Kangra, January 3
Workers of the Block Congress Committee, Shahpur, today expressed jubilation over the appointment of Kewal Singh Pathania, a non-MLA, grossroots-level Congress worker belonging to a middle-class family of Rait village, as vice-chairman of the HRTC by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and thanked him for the gesture.

Navneet Dogra, general secretary, BCC, Shahpur, Karan Pathania, president, Block Youth Congress, Shahpur, Madhu Bala, Mahila Congress Committee president, and Iqbal Singh Minta, Sewa Dal, said Kewal Singh, spokesman, Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee, and staunch loyalist of Virbhadra Singh was the first non-MLA of the state to be appointed for the post.

They said Kewal Singh remained close to the Chief Minister through thick and thin and was the first Congress leader to come out in open support of Virbhadra Singh during the CD issue. They said he had been raising the issues of the people, irrespective of their political alliance time and again, and as a social activist had been reaching accident sites even before the administration could reach the spot.

Kewal Singh expressed his gratitude to the Chief Minister for his appointment and said he would fix his priorities tomorrow after holding his first meeting with HRTC officials in Shimla. 

Kangra, January 3
Streamlining development activities in the Jwalamukhi constituency will be the priority of newly elected MLA Sanjay Rattan.

Rattan said this while addressing a meeting of members and employees of the Jwalamukhi Nagar Panchayat. He said the condition of roads, water supply schemes and health services had gone from bad to worse. He said leaders of the BJP had laid foundation stones of a dozen of development projects in the town, but construction had not been taken up. He said former Chief Minister PK Dhumal had laid the foundation stone of the Civil Hodpital at Jwalamukhi, but the building was yet to be completed.

He made it emphatically clear that the government was committed to root out corruption at all levels and those found guilty would be dealt with strictly. The interest and welfare of citizens was supreme for the Virbhadra government and officers would have to ensure the delivery of goods and services to people efficiently, effectively and without pilferages.

Rattan said he would call a meeting of senior officers of the PWD, Irrigation and Public Health, Urban Development, Revenue and Health Departments to review all development projects of the area. Nagar Panchayat president Anil Parbha and vice-president Anish Sood were also present. 

Bilaspur, January 3
A large number of office-bearers and members of the Bilaspur District Congress Committee and Naina Devi Mandal Congress, led by mandal president Sarpal Singh Thakur, District Congress Committee general secretaries Kuldip Deol, Ram Saran Thakur, Pradip Sharma, mandal general secretaries OP Gauttam, Ranjit Singh Thakur, Nand Lal Thakur and Lekh Ram Dhiman, have welcomed the appointment of veteran party leader, former Forest Minister and Congress state general secretary Ram Lal Thakur as Chairman of the 20-Point Implementation and Planning Committee with Cabinet rank on Tuesday evening.

More than 12 dozen prominent and senior Congress leaders, in joint and separate statements here today and drawn from all parts of the district expressed thanks to national Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and state party in charge Virender Chaudhary for this gift to people of the state in general and Bilaspur district in particular.

They expressed hope that the state would benefit immensely due to the long experience, expertise and knowledge of Ram Lal Thakur which would help solve difficulties and problems of people in fields of his appointment under Virbhadra Singh’s leadership and guidance.

Prominent among others who rejoiced in his appointment included Ram Murti Dharmani, Hussein Ali, Dr RN Pillai, Munish Sharma, Narvir Thakur, Chandu Ram Thakur, Anil Kumar Mintu, Ram Chand Dangi, Pt Dwarka Dass, Krishan Swaroop Bhardwaj, Himmat Singh Chandel, Shailender Bhadole, Babu Ram Thakur, Sat Pal Sharma, Budhi Singh Thakur, Seema Thakur and Sukh Ram Thakur, senior and veteran party leaders, and more than three dozen presidents and office-bearers of the Panchayati Raj institutions in the district.

Solan, January 3
The Opposition BJP yesterday urged the state government to continue public welfare schemes initiated by the previous government in public interest and not politicise their origin.

