Shimla, August 3
The state BJP Legislature Party (BJLP) will meet here on August 5 on the eve of the monsoon session of the state Assembly to chalk out a strategy to pin down the government.

It will be the first session of the Assembly after the spectacular victory of the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections and party leaders have already indicated that it will adopt an aggressive attitude.

The BJP had limited participation during the Budget session in February this year and its members either boycotted the session or disturbed the proceedings.

The Budget session was short (14 sittings) this year due to the Lok Sabha polls, but the monsoon session from August 6 to 29 will be longest ever with 16 sittings.

During the recent meeting of the state executive, the BJP had deliberated on several issues and it would raise the issues in the Assembly, besides pressing to expedite the preliminary enquiry (PE) by the CBI against the Chief Minister.

Leader of the Opposition PK Dhumal said: “Besides problems being faced by members in their constituencies due to the government’s apathy, burning issues of corruption, mining mafia, drug menace, indiscriminate transfer of officers and employees on political considerations and political vendetta against officers will be forcefully raised during the session.”

“Drug menace is a serious issue and after the exposure of the drug racket in Punjab, the matter has become very sensitive and urgent,” he said.

The state BJP has also expressed its reservations regarding extending provisions of the Town and Country Act in rural areas, non-availability of adequate rations at fair-price shops, reduction of funds for BDCs, inconsistent stand of the government on education policy, relaxations in admission to various courses and hasty implementation of RUSA. All these issues will be raised during the session.

Another sensitive issue likely to be taken by the BJP is the reported move of the government to give relaxation in Section 118 of the Tenancy and Land Reforms Act for the seventh time to benefit outsiders.

The BJP will use its victory in all four Lok Sabha seats and lead in 58 out of 68 Assembly segments as a ploy to reinforce its claim that the government has lost the mandate of the people.

Shimla, August 3
The laying of the 90-km-long Shimla-Parwanoo section of the four-lane National Highway (NH)-22 project has been delayed as the estimated cost has increased by 31.2 per cent. The reasons are the slow pace of the land acquisition process and the failure of the Ministry of Surface Transport and National Highways in giving its nod for the awarding of the project. The project aims at cutting travel time between Shimla and Chandigarh to just two hours.

The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has taken environment clearance for the project. However, slow land acquisition and the re-alignment of the highway from Kathlighat to the Dhalli-Mashobra junction, where the proposed four-lane highway will merge with the two-lane Shimla-Narkanda-Kaurik NH-22, has delayed the project.

The acquisition process is going on at a snail’s pace and a year was spent in Shimla district itself. Moreover, a portion of the Ashiana flats built for urban poor near Dhalli by the Shimla Municipal Corporation came within the highway acquired width that delayed the process further.

As a result, the NHAI and the ministry failed to complete the Shimla-Parwanoo section even four years after the project was conceived. In these four years, the project cost shot up by 31.2 per cent from Rs 2,600 crore in 2010 to Rs 3,416 crore now, said engineers concerned.

The Ministerial Internal Group has already given its approval to the project, but the NHAI awaits the final nod for the re-alignment section from the ministry.

Principal Secretary, PWD and NH, Narender Chauhan, said the “stage two” clearance was awaited from the ministry and the award for acquisition had been announced. The project would be completed in three years, he added.

Under the project, over 90 per cent of the 150 hectares of private land in 86 villages out of 91 villages has been acquired. The process to acquire land, mainly in the Dhalli-Pujarali section, is on, said project officials.

The NHAI has also cleared the acquisition of 65 hectares of forest land so far out of 100 hectares proposed to be acquired for the highway, sources revealed. All the towns and main habitations have been saved from acquisition, said NHAI engineers.

Initially, the project was to be built on a build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis as it turned out to be unviable. Now, the NHAI is building it on the engineering procurement contract basis.

Una, August 3
Una district has an overall sex ratio of 972 females per 1,000 males and ranks sixth in the state. But, the latest figures are worrisome as around 24 panchayats in the district have reported less than 500 female infants born against 1,000 male infants during the last two years.

Una block has an overall sex ratio of 978 at birth. The block has 11 panchayats with sex ratio less than 500 at birth. Amb block has an overall sex ratio of 890 at birth and has five panchayats in the red zone.

