Shimla, September 4
With no funds to replace the aged fleet and cumulative losses set to cross Rs 600 crore, the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) has decided to revive the attachment scheme, which was discontinued in 2006, to help utilise private buses.

It has decided to engage 208 private buses, including two Volvo and six air-conditioned coaches, to operate on about 250 routes. While the luxury Volvo and air-conditioned buses will ply on new routes connecting various stations from the state to Delhi, the 200 ordinary buses will ply on the uneconomical inter-district routes covering a minimum of 200 km each every day.

The public sector undertaking has a fleet of 1,900 buses of which 498 vehicles have completed their life. However, with an average income of Rs 25 per bus per km as against the expenditure of Rs 30 per bus per km it is in no position to purchase new buses. It plies 2,400 services on 2,146 routes, of which 1,026 routes are uneconomical and even the operational cost is not being recovered.

The corporation expects the private operators to offer rates ranging from Rs 15 to Rs 20 per bus per km and it will help bring down the operational cost by Rs 9 per bus per km.

With a daily mileage of 200 km, the operational costs will be reduced by about Rs 13 crore per annum.

The total loss during the current year is likely to be around Rs 120 crore and even after a grant-in-aid of Rs 80 crore, there will be a net loss of Rs 40 crore.

The scheme, if successful, will bring it down to Rs 27 crore.

The corporation has revamped the earlier scheme under which 150 private vehicles were attached to rectify the shortcomings which led to its scrapping. A provision for imposition of penalty at the rate of Rs 5,000 per day has been made in case an unfit vehicle is deployed by the private party leading to breakdowns.

Similarly, action will be taken if the buses fail to pick up passengers on the way, a common complaint under the previous scheme.

Tenders will be invited depot-wise for attachment of buses to have the lowest possible rates.

The corporation will only depute the conductor for the attached vehicle and the driver and the entire operational cost will be borne by the owner. The scheme will enable it to replace the aged buses and also to meet the shortage of drivers.

The corporation and the state power board are the two top loss-incurring PSUs. However, the situation is no better in other states and only two roadways, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, are in profit. It is worth mentioning that there is no privatisation in Andhra Pradesh and passenger transport services are still a government monopoly.

Dharamsala, September 4
The Congress decision to oppose the BSF training centre in Shahpur block of Kangra district has come too late. Party leader from Shahpur Kewal Singh Pathania, in a movement started in the recent past, has been sending memoranda to the Governor and has been holding press conferences along with the affected villagers in this regard.

The Congress has been alleging that the villagers whose land is being taken for setting up the BSF training centre were not taken into confidence over the move. They allege that the training centre will pose problems to them as it would block their passages.

However, facts gathered by The Tribune revealed that the opposition to the process by the Congress is too late. The process to acquire land for the BSF training centre was started in 2007. Most of about 700-800 kanals being acquired for the BSF training centre is common land, belonging to eight villages in the area. The common land is the area left out in villages for common purposes. The land in question had forest on it.

The then affected panchayats moved resolutions and vested their common land in the name of the state government. The state government then transferred it in the name of the BSF. The state has already received about Rs 2 crore as compensation for the land from the BSF.

The BSF has also taken permission from the Union Ministry of Environment for diverting the use of land for purposes other than growing forests and deposited the funds for growing “compensatory forest” with the state government.

Sources said some of the newly elected panchayats of area had withdrawn the resolutions transferring their common land in the name of the government for the establishment of the BSF training centre. However, with the land acquisition and transfer process already completed, hardly anything could be done in the matter.

The people of the area, however, have a valid apprehension that the BSF authorities might block their passages through the common land once the construction work of the training centre is started.

Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, RS Gupta said the matter of providing passage to the affected villagers through the training centre had already been sorted out. We are providing a 6-metre-wide passage through the training centre to the affected villages.

The government has also been claiming that the training centre would provide self-employment opportunities to the affected villages as most of the daily provisions would be outsourced from adjoining areas.

Shimla, September 4
The Congress will boycott the one-man commission set up by the government to inquire into benami land deals and, instead, submit a charge sheet against the Dhumal government to the President to seek an impartial probe.

