Dalhousie, September 30
The Himachal Chief Minister has categorically stated that his government would not be cowed into withdrawing the relevant tariffs and taxes imposed by the state government. However, the Chief Minister pointed out that the state government was contemplating to review the recent hike in the water and sewerage tariff.

Addressing a press conference here last night, the Himachal Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, said that the state government was keen to merge all the forests falling in municipal councils’ jurisdiction in the state into the Forest Department with a view to conserving and rejuvenating these forests.

For this, the Chief Minister said the government had planned to draw up a separate project for rejuvenation and replantation of forests.

The Chief Minister said he had also received a request from the local citizens of Dalhousie to take over the forests from the possession of the local municipal council and merge these into the Forest Department as the forest cover was shrinking due to encroachments. The CM said the matter was being examined and a suitable decision would be taken after thorough consideration.

Answering a query about two youths who were recently shot dead on the border range of Chamba district adjoining Jammu and Kashmir, the Chief Minister appealed to the people living on the borderland not to go beyond the declared borderline for extracting medicinal herbs.

The Chief Minister sanctioned a compensation of Rs 1 lakh each to the next of kin of the killed youths, in addition to an immediate relief of Rs 25,000 already sanctioned by the Deputy Commissioner of Chamba.

Dalhousie, September 30
A sum of Rs 500 crore has been released out of the Rs 4000 crore package approved by the Centre for Himachal Pradesh for providing drinking water to 6000 villages in the state.

This was announced by the Himachal Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, while dedicating a Rs 10.78 crore prestigious water supply scheme to Dalhousie yesterday. The Chief Minister also laid the foundation stone of a Rs 14 crore sewerage scheme for the hill station for which Rs 35 lakh had been sanctioned during the current fiscal year.

Speaking about the allround development in the state, the Chief Minister claimed that it was an outcome of the Congress party’s efforts. He said Himachal Pradesh had been rated as the first literate state in the country as per the recent national survey.

Lashing out at the BJP, the Chief Minister described the party as a clone of the Jan Sangh which had opposed the move of reorganisation of Himachal Pradesh on November 1, 1966 and also the land reform acts enacted by the Congress governments from time to time.

“The graph of the BJP is now descending with dissensions affecting the party in a big way”, said the Chief Minister, adding that assuming power by the previous BJP Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal on March 24, 1998 was really a tragedy.

The Chief Minister regretted that the previous Dhumal Government was the outcome of alliances which did enjoy the mandate of the masses. The BJP government had always worked on the lines of casteism, regionalism and communalism and worked for its own advantages. Corruption was rampant during the BJP regime, the Chief Minister added. The Chief Minister asserted that his government would not spare the guilty but directed his administration not to harass the innocent.

The Chief Minister disclosed that he was writing his autobiography which would focus on his life and related events.

On this occasion, Mr Sat Mahajan, Revenue and Panchayati Raj Minister, Mr Kaul Singh Thakur, IPII Minister and Mrs Asha Kumari, local MLA, also spoke. Mrs Asha Kumari highlighted various achievements made in Banikhet constituency by the Congress governments from time to time. She said land for the opening of a polytechnic at Banikhet had been acquired.

Kharo (Kinnaur), September 30
The Army has begun re-construction work of a Bailey bridge over Sutlej here, which collapsed just before its launch on September 8, claiming 34 lives of Army men.

Although the Army has denied any technical fault and material failure after holding inquiry into the tragic incident of bridge collapse, it has turned away from the earlier technique of setting up the bridge on single pattern of assembling it.

Learning lessons from the past, the Army has now decided to follow the already established Double-Double Reinforce (DDR) technique to assemble and set up the bridge.

Public Works Department of Himachal Pradesh had set up a 140-feet Bailey bridge by adopting this technique in a record period of just three days on Wednesday.

The 18 Engineers Regiment of the Army has sought the help of General Reserve Engineering Force (GREF), a sister concern of the Border Roads Organization (BRO), to break the existing side supports (beams) so that new supports could be constructed at a little more distance from the river bed. A 10-day time period has been fixed for this task, said sources in the army.

The re-construction of side beams was essential in order to create enough space to assemble and then push the Bailey bridge towards the other side following the DDR technique.

After the re-construction of side beams by GREF, the 18-Engineers Regiment would assemble the Bailey bridge and set up on the newly constructed side beams. This way, length of the Bailey bridge would also increase by at least 20 meters from the previous bridge that had collapsed.

Kharo Bridge is the only link on the National Highway-22 between Reckong Peo, the district headquarters of Kinnaur, and upper areas of Kinnaur and Spiti valley, said Dr. Amandeep Garg District Magistrate of Kinnaur.

He claimed that efforts were being made to get this bridge constructed at the earliest possible time so that the apple growers do not suffer in transporting their crop.

For the time being, the district administration had set up many cable trolleys (jhulas) where the local people and Army were facing problems in transporting essential commodities in remote areas. These trolleys are also being used to transport apples to the road side.

Mr. Jagat Singh Negi, local MLA, told The Tribune that the state government was in regular touch with the higher authorities of the Army to get the bridge completed by October 15 keeping in view of the apple season.

Dharamsala, September 30
Only one contestant is in race for the Miss Tibet-2005 contest now as all other seven applicants have gone back on their decision to participate in the pageant.

The crowning ceremony will be held on October 8 at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA) in McLeodganj. The name of the sole participant would, however, be kept a secret till then.

