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Regulatory panel pulls up power board
IGMC introduces open-heart surgery
Few takers for consensus mantra
Cash-on-camera: Viplove seeks Chandel’s ouster
Administrative reshuffle in state
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Rs 8.85 crore for road
improvement plan
Bank defaulter’s property auctioned
Sirmaur under employment scheme
Wife’s death: husband held
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Regulatory panel pulls up power board
Shimla, December 12 Holding void ab initio the notification vide which the board had ordered recovery of Rs 95.97 crore spent on the augmentation of capacity under the “short-term plan” on cost per KVA basis, the commission held that rates at which the amount was being recovered were without any rationale and inconsistent with the provisions of the Recovery of Expenditure for Supply of Electricity Regulations,2005. It held the board guilty of contravention of the regulations but afforded it another opportunity to answer its interrogatories before imposing penalty. It directed the board to refund Rs 31.21 lakh deposited by 72 consumers by crediting the amount towards the electricity bills of those already connected and in cash to those yet to be connected within six months after deducting the actual expenditure incurred in providing power supply to them without taking the cost of augmentation of line and the substation. In a severe castigation of the board the commission observed that the augmentation of the Parwanoo substation from 10 MVA to 20 MVA in 1999 was carried out on the basis of a “fictitious” project report. It was premature, infructuous and ill-planned. That the report was unrealistic and not based on factual position was evident from the fact that even up to August, 2005, the demand had not exceeded the rated capacity of the un-augmented transformers. The transformers also had short-term over-rating capacity and were capable of taking additional demand for many more connections. Further, the commission had laid down unambiguous regulations and there was no question of recovery of expenditure on blanket or ad hoc per KVA rates. Besides, recovery of expenditure only through industrial consumers regardless of the staging of connections was without any basis and justification and tentamounted to recovering far less amount on the NPV (net present value) basis. The commission had taken suo motu notice of the orders of the board in the matter. |
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IGMC introduces open-heart surgery
Shimla, December 12 Under the guidance of cardiothoracic surgeon Dr Venugopal the first three heart surgeries were performed at the newly inaugurated cardio-thoracic vascular surgery centre. The Rs 8.50 crore cardiothoracic surgery centre was inaugurated a fortnight ago. The IGMC authorities have short-listed 25 heart patients for surgery. Dr Venugopal and his team performed three anti-septal defect surgeries on Promila (11), Kiran Bala (18) and Kaku (11). Ten surgeries are to be performed during next two days. Dr Venugopal’s team includes doctors, anaesthetists, physiotherapists, interventionist, nurses and technicians, will perform more heart surgeries in February. IGMC Cardiology Department’s Dr Rajneesh Pathania and Dr R.S. Kanwar were part of the team which performed the three surgeries today. Medical Superintendent, IGMC, Dr Hardyal said initially for a few months open heart surgeries would be performed under the guidance of Dr Venugopal and his team. Though doctors, nurses and other para-medical staff from IGMC underwent three-months training at AIIMS to perform open heart surgery but would start it independently after some time. The new cardiothoracic vascular centre has two operation theatres and had state of the art equipment needed for open heart surgeries. With this facility at IGMC poor patients of the state would be benefited. Cost of heart surgery at IGMC will be less than half what is charged by private hospitals outside the state. |
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Few takers for consensus mantra
Mandi, December 12 The announcement has caught the fancy of villagers. In Kulu district, 19 panchayats out of 204, in Mandi district 36 out of 473 and in Bilaspur just four out of 150 panchayats have been elected unopposed. Reports from others district reveal the same trend. A majority of the panchayats feature two to 10 candidates divided along pro-BJP and pro-Congress lines. There are also panchayats where the fight is among family members, revealed district officials. The seven-member Naina Devi Municipal Council in in Bilaspur district missed the “consensus” mantra by a single seat. Six wards came up unopposed, but there remained a contest for a single seat, said a top district official. Following the CM’s announcement, the official machinery used all its persuasive skill to raise the pitch for the “Rs 10 lakh consensus mantra”. But the message failed to catch up. Analysts cite three main reasons. First, the voters are divided along the political lines. Second, at stake for most pardhans is a budget of Rs 10- Rs, 20 lakh from scores of schemes and, hence, no compromise on contest. The BJP has been a major stumbling block. Its leaders went panchayat to panchayat to campaign for a contest. In Kulu district, four panchayats in Kulu block, three in Naggar, six in Banjar and six in Ani elected their candidates with consensus. In Bilaspur district, out of the four panchayats elected with consensus, two panchayats of Barota and Talwara are in Ghumarwani block while the other two, Kalar and Kothipur, fall in Bilaspur Sadar. In Mandi district, most of the 36 panchayats declared unopposed are new panchayats where there is no political divide among villagers. But in other panchayats, the is division of votes is along political lines and, hence, there is little room for consensus. A majority of panchayats are locked in a multi-cornered contest due to groupism and factionalism in villages. |
