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HRTC
Scam
Govt efforts bear fruit, dropout rate comes down
Mobile seized from jail
Education plan awaits implementation
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‘Fill’ posts to end stagnation
Kokje urged not to give assent
2 killed in mishap
Plan to create new wildlife division
TB laboratory awaits infrastructure
Banks to disburse funds for
mid-day meals
Rs 20 lakh for blood bank
‘Snow bank’ set up
Graduate engineers accuse power board of bias
Trekker dies of heart attack
Govt urged to review industrial policy
CBI inquiry sought into laying of cables
1.25 lakh villages to be electrified
Nepali labourer crushed to death
Yoga classes
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Divisional manager suspended
Tribune News Service
Dharamsala, September 30 A senior official of the HRTC said a chargesheet had been served on technical manager Dinesh Kapoor posted at Jasoor, besides, a show-cause notice was issued to regional manager, Beni Prasad, posted at Baijnath in Kangra district. An FIR under Sections 409, 420 and 120-B of the IPC was lodged at the local police station on the complaint of the then managing director of the corporation, Shrikant Baldi, in the first week of May, this year. In this case, financial irregularities tuning to the sum of Rs 52 lakh were detected in the special audit conducted by the corporation authorities. The then regional manager, Mahinder Singh Rana, and his junior colleague, inspector Sudarshan Kumar, were subsequently arrested by the police. They are presently out on bail but are suspended from service. Recently, another case of misappropriation of funds came to light in which 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. These electricity bills tuning to the sum of Rs 44,498 were paid from the local division of the corporation during the tenure of H.K. Gupta in 2006 and 2007. The construction work was allotted to a private company by the bus stand management 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. The employee union of the corporation has threatened to launch a state-wide stir on October 5 if appropriate action was not taken against Gupta.
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Govt efforts bear fruit, dropout rate comes down
Shimla, September 30 The first step that the government took in this direction was to make education accessible to the people in far-flung areas where the difficult topography was a big impediment. The government opened over 2,100 primary schools to ensure that no student had to walk more than 1.5 km in the hilly areas and 3 km in plains to attend school. The state now has 10,726 primary schools. In all, the state has over 16,000 educational institutions. The focus was on achieving universalisation of elementary education for which a network of 4,228 middle schools has been created. A separate directorate of elementary education has also been created. To tackle the problem of absenteeism and shortage of staff in schools located in remote areas, the government has introduced the para-teachers scheme and granted approval for the appointment of 5,810 post of primary assistant teachers against the vacant posts of JBT teachers. Besides, the government has created 2,692 new posts of headmaster (junior scale), 117 posts of senior block elementary education officer. To cover the nomadic population, the concept of alternative schooling has been implemented under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan. The revised curriculum and textbooks for Classes I to V have been developed and introduced in all government primary schools, along with new text books. English has been introduced from Class I to check migration of students from government schools to the English-medium public schools. Textbooks on Bhoti language have also been developed and introduced for Classes I to V in selected primary schools of tribal Spiti and Pangi subdivision from 2005-06. The government has decided to introduce Punjabi and Urdu in 100 selected high and senior secondary schools each from class VI onwards from the current academic year. The intake capacity of JBT seats of 12 district institutes of education has been increased to 1,800, from existing 1,055. Two-year JBT training course has also been started from last year. Services of 2,390 contract teachers who have put in eight years of service up to December 31, 2006, have been regularised with effect from January 1, 2005. |
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Mobile seized from jail
