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Virbhadra raps govt for scrapping tribunal
Bar condemns decision
Dhumal defends move
Efforts on to promote organic farming: CM
BJP ministers to oversee district affairs
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12.5 lakh saplings to be planted on Aug 3
LED — Next generation lighting
Royal Property Deal
70 labourers not paid wages for months
Punjab National Bank penalised
Disaster management plan to benefit Nurpur: MLA
Coaching for wards of ex-servicemen
Media must enlighten society: CM
Naval NCC unit joins plantation drive
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Virbhadra raps govt for scrapping tribunal
Shimla, July 12 He said the Congress regime had set up the tribunal in 1986 to hear employees’ issues. “The move to abolish the tribunal is against the election manifesto of the BJP that had promised to not only strengthen it but also set up its permanent benches at Mandi and Dharamsala,” he said. He said the Congress was strongly opposed to the decision of abolishing the tribunal as it was an anti-employees step. “Its abolition in such an arbitrary manner is bound to hurt interests of the employees who will have to come to the high court from far-flung areas to seek redressing of their grievances,” he said. He added that the tribunal had functioned, by and large, to the satisfaction of not only the employees but also the state government. HPCC chief Kaul Singh Thakur also criticised the government move of abolishing the tribunal. He urged the government to reconsider its decision. MANDI: Congressmen have termed the Dhumal government’s decision of scrapping the State Administrative Tribunal as undemocratic and unconstitutional. In a statement, former excise and taxation minister Rangila Ram Rao and local Congress leader Tarun Pathak said the decision came as a blow to the employees who used to get immediate relief from the tribunal before knocking at the door of a court of law, they said. There was a huge difference in what the BJP preached and practised, they said. This was an anti-employees decision, they claimed. |
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Bar condemns decision
Shimla, July 12 He said the government took the decision despite the fact that a subcommittee of the Rajya Sabha had specifically recommended that such tribunals should be compulsorily set up in all states. The tribunal disposed of almost 80 per cent cases file before it, so it was wrong to say that the pendency was very high, he said. |
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Dhumal defends move
Shimla, July 12 Talking to mediapersons here today, he defended the move to abolish the State Administrative Tribunal as it had not played a significant role in redressing the grievances of the employees. “The strength of judges in the high court will go up to 11 as permission in that regard has already been granted,” he said. Dhumal said the pending cases before the tribunal would be disposed of by the high court. “The high court, legal experts and others were taken into confidence before taking the decision to wind up the tribunal,” he said. The staff working with the tribunal would be put at the disposal of the high court, he added. |
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Efforts on to promote organic farming: CM
Shimla, July 12 He was speaking at the launch
of bio-fertiliser products made by the Jaipur-based United Bio-Fertiliser today. “Organic products are gaining popularity with the consumers in view of the fact that these are nutritionally rich and have no side effects,” he said. Though chemical fertilisers had helped in quantitative increase in production, these had affected the quality of produce in many ways and rendered the soil infertile.
“We need to boost organic farming and educate farmers about it so that people can be saved from ill-effects of chemicals used in
agriculture,” he said. He welcomed the fact that many chemical fertiliser-manufacturing units had switched over to organic fertilisers. He said people were very health conscious and would take to organic products readily. Dhumal also stressed the need to scientifically check and ascertain that the quality of fertilisers being sold in the name of organic manure was good and up to the mark. He assured that the government would extend all possible help and assistance to the farmers undertaking organic farming. |
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BJP ministers to oversee district affairs
Shimla, July 12 The decision to appoint a minister and a senior party leader as the persons in charge of each district has been taken in line with the directions of national chief of the party Rajnath Singh. This has been done to ensure that the party leaders have their say in the policies and programmes of the government and give feedback for effective functioning. State party chief Jai Ram Thakur today appointed ministers and party leaders as persons in charge of various districts. Kripal Parmar (former MP) and Khimi Ram (Speaker) have been entrusted with the responsibility of Hamirpur; Vikram Thakur (state BJP vice-president) and I.D. Dhiman (education minister), Una; Renu Chaddha (MLA and state BJP vice-president) and Narender Bragta (horticulture minister), Solan; Chander Mohan Thakur (state BJP vice-president) and Rajeev Bindal (health minister), Shimla; Rashil Singh Mankotia (state BJP vice-president) and Kishan Kapoor (transport minister), Kullu, Lahaul-Spiti and Kinnaur; Khushi Ram Balnahata (state BJP general secretary) and Gulab Singh (PWD minister), Kangra. Govind Thakur (state BJP secretary) and Ravinder Singh Ravi (IPH minister) will look after Mandi; H.N. Kashyap (state BJP secretary), Kinnaur); Rajeev Bhardwaj (state BJP secretary) and Sarveen Chaudhary (social justice minister), Chamba; Sheila Kumari (state secretary) and J.P. Nadda (forest minister), Sirmaur; and Rama Verma (state secretary) and Ramesh Dhawala (food and civil supplies minister), Bilaspur. |
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12.5 lakh saplings to be planted on Aug 3
