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VHP members block traffic to save Ram Setu
Bali’s men raise slogans outside courtroom
UNESCO team visits Barog tunnel
Police pressure tactics flayed
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Giri water scheme delayed
Hamirpur ZP chief unseated
Ultimatum to withdraw vindictive action
Master plan for Baddi soon: CM
HPU employees hold protest
2 pilgrims die in accident
Man kills wife, commits suicide
Shanta celebrates b’day with poor
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VHP members block traffic to save Ram Setu
Shimla, September 12 The VHP activists along with state BJP chief Jai Ram Thakur, Damodar Dass, MLA, Shimla district BJP chief, R.D. Kashyap and Ganesh Dutt led the protests. Keeping in view the inconvenience being caused to commuters the dharna was ended soon. They demanded that the government must abandon the project so that the ancient Ram Setu can be saved. Nahan: Responding to the ‘Rasta Roko’ call given by the VHP hundreds of VHP workers along with activists of the Bajran Dal, Durga Wahini, Shiv Sena, BJP and other Hindu organizations blocked roads for three hours at several places. In Paonta Sahib hundreds of workers led by Sukh Ram, BJP MLA from Paonta Doon constituency and state president of BJP Kissan Morcha gathered at ‘Y’ point in Paonta town and blocked traffic for over three hours which caused inconvenience to the people. Workers shouted slogans against the Union government and levelled several allegations saying it was working against the interests of the Hindu community and had also filed a false affidavit in the Supreme Court in this regard. HAMIRPUR: Activists of Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Wednesday blocked traffic for about half an hour at Nadaun chowk to protest the proposal of central government to build a bridge through Setu-Samudram project. The activists sat on the road shouting slogans and hampered traffic movement. MANDI: Activists of the Ram Setu Sangharsh Samiti held a protest march and warned the government not to hurt the sentiments of people by dismissing the Ram Setu as fiction. The activists also raised anti-government slogans. Convener of the samiti Yashudharam warned that they would not stop the protest until the government considered its stand on the Ram Setu. The samiti included activists from the VHP, Bajrang Dal, RSS and others. |
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Bali’s men raise slogans outside courtroom
Dharamsala, September 12 As many as 32 pradhans of gram sabhas who came from Nagrota Bagwan, Bali's home constituency, presented a resolution passed in favour of Bali to Justice Garg. They said nothing indecent had happened in the party and opposition parties were unnecessarily raking up the issue. They then moved towards the secretariat raising slogans against the channel and forcibly entered the district magistrate's office. Incidentally, Bali was sitting with the DM in his retiring room. On Bali’s request, the protesters went out of the DM's office. As many as 15 persons, reportedly supporters of Bali, filed affidavits today seeking permission to appear as witnesses. Meanwhile, V.K. Garg, owner of Asia Health Resorts, where the controversial birthday party of Bali was organised and two others, Himanshu Mishra and Ved Chaudhary, recorded their statements before Justice Garg. Garg stated that he was present in the party throughout. It was a family get-together in which no liquor was served to any of the guests from the bar. He said Bali attended the party and stayed there for not more than 20 minutes. Bali's family members including wife, son, daughter and son-in-law, were also present, he said. The alleged that dance girls were wearing normal dresses as per prevailing fashion- mini skirts, jeans etc. He said as claimed by Star News no room was booked by for its reporter in the resort. However, Chaudhary said he did not see Bali dancing with the girls. He said power supply and the cable network were not disrupted in his village but a few of his friends from Kangra and Nagrota Bagwan called him up saying that he should see the whole news item as power supply in their respective areas was cut off. The cable network was also subsequently disrupted, he said quoting his friends. Local advocate Himanshu Mishra revealed the names of 10 prominent persons present in the party, including two IAS officers Subash Chawla and T.C. Janartha. He disclosed the girls were brought from New Delhi in a white Scorpio jeep (DL-8-CL-2223). |
