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BJP ministers, MLAs enter poll arena
MC Poll |
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Cong gives rebels last chance
BJP, Cong release manifestos
Sexual Harassment
2 Kaithal youths killed in mishap
Sonepat man jailed
Leopard rescued
Internship programme begins at Tanda college
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BJP ministers, MLAs enter poll arena
Dharamsala, January 1 In Dharamsala, Kishan Kapoor, Minister for Industries, held a rally in the Kotwali market area. In Palampur, Nurpur and Jwalaji also, senior party leaders have started campaigning openly for party candidates. Earlier, the ministers and MLAs were playing passive role in municipal polls. However, with reports indicating that their candidates might face tough times in some areas, the BJP has directed its senior leadership and ministers to exercise their influence to secure victory of party candidates. Sources in the ruling party revealed that in case the BJP loses municipal polls, it might send a bad signal regarding the performance of the government. It can also revive the Congress chances that at present is marred by factionalism among the Virbhadra Singh, Kaul Singh and Vidya Stokes groups. In the BJP, the decision of giving tickets for municipal polls was left to local units of the party that were working under the direct influence of party MLAs and ministers. There was very little interference by the senior leadership in deciding the party tickets. However, in case the party loses the elections, the senior leadership would also put the onus of defeat on the local MLAs and ministers. In the Congress, Kaul Singh, who was re-appointed as the HPCC president despite a stiff opposition from other groups, was given free hand in deciding the party candidates. At many places, Kaul Singh ignored the sitting party leaders while deciding the party candidates. In case, the party performs well during municipal polls, Kaul Singh might emerge stronger as compared to his rivals in the state. An interesting aspect about municipal polls this time is that elections for the posts of president and vice-president are being held directly. Earlier, the elected municipal councillors used to elect the president and vice-president. The candidates contesting the elections for presidents and vice-presidents would have to manage thousands of votes in cities and towns for winning the elections. The direct elections would lead to emergence of new leadership both in BJP and Congress in the state. These leaders can give a tough time to the sitting leadership for party tickets during the next assembly elections. |
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MC Poll
Hamirpur, January 1 With only two days left for polling to elect president and vice-president of the Hamirpur nagar parishad, the candidates and political parties are making last-ditch efforts to woo voters. The party had been winning the elections since long but is facing an acid test this time as election are being held directly and on party symbol. BJP candidate Deep Kumar, a sitting president is facing two party rebels contesting as independents. Deep Kumar is relying on the BJP support base and his personal vote bank in the election. Two BJP rebels Kashmiri Lal Handa and Avnish Kumar are posing a challenge to Deep Kumar as both of them are likely to cut into BJP vote bank. Handa is an old war horse of the nagar parishad and had won six times from different wards, besides being elected president and vice-president. He is relying on his goodwill. Congress candidate Prakash Chand, a sitting member, is banking upon the Congress and his community votes. The Congress is hoping to scrape through here with a division in BJP votes. The fight for the post of vice-president is direct between BJP candidate Dharmender and Manoj Sharma of the Congress. A keen contest is being witnessed in all 11 wards of the Hamirpur nagar parishad between Congress and BJP candidates. In ward no one, the main contest is between Congress candidate Anil Chaudhary and Rakesh Kumar of the BJP. Bidhi Chand, an independent, is also in the fray here. In ward no 2, Pradeep Dogra of the Congress is pitted against Ved Prakash of the BJP. Mast Ram, a BJP rebel is in the fray as an independent here. Congress candidate Shiv Raj Patial and Anil Soni of the BJP are fighting it out in ward no 3 and two independents Jagdish Soni and Ram Swaroop are also in the fray. Ward no 4 reserved for a women candidate is witnessing a triangular contest. The contest here is between Reeta Khanna (Congress), Sukindera Puri (BJP) and Urmil (Independent). Three women, Radha Rani (Congress), Renu Bhardwaj (BJP) and Niranjana, a Congress rebel, are in the race to capture ward no 5. In ward no 6, there is a direct contest between Rajni Verma of the Congress and Veena Kapil of the BJP. In ward no 7 again, it is a triangular contest between Manorama Lakhanpal (Congress), Rachna (BJP) and Nisha Kumari, an independent. In ward no 8, there is a direct contest between Nisha Kumari of the Congress and Rita of the BJP. Kaushalya Devi of the Congress and Asha Rani of the BJP are also in direct contest in ward no 9. In ward no 10, Dinesh Gautam (Congress), Surender Kumar (BJP), Sulochana, a sitting ward member, and two independents Pawan Sharma and Rakesh Kumar are in the fray. A maximum seven candidates are in the fray from ward no 11. Congress candidate Devi Dass, Trilok (BJP), Ranjeet Thakur, Jai Chand, Rajeev Gautam, Baldev Raj and Subhash Singh are contesting as independents here. |
