Bijahri (Hamirpur), January 25
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal today announced to release 10 per cent of arrears to the state government employees towards the new pay scales given to them by March, 2010. He was here today to attend the 40th Statehood Day at Bijahri.

Before addressing the gathering, the Chief Minister unfurled the National Flag and took a salute at an impressive march past from the marching contingents of the police, Home Guards, NCC cadets and schoolchildren.

In his address, Dhumal said progress in the state during the initial years of its formation, was a bit slow but later it made rapid progress. It has now emerged as a role model for other hilly states.

Dhumal said, “If we compare ourselves with the position existing in 1971, we would experience a sea change in socio- economic condition of the state and per capita income which was Rs 651 in 1971 and now is Rs 46,000. Literacy percentage has risen from 31 to 84 per cent, plan expenditure has increased to Rs 3,000. Every census village in the state has been electrified and has facility of drinking water and number of educational and health institutions have increased manifold.”

The Chief Minister also announced enhancement of daily wage of workers engaged in industrial sector to Rs 110 per day from February 1, and social security pension of Rs 330 per month to 15,000 eligible persons in the state.

He also announced to give Rs 1 crore for stadium construction at Government Degree College, Hamirpur, Rs 1 crore for indoor stadium in Rohru and Rs 16 lakh each for providing tera-flax in indoor stadia at Una, Dharamsala and Shimla.

He also announced Rs 29 lakh for a gymnasium at Mandi, Rs 19 lakh for Nahan and Rs 16.60 lakh for Una.

Dhumal announced Rs 34 crore for lift drinking water supply scheme for Nadaunta and Nadaun areas.

He also announced construction of a mini Secretariat at Badsar, Rs 18 lakh for PHC building, Salooni, and opening of zonal office of the PWD at Hamirpur.

He handed over a draft of Rs 77.53 lakh for the construction of a stadium at Bijhari.

He also announced to upgrade government high school, Suhari, to senior secondary school.

Dhumal also talked about various government schemes and new projects being initiated in the state. A cultural programme was also presented on this occasion.

Education Minister ID Dhiman, IPH Minister Ravinder Ravi, Vidhan Sabha Deputy Speaker Rikhi Ram Kaundal and several other dignitaries were also present on this occasion.

Dharamsala, January 25
The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau has started proceeding to attach the property of proprietor of Chandigarh-based MK Enterprises Transport Company, who is accused in the bitumen scam.

SP (Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau) Pritam Thakur while talking to The Tribune said proceedings were being started in Una district.

In Dharamsala where another case has been registered against the said accused proceeding to declare him a proclaimed offender have been started. The vigilance is being forced to start the proceeding as the transporter who is accused in the bitumen scam case is not presenting himself before the police, he added.

The Una court had issued arrest warrants for the accused transporter in the scam last year. The accused was given the task of transporting bitumen drums from the stores of Indian Oil and HPCL companies to PWD stores in Una district. Inquiry by vigilance officials had, however, revealed that about 900 drums of bitumen that were supposed to have reached the PWD stores in Una were missing. It was later found that the drums never reached the PWD stores and were allegedly swindled.

The vigilance had registered a case against the PWD junior engineer in charge to stores and the transporter. It had earlier arrested the junior engineer, who later obtained bail from the Una court. After that the vigilance had procured arrest warrants against the transporter also who was allegedly one of the main accused in the case.

The vigilance officials told that they needed custodial interrogation of accused transport officials for vital details regarding the case.

The officials were still perplexed over the fact that where the 900 bitumen drums meant of the Public Works Department of the state went. From investigations till date they have reached the conclusion that drums never reached Una and were swindled midway by the transporter in connivance with PWD officials. The swindled bitumen was likely sold in Punjab where many private companies were constructing roads on built transport and operate (BOT) basis.

When asked the vigilance officials on anonymity said some higher officials of the PWD might also be involved in the case on charges of lack in supervision. However, the main accused would remain the junior engineer who was in charge of stores.

Dharamsala, January 25
Urmila Singh was administered oath as the Governor of Himachal Pradesh in a simple but impressive ceremony at Raj Bhawan at Shimla today.

Acting Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court Justice RB Mishra, administered the oath of office to the new Governor.

Asha Swaroop, Chief Secretary, read out the warrant of appointment issued by the President of India appointing Urmila Singh as the Governor of Himachal Pradesh.

Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, PWD Minister Thakur Gulab Singh, Forest Minister JP Nadda, Leader of the Opposition Vidya Stokes, NCST member Tsering Samphel, HPCC president Kaul Singh Thakur, former Himachal Vidhan Sabha Deputy Speaker Radha Raman Sashtri, MP Viplove Thakur, MLA Ganesh Dutt, DGP GS Gill, Shimla Municipal Corporation Mayor Madhu Sood, Chief Information Commissioner PS Rana, chairpersons, members of various commissions, judges of high court and lower courts of Shimla, Vice-Chancellors of universities of the state, senior civil, police and Army officers, family members and admirers of Urmila Singh from MP, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Punjab and Delhi were present among others.

Dharamsala, January 25
Envoys of the exiled Tibetan leader, the Dalai Lama, left for China to hold ninth round of talks with representatives of the Chinese leadership. The office of the Dalai Lama gave this information in a statement issued here today.

Special envoy Lodi G Gyari and envoy Kelsang Gyaltsen will arrive in China tomorrow for discussions with representatives of the Chinese leadership, the statement said. The envoys are visiting China after a gap of 15 months in the process that began in 2002.

They will be accompanied by senior assistants Tenzin P Atisha, Bhuchung K Tsering, both members of the Tibetan Task Force on negotiations, and Jigmey Passang from the secretariat of the Tibetan Task Force.

Preparations for the talks to be held in Beijing were finalised during the two-day meeting of the Tibetan Task Force held last week in Dharamsala. The envoys also briefed the Dalai Lama and sought his guidance.

The delegation is expected to return to India in the beginning of the next month.

The two sides had met for eight rounds of talks, the last one being in November, 2008, days before the exile Tibetans met for a special meeting to discuss the future of their freedom movement. The meeting was the largest of its kind in 60 years and was called by the Dalai Lama in response to lack of any signs of progress in the dialogue process with China.

Talks between Dalai Lama’s envoys and Beijing came to a standstill after a memorandum on genuine autonomy for the Tibetan people, submitted by the Tibetan side at the eighth round of talks, was rejected by China.

Tibetan side, however, maintains that the articles of the proposed memorandum were prepared in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of the China and its laws on national regional autonomy.

Following the eighth round of talks, Tibetan Prime Minister-in-exile Samdhong Rinpoche, who also heads the Task Force, said the Tibetan side had already made all required clarifications and brought a process of dialogue that began in September, 2002, to its logical conclusion. The Tibetan exile government, in its statement on the 20th anniversary of the Dalai Lama’s Nobel Peace Prize last month, said it was committed to resume talks with Beijing on the basis of the memorandum.

Mandi, January 25
The CPM accused the BJP to be anti-Dalits and dismissed Chief Minister PK Dhumal’s claim that his government had increased the annual Schedule Caste component budget from 11 per cent to 25 per cent.

Talking to The Tribune on the sidelines of the state-level convention on Dalits held here yesterday, state CPM general secretary Rakesh Singha and Kisan Sabha leader Dr Onkar Shad quoted a state-level survey on Dalits in support of their charges against the successive BJP and Congress regimes in the state. They held them responsible for the pathetic plight of Dalits who continued to live “under the curse of untouchability even 62 years after Independence”.

Dr Shad observed that the entry of Dalits in several temples across the state was still prohibited and resisted by the upper castes. “They cannot take water from the ‘baolis’ water sources used by higher castes,” he added, quoting the broader finding of the CPM survey.

Dr Shad said Dalits constitutes about 24.9 per cent of state’s population, but on an average, a Dalit family owned not more than three bigahs of cultivable land in the state.

He said atrocities against Dalits had increased as 28 cases had come to light under the SC/ST Act in the state in the recent time.

“We have decided to send a memorandum on atrocities on Dalits to the Governor on April 12,” he added.

Singha said the BJP government withdrew notification on implementation of the 85th Amendment to the Constitution that provided for promotion of SC employees among other things.

He alleged that the BJP’s claim that it had increased its budget for the SC from 11 per cent to 25 per cent was manipulation of mere figures as its deeds were anti-Dalit. There is no provision of SC quota in private sector in the state and under the state government’s contract system, he added.

Shimla, January 25
A comprehensive programme has been initiated by the G0C-in-C, Army Training Command (ARTRAC), to help enhance the representation of the state in the officers’ cadre.

Under the programme, a team, headed by Col SS Sandhu, is organising inter-active sessions in schools and colleges for delivering motivational talk and explaining various officers entry schemes. One such four-day interactive camp was held at Pandoh in Mandi in which 1,500 NCC cadets, including girls, from various districts participated.

The initiative came as a follow-up of a meeting between Chief Minister PK Dhumal and Lt Gen AS Lamba, Army Commander, ARTRAC, held in November, during which concern was expressed over relatively low representation of the people from the state in the officer cadre in the Indian Army.

