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Construction in
old Shimla to be banned: CM Katwal tape
doctored, says minister EC disqualifies
19 candidates HC directs govt
to create 143 posts |
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Global bids for
nine hydel projects Chopper flights
to tribal areas from tomorrow Row over land to
physically challenged person Govt giving jobs
on chits: Dhumal TB test
laboratory project hangs fire Motorable road
inaugurated Visually
impaired end dharna Rally against
lottery held Poverty drives
farmer to suicide Bus allowed to run in military
area
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Construction in old Shimla to be banned: CM Shimla, December 20 Presiding over the concluding session of the 52nd annual congress of the Indian Institute of Town Planners here today, he said concrete structures had gobbled up vast stretches of green areas, marring the scenic beauty and affecting the environment. He said the government was committed to preserve the depleted green cover and in future, felling of trees even on the private land
would not be allowed without the approval of the Cabinet. He said the heritage buildings of the erstwhile summer capital would be preserved and no alterations would be allowed in the existing architecture of the structures. The Chief Minister maintained that the ad hoc policies of the Dhumal government had made things worse. He called upon the town planners to pay maximum attention to the availability of water while planning new townships so that the people did not face hardships on this account later. Besides, garbage disposal was also a major problem in the hill towns, he added. The congress made a number of important recommendations for the development of hill capitals in general and Shimla in particular. It underlined the need to preserve and propagate the hill flora and fauna through a network of wildlife parks and sanctuaries and formulation of a master plan for the development of eco-tourism in the hills. Earlier, Major Vijay Singh
Mankotia, Tourism Minister, called upon the eminent planners to come out with a long-term strategy for sustainable growth and regulated development of hill capitals. Delivering the inaugural address at the congress yesterday, he said in the context of hill area development, sustainability of eco-system had great significance for planners and decision makers. He said Shimla being the capital had important role for the development of whole state which necessitated planned and orderly growth to serve not only the present generation but also progressive needs of future generation. |
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Katwal tape doctored,
says minister Shimla, December 20 Addressing a press conference, here, Mr Rao said the alleged conversations in the audio cassette was a piece of fabricated evidence created by an accused in the recruitment scam for his defence. Mr S.M. Katwal, former chairperson, State Subordinate Services Selection Board, who had been booked by the Enforcement Department in connection with the scam was well aware that the Congress would probe the irregularities in recruitment and he had recorded the conversations with various leaders and doctored it to suit his convenience, he added. It was not without reason that Mr Katwal made his own rules under which the entire record pertaining to selection of candidates was destroyed within three months. The objective was to wipe out all evidence of irregularities in recruitment. At the same time he created doctored audio cassettes and preserved it to prevent Congress leaders from pursuing an inquiry against him. Had the Congress leaders put pressure on Mr Katwal, as claimed by him, he would have certainly brought to the notice of the then Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal . The very fact that he had kept sitting over the audio cassettes for over two years was indicative of his mala fide intentions. He said Mr Virbhadra Singh had talked to him only twice and that too to pull him up for ignoring merit and selecting candidates on extraneous considerations. The manner in which Mr Katwal instigated the Congress leaders to revolt against Mr Virbhadra Singh tell the entire story, he added. He said the manner in which the BJP had come out openly in the defence of Mr Katwal had only exposed the nexus between the two. |
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EC
disqualifies 19 candidates Shimla, December 20 She said these 19 disqualified persons would be debarred from contesting elections or byelections for the state Vidhan Sabha and Parliament for the next three years. The persons disqualified are: Ms Poonam Sharma Khajla village, Arki tehsil, Mr Virender Sharma Rouri village, Arki tehsil, Mr Amar Nath Kaushal Manlogkala village, Nalagarh tehsil, Mr Balbir Singh Nagani village, Nurpur tehsil, Mr Ashok Kumar Janera village, Nurpur tehsil, Mr Ajad Kumar Basu village, Jwali tehsil, Mr Ramel Singh Kallar village Dehra tehsil, Mr Vijay Kumar Daswan village, Dehra tehsil, Ms Sudesh Kumari Malli village, Jaisinghpur tehsil, Mr Gopal Chand Bindrawan village, Palampur tehsil, Mr Ram Swaroop dane village, Dharamsala tehsil, Mr Daulat Ram (Ward No. 10, Kangra, Kangra assembly constituency), Mr Shaukat Ali Deol village, Salooni tehsil, Mr Chander Mani (Mohalla Surara, Chamba, Chamba tehsil), Subedar Jaram Singh Luna village, Bharmour tehsil, Mr Achhar Singh Sainj village, Sainj tehsil, Mr Balak Ram Joshi Nalagahi village, Nirmand tehsil, Mr Balbir Singh Karoh village, Sarkaghat tehsil and Mr Jai Singh Kutt village, Jogindernagar tehsil. |
