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| Sunday, September 17, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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NHRC chief
for right to information Public enraged over burglaries CM distributes kisan passbooks BJP seeks clarification
from 13 members NSUI sweeps college polls |
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Woman thrown
out of house for dowry Disabled soldiers set to scale peak HP owes Rs 6 cr to
postal dept: CGM Sheep cross over into
J&K, trigger alert
International Ozone Day celebrations 
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NHRC chief
for right to information SHIMLA, Sept 16 — Mr Justice J.S. Verma, Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, today said that empowerment of the people with the ‘right to information’ and transparency were essential to ensure probity in public life and for holding those vested with power accountable for their actions. Delivering the ‘golden jubilee’ lecture to mark 50 years of the National Academy of Audit and Accounts, here, he said accountability was the key to ‘good governance’ and in a republican democracy like India where public power was derived from the people those exercising power must be held accountable to them and there should not be even an iota of
arbitrariness in it. The mechanism for enforcing accountability was provided in the Constitution through a system of checks and balances though it was not a strict separation of powers. While the primary task of the judiciary was the administration of justice through the rule of law and oversee the functioning of all instruments of governance to keep them within
their legitimate bounds, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India was meant to secure financial discipline in and ensure that there was no misuse or pilferage of public funds. Referring to discretionary powers Justice Verma said all discretion was capable of abuse and legal limits to every power must be found. Unfettered discretion was
inappropriate. Mr V.K. Shunglu, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, said that at the present time of rapid political changes the institutional structures, their transparency and strengths should not be allowed to be undermined. Their job was to manage the change and ensure that things did not go out of
hands. Mr B.K. Chattopadhyaya, Director General of the Academy, underlined the achievements of the institution which he said had grown manifold since its inception in 1994. |
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Public enraged over burglaries DHARAMSALA, Sept 16 — With not a single day passing without a burglary taking place in the town, the enraged public has decided to come out on the road against the police, if recoveries are not made within a week’s time. Residents of Dari, Barol, Sheila Chowk, Sidhbari and Shamnagar, put off their dharna and road blockade agitation, yesterday, on the assurance of the Transport Minister, Mr Kishan Kapoor, who had to personally come to assuage the feelings of the agitated public. The people, who had nabbed a gang of four thieves in Sidhbari and handed them over to the police, have given a week’s time to the police to make recoveries in the cases of burglaries that have taken place during the past two months. Even after the arrest of this gang hailing from Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh, there is no end to the burglaries taking place in the town. In fact, a question mark has been put on the efficiency and role of the police in interrogation and handling of thieves. “It is strange that these thieves, who had confessed in front of the public, that they had committed burglaries in the Dari and Barol areas, have gone back on their statement while in police custody,” quips Mrs Susheela Thapa, from whose house jewellery and other goods worth Rs 6 lakh were stolen. The people say that it is they who nabbed the gang of thieves which is the duty of the police, and the least that the police can do now is to make recoveries. A feeling of insecurity having gripped the residents, they undertake night patrolling in all the localities on their own. Instead of instilling confidence among the public, a senior police officer told the people that if nothing came out in a week’s time, they should forget about the burglaries”. “If the police cannot make us feel secure and safe, then what is the need to have them at all?,” contest the people. Mrs Susheela Thapa, Mrs Suman Mahajan and Colonel Punj, in whose houses the burglaries have taken place say that the police here has no provision of taking fingerprints or using sniffer dogs, in nabbing the thieves. They say that when they discovered that burglary had taken place in their houses, they did not touch or move a thing, so that fingerprints could be taken. On the other hand, the police blames the people for non-cooperation and keeping large amount of jewellery in their houses. “Despite our advice to the people and awareness campaigns on the electronic media that they should not leave jewellery and cash, while they are away from home, has not been taken seriously by the public,” says the SSP, Mr Prithvi Raj. The DSP (Headquarters), Mr Ram Lal, says that though the public is making a big hue and cry about the whole issue, but when it comes to cooperating with the police and becoming a witness, nobody is willing to step forward. He added that some local gang is behind these burglaries and with the help of the public, they could nab them. He disclosed that a mobile party is on 24-hour duty for this very purpose, apart from the regular patrolling being undertaken by the police in various parts of the town. |
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CM distributes kisan passbooks PALAMPUR, Sept 16 — Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said here today that the BJP-HVC government was committed to safeguard the interests of farmers.
