Kangra, October 18
Chaman Lal Mattoo, father of Priyadarshani Mattoo, today said it was a “ joyous” moment for him as has succeeded in getting justice with the support of common people and the media.

He is currently stationed at an undisclosed destination in the district with his wife and daughter.

Reacting to the decision of the Delhi High Court to convict Santosh Singh of the murder of his daughter, he said: “Thank God! Justice has ultimately prevailed”. He said the High Court had termed the judgment of the trial court “perverse”.

Santosh Singh, son of former Director General of Police of Pondicherry J.P. Singh, was yesterday found guilty on two accounts of rape and murder of Priyadarshani at her Vasant Kunj residence in New Delhi on January 23, 1996 by a Bench of Mr Justice R.S. Sodhi and Mr Justice P.K. Bhasin.

He said Priyadarshani had been a source of inspiration for him through his crusade for justice.

Remembering his daughter, he said during her schooling in the convent, Priyadarshani used to address the morning assembly and pray for love and peace.

On the nature of punishment for Santosh Singh, Mr Mattoo said it was for the court to decide in view of the rarest-of-the-rare crime the accused had committed.

He said it was a historic judgment that would help curb criminal activities of children of high-profile families.

When asked whether he would continue with his crusade for justice for others like Jassica Lall’s family, Mr Mattoo said he was committed to the cause and would fight for truth for all those who had suffered.

He said: “It is not the question of my daughter alone. We have to fight for every daughter of the nation who has fallen victim to atrocity.”

In reply to another question, Mr Mattoo said had the Delhi Police acted promptly, his daughter would have been saved.

He said Priyadarshani had not only complained verbally but also lodged FIRs in Delhi apprehending threat to her life from Santosh Singh but nothing was done.

Mr Mattoo demanded action against all erring police officers.

He was all praise for the CBI Director for his efforts in providing circumstantial evidences, which ultimately helped the prosecution to nail the accused.

Sundernagar, October 18
For the Industrial Training Institute (ITI) for the handicapped here the state government has sanctioned Rs 1.18 crore to extend its complex to make it a centre of excellence, offering job-oriented trades to rehabilitate state’s physically challenged persons.

The foundation stone of the Rs 1.18 crore two-storeyed new ITI complex, which will be equipped with modern amenities and aids to train the physically challenged youth, was laid last week by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh here.

Apart from the new ITI building, the government will acquire the adjoining land from the HP State Electricity Board, which owns the vacant land near the ITI complex, for the construction of the ITI hostel and residential building for the staff, revealed officials. “The ITI has 2000 square metres of land and 46 seats for the physically challenged”. The ITI for the handicapped has been functioning here for the past 22 years, offering four training courses. The ITI offers four courses — the draughtsmen civil, mechanics (electronics, radio and television) and the TDP operators and screenprinters. The ITI claims to get over 70 placements for the ITI handicapped trainees, but the students revealed that there were no takers for the draughtsmen, screen printers and TV and radio mechanics as there was saturation in the job markets for such courses now.

The ITI Principal, Mr R.S. Sen, admitted there were no takers for the trades like draughtsmen. “As of now we are continuing the four courses as there is still demand for these. The students doing the two-year training courses get placements in government and private sectors. Even some of the students are self-employed”, he added. Budget for the expansion of the ITI building has been received and the PWD was already on the job to construct the new ITI complex, said Mr Sen. “Once the building is complete in a year or so, we will add latest courses, which are in demand in the market”.

Mr Sen said that modern computer and other training course laboratories had been set up to train the students. “We enrol handicapped students who have over 40 per cent disability”.

Chamba, October 18
The interests of special police officers (SPOs) deployed on the borders of Chamba district in Himachal Pradesh would be taken care of and ensured as they were constantly assisting the security forces in guarding the border with Jammu and Kashmir, the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, stated this while addressing a public meeting after dedicating a Rs 1.26-crore mini-secretariat complex to the people at Salooni today.

