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Power
Project Allotment
McLeodganj
Hotel Row
Restoration of heritage buildings
Sanatorium awaits land demarcation report
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Kaushal appointed state BSP general secretary
Recruitment Scam in Bank
New timings for plying vehicles
No exam duty in one’s school
of posting
Panel to inspect power project site
No anti-incumbency in state: Dhawan
Minor fight turns ugly
Govt fails to utilise industrial package: BJP
‘CM’s declarations hollow’
World Bank okays $200-m loan
‘No going back on metered taxis’
NREGA
Scheme
Plea to stay circular
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Cabinet nod may cost state Rs 130 cr
Rakesh Lohumi Tribune News Service
Shimla, September 26 Allotment of the projects with aggregate generation capacity of 147 MW without competitive bidding will deprive the state of upfront premium to the tune of around Rs 130 crore considering the fact that the GMR Energy, an infrastructure firm that bagged the 180-MW Bijoli-Holi hydroelectric project, offered an upfront premium of 91 lakh per MW. In the neighbouring Uttarakhand, all projects are being assigned through competitive bidding whereas in Himachal projects up to 100 MW are being allotted through the MoU route. The decision to follow the MoU route also goes against the advice of deputy chairperson of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, who had, during his visit to the state earlier this month, underlined the need to adopt the competitive bidding route for all projects. The fact that the private companies were ready to pay huge upfront premium and up to 30 per cent free power as royalty only indicated that hydroelectric power was a very profitable business and the state should take advantage of it, he had observed. In all, 29 companies, including HEG Limited, Rajasthan Spinning Mills, Dutch Company Brakel, Patel Engineering Limited, Indo-Arya Limited, Neeju Veedi Seeds Limited, Bajrang Power Limited and Fall Hydel Power India Limited, are in the race for the five projects. The maximum number of 12 companies have applied for the 25-MW Chanju-I project, followed by 17-MW Chanju-II project for which seven companies are in line. Both these projects are in Chamba district. There are five companies each in race for the 60-MW Ropa project in Kinnaur and 39-MW Rupin project in Dodra Kawar. The 5.5-MW Bharari project in Bilaspur district has attracted only two companies. Some companies like HEG Limited, a subsidiary of the LNJ Bhilawara Group, have applied for Chanju-I and Chanju-II projects. Another subsidiary of the Group, Rajasthan Spinning Mills, is in race for the Ropa project. As per the norms laid down for evaluation of applications, marks are awarded for financial and technical capability and project experience. Out of the maximum 100 marks, 65 are for financial capability, 30 for technical capability and five for project experience. However, projects are not always allotted on the basis of marks.
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HRTC paid power bills for pvt firm?
Kulwinder Sandhu Tribune News Service
Dharamsala, September 26 Officials of the corporation had released certain amounts of electricity bills pertaining to the construction work of the controversial bus stand and parking-cum-hotel at McLeodganj being carried out by a private construction company. The construction work was allotted to a private company by the bus stand management and development authority after the project was cleared by the corporation on a build-operate transfer (BOT) basis. However, the HRTC authorities paid the bills of power utilized by the company for the construction work thus resulting in financial losses to the corporation. A few months back, regional manager of the corporation, Mahinder Singh Rana and his junior colleague, inspector Sudarshan Kumar, were arrested by the police for their alleged involvement in misappropriation of funds of about Rs 50 lakh. An FIR under Sections 409, 420 and 120-B of the IPC was lodged at the Dharamsala police station on the complaint of Shrikant Baldi, the then managing director of the HRTC, in the first week of May, this year. The divisional manager and regional manager of the HRTC have been summoned by the Central Empowered Committee of the Supreme Court, which is coming here on Thursday. With regard to electricity bills, sources in the HRTC revealed that for the electricity meter numbers T-547-16400, T-434-16300 and T-538-15100, the authorities paid Rs 5,538 against electricity bills for the month of August 2006, Rs 6,216 for the month of November 2006, Rs 22,306 for the month of March 2007 and Rs 10,438 for the month of June 2007. The total sum amounts to Rs 44,498, which was paid by the HRTC. When contacted, divisional manager B.S. Thakur, revealed that the regional manager had issued a notice to the contractor to recover the amount.
