Shimla, February 18
While expressing hope that the Centre will provide assistance to the state to tide over the financial crisis, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today said reckless spending by the previous BJP regime had left the state exchequer in a shambles.

“Throwing the principles of prudent financial management to the winds, the Dhumal government indulged in thoughtless expenditure on frivolous schemes and as a result the Congress government has inherited empty coffers. The whole system of fiscal management will have to be streamlined,” he said.

He said he had already met the Prime Minister and the Union Finance Minister, brought the problems being faced by the state on the financial front to their notice and sought Central assistance.

The case for the revival of the industrial package was also being pursued and the state wanted it to be extended up to 2020.

The matter regarding expediting the construction of the Nangal-Talwara and Bhanupali-Bilaspur rail lines had also been taken up with Railways Minister Pawan Bansal and he had been assured that the state would provide its share of contribution. He said the work on the Bhanupali-Bilaspur line was delayed due to the failure of the state to acquire land. But now the matter would be expedited. Further, the Railways had been requested to conduct a survey for its further extension to Mandi and finally to Kangra to join the Pathankot-Jogindernager narrow line at a suitable point.

Virbhadra said the issue of payment of arrears of the state’s share in the BBMB projects in accordance with the Supreme Court verdict had also been taken up. He brought it to the notice of the Union Power Minister that the apex court had allowed six months for the computation of arrears. But more than a year had passed, and the matter was still pending.

He said he had been camping in Delhi and pursuing pending matters of the state, but his detractors were spreading rumours regarding his health. He said even totally baseless and fabricated news regarding the possibility of appointing a “working Chief Minister” were circulated. He said he was hale and hearty and as healthy as anyone could be and devoting all his time and energy to managing the affairs of the state.

Shimla, February 18
Details of the phone-tapping report have not come in the public domain so far, but there are indications that former Chief Minister PK Dhumal may face the heat as the government conducts in-depth investigations into the matter.

The report submitted by forensic experts to Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh here today has confirmed that telephones were tapped without authorisation and on a large scale. The data retrieved by the three-member team, which examined the hard disc of the computer of the CID wing of the police, has revealed that 789 telephones were put under surveillance by the CID wing of the police alone up to 2011. However, permission was granted by the government for only 34 telephones and it was obvious that the rest of the phones were tapped without authorisation.

The team has also retrieved some recorded conversations, but the data for 2012 has not been recovered so far. The hard discs of the computers of the Vigilance Department are yet to be examined. The issue is likely to cause a political storm and it had already acquired political overtones with BJP president Satpal Satti and other leaders crying foul.

The Chief Minister has been treading cautiously on the issue, but seemed determined to take the matter to its logical conclusion. “The law allows surveillance of telephones only to help track serious crime and that too for a specific period after obtaining due permission from the government. However, in the instant case, the number involved was too large and no government could allow such mass surveillance of telephones. Such mass surveillance of telephones without permission raises serious doubt about the intention of the previous regime,” he said.

He claimed that even his room in the Himachal Bhawan, where he normally stayed during his visits to Chandigarh, was bugged. Responsibility would be fixed on officials for unauthorised phone tapping and the buck did not stop there as being in charge of the Home Department, former Chief Minister PK Dhumal was also accountable for actions of the police officials, he said.

Virbhadra said such unwarranted tapping of telephones was a blatant and uncalled for invasion into the privacy of individuals, which could not be tolerated.

He said he had been at the receiving end of the ire of the Dhumal government all through, but it was not a matter of harassment of an individual, but involved much bigger issue. It had serious implications for the democratic government, the Chief Minister said.

The government will consider the report and take further action as per the law.

The law allows surveillance of telephones only to help track serious crime and that, too, for a specific period after obtaining due permission from the government. However, in this case, the number involved is too large and no government can allow such mass surveillance of telephones

— Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister

Shimla, February 18
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has expressed concern over the decline in the learning levels of students at the elementary stage and said a comprehensive plan would be put in place to address the situation.

