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Govt failed to secure hike in 11th Plan: Dhumal
Charges of conversions:
SDM orders probe
Reforms in livestock rearing in HP
Ex-MLA has no money for treatment
Hydro project to check depleting water resources
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HLL workers end strike at Barotiwala
Police turns people friendly
Unsolicited calls continue
Forgery case registered
No courts in Pangi, Bharmour
Panchayat chief unseated
Two killed in tanker mishap
1 killed as van falls into nullah
Cong leader cremated
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Govt failed to secure hike in 11th Plan: Dhumal
Shimla, January 21 He pointed out that the size of the annual plan had been fixed at Rs 2,100 crore, a nominal increase of 16 per cent over the last year. If the inflation rate and salary bill were taken into accounts, there would be no increase in real terms. In fact, the net increase over the past five years came to only Rs 58 crore as the BJP government had an annual plan of Rs 2,041 crore in 2002-03. He said during the BJP regime too the planning commission had reduced the plan for 2000-01 to Rs 1,382 crore. However, the government raised additional resources to the tune of Rs 338 crore to help increase the plan size to Rs 1,720 crore. In 2003-04 the non-plan expenditure was transferred which reduced the plan size to Rs 1,335 crore but the Congress government did not raise any resources to make up for the shortfall. To make the thing worse, the actual expenditure during the year was only Rs 1,317 crore. Until 202-03 per capita plan expenditure was Rs 3,359.29, which had come down to Rs 2,961.50 in 2006-07, a clear indication that the government had failed to mobilise adequate resources. Further, only Rs 634 crore had been spent out of the total plan of Rs 1,800 crore so far. The size of the 11th plan had been fixed at Rs 14,000 crore as against the 10th plan Rs 10,300 crore. The increase of 36 per cent was nominal as during BJP regime when 10th plan was finalised the hike was 81 per cent. Besides, the Congress government had spent only Rs 8,286 crore during 2002-07 periods whereas the BJP government had spent Rs 7,488 crore against a provision of Rs 5,700 crore. Information Technology had been given a raw deal with a provision of just 0,02 per cent in the plan. |
Charges of conversions:
SDM orders probe
Kangra, January 21 Earlier, there was tension at Kachairi village on the Pathankot-Mandi highway on the outskirts of this town today when people belonging to villages Kachairi, Matour, Samirpur, Shoaura and Gaggal panchayats and youths held demonstration and indulged in slogan shouting for a few hours outside Peniel Prathana Bhavan demanding its closure. According to reports people led by panchayat pradhan of Kachairi village Ms Rajender Kaur held demonstration outside the bhavan, established in 1985 and demanded its closure. Police bandobast was made in the area due to tension in the locality. Ms Rajinder Kaur and a youth from Nepal B.S. Bhist was rescued by the local panchayat from the bhavan on the request of his parents and was handed over to them. She said the management of the bhavan was going from door to door luring poor people to embrace Christianity under the pretext of Bible training. Capt S.K. Behl (retd) founder of the bhavan and Johan George Sandhu, Master of the Bible centre, denied the allegations. They said there were 44 orphan children which include 11 girls in the age group of 5 to 13 from Punjab, Uttarakhand and Jammu and were being taught in the Diaya Dev Senior Secondary School Rajiana. They said, we maintained them and taught them on humanitarian grounds. Ms Rajinder Kaur offered all these orphan children would be taken care of by them and given education too. Captain Behl and Mr J. George Sandhu denied allegations that forcible conversions were being carried in the bhavan and girls used for flesh trade. They said the local police, IB, CID and even the Director Vigilance visited the bhavan and found them not guilty. They demanded those involved in the demonstrations levelling false allegations should be questioned or otherwise they must prove it. |
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Reforms in livestock rearing in HP
Chamba, January 21 Talking about achievements in animal husbandry in the state, Mr Mahajan said for improving the quality of semen
straws, a state-of- the-art sperm station had been established at Palampur and a buffalo semen-straw processing laboratory had also been set up at Nalagarh under the National Project on Cattle and Buffalo Breeding being implemented by the Himachal Pradesh Livestock Development Board in the state. Mr Mahajan said the existing 1724 artificial insemination centres had been converted into mobile artificial insemination centres and added that 1100 in-service veterinarians had been trained in artificial insemination techniques and 500 more veterinary pharmacists were being deputed for training.
