|
|
|
|
Hectic lobbying on for post of mayor
Cong counters CM’s raw deal accusation
Cong to target CM over corruption
Medal owner favours Army museum
Increase in green cover insignificant
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Society Funds
Conveyance allowance not revised since ’84
Shali temple to get uplift
Bus operator accused of fraud
Patwari held with charas
Two booked
14 fined for smoking
|
|
Hectic lobbying on for post of mayor
Shimla, December 2 Throughout the day 15 Congress councillors in the House held meetings at their own level while efforts were also made to seek the blessings of the senior Congress leaders. A sizeable number of the councillors met Union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh to seek his guidance. The election for the post of mayor in the Congress- dominated Shimla MC is scheduled to take place on December 4. With the two and a half-year term of the present mayor, Narender Kataria being over, the post is now reserved for a woman councillor from the general category under the rotation system. “Virbhadra Singh has asked all of us to sit down and arrive at a consensus on the two names for the post of mayor and deputy mayor,” said a councilor. He added that the union minister was of the strong opinion that democratic process must be followed and the person who has the support of maximum councillors be fielded from the Congress side. With there being no unanimity on the issue so far, the BJP is also eyeing the post of mayor. Even though the Congress has a complete majority with 15 councillors in the 25- member MC, the BJP is hopeful that some of the members would help them in gaining control over the post of mayor. The BJP has eight councilors and the CPM two in the present House, which will have a woman mayor for the second two and a half-year tenure. Madhu Sood, councillor from Kanlog ward, has emerged as the front-runner for the post with names of Seema Chauhan (Kaithu) and Usha Lakhanpal (Boileauganj) also doing the rounds. The Shimla MC, one of the oldest in the country has till date had only one woman mayor, Jaini Prem from the Congress, almost a decade back, when the post had to go to a woman councillor from the reserved category. The names of Harish Janartha and Jatinder Chaudhary are doing the round for the post of deputy mayor, which is already held by the former. Even as hectic lobbying is on in the Congress camp a lot will depend on the senior party leaders, including Virbhadra Singh, the HPCC chief and CLP leader. |
||
|
Cong counters CM’s raw deal accusation
Shimla, December 2 In separate statements, the two leaders pointed out that during his earlier tenure as Chief Minister from 1998 to 2003, Dhumal did not make any effort to resolve the issue even though BJP-led governments were in place at the Centre and the neighbouring states. It was the Congress government that took the matter to the Apex Court but the Dhumal government even failed to pursue the case in court. Dhumal had accused the Congress and the UPA government of handing out a raw deal to the state in response to the contents of the affidavit filed by the Centre in the Supreme Court in the case pertaining to state’s share in the BBMB projects. Virbhadra Singh said
the Congress government ensured 25 per cent equity in the Nathpa Jhakri project and 30 per cent in the Rampur project, whereas the Dhumal government surrendered the state’s vital interests in projects assigned to the National Hydro Power Corporation and the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC). Kaul Singh drew attention to the fact that during the previous term of the UPA, the state received an assistance of over Rs 25,000 crore, whereas during the NDA rule, the state got only Rs 13,000 crore. Not only that, the UPA government had sanctioned many prestigious institutions like the central university, IIT, ESIC medical college, National Institute of Fashion Design, hotel management institute, three India Reserve Battalion, Bhanupali-Bilaspur rail line, Rohtang tunnel and crore of rupees under NREGA and JNURM and other central schemes. Instead of being grateful to the UPA regime, Dhumal is making baseless charges just to divert attention of the people away from his own failures, they alleged. |
||
|
Cong to target CM over corruption
Shimla, December 2 The Congress Legislative Party (CLP), which met under the chairmanship of its leader Vidya Stokes, here today, discussed issues to be raised during the session. The party decided to take Dhumal to task for changing stance to focus attention away from his failures. Irregularities in utilisation of central funds, particularly under NREGA, opening of private universities, opening floodgates for outsiders by grating permission under Section 118 of the Land Reform and Tenancy Act, are some of the issues likely to be raised. |
||
|
Medal owner favours Army museum
Shimla, December 2 Himself an ex-Army officer, Nath looks at the whole controversy as a godsend opportunity to do something to save the widows of gallantry medal awardees from leading an impoverished life. “I am, in fact, glad that Marion Hebblethwaite, author of a 12-volume series on lives of George Cross awardees who first took notice of the auction, and you were the whistle blowers. Now we must see something good comes out of it,” he wrote in an e-mail to Shakti Singh Chandel, a retired IAS officer, who pursued the matter with the state authorities. “I will make sure that the George Cross gets back to Himachal but it is more important that Brahmi Devi, widow of Naik Kirpa Ram who was awarded the medal in 1946, does not have to remain in an impoverished condition for the rest of her life and that she is not exploited by unscrupulous people if a large sum comes into her hands,” Nath pointed out. He unfolded a plan according to which in case the medal was cleared for auction after investigation, the Himachal government buys it at the current international market value in consultation with the DNW auction house. The medal is then returned to Brahmi Devi, who can keep it as long as she wishes. Afterwards, it