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Road network in Barrel to be strengthened
Withdraw professional
tax, says BJP
Earthquake
in Chamba
Cop injured as youths fire at him
US apple varieties to be introduced
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Out-of-season tourist windfall for Railways
Pvt firm approached to build abattoir
48 lakh bank fraud detected
4,778 bottles of liquor seized
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Road network in Barrel to be strengthened
Kumarhatti, April 14 Rs 5.60 crore has been earmarked for a 14-km road from Kander to Barrel under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana, he said. Barrel was a sole panchayat out of 40 panchayats of the Arki constituency that still lacked any worthwhile road link. Because of this, the vegetable growers of the area were the worst-affected. They have to spend huge amounts to carry their produce to the markets. Mr Thakur said the state government had decided to link all panchayats of the state with roads during the next three years. He criticised the Opposition for creating an unnecessary hullabaloo over VAT. The implementation of VAT would not increase inflation. It would help in bringing more accountability and transparency. Clarifying on VAT, Mr Thakur said small traders and shopkeepers have kept out of its jurisdiction . Only those having a turnover of over Rs 6 lakh were covered under VAT, he maintained.
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Withdraw professional
tax, says BJP
Shimla, April 14 Addressing a press conference here today, BJP leader and Lok Sabha MP Suresh Chandel said that it was on April 24 that the party would chalk out its strategy on the issue of professional tax at the state-level meeting of the BJP to be held at Bilaspur. “The inhumane face of the Congress regime in the state has been exposed with the imposition of the professional tax, which hardly spares any segment of society,” he said. Mr Chandel said that the government should immediately withdraw the professional tax as practically all sections of society like lawyers, journalists and government employees had opposed its imposition. He added that ever since the Congress government had come to power in Himachal Pradesh, there had been increase in prices and the imposition of value added tax (VAT) would further aggravate the situation. The BJP leader said despite the Congress being in power at the Centre, hardly any help had poured in for Himachal. “Work on the Rohtang tunnel has come to a standstill as forest clearance is still awaited which reflects the casual attitude of the Centre towards the state’s problems,” he said. Mr Chandel said during the NDA rule when liberal financial assistance was given to HP as and when needed, the UPA regime had not announced any major projects for the hill state. “Why could the state government not plead Himachal’s case for a special package for extending rail network and setting up of more airports when Jammu and Kashmir has been given special preference,” he said. He said that the government had failed to attract big industries in the state despite a special industrial package being announced for Himachal. “There have been no efforts for infrastructure development and setting up of labour colonies as a result of which the entrepreneurs would prefer to leave after the time period of the special industrial package is over,” he stated. He added that the government had failed in the tourism and health sector. |
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Earthquake
in Chamba
Chamba, April 14 The tremors lasted about 10 seconds. The magnitude of the quake could not be exactly ascertained as there is neither any seismograph nor any seismological department anywhere in the district. The epicentre of the quake was being presumed somewhere in the Pir Panjal hills in Jammu and Kashmir located quite adjacent to Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh. However, the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Rahul Anand, said that the magnitude of earthquake was measured at 4.5 on the Richter scale as confirmed by the Indian Meteorological Department over the phone. Some houses developed cracks but no report of loss of life on major damage to property had so far been received from anywhere, the DC said. |
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Cop injured as youths fire at him
Kumarhatti, April 14 Santokh Singh from Saproon police chowki has sustained bullet injuries on the neck and head when he was asking the youths to produce the documents of their motor cycle (PB-12D-8944) parked along roadside. Santokh Singh along with an another head constable Kanshi Ram, was on night patrol duty when he saw two youths roaming in suspicious condition. The cops questioned the youths. The youths asked the cops that their motor cycle had run out of petrol and they were looking to arrange fuel. The youths pushed back Kanshi Ram after they were asked to show the driving licence. The youths attacked Santokh Singh and fired at him. Santokh Singh was on the ground. The youths fled from spot on the motor cycle but after some distance they had to abandon the vehicle after it met with an accident. The police arrested one youth, Sanjeev Kumar, today who was owner of the motorcycle. He hailed from Ward No 7, Solan.
