Sukh Ram’s advice to youth
MANDI, March 20 — Former Communications Minister and HVC supremo, Mr Sukh Ram, today called upon unemployed youth to opt for self-employment instead of hankering after government jobs.

Bad road to gurdwara
PAONTA SAHIB, March 20 — For driving motorised vehicles on roads in this region one is required to have lot of guts. Patience of a driver is tested on these bumpy roads.

Board seeks action against staff
DHARAMSALA, March 20 — The Board of School Education has asked the Education Department to take strict action against the supervisory staff who have been party to mass copying and outside interference during the matric and plus two examinations being held in the state.

20,000 visit temple
KANGRA, March 20 — More than 20,000 pilgrims visited the Bajreshawari temple here during the first two days of Chater Navratra.

Panchayat parishad flays government
SHIMLA, March 20 — The Himachal Pradesh State Panchayat Parishad has accused the BJP-HVC combine government led by Mr P.K. Dhumal of trying to mislead the people by claiming to have given more powers to the panchayats.

District chiefs of Youth Congress
SHIMLA, March 20 — The Youth Congress today released the long awaited list of its presidents for 10 districts of Himachal Pradesh.

Sukh Ram’s advice to youth
From Our Correspondent

MANDI, March 20 — Former Communications Minister and HVC supremo, Mr Sukh Ram, today called upon unemployed youth to opt for self-employment instead of hankering after government jobs.

Talking to mediapersons, Mr Sukh Ram, who heads the committee for employment generation, said in the wake of many hydel and development projects now under construction enormous self-employment ventures were there for the youths to avail themselves of these. The government was also giving many incentives, including loans and subsidies for the persons interested in self-employment.

Decrying the prevailing culture of "daily-wage and government service", Mr Sukh Ram warned if youth stuck to it the state would remain backward. He advised the enterprising youths to exploit their skill and adventure in self-employment ventures.

He suggested that unemployed engineers could make small firms to take up the execution of mini and micro hydel projects and the government would help them raise finances for such small projects.

Replying to a question, he said he was against increase in power tariff, but added that he could not browbeat the government on every issue.

A new concept had been introduced at his instance in the PWD whereby youth were being engaged for small work orders of making roads etc and doing manual work themselves. The system would not only yield good income to the workers, but would also enhance development.

Bad road to gurdwara
From Sarbjit Singh
Tribune News Service

PAONTA SAHIB (HP), March 20 — For driving motorised vehicles on roads in this region one is required to have lot of guts. Patience of a driver is tested on these bumpy roads.

As the vehicle moves on the road from Paonta Sahib to Yamunanagar it starts rattling.

As one nears the 5-km milestone in front of the dhaba of Sita Ram of Batta Mandi a few hundred yards of the road's left side touches the bank of Batta Giri river.

Last year during the monsoon the Batta Giri was in a spate. It eroded a large part of the road. It is a razor-edge drive on this stretch.

The dhaba owner, Mr Sita Ram said that number of accidents had taken place on this stretch. Two persons had lost their lives, he added.

Various senior officers of the Himachal Pradesh Government had inspected this stretch; the management of Paonta Sahib Gurdwara had brought the matter to the notice of the authorities concerned.

From Paonta Sahib to Lal Dhang in the Himachal Pradesh territory, the road needs to be metalled. The condition of the road near Batta Mandi Satiwal and Bahral needs urgent repairs.

From here to Nahan especially near Dhoula Kuan, Shambuwala, Khajora, and Judda Ka Johar the road is bad.

In the Haryana territory the condition of roads to Chandigarh via Kala Amb, Raipur Rani, Naraingarh needs certain steps other than occasional re-carpeting patch work.

Dhumal accuses Congress of bankruptcy
From Our Correspondent

NAHAN, March 20 – The Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal, today accused the Congress party of making the state bankrupt by raising thousands of crores of rupees as loans for the purpose of day to day expenditure of the government. He was speaking at a civic reception function organised at Nahan Chowgan yesterday.

