Kullu, June 26
Another case of assault on a foreign woman came to light as a US national lodged a complaint at the Manali police station last evening against Ram Kumar Aggarwal, a resident of Agra, having business establishments in Manali, for assaulting her and keeping her in wrongful confinement for many hours.

It may be recalled that a British woman was allegedly raped in Palampur last week. The woman, on condition of anonymity, said she had come to Manali for having training in adventure sports at the Western Himalayan Mountaineering Institute.

She alleged that Aggarwal had borrowed Rs 2 lakh from her and proposed marriage to her for which she refused and he thrashed her and dumped her into a room.

She further alleged that he had threatened her for dire consequences if she reported the matter to the police.

She had informed the incident to the Embassy of America and consequentially lodged a police complaint.

Shimla, June 26
The UPA government will not push labour sector reforms, at least for now, in view of the global meltdown to safeguard interests of the working class in the abnormal economic scenario.

An indication to this effect was given by the director- general of employment and training Sharda Prasad who was in city in connection with the Joint Review Mission on Skill Development being implemented by the Centre in association with the states.

The employment position in India, despite the slowdown, had not been as bad as in other countries and, in fact, the latest figures released by the labour bureau had revealed that 2.78 lakh new jobs were provided during January-March quarter.

However, still the union ministry for labour and employment was of the view that the agenda for liberalisation of labour laws be put on the backburner till a turnaround was achieved, he told The Tribune.

In the meantime, the government had decided to link all 969 employment exchanges and industrial training institutes in the country and put them online for the convenience of both the industries and trained manpower looking for employment.

A national web portal was being set up for the purpose under a Rs 800 crore project which could be accessed through computerised common service centres being set up in every panchayat.

He said there was a complete mismatch in the demand and availability of skilled manpower leading to a paradoxical situation where unemployment was rising and industries were not getting the required workers.

The annual demand for skilled manpower was 12.8 million whereas 2,000 industrial training institutes (ITIs) were producing only 3.1 million.

The government had decided to modernise and upgrade all existing ITIs by 2011-12 to bridge the skill gap by the institute and open 1500 new institutes in public-private partnership under Rs 6000 crore plan.

They would turn out 11 lakh skilled workers annually. In addition 50,000 skill development centres would be set up in rural areas at which 600 workers would be trained in two shifts to meet the manpower requirement of insurance, service, hospitality, agriculture and the unorganised sectors.

Shimla, June 26
The restoration of water supply from the Gumma scheme today brought some relief to residents but the crisis in the town still continues forcing the local municipal corporation (MC) to disconnect supply to the construction sites.

The Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) department was able to repair the broken pipes from the Gumma scheme near Craignano at 4 am restoring supply of 14 MLD.

However, rationing is still continuing as the supply is far less than the requirement of 45 MLD for the state capital.

Since the water level in the sources is still low the water scarcity is likely to continue. The MC officials said in view of the low water level it had been decided to disconnect the supply to construction sites.

Normally, a ban is imposed on supply for construction purposes from May 1 but this year there was no such restriction as the supply position was satisfactory.

It is on account of delayed monsoons that the water level in most of the sources has gone down drastically reducing overall supply.

The supply of 7.64 MLDF received from the Giri water supply scheme has come as a big relief. The supply from Ashwani khud has been badly affected as only 2.97 MLD could be pumped.

IPH minister Ravinder Ravi today said effective steps were being taken to end the water crisis. “Over 650 tankers have been pressed into service and supply was being made through mules in the areas not connected by road,” he said.

He added that a supply of 36 to 40 MLD was being made in Shimla town and chlorination of traditional and other water sources was being done to prevent water-borne diseases.

Shimla, June 26
Suspended BJP leader and former MLA Dulo Ram failed to appear before the state disciplinary committee, which held a meeting here today to look into various cases of anti-party activities during the recent Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP state disciplinary committee held the meeting under the chairmanship of former minister Nagin Chander Pal. Facing charges of anti-party activities Gaddi leader from Baijnath Dulo Ram had been asked to make a personal appearance before the committee to place his viewpoint, but surprisingly he did not present himself.

