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14 houses damaged as retaining wall collapses in Mandi
Flood-hit residents blame PSEB for losses
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Dhumal, Virbhadra take up Aman’s case
Congress lambasts BJP over corruption
BJP, Cong poll aspirants wait for Dhumal’s decision
Dhawala turns down offer to shift to Dehra
Victims get prompt relief
Landslide claims one life
Registration of migrants in Kangra made mandatory
10-day sailing expedition begins
Temple employee caught stealing Rs 5,000
HRTC employee found dead
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14 houses damaged as retaining wall collapses in Mandi
Mandi, September 19 Victims of the landslide today lodged an FIR against the PWD and others holding them responsible for criminal negligence in raising the retaining walls of substandard material and lacking a proper foundation. They alleged that it was for the second time that landslides struck this stretch in a year. But the PWD and the district administration did not pay any heed to their complaint on September 9, 2011, they resented. They were homeless as slush and debris were yet to be cleared. Narrating their woes to The Tribune, Dr DN Tandon, a retired principal who along with others has been living at a relative’s house, said: “I woke up around 3 am yesterday when my nephew alerted me. We were saved as we evacuated the house before a huge debris and flood, along with the walls, collapsed right behind our house damaging over 14 houses in the area.” This locality has become dangerous for them as they feel threatened by landslides in the rainy season as the IPH line also runs under the wall, rued Anil Tarun and Het Ram, whose houses were flooded by slush and debris. The residents charged that the DC’s residence is nearby, but he did not bother to visit the spot. The PWD has undertaken reckless cutting of hill slopes for the widening of the Mandi-Kamand-Katola road for the IIT, Mandi, right behind these houses without taking safety measures. The PWD should pay for the damages. The DC could not be contacted for his comments. ADM, Mandi, Pankaj Rai, who visited the spot, said they had started the restoration work and called a meeting of IPH, PWD and council officials and affected persons to fix the accountability tomorrow. Executive Engineer, PWD, Paddar division, Arun Pathania claimed he had joined recently, but the walls collapsed after the culverts got choked diverting water on the road. “We have raised parapets and cleared the culverts, but huge debris came from uphill due to heavy rain,” he added. |
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Flood-hit residents blame PSEB for losses
Mandi/Barot, September 19 The flood has turned this tiny town into a deluge-scarred place. Flood-hit residents staged a dharna at Barot against the PSEB, which maintains the head works of the Shanan project at Barot, and blamed it for the losses. Had the PSEB opened the floodgates in time there would have been no loss to the town famous for its trout, they said. Pradhan of Barot panchayat Suresh Kumar said over 40 shops and houses were washed away and damaged due to the flood. Five private vehicles and three three-wheelers were washed away in the flood that resulted due to the negligence of the PSEB staff, which did not open the floodgates as soon as the water hit catchments of the Uhal river, he said. Suresh said they saved 11 patients admitted to the PHC by using ropes as the entire building was flooded. Over 40 persons were rendered shelterless and were staying with their relatives. Though residents put the loss at Rs 1 crore, the district administration claimed that the loss was in excess of Rs 30 lakh. Drang Congress MLA Kaul Singh met flood victims and demanded immediate compensation for the loss and restoration of health services in the town. The residents demanded compensation for their losses from the PSEB and raised slogans against the board. The floodgates were opened at around 1 pm after 10 hours when the water level receded and a blockade of wooden logs, silt and debris was removed by earth-removers. The Shanan power house management has constituted a technical committee to find out the exact cause in the operation of the
flood gates. SDM, Paddar, Vinay Modgil said they had a meeting with the PSEB superintendent and resident engineer of the Shanan project today. “We are assessing the exact loss caused by flood in Barot, but a preliminary loss is estimated to be around Rs 30 lakh. We have given an immediate relief of Rs 5,000 to each of the flood-hit victims,” he added. Punjab State Electricity Board resident engineer, Shanan power house, Kuldip Singh said as logs got struck to the gates, it could not opened which diverted the water towards the town. “We are submitting a report to the board for action and have constituted a technical committee to fix the responsibility,”
he added. |
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CM lays stones of schemes worth Rs 70 cr in Una
Una, September 19 A new multipurpose bus station for Una town is the major development project. The project worth Rs 50.48 crore would be developed on a Build, Operate and Transfer
(BOT) basis by a private company within the stipulated period of two years. The bus station project for Una town had been hanging fire for the past many years. Initially, the foundation stone of the project was laid by the previous Congress government in 2007. At that time, the cost of the project was Rs 38
crore. However, the project could not take off. Now once again the foundation stone of the project has been laid at an escalated cost of Rs 50.48
crore. The new bus station will be brought up at the place where the present HRTC workshop is located. The workshop will be shifted to the Rampur road, local sources said. Initially, the Town and Country Planning Department had suggested that a bypass should be constructed outside Una town and the bus station be shifted there. However, the move was resisted by local traders who felt that it would affect their business.
