Hamirpur, April 30
Ten persons travelling in a jeep were killed in an accident today evening near Uhal in Hamirpur district.

Police sources said, “Seven labourers, who were currently working on the Uhal-Pranali road work, along with children, were travelling in a Bolero jeep when the driver of the jeep lost control and the vehicle plunged into a deep gorge near Tar today.”

“The impact of the accident was so severe that a majority of the passengers died on the spot with their body parts scattered all over the place.”

The driver of the vehicle sustained serious injuries and was taken to a Hamirpur hospital where his condition is stated to be critical.

The dead were taken to the Toani Devi hospital but none of them has been identified till the filing of the report. According to information, the labourers hailed from Rajasthan and were working on a road site.

Efforts are on to extricate the survivors with the help of local villagers. The Hamirpur SP and other officials rushed to the spot to supervise the rescue operation.

The 10 deceased have been identified as Parma Devi, Pooja, Kanta, Vickey, Suraj, Ravi, Gatki, Uma Devi, Sunita and Rakesh.

Shimla, April 30
With only a few takers for surplus power, revenue of the state from the sale of energy is likely to take a hit this year due to the continuing downtrend in the power market.

Of the 930 MW available, the government has been able to have an agreement only for 330 MW to be supplied to West Bengal at Rs 3.65 per unit.

Another 316 MW is being supplied to the state power utility and about 280 MW will have to be disposed of in May in the open market through the Energy Exchange of India.

The situation will better from June to August when 100 MW will be supplied to Punjab at Rs 4.04 per unit. Then 180 MW will have to be disposed of in the open market.

The slide in the power market has been continuing which is evident from the fact that the average rate at the Energy Exchange of India for April fell from Rs 2.73 per unit last year to Rs 2.60 per unit this year.

The revenue from the sale of power which fell from Rs 1,000 crore in 2011-12 to Rs 700 crore last year might be reduced even further.

The State Electricity Regulatory Commission has fixed a tariff of Rs 2.90 per unit for the supply of power to the state board for 2012-13.

The average rate for sale outside the state is Rs 3.05 per unit. The commission has fixed tariff for power supply to the government at Rs 2.92 per unit for this year.

Of the 4,200 million units of equity and free power available with the government, almost half will be given to the state power board which is taking 180 MW of additional power even in summer this year unlike the past.

This is helping the government which is finding it difficult to find buyers for surplus power. The rate of Rs 2.92 per unit works out almost on a par in terms of net return with Rs 3.65 per unit at which power is being sold to West Bengal.

The sale of power to distant states involves charges for wheeling across the inter-regional grid, open access, trading and administrative costs of the Regional Load Dispatch Centre.

The overhead charges are about 70 paise per unit after taking into account the transmission loss at the normative 3.5 per cent. No such charges are to be paid in case of power supply to the board.

The quantum of power available for sale will increase as a number of projects with an installed capacity of 2,182 MW are slated for completion during 2013-14.

The major projects are the 520-MW Parbati project, the 412-MW Rampur project, the 800-MW Kol Dam project and the 65-MW Kashang project.

The projects are being executed by public sector undertakings. The only big project with a private sector undertaking is the 150-MW Sorang project which is expected to be commissioned in May.

Hamirpur, April 30
The future of 24,611 differently abled children studying at government schools hangs in the balance as the state government has discontinued the service of 145 special educators.

The Education Department has discontinued their service as the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development has stopped from this April the grant under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan.

The Centre has made a special provision for every child by implementing the Right to Education Act, the Personal Disability Act and the Rehabilitation Council of India Act.

The Education Department had appointed in 2010 145 teachers to provide elementary education to differently abled children through school management committees. They were being from the grant.

The father of a differently abled child said, "A question mark has been put over the education of our children with the discontinuation of service of special educators."

He said, "Educating them is important to save them from crime and making them self-dependent.

Thousands of them will be deprived of education if the state government fails at act."

Parents of differently abled children have been meeting various officers and have met Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh. A few of them are contemplating moving the High Court.

Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan Project Director DC Rana said, "We have taken up with the Centre the issue of providing a budget for appointing special educators."

Kullu, April 30
Owing to the miserable condition of the Manali-Chandigarh national highway and the suspension of air flights to the state, the tourist flow into Kullu-Manali and other hill stations has been badly hit this season as the occupancy remains abysmally low for the past three weeks.

As per inputs received from hoteliers, travel agents, tourism managers, tourist arrivals have been low as compared to last year. The room occupancy is hovering between 20 per cent and 50 per cent in both private and HPTDC hotels in Manali for the last three weeks of April.

