Shimla, March 11
The government said today that the final decision on the fate of PTA teachers appointed during the Congress regime would be taken after studying the inquiry committee report but assured that action would not be taken out of vendetta.

This was stated by education minister I.D. Dhiman in reply to a query by Gangu Ram Musafir, Harshwardhan Chauhan and Kaul Singh Thakur of the Congress during question hour in the Assembly today.

“The inquiry committee has pointed out several irregularities in the appointment of PTA teachers as neither merit nor seniority was taken into account,” he said. He assured the House that no educational institute would be left with vacancies as 18,000 posts of teacher would be filled.

Harshwardhan said that several schools, especially in the rural and remote areas, were running with the help of teachers and the government should not remove those PTA teachers who are qualified.

Dhiman said the Congress regime had issued nine notifications with regard to the PTA policy and some of the candidates had even moved court. He said the cases of eligible candidates would be considered sympathetically and they could apply for the 18,000 posts that would be filled during the next year.

Kaul Singh urged the minister to place the inquiry report on the table of the House so that everyone could know the facts. He also requested the minister to assure the House that those selected on merit would not be removed.

In reply to another question by Roop Singh Thakur (BJP), the education minister said though several schools and colleges were opened by the Virbhadra regime without making any budgetary provisions, the BJP government would make them functional.

“Despite the fact that the previous Congress regime had denotified six colleges, 49 senior secondary schools, 50 high schools and 55 middle schools opened by the Dhumal regime, we will still honour the commitments the previous government had made in a haste just before the elections,” he said.

He added the government had decided to denotify just one college announced by the Congress regime at Sarahan in Sirmaur district.

However, Dhiman added the need of the hour was to strengthen the infrastructure at the existing educational institutions rather than opening new ones as a saturation point had been reached in the state.

Bilaspur, March 11
Lieutenant General J.K. Mohanti General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the ARTRAC has declared a scheme for setting up of Sainik Sadan in every district has been finalised.

It would be implemented within a short period so that all problems could be solved and all facilities could be provided to ex-servicemen under one roof in a single building.

Addressing a district level ex-servicemen rally here today noon, General J.K. Mohanti exhorted all ex-servicemen and war widows and others connected with ex-servicemen families to become member of ex-servicemen contributory health scheme (ECHS) so that they could meet heavy expenditure of their treatment of later age diseases apart from getting usual medical facilities from these institutes.

Responding to several demands earlier put forward by local ex-servicemen officers, Mohanti declared that the CSD canteen building at Ghumarwin would be constructed at the earliest and this canteen would be housed in a larger and better premises till then.

He said steps would be taken to open a CSD canteen at Kalol, a far-flung area of the district, which has a large number of ex-servicemen and is also a home place of Kargil war hero and Param Vir Chakra winner havildar Sanjay Kumar.

The General had a special word of praise for Himachali youth, who he said were at the forefront even to make supreme sacrifice in defense of their motherland.

He said soldiering has become a profession of devotion for these youths and entire nation and armed forces were proud of the state as 15 to 20 per cent of families of the state were directly connected with the armed forces.

He said the state had 1.20 lakh ex-servicemen and a similar number of serving soldiers and officers in the armed forces.

Earlier ex-servicemen leaders Col J.S. Chandel, Brigadier J.S. Verma, Col A.P. Gautam, and Brigadier R.N. Sharma also addressed the rally and highlighted popular demands and difficulties of ex-servicemen of the area.

General Mohanti presented a cheque of Rs 50,000 to local deputy director Captain Jagannath Bhardwaj of the district sainik welfare board for immediate repairs of the sainik rest house at Bilaspur town.

Pratibha Mohanti wife of General Mohanti and president of Army Wives Welfare Association (AWWA) presented an amount of Rs 1,000 each as financial help to 40 ex-servicemen and 15 war widows.

Chandigarh, March 11
The BJP’s central election committee today cleared the name of former Himachal Pradesh Chief minister Shanta Kumar for the lone Rajya Sabha seat from the state.

