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| Saturday, December 16, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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19 arrested for booth capture HP to fill 1,200 posts of teacher Panels to monitor schemes Kishori Lal flays Virbhadra |
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Registration marks for SCs
relaxed ‘Mentally ill’ abandoned, sans treatment Child murdered or sacrificed? Dhumal hosts Iftar party Russian envoy calls on CM Retired for 17 years,
yet no pension Internet services
cheaper in HP IT units to be set
up in Solan Stop drug use in
college: students HP medical officers
strike called off Paragliding for tourists
in Chamba
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19 arrested for booth capture BILASPUR, Dec 15 — The police has arrested at least 19 persons in connection with the alleged booth capture and assault on election officials at Majari village, about 80 km from here, last night. Those arrested include Mr Swaran Singh, former president of this gram panchayat, and husband of Congress candidate for the post of panchayat president, Mr Harpal Singh, his brother, and a former panchayat vice-president, Mr Karnail Singh. They have been booked under Sections 382, 452, 353, 147, 148 and 149, IPC, and some Sections of the Panchayati Raj Act. Reports last night said Mr Kuldip Singh who was declared elected as the vice-president of this panchayat at Majari the night before had also been arrested. Meanwhile, Superintendent of Police Atul Verma said Mr S.R. Upadhyaya, SHO, Kotkehloor, had been placed under suspension following the incident. He claimed that the booth-capture and assault took place after BJP candidate Darshan Kaur, wife of an SHO posted in Una was declared elected as president. Her husband was reportedly present at the polling station in uniform and a service revolver although he was not on duty. Several village leaders, who are supporters of Congress candidate Jasbir Kaur, addressing mediapersons last evening, however, contradicted the police version. They said out of the five wards, the Congress had won in four with a big margin. When the counting started, the BJP was losing, but supporters of the BJP captured the booth and snatched away some ballot papers. They also threatened them with weapons, forcing them to flee. Earlier, they had snapped power lines in the entire area, the Congress supporters alleged. In the morning, they were surprised to learn that the BJP candidate was declared elected when nobody was there as the power was restored at only 2.30 a.m. They alleged that they were illegally detained at a police station in Bilaspur from morning to evening and Congress leaders were being framed for the booth capture which was the handiwork of the BJP. Congress supporters claimed an attempt was being made to use police force to get a “lost” candidate elected and also to influence voting which would be held on December 17. Later, the police arrested 14 more ‘‘eyewitnesses’’. It had arrested five persons in the morning. Both the Superintendent of Police and Deputy Commissioner Jagdish Chandra Sharma claimed that the incident took place after the result of the post of president was declared and papers were being signed. BJP leader Krishan Kumar Kaushal denied that he or the BJP had anything to do with the incident. KANGRA: In the second phase of polling, residents of Vasa and Patiard villages falling under the Triful panchayat in the Pragpur block of this district on Friday boycotted the panchayat elections, demanding a separate panchayat for the area, official sources said. According to the reports, the residents boycotted the elections, saying that their villages were at least 12 km away from the Triful panchayat headquarters. They also urged the construction of a Vasa-Triful road. Not even a single vote was cast in these two polling stations. At Mansimbal village ward 4 in the Bawarna block, ballot papers for samiti elections were found missing from the possession of the presiding officer, resulting in the withholding of the samiti and zila parishad elections in this ward, panchayat inspector Uttam Chand said. He said Mr Prem Kumar, presiding officer, reported at the polling station without the ballot papers and could not justify the lapse. He said the authorities had been intimated in this connection. According to official sources, 70 to 75 per cent polling was reported from 237 polling stations during the second phase of polling. Meanwhile, the police has failed to achieve a breakthrough in the murder case of three-and-a-half year old Akshay Kumar, son of Ms Binta Devi, a contestant for the ward panch post of Chauddi village of Nagrota block. Akshay was found strangulated in a cow shed when his mother had gone for campaigning in the village.
