Shimla, October 22
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh administered the oath of office and secrecy to MLA from Karsog Mansa Ram as Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) here today.

The oath was administered this morning at a simple ceremony held at the state Secretariat. Officiating Chief Secretary P Mitra conducted the proceedings. With the induction of Mansa Ram, the total number of CPS in the Congress regime has gone up to eight.

Mansa Ram was a Minister for Forest and Social Welfare in the Dr YS Parmar government from 1972 to 1977. He was again made a Minister for Panchayati Raj in the Congress government headed by Thakur Ram Lal in 1982. Later, he joined the Virbhadra government as Power and Animal Husbandry Minister.

Mansa Ram is perhaps the only legislator to have been a minister with all Chief Ministers except Shanta Kumar. Following the formation of the Himachal Vikas Congress (HVC) by former Union Minister Sukh Ram, Mansa Ram won on the HVC ticket in 1998. With the BJP-HVC forming a coalition government, Mansa Ram was rewarded with a cabinet berth and was given the Food and Civil Supplies portfolio.

The oath ceremony was attended by ministers and senior officials.

Shimla, October 22
Arun Singh, son of former Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition Prem Kumar Dhumal, today said he was willing to answer each and every question pertaining to corruption and land deals levelled against him and his family by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.

In a statement here, he accused the Chief Minister of unleashing political vendetta against him, his father PK Dhumal and brother Anurag Thakur, MP and president of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA). “People of the state are still awaiting a reply from you and your wife with regard to the Rs 3.90 crore loan taken by you both,” he said.

Arun said nobody was going to gain from the politics of vendetta. “I only hope that he will give up his vindictive approach and start afresh with development agenda, in the interest of the state and its people,” he said.

He added that Virbhadra had got a chance to serve the people of the state once again and he must not waste time targeting his political opponents.

Shimla, October 22
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today said as an individual, he had every right to raise a loan and Leader of the Opposition PK Dhumal must clarify which section of the law he had violated by doing so.

Talking to mediapersons here after inducting Mansa Ram as Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS), Virbhadra said he had committed no offence by taking a loan from an individual, as it was his right like any other person.

"There is nothing to hide as I have filed my income tax returns and given all details of income in the election affidavit, so where is the question of any wrongdoing," he stated.

He said he did not have any enmity with Dhumal or his family, but some people were trying to create hostility between them, including some mediapersons. "Every other day, there is a statement issued against me by non-entities, which is clear attempt to divert public attention from the alleged irregularities in the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) being probed by the Vigilance Bureau," he remarked.

He warned that under such circumstances, he would be forced to file a defamation case against such people levelling baseless allegations against him.

Virbhadra also rubbished allegations levelled against him that the Chief Secretary, who suffered a brain stroke, had been under tremendous pressure. "It does not behove a leader of Dhumal's stature to issue baseless statements," he said.

He also said the probe being undertaken by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau in the phone-tapping case would be complete within a month. "All those persons whose names figure in the case will not be spared," he remarked.

The Chief Minister did not rule out the possibility of inducting more CPS in future. "I am in favour of announcing candidates for the coming Lok Sabha elections from all four parliamentary seats at the earliest so that they get enough time to campaign," he opined.

Shimla, October 22
The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) today demanded the reversal of the recent decision of the state Health and Family Welfare Department to outsource emergency medical tests to a private company in state-run hospitals, failing which it would be forced to launch a statewide agitation.

In a statement here, Tikender Panwar, Member, Secretariat, CPM, termed the step as a blatant violation of the spirit of public health. “This is another step towards privatising health services in the state. The BJP regime started with outsourcing tests like ECG and the incumbent Congress government has gone a step ahead by handing over all the emergency medical tests to a private company,” he lashed out.

He said this would be detrimental to the interests of people as they would be forced to pay more for health services. “It seems the government has abdicated from its responsibility of providing affordable and good services to its citizens and has virtually forgotten the slogan Health for All,” said Panwar.

He said this was very evident from the bare perusal at the present functioning of the Rogi Kalyan Samitis that had amassed enormous wealth from poor people of the state and spent funds to support only minimal infrastructure in their respective hospitals. “From the figures collected from Indira Gandhi Medical College, Shimla, for the period from January 1, 2013, to October 21, 2013, the total money collected from various tests like blood bank and laboratory charges is a whopping Rs 1.81 crore,” he said.

Panwar said it was this money which happened to be the target for outsourcing of labs throughout the state and this would be further compounded by the additional private tests that were done by these companies which once again would be borne by the common people of the state.

Bilaspur, October 22
Both Central and state governments have started 147 projects and schemes for the welfare of people and also for faster development of the state and people should take advantage of all these schemes.

This was said by Chief Parliamentary Secretary Rajesh Dharmani while addressing a largely attended public meeting at Bhadsi under the Gatwaad panchayat after redressing grievances of people of several gram panchayats about 70 km from here on Sunday.

He said drinking water was the main problem of Ghumarwin and the government had sanctioned Rs 2.24 crore for construction of 28 drinking water tanks.

