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Kangra not discriminated against: Sonia
Sonia disappointed people, says Dhumal
Sonia’s rally at Shahpur sets
HP poll tone
Minister heads delegation to Amsterdam
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Mika enthrals tribesmen
Murder accused sent to
judicial custody
One more arrested in HP-CPMT case
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Kangra not discriminated against: Sonia
Dharamsala, October 30 During her brief speech, Ms Gandhi said she had been told that at times the people of this area had a feeling of being discriminated against. She announced that all possible measures would be taken to ensure that there was no such misgiving in the minds of the local population. It was former Minister Major Vijai Singh Mankotia, who had spearheaded a campaign highlighting discrimination against lower Himachal areas. Major Mankotia demanded that to re-assure the people of this region of a fair deal, a university and a special economic zone be set up and a string of other developmental projects undertaken. Incidentally, it was for the first time that the winter session of the Vidhan Sabha was held in Dharamsala. Speaking at the public rally, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, however, said that the Opposition kept raising the issues of regionalism and castes to divide the people but it would not succeed. “Issues like upper hills and lower hills won’t work as the state has witnessed immense emotional integration,” he said. The Chief Minister has been denying charges of discrimination against the lower Himachal region in the past. The issue was highlighted when three ministers from the Kangra region, which has the highest number of Assembly constituencies— Ms Chandresh Kumari, Mr BBL Butail and Major Vijai Singh Mankotia — were removed from the state Cabinet during its downsizing. |
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Sonia disappointed people, says Dhumal
Shimla, October 30 In a statement issued here today, former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said contrary to expectations of the people of the state, Mrs Gandhi and the Congress leadership had once again disappointed the people of the state. “Normally the UPA Chairperson announces a financial package for a flood or drought-hit state she visits but in the case of Himachal Pradesh she made no such announcement,” he said. The BJP leader said people were hoping that Mrs Gandhi would give the go-ahead for broad-gauging of the Pathankot-Jogindernagar rail line, laying of rail line from Bhanupali to Armana and Chandigarh to Baddi, but she disappointed everyone. “Everyone was confident that she would announce something to tackle the problem of price rise and unemployment but in this regard too she did nothing,” he said. He said as such the visit of Mrs Gandhi was a burden on the people of the state and the government had misused public funds for her visit. He said in case Mrs Gandhi had felt that Kangra was being sidelined she should take some steps to address the grievances of the people of the lower parts of the state. |
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Sonia’s rally at Shahpur sets
HP poll tone
Dharamsala, October 30 Mr Kuldeep Singh Rathore, state Congress general secretary, said Ms Gandhi had addressed a public rally in Shahpur four years back, when the party was in the opposition but the party came to power and had done well due to her efforts. He said the Congress and the government were working in harmony in the state and it was time for the party workers to again unite themselves for the forthcoming elections. Major Vijai Singh Mankotia, MLA from Shahpur, said the party should ready itself for the challenge in the form of the next Assembly elections. Revenue and Panchayati Raj Minister Sat Mahajan and Chander Kumar, local MP, were also seen on the dais. Lauding the developmental works taken by the state government, Ms Sonia Gandhi said the policies of the Congress were aimed at bringing prosperity to all sections of society. Admiring the picturesque environs of Himachal Pradesh, Ms Gandhi said she found solace in the scenic views of the state whenever she came here. She also paid tributes to the sacrifices made by youth from the state, who had laid down their lives while fighting for the country. “Soldiers from the state have set an example for the others,” she said. After addressing the public rally, Ms Gandhi chaired a meeting of district and block-level Congress workers from the area. A Congress spokesman said the idea was to give the workers a chance to share any problems being faced by them while working at the grass-root level. “The fact that small groups of Congress workers from different blocks of Kangra district got a chance to interact with their party President would infuse enthusiasm in them,” he said. |
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Minister heads delegation to Amsterdam
Shimla, October 30 The prestigious fair focusing on floriculture technologies and services would provide the officers and growers a platform to interact with the best in the field from all over the world and enable them to assess the potential for export of fresh cut flowers abroad. It will also provide an opportunity to have contact with the manufacturers, breeders, dealers, packers, wholesalers, importers, exporters and distributors of almost every type of product required by the floricultural industry. An official spokesman said that floriculture being a major thrust area for diversification of the horticulture industry in the state, the fair was important. The area under commercial floriculture has increased from 30 hectares in 1993-94 to 46.98 hectares in 2005-06 and the estimated gross value of floriculture produce of the state was Rs 16.63 crore. So far the state's floriculture produce was being sold in domestic markets. |
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Colourful start to Kinnaur festival
