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Thursday,
October 17, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Cong accuses Dhumal of gerrymandering Roerich’s paintings at Kulu Dasehra Uhl stage III work starts Dhumal lauds work of HPSEB staff Move to boost security in Kangra |
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TB sanatorium’s fall from grace Cops rough up kin of accused HVC against micro-hydel units Cong to field women candidates
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Cong
accuses Dhumal of gerrymandering Dharamsala, October 16 Talking to mediapersons, former minister said no amount of gerrymandering would save the BJP from rout in the forthcoming elections. He said the recent decimation of the BJP and the National Conference in Jammu and Kashmir elections was an ample proof where Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and BJP leadership at the Centre resorted to manipulation but failed to impress the electorate. Mr Mahajan contended that the BJP came to power through minority mandate and with just few months to go cannot be allowed to decide the fate of people of state for next 30 years. He said the state government should have prepared a concrete proposal about delimitation and called an all-party meeting to discuss the issue. He said on an average, each Himachal constituency should have around 60,000 voters. Mr Mahajan said as a simple rule, areas with requisite population should be taken out from those constituencies which have more voters and added to those which do not have sufficient voters. The Congress leader alleged that instead of following this simple rule, constituencies were being dissected as per the suitability of BJP leaders. He said this would not only negate the purpose of delimitation but also put the people to great inconvenience. Mr Mahajan demanded that the state government should rationalise constituencies not according to BJP convenience, but geographic and administrative needs. He said the proposals being forwarded by BJP leaders did not recognise the congruity or patwar circles as basic units and tehsils as administrative units and would lead to innumerable problems for the common people. |
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Roerich’s paintings at Kulu Dasehra Kulu, October 16 Mr R.D. Nazim, Deputy Commissioner here, said Mr Alexander M. Kadakin, Russian Ambassador in India, would be visiting the festival and inaugurate the painting exhibition of the Russian artist at the Himalayan Research Centre on October 17. He would be the chief guest at the cultural programme at Lal Chand Prarthi Kala Kendra here on October 19. The exhibition would continue till October 30, 2002. The week-long Dasehra festival, also known as the International Folk Dance Festival, which got off to a colourful start on October 15 reflects the basic feature of India — unity in diversity. Kulu Dasehra is one of the biggest traditional, religious and cultural festivals of the country. More than 170 gods and goddesses of the district will pay their obeisance to Raghunath Ji, chief deity of the district at the historical Dhalpur ground. Cultural troupes from Russia, Colombo and Belgium besides programmes by Anuradha Podwal, Amit Kumar and Harbhajan will be added attraction during the cultural programme evenings at the Lal Chand Prarthi Kala Kendra. Folk dance competitions are also held during daytime besides declamation, painting and fancy dress competitions of schoolchildren. The Deputy Commissioner said the local artistes of Himachal Pradesh would be given ample time to present their programmes in the evenings but only after a thorough screening. Cultural troupes from Orissa, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Gujarat would present the traditional folk dances of their respective states during the festival besides the states sponsored by the North Zone Cultural Centre (NZCC). Mr N. Venu Gopal, Superintendent of Police, said the security arrangements would be foolproof and a quick reaction team, including a bomb disposal squad, would be active round the clock to tackle any problem during the week-long festivities. The Deputy Commissioner called upon the people to maintain peace and harmony. Meanwhile, three persons from Jammu and Kashmir were detained yesterday by the local police. They were found foaming under suspicious circumstances at Dhalpur, the venue of the week-long Kulu Dasehra festival. This was stated by the Superintendent of Police here today in an official press note. The SP said the security had been tightened in view of the festival and all entry and exit points to the town had been sealed. The detained persons were Roshan Lal (22) and Sonu (18) of Palewale in Jammu district and Vijay Kumar (22) of Nahar in Jammu district. |
