Shimla, September 4
The Himachal Government today approved a retention policy to regularise unauthorised constructions carried out up to June 30, 2006, in the planning and special status areas across the state. It also gave its nod for the take-over of the SVSD College, Bhatoli, the DAV College and Senior Secondary School, Daulatpur Chowk, in Una district.

The decisions were taken by the state Cabinet which met under the chairmanship of Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, here today.

Under the retention policy deviations from the sanctioned plans up to a maximum of 50 per cent would be compounded. The policy will facilitate regularisation of structures having up to five storeys, including a basement and an attic.

There will be no regularisation in the green, heritage and core areas of the Shimla Municipal Corporation. Besides, the structures with height more than 1.5 m on the valley side along the national highways will not be regularised. The builders, who have constructed structures under the State Apartments Act will also not eligible for regularisation.

The owners having only one house in the specified area will be eligible to apply for regularisation under the policy. The last date for submission of applications is October 15, 2006.

It consented to permit change in the land use provision and determined a fee of Rs 100 per square metre for hotel and medium-scale industries and Rs 200 per sq metre for heavy and large industries. The fee will be charged by the Town and Country Planning Department and the condition of the Tenancy and Land Reforms Act will be applicable as before.

The Cabinet gave nod for filling 2,673 posts of different categories in the education, animal husbandry, health and social justice departments. These include 1,778 posts of teaching and non-teaching posts in the newly upgraded institutions. Besides, 786 posts of veterinary pharmacist will be filled on regular basis and 11 posts of different categories under the integrated child development service scheme.

The Cabinet decided to convert the state cadre of 4,215 male and female health workers into a district cadre and change the cadre of Class IV category from the divisional level to that of circle level in the Irrigation and Public Health Department.

A proposal for purchasing 24 vehicles in the public and health department was also cleared.

Solan, September 4
The Forest Department has served a show cause notice on Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh’s Dochi-based farm house located near Chail to explain how exotic pheasants had been kept in captivity. A team of forest officials who descended on the farm on Saturday evening inspected the livestock there.

Mr R.S.Chauhan, DFO concerned, while confirming it said that the team had ascertained the presence of certain exotic species of pheasants including ring- necked and golden pheasants. A two week time has been granted to the farm to send a reply. The officials were however not allowed to count the number of pheasants and hence they could not ascertain how many birds had been kept there. The caretakers at the farm however told the Forest officials that these birds were being reared there and they had been exported. When contacted the farm employees refused to comment anything but added that the information would be available from Patiala.

The locals in the area, however, opined that following the visit of the Forest officials the birds had been let out in the wild in the protected area of Chail wildlife sanctuary on Saturday. The Forest officials added that the release of inbred species in the wild without prior permission attracted provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Besides they cannot be reared here without permission of the authorities.

Further release of these birds into the wild would create problems in the form of contamination due to disease prevalence. Various factors like location of an area, observance of guidelines laid down by the International Union on Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) had to be followed for releasing birds into the wild.

Even exporting such species required a series of permissions including from the Central Zoo Authority, the Convention of International Trade on Endangered Species (CITES) and the Government of India. The notice has sought to clarify these issues. With the presence of a breading centre located in the area the contamination from such exotic birds can totally offset the results.

Shimla, September 4
Police investigations into the HPCPMT question paper leak has been able to ascertain the presence and stay of some parents along with their children in a Delhi hotel and a dharamshala in Mussourie, where the candidates were tutored, just two days prior to the test.

According to sources, the names and entries of some of the parents have been found in the registers of a dharamshala in Mussourie where some of the parents stayed and the candidates were also tutored there. Interestingly, the parents took the trouble of travelling out of Himachal two days prior to the PMT entrance test which was held on May 26.

The police has been able to cross-check from parents as well as touts acting on behalf of the mafia about their stay in the dharamshala in Mussourie. Though the entry in the dharamshala record has been made in the name of the tout, some parents also stayed there, while others checked in hotels in Mussourie.

“Even though it is difficult to justify their travel out of Himachal two days before an test, some of the parents said they visited Mussourie as they had gone to Hardwar to take a holy dip while others said that they had gone to Dehra Dun to inquire about some private institute to admit their children,” informed a police official.