Though snow-white sentinels of the mighty Rohtang Pass beckon tourists, the tourist influx has not picked up in April, mainly because of the pathetic condition of the Swarghat-Bilaspur stretch of National Highway No. 21 and air flights remaining suspended to the state since July, 2012.

Besides, the economic recession worldwide and the tolerable summer heat in cities across the country are the reasons for the poor turnout of tourists, said the managers.

Travelling on the 40-km-long Swarghat-Bilaspur stretch has become nightmarish, as the road has nothing but potholes, resented Reshav and Sonali, a tourist couple from Delhi. “The word of mouth spreads fast. We took the Parwanoo-Spatu-Ghagahs route to reach Kullu as the Swarghat road is miserable and back-breaking,” added Arvind and Abhimanyu, tourists from Ludhiana.

The summer season in the valley is the chief source of earning bread for hoteliers, taxi operators, pony wallahs, paragliding operators and village women who cater to tourists taking to the Rohtang route by providing them ethnic dresses and snow boots.

“We had groups in the first two weeks, but the tourist flow has not picked up so far,” observed N Rana, manager, Ambassador Resort.

“The tourists are not taking the LTC facilities this time and most of them are unable to visit here due to the non-operation of air flights and the bad condition of the highway,” said AR Thakur, president, Manali Hoteliers Association. “The occupancy averages from 20 per cent to 50 per cent in private hotels this month and hope it will pick up in May when school vacations commence in the plains,” he added.

Yogesh Behl, General Manager, HPTDC, said the tourist arrivals had been hit by recession and good weather in the plains. “The occupancy was 50 per cent in the last three weeks in our units and will go up in May,” he hoped.

Solan, April 30
With a majority of the industrial units shying away from fulfilling their corporate social responsibility (CSR) by undertaking adequate measures to benefit the local communities, officials of the Industry Department will now assess the industries for their CSR contribution.

Mukesh Agnihotri, Minister for Industries, Labour, Employment and Information and Public Relations, directed the officials to look into this aspect and assess the CSR contributions of industrial units during his recent visit to the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial hub recently.

Agnihotri said it had come to his notice that investors, despite using resources of the state, were either spending little or no funds for the uplift of the local community. In many cases, the investors earned in Himachal, but undertook CSR activities in other states, thus depriving the locals of a fair share of development.

He directed the officials to assess the various units, especially the MNCs and bigger units, and prepare a report on the welfare activities undertaken by them in the state. Such activities could also help create a green belt in the industrial belts, he stressed.

The minister lauded the efforts of a local electronics manufacturing unit at Baddi, which had invested lakhs of funds on creating a nature park in Kullu district. He said the unit won national recognition for its efforts.

It is worth mentioning that though the Union Government has been trying to make it mandatory for all industrial units to spend about 2 per cent of their profits on the CSR activities, the industry associations have been opposing it and have rather stressed on voluntary spending. This has failed to yield the desired response from the industries that end up organising smaller functions like blood donations or cursory planting of saplings during rains with little or no follow-up. This is so as there is no defined policy on the CSR which can identify what activities will qualify under this category.

With filth, pollution and jhuggis cropping up at every nook of the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial hub, there is an urgent need to take up projects that can add green cover to the area.

Tilak Raj Sharma, Deputy Director, Industries, said all industry associations were requested to come forward and undertake socially useful activities, which would not only help uplift society, but also create a buffer zone of green cover in industrial areas.

Shimla, April 30
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today said he had sought approval of All-India Congress Committee (AICC) chief Sonia Gandhi and general secretary in charge Birender Singh Chaudhary for filling up the lone vacancy in the Cabinet along with the appointment of a Chief Parliamentary Secretary.

“The appointments will be subject to approval of AICC chief. I have given the names to her and Chaudhary,” he said. He added that the appointment of chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of boards and corporations was gradually being done by the government.

Reacting to suggestions of state Congress chief Sukhvinder Sing1h Sukhu about adjusting party leaders as chairpersons and vice-chairpersons, Virbhadra Singh said, “He is intruding into the field of the executive. He can discuss with me the names he has in mind.”

The Chief minister said the Congress was geared up for the Mandi byelection even though there has been no communication from the Election Commission in this regard. Asked if his wife Pratibha Singh could be fielded, he said, “I am not sure if she will be keen to contest from Mandi.”

