H I M A C H A L   P R A D E S H

3 killed as boulder falls on bus
Kulu, April 21
Three persons, including one woman, were killed in an accident near Dehru nallah in the Banjar sub-division of this district, about 52 km from here, yesterday evening while a big boulder fell on the moving bus.

INTUC favours reservation in jobs
Shimla, April 21
The Indian National Trade Union Congress is in favour of reservation of jobs for deprived sections in the private sector. Talking to mediapersons, Dr G. Sanjeeva Reddy, president, INTUC, said here today reserving jobs in government and public sector undertakings was not enough to ensure a fair share to the weaker sections of society.

Patwar circles out of delimitation, says panel
Dharamsala, April 21
The Delimitation Commission here today clarified that it was not in favour of fragmentation of patwar circles even as people concerned were being consulted at every level.

Life convict beats fellow inmate to death
Dharamsala, April 21
A life convict yesterday night beat up a fellow inmate to death in the district jail here. The victim, Anup Kumar (49), died at PGI, Chandigarh, today after sustaining serious internal injuries during the fight.

Youth caught stealing
Baddi, April 21
Ranjeet, hailing from Manpura village, was caught red-handed stealing money from a Gurdwara Naina Baba at Baniala village near Jogo village in Nalagarh tehsil on Wednesday evening.

3 killed as boulder falls on bus
Our Correspondent

Kulu, April 21
Three persons, including one woman, were killed in an accident near Dehru nallah in the Banjar sub-division of this district, about 52 km from here, yesterday evening while a big boulder fell on the moving bus.

The ill-fated private bus (number HP 34A-2759) was on its way to Ani from Kulu while the boulder fell on the rear of the bus, killing Piyare Ram (65), son of Lal Singh of Seri village of this district, and Ram Lal (36), son of Man Chand and a resident of Nichali Fanoti in the outer Seraj area of this district, on the spot and injuring 17 others, one of them seriously.

The third person Mrs. Kamla Devi, wife of Kishori Lal, succumbed to her injuries in regional hospital here today. The seriously injured Ms Javitri (02), daughter of Gopal Singh, was still in a critical condition in hospital.

The injured persons have been identified as: Baldev (45), Durga Devi (13) , Sumna Devi (24), Ram Singh (55), Anita Devi (13), the Conductor of the bus Suresh Kumar (35), Raj Kumar (23), Ses Ram (45), Thakur Dass (31), Anita Devi (17), Javitri Devi (02), Shiv Ram (22), Khebe Ram (37), Durgi Devi (30) and Chaman Lal (20).

The district administration has announced immediate relief to the victims as per the government manual.

Mr Satya Prakash Thakur, chairman, H.P. State Marketing Board and a former minister, expressed grief over the mishap and assured the victims of all possible help from the government.

He had also advised the PWD authorities to keep vigil and immediate repair such spots on the hill roads where boulders could fall.

INTUC favours reservation in jobs
Tribune News Service

Shimla, April 21
The Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) is in favour of reservation of jobs for deprived sections in the private sector. Talking to mediapersons, Dr G. Sanjeeva Reddy, president, INTUC, said here today reserving jobs in government and public sector undertakings was not enough to ensure a fair share to the weaker sections of society.

It was essential to bring such sections in the mainstream for speedy growth of the country. There could be no progress without meaningful contribution from this large section.

Dr Reddy said the country would find it difficult to achieve the growth rate of 10 per cent due to shortage of trained workforce. Like China there would be an acute shortage of trained manpower over the next 10 years and the government should take steps to deal with such a situation.

He lamented that multinational companies which were announcing huge profits year after year had not been giving any bonus to the workers on the plea that the profit was within the ceiling. He urged the government to waive the ceiling and ensure that workers got their due. In fact, workers should be made partners in the companies by allotting shares so that they shared profit and loss.

