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Annandale controversy over
A view of the Annandale in Shimla. Photo: Amit Kanwar
HPRTC owes govt over Rs 90 crore
Virbhadra for speedy redress of public grievances
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CPM hails decision
Anti-hail gun project to be dumped: Stokes
CM to take interest in solving oustees’ problems: Bambar
New LPG agency at or near
Tanda: Bali
GS Bali listens to grievances at Sarotri village in Nagrota Bagwan on Tuesday. Photo: Ashok Raina
Villagers on chain fast for bus service
Minimum bus fare up by Re 1
Seized nag chhatri stolen
2 held with 28 bags of tobacco products
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Annandale controversy over
Shimla, January 29 While the prime reason for allowing the Army to continue to use the ground is that it of paramount strategic importance from the security point of view, the government has also felt that the PK Dhumal regime initiated the move to take over its control with an ulterior motive. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, who was under pressure not to attend the
one-day international between India and England, gave a clear message that his government would not go soft on land-related issues which were part of its election agenda. Its charge sheet had five points pertaining to affairs of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA), headed by
Dhumal’s son Anurag Thakur, including the Annandale issue. “The ownership of the ground will remain with the state, but the Army will continue to use it for its strategic purposes as national security is the prime concern and above all considerations. Ostensibly the endeavour was to get the ground for developing a stadium, but there was more to it. Some people had purchased land around it and the real motive seemed obliging builders by opening the area for construction,” Virbhadra Singh said. “I opposed it while in the opposition and it also figured in the Congress charge sheet against the Dhumal government. During my previous term, I started work on a sports stadium at Katasni, near the airport, which was more suitable. National interest cannot be subservient to the requirement of sports infrastructure,” he said. Strategic importance apart, Annandale is an indispensable natural asset from the point of view of the environment. It served as the lungs of the ‘Queen of Hill’ and its scenic splendour was unparallelled. It deserved to be preserved as a natural heritage, which the Army was doing, he explained. The ground was on lease with the Army, but there was no renewal of lease since 1982 even though the state continued to accept the lease money till 2002. The issue reached a flash point after a campaign backed by the HPCA was launched for its transfer to the state for setting up a cricket stadium. The government ended up picking a confrontation with the Army authorities, after which legal proceedings were instituted in the court of the Divisional Commissioner. Environmentalists cried foul and the CPM started a counter-campaign to save Annandale from the land mafia. The Congress linked it with its ‘Himachal on sale’ campaign against the Dhumal government and alleged that the hidden agenda behind the move to set up the stadium was to promote the interests of realtors. The campaign paid rich dividends to the CPM, which captured the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor in the elections. |
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HPRTC owes govt over Rs 90 crore
Dharamsala, January 29 SRT is collected by the HPRTC while issuing tickets to passengers. The sources have said SRT is 6 per cent of passenger tariff on national highways, 5 per cent on state highways and about 4 per cent on other roads. In the last five years, the HPRTC kept collecting the amount from passengers, but did not deposit it with the government. After the new government took over, officials were surprised to find that the HPRTC did not even have the SRT amount and officials had spent it amount under various heads. The sources have said it is a serious financial lapse on the part of HPRTC finance officials and government tax officials. Ideally the SRT collected from passengers should have been deposited under a separate head and deposited with the state government periodically. Government tax officials should also have demanded the SRT collected from passengers. When contacted, GS Bali, Minister for Transport, Food and Civil Supplies and Technical Education, said the matter had been brought to his notice. He said it was a serious financial lapse that the tax collected had not been deposited with the state government. He said the government would identify the officers responsible for this fix responsibility. Referring to the recovery of the amount from the HPRTC, he said the organisation hardly had any amount in its coffers and a decision in this regard would be taken by the Cabinet. The sources have said the only way the government can save the HPRTC from this financial liability is to adjust the amount against its liabilities towards the organisation, but this will also require Cabinet clearance. The sources have said a proposal has been mooted that the government can adjust the outstanding amount against the recently announced government scheme of free travel for students. Asked how the government could recover the amount, Bali said transport officials were working out on a formula. He added that it was the result of mismanagement by HPRTC officials during the stint of the previous government. He said it remained to be seen where the HPRTC spent the SRT amount of about Rs 90 crore in the last five years. He said efforts would be made to make the HPRTC a financially viable organisation.