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Restoration of heritage buildings
Chamba, September 26 The scheme would be implemented with an outlay of about Rs 29 crore and the funds for sub-schemes to be undertaken at various points in the town have been earmarked, according to Harsh Mahajan, minister for animal husbandry and urban development. The scheme envisages protection works behind the ancient Laxmi Narayan temple complex, various other vicinities of Pacca Talla, Dharog, Kasakra, Mai-Ka-Bagh and other affected places. |
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Sanatorium awaits land demarcation report
Kumarhatti, September 26 The sanatorium repeated pleas to the Revenue Department for the report has failed to serve any purpose. Over the years the land belonged to the sanatorium had gradually been encroached upon. Moreover, in the lack of any clear cut revenue records it was virtually impossible to locate the encroachment. The sanatorium management had failed to check the encroachment as some staff members of sanatorium were allegedly involved in encroachment activities. It was local landlord, Pandit Dev Dutt, who donated 52-bigha of land to British to set up the sanatorium. No efforts have been made to erect fencing around sanatorium to check the encroachment. The report delay was highlighted by district NGOs, who took up the matter with the Solan DC. At the meeting, the Revenue Department had admitted that during the demarcation process, 22 cases of encroachment were detected on the sanatorium land. The DC had asked the Revenue Department to file a demarcation report before the next meeting. The issue was also raised by chairman of Solan Panchayat Samiti Ramesh Chauhan at the district-level grievance committee recently. The committee headed by local sitting Congress MLA Raghu Raj has sought immediate submitting of the demarcation report. Kasauli tehsildhar K.K. Sharma asserted that there was no delay in submitting
the report. The land settlement work on the area was currently under process following a high court order. The clear picture about the sanatorium land would come out only after the
completion of settlement work, maintained Sharma. |
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Kaushal appointed state BSP general secretary
Bilaspur, September 26 Addressing a large gathering Manhera, who is also in charge of party affairs in the state, said social engineering championed by Mayawati rooted out all parties in Uttar Pradesh and now the same would root out the Congress. He said the BSP would come to power in the state. The BSP would set up a government which would not only be free of corrupt leaders and officers but would also be a true representative of the masses who had been ignored, he added. He said both the Congress and the BJP had exploited the poverty-stricken people for their personal benefits and had never thought of betterment of the downtrodden but the BSP would provide them their rights which has been denied to them by the Congress. Manhera announced the appointment of former MLA and prominent Congress party leader Krishan Kumar Kaushal as the state general secretary of the BSP and said he would also be in charge of 8 reserved Assembly segments. Former director of Himachal Health Services Dr Sukhram Chauhan also attended the
rally |
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Recruitment Scam in Bank
Dharamsala, September 26 The bank had advertised 72 posts but during the recruitment process, the number was increased to 225. Consequently, only 300 candidates were called for interview for the 225 posts. As per norms, three to five candidates per post were to be called for the interview. Thus, a large number of meritorious candidates who had cleared the written examination were denied the opportunity to appear for the interview. The Vigilance Bureau (VB) initiated a preliminary inquiry into the recruitment of clerks in January 2003, before the last Assembly elections on the basis of a complaint. The management of the bank was asked to handover the entire record of the selections made on the basis of a written test held in September 2002, followed by personal interviews hurriedly conducted on January 5, 2003, as the elections were drawing nearer. Certain favoured candidates were selected on fictitious certificates against 36 posts reserved for trained secretaries of cooperative societies. Out of these, 29 posts were under the quota for the primary agriculture cooperative credit societies and 7 for other cooperative societies. Senior officials of the VB today called former chairman of the managing committee of the bank, Babu Ram Mandial, in the zonal office at Dharamsala and questioned him, revealed highly placed sources in the bureau. |
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New timings for plying vehicles
