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Sunday,
January 5, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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BJP
meeting on ticket on Jan 7 BSP to
contest all 68 seats in HP HP poll: Paswan names 8 candidates |
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Pensioners’ appeal to electorate Dhumal’s yatra reaches Theog Crime kept in check during 2002: DIG Students condemn police repression NSUI alleges flouting of norms in varsity Kinnaur bus
mishap toll 10
Hasty decisions cost the state crores: ex-minister Probe ordered into journalist’s beating Gram Sabhas’ meeting today Docs against
private MRI
machine Computer instructors
stage dharna Two die in mishap 3 killed in mishap One held, illicit
liquor seized 
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Dhumal hails Central package for industry Shimla, January 4 Expressing gratitude to the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, he said the package was one of the many steps taken by the Centre to speed up the developmental work in the state. It envisaged 100 per cent exemption in excise duty for a period of 10 years from the date of commencement of commercial production and Capital Investment Subsidy at the rate of 15 per cent of the investment on plant and machinery, subject to a ceiling of Rs 39 lakh besides income tax exemption for a period of 10 years. He said these concessions would be available, irrespective of the location to all new industrial units and existing industrial units on their substantial expansion in the industrial areas notified by the Central Government. Mr Dhumal said the financing pattern of the Integrated Infrastructure Development (IID) centres would change form 2:3 between the government of India and the small industrial development bank of India to 4:1 to provide the required infrastructural support. He said financing pattern of the growth centre would change to increase the Central assistance from Rs 10 crore to Rs 15 crores by the way of grant. He said the Ministry of Textiles would extend its package of assistance as applicable to the North-Eastern region to Himachal Pradesh on the same terms and conditions. Thus funding pattern under the Deen Dayal Hathkargha Protsahan Yojana would be revised from 75:25 to 90:10. He said norms had been relaxed under the Prime Minister Rojgar Yojna which include relaxation of the upper age limit from 35 to 40 years and enhancement in the scale of subsidy from Rs 7,500 to Rs 15,000. He said the ceiling on subsidy had also been increased from 12.5 percent to 20 per cent of the project cost. The chief minister said the industrial package given to the state was better than Jammu and Kashmir and added that the Centre had appreciated the developmental needs of the state. Besides, giving financial assistance of over 1,200 crore, it also sanctioned various projects which included Rs 1,300 crore Rohtang Tunnel, 2,051 MW Parbati, 800 MW Kol Dam and 300 MW Chamera (Stage-II) hydel projects. He said the Central assistance given to Himachal Pradesh during past five years was more than what it had got since its inception. Mr Dhumal said new industrial package would attract maximum entrepreneurs, particularly NRIs to the state. |
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BJP
meeting on ticket on Jan 7 Hamirpur, January 4 Mr Raseel Singh Mankotia, General Secretary of the district unit of party, said here today that members of the district executive committee and all mandal committees would take part in the meeting. The meeting would also finalise election strategy and Vishwas yatra of the party. He said that the proposed tour of Mr Rajnath Singh, All India General Secretary of party to the district had been postponed. Fresh dates would be announced next week. Presently, the BJP is in control of all five seats in the district. The sitting MLAs are: The Prem Kumar Dhumal (Bamsan), Mr Babu Ram Mandyal (Nadaun), Urmila Thakur (Hamirpur), Baldev Sharma (Nadaunta) and Ishwar Dass Dhiman (Mewa Reserve). There is revolt in the party over the ticket from Nadaunta, Nadaun and Hamirpur Assembly seats. The growing dissidence in the Nadaun and Nadaunta Assembly seats may be difficult for the party leaders to decide the issue of candidates. Both sitting party MLAs Babu Ram Mandyal and Baldev Sharma are facing wrath of senior members. |
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BSP to
contest all 68 seats in HP Hamirpur, January 4 Mr Balwant Singh, state President of the party, told reporters at Nadaun today that recommendations of the state unit would be sent to the national body of the party by January 10 for final decision. He said Ms Mayawati, UP Chief Minister would be the star campaigner in the state. Mr Balwant Singh said people of the state were fed up with the BJP and the Congress rules. |
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EC visiting HP on Jan 7 Shimla, January 4 |
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HP poll: Paswan names 8 candidates Kangra, January 4 Mr Paswan was speaking at a press conference organised by Trigarth Press Club here last night. He said the government should summon a joint session of Parliament regarding the imposition of President’s rule in Bihar. He demanded a CBI inquiry into the killings in Bihar and asked the Congress to withdraw support to the Rabri government. Mr Paswan, who was accompanied by Mr Arif Mohammad Khan, a former minister, and Mr Ram Chand Paswan, MP and Dalit Sena Chief, alleged that Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee was taking decisions in the BJP’s interest and not in the national interest. Mr Paswan announced the names of eight election candidates for Kangra district, including Ramesh Dadiyal (Jaswan), M.R. Sharma (Nagrota Bagwan), Sudesh Bhardwaj (Dharamsala), Rajesh Dhiman (Jawali), J.S. Rana (Sullah), B.D. Nath (Baijnath) and Narinder Guleria (Nurpur). In reply to a question, Mr Paswan said if the BJP tried to raise the Hindutva issue during the elections in Himachal Pradesh, his party would oppose it strongly. Mr Paswan said his party would fight communalism, casteism, criminalisation of politics and corruption. |
