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No Cong leader willing to contest LS poll: BJP
Decision today on controversial appointments
Tackle ‘ideological terrorism’: Togadia
52 pc patients anaemic in Kangra, Hamirpur
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Upgrade of Kangra polytechnic demanded
BJP should be grateful to UPA regime: Cong
Curb terrorist links: Bali
Power restrictions lifted
The Gopalpur-Gajrehra road has been under construction for the past two years.
Photo by the writer
Advani to address BJP rally
‘Schools must hold annual functions’
CFL bulbs given on Vajpayee’s birthday
‘Clear pending medical claims’
Authorised capital hiked for SC, ST
Education can uplift Gujjars, feels Bharti
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No Cong leader willing to contest LS poll: BJP
Shimla, December 25 The state general secretary of the BJP, Khushi Ram Balnatah said rather than commenting on the BJP and the performance of the government, the Congress must set its own house in order. “The tussle for leadership which was between Virbhadra Singh and Vidya Stokes has now become triangular with the addition of state party chief Kaul Singh Thakur in the race,” he said. He said the claim by former chief minister Virbhadra Singh that most of the achievements for which the BJP was taking credit had been undertaken during his regime was totally misleading and wrong. “It does not behove a leader of the stature of Virbhadra Singh to make such comments before the public that projects like the central university, the IIT and two national highways have been granted for Himachal during the Dhumal regime,” he said. He said the performance of the BJP regime had been so impressive that the Congress stalwarts were hesitant to take the plunge in the Lok Sabha election. “When a leader of the stature of Virbhadra Singh who is the strongest in the Congress is hesitant to contest, one can imagine the plight of other leaders,” he remarked. He said the irresponsible statement and criticism of the BJP by Virbhadra Singh was probably a reflection of frustration due to his political sidelining in the party. “I challenge Virbhadra Singh to come out with specific instances of discrimination so that he can substantiate the allegation of injustice being meted out to non-BJP people,” he said. Reacting to the announcement by Kaul Singh Thakur that the Congress would constitute a five-member fact-finding committee to assess the BJP’s one-year performance on December 29 and submit the report on March 31, as mockery of the whole exercise. “Rather than being a serious affair the way the BJP had prepared the charge sheet against Virbhadra
government, the Congress seems to be performing a mere ritual,” he said. He said BJP prime ministerial candidate, Lal Krishan Advani would address the Vijay Sankalp rally on The Ridge at 11 a.m on December 30. “The rally is to project Advani as BJP’s prime ministerial candidate and also to mark the one- year completion of the Dhumal
government,” he said. |
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Decision today on controversial appointments
Solan, December 25 The fact that the case relating to these appointments has come up before the BoM on directions of the chancellor of the university after some aggrieved candidates made a representation. Interestingly, the meeting is being held at the university’s research station away from the main campus and it was being assumed that it was a move to avoid pressure. This was more so because the list of controversial appointments also include the son and nephew of former vice-chancellor Dr Jagmohan Singh, who was often seen in the university campus comparing notes of the merit of his son’s appointment. It was information sought under the RTI Act by the aggrieved candidates that led to the revelation that number of irregularities had figured in the appointments of assistant professors/training associates made in various disciplines by the university in June 2006. This included the appointment of the son of former VC Rajesh Thakur, who was selected as a training associate in the Department of Floriculture. Thakur was granted four marks for experience, which was a gross error as he had less than a year’s experience after completion of his PhD in March 2005 while another candidate Bharti Kashyap, who was rejected, had an experience of nearly one-and-a-half year and she was granted mere 1.5 marks for experience. She was also a gold medalist and had 10 research articles as against two of Rajesh Thakur. Even her score was higher than the selected candidate in BSc, MSc and PhD. The selection committee allegedly showed undue favour by granting Thakur 13 marks for interview, which was the highest among all candidates while giving merely five marks to Bharti despite her better performance. The merit of the interview thus totalled to 74 marks for Rajesh Thakur and it remained 70.5 for Bharti. This was despite the fact that an academically brilliant candidate cannot be granted less than 50 per cent marks in an interview. The candidates in their complaint to the chancellor had alleged that the selection committee had tampered with the marks granted to Thakur for experience and initially one mark was given, but it was later converted to four. This tampering was evident in the records provided under the RTI to the aggrieved candidates. Bharti was deliberately granted one mark for medals/awards though as per the scorecard approved by the VC it should have been at least two. This was deliberately done to decrease her total score, the complainants alleged. The merit of this appointment among others which was now to be decided in the December 26 BoM meeting. It would also decide whether the university acts fairly or continues to endorse the follies of the past. |
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Tackle ‘ideological terrorism’: Togadia
