M A I N   N E W S

Fleecing by schools to be checked
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, April 5 — The Himachal Pradesh Government is framing rules for regulating the fee structure of the private schools and adopting measures to check their functioning.

This was stated by the Education Minister while replying to the issue of fleecing by certain schools which was raised by Mr Dharam Pal (Cong) under Rule 324 in the Vidhan Sabha today.

The minister said the President had granted assent to the HP Private Educational Institutions (Regulation) Act under which action could be taken against the defaulting institutions. Once the rules are notified under the Act, the government would be in a position to exercise control on the overall activities of the private educational institutions. No penal action can be taken at present in absence of these statutes.

Mr Dharam Pal expressed concern over the exorbitant fee being charged illegally by some of the private schools and demanded an enquiry by the Vigilance Department into the matter.

Earlier during the question hours, the Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal, said the Union Government had amended the Marketing Regulation Act under which the commission on apple would be charged from the buyers and not from the growers.

He intervened to clarify the position when Mr Narendera Bragta, Minister of State for Horticulture, was replying to a question tabled by Mr Jai Ram Thakur (BJP).

Mr Bragta said a commission of 6 per cent was being charged by the middlemen from the growers for selling their produce in the Azadpur market in New Delhi.

Some incidents of the middlemen charging a commission of 8 per cent came to the notice of the government and 23 firms were penalised and a sum of Rs 40 lakh got reimbursed to the growers. The growers were paying a commission of about Rs 70 crore on their produce annually.

He said he had recently met the Delhi Chief Minister, Ms Sheila Dikshit, to persuade her to implement the amended Marketing Regulation Act.

Mr J.B.L. Khachi (Cong) urged the minister not to confuse the situation and put the growers into trouble.

Thakur Ram Lal (Cong) said the matter was sensitive and the government should keep in mind that the small growers might face problems in case the institution of middlemen was eliminated.

Ms Vidya Stokes (Cong) pointed out that certain middlemen were charging about 4 to 5 per cent extra over and above the fixed commission on various pretexts from the growers. The Horticulture Development Board should be revived, she demanded.

In a written reply to a question from Mr Raghu Raj (Cong), the minister informed him that 24.31 lakh boxes of apple were sent to various states during 1999-2000. The largest quantity of 19.16 lakh boxes was sent to Delhi followed by 2.79 lakh boxes to Chandigarh and 1.21 lakh boxes to Punjab.

He said apple was not sold outside the country during the period.

Many Congress members accused the government of having constituted a lopsided committee to look into the problems of oustees of the Baira-Sieul and Chamera hydel projects.

Mr Harsh Mahajan (Cong) said no representative of the displaced families had been nominated on the committee.

Ms Asha Kumari (Cong) pointed out that the recognised trade unions of INTUC and AITUC had been ignored in the committee whereas two representatives of the unrecognised Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh had been included in it.

In a written reply to Mr Harsh Mahajan (Cong), the Industries Minister informed that 29 slate mines were auctioned during 1999-2000. Of these 11 mines each were in Chamba and Mandi and seven in Shimla district. Besides, four mining leases were granted during the period.