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Apple to be procured at Rs 4.25 per kg
Cancel land allotted to Hero Honda: Dhumal
Board to introduce more objective questions
Admn for action against 30 students, VC opposes it
Another body found near Barog
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6 killed as jeep falls into gorge
DFO death: CBI probe sought
Virbhadra to visit Solan
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Apple to be procured at Rs 4.25 per kg
Shimla, July 6 The decision was taken at the meeting of the Cabinet held under the chairmanship of Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, here today. As per the decision fair, average, quality apple shall be procured in the apple-growing areas of the state in 60 kg crates and 2.5 per cent extra fruit would be procured from the growers to meet the evapo-transportation losses. Apple having minimum diameter of 51 mm would be procured and punctured and damaged fruit would not be procured. The HPMC and HIMFED would be the nodal agencies for procurement. It approved a proposal for introducing a degree course in textile technology at the newly-set up government engineering college at Sundernagar from the current academic session and sanctioned Rs 12.4 crore for the college. It also approved the creation of 49 posts of teaching and non-teaching staff to be filled in a phased manner on regular and contract basis. It decided to refer to the Law Department the case for granting exemption to colonisers executing housing projects under the Apartments Act from Section 118 of the State Land Reforms and Tenancy Act which debars non-agriculturists from purchasing land in the state. It also decided to cancel the MoU for the Broh-Shind Cement project in Chamba district which was awarded to Larson and Tubro in 1995 and call fresh bids for setting up the plant. The Cabinet decided to incorporate a provision in the state Panchayati Raj Act to make registration of domestic cattle mandatory. It also approved the financial bid of the infrastructure leasing and financial services and the state Infrastructure Development Corporation for the preparation of city development plan of Shimla town under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission. The honorarium of Panchayati Raj functionaries was revised. The chairperson of the zila parishad would be now entitled to a monthly honorarium of Rs 3,000,
vice-chairpersons Rs 2000, members of zila parishad Rs 1,350, while chairperson of the panchayat samitis would get Rs 1,500, vice-chairpersons Rs 1,200 and members of samitis Rs 500. Pradhans of gram panchayats will be entitled to draw Rs 1000, up-pradhans Rs 750 and members Rs 125 per sitting subject to the maximum of two sittings in a month. It also decided to introduce “Mukhya Mantri Bal Uddhar Yojna” as an integrated scheme for children in need of care. Under the scheme efforts would be made to make such children self reliant after they passed out the asharam. The marriage grant for the destitute girls scheme has been revamped as “Mukhya Mantri Kanyadaan Yojna” and marriage grant under it has been enhanced to Rs 11,001. It approved a proposal for the construction of a new out patient department block in Indira Gandhi Medical College Hospital. Other decisions included grant of ex-gratia to officer and employees of state Civil Supplies Corporation, upgradation of Sharad Utsav of Una to the state-level and declaration of Siar fair of Arki as a district-level fair, creation of 256 additional posts of different categories for government degree college, Sangrah, Sanskrit colleges and Labour Department and purchase of 19 vehicles for Block Development Officers.
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Cancel land allotted to Hero Honda: Dhumal
Shimla, July 6 Demanding the cancellation of the forest land allotted for the setting up of a Hero Honda unit at Baddi and leased out forest land in Mandi, the BJP leader said it was surprising why prime demarcated and protected forest area was being given away when ample land had been identified for the setting up of industry. Mr Dhumal has personally written to the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, demanding that the government should change its decision in this regard. “It is beyond anybody’s comprehension as to why the government is willing to sacrifice 50,000 trees by giving away land which is demarcated as protected forest in records since 1960,” he wrote. He said it was surprising that the Hero Honda project had been cleared at the single window authority meeting, chaired by the Chief Minister himself. “Rather than protecting the forest and environment the government is itself giving away prime forest land to private companies,” he said. He said the Hero Honda case had become the topic of hot discussion as everybody wanted to know as to why was the government going overboard to help the Hero Honda group. “The death of the DFO, Mr R.L. Thakur, under mysterious circumstances has made the whole issue all the more sensitive,” he said. He requested the Chief Minister to immediately cancel the allotment made to Hero Honda and also the forest land leased out to some influential persons from Mandi in the interest of the state.
