New Delhi, June 14
Just a day after the BJP, at the conclusion of its national executive meet in Patna, launched a stinging attack on the UPA government for assaulting the federal structure, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister PK Dhumal raised the pitch for immediate restoration of industrial package to the hill state.

He also spoke for Uttarakhand, another BJP state, which, like Himachal, had lost the 10 per cent excise exemption concession after the Centre withdrew the special industrial package to the states.

The BJP is all set to storm the Capital on the issue with the party top brass planning to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh again to seek an end to “step-motherly treatment being meted out to BJP-ruled states”. They are also contemplating a dharna outside Parliament.

Party line was made clear by Dhumal who, in a rare interaction with journalists in the Capital today, slammed the UPA for deliberately stifling the development prospects of opposition-ruled states. He threatened mass agitations if the Centre ignored the state’s demand of restoring old privileges and throttling employment opportunities for hill youths.

For the record, former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had announced the industrial package for Himachal Pradesh way back in 2003. It was to expire on March 31, 2013. However, it was withdrawn much before the deadline even though similar packages continued for the North East and Jammu and Kashmir.

“When the NDA announced the industrial packages, there were Congress governments in Uttarakhand and Himachal. But the UPA has revoked the concessions because these states are no longer with the Congress. Why did it not withdraw similar packages in the North East and Jammu and Kashmir, where it is in coalition with the National Conference,” questioned Dhumal.

The Himachal CM further accused the UPA of rewarding terror-prone Kashmir with an extended package and punishing peace loving Himachal and Uttarakhand. “Governments are meant to be in continuity. The UPA has set a sorry precedent by ending the privileges which another government had extended,” he said.

Dhumal also took a swipe on his Congress detractor and Union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh by saying the latter needed to rise above political interests to advance the interests of Himachal. The CM was surprisingly soft when mentioning Virbhadra’s detractor and Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma. “The Commerce Minister had recommended the extension of package to the Prime Minister. We have a copy of that letter with us,” said Dhumal.

Dharamsala, June 14
Members of the Parliamentary Committee on Rural Development today annoyed famous social worker and Padam Shri awardee Dr Kshama Metre.

“Visiting members of the parliamentary committee do not seem to have time for real work being done in the rural sector,” said a peeved Metre while talking to The Tribune.

The famous social worker, who sacrificed a successful career as a paediatrician in Delhi and had been serving rural areas in Kangra district for the past more than two decades, had requested the members to visit head office of the Chinmaya Organisation for Rural Development (CORD) at Dharamsala. However, the members spent just about five minutes at the CORD centre that peeved Dr Metre.

She said the members could have got valuable feedback regarding various government schemes had they spent some time at the centre.

Dr Metre, popularly known as “Doctor didi”, is the national director of CORD. She was born on June 26, 1950, in Nagpur, Maharashtra. Her father Waman Rao Bapuji Metre was honoured with Padam Vibhusan for his pioneer work in oil industry.

As a child she moved with her family from Assam to Delhi where she graduated with distinction in Senior Cambridge from Frank Anthony Public School. She further did her MBBS and MD in paediatrics from Maulana Azad Medical College. She completed her Senior Residency at Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital in Delhi.

However, after a chance meeting with Swami Chinmayanandaji, Dr Metre decided to give up her practice and worldly comfort to join the mission. Her development work began in 1985 in Sidbhari, Himachal Pradesh, with mother and child health services through 10 sub-centres and training of 120 nurses that has now flourished as CORD.

Besides Padam Shri, Dr Metre has also been been awarded Nina Sibal Award in 2006, nominated as member of the 11th Planning Commission, got featured in Prophets of India in 2004, got national women commission award for women empowerment in 2002 and was nominated as woman of the year by Week magazine in 1993.

Meanwhile, members of the parliamentary committee today visited a few roadside villages in Kangra district. At Chaitru village on the Dharamsala-Kangra road, they interacted with panchayat members and a few women.

They sought information from women present regarding various government schemes, including MNREGA, widow pensions and sanitation schemes.

Besides Kangra district, members of the committee will visit Dalhousie area of Chamba district. After completing their study of rural areas of Himachal, they will move to Amritsar in Punjab, according to sources.

In the absence of chairperson Sumitra Mahajan, the committee here was headed by Maharashtra MP Sanjay Dhotrae. Out of 18 members of the committee, just five MPs managed to reach Kangra. Besides Chaitru the other two villages visited by the committee included Amoli and Mator.

Solan, June 14
With the passenger car unit (PCU) touching an all-time high of 25,000 vehicles on the Pinjore-Baddi National Highway, its four laning has been finally approved by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

The approval came after a feasibility study conducted by the UK-based Gifford India Limited accessed the PCU and found to be 23,000 between Baddi-Nalagarh, necessitating the need to four lane this highway. Designed for 35 years, the vehicle influx was supposed to cross the 80,000 mark by then.

Sources in the ministry said the four laning would follow the design of built, operate and transfer where the government would not incur any expenditure and toll barriers would be set up to collect tax. It would follow a public-private partnership approach.

Work was underway to finalise the alignment after which it would be sent for approval while a sum of Rs 50 crore has been already provided for land acquisition. Efforts would be made to acquire equal land from both sides where built-up structures existed and laying the land through vacant land would be preferred to save the cost of acquisition.

The proposal would also include construction of five major bridges, including Sukhna, Marrawala, Balad, Ratta and Manpura.

In addition to this, 17 minor bridges would also be constructed, including reconstruction of three which were submerged and four which were in a poor condition. An overbridge would also be constructed at Pinjore for the railway traffic.

The 35-km four laning from Pinjore to Nalagarh would also include a bypass from Surajpur-Basola and improvements were being suggested in the initial survey so as to reduce the cost of acquisition.

