|
|
|
|
|
Virbhadra shows his strength
Wants party set-up revamped
Twelve new items on India-China trade list
Kangra boy in Somalian Pirates’ captivity |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Forest staff an exploited lot
Widespread rain in the state bodes well for kharif crops. Photo: Kamaljeet
Parties set their sights on Kangra dist
Rs 1.76 crore spent on afforestation plans
HLP seeks CBI probe into purchase of 100 ambulances
Schoolboy dies of jaundice
Rain brings traffic to halt
Dhiman to contest from Bhoranj
|
|
Virbhadra shows his strength
Shimla, August 1 This is the third “show of strength” by the veteran leader, who has been at loggerheads with the state leadership for the past four months. In April, he held a similar get-together when Union Minister Anand Sharma visited Palampur to inaugurate a regional centre of the Tea Board. The informal meeting brought the factional divide in the party to the fore. Thereafter, a mega public function was held on June 23, his birthday, to felicitate him on the completion of his 50 years in politics. Virbhadra Singh maintained that it was no political show and he had just come to his hometown to celebrate Raksha Bandhan with his friends and supporters. He said he mostly came to Shimla to celebrate major festivals like Diwali and Holi and there was nothing unusual about it. His assertions notwithstanding, the obvious objective of the meeting was to put pressure on the party high command to address the issues being raised by him. He has been targeting PCC chief Kaul Singh and senior leader from Kangra GS Bali for quite sometime. Of late, he has adopted an aggressive attitude towards the high command. He has been unhappy over the manner in which the high command constituted the campaign committee, of which he was the chairman, without consulting him. He is also upset that he will have no say in the ticket-allotment process as the screening committee comprises three leaders from the high command - Sheila Dikshit, Bhanwar Jitender Singh and Birender Chaudhary - and two leaders from the state - Vidya Stokes and Kaul Singh. However, the most important issue is regarding his contesting the Assembly poll. His detractors are keen that the ticket should be given to his wife Pratibha Singh. However, he wants to contests the poll himself. For now, Virbhadra Singh is keeping all his options open and much will depend on the response of the high command. However, his supporters maintain that the issues can be sorted by associating him in the exercise for the allotment of the ticket and revamping the campaign committee.
|
|
Wants party set-up revamped
Shimla, August 1 “Genuine organisational poll was held only in 12 or 13 blocks of the total 68 constituencies. The election was manipulated in connivance with central observer Rajni Patil and everyone in the party knows who was behind the farce. The district committees were also formed in the same manner,” he said after holding an informal meeting with his supporters here today. He said to make things worse, PCC chief Kaul Singh had been continuously nominating non-entities in the elected committees for which there was no provision in the constitution of the party. Only two days ago, he nominated 28 persons in the Chachiot block committee. His “irrational and unconstitutional actions” had led to a situation where the nominated members outnumbered the elected ones. These committees would now screen the applications of candidates for the Assembly poll and no justice could be expected by genuine Congress men from such a set-up. The party should either dissolve the committees or scrap these altogether. The only other way out could be to devise some other system like handing over the responsibility of inviting applications and preliminary screening to the AICC so that the largely nominated block Congress committees and district Congress committees did not have any role in the exercise. He expressed disillusionment over the performance of the party, which, he said, failed to pin down the Dhumal government. He alleged that certain leaders, who were trying to damage him, were only strengthening the BJP and furthering its “mission repeat”. He said he could not tolerate such activities as he had been working for strengthening the party for more than five decades. Asked if he would quit the party if the high command failed to address his concerns, he said he was in the Congress and there was no other thought in his mind as of now. He was confident that the high command, which was keen on seeing the party return to power in the state, would address the issues being raised by him. His mission was to see that Chief Minister PK Dhumal was ousted from power as his continuation in office for a single day was not in the interests of the state or the country. |
||
|
Twelve new items on India-China trade list
Shimla, August 1 Notwithstanding the fact that till date not even a single Chinese trader from across the border has come on to the Indian side since trade was resumed between the two neighbours in 1994, this year 32 persons have applied to the District Industries Office,
Kinnuar, for being allowed to go to China for trade. It is being expected that the addition of seven new export items and five new import items on the trade list as per the demand raised by traders will give a fillip to India-China trade through the Shipki La. “This year for the first time we have extended the facility of obtaining the
