Shimla, June 28
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi today and sought immediate financial assistance of Rs 1,000 crore for carrying out relief and restoration works in the rain and snow-ravaged Kinnaur district and other affected parts of the state.

He gave a detailed account to him of the havoc in the state by the rains and freak snow and informed him that the loss to private and public property had been estimated at Rs 2,575 crore. As many as 24 lives had been lost in flash floods. He said 1,239 people had been evacuated so far and the government had released Rs 28 crore for immediate relief measures.

He said Kinnaur district was the worst affected and it received an unprecedented 1,229 per cent excessive rain from June 15 to 17, 2013. More than 10,000 animals had perished in the flash floods and over 1,000 houses had been damaged.

The loss to private property was estimated around Rs 100 crore. He said 2,120 roads had been badly affected resulting in a loss of over 1,000 crore and 525 water supply schemes, 280 irrigation schemes, 5 sewerage schemes and 30 flood protection works had been damaged and the loss on this account came to Rs 200 crore.

The Chief Minister told the PM that more than 50,000 hectares of agriculture land had been affected resulting in a loss of over Rs 200 crore and an equal area under horticulture had been devastated causing a loss of over Rs 400 crore to orchards. The power infrastructure had also been hit and the loss was over Rs 500 crore.

He stressed that senior officers of the BRO should be stationed in Kinnaur to expedite the restoration works of the National Highway-22 and requested the Ministry of Defence to formulate a long-term plan, particularly on the stretch from Wangtu to Kaurik. 

Shimla, June 28
Decks have been cleared for the setting up of Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) in Una district with the state government deciding to raise Rs 18 crore as the mandatory industry’s share through its two state public undertakings - HP Power Corporation Ltd and HP Transmission Corporation Ltd.

A tripartite MoU is likely to be signed by mid-July between the Centre, the state government and the industry. With the total estimated cost of the IIIT to be around Rs 80 crore, the industry share works out to be about Rs 18 crore.

A high-level meeting was held here today in the presence of Industries Minister Mukesh Agnihotri, Chief Secretary, S Roy and Principal Secretaries of Finance, Education, Health and other important departments.

A decision was taken to raise funds from the two state public undertakings under the Public-Private Participation (PPP) mode and the necessary formalities would be completed after getting a nod from the Finance Department.

With a huge sum of Rs 18 crore not flowing easily from the industry, the government decided to raise funds through its two public undertakings. Infact, this was the main hitch in the coming up of the IIIT for which land has already been identified and all other formalities are complete in Una.

A selection committee from the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development had visited Una district in March this year to select the site for the IIIT but its report is still awaited by the state government.

Though one of the industrial houses, Mumbai-based IT firm Roltas, has already agreed to contribute Rs 5 crore, arranging rest of the Rs 13 crore is proving to be an arduous task for the 
state government.

It is expected that the project will now pick up pace as 50 per cent of the cost has to be borne by the Central Government and 25 per cent each by the state government and the industry. The Deputy Commissioner, Una, has already been directed to complete all formalities immediately so that no hurdles are faced in the coming up of the project.

The IIIT in Himachal will add to the list of national-level reputed educational institutes like Central University in Kangra, the Indian Institute of Technology at Mandi and the National Institute of Fashion Technology at Hamirpur. 

Shimla, June 28
Chief Secretary Suripta Roy today said restoration work in the rain-ravaged Kinnaur was in full swing and water, roads and electricity supply to many parts had been restored.

He said 158 persons were evacuated today and with this, the total persons airlifted since June 18 was 1,679. He said all tourists had been evacuated and the focus was now on the local people who were stranded in different parts of the district.

Besides, a team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) was also evacuating people from Sangla on foot by assisting them in the areas blocked due to landslips. He said the Army was using an alternative route to reach Chulling village which had suffered the brunt of disaster. However, the detailed report on losses from Chulling was awaited, he added.

He said 70 water supply schemes out of 74 had been restored in Peo division and 20 schemes in Pooh subdivision of Kinnaur. He said all water supply schemes in the tribal district were likely to be restored within the next 10 days.

He said electricity had been restored up to Moorang and the telecommunication system was now functioning in the main stations in Reckong Peo, Sangla and Pooh. “Besides this four, satellite phones have been provided to the district administration so that relief and rescue operations can be carried out smoothly,” he stated.

He said 31 Horticulture Extension Officers had been airlifted to various parts of Kinnaur to assist farmers in restoration of their damaged plants and Rs 3.13 crore had been released to the Horticulture Department for relief work.

The Chief Secretary said in order to provide relief to houseless people, 30 tents and 400 sleeping bags had been sent to Peo. Besides, 1000 blankets and 500 tarpaulins had been arranged through the Deputy Commissioner, Shimla, and were being sent to Kinnaur.

