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Monday,
May 7, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Shanta to review
development works Dhumal hits back at
Congress Cong ‘gaining lost ground’ in
HP HP Govt’s move to recover tax
arrears PWD functioning comes under
cloud |
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Participants from 18
nations discuss HRD Project raising day celebrated New govt scheme irks pensioners Citizens’ group demands
amendment in land Act Karmapa’s Shimla
visit cancelled Man held
for wife’s murder Patial may be on rights panel
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Shanta to review
development works Nurpur, May 6 While addressing a press conference here today, he said Rs 6.80 crore had been disbursed by him in the Kangra parliamentary constituency. The block development offices had been asked to submit a detailed report pertaining to the utilisation of the disbursed funds and the present status of the ongoing development works. He declared he would disburse the fund for the current year after reviewing the old development projects. He asserted that he would try to remove bottlenecks in the halted development works by making good coordination between the BDOs, the local MLA and local gram panchayat. The Union Minister said he would lay emphasis on launching development activities in those gram panchayats which had not been covered earlier when the fund was disbursed. Mr Shanta Kumar, who is also president of the Vivekanand Medical Research Centre Trust, said the mass movement launched for collecting donations for setting up the centre at Holta (Palampur) was gaining momentum in Kangra district. He said Rs 80 crore would be spent on this prestigious medical research centre having 500-bed capacity out of which 100 beds would be reserved free of cost for the poor. The minister disclosed the foundation stone of the centre would be laid in the last week of this month. He claimed that this super-speciality charitable medical centre would have a medical college and a nursing school. Earlier, Mr Shanta Kumar inaugurated a serai on the hospital premises here. The serai has been constructed at a cost of Rs 10 lakh from MP’s fund. He also addressed a meeting of representatives of the Panchayati Raj institutions and the public at Bachat Bhavan and called on them to donate generously for setting up the Vivekanand Medical Research Centre. Mr Rajan Sushant, Revenue Minister, and Mr Rakesh Pathania, Chairman, HP Tourism Development Corporation, also took part in the meeting. |
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Institute possible with people’s help:
Shanta Dharamsala, May 6 Mr Shanta Kumar, interacting with zila praishad and panchayat samiti members and panchayat pradhans of Nagrota, Kangra and Dharamsala areas here yesterday, said with the setting up of this medical institute the people would not have to go to other places for medical treatment. He, however, said though the task seemed difficult, it could be achieved with the active cooperation of the people. The minister said the state government had already provided 417 kanals of land for the setting up of the institute. He said the foundation stone for the project would be laid by the end of this month. During the first phase, the hospital was expected to start functioning after two years, while the medical college would be started later. “Of the 500 beds in the hospital, 100 will be given free of cost to the poor patients who cannot afford such medical services,” he added. Mr Shanta Kumar said the people of Kangra had set a target of collecting Rs 5 crore for the project by the month end. Apart from this Rs 2.5 crore had been collected through donations. He said his family had made a contribution of Rs 3.25 lakh. The Transport Minister, Mr Kishan Kapoor, was also present on the occasion. |
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Dhumal hits back at
Congress Sundla (Chamba), May 6 Addressing a public meeting on occasion of raksha sutra bandhan function organised by the Himachal unit of the BJP, Mahila Morcha at Sundla in Chamba district today, the Chief Minister made the opposition Congress leaders understand that the ‘Saraswati Bal Vidya Sankalp Yojna’ was an ambitious scheme especially designed to improve and strengthen the standards of education in the state. Under the scheme 126 crore would be spent during the current fiscal year in the state and in Chamba district 1296 rooms had been proposed to be built, the Chief Minister added. The Chief Minister advised the Congress leaders to refrain from politicising such issues and devote themselves for the common cause of development of the state. The Chief Minister attacked the previous Congress governments in the country which had always cashed in on the name of Mahatma Gandhi, but it was the BJP-led government which followed the path of Gandhi and fulfilled the long-cherished dreams of the Mahatma by launching such ambitious schemes. The Chief Minister alleged that the Congress government had also taken advantage on the 300-MW Chamera Hydroelectric Project (stage-II) by laying the foundation stone in 1982 to win the elections, adding that it was the BJP-led government which got its construction work started after 17 years. Alleging the Congress for brokerage of 600 crore in the execution of the Chamera Project (stage-II), the Chief Minister said that the Congress had wanted to execute this project with an outlay of Rs 2300 crore, but the BJP-led government when voted to power had reached an agreement with a private enterprise to execute the project with a minimum cost of 1700 crore. He hoped the project would be completed before scheduled. |
