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Setting Up Of Six Satellite Towns
Rs 2,198 crore spent on SCs, says Dhumal
51 more down with gastroenteritis;
toll 213
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CM urged to look into selling of ice factories
Good image must for party ticket, says Dhumal
Execution of bar coding deferred to October 1
BJYM activists burn Virbhadra’s effigy
Custodial Death
Nathpa Jhakri shut down for 12 hrs for flushing out silt
Thrashing case: Cops fail to nab 6 accused
Bounderi PHC sans doctor, remains locked
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Setting Up Of Six Satellite Towns
Mandi, July 3 In its recent board meeting, HIMUDA decided that it would hire top designers and builders to build its six satellite towns in the state. The board also decided that HIMUDA would buy land directly from landowners at the prevailing market price, sources revealed. “The board has made the Deputy Commissioner the chairman of the HIMUDA Negotiation Committee for buying land directly for landowners. The negotiations in each town are on as HIMUDA wants to go full steam with the work as early as possible,” the sources added. “HIMUDA has identified 800 bighas of land at Bagla near Mandi for the satellite town and are inspecting other sites as well. HIMUDA has also identified land near Dharamsala,” the sources added. Chief Executive Officer, HIMUDA, BD Joshi said, “HIMUDA will not acquire the land, but will buy it directly from land owners. The negotiations are on in Mandi, Dharamsala, Shimla and Solan. We will give the best market price to the landowners”. He said this was being done to avoid price escalation at a later stage. Joshi said the six satellite towns would not only help decongest the present towns but also provide modern housing to residents at reasonable prices. Joshi said HIMUDA had received over 72,000 applications and collected Rs 35 crore. “We need 800-1200 bighas or so for each satellite town. Each town will have state-of-the-art modern amenities for residents, he claimed. |
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Rs 2,198 crore spent on SCs, says Dhumal
Shimla, July 3 Stating this while addressing the closing ceremony of the three-day National Executive Meeting of the Scheduled Castes Morcha of the BJP here today, Chief Minister PK Dhumal said Rs 2,198.37 crore had been spent on the concentrated developmental activities of the Scheduled Castes (SCs) in the state since the BJP came to power and a provision of Rs 816 crore had been made in the current financial year. He said the allocation was increased from Rs 231 crore in 2007-08 to Rs 594 crore in 2008-09, Rs 668 crore in 2009-10 and Rs 742 crore in 2010-11. The condition of 50 per cent of the Scheduled Castes population had been relaxed to 40 per cent to bring maximum number of villages under the plan and as a result 6,355 villages had benefited. Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar Scholarship scheme was launched for students of the community to help them pursue higher studies and free coaching was being provided for competitive examinations to SC candidates in Himachal Pradesh University. The Mata Shabari Sashaktikaran Yojna had also been launched from this year to provide 50 per cent subsidy on LPG connection to women of BPL families of the community and 5,000 families were likely to benefit under the scheme during the year. Out of 16 assembly seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes, the BJP had won nine. National president of the BJP Scheduled Castes Morcha Dushyant Kumar Gautam hailed the steps taken by the state government which would benefit the poor the most. He criticised the UPA government for ignoring the interests of the community. |
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51 more down with gastroenteritis;
toll 213
Hamirpur, July 3 Cases of gastroenteritis were first reported on Friday at Badehar village when people suffering from diarrhoea and vomitting started reporting at the two health centres --- Community Health Centre (CHC) at Bhoranj and Primary Health Centre (PHC) at Bhareri. Thirtysix residents from this village were registered on Friday. On Saturday 126 persons visited the health centres with the same symptoms. Till now total 213 patients with gastroenteritis have been registered at the two health centres. Eleven patients are still admitted to the CHC at Bhoranj and seven to PHC at Bhareri, while others have been sent home after giving medicines. There is still no confirmation about the reason as to how so many people from one village have come under the grip of gastroenteritis. While some are blaming this on the drinking water, others think it was the food served in a social function. The district health authorities had rushed its team with additional medicines to the area and deployed three male and one female health workers. Chief Medical Officer, Hamirpur, SK Soni after visiting the village told The Tribune, “We are continuously monitoring the situation and have provided adequate medicines and staff to the area. We have sent a sample of water for laboratory test.” Executive Engineer, IPH, Dharmender Gill said, “There are remote chances of water getting contaminated as water to this village is being supplied from a very big scheme catering to hundreds of villages, but as a precautionary measure the department had carried out super-chlorination of drinking water tank in the village and in the entire IPH division”. |