He said issues like structure of the proposed sixth pay commission, labour reforms and rate of interests on employees provident fund would be discussed during the meeting. A report would be submitted to the government on these issues subsequently.

Patwar circles out of delimitation, says panel
Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, April 21
The Delimitation Commission here today clarified that it was not in favour of fragmentation of patwar circles even as people concerned were being consulted at every level.

Justice Kuldeep Kumar, Chairman of the commission, said political statements on the delimitation issue should be avoided, as the commission would only decide the boundaries of the parliamentary and Assembly segments in the state.

He was at Kangra today for a daylong public hearing organised at the local Government Polytechnic College for consideration of objection and suggestions relating to Kangra, Chamba, Una and Hamirpur districts.

As many as 20 objections and proposals from Chamba, 64 from Kangra, 19 from Hamirpur and 48 from Una were raised by the local public representatives and individuals during the hearing.

Animal Husbandry Minister Harsh Mahajan, Political Adviser to CM B.B.L. Butail, Former CM P.K. Dhumal, MLAs I.D. Dhiman, Anita Verma, Satpal Satti, Virender Kanwar, Sujan Singh Pathania, Bodh Raj, Capt Atma Ram, Ravinder Ravi, Naveen Dhiman, Surinder Kaku and Jagjeevan Paul and former Parliamentary Secretary Urmil Thakur also raised objections and gave suggestions in the forum.

Election Commissioner and Delimitation Commission Member S. Gopalaswamy, State Electoral Commissioner R. Bhattacharya, MP and member Chander Kumar and Kuldeep Pathania, secretary Singara Ram, Chief Electoral Officer Prem Kumar and representative of the Election Commission Dr M. Sarangi were also present at the meeting.

Life convict beats fellow inmate to death
Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, April 21
A life convict yesterday night beat up a fellow inmate to death in the district jail here. The victim, Anup Kumar (49), died at PGI, Chandigarh, today after sustaining serious internal injuries during the fight.

According to police sources, Amrish Rana, a life convict, allegedly entered into a scuffle with Anup and injured him with some heavy blows. He was immediately rushed to the zonal hospital, Dharamsala, from where he was referred to PGI.

The fight took place within the jail premises and a case under Section 303 of the IPC has been registered. The deceased inmate was undergoing life term for shooting his neighbour in November, 2003.

Rana had been in the news for biting off the ear of a police constable inside the jail. The constable had to undergo surgery after the assault.

Dhumal slams govt over power projects
Tribune Reporters

Nurpur, April 21
Former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has lambasted the government for allotting construction of micro-hydroelectric power projects in haste.

Addressing a press conference here today, he alleged that the government was making allotments without undertaking a survey with regard to the prospects of the power projects. He stated that 98 micro-hydroelectric projects had been identified, of which 37 had been declared unviable. Demanding reservation of allotments of viable projects to Himachali unemployed youths by way of cooperative societies, Mr Dhumal criticised the government for giving preference to private companies based in Hyderabad in allotments.

KANGRA: Prof P.K. Dhumal said on Friday that when Shanker Acharya could be arrested on flimsy ground on Divali eve then why the Shahi Imam of Delhi could not be booked for assaulting and abusing mediapersons in public at the Prime Minister’s residence.

Youth caught stealing
Our Correspondent

Baddi, April 21
Ranjeet, hailing from Manpura village, was caught red-handed stealing money from a Gurdwara Naina Baba at Baniala village near Jogo village in Nalagarh tehsil on Wednesday evening.

The theft came to light when Balbeer Kaur, who resides near the gurdwara, heard some noise from the locked room of the gurdwara around 5 pm yesterday evening.

She immediately informed her father-in-law Jeet Singh about the noise, who got the doors opened. Ranjeet was caught red-handed while stealing money from the gurdwara’s treasury. An amount of Rs 1272.50 was recovered from him on the spot. He was arrested by the police and a case under Sections 454 and 380 of the IPC for lurking house-trespass and theft has been registered against him.