He said a meeting with Rahul Gandhi to review state party affairs was scheduled for May 3. “I and not aware of the exact purpose but we are prepared at the organisational level be it the Mandi bypoll or the General Election,” he said.

Shimla, April 30
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today said the state government would urge the Centre to release Rs 277 crore to the state. The amount had erroneously been deposited in the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority of India (CAMPA) by the Ministry of Defence as the cost of trees under its projects.

The Chief Minister was presiding over a review meeting of the Forest Department here today. He said other pending issues such as continuation of the regional office at Chandigarh for the Forest Conservation Act (FCA) clearances, approval to IT project worth Rs 25 crore, Chilgoza Pine Project of Rs 10 crore and Sea-Buckthorn Project of Rs 35 crore would also be taken up with the ministries concerned at the Centre.

He directed the forest officials to lay emphasis on afforestation in order to increase the green cover in the state. He said out of 55,673 sq km in the state, 66.52 per cent area was legally classified as forest and 26.37 per cent as dense forest. He lauded the efforts of the department for initiating measures for increasing the forest cover of the state despite heavy biotic and developmental pressure.

He said it was a matter of pride that the Great Himalayan National Park in Kullu district had been short listed for nomination for the UNESCO’s World Heritage Site. He said six more monkey sterilisation centres would be set up in the state to check the monkey menace during the current financial year.

The Chief Minister said 102 more panchayats had been added to the World Bank Mid-Himalayan Watershed Development Project and allocation had been enhanced by Rs 235 crore, which would now have a total outlay of Rs 600 crore and would culminate in March 2016. The project would be implemented in 704 panchayts in the state with the ratio of 80:20 of the World Bank and state government, respectively.

Shimla, April 30
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today directed the Vigilance Anti-Corruption Bureau to narrow down its probe to about a dozen allegations of serious nature in the Congress charge sheet against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) instead of holding a simultaneous probe into all 52 issues shortlisted.

The bureau today made before the Chief Minister a PowerPoint presentation on the progress in investigating charges in the Congress charge sheet. It had started the investigation into all 52 allegations shortlisted from the charge sheet which had 62 allegations.

The presentation was made in the presence of Chief Secretary Sudripta Roy, Principal Secretary for Home and Vigilance Tarun Sridhar, Additional Director-General of Police (Vigilance) Prithvi Raj and Deputy Inspector-General of Police (Criminal Investigation Department and Vigilance) Anand Pratap Singh.

“I have directed the Vigilance Bureau to prioritise allegations of serious nature instead of holding a simultaneous probe into all those,” said Virbhadra Singh. He added that investigations into the rest of the allegations could be followed in due course of time.

It has been reliably learnt that the government is unhappy over the slow pace of progress in the investigation into the charge sheet which is being attributed to the inordinate delay in clearing of files by the Home Department. The bureau is likely to shortlist the allegations in consultation with the Home Department.

The bureau is likely to expedite the inquiry by associating the government agency concerned so that the investigation can be completed at the earliest. The bureau can seek withdrawal of some cases for further investigation pertaining to bureaucrats and former BJP ministers under Section 173(8) of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Congress leaders from the state submitted the charge sheet to the President on August 23 last. The 114-page document contains allegations against then Chief Minister PK Dhumal and his ministerial colleagues and land deals struck during the BJP regime.

The charge sheet was handed over to the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau about a month back even though the Cabinet had taken a decision on a probe almost three months back. The inquiry is likely to bring under the scanner property amassed by some BJP leaders and members of their families.

The bureau is likely to expedite investigations in cases pertaining to the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association, Bemloe Builders and land purchase around Annandale and deals struck by some senior BJP leaders including ministers in the previous Dhumal regime.

Bilaspur, April 30
Unemployed youth should take full advantage of rozgar melas being organised by the government for providing them employment in various companies.

This was stated by Chief Parliamentary Secretary (Forests and Fisheries) Rajesh Dharmani while inaugurating a one-day Rozgar Mela at the PWD Rest House in Ghumarwin, near here, on Friday.

As many as 525 youth, including 25 girls, were given jobs by 22 companies.

Most of the youngsters selected were those who had got training in various trades through ITIs in the state.

Central Employment Officer Krishan Kumar Sharma (Shimla) said such fairs were being organised by them in collaboration with various companies across the state on a regular basis with the objective of providing employment to unemployed trained youth.

Chamba, April 30
Owing to non-availability of budget under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), a payment of more than Rs 3 crore has been lying pending in various panchayats of Chamba district for the past three months, according to district headquarters reports.

