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Ragging Case
MC plans cleanliness through creation of zonal offices
Dry spell severely affects rabi crop
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‘Third Front formidable alternative at Centre’
BJP wants equal hoarding space
BJP accused of double talk
BJP out to placate disgruntled leaders
After Preity Zinta, it is Madan Lal doing rounds for Hamirpur
CM: Need to change education system
2909 panchayats connected with motorable roads
State may seek technical help from Italian province
MP flays UPA govt
2 women booked for cheating
Students protest over distribution of wrong paper
First community radio launched
3 escaped juveniles arrested
University students end stir
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Ragging Case
Dharamsala, March 13 The principal secretary, health, Deepak Shanan, when contacted admitted that the union ministry had sought the details of the case. Meanwhile, the police remand of two accused students in ragging case, including Ajay Kumar Verma and Naveen Verma, was extended till March 17 today. The accused were produced in the court of the district and sessions judge, Kangra, at Dharamsala today. The police demanded further custodial interrogation of the accused. The plea was accepted by the judge who allowed police remand of the accused. The other two accused in the case Mukul Sharma and Abhinav Verma are already in police custody till March 16. The SP, Atul Fulzele, when contacted said the police had sought further custodial interrogation of the accused to gather more information regarding the case. The ADM, Kangra, Sandeep Kumar who was entrusted with magisterial inquiry into the case today started the proceedings. He has issued notices to all concerned, including Tanda medical college students and teachers, the parents of deceased Aman Satya Kachroo and general public to give any information they had regarding the case. The Congress on the other hand has demanded judicial probe into the ragging incident. The spokesperson of HPCC Kewal Singh Pathania has sent a memorandum to the Governor a copy of which was provided to newsmen. He has said since the case reflects the incompetence of the present government, a magisterial inquiry by an officer would not serve any purpose. A judicial inquiry should instead be ordered into the incident to restore the faith of students from other states in education institution and law-enforcing authorities here. Pathania has further said that no anti-ragging law is in force in the state. An anti-ragging ordinance was presented in the state assembly in 1992. However, it could not be passed in the assembly to make it law. All the recommendations of the Raghvan committee should be implemented in the state to curb the menace of ragging. The trail in Aman Kachroo case should be held in a fast track court. The students of all institutions of higher learning who are prone to ragging should be given an opportunity to file their complaints online at different levels to increase transparency, the Congress spokesperson has demanded. |
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MC plans cleanliness through creation of zonal offices
Shimla, March 13 A committee, specially constituted to suggest ways and means to ensure proper services in all wards of the town, in its report submitted yesterday emphasised that it is only through decentralisation that services could be improved. The MC is likely to approve the report of the committee headed by its joint commissioner at its next meeting. In its report, the committee has suggested that zonal offices must be opened in all 25 wards of the town so that people do not have to run to the MC office for petty tasks. Though there are zonal offices in some of the wards, they have been lying practically defunct, as people have to go to the Mall office for getting even small tasks done. There is a proposal to depute one Junior Engineer (JE) in each of the 25 zonal wards so that all small works can be done in the ward itself. It will be the direct responsibility of the zonal office in every ward to take care of tasks like cleanliness, water supply, unauthorised construction and approval of building maps. The MC already has 22 JEs and with all of them sitting in the main office, people have to go there even for small works. Now the endeavour will be to ensure that at least one JE is in each zonal office and makes himself available to the public most of the time. With the door-to-door garbage collection scheme of the MC failing to take off effectively, it has now decided to create safai societies in all wards so that they can directly monitor the cleanliness position. “With each safai society being under the direct control of the zonal office concerned, there can be proper check on the cleanliness and garbage collection front,” said a senior officer. It has been suggested that the 25 safai societies in the town will engage the services of about 600 employees, who will be directly responsible for the cleanliness of the town. The experiment to assign the task of garbage collection to five different NGOs in the past has failed to be effective, as even today many parts of the town have not been covered. As a result, the MC was forced to place the garbage bins back in some of the areas with filth being littered around by stray dogs and cattle. |
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Dry spell severely affects rabi crop
