 |
|
HP withdraws professional tax Road to Sangla valley restored
Girl dies in hospital
Ex-servicemen seek revival of polyclinic project
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
JE booked
Properties of defaulters to be auctioned
Encroachment on TB sanatorium land
Man mauled by bear
|
|
HP withdraws professional tax
Shimla, October 3 The decision will come into force with prospective effect and those who have not deposited the tax levied from May this year will be required to pay it up to October. Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, while addressing the meeting of the joint consultative committee comprising representatives of the State Non-Gazetted Services Federation and Officers, said today that the professional tax was imposed earlier by the government to generate revenue for providing social security cover to the most vulnerable sections of society. He said since the government was in a position to meet this expenditure now by way of better financial management, the decision to withdraw the professional tax had been taken. He said the government was pursuing the welfare-oriented policies and it was the duty of all to contribute to this. He said the government would also consider the payment of outstanding installments of dearness allowance during the current financial year and in case some installments were left out, necessary provision would be made in the next financial year. The Chief Minister said the merger of 50 per cent dearness allowance in the basic pay of the employees and pension had put an annual burden of Rs 310 crore on the state exchequer. Daily wage had been increased from Rs 65 to Rs 75 as per the poll manifesto and Rs 840 crore had been spent on clearing the liabilities on account of implementation of the 5th pay commission. The present government also revived the policy of providing employment on compassionate grounds to the next of kith and kin of those employees who died in harness and so far 1,544 persons had been appointed on this ground. It was considering providing employment in case of daily-wage and work charge employees on this ground with a stipulation of minimum seven years of service. The state unit of the Congress hailed the decision to withdraw the professional tax. Mrs Viplove Thakur and Mr Kuldeep Rathore, president and general secretary of the Pradesh Congress Committee, respectively, said various organisations, particularly employees bodies, had been demanding the withdrawal of the tax. The decision had come as a big jolt to the BJP, which was unnecessarily trying to make an issue out of it.
|
|
|
Road to Sangla valley restored
Sangla (Kinnaur), October 3 The valley was cut off from the rest of the world for the past over three months as a stretch of about 1 km near the reservoir of the 300-MW Baspa hydro-power plant commissioned by the JPAL was washed away during the flash floods in Baspa rivulet, a tributary of Sutlej, followed by heavy rains resulting in landslides in the last week of June, this year. More than 100 vehicles of tourists that got stranded in the valley in the past three months were safely driven out during the past 24 hours after the restoration of the road link as the sandy rocks on steep heights were fragile, still posing risks of fresh landslides. Soon after hearing the news of the restoration of road link, hundreds of people living in the Sangla valley and the adjoining areas of Rakcham and Chitkul who were earlier facing hardships in transporting essential commodities and harvested apple crop, gathered on a hillock above the road and arranged a dinner party to mark the celebrations of the restoration of the link in a traditional style. The local MLA, Mr Jagat Singh Negi, District Magistrate, Dr Amandeep Garg, AGM (personal/administration) of JPAL, Col A.S. Ghumman (retd.), Executive Engineer of PWD Mr Harbans Singh Negi, besides many other officials of the state government and JPAL, the work force that contributed in restoring the road link and nearby panchayats were present in the celebrations that were followed by a traditional folk dance. The MLA also honoured a few officials and team members of the work force with cash prizes who risked their lives in restoring the road link. The restoration of road link was also vital for the JPAL as they needed to cross over heavy machinery and other infrastructural facilities to begin the renovation work on the gates of the run-through reservoir that were partially damaged in the floods, said Col Ghumman. Meanwhile, Dr Amandeep Garg, District Magistrate, told The Tribune that the district administration would soon come out with a novel plan with the help of the Forest Department and local panchayats to develop a local species of vegetation on the barren fragile mountains surrounding the road.
|
|
Girl dies in hospital
Kangra, October 3 The parents of the girl had not come to take her body till this evening and police took the body for the postmortem as an unclaimed body. According to the police, the parents of the girl were informed yesterday on phone a number of times, but they did not respond. Mr Guru Dass, Sub-Inspector investigating the case, said that after Aneeta breathed her last today her parents were again informed. He said that her body was taken to dharamshala for a postmortem as an unclaimed body. The body was lying in the corridors of the hospital, waiting for her parents but they did not turn up. Ashok, (21), a resident of Dharamshala, was responding to the treatment. He said he wanted to marry Aneeta, not knowing that she was already dead. He told The Tribune that both had been in love for the past five years, but the parents of Aneeta were against this relation. He said that she was engaged recently and was to be married within two or three months and Aneeta was not happy with the engaement. He said, “As she did not like the decision of her parents and both decided to end their life under the feet of Goddess.” The parents of Ashok had also not come to Kangra till this evening.
