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Gearing up for Lok Sabha Polls
BJP targeting Cong men, says PCC chief
Debris Dumping On Forest Land |
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Ambuja Cement to dispose of
Shimla’s polythene waste
HPU extends date of admission
HAS interviews from July 21
IIT to start at Mandi next year
Nod awaited for paragliding pre-world cup
Four missing in Kihar ranges
Interim relief for pensioners
Closing down of 4 Himfed units rued
BJP ministers refute Kaul Singh’s charge
Renuka dam outsees threaten stir
Scrapping of tribunal condemned
MC president, vice-president voted out
Orders to assess rain damage
ABVP holds protest
Youth commits suicide
Woman dies
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Gearing up for Lok Sabha Polls
Shimla, July 17 The state election committee (SEC) of the BJP will finalise the party candidates for the Lok Sabha elections on June 22 with the possibility of Shanta Kumar being fielded from Kangra not being completely ruled out. Shanta Kumar is learnt to have already conveyed his decision to the party high-ups and the state leadership. The BJP core committee shortlisted the candidates for the three Lok Sabha seats of Shimla, Kangra and Mandi at its meeting held at Barog yesterday. The party high command has already cleared the name of Anurag Thakur, MP from Hamirpur, after his impressive victory in the recent byelection. Those who attended the Barog meeting included Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal, Shanta Kumar, state BJP chief Jai Ram Thakur, Mohinder Pandey, Satya Pal Jain and Om Prakash Dhankar. Party sources said that the SEC, which would meet at Delhi on July 22, was keen to forward single names for consideration of the central election committee which was scheduled to meet on July 24. The BJP is keen to decide the candidates at the earliest so that the party can start campaigning. The names being considered for the Lok Sabha election from Kangra include Sarveen Chaudhary and Ravinder Singh Ravi, both ministers, former Rajya Sabha MP Kripal Parmar and former MLA Dulo Ram. The names of two other ministers, Kishan kapoor and Ramesh Dhawala, are also under consideration. The names under consideration for the Mandi parliamentary seat include former MP and state party chief Maheshwar Singh and former minister Roop Singh Thakur. Since Maheshwar was not given the assembly ticket the party could field him, especially in view of the fact that the Congress could field its stalwarts Virbhadra Singh or Sukh Ram, who have a considerable influence. With regard to the reserved Lok Sabha seat of Shimla, the party is keen on fielding a woman candidate and the name of Sheila from Solan is doing the rounds. The other names under consideration include H.N. Kashyap, Virender Kashyap and Balbir from Renuka. |
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BJP targeting Cong men, says PCC chief
Mandi, July 17 “The government led by Dhumal is anti-Mandi as Mandi BJP MLAs have failed to protect interests of people of central zone,” he charged. Addressing a public meeting here today Thakur alleged that the six-month-BJP rule had spread lawlessness in many parts in the state, raising questions about the security of a common man. “Tek Chand, a local contractor, has remained untraced even after two weeks. Idol stolen from Salooni temple at the time of the Chief Minister’s recent visit still is not recovered. Thakur alleged that Dhumal’s regime targeted the Congressmen, ordering large-scale transfers and inquiries, letting loose a narrow politics of vindictiveness and regional discrimination. He claimed the Congress would launch state-wide agitation restoring tribunal Benches at Mandi and Dharamsala, the government medical college at Mandi, IIT at Kamand, exposing the real face of the BJP as it has backed out on promises made out in its manifesto. Thakur charged that Dhumal was anti-Mandi as he had withdrawn order of the government medical college. “Dhumal had announced from Seri Munch that once his government came to power, it would provide budget for the college in the government sector.” Thakur charged that Mandi BJP MLAs, including PWD minister Gulab Singh Thakur, have failed to protect the interests of Mandi on these issues.
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Debris Dumping On Forest Land
Shimla, July 17 Earlier, cases of damage to forests by such activities were compounded by imposing fine. However, it has not deterred the contractors from dumping debris, and the forests are being damaged in the state. The department has not shown any serious resolve to address the environmental concern. It has not even prepared environment management plans for road projects, except those funded by the World Bank. Additional chief secretary, Forests, Avay Shukla said the department had been asked to prepare the plans for all road projects to ensure proper disposal of debris and stabilisation of excavated hill slopes. It had also been made clear that in future those responsible for causing damage to the forests would be booked under the Forest Act and prosecuted under Section 33 of the Act. He said the principal secretary, Environment, had also held number of meetings with officers of the PWD and drawn attention to the damage being caused to the environment by reckless road construction activity. The plea of the department that ensuring scientific disposal of muck would increase the cost of road projects was untenable. The damage caused to the environment was much more serious and the issue had to be taken care of without any delay. There is a provision of imprison up to two years and a fine of Rs 5,000 under the Act. The department has also decided to act firmly against private builders, functionaries of panchayati raj institutions and other offenders who build roads through forests overnight using heavy earth moving machinery. Unlike the past, the matter will not end with issuing damage reports and imposing fine. The department will not allow the offender to take benefit of the violation of law. Besides taking legal action, it will fence the area and plant trees so that it could not be used, says principal chief conservator of forests Pankaj Khullar. The Environment Department will work in close coordination with the Forest Department to ensure strict monitoring of road projects.