The CM said the previous government borrowed Rs 914 crore to be paid back by 2005. On this loan the state government would have to pay Rs 980 crore as interest.

Mr Dhumal announced that work on Renuka dam will start very shortly. His efforts to convince, the central government to release Rs 50 crore for the construction work of the dam had materialised, he added.

The CM described his budget as poor oriented in which taxes had been reduced on essential items. He also paid tributes to state's first Chief Minister, Y.S. Parmar, and gave details of the proposed "Yashwant Gurukul Yojna" under which hostels with nine rooms would be built in areas which were not accessible for the staff of high schools and other educational institutions.

Earlier the CM paid obeisance to Goddess Bala Sundri at the historic temple at Trilokpur, 22 km from here. He also inaugurated a "satsang bhawan" there and laid the foundation stone of a "sarai".

Mr Dhumal also presided over the annual prize distribution function of Postgraduate College here.

Board seeks action against staff
Tribune News Service

DHARAMSALA, March 20 — The Board of School Education has asked the Education Department to take strict action against the supervisory staff who have been party to mass copying and outside interference during the matric and plus two examinations being held in the state.

The secretary of the board, Mr Sunil Bhardwaj, said the department must take strict action against the erring staff members who instead of checking copying, were party to it. It was on account of mass copying and outside interference that five papers of plus two and matric had been cancelled so far by the board.

In one of the cases, the flying squad found that the deputy superintendent at the Chadiar (Kangra) centre was dictating the answer to the examinees during the social studies paper of class X. The other papers cancelled included the plus two history paper of the Jhiralri (Hamirpur) centre, the matric paper in mathematics at the Paprola I and II centre, the class X science paper of the Throach (Shimla) centre, and the social science paper of class X of the Gherwin (Bilaspur) centre.

The Board has now decided to hold these examinations at the respective subdivisional headquarters on April 4. While the class X examinations will be held in the morning, the plus two examinations will be held in the afternoon session.

Panchayat parishad flays government
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, March 20 — The Himachal Pradesh State Panchayat Parishad has accused the BJP-HVC combine government led by Mr P.K. Dhumal of trying to mislead the people by claiming to have given more powers to the panchayats.

In a joint statement here today, Mr Budhi Singh Thakur and Mr Prakash Thakur, chairman and general secretary of the parishad, respectively, alleged that the Dhumal government has in fact weakened the Panchayati Raj institutions.

They pointed out that the powers to construct primary school buildings, veterinary institutions and panchayat bhawans were given to the panchayats by the previous government in 1966, but Mr Dhumal was claiming to have given these powers to the panchayats after his government came to power.

They said that Re 1 was being collected as panchayat tax on each bottle of liquor, but this amount was not being actually passed on to the panchayats for development.

20,000 visit temple
From Our Correspondent

KANGRA, March 20 — More than 20,000 pilgrims visited the Bajreshawari temple here during the first two days of Chater Navratra. This was stated here yesterday by the Temple Officer, Mr KC Bharariya. He said pilgrims from Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh visited the temple. Long queues of pilgrims reciting Vedic hymns were seen in the temple complex.

The Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, Mr BK Agrawal, said efforts had been made to make pilgrimage to the area comfortable.

District chiefs of Youth Congress
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, March 20 — The Youth Congress today released the long awaited list of its presidents for 10 districts of Himachal Pradesh. The district chiefs for Una and Lahaul-Spiti will be declared later.

The state Youth Congress chief, Mr Sukhwinder Singh, said that the list had been cleared by Mr Munish Tiwari, President, Indian Youth Congress.

Those appointed as district presidents are as follows: Mr Vishav Raj (Sirmour), Mr Ashim Sharma (Solan), Mr Vijay Sharma (Kangra), Mr Vijay Bisht (Shimla rural), Mr Rakesh Handa (Hamirpur), Mr Ved Prakash (Shimla urban), Mr Kamlndra Kashyap (Bilaspur), Mr Hari Chand Sharma (Kulu), Mr Mohinder Kumar Handa (Chamba), Mr Shyam Singh Negi (Kinnaur) and Mr Harinder Sen (Mandi).