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CM concerned over declining sex ratio
Dalits seek transfer of officials
State in grip of cold wave
70 passengers air-lifted
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Anti-social elements behind quake rumour: Virbhadra
Baddi may have joint patrol by police, private security
Closure of saw mills invites protests
MC to seek funds for protecting forests
Power panel’s guidelines on
load forecasts
Police station gheraoed
after woman’s death
BSNL
subscribers cry foul
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CM concerned over declining sex ratio
Shimla, February 22 Replying to a query about this trend by Mr Mahender Singh, MLA, during question hour, he said this was a very serious mater and all of us, rising above party lines, must come together to fight this social menace. “It is a fact that in some of the districts, especially those bordering Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh, there has been a decline in the number of girls in the zero to six age group,” he said. He said it was mandatory to get all ultrasound scanner machines registered with the health authority concerned so that there is no misuse of the facility. There are 46 such machines in government hospitals and 110 in the private sector and it is being ensured through regular checking that these are not being used for female foeticide, he said. Awareness was being generated by holding seminars and workshops in schools and building public opinion against it through radio, television and newspapers, he added. As per data, men comprise 50.18 per cent of the population and their number exceeds women in Kangra, Mandi and Hamirpur districts. Other members of the House including, Dr Biru Ram and Dr Rajiv Bindal, stressed the need for taking effective measures and involving religious leaders and organisations to remove myths that exist in the minds of people. In a written reply to a question by BJP MLA, Mr Karamdev Dharmani, it was informed that there were 19 primary schools in the state without a teacher, while 619 schools had only one JBT teacher each. The BJP legislator, Mr Khimi Ram, raised the problem of 47 single-teacher schools in his constituency of Banjar in Kulu district, which was affecting studies whenever the teacher was on leave. In a written reply to a question by Mr Mahender Singh, the Chief Minister informed the House that an inquiry was being conducted by Divisional Commissioner, Mandi, into the tension between Dalits and administration over the issue of demolition of Ravidas temple at Santokhgarh last month. Mr Virbhadra Singh also presented the Supplementary Demands, amounting to Rs 728.47 crore for the year 2004-05 before the House. Out of this, Rs 170.93 crore was under the Plan schemes, Rs 60.49 crore under centrally sponsored schemes and Rs 497.05 crore under non-plan.
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Dalits seek transfer of officials
Una, February 22 The protesters alleged that despite Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh’s assurance to provide every possible help to the victims, nothing had happened. More than 67 Dalits, who are the bread-winners of their families, were still lodged in jail since January 22, they added. The protesters also burnt an effigy of Chief Parliamentary Secretary Mukesh Agnihotri, who is also the MLA from the area at the bus chowk. A large number of police personnel along with senior administrative officials were deployed to control the situation. “There is no one left to help me. Five members of my family have been lodged in jail. They were arrested on January 22 during the demolition drive in Santoshgarh. I was also seriously injured during the drive,” said 60-year-old Satya Devi. She added that the government had taken no serious action but transferred only four junior officers to calm the people. “My only son who was studying in class XI has also been arrested and was still in jail. We have been humiliated in jail. There was no woman constable in the police station when we were beaten up mercilessly by the police,” said Gurbachni. The president of the Guru Ravi Dharmik Sabha, Mr Balbir Bagga, said the government had failed to take action against the officials responsible for committing atrocities. People of the Dalit community were demanding the transfer of the SP and DC. Different political parties wanted to take advantage rather than help us. We have organised a rally as even after staging dharna in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s residence, no one came for help, he added. The State Samta Andolan president, Dr K.R. Arya, said people were treated like animals here. The police had arrested 101 Dalits in an attempt to murder case, including 27 women and children. Out of this, 67 are still lodged in jail for about 24 days. I have met Meira Kumar, Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, and apprised her of the problem of Dalits. She has discussed the matter with Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, he added. The protest began in the afternoon when a large number of Dalits along with family members of the victims gathered in the Municipal Park. Thereafter the procession passed through the main market and ended outside the residence of the Deputy Commissioner. The protesters raised slogans against the administration.
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State in grip of cold wave
Shimla, February 22 The higher reaches of the tribal Kinnaur area, Shimla, Sirmour and Solan districts were lashed by intermittent snow and rain. The snowfall started in the morning and continued till afternoon. The weather somewhat cleared towards the evening. According to reports reaching here, upper Shimla, Churdhar range, Hatu peak, and the Chanshal slopes had 25 to 40 cm of snow. Narkanda had 15 cm of snow and Kharapathar 30 cm. The nearby tourist resort of Kufri and Fagu had about 10 cm, while mount Jakhu, the highest the point of the city, had 6 cm of snow. The snow blocked the Hindustan -Tibet road and many link roads as a result of which some pockets in upper Shimla were cut off. The lower areas were hit by hailstorm and rain. People reeled under intense cold as strong icy winds brought down the day temperature considerably. |
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70 passengers air-lifted
Mandi, February 22 The reports reaching here revealed that the passengers, who have to move urgently including patients, have been evacuated first from the three subdivisions of the Lahaul-Spiti district. They have got stuck up there due the heavy snow and the bad weather prevailing in the valley for the past 10 days. Mr Vinay Thakur, Subdivisional Magistrate, Keylong, said all emergency cases have been air-lifted to Kulu today. “Rest of the passengers can wait till the next helicopter schedule. The normal life in the valley remained disrupted as all the
subdivisions remained cut off from one another for the past 15 days. Three bodies of the members of a family, who were buried alive in an avalanche in Udaipur subdivision, remained untraced even after a fortnight as there was no efforts from the district administration to assist the villagers to help retrieve the bodies.
