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Govt blamed for haphazard growth in Shimla
Centre not serious about China threat: Dhumal
Catchment area plans to be digitised
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Himachali food centre to be set up
Karsog to be developed as tourist spot: CM
Scheme to boost milk production
Drug cultivation goes unchecked
Residents resent tehsil officials’ absence
Modern equipment to combat forest fires
Lecturer held for rape bid
Arms banned in Navratra fair
‘VB report a befitting reply’
Dagshai school wins Limca contest
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Govt blamed for haphazard growth in Shimla
Shimla, September 23 He said when the government was itself guilty of constructing a mammoth sports complex over a water channel and a multi-storeyed high court building, leading to slides, there was little one could expect from the authorities. “I demand that the government should first come out clean and set an example before it enforces the law on others,” he added. He said the agencies responsible for regulating construction activity had completely failed, turning the erstwhile British summer capital into a concrete jungle. “We will shortly be preparing a report on violations all along the Hindustan-Tibet Highway, right from Parwanoo and submit it to the Supreme Court, seeking its intervention,” he added. He said the road was termed as a strategic link to the borders but it was completely devoid of safety measures like luminous road dividers, putting the safety of commuters to risk. “The haphazard and unregulated construction all over the place has triggered massive slides whether it is for house construction, hotels, roads or even power projects,” lamented Malik. He added that the depleting green cover, including deodar, fir, spruce and other bushes, had been the victim of excessive construction activity and mindless developmental activity. Echoing his concerns about the dwindling forests in and around Shimla, he pointed out that most of the coniferous variety trees had developed flat tops indicating that they would soon dry up. “The most unfortunate part is that those very people who are entrusted with the task of enforcing laws have themselves turned violators,” he said. He said the Shimla Development Plan, which should have come out 20 years back, was still awaiting approval of the government. “By the time the plan will be approved it will be rendered redundant as the damage in terms of chaotic construction activity has already been done,” said Malik. He also regretted the fact that the Kasauli Development Plan had still not been notified by the government despite the directions of the HC. He had been spearheading the “Save Kasauli” campaign, which had forced the government to come out with a development plan for the hill town, putting curb on multi-storeyed structures and big projects. |
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Centre not serious about China threat: Dhumal
Palampur, September 23 Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal stated this while talking to newsmen here today. He was here to lay the foundation of Sri Sai private university. Dhumal said that a private ICC company had shown keen interest in laying the railway line to Leh. It had already conducted the survey and proposed to set up the railway line within a few years. The railway board has got a survey conducted and report of experts is lying with it. “On September 4, I met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and requested him to expedite the process of laying the railway line. However, the Prime Minister said the project would take a lot of time. I then told him about the proposal of the ICC company. I have also forwarded the report of the company to the Prime Minister who has assured to look into the report.” The company has also been invited by the Nepal government to build a railway line along the Chinese border. The laying of railway line along the international border with China is more important now because of fact that it is already laying six railway lines up to the Indian border, Dhumal said. He further said the foundation stone of the Rohtang tunnel was laid by Atal Behari Vajpayee in 2002. Since then the project has been stalled. The previous UPA government did not take any interest in the Rohtag tunnel. The state of project is also hanging fire in the present government as even tenders have not been finalised by the authorities concerned. “The Chief of Army Staff recently visited Shimla and I discussed the Pathankot-Leh railway line project with him. He also expressed the opinion that it was vital for the defence of the country, the CM said. Later, while addressing a gathering at the SAI university campus site Dhumal congratulated SK Punj for conceiving a university project in the Palampur area. He said in the next five years an investment of Rs 100 crore would be made in the SAI university project. The government has given permission to the university to run all courses ranging from technical to pure sciences and arts. The former Chief Minister and Rajya Sabha member Shanta Kumar lauded the state government for creating an education hub in the state. |
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Catchment area plans to be digitised
