|
|
|
|
|
Shift tainted officers from sensitive posts, HC to
state
Snow in upper reaches of Manali
HC reserves order on ban on food items in polybags
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Illiterate youth can get skill allowance: CM
Zooming prices see more farmers grow vegetable
HPAU hands over records to Vigilance
IPH Dept to use solar energy for water supply
HPU fails to raise Rs
150 cr fund for pensioners
Dalai Lama expresses grief over death of Mandela
Shifting of Shah Nehar project office irks residents
Villagers demand link roads
Govt blamed for gastroenteritis
Pensioners’ mega convention today
Educational society accused of fund misuse
Home Guards celebrates Raising Day
Man gets imprisonment for rape
Woman beaten to death, husband held
Miscreants beat up six of family
Missing woman found murdered
|
|
Shift tainted officers from sensitive posts, HC to
state
Shimla , December 6 The order was passed by a division bench comprising Justice Kuldip Singh and Justice Dharam Chand Chaudhary while disposing of an application filed by the Officiating Chief Secretary seeking to modify the orders of November 18 of the court, directing the government to shift 43 officers of doubtful integrity to non-sensitive posts. The request was made on the ground that the assurance was made by the Additional Advocate General inadvertently and no such assurance was made in the affidavit filed by him. During the course of hearing, the court observed, “In the application supported by an affidavit of the Additional Chief Secretary, the statement made by Additional Advocate General in the court has not been denied. It has, however, been stated that such statement was made by him inadvertently. We are not going into the question whether the statement was made by Additional Advocate General inadvertently or not. It is the stand of the Chief Secretary that there are 43 officers of doubtful integrity, who are posted on sensitive posts.” It further observed, “The stand of the state is that it is always the effort of the government to avoid posting of officers of doubtful integrity on sensitive posts, but since the government does not always have non-sensitive posts in all cadres, hence it may become unavoidable to post some officers on the posts which cannot strictly be termed non-sensitive.” The court further said, “In the light of the stand of the state itself for shifting officers of doubtful integrity from sensitive posts at the earliest opportunity, there should be no impediment. If some officers of doubtful integrity due to unavoidable reasons could not be shifted, then spell out such reasons. The exercise be done in three weeks and the Chief Secretary to file an affidavit of compliance before December 27. |
|
Snow in upper reaches of Manali
Manali, December 6 Dark clouds remained hovering over the region which resulted in light snowfall in high hills. Though the dry spell is persisting in the lower valley, temperature has continued to decrease. Water on the high-altitude areas, including across Manali-Leh highway, has started freezing under cold weather conditions. The volume of waters in rivers and other streams has also decreased with freezing of their sources. With a dip in temperature, sale of woollens has increased manifold. The sale of Kullu shawls, hand-woven socks, mufflers, gloves and caps has also increased. Earlier this morning, there were speculations about snowfall in the upper Manali region, but the dark clouds waned after showering some snowflakes only on high hills. Now, people linked to the tourism industry are hoping for good snowfall by Christmas so that news of White Christmas could bring more tourists to this hill town.
|
|
HC reserves order on ban on food items in polybags
Shimla, December 6 While reserving the judgment, a division Bench comprising Justice Rajiv Sharma and Justice VK Sharma directed that the interim order of stay on the notification would continue till the pronouncement of the judgment. The petitions filed by the Sanyukt Vyapar Mandal, Khalini, the Indian Biscuits Manufacturers Association, NOIDA, and the Haroli Block Industries Associations challenged the notification that as a result of the ban on the sale of identified food items, thousands of workers would be rendered unemployed. Apart from relocation of workers, status of loans obtained by local units, machinery and infrastructure etc were other major problems for industries and traders. Apart, they have also challenged the rules pertaining to the issuance of the notification. |
|
|
Shanta may contest from Kangra
Palampur, December 6 Sources close to Shanta Kumar said here today that though he had left the politics three years ago, being a sincere soldier of the party, he could contest the election from the Kangra seat. Shanta Kumar had earlier represented this seat twice in Parliament. Narendra Modi, prime ministerial candidate of the BJP, had requested Shanta Kumar and Prem Kumar Dhumal to contest election for Parliament from Kangra and Hamirpur seats, who could easily win these despite the fact the Congress was in power in the state. Shanta Kumar was reluctant to contest the election. He had suggested the names of Sarveen Chaudhry, MLA, and Romesh Dwawala, former IPH minister, from this seat. However, in the changed political scenario, the BJP high command did not want to take any risk while fielding candidates for the general election. Therefore, it had asked the senior leaders to contest the election.
