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Thursday,
May 30, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Hunt on to
nab four militants in Damtal Shahpur
Cong rally: BJP accused of sabotage Minister
flays CM’s remark BJP to
contest on clean image issue |
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856 cr
for tribal areas Pat to
HP for cow protection College
students call off strike CM for
removing gender bias Applications
invited Work-to-rule
stir by power engineers Krishna
Nagar case accused denied bail 
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Hunt on to nab four militants in Damtal Dharamsala, May 29 According to police sources, last night at about 9.30 p.m the gateman at the Mohtli railway crossing saw four armed men, attired in white salwar kameez and black turbans, on the railway track. Thegateman, Raghuvir Singh, immediately informed the local pradhan and the Damtal police post. With three reserves of the police being stationed at the Damtal temple permanently, forces were rushed to the area immediately, to launch a hunt for the suspected militants. In view of the proposed visit of Ms Sonia Gandhi to the area on May, 31, senior officers of the district administration and the police have been camping in the area since last night. Ms Gandhi, who is arriving here to address a rally at Shahpur, will offer prayers at the Kathgarh temple, which is quite close to the place where the four armed men were seen. Keeping in view the
sensitivity of the matter, senior police officials are tightlipped about the spotting of these armed men. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Prabodh Saxena, and the SP, Mr Sanjay Kundu, are still in the area where the combing operation is still on. The police said the entire forest area in Damtal was being searched thoroughly but there was no clue about the four armed men. The Bhaderoah forest, where militants of the Lashkar-e-Toiba had gunned down two Army personnel, on
January, 1 is situated at a distance of 4 km from Mohtli. Later, the police had recovered a cache of arms and ammunition, including an AK-47 and hand grenade, hidden in the bamboo thickets by the militants. With the Damtal, Nurpur and Indora area lying very close to the boundary of Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, there has been increased militant activities in the area. The army, ITBP and police force from Himachal, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir have from time to time launched combing operations in the area. It was only five days back that the district administration had sounded a red alert in Kangra and Chamba, after there were intelligence reports that five Jaish-e-Mohammad militants had sneaked into Himachal Pradesh through the Doda area of Jammu and Kashmir. Infact, the authorities had thoroughly searched a local private school at Sidhpur, after there were rumours that a bomb had been planted by militants. With the militants targeting defence establishments and families of Army personnel, security had beefed up around the Yol and Palampur cantonments. Senior police officials said the search operation in the Damtal area would continue as more forces had been summoned, and the assistance of the police of the adjoining states would be taken. |
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Shahpur
Cong rally: BJP accused of sabotage Dharamsala, May 29 Addressing a press conference here today, HPCC spokesperson, Kuldeep Rathore accused the state government of pressurising private bus and truck operators not to supply vehicles for ferrying Congress workers for Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s rally at Shahpur on May, 31. “Sensing complete shift in the mood of public favour of the Congress party, the BJP now is resorting to petty politics of trying to prevent people from attending the Congress rally,” he alleged. Mr Rathore, said that there was so much enthusiasm amongst Congress workers and the public regarding Mrs Gandhi’s visit that the leaders did not need to make much efforts for the success of the rally. “The anti-people policies of the present regime have led to a lot of resentment amongst the employees, farmers and labourers that all of them are waiting to bring the Congress back to power,” he said. Terming the BJP-HVC regime in Himachal as a “roll back”, government he said that it was due to the agitation and pressure mounted by the Congress party that the hike in power tariff had been withdrawn. He added that this was merely an election gimmick in view of the Assembly elections. He said that the Congress would continue its agitation against the imposition of user charges in hospitals and the hike in water tariff, to make the government review its decisions. Mr Rathore said that all arrangements for the rally had been made and five entry points had been fixed from the security point of view and for the convenience of the people. “This will not only be convenient for the people but we too will have an exact idea about the number of people who attended the rally from every district,” he stated. The five entry points would be at Jwalamukhi for the people of Shimla, Solan, Sirmaur and Kinnaur, Nadaun bridge for the people of Bilaspur and Hamirpur, Gaggal for the people from Baijnath, Palampur, Kullu, Jogindernagar and Lahaul Spiti, Draman for the people of Chamba and Nurpur and Ranital for the people of Una, Nadaun and Jwalammukhi. |
