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Heavy rain hits normalcy in Palampur region
No end in sight to landslide problem on national highways
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Swan river canalisation hanging fire for 2
years
The Swan river in spate on the Punjab-Himachal border. A Tribune photgraph
HPMC all set to handle bumper apple harvest
Ponies carry apple boxes to the vegetable market in Shimla on Sunday. Photo: Amit Kanwar
Geo park at Kasauli caught in red tape
Police suspects big Army recruitment racket in state
Apple growers resent arbitrary labour charges
Super-specialty services at Tanda college from Sept: Bali
Polyhouse scheme fails to serve purpose
A polyhouse at Bagli village near Dharamsala. Photo: Kamaljeet
Setting up of multi-fruit processing plant on the cards
Swiss adventurer dies of heart strokes at Keylong
Power engineers demand pay scales on Punjab pattern
Palampur authorities fail to check encroachments
Sheds built by the Municipal Council for vegetable and fruit vendors being used as garages and cowsheds by residents in Palampur. Photo by writer
Alertness, hard work required to win Mandi seat: Jai Ram
Jai Ram Thakur, BJP MLA, addresses members of the executive committee in Sundernagar on Sunday.
Rs 100 crore for unemployment allowance released
Organisation to adopt 2 U’khand villages
Van mahotsava celebrated
Forest Minister Thakur Singh Bharmouri inaugurates a van mahotsava near Dunali
HPSSSB mulls online application system
Pratibha seeks Rs 68 crore for channelisation of nullahs
Manimahesh pilgrimage to begin on August 28
The Manimahesh Lake with the Kailash Mount in the backdrop.
PCC chief issues legal notice to BJP leaders
CPI to start awakening campaign from Aug 5 BJP's Kangra dist SC morcha formed Monkey attacks woman
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Heavy rain hits normalcy in Palampur region
Palampur, July 21 A senior engineer of the Northern Railway said on phone that retaining walls of the rail track at many points had developed cracks. It could take time to repair these and restore the train services to the Kangra valley. He said because of heavy rain, loose soil had come on the track, making it difficult for them to remove it. However, train services between the Pathankot and Kopalahar railway station had been restored today, he added. At Deol village of Baijnath subdivision, heavy landslides had posed a serious threat to over 10 residential houses. Reports here said following a blockade of a culvert, flood water entered the village and damaged houses. Most of the residents of this village had to spend a night in the open in heavy rain. The Baijnath SDM visited the village this morning and reviewed the situation. He said necessary assistance from the government would be provided to the affected villagers. In another incident, in the absence of proper drainage on the Pathankot-Mandi national highway, rainwater entered several shops and houses in Paprola town. The Beopar Mandal blamed the NH authorities for their failure to maintain the highway. Reports said Devgarh village of the adjoining Mandi district also suffered extensive damage because of a cloudburst last night. Over 20 families of the village spent the whole night on a hilltop to save themselves from the flooded rivulet passing through the village. A bridge on the Bazgar Khud near Chauntra was also damaged by a flashflood. Besides, two small culverts at Devgarh village were also washed away. |
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No end in sight to landslide problem on national highways
Mandi/Manali, July 21 These include the 60-m-long area at Hara Bagh and the Khani Khad near Guma on the Mandi-Jogindernagar-Pathankot national highway, which is under the PWD. Another stretch is 60-m-long Rani Nallah stretch on the strategic 473-km Manali-Leh highway, which is maintained by the BRO. The PWD and the BRO have failed to find a permanent solution to these trouble spots even after four to seven years. Hundreds of commuters, including tourists, remain stranded there for hours daily during the rains. The Harabagh stretch needs culverts and drains to divert the flow of the water from the loose hillside. The proposal to build bridge across the Khani nullah and Guma is yet to see the light of day as the debris continues to block these spots during rains, said an engineer. The landslide at Duoda has reduced the highway to a single lane. The same is the case with the