Shimla, February 17
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has urged Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram to sanction a special economic package of Rs 7,565 crore to tide over the difficult financial situation created in the state due to the reportedly faulty recommendation of the 13th Finance Commission.

Virbhadra Singh met the Union minister in New Delhi and drew his attention to the fact that the commission had misjudged and under-assessed committed liabilities of the state government, as a result of which the state received a much less revenue deficit grant.

He said as a result of this, the uncovered gap in committed liabilities of the state on account of pensions, salaries and interest worked out to be Rs 3,522 crore during 2012-13 and would increase to Rs 4,043 crore during 2013-14.

The Chief Minister requested the Union Finance Minister to restore the reduction in the special Central assistance allocation of Rs 106 crore for the current financial year.

He demanded that all Centrally sponsored schemes be uniformly funded in the ratio of 90:10 for all special category states. He pointed out that funding under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan, the Midday Meal Scheme, Indira Awas Yojna, the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan, the Swaran Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojna, the nutritional component of the ICDS and the ambulance service under the NRHM was 65%, 75%, 75%, 75%, 75%, 50% and 20%, respectively.

He said the provision in these services to Himachal Pradesh was less compared to the north-eastern states and requested the Union minister to provide funding in all schemes on the pattern of the north-eastern states.

Virbhadra Singh requested the Centre to restore till 2020 the special industrial package to the state which was prematurely terminated in March, 2010. He said the discontinuation of the special package of industrial incentives was adversely impacting industrial growth and employment opportunities.

Chidambaram assured him that the Centrre would provide liberal financial assistance to the state to expedite the development process in the state. He congratulated Virbhadra Singh for taking over as Chief Minister for the record sixth time and said that it was a matter of pride for the Congress and the people of Himachal Pradesh.

Shimla, February 17
The state remained in the grip of a severe cold wave as snow and rain continued to lash the region for the third consecutive day.

The western disturbance responsible for this spell of snow and rain weakened, but the respite would be short as the local meteorological office forecasted another disturbance build-up, the impact of which would be seen from February 20.

Kinnaur district received about 2 feet of snow in the latest spell. Kalpa recorded 33 cm of snow in the last 24 hours. Keylong, Narkanda, Khara Pathar, Churdhar and higher reaches of the state had between 15 cm and 25 cm of snow.

Lower areas received widespread rain with Chamba recording 24 mm, Saluni 23 mm, Manali and Rohru 21 mm each, Dharamsala and Paonta Sahib 18 mm each, Shimla, Berthin, Nahan and Kasauli 13 mm each, Kotkhai 12 mm, Gaggal 11 mm and Solan and Dharampur 10 mm each.

Kalpa was the coldest at minus -4.0°C, followed by Keylong -2.9°C, Manali 0.2°C and Shimla 1.7°C. The maximum temperatures were between 4.9°C and 9.4°C below normal across the state.

The roads in the upper Shimla region and Kinnaur remained blocked due to snow and many villages were still without electricity. Chandersekhar of Homte village in Kinnaur died after he fell in the snow while returning home last evening. Four persons were stuck between Sangla and Karcham as snow blocked the road at several places.

Sushil Kumar, Indersukh, Surajmani and her daughter Mamta took refuge at a roadside temple 6 km beyond Karcham. They were on way to Rampur Bushahr for Indersukh’s treatment.

Deputy Commissioner JM Pathania said the administration managed to send food and medicines to the stranded. The Jaypee Company was requested to clear the snow from the Karcham side.

Manali: After inclement weather and snowfall in the upper Manali region for a couple of days, the sun shone on Sunday morning and people got some respite from the cold.

Dark clouds hovered in the sky in the afternoon and snowfall began in the upper Manali area. The Solang valley also received snowfall. The day temperature dipped as cold winds lashed the upper Kullu valley.

Shimla, February 17
With the accumulated losses touching Rs 66 crore and committed liabilities on account of arrears of pay revision, dearness allowance and retirement benefits crossing Rs 15 crore, the state-owned Himachal Pradesh Horticultural Produce Marketing and Processing Corporation Limited (HPMC) is in dire financial straits.

The gravity of the situation can be judged from the fact that the public sector undertaking has not been releasing retirement benefits and superannuated employees are being forced to move court to get their dues. The overall deficit during the last financial year was over Rs 14 crore, which included an operational loss of Rs 4.5 crore.

