Shimla, February 27
A 22-year-old girl hailing from Patna was found dead in a hotel room in Kaithu area while the boy accompanying her, a student of architecture in IIT, Roorkee, is absconding after committing the heinous crime.

It was at 3 am on the intervening night of February 25 and 26 that the two checked into Hotel Rashik, opposite the petrol pump in Kaithu area. The couple was seen by the hotel staff last night and it was only today when they did not check out that the door of the room was opened with a duplicate key only to find the girl dead.

The boy made the entry in the hotel register by the name of Gaurav Verma from Manikapur in Gonda district of Uttar Pradesh. “The SP Gonda has confirmed that the address is correct and his parents have been intimated about the incident,” said SSP RM Sharma.

It was after finding an answer sheet in the name of Gaurav Verma, a student of final year B. Architecture at IIT, Roorkee, from the room that the police was able to establish the identity of the two. The police, after getting in touch with the Director of IIT, Roorkee, got details and photograph of the boy and also his handwriting sample to tally it with the hotel register, which confirmed his identity.

Sharma said since the two had checked into the hotel at 3 am on February 26 after travelling by a taxi, it was possible that they came from Roorkee after the institute closed down for holidays. The police also found photographs of the two on the laptop of the girl, hailing from Patna and studying textile designing at IIT, Delhi.

Sharma said two knives, a broken liquor bottle used in the crime, and a cake was found in the room. “The body of the girl bore knife marks on the neck and bottle injuries on her stomach and legs which clearly indicates that she was killed by the youth accompanying her,” he said.

Experts from the forensic science laboratory have collected all evidences from the hotel room. A case of murder has been registered by the police.

“Despite our repeated requests, most of the hotels have not installed closed circuit cameras at the reception nor do they ask for identity proof which can be very helpful in case of such crimes,” said Sharma.

Baroa, February 27
The state BJP government will fight against the discrimination of Himachal by the UPA-led Central government for ignoring the state’s interests in the Finance Commission report and Railway Budget through people’s voice and by legal means.

This was stated by Chief Minister PK Dhumal while talking to mediapersons here today. He said, “In all these three financial statements, which are important for the people of the state, Himachal Pradesh has been cheated. As far as Railway Budget is concerned, not a penny has been spent from the funds allocated by the state government up till now, for conducting survey of railway lines.”

He said, “While we had been pursuing construction of the Pathankot-Leh railway line, it being of strategic importance for defence of the country, it has been merely included in the survey of 114 railway lines of socially desirable category in the Budget, ignoring the defence needs of the country.”

The talks of building Bilaspur-Leh line and Jogindernagar-Mandi railway lines also do not have concrete proposal since these cannot be completed before laying the Bhanupaly-Bilaspur line and completing broad gauge line from Pathankot to Joginder Nagar, he added.

Talking about presentation of the 13th Finance Commission report, Dhumal said, “While average increase in plan allocation of the states had been reported as 125 per cent and Arunachal Pradesh and Maharashtra have registered an increase of 151 and 150 per cent, Himachal’s increase has been just 50 per cent, despite it being a special category state.”

He said, “The UPA government has also discriminated two BJP-ruled states —Uttarakhand and Himachal —for political reasons in extending industrial package.”

Talking about the Union Budget, Dhumal accused the UPA government of ignoring the common man.

Shimla, February 27
Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) chief Kaul Singh Thakur today refuted allegations of discrimination against the Centre by the Dhumal regime as he gave details of money received from the Union Housing Ministry.

Dismissing BJP propaganda in this regard, he said the Congress-led UPA regime had always protected Himachal’s interest and in future also a number of projects and schemes would be given to the hill state.

“The fact that Union Minister for Housing Kumari Shailja has approved a sum of Rs 24.01 crore for providing houses for urban poor in Shimla and a sum of Rs 55.34 crores for integrated housing and slum development programme in six towns of Shimla, clearly indicates that there is no substance in BJP charges,” he said.

He said the state government had already been provided a sum of Rs 18.54 crore out of the total project cost of Rs 55.34 crore for slum development and creating housing for urban poor in six towns, including Baddi, Dharamsala, Hamirpur, Nalagarh, Parwanoo and Solan.

