Paprola, October 25
Government Ayurvedic College here is being refurbished ahead of the visit of the AICC chief Sonia Gandhi, who will unveil a statue of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on the campus on October 30.

Talking to The Tribune, Dr Chanchal Sharma, Principal, said the entire college was bring landscaped on a war footing and the area would wear a new look before Ms Gandhi's arrival.

He said the college was probably the only ayurvedic institute in the country, which boasted of as many as 14 departments and had strong faculty strength of over 90 postgraduate teachers.

Every day, 150 to 200 patients register to get treatment in the out-patient department of the college's hospital. The existing bed strength of 100 would soon be doubled, he said.

Set up as Him Ayurvedic College in 1972, it was taken over by the Government of Himachal Pradesh in 1978. The college was christened as Rajiv Gandhi Government Ayurvedic College, Paprola, in 2003 and it is recognised by the Central Council of Indian Medicine, Delhi, and affiliated with HP University, Shimla, he added.

On the other hand, postgraduate students of the ayurvedic College have started an agitation against the non-payment of stipend for the last 19-months.

Dr K.D.Mahapatra, president of the Ayurvedic PG Association, said the 45 affected postgraduate students had also stopped services in the college hospital and would continue to sit on dharna till the arrears were released.

The authorities were telling us that we should withdraw the agitation as Sonia Gandhi was scheduled to visit the college, but our demand was absolutely valid, he said.

Dr Sharma, however, said the strike by students was not affecting the services in the hospital. The first and third year postgraduate students were having their exams and it is only students of second year who were sitting on dharna.

He added that he had disbursed an amount of Rs 20 lakh he received this week and he had asked the students to wait for the arrears till December, when the next budget allocation would be made.

The college is conducting the Ayurvedachayra - BAMS (Bachelor of ayurvedic medicine and surgery). The college was upgraded to PG institution in 1998.

Ms Gandhi will be on a one-day visit to Himachal Pradesh to address a public meeting at Dharamsala on October 30.

Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee General Secretary Kuldeep Singh Rathore told The Tribune that besides unveiling a statue of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at Paprola, she would address a public rally at Dharamsala, and later chair a meeting of party officials.

Shimla, October 25
The BJP today accused the ruling Congress of misusing government machinery and funds for making preparations for AICC chief and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s proposed visit to Kangra.

In a statement issued here, the state vice-president of the BJP, Mr Ramswaroop Sharma, said it appeared that Mrs Gandhi’s visit this time too would be more of a burden on the people of the state rather than the state benefiting from it. He added that Mrs Gandhi’s visit to the state had been planned with an eye on the Assembly elections in the state and government funds would be spent on it.

“Mrs Gandhi should come to the state with a solution to the problems faced by Himachal and ask the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, to announce a special package for the hill state,” he said.

He said that eversince the UPA government had come to power at the Centre, Himachal had not been given any financial assistance or help in any other form. “During the NDA regime, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee had given additional financial benefit of Rs 553 crore to Himachal,” he said.

He further alleged that unlike the NDA regime, the UPA government was discriminating in giving funds and other favours to non-Congress ruled states. “Despite Congress being in power at the Centre, the state government has failed to get its share of 7.19 per cent under the Punjab Reorganisation Act from its neighbouring states,” he said.

Mr Sharma further said that the Congress instead of fulfilling its promise of giving job to at least one member of each family had made back door appointment of teachers through the PTA to adjust its own men.

Dharamsala, October 25
The Dalai Lama here today reportedly expressed his concern over the growing Chinese population in Lhasa and sought Indian support for his middle-path approach as a tool to finding a solution to the contentious Tibet issue.

In a closed door meeting with RSS chief K.Sudarshan, the Dalai Lama is believed to have told him that the Tibetans could soon be reduced to a minority in their own homeland if the Chinese influx into Tibet continued unchecked.

He elaborated that of the total population of around three lakh in Lhasa, the number of Chinese had soared to two lakh. This was an alarming situation, he reportedly told the RSS chief.

Mr Sudarshan is here to attend a national seminar to be organised by the Bharat Tibet Sahyog Manch in Dharamsala tomorrow.

Mr Sudharshan, on his part, endorsed the Dalai Lama’s views and assured him of his party’s support in finding a solution to the Tibet issue.

The Dalai Lama, during his meeting, elaborated on the middle-path policy, which aims at achieving a genuine autonomy for all Tibetans living in the three traditional provinces of Tibet within the framework of the People’s Republic of China. It is a non-partisan and moderate position that safeguards the vital interests of all parties concerned.

