Mandi/Shimla, July 31
Chief Justice (CJ) of the Himachal Pradesh High Court Kurian Joseph today rang in a new era of e-court and videoconferencing and went on to announce that the court would dispose of all cases of undertrials languishing jails by December. He also announced that legal aid clinics would be set up in each jail which would provide “free legal aid to undertrials and their families”.

Chief Minister PK Dhumal along with the Chief Justice launched the videoconferencing facility at Model Central Jail, Kanda.

Addressing judicial officers and lawyers of Mandi through videoconferencing from Shimla, Justice Kurian made these announcements while launching a pilot project of e-court system here.

Dhumal said the District Courts at Bilaspur, Kullu and Mandi and Kanda Jail, Bilaspur Sub-Jail and Mandi Sub-Jail had been connected with videoconferencing facility. He said a sum of Rs 33,50,754 had been spent on providing videoconferencing facility at these places.

Justice SS Thakur and Justice Sanjay Karol attended and inaugurated the e-court in judicial complex at Mandi.

The Chief Justice said e-court and videoconferencing would help expedite backlog of 50,000 cases pending in the high court, improve justice delivery system and cut down on cost.

Justice Thakur said e-court and videoconferencing were a milestone that would provide speedy justice to people and bring about a “positive attitudinal changes among the bar and judiciary”.

Justice Karol said the e-court would make judiciary people-friendly. “The information of all court cases will be computerised and litigant can know the status of his of her case by a click of the mouse”.

Rural Development Minister Jai Ram Thakur said e-court would bring about transparency and efficiency in the functioning of the judiciary for the common man.

Mandi District and Sessions Judge Bhim Singh said videoconferencing would speed up case disposal rate of civil courts and release of undertrials.

Shimla, July 31
With road accidents proving to be one of the biggest killer in the state, the Public Works Department (PWD) along with the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) will prepare an action plan to keep the roads in a good condition so that precious lives are not lost in mishaps.

The PWD is in the process of preparing a detailed plan with regard to 536 accident-prone black spots on the roads that have been jointly identified by the PWD and the police. The PWD has already cleared 278 such black spots in the recent past and it is through the detailed plan that the remaining will be dealt with.

“A sum of Rs 100 crore allocated to us by the 13th Finance Commission will be used to tackle these black spots so that bad road condition does not prove to be the cause of accidents,” said PC Kapoor, Principal Secretary, PWD.

He added that the department would improve the road condition even at sites, which were not included in the list of black spots.

The HRTC on the other hand will now be stricter in clearing roads before they are thrown open to traffic. Even though the norms for road passing have been laid down, with certain areas not being clearly defined, some norms are not being religiously adhered to.

“A recent notification issued about 10 days back will ensure that the norms are followed strictly so that road accidents can be brought down in Himachal,” said Bharat Khera, Managing Director, HRTC. He said from now onwards the 48-seater buses would not be plied on the road before passing so that bigger vehicles do not face problems later on.

Khera said the recent bus accident at Nerwa in Chopal, which claimed five lives, resulted due to the road just giving way. “Proper passing with strict adherence to norms will ensure that accidents on account of bad road condition are reduced to the minimum,” he said.

He added that the HRTC in consultation with the PWD was working on rectifying the black spots and even other roads, which were accident-prone.

According to the road clearance norms for traffic, the HRTC will now be very particular with regard to gradient, especially on the curves.

The road width on the roads and on the curves will also be strictly followed.

These steps will hopefully reduce accidents in the hills where the casualty figure is very high on account of rugged and difficult terrain.

Shimla, July 31
A 1975-batch officer Rajwant Sandhu will take over as the Chief Secretary of the state tomorrow following the retirement of Asha Swaroop.

Sandhu, who held the post of Secretary in the Department of Drinking Water Supply, Union Ministry of Rural Development, returned to the state to take up the top bureaucratic post a month back.

Holding the post of officer on special duty (OSD), Coordination and Monitoring, ever since her return from the Centre, she extensively travelled all over the state to personally monitor execution of government projects under the state as well as centrally sponsored schemes.

