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‘Jobs-on-chits’ Scam
Class XI Results
Termination of Pregnancy
CMO B.R. Arya (right) raids a clinic near BCS in New Shimla on Friday. Tribune
photo by S. Chandan |
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Cricket Issue
Sewerage fails to deliver
A view of the blocked sewerage on Dharamsala bypass, which is a major health hazard for residents in the surrounding areas. Photo by writer
Anurag: Cong failed to bring projects to state
Dhawan lodges complaint against BJP
A man takes shelter in a verandah as rain lashed Shimla on Friday. A Tribune photograph
Rs 429-lakh project for updating land records
2 black bear cubs give hope to breeding plan
Forest fires being underplayed: NGO
Tanda Medical College
Beating of Student
Red Cross plans two more clinical labs
Central staff hold demonstration
16 BBMB employees honoured
Wife held for man’s suicide
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Vigilance to quiz IAS officer today
Tribune News Service
Shimla, May 16 Kapoor has been asked to visit the Vigilance office here tomorrow. Kapoor will be questioned about the recruitments made in Agro India Packaging Limited (AIPL) during his tenure as Managing Director between 1984 and 1998. Kapoor is the second IAS officer after S. Nigam to be summoned for questioning by the special investigation unit (SIU) of the Vigilance Bureau. Being the acting chairman of the State Public Service Commission, Nigam had said that since he was holding a constitutional post, it would not be appropriate for him to appear before the Vigilance Bureau. It was then that the Vigilance Bureau gave him a questionnaire regarding recruitments in the Shimla Municipal Corporation while he was its Commissioner. “Nigam has already sent his response but we have yet to ascertain if this is sufficient from the inquiry point of view,” said a senior official. The Departments of Electricity, Ayurveda, Language, Art and Culture and Agro India Packaging Limited from whom a detailed record of the recruitments made between 1994 and 1998 was sought yesterday are in the process of collecting the information. It is expected more senior bureaucrats could be questioned with regard to the scam. After conducting a preliminary inquiry, the Vigilance Bureau had found that about 336 persons had been provided jobs on recommendatory slips. As such the SIU could question about 40 officials, including 11 IAS officers, with regard to their role in granting jobs to these persons in their respective departments where they were posted between 1994 and 1998 when the Congress was in power,” said a senior officer.
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Three top in science stream
Tribune News Service
Dharamsala, May 16 Priyanka of Him Academy Public School, Hamirpur; Rahul Sharma of Mahavir Public Senior Secondary School, Pungh, Sundernagar; and Chhering Paljor, Kullu Valley School, Ramshila; came second securing 463 marks. Samneet Thakur of Minerva Senior Secondary School, Ghumarwin; secured the third position with 461 marks. In commerce Anuj Thakur of Blue Star Senior Secondary School, Hamirpur; topped the list securing 477 marks out 500. Rahul Gupta of Kullu Valley School, Ramsila; was second with 427 marks while Palak Jain of Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Nalagarh, came third with 425 marks. In arts category Munish Kumar of Government Shamsher Senior Secondary School, Nahan; topped the list securing 424 marks out of 500, Amit Sharma from Government Senior Secondary School, Mamligh, came second with 420 marks and Jatindra Kumari of Government Senior Secondary School, Sidhyani; came third with 418 marks. In vocational group Shilpa Thakur of Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Nahan; topped, Shakuntala of Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Nahan; came second and Amit Sharma of Government Senior Secondary School, Lathiani; came third. Rakesh Sharma, secretary education board, said 1,03,224 students appeared in class XI examinations under various streams this year. Out of these 61,576 passed that brings the pass percentage at 60.50 per cent that is better than 51.33 per cent pass percentage recorded last year.
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Case registered against doctor
Tribune News Service
Shimla, May 16 The incident took place at a private clinic in New Shimla, where Anita, the mother of the girl, had gone to get the pregnancy terminated. It was the mother of the girl, who filed a complaint before the police alleging that the doctor running the clinic demanded Rs 2,000 from her. District police chief R.M. Sharma said though the mother of the girl claims that she is 18 years old her age appears to be less. “We have registered a case under Section 315 of the IPC and Section 5 of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act in the Chotta Shimla police station and will investigate the matter,” he stated. The case has been registered against Dr Anju Chandla, who runs Chandla Clinic. The SP said the clinic was not registered with the Health Authorities for undertaking medical termination of pregnancies, which is mandatory. All machinery and equipment being used by the clinic will be seized and action will be taken accordingly. He said the girl belonged to the family of rag pickers from Muzzafarabad in Bihar, where she allegedly had relations with her own brother-in-law.
