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Army to acquire utility choppers
Kharga Corps officers meet in Subathu
Minister for fresh survey of
IRDP families
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UPA govt will not complete tenure, says Khurana
Road cries for attention as PWD sleeps
Govt to introduce smart cards for driving licences
Protest against killing of man
Villagers want
settlement of revenue completed
Vajpayee defers departure to Delhi
Consumers to get pre-paid energy meters
Fresh tenders for cartons: three
offers received
Rs 35.32 cr for women, children’s uplift
Open school system on anvil
One killed, 46 injured in accidents
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Army to acquire utility choppers
Subathu, June 6 “We are looking at helicopters in the 10-12 tonne category like the Russian MI-17 and the US Black Hawk, which can airlift a section-plus troops (10-12 troops men) at high altitude,” he said. “The Army would also like to have its own fixed-wing aircraft,” he added. So far attack and utility helicopters as well as fixed wing aircraft have been the domain of the Air Force, which flies missions to support the Army.. Since its inception, the Army Aviation Corps has been operating Cheetahs and Chetak helicopters, which are mainly used for communication and aerial recce roles. They are only lightly armed and cannot carry out dedicated attack missions. “It is only now that we are beginning to get the Dhruv helicopters which is adding to our capability,” he said. The Army Commander, while interacting with media persons on the sidelines of Senior Officers Study Week here, said the Army required a “few more squadrons” to meet its requirements. The Army Commander said having its own utility and attack helicopter fleet would enable it to use these assets in any border skirmishes without attracting too much attention or running the risk of lowering the threshold for enlarging the conflict. “The Air Force is a strategic asset and brining it in has international repercussions,” General Pattabhiraman said. “Use of Army helicopters in limited skirmishes, however is within the rules of border management and is acceptable,” he added. He pointed out that a number of armies, including Pakistan, have their own utility and attack helicopter fleets. General Pattabhiraman said the Army was also putting emerging trends in contemporary warfare in perspective and was orienting its troops towards a “civilised” battlefield environment. “As we go along, we find warfare getting increasingly civilised, where we cannot afford collateral damage,” he said. “As our tools of trade get more sophisticated, we need to be more and more civilised and the troops’ attitude towards local population, women and the aged during operations need to be changed,” he added. Stating that troops should be inculcated accordingly and an institutional process in this direction has been initiated, he said that that while the officer cadre is sensitive to the changing requirements, the focus needs to be on orienting jawans, who largely come from rural backgrounds. “We need to not only act in good faith, but also need to demonstrate our intent of acting in good faith,” he remarked. Welcoming the ongoing peace process between India and Pakistan, the Army Commander said “we need to be always prepared for any eventuality. We are watching the developments and should be in a position to negotiate from a position of strength. Gohar Ayub Khan’s claims about an Indian Army brigadier selling the 1965 war plans notwithstanding, it is business as usual for the Army. Asserting this, Lieut-Gen S. Pattabhiraman said the claims have not affected troop morale or the functioning of the Army. He, however, declined to comment on the possibility of such a situation occurring, stating that the Defence Minister and the Army chief have ordered an inquiry into the matter to ascertain the truth. |
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Kharga Corps officers meet in Subathu
Subathu, June 6 The aim of the event is to broaden the horizon of senior officers and exchange views on various international events and their political, economic and social effect on India. The week will witness eminent speakers covering topics of geo-political significance and strategic dimension relevant to the Indian context. About 60 officers, including the General Officer Commanding, Kharga Corps, Lieut-Gen K D S Shekhawat, the corps’ Chief of Staff, Major-Gen R P S Bhandari, GOCs of all four divisions under the corps, all brigade commanders and officers of the rank of colonel are attending the meet. GOC-in-C, Western Command, Lieut-Gen S Pattabhiraman, delivered the opening address. Topics to be covered include Managing India’s neighbourhood, future directions for security policy, network centric warfare, implications of