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Virbhadra for speedy redress of public grievances
Palampur, January 29 Talking to mediapersons in Baijnath yesterday, the Chief Minister said the government was committed to the welfare of the common man. He said the common man’s money and time could be saved if his problems were solved at the junior level. He regretted that the poor had to visit the Secretariat in Shimla to meet ministers for petty matters like demarcation of land, non-supply of revenue records, sanctioning of water connections and non-payment of compensation. “We have to curtail this practice. These are petty issues and should be redressed at the junior level,” he said. He asserted that officers must realise that the government had changed and they would have to change their style of functioning. He said he had told his Cabinet colleagues to personally and regularly review the redress of public grievances and tone up the government machinery to save the public from harassment. He said the public had given them the mandate and they should come up to their expectations. The Chief Minister said the Congress government was committed to good governance and solving the problems of the public would be the top priority. He said he had received complaints that the public had to wait for hours to meet officers at many offices. He asserted that this practice would not be tolerated and action would be taken against such officers. He said officers should not conduct meetings and functions during public visit hours. |
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CPM hails decision
Shimla, January 29 Member of the state secretariat of the party and Deputy Mayor Tikender Panwar, who led the counter campaign for protecting the ground from land mafia, said the government should not just stop at this, but thoroughly investigate the tentacles of the land mafia behind the move to take back the ground from the Army. The connection of the State Cricket Association, which spear-headed the campaign for the transfer of Annandale for setting up a stadium, and those who bought more than 30 bigha of land surrounding the ground should be thoroughly probed. He said some buyers could be proxy to the land sharks close to the erstwhile BJP government. An explanation was required on how a huge tract of land measuring more than 6 acre could be bought for a paltry Rs 30 lakh, against the actual price of several is in crores of rupees. There had to be an investigation to expose who all were responsible for the change of land use from forest to grassland to facilitate the sale and further construction in the area. The party had serious apprehensions that the move was part of the HPCA’s game plan to usurp the prime land in the state capital. The party called upon the government to ensure that all such deals throughout the state were comprehensively probed and the guilty be brought to book. He also urged the government to make some arrangement so that Annandale could be put to multiple use for people of the city and the ground was not be left to be in the hands of a few elite golfers only. |
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Anti-hail gun project to be dumped: Stokes
Shimla, January 29 “The new technology was introduced without trials and anti-hail guns installed in orchards straightaway. Feedback makes it evident that the experiment was a mega-failure and orchards right under the anti-hail gun were devastated by hailstorms,” said Vidya Stokes, Minister for Horticulture and Irrigation and Public Health. The three guns installed in Jubbal and Kotkhai at a cost of Rs 3.29 crore did not serve the purpose of protecting the apple crop and instead proved counter–productive as those triggered disturbance in the micro-weather, causing more losses to farmers. The time-tested anti-hail net technology was far more effective and the government would soon come out with a scheme to provide an attractive subsidy to farmers to promote its use on a large scale, she said. She asserted that she was an apple grower and had been using anti-hail nets for a long time. An anti-hail gun covered only between 80 and 100 hectare. To cover the entire apple belt, thousands of such guns would be required, which was not practical. She indicated that the Paralla agriculture market project was under the scanner and the site was a major problem. As it was at a much lower elevation, the climate was hot and not suitable for highly perishable fruit and vegetable crops. The government was constructing controlled atmosphere stores at higher elevation for the convenience of the growers. She said the project was being set up on land belonging to the Horticulture Department and a review of the decision would not have any implication. |
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CM to take interest in solving oustees’ problems: Bambar
Bilaspur, January 29 Talking to mediapersons at the Circuit House here today, Bambar Thakur said not only did he raise all problems at the planning meeting, but also gave the demands in writing to the Chief Minister after discussing those with him in detail. He said the
Chief Minister was aware of most of these problems and would provide relief
to oustees. Bambar Thakur said he had demanded that Bilaspur town not be bypassed in the laying of the four-laned expressway, the Beri-Dadolan bridge be linked to Khairiyan and the design of the Centre-proposed Gambhrola trestle bridge be changed to construct a barrage with a permanent lake. He said all three cement factories responsible for the bad condition of the National Highway 21 stretch from Barmana to Garamoda should be forced to bear the cost of regular repairs of and laying of
7-mm gravel on the road and the trauma centre should be provided full staff strength,
including specialists. The legislator said he had also sought the finalisation of the policy on rehabilitation of oustees, the regularisation of encroachment on government land and the reduction in price of government-supplied cement for oustees in
the district. |
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New LPG agency at or near
Tanda: Bali
Kangra, January 29 He said directions had been issued to all LPG agency holders in the state that a proper route chart with time and date be fixed and intimation be given to the respective areas well in advance before distributing LPG cylinder to consumers so that people were not inconvenienced by waiting for hours. He said technical education institutions would be strengthened with modern facilities and the government would start new job-oriented courses in tourism, hospitality and trade-specific work on the demands of private industries. He said the government would invite the private sector to set up ITIs in rural areas. Earlier he presided over the annual function of Pt Raghwanand Memorial Public School, Ustehar Radd, and gave away prizes to students who had excelled in academic, cultural and sports activities. He announced Rs 35,000 for the construction of toilets on the school premises and Rs 15,000 for the purchase of science equipment. |
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Villagers on chain fast for bus service
Mandi, January 29 Gathering under the banner of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the villagers charged that the HRTC had not started the bus service on the Thalot-Didar road even after seven months. “We have to travel on foot and cross the bridge on the Beas to catch a bus to Mandi,” they said. Meer Chand, coordinator, Bali Chowki, DYFI, said earlier also they had staged a protest, but to no avail. The former Transport Minister diverted buses to Dharampur without justification, the villagers alleged. |
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Minimum bus fare up by Re 1
Hamirpur, January 29 The enhancement of the minimum fare has been effected almost within a month after the formation of the new government in the state. The HRTC authorities have already issued orders to respective divisional managers. Though orders regarding the new minimum fare rate have already been implemented in many divisions, the authorities are maintaining a silence about the orders. In several HRTC divisions, conductors are already charging Rs 3 as a minimum fare in the buses. Onkar Sharma, Managing Director, HRTC, said, “I will enquire about the fare hike as I have joined the office yesterday”.
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Seized nag chhatri stolen
Kullu, January 29 Though the police has lodged an FIR under Sections 457 and 380, IPC, at Banjar police station on a complaint of guard Khushal Singh, the police remained clueless. The police had recovered 1.96 quintal of nag chhatri from the area and handed it over to the forest guard on January 8. But the forest guard claimed that he was on beat duty and somebody broke into the house and stole the herb. However, the guard claimed that the police had handed over the nag chatri to him 21 days back, but lodged the complaint today. |
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2 held with 28 bags of tobacco products
Bilaspur, January 29 SP Anupam Sharma said a case had been registered under the NDPS Act and driver Harphool Singh of Kiratpur Sahib and his accomplice in the truck Balak Ram of Behal village, Bilaspur district, have been arrested.
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Shimla, January 29
Kangra, January 29
