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Season’s first snowfall in
Shimla
Plan to set up technical varsity
Horticulture Minister Narinder Bragta addresses a press conference in Shimla on Sunday.
A Tribune photograph |
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Haj subsidy increasing by the year: RTI
Emphasis on improving primary education
Forum opposes BBN master plan
Cheaper liquor from Chandigarh flooding state
Govt decision on age relaxation hailed
Education Minister inaugurates prashikshan shivir
Kidnapping Case Kidnapped taxi driver Satish Kumar
Postmaster fined for late delivery
Youth found dead was murdered
Quake rocks Kangra valley
No power cuts this winter
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Season’s first snowfall in
Shimla
Shimla, January 4 The “Queen of Hills” experienced the season’s first snowfall, but it was too mild to delight tourists or the local people. The snowfall started in the wee hours and lasted for about two hours. Mount Jakhu, the highest peak in the city, had about 3 cm of snowfall that melted away in no time. The lower areas of the city had rain. The tourists rushed to the nearby resort of Kufri, which received around 10 cm of snowfall. The residents shivered in the chilly weather as icy winds brought down the minimum temperature to 1.7°C, down 4°C from yesterday, while the maximum remained steady at 10°C. Solang Nallah had 20 cm snowfall, Narkanda and Fagu had 10 cm each, while the famous tourist resort of Manali had to be contented with mild snowfall that melted away quickly. Hatu peak, Chanshal slopes, Rohtang Pass and Churdhar had 25 to 30 cm of snowfall. Keylong in Lahaul-Spiti was freezing with mercury dipping to -7.1°C. Kalpa in the adjoining Kinnaur had a minimum of -3.6°C. The entire tribal belt has been experiencing intermittent snowfall since last night. In lower hills, Bhuntar recorded the highest rainfall of 7.3 mm, followed by Dharamsala (4.2mm), Mandi (3.4mm), Una (3mm) and Sundernagar (2.1mm). According to the local meteorological office, spells of rain and snow will continue till tomorrow morning and the weather will become clear as the day progresses. Manali: Manali and its adjoining areas experienced season’s first snowfall while the lower parts of the region were lashed with rain today renewing the cold wave in the region. The snowfall began in the wee hours and was got melted within a few hours. The white layer covering the trees, roofs and the ground transformed the landscape virtually into a fairyland this morning. The entire upper Manali region was covered with a white blanket. Traffic on the Manali-Rohtang road was disrupted at several points beyond Palchan, about 8 km from here as hundreds of tourists made a beeline towards this point. However, the road after Palchan village was slippery in the morning because of the fresh spell of snow on the road. The famous ski slopes of the Solang valley also recorded about 9 inches of fresh snowfall. The Rohtang Pass and the Pir panjal Ranges have been experiencing heavy snow since yesterday. The entire higher reaches in Kullu valley, including Chanderkhani Pass, Hamata ski slopes, Bhrighu slopes, Gulaba and Kothi also received fresh snow. The day temperature dipped sharply as cold winds lashed the region. However, the winter sport lovers were still disappointed as this was not enough snow for skiing. Apple growers of the upper Manali region were happy, as the snow will be good for their crop. DALHOUSIE:
Dalhousie, the famous global hill station, also received season’s first snowfall today, which was recorded up to 3 cm. As a sequel to this, there was sharp downfall in the temperature. According to official information, the higher ranges of Dalhousie, which include its nearby beauty spots like Kalatop and Khajjiar, had 30 cm of snowfall. The snowfall attracted a number of tourists from the plains to view the while blanket of snow on the peaks, the information revealed; adding that weather was still continuing to be cloudy. The lower areas had intermittent rain resulting in biting cold in the region. PALAMPUR: Higher reaches of the Dhauladhar ranges received heavy snowfall last night resulting in considerable fall in the temperature while the lower areas were lashed with rain. According to agriculture experts, rain is beneficial for sowing of wheat and other crops in the non-irrigated areas of the state. Rain and snowfall had multiplied the miseries of local residents, as there is an acute shortage of coal and kerosene oil in the area. |
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Plan to set up technical varsity
