Hamirpur, October 20
The Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) is finding itself in a tricky situation after a fresh direction from the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) to implement "one-man, one-post" principle at every level.

Several senior Congress leaders close to Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and the HPCC president are holding two posts.

Taking a tough stance for ignoring its direction, the AICC had reportedly summoned HPCC president Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu to New Delhi recently and told him that no leader should hold two posts simultaneously in the party organisation and the government, which includes chiefs of boards and corporations.

Virbhadra Singh had been seeking relaxation from the AICC in implementing this principle.

However, the AICC has justified relaxation in implementation of this principle in a very special case such as AICC chief Sonia Gandhi.

Twelve Congress leaders such as Ram Lal Thakur, holding the post of chairman of 20-Point Implementation Committee and HPCC general secretary, GR Musafir, state vice-president and chairman of state Financial Corporation, Hardeep Singh Baba, chairman, Building and Construction Workers Welfare Board and state president of INTUC, Harbhajan Singh Bhajji, Chairman, Water Management Board and HPCC general secretary, Sudhir Sharma, Cabinet minister and HPCC general secretary, ID Lakhanpal, Chief Parliamentary Secretary and State Sewa Dal chief, Kewal Singh Pathania, Vice-Chairman, State Forest Corporation and state party spokesman, and Kuldeep Singh Pathania, Chairman, state Pollution Control Board and party spokesman, etc are holding two posts.

Interestingly, the Congress leaders had been occupying two posts despite AICC general secretary Janardan Diwedi's communiqué to all PCC presidents to implement the principle.

Sukhu said, "We will implement the principle and leaders occupying two posts will have to forgo either of the post."

Kullu, October 20
The Lanka Dahan ceremony marked the end of the six-day-long International Kullu Dasehra fair at Dhalpur Maidan here today. Three scions of the former kingdom of Kullu sacrificed five creatures and animals in full public view at Lanka Behar.

Accompanied by colourful palanquins of devtas, the sacred rath of Lord Raghunath, pulled by thousands of devotees from its abode on the higher Dhalpur Maidan, rolled down till the lower end of the maidan.

Chief kardar of Raghunath Maheshwar Singh and all raths of deities awaited there. Other members of the royal family accompanied by Gur of Devi Hidimba, who came as a chief guest of Raghunath, converged on a pathway to Lanka Behar.

The devotees were carrying traditional weapons wrapped in special attire. A sizeable crowd, with the locals sitting on rooftops, assembled on the spot to witness the ritual where a large number of policemen were deployed to maintain law and order.

The animals that were sacrificed are a fish, a multi-legged ‘kenkra’, a cock a he-sheep (bhadu) and a buffalo.

These were guarded by three youths and an old man wearing shaggy clothes who looked drunk. The committee sprayed the place to keep the stink away as all drains of Dasehra Maidan ends at Lanka Behar and it was stinking.

A royal procession accompanied the Gur of Hidimba converged to the sacrificial stage. The procession went back after the creatures were sacrificed.

After the Lanka Dahan ceremony, the rath of Lord Raghnath and 223 other raths of deities started their journey back homes. “The animal sacrifice is an inseparable part of Kullu Dasehra. It is not banned in the country and the animals, sacrificed for the ritual, are eaten by certain people”, said Maheshwar Singh.

Kullu, October 20
Peoples for Animal member Sonali Purewel and kardars of deities have crossed sword over animal sacrifice to Hidimba Devi during the Lanka Dahan concluding ceremony carried out by the present scions of the erstwhile kingdom of Kullu here today.

Chief representative of Lord Raghunath Maheshwar Singh and the Kardar Sangh of Kullu and Mandi asserted that the “NGO should not meddle in the religious practices of hill people as it was a very sensitive issue”.

Maheshwar Singh said the high court should constitute a “high-powered committee to seek public opinion on this issue. This tradition is linked to the Dev Sanskriti in Kullu district and is done in a human way”, he claimed.

On the other hand, Sonali Purewel, who has filed a PIL in the high court in 2012, said they had sought ban on animal sacrifice in temples and public places, including Kullu Dasehra and Hidimba Temple in Manali.

“The cruelty to animals in the name of seeking blessings from God or deity should be banned as it is barbaric and inhuman”, she added.