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BJP, Congress trade charges
Dharam Prakash Gupta Tribune News Service
Hamirpur, May 16 BJP candidate Anurag Thakur is focusing on his achievements as the president of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) in his campaign. On the other hand, the Congress leaders, who have been highlighting certain alleged irregularities and fighting legal battle in the court, are making his tenure as an issue in this election. Highlighting Anurag’s achievements as the HPCA president the BJP leaders said, “He has done a wonderful job for promoting and popularising the cricket in this hilly state during the last 7 years which the Congress men holding positions in the HPCA could not do for decades.” Anurag said this work was done despite the efforts of the previous Congress government to oust him from the HPCA by bringing legislation. “I have won a legal battle against the Congress leaders and would now build cricket stadiums in every district, appoint 100 coaches and make efforts to take the game of cricket to new heights,” he added. However, the Congress leaders are highlighting alleged irregularities committed in the HPCA during his tenure. Former president of the HPCA and vice-president of the state Congress committee Rajinder Zar said since the matter is sub judice I do not want to comment on charges against Anurag but he is patting himself for the construction of stadium at Dharamsala which was cleared by the BCCI during my tenure.
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Sewerage fails to deliver
Palampur, May 16 Despite the fact that the IPH Department is well conversant with the situation, no efforts have been made to repair the lines. The over flow from the sewerage is regularly coming out on the road making it difficult even to move on the road. Residents of these localities have time and again complained to the executive engineer, IPH, but nothing was done in the past three months. Official sources said the sewerage system in the town was set up at the cost of Rs 2.6 crore but from the very first day the sewerage lines and tanks developed cracks at many places because of the fact that substandard material was used. In just a span of 10 years, the sewerage system had lived out its life as the IPH authorities carry out no regular maintenance. Most of the tanks of the sewerage treatment plants are also filled up with mud and silt, as there is no provision to check the flow of silt into the plant. Information gathered by The Tribune revealed that out dated equipment had been installed by the IPH Department here which had no provisions to pump out the silt and dry its beds, therefore it was not possible to run the plant regularly for 20 hours. In the absence of such facilities the plant had failed to give required results causing hardships to residents of the area. In the absence of proper equipment in the plant entire sewerage is being drained out to Bhiral khad, which is a major source of drinking water in the lower areas. Even the IPH Department itself had lifted the water from this stream to its drinking water supply schemes in the lower areas of Palampur. Because of carelessness of the IPH Department, the people in lower areas had been forced to take contaminated water resulting in various diseases. Meanwhile, executive engineer L.R. Chaudhry, when contacted by The Tribune, expressed his inability to repair the sewerage lines of the town in the absence of manpower with him. The IPH Department had no experts to handle the sewerage system; therefore, there were frequent breakdown in the lines. He said he could not say when these broken sewerage lines would be repaired. Even he refused to initiate action against the erring officials who failed to check the leaking sewerage lines of the town. |
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Anurag: Cong failed to bring projects to state
Bilaspur, May 16 Addressing a series of public meetings at Kothipura, Rajpura, Chilla, Mehathi, Jamli, Ghwandal, Janali, Swahan, Behal, Dharote, Majari, Dollan and Dabat today in Kot-Keholoor Assembly segment, Thakur said the former government could not protect the tenure of industrial package, which was accepted by the earlier Dhumal government from the then BJP Central Government till 2013. He said the tenure of this industrial package was reduced up to 2010 by the Central Government. Thakur said this proved how much the Congress governments were worried about the progress of the state and prosperity of its people as this industrial package had opened floodgates of investment of thousands of crores of rupees in the industrial sector apart from providing employment to local youth. HAMIRPUR: Former minister and BJP leader Shyama Sharma said “While the NDA government under former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee did a commendable work and launched schemes like the Prime Minister Grameen Sadak Yojna, the present state government has converted our manifesto into a policy document.” She said “Thrust of the BJP government was to convert the state into hydelpower state during the last term and had started 2054 MW Parwati Hydelpower Project.” Meanwhile, the press secretary of District Congress Committee Sudershan Sharma criticised the state government for the move of splitting up the HPSEB. |
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Dhawan lodges complaint against BJP
Hamirpur, May 16 Dhawan said “We have also brought to the notice of the observers the instances of misuse of official machinery by the ruling party by using threats and allurements of transfers for forcing them to work for BJP in this election.” He said “The Congress leaders are working together in this election and our aim is to take the policies of the UPA government to the grassroot level and not to topple any government.” |
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Snow in tribal areas
Shimla, May 16 According to the Met office, higher reaches of the tribal areas of Kinanur, Lahaul-Spiti and Pangi were having intermittent mild snow since this morning. The lower areas were lashed by thundershowers accompanied with
strong winds. The state capital and its surrounding areas were lashed with brisk showers in the
