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Unauthorised Construction
Six hotels under scanner

Dharamsala, March 4
Six hotels being brought up by influential persons in the Naddi area of Dharamsala have come under the scanner of the district and town planning department.

New TCP norms of little use to common man
Mandi, March 4
The recent state government’s notification aimed at bringing relief to residents in municipal areas has turned out to be yet another pre-election crude joke on them as there is not even a single “unauthorised house” that qualifies for regularisation under the fresh compounding TCP norms.

Case against minister dropped
Dharamsala, March 4

The court today dropped the charge of demolishing the house of Rano Ram, a resident of Shahpur, against the Minister for Social Security Sarveen Chaudhary after the complainant withdrew his complaint against the minister.
Minister for social security Sarveen Chaudhary offering sweets to Rano Ram (right) who had levelled charges of getting his house demolished by the minister after both parties reached a compromise at Dharamsala on Wednesday. Photo: Kamaljeet



YOUR TOWN
Dharamsala
Shimla


EARLIER STORIES



Dhumal’s directive on review meetings
Shimla, March 4
The secretaries and heads of departments will be required to make detailed presentations regarding the achievements made during the year in the review meetings to be held to evaluate the performance of various departments in March and April.

MCI recognition granted
Shimla, March 4
The MD course in pharmacology started at Indira Gandi Medical College (IGMC) way back in 1980 has finally been granted recognition by the Medical Council of India (MCI).

LS Constituencies
Delimitation to have marginal impact
Shimla, March 4
The delimitation exercise has drastically changed the complexion of a majority of the Assembly seats in the state, but its impact on the parliamentary constituencies will be marginal.

Police takes help of spotters to check criminals in mela
Una, March 4
The district police has taken the help of spotters from adjoining states of Punjab and Haryana to keep tab on criminals coming to Baba Vadbhag Singh Mela being organised from March 1 to 14 in the Mairi area, located about 40 km from Una.

Goldsmith robbed of goods worth 2.5 lakh
Kangra, March 4
Three motorcycle-borne youths managed to whisk away with a bag containing gold, silver and cash more than Rs 2.5 lakh from a goldsmith shop in Bhankhandi village here today.

Congress not ready to accept BJP’s achievements: Jai Ram
Shimla, March 4
State BJP chief Jai Ram Thakur has said that the Congress is still not willing to accept that the pace of development has accelerated in the state and several prestigious projects have been granted to it over the past 14-month rule of the BJP.

Anganwari workers hold protest
Palampur, March 4
Hundreds of anganwari workers took out a procession in the town in support of their demands today. Later, they assembled in front of the office of the SDM and  held a rally.

Two salesmen booked
Mandi, March 4
The police has booked two salesmen identified as Joginder Singh and Asha Ram of fair price shops under Sections 406 and 420 of the IPC after the Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs (FCSCA) Department found them guilty of not distributing commodities to consumers from January to June, 2008.

Board exams: 183 students held copying
Dharamsala, March 4
In an effort to curb copying on the first day of board examinations that started today, flying squads formed by state education board caught 183 cases of copying.

Block unit heads
Shimla, March 4
Chairman of the state SC department of the state Congress Kuldeep Kumar has appointed heads of the block units. 

Student found dead
Mandi, March 4
Manmohan Singh, a student of the electronics communication at a private engineering college, was found dead in his room in a house owned by Vinod Kumar under mysterious circumstances yesterday.

Govt directive on hoardings
Shimla, March 4
With the model code of conduct coming into force, the government has issued instructions for removal of all publicity hoardings and put on hold the advertisements already approved for publication.

Heavy tourist inflow likely despite recession
Dalhousie, March 4
Despite recession in the global economy, the prospects of heavy influxes of tourist inflow into hill stations like Dalhousie, Khajjiar and Chamba are predicted. The reason: the anticipated rise in temperature resulting into summers in the wake of mild snowfall in the Himalayas. 

2 shops gutted
Nurpur, March 4
Two shops were gutted and two other partially damaged in a devastating fire that broke out at Jonta, near here, yesterday.

