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Only two bidders turn up for auction
Cong finds Budget growth-oriented, pro-poor
Railways urged to repair overbridge
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Broadband service for Kangra soon
Rs 71 cr received for tourism promotion
Give proof for graft, CM to BJP
BJP’s charge sheet on
March 6
Life term for killing
sister-in-law
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Snowfall, rain hit
life
Shimla, February 28 The tribal areas of Kinnaur and Lahaul-Spiti, Manali and Solang Nullah, which had not received much snow earlier in the season, are experiencing the heaviest snowfall of the season. Dhundi in Kullu recorded the maximum 150 cm of snowfall, followed by Solang Nullah 100 cm, Keylong and Narkanda 60 cm each and Kalpa 55 cm. The Churdhar, Dhauladhar and Jhanjheli ranges are having incessant snow since yesterday. Patsio recorded the minimum temperature of minus 6.5°C followed by Kalpa which had a minimum of minus 2.9°C. According to reports received here, life in Manali area, which was under 40 to 60 cm of snow, came to a standstill. Vehicular traffic was not plying as the Manali-Chandigarh National Highway had been blocked beyond Raison due to landslides and snow. The tourist resort had been without electricity since last night as a result of which telecommunication had been affected in some pockets. Kinnaur and parts of upper Shimla were cut off as the Hindustan-Tibet road and other major roads came under heavy snow. Bus services to Chopal, Rohru, Nerwa and Narkanda were suspended, while the Rampur-bound traffic has been diverted through Basantpur. Shimla town is also having heavy snow since afternoon. It was preceded by a severe hailstorm which hit the city early in the morning. Mount Jakhu, the highest peak, had received 15 cm of snowfall by the evening, while the nearby tourist resort of Kufri was under 30 cm of snow. The minimum temperature in the towny dipped to 2.5°C. According to the local Met Office, the minimum temperature will come down further over the next 24 hours and dip to the freezing point and the maximum will be around 6°C. Parts of Solan and Sirmaur districts were lashed by a hailstorm, causing damage to stone fruit crops. The lower hills are having widespread rain. Dharamsala recorded the highest 110 mm of rainfall, followed by Bhuntar 96 mm, Nadaun 84 mm, Bhorang 78 mm, Sunjanpur 75 mm and Palampur 67 mm. The rain is considered good for the rabi crops. However, growers in the apple belt are worried that heavy snow at the fag-end of the season could cause damage to their plantations. CHAMBA: The vehicular traffic on the Chamba-Pathankot highway was blocked by a massive landslide at Chehli, about 20 km from here, on Tuesday night. The landslide was caused by a downpour in Chamba district at 8 p.m. The Chamba-Pathankot highway links the Chamba region with the outer world. Newspapers, mail and eatables, including milk, could not reach Chamba today. Official reports confirmed that the main roads linking the tribal regions of Bharmour, Salooni and Tissa had been blocked by landslides at different places, paralysing normal life. The higher reaches of the district had been experiencing heavy snowfall for the past 48 hours, reports said. Dalhousie hill station had been experiencing intermittent snowflakes. Officials, however, maintained that work to restore traffic on the Chamba-Pathankot highway was in progress. Kulu: Tourists deserted Manali as the continuing heavy spell of snow of nearly 3 feet recorded in the town on Wednesday plunged the entire valley into darkness as snow triggered eight breaches in the main 33-KV Bajaura-Prini transmission line that supplies power to the Manali-Naggar belt. Not only this, the tourists, shrinking in chill in the knee-deep snow after they started moving out from their hotels, feared that “they would stuck in snow as snowfall was showing no sign of stopping till this evening”. |
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Only two bidders turn up for auction
Solan, February 28 The presence of merely two bidders at the auction lent credence to the fact that the licensees had been unable to get adequate returns from these auctions. While the coveted Parwanoo unit comprising four barriers- Baddi-Barotiwala-Parwanoo-sector-4 as well as the main Parwanoo barrier- were auctioned at Rs 8.75 crore registering a hike of 19.91 per cent over the previous fiscal. The rights were procured by M/s Rana and Company whose bid surpassed the reserve money of Rs 8.10 crore. The other five barriers-Deerowal, Bagheri, Dhabota, Navgaon and Gullerwala-were auctioned for Rs 1.42 crore as against the reserve money of Rs 1.25 crore registering a hike of 26.79 per cent. Rana and Company managed to procure the rights for these barriers as well. There was resentment among other contractors who preferred to abstain from the auction. A section of contractors opined that the department should make the policy commensurate with the vehicular traffic. Since there was no hike in the charges for various vehicles since the past three years revenue generation had declined. With the tourist season declining due to inclement weather the toll barriers were not giving the desired revenue. Another contractor opined that the department should have introduced at least three new barriers at Shahpur, Nankpura and Kallawali in the industrial area since these places served as detours to evade toll tax barriers. |
