Shimla, October 18
With the marksheet submitted by a BA-II student turning out to be fake, Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) has handed over the entire record to the CID for registering a case against Parvati Devi, a student of Government Degree College, Rampur, and at the same time constituted a three-member committee to look into the functioning of the examination branch.

It was on October 15 that the fake marksheet of BA-II was submitted in the computer branch of the HPU so that her BA-III result, which had been withheld, could be declared. “After completing the inquiry I found that the BA-II marksheet of the student is fake as it has not been issued by us,” the Controller of Examination (COE), AN Gupta, said.

He said the HPU had sent the BA-II marksheet of the student to Government College, Rampur, in 2008 in which she had failed. She had been issued a provisional roll number on the basis of which she took her BA-III examination, result of which had not been declared.

After receiving the report from COE today, Vice-Chancellor Sunil Kumar Gupta constituted a three-member committee headed by the Dean of Studies, Prof CL Chandan, to look into the functioning of the Examination Branch, especially the wing which issues degrees and marksheets.

The ADGP (CID), ID Bhandari, said the entire record of the case had been handed over to the police and a case would be registered tomorrow after examining the record provided by the HPU.

The other members of the committee include Prof OP Chauhan (Law) and Prof Suresh Kumar (Management). The committee will submit its report within the next 15 days. It is on the basis of the report that the VC has asked the CID wing of the police to register a case against the student for forging a certificate. However, during investigation the marksheet of BA-I was found to be original and issued by the HPU.

Gupta said the said student had approached the HPU in September to declare her result of BA-III and provided a photostat copy of her BA-II result. “Since the people dealing with it had doubt, they asked for her original certificate which she submitted last week and it did not had the security code and was also on a different paper than the one used by the computer branch,” he added.

With the fake certificate issue being very sensitive, the HPU authorities are not willing to take chances. They have handed over the entire record of the said student along with the fake marksheet to the CID, which will investigate the matter to get to the truth and from where the fake marksheet had been procured and if any more such marksheets were in circulation.

Shimla, October 18
With traffic congestion being one of the biggest bane of the state capital, it is by encouraging use of public transport among students and office goers that the police now intends to tackle the aggravating traffic problem in the town.

Addressing a press conference here today after assuming charge, SP Sonal Agnihotri said tackling the traffic problem of Shimla would be high on his priority list. “Enforcement alone cannot solve the problem as it is only by way of responsible individual behaviour that everyone can jointly contribute in improving the traffic woes of the town,” he said.

He said schoolchildren must be inculcated respect for traffic regulations and observance of rules right from childhood so that they grow up to be responsible citizens. “Change cannot be achieved overnight but community interest will have to take precedence over individual convenience,” he said.

Agnihotri said he would try and look for solutions for better traffic management by taking up the issue with various schools to encourage use of public transport rather than personal conveyance as this would help reduce congestion. He admitted that it was within the constraints of limited parking, narrow roads and other such factors that solutions would have to be searched.

Spelling out the priorities, he said frequent thefts in the town was an area of concern, which required immediate attention. “It is by way of better intelligence and surveillance, having a data bank and technology additions that we hope to check incidents of theft,” he said.

He also expressed his desire to devise a mechanism to check the law and order problem arising in the state capital due to frequent demonstrations. “We definitely require a better handling mechanism with use of technology rather than relying on use of force.”

Shimla, October 18
While most of the growers are struggling to control the deadly “marssonina” fungus, which causes premature defoliation in apple trees, some progressive farmers have managed to protect their orchards through organic applications based on cow urine and herbs.

The organic magic has indeed worked for Gopal Mehta, a leading horticulturists from Kotgarh, whose apple trees are flush with green leaves even weeks after harvesting of the fruit. The organic formulation made from cow urine, old lassi and neem oil has proved effective in keeping away not only the “marssonina” fungus but also a host of other diseases.

Mehta started experimenting with the environment-friendly mode of farming in the late 1990s in view of the rising cost of inputs and poor returns. Observing that continuous use of chemical fertilisers and sprays was doing more harm than good to his orchard he decided to give organic farming a try.

