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CD Case
Freak weather hits power generation
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Water pollution in industrial areas
rings alarm bells
Teaching of English in primary classes yet to take off in govt schools
Bali begins Rath Yatra from Hadimba temple in Manali
High command meets warring BJP factions
Departmental exams from Oct 4
Chamera project unit tested
Fire mishap averted
Power staff stage dharnas
Signature drive for dist status to Nurpur
SHO attacked
Experts for joint efforts to improve hill agriculture
BJP: Congress’ Parivartan
rally a flop show
Awaiting stipend, PG students, interns threaten agitation
Bharatnatyam presented
Man found hanging
PG students, interns threaten stir
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Will quit Cabinet if charges framed, says Virbhadra
Lalit Mohan/TNS
Dharamsala, June 8 Attacking the BJP government and leaders of his own party, he stated his views on various contentious political issues were troubling the Congress as well as the BJP in the state. Responding to reports that HPCC president Kaul Singh had blamed him for the defeat in the Shimla Municipal Corporation elections, Virbhadra Singh said the leader who had no guts to accept defeat was not fit to be one. “ It is because of me that the Congress has won 10 seats in the Shimla Municipal Corporation elections. The wrong choice of candidates led to the Congress defeat. People also had reservations over the mayoral candidate,” the Congress veteran asserted. About GS Bali’s “rath yatra”, Virbhadra Singh said Bali had invited him to participate in his yatra. However, the invitation for the yatra should have come through the HPCC. He said the Congress had no participation in the yatra. Virbhadra Singh said though he had not resigned from the party manifesto committee, he would not attend its meetings as the panel was headed by a junior. Speaking about the location of Central University, the senior Congress leader said it was wrong to locate two campuses of the university 45 km away at Dharamsala and Dehra. It should have been located in Dharamsala and its surrounding areas keeping in view the basic amenities available here. Virbhadra Singh said the timing was not right for new districts. Had the government been serious about forming new districts, it should have appointed a commission of prominent persons to study the issue and its economic and social impact. The Congress leader alleged the present BJP government was not giving grants to three government universities in the state. Instead, every Tom Dick and Harry was being given permission to open universities in the state. Meanwhile, HPCC vice-president Chander Kumar, Sujjan Singh Pathania, Sudhir Sharma, Neeraj Bharti and Yog Raj, all MLAs, pledged their loyalty to Virbhadra Singh.
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Freak weather hits power generation
Shimla, June 8 The State Electricity Board has been forced to impose unscheduled power cuts as generation declined by 30 to 35 per cent in various projects, including big ones like 1500-MW Nathpa Jhakri and 300-MW Baspa. The power cuts extended to two to four hours in some pockets of the state. Even parts of the state capital were subjected to power cuts in rotation today. Normally, the board is surplus in power during the summer and makes banking arrangements with neighbouring states to help meet the winter shortfall. However, erratic weather has hit generation this summer as the temperature has been lower than normal in May The country’s largest Nathpa-Jhakri project, which achieved a record generation of 39.012 million units (MU) on June 1, generated 26 MU yesterday as discharge in the Sutlej came down from 450 cumecs to 280 cumecs. Similarly, the generation in Baspa plunged from 79 lakh units (LU) to 42 LU and in the board’s own projects from 58 MU to 45 MU. Availability with the board declined by 65 LU and it fell short of 16 to 17 LU even after it reduced the quantum for banking from 80 LU to 58 LU. The peak demand has been around 245 LU. After last year’s record generation of 7610 MU, the Nathpa-Jhakri project is having comparatively a lean year. In the current financial year, it has till date generated only 1313 MU till yesterday as against the target of 1593 MU, a shortfall of 280 MU. Last year it had generated 1763 MU and as such the generation is 450 MU less this season. The month of May has been worst as only 662 MU were generated as against 1011 MU last year. The Union Ministry of Power has set a target of 7000 MU for 2012-13 and if the current trend continues, it will be difficult to achieve it. Sanjev Sood, General Manager of the project, however, is hoping that the low discharge due to slow melting of snow during May and June will be compensated by a higher discharge in September, when more snow was expected to melt, and help meet the target. However, the project is not likely to repeat last year’s outstanding performance when it generated more than 1000 MU for five consecutive months from May to September.
