|
|
|
|
|
HRTC staff strike hits bus services
The bus stand wears a deserted look due to a strike by HRTC employees in support of their demands in Shimla on Tuesday. Photo: Amit Kanwar
Birender hints at Uttarakhand ‘replay’
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Bali to begin rath yatra tomorrow
‘Himachal on sale’ to be main poll plank of Congress
Regularisation of para teachers opposed
Tribesmen say no to power projects
High Security Number Plates
Chief Secy: Formulate green development strategies
Mayor, Dy Mayor take oath
Varsity signs pact with Reliance
CPM hopeful of doing well in Assembly poll
Global warming affecting HP: Study
Youth Cong ‘sankalp yatra’ from June 18
|
|
HRTC staff strike hits bus services
Shimla, June 5 Commuters were put to great inconvenience across the state as all the 2,018 buses of the corporation remained off road disrupting services on about 2,400 bus routes. Overcrowded private buses provided little respite to the stranded, who struggled to reach their destinations. Attendance in offices, educational institutions and other establishments was also affected. The disruption of services will cost the corporation about Rs 1.50 crore. Its accumulated loss has already crossed Rs 576 crore. Employees held rallies and staged dharnas across the state. Spokesperson for the agitating employees Khemendra Gupta said that the stir would be further intensified if the government did not accept their demands. They would observe a 48-hour strike on June 19 and 20. Employees have been observing “work to rule” stir for the past one week and they are insisting that their demand for regularisation of the contract staff after completion of three years of service, converting the corporation into state roadways to protect the pension benefits and reversal of the policy to privatise bus services be accepted. MANDI: Commuters today faced harrowing time in the Mandi-Kullu-Keylong-Bilaspur region as HRTC buses remained off roads due to the Chakka jam call given by its staff in support of their demands. Most hit were people travelling to remote areas of the region where no private bus services were available. The plight of drivers, conductors and mechanics, who are HRTC’s backbone, is miserable as they work overtime round the clock, get no holiday and not got arrears since 2006 onwards, rued Jagdish Guleria, JAC, Mandi, president. PALAMPUR: HRTC operating staff observed a complete strike today as not even a single bus of the corporation seen on roads. A complete strike was observed in the Palampur and Baijnath regions where hundreds of passengers were seen stranded in the scorching heat at different points. Daily commuters and school-going children were the worst affected. HRTC staff also held a rally at the local bus stand. They said they had to work for 24 hours sometimes, but the government was not paying them accordingly. Leaders of the union threatened to resort to an indefinite strike if the government failed to reach an agreement in the matter. HAMIRPUR: A complete strike was observed today in Hamirpur district on the call of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the Himachal Road Transport Corporation, employees’ unions, to highlight their demands. The agitating staff did not report for the duty as a result of which the bus services were paralysed except for private buses. They took out a procession in the Hamirpur bazar and also held a rally at the Hamirpur bus stand, which was addressed by JAC members. |
|
Birender hints at Uttarakhand ‘replay’
Shimla, June 5 Interacting with mediapersons here today, he said there was no question of imposing any outsiders, but leaders like Virbhadra Singh and Anand Sharma, who were part of the UPA government, could be in the contention. Regarding the reported resignation of Virbhadra Singh from the manifesto committee headed by Anand Sharma, he said neither he nor the party high command had received any communication in this regard from him. In his view, an experienced campaigner like him could have made valuable contribution to drafting the manifesto. Asked about the rath yatra announced by senior party leader GS Bali, he said any programme which helped the party’s cause was welcome but the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) must be informed about it. Further, the PCC was competent to disallow any programme. It was thus for the PCC to take a call regarding Bali’s rath yatra. He asserted that the result of the Shimla Municipal Corporation poll was no indication regarding the Assembly poll as election to the civic bodies was a different ball game. Birender Singh denied that the charge sheet was leaked and said the document prepared by the party was still undergoing legal scrutiny of the AICC after which it would be sent to the PCC for a final seal so that it could be submitted to the President of India.