Reports gathered from different parts of the district revealed that development works had been executed under the scheme, but labourers could not get their wages so far. Nowadays, many rural families have become dependent on the job guarantee scheme.

The concerned panchayat pradhans, after completing the requisite formalities with regard to the development works accomplished by the scheme, have submitted the papers to their respective block development offices. The affected families who worked under MGNREGA are making rounds to the offices of the block development officers, but to no avail.
When contacted, an official of the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) said the demand for the budget had already been submitted to the government and now a budget allocation of about Rs 2.80 crore was being awaited. As soon as the budget of MGNREGA was received, the pending payments of the labourers and other workers would be cleared, he added.

Dharamsala, April 30
The Veterinary and Animal Sciences Teachers Association (VASTA) commemorated the 14th World Veterinarian Day in a noble way by launching Snake Helpline at Dr GC Negi College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (COVAS), CSK HP Agriculture University, here on Sunday.

The spokesperson of the association said from now onwards, at helpline No. 9882602677 people would be able to seek assistance in case of any emergency associated with snakes in residential areas or other human dwellings. This helpline would be managed by the Blue Cross Society of HP, he added.

KK Katoch, Director, Extension Education, while greeting veterinarians and students as a chief guest on the occasion, underlined the importance of livestock wealth which was an integral component of the agriculture system. He said it was vital to keep animals healthy. For this, vaccination played a major role and high-quality vaccines, appropriate infrastructure, monitoring of flocks and adequate financial resources were needed for any successful vaccination campaign, he said.

C Varshney, Dean, COVAS, appreciated the efforts of the association for inculcating professionalism in students and staff.

Adarsh Kumar, president, VASTA, said Snake Helpline, besides creating awareness about poisonous and non-poisonous snakes, would help in identifying snakes and rescuing these much-feared creatures from human dwellings. Initially this service would be available in the Palampur region, but would gradually be extended all over the state.

Subhash Verma, secretary, VASTA, said the theme for this year’s World Vet Day was “Vaccination to prevent and protect” and his association had started an awareness programme on it.

Many competitions were also organised and a bike rally flagged off by the chief guest. A large number of scientists, students and some progressive farmers participated in the celebrations.

Kangra, April 30
A joint delegation of doctors from the Himachal Medical Officers Association (HMOA), Resident Doctors’ Associations (RDAs), Tanda, and the Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC), Shimla, called on Health Minister Kaul Singh Thakur to express their gratitude for 22.6 per cent enhancement in the budget for the health sector in the current financial year (2013-14).

The delegation thanked him for enhancing the cadre of medical officers to 1,798 from the existing 1,598, raising the budget for the Tanda Medical College and IGMC from Rs 7 crore to Rs 30 crore, getting sanction of Central assistance of Rs 17 crore for creating modern infrastructure and other facilities in the nursing training institutes of Mandi, Chamba, Nahan and Kullu and for approving a separate website of the NRHM in the state to educate people about the various programmes launched under the scheme.

Stating this here today, Dr Rahul Gupta, president, RDA, Tanda, said the delegation thanked the minister for enhancing the incentive from Rs 15,000 to 25,000 and Rs 25,000 to Rs 40,000 to the contractual specialist medical officers to encourage them for serving in hospitals of interior and remote areas.

He said the doctors also appreciated the raising higher education allowance for doctors with post-graduate degree from Rs 5,000 to Rs 7,000 per month and Rs 2,000 to 3,500 per month for acquiring PG diplomas.

He said the joint delegation expressed gratitude to the Chief Minister and Health Minister for getting sanction for the proposal put forth by them to the Centre for enhancing the Central assistance from the present Rs 155 crore per annum to Rs 205 crore under the NRHM.

He said the joint delegation had requested the Health Minister to enhance the in-service reservation quota for medical officers in the MD/MS examination from the current 66 per cent to 80 per cent.

The Resident Doctors’ Association, Tanda, had also sought the enhancement of monthly emoluments of registrars (post-graduate doctors) serving in medical colleges from the current Rs 40,000 to Rs 60,000, review of the security system in medical colleges and financial sponsor of research activities of senior residents and PG students, he added.

Dr Sushil Chander, president, HMOA, and Dr Joginder Thakur, chief coordinator, Joint Action Committee, had requested the Health Minister to enhance the in-service reservation quota of medical officers from 66 per cent to 80 per cent, create separate cadre for PG specialists, enhance the higher education allowance of doctors with PG diploma, revoke the suspension of Dr Jiwanand Chauhan and enhance the budget provision for the prevention programmes being run in the state under the NRHM.

