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| Monday, March 5, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Attend House session, BJP rebels told Support
govt, Shanta tells
rebels Kangra unit backs
rebels No salaries paid to civic
staff Conductor convicted on rape
charge |
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Centre’s directions to PF Commissioners Jobless resent HIMFED’s
action Trust acquires land for
institute Dhumal still best bet: Sukh Ram
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Attend House session, BJP rebels told Shimla, March 4 The three-line whip issued by Mr J.P. Nadda, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and the Chief Whip, directed the members of Legislature Bharatiya Janata Party to be present in the House on March 5 and vote in favour of the supplementary demands for the year 2000-2001 presented in the House by the Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, on March 2. The whip has been apparently issued to force the rebels to attend the House and support the government failing which action could be initiated against them under the anti-defection law which could even lead to their disqualification. After presenting their case before the central leadership of the party, the dissidents left from Delhi this morning. They were, however, likely to reach here only tomorrow after finalising their strategy. The central leaders have advised them not to precipitate matters any further during the crucial Budget session. The dissidents have all through maintained they will not bring down the BJP government and only want a change in leadership. While deciding to attend the session, the dissidents have made it clear that they have not given up the demand for change of leadership and removal of Mr Modi. In a statement released late in the evening, they said they would explain the reasons behind these demands in detail in the House. Mr Dulo Ram, spokesman of the dissidents, confirmed that the MLAs would attend the Vidhan Sabha session tomorrow. He said their fight was against corruption and restoration of dignity of the party worker. He said it would be ensured the BJP government lasted its full term. The BJP has 35 legislators and has the support of two HVC legislators, one independent and an unattached legislator, in the 68-member House. The opposition Congress has a strength of 28 and in the situation the government will not have any problem in passing the supplementary demands if the rebels continue to absent themselves from the House. However, in case the rebels choose to defy the whip and vote against the demands the government will be in trouble. The efforts of the negotiating team comprising Mr Suresh Bhardwaj, Mr Jai Ram and Mr Karam Vir, which resolved the earlier crisis in December, could not cut much ice with the dissidents this time. The team had a prolonged meeting with dissidents at Delhi but they termed it as an exercise in futility and maintained that the main issues involving change of leadership and removal of Mr Narinder Modi as in-charge of party affairs in the state were beyond their scope. They could have meaningful talks only with the high command on these issues. According to party sources, the high command is serious about resolving the crisis and in case the rebels abide by the whip and attend the House it will get time to sort out matters and find a way to break the impasse. Even Mr Shanta Kumar, Union Minister for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution, has termed their action as an act of indiscipline and advised them to fall in line and attend the Vidhan Sabha so that a congenial atmosphere was created for redressal of their grievances. He had also taken exception to reports in the media that the revolt was inspired by him. He said he could not even think of dismantling the party which he had nurtured and nourished like a plant just as parents could not think ill of their children. The party spokesman, Mr Ganesh Dut, said the high command had been apprised of the viewpoint of the Legislature BJP and the party. It considered the demand for change in leadership and removal of Mr Modi as irresponsible and also illogical. The party had gone from strength to strength under their leadership and won all elections held over the past three years. As such expression of lack of faith in these leaders was inexplicable. It was now for the high command to take a final view and take whatever steps were necessary to resolve the crisis. |
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Support govt, Shanta tells
rebels Palampur, March 4 He said it was preposterous to even hint that he had a hand in destabilising the party of the Dhumal government. In a statement to the press, he said throughout his political career he had opposed corruption and indiscipline in public life. He had never compromised on these issues. Mr Shanta Kumar said he had throughout maintained that rebel MLAs had adopted a “wrong approach for their cause.” No matter how genuine their grievances were, going to the press was not right. They should have brought facts to the notice of the BJP high command, he said. Mr Shanta Kumar said he had submitted his report to the Prime Minister, the Home Minister and the BJP President, Mr Bangaroo Laxman, and called the MLAs to his Delhi residence and apprised them of the opinion of the party leadership and advised them to fall in line. Asked was there any proposal to change Mr Narinder Modi, Mr Shanta Kumar refused to comment. Asked if he was in touch with the dissident leaders from Palampur, he replied in the negative. HAMIRPUR: The district BJP on Sunday termed as right Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal’s action of removing four ministers from the Cabinet. The district unit at a meeting expressed its full faith in Mr Dhumal’s leadership. Senior party leaders from the district, including all five mandal presidents, were present. Earlier, talking to reporters at the local Circuit House, district BJP President Baldev Sharma charged Union Public Distribution Minister Shanta Kumar with “hatching a conspiracy to topple the Dhumal Government,” and sought disciplinary action against him. UNI |
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Kangra unit backs
rebels Dharamsala, March 4 The BJP workers from all over the district today held a meeting here to express solidarity with the rebels and stand by them. Workers of the Shanta Kumar saction postponed their plan to hold a reception for the rebels today as they were still busy in Delhi holding negotiations with senior party leaders. Interestingly, the Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Mr Shanta Kumar, who was to attend a district BJP meeting today, changed his plans at the last minute. “Shantaji was to attend the meeting today, but due to some emergency, he could not make it,” stated Mr Kamal Padha, district general secretary, whose suspension from the party
