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Saturday,
May 24, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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BJP: ban pre-Budget
announcements HP grants subsidy to APIL
‘Cancel hydel project pact’ |
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Trip to Manali proves a nightmare Jawans on security duty denied wages Fund-starved varsity stops pension SC stays High Court
order on appointment Passengers robbed of Rs 12,000, 5 held Cash relief handed over to woman Social activist Padmanab dead Hit by train, cow lies unattended Check misuse of
water: minister
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BJP: ban pre-Budget
announcements Chamba, May 23 In a complaint lodged with the commission, the BJP has stated that the Budget session was yet to be convened and till then no announcement of any sort of development activity should be made. Talking to media persons here last evening, Mr Kishori Lal, a former Industries Minister and in charge of the BJP election campaign for the Bharmour Assembly constituency, charged the Chief Minister and his ministerial colleagues with misuse of government machinery for the elections and expressed apprehension of violation of the mode 1 code of conduct. Mr Kishori Lal flayed the government for the hike in bus fares. He criticised the appointment of 200 drivers and 150 conductors on a contract basis in the Himachal Road Transport Corporation and slammed the government for mass transfers of employees.
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HP grants subsidy to APIL Shimla, May 23 The decision was taken at a meeting of the state Cabinet held under the chairmanship of Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, here today. Giving details of the decision, Mrs Rajinder Bhattacharya, Chief Secretary, said the subsidy on the standard telescopic cartons would be given at the rate of Rs 10 per carton, while the rate would be Rs 5 per carton for the 10 kg Kulu carton. The subsidy on plum cartons and almond cartons would be given at the rate of Rs 1.50 and Re 1 per carton, respectively. The maximum limit of subsidy would be Rs 12,000 per orchard. The Cabinet also decided to grant subsidy on the transportation of geltus and “phatties” for making wooden packing cases from the neighbouring states. The rate of subsidy would be Rs 10 per quintal or Re 1 per standard box. The maximum limit would be Rs 1,000 per truck for the districts of Shimla, Kulu, Chamba, Mandi, Kinnaur and Lahaul-Spiti. The rate would be Rs 5 per quintal or 50 paise per box upto a maximum of Rs 500 per truck for Solan, Hamirpur, Sirmaur, Kangra, Una and Bilaspur districts. It also approved a proposal for the funding of road construction projects by the World Bank and decided to set up a committee headed by Principal Secretary, Finance, and having Secretaries of PWD, Planning and Excise and Taxation as members. It would give its report within four months in this regard. Another committee was set up under the chairmanship of Principal Secretary, PWD to work out the modalities to transfer the control of completed non-core roads to the Panchayat Raj institutions. The Cabinet also approved an amendment in the state minor minerals’ (concession) Rules to bring them in conformity with the Panchayat Act. A proposal to restore the jurisdiction of the state administrative tribunal over the local bodies, corporations and societies owned or controlled by the government was also approved. It also decided to release selection grade to the state administrative services officers. |
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‘Cancel hydel project pact’ Shimla, May 23 Representatives of two tribal bodies, the Pragramang Vikas Samiti, Tapri, and the Maheshwar Rajyagram Kalyan Samiti, Chholtu, met the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, here today. They told him that the project involved the construction of long tunnels under the hills which were extremely prone to landslides. The tunnel to be bored under Runag, Miru Ulah and Chagaon up to Wangtu, in particular, would threaten the existence of about a dozen villages with a population of over 5,000, they feared. These villages, they pointed out, were already facing problems due to frequent landslides. The hills could cave in if explosives were used for boring tunnels. The local people had suffered much due to the construction of the Baspa and Nathpa Jhakri projects. While numerous natural sources of water had dried up, a number of houses had developed cracks due to indiscriminate blasting, they informed him. Mr Shyam Sunder Negi, president of the vikas samiti, also said that the construction of hydel power project in the area had led to a sharp decline in the apple yield. The main reason for it was that the underground water channels had been disturbed due to blasting. The construction of another big project would only make things worse.
