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Himachal CM’s winter sojourn
2 lakh pensioners in state: Virbhadra
Truck drivers most vulnerable to AIDS: survey
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State’s poor fiscal health worries Dhumal
Youth hostel to be linked with IBN facility
Varsity teachers threaten action
School board to make changes in syllabi
Five-day winter carnival begins on Jan 2
Rs 11 lakh contributed to relief fund
Selection of site for judicial complex today
Irate villagers lock dispensary
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Himachal CM’s winter sojourn assumes political significance
Shimla, December 29 Having become an annual ritual, Mr Virbhdra Singh will extensively tour the lower parts of the state, including Kangra, Una, Chamba and Hamirpur districts during the next month and a half. During the first phase of his winter move, he will be in Kangra from January 5 to January 17 and then again from February 4 to 10, in the second phase. Being the first winter sojourn after the Cabinet downsizing and the Congress defeat in the Guler byelection, it remains to be seen as to how Mr Virbhadra Singh, will account for the dropping of all three ministers from Kangra. “It will require a lot of political acumen and balancing act from the Chief Minister to keep everyone together and in good humour,” admit senior Congress leaders. The major cause of concern for the party at the moment is the aggressive stance taken by one of the dropped ministers, Mr Vijai Singh Mankotia. Known for his aggressive posturing even in the past, Mr Mankotia did not miss out any opportunity to hit out at the government during the Assembly session. Even at the Kshatriya Mahasammelan, organised by the Rajput Sabha at Nurpur on December 26, he made it clear that he could go to any extent to protect the interests of Kangra. Interestingly, during this Mahasammelan, the vociferous Congress leaders got whole- hearted support from none other than the former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition, Mr P.K. Dhumal. He assured Mr Mankotia that he would extend all help and cooperation in his fight for protecting the interests of Kangra. Though the loyalty of the other dropped minister, Mr B.B.L. Butail, is unquestionable, political pundits are keenly watching how Mrs Chandresh Kumari, who too lost her ministerial berth will react. “The situation this time is rather ticklish as it is not just the BJP’s allegations of discrimination with Kangra, which we will have to counter, but our own party legislators are likely to raise the issue,” say party leaders from Kangra. It is also expected that Mr Virbhadra Singh might make some major announcements as far as development works are concerned to show that he was keen for uniform and balanced development of the state. |
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2 lakh pensioners in state: Virbhadra
Mandi, December 29 Urging the people of the state to join in the development works through various committees, associations, self-help groups, Mr Virbhadra Singh said that over 8,000 persons had participated through various committees giving a fillip to various schemes started by the state government. The Chief Minister added that Himachal Pradesh had been ranked first in the social sector in the country. “Over 2 lakh persons are enjoying the social welfare benefits worth Rs 50 crore every year”. Taking to task the previous BJP government, Mr Virbhadra Singh said that the BJP government’s policy of regularisation of encroachments had encouraged land encroachers further. “The encroachers should voluntarily vacate land encroached upon”, he urged. The meeting was also attended by the Mandi MP, Ms Pratibha Singh, the Irrigation and Public Health Minister, Thakur Kaul Singh, the Excise and Taxation Minister, Mr Rangila Ram Rao, and other Congress MLAs from the district, besides the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Ali Raza Rizvi, and other district administration officials. |
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Truck drivers most vulnerable to AIDS: survey
Solan, December 29 Female sex workers have been recognised as the second most vulnerable group, comprise 23 per cent of this population. The survey, which has screened 42,774 persons in the state till November 2003, detected 709 HIV positive cases, including 166 AIDS cases. A majority of the 85 per cent of the positive cases were confined to Hamirpur, Kangra, Shimla, Bilaspur and Mandi districts. Bilaspur district has the highest number of 54 truck halting sites out of the 197 sites in the state, followed by Solan and Mandi districts having 31 and 23 sites, respectively. The state’s largest Kangra district has 14 sites. These trucks visited the state from March to October for various commercial activities, including apple transportation. However, their inflow decreased during the winter due to snowfall in the upper reaches. The survey reveals that out of the 197 truck halting sites, 13,320 trucks halted in these districts. While 3,075 trucks were registered in Bilaspur district, 2,390 trucks and 2,040 trucks were registered in Solan and Kangra