Dharamsala, October 29
The first contingent of 425 women constables from the newly raised 5th Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) was inducted into the state police today.They were administered the oath of allegiance to the Constitution of India and asked to uphold the rich traditions of the Himachal Police at the passing out parade held at the 2nd IRB, Sakoh, near Dharamsala. Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal took salute from the battalion. The passing out parade was commanded by constable Suman Dhiman.

Addressing women recruits, Dhumal said it was a proud moment for the women recruits to become part of the state police.

The state government was endeavouring to modernise police force and Rs 29 crore had been spent over various modernisation activities for the past three years, he said.

The government has also enhanced the budgetary provisions for the police by 50 per cent and earmarked Rs 15 crore for their housing facilities. The foundation stone of the new complex of the women battalion will also be laid.

One the occasion, the Chief Minister announced training allowance of 15 per cent to the instructors of police training centre of the state.

Dhumal honoured the outstanding recruits of the newly raised women battalion, including constable Sushma Kumari, who was adjudged the best all rounder, constable Shilpa Rani, first, and constable Tamanna Thakur, second, in outdoor activities. Constable Goldy was adjudged as the best shooter. Head constable instructor Yashpal Dhiman was adjudged the best instructor.

Daljit Singh Manhas, Director General of Police, welcomed the Chief Minister. Ravinder Ravi, IPH Minister, Kishan Kapoor, Industries Minister, GS Bali, Congress MLA from Nagrota, and Somesh Goel, ADGP, were among others present on the occasion.

Solan, October 29
A team of the Excise and Taxation Department confiscated nine courier packets containing goods worth Rs 9.50 lakh which were being sent to other states by evading taxes from the Baddi industrial area.

A team of officials led by GD Thakur confiscated these packets from the Kalujhinda area of Baddi which was an alternative route used for such activities involving tax evasion. The courier packs were being sent by various pharmaceutical companies that contained sedative drugs.

These packs were to be forwarded to various destinations, including Delhi and Gurgaon.

Since a large number of sedative drugs were being sent through courier, it lent credence to the fact that such a nefarious trade appeared to be thriving on the sly.

The courier company has been booked under Section 34 of the HP VAT Act and a penalty of Rs 3.75 lakh has been slapped for tax evasion.

Officials said they would also look into the past records of these erring units as it appeared that it was a routine affair to send untaxed goods through couriers to other states. While this led to a loss of VAT for the state, such activities were thriving through the porous border which this industrial belt shared with Haryana and Punjab.

Shimla, October 29
Concerned over the huge cost overrun and tardy implementation of the Rs 1,365 crore State Road Project, the World Bank has put on hold a contract pertaining to the upgradation of the 41.9 km Sarkaghat-Ghumarwin section.

The progress of the project was evaluated by the World Bank mission which visited the state recently for a mid-term review. Taking notice of the fact that work on almost all packages had fallen behind schedule and the cost had risen by a whopping 30 per cent ($90 million), the bank has asked the state roads and other infrastructure development corporation, the executing agency, not to proceed with completing the procurement of the remaining contract till it is able to secure the required additional funds. Out of the total $90 million, the state government has to contribute $37 million (Rs 150 crore).

The progress of the upgradation of five roads under Phase-I varied from 7.3 per cent to 33.58 per cent and it ranged from 0.89 per cent to 2 per cent in the four packages of Phase-II, while work on one package was yet to take off.

Out of these, the Rs 354 twin Mehatpur-Una-Amb and Theog-Kotkhai-Hatkoti-Rohru upgrade packages, being executed by a Chinese company Longjian Road and Bridge Limited, have suffered the maximum delay. The disbursement of loan has been lower than the forecast.

Observing that the executing agency lacked requisite expertise to handle such contracts, particularly the FIDIC (Federation Internationale Des Ingenieurs-Conseils) conditions of contract, the mission advised the government to strengthen the contract management capacity to ensure that there was no further escalation of cost. It suggested the agency to recruit a contract management adviser consultant immediately and deploy more staff for the purpose. Further, it should strengthen the supervision consultant team to have an improved performance on contract management issues.

Principal Secretary, PWD, P.C. Kapoor, said the government would take up the matter with the Union Ministry of Economic Affairs for seeking additional funds from the bank to take care of escalation in the cost of project. 

