H I M A C H A L   P R A D E S H

No move to charge 25 pc extra for night bus services
Shimla, April 12
Mr G.S. Bali, Transport Minister, today clarified that no extra fare would be charged for the night and express bus services in the state after the 25 per cent hike in the basic fare.

Shanta Kumar not to leave party
Kangra, April 12
Former Union Minister Shanta Kumar said today that he had worked for the interest of the party and the country and would continue to do so. He stated this at Ladhwan village in Gangth constituency on his first arrival in Himachal after his resignation from the Union Cabinet.

Charges against BJP leaders to be probed
Dharamsala, April 12
The Himachal Revenue Minister, Mr Brij Behari Lal Butail, has said that complaints of corruption being levelled against some BJP leaders in the district, particularly those relating to revenue matters, will be investigated.

HVC for issue-based support to govt
Shimla, April 12
Mr Sukh Ram, president of the Himachal Vikas Congress has said that his party would maintain separate identity and extend issue-based support to the Virbhadra Singh government.

Himachal Day function
Shimla, April 12
The state-level Himachal Day function on April 15, will now be held at Dharamsala in Kangra instead of Rekong Peo in Kinnaur. Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, will preside over the function.

Appointment controversy takes new turn
Solan, April 12
In respect of recruitment of senior scientists at Composite Testing Laboratory at Kandaghat in Solan district Shalini Sood an aspirant for the post has claimed that her candidature was rejected at the screening stage for lack of three-year experience.

33 KV substation for Ropa Chehatigarh
Mandi April 12
Remote and backward areas of the state will be developed on priority basis under the backward areas sub-plan for which separate funds had been allocated in the Budget.

No move to charge 25 pc extra for night bus services
Tribune News Service

Shimla, April 12
Mr G.S. Bali, Transport Minister, today clarified that no extra fare would be charged for the night and express bus services in the state after the 25 per cent hike in the basic fare.

Addressing a press conference here, he said the government had only increased the fare and no decision had been taken to charge 25 per cent extra for the express and semi-deluxe bus services plying in the night. He said extra charges for these services were in force for the past several years but the state road transport corporation had stopped recovering the same from passengers in the face of stiff competition from private transporters. However, the notification issued in this regard was never withdrawn.

The confusion regarding extra charges was caused because the latest bus fare hike was notified in continuation with the earlier notification. He said a fresh notification would soon be issued.

He said while no extra fare would be charged for semi-deluxe bus services, the corporation would consider to reduce the additional fare for deluxe services. At present the passengers had to pay hundred per cent extra for deluxe services which, he felt, was on the higher side.

He said there was no proposal to discontinue bus services on uneconomical, unviable routes and a Cabinet sub-committee had been set up to look into the issue. He said the corporation was plying buses on 133 uneconomical routes. The sub-committee would suggest options for providing alternative mode of transportation like smaller Tata Sumo vehicles on low occupancy routes. He said the corporation was not a commercial unit and its main objective was to serve the people living in remote areas.

He said the government had no option but to increase fares to partially recover the operational costs which had gone up by 70 per cent due to rise in diesel prices and mounting wage bill.

Mr Bali said the hike would fetch an additional Rs 35 crore to the corporation annually and it would save Rs 10 crore by improving efficiency and curtailing wasteful expenditure. The accumulated losses of the corporation stood at Rs 312 crore till last year and the projected loss for the current financial year was Rs 100 crore.

Shanta Kumar not to leave party
Our Correspondent

Kangra, April 12
Former Union Minister Shanta Kumar said today that he had worked for the interest of the party and the country and would continue to do so.

He stated this at Ladhwan village in Gangth constituency on his first arrival in Himachal after his resignation from the Union Cabinet.

Mr Shanta Kumar said the BJP is my party which I organised from the gross-root level and I miss the party workers of those times now. “He further said,” I will not leave the party and those who expect me to leave the party were doing injustice to me” it is correct that talked to one of my friends in the party and asked him to protect my interest so that I am no shunted out from the basic membership of the party because I want to die within the party”, Mr Shanta Kumar disclosed.

He added whatever job was assigned to me by Mr Vajpayee, I did that honestly and sincerely.

He said that “on the occasion of the foundation day of the BJP I handed over the resignation to the Prime Minister along with a letter him for gave him chance to serve the poor and down-trodden of the country”.

Earlier Mr Shanta Kumar was received by Mr Duo Ram District BJP Chief, MLA Captain Atma Ram, Ramesh Dhuwala and a rebel BJP MLA Navin Dhiman besides other former Minister and MLAs. Former Transport Minister Krishen Kapoor, Vipin Parmar, Des Raj, Dulo Ram MLAs were also present at Lodhwan. Mr Rakesh Pathania, Ms Sarween Choudary, Ravinder Ravi all supporters of Prof Dhumal were absent.

Supporters of Mr Shanta Kumar raised slogans asking him to fight his opponents in the party. He pacified them calling upon them not to make his resignation issue.

He was received at Shahpur, Nagrota Bagwan and Gaggal and to Palampur. He was received by his family members at the Pathankot Railway station on his arrival.

NURPUR: Mr Shanta Kumar of Lok Sabha MP from Kangra parliamentary constituency has ruled out forming a regional political party.

He told mediapersons today at Pathankot railway station.

PALAMPUR: Mr Shanta Kumar, was accorded warm welcome here this afternoon, when he arrived here from New Delhi. BJP workers and residents of this town greeted him at his Hotel Yamni residence.

Several former Himachal ministers and MLAs loyal to Mr Shanta Kumar accompanied Mr Shanta Kumar from Pathankot to Palampur. BJP workers joined the procession at Jassor, Nurpur, Shahpur, Gaggal, Kangra, Nagrota Bagwan and Mator.

