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Package fails to draw investment
Bus mishap exposes admn’s lapses
MLAs back Virbhadra
Tourism dept to accept debit cards
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Jaswant went against party view on Jinnah, says Shanta
Drugs seized
Gupta’s bail plea rejected
12 hurt in mishap
Sharma is Asst Solicitor General
126 fined under Anti-Smoking Act
Political activity for byelections picks up
HPCA for improving Annandale
‘Separation won’t cause revenue loss’
French senators express solidarity with Tibetans
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Package fails to draw investment
Shimla, September 2 The government had put clearance of projects on a fast track to take maximum advantage of the package but a majority of proposals have not seen light of the day. Data available with the industries department reveals that in all 12,006 proposals, including 979 large and medium units, involving an investment of Rs 38,560 crore, have been approved since April 2003. However, till June, 2009, only 4,898 units and 279 expansion projects with an investment of Rs 5,484 crore had come up. Thus, so far less than 15 per cent of the proposals have been implemented and by March 2010, it will at best reach 20 per cent. These projects had a potential to provide employment to 4,34,704 persons but in fact, only 70,110 have been employed. The 219 large and medium units set up with an investment of Rs 2,990 crore have generated only 18,373 jobs whereas the 4,679 small-scale industries, involving much less investment of only Rs 2,137 crore, have provided jobs to over 48,000 persons. The 279 expansion projects on which Rs 358 crore were invested, created 3,736 additional jobs. The present government has, over the past 18 months, cleared proposals involving an investment of Rs 8,254 crore, which include 112 large and medium units. It is obvious that projects worth Rs 30,000 crore were approved almost two years ago and most of them should have come into production by now. But this has not happened because of lack of requisite infrastructure, uncertainty over extension of package and finally global economic meltdown. As a result, a large number of investors who got their projects approved, have put their plans on hold. Despite positive factors like industrial peace and availability of power at reasonable rates, the state has not been able to take full advantage of the industrial package. In such a situation even if the package is further extended the state may not gain much, more so because of the steps taken by the Centre to stimulate industrial growth like reduction in excise duty on pharmaceuticals and some other indutries, has rendered the package unattractive for entrepreneurs. The exemption from income tax will be available up to 2013, irrespective of the fact whether or not the package is extended. |
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Bus mishap exposes admn’s lapses
Mandi (Kangu), September 2 The police investigation revealed that the driver, who along with the conductor was killed in the accident, suffered a seizure as the bus did not show any skidding marks. The police said the driver had once met with an accident earlier and was in coma for sometime, giving credence to the theory that he suffered a seizure before he lost control over the speeding bus. His licence was yet to be recovered from the spot, the police added. All eight accident victims under treatment at Zonal Hospital, Mandi, are reported to be out of danger, said doctors attending to them. Meanwhile, Transport Minister Mohinder Singh Thakur ordered an inquiry into the accident and entrusted it to the ADC Mandi. He announced an aid of Rs 1 lakh to next of kin of the deceased and Rs 10,000 to each injured. Mandi MP and Union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh and Rural Development Minister Jai Ram Thakur have expressed shock over the tragedy and asked the administration to ensure free treatment of those injured in the accident. Sundernagar DSP Sushil Kumar said the police had registered a case of rash and negligent driving. |
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MLAs back Virbhadra
Shimla, September 2 In a joint statement here today, legislators Harsh Wardhan, Kudeep Pathania, Prakash Chaudhary, Yog Raj, Mukesh Agnihotri, Sudhir Sharma, Subhash Manglait, Neeraj Bharati, Nand Lal and Sohan Lal said it was well-known that Virbhadra Singh had not acquired even an inch of land during his lifetime and had established his popularity by assuming the office of the Chief Minister five times. They alleged that all out efforts were made to ensure the defeat of Virbhadra Singh in the recent Lok Sabha elections but he not only won, but also became a minister. The Dhumal government could not reconcile to his induction into the Union Cabinet and it had adopted a course of confrontation with him. By its negative approach the government was only undermining the interests of the state as the good offices of Virbhadra Singh could have been used for securing liberal assistance from the Centre. Earlier, a hue and cry was raised over the audio CD regarding which complaint was filed by a convicted person and the persons whose voice was reported captured in it were not alive anymore. However, pursuing its one point agenda to decimate Virbhadra Singh politically the government registered a case against him. Now, it wants to inquire into land cases to fabricate more cases against him. The government had an eye on the Rohru Assembly byelections and it had been rattled by the successful tour of Virbhadra Singh to the constituency during his recent visit to the state.
