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Plan for service tube with Rohtang tunnel
School board to give 56 scholarships
Dollar dreams catch the fancy of HP youth, too
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Chocking of Drainage
Hydel projects: Montek approves of bidding process
Demand for trauma centre at Mandi in limbo
Need for trauma centre at Nurpur
5 towns on urban data bank
All’s not well over well water
Assistance sought for projects
Landslide hits power production
DIET principals told to mark agitators absent
MC chief’s poll postponed
Girl molested
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Plan for service tube with Rohtang tunnel
Shimla, September 6 This was stated by Virbhadra Singh at a meeting with the director-general of the Border Roads Organisation, Lt-Gen K.S. Rao, who called on him here today. “The double-laned tunnel tube would help in maintaining connectivity of the Lahaul valley with the rest of the world round the year, besides maintaining supplies for the defence forces on the border,” he said. The Chief Minister said that the tunnel, to be completed by 2013, would be an important link for sending defence supplies. “The service tunnel would protect the main tunnel from radiation and other invisible impacts and also facilitate the repair and maintenance activities,” he said. The state government could consider sharing the financial burden of the service tunnel after examining all aspects. He advised the Border Roads Organisation authorities to carry put construction work on the tunnel from both sides with the help of modern mechanical devices so that it was completed before the targeted time. “Since the area has limited working season the authorities need to plan ahead of the working season and an experienced company must be entrusted with the task,” he said. Virbhadra Singh expressed concern over the poor condition of border roads under BRO control. “The BRO must pay more attention towards maintenance and upkeep of the roads in the border areas as even the state government was spending from its budget on restoration of the damaged roads. “Our government has moved the case for taking back the Tandi -Killar road from the control of the DGBR in view of its poor maintenance,” he said. He said good roads and round-the-year connectivity was very important for the Lahaul and Pangi valleys as it was essential for them to transport their produce like off-season vegetables to the market. General Rao said that the global tenders for the Rohtang tunnel had attracted 13 multinational companies out of which eight were being scrutinised so that work could be started at the earliest.
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School board to give 56 scholarships
Dharamsala, September 6 Talking to the mediapersons here today, chairman of the board B.R. Rahi said the board had constituted the Dr. Radhakrishan Trust with a corpus fund of Rs. 20 lakh to provide scholarships to 56 needy, meritorious and physically challenged school students of the government and private affiliated schools every year. He said that 14 students each would be selected from the middle, matric, 10+1 and 10+2 classes every year and would be provided a scholarship of Rs. 1,800, 2,700, 3,000 and 3,000 per year, respectively,. In all classes, 90 per cent of the scholarships would be provided to the needy and meritorious students while 10 per cent to the physically challanged, blind, deaf and dumb students, he said. Interestingly, provisions have been made in the trust rules that the corpus fund would not be utilized at any point of time. The interest gained from it would be utilized for giving scholarships and further efforts would be made to raise more money to increase the corpus fund so that the number of scholarship beneficiaries could be increased in the coming years, he said. Rahi further said the board had decided to wave off the examination fee and provide free books/educational material to the school-going children of the victims of natural calamities. In order to select the beneficiaries, the board has written letters to all MLA’s irrespective of their political affiliations to send a detailed report of the children of the victims of their respective areas who need help so that the board can extend the benefit to them, he added. In another significant decision, the education board has decided to honour 10 outstanding teachers, five each from the government and private affiliated schools every year, on Teachers’ Day with a cash award of Rs 10,000 each and an appreciation letter. “This will boost the morale of the teaching community who serve the state with dedication, even in the far flung remote tribal areas of the state”, he said.