Releasing the Annual Status of Education Report-2012 (ASER) for Himachal Pradesh here today, he said the plan would include a systematic and regular assessment of learning level of all the students and schools would be graded on the basis of performance. The grading would gradually be linked to monetary and non-monetary incentives to the schools, he added.

He directed the Education Department to prepare a detailed action plan by March 2013 outlining immediate measures for 2013-14 and a long-term perspective plan to arrest the decline and improve the situation. Each child studying in Class I to VIII would be assessed against bench-marked attainment levels after every four months to monitor his/her progress so that remedial action could be taken.

The staff posted in all state project offices of the SSA and RMSA, SCERT, DIETs and BRCs would be appointed on selection basis and their performance would be evaluated on measurable outcomes. A comprehensive programme of school leadership would be undertaken and all the Head Teachers and Principals would be trained to enhance their capacity to face these challenges.

Other steps included textbook and curriculum review, making the system more accountable and responsive and better utilisation of resources.

Principal Secretary, Education, K Sanjay Murthi, assured the Chief Minister that all steps would be taken to improve the quality of education in the state.

Rakesh Kanwar, state Project Director, SSA, apprised the methodology of the survey done by “Pratham”, a leading NGO working in the country, while B Vergis Paul from “Pratham” said 272 schools were surveyed and it was found that students in government and private schools were not doing well in reading, writing and numeracy. The reports showed that Class V students, who could read Class II level text, had gone down from 82.3 per cent in 2007 to 72.8 per cent in 2012. The percentage of Class V students, who could solve 3-digit problems, had declined from 66.9 per cent to 48.7 per cent over the period. 

Mandi, February 18
The renaming of the 108 Ambulance service from Atal Health Service to National Ambulance Service today turned into a slugfest between Health Minister Kaul Singh Thakur and former Health Minister and BJP secretary Rajeev Bindal and other BJP leaders, who lodged their protest with the district administration.

Kaul Singh formally announced the relaunch of the ambulance service from the historic Seri Munch.

The minister was accompanied by Ali Raza Rizvi, Principal Secretary, Health, Kulbhushan Sood, Health Services Director, and district officials, but none of the Congress legislators from Mandi turned up.

The Health Minister justified the renaming of the 108 ambulance as an exercise launched by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. “The ministry has sent the letter to rename the service as the National Ambulance Service throughout the country as the Centre was giving 90 per cent funds, while the state was paying 10 per cent under the National Rural Health Mission,” he said dismissing the BJP charge that the Congress was seeking cheap publicity as it had nothing new to offer to people in the health sector.

He said they received maximum patients at three zonal hospitals, Mandi, Shimla and Dharamsala, and provide specialists service at the hospitals, but now the primary and community health centres would be provided with specialists and each panchayat with a health centre. 

Hamirpur, February 18
Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee president (HPCC) Sukhvinder Singh made a scathing attack on former Chief Minister PK Dhumal and his MP son Anurag Thakur during his maiden visit to Hamirpur district today.

Addressing party workers at Gandhi Chowk here, he said, “The details of the charge of benami land transactions against Dhumal and Anurag, which was a part of the Congress chargesheet, will soon be made public by giving facts regarding investments made by them at various places in the names of others.”

“Dhumal and his son are doing politics of convenience and have failed to watch the interests of the common man despite getting elected from here several times,” he alleged.

Attacking Anurag, the HPCC chief said, “He has failed to take up pubic issues in Parliament and rarely visits the Hamirpur constituency, but makes frequent trips to Mumbai and Dubai”.

“The Dhumal government has failed to provide land for the spice park project in the Nadaun constituency, which could have helped farmers, failed to save crops from monkeys and never bothered to open a medical college in the district,” he said.

Those who addressed the meeting included District Congress Committee president Sunil Sharma, Badsar MLA ID Lakhanpal, former MLA Kuldeep Pathania and state Congress spokesman Deepak Sharma.

Earlier, Sukhvinder was accorded a rousing reception at various places on his way to Hamirpur.

BILASPUR: Sukhvinder Singh has told all the party men to maintain discipline and be united for the next Parliamentary election. He was addressing mediapersons here last night. He urged party men to forget their petty personal interests and be united to propagate the policies and programmes of the party.

