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Friday,
July 25, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Furniture
at cost of arms HP to set
up wakf board Cloudburst
victims get relief Karmapa
may get nod to visit Sikkim |
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Give
Cabinet berth to Raghu Raj: Congmen Junior
assistant held for taking bribe
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Furniture
at cost of arms Chandigarh, July 24 Terming the diversion of funds as “unauthorised” the latest Comptroller and Auditor General report for Himachal Pradesh, released for the year 2001-02, shows that an amount of Rs 47.70 lakh was diverted out of Rs 11.76 crore, sanctioned under modernisation of State Police Forces and Security Related Expenditure
(SRE). This diverted money had been spent on buying furniture, computers, installation of EPABX and repair of wireless equipment, not covered under the scheme. The Director-General of Police, in his reply had stated that diversion of funds had been done with the prior approval of the state government. “The reply is not tenable as prior approval of Government of India for diversion of funds was a must in this case,” says the CAG report. The audit remarks in this regard assume greater significance as the report also gives details of the shortage of various arms and ammunition, including
stengun, AK-47, revolver, pistol and light machine guns faced by the state police department. “Deficiency of arms and ammunition has an adverse affect on the functioning of the police personnel,” says the report. Since 1988, the Chamba area of Himachal, which shares a boundary of over 200 km with J and K, has been witnessing stray terrorist attacks. The militants have frequently been using the Kehar, Tissa and Khairi area of Chamba as a safe haven, whenever security forces have mounted pressure in J and K. It was on the night of August 2,1998, that the worst carnage took place at Kalaban-Satrundi in the Kehar area, when militants belonging to the Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit killed 35 innocent labourers. The audit report has also taken serious note of the delay in delivery of arms and ammunition worth Rs 1.35 crore, ordered from the Ordnance Factories at Tiruchirappalli (Tamil Nadu) and Khamaria (Jabalpur). Despite advance payment being made by the Commandant, 1st Battalion, Junga, in April 2001, the supplies had not been received till April, 2002. The department also failed to provide information about the stipulated period within which supplies were to be made by the manufacturers. The report, which makes mention of shortage in the stock of arms and ammunition with the state police, has remarked adversely on the purchase of 300 bombs, without requirement, resulting in blockage of funds. The Central Armoury at
Junga, purchased 300 bombs (2”- mortar) for Rs 4.74 lakh, meant exclusively for Chamba, from the ammunition factory at
Khadki, Pune. Checking of the records in the office of the Commandant, 1st Battalion, Junga, revealed that since Superintendent of Police, Chamba, had not asked for the bombs, and as such these had been lying unused at Junga, since March, 2001. The Chamba police already had a stock of 410 bombs with it, thus resulting in blocking of funds, as the bombs were procured without assessing the requirement. |
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HP to set up
wakf board Shimla, July 24 The proposal to have a separate wakf board was approved by the cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of Mr Virbhadra Singh, here today. The wakf property is looked after by the Punjab Wakf Board. Giving details of the cabinet decisions Ms Rajender Bhattacharya, Himachal Chief Secretary, said that it decided to continue the National Agriculture Insurance Scheme for Rabi, 2003-04. The scheme was compulsory for the farmers availing crop loans for insurable crops from the banks. Under the scheme subsidy on premium and losses beyond 100 per cent of pure risk shall be borne by the government. It covered maize, paddy and potato during kharif and wheat and barley during rabi. The cabinet gave approval for filling 100 posts of medical officer on contract for one year at the rate of Rs 12,000 per month on location-wise basis. The contractual appointment would not confer any right for the regular appointments. This would go a long way in meeting the shortage of doctors in interior areas. It also cleared the proposal to fill 181 posts of staff nurse on contract at the rate of Rs 7200 per month. The cabinet decided to implement Market Intervention Scheme for the procurement of processing-grade apple fruits at the rate of Rs 4 per kg for the year 2003. Procurement would commence from August 1 and continue up to November 15, 2003. In all 265 collection centres would be set up for procurement. The procurement under the scheme would be made only from the farmers. The procurement of apple would be done through HPMC and HIMFED. To meet the evapo-transportation losses, 2.5 per cent more fruit would be taken from the growers, she added. The cabinet approved monetary benefits of Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000 to the National and State awardee teachers respectively in lieu of extension in two years for National awardee and one year for state awardee in service after attaining the age of superannuation. It gave approval for providing government guarantee for raising a loan of Rs 214 crore by