Shimla, September 5
Governor Urmila Singh has underlined the need for imparting value-based education to children and creating awareness about the harmful effects of intoxicants to build a healthy society.

Speaking on the occasion of a state-level Teacher’s Day function held at Raj Bhawan here today, she said teachers should be aware of developments in society and also keep themselves abreast of the latest advancements in their field of knowledge. Students must be made aware of the traditions, culture and values, besides academics for their overall development.

Chief Minister PK Dhumal called for including environment and prohibition as subjects in the school curricula and said chapters on the lives and contributions of ex-servicemen and prominent personalities who rendered yeoman services for the cause of society, had already been included.

Education Minister Ishwar Dass Dhiman said school enrolment of 99.07 per cent had been ensured in the state, making it a role model in the country.

The Governor honoured 20 teachers, of whom four were conferred the national award and 16 the state award. Brij Lal Bhardwaj, Lecturer (music), Government Senior Secondary School, Jadol (Sundernagar); Baldev Singh, TGT (Arts), GSSS (Keylong); Jamuna Devi, Centre Head Teacher, Government Primary School, Maira Maseet (Balh), and Mast Ram, Shastri, Government Senior Secondary School, Kradaghat,( Arki), were presented the national award for 2009, carrying a cash reward of Rs 60,000 and a medal.

Shimla, September 5
Indian importers are suffering huge losses as the Chinese apple has taken a hit in the domestic market, despite a lean crop, due to quality concerns.

With the pre-harvest assessment indicating a poor crop in Himachal with an expected production of less than two crore boxes, 40 per cent of the last years’ record output of 4.46 crore boxes, importers procured Chinese apple in advance and kept these in cold storage in Mumbai. However, the produce did not fetch the expected prices because of poor quality, resulting in losses.

Inquiries from arhtiyas (commission agents) handling the imported apple in the Delhi market revealed that the average loss came to Rs 1 lakh per container, which had a capacity of 1,100 boxes of 20 kg each.

So far 900 to 1,000 containers of the Fuji variety of apple from China have been imported and the landed cost has been Rs 950 (basic rate of $14 plus an import duty of $7) per box. The total cost after taking into account the charges of cold storage and transportation range from Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,400 per box. However, the imported produce is fetching Rs 1,100 to Rs 1,500 per box as a result most of the dealers are suffering losses. The Himachal apple is selling at a higher price.

The Washington apple, which is also imported in large quantities like the Chinese apple, is faring much better in the domestic market but it is too expensive to affect the domestic produce. So far about 1,600 containers have been imported at a landed cost of about Rs 1,700 ($25 basic cost plus $12.5 import duty) per box. The apple, which costs around Rs 2,000 per box, is fetching Rs 2,300 to Rs 2,500 per box and catering only to the high-end market.

The good-quality Himachal apple is also fetching from Rs 1,600 to Rs 2,200 pre box which is a very good price. The poor market response to the Chinese apple and the losses suffered by importers during the current season, when the domestic production was much less, will certainly affect imports in the next season. The growers, who were worried that China would dump its produce in the domestic market, are heaving a sigh of relief.

The Chinese apple held a threat only because of relatively low rates.

Bharmour (Chamba), September 5
Despite inclement weather en route the Manimahesh pilgrimage, around 75,000 devotees of Lord Shiva, including tourists from different parts of the country, had a holy dip in the icy waters of the sacred Manimahesh Lake at an altitude of 4,170 metre in the northwestern Himalayas in Chamba district during the past 24 hours.

The pilgrims also had a vision of Mount Kailash (abode of Lord Shiva) situated at an altitude of 5,656 metre on the auspicious occasion of Radhashtami today.

During the past two months approximately five lakh pilgrims have thronged Manimahesh.

During this year’s pilgrimage, about 12 deaths of pilgrims had been reported.

Confirming reports about the pilgrimage, Additional District Magistrate of Bharmour Neeraj Kumar said over the phone that the pilgrims had a blissful journey.

The ADM further said the pilgrims hailing from the Bhaderwah region of Jammu and Kashmir state also visited the sacrosanct pilgrimage centre and had a holy bath on Janamashtami occasion.

Meanwhile, Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha Speaker Tulsi Ram showed happiness over the preparedness and measures taken with regard to the pilgrims facilities and regulation of traffic by the Bharmour administration despite torrential rains.

