|
|
|
|
CAT Plans
Idol Theft Case
Cong seeks CBI probe into sex scandal
Use natural resources judiciously: Dr Shiva
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
RTI queries baffle central power sector staff
Villagers suffer for want of docs
Tanda College
JE held in chief engineer corruption case
Nangal resident convicted
Residents to boycott by-election
Speaker seeks dedicated staff
CPM joins probe chorus
Girl killed
|
|
CAT Plans
Shimla, September 8 So far, there were no rules or guidelines in respect to formulation and implementation of CAT plans, the main objective of which was to check soil erosion and to rehabilitate and stabilise the fragile hill strata. As a result, there was wide disparity in the funds being provided by companies for the implementation of CAT plan in projects being executed in both private and public sector. For instance, the CAT plan for the Rs 8,500-crore Nathpa Jhakri project, executed by public sector the SJVN was worth only Rs 29.57 crore, which came to a meagre 0.40 per cent of the project cost. In case of ongoing ventures like Rs 2,700-crore Rampur project, a sum of Rs 21.97 crore (0.80 per cent of the cost) has been provided and for Rs 5,700-crore Karcham Wangtu project, the amount is only Rs 31.94 crore (0.56 per cent). Major power projects, involving an expenditure of over Rs 60,000 crore, are being implemented in the state and, as such, over Rs 1,500 crore will be available under the CAT plan till 2017. The government, in its latest notification in this regard, laid down norms for utilisation of funds. A provision has been made for payment of environment services (PES) to local people on which 10 per cent of the funds will be spend. While 5 per cent of the amount will be utilised for monitoring and evaluation of the plan, a provision of 10 per cent will have to be made to take care of cost escalation. A provision for funding the eco-task force battalions, engaged in afforestation works, has been made for which 10 per cent of the amount has been earmarked. Further, a provision of one per cent has been made for eco-tourism activities. The department if gearing up for proper utilisation of funds and has decided to prepare comprehensive CAT plans based on geographical information system for major river basins of the state. The Sutlej basin, where projects with aggregate capacity of 6,000 MW are coming up, is being taken up under a pilot project funded by the World Bank. |
||
|
Idol Theft Case
Shimla, September 8 Thind, who had filed the complaint on April 4, had been summoned by the Lokayukta to appear with all documentary proof and evidence he had. “I am appearing before the Lokayukta with additional proof with regard to the complaint that I had filed against Ashwani Kumar and Mardi,” he said, while refusing to divulge details of the documents he was furnishing. Thind, in his complaint filed earlier, had raised doubts about the impartial role and genuineness of the probe conducted by two IPS officers in the theft of valuable idols at the ancient Kamru temple in Kinnaur. The case pertained to the year 1993 when Ashwani Kumar was DIG (south) while Mardi was Kinnaur SP. Even though the stolen idols were recovered and restored back in the temple, Thind, in his complaint, is learnt to have raised doubts about the genuineness of the idols and the role of the police. Thind had filed four separate complaints against the Lokayukta which included Chief Minister PK Dhumal, CBI Director Ashwani Kumar, DGP (Vigilance) and IG (Vigilance) SR Mardi. Thind will once again appear before the Lokayukta on September 10 in connection with a complaint filed by him against Ashwani Kumar and Manhas. It is on September 16 that he has been summoned by the Lokayukta in connection with the complaint filed by him against Manhas. Last of all, it is on October 7 that he has been asked to furnish evidence with regard to his allegations against the chief minister. He had levelled allegations of misuse of position and disproportionate assets in his complaints. However, it remains to be seen if the Lokayukta would proceed further into the case if they find some evidence in his allegations. Thind had, time and again, said he was falsely implicated in the cases registered against him. He is facing a case with regard to his tenure in the Agro Packaging Limited and another one filed against him by a Parwanoo-based businessman Ashok Mittal for alleged extortion. |
||
|
Cong seeks CBI probe into sex scandal
Shimla, September 8 General secretary of the party Kuldeep Rathore said the police was under tremendous pressure to hush up the matter and the truth could be brought out only through an impartial probe. The politician, who heads an important committee of the government, should quit forthwith and if he refused to so, the government should sack him. The officer should also be suspended till an inquiry is conducted into the scandal, he added. He said the Prime Minister had, at a recent meeting, expressed concern over corruption in environment clearances and the current episode had only highlighted the deep nexus between politicians and officers in the state. The BJP was always infamous for corruption, including financial corruption, land scams and now even moral turpitude. The conflicting statements of the superintendent of police in various newspapers indicated that the police was trying to shield the guilty. It was not for the first time that the police was behaving in such a manner under the present regime. During the recent Lok Sabha poll, the “currency wad” episode was covered up, he said. The BJP government has, in the past 18 months, promoted a political culture alien to the state which is inhabited by honest and hard-working people. The moral fibre has been weakened and the people were bearing the brunt of rampant corruption, he said. |
||
|
Use natural resources judiciously: Dr Shiva
