H I M A C H A L   P R A D E S H

Infighting in Himachal BJP
Nurpur, December 6
Infighting in the BJP in Himachal came to the fore today when Union Rural Development Minister, Shanta Kumar celebrating ‘Vijay Utsav’ following the deferment of the delimitation process criticised his opponents in the party for conspiring to undermine prestige of Kangra district by preparing draft proposals of the Delimitation Commission.

Private bus operators’ stir enters second day
Shimla, December 6
Bus services in the state remained affected as the strike by private bus operators entered the second day today. Private buses in Shimla, Hamirpur, Kangra, Bilaspur, Mandi and Solan districts mostly remained off the road.

‘Govt has done a lot for traders’
Mandi, December 6
Mr Parveen Sharma, Excise and Taxation Minister, said here today that for the first time in the past 50 years, the government had taken ‘revolutionary’ measures to save the business community from the ‘inspector raj’ by launching three summary assessment schemes.

MLA vows to fight for OBCs
Dharamsala, December 6
Chaudhary Vidya Sagar, BJP MLA from Kangra who resigned as Himachal Agriculture Minister recently declared that he would continue his fight for Other Backward Classes’ due and against injustice to his constituency in respect of funds for development.

Death sentence to 2 Tibetans decried
Dharamsala, December 6
The Tibet’s government-in-exile has condemned the death sentence passed on to two Tibetan political activists in Karze in Sichuan province of China.

Tributes paid to Ambedkar
Shimla, December 6
Tributes were paid to Dr B.R. Ambedkar on his death anniversary today. Prof P.K. Dhumal, Chief Minister, paid tributes at the statue of Dr Ambedkar at Chaura Maidan here.

Gaiety marks Id celebrations
Shimla, December 6
Id-ul-Fitr was celebrated with religious fervour in different parts of Himachal Pradesh today. Muslims offered prayers at various places in the state and later exchanged greetings and distributed sweets.

Two killed in mishap
Chamba, December 6
Two persons were killed on the spot and one wounded seriously when a private van (HP-01-0402) collided with a trailer on the roadside at Karian, near here today. According to the police, the deceased were identified as Kamleshwar, a police constable and resident of Luddu village, and Tilak Raj, the driver of the vehicle.

Infighting in Himachal BJP
Our Correspondent

Nurpur, December 6
Infighting in the BJP in Himachal came to the fore today when Union Rural Development Minister, Shanta Kumar celebrating ‘Vijay Utsav’ following the deferment of the delimitation process criticised his opponents in the party for conspiring to undermine prestige of Kangra district by preparing draft proposals of the Delimitation Commission. He was addressing BJP Yuva Morcha activists this morning before leaving for Baijnath where the district unit of the BJP organised a vijay rally. Without naming Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, the Union Minister targeted him and said the people of Kangra district wanted to know on whose directions the state officials had drafted the proposals to de-reserve a particular Assembly constituency and reserved others. He lamented that his native Sulah Assembly constituency had been wiped out whereas the constituency of Kangra district BJP chief, Dulo Ram was reserved. He alleged political vendetta against him and his loyalists and violation of the Constitution which mandated that no Assembly segment could be extended or reduced till 2025. He rejected the state government’s clarifications on it.

Mr Shanta Kumar alleged that he had been ignored at several occasions in the state. He said in Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s rally at Solan on December 1 that he was not even invited by the state government and his name was not nominated by speakers on the dais. He termed the deferment of delimitation process a victory for Kangra district.

Mr Rakesh Pathania, chairman of the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) and confidant of Himachal Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal yesterday criticised the political leaders opposing the government move on new districts in the state. Talking to reporters here, he said that the leaders sabotaging the move should oppose it publicly so that they could be exposed among people. He said that Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal promised at public meeting on Wednesday while inaugurating mini-secretariat building at Dharamsala that a decision on creating new districts of Nurpur, Dehra and Palampur would be implemented soon. “If Dharamsala can be full-fledged winter capital why not Nurpur be a district as promised by the Chief Minister,” he questioned.

Private bus operators’ stir enters second day
Tribune Reporters

Shimla, December 6
Bus services in the state remained affected as the strike by private bus operators entered the second day today.

Private buses in Shimla, Hamirpur, Kangra, Bilaspur, Mandi and Solan districts mostly remained off the road. However, there was little impact of the strike in Kulu and Una districts. Some private buses plied in Rampur, Karsog, Chachiot, Sarkaghat and Renuka. Commuters in Hamirpur, Bilaspur and Kangra, where the services were severely affected, faced much inconvenience as the buses of Himachal Road Transport Corporation were packed to capacity.

While the state private bus operators’ union claimed that the strike was total, a spokesman of the government said the strike was petering out, with many private buses resuming normal services in many areas of Sirmour and Mandi districts.

Meanwhile, the government requisitioned buses of various other departments and neighbouring states to deal with the situation. School buses were also being requisitioned. An official spokesman maintained that the unions had not approached the authorities with specific demands. Bus operators of different districts were raising different demands.

Further, the government had reduced the number of days off for the purpose of tax exemption from 33 to 46 per year and there was no justification for increasing their number of days.

Similarly, special road tax had been reduced twice in as many years and it now ranged between 2.47 paise and 3.8 paise per seat per km per day for different categories of routes. It was lowest in the region. In Punjab, the special road tax was being charged at the rate of 5.75 paise per seat per km per day.

HAMIRPUR: The indefinite strike by private bus operators entered the second day on Friday. They kept their buses off the road and decided to go ahead with their agitation.

While all 250 buses of private transporters were off the road, government buses plied as usual. Most of these were overcrowded despite today being a holiday.

Passengers were finding it difficult to board the buses. Most of the private transporters had parked their buses in the main bus stand complex or near the main road.