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Trip to Manali proves a nightmare Mandi, May 23 “They impounded the Tata Sumo and kept it at the office of the
RTO, Kulu. The Tata Indica was released after a few hours. All the money we had brought had been spent. Only Rs 1,700 was left in my pocket. We are languishing at the local Dasham Badshahi Gurdwara here. My one-year-old child is seriously ill and admitted to the local Zonal Hospital. We have pledged not to come to Himachal again,” said Mr Sehgal in a choked voice. Mr Sehgal said he had written to the Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court and the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh. He had also moved an application before the Sessions Judge here against the harassment being caused to the family which had come for holidaying in Manali, but could not reach there, thanks to the Transport Minister. Of late the Transport Minister is personally setting up nakas at different places in the state and challaning vehicles even as the state-owned HRTC is reeling under an accumulated loss of crores of rupees. A large number of tourists are alleging that they are being forced to pay heavy fines and they are paying these to avoid further harassment which may be caused to them by having to attend the courts. |
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Jawans on security duty denied wages Dharamsala, May 23 Immediately after takeover by the new government in March the job of security of the medical college and hospitals of the state was withdrawn from the private agency entrusted with the responsibility and Home Guards were employed for the job. According to Home Guard jawans, they have to perform round-the-clock duties in shifts and have been on the job for the past more than one and a half months. As per the government directions, a Home Guard jawan is paid Rs 75 per day as allowance for duty, but the failure of the authorities to pay the wages has put these jawans in dire straits. They blame the authorities for adopting an indifferent attitude in the matter. A woman jawan was in tears as she had no money to run her home. Home Guards officials are unable to make the payment as they have no budget for this. The hospital authorities also claim that due to lack of budgetary support, they are unable to meet the expenditure on the wages of Home Guards. The Medical Superintendent of Dr R.P.G. Medical College, Dr Suresh Sankhyan, said the hospital had no funds for payment of wages. He said the matter had been brought to the attention of senior officials in Shimla. |
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Fund-starved varsity stops pension Palampur, May 23 Dr Tej Partap, VC, here this morning, admitted that the university was facing a financial crunch, therefore, it was not in a position to release Rs 50 lakh annually to its pensioners. He said the state government had already imposed a drastic cut on the financial allocations to the university. He said the university had been receiving grants amounting to Rs 1.71 crore every month to pay salaries and pensions to its employees. He said till February the university had been receiving the grants to the tune of Rs 2.48 crore, which was reduced to Rs 2.20 crore in March and finally to Rs 1.71 crore in April. He said neither pensions were paid to employees nor GPF and CPF credited to their accounts. He said in such circumstances, the university could only afford to pay salaries to its staff. Dr Tej Partap said after the recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission, salaries of the staff had registered a manifold increase but the stage government had not released funds in the same ratio, therefore, the university had failed to meet the budget of salaries and pensions. He said about Rs 10 lakh HRA was payable to employees. Likewise, Rs 50 lakh was also payable to employees on account of additional dearness allowance. He said he had held a number of meetings with government officers on this issue, but without result. |
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SC stays High Court
order on appointment Shimla, May 23 While disposing of a public interest litigation, the high court, quashed the appointment of Mr S.S. Gupta on the ground that it was made without following the procedure. The petition was filed by an advocate in which it was alleged that the government had appointed Mr Gupta as Chairman of the commission without forming a selection committee. It was further alleged that Mr Gupta’s appointment without following procedure was void
abinitio. While deciding the PIL, the high court had quashed the appointment of Mr Gupta as chairman of the commission and burdened the state with a cost of Rs 10,000. Mr Gupta had challenged the decision of the high court in the Supreme Court, which stayed the implementation of the judgement of the high court.
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Passengers
robbed of Rs 12,000, 5 held Nurpur, May 23 Later, the Kangra police also arrested the remaining three identified as Kasturi Lal and Joginder Singh of Majhalta village and Pawan Kumar of Samalota village of Udhampur district. According to the police, the police station, Shahpur, got the information regarding the bus robbery at 2.25 a.m. The robbers had boarded the Manali-bound tourist bus from Jammu. Sitting near the driver’s cabin one of the robbers armed with a countrymade revolver reportedly overpowered the driver at Bhali village and forcibly took the bus to a nearby link road. They looted Rs 12,000 from the passengers. There were as many as 35 passengers in the bus. Those arrested have been identified as Raghubir Singh of Ramnagar and Varinder Singh of Katheelpura of Udhampur district in Jammu and Kashmir.
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Cash relief handed over to woman Hamirpur, May 23 Gayatri Devi immediately handed over the money to Mr Sharma, to deposit it in her bank account. The district administration had earlier given her Rs 2,000 as relief. The Tribune had highlighted the sad plight of Gayatri Devi’s family on Monday. Kanta Devi, daughter of Gayatri Devi, had lost her life after eating wild fruits of Behra, as she was not able to get foodgrains. |
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Social activist Padmanab dead Kangra, May 23 Shops in Mandir Bazaar remained closed today in mourning. The Trigarth Press Club held a condolence meeting here. Swami Virendrananda
Giri, national president of the Maath Mardfir Suraksha Committee, also mourned his death. His funeral was attended by a large number of people, including former Agriculture Minister Vidya Sagar and local MLA Surender
Kaku. |
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Hit by train, cow lies unattended Kumarhatti, May 23 Neither the Railway officials who are, perhaps, not aware of the incident nor the local residents have done anything to help this mute animal. People pass by the animal and curse the train but do little else. Some people offer water and food to wounded animal, but have failed to realise the trauma faced by the animal. This is not an isolated case of abandoned cows facing a tragic end. It has been noticed that a large number of unproductive, non breeding and aged cows that were abandoned by the farmers have made the town and its surrounding areas their home. The lack of efforts to control the growing presence of these abandoned animals has put the life of these stray animals to risk. Mr Kuldeep Singh, president of the HP Kisan Sabha, in a press note issued here today has urged social organisations to take note of these hapless animals in need of help.
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Check misuse of
water: minister Shimla, May 23 Presiding over a meeting of officers of various departments to take stock of the water crisis in Shimla, he said a permanent solution to the water crisis must be found. He said steps should be taken to check the misuse of water and leakage anywhere be plugged immediately. He said the work on the Rs 51-crore water supply for Solan would also be taken up soon.
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