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SC Ruling on Prosecution Sanction
Mandi IIT to focus on soft organic materials
BJP dissidents quit party
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Suicidal step, says BJP
Mother Teresa award for Dhumal
Embargo on salvage marking, felling in eco-zone of national park
Tribal samiti seeks new sub-tehsil
Number of winged visitors to Pong Dam declines
Chamba gears up for pulse polio campaign
Cut in winter sojourn injustice with lower areas: Bali
Teacher Eligibility
Test
IPS officers shifted
Meetings to finalise annual plan
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SC Ruling on Prosecution Sanction
Shimla, February 1 The pick-and-choose system in seeking prosecution sanction against those close to the ruling party and mindless shuttling of files between the Vigilance Bureau and the Director, Vigilance, as a delaying tactics sums up the fate of cases pertaining to corruption and other irregularities registered against politicians, bureaucrats and other officials in Himachal. Both the Congress and the BJP indulge in discriminatory treatment in such cases when in power. Prosecution sanction was sought in a case registered by the Vigilance Bureau against Health Minister Rajiv Bindal during the Congress regime just before the elections in 2007. Even after four years of the BJP rule, the sanction in the case pertaining to recruitment in the Solan Municipal Council is still awaited. Similarly, it is only after the high court started closely monitoring the cases registered by the Vigilance Bureau against officials last year that the government has been forced to expedite investigation and reluctantly move cases for seeking prosecution sanction against two IAS officers, Sanjay Gupta and RS Gupta. Prior to this, the cases against officials close to the ruling party were put on the back burner while cases of those close to political opponents were taken up on priority, virtually making the Vigilance Bureau a tool for unleashing political vendetta. A perfect example of this is the case against retired IAS officer Subhash Ahluwalia, who remained Private Secretary to Union Minister Virbhadra Singh. Investigations into the cases faced by him were completed early and the case moved for prosecution sanction, which was finally turned down by the Centre on the grounds of insufficient evidence. In sharp contrast to this is a case registered against IAS officer Sanjay Gupta way back in 1996 for which prosecution sanction was sought in March 2010, which is still pending with the state government. In yet another case registered against Gupta in 2010, the case was sent to the Centre for seeking prosecution sanction in September last year. In case of RS Gupta, prosecution sanction was sought from the state only in October last year even though the case had been registered in 2005. The Vigilance Bureau has so far sent a total of 26 cases to the Director (Vigilance) in the state government for seeking prosecution sanction. In most cases, this too was done after the high court started monitoring the progress of all corruption-related cases against government employees. The record of all 26 cases reveals that in most cases, the decision on granting or turning down prosecution sanction keeps pending as queries are sought time and again from the Vigilance Bureau. |
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Mandi IIT to focus on soft organic materials
Shimla, February 1 The research facility will be the first of its kind focusing on research for development of low-cost organic photovoltaic material, organic light emitting diodes (LEDs), nano-pharmaceuticals and micro-fabrication for electronics and bio-nano technology. It will be equipped with advanced equipment like high-resolution transmission electronic microscope and nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer at a cost of Rs 20 crore. “The organic photovoltaic material will help bring down the cost of solar energy to one-tenth to pave the way for harnessing this renewable source of energy on a large scale. Organic solar panels will be made form very thin soft photovoltaic material and can be rolled like a paper,” explained Ken Gonsalves who was in the city today along with Director of the institute Timothy Gonsalves to discuss issues like payment of net present value (NPV) amounting to Rs 18 crore for the transfer of forest land and other matters with Chief Minister PK Dhumal. The other areas of focus will be organic LEDs and nano-pharmaceuticals which had a wide range of application. While the highly energy-efficient organic LEDs had far-reaching implications in electronics, the nano-drugs had revolutionised the medicine. A former Punjab-cadre IAS officer, Ken Gonsalves found no satisfaction in pursuing the career of a bureaucrat and left rather disgusted to pursue science in the USA. He said he would be shuttling between Mandi and the USA until the research facility came up. |
