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Despite promise, Centre denies aid to state: CM
CM celebrates Divali with poor kids
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BJP out to counter Cong’s anti-RSS drive
‘Attack on RSS a ploy’
Labour laws being flouted with impunity
Now teachers to retire on session’s last day
Rain Fury
Common Effluent Treatment Plant
Demand to set up hospital in mishap-prone area
HPCA to train young aspirants
Infant burnt to death on Divali
Protest against delay in post-mortem
Biometric cards for pensioners
Cop shoots at his senior, held
Wasps claim girl’s life
Man found dead
More potable water for villages: Minister
42 cases settled on the spot
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Despite promise, Centre denies aid to state: CM
“What is surprising is the fact that despite the Prime Minister assuring us that he will take up the issue with the Finance Minister, no help has come our way,” he rued. He added that now the only option was to either reduce the expenditure or generate revenue through own resources. The Chief Minister said whether it was the issue of reduced financial assistance, withdrawal of the special industrial package or the construction of the Manali-Leh rail line, Himachal had been disappointed. He added that the dissatisfaction was all the more because the Prime Minister had assured him that he would take up the issue with the Finance Minister and Himachal would be extended the help. “During the NDA regime, former Prime Minister Vajpayee had given an assurance which was honoured, but in case of the UPA regime it seems that even the Prime Minister does not have much of a say,” he lamented. He added that the financial problems of the state had aggravated due to undervaluation of the committed liabilities by the 12th Finance Commission. The Chief Minister said the commission had undervalued the state liabilities by over Rs 1,650 crore, besides allowing an annual increase of only 2 per cent. “The dearness allowance (DA) of the employees and pensioners has already increased by 18 per cent and as such the burden by way of salary, pension and increments is constantly on the rise,” he said. He said besides meeting the liabilities of salary and pension, the state government had to repay the loan and interest which further compounded its liabilities worth several thousands of crores of rupees. He said Himachal had released 20 per cent interim relief prior to the announcement of the 5th Pay Commission recommendations while Punjab had released only 5 per cent interim relief. He also expressed surprise over the rejection of recommendations made by the Planning Commission of India to the Union Finance Ministry to approve a borrowing limit of Rs 1,731 crore for Himachal during the current financial year and fixed the limit at Rs 1,566 crore thereby further burdening the state exchequer with additional liabilities. |
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CM celebrates Divali with poor kids
Shimla, November 6 He appealed to the people to make such deprived children part of their festivals, as they needed the love and care. He said various organisations had taken up the responsibility of extending help to all such children and others needed to take inspiration from these. “With due guidance and affection, many such children, who lost their parents early, have been able to be successful in life and emerged as role model for others,” he said. The Chief Minister said the government was implementing various schemes aimed at speedy socio-economic upliftment of weaker sections of the society. He said supporting the underprivileged and weaker sections was a joint responsibility of the society where people needed to lend their support and proactive participation in all such activities. |
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BJP out to counter Cong’s anti-RSS drive
Shimla, November 6 The international organising secretary of the RSS Dinesh will hold the meeting with all organisations to counter the misinformation campaign being launched by the Congress. “The senior leaders of the BJP as well as all other organisations will be directed to launch an offensive against the Congress propaganda launched by their general secretary Rahul Gandhi,” a BJP leader said. All senior leaders, including Chief Minister PK Dhumal and all state BJP office-bearers, will attend the meeting. Former Chief Minister and Rajya Sabha MP Shanta Kumar is unlikely to be there as he is abroad while state party chief Khimi Ram Sharma’s presence too is doubtful as he lost his wife only a few days back. The state-level leaders of the RSS, the BJP, the ABVP, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh and the Himachal Shiksha Samiti will attend the meeting with Dinesh, who is an RSS heavyweight. “The RSS leadership has taken a very serious view of the parallel drawn by Rahul Gandhi between SIMI and the RSS and is keen that all its associated organisations take on the Congress on this front,” a BJP leader said. He added that the RSS felt that the launch of an offensive was very important to ensure that the Centre does not impose a ban on the RSS, even though such chances were bleak. The fact that Himachal is a BJP-ruled state, the RSS is keen that it launches an offensive against any attempts by the Congress to defame the RSS. In fact, all organisations have been directed to stage demonstrations on November 10 at all district headquarters against the defaming of the RSS and implicating its leaders like Indresh Kumar, Member National Executive (RSS) in false cases. Besides countering the Congress onslaught, the RSS leader will also direct the leaders to take the various national programmes and policies of the organisation down to the grassroot-level worker. |
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‘Attack on RSS a ploy’
