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Saturday,
June 23, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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HP to
replace power meters Banks to
observe strike on July 4 Medical
students start stir |
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Kaul
Singh denies minister’s charge User
charges undemocratic, says Congress Shimla
dist NGO splits Councillor
beats up colleague DCC:
Ministers utilising ZP funds NGO
federation chief’s transfer resented Teacher
dismissed Education
Secy told to decide lecturer’s case
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CM for people’s movement on power projects Shimla, June 22 He said the state was endowed with immense hydro potential which could meet the energy needs of north India in particular and the country in general, if exploited fully. Mr Dhumal was inaugurating a workshop for disseminating information on the software development for assessment of hydro potential of ungauged streams. The workshop was organised by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, UK, Alternate Hydro Energy Centre, University of Roorkee and Himurja jointly and sponsored by the Department of International Development, United Kingdom, the Chief Minister said the state government was committed to economic development, which was based on its natural resources and was in harmony with the environment. Hydropower development had been recognised as one of the thrust areas for economic development because hydroelectric energy, particularly in the small hydro sector offered cheap, clean and renewable source of energy, which was reliable and perfectly suited to the sensitive mountain ecology, he added. The Chief Minister said the total hydro potential in Himachal Pradesh had been estimated at nearly 21,000 MW. Small hydro potential had been estimated at 750 MW and government hoped that at least 100 MW of small hydro capacity would be created in the next five years. The state government had also invited the private sector to invest in the small hydro sector and the response of the private investors was quite encouraging. Mr Dhumal emphasised the need for minimising, if not completely replacing, reliance of fossil fuels to meet the increasing energy needs. It was, therefore, imperative that non-conventional renewable sources of energy caught global attention. He lauded the Department for Internation Development (DFID), UK, the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), UK, Alternate Hydro Energy Centre (AHEC), University of Roorkee and Himurja for jointly collaborating in the regional flow regimes for estimation of small hydro power assessment (Refresha) project for the past three years. Mr
S.K. Dash, Secretary (MPP & Power), said the hydro sector had been singled out by the government as a key thrust area in the interest of development of the state. Mr Arun Kumar, Director, AHEC, lauded the progress made by the state in the development of small hydro projects. |
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HP to replace power meters Hamirpur, June 22 It was part of the Rs 500- crore power accelerated programme launched on June 16 last year, according to Chief Minister, Prof Prem Kumar Dhumal. He was addressing the fourth annual general body meeting of assistant engineers and assistant executive engineers of the HP Power Board here yesterday. He said the power engineers were doing a lot for the exploitation of rich hydel potential of the state for which the government was committed. He said the engineers were one of the best in India and whatever they had done in the field of power energisation was remarkable and everybody must recognise their contribution. The Chief Minister said a number of hydel projects had been entrusted to the state power board for energisation and expressed confidence that the board would complete those in the stipulated time so that they started generating income to the state exchequer. He said the state government had decided that in future the HPSEB and Himurja would prepare joint detailed project reports of mini and micro hydel projects in the state so that they could be entrusted further for execution to the youth of state. He asked power engineers to provide better services to the consumers and stressed the need for bringing qualitative improvement in the services. He said the government would not burden the poor and downtrodden sections of society and provide them services on subsidised rates. Professor Dhumal assured members of the power engineers sangh that the government would give attention to their demands and added that the government was committed to the welfare of employees in the state. Mr Kishori Lal Vaidya, HP Industries Minister, Mr Ravinder Ravi, Minister of State for Technical Education, also addressed the audience. Earlier, Mr Sanjay Dewan, president of the association presented a charter of demands to the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister today justified the levying of user charges in the state. He said these charges were not new but were enforced in the state since 1974 when the Congress was in power. Talking to mediapersons at the newly constructed press room here this afternoon, the Chief Minister said the formation of the hospital societies at the state level and the district level was a step taken in the larger interests of the people of the state. He said Deputy Commissioners concerned would head these societies and local people of repute would also be taken in these societies. |
