Solan, September 9
Acceding to the demand of 21 private polytechnic institutes, the state government has finally relaxed admission norms to enable more candidates to secure admissions in various courses.

The relaxation came as a major relief to the managements of private institutes where a large number of seats had fallen vacant after the last counselling session in August.

Vijay Chandan, director, Technical Education, while confirming the relaxation, said one-time relaxation had been granted to 21 private institutes where almost 30 to 40 per cent seats had fallen vacant. All seats had, however, been filled in the eight polytechnic institutes being run by the state government. About six different courses were being offered in these institutes.

As per the relaxed norms, any matriculate could opt for a polytechnic course and the earlier stipulation of 50 per cent marks had now been waived off. Further, the ITI students who have appeared for their exams and were awaiting results could secure provisional admission in the lateral entry category and the mandatory condition of appearing in the Polytechnic Admission Test had been relaxed. This relaxation would enable ITI students to seek admission in various three-year polytechnic courses who had earlier been denied this opportunity.

Chairman of the Private Polytechnic Institutes’ Association CS Awasthy said the relaxation had brought some respite to the institutes as it would enable filling of a large number of vacant seats.

Thanking the Chief Minister, Awasthy said they had raised the issue before the government and pleaded for this relaxation as the earlier stringent norms were leading to exodus of students to the neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana where no such condition existed.

The fate of these institutes could be estimated from the fact that one of them had barely managed to admit 50 students as against its sanctioned strength of 300 in the last academic session, thus, making it difficult to even meet the salaries of its staff and other recurring expenditure.

The managements of these institutes were now hopeful of filling some more seats though they wondered how these institutes would survive once 12 more institutes which were in the pipeline would also become functional from the next academic session.

They opined that 21 private and eight government institutes were adequate to serve the students in a small hill state like Himachal.

Shimla, September 9
It was a miraculous escape for 50 children of Government Primary School at Jhanjeri village in the Shoghi area when an injured leopard entered the kitchen where mid-day meal was being prepared.

Incidentally, another leopard that had been on the prowl in and around Puabo village near Bharari on the outskirts of the town was caught in the trap laid by the Wildlife Department.

Both the leopards have been shifted to the Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre at Tutikandi.

It was a call around 10 am from the police and the school authorities from Shoghi that made the wildlife team rush to the school where the leopard had sought protection under a shelf in the kitchen. “The leopard is very old and has major injuries in his hind limbs as well as deep wounds in the neck portion,” RK Raj, DFO (Wildlife), said.

The leopard, who was also suffering from acute skin ailment, was first spotted by a woman staff who was preparing the mid-day meal for children. Seeing the leopard, she jumped out of the window to save her life.

“The school staff immediately locked up all children in a room and informed the police who summoned the wildlife staff,” Raj said. Had the leopard not been injured there could have been a major disaster as classes were going on in the school.

The wildlife staff had a tough time tranquilising the leopard as it was so feeble that it had no muscle and was literally a skeleton.

Veterinary doctors have already started treating the leopard, but he is stated to be too frail and weak.

Shimla, September 9
The Cabinet’s nod to amendments to the old power policy of 2006 has paved the way for the new Hydropower Policy, 2010, to facilitate techno-economic clearances and laying of transmission lines for evacuation of power.

The State Cabinet, which met here today under the chairmanship of Chief Minister PK Dhumal, approved the amendments which will facilitate power producers in obtaining techno-economic clearances easily and evacuate power for transmission.

Chief Secretary Rajwant Sandhu briefed the media about the decisions taken at the meeting.

All projects below Rs 500 crore, which were being approved by the HP State Electricity Board (HPSEB), would now be cleared by the Directorate, Energy. Evacuation of power through transmission lines would be done in an optimal manner so that the existing lines are fully utilised before new ones are laid.

“A loan of $300 million has already been obtained from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the purpose and the draft master plan submitted to the PowerGrid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL),” said Deepak Sanan, Principal Secretary (Power).

The Cabinet approved amendment in the Oustees’ Plot Allotment Rules at New Township, Bilaspur, with a view to protect interests of the left-out 364 oustees of the Bhakra Dam.