|
|
Bali to begin rath yatra tomorrow
Kangra, June 5 Disclosing this here today at the residence of GS Bali, spokesman for the Rozgar Sangharsh Samiti Ajay Verma said soon after the Congress rally at the Dari mela ground near Dharamsala on June 7, the first phase of the rath yatra would begin. He said the yatra would pass through Kullu, Mandi, Jogindernagar, Baijnath, Palampur, Mallan, Chamunda Devi shrine, Dharamsala, Nurpur, Banikhet and Chamba. |
|
|
‘Himachal on sale’ to be main poll plank of Congress
Shimla, June 5 AICC general secretary Birender Singh Chaudhary, who was here to inaugurate the media centre of the party in view of the impending Assembly poll, gave ample indications to this effect. The party would expose the “systematic loot” of the most precious resource by the BJP government by way of allotting huge chunks of land for private universities, cricket stadiums and other projects. The ruling party had been under attack from its own MP Rajan Sushant and the Himachal Lokhit Party, floated by the breakaway group, on the issue and after ousting the “corrupt” Dhumal government, the Congress would ensure that all those behind the “sale of Himachal” were held accountable, he said, while unfolding the party’s strategy for the poll. The tentacles of the land mafia would be laid bare in a phased manner during the campaign. The party had already collected a wealth of documents, which would be a part of its charge sheet, to fuel its “Himachal on sale” campaign in the run-up to the Assembly poll. More importantly, the issue would be pursued in right earnest after regaining power and all scams would be investigated in depth to bring the corrupt ministers, officers, touts and others involved to book. The land involved would be vested in the government and thereafter a policy would be framed whether to restore it back to the owners or put it to some other use. The party had already demonstrated its determination to probe the wrongdoings of the outgoing BJP regime in Uttarakhand where inquiries were instituted by new Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna soon after assuming office. The Dhumal government would also be made to pay for its acts of commission and omission. The popularity of the scam-tainted BJP regime had hit the nadir and the Congress was all set to stage a comeback in the state. The BJP was keeping afloat only by using the official machinery, it had lost support of the people, he added. |
|
|
Regularisation of para teachers opposed
Nurpur, June 5 Sushil Kaushal, state president of the association, said here today that the ruling party, before coming to power, had opposed the policy of back-door recruitments of para and PTA teachers made in 2003 and 2006, respectively, by the then Virbhadra Singh government. “The para teachers were recruited as a stop-gap arrangement, which had been challenged by unemployed teachers in the state high court. The present state government initiated the recruitment process to appoint lecturers in 2008 through the Himachal Pradesh Subordinate Services Selection Board, Hamirpur, on a contract basis and framed recruitment and promotion rules in 2009, which are not applicable to these appointees as they had been recruited against posts lying vacant since 2001,” he said. Lamenting the ongoing process to regularise para teachers, Kaushal questioned its justification alleging that they had been appointed by local SDMs allegedly through back-door entry. |
|
|
Tribesmen say no to power projects
Mandi/Keylong, June 5 A large number of tribesmen under the banner of the Jispa Bandh Jan Sangharsh Samiti (JBJSS) and the Sheli Project Sangharsh Samiti (SPSS) raised slogans against Moser Baer and the HPCL, saying “no to 14 big and 42 small projects being proposed on the Chenab river in the ecologically fragile tribal belt, which is located in the main Himalayan ranges. Convener, JBJSS, Ringzing Haryapa, who led the protest at Keylong, said the Jispa dam would displace five villages and wreak havoc in the upstream of Keylong. Underground tunnels will dry up spring water sources, the only source of drinking water and irrigation in the snowbound valley, he feared, citing example of Kinnaur. The president of the Sheli project Sangharsh Samiti, who led the protest at Udaipur town, told The Tribune that the project would displace Kuraki, Salpat and Ratoli villages and submerge most of the irrigated private land available in the area along the Chenab river. “We will never allow the project here as it will ruin our ecology, forest and fertile land,” he asserted. The Jispa band project would displace Darcha, Dangma, Sunidoh, Ryayo and Linquim villages on the Bagha river, Harayapa added. In the absence of the HRTC bus services due to its staff’s strike, tribesmen came to Udaipur town and Keylong town in private vehicles and staged protest rallies. Moser Baer is setting up 320-MW Sheli and 100-MW Miyarnala projects near Udaipur on the Chennab river and the HPCL is setting up 300-MW Jispa Dam project on the Bhaga river, tributary of Chenab, upstream from Keylong. Protesters met the DC, Lahaul-Spiti, SS Guleria, and submitted their memorandum addressed to Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jayanti Natrajan, Union Minister for Water Resources PK Bansal and Himachal Chief Minister PK Dhumal, highlighting their concern and demanding cancellation of power projects in the high-altitude region. SPSS activists met the tehsildar, Udaipur, and submitted their memorandum addressed to President Pratibha Patil and state Governor Urmila Singh demanding scrapping of the Sheli project. They threatened that if the government did not accept their demand they would resort to take action. The samiti will chalk out further action plan soon, they added.
