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Tuesday,
January 21, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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BJP’s counter-attack
on Amarinder BJP move to
‘sideline’ Sofat Cong apprehensive of facing electorate:
CM Drive away fascist forces: AICC
leader Virbhadra contradicts report |
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Action sought against employees chasing
ticket Bajrang Dal seeks
parties’ clarification CPI to field men in 5
constituencies Teachers told to report to poll staff Picture of poverty and neglect R-Day: alert
in Chamba dist Hoardings removed in Hamirpur Industrialists hail Centre’s move
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BJP’s counter-attack
on Amarinder Shimla, January 20 Mr Khushi Ram Balnatah, spokesperson of the state BJP, fired the first salvo by alleging that Capt Amarinder Singh had himself encroached on government land in Narkanda, where he had an orchard, and had not surrendered the excess land after the implementation of the Land Ceiling Act. He urged Capt Amarinder Singh to come clean on the issue by making public the details of the land he possessed before the enforcement of the act and how much of it was surrendered afterwards. He warned the Punjab Chief Minister not to hit Mr Dhumal below the belt as it could trigger off a slanging match. Handing out a veiled threat, he said the people of Himachal Pradesh had much to speak about Capt Amarinder Singh’s forefathers who ruled the erstwhile state of Patiala. He said Himachal was not his feudal state and the people would not take his utterances lying down. Without referring to the charges of corruption levelled by Capt Amarinder Singh, he said Mr Dhumal and members of his family had been filing income tax returns even before he became the Chief Minister. Moreover, instead of making wild charges the Punjab Chief Minister should explain to the people how his own ministers had acquired wealth overnight. He said he had definite information that some Punjab ministers had contacted officers of the state government to explore the possibility of acquiring land in the hill state and making other investments. The BJP leader expressed apprehension that the large-scale involvement of Punjab Congress leaders in the elections would vitiate the peaceful atmosphere of the state. Only two days ago Mr H.N. Singh, state Town and Country Planning Minister, was attacked in his house in Nalagarh at midnight. The attackers were led by a son of a Congress leader and comprised rowdy elements from neighbouring Punjab areas. He urged the Election Commission to take note of it and declare all assembly constituencies bordering Punjab sensitive so that adequate security arrangements could be made for a free and fair poll. |
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BJP
move to
‘sideline’ Sofat Solan, January 20 About a patch up between Kamal Nanda, a BJP leader from Nadaun, and the Chief Minister, Mr Sofat said it was to be seen whether their proposed meeting slated for January 25 yielded result . In an interaction with The Tribune he said seeing the success of the mitra mela held on January 9, which drew immense response from people, reality had dawned upon the BJP leadership that if they ignored this group it could create a sizeable dent in their vote bank. The BJP leadership had earlier ruled out the possibility of approaching this group but had stated that any move of the group to stage a comeback would be welcomed. The move to iron out differences was being seen as a result of a recently held meeting of the BJP at Chandigarh. The Union Minister, Mr Shanta Kumar, who is the convener of BJP’s campaign committee had at this meeting pressed for holding talks with this group. He contended that when talks could be held with regional parties like the HVC whose chief was involved in corruption cases to forge an alliance why talks could not be held with party men who had ideological differences with other BJP leaders. Another suspended BJP leader, Mr Narender Thakur from Hamirpur, was also approached for talks by Mr Suresh Bhardwaj, a Rajya Sabha member and president of the BJP manifesto committee on Thursday. |
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Cong apprehensive of facing electorate:
CM Nurpur, January 20 Mr Dhumal alleged that the Virbhadra Singh government had always discriminated against Kangra district. It had spent only Rs 3 crore on roads even after taking a loan of Rs 112 crore from Nabard for the construction of roads in the state. Whereas, the BJP during its tenure had spent Rs 112 crore in the district on roads. He claimed that his government had laid emphasis on roads, education and better health services in the state. The government had constructed 3,500 km roads, built 12,100 rooms for government primary schools in the state under ‘Bal Sankalap Yozna’. Seeking mandate from the electorate of the area, the Chief Minister said his government had set up offices of Additional Deputy Commissioners at six subdivisional headquarters in the state and promised in the same voice that these offices would be converted into full-fledged offices by granting district status to these subdivisions provided the BJP got the two thirds majority in the elections. The local MLA and Chairman HPTDC, Mr Rakesh Pathania and Rajya Sabha MP Mr Kirpal Parmar also addressed the rally. |
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Drive away fascist forces: AICC