The decision was taken in New Delhi at a meeting today of the party’s 15-member central election committee chaired by BJP president Rajnath Singh.

Shanta Kumar will fill the Rajya Sabha seat vacated by BJP’s Suresh Bhardwaj, whose term ends later this month.

Since the Himachal Congress has decided not to contest the RS seat, Shanta Kumar is sure to elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha.

The state election committee of the BJP met in Shimla on March 3 and unanimously recommended the name of Shanta Kumar for the Rajya Sahba slot from the state.

Shanta Kumar will be the lone representative of the Himachal BJP in Parliament, especially after the resignation of Prem Kumar Dhumal from the Lok Sabha following his coronation as the state chief minister after the recent elections.

Himachal has four Lok Sabha and three Rajya Sabha seats. Two of the three Rajya Sabha seats from Himachal are currently with Congress candidates Anand Sharma and Viplove Thakur.

Shimla, March 11
CPL leader Vidya Stokes said today that the party had decided not to put up a candidate against BJP leader Shanta Kumar for the Rajya Sabha election.

Addressing a press conference here today, she said since the BJP has a majority in the House there was no question of putting up a candidate.

"The CLP has passed a resolution in this regard which has been conveyed to the Congress high command as well," she said.

Stokes dismissed speculation that this had been done to avert cross-voting as she said the system had now been changed and the MLAs have to show their votes before exercising franchise.

Asked about the appointment of the new PCC chief, she said this was for the high command to decide and Viplove Thakur would continue as such till then.

Regarding unbundling of the HPSEB, she said it was mandatory to get financial assistance from the Centre. She said time had been given by the Centre to complete the process by March-end but sooner or later this would have to be done.

Stokes, who is also president of the Women Hockey Federation of India, regretted the dismal performance of the men's hockey team, denying India's participation in the Beijing Olympics.

"Had I been in place of K.P.S. Gill I would have resigned but I do not wish to comment as to what he should do," she remarked.

She said frequent changes of coaches certainly affected the team performance and morale. She added that decisions pertaining to sports should be completely free of any politics and all decisions should be in the interest of the game.

Shimla, March 11
Himachal Pradesh University vice-chancellor Anil Wilson today resigned from his post citing personal reasons.

Wilson, a former principal of St Stephen’s College, Delhi, occupied the office for 14 months. Decisions taken by him have been widely appreciated by all sections.

“I have submitted my resignation to the chancellor giving one-month notice,”
he said.

Wilson also met Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal and conveyed him his decision to relinquish the office. During his short tenure, Wilson has been able to take along all sections of the university staff.

The Himachal Pradesh University Teachers Association (HPUTA) has requested him to withdraw his resignation.

“The government should reject his resignation, as this will be in the interest of the university,” said association president Mohan Jharta.

It was due to the efforts of Wilson that a recruitment policy was framed for teachers. With the formulation of that policy, the scope for political manipulation has been minimised. He brought in a number of reforms in the examination and evaluation system.

Shimla, March 11
The Congress today demanded the withdrawal of 25 per cent hike in the bus fares and fair treatment to the PTA teachers who fulfil the eligibility criteria.

Participating in the debate to discuss the budget proposals, former transport minister G.S. Bali and Harshwardhan Chauhan demanded that the government should reconsider its decision on the steep hike in the HRTC fares.

“Making a hike in the bus fares under present circumstances is inevitable but then a small hike of five to 10 per cent should have been made keeping in view the burden it would put on the common man,” Bali said.

He said the budget had no employment generation schemes despite the fact that this was one of the biggest problem faced by the state.

“The government should have announced an unemployment allowance for the jobless educated youth as proposed by the Virbhadra regime,” he added.

Bali also criticised the Dhumal regime for adopting a discriminatory approach with regard to budgetary allocation to constituencies represented by the Congress MLAs. “This is not acceptable in a democracy and more over it is not the legislators who will get affected but the people of that area,” he remarked.