Dharamsala, September 30 Amrish Rana, who is facing life imprisonment in a triple murder case, yesterday filed a complaint before the fast-track court that he was mercilessly beaten up by the staff of the local jail before being brought to the court for hearing in a criminal case. He said he had paid Rs 5,000 to one of the jail employee to provide him a mobile phone and the balance was not returned to him. The court asked the police to look into the matter, recover the mobile phone, if any, from the jail and get conducted a medical examination of the accused criminal so that his allegations of torture could be verified. The police raided the jail and recovered a new Motorola handset from one of the cells of the jail. However, there was no SIM card in it. The police also got Amrish Rana medically examined and it was found that he had got suffered injuries on his body that could be the result of beatings as alleged by him. The police has lodged a complaint against additional superintendent Mast Ram Rana and assistant superintendent B.C. Katoch besides another employee Pankaj Kumar (also posted in the jail). Further inquiries into the allegations of Amrish Rana were in progress, said Guljari Lal, who conducted the raid in the jail and was the investigating officer in the case. Meanwhile, a senior official of the district police said the police had lodged a complaint in the daily dairy register of the police station; however, legal opinion was being sought on whether to register an FIR in the case or not. The police was also contemplating to send a detailed report of inquiry to the district magistrate for taking final action into the irregularities found in the jail. Any concrete decision in this regard was likely on Monday. On the other hand, it was learnt that the jail department had also marked a departmental inquiry into the episode, but no official was willing to talk to |
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Education plan awaits implementation
Nurpur, September 30 Onkar Rana and Rakesh Katoch, president and general secretary of the Kangra District Government Teachers Association, respectively, said in a statement here today that the government had created Directorate of Elementary Education but had not implemented the system in letter and spirit as per notification issued in October, 2005. They said the dillydallying attitude of the government in the implementation of the elementary education system had threatened the prospects of promotion of all categories of teachers. “In order to streamline promotion avenues for all categories of teachers, the government should appoint elementary headmasters in middle schools, senior headmasters in high and senior secondary schools and inspect officers at block and subdivisional levels,” they demanded. They urged the Chief Minister to enhance medical allowance of government employees to Rs 350 per month as was being given by Punjab to its employees. They also demanded that the retirement age of teachers be increased from 58 to 60 years.
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Power project rendering river lifeless
Shage Ki Shari (Kullu), September 30 A visit to the project site by this correspondent was an eye-opener. The steep mountain sides of Sheta Kaglu mountain that shelter the Domya Ganga were crumbling despite work being stopped since September 11. This correspondent spotted huge boulders falling into the Domya Ganga. The blasting of the steep mountain has rendered slopes all the more shaky which can crumble any time. The company is constructing the 15-km-long Jagatsukh-Chor Pani-Khanol- Shage Ki Shari, the garden of aromatic vegetables, the project site. Khanol once a lush green meadow and a camping site for shepherds is now a picture of destruction with debris and zigzag retaining walls defacing the entire place. The AD contractors have denuded the once green mountain side, damaging more than 852 big and small trees of deodars, tosh, rai, pines, walnuts and kharsu. Dry and fallen trees stand as mute witnesses to the merciless destruction done by the company. The Domaya Ganga from Khanol to this point, site of the intake tunnel, has become a dumping ground for debris and crumbling boulders that shoot down from the steep mountain into the river. Even boulders have crossed the river and landed on the other side of the forest area. There are no retaining walls to stop boulders and debris from falling into the Duhangan river, which feeds Jagat Sukh and irrigates over 4,500 bighas of land downstream. The dumping of road debris into the Duhangan is going on unabated, violating the Forest Conservation Act, Indian Forest Act, 1981 and the Water (prevention and control of pollution) Act, 1981, despite notices issued by government agencies. Though the company has been pleading that “the debris falling from the steep mountain was inevitable and penalty worth Rs 5 crore has been paid to the government”, but it has not taken any preventive measures in terms of raising retaining walls along the riverside and has not used more scientific cut- and -fill method of road cutting. The six-member team appointed by the high court, the Domya Ganga Sangharsh samiti, petitioners and officials of the M/s Rajasthan Spinning and Weaving Mills Ltd, respondent, which is executing the AD project participated in the inspection. The petitioners, however, felt that they were not given enough opportunity to present their case as mentioned in the high Chairman of the six-member committee, DC Abhishekh Jain, said the inspection as per high court orders had been done from both the Allain and Duhangan side from RD between 5,200-7,000 on September 28 and 29 and report would be submitted to the high court on October 5. |
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‘Fill’ posts to end stagnation
