• VC's effigy burnt

Chamba massacre militants killed
DHARAMSALA, Dec 21 — Some of the Kashmiri militants, suspected to be involved in the Chamba massacre, have been killed in encounters with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir.

Sonia to address party camp at Nurpur
SHIMLA, Dec 21 — The AICC President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, has accepted the invitation of the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) to address a party training camp to be held at Nurpur in Kangra district soon.

Work without fear, audit officers told
SHIMLA, Dec 21 — Mrs V.S. Rama Devi, Governor, has urged the audit and accounts officers to work with fearlessness, impartiality and independence for checking and curbing public losses and strengthening the programmes and schemes of the government aimed at betterment of people.

Move to change revenue laws
PALAMPUR, Dec 21 — Mr Rajan Sushant, Revenue Minister, Himachal Pradesh today said the state government was proposing radical changes in the revenue laws.

HC passes strictures against VC
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Dec 21 — Passing strictures against the Vice-Chancellor of H.P. Agriculture University, Palampur, the Himachal High Court has quashed the admission of four candidates for the Bachelor in Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry course.

A Division Bench consisting of the Chief Justice, Mr D. Raju and Mr Justice L.S. Panta, ordered the Vice-Chancellor to bear the liability of paying Rs 10,000 as costs in the writ petition to the petitioners out of his own pocket without causing any loss to the finances of the university.

Expressing displeasure over the functioning of the university, the judges observed that they were pained to notice the sorry state of affairs in which the institution was being administered, as if it was a personal estate of a private person, who had vested interests. This calls for serious action against all those concerned, including the Vice-Chancellor.

The court asked the Chancellor to take appropriate action against all those concerned in this case, irrespective of their status or position in the university, in accordance with the law.

The petition was filed to challenge admission of four candidates, Richa Sood, Savita, Neenu Devi and Dwij Paul, who were given seats which were reserved for wards of those employees who died while in service of the university. However, in this particular petition it was pointed out that the mothers of these candidates were already given employment following the death of their husbands.

The court observed that the Academic Council and the Board of Management of the university appear to have been greatly influenced, streamlined and stage-managed by the Vice-Chancellor, who happens to be the ex-officio chairman of these bodies and principal executive and academic officer of the university.

VC's effigy burnt
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Dec 21 — The agitating members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad today burnt the effigy of the Vice-Chancellor, Dr C.L. Kundu, as a mark of protest against the failure of the Himachal Pradesh University authorities to accept their demand.

The activists of the parishad assembled in front of the Vice-Chancellor's office and started shouting slogans against the authorities. There was a minor scuffle with the policemen who tried to take away the effigy from the students.

The protesters finally had their way and set the effigy ablaze at the main chowk.

The main demand of the parishad is withdrawal in the late fee hike which has been increased from Rs 100 to 500, revaluation of answer sheets in a time-bound manner and speedy investigation of the marksheet scandal.

Meanwhile, the indefinite dharna of the parishad in the campus entered the sixth day today.

Chamba massacre militants killed
From Pratibha Chauhan
Tribune News Service

DHARAMSALA, Dec 21 — Some of the Kashmiri militants, suspected to be involved in the Chamba massacre, have been killed in encounters with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Jammu and Kashmir police has confirmed the killing of the Hizbul Mujahideen militant who was involved in the killing of three Gaddis in the Sappa Cholu area of Chamba on August 18. The militant who is a resident of Sarekhi village near Bhaderwah, was killed in an encounter, which took place near the Dak Bungalow in Bhaderwah itself almost a week back. He is learnt to have escaped from the police custody for other offences and finally joined the militant outfit.

A meeting of senior officials from Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh took place here today. The Deputy Commissioner of Doda, Mr D. Nargotra and the SP, Mr Munir Khan, were present at the high-level meeting, which was chaired by the DIG of the Northern Range, Mr I.D. Bhandari. Apart from the SP Chamba, Mr Atul Verma, the officiating commandants of the ITBP battalions, both in J and K and in Chamba were present.

The officials from J and K disclosed that four foreign mercenaries had been killed recently in their state and they could be possibly behind the Kala Ban and Satrundi killings in which 35 persons had been massacred on August 2. These foreign mercenaries had been killed in an encounter in the Kunthal area of J and K recently. Earlier the police had disclosed that seven mercenaries were the ones who were responsible for the gruesome murder of innocent persons in Chamba. The photographs of some of these Afghani and Pakistani mercenaries, had been identified by those persons, who had been held hostages by the militants for over 15 hours.

