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| Thursday, December 21, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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HP heritage advisory panel set
up Himachal signs Chamera II
pact BJP consolidates position Cong sweeps zila parishad
poll Cong wins MC, NAC
elections Congress plans no-trust move against govt |
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Rape: HC upholds
sentence Cops look on as official is bashed
up Lone survivor of truck mishap
dies Police remand for rape
accused Verma’s expulsion
condemned BRO to build Malling bypass
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HP heritage advisory panel set
up SHIMLA, Dec 20 — To preserve the historical importance of Shimla, a comprehensive set of heritage regulations is likely to be notified shortly by the state government with the aim to preventing haphazard growth of the town. A spokesman for the Town and Country Planning Department said here today that a heritage advisory and conservation committee had been set up to advise the government on all matters pertaining to Shimla’s historical features. The committee consists of eminent historians, architects and heritage experts. As a first step, the government has denied permission to adding two floors to the building of the PWD headquarters at Nigam Vihar, disapproved construction of a third multi-storeyed block of the police headquarters and stopped construction of unauthorised buildings of the Shimla Development Authority (SDA) and PWD at Kasumpti. The spokesman claimed that a number of initiatives had been taken to ensure planned, systematic and environmentally sustainable development of the urban and suburban areas of the state. Elaborating the steps taken in this regard, he said that a comprehensive and detailed policy for the development of new townships had been approved by the government. This is intended to attract private sector funding, expertise and technology for the development of townships that would cater to tourism, centres of higher learning, industry and also serve the purpose of decongesting the existing towns in the state. The department had already started the process of identification of suitable locations, he added. He said that nine special area development authorities (SADAs) had been constituted in predominantly tourism-related growth centres to regulate the growth of commercial construction and provide essential facilities to tourists there. Special attention was being paid to the national highways such as the Kalka-Shimla highway which are the natural arteries for tourism. Important SADAs include Barog, Jabli, Kandaghat, Kufri and Rohtang Pass. He said historical tourist destinations such as Shimla, Manali, Dalhousie and Dharamsala have been under threat from unrestricted and unregulated building activity for years. Their unique environment, character and beauty are seriously endangered. The present government has initiated drastic steps to reverse this trend. The interim development plan of Shimla town had been revised and the town categorised into core, restricted, green and heritage zones. All construction had been completely banned in the core, heritage and green zones, providing of parking spaces and water harvesting arrangements had been made mandatory and number of storeys restricted. A similar exercise had been undertaken for Manali, Dalhousie and Dharamsala and till this exercise was completed, all new construction in these towns had been frozen. The government was bringing more areas under the umbrella of the planning process and it had approved new development plans for Kasauli, Paonta Sahib and Nalagarh. The government had extended the single-window system to five more towns — Chamba, Dalhousie, Parwanoo, Rampur and Paonta Sahib — taking to 10 the number of towns where the local municipal bodies had been authorised to approve building plans. Besides, the Town and Country Planning Act, 1977, had been amended to provide for compounding of minor deviations on payment of penalty. This would have the effect of regularising bona fide mistakes and avoid continuing harassment of the public. Multiplicity of authorities in areas developed by agencies such as the Housing Board, the Nagar Vikas Pradhikaran or the SIDC had been removed. Under the new policy, once the layout of these agencies had been approved by the Town and Country Planning Department or the local body, there would be no need for individual builders to again obtain the approval of these authorities. The builder would simply need to get the approval of the development agency concerned. |
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Himachal signs Chamera II
