Mandi, July 31
Institutes and universities not recognised by the University Grants Commission (UGC), have students and their parents falling prey to their money minting designs. Despite list of recognised institutes released by the UGC to the state government, the education department is yet to check their growth in the state.

These ‘education shops’ are offering wide range of job oriented degrees and diplomas in business administration, engineering, fashion designing, finance and marketing management through distance education. These institutes are charging heavy fee for courses not even recognised in the state . Even dropouts are being lured by them, sources add.

Through pamphlets in news papers, advertisemnts on local cable channels and their agents, these institutes and universities operate in residential areas in Shimla, Mandi, Sundernagar, Hamirpur, Solan and other district headquarters in the state.

The list of recognised universities by the UGC is not displayed on the college notice boards to make students wary of the fake institutions.

The Principal Secretary, Education, Mr P. Mitra, said the education department has been directed to check such dubious institutions. The distant residential centre cannot operate other than in its home state. We will check the bonafide of such institutions,” he added.

The officials in the education department however, expressed their inability to check such institutes as these claimed certificates from the parent universities or institutes.

These institutes get registered as a non-profit society and their local agents claim that to have network in states like Meghalaya, Tripura, Sikkim Mizoram and Nagaland, sources add.

The pressure on parents to enroll wards in job oriented courses results in hundreds of students falling prey every year, college lecturers on condition of anonymity said.

Mandi, July 31
After killing a little girl at Gagheri village near the Mandi-Hamirpur border, leopards, including a man-eater, have created panic in several villages in the Mandi-Hamirpur belt for the past few days.

Wildlife officials and hunters have laid traps to catch the man-eater at Ronidevi in Hamirpur. Villagers claim that six leopards, including cubs, have been spotted in villages from Bhota and Panjot in Hamirpur district to Gharvrasra and Chowki-Chandrahan in Mandi district.

On July 24, when Tinu was coming down using the wooden stairs of her house to follow her mother at 9 pm, she disappeared suddenly. Her mother got a kidnapping case registered with the local police. However, later they found the child’s body about 2 km away from her house. The postmortem report confirmed that she was killed by a leopard, said wildlife officials.

About 50 km from Ronidevi, leopards mauled two cows and a calf in a broad daylight in a cowshed at Chandrawahan village last month, claimed Roshni Devi, chief of the Mahila Mandal. “We have spotted three leopards, including two cubs, around Cheja and Saniour villages. We have asked the Forest Department to trap the animals, but to no avail,” she rued.

Villagers said leopards had killed pet dogs at Sudhan village in Hamirpur and goats at Gharvesra village in Gopalpur and Kotli range in Mandi during the past two days.”

The Divisional Forest Officer (Wildlife), Mr Surinder Guleria, said they had laid three traps to catch the man-eater in the Ronidevi area, but had not succeeded yet. 

Kangra, July31
One more woman pilgrim, who sustained serious injuries in the yesterday's bus accident at Ranital, today succumbed to her injuries at PGI, Chandigarh, taking the death toll in this accident to seven and 59 injured persons were under treatment at different hospitals, the police said here today.

the Kangra district police chief, Mr A.K.Yadav, today said Lalita( 35), resident of Matholi Bazar of Khushi Nagar district in Utter Pradesh, died at PGI today.

He said Lalita was seriously injured in the accident and was admitted in the Dr R.P. Government Medical College Hospital,Dharamshala, from where she was referred to PGI yesterday. He said the death toll in the accident had gone up to seven which included three women pilgrims.

Meanwhile, Ms Nandita Gupta, ADC, Kangra, told The Tribune that 19 pilgrims who had received serious injuries were still under treatment at Dr R.P.Government Medical College, Dharamshala. The local Civil Hospital authorities here could not provide the details of the indoor patients, however, when contacted Mr Manoj Kumar Jaswal of Mathuli Bazar said all 38 injured pilgrims who were admitted in the Civil Hospital, Kangra, yesterday were still under treatment and none had been discharged as yet.

Ms Gupta said clothes and food was being provided to the injured pilgrims by the Red Cross Society. She said the authorities had communicated to the Khaushi Nagar DM, the Mathuli Bazar police station and the relatives of the affected persons. They were reaching here and the authorities were providing them accommodation.

Nurpur, July 31
Sunny (9) and Anu (4) kids of Des Raj of Sohra village drowned in a bauli (a traditional water resource) at Khel village last evening. According to information the deceased were brother and sister and had come in the house of their maternal uncle to spend holidays. They went to a village bauli to take bath. Anu slipped in the bauli while taking bath whereas Sunny jumped into the bauli to save his sister but he was drowned.

Village women noticed and raised the alarm to save them. The villagers pulled them out and rushed to the civil hospital here but both could not survive.