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Anti-social elements behind quake rumour: Virbhadra
Shimla, February 22 The Chief Minister made this statement on the floor of the House on the second day of the Assembly session, about people in lower parts of the state, including Kangra, Mandi, Chamba, Bilaspur and Una, spending sleepless night on February 18 out in the open due to rumours that an earthquake would strike the region. Mr Virbhadra Singh said the government was already investigating the matter and even had some evidence about telephonic record in this regard. “It is too early for us to point fingers at anybody till we have concrete evidence but we will get to the bottom of the matter so that such incidents do not reoccur,” The Chief Minister clarified that ever since the 1905 earthquake, almost 60 earthquakes of more than five magnitude on the Richter Scale had rocked various parts of the state. He said there was equipment to measure seismic tremors at six places, apart from the laboratories of the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology at Naddi in Dharamshala
and Kothi. “Nevertheless, we need to take all possible precautionary measures so that loss to life and property can be kept to the minimum, as even till date there is no equipment or scientific base to predict the occurrence of an earthquake,”
he said. The leader of the opposition, Mr P.K. Dhumal, said the government should make it mandatory that
quake-resistant structures were raised and at the same time acquire the latest equipment, which gives all possible information about earthquakes. |
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Baddi may have joint patrol Nalagarh, February 22 There has been an alarming rise in rate of crime with virtually no increase in the number of policemen. DGP Ajit Narayan said armed police force from various battalions here had been provided to border police stations as a stopgap arrangement. He said a proposal to increase the staff was under consideration and deficient police stations would soon be provided with necessary staff. Proposal for provision of a vehicle each to such police stations was also being looked into, he added. But for the time being, the district police has sought the help of an industries’ association to jointly patrol the region at night. SP Gianeshwar Singh said a neighbourhood police force, comprising representatives of security men of various industrial units and regular policemen, would be formed for a clusters of industries. They would be provided with necessary training in handling arms, martial arts, and given lessons in law. They would form part of the patrol party to undertake joint night patrolling of their respective areas. He said a proposal in this regard had been forwarded to the Baddi Barotiwala Nalagarh Industries Association, which has promised to come out with their suggestions by the month-end. The worst affected is the Barotiwala police station, which has been functioning without a vehicle. Despite assurances by politicians and senior officials, nothing concrete has been done to address the problem, rued policemen.
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Closure of saw mills invites protests
Hamirpur, February 22 These units were closed because of the direction issued by the Supreme Court in 2002 under which it had banned the running of all unlicensed saw mills. However, that order remained imposed due to one reason or the other. But the department became vigilant and took action when someone raised this issue in the press. Nearly 300 saw mill owners took out a procession through main bazaar yesterday protesting against the closure of their mills. Led by state CITU general secretary Kashmir Singh Thakur, they marched through various streets of the town and later staged a dharna in front of the mini secretariat here. The agitators also handed over a memorandum to the Hamirpur DFO, as well as to the Hamirpur district administration. They demanded immediate opening of their saw mills and to provide them with regular registration. Talking to mediapersons, Mr Thakur charged the Department of Forests for playing with the career of the families of saw mill owners. He alleged that the decision of the department was arbitrary and anti-people. Mr Thakur alleged that a government-owned saw mill at Jhaniari in Hamirpur district was un- registered and no action had been taken against them. This, he said, showed the
double-faced policy of the department. If no steps were taken to reopen the saw mills, the agitation would be further intensified, he added. Mr Hari Singh Dogra, DFO (Territorial), Hamirpur, justified the closure/sealing of 291 saw mills. He said there were only 94 registered saw mills operating in the district. He said 158 un-registered and 133 illegal saw mills had been closed down in the district. Mr Dogra said many saw mill owners had applied for the registration and their cases were under scrutiny by the department. The state government was the final authority for giving license for the running of saw mills. However, the forest officer refused to say anything regarding the saw mill of the HP State Forest Corporation, which is running at Salasi (Jhaniari) in Hamirpur district. |
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MC to seek funds for protecting forests
