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Friday,
March 1, 2002,
Chandigarh, India  
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Budget development-oriented: CM Dhumal should quit, says Mohinder Singh Dhumal govt on its last legs: Bali Amendment to forest Act mooted Mentally challenged girl raped by uncle |
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Suggestions sought from Army officers 481 exam centres declared sensitive Arrest of school staff unfortunate: union
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Budget development-oriented: CM Shimla, February 28 The CPM has, however, described it as anti-people. Prof Dhumal said enhancement of Rural Infrastructure Development Fund VIII to Rs 5,500 crore and reducing interest rate on it from 10.5 per cent to 8.5 per cent was pointer towards this. He said a provision of Rs 2,500 crore under the Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojna would also go a long way in providing road connectivity in the rural areas. He said setting up of a new corporation for agriculture insurance and increase of Rs 800 crore allocation under the accelerated irrigation benefit programme was also a welcome step and would benefit farmers. He also welcomed service tax exemption in the tourism industry. Mr Mohar Singh, Secretary of the Himachal Pradesh state committee of the CPM, termed the Budget as primarily anti-people, pro-monopoly and pro-international finance capital. The Finance Minister had placed another Budget to increase the burden on the common man, whereas concessions had been given to the rich. The increase of Rs 40 in the rate of the LPG cylinders and in postal services would hit people. Concessions had been awarded on excise and import items which would cost more than Rs 1,500 crore revenue to the state, he added. HAMIRPUR: There has been a mixed reaction to the Union Budget. While BJP leaders have described the Budget as a good one and people oriented, the Opposition leaders and leaders of various trade unions have dubbed it highly inflationary and anti-people. Mr Rasil Singh Mankotia, General Secretary of the Hamirpur district BJP, congratulated the Union Finance Minister for presenting a balanced and people-oriented Budget. He said the new Budget would help all sections of society. Comrade Mukesh Kumar, the district Secretary of the CPI, said the Budget would break the backbone of the poor as nothing concrete had been given to them. The Budget was only pro-rich. Mr Bishan Dutt Lakhanpal, Secretary-General of the Samajbadi Janta Party, said the Budget proposals were anti-people and would help the rich. He said the Union Finance Minister had done no justice with the middle class. Mr Kuldip Singh Pathania, a former Congress MLA, said the Budget was anti-people and would add to the miseries of the common man. He said there was no justification to increase the prices of LPG cylinders and postal stationery as these items were used by all. |
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Dhumal should quit, says Mohinder Singh Shimla, February 28 Mr Mohinder Singh who was making a personal statement in the Vidhan Sabha and Mr Dhumal should sack the dissident ministers in case their last year’s allegations of corruption and nepotism against him were false. Having remained silent for a long time after his expulsion, Mr Mohinder Singh narrated the entire sequence of his being instrumental in getting the BJP-HVC combine government of Mr dhumal installed in Himachal Pradesh in 1998 when a hung Assembly emerged following the elections and making it stable by winning more seats for them to later find himself sacked from the ministry because of the “conspiracy” of the dissident ministers. He alleged that one of the dissident ministers who had sought his expulsion from the ministry was himself involved in wrongfully receiving a payment of over Rs 3.25 crore from the exchequer. In case Mr Dhumal was serious in removing corruption, he should first sack such ministers. He alleged that efforts were being made to implicate him in “concocted” cases of corruption and offered that the CBI should be asked to investigate these allegations instead of the state police which was “trying to influence” the witnesses. Mr Mohinder Singh claimed that not only he but his relatives and supporters in the Dharampur constituency, which had given the highest lead to Mr Maheshwar Singh of the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections, were being victimised. He accused the Dhumal government of trying to get political opponents involved in fake cases and said such an attitude was not in harmony with the coalition culture which had now come to stay in the country. The BJP should not create an atmosphere under which people feel that the party was stabbing its allies in the back. He said he had not resign but was dropped from the ministry by Mr Dhumal under the pressure of the rebels who revolted twice to seek his removal and also that of Mr Narendra Modi, now Chief Minister of Gujarat, from the Himachal scene. All ministers had submitted their resignations to Mr Dhumal on the suggestion of Mr Rajan Sushant, Minister of State for Revenue, on April 26, 2002, to give a free hand to him for recasting the ministry. However, nothing was done and suddenly “my” resignation was announced on December 4, 2000. Mr Mohinder Singh said people who had been opposing him in his constituency had been rewarded by Mr Dhumal by giving them official positions. He equally blamed Mr Sukh Ram, whose HVC, he said had been strengthened due to “my” untiring efforts. The Shimla Lok Sabha seat was snatched from the hands of the Congress for the first time in 17 years by the HVC and Mr Sukh Ram’s son, Mr Anil Shamra, was got elected to the Rajya Sabha. Mr Mohinder Singh claimed that he was offered a ministerial berth by the then Chief Minister Mr Virbhadra Singh, when his government was in minority. |
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Dhumal govt on its last legs: Bali Kangra, February 28 Mr Bali was addressing a press conference here today. He said extensive publicity to plague which struck the Rohru area of the state had hit the tourist industry in this already economically shattered state and stressed that the government must take effective steps to inform people outside the state that it was safe to visit Himachal now. Mr Bali expressed concern over the failure of the HP Government to provide salaries to employees of the government-aided private schools in the state despite direction from the apex court which was amounting to the contempt of the court. He suggested that the Supreme Court must take notice of this violation of the court direction by the Himachal Government and start contempt proceedings against it suo motu. He criticised the Dhumal government for scraping the holiday to mark Guru Ravi Das Jayanti in the state. He said that MPs from the state had failed to impress upon the Centre to improve the standard of the Railways in the state as was evident from the Railway Budget presented. He demanded that Una railway station should be made a junction and the Pathankot-Joginder Nagar railway track should be made broad gauge. Answering a question Mr Bali set aside the speculations that he had changed his loyalty from the former Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh to Ms Vidaya Stokes and added that he was loyal to the Congress party and not to individuals. |
