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| Friday,
September 7, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Panchayats
await devolution of powers Severe
financial crunch in HPU POSTINGS/TRANSFERS 700
farmers get passbooks Encroachments
at Mall removed |
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Poll scenes at Army school 
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Panchayats await devolution of
powers Shimla, September 6 Against the overall 77.94 per cent participation in the first meeting of 3037 panchayats on April 1 after their elections, only 39.15 per cent members attended the second meeting which was held on July 1. It is learnt that
hardly any of the major department has delegated its powers to the elected panchayats which are starved of work and finances. The notification of devolution of powers issued in 1996 is being considered as a cruel joke on the panchayats as none of the departments had so far transferred any of its functions to these village level bodies. It was a cosmetic exercise and no responsibility was given to them. The 73rd amendment to the Constitution had identified 29 departments which should delegate their powers to the panchayati raj institutions. As a follow-up action, the state government clubbed these 29 subjects into 15 departments in a notification which was issued in 1996. According to reports, the sharpest decline in attendance of meetings by the members was in the 136 panchayats of the Bilaspur district where the percentage fell from 67.64 in April to 19.85 per cent in July. In the biggest district of Kangra with 732
panchayats, the slide from 84.70 per cent in April to 40.43 per cent in July. The 331 panchayats of Shimla district witnessed the attendance of members going down from 71.60 per cent in April to 24.17 per cent in July. This is being considered as an alarming situation, but the officials here claim that the attendance had fallen because most of the people were engaged in sowing during the second meeting. Having taken a lesson from the declining percentage of attendance in these meetings, the authorities were expected to reschedule the meetings in future. The state government has prescribed that each panchayat should meet on the first Sunday of every quarter four times a year. In a bid to show the seriousness of the government in the proper functioning of the
panchayats, the Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal, his ministerial colleagues and top bureaucrats have started participating in the meetings of these institutions. It is learnt that the Forest Department was delaying devolution of powers of issuing licences for minor forest produce to the panchayats and sharing its earnings. The department has also not granted any powers to the panchayats for maintenance of forests in their respective areas, but has only sought their assistance in extinguishing forest fires. The Health Department was also reluctant to put the male and female health workers under the direct control of these institutions. However, the departments of Irrigation and Public Health, welfare, fisheries, education and agriculture have delegated some of their functions to the
panchayats. The job of identifying persons eligible for old age pension, which should have been assigned to the
panchayats, was being done by the Welfare Department where hundreds of applications have piled up. In certain states, maintenance of rural roads has completely been handed to the panchayats and zila
parishads, but the situation here was different as the political bosses were
reportedly not in favour of making the zila parishads stronger as this would result in slipping of powers out of their hands. |
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Severe financial crunch in
HPU Shimla, September 6 While the university has sought additional funds to bridge the growing deficit, which was likely to cross the Rs 9 crore mark by the end of the year, the government has expressed its inability to release Rs 3.46 crore, already paid by the university as arrears on account of pay revision. The Additional Secretary, Education, has through a letter informed the university that the government would not be able to grant the additionality due to financial constraints. He has also advised the university to raise its own resources to meet the burden. In the situation, the university will find it difficult to pay even the salaries from December. The implementation of new pay scales has put an additional annual burden of Rs 1.93 crore and the arrears since January 1,1996 totalled Rs 6.93 crore. The burden was to be shared by the Centre and the state in the ratio of 80 and 20 per cent, respectively. The government has received the amount from the Centre but not released it to the university. The arrears were paid by the university by diverting funds from other heads, including the grants received from the University Grants Commission, under various projects. The non-plan expenditure of the university has been increasing every year, but the grant-in-aid from the government has remained static, particularly during the past three years. During the year 1999-2000, it was Rs 15.15 crore but was reduced to Rs14.18 crore the following year. This year, it has been pegged at Rs 15.05 crore. The university is in no position to raise the resources required to bridge the huge deficit. The total budget