The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Thursday, August 22, 2002, Chandigarh, India

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H I M A C H A L P R A D E S H

Rs 7000 cr set aside for village roads: Shanta
Mandi, August 21
Mr Shanta Kumar, Union Minister for Rural Development, said at Kanwahl village, near here, this evening that the pre-condition of a population of 250 for a village to be eligible for the construction of a link road would be relaxed for the hilly areas and cluster of villages would be taken into the account for sanctioning the roads.

Shimla MC proposes water tariff hike
Shimla, August 21
The fund-starved Shimla Municipal Corporation proposes to generate additional financial resources by increasing water tariff and stacking charges, imposing parking fee on vehicles parked on roads and developing commercial properties by involving private sector.

Rs 32 cr spent on meritorious students
Shimla, August 21
Over Rs 32 crore had been spent by the state government on providing meritorious scholarships to 32,020 students in the past four years. Stating this while presiding over a meeting convened to review the scholarship schemes Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister, said the government wanted to help meritorious and deserving students of different sections of the society .

NSUI’s performance comes as surprise
Shimla, August 21
The impressive showing of the NSUI, the students’ wing of the Congress, in elections to the Students Central Associations of Himachal Pradesh University and its affiliated colleges, has come as a surprise to rival students’ organisations.

REGIONAL BRIEFS

YOUR TOWN

Chamba
Mandi
Shimla
Solan
Una

EARLIER STORIES

	Unhappy with Dhumal, MPs ‘come together’ August 21, 2002
	Stokes warns Dhumal govt August 20, 2002
	Jaitley manages to keep HP unit intact August 19, 2002
	Admission scam in pvt dental colleges August 18, 2002
	PSUs to run cancelled petrol stations August 17, 2002
	Govt hikes freedom fighter pension August 16, 2002
	11 Sessions Judges transferred in HP August 15, 2002
	Rift in BJP over dists August 14, 2002
	Another Himachal Pradesh panel on districts August 13, 2002

SCA poll: recounting of votes sought
Una, August 21
The police was called during counting of votes for the election to Students Central Association at S.V.S.D. College, Bhatoli, about 16 km from here yesterday as SFI supporters threw stones and broke many window-panes of the college building seeking recounting of votes after Sameer Sharma was declared elected as President.

UN selects India to train mushroom scientists
Solan, August 21
Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations has selected India for imparting training in the cultivation of button mushrooms (agaricus) to the mushroom scientists of the countries of the Asia-Pacific region.

Solan all set for eco-tourism
Kumarhatti, August 21
The Solan Forest Division is all set to launch eco-tourism in the region. Mr S.K. Sharma, DFO, told this correspondent that as a first step toward the successful and effective implementation of scheme an eco-tourism society in the name of Barog hills had been proposed and that would come into existence soon.

CM writes to Pant on trans-Himalayan authority
Shimla, August 21
Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister, has urged the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Mr K.C. Pant, to initiate the process of setting up of trans-Himalayan development authority in the commission so that people of Himalayan state could be benefited from it.

Sofat seeks relief for drought-hit
Solan, August 21
Farmers of the district, particularly of the Solan constituency area, are facing severe drought-like conditions, according to former BJP minister Mohinder Nath Sofat.

13 held for gambling
Kangra, August 21
Thirteen persons, including three women, were arrested under the Gambling Act and Rs 7,451 recovered during a ‘Red Cross fair’ in the Municipal grounds here on Monday following a raid by the Kangra police.

2 killed as truck falls into gorge
Shimla, August 21
Two persons were killed and three others injured when a truck carrying them fell into a 150-metre-deep gorge near Khanog, 35 km from Rampur, in this district last night. The police has identified the victims as Kewal Singh and Hirdu Ram.

Undertrial escapes, nabbed
Solan, August 21
Harjit Singh, an undertrial, escaped while being escorted to Kanda jail in Shimla district from here by a team of the Shimla police late last evening. He was nabbed again at the local bus stand at about 9.30 p.m. after the escorting policemen informed the police here.

