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Early poll not unexpected
Cong, BJP, BSP welcome poll announcement
Sedition Case
Cannabis crop blooms in remote areas
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e-procurement to ensure transparency
Rs 160-cr watershed project launched
Bali’s Birthday Bash Probe
Palampur hospital cries for attention
Efforts on to get snow leopard from abroad
Industrial body flays polluters
Naldehra golf course to be upgraded
‘Zero tolerance’ for corruption: CM
MC chief survives no-trust move
Teachers oppose decision to hold SCVT exams
Rs 80 cr sought for Shimla’s growth
Festival for physically challenged
Three bodies found
Patwari held
Sabha to honour 9 persons
Two killed
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Early poll not
unexpected
Shimla, October 10 It is for the first time in the electoral history of the state that the Assembly poll has been advanced by the commission to facilitate simultaneous elections in the entire state. The The elections were due in February, 2008, and as such the sudden announcement did come as a surprise but the development was not altogether unexpected. Elections in the tribal areas were held in June in 1998 and 2003, almost four months after the formation of the new government. The legislators of the three tribal segments of Kinnaur, Bharmour and Lahual-Spiti had filed a petition in the high court seeking elections in their constituencies along with the rest of the state. Their main plea was that the delayed polling in their segments curtailed their term and they had no role in the formation of the government. The court had asked the Election Commission and the state government to look into the matter and explore the possibility of a simultaneous poll. The commission had held consultations with the political parties all of which favoured elections in the entire state in one go. The first phase of polling in the three tribal segments will be take place on November 14 which means that the term of the present Vidhan Sabha has been practically curtailed by four months. The rest of the state will go to the polls on December 19. It is for the first time that polling was taking place in two phases and that too separated by more than a month. With counting is scheduled for December 28, the entire process will stretch across three months. Hailing the announcement of elections, state BJP general secretary Khushi Ram Balnatah said the party was fully geared up for the poll. The Congress government had been in the election mode for the past more than a year announcing sops for the people but with the code of conduct in place, there would be no more announcements from today onwards. |
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Cong, BJP, BSP welcome poll announcement
Dharamsala, October 10 Lok Sabha MP from Hamirpur and former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said it was a good opportunity for the state electorate to vote out the corrupt Congress government. He said the government had failed miserably on all fronts. About BSP’s prospects in the Assembly elections, he said the BJP and the Congress were the only two recognised parties in the state and the presence of the BSP would have no impact on the political scenario in the state. HPCC president Viplove Thakur said her party was ready for the poll and would chalk out its strategy in the next couple of days after the arrival of Virbhadra Singh from Washington. She said Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had already visited several areas of the state during the past few weeks to prepare the party for the coming elections. |
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Journalists protest
Tribune News Service
Dharamsala, October 10 They also took out a silent procession tying black ribbons on their foreheads and submitted a memorandum addressed to the Governor to the Additional District Magistrate K.D. Lakhanpal demanding immediate withdrawal of the case. Mediapersons from Nurpur, Kangra, Nagrota Bagwan, Palampur, Baijnath, Jawalaji and other parts of the district gathered at Gandhi Park where it was unanimously decided to constitute a working journalists’ forum under the banner of which the agitation would be carried forward till the withdrawal of the case. Vijay Gupta, resident editor of Dainik Jagran, appealed to the journalists to remain united so as to build pressure on the state government to get the case withdrawn. He said it was purely an attempt to exert pressure on the mediapersons working in the state ahead of the Assembly elections to refrain them from writing critical stories against the government. Anil Soni, editor of Divya Himachal against whom the sedition case had been registered, said the registration of case against him and his two reporters was unfortunate. “It reflects the intolerance of the state government towards the media,” he said. Adding that it was an attack on the freedom of the Press, he said the case had reminded the people of the British rule when such cases on journalists were common to suppress the voice of the people. However, it was shameful on the part of a democratically elected government to indulge in anti-democratic act of registering sedition charge against mediapersons. Journalists vowed to take the agitation across the state if sedition charges were not withdrawn in five days.
