Shimla, August 22
The much-publicised Atal Bihari Vajpayee Bijli Bachat Yozna has been mired in controversy with some private companies alleging irregularities and favouritism in awarding the contract for supplying compact fluorescent lamps (CFL).

The issue raised by the aggrieved parties have forced the government to review the matter at the highest level.

Chief secretary Asha Swaroop has convened a meeting of the officers concerned of the state electricity board that had invited bids on August 23.

Some reputed companies like Philips and HPL Somonec, whose bids were rejected, have complained to the government over the specifications and criteria adopted for qualification of vendors.

However, the most important issue is that the board had equally distributed the
supply order to four companies that had quoted the same rate of Rs 429 for the
supply of CFLs.

As the companies have agreed to provide six per cent additional supply free of cost, the effective rate comes to Rs 403.

The fact that four companies quoted the same price for a pack of four lamps clearly indicated that they had formed a cartel and quoted a pooled rate.

In normal course, in such cases the bids are rejected and fresh tender invited.

Another issue of dispute has been regarding the technical specification as the board specified a higher power factor (PF) of 0.85 for the lamps as against the normal lamps of 0.5 PF sold in the market.

The lamps with a higher PF are no doubt more energy efficient but more expensive.

The board ignored the fact that internationally the failure rate of 0.85 PF lamps was as high as 30 per cent as against 10 per cent for the 0.5 PF lamps.

In Himachal where there are wide fluctuations in voltage, particularly in rural areas,
the failure rate could be even higher as the circuitry of the higher PF lamp is
vulnerable to fluctuations.

Further, engineers of the board did not carry out a proper techno-economic analysis while deciding to go for higher PF lamps.

The difference rate in the entire purchase on account of higher PF would be over Rs 13 crore whereas saving of energy would fetch about Rs 2 crore.

Experts maintain that lower PF will not have much negative effect as the load
would be negligible.

Philips was rejected at qualifying stage for not complying with the tender conditions and HPL Socomec was rejected as it had quoted the rate for a lower power factor.

The companies that had quoted a pooled rate to secure the order included Pheonix, Surya Bulbs, Asian Electronics and Havells.

Under the scheme, four CFL lights each are to be supplied free of cost to over 16.5 lakh domestic consumers in the state. In all, over 72 lakh lamps will be purchased.

Shimla, August 22
Land sharks are using the essentiality certificates (EC), granted by the government for setting up tourism projects, to grab land in the state where outsiders are debarred from acquiring the land.

An inquiry conducted by the Tourism Department revealed that as many as 32 promoters, who obtained ECs from 2003 and 2006, have not set up any projects. The land was either illegally sold to a third party or used for other purposes. In all 86 ECs were issued during the period.

Most of such cases took place in Solan district, where land prices are high, following the grant of central industrial package.

In five cases, the land was sold in violation of the Section 118 of the state Land Reforms and Tenancy Act. In one case, residential flats were constructed.

In 20 cases, the promoters did not take any steps to implement projects. As many as 28 cases of violation pertained to Solan, two were detected in Kangra and one each in Kullu and Sirmaur districts. Many companies, which were issued ECs, either did not exist or had given wrong addresses.

Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal has asked the department to conduct an inquiry into the matter. He said the government would take a stringent action against the guilty. Dhumal said the ECs would be granted only to reputed groups that had made their mark in the hospitality industry.

The Tourism Department has decided to serve notices for cancellation of ECs on the concerned parties on the basis of the inquiry.

Ram Subhag Singh, commissioner of tourism, said the department had decided to take action against 17 cases of violations pertaining to ECs issued from 1992 to 2003, which came to light earlier.

Singh said he had also written to the Revenue Department to initiate action against the violation of the land reforms and Tenancy Act.

The department would ensure that tourism ventures were not used as a pretext to get permission for purchase of land.

It would ensure that ECs were not abused to circumvent Section 118 of the Act by putting in place a mechanism for regular monitoring of the progress of projects for which ECs were issued.

The Act provides that in case of violation of Section 118, the land will be reverted back to the original landowner and in case of illegal sale to a third party, it will be vested in the government.