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Minister
flays CM’s remark Shimla, May 29 He said electricity tariff during the Congress regime was enhanced thrice — in 1994, 1995 and 1997 and over all percentage increase during the period was 55.29 per cent whereas during the present government regime overall percentage increase in three years i.e. 1998, 2000 and 2001 was 48.63 per cent. And with the reduction of 15 per cent by reverting prior to November 2001 this increase come to 33.63 per cent. |
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BJP to contest on clean image issue Chamba, May 29 Talking to newspersons here today, Mr O.P. Kohli, All-India Secretary of the BJP and in charge of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh units of the party, said the BJP was a good organisation and in the prevailing political scenario, the Congress had no issue to woo the voters. He claimed that the BJP would come out with good results in the ensuing Goa state Assembly elections. Mr Kohli underlined the need for organising political sammelans and training camps for BJP activists at the district level. Mr Kohli said earlier a meeting of BJP activists, including presidents and general secretaries of all mandals of the district, was held here today to
interact with the workers and get feedback. |
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856 cr for tribal areas Shimla, May 29 The Chief Minister, who was presiding over the 32nd meeting of Himachal Pradesh Tribal Advisory Council here, said as against the approved outlay of Rs 495 crore during the Ninth Five Year Plan under the tribal subplan Rs 632 crore had been spent. Besides Rs 16 crore had been sanctioned under the Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojna in the past two years. Under the Integrated Watershed Scheme and the Desert Developmental Programme 295 watershed schemes for all developmental blocks in the tribal areas had been sanctioned on which Rs 29.50 crore would be spent. He said this indicated that development in the tribal areas had been speeded up. Mr Dhumal said the Border Area Development Programme had been started in three tribal developmental blocks in the state for which the Planning Commission had sanctioned Rs 4.16 crore last year but on the request of the state government an additional amount of Rs 15.15 crore was provided by the Planning Commission. He directed officers posted in the tribal areas to ensure qualitative and time-bound completion of this programme. Reiterating his government’s resolve for the speedy development of tribal areas, Mr Dhumal said emphasis had been laid on extension of basic infrastructure development in the tribal areas of the state so as to bring qualitative improvement in their living standard. He said construction of roads, providing of irrigation and electricity facilities had been given priority. It was informed at the meeting that a helipad would be constructed at Sangla in Kinnaur
district. The Chief Minister stressed that the Catchment Area Plan of all the hydel projects in the state should be taken up on a priority basis so as to preserve the environment of the area. It was also informed in the meeting that a provision of Rs 60 lakh had been made for improvement of Kaza-Gramphu road. The council in a unanimous resolution, thanked the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee and the Central Government for starting work on tunnel beneath Rohtang Pass. |
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Pat to HP for cow protection Shimla, May 29 Justice Guman Mal
Lodha, Acting Chairman of the commission, presided over a state-level meeting of officers held to review the implementation of the act here on Monday. He stressed involvement of more NGOs while setting up “go
sadans” in the state for stray cattle. He said the word “culling” of cattle should be replaced by the Animal Husbandry Department as it depicted reduction in number. He said unproductive cattle homes could be made productive by making use of cowdung for organic fertiliser and cow urine for pesticides, medicines and other products. Mr S.S. Parmar, Principal Secretary, Animal Husbandry Department, informed the commission that balance of indigenous hill cattle and exotic
Jersy/Holstein was being maintained in the state to ensure benefit of higher production potential of exotic breed and disease resistance and hardiness of hill cattle to the farmers. He assured, cooperation to the commission in preserving cattle in the country. He said though production of fodder was less in Himachal, there was no shortage as it was being brought from neighbouring states. Mr Avay
