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| Friday, October 6, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Resignations of Mayor,
13 others rejected Clean chit
for cops in beating case Benami land deals multiply Residents sore
over erratic water supply Cong flays Centre
on subsidy |
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Steps to make HP crime free: CM Mandi all set for
panchayat poll New courses at
Hamirpur REC
No-parking zones earmarked
Another body found from accident site
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Resignations of Mayor,
13 others rejected SHIMLA, Oct 5 — The resignations of the Mayor, Mrs Jenny Prem, and 13 other councillors of the Shimla Municipal Corporation from the Congress have been rejected by the PCC President, Mr Sat Mahajan. This was stated here today by Mr Mahajan to newsmen. The Mayor and these councillors had recently resigned from the party on the plea that irregularities were done in the organisational elections of the Congress and at some places, elections were rigged to declare some “rootless” persons elected. Mr Mahajan, who was accompanied among others by a former Chief Minister, Thakur Ram Lal, and Mrs Vidya Stokes and Mrs Asha Kumari, all legislators, said that no one had brought to his notice any incident of rigging of the election. However, it is the democratic right of everybody to express his point of view. Replying to the complaints of rigging made by Mr Virbhadra Singh to the party high command, Mr Mahajan said it might be his personal view. Earlier, Mr Mahajan led a delegation of the Congress to Raj Bhavan where a memorandum was submitted to the Governor against the increase in the prices of petroleum products. The memorandum pointed out that this was the third rise in the prices of petroleum products since October last. It urged the Centre to roll back the prices as the hike had put an undue financial burden on the people. |
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Clean
chit for cops in beating case SHIMLA, Oct 5 — The Sadyal Inquiry Committee has given a clean chit to the police in the case of beating a journalist of Kangra. The incident had raised a storm of protests from journalists all over the state, leading to the transfer of Mr Pritam Singh, the local DSP and his Sub-Inspector wife Sunita Thakur, last week. In his report, Mr S.K. Sadyal, DIG, Northern Range, said that on the basis of statements of the accused, eyewitnesses, victim and circumstances in which the incident took place, it had been established that Mr Prakash Badal, correspondent of a Hindi daily published from Jalandhar, was beaten by those who felt offended by his news report regarding violence that followed the auction for collection of toll tax in June. In the auction, a new contractor had secured the contract and he refused to take the services of the employees working for the old contractor. This led to a clash in which a scooter and some other property was burnt. Mr Badal had in his story put the blame on the old contractor and his employees for the incident. They were allegedly harbouring a grudge against him and when they saw him coming out of the court alone, they took him aside on the pretext of giving some news and beat him. The newspaper reports that he was stripped and beaten were not correct. The shopkeepers who were witness to the incident said that Mr Badal went to the nearby police station in clothes which were without any blood stains. They also did not hear any of the miscreants say anything which could indicate the involvement of the police in his beating up. Mr Badal had also not stated anything in this regard in the FIR. Moreover, the four accused — Sanjeev Kumar, Sukesh Kumar, Anirudh and Ashwini Guleria — admitted that they had a grudge against him and wanted to teach him a lesson. They all had a criminal background and had been involved in similar cases earlier. There was no evidence to suggest the hand of the two police officials in the incident, the report said. |
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Benami land deals multiply KASAULI: There has been a spurt in benami transactions in the region. It seems that all efforts to maintain the pristine aura of the region by imposing a ban on construction activity in 1992 by the Himachal Pradesh High Court have been defeated. The state witnessed a steep increase in the property buyers soon after the lifting of the ban. Records available with the Revenue Department revealed that on an average about 337 sale deeds per year were registered in the region between 1990 and 1994. The figure skyrocketed to about 483 sale deeds per year in the past four years with a maximum of 526 sale deeds registered in 1996 alone. About 43 benami transactions were detected in Solan district in 1998-99. As many as 42 more benami transactions have been detected in 1999-2000 until now. This is an index of the increase in property buyers, prominent among them being highly-placed bureaucrats and politicians from Punjab and the plains. Brisk sale and purchase of land on all major roads of the region has been witnessed. The revenue official pointed out that virtually no private land has been left vacant on the Kasauli-Dharampur road. The Kimughat-Chakki ka Mor road, fast coming up as an ambitious project connecting about 15 villages, has become the latest haunt of property buyers from the plains. It is reliably learnt that quite a few benami transactions have been detected on this stretch of road. Old-timers feel that if this trend continues hardly any private land would be available in the years to come. It is ironical that on one hand the government had to abandon a well-planned residential project proposed by the H.P. Housing Board near Nahri and Chatyan on account of non-availability of palatial houses and commercial projects in every nook and corner, thereby leading to unplanned development. It is alleged that these ambitious property buyers enter into an agreement with local