— OC |
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Ex-MLA has no money for treatment
Khudian (Kangra), January 21 He has been surviving on oxygen and food pipes for the past over eight months in his house here. His three sons, who are living in a hand-to-mouth condition, are not in a position to take their father to a hospital and afford the expenses for better treatment. The veteran leader's wife is diabetic and also a heart patient, herself battling for Rana has a bank account in the local branch of UCO Bank with a balance of over Rs 1 lakh. His monthly pension is regularly deposited in the account by the state Assembly. But the bank authorities had refused to release the amount to his family members even on medical grounds on the pretext that he is not in a conscious state to put his signatures on the withdrawal form. The bank authorities have also refused to accept the thumb impression duly attested by a magistrate and the elected village head, alleged Ravinder Singh, a son of the ailing politician. The family had written several letters to the Secretary of the Assembly and senior officials of the state government requesting to get some money released from the bank account for Rana's better treatment but so far no one has given reply in this regard. Rana who, was first elected to the state assembly on the Janata Party ticket in 1977 from Jawalamukhi, had also remained as chairman of the State Khadi Board for a couple of years. In the 1982 poll, he was elected to the Assembly from the same constituency on the BJP ticket. In the 1991 poll, he was again elected for the third time. Rana got a paralysis attack in 1999 followed by a severe heart attack next year. In 2000, he was operated upon for a bypass surgery. On May 6, 2006, he once again had a paralysis attack. Since then he is on bed and surviving on oxygen and food pipes. When contacted, Mr P.M. Bhanot, Regional Manager of UCO Bank, expressed his inability to help the family of the ailing politician on the ground that the bank rules and instructions of the government do not permit the bank to release the amount from the account of a person who is unconscious and not in a stable state of mind. As per instructions of the Finance Department of 17.10.1996 issued with the approval of the Reserve Bank of India, money could be withdrawn from the account of a sick, disabled and incapacitated pensioner by the family members by getting a thumb or toe impression in the presence of two witnesses, one of whom should be a bank employee but “the pensioner might be asked to indicate to the bank as to who would withdraw the pension amount from the account”. |
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Hydro project to check depleting water resources
Shimla, January 21 Erratic monsoon, ever decreasing snowfall and the increasing demand is putting the existing resources under heavy strain. In fact, out of the total 16,000 villages over 5,000 fake water scarcity during summer. In this situation long-term prospective planning of water resources has become the need of the hour to meet various competing demands on sustainable basis. It necessitates reliable database planning and management of water resources taking into consideration historical records for all aspects of hydrological cycle. The main objective of this project is to put in place an integrated and comprehensive hydro-logical data collection and information system for optimum utilisation of water sources. The project envisages establishing monitoring system comprising a network of river gauges, ground water observation wells, rain gauges, snow gauges, climatic stations and water quality labs to help prepare a database of surface and ground water resources in the state. Computerisation of hydrological data would be a major landmark of the project, which would facilitate easy accessibility to the data users. Various software modules were being developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) to facilitate computerisation of day-to-day activities of the department. All three zones of Irrigation and Public Health department had been connected with broadband and a proposal to extend this facility upto sub-division level was in the offing. Simultaneously computer training was being provided to the departmental staff. A comprehensive and user-friendly database would be set up under the project. All data-collecting agencies would share the data with the hydrology cell under a set protocol. The data collecting department would be the owner of data for the purpose of its exchange. |
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HLL workers end strike at Barotiwala
Kumarhatti, January 21 The workers had gone on strike on the morning of January 13 when the HLL management terminated the services of a unit worker. Rajesh who belonged to Mandi in HP was shown the door allegedly without any notice. The manner in which he was ousted enraged the workers who stalled the work on same morning. The workers sat on dharna outside unit gate and demanded re-entry of Rajesh. However as per HLL spokesman, Rajesh probation’s period was not extended due to his unsatisfactory performance. The spokesman clarified it was a practice all over the country that workmen were required to undergo a probation period. In case of the company here, the probation period was six months. This was as per the letter of appointment. During this period, on the basis of ‘on the job’ performance of the workmen, the permanent employment was offered or the contact was terminated. So there was no question of Rajesh sacking, the spokesman maintained. Meanwhile Mr Azad said strike was over. The workers have ended the strike without any condition, informed company’s spokesman. |
