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Chaki causeway washed away
Horticulture ministers’ conclave begins today
School board ex-chief in the dock again
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Chief of Army Staff visits Yol Cantt
CM: Centre out to end package
Liberal policy for doctors soon
Cement Plant
Labourers’ Regn
Gujjar agitation, cool weather
Cong leaders sent money through hawala: Mankotia
HPU to seek Rs 151 cr from UGC
Apple fest to attract tourists
Manch to promote traditional songs
HRTC income up
Plea for subsidy on LPG
Sino-Tibet talks deferred
Stone of ESI hospital laid
Two selected for AETA
Appointment hailed
Chandel lashes out at Central Govt
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Chaki causeway washed away
Dharamsala, June 11 The authorities had to divert the traffic on the Pathankot-Kangra national highway through the Damtal-Khandwal road. The superintendent engineer (national highways), Dharamsala, ruled out immediate restoration of traffic on the route. He said they would have to wait for the weather to clear before the causeway was repaired and traffic restored on the route. It could take two days, he added. Last year, over 100-year-old single-lane bridge over the Chaki river was washed away in floods after which the PWD of Himachal had constructed a causeway for restoring traffic. Now, even the causeway has been washed away. The SE said the tenders for constructing a new bridge over the river had been allotted. However, it would take at least another two years before it was completed. Till then, the people would have to trek their way over rocky bed of the river to reach Kangra from Pathankot.
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Horticulture ministers’ conclave begins today
Shimla, June 11 Besides exploring the possibilities of cooperation in the field of horticulture and related areas, the ministers along with their respective teams of officers will chalk out a strategy to effectively plead the case of hill states for adoption of different norms for grant of funds in view of the higher cost of development projects because of the hill terrain and other factors. The major concerns include a separate horticulture policy for hill areas where fruit cultivation was the mainstay of people, setting up of a trans-Himalayan development authority to promote sustainable development in the ecologically fragile region, a higher package under the Horticulture Technology Mission etc. However, the main objective is to start a new chapter of regional cooperation among hill states. Horticulture minister Narinder Bragta said the hill states had common problems and issues which could be resolved by waging a joint battle. In the next phase, Sikkim, Manipur and other remaining hills states would also be involved once the common front started taking shape. The conclave will also explore the possibility of cooperation in the areas of horticulture research, setting up common facilities like cold storages. The directors of the three northern states had already carried out a detailed exercise to identify the areas where cooperation was possible. The idea to form a common front is the brainchild of Chief Minister P.K.Dhumal, who will preside over the meeting. Jammu and Kashmir horticulture minister Mohammed Dilawar, Uttarakhand horticulture minister T.S.Rawat and principal adviser to Arunchal Pradesh Chief Minister Tsering Gyurma will attend the conclave. |
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School board ex-chief in the dock again
Dharamsala June 11 Addressing a press conference here Jagroop Singh alleged that Rahi sought Rs 1 lakh or Rs 1000 per student to declare 100 per cent result in his school. “I refused to intervene and asked R.K. Prashar, academic officer and close aide of Rahi, to directly approach the students. The board chairman allegedly approached the students through his touts. However, only 19 students of his school took the offer. The students were helped out of the way by the board authorities. After the examination at the centre was over, the students who had paid the money were called. The middle pages from the answersheets were removed and students were given fresh papers to write answers through mass copying. The new sheets were then stapled with the original answersheet. The principal displayed the original papers of the answersheets of students before the media. Citing another case he alleged that two 10+1 medical students of Government Senior Secondary School, Nagrota Surian, having role numbers 670917 and 670921 had failed. However, they were treated as pass and allowed to sit in the 10+2 class. They were passed in revaluation in September later on. The principal said that he had moved the Himachal High Court in the case, besides demanding a Vigilance inquiry. He alleged that many single-room schools in the Bankhandi area were given affiliation for running the 10+2 classes. He clicked the photographs of such schools and submitted them to the board and the government. However, no action was taken against the culprits. The principal also alleged that he was victimised for raising his voice against corruption in the board by withholding the result of the entire school. He demanded that the Vigilance should confiscate the answersheets of 19 students quoted in his complaint for inquiry. He also handed over the original answersheets that were allegedly replaced by the board authorities. The Vigilance is likely to initiate an inquiry into the complaint soon. Rahi is already facing the charges of allegedly preparing a fake certificate of former minister Singhi Ram’s daughter. Charges false, says Rahi