|
|
|
Illiterate youth can get skill allowance: CM
Shimla, December 6 While presiding over a meeting to review the scheme here yesterday, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said uneducated youth could undertake training in selected trades such as masonry, carpentry, welding, plumbing, house painting and blacksmithry. He said the government would take up necessary steps to develop appropriate informal training modules for small sector and empanel specialised training agencies on the line of the schemes of the Centre. Singh said it would not only widen the ambit of the scheme by covering more eligible youth but also help to provide highly skilled manpower in traditional trades. It would ensure better job opportunities to the youth not only within the country, but also in abroad, where there was a shortage of skilled artisans. He said all these courses would be certified so that the trainees had some document to support their credentials. He said this would also help in preserving and reviving the traditional craftsmanship. The government had reduced the age limit from 18 years to 16 years and essential qualification to middle for the scheme. More than 20,000 beneficiaries had been covered under the scheme so far and the number was expected to cross 30,000 by the end of the year. He directed the Labour and Employment Department to adopt a pro-active approach to ensure that the maximum number of eligible youth would be benefited from the scheme. He said while engaging private partners for running skill upgrade courses, it should be ensured that they had good expertise and experience in running such programmes. He said it was necessary that gap between demand of the industries and skill be identified and courses be designed according to the demand of the industry. He said this would ensure better employment opportunities to the youth of the state.
|
|
|
Zooming prices see more farmers grow vegetable
Shimla, december 6 While the foodgrain production has been oscillating between 12 lakh tonne and 15 lakh tonne, the vegetable production has been increasing steadily over the past two decades but it has taken a quantum leap in recent years. The vegetable production increased from 6.5 lakh tonne in 1990-91 to 12.69 lakh tonne in 2011-12. The state produced 13.70 lakh tonne of vegetable in 2012-13 and the target for the current financial year was 14 lakh tonne. The high prices of vegetables have motivated farmers to switch over from other crops to vegetables and during the current Rabi season, the area under table potato is likely to increase significantly mainly because of the high prices it fetched during the kharif season. Even the seed potato, grown in tribal and other high hill areas, was sold as table potato by farmers. There was a shortage of seed and the rates were also high but still the farmers procured it from wherever possible. The area under potato during Rabi sowing could go up to 2,800 hectare from 2,000 hectare last year and the production could also increase from 32,000 tonne to 45,000 tonne, says JC Rana, Director of Agriculture. The area under tomato was also likely to increase from 9,870 hectare to about 12,000 hectare next season and the production from 3.95 lakh tonne to 4.50 lakh tonne. The current trend indicated that the vegetable production would cross the 16 lakh tonne mark over the next two years, he added. In comparison, the foodgrain production has been increasing only marginally and it touched 15 lakh tonne for the first time in 2011-12. Apart from the spurt in prices, the main reason for farmers switching over to vegetable is that they could have three and in some areas even four crops in a year. As such, the possibility of total crop failure is remote. Veggie delight
* Foodgrain production has been oscillating between 12 lakh tonne and 15 lakh tonne, the vegetable production had been increasing steadily over the past two decades but it has taken a quantum leap in recent years. *
The state produced 13.70 lakh tonne of vegetable in 2012-13 and the target for the current financial year was 14 lakh tonne |
|
|
HPAU hands over records to Vigilance
