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No Cong alliance with HVC, New policy likely for encroachment cases A busy year for Vigilance |
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Doctors prescribing substandard drugs Army recruitment rally from Jan 17 MC sets hope on industrial grant Township project runs into rough weather
HP
minister woos traders in border areas Suspected NE militant arrested 1 dies in road accident 
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No Cong alliance with HVC, says Stokes Shimla, December 31 Addressing a press conference here today, she said there was so far no initiative from Mr Sukh Ram for joining the Congress or merging the HVC into the party. She said anyhow a decision on the issue would be taken only by the high command. Regarding the pruning of the Council of Ministers in the wake of the new anti-defection law she said there were still six months’ time for carrying out the exercise. Right now the focus was on the Lok Sabha polls. She said she had not been consulted on the issue so far and she would, as the PCC chief, give her opinion when asked for. Replying to a question she said the resignations submitted by certain ministers from party posts to uphold the principle of “one man one post” had not been accepted by the high command so far. As far as she was herself concerned, Mrs Stokes said, she would continue to hold two posts as long as the high command wanted. With Lok Sabha poll expected anytime she would tour the state intensively to mobilise the party machinery and attend workers’ conventions at the block level. They would be followed by big rallies in all the four Lok Sabha seats which would be addressed by senior national leaders of the party. The effort would be to bring Mrs Sonia Gandhi for these rallies as was done during the run up to the assembly poll. |
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Snow still eludes revellers Shimla, December 31 The clouds have been playing hide and seek over the past one week but snow has so far eluded the hill resort. Even today the sky was overcast but the weatherman has been keeping his fingers crossed. Hoteliers, taxi operators, travel agents and all others connected with the tourist trade praying for snow with folded hands as the current season is dull compared to previous years. The tourists have arrived in good numbers but the hill resorts is not “over flowing” with winter revellers as had been happening earlier, Mr Umesh Akre, president of the state hotel association, said. There were few walk- in customers even though all major hotels had announced special packages and organised gala dance and dine programmes. Besides, the fact that New Year is falling in the middle of the week, the highly economical packages offered by big hotels in plains had kept the high-end tourists away from the “queen of hills”. Mr Akre said some five- star hotels in New Delhi were offering dine and dance dinner, night stay and breakfast for just Rs 5,500 per couple. The rates in the hill resorts were quite high in comparison. The shortfall could be 15 to 20 percent as compared to the last year. There are others who feel that some tourists preferred to go to Mussourie which had a good snowfall three days ago. The police made elaborate arrangements to maintain law and order during the celebrations. As many as 300 policemen, including some in plain clothes, were deployed to keep an eye on eve -teasers, Besides Shimla, gala dance and dine programme were also organised in Manali, Chail, Dharamsala, Dalhousie and other tourists resorts in the state. |
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New policy likely for encroachment cases Shimla, December 31 This was stated by Mr Virbhadra Singh while addressing he state level convention of state revenue officers association here today. He made it categorically clear that no regularisation of the land would be considered in cases involving influential persons and landlords who had encroached upon the government land in contravention of all the rules and regulations causing immense damage to forest wealth. He said that the campaign to remove encroachments had already been started vigorously throughout the state and the authorities had been directed to ensure ejection of unauthorised occupants at all costs in their areas. The state government would launch a time-bound special campaign to dispose of pending cases of demarcation, partition and mutation from January 15, 2004. The campaign would be monitored by the Divisional Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners and Sub-Divisional Magistrates who would ensure time bond completion of the campaign within their respective jurisdictions. He said that the government would uphold the provisions of the law to restrict purchase of land in the state by non-Himachalis. He said the amendments carried during previous regime were not in the interest of the state and taken in a hurry without considering its fallout. He said that the government had reviewed the amendments and restored the original provisions of the revenue laws. The Chief Minister said that the government would reward the best tehsil of the state which implemented all the policies and programmes of the government effectively. Mr B.B. Butail, Revenue Minister, said that the department was carrying out various reforms to meet the requirements of the day. He said that computerisation of revenue records was being carried out vigorously for the convenience of the people. |