District police chief Pratvi Raj said there was a possibility of the child having been sacrificed to please deities. HAMIRPUR: Nearly 70 per cent turnout was reported for 72 gram panchayats of this district on Friday. The polling was brisk in the morning and became dull in the afternoon. Women voters outnumbered their male counterparts at every polling station. Youngsters also came in large numbers to cast their votes. An official spokesman claimed that the polling ended peacefully and no incident of bogus voting was reported from any part of this district.
Repoll ordered in Kangra village KANGRA, Dec 15 — The State Election Commission today ordered repoll on December 18 at Tarsu village near here for the post of
vice-pradhan, following a report submitted by Assistant Returning Officer
(ARO) to the SDM, Kangra, where in the first phase of the polls on Wednesday, a candidate and his supporters had snatched away 344 votes during the recounting process, the Deputy Commissioner, Mr
R.C. Kapil, said here today. According to official sources, the ARO, Mr Rakesh Kumar
Anand, in his report said results of the polls had not been announced because while the recounting of votes was in progress, a candidate and his supporters snatched away 344 votes, 166 for which were recovered later by the police. Meanwhile, the district election authorities have also reported that some miscreants had snatched ballot boxes carrying votes from the Gaggal panchayat polling station falling under Palampur police station on Wednesday during the first phase of panchayat polls.
Poll officials
concede demand KULU, Dec 15 — The poll authorities in Himachal Pradesh have finally agreed to establish two new polling stations at Pulga and Naktban villages following a protest by villagers who did not cast their vote on December 13 as their polling stations were located 5 km from the village. Mr Ajay V. Prasad, District Election Officer and Deputy Commissioner, said polling at these booths would be held on December 17 from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. It is learnt that leaders of the main political parties BJP and Congress had threatened to sit on a dharna on the issue.
Poll results KUMARHATTI, Dec 15 — Ms Krishna Devi has been elected President of the Kakkarhatti panchayat, election for which was held today under the second phase of polling. Mr Naresh Kumar has been elected Vice-President. For the Chamat Bagahra panchayat, Mr Asha Ram and Mr Khem Chand have been declared elected as President and Vice-President, respectively. |
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HP to fill 1,200 posts of teacher CHAMBA, Dec 15 — The Himachal Pradesh Government has decided to fill 1,200 posts of trained graduate teacher (TGT), science and arts, and 12 posts of college lecturer before December-end in order to finish the backlog of vacancies in senior secondary schools and colleges in the state. Talking to mediapersons here today, Mr Sham Sunder, Director of Education, stated that the state government had also decided to regularise the services of eight ad hoc district education officers in the state. He added that to bridge the gap of disparity between school lecturers and principals, the state government had rationalised their seniority. The Director further stated that the state government had decided to introduce information technology (IT) in 135 senior secondary schools in the first phase during the current year, adding that the process had been started. More schools would be covered in the second phase, he added. To give a facelift to the school buildings, a model building had recently been constructed at Senior Secondary School, Hamirpur, besides those of colleges at Karsog, Jogindernagar and Chowari, he said. Mr Sham Sunder further stated that education on moral ethics and human values had been added in the educational institutes all over the state, besides organising science and technology exhibitions for the students. He said sufficient budget had been allotted to improve the condition of science laboratories. The Director stated Rs 1.50 crore had been spent on the promotion of Sanskrit and cultural activities in the educational institutes during the current year. At a function organised by the local government college to honour blood donors yesterday, the Director of Education gave away mementoes to 135 college students, who had donated their blood. |
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Panels to monitor schemes SHIMLA, Dec 15 — The Himachal Pradesh Government has decided to set up district-level committees to monitor the progress of various welfare schemes meant for the upliftment of Scheduled Castes in the state. The decision was taken at a high-level meeting here today under the chairmanship of Mr Prem Kumar
