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Uproar in Assembly
Govt to pay compensation for crop damage
CM presents supplementary demands Charge sheet against 100 today Jaundice outbreak not an epidemic: CM
Irregularities in PDS detected
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Probe depot fraud, HRTC asks vigilance
Week-long Shivratri fair concludes
Assn demands repair of
Baddi-Pinjore road
Cable thief held
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Uproar in Assembly
Shimla, February 23 The issue was raised after the question hour by BJP leader Prem Kumar Dhumal who had given notice along with other party legislators for an immediate discussion on the issue. Mr Dhumal said the issue had assumed added significance with Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and union finance minister P.C. Chidambaram expressing their helplessness in containing prices. While Mr Chidambaram said he had no magic wand to hold price rise, Dr Manmohan Singh had washed his hands off and asked the Chief Ministers to take effective steps. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh shared the concern of the BJP members but opposed the adjournment motion on the ground that the members would get ample opportunity to speak on the issue during the debate on motion of thanks on the Governor’s Address and the general Budget. He said it was not a partisan matter as price rise was affecting all states. Disallowing the motion, Mr Musafir said it was a well settled convention that the adjournment motions were not allowed during debate on the Governor’s Address and Budget estimates, which provided opportunity to discuss such issues. This enraged the BJP members, who started raising slogans that were expunged by the Chair. As the Speaker went ahead with the business listed for the day continued business order was restored.
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Govt to pay compensation for crop damage Shimla, February 23 Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh while intervening during question hour in the Vidhan Sabha said today that the relief manual was being amended to facilitate direct payment of relief to farmers. The revenue department had already completed the exercise and the proposal to amend the manual would be put up before the Cabinet shortly. He said such a provision should have been made long ago. Prem Kumar Dhumal, BJP leader, said both food and fruit crop be brought under the crop insurance scheme so that farmers could get compensation in case of damage due to the natural calamities. Earlier, replying to the joint question of Ranvinder Singh, Ishwar Das and I.D Dhiman, revenue minister Sat Mahajan said the centre had till January 31 released Rs 77.70 crore to the state to deal with various natural calamities. Replying to another question the Chief Minister announced that the government would set up at least one polytechnic college in each district and an industrial training institute in every assembly constituency of the state. Besides, vocational courses would be introduced in all degree colleges. He said during the current financial year 14 new degree colleges had been opened out of which eight had already become functional. The rest would start functioning form the ensuing academic session. A sum of Rs 5 crore had been allocated for each new college for constructing buildings and other infrastructure. Answering a question of Mr Rohit Thakur (Congress) the Chief Minister informed the house that contract for the four-laning of the Zirakpur-Parwanu section of the Shimla-Kalka national highway had been awarded, while the detailed project report for the Parwanoo -Solan section was being revised. Work on alignment and the detailed project report for the Solan-Shimla section would be taken up after the finalization of the Parwanu-Solan section. The entire project would cost over Rs 1,000 crore.
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CM presents supplementary demands Shimla, February 23 He said an amount of Rs 324.93 crore was under plan schemes, Rs 191.30 crore under Centrally-sponsored schemes and Rs 531.29 crore under non-plan. The major expenditure proposed under the plan was mainly required for infrastructure development schemes, which included Rs 34.54 crore for construction of schools and colleges, Rs 30.56 crore for buildings and roads, Rs 109.43 crore for rural water supply and irrigation schemes, Rs 50.52 crore under the backward area sub-plan and Rs 13.72 crore for grant-in-aid to panchayati raj institutions and urban local bodies.
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Charge sheet against 100 today Shimla, February 23 The three-member police team had sought extension of time for completing investigations on three occasions. It would submit its final report and the charge sheet in the High Court tomorrow, before the expiry of the deadline of February 26. The police team had sought time from the High Court after the six-week additional time given to it earlier expired on January 31. The police had sought more time to remove procedural objections pointed out by the prosecution in the charge sheet prepared by them against the accused. The High Court had extended the deadline to February 26. It gave six weeks more to the police team probing the case on December 19 on the condition that this was the last time it was given an extension for completing investigations. The team was given two-month additional time earlier to complete its probe. Though the police had arrested a large number of touts, medical college students and parents of candidates, who had been the alleged beneficiaries of the paper leak, but those believed to be the kingpin were still at large. They included Ahtsham Ahmed, a resident of Motihari in Bihar, who functioned under the name of Dr Mullick. A state police team had made several raids at his native place in Motihari to arrest him.