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BJP dissidents quit party
Shimla, February 1 Having formed an anti-graft body in November, the dissident camp finally parted ways as senior members of the Bhrashtachar Mukti Morcha (BMM) today quit the party and made public their intention of exposing and taking on the corrupt elements by floating a political outfit shortly. Senior BJP leaders who had been spearheading the morcha, including its convener Maheshwar Singh, co-conveners Radha Raman Shastri, former ministers Shyama Sharma and Mahinder Sofat, former MLA Naveen Dhiman and Tikku Thakur, were present at the press conference where the announcement was made. “It is with a very heavy heart that we have been compelled to take the decision of quitting the party with which we have been associated for four decades,” they said. They lamented that it was from day one since the formation of BJP regime that senior and honest leaders were sidelined with the state party chief being reduced to a rubber stamp of the Chief Minister. “In Himachal, corrupt BJP leaders have found real estate business as an alternative to stashing money in Swiss banks as the sudden surge in their assets and several decisions taken by the government indicate rampant corruption,” said Sofat. He said the son of a topnotch leader had bought 10 bighas of land in Kullu for a mere Rs 10 lakh though its value was close to Rs 1 crore. “What is even more painful is the fact that we did not get justice even from party chief Nitin Gadkari, who sought proof of the corruption charges against the top rank of the party and kept giving us assurances while delaying any action,” said Sofat. Without naming anyone, he said the assets of a minister in the Dhumal Cabinet had gone up phenomenally. From owning just 300 sq metres of land earlier, he and his family today owned 160 bighas. He even alleged that a senior BJP leader was a beneficiary in the pulses scam under the PDS. Maheshwar Singh said till now all morcha members had abided by the party discipline, but with their hope of getting justice being dashed, they had decided to expose such tainted leaders. “The government stand on acquiring Bantony, allowing use of industrial plots for commercial use and opening private universities by allowing them purchase of prime land is just the tip of the iceberg,” he said. |
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Suicidal step, says BJP
Shimla, February 1 In his reaction to the decision of some BJP leaders to part ways and form their own political outfit in due course of time, Khimi Ram said nobody had asked them to quit the party and it was their own decision. “Neither had the state unit of the party nor the high command at the Centre accepted their so-called anti-corruption forum,” he said. “We had prior knowledge that most of these leaders under the garb of a non-political outfit like the BMM were hatching a conspiracy against their own party, jointly with our political opponents,” he said. He added that most of these leaders who were today talking of fighting corruption had at some point of time in their political careers faced such charges themselves. The party chief claimed that a large number of leaders who had been misled by the BMM in joining it had returned to the partyfold, thus resulting in its premature death. |
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Mother Teresa award for Dhumal
The award has been given in recognition of the services rendered by him to the people of the state in particular and the nation in general. The organisation has been honouring eminent persons in various fields like education, science, culture, music, sports, social work, medicine, industry and politics and included Prime Ministers of different countries, Governors of different states, Union Ministers, Chief Ministers, diplomats, film artistes, singers, mediapersons. Prominent awardees include Hillary Clinton, Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina, Jyoti Basu, Laloo Prasad Yadav, Manna Dey, Hema Malini and Bhupen Hazarika. Dhumal said it was an honour to the people of the state who had been the driving force behind all such achievements and in making Himachal Pradesh a role model of development in the country. |
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Embargo on salvage marking, felling in eco-zone of national park