Shimla, January 4 Stating this at a press conference here today, Horticulture Minister Narinder Bragta said a technical university would go a long way in maintaining the quality of education and regular upgrading of curriculum in view of the fast changing requirement of technical manpower in the country and abroad. The BJP had made a promise for setting up such a university in its election manifesto. Over the past one year, the state had made immense headway in the field of technical education and a sum of Rs 180 crore was being spent on the sector, which was the highest ever. The government managed to get sanctioned an IIT from the Centre to be set up at Mandi at a cost of Rs 707 crore. The Union Cabinet cleared the proposal on July 17, 2008, notwithstanding the claims of the Congress that the decision was taken in October 2007. He also produced a copy of the press note issued by the PIB regarding the Cabinet decision. Another achievement was the National Institute of Fashion Designing being set up by the Centre at Chheb in Kangra. The state had already provided land and some built-up structures for the purpose and it would contribute Rs 58 crore for the project. The All-India Council for Technical Education cleared proposals for one polytechnic in the government sector and three in the private sector. Pharmacy colleges were being set up at Solan, Paonta Sahib and Kullu and an engineering college at Solan. Further, 14 ITIs of the state had been declared centres of excellence and the one at Rohru had been adjudged the best in the northern India. Efforts were also on to ensure that the pass-outs from ITIs got jobs in the industry. To achieve this, the government had decided to set up a placement cell in every institution. Out of the total 1,454 candidates who passed out from various ITIs last year, 1,173 have got placements. The government had already set up a committee for deciding the fee structure for professional institutions and updating the curriculum. The government would not allow vocational training institutions to run unrecognised courses. |
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Haj subsidy increasing by the year: RTI
Shimla, January 4 The only other pilgrimage for which subsidy is granted is the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. The Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam, which provides boarding and lodging on the Indian side, is given a subsidy of Rs 3,250 per pilgrim. The response to the query whether a Hindu could not undertake Haj pilgrimage and avail the subsidy under the rules was negative. Information supplied to RTI activist Dev Ashish Bhattacharya further reveals that the Haj Committee of India provides financial assistance for construction of Haj houses to the extent of one-third of the cost or Rs 1.5 crore, whichever is less. Besides donations, the State Haj Committees have been raising the remaining amount through state governments. So far, nine Haj Houses have been built in Hyderabad, Ahmadabad, Kozhikode, Srinagar, Lucknow, Nagpur, Chennai, Bangalore and Delhi. The Airport Authority of India constructed a semi-permanent structure (measuring 250 sq m) at a cost of Rs 27 lakh at the Jaipur Airport for handling Haj flights in November, 2007. Similarly, at the IGI Airport, Delhi, a separate area of 3,150 sq m was carved out from the export cargo building at a cost of Rs 1.5 crore in 2000-01 for handling Haj flights. Bhattacharya laments that despite being a secular country, the government is not treating all communities equally in the matter of subsidy on pilgrimage. Other minorities like Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Buddhists and Parsis are not being granted any subsidy for undertaking pilgrimage, not to speak of the majority Hindus. The government must frame a just and equitable policy in this regard and extend the benefit to all communities, he says. Allowing subsidy to a particular community in this manner is tantamount to discrimination against other communities. It weakens the secular fabric of the country, he maintains. Moreover, all subsidies are to be provided on the basis of economic status. The interest of the community will have been better served if the government had utilised this huge amount on imparting education and improving skills of the poor deserving Muslims, he says. Further, the allotment of land to Amarnath Shrine Board became a major political issue, but there was no such hue and cry over the creation of separate facilities at airports for handling Haj pilgrims, which exposed the communal approach of the political parties and governments and raised doubts about their secular credentials, he maintained.