Over the years he has tried his own innovations and got in touch with scientists and experts to develop a wide range of cow-centric organic products to completely replace chemical fertilisers, fungicides, insecticides and other inputs. He and his group of organic farmers have come out with standardised formulations along with a spraying schedule to protect orchards from various diseases and pests and insect attacks.

“The orchards can be protected effectively with a mixture of water (200 litre), cow urine (15 litre) and long-stored sour buttermilk (15 litre), sprayed fortnightly from May 15 onwards till the harvesting of the fruit,” Mehta explains. In fact, the stench of the mixture was so strong that even animals like monkeys did not venture near the orchards for a couple of days after every spray, he revealed.

Another organic formulation consists of 200 litre of cow urine, one litre of neem oil and soap nut solution, as emulsifier, which has to be sprayed four to five times during the season. Arun Kuthiala, a progressive grower from Karsog, has been using it and his orchard is in good health.

The apple produced is special as evident from the fruit pressure, a measure of keeping quality, which varies from 21 to 23 psi (pounds per square inch) for organic apple as compared to 16 to 18 psi for the normal fruit.

Mehta is now experimenting with “homa farming” in which “havana” is performed in orchards in copper container using cow dung, unbroken rice and other material amidst chanting of “mantras” at specified auspicious time. He grows almost all fruits ranging from subtropical mango and litchi to temperate cherry and apple. More importantly, his organic produce fetches twice the normal rates. 

Solan, October 18
With the crucial post of chairman of Jogindra Co-operative Bank being bagged by Laj Kishore Sharma, also sitting vice-chairman of the Zila Parishad, the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) belt comprising two key constituencies has been left without any key post in the state government.

Since the post was earlier held by Sanjeev Kaushal from the BBN belt, the area at least had some representation in the government. The members comprising the managing directors, assistant registrar, nominated member of co-operative department, elected and nominated directors were present during the election.

Yogeshwar Dutt from Arki has been elected vice-chairman in the meeting held today at Solan. Keen to get their candidates elected the respective MLAs, including Vinod Chandel from Doon, Govind Ram from Arki, Rajiv Sehzal from Kasauli, and HN Saini from Nalagarh, also marked their presence at the meeting.

Saini, however, supported the candidature of Kaushal as he felt that it was the only post that the BBN was given in the BJP’s present regime.

Since even the ministerial post had been denied to the BBN despite having a senior three-time MLA, the legislator felt the government has failed to have an equal distribution of such posts.

Kangra, October 18
GS Bali, an MLA from Nagrota Bagwan, warned the BJP to desist from burning effigies of Rahul Gandhi. Bali, who was here to address a press conference here today, lambasted the state government for its failure to control BJP workers in burning effigies of All-India Congress Committee General Secretary Rahul Gandhi and from using the unparliamentary language against him in public.

He said not even a single case had been registered against any BJP worker. Bali threatened that if the government failed in controlling such elements, the Congress would be forced to confront them. He also warned the BJP of dire consequences if any such incident was repeated in future.

He alleged that law was being violated and the state administration sleeping giving a free hand to the ruling party that was creating a ruckus at public places. He criticised the state for discriminating against the merged areas of the state and asked Dhumal to identify a single major project that was set up in this area during the past three years.

He deplored the government for ignoring those who donated land for Shahpur Degree College and Tanda college. He said the land donors would not come forward again since they were not even invited during the inauguration of the college building last week.

Palampur, October 18
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal today launched Bhed Palak Samridhi Yojna. The function was organised by the Himachal Gaddi Union headed by president of the Himachal Wool Federation Trilok Kapoor.

The CM said the scheme would benefit the community with liberal financial assistance ranging between Rs 1-25 lakh. Soft loan of Rs 1 lakh would be available to the shepherds for purchase of 40 sheep. They would be given subsidy of Rs 33,300 for it.

