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Centre extends HP’s industrial package
ABVP seeks rearrest of acid attack accused
Harassment of journalist: NHRC notice to police
Bulldozer falls into Sutlej; 2 drowned
Students allege molestation
by cops
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Govt to protect interests
of small newspapers
Nullah causes widespread damage at Bhalag village
Budget to have Scheduled Caste sub-plan
Tomato prices touch new low
Toll in Bilaspur accident rises to five
Bitten by snake, man dies
SAD (A) opposes church demolition
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Centre extends HP’s industrial package
Shimla, August 3 As per the fresh notification issued by the Centre yesterday, the incentives like exemption of excise duty will now be available to the industrial units, which come up in the state up to March 2010. The state had been, along with Uttranchal and Sikkim, demanding extension of the package up to 2013 on the pattern of other special category states. The decision has come as a shot in the arm for Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, who all through maintained that it was unjust on the part of the Centre to curtail major incentives like exemption of excise duty under the package to just four years when other states had been allowed this benefit for a period of 10 years. He had been vigorously pursuing with the Centre the issue, which had acquired political dimensions with the opposition BJP using it as a handle to whip the Congress. The extension of package had become a prestige issue for the Virbhadra Singh regime as it was being opposed by the two neighbouring Congress -ruled states, which caused much embarrassment to the party in the hill state. Now that the demand has been accepted, the Chief Minister could take credit for it deservingly. A visibly ecstatic Mr Virbhadra Singh thanked the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, and the Union Finance Minister, Mr P.Chidambaram, for extending the package, which had already brought investment to the tune of over Rs 19,000 crore to the state over the past three years. He said the package would be more beneficial as the peripheral belt of Baddi, Barotiwala and Nalagarh had already been saturated and new industries could come up in the interior areas. The government would provide the required infrastructure so that the entrepreneurs did not face any problem in setting up units. The upcoming industrial units, which have been racing against time to start production by the deadline of March 31,2007 to avail incentives, can now breathe easy.
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ABVP seeks rearrest of acid attack accused
Mandi, August 3 Margoof had escaped from the custody of two cops, who were bringing him back to Mandi jail, at Jhamakri bridge bus stop on August 1 after the high court rejected his bail that day in Shimla. ABVP activists staged a protest march in the town and raised slogans against the district administration. The police had launched a manhunt in the surrounding forest areas of Jhamkri in Bilaspur district since August 1 and sealed barriers in Solan and Bilaspur districts, but it has failed to nab the accused. The police said Margoof was either hiding in the forest or other possible hideouts as they had got some tip-offs from villagers. Both, constables, who were brining him back, have been placed under suspension. Meanwhile, Mamta, acid attack victim, who has been discharged from the IGMC, Shimla, where she had undergone a prolonged treatment for her burn injuries, and her father Khem Singh, who live in the Mandi Sadar village, had complained that they had received threats from unknown callers in February and March not to go ahead with the case. The police said one
call had been traced to Mandi, while another call to Mumbai. "They have received no fresh threats.
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Harassment of journalist: NHRC notice to police
Reckong Peo, August 3 The journalist in a complaint filed before the commission had alleged that the district police was trying to frame him in false cases having got annoyed with the stories he filed against the administration. Earlier, the Chief Minister of Himachal had also asked the Director-General of Police and the District Magistrate of Kinnaur to hold separate inquiries into the whole episode but so far no response had come from the authorities. The NHRC has, in the notice issued to the state of Himachal Pradesh, indicated that if the DGP fails to reply in one month from the date of issue of the notice, the commission may give its verdict in the case. Meanwhile, it is learnt that the state of Himachal through the police has filed a criminal case in the CJM court here against the journalist under Sections 186 and 189 of the IPC alleging ‘trying to cause disturbance and hindrance in the official work of the police’ even as the NHRC had taken a serious view of it and two separate inquiries being conducted by the DGP and the DM were in progress.
