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Saturday,
September 14, 2002,
Chandigarh, India  
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Cong leaders’ promise ridiculous: Dhumal Reshape Assembly segments: admn Bitumen scam: Stokes seeks CBI probe HVC terms for alliance |
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Delhi trekker missing Study to minimise calamities ‘must’
CM details steps for farmers’ uplift
Dhumal hails SC verdict on syllabus Inspection team visits CRI Oral diseases survey on Widow loses job, cries foul Protest rally by HP varsity staff Nursery teachers block road Gallery to promote Kangra paintings
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Cong leaders’ promise ridiculous: Dhumal Shimla, September 13 Talking to newsmen here today, he said the party had made a similar promise in 1982 but the state high court declared it as unconstitutional. The decision was challenged in the apex court but the appeal was dismissed in 1994. The court held that the promise violated the Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution. However, all this had not deterred Congress leaders from misleading the people. The party had either forgotten the past or it was deliberately keeping the people in the dark. Even otherwise, the party which remained in power all these years failed to create job opportunities, he said. The Chief Minister charged the Congress with making misleading statements regarding the financial position of the state. The party had been claiming that its government raised loans to the tune of Rs 800 crore only whereas the fact was that the total outstanding loans stood at Rs 4966 crore when the present government took over. These loans were raised at exorbitantly high rates of interest ranging from 16 to 22.5 per cent. His government had to borrow to repay the old loans. It repaid Rs 985 crore as against Rs 221 crore paid by the previous Virbhadra Singh government. The salary burden increased from Rs 966 crore in 1997-98 to Rs 2200 crore during the current year and the expenditure on pensions also shot up from Rs 181.63 crore to Rs 465 crore over the period. This was mainly on account of implementation of the recommendation of the Fifth Pay Commission. Similarly, the interest liability rose from Rs 455 crore to Rs 1300 crore. The state has taken up the issue with the Centre and demanded that it should share at least 50 per cent of the financial burden on account of pay revision. He said the ways and means to bail out of fund-starved states would be discussed at a meeting convened by the Prime Minister on October 18. PTI adds: The foundation stone for 600 mw Rampur project in Shimla district would be laid in November this year while the 300 mw Baspa hydro power project would start generating power by October-end, Prof Dhumal today said. He said the Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani would inaugurate the Baspa project in Kinnaur district and also the Jaypee Institute of Engineering and Technology at Vakanaghat in Solan district during his visit to the state on October 8 or 9 next. He said the Union Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi has assured him that the National Institute of Technology at Hamirpur would have all facilities of Indian Institute of Information Technology
(IIIT) and 50 per cent of the seats would be reserved for Himachalis. |
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Reshape Assembly segments: admn Hamirpur, September 13 Hamirpur town has been made part of the erstwhile Bamsan Assembly segment. All six-patwar circles of the Hamirpur Kanungo circle have been made part of new Hamirpur Assembly segment, which later may be known as Hamirpur or Bamsan. Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, represents Bamsan Assembly segment in the state Assembly. Other areas proposed in the new Hamirpur Assembly segment include Lambloo, Blute, Baloh, Kakriar, Siswan, Gwaroo, Lohakhar, Kot and Thana of Ugialta Kanungo circle; Dhalot, Bohni, Dugha, Swahal, Langwan, Gahlian, Tikker, Tal and Amned of Tal Kanungo circle; Matti Tihra, Jhaniara and Sarahkker of Jhaniara Kanungo circle, Chamboh and Karyali of Bhoranj Kanungo circle; Barara, Panjot, Samirpur, Bagwara, Dharaun, Kanjyan, Khaduhi, Dimmi and Tikker-Khatrian patwar circle of Bamsan area. In the new proposal, the Mewa Constituency would consist of all eight patwar circles of Mewa, 11 of Mehlta, seven of Bhoranj, three of Bamsan, three of Tal and eight of Salauni Kanungo circles of Barsar area. In the proposed Assembly segment of Sujanpura, all 25 patwar circles of Sujanpur tehsil, four of Ugialta area of Hamirpur tehsil, seven of Nalti and five of Jhaniara area of Hamirpur tehsil have been included. Changes have also been proposed in the Nadaunta Assembly segment by adding Dhaned and Pharnol area of the Hamirpur in this segment. The new constituency will also include 16 patwar circles of Barsar, 17 of Bijheri, two of Salauni, four of Galore and two of Nalti kanungo circles. Nadaun Assembly constituency will have new areas of Larha, Marangal, Sarehri, Badaran, Kashmir, Mansai and Phahal of Galore Kanungo circle along with other patwar circles of Nadaun, Rail and Kangoo Kanungo circles of the district, if the new proposals are accepted. Congressmen of Hamirpur district are upset over the proposals. Mrs Anita Verma, Vice-president of the Himachal Congress party said here today that the way the state government had suggested restructuring of segments without taking the people into confidence, it would be against the wishes of the people. She said that instead of taking arbitrary decisions, the state government should have taken the issue to the people. She said that there was no justification on part of the district administration to restructure panchayats only for the suitability of the rulers. Such moves would be opposed and the Congress party would meet the Chief Election Commissioner of India to seek justice. |
