Shimla, May 26
The CPM today demanded that the BJP must clarify its stand on the Indian Premier League (IPL) controversy as its leaders head cricket associations in Gujarat, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh.

In a press note issued here today, state CPM Secretariat member Tikender Panwar said the BJP must make its stand clear since Narendra Modi (Gujarat), Arun Jaitley (Delhi) and Anurag Thakur (HP) head state associations.

“The Congress is quiet on the issue as well,” he remarked. He said Rajeev Shukla, Union minister and an important BCCI and IPL functionary, was awarded a doctorate degree by the HPU during the BJP regime.

“There is unanimity in the Congress and the BJP over the IPL that has become one of the important elements of commerce where players act as puppets whose strings are pulled by owners of teams and bookies,” he alleged.

Panwar demanded the levying of entertainment tax on holding of IPL matches as it was acknowledged as largest source of entertainment.

He added that this amount should be put into the exchequer. He demanded that the state government must recover pending dues from the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) for the security provided for holding matches.

He said the state government must start the acquisition of the land given to the HPCA for the construction of a five-star hotel as it had come up on community land that could not be parted with even for community purposes.

“CPM units will hold protests and demonstrations throughout the state and expose the nexus between the BJP and the Congress in the name of the IPL,” he said.

Growth Story

* Number of vultures up from 30 in 2004 to 800 in 2013

* Two vulture restau-rants to be set up near Pong Dam

* Safe zones to be set up near Nahan and in Mandi district

* Positive results of banning diclofenac being witnessed

Shimla, May 26
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has condemned the Naxal attack on Congress leaders and workers in Chhattisgarh yesterday.

He said it was an attack on the democratic values which needed to be condemned by not only political parties, but society as a whole. He expressed his condolences over the killing of state Congress party chief Nand Kumar Patel and senior party leader Mahendra Karma. He said the Naxalites attacks would not weaken the Congress workers’ confidence and morale.

He wished early recovery to former Union Minister VC Shukla and others injured in the attack. He also expressed concern over the inadequate security provided to the Congress leaders who were taking out the Parivartan Yatra in the state despite Naxal threats.

Solan, May 26
In a bid to rein in mining mafia operative in the industrial belts of various bordering areas, the state government will soon prohibit vehicles carrying quarry material from leaving the state from 8 pm to 6 am every day.

Vehicles carrying illegal quarry material after the stipulated time will not only be impounded, but also its quarry material will be seized. The step is supposed to check illegal mining in the BBN area.

A meeting was convened by Industry Minister Mukesh Agnihotri at Baddi recently to deliberate over the problem and find a solution.

Sources said the outline of a new mining policy, which was expected to be released soon, was being finalised. Issues like curbing illegal mining from various riverbeds of the bordering areas, grant of permission on area involving less than five hectares, allowing need-based permission to stone crusher owners, etc, were the key highlights of the policy.

A committee headed by the Director, Industries, is also being constituted as against the existing committee headed by the tehsildar, to oversee permission for mining. This measure is supposed to bring transparency in the system.

Crucial issues like facilitating lessees was also a key agenda before the department as there was a dire shortage of cut stones and gravel in the state after the mining lessees were directed to seek clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests after undertaking environmental impact assessment studies.

This was a tedious process involving a lot of time. While cases involving land less than five hectares were being dealt within the state, all the other cases had to seek permission from the Central ministry.

State geologist Arun Sharma said he had started issuing letters of intent for all such cases and this would facilitate the lessees.

He said other key issues were being deliberated upon which would help in checking illegal mining.

Bilaspur, May 26
District Magistrate-cum-Deputy Commissioner Ajay Sharma has issued a notification under Section 144 of the IPC instructing all employers, contractors, traders and promoters to ensure that the entire labour employed by them or living on their work premises is identified with a photograph and required antecedents at the police station nearest to their residence or work place.

This has been necessitated to maintain law and order in the area as some of the labourers or their acquaintances who take shelter with them or come from outside to seek employment, including those working in trades like rehris, pheriwalas, shawl sellers, mistris, masons, carpenters and floor layers or in households, construction works and fields have been found indulging in illegal and objectionable activities.

The notification, which shall remain in force with immediate effect till July 15, warns of strict legal action against all those who violate this order.

Palampur, May 26
The Taxation Bar Association, Palampur, has criticised the decision of Sudha Sharma, member, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), for not restoring the office of the Commissioner of Income Tax at Palampur, which was arbitrarily closed by the Income Tax Department.

A meeting of the association held here on Monday was also attended by representatives of other bar associations of adjoining districts.