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Jaundice outbreak not an epidemic: CM Shimla, February 23 Replying to a call attention motion of Mohinder Singh (BJP), the Chief Minister said the maximum number of 285 cases had been reported from
Kusumpati, Maili, Chaili and Jiwnu Colony area, followed by Khalini (86) and Chhota Shimla (73). The water supply from Ashwini Khad and the Patyog Water Supply Scheme was found contaminated. Experts from the National Institute of Virology, Pune, were also carrying out tests to identify the disease causing virus. Besides, 17 samples had been sent to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases. Corrective measures had been taken and water quality had improved since. The municipal corporation had been asked to identify 50 locations in the city for regular monitoring of the water quality. Nearly 1,05,000 chlorine tablets had been distributed. Teams of the health department had surveyed 10,961 houses and distributed 10,000 posters to educate people about the preventive measures. Action was being taken against those dumping garbage in the open and so far 40 persons had been
challaned. The residents had been advised to clean their water storage tanks. The municipal authorities had been directed to rectify underground water pipes which have been laid close to sewerage pipes and are suspected of being leaking. Mohinder Singh pointed out that faulty drinking water supply schemes were mainly responsible for the outbreak of the water borne diseases. Water was not being treated and filtered properly. A large number of schemes did not have filter beds for purification of water. Replying to another call attention motion of Jagat Singh (Congress) regarding the use of word kinner in the film Traffic Signal, the Chief Minister said the government had banned the movie in the state for two months. In case the producer of the film failed to remove the objectionable word the ban would be extended. The government would also take up the matter with the Centre in this regard as the film was being screened in rest of the country, he added.
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Irregularities in PDS detected
Dharamsala, February 23 Another senior official of the department, S. S. Pathania, District Food and Civil Supplies Controller, was also transferred from Dharamsala to Una, early this week. There were serious allegations of black-marketing of kerosene and other essential commodities that were exclusively meant for distribution among the public on subsidised rates through the ration depots of the department. Surprisingly, the suspended inspector Balwant Singh was posted in the district for the past over two decades. He was said to be enjoying the blessings of a top politician of the state. Before suspending the inspector a preliminary inquiry was conducted against him, in which he was found guilty. The department was now preparing a charge-sheet against him. He has been shifted to Mandi during the suspension period so that he could not hamper the proceedings of the inquiry. In another case, a depot holder was caught red-handed by the people at Jakhbar village in the district when he was illegally selling kerosene in black-market, last night. |
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Probe depot fraud, HRTC asks vigilance
Dharamsala, February 23 In one case of misappropriation of funds, the alleged accused had fraudulently taken away Rs 3 lakh that was collected in the form of parking fee from private bus operators at the Kangra bus stand. Later admitting to the offence he had deposited the amount in the accounts of the HRTC. In another case, the regional manager had allegedly put HRTC buses on special tours to schools, colleges, institutions and also individuals during the past few years but never deposited the amount collected from them in the accounts of the HRTC. The official records and entry books of the regional depot were now being scrutinised at the departmental level. A special audit team from the head office of the corporation was scrutinising the official records and cash books. Sources in the transport department revealed that Divisional Manager of the HRTC H.K. Gupta posted here had approached the office of the SP, vigilance bureau, Dharamsala division, on Friday requesting him to inquire into the misappropriation of funds. Since the prima-facie charges of the misappropriation of funds had already come out against the Regional Manager, the matter was of serious nature demanding a thorough probe by some independent agency, Mr Gupta told the vigilance bureau. The divisional office of the state vigilance bureau has decided to forward this matter to the state government for approval of the registration of a criminal case in this regard as the alleged accused is a Class-I gazetted officer, the sources revealed.
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Week-long Shivratri fair concludes
Mandi, February 23 Addressing a gathering after he participated in the “shobha yatra” on the concluding day of the week-long international Shivratri fair here today in which over 184 devtas participated at Paddal Maidan, Virbhadra Singh took cognizance of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's direction to all the CMs to take steps to check the prices in the each state. "There is no scarcity of the foodgrains and essential commodities in stores of wholesalers and retailers, but they are taking undue advantage of the rate of inflation in the country," he commented. He claimed that the price rise in the state was lower than what was the case in the BJP-ruled states like Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh despite the fact that state had to depend upon other states for its food supplies. Virbhadra Singh blamed the blackmarketeers for the price rise and appealed to retailers and wholesalers to come forward and release supplies of foodgrains in the national interest. "They need profit, but they should cut down the profit margins considering the piquant situation in the country, he added. The Chief Minister said work on the construction of a modern bus stand would be started soon and NABARD had given its nod for the merger of the Mandi Urban Cooperative Bank with the HP State Cooperative Bank, which would be finally sanctioned by the RBI.
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Assn demands repair of
Baddi-Pinjore road Baddi, February 23 The road, the main link connecting the Baddi industrial belt with the rest of world, is in a mess, pointed out Mr A.K. Singh, president of the association. Ironically, the condition of road has deteriorated with the same pace with which Baddi had witnessed industrial boom, he maintained. The road was unfit for driving, he added. Various other industrial organisations, including Confederation of Indian Industries HP Council, Federation of Himachal Industries, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industries, have highlighted the issues jointly on many occasions, but to no avail.
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Cable thief held
Nahan, February 23 A few residents of the Sainwala village who were returning from a marriage noticed fire emanating from the adjoining forest area. On having a closer look they found that a few persons were burning telephone cables to extract pure copper out of it. They immediately informed the Kala Amb police. One of the thieves, Uma Shankar, a resident of Kala Amb, was caught with 11 bundles of stolen telephone wire.
— OC |
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Mandi, February 23
