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Thursday,
June 5, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Water
shortage in Jahoo It is a
BJP-Cong fight in Bharmour No guilty will be
spared: Virbhadra Dhumal woos Kinnaur voters Diamond
eyes of goddess recovered |
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Forest
fire: fund paucity hits relief HC gives
govt more time to amend rules Beware
of touts, Army warns aspirants M.C.
Mehta decries river-linking project Adventure
team reaches Kulu Mitter
Milan chief cremated West
can benefit from us: VC
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Water shortage in Jahoo Jahoo (Hamirpur), June 4 The state government coming to the rescue of the people has started supplying water by tankers. This water supply scheme was formulated two decades ago and it is the only water supply scheme of the state under the direct control of the local gram panchayat since its commissioning. This scheme caters to the need of all nine wards of the local gram panchayat with two wells in different parts of the town. Both these schemes had cost the gram panchayat Rs 20 lakh and the entire amount was spent by the panchayat from its funds. It has two motors of 10 and 20 horse power and these lift around 1.80 lakh litres of water everyday. Now half of the water is being lifted from both schemes. The gram panchayat charges Rs 20 per month from every household and the water is supplied direct from the main tank located near Haur village through gravity system. The discharge of the water has fallen too much. Despite this, it is meeting the needs of the local people. This scheme is located in the paddy fields on the right bank of the Ser khad. The khad has dried up these days due to dry conditions. Mr Prakash Chand, former Pradhan of the gram panchayat, is unhappy with the present and past functionaries of the gram panchayat for not maintaining it properly. According to him, the scheme suffered due to mis-management. He wants it to be taken over by the Irrigation-cum-Public Health Department of the state government for proper upkeep. When contacted, Mr. R.M. Sharma, Superintending Engineer (IPH) said that it was not possible for the department to take over the scheme as the state government was thinking to hand over all other water supply schemes of the state to the gram panchayats for maintenance and upkeep. Local people also want taking over of the scheme and sanctioning of funds by the state government for its strengthening. |
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Villagers
cry water Bilaspur, June 4 All requests of the residents and public representatives to the district administration and for providing drinking water tankers in these areas have fallen on deaf ears. Former Parliamentary Secretary and former District Congress president Sitaram Sharma told mediapersons here today that they had been getting nothing except” assurances” all this time. More than 4000 villagers were suffering, he said. |
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Tankers
deployed in Sulaha Palampur, June 4 Talking
to mediapersons here this morning, Mr K.C. Chaman, SDM, Palampur, said due to the rise in the temperature, a number of traditional water sources in these areas had gone dry with the result, the area had been facing a serious water shortage. He said the state was conversant with the situation. Officials had been submitting reports. Meanwhile, water shortage continued in many parts of Sulaha and Thural with many water supply schemes in the Changer valley becoming non-functional. |
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It is a BJP-Cong fight in Bharmour Bharmour (Chamba), June 4 Unlike 1998, when the survival of the BJP-HVC government depended on the poll results from the tribal seats of Bharmour, Kinnaur and Lahaul Spiti, the Congress this time has no such worries. Already having a comfortable majority, the stakes for the ruling party are not much, unlike the Dhumal regime which had a wafer-thin majority. While elections to 65 Assembly constituencies were held on February 26, the polling in Bharmour will be held on June 8. Having an electorate of 38,238 Bharmour, despite being in Chamba district, is part of the Mandi Parliamentary constituency. Despite the presence of five candidates in the fray, Bharmour is all set to witness a straight fight between Mr Thakur Singh Bhamouri of the Congress and Mr Tulsi Ram of the BJP. Apart from two Independent candidates, Mr Ram Prasad and Mr Jalam Singh, Himachal Vikas Congress (HVC) has fielded Mr Kartar Singh. With the tradition of the party in power, winning the tribal seats, the Congress too appears to be confident of wresting the seat from the BJP, who had won by a margin of 3824 votes. Like 1998, it is once again Mr Tulsi Ram and Mr Bharmouri, who are pitted against each other. Projecting Mr Bharmouri as a future minister, the Congress leaders try to reason out that since the Congress was in power, they could ensure uniform development of the area by giving mandate to the ruling party. The Congress leaders, including the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, have assured the people that the road connecting Holi in Bharmour and Uttrala in Baijnath would be constructed reducing the distance by almost 250 km. Terming the BJP as anti-people, the Congress is claiming that it has taken back