 |
|
Thursday,
August 14, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
|
Efforts on to unite BJP factions in HP HP to seek more Central funds, forces Govt awaits report on MoUs Bid to abduct schoolgirl No more body
found at AN-12 crash site |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Body of another flashflood victim found Interns want end to harassment by Principal Pests kill Lahaul valley willows Single-window clearance for hydel projects Constable’s body still untraced, search on Transfer policy demanded Manch to launch
drive against multinationals Health officials lift Coke samples CITU activists
hold demonstration Two killed in accident at Chamba
|
|
Efforts
on to unite BJP factions in HP Hamirpur, August 13 BJP sources said today that Mr Chandel had hosted a dinner for Mr Dhumal at New Delhi during his recent visit there. Mr Suresh Bhardwaj and Mr Kripal Parmar, two Rajya Sabha members from state, also attended the dinner and held long discussions. Later, Mr Chandel visited Mr Dhumal’s residence at Samirpur early this week. Both leaders remained closeted for many hours. What transpired at the meeting was not known. However, insiders claimed that latest political situation in the state was the main issue during the meeting as well as the next Lok sabha elections. Mr Chandel had won the last Lok sabha election on party ticket from the Hamirpur seat. Mr Dhumal confirmed having a chance meeting with the Mr Chandel both at New Delhi and Samirpur (Hamirpur). He, however, refused to say any thing more on this issue. Meanwhile, there were reports that Mr Maheshwara Singh, MP from Mandi, may also meet Mr Dhumal soon. The youth brigade of the Mandi area was under the influence of Mr Dhumal. This group was pressing hard upon the Mandi MP to sort out differences with the former Chief Minister. There were also reports that the senior party leaders of the BJP and the Sangh parivar had also given strict instructions to the BJP leaders of the state to be united in view of coming Lok Sabha elections as every seat would matter so as to form the own government of the BJP at Center next time. The party had won three out of four seats from the state last time. Insiders claimed that a final meeting between the two top leaders of the state, Mr Dhumal and former Union Minister, Mr Shanta Kumar, would also take place in the coming days. |
|
HP to seek more Central funds, forces Shimla, August 13 Talking to newspersons, here today, the state Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, said terrorists were active on the other side of the border and to prevent the militancy from spilling over to the peaceful hill state, constant vigil was required on both sides of the border. He said it was imperative that the police force be modernised and additional funds were required for the purpose. He said he would take up the matter with the Union Home Ministry and request it to make available more companies of Central forces like the ITBP. He said the Centre had withdrawn some companies for elections in various states earlier, which were not sent back to the state. He said this in reference to the death of a constable in an encounter with militants in Buja Dhar area on Chamba-Doda border, four days ago. He said that the previous BJP government had failed to spend Rs 130 crore provided by the Centre under various schemes during the last financial year and it had diverted the funds to other activities made available for the modernisation of police. It was solely due to lack of political will and administrative inefficiency that the state had lagged behind in the implementation of the Centrally-sponsored schemes. He said he had requested the Centre not to relapse the money and release it to the state again. The state had assured the Centre that the funds would be duly utilised. Mr Virbhadra Singh said that he would also discuss the security-related issues with Mr Mufti Mohammed Syeed, Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, during the meeting of inter-state council to be held in Srinagar on August 27 and 28. The meeting was to be presided over by the Prime Minister, Mr A.B. Vajpayee. The Chief Minister maintained that no area of the state was being used as a hide-out by the militants but said that they could use the Doda region close to the state borders as a shelter. He said the area was mountainous with thick forest cover and difficult to guard. The terrorists could move easily without being noticed in thick fog. He said he would also take up the issue of quashing of the chargesheet issued by the state to Mr Diwakar Prasad, a senior IPS officer, who had proceeded on Central deputation without getting relieved. |
|
|
Govt awaits report on MoUs Kangra, August 13 Mr Kaul Singh Thakur, Irrigation and Public Health Minister, disclosed this during a meet-the-press programme organised by the Trigarth Press Club here today. He said the Virbhadra government was committed to provide safe drinking water to all villages in the state within three years. He said the government would strive to end corruption in the state. He said drinking water would be provided in all primary schools and hand pumps would be installed to provide drinking water in every village. He said 1,500 habitation had been identified in the state for providing drinking water during the current financial year. He said efforts were on to provide drinking water in Shimla from the Rs 81 crore Giri water supply scheme with financial assistance from the Central Government and other external agencies. He said Rs 384 crore would be spent on sewerage, irrigation, flood control and drinking water in the state this year against the Rs 331 crore spent last year. He assured that work under the sewer scheme in Kangra would start soon, for which Rs 1.10 crore had been allocated. Mr Surender Kaku, local MLA, and the Chairman, Other Backward Classes Financial Corporation, were also present on the occasion.
