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Two more bridges give way
Trouble for Kangra commuters
Agro-unit salary dispute settled
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BJP to discuss strategy for Lok Sabha poll
PTA Appointments
Unauthorised vaccination drives in schools
Temple Case
Centre for special kids
Law to ban cow slaughter sought
Encroachments
Tibetans hold protest at Paonta
Bragta to head hill states’ committee
No generation at Nathpa for fourth day
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Two more bridges give way
Kullu, June 14 The Army constructed the bridge on emergency basis after the link road to the main bridge across the Beas river was washed away in 1995 floods. Since then this bridge was the main link for Manikaran and Gadsa valleys of this district and now the main link for National Highway and Kullu bypass. It was learnt that the truck was carrying the main inject valve of a power project, weighing around 40 tonne, to Prini, near Manali. It is also pertinent to note that machinery for the Parbati Hydro Power Project would also be transported through the same route. S.K. Verma, executive engineer, National Highway, said an FIR has been lodged. The cost of the Bailey Bridge was Rs 80 lakh and no permission was ever taken by the company to transport heavy machinery through this route. Meanwhile, the traffic has been diverted through Kullu for Manali. The Manikaran and Gadsa valleys traffic has been diverted through Bajaura and Ramshilla bridges. Khimi Ram Sharma, Deputy Speaker, Vidhan Sabha, said the matter of construction of a new bridge would be accelerated and some temporary arrangement would also be initiated to link Bhuntar and the Bhuin Bazars. It had also broken telephone links to Bhuin, whole of Manikaran and Gadsa valleys as the optical fibre and cables were through the bridge. Ajay Vats, SDO, Telecommunication, said the telephone links would be restored by today evening as the work of laying optical fibre cable was on war footings. |
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Trouble for Kangra commuters
Trilokpur\Nurpur, June 14 The Bailey bridge was constructed in February following damage to the retaining wall of an old bridge. The PWD authorities have started the repair work. The officials present at the site said they were trying to extend the length of the bridge to a safer portion of the hillock. D.R. Chowdhary, superintending engineer, NH circle, Shahpur, said the traffic would be restored in a couple of days. About 70-foot retaining wall had been damaged. “The department plans to extend the span of the bridge from the existing 80 feet to 100 feet,” he added. As a temporary arrangement, the traffic on the highway has been diverted through the Kotla-Soldha-Batees link road being constructed under the Prime Minister Gramin Sarak Yojna. Since that road is narrow, one-way traffic is allowed at a time. Consequently, passengers from either side have to wait for hours to cross that stretch. Hundreds of vehicles, commuters and tourists, along with children, had a tough time crossing that stretch of the road. Traffic jams have aggravated the problem. No traffic police personnel have been deployed there to control traffic. Army personnel, who formed part of a convoy, were seen helping in managing traffic. Earlier this week, a causeway on the Chaki river had got washed away. That link was also yet to be restored. |
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Agro-unit salary dispute settled
Nurpur, June 14 Before this a similar meeting was held on June 10, in which neither the MD of the HPAIC nor any of his authorised representative had turned up. As a sequel, the conciliation officer had re-fixed the meeting for June 13 and faxed notice to the MD to attend the same. In yesterday’s meeting chief financial officer R.S. Suvlik and legal assistant of HPAIC Rajesh Deshta on behalf of the MD attended the meeting along with deputy general manager of the HIMAGRICO. After five-hour long conciliation meeting a compromise was struck between the HPAIC and state INTUC general secretary Rajnesh Sharma, who had served notice to the management to resort to relay fast on June 16. Briefing mediapersons Rajnesh Sharma said the management had agreed to release one-month salary by end of this month and remaining two months salary would be released within next three months. He informed that the management had also agreed to hold a meeting with the state INTUC at Shimla within one month in which strategy would be formulated for the revival of the HPAIC. He informed keeping in view the agreement, which struck last evening, that the state INTUC had deferred the decision of relay fast scheduled on June 16. Meanwhile, Suvlik clarified that the irregular disbursal of salary to the workers of the HIMAGRICO was attributed to the financial crunch of the HPAIC and invariable losses gathered by its unit. |
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BJP to discuss strategy for Lok Sabha poll
