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White Paper on fiscal reforms MoU soon: CM
3 Mumbai residents lose spouses in mishap
Plea to get letter by BJP leaders examined
BJP stages walkout
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Health subcentre for each panchayat planned
HP Govt for reduction
in bus fleet
Inquiry likely into cost over-run in Larji project
Parwanoo roads
in bad shape
Court fee hike invites criticism
HRTC to start more Volvo buses
2 houses damaged in fire
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White Paper on fiscal reforms MoU soon: CM
Shimla, March 2 Replying to the five-day debate on the motion of thanks on the Governor’s Address, he said the then Chief Secretary signed the MoU on April 10, 1999, and the government sent periodical reports to the Centre regarding its implementation. In one of the letters to the then Union Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, a former Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal, had even stated that some of the measures being taken be kept secret as these could evoke an adverse public reaction. He also mentioned the steps like ban on recruitment, suspension of the LTC facility to employees and discontinuation of appointment on compensate grounds, which were implemented. At this stage, Mr Dhumal interrupted him and said if his government had singed the MoU what was the need to ink another document on May 12, 2004. Further, it was mentioned in the document that the state had failed to sign the MoU over the past four years. However, the Chief Minister stuck to his stand and said the 1999 MoU was with the Union Ministry of Finance as part of the fiscal reforms. His government signed a fresh MoU only to get some of its harsh clauses relaxed in the larger interests of the state. He said the termination of the services of some teachers was only the beginning of the cleansing process of Himachal Pradesh University and cases of other irregular appointments made during the BJP rule were being looked into by the Vice-Chancellor. He said the Governor ordered inquiry into the affairs of the university in the capacity of Chancellor and action on its report was being taken by the executive council. The government had nothing to do with it. He said the people of Rohru had given a representation against the leasing out of land to an individual by the local body and the matter was under the consideration of the government. Regarding the missing record of land sale deeds in Nadaun tehsil, he said the Subdivisional Magistrate was probing the matter and if required some higher officer would be entrusted the task. Further action would be taken once the facts were available with the government. He clarified that the duration of the industrial package had not been curtailed by the Centre and only the exemption in excise duty had been restricted up to 2007. All other incentives like subsidy on capital investment and exemption in income tax would be available up to 2013. |
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3 Mumbai residents lose spouses in mishap
Mandi, March 2 The vehicle carrying three couples of Mumbai were going to Manali from Shimla when the mishap took place. Unfortunately, all couples lost their partners. The deceased were identified as Payal Mehta(22), wife of Kunal Mehta, Upendra Gupta and Dashrath. Driver and the vehicle, which they had hired from Delhi, remained untraced. Ms Kalpna, a witness and lecturer at Mangwani school, who is still looking after the three patients, said: “It was around 7.30pm when I saw the young couples being rescued by some persons. All of them survived. They were given first aid at temple-run dispensary and then taken to the Pandoh, 15 km from the spot for treatment. All of them were referred to the Zonal Hospital, Mandi. But on the way to Mandi, three succumbed to their injuries”. Mrs Pallavi, who fractured her left leg and sustained the minor injuries on face is recovering in the Mandi hospital. She lost her husband, a businessman from Malar West, Mumbai. “The driver lost the control of the vehicle and all of us fell into the river”. Then I did not know what had happened to my husband and others. It was after 20 minutes that I was picked up by somebody and given some medicines,” she said. “We have hired the package tour from Delhi, visited Shimla and wanted to go
to Manali”, she said and burst into tears. The shell-shocked Rashmi sustained the serious cervical and spine injuries and some minor head and face injuries. Her husband, Upendra, also died . Even Mr Kunal, a businessman from the Malar West, who lost his wife Payal suffered spine injury. “The patients are serious and have yet to come out of the trauma. We have informed the family members of the tourists and they are expected to reach here in the evening today”, said doctors attending on the patients. |
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Plea to get letter by BJP leaders examined
Shimla, March 2 Participating in the debate on the motion of thanks on the Governor’s Address, he pointed out that Mr Hari Narain Singh, who was one of the four ministers who had made charges against the Dhumal regime, had stated in the House on February 25 that the allegations were the result of some misunderstanding and these had been withdrawn. However, the letter withdrawing the charges was dated February 28, 2005, which created serious doubts regarding its authenticity. More so, because most of those who had levelled the charges were no more members of the house. In such a situation an inquiry to establish its veracity was necessary. He said if the charges were false then the seven BJP leaders should make a public apology or else Mr Dhumal should file a case of defamation against them as he had done in the case of Punjab Chief Minsiter Capt Amarinder Singh. Mr Agnihotri said even otherwise lone withdrawal of charges four years after they had been made hardly made any difference as the Congress government, which came to power subsequently, had investigated the allegations and in some important cases like, the recruitment scam in the Subordinate Services Selection Board, even challan had been put up in the court. Attacking the BJP on the issue of corruption, he read out the list of 16 BJP leaders who had secured petrol pumps and cooking gas agencies, the allotments of which were found irregular by the Supreme Court and cancelled. |
