Shimla, April 18
With the fungal disease yellow rust fully contained and weather gods smiling on farmers, the state is heading for a record wheat crop during the current rabi season. Barring a sporadic outbreak in some pockets of Kangra, the state has largely remained free from the disease this current season.

Bumper Yield Yellow rust under check, weather gods smiling Disease-tolerant varieties replacing susceptible ones Agriculture Dept to procure 70,000 quintals of seed Rabi production may be all-time high of 7 lakh tonnes

The strategy of the Agriculture Department to phase out 13 varieties of wheat like PBW-343, PBW-346 and Raj-3765, susceptible to yellow rust, has been successful. It is taking steps to ensure that farmers cultivate only disease-tolerant varieties next season to stamp out the fungus which flourishes in cool climate where crop takes a long time to grow.

Agriculture Director JC Rana said the department had, in consultation with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and Chaudhary Shrawan Kumar Krishi Vishvidyalaya, recommended that susceptible varieties be completely replaced next season with 16 varieties, including DBW-621-50, HPW-42, VL-829 and HD-29.

He said the department would procure 70,000 quintals of seed and another 1 lakh quintals would supplied to farmers under the seed replacement plan. Timely rain throughout winter had also ensured a bumper crop and the production of wheat was likely to touch the 6.5 lakh tonne mark for the first time.

As a result, the total rabi production could touch an all-time high of 7 lakh tonnes. Last year, the state had produced 6.32 lakh tonnes of wheat and the total rabi production was 6.78 lakh tonnes. The total production had been increasing for the last two years. In 2010-11, the production was 6.75 lakh tonnes, with wheat accounting for 6.15 lakh tonnes.

The state had a good kharif crop despite a delayed monsoon and the total production was estimated at 8.57 lakh tonnes, marginally short of the target of 8.87 lakh tonnes. Inf the rabi production touches 7 lakh tonnes this time, the state will record the highest ever production.

Solan, April 18
Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, former President of India, today said there was a need to integrate science, technology and environment to facilitate development of the new age.

He said a new knowledge society of the 21st century could be built by breaking barriers between various technological groups. Nano-technology had tremendous application potential in medicine, electronics and material science. The use of nano-robots for drug delivery was not far, given the technological advancements being made in this field.

He was addressing the first convocation of Shoolini University here today.

Referring to his Pharma Vision-2020, Dr Kalam said India should play a pivotal role in producing low-cost vaccines for HIV, cancer and malaria and it should target producing 20 per cent of the world’s generics drugs.

Dr Kalam said education should equip the youth to achieve their best in their chosen fields and stressed that good teaching emanated from research and the teacher’s love for research. The teacher’s experience in research was vital for the growth of an institution. Dwelling on the significance of promoting science, he said scientific leadership with magnanimity was the need of the hour.

Earlier, addressing the gathering, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said the presence of Dr Kalam would inspire the youth and academia for meeting the emerging challenges of poverty eradication, food security and environment protection.

Ramesh K Mehan, Chancellor of the university, also spoke on the occasion.

While addressing the staff and students, Prof PK Khosla, Vice-Chancellor of the university, said they had set a vision of being included among the top 200 global universities by 2022 and said they were undertaking research works of more than Rs 5 crore.

Dr Kalam also honoured Padma Bhushan SP Oswal, Chairman, Vardhman Group, Justice NK Sodhi, former Chief Justice, Court of Karnataka, and Chairman, Special Appellate Tribunal (SAT), Dr RC Mahajan, Emeritus Medical Scientist and Advisor, ECD, ICMR, and Dr SS Handa, Chairman, Task Force on Quality Standards of Indian Medicinal Plants.

Eleven toppers in various courses were awarded university medals for academic excellence. Out of 440 graduates, 292 received their degrees in person and 148 in absentia in various courses. Shikha Sharma became the first recipient of the PhD degree from the university.

The university medalists included Ishita Kanwar (MSc Honours, biotechnology), Munish Sharma (MSc, physics), Apporva Thakur (MSc, chemistry), Megha Sharma (MPharmacy), Navneet Kaur (MTech biotech), Bhanu Batta (MSc Honours, microbiology), Shalini (MPhil chemistry) and Kamini Thakur (MPhil, chemistry).

Dr Kalam also inaugurated the newly constructed state of the art Yogananda Library. A vote of thanks was proposed by Prof Atul Khosla, Executive Trustee and Dean, Faculty of Management Sciences and Liberal Arts.