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Dollar dreams catch the fancy of HP youth, too
Jalandhar, September 6 Senior vice-president of the Lok Bhalai Party (LBP) Avtar Singh Mullanpuri said while it was common to hear about Punjabi boys crying for help, now an increasing number of SOS were being received by them from persons stranded abroad from far-flung areas of Himachal. He was in the city to present a group of 19 persons rescued from Kuwait and Dubai. Many of them narrated their experiences and reasons to go abroad. Sandeep from Nagrota Surian said the best option was to go abroad given the unemployment rate and the chances of any meaningful livelihood here. “Moreover, the success stories of many Punjabis were a motivation although we also hear and read about the tragedies and the risk involved,” he added. Sukhdev from Daroh said his family was faced with a financial crunch and he saw no scope here. “An agent assured me of a good salary if I could pay Rs 1 lakh to him to go to Kuwait. The family somehow arranged the money, but my world has been shattered now. How am I going to repay the debt,” he lamented. Mullanpuri said the government should make efforts to bring back more than 100 youth who were facing starvation and threat to their lives in Dubai and Kuwait. It is high time the government stopped loot by travel agents, he added. He said they had received a fax from 107 youths from Kuwait and 70 from Dubai narrating their tale of woe. Most of them had paid huge amounts to go abroad but had been held captive by their employers immediately after their landing there. “We were tricked by Chandigarh-based licensed manpower provider M/s JM Overseas that promised us good pickings in Kuwait. Our company was to provide us boarding and lodging besides 500 dinars per month as salary. On reaching there, we were given 10 dinars each and after that we were denied food and whipped for refusing to work,” they alleged. While they were fortunate enough to be back, the condition of many others was miserable. |
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Row rages among three depts
Ashok Raina
Kangra, September 6 The row began over the cleaning of the main drainage along the Dharamshala road in the town between the local municipal council (MC), the IPH Department and the national highway authorities .The executive officer of the local municipal council has issued a notice to the executive engineer, National Highway, at Hamirpur to get the drainage cleaned immediately as it was posing a threat to the health of the people living in the area. Executive officer Des Raj Chaudhary said it was the IPH Department that carried out the work of laying of the pipes along the road for the sewerage system and filled up the adjacent 4-feet-deep drain during the process. He alleged that unused pipes were rusting in the drain which should have been removed. Chaudhary charged the IPH authorities for not removing the unused pipes and the national highway authorities for not removing debris from the drain. The unused pipes were rusting in the drains in the town for the past six months with the IPH Department keeping quiet over the damage being caused to the government property. Kangra IPH SDO R.K.Sharma said he had been issuing letters to the contractor to remove the unused pipes from the site but they have not been removed from the site yet. Sharma said the IPH executive engineer too has written to the contractor for the same. The IPH Department has stopped the sewerage work till the monsoon is over but has not removed the rusting pipes in the drains and on the road sides. National highway executive engineer Satish Nag at Hamirpur said the drainage was constructed in order to safeguard the national Highway-88 passing through the town, but to clean, it was the responsibility of the MC. He, said in the public interest, the department was waiting for the pipes to be lifted from the drain by the IPH Department and then alone it could get it cleaned. Nag said in Hamirpur, Nadun and Ghumarwin such drainages moving along the same national highway were being cleaned by the local municipal committees. The locals said as the drainage was not being cleaned it was becoming a health hazard for the people of the town.
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Hydel projects: Montek approves of bidding process
Shimla, September 6 Apart from the huge amount of money the state was securing through the bidding process based on upfront premiums, the commission was impressed by the policy of free power as royalty to the state. Projects of over 100 MW are being assigned to the independent power producer (IPPs) quoting the highest upfront premium and agreeing to give 12 per cent of the total power generated free of cost as royalty for the first 12 years, 18 per cent free power for the next 18 years and 30 per cent free power for the remaining period. Deputy chairman of the commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, who was in the city to deliver a lecture at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, said that the fact that the IPPs were willing to give up to 30 per cent power free of cost as royalty, besides upfront premiums indicated that hydroelectric projects were a lucrative proposition. The commission would advise others to follow suit and take advantage of the emerging competitive environment in this vital sector. He was also appreciative of the government’s decision to enact the Private Universities Establishment and Regulation Act to facilitate the setting up private universities in the hill state. Most of the other states were far behind in this area and had adopted a negative attitude. In fact, some private players who were keen to set up universities had been frustrated by bureaucratic hurdles to such an extent that they were now planning to set up their institutions in countries like Singapore, Taiwan and China. The state government impressed on Montek Singh Ahluwalia that it would be able to achieve a growth rate of 9 per cent if the Planning Commission provided enhanced untied grants in the shape of special financial assistance. It also took up the case for funding of the Rs 540-crore gravity scheme to supply water to Shimla from Chanshal by laying a 180-km pipeline. The government emphasised that the project was feasible in view of the fact that at present over Rs 40 crore was being paid as electricity charges for pumping water from various sources to meet the demand. As the gravity scheme will not involve any pumping the electricity thus saved, if supplied to the industrial sector, will fetch the state power board over Rs 100 crore. Ahluwalia asked the government to submit the proposal along with a detailed project report and assured that appropriate action would be taken after studying the feasibility. |
