Dharamsala, March 14
The Medical Council of India (MCI) team is visiting Tanda medical college next week. The sources available here said that the team was visiting the college in context of Aman Satya Kachroo ragging case.

The sources available here said that the fax message regarding the proposed visit of MCI team had been received by the medical college authorities.

The team would probe the circumstances that led to the death of Aman. As per directions of the MCI the medical college has to enforce recommendations of the Raghavan committee to control the menace of ragging.

The college should have an active anti-ragging committee that also comprises
student members. In Tanda medical college the anti-ragging committee was in
place on paper.

However, the committee was apparently ineffective on ground which led to many ragging incidents on the college campus.

The new principal of the Tanda medical college Dr Anil Chauhan when contacted
admitted that a fax message had been received regarding the proposed visit of
the MCI team.

He said no exact date regarding the arrival of MCI team had been intimated. The college authorities had just been asked to cooperate with visiting team members.

The Tanda medical college is already in trouble with the MCI over acute shortage of staff in medical college.

The sources said that the medical college was facing shortage of about 500 personnel in various categories of employees.

The present government recently created separate cadres for Tanda and Indira Gandhi medical colleges to tackle the staff shortage problem.

It has also tried to offer Rs 70000 per month salary to professors in various medical subjects. The medical college is also facing acute shortage of nursing staff.

The Tanda medical college authorities had also been trying to start the post- graduation classes in the near future. However, the present ragging episode might prove a bottleneck in college plans.

Kangra, March 14
Hundreds of students of Dr RP Government Medical College, Tanda, joined by faculty members and local residents took out a candle march within the college premises to pay homage to Aman Kachroo, first year student of the college, who died allegedly following ragging on March 8.

The students started the homage march from the Principal’s office and moved through the campus and ultimately converged outside the college auditorium.

They were carrying the portrait of Aman Kachroo and placards with slogans of pain and agony they undergoing by Aman’s death.

Dr Rajesh Sharma, president of the Teachers Association of Tanda Medical College, addressed the students and the faculty members.

He said a three-day programme had been organised in the college starting with a candle march today, a havan tomorrow and a pledge would be taken to make the campus ragging free on Monday.

Shimla, March 14
Despite huge demand for quality maize grown in Himachal in various industries like starch, corn flake, animal and poultry feed, the farmers of the hill state are shying away from its cultivation because of poor returns and lack of marketing.

Interestingly, maize which is grown in 70 per cent of the total cultivated area in the state is sold at throw-away prices by the farmers due to lack of local demand and absence of proper marketing set-up.

Added to it is the problem of monkey menace which is forcing the farmers to give up maize cultivation as fields are invaded by monkeys, destroying the crop completely.

As per last 10 year’s data, though there has not been much variation in the area under maize but the production has suddenly dipped from 4.79 lakh metric tonnes to 7.68 lakh metric tonnes.

Though there has been marginal increase in the area and production under maize in Bilaspur but otherwise farmers are switching to other crops ensuring better returns.

The state agriculture department along with the industries having demand for maize will now join hands to educate the farmers, provide marketing facilities and ensure better returns to the farmers.

“We have decided to have face-to-face interaction with farmers so that they can be motivated to continue growing maize with complete assistance and guidance from the government as well as industry,” said C.R.B. Lalit, adviser, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Some of the participants at a seminar on “Technological and marketing Interventions for Enhancing Productivity and Quality of Maize” organized by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry here today said that there was great demand for maize which they were fulfilling by procuring it from other states.

Bhavdeep Sardhana, from Starch and Chemicals Limited, Phagwara, having a unit in Una district said that they could take the entire maize produced in Himachal provided there is proper marketing channel.

He admitted that the maize grown in Himachal was of high quality and if proper care was taken the farmers could get very good returns.

Other participants at the seminar too agreed that maize crop despite good
prospects has been a victim of neglect resulting in reduced production and
disinterest by the farmers.

Basically, maize is grown in the districts of Mandi, Kangra, Chamba and Sirmour. In the absence of better hybrid varieties the production has declined with very low returns and dependence on rain fed conditions.

