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Parmar is new CS of
Himachal Cong defeat in Guler
our gain: HVC chief Minister denies
‘favouritism’ in land allotment HP govt signs pact on
Rampur project |
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Bali ready to quit,
if proved guilty Development plan for
Kangra Archaeology Dept
objects to park near historic temple Naib Subedar cremated
with state honours
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Parmar is new CS of Himachal
Shimla, October 20 He succeeds Mr Shamsher Singh who was to retire on October 31. However, the way was paved for the elevation of Mr Parmar 11 days in advance by appointing Mr Shamsher Singh as Chairperson of the state electricity board for one year. A 1971 batch IAS officer, Mr Parmar has risen to the top bureaucratic position superseding seven officers, six of whom are currently on deputation with the Centre. Mrs Renu Sahni Dhar, Additional Chief Secretary, Industry, the only officer who was affected with the elevation of Mr Parmar, has been promoted and appointed Principal Adviser, Industries and Tourism, with headquarters at New Delhi. The officers senior to Mr Parmar currently on deputation with the Centre include Mrs Sarita Prasad, Mr Ajay Prasad and Mr Dev Swaroop ( all 1969 batch officers), Mr P.S. Rana ( 1970 batch), Mr A.K. Mahapatra and Mr S.K. Sood (both of 1971 batch). A low-profile and polite officer, Mr Parmar has held several important posts during his career. He has been in the good books of Mr Virbhadra Singh, who appointed him as his Principal Secretary soon after taking over as Chief Minister. He was subsequently promoted as Additional Chief Secretary and given the all-important charge of finance. He also remained Vice- Chancellor of the Himachal Pradesh University for more than a year. Mr Parmar will complete 60 years in June 2007 and as such he could occupy the top position for more than two years and eight months. The government also promoted Mr Bhim Sen, Divisional Commissioner, Kangra, as Principal Secretary, Social Justice and Empowerment. Mr Yogesh Khanna, Principal Secretary, Forests, will be the new Finance Secretary. He replaces Mr S.S. Parmar. Mr Ashok Thakur, Principal Secretary, Tourism, will hold the additional charge of the Forest Department. Mr S.C. Negi, Principal Secretary, Pubic Works Department, has been given the additional charge of Industries Department. Mr Prem Kumar, Principal Secretary, Social Justice and Empowerment, has been posted as Principal Secretary, Housing and Cooperation. Mr Prabodh Saxena, on return from foreign training, has been promoted in the super time-scale and posted as Director Vigilance, vice Mr Maneesh Garg, who has been made Additional Secretary, Industries, Information Technology and Biotechnology. He will also function as Director of Information Technology. Mr V.C. Pharka, Divisional Commissioner, Shimla, will also hold the additional charge of Divisional Commissioner, Kangra. |
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Cong defeat in Guler our gain: HVC chief
Chandigarh, October 20 Talking to The Tribune here this afternoon, Mr Des Raj said that it was Himachal Vikas Congress (HVC) which had raised various issues, including the tussle for power between Upper Himachal and Lower Himachal, which proved decisive. Mr Des Raj Sharma, a former international volleyball player and member of the 1962 Asian Games silver medallist Indian team, had quit as Superintendent of Police to join politics and was one of the founder members of the HVC. It was he who had opposed the “unilateral decision” of Mr Sukh Ram to merge the HVC with the Congress on April 12 this year. “It was only on September 19 that the Election Commission of India gave us permission to contest the Guler by-election on behalf of the HVC. Since the party had been in a disarray, we got together, put up Sqn Ldr Lachman Singh as our candidate. I spent money from my pension account in the election as we were fighting on principle. “Mr Virbhadra Singh had dropped all three ministers from Lower Himachal on the pretext of downsizing. At the same time there are three ministers from just one subdivision of Upper Himachal. It worked. In fact the reason for our candidate not getting substantial votes was that our star campaigner Rani Bhagyawati disappeared under mysterious circumstances on last three days of the campaign. We lodged a complaint with the police as well as the Election Commission,” he added. Mr Des Raj Sharma held that anti-people policies, growing inflation and unemployment, growing regionalism, and casteism were the other issues that were responsible for the defeat of the Congress in the by-election. Though the Chief Minister put everything at stake, yet people of Guler outrightly rejected him and the Congress candidate. Mr Des Raj Sharma said that the HVC has achieved its purpose of sounding a warning to all political parties pursuing anti-people policies and playing regionalism. “I will be writing to the Congress president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, about the causes of debacle ruling party suffered in Guler.” |
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Minister denies ‘favouritism’ in land allotment
Shimla, October 20 In a statement, here today, he said the allegation was baseless and politically motivated. “It seems that Dr Bindal is levelling wild allegations out of sheer frustration and political vendetta since he was himself involved in numerous criminal cases and somehow wanted to distract the attention of people from his own misdeeds,” said Mr Kuldeep Kumar. The Congress Government, under the leadership of Mr Virbhadra Singh, had always maintained transparency and high standards of public functioning, he added. The government had launched a crusade against corruption in the state, which had spread panic among the corrupt, who were indulging in false and malicious propaganda to save their own skin, he said. Mr Kuldeep Kumar said the BJP Government had all along been trying to get the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, implicated in false cases and having failed to do so its leaders were now levelling such allegations. The BJP had referred the case of personal ancestral property of Mr Virbhadra Singh to the CBI, which gave a clean chit to him after thorough investigations. Mr Virbhadra Singh did not possess even an inch of land over and above what is permissible under the Ceiling Act. The case had been settled in various courts but the BJP was un-necessarily trying to mislead the people on this non-existent issue. The minister said it was absolutely absurd to allege that the state government had made any wrongful allotment of land in Solan district. “Let Mr Bindal prove his allegations,” he said. |
