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CM turns to Centre for Rs 3,000 crore aid
Sirmaur doesn’t strike a rosy picture: CAG
Shortage of LPG irks Palampur residents
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Pvt engineering colleges worried over low turnout
A ticket to ride free
Illegal sale of fuel
Power Board Tender
State’s third AIDS centre to come up in Hamirpur
Youth’s murder
Satellite phone facility for Manimahesh
Surgeon booked for sexual harassment
Kurian visits rehab centre on Rakshabandhan
Villagers protest govt decision on Shah Talai
Girl killed in mishap
One dies in accident
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CM turns to Centre for Rs 3,000 crore aid
Shimla, August 24 A request to this effect has been made by Chief Minister PK Dhumal in a letter written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, urging him to help the state overcome its financial liabilities by asking the finance ministry to release the money to Himachal. Himachal has a liability of over Rs 2,200 crore on account of salary and pension arrears from January 1, 2006, to August 31, 2009, due to the implementation of 6th Pay Commission recommendations for its employees. — Chief Minister PK Dhumal “Himachal had a committed liability of over Rs 2,200 crore on account of salary and pension arrears for the period from January 1, 2006, to August 31, 2009, caused due to the implementation of 6th Pay Commission recommendations for its employees,” he said, adding that the 13th Finance Commission had underestimated the salary, pension and interest liabilities. He said the underestimation for 2010-11 alone on the above liabilities amounted to Rs 861 crore, while there was a gap of Rs 617 crore between the budget estimates for salaries and the amount assessed by the 13th Finance Commission for the current financial year. Dhumal said the Commission had recommended a growth in salary expenditure by only 2.27 per cent for 2011-12 over 2010-11 while the state government had already released the dearness allowance instalment of 8 per cent to its employees which was in addition to the annual increment benefits to the employees. The Chief Minister pointed out that the government would be at a loss to conceptualise its annual plan for the next financial year in respect of its committed liabilities. He said the actual plan expenditure by the state during 2007-08 and 2008-09 was Rs 2,036 crore and Rs 2,310 crore, respectively, and the provisional plan expenditure for 2009-10 had been estimated at Rs 2,759 crore while the plan size for 2010-11 had already been fixed at Rs 3,000 crore. He pleaded that if one takes into account the inflationary impact, the plan size for 2011-12 had to be even higher otherwise the state would not be in a position to conceive a reasonable plan size for 2011-12 unless the Planning Commission provided Himachal a substantial Special Plan Assistance during the next financial year through an enhancement of at least Rs 1,500 crore as compared to Rs 782 crore during 2010-11. |
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Sirmaur doesn’t strike a rosy picture: CAG
Shimla, August 24
Addressing a press conference here today, Principal Accountant General Rita Mitra today gave details regarding the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report for Sirmaur district for the last five years from 2004 to 2009. The report clearly points out that several developmental schemes like Vikas Mein Jan Sahyog and works undertaken with funds provided to MPs and MLAs were neither planned nor completed within the specified time limit. “The district administration should ensure greater coordination with the executing agencies to ensure that the works are planned, taken up and completed in time and accountability must be fixed for delay and slippages in this regard,” she said. — Rita Mitra,
Principal Accountant General, HP Himachal may have been ranked amongst the best in the country with regard to health and education but the picture in the district of Sirmaur in this regard does not seem to be too rosy. The review of status of education indicated that the number of primary and middle schools had increased but enrolment in the 6-14 years age group had decreased. The enrolment in classes IX to XII had also declined from 23,237 in 2005-06 to 20,436 in 2008-09. To make matters worse, the class XII pass percentage showed a declining trend in 2008-09 when compared to previous years. The report also points out that there was lack of proper planning, community participation, implementation and monitoring of the National Rural Health Mission which resulted in denial of accessible and affordable health care to people. The CAG report points out that a large amount of funds received from the Centre and state governments remained idle in banks due to non-availability of clearances for utilising forest land and other land under dispute. |
