Shimla, June 25
Rejecting the Rs 13.22-crore grant released by the government, the Himachal PTA Lecturers and Teachers Association today demanded that their services be regularised and a policy be made for their appointment.

Addressing a press conference here today, president of the association Vivek Mehta and Shimla district unit chief Upender Chauhan said that under no circumstances would the PTA teachers work against the earlier salary being given to them.

“We will now only work when our services are regularised and a proper policy was framed for appointment under PTA as the government is acting with a feeling of vendetta,” he said.

Mehta said the government had released Rs 13.22 crore as a grant only after they proceeded on strike.

“We want the government to take back this grant released yesterday as Rs 10
crore is still pending,” he said. He also demanded that the government should withdraw the inquiry.

They said it was unfortunate that even after three days of strike the government had not made any efforts to resolve the issue through talks.

“Despite studies in 70 per cent of the schools being affected, the government is least bothered and is rather trying to crush our agitation by using police force,”
he alleged.

PTA appointees said that the intentions of the government were very obvious from the fact that the date for making complaints had been extended thrice.

“Since many of the 3,500 complaints that been filed against PTA appointees are false we want to alert everyone that we will not hesitate to move court against such false affidavits,” he cautioned.

He said that in case the government was clear in its intentions then it should also hold an inquiry into the appointment of contract, voluntary and ad hoc teachers.

On the third day of their strike today, the PTA appointees distributed leaflets and launched a signature campaign.

“We want people to know why we have proceeded on a strike as we had no option but to adopt this confrontationist approach,” said Mehta.

The PTA appointees urged the human right organisations to extend support to their agitation as they were being exploited by the government.

The DYFI also criticised the government for giving a shabby treatment to the
PTA appointees.

Shimla, June 25
Former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has dared state BSP convener Vijay Singh Mankotia to name the leaders who had amassed assets and sent money abroad through hawala channels instead of defaming ministers of the previous Congress government by making vague, unsubstantiated and sweeping allegations.

Addressing a press conference here today he said that Mankotia was levelling charges without any concrete facts or evidence and it was a serious matter.

He should come out with full details who were the leaders and to which country they transferred money through hawala.

It would at least enable the leaders Mankotia was trying to target to defend themselves and, if required, take suitable legal action.

Otherwise, Mankotia should stop throwing mud in this manner to tarnish the image of the Congress and its leaders.

Taking the Chief Minister to task on the issue of price rise Virbhadra Singh said that Dhumal’s adamant stand not to reduce VAT on petroleum products and the total collapse of the public distribution system (PDS) under his rule had added to the woes of the people.

While the UPA government had taken several steps to contain the inflation fuelled by the unpredicted hike in the rates of crude oil, Dhumal had made it a prestige issue not to reduce tax.

No steps had been taken to check hoarding and profiteering and the government had not felt the urgency to enforce the Essential Commodities Act, the Hoarding and Profiteering Act and other relevant laws.

The BJP government had completely failed in discharging its constitutional obligations in this important matter, the Congress leader said.

The transfer industry was flourishing as never before and employees right from the level of chief secretary and DGP to peons had been affected.

Regarding the PTA appointees’ issue he said that the institutions had not received any funds, though the government was claiming that it had released Rs 13 crore.

The PTA appointments were made in the entire state, mostly in the institutions located in hard areas, to meet the shortage of teachers.

“Shortly we will hold the DPC so that those doctors who have opted to stay at Tanda or given their option to go from IGMC to Kangra will be given promotion as per the policy,” said an official.

Dharamsala, June 25
The government might consider another hike in bus fares in Himachal. The recent hike in fuel prices affected by the Union Government on June 4 was adding to the losses of the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC).

Sources said the increase in fuel prices had put an additional burden of Rs 11 crore on the HRTC. The only way to tide over the financial crisis is to affect an increase in the bus fares.

Minister for Transport Kishan Kapoor admitted that increase in fuel prices had put additional financial burden on the HRTC.

Due to the current financial state of the HRTC the increase in bus fares cannot be ruled out to keep the organisation viable.

