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Virbhadra for 12 LPG refills per household in state
India should support Tibet openly, says Yashwant Sinha
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Govt approves inventory of Roerich’s belongings
Dhumal launches information technology enabled applications
BJP biased against Bilaspur, says Cong
Motorcycle firm, dealer told to pay compensation
Rooms of unsafe vet hospital vacated
Fire
Safety
Truck union hikes freight charges by 30%
‘Blood donation causes no harm to donor’
‘Regional Manager not to blame for Palampur mishap’
Nine schools denied recognition
Tibetan martyrs remembered
Officer cremated with military honours
Six SPs shifted
Kidnapped Sailor
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Virbhadra for 12 LPG refills per household in state
Shimla, September 17 In a letter to her, he stated that green forests of Himachal Pradesh were the lungs of the country preserving the pristine Himalayan ecology and conserving the environment as well. He added that the Congress government was the first in the country to ban the felling of green trees in the state in 1986 and since then, fuel wood had been systematically replaced with other alternative sources of cooking and energy, with LPG being the most popular and environment-friendly one. He noted that agencies had been opened in all parts of the state, including backward and remote areas, to promote the use of LPG and ensure its availability. He added that the recent decision to curtail the number of subsidised LPG cylinders to six a year would not only hit the economy of the poor in the state, but affect endeavours to preserve the green cover over hills as well. He further pointed out that Himachal Pradesh had voluntarily given up the exploitation of its forest wealth, estimated at more than Rs 1.5 lakh crore, in national interest. He emphasised that an increase in the number of subsidised LPG refills to be made available to consumers from six to at least 12 a year was essential. Virbhadra Singh also urged Sonia Gandhi to review and reconsider the diesel price hike and suitably cut down the price. He pointed out that Himachal Pradesh was predominantly a hill state. He noted that roads were the only means of transport in many parts of the state in the absence of rail, water and air transport. He added that roads were aptly called the lifeline of development in the state. He admitted that the diesel price hike in the country had become unavoidable due to the increase in international oil prices and mounting under-recoveries of oil companies. He also pointed out that the hike would hit the people of the state the worst as they were totally dependent on road transport for all their needs. He added that it would have a spiralling effect on the prices of all commodities and transport facilities in the state. He pleaded that the hike be cut down or minimised by allowing a special subsidy on it to Himachal Pradesh. |
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India should support Tibet openly, says Yashwant Sinha
Dharamsala, September 17 Talking to mediapersons here this morning, he said many people in the country believed that India made a huge strategic mistake by not supporting the cause when the Chinese aggression took place in 1950. He added that India and Tibet had a deep civilisation relationship and Tibet was a friendly country which acted as a buffer between China and India. He said India experienced the Chinese aggression in 1962 due to its strategic mistake and China was occupying large parts of the Indian territory. He stated that the one-China policy meant that Tibet, Hong Kong and Taiwan were parts of China. He added that when then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited China in 2003, India signed an agreement with China. He said India reiterated the one-China policy in the agreement and in return, China recognised Sikkim as a part of India and decided to open Nathula as a trade post. Sinha further said India’s relationship with China had become multilateral, especially in trade and economic affairs. He suggested policy makers to decide on how to deal with China first and then decide how to deal with Tibet. He hoped that India would stand more firmly in support of the Tibetan cause and tell China that genocide and destruction in Tibet were unacceptable. |
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Govt approves inventory of Roerich’s belongings
Shimla, September 17 The executive committee of the IRMT, which met here today, formally approved the appointment of OC Handa as overall administrator of the Trust. The Himachal Government signed an Act of transfer of stock and inventory prepared by the team of experts from the International Centre of Roerichs (ICR) in Moscow during their two-month stay at Naggar. The meeting of the committee was chaired by Principal Secretary for Language, Art and Culture Manisha Nanda. It was attended by Director for Language, Art and Culture Rakesh Kanwar and Senior Counsellor from Russian Embassy Sergey Karmalito and Counsellor for Culture Dr Dimitry Chelyshev. The committee approved the appointment of Larisa Surgina as curator from the Russian side. She was heading the team from the ICR which prepared the inventory of the priceless artifacts left behind by the great Russian artist who made Naggar his home. Surgina would replace Alena Adamkova, who had been running the IRMT for the last over a decade. This development took place following controversies surrounding her role at the IRMT. The inventory has 8,126 items, including 37 paintings by Nicholas Roerich, 12 paintings by his son Svetoslav Roerich, 1,586 memorial objects, 1,736 books and journals, a 3,070 ‘herbarium’ collection and personal photographs. The detailed inventory is in nine parts and has been formally approved. The committee also discussed the draft memorandum of understanding to be signed between the ICR and the IRMT in Moscow during the visit of the Indian delegation comprising Chief Secretary S Roy, Manisha Nanda and Rakesh Kanwar from September 30. There is also a proposal to convert Roerich’s residence, housing the museum at present, into a memorial house. This will be possible only once the museums are ready for the display of paintings and other artifacts. Handa has been advised to start repair work on building in the vicinity of the IRMT complex at Naggar. |