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A busy year for Vigilance Shimla, December 31 The department registered 52 cases during the year as against just 32 last year, a rise of 70 per cent. The cases involved 22 gazetted officers and 49 non-gazetted officers. Besides, 22 registered inquiries, 674 complaints were registered for inquiry during the year. Last year there were only 12 registered inquiries and 590 complaints were taken up for investigation. Mr D.S. Minhas, IGP (Vigilance), said the spurt in the anti-corruption activities had been mainly on account of increased cooperation of the general public and continued support of the government. The scheme introduced by the government to reward the informants who helped in uncovering revenue, black money and assets acquired through corrupt means had also played a role. This year 19 traps were laid to nab corrupt officials in which 4 gazetted officers and 17 non-gazetted officers were caught red handed while accepting a bribe. |
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Doctors prescribing substandard drugs PALAMPUR: Sale of sub-standard and spurious drugs in this district has gone up in the past six months. Over 100 brands of sub-standard drugs are being sold in different parts of the district. Despite written complaints to the government in this regard by various social and voluntary organisations, no action has been initiated against the defaulters. Even samples collected by the state Health Department tested in state government labs have failed. According to information gathered by this reporter from various parts of the district, most of the substandard drugs are being sold in Palampur, Dharamsala, Kangra and their rural areas on the prescription of medical officers posted at the Zonal Hospital, Dharamsala and Civil Hospitals in Palampur and Kangra. A chemist at Dharamsala said the medical officers patronised particular chemist shops at these stations, who openly sold these drugs. Patients were specifically directed by the doctors to buy medicines from these shops. If the patients, by chance, bought medicines of standard company from other chemist shops, they were asked by the doctors to return these. He alleged the doctors received handsome commission from these companies every month. At various hospitals, record revealed that the doctors were repeatedly prescribing particular brands of medicine to patients. Indoor record of one of the hospitals in the district established that a doctor had been writing a particular drug to his patients for the past one year. In one of the prescription slips, it was found that he had prescribed medicines to a patient for a month at a stretch without looking into any side-effects, during this period. In these circumstances the sale of standard drugs have come down in the district. A leading chemist and wholesale dealer in medicines at Kangra said though standard company medicines were cheaper, doctors did not prescribe these as they do not get commission or any other incentive from the standard companies. A chemist at Palampur said the margin of profit on substandard and spurious medicines ranged between 200 to 300 per cent and part of it went to the doctors. Besides, cash, costly gifts, foreign tours and cars were also given to the doctors by the company if they met a target. Most of the companies manufacturing substandard and spurious drugs are located at Amritsar, Mohali and Delhi. The medicines are supplied and transported through HRTC buses to avoid sales tax since the buses are not inspected at tax barriers. Recently, the sales tax authorities raided a chemist shop in the town selling substandard medicines. No document of purchase of these drugs were found with the owners, who had reportedly brought these drugs from Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur by bus. He was fined Rs 20,000 by the sales tax authorities. |
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Army recruitment rally from Jan 17 Chandigarh, December 31 According to a statement issued here today, candidates from Kangra and Chamba districts of Himachal Pradesh will be screened for clerical cadre on January 17. Candidates from all over the state will be screened for technical cadre on the same day. Candidates for general duty soldiers from Indora, Jwali, Fatehpur, Dehra, Kangra, Jaisinghpur and Jaswan tehsils will be screened on January 18, while those from Nurpur, Dharamsala, Palampur, Kotla, Kundian, Baroh, Shahpur and Baijnath will be screened on January 19. Wards of serving soldiers, ex-servicemen, Gorkhas, Sikhs and candidates from Kangra will be screened on January 20. Candidates for general duty soldiers should be below 21 years of age and those for clerical and technical cadres should be below 23 years of age and carry relevant documents, including their educational, caste and domicile certificates with them. |
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MC sets hope on industrial grant kumarhatti:
After finding it hard to manage maintenance expenses of basic infrastructure, the fund-starved Municipal Council of Parwanoo is hopeful of improvement in situation after the release of Rs 5 crore under the special Industrial Grant Scheme. Over the years, the condition of roads, sewerage in particular, and other basic amenities in general has gone from bad to worse. The MC blames the non- availability of sufficient funds, the residents on other blame the MC for the situation. Residents say it is not a problem of funds, but lack of commitment. Almost all development works carried out by the MC in the past have been either of sub-standard quality or are lying abandoned mid-way, alleged residents. Internal roads in the town cry for repair, but the MC has shown no pains to repair these, rue residents. The condition of roads Sector 1 is pitiable. The problem of poor sewerage has gained alarming proportions with sewage openly flowing on to the roads. Street lights in the town are non-operational. Despite the required resources, the MC has failed to act, residents
