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April 7, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Tibetans hold poll for 13th House Virbhadra to
address Una rally HP may raise job quota for sportsmen Apple growers to
get Rs 3.25 cr A tale of “unfulfilled” promises Bilaspur district ‘gets’ 41 phone exchanges |
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Mandi dist “being neglected” Highway cries for repairs
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Tibetans hold poll for 13th House Dharamsala, April 6 As the Tibetan spiritual and temporal leader, the Dalai Lama, remains the head of the Tibetan government-in-exile, exiled Tibetans residing in India, the USA, Europe, Nepal and Bhutan cast their votes for electing the representatives to the 13th Assembly of Tibetan People’s Deputies. It was on the suggestion of the Dalai Lama that electoral reform was brought about by the Tibetan Election Commission by holding direct elections for the post of Prime Minister. The Dalai Lama has been stressing the need for having a completely democratic set-up so that the Tibetans are well acquainted with the system once Tibet becomes a free nation. He has time and again made it clear that once he returns to Tibet, he would completely withdraw from politics and devote his time to spiritual matters. “We have been demanding an autonomous Tibet, where China controls our defence and foreign policy but gives the right to Tibetans to elect their representatives,” stated Mr Thubten Samphell, Secretary in the Department of Information and International Relations. It would be the responsibility of the Prime Minister to run the day-to-day affairs of the government and consult the Dalai Lama on major policy matters, he added. With direct elections being held for the post of Chief Kalon (Prime Minister), he is likely to assume great importance as about one lakh exiled Tibetans would elect him. During the previous elections, five years ago there had been a voter turnout of over 65 per cent. There are about 1.50 lakh exiled Tibetans residing in various parts of the world. The Prime Minister will be able to select his team in the Cabinet, subject to the consensus of Parliament. The Dalai Lama, in an effort to democratise the functioning of the exiled government, had also stressed the need for having a multi-party system. However, even after seven years, when the first political party of Tibet was floated, it remains the lone party till date. The National Democratic Party of Tibet (NDPT) is the only party which contests the elections by fielding candidates. Out of a total of 46 members in the Tibetan Parliament, the Dalai Lama nominates three persons. Apart from this, 30 seats are from the three regions of Tibet — Amdo, Utsang and Kham. A total of 10 seats, two each are given to the five religious sects in Tibetan Buddhism. These sects are Geluk, Nyima, Kagyu, Sakya and Bon. To give representation to the exiled Tibetans residing in America and Europe, three seats are reserved for them. It is being expected that with the Dalai Lama laying more and more stress on democratisation of the Tibetan set-up, some more changes would be brought about. The tenure of the Tibetan Parliament is for a period of five years. |
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Virbhadra to
address Una rally Una, April 6 According to party sources, the public meeting will be organised near the Una petrol station and party leaders and workers are busy mobilising the masses for this purpose. Mrs Asha Kumari, Thakur Ram Lal (Bilaspur) and Mr Kaul Singh, MLAs, too are expected to accompany Mr Virbhadra Singh. Two Congress MLAs, Mr Varinder Gautam (Una) and Mr Kuldeep Kumar (Gagret), both supporters of Mr Virbhadra Singh, are visiting villages in their constituencies to make the rally a success. The DCC President, Mr Varinder Dharmani, told The Tribune that the Block Congress Committee, Una, had extended an invitation Mr Virbhadra Singh to attend this rally. |
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HP may raise job quota for sportsmen Kangra, April 6 He was speaking at the inaugural function of the three-day Himachal Pradesh Inter-Polytechnic Athletic and Cultural Meet organised by the Department of Technical Education at the local Polytechnic College here today. He said 18 sports complexes were coming up in the state at a cost of Rs 3.07 crore and the government had spent Rs 8.69 crore on the construction of 28 sports complexes in the state. Eleven more complexes were likely to
come up in the state at a cost of Rs 16 crore. He said all district headquarters in the state would have a sports complex and the Centre would provide an assistance of Rs 1.05 crore for these. He announced the HRTC would ply mini buses between the Polytechnic College, Kangra and its hostel situated in Chaib area at the outskirts of the town. Mr I.D. Sharma, principal, Kangra polytechnic College, talked about the achievements made by the polytechnic in the field of sports. As many as 175 students from six polytechnic colleges of the state are taking part in the athletic and cultural meet. |
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Apple growers to
get Rs 3.25 cr Shimla, April 6 The announcement was made by Mr Dhumal while laying the foundation stone of a Rs 25 crore fruit-based winery project at Pragtinagar in the apple-growing area of Shimla district today. Mr Dhumal said the BJP-HVC government was committed to safeguard the interests of apple and fruit growers. The government not only continued support price for apple, but also enhanced it and made payment worth Rs 80 crore to apple growers during the past three years under the Market Intervention Scheme. He urged the apple growers to adhere to quality production so as to meet the challenges of globalisation. The BJP government at the Centre has enhanced the import duty on apple to 56 per cent to discourage flooding of foreign apple and help the local producers. The new winery names as Himachal Indage Ltd, a joint sector venture of Champagne Indage which will have a 60 per cent share in foreign collaboration, the Himachal Pradesh Government and the HPMC will have a 10 per cent share each and fruit growers of the state will have a share of 20 per cent. Indage is a pioneer group having two world-class wineries in Maharashtra. Addressing a large gathering on the occasion, Mr Dhumal said this winery would bring a sea-change in the horticulture economy of the state. He said this would provide a permanent solution for marketing of apple and other fruits of the state. He said bottling work would start from this year and processing from next year in this plant. He said a more than Rs 600 crore integrated horticulture development project has been formulated for development of horticulture in the state thereby benefiting the fruit