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BJP stages walkout
Shimla, March 2 The BJP members led by Mr P.K. Dhumal, former Chief Minister, were on their legs as soon as Mr Virbhadra Singh, the Chief Minister, finished his reply to the debate on motion of thanks on Governor’s Address, drawing the attention of the House to the happenings in Jharkhand. Mr Dhumal said that the country had been reminded of the dark days of the Emergency when all democratic and constitutional norms were thrown to the winds. Mr Gangu Ram Musafir, Speaker, intervened and made it clear that the conduct of the Governor of any other state could not be discussed in the House. Thereafter, all the BJP members walked out of the House. However, Mr Dhumal made it clear that the protest was not against Governor’s Address. Mr Virbhadra Singh condemned the action of the BJP members and said they were in the habit of staging walk-outs on one pretext or the other. Mr Dhumal was presenting an example of very “immature leadership” before his party men. Later talking to mediapersons after the session, Mr Dhumal said that the UPA regime was working overtime to destabilise the non-Congress governments and using the Governors to carry out the dirty job for it. He alleged that the two Governors were virtually not functioning as constitutional heads but as Congress workers. They had undermined the prestige and dignity of the high office they were holding by their deplorable conduct. Inviting Mr S. Soren who was not even a member of the House and whose two sons had lost the election, was murder of democracy. Not only that he was facing trial in a criminal case. It was also a blatant negation of the popular mandate thrown up by the poll. |
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Health subcentre for each panchayat planned
Shimla, March 2 The health road map-2008 being given final shape will focus on three areas, including raising health status, increasing responsiveness of the administration and fairness of finances. The main agenda in the road map is the strengthening of the primary health services with the help of rationalisation of manpower, equipment and machinery so that every panchayat in the state has a primary health centre
(PHC). “It is with the help of the rationalisation process that we shall be able to decide whether to reallocate a PHC or open a new one so that the entire population is covered,” informed a health official. He added that at present certain panchayats had more than one
PHC, which can easily be reallocated, to a place where basic health facilities are lacking without affecting the services in that particular area. The same applies even to manpower as certain places have acute shortage of doctors and para-medical staff. A positive step being incorporated in the road map is operationalisation of the first referral centre which in most of the cases is a community health centre
(CHC). “Our endeavour is to appoint at least one gynaecologist, surgeon and an anaesthetist at a CHC with a full fledged operation theatre so that patients do not have to be rushed to district and zonal hospitals for minor surgeries and delivery cases,” informed officials. One problem being faced is the shortage of
anaesthetists, as a result of which at times even the presence of a surgeon and a gynaecologist is rendered futile. Another area to be taken up as a priority sector is increasing the percentage of institutional deliveries from the present figure of 34 per cent to 45 per cent. “Unfortunately this is the only health indicator where Himachal fares badly as far as the national scenario is concerned,” point out officials. One of the reasons being attributed to this low figure is inaccessibility and difficult terrain as a result of which there are more home deliveries. Even though Himachal has the third best infant mortality rate
(IMR) in the country at 54 per cent, an important component of the road map shall be reducing it further during the next three years. |
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HP Govt for reduction
in bus fleet
Shimla, March 2 The corporation has been perpetually in the red and its accumulated loss had reached Rs 335 crore as on March 31,2004. The corporation has been pleading its case before the government for enhancement of grant for the past quite sometime. However, the government is of the view that merely increasing grant will not help and the corporation must take steps to reduce its fleet in a time bound manner. It has offered to hike the grant to Rs 48 crore provided the corporation signs an MoU to take various required steps. The major point in the proposed MoU is that the corporation will reduce its fleet from 1700 buses to 1500 buses over the next three years. However, the corporation will not have to scale down its operations. It could continue its operations at the present scale by attaching private buses. The reduction of 200 buses will imply a significant downsizing of the 7,500 strong staff. The corporation will have to do away with the services of many drivers and other personnel. The management of the corporation has already introduced a voluntary retirement scheme and so far 594 employees, including 200 drivers, have sought retirement under the scheme. As such the downsizing will not be a problem. It has also introduced the attachment scheme under which 64 buses of private operators have been attached. The corporation is paying Rs 12.50 to Rs 13.25 per km per bus to private operators whose buses had been attached. It was an economical proposition as the corporation’s own expenditure came to around Rs 20 per km per bus. The attached buses will have conductors of the corporation. Senior officers in the government warn that the attachment scheme could prove counter productive in case the corporation failed to reduce the staff. According to sources, the grant could be increased even during the current financial year if the corporation signed the MoU over the next few days. |