Palampur, December 6 Official sources said here today that the university authorities had assured the investigating agencies to extend full cooperation in the probe. The state Vigilance Bureau is conducting a probe into the appointments made through chits on the directions of the Himachal Pradesh High Court. The Vigilance Bureau has been scrutinising records of 59 departments of the state government where recruitments were allegedly made on the basis of chits issued by the high-ups of the state government from 1993 to 1998. Meanwhile, a spokesperson of the HPAU refused to comment on the issue since the matter was sub-juice. |
|
|
IPH Dept to use solar energy for water supply
Shimla, December 6 Decks have been cleared for inviting bids for installation of solar projects at four schemes under the Dharamsala zone, including the Shah Nehar and Sidhata schemes in Kangra district. Though proposed as a pilot project, if the experiment is a success, all the major irrigation and drinking water supply schemes of the IPH Department in the state could shift to solar energy. The project reports for switchover to solar energy by installing solar power generating units have been prepared with the help from the Jain Irrigation free of cost. The companies empanelled by the Ministry of Renewable Energy will install and operate the solar units at these four projects. “The endeavour is to have solar energy, which will not just cut down cost but also ensure uninterrupted power supply at our projects,” said Vineet Chaudhary, Additional Chief Secretary (Irrigation and Public Health and Horticulture). As per the project report for Shah Nehar, one of the biggest irrigation scheme, five sub-stations of 100-KW each have been proposed for running pump houses and meeting lighting needs. The cost of installation of the solar project has been worked out to be Rs 4.40 crore and 10 per cent of the cost is to be met through the allocation under the Command Area Development Programme, meant for system improvement. Solar energy is also to be generated at the Sidhata Irrigation Scheme at a cost of Rs 2.20 crore. The other two schemes included under switchover to solar energy include the Dari Water Supply Scheme at a cost of Rs 1.32 crore and the Behi Pathyar Scheme under the Nurpur Circle in Kangra. The Ministry of Renewable Energy provides 90% grant for the initial installation of these solar units and 5-year free service.
|
|
HPU fails to raise Rs
150 cr fund for pensioners
Shimla, December 6 The university had also failed to revise its fee structure, insiders said. Though the university was seeking an additional grant-in-aid of Rs 25 crore to tide over the fund crunch, it had raised about Rs 6 crore as corpus fund for the last six years, said university officials. The university had revised its fee structure on a par with the neighbouring universities over the years. All fee hike attempts fell flat as these faced stiff opposition not only from student unions but also from the main opposition parties in the state, said members of faculty associations. Students unions ABVP, SFI and NSUI have been training their guns at the state government and the authorities for the fee hike. “It is the responsibility of the university and the state government to provide cheap education to students as colleges and universities are not profit-earning centres,” said Rajan Harta, president, SCA. The university had started self-financing courses, but students were not getting facilities as per UGC standards, students said. “In UIIT, each student pays Rs 55,000 as fee, but 50 per cent of the funds are spent on paying pensions and expenditure,” teachers said. Member of the HPU Executive Council Waryam Singh Bains has submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and Governor Urmila Singh, who is also the Chancellor of the university, pointing out staff and funds shortage and opposing outsourcing of certain university works to private companies. “We have Rs 6 crore as corpus fund, but we can spend this interest only when the university raises it to Rs 150 crore as per UGC guidelines,” he added. On the other hand, Dr Mohan Jharta, Registrar, HPU, said there were more than 700 pensioners who were paid pension worth Rs 1.5 crore every month. “The university pays Rs 84 crore as salary and pension every year and has received a grand-in-aid of Rs 65 crore this year. The government has been urged to give an additional grant of about Rs 25 crore to meet out the expenses,” he said. He said the university was spending 50 per cent of the funds raised by self-financing sources on raising infrastructure and 50 per cent on other things to meet expenses. “Efforts are on to add facilities to students with limited sources,” he added.
