 |
|
Life may return to old
Central team to give report on floods
Flood relief: BJP lambasts govt
Insurance scheme for crops to continue
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rs 365 crore to be spent on watershed project
Notices to govt, club secy
VC manhandled, 2 booked
Dalai Lama’s envoys in talks with China
Kasauli, Manali among best places
Bali to sue Nadda
General Pattabhiraman visits Yol Cantt
Youth’s body found
|
|
Life may return to old Hindustan-Tibet road
Shimla, July 1 The existing national highway (NH-22), which provides the only road link to these areas, is highly prone to damage due to floods. It runs dangerously close to the river at places and criss-crosses it six times between Wangtu and Khab. Its vulnerability was exposed during the August 2000 floods when 18 small big bridges on the river and vast stretches of road totalling about 20 km were washed away. Consequently, large parts of the tribal belt remained cut off for almost a year. The latest flood due to the breaching of the Parechu lake in Tibet has again washed away as many as eight important bridges and wiped out a vast stretch of road. The disaster has underlined the need for constructing an alternative road, particularly for the 100 km stretch from Wangtu to
Khab.There is very little population along the banks of the river. The main concern is the highway. It crosses the Sutlej after every few kilometres with bridges at Wangtu, Karcham, Shong Tong, Riba , Khadra and Khab, all of which were wiped out in the August 2000 floods. This time the bridges at Karcham, Akpa, Khab, Leo, Shalkar, Jagatkhana and Wazir Bowli have collapsed. The government has now decided to revive the old Hindustan-Tibet road on priority with slight realignment as an alternative road, which would not only avoid crossing the river so many times but also help link some major villages. The road will bifurcate from the existing highway after the Wangtu bridge and pass through Karcham, Peo, Pangi, Thopan ,Rarang and Kirang Khad on the right bank before rejoining it. The 40 km new road will be aligned along the old Hindustan-Tibet Road. The state wants the Centre to provide the necessary funds for the alternative road. Some portions of the old Hindustan -Tibet road were made traffic worthy after the August 2000 floods but now the entire road would be completed in the shortest possible time to provide a reliable road link. The government is also planning to build an alternative road to bypass the treacherous hill terrain at Malling Nullah, which has been constantly on the slide for the past about eight years. The road remains blocked for months together. The Border Road Organisation (BRO), which maintains the Highway beyond Wangtu, has decided to change the alignment and take the road high over the hill from Nako to Chango to circumvent the Malling Nullah. However, it will make the road much longer and may cause inconvenience to the local people. The government is exploring the possibility of laying an alternative road from Leo along the right bank of Spiti to Chango. The Union Home Minister, Mr Shivraj Patil, has given an assurance that the Centre would help the state in building the alternative road. |
|
Central team to give report on floods in 4 days
Shimla, July 1 The team headed by Mr H.R. Singh, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home, held a meeting with the senior officers at which it sought certain details from various departments. The committee will take three to four days in finalising the report. Meanwhile, the choppers of the Indian Air Force made numerous sorties to airlift as many as 240 persons. While 86 persons each were airlifted from Peo and Sangla, 68 were evacuated from Pooh. Besides stranded tourists, some patients, students and employees were also airlifted. Mr Arvind Sharda, Superintendent of Police, said almost all stranded tourists had been evacuated. The relief material sent on 21 mules to Leo village reached the destination. About 25 persons had a narrow escape at
Kaksthal, near Karcham, in the flood ravaged-Kinnaur district when boulders hit four vehicles. |
|
Flood relief: BJP lambasts govt
Shimla, July 1 Talking to mediapersons after visiting the affected areas, he said the government machinery had been pre-occupied with VVIP visits and those who had lost their homes had been left to fend for themselves. He said in the Jagatkhana area across Rampur no relief team had visited the area though some minister did show up immediately after the floods. Similarly, the people of Leo village, where most of the houses had been destroyed, no relief had been provided till yesterday. There was already a shortage of foodgrains and relief measures on a war footing were required. Mr Bhardwaj gave Rs 5 lakh from his local area development fund for raising a wall to protect Jagatkhana from the fury of the Sutlej. |
|
Insurance scheme for crops to continue
Shimla, July 1 This was stated by Secretary (Agriculture) Bharti Sehag while presiding over a state-level meeting here yesterday. She said the last date for insurance on paddy, maize and potato crops for farmers who were interested in raising loan was September 30 and the farmers who had already taken loan for these crops, could deposit premium and other documents before July 31. The scheme was optional for non-loanee farmers. |
|
Rs 365 crore to be spent on watershed project
Shimla, July 1 Mr Ram Lal Thakur, Forest Minister, said the World Bank had agreed to the proposal. A World Bank identification mission headed by Adolfo Brizzi, sector manager, visited the mid-Himalayan areas of the state from June 23 to 30, and held a warp-up meeting with the state team led by Mr Ram Lal Thakur here yesterday. Mr Thakur said based upon the state’s performance in the Integrated Watershed Development Project (IWDP), Kandi project and strong interest and pursuance of the state, the World Bank agreed to launch the project in early 2006 which was planned for 2008. He said the multi-sectoral watershed approach would be followed in the project through Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs). There would be more stress on capacity building of the PRIs, high-value crop diversification, soil and water conservation and afforestation under the joint forest management practices that would commence during January-February, 2006. Watershed development offices of the new project would be established in the project area during October-November, 2005, and the services of existing experienced manpower of the IWDP and the Kandi project would also be utilised. He said the World Bank had also agreed for undertaking preparatory activities from August 2005 required for the new project. The Forest Minister assured full assistance for the implementation of the project from the state government side. He said training institute of the forest and panchayat departments would also be made available for the project work. The meeting was attended among others by Mr Ashok Thakur, Principal Secretary, Forests, Mr R.A. Singh, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Mr D.K. Sharma, Principal Adviser, Planning, and Directors, Agriculture, Horticulture and Animal Husbandry. The World Bank mission visited Bilaspur, Mandi, Kangra, Kulu and Luhri and Rampur areas of Shimla district. It also held had interaction with local people and panchayat executives. |
