H I M A C H A L   P R A D E S H

Dhumal to spare madarsas, not terrorists
Salooni (Chamba), June 2
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has assured the Muslim community living in the district adjacent to Jammu and Kashmir that his government would give full protection to the madarsas run by them and denied rumours regarding having suspicion on these madarsas. 

ST status to benefit 8 lakh Gaddis, Gujjars
Dharamsala, June 2
With the Union Cabinet granting approval to the long pending demand of Gaddis and Gujjars of merged areas by according them Scheduled Tribe status, over eight lakh people of the community in the state are expected to benefit.

CM implicating me in false cases: Virbhadra

Jahoo (Hamirpur), June 2 Former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today came down heavily on Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal for his alleged efforts to dislodge him from the political scenario of the state before next elections.

Former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh addresses a rally at Jahoo in Hamirpur district on Sunday. — Photo Chander Shekhar Sharma

Complaint filed against Virbhadra Singh
Shimla, June 2
The collector of the Rampur sub-division, Mr Arvind Kumar Shukla, yesterday filed a complaint in the court of the sub-judge against Mr Virbhadra Singh, CLP leader, alleging that he was holding land beyond the permissible limits of the H.P. Ceiling on Land Holdings Act.

Virbhadra should take cadre into confidence: Stokes
Hamirpur, June 2
Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee chief, Ms Vidya Stokes, forces change of government after Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh. The mood of the people was different as compared to 1993, she said addressing a press conference here yesterday.

Scrapping of power panel sought
Shimla, June 2
The ongoing confrontation between the State Electricity Regulatory Commission and the Himachal State Electricity Board took a new turn, with the power engineers’ association of the board demanding scrapping of the commission.

Novel way to highlight grievances
Solan, June 2
The Himachal Pradesh unit of the Samajwadi Janata Party yesterday adopted a novel way to highlight its grievances of the state. Party workers led by state president, Kul Rakesh Pant assembled in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office and started beating ‘Thalis’ brass or stainless steel plates.

Insurance claim upheld
Shimla, June 2
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has held that though the first complaint was dismissed in default, even then, econd complaint based on same facts and cause of action is maintainable. 

Veterinary teachers threaten stir
Dharamsala, June 2
The Veterinary Scientists and Teachers Association of Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University, Palampur, has threatened to launch an agitation if the issue regarding the payment of 25 per cent non-practicing allowance (NPA) is not settled by June 4.

• One sentenced to life

• 4 mine labourers buried alive

Dhumal to spare madarsas, not terrorists
Our Correspondent

Salooni (Chamba), June 2
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has assured the Muslim community living in the district adjacent to Jammu and Kashmir that his government would give full protection to the madarsas run by them and denied rumours regarding having suspicion on these madarsas. He warned that anybody found aiding terrorists and involved in anti-national activities would not be spared.

The Chief Minister stated this while addressing a public meeting at Salooni in Chamba district yesterday after inaugurating essential oil distillation units.

The Chief Minister announced that the Gaddi and Gujjar communities of the merged areas of Himachal Pradesh would also be granted tribal status.

Earlier, the Chief Minister dedicated the Head Post Office building constructed at a cost of about Rs 50 lakh at district headquarter town of Chamba to the people.

Answering questions of reporters, Mr Dhumal said that his government was open to private sector starting professional colleges in the far-flung district of Chamba in Himachal and all possible help in the setting up of such professional institutions would be given.

He said that a meeting of forest authorities had been convened to remove the bottleneck in widening a stretch of 20 km on the Chamba-Pathankot highway.

The Chief Minister said that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had allocated Rs 1300 crore which included Rs 800 crore for the construction of Rohtang tunnel and Rs 500 crore for the construction of roads in the state.

The Chief Minister said that the state government was contemplating to name all hydroelectric projects upstream of ongoing Chamera Hydroelectric Project (stage-III) as Chamera Stages IV, V and VI and so on to get instant environment clearance from the Centre.

ST status to benefit 8 lakh Gaddis, Gujjars
Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, June 2
With the Union Cabinet granting approval to the long pending demand of Gaddis and Gujjars of merged areas by according them Scheduled Tribe status, over eight lakh people of the community in the state are expected to benefit.

