Palampur, February 14
The state government is making an all-out effort to develop the Rajiv Gandhi Post-Graduate Ayurvedic College as an ayurvedic university. Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal stated this while addressing a public meeting at the Rajiv Gandhi Government Ayurvedic College complex, Paprola, today. Earlier, he laid the foundation stone of the Regional Centre for Geriatric Care and Nursing Hostel, estimated to cost Rs 5 crore. He said the college was to be developed as the best ayurvedic college in the country in the future.

The Chief Minister said 1,153 ayurvedic health institutions were in service of the people of the state and were manned by well-qualified and experienced medical professionals. He said out of the total 340 sanctioned posts 241 had also been filled up of which 165 people were deployed in various health institutions. He said 76 were recruited batch wise and 79 were being recruited through the HP Public Service Commission. He said Panch Karma Kendra had been enhanced from 6 to 16 and Kshar Chikitsa Centres from 2 to 9. He said 294 daily wagers in the department were regularised while 231 part-time workers made full-time daily wagers.

Prof Dhumal said the state had envisioned legislative provisions to protect the interests of the parents in their old age and made their wards responsible for the care of their parents. He said the efforts were being made to motivate farmers to diversify and go for cultivation of herbal and medicinal value crops to derive maximum benefits from their farmland. He underlined the need to intensify research and development activities in the college so that exhaustive research could help to cure dreaded diseases, which had so far remained incurable by other systems of treatment.

Dr Rajiv Bindal, Health and Family Welfare and Ayurveda Minister, said Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College was likely to have 50 seats in the MD and MS courses. He said the PG courses in 11 disciplines of the ayurvedic college at Paprola had been started.

Trilok Kapoor, Chairman, Wool federation welcomed the Chief Minister to his home segment and thanked him for laying the foundation stone of the first of its kind research centre in North India, at Paprola.

Dharamsala, February 14
The Kangra district administration has expedited the process of vesting the 73 benami properties declared by the Tibetan-government in-exile in the name of the state government.

Under the process, the Kagyu sect monastery that is home of 17th Karmapa, Ugyen Trinley Dorjee, since he fled from China would also be vested in the name of the government. After the property is vested in the name of the Himachal government, the Tibetan government-in-exile would have to move an application to get property on lease as per the policy of the former Virbhadra Singh government.

The Tibetan-government in-exile had moves a case for the regularisation of its 73 benami properties in and around Dharamsala under the policy brought by the Himachal government in 2005.

As per the policy the declared benami properties of would be initially vested in the name of Himachal government and then be allotted to The Dalai Lama Trust after 10 per cent of the market value of the land is deposited with the government.

The counsels of Tibetan government-in-exile informed The Tribune that they have been pressing on the authorities concerned that declared benami properties should be transferred in the name of The Dalai Lama Trust as per the policy adopted by Himachal government in 2005.

Shimla, February 14
The state remained in the grip of cold wave as snow and rain continued to lash the region for the second consecutive day today.

The higher reaches of the state are having incessant snow, while the middle and lower hill areas are experiencing intermittent rain. Kalpa, Manali, Narkanda ,Khara Pathar and Solang Nullah had a mild snowfall today. The Churdhar, Hatu Peak and Chanshal slopes also had a fresh spell of snowfall today.

According to the met office, Manali recorded 51.4 cm of snow over the past 24 hours and Narkanda 25 cm. Seobagh (39 mm), Salouni (35 mm), Udaipur (25 mm), Kheri (24mm) and Rampur (24mm), Kumarsain (15 mm), Nurpur (13 mm), Kandaghat (12mm), Kasauli (9 mm) and Theog (10mm) were among the areas which recorded significant rain.

Keylong was the coldest place in the state with a minimum temperature of -5°C, followed by Kalpa -1.6°C, Dharamsala (2.3°C), Bhuntar ( 3.7°C) and Shimla (4.2°C).

Manali, February 14
After two days of snowfall and rains in the entire areas of upper Manali region, the sun shone this morning and the local people and visitors got a respite from the cold. Again the dark cloud hovered the sky this afternoon and snowfall began in the upper region and rains in lower parts . The entire Manali region was covered with a white blanket.

The vehicular traffic on the Manali-Rohtang Pass road was disrupted due to fresh spell of snowfall at several places beyond Nehru Kund, about 5-km from here this morning. Hundreds of tourists made a beeline for Nehru Kund where there was enough snow. The road from Nehru Kund to Solang was slippery because of the thick layer of snow on both sides of the road. All the tourists going for their sight-seeing tour to Solang valley had to stop near Nehru Kund this morning.

The influx of tourists consists mostly of of newly-weds, who come here to celebrate their honeymoon, they witnessed the fresh snowfall in Manali region on the eve of Valentine’s Day. A festive atmosphere prevailed near the Nehru kund today, as newly-weds were also seen exchanging flowers and gifts and having a photo session in snow. 

Dharamsala, February 14
As per the police records, the present case involving the trust headed by the 17th Karmapa, Ugyen Trinley Dorjee, stemmed from a chance catch of Rs 1 crore from a vehicle owned by a Dharamsala-based businessman KP Bharadwaj.

However, reliable sources told The Tribune that the security agencies had been tracking the land deal of 52 kanals between the businessman and the Karmapa-backed Karma Garchen Trust for the past six months.

The phone conversations between the businessman and Karmapa’s secretary were being tapped for the past six months.

Family members of one of the accused in the case were stunned when they were told by a police official about the minor details regarding their family function held a few months ago. The accused had discussed it with officials of the trust. The police officials allegedly got information about the conversations from phone tapping carried out by security agencies.