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Shortage of LPG irks Palampur residents
Palampur, August 24 In several places in the district,the situation has assumed alarming proportions as shortage of LPG has turned into a law and order problem for the police. In Nagrota Bagwan, hundreds of consumers gathered with empty LPG cylinders on national highway last evening to lodge their protest. The police had to be called to control the situation. In Baijnath, Kangra, Shapur, Dharmshala long queues of consumers can be seen daily on the roadside awaiting the LPG trucks carrying supplies, but they have to go back disappointed in the evening. Many LPG distributors have received only half of the quota demanded. Situation of LPG supply in Palampur town is also far from being satisfactory as the local LPG dealers have received only 22 truck loads of LPG as against the demand of 28 truck loads. Enquiries made by The Tribune reveal that ever since the Kangra region’s link with the LPG bottling plant, Jalandhar for the supplies, there has been an acute shortage of LPGs as dealers got only 60 per cent supplies of their demand. When Kangra was receiving LPG supplies from Mehatpur plant of Una district, there was no shortage of LPG here. IOC and local administration have also received complaints of pilferage and blackmarket in the transit. Incidentally, the Nurpur police impounded four LPG trucks yesterday at Damtal carrying supplies for Sahapur and Baijnath. In these trucks short cylinders were found as the same were sold by the drivers. The Police have registered cases against the carriage contractor and truck drivers. |
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Pvt engineering colleges worried over low turnout
Solan, August 24 Explaining the trend, MD of LR Institute of Professional Institute Pratima Sharma said, “The problem in IT was chiefly due to overlapping of course curriculum as a professional having MCA or BCA qualification or even a good hardware course is able to aptly handle IT work and, therefore, there are a few takers for IT now.” Besides, with jobs in the IT industry being on the decline due to considerable reduction in outsourcing of Indians its job market had shrunk in the past few years. According to available figures, almost 1,400 seats out of the total 4,000 had fallen vacant in various engineering streams at different professional institutes in the state. This had now become a cause of concern for the managements of these institutes who were disheartened with low turnout of students. Lamenting the lack of government policy to restrict the number of institutes offering such professional courses, the chairman of another professional institute said the opening of several universities in the state had also contributed to the low turnover in the private professional institutes now and one wondered why the government was allowing several private universities to open shop here when the existing colleges failed to fill their seats. Since these colleges were affiliated to Himachal Pradesh University it also led to a sharp decline in the revenue by way of fee and other charges. Even the colleges offering BE as a lateral entry course for students having polytechnic qualifications failed to fill seats. Chairman of Himalayan Institute of Professional Institute at Kala Amb Rajnish Bansal, while ruing lack of admissions, said they have managed to fill only 118 out of the total 240 seats as the eligibility norm of minimum 50 per cent failed to be fulfilled by the students. This led to an exodus of students to the nearby Punjab and Haryana where no such stipulation existed. Managements of these institutes now demanded relaxation in the minimum eligibility norm as they felt it led to an undue exodus of students to other states.
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A ticket to ride free
Shimla, August 24 The state government has declared three special holidays for all women employees on the occasion of Rakshabandhan, Karva Chauth and Bhaiya Dooj in the state and at the same time offered them free travel facility in the state-run buses. Chief Minister PK Dhumal was greeted by women from all walks of life on the auspicious occasion of Rakshabandhan, at his official residence --- Oakover, here today. Several women, including some Tibetan women, who visited his official residence tied “rakhi” to him. The Chief Minister reiterated the resolve of the state government to protect the interests of women. “The BJP regime has also provided 50 per cent reservation to women in panchayati raj elections with a view to motivating and associating them in local developmental planning and implementation,” he remarked. He said besides this, there were a number of schemes under implementation in the state for the socio-economic uplift of women, especially those who were from the economically weaker sections of society.