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Bulldozer falls into Sutlej; 2 drowned
Reckong Peo, August 3 Confirming this, Col M.L. Kom, Officer Commanding of 68 RCC of GREF, told The Tribune that the incident took place when the bulldozer operator (driver) Pradeep Singh and a labourer were returning after work from the damaged bridge site on the Hindustan-Tibet road towards Powari, the base camp of the GREF. The JCB bulldozer suddenly rolled into the Sutlej near the Kharo bridge. The other person hired on contract by the GREF was yet to be identified. Although the GREF has launched a massive operation to save the lives of these two persons but bad light conditions and sudden rise in the water level of the river had hampered the rescue operation. There was no trace of the JCB bulldozer and also the whereabouts of the drowned persons, said Major H.S. Ghotra, Assistant Executive Engineer of the GREF, who was on the spot leading the rescue operation. The District Magistrate of Kinnaur, Dr Amandeep Garg, said he had sounded an alert to the dam authorities at Nathpa.
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Students allege molestation
by cops
Shimla, August 3 Kalpana Kanwar, Banita Saklani and Ritu Thakur, all LLB students, today met the Chairperson of the commission. “The police action was unprovoked and force was used without any warning and there were no female police personnel, despite the fact that there were about 30 girls in the group of agitating students,” they alleged. The police had arrested 14 students for causing damage to public property. About 100 SFI activists had forced their way into the office of the chief warden on August 1. They claimed that they were peacefully discussing the issue of denial of admission to students in the girls’ hostel with the warden. “About 50 police personnel abused, assaulted and molested the students and all this happened in the presence of the warden who remained a mute spectator,” they alleged. They demanded that the police personnel, HPU Security Officer, and the warden should be suspended.
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Govt to protect interests
of small newspapers
Shimla, August 3 The Chief Minister was addressing a delegation of the Himachal Pradesh Saptahik Patrakar Sangh, here today. “On our request the Centre has given relaxation in circulation to the small newspapers,” he said. He said that the government was extending all possible cooperation to the small newspapers so that they can take out their publication regularly. We have provided accreditation to all correspondents at the district and sub-divisional level and the editors of small newspapers had also been included, he said. He said the official machinery at every level had been cooperating with the journalists and providing them with all relevant information. The small newspapers play a very important role in propagating the policies and programmes of the state government the farthest corner of the state so that people can benefit from it, he said. Mr Virbhadra Singh said that in future even the state government would contribute development articles, features and other literature to the small newspapers so that the readers have access to such material. We have created the Journalist Welfare Fund with a corpus of Rs 10 lakh to cater to the welfare needs of active journalists in hour of need, he said. He said the rules and regulations of these were being finalized and the members would be asked to make a token contribution so that they could avail the benefit of the scheme. He assured the delegation comprising Mr Sunder Lal Verma, President, and Mr Ganesh Dutt, general secretary that the demand of the sangh would be examined and the necessary relief given to small newspapers.
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Nullah causes widespread damage at Bhalag village
Solan, August 3 According to the villagers, the debris which were being dumped from a construction site of J.P. cement plant into the nullah inundated it. This led to the flooding of the surrounding areas. A villager, Lalman Chauhan, said last evening at 5 p.m. water started filled the area. This damaged at least two gharats, locally run flour mills, while another four were partially damaged. The worst hit were the small children who were stranded on one side of the nullah while their mother who had gone to graze the animals was struck on the other side. A primary school which was closed due to summer vacations was also flooded with water. The shop of Brij Lal was damaged as debris filled it. Houses of Brij Lal and Nathu Ram were also filled with debris. The villagers said they had warned the people at the construction site not to dump debris but they had not heeded to the advice. The Naib-Tehsildar, Arki, and officials of J.P. Cement plant reached the site later this afternoon to take stock of the damage. The villagers rued that the transformer had also been damaged. No official came to extend them some relief, the villagers lamented. The officials concerned were holding talks with the villagers till the filing of this report.