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Bitumen scam: Stokes seeks CBI probe Shimla, September 13 In a statement here today, she said it was the second bitumen scam during the past three years, which indicated the manner in which the Dhumal government had been functioning. Earlier, a Chief Engineer was suspended for purchasing substandard bitumen emulsion without requirement. She said corruption had been flourishing under the BJP-led regime, particularly in the Public Works and Health departments, which had been rocked by one scam after the other. The reports that bitumen was pilfered and adulterated in transit from oil refineries were alarming and indicated an inter-state nexus of influential transporters and officials which could be exposed only by a CBI inquiry. Mrs Stokes expressed concern over the revelations pertaining to the supply of expired medicines, syringes and other drugs during recent raids in the Kangra region and said the government was playing with the lives of people. It was common knowledge that relatives of ministers, and legislators and BJP leaders were among those who had been supplying medicines to the department. Already, three directors had been arrested in connection with the multi-crore medical purchase scam. The seizure of expired medicines in raids had added a new dimension to the scandal, she added. The government had failed to come clean on the scam and the political responsibility for the large-scale bunglings in the health purchases had not been fixed. The Congress, on coming to power would bring the culprits to book, she declared. |
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HVC terms for alliance Shimla, September 13 Addressing a press conference here today, he said although his party was preparing to contest all 68 Assembly constituencies, the option for an alliance with the BJP or the Congress was open. He said the BJP, which came to power with the support of the HVC, had ignored the coalition partner. It even failed to implement the reports submitted by him for creating job opportunities as Chairman of the State Resource and Employment Generation Committee. Referring to the promise of job to one person from each family being made by the Congress, he said it was baffling how a state, totally dependent on Central assistance, could make such a promise at a time when the Centre was asking the states to downsize the administration by annually reducing the number of employees by 3 per cent. |
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Delhi trekker missing Shimla, September 13 Mr Saumyajit Guha, member of a group of 20 students from the JNU, was reported missing due to inclement weather while he was crossing the Pin Parvati Pass (16,000 feet) on September 7, a delayed official report said here today. The team of students was on a trekking expedition from Manikaran in Kulu district to Pin valley in Spiti subdivision of tribal Lahaul Spiti district when the weather turned bad. While 19 students had reached Kaza, headquarters of Spiti subdivision, on September 11, Mr Guha was reported missing by the team leader who is till camping there along with his colleague, the sources said. Seventeen students have since returned to Delhi. The local authorities at Kaza have requested the government to launch a search for the trekker. The Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports at Manali has been contacted in this regard. However, the continued bad weather inhibited the search operation. Two shepherds who had gone towards pastures from Charang village in Kinnaur district along with about 200 head of cattles were stuck there due to snow. They can be rescued only after the weather became clear, the Kinnuar police said. Six bus passengers were injured when a boulder hit them on a road at Bhadolia in Sirmaur district last evening. They were removing debris from the road and making way for the bus to pass. One of them was taken to the PGI at Chandigarh and the remaining were hospitalised at Dadahu. A moderate to heavy snowfall lashed the high altitude areas in the tribal districts of Lahaul Spiti and Kinnaur. The Baralacha Pass in Lahaul Spiti district received about one foot snow. The rain caused a spate of landslides in Kinnaur and Shimla districts. The National Highway-22 was blocked at various points in Kinnaur district and men of the Border Roads Organisation were trying to clear debris from the road. Shimla and its surrounding areas were pounded by incessant rain for the past two days, causing landslides and uprooting trees at certain places. The higher reaches in tribal areas of Himachal Pradesh had another spell of moderate snowfall, hampering the famous Manimahesh yatra while the mid and lower hills had widespread rain, triggering landslides in various parts of the state. Manimahesh in Chamba district had fresh snowfall last night making the perilous pedestrian path more slippery and