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Fashion show on girl child held
Shimla, July 3 BJP MP Anurag Thakur inaugurated the event organised by the Saksham Relations in association with the Boiling Ice Media and Global Human Rights Division (GHRD). The show focussed on the Save the Girl Child theme to create awareness about the Beti Hai Anmol Yojna of the state government and conserve the serene, but fragile environment of Himachal Pradesh. It was a first attempt by the organisers to mix glamour with cultural tradition of the state for spreading a social message. Bhawana Gawali and Kalikeshnarayan Deo, both MPs, Rahul Karat, founder and Dean of the Maharashtra Institute of Technology, Pradeep Chaudhry, International Human Rights activist, Sanjana George, famous fashion designer, were also present on the occasion. In a traditional Indian dress, renowned model and Bollywood actress Udita Goswami enthralled the audience with her catwalk in the concluding round. Participants from Himachal received a loud applause for their fusion round and salsa performed by budding dancers Isha and Hitesh of Shimla. |
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CM urged to look into selling of ice factories
Bilaspur, July 3 This will also deprive its member societies from their huge amounts of money which they were to get as arrears of the fish purchased from them by this federation. Salim said yesterday that it had been found that the Mehatpur-Una ice factory and a cold storage worth crores had been given on tenders to some party
on a meagre amount of Rs 37 lakh. These fishermen leaders demanded that the Una factory and the ice factory located in Bilaspur should be sold by open auction and not on the basis of tenders so that the auction fetches handsome amount as sale money and the poor fish cooperative societies get back their more than Rs 50 lakh. They have sought personal attention of Chief Minister into this matter in the pure interest of thousands of poor fishermen of Gobind Sagar of Bilaspur and Una districts. |
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Good image must for party ticket, says Dhumal
Hamirpur, July 3 Talking to The Tribune here, the CM said, “The next assembly elections are going to be very crucial in the state since the BJP is going to create a history by forming the government again on the strength of good work. Each party candidate will be assessed by determining the image and working of sitting MLAs for fielding them again.” He said, “For determining the image and working of party MLAs, the BJP will conduct surveys at many level and even feedback from the media will also be kept in mind”. The CM said, “The BJP is also not going to field any candidate under the pressure of any group and will allot party ticket rising above the group politics.” Dhumal said, “The BJP government has carried uniform development as per priorities set by MLAs for their constituencies and if any one has not utilised this opportunity, then faults lies with his or her working in failing to establish rapport with people and party workers, which party can not ignore.” |
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Saini’s bhog ceremony becomes political arena
Nalagarh, July 3 Sushant, while criticising those MLAs who had turned lachrymose while paying tributes to Saini, said the late MLA was marginalised in his last days in his struggle against the lack of development in Nalagarh and none of his so-called close associates had come forward to support him. He said lack of development in the area had left Saini sad and morose. Later, Industries Minister Kishan Kapoor and Food and Civil Supplies Minister Ramesh Dawala while paying tributes to Saini turned emotional and said even in his last time Saini was worried about the progress of various developmental works and actively pursued their progress with officials. JP Nadda, spokesman and general secretary of the national BJP, said he was a true leader who fought for the masses. Others present on the occasion included Sarveen Chowdhary, Urmil Thakur, Gulab Singh Thakur, Sukh Ram Chowdhary, former MLA Lajja Ram, former zila parishad chairman Ram Kumar Chowdhary among others. Thousands of people had turned up to pay their last respects to the late MLA. |
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Kargil hero recalls recapturing of Tiger Hill
