'Stir if industrial package not restored'

Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh would launch a joint agitation if the Centre did not restore the industrial package upto March 31, 2013, during the monsoon session of parliament, chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said. Talking a media persons in Shimla on his return from Delhi, he expressed the hope that the prime minister would take some positive steps in this direction and said that in case nothing came out, it would mean that the centre was "discriminating" against BJP-ruled states.

The industrial package to north-western states was given on the analogy of north-eastern states but the centre curtailed the package for HP and Uttarakhand to March 31, 2010, even as it extended the same for north-eastern states upto 2017. Further, the package for Jammu and Kashmir had not been curtailed and only the two BJP-ruled states had been singled out, Dhumal pointed out. Replying to a question, he said that besides launching people's agitation, the option of a legal course was open. He said that at the time when package was given by Vajpayee government in 2003, Himachal was ruled by BJP, Uttarakhand by Congress and Farooq Abdullah was the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir and the package was given to all three states for ten years without political discrimination. Dhumal said he had also spoken to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi in this regard and asked her to use her good offices to get the package restored for HP and Uttarakhand.

Vacant posts in wc

Even as crimes against women are rising across the country, most of the state women's commissions entrusted with looking after the cause of the fair sex are yet to fill up vacant posts. Leading the list is Andhra Pradesh which as of now does not have a chairperson while Punjab has two posts of members vacant in its panel. In the Manipur state commission, there are supposed to be seven members out of which two posts are vacant. Uttar Pradesh, which has a sanctioned strength of 15 members, has a vacancy of 14 in all its staff. The hill state of Uttarakhand has 18 posts of members out of which five are vacant, Arunachal Pradesh has three posts for members of which one is vacant, Delhi has five posts of which two are vacant and Gujarat has three posts for members out of which one is vacant.