|
|
|
|
|
House panel to look into Apartment Act
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
River policy soon, says Dhumal
Clear medical, TA bills of employees: DC
People resent unit tax imposition
Tricolour desecration: Case filed
Man washed away in Sutlej
Ambulance 108 reaches world’s highest village
Pipal Jatra begins
|
|
HC halts work on Jakhu ropeway
Shimla, April 28 This interim order was passed by a Special Green Bench comprising Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Rajiv Sharma on a PIL highlighting the alleged violation of the sanctioned plans and norms of
construction applicable to the core area of Shimla while constructing the ropeway project. While passing this order, the Bench further observed that a proposal was submitted by Jagson Ropeways to construct a ropeway to carry tourists from the base of the Jakhu hills to the temple of Lord Hanuman. Earlier, in a matter pertaining to this ropeway project, the company informed the court that the height of this ropeway would be 39.55 m and there would be 11 stories out of which eight would be non-habitable and not put to any commercial use and only three stories would be put to commercial use. But during the course of construction of this ropeway, the company had raised two more stories and now the height was 43.92 metres, but it was proposed to increase the height up to 46.90 metres. The stand of the company is that this increase in height has been necessitated due to the fact that when the initial survey was conducted, there was some error and a difference of three metres was not noticed and the height of trees was also miscalculated. Taking this plea of the company seriously, the Bench observed that “We are surprised and shocked to note that a company, which proposes to run a ropeway, can make a submission that while submitting its plans, it had such major miscalculations while seeking permissions. It will not be out of place to mention that this ropeway project is facing opposition right from the beginning of the project, but when the project proponent made promises that the minimum trees would be cut and the height would be at the lower level, the permission was granted. Now the height has already been increased by more than 4.5m and it is further proposed to raise the height by another almost 3 m.” The Bench further observed: “Officials of the state government seem to be more interested in protecting the interests of Jagson Ropeways rather than the environment of the area. If this court does not intervene, they permit this tower of Babel to increase in height day by day.” The court also directed the Commissioner, MC, to file his affidavit explaining his stand before July 23”. |
|
House panel to look into Apartment Act
Shimla, April 28 Speaker of the state Assembly Tulsi Ram has constituted the house committee to look into various aspects of the Act and the coming up of housing complexes at prime locations in Shimla, Kasauli and other places. The other members of the committee include Congress legislators Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu and Nikhil Rajour and ruling party MLAs Vipin Singh Parmar, Randhir Sharma, Balakrishan Chauhan and Rakesh Pathania, independent MLA from Nurpur. The notification in this regard was issued yesterday and the committee is likely to submit its report to the Speaker before the commencement of the monsoon session of the assembly. It was during the Budget session that the Congress had made a big issue over the approval given by the government for big housing projects, including the controversial one by Bemloe Developers amid a thick forest in the Kanlog area. Congress legislator Mukesh Agnihotri had alleged that several trees had been felled and damaged for paving way for a housing project in Kasauli. He had also echoed concern over the permission granted to Bemloe Developers for making plush cottages on the outskirts of the town, which would ultimately damage the thick deodar forest. The Congress had demanded scrapping of the Apartment Act as it felt that it was causing damage to the fragile hill ecology as trees were being felled by realtors to make way for their housing projects. In fact, Chief Minister PK Dhumal had stated that a house committee could be constituted to examine the issue threadbare and ensure that there were no irregularities in the issuing of the essentiality certificates (EC) under the Apartment Act. Dhumal stated that he was open to the idea of any amendments to the Apartment Act or even its scrapping, if it was in the interest of the state. |
|
CM asks students to keep off drugs
