Kullu, January 15
The first women SSB battalion passed out yesterday at the first-ever SSB training centre for women in India at Shamshi near here. The training session started in June last year while 612 young women drawn from all over India joined the training centre.

Deputy Inspector General RS Pathania presided over the function. He said the training included a nine-and-a-half month’s complete syllabi of the Indian Army. He said the SSB was all-men’s affair until the Ministry of Home Affairs decided to include women into the force for the first time. He congratulated the trainers to have successfully achieved a new challenge and hoped that they would prove successful with good results in future also.

As many as 60 women trainees participated in the passing out parade. The DIG said the lady officers would include one Assistant Commandant, one Training Commander, one doctor, besides 25 nurses. They would now assist in general administration, guarding of nation’s borders besides providing security training to rural women.

Pathania emphasised that they would try their best to make this first women battalion a model force in the organisation.

The DIG also gave away prizes to the best trainees in different fields. Nirmla was adjudged the best trainee. Anju Bala was the best in the fire competition; Anamika was adjudged the best in out door and Sandhya Prajapati in indoor; in drill and turn over was Ruby Kumari; and best in PT and sports was Sumati Devi.

Shimla, January 15
The government will propose an annual plan of Rs 2,700 crore (an increase of 12.5 per cent over the current financial year) for the year 2009-10 to the Planning Commission of India for approval.

This was stated by Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal while addressing a meeting of MLAs, principal secretaries, secretaries and heads of departments here today. He said the Planning Commission had approved Rs 13,778-crore 11th Five-Year Plan for the state for 2007-12 and the annual plan for the current year was Rs 2,400 crore.

He said every department was required to accord top-priority to the implementation of projects in accordance with priorities of MLAs and any laxity in that regard would be viewed seriously by the government. The practice of including three ongoing and three new schemes as regards roads, minor irrigation and drinking water supply schemes, as prioritised by the MLAs concerned, would be continued.

The departments concerned would be required to prepare detailed project reports for the proposed schemes on priority, complete codal formalities and pose the same for funding under the RIDF of NABARD, the Pradhanmantri Gram Sadak Yojna, the Central Road Fund, the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme, the Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programmes and other schemes.

Dhumal said a new residential block for government employees would be constructed in the Nabha area by dismantling old unsafe buildings and the CMO office would be shifted from the DDU hospital complex.

MLA from Rampur Nand Lal underlined the need to connect difficult areas like Kasha-Paat, Sarpara, Darkal and Kunish through motorable roads and posting specialists in health institutions to deliver quality services to the people.

Subhash Manglate (Chopal) called for the early for completion of the Chopal-Kupvi road and the execution of Shalvi hydroelectric project on priority.

Vidya Stokes (Kumarsain) sought adequate budgetary provisions for tourism promotion activities in Narkanda and other areas and underlined the need to train local youth in fire-fighting services.

Suresh Bhardwaj (Shimla) emphasised the need to widen the Circular Road of Shimla, create parking lots and take effective steps to beautify the state capital, while Sohan Lal (Kasumpti) wanted sewerage scheme for merged areas and development of religious shrines like Tara Devi.

Besides Shimla, legislators from Solan, Sirmaur and Mandi districts also listed their priorities on the first day of the two-day interactive meet.

Dharamsala, January 15
The state-level CBI office has been set up now at Shimla. The residents of the state can now submit their complaints against corruption in government offices at the CBI office in Shimla. The office that has been established recently is being headed by SP, CBI. Earlier, the residents of the state had to go to Chandigarh to submit their complaints.

CBI director Ashwani Kumar who came to the district here gave this information while talking to newsmen at Jawalamukhi today.The CBI director

would address Himachal police trainees at the Daroh training centre tomorrow.

The CBI office at Shimla would cater to complaints against corruption in central government offices. The jurisdiction for investigating into corruption in state government offices, however, lies with the state vigilance and anti-corruption bureau.

DIG, CBI, Chandigarh, V L Soni also accompanied the director.

Dharamsala, January 15
The ever-increasing demand is taking a toll on the medicinal plant wealth in forest areas of the Himalayas. The medicinal plants found in forests areas of Himachal Pradesh are increasingly getting rare due to unscientific plunder. Sources available here say many pharmaceutical companies, including the ayurvedic pharmaceutical companies, are hiring locals for collecting herbs from forests.

Since residents of the state have not taken to commercial cropping of medicinal plants, the demand of pharmaceutical companies is being met from the forests mostly. The locals are generally untrained in collecting medicinal plants from the forests. Their unscientific collection leads to more destruction than productive gathering of plants.

