 |
Thursday,
August 29, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
|
Six Bills introduced in HP House Notice for Speaker’s removal Virbhadra indulging in ‘gimmicks’ FIR against Cong leaders decried Court stays arrest of four teenagers |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Routine
visit or
Army raid? Flights to Shimla, Kulu cancelled Man gets life term for murder Plea to recruit safai karamcharis
|
|
Six Bills introduced in HP House Shimla, August 28 The minister faced questions from Opposition members who maintained that the government, instead of strengthening the medical institutions in rural areas, downgraded these in the name of rationalisation. They did not agree with the minister that the exercise would improve the quality of health services and termed it as a retrograde step. The minister was interrupted repeatedly by the members. Finally, Mr Virbhadra Singh, Leader of the Opposition, rose to express his deep disappointment over the reply of the minister. He said the government had failed to post doctors and paramedical staff in the health institutions and civil dispensaries were being manned by class IV employees. The Department was in a mess with corruption rampant in the purchase of medical equipment and scams keep surfacing regularly. Mr Kaul Singh Congress MLA, said Health institutions in backward areas were without doctors and in his own constituency four primary health centres were without staff for the past four years. Earlier, replying to the main question of Mohinder Singh, Mr Nadda said the step was aimed at ensuring optimum utilization of the staff and equipment. As per new norms the primary health centres (PHC)-I would have total staff of four (including one doctor) the PHC-II Health Centres (CHC)-I would have nine personnel (two doctors) and CHC-II as many as 25 (four doctors). He said parameters like number of indoor and outdoor patients had been taken into consideration while categorizing the institutions. He denied the Congress members’ charge that the health services were in bad shape and said that when he took over four years ago there was a shortage of 700 doctors in the total cadre strength of 1500 the present government had filled to posts on priority. He said interviews had been held institution wise to fill posts in the rural areas for the first time. Replying to a question of Mr Mohinder Singh, Mr I.D. Dhiman, Education Minister, said that the average pass percentage was 92.2 in private schools and 69.1 in government schools in 2000-01. Main reason for this was that private schools were selective in admitting students and they came from well-off families. Whereas most of the students in government schools were from poor, illiterate families and they did not have anyone to guide them at home. He said the total number of students in private schools was 1.04 lakh as against 6.56 lakh in government schools. As many as eight private colleges and 53 private schools were getting 95 per cent grant-in-aid in the state. Pandemonium prevailed in the House for almost the entire day as the Congress members trooped into the well of the House and raised slogans in protest against the petrol pumps and LPG agencies allotment scam, registration of an FIR against Mr Virbhadra Singh, Leader of Opposition, and other party legislators on the basis of Kainthla commission report and various other scandals of the Dhumal government. Speaker, Gulab Singh Thakur adjourned the House for the day after efforts to restore order failed in spite of repeated adjournments. The listed business, including introduction of seven bills and passage of a government resolution, was conducted amidst slogan-shouting. Mr Virbhadra Singh and other Congress legislators were on their legs as soon as the question hour was over protesting against the scams and alleged misuse of the state machinery to harass the opponents. The protesting members trooped into the well of the House. As the Speaker continued with the official business amidst of din of slogans by members became louder and louder. When all attempts to restore order failed, he adjourned the House till lunch. Uproarious scenes continued even after the House reassembled. The Congress members did not resume seats. They entered the well straight away and started shouting slogans. The Speaker went ahead with the listed business and asked the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr J.P. Nadda, to move the government resolution thanking the Centre for granting tribal status to Gaddis and Gujjars of the entire state and urging it to accord to tribal states to the Labana community and various left-out areas in Sirmaur, Shimla, Mandi and Kulu districts. As slogans shouting continued, the Speaker adjourned the House for half an hour. There was no change in the situation when the House reassembled and the resolution was passed amidst uproarious scenes. Later talking to newsmen Mr Virbhadra Singh, said that the Opposition had been forced to disrupt the proceedings because of the ‘undemocratic’ attitude of the government which was not allowing their adjournment motions, call-attention motions, discussions under the rules of business for raising burning issues like petrol pumps scam, the Shivani