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Sunday,
March 31, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Mammoth gathering at Hola Mohalla
Mandi telecom district
gets WLL service Mandate for governance, not temple: Shanta |
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Move to eliminate fake NGOs Coop Bank Directors reinstated Speaker forms House panels HPU sets up revolving fund HP evolving model health plan Revision of electoral rolls from April Sukh Ram to head panel on draft of MoU 13 houses, temple gutted
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Mammoth gathering at Hola Mohalla Paonta Sahib, March 30 Addressing a mammoth Hola Mohalla gathering at the historic gurdwara here, Jathedar Takkar accused the BJP government in the state of having resorted to “dilly-dallying tactics” and not keeping its promises made to minorities in general and the Sikhs in particular. Thousands of people from all over Himachal Pradesh and adjoining areas of Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh visited the historic shrine and took a dip in the Yamuna to participate in the three-day Hola Mohalla celebrations which concluded here
yesterday. Besides an impressive nagar kirtan procession, a kavi darbar and special congregations were the main features of the celebration of this festival of colours. “Certain promises were made by Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal in the presence of the holy Granth Sahib, both here and in Shimla, during the tercentenary celebrations of the birth of Khalsa in 1999,” said Jathedar Takkar, urging the former Punjab Chief Minister and the President of the Shiromani Akali Dal, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, to intervene and get these “genuine” demands of the Sikhs of Himachal accepted. “Now when Mr Parkash Singh Badal is free from the burden of chief ministership, he must work for the betterment of Punjabis in general and Sikhs in particular who live outside Punjab. Though the BJP prides itself in claiming to be a Sikh-friendly party, it has done nothing for the community in the past four years. Next year, the assembly elections were due in Himachal Pradesh and the BJP should not expect anything from this minority community if it did not honour its word to them,” Jathedar Takkar said. All four resolutions moved by him were overwhelmingly approved by the congregation by show of hands. In the first resolution, the congregation demanded that the teaching of Punjabi language should be introduced forthwith by appointing qualified Punjabi teachers in schools as agreed upon by the state government through its decision of May, 1999. “There is no sense in providing someone with a car without an engine,” remarked Mr Paramjit Singh Chanana, secretary of the Himachal unit of Shiromani Akali Dal, claiming that not a single new appointment of a Punjabi language teacher has been made in the state during the past three years. In the second resolution, the congregation demanded that the Chief Minister must honour its promise of allotting a piece of land for raising an educational institution in Shimla to commemorate the tercentenary of the birth of the Khalsa. Once the land is allotted, the SGPC would release a grant of Rs 25 lakh for the construction of the building. In the third resolution, the congregation demanded that as per the declared excise policy of the state, no liquor or tobacco shop or bar should be located in the vicinity of any place of worship. Surindra Club adjoining the historic gurdwara at Nahan should be shifted to a new location. The club had a common wall with the gurdwara. Besides serving of liquor and tobacco, even playing of cards was allowed in the club. The Himachali Sikhs had offered to pay the market price for the land and the building of the existing Surindra Club. The Sikh community had also offered to construct a new building for the school, besides paying the market price for the school land located on the other side of the gurdwara. Both the Club and school should be shifted without any further delay so that the historic gurdwara of Tenth Sikh guru could be expanded. The fourth resolution pertained to the historic fort of Baba Banda Bahadur. The fort was in a dilapidated condition. The congregation wanted that this should be handed over to the Sikh community for reconstruction and renovation so that the monument could be preserved for posterity. Baba Harbans Singh had agreed to undertake kar seva for the same. Besides Jathedar Takkar, others who addressed the congregation were Mr Kulwant Singh (manager of the gurdwara), Mr Harbhajan Singh and Mr P.S. Chanana (President and Secretary of the Himachal unit of Shiromani Akali Dal), Mr Rattan Singh, Mr Joga Singh and Mr Bhupinder Singh, — all members of the gurdwara committee. A demand was also made to declare Hola Mohalla a state festival of Himachal Pradesh. The Governor of Uttaranchal, Mr Surjit Singh Barnala, who was expected to join the celebrations, had to cancel his visit at the last moment because of the visit of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to
Nainital. |
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Mandi telecom district
gets WLL service Mandi, March 30 Speaking on the occasion, he said the service was now available at Mandi, Solan and Dharamsala. Even the remotest parts of the state would now be provided telephone services through this system, he said. He lamented that there was a lack of coordination between the project wing and the administrative wing resulting in delay in the execution of works and added that there seemed little justification for two separate wings. Mr Pradeep Kumar, General Manager, Mandi Telecom, while welcoming guests said the expansion and modernisation of telephone network in the district were being done on a warfooting, despite various hazards of the hilly terrain. Of the total 2,774 villages, 2,556 had already been provided village public telephones and the left out would be covered shortly. The capacity of the telephone network had been enhanced by 17,242 lines, whereby the number of the total had gone up to 74,394. As against the target of providing 1,000 new telephones the BSNL had provided 11,717 new telephones