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Friday,
July 5, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Dhumal lays stress on
civil-military interface Dhumal lauds DPEP’s success Hired Mesco chopper set to take off INTACH: put Chamba on tourism map |
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Re-employment of ex-director flayed HC modifies order in
Virbhadra’s land case NSUI opposes hike in hostel fee Another chance for board students
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Dhumal lays stress on civil-military interface Shimla, July 4 Mr Dhumal said Himachal Pradesh shared border with China and it was embedded between Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir which share sensitive border with Pakistan. Though the speedy mobilisation of forces, their strength and international pressure had forced Pakistan to announce an ostensible stoppage of cross-border terrorism, however, the chances of Jammu and Kashmir insurgencies affecting Himachal Pradesh could not be ruled out. He said a high degree of prepardness and coordination between the civil and Army authorities was also required in the area of disaster management since Himachal Pradesh and its adjoining areas fell under seismic zone No 5 and were more prone to disaster. He said the Ministries of Agriculture, Home and Defence had taken a number of steps in this regard. He said the Army, despite operational commitments, had been providing timely assistance to the Himachal Pradesh Government during natural disasters like floods in Sutlej. The Chief Minister said in Jammu and Kashmir, cross-border terrorism and over all internal security situation was under control due to the preparedness of defence forces and international diplomacy of the country. However, the need of the hour was to maintain vigilance of very high order, especially in the border district of Chamba. He said the state had the honour of contributing the largest number of soldiers to the armed forces population ratio-wise. In Operation Vijay, 52 soldiers from Himachal Pradesh gave the supreme sacrifice of their lives. So far, 169 soldiers from the state had laid down their lives in this silent war and 117 had been wounded, he said. Lieut-Gen S.S. Mehta, Army Commander, Western Command, stressed upon the development of infrastructure in remote areas especially in border areas as part of security apparatus. Mrs Rajender Bhattacharya, Additional Chief Secretary, Lieut-Gen H.S. Kanwar, Chief of Staff, the Director-General of Police, Mr A.K. Puri, Secretaries to the state government and senior military officers participated in the conference. |
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Dhumal lauds DPEP’s success Shimla, July 4 Mr Dhumal said that according to UNDP’s last year’s survey expenditure on education in the state per person was Rs 1.02 — highest in the country whereas Haryana and Punjab were spending only 56 paise and 58 paise, respectively. He said that Rs 126 crore Sarswati Bal Vidya Sankalp Yojana under which 12,239 rooms, providing three rooms to every primary school were being constructed would be completed in two months. He said that 10,000 rooms had been completed and work on remaining rooms was on. He said that Himachal Pradesh model was being adopted by other state governments. He said that the state would urge the Government of India to adopt Sarswati Bal Vidya Sankalp Yojana as a national scheme for all states. The Chief Minister said as a policy to reduce the burden of students in primary school single-book consisting all subjects for the first standard had been introduced. He said that in class II and III single-book would be provided very soon and extended up to V standard. Mr Dhumal said Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan was launched last year for compulsory education up to middle standard. He said that literacy rate of the state had reached about 90 per cent and efforts were on to win first position in the country on score. Mr Karan Singh, Minister of State for Primary Education, said that the DPEP was yielding results in Sirmaur, Chamba, Kulu, Lahaul and Spiti districts and other districts were being covered under Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan Programme. |
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Hired Mesco chopper set to take off Shimla, July 4 The Director-General of Civil Aviation has renewed the flying permit of the aircraft, which suspended in September last year on security considerations on the recommendations of the Union Home Ministry. The Civil Aviation Department is carrying out inspection to ascertain whether requisite facilities and staff are available at the Annandale helipad where the aircraft is based. The company would be allowed to make flights after the inspection is completed. The Himachal Government, which had taken the helicopter on a wet lease, was the main sufferer as it had to make other arrangements by hiring the services of Pawan Hans at very high rates. Moreover, at times the helicopter was not available at all. The grounding of the Mesco Airlines helicopter had upset the state government’s plan to conduct sight seeing flights for tourists and disturbed the winter flights to tribal areas which remain cut-off. The government has started negotiations with the Pawan Hans and the Mesco Airlines, both of which have given offers. Mr Harsh Gupta, the Himachal Chief Secretary, said that a three-member negotiating committee had been set up to evaluate the offers and negotiate the lease agreement. According to sources the government might be able to take the aircraft on lease at a much lower rate compared to previous agreement because of competition between the two companies. The government was paying Rs 1.03 lakh per flying hour to the Mesco Airlines with stipulation of minimum 50 flying hours per month. As such it had to pay over Rs 6 crore annually irrespective of the fact whether it utilised it for the minimum period or not. |