A loan of Rs 2.25 lakh would be available to the rabbit rearers that would include 33.3 per cent subsidy subject to a limit of Rs 75,000. Loan of Rs 25 lakh would be available under the scheme to sheep and goat breeding units wherein subsidy component would be up to Rs 8.3 lakh.

Entrepreneurs would be required to deposit margin money of 10 per cent in the case of sheep and rabbit rearers and 25 per cent in the case of breeding farmers, he said.

He further said different communities were abandoning traditional avocations. The said scheme of the state government is an effort to save one of such traditional avocations and strengthen rural economy to retain rural youth in their villages.

Dhumal said the government was providing Rs 55 per kg as support price for the procurement of wool against the market rate of Rs 27 per kg. He appealed to the Gaddi community to produce best quality wool from their sheep that could be procured by the textile industry.

While speaking on occasion he also said the Holi-Uttrala tunnel would be constructed to connect Kangra and Chamba districts on priority basis.

Meanwhile, though the function was organised for launching the scheme, it also had political overtones. According to sources, though it was a state-level function, Gaddi community from Chamba did not participate. Prominent Gaddi leaders, including Speaker Tulsi Ram and Minister for Industries Kishan Kapoor were allegedly not happy at not being taken into confidence by the organisers of the function. Though both leaders participated in the meeting today, their supporters were missing.

Trilok Kapoor was being projected as the Gaddi leader in the rally in Palampur and Baijnath areas. He is being projected in place of former BJP MLA from Baijnath Dullo Ram. The rally was also aimed at gauging the strength of the BJP Gaddi leadership in the area.

Dharamsala, October 18
Two foreign ladies, including an Indonesian and a Korean, were arrested by the police today without any valid documents. The police has taken into custody an Indonesian identified as Tinah, who was allegedly abandoned by her Indian husband.

Tinah was found roaming about in a destitute state by the pardhan of Padhar village yesterday. He gave her shelter. However, she couldn’t understand local language. The pardhan then handed her over to the police.

Kangra SP Daljeet Thakur said: “She did not have any valid document. The only thing Tinah could tell us was that she was an Indonesian. We then contacted the Indonesian Embassy whose officials conversed with her. She revealed that an Indian Swami Ranjit of Dehra area married her in Malaysia. However, Ranjit’s family did not accept her and she was forced to leave the house.” The SP further stated: “We are trying to locate Ranjit from the information provided by Tinah. She is claims that her papers are with Ranjit.” Sources said officials of the police, CID and the Intelligence Bureau tried to seek information from the arrested lady but failed to achieve any results due to language barrier. A case under the Foreigners Act has been registered against her.

Meanwhile, today police also arrested a 50-year-old Korean lady identified as Mi-Kyong Kim. She has been staying illegally in Dharamsala area for the past six years. Sources available here stated that that the lady was arrested from Sidhbari area near Dharamsala on an anonymous call. Her visa had expired on June 30, 2004 and her passport had also expired in 2007. She was staying in some Buddhist monastery in Sidhbari area.

SP Kangra said: “Since she does not speak either English or Hindi, we are contacting some Koreans tourists to communicate with her. A case under the Foreigners Act has been registered against her.” The arrest of foreigners from Dharamsala region without valid documents assumes significance due to fact that the Tibetan Government in exile has expressed apprehension that Chinese spies might be functional in the area. 

Solan, October 18
Cracking the whip on students who had created a ruckus on the campus of Barru Sahib-based Eternal University, an internal inquiry committee today recommended suspension of 17 students.

The action was taken following a probe conducted by a special disciplinary committee that had identified those who were the troublemakers in the ransacking incident, which had damaged property worth about Rs 30 lakh on the campus.

Meanwhile, the incident that had left 12 students injured and cases of non-bailable sections of the IPC being slapped against some, Chief Minister PK Dhumal directed the Deputy Commissioner to visit the university and restore normalcy.

DC Padam Singh Chauhan today visited the university and spoke to the students, DSP, Rajgarh SDM and the Kalgidhar Trust management.

Principal of the university’s Akal College of Engineering IS Hudiara, however, stuck to the earlier stand and asserted that it was primarily a case of ragging. — OC