She cited a high court order passed on her PIL, June 18, 2013, in which the high court had directed the government to place on record the affidavits to be submitted by the Secretary (Home) and the Secretary (Language, Art and Culture) to spell out the government stand. “The court has directed the state to adopt regulatory measures. The next date of hearing on the PIL is on December 14”, she stated.

President, Kardar Sangh, Dhot Ram claimed that animal sacrifice was done with procedure mentioned in the religious practices since ancient times.

“The NGO should first seek ban on slaughterhouses and stop cruelty on stray animals in butcheries in the country”, they added.

On the other hand, the Kullu Dasehra Committee, headed by DC Rakesh Kanwar and the state, has taken a stand on the PIL, pleading that the practice is ancient and is part of the religious practice and customs of people in which the government has no role.

Kullu, October 20
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today announced 10 per cent increase in nazrana (honorarium) for deities.

He also said the common village land and the government land leased out to the HPCA by the previous Dhumal government would be taken back and all wrongdoers would be brought to justice.

The Chief Minister first inaugurated the building of Government Degree College at Haripur near Manali and named it Jawaharlal Government College.

He later opened the Sugam centre in the Deputy Commissioner’s office. He said he named the college after the first Prime Minister as Kullu-Manali earned the popularity after he visited Manali.

Addressing the concluding ceremony of the weeklong Kullu Dasehra from the Lal Chand Prarthi Kala Kendra here, he announced a 10 per cent increase in nazrana for deities and Rs 10,000 and Rs 5,000 as special assistance to bajantris - musicians - of devis and devtas, considering the size of the procession.

Queering the political pitch for the 2014 Lok Sabha poll, Virbhadra Singh attacked the Dhumal regime and the HPCA led by his son Anurag Thakur and declared that they should not be scared by government inquiries if they were innocent.

The government was aware the family had bought private lands in Kullu district at places between Jalori Pass and Manali, he said.

The Chief Minister said the HPCA leased out the prime government land at Dharamshala and government school, Lal Pani, in Shimla and common village land at Nadaun and BBMB land at Bilaspur in the name of cricket to the HPCA.

Referring to the trend of mushrooming of new devtas in state and Kullu, Virbhadra said he respected the religious feelings of their devotees, but it was hurting to see some persons demanding donations.

Only the devtas, which are established and registered, will be invited for Dasehra, he declared.

Dharamsala, October 20
Anurag Thakur, president, HPCA, and BJP MP, Hamirpur, has alleged that the Vigilance and Anti-corruption Bureau has asked him to appear before it on his birthday on October 24. He alleged that it was a part of vendetta politics unleashed against him by the present Congress government.

While addressing a press conference here today, Anurag alleged that earlier the bureau had planned to summon him on October 22. However, the date was deliberately changed to October 24 as it was his birthday. "I have cancelled all programmes on October 24 and will appear before the bureau," Anurag said.

He further alleged that the present Congress government was levelling baseless charges against him. A former Congress minister had alleged that he (Anurag) had deliberately got booked a Dharamsala-based businessman in an alleged hawala case involving the trust headed by a Tibetan Karmapa. "If the state government feels so, I am ready for a time-bound inquiry by the CBI into the matter. However, along with this, the CBI should simultaneously enquire into allegations against Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife for taking unsecured loan of Rs 4 crore from a private individual," Anurag said.

He further said the Congress leaders were issuing baseless statements that could have implications for the Union government. The Karmapa cash haul case was investigated by Central agencies and even the highest office of the country was aware about the investigations into the case. The Congress leaders were showing diplomatic immaturity by issuing statements regarding the case, he said.

Anurag said the Virbhadra Singh should explain their relations with Vakamulla Chandershekhar from whom he took loan and at what terms and conditions they had taken the loan of Rs 4 crore and for what purpose.

"They should also tell whether in lieu of loan, any favour was granted to Vakamulla and when the loan would be repaid," he added.

Commenting on the Chief Minister's statement that no Indian Premium League (IPL) match would be allowed at the Dharamsala cricket stadium, Anurag said it was a matter to be decided by common masses and not political leaders that whether there should be a match or not.

"The Congress government in its previous stint in power had tried to do so but we successfully hosted international matches. We are not afraid of anyone and will host matches as earlier we have done," said Anurag.

Dharamsala, October 20
Tibetans in exile here are organising the McLeodganj International Film Festival in which 19 films from across the world will be screened.

