Shimla, June 8
Himachal may have made great strides in the education sector but when it comes to the remote areas, the picture is entirely different.

So different that in three primary schools in the Shillai area of Sirmaur the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau today booked four government teachers for hiring persons to teach while they themselves remained absent from schools.

Four teachers in the Bakras block of the Shillai area were today booked by the Vigilance as they were found absent when a team of the department conducted surprise raids in these remote schools.

The scene in Kuraya Primary School was even worse as the regular teacher Surinder Kumar was found to be absent while Inder Singh, the person engaged by him for managing the school in his absence, was also not present.

The Vigilance had been receiving complaints that in many rural schools hiring another person on nominal charges was helping regular teachers avoid serving in hard areas.

There were also reports that in many cases the teachers, mostly women, were living with their husbands in other villages.

During the raid the vigilance team led by additional SP, Arvind Negi and DSP Balbir Jaswal found that regular teachers Rajinder Singh and Anita Devi posted in Paab School were missing while Jangli Ram, engaged by them, was taking classes.

“We have information that such a racket of engaging people on nominal charges is
in vogue in the interior parts of Sirmaur and Shimla district which needs to checked,”
said Negi.

In the other primary school at Kiari regular teacher Anita Chauhan was not on duty and two girls Nima Devi and Kiran hired by her were managing the show.

The vigilance team said while in one case the teacher was running a shop in his native village, in the other his lady colleague was running a coaching centre at Paonta Sahib with her husband.

Secretary, Education, P.C. Dhiman, said in case the charges against such teachers were found to be true, an appropriate action would be taken against them.

“Though our own teams of the education department keep conducting surprise checks of schools but we will further strengthen it to ensure that there is no dereliction of duty in any way,” he assured.

Shimla, June 8
The government plans to enact a new town and country planning (TCP) legislation for ensuring planned and sustainable development of the state with focus on preserving the rich heritage.

This was stated by Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal while reviewing the functioning of departments of town and country planning and urban development here today.

He said the Act would have provision for establishing a state heritage conservation advisory committee and a town and country development authority.

The government had also decided to make installation of water-harvesting structures mandatory in all buildings.

Moreover, designs of buildings should blend with hill architecture. He directed the authorities to ensure that the provision of rainwater harvesting was enforced in case of every building.

Systematic and planned development also called for exploring possibilities of cost-effective rural housing under different schemes, he added.

He said the development plan for Kasauli had been approved while the plans had been formulated for Theog, Waknaghat, Parwanoo and Dharamsala.

Ner Chowk, Naggar, Trilokpur, Chintpurni, Sarahan, Baba Balak Nath areas were proposed to be developed as special areas.

Action plans had also been prepared for Bharmour, Kalpa, Sangla and Kamroo villages in tribal areas.

So far, 2,155 planning permissions had been granted and Shimla, Dharamsala, Mandi, Solan and Nahan brought under National Urban Data Bank and Indicators (NUDBI).

He said the codal formalities were being completed to implement Khajjiar Special Area Development Plan and heritage reports for Shimla, Chamba, Dalhousie, Mandi and Rampur towns were being finalised.

Policy on urbanisation, city regional plan for state capital, counter magnet regional plan for central Himachal and state transport network plan were in the pipeline.

Singla and Racholi areas in Rampur subdivision had been exempted from the purview of town planning provisions.

A Rs 3,600-crore detailed project proposal had been submitted under the Jawaharlal
Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for the infrastructural upgrading of various
towns. He said 636 flats were being constructed for the urban poor at a cost of Rs
24 crore.

Under Rs 23.43-crore Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme (IHSDP), 836 housing units were being raised in Hamirpur, Dharamsala and Solan districts.

Further, 800 flats to had been approved for Parwanoo, Baddi and Nalagarh under a Rs 32-crore project, he added.

Shimla, June 8
The state has secured financial assistance from national agriculture and rural
development bank for 4,032 projects involving expenditure of Rs 2,289 crore up
to June 1, 2009.

This was revealed by Chief Minister PK Dhumal while presiding over the review meeting of the Planning Department, here today.

The funds had been spent on construction of 1,504 minor irrigation and water shed development projects, 805 road and bridges projects, construction of 1,213 primary school rooms, 64 science laboratories in senior secondary schools and construction of 366 water supply schemes.

He said land acquisition process of Amb Andora to Daulatpur Chowk section had been initiated for Nangal-Talwara rail line.

The state would bear 25 per cent of the cost of Bhanupalli-Bilaspur-Beri rail project and the rest 75 per cent would be borne by the Centre.