Dhumal also laid the foundation stones of Kalyan Bhawan to be constructed at a cost of Rs 1.58
crore, a girls hostel at the Una ITI worth Rs 1.35 crore, a library and a multipurpose hall worth Rs 2.51
crore, an Ambedkar Bhawan at Basdehra village worth Rs 35 lakh and a road from Jhelera to Chauntara worth Rs 5.13
crore. He also distributed laptops to 102 students who had secured meritorious positions in matriculation exams from Una district. It was a part of the announcement of the state government to provide free laptops to top 4,000 students in the state in matriculation examinations. The Chief Minister claimed that in the past five years development works worth Rs 300 crore had been executed in the Una Assembly constituency. Later, Dhumal addressed a political rally organised at the HRTC workshop. While addressing the rally, he claimed that the present UPA government had done injustice to the poor and middle-class in the country. The inflation had been high in the country in the past two years. However, instead of taking measures to curb inflation, it had been burdening the common man with an increase in fuel and LPG prices. The state government on the other hand had been providing subsidised ration to people of the state. |
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Dhumal, Virbhadra take up Aman’s case
Shimla, September 19 Dhumal said he had written to the Union Minster for Shipping on August 16 last and also forwarded a representation of Kewal
Krishan, the father of Aman, to the Centre for appropriate action in the matter. He said the state government was in constant touch with the Centre and trying its best for the safe release of
Aman. Virbhadra has approached the Union Minister of External Affairs SM Krishna and urged him to take immediate action in the matter. He said all the 23 crew members of the ship belonging to Majestic Enrich Shipping Company of Malaysia were made hostages by Somalian pirates. The family members of Aman fear that he would also be killed in case timely talks were not initiated by the Central Government with the pirates. The release of 21-year-old Aman was possible only on the condition that the pirates held prisoners by the Central Government would be released simultaneously. This was to be done within one month as per the time frame fixed by the
pirates. — TNS |
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Congress lambasts BJP over corruption
Shimla, September 19 Harsh Mahajan and Sudhir Sharma, vice-president and general secretary of the party, said the state witnessed unprecedented corruption over the past five years under the BJP regime and its return to power meant perpetuating further. The BJP government was not only corrupt, but it was also dominated by criminals as was evident from the affidavits submitted by candidates at the time of the previous Assembly elections. There were criminal cases pending against eight out of the 11 ministers and 24 out of the 41 MLAs of the BJP. Thus, three out of five BJP MLAs were facing a criminal case. While talking on the pending criminal cases, he said former Heath Minister Rajeev Bindal was an accused in five criminal cases. Horticulture Minister Narinder Bragta was booked for assault on a public servant, voluntarily causing hurt and criminal intimidation and two other ministers Ishwar Dass Dhiman and Ramesh Dhawala for obstructing public servants and use of criminal force against the public servants. Irrigation and Public Health Minister Ravinder Ravi was accused in four cases involving criminal force and rioting and Social Welfare Minister Sarveen Chaudhary was accused in two cases involving mischief, causing damage and criminal trespass. Industries Minister Kishan Kapoor was involved in two cases of rioting, wrongful restraint, criminal conspiracy, using tokens used by public servant with fraudulent intent and criminal intimidation. Besides, seven BJP MLAs had serious cases pending against
them. |
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BJP to use FDI issue for poll gains
Shimla, September 19 An indication to this came here today when Horticulture Minister Narinder Bragta not only accused the UPA-regime of ignoring the interests of apple growers, but also asserted that the decision to allow the FDI would spell doom for them. He said apple growers were not getting remunerative prices for their produce due to the entry of Chinese apple. The state government had repeatedly taken up the matter with the Centre for raising the custom duty on apple from 50 to 80 per cent but there was no response. Last year, 2 lakh tonnes of apple was imported. Congress leaders Vidya Stokes and Kaul Singh had also written to the Centre in this regard, but their plea had been ignored. He said with the entry of MNCs, the custom duty would become irrelevant as they would be free to source 70 per cent of the products from anywhere. |
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Choice of Seat