Addressing a press conference here today after holding an open darbar to listen to public grievances, Kapoor said during the recent Congress convention at Delhi, it skipped the main issue of corruption and raised a finger towards the RSS and termed it a terrorists’ organisation. He asserted that it was quite evident in the national history that the RSS had always come forward to serve the nation during national disasters. “Whereas the Congress is the mother of corruption and terrorism. The recent Adarsh Society Scam and Rs 40,000 crore Commonwealth Games scam are the tip of the iceberg,” he added. Talking on holding of open public darbars in the state, the minister said it was a joint decision of the state government and the party organisation with an objective to convey policies and achievements of the government to the masses and hear their grievances at their doorsteps. Forty complaints were submitted to the minister in the open darbar. |
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Labour laws being flouted with impunity
Solan, November 6 In a latest case relating to Empire Home Appliances based at Malkhumajra, the unit has employed more than 200 employees but only 35 are shown on its rolls. Though the management asserted that some of its employees were working in its other unit, Omaxe Industry, they were not provided identity cards, which was a violation of the law. The laws say it is compulsory to issue identity card within three days to an employee. This violation has been going on though as per the amended rules of the Central Contract Labour (regulation and abolition) Act, 1970, a unit can be booked and as per the provisions, it is liable for fine as well as penal action. In yet another case involving the death of eight labourers of Vasu Chemicals near Paonta Sahib in June this year, the labour department did nothing to fix the unit’s responsibility. Even in another case of fire incident in which nine persons, including an employee of the fire department, had died, the police had prepared a cancellation report against the FIR registered against the unit management in June 2009. This was despite the fact that the unit has lacked fire fighting equipment and that was the major cause of the massive disaster as per the report of a magisterial inquiry. Though inquiries are ordered each time, their findings remain on the paper. The labour officials have failed to even check the illegal operations of scores of labour contractors who operate with impunity without any registration. Even the purpose to amend the Central Act to make violations punishable fails to serve any purpose with poor regulation. No amount of laws would help check exploitation unless the field officials are made accountable for violations. Though the magisterial inquiry ordered into the death of nine labourers near Paonta Sahib had suggested providing online information about the registered contractors on the department’s website along with the total number of their labourers, the report had remained a formality. District president of the All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) Satish Sharma, decrying poor labour law implementation, said almost 50,000 labourers were working on a benami basis with neither ESI nor PF facility. They would soon launch a campaign against such violations to grant these labourers their due. |
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Now teachers to retire on session’s last day
Palampur, November 6 A senior officer of the state Education Department told mediapersons here today that any teacher, who retired during the session would be reemployed till March 31, 2011, in summer vacation schools and December 31, 2010, in winter vacation schools. However, the re-employment of teachers in colleges and other officers would come to an end on March 31 for the current academic session. He said the authority to re-employ junior basic teachers, head teachers, and central head teachers were vested in block primary education officer. “The C&V, trained graduate teachers (TGT) and lecturers of school cadre need to apply to headmaster, principal or head of the institution they are serving,” he added. “In case of college cadre lecturers, the head of the institution or the principal has been designated to give re-employment. Deputy director, higher education, of the districts concerned has the authority to re-employ headmaster or principal of the school cadre. Similarly, principals of college cadre and deputy director, higher education, can apply for re-employment to director (higher education),” he added. Any other officer posted in the deputy director’s higher and elementary education and those posted in directorate of higher and elementary education can apply for re-employment to deputy director higher/elementary education of the district concerned and director of higher/elementary education, respectively. The government has decided that after April 2011 re-employment in winter vacations schools will also close on March 31, henceforth. It has been cleared in the policy that no re-employment will be given to the teachers retiring during vacations, which fall at the end of the academic session and those retiring on the last day of academic session. |
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Rain Fury
Shimla, November 6 Addressing a public meeting at Kolar in Paonta Sahib today, he announced that a private medical college would be set up in Sirmaur district. He also laid the foundation stone of the Kedarpur-Bhooppur tubewell irrigation scheme in Bhatanwali gram panchayat to be constructed at a cost of Rs 1.37 crore under the SC Component Plan to irrigate 83 hectare and a bridge over Jalmusa-Khala over Sunker khud to be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 1.45 crore
