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JP Cement Plant
Malana farmers make a new beginning
Row over essentiality certificate for hotel
Baddi bank heist: Beef up security, says Dhumal
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Kangra SBI duped of Rs 1 lakh
Manali-Leh highway opens
Rain in Shimla
CPI condemns Chandel’s arrest
Boar injures 3 of family
Truck crushes student
Constable’s body found
Initial signs of water shortage appear in Shimla
Parents withdraw kids from BCS
First forest thana opens
Governor felicitates NCC cadets
Oath administered to officers
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JP Cement Plant
Solan, May 21 The arrests, however, ignited widespread protests. The Mangal Vikas Parishad (MVP) has demanded immediate intervention of the Chief Secretary and the DGP in the matter. Blaming the administration for siding with the management of the plant, the parishad said villagers’ genuine grievances had been overlooked and the illegal activities of the plant authorities were being ignored. The trouble started while conveyor belts were being installed for the plant. These 14 persons opposed the move claiming that the land had not been acquired till date. The company management, however, claimed they had orders to execute the work and hence they would go ahead. The DSP and the SDM, who were accompanying the management officials, ordered the arrest of 14 villagers as a preventive measure. Parishad general secretary Nand Lal Chauhan termed the arrest of villagers as the first step towards converting the plant area into Singur and Nandigram. The administration was acting in a partisan manner and had failed to safeguard interests of the local people, he said. He said alleged the cement plant management had started work on the land of a villager, Tulsi Ram, whose land had neither been acquired nor a penny of compensation awarded to him. He said the barbaric attitude of the police on display when the father of Meera, one of the arrested women, failed to withstand the shock and collapsed. Meera was not even allowed to attend the last rites of her father, he alleged. The villagers also contended that the arrest of advocate Parvesh Chauhan was also illegal. Deputy Commissioner Amandeep Garg said he had directed the SDM to ensure that the plant management initiated construction activity on only that land which had been acquired and for which due compensation had been either granted to the land owner or deposited in the treasury in case the owner refused to take it. He said the arrests were a preventive measure to ensure prevalence of law and order in the area.
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Malana farmers make a new beginning
Mandi, May 21 Though farmers here have started switching over to alternative farming, they are not very sure about market these crops as they are sowing these for the first time. “We do not know who will buy peas from us and how much we will earn,” they said. The society was got registered with the state cooperative department by its adviser and brain behind the society, OP Sharma, a former superintendent of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), who launched anti-cannabis drives in Malana with the help of the police about seven years ago. Sharma said the idea was to wean away Malana villagers from cultivation of contraband crops and encourage them to cultivate cash crops like peas and ‘rajmaha’. Secretary of the society Chande Ram sounded optimistic saying that more than 200 farmers had got seed for free and they had started sowing these. “Each farmer has been given 5 to 20 kg of seeds, depending on the size of his landholding,” he added. The society had bought seeds from the government by spending Rs 1.3 lakh given by the Sai Engineering Foundation, he added. “We will help farmers get good crop of peas. Marketing will be no problem as the society will sell the produce in the markets of Kullu and Mandi,” he said. Deputy Director, Agricultural, Ratan Kumar said they distributed 2,000 kg peas and 500 kg “rajmaha” seeds for free to more than 200 Malana villagers yesterday. The response was good and the farmers had stared sowing these, he added.
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Row over essentiality certificate for hotel
Dharamsala, May 21 Nishant Sharma, an authorised signatory for obtaining the certificate for the project, has now lodged a police complaint at Dharamsala. He has alleged that he has been doing the rounds of the office of district tourism and development officer JR Katoch at Dharamsala for the past eight months for getting the certificate, but it was being denied on one pretext or the other. On May 18, he expressed resentment over the delay at which the district tourism and development officer allegedly misbehaved with him and told him to get out of his office. He then went to the office of the clerk concerned, Sanjay Kumar, who allegedly tampered with the file to create ground for its rejection. The officials concerned also threatened him that the tourism official was close to a “baba” based near Palampur. The “baba” had close political connections and the complainant would not be able to get any action initiated against the officer, he alleged. Nishant has also alleged that the accused officials had threatened to order the closure of a hotel run by his father at Palampur. Nishant said if there was any discrepancy in the file for the essentiality certificate, the officials concerned should have returned it much earlier. The fact that the file was kept without any action for about eight months proved that officials were harassing him for ulterior motives, he alleged. District tourism and development officer JR Katoch was not available for comments. His mobile phone was switched off and he was also not available at his office. His staff said he was in Shimla. The police was yet to record the statements of the accused officials.
