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Tibetans take out protest march despite differences
Cabinet nod to cement plant in Sunni tehsil
Women allege torture by police
Yoghurt plant being set up at Paonta Sahib
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Ex-minister calls magisterial probe an eyewash
Nod to steel units: Power board gets notice
High court notice to Hamirpur ZP chief
BJP kisan cell skips local issues
A traffic jam on the Dharamsala road in Kangra on Friday. Photo: Ashok Raina
4 saved from drowning
Rahi denies allegation
Anganwari attendance certificate scheme
No loss in cloudburst
Burglars decamp with mobiles, motorcycle
15 passengers hurt in mishap
Home-stay plan
School inspected
Embezzlement in post office
Body found
Bid to rob bank
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Tibetans take out protest march despite differences
Dharamsala, August 8 The reaction of the CTA came after allegations leveled in Nepal Maoist mouthpiece, Janadisha Daily, that the Dalai Lama was brainwashing Nepalese children. Thubten Samphel, CTA spokesperson, over the issue when contacted by The Tribune said that Nepalese children were being recruited by the Shugden sect. The sect followers were taking advantage of the poverty and unemployment in Nepal to recruit Nepalese in Tibetan Buddhist monestaries being run by the Shugden sect. They were then using Nepalese to create unrest in the Tibetan community in exile. The CTA, in fact, does not have resources and facilities to maintain Nepalese children in the school run by them, because of the fact that they already have large numbers of young Tibetans who escape from Tibet every year to pursue their education in exile, he said. The Shugden followers in the recent past had also filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court against the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile alleging that they were not allowing them to follow their religious beliefs. The Tibetan government in-exile has been alleging that the Shugden followers were acting at the behest of the Chinese authorities. The enmity between the Dalai Lama and Shugden followers started in 1970 when the former issued diktats to Tibetans against offering prayers to Shugden. Meanwhile, the Tibetans here continued their protest against the Bejing Olympics here today. The Tibetans, including the monks dressed in red robes and carrying Tibetan flags, marched from Macloedganj to mini secretariat. Shimla: The Regional Tibetan Women’s Association (RTWA) here today organised a peace march and a candlelight vigil in memory of hundreds of Tibetans killed during non-violent protests in Tibet during the recent past. RTWA activists, accompanied by members of the local Tibetan community, assembled at Naaz and marched through the Lower Bazaar, holding candles and placards. President of the Shimla RTWA Pasang Chokey said the march was organised to express solidarity with the Tibetans who had been facing silent execution and torture in the dark prison cells in Tibet. She said the political prisoners in these cells were being treated in the most inhuman way and China had never come out with the exact figures of those suffering in those cells. “The ancient culture and traditions are being destroyed and the native people have become a minority in their own homeland due to mass exodus of Tibetans,” she said. Nahan: Wearing black clothes and black ribbons tied on their mouths, around 200 Tibetan protesters came from four Tibetan settlements of Sirmaur district and took out a silent protest march in Paonta town against the Beijing Olympics here today. A number of Tibetan organisations had organised the march jointly. It started from Badripur and went up to the municipal ground through Shamsher Pur and the main market of the town.