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Demand for trauma centre at Mandi in limbo
Mandi, September 6 Though a team from Shimla inspected the hospital a few months ago for the trauma centre, there had no progress on this front since then. The patients do not get round-the-clock emergency services in the zonal hospital here, particularly during odd hours. “The hospital has no equipment like ventilator. Even an odd monitor and a defibrillator meant to provide critical care run out of order very often”, insiders said. The recent visit to the hospital by this correspondent at night revealed that patients who were rushed in at the zonal hospital found it difficult to locate a doctor on emergency duty during night, leave alone getting the essential tests and other facilities in the hospitals. There are no facilities for x-ray and ECG here during emergency hours. “Patients have to hunt for the men on duty deputed by the Red Cross Society in the hospital during odd hours. It charges Rs. 50 and Rs 35 for ECG and X-ray respectively. In fact, zonal hospital provides no such facilities beyond 12 noon, revealed insiders. “This is very taxing and fatal for patients if they have to first locate a doctor, then ECG and X-ray men on the premises during night, rued Devinder Singh, a resident of
Sarkaghat. The four-year-old Rahul, alias Dinesh, from Sarkaghat, was referred to IGMC Shimla on August 29 as there was no ventilator available at Sarkaghat and zonal hospital Mandi. Rahul succumbed to brain encephalitis on August 29 when the private vehicle carrying him got stuck in the traffic jam for two hours caused by rallies held by the BJP and the Congress in front of Vidhan Sabha that day, rued family members. The need for the trauma centre is felt here as accident victims are rushed in from all corners of the district. Mandi CMO Dr D.K. Arora said the hospital had necessary supporting infrastructure like a blood bank and a trauma ward and needed the dedicated staff for the purpose. The centre will provide round the clock ECG, X-ray and other facilities. The health officials however said since the two trauma centers are already being set up at regional hospital, Kullu and at the district hospital, Bilaspur thus the proposal for Mandi has been shelved as Mandi is located within a distance of 75 km from both sides. The matter is still under consideration, they added. |
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Need for trauma centre at Nurpur
Nurpur, September 6 It is pertinent to mention that the opening of the centre on the premises of the 100-bedded civil hospital here will cater to Kangra and Chamba districts as it will be centrally located for both districts. Inquiries revealed that a proposal for setting up a trauma centre at Nurpur at a cost of over Rs 1 crore had been submitted to the Union Transport and Highways Ministry through the State Health Department last year, but nothing had been done so far. Regrettably, there is no trauma centre in Kangra and Chamba districts. The rise in road mishaps is attributed to the frequent use of goods carriers for transporting people but the transport authorities remain a silent spectator. Moreover, there is no check on the overloading of vehicles in the area.
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Sanawarians win biz quiz
Sanawar, September 6 The winning team comprised Priyam Patel, Suneet Giani, Simarpreet Arora and Raghu Goel followed by Hansraj Public School, Panchkula which was represented Aruj Garg, Karanvir Sofat, Sachin Sharma and Dhir Modi. St. Stephen’s School, Chandigarh, came third was represented by Abhishek Bhardwaj, Aditya Verma, Kamil Bhullar and Karanveer Thakur G.D. Birla Memorial School, Ranikhet stood fourth had Shiva Gupta, Gopi Kedia, Rahul Aggarwal and Miraj Patel representing it. It was a thumping victory for The Lawrence School. The teams scores at the end of the quiz was as follows: The Lawrence School, Sanawar — 235 points; Hansraj Public School, Panchkula — 115 points; St. Stephen’s School, Chandigarh — 80 points and G.D. Birla Memorial School, Ranikhet — 70 points. In the quiz there were 3 rounds — make or break round clue round and the rapid fire round. Questions were asked from 6 main categories: inventions and technology, advertising and brands, bosses and babus, Chak De India, mixed bag, entertainers. Quiz master, Chitranjan Agarwal was roped in from Chandigarh, especially to test the participants. Hero Motors MD Pankaj Munjal was the chief guest. He is an old Sanawarian himself. He gave away the prizes to winners. In his address, he fondly remembered the school, its values and the serene natural surroundings. He motivated students to come up with new ideas, be passionate about their work, take calculated risks to move ahead and to always remember the school motto ‘Never give in’. 12 schools participated in the contest. They were G.D Birla Memorial School, Ranikhet; Hansraj Public School, Panchkula; Mayo College Girls’ School, Ajmer; Mayo College Boys’ School, Ajmer; Mussoorie International School, Mussorie; Pinerove School, St. Stephen’s School, Chandigarh; The Sagar School, Rajasthan; Welham Girls’ School, Dehradun and Lawrence School, Sanawar. The quiz was organised for the third time at the Lawrence School by the commerce faculty. Praveen Vasisht from The Lawrence School, Sanawar, expressed happiness with the school’s preparation for the business quiz. Brig. I.S. Cheema, chairman, Academic Council, gave a vote of thanks.