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Uhl stage III work starts Mandi, October 16 The Chief Minister announced that the Power Finance Corporation had agreed to finance the entire project and, therefore, the funding of the project would not come in the way of its execution. He said the first unit of 50 MW would be commissioned in December, 2006. The second unit of the same capacity would start generating power in 2007. Various projects launched by this government would harness 10,000 MW of power by 2008 which would yield an annual revenue to the state exchequer to the tune of Rs 1,800 crore. He said during the past four years, work on various projects with an installed capacity of 8000 MW had been taken up while the performance of the Congress government during the past 47 years had been dismal. Of the 20,376 MW identified hydel potential, only 299 MW hydel power could be harnessed mostly by outside agencies. Mr Dhumal attributed the delay in starting the Uhl stage III to the Congress government, adding that the Central Electricity Authority had given its techno-economical approval to the project way back in 1987. The project should have been completed about eight years ago at a cost of Rs 97.66 crore which had multiplied by about five times now. Besides, the state had to be deprived of the income it would have yielded during the past eight years. The annual income from the project would be around Rs 100 crore. He said the performance of the Congress on the power front had been dismal over the past half a century. He lamented that despite this, Congress leaders had been spreading canards against his government. He said nothing was hidden from the people, adding that they should elect a new government in the coming elections on the basis of performance and not be swayed by false slogans. Earlier lauding the performance of the Chief Minister, Vidhan Sabha Speaker, Thakur Gulab Singh, said Himachal Pradesh had made many strides in all spheres of development under the leadership of Mr Dhumal who had maintained a good rapport with the Prime Minister and the Central leadership whereby many projects had been cleared paving the way for speedy development of the state. He ridiculed those who did nothing in the past over four decades and were expressing concern over the so-called delay in launching the project. Kanwar Shamsher Singh, Chairman, HPSEB, said the work on the Uhl stage III would be taken up on a war footing and all-out efforts would be made to complete the project not only within the scheduled period but even before that. |
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Dhumal lauds work of HPSEB staff Shimla, October 16 The Chief Minister said the government had formulated plan to harness 10,000 MW of power by 2008, which would ensure an annual income of Rs 2,000 crore to the state exchequer. He said though private and joint sectors were being involved in it, the board employees would play a leading role in it. He commended the employees for doing good work in laying transmission lines in the state, particularly for the 86-MW Malana hydel project, which was completed in less than three years. Mr Dhumal lamented that sincere efforts were not made for exploiting the hydel potential of the state by the successive governments in the past, hitting the financial health of the state. |
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Move to boost security in Kangra Nurpur, October 16 Talking to ‘The Tribune’, Mr Sanjay Kundu, Superintendent of Police, Kangra, here last evening, pointed out that a proposal in this connection had been submitted to the state government. Elevan sensitive gram panchayats bordering Punjab had been identified in which the posting of 50 special police officers (SPOs) and constitution of local village defence committees (VDCs) on the pattern of Jammu and Kashmir had been proposed. Upgradation of police chowki of Damtal too was on the agenda. Mr Kundu said the Himachal Pradesh police was sharing information with the neighbouring states of Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir and the Army in view of the militancy in J&K. Replying to queries pertaining to the interrogation of two Kashmiri militants, Abdul, alias Mohammad Wasil, Abdul Rashid and their accomplice Makhan Din Gujjar who remained in police custody here from September 24 to October 11 and were responsible for January 1 attack on Army personnel near Damtal, Mr Kundu pointed out that the ultras had confessed to the firing incident. |
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TB sanatorium’s fall from grace Kumarhatti Sources in the sanatorium say the things have started to deteriorate after the transfer of its Medical Superintendent, Dr R P
Kaushal, in June. Since then the state government has not yet filled the post. Dr H C Gupta, the Solan district TB officer, has been officiating as MS and visits the sanatorium on alternate days. The doctors’ rounds have become rare and the sufferers are patients. The long delay in interaction between doctors and patients have led to an increase in the death rate, claimed the sources. On certain days, there is no doctor available at the emergency wing. A staff nurse on being asked why it was so said as it was a Sunday the doctor came only in the evening. Medical treatment at this sanatorium seems to be under a cloud following complaints of patients about the duplication in
