Aid for war widows
KULU, Aug 25 — A financial aid of Rs 79,000 has been distributed to the ex-servicemen and widows of armed forces personnel in this district during the June 30, '99.

Students, doctors call off strike
SHIMLA, Aug 25 — Students and resident doctors of the Indira Gandhi Medical College Hospital called off their strike here today following the acceptance of their demands.

• Truckers complain to CEC

VC invites students for talks
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Aug 25 — Dr S.K. Gupta, Vice-Chancellor, of Himachal Pradesh University has invited the agitating students, whose indefinite strike entered the ninth day today, for talks to discuss poll reforms and holding to elections to the Students Central Association.

He also appealed to the students to call off their stir a spokesman of the university claimed that students were returning to classes though complaints of attempts to disrupt classes were received from some departments. The overall situation was under control.

The activists of the students federation held a rally on the campus at which speakers criticised the university authorities and the administration for letting loose a reign of repression on the agitating students. The campus had been transformed into a cantonment, they alleged. The federation claimed that the strike was complete not only on the campus, but also the various degree colleges in the state.

It also demanded a judicial probe into the circumstances which forced Mr Harpal Singh, a student of the local Indira Gandhi Medical College to commit suicide.

Meanwhile, the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad has condemned the "education bandh" and the forcible stopping of students from attending classes. It blamed the SFI for unrest on the campus. It was the violent activities of the SFI that led to the discontinuation of annual elections to the Central Students Association following the murder of an ABVP worker four years ago. Now the same students were creating trouble but university was not taking any effective action to curb on their activities. It claimed that students had by and large ignored the bandh call.

The CPM has expressed concern over the deteriorating situation on the campus and urged the Governor to intervene and restore normalcy.

HP Minister’s rejoinder on bitumen purchase
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Aug 25 — Mr Mohinder Singh, Himachal Public Works Minister expressed surprise over the statement of Mrs Asha Kumari, a former Minister and Congress MLA, alleging irregularities in the purchase of bitumen emulsion in Himachal Pradesh.

In a statement here today he said the charge appeared to have been made without knowing the basic difference between bitumen and "bitumen emulsion" and the manufacturing process involved, with some ulterior motive to gain political mileage out of it, despite the fact that the issue was debated threadbare in the Vidhan Sabha.

He said that the bitumen was a refinery by-product of crude petroleum and was produced by various oil companies being viscous material and semisolid in nature at normal temperatures, required heating to specified temperature before being used in the pavement works. This limited its use to restricted period of dry and hot climate.

He said that the concept of use of bitumen emulsion, which was comparatively new to India, was quite popular in foreign countries where it had replaced bitumen up to the extent of even about 90 per cent. "Bitumen emulsion" was in liquid form and required no heating. Apparently it was eco-friendly material in terms of air pollution and conservation of forest wealth. It also helped in repair and maintenance of paved roads in rainy season considering all aspects. The Union Minister of Surface Transport, had even specified the use of bitumen emulsion in stage construction of roads since 1995.

Mr Mohinder Singh said bitumen emulsion had, buy and large, been processed in small scale sectors through chemical treatment with "bitumen" as base material. Its constituents was 65 per cent bitumen, 34 per cent water and 1 per cent chemical and solvents. It was only recently that one of the oil companies, Hindustan Petroleum, had ventured into this field and had also entered into rate contract with Director-General Supply and Disposal (DGS and D ) like other manufacturers. Bitumen was not being commercially manufactured as such by oil corporations, he added.

The minister said that procurement of bitumen emulsion was being done from parties under laid down procedure and question of procurement of bitumen emulsion through middlemen was misplaced and misconceived. Direct tenders for the procurement of bitumen emulsion had neither been invited nor awarded by the department, he added.

NGOs' body ratifies delegates' decision
From Our Correspondent

SOLAN, Aug 25 — A meeting of the Federal Committee of the HP NGOs' Federation held here yesterday ratified decision taken by their representatives during the recent talks between their representatives and the government.

The decisions mainly related to the grant of hill compensatory allowance (HCA) house rent allowance (HRA) and reimbursement of medical bills.

The Federation Chairman, Mr Ganga Singh Thakur, told mediapersons after the meeting that the majority of the delegates had accepted the government's offer of increase in the HCA ranging between Rs 40 and Rs 50 per month.

It had also been decided to accept for the time being the government's recommendation of fixing HRA on a three tier basis. The government had proposed to grant a minimum of Rs 300 and a maximum of Rs 500 of HRA to all employees working at the state headquarters. The same had been fixed at a minimum of Rs 150 and a maximum of Rs 500 for District headquarters and a minimum of Rs 125 and a maximum of Rs 300 at block headquarters.

The enhanced HRA would be admissible, with retrospective effect.

No consensus could be arrived regarding the fixation of medical allowances. The opinion was sharply divided among the delegates over this issue. A section demanded that the pattern of Punjab where a fixed amount per month was paid to employees irrespective of whether any medical contingencies arose or not should be introduced. Another section opposed it and demanded that the medical reimbursement should be payable on actual expenses basis.

