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VVIP ‘trouble’ for pilgrims
Cement Plant
BJP Government in the Dock
Fissures evident in Solan DCC
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BJP ministers defend SAT scrapping
Govt to promote herb cultivation
Jubbal-Kotkhai Cong unit criticises CM
New Guv likely to take oath on July 19
5 docs shifted to dist hospital
Self-pollinating varieties to boost apple output
Chikni bridge diversion washed away
Litigants’ right to appeal hit: Bar
‘Nirmal Himachal’ by 2010
Paragliding Pre-World Cup in October
Father, son washed away
Yoga to be introduced in schools
Plea to sack coop bank chairman
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VVIP ‘trouble’ for pilgrims
Mandi, July 13 PWD minister Gulab Singh was here to inaugurate the Jahu Bailey bridge and his VVIP motorcade blocked the road, putting the pilgrims to inconvenience. Pilgrims were forced to listen to the minister’s speeches till 1.30 pm, when the public meeting got over. Abhinav Vashishth, a pilgrim from Kullu, who was on his way to the Chintpurni shrine, said he reached here at 12 noon today, but the bridge was blocked by the VVIP motorcade. “We were stranded till 1.30 pm, when the unscheduled public meeting got over,” he rued. S.C. Sharma, another pilgrim, said buses and trucks managed to cross the Jahu khad, but cars remained stranded for two hours. “We approached the cops on duty for help but they expressed their helplessness, as it was a matter of VVIP”, Vashisht said. “We had to listen to the speeches of Gulab Singh Thakur, Anurag Thakur and ID. Dhiman,” he said. Speaking on the occasion, Gulab Singh Thakur said PWD would build a bigger bridge here, as Jahu was a junction of three districts- Mandi, Hamirpur and Bilaspur. He also announced to build a footpath for pedestrians on the bridge. Hamirpur Lok Sabha MP Anurag Thakur and education minister ID Dhiman briefly addressed the unscheduled public meeting. Sources said they were not aware that pilgrims were stranded on the Jahu junction as nobody brought it to their notice. |
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Cement Plant
Sundernagar, July 13 The delegation requested the minister to initiate appropriate action against the guilty officials and the project authorities in that behalf and recommend cancellation of the project. The samiti has claimed that the data relied upon for giving clearance was fabricated. Secretary of the samiti Lalit Chaudhari said, “No public hearing was conducted after the formulation of the environment impact assessment report and the environment management plan although it was mandatory as per the provisions of the Environment Protection Act, 1986. Moreover, the proposed plant site was very close to a thickly populated area and the Bandi wildlife sanctuary. Moreover, the mining work to be undertaken by the company would make lives of residents miserable, the minister was told. The minister reportedly said he would seek a report from the Himanchal Pradesh State Pollution Control Board regarding the alleged flouting of environmental norms and take necessary action in that behalf.
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BJP Government in the Dock
Shimla, July 13 While in the opposition the BJP had made the licence granted to arc and induction furnace-based steel units by the Congress regime a major issue. It was termed as the biggest scandal in the history of the hill state and figured prominently in the chargesheet submitted by the party to the Governor on March 5, 2004. However, it has surpassed the Congress by giving nod for setting up two steel units in Sirmaur district, which will together consume 88 MW of power. The Virbhadra Singh government had sanctioned 45 such units which were in comparison tiny units as the power consumption ranged from 2 MW to 5 MW and the aggregate connected load of these units came to 159 MW. Some of these units did not come up later. In the chargesheet the party had alleged that “ the 58 licences were given for the setting up of arc furnace-based steel units by taking money. These units consume a lot of power, which was very cheap in the state, and did not create employment opportunities. A large number of licences for this type of industry in one go smacked of corruption”. The reason for the “party with a difference” to conveniently forget its stand on the issue and make a U-turn is better known to those at the helm. Clearance has been given to the mega power-consuming units at time when the gap in supply and availability of power is widening with each passing year. The state electricity board has been purchasing large quantities of power at exorbitantly high rates ranging up to Rs 8.50 per unit which is supplied to power-intensive industries at a nominal Rs 2.50 per unit (EHT) and Rs 2.65 per unit (HT) as against the below-the-average sale price of Rs 3.68 per unit. Even after purchasing costly power, the board had been resorting to long power cuts during the winter. Apart from being power-intensive, the biggest factor for placing such units on the negative list of the state was that they hardly provided any employment. Moreover, Himachalis were averse to taking jobs in such units as the duties were physically very demanding and workers had to toil in high temperatures. As such power-intensive units are not in the interest of the state which has to buy costly power from outside and supply it at very low rates and hardly any Himachalis get employment, officers of the Industries Department point out. In short, power-intensive units only help their owners to make money at the state’s cost. The Dhumal government is already facing criticism for its conflicting stand on the Brakel issue and allowing private companies that were allotted 5-MW projects through Himurja to raise capacities up to 20 MW making a mockery of the procedure laid down for assigning hydroelectric projects.
