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Death toll 14 in Kinnaur
Call to rescue Kangra pilgrims from Kedarnath
Sonia Gandhi, Shinde call up CM
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Campaign hots up in Mandi
For graft, Shanta blames those who left BJP
HLP to contest all 4 seats in LS poll: Dullo Ram
Electioneering in full swing in Bharmour
Defiant Cong gives nod to 12 builders: BJP
BRO asked to speed up road repair in Kinnaur
Project shutdown raises power rates
Volunteers updated on blood donation cause
Students urged to discover righteous path
Manali taxi union calls off strike
Taxi operators' plea to modify directions dismissed
Minor’s rape: 2 women held
Student found hanging in house
Suri is Nurpur Beopar Mandal chief
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Death toll 14 in Kinnaur
Shimla, June 19 An Army jawan, two labourers and a local resident died in landslides, a report from Pooh said. Another report said 80 sheep perished in Ropa and a large number apple orchards had been washed away. About 35 persons were stranded in the area and arrangements were being made to airlift them. Only three sorties were made today as two IAF helicopter could not be refuelled due to delay in the arrival of fuel tankers. A state helicopter made three sorties to Sangla and Reckong Peo while the IAF chopper could make only one. Hundreds of tourists at Sangla, Pooh and Reckong Peo waited in vain at the helipads the entire day. Most of them were running out of money as the ATMs were not working. Those who came in their own vehicles were a worried lot as it may take up to 10 days to repair the roads. Chief Secretary S Roy said relief and rescue operations were being carried out on a war-footing and in all 278 people had been airlifted since yesterday. About 400 to 500 people were still stranded in different parts of Kinnaur. Roy directed that the schedule of the sorties should be strictly followed on the basis of registration and those ill, weak, elderly, students and children should be given preference. He also directed the IOC authorities and other agencies to ensure adequate stock of aviation fuel and also maintain the supply of kerosene and diesel and LPG refills in Kinnaur. Roy asked the PWD authorities to speed up work for opening link roads. Three HAS officers have been deputed to the affected areas of the district to assist in relief, rescue and rehabilitation efforts. Besides, Rs 10 crore has been released by the government for carrying out immediate relief operations and assistance to the people. |
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Call to rescue Kangra pilgrims from Kedarnath
Dharamsala, June 19 Shiv Kanta of Dharamsala, who is stranded in Kedarnath, contacted her family members last night and narrated her woes. Her family members said she, along with 26 other pilgrims, a majority of them from Dharamsala, had gone to Kedarnath. The bus carrying pilgrims was stranded on Saturday in a flashflood, 1 km from Vashishth village on the Kedarnath road. The victim said the hotel in which they were staying was washed away in a flashflood. The pilgrims had to spend the night in their bus. After failing to get any aid, the pilgrims took shelter in a school 7 km from where their bus was parked. They left behind their belongings in the bus. They said in the school also, there was no arrangement for food and water. The stranded pilgrims managed on their own with the help of locals. They also alleged that shopkeepers in the area were making profit by overcharging for food and water. Since the weather remained bad, the pilgrims had no option but to stay in the school building, they added. Yesterday, when the weather was clear, the 26 pilgrims trekked the broken roads for about 25 km and reached an inter-college from where a helicopter service was earlier provided for Kedarnath. Here also the situation was bad, they said. Insufficient arrangements were made by the government for providing food and water to the swelling numbers of stranded pilgrims. Relatives of the 26 stranded pilgrims today met Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, Paul Rasu and requested that the state government come to their help. Some of the relatives alleged that they had also tried to contact local MLA and Minister for Housing and Urban Development Sudhir Sharma. However, his phone was switched off. |
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Sonia Gandhi, Shinde call up CM
Shimla, June 19 She also enquired after the well-being of the Chief Minister, who was himself stranded for 60 hours
in Sangla, after being airlifted to Mandi for election campaigning. She promised all help to the state in the hour of crisis and assured him that the Government of India would extend full support for the rescue, relief and rehabilitation efforts of the state government. Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde also had a telephonic conversation with the Chief Minister during which he assured him of all necessary help. He also got updates of the latest situation and the rescue and relief efforts. The Chief Minister requested him to provide adequate Central assistance. |
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Campaign hots up in Mandi
Mandi/Gara Gushaini, June 19 Virbhadra Singh said the Mandi byelection would decide the course and direction of the Lok Sabha poll in the country. The Congress would devote the rest of its term on development, he added and urged workers to take the issues to the voters and urged them to vote to strengthen democracy. He said the BJP was a wrecked ship and directionless and the NDA
