Shimla, February 3
Despite free text books, uniforms, shoes and mid-day meals, enrolment in government schools are declining sharply and more and more people are sending their children to private schools.

As per the latest data, the enrolment at the elementary level (up to Class VIII) in government schools has over the last five years declined by 1,96,165 students and there is an increase of over 1 lakh students in the rolls of private schools. The total enrolment in 15,052 government schools has plunged from 8,39,615 in 2007-08 to 6,43,450 students in 2012-13. The enrolment up to primary level (Class V) dwindled between 1,11,803 and 85,462 students at the upper primary level (Class VI to VIII).

At the same time, enrolment in 2,300 private schools has increased from 2,44, 620 to 3,44,039 students. There has been an increase of 63,898 students up to Class V and 34,621 students from Class VI to VIII. The alarming shift also reflects on the quality of teaching in government and private institutions. It is common knowledge that teachers of government schools are sending their children to private schools. It is obvious that ill-paid teachers of private schools, which lack requisite infrastructure, are doing a much better job than their highly paid counterparts in government schools. Enrolment in government schools, which was as high as 90 per cent in the 1990s, came down to 78 per cent in 2008-09 and has declined by a whopping 10 per cent to 67.93 per cent over the last five years.

The main reason for the decline is that teachers in the private sector are held accountable by the management, whereas there is no accountability in government schools. The Centre had mandated that staff should be made accountable to the school management committee (SMC), but this has not been implemented due to “pressure” from teacher unions. Consequently, more and more private schools are coming up in rural areas and are considered a better option as they teach English, enforce discipline, have a dress code and more importantly, there is one teacher for each class, unlike government schools.

Despite a declining enrolment, the government is opening more schools and the new state government has only last week decided to reopen a few schools closed by the previous government as part of its election promise. Many of the schools with an enrolment in single digit are being retained just to accommodate “politically influential” teachers.

Rewalsar, February 3
The Rewalsar lake, a pilgrimage centre which has been declared a wetland of ecological significance, is just 4-m deep. This has rattled ecologists, who have called for an urgent plan to desilt the lake to save it.

A team of scientists from the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology in Dehradun recently took sediment samples for an indepth study. “We took samples up to 18 m deep,” said Dr NK Meena, who led the team.

“The water is 4 m deep while the rest has silt and sediments. We are studying the samples to know how old the sediments are, which may take time,” he said. Preliminary findings rattled pilgrims, ecologists and the nagar panchayat.

Scientists said they were undertaking a climatic and sediment deposit study. They added that they would arrive at results after the samples were studied properly and underscored the need for desilting.

They pointed out that the debris in the lake was from the construction of the road to Naina Devi uphill and the deer zoo nearby. “Silt deposit and soil erosion take place mostly during the monsoon through three seasonal streams,” they said.

Thousands of pilgrims fed fish, which resulted in leftover deposit. The nagar panchayat had banned the feeding of fish, but the practice was continuing due to religious beliefs.

The lake is one of the three dedicated to the exile period of the Pandavas not to have dried up. The other two are Sukhsar and Kuntbyosar. These three are nestled in deep caverns. Four other lakes of the Mahabharata era are gone.

According to residents, the lakes are used for irrigating paddy fields in lower areas. The Sarkidhar, Kaldeo and Rewalsar forest ranges converge here, adding to the problem of jurisdiction and hampering proper wetland management.

Nagar panchayat president Bansi Thakur said they interacted with the team and hired an expert to undertake a study on how to desilt the lake.

“Our top priority is to desilt the lake and channelise the three streams to stop the discharge of debris and silt into the lake,” he added.

Mandi Deputy Commissioner Devesh Kumar said the team had not sent the report to the district administration and they would make an action plan only after the report was submitted.

Shimla, February 3
The Himachal Seb Utpadak Sangh has urged the government to conduct a survey to assess the damage caused to fruit crops by the recent snow and provide adequate compensation to affected farmers.

The sangh has also set a deadline of February 29 for completing the survey and the farmers should be compensated by March 15, failing which it would launch a state-wide protest. The sangh said the snowfall on January 17 and 18 played havoc with orchards and apple, apricot and peach trees as these were uprooted or damaged extensively in Shimla, Kinnaur, Kullu, Mandi, Lahaul Spiti, Sirmour, Kangra and Chamba districts.