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HC directs
govt to create 143 posts Shimla, December 20 The court had already issued directions to the state to create new courts. But the state government as per the direction did not respond as a result of which the high court issued these binding directions. As per the detailed information placed before the Division Bench comprising the Chief Justice Mr
V.K. Gupta and Mr Justice R.L. Khurana, the Registrar General of the high court informed that keeping in view the number of pending cases, 143 more courts are required to deal with the cases if 1000 cases are to be handled by one presiding officer. The court has directed the state to create 20 per cent posts in every financial year, up to the next five years. Taking into account the financial crisis faced by the state government, the court directed to create these posts in a phased manner. |
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Global bids for nine hydel projects Shimla, December 20 The decision was taken by the state Cabinet which met under the chairmanship of Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, here. The projects involve an investment of over Rs 2,000 crore. The projects are Sal-1 (6.5 MW) in Chamba, Shalvi (7 MW) in Shimla, Suil (13 MW) in Chamba, Tirthan (18 MW) in Kulu, Chirgaon Majhgaon (46 MW) in Shimla, Kugti (45 MW) in Chamba, Tidong-1 (100 MW) in Kinnaur, Budhil (70 MW) in Chamba and Sorang (60 MW) in Kinnaur. The Cabinet decided to authorise private automobile service stations to issue fitness certificate to commercial vehicles, the Transport Department will work out modalities for it. The vehicle owners will not have to go to motor vehicle inspectors for the purpose. The Cabinet decided that widows, deserted women, destitute and handicapped persons would be provided appointment as part-time water carriers on compassionate grounds. It also gave the nod for filling up of 62 posts from amongst visually impaired persons against one percent reservation in government services provided they fulfilled requisite qualifications. |
Chopper flights to tribal areas from tomorrow Shimla, December 20 The first flight would take off from Bhuntar to Satingri and will be back on December 22. The second flight will be between Bhuntar and Udaipur and the third between Bhuntar and Rava. On December 23 flights will be conducted between Bhuntar and Killar via Chamba. A spokesman of the department said the flights would be subject to climatic conditions on the specified days. |
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Row over land to physically challenged person Kangra, December 20 Mr P.D. Saini, President of the H.P. Saini Samaj along with Col S.C. Parmar (Retd) State president Rajput Kalyan Sabha and Lt-Col Shakti Chand Choudhry (Retd) State President, All-India Defence personnel Association H.P. at a press conference here yesterday alleged that a complaint the Deputy Commissioner had directed the SDM Kangra Dr Ashwani Kumar to cancel the patta of Mr Bishen Dass landless handicapped labourer. Mr Saini said that the SDM Kangra was trying to delay implementation of the direction of the Deputy Commissioner. Mr Saini said that under Gandhi Kutir Yojna Bishen Dass was supposed to get Rs 22,000 which he was not given as he never came under that yojna. He said that five marlas of land was allotted to Bishin Dass in 1996 violating the law, on the roadside in Tanda village. Mr Saini owns some land adjacent to land of Bishen Dass. SDM Kangra Dr Ashwani Kumar said yesterday that Bishen Dass was allotted five marlas of government land in 1996 and Parshutam, who was also allotted government land in 1982 just adjacent to this land filed a petition in the ADM’s court at Dharamsala on February 27, 1997 describing the allotment to Bishen Dass as illegal. He said that the ADM’s court on September 9, 1998 found the allotment to Bishen Dass legal and rejected the complaint of Mr Parshutam. The SDM said that Parshutam after this judgement sold the allotted Government land to Mr P.D. Saini in 2000 violating the Section 9 (d) of the H.P. Village Common Land Vesting and Utilisation Scheme 1975. He said that Deputy Commissioner had asked him to review the case regarding the cancellation of the patta. He said that in view of the decision of the ADM’s court he was not competent to review this case and it was within the jurisdiction of the Deputy Commissioners or Divisional Commissioners to take fresh view of the case. The leaders of three organisations also demanded a CBI inquiry into the purchase of the 200 kanals land for the Dr R.P. Government Medical College at Tanda by the Government and alleged that state Government lost lakhs of rupees due to the in connivance of the revenue authorities. They alleged that when the cost of land per kanal was Rs 40,000 while the market cost was Rs 35,000 the Government purchased this land at the cost of Rs 80,000 per