Crushed to death
Solan, March 4
Two Kashmiri labourers, Ghulam Mohammed and Abdul Rashid, were crushed under a pick-up utility vehicle (HP-14-A-2730) near Saproon here today. The seriously injured labourers were admitted to the local Regional Hospital where they succumbed to their injuries later in the afternoon.—OC

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Unauthorised Construction
Six hotels under scanner
Lalit Mohan
Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, March 4
Six hotels being brought up by influential persons in the Naddi area of Dharamsala have come under the scanner of the district and town planning department.

Sources said these hotels were being brought up without any prior approval from the district and town planning department. In some cases, complete basic infrastructure of some hotels had already been created. This means the construction for hotels had been going on for the past many months and it is only now that the illegal construction has come to the notice of the department officials.

The district and town planning officer said six hotels were being issued show-cause notices. Owners of the hotels to whom notice was being issued included Iqbal Singh Khera (an NRI), Badri Prasad, Him Giri group of hotels, Abhay Singh Mankotia and a retired Himachal bureaucrat. It was during the routine checking yesterday that the department officials noticed illegal constructions.

The owners of the hotels would be asked to submit information regarding the agency from which they had got their projects approved, he said.

In some cases, six to seven-storey buildings had been constructed, sources added. Construction of more than four-storied buildings was not allowed in Dharamsala as it fell in the zone 5 seismic activity area. The Naddi area was brought under the department in 2005. After that, any construction in the area had to have prior approval from the department.

The attitude of building norms enforcing authorities has been sluggish in terms of checking mushrooming of unauthorised construction in Dharamsala region. The bus stand project at McLeodganj is a clear illustration of the fact. In the said case, a huge hotel had came up on forest land. The authorities concerned had limited their role to only issuing notices to the people on the issue.

It was only after the court was moved on the issue that the construction was stopped.

In the present case also, the matter has come to the notice of the district and town planning authorities only after the basic framework of buildings had been constructed.

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New TCP norms of little use to common man
Kuldeep Chauhan
Tribune News Service

Mandi, March 4
The recent state government’s notification aimed at bringing relief to residents in municipal areas has turned out to be yet another pre-election crude joke on them as there is not even a single “unauthorised house” that qualifies for regularisation under the fresh compounding TCP norms.

These houses were built by residents long before the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Department brought these areas under the Special Areas Development Authority (SADA) and merged SADA with SMC or council or planning areas across the state.

The fresh notification on “regularisation of buildings that have deviations up to 40 per cent on the setbacks” will benefit only “private builders, including state-run Himachal Housing Development Authority (HIMUDA) only, residents said. The TCP has asked residents to submit applications by March 31, but there are few takers for the new compounding policy. Like in the past, the successive state governments have failed to give relief to over 60,000 residents in SADA areas, now merged with SMC and municipal councils.

The TCP Department received over 72 objections on proposal to regularise unauthorised structures on “as it is, where it is” basis. But the core group within the TCP headquarters did not take up the public objections or put them before the Cabinet, residents said.

Private flat builders and HIMUDA have been benefiting from various retention policies, while successive governments have failed to bring relief to thousands of residents, who are paying “commercial” electricity and water charges just because they have built their houses without submitting maps to the TCP Department.

Director TCP Devesh Kumar said only those who had deviated up to 40 per cent on the setbacks qualified for regularisation under the fresh TCP norms. The government considered objections and then framed the new rules, he added.

Meanwhile, no application for regularisation of deviations has been received so far. The last date for filing applications is March 31.

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Case against minister dropped
Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, March 4
The court today dropped the charge of demolishing the house of Rano Ram, a resident of Shahpur, against the Minister for Social Security Sarveen Chaudhary after the complainant withdrew his complaint against the minister.

District Attorney, Kangra, BS Pathania said both parties had reached a compromise. After the compromise was reached, an application was moved for dropping the case. It was accepted by the court today, he added.