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Ambuja Cement to dispose of Shimla’s polythene waste
Shimla, July 17 The corporation has reached an understanding with Ambuja Cement for disposal of polythene waste from the state capital. "As part of the understanding we would be sending a truckload of polythene waste to Ambuja Cement at its Darlaghat unit in Solan for scientific disposal," SMC Commissioner Amitabh Awasthi said today. A truckload of polythene waste weighing about 17.5 quintals was sent to Ambuja Cement yesterday, he said. The polythene waste would be scientifically burnt in the plant's kiln, Sandeep Kapoor, Manager (technical), said, adding that the company was providing the service to the state government as part of its social responsibilities. Around 1.5 to 2 quintals of polythene waste is collected daily in Shimla, Awasthi said, adding that the same would be collected at a place and sent for disposal to Ambuja Cement once a week. The objective was to keep the state capital, which is visited by lakhs of tourists from India and abroad every year, clean, Awasthi added. — PTI
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HPU extends date of admission
Shimla, July 17 The deputy registrar (academic) said this had been done to allow students to get admission with late fee. |
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HAS interviews from July 21
Shimla, July 17 A spokesperson of the commission said separate call letters had been sent to all those who had cleared the main written examination held in the month of February earlier this year. Those who had not received the call letters should contact the commission’s office before
July 20. |
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IIT to start at Mandi next year
Shimla, July 17 It was during the tenure of the previous Congress regime in the state that the centre had announced the setting up of an IIT and a central university. The government today decided to start the first IIT batch (2009-10 session) at the new building of Government College, Mandi. The PWD rest house can also be attached with the IIT to make its functional till its own campus comes up. |
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Nod awaited for paragliding pre-world cup
Shimla, July 17 Failing to hold the event last year, the department has made all arrangements, including extending invitations to the international pilots so that the event turns out to be a mega event. The officials of the Tourism Department are trying their level best to fulfill the formalities laid down by the PWC for holding an international event. “Even though getting approval from them is a cumbersome process but we are hopeful that it should come through,” said an official. The state government has taken approval from the Aero Club of India and Federation Aeronautical International for holding the event. There will be a cross country, aerobics and acrobatic events during the competition. It was in the year 2002 that the Tourism Department organised the pre world cup for the first time and made efforts to organise an international level event. An aero sports club has been made at Bir by the Tourism Department to promote the sport. The condition of the 14 km stretch from Bir to the take off point at Billing has been improved so that there is easy accessibility to the takeoff point.
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Four missing in Kihar ranges
Chamba, July 17 According to reports received here today, a few days ago, a group of five persons had gone to extract medicinal herbs on the high altitudes of timberline, which was also the borderline between Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Four of them could not return to their homes. However, one Talib Hussein managed to return from the site yesterday. He said when they were coming back after extracting herbs, four unidentified persons waylaid them and intimidated them of consequences. They ran away to save their lives but later could not meet each other. The reports revealed that the police was trying to glean information from the person who had come back from the site to ascertain the facts about the incident. The search was on to trace the missing persons.
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Interim relief for pensioners
Shimla, July 17 He said this would fulfil the commitment he made to the HP Pensioners Welfare Association meeting at Hamirpur recently. “We have released 5 per cent interim relief to the employees and pensioners and provided financial benefits worth Rs 300 crore,” he informed. He said this decision had benefited over two lakh employees and one lakh pensioners. He said the arrears of the interim relief to the employees had already been released before March 31. “Some of the employees who retired between November, 2006, and August, 2007, did not get the benefit of interim relief sanctioned to pensioners but directions have now been issued in this regard as well,” he said. He said all departmental heads had been asked to revise the pension and allow the benefit of interim relief to these left-out employees. The government was committed to protecting the interest of the pensioners and due regard would be given to senior citizens. The government had made a provision of Rs 16 crore for reimbursement of medical bills.