for the year is Rs 31 crore, while income from its own resources is only Rs 8.67 crore. It had been able to increase it by Rs 2.5 crore by way of fee hike and increasing other charges over the past two years. It has also curtailed expenditure to effect savings of about Rs 6 crore. The financial position can be improved only if the grant is increased to Rs 20 crore, officers point out. The refusal of the government to bail the university out from the tight financial situation has left it with no alternative but to clamp a 30 per cent cut on all expenses. It will reflect on the efficiency, but there is no option, a senior officer said. Teaching work is already suffering due to non-filling of posts of teacher. Over 100 posts, including those of about 60 non-teaching employees, have been lying vacant for the past three years. The schemes for the development of infrastructure facilities have been stalled. The university now plans to recover its expenditure on the conduct of examination for various professional courses from the institution concerned. |
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POSTINGS/TRANSFERS Shimla, September 6 The DIGs of two out of three ranges and the SPs of Kangra, Chamba, Shimla and Lahaul-Spiti have been transferred. Mr K.C. Sadyal, DIG (North Range), Dharamsala, has been posted as DIG, Police Training Centre (Daroh), vice Mr J.K. Monga who goes as DIG, (Wireless), Shimla, in place of Mr Jagjit Kumar who has been transferred as DIG (Vigilance and Enforcement). Mr Sanjay Kumar, DIG (CID) takes over as DIG (Southern Range) against a vacant post while Mr Prithvi Raj, SP, Kangra, has been promoted and posted as DIG (Southern Range), Dharamsala. Mr Sanjay Kundu, SP, Chamba, will be the new district police chief of Kangra district. Mr S.R. Ojha, SP (Enforcement), Dharamsala, takes over as SP, Chamba, while Mr P.L. Thakur, SP, Lahaul-Spiti, goes as SP (2nd Battalion), Dharamsala, vice Mr O.P. Sharma who proceeds on UN deployment. Mr A.N. Sharma, SP, Shimla, has been shifted as SP (CID) vice Mr R.L. Sood who has proceeded on UN deployment. Mr Peram Laxmipati, Additional Inspector of Police, Solan, has been promoted and posted as district police chief, Lahaul-Spiti. Mr Pradeep Kumar, Assistant Inspector-General of Police (Railway and Traffic), Shimla, takes over as SP Shimla. Mrs Satwant Atwal, Commandant, Ist Battalion, Junga, will also hold the charge of AIG, Police and Traffic, Shimla. Mr Abhishek Trivedi, SP, Una, has been given additional charge of Ist India Reserve Battalion, Una. Mr K.K. Indoria, SP (Vigilance), Dharamsala, SP (Enforcement), Dharamsala. Mrs Puneeta Bhardwaj on return from UN deployment takes over as ASP, Shimla, vice Mr Kulwant Rai who has been posted as ASP, CID, against a vacant post. Mr Shubhra Tiwari, DSP, 3rd Battalion, Pandoh, goes as DSP (Headquarters), Mandi, vice Mr Ravinder Singh who has been posted as DSP, Pandoh. Mr Gurdev Chand, DSP 3rd Battalion, Pandoh, takes over as subdivisional police officer, Theog, and Mr Rajesh Kumar, DSP, on return from UN deployment, goes as DSP, 2nd Battalion, Dharamsala, against a vacant post. Mr Ahmed Sayed, DSP, Ist India Reserve Battalion, Una, has been posted as DSP (Headquarters), Kinnaur, against a vacant post and Mr Ramesh Pathania on return from UN deployment takes over as subdivisonal police officer, Manali. |
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700 farmers get passbooks Sundernagar, September 6 Addressing farmers, he said 2.07 lakh passbooks would be distributed in Mandi district. Till now, 70,000 passbooks had been distributed in Mandi. He said all villages of this subdivision were getting drinking water. Instructions had been issued to supply saplings to the farmers, he said. |
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Encroachments
at Mall removed Solan, September 6 In a three-hour swoop which began at 2 p.m., as many as 36 shopkeepers were challaned for stacking their merchandise on public place. The police also challaned 75 motor vehicles fro wrong parking on The Mall, causing obstruction in the free flow of traffic. Over 30 bags of vegetables that had been spread by hawkers along the bazaar roads were also impounded. The Superintendent of Police, Mr S.Z.H. Zaidi, had convened a meeting of the representatives of beopar Mandal and leading citizens on Saturday to solicit their cooperation in dealing with encroachers and motorists. The mandal was given three days’ time to persuade the shopkeepers not to stack their wares on public land failing which the police would act as per the law. The deadline expired yesterday. |
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Poll scenes at Army school Chandigarh, September 6 As in actual elections, the “candidates” in the fray went to the voter to muster support, circulated manifestos and held rallies. The students were also introduced to electronic voting machines
(EVMs). According to a statement issued here today, Secretary of the State Election Commission, Himachal Pradesh, Mrs Prunima Chauhan was the chief guest. Speaking on the occasion, she said the future of the country depended on the children of today. |
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Coop
bank at Haripur Dhar soon Nahan, September 6 He called upon the youth of the area to make the cooperative movement a mass movement. |
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