Shimla, September 9
With pressure mounting from various quarters about holding a probe into the alleged call-girls scandal, the Vigilance Bureau (VB) will hold an inquiry into the incident and submit report to the government at the earliest.

Though the incident took place on September 4, it is only today that the chairman of the Media Advisory Committee, Rajinder Rana, resigned.

With his name being linked to the ignominious act, which has caused much embarrassment to the government, he had to finally quit from his post.

DGP (Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau) DS Manhas has entrusted the inquiry to SP (Special Investigation Unit) Hardesh Bisht.

He has been directed to complete the inquiry at the earliest and submit the report to the government.

It is expected that the inquiry would be complete within a week.

Besides the two call girls, some people from Chandigarh too would have to be questioned in this regard.

Even though Rana has denied his involvement and alleged that he was being maligned, there was resentment among party men as they felt that the incident had caused a lot of embarrassment to the BJP.

“Even though delayed, the resignation has come in as a big relief as we were finding it difficult to defend the party, especially when a Congress minister had resigned on somewhat similar grounds,” said a senior party MLA.

It was following a raid by a police and VB team at a hotel on the night of September 4 that the presence of two call girls from Chandigarh was established.

It was alleged that Rana and an official of the Environment Department were present there at the time of the raid.

“They too were questioned by the police but no case was made out seeing the presence of influential people in the hotel,” admitted a senior police official.

The incident has been the talk of the town with people keen to know the names of those involved in the incident.

“Rana has resigned on moral grounds but it is yet to be ascertained that what action would be taken against the Environment Department official, as he too was allegedly involved in the incident,” said a BJP leader.

The resignation of Rana has come in after the inquiry was ordered.

Shimla, September 9
The State-level Single Window Clearance and Monitoring Authority cleared 13 new industrial projects and five expansion proposals involving an investment of Rs 330 crore and having a potential to create employment for 2,017 persons.

The main projects included second unit of Reddy’s Laboratories, Marico Limited, LS Industries, JHS Svendgaad Hygiene Products Limited, Rich Gravis Products Private Limited, Johnson and Johnson and Bajaj Steel Limtied.

The state will have a vegetable oil unit after decades with government giving nod for Rs 50 crore project of Marico Limited.

It will have a capacity to manufacture 2 lakh tonnes of vegetable oil and blended oil.

At present there is no such industry in the state as units of Suraj Banaspati Limited at Sansarpur Terrace and another unit at Nalagarh were closed long back.

The Reddy’s Laboratories is setting up a second unit in the state at a cost of Rs 59 crore at Baddi where it already has a Rs 44 crore manufacturing facility.

The project of Rich Gravis Products Private Limited to be set up at Kala Amb for producing non-dairy cream products has been cleared.

Presiding over the meeting the Chief Minister directed authorities to motivate the bulk water consuming industrial units to incorporate recycling system to ensure optimum utilisation of the precious natural resource.

He also stressed that polluting industrial units should be asked to install pollution control devices and waste disposal facility in their plants to protect the clean environment of the state.

He said the peaceful industrial environment had been instrumental in attracting investment despite the global recession which hit the trade and industries adversely. 

Shimla, September 9
Failing to get any relief from the government, the Himachal PTA Teachers’ Association has now decided to seek relief from the Centre as they have decided to surrender their voter identity cards before the President of India.

The president of the PTA association, Vivek Mehta today said they had decided to now take their agitation to the national level.

“The families and relatives of over 6,000 PTA teachers as a mark of protest against the insensitive attitude of the state government have decided to surrender their voter I-cards before the President of India,” 
he said.

Mehta said they had now decided to give national colour to their agitation as they had little hope of getting justice from the BJP regime in the state.

“It is thrice that after getting an assurance from the chief minister we withdrew our agitation but each time we have been let down and our demands not met,” he said.

He said about 1,000 PTA teachers had been removed and the remaining over 6,000 were also living in constant fear of being rendered jobless.

“We will wait for a positive response from the government till September 12 after which we will go ahead with our strategy of registering our protest before the President of India,” said Mehta.

Manali, September 9
Heavy rains in most parts of the western Himalayan region and fresh snow on higher reaches of Kullu valley and Lahaul-Spiti have disrupted vehicular traffic on the 475-km-long Manali-Leh highway.

The 13,050-ft high Rohtang Pass - gateway to Lahaul-Spiti valley - today experienced season’s second snowfall, while the lower region has been receiving heavy rainfall since last night causing sharp fall in temperature.

According to Border Roads Organisation (BRO) sources, due to fresh snowfall at Baralacha Pass and Rohtang Pass, vehicular traffic on the Manali-Sarchu Road has come to a stand still at Gulaba, Khoksar, Darcha, Bharatpur and Sarchu.

As a precautionary measure, district administration of Lahaul-Spiti has been informed regarding prevailing weather and road conditions in the region, sources added.

Vehicular traffic on the Manali-Kaza Road in Spiti valley has also been disrupted due to fresh snowfall at Kunzum Pass.