Solan, April 28 He lauded the vision of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in developing Himchal as an educational hub and said the state housed the nation’s first University of Information Technology at Waknaghat which had made a mark for itself. He said various universities established in the state had opened avenues for students. Referring to GHEC, he said the institute had been on the list of 20 emerging institutes which would receive a grant of Rs 10 lakh for technological enhancement from the Union Government. He said endeavours like ban on the use of plastics and enhancement in the female sex ratio, especially in the age group of 0 to 6 years, had been acclaimed at the national level. He urged them to adopt the latest technological skills and remain well-versed with their traditional knowledge as its importance was acknowledged worldwide. He said the students should help preserve the environment and recognise its value. Earlier, addressing a gathering, institute Chairman Kirpal Singh Pasricha said the institute had made big strides in nine years and their hard work was now yielding dividends with their students performing well in university examinations. He said the first woman pilot of country, Shikha Sood, was a product of their college. Institute Principal SS Sen read out the annual report and gave details of various achievements. Assistant Prof Pawan Sharma played a key role in the successful completion of the annual day. |
|
River policy soon, says Dhumal
Shimla, April 28 This was stated by Chief Minister PK Dhumal while addressing a stakeholders meet on the occasion of presentation of the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Service for Sustainable Plastic Waste Management in Himachal here today. Dhumal said it was a common practice to throw waste material into the running waters of the river instead of disposing it of at the designated sites. “Such a practice causes immense environmental damage and some of the hydro projects have got choked due to plastic waste, resulting in halting of power generation,” he regretted. He said Himachal had banned plastic and polythene products, which had become a major environmental hazard. “We will identify the roads which are prone to damage and use plastic in their repair as tarring material,” he said. He announced that government buses would be provided with a waste disposal bin so that passengers did not litter fruit peels and other garbage on the road or in the bus. He said the government was also considering installing close-circuit cameras at vulnerable points in the urban and semi-urban areas where people had been dumping waste, causing damage to the ecology. |
|
Seized leopard skins were to be smuggled to China
Dharamsala, April 28 Department of Forest officials seized the skins on a specific information provided by the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) from Delhi. Sources here told The Tribune that WPSI activists got information regarding the deal between smugglers of wildlife articles and sellers of the seven leopard skins in Delhi. They informed Conservator, Forests, Dharamsala, ARM Reddy about the transaction of skins yesterday. The forest officials laid a naka near Palampur and caught four persons carrying the leopard skins in a vehicle. Later investigations revealed that Chatter Singh of Jikli Bhath village in Baijnath was the kingpin of the operation. He was carrying the skins for selling these to smugglers. All four accused have been booked under Schedule-1 of the Wildlife Protection Act. It prescribes a punishment up to 10 years for killing animals protected under it. The officials said from initial investigation, it seemed that one leopard skin was fresh. It seemed that the poachers had killed the leopard recently as they had used turmeric (haldi) to prevent the skin from getting decayed. The other skins recovered were old. Reddy said the protected forest of Baijnath had a good population of leopards. It was possible that the poachers killed leopards in their area. The WPSI activists said the leopard skins were on the way to China. The smugglers were actively involved in smuggling parts of endangered big cat species like tigers and leopards. Almost all body parts of these animals were sold in China as these were used in their traditional medicine. A leopard skin and its other body parts cost about Rs 15 lakh in the international market, they said. Earlier also, the WPSI activists had helped bust a nexus of local poachers and wildlife article smugglers in Solan district. PALAMPUR: In the Dhauladhar hills, the population of leopards has come down by 50 per cent in the past five years. The leopards which were usually spotted in the hills of Palampur, Bir and Baijnath are not seen anywhere. |
|
Clear medical, TA bills of employees: DC
