 |
| Wednesday,
April 18, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
|
Dhumal:
overloading led to boat tragedy HP plans
to introduce VRS Himachal
to amend development plans Shanta
gets lukewarm reception
CM: no regular posts for part-time workers |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Notice to
DG on poor jail conditions Govt turns
blind eye to dharna by blind Subedar
cremated
Briton falls from train
|
|
Dhumal: overloading led to boat tragedy Shimla, April 17 Replying to the call attention motion of Mr Mohinder Singh he said the boat had been authorised to ferry 15 persons but about 40 persons boarded it forcibly. The boat had not moved far when water started entering it but it let to panic among the passengers who jumped into water. The contract for the ferry service was given by the block samiti in March and the boat was inspected on April 10 by the Block Development Officer and the junior engineer. Regarding the demand for constructing a bridge at Harsi Pattan, he said the government had already awarded the work. The bridge would cost Rs 8.48 crore which the government proposed to raise from the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development. Earlier, Mr Prakash Chaudhary, Rural Development Minister, said the government would consider introducing fibre boats in place of the wooden boats and to provide diving suits, life jackets and other gear required for rescue operations. Mr Mohinder Singh called for effective steps to regulate ferry services and underlined the need to construct a bridge at Harsi Pattan at the earliest. He said there was no bridge on the river over a 62-km length of the river from Kanda Pattan to Sujanpur. The local residents were totally dependent on the ferry service. He also urged the government to reward the local youths who saved a large number of persons risking their own life. The House also discussed the situation arising due to poaching of birds at Pong Dam. Replying to the debate, Mr Roop Singh, Forest Minister, said there had not been any increase in the incidence of poaching. He said state and district level committees had been set up for the protection of wildlife to ensure proper coordination between various departments. He said whenever required staff of the Forest Corporation was also deployed for wild life protection work. Raising the discussion Mr Chander Kumar said the government was not paying attention to wildlife management. He said if immediate steps were not taken to improve the situation many rare species of Himalayan fauna would be lost. The state had as many as 32 sanctuaries and national park but not much was done to manage these on scientific lines. Mr Rangila Ram Rao lamented that villagers whose cattle were killed by wild animals, had not been getting adequate compensation. Mr Joginder Chand suggested that the head office of Churdhar Sanctuary should be shifted from Naurdhar to the Chopal area for effective management. The state should approach international agencies like the World Wildlife Fund. |
|
HP plans to introduce VRS Shimla, April 17 This was stated by the Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, while replying to a question of Mr Kaul Singh and Mr Raghu Raj (Congress) in the Vidhan Sabha today. He said there was a proposal to introduce the scheme. He said the state government had allowed its employees to avail of
extra oridnary leave of five years for securing employment in the private sector or for any other purpose subject to the condition that the employees did not have any official dealings with any prospective employers. Replying to supplementaries of Mr Virbhadra Singh and Mrs Asha Kumari (Congress), Mr Dhumal said the VRS scheme had been introduced in the boards and corporations where 78 employees of the General Industries Corporation, Handicrafts and Handloom Corporation, Electronic Corporation and Khadi and Industries Board had availed of voluntary retirement. A sum of Rs 2.2 crore was paid to them. He said the surplus staff in other public sector undertakings was being shifted to other organisations. Following grilling of the Agriculture Minister, Mr Vidya Sagar, by Congress members on the issue of transferring the properties of the Small Agriculture Development Project (SADP) of Sirmour district to the DRDA on book value, the Chief Minister intervened and said the details of the transaction would be collected and a statement made in the House within a day or two. The question regarding the transfer of the property was tabled by Mr Harshwardhan Chauhan (Congress) who said Kisan Bhavan at Nahan was given to the DRDA on a book value of only Rs 12 lakh and the building at Rajgarh was transferred to the ITI. Mr Virbhadra Singh (Congress) said the government had no right to transfer these properties on book value to anyone as these belonged to the SADP which was registered as a society. Replying to a question of Mr Virbhadra Singh (Congress), Mr Dhumal said reservation for the physically handicapped for categories other than for which it had already been made would be considered at the next review meeting which was held after every three years. He said reservation for orthopaedically handicapped persons had been made for class I and class II posts of various categories. But only two posts had so far been filled and steps were being taken to clear the backlog. Replying to a supplementary of Mr Virbhadra Singh for reservation for them in the Himachal Administrative Service (HAS), the Chief Minister said the service entailed a lot of travelling. Mr Dhumal said the decision of 3 per cent reservation for the physically handicapped in class I and class II posts was being implemented. In a written reply to a question of Mr G.S. Bali (Congress), the Chief Minister said 225 cases had been withdrawn from courts and police stations since April 1, 1998 to March 2001. Of these cases, 67 were in Bilaspur, 12 in Shimla, 25 in Mandi, one in Kulu, two in Una, four in Kangra, 73 in Hamirpur and one in Chamba. |
|
Himachal
