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Friday,
July 13, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Tibetan parliament writes to IOC New food
policy on anvil: Shanta No hike in apple procurement price High
command to ‘nominate’ CM Scribe
seeks HC directive on PIL |
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Infection might have killed Rozy XEN’s bail plea rejected Thousands
of fish killed by toxic effluents Parents roped in for ABVP agitation Dharna against
user charges Encroachments
removed, 2 booked Cut in
wheat, rice prices hailed Mahila
mandals awarded cash prizes Leopard
kills dog, caged
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Tibetan parliament writes to IOC Dharamsala, July 12 In an appeal to Ms Anita de Frantz, Vice-President, International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Tibetan Parliament has stated, “Tibet is undergoing the worst period of repression since 1979 and in 1994. Beijing convened its Third Work Forum of Tibet, recommending” life and death struggle and ‘relentless blows’ against Tibetan political activists. The Chairman of Parliament, Mr Thupten Lungrik, said the Dalai Lama had been urging the Chinese leadership to put an end to such repressive measures and engage in dialogue with Tibetans in order to find a mutually acceptable solution. However, China has disdained his proposal seeing no reason to condescend to “puny” Tibetans, he added. Mr Lungrik said accepting China’s bid for the Olympics would go against the principles of world peace and human dignity. The Tibetan Parliament also said the two massive Chinese projects of a railway line and gas pipeline in Tibet would have disastrous environmental implications. With these two projects, China would strengthen its strategic position on the Tibetan plateau and accelerate the transfer of Chinese population and exploit natural resources in the region. The project of laying a gas pipeline from Tsaidam Basin in north eastern Tibet to Shanghai would take Tibet’s energy resources to China even though 80 per cent of Tibet was still without electricity. |
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New food policy on anvil: Shanta Kangra, July 12 This was stated by Mr Shanta Kumar at a press conference at Palampur today. He said a team of experts had submitted a preliminary report and recommended a new food policy. He said the final report of the committee would reach the ministry with in a few months. He said Rs 16 crore would be provided to people living above the poverty line by distributing 66 lakh tonnes of food-grain to them through the public distribution system. He said the poor would be given an additional benefit of Rs 600 crore by increasing the ration quota from 20 kg to 25 kg per person per month. He said India would export 50 lakh tonnes of wheat, 30 lakh tonnes of rice and 6 lakh tonnes of sugar this year. He said there was no question of starvation death for want of food but it could be because of the mismanagement in distribution. Mr Shanta Kumar criticised Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf for not honouring sentiments of the host country which would hold a summit between the Prime Minister Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, and General Musharraf from July 14 to July 16 by inviting the APHC to a tea party hosted by the Pakistan High Commissioner in New Delhi. He said he was not hopeful of the results of the Agra summit and said it was not a step towards peace, even though the move was in the right direction. |
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No hike in apple procurement price Shimla, July 12 The decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet which was held here today under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal. An official spokesman said the state government had decided to implement the Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) for procurement of processing grade apples at the rate of Rs 3.75 per kg during 2001. The scheme will be implemented from July 20 through fruit collection centres to be opened in the apple producing areas in different districts. The procurement of apples will be made only from such orchardists who possess horticulture cards. Apple will be procured in gunny bags at various collection centres to be opened by the HPMC and HIMFED. The Cabinet also approved formulation of new criteria of evaluation of fruit trees during the land acquisition process. A large number of projects of public utility have been taken in hand. Many of these, like buildings, roads, hydroelectric projects etc require acquisition of land, the structures and the trees standing thereon. The value of land, building and trees etc has to be assessed properly. At present, for this assessment of fruit plants the “Harbans Singh formula” that was formulated in the year 1965-66 is still being used for evaluation of fruit trees in the state. Keeping in view the high present inflation and cost of establishment and maintenance of fruit trees the “Harbans Singh formula” has become obsolete and