The liability on account of arrears, gratuity, leave encashment and other benefits was over Rs 10 crore. The HPMC sold its land in Chennai for Rs 17 crore to raise funds for the processing plant proposed by the previous government at Pragatinagar. Employees want a part of the money to be utilised for clearing their dues.

The situation has been worsening progressively as the annual outgo on account of salaries and related expenses was over Rs 12 crore and the income ranged from Rs 6 crore to Rs 7 crore.

The main mandate of the HPMC is to process and market apple, but it has been able to utilise less than 30 per cent its total processing capacity of 21,500 tonne. During the 2012 season, it processed over 4,000 tonne of apple to produce 418 tonne of juice concentrate.

A matter of relief is that the government provided fruit procured under the market intervention scheme free for processing. As a result, the cost of production came to around Rs 65 per kg. With apple juice concentrate being sold at around Rs 150 per kg, it can earn higher profit.

This will not make much difference as the overall turnover, including marketing of processed products, supply of pesticides, insecticides, fertilisers and other farm inputs is around Rs 30 crore. It has to be increased to over Rs 100 crore to break even.

As the apple season lasts a maximum of four months, the HPMC has to diversify into processing and canning of mushroom, vegetables and other perishable crops. Instead of setting up a new processing plant, it should strive to ensure optimum utilisation of manpower, machinery and other assets, preferably through a public-private partnership.

It can also undertake marketing of fresh fruit like private companies like Adani and Reliance to tap the high-end market. This will help it make gainful use of its cold stores in New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai which it proposes to modernise.

With over 100 employees due to retire over the next two years, the HPMC needs to come up with a policy for recruitment of functional staff on contract. With just 125-odd employees on its rolls, it will not be in a position to carry out its operations and maintain its existing assets.

Managing Director JC Sharma said a plan was being prepared to bring the important public sector undertaking back on the rails.

Bilaspur, February 17
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has sanctioned Rs 2.17 crore for two science blocks of girls and boys senior secondary schools here.

He will soon lay foundation stones of boys school’s science block and long-awaited India’s first-ever hydro-engineering college. He will also inaugurate the Ghaghas Bridge on the national highway near here.

Bilaspur Sadar MLA Bambar Thakur made this statement while addressing a gathering at the annual prize distribution function of Government Boys Senior Secondary School here on Tuesday.

Bambar said the BJP had always neglected the development work of the district. But the Chief Minister had always paid attention to the problems of the district.

Talking about drinking water problem of the area, he said the CM had also sanctioned drinking water schemes of Mehrikathla (Rs 1.38 lakh), Barmana (Rs 30 lakh) and Panjgaain (Rs 65 lakh). The work on these schemes would start soon.

Bambar exhorted students to work hard and learn all skills necessary for facing challenges of life and obey their parents and teachers.

Both teachers and parents must keep a watch on all daily activities of their students and wards so that they did not develop any bad habit, he said.

He stressed that the school management committees (SMCs) had been formed to work as a link between parents and schools. The SMCs could play a cooperative role if they followed their responsibility properly.

Bambar distributed prizes and certificates among the winners of extra-curricular activities.

Earlier, Principal Madan Chandel presented the annual report of the school.

Deputy Director of Education Bir Singh, former Principal KD Gauttam, Nagar Parishad president Rajni Sharma and SMC president Naveen Varma were also present at
the function. 

Dharamsala, February 17
The problems with fuel plaguing the Himachal Road Transports Corporation (HRTC) are likely to worsen. It may face problems in getting fuel for its fleet of buses as the Himachal Pradesh Petroleum Dealers Association has decided against participating in tenders floated by the HRTC for getting fuel supply.

Association president Sukumar Singh said conditions in the tenders could not be fulfilled by any petroleum dealer of any oil company in the country and so, they had decided against participating in the tenders.

He said the HRTC, in tenders called for February 18, put the condition that diesel be supplied to it at its locations, seven-day credit be allowed to it and Rs 3 lakh be given to it as security.

He said the condition that diesel be supplied at HRTC locations could not be fulfilled by any dealer. He said dealers had to sell fuel at their retail outlets as per rules and they could not supply fuel in bulk to any consumer.

He said sales tax rules also prohibited dealers from selling fuel at a different rate to any bulk consumer. He said the HRTC had a fuel demand of about 1.5 lakh litres per day.