IEC, which will help traders carry goods valued at more than Rs 25,000 without having to pay any customs duty,” said Sarchander
Negi, District Industries Officer, Kinnaur. He clarified that it was not mandatory for every trader to seek the IEC as they could carry on trade. However, in that case the limit of Rs 25,000 would be applicable. He said some traders had already applied for the IEC and queries from the Joint Directorate, Foreign Trade, Chandigarh, had started coming to his office. While 24 persons from Kinnaur had visited Shipki village on the Chinese side with their goods, not even a single Chinese trader came to the Kinnaur side. It is felt that restrictions imposed by China in allowing its people to come to India is the main reason for traders from across the border not coming here. Last year between June 1 and November 30, the official trade period, 24 traders had exported goods worth Rs 5.77 lakh and imported Chinese goods valued at Rs 9.20
lakh. The addition of new items such as readymade garments, carpets, shoes, quilts, herbal medicines, spices, religious products like incense sticks, butter oil lamps and other handicraft goods could help increase the quantum and value of trade. It is felt that the IEC facility has been extended to avoid evasion of the customs duty, which traders invariably do. It is also being viewed as an attempt to encourage “serious traders” to avail of the facility and carry goods valued at more than Rs 25,000. 32 Traders keen
|
||
|
Kangra boy in Somalian Pirates’ captivity Ashok Raina
Kangra, August 1 Kewal Singh (46), an ex-serviceman and resident of Kardial village, Farian in Kangra district, said here today that Aman (21) had joined as a crew member in MV ALBEDO Ship of Majestic Enrich Shipping Company of Malaysia on October 1, 2010. On November 26, 2010, the ship was hijacked by sea pirates of Somalia in Kenya and 23 crew members of the ship were made hostages. Kewal Singh said among the crewmen two belonged to India, Raju Prasad from Kolkata and Aman Kumar from Kangra, and seven each from Pakistan and Bangladesh, six from Sri Lanka and one from Iran. It was only after nine months that Aman could pass the word of the incident to his parents. He said in the beginning the pirates demanded $ 8 million for releasing the crew members and later reduced the amount to $ 5 million. He said Pakistan had succeeded in getting their seven hostages released from the pirates’ clutches. He said Aman informed his mother two months back about the killing of Raju Prasad by Somalian pirates. On July 30 last Aman told his mother on phone that the pirates had threatened him that he too would be liquidated if their demand was not met. Kewal Singh said his son told him that they had been demanding that their five persons, who were allegedly in the captivity of the Indian Navy, be released. Kewal Singh and his wife Pushpa Devi alleged that they had written to former President Pratibha Devi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Foreign Minister, Home Minister, Chief Minister PK Dhumal, Union Minister Virbhadra Singh and the bureaucracy of state and Central governments, but to no avail. Now they have sought the intervention of President Pranab Mukerjee to get their son freed from the pirates.
|
||
|
Forest staff an exploited lot
Dharamsala, August 1 These workers were employed under the Kandi project started by the department in the early 1990s. The workers, most of whom are unskilled, joined the project under the belief that they were getting a government job and would ultimately get absorbed in government service. However, 20 years on, most of these workers are still getting the minimum wages. A driver working under the project said he joined the Forest Department at the age of 25. “Now, I am over 45. I am being paid a paltry salary of Rs 8,000 whereas other regular drivers in the same department get three times this salary. At this stage, it is difficult for me to find a new job. It is difficult to survive on this petty salary,” he said. Officials of the department said on condition of anonymity that injustice was being meted out to the workers. They said initially these workers were employed under the Kandi project. After the project ended, they were adjusted in the Mid-Himalayan project. The Mid-Himalayan project, being funded by the World Bank, was scheduled to end in 2013. However, the department was planning to get it extended till 2016. The officials said the services of workers employed in projects of the department were not being regularised due to a Supreme Court judgment in which the court directed that the services of employees working in projects should be terminated along with the project. The affected workers, however, maintain that the Supreme Court judgment is recent whereas they have been working in the Forest Department for the past more than 20 years. They demanded that the government should absorb them in government service under its policy of regularising the services of employees who have completed eights years on daily wages. The employees maintain that if their services are regularised, there will be no financial burden on the state government. After the regularisation of their services, their salary can be drawn from the projects concerned. They can be considered as employees working on deputation in the World Bank-aided project.