He added that the government had not made budgetary provision to undertake works at the Tanda medical college in Kangra.

Harshwardhan said despite announcing an increase in the social security pensions, only 34 per cent of the budget was being spent on social sector as compared to 48 per cent by the previous Congress regime.

He urged the government to not to increase the prices of pulses and other items being given to people under the subsidised ration scheme.

Participating in the debate, former minister and BJP legislator, Roop Singh Thakur said it was a pro-poor budget in which efforts had been made to benefit every section of society within the constraints.

“The Congress only made a lot of propaganda about a lot of schemes without making any budgetary provision and it is our government which has decided to continue with the subsidised ration scheme and made a provision of Rs 70 lakh in the supplementary budget and Rs 90 crore in the next year’s budget,” he said.

He said instead of improving the facilities at the hospitals, many health institutions were downgraded with no staff and infrastructure.

Mandi, March 11
Mystery shrouds the death of Pankaj Dogra (22) of Dhaneta (Kangra) while his girlfriend Narinder Kaur(20) of Baddi, Solan, was fighting for survival at the local zonal hospital after both of them were rushed to the hospital by the staff of a Riwalsar gurdwara last night.

Pankaj died today with symptoms of poisoning, doctors said. According to the police, Pankaj and Narinder Kaur had come from Chandigarh yesterday and the former registered his name as Piyush of Sector 28, Chandigarh, in the gurdwara. They declared themselves as husband and wife in the register.

After they started vomiting the gurdwara staff rushed them to the zonal hospital in the morning but Pankaj was declared brought dead by the doctors.

The girl told the police that they had got married as they wanted to live together. The family members of the deceased had been informed.

Though the police suspects the death of Pankaj due to poisoning, doctors ruled out symptoms of poison in the girl. The police had recovered an empty packet of medicine and bananas from their room.

The police is yet to question the girl as she was still not in a mental state to record her statement. The police had informed the family of the girl.

Mandi, March 11
Infertility, snakebite, rabies, leprosy, evil spirits or even court cases, these “divine quacks” have magic cure for all.

“Gurs-cum-pujaris” of Mahunag devta of Taror and Sumunag devta of Balichowki, and many others like them are doing brisk business doling out small “purias” and “charnamrit” to those in trouble.

“Devotee clients” of these “divine quacks” have so much faith in them that can’t wait to get the dose of their “divine medicine” and can be seen thronging the seats of these devtas at the Shivratri fair when they don’t find them at their temples in their villages.

Competition of magical powers has become more conspicuous among “gur-pujaris” of these individually owned devtas than traditional ones. These “pujaris” claim to possess occult powers that can cure any malady, physical or psychological.

Murarilal and Digpal, gur and pujari of Mahunag of Taror village, say, “We cure hundreds of devotees every year.” They accept only Rs 1.25 as token of devotion for the devta from every devotee.

Patients of snakebite start vomiting within a day or two after being given “charnamrit”, an oblation of cow’s urine and milk etc., by the “gur” and are cured, they claim.

Sarita of Phegru village in Jogindernagar, claimed she had benefited from the treatment by a “chela” at her village. She expressed hope that her infertility would be cured soon.

Nok Singh, gur of Sumunag of Kalipat, another remote area without health care facilities, claimed his devta could cure leprosy, infertility, ward off evil spirits, bring rain and even help people win court cases.

Professor and head of the department of gynaecology and obstetric, IGMC, Shimla, Kumud Bala said, “Around 10 per cent of the patients reporting at the hospital complain of infertility or related problems.

Out of these, around 60 per cent childless couple follow the prescribed treatment procedure, which takes around six months, and most of them get cured.”

“Quacks thrive because patients get psychological satisfaction by visiting them. In many cases this relieves them of stress which is a major cause behind infertility,” she said.

