Shimla, April 26
The state government has been deviating from its own pronounced policies pertaining to non-practising allowance (NPA), casual leave and regularisation in respect of medicos and veterinary doctors recruited on contract basis.

Contradictory information under the Right to Information Act provided by the Finance and the Health departments pointed to the mess created due to failure of the government to adhere to its own policies.

The public information officer (PIO) of the Finance Department in response to applications of Ravinder Kumar informed that as per the orders dated December 3, 2009, the emoluments of “contractual employees” had been enhanced equal to minimum of pay band plus grade pay and nowhere a deviation had been made for any particular category.

However, in reply to another application filed by Sapna Sood, the PIO stated that the Health Department had sought permission to grant NPA to contractual medicos.

Further, the PIO of Health Department had stated that principal secretary, health, in his orders dated December 31, 2009, said while all other contractual employees were getting basic pay plus dearness pay prior to December 1, 2009, the contract medicos were getting 25 per cent of the basic plus dearness pay as NPA, therefore they had been given NPA on revised pay, raising their emoluments to Rs 26,250 per month from Rs 16,000 per month. However, the earlier order dated August 5, 2006, revealed that Rs 16,000 per month was a consolidated amount only and there was no mention of 25 per cent NPA, as claimed while granting NPA to contract and rogi kalyan samiti (RKS) medical officials.

Regarding the query on increase in casual leave (CL) from 12 to 24 for contract medicos, the PIO of the Personnel Department replied that the Health Department had not sought permission to increase the CL of contract medicos and there was no proposal for increasing CL of other contractual employees on the same lines. The RTI queries also revealed that the policy regarding regularisation of contract employees after eight years of service was not being followed and “contractual employees” in various departments with much less service, in some cases even 18 months, were being regularised.

The state veterinary association is now planning to move high court on the basis of replies provided to the RTI queries to secure NPA, CL and other facilities for contract veterinarians on a par with the medicos as per the government policy.

Dharamsala, April 26
Tibetans, living in exile at Dharamsala, the headquarters of Kashag (Tibetan government-in-exile), have decided to thank the people of Himachal for extending them support in the past 50 years since they arrived here along with the Dalai Lama.

While talking to The Tribune, the spokesperson of Tibetan government-in-exile said on occasion of the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the Dalai Lama on April 30, 1960, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) would organise a two-day “Thank You Himachal” event to express gratitude to the people and the government. The programme would be organised here on April 30 and May 1.

The Tibetan government has struck a balance between the ruling BJP and Opposition Congress in the state by inviting their representatives on the said two days.

Chief Minister PK Dhumal will preside over the ceremony to be held at Dari Ground, near here. The Dalai Lama will also be present on the occasion.

The special feature of the first day’s programme will be a photo exhibition on Mahatma Gandhi’s and the Dalai Lama’s message on “Peace and Brotherhood” at the Museum of Kangra Arts here. Industries Minister Kishan Kapoor will inaugurate the exhibition.

On May 1, Union Minister for Steel Virbhadra Singh will preside over the events to be held at the main temple (Tsuglagkhang) in McLeodganj. This event will be dedicated to honour some of the local senior citizens associated with the Tibetan community during the past 50 years.

The Tibetan Medical and Astro Institute (Men-Tsee Khang) will organise a free medical camp at Dari ground from 1 pm onwards.

The strong Tibetan population of about 15,000 has been living peacefully barring a few incidents in which locals and Tibetans clashed. The Tibetans have developed a large number of institutions, including schools, hospitals and institutes of arts, to preserve their culture in and around Dharamsala.

In a symbiotic relationship, the locals have also benefitted as a large number of foreign tourists visit McLeodganj due to the popularity of the Dalai Lama across the world.

Mandi, April 26
The police today dropped the case of kidnapping in connection with the disappearance of local broker Vinay Kumar as the police said the latter had left his home due to some differences with his family members, including his wife.

Talking to the Tribune, Mandi SP SM Agnihotri said preliminary investigations revealed that Vinay took a bus from Mandi to Panthankot and the police had gathered concrete evidence from the bus driver and conductor. He was not kidnapped as claimed by the family members, but had left home due to personal problems, the SP added.

There was no question of paying a ransom, he said. 

Mandi, April 26
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme Act (MNREGA) is all set to be linked to the consumer price index to determine its “baseline daily wages” which will be applicable in the entire country. Besides MNREGA, audit will be done by the accountant general and not by the panchayats.

According to sources, each state will have to pay the mandatory baseline wages to MNREGA beneficiaries and states which already pay higher wages to workers will bear the rest of the cost themselves.