The Cabinet approved the move for bringing about uniformity in vacations and academic session in all government educational institutions in the state from the next academic session with an aggregate of 52 holidays.

“The move will bring about synchronisation in the holiday schedule, besides academic session, and re-employment of teachers with all retirements to take place on March 31,” said Srikant Baldi, Secretary, Education.

The Cabinet approved the move to introduce “Himachal Ki Lok Sanskriti Aur Yoga” and “Himachal Ke Vir Sainikon Ki Gathayen” in the educational curriculum at the elementary stage.

Shimla, September 9
Hydropower projects have gobbled up almost 70 per cent of the total 9,000 hectares of forest land diverted for non-forestry purposes since the enactment of the Forest Conservation Act.

The total forest area diverted for setting up projects works out to 3,896.24 hectares up to March 31, 2010, and over 5 lakh trees have been felled.

Besides 2,224.21 hectares of forest land has been diverted for construction of power transmission lines for which about 6 lakh trees have been axed. Thus, out of the total 9,000 hectares of forest area diverted for development activities, as much as 6,120 hectares, over 68 per cent, has been given for power projects.

These statistics make recommendations of the Shukla Committee report all the more important. It has recommended that environment-impact assessment be carried out basin-wise instead of project-wise and a minimum riparian distance of 5 km between two projects on the same river. As such, projects with aggregate capacity of 11,000 MW, almost half of the total hydropower potential of the state, will be affected by the Shukla Committee report.

Out of these, projects of over 7,000 MW capacity, which have, so far, not been given environment clearance, will be the most severely affected as the committee has recommended that projects which did not conform to these norms be put on hold until the entire issue was examined and a proper policy framed.

The total annual revenue from the sale of power available as royalty and on the basis of equity participation from power projects of 6,700 MW already commissioned is around Rs 1,300 crore at present. It will increase to Rs 2,500 crore by the end of the 12th Plan, provided all projects come on schedule.

Mandi, September 9
Supporting the Shukla Committee recommendations on the environment issue, Union Steel Minister and Mandi MP Virbhadra Singh said here that the government should “ban diversion of water of small rivulet to other rivers considering its environmental fallout”.

The diversion of rivers spells disaster for downstream vegetation, aquatic life, irrigation and drinking water supplies, he added.

Responding to the queries on the Shukla Committee appointed by the Himachal High Court last year to report on the fallout of hydel projects on the environment in the state, Virbhadra said he came to know about the committee recommendations through the media and had not read it. “However, it has raised environmental concerns of hydel projects in the state and deserves urgent attention,” he added.

Dharamsala, September 9
The district police today arrested Ashwani Dogra, a former government teacher, who was running a private academy from Gaggal, and Ranjana from Nandrule panchayat near Kangra in the examination scam unearthed in the Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education (HPBSE).

While Ashwani was being suspected to be the kingpin in the scam, Ranjana was a student who got matriculation certificate through the nexus.

Investigations by the police and board officials indicated that the scam might be spread to other board examinations of classes VIII, XI and XII also. This might increase the number of accused in the scam.

Kangra SP Atul Fulzele said the accused teacher was being quizzed and nothing could be said regarding his role in the scam as yet.

According to sources, the police was trying to locate 63 students who had secured class X certificates without appearing in examination centres. Initially, the police authorities tried to locate the students at the addresses given on their examination forms. However, all addresses turned out to be fake.

“We will now try to locate the accused students from their photographs collected from the forms. However, it may take some time,” a police official said.

Meanwhile, board secretary Prabhat Sharma said it seemed that a nexus between certain board employees and teachers existed in the racket. It seemed that that the nexus existed for a long time.

We are providing every possible detail to the police, he added.

The police sources are concentrating on the fact that how the answer sheets got into the hands of accused in the case. Generally, the answer sheets are in the custody of staff at examination centres or the board staff. The answer sheets have serial numbers and according to them it were distributed in the examination centres. Only a person involved in the entire process could have sneaked answer sheets outside the examination centres.

Then, the completed answer sheets were once again introduced in official bundles or sent directly to evaluation centres across the state. It can be at the staff level of examination centres or even at the postal department end, the police officials said.

