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Suresh Bhardwaj set to become HP BJP
chief
Prime land turns into slum in Parwanoo Include Pahari in 8th Schedule, says
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Bus operators’ plea to
govt Notice to
Katwal, 2 others Minor raped
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Suresh Bhardwaj set to become HP BJP
chief Shimla, December 26 There were six aspirants, including Mr P.K. Dhumal, a former Chief Minster, for the post. Mr Bhardwaj emerged as the consensus candidate with the intervention of the high command and blessings of the Sangh Parivar. His name was cleared by the high command at a high-level meeting presided over by Mr Venkaiah Naidu, the party president, held at New Delhi last evening. The high command took pains to evolve unanimity in the faction-ridden party. The exercise took three months during which central party leaders Mr Sanjay Joshi who looks after the organisational affairs, and Mr O.P. Kohli, in charge of party’s affairs in the state, held a series of meetings to ascertain views of the partymen. Mr Dhumal and the leader of the rival camp, Mr Shanta Kumar, were kept away from these meetings. Besides Mr Bhardwaj, names of Mr Maheshwar Singh, Mr Suresh Chandel, Mr Khusi Ram Balnatah, Mr Ravinder Ravi, and Dr Rajiv Bindal came up at these meetings . Mr Dhumal threw his hat in the ring when he found that his loyalists Mr Ravinder Ravi and Dr Bindal stood little chance of making it to the top party position. However, it sparked immediate reaction from the leaders of the rival camp Mr Dulo Ram and Mr Maheshwar Singh, who came out against him and made it clear that they would force a contest to stop Mr Dhumal from becoming the president. A contest was the last thing the high command wanted as it would have widened the divide. The party could not afford another “Jwalmukhi episode” which almost caused a vertical split in the election of the state party chief in 1997. Ultimately four contenders, Mr Maheshwar, Mr Chandel, Mr Balnatah and Mr Bhardwaj, were left in the race. The high command consulted both Mr Shanta Kumar and Mr Dhumal before putting its seal of approval on the name of Mr Bhardwaj. Mr O.P. Kohli and Mr Ram Kripal Sinha, the central observer, will arrive here tomorrow to complete the formality of election. As per schedule nominations are to be filed tomorrow and election, if required ,will be held on December 28. Advocate by profession Mr Bhardwaj started his political career as an activist of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad in late 1960’s and he is the seniormost second-generation leader after Mr Shanta Kumar and Mr Kishori Lal, the first generation veterans who laid the foundation of the party in the hill state. He remained general secretary of the state unit of the ABVP and president of the state Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha. In between he also had a stint as an “RSS pracharak”. He was elected MLA from the Shimla constituency in 1990 and became a Rajya Sabha MP in 2002. He has held several important party posts during his career. |
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Prime land turns into slum in Parwanoo Kumarhatti, December 26 Around 6000 square metres plot no. 9 in Sector 2 was allotted to Banta Engineering Corporation in 1979. The plot remained vacant as the buyer of the plot had been residing in Shimla and had not started commercial activities on it. As a result, almost the whole plot has been encroached on by migrant labourers from UP and Bihar in the past decade. A slum colony has come upon it. The colony has become an eyesore for the nearby residents. Requests to the authorities concerned to check the growth of slums have fallen on deaf ears, rued an industrialist residing near the slum. The slum has become a den of crime and nuisance, he blamed. Residents blame politicians for the problem who encourage the spreading of slums due to migrant vote bank. A plot allotted to Him Process measuring around 10000 metres in Sector 2 is also neglected. It has become a parking place for trucks. A big plot of Small Industrial Export Corporation that used to manufacture electric poles is idle since the company closed down 12 years ago. A slum has appeared on it. Similarly, a plot of the State Electricity Corporation in Sector 2 was unused for a long time. |
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Include Pahari in 8th Schedule, says
parishad Dharamsala, December 26 In a statement released here today, Dr Prityush Guleri , general secretary of the parishad, had urged the state government to initiate steps for the inclusion of Pahari language in the 8th schedule so that it gets due recognition. He said after the reorganisation of states in 1966, all hilly portions of Punjab were made part of Himachal, which now had a distinct culture and language. He said the literature in Pahari was rich and many creative writers had contributed in making it a language which needs recognition at the national level. Dr Guleri reminded that late Dr Narain Chand Prasher had initiated steps to get Pahari included in the 8th schedule when he was member of the Lok Sabha. He said now when Dogri and four other regional languages had been included in the 8th schedule, the claim of Pahari gets more strength. He appealed to the Chief Minister Mr Virbhadra Singh, to take appropriate steps to get the demand of the people of Himachal Pradesh fulfilled at the earliest. |
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Bus operators’ plea to
govt Shimla, December 26 The association here today under the chairmanship of Mr Dev Raj Sharma, President, pointed out that the decision violated the Motor Vehicle Act. Besides, the authorised departments had own fleet of vehicles and as such were interested parties. It urged the government to continue with the existing system under which officials of the Transport Department issued fitness certificates. The association also urged the government not to issue new bus route permits and stop charging special road tax on impounded vehicles. The private operators and State Road Transport Corporation should be treated on a par under the law but preferential treatment to the latter was not fair. Other demands include no charge of adda fee without providing requisite facilities, recovery of special road tax arrears in instalments and withdrawal of enhanced penal interest. |
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Notice to Katwal, 2
others Hamirpur, December 26 The judge passed this order after scrutinising the challans put up in his court recently. The SIT of the Enforcement Wing had found many irregularities in the appointments of ‘vidya upasaks’ by the board and on the basis of investigations carried out by it, a challan had been filed in the court. |
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Minor raped Kangra, December 26 Kangra district additional police chief Santosh Patial said today that a Class VIII student was on her way to the school when she was kidnapped by a taxi driver Sunil Kumar on Monday and taken to a forest in the Gopalpur area of Palampur subdivision of the district and allegedly raped. The victim lodged a complaint with the Palampur police last evening. —
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