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Virbhadra
softens towards Sukh Ram Virbhadra
flays NDA govt’s fiscal policy Dhumal
not keen to contest Lok Sabha poll Illegal
mining hits sewerage project Govt
refutes charge on lottery contract Village
destroyed in fire |
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Virbhadra softens towards Sukh Ram Shimla, January 8 The Congress has been keen on bringing the estranged leaders back into the party fold and forge new alliances to oust the NDA regime. Mr Sukh Ram despite having floated the HVC after being expelled from the party had remained a Congressman at heart. He was keen to join hands with the Congress in the Assembly elections, but Mr Virbhadra Singh put his foot down. However, the situation has undergone a sea change since then. The HVC was humbled at the hustings, leaving Mr Sukh Ram with no option but to build bridges with Mr Virbhadra Singh. He has been striving hard to keep his one time friend-turned-bete noir in good humour. His efforts have not gone waste. There is a perceptible change in the attitude of Mr Virbhadra Singh towards the veteran leader. “The attitude of Mr Sukh Ram towards the Congress is more friendly than ever before,” Mr Virbhadra Singh has been maintaining while making it clear that so far his party had not received any offer from him for an alliance. He also says that the party would take a decision in this regard on merit. This is in contrast to the earlier stance when he had outrightly rejected any such move. Mr Virbhadra Singh maintains that a final decision on alliances will be taken by the high command but the fact was that the high command would go by his wishes. Moreover, there has been talk about Mrs Pratibha Singh entering the fray from the Mandi parliamentary constituency. In such an eventuality, the support of Mr Sukh Ram, who enjoys much influence in the area, would be crucial. The HVC has been a breakaway group of the Congress and any electoral understanding between the two will prove mutually beneficial. Mr Sukh Ram could strike a bargain to secure the future of his son Anil Sharma, who will be completing his term as Rajya Sabha member in April, 2004. A clear picture will emerge after the leaders sit down to thrash out issues and alliances over the next few days. |
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Virbhadra flays NDA govt’s fiscal policy Shimla, January 8 Talking to mediapersons, here today, he said the poor and middle income group people had been hit hard by the decline in bank interest rates and rising inflation. The value of their hard earned money had become less due to the slashing of interest rates. Worse, the entire exercise was being carried out to provide cheap finances to the big industries. It was time to ask the government for whom the fiscal reforms were being implemented. If it was hurting the interest of masses what was the compulsion to pursue these. He said the Vajpayee government had been the weakest in the history of the country and it had failed to implement any concrete policy during its tenure. He said the NDA government could not claim credit for efforts to break ice with Pakistan as it had followed the foreign policy laid down by the first Prime Minister, Mr Jawaharlal Nehru. In fact, successive governments at the Centre had pursued the policy. The Chief Minister favoured the setting up of a hill states council to address the typical problems of hill areas. He said the issue was first raised by Dr Y.S. Parmar who wanted a special cell in the Planning Commission for carrying out planning for hill areas with separate norms. This was required to remove the impediments in the development of hills. Regarding the letter written by the PCC chief, Ms Vidya Stokes, to ministers and legislators, he said there was nothing wrong. She had given targets to partymen, including ministers, to collect funds. There would be complete transparency and receipts would be issued to the donors. He condemned the BJP for raising an accusing finger on the party in the issue and said it should first reveal from where it had arranged funds to build the multi-storeyed structure for its office. He said there were allegations that corporate sector had directly and indirectly helped in the construction of the building and the party must come out with a list of donors. |
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Dhumal not keen to contest Lok Sabha poll Sujanpur Tihra (Hamirpur), January 8 He said the main aim of the BJP was to achieve the Mission 2004, which envisaged the party’s own government, and to win two third majority with the help of other NDA partners. Mr Dhumal said he was highly optimistic that the party would win all four seats from the state this time and create a history. Earlier, while addressing a meeting of party workers of Hamirpur Assembly segment here today, he said they should go to masses and work for the success of party nominee. He, however, cautioned them to be vigilant against the false and malicious propaganda of the Congress against the BJP and its leaders. |
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Illegal mining hits sewerage project Mandi, January 8 The authorities, including officials of the mining and IPH departments are seemingly unaware of the damage being caused to ecology and the treatment plant. The river bed is being depleted of sand, grit and boulders by the illegal carrying of material through dozens of trucks and tractors from the divisional headquarter. Written objections raised to the authorities by the people have fallen on deaf ears, says Baldev, a local resident. When contacted, mining officials expressed ignorance about the large-scale illegal mining being done with impunity. Another resident of the area alleged that the person engaged in illegal mining was a Congress leader and so the authorities were not taking any action against him. No mining permit had been issued for this vulnerable site since 1986 to safeguard ecology. The Forest Department had refused to give the no-objection certificate to the contractors. |
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Govt refutes charge on lottery contract Shimla, January 8 Terming the allegation as false, baseless and politically motivated, an official spokesperson said the decision to re-introduce lotteries had been taken to raise resources for funding development activities and only paper lottery was being started and not the on-line and single-digit ones. He said the tender process was yet to be completed and the contract had not been given to any party. None of the companies, which had submitted tenders, had been specifically black-listed by the government. The spokesman said the state was running 26 draws of lotteries per day when it was discontinued in 1999 and now there would be 24 draws per day in three sets of eight draws. The set system had been introduced after detailed deliberations. Referring to reports regarding the extension of the date for the submission of tenders from December 26 to January 3, he clarified that it was made on the request of six companies, of which only one procured three tender forms, but it did not submit any bid finally. In fact, there was one bidder each for set 1 and set 2, he added. He denied the allegation that the tendering process had been tailored to benefit any party. |
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Village destroyed
in fire Shimla, January 8 In all 35 houses, two temples and three dozen foodgrain stores of villagers were destroyed in the blaze. According to the reports reaching here, high-velocity winds fuelled the fire which engulfed the wooden structures within minutes. Only a few secluded houses escaped the fury of the fire. While there was no loss of life, the entire belongings of the people were destroyed in the fire. About 200 persons were rendered homeless. The district administration arranged an emergency flight of a state helicopter to carry relief material for the affected families. As many as 300 blankets, 72 tarpaulins, three dozen quilts, clothes and other relief material was flown to the landlocked pocket which is not connected by road. Besides, Rs 10 lakh had been sent in cash to provide immediate relief. Mr Sushil Negi, Deputy Commissioner, said those belonging to the IRDP families would be provided houses under the Rajiv Gandhi Awas Yojna on priority. |
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The Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra
Singh, said today the fiscal reforms being carried out by the NDA
government were benefiting the big industrial houses at the cost of
common man and asserted that it would be a major issue in ensuing Lok
Sabha elections.
