Nahan, June 24
President of the state unit of the BJP Jai Ram Thakur has said that the bag that went missing from the office of the Chief Minister contained Rs 1.15 crore. He was addressing a press conference at the PWD rest house at Rajgarh, around 110 km from here, yesterday.

He said the money was brought for being spent on ensuring victory of the Congress candidate in the Hamirpur parliamentary byelection.

He said office-bearers of state unit of the BJP would meet the Governor on June 29 with a fresh chargesheet against the state government and demand its dismissal on charges of non- performance and corruption. — OC

Shimla, June 24
The high court has held that the age of superannuation of a workman will be 60 years.

Mr Justice Rajiv Sharma passed this order on a petition filed by the Gabriel Employees Union wherein the union has challenged the order of the appellate authority that it was debarred from agitating for the demand for fixing the age of retirement.

Setting aside the order, the high court said the finding recorded by the authority to the effect that the petitioner was debarred from raising the demand is palpably wrong.

The management cannot be permitted to use absolute discretion unilaterally while fixing the age of retirement merely on the basis of incorporation of age in the appointment letter of a workman in conflict with the mandatory provisions of law.

The age prescribed in the model standing orders is 60 years. It is a duty cast upon the statutory authorities to see that the standing orders are in conformity with the model standing orders.

Shimla, June 24
The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGA) is gaining momentum with four out of the 12 districts already covered under the programme.

Being implemented in Chamba, Kangra, Mandi and Sirmaur district, the programme is to be extended to the remaining areas in a phased manner. Jobs cards have been issued to 99,993 rural households in the state which include 32,487 SCs, and 20,502 STs households. The number of households seeking employment is 68,088.

Besides poverty alleviation, the main objective of the scheme is to prevent migration from rural to urban areas. If work could be provided in villages there will be no need for youth to migrate to cities. The other objectives are to empower women and create productive assets in rural areas, ensure a more equitable social order by changing the power equations in rural society.

Up to April, 2007, 64,382 lakh people have been provided employment and out of them 5,356 are women. In all, 4,356 households, have completed 100 days of employment and about Rs 40 crore have been spent under the scheme.

Shimla, June 24
Considering the hike in the cost of treatment, the Himachal Pradesh government has increased almost three times the compensation amount on account of injury caused by monkeys and other wild animals.

People suffering minor injuries caused by monkeys and other wild animals get Rs 5,000 now in comparison to Rs 1,800 earlier, Forest Minister Ram Lal Thakur told PTI today.

In case of permanent disability, the amount has been raised substantially from Rs 25,000 earlier to Rs 1 lakh now, he said.

District forest officer, Wildlife, Nagesh Guleria said in case of major injury the victim would get Rs 33,000 from Rs 25,000.

He said the compensation amount for death caused by wild animals remained the same at Rs 1 lakh and it had been raised recently keeping in view the increase in the cost of medical treatment.

He said the compensation amount was determined on the basis of doctor's report who would certify whether the injury was minor, major or amounted to permanent disability.

The DFO said there was maximum complaint of injuries caused by monkeys and stray dogs in Shimla, while those from rural areas, it was from leopard, wild boar and black beer.

Black beers are feared the most in the upper areas of Himachal, while in the lower areas there is terror of leopards, he added. — PTI

Shimla, June 24
The Ekal Naree Shakti Sangathan has urged the government to prepare a vulnerability index for single women and remove the procedural wrangles in order to ensure effective implementation of the Mother Teresa Scheme.

Addressing a press conference here, the state coordinator of the sangathan, Nirmala Devi, said though the scheme aimed at helping single mothers was very good but the benefit was not reaching to the target population because of the formalities involved. She said Himachal was the only state in the whole of North India to have started such a scheme for single women.

She said the Department of Women and Child Development must undertake a state level survey to identify women who are facing social exclusion. She said single women were finding it extremely difficult to obtain death and income certificate, making them ineligible for getting benefit under the Mother Teresa scheme.

She said that an easy way out was to take an affidavit from the woman concerned that in case the details furnished by her turn out to be false, the benefits could be withdrawn.

Subhash Medhapurkar, from an NGO Sutra, said the government must hold consultations with Women’s Commission, NGO’s and other agencies to find out a permanent solution to all such issues.

