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Saturday,
January 25, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Rinwa’s
clean chit to Dhumal on assets 5 leaders
expelled from BJP Five die in road
mishap Vishwas yatra
covers 49
constituencies Nation page: Virbhadra:
Sukh Ram issue not discussed HVC releases
policy document |
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Poll
expenses limit fixed at Rs 4 lakh CPM, CPI
forge poll alliance Youth Cong unit
has 2 chiefs Action
sought against ex-MLA Govt
transfers four DIGs
IFS
officers want ‘lateral’ shift HPU
seals office of students’ body 
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Rinwa’s clean chit to Dhumal on assets Shimla, January 24 Addressing a press conference here, he defended Mr Dhumal and said Punjab Chief Minister, Captain Amarinder Singh, was in the habit of making “unsubstantiated” allegations and then going back on these. He recalled that similar allegations were levelled against Mr P.S.
Badal, former Punjab Chief Minister, and these turned out to be false. Mr Amarinder Singh had alleged that Mr Badal had amassed Rs 3500 crore assets and he would be put behind bars when the Congress came to power. However, nothing of this kind happened. Also, after returning from a foreign visit he had announced that he had secured assistance of $ one billion from the International Financial Consortium of America but the state had not received anything. The Punjab Chief Minister had been preoccupied with transfers and political vendetta against his opponents and had made no effort to implement poll promises due to which people were disillusioned with his rule. Punjab BJP chief was caught on the wrong foot when he raised the issue of non-declaration of assets by the Congress MLAs in Punjab as the BJP had made a similar promise in Himachal which it failed to
fulfil. Mr Rinwa asked the people of Himachal particularly women, to remain vigilant in respect of Congress men from Punjab who had been indulging in immoral acts, as was evident from escapades of certain ministers during Gujarat poll. It is unfortunate that Captain Amarinder Singh had been defending the errant ministers and officers. A Chief Minister in whose state all this was happening should not preach morality and level charges of corruption against others, he added. He said Mr Amarinder’s crusade against corruption was a shame, including the much publicised PPSC recruitment scam. He said honest intelligence officers who unearthed the scam were shifted. They had unearthed Rs 25 crore scam in the Punjab and Sindh Bank in which his
(CM’s) supporters were involved, Mr Rinwa said. |
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5 leaders expelled from BJP Bilaspur, January 24 They said Krishan Singh, Amarnath Vatsayayan and Ransingh, panchayat level leaders, who fought election against official BJP candidates and were still continuing with their anti-party activities had also been expelled from party while resignation of BDC member Anil
Dhiman, which he submitted to party some three months ago, had also been accepted and he was no more a BJP member. They said Krishan Singh Chandel who had been now expelled from party primary membership was never constituency president of the BJP and he fought the election of zila parishad twice as a “rebal candidate” against the official BJP candidate. It would be recalled that all these leaders had organised a public meeting at Jhandutta on January 20 and had not only strongly criticised top BJP leader and minister Rikhiram Kondal but publicly declared that if “their candidate” Dharmender Dhiman was not put up as official BJP candidate from this constituency, he would fight the elections as an Independent candidate. |
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Vishwas yatra
covers 49
constituencies Una, January 24 He said before the last election the BJP had declared that it would declare their assets before the Speaker and to fulfil that promise the BJP government had formed a committee of MLAs to frame a law in this regard. He added that unlike the Congress, the BJP MLAs would soon declare their assets after a law is framed in this regard. The Chief Minister said even though no law had been enacted in this regard, all BJP MLAs, including him had tendered a list of properties held by them before becoming public representatives on March 31, 2002, to the speaker. But none of the Congress MLAs have tendered the list of their properties to the Speaker so far. Later he proceeded to Santoshgarh and Gagret constituencies of Una district today. |
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HVC releases
policy document Shimla, January 24 The party will go to the polls armed with the policy document to convince people that it could achieve for the state what the BJP and the Congress failed to achieve in over past 50 years. The document contains a major afforestation plan under which 25 to 30 bighas each of land will be allotted to two lakh poor families on a lease of 10 years for raising plantation. Each family will be paid Rs 1000 per month till they start getting return from the land. After a period of eight to nine years each family will get Rs 9 lakh to Rs 13 lakh. The state will have to spend Rs 2896 crore on the plan while the returns will be of over Rs 50,000 crore out of which 50 per cent will go to the families. The document also delineates plan to tap the tourism potential and off-season vegetable production. Mr Surinder Lal
Verma, general secretary of the party, informed that as many as 212 applications for the ticket had so far been received. The party parliamentary board would decide on the candidates next week. |
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Poll expenses limit fixed at Rs 4 lakh Shimla, January 24 She said all district electoral officers would provide copies and register of the orders to all candidates through returning officers concerned. It was also clarified that the maximum limit for election expenses for each Assembly constituency had been fixed at Rs 4 lakh for each candidate. She said all persons who had attained the age of 18 years by January 1, 2003 but were not able to get their names registered in the electoral rolls published on January 6 could do so by submitting a prescribed form to the electoral registration officers concerned. She said this was the last opportunity for voters to get their names registered before the ensuing Assembly elections. Mrs Nanda said voters could verify their names in the electoral rolls from the offices of various election officers on any working day during office hours. She said any claims or objections regarding deletion of names and registration of voters could be mentioned on a prescribed form, which was to be submitted to the authorised officer. The Chief Electoral Officer said if any voter had changed his residence or died, family members should apply for the deletion of his or her name from the voter list by filling form No 7. She sought full cooperation of the public in updating the electoral rolls. Meanwhile, the Director, Education, has directed all teachers of middle, high and senior secondary schools, including those who are on vacation and whose services have been requisitioned by returning officers for election duty, to report to respective deputy commissioners. He said disciplinary action would be initiated against the teachers who would refuse to report for election duty. |
