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Monday,
July 14, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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BJP to corner govt on Shivir issue BJP tells CM to set house in order Keep HP debacle in mind for poll agenda: Dhumal Rs 400
crore World Bank aid for roads |
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Katoch
denies hand in jail crash Govt
college cries for attention Chamba’s
green all set to turn gold SP fined
for not appearing in court Govt
urged to release Rs 6 crore to apple growers Three
die as vehicle falls into gorge 5 killed in mishaps 4.3 cr
for industrial area at Gwalthai Drinking water scheme for Dangoh Body against awarding contracts to outsiders Pradhan
booked Report
on buffaloes death ‘false’
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BJP to corner govt on Shivir issue Shimla, July 13 The BJP, which has been accusing the ruling party of misusing the state machinery for the event, would get ample opportunity to attack the government during the debate cut motions pertaining to demands of various departments. The Budget for 2003-04 was presented on June 26 and the House was adjourned on July 4 after the reply of the Chief Minister to the Budget discussion. The departmental committees of the House, which scrutinised the demands during the recess, had already submitted their reports. The Budget would be passed on July 16 after discussion on cut motions. The second half of the session was likely to be as lively as the first one during which the BJP members stalled the proceedings to delay the presentation of Budget for the first time in history of the Vidhan Sabha. Besides, it also staged walkouts on two occasions. The Budget of the state electricity board would also be presented and discussed in the House. |
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Cong claim on Pachmarhi II expenses contested Bilaspur, July 13 He told newsmen here today that about Rs 5 crore had been spent on this national conclave of the Congress. “The state exchequer bore the expenses,” he said. “The state Cabinet misused the government machinery for the party work by ignoring all rules. It was impossible to tell whether this was a party conference or a government-sponsored extravaganza,” he said. The BJP spokesman said paying for holding such an event was beyond the “Congress culture”. He even dared the Congress to come out with the details of the expenditure. |
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BJP tells CM to set house in order Shimla, July 13 Addressing a press conference here, he said the Congress, which had come to power on the promise of rooting out corruption, was actually encouraging it. Contracts were being awarded in violation of the norms of the PWD, Irrigation and Public Health Department, Excise and Taxation Department and the Housing board to oblige certain “favourites”. He said, works had been assigned to contractors in the PWD without inviting tenders. As per
the modus operandi the contracts were awarded in such a way that a single work order did not exceed the limit of Rs 50,000. The big contracts were broken into several small work orders to circumvent the
caudal formalities. Citing instances he said the state Handlooms and Handicraft Corporation had awarded a Rs 3-crore contract to a private company without inviting tenders for the supply of mat, furniture and other items for schools. The contract for the collection of entry fee at inter-state barriers had been given at a much lower rate. Last year the contract was given for Rs 14 crore for a period of 10 months whereas this year the amount was only Rs 12 crore for the whole year. He cited the example of Himachal Sadan building at Delhi where a contract running into lakhs of rupees had been awarded to plug leakage. He said it was new building and if there was a complaint of leakage on such a large scale, then an inquiry should have been conducted to fix the responsibility for the poor quality of construction. Similarly, the Irrigation and Public Health Department had awarded the contract for supply of water through tankers to those who did not have their own tankers. Mr Sharma, maintained that the Congress had misused the government machinery for the “Vichar Manthan Shivir” and that the mega event involved an expenditure in excess of Rs 5 crore. He said besides scores of official vehicles requisitioned by the general administration department, as many as 18 newly purchased buses of the state road transport corporation were used during the shivir. The services of officers, computers and fax machines of the public relations department were made use of at the media centre set up for the coverage of the “shivir”. He said it was high time that Mr Virbhadra Singh reined in his own ministers who were responsible for all these irregularities. |
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Keep HP debacle in mind for poll agenda: Dhumal Chandigarh, July 13 Former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has conveyed to the top leadership of the party that the twin issues are good for public mobilisation, but these have to be packaged in a manner that is different from what was done in case of Himachal Pradesh. This was revealed here today by Mr Dhumal while talking to Chandigarh Tribune on the sidelines of the three-day training camp for party MLAs from Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Punjab and Haryana. He said the leadership had been informed that the issues would attract a ‘misinformation campaign’ from the Opposition. Mr Dhumal’s campaign was to highlight party’s development record during the past five years under him in comparison to the entire span of the Congress rules in the state. The manifesto brought out by him had given a comparative data, but the party failed to win mandate on the issue. An inherent weakness in the development agenda was that development created an
insatiable hunger for more development and its equitable distribution with limited resources, he said. When reminded that he had attracted corruption charges from within the party, he said unfortunately certain people became part of the ‘misinformation campaign’ and they also had to pay the price in terms of fairing poorly in the Assembly elections. Talking about the training camp, he said it had been very useful in reorienting the elected representatives. About the spat between Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, he said the confusion over the issue had been cleared. |