Sukumar Singh said this meant that petroleum dealers would have give it a credit of about Rs 6 crore in a week. He said no dealer in the state has the capacity to extend such a huge amount as credit.

The HRTC has been facing problems in getting fuel for its buses since the UPA government stopped the subsidy on diesel for bulk consumers. The HRTC earlier used to get fuel supply directly from oil companies.

Now the organisation has been categorised as a bulk consumer by oil companies. It will get diesel at Rs 11 per litre more than the rate at which the fuel is available at retail outlets of oil companies in case it gets direct supply.

The decision to categorise state transport corporations in the bulk consumer category was taken by oil companies on January 17. The HRTC cannot afford to purchase diesel at a higher rate from oil companies in bulk as it has to face competition from private transporters who will still get diesel at low rates from retail outlets.

The HRTC, already facing financial crises, is being forced to purchase fuel in cash from retail outlets. The dealers’ association has offered the HRTC a proposal under which dealers can offer it subsidised diesel collectively, but has sought time to work out a formula.

The dual pricing policy is likely to affect public transport companies and ultimately consumers. If the public transport system is hit, it will put pressure on private transport and increase the fuel subsidy bill of the Centre. The government decision to keep public transport companies in the bulk consumer category is not likely to produce desired results.

Hamirpur, February 17
Nadaun MLA Vijay Agnihotri was elected district president of the BJP here on Friday.

Agnihotri’s election was announced by poll in charge Randhir Sharma in the presence of former Chief Minister PK Dhumal and other senior leaders.

The party also elected ID Dhiman, Baldev Sharma, Virender Thakur, Raghubir Singh, Anil Thakur and Urmil Thakur as delegates for the state council of the BJP from Hamirpur district.

Addressing party workers, Dhumal gave a clarion call to them to oust the ruling UPA government at the Centre in the next Parliamentary election.

“The situation is quite grim at the national level after revelations of several scams, including the recent alleged bribery in VVIP helicopter deal. It has made the government quite fragile and the next parliament election can be held this year also,” he said.

Earlier, addressing party activists after his election, Agnihotri assured them to work with devotion for the party and urged them to work hard to win the Hamirpur Parliament seat in the next election.

Outgoing district president Desh Raj Sharma also addressed the gathering. Former Education Minister ID Dhiman, former MLAs Urmil Thakur and Baldev Sharma and Chairman of the KCCB Raseel Singh Mankotia were also present on the occasion.

Dharamsala, February 17
Many private engineering and technical colleges in the state face closure in case the state government goes ahead with its decision to allow admission to the institutes only through the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) to be organised by the CBSE for admission to engineering colleges and the Polytechnic Aptitude Test (PAT) organised by the Himachal Pradesh State Technical Education Board.

The previous government had taken the decision at the fag-end of its tenure after facing criticism for allowing many engineering colleges and polytechnics in the state. There are 16 private engineering colleges and polytechnics under the Himachal Pradesh Technical University. There are an equal number of private universities that are also offering technical courses.

Private and government engineering colleges functioning in the state have about 6,000 engineering seats in various streams. There are about 10,000 diploma seats in private and government colleges. Last year, about 3,000 students applied for counselling for admission to engineering colleges in the state and only 1,500 attended the counselling sessions organised by the technical university.

This means that if the colleges remain limited to students who come through the technical university or the Himachal Pradesh State Technical Education Board, only 25 per cent of the engineering seats will be filled. The situation in diploma courses will be worse in polytechnics.

Last year, colleges managed to fill seats as those were allowed to admit students from other states against seats that remained vacant after counselling. The seats that remained vacant after counselling were converted into management quota with the permission of the government.

This year, the situation has changed as the government has decided against allowing the admission of students who do not appear in the JEE organised by the CBSE for admission to engineering colleges and the PAT organised by the technical education board.

Managements of private technical institutions allege that many students in the state, including those residing in far-flung areas, do not appear in the JEE or the PAT due to lack of awareness and take admission directly to colleges. The government will not allow them now to take admission in this manner. Managements of private institutes plan to meet government representatives to present their case.

The decision of the government also places technical institutes at a disadvantage vis-a-vis colleges in other states. Other states allow technical institutes to admit students on the basis of the class XII marks against the seats that remain vacant after counselling.