remains uncertain. Mr Shanta Kumar has been camping at Palampur while the dissident group owing allegiance to him is battling hard to convince the high-ups in the party at Delhi, about their grievances. out of the 16 block BJP presidents, those from Kangra, Nurpur and Shahpur were not present at the meeting. The meeting, which was attended by party workers from practically all over Kangra district, was chaired by the district senior vice-president, Mr Ashwani Sharma. Party workers today said Mr Shanta Kumar was not taken into confidence on the action against rebel ministers and legislators. “It is totally wrong to drag Shanta ji’s name in the episode. Moreover, he tried his best to defuse the situation,” Mr Kamal Padha stated. The BJP workers in the district with allegiance to the Shanta faction blamed Mr G.S. Bali, MLA, for the FIR against three ministers and an MLA. They said he had done this at the behest of the Chief Minister. They were also angry over the suspensions by the state BJP chief, Mr Jai Kishan Sharma, as they felt that Shanta supporters had been targeted. No salaries paid to civic
staff Solan, March 4 The financial crisis had made the life of the daily paid employees who subsisted by procuring their rations on monthly credit. Most of them feared that the shopkeepers would stop giving them provisions on credit unless they cleared their dues in the next two or three days. On the other hand some employees accused the authorities of callousness. They say in addition to over Rs 3.5 lakh which the civic body had to it’s credit in the bank. It was earning Rs 7,000 per day by the way of recently introduced entry tax. If the rules did not permit overdrawing of the council’s bank account, it could at least pay the salaries to the low paid staff and workers. Inquiries made with the Parwanoo Municipal Committee and Arki Nagar Panchayat revealed that the two bodies also could not pay salaries to their staff for the month of February. This had affected 35 employees at Parwanoo and 12 at Arki.
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Conductor convicted on rape
charge Solan, March 4 The judge sentenced Arjun Singh to seven years’ simple imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000. In case of default in payment of fine, he will undergo simple imprisonment for three years more. Arjun Singh was also sentenced to an additional fine of Rs 25,000 and sentences ranging between one to four years on other counts of kidnapping and abduction. However, the sentences for these two offences will run concurrently with the term for rape. A minor girl had come to Solan from Lahaul-Spiti to meet her uncle. Since she did not have the full address of her uncle, she failed to reach his residence. After a few hours’ futile search she decided to go to the local bus stand for boarding a bus to Ludhiana where her mother resided. Upon finding her lost, Arjun Singh enticed her to board his Shimla-bound bus after promising her that he would arrange to send her to Ludhiana from Nalagarh the next day after the completion of the return trip of his bus to that station. Arjun Singh took her to Shimla and committed the rape in the bus that had been parked at a lonely place. Next day he dropped her at Nalagarh bus stand and vanished. The girl thereafter reported the matter to the Nalagarh police. |
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Centre’s directions to PF Commissioners Chamba, March 4 These orders have paved the way for all types of contractors to compete for undertaking various works on the government as well as semi-government projects and schemes. In fact, the allotment of code numbers to contractors was earlier prohibited on July 3, 1998. According to orders issued on February 12 by the Union Government, the employers rendering services on contract basis and having in their employment 20 or more persons may be allotted separate code numbers provided they are indentifiable entities and have a permanent account number (PAN) from the Income Tax Department or are registered as a shop. In the event of such employers failing to discharge their obligation, compliance will continue to be ensured through the principal employers, the orders say. The orders have also mentioned that the option available to the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation to get compliance from the principal employers in relation to the contract employees has not been diluted. The orders are intended at allowing employers who do their work through services provided by contractors which are business in their own right, to have the facility of being registered with the Employees’ Provident Fund
(EPF). The Centre has asked the Regional Provident Fund Commissioners to issue instructions to all compliance circle authorities to ensure smooth implementation of the instructions. |
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Jobless resent HIMFED’s
action Chamba, March 4 The Department of Employment, in fact, deals with the employment and vocations guidance activities in the state. The unemployed of this area have also condemned the federation for selling the forms of the board’s various competitive examinations without giving any due publicity. Due to this, the poor employment-seekers are and deprived of jobs. Moreover, the HIMFED lacks network at the grass roots in the alpine region whereas the Department of Employment which is concerned with the subject/sphere has a wide network of employment exchanges at all block levels throughout the state. When contacted, officials of the Department of Employment say that they were neither being given any intimation about such examinations conducted by the board nor supplied with the requisite forms which were required by the employment seekers. |
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Trust acquires land for
institute Palampur, March 4 Mr Shanta Kumar signed the lease deed along with other trustees here. The land was given to the trust by the government on 99 years’ lease. Besides Mr Shanta Kumar, the other trustees included Mr S.K. Alok, Mr K.C. Sharma, retired IAS officers, Mr Hans Raj Sood, a Chartered Accountant of Delhi, Dr Shiv Kumar and Kamlesh Sharma. After signing the deed, Mr Shanta Kumar and other trustees also visited the site. Later talking to media persons, Mr Shanta Kumar said the construction of the institution would be taken up in the next two months. He said a team of architects and engineers from Delhi had already started the designing of the project. He announced that the institute would have 100 seats. Besides, there would also be provision for 500 beds. |
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Dhumal still best bet: Sukh Ram Bilaspur, March 4 Addressing a district-level meeting of workers at industrial area here last evening, Mr Sukh Ram said his party was of the view that Prof Dhumal still was the best bet considering the prevailing political scenario in the state. |
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