Such a well-organised racket in which the students were securing certificates without even sitting in examination centers has shocked the entire teaching fraternity.

Shimla, September 9
The Rs 454-crore funding from Asian Development Bank (ADB) for undertaking various projects in the tourism sector in the hill state is expected to be released by November.

Though the proposal has been in the pipeline for the last more than two years, the various schemes are likely to approved at the ADB board meeting scheduled to be held at Manila on September 24. “The ADB is scheduled to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Government of India on September 27 and funds for our projects should start flowing in by November,” said Arun Sharma, Director, Tourism and Civil Aviation.

He said one of the consultants deputed by the ADB had already started functioning from here and four more were likely to arrive here shortly for different tasks like procurement and recruitment. A full-fledged project monitoring unit with a staff of almost 40 persons was likely to be set up in the state capital shortly.

The tourism department had put up various projects, including developing the Pong Dam area as a major tourist destination and beautification of the Mall and Ridge area. The Municipal Corporation has sought almost Rs 19 crore from the ADB for tasks like the beautification of the Mall and development of parks.

The MC is keen to undertake restoration of the Town Hall building. However this will only be possible if funds are received from the ADB as neither the MC nor the state government has the funds to take up such a huge project.

The technical consultant of the ADB yesterday visited the Ridge along with the Director (Tourism), Mayor and the Commissioner of the MC.

The MC is banking on the ADB for funds for undertaking stabilisation of the Ridge as the cash-strapped body is no position to shell out money for the task.

Shimla, September 9
With Narinder, the main accused in the red sander smuggling case, being released from Tihar jail in April this year after a span of 14 years, chances of smuggling of the valuable wood from the border areas of Himachal into China in the past is being practically ruled out by the police.

The arrested Deputy Commandant of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Sukhdev Singh Rana, and inspector Manmohan Singh, were remanded in police custody till September 20 by the Rampur Session Court where they were produced late last night.

“The two ITBP personnel will be interrogated to corroborate the information given by the main accused about their interaction with them,” confirmed SR Rana, SP, Lahaul-Spiti.

The police has also seized the mobile phone of Rana in which the sim card was issued in the name of one Lal Singh of Mandi. The police has been able to trace several calls made from this phone to the main accused, Narinder, who was in touch with people in China. The phone is being sent to the Junga laboratory here for forensic examination.

Though the police is yet to obtain details of bank accounts and lockers of the two ITBP officials, the main accused arrested, so far, have alleged that the deal for ensuring safe transportation of the sander from Lepcha to Tibet side was struck for Rs 4 lakh. They admitted that the entire payment was already made to the ITBP officer. The police will now gather details about the bank accounts of not just the two ITBP personnel, but also of their family members and relatives.

Interestingly, it was today that the police got information that the kingpin in the case, Narinder, a resident of Kaza, was released from Tihar jail in Delhi in April end this year. He was arrested in 1996 by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) with 52 kg of charas and then booked under the NDPS Act.

The police is still looking for Narinder who, after his release, managed to transport the wood from Dellhi to Kaza in May itself.

Police sources said the trucks landed in Lepcha on August 21. However, it was only on the night of September 23 that the police got the whiff of it. Within the two days, while the trucks were parked there, 30 quintals of wood was transported on mules from Lepcha to Churap village across the Indo-China border. The police was able to seize 120 quintals of wood.

Kangra, September 9
A newborn girl child was found dead in a water body near Hatwas village in this subdivision today.

Kangra District Police chief Atul Fulzele said the child was found by some passerby, who informed the police. When the police reached the spot, a few stray dogs were feeding on the body. The police has registered a case.

Shimla, September 9
The Himachal Pradesh High Court Bar Association has donated Rs 1,11,000 towards relief and rehabilitation of the Leh cloudburst victims.

In response to the appeal for contribution for the recent natural calamity, members of the Bar Association decided to contribute the money to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund. Office-bearers of the Bar Association presented the bank draft to Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal.

The Chief Minister thanked Ashok Sharma, president of the Bar Association, for motivating the advocates to donate liberally towards the cause of the poor and needy. It was a crucial time for Leh inhabitants and any form of relief from the residents of the state would be appreciated, he added.