H I M A C H A L   P R A D E S H

Bali rules out bus fare hike
Shimla, February 3
Mr G.S. Bali Himachal the Transport Minister, today ruled out hiking the bus fares in the next six months. At a press conference here he said the bus fares had to be revised following sharp increase in the prices of diesel and spares in the past three years. 

Abandoned girl issue gets complex
Solan, February 3
The case of the three-day-old girl abandoned by her parents in August 2002 and later adopted by another couple has become more complex, with the Child Welfare Council’s refusal to disclose the identity of her foster parents.

Youth’s body traced; one still missing
Kangra, February 3
The body of one of the two students, who have been missing since January 29, was recovered today. The students were on the way to the Old Chamunda temple, situated at an altitude of more than 10,000 feet on the Chander Dhar hilltop.

Bhota hospital to reopen on Feb 9
Hamirpur, February 3
Bhota Charitable Hospital, which was closed down indefinitely on December 23, 2003, following violent incidents due to the death of two persons on the Bhota chowk, will reopen on February 9.

Plea to revive language centre
Chamba, February 3
The Himachal Pradesh School Lecturers Association (HPSLA) has sought the revival of the District Language Centre for English (DLC) at Dharamsala.

BJP workers’ conferences
Shimla, February 3
The state unit of the BJP has decided to organise workers’ conferences in each assembly segment to mobilise the party for the Lok Sabha poll. Mr Suresh Bhardwaj, state BJP chief, said the conference would be held before February 20. 

Government transfers eight administrative officers
Tribune News Service

Shimla, February 3
The Himachal Pradesh Government today transferred eight state administrative officers.

Mr J.C. Chauhan, Managing Director, Kangra Central Cooperative Bank, has been posted as Additional Secretary to the Chief Minister at mini secretariat, Dharamsala. He would hold the additional charge of his present assignment.

Mr Subhash Kalsotra, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Sirmour, takes over as the Registrar, State Administrative Tribunal, vice Mr Ashok Sharma, who goes on deputation as the registrar of Himachal Pradesh University. Mr R.D. Panwar, Additional Secretary, Education, has been posted as the Director, Technical Education, Sundernagar.

Mr Rajeshwar Goel, General Manager, District Industries Centre, Solan, goes as SDM, Rajgarh, vice Mr Sneh Prakash who takes over as the Additional District Magistrate-cum-Project Director, DRDA, Sirmour. Mr L.S. Chauhan, SDM, Solan, will hold the additional charge of the General Manager, District Industries Centre, Solan, Mr P.S. Kutleharia, Additional Director Ayurveda, has been given the additional charge of the Home Department.

Bali rules out bus fare hike
Tribune News Service

Shimla, February 3
Mr G.S. Bali Himachal the Transport Minister, today ruled out hiking the bus fares in the next six months.

At a press conference here he said the bus fares had to be revised following sharp increase in the prices of diesel and spares in the past three years. The previous BJP government had set up a high-level committee, which recommended an increase in fares, but it failed to implement its report. As a result the state road transport corporation accumulated losses to the extent of Rs 277 crore. Last year the corporation suffered a loss of Rs 92 crore. He said government could consider reduction in fares if the price of diesel deceased.

He said besides fare hike the government took other steps to improve the functioning of the Corporation which was left in bad shape by the Dhumal regime. He said fuel efficiency had increased from 3.55 km to 3.75 km a litre, the financial burden on account of overtime had been reduced by Rs 82 lakh and increase in composite fee had fetched additional Rs five crore. The advertisement revenue shot up from Rs 17 lakh to Rs 88 lakh. The total revenue had increased by Rs 18 crore in the past 10 months against a target of Rs 20 crore fixed for year.

Besides a special drive to regulate the operations private bus operators 2840 vehicles were challaned and 18 route permits cancelled for violations.

He asked the former Transport Minister, Mr K.K. Kapoor, to prove his allegation that irregularities had been committed in the purchase of 30 minibuses. The buses were purchased on the direction of the High Court for the Shimla town to ease traffic congestion. He maintained that Mr Kapoor was aware of the encroachments in and around bus stands at various places but did not take action to eject unauthorised occupants.

