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Tuesday,
July 1, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Budget anti-farmer, says Dhumal CM rules out Sukh Ram joining Cong No move to freeze DA in Himachal BJP seeks probe into lathi charge on MLAs Paper scam probe makes no headway |
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HP water crisis to
end soon: minister 8 Professors
retire; Rs 4.5 cr for varsity 10 injured in accidents Man gets life term for murder Lance Naik cremated Delimitation panel meetings on July 2, 3
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Budget anti-farmer, says Dhumal Shimla, June 30 Initiating the debate on the Budget in the Vidhan Sabha today he said the MoU had several clauses which would have serious financial implications for government institutions and employees and it was only appropriate that these were discussed in the House. He said the Congress had opposed the signing of MoU when in opposition and to have a consensus on the issue he had placed it before the House, which referred it to a select committee. He said by signing the MoU the fund starved state could get the reform linked grant of Rs 450 crore from the Centre. However, the MoU had clauses like freezing of grants, subsidies, introduction of contributory pension scheme and even ban on promotions besides downsizing of the administration. He said all these clauses affected the employees and as such the government must take employees into confidence before signing the MoU. Referring to the anti-farmer proposals he said the imposition of 4 per cent Sales Tax on fertilizer, increase in market fee and hike in the rate of Sale Tax on diesel would hit the poor farmers hard. The state mostly had small and marginal farmers, which required all support from the government. The BJP Government had scrapped Sale Tax on fertilizer and it was in favour of abolishing the market fee. He said the Congress had in its manifesto, promised to develop Dharamshala as winter capital but after coming to power it was backtracking on the issue. |
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CM rules out Sukh Ram joining Cong Mandi, June 30 Mr Virbhadra Singh, who had come here in connection with fourth death anniversary of former Congress president and minister, Chaudhary Piru Ram, at his native village Didaur near here made this statement when he was asked if it was true that the HVC chief was hobnobbing with the Congress and that he recently met him. He said many people keep meeting him. On the BJP’s hue and cry over the alleged lathi charge on BJP workers at the Ridge in Shimla, he said every one knew that no lathi charge was made. It did not behove the former Chief Minister to violate law and held demonstration at a prohibited place. The police had to whisk them away, he added. Ridiculing the protest march by BJP leaders Mr Virbhadra Singh said people of the state had already silenced their mouths. In response to another question the Chief Minister said he had modified the user-charge in hospitals to lessen the hardships of the poor and reverted to the position which existed on March 24, 1998. He said the government was committed to provide health facilities at their door-step to the people in rural areas. He announced that all those who had left the party in frustration in the recent Assembly elections would be brought back to the party’s fold. |
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No move to freeze DA in Himachal Shimla, June 30 During the debate on the state Budget, he said the government had always cleared its DA liability and there was no reason for anyone to presume otherwise. He said there had been a delay in the release of instalments during the tenure of the Dhumal government on more than one occasion, which was not unusual. He said the release of the instalments, due since January, was very much under consideration. Mr Virbhadra Singh also said Dharamsala would be developed as the second capital of the Himachal Pradesh. He said that the town had been developed as the winter capital. “The office of the state board of school education was shifted from Shimla to Dharamsala by my government and not by the BJP regime, as claimed by Mr Dhumal,” he said. Earlier, Mr Ravinder Ravi and Dr Rajiv Bindal of the BJP refused to ask their questions listed for the day in protest against the Speaker, Mr G.R. Musafir, disallowing their supplementaries. The trouble began when the Chief Minister was answering a question put by Mr Harsh Wardhan regarding the creation of new districts. Mr Ravinder Ravi wanted to ask a supplementary, but the Speaker said enough supplementaries had been asked and called his name for the next question. However, the BJP legislator insisted on asking his supplementaries, which the Speaker refused. Dr Rajiv Bindal also took the same stand when the Speaker called his name. At this, Mr Virbhadra Singh intervened and said the behaviour of the BJP legislators was objectionable and their threatening posture against the chair was disgusting. He said they were trying to hold the House to ransom. At this, Dr Bindal resumed his seat and put no question. The speaker also refused to entertain adjournment motions that Mr I.D. Dhiman and Mr jai Ram Thakur tried to bring on the lathi charge on the BJP workers. He said such motions were not allowed during the debate on the Budget and the Governor’s address. |
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BJP seeks probe into lathi charge on MLAs Chamba, June 30 Talking to mediapersons at Chamba today, Mr Kishori Lal, a senior BJP leader and former Industries Minister, described the Shimla episode as the “black day”. He criticised the Congress government for suspending 18 MLAs including 16 BJP MLAs, Mr Mohinder Singh of the Himachal Pradesh Loktantrik Morcha, and Mr Naveen Dhiman, Independent, on an adjournment motion with regard to the constant “mass transfers” and anti-development attitude of the ruling Congress government. Mr Lal said the tax imposed on cement, diesel and 85 per cent increase in bus fare had put a great burden on the masses as a whole and the students in particular. |