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Banks to observe strike on July 4 Shimla, June 22 The call for the strike has been given by the United Forum of Bank Unions to mount pressure on the managements of the three banks to release arrears for the period between November 1997 and July 2000. Mr Prem Verma, general secretary of the Himachal Pradesh Bank Employees Federation, said when employees in other banks had been paid the arrears, there was no justification for denying the same to the employees of these banks. He said these banks had earmarked huge funds for the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) and were reluctant to pay due wage of the employees. For instance, the arrear liability of the United Bank of India was only Rs 83 crore whereas for implementing the VRS, it required Rs 270 crore Similarly, in the case of UCO Bank, the arrears amounted to Rs 109 crore and the VRS required Rs 616 crore. If the issue was not settled after the strike, employees of these banks would again go on strike on July 17. |
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Medical
students start stir Shimla, June 22 The agitationists assembled at the gate of the IGMC Hospital and burnt the effigy of Mr J.P. Nadda, Health Minister who they alleged, was responsible for the sorry state of affairs in the Health Department. The Medical Students Welfare Association which is spearheading the agitation alleged that jobs were being sold out to outsiders. They demanded that the Himachal Public Service Commission should hold a written test instead of interview for the selection of doctors to ensure
fairplay. Dr Rajiv Chauhan, spokesman of the Resident Doctors Association, alleged that the decision to revoke the bonds was part of the gameplan to give jobs to outsiders. He said nobody had made the demand for scrapping the bonds. They held a rally where speakers lambasted the anti-Himachali attitude of the government. If jobs were to be given to doctors of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the government should close down the medical institutions in the state. The declared policy of the government was that doctors would be appointed on a regular or ad hoc basis through the public service commission. The sudden change in the policy to give jobs on a contract basis only reflected the anxiety of the political bosses to accommodate outsiders at the cost of residents of Himachal. Doctors were being treated worse than bonded labourers by the minister and the bureaucrats. Dr Chauhan said if the policy was to go for privatisation
and give jobs on contracts, than the officers of IAS and HAS should also be appointed on a contract basis. |
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Kaul Singh
denies minister’s charge Mandi, June 22 In a rejoinder, Thakur Kaul Singh described Mr Nadda’s statement as a canard to mislead people and added that even if it was presumed that the Congress had taken an anti-people decision way back in 1974 why should the BJP implement it to incure the wrath of people. The Congress leader who was addressing mediapersons at the local Circuit House said Mr Dhumal was aware of the fact that he was one-time Chief Minister and, therefore, resorting to large-scale discrimination against most of the districts except his own and in the process Mandi district was the worst-hit and he held Mr Sukh Ram and Mr Dhumal equally responsible for this. Assailing Mr Sukh Ram, he said if he could not watch the interests of his home district how could he safeguard the interests of the state. He said of the Rs 60 crore allocated to Himachal under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sarak Yojna, not a single pie had been allocated to the constituency of Mr Sukh Ram. The former Speaker charged the government with complacency in dealing with the situation arising out of the century’s worst drought which had damaged the crops of farmers who were coming to towns in search of employment. He urged the government to take relief measures on a war footing. He lamented that the government had burdened the people of the state by doubling the fees of students, enhancing power and water charges three to four times and levying user charges in hospitals. |
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User charges undemocratic, says Congress Shimla, June 22 Mr Rao said the BJP government in the state had been imposing taxes on people ever since it came to power. |
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Shimla
dist NGO splits Shimla, June 22 Mr Chauhan was elected president of the unit on May 22. However, Mr Ganga Singh quashed the election on the grounds of various irregularities, including improper verification of the list of delegates. He had set up a three-member committee to enquire into the alleged irregularities and announced that fresh elections would be held today after the verification of the delegates. Mr Chauhan said Mr Ganga Singh had no authority to order a fresh election as under the constitution only general house