districts, respectively. With the presence of other vulnerable groups like migrant population and female sex workers these sites have become most vulnerable. Here, too, Bilaspur district topped the list having 25 composite sites in all. As many as 162 migrant sites have been recognised which bring nearly 52,298 persons to the state for employment. There is a sharp decline in the truck drivers’ population at the onset of the rainy season. Another lean months for the truckers are December and January when heavy snow often causes roadblocks in some districts, including Lahaul and Spiti. With these marginalised section of the community being the high risk group, effective strategies for targeted interventions in these areas is now being carried out. The AIDS Control Society is now focusing on evolving location and group-specific strategies for the prevention and control of the disease. |
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State’s poor fiscal health worries Dhumal
Hamirpur, December 29 Mr Dhumal said that the UPA government would be known as one of the most infamous governments of India since Independence due to its anti-people policies in general and anti-employee policies in particular. The BJP leader criticised the Congress government in the state for signing an MOU on fiscal reforms with the Central Government and thereby harming the cause of serving employees and those in waiting for
employment. Mr Dhumal claimed that the fiscal condition of the state was bad despite huge loans taken various institutions. He said that the state government had so far not demanded any package from the Central Government. This showed that the Congress was not interested in improving the fiscal condition of the state. Talking about the BJP, he said his party was a united house and all of its leaders and workers were busy to oust the Congress from power. It was wrong to say that the party was facing internal dissensions. Only agents of the Congress were airing rumours that the BJP was a house divided. The BJP leader reiterated his demand for a Himalayan regiment. He said that this demand was also raised by the party at meeting with the President of India at Shimla recently. |
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Youth hostel to be linked with IBN facility
Dalhousie, December 29 This was announced by Dr Harish K. Saxena, president of the International Youth Hostels Federation (IYHF), while addressing the participants of the National Himalayan Winter Trekking Expedition, being organised by the YHAI for the 13th year in succession at the Youth Hostel here Friday. Dr Saxena claimed that the Youth Hostel, Dalhousie, had met minimum international standards and once the hostel was linked to the IBN facility, Dalhousie would come on the international map of tourism. Dr Saxena informed that the YHAI was planning to connect youth hostels in the country through a network system to enable online booking of international youth hostels. By remitting the money locally, the members could get the accommodation confirmed in the hostels as there were nearly 5,000 youth hostels functioning in 80 countries across the world. Dr Sexena said in India there were 69 government-run-youth hostels and 29 private youth hostels. He added that the YHAI had proposed to open 200 private youth hostels to achieve a target of 8,000 beds capacity across the country to promote youth tourism and provide clean, and inexpensive facility to the travelling youths. Dr Sexena observed that the Dalhousie Winter Trekking Expedition was gaining popularity across all the states. He said the YHAI had been conducting
eco-friendly treks and plastic material was never used during the trek even before the government imposed a ban on plastic bags. Mr K. Swaminathan national secretary of the YHAI and Mr S.S. Heera, Field Director, National Himalayan Winter Trekking Expedition, also addressed the trekkers on the occasion. |
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Varsity teachers threaten action
Shimla, December 29 The association condemned the indifferent attitude of the university authorities in accepting the long pending demands of the teaching community, who had been raising it from time to time. In a statement issued here today, the president of the association, Prof A.C. Pal, said that even the demands agreed to by the authorities had not been implemented. The executive committee of the association, which met here today, decided that if they were not invited by the authorities for negotiations at the earliest they would resort to direct action. “We will seek the support and cooperation of other unions and associations of the university to come together in this fight, as most of our demands are common and in the interest of the teaching community,” said Prof Pal. The association lamented that the process to fill the posts advertised in August had not been initiated so far and moreover a policy of pick and choose was being adopted as the requirements in certain advertisements did not confirm to the workload in some departments. They regretted that the authorities had not done anything to enforce the recommendations of the University Grants Commission (UGC) to enhance the superannuation age of university teachers to 62 years. They further said that the authorities had failed to enhance the rate of interest on GPF on a par with the Central and state government employees. They also took exception to the manner in which UGC’s unassigned grants were being utilised, while demanding need-based distribution for research activities. |
