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Karmapa not involved in currency case: Govt
failure to implement Lok Mitra Kendra scheme
Ambulance services turn multi-purpose
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Monitoring towers for sinking Reckong
Mandi to have composting unit
A-I office at Kullu
Poor mobile services mar preparations for CM’s visit
Protest against shifting of TB unit
30 cases settled on the spot
Man killed in car mishap
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Karmapa not involved in currency case: Govt Shimla, February 11 “The Karmapa is the religious head of a sect and he is not involved in any kind of illegal activity like money laundering and benami land deals. As such, there is no question of the state making a recommendation to the Centre to deport him”, chief secretary Rajwant Sandhu said and outrightly rejected any possibility of registration of a case against him in this connection. “He was a religious leader and he was free to carry out religious activities. The state government does not interfere in religious activities of any sect and as such there is no need to impose any restriction on him”. “However, the role of managers of the monastery is being investigated by various agencies and if they are found to be involved in any illegal activities, the law will take its own course”, she stated. She also categorically stated that the state had not received any communication from the Centre to go slow in the matter and the government was acting on the basis of the investigations being carried out by its own agencies. The Centre was not in the picture and it had its own agencies and channels to get information. As far as the benami land deals were concerned, the law of the land applied equally to the Tibetans and Indians and they would be treated on a par. The government was already on the job and survey to unearth benami land deals was being conducted in the state and action would be taken as per law, she observed. The issue of the land in the possession of Tibetans had been hanging fire for long and some time back, a proposal to lease out land to various trusts associated with the Dalai Lama and engaged in activities relating to welfare of Tibetans was mooted. However, before any action could be taken, some people moved the high court and the matter was under adjudication.
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failure to implement Lok Mitra Kendra scheme Rakesh Lohumi Tribune News Service
Shimla, February 11 The companies have been asked to explain the reasons for their failure to roll out the various information technology-enabled services through the Lok Mitra Kendras within the stipulated period as per agreement. In case the companies failed to come out with a plausible explanation and failed to achieve the targets, their bank guarantees will be forfeited. Principal secretary, Finance and IT, Ajay Tyagi, said the two companies were assigned the contract under the Public-Private Partnership programme fully funded by the Government of India. The scheme was designed by the Centre under which the companies signed two separate agreements, one with the government regarding roll out of services through LMKs, and the other with the vendors for setting up the LMKs. The agreements were also based on templates provided by the Centre and the state had no role in it. As per the agreement with the government, the companies were to roll out the services to 80 per cent of the total 3,243 panchayats in the state by October 2010 which they had not been able to achieve. The LMKs, already opened, were not providing all services to the people. It was a difficult scheme to implement and Himachal was not doing badly when compared to other states but there were problems and the pace of implementation was tardy for various reasons. The government had initiated action against the companies for violation of the agreement and also directed the deputy commissioners to convene a meeting between representatives of the companies and the vendors to sort out problems. In case the issue was not settled, the vendors could initiate legal action against the company concerned for violation of agreement. The Lok Mitra Kendras had been set up mostly by the unemployed youth by investing Rs 1 to Rs 2 lakh. Delay in rolling out services was causing financial hardships to them.
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Ambulance services turn multi-purpose
Shimla, February 11 Stating this here today, chief secretary Rajwant Sandhu said the service launched on December 25 last year had been a success and on an average, 1,800 calls were being received daily. Till date, over 72,000 calls had been received out of which 6,335 pertained to medical emergencies, including 814 delivery cases. In fact, 14 deliveries were conducted in ambulance itself by the crew which had been provided necessary training. Besides medical officers, police officials were also available at the call centre round the clock and people could use the toll-free number to give information about accidents, fires, thefts, violence, traffic jams and other such problems which required prompt action. The information would be passed on to the police or other agencies concerned immediately and as such it would help reduce response time. Replying to a question pertaining to ropeway being constructed to link Jakhu peak, she said the builder had approached the government to allow it to construct one more storey on the grounds that it would help save a large number of trees from lopping. Without the additional storey, 5 trees would have to be felled and 192 would be affected by lopping. The height of the structure would be increased from 39 m to 45 m and there were various issues like structural strength to take the additional load, safety of the ropeway and deviation from the approved design, to be examined before taking a decision. She said the principal secretary, tourism, had been asked to compile all relevant information from various department and place the matter before the government. She said there had been no slowdown on the development front and the government had provided adequate funds for the ongoing projects. The Public Works Department had been provided Rs 866 crore for executing works of six departments in the current year out of which Rs 475 crore had been utilised by December last. In all, 2,171 works were under execution out of which 284 were completed last year and 572 would be over by March 31.