ballistic missile defence for South Asia, maritime security, India and emerging strategic partners, leadership and management and the India-Pakistan-China triangular relations. Speakers include Lieut-Gen S.S. Mehta (Retd), Admiral Madhvendra Singh (Retd), defence analysts K. Santhanam, Bharat Karnad, Dr V.K. Saraswat and Manoj Joshi and Mr Arun Shourie. In his talk on the opening day, Director of the Centre for Air Power Studies, Air Cmde Jasjit Singh (Retd), said uncertainties about Pakistan’s future and China’s growing comprehensive power were major issues for India. He listed socio-economic development and an assured period of peace to undertake this venture as India’s strategic priority. He also stressed that energy security is vital for India’s sustained economic growth. |
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Minister for fresh survey of
IRDP families
Shimla, June 6 Presiding over a Budget Assurance and Congress Manifesto Implementation Committee meeting here today, he said 13,579 new IRDP families had been identified in the state during a recent survey conducted by the government. He further said that 13 new ‘rein baseras’ had been constructed in the state and made functional while more would be constructed keeping in view the requirement of the people. Mr Kaul Singh said all 6,000 left-out habitations would be provided safe drinking water in the next two years. This year 2,850 habitations would be covered. He also asked the department to formulate water supply schemes for scarcity areas so that the Central Government could be approached for necessary funds. He also asked the department to provide water to 3,086 schools at the earliest. He said that ongoing irrigation schemes should be made functional and new schemes prepared for providing irrigation facility to farmers. The drip and sprinkler irrigation system should also be provided
wherever feasible. He said schemes to augment water supply to 29 towns had been completed, adding that leakages of water should be plugged and directed the department not to give new connections from the main line. |
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UPA govt will not complete tenure, says Khurana
Palampur, June 6 He said the recent statements of CPI and CPM leaders had indicated that these parties had fed up with the working of Congress leaders who had not been taking them into confidence before taking major policy decisions. He said the Congress and the Left were already on loggerheads on various issues, including disinvestment of public sector undertakings. The BJP leader said one-year tenure of the government was full of its failure and it had not added any major achievement to its credit. The rising prices, increasing unemployment and failure to implement election promises had brought a bad name to the government. Besides, the development activities on major projects like the construction of Golden Quadrilateral and the linking of major rivers had come to a standstill. He said the prices of essential commodities had gone up during the UPA tenure. |
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Road cries for attention as PWD sleeps Parwanoo, June 6 The road is yet to be metalled despite the local PWD office getting funds under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana. The road meets Bhojnagar after connecting remote villages falling under the Banasar panchayat termed as the most backward panchayat of Solan district. The road essentially benefits the population of these villages most of which hails from the Schedule Caste community. The metalling of road can also augment the tourism potential of area as the road is quite near the Timber Trial Height Hotel. The road is in virtual pitiable condition and the PWD has failed to act in this regard. At present, only one private bus is using the road to cover the Banasar area. The bus is often run jam-packed with passengers sitting on bus roof. Commuting on the road involves a high degree of danger as the condition of the kutcha road at some points is very pathetic. Rs. 1.79 crore have already been received by the PWD for tarring work but yet work has not started due to reasons best known to department, rues Mr Upendra Sharma, Pradhan of Banasar panchayat. About 6-km-long stretch of the road from Parwanoo has been metalled till Khareen village but going by the bad condition of this metalled portion one can doubt the PWD’s transparency in work, he points out. The metalled road has already developed numerous potholes with bitumen virtually disappearing at some points. Meanwhile, as per the PWD, the funds have been received to metal 12-km-long portion of the road from Bhojnagar side recently. The repair work on already metalled portion has already been started, said a senior official of the
PWD.
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Govt to introduce smart cards for driving licences
Dharamsala, June 6 The idea is to use the card as an electronic document, which could be used for carrying out transactions at public offices once the required set-up is put in place. The chip would carry information like the PAN number, voter ID details and other data of the holder required for dealing with government departments. Mr R.N.
