|
|
|
|
Fee Hike: Govt invokes provisions of act
Steps taken
to address students’ grievances
Rs 8,000 cr for flood control
Resignation over independent MLA campaigning for BJP
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Pollution board orders closure of Baddi industrial unit
Government dishonest in CFL deal: Virbhadra
Centre lauds CFL scheme
Bar council adopts model bylaws
Police demolishes illegal constructions
CM’s relief fund helps the needy
Court pulls up police for not registering FIR again
Concern expressed over dog-bite cases
PWD engineer arrested for graft
BSNL told to pay compensation
Ragging Death Students of Dr R.P. Government Medical College, Tanda, holding a mute protest carrying placards and wearing black badges against the magisterial inquiry report which had probed the ragging incident and indicted principal Dr Suresh Sankhyan. Photo: Ashok Raina
BJP ‘to bank on’ its achievements
Tanda college principal suspended
22 injured in bus mishap
This polling station has minimum voters
Dhumal attends workers’ meetings
Hamirpur Ticket
Workshop on HIV held
|
|
Fee Hike: Govt invokes provisions of act
Shimla, March 30 Parents have been raising the issue for the past over one month and they had formed a joint forum for the purpose. They alleged that the hike of more than 40 per cent in the fee in one go was unreasonable and that many schools were charging computer fee, sports fee and other such charges without actually providing any facility for these activities. The law was enacted more than a decade ago but it was never implemented and the education department had virtually forgotten about it. The private educational institutions have been all along refusing to furnish any information to the government and as a result the education department had not been entertaining any applications under the right to information act pertaining to these institutions. It was only when the state information commission took up the matter with the education department after it received a number of complaints that private school were refusing to provide information. It drew attention to the act, which covered all the private institutions located within the state, and asserted it was the responsibility of the department to enforce it.. Principal Secretary P.C.Dhiman said that director of education had been asked to look into the matter and take suitable action under the provisions in respect of schools against which complaints had been received. Director of education O.P.Sharma said that the act empowered ensure that fee-structure was not exploitative and commensurate with the facilities and the salary paid to the staff. The state board of school education the regulatory body has been asked to look into the complaints and take action, if required.
|
||
|
Steps taken
to address students’ grievances
Shimla, March 30 To provide better transport services to the students, two HRTC buses had been taken on rent, besides its six own buses ferrying the students from various locations in the town. “The responsibility for keeping the hostels clean and providing proper security had been entrusted to outside agencies for better services,” the varsity authorities said here today. Meanwhile, three students, Sunder Lal, Suresh and Robin, joined the chain fast today. The SCA has launched an agitation against the authorities’ alleged failure in addressing students’ problems raised by them from time to time. The SCA has also taken serious note of the fact that two students, Munish and Naresh, could be rusticated by the HPU authorities. The SCA has accused the HPU authorities of trying to crush the voice of the students by crushing democratic protests. |
||
|
Rs 8,000 cr for flood control
Shimla, March 30 This was stated by AK Bajaj, member (project), Ganga Flood Control Commission (GFCC), while chairing the 40th meeting of the commission at the Institute of Public Administration (HIPA) near here today. An amount of Rs 8,000 crore had been earmarked under the flood management programme in the 11th plan and the states should submit schemes to the agencies concerned for allocation of funds for the purpose. A comprehensive flood management programme had been formulated with an objective to provide immediate and adequate flood-control assistance to states. The state agencies must ensure that the schemes were realistic and result-oriented. Engineer-in-chief of the Irrigation and Pubic Health Department RN Sharma underlined the need to “channelise” major rivers passing through the state to control floods. According to rough estimates, about 2.31 lakh hectare area in the state was affected by floods. About 15,000 hectares had been protected till date. Major flood control projects included the flood protection work on the Giri Bata river, a tributary of the Yamuna. Over 220.5 hectare land had been secured by constructing embankments along vulnerable stretches of the Bata at a cost of Rs 5.75 crore, while Rs 34.67 crore had been approved by the GFCC for protecting 1,538 hectare land in 20 villages. The proposal was awaiting clearance from the Planning Commission of India. Besides, a Rs 14.93-crore proposal to protect 687.05 hectares of land and 887 houses by canalisation of tributaries of the Bata had been submitted for approval to the GFCC. Pabbar, another tributary of the Yamuna, was also to be “channelised” at a cost of Rs 55.62 crore to protect 378 hectares of land and about 2,000 houses. Sharma said the Swan river, known as “Sorrow of Una”, was also being “channelised” for the protection of 2,260 hectares of land under a NABARD-funded project. The second phase of the project aimed at protecting 5,000 hectares for which funds would be provided by the Centre. Canalisation of Seer Khud, a tributary of the Sutlej, was also proposed. This would help protect 20 hectares of land. The project was likely to be included in the 11th five-year plan.
