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Police hunts for Nityananda’s aide
Power crisis hits industry
Villages grapple with water shortage
Conference at Sanawar ends
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‘Gram panchayats must settle local disputes’
Contractual vets rue govt apathy
IPL controversy fails to die down
B.Ed College
Tibetans to be included in census exercise
‘Medical college favoured minister’s kin’
Govt to form panels of farmers
6 pilots for Asian paragliding meet
Ban on throwing of gutka satchets
42 cases disposed of
Over 2,000 appear in physical test
292 pirated CDs seized
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Police hunts for Nityananda’s aide
Shimla, April 24 According to police sources, as per initial information received from the Karnataka CID, it was suspected that it was Tiwari and not the controversial swami who had made Himachal a safe haven to avoid arrest. After having failed to trace Tiwari, originally hailing from Yubarajpur in Uttar Pradesh and now based in Mumbai, the CID started the search, which ended with the swami’s arrest. Tiwari (58) is the most trusted lieutenant of the tainted swami and has been entrusted with the task of making investment on behalf of the latter. “Tiwari, who has been christened as Munishananda by his spiritual guru, was in Mandi and Solan district around April 16 after which he changed his location apprehending arrest,” said the police sources. A special team of the CID today searched for Mahant, the manager who gave the house at Mamlik village to Nityananda after he evaded all attempts by the district police to question him. Mahant, who asked the watchman of the house to open the house for the swami and his aides, is basically from Bihar and is allegedly wanted in a rape case in his home state. “Nityananda, during interrogation done by the Karnataka police, has made some disclosure which will hopefully help us to know the exact sequence of events and the persons, including Himachalis, who helped them knowingly or unknowingly to find a hideout in Himachal,” said a senior police official. The CID today questioned a local resident, Vivek Dogra, who is reportedly the owner of the house at Mamlik. “Preliminary investigations indicate that the house has probably been bought by a Delhi-based company in the hospitality sector to set up a resort at Mamlik and Mahant, based in Kullu, is their manager,” he said. Even though the police sources said they were only concerned about direct or indirect involvement of any Himachali in giving shelter to the swami, they are also trying to ascertain if the property, where the swami was housed, is a “benami” one or in the name of the original owner. The Himachal police is in touch with the Karnataka police as during interrogation, vital information has been given by the tainted man and his disciples. |
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Power crisis hits industry
Solan, April 24 He added that the problem was on account of excess outages from 500 MW Rihand I thermal power plant. This has reduced the power availability in Nalagarh division by nearly 40 per cent and as against the requirement of 65 MVA, about 25 MVA is available, forcing cuts in its various feeders. Investors are, however, facing the brunt of power cuts which has led to production losses. Anil Sharma, press secretary of the Nalagarh Industries’ Association, while ruing the haphazard arrangement of power supply, said, “The industry is ready to cope with power cuts owing to problems if they are scheduled. This could be well adjusted by investors who could call off their work during power cuts. However, what creates problems are unscheduled power cuts which lead to production losses.” Though investors had installed DG and generation sets as alternate arrangements, abrupt power failures lead to restart of production work which results in wastage and loss of production, he added. The Baddi industrial area has also faced almost 50 per cent power cuts with about 100 MVA power being available as against 180 MVA. With power cuts becoming a routine affair either on account of decline in production or problems in the northern grid, the investors are getting demoralised with the scenario. Power incentive units like steel rolling mills and induction and arc furnaces are also facing loss of production which range from 15 to 20 per cent, opined investors. They added that the power availability was becoming unreliable and this had become a cause of concern for the industry. |
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Villages grapple with water shortage
Hamirpur, April 24 The water level in almost all schemes has come down drastically and about 1,200 villagers, drawing drinking water from Badaihar water scheme, are facing drought-like situation. The continuous dry spell has added to the woes of local people as many villages remain without water supply for days together. The water level at Pajaral, Bani-Badsar and Moharral-Dhakhodia schemes have also receded considerably. Sixty-six villages, which are supplied drinking water from 99 lift water scheme, are also experiencing water scarcity as the level has gone down. The situation is no better in villages falling under the Saloni area of Badsar. Similarly, drinking water supply under Mewa assembly constituency has also been affected, resulting in water shortage. According to Sumit Kumar of Makkar village, “Many villages here are getting water supply after three or four days and we are facing acute water shortage.” Worst affected are the people drawing drinking water from the Badaihar water supply scheme. To deal with the situation, people are getting supply from hand pumps. Dharmender Gill, executive engineer, Badsar IPH division, said, “Scanty rains have led to reduction in water level in many schemes resulting in about 50 per cent less water discharge. A few villages are being supplied water through hand pumps.” “However, there is no drought-like situation and we have not pressed water tanker into service anywhere till date. In fact, we are laying new lines to meet water shortage in a few areas of Mewa assembly constituency,” he added. |
