Shimla, January 24
Working towards rolling out a red carpet to woo the industry in the form of a New Industrial Policy 2013, the government has decided to set up a land bank to meet the requirement of the industry and cancel unused plots by entrepreneurs following the expiry of the special industrial package.

As the state prepares to plead a case for a special industrial package for hill states, including its neighbour Uttarakhand, before Union Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma in New Delhi on February 4, efforts are on to take steps aimed at attracting the industry.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh wrote letters to the Prime Minister, the Union Finance Minister and the Union Commerce and Industry Minister last week, seeking a special package till 2020.

“I have directed Deputy Commissioners and General Managers (Industries) of all districts to identify land so that we can create a bank to be able to meet the land needs of the industry,” said Mukesh Agnihotri, Industries Minister, here today.

He said the new mantra would now be “Industry by Invitation”, along with holding an investors’ meet and talks with big corporate houses to invest in Himachal Pradesh.

He said the department had started work on preparing the New Industrial Policy 2014, with a thrust on taking the industry to inner parts.

“We are hopeful that the Centre will come to our rescue and give us special incentives, especially in view of the fact that the expiry of the industrial package on January 6 has adversely affected the pace of industrialisation and we are not able to reap the benefits which have only started coming now,” he said.

He said projects like a textile park at Amb in Una district, a spice farm at Nadaun in Hamirpur district and a corrugation unit could help generate jobs and take the industry uniformly all over the state.

Shimla, January 24
Industry and Labour Minister Mukesh Agnihotri today said over 1 lakh workers enrolled under the MNREGA would be registered with the Himachal Pradesh Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board to ensure their welfare.

He said the registration of workers would go a long in bringing several benefits to the people. “We propose to give them benefits like medical facilities and scholarships for children,” he said.

He said the board had over Rs 150 crore and the government was keen that this money was spent on the welfare of workers all over the state.

“We have issued notices to several industrial, power and construction projects in the government and private sectors to pay 1 per cent of the total project cost to the board as a rule,” he said.

Agnihotri said executing agencies of a large number of projects had faltered in depositing the amount.

He said this money would be used for the welfare of workers.

Solan, January 24
PK Dhumal, Leader of the Opposition and former Chief Minister, today said the Congress party should apologise for unsavoury remarks made by Sushil Kumar Shinde, Union Home Minister, who had alleged that the BJP and the RSS were promoting Hindu terrorism.

Addressing mediapersons here today, he said the Congress leadership should remove Shinde for making such irresponsible comments on the BJP.

Shinde had alleged that the BJP and the RSS were running training camps to promote Hindu terrorism.

Dhumal, who inaugurated a Shiv temple at Jatoli, near here, today said the Congress government had failed to restore power and water supply in various parts of the state even a week after snowfall. He said this reflected their lack of control over the administrative machinery.

Referring to the Congress government’s move to change the name of schemes launched during the BJP regime, Dhumal said a government which had nothing to do often indulged in such tactics and said it would set a wrong precedent. He said since there were several schemes named after Congress leaders and only a few after BJP leaders, they would also change the names of schemes when they come back to power.

SHIMLA: BJP activists today burnt Shinde’s effigy in protest against the controversial remarks he made about saffron terror and linking the BJP to it.

They also staged a demonstration outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office.

Addressing the gathering, Shimla legislator Suresh Bhardwaj regretted that the irresponsible statement of the Home Minister had placed India in the list of terrorist states.

He said such remarks by none other than the Home Minister had only emboldened terrorists to reiterate their demand of declaring India a terrorist country. “Rather than taking Pakistan to task for beheading and killing two Indian soldiers, he has chosen to rather call Hindus terrorists,” he remarked.

He urged the Prime Minister to remove Shinde from a sensitive and important department like Home.

HAMIRPUR: Activists of the BJP today held a protest demonstration and burnt Shinde’s effigy for his alleged outbursts against the RSS accusing it of harbouring Hindu terrorists.

As soon as BJP activists assembled at the Gandhi Chowk and put the effigy on fire, the police swung into action and tried to douse the flames by throwing water on it.

The activists also submitted a memorandum to the President of India through the DC, Hamirpur, and demanded the ouster of Shinde from the Central Cabinet.

Hamirpur, January 24
The police has pursuaded relatives of a woman found dead near Sujanpur on Wednesday night, to cremate her at her ancestral village against their demand to cremate her before her in-laws’ house.

The relatives, who were sitting on a dharna at Sujanpur police station last night, had also blocked the vehicular traffic on the Sujanpur-Hamirpur road today, were insisting on cremating the body before her in-laws’ house at Bagehda village. The deceased was cremated in Alampur late this evening after much persuasion by the police.