He said laxity on the part of the department in distributing the forms for seeking benefit under the scheme had delayed the benefit from reaching the needy women within this financial year. “Despite the fact that the government has made budgetary provision for the scheme the benefit is not reaching out to women because of the indifference and official apathy,” he remarked.

He informed that a total of 570 women had submitted their forms but it was not known how many had been included in the scheme.

“Unfortunately the government officials instead of adopting a policy of inclusiveness were trying to exclude women on one ground or the other,” he lamented. He said such single women, including divorcees, deserted and separated women were already facing social exclusion and they must get more compassion and better treatment at the government level.

Bagheri (Nalagarh), June 24
The agitation against Jaypee Industries proposed thermal power plant here has got support from noted environmentalist, Sunder Lal Bahuguna.

Bahuguna today visited the site and addressed a huge crowd of villagers and said nobody could loot those who remain alerted. “If you were united no power on earth could harm you. At the same time there was also need to incorporate more people in agitation.”

He said it was high time for state government to allow only environment friendly industries. The industrial projects with adverse repercussions to ecology should not be allowed at any cost, he added.

He said industrial growth was necessary but not at the cost of natural resources.

He said water in hills was polluted due to industrial waste and so, Punjab which was known as ‘Anndaata’ of country would turn into ‘Zehardaata’, thanks to flowing of polluted water from hills.

He said forests had to be conserved. How someone could be allowed to play with nature just for their own petty gains, he questioned.

He told the office-bearers of Thermal Plant Hatao Sangharsh Samiti to lead a delegation to the CM soon. He said he had conveyed the concerns over the thermal plant to the Chief Minister and now it was their duty to represent their case in right direction.

Bahuguna lauded the efforts of a local-based organisation protection association- Himprivesh for forming a villagers’ sangharsh samiti to oppose the thermal plant.

Kangra June 24
Hundreds of Kashmiri pandits, including migrants, thronged Aganjar Mahadev temple at Khaniyara village today to attend a havan organised on the occasion of jaishtha Ashtami for world peace and to pray for the return of migrants to their home state.

Kashmiri pandits, devotees of Goddess Sharika, who arrived here from different parts of the state and outside, paid obeisance at the feet of Goddess Sharika.

Kashmiri singer Ravi Bhan presented traditional and devotional Kashmiri bhajans at a bhajan sandhya organised on this occasion by the Kashmir Hindu Welfare Association, Dharamsala. 

Shimla, June 24
Horticulture and food and civil supplies minister, Singhi Ram, said today the government was committed for socio-economic upliftment of weaker sections and various schemes had been initiated for their welfare.

Stating this, while presiding over the district welfare committee, he said Rs 21.84 crore had been spent on various welfare schemes during the past four years in Shimla which had benefited 1.17 lakh persons.

He said Rs 15.62 lakh would be spent under the ‘Mukhya Mantri Kanyadan Yojna’ this year whereas Rs 4 lakh for widow remarriage and Rs 3.80 lakh under Mother Teresa scheme.

He added that Rs 7.60 crore would be spent under social security pension in the district this year.

He asked the officials to train panchayati raj institutions, mahila and yuvak mandals so that people could benefit from the schemes at the grassroot level.

Mandi, June 24
The Department of Ayurveda and Indian Medicine has tightened the loose ends to check “quacks operating as registered medical practitioners (RMPs)” and “fake pharmacists” selling ayurvedic medicines. It has made it obligatory for them to register with the registrar, Ayurvedic and Unani Board, under the HP Ayurvedic and Unani Practitioners Act, 1968. Failure to do so would attract punishment.

Talking to The Tribune on the sidelines of two-day CME for private and government doctors of Indian system of medicine that concluded here today, coordinator of the CME Jag Bir Sharma said: “If RMPs or pharmacists are not registered with the registrar, Ayurvedic and Unani Medicine Board, they can be booked under the Drug and Cosmetics Act for quackery. Violators can be jailed for six months and will have to pay a fine of Rs 500”.

Not only private RMPs, but also “traditional healers” have been brought under the preview of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act and the Consumer Protection Act and are liable to pay damages for negligence. “CMEs are being organised in all 12 districts of the state to update RMPs on the new methods and provisions of the Acts so that patients can get better health services and protection from fake practitioners in the field,” he added. When questioned as to how the department was checking the booming business of quacks and the sale and manufacturing of “fake ayurvedic” medicines in the state, he said: “The government is identifying RMPs or healers who are in the profession before 1977 and making a database under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act. Only diploma holders in ayurvedic pharmacy or ayurvedic degree holders can start practice and sell medicines”.

