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Friday,
May 3, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Tibetan PM’s appeal to UNESCO Dharamsala, May 2 The Tibetan Prime Minister, Prof Samdhong Rinpoche, has appealed to UNESCO and the international community to take timely steps to prevent the destruction and demolition of traditional Tibetan buildings surrounding Jokhang in Lhasa. HP, Canada sign hydel
pact BJP to take stock of Shimla MC poll debacle Dalhousie MC chief issued notice Ex-MLA’s sentence suspended |
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Mayor from among youth: YC Shimla, May 2 Mr Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, president of the state Youth Congress, yesterday claimed that the new Mayor of the Shimla Municipal Corporation should be elected from among the youth. Introduce Bill on LS delimitation: parishad After Bt cotton
now it’s Bt potato More seats sought for Himachalis
in JUIT Library books damaged Man acquitted in drugs case New plaza for fire
victims assured Three CMs to visit Sirmaur 41 hurt in road mishap Gold jewellery, Rs 20,000 stolen from house
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Tibetan PM’s appeal to UNESCO Dharamsala, May 2 In a statement issued here today, the Prime Minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile, Prof Rin-poche, said these buildings were not physical but historical symbols of tibetan cultural heritage. “I appeal to the international community, notably UNESCO, to take steps before it is too late, as these (buildings) are of importance not only to the Tibetans but also to the world at large,” he remarked. “To destroy them without community consultation would be a serious violation of China’s duty to protect (Tibet’s) cultural heritage,” he stated.He said there were no signs of a consultation process with the local people or with relevant international bodies such as ICOMOS, which have long shown an interest in the preservation of the physical and cultural heritage of Tibet. Prof Rinpoche said the buildings surrounding Jokhang in Lhasa were historic and their destruction was a matter of grave concern. “If the old buildings are in a dilapidated condition, wouldn’t it be better if these are renovated rather than being demolished,” he quipped. The Tibetan government has received reports that tenants from traditional buildings on the south-east corner of Lhasa, where Dekyi Shar Lam and Snowland Street meet, have been evicted without consultation, including an old residence called Samding. They said China had also ratified the convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, which binds state to the “duty of ensuring the
identification,protection, conservation, presentation and transmission to future generations of the cultural and natural heritage referred to in Article 1 and 2 and situated on its territory. |
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HP, Canada sign hydel
pact Shimla, May 2 This was decided at a meeting between Mr Peter Sutherland, the High Commissioner of Canada, and the Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, here today. Mr Dhumal informed Mr Sutherland that in areas like power, horticulture, environment and tourism, there was an immense potential for co-operation between Canada and Himachal Pradesh. This was followed by a detailed meeting of the Canadian High Commissioner, along with his team, with senior officials of the state government led by Mr Harsh Gupta, the Chief Secretary. It was agreed that the two countries would cooperate in the field of hydroelectric power in the state. It was revealed that a few Canadian companies were already working on such projects in the state. Mr Gupta informed the High Commissioner that Himurja was executing mini-micro hydel projects upto 5 MW capacity and state would welcome any investment in such projects. There were four such projects ready for funding in the Rohru area of Shimla district for which Canadian investment was invited. The Chief Secretary said that Canada was a world leader in environmental protection and would be able to maintain a good balance between economic development and environment conservation. He sought assistance in research and development, capacity building, technology transfer, rain water harvesting and setting up of solid waste plants in the state. The High Commissioner said there were many private companies involved in environment protection which were willing to expand there businesses in India. He said a Canada-based company, engaged in export of apples, was interested in procuring apples from the state. He said the company was willing to invest substantial amount in development of infrastructure, including controlled atmosphere (CA), cold storages and cold chain and pre-cooling units. It was agreed that a pilot project in the field be chalked out so that over the next five years considerable quantity of quality apples would be procured by the company for marketing both within the country and abroad after proper treatment. The Chief Secretary also directed the Managing Director, HPMC, to hold detailed negotiations with the company concerned and make efforts to implement the proposal this year itself. The meeting is likely to open new vistas of cooperation between the state and Canada and bring in a sizeable investment. |