|
|
Dalai Lama expresses grief over death of Mandela
Dharamsala, December 6 In a letter to the family of Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama expressed sadness on the death of Nelson Mandela. He wrote: "The world has lost a great leader, whose steadfast and unflinching determination played a key role in securing peace and reconciliation during South Africa's transition from apartheid rule. Under his leadership, South Africa was transformed through peaceful means, in the spirit of reconciliation." The Dalai Lama said he would miss a dear friend, who he had hoped to meet again and for whom he had great admiration. In his letter, he said, "Nelson Mandela was a man of courage, principle and unquestionable integrity, a great human being, someone of whom we can truly say. He lived a meaningful life. I pray for him and offer my condolences to him, the members of his family and the entire people of South Africa.""The best tribute we can pay to him is to do whatever we can to contribute to honouring the oneness of humanity and working for peace and reconciliation as he did," said the Dalai Lama The elected leader of Tibetan PM-in-exile (Sikyong) Lobsang Sangay in a press conference here today described Nelson Mandela an icon of peace whose struggle for justice gave hope to humanity in general and particularly to Tibetans, that justice do prevail in the end." |
|
Shifting of Shah Nehar project office irks residents
Nurpur, December 6 The state government had issued a notification on November 25 for shifting the office to Una with immediate effect. This circle office comprises four sub-divisions. The employees working in the project will also face hardships after shifting of the office. The state had spent crores on the construction of office and residential colony of employees. Former Lok Sabha MP Rajan Sushant alleged that people of the area felt cheated as neither the aim of the project was fulfilled nor was it commissioned. He termed this step of the government as unwarranted and against the sentiments of the inhabitants of the area. NM Saini, superintending engineer of the circle, said he had received the government notification for shifting the office with immediate effect and the process of shifting had been started.
|
|
Villagers demand link roads
Chamba, December 6 The villagers of these areas said the development of the areas was also not possible without the link roads. The patients have to be brought in palanquins to the main roads for their visit to health centres in the case of any emergency. The villagers revealed that they had written to the state government about the construction of link roads many times but no avail. |
|
Govt blamed for gastroenteritis
Bilaspur, December 6 He said the government had failed to keep a check on the quality of drinking water supplied from storage tanks which has resulted into the spread of gastroenteritis in villages. Chandel urged the Chief Minister to order a high-level judicial inquiry into the incident and ensure that no such incidents recur in the future. Chandel said all those affected from gastroenteritis are from poor families and Bhakra dam oustees. The government should provide financial aid to such families, he added. — OC |
|
Pensioners’ mega convention today
Chamba, December 6 Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh will be the chief guest on the occasion. The spokesperson of the association, PC Oberoi, said that the state Venue changed
BILASPUR: The venue for the state-level conference of the Himachal Pradesh Pensioners Welfare Association will be held at Jawahar Park in Sunder Nagar on December 7. State association president Jiva Nand Jivan and secretary general Hari Chand Gupta said earlier, the venue was fixed at BBMB colony maidan, but for the convenience of elderly pensioners, the venue has been changed. Thousands of men and women pensioners from all parts of the state were expected to attend the conference. |
|
|
Educational society accused of fund misuse
Chamba, December 6 SP Chamba, Jagat Ram, said a case in this connection had been registered at the Chamba police station on the complaint of Gautam Sharma, chairman, Him Navodaya Shikshan Sansthan. The complainant had alleged that the society had forged fake papers in the name of Him Navodaya Shikshan Sansthan and collected money from its trainees from 2010 to 2013 which had caused embezzlement of the cash and loss to the sansthan, the SP divulged. — OC |
|
Home Guards celebrates Raising Day
Chamba, December 6 DC Chamba, Kadam Sandeep Vasant, presided over the function and took salute of the impressive march past presented by contingents of the 8th Battalion of the Himachal Home Guards. A colourful cultural programme was also presented by home guards on the occasion. |
|
Man gets imprisonment for rape
Bilaspur, December 6 District Attorney Ravinder Kumar Barwal said today that Sanjay Kumar of Sai Brahmana village was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment (RI) for 5 years and a fine of Rs 5,000 under Section 363 of the IPC. He was also awarded 5 years RI and fine of Rs 5,000 under Section 366 of the IPC. He was further sentenced to 7 years RI and a fine of Rs 20,000 under Section 376, IPC. He was also sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for 1 year and a fine of Rs 2,000 under Section 201, IPC, and further imprisonment for three months in default of payment of fine. However, all sentences were ordered to run concurrently. Another accused in the case, Chaman Shukla of Theli village, Shimla, was sentenced to 1-year rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 2,000 under Section 201 of the IPC. However, the third accused was acquitted. Earlier, the District Attorney told the court that on March 30, 2012, Sanjay forcibly carried the girl in his car to Rampur and raped her, while he stayed in Chaman Shukla’s house.