The candidates were tutored in different batches and while some were taken to Mussourie, others were taken to Delhi. The police has been able to ascertain the presence of some parents in Delhi just before the test as they have found entries of their names in the hotel registers where they stayed. “During interrogation we have been told that the tutoring was done at somebody’s residence in Delhi but we have yet to ascertain this fact,” said police sources.

The police is still in the process of interrogating parents, some of whom have reportedly admitted to their children benefiting from the paper leak, from a printing press in Lucknow. After examining the answer sheets of the students who had bagged the top 100 positions in the PMT, the police had said that the number of students who could have benefitted from the paper leak could be 38.

The police is now in the process of interrogating all the 38 parents. The police has checked their bank accounts and all the withdrawals and cheques given by them. The most important links have been established with the help of their mobile phone records and the conversations with the touts and others involved in the paper leak.

Mandi, September 4
CITU leaders today charged the state government with sheltering the construction companies involved in the Chamera III in Chamba and Parbati project in Kulu district who were suppressing workers and throwing the labour and minimum wages laws to the wind.

Talking to reporters here, CITU general secretary Rajesh Kumar, media in charge Kushal Bhardwaj, Mr Jagdish Walia and Prof Sunder Lohia, president of welcome committee, accused the construction companies, HCC and NHPC, of letting loose a reign of repression on the workers, particularly those who were in the unorganised sector. They were briefing the newsmen on the upcoming Construction Labour Federation of India (CWFI) meeting being held here from September 10 to 12.

Mr Rajesh Kumar alleged that the Dakhog killings of two CITU leaders in Chamba, killing of Shiv Shankar in Parwanoo, Dev Dutt in Jhakri and Ashok Kumar in Parbati were planned to suppress the growing popularity of the CITU movement in the state.

“The state government is supporting the construction companies and is carrying out the hidden agenda of suppression of the CITU workers in the state”, he alleged. Mr Kashmir Thakur, a CPM and CITU leader, was framed up in a false case so that he could not participate in the rally in Mandi,” he alleged.

The Himachal Government had constituted the Workers Welfare Board with pressure from CITU, but most of the states in the country have swept the law under the carpet, undermining the huge workforce of the unorganised labour force, they charged.

The pending demands of the workers like linking the wages to the price index, an increase in pension as the third benefit and other welfare schemes for labourers were being ignored, they said. 

Bilaspur, September 4
The Himachal Pradesh State Journalists Federation has condemned the misbehavior with and threats of dire consequences to a journalist, Ashok Jamwal, based at Thural in Kangra district by a Congress leader. The federation has demanded that Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and Congress President Viplov Thakur should take action against this leader and ensure that he leader desists from such activities in future.

Addressing media persons here today, federation president Jai Kumar said that Jamwal had earlier published a factual news report in connection with the worst condition of a road in public interest but this fact infuriated this Congress leader and he not only abused and used highly derogatory language against the journalist on his mobile phone but also threatened him to intimidate him if he sent any news in his daily newspaper again.

Mr Jai Kumar said the federation had taken serious note of the incident since it was an assault on the freedom of the Press and expression and was also an attempt to intimidate and coerce a journalist and prevent him from performing his duty.

He expressed surprise that though Ashok Jamwal had registered an FIR against the Congress leader, yet the police had not taken any action and that was why federation executive committee meeting had been fixed at Thural on October 1 for deciding its further course of action in this matter.

Meanwhile, the Thural Press Club has condemned the action of the Congress leader and decided not to cover any function of the Congress till the leader apologised for his misbehavior.

However, the federation urged the Chief Minister and the Director-General of Police to order the Kangra police to hold a high-level inquiry into the incident and ensure action against the Congress leader.

Mandi, September 4
Resentment prevails among villagers against the “rationalisation” exercise of the Norgu and Khokhan wildlife sanctuaries in the Mandi-Kulu belt.

The villagers allege some local politicians are using their influence with the wildlife authorities in de-notifying the villages on the basis of their votebank.

Though a team from the National Wildlife Board (NWB) visited the sanctuaries last month, it did not clarify as to how the new “rationalisation exercise” would be carried out.

