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Govt yet to decide course of action
BJP failed to deliver goods: Virbhadra
Team forced to abandon land inspection Agitated residents of Khatrawari village show black flags to members of the joint inspection team in Sundernagar on Monday. The protest forced the team to beat a hasty retreat and abandon the inspection of land to be used for a cement project in the area. — Photo by writer
Navratras on, pilgrims throng shakti peeths
Tender for Chakki bridge work yet to be awarded
Tributes paid to Gen Zoravar Singh
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Operation cleaning
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Landslips cut off Kinnaur
Threat to ‘gherao’ CM
BSNL subscribers of Sirmaur a harried lot
No violent protests in varsity: HC
Gunshot claims life
CEC Job Fest
Lawyers seek HC Bench
Advocates’ welfare benefit hiked
Consumers must avail legal aid: judge
118 liquor vends allotted
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Govt yet to decide course of action
Shimla, March 19 Interestingly, a majority of those who have raised unauthorised structures have not even bothered to apply for regularisation under the retention policy as only 3,298 cases have been being received even after the date was extended. In fact out of the 3,298 cases that have been received under the retention policy, over 2,800 are from Shimla town and two special area development authorities (SADA). "As per our estimates, the number of unauthorised structures in Shimla alone would be over 5,000 and a much larger number in other parts of the state," admitted a senior official. Even though there is provision for demolition of unauthorised structures under the TCP Act , it is unlikely that the government would take this step, especially in view of the Shimla Municipal Corporation elections and the assembly polls early next year. Out of the 10,450 cases of unauthorised constructions detected by the town and country panning department in 19 planning areas and 34 SADAs, 3,833 are in Shimla alone. The number of such structures in Kangra is 1,383, 1,111 in Mandi, 1,003 in Solan, 901 in Kullu, 853 in Sirmour, 794 in Hamirpur, 368 in Bilaspur, 125 in Una and 79 in Chamba district. The problem is grave in the case of structures which have violated the five-storey limit and have raised more floors. "Under no circumstances can the buildings exceeding five storeys be compounded and as such there is a possibility that the area built in excess of the permissible limit could be vested with the government," said a senior official. He said since demolition was practically ruled out, another
way out was to put to use this excess built-up area by vesting it with the government. governments have been very lenient as far as dealing with unauthorised constructions is concerned. The policy of disconnecting the water and electricity connections of buildings constructed in violation of the TCP regulations has also not been enforced strictly. Even though a state-level committee headed by the chief secretary has been constituted to deal with the problem of unauthorised constructions and ensure that the water and electricity supply to such illegal structures is disconnected, there has not been much impact. Despite the committee directing that action be taken against the officials who had approved the water or electricity connections for such illegal structures, the orders have not been complied with. |
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BJP failed to deliver goods: Virbhadra
Baldwara (Mandi), March 19 At a public gathering here today, he gave Rs 12 lakh for a first referral
unit (FRU) and Rs 18 lakh for a school building. He charged that senior BJP leader Prem Kumar Dhumal and Ishwar Das Dhiman, an MLA from Bhota, could not provide water in their own constituencies. "The Congress government is providing water in Bamsan and the Bhota areas through the state's largest drinking-water scheme, which will be completed by the end of this year", he said. He said the BJP did not start new pension and did not fulfill promises made to homeguards, and poor and socially deprived sections during its rule. "We are giving pensions worth Rs 60 crore to over 28,000 persons through money orders that costs Rs 2.5 crore every year" he added. Urging the panchayat pardhans, mahila mandals and social workers to identify poorest among poor within the antodya, below the poverty
line (BPL) families, the OBCs and other socially deprived sections in each village and recommend their names to the department so that these neglected people could get social justice. He admitted that rising prices needed urgent measures and the government had taken a historic decision to distribute subsidised wheat, rice, oil and pulses to all ration cards holders, including all socially deprived sections. |
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Team forced to abandon land inspection
Sundernagar, March 19 Earlier, a team of officials was to conduct joint inspection of land tomorrow. Those whose land was to be used for the cement project were not given any information about the joint inspection. However, as news spread about the inspection, it was preponed and fixed for today. Officials of the joint inspection team belonged to the revenue, forest, PWD, I & PH electricity, pollution control board and the cement project. The team members tried to reason with the agitating mob but the residents of Khatrawari declared that they would give even an inch of land for the project. They demanded the setting up of a tourism project in Sundernagar. The agitators, led by Col B.S Raghwa, U.S. Sen (president and secretary,
respectively, of pariyavaran sanrakshan samiti, Sundernagar), Surinder Kumar, president, Kharwari sangharsh samiti, Keshari Lal , among others, took out a procession, raising slogans against the cement mafia. |
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Navratras on, pilgrims throng shakti peeths
Kangra, March 19 Temple officer
R.S. Sharma said pilgrims from Punjab, Rajasthan, UP, Haryana, Delhi,
Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of the country started reaching the town, reciting bajans, vedic hymns and raising slogans 'Jai mata di'. The pilgrims waited patiently for their turn to have a glimpse of the 'pindies' of Goddess Bajjreshwari in the temple. The temple management has established four information centres in the town at the railway station, bus stand , Tehsil Chowk and near the SDM’s office to guide pilgrims. Free langar was on in the temple complex. Harbans Lal Indoria, temple officer, Chamunda temple, said thousands of pilgrims visited the temple too today on the first day of the navratras. Himachal Pardesh is home to four of the country’s 52 shakti peeths. Besides Bajjreshwari temple, the other three shakti Peeths are Naina Devi (Bilaspur), Jawalamuki (Kangra) and Chintpurni (Una). |
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Tender for Chakki bridge work yet to be awarded
Nurpur, March 19 Enquiries revealed that 75 per cent portion of the proposed bridge fell in the Punjab territory, while only 25 per cent of it came in Himachal Pradesh. Before the stone-laying ceremony, pre-qualification of only three builders (based at Hyderabad, Chandigarh and Uttar Pradesh) was done. After shortlisting, only first two were enlisted for screening. According to executive engineer (NH), Jogindernagar division, P.C.