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BJP to take stock of Shimla MC poll debacle Shimla, May 2 The meeting has assumed added significance in view of the fact that National party President, Mr Jana Krishnamurthi, and Mr Sanjay Joshi, All-India General Secretary, will be present, along with Mr O.P. Kohli, national secretary in charge of party affairs in Himachal Pradesh, and senior state leaders including Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister, and Mr Shanta Kumar, Union Minister for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution. With the assembly elections just 10 months away, national leaders will take stock of the political situation and draw a strategy to retain power in the state. The high command is giving much importance to the impending Assembly elections as Himachal Pradesh is the only state left, besides the Gujarat and Jharkhand, where the BJP is in power. In the situation, an indepth discussion on the poll debacle to identify reasons for the party’s defeat is inevitable. Although the state leadership is trying to put up a brave face by claiming that it has improved its tally of seats from one to six, the decline of four per cent in its votes here, which has been the lowest ever, is a matter of concern for the party think tank. The rank and file of the party is not enthused by the posture adopted by senior leaders and want that the matter be discussed threadbare so that corrective action could be taken to remove the shortcomings before it is too late. There is a feeling among the partymen that sidelining of the old dedicated workers has cost the party dearly in the elections. Closely connected with this is the issue of dissidence. The phenomenon of “Mitra Milan” under the garb of which dissidents have been carrying out their political activities outside the party fora is spreading to more district. The party had already suspended Mr Narinder Thakur, son of late party stalwart Jagdev Chand and expelled some other leaders in Hamirpur district after they organised a series of “Mitra Milan” at which the party leadership was accused of ignoring old workers. Last Sunday, Mr Mohinder Sofat, who was denied party ticket for the Rajya Sabha seat, organised a “Maha Mitra Milan”in Solan at which dissidents from Solan as well as some other districts participated. Mr Sofat had recently resigned as Director of the Food Corporation of India. There has been a demand from the supporters of the Dhumal camp for taking disciplinary action against Mr Sofat. The party leadership, however, appears to be in a dilemma as precipitating such matters could harm its electoral prospects. Nevertheless, Mr Jai Krishan Sharma, state party president, has written a letter to Mr Sofat drawing his attention to the news reports regarding the “Mitra Milan” organised by him while avoiding serving a notice on him, Mr Sharma has pointed out that such activities constituted indiscipline and should be avoided. The party will take a final view on such issues during the meeting. Meanwhile, the office-bearers of the party will meet here tomorrow to analyse the performance in corporation elections. |
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Dalhousie MC chief issued notice Shimla, May 2 Dr Basu, who was hearing the complaint of Mrs Sneh Lata, against Mrs Renu Chadha, president of the Dalhousie Municipal Council, and Mr Kartar Singh, executive officer, on Tuesday ordered them to reply to the notice supported by the resolution within three weeks from the date of receipt of the notice. He observed that from the perusal of the fact-finding inquiry and hearing the parties, it appears that there has been default in the performance of duty by the municipality. It attracted Section 271 of the H.P. Municipal Act, 1994. Mrs Sneh Lata had filed a petition against Mrs Chadha and Mr Kartar Singh in the high court which disposed of the petition in April, 2000. The court directed that the petitioner may file a representation in respect of her complaint to the Secretary, Urban Development, within a period of two weeks which will be decided within a reasonable period and appropriate order will be passed in accordance with the law. She had sought that Mrs Chadha should be removed from the post and municipal funds recovered from her and the Municipal Council should be dissolved. The inquiry against the Municipal Council was jointly conducted by the Additional Director and Executive Engineer of Urban Development . The alleged irregularities inquired into by the fact-finding committee pertain to the exorbitant telephone bill of Rs.1,41,442 installed at the residence of Mrs.Chadha. She has also been accused of having issued a no- objection certificate to two illegal occupants of municipal land. The fact-finding report, besides other issues, has pointed out that illicit felling of 81 trees was done on a piece of land owned by Mrs Chadha, her son and daughter and one Mr Jawahar Lal and was sold