The Congress chief said similarly the state government had already been provided a sum of Rs 4.57 crore for providing houses for the urban poor in Shimla under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) in two phases.

“The fact that money has been flowing to Himachal under various projects is proof enough to dismiss BJP allegations that the Centre was discriminating against Himachal,” remarked the PCC chief. He assured that in future too, the UPA regime would provide liberal assistance to Himachal.

Palampur, February 27
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said yesterday his government would enforce the environmental laws strictly and stern action would be initiated against the defaulters.

Talking to mediapersons here today, the Chief Minister said the state government had received reports that certain companies involved in the execution of power projects in the state had been violating the environmental laws and resorted to illegal mining, cutting of hills and dumping debris in local streams, causing extensive damage to the drinking water supply and irrigation schemes. He said the government was deeply concerned with the situation.

The Chief Minister said the state government was serious about these reports and the concerned Deputy Commissioners, SDMs and forest officials should initiate immediate action so that further damage to the state wealth could be stopped. He said the government would not make any compromise with the state’s environment and it would not allow any project to come up at the cost of environment.

He said the state had emerged as a leader among the hill states in saving the environment. Even the World Bank officials had also appreciated the efforts of the state in this regard.

The state has already imposed a ban on mining in three major rivers — Chakki, Neugal and Sheer — with an intention to save the environment in the lower districts of the state.

He asked the officers to enforce the ban in accordance with the notification of the state government. No one should be allowed to enter these khuds to extract stone, sand and bazri, he said.

Earlier, the Chief Minister inaugurated a week-long state-level holi festival at pragati maidan. He also inaugurated an exhibition installed by various departments of the state government highlighting the achievements of the government in various fields.

He said the state government was committed to preserve the rich cultural heritage of the state by organising such type of functions. He said the language and cultural department should play effective role in organising such functions.

Dharamsala, February 27
Private universities that have come up in considerable number in the state, are planning to chisel out new courses to attract students of the region.

Inquiries by The Tribune revealed that though the private universities had developed the campus infrastructure, they were hard pressed for students.

Indus University, the only private university to have come up in Una district, started its academic session in October last year. Though the Bill for the university was passed in the Winter Session of the Himachal Assembly, the institute started taking admissions after an ordinance issued by the state Cabinet. The university started eight courses including six year B Tech for class X students, B Tech in electronics and communication, IT, computer science engineering, mechanical engineering and civil engineering. It also started MBA and BBA courses.

However, in the first semester, the university managed to rope in just about 100 students.

University coordinator SK Sharma, when contacted, said they were hoping to increase the strength to 500 students in the next academic session.

“For this, we are starting new courses as Bachelors in banking, hotel management, mass media and journalism.”

When asked, he admitted that the courses had been conceived keeping in view the growing demand of manpower in finance sector.

Sharma also said the university was planning to start MBA (executive) course from the next session. When asked about the curriculum of the proposed courses, he said it would be as per the norms of the AICTE. However, interestingly, the said courses are not within the purview of the AICTE. According to sources, the Supreme Court judgment that had declared many private universities functioning in Chhattisgarh as illegal, had to seek the approval of the UGC before offering new courses. The SC had held that though the states could enact an Act for establishing the universities, the standard of education in the institutions was to be decided by the Centre.

According to the SC orders, private universities will have to get the courses approved from the UGC so that students are not left in the lurch. In Kangra district, Arni, a private university, has already started operating. Two more universities---SAI University and Central University---are slated to start in the current year. 

Bilaspur, February 27
Students must always be positive and should channelise their energies towards constructive activities. They should also be very clear about their future plans. It is only then can they achieve higher goals in life.

This was stated by Forest Minister JP Nadda while presiding over the annual prize distribution function of the local Government Postgraduate College, here yesterday.

Nadda said students could play a great role in protecting environment and every student should make it a point to plant at least one tree on his birthday every year and protect it zealously as a pious“memory plant”.

He declared that BSc and BBA classes would be started soon in the college. He had a special word of praise for the college staff for ensuring that the entire rooftop rainwater of the college was harvested and was being used for all purposes of college and students.

Dipika Sankhyayan of BA-III was given a special prize of Rs 2,000 for standing first in HP University final exam while Kanchan Sharma of the same year was given prize of Rs 1,000 for getting third position in the university.