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Dispute over Wildflower Hall resolved PCC chief’s selection restores balance
2 drug smugglers nabbed with 68 B.Tech students of Shoolini institute
Underutilisation costs Nathpa
Rs 204 crore
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An incomplete vet hospital
Parents of Kargil hero seek justice
More days required to repair Mi-26 chopper
Protest march against factory expansion
Minor boy missing
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Dispute
over Wildflower Hall resolved Shimla, July 25 The decision of the arbitrator, Mr R.S. Sethi, has come as a major gain to the state government which had terminated the agreement for joint venture with the Oberois in March 2001 on the ground that it had violated the term and conditions of the accord. It alleged that the equity ratio had been changed by the major partner without its approval and that hotel had not been made commercially operational within the stipulated period. The decision was challenged in the High Court and ultimately the matter was entrusted to an arbitrator. As per the decision, the lease money will increase progressively over the 40-year period. The state will receive Rs 6.25 crore as lease money for the first five years and Rs 7.25 crore over the next five years and so on. The total amount to be paid will be Rs 95 crore. The government will sell its equity share to the group for Rs 12 crore to be paid upfront. The arbitrator has also pointed out that large-scale deviations had been made form the approved building plans in connivance with the officials of town and country planning department. The deviations will have to be compounded. While the agreed ratio of equity between the Oberois and the state tourism development corporation was 65:35, respectively, on the original cost of Rs 40 crore, the cost was escalated to Rs 99 crore as the Oberois invested more money. This resulted in reduction of the equity of the corporation to nearly 7 per cent as the market price of the land offered by the state government was evaluated at Rs 7.50 crore. The Rs 100 crore hotel with 84-luxury rooms was constructed as a joint venture over 102 bighas of picturesque Mashobra Hills. It is a historic site where the residence of British Army Chief, Lord Kitchner, was once located. The government maintained that the Oberois had violated the agreement which provided that the hotel resort will pay an annual amount of Rs 2 crore to it after six years when the hotel became functional.
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PCC chief’s selection restores balance Shimla, July 25 The newly elected PCC delegates had left the matter to Mrs Gandhi who took over two months to make a choice. The rival camps headed by Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, and Mrs Vidya Stokes, Power Minister, had been engaged in hectic lobbying to get the coveted party post. The choice fell on her as she also has some supporters like Mr Sat Mahajan, Revenue Minister, in the Chief Minister’s camp and had the capability to carry along everybody with her. More important was the fact that Mrs Thakur is a Brahmin by birth and hails from the merged areas. She was in the Vidya Stokes camp during the tussle for chief ministership. Since Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, hails from the old Himachal and belongs to the Rajput community, her elevation to the top post has enabled the high command to strike regional and factional balance. Mr Virbhadra Singh’s camp, was initially in favour of the continuation of Mr Kuldeep Kumar, Industries Minister, as the PCC chief and had later thrown up the name of Mr Chander Kumar, former minister, for the post. However, factional considerations and wider acceptability of Mrs Thakur decided the matter in her favour. Solan: Furthering its women empowerment policy, the appointment of Ms Viplove Thakur has been hailed as a positive step by the state Youth Congress. Its general secretary, Mr Sanjay Awasthi, said it would give a new lease of life to the women in the state.
