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Vidya Stokes is CLP leader
Cong not to run for Speaker,
Dy Speaker
With Dhumal at the Helm
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Annual Plan
BJP panel to find causes of defeat
Assembly authorities refuse space for media centre
Snowfall cuts off Pangi, high alert sounded
Tourists enjoy skiing on the snow-covered Mall road in Manali’s no-traffic zone in the heart of the hill station on Thursday. Photo: M.C. Thakur
Bid to Beckon High-end Tourist
CD Issue
Panel finds 27 answers wrong
Interviews put off
Power cuts relaxed
Reliance to buy litchi, peaches directly from farmers
Social worker remembered
Smuggler held with 5 kg charas
Nalwari fair from March 17
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Vidya Stokes is CLP leader
Shimla, January 10
The election of Stokes as the CLP leader turned out to be a smooth affair even though former irrigation and public health minister Kaul Singh was also in the race for the post. In fact, he had emerged as a strong contender with former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh throwing his weight behind him at the last minute. Central leaders R.K.Dhawan and Mohsina Kidwai, who had been deputed by the party high command for the purpose, saw to it that the leader was elected by consensus. The supporters of Kaul Singh maintained that the numbers were in his favour but there was no opportunity for him to stake claim as the observers at the very outset asked the members to pass a one-line resolution authorising the high command to decide the leader. Once the resolution was passed there were no problems for them in evolving a consensus. The two central leaders consulted individual members to ascertain their views. After completing the exercise Dhawan declared that there was consensus on the name of Stokes. During her second stint as CLP leader Stokes will be leading a larger group. In 1990 there were only nine legislators which included senior leaders like Virbhadra Singh, N.C. Prasher and Gangu Ram Musafir. This time the strength was 23, more than one-third of the total, which will entitle her to the status of the Leader of the Opposition. Stokes thanked the high command for reposing confidence in her and said that she would involve all senior leaders to ensure that it functions as a collective force. She would also gain from the vast experience of Virbhadra Singh. Her party would play the role of a constructive opposition in the House and extend issue-based support to the government. However, it would vehemently oppose anti-people policies.
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Cong not to run for Speaker,
Dy Speaker
Shimla, January 10 The Congress would not field candidates for these posts, newly elected CLP leader Vidya Stokes said. The Congress favoured unanimous election of the speaker and the deputy speaker in the House, Stokes said after a meeting of the CLP here. The party decision not to field nominees for the two posts has paved the way for BJP candidates Tulsi Ram and Khimi Ram to get elected to theses posts. The election of speaker is on the agenda on the opening day of the inaugural session of the Vidhan Sabha starting tomorrow at Dharamsala.
— PTI |
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‘Kullu topi’ replaces ‘Bushehri’ cap
Shimla, January 10 Different colours of Himachali topis having origin in separate places have of late assumed political hue and with a change of regime the cap crowning the head of the CM comes into vogue in the hill state. With the BJP wresting power from the Congress in the recent assembly elections, the Bushehri or Kinnauri topi of Virbhadra Singh has given way to Kullu topi having maroon stripe made popular by incumbent CM Prem Kumar Dhumal. “We got supply of 100 Kullu topis with maroon stripe two days back and all of them have been sold”, Neena Thakur, sales in charge of Bhutticco in Lower Bazar, Shimla, said today. The sale of the two topis is in the ratio of 90:10 (90 Kullu and 10 Bushehri) despite having the same price of Rs 150, she added. Neighbouring shopkeeper Kewal Brothers said they were selling 20-25 Kullu topis everyday. The change in colour of Himachali topi could be seen in the state's secretariat in