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Cabinet nod to cement plant in Sunni tehsil
Shimla, August 8 The Cabinet also decided to cancel the allotment of the 60-MW Tidong-II hydroelectric project to Torrent and Gammon Power AEC Limited and invite fresh bids for the project. The Cabinet, which met the chairmanship of Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal, also considered a proposal of Solaryan Private Limited for setting up of a large integrated solar panel manufacturing plant at a cost of Rs 2,500 crore. The project was likely to generate direct employment for over 600 persons. The Cabinet also gave nod for filling 787 posts of different categories in various departments. These included 592 posts of paramedical staff (on contract basis, through the Rogi Kalyan Samaitis), 150 posts of ayurvedic medical officers, 16 posts of various categories in the Irrigation and Public Health Department and 14 posts of tehsil welfare officers. It granted one-time relaxation in recruitment and promotion rules to fill 150 posts of ayurvedic medical officers, 50 per cent batch wise and 50 per cent by direct recruitment. The batch wise direct recruitment of teachers, engineers and doctors would be kept out of the purview of the HP Public Service Commission. Another decision pertained to creation of a separate IPH circle for Bilaspur under Hamirpur zone along with 16 posts of various categories. It also decided to amend the Pension Rules, 1997, and give priority to BPL families under the Social Security Pension Scheme. Permission was granted for opening a nursing college at Solan in private-public partnership with intake capacity of 40 seats each for BSc (nursing) and GNM courses and a government polytechnic at Talwar in Kangra district. It decided to outsource swimming pools at Una and Mandi to private parties for maintenance and repairs. |
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Women allege torture by police
Bilaspur, August 8 According to them, they were summoned to the Talai police station in the morning on that day. As soon as they reached there, three policemen started beating them up with belts and fisticuffs, they alleged. Kashmiri Devi’s husband Nand Lal and another villager Ram Singh were present in the police station at that time, they said. Kashmiri Devi said she was having a property dispute with her husband Nand Lal, who had been maltreating her for the past sometime. He had asked her to leave the house and also threatened to kick out daughter Maya Devi and son-in-law Pawan Kumar. They woman, accompanied by some other villagers, met DSP Sanjeev Gandhi today. She submitted a complaint alleging that the policemen assaulted them without any fault of their in front of people with whom they had a property dispute. They later showed injury marks on their bodies to mediapersons. They alleged they were forced to sit in the police station for about four hours and asked by the police to go away from the house of Nand Lal and not to claim any right in the property. They were threatened if they did not do that, they would be arrested and implicated in a false case, they alleged. The DSP reportedly assured them that an impartial inquiry would be conducted into the incident and a suitable action taken. |
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Yoghurt plant being set up at Paonta Sahib
Shimla, August 8 Company chairman Man Mohan Malik said here today a yogurt plant was being set up at Paonta Sahib in the state for which equipment and technology had already been imported from the United States at a cost of about Rs 5 crore. He said that so far only plain and flavoured yogurts were produced in the country and real fruit blended yoghurts for healthy breakfast and snack food would be available for the first time. The company imports different varieties of berries like blue berry, straw berry and raspberry fruits from North America and procures mango, peaches, banana and other fruits from Indian markets for various varieties of fruit yoghurts. The plant would have a capacity to produce 50 million cups of yoghurt per annum in the Paonta plant. Over 30,000 litres of pure and immediately chilled milk would be procured daily from farmers within 60 km of Paonta Sahib for which 50 collection centres would be set up. The new products would be marketed under brand name ‘Himalya Fresh.’ The company had already bagged an export order of $ 4 million frozen yoghurt from the USA. The fat free frozen yoghurt would be marketed under the brand name "Uno Italian" to provide healthy alternative to ice cream as it melts and freezes at slower rate than ice cream due to higher enthalpy of fusion than milk. Export sugar free version of frozen yoghurt and frozen yoghurt flavoured with fructose would also be marketed for sugar sensitive customers across the globe. Malik said Americans were charmed by the low-fat, lower-calorie alternative to ice cream that also provided health benefits of live cultures. The company had signed an agreement with the Reliance Industries to pack its plain yoghurt in their "Dairy Pure" brand to be marketed nation-wide though its retail chain. |
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Ex-minister calls magisterial probe an eyewash
Bilaspur, August 8 Addressing mediapersons, he demanded that if the government is interested in knowing truth about the incident, then it should immediately order a high-level judicial inquiry into the unfortunate episode so that the inquiry report provides future course of action for the government to avoid recurrence of any such mishap. He said all five doctors posted at Ghwandal primary health centre and one doctor posted at ayurveda dispensary at Naina Devi were transferred and no substitutes were posted there. Consequently, all those injured were sent to Anandpur Sahib
and most of them breathed their last as they could not get medical aid immediately. He said even the post-mortem examinations were conducted at the Anandpur Sahib hospital while these should have been conducted at Ghwandal and the Naina Devi temple trust which had an annual income of crores of rupees should have given adequate financial help to