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Inquiry likely into cost over-run in Larji project
Shimla, March 2 As against the detailed project report of Rs 632 crore, now the project is likely to be completed at an estimated cost of Rs 1,206 crore,” the commission observed. It had earlier directed the HPSEB to carry out investigation into the reasons for very high per mega watt cost and submit its report. The HPSEB had constituted a committee to look into the cost over-runs and submitted its report to the commission. “If it was a political project which was unviable right at the planning stage, why did the HPSEB accept it,” were some of the observations of the commission. It maintained that the generation tariff in excess of Rs 2.25- 2.250 per unit would not be allowed for consumers. While terming the inquiry by the HPSEB as more of a justification report rather than an investigation report, the commission observed that there was no reason why an inquiry should not be held by an agency independent of the HPSEB. In its report submitted to the commission, the HPSEB has cited a number of reasons, including inflation for the delay. An increase in quantum of work due to geological conditions was another factor being attributed by the HPSEB for the increase in cost of civil works. It said due to changes in scope of work a 2.8 km-long traffic tunnel had to be made, which cost Rs 46.84 crore.
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Parwanoo roads
in bad shape Parwanoo, March 2 Around a 3-km stretch of Kasauli roads from here onwards is a
testimony of to the poor functioning of the PWD Department. The stretch
has countless potholes that turn into water pools even after a short
spell of rain. Driving on this stretch is a tough task, particularly for
two-wheeler riders, as one has to remain alert to avoid an uneven road
level and potholes. Similarly, the 3-km stretch of Bhojnagar roads,
starting from here, is in dire need of repairs. The condition of this
stretch has only gone from bad to worse. Delay in clearing the landslips
on the road adds to the problems. The bitumen on this stretch has
disappeared. The internal roads of the town are in a bad shape and no
efforts are being made to improve these. The overflowing drainage and
dumping of construction raw material make roads unpliable. The repair
work on the Kasauli road was being done. However, the repair work on a
2-km stretch of the Bhojnagar road would be started this month, said a
PWD Junior Engineer. The 12-km stretch of road from the Bhojnagar side
has been selected under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana,
involving a total expenditure of Rs 2 crore, he said.
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Court fee hike invites criticism
Mandi, March 2 The IAL lambasted the court fee hike as a “sudden, unjustified and has been done without consulting the legal bodies and the Bar Association in the state”. Though the proposed court fee hike has come into force in the state since January 13, 2005, the district and subordinates courts are gradually switching over to the revised court fees structure in the state. Pointing out the burden on the common man, IAL secretary Mr Des Raj, said that the client seeking court justice would have to affix Rs 6 instead of Rs 1.25 in the power of attorney in the subordinate courts and Rs 13 in the High Court. “Similarly one has to affix Rs 98 instead of Rs 10.50 in all petitions under the Hindu Marriage Act and Rs 98 instead of Rs 14 in the case of suits for declaratory decrees under the fresh government notification. The list goes on like this”, he added. Revenue officials revealed that it was under the direction of the High Court that the state government had to amend the HP Court Fees Act, 1968, following a public interest litigation (PIL) filed in the court a few years ago. |
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HRTC to start more Volvo buses
Shimla, March 2 Replying to a question by Mr I.D. Dhiman of the BJP during question hour, the Transport Minister, Mr G.S. Bali, said the experiment with these AC buses had proved to be very successful not just in terms of earning profits but also in giving a boost to tourism. “The HRTC has been able to make a profit of Rs 41.12 lakh by running these 10 Volvo buses, which have been taken on lease,” he informed the House. He said the HRTC was considering buying its own Volvo buses as these had proved to be very convenient for tourists visiting Manali, Dharamsala and Shimla. |
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2 houses damaged in fire
Hamirpur, March 2 Local villagers swung into action and put off the fire as it was impossible for the fire brigade to reach the village. These houses belonged to Hari Das and his son, Feru Ram. The Tehsildar visited the village and gave fiscal relief of Rs 5,000 to Hari Dass and Feru Ram. |
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