Mandi, March 14
The Congress today claimed that BJP was anti-Mandi and was misusing government machinery in the state violating code of conduct in the Lok Sabha elections.

Congress candidate for Mandi Virbhadra Singh, the five-time Chief Minister, has
made the contest easy and prestigious for the party in Mandi this time as voters
have made up their mind to punish the Dhumal government for its anti-Mandi
attitude, the Congress alleged.

Here for getting feedback from workers to chalkout media strategy, former Forest Minister Ram Lal Thakur, sitting Congress Mandi MP Partibha Singh, general secretary Sudhi Sharma, former Sundernagar MLA and spokesperson Sohan Lal Thakur, MLA from Santokhgarh Mukesh Agnihotri and former MLA from Nachen Tek Chand attended the workshop and devised media strategy for the Lok Sabha elections.

Talking to reporters, Ram Lal Thakur and Agnihotri charged that the BJP was always anti-Mandi as the Dhumal government withdrew notification issued by the previous Virbhadra Singh government for the government medical college in 2007, soon after Dhumal became the Chief Minister.

Kullu, March 14
There have been several devastating forest fires in various areas of the Kullu valley over the past four days.

The fire in the Neul forest area could not be controlled for the past many days. Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Anil Sharma said the fire in the Khokhan area was brought under control yesterday, but it engulfed the area again today. Local residents had been lending help to the team of forest officials in firefighting.

The loss could not be estimated yet as the forest officials were busy in firefighting. On the other hand, unconfirmed sources said forest wealth worth crores had been destroyed in these fires.

Kullu DFO SK Gupta said he was not aware about any fire in Kullu forest division. Police sources had reported about a fire in the Hamta forest, near Manali, yesterday.

Meanwhile, sources said dense smoke might hit flights to Kullu as the visibility in the area had been hit.

Talking to mediapersons at Shamshi, Forest Minister JP Nadda said the department had chalked out a plan to save the forest wealth. The department was compiling details of private land holdings adjoining forests in the state.

The owners of such land would be advised to intimate the department before setting on fire dry grass in their fields so that forest officials could be deputed to check any accidental spread of fire to the forest area.

He said the government would reward the five forest employees who were attacked by miscreants while they were on duty in Gadsa valley on March 7.

Meanwhile, the HP Foresters Welfare Association submitted a memorandum to the minister demanding to ensure their safety.

Hamirpur, March 14
The continuing dry spell and scanty rains in Hamirpur district have damaged 70 per cent of the rabi crops while the standing wheat crop has also been inflicted by yellow rust disease.

According to a survey conducted by the Agriculture Department recently, the damage to rabi crop has been caused due to scanty rains during winter months and crops of wheat, oil seeds, pulses and other grains in entire district have been affected by the continuing dry spell.

In the report submitted to the state government the Agriculture Department has assessed a loss of Rs 195 lakh to crops during the current season.

An agriculture expert said, “Due to absence of rains in the winter months grain
formation in wheat has been adversely affected which would lead to lesser yield
in the district.”

To add to the miseries of the farmers’, abrupt change in the weather has also inflicted yellow rust disease to the crop, which has damaged leaves of the plant affecting growth and grain formation.

Nadaun, Bhoranj, Bijhadi blocks, lower parts of the Bamsan area and crop in the valley of Hamirpur district have been affected most this season.

Experts said, “So great is the effect of the dry spell that the yellow rust-resistant variety of wheat like PVW 502 has even fallen prey to this disease.”

Deputy Director Agriculture Ajeet Singh Rana said, “As per the survey conducted by our department 70 per cent rabi crops in the Hamirpur district have been damaged due to scanty rains and we have submitted the report to the state government.”

Concerned over this damage to crops the Agriculture Department is now organising awareness camps for the farmers and suggesting that the farmers should spray Dithene Z 78 and Tilt to save their crop from the yellow rust.

Mandi, March 14
Hem Raj (37), secretary of the Parwara gram panchayat in Chachiot block, allegedly committed suicide today by hanging himself from a tree.

Family members of the deceased told the police that Hem Raj was frustrated over the inquiry initiated against him by the department.