Shimla, February 22 The matter is likely to be taken up at the MC meeting scheduled for February 28. Owing to staff shortage and paucity of funds for undertaking the task of preparing a working plan, the MC will approach the state government to come to its rescue. Presently, the MC has 832 hectares of forest land in Urban Shimla under it and an additional 1015 hectares in the catchment area. “With barely a handful of people and practically no funds can anybody blame the MC for not managing the forests scientifically,” opine MC officials. The forest wing of the MC will be seeking staff, including four forest guards and a range officer, so that working plan can be prepared and various protection measures can be undertaken to prevent further damage to the forest wealth. Apart from about Rs 6 lakh required for preparing the plan, the government will nominate a working plan officer. It was in 1985 that the last working plan was prepared. “Since then a lot of land has been encroached by individuals, the PWD and other agencies so we need to know the exact forest area left with us on the basis of which categorisation will be done into working circles,” said officials. Earlier, there were 40 compartments which have reduced over the last two decades, they add. Due to paucity of funds there was a proposal to hand over the entire forest area in the town to the state Forest department for its scientific management and conservation. However, the proposal was turned down by the House on the plea that with the MC Act being more stringent than the Indian Forest Act, the trees ware better protected and less vulnerable to felling. The MC officials feel that it is very essential to take protection measures against encroachment and dumping of debris. It is not just encroachments on forest land, which is a major problem, but dumping of debris due to rapid construction activity has posed a major threat to the dense forest all along the by-pass and on the outskirts of the town. The MC has identified areas vulnerable to dumping at Khalini, Bishop Cotton School, Lalpaani, Shangti, Annadale and on the Bharari road, where trees have been badly damaged and are drying up. The MC proposes to have inter-linked chain fencing around all these forest areas so that no debris or garbage can be dumped and an earmarked dumping zone is demarcated outside the town, which does not cause any damage to trees. |
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Power panel’s guidelines on
load forecasts
Shimla, February 22 The commission observed that the load forecasts had been wide off the mark, which not only created problems in tariff determination but also upset the resource planning and power procurement. Even 1 per cent variation in the load forecasts for various categories had huge financial implication for the board. The commission has laid down guidelines, which will be binding on the board, to carry out the exercise in a more objective manner and put in place a mechanism for mid-term corrections. As per the guidelines, the range of probability with reference to actual consumption, both voltage-wise, and category-wise shall be within +.5 and -.5 per cent. The committee to be set up for the purpose will look into category-wise and voltage-wise actuals from the beginning of the forecast period and apply correctives after ascertaining the reasons for deviations beyond .5 (point five) per cent. The exercise will be completed by May 2005. It will carry out corrections to forecasts on a monthly basis. The information regarding actual consumption of energy for the month three months prior will be compiled on every second Friday and processed on computers to ascertain deviations from the forecast. The reasons for deviations will be investigated and corrections applied by the last Friday of the month. The process will be repeated every month. The corrected forecasts will from the basis of category-wise and voltage-wise projections for the next tariff period. |
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Police station gheraoed
after woman’s death
Dharamsala, February 22 While local people gheraoed the police station to demand action against the in-laws, who were allegedly harassing the woman, there was also a dispute over who should claim the body. Eventually, her parents cremated the body. The police has booked the husband, Jitendra, father-in-law, Purshotam and mother-in-law Krishna on charges of harassment. Deputy Superintendent of Police, Virender Thakur, said even if the woman had committed suicide, the issue of her in-laws forcing her to take such a step was being looked into. The body of Nilam was found on Sunday in a nullah about 3 km from her house in Kangra. The police brought the body to the Dr Rajindra Prasad Hospital, Dharamsala. The post-mortem revealed that she died due to severe head injury. Police sources said the in-laws had claimed that the deceased was mentally unstable and her husband was even getting her treated in Ludhiana. She must have hurt herself due to her illness. |
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Parwanoo, February 21 Not only do their phones catch signals of another cellular service provider, they remain in roaming mode during most part of the day. The worst hit are the residents living near the border area. Commuters who travel daily to Kalka and Parwanoo for business are also inconvenienced due to this. Their phones remain in roaming mode despite entering Parwanoo, thus draining their pockets for each call they make or receive. To make things worse, the cellular service providers from Haryana often welcome Himachal customers by sending text messages at odd hours. The SDO, BSNL, while admitting to the anomaly said a tower would soon be erected in the heart of the town. He said signals from the towers of other companies at Timber Trail Resort and barrier often interfered with those of the BSNL. Though a BSNL tower had been installed at Masulkhana, near here, another would soon be installed near BSNL office to check this problem. OC
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Former
queen Tara Devi dead
Shimla, February 22 Tara Devi (75) is survived by her husband Raja Rajinder Singh, two sons and a daughter. She was cremated at Arki this afternoon. Large number of people from all walks of life, including the Chief Minister and Irrigation and Public Health Minister Kaul Singh were present at the cremation.
— PTI |
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Another leopard dies
Kulu, February 22 Mr H.P. Kathuria, Divisional Forest Officer (Wild Life), said the leopard entered the lower areas in the search of food. The cat had injury marks on its legs and looked hungry. |
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3 women, one man
held Parwanoo, February 22 Among the arrested, Paramjeet alias Pinky (20) and Surjeet Kaur (35) a widow were from Mohali while Sapna Singh a widow hailed form Palam Chowk, New Delhi. Sanjeev Kumar alias Sami driving the car was from Phase IX, Mohali. A case under Section 41/209 of the IPC has been registered.
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