medicine. Kusum (not real name) from Bilaspur narrated her tale of woe to this correspondent. She had to return to the sanatorium for further treatment despite having undergone a six-month treatment course in March. She spent three months at sanatorium and three months at her home under the sanatorium guidelines. But she developed a problem again in July when her sputum reported positive. Virtually in tears she says her baby also reported the same problem. We have no other option rather to remain in the sanatorium. Similarly, another young woman from Pinjore has the same story to tell as had to return for treatment for the third time after failing to be cured earlier. Similarly other patients have complaints and blame the duplication in medicines being provided under its revised national TB control programme. Those patients have to face an ordeal. The sanatorium is facing severe financial crunch due to a delay in release of the quarterly budget by the state government. Till date the sanatorium has received only Rs 4.50 lakh for the first quarter. Ironically most part of this amount was utilised to meet the previous year’s liability
relating to diet expenses. The situation turned explosive last week when the mess contractor refused to serve meal to the 110 indoor TB patients due to non-payment of his bill amounting to Rs 5.50 lakh from June onwards. Throughout the day the patients remained without meal and most of them even could not get a meal from the nearby market due to restrictions on outside food. Things were sorted out when Dr H C Gupta in a letter assured the contractor of payment of pending payments in a week. Mr Gurdev Singh
Reen, the mess contractor, admitted that he had to stop work, as he was not in position to run the mess owing to pending bills. The sanatorium authorities in the past on many occasions have assured him to pay the backlog but of no avail. Meanwhile, Dr Gupta turned down all concerns when contacted. About the return of patients for treatment he clarified that these were patients who did not adhere to the medical guidelines and often stopped taking medicine regularly. He denied any negligence in patient care and treatment by the staff. The sanatorium still enjoys a high cure rate despite all odds, he asserted. |
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Cops rough up kin of accused Solan, October 16 While the local police officials stated that they were not aware of the presence of the Punjab police officials in the town, Mr Gurpreet Singh claimed to have informed the local police about their presence. The policemen seized a white Maruti car which they claim was a stolen vehicle and had been sold to a local resident. Mr Gurpreet Singh said Ganesh Dutt was named in an FIR registered on October 14 at Sarabha Nagar police station in Ludhiana. He was wanted in 13 cases of car theft registered in Ludhiana in May. When the family members of Ganesh Dutt refused to hand him over to the CIA staff who had arrived from Ludhiana to arrest him, the policemen allegedly misbehaved with them and tore clothes of some women. The situation was brought under control with the arrival of a team of the HP police headed by Sadar police station in charge Babita Rana Pal. The family members of Ganesh Dutt lodged a complaint at Sadar police station against their manhandling. |
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HVC against micro-hydel units Shimla, October 16 The HVC supremo said his party would not give any sanction to the setting up of cement plants in the state as its fragile environment had been polluted and local truck operators were being rapped on their knuckles by cement units. His party would contest all 68 Assembly seats in the forthcoming elections and the HVC would get a majority on its own, he further said. He was not averse to an arrangement with parties like the CPM and CPI and stated that talks of merger with the Congress were hogwash. Mr Sukh Ram laid stress on making HP a power state to attract industries. Mr Sukh Ram defended the scrapping of state human rights commission by saying that it was wasteful expenditure. |
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Cong to field women candidates Shimla, October 16 She said the Dhumal government had failed on all fronts and the Congress would be voted to power. Ms Vidya Stokes, PCC president, stated that the Congressmen against whom disciplinary proceedings had been initiated would be given a chance, if they explained their position. |
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Tibetan youths
rounded up Dharamsala, October 16 |
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Guarding forest cover Shimla, October 16 |
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