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Wednesday,
December 26, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Year that kept CM
on tenterhooks Women panel seeks murder
report Rattan appointed
HPCC spokesman Palampur hospital to be ‘functional’ in 2 yrs Removal of BJP dist chief
demanded |
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HP Jats seek
OBC status PM’s birthday celebrated Power JEs threaten
agitation BADDI DIARY
Snow eludes
tourists on Xmas HPSEB told to refund Rs 1.45 lakh
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Year that kept CM
on tenterhooks Shimla, December 25 The year that is ringing out kept Mr Dhumal on tenterhooks as the dissidents revived their revolt against him. However, he dealt firmly with the situation and sacked the four ministers, Mr K.K. Kapoor, Mr Ramesh Dhwala, Mr Rajan Sushant and Mr Harinarayan Singh. The earlier revolt by them in November last year was against the “growing corruption, nepotism and regional discrimination, but this time they were annoyed following registration of cases against three ministers at Kangra. They were reinstalled only after a compromise with the intervention of the BJP high command and the RSS. The love-hate relationship between the ruling alliance partners of the BJP and HVC kept the people guessing about the moves of the latter. The year brought reprieve for the CLP leader, Mr Virbhadra Singh, with the clean chit of the CBI regarding the allegations which were being levelled against him by the BJP-HVC government for the past three years when they came to power. The state government had referred a “charge sheet” against Mr Virbhadra Singh to the CBI for investigations. Meanwhile, charges were framed against the HVC chief, Mr Sukh Ram, by a CBI court in a case pertaining to the seizure of unaccounted money from his house about five years ago. Towards the end of the year, an FIR was registered against a Congress MLA, Ms Asha Kumari, her husband, Mr Brijender Singh, and four others for alleged irregularities in transfer of land. There was no increase in the Annual Plan size of the state by the Centre which remained at Rs 1720 crores. The Opposition accused the Dhumal government of financial mismanagement which had led to this situation. The appointment of Mr Hamid Karzai as head of the interim government in Afghanistan has come as a pleasant surprise for his teachers and friends here as he had his higher education in Himachal Pradesh University. Himachal Pradesh took a lead in the key sectors of information technology and biotechnology as two schemes were inaugurated here by the Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani and the Information Minister, Mr Pramod Mahajan. Mr Dhumal continued to give top priority to the power sector and the Malana project was commissioned in a record time. The short closure of the loan for the prestigious 1500 MW Nathpa Jhakri power project by the World Bank has come as a setback, but this is unlikely to affect the construction of the project. Work on the project was stopped twice during the year by the Environment Ministry for violation of the norms. The thrilling motor race of the Raid-de-Himalaya was marred with the deaths of three participants, two of whom, Nand Lal Chaudhary and Jaswinder Pal, were from Shimla. A British motorcyclist John Mark James also lost his life. The state reeled under two successive droughts this year resulting in a lot of problems for the poor farmers whose crops were lost. Dr S.D. Sharma was appointed Vice-Chancellor of the HPU following the death of Prof S.K. Gupta. The state government rejected the recommendation of the Minorities Commission to teach Punjabi in all schools from Class VI onwards. Illegal constructions continued to come up throughout the earthquake-prone state, particularly in Shimla, despite the resolve of the government to deal with the violators sternly. But what the government failed to do was executed in the Vashisht village near Manali where the local residents pulled down some illegal structures on the orders of the “deity”. What came as a shock for the middle class was the 15 per cent hike in the power tariff ordered by the Electricity Regulatory Commission. This was the third power tariff hike in the past three years. All members of the Legislative Assembly were given laptop computers in the winter session which concluded a day before Christmas. The withdrawal of the defamation case against the Union Minister, Mr Shanta Kumar, by the CLP leader, Mr Virbhadra Singh, was another highlight of the year. The three-year-old rare snow leopard, Rozy, died in captivity at Kufri exposing the poor condition of the zoos in the state. The rejection by the Centre of the move of the state government to levy power generation tax came as a severe setback to Himachal Pradesh which was facing acute financial crisis. The Health Department was rocked with the arrest of three directors of Health Services for their alleged involvement in the purchase of medicines and equipment from time to time. This did not dampen the spirits of the government and the “Himachal Health Vision-2020” was released for implementing various schemes for better health care. The Cabinet approved a 10-year tax holiday under the Entertainment Act and Cinematography Shows Act to promote tourism. The new education code of the state was released and the earth station uplinking the Shimla Doordarshan with satellite was inaugurated. |
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Women panel seeks murder
report Nurpur, December 25 Ms Malvika Pathania, Chairperson of the commission, in a statement said today the commission had taken notice of the suspected murder suo moto following the news published in newspapers recently. She said the commission after examining the report would take action on its own. Earlier, the police has registered a case under Sections 498 A and 306 of the IPC against the in-laws of the deceased, who was married four years ago. But following the post-mortem report and circumstantial evidence it suspected that she had been murdered. The mother-in-law and the husband of the deceased had been arrested. Ms Pathania while expressing concern admitted that there had been a spurt in atrocities on women in some parts of the state. She said the commission would soon organise a women awareness camp in the Nurpur area to educate women about their rights and functioning of the commission. |
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Rattan appointed
HPCC spokesman Shimla, December 25 Mr Rattan, a former MLA, was recently re-inducted into the Congress. He had earlier joined the Himachal Vikas Congress and then went with Mr Mohinder Singh after the party split. The supporters of the CLP leader, Mr Virbhadra Singh, had protested against his re-induction as he was a signatory to the “charge-sheet” against him which was rejected by the CBI. |
