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Social security pension hiked by 10 pc from Jan
Chaos mars Block Cong Committee meeting
State to groom new talent in folk arts
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Sunny weather at lower hills
Unaccounted income detected in tax raids
HPMC finds solution to disposal of solid waste
MLA ‘rebukes’ trust staff for bringing gifts
Pilgrims throng Bajjreshwari temple
Theatre workshop ends
CM’s stress on Hindi
Temple panel for helipad
Store controller revises rates
Blood donation camp held
500 chickens killed in fire
Camp for disabled kids
House gutted
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Social security pension hiked by 10 pc from Jan
Dharamsala, January 14 While speaking on the occasion he said the Pragpur Lohri festival would be made state-level function. The five years tax holiday to be granted to villagers under the Home Stay Scheme would help in promotion of tourism in rural areas of the state like Paragpur village. He also said the foundation stone of National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) would be laid on January 21. The state government would be contributing Rs 58 crore towards infrastructure development, besides providing required land free of cost to the Government of India for the project. The institute would be first of its kind in northern states like Punjab, Haryana and J&K. It would cater to needs of training the youth from all over the country in modern fashion technology. The CM also said social security pension had been enhanced by 10 per cent from January this year to facilitate about 2.5 lakh social security pensioners in the state. It is only during the BJP regime that social security pension scheme was envisioned and enhanced subsequently from time to time. Social security was increased from Rs 200 to Rs 300 per month from January 2008 and further enhanced by 10 per cent in January 2009. He said Pragpur had the privilege and status to be a heritage village. It is about 550 years old village and was named after the daughter of Jaswan king, Parag Raj Kumari. The heritage village is now recognised as renowned heritage destinations in the tourism circles and heritage lovers from different parts of the country. The businessmen belonging to the villages had excelled in various sectors. It was during my earlier stint the twin villages of Garli-Pragpur were declared heritage villages in March 1998, the CM said. The CM also inaugurated exhibition of handicrafts on the occasion. Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Ramesh Dhwala said there was urgent need to preserve the rich heritage of Pragpur by carrying out required repairs and maintenance of old houses. Former MLA Naveen Dhiman also welcomed the Chief Minister to his home segment and counted various development activities, which had taken place during the past one year. He thanked the CM for sanctioning an ambitious Rs 40.8 crore drinking water supply scheme for the residents of Pragpur. |
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Chaos mars Block Cong Committee meeting
Solan, January 14 The meeting was specially convened at Arki today and was chaired by PCC president Kaul Singh while others present on the occasion include PCC general-secretary and in-charge of Solan district Kuldeep Rathode, DCC president Shiv Kumar, PCC secretaries Sanjay Awasthi and Prakash Karar among others. The chasm in the Arki BCC had been widening ever since a faction led by former Deputy Speaker Dharam Pal Thakur were expelled from the party after Thakur contested as an independent against the Congress Party’s official nominee Prakash Karar in the Vidhan Sabha polls. It is worth mentioning that Karar had not only lagged behind at number three, but also forfeited his security bringing embarrassment to the party. The situation did not improve even after the sudden demise of Thakur a few months back and though the disgruntled faction led by his son had been pleading their comeback, the BCC was stiffly opposed to grant any party post for them. This had led to a major chaos in the Arki constituency and despite best efforts of Kaul Singh today to rein peace within the two factions both remained adamant on their stand. While the BCC led by Satish Kashyap and supported by general- secretary DD Sharma agreed to take back the expelled leaders, but they insisted that it would set a wrong precedence to grant them party posts. The BCC members made it clear to the PCC president that since the disgruntled faction had aired unsavoury remarks from public platforms against senior leaders, including the AICC president, during the 2007 polls it would not be proper to grant them party posts. Kaul Singh’s efforts to merge the two unconditionally failed to find favour with the disgruntled faction, including Shushil Thakur and former BCC president Kanshi Ram, as they wanted immediate annulment of the present body. They also insisted that they should be granted participation in the new body. The differences were so stiff that as against the long standing custom of convening the BCC meeting on the second of every month Kaul Singh had to announce that it would now be held on fifth of every month. The meeting was marred by chaos and with none of the factions willing to accept the demands of the other, the attempts of the PCC failed to end the differences. Kaul Singh, however, gave a clear message to diffuse all differences in lieu of the ensuing parliamentary polls so that the BJP could be given a befitting fight. He urged the party men to disseminate the achievements and policies of the UPA government among the masses and win their favour. |