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Fissures evident in Solan DCC
Solan, July 13 In a bid to remain at the centre stage, groups of supporters Virbhadra Singh and Vidya Stokes are sparing no effort to show their proximity to the new chief. A few weeks ago, they were admonished by senior leaders of the party for having raised no voice against the deteriorating law and order situation in the district. After that, they got together to criticise the state government for its alleged failure in maintaining law and order. However, even after a party call, only a handful of them had united to submit a memorandum to the Governor on the failure of the state government to bring down sales tax of petroleum products. Loyalists of Virbhadra Singh had reportedly kept away. Now with the maiden visit of the newly nominated PCC chief to the district, the chasm between the two groups appear to have become more apparent. Instead of presenting a united show, two different programmes had been chalked out and conveyed to the media. As per the official DCC communiqué, Kaul Singh is slated to meet the DCC at the local Congress Bhawan after reaching there around 1 pm. He will meet the Press at 3.30 pm at the Circuit House. On the other hand, former DCC general secretary Arvind Gupta has separately informed the Press about a media briefing by the PCC chief at the Congress Bhawan right after the meeting at 2 pm. With such developments, the PCC chief will have a tough task in fostering unity among the party men. To make matters worse, the lack of coordination was also manifest in the manner in which newly appointed state Youth Congress Chief Manmohan Kaotch, who is also visiting the district for the first time after being nominated, will be welcomed separately by the Youth Congress. The DCC is silent on his arrival or welcome. Though both leaders are slated to visit the district tomorrow, there is little coordination between the main party and its frontal organisation. |
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BJP ministers defend SAT scrapping
Shimla, July 13 Reacting to the statement of former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and other Congress leaders in this regard they said that the tribunal had not been doing well and thousands of cases related to the service matters had been pending and justice to the victims was delayed. It took so long that hundreds of employees retired awaiting justice from the tribunal which had been dilly-dallying in deciding cases Tribunals had already been abolished in most of the states and the decision of scrapping it had been taken to protect the interests of employees. Various employees unions had welcomed this decision. Successive Congress regimes had ignored the interests of employees and transfers were ordered on political considerations, resulting in severe victimisation of employees. They said the state would demand an increase in the strength of judges in the High Court, besides setting up a Bench at
Dharamsala. |
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Govt to promote herb cultivation
Nahan, July 13 Addressing a press conference at Paonta yesterday he said it would boost the rural economy as even barren land would fetch good income to the farmers. A strong marketing system was being prepared so that producers were not cheated by any mediator and they were assured good returns for their produce. Bindal said that 1,500 vacancies would be filled shortly in the Health and Family welfare Department. The government had increased by 209 per cent the budgetary provision for the primary and community health centres to ensure better health services in the rural areas. |
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Jubbal-Kotkhai Cong unit criticises CM
Shimla, July 13 President of the unit Laik Ram said work of the Rs 228 crore World Bank funded project for up-gradation of the Theog-Rohru road was awarded during the Congress regime and Rs 50 crore accelerated irrigation benefit programme was sanctioned by the Centre on October 3, 2007. Similarly, the 111 MW Sawara Kuddu project was assigned to the Pabbar Valley Corporation in 2005, and Rs 50 lakh parking lot was approved under the Rajiv Gandhi Urban Renewal Facility. Further, a Rs 2.60 crore scheme was sanctioned by the Centre for development of Chanshal tourist circuit on November 14, 2006. |
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New Guv likely to take oath on July 19
Shimla, July 13 Present incumbent V.S. Kokje was out of station and expected to return on July 16 or 17 and as such he would demit office only after that date, he told mediapersons here. Replying to a question, Dhumal said he was not formally consulted over the appointment of the new governor, but the union home minister did call him four times and informed him about the new Governor. — UNI |
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5 docs shifted to dist hospital
Nurpur, July 13
But the Health Department has ordered transfers of surgeon and gynaecologist to the district hospital,
Chamba.