Manali, July 3 Talking to The Tribune here today, Brigadier Thakur recalled with pride the Battle of Kargil. He said, “The battle of Tiger Hill and Tololing Peak in the treacherous high altitude of above 15,000 ft will always be remembered as the mother of all battles, and the grit, bravado and supreme sacrifice of our men cannot and should never be forgotten”. Brigadier Thakur became a part of history when during the Kargil War his unit 18 Grenadiers earned 52 gallantry awards, including one Param Vir Chakra (Hav Yogendra Yadav), two Mahavir Chakras, six Veer Chakra, one Yudh Seva Medal, 18 Sena Medals and many others. “This is a record of maximum gallantry awards won by any unit in a single operation. Besides this, the unit was awarded --- Theatre Honour Kargil, Battle Honours (Tiger Hill and Tololing) and Unit Citation,” he added. He said the then President of India and Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces KR Narayanan hailed the recapture of Tiger Hill as a “moment of great pride and satisfaction for the entire nation”. Brigadier Thakur (retd) recalled that the then Chief of Army Staff, Gen VP Malik, complemented the 15th Corps and honoured the 18 Grenadiers with “Unit Citation” instantaneously for their excellent performance. Commenting on the pathetically divisive politics being played today where political leaders are laying claims to their state and labelling all others as ‘outsiders’, the Brigadier feels disheartened. “The intruders who set foot on our soil in Kargil were the real ‘outsiders’ and when our valiant men laid down their lives on those freezing heights, they did so for their motherland and not for any one state that they belonged to,” he said. “Second in command Lt-Col R Vishwantnath who died in my arms and 34 other martyrs of the outfit are national heroes and to restrict all such brave sons to any one region is an insult to their sacrifice,” he added. Brigadier Thakur felt disturbed that soldiers and their families were only remembered for a short period during the war and, thereafter, forgotten and left to fend for themselves the rest of their lives. |
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Execution of bar coding deferred to October 1
Solan, July 3 As per the latest notification the date for implementing this system has been deferred to October 1 and it will be implemented in a phased manner. The enforcement of bar-coding system will make trace and track technology compulsory for tertiary-level packaging with effect from October 1, 2011, while for secondary-level packaging it will be implemented from January 1, 2012. It will be enforced for primary-level packaging from July 1, 2012, according to the latest notification issued by the DGFT. The manufacturers will have to equip themselves with the technology to affix bar codes. As per the directions, the technology used to track and trace should conform to the GS-1 standards at all levels of packaging. The primary-level packs will see incorporation of 2D bar codes on medicines at strip, vial and bottle encoding of unique product identification code, batch number, expiry date and serial number and similar details will be displayed on the secondary and tertiary (shipper or carton) level packs using 1D or 2D bar codes. The investors had been opposing this technological transition as it was bound to incur huge financial implications on each investor and a small-scale investor could not afford to invest heavily on packaging alone. Majority of the investors were small-scale entrepreneurs in the pharmaceutical trade who were averse to adopt this system. With nearly 80 units in the Asia’s pharmaceutical hub of Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh being WHO-GMP certified these units were in the process of adopting the change. A senior executive of a key pharmaceutical export unit said, “We are exploring the possibility of adopting the new technology as almost 90 per cent of products are exported.” Top manufacturers associations like Indian Drug Manufacturers’ Association had been opposing this move and they had taken up the issue with the Ministry of Commerce to defer the move. They had contended that Indian packaging was manual and adopting such advanced technologies was not possible in a country where pharma trade was still in its nascent stage and it was irrational to expect the small-scale investors to adopt it. |
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Highway at Saach Pass blocked by avalanche
Chamba, July 3 The highway links the isolated, but picturesque Pangi tribal valley with its district headquarters at Chamba. Officials, however, maintained that the work to clear the snow from the highway was in progress and they were making all-out efforts to resume the vehicular traffic for tourists and local pedestrians as early as possible. |
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BJYM activists burn Virbhadra’s effigy
