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Cong seeks Governor’s intervention
CAG raises doubts over forestry programme
PWD to launch special drive at Rohru
A day after, Cong stages another walkout
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Transfer ban lifted
Kings XI players flout security norms
Registrar cancels PhD enrolment of student
Exam centres shifted
ATM cheat nabbed
Doc held for graft
Seminar on Mahabharata
Suhi fair ends
NHPC official commits suicide
Four booked for abduction
Youth booked
126 sleepers of wood seized
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Cong seeks Governor’s intervention in CD case
Shimla, April 13 Not willing to let go the corruption allegations against BJP MP, the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) led by its leader Vidya Stokes submitted a memorandum to the Governor seeking a CBI probe into the VCD allegedly showing Kashyap accepting money. They also urged her to order a judicial probe into the lathi charge on the Congress workers outside the assembly. The Congress legislators led by Stokes and HPCC chief Kaul Singh Thakur after staging a walkout from the assembly drove straight to the Raj Bhawan to seek the intervention of the government. The CLP also adopted a resolution condemning the lathi charge on its workers after they had dispersed. Interestingly, though the Congress since yesterday had been demanding an inquiry into the lathi charge, the opposition party today decided to once again raise the corruption allegations against BJP MP from Shimla. “More than three months have passed but still no action has been taken with regard to the VCD in which Kashyap is seen accepting money from a private party to help them in the setting up of an educational institution,” they said. The Congress said the Chief Minister too had given a clean chit to Kashyap when the issue was raised in the House and had not even sent if for forensic analysis. “We have serious doubts about the motives of the government as it has adopted different yardstick in seeking forensic reports in respect of such CDs from various laboratories,” they said. Stokes said since the CD involved an MP, it was only a CBI inquiry which would help establish truth. “We have been elected by people to raise public issues so how can we just sit and not raise issues in the assembly but unfortunately the government is not willing to listen to us,” she said. “The Congress will continue its protest against hike in bus fares, water and power tariff, imposition of entry tax and land mafia which was having a field day under the BJP rule,” she said. Thakur said the Congress was fully united and the CLP and HPCC would jointly take all these issues to the public. “We also issue a warning to all those officials who were acting like BJP agents that action will be taken against them when the Congress comes to power,” he said. |
CAG raises doubts over forestry programme
Shimla, April 13 The report (civil) for the year ending on March 31, 2009, presented in the Vidhan Sabha today, has brought out that the area brought under forests from 1980 to 2006-07 was 6,807 sq km, which was 510 sq km more than the cultivable area actually available for plantation. According to the annual plan for 2005-06, the cultivable area was 20,657 sq km instead of 17,013 sq km depicted in the State Forest Policy (SFP)-2005. Area under good forests and open forests was shown as 10,429 sq km and 3,931 sq km, respectively, (as against 8,928 sq km and 5,441 sq km, respectively, in the SFP), leaving a balance cultivable area of 6,297 sq km. It also indicted the Forest Department for its failure to complete settlement proceedings in the state even after a lapse of more than three decades, with only 4,485 sq km forest area demarcated so far and remaining 11,033 sq km still not demarcated. Funds provided for the NHRM were not utilised and during the 2005-09 period, 61 to 75 per cent of the total allocation remained non-utilised with the mission director. Perspective plan and district health action plans were not prepared, community participation was also not ensured in the planning process and village health and sanitation committees were not formed. Acute shortage of manpower in all health institutions affected availability of health services. None of the 10 community health centres, planned to be upgraded to first referral units during the period, was made functional up to May 2009 due to non-appointment of specialists and other staff. Only 17,053 hectares of land could be brought under irrigation as against the target of 77,880 hectare over the 2005-09 period. Even the irrigation potential, created under various schemes, was not being utilised optimally and the shortfall utilisation ranged between 56 and 100 per cent. |
PWD to launch special drive at Rohru
Shimla, April 13 He informed Khushi Ram Balnatah, who raised the issue during Question Hour, that out of 24 roads, which were under construction, 18 had overrun the stipulated completion period. The department had penalised six contractors and in 12 other cases the work was delayed for various other reasons. He said he had been personally monitoring the progress of works under the scheme and would direct the officers to complete the roads under a special drive. He informed that Rs 48 crore had been sanctioned under the scheme for various roads, which was a huge amount. Answering another question, he informed the House that from January 1, 2008, to January 31, 2010, sanctions had been received for 513 road and bridge projects, including 213 under PMGSY, 249 (NABARD), 39 (state road project), 11 (central road fund and one (national highway). Detailed projects reports had been prepared for all sanctioned roads and bridges and 130 roads required forest clearance. Tenders had been awarded in respect of 167 works. He also informed that detailed project reports for 777 roads pertaining to 2007-08 to February 15, 2010, period were awaited. Industries Minister Kishan Kapoor informed the House that 914 investors were allotted 23,54,867 sq m of land in the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial area. Out of this 24 units had closed down and 15 such units were not utilising the allotted land for any purpose, while financial institutions had taken over the land of seven units which had failed to repay loans. In two cases, the premises had been rented out for commercial purposes. In a written reply, Chief Minister PK Dhumal stated that 105 ministers and officials went on foreign tour between January, 2008, and February 15, 2010. |
A day after, Cong stages another walkout