afternoon. The tourist towns of Manali, Dharmasala and Dalhousie also had light rain. However, the temperatures rose across the state due to the cloud cover. Shimla recorded a minimum of 16°C, up by 8 degrees, and a maximum of 25.5°C. The total precipitation during the day was 2.5 mm. KULLU: Strong winds with heavy rains lashed the lower region of Kullu causing damage to the fruit and vegetable crops. The apple and other stone fruits were severely damaged during the rainstorm. The heavy down pour made the Bhuntar-Manali National Highway like a pond of water at many places temporarily hampering the traffic. The Air India flight that reached the Kullu-Manali airport from Delhi could not fly back due to sudden bad weather conditions forcing the tourists and other passengers to stay back. The flight would leave tomorrow morning for Delhi. |
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Rs 429-lakh project for updating land records
Shimla, May 16 Giving this information while presiding over the meeting regarding computerisation of land records here today revenue minister Gulab Singh said the project included resurvey of an area of 2,826 sq km, excluding the forest area in Sirmaur district. He said a state-level society would be constituted with an objective to monitor the implementation of computerisation and digitisation of land records for the convenience of landowners. He said the records of Shajra Kishwar (Mushabi), Khatoni, Aks Momi, Lath and field books of Missal Hakiat, Khasra Girdwari were being updated and computerised. The zamabandi of land would soon be made available to the people on Internet. He said under this project the resurvey work of land would be carried out using the latest technology based on the GPS (global positioning system) and total stations so that the maps could be maintained and updated in single unit. Computerisation work was in progress in all districts and the data entry process of 107 tehsils and subtehsils out of total 109 was on. Data entry work in 19,734 revenue villages out of total 20,681 revenue villages had been completed. So far 97 tehsils and subtehsils had been made online and have started issuing computerised copies of records of rights to the landowners. The National Land Resource Management Programme for providing funds to the tune of Rs 1,551.58 lakh to the state has been sent to the Government of India. He also stressed the need for providing regular training of field staff.
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2 black bear cubs give hope to breeding plan
Shimla, May 16 The Central Zoo Authority (CZA) has already given its conceptual nod for starting a brown bear conservation and breeding programme at Kufri last year but there has been no further headway as animals from different bloodline were not available. The authorities were hoping that local people could chance upon brown bear cubs like the two black bear ones so that they could proceed with the programme. The Kufri Zoo had been declared as the coordinating zoo for the conservation and breeding programme while the Leh Zoo would be the participating zoo in the programme. Two black bear cubs, which were rescued by locals from forests near Kotkhai and Rampur, have been handed over to wildlife officials. The two cubs about month-and-a-half old have now been kept at the Kufri Zoo, near here. The Kufri Zoo at present has two male and two female brown bears but of the same bloodline leading to problem in starting the conservation and breeding programme. The authorities cannot use brown bear of the genetically same family as this will lead to problem of inbreeding which leads to high infant mortality. The programme is aimed at saving the animal from extinction and help increase their dwindling number. |
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Forest fires being underplayed: NGO
Shimla, May 16 Convener of the organisation Rajeshwar Negi said here today that no effort was being made to prevent forest fires which caused maximum damage to the biodiversity and sprouting plant saplings. It was a major factor behind degradation of forests which not only impacted the local and global climate but also the economy. The Forest Department had been underplaying the impact of forest fires by taking shelter behind the plea that the state mostly experienced ground fires that did not affect tree canopies. Moreover, forest fires also led to loss and degradation of topsoil. The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) had in its 2005 report identified forest fires as a major cause of degradation which led to loss of millions of tonnes of topsoil, nutrients and moisture, plant and animal genetic recourses and also led to erosion, landslides and floods. The fires also released greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. He said that the government had been repeatedly approaching the apex court for allowing green felling even as the dense forests had been depleting in the state at an alarming rate. Successive governments had been making such efforts to protect their “vote banks” and If the green cover was still intact it was largely because of the court orders. It was a paradox that the state government was claiming carbon credits even though the natural green cover over the hills was declining due to its wrong policies. |
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Vigilance probes allotment of shops
Lalit Mohan Tribune News Service
Dharamsala, May 16 The sources available here told that shops in the Tanda medical college were allotted during the stint of the previous government. According to information available with the Vigilance, no procedure was followed in the allotment of shops. As per rules the shops should have been allotted to interested persons after floating tenders. The highest bidders should have been allotted the shops. However, the management of the Tanda medical college allotted the shops as per their whims. The purchase of medical equipment by the medical college authorities is also under scanner. The sources here told that the previous college management purchased medical equipment like ultrasound machines, CT scan, equipment for operation theatre and other equipment without following prescribed procedures. This purchase of equipment that is worth lakhs caused financial loss to the organisation. Kangra SP Vigilance and Anti-corruption Bureau Santosh Patial admitted that they have received complaint regarding alleged bungling in allotment of shops and purchase of medical equipment in the Tanda medical college. An inquiry has been initiated and some records pertaining to the case have been confiscated.
