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Tuesday,
November 6, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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HP
decision may hit quality of PWD works Heavy
snowfall in HP freezes lakes CM charged with political vendetta Reports
on pending appeals ‘not right’ Virbhadra’s
remarks ridiculed |
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CPM to
launch stir on tariff hike BJP on
shaky ground: HPCC Kangra
roads bad: Cong
School
belies govt claims Teachers seek end to
mass transfers
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HP decision may hit quality of PWD works Shimla, November 5 Hitherto, these two important building materials, which account for more than half of the total cost of material, were procured by the department in bulk from manufacturers and further allotted to contractors executing works as per the requirement. This not only helped maintain high quality but also made the materials available at very reasonable rates. However, as per the latest decision of the government, the department will not procure steel and cement any more. The contractors will be asked to arrange these on their own. This will have a direct impact on the cost of works as the contractors will have to purchase the material from market at higher rates. For instance, a bag of cement costs about Rs 160 whereas the department has been procuring it at Rs 130. Similarly, the department had been procuring top quality steel from Steel Authority of India (SAIL) and some other select manufacturers at an average cost of Rs 15 per kg which is about 20 per cent cheaper than the market rate. As such, the cost of works will go up, putting an additional financial burden on the fund-starved government. More important than the cost is the quality factor. Inferior grade cement and steel are available in the market at low rates. The steel made from scrap is available at half the rates. Contractors, who are in the business to earn money, are most likely to go for it. The department will find it hard to monitor the quality of material. Moreover, it will be virtually impossible for it to ensure that adequate quantity of steel and cement, was used in accordance with the approved design. At present, the cement is released to contractors as per the requirement and even at the site it is kept under double lock. Even then, there is a lot of pilferage of cement in connivance with the staff and much of it is sold on the black market. In a situation when the cement is to be procured by contractor, he is likely to make do with the minimum quantity. This will affect the quality of works. The department has been procuring thermo-mechanically treated steel from SAIL for bridges and multi-storeyed as the quality of steel produced by private manufacturers is not always as good. The government has apparently taken the decision on the pattern of the Surface Transport Ministry. However, unlike the HP Government, the ministry deals with big projects running into crores of rupees executed by reported construction companies, which have the resources to procure material in bulk. The department has urged the government to review the decision. It has suggested that the procurement of cement and steel should be entrusted to the contractors only in big projects with cost in excess of Rs 1 crore. There will be practical difficulties in implementing the decision for all works. Ensuring quality of material and overall construction work will be difficult and some contractors may find it beyond their means to procure the material. |
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Heavy snowfall in HP freezes lakes Shimla, November 5 Certain natural water sources and ponds in the vicinity of Surajtal (16,000 feet) in Lahaul valley and Chandertal (15,500 feet) in Spiti valley have also frozen with the temperature dipping to -10° C to -15° C. The
Manali-Leh road and the Manali-Keylong road were blocked to vehicular traffic because of the snowfall with the 16,000-feet Baralacha Pass and the 13,050-feet Rohtang Pass recording 75 cm and 35 cm of snow, respectively. Hundreds of vehicles are reportedly stranded on the
Manali-Leh road. Telecommunication services in the Lahaul valley have been disrupted.
UNI |
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CM charged with political vendetta Paonta (Nahan), November 5 The rally was addressed by former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh who said the present government had become “burden” on people. He charged the Chief Minister with “political vendetta” and unfulfilling election promises. He said a 26-point chargesheet against him had been forwarded to the CBI by the Chief Minister but the CBI had given him a clean chit. In all districts, Congress workers were being implicated, he alleged. Mr Virbhadra Singh referred to “anti-people” decisions of the government, including the recent hike in electricity charges, and assured that after coming to power, he would reverse these decisions. He also said the recent amendment passed by the state Assembly to return shamlat land to its real owners was nothing more than a political stunt as provisions of this Act did not allow to return the land of majority of farmers in Sirmour and other parts of the state. He opposed the terms on which the state government was signing MoUs with semi-government and private parties for the construction of hydel projects. On this occasion, 12 MLAs and 6 former ministers, including Thakur Kaul Singh, Mr Chander Kumar, Mr Gangu Ram
Musafir, Mr Brij Bhiari Lal Butail, Mr G.S. Bali, Mr Ishwar Dass, Mr Yoginder Chander, Mr Rattan Singh, Mr Harsh Vardhan Chauhan, Mr Kush Parmar and Dr Prem Singh also spoke. |
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Reports
on pending appeals ‘not right’ Shimla, November 5 In a statement here today, Mr Virbhadra Singh said these views “can be of those responsible for committing these irregularities”. Nearly 28 appeals are pending before the high command and the appellants have been given a personal hearing by the committee constituted for the purpose. A final decision is under consideration of the high command. Mr Virbhadra Singh said there was no question of putting off a decision on these appeals as the high command was aware of the urgency of early disposal on these matters to strengthen the party by removing discontent. |
