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Bali vows to fight back
To hire detectives
Effigy burnt
BJP to create 5 dists if voted to power, says Dhumal
Clear stand, says Sat Mahajan
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Pradhan booked for forgery
Hamirpur, August 3 The Vigilance Department here has booked a 78-year-old panchayat president for claiming the freedom fighter’s benefits under forged documents. Acting on a complaint forwarded by the Chief Minister’s office against Ram Lal, who is at present the president of Jahu gram panchayat, the department has formally registered an FIR against him for forgery.
Shimla office delays passports
Srikhand kailash yatra suspended
MC dumping waste in the open
Weather forces CM to cancel Baddi visit
Campaign against female foeticide
2 die as vehicle falls into gorge
Minor girl raped
Phase 2 of HPU at new site: CM
Rs 1,260 cr for tribal development
Five-Year Plan
Bishops’ meet begins today
Exemption to goods carriers
‘Govt befooling dhara owners’
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Bali vows to fight back
Nagrota Bagwan, August 3 He received a warm welcome on his homecoming after meeting senior leaders of the party in New Delhi. A cavalcade of hundreds of vehicles accompanied him to his home right from the state barrier in Una district from where he entered the state. On the way, he paid obeisance at a few temples, including the famous Jawalaji shrine. Thousands of people of his constituency and from other parts of the state gathered at the mela ground here amid rain. When he sought a referendum from the people whether he should resign from the Legislative Assembly, too, people waved hands saying he should remain their representative and fight back to become the Chief Minister of the state. He announced that he would tour the entire state and hold rallies to explain his position on the controversy that led to his ouster from the Cabinet and garner support for a bigger political fight. Ruling out the possibility of quitting from the Congress, he said he would remain in the party as a loyal party worker and try to play a bigger role in the coming Assembly elections. Scoffing at the BJP and his detractors within the Congress, he said he had become victim of a deep-rooted political conspiracy. Kiran Bali, wife of the former minister, said her daughter and son were also present in that party but that fact was intentionally suppressed to target her husband. Bali’s son Raghuvir Singh Bali also addressed the gathering. KANGRA: Former transport and tourism minister G.S. Bali was today received by prominent citizens of the town at Tehsil Chowk on his first visit to his home town after his resignation from the Cabinet following a sting operation by a private news channel. Bali came here on his way to Nagrota Bhagwan. A motorcade of hundreds of vehicles carrying Congress flags accompanied him. Those who welcomed him included V.K. Mahajan, Sangeet Verma, V.K. Pawa, Vijay Sood and Sandeep Mahajan. Some members of the Kangra Bar Association were also present there. However, local MLA Surender Kaku was not present at the Tehsil Chowk to receive him. |
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To hire detectives
Una, August 3 “I will hire a private detective agency to unmask the people who conspired against me by showing a motivated tape on a national TV channel alleging me of organising a vulgar birthday party, said Bali, who received a hero’s welcome here on his way to Nagrota Bhagwan. He said he had consulted top legal experts in Delhi to take legal action against the channel. He said the channel showed clippings of his birthday party organised by his NRI friends on July 26 at McLeodganj in a “selective” manner to “malign me”. “I had gone to the party with my wife, daughter and son and left the venue within 10 minutes after cutting the cake. The channel, through cut-and-paste exercise, showed me dancing with some women which was totally wrong,” he said.