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Cong finds Budget growth-oriented, pro-poor
Shimla, February 28 Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, said the Budget was growth-oriented, pro-poor and progressive and would benefit every section of society. Extending the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme to 330 districts and increasing allocation to it to Rs. 22,000 crore along with Rs. 2,800 crore for the Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojna would provide employment opportunities to the youth. He hailed the proposal to bring the unorganised landless households under insurance cover for which the government would bear 50 per cent of the premium of Rs. 200 per person. The 31.6 per cent increase on the allocation for Bharat Nirman Yojna and 34.2 per cent hike in allocation for education will accelerate development in both sectors. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan will get Rs. 10,671 crore and the mid-day meal scheme had been extended to upper Primary classes in 3,427 educationally backward blocks. The proposed Rs 750 crore for Means-cum-Merit Scholarships to reduce drop-outs after class VIII will encourage students to pursue higher studies. The accelerated power development and reform Project which had reduced technical and commercial losses in 213 towns was being restructured to cover all district headquarters and towns with a population of over 50,000. Mr P.K. Dhumal, a former Chief Mnister, and Mr Jai Ram, state’s BJP chief, said the Congress had learnt no lesson from electoral reverses in Punjab and Uttrakhand and failed to address the main issues — price rise and unemployment. Diamond jewellery, mineral water and food for pet animals had been made cheaper but no relief had been provided to the common people. The meagre increase of Rs 10,000 in the income tax exemption limit would not provide any relief. The differential rate of excise duty on cement would in effect increase its price as it was being sold at Rs 200 per bag on which duty would be 50 per cent higher than the existing level. Mr Kuldeep Rathore, general secretary of the Congress, said increased allocation for education and introduction of scholarship to check drop-out rate were laudable. The emphasis on increasing output of oilseeds and improving farm productivity were steps in the right direction. Mr Khushi Ram Balnatah, general secretary, said it was a “status quo” budget which failed to respond to the need to check the inflationary forces. Instead, increased the education cess by one per cent which would further fuel inflation. He said it was surprising that Congress MP, Pratibha Singh, had hailed the Railway Budget which left Himachal high and dry. On the contrary Mr Chander Kumar, another party MP, termed it as “very disappointing” for the state.
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Railways urged to repair overbridge
Shimla, February 28 Chief Secretary S.S. Parmar held a meeting with the PWD secretary and the deputy commissioner of Solan and other officers concerned to review the situation arising due to the closure of the bridge and called for early restoration of traffic to avoid inconvenience to the people. He said it was a very important road not only for the population in and around Dharampur and Sabathu but also for through movement of traffic from Dhundan, Shalaghat and Shimla and as such its restoration was urgently required. He said any additional amount required would be paid by the state government. In case of more time was required for repairing the bridge, the PWD should install a Bailey bridge for temporary restoration of traffic. |
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Broadband service for Kangra soon
Kangra, February 28 General manager, telecommunication, Deepak Chaturvedi, said the triple play system had been approved by the circle and the project would become functional in a few months. “Initially this system has been introduced in one or two places in South India. It will boost the telecommunication system and the efficiency graph of transmissions will get a flip”, he added. According to sources, a private company has already conducted survey in this connection. Chaturvedi said a customer service centre had been set up in the local telephone exchange building as 13,000-land line and 20,000 BSNL mobile subscribers were facing problem in depositing their bills. Mobile recharging coupons, sanchar net cards and VCC cards too would be available at this centre. The landline-prepaid system would shortly be introduced and recharge coupons for this new scheme would be available at the centre. It would provide facilities to BSNL subscribers of Gaggal and Nagrota Bagwan. The subscribers could deposit bills in the post offices and UCO Bank also, he added.
