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Saturday,
March 15, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Minister: HRTC to be privatised TRANSFERS/POSTINGS Better pruning will
boost yield: expert
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Working resumes at SSSB office Ravi upstream hydel projects mooted 1,500 pharmacists to be recruited Baba Balak Nath mela begins NIT teachers go on
strike
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Minister: HRTC to be privatised New Delhi, March 14 The minister, who was here to meet Planning Commission officials regarding more grants for the transport sector in the hill state, indicated that fares could be hiked in the state from next month. Mr Bali said about 200 routes were being
identified which would be offered to the unemployed youth for running buses. He said the roadways buses would be offered to them at market price for which soft loans would be available. The minister said the advertisement contract for the roadways buses would preferably be given to one company for which bids would be invited. The Transport Minister said more buses would be introduced between New Delhi and temple towns of Himachal Pradesh. Mr Bali is meeting Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit tomorrow to seek a parking slot for about 60 Himachal Roadways buses which have an overnight halt at New Delhi. The buses were earlier parked at Majnu-ka-Tila but the space was now being used for the metro project. The Transport Minister said respective Regional Managers and Area Managers would be held responsible for maintenance and cleanliness of the buses and bus stands and fines would be imposed on those passengers who smoke or consume gutka and tobacco during travel in the state-run buses. Regarding the proposed fare hike of the state roadways, he said a decision would be soon taken by the state Cabinet. |
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TRANSFERS/POSTINGS Shimla, March 14 Mr S.S. Parmar, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, has been given the charge of Animal Husbandry, Fisheries and Information and Public Relations, while Mr S.S. Negi, Financial Commissioner (Appeals) will also function as Principal Secretary, Cooperation. Mr J.P. Negi, on return from central deputations, takes over as Principal Secretary, Forests and Science, Technology and Environment, vice Mr Avay Shukla who has been posted as Principal Secretary, Food, Civil Supplies and Transport. Ms Harinder Hira, Principal Secretary, Labour, Employment and Training, and Mr P.C. Kapoor, Principal Secretary, Irrigation and Public Health, swap places. Mr Ashok Thakur, Principal Secretary, Tourism, Youth Services and Sports, has been divested of the charge of Town and Country Planning and given Language, Art and Culture in its place. Mr B. S. Chauhan, Secretary, Transport, Ayurveda, has been posted as Secretary, Health and Family Planning, vice Mr Vineet Chaudhary who goes as Secretary, Rural Development, Panachayati Raj and Horticulture in place of Mr S.K. Dash, who has been posted as Secretary, Ayurveda and Administrative Reforms. Mr C.P. Pande, Commissioner, Revenue, takes over as Secretary, Welfare, while Mr A.R. Basu, Secretary, Administrative Reforms, has been posted as Secretary, Agriculture and Urban Development. Mr Bhim Sen, Secretary, Excise and Taxation, has been divested of the charge of Information and Public Relations and given Housing in its place. Mr Ajay Mittal, Secretary, Welfare, Food Supplies and Cooperation, has been posted as Managing Director, State General Industries Cooperation. Mr V. C. Pharaka, Managing Director, State Tourism Development Corporation, takes over as Chief Executive Officer, HIMURJA, vice Mr Balram Sharma, who will be the new Managing Director of the state Small-Scale Industries Corporation. Mr Sanjeev Gupta, Commissioner-cum-Director, Transport and Tourism, goes as Director, state Institute of Public Administration. Mr Sushil Negi, Registrar, Cooperative Societies, takes over as Deputy Commissioner, Shimla, vice Mr J.S. Rana who has been shifted as Special Secretary, Food, Supplies and Transport. Mr Sanjay Gupta, Additional Commissioner, Appeals and Director, Consolidation of Holdings, goes as Director, Revenue Training Institute, Joginder Nagar. Mr Jagdish Chander, Director, Rural Development, has been shifted as Commissioner, Departmental Inquiries. Mr Rakesh Kaushal, Deputy Commissioner, Una, goes as Settlement Officer, Kangra, while Mr P. C. Jassal, Special Secretary, Ayurveda and Transport, takes over as Deputy Commissioner, Bilaspur, vice Mr Chamel Singh, who has been posted as Managing Director, state Backward Classes Development Corporation, Kangra, in place of Mr M.L. Sharma who goes as Additional Commissioner, Appeals, and Director, Consolidation of Holdings, Kangra. Mr Bharat Bhushan, Director, Food and Civil Supplies, has been shifted as Special Secretary, Agriculture and Ayurveda. Mr Divesh Sharma, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Mandi, takes over as Deputy Commissioner, Hamirpur, vice Mrs Anuradha Thakur who goes as Director, Rural Development. Mr C. R. B. Lalit, Settlement Officer, Shimla and Kinnaur, has been posted as Director, Transport and Tourism, while Mr Rajneesh, Director, Public Finance and Additional Secretary, Finance, will be the new Deputy Commissioner of Una. Mr K.K. Gupta, an Indian Forest Service officer, has also been shifted from the post of Managing Director, state General Industries Corporation, Shimla, and posted as Managing Director, State Electronics Development Corporation. |
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Better pruning will
