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Fund crunch hits afforestation move EC bans demolition of jhuggis Signature drive on CM’s wife denied Misuse of Circuit House by politicians alleged Mayawati to launch campaign on April 6 |
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Govt
weakening varsity’s autonomy: BJP Youth arrested for assaulting exam Supdt Teachers to abstain from exam duty Revoke suspension of activists, says BJP leader Sadbhavna ke Sipahi launched Grid failure at Dharamsala Tibetan women take out procession
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Fund crunch hits afforestation move Shimla, March 13 As against the norm of 66 per cent laid down in the National Forest Policy, only about 26 per cent area is under forests in the state. As such much more funds were required to extend the green cover over the denuded hills. However, on the contrary the allocation has been declining. In the VII plan, allocation for the forestry sector was as high as 9.44 per cent. It came down to 6.47 per cent in the VIII plan and further declined to 5.12 per cent in the IX plan. With hardly any funds at its disposal, the Forest Department has been forced to scale down its afforestation programme. Consequently, the area being brought under new plantations is decreasing every year. In 1998-99 new plantations were raised over 31,300 hectares whereas last year only 15,000 hectare was brought under forests. In fact, the afforestation programme is being sustained largely through the externally aided projects. Out of the total financial outlay of Rs 50 crore, externally aided projects account for Rs 35 crore. Since these projects are site specific, the activities of the department have been confined to a few selected areas and the rest of the state is being neglected. In the process the entire afforestation has gone haywire. In absence of adequate budgetary support the department is not in a position to properly plan out its activities. The department has trying to maintain some sort of balance by securing funds directly from the Centre through the forest development agency. This year it got sanctioned projects involving an expenditure of about Rs 8 crore. Senior officers feel that such efforts will not help and the only way to keep the forestry programmes going is to increase the budgetary allocation. |
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EC bans demolition of jhuggis Shimla, March 13 In case some persons were dislocated on account of demolition and eviction and were rehabilitated or shifted to some other polling area, then such ‘displaced’ people might not be able to vote in the areas of their new residences as their names would continue to figure in electoral rolls or polling stations of their previous addresses. The commission granted exemption in case of court matters with the stipulation that if it was urgent and time-bound to demolish a structure the previous approval of the commission should be obtained so that steps be taken by the electoral authorities to ensure that such displaced persons were not deprived of voting rights. The instruction have been conveyed to all Deputy Commissioners and district election officers in the state for compliance. Meanwhile, hoardings, including welcome gates, on achievements of the government have been removed following the commission’s instructions. |
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Signature drive on CM’s wife denied Shimla, March 13 At a press conference here he said there were many aspirants for the ticket, but Mrs Singh had not even applied for it. He said a decision in this regard would be taken by the party high command on merit. Mr Kaul Singh, whose name has been recommended by the state election committee for the Mandi parliamentary constituency, said that Mrs Pratibha Singh was the strongest candidate for the seat. He said all 10 block party units of the Mandi district had passed a resolution for ticket for the Mandi Lok Sabha to Mrs Singh. On poll understanding with Mr Sukh Ram, he said he had been expelled from the party by the AICC and only it was competent to decide such matters. |
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Misuse of Circuit House by politicians alleged Chamba, March 13 Besides this these places have become centres of political activities. Even the national and state parties do not hesitate to hold meetings resulting in the breaking of furniture and crockery several times. Since Chamba district falls on the
bolder of militancy-infested region of Jammu and Kashmir, and any unpleasant incident during elections cannot be ruled out. Official sources, however, maintain that the orders prohibiting the parking of private vehicles and banning undesirable activities had been issued. |
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Mayawati to launch campaign on April 6 Hamirpur, March 13 A meeting to finalise the election strategy was finalised during the state body of the party here yesterday. Mr Balwant Singh state party Chief presided over the meeting. Mr Man Singh Manhera, party observer for the state was also present, nearly 80 party delegates were present. The meeting endorsed, the decision of party high command to appoint Balwant Singh as the state party chief. Dr Dhani Ram Shukla, General Secretary of the state unit of the party, told reporters after the meeting here yesterday, evening that the party finalised the candidates for Hamirpur and Kangra seats, Mr Mohar Singh Mastana will be party nominee from Hamirpur and Mr Shakti Chand Chaudhry from Kangra seats respectively. |
