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Sunday,
September 28, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Police on lookout for more job racketeers
Regulating construction where it is banned Govt for big airport at Sundernagar |
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7,000 stone crusher workers on verge of starvation Move to empower panchayats Vidhan Sabha
ethics panel formed INTACH to help preserve heritage Judge rejects reinvestigation of khair wood case Working women without a hostel
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Police on lookout for more job racketeers Hamirpur, September 27 Mr Jagir Singh was presented in a local court today and was remanded in police custody for further interrogation, according to an official spokesman. Meanwhile, the police interrogated all officers and the jawans of the Assam Rifles who were in the town since September 20 to recruit 200 persons from the state. A police team led by Mr Abhishek Trivedi, SP, personally supervised the entire operation. Mr Trivedi told The Tribune here this afternoon that nothing indiscriminate was found from the possession of officers and other staff of the Assam Rifles. The team would leave for Assam later this evening, he added. The names of all those who were conducting the, recruitment rally at Hamirpur had been noted down for further enquiries. He said all in the Assam Rifles denied their role in the job racket. Mr Trivedi said the police would interrogate the four persons who had given money to Jagir Singh for getting employment. He said the police was also verifying some facts from the diary of arrested person in which names of many officers and jawans of the Assam Rifles were written. When contacted, Col Manjeet Grewal, Recruitment officer of the Assam Rifles, denied the role of his officers and jawans for providing jobs to four persons of the state by charging money from them. He said this morning that the Army authorities helped the police in their interrogations. There are reports that 318 persons of the state have been selected for jobs in the Assam Rifles. These persons took part in the written examinations after they were cleared in the fitness tests. The Assam Rifles proposes to recruit 200 youth from this State of Himachal Pradesh. Central government agencies working in the state have also sent their reports to their superiors about the racket. These agencies have reportedly told their superiors that all was not well in the recruitment rally in the Assam Rifles. |
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Regulating construction where it is banned Solan, September 27 The locals who are resenting the move have decided to take up the matter with the Chief Minister. The Chail gram panchayat in a resolution has demanded the formation of a development board for which process was underway. A representation was made to the Deputy Commissioner here on Wednesday. With the enactment of SADA in December last year those undertaking construction are now to get building plans approved from the Town and Country Planning Department. Not only this they are also required to obtain a NOC from the TCP for getting power and water connections. While a reserve forest prohibits construction activity in the area the enforcement of SADA is a government approval for constructions. The fact that the state government has been pursuing this case for getting 25 bighas of Chail area denotified with the Central government, SADA comes as a surprise for the Forest Department. Officials of the Forest Department opine that after a Supreme Court rider prohibiting dereservation of a reserve forest the plea of the state government had virtually lost ground. They rue that they were involved in the SADA constitution by the TCP department. It was interesting that the 50 families who had been residing there for generations now have only possession rights over their property while the ownership lies with the government. These 50 families along with a number of government departments have offices there, including Education, Electricity, PWD, IPH and Tourism are also listed as encroachers. Officials of the TCP department, however, stated that SADA was a means to regulate constructions coming up especially on the outskirts of the town. Supporting it they said only four types of area are prohibited from the restrictions of their department. This included cantonment areas, Defence area, land falling under Railway administration and any department of the Central government where operational construction has been undertaken. They refuted the claim that the locals and forest officials were not informed about the process. The forest range official and the pradhans of nearby panchayats have been shown to be members of the SADA in the notification. |
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Govt for big airport at Sundernagar Shimla, September 27 Speaking at a function organised by Master of Tourism Students Association to mark World Tourism Day here, he said the state had three small airports at Kulu, Kangra and Shimla, where big aircraft could not land. He said to attract high-end tourists, a big airport for Boeing and other aircraft was essential. He said efforts must be made to break the monotony of the routine tourism by focusing on unexplored rural areas. He said promoting rural destinations would provide a refreshing change to tourists. He said the government had taken an initiative in this direction and Rs 50 lakh had been provided for developing a tourist village near Manali. He said the government had been promoting adventure sports like paragliding, heliskiing and river-rafting as an allied activity and the aim was to attract more tourists. The centenary of the Shimla-Kalka rail service, would be celebrated in a big way is November to give a boost to tourism during the lean period. The function also marked the conclusion of Tourism Week. The students also organised a heritage walk from Himachal Pradesh University to Vidhan Sabha and staged street plays to create awareness among the tourists and the local people about the disastrous impact of deforestation on the environment and the need to keep the hills green, clean and free from pollution. |