Dhumal, Chief Minister. Reviewing the progress of various schemes, the Chief Minister underlined the need for proper utilisation of funds under the Scheduled Caste component plan and the tribal area sub-plan and ensuring that maximum people benefited from these. The Chief Minister said for speedy implementation of various schemes in tribal and difficult areas, the government had created a separate tribal and difficult area sub-cadre to meet the shortage of staff. He said posts under this cadre would be filled immediately so that development works did not suffer. A special plan should be formulated for tourism development in tribal areas, Mr Dhumal suggested. Reviewing the progress of the language, Art and Culture Department, he said fair and festivals being organised in various parts of the state from time to time should be used as an effective medium to promote culture. It was informed at the meeting that the master plan for the development of Jawalamukhi and Chintpurni from the tourism point of view was ready. It was also informed that the museum located at Dharamsala was being upgraded and made a gallary for the “pahari” art. The state museum at Shimla would be improved and upgraded so that it became an attraction for tourism. The Chief Minister stressed that Kangra paintings should be made available in various emporiums within and outside the state. It was decided that only those persons would be allowed to use press stickers on their vehicles who were granted permission by the Director, Information and Public Relations, to do so. |
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Kishori Lal flays Virbhadra SHIMLA, Dec 15 — Mr Kishori
Lal, Industries Minister, has accused the former Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, of issuing baseless and misleading statements with certain ulterior motives just to gain political mileage and said the senior Congress leader was criticising the present government out of sheer frustration. He said the state had witnessed speedy and balanced development under the present government. There had been phenomenal progress in the field of hydel power generation, information technology, road construction, education and health. Referring to the charges of deteriorating financial health of the state levelled by Mr Virbhadra Singh, Mr Kishori Lal said it was only during the Congress regime that financial position of the state had started weakening. He said regarding the state finances, the present government brought out a White Paper last year to apprise the people of the actual position. It clearly showed that not only the non-development expenditure grew at an unprecedented pace but the level of borrowing had also increased. The total borrowings stood at Rs 257 crore in 1993-94, Rs 462 crore in 1994-95 and it was for the first time that Rs 219 crore were raised through the
HPSEB. |
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Registration marks for SCs
relaxed SHIMLA, Dec 15 — The Himachal Pradesh University has decided to relax the minimum percentage of marks required for registration for Ph.D from 55 per cent to 50 per cent for girl candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste and Schedule Tribe. The decision was taken by the academic council of the university which met here today. It also decided to introduce group-wise merit scholarship for girl students and raised the age for admission to 25 years at undergraduate level and 28 years at postgraduate level. It also approved proposal for introducing postgraduate diploma in the Dean Dayal Upadhyaya thought. According to Dr
S.K. Gupta, Vice-Chancellor, some other new courses, including Bachelor of Library Science, postgraduate diploma in criminology and forensic sciences and Masters in Health Administration will be started shortly. The council adopted UGC instructions for admission to first-year-degree course. From now onwards only those students who have successfully completed 12 years of schooling will be eligible for admission to first year and admission will be made on merit on the basis of criteria notified by the institution concerned. The schedule of vacation was modified for summer closing institutions. The vacation will now be from December 26 to January 14, 2001 with flexibility of one week. It also approved new teaching posts for various postgraduate courses, Law Department and Regional
Centre, Dharamsala. |
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‘Mentally ill’ abandoned, sans treatment JAWALAMUKHI: A number of persons, said to be mentally ill and apparently abandoned by their families, are living in inhuman conditions here due to the absence of an asylum. In many areas of the town such persons can be seen on the streets, neglected by the authorities concerned and residents in general and left to fend for themselves. Three of them, including a woman, live in Indira Colony. A mentally sick and aged man lives in a ruined structure. Scantily clad, at times he can be seen eating filth. “The structure in which he lives can crumble anytime. We give him food as well as clothes, which he tears,” says a resident. Another mentally ill person is Ramaia, who lives near the bus stand. He is often harassed by lottery ticket buyers and satta operators who believe that the numbers indicated by him invariably prove to be lucky. A dhaba owner has known him for the past 11 years. “Ramaia speaks a language which is not known to us and never begs”, says the dhaba owner, who regularly gives food to Ramaia. Other people also help him. Some years ago a tourist had claimed that the man belonged to Kerala. A young mentally ill person can often be seen in front of Hotel Jwalaji. He never speaks to anyone and moves about naked. He behaves like a child and burns his clothes. “ He hardly gets any treatment due to the language