Bilaspur, April 18
A vegetable market will shortly be constructed at a cost of Rs 7.5 crore at Padyalag village in the Ghumarwin area so that residents of villages under Bharaadi, Ghandalwin, Marhana, Bhapraal and other panchayats can sell vegetables and fruits and get lucrative prices for those.

This was stated by Chief Parliamentary Secretary for Forests and Fisheries Rajesh Dharmani while redressing problems at Bharaadi, 65 km from here, during a meet-the-people programme yesterday. He said this area was frost-free during winter, which was a blessing for the people.

Dharmani said the Congress government was devoted to solving problems in villages as agriculture and cattle-breeding were the main professions of people in the state. He said Rs 1.25 crore would shortly be spent on constructing a check dam on the Ghandalwin nullah so that residents could take advantage of stored water in case of an emergency.

He exhorted the people to ensure construction of small check dams or water tanks and collect rainwater. He said the government had been providing a financial assistance of Rs 70,000 for constructing a 50,000-litre water tank or check dam. He said attempts would be made to meet the demand of a liquefied petroleum gas agency at Bharaadi.

He said there was a provision of an outpatient department at the Bharaadi Civil Hospital and funds would shortly be allocated for its construction. He added that steps were afoot to provide adequate number of doctors at every health institute in the state, including those in Bilaspur district.

He inaugurated the Yuvak Mandal at Samloh and honoured Bishambhar Dass of the village for donating land for the purpose. He said the youth should start a campaign in villages against social evils and solve problems regarding roads and drinking water facility with the help of departments concerned.

Mandi, April 18
Computer scientists have said they can suggest safety and preventive measures to keep hackers at bay on the existing threats, but they can do little to take remedial measures for future threats on Internet for worldwide web users.

However, they cautioned the regulating bodies at the major entry ports in metropolitans like Mumbai and Bangalore from where the Internet enters the country through the complex worldwide web. “We can take some safety measures at these Internet entry ports whether they are logging to safe websites or sites full of viruses that can clog the system or steal valuable data from vital institutional, research, development and installations in the country,” said Prof Lalit Awasthy, principal, Atal Bihari Engineering College, Pragtinagar.

Professor Awasthy said since there was no single controller of the Internet, the institutions, business and industry could only take precautions and put in place certain guidelines only on the basis of the past experience.

“The hackers are active on the web and more intelligent system can hack the site and steal an important data without even being noticed by anyone,” he said.

“The major problem online is that nobody can anticipate the imminent virus or unsolicited emails threats,” he said.

Hackers can get into the servers take down “This growing problem is plaguing business, industries, banking and institutions,” Dr Chetna Gupta, assistant professor, JP Institute of Information Technology, Noida, said.

“Even if hackers manage to steal 50 paise from bank or credit cards or other means, it can run into crores considering a large clientele in the country,” Chetna said.

“It is not advisable to log onto fake websites or access your vital information through Internet at cyber cafes,” she cautioned.

“The safety measure is that one should type the right address of the original websites and not the dummy sites,” she added.

“One should never give bank accounts numbers, credit cards numbers, passwords and IDs to online allurements like lotteries or prizes as most of these are fake,” they said. 

Nurpur, April 18
The local Noorpur Public School celebrated the World Heritage Day today. In the morning assembly, an oath was administered to students for the conservation and safeguard of the Indian culture and natural heritage. Neha Thakur, a student of Class X, spoke on “World heritage”.

Arvind Dogra, Managing Director of the school, in his speech motivated the students on conserving world heritage and Indian culture.

Later, an exhibition was organised by students, in which various articles of traditional use and Indian heritage were displayed. 

Shimla, April 18
Taking serious note of damage to the ecology and environment of the Parwanoo area due to construction of the Parwanoo-Gadhiyar road in Solan district, the High Court has sought an explanation from the Chief Secretary.

It has directed him to inform the court by April 30 about environment clearances given by the Centre and identification

of the dumping site.

Justice Sanjay Karol has directed the Chief Engineer with the Public Works Department and the Conservator of Forests to remain present in court on April 30.

The court has taken the action on the basis of a report submitted by the Solan District and Sessions Judge which states that the contractor had caused huge damage to the environment.

According to the report, debris had been thrown in the Kaushalya. It has been added that a damage report had been prepared and a fine of 2,79,000 had been imposed.

The court told the government to state whether or not necessary permissions for road construction had been obtained and to explain acquisition of government land.

The court also directed the government to explain in court action taken against erring officials if necessary permissions had not been granted.

Dharamsala, April 18
The government will adopt zero tolerance approach against corruption in the state. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said this while addressing a public meeting at Jwalamukhi this evening.