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Paper scam probe makes no headway Shimla, June 30 In fact, Dr Sharma even refused to answer certain queries of the department on the plea that the university was an autonomous body and only the Governor, who is also the Chancellor, was competent to make such inquiries. Mr Vishnu Sadashiv Kokje, Governor, has also written to the government on the issue and enquired under what provisions the probe is being conducted and whether his permission is required or not. The government is now seeking legal opinion on the matter which means the preliminary inquiry will be delayed. The Vigilance Department maintains that it is competent to probe the irregularities in the university as its jurisdiction covers all institutions funded by the government. Further, the inquiry is being conducted under Section 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption act and all functionaries are covered under the definition of public servant. As such, the department can straightaway register a case and start investigation. There is no provision for a preliminary inquiry before the registration of a case but the department follows this practice to save the officials from unnecessary harassment. A case is registered only if there is substance in the complaint and prima facie a case is made out. On the other hand, under the Himachal Pradesh University Act, permission of the chancellor is required in such matters pertaining to the university. However, there is also a view that the Chancellor’s permission is essential only for inquiries ordered under the university act. No such permission was required for inquiries conducted under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The defiant attitude of the vice-chancellor notwithstanding, the government does not want any confrontation on the issue as the Chancellor is also involved. It will follow the course strictly on the basis of legal opinion. In case permission of the chancellor is required at any stage, the government will act accordingly, a senior officer says. In case of gazetted officers, the Vigilance Department has been normally seeking approval of the government for conducting regular inquiries, registration of cases and prosecution sanction. The Supreme Court has held that no such permission is required for the registration of cases and conducting inquiries against even the gazetted officers. The future course of action will now depend on the legal opinion and the probe will then make any headway. Besides the question paper scam, the department is also looking into irregularities in the purchase of computers, appointment of teaching and non-teaching staff and hiring of the house of the son of Dr Suraj Bhan, a former Governor, at Panchkula without any requirement. The alleged scams in the university have been a major election issue and the Congress has promised to hold inquiries. All student organisations, including the
SFI, the ABVP and the NSUI, have also been demanding CBI probes into various scams. |
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HP water crisis to
end soon: minister Palampur, June 30 He said despite the fact that over 85 per cent villages in the state had been provided potable drinking water, the state was facing on acute shortage of water. To meet this challenge, the state government had planned that by March, 2004, all villages would be provided potable drinking water. Speaking to reporters here, he said of the total 45,367 villages in the state, only 574 were without potable drinking water. He said to cover these villages the state government planned to spend over Rs 150 crore under a time-bound project by the end of March, 2004. For this project, there would no shortage of funds . Over 8,000 villages in state were getting inadequate supply of drinking water. Therefore, the schemes in these village immediately needed augmentation of the set-up. The minister said all executive engineers had been told to visit the water shortage-prone areas and seek assistance from the local bodies and panchayats in this regard. He said the district administration had also been cautioned and tankers would be pressed into service to provide water. The IPH Department had been asked to launch a programme to repair, make functional all defective hand pumps and restore all traditional water sources in the state. He
said the government had decided to lay more stress on the gravity
water supply schemes. This had been planned to reduce electricity
bills. At present the state was paying Rs 65 crore annually to the
HPSEB on account of electricity charges of the lift water supply
schemes. |
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8 Professors
retire; Rs 4.5 cr for varsity Shimla, June 30 On the occasion, the Vice-Chancellor Prof S.D. Sharma, urged the retiring teachers to continue educating the common man. Prof Sharma said a teacher never retired and our vexed system would force the retired teachers to take up new responsibilities. All Deans, department heads, teachers and university employees were present there. The V-C said the UGC had given Rs 4.5 crore for the Xth plan of the university and the UGC Chairman, Prof Arun Nagrekar, had promised more assistance. He said he hoped that, with this assistance, research on the campus would get a boost. |
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10 injured in accidents Mandi, June 30 Six persons of a family were travelling from Ludhiana to Manali when their car collided with a tanker at Nagchala, 11 km from here, on the Kiratpur-Manali national highway. All of them have been admitted to the local Regional Hospital. A case has been registered. In another accident, a scooterist was seriously injured when a bus hit him 9 km from here. He has also been admitted to Regional Hospital. In two other accidents, Budhi Singh of Sadkhana village was hit by a private bus while a couple riding a scooter was seriously injured when a jeep hit the scooter. |
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Man gets life term for murder Chamba, June 30 The Sessions Judge sentenced Tek Chand to undergo imprisonment for life and fined Rs 5,000. In default of payment of fine, he was ordered to undergo a simple imprisonment for six months. Jaggu, a nephew of Lachho, on May 17,2000, had allegedly kidnapped the daughter of Tek Chand and married her in the court. This annoyed Tek Chand who on June 12, 2000, stabbed Lachho to death as, Jaggu was living with him, while he was going to the market. Tek Chand surrendered before the police the same evening. The Judge, however, acquitted Bachan Singh and Piyar Singh. |
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Lance Naik cremated Bilaspur, June 30 Hundreds of youths raised “Pakistan murdabad” and “we will crush terrorism” as slogans, as martyr’s pyre was lit. Baldev Thakur, SDM (Civil), and Kapil Sharma, ASP, alongwith other leaders and prominent persons of the area paid floral tributes. Nandlal leaves behind his wife Sunitadevi (23 years), sons Jaswinder Singh (three years) and Hemjeet (six months) and father, Nanakram. He joined the Army five years ago. |
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Delimitation panel meetings on July 2, 3 Shimla, June 30 The chairman of the commission, Justice Kuldeep Singh, and other members will arrive here on July 1. They will hold meetings with the nine associate members from the state, four MPs and five MLAs, to know their views regarding delimitation. |
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