Batta, Additional Director, Transport, Shimla, said that a decision to introduce the cards in all districts of Himachal had been taken. A tender committee is studying the nitty-gritty of the proposal before a model is developed. “Certain basic issues like whether the contract be given to a private concern or should the Transport Department run it are being looked into to ensure that the scheme is effectively implemented,” he said. Another official said that one big problem was the low number of people getting driving licences issued at the sub-divisional level, which could act as a dampner for a private company to take up the contract. Mr
Batta, however, said that they might set up the equipment at the district headquarters and later the complete documents can be dispatched to the particular sub-division or mobile equipment could be used as a solution to this problem. The software for the smart card facility has been provided as part of the Government of India guidelines but the hardware will have to be put in place by the state government through the Transport Department. These smart cards would be difficult to pirate and tamper-proof. They would provide instant information about the holder in case of an accident. “But unless all states put up the readers in place, some basic information will have to be displayed on the card itself. Similarly, additional information can be fed into the micro hip once other government departments begin providing e-enabled facilities as well, which can be availed by swiping the card to confirm the antecedents,” said the official. |
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Heavy showers in state
Shimla, June 6 The hailstorm forced
thousands of tourists and locals to rush indoors and busy market of the
town wore a deserted look. KUMARHATTI: The high velocity winds followed by showers
have caused immense damage to electricity poles and crops of plum and
apricot. In some pockets the damage to stone fruits were reported over
50 per cent. Meanwhile, the storm has proved a blessing in disguise for
Forest Department staff that were on toes to check the forest fire in
the area. |
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Protest against killing of man
Nurpur, June 6 They raised slogans against the police for its inaction and alleged shielding of the accused who alleged hit the scooter of the deceased thrice with their Balero jeep. According to information, the deceased, alongwith his colleague Bittu was coming from Channi to supply illicit liquor filled in bladders. The henchmen of the wine contractor boarding a Balero jeep spotted and followed them and allegedly hit their scooter killing Vijay on the spot whereas Bittu was injured in the attack. Injured Bittu, the lone eyewitness of the incident, told the mediapersons in the police station that the driver of Balero jeep (PB-06C-2419) hit the scooter thrice with the motive to “kill both of us” but he had a narrow escape in the attack. Mr Tilak Raj, former pradhan of Channi gram panchayat, who was spearheading the agitation against the police, alleged that the henchmen of the contractor were working as a parallel force to check illicit liquor trade in the area under the nose of the senior police officials for the past many years. Demanding registration of a murder case against the wine contractor and his henchmen. Mr Tilak Raj alleged that the police remained inactive even after eight hours of the incident. Even the injured person was not given first aid in time. A heavy police force was deployed on the police station premises keeping in view the irate mob. Sunita, alias Babby, wife of the deceased alleged that the police took the custody of the body of her husband without taking any photographs and making any spot man. She urged the State Human Right Commission to take action against the accused. Mr Nathu Ram Minhas, SHO, said that the police had lodged an FIR under Section 304 of the IPC against the driver of the Balero jeep. |
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Villagers want
settlement of revenue completed
Una, June 6 Lal Singi village, which is 3 km from here in revenue records, is shown as part of Una tehsil Lal Singi village and Hoshiarpur district. This is because the Revenue department of the district has not been able to prepare
jamabandi, which is prepared every four years. It has not been prepared since 1955-56. In 1955-56 Una was a tehsil of Hoshiarpur district and was part of the Punjab state, but on November 1, 1966, Una tehsil was carved out of Punjab and merged with Himachal Pradesh and became a tehsil of Kangra district. On September 1, 1972, Una tehsil became a district of Himachal Pradesh but no jamabandi was prepared of Lal Singi village after 1955-56 till date and the village is still shown as part of Hoshiarpur district, Punjab, in revenue records, as part of Una tehsil. This mistake has created several problems for villagers and land owners as many cases of encroachment and civil suits have come before courts and no demarcation or khasra number is given by the Settlement Department due to the incomplete settlement record. According to the villagers, the Chief Minister has heard their complaint and directed the officials to take suitable action at the earliest. |
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Vajpayee defers departure to Delhi
Manali, June 6 The Senior Superintendent of Police, Kulu, Mr A.P. Singh, who returned to Kulu from Manali, said it was raining heavily in Kulu and Manali and air services were badly disrupted. He said that Mr Vajpayee was scheduled to leave for Delhi tomorrow by regular flight.