Shukla, Principal Secretary, Forests, said the people had usufruct rights in demarcated and undemarcated protected forests and restriction was only on reserve forests. He said nearly 150-200 abandoned cattle were being kept at Banuri
“go-sadan”, in Kangra district under an external-aided project and artificial insemination and cross-breeding was being done with the help of Animal Husbandry Department in the project area. Mr
C. P. Pandey, Commissioner, Revenue said 31 per cent of total area was grazing and pasture land. There was ban on the allocation of “nautar” land and enough land for grazing was available in the state. Mr Balram Sharma, Secretary Home, said people of the state did not abandon unproductive cattle, so the number of “go-sadans” was less in the state. However, in urban and semi-urban areas this problem of abandoned cattle was noticed. Mr Rajesh Kumar, Director, Urban Development Department, Himachal said the Municipal Committees kept stray cattle in cattle homes and sought more funds to run these efficiently. |
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College
students call off strike Palampur, May 29 Students, members of the local Beopar Mandal and leaders of various political parties took out a procession in the town and hailed the decision of the state government. Later, a rally was also held where several speakers condemned those leaders of the BJP who had got shifted the college to the Sulah constituency without assigning any reason. The speakers thanked the Chief Minister for accepting their demand. Meanwhile, Mr Brij Butail, a local MLA and Congress leader, said this college was opened for Palampur town, and there was no justification in shifting it to the Sulah constituency. He said the students’ agitation had mass support and therefore it was victory of the people of the area who were behind the students. |
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CM for removing gender bias Shimla, May 29 Addressing the state-level meeting of women council here today he said according to 1991 census, the female sex ratio was 951 as compared to 1000 male, which had come down to 897 as per 2001 census. A state level committee had been formed under the chairmanship of
Secretary, Welfare, to check the declining sex ratio. He said to check sexual exploitation of women at working places special complaint cells had been opened in all the government and semi-government offices throughout the state, besides a help line had been started at the Women commission office at Shimla and at Una by Himotkarsk, an NGO. Mr Dhumal said a committee under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary had been constituted to check immoral traffic. Widow pension had been revised to Rs 200 per month from Rs 100. |
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Applications
invited Shimla, May 29 A spokesman for the department said eligible bona fide Himachalis could send applications on prescribed pro forma to the office of the Director, Technical Education, Vocational and Industrial Training, Sundernagar, before July 8. The selection of the candidates would be made on the basis of merit of the All-India Engineering Entrance Examination being conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education. The candidates seeking admission to engineering and architecture courses against nomination seats would have to appear in person for counselling on July 15 and 16 before the admission selection committee at REC, Hamirpur. For selection to the B. Pharma course, counselling would be held in the Directorate of Technical Education, Vocation and Industrial Training, Sundernagar, on July 18. |
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Work-to-rule stir by power engineers Shimla, May 29 The association started a direct action following the failure of talks with the management on the issue. Mr Suneel Grover, general secretary of the association, said the work-to-rule was being observed by power engineers all over the state. He said the Superintending Engineer was suspended under pressure of employees following a scuffle between him and his personal assistant. The work-to-rule would continue up to June 7. It would be followed by stay-in-strike from June 10 to 17. The power engineers would go on casual leave en masse on June 18 and finally on a complete strike from June 20. |
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Krishna
Nagar case accused denied bail Shimla, May 29 Rejecting the bail plea Mr Justice Verma observed that keeping in view the gravity of the offence it would not be fit to grant bail to the accused. The High Court had granted earlier granted bail to Nirmal Singh, Rajpal, Nanak Chand, Rajinder and
Kalu. All five accused later surrendered to the Police at the Sadar police station. Meanwhile, the local Municipal Safai Karamchari Sangh has condemned the arrests and decided to hold a rally tomorrow in protest. |
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Water scarcity in Jaisinghpur Jaisinghpur, May 29 |
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