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Thursday,
July 24, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Advani, Joshi must resign, says Cong Ex-General blames commanders
for Fraud case against senior scientist Work on to tame Swan river |
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Rain continues to play havoc
in region Relief for cloudburst victims inadequate, says Dhumal Protest against bus fare hike Soldier cremated
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Advani, Joshi must resign, says Cong Shimla, July 23 The committee, which met here today under the chairpersonship of Mrs Vidya Stokes, passed a resolution criticising the Vajpayee government for blatantly hushing up sensitive cases and even manipulating the CBI to achieve this objective. Mr Advani and Dr Joshi should quit the cabinet and face trial in court. By another resolution the party condemned the dastardly attack on Vaishno Devi pilgrims at Katra and the Army camp in Akhnoor. While expressing concern over the increasing attacks on the Army, it blamed the NDA regime for jeopardising the country’s security. Even the army had become vulnerable to terrorist attacks. The BJP-led government had failed the country and the people in the fight against terrorism, the resolution said. The party mourned the death of the victims of the Puliah nullah cloudburst and also those who died in a road accident in Lahaul-Spiti. Mrs Stokes, PCC chief, told newsmen that the meeting was convened to take follow-up action on the “Shimla sankalp” and the speech delivered by Mrs Sonia Gandhi, Congress President, during the recent “vichar manthan shivir”. It was decided that conventions would be organised at the district level to apprise the party men of the new thrust areas of the party as reflected in the “Shimla sankalp” and the failures of the NDA regime. In the second phase such programmes would be held at the block level to educate the grassroots level workers who would, in turn, take the issues to the people. Replying to a question she said the PCC had not sent any fact-finding committee to the Puliah nullah. It was only meant to have an on-the-spot assessment of the requirement of the affected people so that the party could also contribute in mitigating their misery. She said the government had done an excellent job by organising prompt relief and rescue operations and there was no dispute over the death toll. The government had given the correct figures. She said the party had issued notices to members of the committees whose alleged statements caused confusion. She said the reports of differences over the death toll were a conspiracy to drive a wedge between the party and the government. The meeting was attended by Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, ministers, office-bearers of the PCC, presidents of the district Congress committees and heads of the front organisations. |
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Ex-General blames commanders
for Tanda attack Dharamsala, July 23 Talking to mediapersons at his residence in Dadh, near here, today, General Sharma said that the first attack in the morning could be termed as a surprise attack but the second one in which a Brigadier lost his life and senior Generals were injured, was due to the negligence of the local commanders. He said that it was the responsibility of the Commander of the camp to ensure that the entire area was secure before the visit of the Army Commander and Core Commander. General Sharma said that the roots of terrorism lie in Pakistan and the ISI had control over it. He said Pakistan had been training jehadis for the past 30 years and using them against India. He said while Indian troops are on a high alert for the past so many years without break, the Pakistani army is relaxing because the ISI is fighting for it through hired terrorists. He stressed the need for a decisive action to end such kind of warfare. |
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Fraud case against senior scientist Solan, July 23 The department which registered a case (no. 8/2003) about a forthnight ago is seeking clarification from the candidates regarding their experience certificates. A show-cause notice dated July 12 was issued to the four candidates - Ripudaman, Arvind Sharma, Munish Kumar and Shallu Sharma to explain their position within 15 days as to how their experience certificates had been procured. An enforcement official visited the institute on July 19 to seek clarification from
Munish, who had procured a certificate showing experience of working in a pharmaceutical firm for three years. Investigations conducted by the enforcement, however, showed that he had only served with the firm for one year and eleven months while rest of the experience was shown to be fake. It related to the period when he was serving as a teacher in a senior secondary school in Mandi district. It was also learnt that the officials found that experience shown by another candidate Arvind Sharma concerning Central Research Institute at Kasauli relating to involvement in drug analysis and not manufacture as was required. Further details were being investigated. The Director Health, Mr
K.D. Verma, stated that the department was awaiting replies from four candidates based on which appropriate action would be taken against the candidates. It is worth mentioning that the news regarding these four appointments made by the HP Subordinate Services Selection Board at Hamirpur was first highlighted by The Tribune in April following which the enforcement officials swung into action. |