Regarding the government proposal to allow car loans to all those employees getting Rs 10,500 or more as basic salary, the delegates demanded that the enabling basic salary should be lowered to Rs 8000 pm.

The general mood in the meeting was appreciative of the government's approach towards employees' demand, Mr Ganga Singh claimed.

ISI-backed militants "targeting
HP areas"
From Pratibha Chauhan
Tribune News Service

DHARAMSALA, Aug 25 — Massacre of 35 persons by J and K terrorists in Chamba, last year is still fresh in the minds of the people, the ISI-backed militants seem to be spreading their activities to Himachal.

Sources say intelligence agencies have spotted 24 militants most of them being foreign mercenaries in the Doda area of Jammu and Kashmir, which is very close to the Sappa Cholu area in Chamba. These militants are learnt to have been sighted on August, 23 across the Sappa Cholu. It was the Sappa Cholu area, where militants had hidden arms and ammunition, after massacre at Kalaban and Satrundi, in the Tissa sector, on August 2 night.

Director General of Himachal Police T.R. Mahajan, said that though they had no information about the presence of militants in J and K area across Sappa Cholu, but the possibility could not be ruled out completely. Though it is certain there are militants, including mercenaries, in the J and K areas bordering Chamba, but there is no specific information about the fresh batch of 25 militants," he stated.

Mr Mahajan, said that at times there is a communication gap, leading to distortion regarding the movement of militants in the border areas. He however, added that the support of the local people is essential in the fight against militants, and it is for this very reason that the security agencies work on every clue given by the villagers of border areas.

Eversince the disclosure about Himachal, being on the hit list of the militants, has been made, it is not only the Chamba area, but other parts of the state as well, which could be made targets. The militants have been trying to make their base in other districts like Kangra, where a large number of Kashmiri shopkeepers and shawl sellers can be seen roaming even in the interior areas. In fact the police had arrested a militant Zakir Hussain, belonging to the Harkut-Ul-Ansar group from a remote area in Baijnath. He had confessed that he had been entrusted the responsibility of recruiting some local boys and set up a base in Kangra district.

The recovery of a badge, which is in the shape of a Pakistani flag, from blue T Shirt in McLeodganj, has further raised doubts that ISI backed militants are active in the area. The badge, has a name R. Akhtar, with HP written below it, on the back side of the badge. It was on the morning of August, 23 that a retired Army Subedar Roshan Lal, found the badge on a discarded T-Shirt, in McLeodganj. As he had come to sell milk at six in the morning, he found a wet T-shirt, blue in colour, hanging on a railing. I carried the T-shirt to my house in Forsythganj, thinking that it is new and can be put to use. As I washed it under the tap and squeezed it, the badge pricked me, he disclosed. It is being felt that the badge, in the shape of a Pakistani flag, with the name of the person onto the back side, could be the identity mark, given to various agents, in the area.

During the past two years the mushrooming of madrasas, in the Kangra district, has been a cause of worry for the police and various intelligence agencies. The people in those areas too have confirmed that outsiders have been frequenting the madrasas. With more and more reports of Himachal being on the list of the militants pouring in and seizure of RDX meant for here, the police and other security agencies have been put on the alert.

Aid for war widows
From Our Correspondent

KULU, Aug 25 — A financial aid of Rs 79,000 has been distributed to the ex-servicemen and widows of armed forces personnel in this district during the June 30, '99. This was disclosed by Mr Ashwani Kapoor, Deputy Commissioner, here on Monday while presiding over the quarterly meeting of the district Sainik Welfare Board. He said Rs 60,000 was given as financial help whereas Rs 20,000 was stipend to them.

The Deputy Commissioner further said the government had decided to give Rs 5 lakh to the family of Lance Havildar Dola Ram, the Kargil hero of the district and a government job to his brother.

The Deputy Commissioner also directed the board to provide all scheduled facilities to the war widows and ex-servicemen.

Students, doctors call off strike
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Aug 25 — Students and resident doctors of the Indira Gandhi Medical College Hospital called off their strike here today following the acceptance of their demands.

Mr J.P. Nadda, Himachal Health Minister, visited the hospital and assured the students that effective measures would be taken to ensure that they were not harassed or exploited by faculty members.

He said that Dr S.K. Ahluwalia, Professor of Social and Preventive Medicine, whose name was mentioned in suicide note of Mr Harpal shall no longer function as the Head of the Department and he would not be associated with examination of MBBS and MD students henceforth.

A spokesman of the hospital said that normalcy would be restored in the hospital by tomorrow.

Truckers complain to CEC
From Our Correspondent

KULU, Aug 25 — In a complaint to the Chief Election Commissioner, Mr M.S. Gill, the Federation of Punjab Small Industries Association has complained of the seizure of private trucks and buses by district administration to be used for election duty.

Releasing a copy of the complaint to the press yesterday, Mr V.P. Chopra, President of the association, said the seizure of the buses and trucks hampered the transport of goods produced by the industry here, thus adversely affecting the economy. He also alleged that payments to the owners of the vehicles were not made in time and were for short of remunerative rates.