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2 drug smugglers nabbed with 68 kg charas
Mandi, July 25 The operation was led by the Superintendent, NCB, Mr O.P. Sharma, and the Additional Superintendent of Police, Mandi district Mr J.C. Sharma, under the supervision of the NCB’s Zonal Director, Mr Srikant Jadav. The three main accused of the charas syndicate — Dharam Das (alias Pardhan urf Chachu), 40, and his two nephews Abhishek Kumar (alias Khube Ram) and Tek Chand (alias Toli) — belong to Chamaj village of Balichowki tehsil in Mandi district. Pardhan and Abhishek have been arrested by the team under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985. The Mandi police has launched a manhunt to nab the third smuggler, Toli, who managed to slip under the cover of darkness from the spot. Toli was a contact person operated by Dharamdas, revealed the investigation. The operation has also exposed a dangerous link of the drug mafias among students as Abhishek Kumar is an MA (IV semester) student of Government College, Mandi. The investigation, which is still on, revealed that the accused Dharam Das has been operating this charas syndicate in the region since 1988. They even procure girls for their clients in the town,” it disclosed. It is the second major charas seizure in the state after the then Manali, DSP, Mr Arvind Digvijay Negi, had seized over 107 kg of charas from Malana smuggler Chande Ram, now a convict, about four years ago. But it was the NCB’s second most successful operation in six months after the NCB, Zonal Directorate had seized over 155 kg of charas produced in the Kulu-Mandi area from an international drug smuggler, Lior Avi Ben Moyul, an Isreali national in February this year in Chandigarh. Acting on the secret inputs, the NCB monitored the smugglers for six months and succeeded in nabbing them red-handed, said Mr. OP Sharma, who was instrumental in exposing the international drug cartel by arresting Lior in Chandigarh in February this year. Mr J.C. Sharma said that as soon as the smugglers got the hint that they had been trapped, they managed to raise four barricades by villagers on the Mandi-Khaneti road to thwart the operation against them. “The villagers came out from the hillsides, throwing boulders and stones on us, but we managed to take along the two kingpins in the wee hours of the morning and reached Mandi at 4 am,” added Mr OP Sharma. He added that the Chamaj-Didar area in Balichowki tehsil had emerged as a major producer of charas in the Mandi district after Malana- Tosh and Maikaran in Kulu district, where over 1500 bighas of cannabis crop was destroyed by the joint Kulu-NCB team last year. “The charas syndicate operated within the state with links in Goa and Mumbai,” he said. Mr OP Sharma said the NCB and HP police had been educating villagers to shun narcotics cultivation in the areas. “We launched anti-cannabis drive in Kulu-Mandi in 2002, but still some pockets remain active for narcotics production,” he added. |
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68 B.Tech students of Shoolini institute left in lurch Solan, July 25 With the Uttar Pradesh Governor cancelling all study centres which were given permission to run as centres of learning by the Acharya Narender Dev University of Agriculture, Faizabad, the institute had sought permission from the PTU, Jalandhar, to run various courses. This permission was initially granted for running a distance education centre but it was later suspended following misuse of the PTU’s name by the institute. The students of B.Tech were left in the lurch as the course cannot be run through distance education. The students now are demanding refund of fee as directed by the university’s Governor. Equally appalling is the plight of 41 MBA and BBA students as they said they had lost another year of seeking regular admission as all universities had already completed admissions for the current sessions. The parents said the institute had charged fee more than authorised by the Faizabad university and the students were fleeced and misled. The institute’s management continues to paint a rosy picture by telling the students that they will manage affiliation from some or the other university though they are silent about the name of the university. It was learnt that a top politician from Delhi had been lobbying to get a university status for the institute from the Himachal Pradesh Government. There pressure from the politician and the management was hopeful of giving the rules the go-by. According to the apex court ruling an institute has to be a centre of excellence before being given university status. The institute, however, has been in news due to one controversy after another. Parents of the students who were worried at the future of their children said they would request the state government to safeguard future of their children.