In fact, the state wildlife board, which met recently under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, in Shimla, had approved the “rationalisation of 22 wildlife sanctuaries in the state to exclude the villages from their boundaries.”

There are over 71 villages in the Norgu wildlife sanctuary and over 27 in the Khokhan sanctuary, which are facing problems of fodder, firewood and development as all types of construction and grazing activities are banned under the wildlife protection and forest conservation acts.

“Not only this, wild boars, leopards and monkeys are plundering their crops and killing their domestic cattle from time to time,” said Mr Ved Ram Thakur, a farmer from Barot. “We cannot collect firewood, fodder and grass as the wildlife officials fine us. All villages should be excluded from the boundaries of the sanctuaries, which should be properly fenced,” he said. What has angered the villagers is that wildlife officials are clueless as to whether all villages which fall within the boundaries would be excluded in the rationalisation or some villages would be left in the sanctuary area after the exercise was complete.

On the other hand, officials claimed that the wildlife habitats were shrinking due to encroachments.

The DFO, Wildlife, Mr Sameer Rastogi, said there would be no discrimination as the “rationalisation” exercise would be approved by the NWB and the state wildlife board.

Nahan, September 4
Non-government organisations (NGOs) in Sirmaur district have decided to fight for the withdrawal of the Himachal Pradesh Societies Registration Bill recently passed by the state Assembly. They have termed it a “black law” which will hit the NGO movement in the state.

After conclusion of Morathan meeting of NGOs in Sirmaur district here last evening a joint statement, signed by Mr Kuldeep Verma, Director, PAPN NGO, Andheri, and Mr Madan Sharma, Director, Sardha NGO, Kafota, who was elected president of the newly constituted Mahila Mandal, Navyuvak Mandal Avm Swachik Sanstha Sangarsh Samiti, issued here today said that by enacting such an undemocratic anti-development and anti fundamental rights law, the state government had given a clear message to crush the NGO movement in the state.

As per the information available with the government at present over 37,000 NGOs are registered in the state under the Societies Act, 1860, and as per the provisions of this amended law all such organisations would come under this law, which include a large number of mahila mandals, navyuvak mandals and cultural, educational and religious societies.

The joint statement says that the provisions of new act give all the administrative and judicial powers to the Registrar of Societies to investigate any matter related to any NGO. He will further have the powers to hear such matters and give his decision which would be binding on the NGOs. He can authorise any of his subordinates to do so. At present these powers were with the civil courts.

As per the joint statement, under Section 16 (a), the Registrar will have the powers to decide members for the election of an NGO. Section 45 of the Act empowers the Registrar to cancel the registration of any NGO. Under Sections 8 (13) and 48 the District collector will take over the property of such NGO as has been dissolved under Section 44 of the Act. Under Section 41 the Registrar can remove the governing body of any NGO and appoint an Administrator to run the NGO and the remuneration payable to th4e Administrator shall be paid from the funds of the NGO.

As per the provisions of new Act, one cannot constitute on NGO for “any charitable or welfare purposes” which were not included in the list of this legislation. Legislation has counted only 12 purposes for which a NGO can be got registered which does not include purposes like to work for human rights protection, for the rights of Dalits and downtrodden people, women rights and to work for the welfare of animals, birds.

The NGO leaders have appealed to the government to adopt soft attitude on this issue in the public interest and withdraw the legislation. They had suggested that any law in this context should be enacted by taking into confidence all the stake-holders in the state. The NGO leaders have requested the Governor of Himachal Pradesh to return this legislation to the Assembly for reconsideration.

Nahan, September 4
Hundreds of residents from Badhana, Killaur, Kaltha, Kala Amb and Beldhar villages of Badhana gram panchyat today gheraoed the Divisional Engineer, the Assistant Engineer and a Junior Engineer of the BSNL in their office at Paonta Sahib for several hours. Villagers were agitated as their telephones had been lying dead for the past over four months.

Agitated villagers led by Mr Rajender Singh Pundir, vice-president of the Badhana panchyat, and Zila Prishad member Sher Singh Negi alleged that dispute their several representations made to the department and hundreds of visits by deputations of the residents to the Divisional Engineer’s office, the officer’s hardly bothered to set telephone system in order.