Sambal nullah near the Pandoh and Khotinala stretch near the Hanogi temple and trouble spots between Bhuntar and Shadabai. Similarly, tourists, farmers carrying peas and potatoes from Lahaul, Army personnel, oil tankers and other commuters remain stranded on both sides of the 60-m-long Rani Nullah stretch between Marhi and the 13,050-ft-high Rohtang Pass, the main spot in the Kullu-Manali tourist circuit. Because of the water discharge from hill side, the 6,000-sq-m area uphill from Rani Nullah has become prone to landslides. The BRO deployed its machineries there every year, but it is yet to stabilise the point and restore it for two-way traffic, rued hoteliers in Keylong. Engineers with the BRO blamed the constant flow of traffic that keeps the force busy in clearing the traffic rather than allowing it to work there daily. The PWD (NH wing), which maintains the national highways, has put crash barriers, sign boards and white lines on the 75 accident-prone black spots between the Ghara Morha barrier and Manali. The police has installed CCTV cameras at the key locations to keep a watch on the offenders on the highway. Another accident-prone stretch between Sundernagar and Ner Chowk remains a grey area. Many auto repair shops have encroached upon the pavements of the highway, posing hazards to the travellers. Executive Engineer, NH-21, Sunil Kapur, said the bridge was being built across Sambal Nullah and tree saplings were being planted to stabilise the Duod slope. The two bridges at Khotinala and Sarabai stretch were being widened, he added. Problems galore
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Swan river canalisation hanging fire for 2
years
Dharamsala, July 21 Yesterday the Swan river flooded many villages on the border of Punjab and Himachal. The threat to these villages due to the flash flood has increased since the entire length of the river in Himachal and a few kilometres along the Punjab border has been canalised. This has saved the entire area of Una district of Himachal from flash floods during the monsoon. However, water that rises up to 1 lakh cusecs in the Swan river during the monsoon has now spreads in the areas where it has not been canalised. The plan of the state Irrigation Department to extend the Swan canalisation to its Punjab border under phase III of the project has got delayed, much to the disappointment of the affected farmers. Sources said the project had been delayed due to the failure of the Punjab government to submit the detailed project report for the canalisation of the Swan on its side to the the Central Water Commission (CWC). The Himachal government wanted to carry out canalisation of the river till the border of the state. For this, it submitted a project to the CWC. Under the project, the state Irrigation Department had proposed to raise 2.5 km stone wall on one side and 4 km on the other side of the Swan till the borders of the state. However, the CWC has held up the project due to objections from Punjab. The Punjab government had been claiming that due to canalisation of the Swan in the Himachal area, the entire water of the river during the monsoon spread in the Punjab areas, causing extensive losses to farmers in Anandpur Sahib and Nangal tehsils. The CWC had then asked the Punjab government to submit a project for canalisation of its side of the Swan. The CWC was of the view that the canalisation of the entire tail end portion of the Swan falling in Punjab and Himachal should be taken up simultaneously to avoid a dispute between the states. An official said the CWC had given August 30, 2012, as the deadline to the Punjab government to submit a detailed project report for the canalisation of the Swan on its side. “We had provided all details to the Punjab Irrigation Department in this regard. However, till date the Irrigation Department has not submitted its project report to the CWC. The delay on the part of Punjab was also delaying their project,” they said. Sources here said the Punjab government was also planning to submit a project report for the canalisation of the Sutlej along with the Swan. This was delaying their project report. The Swan is the biggest perennial river of Una district and is a tributary of the Sutlej. It enters the Sutlej in Anandpur Sahib subdivision of Punjab. Before it was canalized, it was also called the Sorrow of Una district, as it used to receive heavy flashfloods during the monsoon that affected large tracts of fertile land.