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Emphasis on improving primary education
Shimla, January 4 The emphasis is on strengthening the infrastructure, ensuring 100 per cent enrolment and filling vacant posts of teachers on priority. An amount of Rs 2,094 crore has been earmarked for education sector. The progress made by the state in the field had been appreciated by internationally acclaimed educationist Prof Amratya Sen. The state has been adjudged first state in the field of primary education and the second best state in the field of elementary education in the country. The credit goes to the government it has laid a sound foundation and accorded priority to quality
education. It has decided to fill 18,000 posts of teachers in various categories in the current financial year and the process for recruitment of 4,568 posts of TGTs, 200 of language teachers and 150 posts of “Shastris” in elementary schools has already started. It has also decided to regularise the services of 134 contractual TGTs, who have completed eight years of continuous service as on March 31, 2008. Besides, 377 part-time water carriers have been appointed during the past few months in the elementary schools of the state and 696 TGTs have been promoted to the post of headmaster. The government has also decided to introduce Punjabi and Urdu in 100 selected schools in the state from the academic session 2008-09. A provision of Rs 54 crore has been made for the construction of elementary school buildings and Rs 197.03 crore for infrastructural development in colleges and schools ,which is 142 per cent more than the amount for the previous year. An amount of
Rs 143.91 crore will be spent on various activities under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. A programme has been started to train girls in marshal arts in 500 schools and an initiative has been taken to introduce yog shiksha in 386 schools. The state has 25,476 Children with special needs out of which 23,011 have been enrolled in schools. As many as 420 severely challenged children have been covered under home-based education scheme being implemented through 19 NGOs in nine districts. Foundation stone of the Atal Shiksha Kunj has been laid at Kalu Jhanda (Baddi) in Solan. |
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Forum opposes BBN master plan
Shimla, January 4 It pointed out that the draft plan had met with stiff resistance from the residents of the region for several reasons. The first and foremost being that the existing livelihood and lifestyles of the people had been completely overlooked while formulating the master plan and the sites for industries had been randomly designated. The second reason for opposition was the compulsory acquisition of land for expansion
of roads. Building a house on one’s own agricultural land involved long bureaucratic procedure apart from payments to be made as land-use change fee following the extension of the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Act to 231 revenue villages under the authority. The government had been stressing on planned industrialisation of the area, but the people of the area argued it had not paid attention to the haphazard growth of polluting industries all these years. “The move to transform Nalagarh into a Gurgaon will not benefit farmers or the local population,” said Guman Singh, a member of the HNA team, which is visiting the area as part of its 10-day campaign in the state. The team participated in a rally held against the alleged illegal felling of trees and occupation by Jaypee Cement at Shalughat of the Bilaspur forest division. It interacted with the local action committee members about the destruction of water sources, grazing and agricultural land lost due to illegal dumping of solid waste by the company that was building a 2 million tonne cement plant in
the area. The acquisition of land for limestone mining had been challenged by some of the affected people in
the court. The HNA criticised the alleged anti-people and anti-environment developments in the state and underlined the need to protect environment and address concerns of mountain communities. It urged the government to take to alternative model of development to promote sustainable livelihood based on natural resources. |
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Cheaper liquor from Chandigarh flooding state
Shimla, January 4 RD Dhiman, Himachal Pradesh Excise and Taxation Commissioner, said the levy on a bottle of liquor was Rs 100 in Punjab, Rs 89 in Haryana and Rs 88 in Himachal Pradesh, while it was just Rs 15 in Chandigarh. According to him, this was leading to rising liquor smuggling to other states. “A bulk of the liquor flows to neighbouring states,” said Dhiman, who last month met the Excise Commissioners of Punjab and Haryana in Chandigarh to discuss
the issue. He pointed out that about 50 million proof litres of liquor were sold in Chandigarh in 2007-08, but the city’s residents consumed only about 27 million proof litres. One proof litre is equivalent to 2.66 bottles. “Chandigarh has a population of 10 lakhs with per person liquor consumption of 27 proof litres. So where did the rest go? This extraordinary sale of liquor (50 million proof litres) cannot be entirely to Chandigarh residents alone,” Dhiman said. He said there was also a strong possibility of liquor from Chandigarh being smuggled to Gujarat, which was under
prohibition. “It is the liberal liquor policy of Chandigarh that is hitting Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. In Chandigarh, a liquor licensee can purchase unlimited liquor, while in the neighbouring states, the governments have fixed quotas that depend on the population the vendor caters to. The policy allowing purchase of unlimited stock is promoting liquor smuggling,” Dhiman said. As per estimates of the Himachal Government, the state is losing over Rs 500 million annually due to liquor smuggling. “Since it is a clandestine trade, it is difficult to assess how much liquor is being smuggled out of Chandigarh. But the decline in Himachal’s revenue is an indicator,” Dhiman said. Faced with such a scenario, the three states have decided to take up the matter with the authorities in Chandigarh to press for a stricter liquor policy. However, Chandigarh’s Excise and Taxation Commissioner RK Rao refused to comment on the issue. As against the 50 million litres of IMFL sold in Chandigarh during the last financial year, 19.5 million proof litres were sold to a population of 6.5 million in Himachal Pradesh.