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Tourism dept to accept debit cards
Shimla, September 2 Principal Secretary (Tourism) Manisha Nanda formally launched the acceptance of debit card in addition to the existing credit card facility for online reservation of HPTDC hotels. She congratulated the HPTDC for providing this additional facility. Nanda presented the “Paryatan Samaan” to Mangat Dhani, Dr NK Sharma and Krishan Kumar Toor, all retired HPTDC officers, for rendering outstanding services to the organisation. Besides, SR Harnot, who is still serving, was honoured for his contribution in the field of literature. Managing director of HPTDC Subhashish Panda said the special package “Beti Hai Anmol” was receiving a very good response. The corporation has launched the special package as its endeavour in creating awareness against female foeticide. |
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Jaswant went against party view on Jinnah, says Shanta
Dharamsala, September 2 Justifying the ouster of Jaswant Singh from the party, he said after the statement of LK Advani in Pakistan in which he had described Jinnah to be secular, crisis erupted in the party. The party then adopted a resolution in which its viewpoint over the issue was stated. It was stated in the resolution that Jinnah was responsible for Partition of the country. In his entire political carrier, Jinnah gave just one secular statement. There are his openly recorded statements that Muslims and Hindus cannot exist together. He was also responsible for killing of over 10000 migrants who were leaving Pakistan after Partition. Even after such a resolution that clearly states if somebody goes against the party’s ideology regarding Jinnah, action was bound to be taken against him, Jaswant Singh still said what he did and his ouster followed, Shanta Kumar said. He further said that the BJP held Sardar Patel in high esteem. He was responsible for unification of over a hundred independent states with India in his less than five-year stint as Home Minister. The only state that was left out was Jammu and Kashmir and India was still facing problems in that area. Being a senior leader of the party, it was not justified for Jaswant Singh to write against Sardar Patel. He, however, refused to comment on the Kandahar episode, regarding which Advani had said that he was not aware of all details. Shanta Kumar said that the party would emerge out the present crisis. All parties have to face such periods. In the early nineties even the Congress got divided up to the block level. He, however, declined to comment on contentious issue of giving chance to a younger leadership in the BJP. Shanta Kumar was here today to inaugurate the second match of the Sahara-BCCI corporate trophy. The match was, however, washed away due to the rains.
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Drugs seized
Bilaspur, September 2 The police found large quantities of prohibited and banned drugs and has registered a case under the NDPS Act against him. According to reports, the police had raided the medicine store earlier last month also and had found large quantities of prohibited drugs. Several village leaders, including BDC vice-chairman Mangal Thakur, praised the efforts of the police in trying to contain the menace of use of intoxicating banned drugs by schoolchildren. They demanded that licence of such medical shops and their proprietors should be scrapped and strict vigil should be kept on supply of medicines. They also asked for proper functioning of the inspectorate deputed by the government to control such illegal and harmful activities. |
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Gupta’s bail plea rejected
Shimla, September 2 Justice Kuldeep Singh rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Gupta on the ground that custodial interrogation was a must in a disproportionate assets case. Gupta, who was not present in the court, is expected to surrender in the evening. Gupta, who had earlier been granted interim bail, had joined investigation in the office of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau. He had pleaded before the court that since the Vigilance Bureau was already in possession of his 20 years’ income tax returns, there was no need for custodial interrogation. The Vigilance Bureau had sought Gupta’s custody on the plea that many questions pertaining to his property were still not answered.
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12 hurt in mishap
Kullu, September 2 According to police sources, the accident occurred due to the negligence of the driver. The injured were identified as Vidya Devi, Gita Devi, Rajender Pal, Ramesh Chand, Teji Devi, Devender Sood, Jai Devi (all residents of Naggar village), Pushp Chand and Nisha Devi of Sharan village, Yamuna Devi of Sajla village, Hoshiyar Singh of Jogindernagar and Sunil Kumar of Sharani village. The police further confirmed that driver Hukam Chand was untraceable till the filing of this report. A case under Sections 279 and 337 of the IPC has been registered.
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Sharma is Asst Solicitor General
Shimla, September 2 According to the notification issued by the Ministry of Law and Justice, Sharma has been appointed for this post for a period of three years.
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126 fined under Anti-Smoking Act
Shimla, September 2 With the amendment in the Act, a head constable is now empowered to impose fine on anyone violating Section 4 and Section 6 of the Anti-Smoking Act. The penalty has been imposed under Sections 21 and 24 of the Act. “To begin with, this is a week-long campaign in which we will take action against anyone found to be smoking in a public place and against those who sell cigarettes or other tobacco products to underage children,” said SP RM Sharma. He said with complaints of children being hooked to drugs and tobacco products being received, efforts will be made to take action against the defaulters. The issue had been raised even in the Assembly as members had expressed concern at the high incidence of school and college students becoming addicts.