Stating this at a press conference here today, general secretary of the party Kuldeep Rathore said the Congress had been demanding a probe into the matter by the CBI or a sitting judge of the high court as it had no faith in state investigating agencies. Moreover, the government had no intentions of taking action against the corrupt as was evident from the fact the it did not even bother to register a case in the “cash-on-camera” scam allegedly involving BJP MP Virender Kashyap and its failure to grant sanction to prosecute Health Minister Rajeev Bindal. Not only that the Chief Minister and ministers were avoiding giving full details of their assets to the public despite persistent efforts of RTI activists like Dev Ashish Bhattacharya who had brought the matter to the notice of the President and the Governor.

The setting up of the commission was a ploy to divert the attention of the people from the shady land deals and large-scale permission granted to outsiders to acquire land in the state under Section 118 of the Land Reforms and Tenancy Act. In its anxiety to oblige the land sharks it allowed land beyond the maximum ceiling limit of 30 acres (about 154 bighas) and some private universities had been given excessive land, even up to 600 bighas, without any justification. Instead of rectifying its mistake, the government had brought a Bill to raise the maximum ceiling limit, making a mockery of the land reforms effected four decades ago.

In all 1,370 applicants had been granted permission of whom 1,004 were non-Himachalis. The government must come out with a White Paper to explain its compulsions in obliging the outsiders against the very spirit of the law enacted to protect the land of the local people. That private universities were being opened with ulterior motives was evident from the fact nine of the 13 private universities had come up in Solan district where the land prices were the highest and these did not have enough students to justify their existence.

Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal had been repeatedly saying that Union Minister Kapil Sibal wanted private universities to come up but what about colleges; he also talked about 50,000 colleges. His keenness to oblige outsiders had led to an anomalous situation with districts like Solan having only three colleges and nine universities. The Congress will review it on coming to power and ensure that the institutions not fulfilling the UGC norms were closed down.

Shimla, September 4
Terming the new law enacted by the government to confiscate assets amassed through corrupt means a farce, president of the Himachal Swabhiman Party (HSP) Subhash Sharma said the objective of the entire exercise was to divert the attention from the rampant corruption under the BJP regime.

Addressing a press conference here today, he said allowing one year to the special court to carry out a trial was meaningless as there was no time frame for completing investigations, which took years.

Moreover, even after the investigation, prosecution sanction was not granted in sensitive cases involving politicians and favoured bureaucrats.

The BJP government had been patronising the land mafia and it had allowed outsiders to acquire huge chunks of land and there were cases wherein 930 bighas, six times the maximum permissible limit, had been given for setting up a small stone crushers in Baddi.

The government had now brought a Bill to amend the Ceiling on Landholdings Act to raise the maximum limit to bail out favoured parties.

He lambasted Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal for opposing the Sports Bill and wanted to know what vested interests he had in keeping the affairs of sports bodies like the state cricket association under the wraps.

Sundernagar, September 4
Jawaharlal Nehru Engineering College here, set up as a role model for technical education in the state, is being run on an ad hoc basis by a part-time Principal even after five years of its inception in 2006.

The college has been headless for the past five years as the government is yet to appoint a regular Principal. At present, the Principal of Polytechnic College, Sundernagar, is holding its additional charge.

Though the All-India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) has fixed MTech as the basic educational qualification for lecturers in engineering colleges, the government has been running the college as a “stop-gap arrangement” recruiting lecturers who are just BTech in the civil, textile, mechanical and electronics streams, according to sources.

The college claims to have filled 24 faculty positions. However, most of these are on an ad hoc basis. Though the Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (HPPSC) has advertised some posts, many vacant posts in the college have not been advertised, according to the sources.

The college still needs five lecturers in the mechanical, civil, textile and electronics disciplines even though the academic session has started. The college pays Rs 21,000 a month on an hourly basis to lecturers appointed as a “stop-gap arrangement”.

The real sufferers are students as they are not getting quality education as per the AITCE norms, despite the fact that they have qualified the combined engineering test.

Even meritorious students from Himachal Pradesh prefer established engineering institutes in the country because the state government has failed to appoint “regular faculty and a regular Principal since 2006”.

Director, Technical Education, Vijay Chandan said the HPPSC had “requisitioned” faculty posts and would soon appoint a regular Principal. The five posts were being filled through deputation from the NIT, Hamirpur. It was a new set-up and the government would fill all posts this year as per the AITCE norms, he added.

