H I M A C H A L   P R A D E S H

Businessman held for raping, blackmailing girl
Shimla, May 12
The police investigations in the porn CD case today made some headway when the victim girl accused businessman, Vijay Sood of raping and blackmailing her after filming her in the sexual act.

Illegal hotel owners fined Rs 1.20 lakh
Dalhousie, May 12
The hotels here are all spruced up for the reception of heavy influxes of tourists making a beeline for this beautiful hill station in summers.

Cong committee poll from May 17
Shimla, May 12
The process of Congress organisational poll which was stalled following the manhandling of Mr K.C. Lenka, chairperson of the state election authority, will resume on May 17.

Mr K.C. Lenka, chairperson of the state election authority, addresses a press conference in Shimla on Thursday. — Photo by Anil Dayal

HP to levy area development tax
Baddi, May 12
With a view to giving boost to infrastructure in the industrial belts of the state, the government is planning to levy a local area development tax soon. Being area specific, the tax would only be imposed on the Baddi-Barotiwala industrial areas, parts of Sirmaur district and a few other areas, Excise and Taxation Commissioner Narinder Chauhan said .

Sainik Board headless for 4 months
Dharamsala, May 12
Offices of Sainik Welfare Boards in Himachal Pradesh are in a sorry state. The post of Director and those of nine Deputy Directors of the total 10 in districts are lying vacant, affecting the smooth functioning of the department.

Girls shine in plus II exams
Dharamsala, May 12
Girls outshone boys in the Class XII examinations for humanities, commerce and vocational groups and compartment papers declared by the Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education here today with seven out of 10 positions going to them.

HP to open 15 nursing colleges
Shimla, May 12
The Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, said today said that the government was contemplating opening 15 international-level nursing colleges in the private sector in the state.

Businessman held for raping, blackmailing girl
Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 12
The police investigations in the porn CD case today made some headway when the victim girl accused businessman, Vijay Sood of raping and blackmailing her after filming her in the sexual act.

Addressing a press conference here today, SSP, J.R. Thakur said on the basis of the information provided by the girl, hailing the from Theog area, the main suspect, Vijay Sood, had been arrested and booked under Section 376 of the IPC. The police was also considering adding Section 68 of the Information Technology (IT) Act.

Mr Thakur said during the interrogation, the girl alleged that taking advantage of her poverty, the businessman lured her by promising to get her a job. She was learnt to have told the police that it was in 1991 that she was given a job by the accused for Rs 1,000 per month.

The girl, who was summoned from Delhi, told the police that when she objected to the sexual advances made by Vijay Sood, he apologised to her, saying that she was like his daughter and this would not be repeated. Later, he was learnt to have called her to his house and played a blue film to which the girl objected and left the job.

He was learnt to have got in touch with the girl after a few months and apologised to her and asked her to join the job, which she did out of her compulsion. “One day in the office he offered, me a glass of lemon juice after which I fell unconscious and he raped me,” she alleged.

He blackmailed the girl that if she disclosed it he would expose and circulate the porn CDs he had made on her, said Mr Thakur. The girl had been summoned from Delhi for the interrogation and the accused was supposed to have made 15 CDs with her. He also got her a job at a local photographers shop and at a restaurant for sometime.

Meanwhile the police has seized 87 CDs and 25 floppies from the premises of Vijay Sood. The police is going through all of them to ascertain their contents and find out the involvement of the main accused in the case. Some other girls who feature in the CDs are also being summoned.

Meanwhile, the bail application filed by Vijay Sood before the high court will come up for hearing on May 19.

Illegal hotel owners fined Rs 1.20 lakh
Balkrishan Prashar

Dalhousie, May 12
The hotels here are all spruced up for the reception of heavy influxes of tourists making a beeline for this beautiful hill station in summers.

According to official information from the Department of Tourism, nearly 75 hotels have been registered in and around the Dalhousie hills in accordance with the Himachal Pradesh Registration of Tourist Trade Act, 1988.

But certain hotel premises do not conform to the prescribed standards required under the provisions of the Act. These hotels lack amenities, for instance, accommodation of standard sizes and attached toilets facilities.

Some hotels, which have been constructed unauthorisedly by ignoring the essential provisions of the building bylaws and also made encroachments, are also operating in the hill resort. A few of these hotels have been rented and leased out and carrying out their hotel business even without the completion of construction and furnishing work.

The buildings of some hotels have been approved even without obtaining the foundation details as there was earlier no practice to obtain the revenue records of the estate in support of the construction. In this connection, the Department of Town and Country Planning has served notices on the owners of about 150 structures in and around Dalhousie for their being illegal and unauthorised and for carrying out deviations in the existing structures.

Thus, taking cognisance of the prevailing circumstances in the hotel industry at Dalhousie, the Divisional Tourism Development Officer (DTDO), Mr Vikas Labroo, yesterday raided 23 illegal hotels and three travel agents operating here and fined them about Rs 1.20 lakh, which was realised on the spot.

Cong committee poll from May 17
Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 12
The process of Congress organisational poll which was stalled following the manhandling of Mr K.C. Lenka, chairperson of the state election authority, will resume on May 17.

Mr Lenka, who left for Delhi in a huff after the incident on April 24, returned yesterday and announced a fresh schedule for elections. He also appointed district returning officers afresh to carry out the job.

He said as per the revised schedule, the election to the District Congress Committee would be held from May 17 to 19. The district returning officers would be free to hold the poll on any of the three dates. They would submit the results to him on May 20.

He refused to answer any queries about the unsavoury incident and said it was a closed chapter. When asked whether efforts would be made to elect district president through consensus, he said it was the best way for organisational poll.

