Dhumal has no right to accuse Cong: NSUI
Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 16
Sate NSUI president Kewal Pathania today said former Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal had no moral right to accuse the Congress of discrimination as he himself had failed to provide employment opportunities in his hometown of Hamirpur.

Addressing a press conference here today , he said gross irregularities were committed in recruitment by the state subordinate services selection board (SSB) for which its former chairperson, S.M. Katwal, had been convicted in three cases.

He said Dhumal blatantly patronised his own village Samirpur and his Bamsen constituency, as a result of which rest of the four assembly segments suffered.

He said four ministers and three legislators of the BJP had accused Dhumal of discriminating against Kangra district and alleged that candidates from a particular area were being given jobs, adding that the Dhumal government was biased in the allotment of hydroelectric projects.

He said Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had set up the Tanda Medical College and the Vidhan Sabha complex in Kangra and had decided to set up another medical college at Hamirpur.

He said the present government had opened 21 new degree colleges in rural areas of the state and had provided money for creating basic infrastructural facilities like laboratories, hostels and libraries.

Hamirpur, May 16
All 10 nomination papers filed for the Hamirpur byelection were found in order after scrutiny today. The nomination paper of BJP covering candidate Sat Pal Singh was rejected on technical grounds after the nomination paper of party’s principal candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal was accepted, as per the guidelines of the Election commission.

A proposer also raised an objection about not filing full records of criminal cases in the information sheet filed by Congress candidate Ram Lal Thakur in his nomination papers. Returning officer Rajneesh Kumar has asked Ram Lal Thakur to furnish additional information if any about the criminal case mentioned by the proposer

Shimla, May 16
Day turned into night as dark clouds enveloped Shimla and other parts of the state followed by rain, which plummeted the mercury by 4 to 5°C today.

The bright sunny day took a sharp turn in the forenoon with dark clouds enveloping the capital city. Darkness prevailed and it appeared that the day had turned into night.

Shimla recorded over 5 mm rain in the forenoon, met office sources said.

Rain was also reported from other parts of the state.

While Sundernagar recorded 11.6 mm rain, it was 7.8 mm at Bhuntar, sources added.

Manali also witnessed rain.

Shimla that recorded a minimum temperature of 18.7 °C in the morning witnessed a fall of 4 °C after an hour of rain, sources said.

The Met Department attributed rain to crossing of western disturbance over the state. Weathermen forecast more rain in the day. — PTI

Shimla, May 16
The BJP today requested the state Election Commission to look into the allegations of bogus votes made in several wards for the Municipal Corporation poll.

A delegation of BJP leaders met the state election commissioner Rajendra Bhattacharya and requested her to look into the bogus votes made in large numbers. “We brought specific cases of bogus votes having been made with no addresses to her notice and also requested her to get the votes of genuine voters made,” said state unit secretary H.N. Kashyap.

A large number of bogus votes had been made in ward numbers 3,7, 12, 13, 14, 16, 24 and 25. He said votes from serial number 760 to 776 had merely Kaithu written as the address with no specific address and in some cases the address was only AG office.

On the other hand, the requests of some people for making their votes was still pending, Kashyap claimed. “We have requested the Election Commission to scrutinise the voter lists made by the district administration to cancel the bogus ones and get the votes of genuine people made,” he said.

Shimla, May 16
Keen to retain its hold over the local municipal corporation, the Congress has expelled four rebels who have jumped in the fray as Independent candidates but their presence is causing concern to the party.

The Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) has already expelled four party men who are contesting as Independent candidates against the official party nominees as efforts to persuade them to withdraw have proved unsuccessful.

Those who have been expelled include a former councillor, Vijay Chauhan from the Engine Ghar ward, Hari Singh from Tutu, Narinder Thakur from Chamiana and Sushil Chauhan from Khalini. All four are contesting as Independent candidates. Poonam Chauhan who is contesting from the Patiog ward on the BJP ticket too was in the Congress earlier.

The Congress is basically banking on Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh who is spending more time in Hamirpur. “The Chief Minister will be holding public meetings in Nabha, Khalini, Kasumpti, Summer Hill and Sanjauli so that maximum possible wards can be covered,” local MLA Harbhajan Singh Bhajji said.

The Congress at present has 16 councillors in the present MC.

On the other hand, the BJP has not expelled any of the rebels as efforts are on to convince them to retire from the contest in favour of the BJP candidates. Infact, one of them, Rattan Chand Sharma, who was contesting as an Independent from Annadale retired in favour of the BJP candidate. Former Union minister Shanta Kumar will start his campaign tomorrow as he will address two public meetings in Tutu and Boileauganj, tomorrow evening.

During the next two days, he will address public meetings and interact with party workers in Tutikandi, Chamiana, Sanjauli, Summer Hill, Patiog, Nabha and Ramnagar. He is likely to hold a road show on May, 19.

Shimla, May 16
For the first time ever since the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Rules came into existence in 1978, the government has enhanced the rates for the development of land and this was likely to increase the revenue to almost Rs 20 crore.

This will increase the government earning from the present Rs 5 crore to almost Rs 20 crore.

