Mandi, July 14
Over 68 schoolchildren of the government-run primary school at Bhangrotu, near here, had a narrow escape when the surging floodwater of the nearby nullah flooded the school building sending tiny tots in panic this afternoon.

On hearing the cries of children, nearby villagers, including parents of these kids, rushed to the school and rescued them from the water. The water level reached over 1 ft and submerged classrooms within no time, teachers said.

The teachers raised the alarm and alerted nearby villagers, said eyewitnesses.

“Our children are facing the situation as the school lies within the flood area of the nullah. But neither the Education Department nor the district administration is bothered,” charged villagers Bhup Singh and Khem Raj.

The flood water also entered over 20 odd houses nearby. The villagers said the Forest Department had not made flood-control structures to check the sudden surge in the water mainly during the rainy season. The schoolteacher in charge said the children were evacuated on time and they went safe back home with their parents.

The apathetic attitude of the department was understandable in that the villagers tried to contact Brahm Dass, Deputy Director, Primary Education, but he was not approachable and his office informed The Tribune that he was busy in arrangements for the visiting Education Minister, who would reach Mandi tomorrow. The school is 15 km from the deputy director office.

Amandeep Garg, DC, Mandi, said he would send a team to check the situation.

Shimla, July 14
Having accumulated over Rs 50 lakh by way of voluntary contributions, the hill state will for the first time sponsor projects from the State Environment Fund with the Malana Ajivika Vikalp Society and World Wide Fund (WWF) having been chosen from 114 organisations which had sought funds for environment conservation and protection.

It was on November 4, 2008, that Himachal took the initiative of creating a State Environment Fund (SEF), which was to be utilised for environment protection, conservation, mitigation and restoration of the fragile hill ecology.

The fund has been receiving liberal donations from the industry, employees’ associations, sensitive individuals and the state Cabinet, which makes a regular monthly contribution of Rs 1,200 from the day the fund was created.

“We hope to undertake many more such innovative projects with the funds that are pouring into the SEF so that the public at large becomes aware and sensitive towards protecting the environment,” said Sudipto Roy, Additional Chief Secretary (Forest).

The Department of Environment will shortly sign an MoU with the two NGOs which have submitted their work plan.

“The 114 proposals that we had received were segregated into four categories, which were screened by two high-powered committees to ensure that the most deserving and earnest proposals got the funding from the SEF,” said Nagin Nanda, Director, Environment.

The Malana Ajivika Vikalp Agro-Horti Growers Marketing and Development Cooperative Society is keen on protecting and conserving the socio-cultural environment from the onslaught of the drug mafia and on eradicating cannabis trade through crop replacement on 250 hectares.

It has been granted Rs 5 lakh for the challenging task and an additional Rs 1 lakh for creating awareness among the public.

The WWF, on the other hand, will take up the challenging task of restoration and revival of the traditional water mills (gharat) dotting the rural areas of the Sunni and Khimri panchayats in Shimla district. The gharats, which were used in the villages, are now practically lying redundant with the dependence of electric mills. It will receive a grant of Rs 4.96 lakh with the removal of congress grass also as one of its objectives.

Nanda is hopeful that with awareness towards protecting environment increasing, there will be more funds in the kitty of the SEF to sponsor more such initiatives.

Shimla, July 14
Students Federation of India (SFI) activists today held a demonstration against the violence being unleashed by the rival student outfit of Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) against their leaders.

The SFI activists assembled outside the DC office and raised slogans against the SFI for attacking its state secretary while he was addressing a meeting in Mandi college. “During the past few days, the ABVP activists have attacked our leaders and workers at Dharamsala, Baijnath and Shimla mainly to silence our campaign against privatisation of education,” said Kapil Bhardwaj, Shimla district secretary of the SFI.

He said the reason for the violent attacks on SFI leaders was because they were hitting out at institutions opened by former ABVP workers as part of privatisation and commercialisation of education. He said the SFI would continue opposing privatisation as it was against the interest of the state as well as the students.

He demanded the release of 30 SFI activists who had been taken into custody after the students clash in Courtshera college. “We demand that the ABVP and NSUI students who had indulged in stone pelting be arrested and booked,” he demanded.

Mandi, July 14
With tension mounting in a postgraduate college here following violent clashes between students’ unions, the “helpless” college authorities today urged Principal Secretary, Education, Srikant Baldi to make provision for holding the college council elections soon after the admissions as students and their parents had expressed concern over “safety of life” on the campus.

Meanwhile, the ABVP, the SFI and the NSUI today turned the campus into a political playground by raising slogans against one another and against the college authorities to make their presence felt on the campus in view of the council elections for which the date is yet to be announced.

Following an alleged assault by ABVP activists on its president Vijendra Mehra yesterday, the SFI today staged a statewide protest and submitted a memoradum to the Deputy Commissioner, demanding the arrest of the ABVP activists named in the FIR.