The bar association said the north zone of the state comprising eight districts had been neglected by the Income Tax Department. The association in a joint resolution, which was passed unanimously, resolved that there was complete justification of the office of the CIT (A) at Palampur as there was adequate workload. The association said the office of the CIT (A) was functional here till 2006, as it had the jurisdiction for appellate cases of eight districts out of the total 12 district of the state, which included Kangra, Mandi, Una, Hamirpur, Chamba, Kullu, Bilaspur and Lauhal-Spiti.

The association said after the closing of the office of the CIT (A) at Palampur, the jurisdiction of appellate matter of eight districts had been attached with the CIT (A) at Solan, which was not only quite far from these places but also inconvenient for taxpayers and their counsels.

Briefing mediapersons, RK Sood and Sandeep Kakkar, senior members of the association, said shortage of staff and other officials was not only causing hardship to taxpayers, but also had adversely affected the collection of revenue.

They said in the previous financial year, things moved from bad to worse as the department failed to achieve the targets fixed for the collection of revenue. In the Palampur range, it could even not meet 50 per cent targets of the total revenue collection allotted by the CBDT. The association held higher officials responsible for the ‘mess’ in the department.

The association said if the member, CBDT, was not ready to open a new office at Palampur, she should have made some alternative arrangement for the disposal of appeal cases of the region.

It said she should have at least directed the officials to hold camps at Palampur, Mandi, Kullu and Chamba to dispose of appeal cases as taxpayers could not afford to visit Solan or Parwanoo in this regard. 

Kangra, May 26
Lecturers of MCM DAV College affiliated with the HP Non-Government College Lecturers’ Association (HPNGCLA), on Friday threatened to intensify their protest if the management failed to accept their demands. They called the public to come forward to extend their support to them. They criticised the “unbecoming’ attitude” of the principal of the college towards their demands.

While addressing a press conference here, Rajeev Sharma, spokesman of the HPNGCLA, Kangra unit, said they had been protesting against the “indifferent attitude” of the college administration in resolving issues regarding the enhancement of ADA from 12 per cent to 72 per cent from college resources, enhancement of medical and house rent allowances and grant of pay band III and IV due to some of its members.

Rajeev said, “The association started wearing black badges from March 5, 2013, and from March 21, 2013, they held an hour-long peaceful dharna till date without disturbing the academic atmosphere of the college”.

He alleged that the problems were compounded by the fact that Principal VK Bhatia did not take any interest in the problems of the staff or the college and was frequently absent from the college.

The NSUI and the SFI had already extended their support to the protesting lecturers. Dr Kapil Vaid, president, SK Mittal, general secretary, besides S Lohia, state general secretary, and Rajinder Sharma, state vice-president, HPNGCLA, were present on the occasion.

RS Sharma, Director, DAV Colleges, Delhi, said on the phone that the managing committee was examining the issue.

Dalhousie, May 26
A ‘rare’ 55-inch-long snake called Himalayan trinket has been found in Dalhousie hills by naturalist Chandresh Lodhiya. Lodhiya is the MD of an Ahmedabad-based organisation which specialises in holding environment education camps. The organisation has been having such camps in the hills for the last 18 years.

Currently, one such camp is being organised near Punjpulla in Dalhousie for about 50 days.

He gave information about this snake to students who are participating in the environment education camp from Gujarat, and later released the snake in the forest.

“The Himalayan trinket is a non-venomous snake. It is green in colour with white and black spots. It has also been seen in Dharamsala and Shimla and can be found up to an altitude of around 11,000 ft,” Lodhiya said.

“We should not kill snakes as all of them are not venomous and they help us by eating rats. Even among the venomous snakes, only a few are dangerous to humans,” he added.

Shimla, May 26
A team of communication experts have termed as an amateurish equipment used by trekking groups with no security threat the transmitter recovered near Jangi village in the Moorang area of Kinnaur district in December last year.

The state police had got the equipment examined from Army and other communication experts to rule out any threat. With the Chinese border close to the spot, the issue had caused concern among security agencies.

“A close examination of this equipment has revealed that there is no security threat and it is not a defence equipment,” said Sanjay Kundu, Inspector-General of Police, Law and Order.

He added that this FM transmitter contained omni directional antenna and had no inbuilt secrecy. The transmitter and a ground plan antenna with 150-watt output were made in China.

The other parts, including five modules of solar panels, one sealed maintenance-free battery and a charge control unit, was made in the United States.

The opinion of experts set at rest speculation that the equipment could have been planted by the Chinese. The police had pointed out that it seemed to be an equipment used by trekking groups who frequented the area
some time back.