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Industries Minister hits out at Shanta’s detractors within party
Dharamsala, September 17 Kapoor indicating towards IPH Minister Ravinder Ravi said certain senior BJP leaders from Palampur were carrying out a malicious campaign against the VMRT. The VMRT issue was being cropped up just to malign the image of Shanta at the time of elections. The leaders who are taking up the issue were themselves facing corruption charges. “A person who enjoys patronage of a BJP minister and was facing charges of sexually exploiting students of a nursing college was levelling charges against the VMRT,” he said. “If they do not stop maligning Shanta’s image, we will be forced to expose them in public,” Kapoor said. The minister also hit out at Congress leader GS Bali by alleging that a leader who had earlier sought a probe into the accounts of the VMRT now had himself opened a hospital in the private sector. Hitting out at both leaders, Kapoor alleged that a probe should be held that how they had acquired several properties in a short-time period. The outburst of Kapoor against Ravi has come at a time when fight for the party ticket is going on between the Shanta and Dhumal factions. The Thural Assembly constituency of Ravi has finished after the delimitation exercise. He is now on the lookout for a new constituency. He has been expressing desire to contest from the Palampur, Sullah or Jwalamukhi Assembly constituencies. These constituencies are represented by Shanta loyalists. Shanta is allegedly
opposing giving the party ticket to Ravi. Ravi has also been at the receiving end from Shanta loyalists who blamed him for interfering in their constituencies. Shanta also blamed him for trying to jeopardise his programme organised in the Sullah Assembly constituency. Ravi has been unhappy with Chief Minister
PK Dhumal after he felt that his interests were not being protected. However, local sources said due to resistance from
the Shanta faction, Ravi might be fielded from the newly carved out Dehra Assembly constituency. However, the statement of Kapoor is likely to fuel factional fight in the politically sensitive Kangra district when the party was preparing for the poll. |
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Dhumal launches information technology enabled applications
Shimla, September 17 Congratulating the Department of Information Technology for introducing more e-enabled applications for improving efficiency and bringing about transparency in the functioning of various departments and agencies, he said the availability of the services would save both time and money of the people, who would not have to go to various offices as they would be able to apply online for government services by using the e-form facility round the clock. He said applications would be delivered to the offices concerned and various certificates and other official documents would be provided both online and in print. He said the status of applications would be known to applicants and the authorities would keep them updated through short message service (SMS) from time to time. So far, 49 services of 14 departments had been identified through the e-service portal. Lok Mitra Kendra services could also be availed of for the purpose. Dhumal said SMS-based applications would be entertained for relief in case of some natural disaster and any citizen could send an SMS to the number 166, which would automatically reach the Deputy Commissioner and other officials concerned within no time. Advisories for farmers would be available on SMS, for which farmers would be required to get themselves registered with the web portal. The Chief Minister said the online facility would help increase the efficiency and productivity of organisations due to effective monitoring and transparency. It would develop a single and integrated view of information system across all corporations and their offices in the state and provide timely and reliable management information for effective decision-making. It would be useful to provide an interface with other key stakeholders like banks and apex bodies in effective planning and analysis based on factual data and trends. Efforts were afoot to bring the entire administrative functioning under the online system to deliver real-time services to the people. He advised the authorities to make all information and facilities available in Hindi. |
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BJP biased against Bilaspur, says Cong
Bilaspur, September 17 Talking to mediapersons at the Circuit House here, state executive member and former Zila Parishad member Jitender
Chandel, Block president Col AP Gautam (retd), district senior general secretary Gopal Sharma and others said BJP leaders had been inaugurating schemes which were either under construction or were provided funds for and started during the previous Congress regime. They said the BJP was “against” people of the constituency as a number of government offices were shifted to other districts. The synthetic athletics track and the hockey astroturf were shifted and no technical college, university or institute of higher education was opened here, they added. They further said the hydro-engineering college project was sabotaged as the government dilly dallied over allotting land. They asked the government why it had not finalised and declared its policy regarding the legalisation of encroachment by Bhakra Dam oustees though the court had given them this opportunity. They pointed out that the government had not allotted 354 rehabilitation plots to the remaining oustees though land had been earmarked for the purpose by the previous Congress regime. They said the Block Congress would start its election campaign here from September 17. It would cover all villages under it, exposing the ‘misdeeds’ of the state government, they stated. |
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Shahpur villages deprived of road connectivity: Cong