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CBI grills BRO officer
Kuldeep Chauhan Tribune News Service
Manali, August 24 The CBI today grilled Capt Vikalp Purohit for several hours after he was caught red-handed selling 800 litres of diesel for Rs 23,000 illegally to a decoy CBI contractor at Koksar camp, Lahaul, three days ago. It found that Capt Vikalp belonged to the Corps of Engineers of the BRO posted at 70, RCC, Koksar. He was posted there four months ago. The Manali-Leh National Highway till Serchu on the Himachal Pradesh border is maintained by the BRO, Deepak Project, under overall command of the GREF commander, Manali. In fact, BRO, Deepak Project, constitutes a task force of 60 per cent GREF engineers and 40 per cent from the Corps of Engineers, other staff from the military police and corps of signals, BRO sources said. According to the sources, on an average the BRO spends Rs 100 crore on the Manali-Serchu part of the national highway every year, but it remains littered with potholes, boulders, mud and pools of waters, mainly on Marhi-Koksar, Sissu-Keylong and Stingri-Keylong road patches. CBI sources said, “We understand that the BRO, Deepak Project, is a big project, but allegations of pilferages and illegal selling of diesel by the BRO officer has raised a finger on the functioning of field officials in the landlocked border road.” “There are also allegations that the BRO has pet contractors who receive hefty payments at the end of six-month-long working season,” the sources said. However, these allegations have also come under the CBI scanner. BRO and GREF engineers have rubbished these allegations stating that they work in sub-zero temperatures where cost of road construction is one of the highest in the country. BRO, director, planning and vigilance, BR Chanana said the departmental inquiry into the case had been instituted. Chief Engineer (Deepak Project) ID Mathur and GREF Commander SK Doon could not be contacted for the second day today as they remained out of the headquarters monitoring restoration of the Kinnaur-Kaurik highway breached by landslides.
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Bidder rues ‘corruption’ by contractors
Tribune News Service
Hamirpur, August 24 The exposure came to light yesterday when a contractor’s agent who had come to participate in an open tender to be opened in the office of superintending engineer (SE) of the HPSEB’s transmission wing at Mattan-Sidh made a complaint to the police in this regard. The tenders for executing 20-km single circuit line to Harish cement plant from Kangu to the proposed cement plant were invited by the HPSEB authorities and were to be opened at the SE’s office. When the process was on some of the local contractors in their effort to pool in the tender to claim manipulated rates not only reportedly threatened the agent, Darshan Masih, acting on behalf of a Panchulka-based contractor, SR Sharma, but also snatched the bank draft brought to pay the earnest money from him. The contractor in a police complaint said, “His agent was not only threatened but also bank draft for earnest money was snatched and later some of them also submitted a letter that I cannot execute this work.” The bids submitted by the contractor were lowest and there was a huge gap in the rates given by other bidders, which became clear after all bids were opened in the SE office; which exposed the manipulation of contractors to grab the works at higher rates. SE Vijay Dogra said, “What is happening outside between contractors is none of my concern and we have opened the bids as per norms. A complaint has been made in this regard and we will look into it.”
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State’s third AIDS centre to come up in Hamirpur
Shimla, August 24 With Hamirpur having the second highest number of AIDS patients after
Kangra, the opening up of the centre will prove to be a major facility for the patients, especially from rural areas. The eight ART
sub-centres will be located at Solan, Mandi, Una, Nahan, Kullu, Bilaspur, Chamba and Nalagarh where free medicines will be provided. It is only once in six months that patients will have to travel to Indira Gandhi Medical College at Shimla for a detailed check-up. The Community Care Centres are run by NGOs. “A sum of Rs 19 lakh has been provided to us for the purpose by the National AIDS Control Organisation
(NACO) and we are keen to start the facility at the earliest,” said Dr Sulakshan
Puri, Project Director, State AIDS Control Society. Patients suffering from AIDS can stay at the Community Care Centre for a maximum of five days while undergoing treatment and tests. Even though at the national level, Himachal is considered a low prevalence state but some of the districts like
Kangra, Hamirpur, Bilaspur and Shimla have a sizeable number of AIDS and HIV positive persons. As per the latest data available with the State AIDS Control Society, there are 885 AIDS and 4,374 HIV positive persons in the hill state. |
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Villagers block highway to protest police laxity
Ambika Sharma
Solan, August 24 Superintendent of Police, Baddi, Chander Shekhar Pandit said the villagers were protesting against the release of some people last evening who were detained by the police on suspicion. The villagers demanded the arrest of those responsible for the gruesome murder. Demanding transfer of the inquiry from the Ramshehar police to Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Veena Bharti, the villagers braved heavy rains to block the Ramshehar-Shimla road for six hours this afternoon in their undaunted pursuit to get the investigations transferred from the Ramshehar police. Superintendent Pandit said after much persuasion he and Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Nalagarh, Shushil Sharma managed to get the road blockade lifted. The ASP was, thereafter, directed to conduct investigations into the case. It was after getting this assurance that the 500-odd villagers gathered on the road agreed to call off their protest.
