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Nod to allotment of hydel projects
Govt to review recruitment policy of teachers
Centre proposes NDRF, food craft institute
Dental students denied admission
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Business Rivalry with Partner
Delivery in the open
Girl accuses parents of torture
Rs 24.84 lakh for fire victims
Power sector top priority: Rana
Cold fury continues
HPSS officers given postings
2 killed, 2 hurt in mishaps
2 held for killing man
Drug peddler gets 10-yr RI
Cellphones banned
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Nod to allotment of hydel projects
Shimla, January 23 It decided to requisition a status report in respect of the 200-MW Bara Bhangal and 140-MW Chango-Yangthang hydroelectric projects bagged by Malan Power Company with reference to the environment damage caused in the execution of the Allain Duhangan project at Manali along with the status of the litigation pending in the High Court. It also decided to provide residential accommodation, vehicle with driver, personal assistant, personal security officer and a peon to the Leader of the Opposition over and above the other facilities being extended by the Vidhan Sabha. The Cabinet decided to amend the State Judicial Officers (pay and allowances) and Conditions of Service Act to provide various benefits to the judicial officers as per the recommendations of the Shetty Commisison. The benefits will now be given retrospectively with effect from November 1, 1999, instead of prospectively as per the earlier decision. Chief Secretary Ravi Dhingra said the annual financial burden on the state exchequer on this account would be Rs 97.77 lakh while the retrospective implementation would entail an expenditure of Rs 2.5 crore. The Cabinet also approved introduction of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in the remaining eight districts of the state from from April 1. It approved regularisation of the services of 18 daily-wage workers in the Rural Development Department. It also relaxed the ban to fill 20 posts of excise and taxation inspector to strengthen the department. |
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Govt to review recruitment policy of teachers
Dharamsala, January 23 The new government had already announced to review all these recruitments and frame a new concrete policy for recruitment of teachers in the government schools within two months before beginning of the new academic session. The policy of recruiting teachers by the PTA’s to meet the urgent demand of teaching staff was not acknowledged by the educationists as it failed to raise the standards of education as the recruitments were directly influenced by politicians of the ruling party ignoring the merit. As a result of which, the state that stood first in the country for providing best school education a couple of years back had now slipped to second position. This was admitted by Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal while replying to the Governor’s address in winter session of the state legislative Assembly, early this month. Sources in the Education Department revealed that there were about 17,000 teachers of various subjects and categories working in the government schools on PTA basis, out of which, as many as 2,200 were lecturers and 250 physical training instructors in the senior secondary schools of the state. The situation had become so ‘worse’ that there were more than 200 recently upgraded schools that were primarily dependent on PTA teachers. One could judge from this fact, the level of education standards in the schools. |
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Cancellation of PTA appointments hailed
Nurpur, January 23 |
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Centre proposes NDRF, food craft institute
Shimla, January 23 Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said here today that the Centre had approached the state in this regard. It had requested the government for providing suitable land for the raising a battalion of the NDRF, preferably in Solan or Una district. The authorities had sought about 150 acres of land to develop the state headquarters of the battalion which would cater to the disaster management requirements of the state. He said the proposed battalion was likely to be managed by eight composite teams consisting of strong and skilled manpower of about 1,158 personnel and would be prompt to respond to any disaster calls. He said that the National Disaster Mitigation Reserve, which would cater to the immediate needs of 25,000 affected people in any disastrous situation, had also been proposed to be co-located with each of the eight NDRF unist. He further said that one of the NDRF units would have an additional store for 50,000 persons residing in high-altitude areas in neighbouring states. The battalion would also be provided basic training in operational disaster management to local people and response forces of the state, including the police, civil defence and home guard units, from time to time, besides carrying out mock exercises. Dhumal said with the setting up of the battalion disaster management would be more convenient as specialised services would be available all over the state round the clock. He said the harsh wintry conditions also rendered movement in the snow-bound areas perilous where specialised disaster management services could be required in emergency situations. Efforts would also be made to train the volunteer organisations in disaster management under the supervision of experts. Over Rs 105 crore were likely to be spent by the National Disaster Management Authority on the creation of necessary modern infrastructure, logistics, establishment and administrative setup of the battalion. The battalion would go a long way in strengthening the disaster management infrastructure in the state highly prone to natural disasters. The Chief Minister directed the authorities to find suitable government land for the battalion. The proposed food craft institute would help provide training to the youth in fastest growing hospitality industry. Himachal being a tourist state, there was need for updating the tourism-feeding infrastructure to match the modern hospitality requirements of the visitors. The food industry would get trained manpower to serve traditional and continental food to the consumers. The government would also request the Centre to set up a hotel management institute to run the degree courses in hospitality industry. |