Shimla, September 8 Founder of Navdanya, aiming at reconnecting farmers, society and the earth, Shiva stressed the need for reviving tarditional system of agriculture, horticulture and family for survival in future. She delieverd the keynote address at a workshop on “Change in Himalayas: Issues, Concerns and Remedial Measures”, orgainsed jointly by Navdanya and the Institute of Integrated Himalayan Studies (IIHS), Himachal Pradesh University, Touching various aspects of climate change in the Himalayas, Shiva said the earth was being exploited by everyone. “Due to indiscriminate exploitation, the earth too has started hitting back in the form of drought, floods, cyclones, cloudburst, shrinking glaciers and change in weather cycle,” she remarked. Rather than repenting when it will be too late, it is better that remedial and corrective steps are taken now, she added. “If excessive use of natural resources does not stop now, the day is not far when we will have to long even for a drop of water and the future generations will curse us for such callousness,” she warned. She said green-house effect had adversely affected life cycle of people as it had given rise to increased medical complications. Emphasising on the need for a direct relationship between producer and customer, Shiva said bio-diversity conservation, promotion of organic culture, protecting farmers’ rights and fair trade should be promoted to provide farmers with economically viable market. “Organic agriculture is not just about a source of safer, healthier and tastier food but it can be the answer to rural poverty, environmental degradation and hunger,” she said. Speaking on the occasion, Prof Sunil Kumar Gupta, Vice-Chancellor of the HPU, said with change in weather, the rain cycle too had changed, forcing farmers and growers to adapt accordingly. “The need of the hour is to highlight the issue of climate change and prepare a strategy so that people do not have to face the worst,” he said. Dr Vidya Sharda, director, IIHS, highlighted the activities of the UGC centre of excellence. |
||
|
RTI queries baffle central power sector staff
Dharamsala, September 8 However, certain queries by citizens are illogical and far-fetched. One such query made by one Sanjay Giri, a resident of Nimatpur area of Burdwan district of West Bengal, has been keeping the entire central power sector establishments in the country on tenterhooks for past more than one month. Highly placed sources told The Tribune that Giri sent his set of queries under the RTI to the Union Minister for Power who further forwarded it to all central government power establishments as the NHPC, the NTPC, power grid and BBMB etc. The applicant had sought a list of all material purchased in the power sector since 1989. He had also sought department-wise daily reports of all concerned departments of power sector, bearing purchased since 1989, make of bearing, number, size, indents of their purchase and usage. He had also sought the list of material repaired and reconditioned, medical facility provided to employees and casual labour, tender prices in detail, names, addresses and telephone numbers of all power sector suppliers. Officials, who have been busy collecting the information sought, are perplexed about its use. While talking to The Tribune, they said the list of materials ranged from simple safety pins purchased for office purpose to highly sophisticated parts of turbines. To make a list of these materials since 1989 was an almost impossible task as some of 20-year old record might have got destroyed, they alleged. However, the most difficult part of the set of queries is the list of trees and plants in power sector areas along with their names and numbers. The areas of some of the power sector establishments as the NHPC, NTPC and BBMB extend to thousands of acres spreading across various states. To calculate the numbers of trees and plants in these areas along with their names was an intricate task, they added. Employees, who are busy trying to collect the information sought, said the public information officers were pressing them to provide the information at the earliest as they were liable to be fined if they failed to do so. However, the applicant might also have to shell out lakhs of rupees as the information sought would comprise many pages, they said. |
||
|
Villagers suffer for want of docs
Mandi, September 8 According to sources, more than 50 per cent of doctors produced by the state’s two medical colleges move for greener pastures outside and abroad. As a result, the rural masses continue to suffer, financially and medically, as they have to travel long distances for “quality care” either at the IGMC or the PGI. Both Tanda Medical College and the IGMC produce 115 MBBS while the latter produces over 52 postgraduates every year. Despite this, hospitals in peripheries, including zonal hospitals in 12 districts, have been facing an acute shortage of doctors. Dr JN Chauhan, general secretary, HP Medical Officers’ Association (HPMOA), said the bureaucracy never consulted the state medical cadre while amending R&P rules. The new R&P rules, amended in 2008, now included GDOs, doctors on contract, and those appointed through the Rogi Kalyan Samiti (RKS), without laying down terms and conditions for them. The suffering rural people suffer as there is shortage of more than 1,000 doctors across the state if judged by the latest health standards. He cited examples of Punjab where the government had reserved cent per cent seats for PG and for the GDOs who had to serve minimum of three years in rural areas. “But in Himachal health department, according to the amendment effected on December 18, 2008, 75 per cent seats have been kept for the GDOs and 25 per cent for the registrar just to please sons, daughters and wives of people in power who do not want to go out of Shimla,” charged HPMOA members. They demanded that the government should reserve all 303 seats in both medical colleges for the GDOs for promoting them as registrars and then as assistant professors in colleges. “It will take care of shortage of doctors in rural areas and patients will get quality healthcare,” they added. Meanwhile, additional health secretary Rakesh Kanwar claimed that the new policy in medical colleges had resulted in filling up of doctors in hard and even tribal areas as the department had laid down terms and conditions keeping in mind the state’s interest.
