HP suspends Chief Engineer
SHIMLA, Dec 22 — Taking a serious view of the alleged scandal in the purchase of cold bitumen by the Mandi zone of the PWD, the Himachal Pradesh Government today suspended the Chief Engineer, Mr S.K. Sikand.

Rioting in Manali: probe blames cops
SHIMLA, Dec 22 — A magisterial inquiry has accused the police of having failed to tackle the rioting in which about 125 shops of Tibetans were burnt by an unruly mob in Manali in July.

Transfers hit health services in HP
DHARAMSALA, Dec 22 — The "lopsided" transfer policy adopted by the state government has adversely affected the health services as a large number of institutions in Kangra district have become paralysed due to lack of doctors.

CM for meeting savings target
SHIMLA, Dec 22 — Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, the Chief Minister has stressed the need for putting sincere efforts for achieving the target of collecting Rs 306 crore under the small savings scheme for the current financial year.

DCC former chief dead
HAMIRPUR, Dec 22 — Freedom fighter and former Hamirpur District Congress President Bhagat Ram Karohta died after a long illness at his native village Karohta last evening. He was 85.

Confederation denies allegation
NURPUR, Dec 22 — The Himachal Pradesh Employees Confederation has taken strong exception to the reported statement of Mr Gopal Dass Verma, former President of the NGO Federation, that the confederation had been playing in the hands of some politicians.

HP suspends Chief Engineer
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Dec 22 — Taking a serious view of the alleged scandal in the purchase of cold bitumen by the Mandi zone of the PWD, the Himachal Pradesh Government today suspended the Chief Engineer, Mr S.K. Sikand.

An enquiry by the Vigilance Department has also been ordered into the alleged scandalous purchase worth about Rs 6 crore.

The action comes on the basis of the report of the Divisional Commissioner, Mandi, Mr S. Roy, who was asked to enquire into the irregularities in the purchases by the central zone of the PWD at Mandi.

The suspension of Mr Sikand was ordered in the evening by the Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal, after detailed discussion on Mr Roy’s report with the PWD Minister, Mr Mohinder Singh, the Financial Commissioner, PWD, Kanwar Shamsher Singh, was also present.

The scandal had rocked the Vidhan Sabha during the recent session when Congress members demanded immediate action in the matter.

An official spokesman said that the Divisional Commissioner detected some serious irregularities in the purchases and has further recommended that the matter required a thorough enquiry by the Vigilance Department.

The Divisional Commissioner while conducting the enquiry took the assistance of the Accountant-General’s office and official dealing with accounts from various other departments of the state government.

The Divisional Commissioner in his report has further stated that the report of samples of cold bitumen taken by him was still awaited.

It may be added that another enquiry is already pending with the Vigilance Department against Mr Sikand.

It is alleged that Mr Sikand, who is due to retire on December 31, made large-scale purchases during the past few days.

It is alleged that the bitumen was purchased in violation of the procedure directly from private dealers. It was also alleged in the Assembly that the product was of poor quality.

Rioting in Manali: probe blames cops
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Dec 22 — A magisterial inquiry has accused the police of having failed to tackle the rioting in which about 125 shops of Tibetans were burnt by an unruly mob in Manali in July.

The violent incident took place on July 5 when an unruly mob of local residents raided the shops of Tibetans and set them on fire.

The Additional District Magistrate of Kulu, Mr S.R. Thakur, who was asked to enquire into the incident, has finalised his report. It was submitted to the Home Secretary, Mr Ajay Prasad, by the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Ashwani Kapoor.

It is learnt that the report has pointed out that the police failed to take timely action to prevent the situation from worsening in the tourist town. The district administration was also not informed about the brewing anger among the locals which finally took the shape of rioting. Even the Sub-Divisional Magistrate and Tehsildar at Manali were not informed about all this.

The report has pointed out that additional police reinforcement was not despatched from the district headquarters of Kulu while tension prevailed in Manali.

There was tension in the town following an incident of stabbing of a local youth, Nek Ram, allegedly by a Tibetan youth a day earlier. The police failed to handle the situation properly and visualise its ramifications.

The report has not held any individual police officer responsible for mishandling the situation.

It has been pointed out that the miscreants did not allow the fire brigade to reach the spot and extinguish the flames.

It was estimated that property worth about Rs 1.75 crore was gutted. This included a Tibetan emporium which had goods worth about Rs 75 lakh.

There were allegations that the police misbehaved with tourists and others in the presence of a senior officer of the district.

Meanwhile, the incident has created fear among the Tibetans who have already taken up the matter with the Tibetan government in exile at Dharamsala.