B.R. Rahi termed the allegations as a systematic campaign being carried out against him by the present government. He said “I am not personally acquainted with principal Jagroop Singh. He might have met me in connection with affiliation of his school but I cannot recollect it.” Regarding the alleged tampering with answersheets Rahi said officials of the board are directly linked with conducting examinations. It is theywho are responsible if any such misdeed took place. About the other allegations as granting affiliation to single-room schools, Rahi said initially a team of board officials inspects the school building. Then a screening committee passes the case for affiliation. The chairman is no way directly involved in granting affiliation to a school. Rahi said he did not have any knowledge about passing two students of the Nagrota Surian school. |
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Chief of Army Staff visits Yol Cantt
Dharamsala, June 11 He said the Indian Army matched the best in the world and it was ready to counter threat from any agency, both internal and external, that the country can possibly face. About the overall situation in Jammu and Kashmir, he said the situation was normal in the state and the Army was alert to any disturbance that can be created by the militants. The release further added that Yol or ‘Young Officer Leave Camp’ has undergone a metamorphic change after Lt Gen Vijay Sharma took over its reins in February this year. Lt Gen T.K. Sapru, GOC-in-C Western Command, was also present here today. The Chief of Army Staff was accompanied by his wife Kirti Kapoor, who heads the largest NGO in the country, Army Wives Welfare Association. She visited the vocational training centre of the Army Wives Welfare Association here. |
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CM: Centre out to end package
Palampur, June 11 The BJP, Dhumal said, would never tolerate such injustice and hill states would form a front to launch a joint fight on this issue with the
Centre. Dhumal said while the Centre was instead granting special packages to states like Bihar, West Bengal and Assam, the hill states were starving for funds. He called upon the Chief Ministers of hill states to form a joint strategy to fight the injustice and get their due from the
Centre. Dhumal said as Himachal had a long border with Tibet, it needed a special package for expansion of the rail and road network in border districts but the Union Government had done nothing in the past five years. The Centre should keep in mind that China had expanded its rail network up to the border of India in the past three years. Dhumal said the extension of the Pathankot - Joginder Nagar rail link up to Leh was the need of the hour and the Centre should sanction this project on priority to counter China.
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Liberal policy for doctors soon
Shimla, June 11 According to official sources, the “bond system” under which the doctors were required to serve for a minimum number of years in the state will be done away with. The service rule for medical officers will be amended to allow them to go on long leave or study leave after completing five years of service or even less. The rules and eligibility criterion for appointments as registrars is also being given a re-look to ensure that the postgraduate doctors also got teaching experience while working as registrars so that they are eligible for posts of assistant professors. MBBS doctors would be designated as junior registrars. The state is facing a sever shortage of anaesthetists as there are only 12 in place as against the requirement of about 40. The Health Department will soon finalise the modalities for hiring the services of private doctors in this important discipline. The process for making institution-specific appointments of medical specialists will be completed over the next month. Applications will be invited shortly for 200 posts of doctor and the appointments will be made through the respective Rogi Kalyan Samitis on a contract basis for three years at the first instance.
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Cement Plant
Sundernagar, June 11 A meeting of the villagers was reportedly called by president of the Mining Area Committee Dharam Singh Prashar recently. Hundreds of villagers and MLA Roop Singh attended the meeting. The villagers were almost unanimous in their decision of not giving land for the proposed mining site. Most of them said earlier they were not having proper facilities at Kearn, but now the village was well connected through road network and all facilities were available there. They would not be able to get this type of land and environment once they were displaced form this place, they said. The decision of the residents has disappointed the lobby supporting the setting up of the cement plant. Former BJP minister and MLA from the Sundernagar assembly segment Roop Singh Thakur has been favouring the decision since long. Around 657 bighas of land in this village is proposed to be acquired for the mining area for the plant. The project executing firm, Harish Cement Limited, has already taken environment and forest clearances for the Keran limestone mine from the Ministry of Environment and Forests. Exercise is on to acquire 1,800 bighas spread over six villages, including Keran. Earlier, Keran residents had been advocating the cause of setting of the cement plant and their present decision has surprised many. State general secretary of the Kisan Sangh Joginder Singh Thakur has hailed the decision.
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Labourers’ Regn
Mandi, June 11 The police recently registered cases under Section 188 of the IPC against Shimla-based contractor Mahesh Chander Puri and his employee Bhola Ram from Chakrota, Uttarakhand, and contractor Nur Mohammad and Mandi resident Hem Singh. Mandi SP M. Chander Shekhar said the police found that Bhola Ram was working with Shimla-based contractor as a labourer in the construction of the Mahunag-Sartola road for the past six months, but his name was not registered with the police. In the second case, contractor Nur Mohammad’s labourers staying in the house of Hem Singh were found not registered with the police.
