Shimla, April 7
Continuing their protest over registration of an FIR against MLA from Chopal Subhash Manglait for the second day today, Congress members sat through most of the proceedings in the Vidhan Sabha as silent spectators with their mouths covered with black bands. This kind of protest is unprecedented as it is not permitted under the rules.

In fact, the Congress members had come to the House sporting black bands on left upper arms and the sitting started off as usual with Question Hour. However, after taking up a few questions Speaker Tulsi Ram took notice of the black bands tied on the left upper arms when Congress member GS Bali was asking a supplementary. He immediately asked the members to remove the black bands, as the rules of business did not allowed the members to sport such bands or display any kind of badges in the House. Such conduct was not conducive to maintaining “dignity and decorum” of the House which had set high traditions.

However, Bali and other members did not oblige and drew attention of the Chair to the fact that the dignity and authority of the “institution of MLA” had been undermined due of registration of an FIR on the complaint of an officer and the point to ponder over was that why this situation had been created.

The Speaker said he would give them opportunity to air their views but could not allow anything that was not allowed under the rules. He even stated that their protest was not against the government but against his ruling. However, all his efforts to persuade the protesting members failed and they removed the black bands only to put them on their mouths.

The Speaker proceeded with Question Hour and the Congress members did not participated in the rest of the proceedings and sat through with their mouths sealed. The Speaker announced the names of the members whose questions were listed for the day but they did not responded and kept sitting on their seats with mouths sealed.

After Question Hour, the House passed the Himachal Pradesh Apartment and Property Regulation (amendment) Bill seeking to designate areas where promoters may be allowed to raise constructions. Congress members Sukhwinder Sukhu and Rajesh Dharmani had submitted some amendments in the Bill but they did not rise to move them. The Bill was passed after inducting amendments moved by the government to cover three cottages or more in the definition of building and increase the validity period of certificate of registration from originally proposed two years to three years.

Shimla, April 7
In a bid to diffuse the situation arising due to continuing protest by the opposition over the registration of an FIR against Congress MLA from Chopal, Subhash Manglait, Speaker Tulsi Ram today convened a meeting in his chamber after the session for reconciliation between the Congress and the ruling BJP.

The meeting was attended by Chief Minister P.K.Dhumal, Minster for Parliamentary Affairs J.P.Nadda, Leader of the Opposition Vidya Stokes and the Pradesh Congress Committee chief Kaul Singh. The Speaker underlined the need to settle the issue amicably so that the remaining part of the budget session could pass off smoothly.

However, the Congress leaders stuck to their stand that the government must shift the SDM of Chopal at whose instance the FIR had been registered against the MLA and that the case should be withdrawn. They also expressed their helplessness in withdrawing the protest until the issue was settled to their satisfaction and said that the future course of action would be decided tomorrow at the meeting of the legislative party before the House assembled.

Earlier, speaking to the mediapersons in his chamber after the House was adjourned he said he would adopt a conciliatory approach to uphold the democratic norms. The action of the Congress members in using black bands to cover their mouths in the House was unprecedented and violated Section 299 (14) of the rules of business which clearly stated that members could not display any kind of badges.

Further, violation of the section attracted another addition under Section 320 as per which it would be treated as a breach of privilege of the House and attract action ranging from warning to suspension and expulsion. However, he was keen to resolve the issues amicably.

Shimla, April 7
Himachal Pradesh has taken a lead in the implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act by achieving various norms set under the law.

Stating this during question hour in the Vidhan Sabha today, Education Minister ID Dhiman said the prescribed teacher-student ratio had been achieved through elaborate rationalisation exercise under which as many as 1,083 teachers were shifted. The exercise was carried out as per the laid down norms i.e. two teachers up to an enrolment of 60, three for 61 to 90, four for 91 to 120 and five teachers for 121 to 200 students, beyond which the ratio should not exceed 40 children per teacher.

Further, the board examination of Class VIII had been scrapped and the system of continuous comprehensive evaluation (CCE) had been introduced in schools. Replying to a question by Harsh Wardhan of the Congress, he said after adjusting 219 surplus teachers in three districts, only 425 out of total 21,696 posts of teacher would be left vacant.

Public Works Minister Gulab Singh informed GS Bali of the Congress that 1,887 industrial units had been commissioned since January 2008, which included 55 large and medium industries. In all, an investment of Rs 2,890 crore was made in these units which provided employment to 24,409 persons, 80 per cent of whom were Himachalis.

