Shimla, April 18
Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, today appointed seven Chief Parliamentary Secretaries and four Parliamentary Secretaries to give representation to the left-out Solan, Sirmaur and Hamirpur districts and the tribal areas.

The swearing-in ceremony was carried out without much fanfare at the state Secretariat. Even mediapersons were neither informed nor invited for the ceremony. While Mr Thakur Singh Bharmouri, Ms Anita Verma, Dr Prem Singh, Mr Tek Chand , Mr Harsh Wardhan, Mr Lajja Ram, and Mr Harbhajan Singh were administered the oath as Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Mr Jagat Singh Negi, Mr Surinder Kumar, Mr Sudhir Sharma and Mr Raghubir Singh were made Parliamentary Secretaries. With this, the total number of Parliamentary Secretaries has gone up to 12. Mr Mukesh Agnihotri was appointed Chief Parliamentary Secretary soon after the formation of the Congress Government in March 2003. Besides, there are 11 ministers, including the Chief Minister, in the state.

While all three legislators from tribal segments have been accommodated, Sirmaur got two berths and Solan and Hamirpur one each. These districts could not find representation in the council of ministers because of the new law, limiting the size of ministry as per which the state can have a maximum of 12 ministers. Kangra, which saw the exit of three ministers during the downsizing exercise and lost one more berth following the election of Mr Chander Kumar to Parliament, had to content with two Parliamentary Secretaries.

Mr Virbhadra Singh said that besides giving representation to various regions ,the purpose of the exercise was to groom young leaders so that they could take up the reins of the government in future. He said he had not included some senior leaders like Mr Ishwar Das and Mr Raghu Raj, as they had earlier remained ministers. They would be made chairpersons of some important corporations. He intended to appoint four chairpersons of boards and corporations in all, out of which two would enjoy the rank of Minister of State.

He said some other senior leaders like Mr Tek Chand , Mr Harsh Wardhan and Dr Prem Singh, who never got an opportunity to shoulder any such responsibility during their long career, had been accommodated. Also, some young legislators had been afforded an opportunity to gain experience in “governance” with the objective of building a second line of leadership. He said he had no imminent plans to reshuffle his ministry but did not rule out such a possibility altogether.

However, Ms Vidya Stokes, a former Pradesh Congress Committee chief and arch rival of Mr Virbhadra Singh, expressed her reservations over the exercise and maintained that the criteria of merit had been ignored in the appointment of Parliamentary Secretaries. Further, the prime objective was to remove regional imbalances but this aspect had not been taken care of.

Meanwhile, the seven new Chief Parliamentary Secretaries and four Parliamentary Secretaries were attached to different ministers for various portfolios.

Mr Mukesh Agnihotri, who was earlier attached to the Chief Minister for health and public relations, has now been attached to Mr Kaul Singh, Irrigation and Public Health Minister. He will remain attached to the Chief Minister for the Public Relations Department.

Seven newly inducted Parliamentary Secretaries have been attached to the Chief Minister. Mr Thakur Singh Bharmouri has been attached to the Chief Minister for higher education and Himachal Pradesh University, Ms Anita Verma for health, Mr Tek Chand for the Public Works Department, Mr Harsh Wardhan for the Primary Education Department, Mr Harbhajan Singh for technical education and vocational training, Mr Jagat Singh Negi for tribal development, Mr Raghubir Singh for ayurveda.

Mr Negi had also been attached to the Forest Minister for youth services and the Sports Department and Mr Raghubir Singh to the Excise and Taxation Department for the Town and Country Planning Department.

Dr Prem Singh has been attached to the Revenue Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department, Mr Lajja Ram to the Horticulture Minister for the Food and Civil Supplies Department, Mr Surinder Kumar to the Excise and Taxation Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment and Mr Sudhir Sharma to the Power Minister for multipurpose projects and power department.

Shimla, April 18
The BJP today flayed the appointment of Chief Parliamentary Secretaries (CPS) and Parliamentary Secretaries (PS), terming it as an unnecessary burden on the state exchequer and against the spirit of the Constitutional amendment, limiting the size of the ministry.

Addressing a press conference here today, the state BJP chief, Mr Suresh Bhardwaj, said the amendment had been brought about with the consensus of all political parties and by appointing CPS and PS, the Chief Minister had violated the sanctity of the Constitution.

“Instead of cutting down on wasteful expenditure, the government has appointed 11 CPS and PS, which will further aggravate the already critical financial position of the state,” he remarked. He added that the government, which was practically running on loans and borrowings, has no right to waste public money on such appointments.

The BJP chief said the BJP was opposed to the appointment of CPS and PS, which had been done with the sole objective of obliging the Chief Minister’s loyalists. “The Chief Minister has indicated that some MLAs will be appointed chairmen and vice-chairmen of boards and corporations in the near future, which will put additional burden on the state exchequer,” he remarked.