|
|
Bid to abduct schoolgirl Solan, August 13 Surbhi, who had been asked to go home in the morning after the teacher suspected her of being suffering from eye flu, refused to go with the stranger. Surbhi’s father said that the girl was then led to a secluded place in Chownk bazaar. However, the abductor, who had another accomplice, sensing trouble, fled from the site. Surbhi then reached home where she informed her parents of the incident. A complaint was lodged with the police, said her father, Mr Praveen Gupta, who blamed the school authorities for having sent the girl alone. He lamented that the principal of the school had tried to evade the responsibility by saying that the girl was directed to stay in the school and not go away.
— OC |
|
|
No more body
found at AN-12 crash site Kulu, August 13 Colonel Chauhan told this correspondent on the telephone that pieces of flesh, a foot, kit bags, clothes bearing Army numbers and tin pieces were found at the crash site. He aid he came back yesterday, though his team was still there to assist Army and IAF personnel. Asked whether the skeleton of Army jawan Beli Ram had been retrieved, Colonel Chauhan said no. Meanwhile, IAF Chetak helicopters, being used for the search, could not reach the glacier because of bad weather and returned to Saharanpur (Sarsawa) today.
|
|
|
Body of another flashflood victim found Manali, August 13 The body was later taken to Manali hospital for a post-mortem. As per a list of 39 persons, bodies of 31 victims had been recovered. |
|
|
Interns
want end to harassment by Principal Kangra, August 13 In a statement here yesterday the interns said that the intern doctors were being harassed by the college Principal Dr D.K. Gosh allegedly saying that they were not registered by the Medical Council contrary to the fact that the Punjab Medical Council had provisionally registered them and the receipts were submitted to him earlier. They alleged that the ineffective management during the MCI visit had jeopardised the career of 200 students and the interns as MCI team has raised 48 objections during the recent MCI inspection. They said that as the residential quarters for the interns were not constructed in the CHC Shahpur. They alleged that the Principal was not pursuing the problems of the students and internees saying “Govt has no interest in this college and is going to close it”. They alleged that 35 students were put under conduct probation by the Principal without any inquiry. Dr D.K. Gosh was not available for comments. Dr M.L. Sharma, Acting Principal of the College, yesterday said that all steps were being taken to sort out the problems being faced by the students and the interns. He said that the Secretary Health had assured that Community Health Centres connected with the college would be brought under the direct supervision of the Principal Dr R.P. Govt. Medical College which would help the college management to have the residential accommodation for the interns in these CHCs. Dr Sharma further said that they had been provided accommodation in a separate floor of the college hostel at Tanda. Dr Sharma said that college management was eager to provide transport facility to the interns plying between Tanda and Dharamsala. Regarding the Medical Council Registration of the interns Dr M.L. Sharma made it clear that it was a non-issue as they were working in different departments of the college and their registration has no role to play now. Sources said the college management was ready to withdraw the criminal case against four students registered in the Kangra police station under Section 3 of the Prevention to the damage of the Public Property Act to bridge gap between the students and the Principal Dr D.K. Gosh. |
|
Pests kill Lahaul valley willows
Shimla, August 13 The willow trees started degenerating rapidly five years ago and since then the experts have been stressing the need to plant fresh stock to keep the willow forest alive. The Himalayan Forest Research Institute (HFRI), which has been organising research on this problem, says that in the past decade the willows had started drying up and more than 3,000 salix tress have already dried up in the valley due to various pests. A team of scientists comprising pathologists, entomologists and ecologists of the HRFI had conducted study visits to the valley in different seasons to probe the drying up of the trees. In the report, submitted to the state Forest Department recently, it was said that though massive attack of aphids was the main cause of drying up of willows but global warming had increased their resistance to diseases and pest attacks. Other causes, highlighted in the report, are the monoculture practiced by the locals