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Contracts awarded for hydel project HPU seals seized from institute Extend projects, demand scholars Off to USA on
educational programme Firecrackers’ display
disrupts traffic |
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State to create basic sports infrastructure
BJP flays power duty hike Rahi rejects charges on JBT examination Mr B.R. Rahi, Chairman of the HP school education board, today criticised the BJP for its allegations regarding the JBT entrance examination and its results. He said the fact that the results were out within a short time proved that the board was working efficiently. Para teachers to be appointed in upgraded schools Para teachers will also be appointed to fill vacant posts in the newly upgraded schools in the state. Woman gets 10-yr RI for carrying charas Sessions Judge V.K. Ahuja yesterday convicted Meena, a resident of Jari, in Kullu district, and sentenced her to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment and fined her Rs 1 lakh for possessing 2.6 kg charas. Nahan, October 24 Jaswant Singh, 25, an Army jawan, was found dead in Sirmour Guest House, near Mehlat, here today. According to police sources, the jawan, who belonged to Kolanwala Bhood village of Nahan tehsil, had come on a short leave and was scheduled to return by tomorrow. Chamba, October 24 The District Bar Association observed a “black day” today in protest against the alleged beating up of a local lawyer by police personnel here on Wednesday night. 
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Contracts awarded for hydel project Dalhousie, October 24 According to Mr Yogendra Prasad, Chairman and Managing Director of the NHPC, the contract for the dam and appurtenant works has been awarded to Gammon India at a cost of Rs 196.51 crore. The powerhouse and appurtenant works will be executed by Patel Engineering for Rs 100.20 crore. The project is to be executed on the Sewa river, a tributary of the Ravi. The project base camp is at Khairi in Chamba district. The construction work on access roads and infrastructural facilities for the project are already under way. The project envisages 48m- high concrete gravity dam at Catti village, a 10 km headrace tunnel and an underground powerhouse with three Units of 40 MW each at Mashka village. It will have a 780m tailrace tunnel. The Sewa river originates in the Sarthal hill range. Before
joining the Ravi at Khairi, it traverses 53 km downstream, where the NHPC has already
constructed the Chamera project of 540 MW on the left bank. The Sewa-II project of 120 MW is to be on the right bank across the Chamera Stage-I power station. The project is expected to generate 535.63 million units of power annually which would be supplied to the Northern Grid under the Central power
sharing formula. Besides, Jammu and Kashmir will get 12 per cent free power from this project. Completion of the project is expected in four years at an estimated cost of Rs 665.46 crore with a debt-equity ratio of 70.30 The equity support is being given by the Government of India and the balance will be arranged by the NHPC as a term loan. |
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HPU seals seized
from institute Hamirpur, October 24 Deot Disha Education had been getting youths of the state admitted to MBBS, BDS, B.Ed and M.Sc courses at various universities of the country after charging huge amount from them. The Jammu and Kashmir Police had recently arrested Joginder Sharma, one of the directors of the institution, at Jammu. He had gone there along with some aspirants to get admission in B.Ed course. Mr Madan Lal, DSP, told this correspondent here today that the raiding team confiscated the record of the organisation and also seized two fake seals of the Himachal Pradesh University from its office. He said the team of the J&K police raided the Mahre office of the Deot Disha Education after a case was registered with them by a group of youths from the district. He said a case under Sections 420, 468 and 471 of the IPC had already been registered against the institution. The raiding party also seized a fake seal of the Additional District Magistrate from the office of the institution. However, there was no official confirmation of the recovery of the seal. Sub-Inspector Harjinder Singh, the in-charge of the raiding party of the Jammu and Kashmir police told Mahre-based reporters after the raid that the institution had provided seats to 14 youths of Himachal Pradesh in B.Ed colleges in Jammu and Kashmir tampering with marks-sheets of the students to alter their marks |
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Extend projects, demand scholars Solan, October 24 The scholars, employed for 20 such projects worth Rs 6.2 crore of the Indian Council of Agriculture Research, are now apprehensive of losing their livelihood following the completion of these projects. The association of research scholars is trying to get these projects extended and has made a number of representations to the Governor, Mr