Shimla, September 30 A deputation of the association, which met Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh here yesterday, informed him that under the 45 per cent promotion quota for diploma engineers as many as 32 posts of assistant engineer were vacant in the PWD. It also pleaded for maintaining the ratio of diploma engineers at the executive engineer level on the basis of cadre strength and accordingly seven posts of executive engineer be filled though promotion from diploma holders. The deputationists also demanded that the services of junior engineers engaged on a contract basis be regularised after seven years of service. They also drew the attention of the Chief Minister to the failure of the government to implement the announcements made by him regarding the grant of Rs 200 as a mobile phone allowance to all junior engineers, irrespective of the department. The Finance Department had not yet cleared the case, they pointed out. |
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Kokje urged not to give assent
Shimla, September 30 He said that if the provisions of the relevant Bill passed during the recent monsoon session were enforced thousands of people who were carrying out their business activities from the properties taken on rent from the Wakf Board would be affected. The provisions could be misused to wrongfully evict the tenants and it would also lead to unnecessary litigation. He said the premises could be got vacated by giving notice to the tenant thorough summary trial. Unlike the Urban Rent Control Act the tenants would not get any opportunity to defend their cases. He urged the government not to implement the Act as it would affect the livelihood of thousands of people in the state. He said the party would soon submit a memorandum to the Governor in this regard. |
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2 killed in mishap
Kullu, September 30 It was on its way back from Puid village to Kullu while the driver lost control over the vehicle. Kamal Kumar Kashyap (43) of Shishamati here died on the spot while Dhani Ram (50) of Dhara Jalugran village in this district succumbed to his injuries in the local regional hospital. The injured, Jhabe Ram and Dhabe Ram of Bandal village and Bhumi Chand of Kahudhar village in this district are under treatment in the local regional hospital. The bodies of the deceased were handed over to their relatives after a postmortem. |
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Plan to create new wildlife division
Shimla, September 30 As per the proposal, the existing Spiti territorial division will be converted into wildlife division. However, no new territorial division will be created in its place. The divisional forest officer of the wildlife division will also take care of the territorial responsibilities and works. The cold desert of Spiti is the natural habitat of a host of animals, including the highly endangered species like the snow leopard, blue sheep Himalayan ibex, Tibetan wolf, marmot and snow cock. Explaining the reasons for setting up a new wildlife division, additional principal chief conservator of forests Vinay Tandon says the government has recently decided to transfer the management and control of the Chandertal wetland, a Ramser site, from the Science and Technology Department to the Forest Department. Further, the Pin Valley National Park is already there and a national project to save the snow leopard was in the offing on the lines of the project tiger. Specialised management is required to carry out all these functions. Spread over an area of 7,591 sq km, it will be the sixth wildlife division in the state. The department also proposes to upgrade the post of the divisional forest officer (wildlife), Chamba, to the level of conservator. The government had recently decided to transfer six sanctuaries together accounting for over 1,500 sq km of protected wildlife area from the territorial wing to wildlife wing. Out of these three sanctuaries, namely, Tundah , Kugti and Sechu-Tuan Nalalah, were in Chamba district. The management of wildlife in these sanctuaries had been neglected as the Centre gives funds only for those protected areas that are directly under the control of the wildlife wing. These sanctuaries had been kept under the territorial wing all these years for no plausible reason. The state lost Central funding to the tune of over Rs 20 crore as no management plans had been formulated. The district has the highest number of six wildlife sanctuaries out of the total 32 protected areas and two national parks in the state. Now that the government has put these under the wildlife wing, the Centre will give funds on the basis of management plans. It is essential to upgrade the post of DFO to the level of conservator as experienced officers will be required for preparing the management plans to be submitted to the Centre for funding. |
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TB laboratory awaits infrastructure