The Chief Minister said in order to provide adequate drinking water to the villages in the Salooni area, a lift drinking water scheme would be drawn up which would be completed priority basis. He announced to construct a helipad at Salooni and upgrade government high schools at Tikroo and Bhandal to the senior secondary level.

The Chief Minister said his government was contemplating regularisation of the services of doctors working on contract basis in a phased manner.

With a view to strengthening the educational system in the state, the Education Department had been restructured and two separate directorates — senior secondary and elementary education — had been formed, the Chief Minister said, adding that in future there would only be senior secondary and elementary education institutions in the state.

The Chief Minister said a provision of sufficient funds had been kept for creating sufficient infrastructure, including science blocks, libraries and the necessary equipment so that the studies of the students was not affected.

The state government was laying special emphasis on the introduction of job-oriented vocational education.

Subathu, October 18
Exhorting children to plant more and more trees every year Mr H.K. Dua, Editor-in-Chief, The Tribune publications today said this had become imperative to restore the lost green cover in the nation. He said more than 90 per cent of green cover had been lost due to man’s wanton desire to meet his requirements.

He was addressing students, staff and parents of Pinegrove School, Subathu on the occasion of 16th annual day celebrations today. He said if the one billion people of nation planted even one tree each year our green cover would be enriched immensely. He lauded the parade, school band, gymnastics and other cultural items exhibited by children and said the school had a focused approach in whatever it did. He said, “the children studying in such schools had an onus to encourage the lesser privileged ones to educate their children. More than 60 per cent of the population was with educational facilities in the country. Hence it was important to encourage education of the children.”

The country’s position had improved vastly in the international community and Indians now were respected everywhere. Emphasising the significance of education he said, “It is from one such school in north India that people like Kalpana Chawla had brought fame to the country. The nation expects the same from the children studying in such privileged educational institutes.”

Earlier he took the salute of parade by NCC cadets. The trooping of the school flag amidst remarkable performance by the school’s brass band playing tunes like “Sam Bahadur” and “Sare Jahan se Acchha” was appreciated by the audience. ‘Machhuwara dance’ by 80 children, one-act play “Apane Huae Parayae’ and orchestra performance were other highlights of the day. The chief guest also inaugurated the science, arts and crafts exhibitions.

Annual report of the school highlighted its achievements in academics and sports. The school has been granted an ISO 9001-2000 certification and it has started the science stream for senior secondary classes. The students participated in IPSC tournaments and won positions in different sports.

Mrs Aditi Dua and Mr H.K. Dua gave away prizes to students. As many as six students of XII and 14 students of Xth were awarded silver medals for achieving more than 75 per cent marks in AISSE held in March this year. The CBSE average class percentage was over 78 per cent for Class X and 77 per cent for Class XII. The Proficiency in Sports Medals were awarded to Gurbaj Singh Sidhu and Sarvjeet Singh Joshan for 2006. Deodar House lifted the Cock House trophy and the Academics trophy was lifted by Chinar House.

Shimla, October 18
The Himachal Pradesh Employees Confederation has alleged large-scale irregularities in the purchases being made under the horticulture technology mission implementation in the state and demanded an inquiry into the scam.

Mr Vinod Kumar, general secretary of the confederation, alleged that the Horticulture Department was flouting the guidelines of the Centre and playing the role of a middlemen in supply of farm inputs to growers.

As per the guidelines, the department was to reimburse the money to growers who were to make purchases directly from the market. However, the department was making bulk purchases and supplying the inputs to growers.

Further, the department had made purchases to the tune of over Rs 4.8 crore over the past few years and supplied to growers. However, so far Rs 2.40 crore only had been deposited and the remaining Rs 1.60 crore was untraceable. Not only that the implements being supplied were substandard.

The funds, which were to be utilised for improving farm productivity, were being wasted on purchase of furniture, electronic gadgets and other office items.