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Amendment to forest Act mooted Shimla, February 28 Replying to a debate on the resolution moved by Mrs Asha Kumari of the Congress, Prof P.K. Dhumal, Chief Minister, agreed with the views of the members that the Act, which was aimed at preventing large-scale deforestation, was, in fact, hampering the pace of development. He said it was true various states were facing problems because the Act barred the diversion of forest land for non-forestry purpose without the prior approval of the Centre. Many states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttaranchal and North-East had already taken up the matter with the Centre. Referring to the efforts of the state government to expedite forest clearances, he said during the past four years, as many as 161 cases out of 363 were cleared. These mostly pertained to hydel projects and roads. To ensure speedy clearances, the government had posted forest officers in the PWD and the state electricity board so that cases were prepared properly and were not delayed due to trivial objections. The House adopted another private member resolution calling upon the government to formulate a comprehensive policy for the exploitation of herbal resources on a commercial scale. The resolution was moved by Dr Rajiv Bindal of the BJP. Replying to the debate on the resolution, Mr Mohan Lal, Minister for Ayurveda, said the government had already taken a number of steps to ensure scientific exploitation of the herbal resources and it was in the process of setting up four herbal gardens in various agriclimatic zones for propagating various medicinal and aromatic plants. |
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Mentally challenged girl raped by uncle Solan, February 28 According to an FIR lodged with the Arki police by the victim’s aunt, the girl, who was born mentally challenged, had been sent to an orphanage near Chandigarh as her mother too was a mentally challenged person. She was placed in her aunt’s custody after she became a major on February 15. She was sent by her aunt to fetch some hay and wood from the nearby forest on the fateful day. But when she failed to return, the aunt went out in search of her. She was found at a dhaba run by the victim’s grand-uncle, Ghanu Ram, confined to the backroom. The aunt suspected rape and informed the police. But the police reportedly did not take any prompt action in apprehending the uncle. Ghanu Ram was taken into custody on Tuesday after a group of agitated women threatened to launch an agitation. However, they failed to get the mandatory medical examination of the victim, which alone could establish whether she had been raped or not. The examination was ordered to be conducted yesterday after Ms Indu Kashyap, member of the state women’s commission, who reportedly spoke to the SP, Mr S.Z.H. Zaidi, taking strong exception at the alleged police inaction. Mr Zaidi, accompanied by the DSP, Headquarters, Mr Madhusudan, went to Arki and initiated prompt action to get the medical examination of the victim done. The medical examination was continuing at the time of filing this report. Meanwhile, a case has been registered following a complaint by the victim. |
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Suggestions sought from Army officers Hamirpur, February 28 Brig (Dr) B.D. Dogra, Director of the board, said here on Monday that he had taken up the issue of the allotment of a separate budget for the renovation and repairs of the board rest houses with the state government. He said the land for the construction of a rest house at Paonta Sahib had been transferred to the Sainik Welfare Department and the work for the construction of the rest house at Bilaspur would be completed by April this year. Dr Dogra said the board was also collecting information about the ex-servicemen and their families of pre-1947 and 1962 so that these families could be helped by arranging funds from the Army Central Welfare Board and the National Defence Fund. He said he had already solved four such matters and had provided them with help from government agencies. He also appealed to the ex-servicemen of the state to meet him on the second of every month to discuss their issues relating to the pension etc. |
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481 exam centres declared sensitive Kangra, February 28 Mr Vikas Labroo, Secretary, Board of School Education, said here yesterday that 4.5 lakh candidates would be appearing in classes VIII, X, XI and XII examinations scheduled to start from March 4 at 1,267 centres in the state. He said the Board was for the first time introducing multiple-type question papers and hoped that it would prove an effective tool for curbing mass copying. He said the Board had for the first time rejected the request of 70 private schools which opted for centres far away from their institutions and allotted them nearest centres. In order to curb copying, the private candidates had been allowed to appear through 100 such examination centres which were earlier meant for the regular candidates only. He said the Board had sought the help of Deputy Commissioners and SPs of 12 districts in the state for rendering immediate rescue operations for invigilators if and when the need arose. The Education Secretary had also directed the district authorities to help the Board authorities in conducting free and fair examinations in the state. |
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Arrest of school staff unfortunate: union Kangra, February 28 Disclosing this here today, the president of the state unit of government recognised and 95 per cent Aided Private School Employees Union, Mr Rajender Sharma, alleged that the government instead of implementing the court’s decision was terrorising the employees. He described the attitude of the Education Minister, Mr I.D. Dhiman, as ‘unfortunate, irresponsible and painful’. He, however, added that the union on the intervention of the HP Shikshak Mahasangh state president, Mr Yashwant Singh Rana, had decided to defer the indefinite fast from tomorrow. |
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S.K. Dhiman is Health Director Shimla, February 28 Mr Vineet Chaudhary, Secretary, Health, has been holding the additional charge of Director, Health, ever since Dr K.S. Rana, former Director, was booked and arrested in a vigilance case about two months ago. |
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