New youth policy for HP soon
Security for pilgrims visiting Manimahesh

	Shimla MC proposes water tariff hike Tribune News Service Shimla, August 21 The fund-starved Shimla Municipal Corporation proposes to generate additional financial resources by increasing water tariff and stacking charges, imposing parking fee on vehicles parked on roads and developing commercial properties by involving private sector. The proposals were discussed at a meeting of the corporation here yesterday and referred to the general purpose committee and finance committee. The proposal on water tariff envisages introduction of a slab system in place of the flat rate of Rs 1.80 per kilolitres for domestic connections. The charges for monthly consumption up to 10 kilolitres in case of the domestic consumers are proposed to be increased nominally to Rs 2 per kilolitre, from 10 to 25 kilolitres Rs 4 per kilolitre and Rs 6 per kilolitre beyond 25 kilolitres of consumption. In case of commercial connections, the charge will be hiked from Rs 6 to Rs 10.50 per kilolitre. The same rate is to be charged for connections outside the corporation area. The Irrigation and Public Health Department charges Rs 4 per kilolitre for the bulk supply of water and its distribution cost is Rs 10.50 per kilolitre. The other proposals included leasing out the Craignano property to a private party for eco-friendly tourism activities, outright sale of the under-construction rest house at Bharari and floorwise sale of the under-construction complex near the High Court on “as is where is basis”. Another proposal envisages raising revenue totalling Rs 20 lakh by imposing parking fee on vehicles parked on municipal roads. With the government slashing down the octroi grant from Rs 5.64 crore to Rs 2.54 crore and establishment expenditure increasing sharply, the corporation was not in a position to even pay the salaries of its employees. It has taken up the matter with the government for the restoration of grant. The annual income of the corporation is about Rs 10 crore and the expenditure on establishment alone was around Rs 12 crore.
	Rs 32 cr spent on meritorious students Tribune News Service Shimla, August 21 Over Rs 32 crore had been spent by the state government on providing meritorious scholarships to 32,020 students in the past four years. Stating this while presiding over a meeting convened to review the scholarship schemes Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister, said the government wanted to help meritorious and deserving students of different sections of the society. He said 4,000 students of the Scheduled Castes and other backward classes categories were being provided a scholarship of Rs 10,000 each under the Dr Ambedkar Meritorious Scholarship Scheme. So far 10,233 students had been benefited. He said that 5379 students of the general category were awarded scholarship under the Swami Vivekanand Meritorious scholarship scheme by spending Rs 5,37,90,000, while a sum of Rs 43,23,000 was provided to 393 students under the Thakur Sen Meritorious scholarship scheme. Mr Dhumal said that a separate sub-cadre had been created by the government to ensure that adequate teachers were posed in the tribal and difficult areas so that the students in there areas were provided adequate teaching facilities. He said that 3,115 appointments of teachers of different categories were made under the sub-cadre. The government had started the Yashwant Gurukul Awas Yojna in the tribal areas by constructing combined residences for each senior secondary and high school teachers at a cost of Rs 15 lakh each having all basic facilities. He further said the Spiti subdivision of Lahaul-Spiti district had achieved the 100 per cent target by constructing all houses under the scheme. The Chief Minister said 12,68,996 students studying from class VI to class X and belonging to the Scheduled Castes, the scheduled tribe, other backward classes and IRDP families were given text books free of cost. Handicapped students with 40 per cent and above disability were being provided free education up to the university level and in vocational courses as well. He said computer courses were started in 236 senior secondary schools in the first phase and remaining schools would also be covered in a phased manner.
	NSUI’s performance comes as surprise Rakesh Lohumi Tribune News Service Shimla, August 21 The impressive showing of the NSUI, the students’ wing of the Congress, in elections to the Students Central Associations of Himachal Pradesh University and its affiliated colleges, has come as a surprise to rival students’ organisations. The NSUI had never been a force to reckon with in the hill state where the SFI and the ABVP have been dominating student politics for the past about two decades. By winning as 89 seats out of the 240-odd seats for which elections were held, it took a quantum leap from third place to almost draw level with frontrunner ABVP, which claimed victory on 103 seats. The NSUI gained mostly at the cost of the SFI, which came a poor third, though the ABVP also lost some of its strongholds to it. Most significant is the fact that the