Shimla, February 24
Expressing resentment over dilution of the institution of MLA and regional bias during the BJP regime, Congress legislator Kuldeep Singh Pathania today said his party would not tolerate this kind of shabby treatment for too long and would not hesitate to hold demonstrations on the issue.

Participating in the debate to discuss the budget proposals for 2009-10, Pathania said the spirit of democracy was being hurt due to the manner in which duly elected MLAs were being ignored. “I can quote several instances of breach of propriety by certain BJP leaders who were dictating orders to officers,” he alleged while laying on the table of the House some such documents.

He said BJP functionaries and senior government officials were being made chief guests of annual day functions of schools by ignoring local MLAs. “How can you expect the local MLA to attend a function where the chief guest was a BJP leader or an officer,” he said. “When a particular scheme has been completed out of the priority of the local MLA, why should he not get his due?” he said.

Pathania also alleged that some of the panchayat pradhans were disobeying the orders of the Chief Minister by not implementing them. “When there is provision in the Panchayati Raj Act, why action is not being taken against such pradhans who are not implementing the orders of the CM?” he said.

Terming the budget as “hollow”, he said it made no mention of opening new schools, health institutions or achieving targets of road construction. “We had demanded a vote on account as the plan size is yet to be fixed and the state government is also not sure about the exact figures,” he said. MLAs and other elected representatives would launch an agitation to fulfil the demands of the people, he said.

Roop Singh Thakur of the BJP lauded the budget. He said it was farmer friendly, progressive and development-oriented. “Despite recession and several other constraints, the CM has done a remarkable job and it is wrong on the part of Congress to evaluate the government on the basis of its one-year performance,” he said.

He said it would take some time for the state to come on the right track undoing the damage caused during the five-year Congress rule. “The farmers will benefit immensely from the poly-house scheme, common man from the reduction in bus fares and rural transport from tax exemption,” he said. He said the budget has something for every section, including women, youth, farmers, fruit growers, employees and daily wagers.

Congress MLA Prakash Chaudhray termed the 10 per cent reduction in bus fares as inappropriate and said CFLs should be provided free to consumers for all time to come. Govind Thakur of the BJP lauded the efforts being made for tourism promotion by having aerial ropeways and tunnels and demanded that work on the completion of Rohtang tunnel must be expedited.

Dharamsala, February 24
In a new twist to the SMS episode, the authorities of Palampur Agriculture University (PAU) have decided to entrust inquiry into the incident to a judge. Sources said a district and sessions judge who is retiring on February 28 is being given the task to inquire into the incident. The judge would start the inquiry from the first week of March.

PAU vice-chancellor Tej Pratap admitted that inquiry into the case was being handed over to a retired judge. He said the university would take action against the accused professor in the case on the basis of inquiry conducted by the judge.

When asked about the allegations for delay in action against the accused, the VC said a student gave a written complaint regarding charges of sexual harassment to him on February 3. Immediately a sub-committee was formed to inquire into the allegations. The committee submitted its report on February 15. On the recommendations of the committee the accused professor had been suspended, the VC added.

He said further action against the accused professor would be taken after the inquiry report of the retired judge is received. While the university would take departmental action, the criminal part would be forwarded to the police for further action.

Meanwhile, the girl who had initially levelled the allegations against the accused professor had declined to pursue the case.

Kangra SP Atul Fulzele said the investigating officer in the case had found that a case under Section 354 of the IPC could be registered against the accused. The complainant student and her father were summoned. However, they have declined to pursue the case due to social stigma. We have still kept the case open and the girl is free to register the FIR in case she changes her mind, the SP said.

Mandi, February 24
The parents of Ajay Guleria (21) and Karan Malhotra (14), who were killed in the police firing during the anti-Mandal stir here on September 27, 1990, are a harassed lot. They have been running from pillar to post for the past 18 years, seeking compensation (Rs 5 lakh along with 9 per cent interest) awarded to them by the high court.

Karan’s father KL Malhotra (70) and Ajay Guleria’s father Herdev Guleria (68) said they had made several rounds of various government offices, including the secretariat, requesting the authorities to pay them compensation awarded by the high court, but in vain. Malhotra and Guleria said they had entered the fag ends of their lives did not have enough stamina to make rounds of government departments for compensation awarded to them by the high court. They had filed the case in the high court in January 1991, but it was transferred to District and Sessions Judge, Mandi. The district court decided the case in favour of parents and awarded compensation worth Rs 5 lakh each to the complainants, fixing responsibility on the police.

The government made appeal against the district court order in the high court, but the latter dismissed the appeal on August 29, 2008, directing the state government to pay Rs 5-lakh compensation along with interest at the rate of 9 per cent from January 10, 1992. However, the order had not been complied with till today.

“Now, we are left with no alternative but to file contempt of court proceedings against the government in the high court,” they said.

District officials said the compensation would be paid by the Home Department and the case had been sent to Secretary (Home) Subhash Negi. The payment would be disbursed soon to the families of victims of anti-Mandal stir as the funds were being allotted for the purpose, Negi said.

Shimla, February 24
Chief Minister PK Dhumal has said that consensus should be evolved between MLAs of both political parties on clubbing schools with less than 10 students to ensure quality education and saving unnecessary expenditure on infrastructure and salary.

He was speaking in the Assembly during question hour today. He said the state had made big strides in the education sector. However, the standard of education had unfortunately gone down. “A committee, having legislators from ruling and opposition parties as its members, should be constituted to study various aspects and arrive at a consensus on clubbing schools that have very few students,” he said.

He said the government was even willing to pay travelling allowance of up to Rs 500 per month per child or arrange Trax jeeps to ferry children to and fro to the school. “Having schools with three, four or five children is a complete wastage of resources as almost Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 is spent on infrastructure and salary component,” he said.