The police officials also discussed about the militant groups most active and even exchanged their lists. They also discussed about the new militant groups that were now becoming more active.

This is the fourth meeting that has been held between the J and K and Himachal officials to discuss the overall situation and keep a complete vigil over the movement of militants.

The earlier three meetings were held at Batot and Dalhousie. These meetings have helped coordinate the forces on both the sides and exchange of information, which could be vital.

The Officiating Commandant, ITBP, in J and K, Mr Sat Pal, assured that the forces on the Gundoh side will be maintained at heights of 7,000 feet to 10,000 feet.

The DIG, Mr I.D. Bhandari, also said that in view of various reports being fed to the police, a constant vigil was being maintained in the Chamba areas bordering the trouble-torn state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Scheme for conservation, use of herbs
From Balkrishan Prashar

CHAMBA: Since herbal medicines have gained wide acceptance in the Western world and within the country also, the demand for these medicines has increased tremendously in the past few years, thus putting great pressure on natural sources.

Consequently, over-exploitation of the resources has caused a threat to the survival of medicinal herbs. That is why more than 40 species of medicinal plants in Himachal Pradesh have been declared endangered.

A few years back plants like podophyllum, aconitum, rheum picrorhiza, taxus, etc were easily available in the natural habitat of Himachal Pradesh. Now these are diminishing rapidly due to continuous extraction to meet the growing demand of the pharmaceutical industry. These herbs grow naturally in the temperate forests of the state and are in great demand for curing diseases like cancer.

According to one report, out of 3000 flowering plants species, more than 500 are found to have medicinal properties. But extraction and trade of herbs is in the hands of illiterates who are unaware of the importance of the resource. For the sake of short-term gain they do not even hesitate to adopt the crude and cruel method of extraction of these herbs in the natural habitat. As a result, many of the species are being depleted from their natural abode and their availability decreasing day by day.

The Union Government is very serious about the problem and aware of the systematic exploitation of the natural resources, including herbal wealth, so that these may be available to future generations. For the development and conservation of medicinal plants, an ambitious scheme called vanaspati van has been put into operation recently in Chamba district considering that Chamba is a district richly endowed with medicinal plants. The scheme would get a grant of Rs 1 crore every year by the Union Ministry of Health and Ayurveda.

The proposed site of this vanaspati van is Masrund-Mani-Jhalara-Sangahar woody hillsides (see picture) in the Rajnagar area of Chamba district.

According to Dr SK Sharma, Advisor (Ayurveda) to the Union Ministry of Health and Ayurveda, the area identified to be developed as vanaspati van stretches for about 2530 hectare ranging at altitudes varying from 1900 to 2700 metres in the hill slopes of deodar, fur, tosh, ban, rai, etc.

For effective implementation and execution of the vanaspati van scheme, the Himachal Government has constituted a society under whose supervision cultivation of medicinal plants would be undertaken. Various training programmes would be organised to generate awareness of the utility of medicinal herbs.

The inhabitants of this region would cultivate herbs in collaboration with the government departments concerned and whatever the yield of herbs produced by the local people would be procured by the society at remunerative prices for use in the pharmaceutical industry.

The scheme envisages the revival of extinct species of herbs on priority. It would conserve, and enrich the depleting natural herbal resources, build up a salubrious environment and to develop the agro-techniques of the medicinal plants cultivation besides providing nature care by setting up nature care units in this region.

The vanaspati van scheme would pave the way for revitalising the economy of the local residents by way of employment thereby enjoying better living conditions.

Power generation cess a boon for HP
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Dec 21 — The decision of the Centre to impose a hydro power development cess on generation at the rate of 5 paise per unit has come as a major victory for hydro power states like Himachal Pradesh.

It has been a major success of the Chief Minister Mr P.K. Dhumal, who persuaded the Centre to amend the proposal for imposing a cess on consumption, as recommended in the hydro power policy, and ensured that it was levied on generation, which would help the state.

The state, however, is not satisfied over by the rate of cess and the ratio on which the revenue thus raised was to be shared. The state had favoured levying the cess at the rate of 10 paise per unit, instead of 5 paise as approved by the Centre.

Further, the revenue is to be shared by the Centre and the states in the ratio of 40 and 60 per cent. The Himachal Government wants the ratio to be 75 and 25 per cent. Mr Dhumal has also written to the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, in this regard.

It remains to be seen if Mr Vajpayee accedes to his suggestions and incorporates the necessary changes in the bill proposed to be introduced in Parliament shortly.