Hamirpur, September 26 He said the entry of heavy vehicles would not be allowed in the main bazaar and the timings would be in effect all year round. From April 1 to August 31 traffic would not be allowed from 7.30 am to 9.30 am and from 1.30 pm to 3 pm, from September 1 to March 31 from 8 am to 10 am and from 3 pm to 4.30 pm. Heavy vehicles would be allowed in the main bazaar from April 1 to November 30 from 8 pm to 7 am and from December 1 to March 31 from 8 pm to 8 am, he said. Ambulance service, fire tenders, vehicles involved in maintaining law and order, vehicles carrying milk, LPG and garbage would be exempted from this restriction. |
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No exam duty in one’s school
of posting
Dharamsala, September 26 Chairman of the board B.R. Rahi said the decision was taken following directions by the high court. As such, 17,000 teachers and other employees would have to go out to perform examination duties, he said. The direction of the high court to take stern action against teachers who did not turn up for examination duty at the last moment was also discussed in the meeting. As per law, there is a provision of up to three-month imprisonment and a fine if the teachers and other employees failed to perform the examination duty assigned to them, except on medical grounds. In another decision, the board extended the time period from September 30 to March 31, 2008, given to private schools to raise their infrastructure as per the grading system of schools introduced by the board. The board also decided to honour 15 teachers, 10 from government and five from private schools, on Teachers’ Day every year. The board also nominated five members of the state teachers’ welfare committee. They are: J.S. Negi, Arun Nayyar, Dev Raj Sharma, Balwant Singh and Hari Dutt Sharma. |
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Panel to inspect power project site
Shimla, September 26 Passing the order, the Bench directed the committee to inspect the site and see whether the management of the project had complied with the conditions laid down by the state government or not for the establishment of the project. The committee will file its report before October 8. In its earlier order, the court had stayed the construction activity at the site of the project. |
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No anti-incumbency in state: Dhawan
Mandi, September 26 Responding to queries from media persons after he presided over the conference of district and block presidents from central districts of Mandi, Bilaspur, Kullu and Lahaul-Spiti here today, Dhawan claimed “the dispute of leadership does not arise in the Congress as it is always the high command which decides after consulting MLAs as to who will be next CM”. Dhawan said there was no anti-incumbency factor this time in the state as the BJP had no issue except indulging in rumour-mongering and false propagandas. He said the Congress government under Virbhadra Singh has achieved milestones in health, education and poverty alleviation programmes in the state and they would be major issues, but party workers needed to take them to the common man, he added. Dhawan said the BSP would not effect Congress in the state as it had become a party of the self-serving and opportunists who because of their lust for power were joining it. Dhawan was accompanied by Virbhadra Singh and various leaders. Meanwhile, the block and district presidents from Mandi, Kullu, Bilaspur, Lahaul-Spiti today cautioned RK Dhawan that the party should be aware of certain Congress leaders who play politics “from The Mall Road, Shimla and frequenting Janpath, the residence of the president Sonia Gandhi and have no roots in their home constituencies”. |
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Minor fight turns ugly
Mandi, September 26 Kishore died on the way to hospital while Harish was struggling for life at the zonal hospital. Though the police has registered a case of murder under Sections 302 and 34 of the IPC against Parkash and his five other accomplices, the accused are absconding. According to police sources, Harish along with his brother visited his in-laws house last evening to bring back his wife, Ahilya. But Parkash and his friends thrashed them with sticks. Both injured brothers were taken to the hospital where Kishore was declared brought dead. Ahilya told the police that she did not see her brother thrashing up her husband and brother -in-law Kishore as he had locked her inside a room. SP Mandi M. Chander Sekhar said a case of murder had been registered and search was on to nab Parkash and his accomplices. |
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Govt fails to utilise industrial package: BJP
Nurpur September 26 But Himachal Pradesh enjoying the same industrial package as special category states had only attracted Rs 2053 crore during the past same period. He said Uttrakhand had given employment to 1,40,972 persons but the Himachal had succeeded in providing 37,893 jobs only despite its policy of securing 70 per cent jobs for Himachalis in the industries being set up in the state. He accused the government of being insensitive towards Baddi, Barotiwala and Nalagarh regions of the state which had emerged as industrial hubs. “The deplorable condition of roads, unplanned growth of industrial units, frequent traffic jams and lack of infrastructure have become regular features in that area,” he lamented. He said the bridge on NH-21 near Baddi had been damaged a month ago but the government had taken no concrete steps to repair it. |