About snakebites etc., she said, “No treatment is required in over 90 per cent of snakebite cases as most of the snakes are not poisonous or have less poison. In rest of the cases, anti-venom treatment is behind cure and not quackery. Rabies can be cured by only anti-rabies injections. We need to educate people to quell such myths,” said doctors at zonal hospital, Mandi.

Dharamsala, March 11
The police have barred a group of around 100 Tibetans from marching towards the Chinese border to press their claims for independence and protest against the Beijing Olympics.

The marchers set off on Monday as part of global protests to mark the 49th anniversary of an uprising against Chinese rule, leaving from Dharamsala, home to Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and the refugees’ government-in-exile.

But on Monday night the police told the marchers that they were not to leave Kangra district until further notice.

Marchers said they expected to reach the borders of the district by around Thursday evening, and continued their march as planned on Tuesday morning.

“Tibetan refugees have the right to return to Tibet,” said Tsewang Rigzin, president of the Tibetan Youth Congress. “This is the first major obstacle we are facing, but we remain committed to marching.”

Kangra police superintendent Atul Fulzele said he had received orders from the Central government to restrain the marchers, since they were in breach of an agreement not to conduct “anti-Chinese activities” on Indian soil.

The home ministry at first said the restraining order had been issued by the state government, and later declined further comment. The marchers vowed to press on anyway.

“If stopped, we are going to practice non-violence,” one of the coordinators of the campaign, Lobsang Yeshi, said.

“If arrested we will try to resist.” “If they detain us, we will start again as soon as we are released,” added veteran Tibetan activist Tenzin Tsundue.

As the Olympics approach, Tibetans are trying to reinvigorate their freedom movement and protest against what they see as China’s illegal occupation of their homeland. But their protests ran into trouble.

China detained between 50 and 60 monks who led a march towards Tibet’s capital Lhasa, according to a report by the US government-funded radio station, Radio Free Asia. — Reuters

Shimla, March 11
Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal said today the Punjab government was keen to set up a power project in the hill state, a request, which would be considered by the state.

Making a statement in the House on the agreement signed with his Punjab counterpart on the pending issues, Prakash Singh Badal, he said the neighbouring state assured that it would honour all commitments made in the past.

“The Punjab government is keen to set up its own power project in the state and they are also willing to pay the upfront money for it,” he informed the Assembly. He added that the government would consider their request.

He said the states would jointly approach the Planning Commission and the Central Water Resource ministry to give Himachal its share of Rs 310.89 crore for the Shah Nehar project.

“The agreement was signed between Punjab Chief Minister Darbara Singh and Virbhadra Singh in 1983 but till now Himachal has not got its share,” he said.

“In case the Centre does not give Himachal its share, Punjab has assured that it will pay the entire amount,” he said.

Dhumal said Punjab had assured the Chandigarh-Baddi road would be completed by 2009, and it had even earmarked Rs 12.15 crore for the task.

“Similarly the issue of having an express highway to Baddi, reduction in composite fee for taxi owners and reducing the 10 km distance criteria to 5 km for obtaining environment permission in case of B-category industries had been discussed between the two states and they would be resolved at the earliest,” he stated.

Shimla, March 11
To combat monkey menace, the Forest Department has set up a primate protection park at Tara Devi. Spread over 232 hectares, the park will serve as a natural habitat for urban simians to be released there after sterilisation.

Inaugurating the park today, Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal said tackling the problem of monkey menace was the top priority of his government. The endeavour was to find a permanent solution by setting up primate parks to help develop natural food habits among simians so that they did not migrate to human settlements.

There had been a marked increase in the number of monkeys that damaged crops in rural areas and created nuisance in urban areas.

In fact, the farmers had stopped cultivating their fields in some severely infested areas as they found it impossible to protect crops from simians and other wild animals.

The pilot project aimed at utilising religious sentiments associated with simians for their upkeep through temple management committees. The devotees would be encouraged to participate in the project to make it a success. A beginning had been made and the second park would be set up soon at Jenh in Hamirpur, he added.