To add to the woes of the residents, unseasonal rains in Kullu valley have hampered cutting of grass for winter fodder for cattle.

KULLU: The Lahaul and Spiti district administration has taken emergency measures and alerted all police assistance posts due to heavy snowfall in the district today. In a press release, SP SR Rana has said the 16,000-foot high Baralacha Pass has received more than 40 cm snow while 13,050-foot Rohtang Pass and 13,000-foot Kunzum Pass have experienced more than 20 cm snow. All vehicles coming from Leh have been stopped at Sarchu while those coming from Khokhsar were stopped at Darcha. Traffic from Spiti was stopped at Losar and Gramphu. The SP, however, confirmed that all passengers were safe.

Due to fear of landslides in Lahaul area an alert has been announced to caution the locals and visitors. The police official further said people could contact police help desks on telephones 01900-222226, 222269 and 222223.

Meanwhile, incessant rains today again lashed Kullu district. Heavy land slides blocked the Aut-Luhari road. Zhibhi Khad in Banjar subdivision of the district had experienced unprecedented flood. No loss was reported till the filing of the story.

All flights were cancelled due to weather conditions.

Hamirpur, September 9
About 4,000 residents from 15 villages will get medical facilities for the first time in their area after a long wait when the Ayurveda Department will soon open a dispensary at Chhambot village in Amroh panchayat of Hamirpur district. Villagers had been raising the demand of opening a health centre in the area since long as they had to travel 7 km to reach Hamirpur for even getting minor ailments treated.

A large population from Chunahan, Kot Brhamna, Jheegad, Sihat, Suvan, Bahal, Chark, Panjahi and Durbeli villages etc are not having any medical facility near their villages and had to travel to Hamirpur.

After pursuing the demand of opening a health centre in the area the villagers have finally succeeded in persuading the state government to open an ayurvedic dispensary here.

The Ayurveda Department has now carried the survey in the area for opening a dispensary and sent its report to the directorate of the department.

Villagers Sudhir Verma, Sanjay Kumar, Nirmal Kumari and others told The Tribune that, “People from this area had been taking up the issue of opening a health centre since no health facility existed here. At last we have succeeded in persuading the government to open an Ayurvedic dispensary in the area.”

District Ayurveda Officer Dr Hem Raj said, “On the persistent demand of local people we have carried a survey to open an ayurvedic dispensary in this area and sent a report to our directorate and soon it will be opened at Chhambot.”

Bilaspur, September 9
Teachers who have given election duty for helping in preparation of photo identity cards of voters during the summer vacations from July 10 to 25 will be given compensatory leave as ‘special earned leave’ of the same period.

This was stated by Electoral Registration Officer-cum-Sub-Divisional Magistrate (Civil) Vinay Singh here today.

He said the government had also taken similar decision of giving ‘special earned leave’ to all teachers who gave the election duty from January 1 to 14 during the winter vacations.

These orders have been sent to the Education Department and the concerned teachers are now entitled to avail this leave, as they like, he added.

Guma (Mandi), September 9
The 100-metre-long stretch at Bamlu Nullah and 200 metre-long stretch at Guma Nullah between Jogindernagar and Mandi on the Pathankot-Mandi National Highway has become a hazard for commuters and tourists as falling debris and boulders blocked traffic for more than 14 hours today. The Public Works Department and the National Highway (NH) authorities have failed to find a permanent solution to stabilise the danger points.

The blockade disrupted traffic, stranding passengers on the highway. The NH engineers have pressed machines into service and cleared the road around.

The highway remained blocked from 10 pm on Tuesday till 7.30 am today due to incessant rains. “We went back to Jogindernagar as the highway was blocked since last night,” rued Amandeep Singh, a tourist from Punjab.

The boulders have been falling from the 100-metre-high rock salt cliff of the crumbling hill making it a constant hazard not only for the travellers but also for the PWD workers engaged in clearing of the road.

Even the villagers fear that rock salt hill of Bamlu Nullah is crumbling, posing danger to the houses located 200 metres away from the hill top.

Rain water has seeped into the rock salt cliff, making the situation more dangerous. Boulders and debris falling from the hill have made it dangerous for the commuters, especially during night hours.

Executive engineer (NH) PC Katoch, who is monitoring restoration work, said they had put up a sign board warning the travellers. “There is no immediate solution to falling rocks except we clear them as operators camp here during night to helping the passengers. It depends on how soon the rains stop so that hill stabilises,” he added. 

Shimla, September 9
A five-day training programme on ‘Library automation and networking’ began here yesterday at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study.

Inaugurating the programme Director of the institute Peter Ronald D’Souza highlighted the need for adopting a new technology in libraries for providing information to academics in various formats. The complexion of libraries was changing and more and more resources were available in digital format and portal. Earlier, academics used to pay enormous amount for access to articles published in research journals but now these were freely available under the network of libraries (INFLIBNET). Teachers, students and research scholars in India could now access these quality resources using network technology.