Katoch, the issue of awarding construction work to one of the shortlisted builders has been lying with the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and is in the final stage. He said the new bridge, 30-metre upstream the existing old arch bridge, had been sanctioned by the Government of India and Rs 20.76 crore would be spent on it. “The proposed double-lane bridge, with a span of 521. 30 m, will have integral type piers monolithic super structure,” he added. Commenting on the alleged impatience shown by the state government while laying the foundation stone of the bridge, former Chief Minister and leader of the BJP in the Assembly Prem Kumar Dhumal said the failure of the government to complete even tender awarding formalities of the proposed bridge even after over one month of laying its foundation stone vindicated that the foundation stone had been laid only to benefit the Congress in the Punjab poll where campaigning was in full swing at that time. |
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Tributes paid to Gen Zoravar Singh
Bilaspur, March 19 Addressing a gathering at the General Zoravar Singh anniversary celebration function at
Kalol, 95 km from here, last evening, Thakur said India would always remain indebted to General Zoravar Singh who set up an unparallel example of heroism and boldness and thus saved the country from foreign invaders and made our frontiers safe. He paid tributes to other heroes of the country and Himachal Pradesh, who laid down their lives for the country and also fought valiantly. He said present generation should take lesson from such martyrs and always remain ready to serve the nation. He honoured Paramveer Chakra Sanjay Kumar and sepoy Keshav Chand with the General Zoravar Singh Memorial Trophy, while he also honoured Vijay Kumar, Col Jaswant Singh Chandel, Capt Krishan Chand Sharma, Asha Ram, Sunita Devi, Inder Singh and Rakesh Kumar. Ex-service men officers and jawans urged the government to raise a memorial in honour of General Zoravar singh and also to include a lesson in the school syllabus regarding his life and achievements. Others who addressed the conference, included Lieut-Gen
H.H. Kapoor, Brig B.S. Kanwar, Brig Raghwanand Sharma and Col Jaswant Singh Chandel (all retired). |
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Landslips cut off Kinnaur
Shimla, March 19 The two huge landslides at Pagal nullah and Kaksthal have wiped out about 40 m of the highway. The snow melt had loosened the fragile strata causing the entire hill to slide. The Border Roads Organisation, assisted by the state PWD, was working round the clock to reopen the road. It will take much time as a new formation will have to cut through the vertical hill to restore the road. A sliding glacier has blocked the highway at Nasang, near Pooh. Arvind Sharda , SP, said it could take up to two days to reopen the highway. He said the higher hill ranges received 12 to 15 ft of snowfall over the past one month which had started melting due to a rise in the temperature. Besides avalanches and sliding glaciers, the hills that had been saturated with water had also become prone to landslides at places. Ralli, Bhagat Nullah, Dinku Nullah, Jangi, Purbani and Pangi were some of the blockade- prone points. Brig K.P. Singh, chief engineer of the Deepak Project, said the highway was open up to Powari. There was one major and two small blockades between Powari and Pooh. He said efforts were on to open the road for light vehicles by the evening. There were about 12 blockade points on the highway but at six places the road was being blocked repeatedly. |
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Threat to ‘gherao’ CM
Hamirpur, March 19 This threat was issued on Monday when the members of the union had assembled here to present a memorandum to the Chief Minister through the divisional forest officer (DFO), Hamirpur. The union has made it clear that they would intensify their agitation after April 30. They have alleged that not only has the government failed to appoint an officer to provide information to the higher-level committee appointed by the Supreme Court, the desired information has also not been given yet, they added. As many as 319 saw mills in Hamirpur district were sealed on the orders of the Supreme Court about two years
ago. The saw millers and workers have been agitating and pleading to reopen these units, as it is bread and butter of thousands of workers. The union is also critical of the state government in this issue, since it has allegedly failed to provide information to the committee formed on the direction of the Supreme Court to look into the matter in order to restart the sawmills. CITU leader Kashmir Singh who is spearheading the agitation of the saw millers talking to The Tribune has confirmed the intensification of this agitation and said “We will ‘gherao’ the Chief Minister and other ministers during the Hamirpur parliament be-election, if our demands are not fulfilled by April 30.” |
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BSNL subscribers of Sirmaur a harried lot
Nahan, March 19 Repeated complaints to the authorities concerned seem to have fallen on deaf ears. The subscribers undergoing the ordeal have to pay even for the calls that get snapped in between. One has to dial a number repeatedly to connect to even a local number, sources say. The government-run telecom giant is far behind many private companies when it comes to providing quality service, opines
S.Saini, in charge of Harish Airtel Communications, Pucca Tank, Nahan. At many places like Renuka, Bhujal
(Rajgarh) and Peruwala (Paonta Sahib) signal of the BSNL is either not at all available or is of very poor quality. General manager of a spinning and weaving mill at
