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Govt mulls Karsog-Janjehli tunnel
Hydel Projects
Industrial boom hits power board
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Zero-tolerance traffic drive launched
Change in pay scale irks job aspirants
Rs 2 cr for helping BPL families
Fake RCs seized
YC chief names 4 coordinators
Ex-minister of BJP heads Cong way
Pathankot-Mandi traffic restored
Rain continues
CM’s tour ends, debate ensues
‘Maintain’ parity among journalists
Life term for two
Protest against pending complaints
Tibetans protest
Graveyard sought
Panchayat chief unseated
BSNL network hit
Tribune scribe bereaved
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Govt mulls Karsog-Janjehli tunnel
Sundernagar, June 17 Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal said this while addressing a public meeting at Janjehli in Gohar subdivision of Mandi district after inaugurating Trekkers’ Hut, a project completed at a cost of Rs 42.16 lakh, late last evening. He said the government was focusing on developing new tourist destinations in the state. Tunnel projects would be executed in a phased manner to reduce distances between various places. Top priority was being accorded to road construction and funds were no constraint in carrying infrastructure creation facilities, he claimed. He said a national policy was needed to ensure that essential commodities reached people at reasonable rates. He said that the state government was doing its best to control prices by initiating effective steps. He said it was only after the present government came to power in the state that the arrear of Rs 70 crore was cleared for subsidies on essential commodities. A similar provision of Rs 90 crore had been made for the current financial year. He also listed various other achievements of the government. Health minister Rajiv Bindal congratulated the people of the area for getting developmental projects worth over Rs 8 crore dedicated and foundation stones laid in a single day. He assured the people of quality health services with quality infrastructure. He said every health institution would be provided required staff. Local MLA and president of the BJP Jai Ram Thakur welcomed the Chief Minister and urged him to explore possibilities to create quality infrastructure for tourism promotion. Former MP Maheshwar Singh also addressed the gathering. The Chief Minister visited the famous Shikari Devi Temple in Mandi district today.
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Hydel Projects
Shimla, June 17 Addressing a press conference here today, he said the Congress government had introduced the policy of assigning projects through global bidding based on an upfront premium and the amount offered by independent power producers (IPPs) to secure projects had increased from Rs 20 lakh per megawatt to almost Rs 1 crore per megawatt. Under the new policy, the upfront premium had been fixed at Rs 20 lakh per megawatt and the projects would be allotted on the basis of free power. Bali said with a fixed upfront premium the IPPs would not have much at stake and they would not be hardpressed for completing the project in a time-bound manner. In the past, the IPPs had failed to implement projects in a timebound manner and some projects like the 1000-MW Karcham -Wangtu allotted in the early 1990s were still under construction. Any delay in commissioning the projects would hurt the state as it would not receive any free power. A better course for allotting the projects would be not to fix the upfront premium and invite bids on the basis of both upfront premium and free power. Referring to the announcement of Chief Minister P.K.Dhumal regarding opening of four new medical colleges, Bali said Government Medical College, Tanda, set up by the Congress regime had fallen an bad days after the BJP came to power. There was an acute shortage of staff which had severely affected its functioning. Further, most of the doctors and other staff had got themselves transferred before the separation of the cadre. He said the BJP had made the purchase of Volvo buses and the Himalayan Ski Village (HSV) project major election issues and levelled all sorts of allegations to defame the Congress government. It had publicly announced that the HSV project would be scrapped but it had not even reviewed the project after almost six months since it assumed office. The HRTC was now planning to acquire more Volvo buses. Bali said the Congress would not oppose the government just for the sake of it but as a responsible party it would keep bringing the flaws in its policies so that corrective steps were taken. For instance, the party was supporting the government’s stand on setting up a special economic zone in Una. |
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Industrial boom hits power board
Shimla, June 17 The total consumption of electricity within the state shot up from 2925 million units in 2004-05, almost 50 per cent of the total sales, to 4819 million units last year. As per the projection for the current year, the figure will go up to 5700 million units which means that 80 per cent of the total available power will be consumed within the state. The board will have to arrange much more power during the lean winter months. Overall, Himachal is still a power-surplus state but it faces an acute shortfall during the winter when demand swells and generation in various hydroelectric projects declines due to reduction in discharge of various rivers and streams. As per projections the power available for sale outside the state will be about 150 million units in 2009 but the net inter-state sale will be only 25 million units. In the past, the board had sold up to 1100 million units and the net inter-state sales exceeded 800 million units. The inter-state sale had declined despite the fact that the board’s own annual generation has increased by 590 million units with the commissioning of the 126-MW Larji and 12-MW Khauli projects. The monetary loss due to the increased consumption within the state would be all the more significant as the average sale price within the state is Rs 3.68 per unit whereas the sale outside the state averaged Rs 7.40 per unit. It was for this reason that the during the last winter the board opted for severe power cuts on all categories of consumers instead of making costly purchases to meet the domestic demand. The board is in no position to provide power to new industries. The peak daily consumption from November to February last year ranged between 180 to 185 lakh units but this year it was likely to touch 210 lakh unit. The State Electricity Regulatory Commission slashed the rate of free power provided by the government to the board from Rs 7 per unit to Rs 3.04 per unit to bail out the board.
