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November 18, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Panchayat poll
HP Govt orders probe against IAS
officer Anti-narcotics drive: 100 held in
Kulu Hawker case: SSP rules out
kidnapping Hoteliers flay failure to book stalls at
fair Financial woes of Chamba MC
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HPTDC launches online reservation ‘Kala jatha’ completes 7000 km
journey
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Panchayat poll SHIMLA, Nov 17 — Succumbing to the pressure of its own BJP activists, the Himachal Pradesh Government today scaled down the upper limit of reservation of seats for other backward classes (OBCs) at 15 per cent for the coming panchayat elections and also ordered de-reservation of such constituencies where the population of these classes was less than 5 per cent. After pressure of the ruling BJP workers and other parties, the government issued a notification, fixing the upper limit of reservation after getting the proposal approved from the Cabinet ministers through circulation of the file instead of holding a Cabinet meeting. The government was under pressure for withdrawing its decision of reservation in proportion to the population of the backward classes which had left only about 10 per cent seats for the open category in the 3,072 panchayats, panchayat samitis and zila parishads in the state. The panchayats were already highly loaded with reservation for women, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The reservation for women was fixed at one-third of the total seats in each panchayat, besides in proportion to the population in the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe categories. The Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal, spent most of his time yesterday and this morning before leaving for Delhi in trying to settle the ticklish issue of reservation. He summoned the Chief Secretary, Mr A.K. Goswami, and other senior officers to discuss the issue several times before reaching the final conclusion. The open categories were annoyed with the heavy dose of reservation as it had hardly left a handful of seats for them to contest in the panchayat elections under the earlier formula, there was hardly any seat left for the open categories in certain districts where the population of backward classes was very high. However, today’s notification might bring some relief for the annoyed categories as it specifies that the reservation for candidates from backward classes for election as members of panchayat samitis and chairpersons of panchayats will not exceed 15 per cent of the constituencies of chairpersons of gram panchayats and members of panchayat samitis, respectively, in a particular block. The upper limit of reservation will also apply for the zila parishads. It has been ordered that if reservation in excess of 15 per cent has been made, then the constituencies having the least percentage of population of backward classes would be de-reserved by the deputy commissioners for chairpersons of gram panchayats, members of panchayat samitis, chairpersons of panchayat
samitis and members of zila parishads. Similar action will be taken by the government for the office of chairpersons of zila parishads. It has also been ordered that the deputy commissioners shall de-reserve such constituencies for backward classes where their population is less than 5 per cent. But those constituencies having more than 5 per cent population of backward classes will be considered for reservation by picking up the constituencies with the highest percentage of population first. It is learnt that there will be no reservation for backward classes in the three districts of Kinnaur, Lahaul Spiti and Kulu. The reservation will be in 14 blocks of Kangra district where the population of OBCs is the highest. Except Bamsan, all 6 blocks in Hamirpur district will have reservation. OBCs will have reservation in the two blocks of Ghumarwin and Jhanduta in Bilaspur district and the Bhatiat block of Chamba. In Mandi district, the reservation will be in the four blocks of Chauntra, Gopalpur, Karsog and Balh, while in Shimla district, the reserved blocks are Chopal, Jubbal, Rohru, Theog and Basantpur. In Una district, all five blocks will have reservation, while in Sirmaur the four blocks of Nahan, Poanta Sahib, Shillai and Sangrah fall in the category. Dharampur and Nalagarh blocks in Solan district come under the reservation list. DHARAMSALA, Nov 17 — The Himachal Pradesh Rajput Kalyan Sabha has challenged the decision of the state government to give 80 per cent reservation to the OBCs in the Panchayati Raj institutions by filing a writ petition in the high court. According to sabha members, a writ has been filed, requesting to restrict the reservation in any form up to 50 per cent, as laid down in the Constitution. They demanded that the top layer among the OBCs be excluded from the purview of reservation and reserved categories not be permitted to contest against general category seats. In a recent meeting, they expressed concern over this trend. Giving details, they said out of the 731 seats in Kangra district, only 191 fell in the open category. Similarly, out of the total 372 BDCs, merely 95 were in the open category. Due to reservation, only 14 of the 56 zila parishad seats had been left unreserved. |
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HP Govt orders probe against IAS
