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Assembly
adopts resolution on drought problem Norms
ignored in allotting petrol station sites? Vajpayee
to visit Prini on June 12 Project
to check monkey menace soon |
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NIT
faculty for removal of Director, Chairman Phone
exchange out of order for a year Steps
to check illegal mining Environment
congress begins today Railway
employee held in rape case
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Assembly adopts resolution on drought problem Shimla, June 10 Mr Kuldeep Pathania, an associate member of the Congress Legislative Party, moved the resolution which was adopted by voice vote. Replying to the debate, Mr B.B. Butail, Revenue Minister, said the government would form a committee to invite suggestions so that a policy could be framed to deal effectively with drought. He said water scarcity was becoming a serious problem, particularly during peak summer. The government had been seized of the problem and it had taken several steps like making water harvesting structures in buildings mandatory, augmentation of drinking water supply schemes and installation of hand pumps. Severely affected villages were supplied water through tankers and even mules. He said there was need to find a long-term solution to the problem. All members who participated in the debate underlined the need to find a permanent solution to the problem. Mr K.D. Dharmani, Ms Anita Verma, Mr Virender Kanwar, Dr Biru Ram and Mr Sohan Lal were among those who participated in the debate. |
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Norms ignored in allotting petrol station sites? Solan, June 10 The allotments were made in Chandigarh on June 7. The affected candidates are now contemplating approaching the Ministry of Petroleum for getting the allotments scrapped. Documents available with The Tribune revealed that the selection committee comprising three officials favoured a particular party. Yogesh Kumar, who was competing for the Darlaghat site, rued that the criteria laid down by the Ministry was not followed in granting marks. He said Aditya Bharti, who managed to secure a petrol station site, was just a graduate, while he was a graduate engineer and he scored as many as 15 marks as against 8 secured by Aditya. Further the former was a joint owner of the land proposed for a petrol station site and for this he should have secured the maximum marks out of 35. Aditya, who only had the general power of attorney should have secured lesser marks. With a financial credibility of higher and a tie-up with a truck union Yogesh said he should have secured higher marks in the two criteria against the Aditya. The other criteria, including business acumen and personnel appearance, which carried only four marks each in no way justified the grant of the petrol station to Aditya, alleged Yogesh. Two other aspirants, one for the Darlaghat site and another for the Galog site, alleged that the they were informed about the interview on Saturday. Sunday being a holiday they did not get much time to arrange the necessary documents, including photographs. This, they rued, was deliberately done to keep them out of the race. The Director, Ministry of Petroleum, Mr Tarun Shridhar, when contacted on phone at his New Delhi office said the ministry had set up a transparent selection procedure where marks for each criterion had been laid down. The IOC official in Shimla, Mr Uma Shankar, while denying that the criteria could have been ignored, said telegrams were sent in advance on June 1 and some parties had themselves collected these from the Shimla office. While investigating the facts this correspondent received a number of calls from former BJP ministers who requested the non-publication of the news. It was learnt that while there were only two contenders for the Galog site while Aditya’s family, who were in partnership with a sitting BJP MLA, own another IOC pump at Darlaghat. The aggrieved aspirants who were left high and dry lamented that they had expected a fair deal after a change of government at the Centre. The applications had been invited much before the parliamentary elections during the BJP regime at the Centre. |
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Vajpayee to visit Prini on June 12 Prini, June 10 From the Bhuntar airport to Prini, not a single banner was seen to welcome Mr Vajpayee. “last year it was full of banners, but this time you see nothing of that sort”, says Rinching Tashi, a local dhaba owner. Even the state BJP leadership has kept it a low-key affair. At the airport Mr Shanta Kumar, former Consumer Affairs Minister, will welcome Mr Vajpayee along with Mr Maheshwar Singh and other leaders. The Leader of the Opposition in the Vidhan Sabha, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, is expected to meet him later. The president of the Manali Nagar Panchayat, Mr Praveen
Fakay, who is also a local BJP leader, said as per the revised schedule Mr Vajpayee would arrive at 11.30 a.m. at the Bhuntar airport. He would be accompanied by his family members. He is also expected to write some poems. There is no special schedule but the state BJP leadership would host a dinner on June 17. The SDM (Civil), Mr Rameshwar Sharma, said there was no word from the government regarding the visit. The DSP, Manali, Mr Kushal Sharma, said nearly 300 securitymen would be deployed. |
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Project to check monkey menace soon Shimla, June 10 The Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, announced this while replying to a resolution moved by Dr Rajiv Bindal of the BJP, urging the government to come out with an effective programme to eradicate lantana, a weed which had invaded large tracts of agriculture and forest land. He said the depletion of forest cover had forced the monkeys to move towards human settlements. He said wildlife experts had suggested that sterilising the dominant male could control their population. It was quite feasible and an effort would be made in this direction under the pilot project. He criticised the tendency of the people to abandon old cattle and said the government would set up a gau sadan in each district in this regard. Regarding containing the menace of lantana the Chief Minister said the government would come out with a programme to eradicate it in a time-bound manner. |
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NIT faculty for removal of Director, Chairman Hamirpur, June 10 Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh had summoned entire record of the appointments made during the BJP regime without observing the codal formalities. The future of