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Rs 400 crore World Bank aid for roads Chamba, July 13 Mr Mahajan said this project would boost the development of roads in the state and generate a number of employment opportunities for the people of the state. Each MLA in the state had been allocated Rs 25 lakh to be spent in his constituency on various development works. The state planned to form sub-committees at the grass-root level to monitor development programmes so as to curb the misuse of funds. The minister alleged that the previous government had nurtured corruption at all levels and irregularities in various departments were now being exposed. He also blamed the previous government for keeping 26,000 pension cases pending, which he said would be disposed of soon. The state government has also decided to fill 3,000 posts in various departments in Chamba district shortly. Besides, 136 institutions related to health and education would be opened soon in Chamba. Earlier, Dr
S.K. Katoch, Deputy Director of the Agriculture Department, said the department had given high-yielding varieties of cereals, pulses, oil seeds and vegetables to farmers of Chamba district under a Centrally sponsored scheme. Besides, 4,441 mt of fertilisers, 8,000 improved implements, machinery and equipment had also been made available to farmers. Mr Harsh Mahajan also gave away special kits to local progressive farmers. |
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Katoch denies hand in jail crash Hamirpur, July 13 He told a group of reporters here today that he was surprised to know that he was being accused of opening the prison locks when some leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party had entered the jail on July 8. “I was eating lunch at that time and I was informed about the arrival of the BJP leaders by one of the guards. I immediately reach the main gate, but by then, everyone had already entered the inner compound of the jail,” he said. He said that he would file a defamation case against the Chief Welfare Officer and others who had blamed him for the jail crash. He blamed the Chief Welfare Officer for the entire mess and said when he had asked the Chief Welfare Officer accompanying the BJP leaders inside the jail about what all was going on, he had said that it was all under the law. Mr Katoch said: “Whatever happened inside the jail on July 8 was painful, but it happened so suddenly that, I could not control things. All this transpired in the presence of many other senior officers. A number of jail employees who were with Mr Katoch then, when asked, said he had no role in the jail crash and everybody had been taken by surprise. However, Mr Prakash Chand Sharma, Chief Welfare Officer of Himachal Pradesh Prisons, dismissed the charge of Mr Katoch as wrong and contrary to the facts. He said orders for the opening of the prison doors had been issued by Mr Katoch himself, as no one else could issue such orders. Meanwhile, the Himachal Pradesh government has taken a serious note of the incident. It is sending one of its top police officers for investigating the episode. Reports are that the jail staff and others are upset over two incidents inside the Hamirpur jail within one week — the escape of Penu Ram, an undertrial, and the BJP leaders thronging the jail without permission. They want that an impartial inquiry into the episode. |
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Govt college cries for attention Nurpur, July 13 The previous government had failed to release drawing and disbursing powers to the college even after the end of its maiden academic session. These powers were “leased” by the government with the efforts of Panchayati Raj minister Sat Mahajan. At present, there are only three lecturers in
economics, Sanskrit and Hindi. The posts of the principal, administrative employee and lecturer in history, English and political science have been lying vacant. The students strength which was near 750 last year has reduced to 324 this year. They seeking admission to the science and commerce streams have been forced to Government Degree Colleges at Chuwari and Dehri which are far away from here. Government Arya Collage had become a poll issue during the Assembly elections five months ago. Mr Sat Mahajan, Congress candidate from the Nurpur Assembly constituency, had promised a full
fledged government college as his top priority. |
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Chamba’s green all set to turn gold Chamba, July 13 Mr H. S. Rana, Project Officer of the Rural Development Department said here today that the project had been especially designed for Chamba district and launched last year. Its goal was to revitalise the economy of the district. The Project Officer said the Bhandal Valley being the best-suited for the cultivation of cabbage had been identified for this purpose. Farmers of this pocket, who used to do conventional farming before this, had been motivated to switch over to growing cash crop using latest sowing techniques. Under the project, 900 self-help groups covering 9000 families in Chamba district were being formed. In the first phase, the self-help groups of the Bhandal Valley in Salooni tehsil of the district had undertaken the cultivation of a hybrid variety of ‘saint’ cabbage, the yield from which was expected to be huge. The seed of this hybrid ‘saint’ variety was distributed free of cost among members of the self-help groups. The seed had been procured from a private firm of New Delhi approved by the government. The ‘saint’ variety of cabbage, now richly growing in the Bhandal Valley and likely to be ready by the end of July, was set to yield a bumper crop. Lucrative prices await farmers in the market. For constantly monitoring the cultivation of this hybrid cabbage in the valley, the services of five top scientists from Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University, Palampur, had been requisitioned. |
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SP fined for not appearing in court Sundernagar, July 13 The Chief Judicial Magistrate has sent a copy of this order to the DGP, Himachal, with the direction to take action against the SP and issue directions to all police officials regarding summons and court orders. Mr Zaidi, the then SP, Nahan, was witness in a criminal case and was asked to appear before the court but he failed to do so. The court observed that the witness should be tried under Section 350, CrPC, and issued a notice to which no reply was filed. Once again the notice was sent through the DGP. This time the reply was filed but no cause was shown for his absence before the court. The court, in its four-page order, observed that the absence of the respondent from the court was intentional and he had no respect for the orders of the court and had misused his position as head of the district police by not receiving/returning the process issued to him by the court. |
