Shimla, July 16
With the Municipal Corporation (MC) and the forest authorities being at loggerheads over the issue of dumping of garbage, there has been no garbage collection in the town for the last four days, leading to overflowing bins and filth all over the town.

It was following the seizure of the MC dumper by the forest authorities at the un-demarcated site on July 13, which led to the standoff.

Ever since there has been no garbage collection in the town by the MC. The MC staff imposes heavy fine for illegally dumping garbage at the un-demarcated sites on forest land.

As of now the MC dumps garbage at the earmarked site at Darni ka Bagicha on the bye-pass. Mayor Narinder Kataria said there had been no garbage collection for the last two-days which led to unhygienic conditions in the town.

He said the health officer had been directed to get the earmarked site at Darni Ka Bagicha cleared so that space could be created for dumping more garbage.

DC Tarun Kapoor today held a meeting with the forest officials, MC and PWD officials to resolve the issue. The MC has been directed to start work immediately at the four sites proposed by the forest so that garbage can be dumped there.

Garbage disposal will start by the MC from tomorrow as the forest authorities released the seized dumper.

With no demarcated dumping site, debris is being thrown at all places in the forest along the bye-pass, Lakkar bazaar area and Vikasnagar. The extent to which illegal dumping is being done by people can be gauged from the fact that the forest authorities have collected over Rs 2 lakh within the last one year as fine from the defaulters.

The sites which have been suggested by the forest authorities are near Annadale, Darni ka Bagicha, Vikasnagar and at a site between Lakkar Bazaar and Bharari Road.

Shimla, July 16
Close on the heels of model colleges, the Himachal government today announced a scheme to develop at least one senior secondary school in each district as a model school. Admissions will be carried out in these schools on the basis of cut-off marks against limited seats, and best teachers would be posted there.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh declared the local Portmore Government Girls Senior Secondary School as the first model school keeping in a view its outstanding academic and extra-curricular achievements.

Addressing teachers and students after dedicating the new multi-storeyed complex of the school, the Chief Minister said the school had maintained its excellent academic, sports, extra-curricular activities track record. He said his government would identifyone or two senior secondary schools in every district to be developed as model schools.

The government had launched a number of specific schemes aimed at the promotion of girl education. The government was also providing scholarships and other incentives to girl students of vulnerable sections of society. Himachal happened to be the first state where girl education up to the highest standard was free.

The Chief Minister said that every senior secondary school was being provided a science block in a phased manner and 71 schools would be covered during the current financial year at a cost of about Rs 43 crore. Every new degree college was being provided Rs 5 crore for infrastructure development.

Its efforts had been lauded not only at the national but also at the international level. He directed the authorities to prepare a detailed project report for the construction of a separate block for the elementary section of the Portmore school to accommodate at least 1,000 students. He also announced Rs 5000 each to the senior secondary, elementary, NCC and scouts and guide members for promotion of their activities.

He also awarded students for excellence in the academics, sports and extra-curricular activities.

Mandi, July 16
As many as 11 diarrhoea cases have been reported from the Brang, Broti and Mandap and Seri Janjhel areas in Dharampur block in this district in the past two days. More than 60 to 70 per cent of the cases go unreported in the region as villagers resort to traditional methods of medication, revealed inquiries from villagers.

In a recent survey in Mandi district carried out by an NGO, over 60 per cent of the water sources were found to be contaminated. "The main reason for contamination is the fecal matter that flows into the water sources as defecating in the open still continues in several villagers ".

Villagers rued that they are forced to drink water from "traditional sources" as IPH supplies are breached and carry muddy water during rains. "In many cases the IPH pipelines are directly connected from water sources in the nallahs and have no filter tanks".

Though the IPH Department has formed the joint "district committee" to take preventive measures, these "committees" wake up only when there is an outbreak of water-borne diseases in the state.

The IPH Department monitors these traditional water sources through block development officers, this exercise remains on the papers only as " BDOs, panchayati raj institutions and the district committee lack coordination”. 

Hamirpur, July 16
Former Chief Minister and Hamirpur MP Prem Kumar Dhumal has termed the decision of parties representing the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA) to abstain from the forthcoming presidential election as strange and against democratic norms.

He said, “Elected representatives are expected to vote in such an important election.”

Dhumal said all elected members of the electoral college, comprising MLAs and MPs, should vote according to their conscience in the presidential election since voting against the party directions entails no disqualification as no party can issue any whip in these elections.

He said a debate had been going on at the national level that voting should be made mandatory in all elections. Dhumal said, “The BJP would support any constitutional amendment making the voting mandatory at all levels.”

Talking about problems of Hamirpur, he said citizens of the town had been facing problems like dug up roads, mud and water logging etc for the past more than four years.

