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Restoring sanctity of land Act tops govt agenda
Political scene to shift to Dharamsala
Anurag draws flak for Sonia remark, refutes charge
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Kuldeep, Butail front-runners for Speaker’s post
HP seeks funds for mono rail project
Pawan Hans chopper service begins
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh arrives after launching the helicopter service of Pawan Hans at the Annadale ground in Shimla on Sunday.
Rs 1 cr for repair of forest buildings
BJP condemns move to destroy ration carry bags
Youth asked to start fruit-processing ventures: Minister
Cash transfer benefit scheme begins in district
ITI at Sarotri to be started with 5 trades
GS Bali, Minister for Technical Education, Transport, Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, being welcomed by his supporters in the Changer belt of Nagrota Bagwan on Sunday. Photo: Ashok Raina
Pulse polio campaign on January 20, February 24
Providing specialists, having medical engineering wing main challenges
Finance panel member-secy’s sacking criticised
Forest Dept to restore service of sacked daily wage workers
Chief Minister to give Palampur a miss
CRI’s new lab may get approval soon
ATM card theft case lodged
ATM uprooted, Rs 12 lakh stolen
CM urged to revoke school rationalisation notification
Govt seeks explanation from teachers at primary schools
Body found under bridge
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Restoring sanctity of land Act tops govt agenda
Shimla, January 6 “The previous government made a mockery of Section 118, which debars non-agriculturists from acquiring land in the state without prior approval, by granting indiscrimination permission to serve the interests of the land mafia. For instance, private universities were opened by the dozen without requirement and no cap on the quantum of land was imposed for them. The case for various other projects was the same and all policies were tailor-made to allow outsiders to purchase land in the state. In fact, Section 118, which was meant to protect scarce agriculture land, was converted into a convenient instrument for allowing its sale to outsiders,” he said while underlining the need for strong measures to ensure its implementation in letter and spirit. He said the previous government had also made changes in rules for granting permission under Section 118, which would be reviewed to ensure that it remained an effective tool to prevent the indiscriminate diversion of agricultural land. He said steps would be taken to make it easier for non-agriculturist Himachalis to get permission to buy land in the state. Outlining his priorities for the health sector, Kaul Singh stressed that there was an urgent need to streamline the NRHM to improve the delivery of healthcare and achieve the objectives of the programme. He said the previous regime had tinkered with norms for staff and used the mission for political mileage by naming the free ambulance service as Atal Swasthya Seva after the former Prime Minister. He said the government proposed to rename it as the Rashtriya Swasthya Seva as it was a national programme funded by the Centre. He said he had already discussed the matter with Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad. Kaul Singh said the previous government had also tinkered with norms for deployment of staff in referral units and they were made to serve urban areas instead of rural areas, defeating its objective. He also proposed to undo some other parameters of the NRHM for the benefit of the people living in remote pockets. The government had decided to provide 15 per cent more budget for backward areas to improve health infrastructure and availability of medicines. The biggest concern was the high number of vacant posts which were affecting health services in far-flung areas. There were 52 primary health centres which did not have even a single doctor and lacked the requisite paramedical staff. The failure of the outgoing regime to regularly fill posts had led to this situation, he added. As the state was short of medical specialists, the government would strive to increase the seats of specialist in the two medical colleges. The large number of private nursing colleges and other institutions of medical education would be subjected to close scrutiny to ensure whether or not those fulfilled the norms. He would approach the Centre for funds under various schemes for strengthening health infrastructure.