Party sources said though a decision on the next course of action is yet to be taken, he is likely to be given another opportunity to explain his position in view of the allegations of anti-party activities levelled against him.

It is reliably learnt that supporters of Dulo Ram have met senior party leaders, including Chief Minister PK Dhumal and state BJP chief Jai Ram Thakur in the recent past to plead their leader’s case.

Chander Pal confirmed that Dulo Ram had not appeared before the committee. It is learnt that Dulo Ram had not sent anything in defence in writing to the committee.

It is learnt that some of the party men from Rohru, including Roshan Lal Banshtu and Devender Bushairi, appeared before the committee.

The party had issued notice to these leaders after taking suo-motto notice of reports appearing in media that senior party leader and state BJP general secretary Khushi Ram Balnatah should not be given the party ticket for the Rohru byelection.

The party had taken very serious note of such utterances in the media as it felt that everybody had the right to stake claim for the party ticket, but they had no right to oppose any leader and above all go to the media.

These leaders have reportedly sought an apology for their act when they appeared before the committee.

Today was the first meeting of the disciplinary committee and it is expected that a few more meetings will be held before a final decision is taken on the complaints. There are about 10 complaints that have been referred to it by the party.

Besides Dulo Ram, other senior leaders who are facing allegations of anti-party activities include MLA Urmil Thakur and Tarsem Bharti from Kasumpti.

Shimla, June 26
Had it not been for her medical condition, she would have loved to be a part of the reopening celebrations of the Gaiety Theatre as it is here that her husband, legendary Balraj Sahni, gave several scintillating performances.

Santosh Sahni, wife of the actor, is happy that the hub of all cultural activity since pre-Independence days is all set to buzz with cultural activity.

She has maintained close ties with the town and the family even intends converting its house in Chakkar into a cultural centre.

The Language, Art and Culture and Information and Public Relations Department have already set the ball rolling by getting in touch with Art and Film Archives of India and Film Society to hold film festival and training workshops.

Efforts are being made to rope in big names associated with Gaiety, including Naseerudin Shah and Anupam Kher, to hold workshops here.

It is not just Sahni, but several other art lovers who have performed here since Independence are elated at opening of Gaiety Theatre after a long gap of six years.

“I was barely 17 years old when I first performed at the Gaiety in 1949 after my family shifted here from Lahore,” reminisces Prof Madan Sharma.

He vividly remembers performances by stars like Balraj Sahni, Pran and Shashi Kapoor. “What is mot remarkable about the Gaiety is that over the years it has emerged as a perfect blend of the East and the West,” he describes the culture nerve centre in his own style.

Similar sentiments are echoed by another artist, Praveen Chandla, who has performed and directed over 24 plays on the Gaiety stage since 1975.

“What more can an artist ask for when a place like Gaiety having an open air stage, art gallery and theatre with perfect acoustics exists here,” he says.

The only concern of not just Chandla but many other artists is that charges fixed by the government at the Gaiety should be within the reach of a common artist.

With reopening of the Gaiety and roping in of the Lalit Kala Academy, it is expected that all throughout the year cultural activity would take place here.

Though it would largely depend on the programme that is chalked out by the state authorities, our endeavour would be to bring in international and national exhibitions, especially during the summer season when it is very lean in the plains,” said Ashok Vajpayee, Director, Lalit Kala Academy.

Shimla, June 26
While expressing satisfaction over the restoration of historic Gaiety Theatre, the Indian People’s Theatre Association has underlined the need to change its pre-independence culture and image and bring it closer to the people.

Convener of the association Lawan Thakur said the Gaiety had been more or less a symbol of “darbari culture” as prior to independence it served only to amuse the aristocracy of the era.

The themes, the artists, the cultural activities were all aristocratic and the general public was neither allowed to perform nor witness the shows.

Now that it had been renovated at a huge cost it was expected that the nature of the cultural activities would shift to break its image of the “theatre of the aristocratic” by ensuring involvement of people.

It was sad to notice that during five days’ inaugural function no folk theatre, folk dance and Pahari poetic symposium could find place.