The loss varied at different altitudes between the elevation of 7,000 ft and 8,000 ft above sea level, the damage to apricot and peach ranged from 90 to 100 per cent and to apple 40 to 70 per cent. The total loss was more than Rs 1,000 crore.

The calamity had broken the backbone of small and marginal farmers as a seedling plant of apple takes 10 to 12 years to give full production and a farmer had to make huge investment till then. The survey being conducted by the government, to assess the loss to the farmers must be carried out on a scientific basis.

Hamirpur, February 3
The 17th International World Wetland Day was celebrated by the Wildlife Department at the international Ramsar site, Pong Dam Lake, yesterday in collaboration with the Department of Science and Technology, World Wildlife Fund for Nature (India) and students of Government Senior Secondary School, Nagrota Suriyan.

The aim of celebrating this day was to create public awareness among different sections of society about the importance and benefits of wetlands.

The theme of this year’s World Wetland Day is “Wetland and Water Management” and the slogan for this is “Wetlands Take Care of Water”, in league with the UN International Year of Water Co-operation, this year.

Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Neeraj Bharti was the chief guest in this function.

Addressing the gathering on the occasion, Bharti said out of 2,083 Ramsar wetlands in the world, three existed in Himachal Pradesh and the Pong Dam Wetland was one of them, Renuka and Chandertal being the other two.

He appealed to the students and local people to cooperate in conserving wildlife, especially migrant birds visiting the Pong Dam Lake.

Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Wildlife, Hamirpur, Sangeeta Chandel said, “The Parvatiya Lok Manch, engaged by forest publicity division, had been spreading awareness among locals all around the Pong Lake area for the last four days through organising skits and folk songs in local dialect highlighting the importance and benefits of the lake in maintaining ecological balance.”

APPCF, Wildlife, Parveen Thaplayal, CCF, Wildlife (N), Dr Suresh, State Director, WWF, Dr Vandana Thaplayal, member secretary, Science and Technology Department, Dr Hemant Gupta, DFO, Publicity, Satish Gupta, DFO, Dehra, JC Katoch, and DFO, Wildlife, Hamirpur, Sangeeta Chandel among others were present on the occasion.

Dharamsala, February 3
Spice Jet will start air service from Gaggal airport in Kangra district from February 15. Minister for Housing and Urban Development Sudhir Sharma said this while talking to The Tribune here today. He said the resumption of air services on the Delhi-Chandigarh-Dharamsala route would help in improving tourist traffic in the region during the forthcoming summer season.

The air services would be resumed from Gaggal due to the personal efforts of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, he said.

The Gaggal domestic airport in Kangra district used to receive at least one flight daily. However, Kingfisher was the only company that was operating on the route. The air services to Dharamsala were disrupted after the services of the Kingfisher company were discontinued.

The traffic on the route was good, especially due to the arrival of foreign devotees of the Tibetan spiritual guru, the Dalai Lama, despite high tariff. The teachings of the Dalai Lama were also allegedly shifted to Delhi due to the non-availability of air service to Dharamsala. This was a setback for the tourism industry of Dharamsala that generally thrived on the tourists who arrived here for the Dalai Lama’s teachings.

Many other air companies like the MDLR also announced to start their services to Dharamsala. However, none of the announcements were realised.

Now the Minister for Urban Development has announced that Spice Jet will start its service to Dharamsala in the next fortnight.

Shimla, February 3
All the universities in the country are within the ambit of the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and claims of private universities that it has no jurisdiction over them is misplaced.

This was stated by SS Mantha, Chairman, AICTE, who was in the city in connection with a workshop on “National Vocational Education Qualification Framework ”.

“The AICTE can inspect departments of any university offering technical courses any time to ascertain whether the norms laid down by it are being followed or not and take action in accordance with its regulations if there are any violations,” Mantha said during a conversation with The Tribune.

“There has been a deep concern over the declining academic standards and the council has come out with a comprehensive performance appraisal system for departments of universities to maintain standards of technical education being imparted. The regulations, which have already been notified, are applicable to all the technical entities (constituent institutions of universities offering programme of technical education),” he said.

He said as per the new regulations, universities would also have to submit mandatory online information on technical programmes and courses being run after seeking the approval of the authority concerned before commencement of the programme on the website of the AICTE.

