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6 killed, 20 hurt in bus mishap
Board chief denies girls’ frisking by squad men
Copying: exams cancelled
New transfer policy soon, says minister
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Forest Dept gears up to tackle fires
Alternative road to Spiti soon
Snow, hail hit state
Heavy rain in Palampur
Encroachments removed
Traffic jam as tree falls on road
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6 killed, 20 hurt in bus mishap
Palampur, March 19 According to reports, the ill-fated bus was on its way from Baijnath to Sujanpur. The bus had left Baijnath around 12.30 pm. The driver reportedly failed to negotiate a sharp bend near Mungal village and the bus fell into the gorge killing six persons on the spot and injuring 20 others. Ten passengers were reportedly in serious condition, while five were discharged after being given first aid at the Primary Health Centre at Chadihar. All seriously injured have been referred to the SDH, Palampur. Those killed have been identified as Narinder Minhas, Malkan Devi, both of Chadihar, Rano Devi, resident of Nagehar, Baijnath, Sooram Singh from Hamirpur, Kashmir Singh and Pyar Chand, driver of the bus. An eyewitness told The Tribune that the driver could not apply brakes on a sharp bend which led to the accident. SDM Sanjiv Kumar along with a team of medical officers and the police reached the spot to supervise the relief and rescue operation. He also distributed financial assistance to the next of kin of those killed in the accident. Talking to mediapersons, he said an inquiry had been ordered into the cause of the accident. He said the government would bear the medical expenses of the injured. |
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Board chief denies girls’ frisking by squad men
Nurpur, March 19 Addressing a press conference here last evening Mr Rahi clarified that the HPBSE would cooperate in the probe so that the truth could prevail. Denying the allegations of frisking of girl students by male members of the squad headed by Additional Secretary of the board on March 11, he said that he himself had conducted an inquiry following a news item published in a section of press and found the allegation baseless. He said a woman member of the squad had conducted a random checking of girl student. “Notwithstanding a board chairman, I am also a father of daughter hence I am responsible for safeguarding the dignity of the girl students as well as women community,” he added. Mr Vijay Singh Mankotia, MLA, Shahpur Assembly Constituency, had raised this issue in the Assembly on Thursday following which a probe had been ordered by the Chief Minister. Mr Rahi, without naming Mr Mankotia, called upon all political leaders not to drag politics into the educational institutions. Terming the alleged incident a distorting of facts, he said one should not react without verifying the facts. Mr Rahi claimed that the HPSBE had taken a hard decision to curb the menace of copying in the examination. He reiterated that the board was committed to curb the menace even if had to pay heavy price for it. He claimed that the copying had been reduced if not rooted out during the past two years. |
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Copying: exams cancelled
Kangra, March 19 Ms Anju Pathak, spokesperson for the board, said today the social science paper of class VIII of Government Senior Secondary School, Rakar, would be now be held on March 27 at Government Senior Secondary School, Paprola, in the evening session from 2.00 to 5.00 pm. She said the mathematics paper of class X of Azad Public School, Dheera, would be held at Government Senior Secondary School, Dheera, on March 27 from 9.00 a.m. to 12 noon. She said the history paper of class XI of Kachiari School would be held on April 3 in the evening session from 2.00 to 5.00 pm at Government Senior Secondary School, New Kangra. She said the English paper of Class X government, senior secondary schools of Bangrootu and Una had also been cancelled and would be conducted at Government Senior Secondary School, Knaid, Mandi, district and Government Senior Secondary School, Una, respectively, on April 3 from 9.00 a.m. to 12 noon. |
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New transfer policy soon, says minister
Shimla, March 19 Mr
Thakur, who is the Chairman of the New Transfer Policy Committee, presided over its fourth meeting here today. “Suggestions of various departments and organisations of the NGO Federations have been incorporated in the new policy which will be finalised soon,” he informed. A number of amendments had been made in the new policy keeping in view the welfare of the employees, he added. He said efforts should be made to formulate the transfer policy to improve the working and efficiency of the employees. There is an urgent need for a new transfer policy as the present one was formulated almost two-and-a-half decade back,” he said. The minister said another important aim of the transfer policy would be to ensure timely transfer of employees serving in the tribal and difficult areas. |
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Forest Dept gears up to tackle fires