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Palampur hospital to be ‘functional’ in 2 yrs New Delhi, December 25 Addressing to a gathering at his residence, Union Minister for Food Distribution and Consumer Affairs Shanta Kumar, who is a trustee of the trust, said the hospital would be run at a ‘no-profit basis’ and 20 per cent of the patients, belonging to poor families, would be treated free of cost. He assured that a foolproof criterion would be evolved to decide the poor families. Urging the gathering, which mostly comprised people belonging to Himachal Pradesh, to contribute liberally towards the upcoming hospital, Mr Shanta Kumar said it would serve the people from the hills who had to go to Chandigarh for specialised treatment. “Sometimes the delay proves fatal,” he added. Announcing that Rs 9 crore had been collected for the construction of hospital, he said the project conceived in 1992 was being realised now. The construction of the first phase, which would cost Rs 40 crore, had started, the minister said. While residents of Kangra had collected Rs 1 crore for the proposed hospital, natives of Himachal Pradesh living in Mumbai and Chandigarh had also started mobilising funds for it, he added. Businessmen and physicians gathered on the occasion, including Mr Kapil Mohan, Dr B M Abrol, Dr T C Mahant, Dr Randhir Sood and Mr Vikram Raina, promised all help in setting up the hospital. Mr Jaikishan Sharma, president of the Himachal Pradesh unit of the BJP, was also present. |
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Removal of BJP dist chief
demanded Hamirpur, December 25 Led by Mr Dhian Chand Sharma, former vice-president of the Nadaunta unit of the party, alleged that Mr Sharma was behaving like a dictator and harassing his opponents, including party leaders, who were opposed to his wrongdoings. Addressing a press conference at a hotel here today, the dissident BJP activists levelled a number of charges against Mr Sharma. They demanded a CBI probe into the property amassed by him since he became the MLA and the district BJP chief. They alleged that he was helping the forest mafia and providing government contracts to his relatives and friends. They have decided to burn the effigy of the district BJP chief on December 31 if the BJP high command failed to take any action against him by then. They, however, refused to tell the venue where the effigy would be burnt. |
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HP Jats seek
OBC status Kangra, December 25 The demand was raised by the president of the HP Jat Kalyan Parishad, Mr H.S. Gill, while addressing a press conference here today. Mr Gill said 70,000 Jats comprised 1 per cent of the state population. He said they had been demanding OBC status for quite some but no avail. Mr Gill demanded that a commission be constituted to assess whether the Jat community was, socially, politically, financially and education a backward community and then the government might take a decision in this regard. He said the Girth community here, which has the same social status as the Jats, have already been notified as OBCs. |
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PM’s birthday celebrated Shimla, December 25 The Vice-President of the state BJP, Suresh Bhardwaj, led the party men to Kamla Nehru Hospital, where they offered sweets to the patients. Earlier in the morning, a yagya was held. KULU (OC):
The 78th birthday of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was celebrated with great fervour in Lahaul and Spiti today. Mr Narang Upasak, general secretary of the Lahaul Bodh Mahasabha, said community prayers were held for the long life of the Prime Minister. |
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Power JEs threaten
agitation Hamirpur, December 25 In a statement here today, Mr D.S. Dhatwalia, Mr H.S.Pathania and Mr A.K. Katna, general secretary of the state association, president and general secretary of the district association, respectively, blamed the board for declaring their 193 posts surplus, which according to them was against the interests of the junior engineers. They said while on one hand the board was facing shortage of junior engineers and on the other their posts had been declared surplus. They have also urged the board management and the state government to accept their long-pending demands, including giving them promotions and time scales, failing which they would be compelled to launch an agitation. |
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BADDI DIARY
Baddi About 450 students from 11 districts had participated in the cultural meet. The minister also listed the achievements of his department and said that 13,612 rooms would be constructed in government schools under the Saraswati Bal Vidya Sankalp Yojna. Of these, about 7,000 rooms had already been constructed, he said. In the three years and a half this government had been in office, about 10,000 teachers had been appointed, he said. He promised to upgrade the Malahni middle school to the high school level in the next academic session. The Town and Country Planning Minister, Mr HN Saini, who presided over the function, said that 300 rooms had been constructed in various schools in Nalagarh tehsil. The minister donated Rs 50,000 for the construction of a government girls school at Nalagarh. A matching amount was donated by a social worker, Mr Bramanand, for the school building. * * * * This industrial belt consisting of about 600 big and small units is supervised by just two pollution control officers. It thus becomes difficult for them to monitor the entire area where several units often discharge toxic effluents into water bodies. In less than one year, four instances of death of fish caused by toxic effluents have been reported, highlighting the need for more staff to enforce norms of pollution control. Industrial units often switch off their effluent treatment plants to save power. Though the department has made it mandatory to install energy meters to ensure uninterrupted running of effluent treatment plants, yet this norm is not followed strictly.
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Snow eludes
tourists on Xmas Shimla, December 25 There was an unusual rush at the tourist destinations, including Kufri, which had snow a few days ago. Meanwhile The Himachal Pradesh Governor, Dr Suraj Bhan, has greeted the Christian brethren on Christmas, wishing them happiness and joy on the auspicious occasion. The state Chief Minister, Prof P.K. Dhumal, has also greeted the people of the state on Christmas. In his message, Professor Dhumal said the ‘Christ’s message of peace, love and universal brotherhood was relevant today. |
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HPSEB told to refund Rs 1.45 lakh Shimla, December 25 This order was passed by Mr P.D. Goel, president of the forum, on a complaint by the firm alleging that the board had overcharged Rs 68,550 for the period between November 26 and December 25, 1996, and Rs 76,796 for February 26 and March 25, 1996. |
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Congress to launch awareness drive
Shimla, December 25 |
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