to one Mrs Anjana Kumari . The illicit felling was confirmed by a joint inspection by the SDM, DFO and XEN (PWD). It has been alleged that despite specific orders of the Deputy Commissioner, Chamba, for filing a challan against the accused for illicit felling, the matter was “unnecessarily and deliberately” delayed by the Municipal Council and a complaint was lodged only on August 22,1998, after the expiry of limitation and that too in an improper manner, without leading relevant evidence and failing to give explanation and justification for the delay in filing the complaint in the court of Sub-Judge, Dalhousie. The Municipal Council further failed to file an appeal against the order of dismissal of the complaint, especially when illicit felling had been confirmed by the two inspections. |
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Ex-MLA’s sentence suspended Shimla, May 2 The order was passed on an appeal filed by Chauhan and other accused, wherein he contended that the felling of 105 trees or 64 trees and thereafter theft of such trees by the firm had been wrongly attributed to the firm. He further contended that the Special Judge had not appreciated that some incriminating material evidence having important bearing on the case had not been put to the appellant in his statement under Section 313 Cr PC and he had not been given an opportunity to explain such material. In these circumstances, such material could not be used against the appellant for convicting and sentencing him. This had caused serious prejudice to the appellant. On April 1, the Special Judge (Forest) in his judgement sentenced Chauhan and his son Virender Chauhan to three years of rigorous imprisonment each for felling green trees in the Chopal area under various Sections of the IPC and the Indian Forest Act. He prayed that judgement of conviction and sentence passed by the Special Judge against the appellant may be set aside and he may be acquitted. Admitting the appeal of the former Congress legislator, Mr Justice
K.C. Sood allowed the application. The sentence imposed on the appellant was to be suspended on furnishing bonds to the satisfaction of the Special Judge (Forest). |
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Elect Mayor from
among youth: YC Shimla, May 2 Talking to mediapersons here, Mr Sukhu said out of the nine youths fielded, seven had been elected councillors of the Shimla Municipal Council (SMC). He alleged that the state had been adopting “anti-people” policies. “People are fed up with the dictatorial attitude of the state government,” he said. He further said the Shimla MC results had given the verdict of the people. “Shimla corporation election was a mini-Assembly election,” he said. Meanwhile, Mr Naresh Chauhan, spokesman of the Youth Congress, said new faces would be seen in the coming Assembly elections. |
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Introduce Bill on LS delimitation: parishad Shimla, May 2 Mr Rajeshwar Negi, president of the parishad, in a letter to the Union Home Minister demanded that the population should not be the sole criteria for delimitation and factors like topographical conditions, geographical contiguity, cultural and social cohesion, and ethnic identity should be taken into account to ensure a fair representation to the sparsely populated hill and tribal areas and cultural minorities. The present constituencies had been carved out in a lopsided manner. For instance there were as many as 28 lakh voters for Karol Bagh parliamentary seat and only about 46,000 in Lakshadeep. The reserved constituencies be dereserved and the total number of seats be rationalised to give equitable representation to all states. No state should have less than five and more than 50 Lok Sabha seats. The number of seats in the Rajya Sabha also required rationalisation and it should be ensured that no state had less than five and more than 15 members in the Upper House. In Himachal the number of Assembly seats be increased from present 68 to 75 by carving out an additional seat for Shimla urban, Pangi, Dodra Kawar, Chuhar, Chhota and Bara Bhangal and Baddi-Barotiwala. A separate tribal parliamentary constituency be carved out of the Mandi constituency by including areas like Karsog, Dodra-Kawar and Rampur, besides Kullu district. The Shimla seat, at present reserved for Scheduled Castes be dereserved. In its place the Kangra seat, which had a sizeable population of Scheduled Castes and other Backward Classes be reserved. |
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After Bt cotton
now it’s Bt potato Shimla, May 2 He said scientists from the CPRI and the Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC),Trombay, were exploiting a novel strategy in which the viral coat protein gene from potato virus “Y” has been introduced into tobacco and potato cultivar Kufri Jyoti. Such transgenic plants have been shown to accumulate viral coat protein providing it a protective shield against infections by the virus. Dr Khurana said in another path-breaking endeavour, scientists from the CPRI and the National Center on Plant Genome Research, New Delhi, have developed unique potato lines of Indian potato varieties. |
