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| Thursday, May 25, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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‘Review’
optic fibre scam |
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| PM coming to
Manali on May 28 SHIMLA, May 24 — The Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, will come to Manali for a 10-day visit to the state on May 28. Enteritis alert in HP SHIMLA, May 24 — With the coming of summer, a red alert has been declared for the health officials to control spread of gastroenteritis in the state.
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‘Review’
optic fibre scam SHIMLA, May 24 — The Himachal government has asked the Enforcement Department to review on merit, the cases of alleged irregularities in the laying of optical fibre telephone cable which were registered against some close relatives of the HVC(S) chief, Mr Sukh Ram, during the Congress regime. Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal, told reporters here today that the relatives of Mr Sukh Ram named in the FIR had submitted a representation alleging that the cases were registered against them due to political vendetta by the previous Congress government headed by Mr Virbhadra Singh. The Chief Minister said that the Enforcement Department would take a final decision whether the cases were genuine or for only harassing relatives of Mr Sukh Ram. He said that Mr Sukh Ram’s relatives had also pointed out that communications being a central subject the state Enforcement Department was not competent to take action in the matter. Replying to questions regarding Mr Virbhadra Singh’s allegation that Mr Dhumal was trying to tarnish his image by making attempts to implicate him in the khair wood scam, the Chief Minister said that the statement of the Congress leader was “prejudiced”. The BJP government will not spare any culprit, but at the same time would not harass innocent persons due to political considerations. He said that the Vigilance and Enforcement Departments had been ordered to dispose of cases quickly. Mr Dhumal said that he had received the resignation of Mr Des Raj, a ruling BJP MLA from the chairmanship of the Finance Commission, and would take a final decision on it only when the latter (MLA) met him. Moreover, Mr Des Raj has written that he was resigning under pressure of his supporters in the party. Mr Des Raj had resigned to protest against what he alleged as unfair organisational elections. Mr Dhumal hoped that the election for the state chief of the BJP would be unanimous. Referring to the recent episode of breakdown of the official car en route Kangra which had annoyed the Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Mr Shanta Kumar, he said that a complete report had been received from the Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, on the incident and it had been decided to station permanently a car of the General Administration Department (GAD) at Kangra for the use of Mr Shanta Kumar whenever he visited his constituency. He said that the fault was not intentional and the car of the Education Board sent for duty with Mr Shanta Kumar from the Dharamsala to Pathankot Railway station suddenly developed some snag near the Chakki bridge whereafter he sat in a vehicle of some BJP worker to reach Palampur. Mr Dhumal said that he
discussed the matter with the Chief Secretary, Mr A.K.
Goswami, today. The report of the DC said that on the
same day another central Minister, Mr Manohar Joshi, was
to tour Chamba and some vehicles had to be kept at his
disposal. The official funeral of the Congress leader,
Kanwar Durga Chand, was also done that day and some
vehicles were detailed there. The Additional Deputy
commissioner, had also come to Rampur for some court
appearance. |
300 cr for
Bilaspur rail track SHIMLA, May 24 — The Railways has approved an investment of Rs 300 crore for the construction a broad gauge track to connect Bilaspur and Beri in Himachal Pradesh with the Ambala-Nangal-Una mainline. It will be the first major broad gauge line in the state and with it the process of opening up of the interior areas of the state would be initiated. Earlier, the Railways had approved Rs 50 crore for the project but Mr P.K. Dhumal, Chief Minister, raised the matter with Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee and got the investment enhanced to Rs 300 crore. Mr Dhumal said eventually the rail line would be extended to connect Mandi on one side and Rampur in Shimla district on the other. He said the new rail track would not only help in movement of material and passengers in the Sutlej valley but also ensure speedy construction of major hydroelectric projects in the state, particularly the Parbati, Kol Dam and Rampur projects. He said it would also go
a long way in checking environmental pollution caused due
to heavy movements of trucks which carry cement and other
material and also reduce traffic congestion on the
Bilaspur-Kiratpur section of the Chandigarh-Manali
national highway. |
PIL on red
lights: govt to file reply SHIMLA, May 24 — A Division Bench of the Himachal Pradesh High Court consisting of the Chief Justice, Mr C.K. Thakkar and Mr Justice L.S. Panta today directed the state government to file a detailed reply within three weeks on public interest litigation restraining the misuse of red lights and flag rods by government functionaries and individuals. The petitioner, Dr
Sanjiv Sharma, has moved the petition to stop the
indiscriminate display of red lights on motor cars and
unauthorised use of red lights and flag rods in vehicles
owned by government departments and autonomous bodies and
indiscriminate playing to vehicles on all types of roads,
including sealed as well as restricted roads and to
enforce the notification of the government dated December
22, 1998, issued by the Chief Secretary whereby it was
resolved to launch a special drive throughout the state
to take action under the provisions of the law against
the offending vehicles and their users. |
600
small-scale units planned CHAMBA, May 24 — The Himachal Government has decided to set up 600 small and cottage industrial units in the state in the current year. Mr Kishori Lal, Himachal Industries Minister said here today that the government also had planned to set up 2400 handicrafts units in the state for creating employment opportunities for 5200 persons. On the uplift of villagers the Minister said that to increase employment avenues in rural areas, industries-based on handloom and silk would be given preference. He said that for this purpose, 1800 part-time and 1800 wholetime jobs would be created by setting up handloom units adding that seven lakh mandays would be generated under the silk production programme. The Minister informed that 178 large and medium scale and 28000 small and micro scale units were functioning in the state on which Rs 2650 crore had been invested thereby providing employment to 44000 people of the state. The Minister stated that
the climate of Bhattiyat area in Chamba district was
suitable for tea plantation and efforts would be made to
motivate the tea growers to establish tea estates in the
tough alpline zone of Bhattiyat. If would be a
steptowards generating jobs for the local residents. |
HPU to end
evening law classes SHIMLA, May 24 — Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) has decided to close down the evening classes in law from the ensuing session. The decision was taken following the latest directive of the Bar Council of India that in case an institution is running both day and evening classes, then it is necessary to close down the evening session. A spokesman for the university clarified that prospectus were sold to students on the condition that their admission to LLB first semester would be subject to approval of the Bar Council as the matter of evening classes was under consideration. The application fee sent
by the student was being returned to them on the
addresses mentioned in their forms. |
PM coming
to Manali on May 28 SHIMLA, May 24 — The Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, will come to Manali for a 10-day visit to the state on May 28. The Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal, said that during his stay at Manali, Mr Vajpayee would lay foundation stone of the 800 MW Kol Dam hydroelectric project near Sundernagar on June 4 or 5 and would go to Leh on June 7. His visit to the tribal areas of Lahual-Spiti was yet to be finalised. Mr Dhumal said that the
Chief Justice of India, Mr Justice Adarsh Sein Anand,
would arrive on a four-day visit at Chail on May 31. He
would also come here for a day or two. |
Enteritis
alert in HP SHIMLA, May 24 — With the coming of summer, a red alert has been declared for the health officials to control spread of gastroenteritis in the state. This was disclosed by the Director of Health Services, Dr S. R. Chauhan, here today after a high level meeting of programme officers of the department. A special cell has been set up in the Health Department to monitor cases of gastroenteritis and take steps for prevention of its epidemic.
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Election
set aside SHIMLA, May 24 — Mr D.D. Sharma, Sub Divisional Officer (Shimla rural), set aside the election of Mr Gopal Sharma, member from Malyana ward of Mashobra panchayat samiti, here today. A petition challenging
his election was filed by Ms Poonam Joshi. |
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