Since Pinjore junction was the most traffic-prone spot, efforts were afoot to divert traffic through Surajpur.

Though an initial period of 18 weeks was granted to complete the survey, an additional time has now been given to improve the initial study. A sum of Rs 88 lakh has been provided for the survey.

With a view to facilitating the work, Haryana counterparts have been directed to coordinate by sharing information pertaining to revenue records which would come handy in the process.

Further, 38-week period is to be set aside for completing other works like land acquisition, calling tenders, etc. The initial 18-week period had, however, lapsed and the firm has now sought more time for improving the survey, confided officials.

Shimla, June 14
Flooded with complaints of lack of adequate infrastructure and faculty in private universities, the state government has made it mandatory to affiliate courses started by these institutions to the state technical university and Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) for the first five years.

However, the decision will not bring any respite to students and parents who have been running from pillar to post to ascertain the status of such universities and the courses being run by them as it will come into force only prospectively. Thus, seven private universities already functioning and 11 others in the pipeline, for which LoI (letter of intent) has been granted, will not be covered. The message that comes loud and clear is that despite a spate of complaints, the government is in no mood to rein in the private universities.

While some institutions were already running well-established engineering colleges duly approved by the national regulatory bodies before being accorded the status of university, most other private universities have started various courses without obtaining the approval from national regulatory bodies.

According to the law enacted by the state, they are required to follow the norms prescribed by the regulatory bodies. However, the government has not put in place any regulatory mechanism to ascertain and ensure that the norms are followed.

It is common knowledge that promoters of many private universities are running educational institutions in adjoining states too and allegedly same faculty members are shown on rolls at two places in many cases. Such malpractices could be checked only by a national regulatory body.

While the CPM has warned students against taking admission in private universities, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has demanded stalling of admission process in private universities until the government displayed the list of approved universities and courses on its web portal.

“If the BJP government in Chhattisgarh can scrap 17 out 19 private universities, what is the compulsion of the Dhumal regime in opening floodgates for institutions of doubtful credentials,”questioned Ashish Chauhan, organising secretary, Professional Education Unit of the ABVP.

Shimla, June 14
Rescue operations could not be resumed today to airlift the remaining 16 Mumbai schoolchildren, who have been stranded at Batal since June 7, following heavy unseasonal snow in the higher reaches of the tribal belts of the state.

Inclement weather conditions made it difficult for the state government helicopter to rescue the remaining schoolchildren. The group of 32 children from Mumbai were on their way to Chandertal when unexpected snow made it difficult for them to proceed further.

The children, along with the private travel agent, returned to Batal as the Kunzum Pass was blocked due to heavy snowfall.

With no communication link, it was only two days ago that they were able to establish contact with the help of a satellite phone.

It was following this alert that the state government rescued 16 children and brought them to Manali. The remaining 16 were to be rescued today but bad weather proved to be an impediment.

Government sources said all children were safe and the chopper would undertake sorties tomorrow to airlift the remaining children.

Meanwhile, the autopsy of the American national, who was killed in an accident near Chitru yesterday, was conducted at Keylong today. SR Mardi, IG (Law and Order) said the American embassy had been informed about the mishap.

“We are awaiting further directions with regard to handing over of the body as the family of the deceased has been intimated by embassy officials,” he added.

Chamba, June 14
Finally, the high-altitude road from Chamba to Killar crossing over the Saach Pass situated at an altitude of 4,413 m linking the isolated but gorgeous Pangi tribal valley with its district headquarters at Chamba has been opened to vehicular traffic after clearing the snowfall from the road last evening.

Karam Singh, SDM, Pangi, said today that engineers of the state Public Works Department had worked hard day and night removing the snow from the Chamba-Killar highway at Saach Pass and its nearby portions.

The road was covered under heavy snowfall for more than 12 m deep, the SDM said, adding that the road was the lifeline of the tribal people of Pangi paving the way for transportation of the valley’s produce like apple fruits and other forest produce.

The Saach Pass in Chamba district of the state, overlooking the Pir Panjal ranges of Jammu and Kashmir, had been closed for transportation services and pedestrians due to snowfall in November last.

The snow-clad Pangi valley remains cut off from the outer world during the winter due to snowfall for about six-seven months. The Killar township at an altitude of 2,600 m is a sub-divisional headquarters of the Pangi tribal valley.

Shimla, June 14
The Shimla Press Club launched its silver jubilee celebrations by holding a blood donation camp, here today. The camp was inaugurated by Deputy Commissioner JS Rana. He lauded the efforts of the press club in contributing in a noble cause, which was a big service to the suffering humanity. “More people should volunteer to donate blood so that there would be no shortage of blood,” said Rana.

Over 45 persons donated blood on the occasion. Many tourists and students also joined in the noble cause.

Dhananjay Sharma, president of the press club, donated blood for the 38th time, Himkiran Manta for the 24th time and Pankaj Sharma and Anil Bhardwaj for the 15th time.

A team of doctors headed by Dr ML Kaushal, head of the blood bank at Indira Gandhi medical College, informed people about safe blood transfusion and need for encouraging voluntary donation.

Bilaspur, June 14
A court here has granted bail to Narender Singh, manager in the PowerGrid Corporation, in the case of allegedly accepting bribe from a contractor Suneel Kumar of the tower lines here.

Earlier, a Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau team, led by Inspector Vinod Kumar, had arrested Narender while he was allegedly accepting bribe of Rs 20,000 from Suneel Kumar in a hotel at Berry on the NH-21 near here last evening.

The trap was laid after Suneel said the manager was demanding this amount for allowing his pending payment of Rs 3 lakh in connection with the construction work already done by him under his charge.