Make literacy mass movement: CM
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Dec 22 — The Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, has stressed the need for achieving 100 per cent literacy at the earliest possible and making the literacy programme a mass movement.

He was presiding over the first meeting of the governing council of the Himachal Pradesh Primary Education Society here today.

Mr Dhumal also stressed the need for maintaining the literacy rate where the state had made good progress, besides identifying the areas where the state was lagging behind.

He said that launching of the Saraswati Bal Vidya Sankalp Yojana, under which 13,612 new rooms were being constructed in the state to ensure a minimum of three rooms for each primary school in the state, was a step in this direction.

He expressed satisfaction that Himachal Pradesh had achieved a literacy rate of 77 per cent despite difficult topography. This had been appreciated by the eminent economist and Nobel Prize winner, Prof Amartya Sen. He expressed the hope that the Literacy Department would work with the same zeal as it had in the past and also lauded its efforts for bringing about a qualitative and quantitative improvement in education in the state.

Emphasising the importance of education in human resource development, Mr Dhumal said that the education system should be developed in such a way that future generations benefited from it.

The state government was committed to providing primary school facilities in uncovered areas. The human development report-1999 had placed the enrolment rate of Himachal Pradesh at 93 per cent and dropout rate at 2 per cent in case of elementary classes. The public report on basic education in India-1999 had also extolled the achievements of primary education in Himachal Pradesh by stating that the transition from mass literacy to new universal education has taken place over a shorter period in Himachal and educational extension in the state had been based almost entirely on government schools with relatively little contribution from private institutions.

Mr Dhumal said there was an urgent need to address the quality issues related to teachers' deployment and training curriculum, textbooks and training facilities. He expressed happiness that the DPEP had already taken an initiative in this regard and expressed the hope that the State Council of Education for Research and Training (SCERT) and DIETs would follow suit. He said the national policy of education had also stressed the need for a simultaneous focus on improving assess retention and quality.

He appreciated the efforts made under the DPEP in the field of primary education in educationally backward areas of the state and expressed the hope that these efforts would usher Himachal Pradesh into the area of universal elementary education.

Mr I.D. Dhiman, Education Minister, stressed the need to check dropouts in the age group of 6 to 14 and urged the council to include educationally backward blocks of those districts under the DPEP which had not been included under it so far.

Mr Karan Singh, Minister of State for Primary Education, claimed that effective steps were being taken to strengthen the primary education.

The budget for primary education witnessed a quantum jump and Rs 262 crore had been earmarked for the current financial year as against Rs 70 crore spent in 1990-91.

Considerable progress had been made in the implementation of the DPEP in Himachal Pradesh during the past one-and-a-half year, during which 806 new primary schools with 1612 post of teachers had been opened in the educationally backward districts. As many as 127 new school buildings had been completed while 240 new school buildings were at various stages of completion, he claimed.

CM’s demand gathers support
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Dec 22—As many as 29 Central ministers have supported the demand of the Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal, for imposing a power development cess for the tapping of hydro-electric potential of States.

It is learnt that these Central ministers have conveyed to Mr Dhumal that they would support the issue as and when it came before the Cabinet.

Mr Dhumal had recently written letters to all union Cabinet ministers urging them to support the move of the Ministry of Power for levying the power development cess. This would provide funds for speedier execution of power projects in various States. So far 29 ministers have responded to his suggestion.

He had also pointed out that the move would help in correcting the existing mix of power generation towards a more optimal use. The funds raised through the cess would also help intensifying the much-needed survey and investigation of the projects.

Of the cess of 5 paise per unit of electricity generation, 60 per cent of the total collected amount would be retained by the State concerned, while the remaining 40 per cent.

However, inadequate survey and investigation and sizeable upfront investment are some of the reasons impeding investments in the hydro-power sector.

Mr Dhumal’s excellent relations with the Union Power Minister, Mr P.R. Kumaramangalam, have helped in sorting out various long standing disputes of the power sector being faced by Himachal Pradesh.

Mr Kumaramangalam has already cleared reimbursement of a sum of Rs 38 crore to the State in the Baira-Sieul power project.

The recent decision of the Centre to transfer all hydel projects up to 25 Mws to the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources (MNES) will also help the state in executing many such projects which were being delayed. Moreover, the investors in these projects will receive several benefits which were so far available to only projects up to 3 MWs.

The long-awaited foundation stone laying ceremony of the 2051 MWs Parbati project was recenty held. The Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, performed the ceremony.

The dispute over the sharing of power by five States which had earlier signed a MoU for constructing the project has ended as it will now be constructed by the National Hydro-electric Power Corporation (NHPC).

