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Friday,
February 8, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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VRS for HRTC staff likely CPI to have ‘no truck’ with Loktantric Morcha Virbhadra accused of ‘irregularities’ Dhumal for quality higher education |
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Higher allocation for hydel sector Minister warns forest mafia OBCs threaten ministers on quota issue Now pick your
phone number Building laws being violated in Barog Man held for raping daughter
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VRS for HRTC staff likely Shimla, February 7 The proposal to offer VRS in the HRTC might be put before the Cabinet in its forthcoming meetings. With a fleet of about, 1,730, buses, the HRTC is incurring an annual loss of about Rs 75 crore and has become a liability for the government. Sources said the
VRS, which had been introduced in certain public sector undertakings, had not been extended to the
HRTC. The authorities hoped that the HRTC might turn the corner once the scheme was introduced. The VRS was recommended by a high-level committee which was set up some time ago to suggest measures for taking the HRTC out of the red. The steps taken over the years to make the HRTC a profit-making unit failed and the authorised pointed out that the main cause was the social services being offered by the corporation.
Moreover, it was running buses on several non-profitable routes just to keep people linked with other areas. The per kilometre loss of the buses was 53 paise in 1997-98 which increased to Rs 1.17 in 1998-99 and Rs 3.44 during 1999-2000. With private buses competing with the HRTC, its occupancy ratio dropped to nearly 52 per cent against the breakeven occupancy ratio of 76 per cent. The government, which had already come under criticism for increasing tarrif of various public utilities, had pushed under the carpet the proposal of a committee to increase the fares of the HRTC by 15 per cent. On the other hand, the demand of private bus operators to increase their fares had also not been accepted and the state government was reportedly considering other steps to compensate them. These measures included reducing road tax and increasing off days. |
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CPI to have ‘no truck’ with Loktantric Morcha Kangra, February 7 In a statement issued here today, Mr Himal Chand, member, state secretariat and national council of the CPI, said the CPI had no truck with the so-called Him Loktantrik Morcha as it was headed by Mr Mohinder Singh, state Chief of the Lok Janashakti which is headed at the national level by Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, Union Minister in the NDA Government at the Centre headed by an arch reactionary party, the BJP with whom the CPI and Left parties had serious differences on political and economic issues. Mr Himal Chand said, “There is no question of the CPI joining any such morcha as long as the Lok Janshakti is part of the NDA Government at the Centre”. Making it clear, he said, “Joining Him Loktantrik Morcha by the CPI is not authorised by the state secretariat and it may, however, be the personal opinion of some individual to join it”. He said the CPI, however, was open to the idea of a dialogue with the CPM and other secular parties and elements in the state to fight the “undemocratic” and “anti people” policies of the present BJP-HVC combine government in the state. The CPI’s stand may weaken the option of the establishment of a third front in the state. When asked as to who authorised Mr Mohinder Singh to announce the joining of the CPI with the Him Loktantrik Morcha, Mr Himal Chand replied that one person as an individual might have joined the morcha but not the CPI as a party. |
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Virbhadra accused of ‘irregularities’ Shimla, February 7 Mr Kishori Lal, the Industries Minister, Mr Mansa Ram, the Food and Supplies Minister, and Mr Hari Narayan Singh, the Town Planning Minister, in a joint statement here today said that the outburst of Mr Virbhadra Singh against officers was uncalled for and an attempt to confuse and cover up the wrongs he had perpetrated while in office. The ministers said the Congress leader had, after taking over as the Chief Minister in 1983, crossed all limits of misuse of office to derive undue favours for which people would never forgive him. Despite being the Chief Minister of the state he acquired 161 bighas of land in violation of the Land Ceiling Act and surrendered it only after a gap of nine years after having effected mutation of the land in his favour in 1974. It was surprising that Mr Virbhadra Singh remembered the Ceiling Act in case of Ms Yadunandan Kumari and others in 1987 but he got land for himself in 1994 under the excuse that he was innocent of the law. Referring to the role of officers, they said the DC as custodian of the government land was discharging his duty in a right manner and without any favour or disfavour and performing his duties in accordance with the law. The state government was neither taking work from officers with any temptation and nor any inquiry had been stopped as alleged by the former Chief Minister. Such allegations were false and concocted. The ministers said it was not for the first time that Mr Virbhadra Singh had threatened the officers. In March 1999 he had written a letter to a senior IAS officer in a threatening tone. The government would take serious notice of these threats and ensure that officers and employees worked without any fear and in a transparent manner. They asked Mr Virbhadra Singh to reveal how much of his land were vested in the government after the implementation of the Abolition of Big Landed Estate Act and after the Land Ceiling Act and how much was left with him. They alleged that he was having land in his possession more than permissible under the Surplus Land Ceiling Act. It was returned to the government in the form of “Banjar-Kadim” whereas its title was “Forest-Deodar” in February 1974. The ministers said in 1980 a decision was taken against taking forest produce out of the state but Mr Virbhadra Singh after taking over as the Chief Minister got the permission was for the purpose. The permission on a recasted Zamabandi of Muhal Dofda, which was not in record in 1975-76, was given in May 1996. They asked whether, “Part Sarkar Zamabandi” could be brought out of the record room and whether “Part Sarkar” would be made against under any rule. |
