Sundernagar, February 11
As many as eight former inmates of Kanya Ashram along with six guardians came to the rescue of founder president of Mandav Charitable Trust Manohar Lal Sharma in sexual abuse case. They appeared before the media and deposed faith in Mr Sharma yesterday.

On the complaint of some inmates, a case of sexual abuse had been registered against Mr Sharma. The Kanya Ashram is run by the trust.

The guardians - Lobhi Ram, Raj Kumar, Negi Ram, Kaushalya, Parwati and Bimla - of the inmates said that the inmates had never complained about any sexual harassment.

They said that they came to know about the case from various sections of the media. They visited Kanya Ashram and found that the children had been shifted to Nari Niketan by the district administration. As they were not satisfied with the facilities in Nari Niketan, they had taken their wards to their homes.

The eight inmates who were present - Raj Kumari, Promila, Disha, Shilpa, Daya Puja, Gayatri and Chinta - denied any sexual abuse. They said they were threatened by senior girls Bandna and Neelam to depose against the president of the trust in the presence of the authorities.

They added that these two girls were ousted from work by the president. They said what that they had stated earlier was not the truth but an outcome of pressure.

However, they admitted that they had been assisting in doing domestic work in the house of Mr Manohar Lal Sharma in order to learn cooking.

When contacted Mr Manohar Lal said the truth would come out as the inmates of the ashram have gone to their houses. They were now free from fear and were speaking the truth.

Dharamsala, February 11
Hong Kong-based Chinese action hero Max Mok Siu Chung, who has appeared in more than 85 movies, is on a two-day visit here to know about Buddhism and have a spiritual insight for his movie series in Chinese.

Better known as a tough guy among Chinese stars, he has acted as companion with Jet Li in a six-movie series ‘Wong-Fei-Hung’.

He acknowledges the much sought after action hero Jet Li as his master.

The actor, a singing star in Korea, has taken interest in producing films.

Talking about his visit here, the star said he had come here to seek more insight into the religion from Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leaders for his upcoming project, the serial film ‘Qinghai’, based on the lifestyle of the Quinghai region in Tibet.

“I am here to see Tibetan leaders to gain more insight into Buddhism, around which much of my serial film will revolve”, he said.

The film would show how a star managed to break from the materialistically obsessed city life to find spiritual solace in a remote place in Tibet.

He met the Dalai Lama on Friday and was later scheduled to meet Khyentse Rinpoche, director of the Tibetan film ‘The Cup’.

The Chinese star felt that inner peace through spirituality had slowly been fading away from busy materialistic lives.

Nahan, February 11
The construction of multi-storeyed flats in this town is going on unchecked in clear violation of Section 13 of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1977. The ban on construction activity at Jarja (Banog) on the Shimla Road has virtually put an end to development activity here. The government has also not launched any housing scheme for the people of this area.

The mushrooming of multi-storeyed structures and benami deals is threatening the ecology and green cover of Nahan and the surrounding areas. Hundreds of residents of this town had purchased land and built houses near the rosin and turpentine factory on the Shimla Road under the purview of Section 118 of the State Tenancy and Land Reforms Act. No sooner had people started constructing houses at Jarja that a ban on all construction activities was imposed, much to the dismay of the land owners.

“I do not have any objection but I have not received any clearance from my directorate. The building plans of a number of houses were passed in conformity with the existing law.The district administration is competent to pass an interim order as a number of people are approaching them for approval of building maps,” said Mr R. D. Sharma, Town and Country Planner.

Local residents are raising multi-storeyed buildings beyond the prescribed ceiling of four storeys in clear violation of the Municipal Act and approved building plans.With an increase in population, the residents have no choice but to demolish their old houses and raise new buildings, said a businessman near Pucca Tank.

Interestingly, Pucca Tank is also surrounded by under-construction multi-storeyed buildings which are threatening the heritage of this town.

Residents are reportedly unwilling to settle in the vicinity of Kala Amb as the land prices there are exorbitant and pollution is on the increase because of rapid industrialisation. The district authorities have failed to solve the problems of the local populace due to the sluggishness and apathetic attitude.

“The development process must continue but not at the cost of the ecology of the town. For expansion of the town, the local authorities should devise plans that not only protect the environment but also allow construction activities to continue,” said Mr B.S. Choudhry, a property consultant.

“Environmental abuse is a major concern as influential persons are raising tall buildings and creating congestion by violating laws under the nose of Municipal authorities,” said Ajay Bahadur, ex-MLA and member of the Eco-Friendly Club of the town.

Deputy Commissioner R.S. Negi could not be contacted for his comments despite repeated efforts.

Solan, February 11
Governor V.S. Kokje yesterday said the slow pace of transfer of technology was a matter of concern for the farmers in the state. He urged the scientists to impart the technological know-how to the hill people about the highly profitable para-agricultural activities like poultry, sericulture, floriculture and mushroom production. He was addressing about 250 delegates, both domestic and foreign, at the National Research Centre for Mushroom during a two-day conference on Mushroom Biology and Biotechnology.