Shimla, September 23 The state-of-the-art GIS will incorporate remote sensing (RS) data and global positioning system (GPS) technology which will also be useful for other departments. The GIS-GPS-RS-based system will provide a high precision tool, which can be used for planning, implementation and monitoring almost all the forestry-related activities. It will vastly speed up the decision making process as all required data and other relevant information will be available on the click of a mouse. The first Integrated CAT Plan is being formulated for the Sutlej basin, where projects with aggregate capacity of 6,000-MW are coming up, under a pilot project funded by the World Bank. The task has been assigned to the Winrcok International India (WII) at a cost of Rs 1.80 crore, which has been given 18 months to complete the job. The project will cover over 20,000 sq km of catchment area of the river, which falls within the state. Besides digitisation, the CAT plan will also undergo a shift in focus from civic and vegetative measures to sustainable livelihoods to provide a lasting solution to the problem of soil erosion. Issues- change in land use, switchover to environment-friendly crop system, plantation of most suitable forest species and other related aspect will also be taken care of. Hitherto, the CAT plans were being implemented in piecemeal in the catchments of various projects without any focus. The World Bank, which funded the 1,500-MW Nathpa Jhakri project and the 412-MW Rampur project, has been unhappy with the tardy implementation of the plans, which has not helped in bringing down the level of silt in the river. It wanted the Forest Department to prepare an integrated plant for the entire catchment so that treatment can be carried out in a systematic manner taking into account the extent of degradation in different pockets. In the next phase, similar integrated CAT plans will be formulated for the Beas, Ravi and Chenab basins where hydroelectric projects are coming up. |
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Himachali food centre to be set up
Shimla, September 23 She underlined the need to improve the occupancy rate in every hotel of the corporation and called for making all out efforts on this front. She also directed the corporation to purchase new buses for tribal areas as per the decision of the government and complete the installation of signages indicating important information and wayside facilities at the earliest. Director of the tourism Arun Kumar informed that modern multi-level car parking concept would be introduced in Shimla and a physical demonstration in this regard would be carried out soon at the state secretariat. A private agency made a presentation regarding the project in the meeting. He said keeping in view popularity of the home stay scheme, training for staff of unit owners was being provided through the district tourism development officers in a phased manner. Till date, 152 home stay units had been registered and about 20 more were in the pipeline. Managing director of the corporation Subhashish Panda said the corporation was working to float new packages for specific groups like students and for occasions like Karva Chauth, New Year and Christmas.
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Karsog to be developed as tourist spot: CM
Mandi, September 23 As soon as his helicopter landed at the school ground, schoolchildren, teachers and the public that had gathered to seek redressal of their grievances were left flabbergasted as the Chief Minister’s jumbo motorcade left for the temples. The motorcade then went to Hotel Tejus for its inauguration, which is owned by Chief Minister’s press secretary Teju Sharma. Dhumal spent 15 minutes there and then drove back to the school ground and flew to Palampur for laying the foundation stone for Sai Technical University. However, during his brief address Dhumal said the government would add tourist infrastructure to develop Karsog as a touris destination, as the place had a potential for both religious and nature tourism in Mandi district. The Chief Minister said the Karsog area would be developed keeping its scenic beauty intact while creating new tourist infrastructure and other amenities in the area. He said the government was boosting tourism by taping new places as tourist destinations, instead of focusing on few selected areas. However, Dhumal did not make any specific announcement as to how exactly the government intends to develop Karsog for tourism. The jumbo entourage accompanying the Chief Minister included Health Minister Rajeev Bindal, Karsog MLA Hira Lal, MLA Rakesh Pathania, HP Milk Federation chairman Mohan Joshi, Food and Civil Supplies Corporation vice-chairman Ram Swarup Sharma and senior officials. However, government spokesperson claimed that the Chief Minister would make another tour to listen to the grievances of people of Karsog. |
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Scheme to boost milk production
Solan, September 23 The scheme, to be launched as a pilot project from Paplota village in Solan district on September 25, would also be launched in Mandi and Sirmaur districts. While boosting milk production, it aims to achieve economic autonomy for the rural women, who would implement it by forming self-help groups (SHGs). The state has already shown immense development in forming nearly 50,000 SHGs, comprising mostly women. NABARD’s official Urvashi Garg said, “About 10,000 SHGs will be targeted initially and they will be converted into micro-enterprises engaged in dairy activity, covering nearly 50,000 rural households. The project will provide livelihood opportunities to the members of the SHGs on a sustainable basis by encouraging to take up various income generating activities.” These SHGs would be made sustainable by imparting training for acquiring and upgrading relevant skills and entrepreneurial abilities. The most significant feature of the scheme would be the aspect relating to infusion of fresh capital through venture capital fund (VCF). Interest-free loans to the extent of 50 per cent of the maximum outlay of Rs 3 lakh would be paid by NABARD. Besides, 50 per cent of the interest charged on the bank loan would be subsidised to the borrowers, who repay on a regular basis and the members of the SHGs out of their savings would contribute 10 per cent of the amount.
