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Din in MC over development work
Dhumal seeks CSD depot at Una
Rs 15 lakh bond fails to bind docs to HP
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Mahila Cong chief irked at cold welcome
WB team to arrive in HP today
Water scarcity hits Nachan villages
Govt to get tough with smokers
Govt seeks details of benami properties
IIT Mandi signs MoU with German varsity
Villagers urged to grow native species
B Tech/BE admissions
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Din in MC over development work
Shimla, May 31 Incidentally, it was the first MC meeting after the storm that erupted over the U-turn by the Mayor on the Bemloe housing project followed by her resignation and its subsequent rejection. Both BJP and Congress members raised the issue of poor cleanliness and absence of public toilets in the city. With the MC proposing to outsource 102 public toilets to Sulabh International from June 1, the members demanded that this was not the solution as more toilets, including mobile ones, were required. Being the head of the MC, the BJP councillors demanded an explanation from the Mayor, who chose not to join issue with them. The Congress councillors said it was the Commissioner who, being the administrative head, should step down. As complete pandemonium prevailed in the House amid slogan raising, the Mayor adjourned the House and left abruptly. Objecting to her sudden departure, the BJP councillors demanded the Mayor must return as she had left without citing any reason. With the BJP councillors refusing to budge, the Mayor returned after half-an-hour so that proceedings could be completed.
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Dhumal seeks CSD depot at Una
Shimla, May 31 In a letter written to Antony, he said the demand for setting up of a CSD depot in the state had been pending for a very long time. “At present, CSD supplies are coming from depots located in Punjab and Haryana. During the past two decades demand has increased manifold, justifying demand of a depot within the hill state,” he said. He said the representatives of ex-servicemen and military commanders had repeatedly been raising the issue. He said the depot should be located in Una district since the area was well connected through broad-gauge railway line and would be convenient for the transportation of supplies from any part of the country to the area. Dhumal said HP had over two lakh serving and ex-servicemen who had rendered valuable service to the nation. He said their families had settled at their native places and were drawing supplies from CSD retail outlets. |
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Rs 15 lakh bond fails to bind docs to HP
Shimla, May 31 Despite doctors, who enrolled themselves for MD course in two medical colleges in the state, being made to fill up a bond where an amount of Rs 15 lakh has to be paid in case they do not serve for at least five years in Himachal after completing the course, 145 such cases are pending with the government. With some of these cases being very old, the government has given up pursuing recovery of the money from the doctors who left without honouring the commitment to serve here for five year. “So far only about Rs 10 lakh has been recovered in the 145 cases and now it is being felt that it is better not to pursue the cases, as the expenditure on contesting these cases in court is working out to be very expensive,” admitted a senior officer of the Health and Family Welfare Department. Sources said while Rs 10 lakh had been recovered, almost Rs 6 lakh had been spent on paying the fees of lawyers. The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) has been crippled for want of specialists at its First Referral Units (FRU). In fact, Himachal could not meet the basic requirement of appointing six specialists at these FRU’s and at some places there are just two to three doctors. Even as the state government is taking pride in the fact that the number of postgraduation seats have gone up from a mere 39 to 111 during the last three years, the government is struggling to get specialists to serve at its various health institutions, resulting in huge shortage. The number of MD seats have gone up from 39 seats to 82 at Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) and 29 at Dr Rajendra Prasad Medical College in Kangra. While there is no bond money in case of the MBBS course, the lure of hefty pay packages and better work environment are ensuring that many of these doctors work in corporate hospitals till they do their PG. As such, Himachal is facing a shortage of about 250 MBBS doctors.
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Mahila Cong chief irked at cold welcome
Dharamsala, May 31 Prabha was here to preside over a state-level meet of the Mahila Congress at Nagrota Bagwan today, the area represented by senior Congress leader and MLA GS Bali. Prabha seemed to be peeved at the poor reception she got in the state. She arrived at Palampur yesterday. However, none of the Mahila Congress leaders arrived to meet her at Palampur. Prabha said: “When I asked Mahila Congress leaders as to why they did not come to meet her, they said nobody arranged vehicle for them, which was more disappointing,” she said. Sources here said Prabha was annoyed with the leaders for the poor reception. Some leaders also attributed low attendance at the meet to infighting between various factions of the Congress. The Congress leaders accused the BJP government in the state of changing names of Centre welfare schemes. Prabha also alleged that the free ambulance scheme that was being financed by the Union government had been named after BJP leaders in the state. She urged the Congress leaders to make the public aware regarding the funds being provided by the Union government for various welfare schemes in the state. Kaul Singh Thakur, HPCC president, said the Congress was united in the state. Making reference to Kangra BJP MP Rajan Sushant, he said instead of the Congress, the BJP was a divided house and its own leaders were criticising the state government. CLP leader Vidya Stokes, HPCC general secretary Ajay Mahajan and HPCC spokesperson Kewal Singh Pathania were also present at the Nagrota Bagwan function of the Mahila Congress.
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WB team to arrive in HP today
Shimla, May 31 Besides holding discussions with officials of various departments, the team will also interact with Chief Minister PK Dhumal during the three-day visit. The bank has identified four core sectors, which are the mainstay of the economy of the state, for special attention. Besides industries and hydroelectric projects, which are known to have implications for the environment, the programme will also take care of the tourism and agri-horticulture sectors in A spate of agitations by the people affected by development projects in various parts of the state , particularly the hydroelectric projects and cement plants, have raised environmental concerns which need to be addressed. The bank, which has already provided funds for carrying out basin-wise cumulative environment impact studies in respect of hydroelectric projects, is keen to evolve environmentally sustainable development model, which could be replicated in other hill states.