|
|
Woman beaten to death, husband held
Nurpur, December 6 Her neighbours, who reached the spot, called in a local doctor who declared her dead. Later, the Jawali police arrested Rakesh Kumar. The accused husband, an addict of liquor, is running a welding workshop at Dan village. He allegedly used to quarrel with her wife in inebriated condition. According to the DSP Jawali, DC Verma, a case under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) had been registered. Meanwhile, the accused was produced in a local court today which remanded him in police custody till November 9. The body of the deceased was also handed over to family members.
|
|
|
Miscreants beat up six of family
Paonta Sahib, December 6 The incident took place when Jasmer Kumar (42), who was sleeping in his thatched dwelling, was attacked by six masked men with rods and cudgel. The miscreants first attacked his wife, Ghejo Devi (36), and snatched earrings and Rs 8,500 from her and then attacked Jasmer, leaving him critically injured. Their children Pooja (20) and Sanjiv (19) and parents Baga Ram (70) and Kallu Devi (60) were also attacked and brutally beaten up. The miscreants snatched a silver chain, earrings and Rs 1,050 from Pooja. However, Baga Ram and Kallu Devi managed to flee from there, but again met the miscreants midway. The elderly couple was brutally beaten up and left unconscious about 1 km away from their house. The police after receiving information in the wee hours today reached the spot and shifted the injured to the local civil hospital. They also admitted the elderly couple to the hospital in the morning. Yogesh Rolta, DSP, Paonta Sahib, said they had registered a case under Sections 452 and 323 of the IPC and it appeared that some personal enmity could have led to the incident. He said further investigations were on to trace the culprits. Since three such incidents have already taken place in the area in the recent past, the residents today submitted a memorandum to the SDM to ensure their safety. One booked for theft
Bharmour: The Bharmour police have booked one person for stealing timber worth Rs 79.50 lakh from the Kaithli Dhar forest in the Bharmour tribal sub-division. Reports revealed that police and forest officials had seized timber worth Rs 56 lakh, while the remaining was yet to be recovered. The police was still searching for the accused. A case was registered at the Bharmour police station on the complaint of Om Raj, Assistant Manager of the Forest Department. — OC |
|
|
Missing woman found murdered
Shimla, December 6 The police today managed to solve the mystery behind the disappearance of the woman after it was able to lay its hand on Hari, a Nepalese, who some time ago had worked in the apple orchards owned by the woman’s family. Hari told the police that he had killed the woman and hidden her body in a stack of dry grass. The police have recovered the body and is looking for four accomplices of Hari, who helped him in committing the crime.Her family members had been looking for her since the last 10 days. They even got a telephone call, seeking ransom for the release of the woman. It was by tracking the Hari’s phone that the police were able to solve the mystery.
|
|
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | E-mail | |
Warm clothes were out today after upper reaches of Manali experienced a fresh spell of snowfall this morning. Cold winds lashed the entire upper valley where day temperature has dipped by many notches.
The modification made by the state government in the Skill Development Allowance Scheme
(SDAS) will enable even the illiterate youth of the state reap benefits of the
programme. While presiding over a meeting to review the scheme here yesterday, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said uneducated youth could undertake training in selected trades such as masonry, carpentry, welding, plumbing, house painting and
blacksmithry.
The vegetable output is set to overtake the state's total foodgrain production over the next two years as more farmers take to cultivation of tomato, capsicum, cauliflower, cabbage, potato, peas and other such crops to take advantage of their zooming prices.
While the foodgrain production has been oscillating between 12 lakh tonne and 15 lakh
tonne, the vegetable production has been increasing steadily over the past two decades but it has taken a quantum leap in recent years.
As a major initiative aimed at cost cutting and enhancing use of non-conventional energy, the Irrigation and Public Health
(IPH) Department is toying with the idea of switching over to the use of solar energy for pumping water at its water supply schemes with the annual power bill it has to foot, amounting to a whopping Rs 250
crore.
As many as six persons of a family, including three women, were beaten by miscreants who broke into their house at Singhpura village in Paonta Sahib sub-division of Sirmaur district. The miscreants also looted cash and ornaments from them last night.