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School board to make changes in syllabi
Kangra, December 29 Disclosing this here today, Ms Anju Pathank, a spokesperson of the board, said that changes had been made in the syllabus of English of various classes. She said that now there would be new syllabi for these classes and new books of the NCERT would be introduced. |
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Five-day winter carnival begins on Jan 2
Manali, December 29 The Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, will inaugurate the carnival, while Mrs Pratibha Singh, Member of Parliament, will preside over the concluding function on January 6. Talking to mediapersons here Subdivisional Magistrate, Manali, Mr Rameshwer Sharma, who is also chairman of the Winter Carnival Committee, said about 22 teams from various parts of the country would perform at the carnival. As many as 800 participants are expected to enthral the gathering at the carnival. Mr Sharma said the carnival had been successful in promoting winter tourism in Kullu-Manali by attracting a large number of domestic and foreign tourists. Every year the winter carnival is gaining popularity as the number of participants also increasing. He said the emphasis would be to promote Himachal art and culture . The additional buses are being arranged for the carnival. The highlights of the carnival would be folk dances, folk songs, personality contests, skits, fancy dress competitions, fashion shows, street play, classical dance, rangoli and jhanki. The winter queen will also be selected during the carnival. |
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Tribal areas in grip of cold wave
Shimla, December 29 The minimum temperature increased from 6.6ºC to 10.1ºC in Shimla, while the minimum temperature marginally rose to 2.7ºC and 3ºC at Sundernagar and Bhuntar, respectively. The sky remained partially overcast throughout the day in Shimla, bringing down the maximum day temperature from 17.9ºC to 16.5º. However, the Weatherman did not completely rule out an early snowfall, maintaining that there could be a sudden drop in the temperature if icy winds swept the region. The tribal valleys of Lahaul, Spiti and Pangi continued to groan under piercing cold wave conditions as fresh snowfall in high altitude areas kept the minimum temperature 15 to 20ºC below the freezing point. All natural lakes, streams, springs and other sources of water and the 70-km stretch of Chandrabhaga were already frozen and the tribal valleys were cut off from rest of the state due to heavy snow on Rohtang, Kunzam and Saach passes.
— PTI |
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Rs 11 lakh contributed to relief fund
Shimla, December 29 He was presiding over the 100th meeting of the board of directors of the corporation here today. He said that eight new LPG agencies would be made functional during the current financial year and added that 33 LPG outlets were already functioning. The meeting passed a resolution conveying their condolences and sympathies to the families of those who have lost their relatives in the tsunami calamity and also decided to contribute Rs 11 lakh to mitigate their difficulties through the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. |
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Selection of site for judicial complex today
Hamirpur, December 29 Deputy Commissioner Devesh Kumar told The Tribune here this afternoon that the final selection of the site would be made tomorrow and thereafter a report would be sent to the HP High Court for a final decision at their end. However, the District Bar Association at a meeting this morning suggested three sites near the PWD workshop complex, the Sub-Jail complex and the SDM court complex, including the office of the BDO, Hamirpur, for the proposed judicial complex. |
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Irate villagers lock dispensary
Nurpur, December 29 According to the information, the villagers are not allowing the employees to sit in the dispensary. Even the new doctor was not allowed to join duty. The protesting villagers alleged that the ayurvedic doctor had been transferred on political grounds and against the public interest of the area. Vidhya Devi, Lajvanti and Geeta, old women of above 70 years of age, who sat on dharna on Tuesday, that the agitators would not allow to reopen the dispensary until the transfer orders of the doctor were revoked. They also warned to resort to fast in the second phase of their agitation. The ayurvedic authorities as well as the local administration have failed to intervene in this week-long row and initiate any step to reopen the locked health dispensary so far. |
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