Shimla, December 25 Speaking at a public reception in his honour here today he said the police and the Army could fight terrorism, but what India was facing was the problem of ideological terrorism in the name of “jehaad”. “Unless and until the government targets the “madrasas” which are the breeding grounds for militants there is no way terrorism could be wiped out,” he said. Togadia regretted that the entire Indian polity, including the Congress and the BJP, had perused the wrong policy of fighting terrorism where as the real threat was from “jehaad”. “The best way to tackle terrorism within a short span is to economically boycott all those who believe in “jehaad” and give “jakat” (religious contribution) as they too are in a way responsible for acts of terrorism which are claiming lives of innocent people,” he said in his firebrand speech he is known for. He said the main objective of the terrorist outfits was to economically weaken India, which was clearly reflected in the fact when Mumbai was held hostage for almost 40 hours. He said besides enactment of stricter laws to deal with those sympathising with terrorism, the government must do a rethink and target the “madrasas” which according to him was preparing militants through indoctrination. He also took a dig at those who said terrorism had no religion. “Those making such statements are only trying to mislead the Hindu community as in this case Islam is the religion of the terrorism being sponsored in India by the jehaadis,” he alleged in his inimitable style. He said the VHP could give direction to the fight against terrorism, but that could not be possible till each and every Hindu decided to fight for protection of Hinduism. He added that nobody was safe in India whether he was residing in Himachal, Kerala or Assam. It was not just the “jehaadis” who came under attack of Togadia as he said the Christian missionaries were no match to the vast network that the VHP had. “Despite a history of 510 years of their presence in India, the Christian missionaries are no match for the VHP which within a short span of 38 years of its existence had a vast network all over the country,” he claimed. In a scathing attack on those who called him “communal” he said he took pride in protecting Hinduism and for this he was willing to be called by any name. He said the VHP had international network and it had over Rs 100 crore to be spent on various social and charitable works.
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52 pc patients anaemic in Kangra, Hamirpur
Dharamsala, December 25 The percentage brings to the fore the status of health in the districts having maximum population in the state. The Kangra district alone accounts for 22pc population of the state. The doctors here when contacted blamed the dietary patterns and susceptibility to parasitical worm infections as the basic reasons for high percentage of anaemic patients in both the said districts. Dr Ashok Bharadwaj, professor in the department of social medicine at Tanda medical college, when contacted said studies across the country had indicated that though ample iron was available in the diet of the people, its absorption was problem. Just 5 to 7pc iron available in diet of an Indian gets absorbed in body. In lower areas of Himachal the hook worm infection is also a major reason for anaemia in people. The hook worms penetrate the skin and enter the stomach. In stomach these worms suck blood out of body and lead to anaemia in patients. In Kangra and Hamirpur districts the hook worm infection is quite prevalent and it can be associated with high percentage of anaemia in residents. Dr Munish Saroch working in Palampur hospital when contacted said that rice and pulses were the staple diet of Himachal residents in the state. The diet was rich in carbohydrates and proteins but not in iron. The people consume very less green vegetables that are good source of iron. He also blamed the contaminated water as a major cause of anaemia among the residents of both the districts. The water supply schemes in both the districts are very old. Generally, the water is supplied to residents directly from spring sources. The raw water from spring is generally biologically contaminated. Besides, the contaminated water leads to amoebic infection in people consuming raw water from spring sources. This can lead to passing of blood in stool and lead to anaemia in patients. The government would have to take collective measures like providing clean drinking water, improving hygienic conditions in rural areas and creating awareness regarding diet among people to eradicate or reduce anaemia in the state population.
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Upgrade of Kangra polytechnic demanded
Kangra, December 25 Sanjay
Choudary, an MLA from Kangra, who deserted BSP and joined BJP recently, in a joint press conference with Parveen Sharma, a BJP MLA from Palampur, yesterday said residents of this region had been demanding an upgrade of the local polytechnic to engineering college as most of the infrastructure and staff was available for such a move. Both BJP leaders assured that the issue would be seriously persued at both party and government level. They said since the region comprised one-fourth population of the state it certainly required the engineering college. However, in the absence it, people had to send their wards either to Baddhi and Kala Amb or to some other states. They said they would shortly submit a detailed report to the Chief Minister in this connection. In reply to a question that BJP cadre was disturbed in this assembly constituency as they were not even taken into confidence by the Chief Minister before inducting Sanjay Choudary in the BJP, Parveen Sharma brushed the question aside and said it was now the responsibility of Sanjay Choudary to carry together old and new BJP workers for the betterment of this constituency.
