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Friday,
September 20, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Shivani case: cops focus
on Solan Virbhadra cornered on graft charges Seminar favours trifurcation Check unscientific mining: farmers Chamera set for completion in record time |
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Pakistan adopts report on police reforms! Varsity vets treat captive blue sheep SP, Loktantrik Morcha to contest poll jointly Suspend Education chief: teachers HP adjudged best by WB: Dhumal
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Shivani case: cops focus
on Solan Solan, September 19 According to sources, a Delhi police officer had recently got prepared some compact discs of all calls made from Solan telecom switching area by its subscribers during the month of August. Apparently, it had been done on the belief that the fugitive would have stayed or was continuing to stay at some place in this district. Earlier, on August 28, a team of Delhi police had obtained a copy of a telegram, purported to have been sent, by R.K. Sharma to his DGP on August 12, from here. In this telegram, he had sought extension of his leave, which expired on August 12. The move to get CDs of all records pertaining to calls made from the Solan Switching Area during August suggested that the Delhi Police sleuths were toeing a definite line suggesting strong possibilities of stumbling on some vital clues from here. |
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Virbhadra cornered on graft charges Shimla, September 19 In a joint statement here yesterday, Mr Kishori Lal, Mr Kishan Kapoor and Mr Narinder Bragta, all ministers, and Parliamentary Secretary Chet Ram Negi said Mr Virbhadra Singh had been a perennial source of corruption eversince he became the Chief
Minister. They said that many congress and opposition leaders had levelled the most serious allegations of corruption, misuse of power and irregularities. In the present system of justice, many culprits went scot-free not because they were proved not guilty in a court of law, but on technical grounds, they observed. Only a few months ago Mr Virbhadra Singh had said that if it was proved that he possessed land in excess of the limit imposed by law, he would resign and quit politics. But now he had forgotten his promise to quit politics. It was Mr Virbhadra Singh who had granted extension in service to a Food Inspector of Una district who had been caught red-handed accepting a bribe. Further, on his way to Shimla after a by-pass surgery, he had signed an MoU with an industrial house. At a time when Rohru area was faced with the worst-ever floods, he had rushed to Paonta Sahib to sign the MoU for a beer factory.. In 1998 he had gone out of his way to give an excellent report to a Superintending Engineer of the PWD and promoted him as Chief Engineer. The same officer was later arrested on various corruption charges, they alleged. |
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Virbhadra faction suffers setback Shimla, September 19 The action has come following the visit of Mrs Vidya Stokes, who took the party high command into confidence before expelling the errant leader. The party high command took serious note of the activities of Mr Pathania and gave Mrs Stokes a free hand for taking action. Mr Pathania had tried to disrupt a meeting of Mrs Stokes at Chawari during her visit to Chamba district early this month. According to party sources, the expulsion has been ordered on the report of Mr G.S. Bali, general secretary and in charge of Chamba district, who was present at the function. Mr Pathania had also been charged with giving misleading statements to the Press regarding the tour programme of Mrs Stokes to sabotage her public functions. Mr Pathania was denied the party ticket in 1993 but he managed to win as an Independent. Later he was readmitted to the Congress. In 1998 he contested on the Congress ticket but lost to Mr Kishori Lal, Industry Minister, by more than 8,000 votes. By taking prompt action against Mr Pathania, the PCC chief has sent a clear message to party men that indiscipline will not be tolerated. The action is likely to have a sobering effect on those who have been making public statements against party leaders. The party high command had been trying hard to bring the warring factions closer and it had asked Mrs Stokes and Mr Virbhadra Singh to hold joint rallies to project a united imag of the party and send the right signal to the electorate before the assembly poll. |
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Seminar favours trifurcation Shimla, September 19 They were unanimous that the reorganisation of the troubled state to carve out an independent state of Jammu and a Union Territory of Ladakh will go a long way in solving the problems of terrorism, besides ensuring a just deal to the two neglected regions. Mr P.C. Dogra, a former Director-General of Police of Punjab who hails from Jammu, said there would have been no problem of secessionism and terrorism had Ladakh and Jammu been made independent right at the time of partition. They had nothing in common with the valley. The two regions had been discriminated against by the regimes dominated by the representatives of the valley even though they accounted for more than half the total population of the state and over two-third of the geographical area. The Jammu region generated 70 per cent of the state’s revenue but the government was spending only 30 per cent of its budget on the region. After driving out the Kashmiri Pandits from the valley, the Islamic fundamentalists had started ethnic cleansing of Jammu and Ladakh