Sources said Rano Ram had filed a complaint against the minister and a co-accused, Kapil Kumar, alleging that the due had got his house demolished. The minister was convicted in the case in the lower court. A sentence was passed against here and a fine imposed.

However, the minister moved an appeal against the judgment.

Meanwhile, both parties reached a comprise. Since the sentence pronounced by the lower court was compoundable, the court allowed the withdrawal application.

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Dhumal’s directive on review meetings
Tribune News Service

Shimla, March 4
The secretaries and heads of departments will be required to make detailed presentations regarding the achievements made during the year in the review meetings to be held to evaluate the performance of various departments in March and April.

Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has issued necessary directions to the concerned officers and asked them to come well prepared with their presentations for the departmental review meetings. He would be personally reviewing the performance as regards achievement of targets fixed for the current financial year under different programmes of various departments, he added.

He said the state government had taken various initiatives to bring about transparency and efficiency in the functioning of government departments and they had been directed to accord top priority to redressing public grievances. He said optimum use of IT facilities had been ensured in official functioning of the government for prompt delivery of services. A number of new programmes had been launched in the state aimed at speedy socio-economic uplift of the weaker sections of society and uniform development of the state.

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MCI recognition granted
Tribune News Service

Shimla, March 4
The MD course in pharmacology started at Indira Gandi Medical College (IGMC) way back in 1980 has finally been granted recognition by the Medical Council of India (MCI).

The Principal of IGMC, Dr S. Kashyap, today said the MD course in pharmacology was finally granted recognition at a meeting of the MCI held at Delhi on March 1. “Even though the MD course in pharmacology was started at IGMC after seeking the approval of the MCI, but it remained unrecognised,” said Dr Kashyap.

He said during this duration a total of seven students passed out and the grant of recognition will finally not just help these students but also attract others to undertake the course. He added that this would help in producing qualified pharmacology teachers.

The MCI team had inspected the pharmacology department of the IGMC during its visit here in December. 

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LS Constituencies
Delimitation to have marginal impact
Rakesh Lohumi
Tribune News Service

Shimla, March 4
The delimitation exercise has drastically changed the complexion of a majority of the Assembly seats in the state, but its impact on the parliamentary constituencies will be marginal.

Although three of the total four parliamentary constituencies have been affected by the exercise, changes have not been extensive.

The changes in the constituencies had to be effected because Kangra district lost one assembly segment and in its place Kullu district gained one. Accordingly number of assembly seats in Kangra has come down to 15 from 16, whereas in Kullu it has gone up from three to four.

While the Shimla seat (reserved for the SCs) has been left unchanged, the Dharampur assembly segment has been shifted from the Mandi to Hamirpur constituency. Similarly, the Jwalamukhi assembly segment has been shifted from the Hamirpur to Kangra constituency to make up for the loss of the Thural seat, which has been wiped out.

Under the delimited constituencies, the Kangra constituency comprises 13 segments of Kangra and four of the adjoining Chamba district. The Hamirpur constituency is now spread over five districts and comprises all five segments of Hamirpur and Una districts, four segments of Bilaspur district, two segments of Kangra and one of Mandi.

The maximum impact will be on the Mandi constituency as the loss of Dharampur seat and creation of the Manali seat will lead to some shift in the regional balance vis-ŕ-vis Mandi on the one hand and Kullu and tribal areas on the other. Mandi district will have only nine seats of the total 17 segments.

The delimitation exercise was completed for the state on January 10, 2007, but the last assembly elections held in December 2007 were conducted for un-delimited assembly constituencies. Thus, the ensuing Lok Sabha polls will be the first elections to be conducted in the state on the delimited constituencies.

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Police takes help of spotters to check criminals in mela
Lalit Mohan
Tribune News Service

Una, March 4
The district police has taken the help of spotters from adjoining states of Punjab and Haryana to keep tab on criminals coming to Baba Vadbhag Singh Mela being organised from March 1 to 14 in the Mairi area, located about 40 km from Una.