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Baddi bank heist: Beef up security, says Dhumal
Shimla, May 21 Dhumal today presided over a high-level meeting to take stock of the law and order situation in the state. “Incidents like the bank robbery need to be checked by taking effective steps like periodic inspection of the security system in all banks besides training their guards,” he said. He said banking authorities should be advised to install close circuit cameras so that movement of people could be recorded and in case of any mishap one could gather vital clues about the miscreants. “The local people have gathered some clues about the robbers and it is expected that they would be nabbed soon,” he said. He said industrial areas were a hub of economic activities and as such all possible precautionary measures must be taken to secure the financial institutions against robbery or any such mishaps. “It is with this very purpose in mind that a separate police district has been created to look after the law and order requirements of the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial area,” he said. He also asked the law-enforcing agencies to depute cops in plain clothes at every higher educational institution where fresh admissions were taking place to check ragging and drug mafia. |
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Kangra SBI duped of Rs 1 lakh
Kangra, May 21 Kangra SDPO OP Jamwal said the manager of the Kangra SBI lodged a report today alleging that two Mutual Fund Dividend Warrants (MFDW) of Rs 50,000 each were sent by the local HDFC through clearing. The SBI cleared the warrants and sent the amount to the HDFC. Meanwhile, the customer withdrew the amount through ATM possibly from Mumbai. The SBI received intimation from its clearance head office that the two warrants Sources said the alleged fake MFDWs had come from Delhi for clearance through local HDFC. SBI branch manager Satish Attari admitted that the fake instruments were cleared but the money had been sent to HDFC. When asked how the SBI cleared the instrument without seeking clearance from the head office, he said he was on leave that day. The police has registered a case and efforts were on to identify the culprit.
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Manali-Leh highway opens
Manali, May 21 Commander, 38, BRTF (GREF), SK Doon said this year the snow clearing operation on the Manali-Leh highway commenced on March 2. Three independent teams were deployed for opening the 222-km Manali-Sarchu section of the highway with the help of snow-cutter as well as other machines. The Manali-Leh road has now become an alternate route to the frontier areas of Ladakh region. The road played a key role during the Kargil conflict when it played a crucial role for carrying Army supplies in the border district of Leh-Ladakh. The Manali-Leh highway winds its way through the 13,050-foot high Rohtang Pass, Baralacha Pass (4,883 m), Lachlungla Pass (5,065 m) and Tanglangla (5,328 m). With the opening of the Manali-Leh road to foreigners, the overseas tourist influx into the state has seen a tremendous increase during the past few years. In 1989, the Government of India, threw open the Manali-Leh highway to foreign tourists and ever since the number of foreigners visiting these areas has increased. The domestic tourists also do not lag behind. Many enthusiastic adventure tourism lovers make a beeline for this difficult terrain from June to September.
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Rain in Shimla
Shimla, May 21 Parts of Kangra , Mandi , Solan and Shimla districts also had mild showers. The rain cleared the hazy sky and also helped in dousing the numerous forest fires raging in the state. Dharamsala recorded 5 mm of rain. Una was the hottest place with a maximum of 40.4 degree Celsius, followed by Mandi 37.20 degree Clesius, Sundernagar 37 degree Clesius and Dharamsala 34.80 degree Clesius. Kalpa in tribal Kinnaur was pleasantly cool with a maximum of 24.1 degree Clesius and minimum of 4.5 degree Clesius.
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CPI condemns Chandel’s arrest
Hamirpur, May 21 In a press release issued here, district secretary of the CPI Mukesh Kumar said Chandel had been allegedly arrested in a false case. He accused the cement company for violating labour laws in its factory at Baghal and adopting anti-labour policy. He also demanded immediate intervention of the state government into this matter.