officer SHIMLA, Nov 17 — The Himachal Government has ordered a probe against Mr Rajmani Tripathi, a senior IAS officer, for allegedly possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. The controversial officer, who was earlier booked in connection with irregularities in a land purchase deal during his tenure as the Deputy Commissioner of Una district, is alleged to have acquired the assets in the name of his relatives. Preliminary inquiries revealed that Mr Tripathi has constructed a house at his native place Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh. He also purchased a plot at Maliana on the outskirts of Shimla. Later, a house was constructed on it. The officer, however, maintained that since he did not have money to build a house, he gifted the plot to his brother who in turn constructed a house on it. Mr Tripathi also owns a house at Paonta Sahib which is in the name of his wife, besides land in the name of his relatives in Una for which he was booked earlier. He was charged with purchasing land at a price much lower that the market rates and also evasion of stamp duty by misusing his official position. The recent inquiry has been instituted on the basis of a complaint filed by Mr R.L. Sharma, a retired district attorney. He has alleged that the officer had illegally transferred some land in Chopal in the name of his relative who was a non-Himachali. In another case, the vigilance department has booked Mr D.P. Saini, a junior engineer in the Irrigation and Public Health Department, for allegedly amassing assets through corrupt and illegal means. Police inquiries revealed that he had undervalued a building at Parwanoo. Though he told the police that he had spent only Rs 81,650 on the structure, the assessment made by the Public Works Department put its actual cost at Rs 3,40,822. The engineer also tried to conceal some other facts and could not give a satisfactory explanation regarding the expenditure incurred by him on the education of his daughter, who is studying in Chandigarh, and a scooter purchased by her. In yet another case, a retired executive engineer of the Irrigation and Public Health Department was booked along with four assistant engineers for accepting forged quotations of non-existent firms to award repair work of pumps and motors to a favoured firm at exorbitant rates. |
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Anti-narcotics drive: 100 held in
Kulu SHIMLA, Nov 17 — The police has seized 235 kg of charas in the Kulu valley and arrested 100 persons, including 12 foreigners, under an anti-narcotic smuggling drive during the year. The DIG (Central range), Mr Somesh Goyal, said the value of the narcotics seized was over Rs 100 crore in the international market. Mr Goyal said efforts to nab drug peddlers were made with the help of the Directorate of Narcotics Control Board (NCB), Chandigarh. He said an all-time high 75 cases had so far been registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act during the current year in the police range. Only 36 cases were registered last year, 40 in 1998,41 in 1997 and 44 in 1996. The seizure included 17 kg of opium, 8 kg of ganja and 83 kg of brown sugar. Mr Goyal said foreigners were also involved in smuggling of narcotics and at least 100 of them had been arrested in the past ten years. There was a shift in the pattern of drug peddling by foreigners during the past few years. Europeans constituted about 80 per cent of the foreigners arrested for drug trafficking during the pre-1998 period. However, in the post-1998 era, their number had gone down, as only 50 per cent Europeans were arrested for violation of drug laws, Mr Goyal added. He said Israelis were the single largest nationality indulging in drug abuse in the post-1998 era as they constituted 23 per cent of the foreigners arrested. They were closely followed by the Italians, the French and the Japanese. About 1,200 bhigas of land had been cleared of cannabis plants during a major campaign in the interior areas of Meha, Faizal, Garhiyal, Glincha, Kandi, Bali, Kathyari, Dharapari, Khannala, Tilapul, Tuncha, Chanur, Ghrincha and Bathad in the Banjar valley of Kulu, Mr Goyal informed. He said that during his meeting with the zonal director of the NCB at Chandigarh in August, a strategy against drug trafficking had been finalised. This was followed by regular meetings of district police chiefs with officials of the NCB. Mr Goyal said a three-pronged strategy had been finalised to eradicate the menace of drug smuggling in Kulu district. The strategy was to destroy cannabis plants, take action against the identified drug peddlers and strengthen the intelligence network. In certain areas, local residents had come forward to destroy the cannabis crop. These included Bali-Chowki, Sainj and Larji areas of Mandi and areas around Manali and Malana in Kulu, he added. |
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Hawker case: SSP rules out
kidnapping DHARAMSALA, Nov 17 — After being shifted from the Nurpur Civil Hospital to zonal hospital here, the police today interrogated the 36-year-old newspaper hawker, Jeetender, alias Raju, from Kangra to unravel the mystery behind his disappearance last Sunday. According to the police, Jeetender was spotted by people lying on the roadside near Raja ka Talab in Nurpur yesterday. On being
intimated, the police shifted him to the Nurpur Civil Hospital, with minor injuries on his body. Being in a semi-conscious condition, he was unable to make any clear statement before the police yesterday. Doctors said he was not fit and therefore his statement could not be recorded. The SSP, Mr Prithvi Raj, refused to divulge any details till investigations were over. Ruling out the possibility of kidnapping, he said the police would soon make a breakthrough in the case. The request of mediapersons to be allowed to meet Jeetender was turned down by the police. He has been kept under tight security in the hospital and nobody is allowed to meet him. The state government had taken a serious note of the matter as this case was being related to the ongoing tussle between reporters and some anti-social elements in Kangra. It is learnt that Jeetender was called from his home in Old Kangra by a person travelling in a blue van. He took him to Draman near Shahpur. Here, they were joined by four other persons, who took Jeetender to some other place. |
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Hoteliers flay failure to book stalls at