Highly-placed sources available here told The Tribune that the spotters were police personnel or informers of the Punjab and Haryana police who are well conversant with the notorious criminals operating in the region. The spotters have been deputed in plain clothes in the mela area to indentify the suspected criminals.

The mela in which about 10 to 14 lakh pilgrims from Punjab and Haryana visit the Baba Vadbhag Singh shrine in the Una area is known for criminal activities. Almost every year the police used to recover some unidentified bodies after the mela activities. The victims were suspected to be murdered for either robbing them and some criminals chose the occasion to get back at their rivals in milieu of mela where it is hard to spot.

However, this year the Una police is taking the help of spotters.

The SP, Una, N Venu Gopal, when contacted admitted that the services of spotters from adjoining states had been taken to check the activity of criminals in mela. He said besides the criminals the police was also vigilant about the movement of people with doubtful credentials in mela after the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai. About 1500 Home Guards and police personal have been deputed in mela for maintaining law and order. The Una police in the recent past had also collected data regarding the Pakistan citizens who had been camping in the area for a considerable period of time. About 95 such Pakistan residents were identified in the area.

The mela is organised alongwith Holla Mohalla in Punjab. Large numbers of devotees coming to Holla Mohalla at Anandpur Sahib also visit the Una district to visit the shrine here.

Another myth draws large numbers of pilgrims from rural areas to Baba Vadbhag Singh shrine. The myth prevails that a waterfall near the shrine frees the victims from evil affect of spirits. Many people facing psychological problems are brought here for treatment.

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Goldsmith robbed of goods worth 2.5 lakh
Our Correspondent

Kangra, March 4
Three motorcycle-borne youths managed to whisk away with a bag containing gold, silver and cash more than Rs 2.5 lakh from a goldsmith shop in Bhankhandi village here today.

The Kangra SDPO, OP Jamwal, said Delar, a goldsmith and resident of Bhankhandi village, arrived at his shop today morning. But when he opened his shop and kept the bag carrying gold, silver and cash, he was told that a nearby STD owner asked him as someone had called him up on phone.

Meanwhile, three youths were monitoring the situation and when the caller involved Delar in settling business transaction, the three youths managed to take away the bag from his shop.

The DSP said according to Delar, the bag was containing gold and silver worth Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 2,800 cash. A case had been registered in this regard and nakas had been set up at various places.

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Congress not ready to accept BJP’s achievements: Jai Ram
Tribune News Service

Shimla, March 4
State BJP chief Jai Ram Thakur has said that the Congress is still not willing to accept that the pace of development has accelerated in the state and several prestigious projects have been granted to it over the past 14-month rule of the BJP.

In a statement issued here today, he said it was unfortunate that even now the Congress leadership was not hesitating in staking claim to various schemes and projects initiated by the BJP regime. “It is surprising that former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh is accusing the BJP of falsely taking credit for several schemes that he claims were started during his tenure,” 
he said.

Thakur said the Congress had failed to provide the required skills and vocational training that would have ensured jobs to thousands of youths in power projects and other industrial units. “There is no dearth of jobs in the big industrial projects coming up in the state. However, unfortunately the educated youth are not trained for these,” he said.

He said the BJP regime had decided to set up a hydropower industrial centre in the state that would provide training to the youth for jobs in the power sector. “More and more hydropower projects will be set up in the state in the coming years, so we need to train our youths according to the requirement of the power sector,” he added.

He said the BJP would win all four Lok Sabha seats as the Congress had failed to come up to the expectations of the people.

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Anganwari workers hold protest
Our Correspondent

Palampur, March 4
Hundreds of anganwari workers took out a procession in the town in support of their demands today. Later, they assembled in front of the office of the SDM and 
held a rally.

They were demanding hike in their wages, regularisation of service under a time-bound plan and better facilities to them in all anganwari centres.

Various leaders of the Anganwari Workers Association criticised the state government for not accepting their demands. They said despite repeated assurances given by Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, nothing had been done so far.

The workers also threatened to launch a state-wide agitation if the government failed to accept their demands. They alleged that funds given by the Union government were not spent as per rules.