to amend development plans Shimla, April 17 According to the Director, Town and Country Planning, Mr Majoj Kumar, the decision shall apply to the entire state. In the planning areas where development plans are applicable or special notifications have been made by the government making it mandatory to construct a parking floor, the term “three storeys’’ shall mean two storeys plus the parking floor. In all other areas, the term shall mean three residential floors. He clarified that the basement, sub-basement, attic, mezzanine floor etc would be considered as one storey. The basement carved out, whether closed or open, would be treated as one storey and closing of the basement not allowed. The terrace would also be treated as one storey. Mr Manoj Kumar said no building would be allowed where the slope was more than 45 degrees. The decision regarding restricting new constructions up to three floors shall be implemented in the urban areas by the Town and Country Planning Department, the Special Area Development Authority or the Urban Development Department as the case my be. The regulation of construction in areas outside their jurisdiction would be carried out by respective gram
panchayats. |
|
Shanta gets lukewarm reception Chamba, April 17 There was no reception gate to greet Mr Shanta Kumar in Chamba town. Hardly 12 BJP activists had gathered at the local Circuit House and most of them spoke about their and grievances. Leaders and workers of the BJP attribute this to their demands not being informed about the programme of the Union Minister well in time. Mr Shanta Kumar’s visit was scheduled for April 10 and 11 but the party people received information about his visit quite late. Mr Shanta Kumar who was a bit disappointed and irked by the poor attendance of the party rank and file at Chamba on April 11 had to stay at Khajjiar hill resort for a night though earlier he was greated with fanfare at Rakh village by a large number of BJP workers. Intriguingly, even the mediapersons of Chamba were not given any intimation about the tour programme of the Union Minister by the district authorities either due to laxity or some ego problem. As a sequel to this, the scheduled events of the Union Minister could not be covered in the full glare of publicity. But it is true that just before some time the pressmen were informed about the press conference with the Union Minister Mr Shanta Kumar on April 11. Meanwhile, prominent BJP leader and president of the municipal council, Dalhousie, Mrs Renu Chadha, along with a large number of her party workers gave a rousing reception at Dalhousie and Banikhet twice on the arrival and departure of Mr Shanta Kumar. |
|
|
CM: no regular posts for part-time workers Shimla, April 17 Replying to the debate on a resolution urging the government to consider regularising the services of part time workers employed in various boards, corporations and departments, moved by Mr Ram Lal and Mr Ishwar Dass in the Vidhan Sabha today. Mr Dhumal urged the members not to raise false hope among the people in this regard as there was not much scope of jobs in the government set up which was already overstaffed. He appreciated their concern for the part-time workers but said if the government continued to provide jobs on compassionate ground the day would not be far away when there would be no funds to pay salaries. He said part-timers were engaged for specific jobs where there was not enough work to deploy full-time workers. The policy of providing jobs on compassionate ground also needed to be reviewed as it had led government jobs going to limited families. On the other hand there were thousands of families in which no member was in government service. He said the government was planning to give priority to such families in government employment. Earlier, moving the resolution Mr Ram Lal drew the attention of the government to the plight of part-time workers in Forest, Ayurveda and other departments who had put in 20 to 25 years of service and yet they were not even being paid the minimum wages. |
|
Notice to DG on
poor jail conditions Shimla, April 17 Taking suo motu action on the report submitted at Dharamshala by the District and Sessions Judge, Kangra, the notices were issued by a division bench of the high court comprising Chief Justice C.K. Thakkar and Mr Justice L.S. Panta. According to the visit reports, the environment of the Dharamshala district jail is not good for human life and there are 90 jail inmates at present in the jail as against capacity of 54 at the time of visit on May 27, 2000. The report further said due to overcrowding the female inmates were kept in the cell meant for juvenile offenders and the female ward was being used for keeping male inmates. It further revealed that no medical check-up was being done. The report suggested that matter might be taken up with higher jail authorities. The Assistant Jail Superintendent has written to the authorities but no action has been taken. More inquiries were made into the matter in July, September and November. Suggestions were given by the inquiry officer but to no avail. In September, 2000, inquiry officers found that the post of Jail Superintendent was lying vacant and the DSP, Jail, was absent. The SDM was looking after the charge of the jail. Despite directions from the high court, the District Magistrate, had not sent the monthly report which was mandatory, the report said. |
|
Govt turns blind eye
to dharna by blind Shimla, April 17 The president of the association, Mr Shobha Ram, today said the state government had done nothing to employ them on Class III and Class IV posts. The association has submitted a 17-point charter of demands to the state government which includes appointment of a high-level committee for supervising implementation of the reservation policy for the blind and free education. |
|
|
Subedar
cremated Dharamsala, April 17 Subedar Ramesh Chand of the 28 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles belonged to Gomi village in Jaswan area of Kangra. The SDM, Dehra, and local MLA Viplove Thakur were present at the cremation. |
|
|
Briton falls from train Kumarhatti, April 17 He along with his rucksack fell from the footboard of 255 up Kalka-Shimla train where he was sitting. Sources said inbalance led to the incident. Alex (33) front Wales in the UK is touring India and was on way to Shimla from New Delhi. Luckily, he escaped with injuries on his legs, elbow and head due to the crawling speed of the train and the rucksack on his back. He was given first aid on the spot by a train guard. Mr Rakesh Dhiman, SDM, Solan, gave Rs 5,000 to Alex for treatment, it is learnt. Later, Alex was referred to Indira Gandhi Medical College, Shimla, where his condition was stated to be out of danger. |
|
SFI to gherao
House today Shimla, April 17 |
|
|
5.88 crore spent on flights: CM Shimla, April 17 |
|
|
Congress forms
disciplinary panel Shimla, April 17 |
|
|
Plea to appoint
M.Phil candidates Shimla, April 17 |
|
|
Phone complaint
cell opened Shimla, April 17 |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 121 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