— PTI |
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Effigy burnt
Bharmour, August 3 Tribal leaders of the morcha alleged the “Bali’s birthday ball” episode had desecrated the state known as the land of gods and goddess across the country. The expose was a slur on the Congress, they said. |
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BJP to create 5 dists if voted to power, says Dhumal
Palampur, August 3 Addressing mediapersons at Dehra Gopipur this morning he said more districts meant more development. Justifying the creation of new districts Dhumal said for the union government district was one unit for the allocation of funds for development and more districts could get more funds for the state. He said Kangra was the biggest district but it was lagging in development because the Centre was granting the same amount of funds as small districts like Una and Bilaspur There was no criteria for the area and population for allocation of funds by the Centre. Even though most Congress MLAs had demanded the reorganization of districtsChief Minister Virbhadara Singh was delaying it merely on political considerations as the BJP had initiated this move. Palampur deserved the status of a district keeping in view its area and population. He alleged that the lower areas of the state were getting step-motherly treatment in the field of development. It was evident from the allocation of funds for the IPH Department and the PWD in the last Budget. Dhumal said he had raised this issue during discussion on the Budget in the Assembly but Virbhadra Singh was not ready to listen even a word from the Opposition. |
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Clear stand, says Sat Mahajan
Shimla, August 3 He said Dhumal remained the Chief Minister for full five years but did not create any new district during
his tenure. In fact, he appointed ADMs at several places to hoodwink the people. Now out of power he was again talking of creating new districts. He wanted to know whether it was a decision of the party. He said the BJP had no locus standi to demand action against former tourism minister G.S. Bali as it had failed to act against its own erring minister while in power. He said a minister in the Dhumal government had been involved in a number of unsavoury incidents, including physical assaults on a bus driver and an ex-servicemen but no action was taken against him. The party failed to act against the minister who openly levelled serious charges against Dhumal. He said the BJP was a house divided as was evident from the fact that its top leaders were speaking in different voices. In contrast, the Congress had acted swiftly in such matters. He cited the example of Asha Kumari and G.S.Bali, both of whom had to resign from Cabinet following controversies, in this regard. |
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Pradhan booked for forgery
Hamirpur, August 3 The matter was raised by Desh Bandhu, also a resident of Jahu. In his complaint Desh Bandhu had alleged that though Ram Lal was enjoying the status of a freedom fighter for his imprisonment in Bilaspur jail during the Independence struggle in 1947, he was actually imprisoned in a murder case. It was also mentioned in the complaint that Ram Lal had acquired the freedom fighter’s status through forged documents in 2005 to get various benefits. After investigating the matter, the vigilance team contacted one of Ram Lal accomplice, Moti Ram (82), who lives in Jullandhar. Moti Ram later submitted an affidavit to the team confessing his imprisonment in Bilaspur jail in 1947 along with Khazana Ram, Tulsi Ram and Ram Lal for the murder of four Pathans at Jahu. Ram Lal had prepared forged documents with the help of few residents, misusing the revenue record. Vigilance DSP Roshan Lal Negi said “We have registered an FIR against Ram Lal and would arrest him.” Ram Lal said, “This is a conspiracy hatched by my political rivals against me and the fact is that I have participated in the Independence struggle”. |
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Shimla office delays passports
Chamba, August 3 The applicants of the far-flung corner of the state, who have submitted their passport forms duly filled and completed with all requisite formalities in all respects to the passport office in Shimla through the DC here have been waiting for the past over two months, The officials of the DC office here are also surprised over the delay as they have submitted the forms duly verified as they had earlier been sending to the Regional Passport Office at Chandigarh. They say that Chandigarh Passport Office used to act swiftly and the applicant used to get their Passports within a fortnight. Meanwhile, the Himachal Pradesh Youth Development Federation has resolved to apprise union minister of state for foreign Affairs Anand Sharma of the delay caused and request him to see as to why the passport office was sleeping over the task assigned to it.