Sai Ropa (Kullu), February 1 The move has come as a shot in the arm for local NGOs supporting the government’s move of declaring the GHNP as a Unesco world heritage site. However, it has come as a big blow to the jungle cartel of contractors pressuring the government to allow salvage marking and felling in and around the eco-zone of the GHNP since 1995.“The government has decided not to allow salvage marking and felling of dry and damaged trees in the eco-zone of the GHNP,” said Sudipto Roy, Additional Chief Secretary, Forests. “We are maintaining a 1-km-wide corridor in the eco-zone according to the mandatory norms of the national park,” he added. Ironically, the eco-zone of the GHNP has turned into a war zone among top forest officials as the forest mafia is taking advantage of the situation, though local NGOs have been opposing salvage marking and felling in the eco-zone tooth and nail. In his recent report, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden AK Gulati has recommended salvaging marking and felling in and around the eco-zone in the forests of Ghandiyal, Tishpur, Thanour, Bashleo, Shirdunga, Bunga and Mandrachi. It could fetch Rs 3.49 crore to the government as per the market rates, he has stated in his report. The report, a copy of which is with The Tribune, has observed that the stand of the Conservator, GHNP, and the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) has not been consistent on salvage marking in the eco-zone of the park. NGOs of Tirthan have, however, slammed Gulati’s report and have urged the government to maintain the sanctity of the eco-zone. “The GHNP is being billed as a Unesco world heritage site and the eco-zone is home to migratory pheasants and wild animals as they come to lower altitudes in the winter,” says Ranjiv Bharti, convener of an NGO, Friend. The forest mafia has been eyeing rich varieties of trees in the eco-zone since 1995, taking advantage of the “ambiguous status of the eco-zone as it has not been notified by the government”, says Rajinder Chauhan, director, SAHARA, an NGO, which works with the GHNP. “With the passage of time, dry and damaged trees become a source of feed for the wildlife and shrubs and herbs,” he adds. Yadvinder Singh, contractor-cum-general secretary, Kullu People Protection of Right and Culture Association, has alleged that the GHNP authorities are misleading the public on salvage marking and felling and allowing only a select few contractors in the area. Jogdian Thakur, who runs the HP State Timber Extraction Labour Organisation from Kullu, has lodged a complaint with the Forest Department against the contradictory stand taken by the GHNP authorities on salvage marking in the eco-zone. “Trees have been marked, but the lot has not been handed over to the HP Forest Development Corporation,” he says. However, GHNP Conservator Ajay Srivastav says they have been following the government guidelines on salvage marking in the eco-zone and on private land. |
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Tribal samiti seeks new sub-tehsil
Chamba, February 1 In a press statement here today, samiti president Lalit Thakur said “step-motherly” treatment had been meted out to inhabitants of these 21 non-tribal panchayats. They had been feeling “orphaned” in the absence of various basic amenities. The non-tribal panchayats are Kilod, Kuned, Radi, Preena, Baloth, Khundel, Dulara, Gurad, Chari, Mehla, Bandla, Barwin, Bakan, Sunara, Lothal, Brehi, Gehra, Lech, Piyuhra, Chhatrari and Kunr, Lalit said. Mentioning the long-pending demands, Lalit demanded the opening of judicial courts at Bharmour and Pangi, tribal sub-divisional headquarters, for doorstep justice of tribal people. Lalit also demanded the opening of a transport depot of the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) at Bharmour. Lalit also demanded the opening of health institutions in these panchayats. |
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Gas leak from industrial unit leaves villagers panicky
Una, February 1 The residents alleged that they saw brown vapours in the sky at about 7.30 am. Soon after, many children at Tahliwal village complained of breathing problems and irritation in the eyes. Village pradhan Arjun Singh alleged that in panic village residents brought back their children from the government school located near the industrial unit. We informed the local authorities and officials of the Industries Department regarding the incident. The Deputy Director, Industries, arrived at the spot and gave a clean chit to the owners of the industrial unit. We tried to confront the Deputy Director for giving a clean chit to the industrial unit without any inquiry. However, he drove his vehicle through the crowd of locals that had gathered there, the village pardhan alleged. He alleged that the action of the official of the Industries Department infuriated the locals who then blocked traffic on the main road leading through Tahliwal. They raised slogans against the local administration and the management of the industrial unit. The traffic blockade in the area continued for about three hours before Una SDM Pardeep Thakur arrived at the spot and pacified the people. The SDM said Mehak Chemicals produced bleaching power for which chlorine gas was used. The unit owners procured chlorine from the PACL plant in Nangal. The plant had been working in the area for the past more than 20 years. The people of the area had often been complaining regarding leakage of gas from the plant. Keeping in view the complaint of the locals, the production in the plant had been suspended till officials of the pollution control board carried out a through inquiry into the incident, he said. Interestingly, till the filing of this report, none of the pollution control board authorities had reached the spot to collect samples or conduct an inquiry. The General Manager, Industries, Una, said action would be taken against the plant owners in case they were found to be violating pollution norms. The plant authorities were not available for comment. The SDM, however, said the plant management had been maintaining that there was nothing wrong with their plant. |