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Cannabis crop blooms in remote areas
Mandi, October 10 The illegal crop of hybrid seeds is ready for harvesting as the anti-cannabis drive launched jointly by the Narcotic Control Bureau (NCB) and the police in some pockets in Kullu district has turned out to be an eyewash and a drop in the ocean as just 40 homeguards are on the job to destroy cultivation spreading in the vast areas in the notorious drug haven. According to inputs gathered from the police, intelligence and other independent sources by The Tribune, the standing cannabis crop has been detected in common border areas of the Kullu-Mandi-Kangra belt and measuring around 8000-10,000 bighas. “Most of the contraband crop has been cultivated in remote fertile forest pockets in higher reaches in this belt, which has become notorious for cannabis cultivation by villagers and Nepali labourers,” sources said. Forest guards and revenue officials rarely report the detection of crop to the enforcement agencies as they are locals and fear the wrath of the drug smugglers and cultivators. Hybrid cannabis plants are still blooming in upper Magic and Waiching forest areas, around 15 km from Malana village, in Ougal Thatch and upper area of Tosh, Mulandar, Pinsu, Lapas, on the other side of Rasol in Parbati valley. Around 800 kg hybrid seeds have been sown in this belt measuring 2,000 bighas. New cannabis cultivation has been detected in the Chhota Bhangal hill area in Kangra district as “it lies on the easy Gaddi shepherd trek leading from tourist town of Manali and is accessible from Mandi as well”, sources added. Another new area under cannabis is the Ani-Khanog belt covering over 25 villages, measuring over 2,800 bighas in Kullu district. “Hailstorms destroyed the fruit and maize crops in the belt and the planted cannabis to make both ends meet as it fetched good money,” sources said. In the Banjar area, cannabis crop has been detected in and around 30 villages: Badauni, Banogi, Sapnir, Nadahar,Sajahu, Sanar, Kanoon, Srikot, Huri, Lagta, Nahi, Ghat, Daran, Kangcha, Dingcha, Jaliu, Thari and Chipni tops, Thanegar, Kodi-Machiar, Glingcha, Shivgarh Seri. In Sainj valley, the crop has been detected in over 260 bighas in Bithukanda, Trung, Bhalan Kandi, Gohi, Kinden Machhar, Shakli Marora, Bagshari, Labah, Rajathi and other villages in the area. In Mandi district, the areas under cannabis cultivation included Bagra, Bhaun, Daran, Ghatdhar, Thilai and other villages in Balichowki tehsil. Cannabis plants are growing in Chuhar valley in Sudhar, Graman, Khabasi, Chukwar, Tarswan, Panjiana, Ropa, Droon, in around 700 bighas of both forest and private land. Joint anti-drug drives launched in the area in 2004, 2005 and 2006 under the supervision of NCB’s the then superintendent, zonal unit, Chandigarh, O.P. Sharma had yielded results. “Cannabis crop was found in 18,000-20,000 bighas, mostly on private land. Today, it has been reduced to an area of 10,000 bighas, most of which is on the forest land located in inaccessible areas,” revealed experts. IG (CID and crimes) O.C. Thakur, who heads the anti-drug task force constituted under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, said: “The anti-drug drive is under progress in the cannabis growing areas in Kullu and Mandi areas. We do not have sufficient means to comb the areas under cannabis cultivation. We are making villagers aware about the bad effects of drugs and persuading them to destroy crop with the help of the NCB. It will take some time to eliminate the crop.” NCB’s zonal director Sazi Mohan passed the buck onto the police and other agencies saying the anti-drug drive team had destroyed cannabis in over 2000 bighas in Kullu district so far despite shortage of manpower. “We have 40 homeguards, while we need at least 150 men to cover area under cannabis cultivation. The NCB is not getting cooperation from the revenue, forest and other agencies. Our primary task is to assist and fund state government agencies in the campaign,” he added.