Kumarhatti, September 30 The lab supposed to conduct culture sensitivity tests of TB patients in sanatorium could be the first of its kind in state. The lab a requisite requirement fro sanatorium where the multi drugs resistance (MDR) cases were detected from normal TB patients. In the present scenario, patients have to go to either Chandigarh or New Delhi for undergoing culture sensitivity tests by not only incurring extra cost but also have to wait for long for getting the test results. The lab was planned after an MDR Treatment Society was formed in the sanatorium in 2001. The society received Rs 15 lakh donation from an NRI in July, 2002, for the laboratory. Equipments worth Rs 30 lakh were required for the lab. The sanatorium staff was even sent to Bangalore for lab training. A team of the central TB division led by deputy director general visited the sanatorium and inspected the capacity and size of equipments to be installed in the lab building. The equipments were to be arranged by the team itself. Ironically no equipments had been received so far and the lab was lying non-operational. The lab could be quite useful as the sanatorium received TB patients from far-flung areas. Similarly, the first ever TB Training, Research and Demonstration Centre (STDC) at the sanatorium has failed to take off. The recommendation to set up a state training centre was made at a meeting of the Government Council of the state TB Control Society on June 12, 2000. This too has been delayed for want of infrastructure. |
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Banks to disburse funds for mid-day meals
Shimla, September 30 This was stated by director, primary education, B.M. Nanta. An amount of Rs 2.50 per child per day is provided to around 10,800 primary schools in the state under the scheme. Earlier, three-month advance was provided to these schools that remained lying at the disposal of the headmaster. There were some complaints of embezzlement of funds, Nanta said. On some occasions, officials had to spend money from their own pocket and there had been occasions when children were not provided meals due to shortage of cash. In order to plug the loopholes and to bring more transparency, the department decided to provide money for the scheme direct from the bank, he said. The headmaster and the chief of school management committee would have to open a joint account in a bank where money would be deposited for the scheme in advance, he said. The schools have to submit details of the withdrawals to the department that would constantly monitor the implementation of the scheme, he said.
— PTI
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Rs 20 lakh for blood bank
Nurpur, September 30 The building for the centre was ready last year but due to lack of infrastructure the commissioning of the centre could not be initiated. President of the local block Congress Committee Karan Oberoi and director, HPTDC, Ajay Mahajan, in joint statement thanked Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh for allocating funds and appointing surgeons and gynaecologists in the hospital. |
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‘Snow bank’ set up
Manali, September 30 “The bank, the first of its kind, has been set up to study and decipher mysteries of snow, as it helps in forecasting, preventing avalanches and future research
work,” said R.N. Sarwade, director of Snow and Avalanche Studies Establishment (SASE). “Soldiers deployed in higher reaches face the threat of avalanches, which is a regular feature in the Himalayas. Snow requires a constant monitoring to keep track of snow types to predict its behaviour,” he said. “Snow has as many as 6,000 different structures and keeps changing from one form to another,” he said adding that “understanding the physical and mechanical properties of snow helps in mitigating it.
— PTI |
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Graduate engineers accuse power board of bias
Sundernagar, September 30 While addressing mediapersons, president of the association, B.L. Sharma, said the recruitment and promotion rules had blocked the promotion avenues of graduate engineers who had better qualification and experience than diploma engineers. Sharma said sometimes the situation was so humiliating that a person who had worked under a graduate engineer as a junior engineer was now posted as executive engineer and the graduate engineer was serving under him. Due to this many graduate engineers had left their jobs and joined other organisations. If steps were not taken to improve their position, things would turn from bad to worst, he rued. He said the association had discussed the matter with the board management but no action was taken. Even the Chief Minister had written to the board to consider their demands but the management flouted the directions of the Chief Minister, he added. He said most of the graduate engineers posted as assistant engineers were more qualified than diploma holders but many of them had not been promoted for the last more than 18 years. On the other hand, the diploma engineers were promoted to the post of executive engineer within a short span of five years, he rued. |
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Trekker dies of heart attack
Shimla, September 30 “Mountaineer Ashok Pal, hailing from West Bengal’s Hoogly district, died due to heart attack on Friday but his body was recovered by the police yesterday,” Lahaul-Spiti SP K.K. Indora said. “Pal (53), who was part of a four-member Hoogly Adventure Club team, died due to heart attack triggered by breathlessness due to lack of oxygen at a height that is witnessing almost 0°C temperature nowadays,” the SP said. According to the group leader, Ashok Pal had health problem while returning from the peak to the base camp at Bharatpur. The group members tried to help him and also gave some medicines, but to no avail.