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Conference at Sanawar ends
Kasauli, April 24 The participating students were divided into six teams of three members each named after Barack Obama, the Dalai Lama, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela and Swami Vivekananda. The Nelson Mandela team won the first prize while the Dalai Lama team bagged the second position. Chief guest Taranjit Sandhu, joint Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs and an alumnus of Sanawar, gave away the prizes. Headmaster Praveen Vasisht said peace in the family was the foundation of peaceful society. A civilised society must offer an opportunity for dialogue and discussion as a way to resolve dispute and conflict. The schools which participated in the event were The British School, Delhi, Pathways World School, Gurgaon; Chittagong Grammar School, Bangladesh; Dhirubhai Ambani International School, Mumbai; Mayo College, Ajmer; Daly College, Indore; Assam Valley School, Assam; Motilal Nehru School of Sports, Rai; Punjab Public School, Nabha; Sanskaar Valley, Bhopal; Vidya Devi Jindal School, Hisar and the host school. Chief Secretary Asha Swaroop inaugurated the conference and presided over the proceedings of the first day. In her address to the children, she voiced her concern over the deteriorating conditions of national and international peace. On World Earth Day on Thursday, the students visited Chandigarh, and formed a human chain in Sector 17 for a peace march. They also visited the Art Gallery in Sector 10 to attend a talk on “Peace, Heritage and Global Warming — New Perspectives” by Prof Arun D Ahluwalia (PU Environment Outreach). |
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‘Gram panchayats must settle local disputes’
Bilaspur, April 24 He was here to preside over a free legal aid camp organised by the Sub Divisional level Legal Aid Services Authority at Seedha village near here yesterday. The panchayat representatives should learn to assert their legal rights in an effective way, he stressed. Chaudhary said our Constitution had ensured that each would get justice even if he/she did not have finances. Any such person earning up to Rs 50,000 per annum, can write an application and submit it to the Sub Divisional or Divisional Legal Aid Authority and get justice without any expenditure, as the expenditure is borne by the authority, he added. He said the facility had been provided to women, weaker sections, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, handicapped and undertrials. Senior advocates Dharmendra Rawat, Pawan Chandel, RK Raghu and District Bar president Tejaswi Sharma spoke on the Consumer Rights Act, Compensation under Motor Vehicles Act, Right to Information Act, Anti-Dowry Act and responsibilities towards parents, wife and children under Section 125 of the IPC.
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Contractual vets rue govt apathy
Hamirpur, April 24 General secretary of the association Dr Amit Mahajan said the panel, in a recently concluded meeting, had criticised the state government for adopting different parameters for giving non-practicing allowance (NPA) to different categories of doctors. He said while the state government was giving the NPA to contractual medical doctors at par with their regular counterparts, they were denied of the same. The association had taken up this issue with Chief Minister PK Dhumal but nothing much had been done in this regard, Mahajan added. The association also rued the discrimination in granting them causal leave, annual increment and their regularisation etc and said while medical officials, working on contract, had been granted 24 casual leave and 3 per cent annual increment, they had been denied these benefits too. The association has urged the state government to find a solution to their problems at the earliest.
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IPL controversy fails to die down
Kangra, April 24 Addressing a press conference here today, HP Shiv Sena chief Nalinder Ghautam and convener Himachal Bachao Morcha, Subhash Sharma alleged that even the highest office of the Chief Minister was under the cloud of corruption. Both alleged that officials were often caught red-handed taking bribe but the government had reinstated them back, encouraging corruption. Both alleged that the state had failed to name the promoters of many universities set up in the state and described this as one of the biggest land scams ever. They alleged under the garb of Section 118 of Agriculture Reforms Act, the state was selling the interests of the state. Even the land costing crores was being leased out for Re 1 to the vested interests, thus putting the interest of the state to a dock.
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HC stays orders on affiliation
Legal Correspondent
Shimla April 24 This interim order was passed by a division bench comprising Chief Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice RB Misra on a petition filed by the society, challenging the action of the university. While passing the orders, the bench observed that prima facie a case existed in favour of the petitioner society. The petitioner contended that the BEd college was governed by rules and regulations framed by the National Council for Technical Education (NCTE). It further contended that the university could not frame any guidelines over and above those famed by the NCTE. It was further alleged that a university team had conducted an inspection of the college and found that the college lacked basic infrastructure as per the norms of the university and without verifying the same, on the recommendation of the team, the university wrongly cancelled the affiliation granted to the college. The petitioner pointed out that the college had all facilities and followed the NCTE norms. The high court has directed the state government and the HPU to file the reply in four weeks’ time.