He said unnecessary delay on the part of the present government had escalated construction cost of the Bamsan drinking water scheme from Rs 49 crore to Rs 67.47 crore. He said this should be investigated into. He also criticised the government for thrusting token tax and passengers tax hike on transporters, which would indirectly affect the common man.

He said the increase in these taxes should be withdrawn and the process of VAT simplified.

Shimla, July 16
The landlocked Bara-Bhangal in Kangra, Saach in Chamba and Rupi in Kinnaur will be connected with a motorable road at a cost of Rs 58 crore, to be under operation within a month.

This was stated by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh while reviewing the progress of road connectivity to Dodra-Kwar area of Shimla district here today.

He said the work on the Dodra-Kwar road had suffered due to prolonged winter season and would re-start immediately after the season closes.

The testing of the road would be complete within the current month. He said the inspection team would ensure fitness of the road for heavy vehicles.

The section of the Dodra-Kwar road upto bridge point in the valley was likely to be passed for heavy vehicles by the end of July, where people would get connected to the rest of the world with road communication.

He said immediately after the opening of the road, essential commodities would be transported for the winter months into the valley, since the snow bound Chanshal heights would suspend the movement of vehicles to the valley during winter months. He said the road would promote tourism activities in the valley.

Shimla, July 16
The construction of the Jakhu ropeway project is almost clear as the state and Central government have assured the High Court that all necessary sanctions in this regard would be granted by 
July 23.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Vinod Kumar Gupta and Justice Sanjay Karol noted down the time schedule submitted by the commissioner, Tourism, and directed chief conservator of forest (Central) to accord sanction by 
July 20.

The commissioner, Tourism, informed the court that the divisional forest officer would submit the estimated value of trees by today evening and the Tourism Department would deposit the requisite amount within 48 hours.

The counsel for the Central government thereafter assured the High Court that within the next two days, final sanction would be granted to the Municipal Corporation, Shimla.

When all this happened, the state government added that the sanction plan would be provided to MC, Shimla, by July 13 and the MC may go for construction thereafter.

The Chief Justice also requested the advocate general to request the CM to lay the foundation stone by the last week of this month. Surprisingly, all officers of the state government urged before the court that necessary sanction would be provided in hours.

This order came on a petition filed in the Himachal High Court in August, 2004, wherein local resident, Raj Chauhan, had contended that the state government was neglecting the construction of the ropeway from Hotel Shivalik to Jakhoo temple. The petitioner alleged that even the Government of India had accorded environmental clearance for the construction of the ropeway and the Infrastructure Development Board had also granted approval for this project.

Moreover, the Government of India had also released Rs 3 crore for this purpose. Despite the clearance of the project, the state government had not done anything in this regard.

Kumarhatti, July 16
The CII, HP Council plans to open a counselling project at Government College, Mandi. The state government has already given approval to the project. It has also agreed to provide infrastructure for the project.

The CII was now planning to rope in Timesjob.com for the successful implementation of project. The job portal would keep track of the databank of manpower in various fields.

The governing body of the CII would select 3,000 students from 23 colleges of Solan, Bilaspur, Mandi, Hamirpur, Kullu and Lahaul and Spiti districts for counselling.

Those selected would be divided into batches. The three sessions for each batch would be held every year. Interested students of Mandi College could also join.

The project would cost Rs 20 lakh. CII members would pool funds for the project. Gujarat Ambuja Cement Limited and the ACC have already agreed to contribute.

Confirming the development, president of the CII, HP Council, Rajender Guleria said the project would first be carried out for one year. The project was the need of the hour, as the youth in the state remained clueless about the nature of interviews, he said.

Counselling by experts would not only help the youth to adhere to the requirements and guidelines of the industry, but also open more job avenues for them, Guleria said.

Shimla, July 16
Taking suo-moto action on the notification issued by the state government, whereby the government permits candidates with mere pass marks of 33 percent to be admitted to dental colleges, the Himachal High Court today directed the principal secretary (Health), to explain his stand on this issue on or before August 20.

A division bench observed there had to be some minimum standards for a person aspiring to become a doctor, engineer or dentist.

The government had issued a notification dated August 24, 2006, whereby the state had permitted candidates who had qualified +2 examination from any state to be admitted to dental colleges without even ensuring that they fulfilled the basic eligibility criteria of 50 per cent marks

Dharamsala, July 16
Jammu and Kashmir will soon get connected by another road through Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh. The union government has cleared a Rs 67-crore project to construct a road from Chamba to Bhadarwah in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir.

At present, the Pathankot-Samba road is the country’s only road link to Jammu and Kashmir. There is one more road link from near the Chakki bridge in Kangra district to Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir via Memon but that is commonly used for defence purposes only.