the user charges imposed by them in hospitals. With the HVC candidate, Mr Kartar Singh, throwing his might behind the BJP candidate and seeking votes openly for the party, it has strengthened the position of Mr Tulsi Ram. On the other hand, the Congress is drawing strength form the fact that Mr Brahmanand, who was the party’s candidate in the 1993 polls and had campaigned for the BJP in 1998, has come back to the party fold. Apart from him, a local HVC leader and Zila Parishad member Mr Lalit Thakur, has also joined the Congress. The BJP on the other hand has been able to put the Congress on the defensive on the issue of cancellation of a college, regarding which a notification had been issued by the Dhumal regime. Clarifying its stand, the Congress is saying that it is not opposed to the opening of a college at Bharmour but the BJP had done it without any budgetary allocation. The BJP leaders like Mr Shanta Kumar, during canvassing are trying to drive home the point that despite the Congress being voted to power in the state, the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had continued his benevolence in giving liberal aid to the hill state. Having the advantage of being the party in power, Congress has a definite edge but the going is not all that easy, as expected. While Mr Bharmouri won on the Congress ticket in 1985 and as Independent in 1993, Mr Tulsi Ram won in 1990 and 1998 as BJP candidate. |
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No guilty will be
spared: Virbhadra Shimla, June 4 Addressing election meetings at Rarang and Rekong Peo in Kinnuar today he said the people of the state had given a massive mandate to the Congress for providing a clean, corruption-free, transparent and responsive administration. Corruption during the BJP-HVC regime was at its peak and the state had never witnessed such an environment before as the people of the hill state were simple, honest and hard working by nature. The Chief Minister, said soon after taking over the reins of the state he directed the investigating agencies to inquire into all the alleged cases of corruption thoroughly and collect sufficient evidence, which could stand by legal scrutiny to nail the culprits. He said no guilty, howsoever highly placed, would be spared. But, he added that his government would not indulge in witch hunting. Mr Virbhadra Singh said the election manifesto of the Congress had been adopted as a policy document of the government and necessary steps initiated to implement the same in letter and spirit. He said that the government was committed to fulfilling all the election promises and do its best to come up to the expectations of the people who voted it to power. Mr Virbhadra Singh said he was well aware of the problems of the tribal areas as he had himself represented the area in parliament four times. He said that the government would be putting all its efforts to strengthen the economy of tribal areas besides safeguarding their interests. Mr Rangila Ram Rao, Excise and Taxation Minister, said the previous government had mismanaged the finances of the state which brought it under a heavy debt of Rs 15,000 crore. |
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Dhumal woos Kinnaur voters Shimla, June 4 Addressing election meetings at Chango, Yanthang and Spillo in Kinnaur today, he said the Congress had made unemployment a major issue and promised to provide jobs to all. However, after assuming office, it had imposed a total ban on recruitment. Similarly, the notification for opening new schools, issued by the BJP government, was also cancelled. He said on other hand, his government had made functional all four schools and health institutions, opened without any budgetary provision by the outgoing Virbhadra Singh government in 1997. He said the government was continuous process and the Virbhadra Singh regime should have honoured the decisions taken by the previous government in the public interest. Besides this, the bus fare had been hiked by 25 per cent, making travelling by bus in the state more expensive, he said. |
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Diamond
eyes of goddess recovered
Chintpurni (Una), June 4 The eyes, which were donated by a New Delhi-based devotee about a year back, had been missing since last Sunday after the daily morning ritual of bathing the deity was performed. The matter was then reported to the district administration that led to the suspension of a priest of the shrine and a guard who were on duty when the diamonds went missing. A search team, led by the Una Deputy Commissioner (DC) and SP Satwant Kaur, found the diamond eyes lying in two separate donation boxes on the shrine premises. This was confirmed by the DC here today. The district administration had even sought the services of a team of architects and engineers from Chandigarh for digging up the drain in the shrine complex, just in case the eyes may have got washed away into the drain during the bathing ritual. Though there are still doubts of the authenticity of the two black diamonds, the DC had decided to get the stones verified from the donor who too was present in this town when the theft was reported to the police. The DC said the shrine’s administration was contemplating imposing some sort of a penalty on the three priests, who were performing the bathing ritual when the diamonds went missing.