In reply to a question by Surinder Bhardwaj regarding schools with no teachers or single teachers, Education Minister ID Dhiman provided information to the House about vacancies of teachers. “There are 1,502 primary and 86 middle schools that are run by a single teacher in the state,” he said.

In 171 primary schools, the number of students was less than 10, while there were less than 15 students in 183 schools. Similarly, there were 12 middle schools with less than 10 students, seven have less than 15 students and 10 have with up to 20 students. “This indicates that resources are getting wasted in 1,588 schools and clubbing them will make better sense,” said Dhiman. If the need be, even hostels could be set up besides providing travel allowance, he added.

In reply to another question by Yog Raj and Satpal Satti on the batch-wise selection of teachers, the Education Minister said the process for filling the vacancies had been initiated. “We are in the process of filling 1,611 posts of JBT teachers, 4,568 posts of TGTs, 1,600 lecturers and 634 college-cadre lecturers so that teaching in schools is not affected,” he said.

In reply to a query on PTA teachers by Kaul Singh Thakur, the minister aid the appointment of 977 teachers had been found to be wrong so far. “However, we have not removed anyone, only the grant-in-aid had been stopped,” he said. He also assured that the pending grant-in-aid would be shortly received as it had been released.

Shimla, February 24
Health Minister Rajiv Bindal today announced that an ayurvedic university would be set up in the state to promote research and education in the traditional system of medicine.

Speaking as the chief guest at the 15th annual convocation of the Rashtriya Ayurveda Vidyapeeth at New Delhi today, he said the ayurvedic system was being promoted as the main system of medicine in the state and the government had taken various steps, including campaigns to sensitise people about the medical use of herbal plants in daily life. Extensive research would be conducted on herbal plants to develop know-how for their commercial cultivation by farmers. Important herbal species would be grown on large scale in high-altitude areas that were suitable for the purpose.

Yog guru Swami Ram Dev would set up a yog peeth in Solan district under the aegis of the Patanjali Yog Peeth, Haridwar.

Besides a college, it would also have a panchkarma institute and a herbal research centre. The project would be set up with an initial investment of Rs 50 crore. The government would provide 100 bighas of land for the project and it had already identified land at some places.

The Ayurvedic Department had been declared the nodal agency for the “anaemia-free Himachal” campaign under which such patients would be separately treated with ayurvedic and allopathic systems for comparison. The idea was to pave the way for independent treatment of some diseases under the ayurvedic system. He advised ayurvedic doctors to minimise the use of allopathic medicines in ayurvedic institutions.

Mandi, February 24
Leading the week-long Shobha Yatra from the Rajmadhav temple to the Paddal Maidan as chief guest Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal today announced a hike of 25 per cent in nazrana (honorariums) for devtas and bajantris, the traditional folk musicians, during the Shivratri festival in which over 170 devis and devtas participated from every corner of the district.

Addressing a large gathering after the yatra, Dhumal said the government had increased daily wages of the workers from Rs 85 to Rs 110 and increased pension by 10 per cent taking care of all sections of society.

Participating in the Shobha Yatra of over 170 devis and devtas which sent divine beats of drums, shahnai and karnals played by the bajantris, Dhumal in his brief address said his government was committed to develop the 12 districts on equal footing.

He pointed out that certain people were making an issue of the medical college for their political end. The government had fulfilled the demand of the people of Mandi for a medical college set up by the ESIC at Ner Chowk.

Dhumal claimed that the state government had made two big achievements: IIT in Kamand and ESIC medical college at Ner Chowk, which had put Mandi on the international map.

Shivratri mela committee chairman Onkar Sharma read out the brief Shivratri report and urged the CM to increase nazarana for devtas and bajantris.

All MLAs and ministers from Mandi district, including family members of the erstwhile kings of former Mandi state were present in the yatra.

The schoolchildren, who waited for the ceremony for more than three hours, performed a colourful programme capturing the theme of the legendary marriage of lord Shiva and goddess Parvati during the show at Paddal Madain.

Hamirpur, February 24
Hamirpur DC Abhishek Jain held a meeting here recently to review preparations for the coming parliament polls.

Addressing the meeting, he said under the directions of the Election Commission of India and the Supreme Court of India all 514 election booths in the district would be provided with ramps for handicapped persons and 94 such ramps have already been established in Hamirpur district.

Jain said for holding free and fair election in the district services of 3,000 employees would be taken for election duties and departments have been asked to prepare a database of their employees by February 21.

He said out of total 514 polling booths 98 have been declared sensitive and 51 have been declared hypersensitive and the administration had prepared a plan to hold peaceful polls by deploying additional force in all these polling booths.

All five-assembly segments of the district would be divided into sectors and 12 sector magistrates and 43 sector officers would be appointed to supervise the election, he added.

The DC said counting of votes would be undertaken at the local Government Postgraduate College for which a team had been constituted under the ADM.

Shimla, February 24
The Tibetan community-in-exile will not celebrate the Tibetan New Year and rather observe 2009 as a “black year” in protest against the alleged reign of repression let loose by China on their brethren in their homeland.

A spokesperson of the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress said here today that the Tibetans would organise a series of peaceful protests on the occasion as the year marked 60 years of Chinese invasion and 50 years of occupation of their native country.

The organisation started a signature campaign to further the cause of the Tibetans freedom struggle and also started a chain fast in front of the DC’s office here. It would continue till February 27.

A candlelight procession would be taken out from Sher-e-Punjab to the DC’s office on February 25, to be followed by a march on February 26. The four-day protest would end with a candlelight procession on February 27.