union virtually made a clean sweep in Kangra district, winning 35 out of the 40-odd seats along with its allies. The ABVP, which lost the prestigious university campus to the SFI, had the consolation of winning three seats of the Regional Postgraduate Centre, Dharamsala. It also made its presence felt in Shimla district by winning seven seats. It had been mainly drawing a blank in the district where the SFI had been ruling the roost. The HIMSU, the breakaway faction of the NSUI, also gave a good performance, winning 21 seats in Shimla, Sirmaur and Solan districts. The tally of the SFI was reduced to 37. The NSUI has disputed the claim of the ABVP and said that at least in nine colleges, where the parishad claimed victory, the university had not notified the elections. These were private academies. It put the tally of the ABVP at 45. The parishad, on the other hand, maintained that the NSUI had won 67 seats. Mr Kewal Pathania, president of the NSUI, said the victory of his organisation was a mandate against the blatant favouritism and nepotism in recruitment, particularly the functioning of the state subordinate services selection board, corruption, petrol station allotments and the health purchase scam, besides the anti-student policies of the Dhumal government. He said the landslide victory in Kangra was the reaction of youth to the conspiracy of the government to “dismember” the biggest and politically most important district of the state. He said it was the second referendum against the Dhumal government after the Shimla Municipal Corporation poll. Mr Kamal Nayan, secretary of the ABVP, said the parishad had been able to maintain its hold despite the gains made by the NSUI. A notable feature this year has been that the elections have been free of violence or any other untoward happening. The university authorities did the right thing by holding the poll early and not allowing much time for canvassing.
	SCA poll: recounting of votes sought Tribune Reporters Una, August 21 The police was called during counting of votes for the election to Students Central Association (SCA) at S.V.S.D. College, Bhatoli, about 16 km from here yesterday as SFI supporters threw stones and broke many window-panes of the college building seeking recounting of votes after Sameer Sharma was declared elected as President. Later, after the recounting Sameer Sharma of the ABVP was declared elected as president. For the general secretary seat result has not been declared so far as Govardhan of the SFI and Neeraj polled 1612 votes each. Anu Thakur has been elected joint secretary. The following are results of SCA elections of various colleges of this district: Government Post Graduate College Una: president — Mahesh Kumar; vice-president — Naveen Kumar; general secretary — Parul Dadwal; and joint secretary — Bindu (all ABVP candidates). DAV College (Dhulatpur Chowk): president — Dharmveer; vice-president — Renu Kanwar; general secretary — Baljeet Singh; and joint secretary — Manjeet (all NSUI candidates. Maharana Pratap Government College (Amb): president — Deepak Singh; vice-president — Anil Kumar; general secretary — Vishal Lath; and joint secretary — Pooja Kumari (All ABVP candidates). Baba Ddhangu Wale College (Beetan): president — Rajrani; vice-president — Dilbagh Singh; general secretary — Vikas Kumar, and joint secretary — Amandeep Kumar. NURPUR: The NSUI has swept the SCA elections of three government degree colleges of this subdivision. The following are the results: Government Arya College: Puja Rani, Suresh Kumar, Navneet Sharma and Rajneesh Pathania, all NSUI candidates were elected president, vice-president, general secretary and joint secretary, respectively. Government Degree College (Indora): president — Jasbir Katoch; vice-president — Kavita Pathania; general secretary — Deepaka; and joint secretary — Nardeep Guleria (all NSUI candidates). Wazir Ram Singh Government College (Dehri): president — Ravinder Kumar; vice-president — Mohammad Asif; general secretary — Ajay Guleria; and joint secretary — Ajay Kumar (all NSUI candidates). CHAMBA: The NSUI has swept the SCA poll of Government College, Chowari, while the ABVP won all four seats in the SCA elections of D.A.V. College, Banikhet. The SFI won three seats at the Postgraduate Government College, Chamba Government Postgraduate College (Chamba): president — Shiven Pathania (SFI); vice-president — Raj Kumar (SFI), general secretary — Anil Kumar (NSUI), and joint secretary — Sanjeev Kumar (SFI). Government College (Chowari): president — Ravinder Singh; vice-president — Ashwani Kumar; general secretary — Abhishek Gurang, and joint secretary — Suresh Kumar (all NSUI candidates). D.A.V. College (Banikhet): president — Kishor Ashni Kumar; vice-president — Reena Thakur; general secretary — Suresh Kumar; and joint secretary — Amit Rana (all from ABVP). BILASPUR: Vivek Kumar Vikki (NSUI) was declared elected as president of the Students Central Association of Government Postgraduate College yesterday. Harish Kumar of HVSU, Amit Thakur (HVSU), and Anoop Chand Bhatia (NSUI) were elected vice-president, general secretary and joint secretary respectively.