Sundernagar, July 12 Under the programme, every house in the state would be given a herbal plant /medicinal plant with a request to plant it in the courtyard of their house. The programme would begin with Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal planting a sapling at his official residence and 12.5 lakh plants would be planted on the same day. He said in the state there were 12.50 lakh families and the department had decided to give at least one sapling to each house. Nadda said on August 3, the Chief Minister would plant a sapling at his official resident in Shimla at 11am and then ministers and MLAs would plant the sapling at 11.15 am at their, respective, residences. Then at 11.30 am rest of the public would follow. After addressing a review of meeting of forest officials of Mandi, Kullu, Bilaspur circles and the officials of the Greater National Himalayan Parks here today, he said the officials from four circles, consisting 15 divisions, would cover 1,292 villages and 5.44 lakh saplings of 16 species would be given. The minister said the department had plenty of medicinal plants to meet the requirements and in case of shortage it had a contingency plan. He appealed to the masses to make the programme successful, he further added that the department had already requested the political parties and voluntary organisations to make the programme a success. |
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Roads fail to withstand first monsoon
Dharamsala, July 12 The road from Yol to Chamunda temple was laid recently. The work for the construction of drains along the road is still on. However, the road has already become potholed much to discontentment of the public. Residents say they had to wait for years for this road to be metalled. However, its condition has become bad in only a few months of its construction. It seems that despite the government spending huge public money on the construction this road, the people will again have to trek their way through potholes, they say. A small stretch of the Dharamsala-Kangra road near Mator crossing is another example of poor road construction. The road was constructed just a month ago and it has already developed potholes. The road leading to village Jalot was also metalled recently, but its condition has also become bad. The contractors constructing drains leave behind muck on the roads, thus adding to traffic hazards, people say. Sources in the PWD blame limited budget for the present state of roads. Initially, only 2-cm bitumen layer is allowed on every road. Funds for the additional 3-inch bitumen layer come in the second provisioning. Unlike in other state, the roads in Himachal are constructed in instalments, they say. “Hence, in many case, the initial work done on the road gets damaged even before the second stage of work begins,” they add. According to the chief engineer, PWD, Dharamsala, the payments of contractors who built these roads have been stopped. The payments will be made only after they repair the damaged roads. |
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Kangra sewerage scheme in a mess
Kangra, July 12 On January 17, 2004, the then state Chief Minister, Virbhdra Singh, along with his IPH minister Kaul Singh Thakur, laid down the foundation stone of Rs 9.27 crore sewerage scheme on the premises of the government polytechnic college. But the work is still to be completed and the pipes to be used in the scheme were rusting along the roadsides. P.R. Agnihotri, member of the state Senior Engineers Association and president of the state Pensioners Association, Kangra, said the town was craving for this facility, which was not provided till date due to the callousness of different governments. He said even the treatment plant site was not identified and hence, the tenders were not allotted for the construction of the plant. B.L. Sharma, spokesperson of the local Senior Citizens Forum, said the pipes were laid in some parts of the town and manholes were dug. But the work was left incomplete and some of the manholes were filled up again. Thus, public money was wasted. The pipes to be laid for this sewerage were rusting and the authorities were mute spectators to the damage of the public property. The management of the local government polytechnic college resent installation of the foundation stone on the premises of the college. They alleged that the pipes on the college premises were chocked and the construction of the manholes was not started within the college, which created a mess in the campus. Principal of the college Sunil Verma said, “We have written a number of times to the IPH department to clear the mess from the college and complete the work, but nothing was done in this regard.” Executive engineer of the IPH Department Raghuvir Singh said 40 per cent of the work was completed during the past four-and-a-half-years and as it was an urban scheme, it was diverted to the Urban Development Department. He said IPH did not receive any funds during the current year so the work came to a halt. P.R. Agnihotri said if the budgetary provisions were with the Urban Development Department then it should carry out the project at its own level. |
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LED — Next generation lighting
Shimla, July 12 Under the major initiative to save energy over 64 lakh CFLs (four to each domestic consumer) will be provided free of cost. The introduction of such a large number of lamps each of which contains about 4 mg of mercury, the most toxic and harmful metal, without an effective recycling mechanism will be fraught with danger. Worse, most of the consumers, who are already using CFLs, do not realise the long-term dangers posed to the environment and the health of human beings. They are not at all aware that breaking of bulbs is far more harmful as mercury is released in the environment. It is, thus, hardly surprising they are not as yet concerned about their safe disposal. In the USA and other countries the companies that promoted CFL in a big way and sold millions of such lights every year have opened collection centres for burned-out lamps to facilitate recycling. Proper disposal of CFLs is most important in a hill state like Himachal as dumping used bulbs in the domestic garbage could contaminate water sources downhill. LED bulbs that are made of semiconductor materials pose no such problems. Environmental safety apart, the most attractive feature of LED bulbs is the minimal energy consumption and durability compared to CFL. It consumes less that 10 per cent of the energy compared to an incandescent lamp and has a life span six times that of a CFL. A three-watt LED bulb is enough to replace 40 watt fluorescent tube. Some companies have already started manufacturing LED lamps in the country that cost about around Rs 300 each. Experts maintain term LED as the next generation lighting device which will render all existing bulbs obsolete over the next few years. |
