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Tuesday,
September 24, 2002,
Chandigarh, India  
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Revolt ‘brewing’ in Kangra BJP BJP govt resorting to stunts: PCC Mafia, politicians clip CIA’s wings Minister: make HP disease-free Delimitation: Congress serves warning
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Medical College for Paonta Sahib NIT may reopen in phases Pong Dam: 150 more families to get land 20 booked for stoning bus Woman poisons sons, self
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Revolt ‘brewing’ in Kangra BJP Kangra, September 23 Mr Sagar raised the demand at a press conference at Kholi village on the town’s outskirts. He said he was taking up the matter with the state BJP high command. He said the local BJP executive members were also taking up the issue with the party high command, he added. He said these workers were trying to forge an alliance with vested interests to malign him. When asked that those who attended yesterday’s meeting here were supporters of the Union Minister, Mr Shanta Kumar, Mr Sagar ruled out the possibility of Mr Shanta Kumar being behind the “anti-party move”. Mr Sagar was commenting on the reports regarding a meeting organised by the BJP district committee, which was chaired by Mr Kamal Padda, general secretary, District unit of the BJP, in the absence of Mr Dulo Ram, district president, who had gone to Jawalaji, yesterday. The meeting was taken as a revolt against the local BJP leadership and was attended among others by Kangra zila parishad chief Rattan Jagat Amba, former mandal president Prem Sehgal, zila parishad member Pawan Choudary and president of the BJP mandal Prem Barsola. BJP mandal president, whose resignation was pending with the party chief, Mr Jai Krishen, alleged at the meeting that Mr Sagar had allegedly suffocated the party cadre and he was left with no option but to resign. Mr Padda assured the party workers that he would take up the issue of contention with the party high command. Those who attended the meeting were mostly supporters of Mr Shanta Kumar. |
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BJP govt resorting to stunts: PCC Mandi, September 23 He said petty differences of opinion in the party would be resolved, adding that the BJP, too, was divided into factions — one led by the Chief Minister and the other by a Union Minister. When pointed out that the rallies of the Congress were being marred by hooliganism and even the PCC chief was roughed up by angry workers, Mr Rao said action would be taken against the erring persons. In reply to a question that the situation had come to such a pass that even MLAs were being suspended and such action was being challenged as “unjust and biased” by the CLP leader, Mr Virbhadra Singh, Mr Rao said there were directions from the party high command that no violation of discipline would be tolerated. Mr Rao criticised the BJP government for resorting to stunts to achieve its narrow political ends. It befooled the people by raising the bogey of making new districts, he said. For about three months people’s attention was diverted from the non-performance of the government. Later the poor people of the state were cheated in the name of regularising encroachments to the tune of Rs 100 crore and finally at the fag end of their tenure they came up with a programme to provide employment to one lakh youths, which was neither practical nor possible in the wake of the commitment of the government to reduce the strength of employees, he said. |
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Mafia, politicians clip CIA’s wings Shimla, September 23 Even police officials admit that the drug mafia is spreading its tentacles in the district, but no one is ready to answer the question of non-functioning of the CIA wing. According to sources, the CIA staff has been functioning without a vehicle for several months and hire vehicles from contractors to carry out raids on the mafia. The sources in the Police Department admit that when the CIA had the requisite manpower, it registered more than 200 cases and seized drugs and illicit liquor worth lakhs of rupees. It is well-known that higher officials and politicians are responsible for rendering the department ineffective. The CIA, which earlier had a strength of more than a dozen constables and head constables, has now only three constables left. They only escort the accused from Kanda Jail to the district courts and back. The practice is prevalent only in Shimla district, where the CIA staff are supposed to escort criminals. The police authorities claim to have curbed drug and liquor smuggling, but the fact is the CIA wing has become ineffective due to collusion between the mafia and politicians. The sources say no appointments have been made in the CIA wing in place of those who have been transferred. This further corroborates the existence of a mafia-politician nexus. It is well-known to the police officials that drug smuggling has witnessed an increase in the Upper Shimla areas, especially in oil tankers. Mr Pradeep Kumar, SP, admitted inadequacies in the CIA wing and said the it would be strengthened again. |