Bangana block has an overall sex ratio of at birth and has four panchayats in the red zone.

Gagret has an overall sex ratio of 915 at birth and Haroli has 922. They have three and one panchayats with sex ratio less than 500 at birth respectively. The data available with the district Health Department reveals that the Amb-Tilla panchayat in Amb block and Dangoli village have sex ratios of 111 and 167 at birth, respectively, which is alarming.

The panchayats with a sex ratio less than 350 at birth includes Tanoh (273), Dohgi (286), Kailash Nagar (300), Kutheda Kherla (318), Basal Lower, Sasan, Jhamber, Dharamsala Mahantan and Dangoh Khurd (333).

Other panchayats in the danger zone having sex ratio between 350 and 500 at birth include Changer (375), Sainsowal (389), Rampur, Karluhi and Paroian Kalan (400).

Besides, the panchayats having sex ratio of 500 include Bhatoli, Dhamandri, Dathwara, Kotla Kalan, Lalsingi, Panoh and Budhan.

The statistics prove that forced abortions are rampant and continue despite a ban on sex determination. The Health Department had also organised awareness programmes about the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT) Act, but nothing is followed.

Dr GR Kaushal, Chief Medical Officer, said efforts were being made to keep a tab on ultrasound centres.

Deputy Commissioner Abhishek Jain said the issue was shameful for society. He said he had directed the officials of the Health Department to convene a meeting of stakeholders, including panchayat pardhan, secretary, anganwari workers and local police personnel of all the 24 panchayats to discuss the social issue.

Shimla, August 3
The move of the Education Department to constitute coordination committees at two levels for the smooth implementation of the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) has come too late, feel academicians.

The meeting of government college principals convened by principal secretary (education) to clear the mess yesterday was a belated move and should have been conducted before going ahead with the implementation of RUSA, they said.

“Where is the need for coordination committees when principal secretary (education) is the chief coordinator and well versed with the situation at the university and the colleges? This belated move is only an eye wash to shift the blame for virtual collapse of RUSA in the state,” said Chaudhry Waryam Singh Bains, a four-time elected member of the Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) Executive Council.

The Project Approval Board of RUSA had approved a grant of Rs 82.54 crore to the state government in March this year, but no preparations were made and even the software which was to be provided to the Examination Branch of HPU and colleges was not ready.

A senior university teacher said: “In fact, principal secretary (education), who is looking after higher education and is also the member of the HPU’s Executive Council should have envisaged the situation in advance and intervened and acted promptly, but he did not.”

Educational institutions are in turmoil, he added.

Teachers and students are against RUSA as the university and colleges are not well-equipped and facing acute staff crunch and infrastructure. The government has no plans to fill vacant posts of teachers and non-teaching employees at colleges and HPU, but it is insisting on implementing RUSA.

Under RUSA, developmental and infrastructural grants would be availed only by those colleges which would apply for NAAC accreditation by the end of August. As many as 25 colleges were selected for the current year and they applied for NAAC accreditation after the funds were released.

An allocation of Rs 18.3 crore has been made for the creation of universities by the conversion of cluster of colleges, Rs 13 crore for a new professional college, Rs 10 crore for infrastructural grants to universities, Rs 2 crore for a new model college and Rs 25 crore as infrastructural grant for an equal number of colleges. But a detailed plan lay out for spending the money has not been provided to colleges.

Many students are up in arms as the declaration of results of some classes has been delayed by more than a month. Not only this, former Controller of Examination Narinder Awasthi, also quit the post in disgust.

Solan, August 3
With a nexus of well-connected touts facilitating easy availability of driving licences to all and sundry, without fulfilling the basic requirements, untrained drivers are getting easy licences in the district.

Inquires made by The Tribune revealed that these touts charge anything from Rs 1,500 to Rs 5,000, where after collecting the requisite documents from aspirants, they make licences within a week. Interestingly, anyone can procure these licences, which are duly registered in official files, without appearing for a driving test.

They operate through word of mouth and appear to be doing a good business as there is no dearth of people wanting to make driving licences without following the due procedures. Such touts are easily spotted in various government offices and have an easy access to the officials. Even works like the renewal of registration certificates are handled by such touts.

