Shimla, November 24
The state government has decided to formulate a comprehensive policy to facilitate conversion of various non-biodegradable wastes into energy to give push to recycling.

So far, the focus had been on reduction of non-biodegradable waste through steps such as imposition of ban on polythene carry bags and some other plastic items.

Under the new policy, the waste will be treated as a raw material for generating energy through co-processing to help replace the fossil fuel such as coal as was being done in environment conscious countries -- Norway, Sweden and Germany.

The "Waste to Energy" policy will not only take care of bio-degradable and non-biodegradable garbage, but also aim at co-processing of the used motor oil and other such wastes for producing energy.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh directed the pollution control board to carry out the ground work for preparing a policy on the basis of the report submitted by a team comprising its Chairman Kuldeep Pathania and Member Secretary Vineet who visited various European countries to study co-processing of wastes to produce energy.

In Norway, the thermal substitution to replace coal with alternative fuels in cement plants has been achieved to the extent of 40 per cent and the target was to increase it to 60 per cent.

"The waste-to-energy programme has been so successful that countries such as Sweden are importing non-biodegradable garbage to use it as alternative fuel," said Vineet Kumar.

In Himachal, there was tremendous scope for thermal substitution as there were three cement plants and some more were under way.

Thermal substitution was carried out first in the calciner and thereafter in the kiln. Meat and bone meal (also called animal meal) and waste motor oil were being used in several cement kilns in western Europe, he said.

In cities such as Malmo, 60 per cent of the heating energy and transport fuel was generated from waste. The hybrid vehicles used biogas along with conventional diesel and petrol.

Efforts will be made to set up small facilities to produce energy from non-biodegradable and biodegradable wastes by involving the municipal bodies and power companies which have enough funds to spend to fulfil their corporate social responsibility.

'Gold' from garbage
Waste will be treated as raw material for generating energy under a policy
The waste-to-energy programme is successful in countries such as Sweden, Norway and Germany
In cities such as Malmo, 60 per cent of the heating energy and transport fuel is generated from waste

Shimla, November 24
Residents of the Gorkhu Lodge locality in the city yesterday accused the Shimla Municipal Corporation (MC) of shielding its former junior engineer (JE) in connection with the erection of a wall on the road blocking movement of public on the road there.

They lodged a complaint against the former JE of the corporation on November 18 and met the Municipal Commissioner yesterday again, but the wall was not removed and the point of turning was not made smooth for ambulances and other vehicles.

Complainants Ramesh Sehgal, Ramesh Sharma, Rakesh Dutt, Roshan Lal and Daleep Verma said the corporation had demarcated a spot for turning, but the former JE had raised the wall, blocking the movement of the traffic.

It is the only turning point there and the corporation has maintained it and filled it with debris to make it wider, they said. But the ex-JE claims that the plot belongs to him, they charged.

Municipal Commissioner Amarjeet Singh said they had sought a report from the SDO on Monday.

Shimla, November 24
The government yesterday issued a notification to acquire the heritage Bantony building which attracted the attention during the previous regime after reports that it was being purchased by a London-based businessman.

The Congress government had decided to acquire the prime property located in the heritage zone close to The Mall for setting up a museum. The Congress had, while in the Opposition, made it part of its “Himachal on Sale” agenda.

A fine specimen of the imperial architecture, crowned with sloping roofs with mini-towers, the elegant structure has been in neglect. It housed the offices of the state Police Department till it was vacated. Thereafter, reports of sale surfaced and the Congress and the CPM made it a big issue. The owners planned to convert it into a luxury hotel after the deal fell through. Some repairs were also carried out to the crumbling structure.

The acquisition was high on the agenda and the proceedings have been started by the Language, Art and Culture Department. This is not the first time that a move has been initiated to acquire the building. Attempts had been made thrice in the past between 1968 and 1996 but in vain.