The Dalai Lama has been reassuring the Chinese authorities that as long as he was responsible for the Tibetan affairs, the Tibetans would remain “committed to the middle path approach for not seeking independence for Tibet and are willing to remain within the People’s Republic of China.”

Senior BJP leader and former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal was also present during the hour-long meeting. The RSS chief presented a set of books to the Dalai Lama on the occasion.

Later, Mr Sudharshan met Karmapa and also paid obeisance at the historic Chamunda Devi temple.

Meanwhile, the 41 Tibetan refugees, who have crossed over from Tibet had an audience with the Dalai Lama today. One Tibetan nun was allegedly shot dead by Chinese security personnel and 32 of them are still missing.

Shimla, October 25
The quantum jump in demand for power due to unprecedented industrialisation over the past two years notwithstanding, the people of the hill state will be spared the harrowing power cuts during the ensuing winter, thanks to the increased availability of power with the commissioning of the 126 MW Larji project.

The demand has increased by more than 50 per cent. The daily requirement ranged between 105 to 120 lakh units from November to March till two years ago. However, this year the demand has touched 115 lakh units in October itself and it was likely to cross the 160 lakh unit mark during peak winter. The peak load in the Baddi industrial area, where the maximum number of new units have come up, has shot up from 80 MW to 140 MW over the last 18 months.

Still the deficit would not be as severe as two years ago. The total shortfall will be around 100 million units as against 183 million units last year. The shortfall from November, 2003, to March, 2004, was 283 million units and 460 million units in the winter of 2002-03. There will be no deficit in November as the Larji project which came into operation last month is generating 17 to 18 lakh units.

During December and January, the demand will touch 160 lakh units whereas the availability will be about 70 lakh units per day. However, the state will get 50 lakh units from the unallocated central pool and about 20 lakh units from Punjab and Haryana under the banking arrangement. Himachal Pradesh has a banking arrangement under which it supplies its surplus power during summer months to the two states and draws it back to meet its winter requirement. Thus, in all the total availability will be about 140 lakh units. The board has already invited tenders for purchase of 100 million units to meet the daily shortfall of 20 lakh units during the peak winter months.

Overall, Himachal Pradesh has been a surplus state for the past several decades but it has been facing an acute shortage of power during winters when the requirement shoots up and the availability plunges sharply due to a sharp decline in discharge of various rivers. However, the situation has improved over the past two years with the commissioning of the 300 MW Baspa, the 300 MW Chamera II and the 1500 MW Nathpa Jhakri projects.

Sundernagar, October 25
The controversy regarding including names which were not forwarded by the assembly segment unit to the district Mandi unit of the BJP by Mr Inder Singh, newly elected president of the district unit, has finally reached thee high command; as also the complaint regarding the wrong inclusion of names has been sent by senior leaders of the district like Mr O.P.Kohali, All-India returning officer of the BJP, to Sahib Singh Verma, in-charge of state affairs of the BJP; Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, former Chief Minister; and Mr Ashok Sood, returning officer for state .

The episode has divided the BJP in Mandi in two parts— one headed by Mr Mohinder Singh, former minister (who represents the group of persons who have come from Himanchal Vikas Congress) and the other consisting of old leaders of the BJP represented by former ministers Roop Singh, Dile Ram, Jai Ram, Damodar Dass .

The old BJP leaders enjoy support from seven assembly units while three units were dominated by persons who came from the HVC during the last assembly elections. A contest for the district president was expected but elections were held unanimously on the intervention of Mr Prerm Kumar Dhumal, former Chief Minister, and it was also unanimously decided that three delegates from each unit will be included in the district unit. It was further told that the office bearers of the district were to be selected from these names but when the list was announced, six new faces were included in the list, whose names were never forwarded by the assembly segment unit and certain new names of district delegates were included which started the controversy.

Recently, many senior leaders of the BJP meet Mr Dhumal and apprised him of the situation and submitted a written complaint to the high command. These leaders claimed that they avoided the contest on the intervention of Mr Dhumal but now the situation has become entirely different as they have been cheated. It was further stated that when the party president himself was not disciplined, how can the same thing be expected from party workers.

According to Mr Dhumal, the district president has acted wrongly and not done things as they were agreed.

The BJP workers are still hopeful that the high command will set things right. Else, it would prove fatal and would further reduce the number of BJP MLA’s in forthcoming elections, which at present stands at three out of ten for Mandi.