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Doctors warn govt in NPA issue
Farmers upset over long dry spell
Guler may see another ‘son’ rise
Himachal can earn Rs 1,000 cr from hydro projects
Dhumal describes Uma’s release as victory of democracy
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Saili lift irrigation scheme launched
Training programme for
Parbati project engineers
4 held for murder in Nurpur
Shekhar Kapoor plans film on Buddha
5000 take dip in Manimahesh lake
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Doctors warn govt in NPA issue
Mandi, September 7 HPMOA members revealed that ‘top bureaucrats’ had refused to give the written assurance to it that the NPA would not be de-linked from their basic salary. “The members met the top official, but they were not the given the written assurance, raising the suspicion that the government is only misguiding the doctors”. Talking to the reporters after holding HPMOA district-level meetings in all 12 district of the state and here today Dr DK Arora, president, HPMOA, Mandi branch, said the doctors would lose over 25 per cent of their pay, gratuity and pension in the long run. “This will discourage the younger professionals to the join the government sector, adversely affecting the health services and patient care in the state”. Referring to the top slot that Himachal Pradesh has won in the health and social services in the country in a recent survey Dr. Anil Joshi, secretary, HPMOA, district branch said the government far from improving the working conditions of the doctors had slashed the NPA because the bureaucracy was misguiding it on the issue. Hamirpur: The district unit of the Himachal Pradesh Medical Officers Sangh has taken strong exception to a recent decision of the state government to delink their non-practicing allowance (NPA) with the basic pay. The decision is against the medical officers and will in long run harm their prospects, according to the sangh. The sangh, at its meeting here today with Dr Suman Sharma in the Chair, urged the state government to review the decision, which according to the sangh was taken without assessing its effects. The sangh warned the government of agitation if no action was taken to rescind the decision. At the meeting, members of the sangh elected Dr P.R. Katwal and Dr Mohan Thakur as the members of the Joint Action Committee and Dr P.C. Sharma as the new secretary of the sangh.
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Farmers upset over long dry spell
Hamirpur, September 7 Maize and paddy are mainly sown in the district and both these crops have already suffered damage due to the lack of rain earlier. While the maize crop has been sown on an area of 32,500 hectares, the paddy crop has been sown on an area of 2,070 hectares, according to the Agriculture Department. Farmers have also sown vegetables and pulses on an area of 1,125 and 500 hectares, respectively, in the district during the kharif season. The Department of Agriculture proposed to produce 77,700 metric tonnes of maize, 30,000 metric tonnes of paddy, 28,500 metric tonnes of vegetables and 3,000 metric tonnes of pulses. However, as per initial reports prepared by the department, the loss to the crops was more than Rs 3 crore. It may cross Rs 10 crore mark if it does not rain in this week, when crops are at the maturity stage. A visit to various parts of the district revealed that farmers were worried over the dry spell on one hand and loss to the rest of their crops due to birds and wild animals on other hand. At Patlander, Shanta Devi said it was becoming difficult to get good crops this time due to “assault” by the wild animals and the prolonged dry spell. She said the rain god was angry with them. She said the loss to the crops this time was more than 50 per cent. At Bhoranj, Ram Singh said the lack of rains was bound to harm the production of the crops. He said several farmers were thinking about switching over from their traditional crops to vegetable crops due to unfavourable weather conditions. He told The Tribune this morning that those growing vegetables were getting good money as compared to those cultivating traditional crops. A spokesman of the Department of Agriculture admitted that the long dry spell was bound to harm the production of kharif crops this time. He said if there were no rains in the coming week, the loss to the crops would be much higher as anticipated earlier. Meanwhile, farmers of the district have urged the state government to order a special girdawari to assess the loss caused to their crops due to the lack of rain. They also demanded cash compensation.
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Guler may see another ‘son’ rise
Shimla, September 7 The seat which fell vacant in May following the election of Mr Chander Kumar, a former minister, to the Lok Sabha is scheduled to go to the polls on October 13. Although a final decision regarding the candidate for the seat will be taken by the central election committee, party sources said that the choice is likely to fall on Mr Neeraj Bharti, a son of Mr Chander Kumar. He has been moving in the constituency ever since his father resigned from the seat. In fact, he was in charge of the campaign in the Guler constituency during the Lok Sabha poll. It had been a stronghold of the party largely because of the personal rapport Mr Chander Kumar has been able establish with the electorate over the years. He has lost the assembly elections only once since 1985 when he first entered the Vidhan Sabha. Senior party leaders feel that banking on the strong legacy Mr Neeraj could easily step into his father’s shoes and make things easier for the party in the electoral arena. A section of party workers is opposing him on the ground that it will tantamount to perpetuating family rule. They are also drawing strength from the fact that the Congress high command recently rejected the move Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh to induct his son into politics. However, the leaders maintain that situation is different in the hill state. The electoral arithmetic is such that the party can not ignore the other backward classes, which Mr Chander Kumar represents. Further the party can not take any risk as Kangra district has suffered the most during the recent downsizing of the Cabinet. Earlier, during the 2003 Assembly poll, Mr Sudhir Kumar, entered the Vidhan Sabha from Baijnath , the pocket borrow of his father Mr Sant Ram, a former minister, who won the seat eight times. Similarly, Mr Rohit Thakur, got elected from Jubbal Kotkhai, the traditional seat of his grand father and former Chief Minister, Mr Ram Lal, who died in 2002.