The body of Indu Kumari, who was missing since January 6 from her house, was recovered near Bhaleth in a ravine on Wednesday.

The police after registering a case under Section 306, IPC, had arrested Sanjeev Kumar (husband), Mona (sister-in-law) and Nirmal (mother-in-law) of the deceased.

Indu of Dhandiyara was married at Bagehda village some time back. Her parents had accused her husband and in-laws for her death and had been agitating after the recovery of her body.

ASP, Hamirpur, KG Kapoor said, “A case under Section 306, IPC, has been registered and her husband and two other relatives have been arrested.”

He said, “A team of forensic experts has been summoned to investigate the case further and we are collecting all details in the case.”

Shimla, January 24
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today said the Centre had agreed to enhance the grant assistance under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in the ratio of 90:10.

The Chief Minister was addressing a meeting of MLAs from the districts of Shimla, Solan, Sirmaur, Mandi, Chamba and Bilaspur to fix the priorities for the annual Plan 2013-14 here today. He said earlier under the NRHM the financial assistance was in the ratio of 75:25, but now the Centre would provide 90 per cent while the state would have to contribute only 10 per cent.

He informed that the Centre had changed the name of National Rural Health Mission to National Health Mission so that benefit could be provided to people residing in urban areas as well. “The government is committed for the speedy and balanced development of the state, irrespective of political considerations so that uniform development can take place,” he remarked.

He said efforts would be made for the industrial expansion in the state so that educated unemployed youth could get jobs. Most of the MLAs emphasised the need for the development of tourism and quality infrastructure in their areas. “The possibility to develop helipads in every tehsil of the state would be explored to provide more connectivity and easy accessibility to all areas,” he stated.

Virbhadra said the state government would review all those decisions of the previous regime where institutions and important offices had been closed down. He said the taxation process in the Shimla Municipal Corporation area would be rationalised so that urban people did not face any difficulty.

Ministers, including Vidya Stokes, Kaul Singh Thakur, Prakash Chaudhary and Rajesh Dharmani and Vinay Kumar, Chief Parliamentary Secretaries gave their valuable suggestions.

Solan, January 24
Reacting to the news report ‘Study detects presence of harmful chemicals in BBN area’ in these columns yesterday, the Secretary, Department of Environment, has demanded an explanation from the Member-Secretary of the State Pollution Control Board.

The Secretary, Department of Environment, Dr SS Negi said laxity would be tolerated as air pollution was a serious issue and the pollution board was supposed to maintain ambient air quality.

The Member-Secretary was given three days to submit his comments and action taken to check air pollution. The IIT in Kanpur was urged to undertake a study of air, water and soil in Solan district in February last.

Chamba, January 24
The Bharmour subdivision continues to be in the grip of a cold wave due to the heavy snowfall recently. Life has been hit, according to reports reaching here today.

Bharmour town was under 30 centimetres of snow while high-altitude villages had more snow.

Roads in the Nayagran belt could not be reopened despite the efforts of the authorities.

Transport services could not be resumed. Officials said work on restoring the Chamba-Holi-Nayagran highway was on and vehicular traffic would be resumed in a couple of days.

Shimla, January 24
Governor Urmila Singh and Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh have felicitated the people on the eve of Statehood Day.

Governor Urmila Singh wished peace and prosperity to the people. She hoped that the state would make rapid strides on the path of development and contribute to the progress and prosperity of the nation.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said the state had made rapid strides in various fields in the last four decades and had emerged as a role model for development.

Nurpur, January 24
The local Judicial Magistrate, First Class, yesterday sentenced three drivers in three separate accident cases to one year’s imprisonment and Rs 2,500 fine each.

ML Sharma, Assistant District Attorney, said Tata Sumo driver Sunil Kumar of Morru village in Amritsar district (Punjab) had hit scooterist Ramesh Kumar at Kandwal; jeep driver Pushpinder of Barnolli was overspeeding due to which the vehicle overturned and five persons were injured; and truck driver Avtar Singh of Khatal near Shahpur was driving so fast that the vehicle overturned and Jaswant Singh was killed. — OC

Chamba, January 24
One person was arrested on the charge of stealing construction material belonging to the government college which is under construction at Sultanpur in Chamba town, Superintendent of Police (SP) BM Sharma said here yesterday.

The SP said the theft took place on Monday night when accused Rinku carried the material in a pick-up vehicle, but was intercepted on the way.

A case had been registered at the Chamba Sadar police station on a complaint of Kuldeep, caretaker of the contractor, the Superintendent of Police said. — OC