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Restoration work of Christ Church starts
Govt-owned PSUs to do liquor trading
Virbhadra lays stone for sewerage scheme
Historical cemetery faces neglect Contract labour on rise in Himachal’s industrial belt
Five killed in HP mishaps
Two boys drowned
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Lahaul, Spiti reel under cold wave
Budget session resumes today
Governor leaves for Pakistan
Two hurt in road mishap
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Restoration work of Christ Church starts
Shimla, March 27 The Chief Minister said Christ Church was the landmark of Shimla and the erstwhile Summer Capital was identified with this historical monument. He said the construction of the church started in 1844 and was completed in 1857. He said the church had also become important as every visitor to the town made it a point to get himself photographed with this architectural marvel in the background. He said his government was committed to preserve the heritage status of the church and would provide every possible assistance for its restoration. He announced a grant of Rs 3 lakh for its restoration. Mr Virbhadra Singh said India was a secular state where every individual was free to follow religion or faith of his choice. Rev Shamsheer Masih, Presbyter in charge of Christ Church, blessed the Chief Minister and the congregation. Deacon Arun Wilson spoke about the historical importance of the church. He informed the Chief Minister that Rs 15 lakh was being spent in the first phase of the restoration work.
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Govt-owned PSUs to do liquor trading
Shimla, March 27 The state Excise Department had set a revenue target from the auction of liquor vends at Rs 311 crore, a modest increase of Rs 28 crore over the current year. However, it failed to achieve the target as contractors joined hands and gave very low bids. As a result in some districts like Kangra, Kinnaur and Hamirpur the bids were actually lower than the last year. In some other districts like Chamba and Una the increase was insignificant. For instance the bid for Kangra district was only Rs 46.40 crore as against Rs 47 crore for the current financial year. Similarly in Kinnaur the bid for the ensuing year was only Rs 2.65 crore as against Rs 2.87 crore for the current year. The Cabinet has now decided that vends in the district where bids were on the lower side should again be auctioned. The state public undertakings, including the state Tourism Development Congress, will participate in auctions. Further, it has also decided that the vends in districts, where increase was less than 5 per cent even after reauction, would be allotted to state public undertakings. The government was concerned over the low bids as revenue from the auction of liquor vends in the adjoining states of Punjab and Haryana increased from 15 to 25 per cent. |
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Virbhadra lays stone for sewerage scheme
Shimla, March 27 This was stated by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh while addressing a gathering at Sujanpur Tira in Hamirpur district on the occasion of concluding ceremony of the 4-day long state level Holi festival yesterday evening. He also laid the foundation stone of Rs 5.45 crore sewerage scheme at Sujanpur. The Chief Minister said out of 56 towns in the state, sewerage facilities had been provided in seven towns- Chamba, Bilaspur, Palampur, Mandi, Rohru, Naina Devi and Sarahas and work in 22 towns was in progress. He said the sewerage work of Hamirpur town was in progress while Bhota and Sujanpur would also be covered under the scheme. He said that the sewerage scheme sanctioned for Sujanpur would benefit 7,767 residents of the town and had been designed to cater to the needs of 16,349 people by 2034. The Chief Minister said Sujanpur was a historic town with a glorious past. He said that his government was paying attention towards the beautification and upholding the historical identity of the town by providing adequate funds for the purpose. Earlier, the Chief Minister offered prayers at the historical temple of Murli Manohar and led the procession and visited exhibition stalls put up by various departments, organisations and NGOs. — UNI
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Historical cemetery faces neglect PARWANOO: The cemetery which is situated on the ‘Cheel Chakkar’ road, adjacent to the cottage of late G. D. Sondhi, first Indian Principal of Government College in Lahore, near Subathu, about 30 km from here, is one of the oldest cemeteries in Shimla hills having graves of British Army officers and veterans. It has some well-built and nicely designed huge tomb graves and was built soon after the British defeated Gen Amar Singh Thapa, Gurkha warlord and master of guerrilla war. General Thapa wanted to conquer a few parts of Punjab, that time under the control of East India Company. A fierce battle raged between the British and Gurkhas at the Ramshahr Pass and Lohar Ghatti, near Malaun, main pocket of Gurkhas, in 1814. The war ended after Gurkhas signed a treaty in 1816. Sir David Ochterlony, British General, was so impressed with the fighting skills of Gurkhas that he offered them the best terms of enlistment under the British flag and asked them to form a battalion of their own. This development led to the formation of the first Gurkha Rifles. However, Gen Thapa and his close men refused the offer. They were allowed to leave for Nepal. The Subathu Fort, a part of the erstwhile Gurkha empire, finally fell to the British. The British soldiers, who were killed in the war, were buried 2 km away from the fort in this cemetery. The cemetery has attractive engravings and verse on the epitaphs, artistic designs and matchless architecture. The artistically shaped tombs on graves have gradually become dilapidated due to lack of proper upkeep. Besides tourists, vast lush green surroundings of the cemetery have also attracted Bollywood. In 1960 Ivory Merchant shot his famous English film ‘Shakespearewallah’ with Shashi Kapoor and Jennifer in this graveyard. Scenes of ‘Bandhak’, a serial based on the Kashmir problem, and songs of a Punjabi film ‘Honeymoon’ were also shot here. The six-year-old Litishia, daughter of the founder of Lawrence School, Sanawar, Sir Henry Lawrence, was buried in the cemetery. Sir Henry Lawrence built his cottage at Kasauli at a place from where he could easily see his daughter’s grave. The cottage, called Sunny Side Cottage, is the first house constructed in Kasauli. Sir Henry Lawrence and his wife Honoria were also buried in this cemetery. There are two more cemeteries near Subathu. One situated on the Solan road and the other near Bhali village. The former was meant for Catholics and the latter for Protestants. However, the condition of both has gone from bad to worse.