Addressing the delegates, Prof S.T. Chang from Australia, in his keynote address, pointed out the rich medicinal values of mushrooms. He said its consumption led to a healthier, happier and longer life. Dr H.P Singh, Deputy Director-General, ICAR, applauded the role of the centre for training manpower and popularising mushroom cultivation and earning Solan the name of the Mushroom City of the country.

About 250 delegates, including scientists, industrialists, framers and foreign delegates from UK, Australia and the neighbouring countries are participating in it.

On this occasion the Governor conferred the first-ever ‘Mushroom Rattan’ Award to Mr Manvinder Singh Bhinder, chairman and MD of Agro-Dutch Industries Limited, Lalru, for setting up a 100 per cent export-oriented unit. The unit is number one production house in the world producing 50,000 tonnes per annum of mushrooms even surpassing the royal mushroom of France, which produces 30,000 tonnes annually. Agro-Dutch accounts for the 24 per cent of total US import of mushrooms.

It is worth mentioning that whereas the mushrooms are gaining popularity elsewhere in the country its cultivation here is on the decline. In the recent past the best grower awards have been pocketed by farmers based at Sonepat and even the first ‘Mushroom Rattan’ Award has been given to a Punjab-based industrialist.

Dharamsala, February 11
Banks in Kangra district are losing crores every year due to non-recovery of loans given to unemployed youths under the Pradhan Mantri Rozgar Yojana (PMRY). Politician-official nexus in recommending these loan cases by the District Industry Centre (DIC) to the banks could not be ruled out.

The Kotwali Bazaar branch of Punjab National Bank here detected a fraud in PMRY loan in which Ashwani Kumar son of Sant Ram a resident of Kot Kwala village (Kangra) had submitted forged documents recommended by the DIC to the bank to get Rs 90,000 loan.

Mr RS Rana, senior manager of the bank said Ashwani Kumar was already a defaulter of the UCO bank but got another loan case under the PMRY scheme recommended from the DIC by submitting fake documents. He had submitted fake affidavit to the bank saying no loan was pending due from him by any bank. However, the PNB authorities from other banks found that he was a defaulter of the UCO bank, he said. Ashwani Kumar has been running a shop in the Kotwali Bazaar and was not unemployed.

He is not the only one who got loan sanctioned under the PMRY scheme by submitting forged documents. Mr Rana further said out of the 12 persons who had obtained loans from the PNB seven persons had ‘disappeared’ winding up business after obtaining the loan. Two other persons have become defaulters.

A senior official of the State Bank of India said the bank was suffering heavy losses due to non-recovery of the PMRY loan extended to unemployed youth. the SBI had disbursed loans up to a maximum limit of Rs. 1 lakh per person to 182 unemployed youths last year. However, recovery was less than 54 per cent, the official said.

various banks of the district had disbursed loan to 641 so called unemployed youths last year but total average recovery was less than 50 per cent. In hundreds of cases, the unemployed youths had ‘disappeared’ and their whereabouts were not known.

A survey by The Tribune revealed major drawback of the PMRY scheme was the state government through the district administration fixes the target of number of persons whom the loan is to be disbursed. The DIC without taking into consideration whether the beneficiary is unemployed or not gives some training for the namesake and recommends cases to different banks for disbursement of the loan up to a maximum of 15 per cent subsidy. Subsidy given on this PMRY loan is the crux of the problem. People having say in political and administrative circles got them cases sanctioned.

The politician-official nexus in these frauds could not be ruled out because not even a single case of defaulter or those who had disappeared has been penalised by the police or any other agency in the past couple of years though the modus operandi in all cases is the same and debt against them continues to rise. 

Shimla, February 11
With political expediency overriding basic concepts of urban development, the government has further relaxed the retention policy to pave the way for the regularisation of unauthorised multi-storeyed structures along the main highways irrespective of height.

Making a mockery of the Town and Country Planning Act, the Government has also extended the retention policy to the colonies of the Himachal Urban Development Authority (HIMUDA).

The government has taken this decision despite the fact that the retention policy is pending adjudication with the high court, which has already before the court which has ordered that cases for regularisation should not be decided till its final order. As per the rules no structure rising more than 1.5 metres above road level on the valley side could be regularised. The provision has been made specifically to ensure that multi-storeyed structures did not block the view of the hill landscape.

However, with elections to the Shimla Municipal Corporation due in April and Assembly polls a year away the government is coming out with one retention policy after the other to oblige those who have constructed by buildings in violation of the Town and Country Planning Act. The net impact will be that a large number of illegal structures will qualify for regularisation.

The main retention policy was notified in November 2006 and so far about 2,700 applications, 1550 pertaining to Shimla alone, for regularisation have been received. With the latest relaxation the number of application was likely to be doubled. Worse, the colonies developed by HIMUDA, which are planned , are also being degenerated into slums by compounding deviations from the approved building plans.

Every time a retention policy is implemented the government asserts that it was a one-time concession and that all unauthorised constructions in future would be demolished. However, the one-time relaxation has become a regular feature and a handy ploy to consolidate the vote bank. In the process six retention policies have been implemented and the last one has been further relaxed to do away with the all important restriction on the height of structures on the valley side of the road and extend it to HIMUDA colonies.