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Srikhand kailash yatra suspended
Shimla, August 3 As many as 40 pilgrims from various parts of the state had to return from the Srikhand-Sakranda marg due to heavy snow. The yatra known as the Amarnath yatra of Himachal has been suspended due to heavy snow. The pilgrims are expected to return to Rampur on August 5. Heavy rains in most parts of the state have thrown normal life out of gear even though the state is still 39 per cent deficient of the normal rainfall. Most parts of the state were lashed by intermittent rain with the local meteorological office predicting more showers during the next 24 hours. The state capital recorded 42.8 mm of rain till 5.30 pm today. Shimla which received very little rain during the past three days was lashed by heavy rain throughout the day with nullahs overflowing and minor landslides at a few places. During the past 24 hours, Nahan received 127 mm of rainfall, Renuka -115 mm, Sangrah-70 mm, Pandoh-62 mm, Solan-46.4 mm, Rohru-35 mm, Rampur-32 mm, Jubbal-42 mm. “So far the state has had 39 per cent less rainfall but with the monsoons continuing till September 30, this could be covered,” informed Manmohan Singh of the local meteorological office. He said against a rainfall of 399.7 mm , the state had so far received 242.9 mm, which was 39 per cent deficient.The met office has predicted more rain during the next 24 hours. |
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MC dumping waste in the open
Nurpur, August 3 Inhabitants of this village are up in arms against the MC’s practice of dumping solid waste and garbage in the open. Huge heaps of waste have become a health hazard for them and their cattle. Foul smell emanating from these heaps has made life difficult. The Union Government has reportedly sanctioned Rs 57 lakh for the local MC to spend on the solid waste management project, but the MC has taken a lot of time in finalising the site for the project. Earlier, it had selected a piece of land near Chinva village, but the proposal was scrapped as the ownership of that land was with a panchayat-level forest society. According to MC executive officer M.L. Sharma, the MC had selected around 2,000 sq m land in Ward No. 9 but its ownership was with to the state government. “Now the MC has moved an application to the state government to transfer the ownership of the selected land to the director urban development,” he added. He said the government had given financial approval and earmarked the budget and the construction of the project would be started after the transfer of land. |
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Weather forces CM to cancel Baddi visit
Solan, August 3 The Chief Minister was visiting to chair a meeting of the Baddi Barotiwala Nalagarh Industries Authority. Several bureaucrats, including chief secretary Ravi Dhingra, additional chief secretary, director (industries) Anil Khachi, and as well as regional officials were among those who came. Investors were a disappointed lot as they could not air their grievances with the authorities concerned as the bureaucrats returned soon as it was confirmed that the CM would not be able to turn up. |
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Campaign against female foeticide
Shimla, August 3 Talking to mediapersons here today, he said the law alone was not sufficient to check cases of female foeticide as it was social awareness which could solve the problem. He said as a part of its nationwide campaign against female foeticide, the Art of Living Foundation will be holding a ‘beti sneh sanjivini yatra’ here tomorrow. He said school children and representatives of various voluntary organizations and political parties would be participating in the yatra. He said the foundation had been working on the issue of female foeticide and declining sex ratio for the past three years. He said their foundation was training volunteers who would penetrate right up to the village level so that awareness against female foeticide could be generated. |
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2 die as vehicle falls into gorge
Dalhousie, August 3 According to reports received here today, Satnam of Hoshiarpur was killed on the spot while Bansi Lal of Chamba succumbed to his injures on the way to hospital at Kihar.
— OC |
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Minor girl raped
Kangra, August 3 Kangra additional police chief Santosh Patial said the girl, who was living in a rented accommodation at Nagrota Bagwan, had gone to wash utensils on August 1 when Amarjeet (15), a labourer, dragged her to
an isolated place and raped her. He threatened her of dire consequences if she divulged it to anyone. It was only last evening that the victim narrated her tale of vow to her mother who this morning lodged a report with the Nagrota Bagwan police. While the victim was sent for a medical examination, a case was registered against the accused. |
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Phase 2 of HPU at new site: CM
Shimla, August 3 He laid the foundation stone of the academic block (phase-I) and hostel block (phase-II), to be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 1.71 crore. “The university ranks among the leading institutes in the country where the best educational facilities are made available to the students,” he said. He said one more self-contained block would be constructed for starting a five-year degree course in legal studies on the campus. ‘‘Ava Lodge building would be utilised as the residence of the vice-chancellor of the university,” he said. He assured that funds would not be a constraint in the development of the university. |
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Rs 1,260 cr for tribal development