— TNS |
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Boar injures 3 of family
Bilaspur, May 21 Munni Devi was reportedly cooking food for her family when the boar suddenly emerged from nearby bushes and attacked her. On hearing her screams, her husband Sukh Lal and son Manish rushed from inside the house for her help. The boar also injured them. Meanwhile, villagers also gathered there. They overpowered the boar and killed it. The injured were taken to the Civil Hospital, Ghumarwin, where their condition was stated to be out of danger. Officials of the Forest Department reached the spot and took away the animal carcass for a post-mortem examination. Later, it was buried in a nearby jungle. |
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Truck crushes student
Bilaspur, May 21 Reports said Sangeeta was waiting for a bus along with two of her classmates when this truck suddenly came hurtling down on them in rear gear. The other two girls could save themselves by jumping away just in time, but Sangeeta was knocked down by the truck and was crushed under it. The police arrested driver Bhuvneshwar and sent the body for a post-mortem. |
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Constable’s body found
Sundernagar, May 21 According to the police, the deceased was posted at BBMB Police Lines, Sundernagar, and was deputed on election duty at Sainj (Gohar), but he did not attend his duties on May 13. When the deceased did not visit his home in Sarkaghat after the election his wife lodged a missing report. Staff of the BBMB Reservoir noticed the body floating in the reservoir yesterday evening, which was taken out today afternoon. |
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Initial signs of water shortage appear in Shimla
Shimla, May 21 For the last two days, many parts of the town have not received water while in some areas supply is being given on alternate days. The worst affected areas include Sanjauli, Cemetery, Lakkar Bazaar, Khalaini, Kanlog, Bemloe, Chotta Shimla and New Shimla. The supply has been affected as water level in the storage tanks and reservoirs has fallen down. While the MC is being supplied about 37 MLD of water daily by the Irrigation and Public Health Department, the water requirement of the town has escalated to almost 45 MLD. Even though the Giri water scheme is supplying about 8 MLD water daily to Shimla, with increase in the influx of tourists, the town is beginning to face shortage. The MC on the other hand attributes the problem to the absence of local storage tanks and huge amounts being wasted due to leakage. The permission from the National Highways is still being awaited so that PWD could undertake plugging of the leakage between Dhalli tunnel and Sanjauli for which the IPH has already sanctioned money. The worst affected areas by the shortage are the localities on the outskirts, including Chakkar, Bouileauganj, Summer Hill, Ghora Chowki, Bharari, New Shimla, Kanlog and Batta Kuffar. With water shortage problem just starting the authorities have yet to put into place a proper system of fulfilling water requirement through tankers. While hoteliers are fulfilling their demand by engaging private tankers, there are some who are still illegally using pumps to pull water. The problem is likely to aggravate in the coming days.
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Parents withdraw kids from BCS
Shimla, May 21 While Surjit Singh, father of Avtar, has taken his son home, the father of the other aggrieved student would be arriving here from the UK next week. Surjit Singh alleged that his son sustained injuries in the intestine and had to be admitted to a hospital. The parents of the two boys alleged that the seniors had beaten up some students. Principal Roy Christopher Robinson could not be contacted despite repeated attempts. However, school sources informed that a scuffle had broken out among the students on May 18. A disciplinary committee had been constituted to look into the matter. Avtar Singh has reportedly brought the matter to the notice of the school authorities.
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First forest thana opens
Shimla, May 21 Set up on the pattern of the police station , the ‘van thana’ has been made operational on premises of the range office. It will be shifted to Deha after construction of the proposed building to house it. Inaugurating the “thana' additional chief secretary, forests, Avay Shukla said that it would cover sensitive beats like Deha, Pachhad, Prali-Ghund, Ghorna and Janan, where high incidences of forest crime had been reported. He said that it would be headed by a deputy forest ranger and have seven forest guards and three forest workers to collectively check unlawful forest offences. The thana had been equipped with a Mohindra jeep, communication system, arms and other required facilities. In all six forest ‘thanas’, four in the first phase and two in the second, are to be set up in selected areas which have earned notoriety for forest crimes. The three remaining thanas will be made operational at Balu in Mandi, Habban in Rajgarh and Mohal in Kullu. The remaining two thanas would come up at Deokhand in Panarsa and Tikker in Rohru in October. Staff had been provided by merging existing forest beats. In recent past cases of offenders intimidating and even assaulting the field staff have taken place in such notorious areas. Moving in larger teams will enable the watch and ward staff to take on those indulging in organised crime.
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Governor felicitates NCC cadets
Shimla, May 21 She was speaking on the occasion of “At Home” organised here today to felicitate the NCC cadets who had participated in the Republic Day function 2009 at Delhi. Chief Minister PK Dhumal was also present on the occasion. Rau said the future of the nation lay in the hands of the youth and it is through promotion of righteous life, a clean and healthy environment and disciplined action that the country could achieve new heights. Earlier, she gave away the prizes to the NCC cadets. |
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Oath administered to officers
Bilaspur, May 21 He said our country was distinguished in comity of nations for its “unity in diversity” and we have strong reasons to take pride in this achievement. But now, at instigation of some outside elements, some unsocial elements were taking us for granted and were harming innocent people. We have to be vigilant against such elements whether in country or from outside. He said our unity was the biggest obstacle against machinations of such elements and we should be careful to strengthen it at all costs.
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