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World Bank nod to double-lane road Seniority list row: 24
cops demoted Goli-Chamba road to be widened Zonal Hospital sans specialists Topography behind most trauma cases |
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BJP plans oust-Congress campaign from Union leader, 5 others held
for murder Ceiling on landholding a bane for tea growers
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World Bank nod to double-lane road Shimla, February 25 A team of the bank carried out the technical and financial appraisal of the project in the past week and approved first phase of the project. Acquisition of land will be the responsibility of the state government. It will bear the cost of acquisition and rehabilitation o f those displaced in the process. Financial liability on the state on this account will come to Rs 250 crore. The bank will give a loan of Rs 900 crore for the double-laning of 420 km of road length. In all six roads will be double-laned under the project. In the first phase the Una-Ner Chowk, the Mehatpur-Mubarakpur and the Theog-Rohru sections will be taken up. The Theog-Rohru section will also involve construction of a tunnel at Kharapathar for which a separate project report is being prepared by the Geo Consult, an Austrian engineering company. The Himachal Pradesh Road and Other Infrastructure Development Corporation will be the nodal agency for the implementation of the project to be implemented in accordance with the international norms laid down by the bank. Contracts will be awarded through international competitive bidding. Each work will involve widening of 40 km to 50 km stretch of road and contract package will range between Rs 80 crore to Rs 100 crore. Inviting of bids will start next month and works will be awarded by June. Deadline for the completion of the first phase is three years. In case a company fails to meet the target heavy penalties will be imposed. The contractors will have to maintain the roads for five years after the completion. In the second phase widening of the Kumarhatti-Nahan, the Ghumarwin- Jogindernagar via Sarakaghat and the Hamirpur-Palampur via Sujanpur will be taken up. Project reports for these will be completed by the end of the year and works awarded next year. The project will be completed in five years.
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Seniority
list row: 24 cops demoted Palampur, February 25 The government published a fresh seniority list yesterday. About 24 senior officers who had joined Himachal Pradesh Police Services were demoted in the list by giving the benefit of ad-hoc services to number of junior promotee officers who were closed politicians of the ruling party. Briefing newsmen here today Ramesh Chahatta and K.C. Sharma, general secretary and executive member of the association, respectively, said while finalising the seniority list, the government had given the benefit of ad-hoc service to junior promotee officers, which was totally against the Himachal Pradesh Police Recruitment and Promotion Rules 1973. They said despite the fact that matter had already been settled by the apex court in the case of Des Raj versus state of Himachal Pradesh in 1994, three judge’s bench of the apex court had held that while finalising the seniority list of the police officers, the state government could not go beyond the 1973 rules. Both disclosed that Des Raj Sharma, a promotee officer in the Himachal Pradesh police, had filed an appeal before the Supreme Court to avail the benefit of ad-hoc services for his promotion in 1994. A full bench of the Supreme Court had dismissed his appeal and refused to grant the benefit to him. The apex court held that the state government had no authority to deviate from the rules, while promoting an officer and it had to act within the purview of these rules unless it amends these. They said a number of police officers had also moved to the Himachal Pradesh Administrative Tribunal and had challenged the seniority list released by the government earlier. When matter came up for hearing before the administrative tribunal the state government filed an affidavit in it affirming that that it would stick to the rules, and would also follow the guidelines given by the apex court in the case of Des Raj Sharma versus the state, and would notify the fresh seniority list of the police officers. Keeping in view the affidavit filed by the government, all police officers withdrew the cases pending before the tribunal, as they relied upon the affidavit of the state government. Today, they were feeling cheated at the hands of the state government as it failed to keep its words before the tribunal. |
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Goli-Chamba road to be widened Chamera (Chamba), February 25 The widening of this portion of the Chamba-Pathankot highway, which is the main lifeline, linking the far-flung mountainous region of Chamba and its tribal areas of Bharmour and Pangi with the outer world, would prove to be a landmark achievement in the history of Chamba district, thereby adding new feathers to the alpine region. Disclosing this decision to The Tribune here today, chief engineer K.K. Joshi (in charge) of the Chamera Hydroelectric Project (Stage-III), said the project would be funded by the NHPC. Earlier, the NHPC had released Rs 16.67 crore to the PWD for the widening of Chamba-Bharmour highway, the work on which was under way, Joshi claimed.
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Zonal Hospital sans specialists Hamirpur, February 25 A group of doctors, including an orthopeadician and an anesthetist, who had joined here on January 20, were relieved on February 1 to join in other hospitals in the state. Many locals are linking it with the Chief Minister's visit to the hospital to inaugurate the regional diagnostic centre during this period. Even the diagnostic centre does not have adequate staff and a group of NGOs have been holding protests against its brief closure soon after its inauguration by the Chief Minister last month, though it has now been made operational again. Pregnant women coming to the diagnostic centre complain that the maternal and child health (MCH) department had been set up on the third story of the building and they had to climb stairs to reach there. According to sources, as many as 10 posts of medical officer out of the total of 29 are lying vacant. Besides, all eight posts of chief pharmacists in the district are yet to be filled. The X-Ray plant in Sujanpur is functioning with X-Ray technician and the primary health centres in Baragran does not have a pharmacist.Dr V.S. Sahni, Chief Medical Officer, said he had taken up the issue of vacant posts with the Director, Health. He admitted that the absence of gynaecologist and orthopedician was depriving patients of proper treatment.
