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Rain: Kinnaur, Solan worst-hit
Exam scam: Postman, teacher arrested
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Pong Dam oustees’ case
3 govt schoolboys booked for ragging in Kangra
Don’t sell drugs to kids, police warns chemists
Mankotia hints at political comeback
Rs 40 cr for small-scale industries
Water scheme for Karsog
Una to host ayurveda fair from Sept 25
Run Gumma unit as PSU, asks CPM
IMA cadets visit Dagshai school
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Rain: Kinnaur, Solan worst-hit
Shimla, September 22 One person identified as Nimia Ram died and two others were injured in Kinnaur when boulders fell on a shed at Nathpa. Continuous rain ensured that the 100 odd-tourists, including 24 foreigners, remained stranded in the Sangla valley for another day. The district administration has ordered closure of schools in Kinnaur as a precautionary measure in view of landslides. The administration has shifted 24 families from Chaugaon village, which were threatened by landslides, to safer places. Chief Minister PK Dhumal has directed the concerned authorities to ensure speedy and safe evacuation of tourists stranded at different places and also called for setting up a control room to monitor the situation at the state-level. He said tourists stranded in upper Sangla valley due to landslides and heavy snow at Rakschham and Bagsiri had been rescued and brought to Sangla town. He said PWD and electricity board officials were working overtime to restore roads and power supply. He said there was no shortage of essential commodities and a medical team was also positioned to take care of health problems of locals and tourists. In all 129 mm of rainfall had been recorded till the evening in the state capital. Solan received 106 mm of rainfall. SOLAN: With heavy rain lashing the region since early this morning, the road and railway traffic remained disrupted throughout the day with landslides and uprooted trees blocking the roads at several place. All major roads, including NH-22, Parwanoo-Jangeshu, Kunihaar-Subathu, Kumarhatti-Nahan, Kasauli-Dharampur, Kasauli-Jagjitnagar and several link roads, throughout the district remained blocked intermittently due to landslides at several places. With landslides falling on the railway track between Koti and Guman and another between Taksal-Guman stations, two trains - 255 Up Mix and another Up Mix train was delayed by two hours. Heavy rain uprooted trees and caused a snag in the electricity lines of Kasauli, Garkhal, Dharampur, Dagshai and nearby areas while lightning damaged electricity lines at Kasauli Air Force Station which was restored after much trouble. A house belonging to one Kirpa Ram collapsed at Jharmajri, but no loss of life was reported. With Chikni river gushing out huge volumes of water the employees working in industries located across the river had to take a detour though Dhabota. With huge volumes of water overflowing on the roads, the PWD workers had a tough time clearing the debris of landslides. Meanwhile, two employees of an industrial unit while trying to cross the overflowing Chikni river were saved by the timely intervention of employees of Indag Ruber company this evening. The employees of the Indag Rubber, including its HR executive Anil Sharma, who happened to be present at the riverside managed to pull them away from the river. The rescued employees said they had no option but to cross the river, as they had to reach their residences located at the other end of the river. MANDI: Apple farmers in the high altitudes of the Mandi-Kullu region were hard hit due to rain, while passengers travelling on the Rampur-Shangla-Karsog-Mandi state highway were stranded at Kotlu due to a landslide today. Bus services and local traffic came to a halt on the local Bir Laag road, Kahanwal and Majhvar-Rakhun-Gohar road due to landslides triggered by the daylong continuing spell of rain. The farmers rued that they could not transport apples to markets due to link road being out of order and harvesting could not resume due to 16-hour-long rain in the region. The HRTC, private and other traffic remained stranded on the Rampur-Karsog-Mandi road as the road was breached near Kotlu by the landslide.
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Exam scam: Postman, teacher arrested
Dharamsala, September 22
Kashmir, an alleged agent of key accused Ashwani Dogra, delivered the registered post to him. The post included roll numbers of students and their detailed mark sheets. Dogra allegedly kept the mark sheets in his possession to collect full fee from them. Many students of the school, where Kashmir was teaching, allegedly benefitted from the scam. Both accused were produced in the court today and remanded in police custody. When asked, Kangra SP Atul Fulzele said the accused principal, Piarai Lal, who was the superintendent of an examination centre, absconded. It is suspected that Pairai Lal supplied the original answer sheet to Dogra that was later scanned for producing many fake answer sheets. Fulzele further said they had confiscated the answer sheets of those students who were beneficiaries of the scam, from the education board. The handwriting of students would be matched with that in the answer sheets. Also, a case of forgery would be registered against those involved in the scam, he added. The board found that 180 students of classes VIII, X, XI and XII had got certificates from Dogra. Meanwhile, with the government throwing its weight behind the education board chairman, he has decided to expand the probe even up to supplementary papers conducted in the last one year.