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Water pollution in industrial areas
rings alarm bells
Solan, June 8 Concerned at the report, the Member Secretary of the state pollution control board has now written to regional officials to monitor the water emitted by various units in the industrial areas lying in the proximity of these water bodies and take remedial measures to check water pollution. A letter dated May 31 has been sent by the board’s Shimla office to various regional offices to take measures and monitor the water quality within a month. Sandholi Nullah in Baddi appears to be worst polluted with the BOD level, which is the most crucial parameter in measuring water pollution, being as high as 707 mg/L while the COD was 1,560 mg/L. In the other site at the Housing Board nullah in
Baddi, the BOD and COD levels were comparatively better at 20 and 156, respectively. In the Jattan area in Paonta Sahib, the COD and the BOD levels were 640 mg/L and 66 mg/L, respectively, while in downstream of this site these figures were recorded at 112 mg/L and 12 mg/L, respectively. In Parwanoo in the upstream of the Sukhna
nullah, the COD and BOD levels were 156 mg/L and 32 mg/L, respectively while in the downstream, these were 300 mg/L and 120 mg/L, respectively. The Sandholi nullah appears to be the worst affected with both crucial parameters being far from safe, thus making the water unfit even for the survival of aquatic flora and fauna. Board officials are now directed to monitor the water quality of effluents from the industrial units lying in the vicinity of these sites as it appeared that untreated or partially treated toxic effluents were being let-out in the Sandholi
nullah. The quality of water in the Sandholi nullah was going from bad to worse and a visit to the site shows the presence of thick black malodorous effluents flowing in it. It also indicates that the receiving water bodies do not have adequate water for dilution, thus indicating an increase in the demand of oxygen. |
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Teaching of English in primary classes yet to take off in govt schools
Hamirpur, June 8 The books, which were supposed to be provided by the state school education board, have not been printed yet and the same have not been provided to students. The District Institute of Education Training (DIET) helps in preparing these books and the state education board gets these printed and distributed in schools. Teaching of the English subject in about 100 government schools from the primary level was undertaken by the Education department a few years ago and the books were procured from the National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT). The state government had decided to publish these books in the state itself from this session and the board, which supplies other school-level books, was asked to print English subject books and supply the same from the current session. English books for Class IV and V have already been made available by the board, while almost four months have elapsed but books for I and II Classes have not been supplied yet. Teachers teaching the subject feel that the delay in supplying books could affect the teaching the subject in government schools in the district. Principal, DIET, Hamirpur, Surjeet Thakur said the English subject books for Classes III, IV and V have been provided to students in government schools, but for Classes I and II these have not been supplied as there is a delay in printing the same, adding that the books would be supplied soon.
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Bali begins Rath Yatra from Hadimba temple in Manali
Manali, June 8 He started the yatra with a cavalcade of vehicles and supporters, which passed through Manali and Kullu. He said the BJP in its four-year regime had deteriorated the condition of youth, farmers and infrastructure of the state. In its first phase, the yatra would cover Manali, Kullu, Mandi, Jogindernagar, Baijnath, Palampur, Chamunda Devi, Nurpur and would conclude at Chamba on the 12th day. The remaining districts would be covered in the second and the third phases of the yatra. We are meeting with the local youth of that area and discussing the issues being faced by them,” he said. “The government should frame a policy to ensure that 70 per cent employment is being provided to local residents in projects at that area. Later Bali, while speaking to mediapersons at Dhungri, said employment was the need of youth and it also prevents them from indulging into anti-social activities. He said there were no internal differences between Congress leaders and he had started his yatra after getting blessings from Virbhadra Singh, Kaul Singh Thakur and Vidya Stokes during the flag-off ceremony in Dharamsala. He further added that he had no intension to draw attention of the masses through this yatra as there were rumours of his race for the Chief Minister’s seat. “The Congress would surely win the upcoming Assembly elections and the state would get its Chief Minister as per the orders from the party high command. However, traffic jams caused by the Rath Yatra irked tourists and local commuters.