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Gujjar agitation, cool weather
Shimla, June 11 Most of the hotels owned by the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) in the state have received cancellation, especially from tourists, who had planned to come here from Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Delhi. The private hotels are also in the same plight, who barring weekends have miserably low occupancy for this time of the year. More than 50 per cent of the bookings has already been cancelled by the tourists, who had planned to visit Himachal during the summer. “The single largest factor for these cancellations is the disruption being caused to rail traffic by the Gujjar agitation in Rajasthan, which anybody would want to avoid,” said Harman Kukreja, president of the Hoteliers Association. “Many of our hotels in places like Kasauli, Chail, Manali, and Dharamsala have received cancellations by tourists due to the Gujjar agitation and the fact that the heat this summer hasn’t really got unbearable, forcing people to the hills,” said Ram Subhag Singh, managing director, HPTDC. As such the hotel industry is managing on the weekend tourist, which has become a permanent feature in Shimla due to its proximity to Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh. “As compared to last year when there was 90 per cent occupancy in most hotels in May-June, this year it is about 40 per cent, except on weekends,” says Kukreja. He says that the government must take some concrete steps to find a solution to the problem of parking and water scarcity. Other hoteliers too complain that tourists who face inconvenience during their visit to Shimla or other parts of the state on account of water shortage and lack of proper parking do not come here again. “Tourism industry is one business, which is greatly affected by word of mouth and in case somebody has a bad experience it has an adverse affect,” said another hotelier. The lean tourist season is not just affecting hoteliers but others who are associated with the tourism industry indirectly. This includes porters, taxi owners and most of the shopkeepers who complain of poor business this season.
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CPM activists stage protest
Shimla, June 11 Aware that demonstrations, rallies or slogan raising is banned on The Mall, the activists courted arrest as a mark of protest against the failure of the government to check price rise. They were arrested and bundled away to Sadar police station. CPM leaders said the Congress-led UPA regime had failed to take concrete steps to check price rise which had made the life of the common man miserable. They said the massive hike in the LPG, petrol and diesel prices would worsen the situation, especially in a state like Himachal. They also lashed out at the BJP government in the state for not taking any measures to check price rise. They alleged that rather than strengthening the public distribution system the state government had tried to weaken the subsidized ration scheme.
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Cong leaders sent money through hawala: Mankotia
Dharamsala, June 11 He said he had information regarding hawala transactions of four senior Congress leaders of the state, including a woman MP. Information had been passed on to the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption officials of the state. When asked he said the hawala money of the Congress leaders was sent abroad through a Delhi-based agent. A power company allegedly brokered deal between the Congress leaders and the hawala agent. When asked if he had some concrete proof to substantiate his allegations, Mankotia said he had some documents and leads. Now, it is responsibility of the Vigilance to crack the cases using the leads provided by him. He also said the Vigilance can get enough proofs if they probe into the foreign trips made by bureaucrats and ministers close to former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh. Mankotia also said the BSP would launch mass campaign against the rising prices of essential commodities. The UPA government had pressed the poor sections of society by making phenomenal increase in prices of fuel that had taken the inflation to pinching levels. Though the increase in fuel prices is being justified on the logic that crude prices in international market have increased, how can the government justify the increase in prices of cement and steel. The cement and steel companies are making record profits at the cost of common man and the present government is acting as a mute spectator.
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HPU to seek Rs 151 cr from UGC
Shimla, June 11 A nine-member expert committee of the UGC will visit the campus tomorrow to assess the performance of the HPU during the 10th plan and consider proposals for the 11th plan. The expert committee will be headed by Prof Suranjan Dass, vice-chancellor, Calcutta University, along with eight other eminent academicians from various institutions from all over the country. Out of this amount of Rs 151.77 crore for its 29 teaching departments, the major component of Rs 60.52 crore is being sought for new buildings, extension of exiting structures, academic centres, equipment for computer centre and cyber café, books and journals for e-library and upgrade of Internet band width. Besides this, the HPU has sought a sum of Rs 49.11 crore for a specialised centre. A proposal for sum of Rs 34.51 crore has been drawn up for other facilities like library, health centre, indoor gymnasium and quality sports facilities. Besides this, Rs 7.62 crore is proposed to be spend on several merged schemes. Besides focusing on having more buildings for teaching departments and residential accommodation for students coming from far-flung areas, the focus is also on under graduate courses like BBA, BCA, legal studies and IT. Realising the specific needs of special children, the HPU is keen to get the UGC sanction for setting up of a Centre for Disability Studies. The HPU authorities are keen to push through its project of a conference hall equipped with all high-tech facilities like videoconferencing for holding national and international level seminars. The authorities are also keen to get sanction for an indoor gymnasium and a sport field owing to specific weather conditions. |
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Apple fest to attract tourists
Shimla, June 11 This was stated by secretary, civil aviation, Manisha Nanda, while presiding over the review meeting of various works being undertaken by the department, here today. She said the department would use the fruit orchards to attract tourists all over the state and the initiative in this regard would be taken by holding an apple festival in Kullu-Manali during the season. She said the department would develop new picnic spots in Mandi area and would set up a tourist reception centre, parking and a park at Pragpur in the Kangra area. “The tourism mantra of tolerance and smile is the best possible way to serve the tourists in a better and effective manner in all tourism units,” she said. She further elaborated the new tourism mantra as: T for tolerance, O for opportunity, U for uniqueness, R for reserves of energies, I for initiative, S for strength and M for motivation. She emphasised the need for water conservation and energy efficiency in the state tourism units. She said funds of about Rs 100 crore had been received from the Union Ministry of Tourism for undertaking various projects in Himachal. In this meeting it was decided that for the convenience of tourists mobile toilets would be set up in Manali and Rohtang. It was also decided to provide training to the youth for guiding tourists in the state. It was also decided that the department would organise four events, including paragliding in Bir-Billing, Mountain Biking, Rafting Cup and Himalayan Marathon with the help of other organisations.