He said manufacturers of ayurvedic medicines had to get their products tested at government laboratory at Jogindernagar, before putting these on sale.

Solan, June 24
With a sharp decline in the catch of fish from the Sarsa river and other water bodies located in the industrial areas of Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh, the fishermen are finding it difficult to make both ends meet. The decline became apparent after the influx of industrial units to the region after the 2003 Central industrial package.

Officials of the Fisheries Department said as against 65 to 70 registered fishermen, barely 45 to 50 had come forward to get their annual licences renewed.

The fishermen rue that daily haul of fish has declined from the earlier 3 to 4 kg to merely 1 to 1.5 kg now.

The decline has made it difficult for them to pursue fishing as their principal avocation, according to Sushil Janartha, assistant director of the Fisheries Department.

Fishing has been hit hard with a number of industrial units releasing toxic effluents into the river waters on the sly. The Pollution Control Board has been unable to bring any such unit to book.

The recent incident of dying of fish in a stretch of around 23 km of the Sarsa has further added to the concerns of the fishermen.

Though the Pollution Control Board has indicted the two industrial units of laxity, no further action has been initiated yet.

Dharamsala, June 24
In a bid to save mountaineers, tourists and human settlements on the higher altitude areas of the Himalayas from the brunt of nature’s fury, the Indian Mountaineering Foundation, a nodal agency for mountaineering activities in the country, has decided to install weather recording and warning systems at all strategic locations.

In the first phase, it will install an integrated sensor suite (ISS), a weather recording and warning system, at ‘Chhota Shigri’ glacier in Lahaul-Spiti district by the end of this year. Next on the target is the origin of the Sutlej in Tibet with the help of Chinese authorities.

The instrument to be installed is a microprocessor-controlled compact weather station that will update climbers and rescue teams with essential real-time data on temperature, humidity, solar/ultraviolet radiation, wind velocity, its direction and rain, etc.

Sensors connected to the weather station that weighs just 2 kg are mounted on a tripod that weighs another 3 kg, including a rain gauge with automatic tippler bucket, anemometer for measuring wind velocity and direction, humidity sensor, ultraviolet radiation sensor, barometer to measure pressure and a thermometer. A snow sensor can also be added, says a senior functionary of the foundation.

The system has a solar panel to enhance power supply, allowing the equipment to operate unattended for more than six months, up to a maximum period of one year.

The mountaineers need to have a radio set with them to get the latest and most accurate updates on the weather to help them decide whether to continue their expedition, delay it or stop it keeping in view the weather conditions.

The equipment is not a satellite-enabled technology, but the information can be transferred via the Internet. This will help mountaineering teams assess the feasibility of starting an expedition.

The instrument designed by a US-based organisation is lightweight and can be carried and installed quite easily. With its built-in console, the station provides quick forecasting, on-screen graphics, quick view icons of weather warning and forecast.

It may be mentioned that the Chhota Shigri glacier has been globally identified for studies on the impact of global warming. The foundation is gathering information on climate change from here. Scientists from across the globe are also likely to contribute in the project.

Kangra/Dharamsala, June 24
An eight-year-old girl was allegedly raped while an attempt was made to sexually assault two other minor girls in Kangra district during the past 24 hours.

The police last night arrested 22-year-old youth, Raju, who allegedly raped an eight-year-old girl at Purana Kangra, the police said.

Kangra ASP Santosh Patial said today that the girl who was alone at her home in the Purana Kangra locality of Kangra town was raped by Raju, who had been living in their house as a tenant. The accused also made an attempt to strangle the victim with his belt. In the scuffle the girl received injuries on her face and body.

Patial said he rushed to Dr R.P. Govt Medical College Hospital and got the profusely bleeding victim medically examined.

In yet another case, Rattan Chand (60) of Kaner village who used to come to Kangra daily for work, allegedly tried to sexually assault two minor girls aged five and seven years at Donga Bazar. He lured the girls to a secluded area near a private school and started molesting them. Before he could rape one of the girls, people rescued the girls.

People, including women, thrashed the culprit before handing him over to the police. A case has been registered.