Shimla, September 5
Facing serious corruption charges, suspended IPS officer KK Indoria is these days cooling his heels in the confines of a tiny cell of the Kullu police station where he once grilled criminals while being the district police chief.

Ironically, the suspended police officer had to share the cell with another suspect arrested on charges of stealing mobile phones after he was remanded to police custody for five days on September 2 after his surrender. He spent the past two nights sleeping on the floor of the 10X10 ft cell where he was given a “dari” and a blanket with another accused sharing the room with a common toilet and bathroom.

Indoria gave a slip to the police and Vigilance Bureau for almost four months since his bail plea was rejected by the High Court on May 4 earlier this year. It was probably the fear of being declared a Proclaimed Offender (PO) by the Kullu court on September 3 that he was pressurised into surrendering. Having been declared a PO, proceedings for attaching his property would also have been initiated.

Indoria was discharged from hospital only after some activists of an NGO, Right to Information Bureau, questioned the opinion of medical officers in recommending hospitalisation. It is only when they insisted that a second medical opinion be taken that he was declared fit and presented in court on September 3 from where he was remanded to police custody.

Indoria who had initially been admitted to the district hospital in Kullu after he complained of chest pain following his surrender alleged that he was being falsely implicated by his colleagues. He went to the extent of stating that he had never in his life made a penny through unfair means.

Indoria, a 1985 Himachal Police Service (HPS) officer, was inducted into the IPS only recently. He has remained Superintendent of Police in Bilaspur and Kullu and served in Sirmour and Solan as well. The Home Department also initiated proceedings against Indoria under the All-India Service (Conduct) Rules, 1968, for absenting from duty without leave.

He has been booked by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau under Section 8 of the Prevention of Corruption Act for allegedly providing security services to a power company, executing a hydel project in Kulu district. He is probably the first IPS officer in the state against whom the Vigilance Bureau had initiated PO proceedings and he remained underground for four months.

Sundernagar, September 5
The shifting of engineering classes from the polytechnic college to “new incomplete buildings” of Jawaharlal Nehru Engineering College without proper basic facilities have raised the ire of students and the staff as not even single class has been held for the past few weeks here.

As you enter the college campus, perched on a hillock overlooking this township, you bump into a pool of dirty stagnant water surrounded by three buildings of the academic block, still under construction.

This dirty pool swells during rain and is a breeding ground for mosquitoes, resent students.

Lecture theatres, workshops, labs and rooms for the faculty are still not ready.

The HPSEB is yet to set up a substation for power backup to run the heavy workshops.

The Department of Technical Education has paid Rs 11 lakh to the HPSEB to shift the site of the substation from the vicinity of the college as it is an eyesore that, in turn, has exposed how ill-planned and in a casual way the work is being carried out in the college.

There are no proper toilets for over 300 students and staff members as the IPH Department is yet to lay a sewer line. There are three temporary toilets.

“We cannot conduct classes as construction workers are still busy with their work,” say lecturers.

The three buildings of the academic block still have six to 10 inch wide gaps which pose danger to students while going from one block to

the other as the PWD is yet to lay the linking bars for the safety on the corridor.

The PWD has allegedly compromised on the quality of the construction as upper floors of the academic block have started developing seepage problem.

“Even the paint work is not being done as per the specifications,” sources said.

Though the Technical Education Department is spending Rs 80 crore on the college project, the fact is that the PWD, which is executing the work, has deputed only a Junior Engineer to oversee the work. “He comes here at around 11 am and disappears after a while,” the sources said.

The college is located on the periphery of the town and students mostly have to climb the hill on foot daily as there is just one college bus to ferry the students to the college.

Work on the hostel building is yet to start. Most students stay as paying guests in the town.

Director, Technical Education, Vijay Chandan said they had given 45 days’ time to the PWD to complete the work in the academic block, putting in place a sewer line, a substation and workshops and labs.

“We will take action if the quality of construction is compromised with,” he added.

Acting Principal Vinita Arya said they had no option but to shift the engineering classes to the new incomplete college campus as the polytechnic college campus had become overcrowded to run both colleges together.

(To be continued)

Shimla, September 5
In line with its premier position as a centre of higher learning in the field of humanities and social sciences, the prestigious Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS) here has been connected to the national knowledge network (NKN).