pact SHIMLA, Dec 20 — An agreement for the execution of the Chamera-II hydro-electric project (300 MW) was formally signed between the government of Himachal Pradesh and the National Hydro-Electric Power Corporation Ltd, here today. The agreement was signed by Mr T.G. Negi, Secretary, (power), on behalf of the state government and Mr A.L. Bunet, on behalf of the NHPC. Although Execution of Chamera-II hydro-electric project was handed over to the NHPC in May, 1987, no formal agreement was signed at that time. The present government had been taking up the issue with the Centre and the NHPC to sign the agreement for the execution of Chamera-II project. The agreement was signed today. The Chamera HEP stage-II, an upstream development of Chamera-I HEP (540 MW) already commissioned by the NHPC, is a 300 MW project located in Chamba district with a diversion dam across Ravi at Bagga and an underground power house 6 km upstream of Chamba town near Jarangla nullah. Himachal Power Minister, Ravinder Ravi speaking on the occasion said that the project would generate 1270 million units of energy in a 90 per cent dependable year. He said that state government would get 12 per cent power from the project and additional 15 per cent power on the basis of central power sharing formula at bus bar tariff, from time to time as allocated by the government of India. The Minister said that the Chamera-II Project would be commissioned at an estimated cost of Rs 1684 crore and provide revenue to the extent of Rs 60 crore annually for the state. He added that the project would provide employment to 4000 persons in which almost 50 per cent would be from Himachal Pradesh and special provision had been made in the agreement to prefer work force from Himachal and contractor for the execution of project, he added. The project was accorded techno o-economic clearance by the Central Electricity Authority in July, 1998. Foundation stone of the project was laid on June 5, 1999 by late Mr P.R. Kumaramanglam the then Minister of Power. As per the project execution schedule. The project is scheduled to be commissioned in June, 2004. However, looking at the present pace of work by the NHPC it is presumed that the project would be completed ahead of schedule. The project is being executed on turnkey basis by a consortium of Messrs Snc a Canadian- based company and Messrs Jaiprakash Industries Ltd. As per the agreement signed today,the NHPC will take 30 per cent of the staff at the executive level on deputation from the HPSEB. All un-skilled class-III and class-IV staff required for the project after the deployment of their surplus workers from other projects of the corporation shall be recruited from local employment exchanges of Himachal Pradesh. The corporation will ensure that at least 75 per cent of class-III and IV staff are deployed from the Himachal Pradesh. |
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BJP consolidates position SHIMLA, Dec 20 — The ruling BJP has improved its position in the panchayat elections by capturing seven zila parishads this time. The party had control over only the Hamirpur zila parishad last time. The Health Minister, Mr J.P. Nadda, and the Sport Minister, Mr Parveen Sharma, said here today that in the current panchayat elections the BJP candidates had won the zila parishads in Hamirpur, Bilaspur, Sirmaur, Solan, Kulu, Mandi and Kinnaur. Mr Sharma said of the 17 zila parishad seats in Una, eight had been won by BJP candidates. The two ministers said the BJP had got an upper hand in the panchayat elections. They said in certain panchayats, the BJP had come to power for the first time. Mr Sharma claimed that the BJP had made a clean sweep in the Chintpurni block where it had won 18 of the 23 seats. Meanwhile, Mr Ganesh Dutt, spokesman for the BJP, in a statement said the victory of BJP candidates was a victory of the development-oriented policies of Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal. He said it was for the first time that the BJP had made its impact at the grassroot level and the Congress had been whipped out of the scene. He said in the 1995 panchayati raj elections, the BJP won only 15 to 20 per cent seats but this time it had achieved 65 to 80 per cent success. He said in the zila parishad elections, also, the BJP had got a thumping victory in 10 districts. In block samiti elections, too, the BJP had won in 80 places so far. He said in Hamirpur district, the BJP won 15 out of 18 in the zila parishad elections. He said hopes of the Congress in Shimla, Sirmaur, Solan and Mandi which were considered its stronghold had been dashed to the ground and at many places the Congress candidates had lost even their security deposits. In zila parishad election in Mandi, the BJP won 18 out of 36 seats and its supporting party HVC had got nine seats while the HVP of Mr Mohinder Singh got two seats. In Kulu district, the BJP got seven out of 14 seats, in Sirmaur 10 out of 17, in Solan 10 out of 17 and in Kangra 23 out of 56. The HVC got four seats in Kangra. In Kinnaur district, the BJP won four out of eight seats and the HVC two. |