|
|
|
State to miss June 15 deadline
Pratibha Chauhan Tribune News Service
Shimla, June 5 So far only 1.75 lakh of the total 7.50 lakh vehicles registered in Himachal are bearing the new mandatory high security number plates. As such it is impossible to complete the mammoth task by June 15, which is the deadline that the Supreme Court had set for all states to compete the task as a security measure. “Within the next few days, we will file the status report before the Supreme Court, placing the factual position before it,” said TG Negi, Principal Secretary, Transport. He said Himachal would not seek extension of the deadline as efforts were on to finish putting high security number plates on all 7.50 lakh vehicles. The task of putting the high security number plates has been assigned to a Delhi-based firm, Utsav. With the contract being awarded to it in November itself and 60 days’ time being given to have their equipments and paraphernalia in place, there was bound to be a delay. Moreover, the harsh winters, especially in the higher areas of the state, delayed the task further, point out officials. “We are strictly abiding by the Supreme Court directive of putting the high security number plate on all new vehicles, which as of now stand fully covered,” said Negi. He admitted that for older vehicles the time limit was bound to exceed June 15 as work was still on. The task of putting new number plates was currently being undertaken at 65 places, including 52 subdivisions, where machines had been put up. “Even though Himachal was among the first states to go ahead with the task of staring putting up high security number plates, it will be impossible to finish the task by June 15,” admitted an official of the Transport Department. Vehicle owners on the other hand complain that getting their old number plates changed to the new high security plates is a tedious task, considering the long waiting list to deposit the money and later getting the plate fixed. “With only one-fourth of the vehicles having been covered in Himachal, it is unlikely that any extra money will be charged from those who are not able to meet the deadline,” say officials.
|
|
Chief Secy: Formulate green development strategies
Shimla, June 5 He was speaking during a function jointly organised by the State Council for Science, Technology and Environment and the Department of Environment, Science and Technology here today to mark the World Environment Day. Stressing upon formulating “green developmental” strategies, he said green objectives must be incorporated in the policies of the government and “anti-green activities” should be curbed seriously in the development process. He stressed upon the need for taking up green jobs, adopting green policies and low carbon economies, green buildings, sustainable agriculture, forestry, tourism and transport, water and energy efficiency to develop a green economy. Roy urged for pro-active participation of people towards environment protection. “We have taken various steps to protect the environment and intend to make the state carbon neutral by 2020,” he remarked. HAMIRPUR: A district-level programme was organised on the World Environment Day today at Government Senior Secondary School, Hamirpur, where students from various schools participated in competitions like slogan writing and painting and a declamation contest. Rajinder Singh Thakur, DC, Hamirpur, who was the chief guest on the occasion, said there was an immense need to save environment from deterioration. Thakur said word environment has five constituents - water, forests, animals, land and people and imbalance in any of these would create deterioration in the environment. A rally was also taken out on the occasion in which a large number of students carrying placards and banners appealed to public to preserve the environment.
|
|
Mayor, Dy Mayor take oath
Shimla, June 5
CPM Politburo member and MP Sita Ram Yechury arrived here to be the part of the triumphant moment for his party. Sanjay Chauhan and Tikender Panwar took oath as Mayor and Deputy Mayor along with 25 other councillors. Director, Urban Development, Purnima Chauhan administered the oath to the newly elected representatives. CPM efforts to hold the ceremony in Gaiety Theatre or at the Shimla Summer Festival dais on the Ridge failed, despite CPM state secretary Rakesh Singha seeking the intervention of the Chief Minister. “Since the direct elections to the post of Mayor and Deputy Mayor were held for the first time, we wanted that the ceremony should take place at a bigger place but despite our best efforts things did not work out,” rued Singha. He said the supporters of councillors also wanted the ceremony at a bigger venue. Others who managed to find their way into the Town Hall to witness the ceremony included local legislator Suresh Bhardwaj. Even Singha did not enter the hall as there was no place to accommodate anyone other than the Mayor, the Deputy Mayor, councillors and other officials. Mayorspeak * Mayor Sanjay Chauhan said he would neither use the Mayor flag nor the red beacon on the official vehicle provided to him. There would be no red light outside his office too in the MC. * Chauhan said the Deputy Mayor and he would be available for people for 16 hours and anyone was free to meet them with their issues. * In their first meeting with MC officials, the duo made it clear that the focus would be on a complete pro-people approach where all genuine issues would be addressed without delay. * A meeting with over 1,000 MC employees has been scheduled for June 12 and 13.