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HPMC all set to handle bumper apple harvest
Shimla, July 21 The production has been estimated at 3.5 crore to 4 crore standard boxes, almost double as compared to the last year’s output of 2.06 crore boxes. The corporation has an installed capacity to process 22,500 tonne of fruit to produce over 2,000 tonne of apple juice concentrate (AJC), but it has not been able to utilise more that 30 to 40 per cent of it, except on one or two occasions when it touched 50 per cent. Last year, it processed only about 4,600 tonne of fruit to produce 418 tonne of the AJC. The capacity utilisation has been on the lower side as the apple season lasts barely three months. The corporation has the capacity to process 12 trucks, about 130 to 140 tonne of apples a day. “We have decided to stock fruit in cold stores and also in the high-altitude areas to help prolong the processing period. The corporation has cold stores at Paltlikuhl, Oddi, Jabli and Rohru and Controlled Atmosphere Stores (CAS) at Gumma and Jarol Tikker. If required, cold stores will be hired in the neighbouring states to help regulate the flow of fruit to the market during the peak season and ensure that maximum possible low-quality fruit is processed,” said JC Sharma, Managing Director of the corporation. He said effort would be to prevent poor quality apple from reaching the market as it affected the prices of the good quality fruit and hurt the growers' interests, defeating the very purpose of the MIS. The objective of the scheme was to procure the low-quality fruit during the peak season and prevent it from reaching the market by preventing its processing. The processing of enhanced quantity of fruit to produce over 1,500 tonne of the AJC would not only help regulate the market, but also increase the income from the AJC to over Rs 22 crore. The juice concentrate was being sold to food companies at a rate ranging from Rs 150 to Rs 160 per kg. With more AJC for sale, the corporation would improve direct sales by involving private distributors and ensure better sales from its 300 dispenser outlets across the country. It has also outsourced its four upgraded packaging and grading units at Gumma, Jarol Tikker, Patlikuhl and Oddi to improve efficiency and provide better services to the growers. It will not only increase the income of the corporation from these facilities, but also bring higher returns to growers on account of value addition by way automated washing, grading, waxing and packaging of fruit. The Developments
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Geo park at Kasauli caught in red tape
Solan, July 21 Though the Tourism Department, which was executing the project, was keen to begin its construction soon, the project was initially delayed as the Cantonment Board, which accords permissions for all the constructions at Kasauli Cantonment, refused to grant it a no-objection certificate (NOC). Despite repeatedly taking up the issue with cantonment officials, the Tourism Department failed to get an NOC for more than a year. The matter was then referred to civil-military annual meeting convened between the state government and defence officials where the issue was finally resolved a few months ago. Following this, the cantonment officials have now told the Tourism Department that they will grant approval to building maps whenever these are submitted and this will facilitate the execution of the work. District Tourism Development Officer Rajesh Maria said the building plans had been prepared and they would soon be submitted to the Cantonment Board, Kasauli, for approval. He said the work had already been awarded to a contractor and it was supposed to be completed within a year. The project, once completed, would draw tourists to Kasauli, especially those interested in pursuing research in fossils. The establishment of the Geo Park will make Himachal the first state in the country where study material of historical importance in geology will be made available for study and research. The idea to establish the park was mooted by the Tourism Department following the discovery of rare paleontological (fossil) wealth. Such fossils are not found anywhere else in the world. Apart from the Geo Heritage Museum, tourist reception centre, a five-star hotel and a parking at the Ros Common Tourist Complex will also be established to attract tourists. According to the concept finalised by the officials, it was decided that the museum would be based on the National Museum of Natural History, Washington, US, and give a peep into the rich paleontological (fossil) wealth of Solan district. A well-preserved and diverse assemblage of flora and fauna excavated in and around Kasauli would also be displayed at the museum. |
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Police suspects big Army recruitment racket in state
Mandi/Kullu, July 21 171 of the IPC after he duped Jeet Ram, who works at a tea shop at Kullu, with Rs 50,000 on the pretext of recruiting him in the Army. The fake Captain Rajput has turned out to a history cheater from Una who is wanted in two different cheating cases registered against him at Dehra. But the police had smelt a bigger Army recruitment racket, revealed police sources. In its bid to take credit for the arrest of the fake Captain, certain police officials in Mandi leaked out the information without raiding his houses and seizing documents before announcing his arrest, revealed insiders. “Patial (24) is not mature enough and is being operated by some bigger fish involved in the business of making money by alluring victims like Jeet Ram,” said sources. A similar racket had come to light in 2000-01 in Mandi which was later handed over to the CBI. The modus operandi of the fake Captain was simple. He approached Jeet Kumar in uniform on July 15 and convinced him to deposit Rs 40,000 for a job in the Army. Jeet followed his advice and deposited Rs 40,000 in Patial’s bank account, followed by Rs 10,000. But Jeet smelt a rat when the accused asked him for Rs 15,000 more. He informed the Kullu police about the matter. Patial had told him that it took Rs 2.5 lakh to get entry into the Army as a cook or a clerk, the police investigation found. The Army recruitment officials, in their annual advisory, said there was no agency other than the India Army that launched recruitment drives. The public should not fall into such traps, they said. Kullu SP VK Dhawan said the fake Captain was in a five-day police remand and investigations were on.