problem," says Mr Parkash Chanda, a shopkeeper who sometimes gives food and clothes to him. Balo, a youth, is normally seen at the local bus stand and is also said to be mentally ill. He is often seen crying and running helter-skelter. Generally, bus operators try to make him work as a cleaner while others harass him for fun. Another mentally ill
man, who is also dumb, can be seen in the area between a residential colony and the mandir road. He is also at the mercy of residents. The worst sufferers are mentally ill women. The modesty of these innocent women is often outraged, says Vipan, a resident, who had “adopted” a mentally sick woman to save her from exploitation. The woman has now been sent back to her native village after medical treatment. There are also other mentally sick persons, including Bakshi Ram, who is a labourer, though very few give him money for his work. He thinks every Indian currency note is worth Rs 100. The number of such mentally ill persons is increasing day by day
here. Residents feel that most of these persons are “outsiders” who have been deserted by their families. Although these mentally ill persons do not at present pose any threat, residents fear that their condition could become worse with the passage of time. A mental health or rehabilitation centre is the need of the hour, says the Society for Environment and Rural Awakening. The state human rights commission has already expressed concern over the plight of abandoned mentally ill persons in the state and directed the police to locate all such persons. It is time that the government took concrete steps to ensure proper medical treatment to them. |
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Child murdered or sacrificed? KANGRA, Dec 15 — The investigation of the murder case of Akshay Kumar, the three-and-a-half year old son of Binta Devi, a contestant from Chauddi panchayat for the post of ward panch, who was found strangulated yesterday in a cowshed in the same village, took a new turn today when the police suspected that the child was sacrificed to please some deity, the district police chief said here today. The Kangra police chief, Mr Pratvi Raj said the police has ruled out any possibility of involvement of political rivalry, or property dispute. He said the police was working on the theory that the child has been sacrificed to please some deity and investigation in this direction was in progress. |
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Dhumal hosts Iftar party SHIMLA, Dec 15 — The Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, hosted an Iftar party at his residence last evening. Among those who attended the party included Maulana Nasibudin, Imam, Jama Masjid, Dr Lugman Khan, president, Muslium Welfare Society, Mr Shokat, president, Muslim Welfare Society, Shimla. Mr Kishori Lal, Industries Minister, Mr Kishan Kapoor, Transport Minister, Mr Parkash Chaudhary, Minister of state for Rural Development, Mr Narinder Bragta, Minister of state for Horticulture, Mr Roop Dass Kashyap, Urban Development and Dr Ram Lal Markanday, Minister of state for Animal Husbandry were also present. |
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Russian envoy calls on CM SHIMLA, Dec 15 — Mr Alexander M. Kadakin, Russian Ambassador, today called on the Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, at his official residence. Mr Alexander thanked the state government for taking a keen interest in the development of Roerich Trust in Himachal Pradesh. “Roerich belonged to both India and Russia”, he said. He said the Russian Government was keen on setting up a trust on the same pattern at Bangalore to look after Roerich’s property there. The Chief Minister said the Roerich Art Gallery at Nagar, Kulu, was a main attraction for tourists, especially foreigners, who visited the valley in thousands every year. The Russian Ambassador expressed happiness over the improvement in roads in the state and congratulated the Chief Minister for the same. Mr Dhumal apprised the Ambassador of the progress made by the state in various fields of development and said hydel power generation, industries and tourism development had been accorded top priority by the government. The state would welcome Russian cooperation and assistance in these areas, he added. |
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Retired for 17 years,
yet no pension SHIMLA, Dec 15 — Dr A.N. Mehrotra, Professor Emeritus (medicine) and a former Director-cum-Principal of Indira Gandhi Medical College, has been virtually running from pillar to post for the past 17 years to get his pension benefits. Retired in August 1983, Dr Mehrotra has tried to get his pension case settled but in vain. The last thing he heard about his case was that a letter had been written by the Pay and Accounts Officer, pension section, Tees Hazari to the Senior Accounts Officer, office of the Accountant-General, Himachal Pradesh, on May 2 requesting him to send the case to the bank for further action. |