Mandi, November 24
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mandi, is assessing the impact of MGNREGA and changes effected by the scheme in Mandi district by conducting a survey of several panchayats of the district.

The assessment work is being undertaken to study the impact of the scheme on the economy and livelihood of the beneficiaries for the District Rural Development Agency and the IIT Mandi and the agency have signed a memorandum of understanding in this regard.

The IIT has already started a survey and teams of the researchers are visiting three panchayats each in three blocks of the district, which are Mandi Sadar, Seraj and Dharampur.

Nine panchayats, Shiva Badar, Nablai, Kot Dhar, Bali Chowki, Thachi, Kukla, Barchhwad, Rakhod and Paplog, are being covered under the survey and its report would be completed by March 2014.

The main thrust of this survey will be on studying the changes in lives and economy of the beneficiaries from MGNRGA with special emphasis on people belonging to poor families from the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Castes, etc.

The changes in social life in spreading education, improvement in lives of women, problems being faced in implementing the scheme are being studied.

The problems in finding workers and changes and economic change in lives of women are some of the other key points of this study.

Project Officer, District Rural Development Agency, Bhawna Sharma said the survey was being conducted by IIT researchers. This could also be used for the implementation of this scheme.

Coordinator of the survey team Assistant Professor Raman Thakur said they had already begun the work and would submit a detailed survey report on the impact of MGNREGA in Mandi district.

Shimla, November 24
The state BJP has questioned the indifferent attitude of the Congress government over the quashing of the Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Commission by the high court and alleged that it was not serious about it.

Spokesperson of the party Ganesh Dutt, in a statement here today, said while in the Opposition, the Congress made a hue and cry about the irregularities in private universities, but after coming to power it seemed least interested in regulating these institutions.

He alleged that the government did not present its case effectively in the high court which quashed the commission.

Further, the government had not shown any urgency in filing appeal against the order in the apex court. Private universities were indulging in all sorts of irregularities and complaints were piling up but the government was a mute spectator. He wanted to know the reasons for the party, which accused the BJP regime of opening teaching shops, not taking any action in the matter.

The attitude of the government had exposed the dual face of the Congress as it was doing exactly opposite of what it had promised during the elections.

It had alleged that the BJP government had doled out one lakh bigha of land to private universities but in the Vidhan Sabha it stated that no land had been given. The misinformation campaign of the Congress had been exposed.

The party had alleged that BJP regime had put Himachal on sale but the facts were otherwise.

During 2003-07, the then Congress government gave permissions to 2,398 persons to purchase 18,500 bigha of land, whereas during the previous BJP regime (2007-12) permission for only 14,000 bigha of land was granted to 1,649 persons.

The Congress should offer a public apology for misleading the people of the state on these crucial issues.

Shimla, November 24
A 19-year-old student, identified as Lucky, suspected to be a drug addict, died after he fell from a road near Nav Bahar, 30 m into the gorge, last night. He was accompanied by his friends suspected to be under the influence of some kind of inhaler drug. However, the police has ruled out any foul play. The police and Fire Brigade men pulled out his body from the gorge.

DSP, City, Pankaj Sharma said the postmortem was done at the IGMC and the report awaited. The body was handed over to his relatives. — TNS

Kangra, November 24
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today announced that Rajput and Brahmin kalyan boards would be chaired by him.

The Chief Minister made the announcement during a function organised by the Rajput Kalyan Trust on unveiling the statue of Maharana Pratap in the Rajput Sabha complex here.

The Chief Minister said it was a long-pending demand of the Rajput community to constitute a Rajput Kalyan Board.

Earlier, the Chief Minister unveiled the statue of Maharana Pratap. Tek Chand Thakur, president of the trust, said the statue was made by artist Faqir Chand Parida of Haridwar. Parida, who had made the 25 foot-high statue in four months, was honoured by the Chief Minister. Kuldeep Thakur, Chairman of the trust, welcomed him.