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Police turns people friendly
Kangra, January 21 Mr A.K. Puri, a former DGP, had been the moving spirit behind the launching of schemes. Mr P.L. Thakur, DIG (Northern range), Dharamsala, appears to be quite enthusiastic about these schemes. Earlier, even the schoolchildren had a negative notion about our way of functioning. But now, these schemes have changed the mindset of schoolchildren. In Kangra, Chamba and Una districts alone 44,512 schoolchildren have visited police stations during the past four years, he added. Another scheme ‘sanrakshan’ aims at protecting the interests of senior citizens. Initially, people were hostile toward the schemes launched by the police. But now, they are coming forward to share their day-to-day problems with it. In Kangra district alone 183 senior citizens have been identified whose small needs like taking them to a hospital, depositing of their bills, providing medicines etc. are being taken care of by police personnel. The ‘samarth yojna’, which aims at capacity building of girl students, is gaining popularity among the youth. The ‘suvidha yojna’ is another innovative scheme, which aims at free registration of cases. The ‘vishwas yojna’ is another scheme under which the superintendents of police undertake tour of villages, interact with the people, listen to their problems and obtain feedback. |
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Unsolicited calls continue
Solan, January 21 Inquires revealed that a number of such outlets have been opened at
Dhalli, near Shimla, which sell these products and make calls to mobile phone subscribers. When contacted on these cell numbers and asked whether permission has been sought from the TRAI, the staff tries to assert that they have sought the requisite permission. They also give number of their MD Dev Raj. On being contacted on 09315402233, Devraj says, “We are pursuing only small business through this mode and hence no permission has been sought.” The BSNL officials said such persons can be booked as it threatened the security and safety of consumers. |
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Forgery case registered
Nurpur, January 21 The tehsildar suspected some foul play after execution of the alleged fraudulent sale deed. He then summoned all persons to appear before him on the next day. Only one person, Priya Devi appeared and confessed that she had impersonated as Parveen Kumari, her cousin, during execution of sale deed. Mr R.P. Jaswal, tehsildar, said that it was a sale purchase of immovable property within one family in which one brother Sukhdev had to purchase property share from his brother Subash and from successors of his deceased brother Ramesh. During the execution of sale deed Priya and Vishal, children of Subash, allegedly impersonated as Ripudaman and Parveen Kumari, successors of deceased Ramesh. DSP Vimukat Ranjan said the police had lodged an FIR under Sections 120-B, 420,467,468,471 and 474 of the IPC. |
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No courts in Pangi, Bharmour
Chamba, January 21 The Alpine Region Welfare Council has urged the state government to open sub-judge courts at both sub-divisional headquarters of Bharmour
and Pangi. |
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Panchayat chief unseated
Bilaspur, January 21 This judgement was delivered by Mr Garg at Ghumarwin, near here, last evening while deciding an appeal from Bhajanoo Ram who had contested the election on December 18, 2005, against Ramji Das, but was defeated. |
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Two killed in tanker mishap
Solan, January 21 The driver of the tanker, Nek Chand (26), died on the spot and other three injured were admitted in the Civil Hospital, Kandaghat. The conductor, Bodh Raj (28), succumbed to his injuries at the hospital. The other two injured have been identified as Tarun Sharma and Sahil, both students of the Jai Prakash university. Both of them have been referred to Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital, Shimla, as their condition was stated to be critical. These students boarded the tanker from Waknaghat to reach university and on the way they met with the accident A case has been registered under Sections 279, 339 and 304 (A) of the IPC. |
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1 killed as van falls into nullah
Mandi, January 21 According to the police, the person killed in the accident has been identified as Dharampal, a resident of
Karsog. They were travelling from Mandi to Karsog. — TNS |
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Cong leader cremated
Nahan, January 21 More than 5,000 persons attended his cremation on the banks of the Giri river at Puruwala. His elder son lit the pyre. |
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