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Shinkula tunnel to reduce Leh distance by 100 km
New UGC norms to impact private varsities
8 labourers die in wall collapse
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Soon, apple production in lower belt
Dhumal criticises fuel price hike
Meeting to remove bottlenecks between Army, civilians held
Scientists at a national-level seminar on water management at Palampur Agriculture University on Friday.
Anti-drug rally today
Shoolini Fair begins
Man killed in mishap
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Shinkula tunnel to reduce Leh distance by 100 km
Shimla, June 25 The construction of another tunnel under the 15,920-ft Shinkula Pass will enable bypassing of the four lofty mountain passes of Baralacha La, Thaglang La, Nakila and Lachung La to make Manali-Leh an all-weather road. This will also reduce the distance on this tactical road by almost 100 km, making it the shortest route for carrying defence supplies to the border areas beyond Leh in Jammu and Kashmir. “We are undertaking a feasibility study for construction of a tunnel at the Shinkula Pass which will help us bypass the higher areas which have heavy snow and thereby reduce the distance to Leh by 100 km,” said PK
Mahajan, chief engineer, Project Rohtang. It was on the proposal of the Border Road Organisation (BRO) that the Defence Ministry gave go ahead to undertake feasibility studies for the construction of the tunnel. The realigned highway will pass through much lower altitude from Darcha to Padam via
Shinkula. The fact that the government is willing to spend a huge amount of Rs 1,458 crore on the 8.9-km-long Rohtang tunnel only heightens the strategic importance of the 470 km Manali-Leh road. In fact this route came in very handy for movement of supplies for the forces deployed in the border areas at the time of Kargil conflict as the road through Jammu and Kashmir came under the firing range of the Pakistani forces, making movement a very risky and difficult task. Sources confirmed that following the Kargil conflict, India was keen to have a safe passage to its border areas with its neighbours like Pakistan. Even though the Rohtang tunnel was conceived way back in 1983 as an alternate route for strategic considerations, it was only in September last year that that the Cabinet sub-committee on Security cleared the Rohtang tunnel project. A preliminary study for the project was conducted in 1984 in consultation with Geological Survey of India
(GSI) and Manali-based Snow Avalanche Studies Establishment (SASE). The detailed feasibility study of the tunnel was finally approved in January 1987. The construction of the Rohtang tunnel will reduce the distance between Manali and Koksar in Lahaul by 46 km and travelling time by two hours. It is bound to open up vistas of trade and tourism and ample employment opportunities for almost 35,000 population of
Lahaul-Spiti. |
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New UGC norms to impact private varsities
Shimla, June 25 The government has been under fire from all quarters for opening the floodgates for setting up private universities on vague norms and without any regulatory mechanism in place. However, these institutions have come under a scanner as norms pertaining to physical infrastructure, faculty, endowment fund and other related matters for the deemed university are far more stringent. The new UGC regulations have set the benchmark for minimum physical infrastructure, faculty and other facilities which
will have to be enforced by the state in respect of private universities sooner or later. The minimum requirement of land for main campus has been pegged at five acres in the metropolitan area, seven acres in non-metropolitan urban area and 10 acres in non-urban areas or as per the norms of the statutory regulatory body concerned,
whichever is higher. In case of multi-disciplinary institutions, the aggregate land requirement will be the sum of the land area prescribed by various statutory councils for all courses. Further, the administrative building of at least 1,000 sqm, academic building, including library, lecture theatres and laboratories, at least 10,000 sqm with the central library alone being of about 2000 sqm. There should be undergraduate courses and at least five postgraduate academic departments, each having in position a minimum permanent faculty comprising one professor, two readers and three lecturers for general courses and in case of other disciplines such as engineering, medicine and other professional courses the faculty will be as per the number and guidelines of the respective statutory council having the qualifications and pay scales prescribed by the commission. Private universities have been maintaining that they need no approval from the statutory councils under the state law and running various courses without requisite staff and other infrastructure. It is hardly surprising that there have been a spate of complaints against private universities which have become functional over the past one year. The state had increased the endowment fund of Rs 3 crore to Rs 5 crore recently but the new UGC regulations have fixed an amount of Rs 8 crore for professional course like engineering, Rs 5 crore for management programmes and Rs 4 crore for other programmes. For universities running both professional, other programmes the figure is Rs 10 crore, which could be further increased from time to time. |
