Solan, May 23
The Darla police today resorted to lathi charge to dispel protesting villagers from Chalan-Bagha village at the site of J.P.Cement plant injuring about two women.

Though SP, Solan, SPS Verma denied use of force but informed sources confirmed that two women-Bimla Devi and Vidya Devi, who had received injuries in the head and arm- had to be rushed to the hospital for treatment. Trouble started this morning when the administration, including SDM Baldev Thakur, DSP Kuldeep Rana and tehsildar accompanied by a large police force, descended on Chalan-Bagha village to enable the management of the JP Cement plant to gain possession of a piece of land.

In a bid to facilitate smooth takeover of the land the police had cordoned off the land belonging to one Tulsi Ram. Villagers, however, said it was unfair to force the locals out of their land as they had not been given due compensation. Dispute had arisen after the management of the cement plant had awarded different rates to the villagers in lieu of their acquired land. This had led to a protests among them. While the plant management failed to revise the rates the villagers had not only refused to accept the lesser amount but had virtually started an agitation to deter them from gaining possession of the crucial mining area.

The SP, however, said 14 people were detained today as they deterred the management from laying conveyor belt. He also confirmed that 42 men arrested yesterday for rioting were let off today on bail. As many as 125 police men had been summoned at the site to ensure maintenance of law and order and the situation was under control, he added.

In the past three days about 70 people, including eight women, had been arrested in the dispute. As a delayed move the district administration had now convened a meeting at Arki tomorrow to resolve the matter. The arrests had drawn widespread protests as the villagers termed this step as utterly inimical to the interests. Pradesh Congress Committee Secretary Sanjay Awasthi while condemning the lathi charge said the plant management should first ensure compliance of the terms of rehabilitation. They should not only construct an alternate road for Kander, whose only road was facing danger as it lay below the mining site, but they should speed up rehabilitation activities.

Shimla, May 23
Chief Minister PK Dhumal said induction of Anand Sharma into the Union Cabinet would help Himachal get liberal central assistance, besides positive perusal of various pending demands of the hill state before the Centre.

Talking to mediapersons here today, he said he was confident that Sharma as a member of the Union Cabinet would protect the state’s interest and ensure that it gets preference in development works. “We will also request all Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs from the state to pursue the pending cases of Himachal with various central ministries,” he stated.

Dhumal said he would once again take up the issue of enhancing the state’s quota for recruitment into the Army, as the hill state had produced valiant soldiers and had a huge population of willing girls and boys who wanted to serve in the armed forces. “The system of recruitable male population (RMP) should be done away with so that more and more youth can serve in the Army,” he said.

He said he would also take up the issue of one rank -one pension with the Centre as a large section of ex-servicemen of the state would benefit from it. “All such decisions favouring the hill state can see the light of the day with the political intervention of Anand Sharma and other MPs from the state,” he said.

Dhumal said he would urge the Centre to expedite the setting up of the Manali-Leh rail line in view of its strategic importance, besides exploring the possibility of more rail lines in the state. “The fact that China is strengthening its link on the border areas close to India, besides having a rail link right up to Lhasa in Tibet makes it more important for India to expedite the Manali-Leh rail line project,” he opined.

Dhumal said Himachal was hopeful that the Centre would provide liberal funds for IIT and ESI hospital in Mandi. He added that a sum of Rs 630 crore had already been approved for the ESI medical college.

On the issue of trifurcation of the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board (HPSEB) he said an amicable solution would be found to the issue keeping the interest of the employees in mind. “The impact of trifurcation in other states will be studied before taking a final decision in this regard,” he said.

Mandi, May 23
Resentment is fast building up not only among supporters of newly elected Mandi MP Virbhadra Singh, but also among the Congress rank and file in the state, more particularly in the 17 assembly segments in the Mandi constituency, as the Congress high command remains uncertain about the induction of the state’s senior most leader, who is a lone Congress MP to win the Mandi Lok Sabha seat this time.

What is even more disturbing for the state Congress is that the ruling BJP has embraced induction of Rajya Sabha member Anand Sharma as the Cabinet minister with both arms, but on the other, a large section of Congressmen have taken Sharma’s induction with a pinch of salt, revealed insiders.

Party insiders commented that Anand Sharma must have been rewarded for his “loyalty to the high command” and his “competence as the minister of state for external affairs”, but hopes and aspirations of people of the state could not be ignored by sidelining Virbhadra Singh, the four-time MP and five-time CM at a time when AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi, who addressed rallies at Kullu and Kangra, was talking about strengthening the party at the grassroots level in the country.

Talking to The Tribune on phone from New Delhi Mohsina Kidwai said, “The party high command is convinced that Virbhadra Singh is a senior most leader from Himachal. But it is a prerogative of the Prime Minister to choose his team of ministers”.

Sukh Ram who was in Mandi today, was, however, diplomatic in his answers as he said he had policy-related differences with Virbhadra Singh, but he would have been happy if Mandi would have got representation. “But Anand Sharma is also from Himachal. We thank Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh to give representation to Himachal- be it Anand Sharma or Virbhadra Singh”. Virbhadra Singh could not be contacted as his phone was switched off.