lost its relevance. In order to provide suitable compensation to the affected growers in lieu and acquisition of their fruit plants, the state government has formulated a new scientific formula as per the present prices for evaluation of 34 fruit trees viz apple, pear, mango, litchi, guava, all types of stone and citrus fruit trees etc grown in different agro climatic zones in the state. The Cabinet decided to revise the rates of payment of compensation for loss of life, incapacitation and injuries by predation and depredation by the wildlife. Under such circumstances, in case of death or permanent incapacitation of human beings, compensation of Rs 1 lakh would be paid, increased from the existing Rs 25,000. In case of serious injuries to human beings, the amount of compensation to be paid is enhanced from Rs 1875 to Rs 33,000. The Cabinet also decided to create 70 posts i.e. one Principal, seven lecturers (Arts), one DPEd and one Assistant for the newly upgraded senior secondary schools. These schools are senior secondary schools at Darbiar (Hamirpur), Narkanda (Shimla), Begain (Shimla), Dumehar (Solan), Chamian (Solan), Nugal Jharialan (Una) and Nalagarh girls (Solan). These schools would be made functional from the year 2001-2002. With a view to promoting private investment in infrastructure development, the Government of HP has approved signing of a memorandum of understanding with infrastructure leasing and financial services(IL and FS). It is proposed to set up a joint venture company with IL and FS with a total equity capital of Rs 3 crore on 50:50 partnership basis. This company will help generating project ideas up to a stage where they can be posed for private sector participation. In addition, with a view to enable the HP State Forest Corporation to expand is business activities, the Cabinet decided to give no default guarantee in respect of cash credit limit to the extent of Rs 20 crore to be availed by the HP State Forest Corporation. The Cabinet decided to restructure the DRDAs and create seven separate wings in each DRDA in accordance with government of India guidelines. These wings are project management, self-employment and wage employment, women’s wing, finance and general administration wing, engineering wing, watershed wing and monitoring wing. With the creation of these separate wings better monitoring of schemes would be possible. The Cabinet expressed its appreciation on the completion in record time of the Malana hydro project (86 MW) by the IPP and also recorded appreciation for the assistance given by the HPSEB in this regard. The Cabinet also congratulated the Chief Minister and placed on record its sense of appreciation for the deep interest taken by him in expediting the project. The Cabinet also decided to provide arms/weapons to the forest staff in view of increased risk in the discharge of their duties for the protection of forests and better control in checking movement of illicit forest produce. The Cabinet approved amendment to the Himachal Pradesh Town and Country Planning Rules to allow deviations only to the extent of 10 per cent setbacks as average on all sides for the purpose of composition. This has been done keeping in mind safety considerations as well as for getting sufficient space for general services like sewerage, water supply etc in the setbacks. The Cabinet also decided to amend the departmental examinations rules of the Excise and Taxation Department to incorporate new enactments and remove the repealed ones from the syllabi. The Cabinet approved inclusion of bio-chemistry as an additional subject for qualification in the recruitment of scientific officer in the state forensic laboratory. |
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High command to ‘nominate’
CM Mandi, July 12 Talking to mediapersons here on Tuesday, Mr Rao said that the leader of the party would be nominated by the Congress high command after the elections. He said no person had been projected as the Chief Minister during the recent elections held in five states. Mr Rao came down heavily on the HVC supremo, Mr Sukh Ram, for misleading the people by claiming that he had nothing to do with the wrong and unpopular decisions of the government of which he was the alliance partner. He said he was equally responsible for the doings of the government. He should have quit the government if he did not approve of its policies, Mr Rao remarked. The Congress leader said the Dhumal Government owed an explanation to the people about the so-called financial assistance of Rs 900 crore to Himachal Pradesh by the Prime Minister. The Vidhan Sabha had also adopted unanimous resolution thanking the Prime Minister. He said the fact had come to light that the amount given to the state was an advance out of the plan money. He denied any factionalism in the party and added that both the PCC chief, Mrs Vidya Stokes, and the CLP leader, Mr Virbhadra Singh, were engaged in exposing the BJP-HVC misrule in the state. Replying to a question, he said it was wrong to suggest that a conspiracy was being hatched to sideline Mr Virbhadra Singh. |