Shimla as well. The employees who used to wear Bushehri cap to impress Virbhadra Singh have shifted to Kullu topis to win confidence of the incumbent CM. Reports from districts also confirmed a sudden boom in the sale of maroon stripe Kullu topis. A report from Dharamsala said that the sale of maroon-stripe Kullu caps has increased manifold and due to gap in demand and supply it is sold at a higher price in some shops. The Kullu topi, which sells for Rs 150 is being sold in a few shops for Rs 200, a shopkeeper in Dharamsala said. The sale of Kullu caps has also witnessed a rise in Rampur subdivision of Shimla district, home of Virbhadra Singh and which also forms part of his Bushehr princely state. Rattan Das Kashyap of the Handicapped Weavers Association, Rampur, said an order for about 50,000 Kullu caps with maroon stripe had been received after Dhumal became the CM and the tailors were working overtime to meet the demand. Shyam Lal, a tailor in Chaura village of Kinnaur district, said he was working even in the night to meet the order for Kullu topi. Tek Chand of Nirmand tehsil of Kullu district thanked Dhumal for a sudden boom in his business. Reports from Dhumal's home district of Hamirpur and neighbouring Una, Bilaspur and Mandi districts also indicated an increase in sale of Kullu topi. — PTI
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Dhumal to consult legislators
Tribune News Service
Shimla, January 10 The Chief Minister will have discussions with MLAs from Shimla, Solan and Sirmaur in the forenoon on January 17 while the meeting with the legislators from Mandi, Chamba and Bilaspur will take place in the afternoon. The meeting on schemes and priorities for Kangra and Kullu districts will be held on January 18 morning while in the afternoon Dhumal will meet the MLAs from Una, Hamirpur, Kinnaur and Lahaul-Spiti.
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BJP panel to find causes of defeat
Bilaspur, January 10 The meeting was held in the absence of Dharmani, who was suddenly taken ill few days and was rushed to the PGI, Chandigarh,. The party workers felt that the BJP candidate had became a victim of sabotage and a secret campaign launched against him did the party in. They formed a five-member subcommittee under lthe eadership of Surat Singh Thakur, while Paramanand Sharma, Ram Prakash patiyal, Suresh Thakur and Urmila Kaushal were made its members and this subcommittee was asked to submit its report within seven days to the mandal president so that the same could be sent to the state disciplinary committee of the party at Shimla. This subcommittee was to pin point those who had worked secretly against the party candidate. Balbir Patiyal, Amarnath, Rajesh Thakur, Baldev Kumar, Lashkari Ram, Ramanand, Havansh lal soni, Rajkumari Chauhan among others were present on the occasion. |
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Assembly authorities refuse space for media centre
Dharamsala, January 10
The four-day session of the Vidhan Sabha is beginning here from tomorrow onwards. A senior official of the state government said this was for the first time in the history of the state that the Vidhan Sabha authorities had refused to provide adequate space for setting up of a media centre covering the session. As a result of which, the Public Relations Department had set up the media centre in the press room of their zonal office at Dharamsala situated at about 10 km from the Vidhan Sabha building. Last year, the media centre was set up in a school building adjacent to the Vidhan Sabha complex, but this time the district administration had refused to provide that building for setting up of media centre. The official further revealed that senior officials of the Public Relations Department, including the director had personally approached the Vidhan Sabha secretary as well as the district magistrate of Kangra to provide adequate space but they refused saying that there was no space. It was learnt that the matter was also brought to the notice of Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal by the PR Department but no positive response came from his side. The director of the PR department also holds the charge of being the special secretary to the Chief Minister.