Shimla, April 13 Leader of the Opposition Vidya Stokes was on her legs as soon as the House assembled, pointing out that the police was refusing to lodge an FIR in connection with the lathi charge and no action had been taken against the driver of the vehicle which crushed Youth Congress leader during the April 9 rally. Congress men were being victimised by implicating them in false cases. Worse, party MLAs were not being given fair opportunity to raise such issues in the House, she said. A number of starred questions were converted to “un-starred” questions and debate on drought and increase in water charges was also not allowed, she added. In such a situation, the party members had no option but to leave the House, after which the entire group walked out. Subsequently, Speaker Tulsi Ram gave his ruling that the issue the Congress wanted to raise did not fall under rule 67 and he had allowed it under rule 62. Minister for Parliamentary Affairs JP Nadda said the walkout was pre-planned as evident from the fact that the Congress members did not even wait for the ruling of the Speaker on their adjournment notice. He said their only objective was to obstruct smooth conduct of proceedings. Chief Minister PK Dhumal termed the conduct of the Congress members as condemnable and said they had lowered the dignity of the House which had maintained high level of debate all through. The Congress was a party without leadership, lacked issues and even had no intention of discussing burning issues as was expected of the opposition in a democratic set up, he said. It had alleged that the FIR against the Chopal MLA was registered after the notice of breach of privilege given by him but subsequently they settled the issue. Similarly, Kaul Singh and Vidya Stokes got the police barricade near the Vidhan Sabha removed on the plea that they had to submit amendments just to pave way for workers’ entry. |
Transfer ban lifted
Shimla, April 13 The decision was taken by the Cabinet which met here today under the chairmanship of Chief Minister PK Dhumal. All applications of employees keen for a transfer would be received by the concerned heads of the departments between April 16 and May 5, which shall be processed by concerned authorities between May 6 and May 20, and final transfer order issued between May 21 and May 31. The ban on general transfers would be again imposed from June 1, 2010, after which no transfer or adjustment requests would be entertained. The respective ministers shall be competent to order transfers of employees in their departments of all categories from class I down to class IV level. All heads of the departments should adhere to the outer limit of transfer of employees, which would not exceed 6 per cent of the total existing strength of concerned department. The Cabinet approved exemption in registration fee and stamp duty on education loans borrowed from approved financial institutions of the state like nationalised, cooperative and regional gramin banks and other private banks, up to Rs 7.5 lakh for small and marginal farmers and horticulturists. |
Kings XI players flout security norms
Dharamsala, April 13 According to sources, many players, including Australian pacer Brett Lee, bowler Sreesanth, Piyush Chawla and Mahilla Jayawardne slipped from their official residence in The Grand Raj hotel in Kangra. They made merry at a famous restaurant in McLeodganj and returned to their hotel late in the evening, much to the chagrin of security officials. However, the act of the players has the police fuming. Kangra SP Atul Fulzele has written a letter to the team management against the behaviour of the players. Later, when contacted by newsmen, the SP tried to play down the incident. He said the players were not prisoners and were free to go anywhere. However, they were supposed to inform us so that their security could be ensured, he said. “Since we are the main security providing agencies, the team management should keep us informed about the movement of players,” he said. Meanwhile, players have expressed displeasure over their lodging facilities, the sources added. The Kings XI team is staying at the newly inaugurated Grand Raj hotel of Nagrota Bagwan Congress MLA GS Bali. Since the hotel is located bang on the roadside, the sources here told The Tribune that players had complained about noise pollution in the area. Officials of the HPCA, however, were not available for comments regarding the alleged complaint of the players. Today, the Deccan Chargers team, that is scheduled to play with Kings XI Punjab on April 16, also arrived at Dharamsala. The team checked in at Surya Hotel in McLeodganj. The complaints by the visiting players regarding lodging facilities have exposed weakness of the Dharamsala area that lacks a five-star hotel. The HPCA had tried to develop a facility of its own here. However, the project could not be completed in time. While the entire team of Punjab Kings XI team arrived yesterday, their star player Yuvraj Singh arrived today. |
Registrar cancels PhD enrolment of student
Solan, April 13 She was pursuing PhD in vegetable science and had been provisionally enrolled last year for the doctorate. She had got selected as horticulture development officer (HDO) in January this year. She, however, failed to seek leave from the Horticulture Department and continued her doctorate till a few days back. Another candidate, who had also been selected as an HDO, was also enrolled for PhD in pomology and was also carrying on with her doctorate in a similar manner. It was learnt that the dean (Horticulture) after learning about the two cases referred the matter to the registrar who cancelled the enrolment of the PhD student pursuing doctorate in vegetable science as she could not carry on with her PhD at the same time while being employed as an HDO. University’s PRO PD Bhardwaj, while confirming the news, said as per the university’s statute a candidate could drop two semesters under such circumstances and since one of the candidate had withdrawn from the current semester no action had been taken against her. However, in the case of other student her enrolment had been cancelled as she had to seek leave from the Horticulture Department after being appointed there and could not carry on two simultaneous vocations. Though the appointments of HDOs had been made in January, the two continued with their PhD for the last three months. While depriving other candidates a fair chance to enrol in the PhD these students had conveniently hidden the fact of their appointment in January and carried on with two simultaneous assignments in two different capacities. The two cases had also put a question mark over the Horticulture Department who did not bother to verify why the candidates had not joined their jobs till first week of April despite being appointed in January. Since the university authorities did not get any intimation about leave availed by the duo from the Horticulture Department it proved that no leave had in fact been taken. How the two had continued to be present at the two places had put a question mark over the authorities. |
Exam centres shifted
Dharamsala, April 13 SSB secretary, in a press release issued here today, said the centre was being changed due to administrative reasons. Candidates, who were scheduled to appear for the examinations at Government College,
Dharamsala, would now appear at DAV College, Kangra, and Government Senior Secondary School,
Kangra. Candidates, who were to appear at the examination centre at BEd College,
Dharamsala, would now have to appear at the centre created in DAV School,
Kangra.
