Shimla, October 30
The CID team investigating the fake marksheet scam in Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) today recovered five undelivered marksheets from the possession of the main accused, Pankaj, alias Gurvinder, which will help identify the beneficiary students.

Following the unearthing of the scam, the case had been handed over to the CID. “With these five marksheets we now have eight such documents which had not yet been delivered to the students,” revealed Brajesh Sood, DSP (CID), heading the investigation.

He said since the addresses of the students were not mentioned in the marksheet, the CID would soon try to establish their identify after getting in touch with the university authorities.

Sood said the five certificates found in possession of the main accused were of BA, BCom and BSc courses. “We have been able to establish the identity of some other students and soon we will be calling them for questioning,” Sood said.

The kingpin of the scam had been arrested by the CID from the New Shimla area two days back. During interrogation he admitted to have made about 35 such marksheets even though the police apprehended that the number could be more than this.

The police would also look into the aspect whether those who acquired the fake marksheets had put them to use to obtain jobs or admission either in postgraduation or higher classes. In many cases the main accused was not even aware of the exact address of the beneficiary students, as it was through others that they got in touch with him. However, investigations held into the case till now indicate that majority of the students who tried to benefit from the illegal act hail from Shimla district only.

Dharamsala, October 30
The arguments in Aman Kachroo case closed today. Additional District and Session’s Judge Purinder Vaidya has reserved the judgment for November 11 after both defence and prosecution closed their arguments that continued for three days.

The defence has basically relied on two arguments. They have maintained Aman died due to heart attack caused due to chronic heart disease. Secondly, they have maintained that there was a second ragging incident involving Aman that had not been investigated. According to them, Aman was injured in the second ragging incident that was referred to in the statement of Dr Swamy who had conducted the postmortem examination in the case.

The prosecution, on the other hand, has provided the pathological report to establish that Aman did not suffer from any heart ailment. Regarding that second ragging incident the prosecution has maintained that there was no evidence on record to prove it.

The case has reached final stage after many twists and turns. Aman Kachroo, a first-year medical student of Tanda Medical College, died in March last year. The police had registered a case of murder against four senior students of the college, who had allegedly assaulted Aman that had led to his death.

The death caused national outrage and the Supreme Court ordered suspension of principal of the college and inquiry by the Raghavan Committee. The Himachal Pradesh government passed an anti-ragging ordinance to comply with Raghavan Committee recommendations as per the Supreme Court order.

The police has filed a challan in the fast track court at Dharamsala. Recently, the fast track court had released the accused on bail. The Himachal High Court, however, took suo motu notice of the news reports and cancelled their bail. It also directed the fast track court to decide the case expeditiously.

Shimla, October 30
The plans of the Tourism Department to set up a film city in the state may finally materialise with some prominent film and television producers evincing keen interest in setting up a film city, which would facilitate shooting of Bollywood flicks at picturesque locations in Himachal.

It was at the investors meet organised by the department at New Delhi recently that some people associated with the film and television world expressed their desire to set up a film city in Himachal. Though the government has been very keen to set up a film city, but the plans have failed to take off so far.

“We received very encouraging response from some renowned film and television personalities and we are exploring the possibility of setting up a film city in public-private partnership at some place within the state,” said director, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Arun Sharma.

One of the participants at the meet, Sandeep Marwah, director of Asian Academy of Film and Television and the Asian School of Media Studies, interacted with senior tourism functionaries and offered to set up a film city in Himachal. He is the founder of film city in Noida and has also been associated with the production of more than 2,500 television programmes and 70 feature films.

He has been associated with the production of 1,500 short films, which is highest in the world. He is the president of International Film and Television Club, chairperson of International Film and Television Research Centre and the honorary cultural ambassador of Wales in India.

With a huge chunk of land required for meeting the requirement of a film city, the government has so far zeroed down on Saketi in Sirmour, Baragaon, near Manali, and Jhatingiri in Mandi. “If more investors are interested, we can think of having more than one film city also,” said Sharma. The department has already set the ball rolling and various procedures and formalities that need to be fulfilled are being completed.

During the meet, the producers admitted that Himachal had everything that was ideal for shooting films, but lack of infrastructure compels them to travel abroad where everything is taken care of with no hassles at all. They pointed out that if the shooting equipment like lights and big cameras were available they would love to shoot in Himachal.

Despite Sanjay Leela Bhansali shooting his widely acclaimed film “Black” in Shimla, not, too, many producers take the trouble of holding their shoots in Himachal. Places like Kullu-Manali, Chamba, Dalhousie and Shimla have ideal locales for film shooting.

Nauni (Solan), October 30
The state would come up with an ambitious plan to modernise its higher education system.

Chief Minister PK Dhumal said this in his keynote address on Revitalisation of Higher Education to Meet Knowledge Challenges of 21st Century which he delivered before the faculty of Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry at Nauni today after dedicating an International Hostel, constructed at a cost of Rs 1.72 crore, to the students.

The Chief Minister said the aim of the government was to excel in governance and percolate its benefits to the grassroot level to avail its optimum benefits. He said the government had planned expansion of medical, engineering and other higher education infrastructure by adopting Public Private Partnership mode. He said 18 per cent of the students of the state were opting for higher education which was the highest in the country.

He said they were endeavouring to generate opportunities through collaboration between industry, universities and research institutes. He underlined the need for evolving research priorities in emerging areas of development like value addition, food processing, organic farming, carbon trading, environment, technology, eco-friendly insect pest and disease management strategies etc.

Dhumal said recent technological and educational modules developed on the basis of scientific understanding should be sensitive towards the needs of the hilly areas. He said a knowledge network should be developed for the hill institutions for sharing of information on different aspects of mountain development.

