Shimla, December 15
The week-long winter session of the Himachal Assembly commencing on December 17 will be not only stormy but also historical with the President of India, Dr A.P.J. Kalam, addressing the legislators for the first time since the House came into existence.

While the members will debate serious issues like price rise, fiscal reforms, unemployment and regularisation of daily wage workers, it will be the address of Dr Kalam that will make the session a memorable one. He is scheduled to address the legislators during the brief adjournment of the House after question hour on December 23,the concluding day of the session.

The opposition BJP, which is in an upbeat mood after its victory in the Guler Assembly byelection, is fully geared up to confront the government on the issues of price rise, particularly the unprecedented hike in the rates of petroleum products, unemployment and law and order situation. The party has been raising such issues affecting the common man outside the House.

The introduction of the Fiscal Responsibility Bill and the Regulation of Appointment Bill will again bring the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on fiscal reforms into focus. The two Bills, which are to be passed during the session, form part of the MoU. The Fiscal Responsibility Bill will make it incumbent on the government to take steps to reduce the fiscal deficit. The government will have to make statements twice a year to inform the House about the measures being taken to compress expenditure and raise new resources.

The Regulation of Appointment Bill will enable strict enforcement of ban on recruitment in the government sector. It will have provisions for penal action against officers guilty of making recruitments in violation of the ban.

Closely related to the fiscal reforms is the issue of unemployment. The BJP has been attacking the Congress for not fulfilling the promise to provide jobs and it has been opposing the MoU on the plea that it will further reduce job opportunities.

The hike in power charges and deteriorating law and order situation are the other issues which the Opposition plans to raise during the session. The involvement of migrant labour in criminal activities may come into focus.

The BJP legislative group is meeting here tomorrow evening to finalise the strategy for the session. The Congress Legislative Party is also scheduled to hold its meeting tomorrow.

There will be five sittings in all and the last day has been earmarked for the private members business. About 350 questions have been received from the members and a good number of them are related to the implementation of the MoU.

Kulu, December 15
Mr Satya Prakash Thakur, Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee spokesman today said the positive and friendly policies of the present government in the state had resulted in the historical membership of the Congress party this year. He was talking to mediapersons at the HPTDC hotel here.

He said Virbhadra Singh government had made unprecedented development in the state during the past one and a half year. He alleged that the Prem Kumar Dhumal government had adopted corruption as a protocol. Mr Thakur said the state was under debt of Rs 15,000 crore and the political, administrative and economic systems were totally crumbling when Mr Virbhadra Singh took over and he brought the state back on the tracks.

He thanked Ms Sonia Gandhi, President, AICC, for appointing Mr Kuldeep Kumar as Congress chief of Himachal Pradesh and said the party would be further strengthened under his leadership. He said the appointment of Mr Kumar had infused fresh enthusiasm among the party workers. He said the party in the state would further strengthen the grassroots level and the elections would be transparent and clean.

Earlier, Mr Satya Prakash was given a warm reception at Bajaura, after his appointment as HPPCC spokesman. He also addressed the party workers at the District Congress Committee office here.

Chandigarh, December 15
The demand to confer the status of tehsil to Nagrota Bagwan which falls in Kangra subdivision of Himachal Pradesh has intensified with the District Kangra Bar Association joining the struggle started by the people of the area.

The president of Kangra Bar Association, in a letter to Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh focuses his attention towards the problems being faced by the residents pertaining to court work. People from the far-flung Changer area have to cover a long distance to get affidavits, birth certificates and documents related to their land.

Residents of the Kandi and Baroh area have to travel 50 km to 75 km for revenue and lower court documents.

Mr G.S. Gali, Transport Minister of the state who represents this constituency has promised to get the area conferred with the status of either subdivision or tehsil but nothing has done so far.

Mrs Punya Devi and Mrs Swarna Devi, members of Kangra Zila Parishad have urged the government to merge Baroh Tehsil with Nagrota Bagwan and provide the status of Subdivision to Nagrota Bagwan. They have also demanded that there should be special arrangements to shift circuit court for 15 days from the SDM’s court of Kangra.

The president of Nagrota Bagwan Action Committee spearheading the agitation condemned the government for its “stepmotherly” attitude towards Nagrota Bagwan. He said that almost whole amount of grant being released for the development of Kangra subdivision is spent on Kangra only. 

