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Police in for major changeover
Impose 15-year moratorium on GM crops: Expert
Summer-weary tourists rush to Kufri
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Rohtang tunnel to be completed in 2015
Body of missing Jalandhar medical rep found
Poppy plants found in Chota Bhangal area, destroyed
‘Govt misusing police force’
IT sleuths raid shops
Villagers’ protest
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Police in for major changeover
Shimla, May 14 All senior police officials in the districts, including SP, Additional SP and DSP will now have to personally investigate a minimum of one or two special reported cases so that the administration is more responsive. Besides this, the internal police vigilance will be activated to ensure that integrity of cops is above scrutiny. With his thrust being on responsible administration, acting Director General of Police DS Manhas today asked all district police chiefs to be more responsive to the public by having greater interaction. “Each SP will have to investigate at least one special case while DSPs will have to personally probe two such cases so as send across the message that the police right up to senior officials is approachable and receptive to the problems of the common man,” Manhas said. In another important decision, he has directed all gazetted officers (GO) to personally visit the site of crime in all heinous crimes like murder or rape. With reports pouring in that a very few gazetted officers were choosing to visit the site of crime, the DGP has now made it a binding to ensure that thorough and methodical investigation is conducted, which in turn will help further improve conviction rate. Having launched an unrelenting campaign against corruption while heading the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau, Manhas is keen that the Police Department too is covered under it and internal vigilance of the Police Department does not remain merely on papers as a formality. He is keen that all complaints doubting the integrity of the police officials in any matter are probed thoroughly so that the overall image of the police is clean and unsullied. “Though complaints of monetary corruption, immorality and other misconduct are referred to the ex-officio vigilance officer of the rank of IG, in reality there is no serious endeavour or seriousness and it is seldom that strict action is taken,” most of the officials pointed out. |
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Impose 15-year moratorium on GM crops: Expert
“GM technology is being used for making drugs. However, it took 15 to 20 years to introduce a new product as it had to be tested in accordance with a set protocol at various levels. A similar process must be followed in case of GM crops as, unlike drugs, which were meant only for patients, the farm produce will be consumed by the entire population. More so, because GM crops could not be recalled from the field later like drugs found to be having side-effects,” he observed while addressing representatives of non-government organisations who had assembled at the state capital to form the Himachal Coalition for GM-Free and Safe Food, here today. Dr Bhargava, who is the Supreme Court nominee on Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), said given the long-term implications of GM crops, it was essential to have a national testing facility for which Rs 300 crore was formulated sometime back. However, it was deliberately not being implemented to suit the designs of multinationals. If a facility had been set up, Bt cotton would not have been released in the country. Now, reports were pouring in that its productivity was declining, which was only expected as GM crops had a very high intake of nutrient and water as a result of which the soil got degraded very fast, he said. At least 30 different tests had to be carried out to ascertain the safety of GM crops but only four or five were being conducted and that to by the companies themselves and not by any independent authority, he lamented. |
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Summer-weary tourists rush to Kufri
Kufri, May 14 Driving down to Chail is a thrilling experience. Motoring for the first time from Chail to Kufri on a different route was exciting enough. But the latter provided the ultimate in comfort with a cold breeze blowing across your face. Agreed, Kufri has not been an alien land, but the present-day Kufri is much different now, with tourists of all shades and tastes invading it as never before. It was not surprisisng, too, for there was enough to hold the interests of the tourists. At Kufri, there used to be just two or three shops earlier. But now there is full-fledged market with all kinds of shops catering to various interests of the tourists. There is a rare white yak on view to titillate the travelling instincts of outsiders who view it with awe and surprise. The animal certainly holds the main attraction for tourists. You will have to shell out Rs 10 for a photo with the yak, Rs 20 for a group picture, Rs 30 for a video and Rs 50 for a yak ride. There are Mehak and Venus Gift Shops and also Satnam Dry Fruits which, the owner Satnam Singh claims, is a cure for many ailments like hypertension, diabetes and arthritis. But then like all other tourist spots, this one too comes at a price. A normal cup of tea in a steel pot at New Bawa Cafe will cost you Rs 10. But the best of all at Kufri is the excellent, cool climate even these days. Skiing at Kufri is a highly entertaining sport which attracts the more adventurous to this place. The weather is excellent for it is 2,263 metres in altitude. |