The decision to link MNREGA to price index came after the meeting of rural development ministers of all states with the Prime Minister at New Delhi on April 24, on National Panchayati Raj Day, the sources revealed.

Himachal and other states, which have been paying higher wages under the MNREGA, have pleaded to the Centre to increase the daily wages under MNREGA from Rs 100 to Rs 110 or more.

Besides, the MNREGA audit would be done by the accountant general and not by the panchayats. The Panchayati Raj Act will be amended to include MNREGA audit under the accountant general, the sources said.

Rural Development Minister Jai Ram Thakur said the deliberations were on linking MNREGA wages to the price index. The social audit of funds is already being done, but now audit will be done by the accountant general to make the programme more responsive and accountable, he added.

Dharamsala, April 26
The Youth Congress has asked the state government and the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) to come clean on accounts of the IPL matches organised at Dharamsala recently.

In a press conference held here today, state president of the Himachal Youth Congress Manmohan Katoch said due to controversy raging regarding the IPL across the country, the HPCA and the state government should also come clean over the issue. 

It should clearly tell people of the state, how much earning the HPCA had made out the event organised at Dharamsala and what were the financial benefits to the state government and local people.

The Youth Congress was also in the process of collecting tickets from spectators who were denied entry into the stadium. The Kings XI Punjab duped people of the area by charging hefty ticket charges from them and then denying them entry into the stadium for viewing matches.

The Youth Congress would move consumer court on behalf of the people who have been duped by the Kings XI Punjab management that sold more tickets than the capacity of the stadium. We would urge our youths to approach the harassed spectators and collect unused tickets from them.

He alleged that though HPCA president Anurag Thakur had been claiming that money of the people who were denied entry into the stadium be returned, the Kings XI management seemed to have not obliged him.

He also alleged that officials of the HPCA should also state if they had any stake in any of the IPL teams or not. The special favour extended to former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi by the state government indicates that there can be some special bond between him and those in power in the state, Katoch alleged.

He also alleged that there have been reports regarding fraud in MNREGA scheme in many panchayats of the state. The government had failed to take action against the erring village pradhans. Action against the guilty pradhans was being taken on political considerations rather than merits of the case. The Youth Congress will now make the people aware regarding the MNREGA scheme and seek action against pradhans who are swindling the money being provided under it, he said.

He also said the Youth Congress had chalked out a programme to gherao the Chief Minister to protest against the lathi charge on its activists at Shimla.

Bilaspur, April 26
While a number of women of the area had earlier protested against the “lenient” action by the police against PTI teacher Pyar Singh Pathania of Government High School, Ladda, who was accused of assaulting a girl student, the state PTI Teachers’ Union and wife of the accused Neelam Sharma have come in the defence of the teacher.

“Pathania has been made a victim of conspiracy of a gram panchayat representative and a false case had been concocted against him,” said Neelam, also a teacher in local Saraswati Vidya Mandir school here.

Neelam, while talking to mediapersons, said the panchayat representative was upset with her husband as he had exposed misuse of funds by the former. She said her husband was a heart patient and had undergone a surgery recently. The room in which he was alleged to have misbehaved with a 14-year-old girl was a big hall which was frequented by several teachers and students alike almost all the time, she added.

She said her husband had an unblemished record of service and good conduct up till now and there had never been any complaint against him. 

Shimla, April 26
The state BJP leadership is busy making preparations to ensure that the national party chief Nitin Gadkari is accorded a rousing welcome on his arrival here on May 8 for he first time since assuming office.

In charge of BJP affairs in Himachal, Satya Pal Jain held meetings with senior party leaders, including chief minister P.K. Dhumal, state BJP chief Khimi Ram and organisation secretary Mahender Pandey with regard to the arrangements for Gadkari’s visit. He will arrive here in the state capital of May 8 and address a public rally at the Ice Skating rink at 11 am the next day. Gadkari will also hold a meeting with the BJP state executive on May 9.

State BJP general secretary Ram Swaroop Sharma said a meeting of all officer-bearers of the state BJP and senior leaders, including ministers, MLAs, MPs and district BJP chief would be held here on April 30. “There is great enthusiasm among the people and party workers with regard to the visit of the party chief and all efforts are being made to ensure that it turns out to be a historic rally,” said Sharma.

Shimla, April 26
Governor Urmila Singh and Chief Minister PK Dhumal have expressed shock over the sudden demise of the Rajasthan Governor Prabha Rau who passed away in New Delhi today.

Rau remained the Governor of Himachal Pradesh from July 19, 2008, to January 2010, before taking over as the Governor of Rajasthan.

In her condolence message, Urmila Singh said services rendered by Rau as the Governor of the state would always be remembered by the people.

