Kangra, April 27
The Kangra police has ordered an inquiry into the alleged desecration of the Indian national flag on Tuesday evening by some Tibetan monks who were on a foot march from McLeodganj to Delhi in support of their demand for the withdrawal of Chinese troops from the Kirti Monastery in Tibet.

More than 250 Tibetan monks were on a padayatra (foot march), along with former Deputy Speaker of the 14th Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile and Dawa Tsering, Member of Parliament, carrying Tibetan flags and the Indian Tricolour in their hands.

They were received in the town by former Transport Minister GS Bali and Kangra District Congress chief Suman Lata Verma and other Congress activists to express support to their demand.

The Tibetan monks during their programme allegedly desecrated the Indian Tricolour. The monks kept the Tricolour near their feet on the ground. The Tricolour was seen lying under the chairs they were sitting on. The desecration of the Indian national flag was resented by nationalist forces and they demanded action against those involved in this insult.

Meanwhile, Kangra district police chief Daljeet Singh Thakur today said an inquiry had been ordered to look into the facts. He said, “We came to know about the incident through the media, and the Kangra police has been asked to enquire into the matter”.

SSP Thakur said after the inquiry, further action would be taken against those found guilty. He, however, said the police had not so far registered any case in this regard.

Former Prime Minister of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile Prof Samdong Rinpoche too has expressed shock over the incident and assured that things will be looked into.

Hamirpur, April 27
The authorities of the National Institute of Technology (NIT) here have come under an attack after information procured under the Right to Information (RTI) Act revealed irregularities in the restructuring of non-technical staff, carried some time back, withouts an approval from the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry.

This information not only revealed that restructuring process was undertaken by the NIT authorities without an approval of the ministry, but also the ministry held the process wrong and illegal.

The NIT authorities had carried restructuring of non- technical clerical staff here some time back under which about 200 employees were promoted, put in higher scales and many posts were re-designated, during the tenure of the former director of the institute, Dr IK Bhatt.

For completing this process, the NIT authorities had reportedly formed a committee and sought approval from the HRD Ministry after completing this process.

Some of the aggrieved employees, who alleged discrimination, had sought information under the RTI Act from the NIT and the HRD Ministry.

Information supplied by the NIT public information officer stated that “the approval had reportedly been sought from the HRD Ministry for completing the process of restructuring, but the ministry had termed this process wrong and without its approval, and information supplied by NIT as false.”

The information supplied by the ministry also clarified, “The ministry has not issued any direction to any NIT in the country to carry the restructuring of the non-technical clerical staff”.

After procuring this information, some of the employees of NIT, Hamirpur, are contemplating moving the high court to seek justice in the alleged discrimination committed to them during the process.

Registrar of NIT, Hamirpur, Dr AS Singha said, “The restructuring of the staff was undertaken during the term of the previous director on ad-hoc basis after forming a committee and the case was sent for the approval of the HRD Ministry. However, I am not aware that the ministry has held the process wrong and illegal”. 

Shimla, April 27
With big names in the hospitality sector showing disinterest in setting up of five-star hotels on build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis in the state, the State Tourism Department has now decided to do it on an outright-sale basis.

The department is likely to place a fresh proposal before the Cabinet shortly to seek its approval before floating expression of interest (EOI). The department has to bring about a change in its strategy as none of the big names in the hospitality sector responded to the advertisement inviting EOI issued thrice in the past where the five-star project was to come up on a BOT basis.

Sources said the opinion of the Law Department had also been sought before a fresh EOI would be floated.

“The Cabinet has already granted approval for setting up five-star hotels but there has been some delay at the bureaucratic level in pushing the project through,” said Arun Sharma, Director, Tourism and Civil Aviation. He added that the matter was likely to be cleared shortly.

The Tourism Department has in the past floated EOI on three occasions to invite big names in the hospitality sector to set up five-star resorts in the hill state. However, none of the big names like the Taj, Hyatt, Welcome Group, Holiday Inn responded to the EOI, which put the matter on hold. Even now it is being felt that the matter is being delayed unnecessarily, especially when the Cabinet has already given a go ahead and it is the responsibility of the department to work out the modalities so that the project can be approved.

“Though representatives of most of these big groups are keen to set up their units in Himachal, the BOT proposition did not seem too appealing to them and now it is being expected that they will come forward with their proposals on outright-sale basis,” an officer admitted.

The matter is also likely to be routed once again through the Infrastructure Development Board before the EOI is floated. The department has identified some sites, including Fossil Park, Suketi (600 bigha), Nalagarh (4 bigha), Baragaon near Manali (102 bigha), Jhatingri in Mandi (60 bigha) and Shoja (3 bigha) for setting up of five-star resorts. The government is keen that the groups which enter Himachal are already established names in the hospitality sector and have strong financial and technical expertise. 