Answering another question, he said the construction workers welfare board had been set up under the central Act and so far 181 establishments had been registered under it. All companies with a turnover of more than Rs 10 lakh were required to get registered under the law.

Replying to a question of Randhir Sharma of the BJP, Education Minister ID Dhiman said Punjabi had been introduced in 38 schools and Urdu in 17 schools in seven districts of the state.

More schools had been identified for the purpose under the plan to start teaching of these two languages in 100 schools in the state.

Shimla, April 7
Exotic locations of the state, replete with ancient monasteries, fossils and present day mega development projects like power and cement plants will be open to the world window as a History Channel team will be airing a 10-hour serialised programme on Himachal.

It was only yesterday that the Tourism and Civil Aviation Department held talks with the India head of History Channel, Aparna Sanyal, in this regard. She held a meeting with director (Tourism) Arun Sharma to finalise the itinerary of its 15-member crew who will start the shoot from Parwanoo, the gateway to the hill state on May 1.

“The programme “Extreme Trucking” will provide a complete glimpse into the history, culture, places of interest, day-to-day life of the hill people and execution of power projects and other arduous tasks in the areas like Lahaul-Spiti and Kinnaur,” Sharma said. He added that the exposure that the state would get on the channel in one of its most popular programme “Extreme Trucking” would help promote tourism in a big way.

The shoot is expected to last about 45 days and the programme will go on air in August. Keeping in line with the format of the programme, the team will move around in three trucks, driven by American drivers, including a woman. The team will visit the Parwanoo, Solan, Shimla, Kinnaur, Lahaul-Spiti and Kullu-Manali areas of the state.

While showing various parts of the state the programme will touch aspects like the history and formation of the Shivalik ranges, estimated to be 545 million years old, and the 200-year-old tree fossil in the Jagjitnagar area of Kasauli hills. As the team will undertake its journey through the state it will throw light on every aspect, including the socio-economic life of the people and their century old traditions.

The programme in which provisions for some projects in Kinnaur will be taken will look into how the hill people meet their requirements and go about their routine life, which seems fascinating but is not that easy considering the harsh winter and rugged topography. The crew will also go into the history of the Old Hindustan-Tibet road that is a major trade link between India and China.

The crew is expected to take a shoot of about 100 hours, which will be aired in serials of total 10 hours duration.

Shimla, April 7
The university teachers department of the Congress has expressed concern over the declining standards of Himachal Pradesh University due to various shortcomings which has led to downgrading of the institution by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC).

Chairman of the department Ramesh Chauhan said despite being awarded “B” grade, the authorities had not taken any steps to improve things and appointments were being made to key positions ignoring merit, experience and seniority. He cited the examples of dean of studies, dean of students welfare, director of ICDEOL, director of ASC, director of SC and ST cell and director of Institute of Himalayan Studies in this regard and alleged that these posts were given to the teachers professing a particular ideology. Worse, important post of director of ICDEOL had been given to dean of colleges as an additional charge, ignoring senior professors. There was resentment among the teachers as the favoured teachers were holding three or even four important departments and they were in no position to discharge the multifarious responsibilities and most of them were not doing any teaching work. There was a virtual ban on new recruitments and whatever appointments had been made were in violation of the UGC norms. 

Mandi, April 7
The state Education Department’s claim of 108 per cent enrolment in schools sounds hollow as there are over 262 children, including 175 belonging to migratory labourers, who are out of school in Mandi district. Most of these children live in the remote areas of Karsog, Drang, Janjheli and Sundernagar in the district which is dominated by Dalits.

These 262 children were identified by a recent survey by the Mandi DIET under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). The survey has exposed the tall claims of cent per cent enrolment of children in schools as claimed by the department.

Meanwhile, there are over 5,000 physically challenged children in the district out of which over 500 children have been denied school education as they cannot move out of their homes. According to sources, DIET had covered over 4,000 children under the SSA.

“We welcome the Right to Education (RTE) as it will help the poor and physically challenged children provided the government ensures some alternative sources of livelihood for them,” said Malti and Khub Ram who work as labourers in the town. “We want our children to get good education. However, we need some financial support for their higher studies,” they added.

DIET principal Amar Singh Thakur said the survey found that 262 children were still out of school. “The main reason is that the schools are either far-off from their homes or the parents are poor,” he said.

Thakur said they were being covered under the graded scheme. “We cannot help much in the case of migratory children as they belong to Gujjar tribe or labourers,” he added.

