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Doctors to go on mass leave today
Retention policy may benefit VIP colony
State may ease land acquisition process
Can’t spare 60 IAS officers for poll duty: govt
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CFL to examine vehicle used in murder
175 students given scholarships
Dalhousie gets HC guesthouse
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Doctors to go on mass leave today
Shimla, November 13 “We have decided to go on mass leave tomorrow following no response to our charter of demands submitted to the Chief Minister through the IGMC Principal,” he said over the telephone. Mr Sood said the association was demanding withdrawal of cases registered against its office-bearers during the anti-reservation strike and hike in stipend for postgraduates, house surgeons and interns from Rs 8,400, Rs 6,300 and Rs 3,200 to Rs 15,000, Rs 10,000 and Rs 6,200 respectively. Besides, it was also demanding resumption of winter and summer vacation to registrars working in the state medical colleges. — UNI
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Retention policy may benefit VIP colony
Shimla, November 13 Pressure is being mounted by ministers and MLAs to grant maximum possible relaxations in the TCP rules pertaining to compounding and retention in the new policy to be approved by the Cabinet tomorrow so that the structures raised by them at Hiranagar in Parechi mohal can qualify for regularisation. On the contrary the Department of Town and Country Planning (TCP) had made the proposed policy more stringent by making amendment in the Section 39-C of the TCP Act 1977 and Rules 19 (E). As such the retention policy-2006 might not be much different from the earlier policy of 2004, as there is pressure that rates for compounding should also be the same as in 2004 policy. Interestingly, the notification for retention of Parechi mohal issued by the TCP department in June earlier this year was challenged in the High Court. Filed as a public interest litigation (PIL) it was pointed out that the policy was being brought for only one mohal in order to give benefit to the ministers and MLAs. Even as six weeks’ time has been given to the government to file its reply in court, efforts are being made to dilute the proposed retention policy so that it is not much different from the policy of 2004 and the colony at Hiranagar can qualify for retention. The main violation in the ministers and MLAs’ colony at Hiranagar is in terms of the number of storeys and construction outside the plot owned by an individual. In some cases seven storeyed structures have been raised while the in the proposed retention policy only four storeys and a parking floor would qualify for retention. In case the Cabinet agrees to dilute and relax the proposals made by the TCP department, the Hiranagar colony will qualify for retention. Besides this there is a lot of pressure on the government to reduce the rates for compounding so that the violators do not have to pay hefty amounts. Though the TCP department had proposed that compounding should be done at the rate of Rs 500 per sq mt in municipal areas, Rs 400 in nagar panchayats and Rs 200 in outside areas but pressure is being mounted to have the old rates of the 2004 policy. Another issue in which relaxation is being sought by various quarters is the 1.5 mt construction along national and state highways on the valley side. Now it remains to be seen in what form the new retention policy is approved by the Cabinet. |
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State may ease land acquisition process
Shimla, November 13 This was stated by the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, while delivering the inaugural address at the World Bank sponsored workshop on "strengthening and transforming institutions for management of land acquisition and rehabilitation", here today. He underlined the need for updating the procedure and developing monitoring systems to carry out the job in a time bound manner and safeguarding the interests of the displaced persons. He said although there had been some improvements in the land acquisition procedure but all loopholes were required to be plugged to ensure that the affected families received compensation in time. Failure to award compensation based on the latest market value forced people to move courts which further delayed the execution of projects. The state had paid heavily in the past by providing land for hydroelectric projects like the Bhakra Dam and Pong Dam. The displaced persons are yet to be rehabilitated and the state had been deriving only 2.12 per cent benefit from the two projects under which it had lost over one lakh acre of land which was submerged and over 32,000 families were uprooted. The government had now taken a decision to discourage storage dams projects and go only for run-of-the-river schemes to avoid large-scale submergence of land and displacement of people. It had also decided to make it mandatory to provide job to at least one member of the affected family and that a minimum of 1.5 per cent of the total project cost be spent on the development of local area and welfare activities. Mr Virbhadra Singh called for separate norms for the development of hills since the cost was much higher than that in plains. He said the World Bank should come forward to provide irrigation facilities and help improve the economic status of farmers. |
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Can’t spare 60 IAS officers for poll duty: govt
Shimla, November 13 It is reliably learnt that the commission had written to the state government that 60 IAS officers be spared for election duty. However with a cadre strength of only 126, the state government has expressed its inability to spare 60 officers. The government has written to the commission that with such a small cadre strength it would be in a position to spare only 20 IAS officers. The Personnel Department is in the process of preparing the list of these 20 officers who will be spared for election duty. “Since majority of the officers to be sent as election observers would be fairly senior, it would not be possible for the state to spare such a large number of officers,” said a senior officer. The state government has also pointed out that out of 126 officers about two dozen bureaucrats are already on deputation to the Centre and other places. This leaves the state with about only 100 IAS officers and in case 60 go for election duty, it would be difficult to manage the affairs of the state with a mere 40 IAS officers. “It is probably for the first time that the Election Commission of India has asked for such a large number of IAS officers for election duty,” said another official. Senior officials said the IAS officers to be appointed as Election Observers would be out for more than a month. It would also be difficult as the Budget session would be around the same time. With elections due in Punjab and Uttaranchal in February the Budget session would be in March in Himachal Pradesh. |
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CFL to examine vehicle used in murder
Dharamsala, November 13 Angry residents of the area had gheraoed the police station, alleging that the police was trying to cover up the case by turning the case of murder into one of accident. A murder case was later registered under Section 302 of the IPC only after a police team visited the spot and met with the family of
the victim. Naresh, along with three of his friends, had reportedly entered into an
altercation with some local youths, under the influence of liquor, and sustained head injuries in the fight that followed. Superintendent of Police Ajay Yadav said a team of the CFL from Shimla was expected to give valuable leads into the case.
Three members of a family have been arrested in the case. Naresh was brought to the zonal hospital yesterday, from where he was referred to the PGI, but he breathed his last on
the way. According to the post-mortem report, the cause of death was the head injury. There were injuries by a sharp-edged weapon on other parts of the body too. |
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175 students given scholarships
Nurpur, November 13 On behalf of the parishad, Mr Chander Kumar honoured six local persons for excellence in their respective fields besides distributing cash scholarships and silver medals to 175 brilliant students of Kangra district. Those who were honoured were local SDM Dr N.K. lath, DSP Vimukat Ranjan, educationist R.S. Sharma, Dr Ashutosh Joshi, Mr R.K. Mahajan and singer Anuj Sharma. |
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Dalhousie gets HC guesthouse
Dalhousie, November 13 The Chief Justice said the guest house was the first such infrastructure created by the Himachal High Court which would prove beneficial to the officials of judiciary in the days to come. The District and Sessions Judge, Mr J.S. Mahantan, said such guesthouses were already operating in Shimla, Hamirpur, Kulu, Kasauli, Palampur and Keylong, while a guest house at Manali was under construction. |
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