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| Friday,
November 24, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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20 students hurt in
clashes PF body to implement
IT reforms Bali critical of making new
districts More snow on Leh
road; stranded await rescue Parwanoo gears up for civic
poll Muslim panel’s plea
to Dhumal |
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20 students hurt in
clashes NAUNI (Solan), Nov 23 — Twenty students were injured and property worth at least Rs 2 lakh was destroyed in lashes between ABVP and NSUI activists on the campus of Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, near here, today. Violence erupted at about 10-30 a.m. following rumours about the alleged beating up of a NSUI activist, Kunal Mangota, a third-year forestry student, by some students with ABVP leanings at the university’s undergraduate Hostel late last night. The rumours led to the gathering of NSUI activists in front of the College of Forestry where inflammatory speeches were made even as a beleaguered looking Warden Undergraduate Hostel, Dr Raj Kumar Thakur, tried to contradict reports of the alleged attack on Mangota. There were simply no buyers among the NSUI outfit for Dr Thakur’s assertion that the slight injury sported by Mangota was the result of a deliberate jump out of the window by him and that nobody assaulted him at the hostel. The mob that had gathered in front of the College of Forestry soon went on a rampage, breaking window-panes and furniture and roughing up all known ABVP activists who were attending practical classes at that time. The scene shifted to the university’s health centre as the injured students rushed towards it in a bid to seek medical aid with the attackers close on their heels. Students attacked the health centre as well where window-panes, furniture and some equipment was damaged. By this time, ABVP activists had also gathered in strength near the health centre and a pitched “free-for-all” ensued. In addition to pelting of stones and use of lathis some students were seen brandishing knives. The report of the violent clash was relayed to the Registrar, Mr H.R. Sharma, by a section officer of the university library, situated across the grounds near the health centre. Mr Sharma lost no time in requisitioning the help of the district administration and the police. Meanwhile, university dons, fearing for the worst, went all out to pacify the warring students. It was largely due to their courageous intervention and to some extent the arrival of the police in strength — two busloads were deployed — that common sense finally prevailed and workable was peace restored. The
ADM, Mr S.C. Kalsotra, and the SDM, Mr Rakesh Dhiman, who also reached the campus, suggested calling a meeting of the senior dons and administrators of the university to decide on the next line of
action for dealing with the situation. The meeting, which took place in the afternoon, recommended suspension of classes and immediate vacation of hostels. Thereafter, the authorities issued a terse notice informing the students that in view of the tense situation created by today clashes, all teaching work would remain suspended for 10 days i.e. till December 4. The male students were ordered to vacate the hostel by this evening while the deadline for doing the same for female students was fixed at 12.30 p.m. tomorrow. It was also notified that only those students who would bring a written undertaking from their parents or guardians to the effect that their wards would not indulge in similar incidents in future would be allowed
re-admission to the hostels. One student leader, Sandeep Kumar, president of the recently formed Himachal Students Union, was arrested on a charge of rioting. Medico-legal certificates, needed for the registration of criminal cases, were being prepared at the university’s health centre at the time of filing this report following which more arrests were likely. |
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PF body to implement
IT reforms SHIMLA, Nov 23 — The Employees Provident Fund Organisation will implement information technology (IT) reforms to provide efficient services to provident fund members. Inspecting the regional provident fund office, Mr R.D. Chetival, Additional Central Provident Fund Commissioner, said a provident fund number would be given to each member in the country and the member would be at liberty to get claims settled in any of the provident fund offices. The field offices of the organisation would be interlinked to facilitate the settlement of the claims, he said. Mr Chetival said a multi-disciplinary working group for drawing up a road map for IT reforms had been set up. The terms of reference of this group included considering various aspects of existing work methods, procedures, recommending an appropriate technical manpower structure for supporting reforms, identifying the areas of bottlenecks in the present system and business process re-engineering. He said the organisation would have its own website to guide employers, pensioners and members. The claims of the members would be settled within a short period and the annual statement of accounts would also be issued immediately at the end of the financial year. He said staff and officers of the north zone would be trained by the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, in 25 groups in a phased manner. The north zone comprising Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh had started “same-day” services to settle premature death claims of provident fund members, he said. Any aggrieved
member could appear before the lok adalat being organised on the 10th of every month at each office of the organisation. |
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Bali critical of making new
districts SHIMLA, Nov 23 — A Congress legislator, Mr G.S. Bali, has warned that the BJP government should not create new districts in a hurry and has