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Satellite phone facility for Manimahesh
Chamba, August 24 Disclosing this information here today, the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Chamba Devesh Kumar said the Manimahesh Lake is situated at an altitude of 4170 where the mobile frequency is zero and therefore the satellite system was required to be installed to meet the telecom need at the lake area. The DC said that all efforts had been made for maintaining the cleanliness and eco-system of the itinerary leading to the Manimahesh holy lake and for this about one hundred safai karamcharis had been deployed at different points en route pilgrimage. The parking lots for vehicles had been earmarked on Hadsar road and Kugti road, the DC claimed. Besides, additional check-points, traffic-barriers and control rooms had also been set up by the police with a view to provide security cover to the pilgrims,the DC maintained. During the month-long pilgrimage which would conclude on September 15, the occasion of Sri Radhashtami, the devotees of Lord Shiva would go for their daily holy bath in the sacred icy waters of Manimahesh Lake catching a glimpse of Mount Kailash, the abode of Lord Shiva. According to reports, about 50,000 pilgrims thronging from within and outside Himachal Pradesh have so far visited Manimahesh during the past one month. Langars set up by the voluntary organizations are also contributing a lot to the facilities being extended to the pilgrims. |
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Surgeon booked for sexual harassment
Bilaspur, August 24 The Bilaspur Sadar police station has registered a case under Sections 354, 506 / 34 and inspector Lalman has been deputed to investigate the matter and take suitable action. In her complaint to the police here, Meera Rani said this was being done with complicity of another woman posted in supervisory capacity and despite her repeated requests , her duty was being fixed in the theatre room, where she became victim of the surgeon’s sexual harassment. She has also alleged the doctor has been threatening her against reporting the matter in which case he would give adverse assessment against her in the Annual Confidential Report to spell doom for her career. She claims that she has been bearing with these sexual excesses for the last six months and has now mustered enough courage to report the matter to the police. Meera Rani has further said a number of nurses and trainees are bearing such excesses of this surgeon as none dares to expose him for fear of dire consequences, being intimidated by his authority and influence in the hospital. |
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Kurian visits rehab centre on Rakshabandhan
Shimla, August 24 He visited the centre and spent time with the inmates while wishing them speedy recovery and good health so that they could be back home with their families. “With 24 official languages and 844 dialects and hundreds of castes and sub-castes in each state and several religions, we are all one which symbolises our unity in diversity,” he remarked. He said the message of brotherhood and love that the festival of Rakshabandhan symbolises was all the more relevant in today’s turbulent times. The Chief Justice was accompanied by Justice Surinder Singh, Justice Sanjay Karol, Justice Kuldip Singh, Justice Rajiv Sharma and Dharam Chand Chaudhary, Registrar, (Subordinate Judiciary and Vigilance).
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Villagers protest govt decision on Shah Talai
Bilaspur, August 24 They have urged Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal to reconsider this ill-advised proposal and reject it in pure public interest. A largely attended meeting of village elders of this affected area led by Naghyaar gram panchayat president Dina Nath and Jhabola gram panchayat president Jamuna Devi said this was a very backward area and many BPL families resided here and the proposed Act would bring no benefits to the villagers. They said the step would actually prove a curse to them as they be put to extra botheration and expenditure of getting even maps of their cowsheds approved from officials of the department, entailing day-to-day interference into their village constructions. A unanimous resolution adopted by the meeting warned that they would be forced to come to streets to launch an agitation if the proposal was not dropped the government.
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Nurpur, August 24 According to the police, the bus was on its way from Bharmour to Palampur. The mishap occurred near civil hospital when the jeep driver lost control over the bus. The victim was rushed to the civil hospital where she was declared brought dead. The jeep driver tried to flee after the accident but was caught by bus driver Ramesh Chand. The police have registered a case in this connection and arrested the jeep driver Mukesh Kumar. — OC
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One dies in accident
Shimla, August 24 The truck (HR-37C-2537) was carrying apple boxes towards Shimla when the mishap took place. While one of the injured died at Kotkhai hospital, the other was admitted to IGMC. The apple growers have on several occasions pointed out the deplorable road condition in the apple belt right from Shimla to Rohru and even on the Shimla-Kinnuar road.
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This will be the third community care centre for AIDS victims in the state as two are already functioning at Shimla and Tanda in
Kangra. By having eight-link ART centres where free treatment and medicines are provided, the AIDS victim will be saved the trouble of travelling to Shimla every now and then.