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Cong sweeps zila parishad
poll DHARAMSALA, Dec 20 — Kangra, the largest district in the state considered to be the citadel of the ruling BJP, seems to be crumbling as the main Opposition party, the Congress has won over 30 zila parishad seats. Out of the total 56 zila parishad seats in the district, the Congress candidates emerged victorious in over 30 places. Though not contested on a party basis, even in the panchayat-level elections, the performance of the BJP was dismal. Despite the overall performance of the Congress being good, the outgoing zila parishad chairperson, Ms Manbhari, of the Congress lost the election from the Sulah area. A major setback to former Tourism Minister, Mr Vijai Singh Mankotia, was the defeat of his staunch supporter, Mr Onkar Rana, who is the district vice-president of the party. Interestingly, it was a Congress rebel, Mr Manoj Kumar, who defeated Mr Rana from the Manala ward. The BJP candidate stood third. The elections to the zila parishad also saw a number of BJP candidates being defeated. The district general secretary of the BJP and a loyalist of the Union Minister, Mr Shanta Kumar, lost the election from Shahpur. Mr Kamal Padha became a victim of the infighting in the BJP in the Shahpur Assembly constituency. A former block president of the BJP from Baijnath, Mr Onkar Rana lost the election, forfeiting his security deposit. The performance of the BJP in Baijnath, Nurpur, Shahpur and Dharamsala has been very poor. In Baijnath block, out of the four wards the BJP could manage to win only one. The performance of the BJP in Kangra block has been good where only one Congress candidate, Mr Navneet Sharma, could register a victory. At present, there are 11 BJP legislators from Kangra which has a total of 16 Assembly segments. The Congress has a merely four seats while the lone Independent MLA, Mr Ramesh Chaudhary, a Shanta loyalist, won as a rebel candidate. Though, the BJP leaders in the district contest that the elections were never fought on a party basis, the verdict has clearly gone against the ruling party. The revolt by the dissidents just before the panchayat elections was ill-timed and it was being apprehended that the move would affect the party’s prospects in the elections. In fact, five of the six dissident leaders belonged to Kangra, the home district of the Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Mr Shanta Kumar. All five leaders — Mr Kishan Kapoor, Mr Dulo Ram, Mr Des Raj, Mr Ramesh Chaudhary and Mrs Nirmala Devi — are considered Shanta loyalists. The revolt clearly indicated that the BJP was faction-ridden and divided into two camps headed by the Chief Minister, Prof P.K. Dhumal, and Mr Shanta Kumar. Hectic lobbying has already begun for the election to the post of chairman of the zila parishad. The post which was reserved for women last time has been thrown open this time. |
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Cong wins
MC, NAC
elections DHARAMSALA, Dec 20 — The Congress today swept the municipal committee and notified area committee (NAC) elections in Kangra, Palampur and Nurpur. In Kangra, the Congress candidates won six of the nine municipal council seats. The BJP candidates managed to win two seats while one seat went to an Independent. The Congress won the Nurpur Municipal Council as it won seven out of the nine seats. The remaining two seats went to the BJP. In the elections to the Palampur Municipal Council, the Congress once again seems to have got the majority. The results of the Jwalamukhi, Nagrota and Dehra NACs indicated that the Congress had an edge over the BJP. The counting of votes in Dharamsala was delayed as ballot boxes from the Naddi area were yet to come. |
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Congress plans no-trust move against govt SHIMLA, Dec 20 — The Congress Party has decided to move a no-confidence motion against the BJP-HVC combine government headed by Mr P.K. Dhumal, in the winter session of the Assembly which begins here tomorrow. The decision was taken unanimously here today at a meeting of the legislature party meeting of the Congress which was presided by Mr Virbhadra Singh. Mr Singhi Ram, secretary of the CLP, said that the move was to highlight the total failure of the government on all fronts. The Congress will also highlight the plight of the people reeling under the “misrule” of the BJP-HVC government. In all 24 of the 28 members of the CLP, including the PCC chief, Mrs Vidya Stokes, Thakur Ram Lal and Mr Kaul Singh, were present. The CLP also adopted a resolution congratulating Mrs Stokes on her unanimous election as the PCC chief. The nine-day winter session will have five