It alleged that the police was protecting the ABVP activists who were carrying weapons on the campus to bully and browbeat students with impunity.

The SFI alleged that ABVP activists snatched leaflets from its activists today and it was provoking voilence on the campus.

The ABVP, on the other hand, alleged that the NSUI and the SFI were bringing outsiders on the campus, a charge that the SFI and the NSUI also levelled against the former.

Meanwhile, students have blamed the unions for vitiating the academic atmosphere on the campus for the past 20 days. Some students and their parents have lodged written complaints with the Principal expressing concern over the safety and security measures on the campus.

Principal MS Jamval has urged the Principal Secretary, Education, to conduct early poll in colleges as soon as the admissions are over.

Shimla, July 14
Taking note of the frequent unrest on the Himachal Pradesh University campus, the high court has ordered students’ organisations and employees’ associations not to resort to violent protests while raising their demands.

The court also directed the Registrar of the university and all students’ organisations and employees’ associations to give their suggestions for maintaining high standards of education on the campus. The court has also summoned the Registrar of the university on August 4.

The order was passed by a Division Bench comprising Justice RB Misra and Justice Sanjay Karol on a petition filed by a PhD student, Anjana Chauhan, wherein she alleged that these protests and violence affected the academic atmosphere on the campus. She had prayed that protests be banned on the university campus.

In an earlier order, the organisations had been directed to keep away from the library and hostel buildings.

The court said these organisations could raise their legitimate demands in a peaceful manner, but not in a manner that disturbed the academic atmosphere on the campus.

The court has directed the university to keep the court updated on a regular basis in this matter.

The case will come up for further hearing on August 4.

Dharamsala, July 14
BJP MP from Kangra Rajan Sushant today refuted the allegations of encroachment on government land levelled against him by independent MLA from Nurpur Rakesh Pathania.

Sushant sarcastically thanked the Chief Minister for getting a complaint regarding encroachment on government land against him probed with great urgency.

He said the complaint was probed within one day. Revenue officials, without giving him any notice, carried out the demarcation of his land at night.

It reflected the “efficiency of the Revenue Department”.

He expressed the hope that the department would show similar efficiency in probing other cases.

He also denied the allegation that he had encroached upon the IPH rest house near his house. Asked about action being contemplated against him by the BJP high command, Sushant said he had given a reply to the notice issued to him by the party high command.

“The high command is satisfied with my reply and no action is being contemplated against me. Such propaganda against me has been carried out earlier also,” he claimed.

Hamirpur, July 14
Cloth merchants from different parts of the state created a ruckus at the Circuit House, Hamirpur, today to lodge their protest with Chief Minister PK Dhumal during his tour to the district against the imposition of 5 per cent VAT on cloth, recently cleared by the Cabinet.

A large number of merchants, who had come to meet the Chief Minister raised slogans against the state government outside the Circuit House, while he was talking to people inside. Later, they met the CM and told him about the issue.

The Chief Minister assured them to take up the matter with the authorities concerned and form a committee to discuss it. He also asked them to form a committee to discuss the same with the government.

Meanwhile, they could not reach unanimity on the formation of the committee and continued their discussion outside the Circuit House for several hours. Later, the police was rushed to the spot to control the situation.

Jai Kumar from BILASPUR: The District Cloth Merchants Association here has expressed resentment against the government proposal to impose 5 per cent VAT on cloth and urged the Chief Minister to reconsider the proposal and reject it not only in the interest of the public, but also state cloth merchants.

Talking to mediapersons here today, association chairman and BJP leader Gita Ram Sharma, who is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Himachal State Road Transport Corporation, district president Rajender Paul Das Raju, a former president of BJP City unit, and general secretary Jagdish Katoch, another BJP leader, accompanied by 12 office-bearers of the association, said the government should not make things difficult for its poor state population as this tax would increase normal prices of cloth by 15 to 20 per cent, and not only 5 per cent as was being envisaged by the department concerned, as it would continue to be taxed repeatedly at various levels.

This would deprive the common man from buying cloth at cheaper rates, they said. They pleaded that it would make them lose most percentage of their trade as people from the state would prefer buying cloth from the neighbouring states.

Mandi, July 14
Drang BJP leader Jawahar Thakur today accused state Congress president Kaul Singh Thakur of indulging in doublespeak on the issue of corruption. He alleged that Kaul Singh was involved in the multi-crore Drabla road scam when he was the IPH Minister.

He said development works inaugurated by Kaul Singh in Drang without government approval would soon be officially inaugurated again. Addressing a press conference here, Jawahar Thakur alleged that Kaul Singh had been pushed to the corner in Mandi and that was why he was levelling baseless charges against the Dhumal government, “which has set new milestones in development”. — TNS