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Dental students denied admission
Shimla, January 23 The parents of these students have served legal notices on the secretary health, the director, dental education and the principal of the Government Dental College, Shimla, to explain as to why they were not being allowed to join the classes. These students, currently studying in private dental colleges, have been given admission in the government dental college in
the second year against the seats that have fallen vacant. Talking to mediapersons here today, students and their parents said despite a letter being issued to them by the Principal of the college on December 31 to join classes by January 10, they were not being allowed to so the same. “All officials concerned are adopting a dilly-dallying attitude despite the requisite money being deposited and all other formalities having been completed by us,” they said. They said a lot of money was also involved as they had deposited fee worth lakhs at both places and still they were not being allowed to join the government college. “When we raised the issue with the Principal, we were told that the earlier list prepared by his predecessor had some irregularities and the admission would be done only after an inquiry was held into the matter,”
they said. The students awaiting admission here said they had not been given any specific time frame for the completion of inquiry. “There is complete uncertainty and we do not know where to continue our studies which are obviously getting affected by this indifferent
attitude of the authorities,” they said. The students said they had been forced to seek legal recourse as it was a question of their career and they could not afford to miss studies. Some of the students who have been affected by the delay in admission on migration basis include Kalpana, Shalini, Shipra, Yamini Thakur, Anubhjuti, Kanchan and Shekhu Sood. |
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Business Rivalry with Partner
Mandi, January 23 The mineral water plant was reportedly lying shut for over a month. Varum had alleged that Dile Ram and his son were shifting the machinery illegally. He said he had a written agreement with Dile Ram that he would not interfere in the business of the plant. The father-son duo was arrested under Sections 457, 452 and 380 of the IPC. They were produced before a judge at Kullu today and later released on bail. Varum had alleged that HIMFED, which had financed the plant, had ordered auction of the plant earlier, but he deposited the money after Dile Ram withdrew from the partnership as per a new agreement with him. Denying the charges, Dile Ram claimed he would seek a legal remedy. BSP president Man Singh Manehra said on phone the state body stood dissolved after party’s debacle in the state. However, Dile Ram was a member of the party. Neither Dile Ram nor anybody else had informed him about the incident, he added. Kullu SP G.D. Bhargava confirmed the arrests and said the property was disputed. |
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Delivery in the open
Dharamsala, January 23 Disturbed by the insensitive attitude of the medical professionals towards a pregnant woman who gave birth to a child in open in the hospital premises after being allegedly refused to provide medical care on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday, few local people with an air of complete seriousness went to medical superintendent of the hospital Dr Chain Singh and presented him a bouquet of flowers satirically congratulating him for providing good health services to the people. In a sense of humour, they hailed the state government and the Health Department through the medical superintendent for recently achieving the national award in providing best health care services in the hill state among all other states of the country. Atul Bhardwaj, a social worker and an environmentalist, who led the protest, told The Tribune that it was shameful for the state government to have ‘hardhearted’ medical professionals in the Health Department who had no respect and devotion towards the noble profession. Interestingly, the protesting people did not even speak loudly or raised any slogan against the state government or the health department but in dignified way held discussion with the medical superintendent on the prevailing problems of the hospital by which the local people were suffering a lot. Meanwhile, the general feeling among the protesting people was that there was very little for the doctors to worry about as even if they were suspended or terminated from the service. |
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Girl accuses parents of torture
Kumarhatti, January 23 In a compliant filed at the Nalagarh police station, the 18-year-old girl has accused her parents of repeatedly beating her up and chaining her in the house. Accompanied by Neena
Rana, councillor from ward No. 4, Nalagarh, and neighbours, the girl showed her injuries marks to mediapersons present at the police station. She alleged she was again mercilessly beaten up last night by her parents. She somehow managed to get released from chains during the night and reached their neighbour’s house. She narrated her tale of woe to them. She was taken to the councillor’s home this morning. Talking to