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Two salesmen booked
Tribune News Service

Mandi, March 4
The police has booked two salesmen identified as Joginder Singh and Asha Ram of fair price shops under Sections 406 and 420 of the IPC after the Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs (FCSCA) Department found them guilty of not distributing commodities to consumers from January to June, 2008.

According to sources in the department, the two salesmen were found committing irregularities in the distribution of essential commodities. The department conducted an inquiry against them and found them guilty.

Though Joginder Singh had resigned as the salesman with the fair price shop of the corporation society, Batwara, Asha Ram was still working in the adjourning fair price shop of the corporation.

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Board exams: 183 students held copying
Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, March 4
In an effort to curb copying on the first day of board examinations that started today, flying squads formed by state education board caught 183 cases of copying.

This information was provided in a press release issued here today by secretary, education board, Prabhat Sharma. The secretary said that maximum cases of copying were caught in Kangra district. In Kangra the flying squads caught 80 students copying. In Sirmaur district 58, Shimla two, Bilaspur five, Mandi 17, Hamirpur nine and Solan two cases of copying were caught.

The board officials, however, did not provide the details of action taken against student caught copying.

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Block unit heads

Shimla, March 4
Chairman of the state SC department of the state Congress Kuldeep Kumar has appointed heads of the block units. 

Kashmir Singh will head the Nurpur block unit, Piar Chand(Hamirpur), Sanjay(Kangra), SB Singh Bitta (Guler), Mukesh Kumar (Dalhousie),Jai Krishan (Nadaun), Jagdev Chand (Jawali),Ram Dass Bhatia (Una), Rashila Ram(Jaisinghpur),Nagru Ram(Rohru), ParkashoDevi (Geharwin), Onkar Chand (Jawalaji), Rajender Singh (Nalagarh), Dhangu Ram(Shilai), Daleep Singh(Nahan), Tulsi Ram(Ghumarvin). TNS

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Student found dead
Tribune News Service

Mandi, March 4
Manmohan Singh, a student of the electronics communication at a private engineering college, was found dead in his room in a house owned by Vinod Kumar under mysterious circumstances yesterday.

The police is yet to ascertain the cause of the death as neither a suicide note nor any objectionable items or poison has been recovered from the victim’s room. SP Mandi said investigations into the matter were on and the postmortem report was awaited. The victim belonged to Mundkhar, Jahu in Hamirpur.

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Govt directive on hoardings
Tribune News Service

Shimla, March 4
With the model code of conduct coming into force, the government has issued instructions for removal of all publicity hoardings and put on hold the advertisements already approved for publication.

The director of information and public relations has written to all deputy commissioners to take immediate steps to discontinue airing of all the audio visual publicity material, including telecast of advertisements, in their respective districts.

The district public relations officers had been asked to ensure that telecast of publicity films through the cable network was stopped forthwith. 

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Heavy tourist inflow likely despite recession
Our Correspondent

Dalhousie, March 4
Despite recession in the global economy, the prospects of heavy influxes of tourist inflow into hill stations like Dalhousie, Khajjiar and Chamba are predicted. The reason: the anticipated rise in temperature resulting into summers in the wake of mild snowfall in the Himalayas. 

Tourist inflow staying in hotels owned by the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) in the Dalhousie-Chamba tourism circuit has shown occupancy more than the double during the winter, reveals Sahib Singh, assistant general manager. He said the HPTDC was also hopeful of better occupancy during the ensuing summer.

Owners of various private hotel managements are nowadays sprucing up their hotels establishments, lodges and roadside dhabas to greet tourists in summer.

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2 shops gutted

Nurpur, March 4
Two shops were gutted and two other partially damaged in a devastating fire that broke out at Jonta, near here, yesterday.

An electronics shop, owned by Ravi Kumar and Sunil Kumar, caught fire at 2 am and all goods were burnt to ashes. The godown of Sham Sunder also burnt in the fire. The loss has been estimated at Rs 5 lakh. Two adjoining shops also damaged partially. The cause of fire is presumed to be an electric short circuit. — OC

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