BJP state spokesman Ganesh Dutt Sharma said though it was the prerogative of the state government to take any policy decision, since these schemes, including the Atal Swasthya Yojna providing free 108 ambulance service, the Atal School Uniform Scheme facilitating provision of free uniforms to schoolchildren twice a year and the subsidised ration scheme, were benefitting the common man they should be continued for public welfare.

Taking credit for the release of Rs 550 crore from the World Bank as first instalment for the Clean Development Mechanism Scheme for earning carbon credits reflected the visionary thinking of the PK Dhumal government.

He said the party would perform the role of a constructive opposition that would closely monitor the working of the state government.

The Opposition will give time to the newly formed government to perform but as per the Congress’ poll promise, the government should consider grant of monthly allowance to unemployed youth at the earliest since they had promised to take this decision in its first Cabinet meeting.

Sharma, who is the in charge of Solan district for the party’s organisational poll, yesterday urged party workers to step up their preparedness for the 2014 Lok Sabha poll and work in unison to ensure party’s victory.

He held a meeting with assistant returning officers for the five mandals here yesterday.

He urged party workers to verify membership lists of their respective areas and gave directions regarding the organisational elections to the five returning officers from the respective mandals.

He said as a unique feature, organisational poll would also be conducted at the booth level where a 16-member body would be constituted that would further participate at the mandal- level poll. Those present in the meeting included assistant returning officers for the five mandals, appointed for the organisational polls, Solan mandal president Ravinder Parihar and general secretary Pawan Gupta.

Hamirpur, January 3
The Himachal Pradesh Institute of Public Administration (HIPPA), has taken an initiative to train workmen of HP State Electricity Board Limited (HPSEBL) and equip them with modern techniques in association with Hamirpur Polytechnic College here.

The main object of this training is to impart latest know-how, techniques to reduce transmission loss and minimise accidents.

This training is important for workers engaged in transmission, maintenance and other operations since huge financial losses to the government are reported and several lives are lost in accidents.

According to a report of the HPSSEBL, about 50 to 100 workers die or are injured every year while carrying various electrical jobs. Moreover, many workers are not abreast of modern technological advancements due to which they face issues in their field.

On the initiative of HIPPA, Hamirpur Polytechnic College had submitted a detailed project to train the HPSEBL workers. The training programme, which is being conducted in batches consisting of about 30 workmen, is being conducted at Hamirpur polytechnic, Badu campus, and a few batches have already been trained.

Transmission Linemen (TLM) and Assistant Linemen (ASL) involved in transmission and maintenance operations are trained and all workmen of this category are going to be trained in batches.

While teachers of the electrical department of the polytechnic college are conducting the training programme, faculty members from the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Hamirpur, have also been associated in training the workmen. Principal of the college Rakesh Kapoor said: “This training programme has been designed by our college and we have already held training for a few batches. Workmen are also being given practical training.”

“The training would definitely improve efficiency, cut transmission losses and minimise accidents and deaths of workmen during various operations or maintenance,“ he added.

Shimla, January 3
Health and Family Welfare Minister Kaul Singh Thakur today urged the Centre to sanction a centre of excellence at nursing college in Tanda medical college and a trauma centre at Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC).

The issue was raised by Kaul during his meeting with Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad in New Delhi today. He also raised other issues in the meeting. The Union Minister was also requested to sanction an ANM school.

Kaul urged the Centre to issue the instalment for upgrade of the IGMC.

He also urged the Union Minister to grant Essentiality Certificate to ESI Medical College, Mandi, so that it could start functioning by attaching the existing 300-bedded Mandi government hospital.

Grant of permission for running the Menstrual Hygiene Programme in all districts of the state and to revise the sharing pattern between Centre and the state government in the ratio of 90-10 per cent for recurring expenses on the 108 ambulance services as Himachal will have to bear 80 per cent of the cost from 2013-14.

Azad was also urged to shift the dates for universal immunisation programme that is currently fixed in February.

He also requested to designate the medical college at Tanda as an authorised centre to train medical officers and requested the Centre to provide support for critical care of BPL families under the Health Insurance Programme.

The state Health Minister also sought a raise by 30 per cent in cost ceiling for civil works in view of the topographical constraints and the high cost of construction in the hill state.

Shimla, January 3
Transport Minister GS Bali has come out with an innovative solution to ensure the safety of women.