|
||
|
State heading for a normal monsoon
Hamirpur, August 1 The continuing spell of rain has brought down the rainfall deficiency, which was 90 per cent a month ago in Hamirpur district to 17 per cent, in Kangra district from 77 per cent to 7 per cent, in Mandi district from 78 per cent to 17 per cent and in Kullu district down to 20 percent. Similarly, in Bilaspur district the rainfall deficiency has come down from 82 per cent to 27 per cent, in Shimla district from 67 per cent to 28 per cent, in Sirmaur district down to 37 per cent, in Solan district from 84 per cent to 34 per cent and in Una district down to 42 per cent. Three rain-deficient districts - Chamba, Lahaul-Spiti and Kinnaur - are still facing a dry spell. Lahaul-Spiti and Kinnaur, which receive scanty rain in normal conditions, are facing 88 and 72 per cent rainfall deficiency, respectively. Chamba district is 74 per cent rain deficient. Vijay Kumar, Duty Officer, Meteorological Department, Shimla, said, “The widespread rain during the past week in the state has improved the average rainfall considerably, bringing down the deficiency to 39 per cent. Since the forecast is that the rain will continue for a few more days, the monsoon is likely to be normal in the state.” Experts are predicting a good kharif crop and improved power generation by hydel projects in the coming weeks.
|
||
|
Parties set their sights on Kangra dist
Palampur, August 1
The political significance of Kangra district can be gauged from the fact that in the past the party that won a majority of the seats in the district formed the government in the state. In 1990, when the BJP formed the Shanta Kumar-led government, the BJP had won 13 of the then 16 segments in Kangra district. In 1993, when the Congress was voted to power and formed the government, once again the district played a major role by sending 12 Congress MLAs to the state Assembly. In the 1998 elections, when Prem Kumar Dhumal took over the reins of the state for the first time, 11 BJP candidates made it to the state Assembly from Kangra district, paving the way for the formation of the BJP government. In the 2007 Assembly elections, the BJP won 11 seats from Kangra district and formed the government in the state led by Dhumal. People of the district are disappointed over the fact that despite having 15 seats in the Assembly, the district could produce only one Chief Minister, Shanta Kumar.
|
|
Rs 1.76 crore spent on afforestation plans
Bilaspur, August 1 This was stated by conservator of forests (Bilaspur circle) Anil Thakur in a press statement here today. He said a total area of 1,212.20 hectares would be covered under this programme, out of which 620 hectares would be covered under the Sanjha Van Samiti Scheme for which farmers were advised to contact the nearest forest nursery in their areas for getting plants for the same. Directions in this regard had already been given to divisional forest officers of these areas, he added. He said attempts were being made to complete this entire programme of forestation within this rainy season, which would certainly help in giving maximum survival rate. Besides, with a view to ensuring participation of farmers in the programme, other 3.96 lakh plants were being distributed free of cost to them under another scheme Apna Van, Apna Dhan. Thakur added that the department was also taking steps to meet the challenge of monkey menace by ensuring plantation of at least 20 per cent forest-based fruit trees so that monkeys were encouraged to return to their natural habitat. |
|
HLP seeks CBI probe into purchase of 100 ambulances
Solan, August 1 Addressing mediapersons here today, party spokesman MN Sofat said information procured under the RTI Act from the Directorate of Health Services had revealed that instead of purchasing ambulances from Force Motors at a cost of Rs 6.85 lakh, the state government had purchased traveller buses which were converted into ambulances after installing fabrications worth Rs 3,03,000. Thus, each ambulance cost Rs 9,42,567. This exercise had put an additional strain of Rs 2,57,567 per ambulance on the state exchequer. Attacking former Health Minister and Solan MLA Dr Rajeev Bindal, Sofat said Bindal was trying to hush up the case registered against him relating to irregularities in the appointments made during his tenure as chairman of the Solan Municipal Committee. |
|
Schoolboy dies of jaundice
Bilaspur, August 1 He was one of the dozens of patients who had been admitted to the Ghumarwin Civil Hospital some three weeks ago. Later, he was shifted to the Regional Hospital, Bilaspur, and then to the PGI, Chandigarh, where he died. IPH and Health departments had taken samples of water sources from where these patients were taking water and it was detected that nine hand pumps were carrying dangerous bacteria and water in these was not fit for human consumption. Local Ghumarwin MLA Rajesh Dharmani has expressed grief over the boy’s death and urged the government to give sufficient compensation to the bereaved family. |
|
Rain brings traffic to halt
Chamba, August 1 The vehicular traffic was resumed after the debris of landslides at Kalidhar on the Chowari-Pathankot and Chowari-Bharari roads was removed. The transport services were also affected on the Chowari-Bharari road, which remained blocked by landslides near Garkhada for over 12 hours.
|
|
|
Dhiman to contest from Bhoranj
Hamirpur, August 1 He said, “No risk can be taken to accomplish ‘mission repeat’ of the BJP by fielding my son, Dr Anil Dhiman.”
— TNS |
|
| 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 | |