Dr Rahul Gupta, president, RDA, Tanda, chief coordinator Dr Joginder Thakur, Dr Kamal Thakur, vice-president, RDA, Tanda, Dr J Chahal, general secretary, RDA, Tanda, Dr Rahul Rao, joint secretary, HMOA, spokesperson of the joint action committee, Dr Rajeev Shashni, along with other representatives, were present on the occasion.

Dr Gupta said the Health Minister said sympathetic consideration would be given to all issues.

Chamba, April 30
The Yuva Vikas Manch of Chowari in Bhattiyat sub-division has demanded that the state government address the burning problems of the region that are mainly related to the bad condition of roads and health services.

The manch has submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh through the Bhattiyat Sub-Divisional Magistrate, demanding the improvement of roads and filling of vacant posts of doctors.

In the memo, the manch has demanded the improvement of the Lahru-Chowari-Chamba highway via Jot, which is significant for the famous Manimahesh pilgrimage and the state-level Minjar fair, as a number of pilgrims pass through this route.

It is the shortest route to Chamba, Bharmour and Manimahesh.

With the widening and improvement of the highway, road mishaps on this accident-prone road can be averted.

In the memo, manch president Divyachaksho also revealed that the first referral unit (FRU) of the Chowari Civil Hospital had been catering to the health needs of about 60 panchayats of the Bhattiyat region, but it was facing an acute shortage of doctors and other paramedical staff.

The posts of gynaecologist, child specialist, radiologist and operation theatre attendant had been lying vacant for a long time, read the memo.

Solan, April 30
The Baddi police claims to have unearthed a big racket of sedative drugs by seizing 23,690 capsules of sedative drugs from a Swift car (HR-01-AC-3175).

The occupants of the vehicle, Chandan Jain and Baldev Singh, residents of Ambala, were arrested and booked under Sections 21, 61 and 85 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

The seized drugs comprised six boxes of proxivon, containing 8,640 capsules, 10,000 capsules of microlit, 4,900 capsules of lomotil and 150 capsules of equilibrium, which are sold at higher rates as sedative drugs.

S Arul Kumar, Superintendent of the Police (SP), Baddi, said the capsules were being sold to various chemist shops in the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) industrial area in the garb of clearing and forwarding supply. These drugs were procured from Ambala and the duo was not only the biggest supplier of such drugs in the BBN area, but they had been indulging in this nefarious trade for the past six months.

The Superintendent of the Police said they were enquiring various aspects of the case, including who the buyers were and for how long they had been indulging in this activity. He said they hoped to check the trade with the arrest of these two person.

Shimla, April 30
In a major reshuffle, the Himachal Pradesh High Court has transferred 45 judicial officers. DK.Sharma Registrar for Vigilance with the High Court, has been posted as the District and Sessions Judge at Una.

Sushil Kukreja District and Sessions Judge at Bilaspur, has been posted as the District and Sessions Judge for Kinnaur district at Rampur Bushahr. SL Sharma, District and Sessions Judge for Forests in Shimla, has been posted as the District and Sessions Judge at Solan.

AS Jaswal, District and Sessions Judge for Kinnaur, is the Presiding Officer of the Labour Court-cum-Industrial Tribunal in Shimla.

Virender Singh, District and Sessions Judge for Mandi, has been posted as the District and Sessions Judge for Kangra district in Dharamsala. SC Kainthla, District and Sessions Judge at Solan, has been posted as the District and Sessions Judge in Mandi.

Rajiv Bhardwaj, Presiding Officer of the District Consumer Disputes Redresal Forum in Mandi, is the District and Sessions Judge at Bilaspur. Baldev Singh, District and Sessions Judge at Kullu, has been posted as the District and Sessions Judge for Forests in Shimla.

Purinder Vaidya, Presiding Officer of the Labour Court-cum-Industrial Tribunal in Shimla, is District and Sessions Judge at Kullu.

JN Yadav, Additional District and Sessions Judge at Solan, is President of the District Consumer Disputes Redresal Forum in Mandi.

Virender Sharma, Additional District and Sessions Judge-I in Shimla, is Additional District and Sessions Judge-I at Solan. Judge Baldev, Additional District and Sessions Judge-I in Mandi, is Additional District and Sessions Judge-I in Shimla.