The grant of EC makes it much easier for the outsiders to get permission for acquiring land in the state.

Shimla, August 22
Chief minister P.K. Dhumal today said the results of the student’s body elections in the state had reaffirmed the faith of the youth of Himachal in the policies and programmes of the government.

Dhumal, while congratulating the victorious ABVP candidates, said the ABVP was the student wing of the BJP and its victory proved that the BJP ideology was gaining popularity among the youth.

“Against a total of 128 seats won by the ABVP last year, their tally has gone up to 201 this year, which is very impressive,” he said.

Dhumal said the government was trying to introduce more vocational courses that would help create employment avenues.

He added that programmes to upgrade skills were also being launched to equip the youth with the emerging trades.

Meanwhile, upbeat after its impressive performance in the students’ elections all over the state, the ABVP today said it was the pro-student stand on various issues that had fetched them such overwhelming support from the student community.

He claimed that as compared to ABVP’s victory on 201 seats, the NSUI had been down 76 seats while the SFI has been able to win only 36 seats.

“The ABVP has registered a victory in eight district headquarters and 24 important colleges in the state,” he said.

He said issues like checking educational corruption, proper educational infrastructure in educational institutions along with adequate staff strength and restoring the autonomy of HPU by withdrawing the amendment in Section 35-A of the HPU Act were some of the issues for which the ABVP will strive.

Bilaspur, August 22
Bilaspur Students Association (BSA), a local students’ group, defeated the ABVP and Congress-supported NSUI here in the Students Central Association’s election at government postgraduate college here.

The result was: president - Uday Singh; vice-president - Vivek Sharma; general secretary - Chaman Sharma; and assistant secretary - Sunny Kumar. All candidates were of the BSA, who won with a huge margin.

At Ghumarwin Government Degree College, NSUI had won all four posts. The result was: of president - Virender Kumar; vice-president - Renu Sharma; general secretary - Sapna Kumari; and assistant secretary - Anand Kumar.

In Kot-Kheloor constituency, colleges at Jukhala (a government college) and at Naina Devi (a private college) elected AVBP representatives Sonu Kumar, Mahnor Lal, Sapana and Puja to these four posts, respectively.

While AVBP’s Swarn Singh, Kishori Lal, Poonam and Arti won these posts, respectively, at private degree college of Naina Devi.

At the government college in Jandhutta, Gehadwin reserved constituency, the AVBP won all four main posts, leaving NSUI far behind. Students, who won these posts, respectively, are Neelam, Abhishek, Mithun, and Raman Kumar.

Nahan: The SCA elections were held peacefully yesterday in all five government degree colleges of Sirmaur district.

Nahan College: The result at Nahan college was: president - Rajesh Kumar (ABVP); general secretary - Vinod Kumar (SFI); and joint secretary - Virender Sharma (SFI).

Paonta College: At Paonta college the result was: president - Namit Kumar (HCS); general secretary - Baljit Kaur (NSUI); and joint secretary - Shri Chand (HCS).

Rajgarh College: The result at Rajgarh college was: president - Anup Kumar (NSUI); vice-president Brijesh Kumar (NSUI); general secretary - Praveen Kumar (ABVP); and joint secretary - Meeta Kumari.

Sangrah College: The result at Sangrah college was: president - Vijay Sharma
(NSUI); general secretary - Kapil Kumar (SFI); and joint secretary - Promila
Kumari (ABVP).

Shillai College: The result at Shillai college was: general secretary Babli (NSUI) and joint secretary Kumari Sarita.

Dharamsala, August 22
State convener of the BSP Major Vijay Singh Mankotia(retd) has demanded the arrest of the former Congress Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife and Congress MP from Mandi Pratibha Singh.

At a press conference here, Mankotia said the forensic report of audiocassette provided by him has proved that the voice in it was actually that of Vibhadra Singh and Pratibha Singh.

In the recorded conversation in question, the former Chief Minister and his wife were allegedly discussing monetary issues.