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e-procurement to ensure transparency
Shimla, October 10 In the first phase, the system will be adopted in departments and boards that make large-scale purchases. A workshop conducted in collaboration with the national institute of smart government in this regard recommended that e-procurement be introduced in the Public Works Department, the Irrigation and Public Health Department, the electricity board, the Forest Department, the Civil Supplies Corporation and the Health and Family Welfare Department. The minimum limit in terms of value of purchase for which e-procurement will be mandatory, will be decided by the government shortly. The e-procurement system will take care of all aspects right from tendering, contract management, automated indent and inventory managements, payments based on evaluated work flow, e-auction and e-reverse auction. The project will be implemented through a private party. However, unlike other states where the entire project has been outsourced to private companies, the Himachal Government has decided to keep the security control of the software with itself. The registered vendors will be given intimation about tenders through email. Bids will also be filed on line for which each vendor will be allotted a user name and a password. Thus, the entire process will not involve any paperwork. The technical bids will be scrutinised and evaluated by computer in accordance with fixed parameters. The financial bids of the vendors whose technical bids are rejected will be automatically discarded and financial bids of only those companies that qualify after the evaluation of technical bids will be considered. With computer taking over the job of scrutinising and evaluating tenders, there will be no scope for manipulation at any stage. For automated management of indent and inventory management and e-payments, the Internet connectivity will be essential right down to the village level. For this, 3,361 “gram sugam
kendras” being established at the panchayat level will be used. The state road transport corporation has already introduced the e-tendering system that has not only speeded up the procurement process, but also brought down rates due to greater competition. The corporation hopes to save around Rs 30 to 35 lakh due to competitive rates and that it will not have to spend money on advertising tenders in newspapers. |
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Rs 160-cr watershed project launched
Dharamsala, October 10 Speaking on the occasion, the minister said, the project would be implemented in 60 village panchayats of the district that fall under the catchment area of the Swan rivulet. This rivulet originates in the district and drains into the Satluj in Ropar district of Punjab. Swan, along with its network of 73 tributaries creates havoc during monsoons, inundating vast tracts of agricultural land besides causing widespread damage to life and property. He said the project would include activities like afforestation, flood management, soil conservation, agriculture-land protection, optimise the use of land resources, reclamation of currently unproductive land for use in fisheries, give a boost to horticultural and agro-forestry activities, besides, enhancing livelihood activities amongst the local community. He was of the view that an integrated approach would be required with the convergence of various departments through micro-plans developed by a community participatory approach at the village levels. Thakur said Rs 135 crore for the project was being funded by the Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC) as a soft loan. The Union Government had principally agreed to repay as much as 80 per cent of the installments of the loan, while the remaining share of Rs 25 crore would be repaid by the state government, he added. This eight-year-long project would end in 2014 and was expected to be a role model for all future watershed development activities being undertaken in the lower hill-fragile areas of the Shiwalik range. Later, the minister addressed a farmers’ gathering at Panjawar village. Former deputy speaker of the Vidhan Sabha Ram Nath Sharma, Santoshgarh MLA Mukesh Agnihotri, Una MLA Satpal Singh, Nangal MLA K.P.S. Rana, principal chief conservator of forests Pankaj Khullar, director of the project C.V. Panday, many local leaders and government officials were present on the occasion.
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Dancers, too, miss the hearing
Tribune News Service
Dharamsala, October 10 They were summoned by the committee to record their statement in connection with the case. Chief executive officer and a reporter of Star News were also summoned, but they had already filed a special leave petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court. As such, they did not turn up to depose before the committee. No other witness was called for today’s hearing so Justice Garg was forced to adjourn the proceedings till Thursday. Senior IAS officer T.C. Janartha, managing director of the HRTC, would appear before the committee on Thursday.
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Palampur hospital cries for attention
Palampur, October 10 A shortage of doctors, nurses and other para-medical staff in this institution is routine. Though the government upgraded this hospital about 20 years ago and raised the strength of indoor beds to 100, it lacks basic amenities. Posts of specialist have been lying vacant for the past several years causing great inconvenience to the public. There is no provision to attend the emergency cases. Serious cases are seldom treated here and are referred to the zonal hospital, Dharamsala. Despite there being two gynaecologists in the hospital, cases are referred to other hospitals. SMO D.S.Chandel says that as doctors were busy in the field he had no other alternative but to refer cases to Dharamsala or Rajendra Prasad Medical College Tanda. Sanitation is a casualty in the hospital. Heaps of garbage are seen in the hospital compound emitting a foul smell. Most bathrooms are in a pitiable condition as these are not cleaned regularly. Even general wards are in bad shape. All internal walls are damp that need to be cleaned and whitewashed. Though the hospital has a large number of sweepers, their services are not properly utilised. There are complaints of misbehaviour by lower staff of the hospital. The hospital is always short of medicines, including life-saving drugs, cotton, bandage, x-ray films, bedsheets and blankets. The patients are asked to buy medicines from the market. However, senior officers claim that medicines worth crores have been piling up in the stores but doctors working in the field and subdivisional hospitals do not lift the medicines despite repeated reminders. Enquiries reveal that doctors prescribe particular brands of medicines that are available only in the market as companies provide them incentives in the shape of cash and kind. The state government has constituted an Aspatal Kalyan Samiti in the hospital, which collects funds from patients who undergo operations and other medical check-up in the hospital. These funds are meant for the welfare of patients. However, most of these funds are spent on the purchase of some equipment or the renovation of the hospital complex. Political interference in the functioning of this institution has made the matters worse. All postings and transfers of doctors are made on the recommendations of local political leaders. A number of vacant posts of doctor and para-medical staff could not completed due to differences among local leaders, causing great hardship to local residents. Groupism among doctors has aggravated the situation. It is a sad state of affairs that a patient examined by one doctor is not attended by the other. Even in emergency cases no doctor comes to the rescue of patients.