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Apple growers resent arbitrary labour charges
Shimla, July 21 The issue has been raised by the Himalayan Apple Growers Society which met at Hatkoti in Jubbal on Thursday, to discuss the problems being faced by growers. Rajeev Chauhan, Chairman of the society, said the commission agents were charging Rs 8 to Rs 20 per box as the labour cost and other charges. These charges were to be paid by the buyer and not the sellers. However, these charges were being deducted by the commission agents, while making payment to the growers. The society also expressed concern over the speculative figures of expected apple production by functionaries of various government agencies being given to the media which made growers vulnerable to exploitation by suppliers of packaging material and transporters. Chauhan said the reports of a bumper crop had led to a increase in the prices of apple cartons ranging from Rs 5 to Rs 11 per carton depending on the quality. Similarly, the rate of apple trays used for separating layers of fruit had increased by 50 to 60 paise per tray. The overall cost of packaging had gone up by 20 to 23 per cent. The society thanked Horticulture Minister Vidya Stokes for ensuring discontinuation of practice of paying 20 per cent less for small size fruit and taking up the issue of duty-free apple being imported into the country under SAFTA (South Asian Free Trade Agreement). A deputation of the society would meet Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and apprise him of the problems being faced by the apple growers due to misuse of the SAFTA by traders who were exporting produce of non-SAFTA countries. The society comprising growers of Himachal and Uttarakhand also elected its office-bearers. Rajeev Chauhan was elected Chairman, Vikram Maira vice-chairman, Balwant Justa president, Ranvir Jhouta vice-president, Ram Lal Chauhan general secretary, Hardev Thakur treasurer and Rajesh Dhanta spokesperson of the society.
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Super-specialty services at Tanda college from Sept: Bali
Kangra, July 21 This was stated by Minister for Transport, Food and Civil Supplies and Technical Education GS Bali at a meeting of officers at the rest house at Nagrota Bagwan today. He said the UPA government had sanctioned Rs150 crore for the super-speciality wing of the DRPGMC, Tanda, and work on the project was nearing completion. He said six super-specialty departments which included Departments of Radio Oncology, Cardiology, Cardio Vascular Thoraxic surgery, Nephrology, Gastroenterology and Neuro Surgery would become functional. He said Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad had laid the foundation stone of this super-speciality wing on November 24, 2010. Bali said more than 15,000 residents of 10 panchayats of the changer belt of Nagrota Bagwan Assembly segment would get benefits by a water supply scheme for which Rs 4.5 crore were sanctioned by the government. He said those areas of Nagrota Bagwan Assembly segment facing drinking water scarcity were provided with 60 hand pumps. The Food and Civil Supplies Minister said the Food Security Ordinance would be implemented in this hill state on August 20 this year coinciding with the birthday of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. He said with the implementation of Food Security Programme in this state, Himachal Pradesh would figure among selected states in the country which would implement this programme urgently. The Transport Minister said 500 new buses would be purchased for the HRTC and the process for the purchase had already started. He said on July 26, Bal Mela would be organised at Nagrota Bagwan where people would be treated by a team of specialists from Fortis, PGI, Chandigarh, AIIMS, Delhi, and DMC, Ludhiana, during a free medical camp. On the occasion, Congress general secretary Kangra district Manoj Mehta, BCCI Nagrota Bagwan general secretary Maan Singh Choudary and other departmental officers were present.