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Cash-on-camera: Viplove seeks Chandel’s ouster
Shimla, December 12 Addressing a press conference here today, she said the deplorable conduct of Mr Chandel as Member of Parliament tarnished the clean image of Himachali politicians. She said the leaders of the state, particularly MPs, have maintained high standards and they carried a clean image among the people. The unsavoury episode would shake the confidence of the people, she added. Underlining the need for restoring confidence of the people in the elected representatives and the system, she said all MPs legislators and bureaucrats should be asked to declare their assets annually and but these should also be verified. The step would help bring probity in pubic life and the system of governance She said only last week she had written letters to all Pradesh Congress Committee members to submit details of their assets by January 15. The list of assets would be forwarded to Ms Sonia Gandhi, Congress President, who was determined to root out corruption. |
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Administrative reshuffle in state
Shimla, December 12 Mr Avay Shukla, Principal Secretary, Transport, has been given the additional charge of Tourism and Ayurveda, while Mr S. Bahuria, Financial Commissioner (Appeals) has been given the additional charge of Urban Development, Town and Country Planning and Housing. Mrs Parminder Mathur, Principal Secretary, Rural Development, has been given the additional charge of Food and Supply, while Mrs Rajvant Sandhu, Principal Secretary, Irrigation and Public Health, will also look after the Department of Training and Foreign Assignment. Mr J.P. Negi, Principal Secretary, Power, will hold the additional charge of Industries. Mr Vijay Kumar, Principal Secretary, Home, will hold the additional charge of Department of Administrative Reforms. Mr P. Mitra, Principal Secretary, Education, will now hold the additional charge of Technical Education and Mr T.G. Negi, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister will hold the additional charge of Personnel Department. Mrs Anuradha Thakur, Director of Social Justice and Empowerment, will also look after the Department of Information and Technology, which had been lying vacant. |
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Rs 8.85 crore for road
improvement plan
Shimla, December 12 Out of this, Rs 4.26 crore will be spent on the construction of a Kufri bypass on National Highway-22. This will also include construction of 22 mts RCC span bridge. A sum of Rs 4.24 crore has been sanctioned for undertaking widening and construction of retaining walls and cross drainage on NH-22. Besides, Rs 34.74 lakh has been sanctioned for undertaking repair of the Kundloo bridge on NH-22, which connects Chandigarh, Mandi and Manali. |
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Bank defaulter’s property auctioned
Mandi, December 12 Though the crowd converged on the auction site, no bidder came forward to buy the four-storyed house of a defaulter, who runs a business in the town. But the bank itself made a bid for Rs 8 lakh, the amount that the defaulter has to pay to the bank. The defaulter, who wished not to be named, pleaded to the MUCBL administration to give him more time to arrange the money, but the authorities insisted that the bank had already given him over four years’ time. The Administrator, MUCBL, Mr Nimal Sharma, told The Tribune that the bank had decided to auction property in two other cases worth Rs 18 lakh tomorrow. |
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Sirmaur under employment scheme
Shimla, December 12 This was disclosed by Mr Raghuvansh Prasad, Union Minister for Rural Development, while interacting with the IPH Minister, Mr Kaul Singh Thakur, during the videoconferencing held by the Department of Rural Development with 22 states. Mr Thakur urged the minister to include Sirmaur district in the national food-for-work programme. He disclosed that Rs 645.31 lakh and 6879 metric tonnes of foodgrains were released in Chamba district. Mr Thakur said that efforts had been made to include the poorest of the poor in the BPL survey. |
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Wife’s death: husband held
Nahan, December 12 ASI K.K. Sharma of Majra police station confirmed the arrest of Dinesh Chand, an employee of the Education Department, posted at Majra. He said it was reported that due to a quarrel between the husband and the wife, Archana was under stress. It was reported that she died after consuming some poisonous substance. A post-mortem report was awaited, the police added. Archana Devi hailed from Malonwala village of Nahan tehsil. She was mother of three children. |
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Woman killed in mishap
Kangra, December 12 According to the police, Raju Devi of Kotkowala was crossing the road along with her grand-daughter when she was hit by a car (HP-40A-0439) coming from Gaggal to Kangra. |
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