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Underutilisation costs Nathpa
Rs 204 crore
Shimla, July 25 Stating this at a press conference, Mr H.K. Sharma, the newly appointed chairman-cum- managing director of the Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam, said that the excessive silt in the Sutlej forced the closure of the project for 20 days. Even now only four of the six generating units were being operated as the silt level continued to remain higher than the permissible limit of 5,000 ppm (parts per million). He said the project was generating about 18 million units against the targeted 36 million units. The total shortfall so far was 861 million units. The Nigam was taking long-term and short-term measures to deal with the problem of excessive silt. It included construction of storage dam at Khab upstream of Nathpa and modifying the intake from the reservoir to ensure that water into the head race tunnel was drawn from top so that minimum silt passed through turbines. The proposed increase in the dam of the height of the existing dam at Nathpa by 5 m would also help in reducing the silt level as the length of the reservoir would become longer and help the silt to settle down. Besides Rampur, Khab and Luri projects in Himachal Pradesh, the Nigam would take up three projects in the neighbouring Uttaranchal with aggregate 368 MW capacity, he said. |
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An incomplete vet hospital Parwanoo, July 25 Inquiries showed that the Animal and Husbandry Department had deposited Rs 3.40 lakh with the PWD. Earlier, it was to construct a dispensary but later the hospital was planned. The total cost was Rs 5.12 lakh. Till date, hardly half of the work involving Rs 1.50 lakh has been done on the building. After making repeated pleas to the PWD, the Animal and Husbandry Department has taken a private accommodation on Rs 1,718 as monthly rent to run the hospital. Ironically, this dispensary has failed to serve the purpose for want of staff. Since its opening, no permanent staff has been appointed. At present, a class IV employee visits the dispensary twice in a week to distribute medicines. A doctor at Dharampur Vet Hospital only visits the dispensary when his service is required. As per the norms, the vet dispensary should have at least one permanent pharmacist and a class IV employee. Mr J.K. Sood, Deputy Director of Animal and Husbandry Department, said the PWD had not responded to reminders of the department over the matter. On lack of staff problem, he said the situation would be improved after the completion of training of a batch of pharmacists in two or three months. Mr S.N. Sharma, SDO at the Parwanoo PWD office, said the work would be restarted after a show-notice served on the contractor. If he failed to reply in a week, he would be fined 10 per cent of the total cost, besides forfeiting of the earnest money, asserted Mr Sharma.
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Parents of Kargil hero seek justice
Kangra, July 25 Dr Kalia and his wife while talking to The Tribune here today said they were proud of their son Saurabh who sacrificed his life for the nation. Mr Vijay Kalia said the way her son was brutally murdered would certainly traumatise any human being. They said the worst thing that agonised and pained them most was the cold- shouldered response of the political leadership of the country in getting the culprits identified and punished Ms Vijay Kalia with her moist eyes said she had handed over her son to the Indian Army, but she was handed over the body of her son in a condition which no mother could face. She said every mother would think twice before asking her son to join Indian army after knowing how her son was tortured to death. Moreover, no one came forward from the government or the Army to raise the issue on the international platform. Captain Saurabh Kalia, had joined the Indian Military Academy in 1997. On December 12, 1998 he passed out from the IMA and was posted in Kargil in January 1999. Dr Kalia said that they approached the then Defence Minister, Mr George Fernandes, who pushed the ball into the court of the then External Affairs Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh but none helped them. Ms Kalia said the former Union Minister Shanta Kumar had approached the then Deputy Prime Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, but not even a single word came from his side. Dr Kalia said they had received more than 1.5 lakh e-mails and 30,000 letters from all over India and abroad during the past six years and that had made them all the more stronger despite losing their son. |
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More days required to repair Mi-26 chopper
Chandigarh, July 25 According to sources, IAF technical teams are working on the Mi-26 at Rampur and the aircraft is in a position to be repaired at its present location itself. It will be flown back to Chandigarh once it is repaired. One of the engines of the chopper had developed a snag while it was ferrying bulldozers from Rampur to Karchham. The aircrew had decided to return to Rampur rather than proceed to Karchham. Contrary to earlier reports, the aircraft continued to fly on both engines after the snag was detected enroute. While landing at Rampur, a cable got entangled in its rotor. Meanwhile, the Air Force has ordered a court of inquiry (COI) into the incident to determine the cause of the incident. The three-member COI is being headed by a wing commander, sources added.
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Protest march against factory expansion
Nahan, July 25 Protesters were opposing the proposed expansion plan of the Ranbaxy unit which had been running for the past several years at Ganguwala village in Paonta tehsil. Protesters raised slogans against the factory management and demanded immediate rejection of the expansion proposal by the state government as, according to them, the expansion would endanger lives of thousands of people and cattle in the area. A procession of the women and many other villagers of the area passed through the main market of Paonta Sahib and submitted a memorandum to the Subdivisional Magistrate, Mr C.P. Verma. The protesters alleged that with the expansion of the factory, the air, water and land pollution in the area would increase which may create health hazard. |
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Minor boy missing
Hamirpur, July 25 The missing boy, Arun Negi, is a resident of Liya village in Kinnaur district and was residing in a rented accommodation in Hamirpur, along with his sister, Mala Devi.
— TNS |
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