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INTACH:
put Chamba on tourism map Chamba, July 4 Mr Harish Chandra Sharma, convener, INTACH (Chamba chapter), while expressing happiness over the elevation of Mr Khanna told this reporter that Mr Khanna who represents the Gurdaspur parliamentary constituency (Punjab) adjoining the district, besides being a Bollywood star was a connoisseur of arts and culture and fully conversant with the cultural heritage of the region (erstwhile princely state of Chamba) which formed the part of Gurdaspur district before Partition. Meanwhile, “Concern for Chamba”, another non-governmental organisation (NGO) has congratulated Mr Khanna and has invited him to participate in the International Minjar Fair commencing from July 28 in the town. Lieut Col Ravi Vaid (retd), president of “Concern for Chamba”, has requested the minister to include Chamba and Dalhousie in the itinerary of the official tour as a minister. |
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Re-employment
of ex-director flayed Dharamsala, July 4 In a statement here, Mr Rahlan said cash strapped state like Himachal could not afford the luxury of a superannuated officer such a post when the Department of Fisheries was headed by a Director-cum-Chief Warden. He said this would create friction and indiscipline among the staff and hamper the normal working of the Fisheries Department. Mr Rahlan said the state government had recruited a scientist in 1987 to improve the working of the Fisheries Department but the experiment had failed. He said Himachal had not been able to breed mahseer in captivity. Similarly, the department had failed to breed by hypothyzation major Indian carps like catla, rohu and mrigal, which were commercially important. He alleged that as a consequence, many rivers which were earlier attracting a large number of angling enthusiasts were now abandoned. No brown frout fingerlings had been released in the Kullu valley and the Uhl river in Mandi district. Mr Rahlan said Dr Kumar’s re-employment was against the directions of the union government in the draft Tenth Plan document after the recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission. He demanded that the state government should review its decision. |
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HC modifies order in
Virbhadra’s land case Shimla, July 4 Division Bench comprising the Chief Justice W.A. Shishak and Mr Justice Arun Kumar Goel passed these directions on a petition filed by Meenakshi, daughter of Mr Virbhadra Singh. Modifying the stay order passed on March 21, 2000, the court has directed the Financial Commissioner (Appeals) to proceed further and not to pass any final order without the prior permission of the court and any direction passed by the court and the Supreme Court in this case. The Attorney-General of India, Mr Soli Sorabjee, contended that the claim was based on legal misconception. |
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NSUI opposes hike in hostel fee Dharamsala, July 4 Terming the hike as a
“parting gift of the BJP to the student community before
elections,” Mr Pathania said poor students from backward areas of
Himachal would find it difficult to pursue higher education due to
this measure. Mr Pathania said the state government had failed in its
duty to provide better opportunities to students and no steps had been
taken to improve the functioning of various colleges in the
state. The NSUI president said the Dhumal government had not
fulfilled its promise of strengthening the local Regional Centre.
Several posts there were lying vacant. |
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Another
chance for board students Dharamsala, July 4 Mr Vikas Labroo, secretary of the board, said this would be the last chance and all students who wish to avail of this opportunity must submit their admission forms without late fee by July 20 and with late fee of Rs 100 up to July 31 and late fee of Rs 200 up to August 16. He said with a late fee of Rs 500, the students could submit their forms 15 days before the examination. |
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Aided school staff threaten stir Dharamsala, July 4 Employees of the government aided school also held a meeting. Mr Sanjeev Kapoor, spokesperson for the union, regretted the indifferent attitude of the state government in releasing 95 per cent aid to these schools. He said the state government had assured in writing that the aid would be released before June 30 but had failed to keep the promise.
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Drivers
to go on mass leave Nurpur, July 4 Mr Kuljeet Raja, president of the Kangra district unit of the association, said today that government officials had not implemented a single demand so far. Meanwhile, agitating drivers blew vehicle horns for two minutes as part of protest. |
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Soldier
ends life Hamirpur, July 4 |
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Two policemen suspended Nahan, July 4 The SP said a prisoner from Nahan Model Central Jail, Bikram Singh, who was sent on parole for two days last week to attend the marriage of his sister at Una under the supervision of the two policemen, raped a girl.
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Correction Paonta Sahib, July 4
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