Dhumal said mass sterilisation of simians was also being carried out and the government planned to provide training to the youth to catch monkeys so that they could earn from the project. He also released 38 monkeys in the park on the occasion.

The park will be developed into a conservation reserve accommodation around 800 monkeys. There will be no fencing and the monkeys will be released in troops in different areas so that they could live in a natural environment.

The inmates of the parks will be served natural food twice a day for which a number of stations will be set up, at least one for each troop.

They will be fed in captivity within the park for two or three days before being released in the park so that they can become aware of the feeding station.

The devotees will not be allowed to feed animals directly to ensure that only natural food is given to them.

The department will also provide water holes, salt licks and fruit trees so that the park becomes an attraction for the simians and they no longer need to migrate to human settlements in for food.

The daily feed for each animal will cost Rs 10 to 15 depending on the season and a park with 1,000 monkeys will require over Rs 1 crore annually for the purpose.

The total number of monkeys in the state is 3,19,188 of which 65,000 are settled in urban areas and vicinity of temples.

Solan, March 11
Reacting to reports regarding 10 industrial units failing to abide by the employment policy in recruiting less than 70 per cent Himachalis the deputy commissioner has requested the director industries to suspend their incentives availed in lieu of 2003 Central Industrial Package.

The letter dated March 7 has requested the Industries Department to take this step following receipt of such information. Deputy commissioner Dr Amandeep Garg said absence of 70 per cent Himachalis was a violation of the state’s Employment Policy as specified in the Industrial Policy of 2004 and hence the Industries Department had been requested to take this step.

It is worth mentioning that The Tribune has carried a report on February 17 wherein 10 such units had been found violating the mandatory norm. Reacting to this report the additional secretary industries had sought a report from the field officials.

It is perhaps for the first time that such a large number of industrial units have been caught violating this crucial employment norm.

While all these units have come up in production after the 2003 central industrial package they have been clearly violating the employment norms.

Ideally, it is the duty of the industrial units to ensure compliance of 70 per cent employment norm and it has to be verified at the time of granting certificate for commencement of commercial production as well as when permanent registration is sought by the industrial units.

It remains to be enquired into as to how these units were issued these certificates by the Industries Department. The Department of Labour Employment served a month’s notice to these units and they had been directed to give compliance within a month.

According to information received, these units include Alpla Industries Private Limited, which manufactures plastic bottles for packaging, based at Thana village near Baddi, where only 52.5 per cent Himachalis were found as against the requisite norm of 70 per cent.

Another such unit was Theon Pharmaceutical based at Saini Majra village where this per cent was as less as 52 while in Vapi Care Pharmaceuticals, unit-II located at Pelikhol village this per cent was 57.6 per cent.

Still worse at Cosmo Life Sciences near Baddi it was 56.4, an auto parts unit Fiem Industries located at Bhatian merely 61 per cent Himachalis were employed.

In Dabur India’s Kisenpura unit the intake of Himachalis was merely 42 per cent while R.M. Chemicals, which manufacturers detergents and is located at Bhatoli Kalan, the percentage of Himachalis was 44.5 per cent only.

A Solan based alchemist which came into production in June 2006, had employed merely 63.8 per cent Himachalis while Hetero Drugs located at Baddi could muster barely 38 per cent Himachalis.

This would enable them to teach students professionally, Dhumal said after a delegation of the Himachal Nature cure and yoga training centre called on him.
— PTI

Nahan, March 11
After a political and legal battle the BJP finally managed to capture the Nahan Block Development Committee (BDC) today with the election of its leaders as chairman and vice-chairman.

BJP candidate Dev Darshan Sharma, who hails from the Dharti Dhar area of the Nahan assembly segment, defeated former BDC chairman and Congress candidate Yashpal by one vote.

Ramesh Chand of the BJP defeated Congress candidate Yashodha by one vote for the post of vice-chairman of the BDC.

BJP leader and former minister Kumari Shyama Sharma had made it a prestige issue to capture the Nahan BDC. BJP workers celebrated the win in a big way.