Shimla, April 5
Revenue minister Sat Mahajan today created a history of sorts by himself referring the charges against his department in the charge sheet submitted by the BJP to the Lokayukta to vindicate his honour.

The octogenarian leader said that he had filed an affidavit with the Lokayukta to probe the charges to bring out the truth.

Talking to mediapersons here he said he had an unblemished political career spanning over five decades and was hurt and deeply anguished over the charges.

Finding a black spot on his "clean" image was just like a blind man looking for a black spot in a dark room, he said ridiculing the attempt of the BJP to malign him.

Trying to find a black spot in his clean public life and tarnish his image was like a blind man looking for a black cat in a dark room, he taunted.

He said one of the charges pertained to the purchase of computers by the panchayati raj department, which was under his charge. The fact was that the computers were procured by the state electronics development corporation and not his department. The corporation invited global tenders and procured Dell computers which were considered the best in the world.

Similarly, the charge regarding the acquisition of land for Bagha Cement Plant had nothing to do with his revenue department as land was acquired for the industries department. The revenue department only issued the no-objection certificate. Moreover, the acquisition of land was a quasijudicial process subject to appeals in higher courts.

Shimla, April 5
The Vidhan Sabha today passed the Himachal Pradesh Private Clinic Establishments Registration and Regulation Bill making registration of all private medical centres and clinics mandatory.

Speaking on the Bill Kuldeep Pathania said the provision of registration without any inspection would negate the very purpose of the new law. Some existing clinics, which lacked requisite facilities, would also get registered.

Chief Minster Virbhadra Singh said the law would enable government to fix norms and standards for setting up the private clinical establishments in the state. It also provided for punishment in case of contravention of provisions, besides setting up of a state council to determine the standards for such establishments.

The objective was to regulate the private clinics, weed out the unqualified practitioners and to improve health facilities in the state.

The state VAT (amendment and validation) Bill to plug leakage of revenue in industrial establishments undertaking expansion and availing incentives of deferment of taxes only upto 75 per cent of the entire sales tax due was also passed.

To ensure that the 25 per cent balance dues were deposited in the government treasury, the Bill provided an alternate mode of payment under which industrial units will be given option to pay the deferred tax amount. The amendment will be applicable to industrial units retrospectively and validate the action already taken.

Shimla, April 5
With the security agencies rejecting the sites selected by followers of 17th Karmapa Ugyen Trinley Dorjee for setting up his own monastery, mainly for safety reasons, the search for an appropriate location continues.

Followers of the Karmapa, who had almost finalised the deal for purchase of almost 60 acres of land near the Chamunda temple in Kangra district for a monastery, had to abandon the idea after the security agencies rejected it. The large chunk of land was very close to the bus stand in Chamunda, which was the main cause of concern for the security agencies.

Since the Karmapa expressed the desire to have a permanent monastery of his own, the search for land has been on but finding at least 60 acres is not an easy task.

Two other sites being considered for a monastery by the Karmapa have also been rejected by the security agencies.

"With the Karmapa being the third most revered spiritual guru amongst the Tibetans after the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama, his security is a major concern for the Indian government," admitted a senior police official.

Ever since his flight to freedom from the Tsurphu monastery in Tibet to Mcleodganj in January, 2000, the Karmapa has been residing in the Gyuto Tantrik monastery on the outskirts of Dharamsala. Initially, he was very keen to move to the Rumtek monastery in Sikkim or the Sherabling monastery at Bhattu near Baijnath, he is learnt to have made up his mind to have a permanent seat around Dharamsala, with the Indian government not granting him permission to do so

He is also keen to have a site somewhere close to Mcleodganj, the headquarters of the Tibetan government-in-exile and the abode of the Tibetan spiritual and temporal leader, Dalai Lama. He has been holding teachings for his followers, who come in large numbers from abroad, especially Europe where the Karma Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism has a major following.

Since his arrival in Dharamsala the Karmapa is guarded by the Indian as well as Tibetan security at the Gyuto monastery. The manner in which he took the world by surprise when he landed in Dharamsala on January 5, 2000, as a 14-year-old boy raised several doubts in the minds of the Indian intelligence and security agencies.

His several requests to the Home and External Affairs Ministries to allow him permission to visit the Rumtek monastery in Sikkim, which was the seat of the 16th Karmapa, have not been accepted.

Shimla, April 5
A special Executive Council (EC) meeting of the Himachal Pradesh University is likely to be held shortly to take a final decision on the issue of termination of the services of five officials, facing charges of alleged administrative and financial irregularities.

Sources said it had also been decided that the replies filed by the five officials in response to the chargesheet served on them would also be sent to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in whose report there was a mention of these alleged irregularities committed by the officials.

A decision was taken in the last EC meeting that all five officials should be given an opportunity for personal hearing as per their request before deciding their termination.

The five employees who are facing termination include Prof J. B. Nadda, the then Pro-vice-chancellor, then deputy registrar J.S. Verma, the then regional director of the DCC O.P. Saraswat, public relation officer Ranvir Verma and Suresh Kapoor, from the Department of Law.