He appealed to the Chief Minister to ensure that the restored theatre served as a vehicle to promote folk arts, traditions and culture.

Dharamsala, June 26
The state Youth Congress (YC) today conducted an interview and screening test for fresh recruits, which was presided over by its president Manmohan Katoch.

This was the first exercise of its kind in the state. Over 100 youths from Dharamsala and its surrounding areas appeared in the interview to get enrolled in the YC.

Katoch said the exercise was being conducted under the directions of Rahul Gandhi, who had directed us to screen the new members being enrolled in the YC.

“We are evaluating candidates on the basis of their loyalty to the party, educational qualification and urge to carry out programmes being given by Rahul Gandhi. The activists should also have determination to work in the field to implement the policies being framed by the UPA government for the poor in the country. The cut off age for recruitment in the YC has been kept at 34 years,” he claimed.

Katoch said they had widely circulated the message regarding interview being conducted in Pong View Hotel today for enrolment in the YC.

Earlier, the YC activists were generally selected on the recommendations of the senior Congress leaders.

However, this is for the first time that any person is being invited to join the youth organisation of the Congress that is directly being supervised by Rahul Gandhi.

He also told that they were forming a RTI cell of the YC, which would include law graduates. They would use RTI for seeking information from the state government for affective implementation of various social welfare schemes being launched by the UPA government.

Later in the afternoon, Katoch organised a press conference and alleged lack of transparency in the written test conducted by the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) for recruitment of bus conductors.

He alleged that many of the candidates who appeared for the written test have complained that there was no serial number on answer sheets provided to them.

“If there is no serial number on the answer sheets how transparency in recruitment could be maintained. We are collecting data regarding test from the appearing candidates and if required the written test would be challenged before the court or competent authorities.”

Shimla, June 26
Forest Minister JP Nadda on Wednesday visited Tutikandi Monkey Sterilisation Centre to personally monitor the progress of the monkey sterilisation programme.

He said monkeys had become a big nuisance in both urban and rural areas and the government had found a viable solution to curb the menace by undertaking large-scale sterilisation of the simians in the state.

He said two more centres at Sastar in Hamirpur and Gopalpur in Kangra districts had started functioning. A total of 5,300 monkeys, 2,402 male and 2,898 females, had been sterilised so far.

He said one more centre would be made operational in Una district within six months for which site had been selected and Rs 1 crore had been provided for the purpose.

Nadda also visited the Eco-Tourism Nature Park being run by the state forest corporation at Narkanda to take stock of the facilities being provided to the tourists.

Shimla, June 26
Himachal Pradesh is likely to get an Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) by next academic session, besides classes for the next batch of the newly set up Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) would be started from Mandi itself.

Stating this while inaugurating the two-day joint review mission on skill development programme of the union ministry of labour and employment in which senior officers from 22 states are participating, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said vocationalisation of education was essential to enhance employability.

In the present global scenario technically and vocationally skilled manpower had better prospects of securing employment and self-employment opportunities.

Dhumal said the state government had been able to secure national institutes like the IIT, the National Institute of Fashion Technology, a central university, the Hotel Management Institute and the Food Craft Institute from the Government of India.

He said classes of the first batch of the IIT, Mandi, commenced at IIT, Roorkee, but the second batch would most likely be started in hired accommodation at Kamand.

Officials from the ministry of human resource development were likely to visit Mandi shortly to chalk out the modalities.

The National Institute of Fashion Technology would start admissions from August.
He said the land had been identified in Dehra subdivision of Kangra for setting up a
central university.

He said the curriculum of all engineering colleges, polytechnics and industrial training institutes was being reviewed to replace outdated trades with emerging ones in consultations with the PHD Chambers and the Confederation of Indian Industry.

He said letters of intent were also being issued after close scrutiny to competent and experienced private players to set up private universities.

Shimla, June 26
Decks have been cleared for the merger of loss-making virtually defunct Nahan Foundry Limited with State Industrial Development Corporation Limited with the extraordinary general meeting of the public sector company approving the proposal.