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Snowfall cuts off Pangi, high alert sounded
Shimla, January 10 The western disturbance (WD) continued to bring heavy snowfall in all higher reaches with widespread rains in the lower parts of the state for the fifth day today. The Met office said Dhundhi and Bhang Manali in Kullu district had recorded 36 and 18 cm of snow respectively, while Patsio in Lahaul Spiti received 20 cm and Keylong 38 cm of snow following the Kalpa in Kinnaur district that recieved 58.6 cm of snow. Shimla and its other adjoining areas experienced intermittent rain till morning registering a sharp fall in the night temperature, which stood at 5.5°C as compared to 5.6 °C recorded yesterday. It also received 25.2 mm of rain, while Sundernagar received 7.5 mm, Bhuntar 17.4 mm, Una 10.2 mm, Dharamsala 9.4 mm and 17.6 mm rainfall was recorded at Nahan. The minimum temperature in the state varied. At Shimla, the minimum temperature was 2.8°C with the maximum at 11°C, while minimum temperature at Sundernagar was 5.4°C with 16°C as maximum, Bhuntar had minimum 3.0°C with a maximum of 10.8°C, -1.1°C was recorded at Kalpa in Kinnuar. The minimum temperature at Patsio fell to -10.0°C, -4.5°C at Dhundi. Recorded temperature in Una was 7.7°C, Nahan10.1°C and Solan 5.5 °C. Shimla Meteorological Department director Manmohan Singh said the WD was lying over Jammu and Kashmir and an upper air system was likely to bring more rain and snow in the state during the next 24 hours. He said the night temperatures across the state would register a fall from now onwards. — UNI
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Bid to Beckon High-end Tourist Pratibha Chauhan Tribune News Service
Shimla, January 10 Though still at the conceptual stage, the Tourism Department plans to draw up a Rs 50-crore water body project where sites like Maharana Pratap Sagar Dam, known as Pong Dam, Gobind Sagar and Renuka Lake in Sirmaur would be promoted. Though in all there will be about six places which will be developed along different lines but the site at Pong Dam will be developed for the high-end tourist. “These days people have a lot of craze to go on a cruise so we will have a very high cruise of over Rs 5 crore which is comparable to the ones being run by international companies,” informed an official. For those who still love the charm of a shikara, identified more with the Dal Lake at Srinagar, there will be shikaras and houseboats. “Since it is still not very safe to travel to Srinagar, with stray cases of kidnapping and militant attacks taking place, we can capitalise on this aspect and attract visitors who would love the Dal Lake-like ambience,” he said. The Tourism Department is in the process of identifying sites along the Pong Dam, where artificial beaches can be created. While doing so the authorities want to ensure that water at the site where a beach is developed does not recede and the place can be utilised throughout the year. Some of the possible sites can be around Nagrota Suriyan and sites between Dhameta and Rehan. As far as the funds are concerned, the department will send a Rs 50-crore proposal to the Union Ministry of Tourism. There are plans to hire consultants and experts who will give shape to the project. Water sports will be promoted at Gobind Sagar in Bilaspur, Chamera in Chamba and Pandoh in Mandi. Though water sports are being undertaken at Pong Dam and Bilaspur the department is keen that they are done more professionally and on a larger scale. The Tourism Department also plans to develop Kol dam for water sports. Renuka, though a religious place, will also be developed to attract tourists, with it being very accessible for the people of Uttarakhand, Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana.
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Mankotia gets four weeks to reply
Legal Correspondent
Shimla, January 10 A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice V. K. Gupta and Mr. Justice Sanjay Karol passed the order on a petition filed by former chairman of the state subordinate service selection board S. M. Katwal, wherein he urged the court to investigate this matter properly. During the hearing of the matter Mankotia was also present in the court. Meanwhile, in its reply to the petition the state government informed the court that as far as allegations against Vibhadra, Pratibha and retired bureaucrat Mohinder Lal are concerned, neither the petitioner nor any person had come forward and claimed the first hand information. Moreover, the petitioner nor any person had disclosed the source from where the CD originated. Till date no person has claimed to be the person who has recorded it. As such no action could be initiated on the un-authenticate material. The state further stated in its reply that as per the provisions of the vigilance manual, no cognizance of the complaint was taken until and unless it carried specific allegations. As a matter of fact, the petitioner had adopted a clever device to set the machinery of criminal law in motion against Virbhadra and his wife with an intention to harm them without sharing any responsibility for the truthfulness of the allegations. No law permits the use of state machinery on such vague and unverified allegations are particularly owned by someone. The CD released by Mankotia contained alleged conversation of Virbhadra and Pratibha in connection with the money transaction.
