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65 pc turnout at Guler
HP to raise elite commando force
Bank makes overdraft payments
‘Conservative surgery’ to decongest colonies
Admn overrules ASI order on Dasehra celebrations
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Fifth leopard attack in two weeks
CPI seeks relief for farmers on AP pattern
One buried alive under snow in Kulu
Snow hampers road clearing
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65 pc turnout at Guler
Dharamsala, October 13 The polling started on a sluggish note at 8 am and only 3 or 5 per cent voters cast their votes through 86 electronic voter machines. It gradually picked up and 12 per cent votes had been cast by 10 am and 65 per cent voters had visited polling stations by 4 pm. The Guler assembly constituency falls under Jwali sub-division. Women voters outnumber men in the area. Neeraj Bharti of the Congress, BJP’s Harbans Rana, Brahmi Devi of the Bahujan Samaj Party, Laxman Singh of the Himachal Vikas Party are among six candidates in the fray. A total of 57 polling stations were set up, of which 12 were identified as sensitive. A total of 296 police personnel were deputed at the polling booths. The police said no untoward incident was reported and the entire polling process passed off peacefully. Deputy Commissioner Shrikant Baldi also took a round of the polling stations. |
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HP to raise elite commando force
Shimla, October 13 The special force being raised under the CID wing of the police will be provided training on the pattern of the security forces of the USA, for which the curriculum of the Federal Law Enforcement and Training Centre, Brunswick, has been adopted. Besides the basic commando course, members of the force will be provided specialised training in VIP protection, defensive driving, safe driving and anti-terrorism. They will also be trained in surveillance using modern electronic gadgets and collection of intelligence to ensure foolproof security at houses of VIP’s. The training will be a continuous process for the force and only highly motivated and physically fit jawans upto the age of 25 years will be inducted into it. The force will be trained and managed on the pattern of the Army. To maintain a young profile, the jawans will be kept in the elite force only upto the age of 35 years. Thereafter, they will be sent to other departments of the police. Mr B.S. Thind, Additional Director-General of Police (CID), said initially, the force would have a strength of 120 personnel. They would be deployed for the security of the Governor, the Chief Minister, the Chief Justice and the Vidhan Sabha. At a given time, only one-third of the force will be on duty and the rest will be under training to maintain it as a “fighting fit” unit. The specialised training of the first batch of 25 jawans will start from November 1 at the Bharari police training school, here. The school is being developed into a multipurpose centre to impart training in safe driving and defensive driving. While the course in defensive driving will be meant specifically for the commando personnel and securitymen who escort
VVIPs, the safe driving course will be subsequently thrown open to drivers of other government departments and finally to the general public. Besides providing state-of -the-art training to the special security force, closed circuit televisions and hidden cameras will be installed at strategic places to ensure foolproof security. |
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Bank makes overdraft payments
Solan, October 13 The fact that only nationalised banks can make such provisions in exceptional cases after due confirmation of the party’s repaying capacity, and that too within a specified time, has cast a finger of suspicion over the bank’s working. Making an unconstitutional provision to benefit some favourites amounts to bonafide bungling of funds, observe bank officials. Fingers are also being pointed towards the traders who have been extended the benefit and it is being alleged that they owe allegiance to the Congress. The chairman of the bank, Mr Mohan Mehta, when contacted, confirmed that such an irregularity had been committed by the Parwanoo branch of the bank. He said the manager, who had been held responsible for the irregularity had been granted one-and-a-half months to recover the amount due from the parties concerned. The said official had been working as the branch manager at Parwanoo for the past more than two years. Mr Mehta said an amount of Rs 21 lakh was pending and the rest had been recovered, adding that the official would soon be chargesheeted shortly. He refused to divulge the names of the traders who had been obliged and added that the entire amount would soon be recovered. Though all banks maintained a system of internal auditing, but the norms in this case had been made flexible. |
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‘Conservative surgery’ to decongest colonies
Shimla, October 13 The Municipal Corporation (MC) and the Department of Town and Country Planning, along with technical experts, including spatial planners and architects, have recommended undertaking of this exercise in order to bring about order in these residential areas, which have turned into concrete jungles. The colonies where ‘conservative surgery’ is likely to take place are Jiunu Colony, the cemetery and other areas in Sanjauli, Chakkar, Ruldu-ki-Bhatti and Kachi Ghati. “As far as pulling down parts of some buildings in the congested colonies is concerned, it has become a must as even the safety of these structures is at risk,” said an official. “Structures which have been raised in violation of rules could face the threat of dismantling as this has become a necessity to bring order into these colonies which have mushroomed over the years unscientifically,” said an engineer. It is learnt a slight tremor in this earthquake-prone area can spell doom as the state falls in the high-prone seismic zone-IV. It was during deliberations among various government agencies, spatial planners and environmentalists that this proposal was put forward. It was felt that stringent steps needed to be taken to prevent the situation in the other parts of the town from becoming congested. It is also proposed that some kind of amendments in regulations be made so that certain changes as per the need of the hour can be made. “In the larger interests of the community, we might make an amendment to allow extra space to be covered on the first floor in case of those asked to leave more land along the plot on the ground floor,” said an official. However, these steps will come into effect only once they are given the go-ahead by the government after the finalisation of the Shimla Development Plan, which is to be submitted in its final shape for approval within the next three months. |
Admn overrules ASI order on Dasehra celebrations
Nurpur, October 13 The fort
is now a protected national monument and the ASI has been undertaking
its repair for the past few years. The Government Senior Secondary
School is in the fort premises, which also provide an approach to the
historical Brij Raj Swami temple of Lord Krishna, where thousands of
devotees pay obeisance on Janmashtami every year. The ASI has also
served notices to the state Education Department to shift its premises
from the fort. A big iron gate has been fixed at the entrance to the
fort premises, which is kept closed round-the-clock, putting devotees to
inconvenience. Following the refusal of the ASI to grant permission for
the celebrations, irate residents, municipal councillors and organisers
met the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, in the first week of
October. He promised them support of the state government on the issue.