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Rs 71 cr received for tourism promotion
Shimla, February 28 Tourism minister G.S. Bali informed the House during question hour today that efforts were being made to promote temple tourism in a big way. He said the department was keen to promote circuits and develop infrastructure for the convenience of the pilgrims. He said Rs 8 crore each had been allotted for the Kangra temple circuit, Shimla sector and the Mandi-Bilaspur sector. “The state government has sent a proposal of Rs 50 crore to the Centre for development of the old Indo-Tibet circuit”, he said. He said efforts were being made to promote the Buddhist circuit in the tribal area of Kinnaur and Lahaul-Spiti. Former tourism minister Vijai Singh Mankotia said the entire money from the Rs 80-crore project sent to the ministry of culture and tourism had yet to be given to the state. Mr Bali, while admitting that in comparison less funds had been given for Hamirpur district, assured the House that a fresh proposal could be considered by the department. In reply to a question by Mr Mohinder Singh of the BJP, power minister Vidya Stokes said that various items worth Rs 52.68 lakh had been found to be substandard. “After we received complaints, we decided to introduce quality control right at the beginning and have an inspection of the supplies received”, she said. She further said that black tape worth Rs 5.96 crore, dead-end clamp worth Rs 4.93 crore and PP rope worth Rs 2.92 crore had been replaced as it was found to be substandard. Stokes said the companies which had supplied substandard items had been blacklisted and their security forfeited.
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Give proof for graft, CM to BJP
Shimla, February 28 There were heated exchanges between the Treasury Benches and members of the opposition as the BJP raised the issue of corruption during the debate on the motion of thanks to the Governor’s Address in the Assembly today. Mr Mohinder Singh of the BJP raised the issue of corruption during the debate. Reacting to allegations by BJP members, the Chief Minister said he would be the first one to order a probe into any allegations of corruption at any level only if some evidence and documents were provided. “Making allegations on the basis of statements by people who have no locus-standi and are themselves facing charges was against the traditions and rules of the House,” he said. He added anyone could approach the civil or criminal court, the Lok Ayukta or any other appropriate agency on the issue of corruption. Speaker, Gangu Ram Musafir expunged certain remarks of Mr Mohinder Singh under Rule 203. He said in case a member wished to make allegations against anyone, he had to give prior notice of it to the Speaker and the minister concerned so that it could be looked at from the point of view of ordering an investigation. While levelling charges of regional discrimination, Mr Mohinder Singh said dental doctors from lower areas of the state were discriminated against as out of total of 45 posts, 23 went to those belonging to Shimla district. “As against a total allocation of Rs 35.63 lakh for 10 districts of the state, Shimla and Kinnuar districts together had been given Rs 1.62 crore for the upkeep and maintenance of temples. Refuting allegations of discrimination the Chief Minister said in certain places like Hatkoti, large amounts had to be spent on the acquisition of land to prevent encroachments. “I am a nationalist who has always stood for one state and one nation and have fought communal, regional and casteist forces in my entire political career,” he reacted. Reacting to the delay in filling of various posts for which interviews had been held he said like the land mafia, liquor and forest mafia he had to fight the public interest litigation (PIL) mafia, both at the government as well as personal level. Participating in the debate on the motion of thanks, Forest Minister Ram Lal Thakur said there had been unparalleled development in the four year of Congress rule. “Almost 48 per cent of the Budget was being spent on social sector and the economic growth rate was expected to touch 9.3 per cent,” he remarked. He said 1,400 educational institutions had been opened and Rs 900 crore World Bank project in the forest sector was being given to Himachal. Compared to other states the price rise situation in Himachal was under control and efforts were on to provide relief to the common man,” he said. Power Minister, Mrs Vidya Stokes, Congress MLA, Vijai Singh Mankotia and BJP legislator, Ravinder Singh Ravi also participated in the debate.
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BJP’s charge sheet on
March 6
Nahan, February 28 Bhandari said the state BJP leadership would serve a charge sheet on the ruling party on March 6 on inflation and ignoring common man’s interest. |
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Life term for killing
sister-in-law
Nahan, February 28 The convict had murdered his sister-in-law on September 20, 2000, at Panota Sahib by strangulating her and had thrown her body in the nearby sugarcane fields. Jaswal also pronounced a fine of Rs 20,000 on the convict. In case of default, he would further undergo a simple imprisonment of two years, the judge ordered. |
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