Shimla, April 27
The hydropower policy has been amended to withdraw the clause allowing the government the right to have equity participation up to 49 per cent in private projects of more than 100 MW.

Stating this while inaugurating the Sixth International Hydropower Conference for Speedier Harnessing of Hydropower Potential in Northern Himalayas here last evening, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said the clause had been removed to give more clarity to bidders.

He said the conditions pertaining to the sale of power generated from projects above 5 MW had also been amended so that the IPP (independent power producers) had more options to market the generated power. He said to ensure development of the local area during the construction stage, the executing companies had been mandated to provide 1.5 per cent of the project cost for the purpose.

In the post-commissioning scenario, they would have to provide 1 percent additional free power for the development of the local area. He said after the implementation of these modifications, 13 projects with an aggregate capacity of 1304 MW were allotted recently.

Minister of State for Power in Jammu and Kashmir Shabir Ahmad Khan said his state was poised to emerge surplus in energy over the next few years. Jammu and Kashmir would take benefit from the experience of Himachal Pradesh.

Chairman, India Tech Foundation, RV Shahi, said there was a dire necessity to harness the available hydropower potential to meet the growing power requirements.

The UK-based International Hydro Power Association will volunteer its expertise for the exploitation of the entire identified hydro potential available in Himachal Pradesh.

This was stated by Chief Minister PK Dhumal at a meeting with a high-level delegation led by Dr Rafaat Abdel Malek, president, International Hydro Power Association, UK, here today. He was accompanied by Indra Mohan, president, India Tech Foundation.

The Chief Minister informed them that Himachal had identified over 23,000 MW hydel potential in the state out of which only 25 per cent had been exploited so far. He said a number of projects were under execution in different parts of the state and by the end of the 12th Plan, the state would enhance its capacity to 17,000 MW.

“Himachal will welcome collaboration and expertise from the International Hydro Power Association not only to expeditiously exploit the remaining hydel potential, but also explore the possibilities of setting up more projects to ensure the optimum utilization of the hydel potential available,” said Dhumal.

He said Himachal was poised to emerge as the power state in the country by generating clean and green energy. He added that alternate energy resources were also being identified to supplement the hydropower sector.

Bali Chowki (Mandi), April 27
Residents from 26 gram panchayats under the banner of Left-supported organisations, the Himachal Kisan Sabha, Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and Janvadi Mahila Samiti, protested against the government’s failure to create a separate development block, a tehsil and a community health centre at Bali Chowki catering to the aspirations of villagers of these backward panchayats in the district.

The villagers’ protest has received a wide support as they have been bearing the brunt of the government apathy over their long-pending demands for decades together.

The residents rued that they had to travel for more than 90 km for their tehsil work to Thunag and development works to Gohar which cost them Rs 500 and two days.

Under the prevailing norms, the population from 26 gram panchayats in Bali Chowki sub-tehsil deserves a separate development block. However, due to apathy of the successive governments, their legitimate rights for a tehsil and a development block had been denied to them, Jagdish Thakur, kisan sabha leader, said.

The plight of patients from the Gara Gushaini remains miserable as there is just one doctor at the Bali Chowki Primary Health Centre (PHC) catering to 26 panchayats. In fact, the residents have been demanding upgrade of the PHC to a community-level health centre considering the aims of the NRHM that intends to provide health care for rural population.

Jayavanti, Janvadi Mahila Samiti leader, said the worst sufferers were women, children and patients who had to change three buses to reach Gohar or Mandi.

Dr Onkar Shad, state general secretary of the kisan sabha, said the state government had declared to start a PHC at Panjain catering to the Thatchi area, but nothing had happened on the ground so far.

Rural Development Minister Jai Ram Thakur who represents the Seraj constituency claimed that the road from Bali Chowki side would be linked to Thunag. Other demands were under consideration, he added.

Shimla, April 27
First a coffee shop and a bookshop, then a court gallery and now a pool theatre. The old abandoned fire services building in the magnificent heritage complex of Viceregal Lodge, which houses the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS), here, has undergone a complete transformation.

The old structure which housed a swimming pool and a squash court, besides a fire station during the British era, has been renovated under the plan for restoration and adaptive reuse of the 130-year-old complex. It fell into bad days after Independence and was used as a garage and a store for stockpiling junk. In its new avatar it offers all the facilities required to support the endeavours of scholars, academicians, researchers and other intellectuals visiting the institute.

Keeping the old linkages, the mini-theatre has been named “pool theatre” and the art gallery “court gallery”.

The mini-theatre will be formally opened on April 29 with a three-film festival featuring the movies based on the works of Rabindranath Tagore. In all 15 films will be screened, mostly directed by masters like Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen.