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8 labourers die in wall collapse
Poanta Sahib, June 25 The labourers who were sleeping in an adjacent shed owned by Himalayan Chemicals were buried alive after the wall separating the two sheds gave way leading to the entire limestone stock falling on them. It was a heavy downpour that led to expansion of limestone causing it to slide from its position. The labourers were earlier sleeping in the open but they had come indoors after rain struck the area around 8.30 pm yesterday. It was learnt that this was their usual place of stay and it was separated by a 5-inch wall from the lime stock lying in the adjacent industrial plot. SDM Manmohan Sharma said the administration was informed about the incident at 7 am this morning and they rushed to the spot. All eight killed were migrant workers and their families at Galani Maja village in Uttar Pradesh have been informed. An immediate relief of Rs 20,000 has been extended and ex gratia payment of Rs 1 lakh to the next of the kin of the deceased has been announced, he added. Poanta Sahib SDPO Virender Thakur said investigations were underway and a case under Sections 336 and 304A of the IPC had been registered against the managements of Himalayan Minerals, Snow White Chemicals and Vasu Chemicals. He said the bodies of the labourers have been extricated and were identified as Vinay Kumar, Parvesh, Ram Samuch, Gudu, Paltu, Pramod, Nehru and Hari Chand. The incident had exposed the laxity of the managements who had forced the labourers to reside in shoddy open sheds bereft of any facility and since they were hired on contract they were entrusted with the entire job of crushing, packaging and loading limestone in trucks often extending the job for 12 to 14 hours at a stretch. Labour officials shied away from answering the media queries and chose to switch-off their cell phones. Even the managements failed to inform the police and as the word spread villagers informed the police.
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Soon, apple production in lower belt
Solan, June 25 He said the motivation to explore the feasibility of cultivating apples in the lower belts had been drawn from Israel where the production was 50 tonnes per hectare far exceeding their yield of 5-7 per hectare. This was despite the fact that the maximum alleviation in Israel was only up to 4,000 m. It also received a boost from the fact that a progressive farmer, Hariman hailing from Ghumarwin, had successfully cultivated apples.
Dhumal said the marketing facilities at Parwanoo sabzi mandi would also be expanded soon. Solan sabzi mandi was one of the biggest sabzi mandi in the state developed at a cost of over Rs 10 crore. He said in the first phase tomato producers were facilitated with inter-state marketing facilities and it had saved farmers and fruit growers from exploitation at the hands of middlemen. The Chief Minister said the state government had created a strong network of agriculture marketing yards to facilitate producers. He said all marketing yards were being equipped with latest and modern marketing facilities. Cold chain facilities would also be made available to farmers soon. He said a Rs 440 crore project based on organic farming had been sent to Japan’s International Cooperative Agency. He said the strong marketing network would also ensure remunerative prices to the organic farm producers. Health Minister Dr Rajiv Bindal said it was the vision of the Chief Minister who created quality marketing infrastructure for farmers of Solan and adjoining districts. He hoped that with the addition of new complex, agriculture marketing would increase manifold.
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Dhumal criticises fuel price hike
Shimla, June 25 He said the Congress harped on the slogan "Congress ka Hath Apke Sath" but its actions were to the contrary. The increase in petrol prices would directly hit the consumers and have a cascading effect on prices of all commodities, including the essential commodities. The hike in prices of kerosene and cooking gas was exorbitant, taking the commodities out of common man’s reach. The Chief Minister also disapproved of the decision of the Centre to leave the prices of petro-products to market forces which would lead to frequent and excessive increase in prices. He said the decision was anti-people and betrayed the anti-poor policies of the UPA regime. It was replacing socialist policies by capitalist ones. Dhumal urged the Centre to withdraw the increase in prices of petrol, diesel, kerosene and cooking gas in the larger interest of the poor and the country. Meanwhile, motorists were put to much inconvenience as the most of the refill stations stopped supplying petrol and diesel from the afternoon.