Kewal Singh Pathania, vice-chairman, HPFC, thanked the Chief Minister.

Later, the Chief Minister laid the foundation stone of the ITI at Dhulatpur, 10 km from here, which will be constructed at a cost of Rs. 3.81 crore and completed within two years.

He also announced that science classes would be started in Government Senior Secondary School, Dhaulatpur, from the next academic session, a separate science block building in the school and 25 hand pumps in Changer areas of the Kangra constituency.

Those present there included BBL Butail, Assembly Speaker, ministers GS Bali and Sujan Singh Pathania, besides MLAs Sanjay Rattan, Ajay Mahajan, Jagjeevan Paul and others.

Hamirpur, November 24
Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) president Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has accused Anurag Thakur, president, Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA), of allegedly converting the cricket body from a society into a company so that people could not access information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

Talking to mediapersons here yesterday, the HPCC president said, “The move to convert the HPCA from a society into a company has been taken by Anurag Thakur to curtail transparency in its functioning. Since the HPCA is getting huge grants from the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) and earning crores by organising IPL matches in the state, people have every right to seek information under the RTI Act about its (HPCA) accounts.”

Defending the recent action taken by the state government against the HPCA, Sukhu said, “The HPCA was given land on lease for constructing cricket stadiums at Dharamsala, Amtar and a few other places as the organisation was registered as a society as per norms for giving land on lease to a society. But Anurag illegally converted the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee into a company to keep its affairs clandestine to hinder transparency.”

He said people had every right to know as under what circumstances the decision was taken. 

Shimla, November 24
The Himachal Government has made a strong plea for keeping liquor, petrol and diesel out of the ambit of Goods and Service Tax (GST).

Excise and Taxation Minister Prakash Chaudhary raised the issue at the meeting of Empowered Committee of Finance Ministers of the States on Goods and Service Tax held in Shillong recently.

He called for a provision for levying service tax along with GST on tobacco. He also urged the Centre to grant concessions to the state under special provisions.

Shimla, November 24
The state has achieved near elimination stage of leprosy and also brought tuberculosis under control with more than 88 per cent cure rate.

Stating this while presiding over the 17th annual conference of the North Zone Indian Association of Preventive and Social Medicine here last evening, Health Minister Kaul Singh said the health indicators of the state were far better than the national average, including birth rate, crude death rate, infant mortality rate, fertility rate, and the state had highest levels of institutional deliveries in the country. He said the achievements of the state in family planning were high and encouraging.

The Health Minister said all schoolchildren were being examined once in a year through health camps and the process was being expanded to all the children registered in the anganwari centres. Free medical treatment was being given to all children in the age group of 0-18 years in case of critical ailments and disability.

He said the state had gone for a major expansion of ambulatory services under the National Ambulance Scheme and it was the first in the country to provide inter-facility transfer of critical patients. The state had expanded the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna to cover an additional 1.5 lakh families, including MGNREGA workers, during the current year, he said. It was one of the few states providing a cover of Rs 1.75 lakh in case of critical ailment, he added.

The health budget of the state had been increased by 24 per cent and efforts were on to provide more facilities to health institutes up to the village level. The IGMC, Shimla, was being upgraded at a cost of Rs 140 crore and a new OPD complex and administrative block would be constructed in the hospital. A new 100-bedded facility for KNH, Shimla, was coming up at a cost of Rs 16.5 crore and upgrade of Cancer Centre at a cost of Rs 45 crore was also underway, the minister said.

Besides, efforts were on to make super-speciality block at DRPGMC, Tanda, functional within this financial year, he said.

The conference is being attended by more than 250 delegates of 26 medical colleges of nine states and more than 60 papers will be read during the conference. 

Shimla, November 24
Himachal Pradesh has emerged as a role model for smoke-free and tobacco-free states in the country when it comes to dealing with tobacco-related prime risk factors causing preventable lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, respiratory and vascular diseases both among males and females.

