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Congress
playing caste card, alleges Shanta Nadda
suspects scam in MRI unit deal
Fiscal crisis BJP doing, says Cong |
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Leftists
to support Congress Chamba, April 30 In an unprecedented move, Leftists in Chamba district, who had earlier announced not to support the Congress have now decided to support the party’s candidate from the Kangra Lok Sabha constituency, Prof Chander Kumar.
HP Bar
Association wants transfer of Chief Justice 2,48,455
without photo ID cards in Hamirpur Kokje
performs puja on mahurat of first Himachali film One
sentenced to life for murder 
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Congress playing caste card, alleges Shanta Palampur, April 30 Addressing mediapersons at Baijnath on Friday he said according to the prevailing political scenario of the country the Congress would never succeed in forming the government at the centre. He predicted that after the Parliament elections there would be a vertical division in the Congress and number of senior leader would leave the party. He said the foreign origin of the Sonia Gandhi was a major hurdle for the Congress, which had made its chances bleak in coming to power. He said till today the Congress had not clarified as to who would be their leader, if the Congress were voted to power. He said the recent statement of Sharad Pawar, NCP President, who was one of the important allies of the Congress was significant that the name of the prime ministerial candidates would be finalised by the newly elected MPs of Congress and it allies after the elections. Referring to the achievements of the NDA in the past five years, he said India had gained new heights at the national as well as at international level. The economy of the country had improved and there was substantial increase in the foreign reserve. He said as far as the development of Himachal Pradesh was concerned, in the past five years over Rs 3000 crore as financial assistance had been given to the Himachal Government by the Union Government. He said when he was a Minister in the Union Cabinet no proposal of the Himachal Government for want of funds was turned down. He said it was on record that as and when there were financial crisis in the state the Union Government had come for the rescue of the state and special grants were sanctioned. Mr Shanta Kumar said just before the elections a deputation of MPs from Himachal, which included Mr Suresh Chandel and Mr Maheshwar Singh, also called on the Union Rural Development Minister Kansi Ram Rana, who immediately sanctioned Rs 183 crore additional funds for the rural development in Himachal Pradesh. Out of this amount, Rs 50 crore had been earmarked for Kangra and Chamba districts. |
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Nadda suspects scam in MRI unit deal Shimla, April 30 Addressing a press conference here he said the previous BJP regime had decided to install the expensive equipment in private-public partnership in accordance with its policy to utilise the available government funds for strengthening the primary health infrastructure. The decision was taken by the Cabinet when he was the Health Minister but the present government had changed it without taking the matter to the Cabinet. Further, the decision was reversed on flimsy grounds that the quality of equipment might not be good, which was ridiculous. He suspected that kickbacks might be involved in the deal. Mr Nadda said that the decision to disband the Rogi Kalyan Samiti was a retrograde step and it had adversely affected the quality of services in hospitals. While these samitis were utilising the funds collected from patients for improving facilities, the Hospital Welfare Committee, which replaced them, had no power to spend funds and the entire money was going to the state exchequer. The worst sufferer were the poor patients who were given financial assistance by the samitis for treatment. He said the BJP government had taken several steps to strengthen the health facilities, which included the setting up of a national centre for the treatment of cancer, a mammography unit, provision of laundry and blood components separation units at the IGMC hospital. It also planned to start open heart surgery. However, the present government had scuttled all projects. Mr Nadda alleged that the Subdivisional Magistrate of Nichar in Kinnaur was behaving like a Congress worker and attending political rallies. He did not even bother to be present at the headquarters when the observers appointed by the Election Commission of India visited the district. Besides, the PWD authorities were finalising tenders in violation of the code of conduct. |
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Fiscal crisis BJP doing, says Cong Shimla, April 30 Mr Kuldeep Rathore, a spokesperson for the party, said that the debt burden of the state almost increased threefold during the five years of the Dhumal government and still the BJP was accusing the Congress of mismanaging the state’s finances. The BJP had all along been claiming that the Vajpayee government gave liberal assistance to the state, but the fact was that the financial position had deteriorated. He said had the BJP been serious about resolving the financial crisis, it could have secured a suitable package from the Centre or got the outstanding loans written off. He said the present government managed to secure a special financial assistance of Rs 553 crore for maintaining the size of the Annual Plan for 2003-04. The Dhumal government had got a similar amount in the preceding year. As such the BJP could not claim that it got a special deal from the Centre. Mr Rathore said the BJP was misinterpreting the high court verdict concerning the selection of assistant engineers by the Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission to derive political mileage. The fact was that the court had not only quashed the list of selected candidates but also found fault with the selection process adopted by the commission as per which the 10- column interview marksheet was not signed by members of the interview board. He said in the light of the judgement, the Chairman of the commission had no moral right to remain in office and should resign immediately. The stand of the government that the selection was not in order had been vindicated by the verdict. |