He said the Chief Minister had announced filling of 2,000 posts of Lines Man and Team Mates in the electricity board and this would help in removing several complaints of villagers regarding electricity.

He announced installing of a hand pump and Rs 2.50 lakh for a stonewall on a link road and Rs 3 lakh for Mahila Mandal Bhawan at Bhadsi.

Dharamsala, October 22
The Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme, in which the subsidy for LPG cylinders is being transferred directly to the accounts of beneficiaries, is not working well for consumers in Himachal. The consumers are getting LPG cylinders Rs 28 costlier.

Ram Kumar of the Dari area near Dharamsala said he got his Aadhaar card linked with the bank account for getting subsidy for LPG cylinders. However, he was getting cylinder Rs 28 costlier under the scheme.

The people, who had not linked their Aadhaar cards with bank accounts, were getting LPG cylinders for Rs 448. However, since he had completed the formalities for the scheme, he was getting cylinder at Rs 1,097. An amount of Rs 611 was transferred into his account as subsidy. This means that he got a cylinder for Rs 486, Rs 28 costlier than what others were getting.

Ram Kumar said Enquiries from LPG agencies revealed that Rs 28 had been cut as transaction charges by banks that were transferring the cash subsidy to the accounts of the beneficiaries.

The consumers are alleging that since the government is transferring cash subsidy to their account, banks should not charge transaction charges or the government should pay it. They have also threatened to move the consumer court.

Sources also said there were 2,80,492 consumers in the state of which 63,122 had submitted the documents to their gas agencies which was just 22 per cent of the total consumers.

A total of 2,17,370 consumers were yet to submit the documents. The problem was that a majority of people in rural areas did not have bank accounts.

The district administration has maintained that it has appointed nodal officers at subdivisional level for Aadhaar enrolment. Forty machines have been deployed for the purpose.

In Kangra, the scheme was launched on September 1. The people are getting LPG cylinders Rs 28 costlier than those who have not completed the formalities.

Since the Supreme Court has ruled that Aadhaar card is not mandatory for subsidy for LPG, people have stopped linking their cards for DBT scheme. 

Solan, October 22
The erring management of the Panjhera-based pharmaceutical unit, GBS Pharma, falling under Nalagarh subdivision, which had failed to appear before the Drug Controller after its illegally manufactured drugs were confiscated by the Punjab police, was today served a show-cause notice to appear before the authorities within 10 days or face suspension of the manufacturing licence.

The unit management had earlier been served notices to appear before the drug control administration by October 21, along with their manufacturing records, and these notices had been pasted on the unit gate after its premises were found closed by the authorities.

Drug Controller Navneet Marwaha said two copies of the show-cause notices had been sent to the unit as well as the residential address of the unit owner.

The Ludhiana police was yet to arrest the owners of this unit which comprised a father-son duo who were at large ever since a huge cache of illegally manufactured drugs bearing the labels of GBS Pharma were confiscated. Though the unit’s manufacturing licence was valid till 2014, it was indulging in manufacturing illegal drugs for which it had no authorisation from the drug control administration in Baddi.

Drugs worth Rs 1.43 crore had been confiscated by the Ludhiana police and these were being illegally sold after being manufactured bypassing various norms of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act. 

Sissu/Manali, October 22
Rohtang tunnel engineers have been struggling with the cracks and loose strata in the 35-metre-long stretch that caved in at 1,800 metre inside the tunnel at the north portal from the Sissu side last week.

The collapse of loose strata and cracks in the stretch has come as a blow to the project Rohtang in the snowbound Lahaul-Spiti, where the work is heading for close by November 30 due to the coming winter.

S Ranjan, Secretary, Buildings and Roads Department, inspected the Rohtang tunnel four days ago. "The water ingress and loose rocks have become problems, putting brakes on the speed of work," engineers said.

But the Rohtang project authorities termed the falling of loose strata not a major issue. But the boring work from the north portal was halted for a few days and has been resumed now, claimed tunnel engineers.

But insiders said the workers were clearing the debris and the lining work was in progress.

“Earlier, we used to excavate about 5-metre tunnel every day, but the speed has come down”, revealed workers.

The work speed on the south portal from Dhundi side in Manali has come down to about just 1.5 metre a day due to the Seri Nullah water ingress. Going by the present speed of work, the project is set to miss its 2015 deadline, revealed insiders.

SP Sharma, officiating Chief Engineer, Rohtang tunnel project, said he was out of station and would be updated on the progress of tunnel work in a couple of days.

Keylong/Manali, October 22
Lahaul potato has witnessed a drop of 4 per cent in the area and about 25 per cent drop in production this year as compared to last year’s. Reason: Farmers are switching over to cash crops, whose area and production have gone up drastically for the past 10 years in the landlocked tribal belt.

The inputs from farmers, the Lahaul Potato Society (LPS) and agricultural officials revealed that farmers had got up to Rs16 a kg for potato this year in Lahaul after experiencing the worst ever two consecutive lean crop years of 2011 and 2012.