But with this comes the warning that Himachal should not allow relapse by way of letting the anti-smoking tempo lose steam and the law should be enforced at public places.

About 35 per cent adults in the country use tobacco and about 20 per cent are smokers as per a cursory countrywide survey, says the note of caution.

Cigarettes, bidis, pipes, cigars and gutkas increase the risk of dying from cancers of the lung, oesophagus, larynx and oral cavity, said experts.

Talking to The Tribune on the sidelines of the 17th annual conference of north zone Indian Association of Preventive and Social Medicine at the Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC), Shimla, organised by the Department of Community Medicine here yesterday, Dr Nevin C Wilson, Regional Director, Union of South-East Asia, said, "The Himachal model for a tobacco-free state has emerged as a role model for the entire country. Shimla city has been declared smoke-free and Una district is 80 per cent tobacco-free. The movement is picking up in the state."

"But there is no room for complacency. The movement should pick up steam and trickle down to the district level into rural Himachal as well," said Dr Wilson.

Himachal Pradesh has banned gutkas and smoking in public places and law-enforcement agencies should ensure that violators are punished and fear factor pays dividends well, he observed.

He cited different studies around the globe indicating how tobacco was a prime risk factor in a host of diseases — Preventable lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, respiratory and vascular diseases both among males and females. Professor and Head, Department of Community Medicine, IGMC, and organising secretary of the NZ-IAPSM, said the ban on smoking was effective as even chronic smokers seek intervention mainly in the city as they fear punishment.

Shimla, November 24
With the Bilaspur lok adalat awarding compensation amounting to Rs 1.48 crore in 1,493 cases, the national lok adalats in the state came as a long-awaited relief to 16,316 road accident victims, who got compensation totalling Rs 5.52 crore in 16,316 motor accident claims settled by lok adalats in the state yesterday.

According to figures available with The Tribune, the national lok adalats in the state took up 40,701 cases in different district lok adalats, including the High Court. Of these, 16,316 cases were settled by the lok adalats and resulted in award of Rs 5.52 crore compensation.

The national lok adalats were held in the state yesterday under executive Chairperson of the HP State Legal Services

Authority (HPSLSA) Justice Dev Darshan Sud, who is also judge of Himachal High Court. The lok adalats were conducted under the aegis of the National Legal Services Authority of India to clear the backlog of cases in different courts across the country.

Member secretary, HPSLSA, Varinder Singh said the settled cases were one to 10 years old.

The Bilaspur lok adalat, headed by Rajiv Bhardwaj, District and Sessions Judge, Bilaspur, has seven benches in Bilaspur and Ghumarwin. These took up 2,427 cases pending under the Motor Vehicle petition claims over the years and settled 1,493 cases, said sources.

The High Court lok adalat awarded compensation worth Rs 1.24 crore in accident claims. The 17 benches of the High Court took up 1,381 cases and settled claims in 119 cases.

The Mandi lok adalat took up 2,897 motor vehicles accident claim cases and decided compensation of Rs 52.30 lakh in 2,181 cases.

The Una lok adalat took up 2,541 cases, settled 765 cases and awarded Rs 49.18 lakh as compensation to the victims. The Shimla lok adalat took up 9,267 cases, settled 1,446 cases and awarded compensation worth Rs 44.85 lakh.

The Sirmaur lok adalat took up 2,282 cases and gave compensation of Rs 36.66 lakh in 1,572 cases.

The Chamba lok adalat took up 1,858 cases and settled 1,135, awarding Rs 33.95 lakh as compensation.

The Kullu lok adalat took up 1,714 cases, settled 1481 cases and awarded Rs 31.5 lakh as compensation to the claimants. The Kangra lok adalat took up 839 cases, settled 369 cases and awarded Rs 6.50 lakh compensation.

The Kinnaur lok adalat took up 839 cases and settled 369 of them, awarding Rs 18 lakh compensation.