— PTI |
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Govt urged to review industrial policy
Bilaspur, September 30 Addressing mediapersons here yesterday, all these environmentalists urged Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh to reconsider its industrial policy and to ensure that industries which were environment-friendly were set up in the state. Upmanyu, Guman Singh and Ravi also raised the issue of proper non-rehabilitation of Bhakra Dam Oustees and said the government should take proper steps to ensure that every family was rehabilitated and that they got more benefits. They said it was astonishing that the process of rehabilitation of Bhakra Dam Oustees was still lingering on even after more than 50 years of their displacement and even today the government was not serious about solving their problems of rehabilitation. They also demanded that a proper rehabilitation policy should be chalked out for the benefit of displaced people. |
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CBI inquiry sought into laying of cables
Chamba, September 30 Expressing his surprise over the frequent reports of theft of telephone cables in Chamba district, president of the federation Ajit S. Bhardwaj urged the CBI to probe these thefts to uncover the real reasons for their occurrence. Bhardwaj said that as per his sorces the cables were not being laid in depth in the earth. Meanwhile, thieves stole about 1,000 metres of telephone cables from various areas of Chamba town yesterday, throwing more than 700 telephone connections out of order. BSNL officials have reported the theft to the police, the sources revealed.
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1.25 lakh villages to be electrified
Dalhousie, September 30 During his recent tour to Chamba district last week, Kangra Lok Sabha MP Chander Kumar said the scheme envisaged creating rural electricity infrastructure and completing household electrification. He said the scheme had been launched to meet the common minimum programme (NCMP) of completing the household electrification in the next five years and modernising the rural electricity infrastructure. “Since Independence, only about 44 per cent of the rural households could be given access to electricity and more than 1 lakh villages are still to be electrified. The new programme provides access to electricity to 7.8 crore rural households in five years. Accomplishing this task within five years is going to be an unprecedented event in the endeavour of our government to develop India”, Chander Kumar claimed. Chander Kumar said the scheme provided connections free of cost to all rural households living below poverty line. Further, there would not be any discrimination in the hours of supply between the rural and urban areas, he added. Chander Kumar said under the new scheme, Rs 25.02 crore had been sanctioned for the district; adding that various works like setting up of 212 km 11-KV HT transmission lines and 472 km LT lines with the installation of 175 transformers in the district had been undertaken under the scheme. The scheme would help mitigating the low-voltage problem of electricity consumers besides, it would provide free electricity to 647 households in the district, Chander Kumar said; hoping that 2,531 houses which had not been electrified till March, 2005, would be covered under 100 per cent electrification. A provision had been kept to enhance the power capacity of 33/11 KV substation at Koti, Bharmour, Nakrot (Tissa) and Sinhuta in the district under this scheme, Chander Kumar informed. Chander Kumar said a 33/11 KV 2x1.6 MVA power substation would also be constructed at Killar in Pangi tribal valley. For this, a 79 km 33-KV transmission line would be erected overhead through poles from Nakrot-Khushnagari to Killar (Pangi), out of which a 9-km transmission line would be laid underground. |
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Nepali labourer crushed to death
Shimla, September 30 The body of Prem Bahadur was recovered in the morning. The police has sent the body for a post- mortem examination. A case has been registered.
— UNI |
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