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7,000 stone crusher workers on verge of starvation Mandi, September, 27 Talking to mediapersons he said the plight of the crusher owners who had set up their units by taking huge loans from the financial institutions was pathetic as interest was mounting while the units had been rendered worthless. The worst-affected, he said, were about 7,000 daily wage labourers, who were on the verge of starvation. Besides this 1,500 tractors, 700 trucks and tippers of the crusher owners, 3,000 private trucks and about 5,000 tempoos engaged in the transportation of stones, grit etc had been rendered idle. Giving details of the loss suffered by the government he said the state electricity board was suffering daily loss of revenue from crushers to the tune of Rs 3.43 lakh. The mining department was bearing a daily loss of royalty of Rs 2.35 lakh. Mr Hazri said the construction of roads, buildings and power projects had been seriously affected. He also criticised the norms framed by the government and added that their retrospective implementation was illegal as at the time of setting up of crushers all legal requirements were fulfilled. He pointed out that the crushers on the highways which were subsequently declared national-highways should either be allowed to continue or adequate compensation and alternative land be given to them. |
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Move to empower panchayats Nurpur, September 27 Mr Mahajan said the government had also decided to issue identity cards to elected representatives of panchayati raj institutions. He added that the Deputy Commissioners, the subdivisional magistrates and district panchayat officers would issue identity cards to Zila Parishad members, Block Development Committees and panchayat pradhans and uppradhans. Mr Mahajan reiterated to curb irregularities in the panchayati raj institutions, the government had appointed Mr B.S. Negi, Deputy Secretary of the Panchayati Raj Department as ‘Vigilance Officer’ to inquire into complaints and recommend action against defaulters, he added. |
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Vidhan Sabha
ethics panel formed Shimla, September 27 The members of the committee are Mr Virbhadra Singh, Himachal Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal, leader of the BJP legislative group, Mr Kaul Singh, Mr Sukh Ram, Mr Ishwar Das, Mr Kuldeep Singh Pathania, Dr Biru Ram and Mr Raghubir Singh. The committee will prepare a code of conduct for legislators in relation to conduct, frame guidelines for privileges and status of members of the House and consider the cases of misconduct by them. |
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INTACH to help preserve heritage Chamba, September 27 Disclosing this in a fax message here today, Mrs Asha Kumari Himachal Education Minister who is also the State Convener of INTACH said that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to this effect was signed between the INTACH and the Himachal Government on September 10 through the Member Secretary of INTACH, Mr Ramesh Chandra and the Principal Secretary (Tourism, Culture, Town and Country Planning) to the Government of Himachal, Mr Ashok Thakur in the presence of Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh. Mrs Asha Kumari said that the MoU envisaged for the preservation of state heritage. A Joint Heritage Task Force with members from the Government and INTACH and other experts from different related fields would be set up. Mrs Asha Kumari said that the INTACH would assist in the formulation of Heritage Regulations for the towns, cities and sites. The INTACH would take up awareness creation and heritage communication activities with the help of schools and colleges and the local administrations. It would assist in the water harvesting and other natural heritage projects taken up by the state government, Mrs Asha Kumari informed. |
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Judge rejects reinvestigation of khair wood case Shimla, September 27 The court observed that all documents had come on record and even arguments had been completed and this was not the stage for reinvestigation of the case. The judge sought some clarifications from the defence counsel which could not be given as the original counsel of Mr Virbhadra Singh, Mr R.S. Cheema, was not present in the court today. The case was adjourned for October 18. |
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Working women without a hostel Chamba, September 27 At the moment, Chamba has no women’s hostel for working women in this region and the funds available under various schemes could be utilized for the welfare of women. The hostels other than working women’s hostel like tribal hostels and the hostels for the orphans and destitute need renovation. The Welfare Department is now faces an acute shortage of staff in the district. The cases of financial assistance to the poor for housing and the uplift and betterment of the poor had been pending due to lack of staff. |
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Shimla roads declared silence zones Shimla, September 27 As per the notification issued in this regard the silence zones include the portions of roads from AG Office to the Central Telegraph
Office, Mashobra view to the Ridge via Lakkar Bazar, Vidhan Sabha to Viceregal Lodge and Summer Hill, Cart road to Chalet Day School via the High Court, Oak Over to St Bede’s Chowk via Raj Bhavan. The order has come into force with immediate effect. |
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Lover ends life Kangra, September 27 Roshan Ali was depressed since both families had opposed the idea of the two being married. The post-mortem examination report has confirmed that the death occurred due to poisoning. After Ali’s brother said Ali had been forced to commit suicide, police registered a case under Sections 306 and 34 of the IPC, but has arrested no one so far. |
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Leopard terror in villages Mandi, September 27 Neha along with her mother was going to her room for sleeping on first floor of the house. The leopard, which was hiding behind the foodgrains box in the verandah of the first floor pounced on the child, but the mother saved Neha from the prowler. |
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