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Cong leaders lambast BJP Govt
Cabinet nod to recruit 800 cops
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MEA nod to 2 curators for Roerich Trust
Barmana cement unit increases freight
HC sets norms for setting up stone crushers
Chamba girl tops Class X state board exams
District Status for Palampur
District status for Rohru sought
Foreign Secy meets
Woman dies of burns
Man consumes poison, dies
Man killed in mishap
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Cong leaders lambast BJP Govt
Dharamsala, June 7 Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Virbhadra Singh arrived along with his supporters, including Chander Kumar and Kewal Singh Pathania. HPCC president Kaul Singh and Vidya Stokes arrived separately. GS Bali, convener for the rally, arrived with a cavalcade of vehicles and supporters raising slogans in his favour along with the party in charge, Birender Singh. Anand Sharma arrived around 3 pm, just half an hour before the conclusion of the rally. Posters and banners of lower-rung leaders with photographs of their respective mentors showed that they were supporting their own factions and not the Congress as such. However, most senior leaders desisted from making comments against each other in their speeches and instead targeted the BJP government in the state. Virbhadra Singh, whose seniority was honoured during the rally as he was the last to speak even after Union Minister for Industry and Commerce Anand Sharma, said the BJP government had allowed outsiders to purchase precious land in the state. He said all land along the main national highways had been cornered by outsiders. He stressed the Congress would unitedly fight the forthcoming assembly elections. He alleged banami transactions had surpassed all records during the stint of the present BJP government. Anand Sharma attacked BJP President Nitin Gadkari, Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev. He said the Congress was not afraid of the Civil Society. The bandh call by the Civil Society and Baba Ramdev had caused a national loss worth Rs 60,000 crore. The people (indicating Civil Society leaders and Baba Ramdev), who are making allegations against the Congress, were themselves facing serious charges of corruption, he said. Birender Singh alleged that the state government was changing the names of schemes allotted to the state by the Centre to create misunderstanding among the masses. The present UPA government has allotted Rs 25,000 crore to the state government whereas the NDA government had allotted just Rs 18.000 crore. GS Bali created a flutter by announcing that he would quit politics in case the Congress did not muster a two-thirds majority in the coming Assembly elections. CWC member Dhani Ram Shandil, Jodhpur MP Chandresh Kumari , HPCC vice-pesident Cander Kumar, former HPCC president Viplove Thakur and AICC secretary Asha Kumari were among other prominent leaders at the rally. Birender Singh later inaugurated the Congress media centre at Sansar Hotel in
Dharamsala. Bali starts Yatra
GS Bali, Congress MLA from Nagrota Bagwan, today started his ‘Rath yatra’ just after the conclusion of the party rally at Dharamsala to highlight the issue of unemployment. He would officially start his rally from Manali tomorrow. HPCC president Kaul Singh accompanied GS Bali at the informal start of his yatra covering a short distance with him outside the rally venue. Sources said it would be Bali’s private rally. |
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Cabinet nod to recruit 800 cops
Shimla, June 7 It was also decided to release bonus at the rate of 8.33 per cent to left-out officials and officers of the Food and Civil Supplies Corporation for the financial years
2008-2011. The maximum bonus shall be not more than Rs 3,500 in each case. The Cabinet also gave its nod for upgrading the police posts at Kala Amb (Sirmour) and Fatehpur (Kangra) as police stations, besides opening new police posts at Tanda (Kangra), Tahliwal (Una) and Neoli (Kullu). It was decided to upgrade the 20-bedded Ayurvedic Hospital at Hamirpur to a 50-bedded one. It also gave permission for relocation of the 30-MW Malana-III hydroelectric project in Kullu. It was also decided to enhance capacity of the 9-MW Beas Kund project to 12 MW by allowing a separate unit to generate 3 MW additional power. It okayed amendment to Section 14 of the Himachal Pradesh Land Revenue Act to make it rational and practical for implementation. Approval was also granted to the Draft Himachal Pradesh Tax on Entry of Goods into Local Area Rules, 2012. |
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Govt set to miss monkey sterilisation target
Shimla, June 7 Under a crash programme to end the monkey menace, the Cabinet last year gave its nod for opening 21 more sterilisation centres across the state to help sterilise 2 lakh simians. However, not much attention was paid to the practical limitations in implementing the decision. It is hardly surprising that the achievement was only 30 per cent. The department had been able to sterilise around 20,000 simians over the past year. None of the new centres proposed has so far been made functional though three centres at Kandaghat, Paonta Sahib, Sarol (Chamba) are fast nearing completion. Another centre near Slapper will take some more time. The department will have to spendRs 35 crore to Rs 40 crore to make all these centres functional. However, it would not have been able to achieve the target even if all centres had come up as catching 2 lakh monkeys in a year is almost impossible. It is a specialised job to be carried out under the guidance of forest officials. The animals