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High command meets warring BJP factions
Shimla, June 8 It followed Shanta’s telephonic conversation with Gadkari in which he did some tough talking. Four ministers, Ravinder Ravi and Rajiv Bindal from the Dhumal camp and Kishan Kapoor and Ramesh Dhawala, Shanta loyalists, were summoned to Delhi yesterday to work out a truce between the two factions. The four ministers are scheduled to meet Gadkari late in the evening when he returns to Delhi. Shanta, too, is learnt to be on a tour of south India with a committee of Parliament and is expected to return after June 12. Sources said the four ministers had a round of talks in the presence of BJP general secretary JP Nadda, Shyma Jaju, Ram Lal, Pawan Rana and state BJP chief Satpal Singh Satti. The central leaders later met each one individually. The intervention at the instance of BJP chief Gadkari came after Shanta threatened to quit every post in the BJP. Shanta is very upset over the manner in which Ravi reportedly tried to sabotage a public meeting addressed by him at Jaisinghpur in Kangra early this week. Shanta spoke to Gadkari and conveyed his displeasure at the state of affairs in the party and the minister’s interference in constituencies of other legislators in Kangra. However, Shanta loyalists here are not too happy as only two ministers from the Shanta camp have been summoned and that too when Shanta is himself away from Delhi. “The situation can now be brought under control by holding talks directly with Shanta and Dhumal and remove the irritants right away,” said an MLA. The Shanta faction has been very sore about attempts to disintegrate Kangra to undermine the political stature of the former Chief Minister. The Kangra BJP unit Kangra moved a resolution seeking removal of Ravi, who had been interfering in the assembly constituencies of others in the hope of finding a seat for himself as his own segment has been scrapped under the delimitation process.
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Departmental exams from Oct 4
Shimla, June 8 A spokesman of the Himachal Institute of Public Administration (HIPA ) said here today that categories of officials included those from the IAS, HAS and the IFS, Tehsildars, naib-tehsildars, and all other gazetted officers. Non-gazetted officers included excise and taxation inspectors and engineering officers of the State Electricity Board. He said the board would also conduct the examination at Dharamsala and Mandi only in Paper-1 (Financial Administration), besides State Public Service Commission here. Those who wanted to take the departmental examination should apply on prescribed forms through their respective heads of department to the Secretary, State Board of Departmental Examination, by August 31. The application form could be downloaded from the HIPA website:
himachal.nic.in/hip. |
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Chamera project unit tested
Choori (Chamba), June 8 The testing was carried out at full load under the supervision of NHPC Director (Projects) JK Sharma. The testing of the remaining two generating units of 77 MW each is underway in the underground powerhouse cavern, which would also be accomplished in due course of time, thereby making the project ready for final commissioning shortly.
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Fire mishap averted
Shimla, June 8 The flames engulfed the main kitchen of the hotel with the chimneys also catching fire. Timely arrival of two fire tenders ensured that the fire did not spread to other parts of the hotel. Water from the adjoining hotel and buildings was also sourced to douse the fire, which could have easily spread to the adjoining shops on the Mall.
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Power staff stage dharnas
Nurpur, June 8 Led by union president Kuldeep Singh Kharwara, members of the local units of the union, also took out protest marches at both places. They raised slogans against the board management and principal secretary power for alleged wrong policies that were harming the HPSEB. Kharwara said the union had launched a “Save electricity board” campaign in the state. He criticised the board management for its failure to realise Rs 468-crore survey investigation charges from private power generation companies. he criticised the board management for depriving the employees of revised pay scales and other allowances under the pretext of financial crunch.