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Political scene to shift to Dharamsala
Dharamsala, January 6
Both the parties are going to organise their legislative group meetings in Dharamsala tomorrow. The elected MLAs and ministers of both rival camps of the Congress shall start arriving in Dharamsala by this evening. Many of them had been camping in Delhi due to the tussle inside the party over sharing power. The meeting of Congress legislative group is going to be more crucial as the party’s nominee for the post of Speaker is to be named in it. Sources here said though the candidate for the Speaker’s post was likely to be decided by the Congress high command, its announcement would be made after the CLP meeting that would also be attended by party in charge for the state Barender Singh. The names of Kuldeep Kumar, former minister from Una district, from the Virbhadra Singh camp, and prominent Congress leader from Kangra Brij Bihari Butail and AICC secretary Asha Kumari from the rival camp are being tipped for the post of Speaker. The BJP on the other hand will try to corner the newly formed government over the issue of law and order in this short four-day session in which the newly elected MLAs shall also be administered oath. The BJP legislators are likely to take up the issue of the alleged involvement of Congress legislator Ram Kumar Chandhary in a murder case. While Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh will be staying at the Circuit House in Dharamsala, Leader of Opposition PK Dhumal will be putting up at the Gia rest house, 20 km from Dharamsala. The Congress has also planned a political rally at Dharamsala to thank voters who gave them 10 out of 15 Assembly constituencies from the district and played a vital role in the formation of the new government. Earlier, the rally was scheduled for tomorrow. However, due to the ongoing tussle within the government over the appointment of chairpersons of various boards and corporations and the allocation of Cabinet portfolios, the rally has now been shifted to January 11. The decision to hold the winter session of the Himachal Assembly in Dharamsala was taken by the previous Congress government headed by Virbhadra Singh. He was also instrumental in getting the Himachal Assembly complex constructed in Dharamsala. The decision was taken to placate the feeling of people of Kangra who were feeling discriminated against vis-a-vis Shimla or old Himachal areas that have remained power centres during the Congress governments. Kangra is the biggest and politically most significant district of the state and the issue of it being discriminated against has often been raked by the BJP that has its entire senior leadership, including Shanta Kumar and Dhumal, located in lower Himachal or merged areas of the state. This time also though Kangra has contributed more than 25 per cent seats (10) to the present strength of 36 Congress legislators in the state, no heavy weight portfolio has been allotted to the three ministers from the district including GS Bali, Sujjan Singh Pathania and Sudhir Sharma.
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Anurag draws flak for Sonia remark, refutes charge
Shimla, January 6 In a press note here today, Agnihotri said such unwarranted remarks would not be tolerated. He said Anurag had the habit of making such statements and had crossed all limits of dignified political behaviour, which reflected his political acumen and the environment around him. Agnihotri said Anurag had made some remarks during the elections to belittle the stature of Virbhadra Singh and the people of the state had given a befitting reply by defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party. Agnihotri said Anurag was making such derogatory statements to gain cheap publicity and out of frustration. Agnihotri said Congress leaders were deeply hurt over the slanderous and malicious remark against the UPA chairperson which exposed Anurag’s extremely regressive mindset. The Congress warned him against making such comments. Agnihotri said Anurag had crossed all limits. Agnihotri said Anurag’s crude comments indicated that he was suffering from some sort of an inferiority complex. Kangra: Sanjay Rattan, the Congress legislator from Jwalamukhi, has ridiculed Anurag’s adverse remark against Sonia Gandhi. Talking to mediapersons at the Jwalamukhi Rest House on Sunday, Rattan said such unwanted statements would not be tolerated. Rattan said Anurag had also commented on the stature of Virbhadra Singh during the elections. In a press note issued on Sunday, Anurag refuted the allegation. He said, “My Facebook page has over 30,000 followers and my Twitter page over 6,000 followers. At no point have I or my team made any personal attack on anyone. The contents of my posts are in the public domain.” He added, “The Indian media is the fourth pillar of democracy. Its credibility depends on the truthfulness of the story it publishes. The manner in which it has gone about publishing this story is disappointing. It clearly shows an attempt to brazenly sensationalise matters and defame me.” He further said, “The media organisation in question must publish an unconditional apology within one week on the same page that it attempted to tarnish my image. I will explore all possibilities of legal action against the person who has made this fake Facebook profile.”
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Kuldeep, Butail front-runners for Speaker’s post
Shimla, January 6 It is obvious that the high command will take the final call and its decision will be conveyed by All-India Congress Committee general secretary Birender Chaudhary during the CLP meeting on the eve of the first session of the new Vidhan Sabha in Dharamsala tomorrow. There is also the possibility of holding the election to the post of the Deputy Speaker simultaneously, depending on the choice of Speaker and agreement between the rival camps. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, who returned from New Delhi this afternoon, said there was a tie between two candidates, but did not name anyone. He said both possibilities were open as far the election of the Deputy Speaker was concerned and it could be held along with the election of the Speaker or be deferred to the Budget session. Asked about the resignations of chairpersons of boards and corporations appointed by him, he said there was no controversy and all reports appearing in the media on the issue while he was in New Delhi were baseless. He categorically stated that reports regarding discussions with central leaders on the post of the HPCC chief were not true as he still held charge. He said he held discussions regarding development issues with various Union ministers. He said he took up the matter of starting the mono-rail project as part of the mass rapid transport system for Shimla with Union Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath and Japanese experts would carry out the survey for the project to explore its feasibility. Party sources pointed out that a number of names were under consideration for the post of HPCC chief, including Chander Kumar, Gangu Ram Musafir, Harsh Vardhan, Viplove Thakur, Asha Kumari and Sukhwinder Singh. The main focus was on the election of the Speaker and the high command might take a call on the HPCC president after the Assembly session.
