New Delhi, January 30
The Supreme Court will go into the controversial procedures being adopted by the Himachal Pradesh Government to appoint college lecturers first on an ad hoc basis and then to regularise them, bypassing the Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (HPPSC).

A Bench comprising Justices DK Jain and HL Dattu has admitted on Friday that a petition challenging the state government’s shifting policy stand in the matter of recruitment of class one college cadre lecturers.

Aggrieved by the policy, Prem Bhardwaj and four others have approached the apex court after the HP High Court dismissed their petition, observing that the court did not want to unsettle the settled position.

HPPSC counsel Anil Nag has taken the stand that the state government was bound to consult the commission over the suitability of candidates in all cases where the appointment period was in excess of six months.

The controversy had been simmering since 1988-89 when the government made some appointments on an ad hoc basis by simply calling the names from the local employment exchanges.

In 1992, the HPPSC issued an advertisement inviting applications for regular appointments as lecturers. Most of the lecturers who were already working on an ad hoc basis also applied but failed to qualify in the written and oral examinations.

In 1994, the state government issued a circular announcing that all those who had completed three years of service as on March 31 that year would be regularised. Those who felt aggrieved by this circular challenged it before the tribunal which stayed it. The state government took the stand that it was being done in the light of an apex court verdict in a case relating to regularisation of daily wage class four employees. The Tribunal accepted the state’s stand. The matter then went to the high court with the petitioners maintaining that they were being denied equal opportunity guaranteed under Articles 14 and 16. Meanwhile, the state government regularised 42 lecturers in 2002. The HC, however, said this would be subject to the final outcome of the cases pending in the court.

In 2006, the state government then came out with a scheme called “Grant in Aid” to Parents-Teachers Association Rules leaving the appointments at the discretion of the respective college principals. Under this scheme, 136 teachers were appointed in different government colleges. Again in 2008, the government issued another policy notification to regularise the services of those lecturers working on contract for over eight years.

Shimla, January 30
National vice-president of the BJP and in charge of party affairs in Himachal Kalraj Mishra today lambasted the UPA regime at the Centre for rampant corruption and its failure to check inflation.

Addressing partymen at a Samman Samaroh organised to honour newly elected functionaries of the panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) and urban local bodies, Mishra said his party would be organised Mahasangram and Jan Jagaran rallies all over the country to highlight corruption and price rise, which directly affected the common man, to focus the attention of people on the failures of the UPA government.

He said scams were taking place now and the governance had hit hard. He appealed to the people to actively participate in the two programmes and make these a success.

Mishra expressed happiness over the large number of women elected to the PRIs in the state and appealed to the newly elected representatives to work dedicatedly for the upliftment and development of the people. He advised them to make the optimum use of the public money placed at their disposal to ensure speedy development.

Expressing satisfaction over the achievement of the party in the PRI elections, he said the good performance at the grassroot level had laid a foundation for the forthcoming assembly elections. He said the spectacular victory of the party had given an indication that its ideology had penetrated every household. It was during the NDA regime under the leadership of former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee that programmes like the PMGSY, Swajal Dhara, Annapurna Yojna and other people-oriented programmes focussing on rural areas were started. He said all polices and programmes had yielded the desired results and life of common man was reasonably comfortable during the NDA regime.

Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said the BJP had implemented the promise made in its election manifesto to provide 50 per cent reservation to women in the PRI elections and it was a matter of great happiness that 58 per cent of women representatives had been elected. He claimed that the party had won 21 municipal councils while six independent councils were also siding with it.

All zila parishad and panchayat samiti seats in Sirmour and nine out of 10 panchayat samiti seats in Mandi had been won by the BJP. He said out of 10 zila parishads elected, 8.5 had been won by BJP candidates.

Palampur, January 30
National Leprosy Day was celebrated in the local lepers home at Chokki village near here today.

A small function was organised by the state Health Department in which a number of local citizens, members of local NGOs and officials of the state Health Department participated.

R K Sood, president, Palampur Welfare Forum (PWF), who was the chief guest, distributed fruits to the inmates of lepers home. He appealed all social organisations, NGOs and other social bodies to come forward and extend their assistance to the leprosy patients residing in the lepers home.

Inmates of the lepers home told mediapersons that they were residing without power supply as there was none to pay the electricity bills of their home. Even the huge complex of the lepers home had no streetlights. Last month, valuables, including LPG cylinders of leper patients were stolen.

All inmates were getting only Rs 300 as pension from the government which is too small amount. With this pension, it was not possible for them to survive.

At present, local missionaries were managing the affairs of this lepers home. Because of financial crunch, this organisation was finding it difficult to manage the affairs of the home. The state government provides no financial assistance to this home which caters to the needs of patients of six districts of the state.

Sood appealed Chief Minister PK Dhumal to look into the matter and provide immediate financial assistance to this home.

Dr Naresh Mehata, deputy director, Health, assured the inmates of that the government would provide free medicines to them and zonal leprosy officer would examine the inmates fortnightly. 

Bilaspur, January 30
The state government has taken a serious view of holding of a “dham” (Community lunch) and a cultural programme during school hours on the premises of Government Boys Senior Secondary School, Ghumarwin, near here a few days ago and has ordered a high-level inquiry into this lapse.

Reports here today said the deputy director of higher education here Bir Singh had been asked by the Education Department to hold an inquiry and present a report to the department at the earliest.

Earlier, the school management committee and several citizens had taken an exception to organising of the dham and cultural programme during the school hours in the school by the nagar parishad of Ghumarwin, seemingly with the consent of the school authorities.