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Manch to promote traditional songs
Bilaspur, June 11 Manch president Surender Minhas said here today that this decision was taken in a meeting of the manch yesterday and it expressed its concern about such cultural heritage going into oblivion due to present day pressures of fast life and modern influences. If corrective measures are not taken in time, this heritage would be totally lost for the coming generations. He said a sub-committee had been formed to look into this matter and restore old glory and respect of these folk songs and ‘sanskar geets’ and to pen these so that these are published and preserved for future. The sub-committee includes literary figures like Lalita Kashyap, Anjana Thakur, Ruma Khan, Kiran Thakur, Tripta Rani and Premlata Saini.
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HRTC income up
Shimla, June 11 This information was given by managing director of the corporation T.C. Janartha while presiding over a review meeting of the corporation here today. He said the hike in bus fares and improvement in services had led to increase in the revenue. He said the facility of computerised booking would be made available at all major bus stands and the process to computerise the functioning of the corporation would be expedited. Janartha said new buses would be introduced on long routes for the convenience of the passengers. A staff rationalisation exercise was also underway to ensure optimum utilisation of manpower and a proposal to rotate the crew after regular intervals of time was also under consideration, he added.
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Plea for subsidy on LPG
Bilaspur, June 11 Sabha convener A.P. Sharma said after a meeting of the sabha that the Central Government had not given any thought to the difficulties of the common man while declaring an exorbitant increase of Rs 50 per cylinder. An increase of Rs 50 per cylinder would deprive a large number of people of this facility , making people seek firewood as an alternative. The sabha pleaded that the government should provide a subsidy of Rs 40 on every household cylinder. This would also save forests as people would not have to go for firewood as a cooking fuel. |
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Sino-Tibet talks deferred
Dharamsala, June 11 The meeting scheduled for today as follow up of the May 4 talks at Shenzen has been postponed due to China’s preoccupation with relief and restoration work following a massive earthquake there, said secretary to the Dalai Lama and his spokesman Tenzin Takhla. “We are working on a mutually convenient new date within next few weeks for taking forward parleys for return of peace in Tibet ,” he said. —
PTI |
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Stone of ESI hospital laid
Kumarhatti, June 11 Speaking on the occasion Fernandes said the hospital would cater to medical requirements of the workers of Baddi belt. The state of art medical faculties would be provided to the workers. A medical college would also be run in the ESI Hospital, he said. He said the railway ministry would be requested to connect Baddi with rail link. |
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Two selected for AETA
Hamirpur, June 11 The AETA release said the two would now present live demonstration of their projects before the national jury of experts on July 10 at the IIT, New Delhi, for the national award competition. |
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Appointment hailed
Nurpur, June 11 Pritush Guleri, president of the parishad, in a statement here last evening, said there was a need to bring qualitative changes in the state school education system, which had been eroded during the previous regime. He expressed hope that Gupta would bring the school education system on the right track. |
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Chandel lashes out at Central Govt
Bilaspur, June 11 He was addressing a public meeting at Soi village, near Ghumarwin, today. He said it was surprising that the Prime Minister should express helplessness in controlling the situation. He was also critical of the role of Communists.They were opposing the government in the streets by raising slogans, on the other hand they were supporting it in Parliament, he said. He said he was a victim of a conspiracy hatched by the Congress and the Communist that led to his exit from Parliament. |
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