board had over 42,000 employees on whom the government was spending Rs 30 crore monthly, but had only the 126 MW Larji and 16 MW Khaulli projects in hand, besides the 22 MW Ghanvi project which was nearing completion. He cautioned the government not to repeat the mistake of the Nathpa-Jhakri project while reaching agreements on the execution of the Parbati and Koldam projects. The state, despite being a partner in the Nathpa-Jhakri project, did not have an effective say in its management. The delay in starting work and the slow pace of execution had already cost the state dearly as the cost had escalated from the initial Rs 2500 crore to over Rs 10,000 crore, increasing the state’s equity by four times. He made a strong plea for mechanisation of the Public Works Department to accelerate the pace of development. Instead of recruiting more daily-paid workers, the effort should be to provide works to the youth on contract. The Chief Minister, he said, had presented the best possible Budget given the tight financial position of the state. He appreciated the resource mobilisation effort but urged the government not to burden small and marginal farmers. He also referred to the problem created due to the import of resin and other products under the open general licence (OGL) and urged the government to increase import duties on such items substantially to protect the economic interests of farmers. He said the non-Plan expenditure had been brought down to 9 per cent from 25.2 per cent in 1998-99. Mrs Vidya Stokes of the Congress criticised the imposition of taxes on farm inputs, petrol and diesel which, she said, would hit the farmers hard. The increase in sales tax on diesel from 8 to 12 per cent would have a cascading effect on the prices of all commodities. She lamented that there was no mention of steps to mobilise additional resources in the Budget which had failed to address to the basic problem faced by the state on the economic and developmental front. It also did not have anything to offer to women and the youth. Underlining the need for balanced development of all areas of the state, she said the government should undertake road, mapping, water supply, educational, health and veterinary schemes. She suggested that to ensure remunerative returns to growers, a network of cold storages and retail outlets in the cooperative sector should be set up for marketing of fruit and vegetables. Expressing concern at the decision of the government to allow felling of trees, she urged the Government to review the decision. She said while granting trees under the timber distribution rules, the government should ensure that the allottees planted at least four trees for each tree cut. She said the recently set up State Electricity Regulatory Authority would be of no use. It would be a failure like the Telecom Regulatory Authority at the Centre. Intervening in the debate, Mr Kishori Lal, Industries Minister, said the Budget reflected the government resolve to make the state economically and financially self-reliant. He came down heavily on the Congress for criticising the RSS and said that it was an organisation that had rendered invaluable service to countrymen. At this juncture, Mr Virbhadra Singh, Leader of the Opposition, raising a point of order, objected to the praise showered on the RSS and said a number of non-government organisations, the Army and other agencies had assisted in organising relief operations in Orissa. Giving all credit to the Sangh was nothing but "exaggeration", he said. He said Congress while governments had failed to exploit the hydel potential of the state, the Dhumal government had laid the foundations for making Himachal a power state by getting work started on 12 important projects, including the 2051 MW Parbati project and the 300 MW Chamera-II project. Mr Kaul Singh of the Congress said fresh taxes to the tune of Rs 24 crore had been imposed in the name of rationalisation. He said a poor state like Himachal could not afford parity in tax structure with prosperous state like Maharashtra. He said taxes must be imposed to generate resources, but only on those sections which had the capacity to pay. Mr Kaul Singh pointed out that the pace of industrialisation had slowed down as evident from the fact that the State Industrial Development Corporation had advanced loans to the tune of Rs 2 crore as against a target of Rs 10 crore for the current year. Moreover, over 60 per cent of the industrial plots allotted by the government had been given to non-Himachalis. He urged the government to review the decision to close down the offices of Divisional Commissioner as it would cause hardships to litigants. Besides, 25 Acts would have to be amended to implement the decision.