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Budget to have Scheduled Caste sub-plan
Shimla, August 3 This was stated by Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, while presiding over a meeting of a high-powered coordination and review committee here. The government had formulated a Scheduled Caste Special Component Plan to provide impetus to development and earmarked 11 per cent of the Annual Plan budget for the purpose. He said after incorporating the Scheduled Caste Component Sub-Plan as a separate demand, 11 per cent of the funds would be earmarked initially for the development of the areas with more than 50 per cent Scheduled Caste concentration. The decision had been taken in view of the success achieved in implementation of the tribal sub- plan wherein 9 per cent of the budget was being spent on the development of the tribal areas. The conditions would be same as in the tribal sub-plan and no diversion, mis-appropriation and deviation in the original plan would be permissible. Funds would be provided over and above the regular budgetary provisions under different other schemes. He said Rs 195.36 crore had been provided under the Special Component Plan in the current financial year, besides Rs 6 crore available under different Central-sponsored schemes. He said the Guru Ravi Dass Public Utility Scheme had also been introduced for the basic amenities of cemented paths, drainage and safe drinking water in the scheduled caste inhabited villages. He said the subsidy for house building and repair had been enhanced from Rs 22,000 and Rs 10,000 to Rs 27,500 and Rs 12,500. The Chief Minister said a 16.83 per cent increase in literacy had been registered during the decade, 1991-2001, among the Scheduled Castes compared to 14.60 per cent for the general categories which reflected the efforts of the government in promotion of educational facilities. He directed the revenue department to issue instructions to their field functionaries to put the caste record straight and correct the entries in respect of the Scheduled Castes so that various certificates could be issued without delay. He said the government would consider to have a minimum eligibility criteria for all beneficiaries of different categories so that maximum people were covered under the schemes.
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Tomato prices touch new low
Solan, August 3 The Himachal Pradesh Marketing Board, which received about 5,000-6,000 trays of tomatoes from across the district and Sirmaur, registered the lowest price of the season yesteray. Mr Deep Ram, a grower from Chail, who had come to sell his crop here said, “This rate have offset our budget. Since it is the chief cash crop of the region we are dependent on its proceeds to fend for ourselves.” Mr I. P. Thakur a grower from Kyartu village said, “The reason is the bumper crop from lower areas of Chopal in Shimla district, where it was grown for the first time, which had created an influx and compeitition for local crop in the market. This lead to as much as 40-50 truck loads being sold in the Delhi markets every day.” Tomato worth 1.4 metric ton is produced here annually over 4,000 hectares under its cultivation . Demanding minimum support price of Rs 5 for tomatoes, the local MLA, Dr Bindal, has said the government shopuld start processing units for the crop to save the grower from fluctuating prices. Growers here lament lack of any initiative on part of the state government. Even last year when the rates plunged to low 50 paise per kg the government had not taken any steps even as the fluctuating prices threaten its cultivation, they rue.
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Toll in Bilaspur accident rises to five
Shimla, August 3 One more person who was seriously injured in the accident, succumbed to his injuries, while being referred to Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital (IGMC) late last night, he said. The sources three people killed in the accident have been identified as Ritesh Rattan, (26), Pradeep Sharma, (19) and Desh Raj, while the identity of two others was not yet known. The district administration has announced an immediate relief of Rs 1,000 each to people with minor injuries, Rs 2,000 each to the seriously injured and Rs 5,000 each to the next of the kin of the dead. A case has been registered and investigations were on, the sources added. — UNI
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Bitten by snake, man dies
Baddi, August 3 Nearby villagers who gathered at the spot rushed Sharif to a local snake charmer. Sharif’s condition worsened at 7 am following which he was rushed to the Civil Hospital, Nalagarh, where he died.
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SAD (A) opposes church demolition
Chandigarh, August 3 The President of the party, Mr Simranjit Singh Mann, said he had appealed to the Prime Minister to stop the demolition. He said his party wanted the Himachal Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, to order status quo in this regard.
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