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Polyhouse scheme fails to serve purpose
Dharamsala, July 21 The local vegetable produce intended through polyhouses was either not been generated or not reaching the local market, thus both ways defeating the purpose of the scheme. The scheme launched under the name Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Kisan Bagwan Samridhi Yojna was aimed at ushering vegetable revolution in the state. The farmers were provided 80 to 90 per cent subsidy under the scheme. Due to high subsidies, many farmers opted for the scheme. Sources in the Agriculture Department said about 9,500 polyhouses were sanctioned under the scheme in the state. Though the scheme was good, the lack of follow-up action had led to its failure at many places. The farmers who had brought up polyhouses are alleging that they were not provided training for specialised jobs like growing vegetables under these houses. They do not have knowledge regarding the seeds and pesticides that have to be used in growing vegetables in polyhouses. One of the farmers said initially, they had successfully grown vegetables in these polyhouses. However, the absence of proper market and transportation facility had led to the failure of the scheme. The sources said though the state marketing board had huge funds, these were not being used to establish market infrastructure in the state. Experts at Palampur Agriculture University had also opined that single-door polyhouses brought up in the state were prone to growth of pests and double-door polyhouses could prevent infestation of pests. The state government has also increased the subsidy on polyhouses for horticulture from 50 per cent to 80 per cent. However, the scheme cannot achieve the desired targets in the absence of a marketing network and training to farmers. |
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Setting up of multi-fruit processing plant on the cards
Shimla, July 21 Kuldeep Rathore, Director of the Agriculture and Processed Fruit Products Export Development Authority
(APEDA) and a member of the AICC, said so far the state had only been seeking funds for the HPMC for various projects for the creation of post-harvest infrastructure for apple. He said, “The APEDA has provided funds to growers’ cooperative units for arranging various facilities. Efforts will be made to translate the vision of national vice-president of the Congress Rahul Gandhi, who wants Himachal to come up as a horticulture hub of the country. We have asked the state government to prepare a document in this regard.” He said the state lacked adequate fruit-processing capacity and he would try to secure funds from APEDA for a multi-fruit processing plant. The country required over 8,000 tonne of apple juice concentrate and Himachal, the leading apple state, produced only 1,000 tonne at best. More processing plants were needed to bridge the gap and he said had already discussed the matter with Union Commerce Minister Anand
Sharma. Rathore said APEDA had already sanctioned Rs 26 crore for 10 projects and more projects were in the pipeline. He said four apple packing houses at
Gumma, Jarol Tikker, Patlikuhl and Oddi and two controlled atmosphere stores at Gumma and Jarol Tikker had already started functioning and other projects were nearing completion. Besides apple, post-harvest facilities would be developed for citrus fruit, mango and other sub-tropical fruits in the lower areas. Efforts would also be made to export high-quality apple to various countries with the help of the
APEDA, he said. Rathore further said promoting environment-friendly activities like horticulture and tourism was the only way to save the ecologically fragile state and prevent natural disasters like the one that devastated
Uttarakhand. It was time to reconsider the policy of setting up cement plants and large hydropower projects, he added. |
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Swiss adventurer dies of heart strokes at Keylong
Mandi/Keylong, July 21 His team mates said Rowland crossed the Tandi bridge and was on his way to Udaipur when he suffered the first stroke. He fell from the bike near the DIET institute and was rushed to the Regional Hospital, Keylong, in an 108 ambulance by them. He was under treatment at the hospital, but suffered the second heart stroke and died, said the doctors attending on him. The district administration and team members informed the embassy, that got in touch with Rowland's family in Switzerland. They in turn authorised the Embassy to cremate him with Hindu rituals there and send back his ashes, said the officials. The embassy requisitioned the services of Dania Pinto, Funeral Director, Mumbai, and deputed Ajit Singh to attend the funeral at Tandi. "Rowland is a Christian, but the embassy has authorised me to cremate Rowland here with Hindu rituals," Ajit told The Tribune from Tandi. SHO, Keylong, Lokinder Negi, along with others, arranged the cremation. Expressing his condolences, president, Lahaul-Spiti Hoteliers Association, Tashi Deleg, who also participated in the cremation, said only Rowland's friend attended the cremation, while other members of the biking expedition left for Leh today. The expedition was organised by the Wild-east Adventure Company, Leh, and its tour organiser was also present here, he added.