Shimla, December 15
Growing concern over the ‘Queen of Hills’ turning into a slum with heaps of garbage seen everywhere has prompted the Department of Urban Development to make garbage collection from the 35,000 houses in the town mandatory.

As per the latest notification issued by the department it will now be mandatory for every home in the town to pay Rs 35 per month as garbage collection charges. Though some NGOs had been entrusted with the task of collecting garbage for proper disposal from every house but a large portion of the town had not been covered by it.

The Municipal Commissioner, has been vested with powers to ensure the strict implementation of the project, aimed at keeping the town clean and pollution free. “Whether a person is keen to get garbage collected from his home or not, it will be mandatory for him to pay Rs 35 to the NGO covering the area,” informed officials.

The Municipal Commissioner can impose a fine of Rs 500 on the defaulters.

While each home is supposed to pay Rs 35 every month, the rate for dhabas has been fixed at Rs 255. Hotels with 30 rooms will have to pay Rs 805. The rate for shops and other commercial establishments has been fixed at Rs 55.

At present only about 8,000 households in the town were being covered under the home garbage collection scheme. As such improper disposal of garbage by the residents was posing a major problem in certain localities of the town. “The Municipal Corporation was supposed to get Rs 5 from the Rs 35 charged from every household but this did not happen and a stage has come when the MC will have to extend financial help to the NGOs engaged in garbage collection to sustain them,” informed an official.

With increasing pressure of the local population and added to this the rush of tourists, the town has become filthy with heaps of stinking garbage becoming a common sight. “When we want to sell Himachal and Shimla as an international tourist destination, the least we can do is to offer a clean environment, for which the tourists come here,” tourism officials pointed out.

With excessive commercialisation and rapid urbanisation taking its toll on the pristine and clean environment of the town, tourists are opting for the lesser known destinations, especially in the tribal areas of Kinnaur and Lahaul Spiti. As a step towards keeping the hills clean, the government has also imposed a complete ban on the use of polythene bags, as these cause immense damage to environment.

Shimla, December 15
The Himachal Cabinet today approved proposals to lease out the Bir cooperative factory to a private party and open 2,906 early childhood care and education centres in the state.

The Cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, also gave its nod for setting up of transport barriers at entry points at Baddi ( Solan), Kala Amb ( Sirmaur) and Tunu Hatti (Chamba) to curb evasion of sales tax. These barriers will help generate additional revenue to the tune of Rs 4 crore annually.

The early childhood care centres will be opened in areas where such facilities like anganwadi, balwadi, creche, kindergarten, and nursery school are available. To run these centres part time Lady Shishu Palak would be appointed on contract basis.

The Cabinet also approved the Himachal Registration of Marriages Rules, 2004, making it compulsory to get the marriages registered.

The policy for fixing the norms and standards with regard to issue of no-objection certificates for the opening of a B. Ed college in the private sector on regular basis, under the self- financing scheme basis was also approved.

It approved amendment to rules to enhance the promotion quota from graduate junior engineer (civil) to the post of assistant engineer in the Irrigation and Public Health Department from 10 to 15 per cent.

The Cabinet decided to give exemption in excise duty on the supply of rum of units of 36 sectors which are deployed in border areas of Himachal Pradesh.

Approval was granted for appointing 85 ayurvedic medical officers on contract basis to provide better medical facilities to the people in far-flung areas of the state.

Mandi, December 15
The monthly meeting of the District Congress Committee today took Congress member and former Mandi Municipal president Pushp Raj Sharma to task as the Congress faced humiliation as his move to oust MMC president Sushila Sonkhla was defeated on December 8 last.

According to the party sources, Mr Pushp Raj told the members that he had initiated the move at the behest of the state Congress bigwigs including the IPH Minister and Drang MLA Kaul Singh Thakur.

The DCC meeting dominated the proceedings with the Congressmen voicing their concern over the humiliation it received from the defeat of the no-confidence motion moved by eight councillors led by Mr Pushap Raj, as it backfired.

“The motion has harmed the prestige of the party in the town as Ms Sonkhla, a former HVC worker, was saved by the pro-BJP councillors,” the members pointed out at the meeting.

Mr Pushp Raj said that he acted because the councillors were not happy with the functioning of Ms Sonkhla.

The meeting was presided over by DCC president Devki N. Sharma. Ms Sonkhla also attended the meeting, sources said.