Shimla, April 5
The national BJP chief Rajnath Singh is likely to discuss the issue of the candidate to be fielded for the Hamirpur Lok Sabha byelection during his visit to address a state -level rally at Hamirpur.

Singh has already taken a feedback from the state party chief Jai Ram Thakur and other senior leaders about the probable candidates. The ‘satta parivartan rally’, where the BJP would formally launch its election campaign, will be an opportunity for the party to discuss its strategy for the Hamirpur bypoll.

Even though the names of former Chief Minister and leader of opposition P.K. Dhumal and former Union Minister Shanta Kumar are doing the rounds, but both are reluctant to take the plunge. The fact, that the bypoll is being held due to the disqualification of BJP MP Suresh Chandel, after his name figured in the cash for query scam, makes the wicket sticky for the BJP.

With less than a year for the assembly polls in the state, Dhumal is reluctant to contest. “If he wins he will have to stay out of state politics and in case he looses it will be most damaging for his political career so either ways he is a loser,” said a senior leader.

However, Dhumal would prove to be the strongest candidate, as Hamirpur is his home district, and he has won the parliamentary elections earlier also. Even though Kumar’s name is also also considered, but it is felt that there is no logic in fielding him as he has practically not visited Hamirpur.

Though the name of Anurag Thakur, son of Dhumal, is also being taken, but senior party leaders feel that the BJP cannot afford to take a big risk at this juncture by fielding a new face, when the stakes are too high. Winning the seat for the BJP is a must as it is only then that their claims of being on a comeback trail would be vindicated.

Chamba, April 5
Certain species of migratory birds like, pintail, common teal, kingfisher and the grebes were sighted this week at Chamera lake of Chamba district in Himachal Pradesh. This reveals that Chamera Lake is emerging as one of the excellent feeding and breeding grounds for wading, diving water birds of insectivorous, piscivorous and herbivorous habitats.

The Chamera reservoir is situated in the rift valley of Chamba district on the northern edge the Dhauladhars. The main source of water is the river Ravi flowing out of snow-fed hills of Bada Bhangal of Kangra district.

Of late, Chamera Lake has started acting as an important interceptor for migratory waterfowl that cross the Himalayas towards the Indian plains. The lake has a special value for maintaining genetic and ecological diversity of this region.

The wildlife experts feel that since 1992 when the lake came into being, the lake has not been explored and exploited which potentially offers a transitory restive reserve for migratory birds. 

Shimla, April 5
Forest minister Ram Lal Thakur said today that the government was taking all possible steps to check the monkey menace by mass sterilisation and planting species of trees which provided food for the simians so that they were not forced to leave their natural habitat in search of food.

He said the government had already started the sterilisation programme and so far 621 monkeys had been operated upon. The two existing sterilisation units had limited capacity for female sterilisation and a mobile unit was being set up with adequate facilities for both male and female simians. It would perform sterilisation of monkeys on the spot and then released with a laser marking for identification. The department planned to set up two more units at Gopalpur in Kangra and Sundernagar.

Under the present project, 5,000 monkeys in Shimla, Rampur and along the Shimla -Parwanoo highway were to be sterilised. The total number of monkeys in the state was 3,19,188 of which 65,000 were located in urban areas and the vicinity of temples creating nuisance.

Work on the project for captive breeding of the highly endangered western tragopan species was being expedited. The Central Zoo Authority (CZA) had recently released Rs 49 lakh for the Rs 4.03-crore project. The Rs 3.30-crore project for captive breeding of cheer pheasant, which was earlier rejected, was being again sent to the CZA.

Another project was being initiated for the conservation of pure bloodlines of the red jungle fowl. 

Dharamsala, April 5
Hundreds of roadside vendors have been uprooted from the main market, the main temple road and few other roads of McLeodganj in a joint operation of the municipal council and the administration.

The uprooted vendors later protested against the municipal council and the local administration and handed over a memorandum to district magistrate of Kangra Bharat Khera demanding earmarking of an alternate site for them to run their business.

The municipal council had been charging Rs 10 per day from these vendors for the past over 15 years for allowing them to run their business at these places. The sudden move of the authorities has rendered them jobless.

This move is being seen from the angle of recent media reports of security threats to the Dalai Lama. His residence is close to the main temple of the Buddhists. The vendors had been uprooted from the road leading to his residence.

It was also learnt that during a series of joint meetings between officials of the local police, state intelligence agencies and the Intelligence Bureau early this week after the reports of security threats to the Dalai Lama, it was decided to uproot these vendors from the security point of view. However, no official of the state police was willing to comment on the issue.

The operation was led by the sub-divisional magistrate and the security cover was being manned by the additional superintendent of police himself.

Tasneem Abbas, president of the vendors’ association, said the council had collected Rs 10 from every vendor even on Wednesday. Uttam Kumar, a vendor, said they had been paying Rs 10 per day to the municipal council since 1988 and no body had ever uprooted them in the past.

District magistrate of Kangra Bharat Khera said the vendors were creating nuisance, putting a bad impression on tourists. Therefore, it was necessary to uproot them, he added.