The easy availability of such licences is leading to untrained drivers plying vehicles on roads, thus putting others’ lives at risk. Though a driver plying a heavy vehicle is supposed to go through a proper training at an authorised driving school, cases of training certificates being handed to untrained drivers for a handsome amount are coming to the fore. Inquires made from those desirous of acquiring such licences revealed that one could get away with such training by paying money.

It is worth mentioning that a majority of the bus accidents which have occurred in the state involved either state-run buses or private buses. This directly reflects on the lack of a strict licensing system where touts appear to be running the show.

Chamba, August 3
The immersion of minjars (paddy and maize shoots) and coconut into the holy water of the Ravi by state Forest Minister Thakur Singh Bharmouri heralded the end of the eight-day international Minjar fair amid traditional performances in Chamba today.

More than one lakh people hailing from different parts within and outside the state, including tourists from neighbouring states, participated in the festivities of the Minjar fair, which is one of the major carnivals of the north-western Himalayas.

Earlier, a shobha yatra starting from the famous historical edifice of Akhand Chandi Palace passed through the main bazaars of the town and converged on the right bank of the Ravi for the immersion ceremony. The town’s presiding deity, Lord Raghuvira, was carried in a palanquin accompanied by other local deities and the insignias of Lord Manimahesh, Lakshmi Narayan and Charpat Nath.

The police and local bands fanfare, besides the Punjabi dhol presented a panoramic glimpse to the pageantry.

Various dance troops in colourful costumes gave a glorious look to the procession.

The festival symbolises the blossom of maize crop, which is a major crop and staple diet of people of this mountainous region.

People pray to seek blessings for a good harvest.

Men, women and children wear sacred golden tassel ‘minjars’ on their colourful costumes and pray to Rain God Varuna for timely rain and a bumper crop.

Chairman of HP State Pollution Control Board Kuldip Singh Pathania, vice-chairman, HP State Forest Corporation, Kewal Singh Pathania, former MLA Surinder Bhardwaj, HPCC secretary Pawan Nayyar, zila parishad chairman Amit Bharmouri, Deputy Commissioner KS Vasant, beside other district officers and people took part in the procession.

Solan, August 3
Social Justice and Empowerment Minister DR Shandil on Friday directed officials of the Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department to enhance the usage of the sewage scheme by making sewage connections compulsory within the next six months.

Peeved by the fact that barely 200 people had availed connections, the minister said it was unfortunate that the response was dismal. He directed the department officials to increase its usage by making it compulsory and said no unhygienic disposal of sewage waste should be tolerated.

Shandil, who was reviewing the progress of various development works, said those failing to avail connection should be penalised.

The sewerage scheme, aimed at providing sewerage connections to Solan, has failed to find adequate users despite the fact that several houses are openly dumping their waste in the drains.

The scheme is being executed by the IPH Department in four zones of the town at Rs 60 crore. The department had initially laid the sewage in almost 50 to 60 per cent of the town, covering prime areas such as Officers’ Colony, Madhuban Colony, Rajgarh Road, Kotla Nullah, Tank Road, Lower Bazar and Hospital Road at a cost of Rs 22 crore. The scheme was supposed to connect the entire town.

The first phase was completed in 2008 and despite the presence of 1,600 households, barely 25-30 per cent people had come forward to take connections. This had deterred the IPH department to extend the scheme to other areas of the town. Though the residents constructing new houses are coming forward to seek connections, response from the existing dwellers is rather dismal.

Interestingly, the work of a new hospital building was affected as labourers had refused to work amidst unhygienic environs where people residing in nearby buildings were openly dumping their sewage waste.

The contractor rued that despite informing the hospital management about the situation, little had been done to solve the problem, forcing them to halt the work.

Shimla, August 3
A 24-year-old pilgrim, who had lost his way while returning from Kinner Kailash, was rescued by the Kinnaur district administration last night.

Vinay, a resident of Kasauli, got separated from his friends during the yatra and went in a wrong direction between Malling Katha and Parvati Kund. When intensive search by his friends yielded no results, they informed the police.

