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Thursday,
December 13, 2001, Chandigarh, India
  
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Himalayan Festival ends Punish coffin scam guilty: Dhumal Problems galore for geography students Students boycott classes, hold rally 30 hurt in bus mishap |
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Drive against pollution Drivers’ union chief found
dead Call to boycott foreign goods Sal rivulet drying up Police launches film project for school kids Uncertainty over REC interviews Calendar to carry Sobha Singh’s portrait
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Himalayan Festival ends Dharamsala, December 12 Professor Rinpoche was speaking at the concluding function of the three-day Himalayan International Festival organised at McLeodganj. The festival is celebrated every year on December 10 to commemorate the conferment of the Nobel Peace Prize on the Tibetan spiritual leader, Dalai Lama. Professor
Rinpoche, thanked India and its people for their help by allowing Tibetan refugees to live in the country and preserve their culture and tradition which was under threat in China. “The remarks of the Indian Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, before the President of the USA, that for India Tibet was not a piece of land, but an ancient
civilisation, reflects their sentiments”, he stated. Speaking on the occasion the Chairman of the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Corporation
(HPTDC), Mr Rakesh Pathania, said the government was committed towards promoting McLeodganj as an international tourist destination. “Within next year, we will complete the sewerage work and provide parking place for 500 vehicles”, he assured the people. Mr Pathania lauded the efforts of the Indo-Tibetan Friendship Association (ITFA) in organising the show, which further strengthened the friendly relations between Indians and Tibetan community. He announced a grant of Rs 1 lakh for the ITFA for organising the show. |
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Punish coffin scam guilty: Dhumal Shimla, December 12 Prof Dhumal, who was talking to newspersons here today, claimed that nothing wrong was done at the level of the Defence Minister in the purchase of the coffins for soldiers killed in the Kargil conflict and the officials involved in the scam should not be spared. He appreciated the intention of the government to carry the bodies of the soldiers to their native places for cremation with full honours and said the findings of CAG would be taken seriously by the government. He alleged that the Congress during its rule never took the report of CAG seriously. He lashed out at the Congress and asked it to do an introspection. He said the 86 MW Malana power project was commissioned in a record time of two and a half years. He said the Congress had failed to safeguard the interests of the state in the Bhakra Beas management projects where Himachal Pradesh was to get 7.19 per cent share but Congress governments settled the issue at 2.5 per cent. He said the BJP-HVC government had got sanctioned four national highways from the Central Government and had constructed 2097 km stretch of roads, besides the metalling of 2250 km. Budget on education was increased from Rs 356 crore in 1997-98 to Rs 932 crore for the current financial year, besides raising the annual Plan from Rs 1,008 to Rs 1,720 crore, he said. He claimed that the “vikas yatra” launched by the government was a great success. |
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Problems galore for geography students Shimla, December 12 The students in the department are facing various problems. There are 59 students in the faculty who have been accommodated in two rooms. Even the classrooms are not up to the mark. The walls of the rooms are in bad condition. Research scholars have no proper sitting arrangement. “We have no room in the faculty where we can do our research work” say the students. They allege that they have no alternative but to sit in the open or in the corridors. A reader and two lecturers run the faculty. One post of Professor and one of lecturer are lying vacant. Two laboratory attendants are required. Due to the lack of adequate staff, M.Phil students have been teaching the students. The students allege that the library does not have the latest books on the subject. The students of the department have formed a society. Since the university did not provide funds to the department, so last year the students themselves undertook the paint and whitewash work. The students said memorandums had been submitted twice to the Vice-Chancellor in this regard. Besides, students have even been deprived of basic facilities like drinking water and toilets. The authorities have also failed to provide proper accommodation to the Visual Arts Department. The departments of geography, visual arts and journalism and mass communication are still being run in congested rooms. The students have urged the authorities to solve their problems. |
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Students boycott classes, hold rally Kangra, December 12 Sunil Sharma and Kapil Choudary, presidents of the ABVP and the ACS, respectively, held a dharna in front of the college in protest against their suspension from the college and a ban on their entry into the college premises ordered by the college management for allegedly indulging in indiscipline on Monday. Some students, however, attended the classes. The protesting students gathered at the local municipal stadium here when the police asked them to shift the venue of dharna. Mr S.K. Sharma, Principal of the college, told this correspondent that both suspended students had been asked to report along with their parents before the inquiry committee by 4 p.m. today. The student leaders refuted charges of indiscipline levelled against them and refused to appear before the committee. They alleged that they had been threatened of