Health Minister Rajiv Bindal said 43 posts of scientist were sanctioned and 129 daily wagers were regularised in the university, besides adding to quality infrastructural facilities. He said herbal production was bound to get revolutionised with the signing of an MoU with Patanjli Yog Peeth to sell 35 herbs for ayurvedic medicinal use.

Prof KR Dhiman, Vice-Chancellor of the University, welcomed the Chief Minister and gave a detailed account of the activities, achievements and targets of the university. He said course programme had been updated to meet the present day requirement by introducing vocational courses.

MLA Rajiv Saijal, chairperson of the State Social Welfare Board Veena Thakur and officials of the district were also present on the occasion.

Manali, October 30
Farmers and residents of Lahaul-Spiti have demanded extension of the deadline of the closure of the 13,050 ft-high Rohtang Pass, which the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has declared officially from October 31, till November 15 as the “supplies of fertilisers and other essential commodities are yet to be stocked in snowbound tribal belt for the coming six winter months, when belt remains cut off from the rest of the world”.

Members of Lahaul Potato Society (LPS) and farmers from Koksar, Sissu and Gondla in the landlocked panchayats claimed, “The Rohtang Pass is closed officially from November 15 every year, even when the Lahaul-Spiti used to be the part of the Punjab hill states. But the BRO has declared it closed officially from October 31 in advance which has left the tribals in lurch,” they rued.

Pradhans Koksar and Sissu panchayats, Tenzing Dolma and Jagdish Chand, respectively, said they faced an acute shortage of the NPK fertilisers to be stocked this month for the sowing season that begins in March-May next year.Chairman of the LPS, Chetan Phunchok said they have requested the BRO and district administration to extend the deadline from October 31 to November 15, so that all supplies are stocked in the snowbound tribal belt before the onset of the winter.

District agricultural officer, Lahaul-Spiti, Rajinder Verma said they have already received 300 MT of mixture fertiliser and 300 MT is yet to be transported to Lahaul from Kullu as HIMFED was facing shortage of trucks.

DC Lahaul-Spiti Ritesh Chauhan said he has taken up the extension of the Rohtang Pass closure deadline till November 15 with the CE, Deepak Project, and the state government as the supplies that have been delayed are stocked for the winter months. Chief Engineer, BRO (Deepak project), which maintains the Manali-Leh Highway till Serchu, IR Mathur said, “Last year, 14 people died while crossing the pass in snow. The BRO closes the Rohtang Pass officially from October 31 every year and he is not aware about the November 15 deadline. But then it depends on weather. The BRO clears the Pass in case of emergency needs of the state government.”

Dharamsala, October 30
The examination scam has jolted the state Vigilance Department out of slumber that has restarted investigation into the financial scam in the state school education board. The case was registered in 2004.

Vigilance officials who had been sitting on scam for the past six years have now arrested former Section Officer (SO) of the education board Rajeev Mahajan.

According to sources, the Vigilance Department has rekindled investigation into the alleged bungling of Rs 13 lakh from the provident fund accounts of the board employees, about Rs 10 lakh from the examination fee receipts and Rs 11 lakh from the counter receipts.

The provident fund was swindled during time period ranging from April 1997 to March 1999. The examination fee was swindled from April 1, 1997, to November 30, 1997, and counter fee was misappropriated from December 1997 to March 1999.

Sources said the matter was brought to the fore by the Audit Department. Then board chairman BR Rahi got a case registered with the district Vigilance and Anti-corruption Bureau in the matter in 2004.

However, for the past six years the investigating officials had been sleeping over the matter and no one was arrested.

SP (Vigilance and Anti-corruption Bureau) Pritam Thakur said the matter was under investigation. On delay in investigation, he said a lot of records had to be collected.

Meanwhile, current chairman of the education board RS Gupta has asked the board officials to look out for ways to recover about Rs 34 lakh swindled in the above said cases.

Shimla, October 30
Ajay Pandit from Nepal emerged winner of the Sixth Hercules Mountain Biking Rally-2010.

The rally came to a close with Chief Minister PK Dhumal giving away awards to the winners in various categories at a function on the Ridge this evening. Several of the participants from Nepal, including Ajay Pandit, Nirjala Tamrakar and Narayan Gopla Mahajan, gave splendid performance in different categories.

The gruelling rally saw 76 riders covering 472 km across arduous stretches falling in the districts of Shimla and Kullu. By the end of the eighth and final day, 45 riders were able to complete the race with Pandit being crowned the winner. He had been maintaining a lead since day two.

Pandit’s record-breaking uphill ride of 22 km from Shamshar to Jalori Pass was a major highlight of the event. The feat was accomplished in a record time of 1 hour 49 min 11 sec.

The Indian Army Adventures took all three poll positions in the team category of the event with their members Ramesh Chandra, Dileep Kumar Singh, Naresh Barman, Kalyan Singh, Vijay K Singh and Ashish Kumar giving a winning performance.

Shimla, October 30
Up in arms against commercialisation and privatisation of education in Himachal, the National Students Union of India (NSUI) has decided to gherao the Vidhan Sabha during the winter session being held at Dharamsala.

Addressing a press conference here today, state NSUI chief Yedupati Thakur said today that the NSUI would oppose all anti-student decisions of the BJP regime. “The state government is virtually selling education and thus making it non-affordable for the common student,” he said.

He said there was no check or control over the educational standard and fee structure in private colleges which were being given permission indiscriminately to set up their institutes. “We have decided to register our protest by holding dharnas outside the Assembly in Dharamsala and also take the anti-student stance of the BJP regime to every student,” he added.

The NSUI chief also expressed concern over the fake marksheet case in Himachal Pradesh University (HPU), which had put a question mark on the credibility of the institute. —TNS