Following the intervention of the Chief Minister, the Deputy
Commissioner, Kangra, granted permission to the municipal council to
hold Dasehra celebrations on the fort premises. The ASI and the
district administration are at loggerheads on this issue. An ASI
official says the local ASI authorities cannot allow such celebrations
on the fort premises until they get requisite directions from their higher-ups. He says the district administration cannot enforce its orders
to the ASI. The local SDM, Dr N.K. Lath, has made it clear that the
administration has to comply with the order of the Deputy Commissioner
and to ensure Dasehra celebrations on the fort premises. It is being
apprehended that in the absence of requisite permission, a law and order
problem can be created on the first day of celebrations as the issue
concerns the religious and emotional sentiments of the residents. |
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Fifth leopard attack in two weeks
Hamirpur, October 13 According to Reports reaching here today, Ruma Devi was working in her cowshed when the leopard attacked her. On raising an alarm, villagers rescued her from prowler’s clutches. She has been admitted to the Bhareri Hospital. Five persons have so for been mauled by the leopard in the area during the past two weeks. Only two days ago, a leopard injured Sanjeev Kumar of the same village. Divisional Forest Officer, Hari Singh Dogra told The Tribune that the department was seized of the situation and all out steps were being taken to catch the prowler. A cage had been installed at Jol village, he said. He said he had also sent a detailed report to Shimla-based officers of the department suggesting the female leopard be declared man eater. Once it was declared man-eater, steps would be taken to catch or kill the beast. Mr Dogra said the department had started giving compensation to the victims on the basis of their injuries. Meanwhile, people of the Bhoraj tehsil have demanded effective and timely steps to save them from the leopard. They said it was difficult to venture out even during the day time. They said there were three leopards active in the area, including a female one and two cubs. |
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CPI seeks relief for farmers on AP pattern
Kangra. October 13 In a statement here, Mr Himal Chand, district general secretary and member, National Council of the CPI, said 50% of rice and 65 % of vegetable crops were damaged by untimely rains. The BJP and the Congress leaders, he said, were unmindful of the agony of the farmers, who comprised nearly 80 % of the states population so busy had they been in electioneering. Mr Himal Chand demanded that the revenue authorities be directed for on-the-spot assessment of the loss. |
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One buried alive under snow in Kulu
Shimla, October 13 Hitash Kumar was buried alive under snow at Kotladhar in Kulu district yesterday. About 100 persons were stranded in about 35 vehicles, including potato-laden trucks, between Gamptu and Rohtang due to heavy snowfall in the tribal district of Lahaul Spiti. Keylong, headquarters of Lahaul Spiti district, had snowfall this afternoon. Higher areas like Lady of Keylong,
Koksar, Rakshdak and Saptrishi received heavy snowfall today, a report from Keylong said. The Manali-Rohtang-Keylong road was blocked for a fourth day today. The Manali-Keylong road was opened for light vehicles up to
Dornimod, near Koksar, but was again blocked today, a police report said. |
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Snow hampers road clearing
Shimla, October 13 The 300 participants, members of recovery and service teams, who were stuck at various places since Monday, managed to reach Keylong today. However, they could not move any further due to heavy snow. The Rohtang Pass was already under one metre of snow and the snowfall was still continuing. The Kinnaur and Spiti areas also had fresh snow today, while Narkanda, Kufri, Chail and other areas had sleet. Lower areas of the state had scattered rain. Shimla and its surrounding areas had intermittent rain and sleet. The town recorded the lowest temperature of 4.2° C in October in three decades. The people reeled under Arctic weather. |
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Plea to upgrade draughtsman’s post
Shimla, October 13 In a memorandum to the Principal Secretary, PWD, the association pointed out that 80 per cent of draughtsmen in the two departments had completed more than 17 years of service. Stagnation in the cadre could be eased to some extent by upgrading the post of Junior Draughtsman to that of Draughtsman. |
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HC denies bail to rape accused
Shimla, October 13 The court observed that the gravity of the offence, inhuman conduct of the accused and severity of punishment provided for the crime were the factors which weighed against the grant of bail to the accused. The accused allegedly raped the minor girl on July 18, 2004 in Talai village of Bilaspur district. |
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In video: Manali
receives season's first snowfall. (