|
||
|
Resignation over independent MLA campaigning for BJP
Shimla, March 30 Malvika who as the BJP official candidate had lost the elections from Nurpur assembly seat to Pathania who had won as an independent, said she had taken the step to respect the sentiments of the workers who were very upset. “I have sent in my resignation to Shanta Kumar and chief minister P.K. Dhumal and I am confident that the party will take some action keeping in view the resentment among the party workers,” said Malvika. Rakesh Pathania, who has not missed out a single opportunity to prove his loyalty towards the chief minister has been made member of the election campaign committee despite the fact that he has so far not been re-admitted into the party. Malvika, however, added that being a dedicated party worker she would continue campaigning for the BJP candidate Rajan Sushant. “It is not a very big issue for me but the decision to associate the independent MLA is certainly upsetting for the party workers,” she said. Party sources, however, pointed out that the BJP candidate from Kangra Sushant had personally requested Pathania to campaign in his favour. “ Being an associate member of the BJP, Pathania had to be involved in the campaign and moreover it is always the endeavour of the party to have people from all walks of life in the campaign committee and not just restrict it to party leaders,” said Dr Ashok Kapatia, convener of the BJP media cell. Associating Pathania in the Lok Sabha campaign could prove to be damaging for Malvika herself, as he would stake claim to the party ticket at the time of assembly elections. Incidentally, Malvika had been able to get the assembly ticket from Nurpur with the blessings of Shanta Kumar despite the fact that chief minister Dhumal had pleaded the case of Pathania vociferously. The BJP like the Congress is keen to take back the rebels who at the time of the assembly elections had contested against the official candidates or had been expelled on anti-party activities.
|
||
|
Pollution board orders closure of Baddi industrial unit
Solan, March 30 The team, led by executive engineer Brij Bhushan, had descended there to inspect the shifting of an industrial unit from its earlier site. However, it found that the plant was still operating under a different name. The production activity was brought to a halt immediately as the plant authorities had not obtained “consent to operate” for undertaking any such activity. Fresh permission is needed in case a unit shifts the site. The working of the unit came under a cloud as it had earlier been registered as Auram Polymers Private Limited, which was a large-medium unit. The unit management present at the site told board officials that the unit operational at the site was Jauss Polymers, a small-scale enterprise. No board displaying the name of the unit was, however, present at the site. After procuring registration under the name Auram Polymers Private Limited, the management shelved its plan to run it and hence they were now operating the new unit, Jauss Polymers. Officials of the pollution control board said as per the unit management, they had applied for shifting of Jauss Polymers from its earlier site (plot No. 219, HPSIDC) to a new site at Malpur. Though an application was duly moved with the Department of Industries on February 25, written permission was yet to come. Management officials said they had applied for procuring “consent to operate” on February 25, but the same was awaited till today. The board officials, however, said Jauss Polymers was registered as a small-scale enterprise with an investment cost of about Rs 4.99 crore in August, 2008. Why the plant had suddenly decided to shift to this location and whether the managements of two plants were similar were some of the questions that the plant officials tried to evade, they said. Interestingly, while a unit exceeding investment cost of Rs 5 crore fell in the category of a medium and large-scale unit, the cost of the new plant was kept a few lakhs below the Rs 5-crore mark to enable it to remain functional as a small-scale unit. Unit officials pleaded that the plant was being run on trail basis and it was yet to initiate full-fledged operations. It was also a matter of inquiry whether the two units were using the same machinery as the products manufactured were identical and whether it was a ploy to hoodwink the government to avail incentives under the central industrial package of 2003.
|
||
|
Government dishonest in CFL deal: Virbhadra
Kullu, March 30 He stated this while addressing a press conference at Banjar today after addressing a public meeting at Garagusheni. Virbhadra Singh said the government should issue a white paper on the 80 crore CFL purchase and alleged that the government was dishonest in the deal. He further said most of the CFLs supplied were either faulty or fused. Lashing upon his rival and the BJP candidate from the Mandi parliamentary constituency, Virbhadra Singh said Maheshwar Singh was referring his relationship with him to gather benefit whereas he categorically denied any relationship with the erstwhile rulers of Rampur, to which he belongs. He clarified that his relationship is with the “Kanwar family” and not with the “Raj family”. He said Maheshwar Singh should not use the reference of “Rampur Raja family” to gain prestige and gather votes on that pretext. |
||
|
Centre lauds CFL scheme
Shimla, March 30 In a letter written to Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal union minister of power Sushil Kumar Shinde said endeavour of the government to promote CFL use at such a massive scale was indeed a Herculean task. By successfully accomplishing it Himachal Pradesh had set an example for other states. The union government had also launched one Bachat Lamp Yojna on February 25, 2009, which was somewhat different. He said that the objective of both the schemes was similar since they aimed at saving power. He said the power thus saved would be of immense use to the states which faced shortage of power during summer. Shinde assured all help to the state in further promotion of the scheme and other such activities. He also offered to extend the state innovative metering device which integrated GSM-based modern technology to undertake monitoring of the savings. He said that the device helped log and transmit the energy use data of CFLs in real time domain. Such meters had successfully been installed in Andhra Pradesh and Haryana under two pilot projects.
