Shimla, October 14
Even four months after the public hearing on the Himalayan Ski Village (HSV) was held, the government is dithering to take a final decision over the issue even though the report with inputs from various departments has been finalised.

The secretary (tourism) who is the chairperson of the high-powered committee, constituted to deal with the contentious issue, has convened a meeting here tomorrow so that a copy of the final document can be provided to every department so that at a later stage they do not differ in their opinion. Senior officials from the Forest, Revenue, Town and Country Planning (TCP) and Tourism have been directed to attend the meeting personally.

Considering resentment of locals, including about a dozen panchayats at the public hearing held at Kothi, near Manali, on June 6, chances of the project being given the go ahead seem very bleak. “Despite being against the project, the government is reluctant to reject the HSV case and efforts are being made to push the ball into the court of the high court, as was the case in the Brakel power project cases,” admitted a senior bureaucrat.

Series of meeting have already been held to elicit opinion of the concerned departments and even final report had been compiled but decision was still being delayed. “Within a week we will place the final document before the government to decide the matter once and for all as the court has asked the government to take a final decision at the earliest,” he said. He clarified, “It is not the court that will decide the matter as the government has been asked to take a final decision.”

Seeing the public sentiment reflected in the public hearing report against the HSV, it is unlikely that the government will give go ahead to the project, approved during the Congress regime.

With about a dozen panchayats, senior BJP leaders, NGOs, hoteliers’ associations and other organisations of the Kullu-Manali area registering their opposition to the coming up of the HSV, the public hearing report is against the project almost in totality.

Besides echoing environmental concerns, majority of organisations have opposed the project as they feel it will vitiate the socio-cultural environment of the area. Their contention was that the coming up of the project would pollute their water sources, ruin the meadows, create unemployment among locals and adversely affect the flora and fauna of the area.

Dharamsala, October 14
The spokesperson of HPCC Kewal Singh Pathania who coordinated the visit of Rahul Gandhi here yesterday has claimed that the Congress general secretary has assured to intervene in the matter of central university being proposed in Kangra district.

While talking to The Tribune here today Pathania said they appraised Rahul Gandhi about the move of the state government to shift the location of central university from Dharamsala to the Dehra area of Kangra district. Rahul Gandhi assured them to take up the matter with the union minister for human resources.

He also assured them that the university would be brought to the original location (Dharamsala) where it was initially announced.

The issue of location of central university has been hanging fire for the past one year.

The state government has proposed the land near Dehra for the central university to a three-member team of the ministry of human resources. The Congress leaders and residents of Dharamsala have been demanding that the university should set up in and around district headquarters where it was initially announced.

Allegedly due to controversy the project has got delayed in the state. To add to it the Congressmen have now sought the intervention of Rahul Gandhi in the matter.

Pathania has also claimed that the students from all educational institutes are encouraged with interaction with Rahul Gandhi. The students of Tanda medical college have invited him for their annual function and Rahul has assured to consider the proposal.

Shimla, October 14
The ruling BJP today termed the visit of AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi as more of a “media event” rather than the common man actually benefiting fromhis views.

In a statement issued here today, convener of the state BJP Media Cell Ashok Kapatia said nobody had any objection to Rahul talking about bringing internal democracy and bridging the gap between leaders and the common man but all this would be of use only if changes happen at the ground level.

“Would the Congress leader give an answer to people as to why has the UPA regime failed to check price rise, which was affecting the common man the most,” he said. He added that Rahul was visiting the homes of poor farmers, but when it comes to providing drought relief to the affected states, the UPA regime had been found to be lacking miserably.

Kapatia said the Congress, which claims to be pro-poor, was acting in a completely contradictory manner by reducing the ration quota of a hill state like Himachal, which was ultimately affecting the poor.

“One can understand when Rahul speaks of giving undue importance to Pakistan but why has the UPA failed to give a befitting reply to the provocative statements by China on Arunachal and other issues,” Kapatia quipped.

Dharamsala, October 14
Education Minister ID Dhiman denied the allegations that the state government was not taking suggestions made by the education board seriously.

While responding to a query in this regard, the minister, who was here today, said nothing of this sort had come to his notice. Officials of the Education Department have been directed to consider the suggestions made by the school education board seriously, he said.

Dhiman was responding to the allegations against some senior officials of the Education Department that they were not implementing the suggestions made by the board.

He also said the state government had received suggestion from the Union Ministry of Education to do away with the class X board examinations. Since the geographical conditions in Himachal were different, we would wait and watch the impact of the decision in CBSE before implementing it in the state.

The minister admitted that though the state had achieved the top most position in education in the survey conducted by a weekly magazine, India Today, the standard of education in government schools had gone down. He blamed the previous Congress government for deterioration in the standard of education in government schools. We have now started refresher courses for teachers in government schools for improving the standard of education.