The department also issued fresh order on Friday to shift the ENT specialist, eye specialist and a lady doctor on deputation, which sparked off a lot of resentment The officiating CMO had approached the director of the Health Department, to |
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Self-pollinating varieties to boost apple output
Shimla, July 13 The apple yield is hovering around 8 tonne per hectare as against over 12 tonne per hectare in the neighbouring Jammu and Kashmir. Regular crop failures created a false notion among the growers that apple orchards experience alternate bearing. However, apart from unfavourable weather conditions the main reason for crop failures was that the orchards mostly lacked adequate pollinating varieties. Such varieties accounted for only 5 to 10 per cent of the plants in orchards as against the recommended 35 per cent. Taking a cue from China, which has emerged as a leading apple producer in recent years, the department has decided to introduce self-pollinating commercial varieties like fuji and gale gala. In China these varieties account for 60 per cent of trees in orchards. In the self-pollinating varieties the male and female parts exist in the same flower and as such even minimal bee activity leads to successful pollination. Director of horticulture Gurdev Singh said the self-fruitful varieties being introduced would also promote pollination in the existing orchards and help improve yield and stabilise production.
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Chikni bridge diversion washed away
Solan, July 13 The PWD had been constructing this diversion to ease traffic influx at a cost of Rs 18 lakh. Now, the traffic was diverted through Dhabota on the Swarghat-Pinjore road. The bridge was even washed away in monsoons last year. The PWD was, therefore, constructing a diversion to facilitate smooth flow Since the bridge connects the industrial area to Nalagarh, it is a crucial link to those coming from the Swarghat area. Earlier, the Balad bridge faced a similar plight a few weeks ago. |
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Litigants’ right to appeal hit: Bar
Shimla, July 13 The litigant is “dominus litus” and when a choice of forum is available, no litigant will like to lose an opportunity of appeal at the second forum available to him. Moreover, if around 4,000 cases pending at Mandi and Dharamsala are transferred to the high court, the litigants will have to engage new counsels, putting additional financial burden on them. The tribunal has been holding circuit benches at Dharamsala, Mandi and Chamba and providing justice to litigants at their doorsteps. President of association P.P. Chauhan said the demand for setting up a Circuit Bench of the high court at Dharamsala had been rejected twice during the BJP and the Congress regimes in the past. As such, getting that demand accepted now would be almost impossible. The scrapping of tribunal would hurt litigants as they would have to pay a court fee of Rs 250 per person in the high court, whereas in the tribunal on Rs 50 were charged as court fee and any number of litigants could join in one case. On an average, about 1 lakh litigant are involved in 25,000 cases and they would have to pay additional Rs 200 and Rs 250. In other words, an additional amount of around Rs 1 crore would have to be by the litigants in the high court. In the tribunal, the copies of judgments were provided free of cost, whereas in the high court every litigant would have to pay fee for the same, he said. The high court could only adjudicate on questions of law and not on disputed questions of facts. However, most of the service matters involved questions of facts. So, the litigant would have to withdraw their cases and file fresh cases in civil courts, losing their seniority of cases and incurring additional expenses. He said the concurrence stated to have been obtained from the Supreme Court and the high court was apparently on the basis of wrong inputs and without associating the litigant employees or their counsels. The transfer of 25,000 cases would also hinder the disposal of already pending cases before the high court. Since its inception, the tribunal had received 1,42,559 cases out of which 1,18,892 (around 83 per cent) were decided, he said. |
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‘Nirmal Himachal’ by 2010