V.S.Kokje, who is also the Chancellor of the University, as well as the Chief Minister. Despite assurances from both of them, nothing concrete has been done to address the problem. There are about 80 PhDs serving on temporary basis in the university. The association has demanded the filling up of regular vacancies of assistant scientists, technical assistants and other cadres. Several such posts have been vacant for the past couple of years. The affected scholars have also urged the government to conduct regular recruitment in the Forest Department. The national coordinator of the NATP projects, Dr J.P. Mittal, at ICAR, New Delhi, told The Tribune the projects that had been awarded for a fixed period would be closed in phases and new projects would be granted instead. To a certain extent these would provide employment to the affected scholars, he said. Such projects had been granted to six other states with specific objectives. |
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Off to USA on
educational programme Subathu, October 24 The students will participate in a programme called “Cultural Bridges” which is an International Students Exchange Program (USA) organised with a mission of fostering dialogue and understanding among the world’s youth sponsored by the Santa Clarita Valley International Program, Academy of the Canyons High School, the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Clarita Valley, USA, and the California Institute of the Arts, Los Angeles. Ms Judy Belue and Mr Robert Geiman of the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Clarita have organised the programme which will continue till November 15. The programme entails residing with host American families, attending school with the host’s children, learning the art of film-making at the DAN and Universal Studios, Hollywood, and visiting various institutions and universities, including the UCLA and the NASA Air Force Base. The programme would provide the students and staff with an excitingly rich and motivating educational experience that would help in transforming the traditional teaching and learning process in the school educational system, Mr Singh said. Viewed in the light that youth represent the voice of contemporary society and the hope for the future, this exchange programme would also help to improve their personal communication skills and assist them in understanding the concept of global brotherhood. Not only would the students get to see the world from a new perspective but also get to understand the prospects and problems of advanced and developed countries compared to their own at this formative age. |
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Firecrackers’ display
disrupts traffic Solan, October 24 With the road already
being used for parking vehicles, the display of firecrackers now
allowed by the administration has added to the woes of the residents.
Vehicular traffic movement remained disrupted throughout the day. The
Superintendent of Police, Mr Abhishek Trivedi, while agreeing to the
traffic chaos created by the display of firecracker stalls, said they
could only instruct the motorists to abide by the timings while the
timings had to be fixed by the administration. He, however, added that
a mock exercise conducted by the police to ensure the safe passage, of
a fire-engine through the crowded road was conducted smoothly. The
commuters who had a tough time wading through the traffic opined that
traffic on the road should be suspended throughout the day till
Divali. |
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Steam engines to run on Kalka-Shimla track again Chandigarh, October 24 The reminiscent of the bygone era, when the steam locomotives reigned supreme on the Railways for over a century, will be run on various steam heritage circuits across the country identified by the Railways and the Ministry of Tourism. At the Amritsar steam locomotive shed, time is running out for the engineers to revive a German-made steam engine, ZF 107, built in 1934. The steam loco, taken off from active service from the Pathankot-Jogindernagar narrow rail section in the early seventies, would be the second steam engine to chug along the heritage Kalka-Shimla rail section which is celebrating its 100 years of existence next month, said Mr Ashwani
Lohani, Chief Motive Power Engineer (Diesel), Northern Railway and Chief Project Manager (Locomotives). The German engine has been brought from the Delhi Rail Museum. A British-made steam loco, KC 520, which has also been revived at the Amritsar
locomotive shed, is already stationed at Shimla station for the celebrations beginning on November 9 to mark the centenary of the Kalka-Shimla rail section. The 1906-built KC 520 was decommissioned from the Kalka-Shimla narrow gauge in 1971. It was brought back from the office of the Divisional Railways Manager
(DRM), Ambala. At the Rewari Heritage Locomotive Shed, which has been specifically revived for the repair of steam engines, at least six broad gauge steam locos, including WP 7200, WP 7015, WP 7161 and WL 1505, are being revived. Another broad gauge steam loco AWE 2207 is being revived at the Amritsar locomotive shed. Work is also on to put new life to another six-metre gauge steam locos at the Rewari shed. Mr Lohani said steam heritage had a tremendous potential to attract domestic and international tourists. To give a fillip to the rail tourism, the Ministry of Railways has decided to introduce steam locomotives on all hill tracks and some other tourism circuits. The Secretary of the Indian Steam Railways Society