during the current year. Twenty new exchanges were also added to the network and 29 others were connected with optical fibre cable. He said the WLL would prove a boon for the hilly areas. The system was being introduced in rural areas first. Five base transreceiver stations (BTS) had been set up with equipment costing Rs 7 crore on high peaks at Naina Devi, Madhu Nag, Nihri, Cholthara and Jogindernagar. He said the BSNL would introduce its mobile service in July next year. Besides this, intelligent network services (ISDN) would also be provided during the first quarter of the next financial year. Mr Ravi Kant, General Manager (Development), Headquarters Shimla, who presided over the function said the telecommunication growth rate in Himachal was 21 per cent, which was the highest in the country. The country’s average growth rate was about 15 per cent, he said. Mr Chet Ram Negi, Parliamentary Secretary, who was the chief guest, regretted that the telecom services in the tribal areas were distressing and lines remained disrupted for weeks due to rough weather conditions. He pleaded that the new WLL technology should be introduced in the remotest areas on priority basis. |
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Mandate for governance, not temple: Shanta Dharamsala, March 30 Addressing a press conference here today, he admitted that failure of the government in taking stringent and firm action on the Ram mandir issue had led to this kind of a situation. “We have been given the mandate to provide the nation good governance and not for the construction of the Ram temple, as it does not find any mention in the national agenda, on the basis of which we have been voted to power,” he opined. Reiterating BJP’s commitment that Ram mandir would be constructed he clarified that terming “Hindutva” as religion was wrong as it was a philosophy of life, which could not be confined to the four walls of a temple. While supporting the stand taken by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in condemning the conduct of certain VHP and Bajrang Dal activists, he said the pulling down of the disputed structure at Ayodhya on December 6 was nothing short of an Islamic act, as history was witness that it was only the Muslims who had indulged in destroying and desecrating Hindu religious places. Mr Shanta Kumar said that the manner in which BJP and Bajrang Dal activists had stormed the Orissa Assembly, waving tridents, every thinking Indian had been compelled to doubt the intentions of the government.” The poll results in Punjab, Uttaranchal and Delhi Municipal Corporation, has rung alarm bells for the BJP and if we fail to take the corrective measures, we will have to pay a heavy price,” he stated. Stressing the need for self introspection, he said that today every citizen considers good governance his right and the government had failed in providing this to the nation. He added that the kind of stringent measures that should have been taken to curb corruption were missing. “No doubt we were compelled to take some harsh and unpopular steps due to the financial mismanagement by the previous regime, but even some historic measures like nuclear have not helped in preven-ting the popularity graph of the BJP from falling continuously,” he said. Mr Shanta Kumar said if the VHP had agreed to construct the Ram temple on the undisputed land in Ayodhya, as suggested earlier, the matter could have been resolved through consensus, avoiding the communal violence that took place in recent months. He said that the BJP would discuss the issue at its Working Committee meeting in Goa on April 11. Mr Shanta Kumar regretted that the situation in Himachal was no better and it would be too late if the state government failed to assess the situation. “ Fingers are being pointed even though some people had objected to my advice for self-introspection and need for zero tolerance for corruption, I had pointed out two years back,” he stated. He said despite the Centre coming to the rescue of Himachal with liberal assistance everytime, things looked grim. |
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Move to eliminate fake NGOs Shimla, March 30 Ms Mridula Sinha, chairperson of the board, stated this here today there was general complaint that non-government organisations were
The board has already started the process and in the first phase 3000 NGOs were blacklisted. However, nearly 1,000 of these were taken out of the blacklist after they submitted accounts of the funds given to them. During the ‘Pehchan Parva’ intensive screening of NGOs would be conducting across the country and a directory of “genuine” voluntary organisations would be prepared. Committees comprising elected representatives, social workers and officials, would be set up in each state to carry out the job. The members of these committees would visit various NGOs and assess the work being done by these to eliminate the fake organisations, formed with the sole objective of cornering government funds. Ms Sinha said that “Mahila Shakti Melas” (fairs) being organised by the board all over the country to help women market handicrafts were proving a great success. In states like Karnataka there had been instances when the entire lot of items brought to the mela was sold in a day. She said the board now had urged the government to increase the number of such fairs. It had also suggested that markets be set up in each district of the country for selling women’s handicrafts. The board which had been running over 500 family counselling centres, now planned to start pre-marriage counselling centres. It has decided to organise 35 workshops to decide the subject matter for carrying out counselling through these centres. To remove gender bias workshops had been organised to educate people and they had been appealed to celebrate the birth of a female child also. This has started showing results and in many areas congratulatory songs focusing on girl child had been written by folk writers. She said she did not favour calling voluntary organisations as non-government organisation. These organisations signified voluntary effort and as such these should only be called voluntary organisation. |