The minister was here to chair a workshop being organised by the authorities of the Education Board to review the national curriculum framework being proposed by the NCERT. Experts in the workshop opined on how to reduce the dependence of state education boards on the NCERT.

The education board authorities of Himachal had invited representative of other education boards also during the workshop. The representatives of various education boards, especially from the states ruled by the BJP, have rejected the reforms being mooted by Union Minister for Human Resource Kapil Sibal.

Shimla, October 14
The catchment area treatment (CAT) plans for hydroelectric projects will cover a minimum of 15 per cent of the total watershed involved, according to the new guidelines framed by the government.

So far only about 5 per cent of the catchment was treated under the plan, which did not serve much purpose in checking soil erosion and environmental degradation. Accordingly, the hydropower companies will have to provide more funds to the Forest Department under the CAT plans for carrying out various measures to rehabilitate the watershed. The new guidelines make it mandatory to spend at least 2.5 per cent of the total cost of the project for the purpose.

The independent power producers (IPPs) were reluctant to shell out such huge amount on the plea that it would add to the cost of project. However, the matter was sorted out at a high-level meeting. It was agreed that the amount to be provided under the CAT plan would be determined on the basis of the cost for which the Central Electricity Authority grants techno-economic clearance for the project. The IPPs would not have to provide additional funds in case of escalation in the cost of project. Earlier, a provision of 10 per cent was to be made to take care of cost escalation. Further, the rural development component under which welfare measures like construction of roads, bowlies and other such works carried out, would not be a part of the CAT plan.

Up till now, both government and private companies were providing funds depending on the size of the CAT plan, which varied drastically. For instance, the CAT plan for the Rs 8,500-crore Nathpa Jhakri project, executed by public sector SJVN, was only worth Rs 29.57 crore, which came to a meagre 0.4 per cent of the project cost and for ongoing ventures like Rs 2,700-crore Rampur project Rs 21.97 crore (0.8 per cent of the cost) had been provided. In case of private projects like Rs 5,700-crore Karcham Wangtu project, the amount was only Rs 31.94 crore (0.56 per cent). The average for all projects comes to 0.78 per cent, which was too small to make any material impact.

Bilaspur, October 14
Mental disorders continue to be one of the most serious and expensive global health concerns affecting people of all ages, cultures, social status and economies. This was stated by District and Sessions Judge-cum-district chairman of the District Legal Services Authority Prittam Singh while presiding over a day-long seminar organised on the World Mental Health Day at the headquarters of social organisation Chetna in town here today.

Prittam said depression would soon become the second highest cause of disability worldwide among estimated 450 million people all over the world around who have mental disorders out of whom fewer than half can manage to get help for their essential needs.

He said all doctors, specialists and social activists must join hands and work together to serve the people with mental disorders and related physical health contingencies.

Mandi, October 14
A suspected case of “honour killing or homicide”, which the police has yet to ascertain, today came to light at Chunauta village in Dharampur in the district. The police has arrested Ramesh Kumar, husband of Saroj Devi (25), who died because of her “critical burn injuries” at her house under mysterious circumstances.

Quoting her statement recorded after she was rushed to the zonal hospital here today with 80 per cent burn injuries, the police said, “She was cooking food when the kerosene stove burst and burnt her.” However, the police has yet to recover the stove from Ramesh’s house.

Parents of Saroj charged in statement to the police that she had a strained relationship with her husband and hold him responsible for her death.

Doctors attending on her told The Tribune that she was brought to the hospital in a critical condition with 80 per cent burn injuries. “Saroj was referred to the PGI for further treatment as the only surgeon in the hospital was on leave. She died on way to the PGI,” sources said.

The police suspected it to be a case of “homicide or honour suicide or honour killing”. Corroborating the police suspicion was the fact that Saroj had eloped with Ramesh’s brother a few days ago, but was brought back to Ramesh’s house by her brother after three days, the sources revealed.

The police further suspected that either Ramesh allegedly tried to “punish her by pouring kerosene on her and lighted her up in his bid to protect family honour” or it could be that she found “herself not fit for her husband” and subjected herself to “honour suicide”, killing her by pouring kerosene.

The police has yet to record the statement of Ramesh’s brother and Saroj’s parents. After a post-mortem examination, the body was handed over to her family members.

Mandi SP Sonal Agnihotri said preliminary investigation showed that the couple had a strained relationship. However, facts are being verified as investigation is on, he added.

Shimla, October 14
Pankaj, a student of plus two studying in Government Senior Secondary School, Kumarsain, died following a clash between students outside the school this afternoon.

According to the police, boys clashed even last night. It was after the school that the boys again clashed resulting in serious injuries to three of them. One of the students, Pankaj, a resident of Kufri who tried to intervene to bring the situation under control, was hit on the head.

Pankaj who became unconscious was rushed to hospital, where he died later.

A case has been registered.