Nevertheless, even at the rate of 5 paise per unit generation cess will provide enough resources to the fund-starved state for harnessing its vast hydel power potential. In all over Rs 2000 crore will be raised annually. Out of which Rs 1200 crore would go to states. If it is distributed on the basis of the installed hydel generation capacity only then the state was likely to get over Rs 180 crore, which is a significant amount considering the fact that 50 per cent of the state's total income from its own resources was only Rs 550 crore.

The original proposal of levying the cess on consumption was not beneficial to states having potential for hydro power potential. For instance while a state like Gujarat, with just 160 MW of installed capacity would have got Rs 200 crore, Himachal Pradesh which has an installed capacity of 20.7 MW, would have received a meagre Rs 13 crore which could not have helped the state in exploiting its hydro power potential.

The Himachal Government brought this to the notice of the Union Energy Ministry which agreed to improve the cess on generation instead of consumption.

Sonia to address party camp at Nurpur
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Dec 21 — The AICC President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, has accepted the invitation of the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) to address a party training camp to be held at Nurpur in Kangra district soon.

This was stated by the HPCC chief, Mr Sat Mahajan, today.

Briefing reporters about the deliberations of the HPCC executive committee meeting held here, he said the chief ministers of Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh had also been invited to the two-day camp, a date for which would be finalised later.

A brainstorming camp of party workers would be held at Palampur on January 10. Mr R.K. Dhawan, general secretary of the AICC, would preside.

Mr Mahajan said the executive analysed the reasons for the defeat of the Congress candidate in the Baijnath Assembly byelection and observed that the allegations about the lack of coordination among party leaders were irrelevant.

He informed that all five general secretaries of the HPCC would be members of the Media and Publicity Committee. Mr Yogendera Chandra, MLA, would be the spokesman.

The executive unanimously adopted a resolution congratulating Mrs Sonia Gandhi on the spectacular victory of the Congress in the recent assembly elections. The resolution was moved by Mr Mahajan and seconded by Thakur Ram Lal, a former Chief Minister.

The CLP leader, Mr Virbhadra Singh, moved a resolution demanding speedy implementation of the Sri Krishna Commission report.

The executive also adopted a resolution moved by Mrs Vidya Stokes, MLA, expressing gratitude to Mrs Sonia Gandhi for providing 33 per cent reservation for women and 20 per cent reservation for weaker sections and minorities in party posts at all levels.

Work without fear, audit officers told
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Dec 21 — Mrs V.S. Rama Devi, Governor, has urged the audit and accounts officers to work with fearlessness, impartiality and independence for checking and curbing public losses and strengthening the programmes and schemes of the government aimed at betterment of people. She asked them to be vigilant and strict about the irregularities besides being more positive, human and realistic in their approach at the same time.

The Governor was addressing the Indian Audit and Accounts Service probationers on the occasion of inaugural function of induction training programme for them at the National Academy of Audit and Accounts here today.

Expressing her concern over the less percentage of funds that percolated down to the masses under various developmental schemes, she said that it was the duty of the audit and accounts officers to point out the loopholes and deviations so that the mistakes or negligence was checked and rectified. They should work as cleansing agents in matters of public accounts and expenditure and should not shrink from truth for fear of offending people in high places. They should act as watchmen in financial matters and ensure economy and proper scrutiny of public accounts.

Mrs Rama Devi expressed her dismay as to why the irregularities in the infamous fodder case of Bihar were pointed out years after the scam had already started, and asserted for a thorough, objective and impartial scrutiny and review of public accounts besides timely discussion on reports. She said that the resources were limited and they could not afford any waste. In these days of scams, the functions of audit department were of greatest public utility and should be carried fairly.

The authority of the Comptroller and Auditor-General was independent of the executive and derives its backing from the Constitution. This important office was entrusted with the responsibility of checking, scrutinising and reviewing public accounts and the subsequent examination of his report by parliamentary committees.

Move to change revenue laws
From Our Correspondent

PALAMPUR, Dec 21 — Mr Rajan Sushant, Revenue Minister, Himachal Pradesh today said the state government was proposing radical changes in the revenue laws.

Addressing media persons here this morning Mr Sushant said most of the acts and statutes were made before independence and were outdated.

Mr Sushant said the government had issued an order to patwaris and kanoongos not to leave their headquarters on Monday and Thursday. Likewise tehsildars would be available in their offices on every Tuesday. The tehsildars had been directed to complete pending "intkal" within two months.

Earlier, Dr Rajan Sushant, Mr Ravinder Ravi, ministers and former Chief Minister Shanta Kumar addressed a public meeting in the town. Mr Shanta Kumar said a ropeway would be constructed in the town to take tourists to the high altitude valley.