Technical education institutes in the state are comparatively new. In case those are not allowed to admit students from other states, their viability will be hit. An engineering college has applied for closure due to less student admission. Those favouring the government move claim that it will bring quality benefit institutes in the long run.

Bilaspur, February 17
The police should be very careful regarding crimes and offences against women, children, backward classes and members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and deal with offenders strictly according to the law.

This was stated by Superintendent of Police Anupam Sharma while presiding over the concluding function of a five-day workshop organised by the state Police Department for police officers of four districts here today.

Sharma said the police should ensure that those who teased women and girls and misbehaved with them were sternly dealt with immediately.

Sharma said each district police now had its account on the Facebook also and any one could give information of any such offence on it.

He said 17 officers, SHOs and Deputy Superintendents of Police, attended the workshop from Bilaspur, Mandi, Hamirpur and Lahaul-Spiti districts for five days and were apprised regarding all aspects of controlling crimes and offences and taking action under various laws against such persons.

The workshop was also addressed by District Bar president Tejaswi Sharma, Betiyan Foundation state president Sunanda Sud and Minority Youth Group president Ehsan Akhtar among several senior police officers. DSP Pratap Singh Thakur, Bindiya Dabra, Soma, Sanjita Kumari and Ruchi were also present.

Mandi, February 17
Residents under the banner of the CPM yesterday gheraoed buses at Seri Munch in protest against the decision of the local administration to shift the bus stop from Seri Munch to a congested spot, which they claimed did not have a proper space and rain shelter for passengers.

They raised slogans against the administration and demanded status quo. They claimed that the new bus stop was impractical as it did not have space for even three persons.

CPM general secretary Bhupender Singh said they had submitted a representation to maintain the status quo but to no avail. Passengers were facing inconvenience while boarding the bus from the new stop.

SDM of Sadar Shubkaran Singh intervened and told the residents that they would reconsider the decision.

Nahan, February 17
Deputy Commissioner, Sirmaur, Priytu Mandal yesterday directed officials heading departments like Agriculture, Horticulture, Public Works, Forest and Irrigation and Public Health to attend the review meeting of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and not depute their subordinates as this was a crucial scheme.

He said any laxity in this regard would be reported to senior officials for initiating suitable action against such officials and the targets for various departments would be fixed to ensure accurate assessment of the progress of various works being implemented under this scheme for the next year.

Most of the senior officials from departments like Public Works, IPH and Health and Family Welfare were unavailable at the meeting while the Superintending Engineer, HP State Electricity Board Limited, was on leave. The Conservator, Forests, also remained absent in the meeting. Thus, the review work suffered for want of appropriate information from senior officials with SDOs or executive engineers of certain divisions having limited information. This proved the non-seriousness of officials in implementing this ambitious Centrally sponsored scheme.

The DC said steps would be taken to enhance the participation of women in the scheme and officials should coordinate with Block Development Officers (BDOs) for the timely release of payments. He said a workshop would also be conducted within the next 10 days on various issues relating to the scheme.

The BDOs could hold such review meetings with block-level officials to ensure the smooth implementation of the scheme and efforts would be made to meet the shortfall for this financial year while undertaking planning for next year.

Chamba, February 17
The Himachal Pradesh Pensioners’ Welfare Association has rebuked the functioning of Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Limited (HPSEBL), the Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) for issuing electricity, water and phone bills, respectively, in the middle of every month.

The association has described these dates of billing as ‘ill-timed’ for consumers because by the middle of the month, the pension amount of pensioners and salary and wages of employees and daily-wagers get exhausted. Consequently, they fail to pay bills.

Considering issues of consumers, who included families of pensioners, employees and other wage-earners of the government as well the private sector, state spokesperson for the association PC Oberoy has submitted a memorandum to the state Chief Secretary this week in which he has forcefully pleaded for rescheduling billing dates for the first week of every month.

Oberoy suggested that the bills of all these departments should be received by consumers by the last week of every month with dates of deposit in the first week of every month, thereby enabling them to defray the expenses of bills immediately.

State spokesperson for the association PC Oberoy impressed upon the government to direct the departments concerned to make a schedule of billing in such a way that every consumer could be able to defray these bills in the first week regularly.

Solan, February 17
The manner in which 97 chowkidars working in the state Forest Corporation have been transferred to other districts on the plea of a longer stay while sparing several senior officers who have a stay of several decades in Shimla has exposed how different yardsticks are being adopted to effect transfers.