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ATM cheat nabbed
Kangra, April 13 Kangra SDPO Jeet Singh Thakur said Poonam, a resident of College Road, had visited the SBI ATM here last evening and was shown sympathy by a youth identified as Sandeep Kumar, resident of Data Tehsil Hansi village and helped her to withdraw Rs 5,000 from her father’s account. The youth, who carried a number of ATM cards with him, replaced the genuine card of Poonam and gave her another SBI ATM card. When she reached home, she found the ATM card was changed. She, along with her family members, rushed to the spot and nabbed the youth and recovered the actual ATM card from him. Poonam checked the account and found Rs 19,000 were withdrawn from the account by him by that time. This infuriated the public who thrashed Sandeep Kumar and handed him over to the police. The police recovered Rs 6,600 from his possession. It registered a case under section 420 and 379 of the IPC. The police recovered four ATM cards of HDFC, ICICI and the SBI from his possession. |
Doc held for graft
Solan, April 13 According to SP Hardesh Bisht, it was telephonic information received from one labourer Rajkumar that a trap was laid to nab the doctor. In a shameful revelation, the doctor had demanded a petty amount of Rs 1,000 from the labourer whose wife had delivered a baby and this had been demanded in two instalments of Rs 500 each where the first instalment was to be given at the time of granting the medical certificate, and the second at the time of availing the fitness certificate. The SIU team nabbed the doctor red-handed while accepting a petty amount of Rs 500 from the poor industrial labourer who wanted to avail ESI compensation for his wife. |
Seminar on Mahabharata
Shimla, April 13 As many as 25 young scholars from across the country will attend the school and listen to lectures by historians, literary critics and philosophers on the diverse aspects of the epic. Fifteen resource persons will touch upon all these aspects of the ancient text. Translated into several Indian languages, the Mahabharata is known for its peculiar mode of narration. Philosophers have looked for a depiction of the ideal life style and social theorists have been intrigued by the instances of transgressions in its stories. |
Suhi fair ends
Chamba, April 13 It is a rare saga of sacrifice by any queen who valiantly sacrificed herself for the well being of the people of her state. The fair is celebrated on the premises of a palanquin-shaped Suhi temple, located on a hillock above Chamba town. The Suhi fair also symbolises the ‘foundation year’ of the erstwhile Chamba state. |
NHPC official commits suicide
Dharwala (Chamba), April 13 According to sources, the deceased had been identified as deputy manager (finance) Kishori Lal who belonged to Mahakaal village in Kangra district. The deputy manager was under some tension with regard to his recovery of income tax, the sources divulged. The sources said when the deputy manager did not turn up at the office till this afternoon, some officials went to his residence to see him. However, they found the door locked from inside which he did not opened despite repeated knocks. Finally, senior officials and the police were called on the spot who broke the door and the deputy manager was found dead. A case had been registered in this regard and postmortem was conducted. |
Four booked for abduction
Mandi, April 13 According to the victim, Pawan Kumar and Rukmani Devi forcibly took her in a white Maruti car to Manikaran, where Pawan Kumar raped her in a hotel room on April 9. She further charged that she was taken to Manali the next day, but came back from Manali to Kullu by a bus. The driver and conductor of the bus she was travelling in raped her in a hotel room when she reached Kullu, she charged. She said Pawan Kumar met her on April 11, and gave her five tablets to eat, due to which she became unconscious and found herself at the Zonal Hospital, Mandi. After recording her statement at the hospital, the police registered the FIR. The SP stated that hunt was on to nab the accused. The victim has been medically examined, he added. |
Youth booked
Hamirpur, April 13 The police said a girl of Jadoh village had made a complaint at the Bhoranj police station that Rajesh Kumar of Kakkar
village raped her under allurement of marriage on August 26, 2009. The victim said she was again raped on April 9 at Una, where she was studying at present.
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126 sleepers of wood seized
Dalhousie, April 13 The police has also impounded the vehicle in which the sleepers of wood were being carried, the report divulged adding that cases had been registered against the accused involved in the smuggling.
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