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Scribe seeks HC directive on
PIL Shimla, July 12 The case was today listed before the division Bench of the high court comprising Mr Chief Justice C.K. Thakkar and Mr Justice Arun Kumar Goel. The next hearing of the case has been fixed for July 26. The petitioner, who appeared in person before the court, mentioned the state government notification dated October 31, 1997 in which it was stated that the person who would give information regarding corruption to the Vigilance Department would be rewarded by the state government and the name of the complainant would be kept secret. He alleged that he had filed his first complaint on November 21, 1997, with the Secretary Vigilance, regarding Kutlehar forest. He added that though the state government was spending huge money for maintaining the forest, however, the forest produce was causing loss to the state exchequer. Another complaint was filed on May 15, 1998, he brought to light a loan scam in the HP State Cooperation Bank. He further alleged that the General Manager of Nabard had addressed the letter to the Secretary, Cooperative of Himachal Pradesh Government, in which he had pointed out that the co-operative bank had mobilised deposits worth of Rs 90 crore by paying a brokerage of Rs 90 lakh to a private finance company M/s Eider Financial Services Ltd, at the instance of the Finance Department in violation of the RBI directive. He has also levelled serious allegation against the former chief minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh. |
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Infection might have killed Rozy Shimla, July 12 The report of the committee headed by Mr S.K. Pande, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest and having Mr Vinod Rishi, a cat specialist and Director, Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy, Prof P.K. Peshin, veterinary surgeon from Haryana Agriculture University, Hisar and Dr Pradeep Malik, Head, Wildlife Health Management, Wildlife Institute, Dehra Dun, as members was submitted to Mr Roop Singh, Forest Minister, here today. The committee is of the opinion that the animal might have suffered from septicemia or toxaemia before the death as evident from the changes in different organs. Gross necropsy findings and on-the-spot investigations did not reveal any mala fide or idiopathic reaction. It also did not find any evidence of conscious negligence in the upkeep of Rozy, particularly medical care, undertaken by the Forest and Animal Husbandry Departments. An important finding of the committee is that the climatic conditions in Himalayan Nature Park, Kufri, are favourable for the breeding of snow leopard. The overall environment at Kufri appeared to be more favourable for the species than Darjeeling. This has set to rest the controversy whether it would have been prudent to sent the animal to Padmaja Naidu Park at Darjeeling, as desired by the Central Zoo Authority. The mortality did not coincide with any unusual event of weather cycle and there was no evidence to aver any relationship between absence of a mate and sickness of snow leopard. The committee took note of the unhygienic conditions at Kufri created due to the large presence of ponies and mules just outside the park and their excreta which is littered all over the place. Since the felids are extremely susceptible to respiratory infections from contaminated dust and the toxic emissions from the vehicles parked just opposite the zoo entrances, tree groves outside are essential as a buffer to keep the park away from the disturbances. The committee has advised to select a new site in the park to begin breeding of snow leopard and musk deer, which is isolated from human habitation and environmental pollution. It has recommended that a qualified veterinary medical officer trained in wildlife health management based in Shimla be deputed to provide health service and veterinary care to all zoos in Himachal Pradesh and that the Animal Husbandry Department should have at least one specialised hospital equipped with modern diagnostic facilities to manage the crisis situations. Besides, a training course for the wildlife staff in general field procedures of disease control operation, recording and submitting biological specimens, preservation of samples and shipment to specialised laboratories be introduced. |
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XEN’s bail plea rejected
Mandi, July 12 According to a spokesman for the Vigilance Department, two truckloads of iron bars supplied by Sood Steel Industry, Kandrari, near Pathankote to the stores of the PWD, Kulu, were despatched by the said firm on rate contract. On its way to Kulu 20 quintals of iron rods were unloaded at Dalah village near Podhar in Joginder Nagar subdivision of this district where Chauhan was allegedly constructing a house. On a tip-off the Enforcement Wing of the department raided the site and impounded the trucks and registered a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act against Chauhan.
