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| Thursday, September 21, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Delegates repose faith in PCC
chief HPU students’ body poll today Plan to develop Palampur Tourism week from September 21 Shifting of centre for handicapped opposed SUNDERNAGAR, Sept 20 — The Educational -cum -Vocational Training Centre for the deaf, dumb and blind which was functioning in the building of the Welfare Department here since December 2, 1994, was shifted to Ratti village in Balh valley yesterday without any written orders. |
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Hamirpur to have
computerised booking counter Federation supports striking
officers J.P. Gupta is Principal Adviser
(Health) 3 killed in mishap
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Delegates repose faith in PCC
chief NURPUR, Sept 20 — The elections to the Nurpur Block Congress Committee (BCC), native Assembly segment of the Pradesh Congress chief, Mr Sat Mahajan, passed off peacefully today at Bassa Waziran. Significantly, all Congress workers of 100 polling booths of this segment were accommodated in the party’s grassroots fold by nominating booth president or booth delegate. As many as 192 of the 200 block delegates reportedly participated in the election process. Mr Rajan Diwan, Assistant Returning Officer, who conducted the election, said 178 delegates had given a signed statement to him reposing full faith in Mr Mahajan to propose and nominate the office-bearers of the party unit. Meanwhile, Mr Mahajan
has proposed the name of Mr Ved Pathania, outgoing BCC
President, as PCC delegate. He said Mr Ashok Sharma,
Chairman, Nurpur Block Samiti, and Ms Krishna Mahajan,
President of the local municipal council, had been
nominated as delegates of the District Congress
Committee. |
HPU students’ body poll today SHIMLA, Sept 20 — Tight security arrangements have been made to ensure peaceful elections to the Students Central Association (SCA) of Himachal Pradesh University. The polling is slated for tomorrow. The police will be deployed in each of the 30-polling booths at which 2442 students will cast their vote to elect four office-bearers of the association. Elections to the SCA, which were discontinued following the murder of Mr Kuldeep Dhatwalia, a leader of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), are being held after a gap of six years. The main fight is between the well-entrenched Students Federation of India (SFI) and the ABVP, which is in high spirits following its spectacular victory in elections to the SCAs of various colleges held last week. Although the National Students Union of India has also fielded candidates for all four posts its position had been weakened considerably due to the emergence of Himachal Students Union (Himsu) a parallel body floated by its disgruntled leaders. The newly formed Himsu is not contesting the elections but its support could make or mar the prospects of either of the two main contenders. The SFI, which has been dominating the SCA of the campus for the past about two decades, has made saffronisation of the university, commercialisation of higher education and fee hike as the main issues. The rival ABVP on the other hand is urging the students to throw out the SFI to prevent criminalisation of student politics. It blames the leftist outfit for promoting the cult of violence in the peaceful hill state which claimed the lives of four student leaders. The main contest for the post of president is between Sandeep Chaudhary (SFI) and Vikram Banshtu (ABVP), though Rajiv Kimta (NSUI) is also in the fray. The three contenders for the post of general secretary are Kuldeep Chamyal (SFI), Narinder Attary (ABVP) and Vijay Kumar (NSUI). For vice-president, there are Yogesh Ranta (SFI), Praveen Kumar (ABVP) and Digvijay (NSUI) and for joint secretary Anant Kumar (SFI), Priyanka Bhardwaj (ABVP) and Richita Verma (NSUI) are there. The university authorities did not allow much time for canvassing and enforcing a code of conduct to ensure peaceful election. The strategy paid off as elections were held in the 50-odd colleges peacefully and there was no untoward incident during campaigning in the campus which came to a close at 9.30 a.m. today. Polling will commence at 9.30 a.m. and close at 2.00 p.m. The result will be declared by the evening. |
Plan to develop Palampur PALAMPUR: The Norwegian Government has agreed to draw up and finance a development plan for the Palampur area under a project aided by NORAD. Recently two Norwegian experts visited the town and imparted specialised training to, among others, officials of the state’s Town and Country Planning Department and the Municipal Council. The training programme included a series of lectures on basic techniques and principles of planning, discussion and feedback from the trainees. The experts also held discussions with local residents to get their views on the proposed project, which will be the first of its kind to be launched here by the Government of Norway. A number of residents, including retired officers and engineers, also met the experts and made suggestions on the development of the hill town, which was established by the British. Various panchayats like Ghuggar, Aima, Bundla and Khalet have also been involved in the process of drawing up of the plan. The Norwegian experts were of the view that people’s response to the idea was positive. They laid emphasis on interaction with the public before the finalisation of the development plan and effective implementation of the proposals at the government level. The experts wanted the
state government to frame the development policy and
planning strategy. They also suggested that a meeting of
various government functionaries should be organised
under the chairmanship of the Divisional Commissioner,
Kangra, to ensure proper coordination among departments
and the local bodies. |
Tourism week from September 21 SHIMLA, Sept, 20 — The Department of Tourism and Hospitality will celebrate millennium tourism week from September 21 to September 27 here. Disclosing this, the Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, who also holds the tourism portfolio, said here. Yesterday that the purpose of the celebration was to create awareness about the importance of tourism industry among the citizens, staff of hospitality industry, students and children. The Chief Minister said the week-long celebration would focus on the heritage and tourism value of Shimla and Himachal Pradesh. Staff of the hotels would be given information about heritage and tourism products of Shimla so that they can guide tourists properly, he added. He said the campaign would include citizens, shopkeepers, students, children, taxi operators etc. A number of programmes were being organised during the week-long celebrations. The celebrations will begin on September 21 with an “introduction to Shimla heritage for front office staff of hotels” at the Hotel Combermere. The heritage walk will start on September 22 from the HPTDC Tourism Information Centre at Scandal Point for tourists; fancy dress competition will be held on September 23 at Rani Jhansi Park at 12 noon; on September 24 poney ride will be held at the Ridge at 11.30 a.m., a race for senior citizens will be organised on September 25 at 11.30 a.m. from the Ridge. Tourism related quiz will be organised on September 26 at 1.00 a.m. Tourists will fill up questionnaires and put those in boxes kept at City Point, Span Tours, Scandal Point and near the Sindh Travel office. Apart from this an essay competition will be held for children at the conference hall of the Tourism Department, SDA Complex, Shimla, on September 26 at 11 a.m. A painting competition
for children will be organised on September 27 at 11 a.m.