He said the BJP government had affected increase in bus fares only when prices of fuel have gone up.

However, the previous Congress government in April 2003 affected the increase in bus fare despite reduction in diesel prices.

The sources here told that in the forthcoming cabinet meeting the matter of increasing the bus fare might come up for discussion.

The minister also justified the recent drive against illegal tourist buses plying in various parts of the state. He said the illegal buses caught by the Department of Transport were found to have no legal document.

In case of accidents the passengers travelling in them were not entitled to any
legal claim.

When the department started tightening the noose around the illegal buses, they started taking escape routes to evade barriers of the Transport Department. The buses caught yesterday were trying to take escape route to evade barriers.

It is also strange that such buses that do not have any legal document cross many check posts in Haryana and Punjab before they reach Himachal. However, nobody checks the illegal plying of buses.

Palampur, June 25
The local municipal council has purchased streetlight fittings worth lakhs in gross violation of norms.

According information obtained under the Right to Information Act from the executive officer of the local body, the council had purchased streetlight fittings from two firms.

One of these firms is based at Dharamsala. Purchases were made from it at average price of Rs 50,000 per unit without inviting tenders, as required under the law.

The local body simply placed a notice on its notice board and placed the order with the two firms as per quoted rates.

As the purchases involved a payments of over Rs 50,000, the council should have invited tenders through at least two newspapers before making these purchases.

However, as per information supplied by the executive officer of the council, no such procedure was followed.

Moreover, manufacturers generally allowed a discount of 30 to 40 per cent on such purchases, but the council failed to make any such bargain. Rather, it paid a VAT at the rate of 12.5 per cent on these purchases.

The net loss was estimated to be around Rs 4-5 lakh. All persons concerned were tight-lipped on the issue.

Moreover, the fittings so purchased developed defects within six months and the council replaced most of these at its own cost as suppliers failed to provide the necessary guarantee to the council. This caused more loss to the council.

MC president Ajit Bagla said his role was of supervisory nature only and he was not involved in the actual purchases.

He, however, stated that the council had maintained complete transparency in
these purchases.

He said matter had come to his notice and he would inquire if any irregularity was committed or not.

Solan, June 25
With the much-hyped office of the assistant drug licensing authority at Baddi failing to get treasury code, pharmaceutical manufacturers are not being issued licences and approvals for their products.

Though the office was inaugurated with much fanfare on June 2 by the health minister and the manufacturers were promised prompt services, this shortcoming has disrupted work.

According to the laid down procedure, a manufacturer is supposed to deposit fee for availing a licence for manufacturing as well as for product approvals.

It is after deposition of the fee that a case is processed. Being first formality for getting approvals, no work can be done until a local treasury code is made available.

Even after more than three weeks, the department has failed to get local treasury code. This has put on hold several product approvals and manufacturing licences.

General secretary of the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh Industries Association Arun Rawat said the inordinate delay in obtaining treasury code showed apathy of the department towards the plight of industrialists.

This delay has affected loan licensees and small-scale manufactures as they have to meet orders within specified time. This has been causing losses worth several lakhs to the manufacturers every day.

This office was shifted to Baddi after manufacturers rued that they had to make several trips to Shimla for getting various formalities completed.

Licensing authority Ravinder Chaudhary agreed that some cases had fallen pending due to delay in getting the code. He, however, claimed that the code had been made available from today.

He said since the office was shifted to this location only a few weeks ago, it would take time to streamline the working.

With barely two clerks and a peon being available to cater to the huge industry of around 350 units, there was an urgent need to post more staff here.

Further with the licensing authority also supposed to sit at Shimla every Saturday to look after the charge of registrar of the Pharmacy Council of India, the official was available at Baddi for only five days in a week.

Chamba, June 25
The National Forum of Awareness and Development (NFAD), an NGO, has sought a probe into the alleged pay-off deal for the supply of science kits under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan.

The firm has being reportedly supplying these kits at a lower rate this year than previous year although the inflation graph has moved up.