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Water scarcity hits Nachan villages
Sundernagar, May 31 The farmers and residents of the area are facing problems due to non-functioning of the kuhl. According to the farmers, earlier they used to grow vegetables but due to non-functioning of the kuhl, they are suffering financial losses. Department officials admitted the non-functioning of the kuhl, but did not assign any reason for neglecting it. According to the SDO, Irrigation and Public Health, Kanaid, Prem Singh, since the amount has been sanctioned for the repair of the kuhl, soon the work will be started and the water will be restored. |
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Review property tax move: Sabha
Shimla, May 31 The sabha urged the Governor not to grant her assent to the HP Municipal Corporation (Amendments) Bill 2011 passed by the state Assembly. “The Bill should not only be referred back to the MC and the state Assembly, but public opinion must also be sought on it,” demanded Kuldeep Singh Tanwar, convener of the sabha while addressing a press conference here today. He said in case the amendments in the Act were made, property tax on the unit area method would be imposed on people ranging from 1 per cent to 25 per cent. “When the facilities in the merged areas are completely lacking, there is no logic in imposing property tax.” The sabha, along with several other organisations, will hold a protest rally here in June 23. —
TNS |
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Govt to get tough with smokers
Shimla, May 31 Addressing a press conference here today, Health Minister Rajiv Bindal said the fact that the percentage of smokers in Himachal as compared to national level was higher, called for concerted efforts against smoking and use of other tobacco products. As per the National Family Health Survey-III, the percentage of smokers in Himachal is 33.6 as compared to the national figure of 32.7. Another survey puts this figure in HP at 38.5 per cent with 3.7 per cent women also hooked to smoking. Bindal said efforts would be made to ensure that all schools, colleges and educational institutions were smoke-free and sale of cigarettes and tobacco products within their 100 metre was not allowed. The minister said the government had simplified the procedure for challaning a person for smoking in public along with collection of fine by a constable also.
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Govt seeks details of benami properties
Shimla, May 31 All 12 deputy commissioners have been directed to compile details of all such properties, which have been declared illegal and vested with the government. “All such properties made in violation of law should be used for housing government offices and public use facilities after vesting them with the government,” Dhumal said. He said the government would act against all such benami land deals irrespective of who the violator was. The maximum number of such benami land deals have taken place in the districts of Solan, Kangra, Una and Sirmaur since they share border with the neighbouring states. In Kangra district alone, 78 violations by Tibetans have been identified with proceedings in about 28 cases being in the final stages. Barring a few glaring examples like that of Hotel Chandan in Solan which was vested in the government and later converted into the residence of Sessions Judge and finally into the Regional Transport Office, there are many cases where despite being declared illegal, the structures have yet to be vested in the government. Some of these cases have been decided since the Congress tenure, but the successive regimes have not shown the political will to initiate proceedings for their vesting and takeover by the government. The Chief Minister who met Chief Justice Kurian Joseph to seek a sitting judge of the High Court for probing all the benami land deals and essentiality certificate issued under Section 118 of the Tenancy and Land Reform Act, 1972, said he was still hopeful that his request would be accepted. “I have spoken as well as written to the Chief Justice once again, but he has cited his inability as it was only in rare and exceptional cases that a sitting judge is assigned such a task as per the Supreme Court directions,” he said. Citing examples of certain properties, especially in Solan district that had been vested with the government, he said the government would deal with all such cases firmly and in accordance with law. The government would also take serious note of any kind of connivance of the revenue officials at the lower level in the issuance of agriculturalist certificate to outsiders to help them purchase land here.
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IIT Mandi signs MoU with German varsity
New Delhi, May 31 Two MoUs were even signed today between IIT Mandi and the University of Stuttgart representing TU9 Germany and the University of Hyderabad and Westfalesehe Wilhelmns University of Germany to develop faculty with stress on doctoral and post-doctoral programmes; mutual recognition of qualifications, particularly vocational education and joint research programmes. The pacts were signed in the presence of Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal who held a meeting with German Federal Minister of Education and Research Annettee Schavan here. Sibal said the setting up of such collaborative universities would be a welcome step to further higher education sector in the two countries. The minster also stressed that opportunities in the field of higher education and skill development in both the countries were enormous and called for mutual recognition of degrees and diplomas awarded by the educational institutions of both the countries. The HRD minister also emphasised increasing the avenues for vocational education and setting up joint ventures between the two countries under the public private partnership (PPP) model for skill enhancement. He noted that there was a need to publicise the fact that many courses at graduate and postgraduate level in Germany were conducted in English. This, he said, would help more Indian students to avail of the opportunity of studying in Germany. India, meanwhile, offered to host an Indo-German Higher Education Summit later this year to be co-chaired by both the ministers with the participation of academics.
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Villagers urged to grow native species
Mandi, May 31 Addressing an awareness camp organised by the Himachal Science and Environment Council with the Technology and Development Committee, Mandi, at Bahdyal village on Saturday, Dr Sawant said the villagers should protect and grow the native species to maintain biodiversity. The water sources and soil were directly linked to the forest conservation, he added. —
TNS |
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B Tech/BE admissions
Hamirpur, May 31
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Acrimonious scenes were witnessed in the Municipal Corporation (MC) as agitated BJP councillors today demanded the resignation of Mayor Madhu Sood.
Unsatisfied at the functioning of the Mahila Congress in the state, its national president Prabha Thakur indicated some changes in the organisational setup.Prabha was here to preside over a state-level meet of the Mahila Congress at Nagrota Bagwan today, the area represented by senior Congress leader and MLA GS Bali.