Addressing a press conference here yesterday, the Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Mr Shanta Kumar, said this was an old demand of Gaddis and Gujjars of new Himachal, who were merged into the state from Punjab at the time of reorganisation in 1966. “ It was a stupendous task to get the case cleared, especially when it had been rejected twice by the Director of Anthropological Survey of India based at Calcutta,” he said.

With Mr Shanta Kumar managing to get the clearance a large number of members of the community, especially in his Lok Sabha constituency of Kangra, will benefit.

The Gaddis and Gujjars will hold a ‘maha sammelan’ on June, 9 at Dari, here, to thank the minister.

Mr Shanta Kumar, said that since the Constitutional Amendment Draft Bill had also been approved in the next session of Parliament the matter would be given a house approval. He added that with an environmental clearance for the Chamba cement plant expected within a few days, the foundation stone for the project would be laid by the end of June.

CM implicating me in false cases: Virbhadra
Our Correspondent

Jahoo (Hamirpur), June 2
Former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today came down heavily on Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal for his alleged efforts to dislodge him from the political scenario of the state before next elections.

Addressing a party rally organised by Mr Prem Kaushal, president of the Mewa Congress Committee here, he warned Professor Dhumal of serious consequences if he “continued to implicate him in false cases regarding his property.”

From the other faction of party led by Ms Vidya Stokes, former DCC president Suresh Kumar attended the rally. Mr Balak Ram Sharma, Hamirpur DCC chief, was conspicuous by his absence.

Mr Virbhadra Singh said the Chief Minister was building castles in the air by making various announcements daily. He had failed to fulfil the announcements made to the people at the time of last elections. The government was taking such decisions that could not be implemented, he alleged.

He said the state was in the grip of fiscal crisis and the government was taking more loans from various agencies to run its day-to-day affairs.

Complaint filed against Virbhadra Singh
Tribune News Service

Shimla, June 2
The collector of the Rampur sub-division, Mr Arvind Kumar Shukla, yesterday filed a complaint in the court of the sub-judge against Mr Virbhadra Singh, CLP leader, alleging that he was holding land beyond the permissible limits of the H.P. Ceiling on Land Holdings Act. It has been alleged in the complaint that Mr Virbhadra Singh had concealed facts about his land holdings while furnishing the details to the Collector and was thus liable to be prosecuted under Section 22 of the Act.

Mr Shukla has alleged that Mr Virbhadra Singh concealed the facts regarding 21.15 bigha land holdings at various places while making a declaration before the collector. These “surplus” lands came to notice in an inquiry conducted by Mr Sanjeev Gupta, Additional Commissioner (appeals).

He has mentioned in the complaint that Mr Virbhadra Singh was holding 0.7 bighas of land in Sairi village, 0.8 bighas in Hatkoti village, three bighas in Dainwari village, 14 bighas in Kaloti village and 6 bighas in Bathua village in Chirgaon. However, these holdings were not mentioned intentionally in the form C-II and C-III.

Virbhadra should take cadre into 
confidence: Stokes
Our Correspondent

Hamirpur, June 2
Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee chief, Ms Vidya Stokes, forces change of government after Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh. The mood of the people was different as compared to 1993, she said addressing a press conference here yesterday.

Mr Kuldeep Rathore and Mr Rajendra Zar, general secretaries of the state Congress, Mr Rakesh Handa, senior vice-president of the District Congress Committee and Mr Sunil Sharma, the district Youth Congress chief were also present.

She denied any rift in the party adding that it was united under the leadership of Ms Sonia Gandhi. The party would contest the next elections jointly, she said.

She, however, said that Mr Virbhadra Singh should discuss with the PCC, the DCC and the block Congress committees before organising rallies in the state.

Scrapping of power panel sought
Tribune News Service

Shimla, June 2
The ongoing confrontation between the State Electricity Regulatory Commission and the Himachal State Electricity Board took a new turn, with the power engineers’ association of the board demanding scrapping of the commission.

Admitting that the management had harmed the interests of the board by not putting forward its case effectively for tariff revision, the association accused the commission of “usurping” the power and functions of the board and acting as a super authority, setting forth unachievable targets.

The association further alleged that the commission had transgressed its jurisdiction and issued notices to the members of the board for non- compliance of its directions without authority.