sittings. |
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Rape: HC upholds
sentence SHIMLA, Dec 20 — Mr Justice
R.L. Khurana of the Himachal High Court today upheld the judgement of the district and sessions judge,
Kangra, in which he sentenced Pawan Kumar to three years’ rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 3000 and also sentenced him to seven years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5000 under various Sections of the
IPC. Both sentences run concurrently. In June, 1995, Pawan Kumar had raped a 13-year-old girl when she was going to school with her brother on cycle. An FIR was registered at the Nurpur police station in this connection. The judge observed that there was no substance in the contentions of the accused and the trial court had rightly convicted the accused and ordered him to surrender before the trial court within 30 days. In another case, a Divisional Bench of the high court comprising Chief Justice C.K. Thakkar and Mr Justice K.C. Sood issued notices to the Secretary (Transport), Secretary (PWD), Deputy Commissioner, Solan, SP, Solan, and Secretary of the Parwanoo Municipal Committee on a public interest litigation filed by Kiran Lata, a law student of Himachal Pradesh University. She appeared in person and pleaded that the residents of Parwanoo were facing a lot of problems due to the haphazard parking of the vehicles in the heart of the town and the national highway passing through it. The petitioner prayed for a direction to the authorities concerned to construct a byepass or alternate road to divert traffic from the main
town. |
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Cops look on as official is bashed
up SHIMLA, Dec 20 — The police remained a mute spectator when an official of the Public Relations Department was attacked by some persons just outside the police reporting room on The Mall here last evening. The official, Mr Sanjay Sood, received injuries on his head when he was hit with bottles by the miscreants. With blood oozing from his head, he was taken to the hospital where his wound was stitched. No police personnel came to his rescue while Mr Sood was being beaten. The police arrived from the reporting room situated about 50 metres away only after the miscreants had fled. Such incidents here, particularly on The Mall, are rare. One such incident occurred a few years ago when a Sessions Judge was attacked by a miscreant. Mr Sood was sitting in a restaurant on The Mall from where he was dragged on the main road by the miscreants and beaten.The police has come under severe criticism for its inaction. |
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Lone survivor of truck mishap
dies CHAMBA, Dec 20 — Din Mohammed, the only survivor of the fatal truck accident which took place yesterday at Chakoli in Salooni tehsil of Chamba district, today succumbed to his injuries at the Zonal Hospital here. With this, the death toll rose to 45. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr I.D. Negi, today told reporters that a magisterial inquiry had been ordered and the Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Churah, Mr Amarjeet Singh, had been assigned the task of magisterial inquiry. He had been asked to submit his report within 15 days. When asked about the claims of local people that more bodies were yet to be extricated, the Deputy Commissioner said there was no such possibility as the search operation had almost been accomplished with the help of jawans of Himachal Armed Police, Indo-Tibet Border Police, Home Guards and the local residents. He further said according to the relief manual a sum of Rs 50,000 would be given to next of kin of the deceased who were breadwinners of the family and Rs 35,000 to next of kin of other deceased as relief. However, a sum of Rs 5 lakh had already been distributed as an immediate relief. Heart-rending atmosphere prevailed today in the grief-stricken villages of Salooni when these 45 bodies were consigned to flames at the crematoria of the respective villages. Meanwhile, the local people have resented the poor communication services in the area. |
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Police remand for rape
