Shimla, May 31
The state government will consider the creation of land banks in public-private partnership for industrial expansion with quality infrastructure in Solan, Kangra and Una districts.

This was stated by Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal while chairing the 31st meeting of the state-level single-window clearance and monitoring authority here today. Provisional approval was granted for the setting up of 10 new medium and large-scale industrial projects at an investment of Rs 535.43 crore providing employment to 3,762 persons.

“The decision to create land banks is a step towards fulfilling the demand for making industrial land available to entrepreneurs at reasonable rates,” he said. He added that there had been several complaints of exploitation of entrepreneurs at the hands of property dealers.

He said the government would associate private landowners in the identified industrial areas of Kangra, Solan and Una districts to create land banks so that planned development of the industrial areas could be undertaken after consolidation of land.

He said the government would extend all possible help for the development of a cluster of about 300 footwear industrial units, preferably in Sirmaur district. This, he added, would generate employment for 16,500 persons and attract investment of over Rs 10,620 crore.

Dhumal said besides industrial expansion, the government was also according top priority to the cottage industry to generate self-employment avenues to the rural artisans. “We will consider authorising the executive engineer concerned of the electricity board to issue power availability certificate to entrepreneurs with a view to simplify the procedures and save time.

Shimla, May 31
Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal today held a meeting with senior officials of the district administration and the police regarding restoring peace in the Himachal Pradesh University.

He is learnt to have directed the officials to deal sternly with anybody found to be violating the norms or creating tension and violence on the campus. He also appealed to the student organisations to help the police and university authorities in restoring peace on the campus.

The report of the magisterial inquiry ordered into the violence in the HPU is likely to be submitted late in the night or tomorrow to DC J.S. Rana.

SDM (Urban) Gian Negi has been assigned the task of holding the magisterial inquiry. It is reliably learnt that the possibility of criminal proceedings being initiated against the SHO and other police officials who lathicharged the ABVP activists in the hostel is high.

As such an FIR could be registered against the erring police personnel. The DC will direct the district police chief to take action against the police officials, who have been held responsible for the lathicharge on the ABVP activists in the boys hostel.

The campus remained peaceful today, as there were no demonstrations by student organisations. The police, however, arrested four SFI activists in connection with the violence that took place on the campus and in the boys hostel on May 28. Those arrested include Sachin, Kapil Bhardwaj, Suresh Thakur and Balbir Prashar.

IG (Law and Order) S.R. Mardi, DIG (South) Pradeep Kumar and SP R.M. Sharma today visited the campus. They met the Vice-Chancellor and asked him to strictly implement the Lyngdoh committee report and directions of the high court.

District police chief R.M. Sharma said the four arrested students would be kept in the Sadar police station and would be produced in the court tomorrow. He said the campus was completely peaceful today but deployment of the police would continue.

Shimla, May 31
On the basis of the Kripal Parmar Committee report, the executive council of Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) today reinstated the services of three teachers, who had been terminated during the previous Congress regime.

The decision was taken by the council that met here today under the chairmanship of vice-chancellor Sunil Kumar Gupta. The committee submitted the report to the council recommending that the three be reinstated as they fulfilled the eligibility and other criteria.

These teachers are: Ajay Srivastava from the department of journalism, Mamta Sharma from the department of biosciences and Kuldeep Agnihotri, who was the director of the Regional Studies Centre, Dharamsala.

However, out of the four cases of victimisation of employees during the Congress tenure, one has been deferred as the committee was not satisfied with the reply and documents furnished by Inder Dogra, security officer. “We have kept his case pending and in case we get a satisfactory clarification, he will also be reinstated,” Parmar said.

To be entitled to all the financial and other benefits, the three teachers will have to write to the university, along with an affidavit, that during the time they remained terminated, they did not work elsewhere. “The three teachers were reinstated as their replies and documents were found to be valid. Moreover, they had been terminated without hearing them,” said Parmar.

It was last month that the council had constituted a committee under the chairmanship of former Rajya Sabha MP, Kripal Parmar to look into the cases of victimisation and submit a report within 15 days. The three teachers had withdrawn their case from the State Administrative Tribunal after the process for their reinstatement was initiated.

Dharamsala, May 31
The state government in a notification issued yesterday increased the minimum wage to Rs 100 per day. By that standard every petty labourer doing any kind of work should get a minimum wage of at least Rs 3,000 per month if employed on monthly basis.

However, this would create a paradoxical situation in schools of the state. As per the Minimum Wage Act, now the peons working in private or government schools would be entitled to a wage of Rs 3,000 per month. However, most of the teachers working in private schools would now be paid lesser than peons.

Moreover, a large section of employees in private schools are being deprived of even this basic minimum wage in the state. The sources available here told that thousands of qualified teachers working in private schools of the state are not being given the basic minimum wage of Rs 3,000 per month. They are being paid anything between Rs 500 to Rs 1,500 per month that is violation of the Minimum Wages Act.