fair MANALI, Nov 17 — The president and general secretary of the local Kulu Valley Hoteliers Union have expressed concern over the failure of the state Department of Tourism in arranging space for the union at the tourism trade fair to be held in Bangalore from November 17 to 19. In a press note issued here president, Jitender Thakur and general secretary, B.S. Kapoor of the union, said delegates of the union who were in Delhi to board a train bound for Bangalore on November 13 to attend the trade fair reportedly asked to come back as the Himachal tourism department had failed to book space for the installation of stalls. They said Rs 10,000 had been deposited with the Director Department of Tourism, Shimla, on July 24 as space charges for the fair. They said during the last three months, the union had spent a lot of money on the printing of pamphlets, brochures, photographs, banners, and railway reservations. On November 12, two representatives left for Delhi at night to board the pre-reserved train. They said the department should have informed the union well in time so at least the money spent on the rail tickets could have been refunded. The Director tourism said to book a stall in the fair about Rs 2.5 lakh were required, whereas three hoteliers and the Kulu Valley Hoteliers Union sent Rs 10,000 each for booking the stall. He added that the department was expecting more entries till the last moment but no other hoteliers came
forward. |
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Financial woes of Chamba MC
end CHAMBA, Nov 17 — The Municipal Council Chamba has now been bailed out of financial crisis which it faced before 1996 when it was being governed by an administrator putting the council under a deficit of about Rs 30 lakh. Disclosing this at a news conference here today, Ms Anita Thakur said the present municipal council came into being after the enactment of the Himachal Pradesh Municipal Act, 1994. She said the expenditure of the municipal council was now proportionate to its budget and there was no overdraft. She said development works were being carried out smoothly in the town. She said Rs 1.16 crore had been sanctioned by the Union Government for the all-round development of Chamba town under a centrally-sponsored scheme called Integrated Small and
Medium Urban Development Programme. She said the first instalment of Rs 20 lakh had been released by the Centre under this programme. |
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HPTDC launches online reservation SHIMLA, Nov 17 — The Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) has launched the official website for reservation in its hotels and luxury buses. According to Mr P.C. Kapoor, Managing Director of the HPTDC, the website will cover the tourist circuits, transportation, hotels, restaurants and places of tourist interest. It will also provide information about adventure sports and other activities of the HPTDC. The site is available at http.//hptdc.nic.in. He said over 20,000 persons had accessed the website since its launch in April. The HPTDC has added a very important feature of online hotel reservation at this
site. The NIC unit developed the software. The HPTDC is the only tourism corporation to network all its
marketing offices in the country and provide the exact availability status of accommodation of all
hotels. The status is updated every minute enabling prospective tourists from anywhere in the world to reserve their accommodation. Mr Kapoor said the HPTDC was going all out for computerising its important activities this year. |
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‘Kala jatha’ completes 7000 km
journey SHIMLA, Nov 17 — The millennium “kala jatha” of the state Gyan Vigyan Samiti completed its 7000-km journey, covering 69 blocks in 10 districts of the state to reach out to 50,000 villages and make them aware of social evils, dangers of cultural invasion, globalisation, consumerism, besides various programmes and policies of the government. The jatha comprising 30 young artistes gave 75 performances over 39 days during the journey. Its repertoire included three street plays, one ballet and 15 songs covering themes ranging from environment degradation to unhealthy competition among multinational companies. It gave its concluding performance here today, in the presence of the Education Minister, Mr I.D. Dhiman. The programmes evoked an overwhelming response from people who witnessed performances even after midnight. At several places the local mahila mandals, panchayats and yuvak mandals honoured the artistes and presented them with gifts and mementoes. The scripts of the plays were written at a workshop under the guidance of experts from the State Resource Centre of Madhya Pradesh. Mr Dhiman appreciated the talent of the artistes and their commitment to the cause as they continued with their performances even during Divali and other festivals far away from their homes. |
| EC objects to name
of new party SHIMLA, Nov 17 — Supporters of PWD Minister Mohinder Singh are likely to name their new party as the “Himachal Krantikari Party” as the Election Commission (EC) has reportedly objected to granting it the nomenclature of the Himachal Vikas Party
(HVP). The Election Commission has reportedly asked Mr Mohinder Singh’s supporters to suggest some other name for their party. The HVC had reportedly filed a caveat in the EC regarding the name of the HVP being given to the new party.
Supporters of the PWD Minister have filed papers in the EC for the registration of their party. Mr Mohinder Singh, who has been declared an unattached member in the Assembly, has not joined the party but will provide outside support.
Laxman to visit
Amb on Nov 21 SHIMLA, Nov 17 — Mr Bangaru Laxman, BJP chief, will be felicitated at an “abhinandan” rally to be held at Amb in Una district on November 21.
The state BJP which earlier planned to organise a “Dalit” sammelan, decided to make it a big event to mark the first visit of Mr Laxman to the state. Mr Narinder Modi, All-India General Secretary of the BJP and in charge of Himachal, will also be honoured on the occasion.
Lala’s martyrdom day observed SHIMLA, Nov 17 — Floral tributes were paid to Lala Lajpat Rai on his 73rd martyrdom day here today.
Prof Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister, laid a wreath on a statue of Lala Lajpat Rai in a function organised here.
Mr Narender Bragta, Minister of State for Horticulture and Mr Roop Dass Kashyap Minister of State for Urban Development also paid their tributes to the martyr.
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