Shimla, March 13 The extent to which the state has been affected by dry spell could be judged from the fact that deficient rains have been recorded in 10 out of the total 12 districts. The only district which had normal rain is Kulu, while there is no Rabi crop in the tribal Lahaul-Spiti. The deficiency in other districts ranges from -50 to -72 percnet right from October onwards. The impact is more in Una, Bilaspur, Hamirpur and Sirmour districts which are comparatively hot. Consequently, the foodgrain production will decline sharply and as against the target of 6.80 lakh tonnes, the total output was likely to be only around 4.5 to 5 lakh tonnes. The main crop wheat has been the worst affected. While the crop over 18,000 hectares could not be sown due to lack of rain, almost 70 per cent of the total 3.42 lakh hectares area sown has been hit by the dry spell. The total output was likely to be around 4.5 lakh tonnes. The barely crop sown over 22,000 hectares has not been affected much and the target of 30,000 tonnes was likely to be met. As per experts of the agriculture department the wheat area left unsown could be utilised for growing fodder if the rain god obliges with a good spell of rain before April 15. The department has already arranged the seed of early maturing “chari” for the purpose but so far the prospects of rain look bleak. Rain after mid-April will not be of much help as the fodder crop will not mature before the onset of kharif season. The government had set a foodgrain production target of 16.38 lakh tonnes for 2008-09 and the actual production was likely to be around only 12.50 lakh tonnes. The shortfall in kharif production for which a target of 9.15 lakh tonnes was fixed is likely to be around 6.5 lakh tonnes as the main crop maize has been severely affected. Unfavourable weather conditions have also affected the fruit corps, particularly apple, which accounts for more than 80 per cent of the total fruit production in the state. |
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‘Third Front formidable alternative at Centre’
Mandi, March 13 Addressing a joint press conference here, state CPM general secretary Rakesh Singha and CPI state secretary Des Raj said that the Third Front had emerged a formidable alternative at the Centre as the voters in the state and country wanted to see neither the Congress-led UPA and nor the BJP-led NDA this time as they have got disillusioned. “Reason, the Congress and the BJP represent the same mindset and economic policies that have brought about the worst economic recession after the 1930 economic recession, heaping miseries on common men in the country,” they claimed. Singha said the Left Front would ensure purchasing power of the common man is increased by way of investing in government sector, making agriculture as a business enterprise making increasing in subsidies on fertilisers and insecticides, increasing irrigation, and restoring up to 25 bighas of encroached forest land to farmers, restoring the TD rights to farmers. |
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BJP wants equal hoarding space
Shimla, March 13 It is on the complaint filed by the BJP before the DRO that the Deputy Commissioner, Shimla, Amar Singh Rathore, directed the MC to take suitable action and report back. The MC has leased out 59 sites in the town to Media Hype, an advertising agency at a sum of Rs 56 lakh per annum Yesterday, the DRO directed the MC to ensure that both the political parties, the BJP and the Congress get equal advertising space to put its hoardings as per the guidelines of the Election Commission of India (ECI). The MC on its part asked Media Hype to file its reply within a day’s time and provide equal space to both the political parties. The reply of the advertising agency was still awaited but sources said that the agency officials had verbally conveyed that for them giving out advertising space was on first come first basis. However, Municipal Commissioner, A.N. Sharma on being contacted said that the reply of the advertising agency was still awaited though they had been given a day’s time till today. With banners carrying faces of All-India Congress Committee (AICC) chief Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi and former chief minister Virbhadra Singh being prominently displayed at prime locations in the town the BJP has sought the intervention of the DRO so that it could also get equal space at the same points, which are important. |
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BJP accused of double talk
Shimla, March 13 Secretary of the party Dr S.P.Katyal said that the BJP leaders were all praise when the Centre sanctioned the instutions like central university and the IIT and tried to take credit for it. However, now when elections were round the corner they were alleging discrimination and step-motherly treatment by the Centre and trying to make it an election issue. He said that the BJP had done little for the state over the past over one year and the development activities were being sustained by the flagship programmes of the UPA like national rural employment guarantee scheme, rural health mission, the Rajiv Gandhi Water Mission and other such schemes which had tremendously benefited the common man. The BJP had nothing to show for its performance in any of the field and its leaders were wary of the achievement of the UPA. The party has failed to come out with any policy or programme to mitigate the impact of the economic slowdown which had aggravated the problem of unemployment.