risky for devotees to trudge. The yatra, which is considered as Amarnath yatra of this region, was scheduled to reach the holy Manimahesh lake tomorrow. The Deputy Commissioner, Chamba, Mr Rahul Anand, said the devotees were finding it difficult to climb the steep hill beyond Dhanachoo, 13 km from Manimahesh, and labourers had been deputed in strength to clear the path to enable the pilgrims to reach the lake for a holy dip tomorrow. A house collapsed in Shimla town last night following heavy rain and over half a dozen landslides blocked roads within the town. The heavy rain in the upper Shimla region hampered the movement of trucks in the interior areas of the apple belt and link roads in parts of Sirmaur and Kulu districts were blocked. The Delhi-Shimla flight of a private airliner was delayed by nearly two hours due to thick fog and a heavily overcast sky. Shimla and its surrounding areas and mid and lower hills in Solan, Sirmaur, Kangra, Mandi, Kulu, Chamba and Hamirpur areas also experienced rain, reports here said. |
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Study to minimise calamities ‘must’ Dharamsala, September 13 Mr Rakesh Sharma, a hydro-geologist , credited with digging about 1000 hand pumps in Palampur’s Changer area with an almost cent per cent success rate, feels that the Himalayas, the main source of water for the country, had been ignored to a large extent as a result, every year calamities occur in one part of the country or the other. He feels that an intensive scientific study must be undertaken to ensure that the fragile mountain range is not allowed to be further depleted. The reasons for man made and natural calamities must be studied. Mr Rakesh Sharma says there is no long-term strategy based on scientific guidelines. According to him studies of geomorphic effects, landslides, erosion, mountain hazards, hydro-geology and structural geology can provide a valuable insight for checking future calamities. He alleges that there no geotectonical considerations and environmental implications studies are undertaken during road construction in the hills. This leads to slope failure, resulting in debris which slide down choking rivers and nullahs and filling the dams with silt. It also damages surface as well as ground water systems. Mr Rakesh Sharma says apart from taking steps for scientific construction of roads and other structures, steps must be taken to dump the debris at places where these do not damage ecology. Forest and other departments must ensure action for rejuvenating the area after every major construction. According to him small check dams can play a vital role in checking erosion and the velocity of sliding debris, thus minimising the damage. He says Himachal has been suffering huge losses due to natural calamities caused by unscientific construction in the state but till date serious action has not been taken to undertake a study on the issue. He says it is ironic that a state whose entire mountain range is fragile and prone to earthquakes has no independent department in the university for the study of geology. |
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Army help sought to search bodies Shimla, September 13 Meanwhile R.D. Nazim, Deputy Commissioner, Kulu said today that a team of five divers called from Nangal were trying their best to search out the bodies of the victims. Besides cranes and recovery vans called from Larji project and Sundernagar, along with machinery for recovery work were also pressed into the service. The home guards and police personnel from Kulu, besides experts from the BBMB, the NHPC, the GREF and the Parbati Hydro Electric Project were also trying to locate the bodies. The Deputy Commissioners and Superintendents of Police of Mandi, Hamirpur and Kangra districts have also been alerted to look out for possible bodies in their areas and make efforts to spot the bodies. Rain for the past few days was also posing problem in the search for bodies as the level of water was rising. The interim relief had been provided to all affected families and the injured admitted to the hospital. PTI |
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CM details steps for farmers’ uplift Una, September 13 Detailing the decisions, he said the ownership right of trees grown on private land had been given to farmers by deleting the “khudro darkhtan malkiyat sarkar” entry from the revenue record. He said the decision had been taken to return the shamlat land ownership to the farmers. He said the restriction on the export of khair had been removed, besides the abolition of sales tax on it. He said the soil testing facility was being provided to farmers on their doorstep to enable them grow crops according to the fertility of the land. The Chief Minister said to ensure that the farmers did not face any difficulty in case of failure of crops, the Krishi Bima Yojna was being implemented in the state. He said the state government had also succeeded in persuading the Centre to include apple under the Crop Insurance Scheme. Baba Sahib Takwale, national general secretary of the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, and Mr Rameshwar Singh, and Mr Desh Raj Moudgil, president and general secretary of the state unit of the sangh, respectively, also spoke. Mr Ram Dass Malangar, Deputy Speaker, Vidhan Sabha, and Mr Tritha Ram, vice-chairman, State Freedom Fighters Board, were also present on the occasion.