Talking toThe Tribune, Mr Lobsang Wangyal, producer-director of the pageant, said, ‘‘for a conservative society like ours, even a single entry is enough to make a point about the independence of Tibetan women.’’

‘‘The name of the new Miss Tibet will be disclosed when she is crowned and presented with a scholarship cheque for Rs 1 lakh’’, he added.

During the ceremony, the new Miss Tibet, dressed in an evening gown, will introduce
herself and express her views.

Then she will present a dance performance as part of a talent show, and then appear in her traditional costume to be crowned.

These will be the three rounds of the pageant.

Some local artistes would also be performing at the crowning ceremony, the tickets for which would cost Rs 150.

This is the second time when only one contestant has turned up to participate in the pageant.

In 2003 Tsering Kyi became Miss Tibet unopposed.

The pageant was originally scheduled to be held from September 29, with a one-week training session, and seven rounds to commence from October 7 and concluding 
on October 9.

In place of the one-week training programme, now the to-be Miss Tibet will be provided intensive training in personality development and stage craft, and will be updated on the current affairs of Tibetan issues.

All other applicants did not contact the organisers after the submission of their applications despite efforts to ascertain their status. ‘‘The reason for dropping out from the contest was not conveyed to us’’, said Mr Wangyal.

Applications had been received from contestants living in Canada, India, Nepal, Switzerland, Thailand and the USA. 

Nahan, September 30
Mr Babu Ram Rahi, Chairman, H.P. Board of School Education, said here yesterday that board would call a meeting of parents and principals of private schools in HP to decide their fee structure.

Mr Rahi said the board had decided to deal strictly with the private educational institutes.

This year the board had received as many as 648 applications of private educational institutes seeking affiliation from the H.P. School Education Board out of which 508 applications were rejected.

He said the board had decided to categorise private education institutes of the state on the basis of their results, extra-curricular activities, staff and infrastructural facilities provided by the school. Schools falling in the ‘A’ category would be given permanent affiliation and several other incentives by the board.

Mr Rahi made it clear that schools not following norms laid by the board, including teaching books published by the board, would not get affiliation.

Mr Rahi said strict steps would be taken to curb copying the active participation of local panchyats.

He said in the previous examinations 3717 cases of copying were detected in 1473 examination centres out of which 3000 students received major penalty.

Examination in 10 centres was cancelled and 21 teachers were blacklisted.

He said the board had decided to open ‘Open Schools’ and coaching centres for medical and engineering examinations and this decision was being forwarded to the government for approval.

Mr Rahi said results of this academic session would be declared school-wise on the website of the board.

He also presided over the silver jubilee function of Adarsh Vidya Niketan Public High School and announced that from the next session the school would be upgraded to the plus two level.

Nurpur, September 30
Giving a clarion call to elect honest and deserving candidates in the forthcoming elections to the Panchayati Raj institutions and local bodies, the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, yesterday called upon the people of the state to elect only those who could coordinate with the government to carry out development activities at the grassroots level.

Addressing a public meeting on the campus of the local Government Arya College where he laid the foundation stone of a science block, Mr Virbhadra Singh asserted that the government was committed to give more powers to the elected bodies of the panchayati Raj institutions, municipal councils and nagar panchayats. He said that in order to arm these institutions with more powers the government had constituted an autonomous body headed by Mr Kuldeep Singh Pathania, MLA, which was reviewing all the aspects. “The gram panchayats and local bodies will inspect all local base government offices, check attendance of employees and supervise the ongoing government schemes.” he said.

Talking on the ongoing industrialisation in the private sector in the state, the Chief Minister said the government had ensured to render 1.70 lakh job opportunities to the unemployed youths in the private sector. Action would be taken against those industries, which violated the parameters laid down by the government in rendering jobs to the locals.

The Chief Minister directed the PWD authorities to complete the construction of the science block of the college within 18 months.

Addressing a public meeting, the Revenue Minister, Mr Sat Mahajan, demanded upgradation of the local ITI to polytechnic college and pleaded that Mirpur subdivision was lacking any district-level government institution. The president of the local Municipal Council, Mr R.K. Mahajan, demanded sewerage in the town.

The Chief Minister earlier laid the foundation stone of a Rs 56-lakh community hall on the premises of the Municipal Council and inaugurated the upgradation of BTC Government Girls High School to the Senior Secondary School.

Kangra, September 30
Two persons were killed in a road accident in Drag on the Pathankot-Mandi highway on Wednesday when their motor cycles collided, the police said here today.

According to the police, two motor cycles — one without a number plate and another (HP-37-5816) collided late last evening at Drag leaving both the motor cyclists seriously injured. Kapoor Singh (35), Up-Pradhan of Dohra village, one of the injured was shifted to the Dr R.P. Government Medical College Hospital, Dharamsala, where he succumbed to his injuries.

Another injured, Sunny (21), resident of Pathiar, was admitted to Nagrota Bhagwan Hospital in this subdivision where he died late last night. The police has registered a case.

Shimla, September 30
The departmental examinations for the Indian Administrative Service, Himachal Administrative Service and all other gazetted officers, tehsildars, naib tehsildars, NGO, senior assistant (technical and non-technical), and excise and taxation inspectors of the Excise and Taxation Department will be held from February 18 to 27, 2006, according to the secretary, board of departmental examinations.

For the convenience of candidates taking the examinations only in the financial administration paper the board will conduct the examination at Dharamsala and Mandi, besides Shimla.

Application could be sent through the respective heads of department to the secretary of the board latest by December 31.