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Pong Dam oustees’ case
Dharamsala, September 22 It is after about 14 years when, in 1996, the Supreme Court ordered the Rajasthan government to allot 1,100-hectare land to Pong Dam oustees in Ganganagar district that the standing committee will meet to find a solution to the problem.This has kindled hope in about 2,505 oustees who have been waiting for compensation for their acquired land for the last 40 years. Members of the committee include Kangra Deputy Commissioner RS Gupta, Deputy Collector, Relief and Rehabilitation, Pong Dam, Kangra SP and five ex-officio members. Besides members from the state, the panel has officials from districts of Rajasthan, including Ganganagar and Bikaner. After the Supreme Court order, a high-powered committee was formed under the Secretary Union Ministry of Water Resources, to implement the order. The committee, since then, has met 14 times, but to no avail. It was decided to form a standing panel of ground level officials of Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan during the last meeting of the high-powered committee. The basic issue of contention is that the Rajasthan government is offering land to oustees in Bikaner or Jaisalmer district; however, the oustees have rejected the proposal. They allege that the land being offered by Rajasthan was barren. There is no irrigation facility there. They are demanding land in Ganganagar district as per the Supreme Court order. “The land earmarked for us in Ganganagar district is irrigated by canal water that is good for agriculture,” they said. However, that land has been encroached by locals. |
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3 govt schoolboys booked for ragging in Kangra
Dharamsala, September 22 Sources told The Tribune that those booked include Ashwani, Sanjeev Kumar and Chaman Lal, all students of class XII, at Government Senior Secondary School, Paprola, Kangra district. While Sanjeev and Chaman are juveniles, Ashwani is an adult. He was today arrested by the police. The accused have been booked under the afore-said Act on the complaint of school principal Suman Singh Katwal. According to the complaint, Ankush Kumar, a class VIII student, was studying alone in the classroom yesterday when the accused asked him to leave the classroom. Since Ankush resisted their diktat, they thrashed him following which Ankush narrated the incident to the school principal who filed a police complaint against the accused. Investigating officer Om Prakash said the two accused, who are juveniles, would not be arrested and produced in the court directly while another student, an adult, had been arrested today. When asked if the case could be termed ragging, Prakash said though a case had been registered, the police was still verifying the charges leveled against the accused.
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Don’t sell drugs to kids, police warns chemists
Shimla, September 22 With growing concern among teachers, parents, social organisations and law enforcing agencies at the alarming increase in drug addiction, the police has decided to crack the whip on such chemists who are ensuring easy availability of such drugs and syrups to the youth. As an initiative to create awareness, the district police today organised a seminar, which was attended by 200 chemists, schoolteachers and officials from the Health Department. “It is a fight for securing the future of our youths who are falling prey to drugs and it is only through combined efforts that a dauntless campaign can be launched to meet the challenge,” said Director General of Police DS Manhas. He said strong social and family values and a responsible behaviour could help in checking school kids from going astray. However, SSP RM Sharma issued a veiled threat to chemists, some of whom were known to be indulging in the heinous crime, to desist from providing children with drugs as strict action would be taken against them. Despite several dhabas, chemist shops and other such shady places being clearly identified with easy drugs’ supply, the police has failed to take action against the guilty. The police also sought the cooperation of the business community and urged the local Beopar Mandal to cancel the membership of any such chemist who supplied drugs to children. According to a survey conducted by the state Voluntary Health Association, almost 40 per cent of the schoolchildren are reportedly into drugs of one form or the other.