boost yield: expert Shimla, March 14 He said the apple yield in the state was as low as 7 tonnes per hectare as against 40 tonnes per hectare in European countries. It was basically mismanagement of pruning as a result of which a lot of redundant vegetation was left on the trees which deprived the fruits of adequate aeration and sunshine. He said shoots and branches rising up vertically should be pruned and lateral growth should encouraged. Further, Mr Nagel, who inspected orchards in the upper Shimla areas, found that most of the orchards were 40 to 45 years old and the plants had outlived their productive life. The apple plants give maximum yield between eight to 25 years and after that these should be replaced. Since most of the growers here had a small holding the replacement of old plants could be carried out only in a phased manner. He suggested that 10 per cent of the old plants be cut and new saplings planted so that the grower was not denied earnings from orchard at any stage. It takes seven to eight years for apple plants to come to bearing. Mr Nagel warned the growers against excessive and indiscriminate use of fungicides and pesticides which not only left residual toxicity on the fruit and soil but also led to resistant strains of fungi and pests. He said sprays of chemicals should be frequently changed to avoid development of tolerant strains. Mr Laxman Thakur, Chairman, Himalayan Eco-Horticulture Society, said that Mr Nagel would also interact with scientists of Dr Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry and the experts of the state Horticulture Department so that they could incorporate his suggestions in the package of practices evolved by them for the management of orchards. |
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Working resumes at SSSB office Hamirpur, March 14 Mrs Rakhil Kahlon, Secretary of the board, told The Tribune on phone this afternoon that the office functioned as usual today and the employees and officers disposed of the pending work. Meanwhile, the team of the Enforcement department, which had raided the office on Saturday, left for Shimla this morning along with a part of the sealed record. Mr Jagjit Kumar Gupta, DIG in charge of the team, had left for Shimla last evening. The Enforcement Department had summoned Mr Mehar Chand Juglani, Under Secretary, and Mr Sanjeev Kumar, senior assistant at the board office, to report at Shimla tomorrow in connection with the scrutiny of the sealed record of the board. Both these persons will assist the team of the Enforcement Department, according to highly placed sources in the state government. UNA: The Enforcement Department’s efforts to find evidence of corruption against Mr S.M. Katwal, Chairman of the SSSB, by conducting a raid at his house in Vikas Nagar here, have come to naught as nothing incriminating is said to have been found there except a few old bank passbooks, some land documents and a list of Vidya Upasaks. According to information, the interviews for the posts of Vidya Upasak were not conducted by the SSSB, these were conducted by the District Education Department at various district headquarters. On Friday evening, an enforcement team, headed by a DSP, visited the native village, Badheda, of Mr Katwal but found nothing incriminating there. Mr Atwal left for Hamirpur last evening. Before leaving for Hamirpur, while talking to reporters, he said so far as he was concerned, he had not committed any irregularity and whatever had been done in the SSSB was as per the rules and norms fixed by the board. When asked why the question papers of various examinations conducted by the board were put to fire, he said it was a decision of all board members and the applicants could file any objection or file any appeal in the court within one month of the declaration of the result. The board decided to maintain the entire record pertaining to the selection process for three months and thereafter it was destroyed. The matter was raised in various courts and no court ever objected to or issued any guideline for maintaining the recruitment record for more than three months. He said that he had full faith in the Himachal judiciary. |
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Ravi upstream hydel projects mooted Chamba, March 14 Mr Mahajan said that though infrastructures of 231-MW Chamera project (Stage-III) had been making headway yet he would take up the issue with the Chief Minister for its early execution. He would also request the Chief Minister to hold a meeting with the senior officers of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), Mr Mahajan added. Mr Mahajan said that to start with, 26-km of road from Bagga to Khadamukh within the project area would be widened and a bridge over the Ravi would be constructed. The project was likely to cost Rs 1500 crore. |
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1,500 pharmacists to be recruited Chamba, March 14 Stating this here today, Mr Harsh Mahajan, Minister for Animal Husbandry and Fisheries, said the present structures of both these departments would be revamped and given a new lease of life. He said these efforts would improve the breed and health of the livestock. |
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Baba Balak Nath mela begins Deotsidh (Hamirpur), March 14 Mahant Shiv Gir of the temple did not attend the ceremony as he said he was displeased over the way the temple was being managed by a government trust. |
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NIT teachers go on
strike Hamirpur, March 14 |
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