could take a decision in this regard. Moreover, at least a 20-day notice had to be given for holding re-election but in the this case not even 10 days were allowed. The decision of the government to convert hospitals into societies and privatisation of official vehicles was criticised at the meeting. The Ganga Singh faction claimed that 257 delegates from 32 departmental associations participated in the election. The large participation, he said, had vindicated the federation’s decision to quash the earlier election. Other office-bearers elected during the meeting are: senior vice-president — Mr Gobind Sharma; vice-presidents — Mr Madan Sethi and Mr Ram Lal; general secretary — Mr Hem Raj Sharma and press secretary — Mr Subhash Sharma. |
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Councillor
beats up colleague Shimla, June 22 Both Mr Manoj Kumar and Mr Vijay Chauhan are Congress councillors. The trouble started as councillors argued whether the annual report should be read by the Commissioner or it should be treated as read to save time. The councillors were taken by surprise when Mr Chauhan pounced on Mr Manoj Kumar and hit him on his face. Thereafter, the visibly upset councillors sat on dharna inside the meeting room and demanded a registration of case. There was pandemonium at the general house for half an hour and later the meeting was adjourned as the Mayor, Mrs Jenny Prem, Deputy Mayor, Mr Shashi Shaker, Commissioner, Mr H.N. Kashyap, walked out of the meeting. |
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DCC: Ministers utilising ZP funds Nurpur, June 22 Mr
M.R. Goma and Mr Ajay Mahajan, president and general secretary, respectively, of the DCC in a joint statement alleged that during the disbursal of the zila parishad funds the democratically elected parishad members were not being taken into confidence. They warned that if the government and its ministers did not stop interfering with the parishad’s functioning, the DCC would launch an agitation. They alleged that about 70 per cent of the Kangra Zila Parishad budget had been disbursed by ministers and BJP legislators. |
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NGO federation chief’s transfer resented Chamba, June 22 In a handout here yesterday, Mr Brij Mohan Bedi, general secretary of the district unit and Mr Gajinder Vashist, president of the Chamba unit, described the transfer of Mr Thakur as “victimisation and humiliation” by disgruntled leaders. They alleged that the transfer had been made at the behest of certain ruling politicians. |
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Teacher
dismissed Shimla, June 22 The incident of molestation had led to violent protests in the area and some vehicles were damaged by angry people. A spokesman for the Education Department said that the services of the teacher had been terminated on the basis of the report of an inquiry. Meanwhile, it is learnt that the government has decided to suspend the District Education Officer of Solan for allegedly having failed to take action in the incident of beating up of a student by a teacher at a Kasauli school. The girl student had later died in the PGI, Chandigarh. |
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Education
Secy told to decide
lecturer’s case Shimla, June 22 The applicant, who was appointed TGT in 1970, went on medical leave in 1975. She remained on leave for four years. Which was not sanctioned by the department. Hence, the director forfeited her 10-year service and reappointed her in 1980. Mr Rajinder Dogra contended on behalf of the petitioner that though the Education Department had forfeited the service of the applicant, it promoted her on the basis of her seniority. The court directed the Secretary to decide on the said appeal within three months. |
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HP matric results today Shimla,
June 22 |
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Shastri
is Mandi DCC chief Shimla, June 22 His appointment has been made by Mrs Vidya Stokes, the PCC chief. |
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40 HP delegates for Cong training camp Shimla, June 22 According to Mr Kuldeep Singh Rathore, secretary, PCC, the delegates from HP will include members from the Seva Dal, Mahila Congress, Youth Congress and
NSUI. He said delegates from Delhi, UP, Uttranchal, Haryana, J and K, Chandigarh, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh would participate in the camp. |
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Transport
union urges govt to set up barriers Shimla, June 22 Mr Ravinder Sharma, general secretary of the union, said that the department was losing crores of rupees annually in the absence of barriers. The department had only one barrier at Parwanoo where much revenue was being collected. He demanded that all vacant posts should be filled and an Assistant Regional Transport Officer be posted at each barrier to effectively check the entry of vehicles without valid permits. |
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