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Monitoring towers for sinking Reckong
Shimla, February 11 The cracks are appearing in residential places as well as government buildings in about one square km sinking zone. The geology wing will set up 20 towers to monitor the sub-soil movement to look into the reasons as well as the pace at which it is happening. The towers will be put up within the sinking zone the readings will be monitored every fortnight. A team from the geology wing is engaged in the process of setting up towers so that the shifting of the sub-soil could be ascertained. Besides this, the team will also study the flow of water discharge from various irrigation schemes, including the Kuhls (irrigation channels). “We will ascertain the exact amount of water that is being discharged through the irrigation schemes and the amount that is being utilized as this will give us a fair idea about the seepage taking place,” said an official. The recent phenomena had virtually created a fear among villagers who apprehended that the entire place would finally give way due to developing of wide cracks. It was following this that a team from the Geological Survey of India (GSI) had visited the area to ascertain the cause for this sudden development. It was the GSI team which had suggested continuous monitoring of the sub-soil movement so that the reasons for sinking could be pinpointed. Even though the exact cause for the developing of cracks is yet to be ascertained, GSI experts had observed that it was most likely due to seepage that the area had started sinking. As such the team had suggested that the pace at which sinking was taking place must be monitored. Even as locals feel that it is the excessive construction activity in a fragile zone, which had resulted in the sinking of the area, most experts point out that the excessive seepage is the main culprit. They point out that the reasons too are very obvious as there has been unprecedented rain last year in the area which experienced much less rain in the past.
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CM lays stone of science lab
Hamirpur, February 11 Addressing a gathering after laying the foundation stone of a science laboratory at Government Senior Secondary School, Dera Parol, today he said: “For creating awareness among people about shunning the use of plastic material and for conserving the environment, educational institutions haves been involved in creating awareness through cultural programmes and other such activities.” The Chief Minister said: “The state has emerged as a role model in the field of education, despite tough geographical conditions and other constraints and it has been ranked number one in the country which is a significant achievement for a small hilly state like Himachal.” Reacting on the state bagging the National Agriculture Leadership Award recently, Dhumal said: “It is another big step towards strengthening our agriculture sector. Despite the fact that the state have small land holdings and limited cultivable land, the state government has launched several schemes to increase the agriculture production through diversified farming by encouraging cash crops for growing them in controlled environment in poly-houses, besides launching other schemes for better output.” He said: “The government had taken a lead by notifying regulatory provision to monitor activities of educational institutions in public and private sectors to protect the interests of students and efforts are being made to provide quality education and for achieving this task teachers have to play an important role.” Dhumal also distributed prizes to the outstanding students in different activities and academics in the annual prize distribution function in the school and announced to give Rs 20,000 for promoting cultural activities. He also laid foundation stones of primary health centres at Kuthera and Kangoo and heard grievances of the public at several places.