— PTI |
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Consumers to get pre-paid energy meters
Shimla, June 6 Under the project 250 pre-paid energy meters, each costing Rs 4000, will be installed in Shimla city. A Baddi-based company, will install the meters at its own cost and also make the vending arrangements. The cost of installation of meters will be borne by the board. The company has been asked to complete the installation by June 30 so that pre-paid meters could be utilised from July. The pilot project will be run for six months during which the performance of the meters will be evaluated. Thereafter, the board will consider switching over to pre-paid meters in the entire state in a phased manner as per the direction of the commission. The commission is already working on the power tariff to be charged from consumers, which opt for pre-paid meters. The new tariff order, which is likely to be announced before July, will take care of it. At present the employee cost was the highest in the country at Rs 1.33 per unit of power supplied. In states like Andhra Pradesh it has come down to 11 paise per unit following reforms. Even in the neighbouring Punjab it was 56 paise per unit. Besides, pre-paid energy meters the commission has also directed board to introduce and instal bill payment machines to reduce its billing costs. The board is on average spending Rs 57 on delivering a bill, whereas there are over 1.50 lakh domestic consumers, including about 80,000 Antyodaya families which are charged at rate of 70 paise per unit, whose monthly charges are less than then the billing cost. It has asked the board to give details of the billing staff along with the date of retirement so that a plan to replace the of existing energy meters without any retrenchment could be prepared. The new power policy announced by the Centre last month also lays emphasis on installation of sub-station automation equipment and pre-paid energy meters. |
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Fresh tenders for cartons: three
offers received
Shimla, June 6 In all eight parties had shown interest and inspected the plant at Pragatinagar but only three of them participated in the tenders. This was the second time that tenders were invited for the purpose. The tenders invited six months ago failed to evoke any response, forcing the government to carry out the exercise afresh. Mukerian Paper Mills has offered an annual lease money of Rs 50 lakh but put a condition that it would assess the working of the employees for two months and retain only those found suitable. Himachal Indage, the second bidder which is also setting up a winery in the state, offered a lease money of Rs 27 lakh and agreed to retain 70 employees. It also offered 1 per cent commission to the government on turnover exceeding Rs 10 crore. A newly registered Agro-Consumer Farm Society has offered a lease money of Rs 10 lakh or a commission of 50 paise per apple carton in the first year, Rs 30 lakh in the second year and Rs 50 lakh in the third year. The government will assess the financial and technical capabilities of the three bidders before taking a decision. Not all bidders have submitted the required documents. They will be asked to produce latest balance sheets, solvency certificate from banks and other documents to ascertain their financial standings. A senior officers said the government would not like to repeat the mistake committed in 1990 when the fruit processing plant of the HPMC at Parwanoo was leased out to an arhatiya for Rs 2.26 crore. The government is yet to recover over Rs 6 crore from the lessee which had gone bankrupt. |
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Rs 35.32 cr for women, children’s uplift
Shimla, June 6 As many as 7354 Anganwadi centres have been set up under the project. As many as 4110 Anganwari centres are also providing mobile services to 80,000 children and 20,000 expectant and nursing mothers in remote areas. Immunisation camps are organised and growth of children is closely monitored. The state government is giving an additional Rs 200 per month to anganwari workers and Rs 100 per month to Anganwari Sahayak so that they can devote more time for the work. Recruitment of anganwari workers and helpers has been entrusted to panchayats. The trained functionaries have mobilised women to form 14,262 Self-Help Groups (SHGs) across the state through the ICDS network. Out of these 9476 groups have been linked with banks. |
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Open school system on anvil
Dharamsala, June 6 The Board Chairman, Mr
B.R. Rahi, said officials present at the meeting also decided to provide the facility of re-evaluation to Class XI students. The condition is that the student should have scored at least 20 per cent marks in the subject concerned. Accepting the reports of the academic and finance committees of the board, it was decided to bring down the amount of late fee in a phased manner for students who submit their applications after due dates. The demands for enhancing the amount of remuneration for marking for teachers and increasing the rates for non-teaching employees and laboratory assistants were also accepted by the board officials at the meeting. It was also decided to computerise the branches of the board for increasing the overall efficiency. |
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One killed, 46 injured in accidents
Nahan, June 6 The accident took place when the driver of the tractor was trying to negotiate a sharp curve. The tractor overturned on the road injuring all 45 occupants. The injured were taken to Paonta subdivisional hospital. Three seriously injured persons had been admitted to Masihi Hospital-I Herburt Pur in Uttaranchal. All occupants were going to attend a marriage in Haryana. Another accident took place on Saturday at Paripul near Giri Pul, 120 km from here. A mini truck coming from the Nohra Dhar side rolled down a 100-metre-deep gorge at Peri Pul. The driver of the vehicle died on the spot. The police has sent the body of the driver for a post-mortem examination. The deceased could not be identified till yesterday. A tractor on way to Bangran in Paonta subdivision on Saturday evening overturned at Jamli village, near Bangran, injuring its occupant, Chamel Singh, seriously. He has lodged a complaint against the driver of the tractor (HP-17-9480) for driving the vehicle carelessly. |
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