The Solan lok adalat took up 9,316 cases, settled 2,441 and awarded Rs 4 lakh compensation. Hamirpur took up 1,837 cases, settled 1,350 cases and awarded Rs 3.3 lakh compensation, official figures said.

Kangra, November 24
A two-day annual conference of the Continued Medical Education (CME)-cum-workshop of the Himachal Chapter of the Indian Orthopaedic Association (IOA) concluded in Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College (DRPGMC), Tanda, today.

The main thrust was laid on joint replacement in hip and shoulder, treatment of femoral shaft fractures in children, total hip arthroplasty in acetabular fracture. The CME theme was "Unite to learn and learn to unite".

Transport Minister GS Bali appreciated the working of the orthopaedic department of the Tanda hospital assured the authorities that the medical college would brought up to the level of AIIMS.

Prof Mukand Lal, Dr PN Gupta and Prof Ramesh Sen spoke on different subjects. Elaboration of spondylolisthesis was made by Prof Raj Bahadur from Chandigarh.

This evening meeting was held under the chairmanship of Dr Sandeep Vaidya, vice-president, HPIOA. The following were elected office-bearers of HPIOA unanimously. They are: president Dr Prashant Rana; president elect Dr Vipin Sharma; vice-president Dr Sandeep Vaidya; joint secretary Dr Manoj Thakur; treasurer Dr Desh Raj Chandel; member executives Dr Ramesh Chauhan (past president), Dr Paras Ram Chauhan and Dr Lokesh Thakur; Ethics Committee chairman Prof Bhanu Awasthi; and members Dr Harish Behl and Dr Gurdarshan Gupta.

Dharamsala, November 24
Supporters of Congress leader from Shahpur, Vijay Singh Mankotia, gathered at his residence yesterday to offer him birthday wishes. He cut the cake and offered fruits to patients at Shahpur hospital.

Talking to The Tribune, Mankotia said he was open to contesting the forthcoming Parliamentary poll from the Kangra Parliamentary constituency in case the Congress entrusts him the job.

He also said like hill states of the North-East, the hill states of the North, including Himachal, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand, should come together to press for their demands. A hill development council involving all the hill states of North India should be formed to expedite development in these areas.

Nurpur, November 24
The Gayatri Seva Samiti, a local voluntary organisation, distributed study material and footwears to 162 needy students of Government Senior Secondary School (Boys) here yesterday.

On the occasion, KB Sharma, president of samiti, said so far the samiti had distributed this material in 91 government schools. He asserted that this campaign would continue in future too.

Brij Bala, vice-principal of the school, exhorted other NGOs and voluntary organisations in the area to get inspired from the samiti efforts.

The samiti, a group of 50 social workers of the area, has been distributing fruits and milk to indoor patients in the local Civil Hospital on every second Saturday of the month for the past many years. Samiti claims that it undertakes its social programmes with contributions of its members.

Shimla, November 24
Group commander of the National Cadet Corps, Shimla headquarters, Brig JS Chopra Sena medal, today exhorted the students to take up National Cadet Corps (NCC) training and environmental issues besides making it a point to serve the community and the country.

Addressing a gathering on the 66th Founders Day of the National Cadet Corps celebrated at the Senior Secondary School, Portmore, today, Chopra said the NCC was growing from strength to strength and more students should join it.

After taking the ceremonial guard and drill presented by National Cadet Corps candidates, Brigadier Chopra awarded medals to 16 best candidates, including Kritika, a student of the Sacred Heart Convent (Tara Hall), who was adjudged the best candidate at the last Republic Day parade and Angezna Bhaik, a student of Portmore.

Eight National Cadet Corps officers Captain Laxmi, RKMV College, Amarjeet (Fagli), Bhim Singh (Darang), Rajesh Kaushal, Manoj Kumar, Jai Kishan, Piyar Chand and Prince Jasrotia were felicitated on the occasion.