Transfers hit health services in HP
Tribune News Service

DHARAMSALA, Dec 22 — The "lopsided" transfer policy adopted by the state government has adversely affected the health services as a large number of institutions in Kangra district have become paralysed due to lack of doctors.

Out of 195 doctors in Kangra, the Health Department had transferred 47 doctors in October. The transfers were reportedly done without any "rationale" resulting in surplus doctors at certain places while some of the health institutions had none.

Out of the 47 transfers, only three have been implemented. As many as 16 doctors who have been relieved have proceeded on leave. Only the two doctors transferred to Shahpur and one to Takipur have joined duty.

The situation in the Nagrota Bagwan Primary Health Centre is so bad that if all five doctors who have been transferred are relieved, only the Block Medical Officer will be left. So far, three doctors from here have been relieved and two are yet to leave. People of the area have already started complaining that it was very difficult for one or two doctors to attend to a large population of the adjoining areas.

There will be one doctor surplus each at Khaniyara and Dhameta with the new transfers.

The transfers ordered by the government have been done in such a manner that the health institutions at Budhoh, Kandi, Paral, Molag Sakri and Sansarpur Terrace have been left without a doctor.

Under such circumstances the health services in various hospitals, primary health centres and civil dispensaries have been badly affected. It is learnt that the health authorities in the district have approached the higher-ups in this regard.

Seeing the large-scale transfers of doctors and the non-implementation of many of them, it is being debated as to how sincere the government is towards its commitment of "health for all by 2000. Due to these transfers, the doctors have proceeded on leave as a result of which the place from where they have been transferred and the place they are to join are all lying vacant.

CM for meeting savings target
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Dec 22 — Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, the Chief Minister has stressed the need for putting sincere efforts for achieving the target of collecting Rs 306 crore under the small savings scheme for the current financial year.

He said non-governmental organisations, mahila mandals and yuvak mandals should be involved in it. He also stressed for launching a drive to recruit new agents.

Presiding over the 22nd meeting of National Savings State Advisory Board here today, Mr Dhumal stressed the need for realistic achievements of the targets and expressed concern over the unrealistic deposits in the past. Achieving the targets by depositing the money in last months and withdrawing it in the first few months of next year was nothing but financial impropriety, he underlined. Such deposits lead to wrong estimates, he added.

He cautioned against cheating by the unauthorised small saving companies in the State. He said the deputy commissioners should take special care in this regard.

The Chief Minister announced Rs 2 lakh prize for the Police Department for doing good work in the field of small savings collection. He said this would be utilised for police welfare.

Chamba was given the first prize for the year 1997-98 for collecting Rs 27 crore, the highest in the State. Mr Rai Singh from Kangra district got the first prize under the special golden jubilee small savings scheme. He was given a half kg of gold.

Mr B.R. Rahi from Hamirpur got a Maruti car as the second prize and Mr Hari Ram from Mandi got a motor cycle as the third prize under this scheme.

DCC former chief dead
From our correspondent

HAMIRPUR, Dec 22 — Freedom fighter and former Hamirpur District Congress President Bhagat Ram Karohta died after a long illness at his native village Karohta last evening. He was 85.

He is survived by his wife, four sons and three daughters.

Wreaths were laid on his body by Mrs Anita Verma, Vice-President of the state Congress.

Leaders of various political parties attended his funeral. Congressmen Mr Kuldip Singh Pathania and Mr Manjeet Singh Dogra, former MLAs, Mr Prem Kaushan and member, PCC, were present.

Prof. Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister, Mr Ishwar Dass Dhiman, Education Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, former Chief Minister, Mr Sat Mahajan, HP Congress President, and other leaders of the Congress and the BJP have mourned his death.

Confederation denies allegation
From Our Correspondent

NURPUR, Dec 22 — The Himachal Pradesh Employees Confederation has taken strong exception to the reported statement of Mr Gopal Dass Verma, former President of the NGO Federation, that the confederation had been playing in the hands of some politicians.

Mr Rajnish Sharma, state Secretary of the confederation, and Mr Susheel Sharma, President of the local unit, in a joint statement here yesterday denied the allegation and reiterated that the organisation would support and welcome the right decisions of the Dhumal government and work to solve problems of employees. They claimed that a few employees' leaders had been misguiding the state government in connection with the demands and rights of the employees.

Rejecting the house rent allowance (HRA) announced by the Dhumal government, they said it was just an eye wash. They said the government should follow the pattern of the Punjab Government and declare 5 per cent HRA of basic pay.