murder case, land scam in Delhi and within the state, hydel project allotment scandal and the Kainthla Commission report. He said the Dhumal regime had created new records in scams and scandals it was the most corrupt government in the country and even the much maligned Rabri Devi government in Bihar would appear “clean and efficient” in comparison to it. Citing examples he said hydel power projects were being assigned to private parties on ‘first come first serve’ basis throwing all norms to winds and it was a big scandal that government jobs were virtually on sale making a mockery of the recruitment process law of the jungle prevailed in the state and official machinery was being used to harass and victimize the political opponents. Such a corrupt, inefficient and incompetent government had no right to remain in office, he said, while demanding its immediate resignation of Mr Dhumal. |
|
Notice for Speaker’s removal Shimla, August 28 A letter, signed by 24 legislators, was submitted to the Secretary, Vidhan Sabha, here today. The legislators alleged that the voice of the Opposition was being throttled and notices for discussions and resolutions given by them were not admitted. They had repeatedly brought their grievances to the notice of the Speaker, including his partial attitude towards the ruling Benches. Starred questions entered as un-starred and important starred questions were deliberately placed in such a manner that they could not be asked in the House. There were also many instances where the voice of the Opposition was suppressed. Supplementaries were not allowed and no action was taken when the ministers evaded replies. In view of these grievances, which, in parliamentary democratic procedure, were always to be taken into account, they had given the notice for the removal of Speaker. |
|
|
Virbhadra indulging in ‘gimmicks’ Shimla, August 28 Addressing a press conference he said it was strange that a person like Mr Virbhadra Singh, who did not even spare his own party men and got cases registered against several of them, was crying foul when he had been booked in a case on the basis of the report of a judicial commission. In fact, he used such actions to project himself as an honest and just administrator. Now when an FIR had been filed after a thorough inquiry by a retired sessions judge, he was calling it an instance of political vendetta. The Congress leader had been adopting double standards in such matters. When the judicial court of Rampur gave a verdict in the land grab case he claimed it was a vindication of his stand but when a sessions judge found him guilty he saw foul play. Besides, he dared the government to take action against him during the day and enacted a fake arrest drama at his residence at midnight. Such gimmicks did not behove a leader of his stature. An erstwhile ruler, Mr Virbhadra Singh, he said, still believed in the saying that “the king could do no wrong” which revealed his feudal mentality. Mr Dhumal said he did not believe in interfering with the functioning of the police. The police had been given a free hand in the matter. The Chief Minister condemned the attempt of the Congress to disrupt the proceedings of the House on a vital issue like grant of tribal status to the Labana community and some left-out backward areas of the state and said it only proved the party was not sincerely interested in their uplift. He declared that the BJP would “expose the feudal attitude” of Mr Virbhadra Singh by holding rallies in the state and also highlight the “negative” role of the MLAs whose areas figured in the list of the areas to be declared “tribal”. |
|
FIR against Cong leaders decried Shimla, August 28 Addressing a press conference here today, he said the registration of an FIR against the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Virbhadra Singh and other Congress leaders on the eve of elections on the basis of the Kainthla Commission report would only vitiate the political environment in the state. Moreso, because the two parties had entirely different perceptions regarding the report and the follow-up action on it. The BJP deemed it as a judicial document. However his party saw it as political issue and would fight it at the political level. The former PCC chief said the reverses suffered by the BJP in the Shimla Municipal Corporation elections and various scams which had surfaced during the past few months had unnerved Mr Dhumal. He said the landslide victory of the NSUI, the student wing of the Congress, in the recent elections to the central students association in the state had provided a clear indication of the “winds of political change” sweeping the state. He said following this Mr Dhumal had rolled back one decision after the other and coming out with such policies, which would spell disaster for the state, to woo the electorate. He mentioned the policy to regularize encroachments on government land, which was tailored to benefit the rich and the influential. Further, Mr Dhumal illegally rolled back the power tariff hike because of the opposition put up by the Congress. He even bypassed the State Electricity Regulatory Commission, a statutory body, which decided the power tariff, he alleged. The state was in a financial