With this the IIAS is now among the select institutions in the country which have been connected to the NKN, a revolutionary state-of-the-art multi-gigabyte pan-India resource-sharing network aimed at digitally connecting all national universities, colleges and research establishments to create countrywide virtual classrooms.

The seamless integration provided by the high- capacity NKN digital connectivity will help the academic and research community to establish countrywide classrooms, multicasting, streaming, video and voice conferencing, grid computing, digital libraries and collaboration portals. Scholars from the IIAS may not have the time to visit a rural college to collect research material or deliver a guest lecture but they can use the videoconferencing facility available through the NKN to connect to the people. The IIAS can now arrange lectures of eminent scholars in Shimla which can be viewed or seen by students across the country.

The initiative to make the institute a part of the NKN was taken by its Director, Peter Ronald deSouza, who earlier made the campus Wi-Fi enabled to help scholars browse the web form anywhere. With the NKN integration, the users can upload and download all kind of information, including images, videos, text and other material in a fraction of a second.

Mandi, September 5
The Abhilashi Education Society (AES), Ner Chowk, today staked its claim to set up a private university in Mandi. It claimed that the society had better infrastructure than the two private groups whose project reports were likely to be considered for issuing a letter of intent at a Cabinet meeting scheduled for September 9 in Shimla.

Chairman, AES, RK Abhilashi today submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister PK Dhumal with a recommendation of a six-member committee headed by the then Additional Chief Secretary, Avay Shukla.

“The committee examined the presentations, the balance sheet and the track record of the 10 institutes being run by the society in Mandi,” he added.

The Avay Shukla Committee, which met on September 14, 2010, had observed: “The society is capable of meeting the expenses for setting up and running a university” and recommended that a letter of intent may be issued to the society for setting up a private university.

Principal Secretary, Education, Srikant Baldi said, “The government has received four more proposals for private universities in Mandi, Bilaspur, Kullu and Chamba. All cases will be considered and a final decision taken by the Cabinet. The Symbiosis will set up a private university at Bilaspur”.

However, Abhilashi said, “We are shocked that the Cabinet has excluded our project report and instead has included some non-existing companies or societies from outside the state for setting up two more private universities in the region,” he said at a press conference here today.

He claimed that the society had acquired 50 bighas under Section 118 and built structures on a 13,000 sq ft area for the private university after getting a green signal from the government.

Mandi, September 5
The controversial one-man inquiry commission headed by Justice DP Sud, a retired judge of the Himachal Pradesh High Court, has received more than 300 complaints of benami transactions in violation of Section 118 of the Tenancy and Land Reforms Act from Mandi, Dharamsala, Solan and Sirmaur so far.

Though the Congress has termed the one-man inquiry commission as a “ploy to silence the public outcry against the BJP government for alleged violation of Section 118, a large number of people turned up to lodge their complaints with the commission at Circuit House here today.

The commission has received more than 25 complaints under Section 118 from Mandi district. Patwaris, tehsildars and district revenue officials, headed by the ADC, Mandi, assisted the commission.

Sources said the benami transactions involved various “self-styled godmen and their trusts, education societies, resorts, hotels, buildings and other properties along the Chandigarh-Manali National Highway-21.

The sources said the commission had already conducted public hearings under Section 118 in Dharamsala, Solan, Sirmaur and Mandi, and had received over 300 complaints.

The member secretaryof the commission said the commission was creating public awareness about benami transactions and related complaints.

“The commission will issue notices to the violators after cross-checking the records and give time to them to explain their position before declaring these as benami transactions,” he added.

The commission will conduct a public hearing at Kullu and the Manali belt, a hotbed of benami transactions, tomorrow and the day after.

The commission will submit its report to the government within six months.

Solan,September 5
Deputy Commissioner C Paulrasu launched the Unique Identification Card preparation programme, named as Adhar Card, here today.

Addressing the media, he said the number would give a person an identity. This facility was available to all Indian residents and had now been extended to Solan.

He appealed to every resident of district to get enrolled for the card at all designated centres in towns as well in rural areas.

Deputy Director, Unique Identification Authority of India, Jaswant Rai said the accessibility of adhar cards to each resident would also check cases of fake identity.

District Food and Supplies Controller Yadvinder Pal has been made nodal officer for the preparation of adhar cards in Solan.