Until a decade ago preparation of bibliography was a daunted task for librarians. It used to take six months to prepare subject bibliography. With the advent of computers, especially the World Wide Web, and search engines like Google, scholars have made it possible to search through the literature on any subject in fraction of a second. He urged library professionals to adopt new technologies and change their attitude in providing digital information.

Scientist from INFLIBNET M. Kumar highlighted various aspects of the library management software SOUL (Software for University Library) which had largest installation base in the country. He informed the participants that INFLIBNET would soon extend access to e-resources to 6000 colleges in India. Already 157 universities in the country had been linked and the INFLIBNET network had provided access to 5000 peer reviewed journals to them.

The training programme is being attended by 35 library professionals from Himachal Pradesh and neighbouring states.

Hamirpur, September 9
With the fear of recoveries from class III and IV state government employees looming large after adoption of fifth pay commission scales in the state, the employees’ associations have started building pressure on the demand of time pay scales.

The Himachal non-gazetted services federation has already expressed its resentment over the withdrawal of assured career progressive scheme (ACPS) time scales of 8/16/24 and 32 by the state government and demanded implementation of new time scales of promotion of 4/9 and 14 years. Now, other employees’ associations have also started raising this demand and are issuing statements in the media.

The main contention of the class III and IV employees is that after the implementation of new scales they have not been benefited much and majority of these employees are now facing recoveries.

Moreover, when the old time pay scales of 8/16/24 and 32 years of service under the ACPS have been withdrawn by the state government, new time scales of 4/9 and 14 years have not been granted to them.

The maintain, “While 90 per cent of the state government employees from class III will have to pay recoveries as per adoption of new scales almost all class IV employees have to pay back part of their salaries already received by them.”

“While IAS and other central service personnel in the top hierarchy are already getting 4/9 and 14 time pay scales other categories have been denied these scales despite their getting little benefit from the sixth pay commission of the central government,” they argued.

State president of the federation PS Bharmoria said, “We will take up this issue with the Chief Minister and are hopeful that it will be resolved soon.”

Principal Secretary, Finance, Arvind Mehta has told The Tribune, “Since we follow Punjab pattern, the ACPS time scales have been put in abeyance by the state government after such notification by Punjab government.”

Bilaspur, September 9
Villagers of Kot Dhar in the Jhandutta reserve constituency here have urged the Chief Minister and the Education Minister to look into their grievances, including those of vacant posts of lecturers and other staff in Government Senior Secondary School, Bhedi.

The residents were accompanied by School Parents and Teachers Association president Ram Paul, vice-president Pratap Singh, treasurer Ram Lal and adviser Suman Sharma. They told mediapersons that six posts of teachers and three posts of other staff members have been lying vacant. Moreover, one post each of teachers of non-medical stream, medical stream, arts, drawing and physical education and three posts of office clerks have been lying vacant since long and the department has not done anything in this regard.

The school building was damaged during last years’ heavy rains and though the Additional District Magistrate had recommended an amount of Rs 20 lakh for repairs or reconstruction of the classrooms, nothing has been done in this direction. The villagers demanded that the staff be posted and classrooms be provided to ensure smooth functioning of the school.

Mandi, September 9
PWD engineers in Mandi are busy not in building roads but replying to the Right to Information (RTI) queries that have flooded the department these days.

With rumour in full swing among labourers that they will be considered for regular government jobs in the HPPWD, more than 10,000 labourers have already flooded the PWD with the RTI application forms, seeking information regarding “man days that they have put in the PWD work over the years”.

RTI applications attached with Rs 10 postal order are flooding the PWD divisions in the town everyday. Even labourers who have worked in the PWD roads in 70s and 80s are zeroing in on Mandi for their “dream but elusive government job”.

As a result, the PWD has received more than 10,000 RTI applications seeking written information on the man days. Even the Mandi post office has run out of Rs 10 and Rs 5 denomination postal orders.

Labourers are so desperate that they are even attaching Rs 20 postal orders with the RTI application to get information.

“We are filling the forms as we heard it from somebody that we will get regular jobs once we avail the RTI information,” said Nek Ram Kolti and Bhitan Ram from Badsu village. “Because everybody is filing the RTI form so are we,” said Ramlal and Sohan Lal, who came from Sarkaghat.

As most of the labourers are illiterate even copy writers for just writing three lines on the RTI from are making a kill from the poor labourers by charging Rs 50 per form.

As many as 880 RTI forms have flooded the PWD division-2 and 2,000 in division-1 and the number is soaring each day, PWD engineers said.

Executive engineers are digging out PWD registers for details of the man days put in by labourers as they fear the wrath of the RTI Act. “We have to give information within 30 days, said Deepak Kumar, executive engineer, PWD.

However, chief engineer Mandi division BD Joshi said there was no scheme or plan either from the state or the central governments regarding regularisation of labourers in the department. “Nobody has approached me nor it has been brought to my notice,” he added.