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Virbhadra’s remarks
ridiculed Shimla, November 5 He said people of the state had rejected Mr Virbhadra Singh’s leadership during the last Assembly elections keeping in mind his “dictatorial” attitude. His statement expressing his intent to demolish houses of the poor reflected the same feudal mentality, he alleged. He said the present government under the leadership of Prof P.K. Dhumal had carried out a systematic development. He also took exception to Mr Virbhadra Singh allegedly threatening senior officers of the state government who were looking into the “irregularities” in land cases of his family. |
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CPM to launch stir on tariff hike Shimla, November 5 The decision was taken at a meeting of the state secretariat of the CPM today. A CPM leader, Mr Tikender Singh Panwar, said the BJP government has increased the tariff between 28 and 100 per cent for the domestic consumers. He alleged that economically viable hydel projects were being handed over to private parties for construction. The BJP was just doing the opposite of what it had been preaching regarding the power sector while it was in the opposition, he alleged. The CPM has demanded that effective steps should be taken to tap the hydroelectric potential and interests of the state should be watched. |
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BJP on shaky
ground: HPCC Dharamsala, November 5 Talking to mediapersons, she said the success of the Lambroo rally in Hamirpur district had clearly indicated that the Congress was on a come-back trail. “The insecurity in the BJP camp can be gauged from the fact that even the Chief Minister, Prof P.K. Dhumal, is visiting his constituency regularly, the credit of which goes to the Congress,” she said. Commenting on the vikas yatra undertaken by the BJP, she said it was the responsibility of the government to undertake development works and there was no need to take credit for them. She criticised the government for hiking power tariff for the third time since the BJP-HVC combine came to power. “This hike is once
again a pro-rich decision, as the industry will benefit from it while it is the common man who will have to face the brunt by paying heavy electricity bills”, she said. |
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Kangra roads
bad: Cong Dharamsala, November 5 Addressing a press conference here today, she said development works in Kangra district had been affected and the condition of roads and health institutions was bad. “What I fail to understand is if there is no dearth of money for works in Hamirpur district then why was Kangra being ignored,” she quipped. She said the political differences between the Chief Minister and Mr Shanta Kumar, was the main reason why the biggest district in the state was being ignored, “The condition of the roads in Kangra is so poor that if no maintenance work is done the roads will become kutcha by the next year,” she said. She said the condition of zonal hospital here and other health institutions in the district was really bad. Taking up the cause of the villages falling under the Yol Cantonment Board, she said seven villages had been demanding panchayats for a long time. It was in 1985 that four of the villages under the Cantonment Board were made panchayats, as they were facing a lot of problems like shortage of water and electricity,” she said. She said the local minister, Mr Kishan Kapoor and the Union Minister, Mr Shanta Kumar should take up the matter with the Defence Minister. |
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Student body seeks
VC’s resignation Shimla, November 5 Talking to mediapersons here today the SCA President, Mr Narinder Atri, alleged that due to the negligence of the university authorities the incidents of violence have increased. The SCA has further alleged that the SFI was involved in this violence. The ABVP was preparing for the state conference which would be held in Una. Mr Atri alleged that the police has also turned a blind eye to the violence. Many students have been attacked by the SFI in the presence of the police. The two boys hostels, Tagore and Y.S. Parmar, have been closed for the past three days and the students are suffering. They have either shifted to other hostels or have left for their homes to prepare for their examination. |
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School belies govt claims Jaisingpur, November 5 Government Middle School Tikkari-Dhabi in this subdivision is one such school. It started in January after a notification was made in September 2000. The school has six teachers and 46 students but even after a year, the government has neither provided rooms nor mats for the students. Besides, there are no blackboards. The teachers take classes in the open and a holiday is declared whenever it rains. A local BDC member, Mr Sarwan Kumar Bhatia, said people had donated money for mats, blackboards, and chairs. He said the government should do something about the infrastructure before opening new schools. Although the local MLA and Technical Education Minister Ravinder ‘Ravi’ said money had been sanctioned for the school during a “jansampark abhiyan” at Kutahan village, this correspondent was told by sources at the Block Development Office at Lambagaon, that no amount had been sanctioned. The Pardhan, Mr Om Parkash, said he had written several times to the Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, in this regard but nothing had happened. |
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Teachers
seek end to mass transfers Bilaspur, November 5 Addressing mediapersons here today, union president Roshanlal Sharma, general secretary Shivdyal Chaudhary and secretary (headquarters) Subhash Chandel also demanded that the vacant posts in schools should be filled in the interest of students and standard of education. They said that despite statements of the government that schools were providing better education, transfers of teachers on “extraneous considerations” at mid-session were proving counter-productive. |
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Four hurt in
factory blast Hamirpur, November 5 |
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