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Pensioners’ appeal to electorate Hamirpur, January 4 Mr B.D. Sharma, state president of the sangh, in a statement issued here today said the state government had failed to fulfil the demands of the pensioners. He said the Himachali pensioners were suffering a monthly loss of anything between Rs 400 and Rs 1800 per month due to the wrong policies of the state government. This, he alleged, was in gross violation of the repeated directives of the Supreme Court of India and the other High Courts. He criticised the state government for spending lakhs of rupees on holding ‘darbars’ at Dharamsala and for taking Helicopter rides. |
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Dhumal’s yatra reaches Theog Shimla, January 4 He announced the release of Rs 5 crore for clearing arrears of apple growers who had sold their produce to various government agencies under the market Intervention Scheme while addressing rallies at various places en route. He said the Congress had neglected the upper Shimla areas, particularly Jubbal and Kotkhai, in the matter of development even though it got maximum support from the people. For instance, the Congress government did not allocate a penny to the Jubbal-Kotkhai out of the Rs 112.63 crore provided by Nabard. In contrast, the present government had provided Rs 14 crore. |
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Crime kept in check during 2002: DIG Dharamsala, January 4 Releasing the crime figures for the year, Mr Sadyal said though there had been an increase in the cases of murder and attempt to murder, the incidence of other crimes had shown a marked fall. He said in Kangra, 28 murders were reported during 2002 as against 24 in the previous year. The number of attempted murders rose from 25 to 29, he said. Mr Sadyal said crimes like rape, abduction, rioting and theft had shown a decline. The DIG said during the year, the police had laid emphasis on community-oriented policing, claiming that efforts to bridge the gap between the police and people had started showing results as more and more people were coming forward to help combat crime. He said the figures of crimes against women showed that the scheme for controlling these had proved to be a success. He said 483 complaints were received, of which 425 were disposed of through counselling. He said the number of crimes against women had declined due to the setting up of women’s cell. He said efforts to involve students under Samarth Yojana had proved to be successful and thousands of them had been encouraged to visit police stations and have a first-hand knowledge of police working. Mr Sadyal claimed that terrorist activities had been kept in check in the district. He said cases registered under the NDPS Act had doubled during the year and the amount of narcotics seized had more than doubled. |
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Students condemn police repression Shimla, January 4 Mr Sanjay Chauhan, Kisan Sabha leader, alleged that the police high-handedness was evident as they misbehaved with the girl students. Even a press photographer was beaten up by the police. Mr Tikender Singh Panwar, a senior SFI leader, said the state government had promulgated “undeclared emergency” on the campus and fundamental rights to organise public meetings had been snatched. The federation sought the dismissal of the Vice-Chancellor and the Registrar. The agitating students also demanded the dismissal of ASP Chander Shekhar for perpetrating police brutality. HAMIRPUR: The district unit of the SFI on Saturday strongly denounced the lathi-charge by the police on its leaders and activists at Shimla on Friday. Mr Satish Chauhan, general secretary of the campus unit of the federation, said here today that if the repressive measures adopted by the authorities and the state government continued, the federation would be compelled to start an indefinite agitation in all the colleges of the state from January 9. |
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NSUI alleges flouting of norms in varsity Shimla, January 4 Addressing a press conference, here today, he said various students’ organisations had been agitating a judicial probe into the question paper leak scam, in which Vice-Chancellor, Dr S.D. Sharma, was involved, but instead of ordering an inquiry the government was using force to suppress the agitation. The protesting students were lathicharged twice over the past one week on the campus. Even press persons were roughed up by the police. This was not the first instance of police excesses against students and press persons. In fact, there had been eight such incidents in Kangra, Nahan, Kulu, Sujanpur and other places. There had been complete ‘saffronisation’ of the Administration and educational institutions and those professing a different political ideology were at the receiving end. Appointments had been made on political considerations and those owing allegiance to the Sangh Parivar or the BJP had been selected ignoring the deserving, meritorious candidates. These included wives of ministers and ruling party legislators who, instead of performing their official duty devoting most of the time running non-government organisations. He cited the example of the wife of the Health Minister in this regard. Worse the Vice-Chancellor, Dr S. D. Sharma, visited to the university occasionally and mostly remained on tour. He alleged that the irregularities in printing of question papers and four-fold increase in cost of printing had put Dr Sharma in the dock. The university was in a turmoil over the issue but the Chancellor and the Chief Minister were maintaining complete silence, which was a clear indication that he had been acting at the behest of his political bosses. Mr Pathania said that the NSUI would hold a meeting here tomorrow to decide a course of action in the matter. Its delegation would meet the Chancellor and if no action was taken, it would bring the issue to the notice of the President of India. |
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Kinnaur bus mishap toll 10
Shimla, January 4 Five persons were killed on the spot when a bus carrying 20 employees of the Satluj Vidyut Nigam, earlier known as Nathpa Jhakri Power Corporation, rolled down about 150 feet from the road into the Sutlej river. Five others succumbed to injuries while being carried to hospitals at Rampur and Shimla, Nichar Subdivisional Magistrate C.P. Verma told UNI on telephone from Bhabanagar in Kinnaur district. The deceased were identified as Dhani Ram, Gopal Choudhary, Veer Chand, Bhoomi Lal, Bhagat Ram, Tilak Raj (driver), Sen Ram, Sumra Kachaap, Bhagat Singh and Rattan Chand.