“In light of the judgment of the High Court, the CPS and PS cannot take independent policy decisions. So what is the justification behind such appointments,” quipped Mr Bhardwaj. He added that on one hand the government was showing no restrain in making wasteful expenditure on such appointments and on the other was imposing professional tax and value added tax (VAT) on the common man. “The BJP will withdraw the professional tax on coming to power as no section of society has been spared by this unjust decision,” he stated.

Mr Bhardwaj said professional tax was nothing less than ‘jazia’, imposed during the Mughal regime, as the common man would be affected by it. “As far as employees are concerned, the government has found a novel way of taking back the benefit given to them by merging 50 per cent of their DA with the basic salary,” he said.

Former Chief Minister and BJP leader P.K. Dhumal said while the people of the state were being crushed under the burden of price hike and unemployment, the government was busy appointing Chief Parliamentary Secretaries (CPS).

Mandi, April 18
Factionalism among Congressmen allied to the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, and Ms Vidya Stokes, the two political rivals within the state Congress, has resurfaced in the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) and Block Congress Committee (BCC) elections, which will conclude on April 30 in the state.

The state Congress president, Mr Kuldeep Kumar, who is a Virbhadra Singh loyalist, claimed that “only in five or six of the state’s 68 constituencies were the elections “unresolved till today”. But party workers complained that only the “influential” workers associated with the two top rivals called the shots. This gave no chance to the dedicated party workers to have a say in the party affairs, revealed reports here.

The shadow of factionalism in the party came into play in Kulu district, with the Agriculture Minister, Mr Rajkishan Gaur, a supporter of Ms Vidya Stokes, the Power Minister and former PCC chief, who holds sway, sidelining his detractor Sunder Thakur from the pro-Virbhadra Singh camp.

But the clout of Ms Vidya Stokes within the party in the state was further marginalised in the central zone of Mandi, Kulu, Bilaspur and other districts. In Bilaspur district, the Forest Minister, Mr Ram Lal Thakur, a staunch Virbhadra loyalist holds sway, managing his “yesmen” on the BCC and PCC.

Significantly, both the IPH Minister, Thakur Kaul Singh, and the Taxation Minister, Mr Rangila Ram, could not have their say in constituencies other than their hometowns Drang and Gopalpur, respectively, in the elections. But both managed their “yesmen” on the PCC and the BCC to strengthen the Virbhadra Singh camp within the state Congress.

In Mandi district, except for the Mandi Sadar and Balh constituencies, it is pro-Virbhadra Singh men, who have had the last laugh. In most of the constituencies, the organisational battle turned out to be the one within “pro-Virbhadra Singh men”, who lobbied among one another, seeking his blessings for the PCC and BCC.

For Mandi Sadar, Mr Sukh Ram, former Telecom Minister, has recommended the name of his son Anil Sharma, former MP of the Rajya Sabha, as a PCC member and Mr Jai Singh Thakur, as BCC member. But the anti-Sukh Ram lobby headed by Mr D.D. Thakur, former Sadar MLA wants himself as a PCC member and his supporter as a BCC member, revealed the party men.

In the Dharampur constituency, the chairman of the state Cooperative Bank Mr Natha Singh Thakur, has managed for himself and his son Narender Thakur PCC and BCC berths, respectively, raising the ire of partymen there. Even the returning officer, Mr Vir Singh Chohan, faced flak from the partymen, who alleged that Mr Chohan played in the hands of Mr Natha Singh, a staunch Virbhadra Singh supporter, revealed party sources.

In the Balh constituency, Mr Prakash Chaudhary and his opponent M.R. Chaudhary have sought the blessings of Mr Virbhadra Singh for the PCC members post. “Both are Mr Virbhadra Singh’ supporters,” said the partymen.

Mr Kuldeep Kumar told The Tribune that he had today taken up the grievances of the partymen with Mr K.C. Lenka, in charge for Himachal in Shimla. “Except for Balh, the PCC and BCC members have been finalised in the rest of nine constituencies in Mandi district. All disputes have been resolved”, he claimed.

Palampur, April 18
The functioning of hospital kalyan samitis constituted by the state government in various hospitals in the district has been criticised as lakh of rupees collected by these samitis from poor patients are not utilised and accounted for.

The government had set up these kalyan samitis in the district and sub-divisional hospitals with the aim of generating funds to meet the day to day financial requirements of these health institutions. These samitis were authorised to collect funds from the patients who underwent any medical test, X-Ray, ultra sound scanning, surgery and other medical examinations in the hospitals. The patients had to pay between Rs 10 and Rs 300 to these samitis. These funds were supposed to be incurred on the welfare of patients and for the betterment of the Hospitals. The SDMs of the subdivisions concerned were made the supervisory officials for these samitis.

