Chintpurni (Una), April 29
A tourist woman was found murdered in an underconstruction hotel room in Chintpurni this afternoon.

Una SP Sumedha Diwedi said the couple had come to pay obeisance to the Chintpurni shrine yesterday. They checked into a hotel in the area. The woman was wearing bridal bangles and both posed as a newly married couple.

According to hotel owner, early this morning, the youth locked the room from outside and told him that he was going for a walk. However, he did not return till afternoon.

The hotel owner got suspicious and informed the police. After that, the door of the room was broke open and the girl was found murdered.

The SP said the girl was killed with a sharp-edged weapon. The way the crime had been committed, it seemed that the murder was planned.

A case under Section 302 of the IPC had been registered in the matter. Though the couple had mentioned the address in the hotel register, it seemed that it might be fake.

However, the police had got some clues and was likely to catch hold of the culprit, he added.

In the recent past, in a similar case at Chintpurni, a woman along with two other accomplices killed her husband and left him dead in a hotel room.

The police later traced the killers to the Dasuya area in Hoshiarpur district of Punjab.

Shimla, April 29
Considering the poor implementation and disposal of cases under the Protection of Civil Rights Act 1955 and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989, Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Mukul Wasnik today asked Northern states of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal to constitute exclusive courts to deal with all such cases.

Addressing a press conference here, Wasnik said not only was the number of cases registered under the two Acts less, but the disposal was also very slow, leading to a huge pendency. “The experiment of setting up exclusive courts to deal with all such cases has proved to be very successful in some states and I feel the Northern states could also adopt a similar system after holding consultations with the High Courts,” he suggested. He assured all possible help to the states.

Sharing statistics, he said in Himachal the pendency of cases under the SC/ST Act and the Civil Rights Act was a huge 76 per cent while the situation was no better in Punjab (78 per cent) and Haryana (74 per cent). He said similarly, the punishment in these cases stood at a mere 20 per cent in Himachal, followed by 18 per cent in Haryana and 10 per cent in Punjab.

Wasnik stressed that effective steps should be taken to curb offences of untouchability and atrocities against persons belonging to SC and ST communities. He earlier addressed the 15th meeting of committee for review of implementation of the two Acts. Participants from Punjab, Haryana and Himachal also attended the meeting.

He said there should be no discrimination on caste considerations and the benefits of various schemes for SC and STs should reach them. He said students of the SC and the ST should get the scholarships on time so that they did not face any difficulty in completing their education.

Union Minister of State for Social Justice D Napoleon said massive campaigns must be launched to eradicate social biases against people of the SC and ST section. 

Shimla, April 29
He is a minister of state in the Union Cabinet but with a film career spanning over 20 years in Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam films, Kumaresan Duraiswamy Napoleon is still most comfortable in front of the camera as he takes out time from his busy schedule to complete the old film assignments with a special permission from the Prime Minister.

As is the case with most other film stars in South India, Napoleon (46) too could not resist the lure of politics as he contested his first assembly election in 2001 and later Lok Sabha election from the Perambalur constituency in Trichi district, making his entry into Parliament as DMK MP. He is now the Minister of State for Social Justice and was here today along with Cabinet Minister Mukul Wasnik to review centrally sponsored schemes in the hill state.

“It is after taking special permission from the Prime Minister that I take out time to complete the films I had signed before becoming a minister,” he says, as he takes photographs of scenic locations and people as he is welcomed in the state Congress party office here.

It is only a week back that he completed shooting for the film Ponnarshankar for which the script has been written by none other than DMK supremo Karunanidhi. He has shared screen space with actors like Kamal Hasan in three movies, including Dasavatharam, released two years back.

“I am only completing the pending films as I have not signed after becoming a minister as I have been given the responsibility of minister in the Union Cabinet,” he says. 

Palampur, April 29
There is an acute shortage of water in over 10 villages of the Khaira area of this sub-division. Most of the villages have not received the supply of drinking water for the past few days.

Though the Irrigation and Public Health Department was well conversant with the situation, no efforts were made to restore the supply of drinking water.

Information gathered by The Tribune revealed that drinking water supply lines had been damaged by a JCB machine deployed by a company which was executing a road project in the area. Therefore, the total supply of water to the Khaira area had been disrupted.

Hundreds of villagers from the adjoining villages yesterday lodged their protest against the attitude of the IPH authorities at Khaira.