Lamblu (Hamirpur), October 29
Chief Minister PK Dhumal has said students having technical education are in great demand in today’s job market and they should take full benefits of technical education being provided in the state to secure employment.

Addressing students and people of the area before giving prizes to students in annual prize distribution function of Government Senior Secondary School, Lamblu, today, Dhumal said, “Yesterday, I attended a function at Nalagarh and was impressed to see that RPG company, manufacturing electronics meters, had employed all 184 boys and girls from the state with technical skills. The company is also sponsoring their further education.”

Stressing the need for technical education, he said, “Out of a total 3,800 students obtaining technical education last year, 2600 have already been employed and there is a great demand for skilled people in the industry and the state government is spending Rs 83 crore on technical education and an ITI is being established here with a cost of Rs 4.25 crore.”

Asking the students to work hard, Dhumal said, “In today’s era of cut throat competition, the fittest will survive and thus students should work hard to fare better in their lives.”

He said, “Our government is providing equal benefits to farmers of every region and provided insurance cover to apple and mango crops and advised the farmers to change farming pattern in the changed situation to reap rich dividend.”

Dhumal said, “It is our endeavour to make people self-reliant and for this we are focusing on the development of villages since people and the state can not prosper without progress in the villages.”

He also gave away prizes to the students for their achievements in different fields.

Earlier, the Chief Minister inaugurated Sugam Kendra in DC office, Hamirpur, and laid the foundation stone of ayurveda hospital and ITI complex at Lamblu.

Dhumal said, “Sugam Kendra has been set up to provide facilities under e-governance programme of the state government and this will provide several facilities like obtaining driving and arms licences, registration of vehicle, RTI and information regarding different schemes, depositing telephone, electricity and water bills etc under one roof.”

Solan, October 29
The police claims to have solved several cases of burglary and theft which had taken place in the town recently with the arrest of two youths from Burail in Chandigarh.

Solan SP Hardesh Bisht told mediapersons here today that they had arrested Pawan and Naresh from their house at Burail in Chandigarh after Sunil, who was arrested earlier, had revealed that they had carried out various robberies and burglaries in the town.

The police recovered a 9mm pistol, another .32 bore pistol, which was stolen from BD Pathak, a local resident here, from them. Two cartridges, jewellery worth Rs 1.30 lakh, silver ornaments, four laptops, digital cameras, a Tata Safari and a motorcycle were also recovered from the Chandigarh youths.

Pathak's house had been burgled and valuables, including this pistol, had been stolen from his house.

The SP said their preliminary investigation had revealed their involvement in cases of burglary and robbery in the town and more details would emerge after detailed investigations.

A case under the Arms Act and various Sections of robbery and burglary has been registered against them.

The SP said it was the interception of Sunil Kumar during a routine checking that led to the arrest of the two youths from Burail. Sunil, who hails from Hamirpur, was part of the gang who had been active in the town for the past several months.

He was earlier arrested on suspicion when two numberplates that were displayed at the front and rear of a Maruti 800, which he was driving, displayed different numbers.

A subsequent search led to the recovery of a sword, house-breaking equipments and some numberplates, which led to his arrest. Sunil was also involved in another burglary at the Chakker area of Shimla, where a woman was looted by masked sword-wielding youths in the recently. 

Shimla, October 29
The state power utility will have to ensure guaranteed standard of service with the state Electricity Regulatory Commission revamping consumer redressal mechanism and fixing minimum compensation for any deficiency in service.

The new regulations take care of all aspects right from complaint handling management to the establishment of Forum for Redressal of Grievances of Consumers (FRGC), which will award compensation to the aggrieved consumer in case of deficiency in service.

As per the benchmarks and standards approved by the commission, the utility will have to respond to complaints of interruption of power supply and other faults within a specified time period in urban, rural and remote areas and failure to restore the supply will entitle the aggrieved consumer to compensation replacement of faulty metering equipment.

For instance, compensation in case of fuse failure will be payable at Rs 10 per hour for delay beyond the specified time of six hours (urban), 12 hours (rural) and 24 hours (remote). In case of breakdown of line it will be payable at Rs 10 per day for delay in restoration beyond 24 working hours (36 hours if pole replacement needed) in urban, 24 hours (three days if pole replacement needed) in rural and 48 hours (six days if pole replacement needed) in remote areas. The rate will be Rs 20 per day for faults pertaining to underground cable and transformer. For replacement of faulty metering equipment it will be Rs 100 per day in urban and Rs 400 per day in rural.