Organiser of the event Lobsang Wangyal, also known as Tibetan showman, while talking to The Tribune said the response to the festival had been overwhelming. The selected 19 films would be screened from October 21 to 23 at the Tibetan Day School at McLeodganj. The films were from Bangladesh, Egypt, France, India, Iran, Ireland, Israel, the UK and the US.

Lobsang said directors who were coming to the festival to present their films included Pema Dhondup from California for the film "Arise", Dr Sudeep Ranjan Sarkar from Kolkota for "Neti Neti" (Not This, Not This), Prashant Vanjani from Delhi for "Villari" and Ninad Kulkarni from Pune for "Connection Failed".

Kulkarni (16) will be the youngest among the directors. His first film about farmers' suicide in Maharashtra was produced when he was 12.

Dhondup is one of the few accomplished Tibetan filmmakers today. His film "Arise" is about the on-going self-immolations in Tibet.

The Free Spirit Film Festival, begun in 2004, is the oldest ongoing film festival in McLeodganj. The festival is aimed at sharing beautiful stories, concerns, interests and creativity. It is hoped that the festival will inspire and encourage young people by providing them a platform, showing them diverse opportunities in filmmaking and to honour and promote those who already are filmmakers.

Considering McLeodganj as a popular destination for tourists from around the world, it lacks avenues for events, fairs and festivals, Lobsang said.

"The works of young filmmakers, particularly of up-and-coming Tibetan filmmakers, need to be seen, promoted and honoured. We have been bombarded with film submissions from around the world this year. It is time to think new, different and big. The first change will be to add a second name and 'McLeodganj International Film Festival' certainly seems to fit," Lobsang said.

Hamirpur, October 20
The district unit of the BJP has taken a strong exception to the statement of HPCC president Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu regarding Hamirpur MP Anurag Thakur.

In a press statement here, district general secretary of the party Vijay Pal Soharu said, “Sukhwinder has been levelling baseless allegations after facing defeat in the last Assembly election against Hamirpur MP Anurag Thakur”.

He said Anurag had won his first election by over 1.75 lakh votes and earned a name in national politics, besides bringing the game of cricket in the state on the international map.

Rebutting allegations against former Chief Minister PK Dhumal for not doing any special work in Hamirpur, the BJP leader narrated several development works like opening Himachal Pradesh Technical University in Hamirpur, opening offices of Chief Engineer of the IPH and PWD, bringing Rs 104-crore irrigation scheme for Nadaun and Rs 65-crore drinking water scheme for Hamirpur town and bringing IRB Battalion at Jangal Bairi to Dhumal’s credit.

Shimla, October 20
Leader of the Opposition PK Dhumal today exhorted party men to work hard to make Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi the Prime Minister of the country.

Speaking at the concluding session of the workers training camp for the Shimla urban unit of the party, he said Modi had provided a ray of hope to the people who had been disillusioned with the political scenario at the Centre. There was a groundswell of support for him and the workers must put in all required hardwork to encash it in the electoral arena and put an end to the misrule of the UPA.

He accused the Congress government of indulging in political vendetta and said development had taken a back seat. The state machinery was being used to implicate opponents in false cases. Officers were under pressure as they were being forced to make wrong decisions.

In the opening session, state BJP chief Satpal Satti spoke about the party's ideology and stressed the need to maintain a work culture and decorum. He said workers must be strongly rooted in ideology and should maintain discipline to help build an effective organisation.

Jai Ram, a former state party chief, and party spokesperson Ganesh Dutt also spoke.

Nurpur, October 20
People of the state have got fed up with the poor performance of the Virbhadra government during the past nine months.

This was stated by former Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition PK Dhumal while talking to mediapersons at Kotla, near here, last evening after presiding over a training camp of BJP workers of the Jawali Assembly constituency.

“The government fair price shops are not getting a regular supply of subsidised foodgrains, pulses, edible oil and sugar. Ration card holders are getting irregular and scanty supply of food items in these shops. The government has failed to streamline the procurement of subsidised food items in the fair price shops,” he rued.

He said the Congress before last Assembly elections had promised to restore the industrial package if voted to power, but failed to fulfill its commitment. Now the industrialists were being advised to become self-reliant and forget the package.

“The government has stopped 20 per cent DA instalment of employees and backed out its earlier promise of giving 4-9-14 benefits from 2006 by committing it from 2012,” he added.