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US apple varieties to be introduced
Shimla, April 14 The state Horticulture department last fortnight received plants of four of these 14 varieties from the USA. These varieties, including Honey Crisp, Honey Gold and Brae Bern have been planted as the mother stock at the government orchard at Bajaura in Kulu district, before it can be propagated as plant material to be distributed to growers. “The 14 varieties have been selected for being planted in Himachal Pradesh by national and international consultants after discussions with the state Horticulture department keeping in mind the suitability and marketability factor,” said Mr R.P. Sharma, Director, Horticulture. This has been done under the aegis of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) under the Apple Improvement Project being undertaken in the state. To gradually phase out the existing varieties of the Red Delicious group, which have been planted in almost 90 per cent of the apple orchards in the state, a variety collection block has been set up at Bathera near Sarahan. Efforts will also be made to improve the local varieties in terms of colour, taste and size at the nursery that has been set up at Kwagdhar in Sirmaur district. It is to keep pace with market demands that efforts are being made to improve the apple varieties in terms of taste, marketability and better processing prospects. “We want Himachal apples to compete with the best varieties in international market and for this the new varieties, imported from the USA will start yielding crop within the next five years,” says Mr Sharma. Efforts are being made to improve the varieties of apple for better marketability, as most of the varieties of Red Delicious are too sweet and juicy by international standards. “For best results apple should be planted at an ideal height which is above 6,000 feet and not in the marginal areas where chilling requirements are not met,” emphasise experts. Apple has not been a major success in the Rajgarh area of Sirmaur and in the orchards located at low height in Kulu district. As a result, a large number of growers have replaced the trees with stone fruits and other crops. Another problem being faced is the glut created in the market due to most of the existing varieties bearing fruit within a short span of 15 days. “We are keen to spread and prolong the apple season over a longer period by having different varieties which do not give crop at the same time,” said experts.
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Out-of-season tourist windfall for Railways Parwanoo, April 14 The officials failed to understand the reason behind the sudden, premature rush of tourists but were also hopeful of the remunerative season ahead. The trains to Shimla were running jampacked which was quite uncommon at this time. Generally booking for uphill trains gets pickedup after mid May but this time, unexpectedly, the two morning trains from Kalka to Shimla were already booked to the capacity till April 28. As per the booking data collected by this correspondent, these two morning trains were linked with the Delhi-Kalka mail that reaches Kalka at 5 a.m. The Baisakhi holiday followed by another holiday on account of Dr Ambedkar birthday and weekend seemed to do trick this time. The Himalayan Queen — third train to Shimla —was also running jampacked and was booked to capacity from April 17 to April 19. The total seating capacity of these three trains were around 500 passengers. Keeping in mind the record rush the railways, might start a holiday special train to Shimla, pointed a senior railway official at Kalka. |
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Pvt firm approached to build abattoir
Shimla, April 14 Having exhausted all channels of financing for the project, the MC is trying to rope in a private firm to construct the slaughterhouse. A site at Boileauganj for the project, has been identified. The PWD, Revenue and Forest Departments have been cleared the project. Even the Ministry of Forest and Environment and the State Pollution Control Board have given the go-ahead for the project. A sum of Rs 40 lakh was received by the MC as Centre’s share for the Rs 1.35 crore project in 1994. The MC has already given Rs 23 lakh to the housing board. With the cost now touching Rs14.65 crore, managing funds has become difficult. The Animal Husbandry Department has shown reluctance to be part of the project.
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Mandi, APRIL 14 Bank officials had not entered the interest vouchers of Rs 48 lakh. The bank was in loss in 1999, but the management showed a profit of Rs 3 lakh. The “fake profit” scam was not noticed by the Board of Directors(BoD) and the State Cooperative Department. Meanwhile, a couple of desperate depositors have moved the consumer courts.
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4,778 bottles of liquor seized Parwanoo, April 14 The police got suspicious as to why an oil tanker was moving in the middle of the night. On search it was found that it was carrying 4,778 bottles of liquor. It was reportedly coming from Masulkhana and heading towards Punjab. The three arrested include the circle manager of the local liquor contractor, Vinod Kumar hailing from Kasauli tehsil, driver Nand Singh hailing from Tripuri in Patiala and cleaner Karamjit hailing from Rajpura. A case under Sections 61/1/14 of the Excise Act has been registered. |
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