A four-member police team started their search between Tangling village, where the trekking starts, and Malling Katha. After trekking on perilous hill tracks at a height of over 13,000 ft, they located Vinay, who had headed towards glaciers and slipped into a gorge, Kinnaur Deputy Commissioner DD Sharma said.

“His blood pressure was low and he was experiencing breathlessness when he was recovered from the gorge and any more delay in rescuing him could have cost his life dear,” he said, adding that his condition was stable and he would resume his journey back home today.

The Kinner Kailash yatra, which started on August 1, will end on August 11. On an average, 60 persons, assisted by police and Home Guard jawans, leave for the pilgrimage every day. From next year, a trust of local residents, chaired by the Kinnaur DC, will coordinate the yatra and police and ITBP canteen will be established en route for the pilgrims, Sharma said.

Mandi, August 3
Social networking sites have more influence on females than their male counterparts, reveals a study conducted by a team of teachers of the Post Graduate Government College, Mandi.

As per a survey conducted by two lecturers, Dr Praveen Sonkhla and Parinita Sharma, social networking influences the lifestyle of 62.7 per cent females, whereas it has minimal or no effect on males. Two college students Akansha Kapoor and Dhriti Mehta were members of the survey team.

The study said 65 per cent youngsters below the age of 30 did not feel any invasion of privacy and personal life while maintaining a profile on a social networking site.

However, almost an equal number of people above 30 years of age felt that social networking was an invasion on their privacy and private lives. People in the age group of 15 to 30 years spent maximum time on social networking sites, it said, adding that on an average they spent nearly 4 hours on it. Next were those who spent 3 hours on such sites on an average. People above 45 years spent about an hour, it said.

Nearly 51 per cent students were connected through social networking sites, it said adding that 63.1 per cent of teachers too were making the maximum use of these.

In all categories, the number of male users was high in comparison to females.

Suggesting precautionary measures to young users while getting connected on social networking sites, Dr Sonkhla said: “Before joining any site, users should check the legitimacy of a person or the site.” She said: “One should be careful while posting personal information on such sites. The more information you post, the easier it becomes for hackers to use that information.”

“Users should be cautious while posting messages on these sites and always make use of privacy settings. The most important thing is to understand — once posted always posted,” she added.

Kangra, August 3
The Department of AIDS Control has decided to provide life-long anti-retroviral therapy to HIV-infected pregnant and breast-feeding women, regardless of CD4 count or World Health Organisation (WHO) clinical stage, both for their own health and to prevent HIV transmission to their children. The move aims at achieving the global target of WHO to eliminate new HIV infections among children by 2015.

Dr BM Gupta, Chief Medical Officer, Kangra, today said this would also help in maximising coverage for those needing treatment for staying alive, avoiding stopping and starting of drugs with repeat pregnancies, providing early protection against mother-to-child transmission in future pregnancies and avoiding drug resistance.

He said these recommendations had the potential of reducing the risk of mother-to-child transmission to less than 5 per cent in the breast-feeding population.

Dr Gupta said mother-to-child transmission of the HIV was a major route of infection in children. However, out of an estimated 27 million pregnancies in a year, only about 52.7 per cent attend health services for skilled care during child birth in India. He said of those who availed health services, 8.83 million ANCs received HIV counselling and testing, out of which 12,551 pregnant women were detected to be HIV positive.

To enhance this coverage, universal HIV screening should be included as an integral component of routine ANC check-up, the joint directive of DACP and NRHM.

Dr S Nikhil Gupta, District AIDS Project Officer, Kangra, said without any intervention, the risk of transmission of HIV from infected pregnant women to her children was estimated to be around 20-45 per cent.

The usage of ART and single dose NVP to mother-baby pairs had shown to reduce this transmission to as low as 10 per cent. Life-long ART (triple drug regimen) had the potential of reducing the risk to 5 per cent in breastfeeding population.

Nikhil Gupta said an estimated 2.1 million (2011) People Living with HIV (PLHIV) in India, with national adult HIV prevalence of 0.27 per cent (2011). Of these, women constituted 39 per cent of PLHIV, while children less than 15 years of age constituted 7 per cent of all infections.