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Efforts on to get snow leopard from abroad
Shimla, October 10 Under the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) guidelines, it is recommended that as far as possible animals should be kept in pairs. Since the pair of snow leopard, Sapna and Subhash, had been brought from Padmaja Naidu Zoological Zoo at Darjeeling, the wildlife wing will have to get an animal of a different bloodline from elsewhere. “Since snow leopard is available in India only at the zoo in Darjeeling, we will have to make efforts to get a partner for the snow leopard at Kufri from abroad,” informed a senior official. Efforts would be made to get a partner from Helsinki or Bronx in the USA after seeking the necessary permission from the CZA. Even though efforts would be made to get a snow leopard from abroad but wildlife officials are hopeful that they might be lucky once again and could get an abandoned cub or a wounded snow leopard with the help of shepherds who go with their herds to the higher mountain reaches where the animal resides. It was almost three years ago that the wildlife wing got an indigenous snow leopard cub found by shepherds from the Lahaul Spiti area. “The cub, Sapna , died after 1.5 years due to illness but we are hopeful that our problem of finding a partner could be solved in a similar way,” said officials. The female, Sapna, brought from Darjeeling had died some time back, leaving the five-year-old male, Subhash, alone. The breeding of animals from the same blood line gives rise to a number of problems and causes infant mortality as has been the case at the lion safari at Renuka in Sirmaur district. “Our search to find a partner for Subhash is on as we want to strengthen our infrastructure at the Kufri zoo so that we can ultimately have a conservation and breeding programme for snow leopard,” said a senior official. |
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Industrial body flays polluters
Solan, October 10 Himachal chapter CII chairman Rajinder Guleria while terming these acts as serious said it was the collective responsibility of the industry to ensure that the environment was not compromised with. He said the issue of Dabur India, which was also a member of the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh Industries Association
(BBNIA), committing such acts was not acceptable. He added that the matter would be taken up at the association level. He maintained that any such pollution-related issue was not desirable for the healthy growth of industries. He added that the association would not support any wrong doer and if such practices were effectively checked they would act as a deterrent for others indulging in such malpractices. At the recent meeting of the high-powered committee convened under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh it had been pointed out that the Baddi-Barotiwala industrial area up to Ratta nullah was saturated with pollution load. The committee had suggested that industries bearing heavy pollution load should not be allowed to set up their plants here. Only light industries like information technology based or biotechnology based should be allowed to be set up there. The committee pointed out that the water quality of Sarsa river had reached level E in 2007, which indicated that it was only fit for industrial washing. It was rated as A in 2004, wherein it was considered fit for drinking. |
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Naldehra golf course to be upgraded
Shimla, October 10 The local municipal corporation has sent the detailed project report (DPR) of the upgrading plan to the Centre. The funds are being sought from the Union Ministry of Urban Development under the Jawaharlal Nehru national Urban Renewal Mission
(JNNURM). The Tourism Department is already in the process of acquiring 40 bighas of land for expansion of the golf course from the present nine hole to 18 hole. This is being done to attract the high-end tourist, who would love to play the sport in the pristine environment. Established by Lord Curzon in 1905 it is a huge natural glade surrounded by cedar forests. The department intends extending it to a 18-hole golf course and developing additional greens and fairways. The project is estimated to cost Rs Rs 5.50 crore. Out of this amount Rs 3.50 crore would be spent on land acquisition and infrastructure development. A fence would be put around the golf course at a cost of Rs 50 lakh .while Rs 1 crore would be spent on the development of the golf course. A Shimla-Lahore golf tournament was organised two years back to promote Naldehra as a tourist destination. The Himachal Pradesh Urban Development Authority
(HIMUDA) has prepared the DPR for upgrading the golf course. The moment the task of land acquisition is completed and the Centre grants funds, work would begin at the golf course. As part of its efforts to promote Naldehra as a tourist destination, a one-day tournament for bigwigs from the corporate world is being organised on October 13. Besides business tycoons, the presence of former Indian skipper Kapil Dev and cricketer Ajay Jadeja are likely to be the major attraction at the tournament. The Tourism Department is keen that Naldehra is promoted in a big way but that would be possible only after upgrading of the golf course. |
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‘Zero tolerance’ for corruption: CM