Mr Dhumal was distributing kisan pass books to farmers at Bhawarna today under the recently amended provisions of the state Land Revenue Act. He said the kisan pass books being given to the farmers in the state had been made a valid legal document under the amended provisions of the Land Revenue Act. This would help farmers in getting the loans from banks and cooperative societies. The Chief Minister said in the past two-and-half year his government had taken number of steps for the development of Kangra district which had been neglected by the previous regime. Dr Rajinder Kumar Medical College, one of the important institutions of the north region set up at Tanda by the Congress government was on the verge of closure in the absence of funds and the Medical Council of India had refused to grant recoginisation to the institute in the absence of adequate infrastructure. However, his government initiated a dialogue with the Medical Council of India and got approval to run the new session of the college and admission were completed. Besides, his government sanctioned rupees nine crore in 1998 for the construction of new buildings and for the purchase of equipment. He denied the charge of former Chief Minister Vir Bhadra Singh that the state government was facing worst ever financial crises. Mr Dhumal said when he took over as Chief Minister in 1998 the state was in bad financial health. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee came to the rescue of the state and provided and aid of Rs 700 crore immediately to tide over the financial crises and provided liberal funds under other development programmes. KANGRA: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prof P.K. Dhumal today lambasted the Congress for its disinformation campaign. Prof Dhumal was addressing a public meeting at the local Polytechnic College after dedicating a Rs 90 lac auditforium to the people. He said that Rs 10.43 crore were spent on the
construction of laboratories, hostels and other buildings. The auditorium is spread over 850 square metres with 24x14 metre central hall. The Chief Minister decided to inaugurate the auditorium personally following a report in the August 21 edition of The Tribune ‘VIPs’ tussle delays auditorium opening’. He said the Congress had carried a disinformation campaign regarding the recent amendments made in the revenue law by his government without reading the amendments which were aimed at helping poor farmers. He distributed kisan passbooks to farmers of Kangra, Nagrota Bagwan, Shahpur and Dharamshala areas. He announced that 12,97,567 right holders in the state would be given kisan passbooks by March 31, next year. He said a Rs 10 crore scheme for the sewerage system of Dharamshala, Jawala Ji and Hamirpur had been included in the budgetary provisions of the 11th Planning Commission. He reiterated
his decision that Vivekananda Memorial Hospital, at Palampur would be set up and the things were progressing. He said Rs 17 crore had been earmarked for Tanda Medical College here for this year. |
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BJP seeks clarification
from 13 members SHIMLA, Sept 16 — The state BJP high command has taken notice of Press reports regarding dissidence in the party and is making inquiries to ascertain the reasons for the absence of certain ministers and legislators from the official party dinner held at the residence of Mr Praveen Sharma, Excise Minister, on September 11. Mr Jaikrishan Sharma, BJP President, has written letters to all 13 legislative party members who failed to make it to the dinner which was held after the meeting of office-bearers in accordance with the decision of the state executive. He said he was not aware of any parallel dinner hosted by some ministers and legislators and had read about it only in newspapers. According to reports, of the 13 legislators, six, including three ministers, attended a dinner hosted by Mr Krishan Kapoor, Transport Minister and supporter of Mr Shanta Kumar, Union Minister for Consumer Affairs. Besides Dr Ram Lal Markandey, lone minister of the Sukh Ram faction of the HVC, some other senior leaders of the BJP were reportedly also present at the dinner. The six, who had been feeling ignored by the party and the government, had met the Chief Minister, Prof P.K.