leader Mandi, January 20 She addressed a six-hour long rally, which continued till late in the evening, at Padhar in the backward Darang constituency of this district yesterday. The crowd, including women in their traditional best had converged at the rally from far-flung areas. She said the BJP had been inflaming hatred between the communities. Mrs Kidwai said the BJP came to power by sheer political manoeuvering by entering into alliance with the HVC. The Congress had 31 MLAs as against 27 of the BJP. Mr Moti Lal Vohra, AICC treasurer, said Prof Dhumal and his family has amassed property worth over Rs 25 crore. He also disparaged the NDA government for a number of scams. Mr Anand Sharma spokesperson for the AICC, decried the BJP for playing the Hindutva card and added that religion should not be exploited for narrow political ends. It was a paradox that those who killed Mahatma Gandhi were talking of Ram and Ram Mandir. Mahatma died with “Hei Ram” on his lips. The PCC president, Mrs Vidya Stokes, castigated Mr Dhumal for creating administrative mess due to lack of experience in governance. He was the lone case in the country who became Chief Minister direct from MLA without having any experience of a minister. CLP leader, Virbhadra Singh, ridiculed the BJP claim that it had done wonders in just five years compared to 45 years of the Congress rule. Mr Singh said that it was in the Congress rule that roads, bridges, health and educational institutions were established. Under the rural electrification programme a network of 60,000 km of LT lines was spread all over the state to electrify 19,916 villages. Literacy rate went up to 77.4 and there was a marked increase in living standard of the people. Mr Dhumal inaugurated projects executed by us. He lambasted Mr Dhumal for fabricating false cases against him. A CBI inquiry was ordered against him over the 24-point charge sheet presented by HVC leader Sukh Ram who himself was involved in a number of corruption cases and now in one case has been convicted for three years imprisonment. “The CBI gave me a clean chit and they had to lick dust”, he said. He said the state was under huge debt of Rs 15000 crore. He expressed confidence that the Congress was capable of lifting the state out of the present mess. Mr Satyajit Gwaekwad, AICC secretary and observer for Himachal, said that Mr Dhumal had promised five lakh jobs in five years, but had provided only 64,000 jobs. Former Speaker and Darang MLA dwelt at length on the development made during the Congress rule. HPCC spokesperson Rangila Ram Rao said the HVC was equally accountable for the misdeeds of the BJP government. |
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Virbhadra contradicts report Dharamsala, January 20 Talking to mediapersons here today, Mr Virbhadra Singh contradicted a news item where he had been quoted as saying that the Congress should also project someone as Chief Minister in Himachal. He said he had no complaint against the present system and he would obey any directive of the party, now or after elections. |
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Action sought against employees chasing
ticket Solan, January 20 Terming these actions as a violation of the service rules the federation president, Mr Gopal Dass Verma, in a press note issued stated that 15 such case had come to the notice of the federation. Asserting that an employee who vies for a party ticket is first required to tender his resignation from the government job, he said. While in a government job no employee could take up any party membership. He contended that employee leaders were not elected to contest Vidhan Sabha elections but to raise the problems of their fellow employees before the government. While such leaders had no mass they were utilising federation money to further their political motives. He said no action committee had been formed for granting tickets by the federation and the committee headed by Kishori Lal was not supported by the federation. |
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Bajrang Dal seeks
parties’ clarification Hamirpur, January 20 Mr Joginder Pal Sharma, state Convener of the Bajrang Dal told reporters here this afternoon that since 98 per cent population of Himachal was Hindus, it was the duty of all political parties to safeguard Hindus interest. Mr Pradeep Yogi, district Bajrang Dal chief was also present there. He demanded an end to government control over the temples and the setting up of the Himachal temple parishad to look after all temples in the state. The Bajrang Dal chief opposed fashion shows and beauty pageants in the state and demanded a ban on these as per a decision of the UP government led by former Chief Minister, Rajnath Singh. He also stressed the creation of a Cow Protection Commission and a ban on madarsas in the state. He said that Mr Praveen Togria, General Secretary of the World Vishwa Hindu Parishad would also visit the state and address meetings to enlighten people on Hindu agenda. Kangra, January 20 Disclosing this here today, Mr Himal Chand, district secretary and
member, national council of the CPI, said the party would field its candidates from Palampur, Nagrota Bagwan, Kangra, Gullier and Gangth. He said his (Himal Chand) name has been cleared for candidature from Kangra and Mr Azad Kumar for the Gulllier constituency. He said the CPI would raise the issue of the rampant corruption which has affected the common people of the state during the past five years of the Dhumal government.
