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Friday,
December 27, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Poll under
Dhumal’s leadership: Shanta
Himachal BJP suffers setback Mansa Ram
threatens to quit as minister |
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Sat
Mahajan not only Cong contender Revenue
Dept goes online Centre’s
scheme to boost exports Work on
Tanda hospital building to begin soon Govt
College’s silver jubilee celebrated
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Poll under Dhumal’s
leadership: Shanta Dharamsala, December 26 Mr Shanta Kumar said the BJP had suffered electoral reverses but the trend changed with the Goa elections and Gujarat was proof of the improved position of the
BJP. While Mr Shanta Kumar was confidant of victory in the Himachal elections, he gave credit to the functioning of the NDA government at the Centre under the leadership of Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee. The Union Minister said that people in smaller states always evaluated the working of the Central Government and this affected the outcome of the elections in these states. He said ample financial assistance from the Centre had enabled the state government to march ahead on the path of development and the results were there for everyone to see. He agreed that it was due to the cooperation of the opposition in Parliament that a record number of bills were passed. He also lauded development in Himachal during BJP rule, but did not name the Chief Minister for this achievement. Mr Shanta Kumar said the party will contest the elections on the issue of development. The Union Minister refused to reply to questions about the animosity which had affected the BJP in Himachal during the past few years. To every such question, he politely refused to reply. He repeatedly said that the BJP would contest the Vidhan Sabha poll
unitedly. When asked about differences over the creation of smaller districts, the Union Minister said that the issue would be discussed and the right decision taken at the appropriate time. The Chief Minister said that the appointment of additional deputy commissioners in certain subdivisions in no way indicated that these areas would later become districts. Mr Dhumal said the election manifesto would be a true reflection of the BJP’s policies and plans for the coming years. |
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Himachal BJP suffers setback Shimla, December 26 Addressing a press conference here today, he said the state leadership had been systematically trying to sideline him for more than four years but he took everything in his stride in the larger interest of the party. However, the decision to suspend the Theog constituency unit of the party compelled him to leave the party. As many as 28 pradhans and 25 uppradhans of the total of 45 pancahyats in the constituency, 15 out of the 22 block samiti members, all seven members of the Theog Nagar Panchayat and the chairman and the vice-chairman of the block samiti were present with him at the conference. He said the fact that he was inducted into the party by Mr Shanta Kumar, Union Minister for Rural Development, could be one of the reasons for the raw deal meted out to him. Besides, the present state leadership, which was “hand in glove” with Mrs Stokes, wanted to oblige her by fielding a weak candidate against her. He said though he had not been in touch with Mr Shanta Kumar for the past three years, he was being treated as an “unwanted person” in the party. He did not rule out the possibility of joining hands with other BJP dissidents who had been organising “mitra milan’s,” but added that so far he had not made up his mind on the issue. |
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Mansa Ram threatens to quit as minister Shimla, December 26 Sources close to Mr Mansa Ram say that he was upset over the fact that the Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal, had assured him that the case of Karsog would be favourably considered when the new districts were carved out in the state. However, he had not kept his promise by failing to post an ADC at Karsog. Worse, after a protest from the Forest Minister, Mr Roop Singh, Mr Dhumal agreed to post an ADC at Sundernagar which was just 20 km from the district headquarters. The minister, when contacted, maintained that the interest of the people of Karsog was of prime importance to him and ministership was of little consequence. He said he would abide by the wishes of the people. His close associates revealed that before taking a decision Mr Mansa Ram would take up the issue with Mr Dhumal. He may wait until December 30, the day Mr Dhumal is scheduled to visit Karsog under the “Vishvas Yatra” programme. Mr Vidya Sagar, Agriculture Minister, resigned last month in protest against the failure of the government to grant 27 per cent reservation in jobs to the other backward classes. Only today Mr Rakesh Verma, a prominent BJP leader of Shimla district, quit the party levelling serious charges against the state party leadership. |