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Himachal can earn Rs 1,000 cr from hydro projects
Chamba, September 7 Stating this at Surangani, the headquarters of Baira Siul Power Station about 40 km from here, today Mr Yogendra Prasad, Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of the NHPC said in addition, 3 per cent of the total cost of the project was spent on various environmental management and development activities in the project areas where these were located. Moreover, the NHPC’s projects were creating viable infrastructure, including beautiful lakes and dams for the promotion of tourism and in this direction the NHPC was contemplating to start a joint venture on tourism, Mr Prasad informed. Mr Prasad stated that the NHPC was keen to undertake all the hydroelectric projects of Himachal Pradesh and had requested the state Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, to give the proposed projects to the NHPC. Speaking about the priority of the NHPC, Mr Prasad said the NHPC was trying to bring the hydropower ratio to 40 per cent as the thermal power should be 60 per cent and hydropower 40 per cent adding so far the NHPC could have been able to achieve 26.93 per cent. Hydropower did not have any recurring expenditure on fuel. Regarding future plans of the NHPC, Mr Prasad claimed that the NHPC had planned a number of projects, which would add about 20,000 MW of power by the end of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan.
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Dhumal describes Uma’s release as victory of democracy
Hamirpur, September 7 Mr Dhumal who returned from Bangalore last night after taking part in satyagraha there, asked the Congress to clarify whether the Rani Chenamma ground existed in India or not. He said that if it was in India then there was nothing wrong to unfurl the National Flag there. The BJP leader said that the way the Congress-led Karnataka Government tried to open this 10-year old case on political basis and to make mileage of it, failed
miserably due to public pressure. Mr Dhumal said that no force could prevent any person from unfurling the National Flag in any part of India. |
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BJP hails Uma’s release
Hamirpur, September 7 He said the Congress was compelled to take this decision as the party failed to resist the pressure from the people. He said the next elections would be fought on the plank of democracy and those having no links with the people and who were harming the cause of democracy would be exposed. Mr Rana said the Congress lacked leadership as a result of which its leaders and workers were constantly trying to please Mrs Sonia Gandhi to further their personal interests. The Congress had no love and faith in the people in general and the democratic set up in particular, he added. He blasted the UPA government for its failure to control the rising prices. The failure of the UPA to curb the price line was one of its main drawbacks and thus was harming the cause of the poor man. He said that if the present government was allowed to remain in power, the nation would be doomed. |
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Saili lift irrigation scheme launched
Saili (Chamba), September 7 Speaking on the occasion, the Deputy Commissioner said the scheme was a boon for the distant village and assured all possible help from the ongoing government programmes for the development of the remote and backward belt. The DC said the scheme was a dream of Mr Yogendra Prasad, Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) and chief patron of the vikas trust. During his visit to Saili in April this year he had promised to bring water for irrigation to this village within a year but the trust, in association with the villagers, had been able to convert this dream into a reality within five months, which was a record of sorts. In his address, Mr Yogendra Prasad, who was the chief guest on the occasion, appealed to the residents of Saili to work for the welfare of their fellow human beings. Speaking on the occasion, Ms Kiran Dodeja, Chairperson of the trust, thanked the Himachal Education Minister, Ms Asha Kumari for her wholehearted cooperation to the trust and reiterated the commitment of the trust to make Saili village an ideal village not only in Chamba district but in whole of Himachal Pradesh also. |
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Training programme for
Parbati project engineers
Kulu, September 7 Mr D Chattopadhyay, Chief Engineer,
inaugurated the programme and said the key objective was to inculcate work culture to improve performance. He said the engineers would get briefing on transformer, insulator, high tension/low tension (HT/LT) lines, the earthing system, internal
electrification, the very high frequency (VHF) system, the EPABX system and battery. Mr Chattopadhyay further said the training would also include general information regarding personnel and
administration, finance and accounts, planning management and coordination and procurement and vigilance spheres, besides efficiency. |
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4 held for murder in Nurpur
Nurpur, September 7 Sat Pal, son of Purn Singh, who was injured seriously succumbed to his injuries yesterday at Dr Rajindra Prasad Medical College, Dharamsala. His brother Raghubir Singh and mother Shakuntla Devi, who also sustained serious injuries, have been admitted to the medical college. Sakinder Pal, Satish, Ashok and their mother Shastri Devi have been arrested under Section 302, IPC, for allegedly assaulting the victims with sharp-edged weapons, the police said. A land dispute was reported to be the cause of the clash. According to eyewitnesses, the clash victims were suddenly attacked by the accused who were armed with sharp-edged weapons.
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Shekhar Kapoor plans film on Buddha
Dharamsala, September 7 Kapoor later said that it was a “routine” visit as he had been keen to visit the place and meet the Dalai Lama for quite some time, but got the opportunity only today. Asked if he planned to make a film on Lord Buddha, he sidestepped it and said it was a personal visit and had come with Mr Modi who was quite familiar with the area. The director of such acclaimed movies as “Bandit Queen,” “Masoom,” and “Elizabeth” also visited the Tibetan library and reportedly discussed with Tibetan officials some issues regarding the proposed film.
— PTI |
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5000 take dip in Manimahesh lake
Chamba, September 7 The main and final bath in the Manimahesh lake was slated for September 22, on the event of Radhashtami and a holy charri would be taken from the district headquarters town of Chamba a week before the final bath. |
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20 hurt as buses collide
Shimla, September 7 While the Himachal Road Transport Corporation bus (HP-07-3692) was on its way from here to Theog, the private bus (HP-07-3912) was returning from Kiari. Mr Prem Lal, driver of the HRTC bus was among those seriously injured. The national highway remained blocked for about two hours due to the mishap.
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2 kids drowned
Solan, September 7 The police fished out one of the bodies while the other found floating. The pradhan of the Kunihaar panchayat, Rajinder Thakur, announced an immediate relief of Rs 10,000 each to the two families and also performed the last rites this evening. |
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