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State Cong plans brainstorming on July 24 to revitalise party
‘Govt mulling changes in Sec 118 to attract investment’
Rain deficit down to 29 per cent, says Met
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Longest-ever monsoon session to have 16 sittings
Drive against drug abuse launched
Drug traffickers expand network in Palampur region
Nisha murder case: Two arrested
One held with pistol, drugs
CPM: Police protecting drug mafia
MLAs in private varsity governing bodies flayed
Man gets 3-month jail for rash driving
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State Cong plans brainstorming on July 24 to revitalise party
Shimla, July 19 State Congress chief Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu had sought suggestions from all ministers, MLAs and office-bearers so as to bring in changes in the party to gear up cadres and prepare them for panchayat elections and later Assembly polls in 2017. It was only after the Lok Sabha poll debacle that Sukhu decided to bring in some effective changes which would activate the block, district and state unit of the party along with all party cells. It is reliably learnt that so far only about half a dozen MLAs, including two ministers, have sent in their suggestions. “We will place the suggestions sent in by ministers and MLAs, who are very senior party men, before the state executive so that we can bring in changes for strengthening the party in the near future,” a senior leader said. Sources said suggestions made by most of the leaders included entrusting party responsibilities to leaders, who could devote time and not remain just ceremonial heads. Another suggestion was removing leaders in the age group of 40 to 60 years being given preference and those holding posts for very long. It is learnt that the party could also strictly enforce the condition in the Congress Constitution of office-bearers not getting more than two terms of three years each. “This condition only exists on papers as nobody has bothered to enforce it. But we need to do this in case we want to rejuvenate our cadres whose moral is very low after the drubbing received in the Lok Sabha polls,” a senior leader said. He hinted: “In case this condition is applied, then many office-bearers right from HPCC, District Congress Committee (DCC) and Block Congress Committee (BCC) levels may have to resign.” The move by Sukhu to dissolve 37 BCCs last month had caused a lot of resentment among senior leaders. In fact, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had termed it as a hasty move amounting to stretching things too far. Others, who were vociferous in terming this move as unjustified, included Rajya Sabha MP Viplove Thakur and AICC secretary Asha Kumari. Sukhu tried to reason out with the CM that his sole objective was to strengthen the party. It was with this aim that he even sought opinion from ministers and MLAs before making any changes in the party. |
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‘Govt mulling changes in Sec 118 to attract investment’
Regarding other changes in land laws being planned for the promotion of industry, Agnihotri said it was also being proposed that in case of resale of industries, for which permission under Section 118 had been given by the state government, no permission would be required. The minister said the state government had already issued orders that once the file of any industrial unit was cleared by the CM’s office, all permissions would be given through single-window clearance within 90 days. He said in some of the cases, including the case of L’Oreal unit in Baddi, the state government had issued permissions within 45 days. Agnihotri said the state government had also issued a notification regarding the increase in floor area ration (FAR) in case of industrial units. “At present the FAR ratio for constructions in the entire state is 1.75. Under this ratio most of the industrial units cannot go beyond one or two stories. However, now the state government has increased the FAR for industrial units so that they can construct multi-storey buildings,” he said. The minister said: “The state government was asking the industry to move into interior areas of the state earlier. But now, industrial areas are being developed in border areas of the state to facilitate the industries’ need.” He said during the duration of industrial package in the state, investment proposals worth Rs 45,000 crore came to Himachal. “Out of these proposals, only Rs 15,000 crore were materialised. This clearly illustrates that the investors need better infrastructure instead of package. The present government is concentrating on improving the infrastructure in all industrial areas of the state and providing speedy clearances.” “Vardhman group of industries has committed an investment of Rs 500 crore in Himachal due to the initiative taken by the present government. A big chemical unit, Himachal Alkalis, is coming up in the Amb subdivision of Una district. Big corporate houses such as TATA have shown keen interest in developing satellite townships in the state,” he said. Agnihotri said ample land was available at Waknaghat for the development of IT park and the industry would be offered land there. Proposals made
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Rain deficit down to 29 per cent, says Met
Shimla, July 19 Half a dozen trees were uprooted at various places in Shimla and two vehicles were buried under the trees that had fallen. Total loss of property in Shimla district in the past two days has been estimated to be about Rs 33 lakh. All rivers and their tributaries are in spate and people living along the banks have been asked to shift to safer places. The water level in reservoirs of hydropower projects has reached the optimal level and people downstream have been cautioned against flashfloods due to the discharge of water. About four dozen roads in the interiors of Shimla, Sirmaur, Kangra and Mandi have been closed due to landslides and work was on to open roads on a war footing, especially in the apple belt, so that transportation was not affected. Parts of Shimla, Solan and Kangra districts had heavy rain and the deficit further came down from 35 per cent to 29 per cent today, Manmohan Singh, Director, local Met office, said. The state received 198 mm rain against normal rainfall of 275 mm and barring Kinnaur, Lahaul-Spiti, Chamba and Sirmaur districts, the deficit was negligible. Shimla district has already received 600 mm rain, which is marginally above normal, while and the deficit would be wiped out in case normal rain continued till the end of the month, Manmohan said. Solan was the wettest in the region with 98 mm rain, while Rajgarh received 85 mm rain, followed by Sunnibajji 64 mm, Gohar 62 mm, Kandaghat 61mm, Nadaun 58 mm, Nahan 57 mm, Dharamsala and Nauni 54 mm each, Dharampur 52 mm, Kasauli 47 mm, Kotkhai 43 mm, Karsog and Shimla 42 mm, Sundernagar 40 mm, Banjar 39 mm, Kumarsain 38 mm, Amb 31 mm, Tinder 30 mm and Kalpa 20 mm. The local Met office has predicted light to moderate rain at many places during the next five days. Shrikhand Yatra postponed
Kullu: Despite incessant rain throughout the day, the 8-seater Himalayan Bulls aircraft performed its daily flight from here to Chandigarh. However, Air India flights were cancelled due to the bad weather.