Dharamsala, October 20
Verifiers from Germany will visit Himachal to quantify the carbon credits generated under the mid-Himalayan project being run under the aegis of the World Bank.

Sources said a team of verifiers would arrive in Himachal on October 24 and visit various spots developed across the state, including 14 spots under the Dharamsala circle, developed as per the directions under the carbon credit earning scheme, under the mid-Himalayan project.

Director of the project at Dharamsala Pavnesh Sharma said if the areas developed under the carbon credit scheme were approved, it would be the first such successful scheme in the country.

Under the scheme, any kind of earning made from the scheme would be passed on to the stakeholders or the villagers who have participated in maintaining the green areas developed under carbon credit scheme.

The carbon credit scheme was much publicised during the stint of previous BJP government in power.

Shimla, October 20
Hanan Mulla, Secretary of the All-India Kisan Sabha, today demanded cheap loans and inputs at subsidised costs to enable them to compete with imported farm produce.

Addressing a press conference here, he said the domestic market had been flooded with highly subsidised produce from abroad and agriculture was fast becoming an unviable proposition in the country, particularly for small and marginal farmers.

The farmers were not getting remunerative returns for their produce and their distress was reflected in the fact that over three lakh farmers had committed suicide during the past 10 years.

The eight-time MP from Howrah (West Bengal) maintained that agriculture was in a deep crisis and if no corrective steps were taken, it would spell doom for the 70 per cent population which was dependent on it. The government should take steps to ensure that farmers get loans at 4 per cent interest and provide subsidised inputs to them to bring down the cost of production which had increased by several times.

They were not getting their due even through the support price mechanism. The Swaminathan Committee had recommended that the minimum support should be worked out on the basis of “cost plus 50 per cent” formula which was not being followed and the farmers were not even getting the cost.

The situation became worse as over 60 per cent farmers took loans from private lenders and only about 40 per cent approached banks.

The Food Security Act would not help in providing succour to the needy and the only way out was to support small farmers to help boost agriculture production which would ensure food security.

Bilaspur, October 20
The government has spent Rs 10.22 crore under the Horticulture Technical Mission in the district during the last three years and Rs 1 crore has been spent under the National Agriculture Development Plan for development of horticulture and agriculture here.

This was said by state Planning Development and 20-Point Programme Implementation Committee chairman Ram Lal Thakur while inaugurating a two-day horticulture training camp at Brahm Pukhar, 17 km from here today.

He exhorted farmers to give special attention towards cash crops which had potential to change their financial position soon with the same efforts which they had been putting in for traditional crops.

He said steps would be taken to start the cold storage facility for helping farmers during off-season for fruits and vegetables.

He said government had sanctioned Rs 30 lakh for constructing the Sabzi Mandi building at the Jukhala valley and as soon as the land would be finalised, work would start on this project.

Thakur distributed Rs 6,07,344 to 86 farmers for employing various modern techniques for increasing their produce.

Deputy Director, Horticulture, Dr Shashi Sharma, Deputy Director, Agriculture, Dr GC Lakhanpal and other specialists and scientists Dr KS Varma, Dr Munish Sharma, Dr Kamal Sharma, Dr Som Dev Sharma, Dr Vinod Sharma and Dr RL Sandhu also addressed the camp.

Billing (Palampur), October 20
An international paragliding competition will be organised at Billing (Baijnath) from October 24 to 30 by the Paragliding World Cup Association (PWCA).

This was disclosed by Sudhir Sharma, Urban Development Minister, who is also president of the Billing Paragliding Association. He told reporters here today that this event was being organised after a gap of five years and around 200 pilots all over the world were expected to participate in the mega event. Sharma said Bir Billing was the second largest site after Dras in South Africa for paragliding. He also released a logo for the event.

Sharma said this event had been granted the status of Pre-Paragliding World Cup and the overall first prize of Rs 2.5 lakh and second and third prizes of Rs 2 lakh and Rs 1.5 lakh, respectively, would be given to the winners.

There would also be separate prize categories for Indian Class, Women Class, Sport Class and Best Newcomer.

The Billing Paragliding Association was the overall organiser of the event, which was supported by the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Department. He stated that 164 paragliders had already confirmed their participation. Of total 164, eight international male participants were among the top 100 in the world and three of the international women contestants were among the top 20 in the world.

