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| Friday, June 23, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Cong
to seek Dhumal govt’s dismissal |
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Organisational poll
process of Cong starts
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Cong to
seek
Dhumal govt’s dismissal SHIMLA, June 22 — The state unit of the Congress will demand the dismissal of the Dhumal government on the basis of the charge sheet being prepared by it. Stating this here today, Mr Sat Mahajan, HPCC chief, said the charge sheet was in the final stages and there was enough incriminating material to seek the dismissal of government. He said the Kaul Singh committee, set up for framing the charge-sheet, would hold its last meeting tomorrow and complete its task shortly. The party would submit the charge-sheet to the President of India and demand the sacking of the coalition, Mr Mahajan said. He said the BJP was a divided house. The factional fight had come to the fore with the rally at Indora yesterday, which was in fact a show of strength by the Shanta Kumar faction. The BJP-led government would crumble under its own weight, he added. The HPCC chief stated that the BJP was incapable of running the government as evident from its repeated reversal of decision. Regarding the re-entry of Mr Sukh Ram, HVC supremo, into the Congress, Mr Mahajan said there was no question of it as long as he continued to support the Dhumal government. He said all options were open and a decision would be taken in the interest of the party, once the HVC leader quits the coalition. He said the downfall of
the BJP had begun after its humiliating defeat in the
byelection to the Solan municipal council. |
Govt
protecting Mandyal, says Prasher SHIMLA, June 22 — Mr N.C. Prasher, a former minister, has charged the Dhumal government with protecting Mr B.R. Mandyal, a BJP legislator against whom allegations of rape and criminal assault had been levelled by two maid servants, and demanded a judicial inquiry into the matter. Talking to reporters here today, Mr Prasher alleged that the police investigation in the first case was turning out to be a one-sided affair and even mediapersons were being threatened by those trying to protect Mr Mandyal. The vehicles of mediapersons covering the incident were reportedly being intercepted by the police which was a clear proof of bias in favour of the accused. The government’s intention, he said, had been exposed in the second case in which a statement of the complainant, denying the allegations levelled by her at a press conference, had been recorded under Section 164 before the magistrate even though no FIR was registered against the accused. This, Mr Prasher said, was patently illegal. He said in such a
situation police inquiry would not carry even an iota of
conviction with the people who were agitated on the
issue. The Chief Minister should immediately refer the
inquiry to some impartial agency, preferably a judicial
authority, if he wanted to dispel the general impression
that the government was protecting the accused and
denying justice to the hapless women. |
Lack of
bus
service to Dagshai resented KUMARHATTI, June 22 — Residents here have resented the failure of the authorities concerned to increase the bus service to Dagshai. They alleged that no concrete steps had been taken so far in this regard in spite of repeated representation to the administration. Dagshai, which is 3 km from here is a C-grade cantonment having a population of 3,000. There are two link roads which connect it to the Kalka-Shimla National Highway No. 22, one is from here and the other is from Dharampur. But these days only one bus service is available to Dagshai and that also has an odd timing. Mr Raj Kumar Garg, an elected member of the Dagshai Cantonment Board, alleges that in the absence of a bus service the residents are harassed lot. Dagshai has some of the best residential schools of the North India, including Army Public School and Dagshai Public school. Lack of bus service from here and from Dharampur has added to the woes of the commuters, mainly those who are employed in these schools. The district administration is perhaps unaware of the hardships being faced by the commuters. Mr Kulwant Rai Gupta, a retired MES employee, said there was a private bus service available last year, but it had been discontinued. The residents had
submitted a request letter to the Regional Transport
Office in this connection. But till this date nothing had
been decided in this regard. |
Kangra facing water shortage KANGRA, June 22 — Parts of the town and its suburbs have been facing acute water shortage due to the alleged mismanagement of the IPH Department. Residents lodged a protest at the SDO, IPH, office here today. Ms Suman Verma, municipal councillor of old Kangra, along with a large number of women from the old township held a protest demonstration in front of the SDO’s office here today. She alleged that old Kangra town has been without water for the past two months and the authorities concerned were being indifferent to their plight. She threatened that if the water supply was not restored residents of the town would block the traffic on the Dharamsala-Hoshiarpur national highway in front of the SDM office tomorrow. Neither the SDO, IPH, nor the Junior Engineer were available for comments. Meanwhile, residents of Vivekananda Vihar here have also resented the water shortage. The protesting residents
visited the SDO’s office here today to lodge their
protest. They alleged that a high-power motor which was
