H I M A C H A L   P R A D E S H

Dhumal justifies ‘vikas yatra’
Dharamsala, November 11
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal today said the overwhelming public response to the BJP’s vikas yatra had rattled the Congress. The Chief Minister was addressing a public meeting at Nurpur organised to mark the conclusion of the yatra.

HP SAD to move court Introduction of Punjabi in schools delayed Paonta Sahib, November 11 Upset over the delaying tactics of the Himachal Pradesh Government in implementing its own decision of introducing Punjabi in all schools of the state, the State unit of the SAD is all set to take the battle to the court.

New revenue laws favour farmer
Shimla, November 11
Amendments made in the age-old revenue laws in Himachal Pradesh to make them realistic in the present day circumstances has brought about a perceptible bonanza for the farming community in the state. The land revenue laws that prevailed in the state date back to 1954 based on the Punjab Land Revenue Act and had become obsolete and irrelevant in certain terms.

Decision on copter licence today
Shimla, November 11
Even as the Mesco Airlines is fighting a legal battle for the restoration of its flying licence, the Himachal Government is planning to operate its own helicopter service by taking its grounded aircraft on dry lease.

Kinnaur tribesmen throng Lavi fair
Shimla, November 11
The 400-year-old Lavi fair today began at Rampur with traditional gaiety and fanfare. Tribesmen from the remote Kinnaur and Kaza areas arrived with their Pashmina wool, Cheegus high-mountain goats, Chamurti horses and dry fruits in larger numbers than the previous year, thanks to the restoration of the road link which had snapped due to flash-floods last year.

CM opens Hathali bridge
Hamirpur, November 11
HP Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal dedicated to the local people a 20m-long bridge over Hathali khud near Ghanal village, near here yesterday. A sum of Rs 44.36 lakh had been spent on its construction.

Seminar on advances in cardiac care
Shimla, November 11
Non-availability of donors is the main hurdle preventing doctors from performing heart transplants in the country, says Dr Achintya Moulick, senior cardio-thoracic surgeon, Fortis Heart Institute.

Allocate more funds for education : ABVP
Una, November 11
The Centre and the state government should allocate more funds for the development of education. This was stated by Mr Dineshanand Goswami, president, All-India Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, while talking to mediapersons today after the two-day state-level ABVP conference.

Jawan cremated with honours
Hamirpur, November 11
Naveen Kumar, 21, who died fighting militants in Jammu and Kashmir on November 8 was cremated with state honours at Jhaniara village today. Hundreds of villagers were present at the crematorium.

Dhumal justifies ‘vikas yatra’
Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, November 11
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal today said the overwhelming public response to the BJP’s vikas yatra had rattled the Congress.

The Chief Minister was addressing a public meeting at Nurpur organised to mark the conclusion of the yatra.

Lashing out at the Congress, he said the ‘vikas yatra,’ which was being termed as the ‘vinash yatra’ by the Congress, would prove to be the death knell of the oldest political party of the country.

Mr Dhumal said as compared to 90 bridges built by the Congress the BJP had already made 172 bridges and 2097 km of road.

The Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Mr Shanta Kumar, said the NDA government had agreed to provide more funds to the state governments so that they could undertake developmental work. The Share of Himachal Pradesh has gone up to Rs 2700 crore,” he added.

Mr Shanta Kumar stressed on uplift of the poor and farmers as they constituted a large percentage of the population.

The Gujarat Chief Minister, Mr Narender Modi lauded the efforts made by the Dhumal government in making Himachal a model hill state.

HAMIRPUR (FOC): The Chief Minister, Prof Prem Kumar Dhumal, on Sunday justified the taking out of the vikas yatra in the state. He said it was the prerogative of the party to take out such yatras to highlight the achievements of its government.

Talking to reporters here this morning, he said the vikas yatra was a success and the people from all over the state had responded. He clarified that while the government was responsible to the House, the MPs and the MLAs were responsible to the people who had voted them to power.

Prof Dhumal wondered why the Congress was upset over the yatra and termed it to be a big flop. He said the Congress failed to take out such yatras during its regime, as it had done nothing for the people to claim credit.

The Chief Minister said the main achievement of the BJP government in the state was to secure funds from the Centre. He thanked Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for giving liberal grants to the state for its development activities.

Contrary to this, the Congress leaders had failed to get even a single penny from the Centre during their long rule.

HP SAD to move court
Introduction of Punjabi in schools delayed
Tribune News Service

Paonta Sahib, November 11
Upset over the delaying tactics of the Himachal Pradesh Government in implementing its own decision of introducing Punjabi in all schools of the state, the State unit of the SAD is all set to take the battle to the court.

“The state government has not only gone slow over the implementation of its own decision taken more than two years ago, but has even started discontinuing teaching of Punjabi in some schools to the great discomfiture of students. Only recourse left for us is legal action,” says Mr Paramjit Singh Chanana, general secretary.

It was on May 10, 1999, that the Himachal Council of Ministers took a policy decision to introduce Punjabi in high schools in some selected districts. The Himachal School Education Board also introduced examinations in Punjabi last year in those schools in which the number of students studying the language was 20 or more.

Since the Education Department did not have sufficient number of trained Punjabi teachers, some volunteers started conducting these classes. The Department decided to send batches of 30 teachers each to the Punjab Language Department, Patiala, for an orientation course.

In the absence of any concerted plan, the decision could not be implemented. A convention was convened in April this year where the Chief Minister, the Education Minister, Secretary and Director of Education were called and it was decided to introduce Punjabi in 140 high schools of Sirmour, Solan, Bilaspur, Una and Kangra as part of a pilot project from the 2001-2002 academic session.