He said election of seven PCC delegates from the Congress Legislative Party had been held and Mr Singhi Ram, Mr Tek Chand, Dr Prem Singh, Mr Harsh Wardhan, Mr Raghbir Singh, Mr Bodh Raj and Mr Mukesh Agnihotri had been elected.

Mr Tej Singh has been made the district returning officer for Bilaspur, Mr D.D. Thakur for Kulu, Mr Pratap Chauhan for Una, Mr K.D. Sultanpuri for Kangra, Mr Chandersekhar Sharma for Hamirpur, Mr S.C. Nayar for Mandi, Mr Sanjay Rana for Chamba, Mr Mohinder Chauhan for Solan, Mr Rajneesh Khimta for Sirmour, Mr Vidya Sagar for Kinnaur, Mr Upender Kaul for Shimla (Urban) and Mr Rajender Zar for Lahaul-Spiti.

HP to levy area development tax
Our Correspondent

Baddi, May 12
With a view to giving boost to infrastructure in the industrial belts of the state, the government is planning to levy a local area development tax soon. Being area specific, the tax would only be imposed on the Baddi-Barotiwala industrial areas, parts of Sirmaur district and a few other areas, Excise and Taxation Commissioner Narinder Chauhan said.

Addressing industrialists at a workshop organised on issues and challenges after VAT legislation in Himachal Pradesh at Timber Trail Resorts, near Parwanoo, he said the sales tax collection in the state had gone up by 24 per cent last year, with Solan district recording the highest 31 per cent growth. While answering queries on tax identification number (TIN), he said it was not a necessary requirement till the VAT structure was rationalised all over the nation. The C-forms could be appropriately used for making transactions till TIN was made mandatory .

Earlier, Mr Dhian Chand, president, PHD Chambers of Commerce and Industry, drew the attention of the officials towards allowing VAT credit for purchase tax, permission for electronic maintenance of records, relaxation in penal action in exceptional cases where the purchaser has not received the VAT registration number and felt the conditions like requirement of the printer’s name should be dispensed with in the computer-generated invoices.

Sainik Board headless for 4 months
Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, May 12
Offices of Sainik Welfare Boards in Himachal Pradesh are in a sorry state. The post of Director and those of nine Deputy Directors of the total 10 in districts are lying vacant, affecting the smooth functioning of the department.

Scores of widows and families of martyrs seeking their dues are being affected by the vacant posts even though the authorities say the situation has arisen due to financial constraints.

Talking to The Tribune, a senior Congress leader Major Vijau Singh Mankotia, said the post of Director in the head office of the board at Hamirpur had been lying vacant for more than four months now. Besides, he said, the functioning of the offices of the Board in nine districts had also come to a standstill as these had been headless for quite some time now.

“I had raised the issue in the assembly and I was told that the posts had not been filled due to financial constraints. However, I blame the bureaucracy for being indifferent to the problems of families of martyrs in the state,” he said.

Every day, widows of martyrs, some of who could not read and write, approached the Sainik Welfare Board offices with problems like delay in getting pension or benefits under other schemes and it was important that their grievances were looked into without delay, he said.

“The excuse of financial constraints cited for the delay sounds misplaced as 50 per cent of the funds to the board are given by the Government of India through the Directorate of Resettlement and Rehabilitation,” he said.

A member of the Himachal Pradesh Ex-Servicemen League said the poor staff strength of the Sainik Welfare Board had upset the ex-servicemen and they would request the Chief Minister to look into the issue immediately. “The situation is grim and the vacant posts should be filled immediately so that the families of defence personnel get their dues under various financial schemes,” he said.

Girls shine in plus II exams
Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, May 12
Girls outshone boys in the Class XII examinations for humanities, commerce and vocational groups and compartment papers declared by the Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education here today with seven out of 10 positions going to them.

The board’s Chairman, Mr B.R. Rahi, said 3, 4517 out of 5, 4281 students were declared passed. Of these 2, 6205 were girls and 2, 8076 boys.

The pass percentage for the vocational group was 89 per cent with 585 out of 660 students clearing it. Mr Rahi said girls had bagged the first three positions in the merit list. Pallavi Arora of MCM DAV College, Kangra, stood first with 420 out of 500 marks, followed by Neha Dhawan of GAVSSS, Kangra, scoring 417 out of 500, Nisha Devi of GGSSS Arki, Solan, 414 out of 500, Rishi Gupta of Priyadarshni Modern Public School, Kangra, 412 out of 500, and Arushi Bhandari of MCM DAV College, Kangra, standing fifth by scoring 410 out of 500.

Pooja of GGSSS, Chamba, got the sixth position by scoring 408 out of 500, followed by Pawan Kumar of GB SSS, Jogindernagar, Mandi, 652 out of 800, Som Raj of GSSS, Lathiana, Una, 407 out of 500, Rose Anand of MCM DAV College, Kangra, 402 out of 500, and Meera Devi of GSSS, Bhangrotu, 642 out of 800.

The result is also available on hpeducationboard.nic.in and hpeducationboard.gov.in.

HP to open 15 nursing colleges
Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 12
The Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, said today said that the government was contemplating opening 15 international-level nursing colleges in the private sector in the state.

Speaking at a function organised on the occasion of the International Nurses Day here today, he said with opening of such colleges girls to get training and seek jobs in and outside the state.

The Chief Minister said the government would soon make it compulsory for medical personnel to stay close to their place of posting so that they could attend to patients in case of emergencies. “Our endeavour is also to create necessary infrastructure for residential accommodation for the medical personnel posted in various health institutions,” he added.

Mr Virbhadra Singh said MRI facility would be made available to patients at Indira Gandhi Medical College shortly as Rs 7.25 crore was being spent on it. Rs 5.50 crore would be spent on constructing an auditorium and a library at the IGMC, he added.