A preparatory coaching camp for candidates from Shimla, who have qualified the NDA examination, is being organised in February and March by qualified staff. A seminar is also proposed to be held in this regard.

Chamba, January 25
The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has sought a high-level probe against those functionaries who were involved in granting the status of ‘deemed university’ to 44 universities across the county and demanded punitive action against those found guilty.

The ABVP also reproached the functionaries making ‘education’ a lucrative business and swindling a number of students, which is shameful.

National secretary of the ABVP Umesh Dutt in a press release issued here today welcomed the decision of the Tandon Committee constituted by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development revoking the recognition of the status of deemed universities of 44 such universities in the country.

The parishad had demanded the Union Government to make the Tandon committee report public, Dutt said; adding that those people who had played havoc with the career of youths by according recognition to the ineligible universities should not be spared.

Dutt admitted that episode of deemed university was a scam of crores of rupees as the Yashpal committee had already aimed on the working of these deemed universities in its report.

Mandi, January 25
All is not well with the eyesight of policemen “keeping an eye” on the safety of residents and law and order problem in the state. More than 93 per cent of cops in Mandi suffer from “refractive error” and need sunglasses to rectify their vision. Besides, others suffer from cataract and redness of eyes due to exposure to pollution, raising questions about their health, according to experts.

It came as a revelation here recently at an eye check camp organised in collaboration with Vinayak Eye hospital, Mandi, by Mandi SP Sonal Agnihotri under the Police Personnel Welfare Activities. The camp was inaugurated by Anurag Garg, DIG, central range .

The health camp came as the first ever initiative at taking care of the health of cops who work in the field. The health camp for cops, who are otherwise left to fend for themselves, can be emulated by other districts as well, the experts added.

Talking to The Tribune after the camp, Dr YK Vinayak, who examined 175 cops, said, “163 cops, aged above 40 years, suffer from the refractive error and need urgent remedy to rectify their vision loss. They also suffer from both shortsightedness and farsightedness.”

Dr Vinayak observed that some cops also suffered from pteryvium, a problem of redness of eyes, which is locally known as “jala”. This problem, if not taken care of, can damage the cornea and result in vision loss in the years to come, he added.

Dr Vinayak said the problem of refractive error was partly caused by the ageing process and partly due to constant exposure due to reading and working in poor lighting, invasion by dust particles and other factors.

Agnihotri said the camp was organised as part of welfare activities for the policemen working during odd hours and in adverse situation. He said there were over 1,100 cops in the district and the rest of them would be covered in camps that would be organised in the next phase.

Dharamsala, January 25
The Sobha Singh Art Gallery would also have a Kangra Folk and Art gallery section.

Hirday Paul Singh, secretary-general of the art gallery and society, said the section had been added on Himachal Day to preserve, display and market these age-old but dying folk art and craft of Kangra.

Traditional grass crafts like Binne, Chataiyan, Hath Pakhiyan, Chhaku, Patal and Dune etc have also been added. He also disclosed that traditional dry sweets prepared on local festivals of Kangra like Mithru, Gulgule, Patrode, Sancholu and Pakoru will also be popularised among tourists in the coming summers to generate employment to local women.

As the gallery is visited by around 18,000 visitors annually from all over the country and abroad, the rich traditions of Likhnu (making figures on floor and walls with traditional colours) will get impetus.

Hirday Paul told The Tribune that idea to revitalise rich crafts and arts of Kangra was generated after seeing the plight of old craftsmen and artisans and then visiting national crafts museum, New Delhi. During an art festival at Andhretta in November, 2008, it was learnt from local artisans that modernisation, difficulty in marketing and general trends have almost killed the traditional arts and crafts. Hence the younger generation was not keen to learn them. “Due to serious efforts of the government and NGOs, madhubani folk art of Bihar has gained international market and artists of southern states have been able to survive the onslaught of new medium as they got a platform at Dakshin Chitra near Chennai, so there was reason to popularise and market our rich folk arts,” said Dr Hirday Paul Singh.

Going by the demand, the material will be arranged directly from the local mahila mandals and craftsmen; and benefits passed on to them. He said some of the fine works of Likhnu, fine crafted items of pottery, bamboo and wood work were worth to occupy a place of pride in any office and middle-class homes. Instead of bringing high-cost gift items and souvenirs from outside, the concerned should directly purchase these from the local artisans and artists, he opined.

On this occasion, three plaster of Paris busts by late Sobha Singh and a dozen rare black and white photographs were also added to the gallery for the first time. The busts include self study by Nirmal Chandra and Tagore-Lincoln.