Shimla, April 8
Putting an end to the uncertainty over the future of thousands of PTA teachers in the state, Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal said those appointed as per rules would be allowed to continue but cases in which irregularities had been pointed out would be scrutinised.

Making a statement in the Assembly today, he said keeping in view the shortage of teachers in educational institutions, the government had decided that those appointed under the HP Education Code, the Grant-in-aid to PTA Rules, 2006, and in accordance with the directions of the high court would be allowed to continue.

Dhumal said since many complaints had been received by the government on wrong appointments, it had been decided to have a proper complaint redressal system where committees would be constituted.

“The complainant will have to make his representation by way of an affidavit before the competent committee that will give an opportunity of personal hearing to the complainant and the affected person,” he said.

He said he hoped that the entire process would help make procedure completely transparent and restore faith of the people in the system. He announced that separate complaint committees would look into various complaints received in schools and colleges.

The college-level appointments would be scrutinised by the committee headed by the DC, the ADC or the ADM. The principal and subject experts would be its members. In case of senior secondary schools, the complaint committee would be headed by the ADC, the ADM or the SDM with principal and subject experts as members.

Similarly, for appointments made in middle schools, the committee would be headed by the SDM with senior teacher and subject experts as members. The provision for appeal against the recommendations of these committees would also be notified, he added.

Shimla, April 8
Prof Sunil Kumar Gupta of the Department of Commerce at Himachal Pradesh University has been appointed Vice-Chancellor of the varsity.

The notification of the appointment of Prof Gupta as Vice-Chancellor for a period of three years was issued today.

He will assume office on April 11 after his predecessor, Prof Anil Wilson, relinquishes charge. His appointment has been made following the resignation of Prof Wilson within 14 months of his appointment for personal reasons.

Prof Gupta has a teaching experience of 28 years in the Department of Commerce. He has a number of books and research publications to his credit.

“My endeavour will be to maintain the academic atmosphere in the university and ensure that there is redressal of the grievances or problems of teachers and employees,” he said.

Prof Gupta said another priority area for him would be the filling of various posts of teacher as well as non-teaching staff.

Having shown courage to grant political asylum to him the government could not bow to the dictates of China, particularly at a time when the Tibetans were getting support and being allowed to stage protests across the world.

Chamba, April 8
District panchayat officer Nagender Chand Verma has dismissed Dilo Devi and Raj Singh from the posts of Mehla BDC chairman and vice-chairman, respectively.

This is consequent upon the no-confidence motion carried by about a two-thirds majority of the BJP-supported members of the block development committee.

The election to these posts would be held within a week, the district panchayat officer declared.

Hamirpur, April 8
The Forest Department has plans to develop Hamirpur as a bamboo district. Finding the topography of the district suitable for growing bamboos, the National Bamboo Mission has started a centrally sponsored scheme in the district to generate more employment opportunities through bamboo cultivation and improve the economy by going for manufacture of bamboo products.

The scheme aims at improving the existing bamboo stocks and motivate people to grow more bamboos. Since the district already has bamboo stocks grown in 30 hectares, the Forest Department aims at brining 50 hectares under its cultivation during the current year. The scheme also aims at providing transportation and marketing support to bamboo growers.

Hamirpur DFO Sanjay Sood said, “A farmer would get a subsidy of Rs 8,000 if he grows 420 bamboo plants in one hectare and Rs 20,000 if he adopts the drip-irrigation scheme. A sum of Rs 5,000 per hectare should be given for improvement of existing stocks.”

Bamboo cultivation is beneficial for the seismic zones in which this district falls. Hamirpur grows about 700,000 bamboos every year at present. Bamboo is an easy substitute for timber and its products has a good market.

Bilaspur, April 8
Yoga is a time-tested method since centuries in India not only for keeping good health and remaining at peace with oneself, but it was also a science, which could keep all sorts of diseases and health problems away from its devotees and could provide a long life.

Governor V.S. Kokje stated this while presiding over the concluding function of a six-day long yog vigyan shivir organised by the Patanjali Yogpeeth here at Luhanu Maidan today morning.

The Governor said there was a need to practice yoga in our daily life to stay away from stress and strain of modern competitive world. He said Ramdev was doing a commendable job by spreading awakening regarding multiple benefits of yoga and also by holding such camps in the state and thus helping people to get rid of their various ailments.

Kokje said Himachal Pradesh was known as “Dev Bhumi” and it was just befitting to this name that everyone should devote some time for yoga with a view to keep healthy, happy and fit.

The Governor praised Ramdev for his strenuous and persistent practical efforts in this direction and said society would ever remain indebted to him for the same.