He said admission of students after Class X by some private universities was a blatant and grave violation of norms. The primary responsibility of taking action against such institutions was of the state, which was empowered under the law. Thereafter, it was for the UGC to take action after ascertaining the facts and blacklist the university. The AICTE would act as per its mandate if the matter was referred to it by the government or anyone filed a complaint with it, he added.

The council will also report its findings along with its recommendations in respect to such technical entities of the universities to the Centre, state government concerned, the UGC and relevant accreditation bodies and agencies in the country for necessary action at their end.

While the managements of private universities have challenged the constitutional validity of the State Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Commission, Mantha was all praise for it and wanted other states to set up similar bodies for an effective enforcement of norms and maintaining academic standards.

Bilaspur, February 3
The previous BJP government did not take any interest in developing sports infrastructure that was being raised earlier by the Congress government at the Luhnu ground here. It was being developed as an ideal all-weather sports centre with facilities of water, aero and ground sports.

This was stated by Bilaspur Sadar MLA Bambar Thakur while addressing an award ceremony organised by the Himachal Pradesh Handball Association here today.

Bambar said a hockey astro-turf, an eight-lane 400-m athletics track and the Central-state coaching centre projects of the Luhnu ground were shifted to other places by the BJP government and sports was totally “ignored” here.

He said with the blessings of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, he was confident that all these already approved projects would be set up here to fulfil the objective of developing an ideal all-weather sports complex in the state.

He praised national handball coach Sneh Lata and Ravinder Prakash Sharma, principal, Government Senior Secondary School, Navgaon, Solan, for taking a keen interest in coaching girls for this championship.

The chief guest honoured following gold medallists (girls): captain Archana, Deeksha, Priyanka, Shivani, Deepa, Sangita, Shailja, Jyoti (all from Bilaspur), Nidhi, Mamta, Deekhsha, Pragati, Bharti, Shabnam, Meena, Menika, Babita (all from Solan), Simran, Payal, (both from Una district) and Pooja from Mandi.

Sneh Lata, team manager Jagdish, head of the delegation Aanant Ram Sharma and Ravinder Prakash Sharma were also honoured on the occasion.

Those who were present included state Handball Association president Vijay Kumar, state general secretary Nand Kishore Sharma, RP Chopra, principal, Government Postgraduate College, Bilaspur, National Hockey Federation joint secretary Surender Pal Dass, Youth Congress state general secretary Vivek Kumar and Deputy Director of Education Bir Singh.

Palampur, February 3
Member of Parliament Rajan Sushant yesterday expressed concern over the failure of development agencies in the district in spending funds sanctioned by him from the Member of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) funds in the last three years.

Addressing a press conference here, Sushant said he had allocated over Rs 12 crore between 2009 and 2012 for development projects in Kangra and Chamba districts, but was shocked to see that only Rs 5 crore was utilised while works worth Rs 3 crore were going on and Rs 4 crore was lying in bank accounts of officers and agencies.

Rajan Sushant said he had taken a serious note of this carelessness and recovered Rs 2 crore while calling a meeting of officers for February 4 over the rest of the amount. He said he sought an explanation of erring officers in Dharamsala on January 29, but none could give a satisfactory reply.

Rajan Sushant said the cost of construction had almost doubled in the last three years and more funds were needed for the completion of projects. He said he had asked the state government to fix the liability of erring officers for the loss of revenue caused to the state exchequer.

Shimla, February 3
It may sound surprising, but the Assembly election in the state appears to be an inexpensive exercise if the average expenditure of Rs 6.77 lakh as per the returns filed by 68 elected MLAs is any indication.

An analysis of the election expenditure documents of the newly elected members by the National Election Watch (NEW) and the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has revealed that the average amount of money spent by them was only 62 per cent of the expense limit (Rs 11 lakh) fixed by the Election Commission of India. The party-wise average was the highest for the Congress (Rs 7.12 lakh each for 36 MLAs), followed by the BJP (Rs 6.82 lakh for 26 MLAs) and five independents (Rs 4.77 lakh each). Lone HLP MLA Maheshwar Singh spent Rs 2.52 lakh.

While no MLA declared election expenses of more than Rs 11 lakh, only Jagat Singh of the Congress from Kinnaur (ST) seat declared expenses more than Rs 10 lakh. Interestingly, three MLAs Bikram Singh (Bhatiyatt), Yadvinder Goma (Jaisinghpur) and Hans Raj (Churah) declared expenditure more than their declared assets.