growers. He said this project would revolutionise the economy of fruit growers in the state. Mr Dhumal stressed for laying more emphasis on value-added products to fetch remunerative prices for their produce. He said five fruit processing plants had been set up and more would be set up in the state to benefit the fruit growers of the state. He said steps were afoot to diversify the economy of apple and other fruit growers and added that good quality fruit plants were being imported to encourage the farming in the state. The Chief Minister said to benefit hops growers of Lahaul and Spiti and other areas of the state, a hops palatisation plant had been set up at Baddi in joint sector last year. Besides, loans amounting to Rs 1 crore given to hops growers were also remitted to avoid inconvenience. He said work on 142 MW Sawara Kudu Hydel Project would be started soon which would open new vistas of employment for the youth in the area. He said his government had ensured equal development of all areas of the state during the past three years. He said Rs 2.32 crore had been spent under Nabard on construction of roads in the Jubbal-Kothhai area and added that 32 km of new roads had been constructed during the past three years in the area. He announced Rs 3 lakh for the construction of a school building of a high school, Gumma, and said steps would also be taken for the construction of a stadium. |
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A tale of “unfulfilled” promises Kulu Residents of Chowki and Jari said initially it came as good news to them that a power project would be coming up in the area but later it was seen that the local people were not benefiting in any substantial way due to the attitude of the management of the company. They accused the company of ignoring the interests of the residents. The villagers said that the management of the Malana Power Company made many promises to them. It had given an assurance that it would build a room for setting up an X-ray unit at the Government Community Health Centre, Jari. However, despite repeated requests by the Chief Medical Officer, the room was not built. Finally, through the intervention of the local MP and a Minister, work was begun on the room after two years. It is learnt that the room is not yet complete. Besides,the villagers said, the company promised to build additional rooms at primary schools in the area, provide adequate funds for the renovation of a few temples,undertake the metalling of the Kotdhar-Dhunkhra road, provide streetlights, etc. The villagers lamented that though the power project was nearing completion, the company had not initiated any action on its promises. They alleged that damage had beeen caused to fields and fruit trees due to the use of explosives during project work and landslides resulting from the construction of roads and other infrastructure. However, the management said it had given compensation for losses, but the company could not be held responsible for any damage caused by the contractors. An old villager said educated young persons from the area were not considered for suitable employment in the project. However, some youths were given work as porters and beldars on daily wages. Residents of Jari said employment was usually given by the company to outsiders. |
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Bilaspur district ‘gets’ 41 phone exchanges Bilaspur, April 6 Inaugurating a 256-line C-DoT modern telephone exchange at Tarsooh village in the Bhakra Dam area, 120 km from here, last evening, Mr Chandel said all village gram panchayats in the three districts of Hamirpur telephone division had been provided with “village public telephone facilities” under which villagers could make telephone calls at half rates. Mr Chandel said in Hamirpur Lok Sabha areas, he had distributed Rs 6.50 crore till now from his MP’s Local Area Development Fund for various development projects. |
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Mandi dist “being neglected” Mandi, April 6 President of the council Dr Jiwan Lal told mediapersons today that it was a matter of regret that there was no medical or engineering college or a big industry in the premier town of the state which was located in the central zone. He lamented that while the northern and southern zones of the state was being given proper attention in development, the second biggest town of Himachal which was also the gateway to Kulu and Manali was being meted out step-motherly treatment. He said the tourist resorts of the district were lying in a state of neglect and nothing worth the name was being done to promote tourism in the district notwithstanding the fact that there are many places of tourist attraction in this district. These places like Prashar, Shikari Devi and Kamru Nag had not been connected with metalled roads. He said the river Beas had virtually dried up after the diversion of its water to Sutlej with the execution of the Beas Sutlej Link Project robbing the town of its centuries old grandeur of being located on the bank of Beas. The state government had failed to prevail upon the BBMB to construct a small dam on Beas at Mandi to restore partly its glory.
Highway cries for repairs Parwanoo, April 6 The 18-km stretch of the road is very bumpy. It is not used by many vehicles but the traffic from Parwanoo to the local Sector IV, which falls on this road, is very heavy because most of the residents of Parwanoo reside in Sector IV and Sector V. The loaded trucks, cars and scooters use this road to go to Sector IV and Sector V. Travelling on this road becomes unsafe as the traffic moves haphazardly, with drivers trying to avoid the deep potholes. Accidents, take place on this road when the drivers, trying to avoid the potholes, lose control. The width of the road is also not as per the norms of the state highway. Encroachments on both sides of the road, from the Kasauli turning on the Kalka-Shimla highway, make this road narrower making difficult for the vehicles to get a pass. Due to the lack of proper truck parking areas in Parwanoo, truck drivers park their trucks on the both sides of the road, which makes movement of traffic slow, causing traffic jams between Parwanoo and Sector IV. The residents of this town say whenever any VIP is likely to visit Sector IV or Sector V, the authorities of the PWD Department in Kasauli come into action and repair the road by temporary patch work or filling lose earth into the potholes. The condition of this road is worse during the rainy season. Landslides occur and the road gets blocked because of debris falling from the hillside. Sometimes the road is not open for traffic for 3 to 4 days, which creates problems for commuters and school children who come to Parwanoo from Sectors IV an V. |
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