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BJP out to placate disgruntled leaders
Shimla, March 13 The decision to make Chandel, disqualified from Parliament in the “cash for query” scam, in charge of the state election office here was taken at the meeting of the state election management committee held here last evening. All senior leaders, including chief minister P.K. Dhumal, state BJP chief Jai Ram Thakur and state organisation secretary, Mahender Pandey attended the meeting. Besides Chandel who had threatened to contest the election from Hamirpur against Anurag Thakur, sitting MP and son of the chief minister, even Kashyap had been unhappy with the party for not fielding him. |
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After Preity Zinta, it is Madan Lal doing rounds for Hamirpur
Hamirpur, March 13 Highly-placed sources in the Congress party confirm ‘since the party might consider fielding a celebrity to take on Chief Minister
P.K. Dhumal’s son Anurag Thakur in Hamirpur, the party is considering Madan Lal’s name too.’
Madan Lal had been a member of the Indian cricket team which had won the World Cup in 1983 and played for India from 1974 to 1986. Amritsar-born cricketer, he had remained coach of the Indian team and is presently coach of Delhi cricket team preparing for Indian cricket league matches. Since the state Congress leadership is not unanimous over fielding Narinder
Thakur, who had joined the party after revolting against the BJP; a group is stressing to field a celebrity from here. The exponent of fielding a celebrity from here also finds caste as reason for selection of Madan Lal as they have been pleading to field a Brahmin candidate from Hamirpur to garner caste votes.
Himchal Pradesh Congress committee president Kaul Singh Thakur on being contacted told The Tribune, ‘The name of former cricketer Madan Lal is also figuring as one of the probable candidates of the Congress for Hamirpur seat.’ |
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CM: Need to change education system
Solan, March 13 Addressing a gathering at Gan-ke-Ser village, near here, after laying the foundation stone of a multi-purpose educational institution, he said the remote village would soon find a place on the international tourism map, as a heritage park being developed by Mohan Mekin Group was already under construction. General secretary of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad Dinesh Chandra said the country had a vast culture, spread across various nations. He said the discovery of 227 ancient Hindu temples between North and South America was an illustration of this point. He said there was an urgent need to preserve ancient culture and heritage. Health Minister Dr Rajiv Bindal also addressed the gathering on the occasion. The function, however, saw several government employees, including those from the Health Department, despite enforcement of the model code of conduct. |
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2909 panchayats connected with motorable roads
Shimla, March 13 Stating this while presiding over the review meeting of his department here today, public works minister Gulab Singh said that Rs 1365 crore World Bank funded state road project had been launched under which 435 km state highways and other major roads would be upgraded and about 2000 km length of existing roads would be maintained. Already works involving an expenditure of Rs 591.04 crore had been assigned for execution and the ambitious project would be completed by 2011. The minister said under the pradhan mantra gramin sadak yojna (PMGSY) a sum of Rs 170 crore had been spent in 2008-09 to construct 527 km new roads and upgrade 591 km of existing ones. The minister said villages having population of more than 500 would be connected by the end of 2009 and those villages with more than 250 by 2012. He said that to strengthen the 'rural connectivity', the 'Mukhya Mantri Gram Path Yojna' had also been restarted and a provision of Rs 10 crore had been made under it. |
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State may seek technical help from Italian province
Shimla, March 13 The issue was discussed at a meeting between Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and Dr Gunther Cologna, representing European Academy Bozen Bolzano (a research and training institute) here today. The Chief Minister said the state and South Tyrol had many similarities in climatic conditions and topography and they could benefit with each other’s experience. The state had a vast hydel potential like South Tyrol where a major source of energy was hydropower. He said unpredictable climatic conditions were posing grave challenge and there was almost no winter this time. He said since South Tyrol attracted over 27 million of tourists every year, which was six times its population, the state could learn from it to promote this sector in a big way. Dhumal directed the authorities to work out modalities to enter into a technical collaboration with the South Tyrol authorities in all core sectors. Dr Cologna explained in detail the proposal on behalf of South Tyrol, a self-contained autonomous state in the north of Italy.