Similarly, the process of estimating charges for new connections and additional power supply, issuing of demand notice, investigations of complaints regarding low or unstable voltage has to be carried out within specified time. The utility has to maintain the voltage variation within six per cent for low tension consumers.

Any complainant of domestic category sent through a simple representation shall be sent for redressal to the licensee and if no response is received within a month, it will be treated suo motu as the petition to be dealt in the same manner as other petitions. 

Palampur, October 29
A widow and resident of Balhear Rajolu village (Kudail) of Baijnath, faced the atrocities of villagers when she was allegedly put around her neck a garland of shoes and dragged in the village. None came to her rescue.

According to information, the incident took place on October 22. It is learnt that she was blamed by the villagers for stealing milk by milking their cows in early hours.

A villager had spotted her in his cowshed in early hours. He told the villagers that he had caught her while stealing milk. This caused anger among villagers against the widow.

They dragged Sakeena out of her house, painted her face black, put around her neck a garland of shoes, roped and dragged her in the village.

It was quite strange that there was none in the village who could rescue her. Even village women also participated in this illegal act. The next day, someone informed Trilok Chand, her younger brother, who came to the village and took his sister to the native place at Ladbharol of Mandi district.

Trilok reported the matter to the Baijnath police, stating that his sister was meted out inhuman treatment by the residents of Balhear Rajol village. He had also appealed Chief Minister PK Dhumal and the SSP, Kangra, to arrest the culprits immediately. He had also sought the intervention of the state woman commission.

However, even after expiry of almost one week, no arrest has been made in this case.

Shimla, October 29
As many as 17,304 patients have been provided benefits to the tune of Rs 6.28 crore under the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana so far in the state.

Stating this while inaugurating a workshop of the northern states on the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana here today, Health Minister Rajiv Bindal said an overall 2.40 lakh BPL families had been covered under the scheme and it was a matter of pride for the state that it had won awards for its performance under the scheme.

He said the state had launched several health-related schemes like ‘Beti Hai Anmol’ to curb female foeticide, initiatives to control use of tobacco and special facility to old 
patients, free denture to persons above 65 years, free delivery facility to pregnant woman in 75 identified government hospitals, school health programmes, etc.

He said the state had won a national-level award for issuing 2.37 lakh smart cards, covering more than 80 per cent of the targeted populations in its first phase in 2009. All districts had been covered under the scheme from March 1 in the second phase.

He said Ayurveda had also been included under the scheme, adding that in all, 22 Ayurvedic hospitals were being empanelled for the purpose under it.

He said the state government was also providing additional benefits for critical illness, adding that expenses up to Rs 1.75 lakh was being given for meeting hospitalisation and surgical expanses for the beneficiary members.

Director General, Labour Welfare, Government of India, Anil Swarup, said the scheme was gaining recognition all over 
the country, while underlining the need for concerted efforts to make 
it successful.

He also stressed the need for frequent monitoring of the scheme and said every claim needed to be settled within 21 days. 

Shimla, October 29
Public property belongs to all and if a person grabs it, he can legally be debarred from fighting elections. This was held by the Himachal Pradesh High Court on a petition wherein the question was raised whether a person who has applied for regularisation of encroachment of a land can be deprived of his right to fight election under the provisions of the Himachal Pradesh Panchayati Raj Act.

While deciding this issue, the court observed that the transparency of public officials was necessary to maintain the democracy. Any effort by the state to ensure that the persons who had grabbed public property or persons with criminal background were ineligible to fight elections should be lauded and in such cases a more purposive interpretation should be given so that the purpose behind making the amendment was achieved.

The court made this observation on a petition filed by Baldev Singh, who was elected as member of the Zila Parishad and his election was challenged by his opponent on the ground that he was in illegal possession of government land. Both authorities below had come to the conclusion that the petitioner was in possession of the government land and held that the petitioner should be disqualified as per the provision of the Act and his election was set aside.

Challenging these orders before the court, the petitioner contended that he had moved an application for the regularisation of the land encroachment. While dismissing the petition the court further observed that there was no evidence to show that the right of the petitioner had fructified into ownership.