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Cong gives rebels last chance
Mandi, January 1 Taking a serious view of over 20 Congress rebels contesting against the party candidates in the urban local bodies elections, Kaul Singh Thakur pleaded that the party had asked all rebels to retire from the contest. “We have given them time till tomorrow evening that they should retire from the contest in the interest of the party”, he added. Thakur said those party rebels who would not obey the party deadline should be prepared to face disciplinary action against them. “They will be expelled from the primary membership of the party for six years”, he warned. As of now, Congress rebels contesting for the post of president of the municipal council, Mandi, include Krishna Tandon, former state mahila chairperson, who is considered to be the supporter of Union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh, and Champa Sharma, who claimed to enjoy the blessings of Kaul Singh Thakur and Sukh Ram and his son. |
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BJP, Cong release manifestos
Solan, January 1 The BJP, while highlighting its string of developmental works, released its manifesto yesterday. Its candidates for the post of chairman and vice-chairman --- Devinder Gupta and Pawan Gupta, respectively, and state spokesman Nardev Barola said they endeavoured to carry out all round development of the town. They highlighted various achievements like provision of additional parking lots, creation of Palika Bazaar to accommodate roadside vendors, provision of e- samadaan for online billing of water and other items, sabzi mandi, bus stand, new jail building, etc. The Congress in its manifesto highlighted various decisions of the outgoing MC, including hike in conservancy tax, water charges, etc, and promised to reconsider these if voted to power. The Congress candidates, including Kul Rakesh Pant and Renu Sethi, stressed that the BJP was trying to take credit for the Giri water scheme which had been executed during the Congress regime. They said the laying of sewerage had been left incomplete and the MC had plunged into a deficit of Rs 15 crore, though the Congress-led MC had left a fund of Rs 5 crore five years ago. |
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70 pc turnout in third phase of rural poll
Shimla, January 1 Voting could not take place in 14 panchayats of Kinnaur district (seven each in Pooh and Kalpa area) as movement was difficult due to four feet snow. Polling will now take place in these 14 panchayats on January 5 and counting of votes will also take place the same day. Voting was peaceful in 1,011 panchayats that went to the polls in the last phase in all 12 districts of the state. Polling in the remaining panchayats of the state took place in the two earlier rounds held on December 28 and 30. Even as the results were still pouring in, the two main political parties claimed that they had got a clear edge in the results declared today. Since the elections to the panchayats were not held on party lines, both parties made counter claims. The elections for the urban local bodies, including nagar panchayats and municipal council, will be held on January 3. |
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Avalanche threat looms over Lahaul, Kinnaur
New Delhi, January 1 Several areas in Shimla and other mid and higher hills went without water in the morning as water pipes were frozen and vehicular traffic affected due to the thick ground frost. The threat of avalanche loomed over tribal areas of Lahaul and Kinnaur where people had been warned against venturing out during the daytime. The Manali-Leh road was blocked due to heavy snow while the Hindustan-Tibet National Highway was opened up to Matiana. Vehicular traffic to Rampur was being routed via Basantpur and Kingal. Lahaul, Darcha, Dhundhi, Koksar and other high altitude tribal areas were covered under thick blanket of 150-200 cm of snowfall while Rohtang Pass wore a 200 cm thick blanket of snow. Keylong, the headquarters of tribal Lahaul and Spiti district, recorded minimum temperature at minus 9.7°C while Kalpa in Kinnaur recorded a low of minus 8.5°C. The high altitude tribal areas groaned under biting cold wave conditions with night temperature ranging between minus 12°C and minus 18°C. The minimum temperature hovered around freezing point in lower hills with Solan, Sundernagar, Bhuntar, Mandi and Palampur recording a low of 0.2°C, 1.1°C, 1.3°C and 2.7°C, respectively. While Kalpa received 16.8 cm of fresh snowfall, Palampur was wettest in the region with 50.6 mm of rainfall and Naina Devi and Baijnath received 30 mm and 20 mm of rainfall, respectively.