In many other states and in schools being run under the CBSE, the boards specify the minimum wage that can be paid to a teacher by the private schools for them to become eligible for affiliation.

In Punjab also the education board had fixed the minimum basic wage for teachers working in any school affiliated with it.

However, the Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education has no such protection for teachers working in private schools affiliated with it.

Secretary education board Rajesh Sharma admitted that the board had not prescribed any minimum wage to be paid to the teachers working in private schools. He said in his opinion the teachers are not covered under the Minimum Wages Act. Only the labourers or class IV employees are covered under the Act.

He also admitted that failure of the government to specify minimum wage for teachers is leading to exploitation of educated youth. He, however, added that perhaps the policy was not brought to protect the small schools in the state. Many small schools running in remote areas of the state might not be able to pay the minimum wage to teachers and would be forced to close down their operations if the government forces them to do so, he said.

However, some of legal experts are of the view that minimum wage prescribed by the government is applicable for any employee working in the state. It is basic minimum wage that any employer had to pay for hiring a person and cannot be category specific if the person is working full time.

Shimla, May 31
President Pratibha Patil today assured Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal of all possible help with regard to the issues of the state interest pending before the Centre.

The Chief Minister called on the President at the Retreat to inquire about her stay and present her the written brief of all issues pending before the Centre. The President assured Dhumal that justice would be done with the people of the state with regard to the issues related to the President’s secretariat. She also assured that the remaining issues would be taken up with the ministries concerned.

Dhumal said Himachal’s recruitment quota in the armed forces must be enhanced suitably so that more youth could get jobs. He said even the “one rank, one pension” demand of the state must be accepted by the Centre as this concerned thousands of families of ex-servicemen.

Dhumal also requested the President to get the issue of Annadale ground resolved as the lease of the Army was over in 1982 and the ground was the property of the state government. He also requested her to get the Rohtang tunnel, Bhanupalli-Bilaspur and other rail line projects cleared to improve connectivity in the state.

Dharamsala, May 31
The second Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) at Sakoh would be converted into the state’s first training academy for police officers ranging from ASIs to DSPs. Earlier, the said police officers used to go to the police academy at Phillaur in Punjab for training.

As per the project report, the Sakoh battalion would be converted into the Himachal Pradesh Institute of Police Studies that would serve as a training academy.

The police authorities have sought 121 extra posts for the institute that was likely to be headed by a DIG-rank officer.

The institute would also conduct research on policing in hill states.

Earlier, the academy was proposed to be set up at Junga. However, the idea was abandoned due inadequate infrastructure there.

Another reason for selection of Sakoh over Junga was its proximity to Tanda medical college. The college can provide guest faculty in forensic medicine to the institute.

Commandant of the IRB, Sakoh, D.K. Yadav said the proposal to set up the institute had been accepted by the government. The work on it would start as soon as the funds for the purpose were made available by the Union Ministry for Home.

Though initially the proposed institute would serve the purpose of training police officers, later on it could also offer diploma and certificate courses, he said.

“The IRB, Sakoh, also plans to start training programmes for youths intending to apply for the posts of constables.

The programme will make them aware of the entire procedure of recruitment. Mock tests will be held to help them improve their performance in the test.

The entire training will be free of cost. The youth from any part of the state can come to join the course,” he added. 

Shimla, May 31
Accusing the BJP regime of saffronising the Himachal Pradesh University, the CPM today said the SFI activists were being targeted as the university and police authorities were acting on the direction of the RSS and BJP leaders.

Addressing a press conference here today, CPM leaders and member of the State Secretariat, Tikender Singh Panwar, Kashmir Thakur and Sanjay Chauhan accused the state government of converting the campus into a RSS cantonment. “The events of May 28 are a pre-planned move of the RSS to create an atmosphere where no protests can take place and the four terminated employees can be reinstated without any opposition,” they said.

Panwar said despite the clash between the SFI and the ABVP, so far only SFI activists had been arrested. “What is most shocking is the fact that the HPU authorities as well as the police has not bothered to take any action against the ABVP activists who burnt SFI banners and raised slogans in the campus,” he said.

He said the BJP leaders, including health minister Dr Rajiv Bindal, state party chief Jai Ram Thakur, state organisation secretary Mahender Pandey, and OSD to the Chief Minister Sanjeev Katwal visited the hostels to provoke the ABVP activists. He said this amply proved the fact that there was total BJP interference in the university affairs.

The CPM leaders lamented that the BJP had forced the former Vice Chancellor, Dr Anil Wilson, to step down despite the fact that during his tenure there were no incidents of violence and he succeeded in taking all sections along.

Putting a question mark on the fairness of the magisterial inquiry, the CPM leaders said when the Chief Minister had already said the lathicharge was wrong, it would not be possible for the inquiry officer to differ even if the facts are otherwise.