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Contract labour on rise in Himachal’s industrial belt Parwanoo, March 27 Inquiries showed that wages to the hired workers being given are quite low as compared to the prescribed minimum wages with little other non-monetary benefits. The workers are being fired after short period purely on the discretion of the employers. In some cases the workers routed through contractors were unaware of their actual employers. New units most of the small-scale that have set up their business after the Central Government announced incentive packages are the prime defaulters in the matter. Most of new industrial units are making mockery of the labour laws meant to check the exploitation of workers. Section 10 of the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act 1970, prohibits the employment of labour through contact in manufacturing units but in reality the law implementation was no where to see. The Act only allows engagement of temporary labour in loading, unloading and construction work. The problem of employment through private contractors has reached to such a pass that as every unit setting up its business in state is hiring labour through private contractors. The modus operandi is that the first private contractor allegedly in connivance of employers manages to get licence to hire workers for loading-unloading and house keeping work but later the labour hired for this work is used on machines and other directly related work. The Labour Department had to issue licence despite the violation of norms mainly under political pressure, pointed Mr Om Dutt Sharma, vice-president of the HP CITU. Contract labourers are not allowed to work for long in units and they are sacked at the will of the employers, he said. The labour Department is toothless to check violators thanks to the severe shortage in department, Mr Jagdish Bhardwaj, state president of AITUC said. The staff strength of the Labour Department is the same as it was 45 years ago, he pointed out. The Congress and the BJP while in power had committed to start a Labour Welfare Board on many occasions but till date no initiative has been taken in this regard, he rued. |
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Five killed in HP mishaps
Shimla, Mar 27 Four persons were killed on the spot and one was seriously injured when a truck skidded off the road and fell into a deep “khud” at Bagini, 35 km from Rampur in Shimla district last evening. The police identified the deceased as Ashok Kumar, owner of the ill-fated truck, Shiv Ram (27), Gopal the driver and Rajesh Kumar the cleaner of the truck. In another accident, Ram Chand was killed on the spot when his truck went out of control and it fell into a gorge at Paharimore, near Nurpur.
— UNI |
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Two boys drowned
Solan, March 27 The villagers managed to fish their bodies out of the water and brought them to the regional hospital here. The doctors, however, pronounced them brought dead. The bodies were handed over to the parents after they refused to get their postmortem conducted. The police was investigating the case. Virender Kumar, was studying in a local institute and Miyank was a student of an engineering college at Baddi.
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Lahaul, Spiti reel under cold wave
Shimla, March 27 The state Capital was lashed by rain and sleet at regular intervals causing sharp fall in the day temperature. Thick clouds overcast the sky and strong velocity icy winds continued to sweep the region. The tribal valleys of Lahaul and Spiti, Pangi and Pin reeled under piercing coldwave conditions as the minimum temperature stayed between minus 12 and minus 25°C.
— PTI |
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Budget session resumes today
Shimla, March 27 During the recess period, members discussed various grant provisions in the committees formed to access the feasibility and implementation of different schemes in their areas. The findings of these committees will be sent to the government for consideration before the annual Budget is passed on March 30. The 46-day-long Budget session of the state Assembly will conclude on April 6 after 26 sittings of the House.
— UNI |
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Governor leaves for Pakistan
Shimla, March 27 Mr Kokje has gone to Faisalabad on the invitation of his counterpart Lt. Gen (retd) Khalid Maqbool, Governor of Punjab, Pakistan.
— TNS |
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Two hurt in road mishap Baddi, March 27 Gopal who sustained serious head injuries was rushed to the PGI, Chandigarh. Gopal was discharged after first aid. A case under Sections 279 and 337 of the IPC has been registered against Gopal. Meanwhile, the Parwanoo police has booked 10 migrant labourers from Bihar for creating rowdism on road past midnight. The locality residents informed the police who took away them. The labourers were booked under Sections 107 and 151 of the Cr PC.
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