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State to groom new talent in folk arts
Shimla, January 14 Stating this while presiding over the meeting of executive council of the state academy for language, art and culture Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said here today that the government would provide enhanced monthly honorarium of Rs 2,000 to such master artists and also raise scholarship amount to Rs 500 per month to the pupils. Each master artist would train a minimum batch of five students in Pahari paintings, sculpture, wood carving, folk dance, folk music and instruments and handicrafts like Chamba ‘rumaal’. They would also be provided training in reading ancient scriptures to help revive the folk arts and crafts which were on the the verge of extinction. He said that a number of manuscripts had been written in 'Tankri' script and teaching young generation to read and write in the script would enable them to learn about the rich cultural heritage of the state from old important documents and manuscripts. He said that the government would be in association with the IGNOU set up at least three schools for imparting training in reading and writing 'Tankri' language under the guidance of the National Manuscripts Mission. He said efforts would be made for the documentation of folklores like 'Jhere' of district Mandi and 'Ainchali' of district Chamba which were on the verge of extinction along with the traditional astrological system of 'Saanche' practised in Sirmour and Chopal areas of the state. He underlined the need to procure all the manuscripts in possession of the people and print the same for its wider coverage and benefit of the research scholars. He said the academy would soon have its own website and a video library to help preserve all important documents, manuscripts and folk arts presentations. There were numerous manuscripts of global importance which could be reprinted to generate income for the academy. The Chief Minister also released 'Himachal Ki Lok Kathayen' (collection of folklores) compiled by the academy and a reprint of 'Stalks in The Himalaya' authored by0
E.P.Stebbing. |
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Panel recommended to advise govt on temples
Dharamsala, January 14 The chairman of temple improvement committee KC Sharma while addressing a press conference held here said that they had recommended the formation of dev sathal coordination committee. The proposed committee should be permanent and give advice to government on issues relating to management of temples. Presently it has been observed that every government enacts laws regarding temples at its own whims. However, in case a committee of religious experts is in place it can advise the government on laws regarding temples in an unbiased manner. The present policy of government taking over temples was not helping in better management of temples in the state. Most of the budget of the temples is going in paying salaries to employees hired by the government to manage them. There is no fund available for further development of temples. Earlier, the temples used to have their own lands. The income from land used to help in development activities. The land of temples was illegally taken over by the government under the land reforms act. Sharma said the committee had visited and surveyed 50 major temples across the state. It is shocking that in many temples the priests are not performing puja as per the traditions. It was observed that the priests appointed were not trained. The committee has recommended that refresher courses should be organised for priests so that they can carry out puja in a prescribed manner. |
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Sunny weather at lower hills
Shimla, January 14 However, mercury showed ascending trends of 1 to 2 degrees C throughout the state following clear weather for the past two days. Tourist resorts of Manali, Solang nullah and Manikaran were also cloudy and tourists and snowsport lovers were keenly waiting for
the snow. Higher reaches of Chamba districts and Kangra districts were partially cloudy but people of tribal Kinnuar district got some relief with clear weather. Meanwhile, the Karchham-Sangla link road has opened for light vehicles after the snow was cleared but heavy vehicles were not plying on the road due to frequent freezing of water during wee hours. Keylong recorded the minimum temperature at minus 9 degrees celsius while Kalpa town of Kinnaur district registered minus 3 degree Celsius. The minimum settled at 1.2 degrees at Buntar in Kullu district, 3 degrees at Sundernagar in Mandi district, 3.8 degrees in Mandi town and 2.6 degrees
