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Tariff freedom for Rs 30 lakh
Lok Mitra Kendra Issue |
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Qadian man held in shootout case
Failure to renew registration of sale depots
CM launches second round of census
NH-21 a nightmare for commuters
Slab in school collapses
Retired power engineers resent wrong fixation of pay scales
Legal awareness camps to be held
Man booked for killing wife
Rath Yatra marks Basant fair
Welfare boards meeting
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Tariff freedom for Rs 30 lakh
Manali, February 9 Though the DTCA will enhance the royalty by Rs 10 lakh after every five years, the company is free to decide the tariff for the lift as there is no clause in the agreement that bars the company on the tariff front. The company at present is charging Rs 100 per person per trip on a gondola lift ride. But it will increase the tariff for the coming summer season. Executive engineer-cum-inspector, technical committee of mechanical wing of the PWD, Ajay Sharma, who is responsible for regular check-ups of the ropeways for the safety measure, said the committee had inspected the ropeway and found all safety and rescue measures in place. There was power back-up and passengers could be rescued from each gondola and it be taken down by the standby rescue system, he added. Solang valley ropeways and ski resort MD Amitabh Sharma said the company had free to decide its tariff as it was paying Rs 30 lakh per annum as royalty to the government. “We will pay Rs 10 lakh more after every five years as per terms and conditions of the agreement”, he added. Ropeways operate 19 gondolas, each carrying eight passengers per trip from the ski resort base to Fatru at 3,200 mtrs height. “We have detachable lifts as a safety measure,” Sharma said. SDM Manali-cum-district tourism officer Rajeshwar Goel said the ropeway would promote tourism and indirectly enhance the stay of tourists for a day or two more that would benefit hoteliers, taxi operators and the company. The government would earn a revenue worth Rs 30 lakh from the company every year, which would be revised after every five years, but the tariff was decided by the company, he added.
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Lok Mitra Kendra Issue
Dharamsala, February 9 Hundreds of youths, who had opened Lok Mitra Kendras after investing Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh, gathered at the office of deputy commissioner. They arrived here on getting the information that deputy commissioner RS Gupta had called officials of Zoom Developers. While talking to The Tribune, Vinay, a youth from Darkata village of Kangra, said: “He along with a few other unemployed youths had opened Lok Mitra Kendra in their village two years ago. The company charged Rs 11,500 from us as registration fee. We were promised that the entire bills of the electricity department and revenue papers would be routed through our Lok Mitra Kendra. The youths were supposed to get 2.5 per cent of the bill amount collected through them.” The youth alleged: “It has been two years since they invested in Lok Mitra Kendras but we have not generated any income. Many youths had opened Lok Mitra Kendras after taking loan from banks. They are under debt now”. They alleged that as per the agreement of Zoom Developers with the government, the company had to keep 34 employees in Kangra to coordinate their activities. Sources said the company was maintaining 12 employees in the district. Even the employees presented themselves before the deputy commissioner and stated that the company was not paying them salaries for the past many months. The DC directed the officials of Zoom Developers to pay salary to their employees. The sources also said the company officials told the DC that they had entered into an agreement at the state level with the electricity board according to which the power bills would be routed through Lok Mitra Kendras. However, the lower officials of the power board functioning at district levels did not have any information regarding the agreement. The company officials also maintained that they had entered into agreements with telecom and life insurance companies to sustain the viability of the kendras. The youths running the kendras, however, alleged that the company was using them to sell the recharge coupons of telecom and DTH companies. Why the company officials charged Rs 11,500 from them, they alleged. The sources said the entire exercise to establish the kendras had ended up in a mess due to mismanagement. While Zoom Developers was given the task of establishing Lok Mitra Kendras in the Kangra zone comprising Kangra, Una and Chamba district, the other zones of Shimla and Mandi district were given to the GNG Company. Though the companies have entered into agreement with the electricity board to collect bills through Lok Mitra Kendra, it might not materialise. The electricity board would have to lose 2.5 per cent revenue by routing bills through the kendras without drawing any extra benefit. Similarly, the work of selling revenue papers cannot be outsourced to Lok Mitra Kendra immediately as in many districts, the revenue records have not been computerised and have a lot of intricacies that the youths running the kendras cannot understand without proper training.