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Topography behind most trauma cases Chandigarh, February 25 Patients from Kangra and Chamba districts, after taking preliminary treatment in Government Medical College, Tanda, are generally referred to the IGMCH, claimed orthopaedics department head Mukand Lal. Dr Lal was here to attend the biennial conference, “IAACON-2007”, organised by the Indian Arthroplasty Association at Hotel Mountview here. Patients from the bordering areas of Una, Kangra, Solan and Nahan generally prefer to be referred to the PGI and the GMCH in Sector 32 and other private institutions in Chandigarh, he added. While talking to The Tribune, Dr Lal claimed that meet the increased rush as well as demands of the patients, the hospital had introduced the latest facilities in all the fields of orthopaedics. The department had been performing all types of surgeries. Besides general orthopaedics and trauma, dedicated sub-specialities like arthroplasty, arthroscopy, spine surgery and paediatric orthopaedic surgery had also been introduced, claimed Dr Lal. The senior and junior residents, however, have to tackle the general orthopaedics and trauma cases, besides assisting surgeons in operation theatres. The referrals from the department to outside the state are virtually nil, he claimed. He further added that the latest advancements, including PROXIMA, in repairing hip, knee and shoulder joints had been introduced to facilitate the patients at large.
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BJP plans oust-Congress campaign from April 16 Shimla, February 25 Mr Rajnath Singh, national president, will start the “oust Congress” campaign by addressing a “satta parivartan sankalp rally” in the state capital on April 6, the day the party was founded. The party which met under the chairmanship of president, also decided to submit a charge sheet against the Virbhadra Singh government to Mr V.S. Kokje, Governor, on March 6, the day it completes four years in office. Mr Khushi Ram Balnatah, general secretary, told reporters the party had decided to go to the masses with the charge sheet as the Governor had not taken any action on the memorandums of acts of commission and omission of the government submitted earlier. The party would organise dharnas and rallies all over the state right down to the constituency level from March 15 to April 30. Unemployment will be the major issue as the Congress had during the last assembly poll promised job to at least one member of every family but on coming to power it reduced job opportunities by abolishing 2,500 posts every year. Besides 30,000 posts were vacant in various departments. To add insult to the injury interviews conducted for filling various posts were being cancelled. He demanded a decent “unemployment allowance” for the jobless so that they could attend interviews without asking for money from parents. In a political resolution adopted at the meeting the party took a serious notice of the inordinate delay in the identification of 4,87,768 BPL(below poverty line) families. The exercise, which should have been completed four years ago, was being carried out now. The delay was “criminal”.
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Union leader, 5 others held for murder
Kumarhatti, February 25 The deceased along with his two friends, Khalil Muhammed and Harkeshpal, had gone to their common friend Chugru’s home at Raattuwal village, on Friday night. They had consumed liquor there. The deceased, along with his friends, left Chugru’s home. While on the way they started making noise that enraged villagers. On listening to noises villagers gathered and gave a sound thrashing to Ram Murti and his friends. Khalil Muhammed has reportedly gone missing since that night, while Ram Murti and Harkeshpal were admitted to hospital with serious injuries. — OC |
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Ceiling on landholding a bane for tea growers Dharamsala, February 25 President of the Kangra Valley Small Tea Planters Association K.G. Butail said the ceiling Act was applicable only in case of those growers who had landholdings of more than 30 acres and had got special permission to retain the landholdings on which they were doing tea cultivation. The special permission granted to hold big landholdings was given with the idea of promoting tea cultivation in the region. Section 6-A of the Act prohibits the change of nature of tea garden/land. Big landlords had got the benefit of retaining their land that was more than the fixed standard landholdings, therefore the state government had the right to control it for the sake of preserving and propagating tea cultivation. But small tea growers, who had not got any benefit, should be allowed to make a change in the land use so that they could diversify their farming practices, said Praveen Sareen, convener of the association. It may be mentioned that the small tea growers were passing through hard times for the past many years. More than 4,000 hectares of land was under tea cultivation during the British time, but in the post-Independence period it reduced to 2,312 hectares. As of now, it had further declined to just 1,225 hectares. More than 625 hectares has been abandoned and 462 hectares neglected for the lack of resources to manage it. Mr Sareen said the tea growers needed money to breathe life into the tea plants that had matured and completed their lifespan, but the Himachal Pradesh Ceiling on Land Holdings Act prohibited them from transferring or even mortgaging the tea gardens for the purpose of raising money from banks or other financial institutions. Adding to the woes of the tea growers are the revenue authorities, particularly the patwaris, who are not allegedly doing girdawaris properly by verifying the ground realities. The land that had been abandoned, neglected or had never come under tea cultivation was also being wrongly entered into the revenue registers showing it under tea cultivation, added Mr Sareen. Had the girdawaris been done correctly by the patwaris by verifying the ground realities, the tea growers could have managed to raise funds from banks or other financial institutions by mortgaging the land not under tea cultivation in order to improve their farming practices.
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Dr Mukand Lal claimed that the authorities had restarted the postgraduation courses in orthopaedics from this year. The Medical Council of India (MCI) had discontinued the courses in 2004, thus bringing down the strength of experts to seven. With the reintroduction of the postgraduation courses, not only the patients would be benefited but also the department would be back on the track.