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5 towns on urban data bank
Shimla, September 6 Colonial townships of Shimla and Dharamsala and the princely towns of Nahan, Mandi and Solan are among 183 towns of the country that have been selected for the project being funded by the Union Ministry of Urban Development. The state has already received Rs 75 lakh from the Centre. Its own share will be Rs 30 lakh. The Survey of India will provide maps and all details, including physical structures as well as underground infrastructure like sewerage and cable network, to be incorporated in the data bank. “The Survey of India will use satellite imagery, aerial photographs and other sources to get even the minutest details so that these can be synchronised and linked with the national urban data bank,” a senior official said. “Satellite images on a 1:1,000 scale will be taken so that even the minutest of details are included and a ready data bank is available to all government agencies,” officials said. Town planners and municipal functionaries are involved in the project. The project is likely to be over in a year.
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All’s not well over well water
Nurpur, September 6 They submitted a written complaint to the local SDM today against the upper caste members alleging that they were not allowing them to take water from the village common well forcing them to consume contaminated water from the seasonal rivulet. They said abusive language was used against Dalits when they happened to take water from the village well. Even their filled pitchers were broken by upper caste members. They said they also perceived threat to their lives. The complainants, Dharam Pal, Pratap Singh, Karam Chand and Kashmir Chand, have also submitted a certificate of the local gram panchayat vindicating their allegations. A panchayat resolution said members of upper castes had been asked to allow taking water from the well, but they did not abide by the order. Nurpur SDM Inder Bhardwaj confirmed the receipt of a joint complaint by Dalit families and added the same had been forwarded to the DSP for further investigation and action.
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Assistance sought for projects
Shimla, September 6 Interacting with vice-chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia and member of the commission B.S. Mungekar during an informal meeting here last evening, he said the state was in the process of strengthening infrastructure for which vast sum of money was required. The commission could help the state in achieving the objective, he added. The commission must take into consideration the reality that developmental needs of hills could not be gauged relying on parameters adopted for other states. Himachal had been spending more money on development activities compared to neighbouring states and the commission must support its endeavour by way of liberal financial grants. Maximum equity participation was being ensured in the projects, besides free power, attractive rehabilitation and land compensation to the people.
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Landslide hits power production
Dharamsala, September 6 The 12-MW Baner hydro power being run by the state electricity board was forced to shut down due to the damage caused by the landslide. Talking to The Tribune executive engineer of the state electricity board Bhupesh Uppal, who is the in charge of the power project said the landslide struck the control room at about 2.15 pm in which the 6-inch concrete roof of the control room collapsed. He said two of their regular employees Thakur Das and Ramesh Chand were buried alive but timely rescue operation saved their lives. Jia village gram sabha pradhan Jhunfi Ram said he along with few of his colleagues reached the spot immediately after coming to know that few employees of the electricity board were buried and helped in carrying out the rescue operation. After rescuing them from under the debris, they were immediately rushed to the Dr. Rajendra Prasad Medical College and Hospital at Dharamsala, where their condition was said to be out of danger. |
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DIET principals told to mark agitators absent
Solan, September 6 The JBT trainees have been agitating for around a week against inclusion of a stringent service condition of remaining on contact for the first five years. The current batch is slated to complete its two-year training soon after which they were awaiting grant of regular jobs in government primary schools. This condition has, however, offset their plans of getting regular employment. It is for the first time that the state government has imposed such a condition for the passing out trainees. |
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MC chief’s poll postponed
Mandi, September 6 Chief executive officer-cum-SDM Sadar Arun Sharma had called the meeting of the council to elect the new president, but only one of the 13 elected councillors turned up for it. The meeting was later postponed for Saturday. Insiders said it was a pre-planned move of three opposing groups of councillors not to attend the first meeting.
— TNS |
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Girl molested
Kangra, September 6 Additional police chief Prem Lal said the victim was on her way to school this morning in Chokta village, when a boy identified as Amit, alias Meetu (15), resident of the same village, molested her. |
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