Surprisingly, no proper rules and regulations were made by the government to keep a check on the functioning of these bodies. No provisions were made about how the funds collected would be utilised by the officials. Most SMOs in the district who collected these funds failed to maintain proper accounts. In many hospitals no one knew how much amount was received from the poor patients and where it had been spent.

Information gathered by The Tribune also revealed that the funds collected by these hospital kalyan samitis had run into crores in the past four years. It is a matter of serious concern that utilisation of these funds was not subject to any audit by the Accountant-General of Himachal Pradesh or an internal audit by the Health Department. Therefore, officials concerned were at liberty to misuse the funds. In various hospitals funds amounting to Rs 30 to 40 lakh were received annually by the SMOs and had been shown as having been spent for the welfare of hospitals in one year. However, the true picture is entirely different as many SMOs purchased luxurious items, furniture, fridges and air conditioners from these funds, which is in gross violation of directions of the then Health Secretary, Mr Vineet Chaudhry. Besides, a huge amount was shown as having been paid to architects, engineers and contractors.

Under government rules items exceeding Rs 2500 could not be purchased without calling open tenders, but these rules were not followed by the samitis and contractors and sub contractors were paid lakh of the rupees. Besides, machinery worth lakhs of rupees was also purchased by these samitis in gross violation of the rules. No income tax and sales tax were deducted on the payments made.

It is also learnt that in one of the hospitals in the district over Rs 75 lakh were collected by the kalyan samitis in past four years from the patients and these were shown spent on the welfare of patients, construction of sheds, purchase of water coolers and other infrastructure. But after about one year these sheds and infrastructure were dismantled by the HP PWD as the land was needed by the government for the construction of a new complex of the hospital. In this way over Rs 5 lakh collected from poor patients went down the drain. A senior official of the HP PWD, when contacted by this reporter, said the SMO knew a new complex was to be built on that land so he should have not got a shed constructed on this land.

Besides, the drawings of the buildings had been approved a long time ago, which was in the knowledge of the SMO, he added.

The PWD was left with no other alternative but remove the sheds as the state government was pressing hard for construction.

Mandi, April 18
The Himachal Pradesh Government Teachers Association today said the state government had agreed in principle to fill all vacant posts of headmasters on promotional basis by April 30.

Referring to meeting of the grievances samiti of the association with the Principal Secretary, Education, Mr Abhay Shukla, and the Additional Secretary, Mr Katwal, in Shimla last week, the HPTA president, Mr Roshan Lal Kapur, said the government would first prepare the panel for a year to streamline the promotion of the teachers. “The government will give one time relaxation that will benefit over 1,276 teachers in the state”, he added.

In the joint statement, the HPTA’s general secretary, Mr Ramesh Guleria, added the matter related to the language teachers in high schools and the double section in the middle schools would be taken up at the next Cabinet meeting. “The postgraduate DPs will be given the designation of lecturer, physical education”, he added.

They said the vacant posts of joint director in the directorate would be filled by May 15.

Parwanoo, April 18
A national highway Public Works Department has initiated the task of four-laning stretch of 0.5 km of the NH-22 extending from the state’s barrier.

The project involves providing four lanes where one lane each would be made available to the truckers for depositing various taxes at the barrier without bringing the rest of the traffic to a halt.

Traffic blocks had become common especially during the apple season when thousands of trucks passed gthe barrier daily. In the first phase the road would be widened and in the second phase various offices of various departments would be relocated to a new building.

The first floor will accommodate the offices and the second floor would be made available to the support staff and guest houses of various departments including Excise and Taxation, police, regional transport department, municipal committee and forest.

The Executive Engineer of the NH, Mr Ashok Gupta, said Rs 95 lakh was being spent in the first phase while the whole project was worth Rs 257 lakh.

The project also involves 0.5 hectare of forest land for which due clearance was sought from the Forest Department.

This was mandatory as a forest land was being used for a non-forestry purpose. An amount of Rs 6.75 lakhs has been deposited with the Forest Department for mandatory afforestation.

Shimla, April 18
Four legislators, including two former ministers who could not be accommodated as Parliamentary Secretaries, have been appointed Chairpersons of various corporations.

Mr Ishwar Dass has been made the Chairperson of the HPMC, while Mr Raghu Raj, Vice-Chairperson of the State Forest Corporation, gets the rank of Minister of State.

Mr Sukwinder Singh has been appointed the Chairperson of State Agro-Industries Corporation and Mr Jagjivan Pal, Vice-Chairperson of the State Civil Supplies Corporation.