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Rohtang tunnel to be completed in 2015
Shimla, May 14 He said the dream project of former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee would ensure that the people of the tribal belt were not cut-off from the rest of the world during winter due to snow on high mountain pass of the Rohtang. The project would help connect the Kullu-Manali valley with Lahaul valley with a 10 m wide double-lane tube tunnel. He said during winter months the state had been taking various precautionary measures to ensure safety of the travellers, who ventured to cross 13,050 ft Rohtang on foot, by establishing rescue posts on both sides of the pass. The government had also been providing a helicopter service to airlift residents of the tribal areas when all other communication links were non-operational. The proposed tunnel would curtail travelling time substantially as distance between Manali and Keylong would be reduced by more than 50 km. He said two more traffic tunnels had been proposed to be constructed, one on Darcha-Shinkola road in Lahaul and the other at Dhadra Dhank on the Hindustan Tibet Road. |
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Body of missing Jalandhar medical rep found
Dharamsala, May 14 The police has decided to take doctors 7-km uphill to Triund and get the postmortem conducted at the spot. The bodies are likely to be brought down tomorrow after post-mortem examination. Omkar Singh, representing heathcare unit of Saify, had come to Dharamsala on January 1 for marketing purpose. According to his family members, Omkar left Jalandhar early in the morning. He initially went to Pathankot and then proceeded to Dharamsala. On January 2, he called up his friends and told that he had come to Bhagsunag area of Dharamsala. Thereafter, nobody heard from him. After Omkar did not contact his family members for a couple of days, they tried to call him on his mobile phone. However, it was found to be unreachable. They got suspicious and started tracing him. They contacted various dealers in Himachal with whom Omkar was doing business. However, after collecting details from the dealers, the family members reached the conclusion that Omkar had not left the Dharamsala area. Lakhbir Singh, brother of Omkar, while talking to The Tribune, said as far as he knew, Omkar had no enmity with anybody. |
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Poppy plants found in Chota Bhangal area, destroyed
Dharamsala, May 14 Last year it was for the first time that the district police authorities were tipped about poppy plantations in the area. They were destroyed by district police officials and the police was also looking for the contractor who got the poppy planted from the locals. However, no arrests were made. However, this week also the district revenue officials during a routine survey of the area found poppy plantations. On the orders of Baijnath SDM, revenue officials allegedly destroyed the poppy plantations in the area. However, they were not sure as to who was responsible for growing these plants. The SDM said we were not sure about who was responsible for the plantations. We just got information about the plantations and officials concerned were ordered to remove them. According to sources, certain smugglers of the Mandi area have shifted their area of operation of the Chota Bhangal area for growing narcotic crops. The area is adjoining Mandi district and is not connected with roads. The people of the area also have small land holdings and are dependent on forests for livelihood. |
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‘Govt misusing police force’
Solan, May 14 He said instead of addressing the crucial law and order issues the state police was being used to harass Congress men. He was addressing mediapersons at Kandaghat where he had come to attend a workers’ meeting. The steel minister said the PK Dhumal-led state government blamed the Centre for discriminating against the state while the truth was that it had failed to even spend the total of Rs 2700 crore received under the annual plan last year and Rs 132 crore had lapsed due to their non-utilisation. He said this was a failure of the state government which, on the contrary, claimed that the Centre had discriminated against it in the grant of funds. Adopting an aggressive posture the minister lambasted the state government for its raising fingers at the CBI which was an accredited national level agency and said the state’s vigilance and anti-corruption bureau was being used as a tool to pursue cases of political victimisation against the Congressmen.
— OC |
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IT sleuths raid shops
Mandi, May 14 According to sources, income tax officer B Namzar led the team. The raids in the showrooms continued till late in the evening. The team members refused to comment on the raid saying that it was a routine check.
— TNS |
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Nalagarh, May 14 The protest was led by an environmental society, Himparivesh. It took strong exception to the abject lack of action by the pollution board against the erring unit and asserted that despite visible laxities in running the effluent treatment plant leading to unscientific disposal of sludge on a regular basis, the board was sitting over the issue. The piqued crowd raised slogans against the board’s member secretary and demanded his transfer for failing to address the problem in time. — OC
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Shimla, May 14