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CPM, CPI forge poll alliance Shimla, January 24 The decision was taken at a meeting of top leaders of the two parties here today. Besides highlighting the “corruption” of the Dhumal government, they would focus on the failure of the BJP to fulfil promises of creating one lakh jobs. The other issues to be raised include a rehabilitation policy for the persons displaced or affected by the construction of hydel projects and ensuring 80 per cent employment to local persons in these projects. It would also focus on policies for development based on agro-based industry and tourism, besides hydel generation and forestry for creating employment opportunities. |
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Youth Cong unit
has 2 chiefs Shimla, January 24 Mr Ved Prakash Thakur, district Youth Congress (urban) president for the past two years, had applied for the party ticket from the Shimla Assembly seat. He, along with his supporters, was lobbying for the ticket in Delhi when Mr Aloke Pathania was appointed the new district unit president by Mr Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, state president of Youth Congress and Mr Joginder Kanwar, its general secretary. Mr Pathania dissolved the executive formed by Mr Thakur and constituted a new executive. Mr Thakur’s supporters termed this move as an attempt to sabotage his prospects for the party ticket. But Mr Pathania’s group claims that the state president of the party had the power to appoint a district unit president. |
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Action sought against ex-MLA Kumarhatti, January 24 Talking to this correspondent today Mr Laj Kishore Sharma, mandal president, said a complaint to party high command in this connection and intervention sought to check the activities of those who were eroding the party unity by holding separate meetings and poll campaigns. It may be pertinent to add here that Mr Kamboj along with Mr Virender
Sehgal, member of party state executive committee and Mr Naresh Attri, vice president, BJP Solan district Kisan
Morcha, have opposed Mr Kashyap’s claim from Kasauli, as according to them he had failed to win an election despite his nine appearance in Assembly and Parliament elections in the past. |
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Govt transfers four DIGs Shimla, January 24 Mr Sanjay Kumar, DIG, South Range, Shimla, has been posted as DIG, Central Range, Mandi, vice Mr O.C. Thakur who goes to Shimla as leave reserve officer (headquarters). Mr K.C. Sadyal, DIG, North Range, Dharamsala, takes over as DIG South Range, Shimla. Mr M.L. Negi, in charge, Police Training College, Daroh, will hold additional charge of the DIG, North Range. |
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BJP politicians enjoy HPTDC hospitality Dharamsala, January 24 According to sources, Himachal Chief Secretary and some senior officials had come here for meetings and the district administration had booked more than 12 rooms for January 15. Himachal Chief Secretary Rajinder Bhattacharya had stayed in the Kangra suite, which was vacated by her next morning as she had to leave for Shimla. The hotel management obliged a BJP Rajya Sabha MP by allowing him to stay in the same room without any entry in the hotel register. The MP had come here to attend an important BJP meeting in connection with the forthcoming elections, which was also attended by Mr Madan Lal Khurana, a senior BJP leader. Surprisingly, the room service bills were added to those of the General Assistant to the DC. In a similar instance a senior secretary had vacated his room after a night’s stay and the hotel management had allowed a minister to stay in the same room and provided him free room service. The stay for the second day of the minister was duly recorded in the hotel register. According to hotel sources, it is a common practice that BJP functionaries and senior party leaders are allowed free services at Hotel Dhauladhar. It is alleged that a senior official said to be close to the party leaders is responsible for this, which leads to loss of revenue to the hotel. The hotel register does not show any entry regarding the Rajya Sabha MP while there is record for only one day of the minister’s stay. The hotel staff confirmed that the MP had stayed for one day while the senior minister stayed for two days. The manager of the hotel, Mr Jiwan Sharma, said he had no knowledge of any such stay but assured that the matter would be looked into. |
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IFS officers want ‘lateral’ shift Shimla, January 24 Mr Kuldeep Singh Tanwar, general secretary of the association, said that forestry had undergone a seachange and focus had shifted from “commercial exploitation and investment” to ecology and conservation of biodiversity and catering to the livelihood needs of the poor people. In the emerging scenario, the IFS officers had to take up the challenge of lateral movement in postings at different levels in other departments. The association also decided to have affiliation with other bodies and facilitate structural reforms in the forestry sector to preserve the fragile hill eco-system and the biodiversity. The following were elected as officer-bearers of the association: President — Mr Sham Lal, Vice-President —Ms Savita, General Secretary — Dr Kuldip Singh Tanwar, Joint Secretary — Mr Nagesh Kumar Guleria and Treasurer — Mr S.D. Sharma. |
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HPU seals office of students’ body Shimla, January 24 Leaders of the SFI labelled this step of the university administration as undemocratic. They said they would hold a protest and highlight the “misdeed” of the university authorities. |
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4 held with arms, drugs
Kulu, January 24 According to the police, Rupinder Singh Zirakpur and Sunder Singh were arrested under the Arms Act today. Meanwhile, the Manali police seized 70 gram brown sugar from two motorcyclists in another incident in the district from Jaswant Singh and Ravi Parkash. The police arrested both of them under the NDPS Act. All accused are residents of Punjab, the police confirmed.
UNI |
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Four houses gutted Shimla, January 24 According to a police report, four houses were gutted in the fire.
UNI |
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