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Teachers told to report to poll staff
Shimla, January 20 This decision was taken at a high-level meeting held here today under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary, Ms Rajinder Bhattacharya, The Chief Electoral Officer, Ms Manisha Nanda, was also present in the meeting.
PTI |
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Picture of poverty and neglect Tissa (CHAMBA): Since militancy fear has been hovering over the area, this borderland had been declared as ‘hyper-sensitive’ in the wake of disturbed conditions in J&K for the past about four years and security forces have been deployed to combat militancy from across the border. As a result the security forces have succeeded in maintaining normalcy and infuse confidence of safety and security amongst the residents. But on the other hand, the nomad gujjars have been deprived of their grazing rights by non-issuance of grazing permits by the Forest Department, which forced them to sell their livestock, a source of their livelihood. Likewise, the people living on the borderland are not allowed to scale the timberline for extracting medicinal herbs which they have been collecting and selling to the traders since time immemorial. The extraction of herbs has been the means of livelihood for the people of this alpine woody region. Besides, there is a grave problem of footpaths and mule tracks in the area. The farmers in the area are not getting fertilisers in time during the sowing season of their crops. People describe the Animal Husbandry, Horticulture and Agriculture Departments as ‘white elephants’. The fate of primary education is also no better and so is health services. The people in this belt are still illiterate and die due to poor health care. Educational and medical institutions in this far-flung corner of Himachal Pradesh are devoid of staff. Peons are running primary health centers and sub-centres and substandard medicines are distributed to the patients. The death of more than two dozen children had already occurred during the past six months, which is no secret any more, now. It is not only the employment opportunities but also the development of the Churah area, which appears to have allegedly been sold out to a handful of contractors. There are irregularities in the construction of development work in Churah. A forestry scandal has also come to light in this area. People are seeking a probe into the anomalies of forest schemes so that the guilty could be brought to book. The grinding poverty has caused various diseases in the poor families living in mud houses with no windows and ventilators. In some houses people sleep with cattle tied in the same room. This is the kind of conditions which exist in the area. Poverty-stricken families suffer from TB. Surveys are being carried out under the centrally sponsored health programmes but nobody seems to bother. It is sad, indeed, that people who represent this area, and the authorities concerned who are duty-bound to bring development and prosperity by spending more than Rs 20 crore under a backward area sub-plan every year invariably deny that conditions are deplorable in the area. They also deny any kind of neglect by the authorities and discount any media reports in this regard. |
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R-Day: alert
in Chamba dist Chamba, January 20 Additional Superintendent of Police N D Sharma who is supervising the combing operations told UNI here today that the battalions of Himachal Armed Police(HAP), India Reserve Battalion and the Indo-Tibet Border Police (ITBP) were ready to check any untoward incident.
UNI
Hamirpur, January 20 The administration took this action following publication of a photograph in ‘The Tribune’ today wherein it was told that these hoardings were still installed at various places despite EC instructions to remove them. Industrialists hail Centre’s move Parwanoo, January 20 |
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