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Lawyer demands security
Local lawyer Himanshu Mishra demanded security, saying that he had received threats soon after recording his statement. Justice Garg asked him to submit in writing the demand for security so that he could recommend it to the local administration. Later, the lawyer gave his request to Justice
Garg. Garg extends time
Justice Garg today extended till September 22 the time for common people to file their affidavits seeking permission to record their statements. The people could file their affidavits before Amrit Lal Sharma, Assistant Commissioner,
Kangra. |
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UNESCO team visits Barog tunnel
Solan, September 12 The tunnel has a special significance as British engineer Col. Barog who was assigned the work of burrowing the tunnel failed to let both the ends open up. It was local resident Baba Bhalku who managed to design its path. The British engineer who was imposed a fine of Re 1 at that time was so frustrated with his failure that he committed suicide at the same spot. The tunnel was later closed down and now the Kalka-Shimla route has barely 102 tunnels. The team visited the longest tunnel No. 33 at Barog and examined its intricacies. The absence of girder bridges was a question of much interest to them. The remaining 866 bridges, representing 3 per cent of the line, carry the rail track over the ravines and from between hill spurs. The team was awe struck at the engineering marvel. They were all praise for the multi-arched galleries, which looked like ancient Roman aqueducts used to take the tracks over difficult terrains. These stone masonry-arched bridges made of limestone, have as many as four storeys, each storey having an arch and each arch having a different configuration. In fact, the Railway authorities are making efforts so that the UNESCO declares three of these bridges - Bridge No. 541 (between Kandaghat and Kanoh), Bridge No. 226 (between Sanwara and Dharampur), and Bridge No. 493 (near Kanoh) - as World Heritage sites. |
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Vintage clock grabs attention
Kumarhatti, September 12 The station staff showed the clock to the team. The clock was dumped in a store and now the station staff has decided to keep it as a heritage thing. The clock was manufactured by J W Benson, London, and was believed to be put up at the railway station in 1903.
— OC |
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Police pressure tactics flayed
Bilaspur, September 12 A meeting of the Bar Association presided over by president Jagdish Ram Sharma also levelled the same charge against police officials. Bar Association secretary Sanjay Sharma said the meeting condemned this practice as it breached the democratic and constitutional rights of an individual who had a right to choose his own counsel. The association has sent copies of this resolution to the DGP and the Bilaspur SP for taking immediate action in getting this practice stopped forthwith failing which the Bar will take affidavits from such aggrieved persons and approach the Bar Council of Himachal Pradesh and the Himachal High Court for legal action against the police officials concerned. |
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Giri water scheme delayed
Solan, September 12 Taking serious note of the delay IPH minister Kaul Singh today said the scheme would be commissioned before October 15 as the remaining work had been made timebound. To add to the delay a crucial bridge located at the main site to facilitate crossing of the pipes developed a crack in one of it’s pier. This has put a question mark over it’s construction quality as it is indicative of a foundation failure. Though the bridge is designed to withstand maximum load and ensure that it could remain safe even at the highest flood level these crucial features appear to have been ignored. The construction of this bridge has been assigned to Hill Constructions and tenders worth Rs 65 lakh were floated by the PWD. |
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Hamirpur ZP chief unseated
Hamirpur, September 12Deputy Commissioner R. Selvam has set aside the election of Zila Parishad (ZP) chairman Sunita Devi.