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‘CM’s declarations hollow’
Sundernagar, September 26 While talking to mediapersons here, he said the Chief Minister had a habit of making such statements. He said during the last Congress term he had made several declarations without any provisions for budget which were honoured by the BJP government. He said the Congress government had failed on all fronts as most of its leaders were involved in corruption and there was regional discrimination. |
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World Bank okays $200-m loan
New Delhi, September 26 The $135-million loan has been provided by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD). It will have 20-year maturity and a five-year grace period. The $35-million credit is provided by the International Development Association (IDA), World Bank’s concessionary lending arm, and has 35 years to maturity and a 10-year grace period. The loan is designed to create fiscal space to support the state’s development vision and promote environmentally sustainable development. It aims to enhance growth and employment, especially in the private sector, and improve governance and public administration. “In spite of the challenges of remoteness of hilly areas, Himachal Pradesh is one of the states leading the way in gender equality and access to services,” said Isabel Guerrero, World Bank Country Director for India. “The state today faces new challenges, including effective management of its environmental resources, while investing in hydropower in an environmentally sound way. The operation supports this agenda.” The major constraint facing the state, which has around 65 per cent of its expenditure committed to salaries, pensions, and interest payments, and a debt stock of around 74 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product, is the need to enhance fiscal space to finance development, while improving fiscal sustainability. Fiscal reforms and measures to strengthen public financial management will improve fiscal sustainability, while increasing fiscal space and efficiency of public expenditures. Support to environmentally sustainable development will help manage state’s precious natural resource base, from which it derives its comparative advantages in sectors like hydropower and tourism. “The Program will strengthen fiscal sustainability and expenditure efficiency and show that there is a way out of excessive reliance on public sector-led development, which will provide a valuable learning experience for other states rich in natural resources seeking to harness their development potential,” said Mohan Nagarajan, senior economist and co-team leader of the operation. |
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‘No going back on metered taxis’
Shimla, September 26 Commissioner (Transport) Onkar Sharma here today said the taxi operators who failed to abide by the high court order in that regard would be liable to action as per the statutory provisions of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988. The Act stipulated cancellation and suspension of permit. He said action under the Act would be initiated after October 20. He said the government notified the scheme on December 8 last year and it was implemented with effect from March 11 this year. However, the scheme was challenged by taxi operators in the high court. The matter was decided on September 5 according to which the taxi operators of notified towns were required to install meters in their vehicles latest by October 20. |
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Villagers not paid wages for 2 months
Our Correspondent
Nurpur September 26 These villagers today submitted a memorandum to the local SDM and demanded their outstanding wages due for the past two months. They also complained that the local panchayat pradhan was claiming that the panchayat had not received their wages from the BDO Nurpur. Meanwhile, SDM Nurpur has forwarded the complaint to the BDO Nurpur for further action. Inquiries reveal that the BDO had released the wages to the gram panchayat but the same were not disbursed among the villagers under the Central government funded NREGA scheme.
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Plea to stay circular
Shimla, September 26 The association said despite a categorical assurance by the Chief Minister that a committee would be constituted to examine the issue, no such step had been taken so far. It urged the Chief Minister to direct the authorities concerned to set up a committee immediately. It also demanded that the operation of the circular be kept on hold to ensure that the amendment was not implemented to the detriment of the general category employees. |
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