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BJP to confront
govt on fiscal reforms Priyanka on
holiday in Shimla Forest Dept
writes to BBMB Chief Engineer on silt dumping Panel suggests a
tunnel to solve silt problem |
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Gurdwara
management against construction of petrol station Felling of trees
raises eyebrows Residents use
unsafe water in Dharampur Five die as car
falls into gorge 10-day camp to
fix cleft lips Conference on
environment from June 11 Saach Pass opened
for pedestrians HPS officers
object to promotion list ‘Missing’
cop’s family awaits pension benefits Swati crowned
Miss Shimla amid row 16-yr-old raped
by uncle Man accuses wife
of selling child Army top brass
meeting today
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BJP to confront govt on fiscal reforms Shimla, June 6 The BJP maintains that the Congress had signed the MoU bypassing the House and without evolving a consensus. The party, which has been reeling under the impact of its defeat in the Lok Sabha poll, has found a potent weapon to whip the government. Both the BJP and the Congress had, over the past four years, avoided taking a clear stand on the issue, fearing an adverse political fallout. The Virbhadra Singh government, having humbled the BJP in the Lok Sabha poll and with no elections in sight, took courage to sign the MoU, which had become inevitable for the fund-starved state. The previous Dhumal government had also taken steps to carry out fiscal reforms to get the revenue deficit grants withheld by the Centre. However, it rolled back most of the reforms and at the fag end of its term, it placed the MoU before the House for taking a decision by consensus. It also conveyed to the Centre its inability to sign the MoU and wanted to renegotiate its terms and conditions. A committee under the chairmanship of Mr Sukh Ram was set up to consider the MoU, but did not function as the members were wary of raking up such a sensitive issue on the eve of the Assembly elections. Now that the Congress has signed the controversial document, the BJP wants to exploit the issue to the hilt by attacking the government inside and outside the House. BJP leaders have been lying low ever since the party has lost power at the Centre. Besides the MoU, the financial health of the state will also come under close scrutiny during the session. The outstanding debt of the government and other issues related to fiscal reforms like downsizing of the administration and disinvestment in public sector undertakings are also likely to generate much heat. The Budget, to be presented on June 8 by Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, who also holds the Finance portfolio, will show how far the government is willing to go to implement the MoU. There is no time left and the new benchmark set by the Centre for the release of the withheld grants is to be achieved within this year only. Thus, all measures to increase the tax revenue by 5 per cent over and above the trend growth for the past four years and reductions in expenditure by 3 per cent are to be put in place in this Budget itself. The recommendations of the 11th Finance Commission, which linked 15 per cent of the revenue deficit grants to fiscal reforms, will be in force only up to March, 2005. As such, all reform-related milestones will have to be achieved within the current financial year. |
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Priyanka on holiday in Shimla Shimla, June 6 On holiday in Shimla, she is putting up at the Oberoi-owned Hotel Wildflower Hall in Mashobra, about 15 km from here. With her visit being a private one, even senior Congress leaders were unaware of Ms Gandhi’s quiet arrival in the city on Friday evening. Ms Gandhi drove to Glen in a luxury vehicle of the hotel at 10 am and returned late in the afternoon. Though as per the hotel booking she is expected to stay at Hotel Wildflower Hall till June 12, there could be a change in the programme. Though tight security arrangements have been made, the visit was being kept a closely guarded secret both by the hotel staff as well as police functionaries. Mediapersons were not allowed inside the gate of the hotel. The hotel security staff did not even permit lensmen to take photographs of the hotel. The security cover to Ms Gandhi and her family is being provided by the special protection group
(SPG). |
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Forest Dept writes to BBMB Chief Engineer on silt dumping Sundernagar, June 6 The Forest Department has observed that no silt or muck can be dumped in the forest area as per provisions of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, and orders of the Supreme Court. Mr C.S. Singh, Conservator of Forests, Mandi circle, has forwarded a copy of the letter to the DC, Mandi, for issuing directions to the BBMB authorities to regulate silt/muck dumping. The DC, Mandi, has framed a committee headed by the ADM, Mandi, Mr Prem Bhardwaj, on the problem of silt dumping. The ADM yesterday visited various spots where silt was being dumped. He was accompanied by officials of other departments, including the BBMB. The joint inspection team also heard grievances of local residents. The Conservator of Forests has written to the DFO, Mandi, and the DFO, Sundernagar (as the area of Suketi khud falls under their jurisdictions) to initiate action after getting the area demarcated where silt or muck is being dumped. These authorities have passed orders to get the land demarcated
with the help of revenue officials. Legal action will soon be initiated against the BBMB. |