The association also found faults with the tariff order of the commission which, it pointed out, was complex, vague and could not be implemented. It had led to a spate of litigation and with most of the industrial consumers approaching the court and obtaining stay orders. Much of the board’s revenue had been blocked, making its position financially precarious. Consequen-tly, it had not been possible for the board to implement the orders of the commission for lack of appropriate cash flow.

Mr Sunil Grover, general secretary of the association, said the performance of the board was better than other state electricity boards in the country but the commission had been painting it as inefficient, overstaffed and incompetent.

He said the government signed an MOU with the Centre for pursuing power sector reforms but requisite funds were not made available in time to carry out the improvements agreed to.

He maintained that in a small state like Himachal where cent per cent of the power supplied by the board was metered, there was no need for a regulatory commission. It only put an additional financial burden on the state, with Rs 1.40 crore already spent on it.

Novel way to highlight grievances
Our Correspondent

Solan, June 2
The Himachal Pradesh unit of the Samajwadi Janata Party yesterday adopted a novel way to highlight its grievances of the state. Party workers led by state president, Kul Rakesh Pant assembled in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office and started beating ‘Thalis’ brass or stainless steel plates. They also started raising slogans in respect of “gross injustices meted out to the state by the Centre”.

The demands include restoration of 7.19 per cent share of Himachal in the undivided assets under the Punjab Re-organisation Act - 1966: Compensation by way of financial assistance for “the ban on exploiting the state’s forest and mineral wealth for maintaining the ecology of the whole of the Northern region”, transfer of the ownership to state of all hydel power generation projects in operation on state soil; royalty on water being consumed by neighbouring states from rivers originating in Himachal.

Insurance claim upheld
Legal Correspondent

Shimla, June 2
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has held that though the first complaint was dismissed in default, even then, econd complaint based on same facts and cause of action is maintainable. This order was passed by Mr P.D. Goel on the complaint of Mr Jagdeep Kumar of Rampur Bushahar. He had raised the issue before the forum whether without getting earlier complaint restored which was dismissed in default, the second complaint would lie?

Mr Goel observed that the second complaint was maintainable. According to the complainant, his vehicle met with an accident on 20 March 1990 at Jhakri (Rampur).

An FIR was lodged with the police regarding the accident. Information was also sent to the Insurance Company for the settlement of the claim and loss to the vehicle, in accident. The company did not entertain the claim on the ground that there was no hill road endorsement on the driving licence of driver. The company also argued that material facts were suppressed in the complaint. A complaint had been made to the forum earlier which was dismissed in default on September 16, 1994. Delivering the order for the bench Mr Goel observed that the present complaint without getting the earlier complaint restored which was dismissed in default was competent and maintainable. He also directed the National Insurance Company, Shimla to pay the claim of Rs 8298 with interest to the complainant.

Veterinary teachers threaten stir
Our Correspondent

Dharamsala, June 2
The Veterinary Scientists and Teachers Association of Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University, Palampur, has threatened to launch an agitation if the issue regarding the payment of 25 per cent non-practicing allowance (NPA) is not settled by June 4.

The veterinary teachers are sore at the indifferent attitude of the university administration in this regard and allege that as other states have already started paying 25 per cent NPA, they should also be paid the same. The association had intimated the matter to the Vice-Chancellor, Dr Tej Partap, who had assured them that the matter would be resolved by June 4.

One sentenced to life
Our Correspondent

Bilaspur, June 2
Mr M.D. Sharma District and Sessions Judge here has sentenced Suresh Chand son of Piarchand of Bhander village (Hamirpur district) to life and fined him Rs 10,000 under Section 302 of the IPC for having killed with a gun-shot another youth Kuldeep Kumar of Jhamradian village under Talai, Police Station, Bilaspur District on November 15, 2000. 

4 mine labourers buried alive
Our Correspondent

Nahan, June 2
According to information reaching here today, four labourers engaged in the work of limestone extraction have been buried alive at the site of Borli Mines near Sangrah, about 60 km from here. Mr S.P.S. Verma, SP Sirmaur, said rescue operations had been launched under the supervision of a DSP and the Tehsildar, Sangrah. He said bodies of the dead were being recovered from the debries. People from Sangrah told this correspondent that the dead were the residents of the area.