The police registered a case of suicide after Krishan Kumar, a resident of Manjhol village, made a call to the police station, Gohar, that the panchayat secretary committed suicide.

However, the police did not recover a suicide note from the spot. He had two children and belonged to Kanda Saraha village in Chachiot block.

The post-mortem report also confirmed that it was a case of suicide, though viscera had been sent for forensic examination, sources said.

District panchayat officer KC Saklani claimed that it was not brought to his notice that Hem Raj had committed suicide.

“There was no case initiated against him. There might be an inquiry at the block-level if any, but it is not in my knowledge,” he added.

Mandi SP Sonal Agnihotri said the police would register a case of abetment to suicide in case it finds some evidence that the inquiry pushed him to commit suicide.

Meanwhile, in another incident, Prem Lal, son of Bidhu Ram, from Chhajwan Khabu in Sadar tehsil who was admitted to the zonal hospital, Mandi, yesterday, died today.

He allegedly consumed some poison in his bid to commit suicide. The police found no foul play in the case and handed over the body to his family after post-mortem.

Palampur, March 14
Hundreds of residents of Bir, Chigan, Keor, Gunehar and Bara Bhangal villages staged a dharna at Bir Chowk, 30 km from here, today.

They were protesting against the alleged failure of the police to arrest Tibetans, who were allegedly involved in clashes with local residents at Bir last week.

They alleged the police was adopting a soft attitude towards Tibetans, while it was harassing local residents.

“Although some local people have been arrested, no Tibetans has been arrested so far,” they said.

They said the deteriorating law and order situation in the Bir and Chogan areas had become a matter of concern.

The police had become a silent spectator and no action had been initiated against the Tibetans concerned even after five days.

The Tibetans had threatened them openly. Over 100 taxi drivers also participated
in the dharna.

They said they had given the names of Tibetans to the police who had damaged their taxis, but no action had been taken against them so far.

Later, the agitating residents also met Kangra ADM Sandeep Kumar, who was in Bir to inaugurate a week-long Holi fair.

The ADM reportedly assured them that he would take up the matter with the SSP, Kangra, and suitable action would be taken against the erring policemen.

Palampur, March 14
Vice-Chancellor of CSK HP Agricultural University Tej Partap has approved the functioning of the newly established Centre for Policy Research in Hill and Mountain Agriculture in the university.

The main objectives of the centre will be to undertake policy research on different aspects of farming in hill areas and provide policy inputs to scientists and decision makers to enable them to draw need-based region-specific research priorities from time to time.

It will assist the university administration and the state government in designing
policies for promoting economic viability and ecological sustainability of agriculture
in hill areas.

It will carry out mid-term evaluations and impact-assessment studies of different
development programmes and suggest corrective measures to accomplish the
desired objectives.

The centre will be headed by programme director HR Sharma, professor and head of the department of agricultural economics, extension education and rural sociology.

It will have a policy advisory committee with the varsity Vice-Chancellor as its chairman and all deans and directors as its members. The programme director will be the member secretary.

There will be an 18-member technical advisory committee to advise the centre on
technical matters.

The members will be HR Sharma, HL Sharma, SP Sharma, PK Mehta, HK Chaudhary, Sharda Singh, Mandeep Sharma, Avinash Sharma, Kamlesh Singh , AS Saini, DR Thakur, SK Chauhan, Jagtar Guleria, Ashok Sharma, KD Sharma, Virender Kumar, HL Thakur and Sant Prakash.

Chamba, March 14
It would be the top priority of the BJP to set up the much publicised cement plant at Sikridhar in Chamba district soon after the BJP is voted to power at the Centre.

This was announced by Shanta Kumar, national vice-president of the BJP and a Rajya Sabha member, while addressing mediapersons here this evening.

He said all cement plants in the state had been set up during the regime of the BJP governments from time to time.

Shanta Kumar said the setting up of Chamba cement plant would go a long way in generating employment for the local people directly and indirectly.

He said proposals could also be mooted for linking Chamba with other parts of the country by air, railway and national highways from the tourism point of view, as the region was replete with vast tourism potential.