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Power engineers demand pay scales on Punjab pattern
Palampur, July 21 The state executive committee of the association, which met here recently under the chairmanship of state president HK Sharma, urged the government for the grant of pay scales at par with Punjab when a junior engineer was promoted as assistant engineer. Besides, the association also demanded a special increment at the time of promotion. The committee also asked the state government to reserve 25 per cent quota for diploma engineers in the executive engineer cadre at par with adjoining states. The committee said the diploma engineers were the backbone of the HPCL and their services must be recognised. The committee condemned the step-motherly treatment being
meted out to them by the state government. The association president, while addressing mediapersons, said diploma engineers were performing their duties in far-flung areas at odd hours and took risks to maintain the power supply and power houses. The state government should avoid confrontation with them and they should not be forced to resort to agitation, he added. He said Himachal had the distinction in the country where today every village was electrified, only because of their efforts
and contribution. |
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Palampur authorities fail to check encroachments
Palampur, July 21 Over 30 sheds were constructed to make the narrow Pathankot-Mandi National Highway free from encroachments by these vendors, which resulted in frequent traffic jams and accidents near the local gurdwara. At many points, the highway has squeezed to a width of just 3 m. Even the orders of the Himachal Pradesh High Court to remove encroachments from the highway are yet to be implemented by the local authorities. During the BJP regime, Palampur SDM Bhupinder Attari and Municipal Council president Thakur Balwant Singh shifted the vendors to new locations. However, with the change of the government, these vendors left the newly constructed sheds and again encroached upon the highway. The administration remained a mute spectator to the violation and failed to initiate action against them. Now the vacant sheds are being used as cowsheds and garages by the locals. Moreover, due to the encroachments, the Mandi-Pathankot National Highway passing through the town has become prone to accidents. Former BJP MLA Praveen Sharma with the help of local Municipal Council had offered a rehabilitation package to these vendors and constructed sheds for them but with the change of the government, these vendors came back to the old site again. |
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Alertness, hard work required to win Mandi seat: Jai Ram
Sundernagar, July 21 Jai Ram Thakur, BJP MLA who contested the Mandi Parliamentary elections, headed the meeting. Col Inder Singh, MLA,
Sarkaghat, Vinod Kumar, MLA, Nachan, former MLAs Dile Ram and Hira Lal, Ram Swaroop, convener of the Mandi constituency, Rakesh
Jamwal, president, district unit of the BJP, Ajay Rana, spokesman of the
BJP, along with members of the executive, were also present. The workers, while giving feedback, suggested ways on how to improve things in future. While talking to
mediaperson, Jai Ram said more alertness and hard work was required if the party wanted to win the Mandi seat in the forthcoming Parliament elections as this constituency had been a stronghold of the Congress in the past. He said the Congress won the Mandi byelections as Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh was personally involved in the elections. He had won over not only the voters, but also the leaders
(MLAs) by saying they would be given posts of minister and that they would be dropped if the Congress did not get lead in their respective Assembly segments. He said in Himachal Pradesh the public usually went with the government in the
byelections. The BJP had won in Rohroo and Renuka Assembly segments which were the stronghold of the Congress, but the Congress had lost the byelection in these seats when the BJP was in power. Some of the workers said the BJP was lacking in feedback managements as none of the party leaders wanted to hear the truth. |