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Zero-tolerance traffic drive launched
Shimla, June 17 The zero-tolerance traffic drive will keep a check on rash driving, drunken driving, misuse of beacon lights and over speeding. The special traffic drive to check violators is being observed from June 16 to July 31. All SHOs in 15 police stations and in charge of the 25 police posts within the state capital have been directed to provide daily report of the challans in their jurisdiction. The SP will personally monitor the report provided by the police stations and posts daily. “In order to ensure that there is regulated traffic and no inconvenience to commuters we are launching a special zero tolerance drive to check the offenders,” said district police chief R.M. Sharma. Even though there are violations of all kinds, it is the unauthorised use of beacon lights atop vehicles, which is a very common traffic offence. The number of such offenders from outside the state is far higher than by locals or people within the state. In fact, there have been several instances when people making unauthorised use of red lights from outside the state have been challaned. He said breath analysers would be used to discourage people from drunken driving. To check over speeding, the police would use speed-radar of the Railways and Traffic wing even though efforts are being made by the district police to acquire its own equipment.
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Change in pay scale irks job aspirants
Solan, June 17 This post was among eight others advertised by the HPSACS as per the guidelines of the National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) sometime back. A number of aspirants duly applied as a lucrative pay scale of Rs 10,000-15,000 was offered. The candidates, however, got a surprise when they received the call letters for the written tests. These letters mentioned remuneration that were almost half of what had been advertised earlier. The call letters specified that the post would carry a consolidated salary of Rs 8,700 per month and not as mentioned in the advertisement. The written test for this post was held yesterday. With no clear reason being assigned for the change, the aspirants have been left high and dry. A section of aspirants rued that it was unfair to bring about such changes barely a week before the written examination. Sources in the HPSCAS, however, said the change was brought about as the advertised rates were not on a par with the state government pay scales. Health minister Rajiv Bindal said he would inquire as to why such a change was brought about. The director (health) could not be contacted as she was away on tour.
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Inter-house contests held
Hamirpur, June 17 He said the state culture and traditional dresses offer a lot of opportunities for new fashion designers and by displaying these students can excel in this field and also bring laurels for the state. The students also presented a colourful programme, which included a fashion show and solo and group dances.
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Rs 2 cr for helping BPL families
Shimla, June 17 Minister for social justice and empowerment Sarveen Chaudhary said here today that the government was committed to ensure economic uplift of weaker sections of society. She said it had been brought to her notice that 297 cases were pending with the Rural Development Department under the National Family Assistance Scheme. She said she had already directed the department to release Rs 29.7 lakh to clear the pending cases. “The money will be given to all 297 families out of which 127 are from Kangra, 65 from Mandi and 25 from Shimla,” she said. |
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Fake RCs seized
Hamirpur, June 17 It has also come to light that the gang used to swap the engines, their numbers and other details of the lifted vehicles. In another raid the police also recovered fake RCs and number plates from Salina Hotel run by Kamal Dev at Dhangiar (Ghumarwin). Hamirpur SP Asif Jalal said after tracing the details of mobile phone of Rajesh Kumar the police gathered information about this gang and few more persons have been identified. He said the police had sought permission from the CO of the regiment of Army personnel Rajesh Kumar, who is kingpin of this gang. He said he is likely to be brought to Hamirpur tomorrow and efforts are on to nab Kamal Dev.