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Panel finds 27 answers wrong
Shimla, January 10 While passing this order a Division Bench comprising the chief justice V.K.Gupta and Mr Justice Sanjay Karol observed that it was surprising that premier institution like the commission had put wrong key answers of 27 questions in the preliminary examination of the Himachal Administrative Services. The Bench passed this order on a petition filed by some candidates alleging that the commission had given wrong key answers. On this, the court constituted the committee of experts to look into the reality. |
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Interviews put off
Shimla, January 10 An official spokesman said the new date for interviews would be intimated later. |
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Power cuts relaxed
Shimla, January 10 A spokesman of the board said that power cuts on the industrial consumers would be imposed only daring daytime between 7 a.m. and 5.30 p.m. The total shortfall was about 45 lakh units per day and the board has been able to arrange 14 lakh units from various states to help ease the situation. |
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Reliance to buy litchi, peaches directly from farmers
Dharamsala, January 10 Last year, the Adani group and few other companies had purchased apples from Kinnaur areas. Sources in the Reliance group said a team of experts and officials had recently surveyed many fruit growing areas of the state and found that peaches of the Rajgarh area of Solan district and litchis of certain pockets of Kangra district were of good quality and could be marketed through their retail stores across the country. According to an estimate, the Rajgarh area produces around 20,000 boxes of quality peaches. Each box contains around 10 kg of peaches. The Adani group purchased thousands of boxes of apples directly from the growers of Kinnaur in 2006 and 2007. It had also set up its automatic quality-check facility for grading apples, besides a modern storage house near Rampur in Shimla district. Not only private companies, the Indian Railways had also purchased thousands of boxes of apples in 2006 and 2007 from the growers of Kinnaur and sold these in rails and through retail shops at various railway stations. The Adani group also plans to buy peaches directly from the farmers this time. Senior government officials claim the coming forward of private companies for purchasing produce directly from the farmers has opened new vistas of socio-economic growth for the hill folk. However, a lots more needs to be done for small growers engaged in the cultivation of vegetables to provide them proper marketing. “We hope big companies engaged in the retail marketing of essential commodities will also start purchasing vegetables directly from us in the next couple of years,” said Rajesh Pathania, a farmer of Palampur.
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Social worker remembered
Bilaspur, January 10 Chandel, a very popular social worker and a renowned vaid, who always treated everybody free of cost and spent his entire earnings on social service, Chandel was credited with treating very complicated cases. He was also a very popular teacher in this school. At the function it was decided that a statue in memory of Vaid Shamsher Singh should be setup on the school premises and urged the government to honour him. Present on occasion were a large number of teachers leaders and representatives of panchayats and various organisations, including Hukam Singh Thakur, Sohan Lal , Krishan Lal, Pravesh Chandel and Satya Prakash Sharma.
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Smuggler held with 5 kg charas
Chamba, January 10 Chamba SP S.P.S. Varma said here today that the accused was arrested by the police on the spot while conducting a search operation when the police team carried out a foray on a tip-off received from its reliable sources. The charas weighing 5 kg was recovered from his possession, the SP said. The police has registered a case at Tissa police station of the district under sections 19 and 20 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance (NDPS) Act, the SP said; adding that the value of charas, which was being smuggled to the neighboring states was being estimated at about Rs 55 lakh in the international drug market.
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Nalwari fair from March 17
Bilaspur, January 10 Hans Raj Chauhan said traditional wrestling bouts, evening cultural programmes, development exhibition by all government departments, national and state-level games and sports events would be the highlights of this fair. Special steps would be taken to ensure participation of large number of cattle by approaching cattle mandis outside the state. This fair originated as a cattle fair hundreds of years ago. Chauhan asked all district officers to keep sufficient budget and also make proper preparations not only for holding exhibition of their achievements and development but also to make full arrangements for their responsibilities during the fair including sanitation, construction of stalls, power supply, drinking water and fodder for cattle etc. |
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The Chamba district administration has sounded high alert in the region, after Pangi, a tribal area of the district was reported to have been cut off from the rest of the state due to continuous snowfall of more than 3.5 feet.