As on March 2013, 0.1 million HIV-positive children had been registered under the anti-retroviral therapy (ART) programme and 38,579 were receiving free ART. Between 2004 and 2013, the number of pregnant women tested annually under the Prevention of Parent-To-Child Transmission (PPTCT) programme increased from 0.8 million to 8.83 million and the reach of the services had expanded to the rural areas to a large extent.

Shimla, August 3
Eminent educationist, scholar and writer Prof Som Ranchan (82) died here on Friday night after a brief illness.

His condition suddenly deteriorated after which he was rushed to the IGMC Hospital, where he breathed his last. He was cremated here yesterday.

Often described as the “Poet of Many Voices” for mythical and mystical themes noticeable in his writings, Ranchan was also a renowned teacher, poet, scholar, literary critic, novelist and revisionist of Indian culture, literary and secular personalities.

Born in Lahore on March 1, 1932, he migrated to Shimla after Partition, along with his mother, father, three brothers and a sister, as his father was employed at the Accountant General’s office here. After struggle in early life, Ranchan started teaching in 1954 and after teaching at four colleges, he went to the US on Fulbright Fellowship (1960-1964).

Governor Urmila Singh and Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh expressed grief over his demise.

In his condolence message, the CM said Professor Ranchan was a renowned poet, scholar, literary critic, and revisionist of Indian culture, literary and secular personalities and a novelist. With the death of Ranchan, the literary world has lost a renowned scholar.”

Ranchan has created many new courses in literature and interdisciplinary studies such as, “Search for Self: East and West”, “Yoga”, and penned outstanding poetry, including “Me and Columbia”, “Christ and I”, “Mother Sarada and I” among others. His most renowned quoted poem “Blind Beggar” is also a part of curriculum in India.

Ranchan is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter who is married to veteran journalist Pankaj Vohra.

Chamba, August 3
The District Legal Services Authority organised an awareness programme on fundamental duties for teachers of government and private schools here today.

District and Sessions Judge RK Sharma presided over the function.

He said the citizens of the country should collectively abide by the fundamental duties to help build a developed nation.

He also asked the teachers to instill moral values in the coming generations.

He said an essay writing competition on fundamental duties would be organised in all the schools of the district on August 23.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Aparna Sharma, Judicial Magistrate Amardeep Singh, advocates Kiran Singh Chona, Nitin Gupta and Arun Sharma were also present on the occasion.

Mandi, August 3
A week-long Technical Education Quality Improvement-sponsored workshop on Induction Training Programme began yesterday at Jawaharlal Nehru Government Engineering College (JNGEC) Sundernagar. It was inaugurated by Prof IK Bhat, Director, NIT, Jaipur.

Dr Bhatt also lit a lamp, along with Prof Lalit Kumar Awasthi, Director-cum-Principal, JNGEC, Sundernagar, on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, Professor Bhatt delivered a lecture on the topic “Role of a Teacher in a Technical Institute”, through which he stressed the need of an all-round development of students.

He also highlighted the need of improving the quality of teaching and learning with global perspective and role of faculty in this.

Welcoming the chief guest, Professor Awasthi stressed upon the need for such programmes. His main focus was on the various jobs that needed to be performed by a faculty in an institution like JNGEC.

Dr Ajnesh Singh, coordinator of the induction programme, gave a brief introduction of the programme and highlighted the main objectives of the course.

Una, August 3
District and Sessions Judge CL Kochar today said all citizens should perform their fundamental duties as enshrined under the Constitution of the country, adding that this was a part of patriotism.

The judge was speaking at a training workshop for school teachers organised by the District Legal Services Authority at the Government College in Una.

The teachers will further impart education on fundamental rights to students in their respective institutions.

Kochar said ancient scriptures also laid stress on the need to perform our duties towards society and the nation.

The District and Sessions Judge said teachers played a great role in building the nation and it was their duty to guide children towards performing their duties towards society, adding that respect for the National Flag and the National Anthem were also our duties.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Praveen Chauhan, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Rajesh Chauhan, Judicial Magistrate Divya Jyoti and advocates Sanjeev Sharma, Seema Sharma and Manoj Rana also spoke.