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YC chief names 4 coordinators
Shimla, June 17 These four coordinators, Neeraj Bharati (MLA), Atul Sharma (former state NSUI president), Vinod Joshi (Bilaspur) and Atul (Hamirpur), will appoint coordinators for the districts, blocks and sipahis at the panchayat level. A spokesman of the organisation said the objective of the programme initiated by Rahul Gandhi was to raise a cadre of dedicated workers who could help the common man overcome various hardships.
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Ex-minister of BJP heads Cong way
Shimla, June 17 It is reliably learnt that Karan Singh, who was the minister for primary education in the previous BJP regime, has formally applied for Congress membership to R.K. Dhawan, in charge of Congress affairs in Himachal, with copies to senior Congress leaders. “I have received a positive response from the Congress leaders to join their party but it is after holding a meeting of my workers at Bajaura on |
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Pathankot-Mandi traffic restored
Nurpur, June 17 The supporting earth wall of the bridge had been damaged following heavy rains on Friday. The traffic on the NH had been diverted to the Kotla-Soldha narrow link road. According to
D.R. Chowdhary, superintending engineer NH circle, Shahpur, the span of the Bailey bridge raised in February this year on Trilokpur rivulet, has been expanded from 80 to 100 feet. He informed that load up to 18
tonne, including weight of the vehicle, had been allowed to cross the Bailey bridge. “The police and the administration has been asked to check the violation by heavy vehicles,” he added. |
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Shimla, June 17 Mandi recorded 21 mm overnight rainfall followed by 21 mm at Shimla and another 5.2 mm during the day at Shimla, six mm at the tourist resort of Dharamsala and 1.2 mm at Solan, the Met office said. Meanwhile, the day and night temperatures across the state rose by a few notches with the minimum temperature rising almost by a degree to stand at 16.6°C as against 15.7°C recorded yesterday. The town’s maximum temperature, however, remained stationary at 21.5°C, while it rose to 31.8°C at Sundernagar, 21.9°C at Kalpa and 27.2°C at Dharamsala, the Met office said. Sundernagar recorded a night temperature of 21.7°C, Bhuntar 20.4°C, Kalpa 11.8°C, Dharamsala 18.1°C, Una 21.8°C and Nahan 22.7°C. The Met office has forecast rain or thundershowers at many places in the state during the next 24 hours. — UNI
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CM’s tour ends, debate ensues
Chachiot (Mandi), June 17 Congress leader from Chachiot Chet Ram Thakur, in a statement issued today, claimed the tour of the CM was a disappointment for the people of Chachiot as he inaugurated the old schemes completed during the Congress regime. The tour was a flop show, he said. On the other hand, BJP workers said the trekkers’ hut project was started by Dhumal during his last regime and so was the case with the Kanda-Gohar road.
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‘Maintain’ parity among journalists
Bilaspur, June 17 The federation has urged the Chief Minister to order cancellation of a notification issued by former Congress government differentiating between journalists located at Shimla and those located in other parts of the state in the matter of night-stay at the government rest houses and circuit houses and enhancing several times the rates for this stay for journalists working at other places of the state. |
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Life term for two
Chamba, June 17 They have also been sentenced to two-year imprisonment and a fine of Rs 2000 each. Both sentences will run concurrently. They were convicted for murdering Sandeepna, Nikka Ram’s daughter, on October 26, 2006. While Angrej Singh is Nikka Ram’s son-in-law, Vijay Kumar is former’s brother. |
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Protest against pending complaints
Nurpur, June 17 Holding placards they alleged that a large number of anganwari workers had been appointed merely on political grounds by ignoring merits and eligibilities. They were also demanding a Vigilance probe into the alleged manipulated appointments in Nurpur subdivision.
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Tibetans protest
Dharamsala, June 17 They were demanding that the alleged brutalities on Tibetans should be stopped and the torch should not be carried through their motherland as lakhs of them where being forced to stay in exile by the Chinese government. A candlelight march was also held at McLoedganj yesterday.
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Graveyard sought
Bilaspur, June 17 Committee president Shan Ali said the Muslims here had been facing difficulties for the past about six months as the entire graveyard got submerged in rising water of Gobind Sagar every year and there was no land available for burying the dead during the rainy season and winter months.
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Panchayat chief unseated
Bilaspur, June 17 The SDM said it had been proved that the panchayat president was in the illegal possession a piece of government land, thus he could not become the president of the panchayat under the HP Panchayati Raj Act. |
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Tribune scribe bereaved
Kangra June 17 He was cremated at Jammu later in the day. |
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