Kangra, September 17 Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) secretary Kewal Singh Pathania said this while addressing villagers at Karrie and Bonthu villages today. He alleged that the 8.5-km road connecting Ghera with Karrie and Bonthu was yet to be completed even after four years. People had to cross arduous roads to reach these villages on foot. Pathania said work on the Rs 4-crore project under the PMGSY was started in 2008, but it was yet to be completed. He said a construction company from Punjab was assigned the work of this road that continued to remain a distant dream for residents. He alleged that the construction material for the road was not dumped at an authorised dumping site, resulting in damage to crops at Bonthu village to the tune of Rs 20 lakh. He demanded that farmers should be provided with compensation for their damaged crops. He also demanded that the district administration should issue a notice to the contractor for the damage of crops. He said Satish Kumar, who was running an NGO in these villages, charged the government with utter negligence of not connecting these villages with roads even after 65 years of independence. Pathania said 108 ambulance services were also not accessible to these villages because of lack of road connectivity. He said when the Congress government, headed by Virbhadra Singh, would be formulated in the state, Karrie and Bonthu villages would be turned into tourist destinations and these villages would also be connected by roads. Executive Engineer, PWD, Kangra, Vijay Kumar Choudary said work on this road was in progress and would be completed by March next year. He added that it took two years for getting an approval of the Forest Department and one year for cutting trees for the same. |
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Farmers exhorted to adopt new scientific technology
Kangra, September 17 Elaborating on various schemes of the state government, he said a large number of farmers had come forward to avail benefits to boost production and it was imperative to adopt new scientific farming for this. He said agriculture was playing a vital role in the economy of the state and new problems of climate change, monkey menace and stray cattle warranted immediate attention of the scientific community for effective solutions. He also spoke on the importance of pulse and oilseed crops and asked the farmers to grow these crops on a large scale to get high prices. Director, Research, SP Sharma said women played an effective and important role in hill farming and to reduce their drudgery, the university had developed improved farm tools and implements. He said the state Department of Agriculture had started providing these tool kits on subsidy at the block level and the farmers should make use of these tools, he added. He also informed them about a new technology for polyhouse. Director, Extension, Education, Desh Raj said audio-visual means, including new information technology, had been put to use to disseminate farm technology at the university and Krishi Vigyan Kendras. Scientist in charge of the station KS Thakur gave details about various research programmes. Officers from the state Department of Agriculture and allied departments, scientists from the university and farmers from surrounding villages participated in the function and purchased seed for ensuing rabi crops. A book on mushroom cultivation was released by the chief guest. He also visited the farm area and an exhibition. ATMA also arranged an exposure visit from different blocks to the farm area. Earlier, Krishi Vigyan Kendra organised a Scientific Advisory Committee meeting under the Chairmanship of Desh Raj, Director, Extension Education, to take stock of the work done in the past six months and planning for the next six months. |
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Motorcycle firm, dealer told to pay compensation
Sundernagar, September 17 As per facts of the case, Jitender Kumar of the Jail Road, Mandi town, had purchased a Royal Enfield Classic Bullet 350(motorcycle) from Shivam Automobiles on April 4, 2012, for Rs 1.07 lakh and on April 10, 2012, noticed that its self-starter was not functioning properly and the motorcycle could not be started. He took it to the dealer and after changing its battery the dealer assured him that the problem had been rectified. But the problem remained the same though the complainant visited the dealer seven times. At last he filed a complaint before the Consumer Forum. The opposite parties in reply claimed that the defect in the motorcycle had been rectified to the satisfaction of the customer when it was brought to them. But the complainant produced the copies of job cards of different dates issued by the dealer and also an expert report issued by a mechanical engineer who opined that the self-starter of the motorcycle was defective as it had failed to fire the engine. The forum after hearing the parties held that the self-starter of the motorcycle was defective and the opposite parties had not provided proper service when this fact was brought to their notice. |
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Rooms of unsafe vet hospital vacated
Nurpur, September 17 According to information, the Animal Husbandry Department has proposed a new hospital building at Matholli village, but the ongoing construction of the building had been stopped in the wake of the court’s order. Rain has further deteriorated the structure of the old hospital building. Vinod Gupta, Deputy Director (Veterinary), Dharamsala, said to make alternative arrangement, he had directed the hospital authorities to shift the hospital to the vacant residence of the senior veterinary doctor from the present site. Local MLA Rakesh Pathania said the ownership of the hospital premises had been transferred in the name of the Bus Stand Management Development Authority of the HRTC as the new bus stand had been proposed here. “After the construction of the new building, the existing veterinary hospital will be shifted to it,” he added. |
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Fire
Safety