Colonel Randhawa, girls battalion, Solan, Principal, Portmore, Nisha Bhaluni, vice-principal Deep Shikha, National Cadet Corps officer, Portmore, Indu Mehta and in charge for the function Dinesh Banchta were present.

The theme of the Founder's Day was “waste management”.

I was in Palampur recently. I stayed with the Karols who run Mother's Touch School there. In one corner of an open space, I found a playstation for kids in the name of Captain Saurabh Kalia (See photo).

Tears rolled inside me remembering the great son of Mother India who sacrificed his life at 22 so that we live safe. The Principal of the school told me that the kids playstation was raised from the funds donated by Dr NK Kalia, the father of Saurabh. The state government has developed a "Saurabh Van Vihar" here in 35 acres of land. The school, in its own way, is paying tributes through the playstation to the gallant soul. It surprises me that even the educated persons in Himachal remember Saurabh as a martyr of the Kargil war. He was much more, the first to "cry invasion" who met a torturous death. Saurabh was a brilliant student and had completed his studies in Palampur with B.Sc (Medical). Then he joined the Army.

Every Indian is proud of the heroic deeds of Captain Saurabh Kalia (See photo). We would have been sleeping and lost Kargil, had Saurabh and sepoys of the 4th Jat Regiment not been awake. He was on a routine patrol duty in the Kaksar-Langpa area of Kargil in May 1999 when he noticed large scale intrusion of the Pakistani army and guerrillas into our side of Line of Control.

He was the first Army officer to report this infiltration to the higher ups. Observing a small patrol party, Saurabh and five jawans only, Pakistanis started firing. They retaliated but ran out of ammunition and were captured. India, then, discovered the fortified positions established by the enemy on the hill-peaks. Hence, the Kargil War.

Captain Kalia and his men were in captivity for 22 days (May 15 to June 7, 1999). The bodies were handed over to India on June 9, 1999. The post-mortem on the bodies was done here and it revealed a gruesome story. There were cigarette burns on the bodies, ear-drums were pierced with hot rods, eyes were punctured before removing them, lips were cut, nose was chipped, private organs and limbs were chopped off, skulls were fractured and ultimately they were shot on the temples. All these injuries were inflicted before death.

An MP from Karnataka in the Rajya Sabha Rajeev Chandrashekhar, about two years ago, had raised the question of the brutal killing of Captain Saurabh Kalia by the Pakistan army and desired action under the Geneva Convention. The 1945 Convention reads: "Prisoners of war must, at all times, be humanly treated. Any unlawful act or omission by the Detaining Power causing death or seriously endangering the health of a prisoner of war in its custody is prohibited, and will be regarded as a serious breach of the present convention. In particular, no prisoner of war may be subjected to physical mutilation."

The stand of the government is that it is bound by the "Simla Agreement 1972", which states that all differences between the two nations are to be peacefully settled through bilateral negotiations. A letter to this effect from the Defence Ministry has recently been received by the parents of Saurabh. Dr Kalia asks the questions, "Where was the Simla Agreement when the Kargil War broke out? Is war an outcome of bilateral talks?"

The first clause of the Simla Agreement is, "That the principles and purposes of the Charter of United Nations shall govern the relations between the two countries." And the preamble of the Charter of UN inter-alia reads: "We the peoples of the United Nations determined to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human persons."

Are dignity and worth of human persons maintained by barbarous torture of PoWs? Secondly, the Simla Agreement is silent about the treatment of PoWs. "My question is; does another accord (Geneva Convention) step in when an accord (the Simla Agreement) is silent about a specific cause (torturing of PoWs)? Only a legal luminary can answer it. Saurabh's parents have already knocked the doors of the Supreme Court and we all wish a just verdict.

TAILPIECE
They may torture my body, break my bones, even kill me. They will have my dead body, but not my obedience
- Mahatma Gandhi

Manali, November 24
A two-day-long mountain biking event organised by ‘Trail ‘n’ Dust’ concluded at Kais village after passing through a 45 km-long mountainous trail today.