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125 posts
of doctor vacant SHIMLA, March 14 — As many 125 posts of doctor and 2376 posts of para-medical staff are lying vacant in the 12 districts of Himachal Pradesh. This information was given by the Health Minister, Mr J.P. Nadda, in a written reply to Mr Kaul Singh, Mr Gangu Ram Musafir and Mr Rangila Ram Rao (all Congress) in the Vidhan Sabha today. According to the information provided by the Health Minister, the highest number of 33 posts of doctors were lying vacant in Mandi district, followed by 27 in Chamba and 22 in Shimla as on February 29 this year. No post of doctor was vacant in Kangra district. Two hundred and seventy seven posts of staff nurse were vacant. Shimla district topped the list with 66 vacancies followed by 39 in Chamba and 35 in Sirmour. Shimla district also topped the list of vacancies of the post of pharmacist with their number being 64, followed by 33 in Chamba and 26 in Sirmour. There were 42 vacant posts of laboratory technician in Shimla district followed by 28 in Chamba and 25 in Sirmour. The other vacant posts included those of ward sister, male and female health worker and leprosy worker. The minister said that the Public Service Commission has been asked to fill 256 posts of doctors and efforts were being made to fill all vacant posts of other categories. In a written reply to a question of Mr Ram Lal Thakur and Mr Ishwar Dass (Cong), the minister informed them that seven district hospitals have been upgraded as zonal hospitals during the past two years. Fifty nine additional posts of medical, para-medical and other staff have been created for these institutions. The health minister in a written reply informed Mr Rangila Ram Rao (Cong) that the primary health centres at Thona, Bhaderwad and Bhambla in Mandi district were without doctors and para-medical staff. However alternative arrangements have been made by deployment of staff from the community health centre, Baldwara. The Minister of State for Primary Education, Mr Karan Singh, informed the House that 371 TGT and craft teachers appointed on contract basis against the JBT posts have been discharged from service. One hundred and seventy two of these posts have already been filled up and the remaining 199 posts were being filled by appointing Vidya Upasaks or otherwise. He said that 2204 posts of volunteer teachers have been regularised after providing special JBT certificates. The question was tabled by Mr Ram Lal Thakur (Cong). Many Congress members expressed concern over the vacancies at the primary school level. Mr Kaul Singh pointed out that as many as 1079 posts of JBT teachers were vacant in Mandi district. Mrs Viplove Thakur (Cong) suggested that the contracts of the teachers should be renewed so that the study of students was not affected. In a written reply to Mr Ishwar Dass (Cong), the Education Minister informed him that 40 voluntary lecturers have been regularised in service. Five hundred and nineteen TGT and craft teachers were being regularised in consultation with the Subordinate Services Selection Board. The PWD Minister in a written reply informed Mr Raghu Raj (Cong) and Mr Jai Ram Thakur (BJP) that 81,300 detonators were stolen from the magazines of the PWD Department at Kangra and Kinnaur. Detonators numbering 68400 were stolen from the magazine in Kinnaur and 12900 from Kangra. The police was investigating these thefts. The Minister of State, Revenue, in a written reply informed Mr Chander Kumar (Cong) that out of the 6,10,364 hectares under cultivation in the state, only 1,04,790 hectares was irrigated.
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Assault on
teacher condemned BILASPUR, March 14 — The district unit of the Himachal Pradesh State Government Teachers Union has condemned an assault on Mr Duni Chand at Bhamla in Mandi district, few days ago by some miscreants, while he was returning from duty and also the death of Mr Sehdev (52), a teacher at Nakhlehada. His body was found lying on the school ground on March 10. Mr Roshan Lal Sharma, district-president, at a meeting held here on Sunday urged the Chief Minister and the Education Minister to get the accused arrested. The members of the union said though an FIR had been lodged at Baliwaada police station, no arrest had been made so far. They also demanded a high-level probe into the death of Mr Sehdev. Both were known for taking "anti-copying" steps in examinations. The union said the government had to ensure the safety of staff who put their lives at risk at examination centres while strictly implementing the directives of the government. The members expressed surprise over an official statement which claimed that 40 bags of copying material were recovered by a raiding party at Government Senior Secondary School, Kandraur, where two students were caught copying and two teachers removed from the duty. A flying squad recommended re-examination of English paper at this school. While addressing
mediapersons here yesterday the union president, Mr
Roshan Lal Sharma, vice president, Mr Uttamdev Dogra and
the General Secretary, Mr Surinder Kumar Thakur said
their team visited Kandraur school and investigated the
matter and found their claim to be totally unfounded and
designed to malign the staff. |
Irate mob blocks Baijnath highway DHARAMSALA, March 14 (UNI) — All shops and business establishments remained closed in the temple town of Baijnath, 58 km from here today and agitating residents blocked the Pathankot-Mandi highway for nearly an hour in protest against the police’s failure to arrest two persons who allegedly stabbed a PCO owner in the town on Sunday evening. According to residents two persons had come to a local PCO, made a call and left without paying their bill. When the PCO owner asked for the money, the duo refused to pay. This resulted in a scuffle and the PCO owner was stabbed. According to the
reports, Sudhir Rathore, owner of the PCO,was stabbed and
his assistant Sudhir Mehta injured in the incident.