He passed this order after hearing a writ petition filed by Kusma Devi, who had contested the eligibility of Sunita Devi for contesting from a reserved ward. The DC said in his order that a women candidate for being considered as a reserve candidate has to be from a reserve caste by birth and not through marriage. In the case of Sunita Devi, who was elected ZP member from the Bheed-Bagheda reserve ward in December, 2005, and later went on to become the ZP chairman, is married into a family of a caste covered under the reserve category but her parents are not covered under the same category. Sunita Devi said “I would appeal to the divisional commissioner, Mandi, against the DC’s order.” |
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Ultimatum to withdraw vindictive action
Shimla, September 12 President of the confederation Subhash Sharma said here today that the Virbhadra Singh government had surpassed all records in victimising genuine employee leaders who dared to raise inconvenient issues like corruption, irregularities in appointments and demands of various categories. However, it had taken no action in the “recruitment-on-chits” scam, the payment of illegal commission in the Employees Accident Insurance Scheme, the mysterious death of a DFO who had refused to transfer forest land for an industrial unit and other scandals regarding which it had submitted memorandums right up to the Governor. He alleged that the government was shielding those involved in the “recruitment-on- chits” scam and demanded a white paper on the action taken in the matter. He said Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had been harping on the “hard disk” evidence against BJP leaders in the recruitment scam to mislead the people. If there was concrete evidence then what had stopped him from taking action against them? he asked. Sharma alleged that all appointments made by the Congress government on a contract basis and through the Parent Teachers Associations were illegal as there was no approval of the Vidhan Sabha. The appointments against regular sanctioned posts were being made only to bypass the State Public Service Commission and the State Subordinate Services Selection Board. He rejected the transfer policy being framed by the government, saying that a policy approved in 1979 already existed. Instead the government should frame comprehensive transfer rules that could be enforced strictly. He took exception to the employees’ conferences being organised by self-styled employee leaders at which the Chief Minister was making various announcements. He demanded a CBI inquiry into the funds being collected for such conferences. He alleged that such conferences were being organised to help the ruling party derive political mileage |
Master plan for Baddi soon: CM
Shimla, September 12 The Chief Minister said Rs 25 crore had already been made available to the authorities for planned development activities and infrastructure building. He added that funds would never be a constraint in the implementation of the master plan. “The heavy investments schemed were being proposed under Build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis so that there is no additional burden on the state exchequer and timely services are provided to the people,” he said. He said the centre had acceded to the demand of Himachal and had agreed to lay the Chandigarh-Baddi broad -gauge railway line. “The state government proposes to construct a four-laned road connecting Baddi-Barotiwala with Pinjore for smooth plying of vehicles and easing out the congestion on the road,” he said. |
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HPU employees hold protest
Shimla, September 12 The union has been demanding fulfilment of its long-pending demands as per the recommendations of the Employees Grievances Redressal Committee in June. The employees took out a peaceful march outside the administrative block holding placards. President of the union Waryam Singh Bains said the authorities had till date not affected promotions against the upgraded non-teaching posts as approved by the Executive Council at its meeting held on August 31 last year. Other issues like settlement of pay fixation disputes as per the Atwal Committee report and the EC decision in this regard had also not been settled. |
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2 pilgrims die in accident
Chamba, September 12On their return journey from the Manimahesh pilgrimage, two more youths were killed on the spot when their bike veered off the road and fell into a 70-metre deep gorge near Devidehra on the Chamba-Pathankot highway about 35 km from here last night.
According to the police, the deceased were identified as Yashpal and Bhupendra Singh, residents of Gurdaspur (Punjab). The bodies of the deceased were handed over to their kin after conducting a postmortem. |
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Man kills wife, commits suicide
Nurpur, September 12 According to Baldev Singh, father-in-law of Sanjiv Kumar, the deceased came at 9.30 am and shot Monica dead after which he committed suicide. Monica had taken admission to the NTT course at Nurpur just 15 days back. The bereaved families claimed that there was no tension between the couple which could lead the husband to take such a step. According to information, Monica’s elder sister, Neelam, was married to Sanjiv in 2003. However, after the sudden death of Neelam her parents solemnised the marriage of their younger daughter Monica with him in 2004. The police handed over the bodies to next of kin after conducting a postmortem. A case has been registered. |
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Shanta celebrates b’day with poor
Kangra, September 12 Accompanied by his wife Shalija and son Vikram, Kumar shared his moments of happiness with poor people living below the poverty line. Kumar said, “The mission of my life is to serve Antyodaya people and in the direction of service of the poor and downtrodden I initiated an Antyodaya Seva Yojna in 1977 which the Congress government scraped but I restarted it again in 1990”. He expressed concern over the rich-poor divide in the country and millionaires were becoming multimillionaires while the poor became poorer by the day and blamed the Congress government at the Centre and in the states. Criticizing the UPA government Kumar said terrorism had spread across the country and alleged that poverty and unemployment were pushing the youths to terrorism. He criticized the Congress government and some bureaucrats for amassing wealth by indulging in corruption. He assured people that the BJP would bring back a clean administration if voted to power He said the blankets he distributed were from his income through the royalty of 15 books written by him. Former BJP ministers, MLAs and leaders from all over the district attended the celebrations. |
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