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Dhumal for quality higher education Shimla, February 7 Mr Dhumal was inaugurating a two-day seminar-cum-workshop on quality assurance in higher education-assessment and accreditation of colleges, organised by the Education Department and the National Assessment and Accreditation Council, Bangalore to jointly sensitise principals and education managers of various government and private colleges in the state. He said higher education was at crossroads. He said it continued to contribute significantly to the refinement of perceptions and cultivation of scientific temper. He said higher education was responding to global competition while encouraging academic citizenship with a focus on human resource development, its strategic planning and management had to cope with the challenges for excellence, better performance, upgradation of skills and accessibility. The Chief Minister said the higher education needed to enhance human capability. He said the management role had to ensure that the academic inputs were co-related to meet the institution competition urge for excellence. He stressed upon the need for participative initiative by teachers and management to ensure better performance by students through inbuilt appraisal methods and incentive with personal and non-exploitative means. He said this would give students and teachers participation joy besides autonomy of thought and action in the process of teaching and evaluation. He said the complex task of improvement in the quality and effectiveness of higher education was to develop suitable mechanism for its quality assessment. He stressed upon the necessity for maintaining minimum academic standards in all respects of high education and adopt quality assurance teaching and research programmes of global standards. Mr S. Roy, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Education, said the H.P. University had earned the distinction to be one of the 20 universities of the country and post graduate colleges at Mandi, Dharamsala and Hamirpur were outstanding performers in the state. He said the state government was paying special attention to the education of weaker sections of the society. Prof K. Aludia Pillai, former Vice-Chancellor, Kamraj University, Madurai, Prof Harbhajan Singh Soj, former Vice-Chancellor, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Dr N.K. Sharda, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, H.P. University, were among others present. |
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Higher allocation for hydel sector Chamba, February 7 Mr Yogendra Prasad, Chairman and Managing Director(CMD) of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), said as envisaged in the policy on hydro development, the Ministry of Power had taken several steps to accelerate hydropower development by higher budgetary allocation for the hydel sector, giving priority to languishing state sector projects and levy of 5 per cent development surcharge to suppllement resources for hydroelectric projects by the NHPC. The policy laid a greater emphasis on the ideal hydro thermal mix, which should be in the ration of 40:60 . He said at present hydro share was below 25 per cent, which would become about 27 if 31,700 MW of hydro power were added by 2012. Mr Prasad said hydro power was renewable, economic, non-polluting and an environmentally benign source of energy having inherent ability for instantaneous starting, stopping, load variation and reliable power system as compared to the unsatisfactory system conditions prevailing especially in the eastern and western regions having predominance of thermal power. Mr Prasad stated that the power demand projections made in the 16th electric power survey would require a need-based capacity addition of 55,000 MW and 52,000 MW of power during the forthcoming 10th and 11th plans, respectively, adding that the hydro power development would need a further boost in order to bridge the gap between demand and supply. He said the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) had prepared a vision paper on development of hydro-electric potential in India by 2025-26 which envisaged harnessing of the entire balance hydro power potential of India by the year 2025-26. He said during the 10th and 11th plans, the vision paper envisaged a hydro capacity addition of 10,400 MW and 21,300 MW, respectively. He said the likely requirement of funds for this capacity addition would be of the order of Rs 1,300 billion. He informed that in terms of hydro power potential, India ranked fifth in the world at 600 billion kilowatt hours of energy annually, equivalent to a nameplate capacity of 1,50,000 MW approximately out of which only 17 per cent had so far been developed. He further informed that the total installed capacity of power in the country was 1,02,907 MW, out of which 25,574 MW was that of hydro power. He said a survey indicated that the maximum hydro power potential harnessed was in the southern region but that also stood at a level of 53,86 per cent only. Mr Prasad said the most underdeveloped regions were northern and north-eastern where only 15.22 per cent and 1.22 per cent of hydro potential had so far been developed. The State of Arunachal Pradesh had a hydro power potential of 50,300 MW out of which only 10.50 MW were in operation, 405 MW under construction leaving a sizeable chunk still to be developed. He said the other states with large untapped hydro potential were Uttaranchal, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir where the balance hydro potential was of the order of 12,000 to 13,000 MW in each state. Mr Prasad said the Union Ministry of Power was further concentrating on basin-wise development of hydro power, getting ranking study done by the CEA for all the balance hydro sites with an aim to prioritise the remaining hydro power projects and optionally utilise them over the next few decades. For the Central sector projects, three-stage clearance procedure had been introduced with the objective of reducing the time and cost overrun, he added.
