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Wednesday,
June 4, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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VC ducks queries on question papers
Dhumal seeks votes Fire damages phone network Parched Sulaha & Thural cry for water |
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Hydrams answer to HP irrigation woes Politicians responsible for eco-imbalance: Mehta HRTC concession for commuters Missing diamonds case:
two suspended Jhuggis destroyed in fire Interim bail
for Chadha Mitter Milan chief Nanda dead Probe detects irregularities Order on Katwal’s bail plea reserved
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VC ducks queries on question papers Shimla, June 3 The investigating officials have made it clear that they will take a serious note of his defiance and take up the matter with the government, so that, an appropriate action could be taken against him. The department had put 29 questions to Dr Sharma and he refused to answer most of these on the plea that the university was bound to maintain secrecy in matters like the printing of question papers. However, the department had kept this in mind in framing the questions. He was asked whether or not the press where question papers were printed had been changed after his taking over as Vice-Chancellor. He was only required to answer in the affirmative or negative, as the name of the press had not been asked. The query whether or not the proprietor of the press was related to him also had to be answered in “yes” or “no”, which would not have revealed any secret. What has amazed the investigating officials is that Dr Sharma chose not to tell if the expenditure on the printing of question papers had shot up from Rs 19 lakh to Rs 55 lakh. This information is shown in the accounts of the university and has nothing to do with matters of “secrecy”. His plea that only the Chancellor could seek this information has been rejected by the department, which says that it has jurisdiction over all boards and institutions owned or funded by the state government. Dr Sharma has also said that Dr Suraj Bhan, the then Chancellor, had, last year, instituted an inquiry into the matter by two retired Judges, who did not find anything wrong in the case. The Vigilance Department, however, says that any inquiry held earlier does not debar it from probing into the allegations. Moreover, the terms and reference of the inquiry do not pertain to the matters it has been probing. Dr Suraj Bhan, whose son’s property at Panchkula had been taken on rent by the university, was himself an “interested” party. The renting out of the property without any requirement is also under probe. The department is likely to seek permission from the government for registering a case against Dr Sharma. The case will be then forwarded to the Chancellor. |
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Seeks anticipatory bail Shimla, June 3 He has said that he is apprehending arrest in connection with the question-paper scam in the
university. He said the Chancellor of the university had got the matter probed and found nothing incriminating against him. |
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Schools sans drinking water Una, June 3 Parents of the schoolchildren complain that the Himachal Government is busy in
by-elections of the remaining three seats of the Himachal Vidhan Sabha and the Education Department of the state is not bothered about schoolchildren facing summer heat and shortage of water. According to information at some places schools have been told to close before 2 p.m. as drinking water was not available to children in the school. Due to heat wave and dry leaves, incidents of fire have increased in the district. Today, fire was reported from Chowki Maniar under the Bangana police station and
Badoh, 1 km from Gagret. |
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Dhumal seeks votes Shimla, June 3 Addressing party workers at Kaza in Spiti today, he said Mr Vajpayee had not only given funds but also sanctioned important projects, including the Rs 1,300 crore Rohtang tunnel project. He said the tunnel would provide an all-weather link to the Lahaul, Pangi and Leh areas, which remain cut-off for over seven months due to snow. He said the Congress had never been the benefactor of tribals and the BJP government had given 25 per cent higher wages to workers of the tribal areas. The Congress government, after assuming power, had taken several anti-people decisions, including 25 per cent hike in bus fare and the cancellation of a notification, vide which his government had opened new schools and other education institutions. |
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Fire damages phone network Solan, June 3 Asserting that telephone cables had been damaged over 20-25 km. He hoped that it would be rectified in four or five days. Additional staff had been pressed into service and men were working for 11-hours to restart telecommunication. No loss to the equipment was reported by Air Force authorities while forest officials said they were estimating the loss by the fire. Shimla: PTI adds: The forest fire in forests of Kasauli and Barog areas of Solan district had been brought under control. The telecommunication network which was disrupted had been restored and Air Force officers from Ambala had visited the affected area. The pine and chil forests become prone to fires in summer as dry pine needles covering the ground act as incendiary bombs and engulf forests. |