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Panel suggests a tunnel to solve silt problem Mandi, June 16 The review committee, comprising officials from the district administration, Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB), and the revenue and forest departments, yesterday visited the silt site in the Balh valley, where local farmers have been up in arms against the slit menace, which has destroyed cultivable land over the years. The officials told The Tribune that the solution to the problem was in constructing a tunnel that would link the BSL’s dredger site to the Sutlej, which flows on the other side of the ridge. “We are conveying this to the BBMB authorities and the state government for action,” said Dr Prem Bhardwaj, Additional Divisional Magistrate, Mandi, who visited the site. Though the BSL has stopped ejecting slit from its dredger into the Saketi khud that flows through the fertile Balh valley, local farmers complain that the silt has destroyed the farm lands along the khud till the point it meets the Beas river near Mandi town. The review team observed that that silt had even changed the course of the khud and the river bed has risen, posing fresh problems of health and hygiene in the valley. The officials said the BSL would eject silt only during monsoon as the water flow would wash the silt into the khud that further goes into the Beas through the valley. However, farmers said the silt problem would persist. The Chief Engineer, BBMB, Mr V.P. Jain, when contacted, refused to comment, saying the matter was pending in court. “I am not aware of the review team’s visit as I was out of station”, he added. |
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Gurdwara management against construction of petrol station Mandi, June 6 Addressing a press conference last night on the premises of the gurdwara, the president of the Singh Sabha, Mr Mohinder Pal Singh, said the Sikh Sangat would not allow the petrol station to come up on the present site, which was a thickly populated area. Already, another petrol station had been shifted from the town as it was a fire hazard. Mr Mohinder Pal Singh said the gurdwara had possession of the disputed land for the past 303 years and had been maintaining it as a green belt by planting saplings. Raja Sidh Sen had given the land for the gurdwara. He said the Congress leader who had taken the disputed land on lease for a petrol station was an influential person who had allegedly tampered with no-objection certificates. He showed the letter of the Nagar Parishad, whereby the permission earlier granted had been cancelled. He stated that the managing committee had sent representations to the Prime Minister, the Governor and the Chief Minister against setting up a petrol station near the gurdwara. |
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Felling of trees raises eyebrows Hamirpur, June 6 Under the Forest Department rules, such felling is done only by the Department itself. The felling has been done in a haphazard manner. This area falls under the Biru beat of the Bijheri forest range of the Hamirpur district. A visit to the area this morning showed that efforts were also made to burn certain trees to show the felling was done as per the plan of the department. The felling of trees has raised many questions about the functioning of the Department of Forests that had given permission for the felling of the trees. Mr P.L. Chauhan, Divisional Forest Officer, said that the felling in Chakmoh area was done under the 10 year forest-felling plan approved by the state government. He said that it was a private forest area and the department had nothing to do with it. He said that he did not know whether the approved numbers of trees had been felled or not. Mr Chauhan said that under the 10 year felling plan, felling is done in case of pine trees as well as khair trees. However, persons who sell their trees to the HP State Forest Corporation are bound to plant three saplings against one tree felled. He said that there was no ban on the felling of green trees under the 10 year plan. This principle applies to the government forests. Only dry trees were felled from the government owned forests. |
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Residents use
unsafe water in Dharampur Kumarhatti, June 6 Every year, during summer villagers have to depend on water from natural sources owing to taps going dry. Even to fetch water from khuds and
nullahs, which is not fit for consumption, villagers have to walk miles. A villager of Rori panchayat says, “We know the water that we use for drinking is not fit for the purpose, but we have no option.” While there is acute shortage of potable water, tankers have not yet been pressed into service, complains the pradhan of Badhalag panchayat. With the level of natural water bodies also on the decline, villagers have to depend on water available from unsafe sources, she adds. Residents of Kanda panchayat are facing similar problems due to the non-implementation of a water-lifting scheme. There is crisis in four villages of the panchayat as the scheme has not been made operational for the past 20 years. Meanwhile, no fresh case of jaundice has been reported from Banog village under Jabli panchayat, where 15 cases surfaced in the past three weeks. Dr Kusum Bhalla, Block Medical Officer, says the disease is under control. |
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Five die as car falls into gorge
Shimla, June 6 The victims were identified as Khema Ram, a range forest officer, his wife Hem Lata and their one-and-a-half-year-old grand-daughter Dixita. The others were identified as forest beat officer Bhimi Ram and schoolteacher Rajinder Singh. In an other accident, four occupants of a car were injured then their vehicle rolled down into a gorge into the Chittan nullah. The injured were identified as driver Radha Krishan, Maya Ram, Jhaer Singh and Kanwar Yograj. They were proceeding to Kaffnu Sewagattu from Katgaon in Kinnaur district. All four were admitted to the Indira Ganhdi Medical College (IGMC) hospital.