	UN selects India to train mushroom scientists Our Correspondent Solan, August 21 Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations has selected India for imparting training in the cultivation of button mushrooms (agaricus) to the mushroom scientists of the countries of the Asia-Pacific region. These countries are — Australia, India, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Nepal, and the Philippines. Dr B.L. Dhar, who recently attended a FAO sponsored mushroom networking workshop at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, said the selection of India by the world organisation had only confirmed that this country enjoyed a leading position in mushroom cultivation technology and that the work done by its scientists was recognised internationally. He said the FAO has also proposed the setting up of a network with the main objective of interlinking Research and Development Programmes of the member countries. A special thrust would be on the scientific exchanges on mushroom germplasm, characterisation of production technology, spawn cultivation and consumer education. The FAO after assessing the capabilities of individual member countries had assigned the training work in button mushrooms to India while Malaysia, China, Vietnam and Thailand, would look after Shitaki, medicinal mushrooms and paddy straw mushrooms respectively.
	Solan all set for eco-tourism Our Correspondent Kumarhatti, August 21 The Solan Forest Division is all set to launch eco-tourism in the region. Mr S.K. Sharma, DFO, told this correspondent that as a first step toward the successful and effective implementation of scheme an eco-tourism society in the name of Barog hills had been proposed and that would come into existence soon. The registration of the society was in the pipeline and very soon it would start functioning under which maximum representations to be given to members of local social organisations like mahila mandals and yuvak mandals, including panchayat representatives. The society would ensure the maximum involvement of local communities in the programme that in result would support their needs and create their direct stake in preservation of local culture, ecology and environment, he said. Describing the role of the locals in the society he said it was also proposed to identify the local host families having reasonable traditional accommodation in the village to provide the paying guest facilities. As the main source of the programme is based upon the support of local communities local committees would be formed and imparted training to make the scheme a success. The communities involvement would too include providing services to tourists like guides, porters, FRH attendants, cooks, park wardens and hosts for paying guests, he pointed. Meanwhile the department has received a shot in the arm when Chewa panchayat decided to take active participation in the programme. Mr Ramesh Chauhan president of panchayat, has assured to take the programme at the grass- root level.
	CM writes to Pant on trans-Himalayan authority Tribune News Service Shimla, August 21 Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister, has urged the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Mr K.C. Pant, to initiate the process of setting up of trans-Himalayan development authority in the commission so that people of Himalayan state could be benefited from it. In a letter written to Mr Pant, he said the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, had announced that the authority would be established while addressing a rally at Shimla. Mr Dhumal said the proposed authority would go a long way in solving problems of the Himalayan states, besides accelerating the pace of development there.
	Sofat seeks relief for drought-hit Our Correspondent Solan, August 21 Farmers of the district, particularly of the Solan constituency area, are facing severe drought-like conditions, according to former BJP minister Mohinder Nath Sofat. In a letter of the Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal yesterday Mr Sofat said after an extensive tour of the Solan constituency and some adjoining areas of the district, he had found that severe hardships brought about by the drought had been further compounded by unabated attacks by wild animals.
	13 held for gambling Our Correspondent Kangra, August 21 Thirteen persons, including three women, were arrested under the Gambling Act and Rs 7,451 recovered during a ‘Red Cross fair’ in the Municipal grounds here on Monday following a raid by the Kangra police. The additional police chief, Mr N.D. Sareen, said here yesterday that three women Reeta, Chanda and Jyoti all from Ludhiana (Punjab) were among those arrested. The others were Sushil Kumar of Dhualtapur, Som Nath of Kharat, Parvesh Kumar of Kangra, Bachitter Singh of Chhoti Haler, Rajneesh Kumar of Kangra, Parveen Kumar of Kuthwan, Susheel Kumar of Jogipur, Raj Kumar of Ludhiana, Shashi Kant of Chhoti Haler and Ajay Kumar of Chetru. He said those arrested had been granted bail. Meanwhile, SDM Kangra, Dr N.K. Laath told this correspondent that he had granted permission for installing ‘hawai jhula’, small train, Bombay variety show, agarwati yojna, ground wheel, food stalls and readymade shops during the ‘Red Cross fair’.