The on charge of the engineering college, Vinita Arya, said the college was to interview five lecturers on September 9 as a stop-gap arrangement for which BTech was the qualification. The college had a dedicated faculty of 24 lecturers, she added.

Shimla, September 4
The CPM has ridiculed the objections raised by the BJP to the proposed Sports Bill and has underlined the need for a more stringent law to bring transparency in the functioning of sports bodies which “have become reduced fiefdoms of influential politicians, individuals and groups”.

Citing an example, member of the State Secretariat of the CPM Tikender said hydropower and cement companies were donating huge amounts to the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association just to oblige the political bosses. The association had been distributing the money among the village youth during the polls by organising T-20 tournaments, which were not even recognised, in the garb of promoting the game.

Headed by the son of the Chief Minister, the association had virtually become a front for the BJP’s youth wing, the BJYM, and was even providing employment to workers. The government had allotted land to it in several districts and in one case even for setting up a five-star hotel.

A stringent law to keep MPs, MLAs and bureaucrats out of sports bodies and ensure their accountability, particularly with the advent of commercial events like the IPL, had become imperative. A lot of money was being siphoned off by such events which provided new channels for injecting black money into the system. The new law must have provisions for ensuring that a sports body not registered under the proposed Act was ineligible to represent the country and to debar MPs and MLAs from holding any offices in such bodies, which were being used as platform to boost their electoral prospects by politicians.

A national sports fund should be set up ensuring equitable development of all games so that the sponsorship money could be channelled and managed through some independent body. At least 15 to 20 per cent of the sponsorship money exceeding a certain amount should be utilised for providing pension or monetary help to sportspersons in need and for the development of sports infrastructure.

Mandi, September 4
The CPM today accused the BJP government of promoting the land mafia by allowing land to private universities for the “promotion of real estate business” along the Kalka-Shimla national

highway and selling precious natural water and mineral resources to companies, making a fast buck in the bargain.

Addressing party workers after inaugurating the party office building, named as Comrade Tara Chand Bhawan, here today, CPM leader Onkar Shad alleged that both the ruling BJP in the state and the Congress at the Centre were responsible for promoting corruption by the “blind liberalisation policies”.

Price rise and rampant corruption were offshoots of the wrong policies being followed by the Centre and the state government, he claimed. CPI state secretary Des Raj and CPM leaders Amar Singh Raghava, Bhupender Singh and Kushal Bhardwaj also spoke on the occasion. — TNS

Hamirpur, September 4
The three-day Hamir Utsav ended with the performance of Punjabi Sufi singer Lakhvinder Wadali at the cultural programmes at the Government Senior Secondary School ground here last night.

Lakhvinder came to the stage at about 10 pm and went on to enthrall the audience till 12 pm. He started his show with the famous Sufi kalam “Tu mane ya mane dildara, asan te teno Rab manya...” sung by the three of Wadalis - his father PS Wadadi, uncle and Lakhvinder.

Lakhvinder’s next songs were “Naina de buhe khol”, “Chori chori tak di hai” and the old hit “Dama dam mast kalandar” etc.

Lakhvinder also presented his yet-to-be released song “Aj sajna tere nal bai ke peeni hai”.

Artistes from the NZCC, Patiala, presented the famous Punjabi Bhangra on the last day of the function.

Before this, local singer Monika Suman, schoolchildren and other artistes also performed on the last day.

Hamirpur MP Anurag Thakur was the chief guest. Addressing on the occasion, Thakur said the greenery and cool climate after rains coupled with music had made the festival very enchanting.

With this exhibitions and sports competitions also came to an end.

Meanwhile, DC Rajinder Singh Thakur thanked people of the district, government officials and mediapersons for making the Hamir Utsav a grand success.

Shimla, September 4
A senior leader and spokesperson for the BJP Ganesh Dut has urged Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal to direct the transport authorities to ply long-route buses in the morning and evening hours from the old bus stand in view of the problems been faced by residents in commuting to the new Inter State Bus Terminus (ISBT)
at Tutikandi.

He suggested that all bus services originating or terminating before 7 am and after 7 pm be operated from the old bus stand.

Further, the buses plying in the 45-km radius of the city be allowed to touch the old bus stand as farmers who carried vegetables and other produce for sale in the city were facing problems as they had to spend time and money in changing buses.

Besides, three-wheelers be introduced on the bypass from Tutikandi to Mehli to provide a convenient mode of transport to the commuters.