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Number of winged visitors to Pong Dam declines
Shimla, February 1 The annual waterfowl census carried out on January 30 and 31 by the wildlife wing of the Forest Department revealed the presence of 1,19,500 winged visitors at the man-made lake as against last year’s count of 1.32 lakh birds. Chief Conservator, Forests (Faunal Diversity & Protected Area Network), Sanjeeva Pandey said the number of the winter guests observed by the field staff was much more but a large number of them further migrated to nearby wetlands of the surrounding states due to unusual weather conditions during early January. Giving details of the count here today, he said the two-day annual waterfowl estimation exercise revealed that 103 different species visited the Pong Dam and the dominant species included the bar-headed goose (25,000), common coot (17,750), northern pintail (13,200), common pochard (10,200), tufted pochard (7,600) common teal (7,400) and little cormorant (6,800). Pied avocet (12) had been noticed for the second successive year and common shelduck (30), rarely seen in Indian wetlands, was also seen. Eurasian skylark (500) had probably the highest density in the Pong Dam in the entire country, breeding of which was recorded here for the first time in the Indian sub-continent during the summer of 2011. The other noticeable species were great-crested grebe, greylag goose, red-crested pochard, ferruginous pochard, common merganser, eurasian spoonbill, greater white-fronted goose, garganey, sarus crane, western marsh harrier and osprey. Most of these birds migrate from their breeding places in the trans-Himalayan region in Tibet, Central Asia, Russia and Siberia. Over the past few years, the Pong Dam has become an ideal destination for the winter sojourn of many species of migratory birds. Experts from various institutes and organisations, including the WWF, the Delhi Bird Club, the Chandigarh Bird Club, the Himachal Bird Club, the Pong Koonjein Group and many wildlife enthusiasts, bird watchers, volunteers along with officials of the Forest Department, participated in this mega exercise. The entire water body was divided into 20 sections. About 90 persons participated in the exercise and each section was thoroughly traversed on land and water by a team of four to six members headed by an expert. |
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Campaign to popularise farm machines launched
Shimla, February 1 The power-driven machine, specially designed for the hill terrain, will be imported by public sector HIMFED and supplied across the state. The Chief Minister appreciated the initiative to provide quality farming equipment and implements to farmers to help mechanise agriculture in the state for which HIMFED had entered an agreement with TEXAS Company of Denmark. He said keeping in view the need for diversification of agriculture, the modern farm machines were a prerequisite and would also help HIMFED to increase its income. The state had small holdings at varied altitudes that made manual farm operations an unrewarding exercise. With the small holdings becoming uneconomical, farmers were abandoning their basic avocation of agriculture. With the introduction of the efficient machinery, rural youth would be attracted to revive their traditional avocation, thereby generating employment and self-employment avenues at their doorsteps. Dhumal said the proposed machinery had been successfully tested and was in use in over 25 countries. It was easy to handle by farmers themselves and no extra labourers would be required. He said such machines would help in increasing productivity and thereby generate additional income for farmers. He directed the HIMFED authorities to launch extensive demonstration and awareness drive to educate farmers about the same. Chairperson, HIMFED, Santosh Saini said the organisation was making rapid strides on all fronts and serving the farming community across the state through its well-knit network of extensions. Meanwhile, JM Pathania, Managing Director, HIMFED, explained the technical details and benefits of the machines. |
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Chamba gears up for pulse polio campaign