the victims. He charged both forest minister, J.P. Nadda and local MLA, Randhir Sharma and held them responsible for the tragedy and alleged that they not only failed in ensuring proper safety and security arrangements at the shrine but also diverted attention of the district officers concerned by deputing them for a
plantation drive. Thakur said he arrived at the site of accident immediately after the mishap. |
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Nod to steel units: Power board gets notice
Shimla, August 8 Taking suo motu notice of a news report published in these columns regarding approval given to two mega steel units in Sirmaur district, the commission has asked the board to explain the reasons for approving power-intensive units that would have an impact on the annual revenue requirement (ARR) of the board and also adversely affect the interests of other power consumers in the state. The two units together will consume 88 MW of power. The commission has asked the board to furnish details of the criteria adopted by it for concurring to such proposals as well as the arrangements made for meeting this bulk demand. It has also sought details about the total quantum of power approved by the single-window clearance authority for various industries during the past two years and the total load released till date against such approvals. The board has also been asked to inform the commission about the total load for which power availability certificates have been issued, and the balance quantum yet to be processed. The board would also list the steps taken by it to meet the demand in reply to the notice to be submitted within four weeks. It was mentioned in the news report that the clearance had been accorded despite the fact that the board had been facing a widening demand-and-supply gap. This had resulted in a situation where it was forced to make short-term arrangements for purchasing power at very high rates and supplying it to such power-intensive units at a relatively low tariff. The board has also been resorting to imposing power cuts in winter months due to acute shortage of power. Power-intensive units were placed in the negative list as they consumed a lot of power but hardly provided any employment. Even otherwise, Himachalis were averse to taking jobs in such units where workers had to toil in high temperatures. The BJP, while in opposition, had opposed such units tooth and nail for the same reasons and it had termed the approval granted to some smaller steel units during the previous Congress regime as a big scandal. However, after coming to power, it even surpassed the Congress by giving clearance to two mega units. |
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High court notice to Hamirpur ZP chief
Shimla, August 8 While issuing notices, the division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Jagdish Bhalla and Justice Sanjay Karol, directed the respondents to file their reply within two weeks. Petitioners alleged that they are affiliated to the Congress and remaining 13 wards members were with the BJP. The district was divided into 18 wards. The state received Rs 2,14,27,000 as grant from the Indian government for the development of the state. Out of this, the Zila Parishad, Hamirpur, received Rs 15,40,000 for the development of the wards. The amount was required to be distributed equally or proportionately on the basis of population amongst the 18 wards, consisting the ward of chairperson of the zila parishad. But the distribution of the funds was only amongst 13 wards represented by the ward members belonging to the BJP and the wards represented by the petitioners, who had allegiance to the Congress were ignored. They alleged that even other grants received by the zila parishad were also not distributed evenly among their wards.
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BJP kisan cell skips local issues
Solan, August 8 Though it was its first meeting after the BJP assumed power in the state, its resolutions had little to offer to the state farmers. The meeting was headed by national kisan cell president Vinod Pandey. It was presided by its state’s orgnisational general secretary Mahinder Pandey and state kisan morcha president Sukh Ram Chowdhary among others. Though their national president Rajnath Singh had announced setting up of tomato and local fruit produce-based processing units in the region, the issue did not even form a part of their resolution. Vinod Pandey said they had demanded a white paper on the number of farmers, who were benefited by the loan waiver scheme. Flaying the scheme’s ineptness, he said the government sector banks had not received any funds from the Union Government and hence, they had failed to provide fresh loans to the farmers. He claimed that the main reason for the farmer’s suicides across the nation were the rising loans from village moneylenders. The issues of prime concern like purchase of apple cartons at inflated prices by the apple growers, undue charge of commission by agents at Delhi’s Azadpur mandi and setting up of fruit processing units among others did not find much prominence.
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Kangra reels under traffic jams
Kangra, August 8 The frequent traffic jams indicate deterioration in the efficiency of the traffic police. Traffic jams are witnessed on the Dharamsala road, outside the new general bus stand, near old bus stand and on the Gupt Ganga road and the traffic regulating authorities are mute spectators. Unchecked wrong parking on these roads, illegal encroachments and the motor repair workshops on the Dharamsala road add to the trauma. The traffic police does not take action against those who park at the ‘No Parking’ sites. The Gupt Ganga road, connecting Dr. R.P. Government Medical College with the town, is mostly chocked with jams. Traffic jams near the Zamanabad road junction on the national highway are common. |
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4 saved from drowning