The move is being seen from the angle of recent media reports of security threats to the Dalai Lama. His residence is close to the main temple of the Buddhists. The vendors have been uprooted from the road leading to his residence.

Kumarhatti, April 5
Lack of housing facilities in the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial belt and in Parwanoo has added to traffic woes. Most of the workforce engaged in this border industrial belt is compelled to reside in Kalka, Pinjore, Panchkula, Chandigarh and Mohali because of non-availability of proper housing there. Regular traffic jams in morning and evening hours are common on the roads. The worst affected are the Kalka-Shimla national highway and the Baddi-Pinjore road. There is chaos on internal roads when a record numbers of vehicles, including staff buses carrying employees, move out of industrial units. There is virtual mess on the Baddi-Pinjore road when executives return to Chandigarh and its satellite towns. The tractor trolleys involved in construction activities in and around Baddi have further added to the traffic chaos.

The high volume of traffic has also helped in enhancing air emission and noise level. The official report on the status of ambient air quality in the belt was not so good. The result of the air quality of Parwanoo under the National Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Programme was also discouraging.

Air quality of Parwanoo was monitored at two different locations. The observations showed that the level of suspended particulate matter (SPM), oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and sulphur dioxide (SO2) were high in the industrial area as compared to the residential area. This could largely be attributed to increase in vehicular traffic movement in the area. — OC

Shimla, April 5
The expansion in education facilities over the past 4 years saw the opening of 435 senior secondary, 314 high and 819 middle schools all of which have been made functional.

Stating this in the Vidhan Sabha today, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said the expansion was not casual growth but a deliberate attempt to make Himachal a knowledge state. In exceptional cases, some middle schools had been even been directly upgraded as senior secondary schools.

Besides, 18 colleges had been opened and six private colleges taken over. As many as 10,106 teaching and non-teaching posts had been created for the new institutions. In the past, posts of lecturer (school cadre) in commerce subjects were not created when schools came into existence.

The government had recently created 628 posts of lecturer (school cadre) in commerce subjects to ensure that every senior secondary school had teachers in the discipline. The process to fill posts had been initiated by relaxing the ban on recruitments.

After the enactment of private universities (establishment and regulation) law, Jawaharlal Nehru Government Engineering College had been set up at Sundernagar, a pharmacy degree college at Rohroo. Two private pharmacy colleges had also come up at Solan and Mandi.

Science blocks were being constructed in senior secondary schools in a phased manner to provide better facilities for teaching science.

Chamba, April 5
Educated unemployed youths of Chamba region have urged the state government to notify all vacancies of various departments either through the Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (HPPSC), the Himachal Pradesh Subordinate Services Selection Board (HPSSSB) or the employment exchanges.

They have opposed the practice of notifying vacancies to various departments of the government bypassing these nodal agencies.

Jobless youths of the district maintain that the modus operandi of notifying vacancies by almost all departments is beyond the reach of unemployed youths. “The prescribed application forms relating to various posts should be sold through all sub-post offices. At present, these are sold through the head post offices only,” they maintain.

Shimla, April 5
The high court has directed the state government to act against four ayurveda clinics in Kangra district under the PNDT Act, instead of issuing "arbitrary orders".

The court directed the government to initiate action against the clinics in accordance with the law and following due procedure under the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1994.

The orders were issued on a writ petition filed by Dr Surjeet Gulati and three other registered medical practitioners, who said oral orders of the District Appropriate Authority were violative of the PNDT Act, 1994.

The Kangra district administration in September last year had issued verbal orders to four clinics, being run by BAMS doctors, to close their ultrasound test centres, saying they were not eligible to operate them in the absence of an experienced radiologist.

The court said no action should be initiated against the petitioners unless show-cause notices were issued to them as stipulated under the law.

A copy of the order may also be supplied to the principal secretary, health, who would make this order available to the appropriate authorities, it said.

Disposing of the case, the court asked the authorities to issue notices to all diagnostic centres and clinics with ultrasound machines before taking any action against them. — UNI

Nurpur, April 5
The Excise and Taxation Department has set up four toll barriers in Nurpur subdivision out of which three have become a bone of contention between private contractors and residents. Residents allege they are being forced to pay entry tax (toll) within the state jurisdiction itself.

Only the Kandwal-Chakki toll barrier has been set up at right place on the Pathankot- Mandi national highway on the border of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. The Kandwal- Bhadroya toll barrier has been set up around 10 km away from the Punjab border. The third barrier for Toki border on the Pathankot-Jalandhar highway has been set up at Shekhupura away from entry point of the state.

Similarly, the Excise and Taxation department has recently notified fourth toll barrier for the new Chakki bridge on the Chakki-Dunera state highway. In spite of setting up on the entry point, the barrier has been notified at Odar village which is just 1.5 km away from Punjab and Himachal Pradesh border.

The setting up of these barriers away from the actual borders of both states has become an irritant for the vehicle owners who used to ply near bordering areas within the state as they have to pay toll. The assistant excise and taxation commissioner, Kangra, said the residents living near the borders could get concession passes.