The meeting held under chairmanship of Chief Minister PK Dhumal granted approval after observing required codal formalities by the authorities to finalise the merger.

He directed the management of the foundry to take effective steps to settle matters pertaining to its property in Ambala, Bahadurgarh, Narela, Ludhiana, Sonepat, Shahpur, Raisi and other places, besides taking effective steps in such matters pending in various courts of law.

He said the value of the property purchased by the foundry years before had appreciated and could fetch it remunerative prices.

The management needed to move application for early hearing in respect of the cases pending in various courts to help finalise the merger.

Efforts be made to amicably settle to price in the cases of properties which were in illegal possession of the private parties.

There was no manpower left with Nahan Foundry Limited and the entire property was being looked after by the Public Works Department.

Solan, June 26
As many as 12 persons were injured, three of them seriously, when debris, including big boulders, fell on the right side of the HRTC bus (HP-42-A-7514) by which they were travelling.

The bus en route Chamba-Shimla was on its way to Shimla when the accident occurred near Danoghat on the Bilaspur-Shimla NH-88 at 6 am today.

Arki SDM Balbir Thakur, who visited the spot, said it was unfortunate that the debris had fallen from an overhead site where widening and digging of the road had been undertaken almost a year ago.

He added that an immediate relief of Rs 5,000 each had been extended to the three injured which included mother and son duo Jaswanti Sharma and Narinder Kumar, who hail from Mandi, and Kaushalaya Devi of Solan.

Out of 12 injured nine were discharged after receiving treatment at the Community Health Centre, Arki, while the remaining three were undergoing treatment there.

Solan, June 26
The Excise and Taxation Department today imposed penalty of about Rs 1 crore and pending tax evasion of about Rs 2 crore on a medical-equipment manufacturing firm based at Barotiwala.

Officials said that the said firm M/s Recorders and Medicare Private Limited had been evading tax for the last two years as it had neither filed its return nor paid the requisite sales tax.

A surprise visit of the unit had revealed this laxity following which its records had been seized. The unit had then made self-declaration of its accounts and hence the penalty along with interest and tax had been worked out.

The officials also imposed penalty of Rs 1.53 lakh on nine vehicles and 12 shopkeepers for evading tax, besides another sum of Rs 25,000 on a vehicle.

The officials, however, rued that they had not even been given a vehicle to book
the tax evaders and this made it difficult for them to catch such cases with the
area being vast.

Hamirpur, June 26
The ‘compact disc controversy’, which has become the talk of the town, appears to have widened the chasm between warring factions of the BJP.

A group within the party, which has been active for some time now to nail local MLA Urmil Thakur, is trying to establish the CD is an important piece of evidence against her alleged ‘anti-party’ activities during last month’s parliamentary polls.

However, Urmil and her supporters have termed their efforts as part of a conspiracy to tarnish her image and harm her politically.

Though BJP leaders from the state to local level have avoided comment on the matter, in private conversations party leaders definitely seem to be discussing it.

A few leaders opposed to Urmil are happy they have found a weapon to browbeat her in their war of one-upmanship.

More so since a section of BJP leaders from the Sujanpur and Hamirpur BJP Mandals had reportedly accused the MLA of ‘anti-party’ activities and had even passed a resolution demanding her expulsion from the BJP.

Urmil’s detractors within the party have been saying “she had not put her soul and spirit in the election campaign of party candidate Anurag Thakur but had instead indirectly helped Congress candidate Narinder Thakur, her brother-in-law.”

Many BJP leaders have ascribed the drastic decline in the BJP’s votes in Hamirpur district in the poll to these factors.

This section claims “though the conversation recorded in the CD is evidence enough to prove Urmil backed her brother-in-law in the last parliamentary election in Hamirpur constituency no one is ready to go on record about the CD.”

On the other hand Urmil has called the CD as “the handiwork of her detractors within the BJP” and asserted she would confront them on the political turf.

“I’ve always been a devoted BJP worker and had worked wholeheartedly for my party’s candidate, Anurag Thakur, in the election. The decline in the BJP’s vote bank in Hamirpur district is a matter of introspection for the party’s leaders”.