The data collected by the Institute of Himachal Bio-resource Technology (IHBT), reveals that the demand for medicinal plants is growing at a rapid pace.

The demand of Amla in 2001-02 was 22,729.5 tonnes. Growing at a rate of 22.5 per cent per annum, its demand increased to about 41,782 tonnes in the next two years.

The other major medicinal plants, the demand for which is growing, are Atis at the rate of 18.4 per cent per annum, Bael 9.6 per cent, Bhumi Amalaki 10.5 per cent, etc.

The experts at IHBT told The Tribune that different herbs grow and pollinate at different times in a year. One needs expert knowledge to pluck different parts of medicinal plants to make optimum use and maintain their population in the wild. However, the locals collecting herbs from forest generally pluck the entire plants even in the flowering season, which adversely affects their population.

The state government has launched a campaign to motivate farmers for switching over to farming of medicinal plants. However, farming of medicinal plants need expertise, financial investment and good marketing to be successful. 

Mandi, January 15
The Congress and the BJP today locked horns over the issue of alleged regional discrimination against the central Mandi region. Congressmen said the “BJP government’s anti-Mandi attitude” and “discrimination against the central region of Mandi” would be their major poll planks for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Party’s district unit president Puran Thakur, in charge of the Mandi Lok Sabha constituency AN Vidyarthi and Harbhajan Singh Bhajji alleged the BJP government had always discriminated against the Mandi region. It had not opened even a single institution in the region during its regime. Institutions like an IIT, an engineering college and an ESIC medical college were the gifts of the Congress-led UPA government, they claimed. The leaders said they would make the people aware of the policy of the BJP.

Reacting to BJP state president Jai Ram Thakur’s statement at Bakshiad that the government would develop four helipads besides developing a network of roads at a cost of Rs 50 crore in Chachiot, Puran Chand said the helipads would not benefit the villagers. As such, these statements would not get votes as people had become wise as to which party had given what to Mandi district, he added.

He said the Congress government had sanctioned a government medical college for Mandi, but the present government withdrew that notification and issued another notification for attaching the zonal hospital to the proposed private college. That amounted to discrimination against the Mandi region, he added.

On the other hand, state president Jai Ram Thakur claimed that notification was a poll stunt of the Virbhadra Singh government as no budget was allotted for the college. The BJP had given an ESIC medical college, a dental college and an IIT to the Mandi region, he said.

Congressmen were on the defensive on the “issue of groupism within the party” as Mandi municipal council president HR Vaidya, a BJP leader, was elected to the post because of support from pro-Congress councillors.

Bilaspur, January 15
A fully grown leopard is said to be active in and around Maakadi gram panchayat in Kot Kehloor area of this district. Its presence has spread panic and fear among villagers regarding the safety of their children and cattle. Reports said the leopard attacked a cowshed of one shepherd named Sohan Lal of village Maakadi and killed six goats inside it, a night ago. Before the members of the family could have woken up and raised an alarm, the predator escaped into the jungle.

Sohan Lal said the leopard virtually broke the closed door of the cowshed to enter into it. He added he had been earning his livelihood through rearing goats and sheep and this leopard was making his life difficult by preying on them. It had earlier also killed his donkey, besides killing several cattle and dogs in the area during the last few weeks.

Concerned over the safety of their children and cattle, villagers have urged the forest department to immediately capture this wild beast.

Solan, January 15
The Baddi police today arrested a vegetable vendor named Rakesh Kumar of New Sabzi Mandi area after he beat up his neighbour Sohan Lal brutally, leading to his death at Government Medical College, Sector-32, in Chandigarh today.

According to the police, Rakesh Kumar entered Sohan’s shop on the evening of January 13 in an inebriated state and delivered blows in his chest and stomach repeatedly. This caused grievous internal bleeding to Sohan, who after receiving preliminary treatment at the local ESI Hospital was referred to Chandigarh. He, however, succumbed to his injuries this morning following which the police arrested Rakesh Kumar. A case under Section 302 of the IPC has been registered and further investigations are underway.

In a separate case, an unidentified body of a man was found in a highly decomposed state from a nullah near Kripalpur village in Nalagarh sub-division today. The body was noticed by a passerby, who later informed the police. The police has started an investigation under Section 174 of the CrPC.

In another case, the body of a driver Raju, alias Bawa, was found floating in a water tank in Jarei village near Mohan Mekin Brewary, this afternoon. The body was noticed by watchman Om Prakash. He informed the police which later rushed to the spot.