Chamba, August 3
The Senior Citizens’ Welfare Society, Chamba, reiterated its demand of setting up of a senior citizens home or a day-care centre in the town.

Society president PC Oberoi submitted a memorandum to Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Dhani Ram Shandil during his visit to Chamba last week.

Oberoi said the state government had been issuing circulars and instructions in this regard. They had also formed a state policy on elderly people, which revealed that the state government was concerned about senior citizens, but nothing had been done so far.

He said the state government should take steps to implement the policy guidelines framed for the wellbeing of the elderly people.

He also appealed that the state government should undertake the task of opening day-care centres in the state.

Palampur, August 3
The Himachal Pradesh Traders’ Association and Beopar Mandal has urged Chief Minister Virbhadhra Singh to introduce a social security scheme in the form of an insurance cover for traders on a par with other states.

The association said dealers who had valued-added tax (VAT) registration, Tax Identification Number (TIN) and were paying VAT regularly to the state government should be made eligible for this scheme.

At its meeting held here recently, traders said there were over 90,000 registered dealers under VAT in the state contributing Rs 4,500 crore to the state exchequer every year.

A spokesman for the association told mediapersons that the total premium payable for the social security scheme, if implemented, would amount to Rs 45 lakh annually, which was only 0.1 per cent of the total collection of VAT and so, the government should have no problem in implementing it. He said VAT dealers in the southern states had already been given such social security.

He said the previous BJP government had agreed to provide an insurance cover to traders. Later, the matter was also placed before the state cabinet and the Assembly, where too it was approved. However, later the Congress was voted to power in the state and with the change of government, the plan failed to take off, they said.

The association asked the Chief Minister to study the scheme at length, “without making it a political issue”, and implement it immediately as it would boost tax collection.

Bharmour, August 3
To speed up development activities in remote tribal terrains of Bharmour in Chamba district, Rs 27 crore has been kept under the tribal area sub-plan during the current fiscal year.

This was stated by Forest Minister Thakur Singh Bharmouri while presiding over a meeting of the project advisory committee at Bharmour on Saturday.

Bharmouri said in addition to the tribal area sub-plan budget, huge funds were also being spent by the Union Government through Centrally-sponsored schemes and hydropower projects under construction in the tribal sub-division.

He underscored the need to the construct roads which were the lifelines of tribal residents so that transport facility could be provided in the area.

Bharmouri impressed upon the officials to carry out repair of the local bus stand and development of a parking lot near Sachuin village.

He asked the Irrigation and Public Health authorities to prepare a draft project report of the lift irrigation schemes in the Bharmour tribal subdivision.

Kangra, August 3
A 33-year-old retired Lance Naik from 3 Punjab Regiment was today arrested from Salol village for allegedly impersonating as Lieutenant Colonel and duping two youths.

On July 31, he had taken money from two youths on the pretext of providing them jobs in the Army, the police said here today.

Kangra SHO MS Manhas said Sanjay Kumar of Dameta village of Kangra district had retired from the Army one-and-a-half months ago as Lance Naik.

He used to visit Salol village where he got acquainted with the woman pradhan of the village. Manhas said on a tip-off, they rushed to the village on Sunday and nabbed him while he was wearing Lieutenant Colonel’s uniform. He said when he failed to establish his identity, he was arrested.

The SHO said Sanjay had printed a letterhead and made a rubber stamp of Major S Rathore. — OC

Kangra, August 3
A 22-year-old youth was arrested this morning for allegedly raping a minor at a school in Massal village, the police said here today.

Station House Officer (SHO), Kangra, MS Manhas said Pankaj Kumar reportedly took the 17-year-old girl of Birta village (Kangra) to Dharamsala and then to the Chamunda Devi shrine last Thursday.

Manhas said the youth took the girl to his native Massal village and allegedly raped her in a primary school building on July 31. The SHO said the next day, he took her to Baijnath, but a woman from the girl’s village recognised her and took her to her own house in Massal and on Saturday to her parents.

The girl’s parents lodged a report with the police. A case under Sections 376 and 363 of the IPC and Section 4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act has been registered.

Manhas said both Pankaj and the girl had been sent for medical examination. The investigating was on.