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HP seeks funds for mono rail project
Shimla, January 6 Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh met Kamal Nath, Union Minister for Urban Development, in New Delhi yesterday. Sudhir Sharma, Urban Development Minister, also accompanied him. This project will be a first of its kind in a hilly state in the country. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has been asked to carry out a detailed survey and prepare a feasibility report within six months. Kamal Nath assured the Chief Minister of full support to the state in sanctioning of this ambitious project.
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Pawan Hans chopper service begins
Shimla, January 6 A decision was taken by the Cabinet recently to hire on lease the helicopter service of Pawan Hans to provide connectivity to the people of tribal areas, particularly Lahaul-Spiti and Kinnaur districts, Pangi in Chamba district and Dodra Kwar in Shimla district, which remain cut off in winter due to snow. The helicopter will make its maiden flight to Dodra Kwar on January 8. The government will pay Rs 3.67 lakh per running hour for the 26-seater helicopter with the stipulation of a minimum of 40 hours per month. The hours utilised can be carried over to the next month, but a minimum of 480 hours will have to be completed annually. The service will entail a minimum cost of Rs 17.61 crore annually. Bharat Khera, Secretary, GAD; JC Chauhan, Principal Private Secretary to the Chief Minister; and Dinesh Malhotra, Deputy Commissioner, were present on the occasion.
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Rs 1 cr for repair of forest buildings
Chamba, January 6 The Forest Department has decided to accord top priority to check monkey menace in the state, he said. He said the department would give a boost to lantana (a wild shrub) eradication programme. |
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BJP condemns move to destroy ration carry bags
Shimla, January 6 Ashok Kapatia, spokesperson of the party, said Vajpayee was a national leader and destroying carry bags because it had his pictures was unacceptable. Vajpayee was no more in active politics and any such move would hurt the sentiments of the people who held him in high esteem, he added.
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Youth asked to start fruit-processing ventures: Minister
Solan, January 6 This would not only help in the optimum utilisation of the locally available fruits but also help in generating employment opportunities to the youth, he said. He was accorded a rousing welcome on his arrival to Solan town after being inducted in the Cabinet at a function held here today. Addressing people on the occasion, he said cooperation of every single individual would be ensured for the development of the district. He said innovative development schemes would be formulated for the rural as well as urban areas. Earlier, Rahul Thakur, president, District Congress Committee, urged the party workers to work for the welfare of the common man. He demanded support price for tomato and stone fruits being produced in the district. Kul Rakesh Pant, president of the local Municipal Council, was also present on the occasion.