They said the CPM had decided to hold an independent commission of inquiry into the incident under a three-member commission comprising of senior advocates, Ravinder Thakur, Sanjeev Bhushan and Niranjan Verma. They would submit their report within three days.

Nahan, May 31
Minister for Food and Civil Supplies Ramesh Dhawala today said the government was taking tough stand against black marketing of kerosene in the state.

Addressing mediapersons at the circuit house here today, he said there were complaints about black marketing of kerosene. Private truck and bus operators mixed it with diesel to save money. Strict steps were being initiated to check it, he added.

He said that consumers in the state would get palmolein oil in place of refined oil on their ration cards from the next month as the Government of India was giving more subsidy on palmolein oil.

He asked labour inspectors to inspect industries to ensure payment of minimum wages to the workers as the same had been raised to Rs 100.

Dharamsala, May 31
Nitika was selected as Miss Kangra and Rahul as Mr Kangra in a competition organised as a part of the ongoing state-level summer festival here today.

Thirty local boys and girls between 18 to 25 years in age participated in the competition. The participants competed in western and Indian dress competition. They were also evaluated on the basis of their response to questions asked by the judges.

Deepika came second and Kirti third in Miss Kangra competition. In Mr Kangra competition Amit and Sunny bagged the second and third positions, respectively.

Besides, a competition for folk dances was also organised for schoolchildren. Children from 10 schools participated in the competition. In this competition students from Government Middle School, Falsythganj, bagged the top position. They were given a cash award of Rs 5,000 by the district administration and Rs 2,100 by the owners of Balaji Hospital. The students of Government Middle School, Dyol, came second and got cash award of Rs 1,100.

Shimla, May 31
The 412-MW Rampur will be the first public sector hydroelectric project in the country to avail carbon credits under clean development mechanism (CDM) which will fetch Rs 56 crore annually to the Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN).

The SJVN has entered an arrangement with the World Bank, which is funding the Rs 2,047 crore project, under which it will purchase carbon credits at a rate of not less than Euro 5 per ERU’s (emission reductions units). The project will generate 1,770 million units of power annually. The Central Electricity Authority has revised the emission factor to 0.806 tCO2/MWh (tonne of CO2 per MWh) on the basis of which the project will be able to earn 1.4 million ER’s. If the benefit is passed on to the consumers it will help bring down the generation cost by 25 to 27 paise per unit.

The World Bank is carrying out the entire exercise and has already appointed consultants for preparing the project design document (PDD) for the purpose so that the project could be registered for carbon credits with the designated authority.

So far the Government of India has not framed any policy for the public sector undertakings whether the benefit of carbon credit is to be passed on entirely to the consumers or the power developer or shared by the two. The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission will determine the tariff in accordance with the policy of the Centre.

Some independent power produces, mostly mini and micro-hydel projects in the state, have already got registered their projects with the designated authority for availing carbon credits.

Shimla, May 31
The high court has imposed a ban on felling of trees in all forest areas, including private forestlands, except in accordance with the order passed by the Apex Court. The court further directed that felling in all forests would remain suspended, except in accordance with the working plans of the state government approved by the Central Government.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Jagdish Bhalla and Justice Deepak Gupta passed this order on an appeal filed by the state government, the state forest corporation and private timber contractors whereby they have challenged the order passed by the single judge of the high court. The judge had imposed a complete ban on felling of trees in the entire state.

Rejecting the plea of the state with regard to felling of trees on the private land under the Land Preservation Act, the Bench observed that any area covered with trees and undergrowth would be deemed to be a forestland, therefore, felling of trees would not be allowed even on the private land.

However, the court said the state was entitled to remove fallen or diseased trees, except from the areas notified under Sections 18 and 35 of the Forest Preservation Act.

Nahan, May 31
On the occasion of World No Tobacco Day a function was organised in the Senior Secondary School, Panjahal, under Nahan subdivision, today in which students, staff and local residents took oath to say no to tobacco in their life.

Different competitions were organised focusing on the bad effects of tobacco. In the morning an open declamation was organised. Brahmir House stood first.

In Painting composition, both the junior group of Bhaskar House and senior group of Brahmir House were adjudged first; and both Aryabhatt and Ramanujan House were adjudged second. In slogan competition, Ramanujan stood first and Brahmir stood second in junior group and in senior group Ramanujan House bagged first two positions.

Principal of the school, Man Singh, announced that winner students would be honoured in the annual function of the school.

Shimla, May 31
Minister for social justice and empowerment Sarveen Chaudhary has been given the Rashtriya Gaurav award by a Delhi-based NGO, India International Friendship Society.

The award was given to her by Bhisham Narayan Singh, former Governor of Tamil Nadu, at a function held in New Delhi today.

The ward has been given in recognition of her contribution in the fields of social development, women uplift and welfare of SCs and STs over the past 10 years.