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Political activity for byelections picks up
Shimla, September 2 The Union Steel Minister, Virbhadra Singh, has already started touring the Rohru constituency, represented by him for the past almost two decades. His wife and former MP Pratibha Singh is the strongest candidate that the Congress could field, but it is still not certain whether she would take the plunge. On the other hand, the ruling BJP is chalking out its strategy to wrest the traditional Congress seat of Rohru as the Chief Minister and senior ministers have been touring the area extensively to build a rapport with the electorate. State BJP general secretary and chairman of the Himachal Cooperative Bank, Khushi Ram Balnahata, is most likely to be fielded by the party. Even as the BJP is getting feed back right from the mandal level about the most suitable candidate for the byelections for the Rohru and Jwali assembly segments, the BJP MP from Kangra, Rajan Sushant, who represented the Jwali constituency in the assembly is already campaigning in favour of his wife. “It will all depend on senior leader Shanta Kumar --- whom he favours from Jwali as the party would go by his advice,” said a senior leader. Besides Sushant’s wife, Sudha, who has resigned as government lecturer to make her political debut, his own brother is also in the race for the party ticket. “We are getting a survey done at the party level to find out as to who would be the most suitable candidate from Rohru and Jwali,” said state BJP chief Khimi Ram. He said the process would be completed soon but it is only once the elections are announced that the BJP will finalise its candidates. Shimla district BJP chief Ganesh Dutt today held a meeting of BJP workers at Rohru where it was said that a positive campaign about the image of the Chief Minister and the achievements of the BJP regime should be highlighted. “We have told the workers to desist from any kind of negative personalised attack and focus on achievements like providing road link to Dodra Kawar so that it is a vote for development,” said Dutt. The Congress has already constituted committees under former minister Ram Lal Thakur for Rohru and under Asha Kumari for Jwali to finalise the candidates.
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HPCA for improving Annandale
Dharamsala, September 2 HPCA president and Hamirpur BJP MP Anurag Thakur gave this information while addressing mediapersons here today. He said Annandale stadium is the only place where sports facility could be created near Shimla. He had also raised the question in Parliament in this regard. In his response, the Minister for Defence had stated that in case the state government could give an alternative place to the Army, it could consider handing over the stadium back to the state government, he said. At present, the stadium is under the control of the Army. The Army had, earlier, taken the stadium on lease from the state Anurag Thakur also said the Dharamsala cricket stadium would host two IPL matches in April next year. The decision to this affect had already been taken. “We are expecting about 22,000 spectators coming to watch the IPL matches here. This will also bring about 5,000 vehicles. We have requested the state government to bring up adequate parking facility, keeping in view the international cricket matches to be hosted here in future.” He also said the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation had been requested to provide lighting facility at the Gaggal airport to facilitate landing of flights at night. On being questioned about the possibility of expansion of the air strip, he said frequency of flights in the area would have to be increased to create its viability. Regarding the next inspection of the Dharamsala cricket stadium for getting it approved for hosting international cricket matches, the HPCA president said in its previous inspection, the ICC experts had demanded that Internet facility should be provided in hotels and roads should be widened. Both the conditions had been fulfilled. “However, the condition of bringing up a five-star hotel here is yet to be met. We have invited many groups for the same. However, most of them failed to find 100 to 150 kanal land for the purpose. The HPCA is planning to bring up a five-star hotel or resort of its own in the area,” he said.
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Trading Activity
Shimla, September 2 Convenor of the front Suneel Grover said state governments could sell their share of power in various projects in open market or to any utility through bilateral arrangements on prices arrived at competitive bidding. He said at no point of time, the state power board or the government would be purchasing power for resale as they would be involved only in sale of electricity merely as a generator. Moreover, the board sold power by way of banking and unscheduled exchange which did not require any trader. The state power board was purchasing a very small quantum of power, about 200 mu, from the open market or through the Indian Energy Exchange. The regulator’s intervention was not required where power was sold at a mutually agreed price between seller and the purchaser. He said employees and engineers were not against reorganisation of the board and maintained that to improve efficiency and competition, unbundling was not necessary. In states where unbundling had taken place, efforts were being made to set up a coordinating agency fo reintegrated planning of the power systems.
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French senators express solidarity with Tibetans
Dharamsala, September 2 These were the views expressed here today by a delegation of five French senators were on a visit to Mcleodganj to participate in the 49th anniversary celebrations of the Tibetan democracy. The visiting members of the delegation include Jean Francois Humbert, Jean Pierre Plancade, Thierry Repentin, Jacquelin Panis and Philippe Brault. The French senators said they were here on full authorisation of their senate to participate in the celebrations. Meanwhile, the Tibetan government-in-exile in a statement today said the younger generation Tibetans must take up political responsibilities. “The Kashag believes that they will be more responsible than ever before in political and administrative affairs of our society,” said Samdhong Rinpoche, the Kalon Tripa of the Tibetan government-in-exile. Rinpoche was speaking at the 49th anniversary celebrations of the Tibetan democracy here. He said the Dalai Lama’s wishes for harmony between Tibetan and Chinese people. Expressing his disappointment over low turnout of voters in the previous Assembly elections, he said every Tibetan eligible to vote must use his right for a more vibrant democracy. The Tibetans-in-exile would go for the Kalon Tripa polls in 2011. The Dalai Lama declared democracy for Tibetans in 1960 and promulgated a constitution for a future Tibet, based on the principles of modern democracy. To support his declaration of democracy, the Dalai Lama established a Tibetan government-in-exile, with a parliament directly elected by the people. As part of democratic reforms, the Dalai Lama, in 1991, announced the “Charter for Tibetans-in-exile”, which, among other things, expanded the Assembly of Tibetan People’s Deputies, (now called Tibetan parliament-in-exile) and were empowered to appoint the Cabinet (Kashag).
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