— UNI |
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10-day camp to fix cleft lips Dharamshala, June 6 Addressing a press conference here yesterday, the Transport Minister, Mr G.S. Bali, said 150 children would be operated upon at the 10-day camp, which would be opened at RP Medical College, Tanda, on October 6. A team of experts would stay on for a period of another 10 days to take care of any complications. Dr Rakesh K.Khazanchi, chairman of the Department of Plastic Surgery, Sri Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi, said world-class safety standards would be maintained at the camp and it would be a rare opportunity for children from villages to get operations done from internationally renowned doctors. All Chief Medical Officers in the state had been asked to start registration of such patients in their areas. The patients should have minimum 10 gm haemoglobin. Those who did not fulfil this requirement could start taking iron from now on, said Dr Ramkumar Venkateswaran, professor and head of anesthesiology, Kasturba Medical College,
Manipal. |
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Conference on environment from June 11 Palampur, June 6 This congress is part of an international initiative taken by Dr Madhav Mehra, president World Council for Corporate Governance, which aims at a holistic perspective in the pursuit of sustainable wealth creation. As the president of the World Environment Foundation he has launched a movement “Catalyzing Public & Private Partnerships for Social & Environmental Action” to focus on good governance, corporate social responsibility, corporate citizenship as a means to achieve sustainability and improve the quality of environment. Dr Mehra asserts that the current recession is the outcome of a disintegrated approach towards the key issues of globalisation, governance, trade, poverty and sustainability. The corporate sector must look beyond immediate profits for the shareholders. The tectonic shift in public values brought by the knowledge economy offers the greatest economic opportunity to corporations to leverage the intellectual capital for creation of new wealth through innovation of ecology-friendly technologies that will help cut out waste, serve unarticulated customers and access untapped markets. Dr Mehra says both governments and corporations should collaborate to provide incentives on investments that create new business designs and products, which not only minimise the impact on environment but open new markets and fight obsolescence. He says the main stress of this world congress will be to develop a strategy for management of environment governance, business significance of climate change, strategies for clean water and waste water management, to create awareness of the significance of developing partnerships among environmentalists, industrialists, policy makers and NGOs to develop cleaner environmental solutions and reporting environmental impacts, to empower individuals households to adopt mores sustainable consumption pattern and how TEEM (Total Eco Efficient Management) can enhance the natural capital and establish the true worth of earth are some of the main objectives of the Congress. Besides, the world congress would also discuss issues like public, private, NGOs and media partnership for sustainable development, financial & business significance of climate change, management of environmental governance, clean technology for sustainable development, water for life and safety, health & environment. |
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Saach Pass opened for pedestrians
Chamba, June 6 The pass which provides vital Link between Chamba and tribal Pangi valley is the shortest route for pedestrians visiting the district headquarters of Chamba from Pangi. The pass was closed for pedestrians in first week of November 2003, following first heavy snow and its opening would encourage trekking and mountaineering and tourism in the Pangi valley.