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Leftists to support Congress Chamba, April 30 The change took place after the recent tour of the state Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, to this area when he agreed to concede to woes of residents of the most backward and interior Churah valley in Chamba district after the elections. According to a statement issued here today, a meeting of executive bodies of the District Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and the Janwadi Writers
Association was held yesterday at Tissa, which was presided over by Mr Tikender Pawar, state president of the
DYFI. |
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Bhutto joins BJP Shimla, April 30 He announced his decision in the presence of Mr Suresh Bhardwaj, the BJP chief. Meanwhile, Mr Bhardwaj included Dr Rajan Sushant and Ms Shyama Sharma in state executive committee of the party. |
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HP Bar Association wants transfer of Chief Justice Shimla, April 30 The advocates had been upset over the attitude of the Chief Justice whose comments some times left the counsels and litigants red faced. They discussed the issue in the general house on April 22 and decided to take up the matter with Mr Justice Gupta before taking any harsh action in the matter. Subsequently, a 26-member delegation met Mr Justice Gupta and apprised him of the sentiments of the bar. However, the issue could not be settled. The general house of the bar again met today and finally passed a resolution demanding his immediate transfer. Mr Ashok Sharma, vice president of the bar, said that there was strong resentment against Mr Gupta and the bar had no option but to demand his transfer. He said a copy of the resolution was being sent to the Chief Justice of India and the President of India for prompt action. The issue was discussed at length before passing the resolution. While a majority was in favour of his immediate transfer, some lawyers wanted that Justice Gupta be given another opportunity to mend his behaviour. |
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2,48,455 without photo ID cards in Hamirpur Hamirpur, April 30 Talking to reporters here today, he said 1,372 polling booths had been set up in the constituency. Of these 113 were hypersensitive and 277 sensitive. There were 10,63,6412 voters in constituency,
including 5,32,271 men, he said. Mr Devesh Kumar said 1,875 police personnels and 1,259 Home Guards would be deployed on election duty in the area. The Hamirpur district administration would also avail of services of 45 jawans of Central Police Forces, who would be deployed at counting centres and places where electronic voting machines would be kept after the elections. The Returning Officer said only those having photo identity cards or any other identification cards would be allowed to cast their votes. 2,48,455 voters were without these photo identity cards. To a question, he admitted that candidates of various parties had yet not submitted to him lists of vehicles to be used by them for electioneering. They had been instructed to comply with the orders by tomorrow failing which these vehicles would be impounded. Under the rules, only 19 vehicles of each candidate could ply for electioneering. Mr Devesh Kumar said he had received four complaints regarding violation of the Model Code of Conduct and all these complaints had been sent to Chief Electoral Officer, Himachal Pradesh. He said all liquor shops would remain closed during the polling day as well as the counting day till the declaration of the result. |
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Kokje performs puja on mahurat of first Himachali film Shimla, April 30 Addressing those present on the occasion, Mr Kokje said the film, being made in Kangri dialect, would not only depict the culture of the state but also help in projecting problems and feelings of families of serving soldiers. He said literature did not provide much freedom to the dialect but films were a strong medium which could give an opportunity for wide publicity of the dialect. He said feeling expressed in ones own dialect, especially love for the country were more effective. Conveying good wishes to those associated with the production of the film, the Governor said such efforts provided an opportunity to the people of the state to view film in their own mother tongue besides associating the name of the state with the film world. He said Himachal Pradesh had been attracting people from the film world, especially producers, for a long time. Earlier, Mr M.G. Pathak, producer of the film, informed that at least six songs in different Himachali languages would be shot on various locations. The film would be of two a half hours duration. Written by Capt S.K. Jugran, the story revolves around sacrifices of a soldier from Kangra. The film is directed by Rajinder Kaushal. — PTI |
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One
sentenced to life for murder Dharamsala , April 30 On July 20, 2002, Praveen Kumar (30) picked a quarrel with Hem Raj and attacked him with a sharp-edged weapon. Hem Raj died on the spot Praveen Kumar was arrested after two days. |
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May 3 declared gazetted holiday Shimla, April 30 |
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Hamirpur students shine in plus 2 exams Hamirpur, April 30 The six meritorious students are: Sanchit Gupta, Sofia, Ashutosh Nadda, Ankita Chandel, Sakshi Gautam, and Mani Kumar, Government Senior Secondary School, Ladravr, Students of Him Academy Public School got three positions and one each by Blue Star Public School, Hamirpur, Silver Bells School, Hamirpur and Senior Secondary School, Ladraur, bagged three of the six merit
positions. |
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Drive against charas smugglers Palampur, April 30 Briefing mediapersons here yesterday Mr Sanjiv Gandhi, DSP, who supervised the raids said the arrested persons had been identified as Moli Ram, Dilwar Ram and Sandip Kumar. He said the accused were active in the region for the past few months. |
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