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Minister: make HP disease-free Dharamsala, September 23 The minister was inaugurating a two-day workshop organised by the district Health Department for the representatives of the Panchayati Raj institutions and health workers of Kangra. The minister said the Panchayati Raj institutions were playing a pivotal role in ensuring the implementation of various national and state-level developmental programmes for the people. He asked the local health workers and Panchayati Raj institutions to join hands so that awareness about health is spread among all. Welcoming the chief guest, Ms Urmil Thakur, Parliamentary Secretary attached with the Health Minister, said panchayats had been provided powers to formulate, implement and supervise projects suited for their area. Giving details of the Health and Family Planning Advisory Committee Programme launched in the state under the European Council Programme on Reforms in Health Sector, felicitator of the programme and former senior bureaucrat S.N. Joshi underlined the need for sectoral linkage at all three levels of the Panchayati Raj institutions so that the decision- making is taken to the village level. The workshop has been divided in two parts with PRI representatives from six blocks attending the first day programme while the representatives of remaining six blocks will participate in the second day workshop. The participants observed two- minute silence and paid respect to Dr Vijay Sood, CMO Shimla, news about whose death was received before the workshop started. |
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Delimitation:
Congress serves warning Shimla, September 23 The meeting was presided over by Mrs Vidya Stokes, Pradesh Congress Committee chief, and attended by all party legislators, including Mr Virbhadra Singh. The meeting took note of the interest being taken by Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee and Home Minister L.K. Advani who are keen to get the process completed before the Assembly election. The exercise is allegedly being carried out in a hush-hush manner and the political parties and legislators are not being taken into confidence. The party decided to meet Justice Kuldip Singh, chairman of the Delimitation Commission, and apprise him of the situation and give its own proposals. |
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Medical College for Paonta Sahib Paonta Sahib, September 23 An announcement for starting a medical college in this historic town was made as a part of the tercentenary celebrations of the birth of Khalsa in 1999. It will be the first medical college by a minority community in the state. “To honour that commitment, we have now taken a formal decision to start Guru Gobind Singh Medical College here,” Mr Rattan Singh, MLA, and vice-president of the Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, announced today. The land available at Darri Sahib would be used for the college building, he said. Estimates of the cost of construction were being worked out. Formal permissions from the Himachal Pradesh Government and the Medical Council of India for the proposed college would be sought in due course of time, he said. Mr Rattan Singh said Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, who was also a member of the Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, was here on Saturday but had to leave early in the morning to attend the Chhapar mela. He, too, had reportedly given his consent for the project. The meeting at which the decision was taken was attended among others by Mr Harbhajan Singh, president, Himachal Pradesh Shiromani Akali Dal, Mr Joga Singh of (Yamunanagar), Jathedar Kartar Singh Takkar, member, Parbandhak Committee, Mahant Baldev Singh, Mr Bhupinder Singh and Mr Rajinder Singh Rajan. Prof Kirpal Singh Badungar presided. Another important decision taken at the meeting was about raising of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur memorial at Lohgarh on the Haryana-Himachal border. The committee also decided in principle to start work on the memorial soon. The Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers, Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, has been taking active interest in the project and want the memorial to be declared a national monument. Efforts are being made to invite the Prime Minister to lay the foundation stone of the memorial for which Baba Harbans Singh Karsewa wale has agreed to undertake the construction work. Some deputations met both Prof Kirpal Singh Badungar and Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra here. One of these delegations was of some eminent Muslim members of the Punjab Waqf Board who wanted intervention of both Professor Badungar and Mr Tohra in resolving a dispute over the control of a “mazar” of Pir Qalandra Shah. The deputation held that the “mazar” had been forcibly occupied by some Sikhs though there were two gurdwaras, one on either side of the “mazar” within its radius of 50 metres. The deputation also submitted a written representation to the SGPC chief. A deputation of the Haryana State Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee called on Professor Badungar to demand independent status for the Haryana Committee to manage the affairs of the historic Sikh gurdwaras in the state. The deputation demanded that under the All-India Sikh Gurdwara Bill, provision be made to grant Haryana independent status. Since it is not certain that how long it will take before the All-India Gurdwara Bill becomes an Act, the deputation demanded that an amendment should be made to the existing All-India Gurdwara Act of 1925 to give Haryana independent status at par with Delhi, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. The deputation invited Professor Badungar to visit Haryana by convening a special Sikh convention. The deputation was led by Mr Jagdish Singh Jhinda and included Mr Gurbhajan Singh Chahal, Mr Nawab Singh Singhra, Mr Joga Singh, Mr Surjit Singh Bajwa, Mr Iqbal Singh, Mr Karnail Singh, Mr Waryam Singh, Mr Hardyal Singh, Mr Inder Singh Jachak and Mr Antardhyan Singh. |
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NIT may reopen in phases Hamirpur, September 23 The NIT authorities have sent letters and inserted advertisements in various national and local newspapers for inviting the parents to attend the meeting to apprise them of the situation. Meanwhile, Dr S.K. Bhowmick, acting Director of the institute, today held talks with the Chairman of the board of governors of the institute, Mr L.M. Thapar, in New Delhi. Sources in NIT said Mr Thapar may soon visit the institute to hold talks with the students and the teachers. The teaching staff of the institute has agreed to resume the teaching work once the institute reopens. They have, however, refused to perform extra-curricular duties, including that of a hostel warden and chief warden. The Human Resource Ministry officers have told the NIT authorities to ensure that no report regarding the ongoing tussle was released by the teachers which could further spoil their relations with the students. A large number of students, who had left the institution in the wake of August 25 incidents have returned and were staying in hotels and private accommodation. Some of them told the reporter that the institute should be opened at the earliest. |
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Pong Dam: 150 more families to get land Nurpur, September 23 Addressing a press conference here last evening Mr Sushant stated that 1,212 oustees’ families had been allotted lands in the Rajasthan canal project areas of Sriganganagar, Bikaner and Jaisalmer districts in Rajasthan during the past two years. Apart from this 150 more would get land by October, he added. Mr Sushant said the state government had ordered the construction of three serais at Anupgarh, Gharsana and Ramgarh in Rajasthan at an estimated cost of Rs 19 lakh, work on which was in progress. |
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20 booked for stoning bus Paonta Sahib, September 23 According to Mr Rajesh Dharmani, DSP, Paonta Sahib, the story began on Friday when a bus (No. HP-17-3955) hit another bus (No HP-17-4308). In protest, the driver of the bus No. 4308 started beating the driver of the first bus. On Sunday morning, the brother of the driver who was beaten up, took 20 persons with him and stopped the bus of the offending driver which was coming from Shillai. All 20 persons threw stones at the bus and beat up the driver and the conductor along with the passengers injuring at least five of them. The police has detected five of the 20 accused, the DSP added. |
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Woman poisons sons, self Kumarhatti, September 23 According to information available here Kanta Devi (31) also gave poison to her sons Avinash (9) and Anoop (11). However, the exact cause has not been ascertained so far. Kanta Devi’s husband Kanti Prashad was not at home when the incident took place. He had reportedly left three days ago without intimating anybody. Kanta Devi after consuming poison had gone to her neighbour’s home to make a phone call to her father at Kuthar, but was unable to do so. The neighbours informed the Subathu police and took her and the kids to the primary health center, Thari, where Kanta Devi and Avinash breathed their last. Anoop died on the way to Shimla. |
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