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Signature drive for dist status to Nurpur
Nurpur, June 8 Meanwhile, the samiti has started a signature campaign in support of its demand. Mastan Singh, president of the samiti, said a signed demand charter would be submitted to Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal after completion of the campaign. Local MLA Rakesh Pathania, who has been spearheading the agitation for district status to Nurpur, said the samiti was fighting for the cause of over 5 lakh inhabitants of lower Kangra district. He said the State Ex-servicemen League had assured its support to the Zila Banao Sangharsh Samiti. Vijay Singh Mankotia, president of the league along with ex-servicemen, would visit Nurpur soon and take part in the relay fast, Mastan Singh said. |
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SHO attacked
Palampur, June 8 Report said the SHO was on his way to Thural on his bike in connection with a case. When he reached near Daroh, miscreants travelling in a car waylaid him and attacked him with a sharp-edged weapon. The SHO saved his life by running into a house near the road. The SHO was later taken to the local Civil Hospital. A case has been registered. — OC |
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Experts for joint efforts to improve hill agriculture
Dharamsala, June 8 He was addressing top farm scientists from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), directors of agriculture and senior farm officers from Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh and Vice-Chancellors from farm universities, at CSK Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University, Palampur, today. Mir said as most of the farming in hill states was rain fed so concerted efforts were required for soil conservation, developing drought resistant crop varieties, quality seed production and farm mechanisation. VL Chopra, former Director-General, ICAR, who was the guest of honour, said eight regional committees were constituted to address specialised farm issues of different agro-climatic regions of the country. S Ayyappan, Director-General, ICAR, said the country had achieved record food grains production and the farm produce from hill regions add special flavour to the food basket of the nation. Even among hill states like Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal, high hills, mid hills and valley areas have unusual agricultural issues and peculiarities. Organic farming, farm mechanisation, fodder production and utilisation of barren land were the issues that will be deliberated on in the two-day meeting. HP Singh, Deputy Director-General (Horticulture), said there was a considerable increase in floriculture in the region and ICAR would continue to help in horticulture development in the area. SK Sharma, Vice-Chancellor of the host university, said this meeting would help in forging an effective liaison and coordination among ICAR institutes, state agriculture universities and departments of agriculture, animal husbandry and fisheries of J&K, Uttarakhand and Himachal. The chief guest also released a new apple variety. Earlier, Director General, ICAR, laid the foundation stone of the hospitality and administration block, built at a cost of Rs 75 lakh. Arvind Kumar, Deputy Director- General, laid the foundation stone of Rs 29 milk processing and demonstration unit.
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BJP: Congress’ Parivartan
rally a flop show
Shimla, June 8 Dutt said that it was impossible to forge unity in the Congress as there were too many claimants to the post of Chief Minister. “Levelling allegations of corruption against the Dhumal regime is only a reflection of the frustration and disappointment prevailing in the Congress party,” he remarked. Dutt said there was no way that the Congress can stop the “Mission Repeat” of the BJP as the people had already made up their mind to bring the party back to power. |
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Awaiting stipend, PG students, interns threaten agitation
Kangra, June 8 While the state government hiked the stipend for PG students to Rs 25,000, Rs 27,000 and Rs 30,000 for the first, second and third year, respectively, at the end of the last financial year, no budgetary provision was made for its payment for 2012- 2013. The stipend for interns was also raised from Rs 5,000 to Rs 8,000. Ashwani Kumar Choudary, Additional Director, DRPGMC, Tanda, said there was no budgetary provision for their stipend for the current financial year. However, the matter had been taken up with the higher authorities. The stipend would be released after funds were made available. |
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Bharatnatyam presented
Kangra, June 8 GK Bhatnagar, principal of the school, expressed his gratitude to Ragini and her team for the presentation. He advised students to take keen interest in Indian classical music and dance.
— OC |
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Man found hanging
Kangra, June 8 The victim, who was
working as a photographer at Chintpurni, was found hanging by his
children when they returned from school. — OC
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PG students, interns threaten stir Kangra, June 8 As many as 25 postgraduate students and 50 interns were working in the Tanda medical college and hospital. While the state government hiked the stipend for PG students to Rs 25,000, Rs 27,000 and Rs 30,000 for the first, second and third year, respectively, no budgetary provision was made for its payment for 2012- 2013. The stipend for interns was also raised from Rs 5,000 to Rs 8,000. |
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Virbhadra Singh, Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, said here today that he would resign from the Union Cabinet in case charges were framed against him in the CD case.
The sharp fall in temperature due to freak weather have over the past one week severely hit generation in various hydroelectric projects in the state due to a reduced discharge in rivers.
The State Electricity Board has been forced to impose unscheduled power cuts as generation declined by 30 to 35 per cent in various projects, including big ones like 1500-MW Nathpa Jhakri and 300-MW
Baspa.
Congress workers and supporters of GS Bali, MLA, from across the state participated in the “Rozgar Sangharsh Rath Yatra”. The yatra, launched by Bali, was kicked off from the Hadimba temple here today. Bali at first addressed youth and workers at the Hadimba temple compound and highlighted the issue of unemployment.
The sharp fall in temperature due to freak weather have over the past one week severely hit generation in various hydroelectric projects in the state due to a reduced discharge in rivers.