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Sat Mahajan not only Cong contender Nurpur, December 26 Mr Ranjit Bakshi, a former local MLA, and Mr Rakesh Mahajan, President of the Nurpur Municipal Council, confidants of Mr Virbhadra Singh, yesterday applied for the party ticket from the Nurpur Assembly constituency by submitting their applications to the state Congress committee through the local unit of the Congress. Besides Mr Manoj Pathania, state general secretary of the Youth Congress and son of Mr Mahajan’s confidant and PCC delegate, Mr Ved Pathania, also applied for the party ticket. Mr Mahajan has also applied for the party ticket. |
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INTUC faction seeks
ticket for 8 seats Shimla, December 26 |
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Revenue
Dept goes online Dharamsala, December 26 The Chief Minister said authentic and certified revenue records were needed from time to time by the landowners and the present record system had failed to meet the growing requirement. He said the use of modern technology would benefit the people and allayed fears that there might be legal hitches in adopting the system. Mr Dhumal said that necessary amendment in the law had been made to ensure that computerised copies were accepted as authentic records. He lauded the efforts of the Revenue Department in mitigating the problems of the farmers and the common man and said that efforts to bring revenue records to the doorsteps of farmers through computers and internet were steps in the right direction. Welcoming the Chief Minister, Revenue Minister, Dr Rajan Sushant, said that revolutionary changes had been adopted in the working of the Revenue Department to benefit the common man. The facility of computerisation will be extended to the sub-divisional level soon and efforts were on to ensure that computer copies of the revenue records were made available at the Tehsil level also. The department has set up a centre on the district courts campus where revenue papers likes ‘jamabandi’ will be available on the computer. The Kangra Deputy Commissioner, Mr Prabodh Saxena, while giving details of the plans said for the first time such a service had been started in Himachal and 32 mohals consisting of 21 patwar circles of Dharamsala will benefit from the services. Earlier, the Chief Minister chaired the first meeting of the HP State Nasha Nivaran Samiti. He stressed the need for including the subject of drug abuse eradication in the school curriculum. He also impressed upon the need to educate school and college children about the ill effects of smoking, drinking and drug abuse. He also urged the authorities to ensure that ban on smoking in public places was enforced strictly. |
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Centre’s scheme to boost exports Chamba, December 26 Stating this in an official press note issued here today, Mr Kishori Lal, Himachal Industries Minister, said under this scheme, Rs 7 crore had been sanctioned for Himachal Pradesh for the current year. The minister said to facilitate the entrepreneurs in the state, plots were being allotted in the Export Promotion Industrial Park developed at Baddi. The growth centre at Sansarpur terrace in Kangra district being set up at a cost of Rs 22 crore has become functional. Another industrial area was being developed at Golthai in Bilaspur district under the Integrated Infrastructure Development Scheme with a cost of Rs 4.32 crore, he added. The minister said Jaiprakash Information Technology University, having an academic tie-up with the University of Barkley, California, had been set up at Vaknaghat in Solan district at a cost of Rs 100 crore. Efforts were afoot to set up a software technology park (STP) in the private sector at the Baddi-Barotiwala area, while an STP had already been set up at Shimla at a cost of Rs 6 crore to provide high-speed data communication facility. An international call centre had also been set up at STP Shimla with an investment of Rs 3.50 crore, the minister informed. |
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Work on Tanda
hospital building
to begin soon Dharamsala, December 26 Mr Nadda, who was talking to newspersons, said initially the cost of the project was around Rs 87 crore but after detailed negotiations, the amount had been reduced by more than Rs 25 crore. He was confident that work on the building would begin soon. The Health Minister said that finance would be no problem as the matter was taken up with the Planning Commission and the annual fixed grant for the construction would be included in the budgetary support from the coming year. The minister said that though formal extension of the provisional recognition for the college had not yet been received from the Medical Council of India, it was expected soon. |
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Govt College’s silver jubilee celebrated Bilaspur, December 26 Addressing the function, Col Ambaprashad Gautam (retd) and Prof S.R. Kaushal said the college was started as an intermediate college in 1952. |
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