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Work on to tame Swan river UNA: This district is situated on both banks of the Swan river, which originates from Joh-Marwari village near Daulatpur Chowk in Amb tehsil of Una district and flows through the mountainous valley of the district before joining the Sutlej near Anandpur Sahib in Punjab. As much as 65 km of the 85 km length of the Swan river falls in Himachal. There are 73 major tributaries of the Swan river. During floods, valuable agricultural land is either washed away or rendered unproductive due to sand. The Swan river has earned the name of “river of sorrow” as far as Una district is concerned. As many as 10,000 hectares of agricultural land is affected by floods in the river every year while nearly 2,000 hectares of fertile land is not being cultivated due to fear of floods. The estimated loss to land, crops and property is to the extent of about Rs 15 crore per year. Finally a Rs 106-crore Swan flood management project was cleared by the Central Government a few years ago. Out of the total outlay, Rs 91.64 crore was earmarked for engineering works i.e. for construction of 16.67 km of embankments on both banks of the Swan river, Rs 6.75 crore for fishery works in 500 hectares of land, Rs 2.80 crore for agricultural works in 300 hectares of land, Rs 1.53 crore for forestry works in 600 hectares of land and Rs 3.31 crore as a cost of environmental impact assessment. Under this project, it was proposed to construct earthen embankments on both sides of the river from Jhalera to Santoshgrah village in the first phase (16.67 km). By providing the above embankments, 1,000 hectares of land shall be reclaimed and 1260 hectare shall be saved from inundation during floods. As such 2260 hectares shall become available for use after completion of the first phase of this project. This project was started in 2000-01 with an outlay of Rs 2 crore. A sum Rs 11.50 crore had been spent on this project till now. A 5 km embankment from Jhalera towards Santoshgarh is complete on the left bank of the river while 2.5 km embankment is complete on the right side and work is on to complete the remaining 2.5 km. The S.E., Irrigation and Public Health, Una, said 6 km embankment on both sides would be completed by March next years. NABARD had so far sanctioned Rs 27 crore for this project. The state government has also approached Japan Bank for International Cooperation for a loan to complete the project so that the “river of sorrow” is converted into a “river of hope” for Una. |
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Rain continues to play havoc
in region Mandi, July 23 A 15-year-old boy, sitting on back seat of the scooter, was killed when a private bus hit the vehicle. The boy driving the scooter was injured. A body was found in a rivulet near Saulikhad, yesterday. The body has been identified as that of Satish of Kippar village in Mandi. A bottle of liquor and insecticide was found near the body. Meanwhile,
increscent rain in Jogindernagar subdivision has posted a threat to Gumma village, where Hindustan Salt Mines are located. The hill, on which the village is situated, has started sinking. Houses have developed cracks and the village has been reported as unsafe. Five
families have already abandoned their houses and left for safer places. Vice-president Gumma Panchayat Hem Raj holds the National Highway authorities responsible for widening the road without caring for the safety of the village. The authorities, he said, turned a deaf ear to requests of the panchayat for constructing retaining walls before the onset of the monsoon. The devastation caused in Gagal village in the Balh valley in this district on Sunday was due to reckless sand and grit mining on the Ghoridhar belt atop the village, said conservationist. |
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Relief for cloudburst victims inadequate, says Dhumal Shimla, July 23 He expressed dissatisfaction over the relief and rehabilitation work being carried out by the administration and said that the survivors whose huts had been washed away along with their belongings were facing all sorts of problems. Even drinking water was not available. They were also not in a position to cook and the administration should have at least organised a langar, but that was not done. He said besides migrant labourers some local persons also died in the cloudburst. The pradhans of local panchayats, Ms Indira Devi and Ms Usha Mahant, told the team that they were not satisfied with the pace of work. Most of the area was still cut off. Mr Dhumal said the government had failed to take adequate and prompt rehabilitation measures. He also distributed 200 blankets among affected families provided by the Hamirpur Sarv Hitkari Sabha and the Hamirpur Kalyan Sabha. |
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Protest against bus fare hike Palampur, July 23 Talking to mediapersons, Manjit Kumar, a leader of the Students Federation of India said the state government had done injustice with students studying in private colleges. He said if the government failed to withdraw the hike, the students would launch a state-wide agitation. Earlier a rally was also held where various student leaders criticised the state government for its failure to provide jobs to unemployed youths in the state . |
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Soldier cremated Nurpur, July 23 The body was brought at his native village, this afternoon. The cremation was held this evening with complete state honours. SDM N.K. Lath laid a wreath on behalf of the state government. Ashok Kumar was recruited in 21-Grenadiers in 2001 and is survived by parents and brothers. |
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