the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board (HPSEB) from the Power Finance Corporation for execution of Larji Hydel Electric Project. It also cleared proposal to avail loan from the Power Finance Corporation (PFC) for the renovation, modernisation and uprating of Hitachi Units at the Ganguwal Power House and Kotla Power House of the BBMB. As Himachal was a partner state in the BBMB and the Bhakra Nangal unit was a part of it was necessary to convey the consent of the state government for raising loan by BBMB from the PFC equivalent to 2.12 per cent power benefits share of the state government. The proposal was also covered under the power reforms programme. The cabinet approved creation of another unit of Regional Transport Officer (Flying) for the Transport Department with a view to have effective check on illegal plying of motor vehicles and evasion of transport related taxes. It was expected to increase the revenue by Rs 25 lakh per annum. |
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Cloudburst
victims get relief Kulu, July 24 He revealed that forest wealth worth Rs 4 crore and other infrastructure, including roads, bridges and buildings worth Rs 1 crore were damaged in the Pulia Nullah flash floods due to a cloudburst. He said the government would take the necessary action to restore the damaged property. Khimi Ram, the local BJP MLA from the Banjar constituency, on the other hand, ridiculed the Congress leader for giving two different versions of information regarding the loss of life and property. He said while the Chief Minister had denied any loss of property, his senior Cabinet Minister, Mr Kaul Singh, said yesterday that forest wealth worth Rs 4 crore had been damaged. |
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Karmapa
may get nod to visit Sikkim Dharamsala, July 24 Despite a raging controversy about the genuineness of 18-year-old Karmapa, he has been recognised as the head of the Kagyu Karma sect by the Dalai Lama, supreme temporal leader of Tibetan Buddhists. Another faction of the sect claims Trinlay Thaye Dorjee, residing in Kalimpong, West Bengal, to be the head of the sect. Fearing violence at the Rumtek monastery in Sikkim, the Centre had denied permission to Dorjee to visit his seat. The Karmapa, who left Tibet in 2000, has been living in the Gyuto Monastery complex at Sidhbari near here. There are restrictions on his movement and he cannot visit Sherabling near Baijnath , an important monastery of the sect . According to sources close to the Karmapa, a delegation of Buddhist organisations from Sikkim had recently met the security adviser to the Prime Minister, Mr Brajesh Mishra, in New Delhi and had emphasised the need for allowing the 17th Karmapa to take his seat at the Rumtek monastery in Sikkim. |
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Give Cabinet berth to Raghu Raj: Congmen Kumarhatti, July 24 A delegation of 18 person, including office-bearers of the Kasauli Constituency Congress Committee, Mahila and Yuva Congress and panchayat pradhans met Mr Virbhadra Singh in the morning at Shimla and apprised him of their pending demand to give representation to constituency in the state ministry. Mr Ramesh Chauhan, a senior Congress leader of Kasauli, who led the delegation said that the Chief Minister assured the delegation to induct Mr Raghu Raj in the ministry soon. |
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Junior assistant held for taking bribe Kangra, July 24 Mr G.D. Bhargava, SP, Vigilance, northern range, in a statement yesterday said that junior assistant Ramesh Chand was taking money from Ajay Kumar of Kot village in Una district for getting him passed in the re-evaluation in the papers of chemistry and physical education. Mr Bhargava disclosed that it was alleged that the accused junior assistant had accepted Rs 500 from Ajay Kumar as bribe for getting his unfair means case settled in his favour on July 13. |
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Miraculous
escape for 20 bus passengers Kumarhatti, July 24 According to information Kishen Chand driver of the bus lost control of the bus while negotiating a turn. The tree prevented the bus from rolling into a gorge. All passengers escaped unhurt. Mr Pankaj Singal, Regional Manager of the HRTC, Solan who reached the spot has suspended the driver. |
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Forum tells BSNL to
pay Rs 6500 Shimla, July 24 These orders were passed by Mr S.K. Chaudhary, when Mr Verma alleged that he applied for the shifting of telephone from Kunihar to Sanjauli on April 23, 2002 but the telephone was actually shifted on August 26, 2002, after four months, though the required fee was deposited on July 23, 2002. The complainant had been assured that the telephone would be shifted in 72 hours from the deposit of the fee. The forum held that BSNL had failed to provide service as per
commitment. The nigam was directed to compensate the subscriber in 45 days. |
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3 drowned in Sutlej Shimla, July 24 They have been identified as Nirm Singh, Khop Singh and Naginder. According to the police, the three had gone to Ogli to attend a marriage. The tragedy occurred when they went to have a wash to the river. While two of them were washed away by the swift current, the third was drowned when he jumped into the river to save them.
— TNS |
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