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Drug cultivation goes unchecked
Mandi, September 23 This silent support to the illegal cultivation, in turn, has sent the anti-drug drive on the backfoot in state. According to inputs gathered from the intelligence, those involved in anti-cannabis drives in the state, never bother to report cultivation of contraband crops to the police. As a result, the cultivators are encouraged to grow both cannabis and poppy plants and they claim that they are used for medicinal purpose and its fiber is used to make “pulas” (traditional shoes). The smugglers have been exploiting this “traditional” connection to their advantage. Cannabis and opium are smuggled out from the region and fetches them Rs 2,000 per 10 gm for charas and Rs 40,000 a kg for opium, say experts. Former superintendent, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) OP Sharma, who led anti-cannabis drives in Mandi and Kullu till 2006-07, observes that the police has neither booked illegal cultivators nor has it taken action against the departments concerned. The district Forest and Revenue officials have come out with “lame excuses” that they have limited sources to trek to higher reaches and they fear reprisals from the “mafias now entrenched in the remote villages enjoying support of the villagers”. The high powered committee, which met under chairmanship of chief secretary Asha Swrup on July 2 last, has directed that action against drug menace is a collective responsibility of all the government departments. |
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Residents resent tehsil officials’ absence
Kangra, September 23 According to a report, tehsildar Des Raj and naib tehsildar Shamsheer Singh did not attend their office on Saturday on one reason or the other, Sunday and Monday were holidays, and on Tuesday and Wednesday both did not attend their office leaving hundreds of people in a lurch. It was after a protest that mediapersons visited the tehsil office and found people waiting for the officials. Ravi Kumar, resident of Dhaulatpur village, had submitted his documents for an OBC certificate for seeking job in the central government but was tense that he might lose the opportunity due to unexpected delay in getting the certificate. A lot of people were
waiting for land registrations and revenue litigations, but all were tight-lipped. Kangra SDM LR Negi said the Kangra tehsildar was holding two posts- tehsildar and that of temple officer, so he was under pressure. He said Navratra was at peak so he attended the Bajjreshwari temple today and yesterday he attended a meeting of all revenue officers at Dharamsala. He said the naib tehsildar was on tour today. Negi assured that from tomorrow the tehsildar would attend
his office.
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Modern equipment to combat forest fires
Shimla, September 23 Stating this while presiding over a meeting of senior forest officials here today to review preparedness of the department to deal with forest fires, Forest Minister JP Nadda said the joint forest management committees constituted under various schemes would be actively involved in fire prevention and protection of forests. The committees would be provided suitable incentives for assisting the department in preventing and combating forest fires. The forest minister underscored the need to replicate the strategy adopted in Madhya Pradesh in fire management in Himachal Pradesh to effectively protect the fire-prone areas. He said senior officials of the Forest Department would study the Madhya Pradesh model and implement it in the state. A meeting of conservator of forests and DFOs of the fire-prone divisions would be convened in mid October to finalise strategy for the management and control of forest fires. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Vinay Tandon said the Forest Department would be fully geared up to fight and control fire incidents in next season. |
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Lecturer held for rape bid
Solan, September 23 A police team later arrested the scientist from the university premises this morning and was later brought to the local police station for interrogation. The incident reportedly took place in the department yesterday. The girl also made a written complaint to the Head of the Department today after the arrival of the police at the university campus. Though the university officials has been hesitant to give any statement, they said they had set up a women’s cell and such incidents should be reported there for immediate relief. The girl’s father and uncle had also arrived here today to help lodge the complaint. The police has registered a case under Sections 354, 342, 506 of the IPC and investigations were underway.
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Arms banned in Navratra fair
Bilaspur, September 23 This order will remain in force till September 28 in interest of human safety and to maintain law and order during the Ashwin Navratra fair visited by a large number of people at the famous shrine of Naina Devi in the district. ADM has also issued notification to prohibit use of any types of noisy instruments like drums, nagaras, bands mikes and loud speakers etc. in the mela premises till the end of the fair.
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‘VB report a befitting reply’
Hamirpur, September 23 Talking to media persons here today, he said, “Some of my political opponents had conspired against me by unnecessarily dragging my name in Shimla hotel incident but even then I had resigned on moral grounds and had demanded probe through an independent agency to bring out the truth.” Rana said, “The proposed free medical health check-up camp would be held on November 8 in which renowned orthopedic surgeon Dr Raj Bahadur and his team of doctors would examine patients.
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Dagshai school wins Limca contest
Shimla, September 23 The local Dayanand Public School and DAV Senior Secondary Public School ended up as the first and second runners-up, respectively. The winners would now compete against the winners of 74 other schools in the semi-finals. As many as 204 students from 35 schools participated in the competition out of which six schools competed in the city final. General Manager (Franchise Operations), Coca-Cola India, Arun Sharma, presented awards to the winners of Shimla City finals. The top 10 teams with a minimum of two teams from each zone will be selected for the national final. |
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BJP membership drive
Mandi, September 23 Talking to mediapersons here yesterday, he said the party membership drive would be over by October 31 and the party would check that no fraudulent membership is done. The drive will ensure an active membership, he added.
— TNS
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One killed in accident
Kullu, September 23 |
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