Shimla, March 2
Reiterating the resolve of the government to ensure all-round environmentally sustainable development of the state and transparency in governance, Governor Urmila Singh outlined the initiatives taken for the socio-economic uplift of the people, particularly the weaker sections of the society.

Addressing the Vidhan Sabha on the opening day of the Budget Session here today, she said the government had accorded highest priority to effective implementation of development programmes and achieve carbon neutrality by reducing greenhouse gas emission. Special emphasis was being laid on schemes meant for the benefit of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, other backward classes and backward areas. Women empowerment and child welfare had also been given priority and innovative schemes like the Pandit Deen Dayal Kisan-Bagwan Samridhi Yojna and Doodh Ganga Yojna had been launched to create self-employment opportunities.

The government was committed to tap the state’s hydro-power potential of about 23,000 MW, out of which 6,480 MW had already been harnessed through the central, state, joint and private sector.

The plan was to exploit 15,000 MW of the total potential by the end of the 12th Plan. To ensure adequate generation capacity in the public sector, projects of 2,070 MW capacity had been allotted to the Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation and the state power broad.

The main objective of the government was to provide clean, transparent and efficient administration and promptly redress the grievances of the common man. The public grievances redressal mechanism had been strengthened and web-based special software had been made operational in every department for online registration of complaints and their prompt disposal.

The Prashasan Janata Ke Dwar Scheme had also been introduced for the convenience of the people under which the district and subdivisional-level officers hold grievance redressal camps at a place easily accessible for adjoining Panchayats in rural areas.

Information technology was being used on a large scale to improve governance and bring transparency. Major initiatives included setting up of common service centres, short message service (SMS) gateway, state services delivery gateway, state data centre to provide a host of citizen-centric services.

Online monitoring of revenue court cases and smart card-based pension disbursement and other such schemes were being implemented for the convenience of people.

The effort being put on the development front was yielding results as evident from the fact that the state recorded a growth rate of 7.4 per cent during the year 2008-2009. The government was committed and had taken effective steps to generate additional financial resources, she said. 

Manali, March 2
The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has launched a snow-clearing operation on the 474 km Manali-Leh highway, one of the highest road in the world, near Gulaba, 16 km from here, today.

Commander, 38, BRTF, (GREF), SK Doon said efforts were being made to open the 13,050 ft high Rohtang Pass, the gateway to Lahaul-Spiti, by the second week of April if weather conditions in the region remain dry.

He said with the early start of the snow-clearing operations the road up to Sarchu was also likely to be thrown open by the last week of April.

He further added that three independent snow-clearing teams were deployed for opening the 222 km long Manali-Sarchu section of the road with help of three snow cutters as well as other modern machines. The first team from Manali was clearing snow near Gulaba, while the second team was clearing snow between Tandi-Jespa. The third team was moving from Jespa towards the Baralacha Pass.

The early opening of the Rohtang Pass for vehicular traffic would bring great relief to the people of Lahaul-Spiti.

The road up to Kothi, 13 km from here, had been opened to vehicular traffic. Hundreds of tourists from all over the country have started moving to Kothi to have a glimpse of the snow-capped mountains.

Kangra, March 2
Dr RP Government Medical College at Tanda has been granted approval for postgraduate classes in three subjects from the coming session, which includes gynaecology, skin and medicines.

Disclosing this Health Minister Rajeev Bindal said the Medical Council of India’s (MCI) approval for 21 seats in 10 subjects were sought, however, the MCI had granted approval for five seats in three subjects.

He said two seats each had been approved for medicines and gynaecology and one seat for skin and VD.

Regarding upgrade of DRPGMC to AIIMS-level, he said a central team would inspect the college shortly so that the Government of India grants Rs 125 crore and state government would contribute Rs 25 crore for the purpose hopefully by the end of current financial year.

He said the MCI had granted approval to eight more PG seats at the IGMC, Shimla, taking the number of PG seats in the college to 70. He said one seat each in microbiology, community medicine, anatomy and orthopaedics and two each in pathology and radiotherapy.

He said in the beginning there were only 39 PG seats in the state as compared to 75 seats now.

Principal of the Tanda college Dr Anil Chouhan said the approval would prove as a milestone in the development of the college as a centre of excellence in medical teaching and patient care.

Dharamsala, March 2
Sandeep Vaid, a poor farmer from Dohag Gummer village of Kangra district, is a harassed lot. The only source of his livelihood, a new tractor, was forcibly taken away by some influential persons from the Mubarakpur area of Una district six months ago. However, he has been shuttling between the Dehra and Amb police stations to get his case registered.

The people, who have committed the crime, have been allegedly moving scot- free and using Sandeep’s tractor for the past six months.

No action has not been taken in the matter despite Chief Minister PK Dhumal’s order. Sandeep had brought his plea to the notice of the CM during a public hearing at Dehra. The sources here said Amb police authorities, allegedly under political pressure, have deliberately failed to act in the matter.

Sandeep, while talking to The Tribune, alleged that he sold his old tractor to a Mubarakpur resident for
Rs 1.65 lakh.

“In the agreement for sale, I clearly told the buyer that the tractor had been financed. With the money I got from the sale deed, I purchased a new tractor. The remaining amount for new tractor was financed from the Kangra Cooperative bank,” he said.

However, the Mubarakpur-based buyer of old tractor further sold the tractor to a Punjab resident concealing the facts that the tractor had been financed. However, since the tractor was financed, finance company officials took away the tractor from the third party. The third buyer got a case registered.