— IANS |
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Govt decision on age relaxation hailed
Nurpur, January 4 Sanjiv Guleria and Vipin Mahajan, state president and senior vice-president of the association, respectively, in a joint press conference here last night said the association had been fighting for justice for the past 26 years. “The jobless trained ayurvedic graduates who had appeared in interviews twice conducted by the Ayurveda Department in 1999 and 2005 but could not be appointed as the government had annulled recruitment will get justice with this relaxation,” they added. They rued that the previous Virbhadra government had even reduced the upper age limit from 48 to 45 years which deprived many jobless graduates (ayurveda) of batch-wise appointment due to their over age. They informed that the association had taken up the longstanding issue of relaxing the upper age limit with the Chief Minister and Ayurveda Minister through local MLA Rakesh Pathania and MLA from Fatehpur assembly constituency Dr Rajan Sushant. The association also welcomed the government decision to purchase 70 per cent ayurveda drugs from local pharmacies and rest from manufacturers outside the state. “It will benefit local entrepreneurs who have been facing closure due to marketing problem of their ayurveda products,” they asserted.
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Education Minister inaugurates prashikshan shivir
Manali, January 4 While addressing a gathering at the inaugural function Dhiman lauded the Vidya Bharti for its contribution for giving value and culture-based education across the country. He said a drastic change had come to the fore between the relations of ‘Guru’ and ‘Shishya’ in the country. He also expressed a hope that coming generations would definitely be benefited by the efforts of the Vidhya Bharti. He announced a sum of Rs 10,000 out of his discretionary quota for Sarswati Vidya Mandir. Local MLA Govind Singh Thakur was also present at the function. Senior BJP leader and former Horticulture Minister Kunj Lal Thakur said the status of the Guru was higher than the God and it was the duty of teachers to show their worth by providing value-based education to the students. Gulab Singh Mehta, general secretary of the Himachal Shiksha Samiti, said at present there were 31,000 educational institutions of the Vidya Bharti in the country wherein 30 lakh students are being taught by 1,50,000 teachers. He disclosed that as many as 251 Saraswati Vidya Mandir were there in remote and far-flung regions in the state. Principal of the Saraswati Vidya Mandir Pradeep Tripathi thanked the chief guest. Later, while speaking to mediapersons Dhiman said date for the interviews of TGT teachers would be fixed by the Himachal Pradesh State Subordinate Service Selection Board. He said during the present regime the sate government had kept a budget of Rs 197 crore for education while during the Congress rule it was only Rs 81 crore. |
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One arrested, driver still missing
Our Correspondent
Kangra, January 4 Kangra SHO Partap Singh said three persons from Moga were detained by the police in connection with the taxi driver kidnapping case for questioning yesterday. Two of them- Sukhar Singh and Sat Singh, both residents of Moga, were not found involved in the crime and third suspect Vikram Jeet of Moga was arrested under Sections 365 and 120B of the IPC and was being further interrogated. The SHO said the arrest was made on the basis of his mobile phone number, which was given to the owner of the taxi on December 25 by the three persons, who hired the taxi for Pipli and kidnapped the taxi driver. Vikram Jeet told the police during interrogation that some unknown people on December 22 snatched his mobile, near Ludhiana, but he had not lodged any complaint in this regard with the Punjab Police. Senior police officers were optimistic that the police was on the right track and hopefully the case would be solved. On December 25, three persons hired a Tavera taxi (HP01D1242) from Tehsil Chowk, Kangra, for Pipli, Haryana, and the driver, Satish Kumar, was missing since then. However, the police said taxi driver Satish Kumar was still untraced.