Kullu, September 5
Pirdi Than Devta, an incarnation of Lord Shiva, celebrated Tala Utsav (killing of evil spirits) at its abode, the Pirdi temple, today. Hundreds of villagers participated in a yatra that covered more than 15 km around Pirdi, Badah, Lower Badah, Dhamser, Koli Behar, Bala Behar and Mohal villages.

The divine yatra by the devta after 12 years, covering the villages under its jurisdiction, is being considered as a blessing to all villagers to rid them of “evil spirits active in the area”.

Kullu, known as Devbhoomi, celebrates many such functions.

A place in the district is known as Nirmand where “nar mund” (human head) was sacrificed in a “celebration” called Bhunda. Devotees believed that the man sacrificed became alive again with the blessings of the devta.

Shimla September 5
A full court reference was held in the HP High Court today to mourn the death of former Chief Justice of the court PC Balakrishna Menon. He died on September 2 in Kochi.

Justice Perumbulavil Chakkala Valappil Balakrishna Menon was born in 1929. He enrolled as an advocate in Madras HC in 1953. He was later appointed permanent Judge in 1982. He also remained a member of the Tribunal constituted for the purpose of sorting out the Ravi-Beas river water disputes among Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan in 1986. Then he was appointed Chief Justice of the HP HC in 1989, from where he retired in 1991. Justice Menon was appointed the Lokayukta of HP in 1994 and Chairman of the State Human Rights Commission in 1995.

Then he shifted to his home state Kerala after being appointed its first Lokayukta in 1998. He was leading a retired life after 2006.

Addressing the reference, Chief Justice Kurian Joseph expressed grief on Justice Menon’s death.

The reference was also addressed by RK Bawa, Advocate-General and Chairman, Bar Council of HP, Ashok Sharma, president, HP HC Bar Association, Sandeep Sharma, Assistant Solicitor-General of India. 

Renukjee, September 5
Seven persons, including an eight-month-old child, were killed when the van (HP-16-1237) by which they were travelling rolled down about 400 m into a gorge at the Danoe bridge on the Renukajee-Sangarah road late last night.

The deceased included driver Jagdish (42). Two children Karan (9) and Ishita (1.5 year) were injured and undergoing treatment at Dadhu’s First Referral Unit (FRU).

The occupants of the van belonged to the Pacchad developmental block.

The mishap led to the death of several family members who included mother Suman (45), her two daughters Sheetal (23) and Ranjna (21) and a couple Nardev (34) and his wife Poonam (27). Their nephew Karan (9) had a miraculous escape. Their eight-year-old son Suraj was also killed in the accident, while their daughter Ishita (1.5 year) survived.

DSP (Headquarters) Bhagmal Thakur said the accident had taken place late last night. The police was informed around 7 am when a passersby noticed the fallen van. Villagers helped to retrieve the bodies.

Though the exact cause of the accident was not known, police officials said it appeared that the driver had lost control over the vehicle.

SOLAN: Seven persons, including two children, were killed in another accident which took place when a Mahindra pick-up (HP-16-3382) by which they were travelling fell into a 200-m-deep gorge near Shilabagh on the Neripul-Sanaura road in Rajgarh subdivision around 1:30 pm today.

DSP, Rajgarh, G Shiva said the accident occurred due to the negligence of the driver.

Those who were killed in the accident included Prem Lata (23), her four-month-old daughter Gudiya, her father-in-law Baniya Ram (70), Om Prakash (42), his wife Gauri (35) and their baby boy (3) and driver Devinder Singh.

Om Prakash’s two sons whose age was not known survived and were admitted at First Referral Unit at Solan where the condition of one of them was stated to be serious.

Bilaspur, September 5
Led by Branch Manager Rakesh Thakur, officers and employees of the district branch of the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) planted about 200 herbal plants at the Van Jagriti Park in the Bandla Midhill area at Lakhanpur today in connection with the celebrations of Insurance Week.

Addressing the gathering, Thakur said this week was being celebrated throughout the country by the LIC from September 1. He said the LIC was celebrating its 55th birthday this year. Present on occasion were Additional Branch Managers Adesh Sharma and Rajesh Sharma, officers Ashok Sharma, Rajender Sharma, Rajneesh Dadhwal, Sudershan Sharma, Brij Lal, Jatima Qureshi, Anju Sharma, Mira Sharma, Navin Gupta and insurance agents. — OC