Known for being an upright and able officer, Sandhu is believed to be a hard taskmaster and disciplinarian. Sandu will be the third women officer to be elevated to the post of Chief Secretary in Himachal after Rajinder Bhattacharya and the outgoing Chief Secretary Asha Swaroop.

She will attain superannuation in March, 2012.

Having done her schooling at Lawrence School, Sanawar she did her MSc (Honours) from Panjab University. She also holds a Diploma in Finance from IGNOU.

Born on March 18, 1952, Sandu’s first posting was as SDM, Ghumarwin, in Bilaspur in 1977. She remained Deputy Commissioner in Mandi for two years in 1984. She also served as Divisional Commissioner (Mandi) and Settlement Officer at Dharamsala. She remained managing director of the HP State Civil Supplies Corporation in 1993.

She also had a five-year stint as Deputy Secretary in the Union Ministry of Defence since 1988. She served as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in the Centre and later Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Panchayati Raj.

Shimla, July 31
The HP High Court has quashed and set aside the final seniority list of Himachal Pradesh Police Service (HPPS) officers issued in February 2007.

While quashing the seniority list, Justice VK Sharma further directed the state government to fix inter se seniority of five direct recruits officers (petitioners) and 26 promotee officers afresh, strictly in accordance with the HP Police Service Rules, 1973, within three months.

The court passed this order on a petition filed by five direct recruits officers of the HPPS, challenging the seniority list.

The petition had been filed against the memorandum issued on February 22, 2007, vide which the state circulated the final list of HPPS officers, as on September 1, 2006, in which private respondents ie promotee officers have been granted seniority as HPPS officers from the date they were promoted as such allegedly dehors Police Rules, 1973, on ad hoc/officiating basis instead of the date when they were actually inducted into the HPPS cadre.

Dharamsala, July 31
Traditional rain harvesting system of lowers hills cries for government’s attention. Though much is being said and proposed regarding the need for rainwater harvesting, tradition acumen of lower hill people in harvesting the rainwater is under utter neglect.

The traditional water harvesting system structures are known as ‘khatri’ in local language. These are generally prevalent in water-scarce, commonly known as Changar areas of Kangra and Hamirpur districts.

The knowledge of forming khatris is slowly dying with traditional artisans. Information gathered from locals in the Khudian area near Jawalamukhi revealed that local artisans selected the place in hills for developing the structure. The basic criterion for selecting the place was presence of thick vegetation over the hill and sandy rock.

The artisans chiselled a room type at about 45 degree gradient into the hill. The room was generally of 10X12 feet of dimension and could store water upto one lakh litres.

According to sources, water percolated into khatris through the roof. In a few cases, skilled artisans found permanent streams of water in the hills through which water seeped throughout the year. The khatris are generally filled upto brims in monsoons as the area receives heavy rains in these months.

Dr Arun Chandra, who runs a non-government organisation (NGO) in the area, said since no cement or concrete was used in khatris, they also helped in recharging water in surrounding areas and maintenance of vegetation.

To prevent biological contamination of water in khatris, hand pumps can be installed just outside it. Due to storage of water in khatris, hand pumps give water throughout the year.

With augmentation of water supply schemes in Changar areas these days, very few people are making use of khatris.

Dr Chandra also suggested that construction of khatris should be included in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA). People should be allowed to construct khatris while working under the employment scheme.

Shimla, July 31
The Indian Nursing Council (INC) has granted approval for starting of College of Nursing at Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC), Shimla.

This was stated by Health and Family Welfare Minister Rajiv Bindal here today. He said the council had also granted permission to admit 60 students in BSc (nursing) from this session.

“Admission to the course would be based on the entrance test to be conducted by Himchal Pradesh University (HPU) in October,” he said.

He said this would be the first nursing college in the government sector in Himachal. Inspection of the proposed college was carried out by the team of the INC on July 9 to verify the facilities and infrastructure.

Now, students of the hill state would get this facility within the state for which they had to go outside Himachal, he added.

Hamirpur, July 31
Vacant seats of postgraduate (PG) courses at Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC), Shimla, for the current session has once again drawn attention towards the demand of serving general duty doctors (GDOs) of relaxing conditions in lieu of their job experience for admission to these courses.