Dhumal said that the untimely death of Prabha Rau had come as a shock for the people of the state.

“She always gave constructive suggestions on various issues, policies and programmes of the government, especially those aimed at the socio-economic uplift of the poor and the downtrodden,” he said.

Rau was a social reformer and had involved herself actively in various social welfare activities. She came from a political family and was thoroughly conversant with the system. She proved to be a successful politician and administrator while holding various ministries in her home state of Maharashtra.

Shimla, April 26
The government has given nod for filling 241 posts of patwari to ensure smooth functioning of the revenue department.

Stating this while presiding over a meeting with senior officers of revenue, Public Works Minister Gulab Singh said the government would pursue the matter in the high court to vacate the stay on filling of vacant posts. He said 14 writ petitions were pending before the court in this regard and once the stay was vacated the posts would be filled on a priority. The revenue minister said in all l 457 posts of patwari were vacant in various districts and at present 345 trained patwaris were available for appointment.

Out of the total 118 tehsils and sub-tehsils in the state, the land records of 109 tehsils and sub-tehsils had already been computerised and 95 tehsils and sub-tehsils had been made on-line where computerised copies of ‘jamabandi’ were being made available to the people. The data entry work of 20,087 villages out of 21,119 villages had been completed and settlement work of remaining 1011 villages was in progress. The process for setting up of computer centres in five newly created tehsils and two sub-divisions was underway and an amount of Rs 6.47 crore was being spent for this purpose.

Shimla, April 26
The spotting of two snow leopards by wildlife staff near Chichim in Kibber area of Lahaul-Spiti area a few days back has raised the hopes of an increase in the number of the highly endangered animal for which a special conservation programme is being launched.

It was on March 31 that two adult snow leopards were spotted close to Chichim village in Spiti by a team comprising wildlife staff and members of the Nature Conservation Foundation, Mysore, who have been working in the area for some time.

In the past, there was only indirect evidence in the form of pictures captured through the trap cameras or their pug marks which confirmed the presence of the majestic animal in the area.

“The team saw the two snow leopards at about 5.30 pm near Chichim who were in a playful mood and remained in sight for about an hour, raising the hopes of the success of the project,” said KS Thakur, conservator (wildlife).

The fact which further confirmed the presence of the animals in the area was their footprints, droppings and the killings of animals in the area, he added.

Though no proper survey has been undertaken to find out the exact number of snow leopard in the state, it is estimated that their strength could be around 12.

The state Wildlife Department has sent a project worth Rs 60 lakh to the Centre for launching the “Snow Leopard Project” which will be undertaken in a phased manner in Spiti area for conservation of the animal found at great heights in the Himalayan region.

The Mysore-based Nature Conservation Foundation has already been entrusted the task of preparing a management plan for conservation of the animal. They have installed trap cameras at several places frequented by the animal and on several occasions the pictures of the animal have been captured.

According to wildlife authorities, once the plan was ready, its implementation would start as the actual project would be successful only if suitable and ideal conditions were created for the animal. This includes developing grasslands for herbivores that are essential for serving as prey for the snow leopard.

As such, it is with the help of an integrated approach that efforts are on to somehow bring about an increase in the number of snow leopards in the state.

At present, there is one snow leopard on display at the Himalayan Nature Park at Kufri, which was brought from a Darjeeling zoo.

Hamirpur, April 26
While the Himachal Pradesh Service Selection Board(HPSSB), Hamirpur, has issued a selection list of hundreds of candidates in the clerical cadre of different departments in the state, different parameters for this selection have raised eye brows here.

The HPSSB has been issuing advertisements for these posts specifying minimum educational qualifications, technical training and selection procedure and screening test etc.

The advertisements inviting applications have left many candidates confused because whereas education qualification for the clerical posts in one department is graduation, it is ten plus two in other department for the same post.

Interestingly, selection parameters have been kept different for the same post.

While the HPSSB holds typing tests for selection of clerks in various departments for some posts, typing tests for selection of clerks is not conducted at all.

This has invited criticism from the candidates appearing for these posts.

After declaration of results for clerical posts some time back a candidate for the post said,”It is strange while minimum qualification for the post of a clerk is ten plus two in one department, while it is graduation for this post in the other department.”

Another candidate Mukesh Kumar who could not qualify the typing test said,”While clearing typing test is a prerequisite for the selection in many departments, you are not required to qualify the typing test for the post of clerks in the education department, which definitely leaves the candidates confused.”

Secretary HPSSB HR Sharma on being contacted said,”In fact, qualification and other conditions for recruitment are specified by the department for which candidates are to be selected and we do not fix any criterion on our own.”