“We demand that now as it has been proved scientifically that the conversations are genuine, the BJP government should move ahead to register an FIR and arrest the culprits,” he said.

He also expressed apprehensions that the BJP might get soft on the issue. The BJP had made the cassette issue as the main agenda in their election campaign.

Even after the forensic report, Virbhadra Singh has stated that the cassette was a cut-and-paste work.

The only option available before him to prove the cassette wrong is to undergo narco analysis or brain mapping test.

He also said even if the BJP failed to register a case, former staff selection commission chairman Surinder Katwal had already moved the Himachal Pradesh High Court to seek directions to the government for registration of an FIR against Virbhadra Singh.

He also claimed that the Congress could not be revived till Virbhadra Singh was a part of it. When asked if Virbhadra Singh was a bottleneck to his return to the Congress, Mankotia said: “I have no plans to join the party back. I am grateful to the people, who have expressed views regarding my return to the Congress.”

He also stated that the BSP would contest all four seats in the state. Decision to this affect was finalised at a meeting with party president Mayawati. Already a panel of three persons has been finalised from each of the constituencies.

About the possibility of his contesting the elections, Mankotia said he might contest from the Kangra parliamentary constituency.

Mankotia also informed that the present government has initiated an inquiry into tempering with historical gazetteer containing some objectionable information regarding family history of Virbhadra Singh.

“The information regarding the inquiry has been passed on to me by the Chief Minister’s secretariat,” Mankotia added.

Dharamsala, August 22
The Tibetan worldwide protest planned on August 30 got a flip today with their supreme spiritual leader the Dalai Lama deciding to participate in it.

The information was confirmed by the Tibetan government officials.

The Tibetan leaders are terming the programme as one of most important non-
violent campaign by the Tibetan solidarity committee to get support from the world against oppression in Tibet.

They have stated that the synchronised 12-hour campaign will begin at 7 am and go on till 7 pm on August 30 all around the world.

The solidarity committee convened by the Kashag and Tibetan Parliament-in-exile is leading exile Tibetans activities under its unified leadership.

The committee has appealed to its supporters to join this non-violent effort. It aims to bring solace to the Tibetans who had fought for the cause and also those who are still enduring atrocities under the brutal Chinese oppression.

While observing the fast, people will recite prayers to enhance the collective merits of the Tibetan and Chinese people.

“We consider this as an important non-violent action taken by Tibetans under the leadership of the Dalai Lama as it is a critical period for Tibet, particularly the post-Olympic time,” Kalon Tripa Samdhong Rinpoche said.

Kalon Tripa has directed offices of representatives to reach out to Tibetan people, supporters and Chinese friends to encourage them to join the non-violent action.

Bilaspur, August 22
Himachal PWD and revenue minister Gulab Singh Thakur today rushed to inspect National Highway No 21 that was closed for vehicular traffic from the last three days by the district administration here.

The issue had generated a controversy between district officers and truck operators here with both sections holding differing views regarding the condition of the road.

Gulab Singh Thakur, accompanied by district officers and Himachal engineer-in-chief R.P Singh, chief engineer (national highways) Arun Mahajan, deputy commissioner Devesh Kumar and superintendent of police K.K Indoria, decided to travel on the controversial portion of the road from Nauni to Suharghat and found that the fears of the district administration regarding safety of the road were unfounded.

According to the minister, the road could be opened for all types of vehicles, including trucks, though a couple of spots required police assistance for maintenance and avoid traffic jams.

After consultation with the road construction experts present on the spot, the minister ordered lifting the blockades and allowed controlled crossing by all types of vehicles on the highway from today.

Thakur said as the national highway served many districts, it could not be kept closed indefinitely. He said the road was safe for travel and in case of landslides, help of the PWD Department and other agencies like the ACC and Ambuja factories could be taken.

The minister urged the drivers not to overload their trucks and said it was in their own interest to ensure their safety.

Meanwhile, the road was blocked once again after about two hours of its opening for the traffic as another landslide struck near Chadole but the bottleneck was cleared within an one hour by the ACC cement factory.