Nine seats in the PG courses and five seats of diploma courses are still lying vacant at the IGMC for the current session. It is surprising since the state is facing acute shortage of medical specialists and the GDOs have been urging the government to relax the selection criteria for serving doctors on the basis of their service.

The main reason behind the vacant seats is reportedly preference of fresh doctors who are keen to take up lucrative courses like surgery, medicine, gynaecology, orthopaedic and radiology etc.

Hence, there are a few takers for PG courses in pathology, forensics, micro, community medicine, pharmacology etc and many diploma courses which are less lucrative in the health market.

Meanwhile, serving GDOs, who are keen to take up these courses, fail to compete with fresh MBBS doctors due to their pre-occupation for selection to these courses leading to the vacancy.

Justifying their demands, general secretary of the HP Medical Officers’ Association Dr Jiva Nand Chauhan said, “The state government has combined all categories of serving doctors like GDOs, RKS and contract doctors. However, still serving doctors are not being given their due for job experience.”

“Since serving doctors, after taking PG courses, would meet the shortage of specialists in field hospitals, they should be given extra marks on the basis of their service on the pattern of Punjab and Uttarakhand,” they added.

Director of medical education Dr Jaishri Sharma said, “Serving doctors are already getting good amount of reservation for competing in the qualifying exams and they have to compete in the exams.” 

Solan, July 31
Peeved at exceptionally high freight charged by the Nalagarh Truck Operators’ Union, industrialists have decided to boycott use of their trucks for a day.

In an emergency meeting held by the Nalagarh Industries’ Association at Nalagarh today, the association appealed to the state government to intervene in the matter and chalk out freight vis-à-vis rates prevailing in the neighbouring states.

President Prem Sharma said it was unfortunate that on one hand the union protested use of trucks from outside while they failed to provide trucks in time, delaying dispatch of their goods for almost a week.

The union concentrated more on transporting cement and cared little to provide services to the smaller units. This often delayed their , leading to its cancellation thus causing loss of crores, he added.

Echoing similar sentiments, association’s senior vice-president Harish Aggrawal said freight charged by the union was almost 20 per cent higher than charged elsewhere in the region and this added substantially to their production cost. Rates have been further hiked after the recent hike in fuel prices.

Facing cancellation of their several orders due to absence of trucks, association’s general secretary Anil Sharma said the union was also reluctant to increase the number of trucks.

Rajnish Kumar, an HR executive from another firm, said they were facing problem of lack of trucks and their supply orders to Kolkata were being delayed by three to four days each time.

Solan, July 31
Faced with a string of complaints regarding drug abuse by school students, the Solan police initiated a campaign to check its proliferation.

The campaign, led by officiating SP Ramesh Pathania, has managed to catch hold of more than 20 children in the past three days from various parts of the town. The children, falling in the age group of 14 to 17 years, were found to belong to either poor or middle-class families.

Plain-clothed police teams have been constituted comprising policemen from the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and they have been keeping tabs on public places.

Pathania said it was surprising to note that video-game parlours were frequented by these children where cannabis-laced cigarettes and fluid-whitener were found from their possession.

Certain bookstalls were providing these fluids to the children for Rs 20. Similarly, a cannabis-laced cigarette was available for Rs 10 to Rs 20 with various kiosks selling tea on the Mall Road and several other places in the town.

While a majority of the students indulging in such substance abuse comprised those hailing from Kinnaur who reside in the town in rented accommodations, it was their company which encouraged others to indulge in such activities, confided police officials.

Conduits selling such cigarettes hovered around video-game parlours and schools and managed to make a quick buck by selling these substances to the vulnerable children.

Secluded places like Jawahar Park, Railway Line lying below Anand Complex and Mohan Park were the oft-visited spots of these schoolchildren where the police has now stepped up its surveillance.

Pathania said they were taking reformative steps to help these children and their parents were made aware of their bad habits. He added that they were contemplating to hold a meeting with bookstall owners to ensure that no such substances were sold to children in this manner as it was proliferating unchecked.