are to be released after operation in the same area from where they were trapped. RK Sood, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (WildLife), admits that there has been a delay in opening the centres but asserts that the main issue was capturing monkeys. The simians were clever and had learnt the tricks to evade capturing. Once a few of them were captured by throwing baits like bananas, grams and other eatables but others refused to be lured. Though the remuneration of catchers has been increased to Rs 500 per monkey, the physical imitations persist. He said the strategy now was to focus on hotspots identified during the recent census which spotted 5,296 troops with a total headcount of 1,93,225. The department was considering the option of mobile sterilisation centres so that a campaign could be launched in areas affected afflicted by the monkey menace. With four more centres becoming operational, the department would be able to sterilise over 30,000 monkeys annually as against 20,000 last year. |
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MEA nod to 2 curators for Roerich Trust
Shimla, June 7 The MEA is learnt to have conveyed to the state government its willingness to have this kind of an arrangement. A formal decision in this regard would, however, be taken when the trust, headed by Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal meets shortly. Himachal has conveyed its objection to the Russian proposal to appoint another person from St Petersburg as a curator in place of Elina Adamkova, who was removed from the post following allegations of mismanagement.” We have already conveyed to the MEA our reluctance to accept the new appointee who too will not fulfil the requirement of having a technically sound and knowledgeable person as curator,” said a senior official. “The appointment of this particular person is just another way to camouflage Elina’s continuation at the trust,” said a senior functionary. He said it had been decided in consultation with the MEA that the two curators would have their separate domain and area of functioning. “It has been decided that while the Indian curator would look after the administration and general functioning of the trust, the Russian would focus on the conservation and maintenance of paintings and other artefacts left behind by Roerich,” he said
while divulging details of the plan worked out to ensure smooth functioning of the trust set up by the great painter. Considering that the controversy over the Roerich Trust could adversely affect India’s relations with Russia, the MEA is keen to settle the issue amicably. A team from the International Centre for Roerichs from Moscow is scheduled to reach Naggar this month. The state government is keen to catalogue all paintings and artefacts of Roerich to have a proper record at
Naggar. |
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Barmana cement unit increases freight
Bilaspur, June 7 This was decided in a 10-hour session of joint talks between the factory management, headed by its general manager PK Gupta, and Bilaspur District Truck Operators’ Cooperative Society, headed by its president Lekh Ram Varma, late last night. Some 3,000 trucks of the society, the biggest truck union of this region, are doing cement carriage work at Barmana, near here. Talking to mediapersons here today, Lekh Ram Varma, accompanied by its general secretary Raj Kumar Gauttam, treasurer Des Raj Bhardwaj, legal adviser Pyare Lal Chauhan and other office-bearers, said this agreement signed late last evening was unprecedented as a hike of 4.47 per cent per tonne was agreed by the management for the first time while earlier this annual hike had never been over 2.5 per cent. They said this hike in freight of truck loading had to be implemented according to a set financial formula every year from the first of April to cover for all price increases of costs of inputs and other expenditures during the year. Lekh Ram said all arrears of this hike have become payable by the factory from April 1 this year and all arrears would be deposited into accounts of truck operators by the factory soon, while these new rates have already become functional from April 1, 2012. He said by this increase truckers would get Rs 263 more as freight for a trip to Kiratpur Sahib and Rs 500 more of freight for Amritsar and Rs 550 more for Ludhiana. |
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HC sets norms for setting up stone crushers
Shimla, June 7 It further said the board could not be allowed to act as a mute spectator. Being a statutory regulator, it has to independently assess the impact which the project was likely to cause on air and water. The court said before permission for mining was accorded, the Director of Industries is to verify the correctness of the report of the joint inspection committee, approving the establishment of a stone-crushing unit. It said there would not be automatic renewal of registration of a unit. All statutory authorities shall ensure disposal of applications for renewal filed by owners of units within the prescribed period. There will be no deemed continuation of registration of a unit . The court further clarified that it will be the duty of the owner of a unit as well as the authority concerned to ensure that the application for renewal was disposed of in accordance with law within the stipulated time. Defaulting officers/officials will invite disciplinary action. With a view to protecting and conserving of the environment, the owner of such a unit would ensure that at least three rows of tall, fast-growing species of trees were planted around the unit. While passing these directions, the Bench comprising Chief Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Dharam Chand Chaudhary directed the Chief Secretary to constitute a committee comprising all secretaries concerned, including the Secretary (Fisheries). This will be done within six months. |
