H I M A C H A L   P R A D E S H

Adventure tourism in Pong Lake to get boost 
NURPUR, Sept 9 — The Himachal Pradesh Government has decided to promote adventure tourism in Pong Lake on the foothills of Kangra district. Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister, while inaugurating the office premises of the Chief Engineer and a Housing colony of the Shah Nehar irrigation project at Moch in Jawali subdivision this afternoon, said the HP Tourism Development Corporation would launch a special tourist package for Pong Lake to tourism there. 

Users sore about poor Net services 
PARWANOO, Sept 9 — The members of the Parwanoo Industries Association are sore about the Internet services provided by the Department of Telecommunication in the area under an arrangement with the VSNL.

Question paper eludes student 
KUMARHATTI, Sept 9 — In a shocking incident a student was forced to waste his crucial chance due to the non-availability of a question paper with the examination staff. Sanjay, who appeared in the ongoing complementary 10 plus two examination, returned home without writing a single word on the answersheet as the examination staff reportedly did not receive the Sanskrit question paper from the education board. 

NSUI leader floats body 
SHIMLA, Sept 9 — The revolt against the leadership of the National Students Union of India, which led to mass resignation in Kangra, took a new turn with a section of the union floating an outfit, ostensibly to free the students from the “clutches of political parties”.  

Excise Dept bans home dist postings 
PALAMPUR, Sept 9 — The state government has decided not to post the Class I and II officers of the Excise and Taxation department at their home districts. According to official sources, even the Excise and Taxation Inspectors will not get home district postings in future. Notification to this effect is likely to be issued soon.

MPs donate 20 lakh to CM’s relief fund 
SHIMLA, Sept 9 — Mr Kripal Parmar and Ms Chandresh Kumari, both MPs, have contributed Rs 10 lakh each from their Local Area Development Fund towards the Chief Minister’s Flood Relief Fund.

Dhumal reviews working of reforms 
SHIMLA, Sept 9 — The Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, has stressed the need for regular in-service training to the officers with a view to bringing efficiency in the administration.

Adventure tourism in Pong Lake to get boost 
From Our Correspondent

NURPUR, Sept 9 — The Himachal Pradesh Government has decided to promote adventure tourism in Pong Lake on the foothills of Kangra district.

Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister, while inaugurating the office premises of the Chief Engineer and a Housing colony of the Shah Nehar irrigation project at Moch in Jawali subdivision this afternoon, said the HP Tourism Development Corporation would launch a special tourist package for Pong Lake to tourism there. In this package the tourists would be provided boating and fishing facility besides food. The package tour would cost Rs 1500 per tourist.

The Chief Minister earlier inaugurated an airconditioned adventure tourism cafeteria built at a cost of Rs 55 lakh at Pong Lake. He said Rs 1.12 crore had been spent on the new office premises. He lamented that the Punjab Government had not yet released any funds for its share in this prestigious project but the state government had taken the initiative to embark upon the construction of this project.

Mr Dhumal said the state government’s new project — Saraswati Bal Vidya Yojna — had been appreciated in the country and a few non-BJP states had followed this project.

He pointed out NABARD had for the first time sanctioned Rs 13 crore in the current year for this project. He revealed that the government envisaged reducing the weight of schoolbags. A new education pattern for primary classes was being formulated to reduce the weight of schoolbags.

Mr Dhumal said there was wide scope for horticulture in the state. He called on the youth to adopt diversified fruit crops to boost horticulture in the state. He disclosed that on the pattern of martyrs of Operation Vijay in Kargil, the state government had been giving Rs 3 lakh each to next of kin of those Army soldiers who were making the supreme sacrifice on the border and Rs 1 lakh was being given to kin of paramilitary forces personnel.

Mr Ramesh Dhawala and Mr Rajan Sushant, Irrigation and Revenue Ministers, respectively, also addressed the public meeting.

Users sore about poor Net services 
From Our Correspondent 

PARWANOO, Sept 9 — The members of the Parwanoo Industries Association are sore about the Internet services provided by the Department of Telecommunication in the area under an arrangement with the VSNL.

The Honorary General Secretary of the Parwanoo Industry Association said after receiving numerous complaints from the members of the association, he called upon the G.M. Telecom, Solan, to discuss the issue, but the G.M. refused to act and did not give any assurance. The users of Internet services of this area said the department should ensure proper trial of the new systems before making any changes. The users were suffering losses in their business transactions, which were being carried out via the Internet.