Dharamsala, June 8
Tenzin Choezom (20), a class XII student from Dharamsala, has been chosen Miss Tibet-2009. The final of the pageant was organised at McLeodganj yesterday night.

Tenzin can speak Tibetan, English and Hindi and likes dancing, playing musical instruments and basketball. Tenzin said she wanted to work in the field of journalism.

Ngawang Choying (18), a class XII student from Darjeeling, was adjudged the first runner-up. She said a Miss Tibet could do many things for Tibet and Tibetan people.

She could fight against the Chinese aggression and work for the poor people of her community living in India and other parts of the world.

Dolkar, a software engineer from Deheradun, was the second runner-up. There were just four contenders for the crown this year.

The contest generally draws very few contestants due opposition from traditional Tibetans. Last year, there were just two contestants.

Though the traditional Tibetan administration here does not approve of the contest, a large numbers of Tibetans came to see the event.

Tibetan girls, who could not dare to participate in the contest, could be seen cheering contestants, making public their pent-up feelings.

Lobsang Wangyal has been organising the event since 2002 despite opposition from within the Tibetan community-in-exile and limited resources.

Lobsang said the pageant this year was held with a special message to thank the Indian people for their 50-year support to the struggle of Tibetans-in-exile.

Mandi, June 8
Alleging paper leak, parents of some students who appeared for the HP Combined Pre-medical Entrance Test (HPCPMET) today lodged a written complaint with the Vice-Chancellor of Himachal Pradesh University demanding a probe into the episode.

They also faxed copies of the complaint to the Chief Minister and the CBI. The result of the test, which was taken by over 6,000 students, was declared on May 31.

Parents of these students, many of whom had secured more than 90 per cent marks in the CBSE or ICSE examinations, have also requested the Vice-Chancellor not to publish the final list of selected candidates as fixed for June 11.

According to Roop Upadhayay of Mandi, whose daughter had secured 92 per cent marks in the plus-two examination, 22 candidates from a Shimla-based coaching centre making it to the PMT indicated that there was a paper leak.

“Getting 390 marks in biology out of 400 (as has been the case with one student) is impossible when you have negative marking system,” he said.

Others who have joined Upadhayay in complaining to the Vice-Chancellor were: Devraj, Rajpal, Rampal, Hemraj, Ramesh (all from Sarkaghat), Dharma Singh Negi and Sushil Kumar (from Hamirpur).

Vice-Chancellor of the university Sunil Kumar Gupta said, “We have received a complaint, but there is no mention of the name of any coaching centre. We are examining the allegations made in the complaint.”

He, however, maintained that the university had observed proper secrecy while conducting the examination.

Hamirpur, June 8
The Himachal Pradesh Medical Representative Association (HPMRA) has urged the state government to change the timing of their visits in the government hospitals.

This demand was raised by office-bearers of the HPMRA on Sunday in their state conference by state president Pradeep Kumar and general secretary Naresh Kaushal.

They said, “The state government has limited their visiting hours in the government hospitals from 3 to 4 pm which are quite inconvenient for them and thus demanded to change the visiting hours from 9 to 11 am.”

Addressing the conference, national secretary of the medical representative association RP Singh accused the central government for adopting a faulty drug policy in the country and about the effects of global recession on this industry.

He said, “While global economy has adversely affected the drug industry in our country too leading to drastic cuts in job but drug manufacturing cartel is minting high profits by manipulating drug trade in our country for which the central government is solely to be blamed.”

Other problems of medical representatives were also raised in the conference. A new state body was also elected in the conference.

While Pradeep Kumar was once again elected state president of the HPMRA and Naresh Kaushal was elected general secretary.

Kangra, June 8
Classes of the first batch comprising 150 students in five trades will start in the Rs 100 crore National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) at Chaib, near here, from August 1 as the admission process will conclude on July 27.

Disclosing this here today, Special Secretary and Director, Technical Education, SS Guleria told The Tribune that all-India entrance test for admission to the institute was already conducted and counselling for admission would start shortly.

He said this year classes of textile designing, fashion designing, accessories designing, knitwear designing and apparel production would start and 30 students in each trade would be admitted.

Guleria said three hostel buildings and 16 residential quarters vacated by authorities of Polytechnic College, Kangra, have been handed over to the NIFT authorities.

He said the academic and study blocks were under construction with the state PWD agency and would be hopefully ready by the end of this year.

Till then alternate classrooms arrangements have been made to carry on with
uninterrupted classes.

He said the state government was providing all facilities to run this NIFT centre here. He said Rs 58 crore were contributed for this centre by the state government and Rs 42 crore by the GoI.