|
||
|
Bar council adopts model bylaws
Shimla, March 30 Under model bylaws, every bar association will be registered under the Societies Act and become a legal entity. The bylaws provide for registration of honorary, life members, non-resident and ordinary members. Only the ordinary members will have the voting right in the elections of these associations. The bylaws also provides for the constitution of an elder committee in each association. The committee will comprise five senior members of the association. The council has also resolved to launch an accidental assurance scheme for advocates. The sum assured under the scheme will be Rs 5 lakh. Bar Council chairman Ramakant Sharma said every member would contribute Rs 200 as premium under the scheme while the remaining the premium would be paid by the council. The council is also planning to start a medical assurance scheme for advocates. The chairman requested all bar associations to take benefit of the library scheme whereby the council assisted these associations in the purchase of books. In a meeting held on March 30, the council adopted the amendment to the Advocate’s Welfare Act and launched an accidental assurance scheme. He said the council had adopted amendments to advocates welfare fund scheme and all advocates could become members of the scheme by making a one-time deposit of Rs 5,000. The annual fee had been enhanced from Rs 200 to Rs 400 for advocates having more than 10-year practice, while it would be Rs 200 for other advocates. The Bar Council of Himachal had become the first council in the country to pay Rs 1.5 lakh under the welfare fund scheme, he said.
|
||
|
Police demolishes illegal constructions
Solan, March 30 It was after the receipt of information that Deputy Commissioner Dr Amandeep Garg directed the Parwanoo SDM and SDPO to halt the illegal construction work. It was learnt that out of the four shops at least two had extended its height and were endeavouring to complete the laying of the roof while another one had erected iron railings outside his shop extending several feet into the government land. Fresh roof had also been laid on another adjoining shop, which sold confectionery items. The police, however, acting swiftly demolished the illegal constructions. EO Pushottam Chowdhary later gave a written complaint to the police in the matter. The DC said on receipt of information he had directed the SDM to rid the land of encroachments and as per his information all such constructions had been removed.
|
||
|
CM’s relief fund helps the needy
Shimla, March 30 A postgraduate in engineering Seema was shattered when she came to know that she was in the grip of severe rheumatic arthritis. Her condition deteriorated fast and she was unable to move. The financial assistance granted by the government enabled her to undergo expensive surgery and she can now move with ease in and around her house, though some post-operative complications were still there. Another fortunate recipient of assistance was Sapna of Dehra in the district who underwent a successful kidney transplant at Jalandhar for which she was given Rs 2 lakh. Anil Kumar of Jhandwin got Rs 4 lakh for kidney transplant. Similarly, Ram Lal of far-flung Chachiot area received Rs lakh 1 and Jamna Devi from Pangi was given Rs 1.50 lakh for treatment at the local IGMC, hospital.There is a long list of such beneficiaries and so far more than 1,500 needy and deserving persons have been provided assistance for medical treatment. The government has been motivating the people, business establishments, employees associations and non-government organisations to make liberal contributions towards the fund. Donations have been pouring in from the and till date a sum of Rs 9,76,45,912 had been deposited and Rs 4,51,42,454 has been disbursed to individuals for treatment.