Solan, August 8 Dev Ram (24), Ajay Sharma (40), Santosh Pandey (19) and Joginder Paswan (19) were crossing the river on foot to reach a small island located in the middle of the river to seek refuge. The level of water rose in the midst of the river. They were noticed by a vigilant policeman at 8 am today. He initiated rescues operations with the help of other staff and villagers. Though they tried to pull them with ropes, the gushing water made it difficult to rescue them. A crane was pressed into service to lift them. The cloudburst also damaged an industrial unit, Euro Solo, which was located downhill of the Ratta river. Traffic on the NH-22, which has been diverted through the Barog bypass since yesterday, remained closed, as landslides marred the movement of vehicles. Landslides continued to occur in many parts of this road and even the parapet had given way at many places. The Nalagarh-Ramshehar road, too, remained closed due to a landslide. |
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Rahi denies allegation
Hamirpur, August 8 In a press note issued here today, he said, “Such statements are not only mischievous, but also far from the truth. In fact, these are being made to conceal the truth.” He said the decision taken in January, 2008, was based on a pre-conceived notion and aimed at tarnishing his image. He clarified that 1.25 crore books with 110 titles were published by the board during his tenure and mistakes in only one title were discovered and a decision was taken to remove these mistakes. He questioned how a sum of Rs 12.5 lakh could be spent on removing these mistakes while one printer was also penalised for removing these mistakes. He said, “I have come to know through media reports that a notice is being sent to me. I will reply to it whenever it reaches me.” |
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Anganwari attendance certificate scheme
Shimla, August 8 Stating this while addressing senior officers of the department here today minister for social justice and empowerment Sarveen Chaudhary said the certificate to be issued on the completion of non-formal pre-school education of the child would bring in a sense of responsibility among the anganwadi staff. It would be an additional incentive for enrolment of children in schools, she added. She added that package of six services were being provided to the children through a network of 18248 anganwari centres set up under ICDS(integrated child development services) programme in the state. Besides, non-formal pre-school education for three to six years children services like immunisation, health check-ups and supplementary nutrition to children and pregnant women and nursing mothers, referral services to ailing and severely malnourished children and women were being provided. The minister stressed upon making this programme popular and accessible to all sections. |
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No loss in cloudburst
Shimla, August 8 A rescue team had been sent to assess the situation. Apart from this, a 300 m portion of the road leading to Chitkul was also damaged. |
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Burglars decamp with mobiles, motorcycle
Kangra, August 8 According to the Nagrota Bagwan police, the burglars broke open a shutter of the mobile shop, owned by Pankaj Kalra, when it was heavily raining and decamped with mobiles and accessories worth Rs 45,000. A case under Section 457 and 380 of the IPC was registered by the police. A motorcycle (HP 38 A 7197) was also stolen by the burglars from Ward no 1of Nagrota Bagwan and owner Virbhanu Partap lodged a complaint and a case under Section 379 of the IPC was registered. |
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15 passengers hurt in mishap
Sundernagar, August 8 According to information, the bus (HP-40B-9937), was on its way to Kangra from Kullu, at
Sidyani. At the time of the accident, there were 35 passengers in the bus. Most of the injured were from the Kangra district and were identified as Vyas Devi ,
Jayaoti, Nitu, Balwant, Ser Singh, Anju Bala,Gayatri, Sulekha, Indri Rani, Keshar Singh, Tilak Raj, Gian Chand,
Trilok, Bhoop Singh and Naresh. With the help of local residents all victims were shifted to the civil hospital, Ratti and first-aid was given to the injured. The police has registered a case under Section 279,337,338 of the Indian Penal Code against the driver and has started investigations. |
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Plea to involve NGOs, tour operators
Tribune News Service
Shimla, August 8 Hailing decision of the government to introduce home-stay scheme, president Mohit Sood said the scheme would generate employment opportunities in villages and boost tourism in rural areas. However, it would require training of rural on a large-scale to deliver proper services to the tourists.
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School inspected
Chandigarh, August 8 The inspection was primarily held to evaluate the facilities in the hostels, hospital, dining hall and play grounds. The officers inspected the laboratories, audio-visual room, library, dining hall and hostels of
the school.
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Embezzlement in post office
Hamirpur, August 8 SP Asif Jalal said two employees of the post office,
R.C. Banyal and Chuni Lal, fraudulently withdrew Rs 14 lakh from different savings accounts during
2005 to 2008. They did this in connivance with small savings agents Jagat Ram Sharma and Shashi Kala, he added. The SP said the police had registered a case against the accused and started an investigation into the case. The Postal Department has already put the employees concerned under suspension. |
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Body found
Chamba: The body of a woman was found in the Ravi near Bagga, about 25 km from here, on Thursday. The deceased was identified as Sumitra Devi of a nearby village. She had reportedly jumped into the river from the Choori bridge on July 29. Trouble in the family was said to be the reason that forced her to take the extreme step, sources said.
— OC |
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Bid to rob bank
Bilaspur, August 8 Reports said here today that some persons entered the bank and broke a number of locks and iron shutters. This noise woke up the owner of the building, who informed the police. The thieves ran away without any money. |
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