Police sources said that the two persons reportedly
involved in the incident were identified Jat Rana and
Kaku Rana. |
Teachers reject hike in allowance KANGRA, March 14 — The Himachal Pradesh Science Teachers Association has outrightly rejected the raise in their practical evaluation allowance from Rs 30 to 60 by the state government. The association has ridiculed the government's decision by terming it as a cruel joke. Reacting to the raise of just Rs 30 in 17 years, the state spokesman of the association, Mr Sukhpal Singh, said the BJP in 1983, then in the Opposition, had supported its demand for a raise of Rs 100. He lamented that the state Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, and MP Suresh Chandel had in principle agreed to a raise of Rs 200 on Punjab pattern. The spokesman said they had backtracked from their commitment. The association has
decided to meet on March 21 to further decide the course
of action. |
Cong, BJP
nominees file papers SHIMLA, March 14 — The ruling BJP nominee, Mr Kirpal Parmar and the Congress candidate, Mr Thakur Singh Bharmourie, filed their nominations for the lone Rajya Sabha seat for which election will be held on March 29. Mr Parmar accompanied by the Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, was the first to file his papers with the Returning Officer, Mr Ajai Bhandari. Four sets of papers were filed on behalf of Mr Parmar by Mr Dhumal, Mr Sukh Ram (HVC), Mr Kishori Lal, Industries Minister and Mr Mohinder Singh, PWD Minister. Two sets of papers were filed for Mr Bharmouri by Mr Virbhadra Singh, Leader of the Congress Legislative Party and Mr Gangu Ram Musafir. Scrutiny will be held tomorrow and March 18 is the last day for withdrawals.
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Lawyers
abstain from work MANDI, March 14 — The Mandi District Bar Association, which has been abstaining from work since March 10, today resolved to continue the strike till March 17 as a protest against the proposed amendment of the Code of Civil Procedure, which it alleged would betray the ends of justice. Lawyers demanded unconditional release of their colleagues. They also demanded action against police officials who resorted to a lathi charge on lawyers. The association condemned the "dictatorial" attitude of the Union Law Minister and the conspiracy to erode the autonomy of the legal institutions.
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Remote
sensing unit inaugurated SOLAN, March 14 — Mr N.S. Gill, Chief General Manager, Himachal circle of the Department of Telecommunications, inaugurated a 2000-line remote sensing unit linked with the Solan telephone exchange at Kasauli yesterday. He said the new facility would provide modern integrated services digital network to Kasauli subscribers. Mr Gill said a new 1000-line remote sensing unit will be installed in Shamti locality of the town. Telephones would be available on demand here after it is commissioned. The existing telephone exchanges at Dagshai and Bhumti would also be expanded shortly. New exchanges were planned for Kundlu, Dharampur Thana and Maan in Solan district and at Kando-Kansar in Sirmour district. 400 villages in Solan area would be provided with public telephones, while 20 villages situated in remote areas would be provided with satellite linked INMARSAT telephone.
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10-year
jail for rapist SHIMLA, March 14 — The Sessions Judge, Mr Surjeet Singh, today sentenced one Bahadur Singh to 10 years rigorous imprisonment for raping his cousin. The 21-year-old boy raped his 16-year-old cousin in Patsari village of Jubbal tehsil while she was grazing her cattle. The judge also ordered Bahadur Singh to pay a fine of Rs 5000.
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Sen
appointed SHIMLA, March 14 — Mrs Kanta Sood, president of the state unit of the Indian National Trade Union Congress, has appointed Mr Netar Singh Sen as president of the Mandi district INTUC Young Workers' Council. He has further been
authorised to constitute the district executive committee
of the council. |
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