|
||
|
Court pulls up police for not registering FIR again
Dharamsala, March 30 The stricture from the judge was passed after an accused in accident case appeared before the court and produced his driving licence in vehicle challan case. Legally, the driving licence should have been in the possession of the police till the court ordered its return to the accused. Accused Bhavnesh Awasthi stated in the court that the police had confiscated his licence in an accident case. He procured it back paying Rs 4000 to the police officials in Jawalamukhi police station. He, however, failed to name or identify by designation the police official to whom he allegedly paid the amount. The challan in the case appeared before the CJM court here on March 21, 2009. However, to the astonishment of the court the accused produced an alleged ‘compromise’ dated February 12, 2009 vide which he had already paid Rs 1000 to the police. He alleged that despite the agreement police officials retained his licence and only paid it after additional Rs 4000 were paid to them. The court observed that the facts presented showed that the accident must have taken place at the spot due to which the licence was taken into possession. The driving licence was thus illegally retained by police officials at Jawalamukhi and Rs 5000 were charged from the accused. The court also pulled up the police officials for not registering an FIR in the accident case and presenting the vehicle challan in the court. The SP, Kangra, has been directed to take action against the SHO who was officiating in Jawalamukhi police station on February 22 and inquire as to why FIR was not registered in accident case. The SP has been asked to produce compliance report before the court within 15 days. Just a fortnight ago the CJM, Kangra, had pulled up the police for not registering FIR in obscene SMS case of Palampur Agriculture University. The SP, Kangra, Atul Fulzele when contacted said that he was yet to receive a copy of CJM orders.
|
||
|
Concern expressed over dog-bite cases
Bilaspur, March 30 They have urged the Chief Minister and the Health Minister to ensure that the increasing population of stray dogs be managed. All hospitals and health centres should provide anti-rabies injections free of cost in the entire state. This facility has been withdrawn due to reasons best known to the authorities. In signed statement issued to mediapersons here today, state finance secretary Padam Singh Chauhan and district president of the HP Government Teachers Union Rattan Lal Sharma, district president of the HP Promotee School Lecturers Association Laxman Thakur and many others said it is shocking and sad that children die due to dog bites only because of lack of proper knowledge or non-availability of anti-rabies injections, which are costly in the open market and now not available free of cost in the government hospitals and health centres.
|
||
|
PWD engineer arrested for graft
Shimla, March 30 Vigilance SP Hardesh Bisht said it was on the complaint of a contractor who had allegedly been asked to arrange Rs 25,000 for getting his payments cleared that a trap was laid. “We recovered the bribe amount of Rs 25,000 from executive engineer OP Sharma, besides a sum of Rs 50,000 which was found lying in his drawer,” said Bisht. He added that a sum of Rs 14,000 had been found in his wallet. Bisht said the engineer posted in the electrical wing, division I in the Kasumpti office, had been arrested and a case registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act. |
||
|
BSNL told to pay compensation
Bilaspur, March 30 The forum has ordered that the compensation be paid within 30 days to the complainant failing which an interest of 9 per cent per annum would be charged on this amount from the date of complaint (December 6, 2006) till the date of realisation. It also ordered the BSNL to pay Rs 2,000 to the complainant as the cost of complaint. Earlier, Vipul Handa, counsel for Nirmal Handa, pleaded that the complainant is holder of the BSNL prepaid mobile number 94181-24705 and had recharged it for Rs 224 on November 30, 2006, with validity period of one month. However, the validity period was not extended in the account of the complainant. The BSNL tried to prove that it was due to some technical fault in the IN-system at Mohali due to which the validity was not increased after the recharge despite the fact that the connection was in the grace period. The connection was disconnected on December 4, 2006, due to fault in the IN-system and became functional on December 5, 2006, after receiving complaint from the complainant. The forum decided that the complainant was put to unnecessary harassment.
|
||
|
Ragging Death
Dharamsala, March 30 Carrying placards the students said the former principal who had been held as accused in the Aman Kachroo ragging case is innocent and was just being made the victim. They alleged that the magisterial inquiry had wrongly held the former principal as accused. The first year students, however, did not participated in the protest. Sources in the college, however, alleged that the move was aimed at protecting the former principal who had support from a strong section of teachers in the college. They alleged that the group of teachers had motivated the students in the college to hold protest in favour of the former principal. President of the Student Central Association of Tanda medical college Sanjay said we are not commenting anything regarding the proceedings of the Supreme Court. We are opposing the findings of the magisterial inquiry that had indicted the former principal. When asked what they wanted the students had no answer. Interestingly, the students have started their protest today when the matter was to come up before the Supreme Court and the former principal was to appear in person in the case. Negligence on part of the management of college and doctors had been established in various inquiries held here. However, now it seems that the students are once again being dragged into the scene for protecting certain accused. None of the college authorities was available for comments.