earlier used for the water supply was not being pressed
into service for unknown reasons. They threatened to
block Matoor-Shimla national highway at Ujjain tomorrow
if normal water supply was not restored. |
Virbhadra told to file rejoinder SHIMLA, June 22 — The High Court of Himachal Pradesh has granted time to Mr Virbhardra Singh and Mrs Asha Kumari to file a rejoinder to the reply of the state by July 10 and listed the petition challenging the Kainthla Commission on July 11. These directions have been issued by a Division Bench of the high court consisting of the Chief Justice, Mr C.K. Thakkar, and Mr Justice L.S. Panta on a petition challenging the functioning of the Kainthla Commission which has been constituted to inquire the incidents of alleged lawlessness on March 5 and 6, 1998 regarding kidnapping of Mr Ramesh Chaudhry. Counsel for the commission, Mr Suresh Bhardwaj, has said in his reply that the commission has reviewed its previous orders and has allowed all 12 deponents to be cross-examined by the petitioner and further the commission is not a contesting party. The role of the
commission is altogether different as it is to inquire
the misuse of official machinery into the alleged
incident of lawlessness. Commissioner Sanan’s report
was not final as he suggested an inquiry under the
Commissions of inquiry. |
Organisational poll process of Cong
starts SHIMLA, June 22 — The process of the organisational poll in the Congress has finally got underway with the completion of membership. Giving details of the membership at a press conference here today, Mr Hanumant Rao, Chairman of the state election authority, said the total number of members had swelled from 12,000 to 17,961. He said new members enrolled here after would not be eligible to participate in the poll. He said he along with two other members of the election authority, Mr K.D. Sultanpuri and Mr Mangat Sharma, would hold consultations with all senior leaders before constituting the scrutiny committees and appointing the returning officers. The scrutiny of members
would be completed by July 10. |
HPU hikes fee for
affiliation SHIMLA, June 22 — Himachal Pradesh University has effected a sharp hike in the fee for affiliation and inspection of institutions. The application fee for affiliated colleges has been increased from 1,000 to Rs 5,000 and inspection fee for B.Ed colleges from Rs 10,000 to Rs 35,000. In the case of dental, medical and Ayurvedic colleges the fee has been increased from Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000. The application fee for association of Sanskrit colleges has been increased from Rs 500 to Rs 1,500 and for inspection from Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000. The registration fee for Ph.D has been increased to Rs 1,000. The prospectus for medical college, including the examination fee, has been priced at Rs 700. Earlier, it used to cost Rs 150, but the candidates were also required to pay Rs 500 as examination fee. The re-evaluation fee has been revised to Rs 50 from Rs 30 per paper. The fee for evaluation of Ph.D thesis has been hiked from Rs 700 to Rs 2,000. The fee for re-admission has been increased from Rs 6 to Rs 100. The state unit of the
Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad has criticised the
university for effecting a steep hike in various fees and
other charges. |
Balraj Sahni awards given SHIMLA, June 22 — Rajinder Awasthi, Editor of Kadambini, a Hindi Magazine, and Jaidev Virodhi, a press reporter, were presented the annual Balraj Sahni Award for Excellence in Journalism by Mr Vishnu Kant Shastri, Governor, here today. Twelve other persons
were also given awards instituted by the All-India
Artists Association for outstanding contribution in the
field of art, literature and administration. They
included Mr Jaiwanand Jiwan, Mr J.R. Verma and Mr Suresh
Gupta for administration, Mrs Prem Lata Thakur
(cooperative movement), Mr Premi (acting), Mr Kukreja
(education), M.L. Kausar and Shobhna Kausar (classical
music and dance) Ritish Babu, Priyanka Vasu, Bhavya and
Sumi Pillai were conferred the Gopal Krishna Award for
contribution in the field of dance. |
HC’s
directive to SPs SHIMLA, June 22 — The High Court of Himachal Pradesh today directed all the Superintendents of Police in the state to record ‘zimnies’ as per law and police rules and not to report any proceedings of the court in zimnies. These directions were issued on a contempt petition by a Single Bench consisting of Mr Justice K.C. Sood. On May 18, the high court issued a show-cause notice to a head constable, Mr Nirmal Dass on a bail application when the court observed that in zimnies he was recording what had transpired in court on various dates.
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Govt urged to release arrears SHIMLA, June 22 — Non-government college lecturers have urged the government to immediately release arrears of the revised UGC pay scales. A deputation led by Mr R.S. Chandel, president of the H.P. Non-government College Lecturers Association, yesterday met the Finance and Education Secretaries and demanded immediate release of the arrears which have been due since January, 1996.
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2 study centres approved SHIMLA, June 22 — To reach far-flung areas in the state Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has sanctioned two special study centres for Himachal Pradesh. One centre has been
approved for Doora Kwar in Shimla district and the other
has been sanctioned at the Himachal Research Institute,
Chakmoh, Hamirpur district. |
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