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Housing policy to rein in haphazard growth
Mayoral Poll
McLeodganj Blast
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Rupa, Lux Cozy served notices
Woman dies, FIR filed
Dowry claims another life
Villagers resent erratic water supply
Major fire around IAF station
11 held for assault on cops
Baddi
Fire
Ultrasound clinic sealed
CID help to check female foeticide
CM should quit: BJP
Include cash crops for cost estimates: VC
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Hottest night in Shimla
Shimla, June 7 The minimum temperature (18.7°C) was 2.7°C above normal, while the maximum (28.1°C) was 4.1°C above normal. However, the record as regards the hottest night in the town remained at 22°C, recorded in 2001, Shimla Met Office director Manmohan Singh said. He said the minimum and the maximum temperature in the town were set to rise further tomorrow with the monsoon likely to reach the state only by June 20. The minimum temperature at Sudernagar soared to 20.7°C, followed by 30.5°C at Nahan, 22.5°C at Palampur, 22°C at Una, 21.8°C at Dharamsala and 19°C at Solan. Una was the hottest in the state with the maximum temperature around 41°C, forcing the people to remain indoors during the day. Sundernagar was hot at 38.9°C, while the maximum at Bhuntar rose to 36, 34°C at Dharamsala and 25.1°C at Kalpa in Kinnaur district. DHARAMSALA: It is not the right time for those who are living in the plains to come over on a trip to the most sought after hill station of Dharamsala situated in the foothills of mighty Dhauladhars in order to get a respite from the ongoing heat wave. There has been a sudden rise in the temperature with blistery weather conditions prevailing here over the past few days. On Thursday, the town recorded season’s highest temperature touching 36°C. There has been a variation of around 10°C of temperature showing an upward graph over the past 10 days. Weather experts were of the view that the prevailing temperature conditions were likely to continue for a few more days, may be until the onset of pre-monsoon showers. Meanwhile, the tourists who had already come over here preferred to stay in the uphill areas at McLeodganj, where the daytime temperature remains slightly less than the lower hill areas in the main Dharamsala town. During afternoons, most of the tourists and local people throng the nearby natural waterfall and enjoy taking a bath in the chilled water to beat the heat. Evenings are pleasant at McLeodganj and one can see hundreds of tourists, mainly foreigners, enjoying a walk or sitting in the open enjoying a cup of coffee or tea in the market and on the Bhagsu temple road. On the other hand, agricultural experts say the sudden rise in temperature, followed by a dry spell for the past few days, had adversely affected the growth of vegetables, fruits and the plantation of paddy in the low-lying areas around Dharamsala. The flow of water in the natural channels had also decreased drastically.
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Housing policy to rein in haphazard growth
Shimla, June 7 The Housing Department and the Himachal Urban Development Authority (HIMUDA) are in the process of finalising the H.P Housing and Habitat Policy, 2007. The policy will specially focus on eco-friendly construction and planned and regulated development. As per HIMUDA estimates, there is a backlog of almost 12,000 houses with a shortfall of about 9,900 houses in the rural areas. With almost 90 per cent rural population in the state, there is a greater backlog in villages and smaller towns. Even as the housing and habitat policy is in the process of formulation, concern is being expressed over the unregulated corridor development in certain parts of the state. This kind of unregulated and haphazard growth in areas witnessing a boom is likely to hamper further planned expansion. It is along the Sundernagar-Mandi-Kullu highway, Parwanoo-Solan-Shimla and Kangra areas that there has been unprecedented construction activity giving rise to corridor development. “The housing policy will pay special attention towards this unhealthy trend of corridor development so that further planned growth is not hampered,” said a senior official. Decongestion of the overcrowded towns will also be one of the priority areas. The towns falling in this category include Shimla, Solan, Mandi, Chamba, Parwanoo, Ghumarwin and Poanta Sahib. The decongestion would be undertaken strictly in accordance with the master plan and in some of the old towns the reconstruction of old and dilapidated houses could also be undertaken. The housing and habitat policy will also explore the possibility of setting up satellite townships.