|
||
|
BJP ‘to bank on’ its achievements
Bilaspur, March 30 He said this while addressing mediapersons here. He said the Dhumal government had provided benefits worth Rs 2,000 crore to its employees within just one year, while the previous Congress government led by Virbhadra Singh had provided them benefits worth Rs 1,237 crore during its entire term of five years. Youths were also benefiting in a big way under the present government, he added. The BJP government had already provided service to 16,809 youths while the Congress government had given service to only 3,386 youths in five years. |
||
|
Tanda college principal suspended
Shimla, March 30 The government has also decided to review all the ragging cases which had taken place over the past eight years to ascertain whether or not a proper action was taken in the matter. The instances where adequate action was not taken against the guilty students by the disciplinary committees the officials concerned would be served show-cause notices. The inquiry conducted by the additional district magistrate into the Aman Kachru ragging case had also indicted the principal and two others. |
||
|
22 injured in bus mishap
Kullu, March 30 Four of them were admitted to Lady Willington Mission Hospital at Manali while others were released from the hospital after first aid. Police sources said the bus rolled down from the upper stretch of the road after its suspension rod got damaged. It further added that the ill-fated bus first fell on the roof of an STD PCO and then further fell on the lower stretch of the border road. It is learnt that total 26 passengers were travelling in the bus. Manali SDM Rajeshwer Goyal immediately rushed to the spot and supervised relief and rescue operations. The SDM said those who sustained grievous injuries would be given cash relief of Rs 15,000 each. |
||
|
This polling station has minimum voters
Chamba, March 30 There are three other polling stations having less than 100 voters. These are DPF Saloh having 85 voters in the Churah Assembly constituency, Chasak Bhatori having 69 voters and Bilmui-II having 87 voters in the Bharmour tribal Assembly constituency of the district. According to detailed information released by the Election Department to mediapersons here today, Kuleth polling station with 1,109 voters in the Bharmour constituency had the maximum number of voters in the district. Moreover, there were 17 other polling stations, which were having more than 1,000 electors, information revealed. It further divulged that there were 572 polling stations in the district out of which 47 have been identified as hypersensitive, 122 sensitive while 403 ordinary. Most of the hypersensitive polling stations were located on the border of Chamba district adjacent to the militancy-infested belts of Jammu and Kashmir where adequate security arrangements have been made, information revealed; adding that these border areas were already being guarded by the security forces. The Chasak Bhatori polling booth situated at an altitude of about 4,170 m in Pangi valley of the Bharmour constituency is the highest polling booth in the district. There are around 12 polling stations in the district where poll officials would have to tread for more than 5 km to reach their destinations. “The assembly constituencies- Churah (SC-reserved), Chamba, Dalhousie and Bhattiyat fall in the Kangra Lok Sabha constituency while the Bharmour (ST) Assembly constituency falls in the Mandi LSconstituency which will go to polls on May 13,” information revealed. The appointment of poll personnel was being made from among officials working in the Central, state government departments and public sector undertakings.
|
||
|
Dhumal attends workers’ meetings
Sundernagar, March 30 Addressing a workers meeting at Kot in Nachan Assembly segment, near here, which was largely attended by women, he said in Himachal the BJP had started doing developmental works on a war footing from the day it came to power. However, in case of the Congress it started making declarations when the assembly election were just to be declared. He said that the Congres had not done anything when it remained in power in the state and it was due to efforts of the BJP that the mega projects like the IIT and medical college were brought to Mandi. This would surely benefit the BJP in Lok sabha elections. While addressing the other meeting here (Sundernagar assembly segement) he said the inflation and the Congress were two ‘real sisters’ and in order to control the inflation the Congress should be voted out.
|
||
|
Hamirpur Ticket
Hamirpur, March 30 Madan Lal, who had left for New Delhi on Sunday, said, “He would talk to the Central leaders for launching an election campaign.” “Since a section of the Congressmen have still not reconciled to the allotment of party ticket to Madan Lal, the intervention of the Central leadership is being sought for putting a united fight in the election as the Congress would be facing a stiff challenge at the hands of BJP candidate and sitting MP Anurag Thakur”. Meanwhile, a few senior leaders like former MLA BD Lakhanpal and Jugal Kishor have initiated a move to bring rapprochement among the Congressmen created during the allotment of party ticket. Talking to The Tribune Lakhanpal said, “I have talked to senior leaders of the party to hold a meeting of Madan Lal, Narinder Thakur and other senior leaders of the district Congress at Hamirpur to put a united fight in the election.” “Top party leaders HPCC chief Kaul Singh Thakur, CLP leader Vidya Stokes, former CM Virbhadra Singh and others are also being invited to bring unity among all groups,” he added. It has also been learnt that efforts were also on to assuage the hurt feelings of Narinder Thakur, who lost the party ticket in the last lap, by making him election in charge in Hamirpur or adjust him in the party by giving him some other post. |
||
|
Workshop on HIV held
Una, March 30 Speaking about the workshop senior vice-president of the Himachal Small-Scale Ayurvedic Drug Manufacturers Association BS Chandel said the programme was being organised with an aim to galvanise awareness and support of the industry towards the issue. |
||
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Dharamsala, March 30