RP Sankhayan, deputy director, primary education, Mandi, said there were 35,000 children enrolled in 1,780 primary schools in the district. “We provide mid-day meal to the children. However, we have no exact data on children out-of-school as DIET is responsible for the survey,” he added.

Nurpur, April 7
The Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board’s (HPSEB) technical employees union has alleged that victimisation and exploitation of the board employees was at its peak.

Addressing a joint press conference here yesterday, president Dev Raj Sharma and senior vice-president Hoshiar Singh said a conspiracy was being hatched by some vested interests to weaken and disintegrate the HPSEB and its employees would leave no stone unturned to foil such ill designs.

They rued that bureaucracy in the HPSEB had formulated board’s reorganisation contrary to the draft proposals prepared and submitted by the joint front of the employees following directives of the government and the board management. They categorically denied surplus employees in the board as announced in the assembly.

“In 2010 the total strength of board employees curtailed to 21,000 from 46,000 whereas power consumers in the state enhanced to 20 lakh from 9 lakh,” they lamented.

The employees’ leaders alleged that the board management was trying to show door to the employees under the disguise of reorganisation of the board. They reiterated that the board employees were ready to sacrifice in safeguarding the HPSEB and the ‘sarv karmchari mahasangh’ of the HPSEB would hold a meeting at Kullu on April 8 to chalk out the future line of action.

Chamba, April 7
The posts of child development project officers (CDPOs) have been lying vacant in five development blocks out of seven in Chamba district since a long time. The post of district programme officer has also been lying vacant besides other requisite staff at different blocks of the district.

Consequently, work of various welfare schemes has been hanging fire though the state government is giving “special emphasis” to improve the socio-economic condition of the weaker sections of the society in the state.

Moreover, office of the district welfare officer of the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, which has been functioning from the building of working women’s hostel since 1987 at the district headquarter, needs facelift.

Situated adjacent to the district sub-jail, the building lacks proper sanitation facilities.

Hamirpur, April 7
The local forest authorities have moved a case to their higher-ups to declare leopard a man-eater after it killed a child at Hayod village under Avahdevi forest range, last evening.

One-and-a-half years old Vanshika, who was playing in her house was picked up by a leopard around 8 pm and was later found dead in the bushes, about 100 metres away from her house.

The incident was first reported by Satya Devi, a neighbourer, who raised an alarm following which the villagers gave a chase to the leopard, who was seen leaping towards the bushes on a slope.

Grandfather of the girl Munshi Ram and her mother Rajni was present in the house at the time of the incident while her father Surender Pal, who works at Ludhiana, was away from home.

Munshi Ram said, “I was busy in the house when the leopard struck and later we tried to trace the kid along with other villagers. The leopard was hiding in the bushes down below and ran away after seeing the villagers, while Vanshika was found dead near another bush.”

The incident has created a scare in Hayod village and the surrounding areas and villagers demanded immediate steps to kill the leopard.

The forest officials immediately swung into action and laid four traps to catch the leopard in the area.

Divisional forest officer (DFO) Rakesh Kumar said, “The Forest Department had already laid traps and moved a case to principal chief wildlife warden to declare the beast a man-eater, as earlier too two children were attacked within 15 km of this area sometime back.”

“After getting the permission we will deploy a team of shooters to kill the leopard,” he added.

The Wildlife Department has given a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to the family of the deceased as compensation under the Wildlife Act.

Dharamsala, April 7
Six persons were seriously injured and about 29 others received minor injuries when a private mini bus carrying them overturned near Chamunda, 20 km from here, this evening.

According to reports available from the district health authorities, the six injured patients have been referred to the Dharamsala zonal hospital and 29 to the Tanda medical college.

Sources on the spot said the bus overturned due to over speeding. Eyewitnesses said the driver tried to turn the vehicle at a high speed on a sharp turn. However, he failed to maintain balance and the vehicle overturned along the road.

The bus was overcrowded as there were more than 40 passengers in it at the time of accident.

The bus driver received serious injuries. The people who rescued him said his both legs were crushed under the overturned vehicle.

The bus belonged to the Green bus services company and was coming from Sujanpur to Dharamsala. A case of negligent driving has been registered against the driver, Kangra SSP Atul Fulzele said.

The locals were first to reach the spot. They rescued the injured from the bus and shifted them to nearest medical centres for treatment.

The bus accident has once again brought to fore the violation of norms being committed by private bus operators. A few months ago, 38 passengers had lost their lives when a private bus fell into a gorge near Guler. A magisterial inquiry was ordered into the incident that brought to the fore gross irregularities committed by the private transport.