Himachalis in whose names they buy land here. The lucrative prices offered by these affluent people lure locals. It has been observed that after exhausting the money earned through land deals in a couple of years, these property owners end up becoming servants to the property buyers. Nevertheless high prices continue to entice bona fide Himachalis, the residents point out. The revenue officials, while admitting this practice, pointed out that there is a risk involved in all such deals. It found to be benami, such land can be confiscated any time. The cost of land has increased manifold and the average middle class is finding it beyond its means to construct a house here. The most telling effect of the increasing constructions is on water resources. There is an increased burden of about 15 per cent on the water resources due to the ongoing constructions in the region, reveal Irrigation and Public Health Department officials. The IPH Department has some schemes on hand as well as in the pipeline for augmentation of water supply for drinking and irrigation. However, all these schemes can only meet the requirements of the population increase over the next 15 to 20 years. A dispute is brewing between commercial builders and local villagers over the sharing of water resources. On the one hand the locals maintain that they have the right to water sources falling in the vicinity of their village, whereas the builders contend that once they have bought land they become the beneficiaries of water. Being a cantonment town there are distinct bylaws laid down for construction. Buying old houses located in the town by affluent people from the plains is the next best option in the absence of vacant private land. Massive overhauling including an increase in the plinth area is then carried out flouting all laid laws. At times the constructions have also gone to the extent of encroaching on adjoining cantonment land. The Kasauli Cantonment Executive Officer, Mr G. N. Mathur, when contacted, stated that constructions carried out by defying laws are not regularised and in case of a dispute the owners are in a soup. The drive initiated by the Town and Country Planning Department a few months back to check illegal construction turned out to be eyewash with the offenders obtaining a court stay. A lane on the Kasauli road built a few months back has debris strewn on the roadside, thereby reducing the road width. Debris of construction can be seen strewn on various roads around the construction sites. The department is sitting pretty and has initiated no action to clear the roads. If the sale of land continues at this pace, the district will face scarcity not only of water availability but also in other basic necessities of life. It is time the government woke up and checked this calamity. |
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Residents sore
over erratic water supply KASAULI, Oct 5 — Erratic water supply in Kasauli and its surrounding areas has made the locals angry. They are up in arms against the Irrigation and Public Health Department (IPH) over the irregularity in the supply of water. Whereas the demand is a whopping 1,88,000 litres a day, only 1,00,000 litres is being supplied. At times, no water is released for six days at a stretch. Besides, no water is supplied on Tuesdays. Incidents of water theft in connivance with employees of the department have also come to light in the past few months. One such theft was detected by the department last month when water was being supplied to a construction site near Sanawar. IPH officials revealed that for three days water was supplied to the construction site while the supply remained suspended to the rest of the region. They said an inquiry had been ordered in this regard. In another incident, an employee of the department had diverted the water supply towards his house resulting in inconvenience to the public for a few days. Depositing the amount for the bills is another problem. The person in charge comes from Dharampur and instead of sitting in the office, he is allegedly found collecting the amount in one of the shops. However, he refuted the charge and blamed the public for handing him bills in the market. |
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Cong flays Centre
on subsidy CHAMBA, Oct 5 — The Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) has criticised the BJP-led coalition government at the Centre for its “lopsided” policy of abolishing subsidy on commodities being provided to those living below the poverty line in the country. Addressing a news conference in Chamba today, Mr Harsh Mahajan, Vice-President of the HPCC, said nearly 60 per cent people in the country were living below the poverty line who had been suffering owing to the “lopsided” policies of the BJP-led government. He criticised the government for its “failure” to provide economic stability in the country. Criticising the recent hike in the prices of petroleum products, Mr Mahajan said the BJP-led government had failed to take into confidence its coalition partners and the Opposition while increasing the petroleum prices. He said the increase would further hike the prices of various commodities. He accused the government of putting the public distribution system in a shambles causing the common man to suffer. Mr Mahajan slammed the government for its failure to curb militancy in Jammu and Kashmir. The public was feeling insecure and even security personnel were being targeted by the ultras, he alleged. Mr Mahajan criticised the government for its move to privatise the social sector such as health and education. He described the privatisation more as an outright injustice to the poor. He said it was unfortunate for the people that the state government had formulated a policy of forming educational societies to run colleges and other educational institutions. The HPCC would oppose these decisions, he added. |