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4 cops booked for beating youth
Shimla, June 7 Thakur was beaten up by four policemen about 100 metres from The Ridge late last night. His fault was that he had questioned the policemen for beating four youths. Local residents along with CPM activists today staged a demonstration outside the Lakkar Bazar police post in protest against the merciless beating of Sanjauli resident Thakur. They demanded strict action against the police personnel concerned for acting in a highhanded manner. Congress councillor from Sanjauli, Sushnat Kaplet, submitted a memorandum to the SP, seeking action against the erring cops. The victim’s mother lodged an FIR against the four police personnel who had thrashed her son, who runs a small dhaba in Sanjauli. She alleged “my son was dragged and beaten up in the presence of the police post in charge, Randhir Singh, and left injured on the road”. Chandershekhar Sharma, SP, Shimla, said the four cops were from a battalion deputed for the Summer Festival. He said he would write to the battalion to take action against the cops. He said action would also be taken against the police post in charge for denying medical aid to the victim and not getting the cops medically examined. |
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Chamba girl tops Class X state board exams
Dharamsala, June 7 Other toppers include Anika Sharma from NDP Senior Secondary School, Galore (second), Varun from Sant Public School, Hareta, at Bhalu (third), Anupama Bharti from SVM high School, Neether (fourth), Mehul Chaudhary from Saraswati Vidya Mandir, Haripur, in Sunder Nagar (fifth), and Shubham Jaswal from Gokul Montessori Senior Secondary School, Nehrian (sixth). Chairman of the HPBSE Balram Sharma said 1,45,159 students had appeared for the matriculation board examination this year. Out of these, 92,389 passed the exam. The overall result for Class X remained at 63.65 per cent, he added. Secretary of the board Prabhat Sharma said students who wanted to get their answer sheets re-evaluated could apply for the same to the board till July 7, 2012. |
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District Status for Palampur
Palampur, June 7 Addressing a news conference here this morning, Jagmel Katoch, president of the samiti, said a chain fast would be started at the SDM office, Palampur, from June 15. He said if the government fails to accept their demand, the samiti would resort to direct action from June 20 when local residents would get themselves arrested by launching the “jail bharo andolan”. Katoch said the samiti was fighting for the cause of seven lakh residents of the Palampur region. He said the governments who ruled the state in the past had befooled people on this issue. In the absence of district status, development of the Palampur region has suffered a lot. Katoch criticised local MLA Parveen Sharma for issuing irresponsible statements in the media on the issue. He asked Sharma to clarify his stand on the issue and rest of the four MLAs of the region had already supported the demand in writing. Meanwhile, Parveen Sharma said the government should order the reorganisation of districts at earliest. He said once the state government had initiated this move it should go ahead and must respect the public sentiments. |
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District status for Rohru sought
Shimla, June 7 The delegation, led by legislator Khushi Ram Balnatah, today met the Chief Minister and submitted a memorandum, seeking the district status for Rohru. |
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Foreign Secy meets
Dharamsala, June 7 After the Dalai Lama stated recently that China was training Tibetan women to eliminate him, his security has been strengthened. Self-immolations in Tibet over the past one year could also have come up for discussion. The self-immolations, mostly by monks in Tibet, have given a rallying point to the Tibetan government-in-exile, which has launched a worldwide campaign to put pressure on China. The Dalai Lama could also have discussed the issue of 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorjee with the Foreign Secretary. Though the Dalai Lama has recognised Ogyen Trinley Dorjee as the 17th Karmapa, the Centre has directed the Himachal Government against referring him as such. |
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Woman dies of burns
Kangra, June 7 On June 3, she was trying to douse the flames in the nearby fields adjacent to her house when the wind blew and her clothes caught fire. She received 70 per cent burn injuries. She was rushed to the
DRPGMC, Tanda, where she succumbed to her burn injuries today.
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Man consumes poison, dies
Kangra, June 7 In view of his critical condition, Raj Kumar was referred to the DRPGMC, Tanda, last night where he died today, the police said. The police is investigating the case. The body was handed over to his relatives after autopsy. |
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Man killed in mishap
Bilaspur, June 7 Reports said Tilak Raj of Haritalyangar village, driver of the vehicle, immediately helped the seriously hurt victim and carried him to the nearby civil hospital, where he was declared brought dead. The driver presented himself at the police station and was arrested. His car was also impounded.
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