Yog shivir organising committee president Nand Prakash Vohra and Patanjali Yog Samiti district president Krishan Dabra welcomed the Governor and also thanked Ramdev for holding the camp. Ramdev also organised a free yoga training camp for school children yesterday evening.

Shimla, April 8
Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal said today that SEZs and other projects would be allowed to come up only on barren land to ensure that precious fertile land suited for agriculture is not lost.

In reply to a query by Prakash Chaudhary, Rakesh Kalia and Surinder Bhardwaj during question hour, he said the government had so far not done any survey or acquired any land as this had to be done by the company concerned.

“I appeal to all that in case the international airport at Gagret in Una is made, it will lead to a lot of commercial activity,” he said.

He said the endeavour of the government was to ensure public support for the project, besides displacement of the minimum number of people. In reply to a supplementary by G.S. Bali, he said as per the DPR of the project, there was provision for landing of 380-seater aircraft.

“Besides international flights landing and taking off from here, there will be provision for cargo and maintenance of big aircraft,” he said.

Possibilities were being explored for expansion of the airports at Bhuntar, Shimla and Kangra. “Union Minister for Civil Aviation Praful Patel has announced that night landing facility will be provided at all three places along with extension of the airstrip to enable landing of bigger aircraft,” he said.

In reply to another supplementary by Kaul Singh Thakur, he said the Airport Authority of India had completed the survey of airport to be constructed at Ner Dhangu in Mandi.

“The techno-economic feasibility report is yet to be received and if the people are in favour of the project, the state government will pursue it with the government,” he said.

In reply to another question by Gangu Ram Musafir about price rise and inflation, the Chief Minister said the main reason for this was the wrong policies of the UPA government.

“The fact that as compared to inflation of 5.5 per cent at the national level, it was 3.2 per cent in Himachal indicated that it is due to the efforts of the state government that the situation in the hill state is relatively better,” he said.

Dhumal said Punjab and Haryana had sought Rs 400 bonus per quintal of wheat due to an extensive damage to the crop.

“In case this is the situation then we too will have to consider giving subsidy only to targeted groups,” he said.

In reply to a question by Roop Singh Thakur, the Chief Minister said Rs 35 lakh had been given for construction of a school building at Jwali in Kangra from the catchment area treatment (CAT) plan money received under Chamera-III.

Shimla, April 8
The Assembly today passed the Himachal Pradesh Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2008, raising the reservation limit for women in panchayats from the existing one-third to 50 per cent of the total number of seats.

The Chief Minister introduced the Bill. It was passed by voice vote as all members supported it.

“The historic amendment has been brought about to ensure greater participation of women at the grassroot level. It is another step towards their empowerment,” said Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal.

The Congress, which also supported the move, expressed reservation if the state Assembly could legislate a law outside the purview of the Constitution. Former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said the Congress fully supported the move.

A member of the party (Kuldeep Pathania) simply wanted to point out certain constitutional aspects, he added. “His apprehension should not be construed as party’s opposition to the move,” he said.

BJP MLA Suresh Bhardwaj said the Congress should not try to create obstacles in providing 50 per cent reservation to women as they constituted half of the population in the state and deserved equal representation at the grassroot level.

The Bill was passed unanimously, but Congress MLA Kuldeep Pathania had to face the ire of women legislators, including Renu Chaddha and Urmil Thakur, who termed him as being anti-women.

The House also passed the Himachal Pradesh Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2008, and Himachal Pradesh Municipal (Amendment) Bill, 2008 to provide 50 per cent reservation in municipal corporation, other municipalities and urban local bodies.

The House also passed the Himachal Pradesh State Commission for Women (Amendment) Bill, 2008, introduced by social justice and empowerment minister Sarveen Chaudhary. This Bill provides that since appointment of chairperson and non-official members of the commission are on political considerations, their term should be at the pleasure of the government instead of being for a fixed term.

Terming the amendment as against the Constitution, Virbhadra Singh said despite change in power, the Congress had allowed many such appointees of the BJP regime to complete their term.

Dhumal said the Congress had itself not maintained such tradition of allowing appointees to complete their term and this should be left to the government.

Shimla, April 8
Accusing Chief Minister P.K.Dhumal of indulging in political vendetta former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh asserted that the opposition would not be cowed down by such tactics.

In a statement here today he said Dhumal had been claiming to be the benefactor of the people and harping on various decision taken by him but the fact was that he had been suffering from “Virbhadra” phobia.

During his 100 days in office he had ordered no less than 1000 inquires and made as many announcements. It had been virtually a government of “inquiries and announcements”.