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Inquiry initiated against teacher
Our Correspondent
Nurpur, May 16 According to information, local block elementary education officer Uttam Chand along with panchayat pradhan rushed to the village school this morning. He admitted there was a lot of resentment among the villagers against the primary assistant teacher Vijay Sharma, who had been appointed on a contract in the school, recently. The statements of the alleged teacher and victim Anjali could not be recorded, as the student did not attended the school and the teacher was on casual leave today. “On finding guilty after the inquiry, departmental action would be taken against the teacher,” he asserted. Meanwhile, DSP Bidhi Chand revealed that the police had yet to receive x-ray-cum-medical legal report of the victim and after getting the report IPC Sections would be imposed against the accused.
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Red Cross plans two more clinical labs
Chamba, May 16 Such labs have already been functioning at the district headquarter town of Chamba and subdivision headquarters at Dalhousie rendering yeomen service to the poor. Launching an ‘extension centre’ of the District Red Cross computerised clinical laboratory at the regional hospital Chamba and also introducing ECG facility, Chamba DC Munish Garg, who is also the chairman of district Red Cross Society, said this extension centre would function in off-hours of the regional hospital for the facility of patients getting their blood samples so that these samples could be analysed in the central clinical lab of the Red Cross. |
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Central staff hold demonstration
Shimla, May 16 State co-ordination committee of the Central Government employees and workers held a daylong dharna here at Kranti Chowk followed by a rally and called upon the government to intervene in the matter and resolve the issue. In a joint release issued here, workers union president
P.L. Verma and secretary K.L. Gautam said they were opposed to the abolition of 12 lakh group D posts as suggested by the commission, outsourcing of government work and withdrawal of pension scheme. Besides, they also demanded restoration of commuted value of pension after 12 years, no implementation of performance related pay system in salary and change in medical reimbursement system. They said all daily wagers, contract and contingent workers should be regularised, besides providing pension to all gramin dak sewaks and maintenance of ration pay between minimum and maximum pay as 1:10. The committee submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister and sought his intervention.
— UNI |
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16 BBMB employees honoured
Sundernagar, May 16 Mishra also enjoyed a cultural programme presented by students of various BBMB schools and distributed prizes. He announced a grant of Rs 51,000 for the participants. Earlier, the BBMB chief attended a function at senior secondary school, Rajgarh, near Sundernagar, where the BBMB organised a free medical camp in which 370 patients were examined and medicines distributed among them free of cost. |
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Wife held for man’s suicide
Bilaspur, May 16 Kaul Dass was physically challenged since birth due to polio and used crutches to walk. His relatives doubted that Kaul Das could reach the
ceiling fan for getting himself hanged. The suicide note said his wife had been repeatedly quarrelling with him and she was out to grab his property. Only five days ago, the deceased had made a will in favour of some other relatives. The body was sent to the regional hospital for
postmortem. A case has been registered. |
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No move for SEB trifurcation
SHIMLA: There was no move for trifurcation of the state electricity board (SEB), much less its privatisation, an official spokesman said here on Friday. The government was pursuing the matter with the Government of India in this respect and the board was continuing as the sole transmission utility and distribution licensee for the entire state. The Union Ministry of Power had allowed this arrangement till May 31, 2008. The state government had requested the Centre to allow the board continue in the unbundled form up to March 31, 2009.
— TNS |
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Shimla, May 16
Palampur, May 16