Washington, October 10 "I don't say there is no corruption in India. I can only speak about Himachal Pradesh. We have zero tolerance for corruption," Virbhadra Singh, who is on a three-day visit to hold talks with the World Bank and scout for investors, said during an interactive session at the US Chamber of Commerce" The Government of India is very sincere about what it says... Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also has zero tolerance for corruption," he said at a function organised by the United States India Business Council, pointing out that when instances of corruption were brought to his attention in the state he came down with a heavy hand. Virbhadra Singh, who is leading a high-level delegation, said that one of the main areas of focus of the state government was the power sector which had the potential to generate 20,000 MW of power. "The entire potential should be maximised as soon as possible and the private sector is going to play a greater role in the generation of hydel power in Himachal Pradesh," the Chief Minister said, making the point that surplus power would benefit nearby states and cities, including New Delhi. — PTI
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MC chief survives no-trust move
Mandi, October 10 All 13 councillors were present in the meeting called by the chief executive officer and SDM (Sadar) Arun Sharma. One councillor spoiled the game plan of the BJP by abstaining from voting. The six councillors who claimed to be pro-BJP and voted in support of the no-confidence motion included former president H.R. Vaidya, Krishna, Gagan Kashyap, Suman Thakur, Tosh Kumar and Jaikishan, sources said. The councillors who voted against the motion included president Sushila Sonkhla, former president Pushp Raj, Anand Behl, Asha Chopra, Yograj, Mahinder Singh, revealed sources.
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Teachers oppose decision to hold SCVT exams
Sundernagar, October 10 General secretary of the association Lekh Raj Rana said the association had written a protest letter to the government in the past regarding this but no action was taken. Then it was decided that the members of the association who were assigned duties in the SCVT examinations would wear black badges while performing the duties. The exam started from October 8 and would continue till October 20 As most staff members would be engaged in examination duties so the studies of polytechnic students would suffer as it would not be possible to complete the syllabus in the stipulated period. |
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Rs 80 cr sought for Shimla’s growth
New Delhi, October 10 Speaking at the national conference on Jawaharlal Nehru National Renewal Mission here, Himachal Pradesh urban development minister Kaul Singh Thakur listed details of vaious projects for balanced development of the state capital and improvement of its infrastructure. He said the state capital had been divided into heritage, core and green belt zones for regulating development. According to an offiical spokesman, the minister called for assistance on the pattern of North-Eastern states and Jammu and Kashmir due to similar geographicial and topographical conditions. Opposing the criterion of population for providing central assistance under the mission, he said that peculiar geographical conditions of hill states should be considered while finalising assistance norms for the states.
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Festival for physically challenged
Shimla, October 10 Around 345 children with different disabilities from 19 institutions will take part in the event. It was in 2000 that the first such meet was held at the school with the help and support of Chetna Sansthan and the HP Red Cross Society. This time, the events have been so planned that all children, no matter what disability they are suffering from, can participate in a stress-free and non-competitive atmosphere. A number of sporting events, cultural bonanza and a fair will be held. |
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Three bodies found
Nahan, October 10 A body was found laying near Saboo cylinder factory adjacent to Trilokpur road in the Kala-Amb area which falls in Haryana. The body was still to be identified. The body of an unidentified man was found in Laya Devi hills in Trilokpur today. It has been sent for a postmortem examination. A case has been registered. The third body was found on a hillock near Nohra Dhar last evening. The postmortem examination was done at Rajgarh Hospital. It is suspected that youth had died due to consumption of some poisonous substance.
— OC |
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Patwari held
Hamirpur, October 10 DSP (vigilance) Roshan Lal Negi a trap was laid following a complaint by Pawan Kumar of Kakkar village and the patwari was arrested red-handed.
— TNS |
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Sabha to honour 9 persons
Hamirpur, October 10 President of the sabha Rajinder Rana said eight persons who had contributed in different fields would be awarded with the Hamir Gaurva, while one person would be given the Hamir Ratan award. |
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Two killed
Shimla, October 10 The accident occurred at Baru Bhag, 58 km from here, around 8 a.m., killing Jagdish (45) and his son Pradeep (20), on the spot. The injured driver, who is yet to be identified, has been admitted to the hospital. A case has been registered.
— UNI |
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More than 200 journalists from all over Kangra district gathered here today and protested against the slapping of sedition charges by the state police on an editor and two senior journalists of a vernacular daily being published from here.