He plans to introduce conductor-less special buses for women during evening hours.

“Though the safety of women is not an issue in this peaceful hill state, the government cannot lower the guard and has to take required measures to pre-empt any possibility of crime against women, particularly in buses, in view of the increasing number of rape cases across the country,” he said while talking to The Tribune here today.

Elaborating his proposal, he said most of the incidents had taken place in moving buses and conductor-less vehicles would help forestall any such eventuality as the driver would be the lone male and he could not abandon the steering. Such buses would be plied from 5 pm to 10 pm in all major towns where a large number of women and girls commute daily for education or work.

Besides places like Shimla, Solan, Dharamsala, Mandi, Kangra and other towns, special bus services would also be plied in Baddi, Barotiwala, Nalagarh, Kala Amb and other industrial areas.

Further, to keep a track of buses and ensure that they adhered to the allotted route and timings, GPS-based vehicle tracking systems would be installed on all buses and other commercial vehicles in a phased manner, he said.

The Green Bench of the state high court had already passed an order in this regard, he stated.

A hard taskmaster and shrewd politician, Bali is known for effectively handling ministerial assignments and is expected to do a good job as he has held the transport portfolio even in his earlier stint from 2003-07.

He said he had already directed the department to conduct surprise checks to ensure that private operators were operating buses as per the time table and check other violations. The department had slipped into inertia due to elections and now that the new government was in place, people must feel the change in governance.

Bali, who also holds the portfolios of Food and Civil Supplies and Technical Education, proposes to take major steps to streamline the public distribution system to put in place a more efficient and cost-effective delivery system for the supply of subsidised ration to BPL and other sections of society at their doorsteps.

Besides opening fair-price shops at bus stands and main centres of towns, he also plans to introduce mobile ration shops to serve villagers in remote areas.

He said the initiative would also help contain inflation as these fair-price shops would sell essential commodities like general merchandise shops.

Outlining his agenda for technical education, he said the government would have a comprehensive review of private institutions to ascertain if they fulfilled the norms laid down by national regulatory bodies. There were several complaints that most of these institutions did not have the requisite infrastructure and faculty. Besides private universities, institutions affiliated to state universities were also in a bad shape as was reflected in the poor results.

Solan, January 3
A spokesperson for Apeejay University today clarified that the delay in sending a copy of its notified Act to the UGC was due to the enforcement of the model code of conduct in the state.

Reacting to a news item appearing in these columns today, Tribhuwan Pratap Singh of Apeejay University said: “The Act pertaining to the establishment of our university has been passed by the state Legislature in its last session held in August 2012.

However, due to elections, the model code of conduct was enforced and the Act was not signed by the Governor. Hence, it could not be submitted to the UGC for initiating the process of seeking approval.” He also added that “the ordinance issued by the government is valid till the Act is signed”.

Palampur, January 3
The Palampur Zila Banao Sangharsh Samiti today appealed to the state government to initiate steps for the reorganisation of districts in the state and grant district status to Palampur.

Addressing mediapersons here today, JC Katoch and Sanjeev Bagla, president and vice-president of the samiti, respectively, said the new state Congress government should accept this long-standing demand of Palampur residents and grant district status to Palampur on a priority basis.

They said the Palampur region comprised three sub-divisions of Palampur, Baijnath and Jaisinghpur with a population of seven lakh. Its area and population were much more than six districts of the state, therefore, it had a strong case for district status. But the government that ruled the state in the past had extended a step-motherly treatment to this region.

Katoch said though the previous BJP government promised to grant district status to Palampur, its top leaders opposed the move and finally befooled residents of Palampur, which resulted in its debacle as it lost all four seats in the area in the Assembly poll.

He urged Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh that it was a sensitive issue and not get misled by local leaders who opposed this move only because of political reasons keeping aside public interest.

He said Palampur, Baijnath, Paprola and Jaisinghpur towns of this region had turned into slums in the absence of proper planning. In the past 10 years, vast urbanisation had taken place, but the government had failed to extend the existing municipal limits or set up new municipal councils at Baijnath, Paprola and Jaisinghpur.