Reckong Peo, October 30 The picturesque landscape with a beautiful view of the snow-clad Kinner Kailash range of mountains, the venue of the festival at Reckong Peo, the district headquarters of Kinnaur, appeared to be the ideal location for such fun and frolic. The festival began with a local tribal dance followed by a folk dance of Madhya Pradesh that enthralled the spectators. A cultural troupe from Rajasthan presented the famous Ghoomar dance that was an energetic and lively performance. The other main attractions of the cultural extravaganza on the inaugural day of the festival were dance programmes by troupes from Sirmaur, various locations of Kinnaur, north zone cultural centre Patiala and a few local musical groups. In the recent times, the tribal festival has been attracting lots of tourists from other parts of the country. Foreign tourists also make it a point to view the cultural programmes when they come to the town. Today also, many tourists were seen watching cultural programmes and roaming around looking at the exhibitions. A few of them even had a good time purchasing the local handicraft items. Art and craft exhibitions have also shared a centre stage as part of the festival. Thousands of people were seen thronging these exhibitions on the wintry opening day of the festival. Since the festival timings have come up just after the harvest season, huge local crowd was also seen purchasing a variety of things useful in their domestic life. Local entrepreneurs and traders from other parts of the country have set-up their stalls on roadside to sell their goods. As many as 120 stalls have been set up on the roadside. In the ongoing tribal festival, participants have come from Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttaranchal, Assam and many other parts of the country besides from different parts of the hill state. Earlier, while inaugurating the festival, Mr B.R. Verma, District Magistrate of Kinnaur, welcomed the visiting artists, guests and the audience. He said this festival helped promote and preserve state’s unique tribal cultural heritage. He also released a souvenir on the eve of tribal festival. However, its copies were not distributed among the guests and the mediapersons. |
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Mika enthrals tribesmen
Reckong Peo, October 30 With ‘Something something’, ‘Do gallan kar lai khari-khari’, ‘Saawan mein lag gayee aag’ and ‘Do lafzon ki baat hai main tera tu meri’, he made the tribal people dance to his tunes. These songs did not seem to be enough for his fans in this far-flung tribal belt. He sang a few other songs, resulting in a lot of leg-shaking among the audience. ‘Ishq brandy’, ‘Gabru’, ‘Dunaali’ were the other famous songs in his magical performance on the stage that magnificently tuned to his unique style. Hundreds of Aarmy men from the local units based here made it a point to be present on this occasion among the audience. Mr B.R. Verma, District Magistrate of Kinnaur, Col ML Kom, Officer Commanding of the 68 RCC of the General Reserve Engineering Force, and Mr Arvind Sharda, SP, Kinnaur, were among the senior officials present on the occasion as guests. However, the congested venue and poor sound system played spoilsport. |
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Murder accused sent to
judicial custody
Mandi, October 30 According to sources, Harish was produced before the judge, who sent him to 14 days of judicial remand today. He was arrested by the Palampur police early this month and was in police remand ever since. The investigation revealed that Harish’s modus operandi was that he used to befriend his victims, stay with them and then give them sleeping pills or drugs. He then used to decamp with cash or valuables even if he had to kill them. In the Palampur triple murder case on September 28, Harish Batra befriended Vinod Kumar, his wife and a son and gave them drugs and sleeping pills and fled after killing them one by one, revealed police investigation. In the second case, Harish targeted a trader from Nawanshahar, Mohinder Singh, who met him in Mandi. He befriended him, stayed with him at a gurdwara and allegedly strangulated him to death. He fled with Rs 15,000 belonging to Mohinder Singh, the police said. The DSP, Palampur, Mr Kushal Sharma, who was instrumental in his arrest on October 3, said Harish Batra used fake addresses and operated his mobile phones in fake names. “He was arrested at Ladwa near Pipli in Haryana by the Himachal Pradesh police after his true address was traced to Shahabad in Haryana on October 3”, he added. He was arrested in several other cases of thefts in Ambala but he escaped from jail. He allegedly committed tripe murder in Palampur and one at Mandi gurdwara here last month, the police informed. “He selected his victims at religious functions and places and stayed in temple dharamshalas or gurdwaras”. |
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One more arrested in HP-CPMT case
Shimla, October 30 The man who was arrested from Lucknow by the police team yesterday is being brought here for interrogation. Three other teams of the state police have left for Bihar and Karnataka to look for other persons who are involved in the paper leak. Ram Bahadur, one of the two persons, who brought the question paper from the printing press in Lucknow, is at large but the arrest of his accomplice from Lucknow yesterday could provide some important information about the whereabouts of the main persons behind the scam. Two teams have been sent to Bihar to look for the person who was involved in paper solving. Another team has been sent to Karnataka as there are chances that this person could be down South. Interrogation of the touts has brought forth an important fact that the kingpin and other main people in the case were operating under pseudo names. “To keep their identity secret they operated under different names when they met the tout so that nobody knew them exactly,” informed a police official. |
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