He alleged that the outgoing BJP government never bothered for the development of the district and ignored it for the last five years.

He said he would ensure that Bilaspur got its long-awaited hydro engineering college at the earliest and he would personally take up the matter with the Chief Minister soon.

Those who were present on the occasion included Ram Lal Thakur, Chairman, SPDTPIC, Rajesh Dharmani, Chief Parliamentary Secretary, and local MLA Bambar Thakur. 

Mandi, February 18
Emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and pilots, the backbone of the 108 Ambulance service in the state, today accused their employer company GVK EMRI of not only underpaying them, but also torturing them mentally and physically by letting loose a reign of repression through long-distance transfer.

As many as 51 EMTs and pilots have been shown the door by way of transfer to far-off places taking advantage of the model code of conduct in 2012 elections.

“I was transferred from Rohru to Sarahan (Sirmaur) and later told that I was not an employee of the company,” rued Sarika Patyal. “We were removed from Nerwa (Chopal) and Birthin (Bilaspur),” resented Bishn Ram and Prem Sing Manglet.

When they approached the GVK to find out why they were removed, the company told them that they were not their employees, but employees of Mohali-based Adecco.

“We approached Adecco that told us that they hired only temporary employees and it was mentioned in the contract,” the helpless staff said.

The company pays Rs 6,200 per month to EMTs which is now raised to Rs 6,800 and Rs 6,000 to pilots, whereas the MoU has been fixed at Rs 8,500 for EMTs and Rs 6,000 for pilots.

Later, they submitted a memorandum to Health Minister Kaul Singh Thakur, president, Sarika Patial, and general secretary Vijay Kumar, charging that the GVK EMRI had sub-contracted the 108 service to Mohali-based firm Adecco, which had no office in Himachal.

“The Chief Minister should intervene and bring the exploiters to book,” they demanded as the company was violating the terms and conditions of the MoUs and the Labour Laws Industrial Dispute Act.

Principal Secretary Ali Raza Rizvi said nobody had brought the matter to his notice so far. The government had signed the MoU with GVK EMRI to run the services efficiently on a private, public, partnership mode, but they would look into the complaints as and when it came, he added.

State head, GVK EMRI, Mehul Sukumar denied the allegations, saying were not aware about the memorandum submitted to the government, but Adecco would depute its officials at Solan to redress their grievances.

Solan, February 18
With an abrupt hike in the price of kraft paper ranging from Rs 3 to 4 per kg, packaging industry in the state is going through tough times as it is unable to get a corresponding hike from its vendors.

The problem has cropped up after a large number of paper manufacturing units in Uttar Pradesh had been shut down earlier on account of the Kumbh Mela and later for failing to meet pollution control norms. This has created a huge gap between the demand and supply thus, pushing up the price of kraft paper by Rs 3 to 4 per kg in the last two months.

The Himachal Pradesh Corrugated Box Manufacturers Association (HPCBMA), which comprises about 350 units, caters to the industry in the state. These units use about 50,000 tonnes of kraft paper per month. However, the shrinking supply has reduced the availability to mere 8,000 to 9,000 tonnes per month. This has added to the woes of the industry as paper mill owners have effected an abrupt hike in the price of kraft paper. Kraft paper is the key raw material for producing corrugated boxes used mostly by the fast moving consumer goods units and MNCs.

Mukesh Jain, president of the HPCBMA, said there was an urgent need to constitute a paper-regulatory authority to control an abrupt hike in the price of paper by mills of north and south India. He alleged that these mill owners had formed a cartel and they repeatedly hiked the price of paper thus, adding to the woes of the packaging industry.

Jain also demanded a revival package for the corrugators and added that since a majority of investors were locals, the Central government should extend the Central industrial package.

Since the industry provides employment both to skilled and unskilled youth and was labour oriented, a revival package would help in bailing out the industry under such circumstances, he added.

A steep hike in the prices of ink, chemicals, lamination film and other raw materials, besides enhancement of minimum wages for skilled, semi-skilled and un-skilled labour has put an immense strain on the industry.