The cause of the accident is being ascertained. The authorities have distributed cash relief of Rs 58,000 to the next of kin of the deceased and to the wounded people so far.
UNI |
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Hasty decisions
cost the state crores: ex-minister Solan, January 4 Addressing a press conference here he accused the government of being party to the execution of Malana phase-II hydel project for which a MoU was signed by a Shimla-based Everest Power company. Alleging that the company had forged signatures of a China-based company “to grab” the project. The former Minister asserted no collaboration had been signed by the China-based company. Later Larsen and Toubro was shown to be partner with the Shimla-based company which too was not real as L and T had given no written consent to collaborate with Everest Power company. Now the state government instead of punishing the wrong doers was all set to give clearance to the implementation agreement for this 100 MW project at a cabinet meeting slated for January 6. Lamenting that not even a single unemployed youth of the state had been employed in the 8,000 MW power projects being executed in Himachal, he said the government was content appeasing its favourite business houses ignoring the state’s youth. He termed the announcements made by Chief Minister Prof P.K. Dhumal in the course of his vishwas yatra as political gimmick and impossible to fulfil. Addressing a meeting of workers he hoped that the third front comprising the Him Lok Tantrik Morcha would win at least 15 seats. The morcha has decided to contest all 68 seats. He said that 18-20 Congress men comprising at least five sitting MLAs, former MLAs, and senior party workers would join his third front soon to strengthen the front. |
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Probe ordered into journalist’s beating Shimla, January 4 The IGP, Mr K.S. Rana, has been asked to submit the report in three days. Earlier the Shimla Journalists Association violated Section 144 of Cr PC on the Himachal Pradesh University Campus in protest against the beating up of photo journalist S. Sabu by the police. They also flouted the Vice-Chancellor’s order banning the
entry of journalists to the campus without a pass. |
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Gram Sabhas’ meeting today Shimla, January 4 Stating this here yesterday, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, Himachal Chief Minister, said his government had made it mandatory to hold four gram sabha meetings on the first Sunday of every quarter of the year to involve the grass-root level institutions in the process of development. The chief minister said the state government had taken several measures to strengthen Panchayati Raj institutions in the state in the past five years and made these an important unit of local self-government. He said panchayats had been empowered to prepare need-based micro plans and were empowered to appoint grass-root level functionaries, besides providing these autonomy to raise the financial resource. The government provided Rs 78.12 crore to panchayats against Rs 67.88 crore as recommended by ISI-state finance commission for development. He said second state Finance Commission had recommended devolution of Rs 183.27 crore for the next five years to accelerate development at the lower level. |
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Docs against private MRI machine Shimla, January 4 The executive committee of the association, which met here, has resented the installation of the MRI machine in the private sector which, according to the association, amounted to the privatisation of medical education. This is not in the interest of medical students or the general public, it said. The association urged the government not to take any decision detrimental to the interests of the medical fraternity.
UNI |
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Computer instructors stage dharna Dharamsala, January 4 President of the Computer Instructors Association, Updesh Dhiman, said the private company which had been given the contract for computer education in Senior Secondary Schools had not paid salaries to the teachers but fee had already been charged from the students. He said computer teaching had come to a stand still in district and both instructors and students were suffering.
PTI |
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Two die in mishap Chamba, January 4 According to the police information here today, the deceased had been identified as driver of the vehicle Paras Ram and Inder Singh, residents of Siripar village of the Tissa area. The injured Karam Singh had been admitted in the Tissa hospital for treatment. The police has registered a case of rash and negligent driving. |
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3 killed in mishap Shimla, January 4 The occupants of the Maruti car were on their way to Theog, the police said. The driver of the car was among the dead, the other two were employees of the Public Works Department posted at Theog. The injured were admitted to a hospital here. In another accident, a 22-year-old man was killed when his tractor fell into a khud at Gharoh near Dharamsala this evening.
PTI |
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One held, illicit
liquor seized Shimla, January 4 |
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Shimla, January 4 |
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