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Rs 100 crore for unemployment allowance released
Bilaspur, July 21 This was stated by Ram Lal Thakur, Chairman, state Planning Development and 20-Point Implementation Committee, while addressing the public during inaugurations and a foundation-laying ceremony at Nakrana, Ghwandal and Maakadi in the Naina Deviji constituency recently. Ram Lal said the government had revised its obsolete Natural Disaster Compensation Manual and reasonable compensations were now being provided to families for calamities, deaths, injuries and property damages during earthquakes, droughts, floods, cloudbursts, road accidents etc. Ram Lal lashed out at local MLA and BJP state general secretary Randhir Sharma saying the BJP government did not repair the National Highway No. 21 during its five-year term. He said Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had rushed to Delhi to get the sanction of Rs 4.31 crore from the Centre for the repair, which was now in progress. He said on his orders, the department concerned had submitted an estimate of Rs 13 crore to do essential repairs of this road at the earliest. He said he had already nailed the lie of Randhir Sharma, who had been propagating that the Naina Devi area was declared Wild Life Sanctuary (WLS) when Ram Lal was the Forest Minister, by releasing copies of the 1999 notification of this WLS when the BJP was in power. He said now, the Congress government had taken out all 48 villages from this sanctuary, allowing development activities in these villages.
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Organisation to adopt 2 U’khand villages
Shimla, July 21 This was stated here today by Grand Master of the organisation Vasudev Masurekar after a two-day meeting of the lodges of the northern India here during which funds were contributed by the members for providing relief to the affected people. He said his organisation did not seek donations from anyone for such public welfare activities and all the funds were contributed by the members. He said a request had already been sent to the Deputy Commissioner concerned to select two villages for the reconstruction of which all possible monetary, technical, manual and other assistance would be provided by the lodge. The organisation had been carrying out such activities for long but it scrupulously avoided publicising such charitable work as per its traditions. However, off late, it decided to go public and inform about its activities to people. The advent of Internet, particularly social media, had virtually invaded ‘privacy’ and activities of individuals and organisations were constantly under public eye, said a member. He said the lodge had adopted Pallam village in Tamil Nadu, which was destroyed in the tsunami and build houses for all the 79 families, that were rendered homeless in the disaster. It has started programmes to install solar lights in remote villages that were without electricity and also launched a water purification drive to provide potable water to tribal people who were doing with unhealthy water. Masurekar said Swami Vivekananda, Moti Lal Nehru, Bollywood thespian Ashok Kumar and many other famous personalities had been associated with the organisation. |
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Van mahotsava celebrated
Chamba, July 21 On the occasion, minister's wife Savitri and his son
Amit, who is also a zila parishad member, along with district officers, planted saplings of various species, including deodar,
ritha, ban and akroot. Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) ARM Reddy welcomed the gathering and said this year about 19.5 lakh saplings, including 7.5 lakh medicinal plants, would be planted in the circle and 1,400 hectare of area brought under greenery. Later, the forest minister addressed a public meeting on the premises of the hydroelectric project and appealed to people to protect environment of the fragile hill state. Saplings planted
Kangra: The Sanatan Dharam Sabha today observed the Van Mahotsava by planting saplings at the Swarag Ashram here to provide better environment at the local cremation ground.