Shimla, March 19 The department is not taking any chances as 2005 happens to be a highrisk year. Over the years, the forest fires have been following a cyclic pattern with an unusually high incidence of such blazes taking a toll of the ever-depleting forest reserves every fourth or fifth year. For instance, 1995 was the worst year with 1,669 reported incidents affecting forests spread over 57,143 hectare. Similarly, the year 2000 saw 1,900 incidents involving 36,887 hectare. Normally, only about 6,000 hectare to 8,000 hectare of the forest area is affected by fires. Keeping an eye on the trend and the rising temperature, the department has issued directions to field staff to ensure that the required priophylactic arrangements are place so that the fires, which start breaking out in April, are checked. Unlike the past, fire prevention committees are being formed and a plan to combat fires is being prepared for each forest. The emphasis is on ensuring the involvement of villagers in preventing and fighting fires and to achieve this objective it has been decided to reward one panchayat in each division for preventing fire. The department is also planning to start hi-tech monitoring system using satellite images to spot forest fires and compile fire danger index on a trial basis to evolve a fire weather forecasting
system. In countries like the USA, Canada and Australia such system is already in place. The fire weather index is worked out on the basis of temperature, humidity, wind speed and other parameters on a daily basis to alert the people. Mr R.K. Kapoor, Chief Conservator of Forests (protection), said the department had prepared a Rs 5 crore plan for building infrastructure for combating the menace of forest fires for which funds would be provided by the Centre under the integrated forest
protection scheme. |
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Alternative road to Spiti soon
Shimla, March 19 The Border Road Organisation (BRO), which maintains the national highway beyond Wangtu Bridge, is also changing the existing alignment and taking the road about a kilometre uphill to avoid the fragile terrain, which has been constantly sliding for the past over eight years. However, engineers of the PWD are of the opinion that the new alignment will not provide a lasting solution. Given the nature of the hill strata the landslide will pose a threat to the new road also. The problem, the engineers maintained, could be solved permanently by constructing a road via the right bank of the Sutlej. The government is also convinced that an alternative road is essential as the entire Spiti valley and parts of the Kinnaur district are cut off as the landslide blocks the road every other day. Mr Subhash Negi , Principal Secretary, PWD, said the alignment of the new road had been finalised in consultations with geologists. The road would take off from Leo on the right bank and after 4 km a bridge would be constructed on the Spiti river. Thereafter it would pass through the left bank and join the existing road near Chango. The total cost would come to about Rs 12 crore. Work on the project would commence soon Meanwhile, the old Hindustan-Tibet road, which was abandoned after the construction of the national highway along the Sutlej, is being restored to provide an alternative link in case of damage to the national highway by floods. |
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Snow, hail hit state
Shimla, March 19 Hamirpur and its surrounding areas were lashed by a severe hail storm accompanied by heavy rains this morning. There have been reports of rain, snow and hail from other districts, including Mandi, Kangra, Shimla and Chamba. The minimum and maximum temperatures in the tribal areas registered a fall of 5°C to 10°C, respectively. The capital town of Shimla was again lashed by a thunderstorm followed by hail and rain. The sky was overcast and the day temperature fell by 8°C to 10°C. At noon the temperature was recorded at 8°C. The rain and hail in the lower areas and in the apple belt is likely to damage the fruit crop. The mango crop in the districts of Hamirpur, Kangra, Una, Solan, Bilaspur and Sirmour districts already suffered damages.
— UNI |
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Heavy rain in Palampur
Palampur, March 19 According to reports reaching here, a number of trees were uprooted in the lower areas of Palampur. Power supply and telecommunication system was also disrupted. |
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Encroachments removed
Palampur, March 19 A spokesman for the National Highway authorities told mediapersons that all the encroachers had already been served notice and were asked to remove their illegal shops built on the highway land, when these defaulters failed comply with the notice, the encroachments were removed forcibly. He said this action had been initiated following a verdict of the Apex court directing the highway authorities to remove all encroachments within a time frame. Meanwhile all the 14 victims have decided to approach the Chief Minister. |
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Traffic jam as tree falls on road
Kangra, March 19 At 5.30 a.m. due to high velocity winds a tree fell on the highway due to which the traffic was disrupted. The tree was lifted nearly after three and half hours by the PWD
staff. OC |
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