kanal. |
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Govt giving jobs on chits: Dhumal Nahan, December 20 Mr Dhumal claimed that he had procured some such chits which have been allegedly issued by the office of the Chief Minister of H.P. and some ministers to provide jobs to particular persons. Mr Dhumal alleged that in its previous regime (1993-1998), the Congress government had provided jobs to 2912 persons on chits and these chits had become the waterloo in the assembly elections for the Congress which lost power in the state. He charged that BJP workers were being implicated in false cases and pressures were being made on BJP workers to join Congress by transferring and harassing their relatives. |
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TB test laboratory project hangs fire Kumarhatti, December 20 The society was formed under the chairmanship of DC, Solan two years ago at Dharampur TB sanatorium to help to TB patients diagnosed as MDR. The society received Rs 15 lakh donation from an NRI in July 2002 for the laboratory. The society was of the view to get the work done my private agencies. The PWD put the cost of laboratory at Rs 20 to Rs 22 lakh but private agencies, put it at Rs 10 lakh, said a member of the society. An average 25 cases of suspected of MDR in
winter the sanatorium in a month. Most of these are referral cases from the state and from neighbouring states. Due for the absence of the laboratory sanatorium has to wait more than two months to get reports of culture sensitivity test from Delhi. Mr Rajesh Kumar, DC Solan has rejected the suggestion to get the work done from private agencies and ordered to get the work done by the PWD only. Meanwhile Mr Vishnu Dutt Sharma, Medical Superintendent of said yesterday that the PWD was asked to start the work on the laboratory. |
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Motorable road inaugurated Nahan, December 20 Addressing a public meeting after the inauguration, he said despite tough geographical conditions of the area, the pace of development had been accelerated in the district. This had resulted in strengthening of the economy of the area and improvement in the standard of living of the common man, he said. He said there was no place for politics of hatred and communal divide in society and such practices should be discouraged. He announced Rs 2 lakh for the extension of the Dwanga — Bharan road, Rs 50,000 for the Dimmber -Raid road and Rs 80,000 for the Mahnila Mandal Bhavan and a rain shelter at
Dawnga. |
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Visually impaired end dharna Shimla, December 20 The Cabinet yesterday gave sanction for filling 62 posts from amongst the eligible visually impaired persons. Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, said the government was committed to the welfare of the disabled persons. He directed the authorities concerned to fill the posts expeditiously. Mr Singhi Ram, Food and Civil Supplies Minister, offered juice to Narain Mishra and Sher Singh, two activists of the association who had been on an indefinite fast since December 4. Mr Shobhu Ram, president of the association, who had led the dharna, thanked Mr Virbhadra Singh for accepting the long-pending demand.
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Rally against lottery held Mandi, December 20 Women and students carrying placards marched through the streets of the town, raising slogans against the lottery system. Later, at the rally, speakers condemned the government for the decision which, they said would affect the youth and weaker sections. They urged the government to withdraw the decision. Mrs Veena Raju, the coordinator of the committee, said it was not in public interest to revive the lottery system as it had ruined many homes. |
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Poverty drives farmer to suicide Nahan, December 20 The police handed over the body of the deceased to the bereaved family members after postmortem examination yesterday. As per the statement of his son, Tara Dutt had been under depression for some time because of land disputes and could not return the loan amount of a bank and of others. He said on Thursday morning, when his mother went to collect grass for animals, she saw a body lying there, which was of Tara Dutt. This is said to be the first case of suicide due to poverty in the region.
— UNI |
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Bus allowed to run in military area Dharamsala, December 20 |
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