Dhumal, and Mr Jaikrishan Sharma in July and raised certain issues and grievances. One of their demands was that the “controversial” PWD Ministers, Mr Mohinder Singh, be removed from the Cabinet. They were reportedly unhappy over the party’s failure to take any action on the issues raised by them and had held the meeting to chalk out the future course of action. Mr Ganesh
Dutt, party spokesman, clarified that the letters were written only to know the reasons for their absence and were not show-cause notices. |
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NSUI sweeps college polls KANGRA, Sept 16 — The National Students Union of India (NSUI) last evening made a clean sweep in the Students Central Association polls at the local MCM DAV College. Tarun Kalra was elected president, Rochan Gupta vice-president, Harsh Mahajan general-secretary, and Manoj Thakur joint-secretary. At Pandit Anant Ram Sanatan Dharam College, Baroh, the four posts of the office-bearers, were captured by independent candidates unanimously. Lal Singh was elected president, Sonia vice-president, Amit Kumar general-secretary, and Uma Kant joint-secretary. SUNDERNAGAR:
The Student Federation of India (SFI) on Friday won all seats of office-bearers in the students’ elections of Maharaja Laxman Sen Memorial College. Bhupesh Kumar was elected president, Harjeet Kaur vice-president, Rajneesh Gautam general secretary and Krishan Chand joint secretary. UNA:
The ABVP won all student council seats in DAV College, Daulatpur Chowk, and Maharana Pratap Government Degree College, Amb, and lost all seats to the SFI in SVSD College, Bhatoli. It also won the posts of president and joint secretary in Government Postgraduate College, Una. The SFI won the posts of vice-president and secretary in Government College, UNA, In Government College, Una, Rajeev Varma was elected president, Amit Lath vice-president, Navin Kumar secretary and Deepika Sharma joint secretary. In SVSD College, Bhatoli, Rohit Sharma was elected president, Sorabh Sharma vice-president, Shubh Kuwar Mann secretary and Veenit Thakur joint secretary. In DAV College, Daulatpur Chowk, Manoj Sharma was elected president, Vijay Kanwar vice-president and Ashwani secretary. In Maharana Pratap Government College, Amb, Anil Kumar was elected president, Baljinder vice-president, Kanchan secretary and Nisha Jaryai joint
secretary. |
Woman thrown
out of house for dowry UNA, Sept 16 — Ms Supriya, daughter of a local industrialist, in a complaint to the Superintendent of Police, Una, alleged harassment by her in-laws who reside at Panchkula. In her complaint she said she was married on October 1, 1998, and soon afterwards her in-laws started harassing her. She was even thrown out of her in-laws’ home when she failed to meet their demand for dowry, which increased four-fold in the past two years. She said her in-laws were demanding Rs 10 lakh in cash. She was beaten up last on September 13 and thrown out of the house. Her in-laws did not even allow her to take her 15 month-old daughter with her. In her complaint she urged legal action against her in-laws and that she be given the custody of her daughter. The girl’s father said he spent lakhs of rupees on the marriage of his daughter and gifted a Maruti Esteem car to her husband, but despite this her in-laws were torturing her. |
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Disabled soldiers set to scale peak MANALI, Sept 16 — The mountaineering expedition team of handicapped soldiers, all set to scale the 6162-m Mt Gangstang. The team members are getting trained at Palchan, the army transit camp 9 km from here, since September 12. Despite having lost limbs in various operations launched by the Army, the members are determined to scale the Mt Gangstang peak in the tribal district of Lahaul and Spiti under the leadership of Major Som Prakash, formerly an instructor in High-Altitude Warfare School (HAWS), Gulmarg. The team of handicapped soldiers consists of Major S.P. Sharma, Sub. T.B. Thapa, 58 GTC, Hav. Joginder Singh 21 Jat, Hav. Subhash Singh, 28 Punjab, L/Nk S.B. Gurang, 58 GTC, Sep. Jatinder Singh, 28 Punjab, Hav. Harpal Singh 17 Jat, Sep. Sanjay Kumar 17 Jat, Sep. Gopal Sharma, 17 Bihar, Sep. Sophin Kujur, 21 Bihar and Sep. Ranbir Singh, 21 Jat. Limbs of five members have been amputated and four others suffer from gunshot wounds and splinter injuries. The remaining two have other disabilities suffered during Operation Vijay in Kargil, Operation Rakshak, Operation Meghdoot Siachen and counter-insurgency operations. On taking up such a challenging task, Major Sharma disclosed that about a month back, he noticed on TV a handicapped person attempting to climb a hill by taking bushes in the grip of his hands. This motivated him to organise a mountain expedition for the disabled soldiers. He revealed that of the 19 soldiers who offered to participate in this expedition, only 10 were selected on the basis of their physical disability, operational casualty and mental make-up. The artificial limbs provided to the team members have been specially modified for this expedition. The team would be accompanied by a four-member rescue team from HAWS and two doctors — Col D.C. Thakur and Major S. Naskar. A special communication detachment equipment with long-range communication would assist them. |