“The festival is not for entertainment, but to enable scholars and researchers to have some serious discussion on the works and provide new insights into the philosophy of Tagore. It will be the first activity related to the newly set up Tagore Centre in the institute,” says Peter Ronald d’Souza, Director of the IIAS.

The theatre has a capacity to accommodate about 100 persons and a unique feature is that there are no chairs and only mattresses to enable scholars to enjoy performances on the stage in a home-like comfort. The coffee shop and a bookstore were set up in the portion used for fire service in 2009 and squash court was converted to an art gallery last year. With a theatre coming up at the swimming pool, the restoration of the structure located close to the main heritage edifice is complete.

The addition of such facilities has significantly increased the flow of tourists to the heritage complex. In 2010-11 as many as 1,26,292 tourists, including 8,116 foreigners, visited the institute as compared to 96,984 in 2009-10. The income from the sale of entry tickets to tourists amounted to Rs 24,95,540 and the total income, along with entry fee for vehicles, came to Rs 31,12,000. 

Solan, April 27
Even as the State Pollution Control Board has been collecting funds worth crores from investors, it has failed to use these funds to set up any environmental infrastructure in the industrial areas.

Figures available from the board revealed that Rs 27.72 crore was collected in 2010-2011 from 10 industrial areas as consent fee. Out of this, Rs 10.74 crore was collected from the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) area alone. A sum of Rs 3.76 crore, Rs 2.62 crore, Rs 3.29 crore, Rs 1.48 crore were collected from Paonta Sahib, Parwanoo, Una and Shimla districts. The board was merely earning interest on these funds.

As per the provisions of the Air Act 1981, and the Water Act 1974, this fund is supposed to be utilised for controlling water and air pollution.

Though a study conducted by the Central Pollution Control Board in association with IIT Delhi to work out the Comprehensive Environment Pollution Index (CEPI) had declared the three industrial areas of the state as critically polluted in 2008, little appears to be done to improve these ratings. The CEPI was found to be 69.07 (Baddi), 68.77 (Kala Amb) and 63.77(Parwanoo).

Board member secretary SK Singla said they would explore the possibility of setting up GPS systems for online monitoring of the dumping sites and funds would be spent to put in place infrastructure for better pollution management.

Though a Rs70 crore centrally funded Common Effluent Treatment Plant is being set up for the Baddi-Barotiwala area, a similar plant is also required for the Nalagarh area which is vulnerable to pollution. The board can contribute to the setting up of this plant.

Shimla, April 27
The HP High Court has sought an explanation from the state government on the issue of granting permissions under Section 118 of the HP Land Tenancy and Reforms Act for the purchase of land and basis for classification of agriculturist and non-agriculturist Himachalis in the state.

A Division Bench issued a notice to the Chief Secretary and directed her to clear the stand of the state within eight weeks. The court passed this order on a petition alleging discrimination by the state authorities between agriculturist and non-agriculturist Himachalis for the purchase.

The court has taken a serious note of this and directed the Chief Secretary to explain the basic principle for applying such provisions and listed the matter for further hearing on June 20.

Shimla, April 27
The inability of the modern education system to instil moral values has been mainly responsible for rampant corruption, violence and other ills plaguing society, asserted Guwahati Archbishop Thomas Menaparampil while making a strong plea for encouraging a system that firmly grounded students in ethics to help strengthen the moral fibre of society.

Delivering the keynote at a three-day seminar on “Christian Educational Institutions--Making of Modern Democratic India,” at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS) here today, he said there was a time when companies and governments left ethics to families, teachers, churches, community and religious leaders, but not any more. Today there was less ethical content in teaching and lack of traditional values. Some had turned religion into mere therapy and others made salvation a search for mental health.

He said if the focus was shifted from values, it would lead to a disoriented, fragmented, unemployable youth, and the nation would be heading for major troubles, some of which had already started manifesting.

In his inaugural address, Member of the National Commission for Higher Education and Research Prof Mrinal Miri referred to the many challenges and opportunities that faced educationists today. He cautioned religious groups that their motives could be questioned in a secular and diverse society. No particular religion could claim to have a unique contribution to nation-building, he said.

Earlier, Director of the IIAS Peter Ronald d’Souza said Christian educational institutions had a fundamental belief in the emancipating role and capacity building through education, enabling access to development processes, values and service. 

Dharamsala, April 27
The Forest Department with the help of information provided by the Wildlife Protection Society of India has arrested four poachers and confiscated seven leopard skins from them.

Sources said the leopard skins were procured by local poachers and were meant for sale to a Delhi-based smuggler.

It is for the first time that such a large number of leopard skins have been confiscated from Kangra district.

The accused have been booked under the Wildlife Protection Act.