Abandoned girl issue gets complex
Our Correspondent

Solan, February 3
The case of the three-day-old girl abandoned by her parents in August 2002 and later adopted by another couple has become more complex, with the Child Welfare Council’s refusal to disclose the identity of her foster parents. The girl, adopted legally after police failure to trace her parents, has become an issue of concern for the administration and the police.

A communication was sent from the Director-General of Police to the Secretary, Child Welfare Council, on January 3 to make available blood samples of the child for facilitating a DNA test. No reply had been received from the council, said the police.

The police was also trying to verify the antecedents of the Kalka-based mother of the abandoned child, who was not found to be the legally wedded wife of the man she claimed to be her husband. The man concerned was fighting a divorce case against his wife.

The Joint Director of the Social Justice and Empowerment Board, Mr Sanjiv Bhatnagar, said the rules of the council were clear and the identity of the couple adopting the child could not be disclosed. He said a probe conducted by the police at the time of adoption had confirmed the fact that parents of an abandoned child were not traceable.

Youth’s body traced; one still missing
Our Correspondent

Kangra, February 3
The body of one of the two students, who have been missing since January 29, was recovered today. The students were on the way to the Old Chamunda temple, situated at an altitude of more than 10,000 feet on the Chander Dhar hilltop. They were trapped following a heavy snowfall.

The district additional police chief, Mr Santosh Patial, said today that three students — Aman Awasthi (18) of Devgran Palampur; Rohit Katoch (18) of Kallu di Hatti; and Vivek Rana of Ladoo, near Panchrukhi — could not reach the temple due to the snowfall. On the way back during the night they lost the track.

However, Rana was rescued on January 30 by Gaddis. Mr Patial said the body was recovered from the Suppay daa nullah. He said rescue teams were rushed to the area today. He said the body was sent to Dr R.P. Government Medical College Hospital, Dharamsala.

4 booked for defrauding pensioner

Nurpur, February 3
The police registered a forgery case under Section 420, 406, 463, 470 and 471 of the IPC against S.C. Gupta and Girdhari Lal, officials of the State Bank of India, Jassur branch, and Kuldeep Singh and Sita Devi, employees of the Defense Pensioners Distributing Office (DPDO), Pathankot, yesterday. According to information, Vidhya Devi, widow of Paras Ram, an Army soldier and resident of Khanni village, had opened three bank accounts in the State Bank of India, Jassur branch for collecting family pension.

A few days before she received a letter from the Army headquarters and was informed that a cheque for Rs 30,000 had been sent to the DPDO, Pathankot. It was alleged that on enquiring from the DPDO, Pathankot, and the bank authorities, she did not get any satisfactory reply from them. — OC

Bhota hospital to reopen on Feb 9
Our Correspondent

Hamirpur, February 3
Bhota Charitable Hospital, which was closed down indefinitely on December 23, 2003, following violent incidents due to the death of two persons on the Bhota chowk, will reopen on February 9. An announcement to this effect was made by Baba Gurinder Singh Dhillon, chief of Radha Soami Satsang (Beas), after his meeting with functionaries of various gram panchayats and panchayat samitis at Bhota today.

Baba Gurinder Singh Dhillon also reportedly agreed to appoint a Patient Welfare Officer in the hospital for its smooth running and to enable interaction among patients, local people and the hospital authorities.

Earlier, the Baba took part in a religious congregation and exhorted his followers to adopt the path of spiritualism. About 10,000 devotees of Radha Soami Satsang were present on this occasion.

Plea to revive language centre

Chamba, February 3
The Himachal Pradesh School Lecturers Association (HPSLA) has sought the revival of the District Language Centre for English (DLC) at Dharamsala.

In a statement here today, general secretary of HPSLA Anil Nag said the centre had been neglected due to the apathetic attitude of the successive governments and local representatives .in the state legislature. — OC

BJP workers’ conferences

Shimla, February 3
The state unit of the BJP has decided to organise workers’ conferences in each assembly segment to mobilise the party for the Lok Sabha poll. Mr Suresh Bhardwaj, state BJP chief, said the conference would be held before February 20. Thereafter, a big workers’ meeting would be organised in each parliamentary constituency. The workers’ meeting of the Mandi constituency would be held on February 21, Hamirpur on February 22, Shimla on February 28 and Kangra on February 29.

He said the workers would be apprised about the achievements of the Vajpayee government. — TNS