Sharma claimed that for the first time a 23-carat Gold Medal would be awarded in any sporting event in the world to the overall winner which would be given by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh who had agreed to be the chief guest for the concluding ceremony to be held at Bir on October 30.

He also said all standard safety measures were being adopted which included a helicopter on standby, over 20 ambulances with full medical teams on takeoff and landing points. Besides, 25-strong mountain rescue teams had been kept on standby.

Shimla, October 20
The CPM has urged the Centre to promulgate an ordinance to set up regulatory bodies to protect the interests of students and enforce UGC norms.

In a statement here today, member of the state secretariat of the party Tikender Panwar said the ordinance should take care of all aspects to offset the impact of the verdict of the high court, which quashed the state Private Educational Institutions (Regulatory) Commission Act as unconstitutional, and effectively protect the students from exploitation by private institutions. He urged the state government to take up the matter with the Congress-led UPA regime for promulgating the ordinance.

The party asserted that its widespread implications on the higher education in the private sector would put a big question mark on the credibility of the entire education system.

The facts that how private institutions, especially private universities, had been violating the norms was not hidden from anyone and with the UGC in no position to enforce the norms, the entire system of higher education had been denigrated.

There had been cases where three important components of higher learning, the faculty, admission procedure and fees structure, had been kept at bay and these universities were being run at the whims and fancies of the owners who had placed themselves either as pro-chancellors or even chancellors.

It was time that the UGC was taken to task for not enforcing the norms and so that the quality of education was maintained. With no mechanism left to regulate the private universities, it could be a free-for-all like situation as was the case before the commission was set up.

Students were admitted after Class X in open defiance of the UGC norms and admissions of ineligible students continued throughout the year. The government could not be reduced to a facilitator for sale of fake degrees.

Kangra, October 20
Laboratory technicians, running their own medical laboratories in different parts of the state, have expressed concern over the signing of an MoU between the state government and the Super Rallis Laboratory (SRL) for outsourcing laboratory activities of government hospitals, including the DRPGMC, Tanda, and the IGMC, Shimla, to the SRL and demanded the scraping of the MoU.

Gulab Singh Thakur, state general secretary, All-India Medical Laboratory Technicians Association, and Col Shakti Chand (retd), state president, National Consumer Awareness group, in a joint press conference here today raised this demand. They said 15,000 trained medical laboratory technicians (MLTs) were running laboratories in the state, and this government MoU would renders them jobless.

They alleged that 1,500 posts of MLT were lying vacant in different hospitals and two medical colleges of the state and if these posts were filled, laboratory activities would improve and there would be no need to outsource these.

They said if the government was adamant on outsourcing this activity, why were local firms not invited for this activity which could help in generating employment opportunities for local trained MLTs. They also said the government could fix up a rate list at par with government laboratories to help both patients and technicians.

They alleged that the DRPGMC, Tanda, and other hospitals would be collection centres only and the SRL would have its main centre in a private hospital complex here.

Shanky, a postgraduate MLT, alleged that he had approached the SRL for job, but they were paying only Rs 5,000, thus allegedly exploiting trained MLTs of the state for their own interests.

Both the leaders demanded that Chief minister Virbhadra Singh and Health Minister Kaul Singh Thakur should scrap the MoU with the SRL and sign it with local laboratories or fill up the vacancies to improve quality of laboratory work in hospitals.

The state government had to sign the MoU with the SRL as doctors were forcing patients to get tests conducted from private laboratories instead of from hospitals and medical colleges. The new MoU would stop this practice and the SRL would conduct all tests within the hospitals.

Nurpur, October 20
Frequent power failure and tripping in the town and its surrounding areas has become a daily routine for the past many days, thanks to the apathy of the state electricity board. There is a lot of resentment among consumers. The power cuts have also hit trading activities in the town this festive season.

The local cloth, bangle, cosmetic dealers and goldsmiths rued day-long power failure yesterday, just three days before Karwa Chauth, when women customers thronged markets for shopping.

Nurpur Beopar Mandal president Ashwani Suri said the local electricity board authorities used to claim regular and timely maintenance. Such breakdowns were never experienced in the past, he added.

SK Sharma, Executive Engineer, HPSEB, Nurpur, said Saturday’s power breakdown was at 220-MW Bodh substation, whereas the station authorities said the power failure was due to mechanical fault in the station, which could be rectified by evening.