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Govt urged to release Rs 6 crore to apple growers Shimla, July 13 The meeting also appointed Mr Vikas Thapta as the new president of Shimla district unit of
the federation. It also decided to present a memorandum to the President of India not to allow Indian forces to go to Iraq as it would mean succumbing to US pressure and the move did not have the sanction of the United Nations. Mr Panwar also said the agitation at the Uhl project would be intensified to fulfil the long-pending demands of the people, including proper compensation and rehabilitation of the
oustees. |
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Three die as vehicle falls into gorge Una, July 13 The tipper tractor was carrying pilgrims to Dharamsala Mahantan Dera. The accident occurred when the driver and two persons were parking the vehicle after the pilgrims got down. The pilgrims belonged to Mukerian village in Hoshiarpur district. Chanan Singh of Mukerian died on the spot. The driver of the vehicle, Onkar Singh, received minor injuries, while Baldev Singh who was sitting beside him was crushed under the vehicle. Villagers and police personnel were able to extricate Baldev Singh, who was injured seriously. Both the injured were admitted in a hospital in Chintpurni. |
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5 killed
in mishaps Shimla, July 13 An Armada jeep (HP-02-8922) rolled down over 100ft at Shwet Dhank from the
Rampur-Guara road near Rampur, about 130 km from here, last night. All four occupants of the Jeep were killed. They have been identified as Deepak Bahadur and Rishi Bahadur, both Nepali labourers, Nama Chand of Lalsa village and Vinod Kumar of
Manjhiali. The dependents of the four deceased were given Rs 10,000 as immediate relief. In the second accident Sunil Kumar, driver of a private truck (HP-09-1151) died when the vehicle fell into khud from the Cart road here near Lakkar Bazar. He lost the control of the vehicle while negotiating a steep gradient. |
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4.3 cr for
industrial area at Gwalthai Bilaspur, July 13 Addressing a large gathering of people at Nella, 90 km from here, after inaugurating a school building there last evening, the minister said 88 industrial plots had already been allotted. While at least three big industries would be set up there to generate employment for local youths and also to supplement the smaller units being set up there. Mr Thakur said this industrial area would help bring economic gains to this entire Changar area. He said the government had already spent Rs 44.42 lakh under the Prime Minister’s gram sampark sadak yojna, while the construction of the Kunlehadi link road would also be completed within this financial year. Mr Thakur also inaugurated a Rs 2 lakh primary school building at Samtehan and a Rs 6.50 lakh Civil Dispensary building at Tarsooh and declared that all vacant posts in schools and health centres were being filled on priority. |
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Drinking
water scheme for Dangoh Una, July 13 He criticised the BJP government for stopping the Gandhi Kutir Yojna which was meant for the poor people and said the Congress government had decided to launch the Rajiv Gandhi Awas Yojna during which 3150 houses would be constructed this year for the poor. He announced a grant of Rs 1.5 lakh for the construction of a hall in Dangoh High School. Earlier, he inaugurated a government primary school building worth Rs 1.07 lakh in Dourua village and on this occasion a local resident Thakur Raghubir Singh donated Rs 21,000 for the construction of a room. |
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Body against awarding contracts to outsiders Shimla, July 13 The association at its meeting at Kala Amb today said it was a matter of concern that government officials were awarding the works to contractors of neighbouring states at the cost of local contractors. As a result, nearly 950 registered contractors were without work and thousands of technicians were facing unemployment. Mr Satish Berry, president of the association, said contractors from Himachal Pradesh were not awarded works in Haryana, Punjab and other neighbouring states. As such, to safeguard their interest, the government should at least ensure that they were given a fair deal in their own state. A delegation of the association also met Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, and urged him to ensure that outsiders were not registered as contractors in the state. The association also sought 10 bighas for setting up a vocational training institute in Solan district. |
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Pradhan
booked Nurpur, July 13 Denying the allegation, the pradhan said he was being implicated in a false case under political pressure. Mr Surjeet Sharma, president of the BJP Nurpur Mandal, said it was political vendetta. |
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Report
on buffaloes death ‘false’ Chamba, July 13 He said a team of doctors had surveyed the affected belt but did not find the carcasses. However, he said veterinarians of the Himachal Pradesh Animal Husbandry Department had diagnosed the ailment of the buffaloes as “pneumonic pasteurellowsis”, that had affected several buffaloes in the Fazal Dhar area of the Kihar-Sanghni belt. The disease was curable, he said. Mr Mahajan said a team of veterinarians had visited the affected areas and the situation was under control. |
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Shimla
rail line cut off
Shimla, July 13 Two trains, which left Kalka and Shimla for downward and upward journeys, were stranded due to the mishap, the railway authorities said.
— PTI |
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Body found Nahan, July 13 The police said the body did not have injury marks. The body has been sent for a post-mortem examination. |
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One killed in accident Nahan, July 13 According to the police, the canter was on its way from Nerwa to Delhi. The conductor of the canter, Naresh Kumar, died on the spot while Kishan Singh, driver, received multiple injuries. The driver of the canter reportedly last control of the vehicle, resulting in the mishap. |
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