UNI |
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Forest fire: fund paucity hits relief Solan, June 4 Meanwhile, smoke continued to emanate from various places in the forests in the district with no let-up in the intense heatwave. The Divisional Forest Officer, Solan Forest Division, Mr Alok Prem Nagar, said here today that though the staff were vigilant and maintaining a strict vigil over the sensitive areas, the adverse weather with temperatures soaring up to more than 350C and the humidity being less than 50 per cent increased the risk of forest fires. He said the paucity of funds had hit crucial operations like control burning. Only 80 hectares could be cleared with control burning as against the requirement of 1344 hectares in the division. The fact that more than one-third of the total area in the division comprises pine forests which spill inflammable needles in May and June increased the need for undertaking such vital operations. Also, only a stretch of 7 km fire lines could be cleansed as against the 50.5 km fire lines in the division. Lack of enough funds had also hampered the repair of guard huts which acted as crucial places for maintaining vigil over forest areas. Quite a few guard huts, including the one at Shalaghat, had become uninhabitable due to lack of repairs, he added. |
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HC gives govt more time to amend rules Shimla, June 4 The court passed the order on an application moved by the state government wherein it stated that it wanted to implement the directions of the apex court and had tendered an unconditional apology for not amending the rules, despite the fact that the high court had sent the proposal eight months ago in this regard. A public interest litigation petition had been filed, alleging that the government was not filling the posts of judicial officers since the past two years. |
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Beware of touts, Army warns aspirants Solan, June 4 Expressing concern over the matter, he said the public should shun such social elements and endeavour getting recruited by virtue of their talent which was the only merit the Army looked for. The Director, who is here on a recruitment rally, informed that the next recruitment rally for this year would be held from July 1 to 6 at Bilaspur for soldiers on general duty, clerks and technical posts. Another phase would be held in August at Rampur/Jhakhari for candidates of Kinnaur and Lahaul Spiti, he added. |
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M.C. Mehta decries
river-linking project Dharamsala, June 4 Talking to mediapersons here today, Mr Mehta said the Rs 5 lakh crore project to link the rivals would provide disastrous. “We failed to assess damages caused by big canal projects, which have rendered huge tracts of rich agricultural land waste. If such a huge project for linking rivers is undertaken, it would only result in scandals and scams”, he added. Mr Mehta said till date, more than Rs 600 crore had been spent on cleaning the Ganga, without any result. He said more than 300 towns situated on the banks of Ganga were adding toxics and other wastes to the river. Other rivers were also facing similar problems, but our policy markers had no intentions of solving these problem, responsible for water scarcity in the country, he added. He said a scheme for cleaning all rivers at the cost Rs 25,000 crore was bound to prove wasteful and demanded that the funds be instead spent on water harvesting. By spending a fraction of the funds planned for linking of rivers, water scarcity could be removed, Mr Mehta said. He said India was spending Rs 10,000 crore on flood management every year, but had not bothered to find a permanent solution to the problem. The country was facing floods and droughts due to ecological imbalance, he added. Mr Mehta said there was a need to set up autonomous organisations in states which had the power to take action in issues related environment degradation. He said there was a need for ecological security in the country and water and food security were linked to this. |
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Adventure
team reaches Kulu Kulu, June 4 Team leader Rajiv Prasher who is also District Transport Officer, Muktsar, told mediapersons here that the Muktsar-Khardungla 18380-foot motor cycle expedition carries a message of love and harmony, besides bringing awareness about female foeticide, polluting of rivers, female literacy, AIDS and national integration. Mr Namdev Singh Sidhu, vice-president of the society and Tehsildar, Elections said they would also bring about awareness among voters of the tribal areas where the elections are due on June 8 about their right to vote and the choice of an honest person to represent them. The other members of the expedition are Mr Pushpinder Singh and Mr Neel
Kanth. |
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Mitter
Milan chief cremated Hamirpur, June 4 The cremation was delayed due to the late arrival of two of his sons from Dubai. Mr Kamal Padha and Narendra
Thakur, Mitter Milan leaders, Mr Jagdish Verma, Pradhan of Nadaun mandal BJP, Mr Raghubir Singh, former Nadaun block samiti chief, Mr Sohan Singh, senior VHP leader and other activists of the BJP, the Congress and Mitter Milan attended the cremation. |
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West can benefit from us: VC Shimla, June 4 |
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