Shimla, May 23
Despite winning three of the four Lok Sabha seats the ruling BJP has started to crack the whip on party leaders who have been accused of indulging in anti-party activities.

The first leader to face the music is Babu Ram Mandyal from Nadaun assembly segment of Hamirpur district who has been expelled from the party for a period of six years. Even though certain acts of Mandyal in the recent past had irked the party but it was his open support of Congress candidate Narender Thakur against Anurag Thakur, BJP candidate and son of Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal which proved to be the last straw.

State BJP chief Jai Ram Thakur confirmed that Mandyal had been expelled. “Complaints of anti-party activities against Mandyal had been verified after which he was suspended from the primary membership of the party,” informed Thakur.

He added that Mandyal was also issued a notice during the elections asking him to explain why he should not be expelled from the party.

Party sources said that Mandyal who had been given one week’s time to file his reply never bothered to do so. As such the BJP today decided to expel him from the party. Mandyal has remained a chief parliamentary secretary while he was in the Congress and was MLA from Nadaun in the recent past.

Mandyal had been indulging in defiance of the party dictates for the past some time. He had even contested the election for the post of chairman of the Kangra Cooperative Bank despite the party fielding Rashil Singh Mankotia who won the election.

Dharamsala, May 23
The Hamirpur students maintained their dominance in the class XI results declared by the Himachal Board of School Education (HBSE) here today. Two out of three toppers in various streams are from Hamirpur district.

Earlier also, the Hamirpur students have maintained their dominance in results of other board classes declared this year.

Vishav Mohan of Government Senior Secondary School, Bilaspur, topped in class XI science stream scoring 487/500 (97.4 per cent) marks. The other toppers in the stream include Anmol second from Him Academy Public School, Hamirpur, scoring 478/500 (95.6), Yugander Kishan Singh from Him Academy Public School, Hamirpur, and Pooja Thakur of Model Public Senior Secondary School, Karsog, jointly third, scoring 470/500 (94 per cent) and Saurabh Rana of Bhartiya Public Senior Secondary School, Jogindernagar, stood fourth with 469/500 (93.8).

In commerce stream Aankansha from Blue Star Senior Secondary Public School, Hamirpur, topped scoring 440/500 (88 per cent). The other toppers in the stream include Himanshi Aggarwal from Government Senior Secondary School, Nahan, second scoring 438/500 (87.6), Radha Devi from Government Senior Secondary School, Nahan, third scoring 428/500 (84.8) and Shruti Verma from DAV Senior Secondary School, Kangra, fourth scoring 426/500 (84.6).

In arts stream Babita Devi Sharma from Government Senior Secondary School, Bijkari in Hamirpur district, topped with 418/500 (93.8). The other toppers in the stream include Sangeeta Devi from Government Senior Secondary School, Bhogarwan in Kangra district, second scoring 412/500 (82.2), Ekta Sharma from CRC Government Senior Secondary School, Rehan in Kangra district, third scoring 410/500 (82) and Binny Mehta from Government Senior Secondary School, Dehra, fourth scoring 408/500 (81.6) marks.

Secretary of the education board Prabhat Sharma said a total of 1,22,260 students appeared in class XI board examinations this year. This includes 64,806 boys and 57,454 girls and the total pass percentage remained 70.17 per cent this year.

In vocation group result of class XI 1,017 students appeared out of which 973 passed. The total pass percentage in vocational subject remained 90 per cent.

He said the students who want to get revaluation or rechecking done could do so by submitting Rs 200 and Rs 150 per paper, respectively, till June 13. The results could also be downloaded from the websites of the school education board.

Shimla, May 23
UCO Bank achieved yet another milestone by bringing the entire state under credit inclusion, making it the first state in the country to do so.

This was disclosed by chairman of UCO Bank SK Goel at a press conference here today after attending the board meeting of the bank. The bank has already achieved total financial inclusion of all state households in 2007. “Every eligible household in the state will be provided with a revolving credit facility under the cent-per cent credit inclusion.”

He disclosed that in view of customer demand, the bank had decided to enhance the value of magic cheque instrument from Rs 50,000 to Rs 10 crore. “In order to cater to the corporate demand we have decided to increase the value of magic cheque to Rs 10 crore as it enables safe transactions even on Sundays and holidays,” he said.

Though less than half of the existing 2,069 bank branches were covered under core banking solutions (CBS), the chairman said by March, 2010, the bank targets to achieve full computerisation and the remaining 1,049 branches would be brought under CBS banking.

The delay is achieving total CBS banking was because 67 per cent of the branches were in rural or semi-urban areas, he said. He said UCO bank was the only public sector bank to fulfil all national targets set by the government be it loans to agriculture sector or any other government-sponsored schemes.