accused NAHAN, Dec 20 — Nitin Chauhan, the main accused in the rape of a minor tribal girl was produced in the court of chief judicial magistrate here today by the police and remanded in police custody up to December 24. Mr S.P. Singh, Superintendent of Police, Sirmaur said here today that the police brought Nitin Chauhan alias Tinku last evening from Delhi where he was hiding. Mr Singh said that after three-week-long search the Nahan police nabbed Nitin Chauhan on December 18 in Delhi. For his arrest the Delhi Police, Chandigarh police, the Haryana police, the Punjab and UP police also cooperated. The SP said that Nitin Chauhan was declared a proclaimed offender. He raped a tribal girl near Nahan on November 23 and absconded from Nahan on November 24 after an FIR was lodged against two persons including him as main offender. Another accused was nabbed by the police on the same day and was in judicial custody this time. Mr Singh said that the Sirmaur police had been on Nitin Chauhan’s trail ever since he slipped from the town. Raids were made and search carried out at many places within the state and outside. Notices had been issued in his name and his photographs sent to cable TV networks. After receiving specific information about him on December 18 a team from Nahan police station was
dispatched to Delhi, which successfully tracked Nitin Chauhan and arrested him. Tribal students had organised a big agitation against the rape on a tribal student and delay in the arrest of main accused Nitin Chauhan, at Nahan on November 30. The procession had turned violent and damaged a wine shop owned by the family of Nitin Chauhan. The Nahan-Shimla road was also blocked and finally had agreed to give 10 days notice to the local police to arrest the main accused. This time limit expired on December 10, but Sirmaur police had declared him a proclaimed offender and also had announced a prize for providing information about Nitin
Chauhan. |
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Verma’s expulsion
condemned HAMIRPUR, Dec 20 — The decision of the president of the Himachal Pradesh non-gazetted subordinate services federation, Mr Ganga Singh Thakur to remove Mr Prem Chand Verma, president of the Hamirpur district unit of the federation, from the post for alleged anti-federation activities has shocked the employees of Hamirpur district. In a statement here today, Mr Verma termed the decision of the state president as undemocratic and anti-employee. He said a person who had ceased to be the state president after the elections of the state body were not held in the stipulated period had no authority to remove him from any post. He charged Mr Thakur of working in a dictatorial manner and trying to harm the cause and reputation of the federation. He said action was taken against him because he was a candidate for the post of the state president of the federation in the forthcoming federation elections. In another statement, senior leaders of the district federation have also expressed shock over this decision of the state president. Mr Krishan Singh, senior vice-president, Mr Dalip Bhatia and Mr Pyarchand, vice-presidents and Mr Prem Singh Bharmauria, general secretaries of the district federation, in a joint statement have turned down the offer of Mr Thakur to appoint Mr Krishan Singh as the acting district president of the federation. They said here today that Mr Verma was their leader and would continue to be their leader. They have expressed faith and confidence in his
leadership. BRO to build Malling bypass SHIMLA, Dec 20 — The Centre has approved construction of the 22-km-long Malling bypass in Kinnaur district. The road will be constructed by the Border Roads Organisation. This was disclosed at a meeting of the Tribal Advisory Council sub-committee here today by Mr Chet Ram Negi, Parliamentary Secretary. Various programmes and schemes related to the tribal area were reviewed. It was also disclosed at the meeting that the survey work of the Dharvas-Saach Hydro Power Project was in progress which would be completed by the end of the year 2002. |
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S.R. Mardi shifted
to police HQ SHIMLA, Dec 20 — Mr S.R. Mardi, DIG (Vigilance), was today posted to the police headquarters here in place of Mr Ashok
Sood. Mr Sood goes to the vigilance organisation in place of Mr
Mardi.
Six head of cattle perish in fire MANDI, Dec 20 — Six head of cattle, including two jersy cows, were burnt alive when a cowshed in Kadhan village 14 km from here, in Majhwar area, was reduced to ashes in a fire which broke out last night. The loss has been estimated at Rs 50,000. |
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