|
||
|
Tanda College
Kangra, September 8 According to sources, the team reportedly pointed out that Dr Ramesh Bharti and Dr Sanjeev Sharma of surgery department, Dr Suresh Verma and Dr Sita Thakur of gynaecology department, Dr Ranjeet Thakur (anaesthesia), Dr Kamlesh Thakur (microbiology), Dr Sanjeev Choudary (paediatrics) and Dr Rupali (physiology) did not fulfil the MCI norms for being professors. Though all these doctors fulfil the criteria of Recruitment and Promotion rules of the state government for holding the posts of professor, they were not eligible under the MCI norms. With this, the DRPGMC needs 11 new eligible professors in different departments, as three posts of professor were already lying vacant, in order to get a nod from the MCI for postgraduate classes. The team also pointed out that in some departments posts of the resident doctor was required to be filled. The inspection on the second day was in progress till the filing of this report. Principal of the college Dr Anil Chauhan said the government was keen to start postgraduate classes here so all these posts would be filled by eligible candidates shortly. |
||
|
JE held in chief engineer corruption case
Dharamsala, September 8 The vigilance arrested the junior engineer after interrogation of the other two accused in the case, including the Chief Engineer (operations) Latesh Malhotra and the contractor Sanjeev Chibber. The vigilance team from Dharamsala today raided the house of Latesh Malhotra at the posh Khaliar locality in Mandi, carrying search operations throughout the evening. The sources said the vigilance got a tip-off in the case due to delay in allotment of tenders worth Rs 3 crore. However, the officials concerned allegedly withheld the allotment of tenders. But, later they were allotted to the accused contractor that aroused suspicion among rival contractors who tipped off the vigilance. The vigilance, on September 6, had arrested the chief engineer and the contractor from former’s official residence. The vigilance had also recovered Rs 4.5 lakh from the accused. The accused chief engineer was about to retire at the end of this month. The vigilance officials said they would collect the details of the assets of the accused officials. Today, the vigilance authorities produced the junior engineer in the court and he was remanded into police custody till September 10. |
||
|
Nangal resident convicted
Bilaspur, September 8 Kumar also has to undergo another term of six-month jail in case of default in payment of fine. Earlier, District Attorney RP Kashav told the court that Kumar was caught and apprehended by the police near Jhiri Bowari on
October 2, 2008, after he tried to flee on seeing the police. ASI Deep Ram had recovered opium from his possession along with
a scale and some weights to measure in a polythene bag. |
||
|
Residents to boycott by-election
Nurpur, September 8 A memorandum signed by 100 elected representatives and villagers was submitted today to CM PK Dhumal and MP Rajan Sushant. They rued that their panchayat had no pucca link road, senior secondary government school and health centre. They lamented that this panchayat was earlier in the Nurpur Assembly constituency. Then it was shifted under the Jawali Assembly segment about two decades back and now after delimitation it was attached to the Guler Assembly segment. However, in the forthcoming by-election the electorate had to exercise their franchise in the old Jawali Assembly constituency. |
||
|
Speaker seeks dedicated staff
Hamirpur, September 8 He said, “District officials should frame schemes keeping in view local demands of the people and should make all efforts to fulfil their aspirations.” |
||
|
CPM joins probe chorus
Shimla, September 8 In a statement isued here today, CPM Member State Secretariat Tikender Panwar said the government must order an independent inquiry into the incident. “The names of those involved in the incident must be made public so that it is clear as to who were the people involved in a such a heinous act,”
he said. |
||
|
Girl killed
Bilaspur, September 8 The deceased was accompanying her sister when the accident took place. Truck driver Gyan Chand is said to have fled after the accident but was later arrested from Barmana. The police has registered a case and is investigating into the matter. The body of the deceased was handed over to her relatives after a post-mortem
examination. — OC
|
||
|
| 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 | |