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Cash transfer benefit scheme begins in district
Bilaspur, January 6 District revenue official Shashi Pal Sharma said here today that there were 83 students in the district who had already received Rs 10,000 transferred on their names in various banks under the Post Matric Swami Vivekananda Scholarship Scheme for higher education in the state. He said those students who had not yet deposited their aadhar and bank account numbers till now should immediately deposit these numbers in their respective schools so that their scholarship should be deposited directly in their accounts. |
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ITI at Sarotri to be started with 5 trades
Kangra, January 6 This was announced by Minister for Technical Education, Transport, Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs GS Bali today while addressing a public meeting at Sarotri village in the Changer area of Nagrota Bagwan Assembly segment represented by Bali himself. He said the state government was committed for the social and economic upliftment of the poor, downtrodden, needy and deserving people of this state and the state government was going to implement special programme. He said it was on the demand of BPL people that now wheat flour would be made available to them along with wheat through civil supply depots. The Technical Education Minister said the Industrial Training Institute (IIT) at Sarotri would be made functional with five trades so that youth from the Changer belt got technical Education at their doorstep. He said to redress the grievances of people at their doorstep in Nagrota Bagwan Assembly segment “MLA Aap Kay Dawar” (MLA at your doorstep) programme would be revived from next month so that people would not have to go to Dharamsala and Shimla for this purpose. He said senior officers of all the departments would attend this programme. Bali said he was well aware about the problems of the HRTC and private transporters in the state and would take positive steps in sorting out these issues in consultation with senior officers of the department. He said efforts would be made to create a congenial atmosphere between the state government and the transporters. Bali announced that on the demand of people the HRTC bus service from Dharamsala to Ludhiana would be restarted via Sakot, Sunney and Sarotri and orders in this direction had been issued to the authorities. Earlier, Bali was accorded a rousing reception in the Changer belt of his constituency during his visit to Sunney, Balool, Bargrah, Bussal and Jaisaie villages. In the morning Bali paid obeisance at the Bajjreshwari temple here. Meanwhile, residents of the Vivekananda Vihar locality of this town held a meeting under the chairmanship of PR Agnihotri and demanded that the HRTC should start a nonstop bus service between Kangra and Chandigarh on the pattern of the Dharamsala-Shimla and Chamba-Shimla bus service. They demanded that this service should start from Kangra at 4.30 am to reach Chandigarh by 10 am. The residents also demanded a bus service between Kangra and Katra at 4 pm. They said there was no bus service from here to Jammu and Katra after 12.30 pm.
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Pulse polio campaign on January 20, February 24
Shimla, January 6 Stating this here yesterday, Ali R Rizvi, Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, said booth and house-to house activity would be undertaken to cover all the left-out children. It would be mainly booth-based activities on the first day and house-to-house activity on subsequent days till all the left-out children were administered polio drops. Rizvi said the dates would remain the same throughout the state, including snow-bound areas. To cover children of urban slums and projects sites, special booths and mobile teams were being arranged so that each and every child could be covered. He further added that children of Gaddi and Gujjar tribes should be given polio drops at forest check-posts whenever they crossed over. In all 5,853 booths had been planned throughout the state, each catering to 125 children, and approximately 7 lakh children would be administered the polio drops. Each booth would be manned by four persons, two technical persons from the Health and Ayurvedic Department and the remaining two would be deployed from other departments, he added. The Principal Secretary said the polio eradication campaign was a social mobilisation which could only be achieved with the cooperation and support of government and non-government organisations and involvement of Panchayati Raj Institutions, mahila mandals and Mahila Swasthya Sangh and social workers.
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Providing specialists, having medical engineering wing main challenges
Kuldeep Chauhan Tribune News Service
Mandi, January 6 The state government also has to put in place the medical engineering wing to maintain and repair laboratory equipment and machinery, even at the IGMC and the DRPMC. Patients are made to pay through their nose at private laboratories as CT scan, X-ray and other diagnostic equipment and machinery remain out of order for months. Hospitals do not have a medical engineering wing to take care of machinery, say health experts. The Health Department is planning to outsource laboratory equipment and machinery to private companies with funds from the National Rural Health Mission, but it will be an ad hoc arrangement and not a long-term solution, say experts. Outlining health priorities for the Virbhadra Singh government, they say posts of doctor and paramedic need to be filled and low-priced and good-quality essential generic drugs at PHCs, CHCs and civil and district hospitals. To take care of fatalities and trauma cases, the state government needs to upgrade its state-level speciality hospitals, the IGMC and the DRPMC, to super-speciality hospitals with round-the-clock trauma service to give immediate care to patients rushed in from the region or referred from district or civil hospitals. The 500-bedded super-speciality ESIC medical college and hospital in the Mandi region awaits an essentiality certificate for attaching the Zonal Hospital in Mandi to the ESIC college before its hospital is ready to start the first batch this year. Trauma service has been started at the regional hospitals in Kullu and Bilaspur, but the hospitals have no dedicated staff to take care the patients. To take healthcare to the periphery, CHCs and PHCs and regional and zonal hospitals need specialists. Mobile multi-speciality camps in remote areas at PHCs can take care of shortage of specialists on a short-term basis. For a long-term heath policy, the government must start diagnostic services at district hospitals round-the-clock by putting in place paramedic staff to save patients from high charges at private laboratories, say health experts. There are 111 teaching and non-teaching faculty posts, 36 posts of paramedic, 352 posts of nurse and 348 ministerial posts lying vacant at the IGMC, as in November last, say health experts. The college has already outsourced as many as 348 posts ministerial and nursing posts at the college, they reveal.
