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MLAs urged to declare source of income
Foul play suspected in leopard case
No terror link in firing range mishap: CM
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Tourists to HP cross 1 cr milestone
Co-operative Society
HPU reserves seat for single girl child
Blast victims cremated
Freedom fighter dead
Cane-charge flayed
Technical festival begins
2 killed, 3 hurt in mishaps
Drug peddler arrested
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MLAs urged to declare source of income
Solan, March 11 Addressing mediapersons here today, Awasthi said though the elected representatives were role models for society, their credibility was declining due to several cases of corruption surfacing every now and then. Instead of being role models, fingers of suspicion were being raised on them and this was detrimental to society in our country which prided itself to be the biggest democracy in the world, he added. Illustrating his point, Awasthi said it was the high values set by leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Lal Bahadur Shastri and others that had laid the foundation of democracy in our country. While there was a severe erosion of principles, this step of voluntary declaration of source of income by the elected representatives would help reinstate faith of the common man in the political system. He said the politicians should endeavour to work for uplift of society and not make politics their bread and butter. Since people chose the elected representatives they He urged other elected representatives to follow suit and come forward to declare their source of income, which should be updated every year.
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Foul play suspected in leopard case
Shimla, March 11 After completion of the inquiry conducted by KS Thakur, conservator, (Wildlife), it has been recommended that action be taken against the animal attendant and the forest guard who too The inquiry has held the chowkidar, animal attendant who fed the two leopards, and the forest guard responsible for negligence, which resulted in the animals venturing out of their cages which had not been locked. “It is clearly a case of negligence by all those who failed in their duty. However, at the same time, foul play cannot be ruled out as some facts have come to light,” said Thakur. He said the lock, which is put on the cage door, was found at some distance from the cage, which hinted that there was a possibility that someone could have played mischief. It was also found that the cage had a very heavy sliding door which could not be pushed by the leopard even if there was no lock. As such, it is being suspected that there could be foul play. Although a police complaint has been filed and the statements of the staff recorded, but now the Forest Department is keen that the foul play angle is probed into afresh. The department has taken serious note of the incident in which two leopards strayed out of their cage on February 27. It was due to the promptness shown by veterinary officer Dr Sandeep Ratan and others that they were tranquilised and put back in the cage before they could stray into the adjoining inhabited area. The inquiry report has also suggested some long-term measures including fencing of the entire area and strengthening of staff position. The department has already initiated the process of getting automatic locks installed in the cages which would get locked on its own once the animal attendant steps out after putting the food and cleaning the cage. There are seven leopards and 11 brown bears at the Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre at Tutikandi.
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No terror link in firing range mishap: CM
Shimla, March 11 Replying to the call-attention motion of Sanjay Chaudhary, he said bodies of the victims were found in Brahmanu Galu jungle, about 1.5 km from the Kachhiyari firing range. The range is used by defence and paramilitary forces for firing and during practice firing, some projectiles, which landed in the adjoining forests, remained unexploded. Three unexploded 51 mm mortar shells and three empty shells were found at the site. It was observed during preliminary investigation that the boys had gone to the jungle where they collected unexploded shells and while they were trying to extract metal, three shells exploded. Local Army authorities at Yol camp were informed about the incident and requested to provide expertise for defusion of unexploded shells. Efforts were on to trace the origin of shells so that the Army unit which used it could be identified to help fix responsibility. A case had been registered under Section 30-A of the IPC. He said the government would take up the matter with Army authorities and the Centre for redefining the firing range set up in 1977 as many houses had come up around it. The matter regarding grant of compensation to the families of the victims would also be pursued at appropriate level. Regarding the delay in conducting the post-mortem, he said the doctors at the zonal hospital took extra precaution as it was a case of explosion and X-ray of the bodies was to be carried out from different angles. The entire process was videographed. However, he said if it was found that the delay was unwarranted, responsibility would be fixed and action taken against the doctor concerned.
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Tourists to HP cross 1 cr milestone
Shimla, March 11 Giving this information to the House during Question Hour, Chief Minister PK Dhumal said the number of domestic tourists went up to 1,10,36,572 from 93,72,697 in 2008. The number of visitors from abroad also increased modestly from 3,76,736 to 4,00,583 over the period. The government had planned to introduce helicopter service to attract high-end tourists to 12 places in the interior pockets, including Prasher lake (Mandi), Nauradhar and Kolar (Sirmour), Tarkwari (Hamirpur), Sundil (Jubbal), Nako (Kinnaur), Chokhang and Dalang (Lahual-Spiti),Dharwas (Chamba) and Sahali, Holi and Sechu (all Pangi-Chamba). The plan to introduce heli-taxis had been delayed as there was only a single tender in response to bids invited by the government. It is now considering to formulate a new scheme for the purpose. The Centre had sanctioned Rs 23.45 crore for development of various tourist circuits in the state out of which Rs 18.76 crore had been released. The House adopted a private member resolution moved by Roop Singh Thakur of the BJP, urging the Centre to increase the quota of various commodities being supplied through public distribution system to help check inflation. Participating in the debate on resolution, Dhumal said the main reason for the state receiving less quota was that the Cnetre had put the number of APL (above poverty line families) at 7.43 lakh as against an actual number of 10.84 lakh. The same ration was being supplied at different rates under various schemes and the open market supply scheme had not helped to improve the situation. Replying to the debate, the Civil Supplies Minister said quota must be increased and should be supplied at the rate at which foodgrain under drought relief were provided to the state. Earlier, moving the motion, Roop Singh said the Congress government at the Centre had become synonymous with price rise. In contrast, the NDA regime managed to hold the price line throughout, he added.