Roy said the government had already developed various road stretches starting from Tapri to Reckong Peo, old Hindustan Tibet road connecting Reckong Peo to Shiaso in the Sunnam valley near Pooh.

300 sheep, goats washed away

Chamba: As many as 300 sheep and goats belonging to 12 shepherds were reported to have been washed away in the flood waters of the Grosan nullah in an outlying Rajeendu area of the district following heavy rains during the past couple of days, unofficial reports here said yesterday.

The reports said the affected shepherds belonged to Khanderi, Banotu, Kureel, Dharmadi, Dwata, Syundi, Chhachhned and Kurtha of the district.

Shimla, June 28
The name of Punjab IPS officer SK Sharma has been added to the list of contenders for the post of Director General of Police (DGP) with the present incumbent B Kamal Kumar retiring on July 31.

Even though no formal decision has been taken by the state government with regard to the appointment of the new DGP, there is talk that the Congress regime is contemplating bringing Sharma, a 1983 batch IPS officer, on deputation. Sharma is learnt to have already met Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh a few days ago to plead his case for being appointed to the top police post in Himachal.

Sharma is currently posted as Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Human Resource Development, Training and Community Policing. Sharma is the third IPS officer from outside the state whose name is doing the rounds for being appointed as the DGP. Prior to this, the names of three IPS officers from Kerala and Assam cadres were also doing the rounds.

In case the government decides to bring in Sharma, it will have to seek the nod from the Union Home Ministry for his inter-state cadre deputation. The consent of the Punjab government will also have to be taken as that is his home cadre.

The fact is that all three seniormost IPS officers, besides former DGP ID Bhandari, have not completed 30 years of service which is mandatory for being considered for the top post. The officers are Somesh Goyal, Sanjay Kumar and SR Mardi. While Goyal and Kumar are currently on central deputation, only Mardi is serving in Himachal. However, the state government can seek special permission from the Centre to appoint a person who has not competed 30 years service as has been done in many other states.

Mandi, June 28
The Himachal Kisan Sabha (HKS) today accused the Centre and state government of pushing farmers to the brink as they were cutting subsidies on fertilisers, seeds and agricultural implements.

Leaders of the sabha, who gathered here for a conference on various problems being faced by farmers in the state and to appoint its new office-bearers, alleged that farmers were forced to commit suicide as they had been pushed into debt. “Almost 40 per cent farmers in the district have almost given up agriculture due to monkey menace, which is yet to be tackled effectively,” said Kushal Bhardwaj, district secretary, HKS. — TNS

Mandi, June 28
The ambitious National Vocational Education Qualification Framework (NVEQF) skill development programme, started in 100 government schools in April this year, has hit a roadblock. About 2,500 students have no trained teachers and laboratories to learn five vocational trades.

Two months have passed when the students were enrolled for the vocational courses in 12 schools in Mandi district. “But no class is held as there are no trained teachers to teach technical courses like automobile and security in the schools”, said school teachers.

The story is no different in other schools as well.

So far, no class has been started as there are no trained teachers in these schools, students rued. The students have opted for the vocational courses, besides their main stream subjects, they added.

As per the NVEQF policy, of the 100 schools selected for the vocational courses, the directorate has asked each school to enroll 25 students for these courses in a year. “Each school is allotted two different trades out of five trades - automobiles, IT, health, retails and security”, said directorate officials.

Director, Higher Education, Dr Dinkar Burathoke said the delay was logical as it was a new programme for which the government had signed MoUs with five industrial councils. “They will devise curriculum, set up labs and other infrastructure in each school and recruit trained teachers for these courses and carry out this programme”, he added.

The ambitious skill development programme aimed at arming the students with the certified skill courses which would give them assured employment in the industry or they could start their own self-employment venture. The state government was getting Rs 200 crore for this, the officials disclosed.

Dr Dinkar said these were teething troubles and the students enrolled in the schools would be trained by the teachers before the industrial councils started the process. “There are 70 certified industrial councils which will certify these vocational courses, which will be valid internationally as well”, he added.

He said the courses had been launched from Class IX this year in 100 schools and would be extended to the college and university levels. These would be linked to polytechnic colleges as well, he added.

Mandi, June 28
Seraj legislator Jai Ram Thakur today demanded the restoration of Janjheli-Mandi road as farmers had to transport apple and flowers to markets. He also demanded compensation for losses to apple orchards suffered by farmers in the flood-hit Baksiad area.

Leading a delegation of panchayat pradhans and farmers of the Baksiad area, Thakur met Deputy Commissioner Devesh Kumar and submitted a memorandum to the state government seeking compensation and an immediate relief to the affected farmers.