As a result, traders sold about 70,000 bags (50 kg bag) as table potato and 80,000 bags were bought by private traders this year.

About 41,000 bags were procured by the LPS this year and sold 300 metric tonnes to West Bengal as seed, said Chetan Azad, president, LPS.

This year Lahaul produced 7,858 metric tonne potato, which is about 15 per cent less than last year’s 10,500 metric tonnes, revealed officials.

Even the area under potato has decreased from 807 hectares in 2003 to 680 hectares this year - a drastic drop of 15.7 per cent in 10 years. Farmers are switching over to vegetable crops, citing “climate change and better returns and cleaner harvesting as reasons”.

In contrast, the farmers produced 44,240 metric tonne of vegetable on 2,221 hectares this year. The area under vegetable was 1,520 hectares and production was just 532 metric tonnes in 2003-04, said officials.

“The farmers now grow potato to preserve seed in the Pattan valley and the trend among farmers is the same in Chandra and Bhaga valleys as they cultivate vegetables, including peas, cauliflower and cabbage”, said Narbu Barongpa, a local farmer.

The potatoes farmers of Lahaul-Spiti faced a crisis in 2011 when 5,000 quintals of potatoes rotted on the roadsides as the prices had hit Rs 3 kg. Even last year, the government did not announce the support price, citing code of conduct due to Assembly elections as the reason, farmers resented.

The farmers, who have given the farms on contract, produced 21.95 metric tonne of shefordi variety of potato on 21.95 hectares this year. Besides, government seed farms produced 325 quintals of foundation seed, said officials.

Bilaspur, October 22
Residents of several villages, whose lands will be acquired for fourlaning of a road, gathered at a temple at Auhar under the chairmanship of Ram Prakash Sharma and expressed resentment regarding the low land prices being fixed for the purpose about 25 km from here today.

A meeting adopted a resolution, urging Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh to intervene immediately and provide them justice.

They expressed surprise that while land at some locations were assessed at Rs 35 lakh per bigha, while in some places, it had been valued at Rs 18 lakh, Rs 15 lakh or even Rs 6 lakh per bigha, though these lands were in same village.

They urged that these lands should be acquired at the highest rate so that farmers were fully compensated.

Present on the occasion were kisan leaders Sheru Singh, Bhagat Ram, Dhani Ram, Prem Lal, Ashok Kumar, Pushpender Kumar, Dropati Devi, Chaman Lal, Balbir Singh, Ashwini Chandel, Kashmir Singh, Ranjit Singh, Raj Kumar, Hem Raj Sharma, Jagdish Kumar, Ram Krishan, Des Raj Sharma, Som Wati, Sandhya Devi, Leela Devi, Dalip Singh, Capt (retd) Pyare Lal and Bimla Rani among others.

Solan, October 22
Army Public School (APS), Dagshai, bagged the first position and APS, Ambala, the runners-up position in the Hindi debate competition held here today. Eight teams from various Army schools falling under 2 Corps participated.

The speakers were at their best in trying to convince the judges their viewpoint, while responding to the interjections by their opponent teams.

Brig HPS Dhillon, Deputy Director, Army Welfare Education Society, chief guest on the occasion, gave away prizes to the winners. While addressing the gathering, Brigadier Dhillon said Indian culture was supreme and even foreigners came to learn the rich traditions of India.

The chief guest urged the students to participate in such public speaking events as it helped infuse confidence in them.

Dr Vijay Datta, Principal, APS, Dagshai, welcomed the chief guest.

Arawali Rawat of APS, Dagshai, bagged the first position, Shubhrata Kumari of APS, Ambala, the second and Vedant of APS, Clement Town,the third. Kunjdeep Cheema of the host school was declared the best interjector.

Palampur, October 22
A five-day Innovation in Science Pursuit for an Inspired Research (INSPIRE) internship camp for 150 meritorious students from the districts of Chamba, Hamirpur and Kangra began at CSK HP Agriculture University here today.

Dr KK Katoch, Vice-Chancellor (VC), while inaugurating the camp, urged students to pursue a career in science and help the nation in creating a rich human resource pool in various branches of the science. He said the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, had initiated a number of programmes to attract young students for science and INSPIRE had been able to create a joy of learning and innovation among school students.

Dr Katoch appreciated the efforts for inviting students from remote areas of Chamba district as it was considered the most backward and needed attention of such innovative programmes.

Dr SP Sharma, Director, Research, speaking on the importance of science underlined the importance of numbers. Dr Kamlesh Singh, Dean, College of Basic Sciences, also expressed his views on science and Dr OSKS Sastri, Head, Physics Department, from the Central University, HP, delivered a keynote address.

Dr SS Kanwar, Coordinator and Head of Microbiology Department, said the university had already organised six such camps in the past benefiting around 900 students. He said students who scored 84 per cent or more marks in the matriculation examination were invited to attend such camps. This time scientists from HPU, Central University, IHBT, IIT Mandi, Panjab University and host university would be interacting with students and they would be taken around labs and each student would be provided a science kit.