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Tibetans to be included in census exercise
Dharamsala, April 24 Manika Jain, director, Public Relations Office of the Union External Affairs Ministry, along with Kangra district administration, held a meeting with administrative officials of Tibetan government-in-exile here to issue the necessary instructions in this regard. She asked the Tibetan officials to cooperate in the exercise so that none of the Tibetan living here for six months or more is left out. Jain said those left out in the census drill would not be entertained for issuance of ration card, identity card, registration and driving licence. She said any foreigner residing here for at least six months or planning to stay for next six months would be included in the census. Kangra Additional District Magistrate (ADM) Sandeep Kumar, who attended the meeting, said the Tibetans would be included in the census under the category of usual resident. After a failed uprising in their homeland in 1959, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and a large number of his countrymen have taken shelter at Dharamsala in Kangra district. The headquarters of the Tibetan government-in-exile is also located at McLeodganj, about 15 km from Dharamsala. — PTI
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‘Medical college favoured minister’s kin’
Shimla, April 24 The HMOA today alleged the government had preferred doctors from the direct quota over those from the General Duty Officer (GDO) quota in the counselling. “There has been a deviation in the norms just to give undue benefit to close relatives of a BJP minister for which we will knock the doors of the court soon,” said Dr Jiwanand Chauhan, association general secretary said. He alleged that preference was given to the direct quota doctors due to which they got the admission in the preferred subjects. “The quota for GDOs and direct doctors is 70:30, respectively, and the counselling is first held for GDOs but this time the preference was given to direct doctors,” Dr Chauhan said. He alleged that there was violation in the laid-down norms by the director Medical Education, and the principal IGMC, to benefit the minister’s kin. “Since five seats of the GDO quota remained vacant as less doctors qualified the entrance, one cannot deny the fact that the counselling should have been held first for GDOs,” he added. The association is peeved at the fact that the GDOs who are responsible for providing rural services are being ignored to favour those having political connections. |
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Govt to form panels of farmers
Shimla, April 24 This was stated by Horticulture Minister Narinder Bragta today while addressing growers who attended a weeklong training programme at Kotkhai. “Constitution of committees at the panchayat-level will help information reach out to people at the grass-root level about government schemes and motivate them to avail them,” he said. Bragta said a Rs 85-crore apple rejuvenation project would be implemented in the state with the help of better yielding varieties. He also stressed the need for soil testing and planting good variety plants so that both quality and quantity could be improved. Speaking on the occasion, Bragta said the government was taking all possible steps to ensure that the growers got best facilities and the production of variety apples went up. Anti-hail guns were also being installed to save the apple crop from the vagaries of nature, which caused immense damage to the crop, affecting its quality, the minister added.
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6 pilots for Asian paragliding meet
Palampur, April 24 The team, including six pilots, a team manager and an official, will leave from New Delhi for Japan on April 27. The team is being sponsored by Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL). The six pilots include Adie Kumar, Debu Chaudhary, Gurpreet Dhindsa, Vijay Soni, Sanjay Pendurkar and Roshan Lal
Thakur.
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Ban on throwing of gutka satchets
Shimla, April 24 “The gutka sachets are major environment polluters. Its scientific disposal by the local bodies would help control the menace,” Dhumal said while launching the second phase of the state-level “Polythene Hatao, Paryavaran Bachao (remove polythene,
save environment)” campaign. — IANS
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42 cases disposed of
Shimla, April 24 He further said there were 825 pending cases in the commission and 2,960 pending cases in the
district forums across the state.
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Over 2,000 appear in physical test
Bilaspur, April 24 The test was conducted for three days for 63 posts of constables, including eight posts for women. Superintendent of Police Kuldip Sharma said here today that these posts were for recruitment to the Fifth and Sixth India Reserve Battalions and other battalions. Only 969 men and 87 women could qualify for the written test, information of which would be given to the selected candidates once the date is finalised. Sharma said the result had been displayed on the notice board of his office and had been sent to all police stations. It could also be seen on the Himachal Pradesh police website <http://www.hppolice.nic.in>.
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292 pirated CDs seized
Mandi, April 24 In its complaint, the firm has complained that it was suffering losses due to the selling of pirated CDs. |
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