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Minister got his caste changed in records: BJP Congress misleading people, says BJP Hydel projects, pollution deplete fish population, says study
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Assign Rampur project to power board: forum Manipur resident held, Army uniforms found Poor marketing plagues mushroom growth 7-year RI for raping cousin Undeterred, they prefer the roof Depts to have master plan Old woman
charred to death Shops of 35
chemists raided
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Minister got his caste changed in records: BJP Una, October 23 At a press conference here yesterday Balbir Choudhary who filed a complaint against Kuldeep Kumar on August 2002 alleging that he was
carpenter but obtained Schedule Caste certificate of a ‘Lohar’ for contesting Vidhan Sabha elections . He said that ‘Tarkhan’ was not a Schedule but ‘Lohar’ is one. He said that Kuldeep Kumar originally belongs to Majhin village of Dehra Tehsil of Kangra District. Mr Balbir Choudhary alleged that after becoming a minister Mr Kuldeep Kumar managed got revenue records at Kangra as ‘Lohar’. Now the Vigilance Department summoned him to Dharamsala and inquired from him about the record pertaining to his caste. He demanded a CBI inquiry in the matter. Mr Kuldeep Kumar told the Tribune that he had made a representation to the Deputy Commissioner Kangra at Dharamsala for the correction of his caste as he belongs to Lohar Caste. The Deputy Commissioner Kangra after inquiry corrected the record and during the inquiry it was found that the record of 1913-14 has been tampered with. The inquiry has not been ordered. |
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Congress misleading people, says BJP Shimla, October 23 Mr Ganesh Dut, party spokesman, said here today the credit for starting work on so many projects went to the Vajpayee government at the Centre and the Dhumal regime. He said the Congress had been responsible for the delay in tapping the state’s vast potential. It had been reviewing the agreements reached during the BJP rule on political considerations, he added. In 1993 it had rejected the Parbati project agreement signed by the Shanta government, as a result of which the project was delayed by about five years. He said the present exercise to review the MoUs and agreements was also part of delay tactics to deny credit to the BJP for its achievements in the hydel sector. |
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Hydel projects, pollution deplete fish Shimla, October 23 As per the study the changes projected by the construction of the project on the
limnology and fisheries of the river were not only ecological in nature but also obstructional and caused pollution. The impounding of the river and diversion of its water had restricted the movement of migratory fish species like trout and mahseer. Besides, it also led to the extermination of their feeding and breeding grounds. All this was affecting the fisheries in the river and tributaries. The fish population is depleting. Once teeming with mahseer, snow trout, cobitids and other fish, the streams like Suketi, Kansa and the stretch from Pandoh to Kunka Tal have hardly any fish now. Traditional fishermen who earned their livelihood from these streams have been rendered jobless. The situation, the study, points out, has become worse in recent years due to dumping of silt in khads, forming a thick matrix of muck all along the riverbed rendering it impossible for fish to lay eggs and feed on natural insect fauna. Habitat of trout fish that has suffered the most because of the ecological degradation caused the various river valley projects. It has decided to undertake detailed studies to formulate a plan for the rehabilitation of selected trout streams. One such study, funded by the centre, will be conducted in collaboration with the Zoology Department of the Panjab University. Stretches of trout streams to be taken up for restoration are Larji to Nagni in Tirthan, Barot to Lohardi in Lambadug, Larji to Ropa in Sainj, Barot to Kothi in Uhl and Holi to Hibra in Ravi. The observational studies will cover all hydrological and ecological parameters, whereas the remedial action will take care of aspects like silt removal, deepening and widening of river beds, creation of polls, riffles cascade, spawning and feed grounds and intensive seed stocking. An assessment of the carrying capacity of the streams will also be carried out. The objective is to revive selected stretches of trout streams as potential fishing sites to ensure plentiful catches says Mr Harsh Mahajan, Himachal Minister for Animal Husbandry and Fisheries. He said efforts were on to deal with the viral infection, which virtually wiped out trout from the state’s rivers over the past two years. The entire breeder stock had to be replaced and rivers would have to be stocked afresh as the Norwegian experts had recommended extermination of the fish which had survived the infection. He said it would take two years to stock the rivers. In all about two-lakh trout seeds were being imported which would be hatched and raised in six farms of the department. Some of the fingerlings would be given to farmers for rearing and rest would be utilised for stocking the river. The state will be in a position to produce 15 lakh tonne of trout in the next three years. |
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Assign Rampur project to power board: forum Shimla, October 23 Mr
R.L. Justa, convener of the forum, pointed out that in the past the best techno-economically viable projects like Malana Stage-I (86 MW) and Baspa Stage-II (300 MW) were allotted to the private sector. A detailed investigation of the Rampur project had been completed by the state electricity board and the estimated cost of the project at the December, 2000, price level worked out to Rs 1,400 crore. The generation cost would be Rs 1.80 per unit, almost 50 per cent of other projects. It would thus be appropriate and in the interests of the state to assign the project to the board, he said.
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Manipur resident held, Army uniforms found
Shimla, October 23 Shimla SP J.R. Thakur told UNI here today that the arrested person was nabbed by the Army yesterday and handed over to the police.He identified the arrested man as Sanjam Singh. Mr Thakur said that during the search of his flat in Goel
Apartments building in Boleauganj, Army uniforms of different ranks were
seized. Besides information about the Interpol and various other security agencies downloaded from his computer, was also found. He said the suspect also had information about the Al Qaida network. The police officer said that during preliminary questioning the arrested person revealed that he had collected all this information as he wanted to set-up a private detective agency. Sanjam claimed that he had come here in January this year and that his father was a former MLA in
Manipur, he added. Mr Thakur said that suspect's wife, too had been questioned but it was premature to ascertain whether Sanjam was on a spying
mission. He said that a team of police officials was being sent to Manipur to verify the facts.
