The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Sikhs critical of Dhumal’s attitude
Prabhjot Singh
Tribune News Service

Paonta Sahib, April 13
“Three years have passed and the BJP government in the state has not bothered to get back to the Sikh community on promises it had made to it on the eve of the tercentenary celebrations of the birth of the Khalsa.”

This was the main plank on which Sikh leaders of Himachal Pradesh lambasted the state government on the occasion of Baisakhi here. A series of functions were held, both here and at Gurdwara Bhanghani Sahib, about 20 km from here, as a large number of Sikhs from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Uttar Pradesh joined the celebrations.

The speakers were critical of the adamant attitude of the Chief Minister , Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal and the BJP government, towards various demands of the Sikhs.

They said inspite of the BJP claiming itself to be a party friendly towards the Sikhs, it has done nothing in past three years to appease the community. None of the senior BJP leaders, had ever attend important functions of the Sikh community.

Special congregations were held where eminent ragis recited Gurbani. Discourses on the life and teachings of Guru Gobind Singh and on the Sikh tenets in general and of the Khalsa in particular were highlighted on the occasion. Special community kitchens continued to function-throughout the day.

Among prominent personalities who joined the celebrations at Gurdwara Paonta Sahib were the Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh, Mr Justice W.A. Shishak and his family. He was presented a set of books on the History of Sikhs, and about importance of Paonta Sahib by Mr Rattan Singh, Vice-President, Gurdwara Paonta Sahib Parbandhak Committee.

Mr Justice Shishak was also taken around the gurdwara by Mr Kartar Singh Takkar, general secretary of the committee, and Mr Kulwant Singh, manager of the gurdwara.

Later, the Governor also travelled to Gurdwara Bhanghani Sahib where Guru Gobind Singh fought his first battle. A special congregation to mark the Baisakhi celebrations was also organised there.

Jathedar Kuldip Singh and Mr Rajinder Singh Rajan of the Gurdwara Bhanghani Sahib managing committee decided to hand over the administrative control of the gurdwara to the Gurdwara paonta Sahib Parbandhak Committee from today.

23 HAS officers transferred
Tribune News Service

Shimla, April 13
In a major reshuffle of HAS cadre officers the Himachal Pradesh Government yesterday transferred 23 officers. An IAS officer was also shifted.

Mr Subhashish Panda, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Chamba, has been shifted to Kangra. Mr V.C. Katoch, Additional Secretary, PWD, has been shifted to the Finance Department and he will also hold the charge of Director, Treasuries and Accounts, in place of Mr Abhey Pant, who has been appointed Additional Deputy Commissioner, Shimla. Mr N.S. Chaudhary has now been appointed as ADC, Bilaspur, in place of Mr S.L. Sharma, who goes as Additional Registrar of Cooperatives, Dharamsala.

Mr S.R. Sharma, ADC, Kulu, has been appointed as General Manager, HPMC. Mr K.R. Bharti, Additional Secretary to Chief Minister, will now be Controller, Stationery and Printing. Mr Rajiv Shankar Sharma, ADC, Hamirpur, has been appointed Additional Secretary, PWD. Mr Kamal Sharma, Additional Secretary, Education, has been appointed ADC, Kulu.

Mr Sunil Kumar Chaudhary, Registrar, Regional Engineering College, Hamirpur, has been appointed ADC, Chamba. Mr M.L. Chauhan, General Manager, HPMC, has been appointed as Additional Secretary, Health, in place of Mr Ashok Sharma, who goes as ADM, Una.

Mr N.S. Sharma, ADM, Hamirpur will now be joint secretary to Chief Minister and PWD. Mr Balbir Chand, ADM, Mandi, has been appointed as ADM, Hamirpur. Mr Hans Raj, AC to DC, Kangra, has been appointed Divisional Tourism Development Officer, Dharamsala. Mr Prem Dass, Joint Director, HIPA, is SDO (Civil), Chamba. Mr L.R. Jhamta, Deputy Director, Tourism, has been appointed Assistant Settlement Officer, Shimla.

Mr K.D. Lakhanpal, Registrar, REC, Hamirpur, has been made Divisional Tourism Development Officer, Kulu. Mr Sanjeev Bhatnagar, Under Secretary, Public Service Commission, is now SDM, Theog, in place of Mr D.S. Negi, who has been sent as Registrar, REC, Hamirpur.

Mr Himanshu Chaudhary, AC to DC, Kangra, has been shifted to Nahan. Ms Shashi Thakur, Divisional Torism Development Officer, Kulu, has been appointed as AC to DC Kulu. Mr Man Singh, Under Secretary (personnel), has been shifted to Education and Mr Manmohan Sharma, SDM, Chamba, has been appointed Joint Director of Tourism.