Shimla, August 3 He was addressing the 38th tribal advisory council meeting here . He said there was no ban on allotment of nautor land in tribal areas and the government would liberally decide all such pending cases on priority and allot maximum land to eligible applicants. He directed the forest authorities to dispose of all forest-clearance cases on priority to pave the way for early allotments. He said the government had carved a tribal sub-plan out of its annual plan and had earmarked 9 per cent of its budgetary provisions for the development of tribal areas. He said Rs 367.33 crore were being spent under the tribal sub-plan during the current financial year while roads under the PMGSY were constructed by spending an additional amount of Rs 99.18 crore. He added that Rs 66.18 crore more were likely to be spent on similar activities in near future. He thanked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for permitting the handing over of the Tandi-Killar road from the GREF to the state government and also providing additional funds for improvement and maintenance of the same. He said new span had been erected for the smooth transportation of essential commodities in Pangi valley that got hampered with washing away of a road near Saach. Arrangement had been made to stock LPG and essential commodities, he added. He said the condition of 35 kg wheat per family had been waived off and now every member would be eligible to draw 16 kg wheat from the depots and stock essential commodities for six months in one go. He said the government was motivating local entrepreneurs to undertake execution of mini and micro-hydel projects in their areas as local people and cooperatives were more responsible socially towards generating power and in delivering quality service to the local people. |
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Rs 110-cr plan for total sanitation
Tribune News Service
Shimla, August 3 Rural development and panchayati raj minister Sat Mahajan said here today that the Centre had already sanctioned Rs 68 crore under the programme for Chamba, Kangra, Hamirpur, Kulu, Mandi and Sirmaur districts. The government would also try to provide sanitary latrines to below poverty line (BPL) families under the programme to make Himachal a model of rural sanitation. Projects amounting to Rs 42 crore had been submitted for approval for the remaining six districts. Since the success of rural sanitation depended on water the government had also come out with an incentive scheme to encourage panchayats to take up water-harvesting projects. Under the scheme the panchayat which harvests the maximum quantity of water would be given a cash reward of Rs 5 lakh. The panchayat which secures the top place at the district level would be given Rs 2 lakh while the best panchayat at the block level would get Rs 1 lakh each. He said the government was also taking steps to strengthen the panchayati raj institutions so that they could properly utilise the funds being made directly available to them for development activities under various schemes. A capacity building project under which training would be provided to panchayat functionaries was being launched with the assistance of the German government which had sanctioned Euro 2 million for the purpose. Panchayat ghars had been provided to every panchayat and computers were being provided in a phased manner. In the first phase, 1,100 of the 3243 panchayats had been given computers. There would be one panchayat secretary for every three panchayats and a junior engineer for 12 or 13 panchayats to ensure proper implementation of schemes. Further, it had been made mandatory for gram panchayats to constitute a works committee, a budget committee and a vigilance committee to ensure transparency in functioning.
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Bishops’ meet begins today
Shimla, August 3 Briefing mediapersons about the conference, Amritsar diocese Bishop P.K.Samantaroy said reservations for Dalit Christians had been attracting attention after the controversy triggered off by the decision of the St Stephan’s College to set apart seats fro Dalits. The matter which was under legal scrutiny would be debated to decide the future course. Referring to the freedom of religion law enacted by the Himachal Government he said the church was not against measures to regulate religious conversions and bring transparency in the process, but it wanted the government to simplify the procedures. He said the council of bishops would take up the matter with Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh during the conference. So far the government had not framed rules under the act. The conference will also focus on issues pertaining to governance and terrorism, besides social issues like creating awareness about AIDS and promoting women self help groups. The objective was to chalk out the role of the church and religious leaders so that a positive contribution could be made in these areas.
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Exemption to goods carriers
Shimla, August 3 The exemption will be operative from August 1 to October 31, 2007. The exemption will be available only to vehicles from Punjab, Haryana, UP, Uttarakkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi and Chandigarh. — TNS |
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‘Govt befooling dhara owners’
Shimla, August 3 State media convener of the party Ashok Kapatia said the government had failed to make alternative arrangements to provide shelter to dhara owners in the town. He accused the Congress of making false promises to dhara owners just before the MC elections that they would not be asked to vacate the land. “It is on the basis of those assurances that the Congress was able to win the MC elections and now once again eviction notices have been issued to them,” he said. |
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