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Board to introduce more objective questions
Dharamsala, July 6 Board Chairman
B.R. Rahi said here yesterday that the score of CBSE students was much higher than HP board students because there were more objective-type questions. He said the HP Board planned to change 20 to 40 per cent of the syllabus and introduction of more objective-type questions was also on the agenda. The attempt would be to help board students improve their score, which could be comparable with the CBSE students. “Though we plan to make our question papers a little more objective-type, it is important to make sure that the student can elaborate on the topic and his knowledge is not superficial. So, we plan to strike the right balance by having a mix of objective and subjective questions,” he said. It is not that even the existing examination system of the board is not scoring at all. This year, as many as 62 students secured 96 to 98 marks in the subjects of the science stream. Mr Rahi added that to gather students’ feedback, which could be made a part of the new syllabus and style of the question papers, the board is organizing ‘Sidhi Baat’ programmes in different districts. The students get a change to ask questions from the board chairman and seek clarifications about the policies of the board. Students from each school are made to speak their mind. The programme has already been held in Dharamsala, Hamirpur and Shimla and would now be held in Solan, Chamba and Una. Mr Rahi added that while it was compulsory for students of the HP Board to pass five subjects, out of the total seven, at the matric level, in CBSE, they needed to clear only three of the total five and none of them was compulsory. “This is why, though HP Board students can join a CBSE affiliated school in plus one, the CBSE students fail to meet the conditions of the HP board if they plan to change over after matric,” he said. He said the board was also taking steps to ensure that the results of re-checking of different subjects are declared before the compartment exam so that the student is able to concentrate and is not left guessing whether he had got the required marks in the re-checking. He further said that the board had taken a series of steps to make the private schools more accountable and a common vacation schedule and time table and been introduced for all schools.
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Admn for action against 30 students, VC opposes it
Shimla, July 6 The Deputy Commissioner and Superintendent of Police of the district had some time ago provided a list of about 30 students, who were facing a number of cases. The district authorities had recommended that the Vice Chancellor take some kind of disciplinary action against them. The Vice Chancellor of the HPU, Dr L.R. Verma, instead of taking action against the students, wrote to the Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh expressing displeasure at the manner in which the district authorities asked him to take action against the students. Authorities had practically reduced his status from a VC to a district police chief by asking him to take disciplinary action, said sources. Mr Verma could not be contacted as he was said to be busy in meetings throughout the day. Interestingly, majority of the students whose names figure in the list belong to three student political outfits— Students Federation of India (SFI), National Students Union of India (NSUI) and the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). Their names had time and again figured in incidents of violence on the campus. The hostility between two students outfits, the SFI and ABVP, became so bad that it manifested in the burning of about a dozen rooms in one of the hostel. At the time the HPU authorities had ordered a inquiry to suggest ways by which such incidents were prevented.
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Another body found near Barog
Solan, July 6 This body was recovered three days before Ludhiana-based Vikramjit's body. The modus operandi appeared similar in both the cases. A Ludhiana police party which arrived here on Wednesday failed to identify the body. The SP Gianeshwar Singh believes that the two murders were the handiwork of the same gang. Both were shot from a point blank .32 bore weapon. Both the bodies were dumped about 2 km away. With a number of hotels and vacant flats in Barog, the possibility of the gang staying somewhere in the vicinity could not be ruled out. Further, the post mortem report proved that the two youth were killed on the same day. The first body was recovered on June 26 and had been done to death 24 hours ago. The youth appeared to be hailing from Punjab as the word Omkar was tattooed over his right hand in Gurmukhi. He was 5 feet nine inches tall and had a French cut beard. A bullet had pierced pass his skull. The body was found dumped about 10-15 metres below a field at Nagali. Vikramjit's body which was found on June 29 and was five days old. It was partially decomposed and was recovered late since there was no habitation around. The unidentified youth was clad in a saffron half sleeved shirt with cream trousers.
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6 killed as jeep falls into gorge
Recong Peo, July 6 Those who died included Lalit Kumar, Inder Bhagat, Vimal Kumar and Atam Parkash. One body was yet to be identified. Those who have been identified belonged to Telangi village in Kinnaur district. They had gone to attend a marriage ceremony. The injured has been identified as Ravi Kumar who was rushed to the nearest hospital at Bhava Nagar.
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DFO death: CBI probe sought
Shimla, July 6 In a statement here yesterday, the secretary general of the confederation, Mr Vinod Kumar, alleged that undue pressure was mounted on the deceased for clearing the file pertaining to the Hero Honda case. He said the manner in which the file had been cleared in haste raised many questions.
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Virbhadra to visit Solan
Parwanoo, July 6 Later in the day he will preside over an annual function of the muscular dystrophy association at Pine Wood, Barog. Next day the CM will lay foundation stone of a PWD rest house at Sayri village under Kandhaghat tehsil. Besides this he will also lay foundation stones of police chowki bhawan and Government Senior Secondary Middle School bhawan at Sayari before addressing a public gathering.
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