|
|
Ex-servicemen seek revival of polyclinic project
Chamba, October 3 In a memorandum submitted to the President of India, Col Ravi Vaid, the president of the Ex-Servicemen Welfare Society, stated that the functioning of the ECHS polyclinic had commenced on April 1, 2004 in a rented accommodation near Baloo Bridge on the outskirts of Chamba town under the command of Station Headquarters, Dalhousie. Col Vaid further stated that the application to acquire government land was moved to the Deputy Commissioner of Chamba by the Station Headquarters, Dalhousie on May 26, 2004. But regrettably, the allotment of land was delayed in the absence of ‘no objection certificate’ from the Forest Department of Himachal Pradesh. The teething problems of the newly-born organisation were being sorted out when the orders from the Union Ministry of Defence were received on August 10, 2005 deleting the ECHS polyclinic in the non-military station Chamba, Col Vaid pointed out. Taking into account that Chamba is one of the fifty backward districts of the country situated in a far-flung area, Col Vaid prayed to the President of India to withdraw the order and revive the ECHS polyclinic at Chamba as the polyclinic was badly needed by ex-servicemen of this difficult mountainous region of Himachal Pradesh. |
|
|
3 records set in under-14 category
Sanawar, October 3 Finals for as many as 13 events were conducted today. These included various races and relay events for students of different age groups. The students competed under the respective banners of four houses — Himalaya, Nilgiri, Siwalik and Vindhya. As far as Overall House Championships are concerned, Himalaya House bagged PD Cup for Classes V and VI, while Nilgiri House bagged GD Cup for Classes VII to XII as well as BD Cup for Classes VII to XII. Avantika Charak was declared the best athlete among girls (above 16), while the award for the best athlete in this category for boys was shared by Angad and Mankush Bhopal. A number of facilities have been added to the school’s residential hospital as part of the ongoing celebrations of its 158th Founder’s Day, which staff members said, had made it one of the most compact and well equipped hospital in a boarding school. The facilities inaugurated today include a pathology laboratory for conducting routine tests, a physiotherapy unit to treat sports injuries, an X-ray unit, a dental OPD. A fully equipped and air-conditioned mobile medical van was donated to the school by Old Sanawarians (OS). A blood donation camp was organised for the first time in the school. A large number of Old Sanawarians, staff members and parents donated blood. The camp will continue tomorrow. A friendly hockey match between boys and male Old Sanawarians and a similar basketball match between girls and woman Old Sanawarians were organised. A special relay race for OS girls and OS boys versus presents girls and boys was also held. The evening witnessed a tattoo as well as several light and sound events put up by the students. This included a Tibetan dance, martial dance, bhangra, school PT, gymnastics, aerobics and figure marching. The evening was rounded off with fireworks.
|
|
JE booked
Kangra, October 3 Kangra district police chief Mr S.P. Singh said that the JE misbehaved with the BDO at Pragpur on Friday when he was on duty. The Jawalamukhi police, when contacted, said that a during a meeting of the pradans, panchayat samiti members, zila parishad members and other officers presided over by the SDM Dhera, a panchayat pradan Ms Swaran Lata of Chapla village charged the Junior Engineer, Mr Partap Chand Rana, serving BDO office, Pragpur, with not giving the final report of the development works. After the meeting was over and SDM left the office, BDO asked the JE about the issue who, according to BDO allegedly misbehaved with the him used unparliamentary language. The pradans and other public representatives intervened and saved the BDO. On the complaint of the BDO Mahesh Sharma, the police has registered a case under Sections 353, 504 and 506 of the IPC. |
|
Properties of defaulters to be auctioned
Mandi, October 3 Sources in the RC told The Tribune that the administration was finalising the process to auction the properties in over 46 cases finalised for recovery. The department has fixed 239 cases for arbitration which would be finalised for auction. “If the defaulters come forward in a time-bond period to repay the amount, they can save the disgrace that they would undergo while auctioning of their property,” revealed the sources. The defaulters are a cornered lot as even those who had not attached property against the loan would be booked under the Cooperative Act for committing a breach of trust as the matter has been restricted to jurisdiction of the RC not to the civil courts. “Former members of the defunct Board and Directors (BoD) and bank staff would face criminal cases as they have violated the Act, said top officials. The Registrar, Mr R.D. Dhiman, said they were finalising the cases for auction under the Land Act and Cooperative Act in case the defaulters did not obey the time-bound assurance. |
|
Encroachment on TB sanatorium land
Kumarhatti, October 3 The sanatorium, a premier institute of North India in TB treatment was set up by the British in 1913 after a local landlord Pandit Dev Dutt donated 50 bighas of land. Till now the over 2 bighas of land has been encroached upon. On many occasions, the demarcation of land had taken place but no efforts were made to fence the sanatorium land in order to protect it from encroachment. Due to the lack of any monitoring, certain buildings have come up on the sanatorium land. A sum of over Rs. 3.50 lakh is required for fencing, points staff members. Due to the lack of fencing, the TB patients have free access to market area that causes problem for locals, said staff members. The main reason for rise in encroachment is being attributed to the short stints of Medical Superintendents in past few years. During the last year and this year Solan district TB Officer had to take an additional charge of the MS post. After Dr. B.D. Sharma, who remained MS for 2 years, the sanatorium has had two Medical Superintendents with three-month stints. Interestingly Dr. R.L. Gupta, who joined in May end, retired after one month. |
|
Man mauled by bear
Mandi, October 3 According to the police, Prem Chand received injuries in eyes and face, but survived the attack. He was admitted to the Primary Health Centre Barot where he was reported to be safe. Mr Chand told the police that after mauling him the bear left for the jungle when he screamed for help. |
|
Separate promotion quota sought
Shimla, October 3 It had also resented the failure of the Education Department to rectify the faulty seniority list of school lecturers despite specific directions from the Principal Secretary, Education, that the seniority list be prepared as per recruitment and promotion rules of 1973. — TNS
|
|
Schedule to prepare poll rolls notified
Shimla, October 3 Any person 18 years on January, 2005 shall be eligible for registration.
— TNS |
| 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 | |
