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Councillors may stall transfer of forest land
Experts oppose high-rise structures
Govt to move SC
Handloom showroom opened
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Grievances panels reconstituted
Inspection held at Army school
Truck operators’ strike continues
Factory worker booked for rape
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Councillors may stall transfer of forest land
Shimla, September 24 It is learnt that the matter will be discussed at the MC meeting scheduled for September 30. The government has already notified that the entire forest area with the
corporation be handed back to the Forest Department. “In case the MC adopts an adamant attitude of not handing over the forest area to the Forest Department, the government could consider cancelling the lease under which the 1,847 hectares of forest area was handed over to the MC,” said a senior official. It was during the British regime that this forest area was handed over to the MC. The fund-starved corporation had earlier sought financial help and permission from the government for preparing a working plan to enable proper management and conservation of the precious forest wealth, facing serious depletion. Presently, the MC has 832 hectares of forest land in Urban Shimla under it and an additional 1,015 hectares in the catchment area. “With barely a handful of people and practically no funds can anybody blame the MC for not managing the forests scientifically,” opine MC officials. It was in 1985 that the last working plan for the forest area in the town was prepared. “Since then a lot of land has been encroached by individuals, the PWD and other agencies so we need to know the exact forest area left with us on the basis of which categorisation will be done into working circles,” said MC officials. Earlier there were 40 compartments, which have reduced over the past two decades, they add. The proposal to hand over the forest area to the Forest Department for its scientific management and conservation was turned down by the MC House earlier on the plea that with the MC Act being more stringent than the Indian Forest Act, the trees were better protected and less vulnerable to felling. “Why should the MC hand over forests worth crores to the Forest Department when they are being managed properly,” remarked Mr Ashok Sood, a councillor. He added that the majority of the councillors were against the move and all the pros and cons would be weighed before arriving at a final decision. It is not just encroachments on forest land, which is a major problem, but dumping of debris due to rapid construction activity has posed a major threat to the dense forest all along the bypass and on the outskirts of the town. The MC proposes to have inter-linked chain fencing around all these forest areas so that no debris or garbage can be dumped and an earmarked dumping zone is demarcated outside the town, which does not cause any damage to trees. |
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Experts oppose high-rise structures
Shimla, September 24 These views were expressed by the Member Secretary, Mr J.K. Prasad, Ministry of Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation, who was here to attend the one-day workshop organised at the behest of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The workshop with the theme “Model Town and Country Planning Act, Zoning, Development Control and Building Regulations vis-a-vis amendments” was organised here on Thursday. Experts from various fields attending the workshop were of the view that having more than three storeyed buildings in the town could be hazardous, especially because most parts of the state fell in zone IV and V, which were highly vulnerable to earthquakes and landslides. The experts dwelled on how to bring about amendments in the town and country planning regulations in view of the geo-hazards. They felt that the eco-sensitive zones, including core areas, green belts, restricted areas and the sinking pockets called for restrictions on development and haphazard constructions. They stressed that utmost discipline needed to be exercised, especially in these zones, witnessing congestion and over burdening. Speaking at the workshop, Mr Prasad said the maximum slope allowed for constructions in the hill town should not exceed 30 degrees. The permissible slope limit by the Department of Town and Country Planning at present is 45 degrees. He was of the opinion that multi-storeyed buildings should be completely avoided as they could spell doom in case of a natural disasters like earthquake or landslides. The workshop assumes importance as the Shimla Development Plan, which is awaiting the final nod of the Cabinet will remain in effect till 2021. The Director, TCP, Mr J.R. Verma, said there was a blind race for housing even on steep slopes. |
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Govt to move SC
Shimla, September 24 Talking to mediapersons here today, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said necessary changes in the Rules of Business had already been made in this connection. “With these changes, the state government can now appoint CPS and PS and also fix their salary and other perks,” he stated. Following the verdict of the state High Court, quashing the appointment of the CPS and PS last month, all 12 persons who had been appointed had resigned. He said that the institution of CPS and PS in India is since 1946 and has continued even after Independence. “Even now many of the states governed both by the Congress and the BJP have CPS and PS,” he said. Mr Virbhadra Singh added that the government would shortly be moving SC on the issue but no appointments of CPS and PS would be made till the final verdict is given by the apex court.
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Handloom showroom opened
Kulu, September 24 At present there are 4,400 co-operative societies with 13 lakh members. Bhuttico has been a landmark in the co-operative revolution and has earned a big name in the Handloom Industry worldwide. The Chairman of Marketing Board and general secretary of HPCC, Mr Satya Prakash Thakur, said sale amounting to Rs 5.4 crore was recorded during 2004-05, and target of Rs 6 crore was set for the current financial year. He added that the showroom at Bhunter will help in achieving this target and beneficial to the tourists as well.
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Online land records in Nihari sub-tehsil
Sundernagar, September 24 Sub-tehsil Nihari is the fifth tehsil in district Mandi which has started issuing online copy of land records. MP firstly performed puja, inspected the database ,distributed the Record of right to the land owner and also handed over the sale deed to a land owner. Earlier to it while talking to mediapersons she said that Prime Minister has announced a grant of Rs 100 crore to the flood affected areas of the State.
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Grievances panels reconstituted
Shimla, September 24 Mr Harsh Mahajan, Animal Husbandry Minister, will head the committee for Chamba district. The Deputy Commissioner and all the district-level officers will be the members. The Additional Deputy Commissioner concerned will be the member-secretary. As many as 64 non-official members have also been nominated to the committee. The Kulu district grievances committee will be headed by Mr Ishwar Dass, MLA, and have the Deputy Commissioner and various district officers as members. Besides, 59 non-official members have also been nominated to the committee. Mr Singhi Ram, Horticulture Minister, will be the chairman of the committee for Kinnaur which will have the Deputy Commissioner and district-level officers as members. The committee has 46 non-official members. |
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Inspection held at Army school
Solan, September 24 Aimed at assessing the professional training being imparted in the school and the effectiveness of pedagogical methodology adopted and evaluation of the academic results .The inspection team minutely studied various aspects. Col (retd) T.S. Kalra, Additional Director, Army Welfare Education Society (AWES), HQ 2 Corps and Mr Rakesh Joshi, Principal, Army School, Patiala, were entrusted the task. During their two-day stay on the campus, the visiting team monitored the school' functioning.
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Truck operators’ strike continues
Solan, September 24 The vice-president of the GACL, Mr Rakesh Sharma, said the strike was totally uncalled for, as they had hiked the freight charges in February and October last year. Even the 4 per cent annual hike had been granted to them in February. The rates paid were almost 15 per cent higher than the government notified prevalent rates. The truck union opposed this plea of the management and said there was no fright hike in the past two years. |
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Factory worker booked for rape Nalagarh, September 24 Manjeet (25) is engaged as a worker with the GPI factory in Chowkiwala near here. The girl somehow managed to flee from Manjeet’s custody and reached home. She is studying in a Rajpura school. The police has arrested Majinder Singh who allegedly helped Manjeet in kidnapping the girl. A case under Sections 363,366,376,506 and 109 of the IPC registered.
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CRI to celebrate centenary Parwanoo, September 24 Now the Union Health Minister, Mr Hans Raj Bhardwaj, will be the chief guest accompanied by Mr Suirnder Pal Singh, Director, General Health Services of India. The HP Health Minister too was expected to attend the celebrations. A meeting of senior officials of the institute was held today to give final touch to celebration preparations.
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Minor raped
Solan, September 24 The girl in a complaint to the police has stated that he took her to Tarn Taran in Punjab where he raped her.
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