“Thousands of apple trees have been damaged by the flood and the losses run into crores of rupees,” 
he said.

He said paths and foot bridges in the village had been wiped out due to which schoolchildren were facing a lot of difficulties.

“The main Janjheli-Mandi road is disconnected due to a breach in the Baksiad bridge, which has paralysed the local transportation. It will further hit the transportation of apple,” he added.

Shimla, June 28
Forest Minister Thakur Singh Bharmouri has lambasted BJP leaders for levelling unfounded and frivolous charges just to gain political mileage and urged them to check facts before making statements.

Expressing concern over the statement of BJP leader Jai Ram Thakur on airlifting of Congress workers in the choppers, he said three helicopters of the Indian Air Force and one of the state government were pressed into service to evacuate the stranded tourists.

The local people, who were stranded at various places, were also evacuated. He said the rescue and relief operations ware done irrespective of political affiliation and if Jai Ram Thakur thought that every local person was a Congress worker he was mistaken.

The minister said tonnes of essential commodities, medicines, doctors and scientists were sent to Kinnaur to assist the local people and it was disheartening that Thakur was making such an irrelevant statement to the media.

He said Jai Ram Thakur should know that 'immediate relief' of Rs 40 lakh had been distributed till date and proper assessment of the damage was being done. The administration was giving immediate relief of Rs 2,000 to Rs 10,000 to the families in distress, depending upon the extent of damage. 

Shimla, June 28
Taking a serious note of the issue of misuse of funds by the temple authorities in the state, the HP High Court has directed the Secretary, Language, Art and Culture, to ensure that no vehicle purchased from the temple fund is used by the temple commissioner, officer and other officials of the state.

The court passed this order during the hearing on a petition pertaining to lack of public convenience at Mata Chintpurni Temple, Chintpurni, Una, where the court was informed that one Tata Sumo, one SX4, one Gypsy and two tempos had been purchased from the temple funds and the Tata Sumo was being used by the temple officer and SX-4 and Gypsy were attached with the temple commissioner, who is the Deputy Commissioner, Una.

Expressing concern on the issue, Justice Rajiv Sharma observed, “Temple funds are strictly to be used for providing better facilities for the temple. These funds are only to be utilised for providing better facilities and for the upkeep of the temple. Temple funds cannot be diverted and permitted to be used for any other purpose”.

The court further directed the temple commissioner to take necessary steps to acquire the land between the bus stand and the temple for the purpose of construction of toilets under the Land Acquisition Act and if necessary by requisitioning the property. It further restrained the temple Commissioner and temple officer from using vehicles. 

Kangra, June 28
The Association of School Principals (Lecturer cadre) has sought the immediate redressal of their demands. Members of the association also said the Department of Higher Education should create a joint seniority of school principals promoted from lecturer and headmaster cadres for further promotional avenues, for which they would soon meet Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.

At its general house held at Hamirpur, newly elected president and general secretary Narender Sharma and Vinod Choudhary in a joint statement here yesterday said the other demands included the immediate removal of BEd/MEd condition for the District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) principals (which is an administrative post), regularisation of ad hoc principals promoted in 2008, enhancement of grade pay, increase in their administrative allowance from Rs 300 to Rs 1,200, appointment of senior school principals as block resource coordinators, (posts which are manned by trained graduate teachers) and creation of inspection cadre posts.

Nurpur, June 28
The Himachal Pradesh Ex-servicemen League has accused the UPA government of ignoring genuine ex-Armymen's demands.

Addressing a conference of ex-servicemen at Jawali, Major Vijay Singh Mankotia (retd), league chairman and former minister, said the Union government had failed to redress ex-Armymen's problems.

The government would face the wrath of the ex-servicemen in the general Lok Sabha elections next year, he said.

“The ex- servicemen have been struggling for their long-standing demand of one-rank one-pension for long, but they have only got hollow promises by the present and successive Union governments,” he rued.

Mankotia asserted that the league had also raised its demand of waiving population criterion for hill states like Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir for recruitment in the Indian Armed Forces.

“The league also demands the re-storation of the recruitment quota in accordance with pre-1971 as Himachal Pradesh has a dearth of employment opportunities, especially in Kangra district where industrial growth is negligible,” he said.

Mankotia said the league would organise its state-level conference at Dharamsala soon which would be presided over by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh. “The league will raise problems and demands of the ex-servicemen before the government of India through the Chief Minister.

On the occasion, Mankotia also inaugurated a Sanik Organiser Welfare Office at Labh near Jawali.

He said problems of the ex-Armymen and their dependants would be heard in this office on the first Saturday of every month.

The local unit of the Himachal Pradesh Ex-servicemen League also demanded the setting up of a military CSD canteen and facility of an Army poly clinic in the area.