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Govt
weakening varsity’s autonomy: BJP Shimla, March 13 Mr Randhir Sharma, spokesperson of the party, said here that the Vice-Chancellor and other senior officers of the state had already started saying that the teachers and employees should be prepared to work at reduced salaries after the Lok Sabha polls as the university did not have funds to meet the expenditure on salaries. He said the institution was being denied financial support to make the authorities dance to the tune of the government. He said during the BJP regime funds were made available to the university and there was no interference. He
said the move to discuss the Kaul committee report once again in the
executive council was politically motivated. |
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CM sheltering criminals: BJP Solan, March 13 Addressing reporters here Dr Bindal and his associates said the government’s move to withdraw 12 cases against Bawa registered at Parwanoo and Barotiwala was detrimental to the interests of the law-abiding citizens. He rued that such a person (Bawa) was heading a organisation of the Congress Party in Himachal. |
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Youth arrested for assaulting exam Supdt Kangra, March 13 According to the police, Pawan Kumar of Birta village was trying to send copying material inside the centre during the general science examination of Class X. When he was stopped by the Superintendent, Mr Madan Lal Sharma, he allegedly assaulted the latter. The police has registered a case under Sections 353, 332, 506 and 323 of the IPC. Meanwhile, the HP Board of School Education today directed the superintendents of examination centres in Hamirpur and Una districts not to allow any teacher authorised by the Deputy Directors of Education, Hamirpur and Una, to enter the examination centers to inspect examinations in order to avoid inconvenience to students. In a statement here today, the board said both Deputy Directors had appointed a number of teachers as examination inspectors without any permission from the board. |
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Teachers to abstain from exam duty Palampur, March 13 Mr Suman Sachhar and Mr Anoop Bhardwaj, president and secretary, respectively, of the association, said today that no teacher would participate in the examination, being commenced from March 15. They said they had already apprised the SDM, Baijnath, about their decision. They said despite a number of meetings with the Chief Minister and the Education Minister, no steps were initiated to release their salaries. |
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Revoke suspension of activists, says BJP leader Dalhousie, March 13 Mr Kishori Lal said yesterday that more than 50 activists of the party in Banikhet Assembly constituency had resigned after 2003 state Assembly elections and later they were suspended from the party. Mr Kishori Lal said that these workers had been loyal to Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee. |
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Sadbhavna ke Sipahi launched Kangra, March 13 Mr O.C. Sharma, a former Director-General of Police, Madhya Pradesh, who was recently appointed as coordinator for Himachal Pradesh, told mediapersons here that the organisation would observe the 98th birthday of Shaheed Bhagat Singh at Hamirpur on March 23, which would be presided over by the national convener, Mr Vagish K. Jha. |
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Grid failure at Dharamsala Dharamsala, March 13 The trouble started around 7 p.m. and soon the entire area plunged into darkness. Officials of the HPSEB located the fault and after more than two hours partial electricity supply could be restored. It was only after 11 p.m. that the supply was normalised. |
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Tibetan women take out procession Dharamsala, March 13 The march organised by the Tibetan Women Council started from McLeodganj and ended at lower Dharamsala. They raised slogans for the independence of Tibet and appealed to the world powers to force China to stop human rights’ abuse in Tibet. |
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10 injured in accident Dharamsala, March 13 The pilgrims were coming from Kanpur. The injured were admitted to a hospital at Dehra.
— PTI |
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Plus one student commits suicide Kumarhatti, March 13 Rampun (16) a student at Central School, Subathu, was upset as he had not fared well in that day’s examination. He allegedly consumed some pesticides on returning home. On seeing him his parents rushed him to local Military Hospital. He died on the way. The body was sent to Community Health Centre, Dharampur for post-mortem. |
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Man commits suicide Bilaspur, March 13 A large number of NGO leaders here mourned his death. Varma is survived by his wife and four daughters. |
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Water shortage
in Barog Kumarhatti, March 13 Meanwhile, the Barog panchayat has decided to oppose the Irrigation and Public Health Department move to disconnect water supply to private taps. |
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Fire in garment shop Kulu, March 13 |
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