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Internet services
cheaper in HP SHIMLA, Dec 15 — Internet services will be available at much cheaper rates in Himachal Pradesh with the commissioning of the National Internet Backbone (NIB) node at the local telephones exchange here today. The node was inaugurated by Dr Suraj Bhan, the Governor. A demonstration of video conferencing and use of VCC cards was also organised on the occasion. Mr N.S. Gill, General Manager, Himachal Telecom circle, said the type B node installed here had capacity to provide internet service to 15,000 subscribers and it was connected through Ludhiana and Chandigarh node. He said C type nodes with capacity of 2,500 users had been installed at Solan, Mandi, Hamirpur and Dharamsala. These nodes would be linked to the Shimla node shortly. All the new Internet subscribers of the state will be given internet account from the NIB instead of the VSNL. The existing VSNL accounts would also be shifted to the NIB in a phased manner, he added. The tariff of Internet services would be reduced drastically as compared to the existing VSNL rates. For dial-up access tariff rates would be Rs 4,500 for 1,000 hours, Rs 2,300 for 500 hours, Rs 1,000 for 200 hours, Rs 500 for 100 hours, all with an account validity of two years. |
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IT units to be set
up in Solan SHIMLA, Dec 15 — The Himachal Government has identified 869 bighas of land around Vaknaghat and Kiarighat in Solan district for setting up information technology linked units. This was stated here today by Mr A.K. Goswami, Chief Secretary, while presiding over a committee set up to expedite the development of IT infrastructure in the state. He said the committee would assess the infrastructure requirements, work out modalities to develop the same on a cost-sharing basis with private investors. The government had already leased out 114 bighas of land for setting up an IT institute at Vaknaghat. Mr Goswami directed departments of water supply, power and roads to immediately submit estimates to the planning department at the earliest so that the execution of the project could be initiated without delay. Stop drug use in
college: students KULU, Dec 15 — The use of drugs within the local government college premises has increased. The students Central Association of the Government Postgraduate College here submitted a representation to the Principal of the college today, demanding immediate action on the matter. Atul Sharma, president, and Sanjay Kumar, general secretary, of the association in a press note here said outsider often played cards and used hashish and other drugs in the college canteen. They demanded that police personnel in plainclothes be stationed during the college hours. They also demanded that an appropriate fine be imposed on the erring students. HP medical officers
strike called off SHIMLA, Dec 15 —The Himachal Medical Officers Association called off its five day-old pen-down strike this evening after the government accepted its major demands. Mr J.P. Nadda, Health Minister, told mediapersons after the talks that anomalies in the implementation of revised pay scales would be removed. The government had agreed to give the benefit of ad hoc service to doctors for the purpose of time scale promotion and had also accepted the demands regarding increase in the study leave period from two to three years and restoring four postgraduation increments to doctors working in the field. The other demands included allowing doctors to travel by car to attend courts and taking the association into confidence while deciding policy matters. |
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Paragliding for tourists
in Chamba DALHOUSIE, Dec 15 — The Himalayan Para Adventures, a premier venture of paragliders, has planned to organise paragliding in collaboration with the state government in Chamba district on the eve of the New Year with a view to giving a fillip to the tourism industry. Briefing reporters here today, Mr Sanjeev Dhir, a pilot with the Himalayan Para Adventures, said a team of 10 paragliders from the International Paragliding Centre at Bir in Kangra district had arrived at Khajjiar, 22 km from here, for the purpose. He said trial flights had already been carried out on November 10 by the pilots from Dainkund to Khajjiar, ranging from an altitude of 2,700 metres to 1,850 metres. Mr Dhir said the first take off was from Dainkund and the second from Pehlooni Mata Temple. He said two flights per day per glider was possible, adding that there were five tandem and five solo-gliders and a team of 10 tandem pilots having instructors grading in record with the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Department. So far 15 tourists from different parts of the country had been given flights, he said. |
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