Sandeep alleged that on August 27, he, along with his helper, went to Mubarakpur to get the trolley of his new tractor painted. While he was coming back, the Mubarakpur resident, who had bought his old tractor, attacked him. They forcibly took away his tractor and kept them in illegal confinement for two days, he alleged.

Ever since his release, Sandeep had been trying to get back his tractor. He has been running from pillar to post to get a case registered against the accused. However, it is strange even the CM’s intervention has failed to deliver justice to him.

Sandeep alleged that he was being forced to pay the instalments to bank.

Kangra SP Atul Fulzele, when contacted, said the case was transferred to the Amb police by the district magistrate initially over the question of jurisdiction. He, however, assured to take action in the matter.

Una SP Santosh Patial, when contacted, also assured action in the matter.

Ner Chowk (Mandi), March 2
Three employees of Nagarjun Company, which is executing the Rs 750 crore ESIC medical college here, were injured after over 200 tipper operators, including their drivers and conductors, today forced their way into the company’s office that resulted in a scuffle inside the CGM office of the company.

Members of the Balh valley Berojgar Labour Cooperative Society, which runs the tippers that supply sand and bajri, and the company entered into a scuffle and levelled charges and counter charges against each other.

The company later lodged an FIR at the Balh police station against the tipper operators levelling charges of creating trouble.

President of the Balh valley society Sanjiv Guleria said the company was under weighing sand and bajri being supplied to them and was not paying them after 15 days as per norms.

CGM (Nagarjun) Mahender Gupta said they forced their way into the office and beat six employees of the company and a guest. He claimed that they were supplying “sand and bajri of substandard quality without procuring the mandatory M-form from the Mining Department”. “We have set up our quality control office after they supplied substandard quality to us, which was rejected for construction,” he added.

Gupta further said the activists have been beating the store employees as the sand and bajri contain a lot of raw earth. “We had a meeting with the Mining Department and it is insisting on the M-form from the suppliers,” he added.

Mining officer Punit Guleria said the M-form was mandatory for sand and bajri suppliers for legal supply of raw material. “We have written to the company to show them the M-form from each supplier,” he added.

The SP said the police had registered an FIR against the members of the tippers union, as there was a scuffle in which three employees were injured. No arrest has been made so far, the SP added.

Bilaspur, March 2
Holi revelry suddenly turned into grief yesterday as a jeep, said to be driven on high speed and loaded with 12 students, suddenly skidded and fell into a 20 feet gorge near Vyas Hospital on the outskirts of town on the Bilaspur-Chandpur road. Ish Sankhyan, son of retired principal Sada Ram Sankhyan, was killed while seven other students were injured seriously.

Two students who were injured seriously - Nishant Kapoor (left arm crushed under the vehicle) and Sunish Gupta (head injury) - were rushed to the PGI, Chandigarh, after receiving first aid at the regional hospital here while five others - Ankur Thakur, Anshul Sud, Rahul, Varun and Anish Gupta- were admitted to the hospital with various types of injuries and are said to be out of danger.

The deceased was a class XII student of local DAV School where students and staff gathered to mourn his death. They observed a two-minute silence in his memory today.

Shimla, March 2
Chief Minister PK Dhumal today presented the first and the last batch of supplementary demands for grants aggregating Rs 941.95 crore for the current financial year in the Vidhan Sabha.

Out of this, Rs 236.77 crore is under plan schemes, Rs 252.65 crore under centrally sponsored schemes and Rs 452.53 crore under non-plan expenditure.

Major expenditure proposed under plan schemes included Rs 7.83 crore for re-construction and maintainance of roads and bridges, Rs 33.03 crore for the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna, Rs 43.64 crore for capital works tribal areas, Rs 14.37 crore fro the HPMC, HIMFED and Palampur agriculture university, and Rs 12 crore for National Institute of Fashion Technology, Kangra.

Under the centrally sponsored schemes, Rs 143.11 crore has been provided for the Swajal Dhara scheme, Rs 32.61 crore for the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission, Rs 31.33 crore for special nutrition scheme and Rs 13.99 crore for seed distribution and macro management of agriculture. 

Hamirpur, March 2
The Nadaun police has registered a case of abduction of a girl against one Ajay Kumar on the complaint of the mother of the girl.

Nirmala Devi, a resident of Madhera, has complained to the police that her daughter, Raj Kumari, studying in plus two, had been abducted by the accused on March 1.

The police has registered a case and started search for the girl and the accused. — TNS

Mandi, March 2
Junior engineer KC Chaudhary posted at Hurling under the PWD division at Kaza in Lahaul-Spiti was sent to police remand till March 4. He was arrested under the Prevention of Corruption Act by a team of the state Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau on February 25 after it caught him red-handed accepting Rs 1 lakh cash from Kaza-based contractor Dawa Lama. The team later raided the JE’s residence and found Rs 1.4 lakh in cash from there as well, vigilance officials said.

Chaudhary was produced before the judge on February 27 and was sent to police remand till March 4.

The JE was the second big catch by the vigilance in the Mandi central range. In fact, the vigilance team had also arrested three PWD engineers (an executive engineer, SDO and JE), who were on their way from Spiti to back home. They were arrested when the team acting on a tip-off zeroed in on them at Bahang, near Manali, and arrested them in October last. Later, the government put them under suspension.