Chamba, February 1 Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Chamba Sharabh Negi disclosed this while presiding over a meeting to finalise the arrangements for the campaign here today. He said 55,585 children would be administered polio eradication vaccine on this day. For the smooth conduct of the campaign, 2,036 workers, including three mobile teams, had been constituted to ensure cent per cent coverage of eligible children. The mobile teams had been issued directives to visit all the “jhuggis” (huts) and hydel project areas in the district, he added. In addition to this, Tunnuhatti checkpoint on the Chamba-Pathankot national highway and Lahru on the Nurpur-Chowari highway had also been identified where booths had been set up for administering polio drops to travellers’ children. Similar arrangements had also been made at the main bus terminus of Chamba. The DC said the success of the campaign depended on social mobilisation and cooperation of all government organisations, and community participation by involving panchayati raj institutions, urban local bodies, mahila mandals, NGOs and educational institutions. For creating more awareness, useful information regarding the campaign was also being disseminated during morning assemblies of schools, the DC added. |
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Cut in winter sojourn injustice with lower areas: Bali
He said the practice of holding a winter sojourn in Kangra district was started by the then Congress government to provide relief to people of lower areas of the state who had to travel to Shimla for small works. During the stint of the Congress in power, the Chief Minister used to stay for at least one month in Kangra as part of the winter sojourn. However, the present government had reduced the winter sojourn to just a few days that was injustice with the lower areas of the state. Bali alleged that the present government had initiated a “back-door move” to close down the winter session of the Himachal Assembly at Dharamsala. Bali demanded a judicial inquiry into the pulses scam. He alleged that though the state government had taken action against two officials of the purchase committee that procured pulses for the PDS, someone in the government should also take political responsibility for the scam. He alleged that the government was taking populist decisions keeping in view the coming Assembly elections in the state. These populist decisions were likely to have an adverse impact on the economy of the state. On queries regarding the Congress charge sheet against the present government, Bali, who is the chairman of the committee formed by the Congress to formulate the charge sheet, said it would be ready before the Budget session of the Himachal Assembly. |
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Teacher Eligibility
Test
Nurpur, February 1 She had applied for Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) for Trained Graduate Teacher (TGT) medical through the SSSB’s application serial number 935. But she was astonished when she received her roll number 45742 for TGT Arts. She said she tried to approach the board authorities many times, but in vain, and finally she mailed her complaint to board’s e-mail address on January 21 to rectify the same. She rued that she did not get any communication from the authorities so far. She is afraid of depriving of her chance to appear in TET scheduled on February 5 at Dharamsala. She also appealed to the authorities to rectify the mistake in time so that she could appear in the test. Meanwhile, Vinod Kumar, Secretary, SSSB, said the applicant may collect the fresh roll number from the office of the board at Hamirpur or in case if she has mailed her complaint she will get the same before
TET. |
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IPS officers shifted
Shimla, February 1 Veena Bharti, IPS, Additional Superintendent of Police, Shimla, will be the new SP, Kinnaur, whereas Brij Mohan Sharma, AIG (Headquarters), Shimla, takes over as SP, CID (Narcotics), Shimla. Rameshwar Singh Thakur, SP, CID (Crime), Shimla, and Puneeta Bhardwaj, SP, Sirmaur, swap places. Dr Vinod Kumar Dhawan, SP, CID (Narcotics), Shimla, takes over as AIG (Headquarters), Shimla, and Suneel Kumar, SP, CID (Security), and Bimal Gupta, SP, Lahaul and Spiti, swap places.
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Meetings to finalise annual plan
Shimla, February 1 Stating this here today, Adviser, Planning, SK Shad said a meeting with MLAs from Shimla, Solan and Sirmaur districts would be held from 10.30 am to 1.30 pm and MLAs from Mandi, Chamba and Bilaspur districts from 2 pm to 5 pm on February 13. The meeting with MLAs from Kangra and Kullu districts would be held from 10.30 am to 1.30 pm and MLAs from Una, Hamirpur, Kinnaur and Lahaul-Spiti districts from 2 pm to 5 pm on the following day. — TNS
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Shimla, February 1
Dharamsala, February 1