Hamirpur, April 28 They also raised the issue of renovation of government accommodation provided to employees, constructing a rain shelter near Gughwien Bridge, providing drinking water facility in PWD workshop and a water supply scheme in new colony like Vikas Nagar etc. Addressing the meeting, DC Rajinder Singh Thakur said this meeting was an important forum to discus various demands of the employees and the state government had made every effort to redress their grievances through a healthy discussion. He said the representatives of the employees should raise only those issues at the meeting which had not been resolved at the level of the department heads. The DC has also instructed all heads of the departments to ensure timely clearance of medical and TA bills of the employees and forward proposals about the regularisation of services of those who have completed eight years of service. Earlier, president of the federation PS Bharmoria welcomed the members. Additional District Magistrate CP Verma, Assistant Commissioner Akashay Sood and other officers were present at the meeting. |
|
People resent unit tax imposition
Shimla, April 28 President of the samiti Chander Paul Mehta today said people of the three merged areas had decided to fight the unjust move of imposing unit tax on them as no facilities had been created after their merger into the Municipal Corporation (MC). A meeting with people of Totu and Dhalli was held today to chalk out the future course of action. “We have issued an ultimatum to local MLA Suresh Bhardwaj and the seven councillors to appear before the public on May 2 or else face a boycott from people of the area,” he said. He said the elected representatives would have to clarify their stand as double standards would not be accepted by the public. Mehta said it was the duty of the elected representatives to clarify their stand on the issue as they had been voted by the electorate of the area. “The irony is that the three areas have been shuttling between the MC, Nagar Panchayat and Special Area Development Authority (SADA), and nobody has bothered to create even the basic civic amenities in the area,” he remarked. |
|
Tricolour desecration: Case filed
Kangra, April 28 Kangra District Additional Police chief Sanjeev Gandhi today said the case was registered following the receipt of the fact-finding inquiry report which established the prima fascia. He said the case was registered under Section 2 of the Prevention of National Honour Insult Act 1971. He said police investigation in the case had started, but no arrests had been made as yet. Kangra District Police chief Daljeet Singh Thakur yesterday had ordered an inquiry to look into the facts. Today he ordered the registering of the case. Meanwhile, the organisers of the march yesterday tendered an apology on their arrival at Una. |
|
BJP women’s march against corruption
Shimla, April 28 She was speaking at a meeting of the morcha in the state capital as part of the padayatra being undertaken against price rise by the Mahila Morcha. The BJP Mahila Morcha workers marched from the DC office to Naaz where senior leaders addressed the gathering. “The BJP Mahila Morcha will continue to awaken people against the price rise till the UPA regime is voted out of power,” she said. The yatra will conclude at Sundernagar on April 30 where senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh will address party workers. |
|
Man washed away in Sutlej
Kullu, April 28 A search operation with the help of villagers was launched, but the body of the victim could not be traced till today. Meanwhile, there was no report of any missing person from the area, the
police confirmed. Boy drowns in Gobind Sagar lake
BILASPUR: Twelve-year-old Gurcharan Singh of Sunnan village of Suharghat, near here, drowned in the Gobind Sagar lake when he was crossing it in a boat along with other villagers on Wednesday evening. Reports said water started seeping in the boat and it sank. All other passengers swam to the shore, but Gurcharan got drowned. His body was later recovered by his co-passengers. The villagers were going to witness a “Dhajja”, a local night-long folk play, at Chalog village across the Gobind Sagar. The police has registered a case and handed over the body to the family after a post-mortem examination. |
|
Ambulance 108 reaches world’s highest village
Solan, April 28 A press statement issued by GVK EMRI-108, which runs these services, stated that a patient named Ram Singh availed its services today. He suspected a knee-joint fracture and was admitted to Kaza Hospital at 11.20 am. The case was handled by ambulance 108 of Kaza under the supervision of EMT Lalit Mohan and Dr Vekesh and pilot Maheshwar.
— OC |
|
Pipal Jatra begins
Kullu, April 28 The fair was earlier known as the “Rai Ri Jaach” (Fair of the King), while the erstwhile rulers of Kullu used to organise the fair and listen to the grievances of the people, besides enjoying the folk dances. The fair was also famous for cattle sales as hundreds of cattle were brought from far-away places for sale. The local folk songs and dances stole the show at the Kala Kendra that remained a big attraction for the tourists.
|
|
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | E-mail | |
