H I M A C H A L   P R A D E S H

Govt to protect locals’ interests, says Virbhadra
Kangra, February 12
The Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, said development in the Baijnath area would be speeded up. He was addressing a gathering at Baijnath after laying the foundation stone of a beautification project of the Kheer Ganga Ghat.

Minister urges defaulters to repay bank’s money
Mandi, February 12
The Irrigation and Public Health Minister and the Drang MLA, Thakur Kaul Singh, today said the state government would appoint a regular administrator for Mandi Urban Cooperative Bank.

Govt targets removal of scavenging by 2007
Kasauli, February 12
Even though the national commission for Safai Karamcharis has laid down the provision of bringing to book people who employ scavengers, the scant implementation of the provision has reduced its very purpose.

Steam engine to be run for Britons today
Shimla, February 12
It is an occasion which comes once or twice a year and local railway officials are leaving no stone unturned to provide an enchanting journey to the 23 British tourists on the 1905 steam engine, a reminder of the Raj days.

Instrument to help check crime
Hamirpur, February 12
There is a bad news for anti-social elements of Hamirpur district. Now they can’t escape punishment after committing crime. This is due to the arrival of new equipment with the Hamirpur police three days ago.

Govt to protect locals’ interests, says Virbhadra
Our Correspondent

Kangra, February 12
The Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, said development in the Baijnath area would be speeded up.

He was addressing a gathering at Baijnath after laying the foundation stone of a beautification project of the Kheer Ganga Ghat.

The Chief Minister said his government would ensure safeguarding of interests of the local people when private entrepreneurs executed hydel power projects and industrial units in the state. He said it had been made mandatory to every entrepreneur to provide at least 70 per cent employment at all levels to the local people, keeping in view their educational qualifications and experience.

He said a Rs 1,600 crore annual Plan had been approved by the Planning Commission for the development of the state, which was Rs 200 crore more than the Plan for this financial year.

He said his government had withdrawn all non-productive expenditure to make it a development-oriented Plan.

The Chief Minister said the government had taken a decision to ensure that at least one industrial training institute was opened in each Assembly segment of the state. He was addressing a public meeting at Kural in the Sulah area of Kangra district.

He announced the opening of an ITI at Kural. He also announced the irrigation scheme for the gram panchayat of Kural and the construction of a motorable bridge at Baloti on Neogal khad.

The Chief Minister performed the foundation stone-laying ceremonies of a water supply augmentation scheme at Lahru-Bachhwar, a 33KV power substation at Kural and a primary health centre building at Rajhoon.

Minister urges defaulters to repay bank’s money
Kuldeep Chauhan
Tribune News Service

Mandi, February 12
The Irrigation and Public Health Minister and the Drang MLA, Thakur Kaul Singh, today said the state government would appoint a regular administrator for Mandi Urban Cooperative Bank. (MUCBL) soon and would take action against defaulters and bank officials found guilty of committing irregularities to restore confidence among the depositors of the bank. Thakur Kaul Singh, who also briefed the district officials including the administrator, MUCBL, here today told The Tribune that the bank was the pride of Mandi and the state government was trying to revive the bank and restore the confidence of the depositors.

Urging the bank defaulters to come forward and pay the borrowed money to the bank, Thakur Kaul Singh said the defaulters would be dealt with strictly. “The bank has benefited residents both in cash and kind and every depositor or defaulters should come forward to brink this institution back on the rails”, he added.

Meanwhile, in its bid to revive the functioning of the bank, the administration today appointed Mr R.C. Shandil, a retired banker from e Oriental Bank as the new manager of the bank, who would join the duty on February 21. The bank also will have a chartered accountant (CA) to revive the day-to-today functioning of the bank.

The part-time Administrator of the MUCBL, Mr Pankaj Lalit, said that administration had appointed the new manager for six months on contract basis and the CA in order to revive the functioning of the bank. Mr Lalit said the RBI had approved 26 new cases of depositors worth Rs. 10 lakh, who can withdraw money from the bank. “In all, 52 cases have been approved by the RBI. All the cases are the “matured ones” as the RBI’s screening committee recommend them to the RBI authorities in Mumbai”, he added.

By making the list of defaulters public has yielded some positive result as defaulters are coming forward to repay the loans, said Mr Pankaj. “The revival plan has been sent to the RBI for approval”, he added, saying that over 50 more case had been processed for execution.

Govt targets removal of scavenging by 2007
Our Correspondent

Kasauli, February 12
Even though the national commission for Safai Karamcharis has laid down the provision of bringing to book people who employ scavengers, the scant implementation of the provision has reduced its very purpose. With the commission laying down the provision of punishing the violators with a fine of Rs 2 lakh and a year’s imprisonment, the government is now endeavouring to put an end to this practice.

Ms Santosh Chawdhary, Chairperson of the commission, while addressing mediapersons here today, said, the government had targeted to rid the society of scavengers by December 31, 2007. This she said would be done by providing them alternative sources of employment and ensuring free education for their children.

Lamenting the lack of fund utilisation provided for their uplift she said most of the states either did not furnish grant utilisation certificates or did not care for utilising the funds. She said the commission had recently learnt that Gujarat had furnished an affidavit in the apex court claiming no scavengers in the state. This was despite the fact that a commission member herself had cited certain villagers where they were still working.

While expressing the commission’s resolve to improve the lot of this section, she issued direction to the Deputy Commissioner to provide crèches for the slum-dwellers of the region.

She expressed concern at increasing vacancies in the cantonment board office here, which increased the workload of other employees. She directed the DC to ensure that these employees were given safety equipment like gloves, face masks, gum boots, uniforms by their respective departments within a month.

Earlier, various safia karamcharis of Kasauli from various departments, including CRI, MES, cantonment board, etc., brought to her notice various problems like unavailability of loans, housing, uniform and not filling of vacant posts.

Steam engine to be run for Britons today
Tribune News Service

Shimla, February 12
It is an occasion which comes once or twice a year and local railway officials are leaving no stone unturned to provide an enchanting journey to the 23 British tourists on the 1905 steam engine, a reminder of the Raj days.

The only steam engine with the Railways here will be run on the 25-km Shimla-Kathlighat track. The fare is Rs 59,000.

Twentythree members of the Steam Society, London, will travel on the steam engine tomorrow morning, covering the to-and-fro distance in three hours. A maximum of four coaches can be pulled by the steam engine, with a capacity of 60. The British Locomotive, England, produced this steam engine in 1905.

The steam engine used to be run regularly on the single-gauge Shimla-Kalka section till 1975. It was only in 2000 that the Railways was able to restart the steam engine on the Shimla-Kalka track.

Instrument to help check crime
Our Correspondent

Hamirpur, February 12
There is a bad news for anti-social elements of Hamirpur district. Now they can’t escape punishment after committing crime. This is due to the arrival of new equipment with the Hamirpur police three days ago.

It is a portable lightweight hand-held tunable light source designed for forensic scene investigations. It is battery-powered and allows the investigators to move freely around the scene of crime, according to the Hamirpur district police chief, Mr Daljit Thakur.

In an interview with The Tribune here yesterday, he said things like saliva, sputum, semen that remained invisible after the scene of crime would now be made visible with the help of this device. He said such devices had been sent to all districts by the state police for carrying out detailed investigations in their respective areas.

Each such device will cost Rs 2 lakh.