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Parched Sulaha & Thural cry for water Palampur, June 3 In the Sulaha area, Nora, Thalial, Bhadrol, Panyali, Coki Parmar Nagar, Kaluna and many other villages are without drinking water for the past one week. In other areas of Sulaha the residents have been receiving water only once in a day and that too only for half an hour. Nora village of this area is the worst-affected and the people there have come on the streets to lodge their protest against the shortage of water. Baba Hari Har Giri, a mahant of the local temple, told visiting mediapersons that there was no supply of water in the temple for the past 10 days. He said all his complaints to IPH authorities at Dheera and Thural had remained unattended. He held the IPH staff responsible for this crisis and alleged that they had failed to regulate the supply of water in the Sulaha area. In the Thural area, the sub-divisional headquarters at Jaisinghpur is also facing severe water shortage. All taps in this town have remained dry for the past one week. Long queues of people carrying buckets and pitchers can be seen in front of hand pumps and other natural water sources. Over 25 villages around Jaisinghpur town are also in the grip of severe water shortage. The water supply scheme to feed these village has failed to meet the requirements of the residents. The augmentation and overhauling of the existing water supply scheme is in progress but the work is going on a snail’s pace. Meanwhile, the supply of drinking water through tankers, as claimed by the administration, is confined only to a few villages whereas in Changer areas people are still waiting for the arrival of water tankers. Official sources told The Tribune that four water tankers had been pressed into service one each at Daroh and Dheera, and two at Lambagaon, to provide drinking water. Mr Ravinder Thakur, former minister and MLA from Thural, while talking to mediapersons, said here today that there was serious drinking water crisis in Thural and the administration had failed to meet the water requirements of the residents. He said in Changer areas the situation had gone from bad to worse as the residents were left with no alternative but to shift to low lying areas along with their animals. He said so far only two water tankers had been deployed in Thural as against the requirement of 10. |
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Hydrams answer to HP irrigation woes Shimla, June 3 Hydram is based on the principle of hydraulic ram. It works by using the momentum of a large flow of water under a small head to raise the level of a small quantity of water 25-30 times without burning fuel. This technique is cheaper than other irrigation methods. It requires minimum maintenance and saves recurring expenditure because no skilled labour is required to operate a hydram. Farmers with a little bit of training can handle this together. At present about 6 lakh hectares are under cultivation in the state and about 2 lakh hectares have been brought under irrigation. Out of this, 1.79 lakh hectares are under minor irrigation. Keeping in view the topography of the state, there are greater possibilities for the expansion of hydram technique for minor irrigation. The state government has given it special attention and chalked out a programme to install at least 500 hydrams in the state. It proposes to establish at least 100 hydrams in Shimla district alone at a cost of Rs 2.82 crore. Himurja, a Power Development Agency of the state, has been installing the hydrams, 72 of which have been installed in Shimla, Kulu, Mandi and Lahaul Spiti districts to irrigate 2,500 bighas. Out of these, 12 hydrams have been installed in the tribal areas of Spiti and 29 in Shimla district, which has helped formers grow cash crops. One hydram costs Rs 2.20 lakh and irrigates 30-45 bighas. India has sanctioned a pilot project to install 100 hydrams each in Shimla and Kulu districts. Besides, 500 hydrams, under the Swaran Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojna, would be installed by the Rural Development department in the state. Civil works like construction of storage tank and distribution channels will be done by the beneficiaries, who will also bear the project cost by raising loans and voluntary donations. The Deputy Commissioner would also suggest the schemes, under which, the funds for this purpose would be released in case of any difficulty in raising loans. |
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Politicians responsible for eco-imbalance: Mehta Dharamsala, June 3 Mr Mehta said greed had overtaken the need and natural resources were being destroyed at an alarming rate. He said the situation was more disturbing in the
Himalayan region where the ecology was being tampered with mercilessly, resulting in natural calamities at regular intervals. He said the entire northern region depended on the Himalayas, but the lack of political will and planning by bureaucrats was leading to an alarming situation in the area. Mr Mehta said the task of preserving the ecology could not be pursued without people’s participation and it was his endeavor to make the younger generation aware of the environment-related issues and motivate them to protect. He said the award money had provided him with an opportunity to set up a trust to work for the protection of the environment. Mr Mehta said climatic changes and water scarcity had become a regular feature all over the country. The degradation of forest cover was dangerous and must be controlled, he said adding that the foundation regularly organised awareness camps in different parts of the country to educate schoolchildren and younger generation on the issue. Mr Mehta said it was sad that political bosses lacked the will to implement the necessary laws to protect the environment. He stressed on the need for setting up of ecological security task force so that rules and legal orders were strictly implemented. Mr Mehta also advocated setting up of environment courts as suggested by the apex court. |