Shimla, July 13 Adopting a people-centric and outcome-based approach Rs 101.42 crore is being implemented by involving the aanganwaris, schools and panchayats. A total of 11,333 schools and 4,485 aanganwaris would be covered during the project. To panchayati raj institutions a state reward scheme “Maharishi Balmiki Sampooran Swachhata Puruskkar” has been instituted. An award of Rs 1 lakh is given to the cleanest gram panchayat in each block and Rs 3 lakh in each district. At the divisional level the cleanest panchayat would be awarded a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh and at the state level the prize money will be Rs 10 lakh. The state had banned the use of polythene and the government had decided to monitor the waste being thrown into the rivers and educate people about the harm caused to the aquatic life and the hydroelectric projects. The year 2008 has been declared as the international year of sanitation and series of cleanliness related programmes were being implemented as a part of the
programme. |
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Paragliding Pre-World Cup in October
Kangra, July 13 Secretary of tourism Manisha Nanda, while talking to the Tribune over the phone, said the Aero Club of India had granted its sanction to hold the Pre-World Cup at Billing and issued a no objection certificate. She said the FAI had recognised the event and had granted a ‘Category-II Status’ to it in the international ranking. The event would be held in association with the Paragliding World Cup Association (PWCA) according to the guidelines of the association and the Aero Club of India (ACI), the national sports body. Nanda said the PWCA was approached for its permission, which hopefully would be received this week and online registration of the pilots would start from July 28, 2008. She said a high-level meeting would be held in the last week of August to finalise all security measures and other arrangements for the event. Nanda said a test of skill, experience, courage and endurance would be held from the heights of Billing. The event was being organised by the Department of Tourism and Civil Aviation and the state government in collaboration with the Paragliding World Cup Association, France, with the support of the Department of Tourism, Government of India, ministry of youth services & sports and the Western Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Manali. Nanda said, “The state Department of Tourism and Civil Aviation will be responsible for the event.” |
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Father, son washed away
Kumarhatti, July 13 The villagers advised them not to cross the khud. But they reportedly did not pay any heed to their advice and went ahead. The flow of water increased and they lost their control in middle of the khud. The vigorous current of water washed them away. The helpless villagers were too mere spectators, as they could not do anything to save the father and son due to heavy flow of water. Their bodies were not traced till the filing of the story. The deceased were businessmen from Panchkula, near Chandigarh. They used to visit their native town occasionally and were on their way back to Panchkula. |
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Yoga to be introduced in schools
Bilaspur, July 13 He declared that Rs 10.68 lakh would be spent on providing additional accommodation at high school Lakhnu while another Rs 5 lakh would be spent on the construction of a foot-bridge. |
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Plea to sack coop bank chairman
Shimla, July 13 President of the union Ajit Singh also demanded that Mohan Lal should also be debarred from contesting elections for the post in future. He said the inquiry ordered by the government into the charges against him had indicted him. He said Mehta, who was also a director of Himfed, had been misusing the vehicle purchased by the bank for recovering outstanding dues. There was no provision for any official vehicle for the chairman in the bank and Mohan Lal had been misusing the loan-recovery vehicle. Some instances of false TA and DA claims had also come to light. The government must act fast on the inquiry report and remove him from the post without any delay.
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Mandi, July 13