The experts stated that it was an FM transmitter receiver containing industrial scientific and medical band and had a 5-watt power with a normal range of between 20 and 25 km and a range of 50 km as the crow flies.

They said the transmitter was in the FM band operating in the range of 87 to 108 MHz which was a bandwidth licensed by the Ministry of Communications normally used by trekking groups that could also be used for commercial purposes.

Bilaspur, May 26
Both martyrs sepoy Ashwini Kumar Banyal (28), son of Capt Rajender Banyal of Jhabola village near Talai, and Havildar Kamaljit Singh (40), son of Sohan Lal of Dhatoh village in Talwaada gram panchayat near Ghumarwin in this district, were cremated with full state and military honours at the cremation ghats at Saryali khud and Talwada ghat, respectively, today in the presence of a large number of villagers, panchayat representatives and party leaders.

Contingents of the Army and the police saluted the brave jawans, reversed the arms and fired several volleys in the air and sounded the Last Post as thousands of mourners shouted slogans like "Watan ke shahid amar rahen".

Both the soldiers had made the supreme sacrifice while fighting a group of hiding hardcore terrorists at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir two days ago. The jawans had succeeded in killing a terrorist leader on the spot.

Those present at the cremation included senior Congress leader and Chairman of the state Planning and 20-Point Implementation Committee Ram Lal Thakur, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Rajesh Dharmani, Bilaspur Sadar MLA Bambar Thakur, Jhandutta MLA Rikhi Ram Kaundal, former MLA Biru Ram Kishore, Brig (retd) Raghwa Nand Sharma, Subedar Prakash Chand and some five dozen ex-servicemen.

Earlier, draped in the Tricolour, the bodies of the martyrs were brought to their home villages by the Army this morning.

Last evening former Chief Minister PK Dhumal had visited the houses of these jawans and consoled their families.

HP Social and Women Welfare Minister Col Dhani Ram Shandil also visited both the families this evening and expressed his and the government's sympathies with them and assured all help to the families.

Shimla, May 26
Taking a serious note on the issue of infringing the liberty of a person by the orders of officials of the state government, the HP High Court on Thursday directed the state to initiate disciplinary proceedings against two HAS officials, BR Kamal, Additional District Magistrate, Bharmour, Chamba, and Sidharth Acharya, District Revenue Officer, Kullu, and suspend them in accordance with law.

Justice Rajiv Sharma directed the state to deposit Rs 2 lakh as an interim compensation in the registry of the court for an illegal order passed by their aforesaid officials due to which the petitioner, Suresh Kumar of Jubbal, remained in illegal custody for more then 72 hours.

The court passed this order on a petition filed by Suresh Kumar challenging the powers of the SDM to direct arrest of a person under the provisions of Sections 107/151 (Breach of Peace) of the CPC and alleging that his personal liberty was infringed upon as he was kept in custody for more than 72 hours and his surety bond was not accepted.

The petitioner alleged that he had made a number of complaints to the government authorities regarding encroachment made by two residents of his village on the village common land as well as government land measuring 60 bigha. Thereafter, encroachment was removed but he was implicated in a false case. At this, the then Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Rohroo, BR Kamal, ordered his arrest on July 7, 2009, and he was arrested on July 10, 2009, under Sections 107/151 of the CPC, but he was produced before the Executive Magistrate (tehsildar) on the next day. It was further alleged that he had moved an application for his release on bail but the then tehsildar, Jubbal, Sidharth Acharya, did not accept his surety bond and he remanded the petitioner to judicial custody for two days and he was released only on July 13, 2009. The proceedings against him were later dropped.

Expressing concern over the issue, Justice Sharma also reprimanded the government for treating the issue in a non-satisfactory manner and the Principal Secretary (Forest) and the Principal Secretary (Revenue) for not filing their reports despite the court orders. However, the court gave another week’s time to them to file their reports.

Kangra, May 26
Teachers will give messages at schools during morning assemblies on voluntary blood donation. Members of the health staff will attend the sessions and students will pass on the messages to their families.

Kangra Deputy Commissioner C Palrasu gave this information here today. He said a campaign launched by the Health Department was aimed to support blood banks and overcome misconceptions about blood donation.

He said people were still afraid or hesitant due to ignorance as a result of which there was shortage of blood. He appealed to all sections of society to come forward for the noble cause.

Kangra District AIDS Programme Officer RK Sood said about 60 per cent of the Indian population was eligible to donate blood but only 0.5 per cent did it in a year.

He said the annual requirement in India was 1 crore units while the collection was about 65 lakhs units. He said 0.2 per cent people donated blood in Himachal Pradesh which was not sufficient to meet the demand of 60,000 units.