Panchayat pradhan of Khaira Ravi Dutt said he had time and again requested the IPH authorities but no efforts were made to supply the drinking water. A written complaint was also submitted to the local junior engineer, he added.

He said the lack of coordination between the IPH Department and officials of the company executing the project had led to the drinking water crisis in the area.

It was also learnt that the IPH authorities were yet to get permission from the PWD to lay new water supply pipes on the one side of the road.

A senior officer of the PWD said they received a request from the IPH Department on Wednesday and it could take a few days to finalise the official formalities in this regard. 

Kala Amb, April 29
With the administration failing to take timely action to check soil erosion, about 10 industrial units are on the verge of facing severe damage once the rains set in. Though the Sirmaur chapter of the Laghu Udyog Bharti had taken up the issue with the DC to seek funds and directions to the Industries Department to initiate early repair work, but the work is yet to begin in the area.

The maximum damage is being faced by 10 industrial units which are located along the Markandey river on the Kala-Amb-Nahan Road near Ogli village. Since the road leading to these units lay along the river and was prone to erosion, the investors are fearful of facing damage once the rains set in.

GM, District Industries Center, Chand Sharma, while agreeing to the concern of the investors, said he had visited the area after the industry had approached him and after receiving directions from the DC.

He added that the issue had been taken up with the PWD and IPH Departments to ensure the beginning of flood protection works as such works were beyond their scope. Work could begin once an estimate was prepared and they were pursuing the matter for an early solution with the IPH Department.

The area required immediate flood protection works which could help prevent soil erosion. If a wall could be erected along the road, it could help check further soil erosion.

Tajinder Goyal, president of LUB, Sirmaur Chapter, said the pace of work was slow and if work was not initiated well in time, it would further damage the road. He said there was an urgent need to initiate channelisation of the Markandey river to safeguard the industrial units from the damages of soil erosion as it had become a recurring problem.

The investors would come forward to invest only if proper infrastructure was in place and such problems were addressed on an immediate basis, added Goyal. 

Palampur, April 29
Thakur Gulab Singh, Revenue Minister, visited the Sobha Singh Art Gallery at Andreta last evening. The minister evinced keen interest in the paintings and said the paintings of Guru Gobind Singh had been his ideal. The minister said the state was proud as the late artist brought laurels to the village and Himachal Pradesh all over the world.

Bibi Gurcharan Kaur, daughter of the late artist presented a picture of Omar Khayaam by Sobha Singh to the minister and her son Dr Hirday Paul Singh presented literature on the artist to him.

On the request of the local gram panchayat, the minister directed the PWD staff to put appropriate indications of ‘Sobha Singh Road’ from Palampur Tea factory to Andretta. This road was renamed after Sobha Singh by the Himachal government in 2001 to commemorate the birth centennary of the artist. — OC

Shimla, April 29
Christian educational institutions must reorient and reinvent themselves so as to come up with a more inclusive new design of education which can meet the challenges of an emerging, modern and democratic India.

These were the views echoed by participants at the conclusion of the three-day seminar on “Christian Educational Institutions - Making of Modern Democratic India” here at the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies. Union Education Secretary Vibha Puri Das delivered the valedictory address at the seminar, which was attended by academicians and intellectuals from all over the country.

Das, lauding the role played by Christian educational institutions, said they had been at the forefront in developing a middle class consciousness in India. “The government is looking at the policy framework and how the institutions can respond to the needs of a modern India,” she stated.

She said with a growth rate of 9 per cent and huge enrollment, the government was looking for answers and possible solution amid several dilemmas of plurality. She hoped that the findings from the seminar would be invaluable in tackling all such issues.

Former chairman of the National Institute of Open School Tom Kunnunkal said it was time that the Christian educational institutions had a rethink on the current model of education.

Vice-Chancellor of Don Bosco University Stephan Mavely lauded the significant contribution made by the Christain educational institutions to India, but felt that it had been done in a rather fragmented manner, often being at cross purpose. “However, we have been churning out the same models of conformity rather than churning currents of much-needed change,” he remarked.

Mavely urged the Christian educational institutions to make adequate responses to commercialisation and corporatisation of education about which they remained blissfully ignorant. “We need to move out of the cocoons of minority rights to be part of a multi-cultural society and make the radical changes that are needed to address the needs of today’s students,” he said.