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Dhumal hails SC verdict on syllabus Shimla, September 13 In a statement here today, he said that the decision was a blow to those giving saffron colour to education. Mr Dhumal said the “so called” secularists always wanted to gain political capital by raising such controversies. He said in Himachal Pradesh too the opposition tried to give saffron colour to the “Sarswati Bal Vidya Sankalp Yojna”, though the scheme aimed at providing a better educational environment to schoolchildren. The schemes had been widely appreciated and Himachal model adopted by the states like West Bengal ruled by Communists. |
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Inspection team visits CRI Kumarhatti, September 13 The team reached yesterday and is expected to complete the inspection by tomorrow. Sources said the delay to renew the licence and allocation could cause a negative impact as so far no orders for allocation had been received for DPT, DT and TT vaccines. According to the CRI Employees Association, the delay could deepen the crisis in the CRI. Ms Usha Soren Singh, Director, CRI, however, dismissed the concerns as unfounded. According to norms, the institute could carry on with the production on the old licence until it was renewed, she said. The sources in the CRI said around 2.8 crore doses of the three vaccines had been produced and were lying in cold storage. Any delay in allocation of these vaccines could affect their market viability. The discontinuation in the manufacture of anti-rabies serum and anti-snake venom serum, the commercial serums of the institute, had adversely affected the financial inflow, the sources said. |
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Oral diseases survey on Shimla, September 13 Dr Rao, who is monitoring the survey in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh, said it was the first survey in the country. So far no data regarding dental diseases was available in the country. Dental diseases, of late, had been found to be the cause behind various systemic diseases like coronary heart disease, low birth weight, premature babies, obstructive pulmonary disease, general well-being and individual mortality. Once the survey was completed, it would have a far-reaching influence on planning manpower, resources and dental healthcare services for the people of the country. He said 11 teams of dental doctors and para-dental staff were conducting the survey in areas selected by the Dental Council of India in consultation with the Union Ministry of Health, Directorates the Census and the Ministry of Planning as per the agro-climatic conditions of the region. So far the blocks of Chopal, Nerwa, Kotkhai Jubbal, Rohru and Chhauhara in Himachal Pradesh, Rohtak in Haryana, Patiala in Punjab and Chandigarh had been covered. |
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Widow loses job, cries foul Kangra, September 13 She was working as a water carrier in the Education Department but was left in the lurch when another woman of the same village was appointed allegedly in violative of norms, after she had served the school for a year without pay. More than 500 villagers of Dameta and nearby areas, in a memorandum to the Kangra Deputy Commissioner submitted through Ms Ashu Devi and Ms Sheela Devi, presidents of Mahila Mandals, demanded justice for Sarla Devi. They alleged that Sarla Devi, under the directions of the Deputy Commissioner, was working as a water carrier at the Government Primary School, Dameta, since the past one year and was not given salary for this period. Another woman of the same village with political backing belonging to a well-off family was appointed in her place. Both Mahila Mandal chiefs said the widow and her children had now to beg for sustenance. They threatened the administration that the villagers would resort to an agitation if the deserving woman was not appointed by the school. They also demanded an inquiry into the matter. |
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Protest rally by HP varsity staff Nahan, September 13 Agitated employees raised slogans against the government and demanded the release of their salaries for the month of August. The employees came out of their offices this afternoon and held a protest march. The gate rally was addressed by employee leaders, including Mr N.D.
Justa, president, Non-Teaching Employees Union, Dhaulan Kuan branch, and Dr Dhanbir Singh, president, Teacher’s Union. The speakers criticised the state government’s attitude towards the university and warned that they would go on an indefinite strike which could cause heavy losses to the farmers of the state. |
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Nursery teachers block road Bilaspur, September 13 They said during their earlier statewide rally at Hamirpur two weeks ago, they had served an ultimatum to the government that they would “come to the streets” if their demands were not accepted “within the next two weeks.” They said over 5,000 trained nursery teachers were jobless and the government had put a ban on their recruitment. |
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Gallery to promote Kangra paintings Shimla, September 13 The spokesman further said that state government was paying special attention to the development of the Kangra tradition of painting. A sum of Rs 9 lakh has been allocated for this during the current financial year.
PTI |
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