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Thursday,
February 6, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Cong
promises to probe job scam Dhumal to
sue Capt today Probe
assets of all CMs: BJP 38 more
file nominations Second
list of HVC released ELECTION STATISTICS |
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Rules not
flouted, says HPSSSB chief Mother burns twins, self
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Cong promises to probe job scam Shimla, February 5 AICC spokesperson Anand Sharma, said that there had been large-scale nepotism and corruption in recruitment to government jobs and, in fact, the entire selection procedure had become a business. Worse even the record of selection was being destroyed within three months, which was highly improper. Jobs had been given to outsiders, particularly to candidates from Punjab, at the cost of meritorious candidates of the state. He said it was high time that the government came out with a White Paper with a complete honest account of the selected candidates so that people could know the truth. It should also take care of the employment situation, particularly the jobs provided and in the light of its promises made in the election manifesto. The Congress would not only order a comprehensive probe into the recruitment scam but also come out with a realistic package to generate jobs for the unemployed whose number had crossed the 10 lakh mark in the state. The Congress leader also blasted the disinvestments policy of the NDA Government which was nothing short of a “grand clearance sale” for disposing of national assets. Replying to a question regarding the list of assets of Mr Dhumal released by the Congress, he said the Chief Minister was welcome to file a defamation case but he should first take legal action against his ministers who had levelled serious charges of corruption against his government. They not only remained ministers in his Cabinet but had also been renominated as the party candidates for the coming poll. Moreover, members of the family of Mr Dhumal and his business partners had already come with some details of the share-holding of the sons and wife of the Chief Minister in the properties mentioned in the list. He said it would do the “world of good” to Mr Dhumal if some more details were given like who invested the money to build the school run by a trust in which two of his sons were members. By releasing the list the Congress had only afforded Mr Dhumal an opportunity to come clean. The details of share-holdings made available so far had established that member of the family of Mr Dhumal had stakes in 80 per cent of the properties mentioned in the list. Meanwhile, the Pradesh Congress Committee has appealed to all Congressmen who have not been nominated as the party candidates to withdraw their nomination papers and work for the victory of the official nominees. It has also warned that those who failed to opt out of the fray would be expelled from the party. The party will formally launch its election campaign on February 11 by holding 10 election meetings across the state. |
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Dhumal to sue
Capt today Hamirpur, February 5 Addressing gatherings at various places in Hamirpur and Nadaun constituencies on the last leg of the “Vishwas Yatra” programme, the Chief Minister clarified that he had done nothing wrong. He said he would file a case against Capt Amarinder Singh, Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Anand Sharma and Mr Moti Lal Vora in a Shimla court tomorrow. Mr Dhumal gave details of development activities undertaken in the state. He blasted the Congress leaders for trying to defame him and the
BJP. |
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Probe assets of all CMs: BJP Shimla, February 5 Mr Kirpal Parmar, general secretary of the party, said that the BJP government would probe the assets of the current and former Chief Minister. He said the Congress was levelling baseless and irresponsible charges against the Chief Minister, to avoid defeat in the Assembly elections. In a statement here today, he said so far, nobody had raised a finger of suspicion on all the acts of commission and omission of Mr Dhumal. If the intentions of the Congress were so honest, it would have levelled these allegations much before the elections, he said. He challenged the Congress leaders to practise what it had all along preached to its opponents. They should have gone to the Lokayukta, in institution they had created, for such situations. They did not do so as they knew that they would be hauled up by the Lokayukta for levelling false allegations with an eye on the elections. Meanwhile, the state BJP has blamed the Congress for the perpetual financial crisis plaguing the state and said the situation would have been different if the Virbhadra Singh government had not concealed the fiscal deficit from the ninth Finance Commission. Mr Baldev Sharma, the party spokesperson, said the Congress Government projected a deficit of only Rs 10 crore as against the actual revenue gap of Rs 172 crore for 1988-89, which was the base year for making recommendations. Consequently, the state received much less central assistance for the 1990-95 period, plunging the state into a deep financial crisis. He admitted that the total debt liability of the state had more than doubled to Rs 12484 crore over the past five years. However, unlike the Congress Government which raised loans in violation of Article 293 (3) of the Constitution, the BJP secured all loans after taking the mandatory approval of the
Centre. |
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38 more file nominations Shimla, February 5 |
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Second list