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Finance panel member-secy’s sacking criticised
Shimla, January 6 In a press note here today, he said it was a constitutional body and the services of permanent officers could not be discontinued before the tenure was complete. He said the commission was constituted late in May 2011 due to amendments in the PRI Act to introduce qualifications for members of the commission as per recommendations of the Centre’s 13th Finance Commission. He said it was required to be constituted in 2009 and was to submit its report in 2011 for implementation in 2012-13. He said he resigned from the commission on moral grounds so that the report was not delayed. He added that Dr SK Shad was appointed as Member-Secretary a month after he retired as Adviser Planning as only he fulfilled qualifications. He said there was no justification for the removal when the tenure of the commission was only up to June 30 this year and the draft for the final report of the commission was in process. |
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Forest Dept to restore service of sacked daily wage workers
Palampur, January 6 He said the workers, who had been on the payroll of the department for 20 years, were sacked by the previous government without assigning any reason. Addressing mediapersons here, Bharmouri said the Congress had made this promise in its election manifesto and was bound to reemploy them. He said the workers, who had been deployed in plant nurseries of the department, were rendered jobless and most of them had approached courts for the restoration of jobs. The minister also announced that the tapping of resin in the future would be done by the Forest Department itself and not by the Himachal Pradesh State Forest Corporation. He said the step had been taken for the early lifting of resin stock from forests and better marketing. He added that a notification to this effect would be issued soon. The minister said work on the Baijnath-Holi-Chamba road would be completed in three years. With the construction of a tunnel, the distance between Baijnath and Chamba would be reduced by 150 km, he added. He disclosed that the preparation of a detailed project report for the Utrala-Holi tunnel was on. He said the state government had approached the Centre for funding and global tenders would be invited soon. Earlier the minister was welcomed to Baijnath by Congress workers. He was received on the Kangra-Mandi district border by Baijnath legislator Kishori Lal. Bharmouri told party workers that the Congress government was the government of the common man. He said ministers and legislators would be available to the public at all times to solve their problems and speed up development work. He announced that ‘khula darbars’ would be set up by ministers and legislators at the village level. He added that Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh would attend the public grievance session during his visit to Kangra next week.
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Chief Minister to give Palampur a miss
Palampur, January 6 According to an official programme made available to mediapersons here, he has no plans to visit Palampur or preside over any official function here. During his stay at Dharamsala, he will visit Pragpur, Jwalamukhi, Kangra, Dharamsala and Nagrota Bagwan. He will stay at Jwalamukhi for a night on January 12 and the same day he will attend a state-level function at Pragpur. The differences between the Chief Minister and local MLA and senior Congress leader Brij Bihari Lal have come to the fore. It was earlier expected that keeping in view his seniority and loyalty to the party, he would be made a minister. However, he was ignored at the last moment. Now the Chief Minister has maintained a distance from Palampur.
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CRI’s new lab may get approval soon
Solan, January 6 Though the institute is yet to receive a written communication from the NRA, it has been directed to start trial batches in the new facility following a satisfactory inspection report, institute sources have said. This has given a new lease of hope to the institute where uncertainty has been prevailing due to the inordinate delay in setting up this modern laboratory confirming to World Health Organisation’s GMP norms. The institute was given three years in February 2009 to set up this facility. Its deadline expires in February 2013. Trial batches of the DPT group vaccine, which includes DPT, DT and TT, will now be manufactured. After successful completion, the CRI will apply for WHO GMP certification. The process to manufacture trial batches of DPT group vaccines is slated to take at least six months. These vaccines are manufactured for the universal immunisation programme undertaken by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The contract to construct the new laboratory was granted to Hindustan Lifecare Limited in 2009 and the Rs 54-crore project was supposed to be ready by September 2011, but its validation was inordinately delayed. Since the institute was given a target of manufacturing 500 lakh doses of various DPT vaccines by the end of this financial year, early validation and approval of the new facility would have helped the institute meet its target. The institute had barely manufactured between 150 lakh and 170 lakh doses of its annual target at its old facility and was still considerably short of meeting its target. The fate of the old facility is uncertain as there is no fresh direction from the ministry for extension of license. Since all manufacturing processes will have to be put on hold in February, the institute can fall short of meeting annual targets.
