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Fate of Ski Village hangs in balance
Old-age Pension, Daily Wages Hiked
Virbhadra thanks CM
Airtel penalised for poor service
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Solan BJP relieves three office-bearers
Second-language status for Sanskrit sought
Nalagarh may have India’s first nano-biosym park
Withdrawal of extension in service hailed
CM’s decision to fill vacant posts lauded
Virbhadra supported rebel candidate: Cong leader
Hooliganism marks New Year celebrations
CLP Leader
Driver convicted for reckless driving
New Year cake for
Rs 18,000!
Woman killed in truck mishap
Leopard attacks woman
Two Army jawans killed in mishap
HPSEB Chairman
Postmaster found dead
Youth killed
No clue to missing minor girl
Ajay Mittal
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Fate of Ski Village hangs in balance
Shimla, January 1 “We welcome investment in the state but certainly not at the cost of environment or the divine culture of the area,” said Dhumal when asked about the future of the project. He also expressed his doubts by saying that there was complete lack of transparency and no tenders were floated while it was awarded to one company. It was during the Congress regime that the detailed project report (DPR) of the project was approved by the Cabinet amidst severe criticism by the BJP that it would cause environmental degradation and vitiate divine culture in Kullu, the ‘Valley of Gods’. Sounding optimistic about the future of the project, Ajay Dabra, director of the Himalayan Ski Village, said everything was being done strictly in accordance with the law and anybody was welcome to see the DPR to assess its merits and demerits. As many as 40 hectares of private land has so far been acquired by the company which requires 100 hectares for the project. “The DPR stands approved and we are in the process of seeking environmental clearance and permission from the state government under Section 118 of the H.P Tenancy and Land Reforms Act,” said Ajay Dabra, director of the project. The company has sought permission from the Union Ministry of Forest and Environment for use of 16.3 hectares of government forest land. The company has claimed that 3,500 persons would get direct employment while close to 14,000 would indirectly benefit from the project. “No environment impact assessment (EIA) was done nor was permission sought from the Defence Ministry, which cannot be compromised,” said Dhumal. The Chief Minister said the investment in the project seemed to have come down. He also raised doubts about its employment potential, saying that this company had sacked 3,500 persons abroad. The BJP, especially its leaders from Kullu like former MP Maheshwar Singh and Chander Sen, had opposed it vehemently, saying that it would spoil the ecology and culture of the region. It was the issue of construction of 100 villas, which were to be sold to people from all over the world that had snowballed into a major controversy. “We will still make these villas but they will not be sold but will be given out on a long-term lease,” said Dabra. He also clarified that the investment would be to the tune of Rs 1700 crore. |
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Old-age Pension, Daily Wages Hiked Rakesh Lohumi Tribune News Service
Shimla, January 1 Dhumal made dawn of 2008 for the aged, widows, lepers and other categories memorable by increasing the monthly pension from Rs 200 to Rs 300. This is the second time that he has hiked the pension. During his earlier term the amount was enhanced from Rs 100 to Rs 200 per month. It will benefit the 2,37,250 pensioners and cost the state exchequer Rs 30 crore annually. The total financial burden on this account will go up to Rs 90 crore. The minimum daily wage too has been raised from Rs 75 to Rs 100 in a go. It was the biggest hike ever effected. Over the last five years the daily wage was raised from Rs 60 to Rs 75 per month. The hike will also cover all private sector establishments. The decision will benefit the unemployed engaged under the national rural employment guarantee scheme which will be implemented in the entire state from April 1, 2008. In another important decision to help the cause of the mentally challenged children he announced grants for the non-government organisations engaged in working for the welfare of these children. Udaan will get Rs 9 lakh and Abhi Rs 5 lakh. He also announced that the government would give land to these organisations for building their own premises. It would also raise its own infrastructure for providing education and other facilities. Dhumal has virtually hijacked the Congress agenda which had promised to increase the daily wage to Rs 100 in its election manifesto and also promised to hike pension. Dhumal said that though the state was facing financial crunch but still he had tried to help the needy and who were affected the most by inflation. He said he would present the financial position of the government before the people shortly. The required remedial measures would be taken on its basis. He said the government would review all decisions taken over the past six months by the outgoing Congress regime but said that only those decisions which hurt the state’s larger interests or taken specifically to benefit any particular person or party would be scrapped.