Shimla, June 14 Besides all senior leaders from the state, central BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi is also likely to attend the meeting. Besides discussing the political scenario in the state and gearing up the party for the Lok Sabha elections, some important resolutions can also be passed in the meeting. The state office-bearers’ meeting will be held on June 19, while the state executive committee will meet on the next two days. All senior leaders, including Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal, Lok Sabha MP Shanta Kumar, state party chief Jai Ram Thakur, state organisation secretary Mahender Pandey and in charge of BJP affairs in Himachal Satya Pal Jain would be attending the meeting. The party is likely to constitute its election management committee for the Lok Sabha poll in this meeting. “We will set up four parliamentary committees for each of the Lok Sabha seats so that the party is geared up right to the grassroot level,” said Mahender Pandey. Discussions would also be held on the performance of the government with regard to the implementation of the promises made by the party in its election manifesto at the time of the Assembly elections. A resolution is also likely on current price rise and the failure of the UPA regime to check it. Some decisions for taking effective steps at the state-level could also be taken at the meeting. |
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PTA Appointments
Hamirpur, June 14 The state government, in its notification dated May 27, has not given any marks to the candidates with M.Phil and PhD degrees for the teachers appointed under the PTA policy for the category of DPE, TGT, PET, OT, DM and LT teachers, while evaluating the merits of the candidates in deciding complaints by the respective committees. Exclusion of higher qualification for deciding the merit in PTA appointments will create problems for the teachers with these degrees, since all higher degrees were given marks while forming merits for selecting them. Sources in the government said this was being done to discourage candidates with higher degrees from joining school-level teaching jobs. Expressing their shock over this anomaly, legal adviser of the state PTA teachers union Bhupidner says, “Not giving consideration to higher degrees like M.Phil and PhD while evaluating merit is against the principle of justice and discourages teachers with higher qualifications.” Principal secretary education P.C. Dhiman said, “It is felt that candidates with higher degrees like M.Phil and PhD are not found suitable for teaching school students. However, the government has consulted the education experts and this policy has been framed on their recommendations.” |
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Unauthorised vaccination drives in schools
Hamirpur, June 14 The drive is being conducted by untrained persons by charging Rs 60 per student. The society has not taken permission from the Health Department or any other authority. Recently, the society vaccinated students in government school at Patlandar, Bajrol, Jangal Beri and Kakkar in Hamirpur district. The students of Sujanpur government girl’s senior secondary school would be vaccinated on Friday, school principal Prakash Thakur confirmed. Though the society has no permission from the Health Department, its pamphlet claims that it has permission of the deputy director (education), Hamirpur. Interestingly, no principal or headmaster of any school has bothered to crosscheck its claim. The Central Government has issued strict instructions that no society can carry out such vaccination drives and even the state government has not allowed any society to do so. Health experts say, “Such societies are minting money through such drives. They charge Rs 60 from each student, while they purchase a dose for Rs 20 only.” This issue was highlighted in the media some time back and the government had debarred the society from conducting such vaccination drives, but the society has started it again. General secretary of the society Sunil Khan said, “We have been permitted by the deputy director (education) to conduct such drives. We have not carried out the drive in any school till now, but we will vaccinate children in girls’ school Sujanpur on Friday.” On the other hand, the deputy director (higher education), Hamirpur, said, “I have not given any such permission. The headmaster of Bajrol government high school has confirmed that 100 students were vaccinated in the school after charging Rs 60 each, two days ago.” Director (health) Sulakshna Puri said, “We have not given permission to any society for conducting hepatitis-B vaccination after it came under the immunisation schedule. Now, such drives are carried out by the Health Department only. The case in question is not in my knowledge, but we will check how it is being done.” |
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Devotees throng Kamrunag Fair
Sundernagar, June 14 This fair is celebrated on June 14 (1st of Asahar) every year and thousands of devotees visit this holy place, which is surrounded by thick forest cover and is known for its rare scenic beauty. The devotees started reaching here yesterday evening and this continued till the morning, as the puja of the deity starts at 4 am. One can see thousands of devotees sitting around the lake for whole night. The Kamrunag is also known as the god of rains in this part of this hill state. Whenever there is scarcity of rains, prayers are offered to this deity and it used to oblige its devotees with rainfall. Another unique aspect of this fair is that the devotees offer ornaments, currency and other offerings into the lake. These offerings are never taken out of the lake as according to an old saying some thieves took out ornaments from the lake and when they started moving towards their destination they lost their eyesight. When they returned towards the lake they regained their eyesight and ultimately the thieves worshipped the deity and offered the stolen ornaments again into the lake. A similar fair is also observed today at the Prashar Lake situated about 70 km from here. Thousands of devotees visited here also. Both these lakes are situated on different sides Kamrunag is situated on Mandi-Karsog road and Prashar is situated on the road touching boundary of Kullu district. |