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Cong ‘gaining lost ground’ in
HP Shimla, May 6 Mr Sukhwinder Singh, president of the state unit of the Youth Congress, said the image of MPs and MLAs had taken a severe beating following the Tehelka episode and general impression, particularly among the youth, had been created that all politicians were corrupt. There was an urgent need to bring transparency in public life to restore people’s faith in the polity. He said the declaration of assets by elected representatives was the first step in this direction. The BJP in its poll manifesto had promised that its legislators would declare their assets within three months of their election. However, more than three years had passed but they had not made their assets public, he said. He said if they declared their assets now it would not serve any meaningful purpose as already many of the ministers were facing charges of corruption and it would be difficult to assess how much assets they had acquired during their tenure in office. The youth leader claimed the Congress was gaining lost ground under the leadership of Mrs Vidya Stokes. This was evident from the large turnout at the Nagrota rally. He said the success of the rally had served as an eye opener to those who doubled her capacity to pull crowds. The eagerness shown by old Congressmen who deserted the party on the eve of the last assembly elections also indicted that the party was on a comeback trail. He said while HVP rebels had joined the Congress many more were willing to join the party. It was an indication of things to follow and the changing political equations in the state, he asserted. |
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HP Govt’s move to recover tax
arrears Shimla, May 6 Some of the tax arrears are more than a decade old. However, the department, which is under pressure to raise maximum resources for the fund-stayed government, was making effort to recover the arrears only now. Of the total outstanding dues of Rs 90
crore, over Rs 55 crore are of sales tax, Rs 18 crore of passenger tax and the remaining of luxury tax and goods tax. The department has identified 10 top tax defaulters in every district and initiated steps for recovery. The maximum amount of arrears recoverable is from Solan district where a number of industrial units had not been filing returns regularly. The arrears of Shivalik Castings,
Barotiwala, have crossed the Rs 2.8 crore mark. While Himachal Tubes and Wires,
Parwanoo, has pending dues of Rs 1.58 crore. In Sirmaur district Ogli Paper Mills owes Rs 1.68 crore to the department. Many big hoteliers, who have not been paying luxury tax, are also among the defaulters. Similarly, several influential transporters figure among the defaulters of passenger tax. The department has already attached the assets of the defaulter companies and of their directors in many cases to recover the arrears. In some cases action has been initiated to auction the property of defaulters. Meanwhile, tax arrears to the tune of Rs 10 crore has been recovered over the past four months. The tax collections had exceeded the normal increase by Rs 25 crore during this
period. Mr Praveen Sharma, Excise and Taxation Officer, said no tax defaulter, howsoever influential, would be spared. The department had chosen to nab the big defaulters instead of wasting its time on petty traders, he added. The department has also decided to go for computerisation in a big way. Mr Sanjiv Gupta, Excise and Taxation Commissioner, said the online integration of Parwanoo tax barriers had made it evident that computerisation would make tax evasion very difficult. He said once the computerisation was completed the department would be able to ensure better tax compliance and arrears would not pile up like this. |
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PWD functioning comes under
cloud Jaisinghpur, May 6 According to information available, the department authorities unloaded drums of bitumen at a place on the Palampur-Jaisinghpur via Lambagaon-Kosri road to metal a patch of the kutcha road. But 25 drums disappeared. When the department officials came to know of the “theft” they started accusing the local people. But when the locals protested against the charge the work inspector at the site, Mr Ramesh
Pathania, lodged a report with the Lambagaon police station on May 2. The police promptly registered an FIR ( 29/2001) under Section 379 and started investigations into the matter. Hardly two days had passed after registration of the case when the department started lobbying for withdrawing the case. Unconfirmed sources alleged a high-level officer of the department had been pressing his subordinates to withdraw the FIR. The Tribune reporter tried talking to the
SDO, PWD, at Jaisinghpur and the XEN at Baijnath to seek their version. After repeated telephone calls, one of the officials of the department at Baijnath told this reporter the XEN had gone to some site. Further, on being asked about the disappearance of the drums, he said they had been unloaded at some other site due to some misunderstanding. The watchman on the day shift had not known about this. Consequently, he had mistaken it as a case of theft and had made a report to this effect to the work inspector at the site. He in turn had lodged a report with the police. |
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Participants from 18
nations discuss HRD Shimla, May 6 As many as 24 participants from 18 Asian and African countries participated in the
programme. Prof Yogender Verma, Prof Shiv Raj Singh, Prof L.R. Sharma and Prof
N.S. Bist were the main participants from the university. Prof J.P.