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Virbhadra thanks CM
Shimla, January 1 He said increasing the daily wages from Rs 75 to Rs 100 and aged, widows and handicapped pension from Rs 200 to Rs 300 per month was a step in the right direction as all these formed part of the
Congress manifesto. He urged the Chief Minister to further announce the continuation of the scheme under which essential food items were being supplied to the people on subsidised rates through the public distribution system. He also urged him to continue subsidy on domestic power for the next five years in the larger public interest. |
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Airtel penalised for poor service
Sundernagar, January 1 They have been asked to pay Rs 10,000 as compensation along with interest at the rate of 9 per cent per annum to local journalist Parkash Thakur. The forum also imposed a cost of Rs 2,000 on them. The forum further directed the opposite parties to pay Rs 1 lakh to the Himachal Pradesh State Consumer Council, Shimla, under the provisions of Section 14(1)
(hb) for not providing services to a class of consumers. Parkash Thakur, who works with a Hindi daily at Mandi, had alleged that the opposite parties did not provide free calls on emergency numbers 100, 101, 102 on their network due to which he was facing problem in collecting news from the police station. He also alleged that he had never applied for the “missed call alert service”, but the opposite parties wrongly deducted the amount for it twice. When asked to refund the amount, it was said the service was being provided on the telephone of the complainant. On a request, the service was withdrawn but the amount was not adjusted as it was told that there was no procedure for it. He filed a complaint before the form and demanded compensation for deficiency in service. On the other hand, the opposite parties denied the allegation and submitted that the service was activated on the message of the complaisant and that the amount charged was adjusted in his account. The forum said numbers 101, 102 were never assessable from the Airtel network and the call on number 100 (police) could rarely be made. The forum further observed that the complainant had never applied for missed call alert service and the amount was wrongly deducted for his account twice. It said since the service providers had been dealing with a group of consumers, so the opposite parties should pay an amount of Rs 1 lakh to the Himachal Pradesh State Consumer Council, Shimla. |
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Solan BJP relieves three office-bearers
Solan, January 1 These office-bearers are general secretary Devinder Verma, vice-president Chattar Singh and secretary Prem Guleria. BJP constituency president J.L.Sharma today issued these orders and also sent a detailed report to the party president for further action. Since a constituency president is restrained from initiating any stern action against such anti-party activities the report has been forwarded to the state party president for appropriate action. Sources added the report also mentioned the names of senior party leaders at whose behest these activists indulged in anti-party propaganda during the poll. While these office-bearers were mere pawns in the hands of senior leaders the actual strategy of ensuring Bindal’s defeat was part of a larger game plan, party sources said. It had come to the party’s notice that a section of the party men had been openly announcing in public that Bindal would lose and that they should vote for the Congress. Party sources added that another such list was likely to be released soon where the number of such BJP leaders could go up to 12. |
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Second-language status for Sanskrit sought
Shimla, January 1 Talking to mediapersons here today, Dinesh Kamat, the organisational secretary of the Akhil Bhartiya Sanskrit Bharti said the government should make it mandatory for Sanskrit to be taught as a compulsory subject till class XII. “The Dhumal regime should take effective steps in this direction, the way the Uttrakhand government had declared Sanskrit as the second state language,” said Kamat. He added that by teaching Sanskrit to the students, their knowledge of Hindi language would also improve greatly. As part of the organizations initiative to popularise Sanskrit, 50 training centres will be set up. “Ten days training camp will be held at Shimla, Kullu, Hamirpur, Chamba and Chintpurni to teach Sanskrit to the people,” he announced. He said Sanskrit sammelans would be organised in the state for three months beginning from January. He said it was unfortunate that very few Sanskrit speaking people were there in the country. “After our efforts the number of Sanskrit-speaking people has gone up to 48,000 as per 1991 census and 2.10 lakh as per 2001 census,” he informed.
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Nalagarh may have India’s first nano-biosym park
Shimla, January 1 Dr Anita Goel, chairperson and CEO of Nanobiosym, a US multinational company met Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal at Delhi yesterday. She informed him that the project would be set up at a cost of Rs 2,000 crore on about 500 acre of land. She is learnt to have said the project would be completed over a period of nine years in three phases and would create world-class infrastructure at the site. The second phase of the project will be funded through the foreign direct investment from international consortia, including contributions from real estate, banking partner and business houses of the US. As a part of the project, several educational, health care, manufacturing, human resource development programmes would be launched under the project. Dhumal assured Goel that the government would extend all possible help and ensure speedy clearances so that it could take off in a time bound manner. The Chief Minister said his government was committed to attracting massive industrial investment.
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Withdrawal of extension in service hailed
Nahan, January 1 In a communication sent to Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, conveying the associations best wishes on assuming the charge of Chief Minister for the second time, state president of the association Rajinder Kahol expressed his concern on the number of extensions granted by the previous government to a few selected officers in the HPSEB time and again. He said these extensions had created stagnation and frustration among the engineers of the board many opted to move to private sector in the absence of further promotion. Kohal said the power sector had received a boost during the previous regime of Dhumal and hoped that this time also more projects would be assigned to the HPSEB instead of the private sector. He also reminded that a large number of posts of engineers were lying vacant in the board which needed to be filled immediately. |
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CM’s decision to fill vacant posts lauded
Nurpur, January 1 Dr. Sanjiv Guleria and Vipon Mahajan, state president and vice-president respectively of the association in a joint statement here today urged Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal to relax one time upper age limit for those who had already appeared twice in the interviews conducted by previous government for giving batch-wise appointments but the government had failed to do the same. They said the candidates who had appeared in those interviews but could not be appointed due to the lapse of the then government. They also demanded to annul screening tests conducted by HP University, Shimla, in November last year amidst the enforcement of the model code of conduct.