Charges against BJP leaders to be probed
Our Correspondent

Dharamsala, April 12
The Himachal Revenue Minister, Mr Brij Behari Lal Butail, has said that complaints of corruption being levelled against some BJP leaders in the district, particularly those relating to revenue matters, will be investigated. Speaking to mediapersons, he said people were coming forward with long lists of complaints of corruption by BJP minister, MLAs and other leaders, who allegedly fleeced poor people and charged them for every favour. He said in just five years, the BJP had tarnished the clean image of Himachal with corruption, which must be condemned.

The Revenue Minister said apart from corruption in the allotment of works, purchases and supplies during the past five years, there were complaints of illegal land transactions as well as benami deals in which some BJP leaders were involved. All such complaints were being examined so that the guilty were punished. He said the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, had categorically stated that the present government was committed to providing a clean and transparent administration with emphasis on providing jobs to the unemployed, and all efforts were being made to fulfil this commitment. Mr Butail alleged that the Dhumal government had bankrupted the state, which was under a debt of Rs 15,000 crore. He said former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal would have to explain how and where this money was spent as the impact on development was negligible and unemployment had touched an all-time high.

Alleging discrimination with Palampur, Mr Butail said factionalism during the BJP rule lead to this. He said Mr Dhumal, while setting a score with a former Union Minister, Mr Shanta Kumar, deliberately deprived Palampur of its due share in development. He said the Neogal hydel project and the Ropeway project were just two examples where works were not started though funds were available.

HVC for issue-based support to govt
Tribune News Service

Shimla, April 12
Mr Sukh Ram, president of the Himachal Vikas Congress (HVC) has said that his party would maintain separate identity and extend issue-based support to the Virbhadra Singh government.

Addressing a press conference here today, he said there was no truth in the reports that he was keen to join the Congress. He said such stories were being circulated in the media by his political opponents. He said his party would extend full cooperation to the Congress government to speed-up development in the state but oppose anti-people policies.

To a question he said there was no harm in imposing taxes or increasing bus fare to raise resources provided the income of the people also increased. This could be possible only by creating opportunities for employment. Providing government jobs to all was neither feasible nor desirable. He said he had opposed certain policies of the Dhumal government, a coalition partner, but the BJP ignored it and paid the price.

He said the resignation of Mr Shanta Kumar from the Union Cabinet was an internal matter of the BJP but the state was a loser in it. Mr Shanta Kumar had been holding important portfolios which could have helped the state accelerate implementation of water supply and irrigation schemes, besides the expansion of road network in village.

Himachal Day function
Tribune News Service

Shimla, April 12
The state-level Himachal Day function on April 15, will now be held at Dharamsala in Kangra instead of Rekong Peo in Kinnaur. Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, will preside over the function.

Mr Sat Mahajan, Rural Development Minister, Mr Chander Kumar, Forest Minister, Mrs Chandresh Kumari, Health Minister, Mr Brij Bihari Butail, Revenue Minister, Major Vijay Singh Mankotia, Tourism Minister and Mr G.S. Bali, Transport Minister, will also attend the function at Dharamsala.

Appointment controversy takes new turn
Our Correspondent

Solan, April 12
In respect of recruitment of senior scientists at Composite Testing Laboratory (CTL) at Kandaghat in Solan district Shalini Sood an aspirant for the post has claimed that her candidature was rejected at the screening stage for lack of three-year experience.

She said she had completed her postgraduation a year before Shallu Sharma (who has been selected) whose selection along with three other candidates has come under a cloud. It is intriguing that while the SSSB found the candidature of Shallu Sharma, who had got her two-year research experience of M.Sc from the Dr Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry taken into account, eligible for the post. The candidature of Shalini Sood was cancelled due to lack of experience. Shalini Sood was sent a letter (No. HPSSSB-B(2) 101/99-IV) of August 27, 2001 by the board cancelling her candidature. The letter may act as an important exhibit since all documents submitted to the SSSB have been destroyed following traditions of the board to destroy the records within 90 days.

The state Vigilance Department has already initiated an inquiry to look into the four selections. Her father, Mr B.D. Sood, told The Tribune that his efforts to procure a similar experience certificate from her daughter’s university, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar proved futile as he was told that there was no such criteria where research was considered a separate experience by the university officials.

Shallu Sharma (who has been selected) has not only procured such an experience for two years but, Mr Sood alleged that another year’s experience procured by her from a pharmaceutical firm of 1998-1999 pertained to the period when she was learnt to be doing regular course of bachelor of education from a private college in Sundernagar. Shallu Sharma could not be contacted for comments.

Meanwhile, it was learnt that the Enforcement Wing of the state Vigilance Department had started investigations into the selection of four scientists appointed at CTL, Kandaghat and statements of various persons, including the scientist who had issued the experience certificate to Shallu Sharma, the Vice-Chancellor and other complainants were being recorded.

33 KV substation for Ropa Chehatigarh
Our Correspondent

Mandi April 12
Remote and backward areas of the state will be developed on priority basis under the backward areas sub-plan for which separate funds had been allocated in the Budget.

Disclosing this Irrigation and Public Health Minister Thakur Kaul Singh said at Batheri that Manwana-Batheri irrigation channel would be constructed in the remote area of Darang constituency at a cost of Rs 29.50 lakh.

He disclosed that a sum of Rs 5 lakh had been sanctioned for the repair of the lift irrigation scheme and added that he had given directions to make the scheme functional at the earliest.

Referring to the problem of low voltage in the Ropa Chehatigarh area the minister said a sum of Rs 35 lakh had been provided for setting up 33 kv substation.