Shimla, July 18
Under fire for allowing private universities to come up without proper infrastructure and faculty, the government has asked the Education Department to carry out inspections of all institutions to ascertain whether or not they have requisite facilities.

There has been a spate of complaints regarding private universities running various courses without qualified faculty and other infrastructure and the subsequent inquiry ordered in case of Manav Bharati University revealed glaring shortcomings.

With organisations like the CPM and the ABVP launching a statewide campaign urging students not to take admissions in universities with doubtful credentials, the government is left with no option but to take an action in the matter. More so, because many of those who fail to run professional institutions under Punjab Technical University have been given Letter of Intent (LoI) to set up universities in the state.

Since it will take some more time to set up the proposed three-member regulatory authority for higher education, the Education Department has set up three committees, one headed by an additional director and two by joint directors, to carry out inspections of eight private universities before the start of academic session. The committees have been given guidelines on the basis of which they will ascertain whether or not the universities have qualified staff and physical infrastructure as per the norms laid down by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and various regulatory bodies like AICTE, MCI and NCTE. Besides, details of fee structure for various courses and salaries being paid to the staff and enrolment will also be sought.

The UGC regulations make it mandatory for deemed universities to have at least five disciplines but most private universities in the state are having just two or three colleges. Some of the institutions on the same campus are still affiliated to Himachal Pradesh University.

There are allegations that same faculty and infrastructure is being shown for running courses. In the situation it is hardly surprising that private universities are not getting many students.

So far, only seven universities out of the total 18, for which LoI has been given, have become functional. The situation is worse in case of engineering institutions as evident from the fact that there are only about 4,100 applications for 5,400 seats.

Shimla, July 18
Disputes in the ongoing Congress organisational poll in 12 blocks will not hold back elections scheduled for July 20.

Out of the total 68 blocks, disputes in nine blocks, including Union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh’s home constituency Rohru, are yet to be settled, while organisational poll in tribal blocks of Kinnaur and Lahaul-Spiti has been delayed.

Bilaspur is the only district which does not qualify for election to the district unit as two (Bilaspur and Jhanduta) out of the total four blocks are under dispute.

State Returning Officer Rajani Patil has convened a meeting of district returning officers and assistant returning officers (AROs) of Rohru, Kutlehar, Hamirpur, Jhanduta, Bilaspur (Sadar), Kasauli, Banjar, Sulah and Indora to sort out the electoral disputes here on July 19. Most of the disputes are likely to be settled at the meeting.

In fact, Patil had gone to Delhi for final settlement of disputes by Oscar Fernades, chairman of the All-India Election Authority.

Solan, July 18
Even as the State Pollution Control Board has introduced a system of licensing the scrap dealers in the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) industrial belt, scores of unauthorised dealers from the neighbouring Haryana continue to pollute their water bodies.

With virtually no mechanism to check their illegal operations, scores of such trucks daily enter and cross the district’s border at Baddi and Marranwala with hundreds of contaminated chemical drums. What makes matters worse was the fact that they wash these containers in the upstream of the Sarsa and Balad, falling in the territory of Haryana and their toxic water flows downstream into the water bodies of Himachal.

Though the board had licensed the system about two years back, it has failed to check the proliferation of illegal scrap dealers who continue to play havoc with the environment. All units that use such drums were supposed to ensure their safe disposal within their premises as per the hazardous waste (management and handling) rules and though the board has bound them to dispose such drums though authorised dealers, few appear to be abiding by the guidelines.

The board has conveniently shrugged off its responsibility by merely licensing some dealers, but it was unable to ensure compliance. Therefore, unlicensed dealers from the Haryana continued to indulge in this illegal activity.

Though officials of the board said they would now coordinate with the Excise Department and ensure that such vehicles were checked for having authorisation letters, but the move appeared too little, too late. The board’s earlier efforts to seek support of the local authorities like the BBN Development Authority and civic bodies met with virtually no response, as they failed to get such illegal dealers evicted from illegal occupations, both on private and government land.

Little could be achieved in checking the percolation of the toxic chemicals into the water bodies till an inbuilt mechanism was devised to ensure disposal of such containers through authorised dealers, who were well-equipped to treat such contaminated containers. In the absence of this system, the investors conveniently explored these cheaper options that continued to endanger the ecology of the area, where the pollution parameters were already at a critical stage. 

Shimla, July 18
The Rs 365 crore World Bank-funded Mid-Himalayan Watershed Development Project has started making an impact on the quality of life of people.

The project has helped as many as 5 per cent families to break the poverty barrier and move from the BPL (below poverty line) to the APL (above poverty line) level. The area under high value crops too has increased by 26 per cent and the production of vegetables and main fruit crops has witnessed an increase of 43 per cent and 11 per cent, respectively. Within a period of five year since its implementation the returns from farmland have increased significantly and the problem of fuel and fodder has also been solved to a large extent.

According to a report of the World Bank, the project has empowered many villages in the region by ensuring sustainable management of land and water resources.

A team of the World Bank recently visited Kullu and Mandi watershed divisions and conducted review of the project. The team interacted with representatives of the Panchayati Raj Institutions, communities, project staff, and members of various self-help groups to ascertain progress of the activities of the project and its impact. The multitude of activities includes plantation, soil conservation, water harvesting, horticulture, sericulture, pisciculture, agriculture and other income-generating schemes. There is hardly any area that is not covered under its ambit.

The project covers 272 micro-watersheds spread over 602 gram panchayats, 42 blocks and 10 districts. It will benefit around 25,000 target poor families in the project area. After implementation of the watershed project, the average household income has increased by 50 per cent and crop yield by 75 per cent. The farmers have diversified from one crop to two or three and, in some cases, four crops. The availability of water has been improved by increasing its storage through construction of 7,664 water-harvesting structures to bring 6,809 hectares under assured irrigation.

So far, 579 Gram Panchayat Watershed Development Plans had been completed and 1,953 self-help groups, 2,814 users groups and 686 common interest groups have been constituted under the project.

Shimla, July 18
To expedite investigation in various police cases, the forensic science laboratories in the state will soon be providing “tatkal service” where reports will be submitted within a week.

Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal revealed this while presiding over the sixth meeting of the Himachal Pradesh Forensic Science Development Board held here recently.

“Forensic support at the scene of crime will also be made available in all heinous crimes and the report be submitted within a fortnight,” he said.

The Chief Minister said the State Forensic Laboratory was being equipped with latest investigation equipment to deal with cases relating to crime investigations. He said to generate more manpower internship would be allowed to MSc Forensic and MSc Biotechnology for a period ranging between one week to one month so that more people were trained in such investigations.

He underlined the need for use of Internet services to update investigation techniques in cases being handled by the State Forensic Laboratory besides, providing regular training to scientists. He said random re-checking of the samples investigated in the laboratories need to be carried to ascertain re-confirmation keeping in view the gravity of the case.

Hamirpur, July 18
A man reportedly murdered his elder brother last night over a petty dispute. According to the police, Anita Kumari, resident of Badreen (Galod) under the Badsar subdivision, lodged a complaint, stating that her husband Sandesh Kumar was murdered by her brother-in-law Rakesh Kumar.

According to the complainant, Rakesh had set garbage on fire last night at about 8 pm. This was objected by Sandesh as their father was suffering from asthma. However, Rakesh got provoked over this and allegedly gagged his brother, leading to his death.

The police has registered a case of murder under Section 302 of the IPC. — TNS