Bharti, Director, Population Research Centre, pointed out that the undeveloped countries faced two diverse manpower problems — on one hand there is shortage of persons with critical skills needed for the industrial sector, and on the other hand there is a large surplus (unemployed) labour force. Human capital information and human resource development should aim at solving this problem of mismatch between demand for and supply of manpower by creating the necessary skills in human resources and providing gainful employment to them, he said. Prof
S.K. Gupta, Vice-Chancellor, who inaugurated the programme, highlighted the challenges involved in integrated human resource development and planning. He emphasised that there was a need to redefine development priorities and processes and special attention needed to be given to people belonging to the deprived sections of the society. The discussions centred on such themes as techniques of assessing the available human resources, their development and utilisation patterns and the nature and characteristic of labour market in developing countries. |
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Project raising day celebrated Shimla, May 6 The project was raised in May, 1962, following the Chinese aggression when the enemy reached areas of the tribal district of Kinnaur. It was assigned the immediate task of constructing the Hindustan-Tibet highway to provide mobility to the armed forces for protecting the border. Now its jurisdiction spreads 1,500 km from east to west from Tanakpur in Uttaranchal to Sansari in Himachal Pradesh and 920 km from Kaurik bordering Tibet to the Indo-Pakistan border in Amritsar. The Chief Engineer of the project, Brig B.M Bakshi, told The Tribune that there had been no looking back since then as the area of operation had been expanding. Not only roads, but the project had now entered the private sector by taking up work in hydroelectric projects. It was maintaining 2,754 km under the three Army commands — the Central Command, Western Command and Northern Command. The project did a commendable job during the recent Indo-Pakistan conflict in Kargil when it kept the snow-covered Manali-Leh road open for a major part of the winter for the Army convoys to reach the battlefield as the other road from Srinagar to Leh was under constant fire of the enemy guns. Brigadier Bakshi said the project was maintaining 183 km of ditch-cum-bunds and over 470 pill boxes on the Indo-Pakistan border in Punjab. The 138 km-long Tandi-Killar-Sansari road has recently been constructed to provide a link with Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir from Himachal Pradesh. This will enable the security forces to tackle terrorism in the area. Moreover, the road has opened the Pangi area of Chamba district which had remained landlocked over the years. Brigadier Bakshi said personnel of the project received one Kirti Chakra, 38 Shauraya Chakras, one Sena medal, three Vishisht Sewa Medals, seven Jiwan Raksha Padaks, 11 Parshashti Patra Thal Sena Adhyaksh, eight Parshasti Patras and four commendation cards. The project again rose to the occasion when it restored the nearly 120 km-long road between Uttarkashi and Gangotri which was badly damaged at several places due to a severe earthquake. It constructed more than 220 shelters for those who were rendered homeless on altitudes ranging between 4,000 ft to 10,000 ft and at distances between 5 to 20 km from the road-head within 45 days. Clearing of snow after the winter on the 222-km-long Manali-Leh highway, which passes through the 13,000 ft Rohtang Pass and is nearly 16,000 ft high, is an annual ritual which the project performs. Now it will undertake construction of a nearly 9 km-long tunnel below the Rohtang. |
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New govt scheme irks pensioners Shimla, May 6 Mr Govind Chatranta, secretary-general of the federation, said the scheme was framed in accordance with the provisions of the Central Civil Services (Pension) rules. However, it had not been regulated and the retired had been unable to get the benefit under it. Instead of implementing the scheme, the government had introduced a contributory pension scheme which was not in the interests of the employees, he said. |
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Citizens’ group demands
amendment in land Act Shimla, May 6 Mr Rakesh Chaujjar and Mr Ashok Khanna, president and secretary general of the group, respectively, warned that the group would take the battle to the streets in the form of an aggressive public movement if good sense did not prevail with the government. The BJP came to power riding on the poll plank that Section 118 would be scrapped but preferred to sleep over the issue ignoring the manifesto promise after assuming office. The group was not for the scrapping of the Section but for its dilution to the extent that honour and dignity of Himachal was restored and the interests of small farmers safeguarded. The law was good in containing the influx of land mafia, builders, colonisers and developers and also undesirable elements into the state but government should amend it to bestow on the bona fide
Himachalis, living in the state in 1972 when the law came into force, the right to purchase land. A large number of bureaucrats, politicians from other state and businessmen from outside had become agriculturists, directly or indirectly but the original residents had been denied this right. The state, they said, should concentrate increasing the market value of the land sold to earn more revenue as stamp fee. At present through benami deals a large amount of money running into crores was being lost to the exchequer. By amending Section 118 and reviewing the market value of properties the state stood to earn over Rs 100 crore per annum against a meager 35 crore presently being earned by it. |
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Karmapa’s Shimla
visit cancelled Shimla, May 6 The Karmapa was expected to come here to participate in the Buddha Jayanti celebrations on May 7 and other religious functions. It is learnt that permission for his visit here had not been cleared by the Ministry of External Affairs. |
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Man held
for wife’s murder Solan, May 6 An FIR was lodged by a worker of the mill which led to the recovery of the body and arrest of Dineshwar late in the evening. Superintendent of Police Rakesh Aggarwal said preliminary investigations showed the murder had been committed in the heat of the moment following an argument over a domestic issue. The husband seemed to have lost his temper and hit his wife with a stick on her head, leading to her death. Dineshwar, who hailed from Siwan in Bihar, had brought Monu to Khera only last month. The couple were issueless. In an another incident, the Solan police recovered the body of Duni Chand (45) of Kugri village, 4 km from here, from a pond near Shamti locality of this town today.
Patial may be on rights panel Shimla, May 6 It is learnt that the government has initiated the move to appoint him member. Mr Patial is a lawyer of the Himachal Pradesh High
Court. |
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