Prof R. S. Nirjhar and Prof Chander Shekhar, the chairman of Board of Governors and Director of the NIT, Hamirpur, respectively, was at stake since both were appointed to these posts by the then Union HRD Minister, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi. Prof Chander Shekhar had taken over as the Director of the institution here on August 7,2003. He was appointed for five years. Sources in the HRD said here this afternoon that a number of Congress workers and a few faculty members from Hamirpur had met Mr Arjun Singh and had demanded immediate removal of the Chairman and the Director. These persons were unhappy with the functioning of both the officers. There were reports that a section of teachers and employees of the NIT were unhappy with the working style of the Director and had written against him to the HRD Ministry during the BJP regime well but without any result. These persons were now hopeful that with the change of the government at the Centre, they would get their demands conceded. Prof Chander Shekhar was not available for comments as he was away to New Delhi in connection with some meetings at the HRD ministry regarding funds and other related issues. The Director was likely to return after June 15, when the last meeting would be held there. |
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Phone exchange out of order for a year Palampur, June 10 Telephone subscribers here have been cut off from the rest of the state as BSNL officials have not repaired the exchange. The local panchayat has also passed a resolution in this regard and forwarded it to the General Manager (Telecom), BSNL, at Dharamshala, but action has not been initiated. The panchayat has also threatened to move the District Consumer Protection Forum if a new telephone exchange is not installed. Meanwhile, Ms Suman Chaudhry, member, block development committee, and Mr Bishan Dass, president of the Gadiara panchayat, in a joint press note issued here on Tuesday, urged the BSNL authorities to initiate efforts to install a new telephone exchange. |
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Steps to check illegal mining Shimla, June 10 This was announced by Mr Ram Lal Thakur, Industry Minister, in the Vidhan Sabha today while replying to a private member’s resolution moved by Mr Ravinder Ravi of the BJP. He said the government had already notified the rules for river bed mining in the state under which no quarrying would be allowed up to a distance of 200 metres from water supply and irrigation works for tapping water. The fine for illegal mining had been increased to Rs 25,000 and imprisonment for two years. The minimum fine had been increased to Rs 5,000. Contractors had been barred from using heavy machinery and even manual quarrying would be restricted to a depth of 3 metres. Heavy boulders, which helped break the flow of water, would also not be allowed to be exported from the state. To check illegal mining, powers had been delegated to subdivisional-level officers. In 2003-04 as many as 2480 cases of illegal mining were detected out of which 1373 were compounded to recover a fee of Rs 12.5 lakh and 484 were pending with the courts and 303 with the department. Besides, 81 cases were decided by courts. Earlier, Mr Ravinder Ravi and other members expressed concern over large-scale illegal and unscientific mining, which was causing a variety of problems besides degrading the environment. |
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Environment
congress begins today Palampur, June 10 The theme of the congress is “Catalysing public-private partnerships for social and environmental change”. The congress will be inaugurated by Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, and will be addressed by a large number of dignitaries. Golden Peacock Awards will be presented on the occasion. Dr Prodipto Ghosh, Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests, will deliver the keynote address. Justice P N Bhagwati a former Chief justice, of India and chairman of the Centre for Social Responsibility, will be the guest of honour. |
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Railway employee held
in rape case Solan, June 10 The SHO, Babita Rana, while disclosing the details of the case said the girl from Baira Balta village missed school for 10 days on account of illness. On May 25 when she came to school her class teacher reprimanded her for remaining absent and told her to bring her father to school the next day. The girl fearing severe rebuke from her father and teacher fled her house. She said she spent the time at Barog, Kumarhatti and Kalka railway stations till May 30 when she met Shyam Singh, a railway employee. He urged her to accompany her to Barog in the train. They, however, alighted from the train near the Barog railway station where he allegedly raped her in the nearby jungle. On raising an alarm he fled the scene. The girl then managed to reach Dharampur. The Solan police came to know about the girl by a sweeper. Meanwhile, a police party led by DSP, Parwanoo, Surinder Verma
raided the house of the railway employee at Kalka with the help of the description given by the girl and managed to arrest him. A case under Section 376 has been registered in this regard. The girl has been restored to her father. The medical examination of the girl would be conducted tomorrow, the SHO added. |
20-year jail term for drug peddler Kulu, June 10 In another case under the NDPS Act, which was also decided yesterday, the Judge sentenced Ganga Ram to four years’ rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 40,000 on him. |
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Camp for Army children Dharamsala, June 10 |
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Sadhu found dead Nahan, June 10 The incident came to light when villager, who had gone to offer milk to the baba today, informed this to the president of Kotri Vyas Panchayat, Mr Dinesh Kumar. They broke open the door and found the baba dead on his bed. A red piece of cloth was found tied around his neck. A case has been registered in this regard. |
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Sanjeeva Pandey, Director, Great Himalayan National Park, Shamshi, District Kullu, writes: Apropos of the news item ‘Timber smuggling from Sainj valley’ (April 24). It mentions that “timber worth crores of rupees” is transported out of the valley. Only the right holders have been given timber under the timber distribution (TD) scheme to repair or build their traditional houses. During 2003-04, only 14.16 cu metre standing volume of trees has been granted to the villagers in the Sainj Wildlife Range as TD. The land owners in Himachal Pradesh may for their bona fide domestic use fell three trees of conifer each year without the permission of the Forest Department from their land. To transport timber from one place to another within the state, the owner has to take the permission of the Forest Department. In all such cases, proper permits were issued as provided under the Rules. Our office has sent requests to the Chief Wildlife Warden, HP to cross-check with the Conservators of Forests in HP if the timber transported by the land owners has been properly used for construction of their houses. The higher authorities have also been requested to amend the rules to include a condition that no land owner will be allowed to sell the standing trees on his land at least for a minimum period of five years after purchase of land. It is incorrect to report that “more than 35,000 scants worth more than Rs10 crore were transported to other places of the state.” The report even mentions the issue of transfer of the Park staff, which is done as per the state’s transfer policy. |
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