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Steps to make HP crime free: CM SHIMLA, Oct 5 — Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal today said that his government would endeavour to make Himachal Pradesh a model state from the point of security by modernising and strengthening the police and bringing transparency in its functioning. Inaugurating the new building of the police headquarters, built at a cost of Rs 9.23 crore, he said the state’s crime rate was lower than the neighbouring states. However, much had to be done to make it a crime-free state. The ideal situation would be when the common man felt safe and criminals had the terror of the police. Only an extremely efficient and people-friendly police could achieve this, he said. Referring to the efforts to modernise the police force, Mr Dhumal said the Centre had agreed to provide the requisite funds for the purchase of latest weapons, communication systems and other equipment. The total allocation in the union Budget for the purpose had been increased from Rs 100 crore to Rs 1,000 crore. Besides sanctioning a second battalion of the India Reserve Police, the Centre had also agreed to reimburse the security-related expenditure to prevent the spill over of militancy from Jammu and Kashmir to the state. He said the government was also taking steps to improve the working conditions of policemen and it had constructed 906 residential houses in the past two years. The Chief Minister also launched the website of the department, department (www.hppolice.nic.in). Besides providing information like crime statistics and trends, and tips on lodging an FIR. It would also enable people to know the status of the FIR’s and the progress of the investigation. The people would be able to sent complaints and suggestions to the DGP through the website. Mr A.K. Puri, DGP, said separate investigation and law and order wings had been created in 25 per cent of the police stations to expedite investigation. Women constables had been posted in all police stations. A drive had been lauched to bridge the gap between the police and the people by taking schoolchildren to police stations and explaining to them the functioning of the department, he said. |
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Mandi all set for
panchayat poll MANDI, Oct 5 — The process of reorganisation of panchayats has been completed and the district is set to hold elections for 2,692 wards next month, said Mr Prabodh Saxena, Deputy Commissioner. The changes in the amended Panchyati Raj Act have opened new vistas for rural women who have been subjected to repression in male-dominated villages. In the new scheme of reservation, women belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes will get the maximum benefit. Of the total 2,692 wards in the district, 1,242 wards are exclusively for women — 779 in the general category, 443 for the Scheduled Castes and 20 for the Scheduled Tribe women. There is no bar for women to contest from the remaining 1,089 wards in the unreserved class too. |
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New courses at
Hamirpur REC HAMIRPUR, Oct 5 — The All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has given approval for the starting of postgraduate course in Electrical Engineering and bachelor of engineering classes at the Regional Engineering College here. While BE classes will begin from the current semester, the postgraduate classes will begin from January next year. Mr Baldev Singh Attri, Registrar of the college said here yesterday that a proposal to start PG classes in civil engineering had also been sent to the AICTE for approval. He said the AICTE authorities had agreed to visit the college for assessment. He said that efforts were also on to obtain a Deemed-to-be University status for the college. Meanwhile, the college authorities have decided to conduct counselling for admission to the five-year bachelor of architecture course, computer science and engineering and electronics and telecommunications engineering on October 10 on the college premises.
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No-parking zones earmarked PARWANOO, Oct 5 — Keeping in view the traffic problems in Parwanoo township and haphazard parking on the national highway passing through the town and on the link roads, the local administration has decided no-parking zones in the town and have earmarked places where the parking of vehicles would be banned. According to Sanjay Sharma, Assistant Commissioner Parwanoo, keeping in view the increasing traffic problems and traffic jams in the town, the local administration in consultation with local police and the Parwanoo Industries Association, had decided the no parking zones in the town. Mr Sharma said that light vehicles will not allowed to be parked from 9 am to 11 am and 4 pm to 7 pm on old Kasauli road and heavy vehicles from 8 am to 9 am on the same road between Kasauli Chowk to the Kali Mitti area. Vehicles are also not allowed to be parked on the national highway near Shitla Mata Mandir, Samtel factory, ESI Hospital, and Parwanoo main chowk. He said only two vehicles at a time will be allowed to be parked for loading and unloading near the Tarun filling station area. The order comes in force immediately. |
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Another body found from accident site PARWANOO, Oct 5 — After recovering another body from the bus accident site yesterday, which took place at Jabli village near Parwanoo on October 1, the death toll has gone to four. According to the police, three persons were killed on the spot and 38 were injured when a bus coming from the Solan side rolled into a khud near Jabli village on October 1. The deceased has been identified as a resident of Tipra village near Kalka. According to the police, one body which could not be identified on the day of the accident now has been identified as Nacchitar Singh, resident of Sunny Pur, Sherbara, Fatehgarh district, Punjab. |
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