at Kolar. The Chief Minister said Rs 110 crore had been spent on B&R activities in Sirmaur district by constructing 300 km new road, 280 km cross drainage and 380 km metalling and tarring. He also announced Rs 3.65 crore for double-laning of bridge over Sunkar khud at Kolar. He added that 27 PMGSY projects had been completed and 37 were in progress while 11 NABARD projects had been completed and 19 were in progress. Dhumal said the state government was committed to protecting the interest of fruit and vegetable growers and it was for this reason that they had been exempted from paying 6 per cent commission in Azadpur Mandi which was now once again being charged by the Congress government in Delhi. The Chief Minister said the Sixth India Reserve Battalion (IRB) would soon be established and announced Rs 5 crore for infrastructural development at Kolar for raising of the battalion. He hoped that economic activities would get a boost with the setting up of the battalion at Kolar. |
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Common Effluent Treatment Plant
Solan, November 6 The report was finalised during a recent meeting held at Baddi where additional chief secretary Harinder Heera, commissioner industries Onkar Sharma, OSD Barotiwala Nalagarh Development Authority (BBNDA) Tilak Raj Sharma, CEO BBNDA and representatives of the industry were present. The report has been prepared by a private consultant United Phosphorus Environmental Engineers which has taken into account the existing flow of effluents from the various industrial units while devising the project report. Ashok Sharma, a senior executive of the consultancy, said initially samples were collected and their treatment study was undertaken by a team of engineers from IIT Roorkee. The study had estimated that about 25 million litres of effluent would be treated per day and 90 per cent of the waste would be collected through pipelines while the remaining 10 per cent from scattered industrial units would be collected through tankers. The industry was now gearing up to achieve the equity participation for this Rs 80 crore project for which Rs 13 crore had to be pooled in from the industry while Rs 60 crore would be the Centre’s share. Though the industry contribution earlier stood at Rs 5.27 crore, it was later enhanced to Rs 13 crore as the ministry felt the industry should increase their contribution for the project, he said. Equity contribution was, however, a Herculean task and the industry was devising a formula to divide this share as per the individual effluent load of a unit. President of the Himachal Drug Manufacturers Association Sanjay Guleria said they were endeavouring to develop industry specific slabs where the contribution of each industry would be vis-à-vis its effluent load. He also opined that initially bigger units and those units where pollution was a recurring problem should contribute in larger proportion so that the others could emulate and come forward to contribute their share. The project approved under the Industrial Infrastructure Upgrade Scheme would be implemented through a special purpose vehicle so as to ensure that the infrastructure thus developed was user driven. As per the report, the industry has been divided into five sub-sectors based on the type of industry, including paper pulp, textile, pharmaceutical, electroplating, etc, so as to ensure homogenous effluent treatment. |
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Demand to set up hospital in mishap-prone area
Bilaspur, November 6 He apprised the CM of the rise in accidents on the Chandigrh-Manali road due to heavy truck traffic of three cement factories on this road, particularly on the track between Nauni and Suharghat. He urged him to set up a hospital with all required facilities to save precious human lives. The deputation, which was accompanied by other BJP leaders of the area namely district market committee chairman Daulat Ram Thakur, Kot Kehloor BJP mandal president Prem Lal Thakur, former BJP Kisan Morcha district president and now Chadole gram panchayat president Bhag Singh Thakur and prominent BJP leader Amar Singh Thakur, said hundreds of trucks of cement factories plied on this road everyday, apart from tourists and other traffic, choking the entire road thus resulting in increase in road accidents. The CM assured the deputation to look into the demand and see what could be done to solve this problem. The deputation also thanked the CM for taking interest in the development of the Kot Kehloor area and providing various facilities in this constituency which had been ignored during earlier Congress regimes. |
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HPCA to train young aspirants
Hamirpur, November 6 The total training period of a player would be of about two years during which they would be invited for coaching camps. Budding cricketers below 17 years of age, who have genuine interest in playing cricket, would be trained in several coaching camps. While the HPCA would organise free boarding and lodging during the coaching period, the body would also invite cricket coaches from across the state and other places. The place has been chosen by the HPCA for training young players as Sujanpur Tihra has a big ground spread over several acres. Ankush Gupta, who is closely associated with the HPCA said, “Our main aim of coaching budding cricketers is to provide them training through expert coaches and prepare them for playing cricket in the future.” He said, “We will make every effort to arrange best coaches and arrange decent facilities for the players during the coaching camps and have already started the process for coaching of players at Sujanpur
Tihra.” |
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Infant burnt to death on Divali
Shimla, November 6 It was due to the fireworks on the festival night that a four-room wooden house in Gaura Masnu village in Rampur caught fire. The house was owned by a villager Manohar Lal but it was occupied by his caretaker, Hira Lal, a Nepalese. Within no time, the house caught fire and the 20-day-old baby of Hira Lal, who was left inside the house, was burnt despite efforts. In yet another incident, a four-room wing of government school, Baleg, was gutted due to fireworks. Despite the best efforts of villagers, the fire could not be controlled as the building was made of wood and was engulfed by fire within no time. Meanwhile, there were about a dozen of cases of injuries due to burns on Divali. Most of these were treated at Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC), Shimla. |