rustication and would be made to suffer in their practicals. The students said they had conveyed their demands to the District Administration through the local ADM yesterday and sought their intervention. Student leaders said if their demands were not accepted by tomorrow they would start a hunger strike in front of the college from tomorrow. Meanwhile, the Principal said the student leaders were unauthorised to represent the students as the Students Central Association (SCA) constituted under the provisions of the ordinance of HP was a legal and legitimate body for taking up the issues of the students. He said the college was contemplating action only after the receipt of the inquiry committee report this evening. |
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30 hurt in bus mishap Palampur, December 12 All injured have been shifted to the local Civil Hospital where the condition of three persons was stated to be serious. Soon after the accident, the SDM and DSP, Palampur, reached the spot and supervised the rescue operation. The SDM told mediapersons that the driver of the bus had been arrested and a case of rash and negligent driving registered against him. He said he was also reported to be under the influence of liquor. The injured have been given Rs 2000 each as immediate relief. Eyewitnessed say the accident took place when the driver failed to control the bus due to overspeeding. Later an army recovery vehicle was called to lift the bus and rescue passengers. |
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Drive against pollution Baddi, December 12 The Mining Department has instructed the seven stone crushers operating in this region to suspend their operations from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. They have also been directed to use water sprinklers and spray enough water on approach roads so as to prevent stone dust from spreading in the periphery. They have also been advised to do the crushing in protected sheds. The Pollution Control Department is also taking the help of the police to check noise pollution resulting from the use of pressure horns. The Superintendent of Police, Mr Z.H. Zaidi, says that they have undertaken a campaign to remove pressure horns from vehicles in addition to challaning the violators. The areas have been categorised in different zones. An area of at least 100 metres around educational institutions and hospitals will be declared silence zones. |
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Drivers’ union chief found
dead Mandi, December 12 According to the police, he came yesterday evening to Sarkaghat in the Delhi-Sarkaghat bus. He hitched a lift in the jeep of Baldev to his village, where he was reportedly dropped around 8.45 p.m. It is suspected from the bruises on his throat that he was strangled to death. The body has been sent for a post-mortem. The Deputy Superintendent of Police, Sarkaghat, is investigating the case. In another incident, one person was killed and three others were injured when the tractor in which they were travelling skidded off the road while the driver was negotiating a sharp curve at Khalog, near Pangna, in Karsog subdivision of the district last night. The deceased has been identified as Moti Ram, resident of Rodhi village. |
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Call to boycott foreign goods Hamirpur, December 12 Addressing a function organised here today to observe Babu Genu balidan divas, he said people should adopt Indian items rather than hankering after foreign goods. He said multinational companies were harming the local industry by dumping their items into Indian markets at cheaper rates. The function was presided over by Mr Baldep Singh Parmar, a senior RSS leader of the state. He blasted the Congress for the influx of foreign companies in India, adding that the party had failed to protect the interests of the country at various WTO conferences. |
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Sal rivulet drying up Chamba, December 12 Colonel Vaid said where water was diverted into the tunnel Channel, the river bed had turned into a gutter. Any fish or river life had lost its connection with the Ravi waters. The waters of the Sal stream were becoming a breeding ground for various diseases. It carried mosquitoes and other pathogens. Moreover, a religiously significant funeral ground of the local Hindus, established at the confluence of the rivulet and the Ravi had been destroyed, he added. |
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Police launches film project for school kids Solan, December 12 The Superintendent of Police, Mr S.Z.H. Zaidi, who conceived the idea of the film, while having an informal pre-launch talk with local mediapersons, and a noted documentary film-maker, Major Harbans Sharma, who is on the panel of the University Grants Commission as well as several TV channels, including Doordarshan, would be directing the film while he himself had written the script. Two business houses — T-Series and Vardhman Woolen Mills — have agreed to sponsor the project. The cast has been selected from among local artistes and school students. He said the film would be shown as part o the school curriculum in privately-run schools and hopefully in government school as well. |
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Uncertainty over REC interviews Hamirpur, December 12 The decision to put off the interviews was taken as per orders of the Chief Minister, who was unhappy over ignoring Himachali candidates for various posts of the teacher. Sources told this reporter here this evening that the college authorities were still in touch with the state government to get a final decision from there regarding the fate of the interviews under the CAS, which were slated for December 14 and 15. The college authorities are also in a piquant situation as three college teachers have gone to the Himachal Pradesh High Court against the decision of the college authorities for not considering them for the interviews for the posts advertised under the Direct and CAS categories. |
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Calendar to carry Sobha Singh’s portrait Shimla, December 12 The Department of Posts recently issued a postage stamp on Sobha Singh in connection with his centenary. |
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Panchayat chief Bilaspur, December 12
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