This was in clear contrast to the lackadaisical attitude of the district officers who rushed to Bilaspur through alternative vehicles on the other side of the landslide and did not bother for the others, who were left stranded.

Solan, August 22
As many as 25 sheep were killed and another 10 injured when a truck (HR-37-A-4737) carrying them overturned at Chambaghat.

The accident blocked the National Highway-22 for more than two hours. The truck was on its way from Delhi to Rohru.

The witnesses said as many as 25 sheep were killed on the spot, which were taken to the local veterinary hospital, Kotla Nullah, for post-mortem.

However, the police said 15 sheep were killed. The witnesses said attempts were made to sell the killed cattle in the local slaughterhouse.

It was with the intervention of locals that the animals were taken for post-mortem.

Another truck, which was also overloaded with sheep, managed to flee the spot. It was later impounded at Shimla after the local police flashed a message.

The police has registered a case under Section 279 of the IPC for rash driving and Section 11of the Cruelty to Animals Act against truck driver Naresh Kumar.

Shimla, August 22
To tide over the problem of huge vacancies of teachers in colleges in the state, the government has decided to engage the services of about 700 retired teachers till regular appointments are made through the state public service commission (HPPSC).

It is for the first time that the government is resorting to such an arrangement to ensure that functioning of schools does not get affected.

“Even though we have already asked the HPPSC to initiate the process for filling up of over 600 posts of college teachers, this would be a time consuming process. We have decided to engage retired teachers,” said education minister I.D Dhiman.

Till now it was retired doctors whose services were being hired by the government in view of shortage of specialists in various health institutions of the state.

It is for first time that the government, after holding consultations with University Grants Commission, has chalked out the proposal for engaging retired teachers.

Since the number of vacancies in various colleges in the state is about 750, retired teachers will be appointed till the regular appointment is made so that the studies of the students do not suffer.

With ample amount of retired teachers in the state, there will be no problem as far as getting eligible retired teachers is concerned.

Even though the modalities are still being worked out, it is learnt that these retired teachers will get a salary they were drawing at the time of their retirement. The amount of pension that they are getting would be deducted from this salary.

“Even though this will put additional burden on the exchequer, since the recruitment process would take some time there is no other option,” admitted a senior official.

Dhiman said despite the fact that the previous Congress regime had sanctioned opening of 28 colleges against a provision of five, efforts were on to make these functional at the earliest.

“Barring the college at Sarahan in Sirmour that has been denotified, we are trying to ensure that land is made available for constructing college buildings at 22 places in the state,” he said.

He said even though the BJP had decided to go ahead with setting up of the colleges announced by the Congress regime, in certain places it was being felt that the strength of students was too less.

He, however, justified that in places like Pangi, where the student strength was small, it is was imperative to have a college in view of the geographical constraints and problem of students.

Shimla, August 22
The state government is considering scaling down the quota of rice from 15 kg to 10 kg per month in view of the reduction in allocation by the Centre.

Stating this while reviewing workings of the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department and the state civil supplies corporation, here today, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said the matter would be taken up with the Centre for the restoration of the rice quota.

At the same time, the quota of wheat flour would be enhanced from 20 kg to 25
kg per month.

He said there was no shortage of essential commodities and all fair price shop operators had been directed to lift their quota from concerned depots in time so that the ration cardholders were not put to inconvenience.

The government would launch a special drive to weed out fake ration cards and ensure that the benefit of the subsidised essential commodities was available to the bonafide ration cardholders.

The Chief Minister said the state had 14.44 lakh ration cardholders out of which
1,97,100 beneficiaries were covered under the Antodaya Anna Yojna (AAY),
3,16,900 under below poverty line (BPL) families and 9,30,000 above poverty
line (APL) families.

Dhumal said the state had authorised the pradhans to issue ration cards to the residents of concerned panchayats.

He also stated that some complaints regarding issuance of illegal ration cards
had been received.

He advised the pradhans to remain vigilant about such cases and verify the genuineness of the applicants before issuing cards.

He also urged the panchayati raj institutions representatives to cooperate with the state government in weeding out illegal and fake ration cards in their jurisdiction.