A downpour lashed many areas of the district, triggering minor landslides that led to the blocking of several link roads. Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Kanwar said pilgrims en route to Shrikhand had been halted at Singhgad till the weather cleared. However, no loss of life and property was reported. HRTC buses continued their operations on most of the routes throughout the district. Pawan Sharma, Regional Manager, HRTC, said the Aut-Luhri road was blocked near the Kandu Nullah and passengers were being made to walk across the blockade and ferried to their destination by buses from both sides. The water level in the Beas had risen alarmingly and the administration had sounded an alert and advised people to stay away from the
river. — OC |
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Longest-ever monsoon session to have 16 sittings
Shimla, July 19 However, the hard copies of documents will also be provided for some time till the members are accustomed to the new system. The e-vidhan system will be launched ahead of the session on the 108th birth anniversary of first Chief Minister Dr YS Parmar on August 4. As per the rules of the business, 35 sittings of the House have been prescribed in a calendar year, but the Budget session was cut short this year (2014-15) due to the Lok Sabha polls and only 14 sittings were held. The winter session to be held in December will have at least five sittings. With the implementation of e-vidhan project, the state Vidhan Sabha will become the first paperless legislative Assembly in the country. The project is all set for launch and besides setting up the infrastructure, training has been imparted to MLAs, Vidhan Sabha staff, nodal officers of the government, departmental offices and mediapersons. Secretary, Vidhan Sabha, SS Verma said: “The project will not only make the Vidhan Sabha paperless, but will also be a major environment-friendly initiative, reducing paper usage, eliminating redundant processes, improving efficiency, facilitating auto-compilation of reports and queries and providing data instantly.” As per the statistics, the number of papers used between the Vidhan Sabha and the government was approximately 5.08 crore and non-use of papers would save 6,096 trees and result in saving Rs 15 crore, he added. The Vidhan Sabha secretariat had sent a detailed project report to the Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India (DEITY) in 2010-11 and an MoU was also signed with the National Informatics Centre Services Inc (NICSI) for procuring various items, including manpower to the Himachal Vidhan Sabha, for successful implementation of the e-vidhan project. The amount sanctioned for the project was
Rs 8.12 crore and the first installment amounting Rs 4.06 crore had been received by the NICSI which provides total IT solutions to government
organisations. First paperless House in the country
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Drive against drug abuse launched
Shimla, July 19 Jagat Ram, SP, Narcotics Cell, CID, said awareness material had been sent to district SPs. “Exhibitions and camps are being organised to educate students about the ill effects of drugs,” said Jagat. He said interactions with rural women had yielded results and people were coming forward to report about drug cultivation and peddling. He said drugs were being circulated in 35 schools in Shimla. “During my recent visit to the Haroli area in Una district, residents were of the view that the district police were supporting drug mafia,” said Jagat. He said after the residents were told that they could inform the CID branch about illegal drug activity, an overwhelming response was observed from them. “The residents can call me at 0177- 2625729 for registering complaints and their names will be kept confidential,” he added. Role of parents, teachers
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Drug traffickers expand network in Palampur region
Palampur, July 19 There are at least six to seven points in Palampur town alone which are making drugs available to youth, depending upon their pocket. Similar views were expressed by members in the general house meetings of the Dhauladhar Sewa Samiti and
People’s Voice, voluntary social welfare organisations in the town, held a few days ago. The state is threatened with the inflow of drugs and cheap intoxicants from Punjab, Haryana and Uttarakhand. Traffickers are enticing unemployed youth, rural population and schoolchildren to become “carriers”. The scenario is no better in other towns and villages of Kangra, particularly Nurpur subdivision. KB Rahlan, senior member of the People’s
Voice, said advertising drinking and smoking in TV shows and films was responsible for the use of tobacco and alcohol by the young generation. “Before the problem of alcoholism and drug abuse takes roots in Kangra district, the state, which is empowered under Article 47 of the Constitution, should initiate necessary steps to build a climate of abstinence by disseminating information about its ill effects,” said Neelam Sood, head of an NGO. She said enforcement agencies should involve NGOs, schoolteachers, communities, civil society, rural population and media to spread awareness as sensitising the youth was the only
solution to contain proliferation of drugs and its abuse. |
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Nisha murder case: Two arrested