Goel informed that under its integrated village-banking scheme five villages, including one in Himachal, have been adopted by the bank for meeting all its developmental loan needs. He said Rs 42 crore had been advanced under this scheme which would be extended to another 25 villages this year.

Chamba, May 23
The Youth Congress (YC) has taken exception to the removal of hoardings of Mahatma Gandhi depicting eradication of intoxication in society. A meeting of the YC was also held here yesterday under chairmanship of its senior vice-president Arif Mullick.

A memorandum to this effect was submitted to the Deputy Commissioner of Chamba in which the members of the Youth Congress demanded re-installation of these hoardings failing which its activists would resort to protest against the administration.

Criticising the removal of Gandhi ji’s hoardings in the area, the YC activists asked the authorities to ban illegally sold drugs and intoxicants and deal with the culprits stringently.

Dharamsala, May 23
The lower than normal rain over the past five years in the state has agriculture experts perplexed with some of them even suggesting change in pattern of crops to deal with the problem.

Dr NN Angris, head of the Department of Agronomy in Palampur Agriculture University, while talking to The Tribune said that from October, 2008 to April, 2009 cropping season 232.4 mm rainfall was received in the state against the normal average of 484.4 mm. It is 52 per cent below normal.

The month of November was almost dry in the state with very little rain received in Shimla, Kinnaur, Mandi and Kullu districts. In December good amount of rain was received in high altitude areas of Kullu, Lahaul and Spiti, Chamba and Kinnaur districts. In this period no or little rain was experienced in Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Kangra, Solan and Una districts.

A good amount of rain was received during January in Kullu, Chamba and Lahaul and Spiti in comparison to other districts. The major wheat growing districts of the state - Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Una, Sirmaur and Kangra received very low rain during November to January which impeded the sowing of wheat crop.

As per a report received from the Department of Agriculture 341,520 hectares of area could be sown this year against 360,000 hectares during 2007-08 indicating a shortfall of 17,480 hactares during current rabi season.

During February, good rain was received in all districts with higher rain and snow amounting to 105 mm and 88.6 mm in Kullu and Lahaul and Spiti districts, respectively, which was quite useful for the growth and development of rabi crops. The rain and snow received during second fortnight of March lowered the temperature by 1 to 5 degree C below the normal.

As a whole the rainfed crop of wheat suffered badly due to low and untimely rains and higher temperature leading to poor growth and development of crops and attack of yellow rust and powdery mildew diseases. The mustard crop also suffered badly due to higher incidence of mustard aphid. The abnormal weather during the growing season is expected to cause 50 to 80 per cent reduction in productivity of rain-fed wheat.

As per the preliminary forecast released by the Indian Metrological Department, the rain during kharif 2009 will range from 81 to 90 cm against the long period average of 89 cm which is considered near normal.

In view of clear weather conditions in the state and thundershowers at isolated places, the farmers in mid and high hills have been advised by agriculture experts to complete harvesting and threshing of wheat at the earliest.

Bilaspur, May 23
A trauma unit will be set up soon at the Regional Hospital here and an amount of Rs 2 crore has been earmarked for the same. Forest Minister JP Nadda stated this while addressing staff and doctors of the local Regional Hospital on his visit to this health institution last evening, which has been under attack from all sides due to its poor services.

He said an amount of Rs 61 lakh had already been handed over to the PWD for constructing the building of this unit while the remaining amount would also be released at the earliest.

The minister inspected all premises and buildings of the hospital and also met patients and heard their reactions about the services there. He said Rs 48 lakh lift in new outdoor patients’ building is ready and would be thrown open for public soon.

He also assured that all vacant posts of specialists and other doctors would be soon filled so that this health institution provides best services. Nadda was not at all satisfied with the cleanliness arrangements of the hospital and ordered the CMO to ensure that no laxity is allowed in this matter as it could result in spread of diseases in the area.

Hamirpur, May 23
The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) in a recent judgment has held the practice of seeking no objection certificates (NOC) from the Himachal Pradesh Chemist and Druggist Association as illegal for getting an agency or dealerships by a chemist from any company.

Passing this order in a case filed by Sanjeev Bhatnagar of Kaistha Medical Agency, Sujanpur, against the Himachal Pradesh State Chemists and Druggists Association, copies of which were released to mediapersons in a press conference today at Hamirpur by Bhatnagar, the commission has averred that insistence of NOC by any pharmaceutical company from the state chemists and druggist association to obtain an agency or dealership by any chemist is a deemed restrictive trade practices under Section 33 or the MRTP Act.

Not only has the commission directed the pharmaceutical company not to demand such NOC of the state association but also directed the latter to widely publicise that NOC from it is not required.

Mandi, May 23
The police today registered a case of kidnapping under Sections 363 and 366 of the IPC against an unknown person on the complaint of Kamla Devi of Dadauri in which she alleged that her 16-year-old daughter had been abducted from home on May 19.

According to the complainant, an unknown person informed her on the phone that her daughter had been kidnapped.

The SP, Mandi, said efforts were on to trace the kidnapped girl along with the accused.