mess with outstanding loans crossing the 13,000 crore mark. The performance of the BJP on the development front had been exposed during the “vikas yatra” organised by the party, which turned out to be a flop show. |
|
|
Court stays arrest of four teenagers Kangra, August 28 The Kangra police has been clueless about these four teenaged youths. The Kangra district police chief, Mr Sanjay Kundu, said following a rumour in the town that a woman pilgrim was allegedly abducted and gangraped by four youths on the night of August 22 and despite the fact that no complaint had been lodged either by the victim or by the person accompanying her, the police on August 23 started investigating the case on the basis of an eyewitness account of the manager of the local Vashnov Devi Dhabha, Mr Murli Swami. Mr Kundu said Murli Swami had identified these four youths as Amit, Vikas, Munish and Deepak of the Mandir Bazar area of the town. The victim was allegedly forced to board a Jammu-bound bus at 5.30 a.m. on August 23 last, the SSP disclosed. He said the investigations had revealed that the victim and her companion had approached the temple authorities complaining that they were being harassed by these youths but they did not inform the police. He said they had also approached the temple inn for accommodation, which they were allegedly denied. Meanwhile, a police team was sent to Kathua to ascertain the whereabouts of the victim but these could not be traced, Mr Kundu said. |
|
Routine visit or
Army raid? Kumarhatti, August 28 The GTC authorities were reportedly enraged over a letter written by the three members to the Ministry of Defence, seeking the transfer of Col Raghuwinder Kapoor, Commandant 14 GTC due to his “anti-civilians” policies. The members have decided to apprise the higher authorities of the cantonment board based at Chandi Mandir of today’s incident. Colonel Kapoor could not be contacted despite repeated attempts. A highly-placed official in the cantonment board office described the visit as a routine affair to check civic amenities in the cantonment. The GTC authorities had taken serious note of unauthorised constructions and had instructed the board to issue notices to defaulters within 24 hours, he said, adding that only those buildings which were constructed against norms had been photographed. |
|
|
Flights to Shimla, Kulu cancelled Shimla, August 28 Rain caused havoc in the upper areas of Kinnaur where one bridge at Kharoglanala was washed away, cutting several villages of the Sangla valley from the rest of the district. A 100-metre road stretch was also washed away at the valley following flood in the Vaspa river. The Indian Airlines services to Shimla and Kulu from Delhi was cancelled due to bad weather. The Shimla-Kalka highway and the Shimla-Mandi road also remained shrouded in thick fog this morning, forcing traffic to move at a snail’s pace . The rains plumetted the temperature to 17.2°C at the Ridge. Upper areas of Shimla district, including tourist places, experienced intermittent rain since last night.
UNI |
|
Man gets life term for murder Sundernagar, August 28 The case of prosecution was that on January 7, 2000, Raju Ram along with Puran Chand and Amar Nath was taking liquor at about 7.30 p.m. Budhi Singh also joined them and started taking liquor. In the meantime, Raju Ram asked Budhi Singh to return his two sleepers of Deodar. This enraged Budhi Singh who manhandled Raju Ram and threatened to shoot him. Later when Raju Ram along with two others left for their houses, Budhi Singh intercepted them near Labain village, carrying a gun. He fired at and injured Raju while the other two persons managed to escape. Raju Ram who was later found by Kamla Devi in an injured condition, told Parkash Chand that Budhi Singh had shot him. He, however, later died. A case was registered under Section 302 of the IPC read with Section 25 of the Indian Arms Act and a charge sheet was filed before the court. The prosecution examined 20 witnesses in its favour. |
|
Plea to recruit safai karamcharis Chamba, August 28 Mr Gurmukh Singh, general secretary of the council, said today that there was a dearth of safai karamcharis. He said the sanctioned strength was the same as it was at the time of erstwhile Chamba state. He said workload had increased manifold and many safai karamcharis had retired. He also said the construction of parking lots should be undertaken near Gandhi Gate to accommodate about 100 light vehicles. Supporting the demand of the council, the President of the council, Mr S.P. Dhall, said there were 36 regular safai karamcharis and six were on contract. |
|
Three killed in road mishap Shimla, August 28 The police identified the deceased as Deep Ram, Jagat Ram and Ramesh.
UNI |
|
|
Arms banned Chamba, August 28 The orders would come into effect from August 30 and continue till September 16 in Bharmour subdivision. |
|
37 bags of medicinal herbs seized Chamba, August 28 Mr Ajay Yadav, SP, said here today that the herbs were being smuggled from Churah valley of the district. He said a case had been registered in this connection. |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 122 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