in Una. Night temperature at Shimla also ascended. The capital town recorded 6 degrees against 5.7 degrees Celsius registered
yesterday. However, the minimum temperature remained constant at 4.7 degrees at Dharamsala but increased to 10.5 degrees Celsius
at Nahan. The Met Office forecast rain and snow at a few places in Himachal Pradesh during the next
24 hrs. — UNI |
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Unaccounted income detected in tax raids
Shimla, January 14 The unaccounted income mainly pertained two firms in Solan and a builder in Shimla. The residence of a prominent local builder at New Shimla and various construction cites in and around the city were raided. A major pharmaceutical firm and hardware firm were raided in Solan. Income Tax Commissioner Akhilesh Ranjan said that the builder surrendered income of Rs 60 lakh detected during raid from the account registers. However, investigation could not be completed as access to computer was protected by password. The machine and some documents had been impounded. Excess stocks with pharmaceutical firm led to detection of unaccounted income of Rs 50 lakh. The raid on the hardware firm also led to detection of the unaccounted income of Rs 50 lakh. Teams of the department were still busy examining the documents and more unaccounted income was likely to be unearthed. |
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HPMC finds solution to disposal of solid waste
Shimla, January 14 The corporation had been for the past quite sometime trying to vermi-compost apple pomace with the technical assistance of the Institute of Himalayan Bio-resource Technology (IHBT), Palampur, but the efforts failed to yield the desired results as worms available in the country were not suitable. However, after a lot of trials red worms brought from the USA accomplished the task. The organic manure thus produced was tested and found to be of much better quality than the ones available in the market. The biggest advantage of the breakthrough is that the corporation will not have to look for disposal of solid waste and instead it will be able to earn a decent profit through sale of organic manure, says Bharat Khera, managing director of the corporation. In all 1,500 tonne of organic manure will be produced annually. The corporation had tied up with the Eastland Agro Company for producing organic manure on a commercial scale. The first lot of 10 tonne of organic manure is ready to hit the market. It will be marketed in 50 kg packs at a rate of Rs 6 per kg. The corporation and private company will share the profit equally. The produce will be sold through the marketing network of the corporation which is already supplying farm inputs to fruit growers. The corporation plans to expand its marketing activities by stepping up trade in tree pray oil (TSO) and other inputs to increase turnover to help bring down the losses. The cumulative loss had reached Rs 40 crore, but there had been some improvement with the annual loss coming down from Rs 6.2 crore in 2006-07 to Rs 3.5 crore in 2007-08. The corporation had bagged a bull order for supply of 600 tonne of apple juice concentrate for Parleys recently, which will help further bring down the loss during the current financial year to Rs 1 crore, Khera revealed. |
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MLA ‘rebukes’ trust staff for bringing gifts
Bilaspur, January 14 Reports said these employees wanted to present them to Sharma as a gesture of their thankfulness. However, Sharma categorically stated that he was not going to accept any gift whatsoever and would feel more honoured with a garland than any costly gift. He said if at all they had to offer any gifts, they should give these to the daughters of the poor parents at time of their marriage, which should be more satisfying to them. Consequently the organisers of function were forced to offer him flowers and garlands for his gesture of successfully pleading their case and getting them their due. He said promotions were their right which were blocked without any justification since long and as their MLA it was his duty to ensure justice to them and do whatever service he could do for the welfare of the people of this area. |
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Pilgrims throng Bajjreshwari temple
Kangra, January 14 Chief priest Ram Prasad Sharma said the butter idol weighed 15 quintals and it took 20 priests 12 hours
to make it. Temple officer Ram Swroop Sharma said the devotees donated ghee for this purpose and the priests with a specific technique converted the ghee into butter by washing ghee with water for 108 times. He said the butter would be removed from the Pindi on January 19. He said the butter is being distributed as prasad among the people which is being used for the treatment of certain ailments. |
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Theatre workshop ends