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HP govt signs pact on Rampur project
Shimla, October 20 Mr J.P. Negi, Principal Secretary, Power, today signed the agreement on behalf of the state government here. Mr Y.N. Appa Rao, Chairman-cum-Director of the Nigam, Mr Shamsher Singh, Chief Secretary, Mr S.S. Parmar, Additional Chief Secretary and senior officers were present. The project is estimated to cost about Rs 2000 crore. As per the agreement, a minimum of 40 per cent of the approved manpower for the project will be taken on deputation or absorption basis from the state electricity board. The absorbed employees will be treated as part of the nigam staff. The percentage will be maintained for all times to come right up to the operation and maintenance stage. Even for the corporate office of the nigam, 40 per cent of the staff will be taken from the board. The Director, Personnel, of the nigam and member, administration of the board will hold quarterly meetings to review the position regarding sanctioned manpower, equivalence issues and actual number of employees taken on absorption basis from the board. A state-level committee for the project under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary will be set up by the state government for resolving issues pertaining to various departments and other organisations. No board employee will be repatriated. The recruitment of workmen at various levels will be made from amongst candidates registered with the employment exchanges in the state. The nigam also agreed that the contractor and sub contractors engaged for execution of the project would be advised to give preference to local people in recruitment. Families to be rendered landless will be given grants ranging from Rs 45000 to Rs 65000. A sum of Rs 5000 will be paid for every cattle shed acquired. Affected shopkeepers will be entitled to a one-time displacement grant of Rs 10,000 besides a shop. In case the nigam is unable to provide shops, displaced shopkeepers will be given an assistance of Rs 40,000. The Centre had set a deadline of October 15, 2004 for signing the agreement. |
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Bali ready to quit, if proved guilty
Shimla, October 20 Reacting to reports in a section of media, accusing his son of brokering deals worth several lakhs, he said even if there was an iota of truth in the allegations, he would quit politics forever. “I am deeply hurt by such allegations as I believe in clean and transparent politics,” he said while addressing mediapersons. He said he had personally met the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, and requested him to constitute a time-bound inquiry in this regard. “I know it is people in the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Corporation (HPTDC), who are opposed to my disinvestment policy and are behind these allegations, but this will certainly not deter me from going ahead with my plans,” he said. While declining to clarify whether it is his detractors within the party or in the Opposition who were behind such allegations, he said it was the section of people who could not digest his satisfactory performance as a minister, who were resorting to such cheap tactics. |
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Development plan for Kangra
Kangra, October 20 Mr Kaul Singh Thakur, Irrigation and Public Health Minister, told mediapersons here today that instructions to the IPH authorities had been issued to explore the possibility for a project to provide adequate and safe drinking water. He directed the authorities to install a tubewell Brajeshwari Ghat on the outskirts of this town to provide facilities to the people visiting the ghat on the bank of the Baner. Mr Thakur was here to pay obeisance at the Brajeshwari Temple during the Navratra fair. |
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Archaeology Dept objects to park near historic temple
Mandi, October 20 The Archaeology Department has expressed concern under the 1992 Act forbidding any construction or mining activity in the area within 100 metres of the protected monument, the Panchvakhtra Temple, located on the right bank of the Saketi khud facing the project site. MMC officials, however, said the council was not carrying out mining activity at the site and hence it did not need any no objection certificate from the Archaeology Department. “We have replied to the Archaeology Department’s objection”, said Ms Sushila
Sonkhla, president, MMC. But residents of Ward No. 8 told The Tribune that the council should develop the spot with a concrete wall in such a manner that the surrounding shops and baolis, the traditional sources of drinking water, do not get choked due to flood during the rainy season. Voicing their concern over the threat of a flood, the residents said the spot falls in the flood zone. They also pointed out that a flood in the Beas and the Saketi khud had inundated the areas, submerged the bridge, and the river water had entered shops and Panchvakhtra Temple. “When there is a simultaneous flood in the khud and the Beas the water gets blocked at the confluence point, submerging the areas along the Saketi
khud. The water even enters houses along the tanks of the river.” The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Ali Raza
Rizvi, said there was no threat to the temple that was on a hard rock. “We are only improving the embankment, which is otherwise a dumping site for trash. We will provide electricity connection, create a pucca pathway and the space can be used for parking later. The wall along the khud will protect the shops and the lower areas along the khud”, he added. |
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Naib Subedar cremated with state honours
Mandi, October 20 Sohan Singh, of the Rashtriya Rifles, along with his team members, was on a search operation on October 17, when they were ambushed by militants in the Chatravara areas in the Poonch sector. The bullet hit his head and he died on the spot. He is survived by his wife, three children and parents. The Army officials, led by Lt-Col S.R. Pathania from Yol Camp, Dharamsala and the district administration, led by the SDM, Mr Arun Sharma, laid wreaths bidding adieu to the martyr. |
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Mr S.S. Parmar, Additional Chief Secretary, Finance, has been
appointed as the new Chief secretary of the state. He succeeds Mr
Shamsher Singh who was to retire on October 31. However, the way was
paved for the elevation of Mr Parmar 11 days in advance by appointing
Mr Shamsher Singh as Chairperson of the state electricity board for
one year.