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Protest against delay in post-mortem
Kangra, November 6 The relatives said tomorrow being Sunday the post-mortem would now be conducted only on Monday. Villagers from Nagrota Surian today gathered at the Tanda hospital and protested against not conducting the post-mortem examination of Raman Kumar (22), a resident of Nagrota Surian, who died following an accident in which his motorcycle rammed into a bus at Kharian yesterday. Raman Kumar and Jatinder Singh were injured in the accident but Raman died at the Tanda hospital, the police said. However, the victim’s body was shifted to zonal hospital at Dharamsala for a post-mortem examination. A resident of Nagrota Surian deplored the government for inaugurating different wings of the Tanda hospital only to get publicity but actually it was devoid of staff and consultants putting the people to a trauma. Chief Minister PK Dhumal inaugurated the autopsy block last month but bodies had to wait for days for postmortem for want of adequate staff. Collage sources said the Department of Forensic Medicines had only one consultant and HoD Dr Suresh Sankhiyan was under suspension in the Aman Kachroo ragging case. The sources added that the Registrars of the department were leaving the college due to the wrong government policy thus putting the only consultant under heavy pressure for conducting postmortems. The sources added that it was not possible on humanitarian grounds to drag one consultant to conduct postmortem every now and then. The sources alleged that there was no clear-cut postmortem guidelines laid down by the state government and bodies were referred from the peripheries to Tanda college and the only consultant was overloaded with work. |
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Biometric cards for pensioners
Dharamsala, November 6 Sarveen said the social security pension had been increased from Rs 200 to Rs 330 per month and also the minimum salary for the pension had been increased from Rs 17,000 to Rs 25,000, which would help many to take benefits of the scheme. She further added that the government had decided to provide land to the homeless poor in rural and urban areas. Those who have annual income less than Rs 15,000 will get 2 biswa in rural and 1 biswa in urban areas, she added. |
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Cop shoots at his senior, held
Chamba, November 6 Somjeet Kumar was rushed to a nearby community health centre, Tissa, from where he was referred to Dr. Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College, Tanda (Kangra district), according to reports reaching here today. Superintendent of Police Madhu Sudan Sharma said an FIR in this connection had been registered against and constable Shamsher had been arrested under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 25, 54, 59 of the Indian Arms Act at the police station, Tissa. The SP said on receiving the information about the happening, he had rushed to the spot and taken stock of the situation. He added that Shamsher had been arrested. The SP said the security personnel of the battalion were posted at Nodal Dhar from where the post was shifted to the lower elevation at Tarella in view of the coming winter. |
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Wasps claim girl’s life
Nurpur, November 6 She was suddenly attacked by a horde of wild wasps. On hearing her cries, her father reached there and rescued her by wrapping her with a piece of cloth. She was rushed to the local primary health centre but referred to Tanda medical college due to her serious condition. But she could not be saved. The deceased belonged to a poor family. |
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Man found dead
Dharamsala, November 6 According to police sources, it could be a murder and the incident took place last night. Family members alleged murder and registered a case under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The body was handed over to the family after a post-mortem examination.
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More potable water for villages: Minister
Dharamsala, November 6
It was disclosed by Irrigation and Public Health Minister Ravinder Ravi in Thural today. He said the state government had been providing 70 litres of clean water per person everyday for drinking and other purposes whereas only 40 litres had been provided to the public as per the national data. He said as per a survey, 84 per cent of people in Himachal used tap water for potable and other purposes, whereas this number was 62 per cent at the national level. Only 16 per cent of people used hand pumps, wells and other sources of water in the state.
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42 cases settled on the spot
Bilaspur, November 6 Presiding over a largely attended camp , which was also attended by all district officers, Deputy Commissioner Nandita Gupta said these camps were being organised in various far-flung areas of the district to save them from the trouble of visiting various district, subdivision and tehsil offices. District officers were made to offer solutions to their problems
on their doorsteps. This would also increase confidence and credibility of the government. The DC said the remaining 94 cases required detailed enquiries and these were handed over to the officers concerned with clear instructions that these must be settled soon and the response must also be made available to the Deputy Commissioner’s office along with the complainant or petitioner.
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Shimla, November 6
Nurpur, November 6