All development activities had so far been going on in accordance with the budget passed by Congress government. The hike in the daily wages and social security pension and grant of interim relief to employees were all part of the budget.

Like his earlier term Dhumal had been repeatedly saying that the financial position of the state was tight which was not true.

The Centre had given liberal assistance and approved an annual plan of Rs 2,400 crore for the state but still Dhumal was accusing it of handing out a raw deal.

The plan size and the proposals for setting up IRB battalions, including the women battalion and Bhanupali-Beri rail line, were all got approved by the Congress regime.

As far the achievement of the Dhumal government was concerned it closed down 148 schools opened by the Congress regime and abolished thousands of posts and recreated these to take credit.

In fact, the process for filling over 1,000 posts of college lecturer and 460 posts of school lecturer was already under way.

The subsidised ration scheme which proved immensely helpful in mitigating the impact of price rice had almost collapsed under BJP rule.

The transfer industry had flourished with the government ordering shifting of a large number of employees and officers in utter disregard of rules. regulations and norms.

Shimla, April 8
Taking serious note of the defiant attitude of the state electricity board in carrying out reforms and complying with its regulations the Himachal Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (HPERC) imposed a penalty on the state utility.

The board was required to set up a call centre for handling complaints of consumers as per the regulations but despite repeated directions the state utility failed to take any action.

The board was allowed time up to December, 2007, but it still did not make any effort to set up the centre.

The commission took an adverse view of the board’s callous attitude in the matter and imposed a penalty of Rs 25,000 under section 142 of the Electricity Regulatory Commission Act.

Further, it will have to pay an additional penalty of Rs 6,000 per day from January 1, 2008, onwards till the contravention of the regulation continued.

The commission has also expressed its anguish over the inordinate delay on the part of the state utility to adhere to the regulations pertaining to standards of performance which was essential to ensure quality and reliability of power supplied to consumers.

The regulations were framed in 2005 and the board was required to comply with them by November, 2006.

The indifferent attitude of the board could be judged from the fact that it had not even laid down the benchmarks and specify various other parameters regarding frequencies, period of power outages, timing of complaints and the time taken by board to respond to complaints.

It is worth mentioning that the State Electricity Regulatory Commission had in the last tariff order expressed grave concern over the reluctance of the board to carry out reforms and the dithering on the part of government on the issue of unbundling.

It had observed that “the utility’s ability to manage efficiently and at optimum levels has come apart at the doorstep of political expediency.

Reforms within the sub-structure had been undertaken listlessly and without enthusiasm and were awaiting the ‘panacea’ of unbundling.

The Centre has granted a month’s extension for the board to continue in the unbundled form and asked the state government to apprise it of the steps taken so far for its trifurcation.

His company was always aimed to be a responsible corporate citizen nurturing human values and concern for the society.

It had been consistently organising such activities to contribute to social cause by providing medical services not only to its customers or employees but also to the general public.

Dharamsala, April 8
With their protests against the Olympic torch in Paris turning out to be success, the Tibetan Solidarity Committee spearheading the agitation, has chalked out a protest programme in India also.

They plan to hold protests against the Olympic torch rally in India despite strict warning by Indian government officials.

Most of the officials of the Tibetan-government-in-exile have already left for Delhi to make preparations for the protest.

They are planning to mobilise Tibetans staying in different parts of the country to participate in the protest rally against the Olympic torch.

A spokesperson of the committee said they would hold a peaceful protest on April 17 when the Olympic torch rally would pass through Delhi.

The protesters would just carry banners and messages in protest against the repression of Tibetan people by the Chinese government. They would not disrupt the rally, the spokesperson said.

From April 10, Tibetan’s across the world would hold protests against the Chinese crackdown. The protesters would also organise mock funerals of Tibetans who have attained martyrdom.

Major protests would be held in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkatta, Bangalore, Srinagar and Kathmandu. Marchers from Dharamsala would also gather at the UN headquarters to stage a protest.

On April 11, public mourning for 142 deceased Tibetans would be held and celebrities would be invited to join the movement to show solidarity with the protesters. Candlelight vigils would also be held.

Meanwhile, Tibetan prime minister-in-exile Kalon Tripa Samdhong Rinpoche left Dharamsala to attend a meeting of the task force on negotiations to be held in New Delhi.

This is the 15th meeting since its inception in 1998. The task force was established to assist envoys of the Tibetan delegation in the dialogue process with China. Since 2002, six rounds of dialogue have been held.

On reaching at his house they found the door closed from inside. They peeped through a window and found Ajay Rana hanging from the fan.

Officers of the rank of SP were posted against the post of DSP in home guard and battalions state during Congress rule.