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Woman murdered, in-laws booked
Nurpur, February 9 According to the police, Mann Singh, the brother of the deceased, lodged a complaint with the police against the five persons for killing his sister as they had been thrashing her and demanding money. The body of the deceased was recovered from a village bauli (spring) last evening in a suspicious condition. The police brought the body to the local civil hospital, where postmortem was conducted today. A large number of villagers and relatives of the complainant reached the hospital and showed resentment against the police for its alleged inaction. Meanwhile, local MLA Rakesh Pathania reached the spot and assured them speedy justice. Relatives and brother of the deceased alleged that the deceased had been murdered before throwing the body into the
bauli. After persistent pressure, the police lodged a case against the five accused. However, the postmortem was conducted by a team of two doctors and the preliminary postmortem report has stated drowning to be the cause of death. |
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Qadian man held in shootout case
Solan, February 9 The case pertains to Amit Chandel, nephew of the Doon MLA, who had received splinter injuries during the shootout while thwarting a bid to be kidnapped by miscreants at Lehi village near Baddi. SP Baddi Chandrashekhar Pandit said Harjeet Singh was arrested on the basis of phone calls made from a cellphone which had been left behind by the miscreants on the spot. Though its Sim was purchased on a fake address, the phone calls made from the cell provided some vital leads and established the gang's link to a local contractor. It was through the contractor that the police traced the whereabouts of Harjeet Singh to Qadian in Gurdaspur district of Punjab. The police after interrogating Singh learnt that he was hired by a gang operating in Batala and Quadian which was led by Jagdeep alias DC who had hatched the plot. As per the initial inquiries, the gang wanted to settle score with Chandel owing to some enmity and they had planned to thrash him on the night of February 1. Hardeep was directed to hit Chandel's Innova car with his bike from the rear as this would make Chandel stop his car. Hardeep was directed to do so on the plea they they wanted to thrash Chandel. The gang members had been residing at Amravati Apartments in Baddi since November and they had allegedly arrived here for the panchayati raj elections.
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Rs 10 cr earmarked for Pong Dam lake
Shimla, February 9 Director of Tourism Arun Sharma said his department would also promote community-based tourism activities for generating employment avenues for the local people at one of the largest man-made wetlands of North India, which has emerged as a favourite winter destination for migratory birds. It was one of the hotspots of biodiversity in the country and a great attraction for the tourists for fishing, bird watching and boating. Around 15,000 tourists visited the site during the winters last year while around 25,000 tourists are expected to visit the site during this season. Bird watching towers in the Karu island, landscaping, information centre at the Pong Dam site, jetty development, the Ranser and Karu islands, a 4km trek around the island and camping facilities are proposed to be established under the plan to attract tourists round the year. The Tourism Department has artificially created islands for shelters and breeding places for about 36 migratory rare bird species which descend on the lake from south and western India. The sprawling lake played hosts to 1.32 lakh migratory birds of over 90 species from Siberia and Central Asia during this winter. The Pong wetland harbours more than 230 species of birds belonging to about 54 bird families out of 77 families of the birds recorded in India.
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Failure to renew registration of sale depots
Hamirpur, February 9 In its orders, the office of the divisional forest officer (DFO), Hamirpur, has asked the Forest Corporation to submit five-time registration fee than the normal fee, as penalty. The corporation, which is allotted several sale depots by the Forest Department, had failed to get registration of its four sale depots renewed for many years. Through these sale depots the corporation is selling firewood and charcoal, allotted to it in lots by the department from salvaged trees, to the public. The renewal of registration has not been done in case of two sale depots at Hamirpur and Anu and one each at Sujanpur and Nadaun since 2004. As the orporation has been asked to deposit five times than the normal registration renewal fee, it would now have to deposit Rs 2,500 per depot against normal renewal charges fixed at Rs 500 per depot. Since there are several restrictions and complete control on sale of firewood and charcoal of the state, the Forest Department has taken a strong note of the non-renewal of sale depots by the corporation. It is learnt that after the order of the department to levy penal charges, the office of the Hamirpur Divisional Manager (DM) has sought permission from their higher authorities to deposit the renewal fees with penal charges. DFO Hamirpur Rakesh Sharma said: “The Forest Department has asked the corporation to deposit five-time registration renewal fee than the normal fee as penal charges for each sale depot for the delay on its part in renewing the registration.” Meanwhile, Pradeep Thakur, DM, Forest Corporation, Hamirpur, said: “These are routine matters and we have written to the department for renewal of the sale depots.”