mediapersons, the girl said her parents did not allow her to move around freely even inside the house. “They often used to beat me up and kept me tied to the bed. I do not want to stay with my parents,” she said. However, Kuldeep and
Pinki, father and stepmother of the girl, said the allegations were baseless. They said she was mentally upset so they had to keep her chained. Ironically, the girl did not at all behave like a mentally retarded person during her interaction with
mediapersons. A case has been registered. |
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Rs 24.84 lakh for fire victims
Kullu, January 23 The deputy Speaker said an eight-member village level Disaster Management Committee (DMC) headed by the gram panchayat pradhan had been constituted at Mohini village. It would not only look after the smooth and fair distribution of the relief material and fund but will also bring awareness among the villagers to take preventive measures and immediate solutions to manage the natural calamities. It may be recalled that 46 houses and 47 cowsheds were gutted in a devastating fire on December 19, 2007. The Speaker said the chilling cold weather and heavy snowfall, of course, had hampered the relief works but the administration, the local NGOs and the private companies involved in many hydro power projects had come forward for villagers’ rehabilitation. |
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Power sector top priority: Rana
Shimla, January 23 In a statement issued here today, state BJP spokesperson Rajinder Rana said the decision of the government to invite global tenders for the execution of hydel power projects in the state was a welcome step. “During the previous BJP regime also, the government had made a power policy to harness 10,000 MW power in the state, but the Congress regime failed to capitalize on that,” said Rana. The BJP leader said instead of focusing on the power sector, the Congress regime divided the state on the basis of regions. “During the previous Dhumal regime, work on the Parbati, Kol, Chamera-II, Uhl, Kholi and Ghanvi projects was undertaken on a war footing,” he said. He added that during the BJP rule, the Malana power project was completed and made operational in a record time. He said since power generation was a major way of generating revenue, the BJP would focus on this sector so that employment could be generated and the financial position of the state improved. |
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Cold fury continues
Shimla, January 23 The night temperatures in high-altitude regions were also reported to be below 0°C. It was -0.8°C in Sundernagar, Kalpa (-5.5°C), Patsio in Lahaul-Spiti (-14°C, Dhundi in Kullu (-9.5°C), Solang Nala (-6°C) and Keylong (-9.7°C), the sources said. A report from Kinnaur said Pooh in the border region continued to remain cut off for the 15th day today. Border Roads Organisation (BRO) personnel were on the job to open the highway to Pooh sub-division of the district, the report added. A report from the famous tourist place of Manali said though there had been rain/snow since yesterday cold wave conditions continued in the area. The weather office has forecast rain/snow at isolated place of the hill state in the next 24 hours.
— PTI |
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HPSS officers given postings
Shimla, January 23 He was presently serving as deputy secretary in the Department of Personnel (Pool). He would relieve K.K. Shaw of this additional charge. The government also appointed Lekh Ram Tanwar, currently under secretary in the Department of Personnel (Pool) in the Agriculture Department against the same post. Both officers belong to the Himachal Pradesh Secretariat Services (HPSS). The government also gave additional charge of the Tribal Development Department to K.K. Shaw and of the PWD to Sada Ram Sharma. |
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2 killed, 2 hurt in mishaps
Sundernagar, January 23 In the first accident a car collided with a truck near Bhavana Bridge, killing Ghanshyam Varma of Ishwar Colony, Delhi, on the spot and injuring Pardeep of Ishwar Colony, Delhi, seriously. Pardeep was admitted to the Zonal Hospital, Mandi, in a serious condition. Both victims were going to Delhi In another accident a car collided with a bike at Baggi, near here, killing Hukam Chand of Khuri on the spot and the injuring Bhupesh of Chwari in the Balh valley. Cases have been registered in both accidents. |
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2 held for killing man
Mandi, January 23 The accused have been identified as Rota Ram, 22, a resident of Mohar village, and Raj Kumar, 23, Rota Ram’s servant, who comes from Kullu. The victim was allegedly hit with a brick on the head. Bhola Ram had gone to Rota Ram’s house yesterday due to some work. Both had some hot arguments and then came to blows. Rota Ram and his servant Raj Kumar hit Bhola on the head with a brick. He died on the spot. |
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Drug peddler gets 10-yr RI
Kullu, January 23 Deputy district attorney Mahesh Sen stated this here today. He said the accused was apprehended by Banjar police headed by sub inspector Ram Karan on November 11, 2006, near Phagu Pul while the police party was on a routine patrolling duty. |
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Cellphones banned
Dharamsala, January 23 Education minister I.D. Dhiman has asked the Education Department to enforce this strictly in all educational institutes. Orders to this effect had already been issued. The teachers would now have to switch off their mobile phones as soon as they enter their respective institutes. The minister has asked the department to take stern action if anybody was found violating this order. The media has been reporting about the disturbance in classrooms due to the use of mobile phones. |
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Bird census
Hamirpur, January 23 |
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