had disintegrated. Dhumal trained his guns on Virbhadra Singh and the rampant corruption in the UPA regime and attributed the development of Seraj to Jai Ram Thakur who won it for the fourth time. Dhumal said Virbhadra was indulging in mud-slinging. The government had failed to deliver the goods for the last six months. Jai Ram Thakur said the Congress discriminated against Seraj as he had been winning it for the last four tenures. But when the BJP formed the government, Seraj would see development. |
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For graft, Shanta blames those who left BJP
Addressing a press conference here today, Shanta Kumar said it still pained him that senior BJP men had left the party. They were those who had laid the foundation of the party and some of them had spent time with him in jails during the Emergency, he added. "The mistakes lie on both sides - those who leave the party and those who are responsible for their ouster," he said while responding to media queries. He was here in support of BJP candidate Jai Ram Thakur for the Mandi bypoll. When quizzed on a poser sent to him by Himachal Lokhit Party chief Maheshwar Singh to clear his stand on corruption, Shanta admitted that no party was immune to corruption, but it was no reason that he should leave the party. He further alleged that the Congress-led UPA government's Food Security Bill was targeted for winning the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. "The UPA should call a special session of Parliament if it is serious on the issue. It is not the BJP which stalled the proceedings, but the Congress which unnecessary dragged the issue," he claimed. Shanta Kumar said the NDA was an alternative to the UPA government, not the third front. The JD(U) split from the NDA would not hit the alliance after poll as it would help increase its own tally and benefit the
NDA, he claimed. BJP tried to divide state, says CM
Kullu: The campaigning for the Mandi byelection has intensified with Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and senior BJP leader Shanta Kumar and Himachal Lokhit Party (HLP) president Maheshwar Singh
addressing meetings in Mandi and Kullu. Addressing rallies at Nagwani and Paddar in Darang yesterday in support of Pratibha Singh, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said the BJP was a party with a negative mindset and which always tried to divide Himachal on the basis of lower/upper, old and
new Himachal. On the other hand, addressing public and press meetings in Kullu in support of BJP candidate Jai Ram Thakur, senior BJP leader Shanta Kumar targeted the UPA regime at the Centre for corruption. The UPA government had broken all records in corruption, while the price rise had broken the backbone of the common man, he said. HLP president Maheshwar Singh told a press conference in Kullu that Shanta Kumar should make his stand clear on corruption as two ministers of the Dhumal government, who allegedly faced corruption charges, were made the in charge of the Mandi parliamentary election by the BJP. |
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HLP to contest all 4 seats in LS poll: Dullo Ram
Addressing a press conference in Dharamsala today, Dullo Ram said the party had not contested the Mandi byelection as it was busy strengthening its organisation for the elections. Responding to a query, he said the HLP was opposing the BJP in the byelection, but was not supporting
the Congress. He said the party was recruiting members at the block level so that it could pose a challenge to the Congress and the BJP in the parliamentary elections. He alleged that leaders of both parties in Kangra district had reduced themselves to the level of a gatekeeper for the respective Chief Ministers. They had sacrificed the interests of the district for their personal interests. Despite being the biggest district of the state that gives representation of 15 MLAs in the 68-member Assembly, Kangra had been at the receiving end in terms of development, Dullo Ram said. He said the leaders talked about corruption while in opposition. They, however, did not act against it once they came to power. The slogans against corruption were used to befool people, he said. Dullo Ram, a former
BJP MLA, had joined the HLP during the last Assembly elections. |
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Electioneering in full swing in Bharmour
Bharmour, June 19 Congress stalwart and former MP Chander Kumar, Forest Minister Thakur Singh Bharmouri and HRTC Vice-Chairman Kewal Singh Pathania, accompanied by zila parishad member Raj Singh Thakur, have taken up intensive campaigning for their party candidate Pratibha Singh. They are concentrating on rural areas, including Pangi tribal valley, and addressing public meetings and preaching about their promising election manifesto. BJP candidate Jai Ram Thakur and former BJP minister Kishen Kapoor are holding padayatras in thickly-populated villages of Bharmour. Local BJP leader Jia Lal, along with his supporters, is also appealing to electors to vote for his party candidate Jai Ram Thakur. |
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Defiant Cong gives nod to 12 builders: BJP