The samiti urged Congress MLAs Brij Behari Lal Butail, Jagjivan Pal, Kishori Lala and Yadvinder Gomma to clarify their stand on this issue and support the cause.

Shimla, January 3
Fearing inundation of their houses and devastation of fertile agricultural lands by diversion of two rivulets, residents of the Lippa Panchayat in the tribal district of Kinnaur have demanded cancellation of the 130-MW Kashang-I and II hydropower projects.

The residents, led by Kinnaur MLA Jagat Singh Negi and pradhan of the panchayat Samtan Dolma, today met Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh in this connection.

“Since the entire land, including apple orchards of villagers, would be totally damaged by the diversion of the Kiran khad, we want that the Phase II and III of the project be cancelled,” said the MLA.

He said the 66-MW Phase-I of the project is already underway in Pangi and the Phase- II and III would be integrated with this.

“About 35 to 40 water channels passing through our lands would go dry with the diversion of the Kiran Khad, for the proposed project,” said the pradhan of the panchayat.

“In case the water of the Kiran Khad is diverted for the Kashang project, the water from the adjoining Tejar khad would flood our homes. Every year we face this threat,” she said.

She expressed surprise that despite the villagers lodging their protest against the coming up of the project at the public hearing, the project was sanctioned.

“The panchayat has also not given the mandatory non-objection certificate (NOC) for the coming up of the project so how can the government go ahead with it,” she remarked.

Dolma said villagers grow peas, potatoes and other off season vegetables in fields, which fall directly above the Kiran Khad which is being diverted.

“Our fields will be left completely dry and the apple cultivation that is our mainstay would also be completely ruined,” she lamented.

She said work on the project is yet to begin and the government must reconsider the permission granted for the project.

“People will not allow the starting of work on the project if the government does not reconsider the permission granted to it,” she said.

Earlier, residents of Kinnaur district had opposed the coming up of the 1000-MW Karcham Wangtoo project, fearing major environmental degradation.

People of Lippa, too, say that they will not allow the coming up of the integrated Kashang II and III projects.

Nurpur, January 3
The controversy over the Brij Raj Stadium land proposed in the town over two decades ago has sparked off following the move to annul its lease deed struck by the previous PK Dhumal government with the HP Cricket Association (HPCA) a few months ago.

Taking exception to the matter, local ex-MLA Rakesh Pathania alleged that successive Congress governments had only played with the sentiments of youth and sports-lovers of the area for over two decades.

Talking to mediapersons here on Tuesday, he said Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh during his previous regimes had laid the foundation stone of the stadium twice in the past and the state Youth Affairs and Sports Department tried to construct it without transferring its land in the name of the department.

“It was only with his concerted efforts that this land was transferred to the Sports Department in August 2012 and after the refusal of the department to run and maintain the stadium, the previous government signed an MoU with the HPCA, a wing of the BCCI, by leasing out the land to it,” he claimed.

While offering his whole-hearted support to new Congress MLA Ajay Mahajan in carrying out the development of the area, Pathania said he would oppose any move to annul the lease deed of the stadium land to the HPCA as it had been proposed for cricket and allied games without any political motive.

He asserted that the priorities listed by the new MLA were part of most of the development works undertaken by the previous government.

He added that people knew who had got sanctioned the ambitious Phinna Singh irrigation project and who had made it a political gimmick in the past.

Kangra, January 3
Tributes were today paid to Durga Dutt Shastri, a Sanskrit scholar, literary giant and legend, on his fifth death anniversary at his ancestral Naleti village, near Dehra.

Forty Sanskrit scholars of the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan (RRS), Balahar, one of the eight deemed Sanskrit universities of the country, spoke on Shastri’s literary works. Scholars present included Prof Hare Krishnan Mahapatra, Prof SD Mishra, Prof Ranjit Verman, Prof Gaurav Priya and Prof Radha Vallabh Sharma.

The second Bal Puraskar, instituted in memory of DD Shastri, was conferred on Basu Mohan, meritorious student of the RSS.

Born on August 28, 1917, after schooling, Shastri obtained his Shastri degree in 1936, specialised in Alankar, Vyakaran and Jyotish Shashtra to keep the family tradition alive.