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Closing down of 4 Himfed units rued
Solan, July 17 Union’s general secretary Rajinder Thakur said today they would convene a meeting of the union on July 28 at Shimla and decide their future course of action. The issue pertains to the scrapping of four units of the Himfed including, Nahan, Bilaspur, Una and Chamba as per a recent federation order. The MD has constituted a committee on July 15 comprising marketing manager, financial controller, fertiliser development officer, superintendent and law officer to work out the nitty-gritty of stock and staff transfer following the closure of these four units. The employees union while taking the management to task said it was an erroneous presentation of facts which had led to the closure of these four units. Illustrating their point the employees pointed out that the decision to close the Una unit which ran at a profit of Rs 4 crore as against the Hamirpur unit which earned a profit of Rs 2 crore belied logic. A section of the employees today met MP Anurag Thakur, in whose constituency two of the four units of Una and Bilaspur fell, to apprise him of the unhealthy development confided union members. |
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BJP ministers refute Kaul Singh’s charge
Shimla, July 17 They said the rates of liquor had been decreased after taking into consideration all aspects, including VAT. “The state government cannot formulate a policy on its own in isolation as it has to be at par with the neighbouring states like Punjab, Haryana and the union territory of Chandigarh,” they said. They said that if the rate of taxes was kept very high as compared to the adjoining states Himachal would have become vulnerable to liquor smuggling, thereby adversely affecting its sale and the resultant revenue. “We reduced VAT from 20 per cent to 12.5 per cent only to bridge the gap of variation of rates which could have made the price of liquor in Himachal uncompetitive,” they said.
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Renuka dam outsees threaten stir
Nahan, July 17 In a press statement released here today after holding the meeting of Renuka bandh jan sangharsh samiti, the dam outsees have announced to launch an agitation against the Renuka dam authorities for allegedly ignoring their demands and not giving them information about the outsees policy to be adopted by the authorities. The samiti has alleged that instead of settling the issue through dialogue the dam authorities were trying to divide the outsees families in different sections. The samiti has asked clarification on its earlier proposal to change the dam site to Mohtu village from the present one which is adjacent to the Renuka lake, the biggest natural lake of Himachal Pradesh and one of the biggest tirtha of Hindus in northern India. The samiti has questioned the construction of three tunnels on the Giri bed at a less than 250 m distance from the historic lake and apprehended that heavy blasting to be used for the construction of tunnels may destroy the lake. The samiti alleged that till today the government had not decided about their rehabilitation despite the fact that research work on the Renuka dam project was going on for the past 20 years. The samiti has decided that until they get developed residential and agricultural area of their choice with all basic amenities for their rehabilitation they would not leave their villages. One member of every affected family must be given government job before dislodging them from the area.
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Scrapping of tribunal condemned
Shimla, July 17 President of the federation Lal Singh Chawla and general secretary Surinder Mankotia in a joint statement said here today that instead of scrapping the tribunal it should have strengthened it by setting up permanent Benches at Dharamsala and Mandi. Thousands of employees got their grievances redressed and got justice from the judicial forum. The employees of far-flung areas like Lahaul-Spiti and Kullu found it convenient to approach the tribunal while it camped at Mandi. It was not a just and fair decision as the employees of remote areas could not pursue cases in the High Court. They would not only have to travel long distances but also pay hefty fees to advocates, which they could not afford. They also asserted that if the government wanted to set up a High Court Bench at Dharamsala, it should have completed the exercise before disbanding the tribunal. |
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MC president, vice-president voted out
Sundernagar, July 17 A total of eight votes were polled out of 13 votes. Out of eight, seven votes were polled against Harinder Sen and Lalit Sen. One vote was declared invalid, so a no confidence motion was passed against the president and the vice-president. Ram Kumar Gautam, SDM, Sundernagar, conducted the counting.
Majority of the members were annoyed with the functioning of the president and the vice-president. So nine members gave a written request to the SDM, Sundernagar, on May 13 to conduct fresh elections. |
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Orders to assess rain damage
Shimla, July 17 Presiding over the meeting of revenue officers here today, he said the details must be collected at the earliest from the deputy commissioners and other departments. “A sum of Rs 55 crore has already been released to all DCs and various departments for undertaking relief measures, including gratuitous relief, repair and restoration work,” he said. He said Rs 26 crore was also released to various departments for repair and restoration works. Out of this Rs 10 crore was given to PWD, Rs 6 crore to IPH and Rs 4 crore each to the Power and Horticulture Department. |
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ABVP holds protest
Shimla, July 17 Led by its state ABVP secretary Manchali Thakur, the activists demanded that Phagli Sanskrit College should be shifted to a new building as the conditions of the structure was deplorable. They also handed over a memorandum in this regard to the deputy commissioner. The activists demanded that there should be a separate library in the Sanskrit college. |
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Youth commits suicide
Kangra, July 17 However, his family members and villagers said Raj Kamal was under depression for want of a job to sustain his family and this could be the reason behind the suicide. |
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Woman dies
Chamba, July 17 |
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