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CM launches second round of census
Hamirpur, February 9 Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister emphasised the importance of the census and said this data was very important for all future plans of the country as these were formed on the data obtained through the census. He also appealed to the pubic to provide correct information to those persons who were collecting information for the census. Kullu: The second phase of the census has been started in this district today. The district census officer here said the second phase of the population census 2011 would end on February 28. The revision round would be upto March 5. The citizens could give their suggestions and complaints at various telephone numbers in the district. The district headquarters number is 01902222339; Tehsils of Kullu, Manali, Nirmand and Banjar could be contacted at 01902222696, 019022252286, 01904255139 and 01903222572. Sainj uptehsil at 01903230076; Ani uptehsil 01904253387; Kullu municipal council 01902222560; Manali municipal council 019022252363, Bhuntar nagar panchayat 01902265091 and Banjar nagar panchayat at 01903222384. |
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NH-21 a nightmare for commuters
Bilaspur, February 9 State Congress vice-president and former Forest Minister Ram Lal Thakur, District Congress general secretary Ram Saran Thakur and Kot Kehloor Mandal President Sarpal Singh Thakur, accompanied by 12 other prominent party leaders, said this road was never constructed for such a heavy traffic. They said two more cement factories were soon to come up at Sundernagar, and then it would be virtually impossible to use the NH 21 at all. They said a journey from Bilaspur to Suharghat, a distance of 42 kms, which usually was covered in 40 minutes earlier, had now taken some three to four hours. They urged the state and the Central governments to give priority to construct an alternative four-lane road for trucks. |
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Slab in school collapses
Bilaspur, February 9 Reports said had this collapse happened during the school time, it would have certainly taken several lives of children. The walls of the room are also said to have collapsed with the coming down of the slab of this old room of the school. School Management Committee representatives Mahender Singh Bansal and Harichad, accompanied by 12 village elders, said they had apprised Education department officers regarding the issue about six weeks ago, but no action was taken. They said there was one more such old room, which was also liable to collapse anytime. They urged Education Minister Ishwar Dass Dhiman to order immediate dispatch of a high-powered committee to visit the spot. |
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Retired power engineers resent wrong fixation of pay scales
Shimla, February 9 In a representation to the chairman of the board, they have pointed out that their pre-revised scale of Rs 15,350-21,600 has been placed wrongly by extending the fitment table 20 instead of including it in the fitment table 21. The table 20 starts from Rs 12,500 and ends at 19,100 and as such their pay scale could be included in it. If higher pay scale could be placed in a lower table by expanding it, there would be no need for having so many fixation tables. All the scales could be accommodated by expanding a single table. The retired engineers have been denied the benefit of revised pension as their pre-revised pay scale was included in any fixation table. Though the board had duly notified 39 pay scales awarded in deviation from the PSEB along with 50 categories which have been granted higher pay scales than that of the PSEB to benefit individuals, left out the pay scales of senior diploma engineers. |
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Legal awareness camps to be held
Kullu, February 9 They said the para-legal volunteers would be stationed in villages to advise people to settle their dispute out of the courts. This would be possible by creating awareness among the people and making them understand the implications of expensive and time consuming procedures of the legal proceedings in the courts. The volunteers would not only try to settle the dispute amicably but also inform the chairman of the legal services authority about the illegal and unlawful activities going on in the areas. Periodical awareness camps would also be organised and Lok Adalats in villages under the aegis of the legal services authority would also be started. The domestic violence and marriage disputes would be solved through counselling. They further said all these counselling and settlements would be free of cost. |
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Man booked for killing wife
Sundernagar, February 9 A case under Section 302, IPC, has been registered in the Karsog police station on the complaint of Tara Chand, deceased’s father. In the complaint, he alleged that his daughter namely Lata Devi was married about 14 years ago with the accused. They had gone to bring woods from forest but did not come back. During the search, he found that his daughter was hanging from a tree of cheel and a saw (arra) was also lying on the spot. |
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Rath Yatra marks Basant fair
Kullu, February 9 The Rath Yatra started after the idols of Lord Rama, Sita and Hanuman were brought in a beautifully decorated palanquin from Raghunath temple and placed in the wooden chariot. Thousands of people in the traditional and colourful local dresses participated. The rath was pulled from the northern-end of Dhalpur Maidan to the camp temple of Raghunath in the middle of the maidan. Ram-Bharat Milan and blessings to Hanuman during the Rath Yatra remained a big attraction. One of the members of the Bairagi families in Kullu, who came with the idol of Rama from Ayodhya, posed like Hanuman and ran around brushing people with his painted body. According to the local belief, the colour contact was considered to be blessings. The festival was shifted from Sultanpur to Dhalpur Maidan after 48 years last year. The Basant fair has been the second big attraction after Dussehra in Kullu while the Rath Yatra was taken out with the idols of the chief deity of Kullu Lord Raghunath.
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Shimla, February 9 According to a spokesperson, the OBC Welfare Board would meet on February 16, whereas the State Gorkha Kalyan Board would meet on February 17. The State Minorities Welfare Board and the State Schedule Castes Welfare Board would also meet on February 17. — TNS
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A kilometre-long Solang ropeway and ski resort, thrown open to tourists during the winter carnival by Chief Minister PK Dhumal, will give Rs 30 lakh per annum as royalty to the Department of Tourism and Civil Aviation (DTCA), but it will give nothing in terms of “lease deed” that the government has signed with the company.
Dharamsala, February 9