for planting willows, very old planting stocks, decrease in water flow, wrong choice of planting sites, improper silviculute techniques adopted during raising plantations, rise in temperature, melting of glaciers and decrease in snowfall. HFRI Director Surinder Kumar, who headed the team which carried out the study, said that the trees were raised in mid-eighties of the last century. The willow and poplar trees were planted along the kuhls (Irrigation channels) in different village of Lahaul valley in 1887-1890. Mr Kumar said that a study conducted by the scientists of the ISRO on the environmental changes at the higher altitudes, had sand that temperature increased from 6.2 degree celsius to 8.4 degrees between 1977 to 2001. — UNI
|
|
Single-window clearance for hydel projects Solan, August 13 The Power Minister, Mrs Vidya Stokes, who was here to inaugurate a 33/11kv substation at Kather, stated this while addressing mediapersons. She said a sum of Rs 20 crore had been provided by the Government of India for upgradation and voltage improvement in the state. Special emphasis would be given to strengthen power supply in the remote areas. With a view to cater to the growing requirements of the expanding industry in Solan, a substation of 200 MVA would soon be set up at Baddi. The HP power board Chief Engineer, Mr M.C. Pandey, speaking on the occasion, said that with the installation of this substation the existing transmission and distribution losses in Solan circle would be reduced from 15 per cent to 11 per cent. The Pradesh Congress Chief, Mrs Stokes, also participated in the ‘kranti jyoti yatra’ organised here today by the district Congress committee. She later addressed a meeting of the Congressmen at the local Congress bhawan which was attended by her loyalists while those owing allegiance to Virbhadra Singh preferred to stay away. When asked by mediapersons about it she said that she was not aware of the fact but added that she would seek a report into the matter from the District Congress Committee. |
|
Constable’s body still untraced, search on Chamba, August 13 On August 11 constable Mohinder Raj was killed in an encounter with the terrorists in Bujhladhar in the Bhalech area of Doda district in Jammu and Kashmir, adjacent to Tissa border sector of the district. Meanwhile, the Commandant of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) battalion deployed on the border in Chamba border hills, denied reports about any request made to the ITBP for help by the police party, including constable Mohinder Raj from Tissa Police Station, which had gone to investigate a case beyond Mangli outer check point (OCP) manned by the ITBP. He said that no one from the police party had sought help of the ITBP, and therefore, the question of any lapse on part of ITBP did not arise. |
|
Transfer
policy demanded Chamba, August 13 Welcoming the Chief Minister’s move on a transfer policy for government employees, Mr. Sat Pal Thakur, District President of the NCOs Federation said that the employees of certain difficult and tough alpine pockets of the state like Chamba should not be transferred to far flung corners of Lahaul-Spiti, Shimla, Kinnaur and Sirmaur as these areas were away from one end to the other. As a consequence, the employees had to suffer and face problems, Mr Thakur added. Mr Thakur requested the Chief Minister to take into consideration the interests of employees while formulating the transfer policy so that the employees could not be transferred to far-away stations from their families. He said this would boost morale of employees. |
|
Manch to launch
drive against multinationals Dharamsala, August 13 He said the Palampur unit of the manch would hold seminars and workshops to involve intellectuals and economists in the awareness campaign. |
|
|
Health
officials lift Coke samples Solan, August 13 The Chief Medical Officer, Dr Gulshan Narang, while confirming the Coca Cola samples were lifted today, described the exercise as routine practice. |
|
|
CITU activists
hold demonstration Shimla, August 13 Mr Kashmir Singh, general secretary of the state unit of the CITU, said the verdict would make the working class vulnerable to exploitation by employees. He appealed to all employers and workers organisations to join hands and fight to protect their rights.
|
|
|
Two killed in accident at Chamba
Chamba, August 13 The deceased were identified as Karam Chand (driver), and Laher Singh, owner of the jeep. The jeep was on its way from Ronukothi to Bharmour. Both the bodies have been handed over to their relatives after post-mortem. — UNI
|
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 123 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
