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| Tuesday,
August 8, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Central team to visit HP today Residents panic as village sinks
School running
classes in open Illicit liquor
seized, 4 held Cong men to give
1 month’s salary |
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Students asked to
vacate hostels Four granted bail
in firing case College students
boycott classes 48 IMFL bottles
seized
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Central team to visit HP today SHIMLA, Aug 7 — A nine-member Central team comprising officials of the Ministries of Agriculture, power, transport and finance commission will tomorrow visit the flood-affected areas of Kulu, Shimla and Kinnaur to assess the loss to life and property caused due to floods in Sutlej, recently. The team will be headed by Joint Secretary, Agriculture, according to Mr A.K. Goswami, Chief Secretary. Referring to relief measures, he informed that helipads at Jangi and Ropa in Kinnaur district were made operational today. He said two sorties were made for air-lifting essential commodities to Jangi providing rations to eight villages of Moorang tehsil. He said essential commodities would be air-lifted tomorrow to Ropa covering areas of Sonam valley. In all, nine sorties were made today to air lift 138 quintals of essential commodities. So far over 75 tonnes of provision had been air-lifted to Kinnaur. He said the national highway had been restored for heavy vehicles up to Wangtoo today and the Wangtoo bridge would be thrown open for carrying heavy machinery by tomorrow, which would enable the Border Road Organisation and the Army to carry out road repair work beyond Wangtoo on the national highway. The Chief Secretary said Luri, Basdroh, Neogalseri and Wangtoo bridges were fully safe for vehicular traffic. He informed that four trolleys (jhullas) had been launched at Purbani, Khab, Ramni and Karcham, 15 trolleys and seven spans would be commissioned at various places connecting villages in Kinnaur within a week. He said restorations and repair works were being undertaken vigorously on various link roads, pedestrian and mule paths connecting villages in flood-affected areas of Shimla, Kulu and Kinnaur districts. He said priority was being given to connect villages with mule and pedestrian path so that essential commodities could reach the affected people on time. The food and supplies authorities informed that in order to meet emergent demands, 604 quintals of essential commodities had been air-lifted in 36 sorties of helicopters till today. In addition to this 537 quintals essential commodities had also been rushed by road to Hungrung tehsil of Pooh subdivision and Bhabhanagar of Nichar subdivision. The air-lifting of essential commodities would continue till adequate stock was stored for further distribution in affected areas. A plan had also been drawn to carry essential commodities on mules and head load to distribution points. In addition to this 300 LPG cylinders had also been despatched to Bhabanagar. Meanwhile, four more bodies were found today in Gobind Sagar in Bilaspur. In all 22 bodies had been found from the lake so far. The Gujarat Chief Minister, Mr Keshubhai Patel, has sent a cheque of Rs 1 crore to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund to help the state government speed up the relief, rehabilitation and restoration of damaged works in flood-affected areas in the state. Mr R.K. Negi, president of the State Cooperative Bank Employees Union also presented a draft of Rs 11,000 to Mr Dhumal and informed him that the employees of the bank would donate a day’s salary for providing relief to victims. Mr Dawa Tsering, Tibetan Welfare Officer, supported the demand of the state Chief Minister, that the government should take up issue with the Chinese Government to know the real cause of floods. |
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Residents panic as village sinks HAMIRPUR, Aug 7 — Sadoh village of the Nadaun revenue subdivision in the district and located in the foothills of the Shivalik ranges has started sinking due to the recent heavy rains and landslides. This village falls on the Nadaun-Dhaneta-Barsar highways and is an important road link for the people of the Nadaun and Barsar areas of the district. The village has a population of about 500. Due to heavy landslides, the road link between Nadaun, Dhaneta and Barsar has been completely damaged near Sadoh village. About 200 m of the road has been washed away. PWD officers say that it may take at least one month to reconstruct the road and restore traffic. The department has, however, constructed a small road atop a hill for the pedestrians. There is panic among villagers as they feel that the further rain may threaten the existence of the village. Most of the villagers have moved to safer places. The villagers say that officers come, meet them, and make plans, but nothing concrete takes place. They want a time-bound programme for providing succour. During a visit to the village a team of the Hamirpur-based reporters found that massive deforestation drive launched in the area for the past two decades and the location of the village on the downstream was the main reason behind the landslides. The area known for Khair and other wild trees was now witnessing their cutting and uprooting. Mr Kanshi Ram, one of the affected persons, said in 1996 his house was damaged and at that time the then Education Minister, Prof Narain Chand Prasher, and the district authorities had sanctioned them a piece of land just on the upper side of the village. However, when they started the construction of the house, people living in the forest area got the construction stopped. The villagers sought framing schemes for draining out the water coming from the hills towards the village side and the construction of retaining walls around the village. When contacted, a senior district officer said all-out efforts were on to save the villagers as well as the road connecting Dhaneta with Barsar. |
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Chamba needs more sanctuaries CHAMBA: Wildlife is one of the most valuable, attractive and fascinating gifts bestowed on the Himalayan region. From time immemorial, there has been a close link between wildlife and the man. Man in the beginning was dependent mostly on wildlife for his survival. With the passage of time he has started taming and domesticating certain animals. When the population was less and wildlife abundant, there was no need to protect wildlife but with the increase in population, preservation of wildlife became imperative. An official survey reveals that Chamba district was, at one time, rich in wildlife. Its thick, extensive and varied flora, gorges, inaccessible alpine areas provided a safe abode for wildlife. Gradually, the forests were cleared to make room for villages and cultivation and wildlife was greatly affected. This was followed by the rule of the “Rajas” who, having realised the significance of wildlife, enforced rules for its protection and reserved certain areas as their “shikargahs”. Areas in the interior were not easily accessible in the olden days and wildlife was pushed into the