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Mankotia hints at political comeback
Dharamsala, September 22 “Virbhadra Singh victimised me as I raised my voice against corruption. I released the audio CD that has now become the basis of registration of a case against him. My fight was not against the Congress, but Virbhadra Singh,” he said. Indicating at returning to active politics, Mankotia said he would return to an active political battle against corruption before the next Assembly elections in the state. “My supporters have urged me to continue fight against corruption politically,” he added. Mankotia had declared his retirement from active politics a few months ago. However, his return to the Congress was being contemplated since the last parliamentary elections when most of his supporters joined back. A section of Congress leaders also wanted to bring him back to strengthen the party in the Kangra district that was a BJP strong hold. However, his comeback was being opposed by Virbhadra Singh. Mankotia also alleged that the former Chief Minister and presently Union Minister for Steel Virbhadra Singh was trying to get the investigation in the CD case shifted to the CBI as some senior officials of the department were close to him. |
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Rs 40 cr for small-scale industries
Kullu, September 22 This was stated by State Industries Minister Kishan Kapoor. He said the Dabar ayurvedic medicine manufactures would install a Rs 6.09-crore honey processing plant at Bandrol, which would generate employment for hundreds of families in the district by promoting honeybee-keeping avocation. He said over Rs 40 crore would be spent on setting up new small-scale industries in the district during the current financial year. He said the main thrust was given to fruits and vegetables processing units in the district, which had been brought under the priority sector by the government, adding that subsidies were being granted by the central and the state governments for it. He urged youths to come forward and join the training programmes being initiated at various places in the state, adding that two such training workshops were organised at Ani and Nirmand. District Industries Centre’s general manager Sanjay Sharma said four roller floor mills of Rs 8 crore and a Rs 25-crore cold storage were in pipeline and would be functional during the year-end. He said under the Pradhan Mantri Employment Generation Scheme, 25 per cent subsidy was given against loan taken for the priority sectors, besides central capital investment subsidy of up to Rs 30 lakh and state subsidy of Rs 1 lakh. He said the locals had shown interest in the
training programme. |
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Water scheme for Karsog
Mandi, September 22 Addressing the gathering at Kanho village, he said his government had provided drinking water facility to over 84 per cent of the population and had initiated various schemes like Doodh Ganga Yojna and Kisan-Bagwan Smridhi Yojna for farmers of the state. He said the government had reserved 50 per cent seats for women in panchayats and would soon start health camps at all educational institutions in a phased manner. |
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Una to host ayurveda fair from Sept 25
Shimla, September 22 Giving details during a press conference here today, Health Minister Rajeev Bindal said nearly 14 special clinics would be operated to provide free treatment to the patients during the fair. The highlight would be an exhibition on ayurvedic products, raw herbs, and medicines resents like health tonics and food supplements. It would also showcase yoga, naturopathy, homoepathy and other traditional treatments. He said the government had recruited 165 ayurvedic medical officers and created 155 new posts that were being filled. The department organised 49 free medical camps, where in 58,489 patients were administered treatment. |
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Run Gumma unit as PSU, asks CPM
Shimla, September 22 The State Secretariat of the CPM, which met here today, deliberated over the issue of closure of the carton factory. “The results of the closure are right before us as the growers have been charged almost double the price of a carton by manufacturers who formed a cartel and hiked its prices,” said Tikender Singh Panwar, Member State Secretariat. Panwar said it was the result of inconsiderate attitude of the state government, which resulted in the apple growers facing inconvenience at every level. “Poor quality cartons have resulted in damage being caused to the fruit which in turn fetched low prices and less profit to the growers,” Panwar said. He pointed out that the Gumma factory which had advanced technology was till date never been utilised to its full capacity of 3 crore cartons, forcing its slow death over a period of time. “In case the plant which is eco-friendly and pollution-free is run, it will not only generate revenue but also create ample employment opportunities,” he added. The CPM leader said though a commercial licence had been obtained in August 1993, no efforts were made to meet and market the commercial orders. “Despite large number of reputed companies, including Godrej, Dabur, Amrit Banaspati, Bharat Electronic Limited and Rajasthan Synthetics Limited, placing demand of several lakh cartons no efforts were made to turn it into a viable project,” he added. Working out the economics, the CPM leader said in case the plant runs to its full capacity it could give a profit of Rs 15 crore that could be used towards repayment of the loan about which the BJP regime keeps harping on.
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IMA cadets visit Dagshai school
Solan, September 22 Aimed at motivating the children to join the armed forces, particularly the Army, a talk was organised in the school auditorium for Class XII students, where Capt Vivek informed them about various entry-level examinations for joining the Army. He appraised the students about various tasks the Army undertakes and the honour an Army officer received in the outside world. The talk was also focused around the challenges the country was facing in terms of security and about the role of the young generation.
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