at Rani Jhansi Park, Shimla, and quiz contest at
Peter-Hoff at 3 p.m. also. Prizes will be given in all
the competitions to winners. |
Shifting of centre for
handicapped opposed SUNDERNAGAR, Sept 20 — The Educational-cum-Vocational Training Centre for the deaf, dumb and blind which was functioning in the building of the Welfare Department here since December 2, 1994, was shifted to Ratti village in Balh valley yesterday without any written orders. The present accommodation where 20 students have been shifted does not have any facilities. Students and staff of the training centre said two employees from the head office of the Child Welfare Council, Shimla, came here yesterday and made arrangements for shifting the inmates and their luggage to the new building. Though no written orders were shown, they were told that the shifting was being done as per the direction of the Executive Officer of the Child Welfare Council. The inmates were taken in a truck. Though the staff was opposing the move, no heed was paid to their request. The new accommodation has four rooms. Two rooms would be used to put of 20 inmates. The Himachal Federation
for Blind has urged Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal to
withdraw the order failing which it would launch an
agitation. It also demanded action against the officer
concerned who ordered the shifting. The federation has
also sent copies of the representation to the Governor
and the Human Rights Commission. |
Hamirpur to have computerised
booking counter HAMIRPUR, Sept 20 — Mr Suresh Chandel, MP, has announced that a computerised railway booking counter will start functioning at the bus stand here within the next two months. The railway authorities had sought a suitable accommodation for this purpose and necessary formalities were being finalised, he told reporters last night. He denied any difference in the party. However, he said there might be a difference of opinion among party members on certain issues but it could not be termed as rebellion. About the controversy of the renomination of Mr Narendra Modi as party observer for Himachal Pradesh, he said it was up to the party high command to decide the matter. He said a new rail service would be introduced between Kalka and Mumbai from next month. Mr Chandel said 1,700 new telephone connections would be given in the Hamirpur Lok Sabha area during the current fiscal year. The department had already provided 900 connections. Replying to a question, he said he had spoken to the Union Minister of State for Communication, Mr Tapan Sikdar, to cover the entire state under the group dialing scheme. Earlier, he addressed a
public meeting at Kuthera village of this district. |
Federation supports striking
officers SHIMLA, Sept 20 — The All-India Federation of the State Civil Administrative Service Association has expressed solidarity with its striking Bihar Administrative Service (BAS) officers and has urged the Bihar Government to settle their grievances and restore normalcy. In a statement here yesterday, Mr B.M. Nanta, president of the association, warned that there might be countrywide repercussions as the state associations had already supported the cause of the striking officers. He said the association had also taken up the matter with the Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, and the Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, to intervene and prevail upon the Bihar Government for settling the issue amicably without delay. The BAS officers are on
strike since August 31 in support of their demands which
include grant of central pay scales, enforcement of
central civil services rules, enhancement of retirement
age to 60 years from 58 and time-bound promotions. |
J.P. Gupta is Principal Adviser
(Health) SHIMLA, Sept 20 — The Himachal Pradesh Government has appointed Dr J.P. Gupta, a former director of the National Institute of Health and Family Welfare, Principal Adviser (Health). Dr Gupta will be given an honorarium of Re 1 per month, but will be paid T.A. and D.A. as permissible to grade one officers.He will also be given official accommodation here. According to a
government notification, Dr Gupta will function directly
under the Health Minister.Besides other functions, he has
been asked to overview the health administration set-up
and suggest modalities and changes for improving the
delivery system. |
3 killed in mishap DALHOUSIE, Sept 20 — Three persons were killed and four injured when the vehicle in which they were travelling fell into a gorge at Panjpulla on the Dalhousie-Pathankot highway, an official spokesman said today. A patient was being taken in the vehicle to hospital when the accident occurred yesterday, the spokesman said. He said the injured,
including the driver of the vehicle, has been admitted to
a nearby hospital. |
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