He said corruption was like a cancer that hampered the progress of any society. The present Congress government in the state had decided to adopt a hard stance against corruption. The officers found guilty of corruption would not be spared.

He also appealed to people to bring to his notice directly any case of corruption in the government setup so that corrective steps could be taken immediately.

The Chief Minister alleged that the corruption was rampant in Himachal during the previous BJP regime. The present government had spent the first three months in finalising the policy for the progress of the state. Now the policies would be implemented at a fast pace so that the development was visible across the state, he said.

Virbhadra said the Himachal came into being due to the Congress, and the party was responsible for development in the state since its formation. Now the state had set parameters for development for other hill states by achieving almost 100 per cent literacy and providing potable water to about 70 per cent of the population.

The Chief Minister arrived at Jwalamukhi late in the evening. He laid the foundation of the new building of a government senior secondary school at Gumber near Jwalamukhi that will come up at a cost of Rs 87 lakh.

Sanjay Rattan, Congress MLA from Jwalamukhi, who was elected from the area for the first time defeating former minister Ramesh Dhawala said the BJP had ignored the area in the last five years. The only development the BJP government offered to the area was announcing the upgrade of 15 schools near the elections. Even those schools were to be graded after the elections, he alleged.

On a demand from Sanjay Rattan, the Chief Minister announced the upgradation of various government schools of the Jwalamukhi Assembly constituency, including Datti, Dola, Adani and Jwalamukhi.

The programme of the CM was also attended by Minister for Urban Development Sudhir Sharma and Congress MLA from Nurpur Ajay Mahajan. The Chief Minister will be staying in Jwalamukhi till tomorrow noon. During his stay here he will meet local people and redress their grievances.

Hamirpur, April 18
The father of the girl who reportedly committed suicide by hanging herself yesterday has suspected foul play in the death. Bamita (24) of Samrala village was found hanging from a tree near Mundkhar last afternoon.

She was studying at an institute in Hamirpur. The police termed it as a case of suicide, but her father Chuni Lal met police officers today and demanded a thorough investigation into the case.

He alleged, “We got registered a case at the police station on April 4 as she was being harassed and disturbed. We demanded a probe, but the police took the complaint lightly and failed to take action.”

Demanding a high-level probe into the incident, former Chief Minister PK Dhumal threatened to block the national highway on this issue.

He charged the police with not acting on the complaint. “Why was no action taken between April 4 and 17?” he asked. He blamed the state government for the reportedly deteriorating law and order situation.

Hamirpur Superintendent of Police Jagat Ram said, “We received a complaint from Chuni Lal regarding some telephone call which we investigated. We are investigating the girl’s death from every angle.”

Shimla, April 18
Critical illness of children studying in government schools will now be covered under the School Health Programme.

Stating this here today, Principal Secretary, Health, Ali R Rizvi said the cost incurred for the investigation and treatment of critical illness or rehabilitation of any disability would be booked under the School Health Programme. All the children up to Class XII of government schools, other than children of serving or retired state and Central government employees, would be covered under the programme. In case of emergency and school holidays, the doctor could issue a temporary certificate that the child was studying in a government school and the principal or headmaster could revalidate it later.

The Principal Secretary said eight categories of defects at birth, 13 diseases of childhood, six deficiencies and 11 development delays and disabilities would be covered under the programme. He said the entire cost of secondary and tertiary treatment for such diseases would be met, if the treatment was done at the IGMC, Shimla, or at DRPGMC, Tanda. For any treatment, if needed, 50 per cent advance might be given on the basis of the cost estimation submitted by the government institutions or private empanelled institutions.

The reimbursement and advances for treatment would be sanctioned by the Chief Medical Officer of the district. If the child belonged to a family which fell under the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), the first charge on the cost of the treatment would be on the RSBY and the School Health Programme would supplement the cover. In case of malignancy treatment, the cost could also be covered under the Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) programme in Chamba, Kinnaur and Lahaul and Spiti districts or under the Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi, which was available with medical colleges only for BPL families.

Nurpur, April 18
The Primary Health Centre (PHC) under the Block Medical Office, Gangath, in this subdivision is being run by a Class IV employee of the Health Department.

A populace of about 4,000 has been deprived of health services for the past over one month. The post of pharmacist has been lying vacant at the Primary Health Centre for long. At present no doctor is available at this health centre causing a lot of resentment among residents of Hatli Jawalan, Pandrer, Chowki, Milkh and Kotpalarhi gram panchayats. Patients of the affected areas have to visit the Nurpur Civil Hospital which is already overcrowded.