of HVC released Mandi, February 5 The following is the list: Dharamsala — Ram Swarup Sharma; Shahpur — Sunil Dutt Chaina; Pragpur — Pritam Sariya; Theog — Col Daulat Singh; Hamirpur — Sita Ram Sharma; Rajnagar — Nand Kumar Chahal; Kot Kelhoor — K.K. Kaushal; Sundernagar — Devinder Kumar; Jaswan — Gokul Kumar; Nadaun — Smt Kavishwa Kaushal; Mewa — Smt Iswari Devi; Bharmour — Kartar Singh; Doon — Amarnath; Kasauli — Vinod Kumar; Aani — Adv Diwan Chand; Sulah — Dev Singh
Guleria. |
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ELECTION STATISTICS Of the 9,500 electronic voting machines (EVMs) requisitioned by Himachal Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Manisha Nanda for the February 26 Assembly elections, 8,000 are brand new machines. It may be a mere coincidence that this time only EVMs will be used in Himachal. As many as 1,000 EVMs are already in possession of the state election office while the remaining 500 will be brought from Rajasthan. Though the Election Commission has made it mandatory that all voters must carry photo identity cards at the time of exercising their franchise, only 28,55,224 of the 40,88, 844 electors of the state have been issued these cards. The remaining voters will be required to carry to the polling stations one of the several identification documents approved by the Election Commission. Unlike neighbouring Punjab where EVMs were transported under tight security cover with men from the paramilitary forces accompanying trucks carrying these machines from Bengal and other parts of the country, Himachal got most of its EVMs direct from the manufacturers. The Election Commission has already appointed 25 observers to oversee the conduct of the entire election process in the state, which was set in motion with issuance of a notification on January 31. If one looks at the growth of electors in this hill state, it is a little more than 30 per cent since the 1990 elections. The total electorate has increased from 30,58,107 in 1990 to 40, 88, 844 now. The ratio of men and women voters has remained unchanged. Interestingly, while the number of men contestants has been constantly coming down, that of women contestants has been on the rise. Against 18 women contestants in 1990, the number increased to 25 in the last elections. On the other hand, the number of men contestants had dropped from 436 in 1990 to 344 in 1998. The number of total contestants is expected to remain the same this time also though those of women candidates may increase slightly. In 1990, only four of the 18 women candidates were successful. In 1993, the number of successful woman candidates was three from a field of 15. And in 1998, Himachal had a record number of six women legislators. This time the BJP has given the ticket to six women candidates in its list of 66 while the Congress has placed faith in 10 women candidates. Going by the performance of parties, the Himachal elections have always witnessed a direct contest between the Congress and the BJP (earlier the Jan Sangh Janata Party). In the 1990 elections, the BJP had polled 41.78 per cent votes to win 46 seats while the Congress got 36.54 per cent votes and won nine seats. In 1993, the votes polled by the BJP dropped to 36.14 per cent as the number of its successful candidates fell to eight. The Congress tally swelled to 48.83 per cent of the votes polled as it won 52 of the 68 seats contested by it. In 1998, the BJP improved marginally to get 39.02 per cent of votes polled as it won 29 seats while the Congress got 31 seats by getting 43.51 per cent of votes. The new entrant, the HVC had got 9.63 per cent votes as five of its 62 candidates were declared successful.
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Rules not flouted, says HPSSSB chief Hamirpur, February 5 Talking to mediapersons here today, he said since these posts fell in the Class III category, the board filled these vacancies. Moreover, the board had sought clarifications from the Secretary, Education, Himachal Pradesh, in this respect. He said the Secretary had clarified that the posts of Headmaster and Lecturer (school cadre) fell in the Class III category as per the existing recruitment promotion rules. He said the allegations levelled by Mr Bhoop Ram
Verma, president of the HP Public Service Commission, Employees Union, against the board were wrong and contrary to the facts. Mr Katwal alleged that Mr Verma had tried to create the impression that these posts were being “sold in the open
bazar.” The Chairman clarified that since its inception, all vacancies were filled by the board after completing all formalities and no irregularities had been committed. He said the board had so for recommended 6,666 candidates for jobs to the state government. The board had received 4,72,003 applications of which 26,248 were rejected on technical grounds. The board had received 350 requisition letters from various departments for filling 8,607 vacancies. Mr Katwal said 1,941 posts were still vacant and 985 were not filled since competent persons were not found. He said 157 cases had been filed against the board with the HP State Administrative Tribunal of which two had been decided in favour of the board. Only one case had gone against it. |
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Mother burns twins, self Shimla, February 5 According to the police, neighbours saw smoke coming out of the room and when they forcibly entered the room, they saw Vandana and both her kids afire. All three died on the spot. The police has registered a case.
OC |
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Congressmen restive 31 booths hyper-sensitive Promises not kept: Thakur Cong to expose BJP MLAs Tapping World Cup fever Pathania YC chief: Kanwar |
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