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HRTC concession for commuters Shimla, June 3 The decision is in fact partial roll back of the fare hike to provide relief to the people, particularly of rural areas who travel short distances. The income of the corporation, which was expected to increase by 19 per cent after the hike registered an increase of only 14 per cent, indicating decline in occupancy. Mr G.S. Bali, Himachal Transport Minister, said that the yellow card was being introduced to compete with private bus operators who were offering discount to commuters. He said the drive against tax evasion had paid off and the Transport Department had recovered over Rs 30 lakh as penalty from transporters for irregularities. The extent to which the operators had been indulging in tax evasion and other malpractices could be gauged from the fact that the more than 50 per cent of the buses checked were challaned for one offence or the other. He cautioned tourists not to travel by contract carriages, as these buses were not allowed to ply on regular routes. Most of them had not been issuing tickets to
passengers and as such in case of any mishap they would not be entitled to any compensation. Mr Bali said that fuel efficiency of the corporation buses had improved from 3.56 to 3.67 km to a litre of diesel which was quite near the target of 3.70 km per litre of diesel. He said the express buses connecting district headquarters and the state capital would have only two or three halts. Initially 30-seater buses would ply on these routes and if the occupancy was good bigger vehicles would replace these. |
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Missing diamonds case:
two suspended Chintpurni (Una), June 3 Those suspended included shrine’s ‘sevadar’Ashwani Kumar and temple guard Gian Chand. They were both suspended on the charges of dereliction of duty, Mr Sharma said. Meanwhile, efforts are on to trace the two missing black diamonds. It may be recalled that the loss was reported on the Sunday evening and a formal complaint was lodged at the Bharwain police post yesterday. The SDM said the diamond eyes were donated by a Delhi-based devotee, Mr Bhasin, about a year ago and that their cost was estimated at about Rs 1 lakh. Incidentally, he said Mr Bhasin was here the day the diamonds went missing. Mr Sharma said every night, all expensive jewellery, including the diamonds were removed from the idol in the presence of the temple officer and placed in a locker.
UNI |
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Jhuggis destroyed in fire Kulu, June 3 The cause of the fire, according to eyewitnesses, was sparking in the high tension electricity wire passing above these jhuggis. The fire spread quickly as the roofing over the jhuggis was of plastic or polythene sheets. The district administration arranged ration and blankets for the victims. Meanwhile, the HPSEB authorities denied that the fire was caused by sparking in the high tension electricity wire. One electricity wooden pole was also burnt in the fire. |
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Interim bail
for Chadha Hamirpur, June 3 Following a request of the prosecution to enable to adjourned the application of Vijay Kumar and Santosh Kumar, who are already in judicial custody till June 6. The judge also fixed June 6 as the date of hearing on the application of Surendra Kumar, an employee of the HP state Subordinate Selection Board. |
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Mitter Milan chief Nanda dead Hamirpur, June 3 Mr Nanda will be cremated tomorrow. Mr Nanda was instrumental in uniting the BJP dissidents under the banner of Mitter Milan. He was also trying to float a regional party in the state with help of BJP dissidents and had talks with former UP Chief Minister, Kalyan Singh in New Delhi recently. Leaders and workers of various political parties, religious and social organisations have mourned the death of Mr Nanda. Former Chief Minister and senior BJP leader, Prem Kumar Dhumal said that in death of Mr Nanda he had lost a good friend. |
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Probe detects irregularities Hamirpur, June 3 Sources in the government said here this evening that the two-member committee had also found many irregularities in the functioning of the previous management committee of the DAV college, Sujanpurtira which later was taken over by the government. Sources say that the government reportedly had decided to hold another probe by the Vigilance/Enforcement department. A decision to this effect would be taken after the Vidhan Sabha elections to three tribal areas were over. |
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Order on Katwal’s bail plea reserved Shimla, June 3 In his bail plea, Mr Katwal had claimed that he had been falsely implicated in the HPSSSB job scam case. |
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Cong captures Shillai Panchayat Samiti Nahan, June 3 |
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7-yr RI for raping minor Kulu, June 3 The girl was returning home from school when Mukesh took her to an orchard on the pretext that he needed help for carrying an apple sack.
OC |
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Industrial
unit gutted Una, June 3 Two fire engines from
Nangal and Una reached to control the fire. PTI |
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