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Coop Bank Directors reinstated Shimla, March 30 The registrar reinstated the board after considering the reply of the members to the notice issued by him. The five charges were dropped after considering the reply after the perusal of the connected record. The registrar found the explanation of the directors to the charges of expenditure on advertisement, bond the authorised limits and payments of honorarium to the staff of state public service commission satisfactory. He also found the payment of Rs 57,000 to the chartered accountants justified, as internal auditors of the bank were not able to conduct audit of each branch every year, which was necessary in view of the increasing volume of funds in branches. Regarding the payment of travelling allowance and daily allowance in violation of rules, the registrar accepted the explanation that the members of the board has assured that in case any overpayment had been made it could be recovered by the bank. The registrar took notice of the language used in the reply and expressed hope that they would refrain from using such language in future. He said since there was no embezzlement of the Cooperative Bank funds, he was taking a lenient view. |
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Speaker forms House panels Shimla, March 30 Estimates committee: Mr Des Raj (chairman), Mr Rangila Ram
Rao, Mr Chander Kumar, Mr Kashmir Singh, Mr Singhi Ram, Mr Babu Ram
Mandyal, Mr Yogindra Chandra, Mr Tek Chand and Mr Bipan Singh Parmar (all members) Public Undertakings committee: Mr Dulo Ram (chairman), Mr Ram Lal
Thakur, Ms Asha Kumari, Mr Kush Parmar, Mr Dharam Pal Thakur, Mr Harsh
Wardhan, Mr G.S. Bali, Mr Baldev Sharma and Mr Jai Ram Thakur (all members). Privileges committee: Mr Ram Dass
Malangar, Deputy Speaker (chairman), Mr Babu Ram Mandyal, Mr Harsh
Mahajan, Mr Kush Parmar, Mr Jai Krishan Shamra, Mr G.S. Bali and Dr Rajiv Bindal (all members). |
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HPU sets up revolving fund Shimla, March 30 This decision was taken at a meeting of the executive council of the university held under the chairmanship of Dr S.D. Sharma, Vice-Chancellor, here today. Eligible students would be paid scholarships at the start of the academic session and the amount deposited back on receipt of grant. The council also decided to introduce new postgraduate courses in rural development, applies philosophy, work culture and yoga, watershed management electronics and media under a self-financing scheme from this academic session. |
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HP evolving model health plan Una, March 30 Chief Medical Officer Gulshan Narang said the administration was looking at developing a self-sufficient, decentralised health policy which was free from external pressures and provided for need-based, comprehensive, equitable, accessible and quality health service with active participation from the community, which would be the main beneficiary. He said the focus would be on rationalisation of men and material, clarity of roles, effective communication and need-based supplies, without altering the available finances. For this, he said the strategy would be to involve general public through their representatives and Health Department staff at all levels to derive a consensus on issues rather than to thrust the policies and targets from the top.
UNI |
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Revision of electoral rolls from April Shimla, March 30 The publication of draft electoral rolls will be done on April 16 and claims and objections could be filed between April 17 and 23. The claims and objections will be decided between April 24 to 26 and appeals could be filed from April 29 to May 6. Appeals will be decided from May 7 to May 13. The final electoral rolls will be published on May 14. The latest electoral rolls prepared during 2000 shall be treated as draft rolls and shall be followed as such for the publication for inviting objections. The revision of electoral rolls with qualifying date shall be undertaken only in those constituencies (wards) where the vacancy has occurred on or before and existed on March 31, this year. |
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Sukh Ram to head panel on draft of MoU Shimla, March 30 The other members of the committee are Mrs Vidya Stokes, Mr Jai Krishan Sharma, Mr R.R. Rao, Mr Chander Kumar, Mr B.R. Mandyal, Mr Chander Sen, Mr Rajiv Bindal and Mr Harsh Mahajan. Mr Gulab Singh, Speaker, said the committee would consider the draft MoU as received from the Union Ministry of Finance in detail and submit its report along with recommendations of the House. Keeping in view the importance of the subject matter, senior members of all parties had been included in the committee. Mr Gulab Singh also nominated Mr Jai Krishan Sharma and Mr Chander Sen to the court of Himachal Pradesh University. |
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13 houses, temple gutted Chamba, March 30 According to police sources, the fire broke out at about 1a.m., which engulfed 13 houses . A locally constructed Naga temple was also gutted in the fire. The Minister of State for Ayurveda, Mr Mohan Lal, along with Subdivisional level officers, including the SDM, Churah, Mr Sarabjeet Singh reached the site to supervise rescue and relief operations. The Deputy Commissioner of Chamba, Mr S.C.Mehta, said revenue officials of the area had been directed to make alternative arrangements for sheltering families rendered homeless. |
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BJP has ‘reverted’ to communal agenda Shimla, March 30 Mr Sharma said this while talking to reporters on Thursday. |
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BJP councillor dies in mishap Shimla, March 30 He was 35. He is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter. He
represented the Kanhlog municipal ward. He was cremated today. |
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Woman dies Parwanoo, March 30 According to the police, Hema was going from Kalka to Solan on her scooter when a Tata Sumo hit her scooter. She died on the spot. |
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