will be transferred to a proper museum dedicated to the brave sons and daughters of the state in perpetuity. If a respectable national Army museum is created in future in Delhi, its transfer there may be considered, he pointed out. The money paid by the state government after deducting the DNW auction house commission (unless they wish to donate it), be put into a charitable trust fund the interest from which will go towards supplementing Brahmi Devi’s meagre pension as long as she is alive. Thereafter, the interest may be used to help other armed forces widows of Himachal or other states of India who are facing financial hardships, he added. Overwhelmed by Nath’s gesture, Chandel said he would pursue his plan in league with Marion Hebblethwaite. At the very outset, he would take up the matter for setting up a museum in honour of brave soldiers to help preserve the rich Army heritage of the state where serving in the services had been a tradition. |
||
|
Increase in green cover insignificant
Shimla, December 2 The latest biennial Forest Survey Report-2009 based on satellite data from October to December, 2006, reveals that there has been no change in the area under Very Dense Forest (VDF), which stood at 3224 sq km but Moderately Dense Forest (MDF) declined by 3 sq km from 6,386 sq km to 6,383 sq km which is a matter of concern as the tree density is over 40 per cent in such forests. An increase of 5 sq km has been recorded in open forest (OF) from 5,056 sq km to 5,061 sq km which do not contribute much towards preserving the environment because of low density ranging from 10 to 40 per cent. The net forest cover increases by just 2 sq km from 14,666 sq km to 14,668 sq km. As percentage of the total geographical area of the state the forest cover stands at 26.35 per cent and if the area under tree cover outside forests, which comes to 638 sq km, is also taken into account, the green cover increases to 27.50 per cent. However, after excluding the areas above the altitude of 4000 m, beyond which trees could not be grown, the percentage of green cover increases substantially to 44 per cent. The other hill states which encompass high-altitude areas where green cover has increased due to new methodology are Jammu and Kashmir (12 to 33 per cent), Arunachal Pradesh (82 to 88 per cent), Sikkim (46 to 84 per cent) and Uttarakhand (47 to 59 per cent). The new methodology will help states in securing a good amount as green bonus which will be a part of the part of the recommendations of the 13th finance commission devolutions to encourage and reward states for preserving the forests. The decline of 3 sq km in MDF has been recorded in Sirmour (92 sq km) and Solan (1
sq km) districts where most of the new industries have come up after the grant of the central industrial package to the state. |
||
|
Society Funds
Hamirpur, December 2 In fact, many of these members claim their association with the Chief Minister and the ruling party in the state and all of them hail from Bamsan Assembly segment, represented by Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, in the state Assembly. The KCS, which had been facing allegation of irregularities in the functioning of the society marred by several alleged misdeeds by its office bearers and influential members, is under the scanner of the police and the state cooperative department for quite some time. Moreover, secretary of the society is in 14 days judicial custody on charges of burning the record of the society. The affairs of this society had also become a tool in the hands of the ruling BJP and Opposition Congress to browbeat each other as the arrested president of the society, Rattan Chand Dogra, is also the block Congress president, making the task of district police very difficult. Compounding the problems of the district police is the audit conducted by special auditor of the cooperative department, which had found irregularities in 357 loans sanctioned to its members with only 22 loan cases found in order. Special auditor of the department JC Jaswal said, “In scrutiny of these loan cases, misappropriation of about Rs 1.63 crore has been detected and loans worth Rs 39 lakh are still under scanner.” According to sources, if misappropriations in loans had been detected, then the police would have to arrest more than 100 members in this case. However, the police authorities maintained that they would proceed in this case according to the law and would make arrests
if required as per legal provision. |
||
|
Conveyance allowance not revised since ’84
Dharamsala, December 2 Physically challenged employees are treated as special category by the government, realising the difficulty they face in reaching office. KS Verma, president of the physically challenged employees union of Kangra district, said in 1984 they were getting conveyance allowance of 5 per cent of the basic pay subject to maximum limit of Rs 84. However, since then the maximum limit of the allowance
has not been revised by the government. The result is while the basic pay of employees has increased many times they are still getting conveyance allowance of just Rs 84 per month. The amount is paltry, and does no way compensate even fraction of the amount physically challenged employees have to spend while discharging their official duty, he alleged. The physical challenged employees alleged that in central government the allowance being paid to similar category of employees has gone up to Rs 1000 per month. The affected employees also told The Tribune that they had given a representation regarding their demand to the Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal during his tour to Dharamsala. The
CM had assured to redress our grievances. The sources here explained that their conveyance allowance has not been revised as the Himachal government follows Punjab pattern in terms of giving pay and allowance. Since the allowance has not been revised in Punjab, so it can’t be done here. However, the present BJP government in the state had broken the practice by giving interim relief even before the Punjab government.