regions. Their nefarious designs could be defeated only by the reorganisation of the state. It was not a move for dividing the states on communal lines as Muslims would account for almost 50 per cent the population in Ladakh and 35 per cent in Jammu. Dr Hari Om Gupta of the Jammu University said the Muslims residing in Poonch and Rajouri areas were also in favour of an Independent state. They were ethnically closer to the people of Jammu area. Mr Thupsten Chowang, Chief Executive Councillor of the autonomous Ladakh region Hill Development Council, lamented that the government did not have any clear-cut policy on Kashmir. He said trifurcation would fulfil the aspirations of the people who were opposed to the dominance of the valley. Mr S. Rinpoche, the Textile Minister, of Arunachal Pradesh, underlined the need to strengthen the feeling of “Indianness” among the people of the North-East region. There was a strong India sentiment in Arunachal Pradesh which was so far a safe state from the security and law and order point of view. However, of late two of its districts had been affected due to spurt in violence in the neighbouring states of Nagaland and Mizoram. Mr Rajendra Chadha expressed concern over the unchecked infilteration and religious conversions in the North-East. The plains had been infilterated by Muslims from the neighbouring country and Christian missionaries were working overtime in the hills. The population of Christian has increased in Arunachal from 1 per cent to 10.29 per cent in the 1971-1991 period and from 46 to 85.73 per cent in Mizoram and from 68 to 87.4 per cent in Nagaland over the period. Dr Kuldeep Agnihottari called for a review of the Indian government’s policy, which accepted Tibet as an autonomous region of China. He said as per the Shimla treaty signed between Tibet and India in 1914, the former was recognised as an independent country. It was only the 1954 agreement between India and China, which recognised Tibet as a part of China. He said the agreement, which for eight years, had not been renewed and as such stood expired and the 1914 treaty automatically got revived. Mr Lama Geshe, a member of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile stressed the need for maintaining Tibet as a zone of peace as proposed by the Dalai Lama. |
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Check unscientific mining: farmers Nurpur, September 19 In a memorandum submitted to the chief ministers and high courts of the two states, copies of which were released to mediapersons here today, the farmers have pleaded that unscientific mining in the area by about 200 stone crushers is playing havoc with the environment. They said the water of the Chakki rivulet was being used for irrigation by farmers of both states. However, crusher owners were using powerful machines like the JCB for mining in the rivulet. The farmers alleged that crusher owners had also sunk tubewells and wells to wash the stone grit without permission, due to which the underground water level had started going down. The farmers have sought a ban on the use of excavating machines and sinking of wells and tubewells in the rivulet. Inquiries have revealed that according to the mining lease, no one is allowed to extract raw material from the river bed by means of digging. However, crusher units here have been doing so with powerful machines. Illegal mining in Nakki, Maira, Khanni and Kandwal areas of the subdivision has also been reported by crusher owners of Punjab who had set up their crusher units at Haryal, an area bordering Punjab. The Chakki rivulet, which passes through the affected villages of Nurpur subdivision, also crosses the Haryal area. The Punjab Government has banned mining in the Haryal area and no mining lease has been allowed for this purpose but crusher owners have been carrying out illegal mining in these Himachal villages. Local residents have raised this issue with the authorities concerned but no action has been taken so far to stop the illegal mining. About 25 crusher units of Damtal in Himachal Pradesh have been closed due to rampant mining and many more are facing closure. The Himachal Crushers Association has taken exception to the illegal mining in this border area of the state. |
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Chamera set for completion in record time Chamba Work on the Rs 2000-crore run-of-the-river dam scheme was initiated by the NHPC in 1999 with a target to complete it by March 2004, but what surprised even people associated with dam-making technology was that the most of the project work was almost complete and the NHPC was planning to commission the first of its 100 MW turbine unit by June 2003—an year ahead of its original commissioning schedule. A round of the project revealed that most of the construction work and testing of one of the three 100 MW units of the project, located at Chamera power station (Stage I) on the Ravi, has been completed by the NHPC authorities, which claimed that the speed with which the project was progressing towards completion was in itself a trendsetter event in the history of dam making. "No one believed in July 1999 that this $ 400 m project, with many stigmas attached, including logistics and financial closure would get completed within the scheduled period of five years but as we have accomplished most of the assigned tasks, this has become a reality and trend-setting event in the country," observed Mr S.K. Dodeja, the Banikhet-based Executive Director of the NHPC. He said a number of factors such as impeccable planning, proper investigation of the area on which the dam was constructed by a core team, and a spirit of dedication among workers worked wonders and ensured that the dam would get completed a year ahead of the May 2004 deadline, which was an unheard off feat in a country like India. Talking about a number of problems faced by the NHPC at the initial stage, Mr Dodeja said the biggest problem was the existence of a 100-year-old narrow rope bridge at the entry point to Chamba and a narrow road to the project site, which were unable to carry heavy machinery to be moved to the project site. "We had to construct an additional 70 tonne capacity bridge on the Ravi along the old bridge and had to widen the road before starting work at the site and this took a lot of efforts and time," said Mr Dodeja adding that employment to 216 oustees, encroachments and a suitable place for disposal of excavated muck proved to be the other major