The rates for development of land other than erecting a building within the municipal areas has been fixed at Rs 5 per sqm of plot area and Rs 2 outside the MC area. For the economically weaker sections, having 120 sqm of row or semi-detached plot, the rate within the MC would be Rs 6, while outside would be Rs 3.

In case of low income group, for the 120 to 150 sqm plots, the rate would be Rs 12 within the MC, while Rs 5 outside. In case of medium income group, the rates would be Rs 20 within the MC area and Rs 10 outside. Similarly in case of high income group having plots more than 250 sqm plot, the rate within the MC would be Rs 30 and outside Rs 15 per sqm.

In case of commercial use the rate per sqm would be Rs 60 within the MC and Rs 40 outside in case of units with more than 80 sqms.

The rates per sqm in case of industrial use have been fixed at Rs 20 for the high potential zone comprising Solan and Sirmaur districts. 

Nauni (Solan), May 16
Advocating the need for developing knowledge portals for effective dissemination of information on latest technological advancements to the farmers, secretary of the Department of Agricultural Research and Education and DG, ICAR, Mangla Rai said here today that it was important to provide farm advisory services to the agrarian community.

Speaking at the sixth convocation of Dr Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, he said IT-based support systems should be developed for effective transfer of technology. The food grain cultivation remained limited to 140 million hectares despite best efforts of the government. However, there was a need to enhance the area by at least 2 million hectares in order to provide food security to the burgeoning population. This was despite the fact that India had 51 per cent area under agriculture as against 11 per cent in the world.

He said value-added product development and enhancement in the water productivity were the key areas of focus. He advocated the need for providing more funds to such universities and said the present budget allocation did not suffice to meet the global challenges. He urged the students to provide first-grade services to the agrarian community.

Earlier, vice-chancellor Jagmohan Singh welcomed the chancellor and Governor V.S. Kokje. He said the university had managed to procure 41 research projects worth Rs 1,204.39 lakh in the past two years. He requested Dr Rai to provide Rs 8 crore for the construction of an auditorium.

Kokje conferred degrees on 305 students of BSc, MSc, PhD and MBA (agribusiness) with 48 certificates of honour and 11 gold medals. Sixteen students from Nepal, Vietnam, Bhutan and Sri Lanka were among those who received degrees.

Nahan, May 16
Close on the heels of its victory in UP, the BSP has launched its statewide awareness campaign in Himachal Pradesh from Paonta Sahib.

Under the leadership of BSP general secretary Man Singh Manhera, BSP workers from different parts of the district took out a rally in Paonta Sahib yesterday. Addressing the rally Manhera called upon the workers to prepare themselves for the forthcoming Assembly elections in Himachal. The BSP had decided to contest all t68 seats, said Manhera, amidst the slogans of ‘UP hamari hai ab Himachal ki bari hai’.

Saying that the ultimate goal of the BSP was ‘to capture Delhi’, he levelled several charges of corruption against the UPA government, alleging that the government was patronising corrupt politicians, officers and businessmen.

During the 10-day awareness campaign Manhera would cover more than 5,000 km on foot and address 10 rallies in every Assembly segment. In the first phase of awareness, BSP policies and programmes would be conveyed to the people. The second phase of the awareness campaign would start on June 12.

Mandi, May 16
Though the traders and Gram panchayat Pandoh have demanded a strict disciplinary action against 13 jawans of the 3rd IRB Battalion booked in the case of hooliganism at Pandoh on Monday, but the commandant of the 3rd battalion has come out in support of the jawans, defending them by registering a counter FIR alleging illegal detention of a jawan in plain clothes, which in turn had triggered violence that followed the incident that day.

Normalcy has returned at Pandoh bazaar following assurance given by the district administration to book the guilty. The police today arrested ASI of the 3rd battalion in the case but he was released on bail.

Terming the commandant statement as a ploy to defend the “rowdy behaviour” of the jawans, Pandoh Byopar Mandal president Jugal Kishor and Pandoh gram panchayat pradhan Hans Raj Sharma said, “Jawan was detained after other three of his colleagues had a scuffle with local taxi drivers as they fled from the spot. He was neither roughed up nor beaten and was detained so that he could be taken to the police chowki”.

Sharma said the commandant was saving his skin as the jawans who were armed with lathis thrashed innocent people. “Even pardhan Gulab Singh of the neighbouring panchayat was roughed up as those jawans spared no one. They also hit people with cold drink bottles”, they added. They demanded disciplinary action against the culprits.

On the other hand, 3rd IRB Battalion commandant Asif Jalal said they had registered an FIR against the illegal detention of a jawan by some local residents.

“The jawans were beaten up by the taxi drivers. More jawans went back with an intention to release the jawan who was detained and assist the police post personnel as there were few policemen on duty at that time and residents had blocked the highway”, he claimed.

Jalal claimed that preliminary inquiry has been ordered against five constables and an ASI, who has also got injured in the incident. “Inquiry report has not been submitted to me. The departmental action will be taken against the jawans if found guilty”, he added.

When he was asked as to whether the jawans were deputed to assist the police through a proper permission Jalal replied in the negative.