As many as 27 riders, including two German riders, participated in the event. Famous rallyist Suresh Rana flagged off the event from Sarsai village. Sunil Barongpa won the first prize, while Ramesh Jogi finished at second and Lobzang Barongpa occupied the third place.

Naveen Barongpa and Anil Kumar from Kullu and Vineet Sharma from Chandigarh were the organisers of the event. Sarah and Lousia from Germany participated in the event. Sarah is taking part in this mountain biking event for the third consecutive year.

The organisers were aiming at using the least used old routes for biking, which is an eco-friendly adventure sport. They said organising such events would draw the attention of mountain bikers from all over the world which would not only promote local tourism but also motivate youth to go in for nature-friendly sports. 

Dalhousie, November 24
Students of Dalhousie Public School, Dalhousie, have been awarded 12 gold medals by the University of New South Wales, Australia, for securing top positions in various subjects in Himachal Pradesh.

This educational assessment test for 2012 was conducted by the University of New South Wales for which the results have been made available now.

Kumar Kartikay, a student of the school, has won four gold medals in English, Science, Mathematics and Computer Science.

The University of New South Wales, Australia, conducts such tests in almost 17 countries of the world. In India, these tests are arranged under the aegis of Macmillan Publishers Limited. The students gave the credit of the achievement to their teachers and parents.

Nurpur, November 24
The Judicial Magistrate, Nurpur, on Friday convicted a man booked by the local police in forgery, theft and IT crimes in two different cases during the past one year.

Assistant District Attorney ML Sharma said Krishan Chand of Uttrapur in Jaisinghpur tehsil of Kangra district, was sentenced to three years in prison and fined Rs 25,000 in two separate cases, one of drawing money from a victim’s account by using her ATM card and another of stealing an ATM card.

He said in one case, the convict had duped a woman of Indora on December 12 last year by exchanging her ATM card and PIN number. She had registered an FIR under Sections 380 and 420 of the IPC and Section 66 (C) of the IT Act on January 5 this year with the Nurpur police.

In the other case, the convict had stolen the ATM card of Charan Dass at Raja ka Talab and tried to flee, but was nabbed by local people.

A theft case was registered against him on January 2 this year by the Nurpur police. “He will have to undergo further eight months’ imprisonment if he doesn’t pay the fine awarded by the court,” he said.

Palampur, November 24
Krishi Mahotsav-2013, an agricultural festival, concluded at Chaudhry Sarvan Kumar HP Agriculture University here yesterday.

The festival was organised by the Agro Club, College of Agriculture.

Sudhir Sharma, Minister of Urban Development, distributed prizes among winners of various crop competitions and facilitated progressive farmers. He lauded the students for organising the festival to increase their interaction with farmers and understanding their problems.

He said due to hi-tech farming, some countries were producing more yield against per unit area.

“Our farmers too need to imbibe such technology which enables to produce more. Farm students should come forward to help the farmers to solve their problems speedily,” he said.

The minister also sanctioned a grant of Rs 20,000 from his discretionary fund to the Agro Club.

Jagjivan Pal, Chief Parliamentary Secretary, was the guest of honour on the occasion. He asked the farmers to be in touch with new technology to enhance crop production.

Dr KK Katoch, Vice-Chancellor, said around 600 progressive farmers from 10 districts of the state participated in the event. He said modern farming techniques could help in accelerating the agricultural growth. There was need to utilise the means of transfer of technology to every nook and corner of the state, he added.

Dr JC Rana, Director, Agriculture, said such programmes made students better managers. He also talked about various programmes undertaken by his department.

Dr PK Sharma, Dean, Agriculture College, Deepak Walia, president, Agro Club, and Ishan Walia, club secretary, also spoke on the occasion. The minister, along with the Chief Parliamentary Secretary, took a round of the exhibition.