Help deprived ST, SCs, says Suraj Bhan
Our Correspondent

Hamirpur, April 13
While advocating the need to end untouchability from society, the Himachal Governor, Mr Suraj Bhan, today asked the reservation beneficiaries to help the deprived STs and SCs to get the benefits of reservation.

Presiding over a state-level Dr B.R. Ambedkar Jyanti function at the local Bachat Bhavan, being organised by the HP Scheduled Castes, Schedule Tribes and Other Backward Classes Employees Federation, he said there was no bar on reservation in services under Article 335 of the Indian Constitution. He said untouchability was a scar on the face of society and it must be eliminated by adopting tough measures.

Dr Bhan said Article 17 of the Constitution, which provides that untouchability has been abolished, had not been drafted by Dr Ambedkar. Instead the draft of Article 17 of the Indian Constitution, which provides that henceforth no person will stand to gain or loose on account of birth was not discussed in the Constitution Assembly.

He paid rich tributes to Dr Ambedkar and added that he was a multifaceted personality, who enriched various disciplines of life and worked for the well-being of the poor and downtrodden sections of society.

Underling the immense contribution of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to the nation, he said history had been distorted to deprive these communities of the credit of their achievements and services. He gave many examples in favour of his arguments and asked all to take a note of the contributions made by these communities for the nation.

He said the reservation had only benefited 50 lakh persons of the society belonging to the Dalit community whereas their total number was more than 25 crore. He suggested that the reservation benefits should continue but efforts must be made to help the untouched segment of these castes.

The Governor stressed the need for the distribution of wasteland in the country amongst poor people which mostly included Dalits. He said there was 40 crore acres of such land in the country out of which 20 crore acres could be given easily.

Mrs Urmila Thakur, HP Parliamentary Secretary, paid rich tributes to Dr Ambedkar and said that he rose to such great heights due to his hard work and honesty.

Notice to Headmistress, teacher on exam result
Legal Correspondent

Shimla, April 13
The Himachal High Court has issued a notice to the Secretary, Education, headmistress and a teacher of government high school at Raghunathpura in Bilaspur district on a petition wherein the petitioner has alleged that the respondents have failed him in Class IX because of the malafide intention of the headmistress and a teacher, Anita, of the school.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice W.A. Shishak and Justice Lokeshwar Singh Panta directed the respondent to produce the record related to the petitioner’s case on April 30.

The petitioner, a student, was declared fail in the final result declared on March 30. It was stated that the petitioner had passed his middle class with 46 per cent marks and was good in studies. He was also a good sportsman. He had been selected for the sports hostel but the respondent teachers of the school asked him to remain in the school. It was alleged that on the refusal to remain in the school the headmistress of the school threatened him with dire consequences. Eighteen other students were promoted but not the petitioner, although they had scored less marks than him.

The petitioner urged the court to direct the respondent to produce the entire record of Class IX examination and sought that the answersheet be checked by an independent evaluator.

MC poll: BJP flouting code, says Morcha
Tribune News Service

Shimla, April 13
The Himachal Loktantrik Morcha has alleged that the ruling BJP was misusing the official machinery and grossly violating the code of conduct for the coming elections for the prestigious Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC).

In a statement here today, Mr Tikender Singh Panwar, spokesman for the morcha, said the state Election Commission had been apprised of these violations.

He alleged that the development works stalled in the past had been taken in hand now in view of the election. Construction material was being dumped at many places just to hoodwink the electorate. Roads were being tarred and a parking lot was hurriedly being constructed near the Jodha Niwas area.

Meanwhile, the State Election Commission has appointed Mr T.C. Janartha, Mr Sanjay Gupta and Mr Desh Deepak as observers for the SMC elections.

The town has been divided into 12 sectors and the commission has decided to extend the facility of postal ballot to the staff deputed on election duty.

On the other hand, the CLP leader, Mr Virbhadra Singh, has deputed the Congress legislators in each of the 24 municipal wards to campaign for the party candidates.

The president of the state Youth Congress, Mr Sukhwinder Singh, has also constituted wardwise campaign committees.

Meanwhile, the Loktantrik Morcha has urged the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to approach the Supreme Court for the dismissal of the Narender Modi government in Gujarat.

According to Mr Tikender Singh, it is a great surprise that even after a severe indictment by the NHRC, the Central Government has blatantly supported the Modi government. Despite the demand for a CBI inquiry into five incidents made by the NHRC, the Union Government, instead is putting the Godhra incident into the forefront and no mention is made of the looting of railway stations by the Ram sevaks of the VHP.

Master plan on meeting water crisis
S.P. Sharma
Tribune News Service

Shimla, April 13
A master plan to tap traditional water sources in chronic water crisis areas of Himachal Pradesh has been prepared by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB).