|
Notices to govt, club secy
Shimla, July 1 The court has directed the respondent to file reply by July 18. It has been alleged in the petition that the Gaiety Theatre building is under renovation these days and the area which was possessed by the Shimla ADC (popularly known as Gaiety Club) in the aforesaid building may be handed over to the state by the executive committee of the Shimla ADC. The petitioner is apprehending that in lieu of handing over this area to the state government, the executive committee of the club may accept the condition of the state government for getting half of the area as compared to the existing one. If this condition is accepted in that eventuality, the activities of club will be restricted, as, at present, the Shimla ADC is in possession of 15000 sq.ft. area. The petitioner has prayed that the state government be directed to hand over the built-up area of approximately 15000 sq.ft. on perpetual lease in the Gaiety Theatre complex to the Shimla ADC and president as well as the working president of the Shimla ADC be directed to take steps to safeguard the interests of the ADC. |
|
VC manhandled, 2 booked
Shimla, July 1 The Vice-Chancellor personally lodged an FIR against Balbir Singh and Vijender Mehra, the student leaders, after he was manhandled in the presence of the security staff allegedly by the SFI activists. They were demanding re-evaluation of answersheets of failed students and those placed under compartment at the earliest. They were also demanding that the result of the entrance test for admission to MBA be displayed on the notice board immediately. Hem Singh, president of the campus unit of the SFI, denied the allegations. |
|
Dalai Lama’s envoys in talks with China
Dharamsala, July 1 According to Mr Thubten Samphel, secretary, Department of Information and International Relations, the fourth round of talks concluded this afternoon. The Chinese authorities were represented by Mr Zhu Weiqun, vice-minister of the United Front, Mr Sithar and other officials of the department. The Tibetan delegation would return to Dharamsala next week, added Mr Samphel. The Dalai Lama has expressed hope that the process would move forward to “bring about substantive negotiations on the Tibet problem.” The talks are in continuation of the dialogue that started in September 2002. So far, three rounds of talks of the envoys with the Chinese authorities have focussed on confidence building and it is being anticipated that this time something concrete would come out of the talks. |
|
Kasauli, Manali among best places
Shimla, July 1 The magazine has in its latest issue described Kasauli as “Best Literary Excursion” and written that Kasauli offers chance of bumping into a walking library of talent. Kasauli’s cool air, country lanes and tall oak woods have been described as greatest attractions by the magazine. The magazine has described the “Extreme Yak Sports” as major attraction of Manali. It has a detailed story on utilising the services of yak for adventurous sports. |
|
Bali to sue Nadda
Kangra, July 1 Mr G.S. Bali was addressing a press conference at the local PWD Rest House here today. He said another Rs 10-crore religious tourism project for Kangra town was also being
considered by the Centre. He made it clear that the Transport Department would not budge even an inch from its earlier decision of plying two HRTC jeeps between Manali and Leh despite
resistance from taxi operators. He said if the taxi operators had any problems, the government was prepared to listen to them with an open mind. To another question, Mr Bali said he had asked legal experts to work out the modalities for filing a defamation suit against a former Health Minister, Mr J.P. Nadda, for his remarks against him. He said he had asked his lawyer to get a legal notice served on Mr Nadda in this connection. Earlier, Mr Bali chaired a meeting of the 20 Point Programme Review and Public Grievance Redressal Committee at the Polytechnic College auditorium. |
|
General Pattabhiraman visits Yol Cantt
Dharamsala, July 1 The GOC, accompanied by the president of the AWWA, Western Command, Lakshmi Raman, was received by the General Officer Commanding, Lieut-Gen Anup S. Jamwal of 9 Corps Headquarters. According to Lieut-Col Bhasker Gupta, PRO, HQ 9 Corps, the visiting GOC was introduced to the senior officers of the Rising Star Corps and was briefed about operational and administrative aspects of the raising of the 9 corps here. General Pattabhiraman went around the cantt and was shown various works in progress and improvements being carried out to upgrade the cantt. In the evening, the GOC attended a social gathering at the officers mess where he interacted with both serving as well as retired Army officers belonging to Yol and satellite towns of Dharamsala and
Palampur. Colonel Gupta said the first day of the visit was fruitful as a number of issues concerning the raising of a new formation HQs were resolved and the GOC also got an opportunity to interact and see the efforts towards its formation. |
|
Youth’s body found
Kumarhatti, July 1 The body appeared to be two-three days old. Pratap had been missing from his home for the past four days. A scooter (HP-11-0662) was found lying abandoned about 100 feet from the spot where the body was located. The body was sent for post-mortem examination at the IGMC, Shimla. |
|
Woman gets 10-yr RI for carrying charas
Sundernagar, July 1 In default of payment of fine the convict has to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for one more year. It is for the first time that a woman has been convicted for carrying a huge quantity of narcotic in Mandi district. |
|
Liquor seized
Nalagarh, July 1 |
|
Bank staff
stage protest
Parwanoo, July 1 |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