Hamirpur, September 19 Though Dhumal had given some indication to contest the next poll from the Hamirpur Assembly seat, speculation had been rife about his choice between Sujanpur and Hamirpur, after disintegration of his present Bamsan Assembly constituency during the last delimitation process. Sitting BJP MLA from Hamirpur Urmil Thakur, who has been staking her claim for the Hamirpur seat and shown her reluctance to shift to the newly formed Sujanpur constituency, is still concentrating on Hamirpur and pinning her hopes on the party decision to field her from here and Dhumal from Sujanpur. Former Congress MLA from Hamirpur Anita Verma and Rajinder Rana (Independent), both of whom are set to contest from Sujanpur, are working in this constituency with a hope that Dhumal will contest from Hamirpur. Congress leader Narender Thakur, who is probably Congress’ best option to face the CM, is also eagerly waiting for Dhumal’s choice of constituency. |
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Dhawala turns down offer to shift to Dehra
Shimla, September 19 Chief Minister PK Dhumal had talks with Dhawala here yesterday to make him agree to shift to the adjoining constituency of Dehra so that Ravi could contest from Jwalamukhi. “I was given the offer, but I have refused to shift to Dehra as I have worked for people and development of Jwalamukhi for the past 15 years and it will not be possible for me to shift there at the eleventh hour now,” said Dhawala. He said he had conveyed his decision to the Chief Minister as well. Moreover, Kripal Parmar, a former Rajya Sabha MP and close confidant of the Chief Minister, has been actively campaigning in Dehra for the past two years. Ravi’s constituency of Thural has lost entity and its eight panchayats were merged into Dehra, 10 panchayats into Sulah and a few into Jaisinghpur under the delimitation process. As such, Ravi is still scouting for an Assembly segment, which could ensure his continuation in electoral politics. With Shanta Kumar adopting a hard stand on accommodating Ravi from his home town of Palampur or Jwalamukhi, represented by his loyalist Dhawala, the IPH minister is desperately trying to look for a constituency. |
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Victims get prompt relief
Nurpur, September 19 She had a providential escape as she was not in the house when it collapsed. She has submitted her plea for relief to the revenue authorities through the ward member. A loss of Rs 1.5 lakh has been estimated. Earlier, two rooms of Shakuntla Devi of Mehla village in Gurchal panchayat collapsed yesterday and one room of Saroop Singh was damaged due to rain. The naib tehsildar visited the spot. The SDM gave Rs 2,000 and roof sheets to victims as prompt relief. The compensation to all victims will be disbursed after assessing the loss by the revenue staff. Partial rail traffic restored The railway authorities today restored the partial rail traffic on the Pathankot-Jogindernagar narrow gauge rail line that had been stopped one month ago due to landslides at a number of places on the track. Lakshman Thakur, traffic inspector, said two out of seven trains had started plying from Pathankot to the Guler railway station. The trials were undertaken yesterday that followed partial restoration of the rail traffic on Wednesday. He said the normal rail traffic would be restored in the days to come after clearance of landslide debris from the track. The rail services had been discontinued on August 18 following landslides. |
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Landslide claims one life
Chamba, September 19 Giving this information over the phone this evening, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Chamba, Kulbhushan Verma said the deceased had been identified as a Nepali resident Raju Ram. The deceased, who was working in a hydroelectric project nearby, belonged to Chitpal Chowk in Nepal, the DSP informed. Meanwhile, reports revealed that roads in interior parts of the district had been blocked by landslides. Officials, however, maintained that the restoration of damaged roads was underway. |
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Registration of migrants in Kangra made mandatory
Palampur, September 19 SSP, Kangra, Daljit Thakur had directed all the police stations in the district to take effective steps for the registration of migrants immediately without any harassment to any one. He had stated in his message to all SHOs that registration process should be taken up in routine manner and in future no migrant should be left unregistered. It may be recalled that because of the deteriorating law and order situation and sudden rise in theft cases, the police had initiated these steps. Police sources said in the past three months over a hundred cases of theft were reported at different police stations in the district and in most cases the police had failed to trace the culprits. Despite night patrolling, vehicle checking and putting up police barriers at all entry points of towns like Palampur, Dharamsala and Kangra in the past two months, the police has not been able to nab the culprits. It has come to the conclusion that migrants could be behind the thefts. Over 10,000 migrants have been working in the district as mansions, carpenters, painters and labourers with contractors. Out of it, over 70 per cent are not registered with the police as they have been staying here for the past 10 to 15 years having ration and voter cards. |