Addressing a press conference here, state BJP spokesperson Ganesh Dutt said the Congress government should have honoured the decision of the previous government. "Despite the recommendation of the Select Committee of the Vidhan Sabha not to issue any new licence to builder, nine persons from outside the state have been given approval," he alleged. He also sought an explanation from the Congress on the latest land scam in Sirmaur district involving a close relative of a former Congress minister. He said the Congress was misleading the people on the issue of permission granted to outsiders for the purchase of land under Section 118 of the Tenancy and Land Reform Act. "During the Congress regime, permission is granted in 2,398 cases (1,870 bighas) to outsiders to purchase land in the state while the BJP approved only 1,649 cases (1,490 bighas)," he said. Dutt also urged the government to seek the help of the Army in case it is unable to provide relief to the victims in Kinnaur, where the rains had wrought havoc and caused massive devastation. |
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BRO asked to speed up road repair in Kinnaur
Manali/Karcham, June 19 A stretch at Skiba village near the Akpa bridge and an approach road to the Kharo bridge have been washed away. A 40-m stretch at the Pagal Nallah avalanche point, 2 km short of Tapri, has also been damaged by the Sutlej. It is expected that Rampur and Reckong Peo will be linked through Powari in two days, said BRO engineers. The BRO has 25 establishments on the highway, but a bull dozer and two compressors were buried under landslide at Laldang. Even Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, who is camping in Mandi due to the forthcoming bypoll, directed Chief Secretary Sudripta Roy to speed up the repair of the highway and links roads. He said losses to the apple crop and orchards by snow in many areas were being assessed. But the prime concern was to restore road connectivity, electricity and drinking water in rain and snow-hit areas. VK Singh, BRO Commander of the Hindustan-Tibet highway, said they would restore the road connectivity between Rampur and Powari this evening. But it would take 20 days to restore traffic on the national highway between Khab and Wangtoo as it had suffered major damage due to flash floods in nullahs. Residents said the BRO had not laid culverts properly on the nullahs which were prone to flashfloods. There was no proper drainage, and rain water got accumulated resulting in washing away of roads, they pointed out. |
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Project shutdown raises power rates
Shimla, June 19 The rains have also caused extensive damage to the underconstruction 195 MW Kashang project in Kinnaur, the first stage of which is likely to be delayed by about six months. The availability of power in the northern grid plummeted as the country’s largest 1,500-MW Nathpa Jhakri project and the largest private sector 1,000-MW Karcham Wangtu project failed to resume generation for the third consecutive day today due to the high level of silt in the Sutlej. A number of projects in Uttarakhand, including the 280-MW Dhauliganga project and the 394-MW Maneri Bhali project, have also been rendered unoperational. Until last week, the availability of power at the Indian Energy Exchange was 6,800 MW and the actual volumes of sale were around 4,400 MW. With the closure of major projects, the availability has declined to 3,200 MW and the volumes of sale matched it for the first time in the season. Due to the reduced availability of power, its rate shot up from Rs 1.87 per unit to Rs 2.25 per unit today. The increase could have been more had the monsoon not arrived early which reduced the demand by almost 30 per cent. The level of silt in the Sutlej was 13,000 ppm (parts per million) which was very high compared to the permissible limit of 4,000 ppm for the Nathpa Jhakri project. Sanjeev Sud, General Manager of the project, said the discharge in the river had come down to 700 cumecs and the water level would go up in the dam once the level of silt declined. This is the third shutdown during the current summer. The project has remained closed for five days. The project is losing a revenue of about Rs 9 crore every day. The Union Ministry of Power has allowed an 11-day closure in a year to cope with the high silt levels. The Kachang Stage-I being executed by the State Power Corporation has been damaged extensively with stretches of the approach road to the intake site and quality control laboratory of the project washed away. rain fallout
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Choice-Based Credit System
Shimla, June 19 Addressing a joint press conference here today, Vice-Chancellor of HPU ADN Bajpai and Director, Higher Education, Dinkar Buratokhi admitted that despite some shortcomings, the CBCS would bring about qualitative change in education and facilitate the admission of Indian students abroad on the basis of the credits
they earned. He said under the new system, a choice of 40 subjects would be available with a minimum of 180 teaching days. Burathoki, while admitting that the faculty position in some subjects like philosophy and psychology would have to be increased, said the shortcoming would be taken care of. "The students will have a varied choice of subjects and with higher education getting globalised, the new CBCS will open the world for them," said Burathoki. The system was being strengthened so that the results were declared within one week to 14-day time. "Two consultants from Information Technology have been deputed in the HPU to ensure that the credits that the students earn are directly put online,"
said Burathoki. Professor Bajpai said 50 per cent of the evaluation would be external under the new system with there being a provision of teacher's evaluation. With today being the last day for seeking admission, the process of counselling will begin tomorrow in all colleges. The new session in colleges will begin from July 2 this year even as there are apprehensions in the minds of people about the new system.