KK Sharma, Additional District and Sessions Judge-II at Solan, is Additional District and Sessions Judge-II for Kangra district in Dharamsala. PP Ranta, Additional District and Sessions Judge at Ghumarwin, is Additional District and Sessions Judge-II in Mandi.

Davinder Kumar, Additional District and Sessions Judge-II at Una, is Additional District and Sessions Judge-I at Una. Yogesh Jaswal, Additional District and Sessions Judge-II in Shimla, is Additional District and Sessions Judge at Ghumarwin.

Bhadur Singh, Additional District and Sessions Judge at Kullu, is Additional District and Sessions Judge for Sirmaur at Nahan. Pradeep Samyal, Chief Judicial Magistrate-cum-Civil Judge (Senior Division) in Shimla, is Chief Judicial Magistrate-cum-Civil Judge (Senior Division) at Una. RK Tomar, Chief Judicial Magistrate-cum-Civil Judge (Senior Division) at Una, is Chief Judicial Magistrate-cum-Civil Judge (Senior Division) for Kangra district in Dharamsala.

Ajay Mehta, Chief Judicial Magistrate-cum-Civil Judge (Senior Division) for Kangra district in Dharamsala, is Chief Judicial Magistrate-cum-Civil Judge (Senior Division) in Mandi.

Jyotsna S Dadwal, Additional Secretary for Law, is Chief Judicial Magistrate-cum-Civil Judge (Senior Division) in Shimla.

Bilaspur, April 30
The police has nabbed three women from Sangrur and Patiala (Punjab) who snatched a gold chain from Bimla of Kunanu village under Panjgaain gram panchayat near here today.

SP Anupam Sharma said Bimla boarded a private bus for Bagin Banolla village to attend the marriage of a relative. When she was to get down the bus, three other women “passengers” crowded the exit, snatched her gold chain and got down. They got into a Scorpio (DL-4CNB-0262) following this bus.

Bimla immediately contacted the police on phone that chased the car and stopped it near Kothipura, 18 km from theft spot, and caught the accused women. However, the driver and another occupant of the car fled the scene, leaving the vehicle behind.

The police has registered a case under Sections 379 and 34, IPC, and is investigating the matter.

Bilaspur, April 30
The State Veterinary Department organised a workshop on advanced cattle breeding at Bharaadi, near Ghumarwin, 65 km from here, yesterday.

Chief Parliamentary Secretary Rajesh Dharmani (Forests and Fisheries) was the chief guest on the occasion.

Addressing the gathering, Dharmani said cattle had been very beneficial for the existence of humans since time immemorial. He elaborated on the advanced cattle breeding techniques.

Dharmani said, “Cattle have played a major role in adding to our happiness and prosperity in difficult hill areas and we shall always be indebted to them. We should take care of these animals and provide them with all essentials.”

He said the state government was providing a number of facilities to farmers for keeping good quality milch cattle and also for keeping them in good health. He said the government would provide facilities for starting dairy farming in the state, so that it helped farmers increase their income.

The Chief Parliamentary Secretary distributed kits of cattle medicines to 200 advanced farmers gathered from 12 gram panchayats of the area. He also honoured 42 advanced farmers who have distinguished themselves in rearing good quality cattle in the area.

Ravinder Kumar, Deputy Director, Veterinary Department, urged the cattle breeders to give a handful of salt to their cattle everyday and medicine and mineral mixture twice a year for their health. He said the government gave 75 per cent subsidy on cutter machine, which saved grass and fodder from wastage.

Dr Kishori Lal, a subject specialist, said cattle must be protected from flies, bees and mosquitoes with the help of medicines. He said cowsheds must be kept neat and clean. Later, Dharmani also inaugurated a Rs 6.40-lakh veterinary dispensary at Dumehar. He said steps were on to solve the drinking water problem of the area at the earliest.

Chamba, April 30
After taking out a procession from the local Laxmi Narayan temple complex, a flag-hoisting ceremony was performed in the historic Chowgan of Chamba yesterday for holding the Sri Koti Maharudra Yajna from May 12 to 20 for the betterment of humanity.

Giving this information here, Tej Singh Bijalwan, media in charge of the yajna, said the yajna was being organised under the auspices of Swami Prakashananda. He said it was for the first time that such a yajna was being held in Chamba town.

Swami Prakashananda would oversee the nine-day-long yajna which would unleash the powerful spiritual energy to act as catalyst for the economic development and all-round betterment of this alpine region, Bijalwan revealed. The work to install “yajna kundas” was underway, Bijalwan said.