— UNI |
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Poor marketing plagues mushroom growth
Solan, October 23 The main reason for doing this as farmers point out are lack of marketing
facilities, no support price for mushrooms coupled with the shortage of compost and seeds. Mushroom cultivation around this town began way back in 1960 and gradually this town became well known for producing good quality button mushroom’s that were sent to other states also. Button mushrooms came to Himachal Pradesh in the early eighties and were first sown in Chail and Kasauli and then the crop came here. However, farmers of the area have stopped cultivating mushroom’s. Besides the marketing problem farmers have also to deal with the ‘vet bubble’ fungal disease that deforms the mushroom and also stunts its
growth. The inclusion of mushroom growers in the income tax category has also hit the cultivation of this crop. Earlier, the
state government used to declare the procurement prices of the button mushrooms that were processed and marketed by the Himachal Pradesh, Processing and Marketing Corporation (HPMC).However as of now the Nafed unit at Jabali near here discontinued procuring and processing mushrooms that gave a blow to the farmers income. At present, commercial mushroom cultivation is undertaken in Solan, Shimla, Bilaspur, Sirmour, Kangra, Mandi, Kullu and Hamirpur districts. The state produces 3200 tonnes of mushrooms annually. While denying that mushroom cultivation was falling in the state, UNDP scientist at Chambaghat Dr Katla admitted that of the 2,000 trained mushroom growers, only 600 were actually producing the crop. The government is providing about 800 tonnes of compost every year to the growers and two new compost units were being set up in Kullu and Bajaura, he said. The farmers want the government should take effective steps to provide marketing facilities, besides providing other infrastructure to support the cash crop. Agricultural experts feel that the farmers depend too much on growers on the button mushroom, which constitutes only 35 per cent of the global production of mushroom, but is grown by more than 90 per cent by farmers in Himachal. Experts are of opinion that the government should take steps to popularise cultivation of oyster, black ear, shitake, paddy straw and other medicinal mushrooms.
—UNI |
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7-year RI for
raping cousin Solan, October 23 The local girl, who was a student of class XI, was lured by Kamal Dutt to flee to Nepal on December 29, 2001. Promising her an air trip to Saudi Arabia, he convinced her to leave home. The two went to Chandigarh, where he bought her clothes. They then spent the night at a hotel at Ambala, where Kamal raped her. He asked her to behave like his wife or else they would not be permitted entry into the airplane. From there they went to Nepal, where he not only raped her for a whole year, but also confined her to a room. It was in December 2002 that she got an opportunity to visit Kalka to pay obeisance at a temple. On the way, they spent a night at a sarai in Chandigarh, where she got the opportunity to call her parents and inform them of their following day’s plan to visit a Kalka temple. The Solan police nabbed them at the temple. |
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Undeterred, they prefer the roof PARWANOO: Undeterred by the accidents which take place almost everyday on the Kalka-Shimla national highway, mainly between Parwanoo and Solan, passengers continue to travel on the roofs of buses. This is common in the case of private buses being run on the national highway and link roads on violation of rules and regulations. Although the Kalka-Shimla national highway is prone to accidents, the transport authorities have failed to check ‘rooftop’ travelling and overloading in the buses. Many lives have been lost in accidents on these roads in the past year but still the overloading of buses is a common sight . Strict measures to check overloading and drunken driving were announced by the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) authorities although these were announced from time to time and after each major accident in the state, but nothing concrete was done in this regard. Drivers of HRTC also allow ‘rooftop’ travel generally on Bhaija-Patta road, Chaki Mor road and the link roads of Nalagarh, Baddi and
Barotiwala. As per the information, this is being done because the authorities and road inspectors are not able to check it on the link roads due to the difficult hilly terrain. Sources add that the tickets are not issued to passengers as they keep on boarding and getting down the buses after short distances. The sources added that the tractor-trailers and trucks carrying passengers is common and the authorities turn a blind eye to it. Some of the tractors being run on these roads are number plates, driver do not have licences and trailers do not comply with any specifications. |
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Depts to have master plan Chamba, October 23 Talking to mediapersons after presiding over a district-level Planning and Twenty-Point Programme Committee meeting here yesterday, Ms Asha Kumari said the development activities of each department would be based on the master plan. At the meeting, Rs 11.40 crore Backward Area Sub-Plan for the district had been approved. She said that non-plan budget had not been included in this.
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Old woman
charred to death Kulu, October 23 Police sources said that family members managed to save small children but the old woman could not be saved. District Fire Officer, Shaunkhala said the cause of the fire could not be ascertained. However, he said, that the fires these days happened due to the stacking of dry grass by the villagers for the ensuing winters. He said that the villagers had been advised to stack the grass in the open fields instead of near or inside the
houses.
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Shops of 35
chemists raided Kangra, October
23 District police chief S. Zahoor H. Zaidi said today that a large quantity of such drugs had been seized and the chemists had been asked to provide records of these drugs. Those who failed to provide the record of the drugs would be booked. Mr Zaidi said today’s raids followed the confession of Sagar Rana accused in the Reenu Sood murder case. |
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2 booked for
molesting 2 Scottish women Shimla, October 23 Mr Thakur said that the police had registered a case and was on the look out for the alleged culprits.
— UNI
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40 held for
gambling Kangra, October 23 District police chief S.Zahoor H. Zaidi today said that 20 persons were arrested at five different places under Nurpur police station. Four persons were arrested near Yol cantonment under Dharamsala police station while eight were arrested from the two places under Jawali police station and five were held under the local police station. |
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