|
||
|
Shali temple to get uplift
Shimla, December 2 This was stated by Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal while addressing a public meeting at Dharogara in Sunni after inaugurating the road linking the place with Malgi Pul, constructed at a cost of Rs 1.26 crore. He said exploring new areas for promoting tourism was a priority of the government as it would generate employment and self-employment avenues for the local youth on their doorstep. He said Rs 20 lakh would be spent on creation of various facilities at Shali temple peak to facilitate visitors to the area. Dhumal said Pandit Deen Dayal Kisan Baagwan Samridhi Yojna, aimed at motivating farmers to diversify from traditional crops, and the Rs 300 crore Doodh Ganga project, would help improve the economic status of farmers. He appealed to the people to derive full benefits from these schemes. The Chief Minister said 672 college cadre lecturers were being recruited to fill vacancies in government degree colleges of the state, thereby bringing about qualitative improvement in higher education. The Chief Minister assured that various link roads would be constructed, if the land was provided free of cost by residents of the area, in a time-bound manner. He also announced Rs 60 lakh for the construction of roads in the area and drinking water supply and irrigation schemes. |
||
|
Bus operator accused of fraud
Mandi, December 2 According to police sources, the FIR was registered against the private bus operator at the Mandi police station today. The RTO has filed a complaint against the operator for allegedly plying buses on various routes submitting fabricated affidavits, the police added. Preliminary police investigation revealed that the operator fudged the records and made due statements on plying and non-plying of his buses for the past few years. “Often he showed that his buses were off-roads but he had been operating them without paying a penny to the RTO,” the sources claimed. Mandi RTO PR Verma, when contacted, said the case relating to Baniyal was an old one and the complaint was filed against the operator. “We have examined the case and found the loss being caused to the state exchequer,” he added. Meanwhile, the operator claimed that he had not plied the buses and hence was not liable to pay the tax to the
RTO. |
||
|
Patwari held with charas
Mandi, December 2 The arrest of the patwari from Ani area, which has become the latest hub for charas and opium smugglers in Kullu district, has exposed a nexus between drug peddlers and revenue field staff, revealed police sources. Patwaris avoid reporting detection of contraband’s illegal cultivation to the police just because certain ambitious patwaris are hand in glove the smugglers, the sources added. In the first case, Uttam Chand, a patwari posted at Patwar circle Jalodi, Ani, Kullu, was arrested by the police at Gadda nullah on the highway yesterday when he was coming from Gohar carrying 3 kg charas and 1 kg opium. The police had laid naka and nabbed him with the consignment. In the second case, the police arrested one Nank Chand, resident of Sojha, Karsog, and recovered 9 kg charas from him. The police was on a patrol duty and during a routine check, the accused was held with the contraband. In the third case, the police searched an Indica car (PB11L-0002) coming from Pandoh side and recovered 1 kg charas from the possession of one Pargat Singh, resident of Raipur, Anandpur Sahib, Ropar. Driver of the car and another occupant Rohit Gautam were also nabbed. |
||
|
Two booked
Nurpur, December 2 According to information, the licensing authority had received their driving licences for verification sought by an advocate of Dharamsala against their insurance claims filed before an insurance company. According to Nurpur SDM, when these licences were verified they were found fake and fabricated.
— 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 | |