Bilaspur, July 3 Attri said it was due to the strenuous efforts of Anurag that this rail line tract was constructed and he was within his rights to inaugurate it. Moreover, he represented the Hamirpur constituency as an MP. It was not proper for the Union Minister to forget this protocol and get the programme of inauguration cancelled by misleading the Central Railway Minister. Attri also said Virbhadra Singh should not interfere in the Hamirpur constituency as he himself represented the Mandi constituency as an MP. The status of Anurag was no less than his, he added. The demonstrators also burnt an effigy of the Central Minister. Present on the occasion were state BJP executive committee members Subhash Thakur and Rajender Garga, district president Baba Ranjit Singh and Naina Deviji Mandal BJP president Prem Lal Thakur among others. |
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Custodial Death
Mandi, July 3 However, the inquiry has indicted both the policemen on duty for their negligence in duty and the Police Department holding it responsible for putting a pipe on the bathroom ceiling of the lock-up room that facilitated the suicide. The police had suspended the sentry on duty and initiated its own departmental inquiry into the case
soon after the death of accused. But the police inquiry remained in deep freeze as they had been awaiting the outcome of the judicial inquiry. According to sources, the judicial inquiry into the custodial death of Kishori Lal, a resident of Palampur, is complete as per the norms of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). The Police Department will have to pay compensation worth Rs 3 lakh or so to the wife of Kishori Lal, who hailed from Jogindernagar and belonged to a poor family. The inquiry found that Kishori was apprehended by villagers when he tried to loot jewellery worth Rs 40,000 from the Kali Mata temple at Jogindernagar on May 9. The villagers trashed him and handed him over to the police. As his family belonged to a nearby village, he must have felt humiliated after committing the crime. He used his shirt to hang himself from a pipe in the bathroom inside the lock-up room. A sentry on duty found him hanging from the ceiling and informed his superior, the sources said. Though the police had furnished two other cases of theft registered against Kishori, the family members suspected that the police had thrashed him to death and made it appear as a case of suicide. Mandi SP Pupul Dutt said they had not received the inquiry report to take action into the custodial death. DGP Dr Daljeet Singh said he had not received the report so far. “We will take action if something wrong is found as the departmental inquiry is also on,” he added. |
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Nathpa Jhakri shut down for 12 hrs for flushing out silt
Shimla, July 3 The level of silt in the river was hovering around 2,500 ppm (parts per million), well within the permissible limits of 4,000 ppm, but flushing it out was required as the reservoirs had accumulated over 10 lakh cubic metre of silt. It has been a good year so far and this is the first shutdown in the current rainy season. It is the first shutdown of the season and the project has exceeded the generation targets by wide margins in the first quarter of the year, establishing a new bench mark at 2,650 million units which is 226 million units more than the corresponding quarter of last year. The generation is also 363 million units more than the target set in the MoU by the Union Ministry of Power. The target for the year has been fixed at 6,900 million units. In 2010-11 the power station had generated a record 7,140 million units of electricity, surpassing the MoU target by 440 million units. |
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Thrashing case: Cops fail to nab 6 accused
Mandi, July 3 The police had registered a case against six accused identified as Doley Ram, Pritam Singh, Veeru, Hira Singh, Praveen Kumar, Navin Kumar and Rajinder Kumar from the area last week. “But it has arrested none and they are roaming freely. The victim’s father had lodged a complaint with the SP on June 29, but to no avail. He approached the RTI Bureau. SP Mandi Pupal Dutt said they had arrested the six accused, but they were bailed out as nature of injuries was yet to be established. “The final medical report of the victim is yet to come from the hospital to ascertain the nature of injuries,” he added. |
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Bounderi PHC sans doctor, remains locked
Chamba, July 3 Villagers of the area revealed here on Friday that patients had been facing a great problem in the absence of a doctor at the PHC and had to go to the Civil Hospital at
Tissa, 30 km from Bounderi. They said they had apprised the authorities concerned in this connection, but no doctor had so far been posted at the health
centre. Meanwhile, official sources have confirmed about the vacant position of a doctor.
— OC |
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