Choudary said he joined the BJP with a large cadre of the BSP only with an eye on the development of the constituency. He said he had various developmental projects on his mind but the upgrade of polytechnic to engineering college was his first priority. Parveen Sharma listed the achievements of Dhumal government of the past one year. Regarding the BJP candidate for the coming Lok Saba polls from Kangra, Sharma as district general secretary of the BJP advocated for the candidature of Rajeev Bhardwaj without naming him, as son of the soil from Nurpur, in order to keep regional balance between Kangra and Chamba districts. |
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Christmas celebrated amid gaiety
Shimla, December 25 Practically, all hotels in the town are packed to capacity, as it has been flooded with tourists. Christmas parties were organised at all the major hotels last night. The local Christian community along with people from other faiths attended the midnight prayer service and sang carols on the eve of Christmas. Even though many tourists who had come to enjoy a white Christmas were disappointed, they enjoyed the warm sunny day with an air of festivity and celebration. Shops and hotels have been specially decked up for Christmas as Santa Claus greeted children on the festival. The police and district administration have made elaborate arrangements to ensure that the festivities and celebrations pass off smoothly. Additional police force has been deputed in various parts of the town; checking at the entry points has also been intensified. The administration has thrown open many restricted parts of the town for parking of vehicles so that the tourists do not face inconvenience. District Tourism Officer
(DTO) Surender Justa said arrangements had been made for holding of a cultural evening at the Ridge till December 31. He said the tourism department was holding surprise checks to ensure that there is no fleecing by the hoteliers and others associated with the tourism department. The festivities are likely to continue till New Year. |
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BJP should be grateful to UPA regime: Cong
Shimla, December 25 In a statement issued here today, a sitting legislator from Chopal and media in charge of Shimla parliamentary constituency Subhash Manglet said had the Centre meted out step motherly treatment and starved the Dhumal regime of funds it would have been difficult for the state government even to pay the salaries of the employees. He said majority of the achievements for which the BJP regime was taking credit had been undertaken and approved by the Virbhadra regime. “The employees are being victimised as a transfer industry is prospering in the BJP regime,” he alleged. He lashed out at chairman of the Media Advisory Committee Rajender Rana for attacking former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh whose political stature was unparallelled in the state. “A person like Rana, who has practically no political experience has no right to comment on Virbhadra Singh, who has a long political career of more than 45 years,” he remarked. Manglet said Virbhadra Singh know what he was commenting about as he had remained the chief minister of the state for a very long period. “Virbhadra Singh whose stature and contribution towards the development of the state has been appreciated even by Chief Minister PK Dhumal does not require a character from Rana, whose appointment has come in for criticism from within the BJP also”.
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Curb terrorist links: Bali
Kangra, December 25 He was addressing a press conference at his residence here today. He said the state government must take this report very seriously and take effective steps to throttle any move of the Pakistani militants or their sympathisers to sneak into this peaceful state. He suggested that the state government should seek help and strategic support from the Centre as the security of the state was of prime importance. Expressing full support of the Congress party to the government Bali demanded effective steps to be taken before situation takes an ugly turn. He suggested that an “anti-terrorist squad” should be set up by recruiting ex-servicemen into it to fight terrorist activities in the state. Bali expressed shock over deterioration in the law and order situation of the state and said an employee of the HPSEB was allegedly beaten up by some miscreants at Nagrota Bagwan and when the victim approached the police station he was again thrashed there in presence of the police on insistence of a BJP leader. He said people and the HPSEB Union were forced to hold demonstration outside the police station. |
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Power restrictions lifted
Shimla, December 25 The chairman of the HPSEB, R.K. Jain said that all peak load restrictions being applied between 6.30 p.m and 9.30 p.m would be lifted with immediate effect. The decision was taken at a high-level meeting of officials chaired by chief minister P.K. Dhumal here yesterday. Jain said the position with regard to the annual power shortage during the winter months was comfortable with the 100 MW of power from the state’s unallocated quota beginning to flow since December 13. “All industrial consumers can now avail peak load exemption as the comfortable position with regard to power position was likely to continue this winter,” Elaborating the details about the arrangements made to mitigate power shortage during winters he said 440 MU were being taken from Punjab, Haryana and Delhi under forward banking and about 300 MU under contra-banking arrangements with Punjab and Haryana. He added that the shortfall this winter was likely to be about 1,000 MU. He said this year Himachal had ensured a unique arrangement by which 200 MW of power had been supplied round the clock to Punjab and Haryana on a return basis in the winter months of December and January. Jain said besides this the chief minister had taken up the matter of unallocated quota of power available at the disposal of the Centre to the tune of 22 lakh units per day.