However, the counsel of the accused has assured them that the recorded conversations cannot be used by the police in the court. They said as per law, the police could tap the phone calls of any individual after an FIR was registered or if the matter pertained to national security.

Shimla, February 14
The sudden decision of the authorities of the Himalayan International School in Charabra to close down the school from this academic session has plunged the future of about 180 students enrolled there into uncertainty.

About 150 parents of the children studying there from Theog, Chail, Kufri, Dhalli and Mashobra today met the school management and lodged their protest against the sudden decision. The parents, who have formed an action committee comprising parents as well as teachers, have made a plea to the management to run the school in the interest of students and the people of the area.

“We were taken by surprise by the notice in newspapers on February 1, announcing the closure of the school,” said Deepak Sood, a parent.

He added that at present 179 students of the area were studying here and the closure of the school would lead to a lot of problems for them. Moreover, ICSE exams of 18 class X students were to begin on February 28 and the closure move had left them in the lurch.

He added that though the management was offering to ensure admission in other schools but they were not up to the mark so none of the parents were keen to admit their children there. Parents said if the management had planned to close down the school, they should have informed parents about it last year so that parents could have applied for their wards elsewhere.

They said admissions in most schools take place at least six months before the beginning of the academic session, so the closure would now leave them in the lurch. They also dismissed the plea of the management that the closure was on account of the school building being unsafe.

Sarita Thakur, Principal of the school, said they were awaiting the decision of the new management.

The parents said they would knock the doors of court to ensure that the school was not closed down.

Shimla, February 14
Having once again been re-accredited with the highest ‘Grade A,’ the authorities of the century-old institute, St Bede’s College are hopeful that the certification could help in restoration of the 95 per cent government grant-in-aid. The withdrawal of grant-in-aid had plunged the institute into grave financial problems.

The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) has re-accredited the college with Grade A. “Despite facing a severe financial crunch,” we have ensured that the teaching standard and other infrastructural facilities in the college are of the best standard,” said Dr Molly Abraham, the Principal, while addressing a press conference here today.

The NAAC team led by Chairperson, Prof S.F. Patil, visited the college in December last year and decided to accredit the college with Grade A valid from January 8 for a period of five years. “This is reaffirmation of the high standards of education that we have been providing despite financial constraints,” said Dr Molly.

She said the college had even started self-financing and add-on courses, besides regular courses and the students had topped in the university exams with the results in practically all the courses being 100 per cent. “We have a fully automated library along with INFLIBNET facility which provides on-line connectivity with other libraries, placement and counselling cells, language and computer labs,” she said.

She however said that the college had represented to the government to restore the 95 per cent grant-in-aid and she was hopeful that it would be considered sympathetically. She admitted that it was not easy for her to run the college after the reduction in grant even though several new courses had been started.

Bilaspur, February 14
The Deputy Commissioner, Bilaspur, Nandita Gupta inaugurated a paper recycling plant under the aegis of the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) for providing employment to a women’s self-help group at Kandraur near here today. She said this plant, set up at a cost of Rs 6 lakh, would help recycle waste paper, which is otherwise either thrown or destroyed by burning, thereby polluting the environment.

It is the first such recycling plant in any district. though one such unit does exist at the HP Secretariat, Shimla in the government sector. She said this project would consume 30 kg of waste paper every day and would prove a model for other areas. She said that the district administration has mobilised funds from different sources for this unit and all government offices have been directed to set aside waste paper which would be collected by the self-help group every month for use in this unit.

The company from Delhi that has installed this machine here, would operate the unit for a month and train women before handing it over to them for running it independently. A government building that was lying unused since a long time has been placed at the disposal of this women’s self-help group.

She said it would employ 10 to 20 women and will be able to produce beautiful carrybags, envelopes, letter pads, office files, letter-heads and certificates which can be made of paper in all hues. Zila Parishad member Rita Sharma, gram panchayat President Urmila Sharma, Additional District Magistrate Darshan Kalia and a large number of panchayat representatives were also present on the occasion. 

Shimla, February 14
Ending the high-end drama, the Nepal police finally managed to arrest Sher Singh, a resident of Chajoga village in Kullu, on alleged charges of extortion. He had been making threatening calls to a prominent contractor from Mandi, Dinesh Sharma, for the past 10 days.

The ordeal for Sharma, who happens to be the president of the Himachal Contractors’ Association, ended yesterday with the arrest of Sher Singh, alias Mintoo, in the Boudha area (Nepal).

Mintoo, who had earlier worked as a supervisor with Sharma for three years, had left the job a year ago. Knowing well that tracking him down in another country would not be an easy task for the Himachal Police, he made the calls from Nepal from a local mobile number there.

Had it not been for the extra effort put in by various law-enforcing agencies, including the police and the Intelligence Bureau and Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), it would not have been easy to identify the alleged extortionist and track his location.

ADGP SR Mardi is in touch with Rajender Bhandari, DIG, (Special Branch), Kathmandu, in connection with the extortion case registered in Mandi.

It was on February 4 that Sharma received four missed calls from a Nepal number. When he called back on the number there was no reply.

“The very next day I got a call from the same number asking me to pay Rs 15 lakh at Delhi or else my two sons studying in Malaysia and Bangalore would be killed,” said a relieved Sharma.

He then got in touch with the police who put his phone under observation and tracked the calls which were being made from a Nepal number.

Initially, the Himachal Police thought that some big gang could be behind the extortion as the calls were being received from Nepal. Little did they apprehend that a resident of Kullu district would act in such a wily manner against his previous employer.

The Mandi police has already registered a case of extortion against Mintoo. Police officials here admitted that it was only due to the cooperation extended by the Nepal Police that Mintoo’s location could be identified and he could be arrested.