Shimla, September 17 All 22 fire stations and seven newly opened fire posts had been equipped with vehicles and rescue equipment and latest fire tenders and firefighting equipment had been procured at a cost of Rs 5.5 crore. Additional motorcycles, which had also been fitted with the equipment required, were also capable of entering very narrow lanes in habitation. Fire Services Director-General-cum-Director B Kamal Kumar briefed the Chief Minister about the facilities available in the new vehicles. |
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Truck union hikes freight charges by 30%
Solan, September 17 A 6 per cent hike has been effected for intra-state transportation. For inter-state transportation, the hike is 30 per cent with a hike of Rs 1.5 per km. This hike will have a cascading effect on prices of products manufactured here. This hike will force manufacturers to enhance the prices of various finished products as a majority of finished goods are transported out of the state. Since raw material is purchased from outside, manufacturers are sure to feel an impact. Truck operators want a 40 per cent hike, but the 30 per cent hike has been decided upon as the 40 per cent hike in one go will be too high. Since a majority of goods are transported in the state in trucks, the diesel price hike is likely to affect prices of various items of daily use. The freight charge hike has raised hopes of other operators plying trucks for cement plants. Arki-Darlaghat-Kashlog-Mangu Truck Operators Union president Rattan Mishra has said managements are supposed to hike freight charges as per the existing agreement and they expect a revision of freight charges shortly. |
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‘Blood donation causes no harm to donor’
Bilaspur, September 17 Students of Government Degree College and Government Senior Secondary School, Jhandutta, led by NSS in charge Prof Sita Ram, also donated blood. Local gram panchayat president Usha Nadda, Shyam Bansal, Lata Thakur, Krishan, Vanita Kumari, Archana Thakur, Lata Thakur, Ajay Kumar, Renu Bala, Rahul, Kshma Kumari, Madhu Bala, Jagbir Chandel, Ashwini Chandel, RD Sharma, Rakesh Bhrdwaj, Vikram, Kapil, Pyare Lal and Ashish Chandel were among those present. |
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‘Regional Manager not to blame for Palampur mishap’
Palampur, September 17 In a press statement here, the association termed the news items published as baseless and far from the truth. As per records, the bus was cleared by the MVI till March 2013, and two days before the accident it was taken to the workshop for general inspection. Despite being old, the condition of the bus was good. Besides, as per the policy of the HRTC management, it was plying old buses on roads. The association said the RM was never at fault as it was a matter of chance that the accident occurred. It said bus driver Baldev Singh had been driving on this route for the past 15 years and he had never made any complaint regarding the fitness of the bus with the management. The real cause of the accident would come before the public after the inquiry report was submitted by the SDM, Palampur. The association said it was the duty of the HRTC management to condemn buses keeping in view their condition and not according to the mileage covered. Therefore, RMs across the state had no authority to keep old buses off the road. It added that at present over 400 old buses of the HRTC were on roads across the state as per the policy of the government. |
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Nine schools denied recognition
Hamirpur, September 17 Managements had applied to the Deputy Director, Primary Education. Recognition was denied after inspection. Deputy Director Bhushan Malhotra said the schools did not have sufficient rooms and playgrounds, adequate trained teachers and other facilities.
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Tibetan martyrs remembered
Dalhousie, September 17 The Regional Tibetan Youth Congress (RTYC) supported the ongoing fast of the Tibetan Youth Congress in New Delhi. Tenzin Jamchen, president of the Dalhousie unit of the RTYC, said their crusade for achieving the legal status of Tibet as an independent nation would continue till its attainment.
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Officer cremated with military honours
Bilaspur, September 17 A large number of representatives of various organisations and political parties and elite citizens were present on the occasion at the Luhnu cremation ghat on the bank of the Gobind Sagar here today. Captain Nitin, who was inducted into the Army as Lieutenant in 2010,
was posted in the atalik sector of J&K in 9 Gadhwal Rifles. He is said to have breathed his last suddenly, probably due to heart failure, during an exercise while trying to scale a challenging height with full battle load of all essentials, including ammunition, and trying to reach at the top first. The officer is said to have died of breathlessness.
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Six SPs shifted
Shimla, September 17 SP, Lokayukta, Prem Kumar Thakur, has been posted as SP, Solan. SP, State Vigilance, Arvind Sharada, and SP, Baddi, Gurdev Chand, swap places. SP, Solan, Hardesh Bisht, takes over as Commandant, Police Battalion, Junga.
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Kidnapped Sailor
His father Kewal
Krishan, an ex-serviceman and resident of Kardial village, said the ship was hijacked in Kenya on November 26, 2010, and 23 crew members held hostage. He said the pirates had been demanding the release of the 62 persons reportedly in Naval captivity. He and his wife Pushpa Devi said they had been running from pillar to post for their son’s release, but to no avail.
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Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) chief Virbhadra Singh has urged UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to raise the cap on the number of subsidised liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) refills
for domestic consumers from six to at least 12 a year to ensure that the step does not put additional pressure on forests.
Kangra, September 17