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Temple Case
Solan, June 14 According to the devotees, the police failed to register a case of dacoity under Section 395 of the IPC. However, the police had mentioned the stolen amount as Rs 37,000, while another stolen amount of Rs 1.86 lakh was not mentioned in its records, despite being brought to the notice of the policemen. It was shocking as to how the police had reported the stolen amount as Rs 37,000, while excluding Rs 1.86 lakh from its records. The temple authorities, however, agreed that the police was showing all promptness to solve the case and there was no laxity in investigation. Solan SP S.P.S. Verma said if more facts came to the fore in the course of investigation, relevant Sections could be added. He said the police would ensure that the miscreants were caught. This was not the first case in the district where the police had tried to conceal the facts of the case, especially since a number of thefts had taken place in temples across the district. As, each SHO was strictly directed to ensure a check on such robberies, especially in the temples, the SHO’s endeavoured to deter villagers from registering FIRs in such cases. |
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Centre for special kids
Shimla, June 14 She inaugurated a vocational training centre for special
children at Udaan, an NGO. “Various agencies engaged in the disability sector
must coordinate their efforts so that maximum results could be achieved,” she
said. She said some viable ventures should be identified to carry put gainful
activities. “The trust has chalked out an ambitious programme in this
direction and a marketing federation is likely to be set up so that the
products produced by NGOs can be marketed,” she said. She called upon parents of challenged children to come forward and accept the challenges so that their wards could lead a respectable life. She said Udaan had been nominated as the nodal agency partner of the trust to carry forward their activities. |
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Law to ban cow slaughter sought
Shimla, June 14 Addressing a press conference here yesterday, Radheshyam Gupt, national convener of the Cow Development Cell, said an awareness campaign would be launched so that concrete steps ccould be taken for cow
protection. He demanded that the state government must set up a Gosewa Commission so that gosadans could be set up. “The gosadans being run by the government or those lying closed should be handed over to voluntary organisations for proper functioning,” he demanded. The land housing the gosadans should be transferred in their names. “Women should be involved in cow protection and rearing and self help groups should be formed in this direction,” he said. |
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Encroachments
Shimla, June 14 The campaign will be launched from Monday. Earlier attempts by the MC to prevent vendors from sitting on the Mall and in Lakkar Bazar area had failed due to political pressure and stiff resistance from vendors. Mayor Narender Kataria said he had talked to the district police chief in that connection. “From Monday onwards, we will launch our campaign to ensure that there are no vendors on the Mall and in Lakkar Bazar and Lower Bazar areas,” he said. |
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Tibetans hold protest at Paonta
Nahan, June 14 Waving Tibetan flags, displaying banners and placards carrying anti-Chinese message, the protest march took off from the Bhoop Pur Tibetan settlement and went up to Paonta Municipal ground through main bazar of Badri Pur and Paonta. They shouted anti-Chinese slogans and called upon world community to pressurise China to respect human rights in Tibet and vacate its occupation from the Tibetan territory. Sharab Gyatso, president, Tibetan Youth Congress, addressed protesters. |
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Bragta to head hill states’ committee
Shimla, June 14 He said the group of hill states would be expanded in future so that their common problems could be pursued at the central level in a more effective manner. A committee at the government level had also been constituted to pursue issues raised at the conference. |
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No generation at Nathpa for fourth day
Shimla, June 14 The silt level today came down to 6,330 ppm from the initial 7,300 ppm when generation had to be stopped four days back. “We are hopeful that generation would start in a day or two as the water flow has reduced considerably,” said an official. The project is incurring a loss of Rs 9 crore daily for the fourth consecutive day. |
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