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Mayoral Poll
Shimla, June 7 Secretary of the state BJP H.N. Kashyap said today that by rejecting the candidature of BJP councillor Manju Sood for the post of mayor, the Congress had proved that it was anti-women. “Though the post of mayor as per the roster this time should have been reserved for women how could the candidature of Manju Sood be rejected simply on the plea that women do not fall under this category even if the post was for the general category,” he said. Kashyap said s Manju Sood’s papers for the post of mayor were rejected and finally she had to contest for the post of deputy mayor. “Our legal cell is already examining the issue and soon we will be moving court,” he informed. He added that section 14 to 18 of the Constitution guaranteed equal rights to all. He said section 15 of the Constitution guaranteed that there would be no discrimination on the basis of religion, caste, colour, region or sex. by rejecting the candidature of a woman for the post of mayor the Congress had violated section 243 T (4) of the Constitution. |
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McLeodganj Blast
Dharamsala, June 7 Meanwhile, the police which has registered a case under the Explosives Substances Act was waiting for the forensic report to proceed further. Many persons, including the two injured women and other Tibetans, have been questioned. Meanwhile, the district administration has tightened security around the main secretariat of the Tibetan government-in-exile housing the office of the Prime Minister. |
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Rupa, Lux Cozy served notices
Dharamsala, June 7 The department had seized the packed packages of some underwears that did not mention the maximum retail price and imposed fine on shopkeepers selling them, besides, sending notices to the said manufacturing companies. Sources said senior officials of the department conducted surprise check on many shops in Kangra and Chamba districts on Wednesday and Thursday and found many irregularities in as many as 27 shops and imposed a fine of Rs 1,14,400 on them. The shops were raided in the markets of Shahpur, Chadi, Garoh, Palampur, Dehra and Nurpur in Kangra district and many places in Chamba district. Irregularities were found in 19 shops in Kangra district and 8 shops in Chamba district, said the sources. Earlier also, the department in association with the Food and Supply Department had raided as many as 200 shops in Kangra and Chamba districts during the past few weeks and penalised at least 50 shopkeepers on having found irregularities.
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Woman dies, FIR filed
Bilaspur, June 7 Her brother Kartar Singh and mother Nirmala Devi have got an FIR registered against her in-laws alleging foul play in Sunita’s death. Sunita, who was married to Brij Lal, had complained to her parents at Gehra village a few days ago that she was being maltreated and being beaten by her
in-laws.
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Dowry claims another life
Kangra, June 7 The parents of the woman alleged that she was tortured and later poisoned by her husband and mother-in-law, the police said here this evening. Kangra district additional police chief Santosh Patial said this evening that Reena Devi (24), a resident of Shoura village near here was admitted today to Dr R.P. Government Medical College, Dharamsala, in a critical condition where she died later in the day. He said the father of the deceased Mangat Ram lodged a report with the local police station today that the husband of the woman and his mother had forcibly administered poison to Reena due to which she died. Patial said Mangat Ram alleged that Reena was tortured by her in laws for dowry and was frequently beaten up and physically and mentally tortured. The police registered a case under Sections 498-A , 328 and 34 of the IPC. Husband Ashok Kumar of the deceased was arrested in this connection. Reena had a three-year-old girl child. The postmortem examination will be conducted tomorrow at Dharamsala.
The police was further investigating the case as the in-laws alleged that Reena had consumed poison on her own.
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Villagers resent erratic water supply
Kangra, June 7 Residents of these villages said they had been running from pillar to post to get their problem redressed, but to no avail. L.R. Sharma, a resident of lower Chahri village, said a few families with political push had been using water pumps on the direct supply lines for the past two years, making rest of the village go without drinking water. He alleged that IPH fitters had caught them red-handed but no action was taken against them due to political patronage. Villagers said the water pressure in the area was extremely low.
Rusted pipes were compounding the problem, they added. The time of water supply was also creating problems. Water was supplied at 1 pm for one hour when most members of 20 families of the village are generally out for work. They have demanded intervention by IPH minister Kaul Singh Thakur into the issue. |
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Major fire around IAF station
Kasauli, June 7 However, the technical area, which houses the radar installation, and quarters were saved as the fire was brought under control within metres of their boundary. With smoke continuing to rise from the villages near the Air Force station, the authorities concentrated their activity to rid the area around their crucial stores and JCO quarters of pine needles today.
The entire forest area around the station had been affected. The fire that started as a crown fire from the hillock below the station assumed an alarming proportion by late night. It was the sudden gush of wind that led to initiation of a crown fire later in the evening. It spread upwards in no time. This led to falling of pinecones from the trees that fuelled the fire, leading to a massive ground fire. A team of forest officials, led by range officer R.S. Thakur, provided technical guidance to the Air Force staff to tackle the fire. 6 houses gutted
Kullu: Six houses, including eight small shops, were gutted at Malana village, the oldest democracy of the world, last night. Two rooms of
Government Primary School there were also destroyed in the fire. As many as 13 persons had minor injuries while one broke his leg fighting the fire. No loss of human life was reported, but six goats were brunt alive in the fire. The
agriculture minister, along with district officials, met the fire victims ordered immediate relief for them. |
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11 held for assault on cops
Nahan, June 7 Addressing mediapersons here today, SP J.P. Singh said the hunt was on to nab another offender who was still on the run. He said he had advised the force to be more vigilant in future as the offenders on that day were equipped with iron rods, pipes and lathis. As regards deteriorating law and order situation, he said more raids would be conducted to ensure that law was respected and maintained.