Shimla, January 14 The success of the workshop could be judged from the fact that as many as 30 of the total 45 inmates participated in the play and the remaining expressed their desire to do so if another such programme was held. Noted theatre artiste Amala Rai, who has been working with jail inmates for the past more than a decade, organised workshop under the aegis of Delhi Kala Karam (DKK) and was sponsored by the National School of Drama (NSD). Amala said her effort to use “motivational theatre” as therapy to raise the spirits of the prisoners had been successful as most of the inmates while sharing their experience after the month of training said that they were relieved of tension and drudgery and monotony of life in jail. The month-long programme developed much camaraderie among the inmates who displayed better discipline than professional artists. Ankita Gosain, the artist who played the lone female character, said working with jail inmates had completely changed her opinion about them. |
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CM’s stress on Hindi
Shimla, January 14 Presiding over the the Rajbhasha Puruskar Vitaran Samaroh here today he said it was more convenient to interact in Hindi than any other language and the state government had already adopted it in all its official functioning. Even the cabinet memorandum was being prepared in Hindi to ensure transparency in official functioning of the government. The Chief Minister gave away prizes to winners of the Rajbhasha award for 2008. He also released two publications brought out by the language, art and culture department. |
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Temple panel for helipad
Shimla, January 14 A deputation of the committee led by its president Bhupendra Singh, called on Horticulture Minister Narender Bragta here today and impressed upon him that the helipad would go a long way in developing the Hattu peak as a tourist destination. It apprised the minister of various problems of the area. Bragta assured them that all efforts would be made by the state government for the development of the area. |
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Store controller revises rates
Shimla, January 14 The rate for various sizes of bars, which ranged from Rs 39,941 to Rs 40,585 per tonne, has been reduced to Rs 33,600 per tonne retrospectively with effect from January 1, 2009. An official spokesperson said all government departments, board and corporations had been informed about the revision and they had been asked to adjust any excess payments already made against future procurements from suppliers. The revised rates have been put on the website of the department. He said the rate contract provides that the product should be rolled from raw material from prime producers of steel like SAIL and TATA or tested ISI ingots. The units for which rate contract had been approved were BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) licensees and their final product was ISI marked. |
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Blood donation camp held
Shimla, January 14 As many as 90 persons donated blood at the camp which was inaugurated by chairperson of the State Urban Development Authority Ganesh Dut. Convener of the Umang Ajay Srivastav donated blood for the 74th time. Srivastav said the camp would make blood transfusion easier for the thalassemic children. |
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500 chickens killed in fire
Bilaspur, January 14 Reports said a heater was on in the room to keep the chickens warm during the night, but 400 of them were roasted alive while 100 are said to have died due to suffocation. A loss of Rs 50,000 had been reported while several household electric gadgets of villagers have also been damaged due to this sudden upward surge of power. The fluctuation is said to have damaged fridges, TVs and CFLs in Saneehara and Bhedi villages under Talai power sub-station. Village elders led by panchayat president Kamal Kumar have urged that proper compensation should be paid to Ramesh Chand and other villagers at the earliest. |
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Camp for disabled kids
Nurpur, January 14 As many as 180 kids from Nurpur, Indora, Fatehpur, Raja Ka Talab education blocks were examined by a team of specialist doctors. According to Dharmender Katoch, co-coordinator of the District Institute of Education Training, the disabled kids were given free artificial limbs, hearing aid and wheel chairs. |
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House gutted
Palampur, January 14 Reports reaching here said Sheela Devi, owner of the house, lost almost all her valuables in the fire. Besides, timber stored for the construction of two more rooms in the house was also destroyed. Residents of Jangal made all efforts to control the fire and saved the adjoining house. Later, the Jaisinghpur SDM sanctioned immediate assistance to the affected family and asked the villagers to accommodate her till alternate arrangement was made. The local revenue authorities had been asked by the SDM to submit detailed report of loss caused by the fire to his office so that compensation could be given to Sheela Devi. |
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