Una, July 19 Superintendent of Police (SP) Anupam Sharma, while addressing mediapersons at his office here today said: “Singan residents Ram Gopal, alias Neeraj, and Shiv Singh, alias Punnu, both 35 years old, were arrested today. They have confessed to their crime.” The deceased’s sister-in-law Reena, who was arrested a few days ago on the basis of suspicion, had been discharged, he said. The SP said the wives of both accused had abandoned them a few years ago as they were alcoholics. He said victim Nisha Devi, who allegedly was mentally unsound, used to go for morning walk. On June 15, the two accused followed her and when she reached a secluded place at about 4.30 am, the two tried to assault her. When Nisha objected and tried to raise an alarm, she was smothered. Neeraj and Punnu then moved the body near an overgrowth of trees and bushes, collected some dry leaves and tried to set it on fire. The villagers found the semi-burnt body two days later. DSP (Headquarters) Surinder Sharma, who is the investigating officer in the case, said when the family members of the deceased were asked to explain as to why they did not inform the police when Nisha had gone missing for two days, they said Nisha was of unsound mind. They said she had been married twice, but never lived with her in-laws. Nisha had come to live with her parents in Singan a few years ago. The DSP said as per the family members, Nisha would go to visit her relatives for days together without informing her parents or brother. He said the two accused would be produced in the court on Sunday. |
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One held with pistol, drugs
Solan, July 19 The team, led by SI Raju, arrested the youth from his friend’s house where he had been staying for the last few days. Superintendent of Police (SP) S Arul Kumar said drugs, including 10-12 gm of smack, some charas and some bottles of cough syrup Rexcof, were recovered from him. Vijay had produced a weapon licence issued by the licensing authority of Nagaland, but it appeared to be fake as per preliminary investigations undertaken by the police. Police officials were now ascertaining the reason for his stay in this industrial area and where he had procured these drugs and the illegal weapon. A case under the NDPS and Arms Acts has
been registered. |
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Alternative route for Kailash Mansarovar Tribune News Service
Mandi, July 19 Talking to mediapersons today, Dhumal said: “Opposition to Prime Minister’s proposal for an alternative route to Kailash Mansarovar through HP is not valid, as this will provide secure, safe and short route for those visiting the place. We have been pushing through this proposal for long.” He said: “The proposed amendment to Section 118 of HP Land Tenancy Act by the state government is diametrically opposite to the stand of the Congress government during the last Assembly election, when the party carried false propaganda about selling the state by previous government and fro itself relaxing norms to allow purchase of land to outsiders.” He criticised the state government for reducing the condition of endowment money for private universities from Rs 5 crore to Rs 3 crore and Rs 1 crore for opening private university in tribal areas, besides allowing private universities to sell land allotted to them by the state government. He said: “I have recently met Union Surface Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari in New Delhi. He has assured to provide full cooperation to the state government in building highways and now the government should prepare Detailed Project Reports for building highways.” Dhumal said: “The Centre should decide the place for setting up IIM and AIIMS in the state to avoid any controversy in this regard.”
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CPM: Police protecting drug mafia
Shimla, July 19 Addressing a press conference, CPM state secretariat member Tikender Panwar alleged that the local police was trying to implicate Singha in connection with the incident, which was provoked by a drug mafia active in the college campus. He said the government should intervene and take action against the drug mafia and the local police rather than implicating the CPM leaders. |
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Vikramaditya for having AIIMS in Mandi
Mandi, July 19 Talking to mediapersons here today, he said:
“The Youth Congress demands that AIIMS be opened at Mandi as this is a central and suitable place and I will soon meet Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh to push through this proposal.” |
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MLAs in private varsity governing bodies flayed
Shimla, July 19 Party spokesperson Ganesh Dutt said it was surprising that to improve the standard of education in the state, the government had made MLAs, instead of academicians, members of the governing bodies of private universities. — TNS
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Man gets 3-month jail for rash driving
Kangra, July 19 The accident had left eight passengers injured at Lilly village. Assistant Public Prosecutor Reshmi Sharma said Ram was driving a private bus which fell into a 150-foot-deep gorge due to his rash driving. She said a case under Sections 279, 337 and 338, IPC, was registered against Ram at Kangra police station and ASI Balvir Singh was the investigating officer.
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Dharamsala, July
19