far-flung corners of this wooded region which remained protected. But after Independence, more and more areas were opened by roads and the population shot up. the Himachal
Pradesh Government, however, has taken a number of steps to protect wildlife as there is a great necessity for the conservation of wildlife. At present, there are 32 sanctuaries and two national parks spread over an area of 4600 sq km. but still there are some areas, particularly in Chamba district, which are rich in wildlife and are not a part of any sanctuary or a national park. In Chamba district, the Sahoo forest range is one such area rich in wildlife and fit to be a sanctuary. Other areas in the district are Devikothi, Kalaban-Satrundi and Mansadhar bordering
Jammu and Kashmir. These areas have animals in abundance and there is almost no habitation on the fringe of these forests which makes them suitable for being included a part of a sanctuary or be made a new sanctuary. About a dozen people were arrested on the charge of poaching in Sahoo forest range last winter when they killed two “ghorals”. |
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School running
classes in open KUMARHATTI, Aug 7 — In the absence of a building, some classes of Senior Secondary School, Deothi, 29 km from here, are being held in the open. The situation has turned from bad to worse after the onset of the monsoon for students of class VII and plus I, who find it hard to attend their classes regularly. Due to lack of rooms the school management is running classes at the nearby temple, which is located on the Subathu-Solan road and at a considerable distance from the main school building. The students are a harassed lot because of the noise pollution of the traffic passing on the road. Resentment prevails among residents of Deothi and its surrounding areas from where most of the students are enrolled in the school. Due to lack of the basic infrastructure the school lacks the atmosphere congenial to the study, alleged a resident. The school building consists of 12 rooms which are supposed to cater to the needs of more than 450 students. The situation turns bad in the rainy season as students whose classes are run in the open have to adjust themselves in the rooms which are already packed to the capacity. The school was upgraded to the plus two level in June, last year, by the Education Minister and he had announced Rs 1 lakh for the school. Meanwhile, Mr S.K. Gupta, Principal of the school, asserted that the construction work on the new building would start soon as they had received a grant of Rs 4 lakh from the BDO recently. |
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Illicit liquor
seized, 4 held KUMARHATTI, Aug 7 — The Dharampur police has seized 673 pouches of country made liquor and 48 bottles of English liquor from a car (HIS-3249) at Kumahra, 4 km from here, last night. The police laid a naka around 8.30 p.m. and nabbed four persons on the spot along with the illicit liquor. Those arrested include Bharat Bhushan, driver of the car and Ravi Kumar, both residents of Krishna Nagar, Shimla, Avinash from Chandigarh and Sukhvinder Kumar from Nawanshahr in Punjab. The police has impounded the vehicle and a case under the Excise Act has been registered. In a separate incident a man was seriously injured when his scooter (DL-35-C-6769) collided head on with a mini bus (HP-14-1478) at Garhkhal, 15 km from here, last night. The injured was admitted in the Primary Health Centre,
Dharampur. |
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Cong men to give
1 month’s salary SHIMLA, Aug 7 — The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) has expressed anguish over the large-scale devastation caused by the recent rains in Himachal Pradesh, particularly the floods in the Sutlej which caused unprecedented havoc. Mr Virbhadra Singh, leader of the CLP, said the Congress was with those people who had lost their near and dear ones and suffered heavy loss. The need of the hour was that the people of the state should unitedly face the challenge posed by this calamity and provide relief to the affected people, he said. Each member of the CLP would donate one month’s salary for the purpose, he added. |
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Students asked to
vacate hostels KANGRA, Aug 7 — The administration of the Dr Rajender Prasad Medical Government College at Tanda, near here, today directed the striking students to vacate hostels by August 9, if they did not call off their six-day-old strike by tomorrow. The students have been on strike since August 2, demanding that the 17 girl students of the college be given hostel facilities on the campus. The girl students have been accommodated by the authorities in the polytechnic college hostel at Chaib, nearly 6 km from the campus. The boys of the college had earlier entered forcibly into the recently constructed hostels on the campus. |
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Four granted bail
in firing case SHIMLA, Aug 7 — A single Bench of the high court consisting of Mr Justice M.R. Verma has granted bail to Mr Sadanand Chauhan, who was arrested in connection with a firing incident at the local Snow View Lodge last month. The court also granted bail to three other accused in this case — Mr Nitin Chauhan, Mr Rakesh and Mr Ravinder — while seven other accused had already been released on bail from the court of District and Sessions Judge,
Shimla. |
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College students
boycott classes SHIMLA, Aug 7 — Members of the National Students Union of India today boycotted classes in Kotshera College in support of their demands. They also submitted a memorandum to the Vice-Chancellor, demanding immediate election to the Students Central Association and withdrawal of the fee hike. |
48 IMFL bottles
seized KASAULI, Aug 7 — As many as 48 bottles of Indian made foreign liquor and 675 pouches of
country-made liquor were seized by the police last night at
Dharmpur, about 15 km from here. Four persons were arrested by the Dharmpur police. They are: Bharat
Bhushan, Ravi Kumar, Avinash and Sukhvinder. They were carrying the contraband in an Ambassador car from
Chandigarh. |
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