demanded that a committee of the Vidhan Sabha should be constituted for the purpose. Mr Bali, who was talking to newspersons here today, said reorganisation of the districts was a sensitive matter and it should not be rushed without giving a serious thought to it. He was reacting to the reported move of the ruling BJP to reorganise Kangra district to create the long-awaited Palampur district. Mr Bali alleged the ruling BJP was not serious about ending corruption as its own leaders had failed to submit their property statements almost three years after coming to power although the party had announced that it would be done within three months. He said a serious
situation had developed with the two warring factions of the BJP accusing each other of misuse of office. He demanded that a joint committee of the Vidhan Sabha should be set up to inquire into the allegations of corruption against certain ministers. He said the action taken against three officials in the alleged tar scandal was only the tip of the iceberg and
action was not being taken against the politicians involved in it. Mr Bali, who is also general secretary of the PCC, said the Congress
leadership did not want to destabilise Mr Virbhadra Singh. |
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More snow on Leh
road; stranded await rescue SHIMLA, Nov 23 — About 4 ft of snow has accumulated at the Rohtang Pass on the Manali-Leh road which experienced snowfall for the fourth consecutive day today. The entire Spiti valley was having snowfall with Kaza recording 5 cm of snow. The valley was in grip of a cold wave. Reports said that the 15 persons stranded near the Kunzum Pass due to snow had not yet been rescued. The chief engineer of the Project Deepak of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), Brig B.M. Bakshi, said an attempt would be made to reopen the Rohtang Pass tomorrow in case the snowfall stopped. The clearance of snow might take at least two more days to open the road for traffic up to the district headquarters of Keylong and Darcha and Petso. The BRO was officially supposed to keep the road open till October 30, but efforts would be made to keep it open as long as possible. He said all stranded buses, trucks and other vehicles on the road had been evacuated. |
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Parwanoo gears up for civic
poll PARWANOO, Nov 23 — With the notification by the Himachal Pradesh Government for the municipal elections on December 20, the town is gearing up for the same and hectic activity has begun for deciding candidates for nine municipal wards. The elections will be fought on a no-party basis. According to Sanjay Sharma, Assistant Commissioner, Parwanoo, who has been appointed Returning Officer of the election, according to the notification issued by the Election Commission at Shimla, nominations shall be filed on November 29, 30 and December 1, scrutiny of the nominations will be held on December 2, withdrawals will be allowed on December 4, counting of votes will begin on December 20 and results will be declared immediately after the counting. About 6506 voters, including 2287 women, will exercise their right of vote in this election. The State Election Commission has fixed the limit of expenditure to be incurred by a contesting candidate from the date of nomination to the declaration of result. The maximum limit for election expenditure shall be Rs 8000/- for municipal council elections and Rs 5000/- for a nagar panchayat election. According to the executive officer of the local nagar parishad, out of total nine wards, ward no. 1, 8 and 5 are reserved for women candidates and ward no. 4 is for Scheduled Caste candidate. |
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Muslim panel’s plea
to Dhumal SHIMLA, Nov 23 — The Alhuda Education Society of the Muslim community has urged the Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal, not to participate in the function at the Jama Masjid here tomorrow as this would amount to misuse of the religious place for political activity. The minorities cell of the ruling BJP has organised a function in the Jama Masjid tomorrow in which Mr Dhumal will be the chief guest. In a statement here today, Mr Noor Ahmed Himachali, president of the society, said the sanctity of the religious place should be maintained. He alleged that some Muslim religious preachers had migrated here from Kashmir and they were organising the ‘political show’ in the masjid. He said Muslims from almost all districts of the state participated in the conference which was organised by the Jamiyat Ulema here on Tuesday and false propaganda was being spread that Muslims of Himachal Pradesh did not participate in it. Maulana Abdul Subhan Khan, president of the Idara Islamiyat Subhaniya, Nalagarh, said the state government was patronising certain elements who had migrated here from Kashmir and were making attempts to divide the Muslims here. |
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HP Governor given
warm send-off SHIMLA, Nov 23 — Mr Vishnu Kant Shastri, Governor, was given a warm send-off at Raj Bhavan this morning. Mr Shastri has been transferred to Uttar Pradesh as Governor.
Mr Suraj Bhan, Governor of Uttar Pradesh, will be sworn in as Himachal Pradesh Governor here tomorrow afternoon. The Chief Minister, Prof P.K. Dhumal, Speaker, Thakur Gulab Singh and the leader of the opposition, Mr Virbhadra Singh, were present at the send off function.
Mr Shastri inspected a guard of honour before leaving Raj Bhavan. |
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14-yr-old dies
in accident MANDI, Nov 23 — A 14-year-old boy was killed and 25 were injured, three of them seriously, when an autorickshaw carrying a marriage party overturned, 50 km from here.
The ill-fated vehicle (HP-49-403) was on its way to Kigs village. The seriously injured were admitted to the nearby Nagwain hospital. Later, Hira Lal of Jari village was shifted to the District Hospital, Kulu, as his condition deteriorated further. |
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