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Postmaster fined for late delivery
Sundernagar, January 4 The forum has directed the postal authorities to refund the Speed Post charges of Rs 2,000 as compensation, along with 9 per cent interest from filing of the complaint till the realisation of the amount, along with Rs 500 as cost of litigation to complainant Pushap Raj of Daunt village, Jarol tehsil, Mandi district,
within 30 days. The complainant has posted a form of Polytechnic Admission Test to the HP board, Dharamsala, through Speed Post on April 19, 2008, from post office,
Sundernagar, the last date of submission form was April 22, the speed post was expected to reach the
destination within 24 hours, but reached the destination two days after the last date, due to which the form of the applicant was rejected as such the complainant could not appear in the entrance examination of
polytechnic admission test. The postal authorities admitted the late delivery but pleaded that the complaint was not maintainable against the Postal Department. |
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Trekking expedition flagged off
Dalhousie, January 4 The programme was being organised by the Youth Hostels Association of India
(YHAI). The group consists of 36 national trekkers hailing from three states- Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu. Mahadev Kale from Maharashtra sang the prayer song. Muthubaba from Tamil Nadu presented a memento to the chief guest. Nanda Kumar from Mumbai is the group leader. Pradeep Dartare
is the co-leader and Rajendra Bhiskar is the environment leader. Earlier, while addressing the trekkers Dr Bipen Thakur said trekking is an adventure and also a good exercise from the health point of view. It removes harmful fat like cholesterol from the body and
thereby you can avoid a heart attack. During your trek, you will have enough time to interact among yourselves and with the village folk on your itinerary in the terrains of this mountainous region. Hence, this trek is a physical, social and mental relaxation too; Dr Bipen said. Tiwari and Mitra Bhanu from national office of
the YHAI are guiding the trekkers along with Home Guards. |
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Youth found dead was murdered
Kangra, January 4 Kangra Sub Divisional Police Officer OP Jamwal said on the basis of the preliminary autopsy report received by the police today a case was registered under Section 302 of the IPC. He said post-mortem report said the youth was killed due to strangulation. House owner Susheel had informed the police yesterday that a body was lying in his under construction building. Jamwal said the case was being investigated under Section 174 of the CrPC and was now converted to Section 302 of the IPC. |
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Quake rocks Kangra valley
Kangra, January 4 Dr RS Negi, in charge, Seismology Laboratory, said the earthquake was experienced at 1.54 am and continued for 10 seconds. He said it was measured 5.9 on the Richter scale with its epicentre in the North West Himalayan Hindukush Region. Dr Negi said as the epicentre was far away from here therefore there was no loss of life and property in this valley. Kangra valley being in the seismic zone V was vulnerable to the earthquakes. In 1905 more than 10,000 people were killed in a devastating earthquake in this valley. |
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No power cuts this winter
Shimla, January 4 A spokesperson of the state electricity board said here today that unscheduled power cuts, though rare, had to be effected at times due to system constraints or failure of accessories. Incidents like a truck hitting an electricity pole or cables box catching fire forced shutdowns in the Solan area recently. The supply was restored after a few hours. There had been no power cuts because of sufficient availability of power and even the peak-load restrictions on industries had been lifted during the winter for the first time. |
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The government proposes to set up a technical university to effectively regulate professional institutions being set up in private and government sectors and make the state hub of technical education.