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Royal Property Deal
Mandi, July 12 The police has established some links in the two cases and searched Tek Chand’s office. It also accessed his bank accounts to “corroborate the missing links in the two cases”. M Chander Sekhar, SP, Mandi, while addressing a press conference, said the police had questioned Dinesh Kumar Saklani, Lok Raj Saini, ChiranjivLal Saini, Dev Kumar Saini and Subash Kumar, all contractors, as Tek Chand’s family had held them responsible for his disappearance. The police took stock of Chand’s bank accounts to gather “documents and information regarding the exact nature of Tek Chand’s business and his role in the sale deed”. Though his family had earlier named Subhash Kumar as a suspect in the case, the police still consider him as a suspect in Chand’s disappearance. The police has constituted a six-member special investigating team to probe and solve the mystery of the sudden disappearance of Tek Chand and has registered a case in the benami sale deed yesterday. SP Mandi said Tek Chand was last seen in a Tata Sumo on the hospital road at 7 pm on July 4. “We are investigating the possible linkages between the two cases and corroborating the facts”, he added. |
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70 labourers not paid wages for months
Mandi, July 12 Most of these labourers are from Dadhkhari in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir and have nobody to take up their case here. They said, “We worked for months and got Rs 1.80 lakh. While rest of the amount of Rs 8 lakh was not given to us.” Their case came to light today, when they met the mediapersons here pleading for their helplessness to get the wages. Their contractor Alam Hussain said he would file a complaint with the labour officer. Supervisor of the Yash Construction, Mandi-Kullu, Yogesh Kumar said the company had signed the contract for the Airtel with two contractors from Jammu. “We have asked them to meet and discuss the matter of pending payment as they did not know that how much payment was to be made in the case”, he added. |
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Punjab National Bank penalised
Shimla, July 12 Devinder Kumar was a savings bank account holder with the Sainj (Mandi) branch of the bank. He applied for a loan of Rs 3 lakh for constructing a house. For this purpose, the bank officials demanded certain documents, which according to Kumar, were supplied to the bank. He was also called upon to execute the mortgage deed and for that purpose, he purchased requisite stamp papers and the documents were drawn and executed. But bank refused to sanction the loan on the ground that, when its manager visited the spot, he found that a house already existed on the land, which according to the bank, was owned by Kumar. As such, the loan was not sanctioned. While dismissing the appeal of the bank, Justice Arun Kumar Goel, president of the commission, upheld the order of the consumer forum. The commission observed that the stand of the bank was otherwise falsified from the certificate of the patwari that Kumar had no house on the land in question and bank had also failed to produce any rebuttal certificate from the patwari. It observed that no one knows which land was inspected by the manager, as he went in the absence of Kumar. And above all, no reason was assigned as to why the manager went to inspect the site without informing Kumar. |
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Disaster management plan to benefit Nurpur: MLA
Nurpur, July 12 Thanking Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal for giving his nod for the DMB, he said the land was identified for the purpose at Kopra, near here. He said the DMB would have 1,150 personnel selected from para military forces. He alleged that the previous Virbhadra Singh government issued the notification of upgrading the civil hospital to 100-bed hospital, but failed
to provide infrastructure for it. Pathania said he would upgrade the hospital to the capacity of 150 beds with amenities like trauma centre, MRI and
blood bank. |
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Coaching for wards of ex-servicemen
Hamirpur, July 12 He said, “The decision to open an academy has been taken in the board meeting and soon it would start functioning.” Parmar said the corporation had been working for welfare of the ex-servicemen and their economic up-lift. |
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Media must enlighten society: CM
Shimla, July 12 He was speaking after inaugurating a two-day northern region conference on “Importance of public relations and media in good governance”. The conference is being organised by the Public Relations Society of India (PRSI), Shimla chapter, to mark its golden jubilee. Dhumal said, “There is a close relationship between the concept of transparency, governance and public relations.” He said PR professionals must be committed to the cause of empowering people through free flow of ideas. Transparency was a must not only in the government set-up, but also in corporate world, he added. National president of the PRSI Ajit Pathak also spoke on the occasion. |
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Naval NCC unit joins plantation drive
Bilaspur, July 12 He said the NCC director-general of Government Of India had given directions to the cadets to plant at least one sapling during the rainy season. |
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