Shimla: By providing timely and liberal financial assistance to the needy, the Himachal Pradesh Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Corporation has improved the lot of many Dalit families.

Pradeep Kagra, a resident of the Kaleen area in Solan district who had been once running from pillar to post in search of a petty job, is today a proud owner of an electronics shop. He no longer needs a job. The self-employment venture set up by him with the help of financial assistance provided by the corporation enables him to earn more then Rs 50,000 annually. There are many others who have benefited from the assistance made available by the corporation.

The government has been giving top priority to the uplift of Scheduled Castes. It was spending 11 per cent of the total funds under the special component plan for the purpose. An allocation of Rs 116 crore had been made in the current year under the plan.

The corporation is providing up to Rs 5 lakh as loans to help the Scheduled Castes set up self-employment ventures. Under the “Swarojgar Yojna” Rs 10,000 are being provided as subsidy and Rs 40,000 as loan for small ventures. During the current year, 1211 persons from the Scheduled Castes and 219 Scheduled Tribes have been extended an assistance of Rs 4.30 crore.

Under the “swabhilamban scheme” financial assistance is being provided for the purchase of taxi, mini bus, tractor, truck or establishing a hotel, dhaba or dairy farm. The beneficiaries are required to invest just 5 per cent of the margin money, while the corporation gives Rs 5 lakh as loan at an interest rate of 6 per cent and beyond that at 8 per cent.

There is a scheme to help artisans through cooperative societies. So far 332 families have benefited from the scheme.

Other schemes included interest-free loans up to Rs 75,000 for pursuing higher studies and vocational training to wards of the Scheduled Castes whose income did not exceed Rs 22,000 per annum.

Dharamsala, December 15
The HP School Education Board has decided to give up its age-old subjective-type system of examination. The question papers for science students of Classes XI and XII would now be based on the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) pattern.

The board is in the process of sending model question papers to all schools in the state and the students appearing for the current academic session in April-May 2005 would be tested on the basis of this new system.

Appreciating the switch-over, the Education Minister, Ms Asha Kumari, said earlier students from Himachal used to miss out on high scores as most of the questions used to be subjective type. “Since admission in some professional institutes is based on the percentage in Class XII, the students from other states had an edge over HP students,” she said.

The board Chairman, Mr B.R.Rahi informed that in the new system, each question would be split into different parts, having individual marks. “If a student does not know the answer to one, he won’t have to skip the entire question. This would be in sharp contrast to the earlier system wherein there used to be only essay-type questions,” he said.

Besides, he added, where dividing a question carrying 15 marks would make the paper more scoring, it would also ensure that the student studies the entire syllabus. All this would eventually turn out to be in the interest of students,” he said.

“Following the decision, some changes have also been made in the NCERT syllabus. Ours being adapted (not adopted) syllabus, we are authorised to make 30 per cent changes in the syllabus as per out needs. The additions and deletions are also being communicated to the schools,” he said.

“For now, the change has been made on an experimental basis and the board might extend it to the commerce and arts streams from the next year,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ms Asha Kumari said the government had also given directions for the transfer of surplus posts in schools and colleges. “Over the years, the ideal student-teacher ratio had become uneven in some schools and this was affecting the functioning of the schools. In some cases, the students had moved out after the setting up of private schools in the vicinity and this had resulted in surplus teachers,” she said.

Instead of transferring only the teachers, she said, the Education Department had been asked to transfer the post as a lasting solution to the problem. “This would help in solving the problem of shortage of teachers in some colleges in the state,” she added.

Shimla, December 15
At last Himachal Pradesh has got its own Wakf Board which will ensure better management of the properties in the state.

The first-ever board of the state was notified today with Mr Gulzar Bharati, Mr Khwaja Khalil Ullah, Mr Moulana Mumtaj Ahmnd Kazmi, Mr Nazakat Ali, Hashmi, Mr Mohammed Sadik Khan, Mr Mehboob Khan, Mr Shaukat Ali as members.

Hamirpur, December 15
Upset over the poor condition of “Ekant”, the official residence of Hamirpur Deputy Commissioner, the state government has sought a detailed report from various quarters regarding the condition of the house. A report in this regard was published in The Tribune on December 15.

According to sources the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, also sought a report from the Shimla-based officers regarding the condition of the house and the steps being taken for its upkeep.

Meanwhile, the construction work on a retaining wall to save the house continued today. A few senior officers of the Department of Public Works were also seen at the house.