Shimla, October 27
Banking services were hit in Himachal Pradesh today following a one-day strike by nationalised bank employees against the government’s move to outsource banking services and privatisation of nationalised banks.

No clearing operations were taken up in almost all the branches of the nationalised banks in the state following a one-day call for strike by the All-India Bank Employees Association (AIEBA).

Employees held demonstrations outside their branches against the Centre’s move to outsource more banking services and privatisation of the banks.

The bank employees are demanding introduction of one more option for the pension scheme and rejection of the government-directed scheme and implementation of the compassionate appointment scheme, besides outsourcing banking services and privatisation.

Reports of banking services being paralysed were also received from Solan, Sirmaur, Chamba, Mandi, Kulu, Hamirpur, Una and Kangra districts.

The strike was peaceful and there was no untoward incident from anywhere in the state, a spokesman for the HP Bank Employees Association (HPEBA) said here. — UNI

Shimla, October 27
The Public Works Department has regularised the services of 3,188 daily wage workers, including 2,480 of class IV category and 708 of class III category.

An official spokesperson said the regularisation of additional 2,962 daily wage workers had also been approved by the Chief Minister. In all, 6,150 daily wagers would be regularised.

He said the PWD had about 7,000 more daily wage workers in different categories, including about 6,000 beldars, which were yet to be regularised. He said the Chief Minister had ordered the department to create posts so that they could be regularised immediately. The Chief Minister had further ordered that in order to avoid hardship to beldars and other class IV category daily wagers, they should be posted within the same division after regularisation and they should not be posted in other districts or other divisions.

He said that as per the present government policy for the regularisation of daily wagers, 13,182 daily wagers in the department were being covered. In the earlier policy, daily wagers were appointed on work charge basis and their salaries, retiral benefits, medical, TA, DA and GPF were paid out of the monthly Letter of Credit issued by the Finance Department against the works and maintenance budget. 

Mandi, October 27
The state Congress has mobilised its workers machinery and government to make the Dharamsala rally, to be addressed by UPA Chairperson and Congress president Mrs. Sonia Gandhi on October 30, a success.

Posters with slogans and pictures of Mrs Sonia Gandhi with Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh have appeared all Mandi- Kullu-Bilaspur and other districts.

According to the insiders, Congressmen from each unit were mobilising at least five buses including, HRTC and private ones to ferry people from constituencies for the rally.

But on the other hand the BJP has charged the Congress with misusing government machinery. “The rally is a publicity tamasha, claimed BJP men. The Congress dubbed the BJPs charge as baseless as the state BJP was a house divided in the state, as well on the national level.

KANGRA: Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee chief Viplove Thakur said on Friday that the Congress, particularly the Youth Congress, had been geared up for Ms Sonia Gandhi’s visit to the state.

Ms Thakur was talking to The Tribune here after addressing a meeting of the Youth Congress Block presidents of Kangra district and executive members of the District Youth Congress in the local IPH Rest House. She said that Youth Congress workers in large numbers would attend the October 30, rally at Dharamsala. She said that this would be the biggest political rally in the state.

She said that Ms Gandhi would land at Paprola and would unveil the bronze statue of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in the Rajiv Gandhi Government Ayurvedic Medical College.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh visited Dharamsala on Friday in connection with the visit of the AICC chief. 

Nurpur, October 27
The state Mahila Congress will be launching a statewide awareness campaign against female foeticide after the scheduled rally of AICC chief Sonia Gandhi on October 30 at Dharamsala. This was asserted by state Mahila Congress President Kamla Prarthi at a press conference here this afternoon.

She said that the Mahila Congress had already initiated the drive in Una and Kulu districts. “The decreasing sex ratio between male and female in the state is a matter of concern and the frontal organisation of the Congress has decided to launch this campaign to educate womanfolk about this menace,” she added.

She said the UPA government would render justice to the women by according 33 per cent reservation to them by approving long-standing Women Reservation Bill in Parliament. “Some of the coalition partners of the UPA government had dissension over the Bill which had been removed by the government,” she claimed.

Ms Prarthi, who was here to mobilise activists of Mahila Congress, representatives of the Panchayati Raj Institutions, also addressed the meeting. She called upon the women activists to participate in the rally of Ms Gandhi in a big way. 

Shimla, October 27
Demanding a CBI inquiry into the HP-CPMT paper leak, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has decided to hold a student rally here on November 3, to protest against educational exploitation and its commercialisation.

Addressing a press conference here yesterday, the organisational secretary of the ABVP, Mr Omesh Dutt, claimed that over 15,000 students would attend the rally.

“The rally is to protest against the privatisation of education and failure of the government in taking concrete steps to check rising unemployment,” he remarked.

He said that the ABVP would demand a CBI inquiry into the HP-CPMT paper leak as the government was allegedly pressurising the investigating agencies to go slow so that influential persons could be shielded.

“We demand that strict action must be taken against those found responsible for the paper leak as ultimately it is meritorious and deserving students who suffer,” he said.

Mr Dutt said the ABVP would also register its protest against the increasing political interference in the functioning of the HP University and the Board of School Education, Dharamsala. “Educational centres like the HPU and Board of School Education must be free from political interference but unfortunately the present government is interfering even in the day-to-day affairs of such institutions,” he alleged.

He said the government must stop teachers’ appointments through the PTA. “We also want that the opening of a new university or colleges at any place in the state should be on social considerations and not solely on political considerations,” he said. — TNS

Shimla, October 27
The new Director of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS), which has been without a regular head since April last, will be in position latest by December.

Dr Bhalchandra Munghekar, chairperson of the governing body of the institute, informed media persons here today that the three-member search committee set up for selecting the new incumbent would meet on November 16. It would recommend a panel of names for the post from amongst 16 candidates who were under consideration for the post. The recommendations would be considered by the Cabinet committee on appointments which would take a final decision. This process could take about a month and the new Director would take over by December.

He said he was keen to fill the post at the earliest and even set up the search committee in February last but the Department of Personnel and Training amended the procedure for appointment for all government-funded such institutions. Under the new procedure it was made mandatory to have two more nominees of the government in the search committee.

Since inclusion of two more nominees would have diluted autonomy of the institute, he had to fight a long battle to keep it out of the purview of the amended rules. In fact, he had to take up the matter with the Prime Minster to ensure that the selection of the Director was made as per the procedure laid down in the Article of Association of the institute.

Referring to the academic activities, Dr Munghekar said the number of fellows would be increased from the present 35 to 50 and steps would be taken to ensure that they engaged in serious research work.

Unlike past fellowship would not be extended to three years as a matter of routine. It would be granted for a year initially and extended by another year after evaluating the performance. The evaluation would be carried out after six months. Only in rare cases the fellowship would be extended to three years.