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Mandi to have composting unit
Mandi, February 11 National Building Construction Company (NBCC) will soon set up a composting unit here to produce manure from the town’s waste for which the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has sanctioned Rs 2.6 crore under the second phase of the waste management project in Mandi. In fact, the high court recently admitted a PIL on pollution being created by the waste in Mandi. Both CPCB and the court pulled up the Mandi Municipal Council (MC) as to what steps it has taken to manage its waste. The high court admitted the PIL taking cognizance of a series of reports on pollution in Mandi published in these columns from time to time. The MC has filed its reply in this regards in the high court recently. As a result, the MC submitted a detailed project report to the CPCB. The board has seized of the matter as the town’s waste has been polluting the Beas river over the years. The CPCB has sanctioned Rs. 2.6 crore to the municipal council for setting up of the composting unit. The CPCB has allotted the compost project to NBCC, which has a technical know-how to executive the project. As per the terms and conditions of the CPCB, the MC will have to deposit Rs 25 lakh on account of its 10 per cent share in the cost of the project. According to the MC, the town produces over 6 tonnes of garbage daily. But most of the garbage ends up in the Beas and its tributaries Suketi and Siniardi khuds. The MC has no technical expertise to executive the project. But the council will engage its manpower to collect and segregate the garbage on a daily basis for the composting unit to produce manure. The council will sell the manure to farmers. The council is identifying the land site for the unit around the town. Executive officer, MC, Urvashi Walia said, “The council will call a meeting of the 13-member house to pass the resolution for the project shortly. The council will deposit Rs 25 lakh as part of its 10 per cent share in the house meeting. The land will be identified so that NBCC can start the work soon”. |
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A-I office at Kullu
Kullu: Air-India has opened its office at Shashtri Nagar here. Stationmanager Satish Kumar Sharma said the airlines would offer discounted fares up to the tune of 90 per cent to the infants and 50 per cent to the students, senior citizens and armed forces personnel. He said the reservation office would be open round the clock and provide efficient services to the passengers. The Travels Agents Associations of Kullu and Manali welcomed the opening of the office at Kullu. They also demanded that one office of the national career should also be opened at Manali. — OC |
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Poor mobile services mar preparations for CM’s visit
Chamba, February 11 As a sequel to this, the officials who were busy in making arrangements for the ensuing two-day visit of Chief Minister PK Dhumal starting from tomorrow from Sinhuta in Bhattiyat sub-division of Chamba district were found in a confusing situation. The trouble in the telecommunication network had foiled the plans of those people who had intended to coordinate with each other for the preparations of greeting the Chief Minister’s tour to the district. This had caused a great inconvenience to the administration and the public as well. When enquired about the problem, a BSNL engineer told The Tribune that there was a problem in the Dalhousie circuit and engineers were on the job to rectify the technical snag which disrupted the transmission network. The telecom services would be restored by tonight, he added. |
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Protest against shifting of TB unit
Nurpur, February 11 Non-official members raised the question that under whose direction this unit had been shifted as in the official records it was still in the hospital. Members, who did not get any satisfactory reply from the authorities, succeeded in resolving for immediate shifting of this unit in this hospital in larger public interest. It was learnt that these TB units set up under the centrally sponsored RNTC programme are functioning only in civil hospitals across the state, but here the unit staff was shifted at Gangath causing inconvenience to TB patients in the area. Apart from passing a resolution for the restoration of the status of the TB unit, the RKS approved the budget of Rs 25 lakh for the proposed setting up of ICU and Rs 3 lakh for clinical laboratory and cell counter in the hospital. The RKS also sanctioned 10 per cent enhancement of salary of supporting contract employees appointed by the
RKS. |
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30 cases settled on the spot
Bilaspur, February 11 She urged all villagers to come forward to take full advantage of all schemes started by the government for their welfare and financial assistance and subsidies being liberally offered along with a number of opportunities in training the youths for various vocations and professions to make them stand on their feet and improve their financial position through self help. The DC said a total of 175 cases were presented by people in this camp and out of those 30 were settled on the spot while the remaining were handed over to the district officers for immediate disposal after due inquiry. A large number of district officers and SDM Ram Kumar Gauttam, chief medical officer Dr Sudershan Sharma, BDO Dr Sunil Chandel, panchayat president Bishan Dass and vice-president Navin Kumar were also present. District welfare officer Khem Chand also addressed the function. |
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Man killed in car mishap
Chamba, February 11 The deceased had been identified as Deepak Kumar, a resident of village Ghum. The body of the deceased had been handed over to his kin after the post-mortem. A case of rash and negligent driving had been registered at the Sadar police station, Chamba, the report said. Further investigations to ascertain the cause of the accident were underway.
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Shimla, February 11
Shimla, February 11
Shimla, February 11