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ATM card theft case lodged
Nurpur, January 6 The accused had been remanded in police custody till Monday and arrested in an ATM card theft of another complainant last week. But in the new case, complainant Krishna alleged that she had been trying to draw money from an ATM of PNB at Rehan on December 27 last, but after her failure the accused assisted her in drawing Rs 3,000. But before leaving he exchanged her ATM card. Yesterday when she, along with her husband, again visited the same ATM, her ATM card did not work. After enquiring from the bank she came to know that her ATM card had been exchanged and her bank balance for Rs 7,500 had been withdrawn. DSP Rajinder Jaswal said the complainant identified the accused and another case under Sections 420 and 380, IPC, had been registered against him. |
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ATM uprooted, Rs 12 lakh stolen
Solan, January 6 The miscreants, who had covered their faces, first disconnected the close-circuit cameras and then entered the ATM room where they beat up security guard Kamla Ram. He was tied up and thrown out. They then removed the ATM machine using tools and carried it away with them. It was found dumped near a pharmaceutical unit nearby with the cash gone. The incident took place between 1:30 am and 2 pm last night. Though a police party had patrolled the area around 12:45 am, no suspicious activity was noticed, said police officials. The theft came to light when a passerby heard the security guard’s cries around 6:30 am and rescued him. The police was later informed about this theft. This is the second incident when an ATM of Axis Bank has been stolen. Superintendent of Police, Baddi, S Arul said help from the police of neighbouring states like Punjab was being sought. A case under Sections 382, 342, 323 and 334, IPC, was registered and further investigations were underway.
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CM urged to revoke school rationalisation notification
Chamba, January 6 In a handout released by the HGTU here recently, a spokesperson of the union expressed apprehension that if the notification was not withdrawn, students of 609 government senior secondary schools would be deprived of studying even arts group. The spokesperson said there were 1,325 government senior secondary schools having 2.50 lakh students in the state. He added that the previous BJP government had issued a notification pertaining to the rationalisation of the abolition of science, commerce and arts groups.
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Low Registration of Students
Hamirpur, January 6 In a letter issued to primary schools through district and block offices of the Primary Education Department, the teachers have been directed to submit a report, explaining the reasons for the low registration of students at the schools. District Education Officers have been told to seek an explanation from the teachers on the steps taken by them to improve the registration rate of students and submit a report on the efforts made by them in this regard. This report is important since the Congress government, after coming to power, had announced to reopen all primary schools which were closed during the previous regime. The previous government had closed hundreds of government primary schools in the state under its rationalisation policy due to less number of students. This report will be important for reopening the schools. Many schools were closed and a large number of those with a low number of students, along with the staff, were merged with adjoining schools. The Congress, particularly Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, had been opposing this decision, saying the geographical location of schools on account of hilly terrain and remote and backward areas was kept in mind while opening the schools and not the numbers of students. The Education Department has directed primary school teachers to submit the report in the next few days with an explanation.
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Body found under bridge
Bilaspur, January 6 Reports said someone saw it and informed the police at Barmana, but it took some two hours to arrive there from the police station which is some 15 minutes away, despite repeated requests. People suspect that the body might have been thrown here from some vehicle passing by during the night. The body seems to be of a Nepali as could be judged from the features and was brought to the Regional Hospital here for postmortem after which it has been kept at the hospital mortuary for identification. The police has registered a case. |
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Revenue and Health Minister Kaul Singh Thakur plans to take effective steps to restore the sanctity of Section 118 of the Land Reforms and Tenancy Act, along with a comprehensive review of the wholesale permission granted under it by the previous government, besides revamping the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) to improve the delivery of healthcare in villages, which is its main objective.
CD Thakur given additional charge
The new Pawan Hans helicopter taken on lease for five years by the state government launched its service today. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh formally inaugurated the helicopter service at the Annadale ground here.
The Himachal Pradesh Government has decided to provide wheat flour, along with wheat, to people living below the poverty line
(BPL) in the state through civil supply depots in the state.
Forest Minister Thakur Singh Bharmouri yesterday announced that the service of all daily wage workers with the Forest Department would be restored soon.
He said the workers, who had been on the payroll of the department for 20 years, were sacked by the previous government without assigning any reason. Addressing mediapersons here, Bharmouri said the Congress had made this promise in its election manifesto and was bound to reemploy them.