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Meeting to remove bottlenecks between Army, civilians held
Dharamsala, June 25 The meeting was also attended by Minister for Industries Kishan
Kapoor; Lt-Gen DS Thakur, GOC Rising Star Corps, stationed at Yol; and Deputy Commissioner RS Gupta. The stalemate between the Army authorities and local residents of Yol over raising of boundary walls that have blocked many passages being used by villagers, the claim over water resources and shops in cantonment areas has been continuing for past more than a year now. The villagers were resisting efforts of the Army to take water from their natural resources. The recent effort of the Army to lift water from the Iku rivulet was resisted by 13 panchayats of the area. The panchayats have also alleged that raising walls and other structures by the Army authorities have damaged their Khull (natural water source where water seeps from hills). It was a source of drinking water for us, they
alleged. Kishan Kapoor said the Army authorities have been asked to lift just 16 inch water from the Iku rivulet as per their agreement effected earlier. The Army authorities have agreed to give permission to civil authorities to repair the damaged Khull of the local village. The villagers had also alleged that most of their passages have been stopped due to erection of walls by the Army authorities. The minister said the Army authorities have agreed to open some of the gates and allow entry to civilians through the Yol cantonment area on production of any valid identity card. It was for the first time that such a high-level meeting was held for removing bottlenecks in relations between the Army and civilians of the Yol area. |
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‘Unscientific use of water goes unchecked’
Dharamsala, June 25 Member of the Central Ground Water Board SC Dhiman said this while addressing scientists at a national-level meet on water management that started at Palampur Agriculture University today. He said the Central Ground Water Board had been advising the state governments regarding the status of water in their respective areas. As per data worked out by the board experts, India would need 80 per cent more water to meet irrigation demands in the next three decades to sustain the food needs of the country. This demand cannot be met until drastic steps were taken by the state governments to protect and conserve underground water. Tej Partap, Vice-Chancellor of Palampur Agriculture University, emphasised the need to rejuvenate traditional water resources. He also discussed the problems and exploitation of water resources in hilly and mountain areas of the country and asked the scientists to think out of the book to address irrigation-related issues. Ashwani Kumar, director, Directorate of Water Management at Bhubaneswar, elaborated about various research programmes. The national-level meet had been jointly organised by the university’s Department of Soil Science and Directorate of Water Management, Bhubaneswar.
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Anti-drug rally today
Mandi, June 25 Talking to The Tribune, SP, SM Agnihotri said the police organised painting competitions for schools and college students in which more than 2120 students participated. The SP said the police’s anti-drug campaign had yielded good results. “We seized 120 kg of charas and 20 kg of opium this year till now in over 125 cases, which is one of the highest seizures by the police in the district.” He said they had distributed pamphlets highlighting awareness against drug abuse among parents and other public representatives to see early warning signs of the drug addiction, so that they took care of their wards before things went out of control. |
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Shoolini Fair begins
Sonla, June 25 The traditional fair marks the three-day sojourn of the local deity Shoolini at her elder sisters’ abode at the Mata Durga temple located at Ganj Bazar here. The fair began with a traditional puja of the goddess at the temple where a large number of devotees turned up to seek her blessings. Later, a procession, accompanying the bedecked palanquin of Ma Shoolini, was taken out from the temple. It was received by the Chief Minister. The procession passed through various areas of the town. Earlier, the CM dedicated a Municipal Council parking complex, constructed at a cost of Rs 1.30 crore, and laid foundation stone of Palika Bazar. |
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Man killed in mishap
Mandi, June 25 The police has booked the driver for rash driving. According to the police, the driver was allegedly driving rashly and he lost control over the vehicle after he failed to negotiate the curve. The police is investigating the case. |
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Jeep mishap kills one
Kullu, June 25 |
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