SDM, Kangra, Ajit Bhardwaj, who was chief guest on the occasion, planted a sapling and stressed on the plantation of trees so that natural disasters could be avoided. Later on, the SDM declared open a private water supply scheme for residents of Ward No. 4. The water pump was set up by the local sabha in an old well near the Tehsil chowk to provide water to more than 25 families of the locality. Narinder
Trehan, president of the sabha, welcomed the chief guest on both the
occasions. |
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HPSSSB mulls online application system
Hamirpur, July 21 At present, candidates have to fill in forms sold at posts offices and other sales counters throughout the state. Himachal is having many backward and far-flung areas, which remain cut off from the rest of the country due to rain and snowfall for many months making the availability of application forms difficult. There are complaints from the candidates many times that they find it difficult to obtain application forms in geographically inaccessible areas with road connection snapped during winter or rainy season. Moreover, there is a huge rush at the time of filing applications for different posts making this a tedious job for the board staff to manage the process smoothly. To find a solution to such problems, the HPSSSB is considering online application system. This proposal is under consideration of the authorities and they are working on different aspects for making this system workable. Since many far-flung areas of the state are still not have the Internet facility, the HPSSSB is mulling running both options, online application and the existing manual application system simultaneously. The authorities are discussing many important issues before starting this system like selecting Internet service provider, ensuring security system, etc. |
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Pratibha seeks Rs 68 crore for channelisation of nullahs
Shimla, July 21 She said these nullahs posed danger to life and property during the monsoon season. She said if all these nullahs were channelised, water could be stored by adopting water conservation measures and used during the lean summer season when the city faced acute water shortage. Pratibha also requested him to provide funds for the purchase of 300 mini-buses for 13 towns of the state under the JNNURM to help provide cheap and convenient transport facilities to the residents and tourists. These towns were facing acute problem of traffic congestion due to the increasing number of vehicles. She said 75 such buses were already plying successfully in Shimla which had eased the problem of traffic jams and parking to some extent. She demanded the release of the second instalment of Rs 3.60 crore under the solid waste management project, so that work could be expedited. She demanded central assistance of
Rs 184.99 crore for improvement, augmentation and upgrade of the existing projects. She sought Rs 5 crore for the establishment of a regional urban institute in Dharamshala and requested for the release of the
first instalment of Rs 50 lakh for it. |
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Manimahesh pilgrimage to begin on August 28
Bharmour, July 21 Presiding over a meeting of officers of various government departments here yesterday, Kadam Sandeep Vasant, Deputy Commissioner (DC), Chamba, said arrangements would be made to register the whereabouts of the pilgrims. In the meeting, the DC directed the officials to make arrangements such as regulation of the traffic, parking lots, medicines, fuel, water and electricity for the pilgrims, adding that the use of intoxicants had been banned during the pilgrimage. The DC said free kitchens would be permitted only to those voluntary organisations, which would make a provision of toilets and other sanitation facilities. The parking zone would be declared near the main Manimahesh gate at Hadsar. On the occasion, Superintendent of Police BM Sharma said to make effective security arrangements en route Manimahesh, night vision cameras would be installed at different points.
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PCC chief issues legal notice to BJP leaders
Shimla, July 21 The other three leaders to whom notices have been issued are vice-president of the party Rajiv Sehjal, spokesperson Chander Mohan and former minister ID Dhiman. Leader of the Opposition Prem Kumar Dhumal had last week served a notice on Sukhwinder for starting defamation proceedings for making false allegation against him. In the notice, certain news items based on the statements issued by these leaders published in various newspapers have been mentioned. It said the charges against him pertaining to his assets and that he had a share in two construction companies were false and baseless and made solely with the intention to malign his image. The statements were defamatory, contrary to the facts and actuated with malice and ill-will to gain political advantage by maligning him before people.
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CPI to start awakening campaign from Aug 5
Bilaspur, July 21 State secretary Pravesh Chandel said here today that the meeting was largely attended and presided over by veteran leader DR Chaudhary. Leaders like Vasu Dev Vasu, Prof KS Dheer and Shyam Lal also addressed it. The CPI would start an “awakening campaign” in the state from August 5 when mass dharnas would be organised outside the Deputy Commissioner's office in every district. Present on the occasion were Rattan Lal Thakur, Ram Lok Thakur, Bhag Singh Chaudhary, Ram Pal Thakur, Lekh Ram Dhiman, Lekh Ram Varma, Baldev Shukla, Ashish, Neeraj Kumar, Susheel Kumar and Suraj Kumar among others. |
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