In all, seven MLAs declared expenses less than Rs 4 lakh and there were only three MLAs Mohinder Singh (Dharmapur), Inder Singh (Sarkaghat) and Rajiv Bindal (Nahan), whose expenses exceeded Rs 9.50 lakh. The lowest expense of Rs 61,000 was declared by Dr Rajiv Sahjal, who won from the Kasauli (SC) constituency, followed by Kirnesh Jung, an independent from Paonta Sahib (Rs 2.29 lakh) and Maheshwar Singh of HLP from Kullu (Rs 2.52 lakh).

Bikram Singh, with declared assets of Rs 7.09 lakh, spent Rs 8.44 lakh, Yadvinder Goma (assets Rs 5.22 lakh, expenses Rs 8.05 lakh) and Hans Raj (assets Rs 7 lakh, expenses Rs 7.07 lakh) spent more than their assets. Eight MLAs have declared that they have not spent any amount on campaigning through electronic/print media, while 14 others declared that they spent less than Rs 10,000 on campaigning through electronic and print media.

Further, 20 MLAs have declared that they did not spend any amount on campaign workers, while four MLAs spent less than Rs 10,000 on campaign workers. Five MLAs spent less than Rs 70,000 on use of vehicles and another five declared that they spent less than Rs 50,000 on campaign materials and erection of gates, arches and banners. Rajiv Sahjal, Kasauli Constituency, has declared that he did not incur any expense on campaign materials.

Dharamsala, February 3
Industrialists in the state are against the decision of Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Limited (HPSEBL) to impose heavy infrastructure development charges (IDC) on the industry in the state with retrospective effect.

A delegation of the industrialists met Minister for Industries Mukesh Agnihotri and submitted a memorandum against the decision of the HPSEBL to impose IDC against industry in the state with retrospective effect from 2005.

CS Kapoor, general secretary of the Mehatpur industrial area, while talking to The Tribune said the HPSEBL had imposed the highest IDC charges in north India.

The power board had issued a notification asking the industry in the state to pay Rs 4,875 per KVA with retrospective effect from 2005. In other states, the IDC charges were much less. In Punjab it was just Rs 900 per KVA, Haryana Rs 750 per KVA, Uttarakhand Rs 1,000 per KVA and Rajasthan Rs 690 per KVA, he said.

Kapoor alleged that in other states, power boards were charging just power line laying charges from the industry as IDC. However, the HPSEBL was charging even the cost of erecting sub-stations from the industrialists, he said, adding that providing quality power was the responsibility of the HPSEBL.

He alleged that the power board was citing losses as a reason for imposing heavy IDC charges on the industry in the state.

“However, the state power board has to recover around Rs 300 crore from various government departments. It cannot shift the burden of not being able to recover its dues from government departments to the industry,” Kapoor said.

Sources here said the financial burden of the HPSEBL was increasing due to an ever-increasing establishment expenditure. The establishment expenditure of the HPSEBL was more than power utilities of the adjoining states, the sources said.

The industrialists alleged that in case the government wanted to develop Himachal as an industrial destination, as was being claimed by political leaders in their statements, the state would have to create a financial environment that was competitive with the neighbouring states.

The industrialists alleged that the previous BJP government had put the decision to impose IDL charge with retrospective effect on hold. However, it could not take a final decision in the matter.

Now with the change in government, the power board authorities had once again decided to impose IDL charges on industry with retrospective effect. In case the decision is implemented, it will put a financial burden on the industry in the state, which is already facing a tough competition from industry in other states.

Bilaspur, February 3
Kuldip Chand (37) of Gujrehada village under Balh Seena gram panchayat near Barthin was cremated with full military honours on the bank of the Dugh khud at the cremation ghat of his village, 50 km from here, today in front of a large number of mourners.

Reports said Kuldip Chand was in service in the CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) for the last 14 years and presently on active duty at Muzzafarpur (Bihar state) where he suddenly collapsed after suffering a massive heart attack. He was rushed to a hospital, but declared brought dead by doctors there.

A contingent of the CRPF which arrived here today with his body, sounded the Last Post, fired several volleys into the air and saluted the departed soul.

Local MLA and former HP Vidhan Sabha Deputy Speaker Rikhi Ram Kaundal, BDC member Sukhdev, panchayat vice-president Kamal Kant Sharma and a large number of village leaders and representatives of various political parties and organisations were also present.

Kuldip Chand has left behind his old parents, wife and one daughter (13) and a son (10).