Mr Naresh Kumar Darji, president of the Hamirpur unit of the Private Transporters Kalyan Sangh, claimed that the strike was complete. He said all transporters were united and would continue their agitation till all their demands were accepted.

The operators also burnt an effigy of the Transport Minister. Mr Suresh Galodha, general secretary of the district unit of the sangh, said all private bus operators in the district would hand over their route permits and registration certificates to the RTO. He announced that a state-level rally of the sangh would be held at Hamirpur on Monday.

KANGRA: Private buses remained off the road on Friday as private bus operators continued their strike. No untoward incident was reported from any part of the district.

Some HRTC buses were provided with police escort as a precautionary measure. Additional buses were pressed into the service.

Policemen were deployed on bus stands and on national and state highways to protect HRTC buses and to maintain law and order. The private bus operators did not block roads in support of their demands.

DHARAMSALA: The strike of private bus operators entered the second day on Friday. All privately owned buses remained off the road.

PAONTA SAHIB: Private bus operators on Friday threatened self-immolation in case their demands were not met Mr Madan Mohan Sharma, president of the Sirmour Bus Operators Union, said in press note that no bus would be allowed to ply from Saturday.

He added that they would stop HRTC bus from plying and would court arrest in this regard. Meanwhile, the indefinite fast of private bus operators entered the 27th day on Friday.

‘Govt has done a lot for traders’
Our Correspondent

Mandi, December 6
Mr Parveen Sharma, Excise and Taxation Minister, said here today that for the first time in the past 50 years, the government had taken ‘revolutionary’ measures to save the business community from the ‘inspector raj’ by launching three summary assessment schemes. He warned that officials who did not implement rules properly would be taken to task.

Addressing mediapersons here this evening, Mr Sharma said the government had laid the firm foundation of a prosperous Himachal Pradesh by launching number of hydel power projects through the HPSEB and corporate and private sectors. He claimed that 10,000 MW of additional power would be generated by 2008, which would yield additional Rs 2,000 crore as annual revenue. Mr Sharma said a campaign had been launched to apprise the people of the achievements of the government. The government had succeeded in various spheres of development, he claimed.

He denied that the BJP was sidelining HVC supremo Sukh Ram. “He is enjoying a Cabinet-rank post and his son has been elected to the Rajya Sabha by this government,” he said.

MLA vows to fight for OBCs
Our Correspondent

Dharamsala, December 6
Chaudhary Vidya Sagar, BJP MLA from Kangra who resigned as Himachal Agriculture Minister recently declared that he would continue his fight for Other Backward Classes’ due and against injustice to his constituency in respect of funds for development. Talking to reporters after welcoming Union Rural Development Minister Shanta Kumar at Ichhi near Kangra, Mr Vidya Sagar said that his demand for 27 reservation for OBCs in Himachal was justified and it was regrettable that the Chief Minister had refused to accept his request. He said a rally of Other Backward Classes (OBC) was being organised at Kangra on December 16 where these issues will be raised.

Death sentence to 2 Tibetans decried

Dharamsala, December 6
The Tibet’s government-in-exile has condemned the death sentence passed on to two Tibetan political activists in Karze in Sichuan province of China.

“We are surprised that the sentence was passed when the release of the three Tibetan political prisoners and the visit of Dalai Lama’s delegation to China have raised hopes about Beijing’s willingness to resolve the Tibet issue through dialogue,” a press note of the Department of Information and International Relations of the exiled government said.

This was China’s new strategy to suppress the movement of the Tibetans and the two had been falsely implicated, the release added. “We appeal to the international community to put pressure on the Chinese government to rescind the death sentence. The Tibetans are committed to resolve the problem through negotiations” the release said.

On December 2, the Karze People’s Intermediate Court passed death sentences on Truiku Tenzin Delek and Lobsang Dhondup after a summary trial. They have been charged with masterminding the Chengdu bomb blast on April 3 and were arrested on April 7. UNI

Tributes paid to Ambedkar
Tribune News Service

Shimla, December 6
Tributes were paid to Dr B.R. Ambedkar on his death anniversary today. Prof P.K. Dhumal, Chief Minister, paid tributes at the statue of Dr Ambedkar at Chaura Maidan here.

The Chief Minister said to benefit meritorious Scheduled Castes students, a scholarship scheme had been started under which a scholarship of Rs 10,000 each would be given.

Mr Roop Das Kashyap, Minister of State for Urban Development, Mrs Vidya Stokes, former Speaker, Mr Sohan Lal, Mayor, and Mr Ganesh Dutt, Vice-Chairman, Himachal Pradesh Housing Board, also paid tributes to Dr Ambedkar.

Gaiety marks Id celebrations

Shimla, December 6
Id-ul-Fitr was celebrated with religious fervour in different parts of Himachal Pradesh today. Muslims offered prayers at various places in the state and later exchanged greetings and distributed sweets. In Shimla, Muslims, including a large number of Kashmiri labourers, offered Namaz at Idgah, Jama Masjid. Members of other communities greeted Muslims on the occasion. Reports of Id celebrations also came in from Nahan, Chamba and Bilaspur. Governor Suraj Bhan and Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal greeted people.

Two killed in mishap
Our Correspondent

Chamba, December 6
Two persons were killed on the spot and one wounded seriously when a private van (HP-01-0402) collided with a trailer on the roadside at Karian, near here today.

According to the police, the deceased were identified as Kamleshwar, a police constable and resident of Luddu village, and Tilak Raj, the driver of the vehicle.

The bodies were handed over to their kin after post- mortem.

The injured, Raj Kumar, was admitted to the district hospital, here. The police registered a case and was investigating the cause of the accident.