HP owes Rs 6 cr to
postal dept: CGM SHIMLA, Sept 16 — The Himachal Government owes over Rs 6 crore to the Department of Posts on account of reimbursement of losses incurred by 408 branch post offices in the state. Stating this at the first meeting of the newly-constituted Postal Advisory Committee held here yesterday, Mr Vijay Bhushan, Chief General Manager, Himachal Circle, said the state was imposed to partly meet the losses in case of the post offices where the income was less than 15 per cent of the expenditure. However, it had not paid anything since 1995 on this account. He said during the current financial year, seven new extra-departmental post offices and sub-post offices would be opened in the state, besides 50 more "panchayat sanchar seva kendras. The counter operations of Head Post Offices at Bilaspur, Mandi and Kulu would be computerised and those at Dharamsala, Sundernagar, Nahan and Dehra would be fully modernised. For speedy transmission of money orders through satellite network, a high-speed VSAT system would be shortly set up in
Shimla, he added. |
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Sheep cross over into
J&K, trigger alert CHAMBA, Sept 16 — After militants it’s now the turn of sheep and goats to head for J & K. Nearly 150 goats and sheep grazing in Siknu Dhar adjoining Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir are reported to have gone missing and may have crossed the border into Kashmir on Thursday night according to unofficial reports reaching Chamba. According to unconfirmed sources, these goats and sheep belonged to shepherds of Bhatoon village near the state border. Eight shepherds of Bhatoon who set out to search for their livestock on Friday morning have not yet returned home. The sources confirmed that the livestock is believed to have crossed over to J&K through Chhattar Pass at an altitude of about 3100 metres and there is apprehension that someone may have stolen the animals. The sources revealed that a report in this connection had been lodged with the Kihar police station along the state border. No competent authority was available to confirm the incident till the time of filing the story. Meanwhile, it is officially learnt that security forces deployed along the borders have rushed to the area. |
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International Ozone Day celebrations PARWANOO, Sept 16 — The two-day International Ozone Day celebrations organised by the National Research and Technology, Consortium
(NRTC), Parwanoo, concluded here today. Students of DAV School National Public School and Government Senior Secondary School took part in the
celebrations. Mr Sanjay Sharma Assistant Commissioner of Parwanoo, was the Chief Guest of the function. Students took part in slogan and essay writing competitions yesterday. A procession was also taken out by them in the town for creating mass awareness. They were carrying banners like “use ozone friendly products”, Sun is killer without ozone” and “lets help, save the ozone layer”. Sanjay Sharma while addressing students and the guests, stressed the need of protection of ozone layer. Dr
S.K. Sinha, Sr Scientist and in charge of the NRTC, Parwanoo told that the day has been dedicated for creating awareness about the dangers of ozone depletion. A meeting was held between the representatives of the local Parwanoo Industries Association, government officials and
representatives of various Institutions to discuss the ways and means of protecting the ozone layer. The chief guest also announced the names of the students who won the prizes in the competition. In the essay competition, Shivangi Thakur from NPS won the first prize, Mahesh Thakur from NPS stood second and Sandeep Rawat from Government Senior Secondary School was third. In the slogan writing competition, Anushree Mukherjee from DAV won the first prize Reeta Devi from Government Senior Secondary School stood second and Navita Thakur from NPS was third. |
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Holiday cancellation
resented KANGRA, Sept 16 — Resentment prevails among state government employees of five subdivisions of the district over the cancellation of the restricted holiday today on account of “sair” in Kangra Dharamsala, Jaisinghpur, Palampur and Baijnath subdivisions in view of the Chief Minister’s visit to the town and Bhawarna in connection with the distribution of the kisan pass books among farmers. “Sair”, a local festival of the Kangra valley is marked by the visit of daughters to their father’s house and enjoy sair sweet bread, being prepared at home. |
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Ragging victims
seek CM’s help SHIMLA, Sept 16 — Having faced the menace of ragging, some fresh students of Indira Gandhi Medical College here have sought the intervention of the Chief Minister, Prof P.K. Dhumal, for strict enforcement of the anti-ragging law. They have alleged that the police turned a blind eye to the beating they were receiving almost daily at the hands of their seniors. |
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