Question paper eludes student 
From Our Correspondent

KUMARHATTI, Sept 9 — In a shocking incident a student was forced to waste his crucial chance due to the non-availability of a question paper with the examination staff. Sanjay, who appeared in the ongoing complementary 10 plus two examination, returned home without writing a single word on the answersheet as the examination staff reportedly did not receive the Sanskrit question paper from the education board. He was the sole candidate for Sanskrit subject and had to sit idle for nearly one and a half hour in the examination centre of Government Senior Secondary School, Subathu, 19 km from here, yesterday.

According to information, he was asked to go to Solan’s examination centre by an official at the Subathu centre in order to appear in the paper. Sanjay, who was assured by official that be had talked to the staff of Solan examination centre in this regard, however, managed to reach Solan by around 4 p.m. He was refused permission to sit in the examination centre by the examination superintendent who termed it against the law of the board. Sanjay requested for a Sanskrit question paper to be handed to him so that he could answer it at the Subathu examination centre. But by the time he reached Subathu the time stipulated for the paper was over.

Meanwhile, Mrs Usha Gupta, Principal of the school, while refusing to comment on the issue, murmured that the matter had been forwarded to the education board.

NSUI leader floats body 
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Sept 9 — The revolt against the leadership of the National Students Union of India, which led to mass resignation in Kangra, took a new turn with a section of the union floating an outfit, ostensibly to free the students from the “clutches of political parties”.

The development has come as a jolt to the NSUI on the eve of the crucial elections to the Students Central Association being held after a gap of five years. Mr Sandeep Kumar, convener of the new set-up, Himachal Pradesh Students Union, said a non-political body was required to save the student community from “exploitation” by political parties. The three existing students bodies, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the NSUI and the Student Federation of India, were student wings of the BJP, the Congress and the CPM, respectively.

A one-time senior vice-president of the NSUI, Mr Sandeep Kumar claimed that the NSUI units at Kotshera, Rampur and Sanjauli colleges and Dr Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry had merged with the new union. Besides, prominent leaders of the NSUI like Mr Amit Pal, joint secretary of the Mandi district unit, Mr Sumit Khanna, a former general secretary of the Kangra district unit, and Mr Vikas Shukla, a former organising secretary of Hamirpur district had joined the body.

He claimed that a number of ABVP and SFI workers had also joined the body. The union would take a decision whether or not to contest the ensuing SCA elections tomorrow.

He said at the moment it was not constituting its units immediately and only district conveners were being appointed.

Meanwhile, the ABVP received a shot in the arm with the Bilaspur Students Union merging with it.

Excise Dept bans home dist postings 
From Our Correspondent

PALAMPUR, Sept 9 — The state government has decided not to post the Class I and II officers of the Excise and Taxation department at their home districts. According to official sources, even the Excise and Taxation Inspectors will not get home district postings in future. Notification to this effect is likely to be issued soon.

There was ban on the home district postings of the Excise and Taxation officers till 1998. The BJP government had relaxed the ban after a gap of 20 years.

Mr Parveen Sharma, who recently had taken over Excise and Taxation Minister in the state, announced to introduce changes in the department with an intention to root out corruption in the functioning.

Meanwhile, Mr Sharma told mediapersons here today that in the next four months he would implement his plan to overhaul the department which was major revenue earning agency of the state government.

MPs donate 20 lakh to CM’s relief fund 
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Sept 9 — Mr Kripal Parmar and Ms Chandresh Kumari, both MPs, have contributed Rs 10 lakh each from their Local Area Development Fund towards the Chief Minister’s Flood Relief Fund.

The staff of the Chief Medical Officer, Bilaspur, contributed Rs 1.54 lakh, Mandir Trust, Shri Naina Devi, Rs 5 lakh, Intactan Chemicals, Agra, Rs 1,50,000, Himachal Government Primary Teachers Associations, Bilaspur, Rs 2.17 lakh, Government Senior Secondary School, Ghumarwin, Rs 25,000 and Rotary Club, Hamirpur, Rs 21,000.

Ms Pratibha of the BJP Mahila Morcha, Sirmaur, donated Rs 21,000, Ms Vidya Devi Rs 10,000, the secretary of the Nagar Panchayat, Mandi, Rs 11,000 and the pradhan of the Shimla Muslim Welfare Committee, Rs 16,000.

Dhumal reviews working of reforms 
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Sept 9 — The Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, has stressed the need for regular in-service training to the officers with a view to bringing efficiency in the administration.

The Chief Minister, who was reviewing the working of administrative reforms and Himachal Institute of Public Administration, here yesterday said that the government was committed to provide responsive and transparent administration to the people which could be possible when officers and officials were imparted training to keep them abreast of the latest development in various fields, especially in the present competitive world.

Mr Dhumal said specialised courses in computer for officers and officials should be organised from time to time as the knowledge of computer was must in the present time of information and technology.

It should be ensured that any officer sent on foreign training contributes significantly to the field for which he had been given training.