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Minister warns forest mafia Mandi, February 7 He refuted the allegation that smugglers were enjoying political patronage and added that no one would be spared if found involved in forest crimes. He said a large number of vehicles involved in smuggling had been impounded and many confiscated under the Indian Forest Act all over the state. Officers had been directed to be stern with the forest offenders, he said. Forest Minister said during an interview that prosperity of Himachal Pradesh was closely linked with forests which were the basic infrastructure for harnessing hydle power and promoting tourism. Dense forests in the catchment areas of rivers would ensure regular flow of water, he added. Referring to the development of 10 most backward Panchyats falling in the Sundernagar and Nachan constituencies, the minister said a sum of Rs 15.53 crore was being spent under Nabard for completing two main roads-Pandar-Tatapani and Tatapani-Slappar whereby a large number of villages would be linked with metalled road for taking fruits and vegetables to markets. He said 28-km portion of Tatapani-Slappar road would be completed by June this year. He said in each panchayat there was a high school and ayurvedic dispensary. Answering a question he admitted that there was shortage of staff at some places. “I have requested Education and Health Ministers to provide staff in the remote and backward areas on priority”, he said. |
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OBCs threaten ministers on quota issue Dharamsala, February 7 In a statement issued here today, a representative of the organisation, Mr Devendra Chaudhary, said the BJP government, which had come to power with the support of the OBCs, was going back on its word by denying them 27 per cent reservation. He said as per the directions of the Supreme Court, the task of the OBC Commission was to include various communities in the list and it was no hinderance in the way of 27 per cent reservation. He alleged that the government was adopting delaying tactics and the statement that reservation would be given on the basis of population was misleading. “If the government is really serious about providing reservation to OBCs why the task of their census has not been undertaken,” said Mr Chaudhary. The indefinite hunger strike by the organisation entered the 13th day today. It said getting 27 per cent reservation was the constitutional right of the OBCs and all ministers and MLAs must unite to fight for the cause of the community. |
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Now pick your
phone number Shimla, February 7 This has been made possible with the inauguration of a “tele-mart” in the CTO building here today by the Chief General Manager of the H.P. Telecom Circle, Mr N.S. Gill. An applicant will also be given the choice of telephone instruments which will be available off the shelf. According to Mr B.R. Kashyap, General Manager (Telecom), Shimla, the tele-mart will facilitate new customers to get the telephone connection with the single window concept. The application along with the registration fee will be accepted in the tele-mart. He clarified that the facility of instant connection might not be available in all areas of the town and BSNL was trying to provide telephone on demand here. He said Mr Gill also inaugurated the first digital loop carrier system for the HP Telecom Circle at phase III in New Shimla. This technology will provide instant telephone connection to residents of the area. ISDN, leased line and the Internet facility will be available without extra loss. |
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Building laws being violated in Barog Barog, February 7 The Barog area is the worst victim of builders and is dotted with tall structures which have come up during the past couple of years. No land is available as most of it has been purchased for the construction of hotels and commercial cottages by influential builders. The area had recently been brought under the special area development authority to prevent haphazard constructions, but it has not yielded any result. The Commission on the Preservation of Environment headed by Mr Justice Roop Singh, had pointed out several irregularities in the constructions in Barog and its adjoining areas, but the report has not been implemented by the government so far. A large number of constructions are going along the road leading to Kasauli from Parwanoo and some of them are reported to be
unauthorised. |
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Man held for raping daughter Nurpur, February 7 According to the police, the accused raped her under the influence of liquor when he went to her house late last night. His son-in-law was not at home at the time. A medical examination of the victim was conducted later. |
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