In 1944, he joined Moti Ram Arya High School at Churhmunda, now in Pakistan. In 1947, after Partition, he returned home and joined DAV High School in Kangra.

His book “Raksha Sanskrit Vyakarnam” in 1948 was well-received and its 12 editions have been published so far. “For him it was like a dream come true and indeed it was a morale-boosting venture that gave him the much-needed impetus to keep the flag flying high in the literary sky,” said Shesh Bushan, his son.

Shastri also authored books “Rashtra Path Pradarshanam” (1967), “Tarjani” (1970), “Madhu Varshanam” (1972), “Vatsala”, “Trinjatkam” (1982), “Vyogvallari” (1987) and “Brihatsaptapdi” (1991).

Sanskrit Kalptaru, a text book brought out in three volumes, is prescribed for various Himachal schools. He translated Mahakavi Bhsas’ “Swapan Vasavdatta” and “Ikrmovashiyam”, a work of Mahakavi Kalidasa, into Pahari dialect. His latest work “Sanskrit Kavya Kunjam”, anthology of 27 poetic compositions of high literary excellence on varied themes, including the recent Kargil battle, had received rave reviews.

The master author had made the work of budding prose writers easier by coining new usages, similes and metaphors in this innovative venture.

The UP Sanskrit Academy conferred on him the coveted Mahakavi Shree Vanbhatta Award in 1989. He earned the Vanbhatta Award from yet another premiere Sanskrit Academy of UP.

The literary awards received by him include the Teachers National Award in 1968, honoris causa degree of Vidyalankar and Sahitya Ratana in 1995, Vashishth Viduwan Award by the UP Sanskrit Sangathan. Late former President of India Venkataraman gave him the prestigious Certificate of Honours award.

Scholars of Sanskrit from Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and UP were doing intensive research on his work. 

Bilaspur, January 3
Manorma Devi (58) of Lower Fagli area near Shimla town with her parental village at Naswaal near Ghumarwin, near here, was seen falling into the Sutlej from the Kandraur bridge, near here, on Monday.

Reports said two youths in a boat near the bridge saw her fall and rushed to save her.

They pulled her out from the water and rushed her to a nearby ayurveda dispensary where she was given first aid. Then she was sent to the Regional Hospital here from where she was referred to the IGMC, Shimla. Her condition is said to be serious.

Her brother Rajender Kumar, who was with her on the bridge at the time of the incident, said she had bowed too much over the low railing of the bridge and lost her balance and fallen into the river.

The police has registered a case and is investigating the matter. 

Nurpur, January 3
Two persons died and two others were injured in two separate road mishaps under Jawali and Nurpur police stations yesterday. 

A seriously injured Surinder Sahotra (65) was rushed to the Tanda Medical College (TMC) where he succumbed to his injuries last evening. The Maruti car (HP38-8965) he was travelling in, collided with a truck coming from the opposite side while negotiating a turn at Bhalli. Asha, his wife, was rushed to a private hospital at Pathankot. Nitish Kumar, his son who was driving the car, also sustained serious injuries in the mishap. The family, which belongs to the Niazpur locality of Nurpur town, was going to the Tanda Medical College for Surinder’s routine health treatment. 

The Jawali police has registered a case in this connection. The body was handed over to the family after postmortem by the TMC on Wednesday.

In another mishap yesterday, an octogenarian pedestrian was hit by a speeding car (HP21-A-8888) at Tihal on Raja ka Talab-Bharmar link road under Nurpur police station jurisdiction. The pedestrian was identified as Joginder Singh (80) of Tihal village. 

The police has registered a case under Sections 304-A, 279 and 337, Indian Penal Code, against car driver Kamal Singh of Jassur. He was also arrested by the police.

Kangra, January 3
The police is still groping in the dark in identifying two highly decomposed bodies which were found in a forest behind the ancient Barav temple at Jawalamukhi on Monday last.

Police stations in the state and SSPs of all the districts of the country had been informed about the recovery of the bodies.

Kangra district police chief Diljeet Singh Thakur yesterday said both the bodies had been sent for postmortem. The police had recovered the shoes of the man and a black-coloured purse of the woman from the spot.