MLA Kaundal has urged the government to provide immediate grant-in-aid to the jawan’s family.

Mandi, February 3
In the light of the large-scale execution of hydro power projects in the state, the Himachal Pradesh Power Project Engineers Association has demanded the immediate setting up of an independent quality control and assurance wing under the Directorate of Energy so that problems like leakage do not recur.

Power Minister Sujan Singh Pathania met a delegation of the association and asserted that the government was seized of the matter and would put in place a quality control mechanism for each project for both independent power producers and government-run corporations.

Association general secretary MK Sharma apprised the minister of the fact that the post of Chief Engineer, Quality Control and Assurance, Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation, was vacant. He said it was executing five hydro projects.

They pleaded that each project needed a civil superintending engineer to oversee quality control. They pointed out that the quality control wing was of supreme importance as hydro projects needed constant monitoring.

They said civil engineering components comprised 75 per cent to 80 per cent of the work of any project while electrical engineering components range from 20 per cent to 25 per cent. They said project components should conform to Indian or US standards.

They said the government must put in place a quality control and assurance engineer in each project and ensure the quality of work. They said it was important for hydro projects, which were being executed on an engineering, procurement and construction basis where the contractor was responsible.

Shimla, February 3
The CPM has expressed concern over the failure of the authorities in opening roads and restoring power supply in many parts of the Theog area even two weeks after the snowfall.

Rajender Chauhan, secretary of the local unit of the party, alleged that the government machinery had virtually collapsed due to which the common man was suffering.

He said areas, including Bhalech, Jadeog, Serion, Jakhari, Hallai, Majoholi, Kihri, Basa Mahogh Kashdhar, Gadah, Rohni, Jalan, Sholvi and Jagatchowki, were without electricity for the last 15 days.

In Kumarsain division, four transformers in Thanedhar, seven in Kumarsain, two in Baragaon and four in Jadoon Panchayat in Narkanda were out of order, he said.

He said under Theog division, the state Electricity Board had only replaced 8,144 electric poles since 2007, while 18,000 poles were required to be replaced and there was a shortage of more than 300 transformers. At this pace of work, it would take another 10 years to replace all the poles, he added.

The party said 40 per cent of villages under the Theog block lacked drinking water supply.

Dalhousie, February 3
Four persons were seriously injured when the car in which they were travelling went out of control and rolled down the road for about 150 metres near Draman in the district on Friday evening, a police report received here yesterday said.

The injured persons Ravinder, Dinesh, Maneesh and driver Manu were rushed to the Chowari hospital.

The occupants of the vehicle were returning from a wedding at Madhian village falling in the Chowari tehsil.

A case of rash and negligent driving had been registered against the driver.

Solan, February 3
A spurt in cases of smuggling of opium has been observed in the district in the last one week when 8 kg of the contraband was seized in three separate incidents by the police.

With the Kumbh Mela under way in Allahabad, the demand for opium has gone up.

Police officials said Nepalese travelling from Shimla to Chandigarh were often caught smuggling opium, though at times even routine passengers were lured to act as conduits for easy money.

Despite a strict police vigil, private vehicles were used to transport opium on a regular basis. In the latest case, the police seized 2.9 kg cannabis from a private bus en route Solan, where the contraband had been stacked on a luggage seat and no one claimed the bag when the police stopped the bus. Similar modus operandi was adopted a few days ago when the police seized 1.9 kg opium.

In another case, 2.3 kg opium was seized by the police a few days ago on the national highway.

The police said with upper reaches of Shimla being closed due to snow, smugglers used either the Rajgarh-Solan route or other routes in the Sirmaur area to transport opium to the plains.

Chamba, February 3
The District Bar Association has sought the setting up of a circuit camp of the Divisional Commissioner’s bench in Chamba which has been a long-standing demand of the area.

President of the association Jai Singh said here yesterday that a memorandum in this respect had been submitted to the state government through the Deputy Commissioner of Chamba, adding that copies thereof had also been forwarded to the Registrar of the Himachal Pradesh High Court.

“Taking into account the hardships being faced by people of the far-flung mountainous district of the state, the setting up of a circuit camp of the Divisional Commissioner is need of the hour,” Jai Singh contended in the memo.

He revealed that the circuit camp of the Divisional Commissioner could not be held at Chamba for the past over one year. Consequently, justice to people of the region was being delayed, he added.