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Volunteers updated on blood donation cause
Palampur, June 19 Addressing donors and officials of the Health Department, Dr RK Sood, District AIDS Control Officer, and Dr Dhruv Rana, SMO, Baijanth, said there was no substitute for blood. Both the doctors told the volunteers that a healthy person between 18 years to 60 years and having a body weight above 45 kg could donate blood once in three months and the blood volume returned to the normal level within 48 hours. In one donation only a maximum of 350 ml blood was collected, they added. Both the medical experts disclosed that in developed countries most blood donors were unpaid volunteers, but in poorer countries like India the established supplies of blood were limited and people usually donated blood when family or friends needed transfusion. There has been a 25 per cent increase in blood donations globally, but there is still a serious lack of timely access to blood for millions of patients not only in India, but around the world.
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Students urged to discover righteous path
Solan, June 19 Addressing students, staff and parents at the Lawrence School, Sanawar, during their annual prize distribution function, he urged the students to share their knowledge with the have-nots and work together to spread education in every home of the nation. He told the students to introspect and discover the righteous path. Praveen Vasish, Headmaster, welcomed the chief guest and lauded the efforts of students in excelling in the board examinations. Among those who received the award were The Henry Lawrence Prize (for Head Boy) Fatehbir Singh Dhaliwal, The Honoria Lawrence Prize (for Head Girl) Mannat Tipnis, Special Prize for Best Prefect (Boy) Anubhav Khanna, Special Prize for Best Prefect (Girl) Rhea Sharma and Yog Raj Palta Memorial Trophy (Art) Hassan
Chishti.
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Manali taxi union calls off strike
Manali, June 19 He further said Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had assured them that the issue of local taxi operators would be resolved at the government level. He said taking the assurance into consideration, the taxi operators had decided not to intensify the stir. |
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Taxi operators' plea to modify directions dismissed
Shimla, June 19 The court observed that “the direction has been issued on the basis of recommendations made by the National Environment Engineering Research Institute (NEERI).” It further observed that “we cannot be oblivious to the larger public interest and, in particular, to the sensitive environment situation in the Rohtang area as found by NEERI and concede to the individual difficulties to be faced by the taxi operators. NEERI in its report has already highlighted the seriousness of the situation in the high-altitude Rohtang.” The court passed this order two days ago on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed in this regard. The Bench, comprising Chief Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice RB Misra, further asked the Secretaries of the Transport, Tourism and Home Departments to explain what steps they had taken to comply with the directions regarding lowering the age of vehicles and allowing commercial vehicles only with less than four years of age to be plied between Kothi to Rohtang. It directed the authorities to file their personal affidavits explaining this position. |
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Minor’s rape: 2 women held
Bilaspur, June 19 Reports said the other two arrested youths were Shubham, alias Bilal, and Pravesh Gupta, alias Chanki, of the same area. The kidnapped girl had given all information to the police regarding her ordeal in their custody for several days. The police had earlier recovered the girl from a house in Chandigarh at the instance of the arrested main accused Karan Varma. The girl had disappeared from her house on June 2 when no one else except her younger brother were at home. A woman had come to her house and asked the girl to
accompany her to a nearby bank to help her. |
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Student found hanging in house
Bilaspur, June 19 Reports said Anil took this step when he was alone in the house. Family members and villagers broke open the door and found him dead. Anil had taken admission at a coaching centre in Chandigarh for competing in a medical test and had returned home earlier in the day. The police has registered a case and got the postmortem done before handing over body to the family. The cause of the tragedy is not known.
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Suri is Nurpur Beopar Mandal chief
Suri said he would safeguard the interests of shopkeepers and traders of the town and expand his working committee in the near future. Suri is also chairman of the Nurpur City Club and a former municipal councillor of the town.
— OC
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Mandi, June 19
Dharamsala, June 19
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