PTI |
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Thousands
of
fish killed by
toxic effluents Shimla, July 12 The incident came to light when villagers found a flock of vultures feasting on the dead fish along the 50 km stretch of the river this morning. According to Mr Ganendra Bhardwaj, president, Environment Action Committee, Nalagarh zone, the fish died due to the release of toxic effluents by some industrial unit upstream. It seemed that the unit had tried to take advantage of the rainy season and released large quantity of effluent in the river at night. This is the fourth such incident in the river. In September last year thousands of fish had died in a similar fashion. It was followed by two more such incidents within a month. The state pollution control board had, as a follow up action, served notices on about a dozen units and taken measures to ensure that industrial units kept their effluent treatment plants functional all the time. |
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Parents roped in for ABVP agitation Shimla, July 12 The anti-student decision of the university had in fact affected the parents too as a precious year of their wards would be wasted, Mr Ram Kumar and Mr Kamal Nayan, president and general secretary of the state unit of the parishad, respectively, said while addressing a press conference here today. The parishad would constitute parent-student committees at various levels to launch a statewide stir from next week. Parents and students would hold joint dharnas and rallies at the district headquarters and submit a memorandum addressed to the Chancellor to Deputy Commissioners. The dharnas would be followed by campus rallies at the university and various colleges from July 18 to 25. The parishad would also seek the intervention of the Governor in the matter. The parishad leaders blamed the anti-student attitude of the Vice-Chancellor, Dr S.K. Gupta, for the ills plaguing the university. On the one hand fees and other charges were being hiked to raise resources and on the other hand retired professors were being appointed as private secretary to put additional financial burden on the fund-starved university. While the increase in hostel charges by Rs 600 per student would help raise Rs 7 lakh the salary of the private secretary alone would drain Rs 3 lakh. Moreover, the university had failed to utilise the funds made available it by the University Grants Commission. He said the commission had provided Rs 80 lakh for various teaching posts out of which Rs 40 lakh was due to lapse because of the non-filling of the posts. Also, the university had been wasting funds by inserting unnecessary advertisements in newspapers lauding its achievements. While the demand for making English an optional subject instead of compulsory had been partially fulfilled by making English literature optional no final decision had been taken on the demand for withdrawal of fee hike. A three-member committee was set up by the Vice-Chancellor but no further action was taken in the matter. Regarding grant of admission to students placed under compartment they said if other universities of the region could relax the condition laid by the UGC why could not Himachal Pradesh University do the same. |
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Dharna against
user charges Hamirpur, July 12 Talking to reporters, Mr Thakur criticised the state government for its anti-people policies like imposition of user charges in the hospitals. He said the state government led by Prof Dhumal was anti-people in general and anti-youth and anti-farmers in particular. There was no need to impose such charges, as these charges would add to the burden of the people of the state, he added. He said the decision of the government to hand over the hospitals to societies was undemocratic and against the principles of a welfare state. He demanded immediate scrapping of both these orders in the larger interests of the masses. He said if these orders were not rescinded, the left organisations would come on roads in support of the people of the state. Mr Thakur also demanded a CBI inquiry into the purchase of various items and blamed the Health Minister, Mr J.P. Nadda, for the mess. He said Mr Nadda should resign. The left leaders also submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner. |
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Encroachments
removed, 2 booked Solan, July 12 Most of the shopkeepers had virtually extended their shops by up to three feet by erecting tarpaulins. Residents of the area had been voicing their protests over the free hand given to the shopkeepers for encroaching on pavements. The civic authorities had, time and again, been issuing warnings or removing and seizing goods . Each time protests by the strong traders lobby forced the restoration of a status quo. However, a member of the District Grievances committee took up the issue urging stern action against the erring traders. Following this the S.P., Mr Rakesh Aggarwal, issued a warning to the local unit of the Beopar Mandal last Thursday giving them three days’ time to remove all encroachments failing which “action as per the law would be taken against them”. The police swung into action today after a futile wait for the requisite
response from the traders body. Mr Aggarwal said all goods stacked onto the bazar were seized. He said cases had been registered against two offenders, under Section 283 of the IPC for “obstructing public place”. |
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Cut in wheat, rice
prices hailed Shimla, July 12 Mr Thakur said it was a historic decision which would benefit about 75 per cent of the consumers . |
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Mahila mandals
awarded cash prizes Nahan, July 12 The Mahila Mandal, Sirmauri Mandir, was awarded Rs 16,350, Dhangyar Rs 8,175, Malhoti Rs 13,635, Dhabara Parara Rs 10,900 and Jaman Ki Ser Rs 5,450. Mr Rolta called upon women to come forward for the development of their areas. |
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Leopard
kills
dog, caged Shimla, July 12 The leopard climbed the first floor of the house and killed the dog. However, the owner of the house bolted the door of the room from outside and informed the wildlife officials. The DFO, wildlife, Mrs Savita, rushed a cage to the town from here and the leopard was brought to the Tutikandi rescue home here. |
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Judge’s
death mourned Shimla,
July 12 They
conveyed sympathies to the bereaved family. |
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