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Co-operative Society
Hamirpur, March 11 Kishori Lal, a member of the society, has filed a formal complaint at the Sadar police station, Hamirpur, against former president of the society Harnam Singh, secretary Surjeet Singh and assistant secretary Subhash Chand, on the basis of which the police has filed an FIR. The cooperative society had been in the news for quite some time as its members had been alleging that management of the society had taken several decisions without taking them into confidence. The general house meeting of the society had even voted out its president a year ago over various allegations after a few members had raised a banner of revolt against him. The charges on which the FIR has been lodged include continuing as president of the society despite being a defaulter for loan of Rs 10 lakh taken from the society. The former president and the secretary have also been charged with forging document to waive off loans, misappropriation of funds by claiming false TA and other expenditure etc. Surjeet Singh and Subhash Chand have also been accused of investing Rs 3,80,000 with an investment company without the knowledge of members through the daughter-in-law of the president to benefit her through commission from the deposits. |
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HPU reserves seat for single girl child
Shimla, March 11 Vice-Chancellor Sunil Kumar Gupta said the creation and reservation of one supernumerary seat for single girl child had been done to check incidence of female foeticide. He added that the notification in this regard had been issued by the HPU yesterday on the occasion of 100 years of International Women’s Day. He informed that since the preparation and printing of handbook information of various entrance and merit-based courses was in progress, instructions had been issued to incorporate this information in the handbooks. The undergraduate professional courses for which this reservation would apply include BBA, BCA, BALLB (five years), BTech and BTA for the year 2010-2011. |
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Blast victims cremated
Kangra, March 11 Meanwhile, Kangra SDPO Jeet Singh said as a large number of live shells were still scattered in the firing range area and the police had sought help of Army experts to defuse these shell, there was lukewarm response from the Army and no official was deputed for the purpose. |
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Freedom fighter dead
Bilaspur, March 11 Thakur was cremated at the cremation ghat of the village on the banks of Seer khud with full state honours. The state government was represented by tehsildar Sidhartha Acharya who also handed over an amount of Rs 5,000 fixed by the state government as its contribution for performing the last rites of a freedom fighter. He is survived by his wife and a son. |
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Cane-charge flayed
Shimla, March 11 Secretary of the HP State Committee Rakesh Singha said the manner in which people were lathi-charged in Rampur reflected the fascist nature of the state government. “It is unfortunate that journalists covering the demonstration have also been lathi-charged and their cameras broken,” he alleged. Singha demanded unconditional release of 13 arrested leaders, including Ashok Negi, a member of the Rampur local committee of the party and free medical treatment of those who had received grievous injuries. The CPM leader said the BJP regime had become intolerant towards public protest against price rise and hike in bus fares. He said such acts of the government would only strengthen the resolve of the party to fight against the hike for which protests would be held all over the state on March 20. —
TNS |
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Technical festival begins
Hamirpur, March 11 Dr TP Shashi Kumar, former scientist at ISRO, graced the ceremony
by his presence. The function began with lighting of a lamp followed by Saraswati Vandana and a classical dance presented by Srusti Dash, a student
of third year. TP Sharma gave a lecture on culture and technology in the inaugural session. Media coordinator of the event Manish Bhatt said about 150 students from various technical colleges had reached the
campus to exhibit their technical proficiency. |
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2 killed, 3 hurt in mishaps
Kangra, March 11 District police chief Atul Fulzele said a person was killed on the spot and another was injured when the motorcycle they were riding dashed against a parapet drum at Kaloah on the Nadun-Ranker road late last evening. The deceased was identified as Sanjeev Kumar of Ranker Banda village. Injured Vijay Kumar of the same village was admitted at the CHC at Dehra. In another accident, driver of the truck (HP29B-2284) Sanjay Kumar, a resident of Chanjara village, died on the spot when his truck rolled down from the road at Bhulana village yesterday. The SSP said Surender Kumar, a resident of Bhadoon, was seriously injured when the motorcycle (HP37A-6821) he was riding dashed against a truck (HP33-3935) near a petrol pump at Nagrota Bagwan. He was admitted to the Tanda medical college. In another mishap, Rajesh Kumar, a resident of Ranker bar, was injured when two motorcycles collided at Katholi last night. He was also admitted to the TMC.
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Drug peddler arrested
Mandi, March 11 The police was on patrol near the bus stand at Karsog when it caught Lal Chand. Further investigation was in progress, the police said. |
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