Kala-Amb P.J. Lodha said the BSNL signal in the area was minimal. SDO in charge of BSNL office Upender Pathak said the authorities were aware of the problems being faced by the subscribers, but could not do anything immediately as their network came into being after many other players were already thriving in the field. |
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No violent protests in varsity: HC
Shimla, March 19 The court has also laid down guidelines under which protesters have been debarred from entering the administrative block of the university, the office of the vice-chancellor and the office of the controller of examination. They have also been directed to keep away from the library and hostel buildings. Agitators will have to remain at least 200 m away from these buildings. The court has further directed that the agitators should not prevent any student from attending classes during the course of their protests. The court said these bodies could raise their legitimate demands in a peaceful manner but not in a manner that disturbed the academic atmosphere on the campus. These interim directions were passed by a division bench headed by Mr Justice Deepak Gupta on a petition filed by a PhD student, Anjana Chauhan, wherein she alleged that these protest and violence spoiled the academic atmosphere on the campus. She had prayed that protests be banned on the university campus. The case will come up for further hearing on March 28. |
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Gunshot claims life
Nahan, March 19 According to Paonta police station SHO Narvir Rathour, Sanjeev Kumar was the son of Prem Chand of Bherewala village. Prem Chand, posted as a home guard at Nahan, had just left for his duty when the incident took place. Prem Chand’s younger son, Sunil Kumar, his daughter and wife were present at home when the incident took place. Sanjeev Kumar received bullet injuries in the chest and the back and died. There was reportedly a quarrel in the family and Sunil was trying to snatch the gun from the hands of Sanjeev just before the gun shot was heard, he added. The SHO said Sanjeev was undergoing treatment for some psychiatric ailment for the past few months. |
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CEC Job Fest Baddi, March 19 The students demanded an inquiry into the matter. The students were not allowed for interview for their college had not registered for the fest. The cell had put up a notice at the institute asking the students to reach Landran on March 16 for the interview. The students kept waiting at the fest for seven hours, but at around 4 pm executives of Satyam Computer Services told them that they were not eligible for the interview. Meanwhile, Dr R.C. Bahl, principal of the institute, said the matter would be put before the institute management. Following his assurance, the students ended their protest.
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Lawyers seek HC Bench
Dharamsala, March 18 As a result of which, normal work of the district courts has been paralysed. Hearings in hundreds of cases were being postponed daily to other dates, affecting the common people involved in legal cases and also the under trial inmates. The lawyers have also handed over a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister through the DM demanding setting up of a Circuit Bench, early this week. The local lawyers have been putting forward their demand for over 30 years now. In the year 1978, the then Chief Minister Shanta Kumar had accepted this demand, but did not continue as the Chief Minister for long, therefore, necessary steps could not be initiated at the government level. |
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Advocates’ welfare benefit hiked
Shimla, March 19 Under the new schedule, the amount payable has been almost doubled. Chairman of the Bar Council of Himachal Pradesh Ramakant Sharma said the council would organise a meeting of the representatives of all Bar associations of the state on March 25 at Bilaspur to discuss and deliberate upon the suggestions received from the parliamentary standing committee regarding proposed amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). He said a subcommittee of the Bar had recommended to obtain accidental insurance cover of Rs 2 lakh for every advocate for which half of the premium would be paid by the council and half by the advocate concerned. |
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Consumers must avail legal aid: judge
Bilaspur, March 19 Chaudhary said consumers should be ready to protect their rights by being vigilant, while purchasing anything or paying for any service so that and they could get full compensation for any faulty service or defective commodity by pursuing the matter in the Consumer Forum. |
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118 liquor vends allotted
Hamirpur, March 19 As many as 786 persons had applied for 44 liquor vends in the district, the allotment was finalised by a draw of lots. Chamba:
As many as 74 out of 92 units of English wine and country liquor in the district have been allotted to applicants from whom the government would get a revenue of Rs 13.15 crore during the ensuing fiscal year. According to official sources, 921 applications had been received by the Excise Department for the sale of 74 units. But applications were still in the waiting for 18 units which were operating in Bharmour, Tissa, Chowari and Dalhousie, sources said. they added that the sale of these units was kept pending. |
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Residents of Khatrawari village, which has been selected for a cement plant, did not allow a team of government officials to conduct joint inspection of about 1,200 bighas of land.