— PTI |
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HPS officers object to promotion list Solan, June 6 Association members, addressing mediapersons here, said these instructions had been issued during the regime of the BJP government despite the fact that the state police had its own recruitment and promotion rules. The association also alleged that Supreme Court judgments had been misconstrued to benefit a few on political considerations. The tentative seniority list had been finalised in January 2002, after the model code of conduct came into force in the state. The association urged the Chief Minister not to consider any promotion on the basis of this list till the issue was settled. The association urged the government to post senior HPS officers against the vacant posts of AIG, R and T; SP,
Lokayukta; ADC to Governor; SP, Vigilance; and SP Enforcement. |
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‘Missing’ cop’s family awaits pension benefits Kumarhatti, June 6 With no mean of income Rita has been finding it hard to make ends meet. Due to absence of financial assistance from the employer of her husband it has become hard to meet family needs, said Rita. “After my husband’s disappearance I have only received his salary for August”. Rita suffering from TB has been advised by doctors not to do heavy work. Due to this she cannot till her land holdings. Mr S.N. Sharma, the Commanding Officer of first battalion, Junga was not available for comments. However an official of the battalion said that according to rules in Roop Singh’s pension benefits to his family would start after one year of his disappearance. The case would be forwarded for clearance after the completion of one year, the official asserted. |
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Swati crowned Miss Shimla amid row Shimla, June 6 The event came under a cloud after the number of contestants for the final round was first shortlisted to three and subsequently increased to six. There were 17 contestants in all, and after four rounds only six claimants for the crown were left. In the question round, judges asked one question from each participant. On the basis of the performance in the question round, three of the six contestants were eliminated and the names of the remaining were duly announced for the final round. The participants were to be put a common question to which they were required to give a written reply. The three finalists were called to the stage and given pen and paper for writing replies. However, at this stage fresh announcements were made that all six contestants, who had reached the question round, would participate in the final round. The three contestants, who made an exit after the first question round, rejoined the race for the title. In the final round, Swati, who did not figure among the three contestants shortlisted earlier, emerged the winner. Deepshikha and Vandana Thakur ended up as the first runners-up and second runners-up, respectively, in the contest. They were among the three contestants. A visibly disappointed Neha, who figured among the three contestants shortlisted for the final round but crashed out after the number was increased to six, termed the competition as unfair. “What compelled the organisers to increase the number of contestants to six when it had been reduced to three after five rounds?” she asked. Her parents also voiced similar
sentiments. Vandana and Deepshikha, the two runners-up, also felt that the contest was unfair to Neha, who had managed to make it to the last three along with them. The judges, however, maintained that there was no foul play and the name of three contestants for the final were announced due to miscommunication. Mrs Purnima Chauhan, one of the judges, said the final round comprised two stages. First the six participants were to be asked separate questions and then they were to give a written reply to one common question. The event was organised jointly by Talent Insprit and the National Institute of Fashion Designing. |
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16-yr-old raped by uncle Solan, June 6 The girl was alone at home when the suspect, a relative of the family residing nearby, entered her house around 5.00 p.m. on Thursday and raped her. Her mother, two sisters and younger brother were working in the fields while her father was away for some work. The suspect, Dharam Singh threatened her with dire consequences if she revealed the incident, the girl told police officials. Her father said Dharam Singh had tried to outrage the modesty of his daughter and sister earlier also. Being a relative, he was let off after family intervention. The girl narrated the incident to her mother when the latter returned home. Being illiterate, the hapless mother decided to wait for her husband to return home to report the matter to the police. A case under Sections 376 and 452 of the IPC was registered against the suspect. The police has sent two police parties to arrest the suspect. |
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Man accuses wife of selling child Hamirpur, June 6 The police had produced Ms Neelam and her mother, Ms Santosh Kumari, in the SDM Nadaun court yesterday. The two told the SDM that Neelam had given birth to a child at the Zonal Hospital, Hamirpur, on May 12. They denied they had sold the baby. However, they admitted that one woman, Ms Seema Devi, had spent Rs 3,000 in the hospital and, as such, they had given the boy in her custody. |
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Army top brass
meeting today Shimla, June 6 Commanding officers of the various commands were expected to arrive by tonight. Chief of Army Staff Gen N.C. Vij, and Vice-Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen S. Chaudhary, will reach tomorrow. |
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