The CGWB has also taken up drilling of deep tubewells in Shimla, Kangra, Hamirpur and Solan to meet the drinking water shortage. This was disclosed by the Jammu-based regional director of the CGWB, Mr M. Mehta.

Mr Mehta said the Rs 465.50-crore master plan would take care of revival of springs and ponds and construction of check dams and sub-surface dykes. He said Rs150 crore had been proposed to be spent on the revival of springs and Rs108 crore on revival of traditional ponds. Amounts of Rs 100 crore each would be spent on construction of check dams and sub-surface dykes and Rs 7.50 crore had been earmarked for roof-top rainwater harvesting.

The entire amount would be spent by the Ministry of Water Resources.

Mr Mehta said the state had been divided into valley areas, low hill ranges or Shivaliks and high hill ranges to effectively recharge the groundwater.

A total of 1000 sub-surface dykes for conserving the sub-surface flow of water were proposed to be constructed by excavating the stream laid down to a depth of about 10 metres and one metre wide. An amount of Rs10 lakh was proposed to be spent on revival of each of the 1080 ponds in the valley areas. These ponds would be desilted and deepened for storing rainwater to enhance recharge the groundwater. These ponds could also be connected to minor rivulets by raising small check dams and constructing diversion channels.

Mr Mehta said about 500 check dams could be constructed in the low hill ranges of Kangra, Bilaspur, Una, Hamirpur, Solan and Sirmour districts, where the concentration of the population is the maximum.

The master plan envisaged to rehabilitate about 500 springs through artificial recharge techniques in high hill ranges, where an acute water problem had been caused by drying of or reduction in discharge of these natural water sources.

Besides the master plan, the CGWB had deployed a Rs 3 crore rig for drilling tubewells in certain areas of the state. Five new rigs would be purchased next year for drilling 25 tubewells in the perennial water crisis areas of Changar (Kangra), Hamirpur, Kulu, Chamba, Manali and Una. These tubewells would be handed over to the state government for meeting the water requirements of these areas.

Mr Mehta said the CGWB had drilled a tubewell near the Ashwani Khad pumping station to provide 13.40 lakh litres of water per day to Shimla. Final testing of the tubewell was being done and it was proposed to be handed over to the state government this summer.

He said three tubewells had been constructed at Sidhpur, Sidhbari and Dari in Dharamshala to provide an additional 30 lakh litres of water per day.

Drilling of tubewells in the Kangra area had been taken up in a big way. A tubewell for pumping 12 lakh litres of water had been sunk at Mahakal and 7 lakh litres at Holta in the Palampur area. Another tubewell to fetch 10 lakh litres of water daily had been sunk at Motli and one for 6 lakh litres at lower Balwal.

About 67,000 litres of water would be provided to the Bari area of Hamirpur through a tubewell that is being dug by the CGWB. Mr Mehta said three tubewells had been constructed in the Solan district to fetch 15.61 lakh litres of water daily in the Rampur Paswal, Nawa Gram and Bolchamla areas.

He said the CGWB was also studying the problem of silting and choking of aquifers in Mandi district due to releasing of silt by the BBMB.

Hold interviews for teachers’ promotions: Assn
Tribune News Service

Shimla, April 13
The Himachal Pradesh University Teachers Association has urged the Vice-Chancellor, Dr S.D. Sharma, to immediately hold interviews for promotion under the career advancement scheme in all teaching departments.

A deputation of the association led by Dr V.D. Kaushik, president, met Dr Sharma and submitted a charter of demands. The main demands included the filling of all statutory posts such as Dean of Studies, Dean of Students Welfare, Secretary to the Vice-Chancellor, the Registrar, and the Controller of examinations strictly on the basis of seniority, removal of anomalies in pay scales and speedy construction of residential quarters. No allotment of houses be made to wardens from general pool and separate warden residences be constructed near hostels and redesignation of the post of Principal of Evening Studies as Director, Centre of Evening Studies.

It also demanded a review of the appointment of Mr R.S. Chauhan as Additional Chief Warden as his status as teacher was subjudice and the appointment had been made in violation of the court order.

Seminar on gender bias
Our Correspondent

Nahan, April 13
Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court Justice W.A. Shishak has said gender discrimination has existed for centuries in our society and even in most advanced countries.

He was speaking at the inaugural function of a two-day seminar on ‘Gender discrimination: empowerment of women’ here today. “Women come out stronger in harsher times and even support men to overcome their difficulties by way of moral support and strong conviction proving that women are more stronger than men,” he said. Presiding over the function, the Vice-Chairperson of the State Planning Board, Ms Shyama Sharma, advocated the concept of two women courts in the state.

Experts from 12 universities across the country are participating in the seminar.