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More seats sought for Himachalis
in JUIT Shimla, May 2 The information technology institute has been accorded the status of a university by the state government. What is being discussed in the academic circles here is that the Jaypee group has started inviting applications for admission for its Noida-based institute of information technology (JIIT) under the banner of the Jaypee University of Information Technology (JUIT). The JUIT has yet to become functional and only six out of the total 120 seats have been reserved for Himachalis. The JIIT has 250 seats. Mr Kul Rakesh Pant, president of the Samajwadi Janata
Party, today urged the Governor, Dr Suraj Bhan, to intervene to safeguard the interests of Himachal Pradesh on the issue. |
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Library books damaged Shimla, May 2 The situation gets worse in winters, with water seeping in from various places. Some books have also been damaged due to lack of proper place to store them. Even for a basic facility like a reading room, suitable space is not available in the library. The library’s bad state can also be attributed to lack of maintenance. The building has not been whitewashed for a long time and windowpanes and chairs are broken. The electrical fittings are in need of repairs. Even the carpets and curtains need to be changed. The staff strength is too inadequate to cater to the membership of 8,000. It is learnt that the Central Library at Solan has a staff of 35 for its 600 members. It has been demanded that staff from Solan library be shifted here. Moreover, the budget of the library is too meagre to acquire new books. The Education Department provides a limited budget which is not enough for the maintenance and binding of books. More than 20,000 books in the Gandhi Bhavan need binding urgently. The seating capacity of the library is 20 to 25, which is inadequate for its members. There is no photocopier in the library and whenever a member wants to photocopy some material, some staff member has to accompany him. A large number of books are also reported to be missing from the library. There are many books with torn pages. The library has inadequate ventilation and irregular electricity supply. During the rainy season, the seeping water often spells danger for the books kept in the corners. According to the Director of the Education Department, Mr O.P. Sharma, no budget has been earmarked for the maintenance of the library.
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Man acquitted in drugs case Shimla, May 2 According to the prosecution, the police party on November 23, 1999, was on patrol duty in the industrial area, Baddi. On reaching near Winson Factory they received information against the accused regarding his involvement in the commission of offences concerning narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. The police searched the premises of the Himachal Stationary Factory, Baddi and seized 1.4 kg charas. While setting aside the conviction, a Division Bench comprising Mr Justice R.L. Khurana and Mr Justice M.R. Verma observed that the charge against the accused had not been proved. |
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New plaza for fire
victims assured Dalhousie, May 2 Ms Renu Chadha, a BJP leader and president of the local municipal council, who just returned from Shimla after meeting the Chief Minister told this correspondent today that she had a discussion with the Chief Minister about the rehabilitation of fire victims rendered jobless with the destruction of their shops. Ms Chadha disclosed that the Chief Minister had directed the local authorities to take immediate steps to rehabilitate the fire victims within a week’s time by providing them temporary structures at suitable points. Ms Chadha held a meeting with fire victims here today and apprised them of the efforts being made the Chief Minister for enabling them to earn livelihood. |
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Three CMs to visit Sirmaur Nahan, May 2 The Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, will preside over the concluding ceremony of Dr Y.S. Parmar Sports Mela at Haripur Dhar on May 4. |
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41 hurt in road mishap Palampur, May 2 The accident took place when the driver lost control over the vehicle eyewitnesses said. The four seriously injured persons were admitted to Dr Rajinder Prasad Medical College Hospital at Dharamsala while 35 injured persons, including the driver, were admitted to Civil Hospital at Palampur.
PTI |
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Gold jewellery, Rs 20,000 stolen from house Bilaspur, May 2 The Superintendent of Police, Dr Atul Verma, said here today that the family was not at home when the theft occurred. The thieves entered the house by breaking open the front door lock. They broke open the Godrej almirah and its locker and took away gold jewellery, video camera and Rs 20,000. |
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