While low-rung employees who have no say in the department’s working have been given marching orders, senior assistant (SA) Rajesh Gupta, who was transferred to Mantaruwala in Sirmaur district in July last year, has again posted back to Shimla barely after six months.

This was despite the fact that he had stayed in Shimla for 21 years and his writ petition challenging his transfer had been dismissed by the high court in September last year.

The court had clearly stated in its orders that surplus staff should be posted to vacant positions while citing the case of the Badroha office where three posts of SA were lying vacant and there were surplus SAs in the head office.

Even in the marketing office, one SA was surplus. The court had expressed surprise as to how the corporation was working with vacant posts not being filled and surplus staff being posted at other places and sought an affidavit from the MD.

The MD had filed this affidavit in January this year where he had stated that he had transferred 137 persons. This list, however, included the maximum number of 97 chowkidars, a field man, eight forest guards, 13 junior assistants and clerks, one office manager, four deputy rangers and one office manager. But after filing the affidavit, SA Rajesh Gupta, whose writ petition was dismissed by the court, was transferred back from Mantaruwala sale depot to the head office in Shimla, thereby creating a vacancy at Mantaruwala and making the staff surplus in Shimla.

Several officials who have spent as many as 27 to 34 years in Shimla have been spared transfers, while Class IV employees have been posted from one district to another.

MD JS Walia, when quizzed, said he had made these transfers as per the court directive. While agreeing that officials with longer stay were still posted in Shimla, he said he would transfer some more officials if he continued to stay as the MD for some more time.

Quite a few low-rung employees despite suffering from diseases like cancer and paralysis have been forced to accept transfer orders. Only two such transfer orders were cancelled that included chowkidar Bahadur Singh, who was transferred from Sundernagar to Kullu as he died within a few days of his transfer, and Shukru Ram on medical grounds.

Hamirpur, February 17
Former Chief Minister PK Dhumal has accused the state government of indulging in transfers of offices, officers and officials during its current regime.

Talking to mediapersons here on Friday, Dhumal said, “The prime duty of any government is to provide a good governance and work for the betterment of the people, but the state government is just busy in transferring offices, officers and officials, which is not good”.

“The state government has shifted a few offices from Hamirpur and there is a reported move to shift Himachal Pradesh Technical University from here. We strongly oppose this,” he said.

He said, “Instead of shifting offices, the Congress government should open new offices, start new projects and adopt measures for the welfare of people”.

Dhumal also criticised the state government for changing names of different schemes initiated by the BJP government in the state and removing pictures of national leaders associated with the BJP from government offices. 

Bilaspur, February 17
Poets and writers have the capacity to change society and also lead it to ensure the removal of all social evils by their effective writings.

This was stated by state Planning Development and 20-Point Implementation Committee Chairman Ram Lal Thakur while addressing a Basant Utsav function organised jointly by the Language and Culture Department and the local Press Club here today.

Ram Lal praised poems which condemned female foeticide and spread awareness against this evil practice. He said everyone should unite to eradicate this evil at the earliest.

Local MLA Bambar Thakur presided over the function. Press Club president Sanjay Sharma was also present.

Those who presented their poems included Prof Meena Varma, Dr Kashmir Singh, Kulbhushan Chabba, Sushil Pundir, Surender Minhas, Ram Lal Pathak, Kuldip Chandel, Vipin Chandel, Ruchi Bhirali, Dr Anita Sharma, Anup Singh Mastana, Sukh Ram Azad and Ravi Sankhyayan.

Kangra, February 17
The two-day national seminar on ‘Accreditation of Academic Institutions - Need of the Hour’ in which more than 85 delegates from different states participated, concluded yesterday.

It was sponsored by the National Accreditation and Assessment Council (NAAC) and organised by the internal quality assurance cell of the Dronacharya College of Education at Rait.

College Principal and seminar co-ordinator Parveen Sharma said deliberations paved the way for quality culture and sensitised teachers about their role and responsibility in promoting quality education.

The objective of the seminar was to understand the need for accreditation of academic institutions and sensitise teachers about their role and responsibility in promoting quality education.

The seminar provided an opportunity to academicians and intellectuals to deliberate on issues related to the enhancement of quality in higher education.

In his valedictory address, Dr Narendra Awasthi, Controller of Examination, HPU, Shimla, asserted that quality meant different things to different people.