Reena Devi, Tilak Raj, Suresh Kumar and Shammi Devi pradhan, up-pradhan, ward member and BDC member of Hatli gram panchayat, respectively, rued over the running of the local Primary Health Centre by a Class IV employee.

They said the new government in the state was announcing its commitment to provide health care facility at their doorsteps in rural areas, but this PHC was showing a sorry state of affairs.

They urged the Chief Minister and the Health Minister to appoint a regular doctor and a pharmacist at the Primary Health Centre.

Meanwhile, Neerja Gupta, Block Medical Officer, Gangath, admitted that the post of pharmacist at this PHC had been lying vacant for long and the doctor was transferred from here to the PHC, Jassur, about a month ago. She said she had made temporary arrangement by deputing a doctor of the PHC, Sadwan, twice a week at the PHC, Hatli Jawalan.

Palampur, April 18
Revenue Minister Kaul Singh Thakur said here yesterday that the investigation into ‘benaami’ land deals reported during the previous Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime was in progress. He said the government had directed revenue officers to inquire all such cases and report for further action.

Talking to mediapersons, he said the issue was a part of the charge sheet against the BJP government submitted to the President and the Congress was bound to investigate and punish the culprits. He said the Himachal Pradesh Land Revenue Act prohibited ‘benaami’ land deals and the government had no alternative except cancelling those.

The minister said the government was also probing cases wherein Section 118 of the Act had been violated and non-Himachalis had managed to purchase land. He said the government had demanded detailed reports in such cases from officials in the field. He added that the reports would be placed before the Cabinet for further action.

He categorically stated that no one would be spared and the government would not hesitate in taking over land illegally purchased or transferred. Referring to the sale of land to Kumud Bhushan Education Society at Palampur, he said this case was under the scanner.

The minister said the case of lease of land to the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association in Dharamsala for the construction of a hotel was also being investigated. He claimed that rules had been violated while transferring land and allowing the association to run commercial activities.

Kangra, April 18
A Kushal Vikas Sanasthan will be set up at a cost of Rs 10 crore at Nagrota Bagwan where youth will be imparted training for between six months and one year so that they get jobs in big industrial houses.

This was stated by Transport and Food and Civil Supplies Minister GS Bali while addressing a public meeting at

Saroor village in the Nagrota Bagwan Assembly constituency today.

The minister earlier heard grievances of people of Loona, Sutoo, Bargrahn, Khawa, Khandi, Reedi, Jandrah and Baroh villages in his constituency.

He said Nagrota Bagwan would be developed as a model Assembly constituency of the state and an engineering college would be set up here shortly.

Bali said Rs 47 lakh would be spent on the Simbal-Lahrd-Tatkar-Mangrela road and Rs 30 lakh on tarring of the Khawa-Plara-Chandred road.

He said the Kalool-Malana-Kandhi water supply scheme and the Loona-Mangrela project were being constructed for providing drinking water facility to people of the Changer belt.

He said a drinking water project costing Rs 55 lakh had been proposed for Saroor village and 25 hand pumps had already been installed.

He said five solar lights would be installed in areas under each panchayat in the Nagrota Bagwan Assembly constituency. He announced Rs 15 lakh for a school and Mehla buildings.

Bilaspur, April 18
Vijay Kumar (35) of Sunhani village died allegedly due to the non-availability of a doctor to attend on him for a long time at the Community Health Centre (CHC), Barthin, 42 km from here, last evening.

Reports said Vijay fell ill at his home and his uncle rushed him to nearby CHC, Barthin, but there was only a peon there. Though a doctor from another PHC is posted here on deputation, as the original one there is presently on training in Bangalore, yet even this doctor was nowhere to be traced, despite all efforts of the patient’s attendants and others.

Even the pharmacist and the nurse, who are posted there, were available. At last, in utter desperation, the attendants phoned 108 Emergency Service and attempted to shift the patient to the Ghumarwin Civil Hospital, but the patient had died in the meantime.

The attendants claimed that the patient had arrived at the Barthin CHC at 6.45 pm, but he remained unattended by a doctor for a long time, which resulted in his death. He leaves behind a young wife and a six-year-old son.

Sunhani gram panchayat president Gayatri Devi, vice-president Budhi Singh Parmar and village elders, including Shakuntala Kaushal, Sada Ram Sharma, Shri Ram, Nikka Ram, Sunita, Jagdish Chand, Sukh Dev and Kishori Lal, said the patient died as no doctor was available for a long time.

They urged Health Minister Kaul Singh Thakur to take cognizance of this serious lapse and take suitable exemplary action to ensure that such incidents were not repeated.