According to the NGO, about 100 science kits were supplied to government middle schools functioning in Chamba district at the rate of Rs 3,000 per kit last year.

However, the tender rate for supplying similar kits to 61 government middle schools was finalised at Rs 1,500 per kit this year.

This despite the fact that the price index has gone up considerably during this period. The deadline for receipt of tenders was 11 am on March 24.

There were hardly three firms in the competition by that time, but by the evening eight this number went up to eight. These developments indicated that there had been irregularities in these deals.

Chamba, June 25
Water supply to Chamba has been disrupted due to destruction caused to the main water pipes of the prestigious water supply scheme for Chamba town on Tuesday as a sequel to downpour.

Now, the town would go dry for about two consecutive days but the residents go unaware about their water supply disruption.

It might take 24 hours to repair the damaged main water pipeline, officials confirmed, adding that only then the water supply to the town could be restored and resumed.

But intriguingly, the IPH Department had not made any announcement about the non-supply of drinking water, which had put the residents of Chamba in a quandary and difficulty.

The IPH officials might have given this information to local cable operator or a few select newspapers, but not to the entire media for publicising the reasons of which are perhaps best known to them.

It has perhaps escaped the attention of the officials that most of the people in the town are not using cable services as they have their own direct connectivity system like Tata Sky, which do not have local cable coverage.

Similar is the situation with the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board (HPSEB) authorities, who are so negligent in issuing shut-down notices to all concerned, that even bigwigs are not aware of their abrupt pack-up of power supply.

The two popular organisations of this region have written to the Chief Minister to initiate disciplinary action against erring authorities of the IPH Department as well as the HPSEB.

Nurpur, June 25
Alleging slow work on the Pong dam-Fetehpur-Jassur state highway at Jassur near here, residents blocked traffic at Dhameta Chowk for one hour today.

The residents alleged that the contractor had only laid stones on the highway during the past one year.

The blockade was lifted only after the PWD executive engineer assured action
in the case.

Mandi, June 25
The Mandi Medical College Sangharsh Samiti (MMCSS) comprising over 50 different organisations, today staged a protest rally at Ner Chowk, about 15 km from here, reiterating their demand of starting of the medical college in the government sector in Mandi.

The protesters rejected government’s proposal for starting the private medical college in Mandi.

Larger number of district representatives participated in the rally, which was attended by people from Balh valley at Ner Chowk, demanding that the government should issue a notification for the medical college in Mandi soon.

Addressing the rally at Ner Chowk, CPI state president Des Raj, Balh Congress MLA Parkash Chaudhary, CPM district president Bhupinder Singh, convener IPTA Lawan Thakur, convener MMCSS Sunder Lohia and T.P. Kapur from citizen’s council addressed the gathering.

They charged that the state government was discriminating against the people of the central region of Mandi denying them their legitimate demand of government medical college in Mandi.

Shimla, June 25
The Himachal and Rajasthan governments will hold ministerial-level discussions here on July 7 to discuss the long-pending issues pertaining to the rehabilitation of Pong Dam oustees.

Revenue minister Gulab Singh said high-level delegations of the two states would be headed by the respective revenue ministers and comprise the principal secretary (revenue), top officials involved in the rehabilitation of the project affected families, representatives of the oustees and other government agencies associated with the Pong Dam issue.

He expressed hope that the discussions would help find an amicable solution to the human problem hanging fire for the past four decades.

Both delegations would later meet Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and apprise him of the decisions taken in the high-level meeting.

The committee members visited the site of the tunnel construction in Lakkar Bazaar, a project being executed under the JNNURM. The members directed that the tunnel should be competed in the stipulated time.

Shimla, June 25
Health minister Rajiv Bindal today launched a special campaign to provide health care services to senior citizens through ayurvedic treatment.

A two-day state-level conference on the subject also commenced with the launch of the “geriatric health care through ayurveda” campaign.

About 500 doctors and experts, policy-makers and health managers would hold discussions to evolve a policy to address health concerns of the elderly.