According to State of the World’s Mothers Report 56,000 mothers in India die annually of which about 25 per cent are caused by severe bleeding during childbirth.

The state government has decided to establish blood storage centres at “matri seva kendras” where institutional delivery is carried out to ensure the timely availability of safe blood.

There are 14 blood storage centres in the district of which four have blood. The demand of funds for gensets for the Kangra and Baijnath hospitals has been sent to the NRHM while the installation of a genset at the Dehra hospital is on.

Kangra, May 26
Government College, Dharamsala, which started an MBA course in HR, finance and marketing two years back, got 27 students of its first batch placed in different companies through campus placement drives.

Prof Satish Chander Sharma, Principal of the college, said here on Tuesday that the college was providing every possible opportunity to students to place them at the time of passing out.

Dr NN Sharma, coordinator, MBA, said of the 27 students, 15 were placed in the HDFC, three in NJ indiainvest Pvt Ltd, two in Benett Colemann & Co Ltd and seven in the ICICI. The selected students would join their duties from July 1 in Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Delhi, Dharamsala, Shimla, Una, Palampur and Chamba.

He said the department organised placement seminars for imparting training to students and preparing them for different job avenues. In addition to this, 33 students of MBA second semester were also selected for summer training by the Times Group.

On the occasion, faculty members Sunil Kumar, Akhil Gautam, Shveta Sharma and Sahil Mahajan were present.

Hamirpur, May 26
The cancellation of two tenders in February by the Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department allegedly under pressure from a Congress leader has delayed by nearly a year the execution of two projects worth Rs 150 crore.

The floating of tenders for the Nadaun-Bhumpal-Jalari medium irrigation scheme at an estimated cost of Rs 97.59 crore and the drinking water supply scheme for Hamirpur at an estimated cost of Rs 64.88 crore were deferred at the last minute before bidding in February.

The department maintained silence about deferment of tenders but this was allegedly done to accommodate persons close to the ruling party. Foundation stones of both projects were laid earlier by then Chief Minister PK Dhumal.

The irrigation scheme which would irrigate about 3,000 hectares of farmland had been sanctioned under the accelerated irrigation benefit programme by the Centre which was bearing 90 per cent of the cost.

The water scheme had been sanctioned by the Ministry of Urban Development and the Centre would provide 75 per cent of the funds.

The process of bidding through open tenders has been initiated again by the IPH Department which will take at least six months. Tenders are likely to be floated in November and work will be delayed by at least a year.

Superintending Engineer LR Chaudhary said, “The process of inviting bids through tenders has been initiated afresh which will take at least six months.”

Hamirpur, May 26
Himachal Pradesh Technical University (HPTU) has rescheduled dates for receiving application forms and conducting the common entrance examination (CEE) to admit students to professional at private universities and institutions.

The CEE for Bachelor of Pharmacy, Master of Pharmacy, Master of Technology and Master of Engineering courses will be held on June 22 and forms can be submitted till June 7.

A total of 1,170 Bachelor of Pharmacy seats are available of which 900 will be filled at private institutes and 270 at private universities. A total of 309 Master of Pharmacy seats are available of which 147 will be filled at private universities and 162 at private institutions.

A total of 1,133 Master of Technology and Master of Engineering seats are available of which private universities are offering 911 and private colleges 222. Applicants clearing the graduate aptitude test for engineering will be given first preference in admission.

Bachelor of Engineering and Bachelor of Technology seats at HPTU-affiliated universities and colleges will be made on the basis of the all-India entrance examination for engineering. Admission to Master of Business Administration and Master of Computer Applications courses will be made through a common entrance test to be conducted by HPU, Shimla.

Bilaspur, May 26
“Corruption has become a part of our social structure in the country and we should strive hard to ensure that it is curbed with a heavy hand.”

This was stated by Ram Lal Thakur, Chairman, State Planning Development and 20-Point Programme Implementation Committee, after laying the foundation stone of Rs 1.75-crore science lab block at Government Boys Senior Secondary School here recently.

He said the BJP had ignored Bilaspur district and issues of lakhs of Bhakra Dam oustees during its regime.

He said it was the Virbhadra Singh government that solved a number of problems of oustees like waiving off of their loans, holding of mini settlement for legalising their encroachments on government land in villages and allotment of plots in town here.

Ram Lal said within two months the Congress government would allot 284 rehabilitation plots to oustees in the town and an encroachment policy would be soon finalised to give concession to them here.

Local MLA Bambar Thakur and Deputy Director of Education Bir Singh also spoke.