They had taken up the issue with the government against this breach of government orders, saying that it had also disturbed the studies of the students the whole day when each hour was precious for the students.

It was more than two years ago that Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal had ordered that no function or dham etc, which is not connected with the school programme, should be organised or held in the school as these functions disturbed the studies and diverted the attention of the students and a lot of time was wasted away in such activities. 

Nurpur, January 30
The local civil hospital has failed to provide health services for the past few months, thanks to the apathy of the state Family Welfare and Health Department.After the appointment of specialists, including gynaecologist and anaesthetist, patients from Nurpur, Jawali and neighbouring Bhatiyat subdivisions had heaved a sigh of relief as even caesarean deliveries started in this hospital. Earlier, they had to rush to private hospitals at Pathankot in Punjab for deliveries.

 But following the order of the state directorate, the gynaecologist and the anaesthetist are being engaged in family planning camps in Chamba and lower Kangra district for the past few months.

In January, they spent 21 days in these camps, depriving primary health services to patients who visit the hospital daily from far-off places. Even surgeries also could not be undertaken in the absence of an anaesthetist. Apart from this, emergency health services are also being hit. Subash Thakur, hospital in charge, said following the order of the higher-ups these doctors had been sent to attend the family planning camps. In their absence, the hospital’s emergency health services and deliveries under the “Janani Surkasha Yojna” had been affected. 

Chamba, January 30
The Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board yesterday decided to retain the offices of the hydel investigation division, Chamba, with its one sub-division at Chamba and another at Bharmour. But, the surplus staff of the board’s survey and investigation circle, which has been disbanded, would not be transferred outside.

The decision has been taken in the wake of reorganisation of the board into three different utilities which included Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Limited (HPSEBL), Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (HPPCL) and Himachal Pradesh Transmission Corporation Limited (HPTCL).

Revealing this on the phone today, HPSEBL executive director (Personnel) MP Sood said the left-out staff of the board’s survey and investigation circle would be adjusted in the operation wing of the HPSEBL only at Chamba to avoid their further relocation.

Some of the existing staff of the survey and investigation circle had already been adjusted in the HPPCL, Sood said.

Shimla, January 30
The upcoming 261 MW Youngthang project on the Spiti river has effectively pre-empted the plan for setting up a storage dam at Khab downstream and instead only a run-of-the-river project of almost half the original capacity will be possible at the site.

The allotment of the project ignoring the detailed project report (DPR) prepared by the Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) for the 960 MW Khab project downstream and the report of the SwedePower Company, which had reviewed the master plan for hydropower development in the Sutlej basin, will deprive the state of about 350 MW of power potential. The SJVN had even written to the state government not to award any project upstream until a decision was taken on the Khab project.

A high dam required for the storage project will no longer be possible as the powerhouse of the project, being executed by Gammon India, will be set up at Khab, close to the confluence of the Spiti and the Sutlej, at an elevation of 2,590 m.

The Khab storage dam was proposed at an elevation of 2,524 m which means that only a 62 m high diversion structure will be possible in place of the 275 m high dam proposed by the SJVN which was assigned the task of preparing the DPR of Khab-1 and Khab-II, each of 480 MW. It combined the two projects into a 960 MW project with a storage capacity of 500 million cubic metre.

Moreover, with the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests stipulating a minimum riparian distance of one to two km between two projects, even a 45-m high dam may not be feasible. The site of the powerhouse of Youngthang project has not been decided so far because of wrong elevations given in the pre-feasibility report prepared by the state electricity board.

The elevation at the confluence of the Spiti and the Sutlej was 2,548 m whereas on the ground it turned out to be 2,528 m. The company now wants to construct the powerhouse at a lower elevation but if this is allowed, the Khab project will have to be abandoned altogether.

The government has set up a three-member committee to examine the matter which will also take into account the newly imposed condition of minimum riparian distance. The only alternative, senior engineers point out, is to construct a tunnel to release the tail race water in the Sutlej at the assigned elevation.

Some power potential can still be salvaged by constructing a two stage Khab-Pooh-Jhangi project with a powerhouse on the left bank to avoid displacement of people. However, its capacity will not exceed 500 MW.

Besides generating power, the storage dam at Khab would have helped in arresting 12 million cubic metre (MCM) of silt annually to ensure smooth running of six mega projects coming up downstream.

Shimla, January 30
The Congress today asserted that the BJP lost the elections to panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) and urban local bodies in the apple belt due to the anti-fruit growers policies being pursued by the Dhumal government.

Ramesh Chauhan, president of the Jubbal-Kotkhai Block Congress Committee, said the decision to sell the carton factory at Pragatinagar, failure to keep the roads open and make appropriate arrangements for the transportation and marketing of the apple crop cost the BJP dearly.

The Congress won 75 per cent of the seats in the PRIs and urban local bodies polls in the apple belt and despite the coercive tactics used by Horticulture Minister Narinder Bragta, who represented the Jubbal-Kotkhsi constituency, the ruling party had to bite the dust. His party lost even in his home block samiti.

He said the results were not unexpected as the government had been befooling the people by just giving statements and doing nothing on the ground over the past three years.

Ruling party leaders had been claiming that the government had initiated work on projects worth Rs 1,500 crore in the constituency which was not true. The outcome of the recent polls had given a lie to their claims.

The mismanagement of the apple crop costs growers over Rs 300 crore and they have expressed their anger through the ballot at the first opportunity. The countdown for the BJP government had started and the people have demonstrated that they were not misled by the statements of ministers and ruling party leaders.