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Virbhadra supported rebel candidate: Cong leader
Hamirpur, January 1 In a press note issued here today Suresh Kumar alleged, “Former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh not only held a secrete meeting with the rebel candidate at Bhota rest house during the campaign and in an election rally at Dharmod but he even termed the rebel candidate as his old associate, which became a major factor of his defeat in the election .” He said, “ Soon he would take up the matter in the block Congress committee meeting and send the report to the party high command.”
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Hooliganism marks New Year celebrations
Shimla, January 1 It was around midnight when the police had to use force on The Ridge to keep revellers, who had started behaving in unruly manner under the influence of liquor. Similar incidents were also reported from Chotta Shimla, Vikasnagar and other places. Thousands of revellers danced through the night. Many tourists had to sleep in their vehicles as all hotels were booked to capacity. The problem started on The Ridge, where the main celebrations were being organised, when somebody flung empty liquor bottles at some police personnel. The provocation forced the policemen to use force against the crowd. Seeing this, majority of the
revellers left the venue. |
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Lobbying for the post gets going
Tribune News Service
Shimla, January 1 The party had not projected any leader during the assembly poll but the detractors of Virbhadra Singh have been targeting him after the poll debacle. A shrewd politician Virbhadra Singh has expressed unwillingness to hold the post. The seniormost leader in line for the post is former PCC chief Vidya Stokes who held this position in 1990. However, she is not acceptable to the Virbhadra Singh camp, which is reportedly supporting Gangu Ram Musafir. Their plea is that Musafir belongs to the Scheduled Castes and is fit for this appointment Another strong contender is former minister Kaul Singh, who hails from Mandi district. His supporters say that since former telecom minister Sukh Ram has quit electoral politics there is need to strengthen the leadership in the second largest district of the state.
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Driver convicted for reckless driving
Hamirpur, January 1 This accident had created a sensation in the area, when a truck carrying a marriage party rolled 50 meters down in Gudhrien Khad near Gasota about 8 km from here and 65 persons had lost their lives in this accident. |
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Broadband launched
Kangra, January 1 He said Kangra was the sixth town where these services had been launched. He said the service would be launched in 14 townships of Kangra and Chamba districts before Republic Day. Dr R.P. Government Medical College at Tanda, Rajeev Gandhi Government Ayurvedic Medical College, Paprola, Paragliding Station, Bir, Tourist Resort of Dalhousie, Chamba, Jawalamukhi, Surgani Tissa, business centres of Jassur and Damtal, Nurpur, Rehan, Shahpur and Pragpur would be on the network soon, he added. |
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New Year cake for
Rs 18,000!
Shimla, January 1 We organised the bid for the New Year cake late last night which a Ludhiana couple won at Rs 18,000, deputy general manager yogesh bahl said today. Around 100 couples participated in the bid and Mr and Ms Gurpreet Bajaj from Ludhiana won it, the DGM said. The cake weighed eight pounds, he added. The amount collected will be donated to the blind school and for the welfare of the handicapped, the DGM added.
— PTI |
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Woman killed in truck mishap
Bilaspur, January 1 Villagers rushed the critically injured woman to the regional hospital here but she was declared brought dead. The driver was also admitted but was said to be out of danger. The truck was going towards Darlaghat from Nauni. A case has been registered and the police is investigating the matter. |
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Leopard attacks woman
Hamirpur, January 1 Seeta Devi (40) has received multiple injuries after the attack on her legs, arms and the head and was taken to Bhoranj health centre for the treatment. She has been reportedly administered 12 stitches for the injuries. The Forest Department has given an ex-gratia relief of about Rs 2,000 to her. Hamirpur divisional forest officer Sanjay Sood said the Forest Department had laid a trap to catch the animal and all other precautions were also being taken. He said exact financial relief would be given to the woman after knowing the nature of injuries as per the Wildlife Act. |
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Two Army jawans killed in mishap
Chamba, January 1 They said the dead had been identified as Naik Seero Roni and Lance Naik Hung Khaliyan of the Assam regiment. They were residents of Assam. The injured have been admitted to Military Hospital, Bakloh, they said. The sources said the vehicle in which six persons were travelling, including one civilian youth was carrying meals for the Army personnel. The injured have been identified as Naik Jitesh Ghatani, Havaldar Sikandar, driver Anja Kumar and civilian Prashant.
— PTI
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Govt not to pursue appeal
Tribune News Service
Shimla, January 1 Chief Minister P.K.Dhumal said here today that the government would review the matter and take appropriate decision. The court had quashed the appointment on the ground that it was in violation of the Electricity Act. It was an interim order but the previous government had moved the apex court.
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Postmaster found dead
Hamirpur, January 1
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Youth killed
Solan, January 1 He sustained serious head injuries and was declared dead when taken to the hospital. A case has been registered.
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No clue to missing minor girl
Nurpur, January 1 According to Manohar Lal, father of the girl, he had lodged a report with the police on December 25, but there had been no clue to his daughter even after a week. The police authorities maintained the investigation were on in the case.
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Ajay Mittal
Shimla, January 1 Negi, Additional Chief Secretary, will continue to hold charge of Horticulture and Bio-technology. Mittal will hold additional charge of the HIPA, Mashobra, where he was holding the post of director till now.
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