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Baddi
Fire Baddi, June 7 They further avowed to extend all support to the affected families in rehabilitating them. The mandal further said they would provide free ration to these families apart from holding langar for three days. The local Rotary Club also came out in support of these migrant workers and announced a grant of free utensils to these families. Zila parishad chairman Ramkumar also came forward to extend relief to these displaced families and said he had requested the administration to enhance the ex-gratia relief amount for the family which had lost two minor children from the earlier Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000. He said a request had been made to the private landowner not to charge rent for three months from these families. He further said a minor child, who had shown exemplary courage in jumping into the fire to retrieve currency notes worth Rs 35,000, would be recommended for a bravery award. They would further request banks to exchange these notes for fresh notes if their numbers were visible. The local chemists association has decided to provide free antibiotics to those who had sustained burn injuries while trying to save their household items. Local doctors have also decided to provide free treatment to two seriously injured persons.
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Ultrasound clinic sealed
Kumarhatti, June 7 Dr S.N. Sharma, CMO, Solan, Dr C.L. Bhardwaj, BMO, Nalagarh, Dr Sandeep Jain, radiologist in Zonal Hospital, Solan, and Dr N.K. Gupta raided the clinic and found its functioning against norms of the Act. The health team had earlier warned the hospital management to meet the guidelines under the act on three occasions. The clinic was sealed for violations of different provisions of the act and failure to maintain proper records. |
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CID help to check female foeticide
Shimla, June 7 This was stated by director of health services M.L. Mahajan here today. He was presiding over a meeting of a state-level advisory committee constituted under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). He said surprise inspections would be conducted to implement the mission in a more effective way. Stern action would be taken against ultrasound clinics that were functioning in an illegal manner. A strict watch was being kept on such clinics where sex-determination tests were being conducted. More power would be provided to task forces to check female foeticide in the clinics and services of the CID would be taken to check such illegal practices, he added. He underlined the need for launching a campaign for generating awareness among people regarding female
foeticide. |
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Shimla summer festival ends
Shimla, June 7 Both local people as well as tourists danced to her songs as she started her show with “ vada raha pyar se pyar ka”. In the first round of her show she presented nine songs, including “pal pal” from Munnabhai lage raho, “agar tum mil jao zamana chod denge hum”, “kangana re kangana”, “chini kum” and “jadu hai nasha hai”.In the second round Shreya presented popular songs like “bidi jalaye le”, “barso re megha barso” and “koi nahin hai kamre mein”. It was not just her melodious which won the hearts of the audience but the interesting anecdotes and tit bits of Shreya’s personal experiences kept the audience spellbound.She was all praise for the ‘Queen of Hills’ as she said the place was so beautiful that she felt like settling down here permanently. Her statement that maybe she would meet the man of her dreams in this hill town elicited a loud applause.Though the weather was perfect for a musical evening it was a poor sound system once again which forced Shreya to wind up her show. The sound system was so bad that the show had to be ended abruptly.Governor V.S. Kokje was the chief guest on the concluding function of the five- day summer festival.
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CM should quit: BJP
Shimla, June 7 Addressing a press conference here, state BJP chief Jai Ram Thakur said the verdict given by the electorate in Hamirpur was a clear signal that the Congress had lost the faith and confidence of the people. Admitting that Hamirpur had always been a BJP stronghold he said the Congress had managed to get lead in merely two of the 17 Assembly segments. “Issues like price rise have definitely played a major role in tilting the scales in favour of the BJP but it was the corruption plank played up by the Congress which boomeranged on the ruling party,” he said. The BJP chief said the audio CD’s against the chief minister and his wife certainly had an impact but the Congress misused official machinery to the hilt. “It was only a handful of employees leaders, and not the employees in general, who sided with the ruling party,” he stated. |
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Include cash crops for cost estimates: VC
Shimla, June 7 Speaking at the inaugural function of a two-day regional workshop on the cost of cultivation studies here yesterday, Wilson said the cost of cultivation all over the country collected data only for select crops for which the minimum support prices are fixed by the Centre. Delivering the keynote address, economic and statistical adviser, Department of Agriculture and Cooperation A.K. Neog, expressed concern that while the prices of some agricultural commodities were on the rise, the cost of agricultural crops had fallen despite a surge in the input prices. Madhu Bala, adviser, cost studies, highlighted the need for checking the accuracy and consistency of data. More than 60 participants from Punjab, Haryana, UP, Delhi and Himachal are attending the workshop.
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