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MP flays UPA govt
Nurpur, March 13 He claimed that electorates would weigh regimes of the NDA government, led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and UPA government, led by Manmohan Singh and give mandate in favour of the NDA in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. He also underlined the need to strengthen the booth-level committees of the party.
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2 women booked for cheating
Mandi, March 13 Though the police had been investigating the case under Section 156 CrPC earlier, the judge on Tuesday directed it to register a criminal case against the accused. Mandi SP Sonal Agnihotri has appointed the Mandi DSP as the investigating officer in the case. According to Leela Devi, she had taken a loan of Rs 8,000 from Parvati Devi of Sidh Koti in November, 2001, and another loan of Rs 6,000 from Narbada Devi of Sarkghat area in 2004. She claimed she had paid Rs 56,000 as interest to them till March, 2007, but the accused were still demanding more interest from her. The accused even took away her jewellery worth Rs 30,000, she alleged. On the other hand, the accused claimed the charges levelled against them were baseless. The police said there was some land deal behind the whole episode. Leela had no documents to substantiate her charges against the accused, it added. Mandi SP Sonal Agnihotri said the investigation was on. |
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Students protest over distribution of wrong paper
Mohal (Kullu), March 13 Irked over the incident, students and their parents have demanded its cancellation, as it would mar their further prospectus in getting into IITs or other examinations. When examiners on duty distributed Functional English paper among students, they got up from their seats and brought the matter to the notice of the examiner. Even teachers admitted that students were given the wrong paper as they were taught Core English and not Functional English at the school. The CBSE gives three options to schools- Core English, Functional English and Elective English- depending upon what is taught to them in their schools. Students rued that they had objected to it and even brought it to the notice of the school, but the school had not done anything so far. They complained that they managed to attempt 55 marks paper as the rest of the paper was out of syllabus. However, examiners on duty said admit cards of students mentioned Functional English and hence they had to give the examination. Parents of the students demanded that the CBSE should cancel the examination and take action , as it is a matter of career for students. School principal Anil Gautam said they would conduct an inquiry into the matter and comment on the subject after that. On the other hand, CBSE joint secretary DS Yadav could not be contacted for for his version. |
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First community radio launched
Solan, March 13 Inaugurating a two-day consultation on the radio awareness organised by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry in association with the Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia, the chief secretary said it was a potent tool to disseminate information in the rural areas. She said the introduction and extension in the network of community radio would help accelerate the pace of development in the rural and hilly areas. She suggested that programmes should be designed as per needs of rural communities so that more and more people could make use of these services. Director, Information and Broadcasting, Abhilaksh Likhi said the community radio had the maximum reach in the rural and remote areas. Director, Information and Public Relations, JR Katwal and Solan SDM Vivek Chandel were also present on the occasion.
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3 escaped juveniles arrested
Una, March 13 The SP, Una, N Venu Gopal, confirmed the arrest of the three. He said after the incident, the police had put nakas on all possible escape routes. The fourth absconding juvenile would also be arrested. The SP said investigation was going on to probe into the role of the juvenile home authorities in the episode.
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University students end stir
Solan, March 13 Mithilesh Kumar who was heading the agitation said that the stir had been called off after the VC conceded to their demands.
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