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Ganesha puja festival starts in Kangra
Kangra, September 19 Lord Ganesha’s idol was made by artists from outside the state. It took them 15 days for its completion. The procession started from Malhotra’s residence in the Ujjain locality and passed down the new general bus stand, Dharamsala, main bazaar and college roads of the town amidst reciting of Vedic hymns and shouting of slogans “Ganpati Bapa morya”. it was installed at the Donga Bazar in the vicinity of the Brajeshwari temple. The Brajeshwari temple is one of the 52 Shakti peeths where Goddess Sati’s left breast had fallen when her husband Lord Shiva took her consigned body to the Himalayas. As the goddess is Lord Ganesha’s mother, the pandal has been set up near the stairs of this temple. The celebration of the festival was started in this town 23 years back and for the past few years it has been attracting lots of people during this week-long festival. Kewal Krishen, chief organiser of the pujan, said a jagrata of Mata Brajeshwari too would be organised near the pandal during the festival. Tilak Soni, another organiser, said on September 25 a bhandara would be organised in the Donga Bazar locality. On the culmination of the festival the idol would be immersed in the Banner Khad on September 26,he added. |
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Samiti seeks facilities for Manimahesh pilgrims
Kangra, September 19 Swami Virendranand Giri, state president, SDMMSS, in a statement here today said lakhs of pilgrims from Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of the country would throng the Manimahesh shrine on September 23. He said in a letter to Governor Urmila Singh, he had requested that the state government should take steps to provide electricity, sanitation and drinking water along the route from Hadsar to the lake and proper transportation to reach
Hadsar. Giri demanded that the HRTC should provide direct bus services from
Ludhiana, Pathankot, Chandigarh, Hamirpur, Kangra, Dharamshala, Una, Mandi, Bilaspur and
Shimla. Giri suggested that for the pilgrimage, which was on its last leg, there should be no langers from Hadsar bus stand to the stairs from where the pilgrimage track started, to avoid inconvenience to the pilgrims. He said police deployment should be made between Tanuhati and the holy lake to guide the pilgrims. He demanded that langer owners should be asked not to use banned polythene and disposable material. He also demanded that on September 23, liquor shops should be closed at Bharmour and
Hadsar.
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10-day sailing expedition begins
Bilaspur, September 19 He said this expedition had been joined by 35 senior cadets from J and K, including 15 girls who would be given exposure to sea life and its challenges and also know from close quarters the rich and varied culture and people of Himachal Pradesh. He said during this expenditure cadets would sail to Raipur in Una district in two sailing boats escorted by other logistics boats with 14 service, training and civilian staff. En route this expedition they would go through Jeori Pattan, Nakrana, Kalakund, Bhakra Dam covering Gobind Sagar, a distance of some 100 km. Raj Kumar said they would also visit the Naina Devi shrine and other religious places in this area. The expedition would return to its base camp at Bilaspur town on September 24/25. |
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Temple employee caught stealing Rs 5,000
Bilaspur, September 19 Reports said this employee was on daily counting duty of currency notes offered by devotees at the temple, along with others, including four trustees. It was alleged that Krishnu had hidden 10 notes of Rs 500 each denomination under the carpet. But he was caught taking these notes out of the carpet by trustee Jeet Ram Sharma after the counting had ended.
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HRTC employee found dead
Bilaspur, September 19 Virender reportedly went to take rest for a while in the room, but later was found dead when somebody tried to wake him up. He was rushed to nearby Civil Hospital, but was declared brought dead by
doctors. The police has registered a case and taken possession of the body for getting its postmortem done.
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