The state had a network of 4,342 fair price shops being operated by cooperative societies, individuals, gram panchayats, mahila mandals and civil supply corporation.

He said the AAY cardholders were being provided wheat at Rs 2 per kg, rice at Rs 3 per kg, the BPL families were being given wheat at Rs 5.25 per kg, rice at Rs 6.85 per kg. The APL families wheat flour at Rs 8 per kg and rice at Rs 9 per kg.

It was informed in the meeting that the turnover of the corporation had crossed the 1,000-crore mark and it has been earning profit year after year.

Shimla, August 22
Suicide by a boy and a girl in a hotel here has once again highlighted the need for having a better system to check such incidents that have been frequently occurring in the state capital.

Though this time it was a case of suicide, in most of the cases people have been found murdered in their hotel rooms.

With fake addresses and identity being registered in the hotel register, it is often difficult for the police to arrest the accused.

In this case, the police was able to establish the identify of the boy, Jagseer Singh, from his Punjab Technical University (PTU) identity card even though he had got the room registered under a fake name.

The girl, Harvinder Kaur, was doing a course in nursing at a college in Muktsar. The families of the deceased, hailing from Bhinderkalan village in Moga, today took away the bodies.

The police has been stressing the need for having close circuit cameras at the hotel reception to have record of those who get the room registered.

“We have time and again taken up this issue with the hoteliers’ association but they do not seem to be too keen on it,” said SP R.M. Sharma.

Tourism commissioner Ram Subhag Singh said the police till date had not made any formal request to them to ask the hoteliers to install close circuit cameras.

The hoteliers, however, say installing such cameras would affect their business and was an impractical solution.

Shimla, August 22
The state unit of the All-India LPG Distributors’ Federation (northwest region) has urged the oil companies to initiate steps to check the misuse of domestic refills and take into account the changed pattern of use and resultant increase in demand.

The federation, which met here today, pointed out that a massive backlog during last winter, for which the responsibility was wrongly passed on to distributors, created intense pressure from all quarters on the distribution system that attracted heavy flak.

Besides constraints of supplies, the situation was further aggravated because of the diversion of domestic refills for LPG water and space heaters, cars and other vehicles as fuel.

The other new uses are room heaters, generators and water pumps as it was cheaper than electricity and petrol.

The meeting also focused on concerns of the consumers and resolved to bring about the required improvement in service.

The distributors were also asked to curtail diversions of domestic LPG so that it was used only for the purpose it was meant for.

To minimise hardships to consumers, the federation has decided to request its district conveners to ensure prompt disposal of consumer complaints so that their difficulties were taken care of within 24 hours.

Notices displaying the name of the district conveners and their contact numbers
would be prominently displayed at all LPG distributorship shortly. This would help
sort out problems.

The oil companies were requested to provide adequate quantities of LPG equipment so that new connections could be freely issued to the genuine consumers.

It lamented that the oil companies were aggressively promoting auto LPG knowing fully well that with the dual price system in force, the consumers will tend to misuse and diversion.

The price of the domestic LPG was one-third of the price of auto LPG. The members present authorised the president to take up the issue with authorities concerned.

Shimla, August 22
The state government has decided to impart training to the youth from scheduled castes and scheduled tribes under job-oriented skill upgradation-training programme to enable them to secure employment in the private sector.

Stating this here today, social justice and empowerment minister Sarveen Chaudhary said a proposal had been formulated to provide training to the educated unemployed youth from these vulnerable sections at the Institute of Hotel Management, Kufri.

The programme would create a pool of trained manpower from which the hotel industry could benefit, especially during peak tourist season.

She said the focus in the skill upgradation programmes would be on identifying suitable candidates based on their aptitude and basic skills.

A database of eligible interested trainees would be generated through the network of block functionaries of all the districts besides publicity through media for inviting applications from prospective candidates.

Chaudhary said interviews would be conducted at district headquarters or appropriate locations as per the convenience of the candidates.

The function was held under the aegis of the Indian Solidarity Council and the International Institute of Education and Management, New Delhi.