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Road construction on for 2 years
Gopalpur (Dharamsala), December 25 Residents of the area said the condition of the road had been bad for the past two years. The department was not completing the construction of the road despite their repeated requests. Sharp-edged loose stones lying on the road take a toll on vehicles. PWD executive engineer posted at Palampur said the work of laying bitumen on the road would be completed by the coming season. He admitted the work had been going on for the past two years. He said it was due to allotting different works to different contractors. Interestingly, any contractor laying a road under the Centre-funded PMGSY has to give guarantee of its maintenance for five years in case it gets damaged earlier. However, as the PWD has been splitting contracts for soiling, bearing and laying bitumen on road, the responsibility cannot be fixed on any of the contractors. In case of any damage to the road, the contractors involved will start blaming each other. The PMGSY has been very successful in Himachal. It has helped the state government in providing road links to many remote villages. However, the quality of these roads needs to be improved. |
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Advani to address BJP rally
Mandi, December 25 Talking to mediapersons here after the district BJP meeting, Thakur claimed that the BJP government under the leadership of Chief Minister PK Dhumal had achieved most of the targets declared in the BJP manifesto. “The government has earned the vishwas of the people for rule of one year of vikas”, he added. Thakur alleged that the Congress under state president Kaul Singh Thakur had become a dustbin of corrupt people being inducted in the party. None other than former CM Virbhadra Singh had pointed this out in his statement, he charged. He said more than 10,000 party workers would participate in the rally to be addressed by Advani in Shimla on the completion of one year on December 30. Thakur said the party would finalise the list of candidates for the Lok Sabha by January 3. The party achievements included IIT in Mandi and ESIC medical college at Ner Chowk, he claimed. |
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‘Schools must hold annual functions’
Bilaspur, December 25 This call was given by OP Sharma, Director of the Higher Education, while presiding over a day-long deliberations of heads and principals of all government senior secondary schools here last evening. Sharma said each teacher must maintain and write regularly his or her daily diary and ensure that there was sufficient time left for revision of the syllabus before the annual examination. The director said no female chowkidar should be put on night duty in schools in any case while IT classes would be held only in those schools where at least fifty students were available for learning this subject . The director gave a patient hearing to the problems of the school heads. He assured them that their pending matters of providing more money for TDS payments, creating separate cadre of chowkidars, problems faced during serving mid-day meals and paucity of office staff have been forwarded to the government for solutions. |
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CFL bulbs given on Vajpayee’s birthday
Manali, December 25 He also distributed CFL bulbs to the residents of Prini village. He added that due to implementation of the CFL scheme, the state would save 70 MW electricity. Thakur said the CFL usage reduced the power consumption, thereby the poor generation of electricity in winter could be tackled with them. The MLA announced Rs 5 lakh for putting up a transformer at Prini village to solve the low-voltage problem. He also announced a scheme for drinking-water tank worth Rs 30 lakh. Govind Singh Thakur, gave Rs 2 lakh for community health centre of the village. Dhaneshwari Thakur, a member of the zila parishad, prayed for the healthy and long life of the former Prime Minister. She thanked Vajpayee for introducing the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sarak Yojana, which helped the most remote villages in the Kullu valley to get connected with rest of the state.
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‘Clear pending medical claims’
Chamba, December 25 In a press release issued here today, state secretary of the association PC Oberoy opined that present imbroglio could very easily be sorted out in case finance department assumed the role of the nodal department and asked all departments periodically to appraise the status of financial allocation made under medical re-imbursement. In case the allocation was exhausted, heads of departments should project additional requirement of funds, Oberoy suggested, adding that such periodical monitoring would keep departmental heads on their toes and the pending medical claims would get a much-needed push. Oberoy believed it was imperative to ensure that budgetary amount for medical reimbursement got sub-allocated by the heads of departments to the field and subordinate offices forthwith. He also urged the state government to introduce mechanism for monitoring the overall supervision of the finance department that would go a long way in stemming the rot which was the cause of agony and concern to the pensioners of the state.
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Authorised capital hiked for SC, ST
Shimla, December 25 This was stated by Sarveen Chaudhary, Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, at a meeting of the board of directors, here today. “A total of 2,188 families have been provided loans to the tune of Rs 8.49 crore under self-employment schemes,” Chaudhary said. She also added that the corporation was implementing the tribal women empowerment scheme under which financial assistance
of Rs 20.53 lakh had been given to 42 women. Also, the unemployed youth from the SC had
been provided shops to start self-employment avenues. She said the facility of educational loans worth Rs 13.89 had also been given to 32 students belonging to the SC and 112 camps were held in various parts of the state to disseminate information about the schemes and programmes of the corporation. |
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Education can uplift Gujjars, feels Bharti
Chamba, December 25 Presiding over a district-level convention of the Gujjar Samaj Kalyan Sabha held here yesterday, Bharti urged the state government to constitute a Gujjar welfare board and the Hajj committee so that the Gujjar community could put up their legitimate demands to the government. Bharti also demanded the appointment of any eligible person from the Gujjars at the post of chairperson of the Himachal Pradesh State Minorities and Finance
Corporation. |
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