The Education Department in its first list mentioned only 50 schools for teaching of Punjabi. Only five schools of Paonta Sahib figured in this list, whereas Punjabi was being taught in about 20 schools of this tehsil. A formal letter was issued by the District Education Officer, Sirmour on August 30 mentioning only five schools of Paonta Sahib. As a result, the headmasters and principals of the remaining 15 schools on one pretext or the other, started discontinuing Punjabi classes leaving the students in the lurch. In some of these schools, volunteers were teaching Punjabi.

New revenue laws favour farmer
Tribune News Service

Shimla, November 11
Amendments made in the age-old revenue laws in Himachal Pradesh to make them realistic in the present day circumstances has brought about a perceptible bonanza for the farming community in the state. The land revenue laws that prevailed in the state date back to 1954 based on the Punjab Land Revenue Act and had become obsolete and irrelevant in certain terms.

Kisan Passbooks are being given to all farmers in the state. It is obligatory for each passbook holder to get it updated from time to time with all entries of land purchases, transfers and harvest inspections etc. The passbooks will facilitate a farmer in getting loan and subsidy from banks, cooperative societies, government and other recognised financial institutions.

Various certificates such as banafide Himachali, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBC, IRDP etc., will be issued on the basis of Kisan Passbooks.

The procedure of record-of-rights has been simplified and made transparent by carrying out amendments in the corresponding section. Provisions have been made in Section 33 of the Act to prevent mistakes and ensure accurate and reliable records. It has been made mandatory to supply copies of settlement jamabandis and field map to right holders who have also been conferred the right under the law to represent against the entries in the records, if wrongly made, thus ensuring transparency and faith of the right holders.

To save the farmers from unnecessary and costly litigation a new concept of revenue courts has been introduced by amending the laws accordingly. The jurisdiction of revenue officers and civil courts has been demarcated clearly and for revenue matters within the Revenue Department a concept of revenue courts has been introduced. For this purpose new sections have been inserted in the Act.

The procedure for private partitions has also been simplified by amending the concerned sections of the Act to enable the revenue officer to affirm the partition and then attest the mutation within a period of one month after receiving the application.

Decision on copter licence today
Rakesh Lohumi
Tribune News Service

Shimla, November 11
Even as the Mesco Airlines is fighting a legal battle for the restoration of its flying licence, the Himachal Government is planning to operate its own helicopter service by taking its grounded aircraft on dry lease.

The government has applied to the Director General of Civil Aviation for a flying licence. The decision on this is likely to be taken at the meeting of the Licencing Committee scheduled for tomorrow.

The 16-seater aircraft, which the government had taken on wet lease from the Mesco Airlines, was grounded on September 5 after the Director General of Civil Aviation cancelled the flying licence of the company on security considerations on the recommendation of the union Home Ministry.

Kinnaur tribesmen throng Lavi fair
Tribune News Service

Shimla, November 11
The 400-year-old Lavi fair today began at Rampur with traditional gaiety and fanfare. Tribesmen from the remote Kinnaur and Kaza areas arrived with their Pashmina wool, Cheegus high-mountain goats, Chamurti horses and dry fruits in larger numbers than the previous year, thanks to the restoration of the road link which had snapped due to flash-floods last year. However, they were outnumbered by traders from the plains who were selling all types of goods, ranging from refrigerators to readymade garments.

Inaugurating the fair, Dr Suraj Bhan, Himachal Governor, underlined the need for preserving the rich cultural heritage of the state and its traditional values.

He said fairs and festivals provided an opportunity to people to get together and thus helped to strengthen the bonds of brotherhood and national unity.

CM opens Hathali bridge
Our Correspondent

Hamirpur, November 11
HP Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal dedicated to the local people a 20m-long bridge over Hathali khud near Ghanal village, near here yesterday. A sum of Rs 44.36 lakh had been spent on its construction.

While addressing a public meeting at Balh village, the Chief Minister gave a call to the people to donate land for the construction of roads.

Ms Urmila Thakur, HP Parliamentary Secretary, welcomed the Chief Minister on the occasion.

Seminar on advances in cardiac care
Tribune News Service

Shimla, November 11
Non-availability of donors is the main hurdle preventing doctors from performing heart transplants in the country, says Dr Achintya Moulick, senior cardio-thoracic surgeon, Fortis Heart Institute (FHI).

Speaking at a seminar on “advances in cardiac care” organised by the FHI, he said heart transplant was a relatively cheaper cure for many cardiac problems. ‘‘While in the USA and other advanced countries the cost of heart transplant surgery was about Rs 45 lakh, in India it costs about Rs 3.5 lakh, ’’ he said.

Dr Jagmohan Verma, senior consultant, invasive cardiology, FHI, said Indians were four times more prone to heart maladies as their coronary arteries were smaller .

Allocate more funds for education : ABVP
Our Correspondent

Una, November 11
The Centre and the state government should allocate more funds for the development of education. This was stated by Mr Dineshanand Goswami, president, All-India Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, while talking to mediapersons today after the two-day state-level ABVP conference.

Mr Goswami said a resolution had been passed demanding a National Education Commission which would be responsible for approving the education policy, providing funds for education and selecting Vice-Chancellors of various universities and senior education officials. Mr Goswami said the conference had also demanded that various subjects should be made job-oriented. 

Jawan cremated with honours
Our Correspondent

Hamirpur, November 11
Naveen Kumar, 21, who died fighting militants in Jammu and Kashmir on November 8 was cremated with state honours at Jhaniara village today. Hundreds of villagers were present at the crematorium.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and Parliamentary Secretary Urmila Thakur were among those who visited the home of the deceased Rashtriya Rifles jawan and consoled the bereaved family.