alleged. The funds shortage is a major hindrance, says Mr Sushil Kumar Mittal, Executive Officer. As against the requirement of annual grant of Rs 1 crore, the MC has only Rs 25 lakh from the state government. To enhance internal income avenues, the MC planned to increase Property and Sanitary Tax, that fetched around Rs 42 lakh, from 7.5 per cent to 8.5 per cent from the next financial year, he said. There was also a plan to open a shopping complex in the town . The basic problem was funds to maintain the infrastructure he pointed out. Parwanoo was planned for only 5,000 population about 26 years ago. The population has risen four times. According to Ms Meenakshi Sharma, President, MC, crores of rupee is required to revamp the old infrastructure. She, however, is hopeful of improvement in the situation after getting Rs 5 crore under the industrial grant. |
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Township project runs into rough weather SOLAN: The much-publicised HP Housing Board project to construct a satellite township near Vaknaghat has run into rough weather. Neither appropriate land nor adequate water has been identified for the project by the board. Hence its chances of becoming a reality have diminished. The board has decided to convene a meeting on January 6 at Dharamsala to take stock of the situation. To add to its woes is the stiff opposition from locals who are reluctant to part with their land for the purpose. Not only have they taken up the matter with the Chief Minister, but also decided to oppose it tooth and nail. The board has finalised at least 1,296.16 bighas of private land for acquisition and another 1677.15 bighas of government land, including the 109 bighas of common pool land, which cannot be diverted for the township. Efforts are also being made to acquire land earmarked for industrial development. This includes 353.14 bighas at Manjhol village and 163.13 bighas at Vakna, which have been earmarked for the IT industry. To compound the problems, the Forest Department has refused to grant a no-objection certificate to the board for the purpose after it found various categories of required land coming under the purview of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. With the presence of a large number of trees on the land, its suitability for a township has again found disfavour from foresters. The Irrigation and Public Health Department has expressed inability in supplying water from the proposed Ashwini Khud. Despite little progress having made in land availability, the board has finalised seven consultancy agencies, including international firms, for the project. These include Kothari Associates, C.P. Kukreja Associates, Price Water House Co-operation, Wilbur Smith Associates, Meinhardt Singapore, Lea Associates South Asia, all based at New Delhi, Cesma International based at Singapore and Rites Limited of Gurgaon. Sources in the board reveal that it has been proposed to invite 80 per cent technical bids and 20 per cent financial bids for the project. |
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Engg college at Sundernagar mooted Sundernagar, December 31 He said many technical institutions in the hill state were not having proper infrastructure, but the local Polytechnic College, which was the oldest technical institution in the state, had adequate infrastructure and better facilities. He said the college could easily be converted into an engineering college. Mr B.R. Verma, Director, Technical Education, said the polytechnic was fully equipped to start an engineering college and that too without spending any money on infrastructure. He also said a pattern should be adopted so that students of ITIs could complete Bachelor’s degree in engineering. The chief guest distributed prizes among the winners. The athletics trophy was given to the Kangra district team. The Shimla team was declared overall champion. Earlier, Mr Kaul Singh attended a seminar along with delegates from technical institutions on the subject of “Technical Education in the 21st Century”. He said the government would implement the recommendation for better technical education in the state. The seminar was organised on the concluding day of the three-day “Tech-Fest 2003”. |
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HP minister woos traders in border areas Amritsar, December 31 The HP Government had already eased land acquisition laws for the industry and all applications for setting up units would be cleared at the earliest. The HP Government had already planned to establish special economic zones in
Kangra, Una and Sirmour districts to boost the industry in these areas. The Industry Department had received applications for setting up of car, jeep, three-wheeler units and the government was seriously considering the proposal to allow automobile unit to set up its base in the state. |
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Suspected NE militant arrested Solan, December 31 The Superintendent of Police, Mr Abhishek Trivedi, said a telephonic conversation with the Manipur police revealed that Thakur was wanted in a number of cases of fraud where he had duped people to the tune of lakhs
of rupees after promising to send them to Hong Kong and Singapore on forged passports. He was also involved in a number of forgery cases. He admitted to having had links with a militant organisation, the PLA, in 1993. He is known to have links with militant groups . An interrogation revealed that he was a resident of Lamdunl, Makka Likai in Imphal. He was not able to produce papers of the car in which he was travelling. |
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1 dies in road accident Dharamsala, December 31 In another case a pick-up van of the Municipal Committee, Dharamsala, met with an accident. Driver Sarnu was injured who is admitted to the Dr R.P.G. Medical College and Hospital here. |
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