Bindal said the prime motive of the programme was to ensure longevity of senior citizens by providing better health care.

Special measure would be undertaken for the prevention and cure of old age problems like arthritis, spondylitis, hypertension, sleep disorders, paralysis etc.

The student organisations are indulged in agitations during the classes. This had adversely affected the academic atmosphere in the campus.

Shimla, June 25
The BJP Mahila Morcha has said that women are being made victims of ‘economic terrorism’ due to the failure of the UPA regime to check price rise, which has affected them the most.

Addressing a press conference here today, state president of the morcha Rupa Sharma said it had become very difficult for women to run their homes as inflation had crossed all limits. “The situation has gone out of control due to the failure of the UPA regime,” she said.

She thanked BJP state party chief Jai Ram Thakur and Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal for making provision of 33 per cent reservation women in the party organisation.

Dharamsala, June 25
The issue of having a Circuit Bench of the high court at Dharamsala has been rekindled once again.

Members of the district bar association today said residents of Kangra, Hamirpur, Chamba, Mandi and Una had to travel for 8 to 12 hours to reach Shimla for contesting their cases.

This not only led to wastage of time, but also meant additional financial burden on litigants, they said.

Vikram Mahajan, former Union minister for state and senior advocate of the Supreme Court, said, “People will be justified even if they demand shifting of the entire high court to Kangra as more than 70 per cent cases pertain to lower areas. The only hurdle in shifting the high court is that bureaucrats and judges do not want to part with the facilities available to them at Shimla.”

He said Kangra should exercise its political strength to get the high court shifted here. President of the association Tek Chand Rana said a joint action committee of the bar associations of Kangra, Una, Hamirpur and Chamba was being formed to press for the acceptance of their demand.

The demand of having a bench of high court at Kangra is as old as the state itself. Soon after the reorganisation of Punjab in 1966 and the grant of statehood to Himachal Pradesh in 1971, the bar associations of the said districts had jointly asked the state government and the high court to set up a permanent bench of the high court at Kangra.

Lawyers went on 58-day strike over the issue after which the minister from Kangra and the then CM agreed to their demand on January 25, 1987.

During Shanta Kumar’s stint as the Chief Minister, a letter was written to the Union Government to make necessary amendments in the high court Act to set up a circuit bench at Dharamsala.

Lawyers said a circuit bench of the Himachal Employee Tribunal had been functioning at Dharamsala since 1986.

The previous government had promised to set up a permanent bench of the tribunal at Dharamsala. “However, the promise has not materialised so far,” they said.

Minister for transport Kishan Kapoor has supported the demand. He accused the Congress governments of ignoring lower areas.

Dharamsala, June 25
About 50 lakh farmers across the country will be brought under the organic farming by 2012.

Dr A.K. Yadav, director, National Centre of organic farming gave this information while addressing the scientists of the CSK, Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University, here today.

He asked the university authorities to join hands with the centre to develop technologies and a model for management practices on organic farming for the hilly and mountain areas of the country.

The popular belief that organic farming was merely replacing chemicals with organic inputs is misplaced.

It was a wider issue involving many other parameters like input management, trainings, specific technology development, developing area specific models, development of organic clusters, marketing and formulation of regulations.

Around 10 lakh farmers of the country have already adopted this healthy and environmental friendly farming.

A large area of Madhya Pardesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Kerala, Rajasthan and north-east states has come under the organic practices, he said.

Yadav asked the scientists to make available around 80 per cent of inputs on the farmers field and develop specific technologies for the hilly and mountain states, as organic farming had been a tradition in the state.

Dr Tej Partap, vice-chancellor, elaborated on various issues regarding organic farming like experiences of the farming community, initial problems in adopting organic way and possible solutions .

The university will develop a massive programme on the organic farming with multi-disciplinary approach.

The research and extension programmes of the university on this farming will enhance its credibility among the farmers.

Dr S.C. Sharma, director of research, said this type of farming was suitable for small and marginal farmers of the state. An organic farm had been developed in the university for research purposes.