hindrances, which were, however, tackled by the core team constituted by the NHPC. Talking to The Tribune at the project site, Mr Sanjay Durbari, Manager (Technical), said all the turbines, to be fitted in three units, had been tested and 90 per cent of concreting had been completed. He said the material, needed for the final stage of the project, has also arrived from Canada. The dam was going to be fitted with Asia's first 21.797-metre-high radial gates. Mr B. Basu, a senior engineer at the site, maintained that the concreting of the 7.8 km-long power tunnel had also been completed. The tunnel would take the water to each of three 100 MW turbines fitted in the powerhouse. Mr Darbari said the world standard safety measures had been followed during the construction of the dam and the powerhouse. |
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Pakistan adopts report on police reforms! Solan, September 19 Mr Puri, who addressed a gathering today at Kasauli after inaugurating a police assistance booth there, was elaborating on the need for bringing about a sea change in the mindset of the general public concerning the police. He regretted that the people’s perception of the police continued to be unchanged since the colonial days. The common man still did not have any faith in the police. He said the Himachal police had introduced a number of schemes to make it people friendly. He added that the Himachal police had recently launched a scheme, Suvidha, under which one could lodge an FIR anywhere in the state as per his convenience. Under the Community Participation Scheme special committees comprising local residents had been formed at each police station area to keep an eye on the police working. “Samarth”, a scheme launched recently for enabling women to deal with eve-teasers had received enthusiatic response. Women, especially girls, were being trained in martial arts under the scheme. Mr Puri said Kasauli and Chail in the district would soon be provided with tourist police squads to cater to the needs of tourists. DIG Sunjay Kumar urged the people to participate activety in the various schemes. The SP, Mr S.Z.H. Zaidi, said the newly opened police assistance booth would help curb hooliganism and tourists’ harassment. Lieut-Col H. Gajeria, while convenying the message of the station commander, Kasauli area, said the Ministry of Defence had recently stated that the residents be imparted training in civil defence by organising drills and rehearsals and sought cooperation of the police in this regard. |
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Varsity vets treat captive blue sheep Dharamsala, September 19 Giving details, Dr S.S. Rawat said a team of four veterinary doctors from the Veterinary College, who are members of the Blue Cross Society of Himachal Pradesh, went to the tribal area of Spiti and visited Kibber, Asia’s highest village situated at a height of 13,500 feet, and held camps in Hurling, Shagnam and Losar villages. Despite physical discomfort, the veterinarians treated 200 animals, including a wild blue sheep, for various ailments and performed nine surgeries. The villagers were advised on healthcare of their animals. |
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SP, Loktantrik Morcha to contest poll jointly Hamirpur, September 19 Forty seats will be contested by the Samajvadi Party and 28 by the morcha, according to Mr Deepak Sharma, president of the state unit of the Samajvadi party. He said an agreement to this effect was signed between the two parties recently. The parties would release a common manifesto and senior leaders of the Samajvadi Party, including its supremo, Mr Mulayam Singh, would also address rallies in Himachal. |
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Suspend Education chief: teachers Hamirpur, September 19 The union also demanded setting up of a joint consultative committee to look into the long-pending demands of the teachers and end the pay anomalies created by the Punjab Pay Commission. |
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HP adjudged best by WB: Dhumal Shimla, September 19 Stating this while presiding over the first meeting of the governing committee of Himachal Pradesh Shiwalik Watershed Development Society of Kandi project Phase-II here today, Prof P.K.Dhumal, Chief Minister, said the Rs 171.25- crore Kandi project was started in July 1999 and would be completed by 2005. He said due representation to women and people belonging to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes would be ensured in village development committees. Mr Roop Singh Thakur, Forest Minister said Rs 25.46 crore was being spent under the project during the current financial year. |
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Dharmani finance panel chief Shimla, September 19 |
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