(ISRS), Mr P.L. Singh, said the society had been making efforts to revive steam engine-run trains on heritage routes. He informed that the Ministry of Railways had plans to run steam engines, WP 7200 and WP 7015, on the Howrah-Bandel heritage section. A metre-gauge steam loco was also being revived to run on the Mysrore-Najangaud section. A WP 7161 engine was being revived at the Rewari shed to run between Agra and Fatehpur
Sikri. Efforts was on to revive steam runs on at Matheran-Mumbai section. Mr Lohani said the Railways was planning to revive steam-run locomotive on the Pathankot-Jogindernagar section. The Darjeeling Himalayan Railways and the Nilgiri Mountain Railways were still worked by steam motive power. |
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State to create basic sports infrastructure Shimla, October 24 Speaking at the conclusion of a volleyball championship organised by the local Environment and Sports Club at Kotkhai today, he said the cricket stadium at Dharamsala, when completed, would have facilities for international matches. He reiterated that paucity of funds would not be allowed to come in the way of development. He said development had come to a standstill during the tenure of the previous government. Instead of speeding up development work, it resorted to gimmicks like the regularisation of encroachments, Kisan Pass Books and the creation of districts to befool the people. As a result, the state suffered. He also charged the previous government with spreading regionalism. Mr Virbhadra Singh said the Theog-Rohru road would be improved to the National Highway standard. Three water supply schemes would be implemented in the area at a cost of Rs 3.40 crore. He said the requisite staff would also be provided at the Kotkhai hospital. Mr Rohit Thakur, MLA, urged the Chief Minister to take over the local DAV College. |
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State tops in
family health Shimla, October 24 An official communication from the foundation in this regard said that the state would be given a trophy in addition to a cash award of Rs 10 lakh at a function on November 7 in Delhi. The tribal district of Lahaul and Spiti was one of three districts selected as the best performing district in reproductive and child health programmes in the country. A shield along with a cash award of Rs 2 lakh would be presented to the district on this occasion, it said. |
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BJP flays power duty hike Shimla, October 24 Mr Ganesh Dut, spokesperson of the party, said by increasing electricity charges on Divali eve the government had played a cruel joke on the people. He said small businessmen and farmers would be hit hard by the unwarranted increase. The Virbhadra Singh government had earlier increased the bus fares by 25 per cent. He said the apprehensions of the BJP that the government would tax the people through the back door had come true. Mr Devendra Bushairi, member of the state executive of the BJP, also condemned the duty hike and said the decision to raise loans to the tune of Rs 1084 crore indicated that the government was facing a serious financial crisis. |
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Rahi rejects charges on JBT examination Hamirpur, October 24 Talking to
reporters here, he said the BJP tirade against the board was aimed at hiding the failures of the previous BJP government in the state. Mr Rahi said that every aspect of the JBT test was kept transparent. He said the Chief Minister never interfered in the functioning of the board.. |
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Para teachers to be appointed in upgraded schools Shimla, October 24 Stating this here today, a government spokesman said that even subdivisional magistrates could receive applications from candidates up to October 28 under the para teacher policy-2003. These applications would be handed over to the heads of the schools concerned for further action. |
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Woman gets 10-yr RI for carrying charas Sundernagar, October 24 The conviction was under Section 20 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. Meena was arrested in May 2003 near Shalanala from a bus. In a routine check, the police noticed something abnormal about the appearance of the women’s belly. On search, the contraband was found on her person. |
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Army jawan
found dead Nahan, October 24 According to police sources, the jawan, who belonged to Kolanwala Bhood village of Nahan tehsil, had come on a short leave and was scheduled to return by tomorrow. The police broke open the door of his room in the guest house in the presence of his family members. A bottle of liquour, a suicide note, a personal diary containing some information of his love affairs and an empty bottle of some poisonous liquid have also been found from the room. Mr S.R. Sharma, Superintendent of Police, Sirmour, said: “It appears to be a clear-cut case of suicide. He said the cause of his death would be known only after the post-mortem report was received.” |
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Bar observes ‘black day’ Chamba, October 24 The association demanded a judicial probe into the incident and the suspension of the erring policemen. Meanwhile, the police has registered a case against the lawyer for manhandling and obstructing police officials on duty. The Additional Superintendent of Police , Mr N.D. Sharma, said the case was being investigated. |
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