This new project will provide Jammu and Kashmir with its first direct road access to Himachal Pradesh.

The union minister of tourism Ambika Soni told The Tribune on the telephone that the Chamba- Bhadarwah road would help attract tourists visiting Himachal Pradesh to Bhadarwah via Chamba district.

Political observers feel that the construction of this road would also go a long way in improving the economic condition of the people in both north-eastern Jammu and Kashmir and Chamba district.

It may be mentioned that the ‘rajmash’ growers of the Doda belt are presently deprived of the Himachal and Punjab markets that actually are close to the Doda area but due to the absence of any direct road link one has to go via Pathankot travelling a long distance.

The total distance between Chamba and Bhadarwah is just 50 km but the road almost stops at Thanalla village, which is about 28 km from Chamba.

Solan, July 16
State government’s tall claims of providing 3 per cent reservation to eminent sportsmen notwithstanding, nine sportsmen have been waiting to get a job in the Education Department since October, 2003.

They were interviewed for the posts of school cadre lecturer on October 28, 2003, after their names were recommended for being inducted under the sports quota on October 17, 2003. Their certificates and testimonials were examined in the interview and they were assured a job. Interestingly, the suitable candidates who were interviewed for the posts of trained graduate teachers (TGT) on October 30 the same year were granted jobs in September 2004 while they have been made to run from pillar to post without any success.

Virender Singh, Sunita Shekhar, Rajni Sharam, Anil Kumar, Anoop Singh, Varinder Kumar, Anil Kapoor, Samiru Thakur and Dinesh Kumar were promised jobs for their exemplary performance in various games like shooting, hockey, judo, basketball, handball, softball and chess.

They rued it was unfair to deny them a fair chance of procuring a government job as they fulfilled the laid down criteria and fared higher in the merit list. They said the students who had appeared under the ex-servicemen category in the same year had been granted appointments. They said their appointments had been held up merely because one of the aspirants was an activist of the BJP-supported ABVP and the Congress government did not want to provide job to him.

“This casts a finger of doubt over the tall claims of the state government wherein it promises to reserve 3 per cent jobs for sportsmen and even goes on to say that in the current financial year as many as 1,500 posts will be filled from among eminent sportsmen in the state. All these figures appear meaningless if the government fails to grant jobs to the candidates who were interviewed around four years ago” they said.

The Director Education could not be contacted despite repeated attempts. Sports minister Ram Lal Thakur said since the case pertained to 2003, he could not comment on it offhand, but would look into it.

Kullu, July 16
A body of an Israeli national was found near Kheer Ganga about 80 km from here, in the Parvati Valley of this district under mysterious circumstances to a US national, Yoeel Keplin, who intimated the police post at Manikaran on Sunday evening.

The incident was alleged to be a ‘murder’ as the body beared sharp-edged weapon wounds. The police post at Manikaran confirmed today that the intimation was given to them by the US national.

G.D. Bhargava, SP, told this correspondent that the body of the deceased was with a group of Israelis’ at Kheer Ganga who did not allow the Police to “even touch the body”. He said the police had intimated the Embassy of Israel about the present situation and told them to intervene to further complete the investigations.

He said the deceased was identified as Dror Shek (25) who was accompanying five others, including one woman, (all Israelis) and a porter from Tosh village to Kheer Ganga. He said the two men and the woman reached Kheer Ganga, while the other two trekked slowly and left behind.

Bhargava further said that one of the men who was left behind carried the body of the deceased from the spot to Kheer Ganga. He said the person who carried the body told them that Dror fell down in a gorge about 50 feet down-hill and died.

He said the cause of the death could not be ascertained until a postmortem examination was done. No case could be registered until the cause of death was confirmed, he said.

Solan, July 16
Condemning the lackadaisical attitude of the state government in not effectively pursuing the issue of de-notifying certain sanctuary areas in the state, Dr Rajiv Bindal, vice-president of the state unit of the BJP, today said the exercise was being pursued merely on political considerations.

He said it was unfortunate that despite Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh having visited the Chail area several times, he had failed to make any headway in getting 25 bighas of the Chail market de-notified out of the sanctuary area. He said despite several requests by the residents, the state government had failed to restore ownership rights to the people residing within 25 bighas of Chail.

The lack of seriousness of the state government’s attitude was clear from the manner in which the recent Central Government committee that had come to assess the redrawing of boundaries of various sanctuaries had not been taken to Chail. This was indicative of the state government’s will as it did not want to de-notify the nine panchayats out of the purview of the sanctuary area.

He said the people of the area had been let down by the Congress governments in the past, too, when it notified the area as a reserve sanctuary in 1976 without seeking any public opinion on the issue.

He demanded immediate perusal of the case for de-notification of 25 bighas of the Chail market. — OC