|
|
Varsity signs pact with Reliance
Solan, June 5 The agreement was signed today between vice-president of the Reliance group Souvik Sarkar and Vice-Chancellor of Bahra University SK Bansal. Giving details, Bansal said as per the MoU, a curriculum developed by Reliance Money would be taught to BBA and MBA students of Bahra University. The curriculum, designed specifically to suit the needs of Reliance Money, would be taught to the students in addition to their usual course of study. |
|
CPM hopeful of doing well in Assembly poll
Shimla, June 5 Yechury, who arrived here today to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Mayor Sanjay Chauhan and Deputy Mayor Tikender Singh, both CPM leaders, said he was confident that the CPM would perform well even in the Assembly poll. “The fact that Sanjay and Tikender not only emerged victorious but got an overwhelming response from people across party lines, only indicates that if provided a good alternative, the electorate could bring a change,” said Yechury. Admitting that so far the CPM had failed to provide a third alternative even at the national level and the party had lost foothold in West Bengal and Kerala, he said a lot of rethinking and introspection had been done to rectify any mistakes or wrong policy decisions. “A change after 35 years of consecutive rule in West Bengal was inevitable and in Kerala too we lost out by a slender margin,” he said. He added efforts were now on to come up with policy alternatives before the 2014 General Election and project a third alternative with credibility and viability. Yechury said during the monsoon session of Parliament, the CPM would hold dharnas in Delhi to seek a change in the direction of economic policies.
|
|
Global warming affecting HP: Study
Shimla, June 5 This was stated by Chief Minister PK Dhumal while releasing the “Compendium of Environmental Statistics: Himachal Pradesh-2012”, brought out by the Department of Economics and Statistics, to mark the World Environment Day, here today. He lauded the efforts of the department in publishing such an important document, having details about temperature, rainfall, snow fall, water, energy, atmosphere, land and soil, forest, snow and glaciers, cropping pattern and other environmental aspects. Dhumal said the data shows that the highest temperature registered in 1971-72 was 28.5°C, which increased to 33.7°C in 2010-11, and the minimum temperature remained almost static and was registered at 5.6°C in 1971-72, which now was at 5.8°C. He said the cycle of rain and snow had changed marginally, but the average rainfall had remained static. The Chief Minister expressed happiness that the forest cover had increased to 16,460 sq km during the past four decades as the state earlier had 20,540 sq km under forests. Dr. Srikant Baldi, Principal Secretary, Finance and Planning, said the objective behind bringing out the compendium was to create mass awareness in society about the changes which were taking place on different environmental fronts. Pradeep Chauhan, adviser, Economics and Statistics, also detailed the contents of the publication and assured its regular updating. |
|
Youth Cong ‘sankalp yatra’ from June 18
Bilaspur, June 5 This was stated by state Youth Congress general secretary Vivek Kumar while talking to mediapersons here yesterday. He said the BJP government had failed to take any action against its local MLA Rikhi Ram Kaundal despite the fact that its own Vigilance Department had found his contractor son Raj Kumar Kaundal involved in a number of financial irregularities, along with some PWD officers, in connection with allocation of contracts there. He said state president Monika Bharti and state Youth Congress in charge and national secretary Amit Punia would also arrive here to address the June 18 rally at Barthin. — OC
|
||
|
|
|
| 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 | |
Bus services in the state were severely hit as the 8,000-odd agitating employees of the state road transport corporation observed a complete strike today to press for their demands.
AICC general secretary Birender Singh has not ruled out the possibility of a “replay” of the Uttarakhand story, where a non-MLA was made the Chief
Minister
Saying “no to power projects” on World Environment Day, tribesmen, including local mahila
mandals, students, artistes and NGOs of Lahaul-Spiti, today staged protest rallies at Udaipur and Keylong towns and raised slogans against Moser Baer company and HP Power Corporation Limited
(HPCL).