— PTI |
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Sexual Harassment
Kangra, January 1 Ashish Saklani was suspended by the college authorities for six months. On November 16 last year, the college authorities had forwarded the recommendations of a probe panel to director Dr Jai Shri for her final nod. But, surprisingly, she directed the college authorities to revoke the suspension. The committee met yesterday at 2.30 p.m in the college to discuss the circumstances. The committee was of the opinion that in view of the seriousness of the case, all recommendations of the committee should have been accepted in order to maintain discipline in the college. Committee members expressed resentment over the direction of revoking suspension of the accused in the case and said the director should have adhered to the committee’s recommendations in the larger interests of the institution and the future of the students’
community. The director told the college management to keep Ashish Saklani suspended from the hostel but his suspension from the classes should be revoked. The direction added that Ashish should be fined Rs 5000. Both Ashish and his parents had been asked to file an affidavit that he would not repeat such actions in future, the sources said. |
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2 Kaithal youths killed in mishap
Shimla, January 1 Meanwhile , the New Year celebrations were marred by clashes and drunken driving by revellers who had thronged the town in thousands for white New Year. Traffic arrangements in the town were thrown out of gear and the movement of vehicles was badly affected. With heavy influx of tourists in the city, the roads were virtually choked and the haphazardly parked vehicles worsened the situation. The police rounded up over 20 youths who were engaged in brawl and clashes mainly on the Mall Road, Lakkar Bazaar and Lower Bazaar. They were kept in custody and let off only in the morning. The weather remained clear today as there was bright sunshine throughout the day. Clear skies also paved the way for ice skating which had been rendered impossible due to overcast sky in the
past. |
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Sonepat man jailed
Sundernagar, January 1 The convict was nabbed by the police in September, 2008, at Ruhni jungle in Karsog subdivision of Mandi district. The court held that on the chemical examination of charas the percentage of contraband was found to be 26 per cent (so it comes out to be 385 gm instead of 1.3 kg). |
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Leopard rescued
Bilaspur, January 1 Reports said a vigilant villager, Kishori Lal, found the leopard caught in the trap early in the morning. The animal was getting itself injured due to its attempts to get out of the trap. Kishori Lal immediately informed DFO DR Kaushal, who requested the wildlife DFO at Hamirpur to immediately send a team of experts to the spot to save the animal. The team arrived late in the night but it succeeded in its efforts to save the leopard alive. They first tranquilised the leopard and then put it into a cage. The leopard has now been sent to Palampur for
treatment. The trap locally known “fahi” is said to have been put up by some villager to trap wild boars which destroy crops in the area. |
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Internship programme begins at Tanda college
Kangra, January 1 Principal Dr Anil Chauhan said for the first time ever in the state the internship programme was started on January 1 which would save six months in career for all those who intend to go for postgraduate studies. Dr Sanjeev Chaudhary, HoD, pediatrics, and in charge of the internship training programme, welcomed the participants, which included all new interns, heads of departments and faculty members. He briefed them about the goals and the objectives of the internship training as per the Medical Council of India (MCI) guidelines. Dr NL Sharma, head of dermatology, enlightened the audience about ethics of medical practice as per the MCI guidelines while dealing with patients, fellow colleagues and other aspects of clinical and medical practice. |
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